DISCLAIMER: I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of its characters. All mistakes are mine.

A/N: Please have in mind that Hook and Robin were only distractions in this whole season and Swan Queen is endgame =D

Also, this fanfiction starts immediatly after 4x23, but here Emma never went to the EF to embrace her darkness: she is somewhere in Storybrooke.

Post 4x23

the taste of her magic

Emma was lost.

Regina refused surrendering to that panic sensation crawling over her as she forced herself to look over every alley of Storybrooke. The streets were nearly empty and she caught herself longing to see that impossibly perfect princess-like blonde hair waving somewhere near her, making Regina feel safe again.

Emma had disappeared about two hours ago. They decided to split up and look for her in every part of the town. Regina was certain that she could do a better job searching for Emma without having to be exposed to Snow White's sobs and whines. It would be a far worse task to do if she had to keep up with seven resented dwarves making sure to remind her every once in a while that this was entirely her fault.

But the search was fruitless and with every passing hour the mayor felt her heart sank more and more with worry. Emma Swan's name was imprinted on the dagger, and it was because of her, because of a stupid promisse of finding happy endings that didn't exist at all. And none of that really mattered because Hook kept calling the savior's name with the useless dagger in his hand and Emma kept not showing up.

The brunette walked by the beach with magic fire in her hand lighting the way when she saw something in the water. She hurried toward the sea and felt her stupid heart go crazy in her chest as she caught sight of a human form floating in the water.

It was barely moving, so Regina used her magic to take the sinking body away from the ocean, pushing it with the waves against the shore. She couldn't help the smile that spread over her face as she saw Emma. The blonde struggled to stand up, confusion and disappointment on her face.

"What the hell were you doing there?!" Regina yelled.

"Fixing everything!" Emma yelled back after a moment. Her eyelids were red, she was soaked in water and trying to keep standing despite the remarkable weakness of her limbs, but her beautiful green eyes were still the same, still Emma. Still her savior.

"You were trying to kill yourself! You foolish girl, The Dark One cannot be killed like that! You were going through suffering in exchange for nothing!" A shiver passed through Regina in a memory of Hook calling for The Dark One, a dagger in his hand, and no one appearing. She gritted her teeth and her eyes went wide with realization of what Emma was about to do.

"It was worth trying" she said in a quiet voice that Regina could barely hear over the sound of the waves breaking at the shore "I can't, Regina... I just can't do it. I can't put my family through this suffering. Not after everything I've seen Rumple do to every single person he loved. Neal is dead, his mother too. Belle is caught in an endless circle of second chances that she will never cease to give. I can't do that to the people I love." She was looking to the brunette with pleading eyes, shivering as the wind touched the water droplets drying on her skin.

"But you can't leave us. You're the savior. You are our savior" she argued, emphasizing every word "You will find a way."

"No, I won't" she shrugged "Everything will be fine" Emma took Regina's hand in her own and squeezed it, giving her a sad smile. "You have to take care of Henry." her eyes were full of tears now. "Try not to kill Snow while I'm not around." The sound of Emma's sweet and melancholic laugh echoed in the other woman's ears as she took a few steps closer. Those words were a nonsense spoken into the air as if they were living just another ordinary situation of their lives.

"You shouldn't have done it." The brunette thought of Emma's blonde curls running in her yard, chainsaw in her hands. She thought of her precious tree falling to peaces because this infuriating woman was determined to ruin her life. She thought of people turning into villains out of vengeance, of fairy dust, of lion tattoos and dumb heroes and how meaningless everything becomes when you see precious things falling apart.

Like Emma Swan trying to drown herself to death.

"But I gave you your happy ending." She said.

"No." Regina responded fiercely, rage building inside her with the absurd of the situation "You're going to take it away."

And then it happened.

Purple and violet smoke rose around them in a tornado of magic, blocking away the fractured moonlight and the sounds of a very charming, very annoying family and their little puppy-pirate coming closer to find them.

Suddenly, Regina couldn't feel anything but hot breath too close to her lips, fingertips ghosting over her cheek, the scent of sea on blonde hair and the warmth of dark magic bubbling inside the body against her.

Emma's other arm was instantly around Regina's waist as if it always belonged there, as if nothing had changed – except everything was changed forever and Regina had no saying in what would inevitably come next. Regina leaned forward ever so slightly, giving in to an old desire – that great need to discover what would it be like to kiss those pink lips. But just like that, the blonde leaned further and pressed her lips on her neck and the former Evil Queen never thought she would live to see the day her knees would feel só embarrassingly weak like they were at that very moment.

The light kisses progressed quickly: more tongue, more teeth, never enough. It was as though both of them were aware that this moment could very well not be repeated in the eternty of their lives – in the eternty of Emma's life (but no one was actually aware of anything).

Regina gasped as the hand that was rubbing soothing patterns at her cheek moved to grab the collar of her jacket and shirt, searching for more skin. She felt those lips tracing a warm path on her neck, going lower with every kiss, biting the skin just above her chest. Emma was holding her só tightly that Regina thought she would disappear under her touch. It was hard to focus in anything, but she needed to feel Emma's lips on her, she wanted to feel that warmth more closely. She wanted to feel reality washing over her entirely as she lost control of everything she holds dear. So Regina decided to fight for what she wanted in the same way she always did: with abandon and fury, caring no more for what was right or wrong or painful. Regina grasped the fabric of Emma's shirt with both hands, forcing the blonde to stop and look into her eyes, but at the moment she tried to reach for those swollen lips Emma moved away a little and kept staring at her like something more important than a kiss was about to happen.

"What if it doesn't work?" Emma's voice was barely a whisper as she spoke those words that made Regina understand everything: the shake of the blonde's hands as she held her, the teary eyes, the fear that emanated from the body against hers – but most of all, she understood why the other woman was só reluctant to let their lips touch.

Emma Swan was afraid.

Emma was afraid of what might happen when magic touched magic, when love touched love. And to acknowledge that The Savior herself was hoping to be saved (by the Evil Queen no less) overwhelmed her with happiness – and, yes, fear, all at once. Because this was it. There was hope after all. And fate made sense as she leaned over to Emma and The Savior didn't run as their lips touched lightly.

Regina felt the twisted taste of darkness as Emma opened her mouth to give her more access. It took just a few seconds for Regina to hear Emma's gasps against her lips as they both felt dark magic giving in to the light. With every touch of their lips, their tongues twisted together, a rush of light flowed through Emma's body and Regina could feel every part of it like it was her own magic getting thicker around them.

As hands wandered by her waist, her ribs, her breasts and she felt that uncontrollable happiness that only light magic can give you, Regina tried to pull away to breath just a little bit before she could resume her task of breaking an unbreakable curse. With true love.

But Emma was smiling widely against her lips and suddenly she was The Savior again. The same infuriating idiot she had fell in love with.

"So... You love me, uh?" Emma breathed with a smugness that the mayor was willing to tolerate just this once. Instead of answering she kissed her again, tasting the real Emma Swan on her tongue, an impossibly soft flesh moving só slowly it almost hurt. "You saved me." She continued, more serious than ever and Regina tried to wipe the tears that were streaming down the other woman's face, but Emma kissed her before she could do it and thanked her for saving her life and kissed and cried and kissed a little more.

Then, Regina heard the most annoying sound in this world (in all worlds, actually): Snow White calling for her. She forced herself to break the kiss, her heart skipped a beat as she heard Emma groan in protest at the lost of contact.

They looked deeply into each other's eyes, making it almost impossible for Regina to concentrate and break the spell. Within a few seconds she flipped her wrists to make purple smoke disappear into the night's air. And just like that it was all over: everyone was there trying to understand what was happening. Snow, Charming, Henry, Hook, Robin. Even those useless dwarves. They were waiting for some kind of answer, but no one said a word. So Regina watched with resignation as the fear on their faces was slowly replaced by relief.

Hook finally noticed that the dagger in his hand didn't have a name written on it. He put the fearful weapon on Snow's hand and rushed to embrace Emma as if he hadn't seen her in a very long time. It took Emma a little too long to put her own arms around him, but she did it anyway and it hurt Regina all the same.

"What happened? We thought... We thought..."

"That I had become the dark one." Emma answered Snow, before she had time to finish the question "I guess... I don't know, maybe..." She stared at Regina, all dismay and sad eyes, not knowing exactly what to say.

"It seems that darkness don't stand a chance with you." Regina finally said "You are the savior after all." Our savior.

Reality was so different outside that violet bubble of magic. It felt like someone was squeezing her heart and she couldn't say a word about it to anyone. Not even to Robin who was now encircling his arms around her waist as if Regina belonged to him and not to someone else.

She would never understand why she couldn't love Robin – her soulmate – in the same way he loved her. She would never understand why she would forever love Emma Swan instead.

A/N: In episode 5x02, Belle tells Hook that True Love's kiss actually works in these situations, but only if the Dark One didn't embrace their darkness yet/anymore. The line is "a curse isn't a curse if the afflicted wants it". So I figured that since it took Emma a little while for her to become The Dark Swan as we know, Regina could have broken the curse if she had found Emma sooner (and kissed her, of course!)

This was supposed to be a One shot, but I've been thinking about adding a Part II... Maybe next week.

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