So, this is story is slightly different than my normal style. Not quite so angsty. Enjoy, my doves, and hold on because we are in unchartered territory. Let's see if I can pull us out of this hole before continuing to the fourth season.
Song: Timber by Pitbull and Ke$ha
Regina Swan. Emma Swan. Ruby Lucas. Belle French. Bloody fucking heroes, all of them. The first with the magical strength to heal mortal wounds if only she waded through her own anger to unleash that power. The second broken beyond the repairs of science and magic yet so noble and self-sacrificing of heart and soul that she rushed straight into the den of a serial killer to save two women she barely remembered. The third so strong that she broke through iron shackles and a magical enchantment to avenge her True Love's murder. The fourth so forgiving and loyal that she returned to save the people who betrayed her and marry the woman who tried to rape her.
All of them heroes. All of them noble. All of them who gave past her heart's capacity. All of them willing and ready to die for a just cause. And they needed her. They needed her just one more time. And the next one more time she received their phone call, she knew she'd come running just one more time. Just one more time she'd stand at their door with a bag of rudimentary medical equipment. Just one more time she'd take a deep, steady breath as she rang the doorbell. Just one more time… until the next one more time.
"I hate all of you," Eva muttered as she jarred from her circular thoughts and pushed past Ruby into the Swan-Lucas mansion and stomped up the steps to the foyer. Ruby scratched the back of her head and closed the door softly, unsure of exactly what happened but hoping Eva helped. She loathed asking the nearly unhinged surgeon for her assistance so soon after recovering Lauren, but they had no other option.
"Thank you for coming, Eva," Belle said graciously from the top of the stairs after putting Annabel down for the night. They honestly needed to discuss her powers before she hurt someone. She descended the stairs, feeling much better after cleaning the dried blood from her body and changing into a pair of Ruby's baggy shorts and an oversized t-shirt. She literally surrounded herself in her lover. She'd been away from home far too long.
Eva grunted and stomped into the living room, practically ignoring the former princess. Not only had she just gotten her lover back after being held captive for two weeks, but she'd spent the better part of the evening saving Amelia Shepherd's life again. Everyone who touched these four women ended up in intensive care or dead, it was unavoidable. She herself was reminded of that fact every time she glanced in the mirror, the scars from her burns impossible to disguise or hide. Not only was she incapable of physical contact but now suffered the pitying whispers of her colleagues or the horrified stares of children.
"How long have they been like this?" She asked, sitting cautiously on the coffee table before touching either of the unconscious women and opening a bag between her feet.
"We called you straight away, so like half an hour?" Ruby answered the soul seer without taking her eyes from the shorter woman. It was impossible not to stare when they'd just survived what they had, not even her bandaged fingers and torso hurt when Belle was in her arms.
Ruby leaned against the frame of the door and accepted Belle's weight against her side, wrapping her arms protectively around her belly. The librarian grinned up at her fiancée despite the serious circumstances. They remained silent, taking a moment to seek the warmth of comfort in their partner while Eva checked their life signs.
"They seem fine." Eva said absently. "Blood pressure is normal, pulse is strong. And they simply passed out after Annabel used magic?" She asked as she shined a pen light into their eyes, testing their pupil response. She honestly feared that child. She was powerful, unmatched in raw strength, and her shenanigans became more and more elaborate as her mind grew and developed.
Belle nodded and relinquished her hold on the strong wolf who had saved her life only a few hours ago. She held her elbows and stepped beside the irritated soul seer. Ruby followed. Eva glanced up at Belle first and then at Ruby on the other side of her. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and touched Emma's knee.
"They're active," she whispered ominously, but neither woman asked for an elaboration. Eva pulled her hand back. "Very active," she reiterated, straining to read the different emotions and intentions.
"What the hell does that mean, Eva?" Ruby demanded, irritated and exhausted. Her life was a bloody rollercoaster, and she wanted off. An hour ago as she looked at her twin pups on an ultrasound picture, she thought nothing capable of bringing her down and now she wanted to hide in her bed for a week with nothing to eat but her gorgeous, pregnant fiancée.
"It means that you were right to call me. It seems Annabel has thrown them into some sort of dreamscape," Eva sniped back at the huffy wolf, just as exhausted and irritated as her friend. Eva never directly strove for heroics, but she stepped up when asked and it led to a shit sandwich tossed into her life at every turn.
"Can you reverse it?" Belle asked much more patiently than she felt. She'd been in Storybrooke for 14 hours and had already been abducted, emotionally tortured, watched Ruby tortured, possibly died, healed miraculously by Emma and Regina's True Love connection, and seen their children on a computer screen. It was too much, and tears burned her eyes. Fucking hormones.
"I can try, but I'm going to need some time," Eva assured them confidently and removed her jacket. "It's much easier to induce a dreamscape then to worm into one already created by a foreign magic. The psyche is delicate, so I'll try and go into Emma's first. Her memories are already scrambled." She scientific coldness of her plan scathed against Ruby's patience.
"Wait," Ruby demanded, hands hovering just over Eva's but not quite touching the other woman. "Will this hurt her?"
"Better Emma than Regina," Eva reasoned. "Her memories are intact. No sense in creating two bumbling idiots, especially one as powerful as Regina Swan. Emma can become as angry as she wishes, no one will get burnt crispy… again," she added bitterly, consciously avoiding her scars. She'd not had time to make peace with them, probably never would on some level, and blamed them.
"Do it," Belle encouraged. They'd bring Emma back one way or the other, but first, they had to get them out of this dreamscape or whatever Annabel had done to them.
"Belle," Ruby exclaimed incredulously. "No, absolutely not. We already lost her once. You weren't here. You have no idea what it's going to do to Regina if something goes wrong and she loses her all over again. I won't agree to that," Ruby laid out her case, large eyes silently pleading with her counterpart not to challenge it. The insinuation cut Belle straight through her freshly healed heart.
"Do it, Eva," Belle stated more softly. She knew exactly what she asked of the soul seer. "This is on me if something goes wrong. I'm making this decision," she spoke to Eva, but her eyes stayed fixed the wolf's. She still needed to be the voice of reason, even if Ruby wasn't capable of that yet.
"Belle, no. Eva, don't you touch her," Ruby threatened, her hand outstretched dangerously.
"Children, we are running out of time. If they go too far in, I won't be able to bring them out," the surgeon chided the bickering couple. They'd be okay. They always were, it seemed, but she needed them to come to resolution faster than normal.
"What if they're already in too deep?" Ruby asked, not giving up easily.
"Well, we won't know until I go in," Eva snapped and then sighed in frustration, rubbing the bridge of her nose emphatically. If she'd not suffered from a headache before she arrived, she certainly obtained one after. How any of them functioned without a permanent one shocked the hell out of her.
"Ruby," Belle whispered. "I know what you've gone through the past two months must have been horrible, but Eva needs to do this. You heard her, Sweetheart. If they go in too far, we may never get them back. No one is controlling this dreamscape." Belle's heart broke for the accident she inadvertently caused by fleeing Storybrooke. She wanted to hold Ruby, to fix it, but that took more time than they had at the moment.
"Belle, am I taking control of this or not?" Eva asked when the silence and staring contest stretched longer than it should have, like the other two communicated without words.
"Do it," Belle ordered hoarsely, her emotions belying her coldness towards the decision.
Eva nodded and closed her eyes, both hands hovering over Emma's knees. She hadn't the time or patience to step into the middle of the constant domestic conflict that surrounded the two women. Sucking a steadying breath, she lowered them to The Savior's body. Belle winced along side the soul seer, knowing how much human contact hurt their friend. She'd done something similar after Regina woke up after having surgery, took her pain to ensure she'd not become a zombie after Emma brought her back from the dead. Eva hated them right now, but she'd always come.
Belle held herself tighter. Ruby knelt and studied Eva's face, holding her breath, waiting impatiently for any sort of news of their friends' conditions. Eva winced again, chest heaving with the effort of pushing into Emma's mind, her soul. An inordinate amount of time passed. Belle dug nails into her elbows, praying and hoping that Eva was as skilled and powerful as she thought. Ruby alternated between glaring at her lover and studying Eva's contorted grimace.
"Okay, I'm in," she whispered to the other two women. If she opened her eyes, the two worlds would have collided, and she wanted to focus solely on Emma for the moment. "Are you okay?" Ruby's brow furrowed at the question. She actually spoke with Emma? Eva shuddered, fingers clenching at Emma's knees as her breathing elevated dramatically.
"As far as I can tell, Annabel put you and Regina into a dreamscape. I'm trying to figure out how to get you out of it. Just sit tight, okay?" She reassured the seemingly shaken savior as best she could.
She gasped and jerked bodily without breaking contact with Emma, almost like she ducked from something flying. "It's okay. They can't physically harm you," she said, voice trembling at whatever she witnessed within the other woman's mind. "Still scary as hell, though," she muttered to herself.
The doorbell rang, and Belle rolled her eyes. "I've got it," she murmured and slipped from the living room. She was useless anyway until Eva pulled them out of whatever hell they'd fallen into. A very contrite-looking Bethany stood on the stoop wringing her hands sheepishly.
"Belle," she rasped and cleared her throat. She opened her mouth to speak again, but nothing came out so she clamped it shut.
Belle offered a sympathetic smile and stepped forward to pull her sister in a light hug. "It's okay."
Bethany's eyes slipped shut as emotions she'd thought long-dead bubbled to the surface. "I know he's dead, but I was afraid to stay in my apartment alone. Granny has Marco over. I didn't know where else to go," she explained, her voice quivering with real fear and overwhelming emotions of a crisis passing. Bethany wasn't used to it like they were.
"It's okay," Belle comforted the teenager. "Come on." She pulled back and wrapped an arm around Bethany's thin shoulders, directing her inside. "We've a small crisis, but you're always welcome here."
Bethany smiled, her icy blue eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Her big sister had truly come home, survived a psychopath, and handed out unconditional and healthy amounts of forgiveness like souvenir gifts. She was amazing. "Thank you, Belle."
"You're family, Bethany. No thanks necessary," Belle said meaningfully and led her towards the living room. "Unfortunately, we have a little situation," she continued as they came upon Eva looking ragged and ready to topple over while Ruby watched helplessly at the surgeon's side.
"Okay, Emma, I need you to take my hands. I'm going to try and bring you out with me," Eva explained. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her face flushed with the effort of maintaining contact with the spirit world. Soul work required far more energy than anyone imagined.
Eva wavered, barely catching herself before she fell over on the table. Ruby stabilized her with strong hands on her shoulders, reacting instinctively. A sudden blast of energy knocked the wolf to the floor and the table tipped backwards. Eva landed hard, air smashed from her lungs with the turbulent landing, legs still in the air over the side of the table. She rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"I really do hate all of you," she muttered.
"Ruby?" Belle rushed to her lover's side when the wolf failed to move. She hadn't been hit hard enough to knock her unconscious. She touched her cheek gently and smiled when those beautiful brown eyes cracked slowly.
"Hey, are you alright, Sweetheart?" Tears burned her eyes and she wiped at them furiously. Her heart and hormones couldn't take much more tonight. She jerked Ruby's shirt up, checking her wounds.
The confusion in her wolf's eyes frightened her. "Belle, did it work? How did I get on the floor?" Ruby asked and rubbed her temple like her head ached. "Did I get hit in the stomach?" She groaned and rasped a string of questions.
"Some type of magic blasted you when you touched Eva. I was making sure the cut on your stomach hadn't torn open. Don't you remember?" Belle explain, dread growing in her heart. Her actions led to Emma's amnesia, she'd not tolerate something similar from her lover. "Ruby, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I feel fine, Belle," Ruby laughed and shoved her away gently, oddly for the wolf, as she sat up. "You hit your noggin, too? Can't remember my name? God, you smell like peanut butter," Ruby complained, covering her mouth and nose, waving Belle away melodramatically.
"What?" Belle and Eva asked in unison, two sets of eyes comically widened.
"How much peanut butter did you eat, woman? It's like seeping from your pores or something, like peanut butter vodka," the wolf continued, pushing herself across the floor to distance her nose from the obnoxious odor of peanut butter surrounding the librarian.
"What did you mean when you said she couldn't remember your name?" Eva asked apprehensively as she slowly righted herself with Bethany's assistance of pulling the table away from her legs rather than touching her. The girl looked as confused and mortified as the other two women. Emma and Regina lay against each other, unconscious on the sofa.
"Ow!" Ruby yelled and glared down at her bandaged fingers. "You called me Ruby. My name is Emma. I do remember that much at least," Ruby's voice informed them absently as she studied the foreign yet familiar hand attached to her body. Chocolate brown eyes finally glanced up and took in the horror and confusion of the other three women. Something was very wrong here. With a glance down her own body, Emma's heart jolted into a frantic rhythm. Something was very, very wrong here. The thin, lanky frame, the bandaged hands, the softer voice, the brown and red hair, the sudden super sniffer attached to her face.
Finally, her eyes landed on her slumped form on the sofa, her body but not her soul trapped within. It shifted, rousing from the dreamscape that her biological daughter shoved her into by accident, presumably. Her green eyes opened and immediately locked with the wide brown eyes of the person inhabiting her body.
"Are you fucking kidding me!" Emma and Ruby's voices yelled in unison, declaring the exact same thoughts of the other three.