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(Viva la Swan Queen!)
Chapter 1
Old Teacher, New Student
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Regina was walking back to her vault, Henry's book under her arm. The new found page with Robin and her meeting for the first time in the tavern was safely in her pocket, seaming incredibly heavy for a piece of paper. Somehow, after the first wave of hope and glee she had felt the cruel bite of regret. Tinkerbell had been right about on thing, and that wasn't that she should have entered that tavern and that her life would have been a fairy-tale if she had. Regina realized that she had been married at that time -married to a king non the less- and that same king had threatened the life of a presumed lover in the person of Sidney, the genie of the lamp. For all she knew, that decision to not enter that tavern might have saved Robin's life.
No, what Tinkerbell had been right about is that Regina's decision had been selfish. She had seen it in Robin's eyes tonight more than she had in the past few week of their... "relationship"... Robin was deeply in love with her. And by shying away from that tavern, she also might have taken his happy ending.
Deep in thought, Regina only saw the other woman as she was less than three meters away from the entrance of her vault.
"Hi," Emma said shyly, sending flashbacks from the first time the two of them meet.
"What are you doing here ? Everyone is looking for you."
Emma shrugged and looked down to the earth in front of her. She was sitting on the steps leading to the vault, her knees at about the height of her chin, her hands tucked under her red leather jacket.
"I wanted to talk to you and I didn't want to run into Henry by going at your place. So... here I am."
Regina felt a thrill of fear running through her body. She knelled down next to the blonde woman, intensely trying to catch her gaze.
"Tell me you didn't do it..."
Pause.
"I hurt Henry Regina. I hurt him enough for him to bleed."
"And I healed him. With magic. Emma, did you do it ?"
Regina's voice was sharp and insistent. She needed to know and the sheriff was still avoiding her eyes.
"No. I chickened out," Emma finally admitted.
Regina blew out a controlled sigh of relief. She sat down next the blonde, Henry's book on her lap.
"So the Charmings arrived on time," the brunette commented.
"No they didn't," Emma answered with confusion in her voice. "I called Snow hour ago but I haven't seen her since. I guess they just accepted that everyone was better of without my powers."
Emma brought her knees closer to her chest and buried her hands deeper under her jacket. Regina could hear the pain in the blonde's voice. Of course she was in pain, her parents had just given up on her!
"No they didn't. They where coming after you," Regina half-lied.
"Really?"
"Well, they took a bit of convincing but yes. In the end, they were."
"You convinced them? Why?"
Emma seemed to relax a bit, ever so slightly, but Regina felt suddenly exposed and turned her eyes to the pale moon in the sky.
"Because of Henry. What would this be teaching him? "Be who you are, except if you're having a hard time. Then just... change."?"
The brunette's voice was heavy with sarcasm.
"I hurt him Regina," Emma insisted. "And as long as I have those powers, people are going to keep getting hurt."
"Please, that was the smallest cut I've seen. Who did you take him for? Sleeping Beauty?"
Emma looked away and rolled her self in a ball a bit more. Regina changed tactics, sarcasm wasn't working.
"You did hurt him, Emma. And I almost destroyed him."
"What?!"
"I did, when he first found that book. I made him think he was crazy. I was the reason why he run in that damn tunnel and almost died. I still have nightmares about that day."
"But you worked to change. And I didn't I... I just talked to a hallucination of the Snow Queen and then freaked out and drove away."
"Exactly," Regina interrupted. "I worked to change. I didn't take any magical easy way out to fix everything and I could have. I could have erased Henry's memories of that book. I could have made him love me with some potion. I could even have manipulated him into following me into another realm when I found those magic beans and God knows I wanted to. But I didn't. Did you even think of what Henry would feel after you gave up you magic because of him? The guilt that would crush him?"
"I... I guess I didn't..."
Emma looked away once more, those green eyes staring pitifully into the void. Regina wondered for a second if the puppy eyes where something Emma developed in foster care. Survival technique.
"It wasn't just Henry, Regina. I also hurt my dad and-"
"Ok stop it. I haven't had the greatest night ever and I'm not here to listen to the Ugly Duckling mopping about two isolated mistakes."
Regina stood up, leaving the book on the stones stairs.
"Show me your hand."
"What? No! I don't want to hurt you."
"Show me your hands Miss Swan," Regina insisted, raising her own palms to receive Emma's.
"No!"
Emma stood up and backed away one step, her hand hidden under her jacket. The night was slowly filling up with magic, leaves on the ground moving without any wind, the door to the vault cracking and trembling.
"Why are you here then? Why are you here if not for me to help you with your magic?"
"It was a bad idea, I should leave."
Emma started turning around, her face showing hurt and fear.
"No you are not."
Regina almost froze the blonde's feet to the ground but blocked the impulse. The Evil Queen would do that, she reminded herself. I'm not the Evil Queen.
Instead, she walked in front of Emma, blocking her.
"Let me leave, Regina. This is not the moment."
"Yes it is. You have been having problems with you magic and only after two days have you had the great idea of asking your teacher for help."
Since when are you my teacher? I haven't had a magic lesson in month!" Emma fired back.
"Well a bad student doesn't necessarily mean a bad teacher. And since your definition of friendship seem to imply annoyingly following people for hours until they finally listen to you, I might even try to be a good friend too! Now show me your hands!"
Emma stood frozen for a moment, incredulity painted on her face. There was a small feeling of fear stinging Regina's heart but she tried to keep it at bay as much as possible. She was feeling lightly vulnerable. Friendship had never been something that brought her any comfort, and that was mostly her fault she knew it. Yet there, using Emma's own words, she felt like she could get away with it.
The blonde finally, very slowly, pulled her hand out of her jacket. A golden glow was surrounding them and sparkle of energy jumped out of her palms like small fireworks.
Regina reached out but the other woman pulled away.
"Miss Swan, you couldn't hurt me even if you wanted to."
The brunette gently took the shaking hand in her own. Emma tensed, as if afraid that something might blow up but Regina contained the wave of energy without any difficulty. Yes the product of true love had an exceptional amount of raw power. But that was all it was. Raw, wild, and so unfocused that it was easily contained.
"What did I tell you about the source of magic?" Regina asked.
"That it was fueled by feelings," Emma answered nervously.
"Not feelings. Emotions. Think of something that brings you peace. A place, a memory, even a song, that calms you down."
Emma closed her eyes, hands still shaking. After a moment she opened them again, more or less looking at Regina but mostly reminiscing.
"Tallahassee. You once asked me why I stayed two years in Tallahassee. Well it's where Neal and I where suppose to have our Happy Ending. After I got out of jail I went there, trying to figure things out. There was a small lake in one of the parks, and right next to it a swing that was adult size. I could spend hours on that thing, doing nothing but trying to bring my feet as high as possible. Watching the sky roll back and forth. When I was done I always felt a little sick and I took me minutes to let go of the chains I has holding. Sometimes my palms even bleed a little. But I calm back every day. I just loved that place..."
The rest of the memories seemed swallowed by Emma's mind and after a moment, the blonde realized her hand weren't sparkling any more. Feeling a little awkward, Regina let got of the blonde and clasped her hands in front of her.
"Well I didn't mean you needed to... share. But I guess it worked."
"Thanks."
Emma smiled, rubbing her hands like they tickled.
"You are a great teacher. When you're not throwing me from the top of a cliff."
Regina contained a smile. The blonde was much better company when she wasn't mopping.
"I'll be expecting you tomorrow at five. No excuse."
Emma nodded gratefully, her chin wrinkling. But then her face dropped and she started rubbing her jeans nervously. Regina frowned, open her mouth and closed it immediately. She sighted and met the blonde's confused stare.
"I was going to say you can sleep in my vault but if you power get out of control it might not be the best idea."
"Yea, let's not put the girl how blows things up next to the magic bottles... I'll sleep in my car. Thank you Regina."
"Well you can stay in your rolling tomb if you want but I have a guest room. Henry is with your parents and I can put a spell on you room so that your magic will be contained in it."
"I'll be able to blow myself up, but nothing else?"
"Yes, Miss Swan. And please spare the sheets. They are satin."
Emma giggled and this time Regina allowed herself to smile. Having the sheriff in her house wasn't something that she was eagerly expecting but at least she would be able to keep an eye on Emma's bad parenting.
After taking a few thing down her vault, Regina teleported back to her house to prepare the guest room. Emma arrived a few minutes after, still driving that hipster atrocity that gave Regina nightmares when she thought of her son in it.
"Do you have everything you need?" The brunette asked as Emma was taking off her jacket, throwing it on the bed.
"Yes, thank you. And thanks for the change. And for the thing at the vault and..."
Emma made a vague gesture that indicated something like "everything else".
"Good night then," Regina said gracefully.
"Night."
Only after taking her sower and climbing in bed had Regina noticed that she had kept her mind off of Robin for almost two hours. More than she had in the past three weeks or so. Laying down on her back, she thought that maybe it wouldn't be an absolute nightmare to have the sheriff in her house for a while.
