Written in the Stars
Emma sat atop her bug's hood while listening to music on her iPhone. After their draining trip to New York she wanted to relax without others around her. Thankfully there wasn't any trouble lurking around, for now. Eventually she got a backache from slouching, so she got in her car and drove to the lookout point that had a stunning view of the Storybrooke. Once she arrived, she laid out a blanket on the ground and sat down. She then laid down and gazed up at the twinkling stars above her.
Every now and then a crisp, chilly breeze engulfed her, sending her goose bumps. This is perfect bonfire weather, she thought. Cozying up next to a warm body in front of the fire was one of favorite things. Including the crunchy, chocolaty taste of s'mores, of course. She thought about calling Hook, but she wasn't in the mood for his smugness tonight. Maybe Regina? No. She probably wanted some alone time. They did just go on a road trip together.
Emma felt herself growing restless, so she got into her car and drove back to town. As she was driving back, she thought about how strange it was to remember a time when she didn't have any family to drive to. Now she does. She has her parents. Henry. Even Regina. Ever since she set her eyes on Regina, she knew they had a special connection. Just thinking about it gave her stomach flutters.
As soon as she made it back into town, something in the air felt very off to her. She could sense something powerful. Someone. Driving down Main Street, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a strange figure walking toward Granny's. She parked her bug far enough away that she wouldn't be seen. Emma stealthily walked toward whoever it was. When she got closer she could make out who it was. It looked like…Regina? But she was wearing a beautifully handcrafted dress that looked like it was from the Victorian era. Wait…
"Regina?" Emma carefully walked behind her, and touched her shoulder. "What are you doing?"
The Evil Queen whipped around, her hair smacking Emma in the process. "Well well well. Look who we have here."
"She killed you," Emma thought, "Regina crushed your heart. How are you here right now?"
The queen sneered. "So she thought, my dear. Now, where can I find her?"
"Why? What are you planning on doing? If you hurt her-
"Oh sweetie, aren't you just an adorable little thing?" the queen caressed Emma's cheek. She tensed up at the contact. "I just don't understand how you two haven't hooked up yet."
"Excu-, Emma choked on her words. "Excuse me?"
"Oh come on. I find you very attractive, Emma. Surely you don't think the same about my dear Regina?" asked the queen.
"Uhhhh," Emma gaped. "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about."
"Mhhmm," the queen was amused. "Anywho, since you're no help whatsoever, I guess I'll be on my way then."
"Wait, don't…" Emma yelled. With the flick of a wrist, the queen vanished in a thick purple smoke.
"-go," Emma sighed. "Great. Time to go break the news to Regina."
Emma sprinted from her bug to the mansion on Mifflin, and pounded on the door. She felt terrible, because it was getting late so Regina was probably getting ready for bed, but she had to try. A couple moments passed and no one answered. She slammed her fist on the door one more time and still, to no avail.
"Regina!" she yelled. What if the queen got to her? Tired of waiting, Emma checked to see if the door was unlocked. It was. She bolted through. "Regina?" A light turned on upstairs. She heard footsteps.
"Emma," Regina appeared at the top of the staircase, "what's going on? Why are you at my house so late?"
Emma sighed in relief, "Thank god you're okay."
Regina frowned, and walked down the stairs. She stood right in front of Emma and crossed her arms. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Emma treaded carefully, "Okay, so you know how you crushed your counter part's heart back in New York?"
"Yeah…" Regina waited.
"Well, apparently she never actually died."
Regina was appalled. "What?!"
"I just saw her," Emma explained and continued, "She's looking for you. I don't know what she wants though. She never told me."
"She probably wants to kill me," Regina said with a painful glint in her eyes.
"You don't know that," Emma deftly grabbed Regina's elbow, pulling her toward her and not letting go.
Regina turned her face away so she wasn't looking at Emma. The last thing she wanted was to appear weak or emotional in front of her best friend. Again. With tears in her eyes she said, "You don't know her like I do. She's ruthless. She'll do anything necessary to get her way. And the worst part, the part that makes her even more dangerous than she already is….is that she's in so much pain. Emma, we have to stop her. Whatever she's planning, it can't be good."
Emma tucked Regina's hair behind her ear and looked in Regina's big, brown, watery eyes. "Hey…don't worry, we'll find her. Together. I promise."
Regina sniffled, wiped her eyes, and with a shaky voice replied, "Thanks, Emma. I don't think I can do this alone."
"You can, but that doesn't mean you have to," Emma smiled and grabbed Regina's hand, "Come on, let's go find your other half."
"Wait. How are we supposed to join together again? What do I do?" Regina asked.
Emma sighed, "Good question. As much as it pains me to say it, let's go find Gold." And on that note, they went to go find the little imp.
Across town, Hook was staggering home after a late night at the bar, and he was absolutely hammered. He was in the middle of a song when a purple cloud of smoke appeared in front of him, nearly knocking him on his ass.
"Bloody hell. What is the meaning of this?" Hook glared. At Regina? "Can I help you, your Majesty?"
"I don't know what she sees in you," the queen muttered.
Hook let out a loud belch, and then proceeded to ask, "I beg your pardon?"
The queen's face scrunched in disgust. "My point exactly. Whatever…I'm not here to talk about you. I've come to ask for your help."
"And why would I do that?" Hook questioned.
"Because if you don't, I'll rip your heart out and crush it," the queen snarled.
Hook grinned and said, "And here I thought you'd changed."
The Evil Queen tilted her head back and cackled. "Change? Please. Regina never changed; she just suppresses all the evil thoughts inside of her. That needs to change. And in order for that to happen, she needs to go."
Either Hook stepped into the twilight zone, or he needed to hold off on the rum. "Okaaaay, Regina. I'm gonna leave now." But before he could take a step away, the queen drove her hand into his chest and forcefully pulled out his heart.
"Now, tell me where Regina lives," she spoke into his heart, "and you get to live."
Hook eventually complied and they made their way to Regina's place. However, when they arrived, no one was home. "Where in the hell is she?!" the queen yelled.
"Quit playing games, Regina. You're right here!" Hook spat.
"No shit," the queen rolled her eyes, "I'm talking about Regina. The good Regina. We were split in two, with some kind of serum."
"Are you joking?" Hook scoffed. "This town will never be normal, will it?"
"Ugh. Just tell me where she is, so I can get rid of her!" the queen was on her last nerve.
"Hell if I know. She's probably out somewhere with Emma…seems they're always together as of lately," Hook moped.
"You're such a pathetic waste of my time. Let's send you back to hell where you belong," the queen tightened her grip around his heart and crushed it. As the ashes fell to the floor, Emma and Regina burst through the front door, with a potion in Regina's hand. Emma saw Hook collapse in a dead heap.
"No!" Emma cried, "not again." She rushed to his side and bent over his cold, lifeless body. She looked up at the queen and asked, "Why? Why did you do this?"
The queen guffawed, "I needed to get rid of him. He was useless."
Regina gave Emma a sympathetic look. Then she turned to the queen and glared. "What do you want? Why are you here?"
"Why, for you, of course." The queen surged forward and ripped Regina's heart from her chest. She admired the beating flesh in the palm of her hand. "I've been waiting for this for a long time. You weaken me. I think it's time that changed."
Before the queen could squeeze her heart, Regina yelled, "Wait! Listen, you're nothing without me. We belong as one. Please, don't do this."
The queen lightly squeezed, making Regina fall to her knees. "Why shouldn't I?"
Regina's voice strained, "Your anger, rage, and frustration are a part of me. I may not like it, but sometimes those qualities are needed to help me survive. Just like my forgiveness and love are parts of you. I was wrong to crush your heart before. If one of us goes, we'll never be the same."
"I'm counting on it," the queen replied. Her eyes grew darker as she crushed Regina's heart into dust.
Emma burst into tears and crawled to Regina from her position on the floor. "What have you done?!" Emma screamed with hot tears falling to Regina's face.
The queen laughed, "What needed to be done." And with that, she poofed away before Emma could exact revenge.
Emma caressed Regina's cheek then held her in her arms. She wept and held Regina close to her, shaking, and rocking back and forth. "I can't live without you. No no no. I can't do this. I need you. Henry needs you."
Wait….She can still save her. But Hook. Emma stood up. She looked at Hook and then Regina. No. Who do you choose? Your boyfriend? Or your son's other mom, the woman who sometimes pissed you off but whom you loved to death. Yes. Emma loved her. Hook was just an excuse and a warm body. Well, cold now. But did Regina love her back? Well, there was only one way to find out.
Emma got down on her knees and sat beside Regina. She took a deep breath and stuck her hand inside her own chest and pulled out her heart. Emma shivered while staring at her heart. She suddenly grew cold without it inside of her. Quickly, but carefully, she split it in half. As soon as she found her courage, she plunged half of her heart into Regina and the other half inside herself.
A few moments went by and nothing happened. After everything they've been through, this has to count for something. "Come on Regina, wake up," Emma pleaded. She checked for a pulse but still, nothing. She was about to break down again when suddenly, Regina opened her eyes and gasped for air.
"Emma?" Regina looked up at her. "What happened?" she asked Emma even though she already knew the answer. When she came to life she immediately felt Emma's essence inside of her. Her own magic, and Emma's, was coursing through her veins.
"You love me?" Emma asked, awestruck.
Regina sat up and grabbed Emma's hands. "Of course. You didn't know?"
"I guess I hoped," Emma smiled while playing with Regina's hands, "but now I know."
"Well, now that we've admitted our feelings, I'm afraid we have a more pressing matter to attend to. The other me," Regina frowned.
Emma leaned forward so that she felt Regina's breath on her face. "One more thing," Emma pressed her lips to Regina's and gave her a chaste kiss, to which Regina closed her eyes, "there. Now we can go kick some ass."
"Mmhmm. But since it's my ass, be careful," Regina chuckled, "she's going to be pretty riled up once she sees that I'm alive. Even more so."
"Right. Where's the potion?" Emma asked.
Regina pulled it from her coat pocket, "Right here, safe and sound."
"I have an idea. Okay, so Gold said as long as the potion gets into the blood stream, it'll work, right?"
Regina nodded. Emma continued, "Do you know if Robin left any arrows lying around?"
"Why? What are you going to do?" Regina questioned her motives.
"If the queen won't listen to you, our only option for you two to join again, is to trick her," Emma smirked. "Here's what we're gonna do…" Emma told Regina her plan to stop the queen from her path of destruction, and Regina frowned.
"Do you think it'll work?" Regina wasn't so sure.
Emma smiled and pushed Regina's hair out of her face, "I have hope," Emma grabbed her hand, "are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Regina replied.
The queen was strutting through Main Street, when out of nowhere a yellow bug came zipping toward her and stopped with a screeching halt. The blonde woman bolted out of the car and walked right up to the queen's face. "You're gonna pay for what you did."
The queen glared, "I will do no such thing."
"Do you even regret what you've done?" Emma cried, "any remorse whatsoever?"
The queen caressed Emma's cheek, making her flinch and tingle from her touch, "Regina was weak. She makes me weak. I couldn't let her live anymore."
"Well, that's too bad. Regina, now!" Emma yelled.
The queen whipped around right as an arrow pierced her chest. "Ow!" the queen seethed, "what is the meaning of this?"
Regina came out of the shadows and replied, "We belong together. We're going to learn how to get along and everything will be fine." She walked to the queen and hugged her. Thanks to the arrow dipped in the potion, now coursing through the queen's veins, Regina was able to merge with her. They both cried out in pain as their bodies molded together. Once it was over, Regina gasped in relief. "It's done."
Emma ran over to her and engulfed her in a giant hug. "I'm so glad you're okay." She placed kisses all over Regina's face until Regina laughed.
"Okay, okay haha. Me too," Regina smiled.
"Did Robin teach you to shoot like that?" Emma asked.
"No, actually. I taught myself," Regina shrugged her shoulders, "I wanted to impress him."
"Well, I'm impressed," Emma grinned, "now, come one. I want to show you something."
Emma and Regina walked to the bug and drove to the lookout point. Upon arrival, Emma pulled out her blanket from the trunk and laid it out on the ground. She then poofed two glasses and a bottle of wine to her hands.
Regina smirked, "What's all this?"
"After all this stress, you deserve a little relaxing time under the stars," Emma handed Regina a glass, "the sun will be up soon, though. We can watch our first sunrise together."
"I'd like that," Regina set her glass down.
Emma pulled her toward the blanket and they laid down, with Emma's arm underneath Regina's head and around her shoulder to act as a pillow. Emma tucked her other arm behind her head and gazed up at the stars. She turned her head to look at Regina to see her smiling in deep thought. "What are you thinking about?"
"How lucky I am," Regina turned her head and kissed Emma's nose, "I have Henry and you now. What more could a girl ask for?"
Moments passed. The slight breeze felt nice against their warm skin. The chirping of the crickets was music to their ears. Suddenly, and all at once, they both drifted into a peaceful slumber, not a care in the world.