Princess Emma was not one for tears, and yet she found them to be inescapable as she ran around her bed chambers collecting items of clothing. She was packing as fast as was humanly possible, at the base of the bed she had placed an enormous trunk into which every article was being placed. Or, as she was in a frantic hurry, thrown as the whirlwind that was Emma passed by in all her fury. She wished to be gone before the queen called on her this evening, she had to be gone by then because there was no way she could face Regina. Not in the state she was in.
Emma sobbed brokenly to herself as she paused above her trunk in indecision, unsure of herself. She wasn't sure she could actually bring herself to leave the safe haven that had become her home over the past decade. She wasn't sure whether she could leave this familiar, secure place for the cold halls in the White Kingdom she had once called home. She wasn't sure if, when push came to shove, she could actually bring herself to leave her Queen, no matter how heart broken she became. The one thing she had always sworn she would never do was break her Queen's heart.
Yet Emma was sure that by leaving this would be exactly what she would do. If she stayed, her Queen's heart would stay fixed, but Emma's would break more and more with each and every passing night. Every night when the Queen visited her, when she was in the deepest throes of passion, when she was most vulnerable, she would call out a name. A name that was not Emma. At first, before her feelings had grown beyond comprehension, Emma had not minded very much. Or at least that was what she had told herself. And yet with the passing of time, as her feelings had grown, Emma had found that it bothered her a great deal.
As more time passed, with the Queen never once shouting her name, not once in nearly a decade of them being lovers, Emma began to feel her fragile heart falling apart at the Queen's feet. Which was apt because she had promised Emma's mother that she would destroy the woman's happiness if it was the last thing she did. So she had taken her daughter, and made the daughter wholly and completely hers whilst never giving herself up.
No, over the past decade she had firmly remained her Daniels. Emma lived in the shadow of a boy two decades dead, trying desperately to get the queen to love her, to no avail. Not once had the Queen uttered those words to her, not even under the deep cover of darkness. And yet still Emma had allowed herself to hope. But last night everything had changed. During their time together, the Queen's eyes had remained firmly locked on Emma's, she hadn't looked away once, she had scarcely blinked, and yet she had still cried out Daniel' name where Emma's should have belonged.
Emma felt such a fool, a heart broken fool, but a fool nonetheless. She had allowed herself to indulge in the childish fantasy of happily ever afters and true loves and saving the woman she lived with all her heart from the darkness. But Emma was no longer a cold and she couldn't stay when she knew she wasn't loved. Last night had shattered the dream world she had oh-so-carefully constructed for herself, and now there was nothing left here for her but the shards of the shattered image she knew she wouldn't be able to piece back together on her own.
And so, with a heavy heart and an empty feeling in her stomach, when morning had come with the rising sun, Emma had risen with it and begun to pack. She had been at it for hours, debating what to take and what to leave. She hadn't thought of how she would get past the guards yet, but she would do whatever it took, there was no way she could stay here any longer, she wouldn't survive another night of Daniels being called out in the firelight.
The sun was beginning to sink in the sky, and Emma was finally done with packing. She took a moment to try and gain her composure, studying herself in the mirror to ensure any evidence of her day spent sobbing in her chambers were hidden. As she rose, she paused for a second to check the camber, to make sure she had everything she wanted to take with her. By the window she spotted the swan necklace Regina had given her for her last name day, but she left it ere it was. She didn't want too many things with her that reminded her of Regina. With a heavy, broken sounding sigh, she bent to close and secure the lid of her large trunk, when a voice like liquid sounded behind her.
"Just what is you think you're doing?"
Emma closed the lid of her trunk with a click that sounded like finality. "Leaving."
She heard Regina's sharp intake of breath as it left her body, and she knew that if she turned she would see the hurt plastered across Regina's face. Regina released a shaky breath before asking "And why is that, dear?" Emma could hear the quaver in Regina's voice.
She straightened from her bent position, still not daring to turn and face Regina. In a small voice she answered "Because I cannot stay anymore."
She bent to pick up her trunk, the faster she escaped, the better.
"What did I do? Please, Emma don't leave."
Emma was already at the door of her chambers. "I have to, I can't stay."
"Why not? Please don't leave me."
Emma's heart broke even more, still she took a deep breath and tried again. "I have to go."
"Why? Emma we're happy, aren't we? What did I do?"
Emma dropped the trunk, Regina sounded like a small and very confused child. She turned to face her. "I can't stay because I love you and you don't love me and it breaks my heart every day."
The look of surprise on Regina's face would have been priceless in any other situation. Emma just found it heart breaking at the moment. It only lasted for a second before it was replaced with a look of anger and determination. Before Emma could comprehend what was happening, Regina was in front of her. Emma took a step back and found herself pressed against a wall, Regina trapped her there with an arm on either side of her head, her face mere inches from Emma.
"You presume that because I do not say some words or look at you as though I am star struck, I do not love you." She pauses and catches Emma's eyes and her voice dips dangerously, Emma knew she is furious. "How dare you! I love you more than I have ever loved another being, you will not leave me, you are mine. Do you hear me?"
Before Emma could respond, Regina captured her lips in a bruising kiss that staked her claim and left them both breathless. Regina pushed their foreheads together and in a much softer time continued "You are mine, no one else's and you must stay with me, after all these years I cannot part with you, it would break my heart."
Emma caught her breath and, although she desperately wanted to accept Regina's words, she couldn't quite, not yet. "What about Daniel? Every night, when we are together. It is not my name you call but his, every night without fail."
She could feel,the tears pooling in the corners of her eyes once again as Regina stared at her with confusion once again. After a long moment comprehension flitted across her face and she cursed darkly in the way a Queen should not. "Do you remember, not long after you came to me, that I told you a curse had been placed upon you to prevent you from feeling true happiness? When you hear Daniel's name, from my lips it is your name but you can not hear it because that would make you happy."
Emma finally understood, a grin replaced the sad frown on her face and she pushed forward off of the wall to capture Regina's lips in a heated kiss. This time, when they came together, Emma heard her name fall from the beautiful Queen's lips and it felt like bliss.