AN: Short drabble of 5x02. I couldn't get it out of my head, and honestly, I wonder what the hell goes on in A&E's minds when they wrote OUAT to begin with. They have a thing for parallels and twists and background stories, but do they really understand their chain of events? Anyways, enjoy.
Disclaimer: Don't own the characters, obviously.
For a moment, she felt everything she's worked so hard to build slip away – for a moment, all of her heartbreak, all of her wars, all of her defeats, everything seemed so distant, powerless. She wasn't sure why she ever bothered to be anything other than what prophecy wrote her to be, why she even fought against the possibility of being the Savior. She almost hit herself for acting as if she had any control. Although everyone believed that she was created to break a curse, or that her duty was to fight every and any villain that crossed their paths, or even if she was somebody's happy ending, or friend, or mother – her destiny was written in the stars the exact moment a certain brunette kissed her True Loves lips for the last time. Emma's rightful place in the world as the Savior began the moment Regina fell into the hands of evil And every single choice she's made since entering the town line has always been on the road to Regina's redemption.
And then, to hear Regina's voice plead with her, "I have lost love before, and I won't again," struck a chord deep within Emma's heart. It's always been about her. It's always been about her love. Yet somehow she already knew that – and she didn't care. If there is one thing Emma has asked about her life, is if she had a purpose, if there was a point to all of this. And it never felt complete with anything she did. Yes, the town needed her, her parents needed her, Hook needed her. Even the concept of Henry baffles her, because he does need her, but Regina needed him the most. Emma can't quite wrap her head around the fact that Henry, her son, was the one to reopen Regina's heart to love, to humanity. That because Emma had attachment issues, and went to prison falsely accused, and gave Henry up for adoption – that that was how Regina found him, learning to be who she was before the Evil Queen.
Emma was on the breaking point. This woman, this maddening woman, with her newfound True Love bleeding out on the table, her magic failing her, her heart completely bare for the world to see, begging, pleading, hoping, that Emma might do something to help her, to use her Dark Magic that Emma has because of her, that she might find enough kindness to save him. And Emma almost screams at her, wants to shake her, because Emma's existence is directly tied to her in a way so intimately that it's still too hard to admit out loud.
And for only a moment, her entire body is shot – she's drained of emotion, tears barely slipping through the surface. But she finds her voice, knowing with her whole being that she'd do anything for Regina. "Alright. I'll try."
Before she left the room, after saving him, she looked back at Regina, watching her lean over him, kissing him, her smile lighting up the whole room, Emma bows her head. Even with the darkness in her mind, intertwining with her magic, giving her hallucinations, marking her skin, she would do anything to see that smile. And it almost makes her cry; she was in so much pain. It was a pain that she'd never felt before, but knew she would feel forever.
True love is magic, she used to hear her mother say, smiling, hopeful, giving Emma some sort of lifeline to hold on to in times of doubt. Yet now, being filled with the darkness created at the beginning of time, she only hears one voice, twisted, relentless, flooding every part of her being, reminding her that what might be perfect and light, has an equal side of destruction and pain.
Magic always comes with a price.