I opened my eyes in shock, gasping as I bolted upright. My forehead slammed into the low ceiling, and I flopped back down to the bunk in pain. I groaned as my head began to throb.

I was struggling to remember why I'd woken up in such a panic when a rich, but hoarse, voice came from the bunk below me, "Do try to keep it down, dear. Some of us are actually trying to sleep."

"Sorry," I mumbled. I laid still for a few more minutes, but the pounding in my head was too much to take lying down. I swung myself out of the tiny space. It was nearly pitch black in the belly of the ship, but having been on the Jolly Roger for several days, I was starting to get a feel for the layout. I turned and took a step towards the door...

...and promptly tripped on something on the floor.

"Ow! Christ..." I flailed my arms trying to find my balance. I heard a faint snick, and light emanated from behind me.

"Really, you could've just lit a lantern."

I turned back and saw Regina climbing out from her bunk, a small flame held in her hand. She reached for the lantern swaying slightly from a hook in a crossbeam overhead. I sat down on the bench across from the bunks.

"I... didn't want to wake you," I replied, "again."

"Yes, and you did so well with that plan," she remarked sarcastically. With the lantern now lit, I could see her roll her eyes.

"Well I'm sorry for trying to be considerate!" I snapped and crossed my arms, wincing at the slight pull of my sore muscles.

Regina stiffened momentarily, then took two steps and sat down next to me, her thigh almost touching mine.

We were quiet for several minutes. The ship rolled beneath us, and I decided I was going to blame the movement of the pirate ship for making me trip.

I was about to give up and just go up on deck when Regina spoke.

"I'm sorry," she said it so quietly, I almost thought I'd imagined it. But then she continued, "It's so easy to… fall back into old habits. And I don't... I don't understand it, but you get under my skin, and I just... I'm just so worried about Henry…" Her voice trailed off, and she took to studying her hands.

I looked at them too. I noticed she was beginning to form callouses. I glanced at my own. Turns out callouses are common when taking a crash-course in sailing.

I furrowed my brow and took a moment to really look at the woman beside me. Her hair lay limp, her eyes had dark circles beneath them, and I was willing to bet she had lost some weight. She had long ago traded her skirt for a pair of pants, but they were looking even more baggy on her than when she'd first put them on. In fact, she looked even worse than when David brought her back from-

I felt a pang in my chest, and my heart began to break for Regina, and not for the first time, if I were honest with myself.

I relaxed and tentatively placed my hand on her shoulder. As safe a spot as any, I reasoned.

But as soon as my palm made contact, Regina shuddered. I looked closer at her face and saw silent tears making clean tracks down her cheeks.

I blinked.

It seemed so inherently wrong for her to be crying. She was a strong, take-no-shit, beautiful woman. She was supposed to be the Evil Queen, damn it. Evil Queens don't cry; they make other people cry.

I guess… I never really saw her as the fairy tale character, though. I always saw a woman fighting to keep her son and find her happiness, but doing it the wrong way. I just saw Regina.

It was almost an out-of-body experience, because without knowing it, my arms moved on their own accord, wrapping around Regina and pulling her into my chest.

I'm not sure why she didn't jerk away from me, considering all the time we were so hostile towards each other. But… we weren't always so awful to each other… I mean, I saved her life at least three times. And she saved mine at least twice. People who hate each other don't exactly save the others life…

She was all out sobbing into my chest, her hands clutching around my waist. I've never been a super touchy person, but then again, personal boundaries were blurred with Regina. I can't count how many times we'd argued, only to get into a glaring contest within inches of each other's face. Anybody else would yell at each other two feet apart.

My hand rubbed in absent-minded circles on her back. Every time I started to say something I thought would be comforting, like "shh" or "it'll be okay" or "we'll find him", the words stuck in my throat. I figured not saying anything would be better than saying the wrong thing and having her clam up on me.

Eventually, Regina's sobs quieted down, and slowly she pulled away from me, sniffling a little. She rubbed her eyes and breathed deeply a few times, as if trying to erase the signs of her breakdown.

I felt so awkward, like I shouldn't have witnessed that, or even been a part of it. And yet, I felt connected to this woman. It was so weird, and then again, it wasn't. It reminded me of…

"What happened in the mines?" I blurted, and she looked at me sharply.

"I don't know what you mean." She pushed some of her hair behind her ear, doing her best not to sound so nasal from crying.

"Don't play coy, Regina. What exactly went down when we used our magic together?"

"I could ask you the same. Honestly, what were you thinking? 'You're not strong enough, but maybe we are'?"

"Seriously, you're going to criticize my choice of words? It worked, didn't it?" I couldn't believe this woman.

"Yes, well, I can't argue with you there." She sniffed. "I don't know how it worked. I didn't think our magic would be compatible, and truthfully, that curse shouldn't have been able to be broken. The only thing that could've broken it would have to be…" She paused and swallowed. "Well, I don't know what."

"Why wouldn't our magic work together?" I asked, truly confused. "Magic is magic, right?"

Regina smiled, "Your inexperience shows. There are all sorts of magic, and not all of them work together. I won't go into detail, but basically, you have light magic, I have dark magic. For all intents and purposes, they shouldn't work together, except in the rarest cases."

I nodded, trying to understand. "So, what happened was like… an accident?"

She shrugged, "If you want to put it in layman's terms."

I furrowed my brow. "You said light and dark only work together in the rarest cases, what does that mean?" A memory sparked in my mind, "And didn't our magic work together before?"

The brunette looked at me strangely. So I continued, "You remember? With the hat? It wasn't working, and then I touched your arm?"

"Oh…" she breathed.

"Didn't you…" I decided to take a risk, "Didn't you feel it then? And again in the mines? Tell me," I swallowed hard. "Tell me I'm not crazy. Tell me it's not insane that I feel so…"

She refused to meet my gaze and stayed silent.

I huffed. "Fine, whatever. I'm going to go get some air." I got up and started out of our cabin.

I made my way up on deck, and I was surprisingly pleased with myself for not tripping on anything on the way. I stood at the side of the ship, hands gripping the rail tightly.

The swells of the ocean rolled the ship gently. The salty wind rushing through the rigging made just enough noise to break up the silence of the night. There was a full moon out, so it was relatively easy to see. I closed my eyes to the sight of endless water.

I couldn't understand why Regina would let herself go and bawl her eyes out with me holding her, and then shut me out not five minutes after she pulled herself together.

Scratch that. I knew why. I would've done the same thing, if I'd broken down at all. Never let them see you cry, that's what I learned early in life. Show weakness and you'll be crushed. She and I were too much alike in that respect. We both knew to do whatever necessary to protect ourselves.

But then when she was talking about the diamond, how it shouldn't have been able to be broken, I swear she knew something. I could tell she almost said something about the only thing able to break it. My brow furrowed as the thought sparked in my mind. Wait-

Didn't Gold say something about True Love breaking any curse? About it being the only magic powerful enough to transcend realms? Wasn't True Love's kiss how I woke up Henry from that sleeping curse? Isn't love why Cora couldn't take out my heart? Wasn't I the one who said "Love is strength"?

My mind started rushing, with my thoughts swirling around. I felt dizzy. My chest felt like it was being crushed. Everything I was thinking to try to explain why Regina's magic and my magic work together… Everything I was thinking to try to figure out how we stopped the diamond… How we made the hat work… Everything was pointing to… It couldn't be…

Something touched my arm, and I gasped, whipping around to face whatever it was.

Regina's eyes widened, and I realized the air around me was crackling. My fingers were tingling like crazy, and I looked at them. They were sparking blue as my magic escaped me.

Regina grabbed my hands and forced me to look at her. "Calm down. You need to get your magic under control. Magic is driven by emotion, so whatever it is, step back from it and calm yourself down." Her voice was strong and steady as she guided me through a few breathing exercises. I could feel her own magic touching mine as she tried to help me calm down. It was…. Well, for lack of a better word, it was intimate. I could almost see the tendrils of purple mingling with blue in the back of my mind, lacing themselves together into an intricate pattern…

I took a shaky breath, finally pulling myself back together. Regina sighed and relaxed her grip on my hands, but didn't let go.

"Thank you," I said. "I… I don't know what that was."

"You just need to learn how to control your emotions. Everyone who uses magic has to learn that," she said. I don't think she noticed her thumbs rubbing over my knuckles. "You'll probably have a harder time with that, because it runs in your veins. You're the product of True Love, after all. The White Knight and everything."

I quirked my head. True Love. That reminded me what I was thinking before my, well, episode. "I was thinking… I was thinking about the diamond, how you said nothing could stop it. What if- what if True Love stopped it? Gold said it was the only magic powerful enough to break any curse, and even," I swallowed, acutely aware of her hands tensing on mine, "And even transcend realms."

Regina dropped my hands, and I was sorry to have lost the contact. "I don't know about that." She turned away from me and faced the moonlit ocean. She held onto the rail, and even in the dim light I could tell how hard she was gripping the wood.

I nodded, "Okay." I still had some thinking to do on that particular subject anyway.

I turned to stand beside her and looked at the ocean too. "I'm going to need to learn how to control my magic."

Regina scoffed, "Good luck with that."

"I want you to teach me. Teach me how to control my outbursts and how to use my magic."

"What?" I saw her tense out of the corner of my eye.

"Look, it's you or Gold. No one else on this pirate ship has magic, and I don't really want to be learning it from the Dark One. Plus, our magic works together," I shrugged as I turned to face her once more. "It only makes sense. Especially after what just happened."

Regina was silent for a moment. Then she turned to me, "Fine. But you have to follow my instructions implicitly."

I looked at her and stuck out my hand to shake, "Done."

She looked at my hand like an exotic animal before taking it and briskly shaking once before letting go. I smiled, and with the moonlight I could see her eyebrow quirk.

AN: Leave it here or keep going?