A/N: This story takes place right when Emma and Regina are stopping the trigger, it also avoids the trip to Neverland. Tamara and Greg aren't really in this, I'm not really interested in their story line. Neal is gone and presumed dead. All errors are my own. This is my Swan Queen Week: Magical Mishaps. Entry for "Body Swap". ENJOY!
Affinity
Chapter One: Soul Exchange
"You might not be strong enough, but maybe we are."
Regina looked up from the trigger, unsure of what she had heard, but when she saw determined eyes looking back at her, everything was clear. They would stop this trigger, if it was the last thing they did, because it could very well be exactly that.
Snow and Charming quickly made their way with Henry to a far end corner as Emma came to face the trigger. She slowly started placing her hands in the same way that Regina had hers.
Magic is emotion, she kept telling herself.
Blue sparks started to shoot from Emma's hands; they hit their target instantly and started mingling with purple ones. Regina looked up at Emma; hope, strength, she felt it, and it was all wrapped up in a warmth, enveloping them both with determination. She could feel Emma's magic and how it combined with hers, the combination was… she didn't know what it was, but it was strong.
It hit every nerve in her body, making her stomach flutter and goose bumps appear throughout her skin. Their hands started shaking, then arms, shoulders… their bodies feeling the powerful buzz. Their magic was stopping the one thing that threatened the town and the lives of everyone in it.
Suddenly, an explosion of energy sent both women crashing to different ends as the trigger landed on a rock, giving its last signs of power. It had a blue glow with light purple and blue sparks until it died out, going dark.
Both women started to come back to their senses, slowly.
Regina's eyes started to flutter, but she felt a pain in her head. Did she hit something?
"Ugh…" the blonde was struggling to get up, but once she did she came face to face with the body in front of her.
"What the –"
Shock started seeping through the blonde as she took in the image. At first she thought she was seeing things, maybe she hit her head on the way down and that's what's making her see herself on the floor. When she placed her hand on her right temple, noticing some blood there, it only made sense that it could very well be the effects of a head injury.
As the image in front of her started to regain consciousness, Regina took a closer look at her hands. They were not hers, and yet they moved where they needed to, they collected a bit of blood from her temple, she winced at the pain, and she stared at the fingers. Eyes wide at the fair skin fingers, fingers that now had a few drops of crimson. Then she noticed the long golden hair, the clothes she was wearing… Her body felt so different to her, she was a stranger to it; was she taller? No… no…
"No. What's going-" Regina spoke, finally voicing it to herself.
She was even more shocked to find that her voice was definitely not her own, it was lighter in register, it was Emma's.
"Oh my God." This can't be!
"EMMA!" her thought process was cut off my Snow's frantic voice, she saw the woman's face, filled with worry. It had felt strange, she had never seen that expression directed at her before, at least not from Snow White of all people. The woman was the cause of so much of her pain and yet for a second she had almost welcomed this feeling, of having someone be worried for her, just for a second of course.
Snow went immediately towards her daughter. Charming was by her side. Regina was crushed by a hug, Snow was hugging… her, this got her back to her senses immediately. She quickly pulled from the embrace.
"What are you doing!? Get your hands off me." Regina snapped without thinking, she sure as hell wasn't ready for that kind of contact from Snow, but as she saw Snow's expression, a mixture of confusion and hurt, she knew she would have to explain the sudden outburst.
After taking a much-needed breath, she explained "I'm not Miss. Swan."
"What?" If Snow looked confused before, she was beyond the realm of understanding now.
"Honey are you alright? You did hit your head."
Snow was cut off when a loud gasp came from behind them. The three turned to look back at the brunette who was looking just as shocked as the blonde had a few moments ago.
"What the-?" "I… Wha…"
They all stood there watching as the brunette kept examining herself, her eyes were wide, mouth open, she was in obvious shock.
When Emma finally looked at Regina, she couldn't say a word, she just kept staring.
"I'm Regina." She didn't take her eyes off Emma.
"What just happened?" After what seemed like forever, Emma finally spoke. The question was exactly the first thing Regina had expected, but she quickly answered with…
"My eyes are green." Regina took a couple of steps closer to examine her body more closely. Everything looked the same, except for her eyes, her eyes were green.
Emma didn't move a muscle, she was still grounded to the spot.
Charming interrupted "Wait… What's going on?"
A hand grabbed Regina's. Henry had come from the corner and was watching the scene unfold.
"Mom?"
Regina didn't know what to say. Did he mean her or Emma?
Henry then noticed the brunette who was still in shock and he let go of his mother's hand.
"Emma, are you ok? Emma?" he had slowly made his way to his other mother.
"Yeah. I'm… I don't know." Emma wasn't quite used to hearing herself speak in a lower register, it felt wrong.
"How could this happen?" seemed like Snow was catching up quickly, while her husband still seemed lost.
Snow's eyes went from blonde to brunette and then to the floor, shaking her head in disbelief.
"No No No…" she was losing it.
This was by far one of the most awkward situations they could find themselves in. Her former step-mother and her daughter had switched bodies. Some things should only be written in tales. This was so not right.
"Mom?" Henry still confused by it all, looked straight at Regina, an unspoken question in his eyes.
"Yes, dear, it's me." Regina had reached her son who was still beside Emma. She leaned down and saw the look of utter confusion on his face. She brushed his hair away from his forehead and cupped his cheek while giving him a small smile.
"It's me." She confirmed for good measure
"Is someone going to tell me what's going on?" Charming kept watching Snow pace from one end to the other.
"They switched bodies! But… How? I don't understand… this is insane!" she was definitely losing it.
Emma had started breathing again; she hadn't even noticed she was holding it. She was well enough to start making sense of this situation. She placed a hand on Henry's shoulder and squeezed gently while giving him a reassuring smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, eyes that were green. It was strange, Regina's body with Emma's eyes and vice versa.
"The trigger… it must have-"
"Yes, it's the only way this could have happened." Regina continued for Emma, she was straightening herself, only just now realizing how sore her body was from the fall. Damn, Swan. You fell hard, didn't you?
"But how?" Snow kept asking
Charming had obviously cached up, if the expression of complete shock that rendered him speechless was of any clue.
Like father, like daughter. Regina thought
"I don't know." Regina really had no idea of how this could have happened, except that it must have happened when they stopped the trigger.
"You mean to tell me, you (he pointed at the blonde) are not really you, because you are really her (he pointed at the brunette) and she's really you (he pointed back to the blonde)" said Charming while scratching the back of his head with his other hand.
Regina and Emma rolled their eyes at him.
"This is weird." Henry said to no one in particular.
Weird doesn't even come close, kid. Emma was still in shock, this was really strange.
"Sweetie, I love you, but right now we need to figure out how to undo this. So, you need to snap out of it." Snow looked seriously at her husband, who said nothing more, knowing that it probably wouldn't help.
They all heard a chuckle and stared at Emma.
"Sorry, it's just. We save a town from certain destruction and end up with our very own version of Freaky Friday."
"Do you find this funny, Miss. Swan?" Regina was staring right at her, anger starting to prickle at her senses.
"As much as I hate to admit it, Snow has a point. We need to find out how this happened and undo it. I am not about to spend my days like…" she made a gesture with her hands from top to bottom of the body she was currently inhabiting and finished with "this." Her face was a mixture of disgust and anger.
"Well, I'm not about to throw a body swap party anytime soon, Regina. I'm definitely not thrilled about this whole situation either." Emma was beginning to fume. This sucks.
"Would you both stop!? Fighting with each other isn't going to solve anything." Henry was past tired of seeing his moms battle it out like five year olds.
"I think we all know who can help with this." Henry offered
"Gold." Snow looked at her grandson, seems they were thinking the same thing.
Gold truly was the only person that could help them. He was mourning the loss of his son and was not inclined to help them now, but it was the one person that they had.
"Then that's what we'll have to do." Emma could only agree, after all, he was powerful and even though she was still wary of him, she saw no other possible choice in the matter.
"Henry… I…" Regina was about to oppose, but then she saw her son's pleading eyes, she saw love there as well, and something that looked like determination. So, even if her mind wanted to run away from possibly owing anything else to that imp, her heart would always do anything to make her son happy.
"Ok." She nodded in agreement and took Henry's shoulder giving it a squeeze. "Ok."
They all made their way to Mr. Gold's shop. On their way they saw the town's people hugging each other, celebrating the fact that they lived to see another day. Relief seemed to spread throughout the town of Storybrooke.
"You should really take Henry home. I don't know how long this will take us, but I promise we'll call if we find out anything."
Emma was trying to reason with her parents who kept looking at her all funny. Obviously they weren't used to the brunette talking to them like this, even if it was really Emma. If she was honest with herself, she wasn't even close to comfortable with this whole thing either. Still, there was no time for all these thoughts. They needed to find a cure, a potion, a spell, anything that could help them switch back.
"But, I want to go." Henry knew he could be of some use.
Regina quickly knelt next to her son "Henry, I know you want to help, and you will, but right now Miss. Swan and I need to have a talk with Mr. Gold. I promise that once we're done with that, we will go to you. A lot has happened in town since the trigger was activated, Greg and Tamara are most likely still out there and I don't want them to get their hands on the one thing I love most in this world. You. So, please, listen to us and go with your grandparents. I promise we'll be back soon."
Regina gave him a watery smile.
"You promise? You'll come back, the both of you." Henry's eyes were brimming with tears
"We promise, kid" Emma knelt as well and wiped a tear from his face.
"Ok." He smiled at them both and gave them a hug.
Emma and Regina both had their arms to their sides, letting their son have what he needed most, the comfort of his moms.
After a short while Henry let go, smiled, and turned around to leave with the Charmings.
As both women watched their son leave, they had the same expression of pride on their face.
"He is wonderful." Emma said
"That he most definitely is." Regina glanced at Emma and with that her smile faded.
Emma looked at Regina and stated
"We need to get to Gold's"
"Yes, we really do."
Regina opened the door to Gold's shop, Emma following behind. The little bell rang and they looked around.
"Rumpelstiltskin!" Regina spoke loudly enough to be heard from the back of the store.
Belle and Rumple were behind the counter when the two came in. Rumple stepped away from Belle and directed his attention to them.
"Miss. Swan, Regina… I see the trigger did not destroy the town and that you both are in one piece. So, forget my bluntness, but, Why have you grazed me with your presence? As I'm sure you could be elsewhere."
"Oh nothing, just some magic doing its thing and now I'm wearing four-inch heals that could probably kill someone when thrown at the right angle." The brunette said as of matter of fact
"Regina, I'm sure your choice of footwear is of no immediate concern-"
He was cut off by Emma's voice
"Of course it's not, but what is of MY immediate concern is that I'M currently playing host to Miss. Swan's body, a body if I may add, that is in desperate need of some pain medication. Damn it, Emma, you really fell hard." That last bit was directed to the brunette
Gold didn't show any indication of understanding their situation.
"Ugh, listen Gold, take a gooood look." the brunette made a gesture of her eyes "See anything particularly out-of-place?"
"I see." It was all he could really say
"Is that all you can say? I see?" Emma was losing her cool
"What else should I say?" Rumple asked
"Obviously, this isn't helping… Listen, somehow we, our bodies, well they switched places and we need your… assistance." Regina knew she would never ask for his help, but assistance, that didn't make her sick to her stomach.
"If it were in my power, dear, to help you with this… Do you really think I would?" the sarcasm was oozing from his mouth
"Listen to me, Gold. I'm in no mood for games, so either you help us or you don't. Either way… How do you think Henry would feel if he knew his grandfather didn't help his moms? How do you think Neal would feel?" Emma was practically shouting
"Neal is gone!" Rumple gave the brunette a piercing look and then something that looked quite like sadness
Silence fell and after a few moments Belle stepped next to Rumple
"Rumple… help them. This will obviously affect your grandson and… he is your family." Belle spoke kindly to her beloved, trying to convince him of making this one small effort, maybe a start to redeem himself.
She grasped his left arm and squeezed, giving him a small smile and as quickly as that Rumple took a steady breath and looked at both women.
"Honestly, there is nothing I can do." He raised his hand before any of them could interrupt. "At least not with magic. I can only give you the why, knowledge if you will. I suppose you wish to know why this happened." It wasn't a question but more a mere fact.
"We do." Regina said plainly
"I must first ask you something." Emma looked at Regina, then back at Rumple and they both nodded
"What happened right before the exchange?"
"We were stopping the trigger…."
Regina explained as much as she could remember from the few seconds before everything happened.
"I see… From what I can tell your souls exchanged the moment your combined magic stopped the trigger. Magic is emotion and as you both should know… some souls can recognize each other. Some souls are bound to each other, a bond that time after time, these souls would find a way to reunite with each other. They must have met at some point when your combined magic was struck and bounced to the nearest body once the trigger emitted the explosion. They say that you can see the person's soul through their eyes. Why do you think your eyes are still your own? You are definitely not in your own body and yet they are yours." Rumples voice gave a sense of wonder, almost as if he could not believe what had happened to them.
"Wait, what are you saying?" Emma scratched the back of her head
Regina lifted an eyebrow and gave him a smirk "Lies… I don't want to play this twisted game."
"I'm not playing games and I'm not lying." Rumple looked dead serious
The smirk on Regina's face fell, her eyes went wide and she exploded
"Daniel died a long time ago, if you quite remember, and he was the only one my soul could ever belong to!"
"Yes, I do remember, but things change and the true companion to your soul is literally all over your face."
"I am not going to listen to this." Regina looked like she might throw up, she was so done with this.
"Well, dear, you did ask for my… assistance."
"You would have me believe that she (points at Emma) she's my… No." Regina was already half way to the exit, her hand on the doorknob when Emma finally spoke.
"She's my soul mate? Regina? Are you on crack? This is… it's… crazy!" Emma was torn between laughing her ass off and screaming some more.
"Yeah… crazy." Regina whispered so low that no one actually heard
Regina turned around, and made her way back to Rumple. She stared him down to see if there was any malice to his words, but when she saw none, she went very quietly to Emma…
"We need to get back to Henry." Emma stared back at her in disbelief.
Was Regina actually buying this crap? Emma let herself think this for a moment. Nah.
"He'll be worried." Regina finished stating
"Fine. We're obviously not going to get any help from him." she shook her head in disbelief. Gold likes to play games and that's what this is… a game.
"Whether you believe me or not, you know what you have to do, Regina. Unfortunately, you cannot do it alone." Rumple looked from Regina to Emma, took his cane, Belle came to his side, and they both went to the back once more.
Both women made their way to the door.