A/N: Hello readers! I am mainly a Fosters person, but venturing for the first time into OUAT fanfic (and actually the fandom...) so please be gentle.
Although I don't really fit into any ships I love Regina and Emma's friendship and dynamic and I wanted to do a little adventure story that focussed on them working together. The story is mainly adventure and character interaction so I have kept the canon pairings as is (though they don't really impact on the story). As I've tried to stick to canon as best I could there are spoilers for all 5 seasons. It's probably set a few months to a year after where the show is currently at (end of 5A) and as we don't know what will happen in 5B I've kind of left that ambiguous. Let's just assume that they rescued Hook as I imagine that is where the show will go and for simplicity I have left out any mention of Gold as I really don't know what will happen with that!
Anyhow, it's just a little fun to explore the things I have loved about Regina and Emma's kind of mentor/student/friend mentality at various stages in the show and I've tried to stay as true to characters as I can, balancing between their flaws, strengths and quirks from across all seasons.
Thanks for giving it a go and I hope that some people enjoy it. If it's not for you, thanks for getting this far!
A long, long time ago...
"It's destroyed! I need it back! I need more!" A rabid figure burst through the wizard's doorway. The figure was someone he had once known but his flowing brown hair had been replaced with wirey grey strands and his face was now gaunt with a new flash of madness in his eyes.
"You betrayed your intentions, King. I warned you."
"They're after me. This is all I have left! They tried to destroy it and now they seek to destroy me!" He clawed at the wizard's sleeve before he was sent flying back with a blast from the staff in at the end of his other.
"You may have robbed this land's magic but you are still at the mercy of mine, Caradagh."
"And I need the magic!" His eyes sparkled with desperation. "Give me your help. Make me another!" The tall, slender wizard scanned the creature before him. He was a shadow of the man who had come to him just two years before; aged by sudden power and dominance beyond his means that had collapsed around him even swifter than it had appeared.
"I will help you once more, King." The wizard squinted as he slammed his staff onto the ground. The house around them fell away and they were suddenly exposed to a howling wind on a vast mountain top. The dishevelled mortal grabbed his cloak tight, gazing up at the magician while trying to shield himself from the elements.
"You're going to help? You're going to make it whole again?" He gasped, falling to his knees and clasping his hands in prayer as snow and spit flew from his mouth.
The wizard didn't answer, instead he raised his staff to the dark winter sky. Carving a circular path through the air, the clouds above began to disperse and a green glow from the northern lights began to peek through. The top of his staff began to flicker and flash with the same colour as the lights dancing above, cracking out lightning bolts of pure green energy.
The ground behind him began to fall into a blue swirl. The earth they were standing on began to shake and move as he was gutting the inside of the mountain and stretching it out. The blue subsided to turn into a gaping dark hole into the cavity below and the wizard outstretched his arm.
"This is the best way I can help you, Caradagh." The wizard boomed before flicking his hand and drawing open the king's napsack. "You and everybody."
The king's face flushed with horror as an object floated from his bag and hovered over the hole.
"If I can't protect the world from it I will at least protect it from the world."
"No!" The king yelped as he dived off his feet and launched himself at the wizard's staff.
The king's screech fell to silence as he grasped at the top of the staff. The sparks flying from it zapped right through him, knocking him lifeless. As he dropped he managed to connect with his beloved contraption but all life within him was soon drained. The wizard swung his stick sending the body crashing into the darkening void as the world closed up above it.
"I'm tired, bored and not in the mood." Emma growled.
"Are they the three lesser known dwarves your mother keeps in the basement?" Regina raised an eyebrow as she strode into the Sheriff's office. "Well don't worry, I can at least solve the 'bored' issue." Emma didn't even open her eyes as she lay slouched back in her chair.
"The town may have been slow of late but you're still being paid - and if you wish to keep being so I suggest you get these filled in and returned to me by the end of the week." Regina added, slapping a file on Emma's desk. "That time of year again." The sheriff opened a single eye to look at the file and hesitantly flopped a hand on top of it to take a look inside.
"Accounts? This is meant to make me less bored?" She whined, tossing it back on the desk as Regina leaned against the edge of the opposite end.
"And I want to see some reflection on our new initiative on vandalism."
"I'm sure your tree being graffitied was a one time thing, Regina. I think a two month incarceration and community service order for what is probably a group of bored teens keying "I heart apples" into the mayor's apple tree is a slight over reaction."
"Well you would think that. You once hacked a branch off it." Regina growled back, not having found the humour in the incident.
"Well unlike that time, I'm sure this one was just a misunderstanding." Emma batted it away, hoping to change the subject from another rant. "Anyway, this will take forever, can I not outsource it to someone else. Hire an accountant or something?"
"Maybe we can get one for next year if you outline the budget in the document." Regina replied with a patronising smile tapping it as Emma sighed, unimpressed. "Either way it looks to me like a paperwork day may be a good thing. You hardly look in a state to be chasing criminals around."
"What criminals?" Emma finally pushed herself off her chair to pour a couple of coffees from the pot. "Aside from your little tree episode we haven't had any action around here since we came back from our little trip down under."
"And you're missing fighting for your life every day?" She scoffed. "I thought after everything we went through dragging the pirate back from the underworld you wanted some peace."
"No." Emma replied firmly. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Less magic around here has been a welcome change, trust me." She handed Regina a filled up cup. "I'm just grumpy. Thanks to a couple of crazy dreams I only got a couple of hours sleep last night."
Regina creased her forehead taking the drink. "You too?" She replied, thinking back to her own interrupted night. "Maybe our collective subconscious is trying to remember the good old days." She too had been feeling the effects of a lack of sleep and a strangely deflated morning. She would never admit it to Emma, but it was partially why she had decided to deliver the forms rather than sit alone in her office. If there was one thing Regina had learned, it was that being alone didn't help raise your spirits when you were feeling down.
Taking a sip of the coffee. Regina immediately grimaced. "Good lord, Swan. No wonder you're crabby. How do you drink this?"
Emma shrugged without reply. It wasn't exactly Granny's quality but she didn't have any complaints.
"Here. Maybe this will cheer us both up a bit." Regina commented, waving her hand at their cups. Looking down at the unchanged beverages, Emma raised her eyebrows at the former queen. She waved her hands and tried again.
"Are you trying to swat a fly or something?" Emma winced.
"I'm trying to get us lattes. What's going on?" Regina tried again but to no avail. She hadn't felt this powerless until just after the first curse had broken. Her tired brain catching up, Emma finally broke into a smirk.
"Need a power boost?" She teased, but Regina was too confused to register the prod. Seeing the concern growing on her face, Emma sat straighter and flicked her own hand to the same result. Now both women were sporting bemused looks.
"What does this mean?" She asked nervously. Before Regina could answer they were interrupted by a loud clatter of the door.
"Someone stole our magic!" Leroy's familiar panic boomed through the room. He was surrounded by his usual posse, a couple still sporting their pickaxe and with two of the nun-fairies in tow.
"Everybody calm down." Regina tried to settle the bustling crowd in the town hall, banging her gavel, as various inhabitants were voicing their panic.
"Most of you didn't even have magic." She added, irritated.
"Yeh, and it's all too convenient for someone to keep it that way!" Leroy shouted back.
"Regina is right. We need to keep a cool head." Archie piped up.
"But if nobody has powers then what if there is a threat from the outside?" Belle asked, trying to speak over the buzz and looking directly at Emma in her position just behind Regina. Her body was contorted into a tight clasp, her leather sleeves wrapped around her chest in awkward denial. It could have been the weariness but she had a strange feeling about this and not in the way she felt she should.
"Belle has a point. If someone stole the magic that could be to weaken us as part of a wider plan." Robin added as Regina threw him a glare, noting the instant surge in further paranoia of the rabble before her.
"That is not helpful." She whispered harshly to her partner as he threw his hands up, though she couldn't help but think the same thing.
"Enough. Enough." She tried to call order again with the piercing bangs on the stand. "Does anybody have any information at all about what happened? When was the last time anybody used magic?" She looked round to Emma, knowing she was the most likely candidate other than herself.
"Don't look at me." Emma shrugged awkwardly before looking across to Hook and remembering what magic had put them through over the last year. Regina nodded in understanding. They had long come to peace with what had occurred, but the respite from magic and its consequences that had followed had been a welcome relief. Thinking back to her own routines, Regina realised she had reduced her usage dramatically as well. With her life being more dedicated to Robin and their little family there had been a lot less time and a lot less need for supernatural hobbies.
"We used some yesterday." Mother Superior spoke up."And I've certainly been feeling more drained today. I could tell something was wrong as soon as I awoke."
"Was there any sign of broken entry to the mines?" The mayor added as the dwarfs responded. "They just look empty. As if something sucked them clean out again."
"Well we can't rule out that this attack was co-ordinated and deliberate. I will put together a task force and we will do what we can to locate what's ours and restore it as soon as possible." Regina stated clearly as Emma continued to shuffle awkwardly, reliving the dream and slipping back into her tired state.
"What if we don't need it back?" She piped up, more thinking aloud than anything else. Her comment was met by a stunned silence as she finally edged her gaze up to catch Regina's glare, looking more perturbed than angry, even in response to the increasingly restless audience.
"Emma..." A pregnant Mary Margaret interjected, slightly shocked at her daughter's response. With their third child on the way the last thing she wanted was a third pregnancy in danger."Not that we can't or won't just..." She began to backtrack, darting her eyes between all of those pointed to her. "I just mean that how are we going to track it without magic anyway? Or be able to find it." Her voice trailed stubbornly feeling Regina's chastising look strengthen.
"Not even the saviour is going to help?" Leroy asked angrily as more murmurs of fear followed.
"Your saviour and sheriff will be helping just like the rest of us." Regina settled them again, putting her fear over Emma's defiance aside for the moment. "And I may have a solution to obtain some temporary magic. Right now we just all need to not panic, carry on business as usual and be rest assured that we will get to the bottom of this." She asserted a firm look towards Emma who acknowledged it with a head tilt, accepting the reprimand for the timing of her comment. As Regina adjourned the meeting and the masses departed the usual task force had already begun to self assemble without prompting.
"What is the matter with you, Emma?" She whispered harshly before the others worked their way over. "What were you thinking saying that in front of the whole town? They may not have needed you as a saviour for a while but you're still their sheriff. They trust in you."
"They trust in us because we have magic which we have only needed to fight off more magic." Emma defended herself as Hook and the others approached. "I was just suggesting that maybe having a normal town without it could be a discussion worth having. Maybe this is just an opportunity."
"You don't believe that, Swan."Killian intervened, joining them. "If you were someone who gave up that easily we'd have probably had a roll around as early as in Neverland."
"You're quite the romantic." Emma rebutted the comment, unimpressed, as the pirate tipped his head with an eyebrow lift.
"I'm just wondering if now it's gone it could be less trouble to just leave it alone." She further reasoned looking back to Regina. The mayor was momentarily distracted giving Hook a look of disdain but soon noted what Emma had added.
She was geared up for a tirade but as she opened her mouth she thought about her own past experiences, Emma's attitude this morning and their mutually bad night. Pausing, she considered if that was more the key here than a genuine reluctance to return to the craft.
"You said you had that dream last night. What happened?" Regina squinted as Emma tried to think back.
"I dunno." Emma shrugged. "This shadow...thing...with a sort of...bell-shaped box...he kind of swept over me and -"
"Flew into the forest before disappearing in a flash of light?" Regina finished her sentence. Emma wavered slightly, clicking her teeth.
"This really was a shared subconscious thing, wasn't it?" She groaned, realising this would be harder to ignore than she had hoped.
"Emma, that reason you're feeling bummed out today...apathetic. That's the effects of the magic being sucked out. Trust me." Regina assured her. "You're reverting to your weakened state. You just need it back." Emma thought it over for a second, trying to think back over her past emotions with magic.
"I've lost my magic before. It's never felt like this." She disagreed, thinking it through.
"And you were probably on adrenaline. Or a different type of curse. I've been there. The reason you feel so bad is because a huge part of you has been drained."
Emma turned away, rubbing her arm nervously. "Or...maybe it just means that it has too much control and we're better without it."
"Because having control is such a bad thing..." Regina snapped back before Emma turned back gearing up for the stand off.
Seeing where this kind of tension could lead, Mary Margaret raised her hands between them.
"Arguing won't get us anywhere. We need to look at this sensibly..."
"Mom..." Emma cut her off, hurt as Mary Margaret silenced her with a gentle hand on her arm
"I don't mean that you don't have a point, but magic is part of you and this could be a side effect rather than how you really feel. It's worth at least trying to find out what happened before just giving up."
"Plus, this could be a real threat. I don't think magic just expires without someone pulling the strings." David added as Regina nodded, Emma slouching back in surrender. Clearly this was a battle she wasn't going to win, and after all, she knew they could have a point. Regina was rarely wrong about things like this and she did feel more physically exhausted than she usually would after a restless night.
"You said you had a way of getting temporary magic?" Belle had now joined them, prompting Regina to get back to business. "I do. At least I hope I do. A few little contingency plans based on the last few times we've been burned. I just hope my preservation spells were strong enough to have kept them. Belle, I need you to find out whatever you can on shadows, portals...bell/box thingys..." She listed, trying to remember what she could from the dream.
"That's not much to go on." Belle winced, knowing how hard portals had been in the past.
"Well I'm afraid it's all we've got for now. You three..." she looked at her former nemeses as they stared back at her waiting for their task. "I need you to step into our shoes while we've gone. Mary Margaret...you know your way around the mayor's office. Hold the fort..." She added reluctantly. As much as she now trusted them, she was still never entirely comfortable putting power in their hands. "But the decorating stays exactly as is..." She added firmed, remembering their past exchange of roles. "David, you can be the face of the sheriff's office while we're away. Hook..." she paused looking him up and down. "I don't know what I need you to do but make it useful."
"Wait, where am I gonna be?" Emma winced as Regina looked her up and down.
"You? You're coming with me. We're gonna find your inner saviour again." She ordered striding forward towards the door.
"I guess stuff is about to get interesting again." She muttered, raising her eyebrows to Hook as he squeezed her shoulders and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
"We haven't got all day, Swan." Regina called through as Emma sighed, resigning to her duty. Regina had to be right about one thing though, she couldn't feel much more disillusioned than she did right now.
Thanks for reading. Reviews always appreciated if they're encouraging, funny or constructive!
Next chapter preview:
"You've lost confidence in yourself." Regina finally mused. "You're not just retreating, you're losing your belief again."
"What?" Emma squinted as Regina tried to think back over other methods. She had been teaching her for a long time now and knew Emma better almost better than she knew herself. "You need a kick. We said before it's always been adrenaline that has avoided this before. Time to generate some."
"Regina?" Emma queried nervously as the sorceress got an excited glint over her teeth before disappearing in a puff of smoke.