This is a repost of the story I submitted to the SQSupernova back at A03 this year. I've kept the author's notes as they were and, since it's already finished there, I plan on posting every two days ;) Reviews are deeply appreciated!

A/N First of all thank you so much for everyone who read the first version of this and thought it wasn't a total crap (They know who they are) Also, thank you to the boost those first days for my cheerleader kxmalakhan on twitter.
This story is slightly different from what I've done before and, at the same time, it's something I feel that it's totally predictable of myself. Set in an AU reality, magic works and exists slightly different from what we know of OUAT's usual mechanics.
I truly hope you enjoy the ride alongside with Emma and Regina's story in where, no, they don't hate each other at first because, why not, and are already at the stage of deep friendship in where they both want a little more.
And don't worry, despite my inner evilness there's not character death in this one. I swear!

PS: Thank you to the SuperNova mods for making this possible. Hosting such a challenge is never easy and they managed not once but twice to do it so beautifully.

Prologue

The thump-thump on her temples was steady as she run, her boots hitting the poorly treated pavement in where muddy puddles would have reflected her face if she has dared to look downwards. Her lungs burnt and a worrisome jab seemed to bit on her chest every time she tried to drag yet another breath.

Around her, the small street was bathed in an almost yellowish light that came from the lamps firmly set on hinges to the brink that created the houses that hovered over her running form. She didn't have any more time and she could feel it on the cold sweat that was beginning to pool on the back of her neck, her blonde tresses hitting her face just as she looked at her right, her eyes trying to see anything on the dirty-packed floor.

Green eyes widening, she ducked to her left as the symbol she had been searching came into view; a quickly drawn swan that welcomed her just as she tripped, her right leg almost giving in beneath her own weight.

"No more doughnuts." She promised herself while turning abruptly, a small passage -about half of her own height- opening before her just a few meters away from the swan was just as a brawl of snarls and grunts could be heard echoing on the small and maze-like street she had been running through. Almost falling face-first into the dirty floor, Emma turned, a hand already grabbing her swan necklace in where a small dose of Mix shone slightly under the warmth Emma's fingers irradiated.

"Put that down." A voice whispered at her left, Regina's profile appearing through the shadows in where the small hiding place seemed to be bathed on thanks to the thick curtains strategically put together so the sun was mostly blocked as well as the entrance Emma had fallen through. "They are almost here."

Emma let the necklace down, the Mix's glow subsiding just as quickly as it had appeared. At the other side of the carefully hidden entrance more snarls -louder than before- could be heard alongside with a putrid smell that managed to find its way on their hiding place. Trying not to gag, Emma approached the entrance, careful to put her right hand over the small cylinder she had strapped to her hip. At her back, she could feel Regina moving, approaching her while a metallic murmur filled the place.

Turning towards where the brunette was already feeding a dose of Dust to her gauntlet, Emma pointed to the copper lines that run through the brunette's fingers, a spark already visible on the tips. "I thought you said that we needed to be quiet." She said through clenched teeth, trying to not make any sound that necessary.

"I said that you needed to stay put." Regina replied back, a smirk illuminating her, otherwise, somber expression. "Move, dear."

Emma complied and stared at the brunette woman who seemed almost a shadow as she approached to the entrance of their hiding place, her figure shuddering as she peeked outside. Emma, even though she knew perfectly well what had caused the shudder, looked as well over Regina's shoulder, biting down an insult as she saw the pack of black dogs that grunted and sniffed just a few feet of them.

The beasts -because they couldn't be described as anything else, had necklaces in where an "H" could be distinguished, the grey and black details of the necklace almost getting lost on the black fur that covered the body of the hounds. Hounds that almost passed as normal dogs if it wasn't for the red on their pupils and the small, yet obvious, copper disc placed at one side of their heads.

"I hate zombies." Emma muttered to Regina's ears, her fingers grazing the brunette's who let out a huff as she moved ever so carefully her right hand in where her gauntlet seemed to be already fully charged.

"The technical name…"

"I don't think they worry about their technical name, Regina."

Dragging a long-suffering sigh, Regina turned once again to the dogs, the leader of the pack seeming to almost make contact with her before turning to its second a gruff growl escaping its mouth that the other one answered with a snarl, beads of drool escaping its mouth and falling into the ground. The third and final beast had apparently picked another scent and was already moving further up south the road, something its brothers quickly did as well.

Both Regina and Emma took a step backwards, the blonde letting go the other's arm. Something she hadn't realized she had been doing.

"I hate dogs" Emma murmured, leaning her whole body against the small structure Regina had created as a vigilant post. A small place built thanks to the dead angles in the wall's surface.

"Strange, I have always thought you look like one."

Narrowing her eyes, the blonde muttered "Ha ha ha" Before pointing outside while Regina dismantled the gauntlet-like weapon in where just the barest amount of heat could be felt on the tips of her fingers. "You think he knows we are already here?

Regina rolled her eyes and handed Emma a small badge in where the silhouette of an apple tree was etched on its surface alongside with the number that made the woman part of the Division.

"I think we need to drop plan A and start with our plan B, dear."

Emma groaned, picking the badge and following Regina outside, towards the streets in where the putrid smell of the three black dogs still floated. Emma gagged once before she followed the small street upwards, towards the door she had been trying to break through before being caught.

"I should have listened to you." She murmured while grabbing the bracelet she had, its finishing very similar to the one Regina had, the rhythmic pulses it created growing in intensity, feeding on the small dose of Mix she had put on it before. The energy wasn't visible but Emma could feel it humming against her skin and necklace and for that she winced as Regina hummed noncommittally. "The guy we found yesterday wasn't telling the truth."

"You were the one who saw through his lies, not me." Regina replied, snapping her fingers; the friction of the copper filaments against each other created a small fireball she carefully maneuvered between her fingers.

"But I was the one who insisted we should try to surprise Hades at his own game… he is a madman trying to defeat the dead and raise animals from it for fuck's sake… how difficult that could have been?"

They both reached the door Emma had been trying to force, the skeleton key she had been using still dangling from the keyhole. The blonde sighed happily as the smell of rotten flesh was replaced by the smell of saltwater, its taste hovering in the air fainter than in Storybrooke but still strong in the small village they were in.

"I think we both know the answer to that question." Regina replied, tossing the fireball into the keyhole, effectively melting the cheap metal off its hinges. "Try to follow my steps… and don't touch anything."

"As if." Emma replied under her breath as she followed Regina once the brunette opened the door, the hangar they had found covered in darkness only partially lightened by the pool of grey light that seeped from the same room they stood in front of, eyes set on the darkness beyond the light. Grunts, however, or fangs, never came and so Regina lowered her left hand, the bracelet's filaments humming as she moved at her left, the sound of her boots against the paved floor faint enough for her to hid on the darkened room.

Emma, however, could still feel the hum of something else with them, something she really couldn't place growing against her necklace, the bracelet on her hand whirring as it fed even more power to the field it generated around her arm. The jacket felt heavy on her shoulders, dried sweat sticking to her skin as she took a step towards the darkness in front of her, her eyes noticing a shadow that seemed to cover the opposite side of the hangar.

"Regina?" She stage-whispered, pointing at the shadow she now could see more clearly thanks to her eyes getting accustomed to the darkness. The brunette rose a brow and nodded, rotating her wrist so her bracelet recharged again.

Taking a big gulp of air, Emma rose her arm, reading herself for an attack as she showed her badge to the silent darkness in front of them.

"Hades! We know you're here, show yourself!"

The darkness remained silent and Emma could only perceive Regina moving through the corner of her eyes, the brunette feeling about the closest wall closer to the door they had entered form.

"Close your eyes Emma."

Following her instructions, the blonde put her badge in front of her eyes, hissing as a mechanical whirring could be heard as a copper contraction came to light at her left; a generator in where Mix's batteries waited as a mechanical arm charged them into their receptacle, light growing from faint to strong in seconds, illuminating the hangar the two women quickly discovered as empty. Nothing but boxes upon boxes of the same discs they had seen in the dog's heads waited for the two of them, goblets and copper lines littering the several tables laid out around a poorly arranged laboratory in where the corpse of a rat was still waiting for its master to appear.

"This" Emma muttered as she kicked a broken glass whose sad remains shattered against her boot. "is not going to look good on our report."

A/N For these kind of events authors are paired up with an artist. In my case I was paired up withBlack_Byakko FFNET doesn't let me leave links but I truly rec her art and what she did with my idea. Also, a few friends -which were the absolute best and without them I wouldn't have been able to finish any of this, created fanart using the general outline of what I told them the story was going to be about months before I started writing for the supernova. Again, I can't link them but I've put it on my bio just in case. At the end of the story I mentioned them all so it's easier to know who did what. In case you want to check the art now -which I truly beg for it because they all ,the gorgeous napfreak among them all, made real pieces of art and I'm still unable to say how grateful I am of what they did- the tumblr they created is called sqmetallicink