This really is quite daunting, putting my writing out here! I am 16 years old and am still a student, so please be aware that my grammar may not be perfect. Please do review this if you take the time to read… it will definitely encourage me to continue. For now, enjoy this chapter introducing Dark Emma and Regina's initial reaction to the sacrifice.
Chapter One
Regina sees the shadow of a hunched figure nestled in between two adjacent trees. Her heart aches for the shrunken form that emanates dark magic with every rise and fall of its breath.
The darkness had usurped Emma's fragile body as quickly as it had left Regina's own. You have worked too hard to have your happiness taken away. Regina could hear nothing else but her heartbeat and Emma's words as she stood, stranded, against the evil that devoured Henry's birth mother. Yet, Emma was so much more that… Emma was light magic. Emma was hope. Emma was the saviour. And stopped being Henry's birth mother the second she saw beneath Regina's evil facade. It whilst these thoughts were attacking her brain that Emma herself was slowly dissolving in to a black cloak, biting at the streaks of blonde and the red eyes that above anything else, appeared terrified. Within one sharp intake of breath Emma was gone, leaving only the clattering sound of the dagger falling to the floor in her wake. Regina fell. The ground was the only stability against her crumbling shell; even that seemed fragile as her feet gripped against the stone. You have worked too hard to have your happiness taken away. She had become aware of a fractured gasping sound, only to realise that it was own. Robin placed his hand on the curve of her back as she rocked, seeing nothing but the darkness and the pain and her past and the future and emmaemmaemma. A low wail punctured her thoughts. A sound so drenched in suffering it was barely human. Yet, Regina knew all too well it was. It was a sound she had heard escape the mouths of her victims… a sound she had made herself many years ago in a stable.
The screams kept jumping from Snow's mouth like insects feasting on her pain: a pain that wouldn't numb, even with her husband's warm grasp on her shoulders. Regina began to feel her own hurt subside in to anger. Anger at herself. .. and Emma for being foolish enough to trade her happiness for an evil queen's. Regina jerked upwards, startling Robin as she stalked away.
"Regina? Regina!" Robin pawed at her arm, attempting to shake away her ingrained emotion. She pivoted angrily and tried to love his worried face, yet her heart was devoid of emotion- only the aching reminder of Emma seeped through the cloud. She lifted a hand to caress his rough chin, "I'm sorry, Robin. Just go and find-"
"-Henry and Roland. Yes, I know."
Regina tried to give a watery smile at her soul mate, as he again proved his title. She dropped her hand and continued towards the shop, her feet carrying every emotion in her body.
"Rumple? Rumple! RUMPLESTILTSKIN!" Regina tried to hold her voice together, yet it broke on the last "Rumplestiltskin", a hoarse shriek that masked the sob that choked at her vocals. A pretty brunette came out with eyes like wide orbs in fear as she stared at Regina in disbelief. "Belle! Belle, where is Rumple?" Regina barked at the young woman, starling her even further.
"He's resting. Er Regina, why do you require him so urgently?" Belle wavered as Regina began to march towards the back of the shop. Her hand pushed open the light curtain and there, on a bed, was the infamous Dark One, asleep.
"Where is she?" Regina snapped at the previous wizard, looking helpless amongst the blankets and silvery hair that framed his sharp features, "Where is Emma?"
Rumple's eyes opened reluctantly, sighing at the sight of his former student who was leaning close to his face, her own eyes glistening with rage and… fear. A small smile taunted his face, "And why do you suppose I know where she is, dearie?"
Regina narrowed her deep brown eyes, "You're not the Dark One anymore Rumple. You're powerless. You're an…" she looked him up and down with an equally mocking smile, "old man." She watched as Rumple's face clouded. He cleared his throat and sat up slowly, careful to not to worsen his headache.
"Get. Out. Regina," he hissed, "Unless you have the dagger, you are of no use to me."
The dagger. Where was it? It had fallen to the ground after Emma had – had disappeared. A quiet cough caused both the old man and former queen to turn and stare at Belle. In her hand was a sharp, jagged object. A dagger. The dagger.
"Regina,' Belle whispered softly, "It has… it has Emma's name on it".
The ground beneath Regina subsided once again, her fall only cushioned by Belle's hands as she held the once evil queen. Rumple's face had also turned a sickly white under the realisation that his power was now harnessed by another.
"I found it just outside the shop entrance," Belle continued tentatively, "it was like it had wanted me to pick it up." She handed the object to Regina with a sad smile, "I'm so sorry."
The weapon felt alien in her hand and she wanted nothing more than to hurl it at the wall. Or better that, at Rumple. Emma's name was engraved in the same fine lettering that Rumplestiltskin's had been in; the 'Swan' reflected the dull lights of the shop and casted an ominous shadow against her shaking hand. Very carefully, limb by limb, she untangled herself from the ground and began to walk out of the door, masking her fear with the familiar composure of a broken queen – the same composure she had often been forced to adopt back in the Enchanted Forest. Her jacket seemed to tighten and all she ached for was fresh air and the knowledge of Emma's safety. Yet, as she stepped in to the cool night, she felt a soft touch against her arm.
"If I were Emma, I would have gone in to the woods," Belle breathed, careful not to alert her husband (Regina would never understand the attraction to that man), before quickly allowing the building to envelop her silently.
And now, here she is in the woods, unsure of how to approach the fragility that Emma dissipates. Fragility and power: a lethal combination as Regina knows too well. She steps a little closer, wincing at the crunch she causes underneath her boot. Emma's head whips round and Regina has to swallow the gasp she almost lets escape at Emma's appearance. Her eyes, once an enchanting green, are now raw and angry as if the darkness has scratched away any light.
"Regina?" Emma says carefully in to the heavy air, "Regina? I'm pretty sure only you would be brave enough to come searching for me." Her voice still sounds like Emma… She still looks (aside from her eyes) like Emma.
"Hi," Regina begins awkwardly as she steps in to the clearing and Emma's hardening gaze. "Listen, Emma, you cannot hide forever. Not whilst people need you. People like Henry and your parents and… and me."
Emma lets out a low, chilling laugh that tickles the hairs on Regina's neck. "You need me? Even with your perfect soulmate?" Emma asks, adopting an austere tone that unnerves Regina completely. She elongates the word soulmate, mocking each syllable with a piercing tongue.
"Storybrooke needs its saviour," Regina says simply, although still trembling, and ignores Emma's cold remark. She gracefully slides over and sits down next the shivering form, hoping that her warmth will be enough for the both of them. The dagger still remains in her jacket pocket, teasing her as she places a hand over Emma's icy fingers.
Emma's eyes mist over, yet she still snaps back a response despite the tears now tumbling down her cheeks, "The saviour has saved enough of Storybrooke. It needs to grow up."
Regina can't help but relax at Emma's familiar dry humour, "Fancy that - the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming refusing to selflessly save the poor, innocent citizens of Storybrooke."
"Ha! Says the Evil Queen that cast this stupid curse," Emma retorts retracting her hand as if it were resting on fire, "It wasn't that great a curse anyway, sending people to a land without magic. But I guess you were only obeying orders from your teacher."
Emma is grinning wickedly at Regina' stiffened stance. No. No, no, no, no. She isn't. She won't be. She can't. Yet looking at Emma now, who is sitting with her hands crossed and wearing a smile that reads nothing but danger, Regina cannot see anything but her former teacher. Anything but Rumplestiltskin.
And it is the vision of Emma mutating in to the manipulative embodiment of evil, who once corrupted Regina's young mind, which scares her the most.