Alright, so it's been years that I don't post here, but what can I say? Inspiration struck back! With all the Dark One stuff, it seemed insteresting to explore the ways in which that would change the dynamic between Regina and Emma, so I decided to do a little oneshot. It is quite short, though. Just to get me back on the game. Enjoy!
Housewarming
Regina walks into the new house without an invitation. Again. Luckily, Dark Ones and Evil Queens are nothing like vampires. She doesn't think Emma would make a point in saying the words 'please, do come in' given their current situation.
She finds the previously blonde-haired savior sitting leisurely by the couch, not paying mind to the intruder, sipping from a glass. The smell of alcohol reaches Regina's nostrils before she looks at the liquid.
"I do remember asking for a housewarming gift last time," Emma's now emotionless voice echoes through the room just as she turns her head slightly so she can look at the visitor, some sort of dark amusement in her eyes. "Rude."
"I didn't come here to throw you a party," the brunette walks further into the cold mansion.
"Good, I've never been too much of a party person."
For some reason, the sentence brings a small smile to Regina's lips. A tiny, unimportant fact indeed, but one that remains unchanged. Dark Emma doesn't like being the center of attention any more than Savior Emma did. She has gathered that much, and it brings some comfort, however small.
She thinks the smile goes unnoticed. But when did anything Regina-related ever go unnoticed by Emma?
"Drink?" the Dark One asks with a non-committal shrug, snapping her fingers and causing a glass much like her own to materialize on Regina's hand.
"Am I supposed to be impressed?" the former Queen raises an eyebrow.
"You have called me a sloppy student before. I would think you'd be proud I'm finally learning something," the smirk, that irrefutable proof of the changes within the woman never leave her lips.
"I'm not here to quiz you on magic, either," brown eyes roll, but she takes a sip of the drink anyway.
"Which brings the question: what are you doing here, Regina? Even Henry is scared to come by."
A slight tremble on her lips. It is minimal as the smirk remains, barely noticeable. But when did anything Emma-related ever go unnoticed by Regina?
"Just because you have replaced your ridiculous hot cocoa for whisky, Swan, it doesn't mean you're suddenly the greatest evil this land has ever seen." There is bite in her tone, but the words themselves are meant to soothe and assure, not hurt.
You are still in there somewhere, I know it. I know you.
"Oh, please, like your apple cider screams darkness."
"I'll have you know that my apple cider did make a lot of people scream," Regina smirks, at last taking a few steps closer, "In a lot of different ways throughout the years."
Oh, the intimidation game. It always made Emma recoil, leaving the usually sure woman uncertain of what to say. Not anymore. Darkness also brings confidence, it would appear. And man, is she going to enjoy putting that to the test.
"You know, Hook was here not too long ago," she gets up from the couch in a swift move, taking long strides which leave her mere inches away from Regina in a matter of seconds. The Queen gasps. The Dark One rejoices. "And he, despite my best efforts, did not seem too keen on the idea of… making me scream," the last words are nothing but a whisper, a soft breath against Regina's skin.
Too close.
Regina shudders, but refuses to step back. Instead, she meets Emma's eyes defiantly. "If you think every villain will run away in fear, you have a surprise coming your way, Swan. Unlike Hook, I am not scared of you."
And there it is. A flicker of… something. In Emma's eyes, the words don't convey a threat, but relief. Relief that at least someone in this town can still see her in this whirlwind of dark magic.
Just like that, though, it is gone. "Maybe you should be, Your Majesty."
She isn't sure if it's the voice, the infuriating ever-present smirk, or maybe even the magic swirling around them, but all of a sudden she is not Regina Mills anymore. She is every bit the Evil Queen.
Her hand flies up to Emma's chin, holding it forcefully so that she doesn't look away, and she dares to lean even closer. Impossibly closer.
Oh, how riveting. The flash of doubt – fear, even? – on those which were once bright green eyes. "Maybe you should be, too, Swan." It is a whisper, carefully picked words deliberately thrown to the wind, to settle in the Dark One's brain for days to come.
A seed of doubt. Something for her to think about, in the midst of the mess that her life has become. In between dark thoughts, dark magic, and dark curses.
In a world full of certainties – and really bad ones at that – doubt represents a new possibility, a new path she hadn't believed possible until this moment. In her life as the Dark One, in which fate traces her every move, a glimmer of doubt represents the one thing she thought had been extinguished forever for her: hope.