A/N: I know this is hella late but I just couldn't write those last few days. I guess I had to crash my car before I got inspiration again. It's not funny at all but that's the only way for me to cope with it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Reviews are greatly appreciated.
It was Halloween. It was Halloween and she was sitting in Granny's in the middle of the annual–ridiculous–party. Her only effort when it came to a costume was to put on a witch hat which she'd bought on her way there. There was no point in doing more since she was only there to kill time. Although she had to admit it wasn't as bad as she always made it up to be. It provided her with an opportunity to stir some trouble. She was using what little power she had to make everyone's evening a little bit of hell. It was one evening a year and she needed some way to entertain herself. Last year she'd 'spiked' the apples from the apple bobbing contest with some special ingredients. There wasn't such thing as too many curses. Even though even the simplest of spells drained a lot of energy out of her. So this year she'd restrained herself to smaller things that she could manage just by lifting a finger. But even without her intervention there were plenty of losing battles to witness.
Archie was already running out of ideas for Pongo's costume and it had barely been a decade. Ruby was also fussing over her costume that wasn't revealing enough for her standards. Mal–Mercie as she was known in this world–was fighting with her daughter over the candy the girl had received during the trick-or-treating. Little Emma–well, she wasn't so little anymore–wanted to eat it all now but Mal–Mercie–was having none of it. Regina watched them argue, still not sure what exactly her intentions had been when she'd made them a family in this world. Mal would probably incinerate the whole town if she knew she was raising the daughter of the people who'd caused her to lose her own baby. But she seemed happy–happier than most of the others were–and Regina allowed a small smile to make its way to her face. It quickly disappeared though when she noticed she wasn't the only one who was watching the two blondes.
From the booth across from them Mary Margaret was looking longingly at the girl while waiting for her husband to return. He'd excused himself around twenty minutes ago. Not even a minute later Regina had seen Kathryn follow him into the men's room. Mary Margaret had seen her too but she was still waiting dutifully for David like a dog. Ever the hopeless romantic. She'd even turned down Whale's advances when he'd asked her for a dance even though she was well aware what her husband was doing a few feet and a door away. It was almost too pathetic.
Regina startled when she felt something against her skin. She looked down at her hand and found a big golden spider crawling on it. There would be no way to explain it if somebody noticed. But of course no one did. Because no one was paying attention to her when she wasn't scaring the hell out of them.
The spider crawled up to her wrist and its legs closed around it in couples, forming four solid circles of gold as it turned into a bracelet. She smirked at the new piece of jewelry and grabbed her coat. She put it on and headed for the exit, throwing the witch hat at one of the booths. Her free time was over. It was time for work.
The spider would shoot out a sparkly cobweb at every crossroads to show her the direction. As if she didn't know where she was going. It was the same place every year. She didn't need guidance. But he wanted to have an insurance that she'd go. So he sent her gifts that she'd have to wear until the next Halloween if she refused to go. He didn't trust her. And she shouldn't trust him either.
She reached the abandoned mansion where they always met a good half an hour later. She wished she could teleport but that was out of the question no matter how badly she wanted it.
He stood, waiting for her, his cane less useful when he had magic as a crutch but he'd brought it nonetheless because by the time they'd be finished there would be no more magic.
"I came to return this," she said, outstretching her arm towards him so he could take his pet spider off her. She made extra effort to sound annoyed by the message of ownership it sent lest he thought she actually enjoyed feeling like she belonged to him. She didn't.
He took her hand and the spider's hold on her disappeared when he touched it. It moved up his arm and nestled itself into the pocket of his suit jacket, turning into a neatly folded handkerchief woven from fine golden threads.
She tried to pull her hand away but he didn't let her.
"I also have something to return to you," he said as he reached into the pocket of his trousers. He took out something and held it out to her. It was one of her skeleton keys.
"You just like to steal from me, don't you?" she asked as she took the key from him and pocketed it, her voice heavy with the meaning she put in that sentence. She held his gaze, hoping to look challenging rather than hurt.
He studied her for a moment, then pulled her towards him by the hand he was still holding and claimed her mouth. Her lips immediately parted for him just like the first time they'd kissed.
It had been their second Halloween in Storybrooke and they'd been in his shop, preparing for their ritual, when she'd felt something. His dagger, she'd been certain. She'd been so close to finding it. But he'd kissed her and everything had become hazy. Her mouth had opened to him and so had her legs. He'd robbed her of her breath in more than one way lest she robbed him of his. He didn't trust her. And she shouldn't trust him either.
His free hand slipped into her hair, keeping her in place, as his tongue probed in her mouth, searching for lies. When it didn't find any, it finally paid attention to her own, sliding against it slowly and prolonging the kiss until her lungs started burning from the lack of oxygen.
The hand she'd rested on his arm grabbed at his sleeve to draw his attention.
He pulled away when he'd had enough, leaving her desperately gasping for air that was much overdue. "I also give you in return," he said, barely a hitch in his voice. The kiss hadn't affected him enough.
He did. He gave in return. But not nearly as much as he took. And she would tell him so but she didn't have enough breath to speak. The kiss had affected her too much.
"Shall we begin?" he asked, letting go of her hand and turning slightly towards the round table where he'd set out everything they needed.
She nodded.
He moved toward the chair, his sleeve jerking out of her grasp at the motion, and pulled it back for her.
She walked to the table and sat down, her legs suddenly like jell-o. It was the task at hand that made her so anxious. It was a complicated spell and they needed it to work. Everything was at stake.
He sat down opposite of her and reached for Pandora's box that was placed in the middle of the table. "Are you ready?" he looked at her.
She positioned her hands on both sides of the box and nodded again, giving him a brief look but staying focused on the box.
He opened it and she summoned her magic, creating a shield around it to prevent the magic that they've already stored in it from escaping. Her task grew harder and harder every year. The more magic they collected, the more power she needed to use to keep it inside. It was draining her a lot faster and it forced them to cut down on the duration for which they performed the spell. And at midnight when all magic disappeared until the next Halloween she never had enough strength left to believe that they would succeed. But she had no choice. She had to keep going because otherwise it would've all been for nothing.
He'd talked her into casting the Curse after he'd left her no other way to get her revenge. He'd promised her exactly what she wanted. He'd told her she could have everything. Because magic always came with a price but they were going to a land without magic. A land without magic where one day every year a gateway opened between dimensions and an enormous amount of energy poured into the world unsuspectingly to the people in it. It wasn't magic but it could be transformed into such by running it through the system of a magic user. And that was exactly what Rumple was doing. He was channeling the energy and storing the new magic into Pandora's box. And when they had enough, they could break the laws of magic and be reunited with the people they'd lost.
He'd explained to her that magic was only limited when there wasn't enough of it in one place to break the laws. And it was a lot easier to gather the needed amount of magic at a place that barely had any than at one that was drenched in it. So he'd convinced her to cast the Curse, promising that she could have not only her father back, but also Daniel. 'We can have everything,' he'd said, 'if we stick together.' And she'd fallen for it.
He had lied to her of course. He'd created the Curse so that it could be broken by Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter. She'd learned too late to change it but she'd managed to get to the baby before they'd sent her through the wardrobe that would save her from the Curse. She'd stolen her from Snow's arms but she hadn't had what she needed to kill her. She could've snapped her neck without even needing magic to do it. But she hadn't had time. And she'd found herself in a town where time had stopped and Emma was the only one who was aging. Rumple had his failsafe in case they failed. He'd lied to her because he didn't trust her. And she shouldn't trust him either. But she had no choice. She had to keep going because it couldn't have all been for nothing.
Her hands were shaking violently as she felt the life force being drained out of her. Rumple felt it too because he reached for Pandora's box and closed it. Her magic threw her back now that there was no counter-measure to it. She fell on the floor, her bones cracking at the impact, tears springing to her eyes.
"Regina," Rumple was quickly at her side, palm glowing in purple as he searched for the injury.
She hadn't even made it till midnight this year and they started later than any other year. It was getting harder for her. With each passing day she was forgetting the feeling of magic under her skin and when the time came to use it, she found herself unable to summon it as easily as she used to.
The pain disappeared but the tears had just started falling from her eyes. She grasped at Rumple's arm, holding on to him even though she shouldn't trust him. Because he was all she had. Even if he wasn't quite enough.