Dagger Day
Chapter 1
Regrets in the dark
note:
I strongly advise that you watch everything until the end of season 4 because OUAT is fun, but otherwise nothing is ever really mandatory, except breakfast of course.
I don't do summaries, I'm not into that kind of stuff and I think you'll be able to understand on your own what and where...
And you probably read the only summary I will give, which is introducing the story.
Anyway, I can never thank you enough for reading because a story is no good without readers. Whoever you are, I wrote this for you.
And so, whoever you are you may review, please, that would make my world.
I'm working a lot so I won't be able to review more than once a week, in the best of times... Once in two weeks in the worst. Also I'm not English born and I don't have a beta, just so you know.
Let me know when I don't speak English ^^
Long live SwanQueen and groundhogs.
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Dagger Day
Chapter 1
Regrets in the dark
Regina seized the dagger as shocked as the others. Robin standing listless in her back. Hook and the Charmings looking at the piece of metal in her hands, disbelieving.
Regina passed her finger on the name carved deep on the blade.
A wave of pain and sorrow overcame her. Swirling bitter strings down her throat.
That didn't just happen right ?
The savior couldn't turn dark ?
Could she ?
A shy gasp make her swiftly lift her head. Emma was standing in front of her. Looking as lost as everyone. She stretched her hand towards the dagger and seized Regina's hand holding it.
As their skin touched everything went white. Blurring. A flash of white light blind them.
Regina opened her eyes swiftly. Her sight took a few second to settle on something. It was dark, night obviously... it was warm. She could smell wood burning. A fire ?
Thousand information rushed in her mind before she realised where she was. Home.
She was sited in her very own study. A book on her lap.
She frowned.
She couldn't really come around it but she felt something was off. Déjà vu...
Her sight felt on the book. The words were familiar. She closed it and silently gasped at the title. She'd already read that book !
Right ?
Yes...
She was fairly certain she had read it four or five years ago. And also... What was she doing here ? Wasn't she supposed to be outside ? With Emma and... Emma !?
As every memory from the past years came back to her, rushing painfully to her mind she heard a shy knock on the door.
- Yes. Come in...
She frowned looking quickly at the clock behind her, on the fire place sill. It was late, almost eleven thirty.
- Mom... I...
- Henry !
She looked at him in shock. He looked like he was ten again.
She shook her head thinking she must have been dreaming...
- I know, I know it's very late but... I...
The boy looked sad and a bit afraid. She saw the struggle in his mind as if he was fighting the urge to turn back and leave. It stroke her that he must have been afraid of her reprimanding him for being up so late.
She saw him abandon.
- Never mind, sorry...
- Henry ?
She asked as nicely as she could. The most important right now was her son. She didn't know what exactly was happening but magic, she knew magic... She would not commit the same mistakes twice. If there was a slight chance that she was truly back in time and not just knocked out somewhere living her memories, she would take it. Without thinking.
- Yes ?
He turned around, now only looking afraid. She patted the spot next to her on the couch.
- Come, sit. What is wrong, my little prince ?
It had been so long since she had called her son that. The words almost felt alien. She shook the thought and concentrated on reality.
Henry looked astonished, a bright happy light lit in his eyes. And he sat next to his mother.
- I... I can't sleep, I...
He looked at his feet.
Leaving her son to organize his thoughts Regina tried to remember.
The book... She had read it long after the year of first publication. She remembered how hard it was to have foreign books brought to Storybrooke before the curse broke. She was the only one able to leave, well, there was a loop in the town line were the post office was, so it melted with the real wold, even allowing some bus to pass by. That was how Henry had managed to travel to Boston on his own all these years ago.
She admonished herself. When did she read that book ?!
She had already lived that night.
- What is it Henry ? You know you can ask me anything...
She tried in a sweet tone. The boy looked up with an inquisitive glare. Could he ? Could he really ask her anything ? He wasn't sure of that and it hurt Regina.
That was so long ago.
- I won't get mad, I promise, Henry... Truly.
The boy bit his bottom lip and inhaled loudly, breathing in the courage to ask.
- I... It's just... Sometimes I feel like we are always living the same day. Like everyone here always lives the same day except us. You and me.
He said very quickly, looking at his feet.
Regina sighted. The boy looked up and worry shown all over his face. He mistook her frown for anger towards him. But it was really towards her that Regina was angry.
She remembered now. It was before Henry went to Boston in search for Emma. Maybe even the day before that ? She didn't remember quite exactly. Henry never talked to her in the end. She had let him turn around.
She already knew what he thought since she was coercing Hopper to tell her everything that her boy was telling him. But seeing him right now... So he had had the courage to come to her, despite his fear.
Regina looked at her son not knowing if she should tell him the truth right now or ask for time to think about the better way to tell him.
She saw worry and disillusion painted on his puppet face. And fear. She couldn't react like the last time... Not if it meant having another chance. She owed him the truth even if it meant not having the time to think about a way to tell him without her looking bad. She had to let him decide if he wanted to forgive her.
This time she would do right by her son, even if it meant loosing him again.
Henry was more important.
A tear dropped heavily on the couch.
Henry frowned.
- Mom ?
- I...
Regina abandoned Ken Follet's Pilars of the Earth on the table in front of her and dove in her son's gaze.
- Yes, Henry. They are. You're not crazy at all... In fact you're the most incredibly intelligent person I've ever known, Henry...
The boy looked shocked. Maybe it was the honesty he could read in her eyes, maybe it was the soft and kind tone he had grown to miss since it was becoming rare. Or maybe it was the content of her sentence.
He didn't really believe himself at that moment, and, in fact, he had grown to think he was in deed crazy sometimes. How could she know that ?!
- What... But ? What ?!
Regina inhaled slowly. She was definitely not ready for that. But she owed him.
- I need to tell you a story and... Well... It is complicated for me to tell you... If I never told you the truth about this town, us, you, me... it is because I did very bad things and...
She tried to hold her tears.
- I didn't want to loose you Henry. I didn't want for you to hate me, so... I... I made the wrong choice, I tend to do that... I decided to lie to you and that was wrong. That's probably the worst I did. Or... Rather, it's the thing I regret the most Henry.
- Mom... It's alright...
Shyly cut the boy. She smiled sadly to him and stroke his cheek lovingly.
- No, Henry, it's not... I... I wish I could tell you a beautiful story but... Well. What do you say you go up to bed while I fix you a hot cocoa and tell you why everyone in this town has been living the same day for the past twenty height years ?
- 28 years ! What ?!
- Henry...
- I... Can I come with you in the kitchen ?
She smiled.
- Of course, dear.
He nodded and followed his mother. This was weird. He had a strange feeling though. It didn't really surprised him she was like that. It should, because she was obviously a totally different person but, somehow, it felt normal.
oOo
Emma suddenly woke up on her couch. She looked at the time: 11:28.
She frowned.
She just had the strangest dream.
It felt so real. Some echo of the vivid images still danced in her eyes.
Henry... Regina. Her... Mother ? Parents ?
Something about stories and a book ? And curses ? And Peter Pan ? And... What was it ? A dagger ? And a hook. No... It was someone.
She shook her head and looked at her buzzing phone frowning again. She had a strange déjà vu feeling.
It was Cole calling. Probably a new contract. Another jerk had ran off from his wife and kids, another dick had left town with a bill bigger than Fort Knox... Another human had been a bastard and needed reminding that money owns the world.
- Yah ?
She said in the phone. She smiled when she found she had been right. Cole talked her through the details of a new job. Urgent one. The bounty hunter had failed and lost the girl.
She frowned. The name rang a bell. Some woman who had been accused of fraud. She hadn't paid her parking tickets since 1997. Some old lady with purple hair. This name was definitely not new to her. But why ?
Then Cole asked about the guy she was supposed to secure next, another knight in shining armor who left the wife with the bills and the kids while he was searching for love on line. She was supposed to have dinner with him the next evening, on her birthday actually. She was looking forward to it.
After she hang up she decided to take a shower and go to bed. She tried to remember her dream but found it impossible. The images and details had faded away. Only a few things left.
She had a son. And there was someone. Someone she loved.
She stretched and shook her head.
Sometimes she was thinking of him. Sometimes she imagined him, what he looked like, who he was. Was he blonde like her ? Did he grow up in a good family ? Did he know ?
Did he like chocolate ? Did he prefer to put the peanut butter first or the strawberry jam ? Was he big ? Did he need glasses ? Did he look like Neal ? Was he good at maths ?
She looked at the city through the windows. She felt weird. Something was missing. It wasn't her life.
Though it was. She was fairly certain that she had always had this life.
Why was she surprised to be here then ?
Why was she feeling so lonely, even more than usual ? Why did it hurt so much so suddenly ?
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