Heart's View
Rating: K+
Summary: Words have power.
AU Where Rumplestiltskin had broken the curse and returned everyone's memories with his potion before Emma could with True Love's kiss.
A/N: Not sure how this came out. Playing around with an idea, this is what popped. Unbeta'd so probably riddled with mistakes.
Blonde hair glinted in the sunlight before it was covered by shade as she entered the white mansion. The last time she had been here the atmosphere had been cold, but alive. It had perfectly reflected the commanding woman who lived there.
Now the air had a flat taste to it that settled in the woman walking in its walls and up the stairs to the master bedroom.
"Has there been any change?" She questioned the man exiting the room.
"No, Princess. The same as always."
Emma didn't bother with correcting the title. She was a princess, just not comfortable being called one. Besides, she was here for more important reasons. Arguing semantics wasn't on her agenda.
She opened the bedroom door, closing it quietly behind her. The windows were opened wide with bright light shining into the room. While it was kept clean, begrudgingly by those hired, the air was deadened. The feeling radiated outwardly from the bed which held the still form of a woman.
The booted steps of Emma were slow and muffled on the thick carpeting of the room. She approached the side of the bed, sitting gingerly on the bedside of Regina Mills.
The former Sheriff looked into the emotionless face of her former nemesis. After doing this for a month now, she could admit that the other woman had a dark beauty to her countenance.
"You know, he misses you." Green eyes looked down, a small sigh escaping her.
"I think…" She trailed off a little, her hand creeping to the closest hand of the other woman. Sliding her hand underneath the still one lying on the cover, she rested her hand there without moving.
Shifting forward, she turned so one knee was bent on the bed while the other leg hung down. "I think that one sentence would've made you one of the happiest people on this earth. Even after everything you've gone through."
Emma moved and cupped the brunette's hand in her palm, lifting it slightly. Stroking with her thumb the side of the hand in her own, her eyes searched for any reaction. Seeing none she exhaled in disappointment. Lowering their hands to the bed again, she squeezed slightly before sliding her hand out from underneath.
"You have to wake up Regina. You may have done things…well things that wouldn't be considered good. But you're punishing yourself for something that didn't happen."
The blonde stood up, moving to brush back some hair from the brunette's face. The same action she had used before saving their son with a life-saving kiss.
"Archie, Jiminy I mean, told me something that I'm sure is true. You would never have hurt him. Everyone else maybe, but never Henry." Closing her eyes against the sadness that she felt overcome her, she moved to leave the room.
The mumbling of Regina reached Emma. A flicker of hope almost made her turn around. But it was quickly smothered as the mumbled words became clearer and were recognized. They were the only words that ever fell from those lips.
She uttered a variation on the simple phrase that had brought the proud woman to her knees, overheard from the nun or a nurse. A phrase that the then Mayor had taken to heart in that uncertain time between life and death for Henry.
"She killed her son."