I know I did a story like this before with Outlaw Queen, but I wanted to give it a whirl with Swan Queen as Swan Queen has a totally different dynamic than Outlaw Queen. Plus I just really love the idea of werewolf Regina. There are just so many vampire Gina stories out there and not enough werewolf ones.
The feeling of despair and unease was fast reaching its peak. The moon hung full and searing in the night sky, it's light seeming to overpower all of the stars around it and with only a few clouds for coverage. And Emma was still there, standing stubbornly in the clearing.
The sickly feeling that had been clawing at Regina since the weeks beginning—ever since laying eyes on the calendar—grew every second that Emma continued to fiercely stand her ground. The woman just didn't seem to realize how critical things were.
"I'm not just going to let you run off and hunt this thing down alone!" The words echoed in Regina's mind loudly and clearly.
"And I'm not going to let you come with me! I can fight this alone." Regina had chosen her words very carefully, and still Emma didn't let go of her savoir complex. In fact, Regina faintly recalled her saying something along the lines of being the savior, and having a duty to protect the town.
Regina shot another glace at the moon, mocking them through a dense curtain of branch and pine needle. If only the trees could blanket them from the moon's rays. But that's not how it worked.
Not at all.
They always seemed to penetrate even the thickest of canopies and the puffiest of night clouds.
No matter what, Regina was exposed and venerable. She shivered at the thought. Emma is venerable. She thought, and the nauseous feeling struck her all over again with an even nastier bite.
Bite.
She hated that word.
Emma locked eyes with her. "Stop worrying so much, I've got this. We've got this." She heard Emma say through the fearful fog in her head. "Everything is going to end tonight. Storybrook won't have anything to fear after we're done."
I could run. Regina thought. She began to tremble all over—a nasty habit whenever she felt panicy.
"You're shaking like crazy." Emma reached a hand out. "You said you could fight this thing alone, and yet you seem…terrified." Emma's hand was on her shoulder now, hitching Regina's fear up to an even higher notch.
Regina flinched away. "Don't touch me!" She snapped.
"Whoa, where did that come from?" Emma grumbled.
"I'm worried. I'm worried about you, not myself." Regina replied, her voice softening. She slowly backed away, putting the distance back between she and Emma. Regina dared peek up at the moon; the stretch of clouds was quickly—but painfully slowly at the same time—coming to an end. I should run, Regina thought again.
From somewhere just within ear shot came the first howl. Drawn out and agonized. Something about it made her feel like it was already too late. A series of yips and yowls came to join the first call. Another howl—this one much closer—had Regina's body going completely tense. With awful dread, she wondered if it really was the fear making her tense. Without thinking, Regina took another step back.
She held her head to the sky, a hazy sheet of moonlight glowed over her face as the last of the clouds waved a reluctant goodbye. Regina closed her eyes, her face a shade or two lighter under the unmisted moonrays.
Regina held her hands up in some sort of dazed surrender. A tear prickled at the corner of her eye, given an extra glimmer under the moon glow. The howling had come to a halt. Everything came to a halt. The eerie hooting ceased. Not a cricket's chirp nor a frog's croak dared interrupt the silence. Even the trees found themselves afraid to muster up a rustle. Not a creature in the forest wanted to give itself away.
A considerable amount of time came to pass in that oppressive, nerve fraying silence, and for a moment Regina thought that she'd be okay…that they'd be okay.
What a cruel joke.
Regina stared at the woman across the clearing, whose blue eyes rested with a flash of determination in the direction of the last howl. She locked eyes with Regina. She flashed Regina one of her reassuring smiles.
"Emma please…"
In a blink's time, Regina doubled over and let out a piercing scream. A shrill and familiar ringing filled her ears. It has happened before, many of times, but she could still swear that one of these days her ears would rupture and bleed. She clasped her hands over her ears, as if that would stop the dull pounding in her head from swelling into something worse.
"Regina!" Emma shouted.
And she felt a surge of primal rage come to the surface. Why the hell was Emma still standing there? And after she had made it so clear that she didn't want her around. Regina clenched her teeth. She found herself hunched over on her hands and knees, her entire body now wracked with pain and spasms. A distinct sensation akin to the splitting of muscles, beset the woman. She cried out a second time. The pulling and stretching feeling would be next. Her back arched in both anticipation and transformation. She winced with every involuntary flex. And the pounding behind her eyes became unbearable. This time her scream was accompanied by a muffled sob. The torture was already intolerable and the worst hadn't even come to pass. But it was next.
The jarring crack of bones snapping and realigning. A God-awful sound…the worst she'd ever heard.
Would have heard.
In that moment, pain was its own sound.
Regina winced, feeling as though her ribs were going to poke through the delicate flesh protecting them. A steady flow of tears came to run down her cheeks where they met her hands. She gave another hushed sob. She missed them already.
Another burst of white hot pain had her hands digging into the ground, she could feel the dirt wedging itself uncomfortably beneath her fingernails. She had just gotten them done too. Something between a grimace and a laugh escaped her lips. Something in her was growing unhinged.
She dug harder into the ground as the agony grew shaper and clearer still. An effort made much easier and much more disastrous to the poor patches of flowers and tufts of moss, when her nails elongated into claws. Another simply peachy feeling. She snarled to herself. She welcomed the new emotion, it drowned out the suffering. She wanted to slam her head against the ground, anything to bring it all to an end.
Regina had just enough time to look up, and when she did her heart—her erratically beating heart—welled with pain; in this whirl of hurt, feral anger and distress, she could see that Emma was still standing there. Worse still, Emma had grown ballsy enough to come even closer and take her by the claw.
"What are you doing?" Regina heaved the words out with a great labor. She didn't let the sheriff explain herself. Acting mostly on impulse—one last demented display of care—she shoved Emma away from her and with more force behind it than she had ever intended.
She saw Emma land with a thud some feet away. At least now she had some kind of a head start.
Regina's head whipped back, as if she had just been struck in the face. And perhaps…in a sense…she had been. In sheer shock, she let out another wail. For a moment, it was all over. For a moment, she felt nothing but a dull pulsing in her gums. She spent this time panting loudly, trying to catch her breath. The uncomfortable pulsing intensified. She'd take that over the firey soreness any day. Forgetting herself for one blissful moment she bit down and offered herself the rudest of awakenings. Canines splitting deeply into her cheeks. Blood blossomed fresh and coppery from the punctures, drizzling from the corners of her abused mouth.
The half-growl half-shriek that she let out was a potent reminder that was no longer human. She fell fully to the ground and with one final display of humanity. Buried a face that was only half familiar to her under a completely foreign arm and wept.
Her mind—a mind slowly being devoured by a wolf's mind—gave one last thought. One that she hadn't exactly meant to vocalize.
"You weren't supposed to see me like this, Emma."