Author's Note: Thanks for the encouragement to continue, it was greatly appreciated!
Chapter 2
Mommy Dearest
The doubt is back tenfold as Emma follows Gold down the street. He shuffles along like it's a nice spring day and he's enjoying the morning sun on his face and Emma has to flex her hands to keep from reaching out and dragging him along faster. She figures physically abusing him would probably be rather counterproductive to their cause, and seeing as the 'cause' is staying alive, she settles for biting the inside of her cheek until she can taste blood.
The people of Storybrook, Henry, they all rely on her to make all the right choices, to look witches and dragons in the eye and defeat them with her pure heart and her father's sword and she feels that sit heavily on her, a weight she knows she'll bear simply because no one else can. She's the child born from True Love. She's the Savior.
She's five seconds away from puking her guts out.
The best plan their supposed Savior could come up with was to run to the guy that helped curse them to begin with. A guy so slimy and immoral, despite his rather polished clothes, that she knew before the curse even broke that something about him was just wrong. He was the only one whose motivations weren't clear and for all she knew, his idea of helping her get rid of Cora would be to simply give her what she wanted: Regina. An idea she realized most of the people that knew Regina wouldn't be opposed to.
"Uhm, so what's the plan here, Gold? Fire? Brimstone? You going to pull a bunny out a hat?"
They're near enough to the action now that Emma has to take the time to sidestep one of Hook's goons and reach for her gun. Her gun that isn't actually attached to her hip but at home.
Because she's a freakin' genius.
"Oofh.."
The sword hilt in her stomach feels like punishment enough for that little slip up, so she doesn't give it another thought. She does give the pirate wannabe a bit more of her attention though, but she's not sure he likes it that much. Though Emma will admit there are very few men that will appreciate the force she uses to knee him in the groin with. Shoving him aside she bends and picks up his sword, or cutlass, or whatever the hell it's supposed to be called, and tests the weight of it in her hand.
It's not her gun or James' sword, but it is sharp and pointy and she figures it'll do.
"Before we were so rudely interrupted, I was going to say that I'm going to buy us some time. Cora coming here wasn't unexpected per se, but I'm not one to withhold praise where it's due, she surprised me by coming so soon."
Gold doesn't say anything else, but once again Emma is reminded that everything that had happened, every action that was taken or avoided in the past, had been part of his plan. They were pieces on a chess board and he was playing, she just wasn't sure who his opponent was. Proving to her again that no, Regina was really not the only villain of their particular plot that much was for damn sure.
"Fine, you do what you have to do, I'm going to get Snow and the others away from here."
He shrugs like that doesn't really concern him, like whether Snow and the others live isn't important to him anymore, and she stores that away to think about later.
"You do that, dearie."
Then the air around her gets heavy with…well, she doesn't have an idea what to call it, but everyone else must feel it too, because the fighting comes to a rather abrupt stop.
"Well isn't this a surprise! Don't tell me my daughter managed to trap you here in her quaint little town?"
The derision in her voice is clear and so is who it's aimed at. As if to emphasize this she does something that causes Regina to basically howl with pain. It makes Emma grind her teeth. That sound is one she's heard before, that she's made before. It's fear and helplessness. It's the sound of someone small and weak being hurt by someone big and strong. It nauseates her. It also makes her see such a vibrant shade of red that her anger blinds her to anything else.
"You asshole!"
Afterwards she'll thank her lucky stars that Cora is so surprised by Emma's stupidity that the woman simply stands there and gapes at her uncomprehendingly until they make contact. The tackle is solid, her shoulder finding that sweet soft spot in Cora's stomach that means the woman makes a rather unflattering wheezing sound as they hit the ground.
She thinks she hears something crack, not sure if it's Cora's head hitting the gravel or her own shoulder popping out, but seconds later it doesn't really matter. Not when she's spinning through the air at an alarming rate and being thumped into the ground not so gently.
"Emma!"
Snow and James are at her side in seconds while she tries to figure out how to do the whole breathing thing again. It should be easy really, in and out, newborn babies do it every day since the dawning of time, but damned if Emma can manage it right that moment.
Hands are on her then, Snow squeezing her face in her palms and James lifting her shoulders up and wrapping an arm around her to support her. That at least makes the whole breathing thing seem a fraction easier.
"That's it, Emma, take a deep breath, we've got you."
She does as James says, takes breath after breath and even if it feels like forever before her chest stops burning, she's sure it's no more than a few seconds. It couldn't be, because when she focuses on what's going on around her Cora is still on her back and barely anyone has moved.
That finally clues her in on who sent her flying.
"What the hell, Gold?!"
He chuckles while she struggles to stand up, shrugging off her…well, her parent's hands as they try to keep her still.
"I said I'd take care of Cora, dear, and I don't really take kindly to interference. You'd do well to remember that for as long our agreement stands."
She wants to argue, wants to plant her fist squarely in his squirrely face, but she's hit her stupid quota for the day even in her own eyes.
She still manages a marvelous eye roll though.
"I'll try and make a note of that."
By now Cora is sitting up, but Emma and even Regina seems to be forgotten as she sets angry eyes on Gold.
"You've aligned yourself with these pitiful fools, Rumpelstiltskin? You betray me like my weakling of a daughter? What kind of a game are you playing?!"
It's really the question of the hour, but Emma ignores it to take note of the fact that despite being spitting angry, Cora is careful not to attack him. She's strong, Emma knows this, but Cora's caution when it comes to Gold is something that she herself is quite willing to exploit.
It gives her steps certainty as she walks to where Regina is kneeling, palms and knees baring her weight shakily. The hand that she lays against Regina's back is gentle, careful. A hurt animal is the wildest of all…
"We need to go, can you get up?"
The look on Regina's face when she turns towards Emma is hard to describe. There's pain there, it's blatantly obvious in the downwards pull of her mouth, but where Emma had expected blistering rage there is only…
Desolation is maybe a good word, or even devastation, but in the end she settles on anguish.
It is anguish that turns Regina's skin a sickly grey color, that has her eyes blinking slow and dazed, tears held at bay by what she guesses is Regina's last scrap of pride.
"Where would I go, Emma…" Her voice trembles on Emma's name, its unease at using it clear even now. "Where would I go where she wouldn't find me?"
Emma doesn't have an answer to that, so she shrugs her shoulders and trails her hand down Regina's arm and takes a firm grip on her wrist.
"The only thing I know is that Henry is waiting, Regina." It sticks in her throat a bit, what she knows she needs to say next, because she might understand this woman a little bit better, but she also has a hundred or so reasons to genuinely despise her. "He's waiting for both of us."
It does what it needs to do.
Regina breathes in deeply, bites down on her lip and pushes herself up off the dirt. Her clothes are dusty and Emma belatedly realizes that blood is slowly trickling from her nose, but Regina pushes her shoulders back and looks every bit the mayor, or Emma supposes, Queen that she is.
It's both a frightening and welcome sight.
"That's all well and good, Miss Swan, but it doesn't change the fact that some expectations cannot be met, for reasons out of one's own control."
Her eyes track over to Cora and Emma feels Regina's fear, sees the tension in her shoulders and shares it to some extent even.
"That might be true, Regina, but today is not that day."
She turns then and when she looks to Gold he nods, like he's been waiting for her signal all along. He hasn't though, she's not dumb enough to think she has any sort of control in what he does, but the man has some dramatic flair when he wants to.
"You, Cora, have displeased me a great deal today. I expected more from you then such crass displays of power, but I guess that's what happens when you keep the company of simple pirates. You forget there are other ways of getting things done other than plundering and murdering."
He circles her slowly, cane tapping rhythmically along with his words and once again everyone stills as the same feeling as before creeps into the air. Emma knows what it is this time though, it's Gold.
It's raw power, or magic, that swirls around them all as he focuses on Cora, mocking her with each word, each slow step.
"See, want, take. Where's the finesse in that, dear? Or am I giving you too much credit to begin with? You did rip a man's heart out of his chest just to make a point to a teenage girl." He giggles as if that is endlessly amusing to him. "Effective sure, but there were so many subtler, smarter ways to go about that."
There's expectation now with every word he speaks, something heavy that settles over them all, that causes Cora to nervously wet lips in a moment of weakness. Regina is slowly stepping away, her hand almost as an afterthought gripping Emma's belt in the small of her back and tugging her along. She doesn't fight the pull, understand that in some things, especially magic, Regina will always know better than her.
"Guard your words, Dark One, I have learned a thing or two since you and I have last met."
To her credit, Cora's voice doesn't waver, but it's clear this is a move she didn't expect she'd have to make. The wind shifts suddenly, electricity spiking the fine hair at the back of Emma's neck as Cora starts to practically spark.
"Oh hell no, I'm out of here!"
It's Leroy that breaks the strange tension in the air, dropping his now cracked and bloody baseball bat resolutely to the ground and footing it in the opposite direction of Cora and Gold with impressive speed. Emma doesn't really blame him one bit.
"Then try your best, Cora, because I promised the people a show and I'd hate to disappoint them."
The gentle tugging at her belt suddenly becomes a forceful yanking motion, cementing Emma's opinion that the shit?
It was about to hit an industrial sized fan.
Whatever Cora is doing, it's equal part beautiful and terrifying and Emma can't stop herself from watching. Magic, or energy, something that Emma still has so little understanding of, flows from Cora's hands. It twists and flows like water, or the way that fire runs against the ceiling of a burning building, the sound of it all a surprisingly loud buzz.
When those hands shoot out with a golden flourish Emma reactively brings an arm up to shield her face, turning sideways in anticipation of the blast of magic that was surely coming their way. It doesn't happen though.
What does happen is that when that magic flame, or wave or golden stream comes within a quarter inch of Gold's face, he slams his cane hard into the ground one last time. It echoes out around him, like ripples in a pond that shouldn't be able to topple anything heavier than a paper boat.
Emma is though, is much heavier than a paper boat, but it doesn't stop her from toppling over like one. Doesn't stop any of the people around her from hitting the undulating ground beneath them either. The only one left standing is Gold. Cora…
Cora is nowhere to be seen, the patch of road she'd been standing on a shimmering black hole for a few seconds before that, too, fades. Gold straightens his tie again, pats dust off the seam of his pant leg and gives them all a small smile.
"Now if you'd all excuse me, I was meaning to stop at the library before this little distraction came about. Emma, dear, you can take care of the pirates yourself I assume?"
The pirates in question, Hook leading the way, are all scrambling up the road they initially came down from.
"Sure, I'll get right on that the minute I'm able to, you know, walk."
She's quite happy to stay where she is, settles nicely on her back in the road looking up at a rather pleasantly blue and cloudless sky. She would have stayed there too, if it wasn't for Regina apparently finally having a nervous breakdown or at the very least a severe lapse in mental judgment.
"Is she gone? Did you kill her or merely…please just tell me if she's finally gone!"
Regina has him by the lapels of his buttoned up jacket, fingers crushing the material in her desperate hold, showing no regard for her own safety when she shakes him in frustration as he stands there in silence. It's only then that Emma realizes his face is sweaty, that there's a very fine tremor in the hands that he brings up to Regina's wrists.
"Dead she's not, I'm afraid, but that's not something any of us can do here in this realm. I've banished her to where she came from and it will not be a great deal of time, but at least some, before she can come back here."
Emma doesn't expect him to admit this weakness here, in front of so many people that are as invested in getting rid of him eventually as they are of Regina. Yet the unspoken truth is clear.
None of them, not even the great Rumpelstiltskin, has the kind of power here that they did in Fairytale land. As Regina had said, magic here was unpredictable.
"So there's no escaping it." With this Regina lets go of Gold, hands dropping down to her thighs to dig nails into her own skin. "She'll be back."
Gold nods slowly, his eyes finally coming to rest on Emma herself.
"Indeed. So, Regina, I think it's rather imperative that we make sure we're prepared for when she does."
As if realizing something she knows she should have sooner, Regina follows Gold's gaze and settles it with determination on Emma. This in no way settles the sudden feeling of dread in Emma's already sick stomach.
"For once, Rumpelstiltskin, you and I can agree on something." Then her shoulders sag and she looks tired, looks as old as she really is despite the smooth skin that hasn't aged a day in twenty eight years. "But it can wait, there's tomorrow, or at least until the bodies have been buried."
As Regina walks away, Emma finally looks around her again. Looks at the people getting up…at the ones that'll never get up again. She can't save everyone, blood slowly soaking into the street before her a very harsh confirmation of this, but she has to try.
All anyone can do is try, that's half the battle won, right?
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So yeah, hopefully you enjoyed this:) Reviews appreciated, but not expected.
