A/N: Per usual, I do not own any of the characters shown below, This is a work of fiction and used solely in a fictitious manner. All credit goes to the creators and producers of OUAT.
Landing softly in her parents living room, Snow glanced at the state of them both. Before she could question either of them, Emma asked her mother to watch over Henry. Due to his emotional state, he had fallen asleep; plus a little magic that Emma transferred to him to calm his heart. Emma quickly explained that she needed to search for Regina and that she would be back as soon as she could. Before she left the loft, she spun to face Snow and told her, "Henry isn't emotionally stable, right now. Please comfort him as you can, but please DO NOT leave your sights off him. Knowing him he will run the chance he gets, which is why I knocked him out with magic, but that can only hold him down for so long. I'll be back as soon as possible." Emma hugs Snow and with tears she parts from her mother. Snow whispers to Emma, in hopes to lend her strength, "You will find her. This family has a knack for finding each other. Just don't give up hope." Snow strengthens her hug and releases her daughter to go forth and search for their missing family member.
Emma ran down the winding stairs and jumped into her yellow bug. She set her sights towards the mansion, hoping she could pick up remaining traces of Regina's magic; in hopes that she could use hers to track if the magic origin was nearby the house. Arriving at the mansion, Emma squealed the bug onto a stop and jumped out. She ran forwards to the door entrance, where she noticed that the door remained partially opened. Hoping that Henry had left it half-open in his initial panic, Emma took caution and drew her weapon. She stealthily entered the mansion and searched the grounds. Good news no one was there; bad news, no one was there.
Emma took a moment and thought of the places Regina would frequent when she needed 'alone' time. Emma had it down to Henry's castle, her vault, and the forest grounds, and possibly Zelena's. Emma scratched out the castle as it would be out in public and if she was emotionally unstable, so would be her magic; and Emma knew, just enough, that Regina's past actions would warrant not to cause harm on any innocent bystanders. As well, Emma checked off Zelena, as she figured Regina would want to be alone and not in the company of a happy family. That left her with two remaining options, vault and forest; once again she really hoped it was not the forest because that would be a lot of grounds to cover.
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Emma knew she could not do this alone and with time running in light speed; she needed a partner. She whipped out her phone and dialed Ruby's phone number and prayed that her best friend could help her with ordeal. Knowing how Ruby would push off for details, Emma was prepared to give a fast synopsis.
"Where to Em?" Ruby questioned Emma as she answered her ringing mobile. Emma could hear the diner background noise and remained a bit stunned.
"H-how did… Snow?" Emma questioned into her phone as she locked the mansion and began speed-walking to her bug.
"Snow called saying Regina is missing. She figured you would call me or David for help. I would have called right after we hung up, but I wanted to leave Granny in capable hands. Where do you need to meet or where do I need to go?" Ruby explained and questioned Emma for a direction or lead to follow.
"If you can, I need you to look around the forest. Search for her scent or magic signature. I can't cover as fast as you can and I still need to check her vault. If you find her, well I don't need to explain the rest." Emma communicated to her friend as she began her drive into the direction of Regina's vault.
"Sounds good. I'll transform really soon and I'll call you after my sweep." Ruby told Emma as she finished passing down her duties to the evening waitress and started off her trek to the closest edge of the forest.
Emma thanked Ruby again before she hung up her mobile and continued her drive. Throughout her drive Emma's heart thumped in an increasing speed. She could not stop the negative feeling that begun to creep around her body. Emma felt as if she was losing something as coldness seeped into her, causing her to jolt for a quick moment. The jolt strong enough to cause her to swerve into the opposite lane and had her rapidly correct herself. Emma's heart tripled in action and hoped to anyone in the realms that she could find Regina and fast.
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As Emma neared her destination, she received a call from Ruby stating that she neither smelled nor sensed Regina. Emma thanked her for her help and asked her to make her way to vault to regroup. Emma had no other leads and needed fresh minds, because hers was just filling with trepidation.
Unbeknownst to Emma, Regina would be found at her vault. The problem remaining was that she could not enter the protective force field. No matter how much magic she used, the field remained intact. By the time Emma was at her wits end, Ruby joined her and snuffed out any weaknesses, but knew that was futile for Regina was a strong witch.
However, Ruby did bring the brilliant memory of blood magic seals and told Emma to call Zelena for help. Emma once again was seen pacing as she talked to Zelena and asked her for help to search for her sister. Zelena was standoffish at first, telling Emma that maybe Regina needed or wanted to be alone; as well to wait until Regina cooled off. It was only then that Emma divulged into what Henry had yelled at Regina and feared Regina was or had run off. Less than two minutes Zelena appeared in front of Emma with a scowl in her face.
"For the life of me, you better have reprimanded that ungrateful spawn of yours. To believe he finally accepted her! What a bloody joke of the century!" Zelena gritted out to Emma and spun around to cut off the savior's reply and to study the ward surrounding the mausoleum. While studying the vault, she realized Ruby was there too, "Ruby." "Zee," where the said as they greeted each other.
"Blood seal, give me a minute," Zelena explained as she gathered her strength and begun to push off her magic. The ward began to disintegrate, but too slowly for Emma's need. As much as Emma wanted Zelena to hurry up, she knew that magic has a price and she needn't want to rush a complicated process.
The shimmering shield glittered as it became pieces, eventually nothing remained. Zelena swayed as her magic depletion began to hit wary levels. Zelena used up more magic than she previously thought, but her dear sister had implemented various blood seals for any intruder to battle.
"Its open. I did a quick search for any traps, but found none. Regardless, be careful." Zelena huffed as she was helped into a sitting position near the entrance by Ruby and Emma.
"O-ok. Ok, here we go." Emma chanted to herself as she entered. Emma kept her guard up and her magic on stand-by. Using her brute force, she pushed off the marble memorial and headed down the stairs. 'Please be here. Please be okay. Please.' Was Emma's mantra as she combed the entire viewable and accessible vault. Emma went around corners and corridors, but none revealed her partner, her mentor, her Regina. 'My Regina?' Emma countered her inner thoughts. Meandering her inner analogue coming to a sharp twist downstairs Emma came across a spacious room. Closing off her conversation with 'Me, Myself, & I' she entered the room with magic prone ready to fire.
Upon entering the blood drained from her face, her palms began to sweat, and her heart thudded as her stomach dropped. The view set on was one she wished never to see. Glossiness covered her iris' and her lip quivered. Emma stood still, her world stood still; for Emma had no clue what in the realms to do.
A/N: Worry not there is still a long road ahead. Honestly, this would have been uploaded all at once, but FF cut me off after 3k. Look forward to more chapters. :)