Lucid
Chapter 3
"Yes, Miss Swan." Regina's chest rose and fell softly with every tranquil breath. "Who else would I be?"
Emma took a few hesitant steps back to distance herself from the figment of her imagination. She was so real, so vibrant.
Why is she here? Emma turned around completely and began hurriedly walking towards the wooded shelter of trees. She needed to find a place to hide or at least forget that Regina had appeared. When she reached the opening of the forest she stopped abruptly, as if the soles of her feet were cemented into the soft dirt.
"That was quite rude." Regina appeared behind her in a matter of seconds. Emma tried to turn to face her but she couldn't pick up her feet. With an expression that could only be described as confused terror, she watched as Regina lifted a hand in the air and a thick ray of purple light shot out from the pond. It reached above their heads, crashing into the once idyllic blue sky with a fierce crackling sound. The clouds roared in anger, firing lightning bolts down that met the ground harshly around them. The wind began whipping Emma's hair around her face, making it hard for her to see or breath. She fell to the ground when one particularly harsh blow slashed against her side.
Regina tilted her head back to appreciate the work she had just done. She opened her arms wide as she felt the furious wind blow around her. Her grey dress quickly morphed into a long black gown that hugged her form. The pure dominance of the storm filled her with a wavering confidence. In this world, she had power once more. But more importantly, she could control it.
"See, Miss. Swan?" Regina drawled, looking back down at the younger woman and her fearful expression. "You can't escape me…" Emma tried to say something. Her mouth was dry and hopeless.
Damnit, Emma! Just wake up! Emma screamed to herself. Her eyes widened as Regina kneeled down to her.
Meeting her frightened gaze with a beautifully wicked one, Regina smiled. "… even in your dreams."
Then, Emma clenched her eyes as tightly as she possibly could. She could feel the breath from Regina's light chuckle against her skin. She shivered. Just change it! Emma, just change it!
Regina watched, transfixed as Emma deeply concentrated. Regina's expression became exceedingly worried as she saw the havoc she created slowly simmer. The lighting stopped spurting from the sky every moment and the wind died down to an almost pleasant breeze. Regina stood back, shocked. She spun around slowly, watching the world around them change before her eyes.
Emma held her knees close to her, her eyelids still glued in furious meditation.
The pond began to dry up. The water from it could be seen floating in little droplets up to the sky. Regina gawked, eyebrows furrowed as she witnessed the terrain under her feet become dry and coarse. The trees of the forest were also disappearing. The water in the pond ascended into the sky until there was nothing left. Then, tranquility.
Regina's breathing grew shallow as the new dream landscape reached fruition before her. It was empty and desolate. She had almost forgotten that Emma was there until she heard the lightest of sniffling sounds coming from the ground below her.
Regina looked down to see Emma, still wearing the purple dress. It was tattered and stained by the storm and mud. Her eyes were still screwed shut.
Emma shook, her mind forcing her into a different place, a different time- anything to leave that hell behind. When she felt the hardened ground under her feet and the serene air barely moving around her she slowly began to open her eyes. A gasp escaped her lips when she saw what she did.
Emma had created a desert. But there was nothing save the waterless chalky terrain that seemed to stretch for miles and miles, possibly forever. Still shaking, Emma began to untangle her limbs and steady herself to her feet. She was aware of Regina's glare as she rose.
"What have you done?!" Regina ragingly accused without thinking. Stop! She ordered herself. She needs to believe that she is in charge now.
"I," Emma brushed off her dress and raised her hand to shield her eyes from beating sun overhead. "I don't know." My god, Emma thought as her and Regina stood in stagnant silence. Their eyes bore daggers into each other. I can't, I need to wake up. I need to-.
Just as she had that thought Regina's form began disappearing in front of her. She reached out her hand in surprise but only managed to touch air, because Regina was gone before she could do anything else.
Emma was alone, her hand still outstretched towards where Regina once stood. Then, without warning, she dropped to her knees and the tears began bursting from her eyes. She refused to wipe them away, refused to acknowledge their existence. Her heart felt heavy and she shook her head back and forth, trying to force herself out of slumber. She held her hands in front of her face and watched as she too slowly began disappearing.
"Mom! Mom!"
Regina felt small hands holding her shoulders in a death grip as she was being shaken almost violently. Her eyes shot open to see Henry staring at her with desperate and terrified eyes.
"Henry!" Regina sat up from her bed instantly, pulling Henry close to her chest and stroking his hair with an unstable hand. "What's wrong?!" She begged as she began rocking her ten year old.
"I got up for a glass of water and…" Henry said between stuttered breaths. "And I heard you yelling. I came in and you were breathing really hard and when I got closer it looked like you were drowning. Your face…" He looked up at his mother. Regina fixed her incredibly worried eyes on him. "You were scared. Your eyes were closed but you looked so scared, Mom."
Regina pulled him even closer, making a calming Shhh sound. "It's okay, honey. It was just a bad dream! I'm so sorry it made you so upset." She kissed the top of his head. Henry nuzzled closer to her and Regina felt like she finally had Henry again. In this moment, Henry was her child and no one else's.
After a few minutes Regina gently pushed Henry back so she could look at him. She smiled and softly brushed a piece of loose hair back into place on his forehead.
"You should go back to bed," Regina said as she began removing the covers from her body. Henry gave her an unsure glance. "Come on," Regina encouraged with a light chuckle. "I'll read you a chapter from that book of yours."
Henry's face broke out into a smile. "Okay!"
"That's what I thought." Regina smiled as she pulled her sleeping robe on over her nightgown. She pulled the ties of the robe tight and began following Henry out of her bedroom. Before joining Henry, she leaned against the doorframe and watched as he hurriedly scampered back to his bedroom. She threw a glance over her shoulder to her bed, the black silk covers now disheveled and her pillows strewn about where her head had laid. Her chest clenched in hollow anxiety. What was done was done. There was no turning back for her now.
Emma's eyes flickered open. She found herself in the room that she fell asleep in. She had curled into a ball over the course of the nightmarish episode. No, not nightmarish. Emma had a full-blown nightmare that she felt down to her core.
She felt the threat of tears coming but she refused. Not again. After a few minutes lying, or rather trembling, in the same position, Emma slowly sat up. After pulling her body out of bed she padded to the kitchen for a glass of water. She shivered slightly when she opened the freezer to fish out some ice.
Emma sat on a stool as she sipped her water. She was still pretty shell shocked. She had never dreamed so vividly and maliciously about anyone before, especially not Regina. Sure, Regina did evoke a sense of raw hatred towards Emma but Emma knew that there was more to it than that. Emma understood that Regina must have demons. It's the only way a person turns out as icy as that.
Emma gyrated the glass in her hand, watching the ice slide in quick circles around the inside of the cup. After a while the cubes shrunk smaller and smaller until Emma could no longer distinguish them from the water. Maybe, Emma thought as she took her last few sips. Regina is just waiting for someone to melt her.
