A cave. She was in a cave, with a horse, and an evil queen, in a land populated by fairy tale characters.
Emma tried to remember what it was like to be in a city with run-of-the-mill shitty people, but that reality felt so far away as to be nothing more than a fantastical story someone told her when she was small.
Honestly, if someone had asked Emma right in that moment how exactly she ended up here, she'd have had a tough time explaining it. It had all rushed along so fast and of such necessity – like destiny. She, Emma Swan, who just a year and a half ago had been the girl that destiny forgot, had suddenly become the key to it. Now, here she was, just trying to catch up.
They'd stopped here to rest a few hours ago, figuring it would provide relatively more cover than the open air. Emma appreciated the logic in the decision, but holy hell, what she'd give to be lying on some pine needles right now. It was nearly impossible to get comfortable on this hard ground.
She looked over at where Regina lay. It was hard to make anything out in the dark, but Regina didn't seem to be having any trouble sleeping. So much for the whole 'no rest for the wicked' thing, Emma thought, uncharitably.
With a sigh, Emma flipped to her other side, clinging tightly to the memory of her bed, her mattress, her pillows, her flannel sheets, in the desperate hope that maybe tonight she'd dream about them. It took a little while longer, but eventually, sleep and Emma found each other.
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When Emma awoke, she was alone. No horse, no queen, nothing. She wouldn't have described her response to this realization as panicking, exactly. It was more of a sense of unease that resulted in an elevated heart-rate and a semi-frantic search of the immediate exterior of their little grotto home, which revealed… more nothing. Regina had left her!
She waited for a time. Hard to tell exactly how long with the lack of decent time keeping devices in this land (God, she missed her cell phone but fiercely…) but it felt like a reasonable amount of time. What was she supposed to do? She wasn't going to sit here and die, waiting for someone who was never coming back – her life, the past few months excepted, hadn't really made her prone to optimism. There were no tracks to follow. The heavily carpeted forest floor took care of that possibility so even if she'd wanted to bother, she couldn't have. The woodland creatures hadn't jumped up to be of service – so much for the upside to being Snow White's daughter. Maybe they just hadn't received the memo yet. Whatever. Given the lack of other options, she decided she'd venture forth on her own a little – not too far, or anything. Close enough that she'd be able to find her way back here and reevaluate the situation. She'd just… go out and get her bearings a little. Just to feel like she was doing something.
Emma, however, had underestimated how much one tree looks like another. She thought she had a pretty decent mental map going – walk past the log, keep the moss facing east, another log, and loop back around. But either the moss or the logs had moved, or else she just really sucked at this, because about when she thought she ought to be back where she'd started from, she found herself staring at a creek bed she'd definitely never seen before. Fine. Cross orienteering off the born-in skill set of children of true love. Grimacing, she moved to wedge her hands in her pockets, except apparently pockets hadn't been invented in Fairy Tale Land, so her hands just slipped right on down her thighs. She hated this place. She wanted her jeans back.
The burbling water, while perfectly picturesque, was doing nothing to soothe the irritation that was really just a mask for very real anxiety, so she moved a little ways back and flopped down on the ground to think. Why would Regina do this to her? Call her a sucker, but she'd actually thought they'd been getting along okay in their own prickly way. This was how it always was with Regina – hold out the hand of peace, get back the middle finger of 'fuck you'. Honestly, what had she thought was going to happen? Her thoughts continued in this vein right up until she heard the approaching sound of underbrush getting tromped underfoot, and very shortly thereafter saw Regina, atop the horse, emerge from the woods.
"Emma!" Regina barked, as she slid from the horse and stormed forward. "What on earth were you thinking of, wandering off?!" Emma's only thought was that Henry must have known that walk, that tone, so very well. What were you thinking of, running off to Boston; poking around an abandoned mine; fooling around in secret heart vaults. That, Emma felt sure, was the sound of concern, once relieved, morphing into anger. Ha! Regina had been worried about her. Small victory, but that was all you ever got with Regina.
Feeling a little giddy at the realization, and just generally about the fact that she was not in fact alone in the middle of the fucking Enchanted Forest, Emma couldn't help but to needle Regina just a little. "Regina, your concern over my well being is… and I mean this… really touching."
Instantly, Regina was on the defensive. "I was merely worried about having to tell Henry about his birth mother's painful end! I couldn't be less concerned if you decide to throw your life to the wolves! And I mean that literally!"
Regina had dragged the horse behind her to bring her within inches of Emma, right to the fringes of their own uniquely measured personal space bubble. She glared at Emma, expression aghast at the very suggestion that she'd any interest in the welfare of this irritant of a human being. Emma didn't buy it, she'd been doing this particular song and dance with Regina for more than a year now, and she could tell when Regina was bluffing. She'd totally been worried. Emma couldn't help pressing a little further. She was just so glad to see Regina, she needed to reaffirm the fact of Regina's presence by pissing her off. "I'm travelling with the Evil Queen! Just how much worse could it actually be out here?"
Regina's eyes narrowed at that statement, but she leaned back on her heels a little, and shook her head almost pityingly. "Oh Emma, if you think I'm the worst that these woods have to offer, you're in for a rude awakening, believe me."
Well, of course Emma believed her! It was why she'd been so upset to find herself alone in the first place! Just remembering that feeling now brought a chastisement to her lips before she could fully think it through. "Well what was I supposed to do, Regina! I woke up and everything was gone! You were gone! You couldn't have left a note or something?!"
Regina's eyebrows raised at that, and her lips quirked just a smidge. "And what do you suggest I should have written it with? I was trying to get out and back before you woke up. By the time I finished scratching it into the wall with my fingernails, we'd both have died of old age."
Emma scowled, sensing she should have stopped while she was ahead, but unable to make herself stop talking, even now. Fucking Regina! "Well maybe you could have carved it with your stone of a heart, I'm sure it's plenty hard enough!"
Regina didn't even appear phased. She just smiled, more broadly now. "Why Princess Emma, were you afraid I'd left you all by yourself in the big bad woods?"
Okay, now Emma was sure she'd lost the upper-hand altogether. And hadn't Regina just been saying how dangerous the woods were ten seconds ago? How was she making Emma sound so childish now? A wiser person might have given up the fight at this point, but no one had ever accused Emma of being wise. "No, I wasn't afraid! I just… why'd you have to take the horse?"
There was no wiping this smirk off of Regina's face, now. "I thought I'd go look and see if there was anything around that might be useful for us – I could cover more ground on the horse. If I'd known you needed him as a nursemaid, I would have left him, I assure you!"
Fuck. Disaster, flaming disaster. Forget it. "Aren't we supposed to be getting somewhere? Can we just go?"
Regina's triumphant grin almost made Emma want to take her chances on her own with the unknowns of the forest, but to her credit Regina contented herself with a silent victory, and simply turned and mounted the horse, offering Emma a hand up, which Emma reluctantly accepted.
For a short while they rode in silence, for which Emma was truly grateful, as it allowed her to nurse her wounded pride in peace. That gratitude withered and died on the vine the instant Regina spoke again.
"You know, dear… If I had left you, I'm sure you could have shacked up with the Three Bears. I'm told they're quite partial to blondes."
"Shut up, Regina."
Emma couldn't hear Regina's laughter, but she could feel the gentle shaking of her companion's ribcage. Emma just sighed. Tally this one up in the defeat column, Swan.