Crimson Tattoos
Chapter 4
Disclaimers::: I do not own OUAT or its characters, just my imagination. What happened to Snow White and Prince Charming's baby? Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin makes an appearance in this chapter. :) Where is Belle? Etc etc…
Maleficent was smiling proudly at Emma. She had managed to shut that Snow up and put her in her place. For now, the townspeople forgot about their plans to murder Regina and were now watching the scene with their beloved Snow White unfold.
"Snow?" The man's voice repeated as the crowd parted, creating a path to Mary Margaret. It was David, Prince Charming who had just awoken from his coma.
Mary Margaret gasped as she saw who it was. "Charming!" She ran into his arms and they kissed.
Emma had a dark look in her eyes as she realized who this man was. She shared a look with Regina and her mother. A glint in her eyes shone. She walked down towards the couple and stopped them. "So, this is your Charming? Glad you're awake now because we have some unfinished business to take care of."
"Who are you?" David asked, finally noticing her. He looked around at everyone who was gathered there and laid his eyes on Regina and Maleficent. Out of habit, he reached for his sword and noticed he had nothing to defend them with. "My sword?"
Emma chuckled. "Last I heard, you were in a coma. Did you think you would be sleeping with your sword at your side? It's been I believe, 28 years. I was asking your wife where your baby is."
David thought for a moment. "We put her in a portal. Why am I telling you this? Who are you? And why is the Evil Queen here with that dragon?" He looked very keen on protecting the people from the two great evils in their midst. He looked around and found a rake and brandished it like it were a sword that he could use.
Emma smirked as she grabbed the rake from him easily. She then moved to stand with her family. "You've been out of touch with the rest of this world for a long time. I'm Emma. Maleficent is my mother. Do you remember more now? Do you remember what you and your Snow did to Maleficent a long time ago?" She smiled evilly when David paled at the realization. "None of you will lay a hand on my family. Not unless you have a death wish."
"It was you." Snow whispered as she looked at Emma. "I thought you were my daughter. But you took my heart out and killed me. David saw our baby girl. But why did I see you and not…"
"I believe I can answer that dearie." Another voice spoke as a man appeared in their line of sight.
Regina looked at Emma. "Here he is known as Mr. Gold. But in the Enchanted Forest, he goes by Rumplestiltskin." She explained.
"Rumplestiltskin." The Charmings seemed aghast at seeing this man.
The creepy man gave a high pitched giggle as he looked at the Charmings. "Didn't I warn you, magic always comes with a price. What you saw was the consequences of your decision to interfere with the natural order of things. That darkness you thought you saw in your daughter? That wasn't your daughter. That was Emma." He cackled.
"But the Apprentice? He said that we needed to…" Mary Margaret was trying to make sense of things. "Our daughter was supposed to be the savior…"
Rumplestiltskin giggled again. "No dearie. Once you asked the Apprentice to help you, and you used dark magic to transfer magic from your daughter to Maleficent's daughters, you created the darkest of magics within them and all kinds of magics, dark and light were drawn into them. The potentials your daughter would have had, were erased. Everything was absorbed by Emma and her sister. You condemned your daughter to a very unlucky, unhappy life. She is nothing but an empty shell. She would have been the savior had you left things alone."
"You're lying!" David screamed at the dark one. "You better help me find our daughter. You owe us!"
Maleficent laughed then. "That is so rich! It makes sense. You messed with dark magic when you messed with me and my family. Now you get to suffer for what you did. Why should he help you when you showed us no mercy. Why should he give you mercy? You don't deserve it." She spat, venom dripping in her voice.
Regina was loving this. She had an evil smile on her face as she stepped up to finally say what she wanted to say. "You're no Queen, Snow White. You've never deserved that title. You married a commoner. Your Prince Charming is nothing but a farm boy. And you thought you could lord it over anyone you deemed less than worthy of your grace. You judged people for being different. For not living up to your standards. You judged Maleficent and her daughters for being as nature intended them to be. They are dragons. You called them monsters. You were the one who walked all over them, invading their personal space and stealing her daughters all because you thought your daughter was dark? It's your own fault that you are in this situation. Not Maleficent, and not certainly Emma or Lily and most certainly not I." Regina snarled. "Take a look at my son. You remember him yes? When you called his mother a monster, you basically called him one too."
"I didn't… No that's not what… You're twisting my words!" Snow started to look around at everyone, hoping that someone would help her.
Regina smirked. "I'm just telling it as I see it." She pulled Emma closer. "You obviously have a fear of dragons. It's clouded your judgement. I love my dragon. She's mine. And you can bet, as your Mayor, I will make it a new law that slaughter of dragons are punishable by death." She eyed David when she said this.
"You can't do this Regina. Think of the people. Don't their safety mean anything to you?" David pointed out.
Emma spoke then, an evil smile on her face. "I don't hear them talking. Why are you speaking for them? You are not their Prince. You automatically assume that we are going to dragon out and eat everyone just because we feel like it?" Emma chuckled, sharing a look with her mother. "I don't speak for other dragons you may have come across, but whatever they do on their own property is their business. If anyone chooses to trespass, it's their funeral. Dragons are very territorial. It's not a good idea to challenge them. Only fools die young. You would do well to remember that. Crossing their territory or harming their mate or young is grounds for death." She kissed Regina passionately.
Rumplestiltskin took delight in this confrontation between the Charmings and the Dragons. He enjoyed that immensely. He did however have enemies. Agendas were his thing and he had plenty of them. He chose this moment to leave the party for now.
Snow looked defeated, and she hated that feeling more than anything. Obviously, they had screwed up big time. But she did not want to stick around and potentially let David be harmed for something he had done before with dragons. "We need to get out of here." She whispered as she pulled her beloved away from this crowd.
Maleficent chuckled darkly as she saw the Charmings try to sneak away. "You can run, but this isn't over yet. Trust me, we will find you again. No place is safe for either one of you." The dragon promised them.
Some of the crowd began leaving, having lost interest in the confrontation and wanting to kill Regina. They knew that their Mayor was under the protection of the Dragons and they didn't want to go up against them. They began to disperse.
Henry smiled at his family. "I think you're the coolest family ever." He smiled. He had finally accepted who they were. At first he'd been unsure about some things, but after seeing and hearing the arguments his moms and grandmother had presented to the town, he had learned some things about where he came from. It helped to know more about his heritage. And that was only from his mother's side. He had yet to learn about his father's side.
Regina smiled at her family. "How about dinner tonight? I know you and your mother plan to go hunting later. But do you think you'd have some room for my famous lasagne?"
Henry lit up when he heard what his dark haired mother was planning to make. "You have got to try it! Mom makes the best ever!"
Emma chuckled at her son's enthusiasm. "Alright. I am sure we can make room." She winked before she shared a look with Maleficent. "I am also thinking first thing tomorrow would be a good time for us to go get Lily."
Regina agreed. "I think that would be best." She smiled as she began to prepare their dinner.
Maleficent was happy to hear that. "The sooner, the better. I look forward to tonight, Emma."
Henry looked at his parents. "You're leaving to get Aunt Lily tomorrow? Are you really together now?" He asked.
"Yes we are." Regina shared a look of love with her wife.
"The best part? You get to spend time with your grandma while we are gone. I bet she is gonna be the coolest grandma in the whole world." Emma winked and smiled at her mother.
Maleficent laughed. "Oh we will have fun, I promise. We'll get away with some wild things." Her eyes twinkled with mischief.
Henry lit up and grinned widely. "Cool!"
As Regina cooked their dinner, she talked with Emma. "When the time is right, I want to show you something." She had a dark smile on her face. "Since we are together, I don't want to keep secrets from you. I want to share them with you so we could have more wicked fun together." She purred sensually.
Emma was intrigued. Her eyes got dark as she watched the way her Queen was acting. She smiled at her. "I can't wait. That does sound like fun times ahead of us."
"Oh it most definitely is. I promise." The brunette chuckled.
Soon, the table was set and the wine for the adults were poured. And they ate their salad and Regina's famous lasagne was finally sampled, Emma moaned happily. "This must be what heaven tastes like. This is officially my favorite meal love." She praised Regina. Maleficent hummed in agreement as she ate her light dinner. Henry was glad they agreed with his assessment of Regina's cooking.
After the dishes were washed and put away, Regina asked Maleficent, "Could you watch Henry for an hour? I want to show Emma something. And then when we get back, you both can go hunting." She suggested.
Maleficent nodded. "That's fine with me. Go have fun." She smiled.
"Thanks Mom." Emma smiled as Regina took her and they left in a purple cloud.
They arrived at Regina's private sanitarium where she kept some prisoners. "Remember Rumplestiltskin? He took something from me. Since he refused, I took something from him." She smiled. She hoped that Emma would keep an open mind about this. She unlocked and opened the door. "This is his handmaid, Belle."
Emma looked at Belle for the first time. She could see that this woman had a mess of mousy brown hair. The woman seemed very frightened of Regina. "So, what's her crime?" She asked.
Regina smiled. "Rumplestiltskin. He prizes her above anything else. But the irony is, she loves him more than he loves her. He chose power over love. Rumple keeps interfering with my plans. He has this power to see the future in bits and pieces and uses it to his advantage. He is the dark one. But he is a coward. He likes to manipulate things to his favor. When I went after Snow White, he helped Charming to get to her so he could break my spell. Funny thing is Rumple used to be my teacher, my mentor. So you can imagine the betrayal I felt. He knew Snow White would give birth to the savior. But because of her stupidity, she altered events that affected you, your sister, and your mother. I keep Belle here to make sure he cannot get away with manipulating things to his advantage. He is a very sneaky little bastard. You can't trust him. He will trick you into selling your soul."
"And Belle knows what kind of man Rumplestiltskin is?" Emma asked.
"Oh yes she does, but she's very naive. Always thinks he will change for her someday. But of course that won't happen. Rumple sold his soul in order to save his son. In return, he became the dark one. His son tried to get him to give up the dagger that makes him the dark one. And of course he chose his powers over his son. Ain't it a funny thing?" Regina smirked.
Belle looked at Emma. "Please. Can you help me? I just want to go home. She won't let me go."
Regina chuckled darkly. "If I let you go, your dear Rumple will destroy everything and everyone. This way, everyone is safe. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. He should have never been the dark one. Cowards are never known to be selfless. They never help anyone except themselves."
Emma heard the truth in Regina's words. "And now he knows about me and Lily. He seemed only too happy to tell us what Snow White did. I saw greed in his eyes. He is definitely up to something alright. I won't let him hurt you again. If he tries, I will destroy him." She promised.
"No you can't! I won't let you hurt him!" Belle exclaimed.
Emma sneered. "Didn't you hear a word Regina said?! He would destroy verything and everyone if he could. Love be damned! You would let that beast hurt everyone? Is that what you're saying?" She scoffed. "We have a son. If we want to protect him, then your Rumple will die. The only way you will ever get out is when we kill him."
"But… If you kill him, you'll become the dark one." Belle whimpered.
"Sweetheart, I am already dark. It's in my blood." Emma smiled, matter of factly. "I'd be much better equipped to handle it than he ever was."
Regina kissed Emma deeply. "Thank you for agreeing with me, Emma. I am so glad I told you about this."
Emma grinned darkly as she kissed her back. "Thank you for trusting me. I hope you will trust me when the time comes for me to kill that imp. When we get back with Lily, I will have to do this. It's the only way."
Her Queen nodded. "I do, Emma. I look forward to seeing what happens next. And I look forward to sharing this adventure with you. We'd better get home so you can spend time with your mother tonight." Regina smiled knowingly as she locked the door and they left in a purple cloud.
Soon, they had returned. Maleficent smiled at them. "Henry just went to bed not too long ago. Is everything okay?"
Emma and Regina both nodded and smiled. "Everything is just as it should be. I will tell you more later so you know what to expect. In the meantime, I'm ready to go out." Emma grinned as she looked at her mother.
"We'll be back in a little while. Don't worry, I'll bring your wife back in one piece." Mal laughed and winked as they moved to the backyard. Regina followed them outside and smiled as she witnessed mother and daughter turn into dragons. She couldn't get over how beautiful they looked as dragons. While Maleficent was black, Emma was black and crimson. Regina was awed by her dragon's beauty. Emma moved closer to her wife and nuzzled with her for a few minutes before she joined her mother and they took off into the night sky. They hunted together and bonded as mother and daughter. It was as it should have always been. Emma took great thrill in the hunt and her mother was so proud of her. She could see that she was a very skilled hunter and tracker. Emma and Maleficent then went to a bar and took a dark corner there,nthey kept an eye on their surroundings as Emma explained to her mother about what would be happening when they got back.
Maleficent nodded. "I agree with you. Even though he is the dark one, he is not as powerful as he thinks. If he were, he would be the King of Darkness. But he is not." She chuckled. "I did not get the title of Queen of the Darkness for nothing after all," she winked. "I can take on every form of every beast of hell itself. I can call on the forces of hell too. You and your sister have my blood running inside of you. So remember that." She smirked. "If anything, Rumplestiltskin should be very afraid."
Emma smiled wickedly. "That's good to know. I'll be sure to remember that. Any form really? Like vampires, werewolves, demons?" She chuckled. "I love the dragon form the best."
Maleficent laughed softly. "Yes, all that and so much more. Dragons truly rule the dark. It's a favorite of mine as well. Speaking of which, perhaps you could give me a tattoo when you get back? Maybe this town needs a new tattoo parlor yes?"
Emma laughed. "Alright, I will talk to Regina about that. She told me she wanted some tattoos too." She grinned.
"Well then, lets head home so you two can get a good headstart in the morning." The dragon smiled knowingly.
They returned back to the mansion and Emma joined her Queen, smiling when Regina curled up against her. "You look like you had a great time."
"I sure did, my Queen. Mom and I talked a lot, hunted and bonded. It was wonderful. We will talk more about this in the morning. I love you so much." She kissed her deeply and Regina smiled happily, "Love you too my dragon." Soon, they fell asleep.
