Sorry, this chapter isn't the best, I pretty much forced myself to write it because today has been shit, but I can't just not do things. I'll check and respond to the reviews on the last chapter in the next one.
Emma's next plan was to go see Mother Superior. As a fairy, surly she had to know a little something about wraiths. Yet, she couldn't see the Blue Fairy wanting to help the Evil Queen no matter how excessive her punishment was. She wondered if she should bring Regina along, it might help to wave in Blue's face, just how pitiful the former mayor's state was.
Still, Regina wasn't giving any indication that she was going to get up and make it easy for Emma to take her to Blue. Most things, Regina didn't make easy. Dressing and feeding herself had become two of those things-the woman simply hadn't the desire to do either. And so it fell on Emma to meet Regina's basic needs for her. Mostly, she didn't mind. While Regina didn't offer any assistance, she didn't put up a fight either. She would sit passively and let Emma dress her in whatever. Nine of ten times, Emma fetched something from the mayor's regular wardrobe, but every now and again she would try something new, just to see if it would spark some kind of reaction. First she simply dressed Regina in something more comfortable; a simple pair of sweatpants and an even simpler T-shirt. After that she dressed Regina in clothing from her own wardrobe, red leather jacket and all-still no reaction. In a last ditch effort, she pulled something from Mary's closet. Regina wore it without protest.
After that, Emma resigned to simply dressing the woman in her own clothes and then eventually, more sweatpants. The comfier the outfit looked, the easier it was to get the woman into.
"Come on Regina, time to get out of bed."
She turned her head but made no other motion. At least this time she was acknowledging Emma. She sighed, and took the former mayor into her arms. In the week or so that had come to pass, Emma had grown accustomed to carrying the woman. She wasn't entirely unpleasant. Emma tried to make conversation—she knew that Regina could responded it was just a matter of if she would. She hoped that Regina might know of a way to help herself. So she inquired, "do you remember what happened to you?"
As per usual, she held her silence. Again, Emma sighed to herself. She set Regina in a chair and gathered herself some pancake batter. She'd learned sometime ago she learned that it was pointless to ask Regina what she wanted. She didn't eat much these days and when she did she was either indifferent or complained of a different hunger—one that Emma assumed was for a soul. Emma was mixing the batter when Regina spoke. "What was that?" Regina was quiet again, leaving Emma frustrated that she had missed the opening.
"I don't remember." She repeated at last. "Not exactly. My soul…" she paused. "It's gone."
Emma nodded, "yeah, a wraith took it." She searched the other woman's face for a reaction. Impassive and with a hint of melancholy, as always. "Do you know anything about them?"
"I know that there's nothing we can do…" Her eyes left the ground and her tone was disturbingly level. "Once a soul is gone, it's gone."
"Can't we go chase the wraith and slay it or something?"
"It's not a dragon, Emma." Regina responds. Even though it was absent, Emma can practically hear that impatient, sassy overtone her voice usually took on when stating things that she thought were obvious. Oddly enough, as vexing as that attitude was, she wishes it was truly there.
"We'll we can find another way." She knew she wasn't convincing anyone, save for maybe Mary. Even Henry looked crestfallen. "We will."
Regina was staring at Henry again. That time she shook her head and pressed her hands to it. She must have decided that the conversation was as good as over because she was burying her face in her arms again. Clearly Emma couldn't rely on her to go wraith hunting. She couldn't imagine the woman doing anything but staring blankly at it, or perhaps, longingly.
She set a pancake before Regina, hoping that the woman would take it, but she wouldn't even lift her head. "Come on Regina, just because you don't have your soul, doesn't mean you can skip breakfast." She gave the woman a little nudge. Sometimes she likes to pretend that caring for Regina has put them on a friendlier level. She supposed that it made it easier to at least think that there would be any payoff. Really, she was assuming that this would turn out in just the same way rescuing Regina from the fire had. She watched Henry eat his pancake as she ate her own. And when she finished her own pancake she poured a generous amount of syrup on to Regina's. She waited for the woman to lift her head again. "Here." She offered when the woman finally did. Just as the routine went, Emma eventually brought the fork to Regina's mouth. If only she could get Regina to a point where she could at least run through the basics in life.
The most that Regina seemed to be willing to do was slouch back to her bed and stare at the ceiling, sparing Emma only a forlorn glance. This was one such day; Emma watched her slump her way over and practically let herself drop onto the mattress. She didn't adjust her position, merely remained in the haphazard way she had landed. Emma found herself sympathetic towards her former foe all over again. Without much thought, she helped Regina into a position that looked, at least from where she stood, to be a more comfortable one. She thought of tucking the woman in, but didn't exactly feel like moving her again so soon. "Henry, why don't you come read part of your book to your mom?"
"She doesn't like the book." Henry reminded.
"I'm sure you've got more books lying around, kid."
He nodded, made his way to his room, and returned with a handful of comic books that Emma couldn't see Regina having any interest in. But what mattered was that Henry was the one reading. Maybe she couldn't do Regina any good, but she at least sat up and paid attention when Henry was talking. Even if it was for the wrong reasons.
Even if it did lead to her mutter again, about something so brilliantly bright.
Emma watched them from across the room. Henry seemed to have very minimal interest in the woman he was reading to, only seeming to care to the extent that it satisfied his other mom. She wished that she could spark a genuine care in him. Mary didn't seem to believe it nor did David, but Emma still insisted that caring for Regina now would change a lot of things. There was something in her eyes. Something buried far beneath the dimness. Maybe it wasn't a soul, but it was something, a tiny fragment of something…
Emma just hoped that it was a powerful something.
Regina reached out and touched Henry's cheek, it was only an echo of what she had done in the past. A motion that looked like it was done entirely to try to force the feelings that used to come with it. But her dim expression didn't waver, not even a little.
She wondered if this is how it was going to be from now on; she having to do the simplest things for Regina and then watching Regina try and fail to work up the resolve to do them herself. She didn't know how much longer she could stand to watch this ghost of a woman linger in the tiny loft.
Hopefully there would be some change after a visit to Blue.
Thinking little of what she was about to do, Emma dropped onto the bed and took Regina's hand. Giving it a squeeze, she made another promise that she wasn't sure she could keep. "I'm going to get it back. I'm the savoir. Saviors bring people happy endings, right? Even people like you…" She wished she could rephrase that last bit.
"People have souls, I don't." Regina remarked. "Am I still a person?"
