AN: Please don't hate me for the long wait! I started uni and a lot of stuff has been going down since then and my writing's taken the back seat. HOWEVER, i found some time to get this up. I'll try get the next one up sooner, but it will be sporadic.

Enjoy!


It was nice to not having the people if her town gawk, stare, or turn and walk in the other direction as she strode purposefully down the pavements. It wasn't because they were simply used to her presence, more the fact they were unaware if it.

Regina had to give her mother a grudging respect for the invisibility spell. It seemed Cora had picked up a few new tricks since Regina had literally shoved her out of her life. Yet those tricks were also the cause of unease she felt as Cora proudly flaunted her skills in front of her daughter. Skills that had increased during their time apart, which didn't bode well for anyone.

As she cautiously stepped past people she was relived at the sense of freedom she had, as much freedom as one could have under their demanding mothers thumb that is. Her mother had - so graciously - tasked Regina with finding "edible" food. Cora was being as difficult as ever, not surprising.

It seemed that Cora also thought living underneath a crypt, even only temporarily, wasn't fit for a Queen of her stature. Another sly dig that Regina was less than a queen, less than her. But having put up with Cora's abuse for many years Regina felt nothing as her mother vanished to wherever she had holed herself up.

Regina stumbled to a halt as she spotted a familiar blonde wearing a hideous red jacket. Quickly righting herself, making sure everything was looking to perfection, she strode up to the younger woman leaning against the police cruiser out the back of Granny's.

"Miss Swan," Regina called out as she approached the woman. Emma pushed herself up from the car like she'd been struck by lightening; Regina smirked at the bewildered expression.

Emma's eyes darted furtively around the parking lot, twisting around to see if Regina had snuck up behind her. Feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up uneasily, she placed her hand on her holstered gun and kept her eyes sharp for any movement.

"Miss Swan that truly won't be necessary." Regina scoffed at the sheriff. Emma tensed up as she spoke, the gun jumped into her hand rising up ready to shoot.

"Regina?" Emma called out uncertainly. "Stop pissing about!" Regina tilted her head in confusion before blushing as she remembered she was still invisible.

"Miss S-" Regina trailed off quietly. Emma could think this some trick of her mothers - which would be partially true - but she had to somehow prove she want Cora.

"Emma, I'm invisible." She blurted out. Emma's green eyes widened, looking slightly to Regina's left as she tried to figure out where she was. Her right hand dropping for the shock before swinging right back up as her face was wiped artfully blank, her eyes betraying the raging emotions she tried to hide with cool confidence.

"How do I know it's you and not Cora?" Regina bit her lip in contemplation.

"You're an idiot." She stated with a smirk, which quickly fell to a frown as Emma tightened her grip on the gun.

"Still not buying it. What kind of muffin do you like?" Emma asked, with narrowed eyes that shone with amusement.

"I love a warm apple muffin." She grumbled just loud enough for the Sheriff to hear looking away as she waited for judgment.

At Emma's snorting laughter Regina swung her head around to glare at he chortling blonde. And realizing to her chagrin that the younger woman was immune to her glare, as she couldn't see it, seemed invisibility had some downfalls.

"It is you!" Emma laughed; holstering her gun and shaking her head in mirth as she leant back against the cruiser. "It's not like Cora knows you're a les-"

"Yes, thank you." Regina interrupted. Effectively shutting the Sheriff up.

"Hey, where are you exactly?" Emma asked after a moment of silence, her hands out stretched looking to the rest of the world like a zombie as she tried to grab thin air.

Regina watched the blonde with a raised brow. It was a wonder anyone thought this woman before her - acting more like a child than Henry ever did - could save the entire town. Yet she begrudgingly knew Emma Swan had proved her wrong many a time. But her present antics left much to be desired and gave Regina the perfect opportunity to wind her up.

Moving quietly, thankful for wearing flats for once, she slid behind the Sheriff. "Right behind you, dear." She whispered in the blonde's ear, stepping away as the younger woman jumped around.

"Mother trucker!" Emma yelled her eyes darting around the empty car park, still not able to see the woman who had scared the living hell out of her. "Fuck. Don't do that!"

"Why not, dear? I found it quite enjoyable." Regina replied resting back against the cruiser.

"What are you doing here, Regina? And why the hell won't you let me see you?"

Clearing her throat Regina spoke quietly, "The plan has to be… modified."

"Modified why?"

"My mother was never one to follow the rules and has already enlisted my help in whatever scheme she's concocting."

"Aw shit." Emma grumbled, a weary hand running over her eyes.

"My thoughts exactly."

"Is that why you're invisible?"

"Yes, mother thought I should gather a few things without being seen. Mostly just her showing off how powerful she is."

"And how powerful is she?" Emma questioned unwilling to find out just how much of a threat Cora really was.

"More than I had anticipated. I don't think the dust will work."

"We won't know until we try." Emma declared, her stubborn charming nature shining through once again.

"Emma, we can only get one shot at this. If we fail, then the chances of fighting her off again are… Well, we won't get another chance."

"Okay, I get it. The dwarfs have started mining the dust though, how much do you think we'd need?"

"As much as you can get, honestly."

"Right. So we get the dust. But how do I get it to you?"

"That's where the modifications have to happen," Regina said. "If your idiotic parents can over power me then I believe we can outwit my mother."

It wasn't until the words were past her mouth that she questioned why she had spoken them. But looking up the defeated expression on the blondes face she came to the realization that she was trying to placate her, to give the blonde hope that she had given to her. Just returning the favour.

"So, why isn't Cora with you?"

"She's up to something. She hasn't told me, yet. But I get the feeling we will all know very soon."

"Great. Not scary at all." Emma grumbled, kicking the gravel at her feet.

"Emma," Regina moved toward the blonde, her hand coming to rest gently upon the blonde's shoulder. Emma's flinch at the surprise contact shot a spike of hurt through her as the blonde's eyes kept searching for what she couldn't see.

"Here," Regina said, her right hand holding the Sheriff's chin steady and forcing her green eyes to look at her. "We will find a way to do this. I will not let anything happen to my son." She finished darkly.

An amused grin spread upon the blonde's face, "Who would be stupid enough to threaten the kid of the Evil Queen and so called Saviour?"

"My mother." Regina replied after a beat, her smile falling.

"Well, we gotta show her what we're made of then right?" Emma confirmed her left hand resting over Regina's on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

"Emma," David's voice broke through the moment as Regina moved aside as the Prince bounded toward his daughter. "Ready to go?"

"Huh?"

"To the mines, remember? We need to check on how much they've mined so far."

"Oh, right! You get lunch?" She asked nodding toward the bag in his hand.

"Sure did! Two grilled cheese and fries. Come on, we'll meet Snow and Henry after." His grin was contagious as he smiled to Emma unable to hide her own.

"We'll sort something out soon." Regina, whispered in her ear, causing the blonde to shiver for reasons she'd rather not acknowledge. The brunette's hand lingered upon the blondes back as she walked behind her, trailing it along her shoulders before continuing on her way.

Emma shook herself as she slid into the cruiser and started it up. As she drove along the road her eyes continuously sliding the pavements wondering where the former mayor was standing.

Then wondering why she cared.


She loved this couch - it was old, slightly worn but damn comfortable – she thought as she lounged across it, flicking through channels and paying attention to none.

"Emma?" Henry piped up as he came down the stairs holding the book that had started this mess.

"What is it, kid?" She pushed herself into a sitting position as her son plopped down besides her staring intently at the book on his lap.

"The book."

"What about it?" Emma prodded gently watching the crease in his brow, so similar to her own when she was trying to understand something. No doubt Regina would have something to say about that.

Henry flipped the book open to the back and turned the pages back a few before landing on the final chapter of the story. Emma's chapter.

"Yeah, you showed me this one." Emma said, pointing to the picture of Prince Charming placing her in the wardrobe.

"I know. But I'd ripped them out and-" Henry said slowly looking up at his mother. Emma saw there was something in his eyes, something that looked a little like fear.

"And I burned them." Emma finished. "So the pages came back? The books got magic, simple."

"That's not all." Henry declared, his voice dropping as though what he was about to show her was the end of humanity. He flipped a few pages over before resting on a blank page except for two words written in the curly font Emma had classified as nothing other than Disney style.

The Epilogue

"It's new." Henry whispered. "But it's not finished." Emma pulled the book on to her own lap and turned the page, the words failed to catch her eye but the picture did.

"What the hell?" She breathed looking at the picture of her and Regina's sitting side by side at the kitchen island in the darkness of the very room her and Henry were sitting in at at moment. Flicking over the page, her heart faltered as she took in the next picture.

"Emma?"

"What the hell is going on?" Emma hissed, pushing the book over to Henry as she began pacing in front of the couch. Her hands delving into her hair and gripping on for dear life as her world was twisted beyond recognition once again. She really should be used to this feeling by now.

"Is that you? And my mom?" Henry asked innocently as he tilted his head to look at the picture. Emma quickly snatched the book back, closing her eyes and breathing before looking at the picture again.

She was standing in the middle, a faint outline of Regina standing before her, Emma's hand upon Regina's on her shoulder. What scared her the most about it was the expressions on their faces. Regina was staring at her and not smirking, but smiling, the most genuine smile Emma had ever seen. And there was her own face smiling back, the two of them looking like fools, standing and smiling at each other.

"Emma, what does it mean?"

"I don't know, kid. I really don't know." Emma finally said, getting her breathing back under control. The pictures weren't incriminating in any way, she could easily spin it so no one would think twice about them.

"Did you see it, though?" Henry piped up, jumping from the couch and standing before his mother.

"The pictures? Kinda hard to miss them."

"No, not those!" Henry flipped back on page and pointed to the small heading before the story.

The Final Battle

"It's really here, isn't it?" Henry asked quietly, looking down at his feet. For so long he'd been anticipating the final battle, yet now that it was here he really had no idea what was going to happen. He'd read the book, he knew people died, but face with the reality of the situation he couldn't cope.

"Hey, look at me," Emma implored kneeling down to his level. "We're working on a way to stop Cora. She's not going to hurt you or anyone else. Understand?"

"What about my mom?" He asked quietly, knowing the subject was a tough one but needing to know. Henry couldn't just forget ten years of his life.

"She's helping us."

"Really?"

"Yeah, kid. Really. She's not going to let anything happen to you. Me either. You're our kid. Anyone who messes with the Evil Queen's son is an idiot, but when that kid is also the Saviour's… Well, they're in for a load of trouble." Emma smiled gently as his arms wrapped around her neck and held on tightly.

"So, can I help?" Henry asked as he pulled away excitedly.

"I need you to keep an eye on that book. If anything else appears, tell me straight away." Emma stated firmly but at Henry's slowly forming frown she added: "It might tell us what Cora's up to and then we might be able to stop her. It's an important job. Think you can handle it, soldier?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Henry saluted with a grin, before gathering the book in his arms and taking it back upstairs. As his footsteps resided Emma fell back on the couch, her head firmly situated in her hands.

Things had just gotten a lot more complicated.


Boom! There you go!

Did you like it? Was it good?

Review, tell me what you think. Even if it's just to yell at me for taking so long! :P