Follow the Yellow Brick Road
Topic: Once Upon a Time
Pairing: Swan Queen (Emma and Regina)
Rating: M (possibly maybe at some point)
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of the places or characters in it nor do I own anything to do with the Wizard of Oz. This is all just for fun blah blah blah…
Summary: Set after the fiasco that is about to happen with the Wicked Witch in Season 3. During a feast to celebrate the victory Henry is snatched and Emma and Regina must face the prospect of having to search for their son yet again. This time they must find their way through the strange and sometimes terrifying Land of Oz to rescue him before they lose him forever.
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Chapter 4: On the Right Path
The spinning of the portal was so violent that when they were cast out of the other side Emma found herself and Regina tumbling unceremoniously towards the floor. The blond manage to twist them so that she landed on her back in what was thankfully quite soft moss and Regina landed sprawled out on top of her. Emma backpack bounced across the moss and a few feet away from them.
The brunette pushed herself up onto her elbows so her weight was no longer completely on Emma but didn't move any further. Emma's head was spinning from their journey and from the way the brunette was blinking rapidly so was hers. Finally the brunette's gaze settled on Emma and the blond couldn't help but smirk. The brunette shook her head.
"Don't look so smug" Regina grumbled causing Emma to just smile more. Regina chuckled in response and her body was still pressed close enough to Emma for the blond to feel the vibrations from the laugh down the length of her body.
"Just say thank you" Emma chided.
"Why?" Regina deadpanned. "It really wasn't that good a kiss."
Emma rolled her eyes at the brunette's remark. If it wasn't for the fact that Regina had a slight smile playing across her lips Emma would have been seriously offended rather than just the slight offence she was currently feeling.
"I didn't exactly have much time to impress did I before we got sucked through the portal" Emma retorted. "Anyway I was referring to my act as the human cushion."
Regina glanced down the space between them and chuckled again before rolling off the blond and sitting up. Emma sat too and began dusting the pieces of moss that had stuck to her coat off as best she could.
"Well let's just call it two to one" Regina replied as she watched Emma struggle. "I think you'll find I've been under you twice already today dear."
Emma heard the words and instantly raised her eyebrows. She had no idea if Regina had meant the innuendo or not but there was certainly one there. The brunette just raised one eyebrow back at her and smirked before mouthing the word 'what' at her. Emma was stumped for words as the other woman stood up and reached out her hand. The blond grasped the offered hand was pulled to her feet. Even though she had been in several altercations with the brunette before she had forgotten how physically strong she actually was. She'd discovered it for the first time when the brunette had punched her outside the Mills family tomb in Storybrooke.
"Well we are in the right place" Regina broke the silence as she gazed over the blonds shoulder. Emma turned to look at whatever the older woman had seen. Just a few metres away over the other side of the small clearing there was a glittering road.
"One yellow brick road" Regina stated; before heading towards it. Emma picked up her backpack and followed along behind her until the brunette stepped onto the road and stopped. Emma stopped alongside her and surveyed what lay ahead of them if they turned right. The road led through quite dense woodland, the area closest to them seemed fairly similar to the enchanted forest. However the land had a slight incline and she could see that up ahead there was an area of even denser woodland, so dense it looked like it would virtually cut out all natural light.
"Do you think this road leads us all the way to the Wicked Witch's Castle?" Emma asked the brunette. Dorothy had said to follow the road but that had been her only instruction.
"Well if we walk far enough we shall sometime come to someplace" Regina replied; her voice dropping an octave compared to its usual tome. "Let's hope that someplace contains our son."
"And Toto" Emma added playfully as they began to walk side by side along the road.
"And Toto" Regina agreed dryly; casting Emma a cursory glance just to make sure the blond knew that she found the idea of rescuing a dog ridiculous.
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"I've just realised that it's light here" Emma broke the comfortable silence they had been walking in. "It was night time in the enchanted forest."
"You've just noticed?" Regina exclaimed; her tone more shocked than unkind. "Emma we have been walking for over an hour!"
"Shut up" the blond grumbled. She'd been too distracted by her thoughts of saving Henry to really pay attention to what time of day it was. It was only when she had thought about how long it would take them to reach that eerie bit of forest and considered that it may be nightfall by then that it had dawned on her.
Regina smirked at the childish retort but either chose not to or couldn't be bothered responding. Back before the curse had been lifted and Regina was just the Mayor of Storybrooke then Emma would have expected a seething comment as part of the course. A lot had changed since then. They were no longer warring over Henry but battling together for him and Emma was no longer Regina's employee. They were equals…well in theory anyway. The Saviour and the 'Evil' Queen; what a fairy tale their story would make.
"Have you ever been here before?" Emma was genuinely curious but she was really just asking to keep some conversation going. She liked silence but not for such an extended period of time.
"No" Regina monosyllabically replied. It was hardly the start of a lengthy conversation so Emma tried a different tact.
"So there is no one here who you have offended other than the Wicked Witches Daughter then?"
The blonde's voice held enough mirth for Regina to understand that although it was a question there was no malice in it. If anything there was just acceptance of the past for what it was….the past. Emma was all for living in the present.
"Not that I know of" Regina sighed, her voice resigned. "I've offended a lot of people though so I suppose one of them could have come from Oz."
Emma snorted in a completely un-lady like way before chuckling at the brunette's words. Regina glanced sideways at her and the brunette's face broke out into a smile.
"I'm glad you find my remorse amusing Miss Swan" Regina shook her head as she spoke but her tone was light. Emma couldn't help but smile again at the word 'remorse'. She had never heard the brunette use the word before, not in that context anyway. In Neverland the older woman had told Pan that she felt no regrets because her actions had brought her Henry. Regret and remorse were two different things. They may not seem in definition that far apart but in reality they were very different. Emma had learnt a lot about both in her lifetime.
"I find you amusing" she finally replied, making an active decision to keep the mood light and not delve into history.
"Thank you…I think" Regina replied with some confusion.
Emma wasn't used to having the other woman on the back foot. In the past she would have instantly moved to capitalise on her advantage but at some point down the line those urges had drifted away. It had started when Regina had helped bring Snow and herself back from the Enchanted Forest. No perhaps it had been even earlier, perhaps it had been the moment the curse had lifted and Regina had pleaded with Henry to believe that she did love him. She wasn't really sure when it had started but she could pin point the moment she had completely wanted the animosity to stop. It had been the day that Henry had been snatched and taken to Neverland. Regina had willingly sacrificed herself in the mine to give the others a chance of escape. When Emma had realised her plan and tried to talk her out of it the brunette had said something that had resounded within Emma and touched her deeply. The brunette had virtually begged to let her 'die as Regina'. It was in that moment that Emma had known that there really could be a way back from all the darkness that had plagued the brunette's heart for all those years.
"Emma are you okay?" Regina's concerned voice broke the blonde's reverie and Emma whipped her head to the right to look at the other woman.
"Sorry I was lost in thought" Emma admitted. Her response seemed to satisfy the brunette as she didn't pry any further.
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They had been walking for another couple of hours when Emma felt a shift in the forest around them. The umbrella of branches seemed to tighten and darken the way ahead and the air was thick with something Emma couldn't place. It felt worse than unpleasant. This was obviously the black bit of forest she had earlier seen on the horizon.
"Suddenly I have the creeps" Emma voiced her concerns.
"What?" Regina replied without even turning to look the blonde's way. Emma could tell that she was not the only one to suddenly feel on edge as Regina's earlier relaxed posture had vanished and a wave of tension seemed to role from the older woman.
"We seemed to have passed from normal woodland into…somewhere else….creepier!" Emma exclaimed. Regina came to a halt and looked around their surroundings and Emma found herself doing the same.
"It's an enchanted forest" Regina muttered, "and not the good kind…there is dark magical energy everywhere."
Emma may have spent most of her life in a world were these things were considered tall tales to entertain children but even she knew that this was not good. The forest emanated danger and the blond worried what effect a build-up of magical energy may have on Regina especially as the older woman had avoided using it apart from out of necessity for the past year or so. Would it be like waving crack cocaine under the nose of a former addict?
"Are you okay?" she asked the brunette as evenly as she could. She didn't want to sound like she was making an accusation because although she was concerned she did also have faith in Regina. A fact her parents would no doubt still not approve of.
"Yeah I'm fine" Regina responded calmly, "but your right this place is creepy."
Emma tried to much her growing nerves down again and reminded herself that they were following this path to find Henry. She began walking again and Regina fell into step alongside her but the brunette was like a hawk looking constantly side to side. It did little to quell the uncomfortable feeling in the pit of Emma's stomach.
They had moved another couple of hundred metres down the road when the sound of snapping undergrowth somewhere of the left of them made them both halt.
"What was that?" Emma asked as the sound repeated again but this time much closer.
There was another loud snap and suddenly movement in front of them. Emma felt herself being pulled back against the brunette and away from the side of the road. The area lit up at the same time to reveal a sizable male lion staring at them.
"Hey hey hey hey careful" the beast spoke up, lifting one of his front paws up like he was surrendering. "I won't harm you."
Emma looked back at Regina to gauge her reaction to find that the source of bright light had come from a large flame the older woman had conjured in her hand. It was no wonder the lion had stopped in its tracks as the brunette's fight instinct had obviously kicked in and she was about to flame grill him. The light suddenly went out again as the brunette relaxed and the road fell into the dull state it had been prior to the arrival of the creature.
"You're the lion" Emma found herself saying involuntarily even though it was rather obvious. "You are an actual talking lion."
"Do I know you?" The beast asked in confusion. Its deep voice reverberated around them but not in a threatening manner. It reminded Emma of the lion from the Tales of Narnia series she had seen as a child.
"No but we know Dorothy" she managed to reply despite her shock at the animals existence. "She told us the way to the Witch's castle so we can find our son."
"And Toto" Regina added sarcastically from behind the blond.
"And Toto" Emma agreed, glancing back at her companion to smirk at her.
The lion looked between the two of them and after a few brief moments of silence he nodded and stepped closer to them so he was now stood on the road with them. Emma was enthralled by the way his hair airily bounced as he moved, it was like something from a hair product advert.
"Well this isn't a place you want to be travelling through especially when it gets dark" the lion informed them matter of factly.
"And why is that?" Regina asked, finally releasing her grip of Emma's backpack. The blond didn't bother to move away from the brunette even though they were so close that the back of Emma's right shoulder was pressed against the front of the other woman's left shoulder. The contact was comforting considering the current turn of events.
"The dark forest has a spell cast over it" the lion explained wearily. "Here it is nearly impossible to tell what danger is real and what danger is in your own head."
"That doesn't sound good" Regina stated flatly, "but it we have little choice but to go on."
Emma turned her head to look at the brunette and their eyes both contained the same steely determination. If this was the path to their son then this was the path they were taking.
The lion cleared its throat and they turned their attention back to him. The beast seemed to be standing far taller and far more proud than before.
"Courage my friends" he declared bravely, "I will guide you through the forest."
The lion began to move down the yellow brick road and after one more glance at each other the two women began to follow. Emma couldn't help but smile at the lion's words as, despite her poor knowledge of fairy tales, she did know that the lion in the Wizard of Oz wanted the gift of courage. It seemed that he had in fact found it. She only hoped her own courage held out in this creepy creepy place.
