Yay! New chapter. I'm so sorry for the wait but I'm in partial exams and project and everything just went chaotic. I really hope you'll like this chapter and I'm sorry in advance. If you want to see how I'm so Swan Queen trash, you can follow me in Tumblr swanqueen-gives-me-life
All mistakes are mine
Disclaimer: I don't own OUAT
On with the show
2 years later
It was already dark when Emma got out from work. She had been working all week on a case, no one had found the guy, even though Emma had become one of the bet bounty hunters the office had ever had.
Also, it didn't help that after two years of searching relentlessly for Regina, nothing had come up. Today had been specially frustrating, between the several cases she had yet to finish, trying to find the Regina and the never-ending worry of what Cora would be doing in that moment, she had thrown one of the flower pots that decorated her office straight into the bookshelves.
Mulan and she had formed a friendly relationship, though they still kept things very professional, and she was still seeing Elsa from time to time and Emma could actually say that she was now her best friend.
The blonde started walking down the street, with the firm intention of getting to her dorm and sleep, good thing that she didn't have classes tomorrow morning, she was in no mood to being lectured for six hours a day.
She was answering some texts in her phone that she didn't notice when a brunette passed her and stop right in her tracks.
"Emma Swan?"
At the mention of her name, Emma looked up and turned around to see no other than Ruby Lucas. They hadn't seen each other since they got out from high school and the relationship was still very tense.
"Ruby?" Emma asked, almost as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"Yeah." Ruby started to fidget. Neither girl knew how to address the other one.
Emma took a step towards Ruby. "How have you been?" She asked, trying not to give away how awkward she was feeling.
"Good, very good. Belle and I moved in together and we are renting a small flat here in New York." Ruby said, with a little smile.
"That's great Ruby." Emma replied.
"Umm, do you want to go for a drink? To catch up?" Ruby asked nervously.
"Yeah, sure." Emma answered, and they started walking in an uncomfortable silence.
"So, how you've been doing?" The brunette asked.
"Fine, I'm still studying and I got a job so everything is going just fine." Emma said, though one could easily tell that everything was not fine for the blonde; Emma didn't want to tell Ruby anything about how she hadn't been able to find Regina, in fear of her reaction. She still couldn't understand how after many years of Ruby telling her to tell Regina she loved her, suddenly she was saying to let her go. Unfortunately for her, Ruby knew better.
"Any luck with Regina?" Ruby asked, though she already knew the answer to that question. Not only because she was able to tell that Emma was hiding something from her, but because someone had already told her that Regina was still kept by her mother.
"Nop." Emma said dryly, not wanting to tell Ruby anything else.
Ruby didn't respond to that. Emma was very distracted, and didn't notice when Ruby led them to an alley until it was too late.
"Emma, I'm so sorry." Ruby said, not walking anymore and waiting for Emma to acknowledge what was happening.
"Wh- What are we doing here?" Emma asked. "Why are you saying sorry?"
Ruby didn't have a chance to answer that when a figure emerged from the shadows.
"Hello dear" The figure said and Emma knew exactly who was there. Cora.
"Cora?" Emma said in disbelief, still in quite a shock. Nothing good could come up from meeting with Cora, and knowing the blonde's history with her, this wasn't the exception.
"Ruby, what are you doing with Cora?" Emma said, turning to Ruby.
"I'm so sorry Emma." Ruby said, with a tear running down her cheek. She hated that she had to betray her best friend that way, knowing all the effort Emma had put in finding Regina.
"Don't you know that this woman was the one that kidnapped Regina? The woman that kidnapped her own daughter?" Emma yelled towards Ruby.
"I didn't have a choice Emma."
"Still I don't understand what are you doing with her!"
"She threatened Belle!" Ruby yelled back. "I couldn't risk the chance that Belle could get hurt. I had to talk you against going on this quest to find Regina and when you didn't listen you know what happened." Ruby said, remembering the day when she found Emma all beaten up.
"And don't you think that I wanted to do everything to avoid Regina being hurt? Avoid getting beaten up that every single movement hurt like a bitch? You had the choice to fight back!" Emma said, feeling the anger boil inside her.
"Don't you think I know that? But I'm not brave like you Emma and I'm really sorry that our friendship had to end like this."
Emma was shocked, she couldn't say anything, the lump in her throat didn't allow her to find her voice.
"Ruby you can leave. " Finally Cora said.
Ruby started walking to get out of that alley, she didn't want to leave her friend with Cora because she knew that if she did Emma would most likely end up dead but she couldn't risk Belle's safety. Beside, as she had told Emma, she wasn't brave; she wasn't some sort of savior.
"I'm really sorry." Ruby added, before turning to leave.
"Now dear, where were we?" Cora asked.
"How did you find me?" Emma asked, still in shock but finally being able to let some words out.
"Oh I have my means darling, but remember that night a couple years ago when you went on this date with a man? I recognized you immediately and I thought that you had finally moved on, but after seeing you chase him down the street I knew that you were up to something. I discovered that you were a bail bondsperson and you were still looking for Regina. I think the rest you can figure it out." Cora explained in the most relaxed tone. Emma wasn't used to this, because the fact that Cora was so relaxed only meant that she already had planned this ambush.
"What do you want Cora?" Emma sputtered.
"There is no need to being rude. I'm just trying to have small chat with you."
Emma scoffed. "Yeah, sure and I'm supposed to believe that I'm going to walk away unharmed." She knew her life was in danger, and Emma slipped her hand into her pocket, in the most discreet way, and reached her phone.
"Well dear, that would have been the case if you had listened to what I said to you all those years ago." Cora said, with a tone that could easily be mistaken with that of a queen, sending a shiver through Emma's spine.
"I promised myself that I would do anything in my power to find Regina, and that's exactly what I've been doing for four years." Emma replied, not willing to let Cora get under her skin.
"Oh you foolish girl, don't you know? Love is weakness. There cannot be power and control if you love someone, and Regina will one day become one of the most powerful women in the country and you've have been keeping her from getting there."
"Have you even wondered what might Regina want out of her life? Her desires, her dreams? Because by judging what you just said, you're only doing this for selfish reasons." Emma countered.
"I'm just doing this because it's what's best for her."
"Bullshit. Why can't you just let her be happy?" Emma asked in a desperate tone. She couldn't believe how someone who was supposed to love you no matter what, was doing all these things just to hurt someone.
"Because Regina will never be happy. She doesn't know how and besides, how could anyone possibly love her?" Cora said with a giggle, thinking of the ridiculousness of someone loving Regina and her loving back.
"I LOVE HER!" Emma yelled. "I love her and I'll always will."
"Well, dear. That is rather unfortunate seeing that you'll have no much time left to love her. But first, I want to ask you a question, why didn't you tell her that when you could?" Cora asked, genuinely curious as to why neither girl had admitted their true feelings; not that she cared, of course but it was a very interesting situation.
"Because I don't know how she feels. I can live with her being my best friend but to be open to the possibility of being rejected? Thanks but no thanks." Emma scoffed; she had been rejected her whole life more times that she could count, and the mere thought of Regina rejecting her was breaking her heart.
"Oh my, this just turned out to be more interesting than I thought. You both are blind to what is front of you, but don't worry better for me." Cora said before putting her hand inside her bag to retrieve something.
Emma just saw the movements of the woman, and knew that whatever she pulled out it would put in danger her life. She still had her hand over her phone; lucky for her, there were some perks of being a bounty hunter and her safety, she quickly unlocked her phone and sent Mulan her location. She just hoped that anyone would arrive there in time.
"I am really sorry that I have to turn to… desperate measures to ensure Regina's success and that you'll no longer be an obstacle. Goodbye Miss Swan." Cora took out whatever she had hidden inside her bag.
Before Emma could react to what was happening, a loud shot was heard, there were some sirens in the background but they were starting to fade away and she just knew that whoever had come, they were a little too late. The last thing she saw in her mind before everything went black was the face of Regina. I'll always love you, I'm so sorry I couldn't save you, were her final thoughts.
Mulan was relaxing in her flat when her phone lit up. It was really weird that someone sent her a text, the only person that did so was Aurora, but it was quite late and Aurora wasn't one to stay up all night.
She looked at her phone and saw the name on the screen. Emma Swan. The blonde didn't text her and if she had to call her, she would call her to her work phone or to the office, never to her personal phone.
Mulan immediately knew that something was wrong. She opened the text and saw the location, she immediately went to call the cops; she grabbed her keys and went off to find Emma.
Please let her be okay. Mulan pleaded to any god that was in heaven, because even though the blonde and her had a professional relationship and the beginning of a friendship, she still cared a lot about the blonde that had become one of the best bounty hunters in the whole office.
Sorry not sorry for the cliffhanger. As always, any review/fav/follow is appreciated. I really want to know what you thought of this chapter. :)