An update just the day after! Lucky you!
So the plot has kinda jumped forward big time huh?
Whale is keeping secrets, Regina has part of the Dark One's magic within her...but where is the rest of it~
That I leaf to you, the readers, to figure out, I wood think I've left quite a number of clues... at least tree of them.
Anyway enjoy this chapter!
Emma was running out of breath, this guy was a nutcase! She had no idea where the rogue woodman had come from, and as she moved out of the way from another swipe of his axe, she cursed at the narrow dodge.
Her gun had run out of bullets, and her magic was somehow weaker near him. That was without mentioning all the near skirmishes she'd had with the huge axe, though thankfully she had avoided any major cuts. The trees around them were all riddled with indentations from where the guy's brute force with the axe had hit the trees instead of Emma.
"Seriously, can't you just put the axe down for five minutes? I don't even know where the hell you came from or who you are!"
"I am Al Timber, and you, Emma Swan, must die."
Emma looked unimpressed. "Really? 'Timber'? And could you be any more ominous? What the hell did I ever do to you?"
"Emma!" The blonde whipped around and saw Regina approaching her.
"Regina! What're you-"
"Look out!"
Timber had used the distraction and thrown his axe like one would a discus, but thankfully Emma had enough reflexes to duck out of the way. The tree behind her however, did not escape the flying axe and splintered in half horizontally, falling off to the side.
"Petunia!" Al exclaimed.
"You named your axe Petunia?" Emma asked, completely confused. She had never understood the fascination with naming things, but calling an axe Petunia was on a whole other level that she couldn't comprehend.
"How dare you!" Regina suddenly bellowed, hands glowing purple as Al was raised off the ground, held aloft by her magic. "How dare you hurt my wife!"
"Regina!" Emma was transfixed as her wife growled, a malicious glint in her eyes that she hadn't seen in years.
A giant fireball appeared on one of her hands, and she threw it at the man, hitting him directly.
Emma broke out of her reverie and threw a ball of water at the screaming man now doused with water, before rushing over to Regina. She stood in front of the woman, who wasn't even looking at her directly, instead fully focused on the writhing, semi-burned man. She got closer, putting her hands on Regina's cheeks, hoping her words would get through to her wife. "Regina, look at me. Don't give in to the darkness okay? You can't let it win."
Regina was now looking at her, but it was an empty look, no recognition. Standing closer, Emma realized that her wife's eyes had a purplish haze to them.
She had to try something to get her out of this. Without further thinking, Emma kissed her on the lips, hoping it'd be enough to get her out of her state.
Once they broke apart, Regina's eyes fluttered open, back to their normal brown colour. "Emma? What-"
"Hey, it's okay, you're fine."
"I-" Regina looked around, saw all the cuts on Emma, and the whimpering woodman still suspended by her magic before she released him.
Al fell into a heap, and Emma went to go cuff him.
"Did I...do that?"
She'd never lie to Regina, as much as it pained her to tell her the truth. "Yeah, your protective side came to my rescue. Do you remember any of it?"
Regina screwed her face in concentration. "Vaguely, I just remember wanting to cause him as much pain as I could."
Emma gingerly pulled the man to a standing position, surprised at his stamina and endurance. "Come on, let's get out of here."
Emma slowly opened the crypt door, hoping that Regina wouldn't hear her and thus run away again. Pushing the coffin aside would prove to be the bigger challenge, since the stone scraping against stone in a dead-silent zone would make a screeching sound.
So she decided she'd only open it a little bit, just enough to slip inside, in order to make the least amount of noise as possible. Thankfully, it didn't make much noise, and in no time, Emma was descending the stairs into Regina's lair.
There, she found Regina sitting in the corner of the main room, on the dusty floor with her knees drawn up to her chest, arms curled around her legs, chin resting on her knees, looking unfocused onto the ground.
Without a preamble, Emma walked over and sat beside Regina, putting an arm around Regina's shoulders and pulling the brunette closer to her.
That snapped Regina from her reverie, and as she realized what was happening, she asked in trepidation, with a bit of a squeak to her voice, "What are you doing here? Didn't you hear Whale? I'm a danger to everyone."
"It's part of a doctor's job to make you panic," Emma shrugged. "Besides, I'm still your wife, here for you no matter what, remember?"
"But what if I hurt you? Or if I hurt Henry? I can't lose you two..." Regina lost her words, tears prickling her eyes as she opened and closed her mouth, trying to figure out what to say.
Emma shifted positions, coming to kneel in front of Regina, cupping Regina's cheeks with both of her hands, wiping the tears with her thumbs. "Hey, Regina, look at me."
She did, and she saw the love and adoration in the blonde's eyes. she had never seen anyone look at her like that before, at least with her current memory.
"You're not going to lose either one of us, because we love you, even if you do have part of the Dark One within you, we'll figure this out together."
"But what if it takes over? What if-"
Emma pressed a kiss to Regina's temple. "Then we" - a kiss to her left cheek - "will figure" - her right cheek -"this out" - a lingering peck to the tip of her nose -"together."
Regina had been shocked at the first kiss, but she got a smile after the next few kisses, that only grew with the last kiss. A beat after Emma finished her sentence, Regina put her own hands on Emma's cheeks, and brought their lips together.
Emma felt like she was going to burst with happiness. Here she was, standing at the altar in a gorgeous white dress, staring as her bride was walking down the aisle, with David at her side.
After the initial shocks of finding out within the span of one week that their daughter was not only dating, but also engaged to Regina had worn off, the Charmings had been ecstatic at wanting to help plan their wedding. David decided that he would be walking one of them down the aisle, and after much consideration, the couple had decided that Regina would walk down the aisle.
Once Regina had arrived at the altar, Emma took Regina's hand, and they faced forward, listening to Archie's sermon. The entire time they were caressing each other with the entwined hands.
And then came the vows.
"I, Emma Swan, take you, Regina Mills, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part."
"I, Regina Mills, take you, Emma Swan, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part."
"You may now kiss your bride," Archie said with a grin.
Regina and Emma turned to look at one another, and both brought their faces closer until their lips met. They kissed lovingly and without abandon, wrapping their arms around the other, since from now on, they would be together, no matter what.
"Emma..."
"Regina..."
"You remember?"
"I remember."
They kissed again, Regina lowering her legs as to be able to bring Emma closer to her, missing having her wife with her. They nipped at each other's lips, before finally breaking apart.
"I'm so sorry for the divorce papers and-" Regina's apology was cut off by Emma pressing her lips against the brunette's.
"Don't apologize for that, we had forgotten, so it's not your fault. But I do apologize for getting mad at you...maybe this wouldn't have happened if-"
Now it was Regina's turn to cut off Emma's apology.
"It was my magic that started this, but let's not play the blame game darling, and try to figure out how to resolve this."
"Sounds like a plan." Emma went once more to sit down beside Regina, pulling her wife close to her.
This time, Regina burrowed into the hold much more willingly, letting her head rest on Emma's shoulder, as she released a relaxing breath. "I feel so relieved at having my memories back."
"So do I," Emma agreed, gently running her arm over Regina's arm.
Regina then remembered something, and with a puff of purple smoke, she was holding her wedding ring in her left hand.
Emma saw it with a smile, and grabbed the ring. She then turned Regina's palm upside down and put the ring back on her ring finger before kissing the knuckles.
With a chuckle, Regina shifted her hand so she could hook her fingers under Emma's chin to lift her face back up until it was level with her own. Then she kissed her softly.
"I love you."
"And I love you," Emma responded with a grin.
After they kissed for a couple of seconds more, Emma saw that Regina seemed to be deep in thought. "Regina? Everything okay?"
"Us kissing gave us our memories back..." Regina murmured.
"Yeah? Wait, does that make us true loves or something?" Emma asked, eyes widening.
Regina was momentarily deviated from her stream of thought at Emma's question, donning a similar expression of shock. "I...I suppose so. I hadn't thought that we could be but-"
Emma once more kissed Regina, smiling into the sweet moment.
"But," Regina said, breaking the kiss off and putting a hand on Emma's chest before continuing, "what I don't understand is how. We had amnesia, due to a brain trauma. True Love kisses only break curses, they don't cure brain trauma, as it's not a magical affliction..."
"Wait, what?"
"Emma, I think someone took our memories away."
And that's where I leave you!
...until the next year that is. We're just past halfway done this story!
I hope everyone enjoyed this! Plenty of fluff to make up for the dark chapter before this one, plus memories are back!
And a bit of a mystery. Oooooh, who do you think took their memories?
Next up for me will be double updates to Date in the Name of the Law, and then the conclusion to Kissing Booth!
Of course also plenty of Coldly Calculated updates.
Let me know your thoughts!
Happy Hanukkah to those that celebrate it, since it just started today, and I hope everyone has a happy holiday!
