So, funny story, I did end up writing quite a bit during my vacay (despite spending a majority of it nauseous), so you guys get an update!
Also this new half season is shaping up to be pretty awesome so far! [Plus I'm a sucker for complex storylines, and Emma's potential darkness stint is making me excited!]
Anywho! This is quite an intense chapter because we're setting up for the climax and big...well, I'll let you guys read and find out.
As always, enjoy!
"So, what's going on?" Henry asked, sitting down on the couch, looking at his moms.
It was then that Regina realized how much her little boy had grown, both physically and mentally. He certainly had changed, but that mischievous and playful side of his was still there.
While Regina mused, Emma answered, "We got our memories back, but you can't tell anyone outside of this room, because we think we were cursed."
"Cursed?" Henry asked, mouth agape. "Why?"
Emma shrugged. "Haven't a clue, but we got our memories back with true love's kiss so chances are that someone felt that we posed a danger, and got rid of our memories because of it."
Henry nodded solemnly, trying to rack his brain to think of who could possibly want to harm his mothers. "Any idea who did it?"
"Yes," Regina piped up before Emma could lay claim otherwise. She felt two sets of eyes boring onto her own, but she kept her gaze onto her hands, discreetly fidgeting.
"Did Whale tell you?" Emma asked, knowing where Regina had come back from. "Or did he have something to do with it? I swear that little-"
"No," Regina intoned, interrupting Emma before she got into a furor over nothing. "I did this."
The room was silent for a few moments, and Regina felt the overwhelming urge to shake them, demand them to react, to get it done with, to call her evil and realize that she was once again destroying everything.
"Regina?" Emma's voice had always soothed Regina, in ways she hadn't even known was possible. Now it put her on edge.
Forcing herself to face the music, and to at least go out with dignity, she looked up at her small family.
There were no faces of anger, nor trepidation. Only caring.
"What do you mean, you did this?"
Regina sighed. Sometimes her wife could be quite dense. "I mean exactly what I said. I did this. My magical signature was found when Whale and Blue had us in the hospital. Once again, I ruin everything. Once a villain, always a villain." By now she was trying to keep her tears at bay. She still couldn't figure out the how. She had all her memories back, so why would she have done this? Why would she have wanted to destroy this?
"Mom, you're not evil anymore, you're not a villain," Henry countered, naively unaware of her magic's latest development.
Regina took a deep breath, explaining this would not help matters. "Henry, there is something you don't know about my magic. You remember when Gold took his life, right?"
Henry nodded his head. He was still resentful over his paternal grandfather's madness.
"Well, the magic of the Dark One is somewhat complex. As you well know, killing a Dark One transfers their powers to whoever killed them. Gold believed that killing himself would spare anyone from absorbing his powers. However, he was wrong."
"You have the Dark One's magic?" Henry asked, aghast.
Regina nodded. "At least part of it, yes."
Emma, who had been silent till now, took Regina's hand into her own and said, "We wanted to tell you Henry, but we didn't want you-"
"To hate her again," Henry finished, looking sorrowfully at Regina.
"Please don't be mad at us Henry," Emma pleaded.
Henry shook his head. "I'm not mad. I mean, I wish you guys would've told me, but I guess I get it, you had your reasons."
"We didn't know how to tell you," Emma explained. "It's not exactly something easy to talk about."
Henry gave an easy smile. "It's okay. So then what's the plan? Is mom's magic different now? Are you going to get rid of it? Is there any way to control it?"
Henry's questions were coming a mile a minute, so Emma chuckled and interrupted the barrage of inquiries. "Whoa, slow down kid, you don't want to overwhelm your mom."
They both were now looking at Regina expectantly. In a small voice, she asked, "Why aren't you guys running away? Why haven't you accepted that I'm now forever corrupted by evil and that you're better off without me?"
"Regina..." Emma began to say.
But Regina wouldn't hear it. "No, Emma. I know that you have a knack of seeing the good in people - a trait you unfortunately inherited from your parents and passed on to our son - but this isn't a matter of perspective. I have the Dark One's power, there is no redemption for me. I have to accept it once and for all."
Both Henry and Emma were poised to protest, but Regina was ready, and added, "I know what you two are about to say, and I love you both very much for it, but I would like some time alone to think, please?"
Neither of the other Swan-Mills members were about to counter that request, so they both nodded. Regina was thankful that they respected her wishes, and went to give Henry a big hug - an especially powerful one that she reserved for special occasions to convey her absolute love for him - and a reassuring kiss on the forehead.
For Emma, she put her hands on either side of her wife's cheeks, and brought their lips together for a strong and passionate kiss, or as much as they were willing to allow given that their son - despite being a teenager by now - was in the room. With a puff of purple smoke, Regina left them, heading anywhere to clear her head.
She wound up exactly at the point that Rumple took his life. It looked different now that it wasn't covered in snow, and maybe some trees were gone, but Regina knew. The dagger itself had never been found, the last time that it had been seen was when Gold took his life. Its disappearance was something which was potentially quite dangerous to her, should the wrong person find it.
"It's lonely, huh?" Regina whipped around and saw two people headed her way, a male and a female, rugged and wearing bright plaid shirts.
"May I help you?" Regina asked.
"No, but we can help you," the woman spoke once more.
Regina scoffed. "I doubt it."
"Because we don't have the Dark One's magic?" the woman sardonically responded. "You'll find that that is not an issue. Feel with your magic, Regina Mills, and realize our bond."
Regina did as the woman said, and noted that the aura around the newcomers was dark, just like Rumple's was when he was alive.
"How..."
"You were not the only one imbued with the Dark One's powers that day," the man finally spoke.
"There was no one else around us; I saw," Regina countered, tensing ever so slightly.
"Ah, a naive one. Tell me, Regina, what do you see around you?" the man smirked as he asked, gesturing to their surroundings.
Regina had no time for these games, and made sure to glare at them to let them know. In her best Evil Queen voice, she said "I hope you're not expecting an answer. Either you tell me who you are and what you know, or you will sorely regret approaching me."
The woman smirked. "Ah the infamous Evil Queen appears. But very well, we will humour you. Until Rumpelstiltskin took his life, we were trees, like all the others you see around us. When the shockwave blast passed through, it made my brothers and I beyond powerful. Powerful enough to take any form we saw fit. You can even see where we used to stand in our more simple forms before."
The woman gestured around the clearing and Regina saw that there were three indentations on the ground where trees could've probably stood. She then noted something, from both what the woman said and the quantity of small craters on the ground. "You mentioned brothers, and I see three spaces. Is there someone else?"
"Yes, Al Timber, the brother you put in the hospital while he tried to get rid of your wife so you could join us."
Regina now connected the dots. "You caused our amnesia..."
"Yes after the plan proved to be a failure, we realized that our attempts at killing your wife, while putting you in the right mindset, would not be conductive to our plans, so we sought to make you forget your love for her, and therefore be ready for us to approach you. We clearly waited too long and underestimated your wife's love for you."
"Yes," Regina responded with a growl, calling up her magic to do her bidding, and concluded with, "you underestimated both of us."
In a few seconds, she had both of her victims suspended in mid-air with tree branches wrapped around their middles, coiling tightly around them.
"Don't you ever try to hurt my family again, am I clear?" Regina snarled, bringing the man closer to be more intimidating.
The man nodded, but he was nonetheless smirking. "Crystal clear, but now you underestimate us, and the fact that we are in our element here."
Before Regina could react, she was thrown off balance as a tree branch wrapped around one of her legs and pulled to hang her upside down.
Due to her loss of concentration, she let go of her magic, inadvertently freeing the man and woman.
"Now, let's change things up, shall we?"
Next thing Regina knew, she felt a sharp sting by her neck. She tried to bring her hand up to take out whatever it was, but her arms felt heavy. As her eyes were drooping closed, she saw the smirking man modify his appearance, looking scarred and bloodied, as if he had been freshly attacked.
The last thing she saw was that same man don an expression of absolute horror before he took off running like his tail was on fire.
And the last thing she heard was the woman say, "Watch as all your hard work topples over. You'll accept your role in no time when you see how quick they are to hate you, even so many years later."
Bad place to end it? I'm gonna guess that it is.
My biggest internal debate was trying to figure out what Henry's reaction was going to be: angry or understanding to not being told? I figured understanding worked best, he knows his moms love him, but Regina is a very insecure person, as we'll see in upcoming chapters. Dun dun duuuuun.
Anyway! I'll be updating with a drabble, Date in the Name of the Law, aaand Her Stable Girl!
Let me know your thoughts!
