Well, here's another chapter, a short one, setting up the last one/two chapters of my story. So yes, it's ending soon! Read on!
That night I arrived at the room before Emma did. This time it was purely mine. The grey comforter, the dark carpet and the neatly organized room, all mine. I walked to the window that should have looked down over my backyard, but where I expected to see my manicured backyard and my prized apple tree there was instead a swirling thick fog. I ran my hand through my hair, shaking out my bangs. I closed my eyes, trying to imagine my backyard, hoping I could somehow superimpose the image into this dream state. I opened them again, and the scene outside hadn't changed. The fog was as thick as ever. I folded my arms and stared at it, as if my anger alone could change it.
"Regina?" My heart leapt and I turned around as the room began to change. If not for the way Emma demanded my complete attention just by being present, I probably would have been fascinated by the sudden change.
"Emma," I breathed a sigh of relief, wrapping my arms around her neck as she wrapped hers around my waist. We stayed like that for a moment. As fake as this world may be, everything in it felt real. Emma smelled faintly of cinnamon, and she felt warm against me. I scrunched my face up, holding back tears and holding on as tightly to Emma as I could. She pulled back from me, holding my face in her hands.
"Are you ok? Is everything alright in Storybrooke? What about Henry?" She rattled off question after question, and before I could answer, she kissed me softly. I felt all the pain and tension of the day melt away, and I knew that in her arms was where I needed to be, forever and always.
"I'm fine. Henry's fine. Your father took him away from me, but after the disaster with Daniel, Henry came back. He made me promise to help you. Of course I made that promise. I'll do anything to get you back." She caressed the side of my face. "I made that promise mostly for him. But for me too." She kissed me again. "Your father came to see me today."
"Charming? What for? Did he do something to you?"
"Relax, Miss Swan." I fell easily back into my old manner of speaking to her. "He had questions about what happened to Daniel. I had to tell him that you helped and that you have magic."
"Did you tell him how we connect?" She had moved her hands down to my shoulders, keeping a grip on me.
"No, of course not. You're going to tell your father about us. I want nothing to do with the Charming family drama." I goaded Emma a bit, but she smiled at me anyways, pulling me to her again.
"I'm so not doing that." She was defiant, like a child.
I laughed. "Oh, you're definitely doing that if you want to be with me." She smiled back at me, and I knew she did. "So where are you right now?" I didn't have to explain to her what I meant. She knew I was asking about Fairy Tale Land.
"I'm with Mulan, Aurora and Snow outside of my family's castle. We're resting for the night before we try to activate the wardrobe tomorrow."
"So you found the wardrobe? It's still there?" My heart skipped a beat.
"It is. We only just looked at it though. It was getting dark. I saw my nursery." I could hear the emotion in her voice.
"So you haven't tried to activate it?"
"No. We haven't even discussed it yet."
"Today I visited Rumplestiltskin, and he had an idea." I paused, looking for the words to explain.
"What is it?" She asked eagerly, holding both my hands in hers.
"Rumplestiltskin said that powerful magic leaves a mark. This mark can't always be seen, but it can be felt. Where there have been portals between lands, new portals can be opened up easier."
"So what you're saying is…"
"What I'm saying is that if you can find an old portal in Fairy Tale Land, and I can find an old portal here in Storybrooke, we can use our magic to open it and get you home."
"Are you sure?"
"No, I'm not. But it's the best shot we have."
"We don't have any fairy dust." Emma sighed.
"I know we don't. But Rumplestiltskin has a theory about that. He thinks that if we try and open the portal to each other, instead of to lands, that we can manage it. He expects that our magic will be able to bring us together, as it will guide us much like fairy dust guides other travelers."
"Do you think this will work?" She asked me, eyes downcast. I took a deep breath, wondering whether I should lie to her or not. I don't know. I just don't know. I thought to myself.
"I think it's the best we can do for now." The look in Regina's eyes very plainly said to me that this wasn't our best shot, it was our only shot.
"We don't have a backup plan, do we?"
"Not yet. But if this works, we won't need one." A little desperation was creeping into Regina's voice, and that concerned me. She never got desperate.
"What are you so afraid of?" I asked Regina, expecting a cocky answer of 'nothing.' She surprised me.
"I'm afraid of losing you." She sighed, pulling away from me just a bit. "My mother is alive, Emma, and you don't know just how scary that is for me." She paused, as if steeling herself for what she had to say next. "I tried to have her killed. I thought she was dead. I'm still not sure how she's alive, but she is. And she will kill you if she knows what you mean to me. My mother thinks love is weakness. But you, you and Henry, you've taught me something. It's strength."
"You tried to have your mother killed?" I asked in disbelief. I'd been dying to have a mother my entire life, and Regina had been dying not to. I asked the question I couldn't resist. "How?"
"I banished her to Wonderland when I was a teenager. Sometime after that, well into adulthood, I sent a man into Wonderland after her. He had a hook, which I enchanted so he could rip out her heart."
"A hook? He just carried a hook with him?" I laughed at the ridiculous image.
"No, actually, it was his hand." She smiled knowingly at me. "You may have heard of him actually. He goes by Hook. Captain Hook."
I was beginning to feel like Regina loved dropping these bombs on me. "Captain Hook. Really?" I laughed again. "So I'm traveling with Sleeping Beauty and Mulan and Snow White and Prince Charming who are also my parents, Red Riding Hood, who is actually a wolf, is my godmother, and Captain Hook tried to kill your mother who resides in Wonderland?"
"Well yes, actually, that sounds about right."
"Actually, it sounds like all the Disney writers that have ever existed smoked pot and then wrote my life story."
"Disney?"
"Don't you watch TV? Jeez Regina, this curse locked you in your own little bubble, didn't it?"
"I couldn't risk anyone exiting or entering my little bubble, Miss Swan." She said my name sarcastically, in that way of hers that I'd come to love. "Any person coming through could have been the savior, come to break the curse."
"Lots of good that did you, didn't it? How's keeping that curse going?" I asked her, joking.
"Miss Swan, don't you know?"
"What?"
Regina stopped smiling, putting her arms around my neck again, and whispered in my ear. "Having you break that curse was the best thing that ever happened to me."
I held her tighter, never wanting to break the embrace, knowing in my mind that if we can't open a portal, these stolen nights could be what we're doomed to. "Regina, I have to tell you something." I backed out of her arms, facing the wall.
"Emma?" Her concerned voice assaulted my ears. "Emma, what is it?"
I tried to form the words, but an 'I love you' just wasn't coming out. So I settled for another truth. "I'm not sure if I can control my magic on command." I sighed, realizing I had wimped out.
"You can Emma." She turned me around to face her. "When I called you, you did what needed to be done. I know you can."
"And you? Can you control magic at will?"
"For some reason, magic does not flow from me as it does you. But tomorrow, I will have the magic I need. Emma. We must make a plan. For this to work, we need to attempt to open the portals at the exact same time."
"How will I know when to open it? There aren't exactly working clocks in Fairy Tale Land." She laughed. "Maybe I'll find a digital watch in some store." Regina laughed at me again.
"Noon." She said. "Noon is the right time. The sun will be directly overhead, and then you'll know it's time." She paused. "And if you're not totally sure, ask Mulan. She will know how to tell time."
"Noon." I repeated. "How will we communicate with each other?"
"I think if we're afraid, we can do it."
"Afraid…" I repeated. "I'm always afraid."
"Me too, Emma. Me too." Regina replied quietly.
I thought quietly for a moment, while Regina continued to look at me. "If we can imagine that we're as afraid as we've ever been when we've connected before, we should be able to establish some kind of connection. Just enough to make sure we're attempting this at the same time. Regina, this could work." I allowed myself to get excited, if only for a moment. "We can do this."
She smiled at me just before she disappeared. "Regina?" I called, even though I knew what had happened. "Regina." I said her name aloud again, just for myself. She had woken up before me, and now I was alone, waiting for daylight to break in Fairy Tale Land on the day I would hopefully return to Storybrooke.
Oh, you just wait. All of you.
