Gold hadn't wasted any time redecorating his room. It was dark, perhaps it had been so before, but cloth hung from all the walls, even surrounding the window, covering up the wood. Within the black cave of a room, he had gotten rid of the bed. Maybe he didn't need to sleep. In its place he had thin tables, barrels covered in boards, and tiny glass vials, jars, and things in racks and stones. Pieces of jade and gold, bits of silver: they'd been in port days and he'd made himself a lair.
Emma didn't like bringing Regina in there. Clothing felt like little protection and though Gold wasn't hostile, she could feel the power of the Dark One, as if he radiated it all around him.
"What seems to be the trouble, your majesty?"
Emma wasn't sure whom the question was directed towards. Her instinct said to defer to Regina, to whom the title always belonged, but Gold's dark eyes were on her.
"Something burned Regina."
"I don't usually handle cooking accidents."
Regina fixed him with a look of scorn. "Something magic."
She'd put on her skirt and her robe so she could open the fabric to show him without being too exposed. Emma still wanted to protect her. She'd known Gold for two years and he was always kind of creepy but now, something about him made her skin crawl. Maybe she was finally more attuned to magic.
His fingers were near Regina's skin and Emma had to grab her, touch her, do something. She put her hand on the small of Regina's back and made that be enough.
"Now that is more my speciality," he said, eyeing the burn. In the time it had taken them to change clothes it had already shifted from bright red to a bruised kind of purple. He reached for it. "May I?"
"You have my permission."
He went for it as if his fingers were the legs of a tarantula. They lit gold, feeling out the magic in the burn.
Maybe it was the way Regina twitched, the small tremor that went up her spine or something, but Emma knew, almost the same moment she did. She looked around Gold's room, saw the big empty bowl and grabbed it. She got it in front of her right before Regina threw up.
Perhaps they were doing the annoying psychic couple thing already or magic had warned her somehow, but Emma's timing was right and Regina's aim was pretty good, considering. She'd been fine, completely fine when they were out practicing magic and now her nausea was back with a vengeance. Emma held her hair back this time, murmuring sympathetic nonsense as Regina's stomach rebelled.
Gold hadn't bounced back. He still stood next to them, watching without disgust or any kind of normal reaction to watching someone vomit.
"Good reflexes," he said to Emma, vanishing the bowl and the mess within away.
Regina stumbled and Emma caught her, guiding her down to the deck again. "Do you have any water? What's going on?"
"You should get the water, dear," he said. "I doubt my bringing it will be any help."
Emma tried not to focus on the sweat on Regina's suddenly pale skin, and instead pictured the barrel of drinking water in the kitchen. She took a wooden cup from the box in the galley, filled it and brought it to them with a puff of blue.
"You would have been faster."
Gold shrugged, his hands on his cane. "If I did it, I would have needed to bring back the bowl."
Thinking about how she should have brought a cloth made one appear and Emma wiped Regina's face. Patting off the sweat, then cleaning her lips. "Here."
Regina drank half a sip, her face contorting, and she spat it back into the cloth in Emma's hand.
"It's okay," Emma said, trying to stop her from apologising. "I'm washable. Spit up anything you want."
There was amusement in Regina's eyes, along with discomfort, and she kept the next sip down.
"What is so interesting?" she demanded Gold, staring up at him.
He knew something, but his smile was more impressed than victorious.
"The burn was caused by magic. Dark magic as you suspected."
"Henry," Regina said, starting to stand up until Emma stopped her.
"Wait."
Gold agreed with Emma. "He's fine at the moment."
"Why did it make her so sick? She barely even touched it." Emma asked, her hand still on Regina's shoulder.
"Why indeed?" Gold said. He set down his cane and moved to the far end of the table, almost as far as he could get from Regina in the tiny room. He drew a ball of, well, darkness into his hand and it twirled there, purple and brown, stinking like rot and dried blood. He moved toward them slowly, limping on his bad leg.
The closer he got, the more Regina tensed until Emma had to grab her face. Magic flowed out of Emma's hands, right into her, keeping Regina's eyes from rolling back into her head.
"Stop," Emma begged.
The darkness disappeared and the room seemed warmer. The lanterns shone brighter than they had a moment ago.
"I'm sensitive to dark magic." Regina's voice had been worn ragged. "Me?"
"Do you want me to test you again?"
Emma put herself between them. "No. Please."
"Do you want to explain it to her, or should I?" Gold said, standing above them, his hands on his cane.
Regina covered Emma's hand with one of hers. "I understand. It's okay. I'm all right."
"You nearly passed out on me."
"Gold conjured pure darkness to test his theory. It was intense, but effective." Regina coughed, wincing. "Could you bring more water?"
It was easier this time. Emma already had where it was in her mind and it took much less effort to go through the motion of filling the cup. Regina drank it and swallowed this time, improving but staying on the floor.
"Regina has developed an extreme sensitivity to dark magic," Gold explained when he thought Emma was paying enough attention. "I imagine it's due to her being pregnant with a child conceived through magical means."
"But she used to cast dark things all the time."
"I imagine her ability to do so now will be absent, and if not, it will have unpleasant consequences." He crouched next to them. "I apologise for this afternoon. It appears your illness was indeed my fault."
"I thought it was the smell," Emma said.
"It was," Regina answered. "And what was behind the smell."
"I've been trying to spy on the Enchanted Forest through magical means. My powers are, quite literally, dark. So they are strongest when I approach them from that angle."
"With that much dark magic on the ship, my system couldn't handle it." Regina finished her water and held out the cup so Emma could refill it. This time she didn't even need to picture the barrel of water, it just came where she wanted it.
"How is that possible?"
"You created a child from nothing but your combined will and you want to know how magically induced morning sickness is possible?" Gold smiled at Emma the way he did when he was actually impressed. "From what I understand of the condition. Morning sickness often has triggers. One of Regina's is dark magic. The smell of it makes her sick and the touch of it burns her skin."
"Because of our baby?"
"In a manner of speaking. You do understand that pregnancy requires an enormous amount of physical adjustment. The pregnancy of a woman as powerful as Regina demands magical adjustments as well."
Emma snapped her fingers. "I told you your magic was turning lilac."
Regina patted her arm, slowly nodding. "You were right, dear."
"Her magic's been changing colour."
"That'd be the baby." Gold inclined his head towards Regina, then returned to his feet. "Stay away from dark magic. I'll ward my room and try to be more cautious in the spells I invoke."
"But the amulet," Emma remembered. "Is it safe for Henry? Can Regina be around it?"
"It allows Henry to be merfolk in the sea, human on land?"
Emma nodded, helping Regina stand when she started to move towards her feet. She was mostly stable, but Emma still wanted to hug her and whisk her away.
"Fixed transformation amulets can be constructed from all kinds of magic. Henry's could have been made by a powerful dark entity, centuries ago, or quite recently. The magic used to make it is still inside of it, and that's what Regina reacted to. You'll be able to heal the burn, Miss Swan. Obviously, I cannot."
Slipping her hand inside Regina's clothing, Emma healed it easily, chasing the imprint away. Regina held her hand against her stomach, thanking her.
"So it's not dangerous to Henry?"
"Most likely no more so than you using one of my trinkets. It was made by me, and would still contain some of my essence, but Henry's no more sensitive to it than you would be, Miss Swan." He turned to Regina. "You, however, should try to avoid any contact with it. Your reactions may increase in intensity with frequent exposure."
"Thank you," Emma said. "Sorry about the bowl."
"I appreciate your reflexes, dearie. Much easier than cleaning the floor."
"That's why Emma put so much energy into me, before, didn't she?" Regina asked, releasing her grip on the table as her legs steadied beneath her.
"I imagine after the initial conception, Emma's energy reacted to ensure it 'stuck', so to speak."
Emma turned to Regina, wishing she could kiss her. "I did it when I saved you."
"You must have overestimated how much energy you needed and in your exuberance, went entirely overboard, which sounds like something you'd do." Regina's voice, soft with gratitude, melted the knot in Emma's stomach.
"I'm sorry."
"Next time I would like to perhaps discuss the prospect before we conceive-" Regina let the thought hang unfinished.
The idea of a next time rattled through Emma's thoughts like a cannonball.
"Using Emma as a buffer helps your symptoms because she's a source of pure love magic, as sickeningly sweet as that sounds."
Emma shook her head at both of them. "I get it, I'm cotton candy and rainbows, so I can counteract dark, not my fault."
"It certainly explains your affinity for things composed of sugar."
"Hey, I haven't had any junk at all in this world."
"Other than rat on a stick."
"It was sheep!"
Gold tapped his cane on the deck. "If there's anything else?"
"No. Thank you. Sorry for barging in."
"It's no trouble. I'm-" he turned from them, still speaking, "-glad my grandson will have a playmate."
Sensing dismissal, they left.
"Do you think he'll really ward his room?"
Regina smiled, her lips soft and her eyes gentle. "Unless he wants to deal with both Charming women in a less than charming mood, I think he'll stick to his word."
"You like that my mom defended you." Emma realised, stopping Regina next in the tiny corridor.
"Shouldn't I?"
"Well yeah, I mean, but she's-"
"My arch-nemesis that I have promised to destroy a thousand times over?"
"Yeah."
Regina shrugged, then lifted kissed Emma's hand to kiss it. "She's nearly my mother-in-law. I've heard that's a fairly normal way for the relationship to go."
Emma would have kissed her, with all of her exuberant affection, but Regina stopped her with a finger.
"I just-"
"Right."
Tracing Emma's lips with her finger, Regina's smile warmed. "Though I love that you didn't even flinch."
"Bodily fluids kind of come with the parenting thing, right?"
Regina's chuckle suggested Emma had no idea how right she was.
Henry left the carrot he had been cutting and went immediately to his mothers as soon as they came into the galley. They'd taken their time, sitting in one of the hammocks together until Regina felt halfway normal and she'd properly washed out her mouth. She'd gone through twenty-eight years of curse without so much as a cold, and now even walking around the tiny ship she lived on was hazardous to her health.
He'd hugged her and Emma had kept her hand on Regina's back the whole time, hiding the blue.
He must have heard it. "You're using magic." It was always an accusation from him.
Snow and Charming turned from the stove, Hook looked up from his maps and then she had a full audience.
"If Emma didn't, your amulet would make me sick again." Regina pointed at Henry's chest. "Mr. Gold thinks-"
Emma cleared her throat.
"-And we agree, that my condition has made me sensitive to certain kinds of magical energy."
"So you're going to stop using magic?" Henry looked like he'd been promised Christmas.
"Certain types of magic make me very ill."
"So magic is like perfume?" Snow asked.
"Yes," Emma answered. Then they shared one of those looks that seemed to share a secret knowledge of being pregnant Regina hadn't tapped into yet. "But only a few kinds."
"What kinds?" Henry looked from Emma to Regina and seemed to decide she was the softer target.
"Dark magic."
"My amulet's not dark. It's not a curse, it was a gift."
"Magical objects take on part of who makes them, kid." Emma sat down at the table and guided Regina down next to her. "If I made something it would have part of me in it."
"So whoever made my amulet used dark magic?"
"But that doesn't mean the amulet is dark," Emma assured him. "Mr. Gold's helped us lots of time with tracking spells, and just because they're from him doesn't mean those spells are evil."
Henry's hand covered his amulet, but he made no move to take it off. He backed a step away from Regina and that stung almost as much as it had before, even though he was trying to protect her.
"Sorry."
"It's all right Henry, you had no way of knowing."
"So, if you stay away from dark magic, you won't be sick?"
Everyone but Hook and Henry had a sympathetic look for Regina and she sighed. "Though this baby came from magic, I'm afraid having it is a very physical process. I might be sick again because my body is trying to make sense of what's happening to me, or because of magic. It's hard to know for sure."
"Why is this so complicated?"
Emma put an arm around Henry's shoulders. "Making a person is a big thing. When my body was trying to make you all kinds of weird stuff happened to me."
"Yeah?"
"All kinds."
"So it's okay?"
Regina patted his hand, trying not to look at his chest and the mysterious amulet. "It's okay."
"Do you want dinner then? My grandparents are trying to teach me to make shepherd's pie."
"We're succeeding," Snow promised.
"What knife are you letting him use?"
Henry finally smiled. "The biggest one."
Regina glared his disapproval at his grandparents. "Really?"
"It's very effective," David said, handing the knife over to her. "It has a great weight to it."
"It's far too big for his hands."
"He needs to practice. Carrots will not be his only foe."
They moved on in the morning, slipping through the ships of Qin with ease. The trader's flag made them no more important than any of the other vessels along the busy coastline. Hook had his eye on another city, another trading port a hair on the map closer to home. They still didn't know what was there. Gold had been scrying, his room now well protected, but all he saw of the Enchanted Forest were trees. He saw no ogres, but also none of their people. He thought the forest might have returned to how it had once been, before the ogres.
The next city was much larger, defended by ships of the Emperor's navy and rather than risk drawing attention, they passed it by.
Henry took to wearing his amulet on his back, putting his body between it and Regina when he hugged her. He refused to remove it, protesting it had been a gift and Ariel was the first friend he'd had who knew all his secrets. Neither of his mothers wanted to take that from him, so most days it went unremarked that he still wore it.
They landed at the smaller ports as they went, collecting things that made Hook's ship more of a home. Regina decorated their little room. The cloth over the walls was white, accented with deeper red and different than anything she'd had at Mifflin Street, but it felt like her, so Emma liked it. It was warm, rich with colour and it neatly matched the red and black bedding. They'd wandered that part of the market so long that Emma was starting to forget she could read anything but the characters of Qin, but they found what she wanted. Emma had even learned to negotiate a little, walking away when she didn't get a price she wanted.
Not that it mattered, really. Gold spun straw into his namesake and they were always able to trade that for bags of coins. Hook even joked that he had more plunder for less work than he had ever accumulated in his days as a pirate. Henry trained with the boy until he hit the target with most of his arrows and Snow moved it back. David and Hook fought with swords, against each other and learning from each other. When anyone needed a real challenge, they fought Emma or Regina, and sometimes they worked as a team, which made it truly difficult.
Emma sat on the deck and watched Regina take on the combined assault of Hook, David, Snow and Henry, dodging arrows when she didn't catch them out of the air, calling up her own lilac version of Emma's protective orb to stop their swords. She was glorious in a way Emma hadn't been able to enjoy when they were opposed to each other. Yes, the Evil Queen had been terrible, but Regina in her full glory was awe inspiring. Magic lit her skin from within and as she deterred their attacks, she glowed.
She still needed to work on the physical side of dodging. She'd been the queen so long that most of the time, she didn't even dodge, just went to full offensive mode to lay waste to her attackers. Which was awkward if any of them managed to get through or stood up to her assault. More pressing of a problem was that Regina couldn't cast fireballs. Throwing water was been one thing and her aim was true, but she didn't have the greatest offensive spell in her arsenal.
At first they fizzled when she tried to cast them, like fireworks left too long in the rain. When she pushed through that, tossing the brute force of her natural ability behind them, she'd made herself very ill. Emma had overreacted as well, throwing so much of her energy into Regina to help that she'd ended up being the one who spent the afternoon retching. In a way, she was grateful she could give Regina the day off, because even if they avoided the dark, Regina still spent many mornings and the occasional afternoon curled up in bed.
Emma felt even more guilty about that because she was in better health than she'd probably been in Storybrooke. Here she had fresh air, more vegetables and fruit than she'd ever been forced to eat before, and nonstop exercise.
After that, they'd been more careful. Emma cast her own fire from love, because now, with her family all around her, that was a boundless reservoir for her. She wasn't as good. Trying to hurt or even kill another being, even one attacking her, with her own force of will instead of a gun or a sword was a mindfuck. Emma could do it, but even in practice, she was unsure. The shields Regina conjured for her to take down were so far impenetrable. Regina promised she'd get it, being so patient and supportive Emma only had to look at her to feel better.
She couldn't be as helpful in return. Regina had learned to draw on hatred, bloodlust and anguish; none of them were effective in her current state without dizziness, nausea, and worse. She'd been training defensively, practicing her footwork with David as if it were a dance.
Still, if shadows came for them, they were short on ways to deter them.
It was driving Emma crazy. Fire wasn't evil. The act of summoning it had no more moral leanings than striking a match, but magic was more complex than that. Emma had poured over the books they had until she was partially convinced the characters were crawling onto her fingers and that she no longer needed to cast the translation spell before she knew what they said.
Sick of magic school, she'd been letting her mind wander, lazily floating a ball of water around the mast in a rising spiral, when it hit her.
Running down to the galley where Regina and Snow were trying to decide on their list of foodstuffs for the market, Emma interrupted.
"I'll be your incentive."
"Incentive?"
"I know how to get your fireballs back."
Her mother was less than pleased. "Emma the last time you tried this-"
"I was fine."
Regina shook her head. "You weren't."
"When you say you're fine, I believe you. The least you could do is believe me. I felt exactly how you did and I was fine."
"You're not me." Regina set down her quill, resting her hands on the smooth wood of the table.
"So your capacity to tolerate feeling like hell warmed over is greater than mine?"
"I didn't say that."
Except she had, in the set of her shoulders. Emma glared over the table, trying not to notice how much effort it took her mother not to laugh. "I'm never going to take 'I'm fine' from you again."
"Emma-"
She crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm going to hover."
"What's your plan, Emma?" Snow interjected before Regina could escalate the situation.
"If I was in danger, I bet Regina could cast a fireball."
Snow dropped her quill on the table. "That is a terrible way to prove a theory."
"I agree with your mother."
"That's how bad an idea it is. Regina and I agree!" Snow pointed at Regina and together they stared Emma down. Emma didn't point out that they'd kind of been getting along. They had even cooked together, twice and not only had the galley survived, but the food had been excellent.
"Look, a fireball is one of the best offensive spells we have. Mine work but they're not nearly as good as Regina's were, are. I can throw water like I have firehoses behind me, but it doesn't have the same punch. What if we get attacked by other pirates? Seamonsters? Shadow dragons from the mountains? We don't even know what's going to be around the next turn of the coastline, let alone what we're going to face when we're out of Qin. There's more than half the world map between us and home, how do we cross that without firepower?" Emma winced a little at her accidental pun. Snow was starting to weaken, she could see it in her face.
"I'm not suggesting anything insane. Just that maybe if you, Mom, shot some arrows at me and Regina had to stop them, I bet she could do it."
"I can't shoot at you, Emma."
"I can stop arrows without a fireball."
"From the stern if I'm in the bow? Or if I'm in the rowboat? I've seen you grab them out of the air but that's when they're pointed at you, not me. If they're out of reach, you'll stop them. I trust you. I trust both of you. Besides, Gold can heal an arrow wound."
"This is a ridiculous idea-"
"Gold won't just heal you when you've put yourself in danger-"
"The saviour has a point," Mr. Gold interrupted Regina and Snow's mutual protest. "Regina is one of our best offensive weapons. Yes, Emma can cast a fireball, but two cannons are better than one. Unless we want to learn to use the iron and gunpowder within this vessel, we'll need both of them."
"So you'll heal me?"
Gold inclined his head. "Of course."
"See? I'll be healed. As long as you don't hit me in the eye or something-"
"Emma, I can't. I really can't."
Filling his cup with water, Gold rested his hand on the table. "I'd offer to help, but my services in close proximity to Regina would not end positively."
"Mom, you're a very good shot, I've seen you hit ogres in the eye, and Regina, I trust you with my life. If that doesn't make you want to save me, I don't know what will."
"I'll help, if your mother will not," Hook offered from the darkness behind Gold in the narrow corridor. "I'm nowhere near the shot you are, princess, but if it'll help my ship to remain my ship in the event of an attack, I'm all for it."
Even less pleased with that idea, Regina's gaze towards Emma developed into a glare. "I will not be coerced into your foolhardy plan because you've rather unwisely decided to put your fate in the hand of this pirate."
The united front of Regina and her mother was touching, if a little frustrating.
Emma shrugged. "No problem. Hook and I are just going up to do a little target practice without you."
Hook replaced the apple he'd come to the galley for and pointed the way for Emma. "After you, my lady target."
In the time Hook used to string his bow, Regina and Snow were up on the deck, watching with displeasure. They'd even recruited her father, so he could add his disapproval. Henry was down with the merfolk again, which was why she had to do it now. Emma couldn't risk him watching her be a stubborn idiot, but they needed Regina. Hook had tried to teach them the cannons, but magic was more accurate, needed no reloading and was significantly more frightening to attackers than cannons.
Emma secured the rowboat and held her hands behind her back so Hook could tie them. It was possible that she could cast something to protect herself, but she wasn't going to. She had faith.
"Would you like a blindfold and an apple on your head?" Hook asked. Securing the ropes, he patted Emma with his hook. "If you lose a hand, hooks are really quite useful and a stunning fashion accessory."
Shoving out the rowboat, he climbed easily back to the deck and headed for the bow as the rowboat drifted. Snow already had it in her hands. He nodded to her and stood back.
Notching an arrow, Snow swung the bow to bear on Emma. With David standing beside her, her hands were steady. Looking at her mother, Emma relaxed, running her fingers over the beads at her wrist. For old wood, they had a great warmth to them and they helped her concentrate.
Regina stood a few steps behind Snow, her arms still folded tight against her chest. Her eyes threatened to ignite Emma, the boat and her clothing. Gold watched from the rail, both of his hands folded on his cane. He needed something, or maybe he was waiting to see what they could do.
Emma had been meaning to learn the arrow catch trick anyway. Maybe this would take away her fear of standing in front of a bow. She nodded to her mother, then turned her eyes to her love.
She'd pay for this in a hundred small ways. Emma could agree that it was wrong to blackmail Regina into this with a threat to her own life, but Regina still didn't trust her ability to love and protect without reaching for the darkness for strength. Emma worried she never would, not without a push. She hated that she was resorting to the same manoeuvring that been used against Regina before, and Cora had probably said it was out of love too.
Was it different to trust in Regina's ability to protect rather than harm? Emma believed with all her heart that it was not that fireballs were innately part of dark magic, rather that Regina had learned them in darkness.
Confessing in whispers when they lay together in the darkness, Regina had told most of the story of her fall from the girl on the horse to the evil queen. Magic and science from another realm had failed to save Daniel and she'd given up. She couldn't have love, so she waited for revenge, letting it ferment in her soul as her days grew darker and her life dimmed. If she hadn't hated Snow so deeply, perhaps they could have saved each other from the coldness that held them both within the stone walls of Snow's father's castle.
That was over. The evil queen was far kinder and more loving than anyone had ever allowed her to be, if Emma had to take an arrow to prove it, so be it. Her faith put her of the same opinion as Rumplestiltskin, which was always an odd place to be, but it was necessary. Regina had taught Emma everything she knew about the fireball spell, but Emma had none of the power Regina displayed and now Regina would not cast it.
Emma was too far from the deck to hear the twang of the string, but the whistle of the arrow coming for her sliced through Emma's thoughts. Instinct told her to duck, but she forced it away. Ducking would ruin her mother's shot.
The arrow met Emma as a rain of charcoal as lilac fire burned it to a crisp. Snow fired several more times in quick succession, making sure it had not been a fluke occurrence. Emma had to be impressed with that kind of ruthless efficiency. No wonder Snow had survived so long alone in the woods.
Fire destroyed the arrows even further from Emma that time, letting shards fall into the sea. The fireballs that destroyed them had a magenta tint, but were certainly effective. Emma began to teleport herself back, which was hard without being able to use the motion of her hands to focus. Regina did it first, grabbing Emma's shoulders almost before she reappeared.
"You are the most infuriatingly idiotic woman I have ever met. What if I missed? Or your mother was a better shot than you counted on? Or something got in the way?"
Emma bit her lip trying not to, but then laughed anyway. "Now this is the kind of anger you can use to throw fireballs."
Regina dropped her hands to her sides and fire erupted from both of her palms, throwing heat. "You're going to be smug?"
"This isn't smug. This is relieved." Emma hugged her above the fire, leaning in close so only Regina heard her. "Smug is when I point out that Snow trusted you enough to aim for my chest."
The twin flames in Regina's hands fizzled. She broke Emma's embrace, turning to look at Emma's parents for a long time in silence.
"Well," Gold began, taking advantage of the quiet. "Now that we've proved we have the firepower, I have something I need and you two, ladies periwinkle and lilac, are going to get it for me."
Ursula's pet eels let Henry in. They were kind of creepy with their glowing eyes, but Flotsam and Jetsam weren't really more dangerous than the eels Henry and Ariel played with all the time. They circled him in the water, turning over each other as if they were playing.
She was in her watching room, staring at the glass globe that let her watch all of the world. She said she was lonely and all her brother had left her with as the means to watch everyone else's happiness. Her banishment kept her from most of her family and watching them was all she'd had left. He felt bad for her. Being away from the people she loved was what had happened to his mom, a little bit at a time. Magic did that. It took people away from the people they loved.
Would this happen to his mom someday? Would she fall back into darkness, failing to live up to what he wanted her to be? She'd already failed. She'd said it herself. She'd redeemed herself by being a hero, by being willing to die to stop the curse from killing everyone. What if there wasn't a way for her to be a hero the next time?
"Hello, darling boy. Swim in, swim in. What can I do for you?" Ursula moved one of her tentacles off a chair and waved him over. "I was just watching my nieces. They're so happy, aren't they?"
He looked at them in the globe and nodded. "They do look happy."
"What's troubling you? I can see concern all over your face."
He pulled the amulet out of his shirt. "It burned my mom."
"Oh sweet boy, come here." Ursula pulled him close with a tentacle behind his back. "Let me see."
"She said it made her sick because it was made of dark magic."
"Not made of dark magic, made by someone who used dark magic. It's very old. Perhaps constructed by someone with dark intent but now, now it's just a thing. If you don't want it I can take it back-"
"No, no. I want it. It's the only thing that makes me happy. All my moms want to do is use magic. Emma doesn't even practice with swords anymore. She used to, with her dad, but now she just watches them and uses magic."
"Magic has an allure few could resist. Why fight someone off with a strip of steel when you can poof them away?" Ursula flexed her fingers, like she missed being able to do anything with them. "It feels like the best thing in the world when you're using it. You're powerful and all of you tingles and it's just wonderful. Then when you're not using it you wilt. You feel like you're about to slip away." She sagged against her chair. "Without it, you're nothing, a shell of who you used to be."
He starred down at the sandy floor of Ursula's cave. She was right. Emma and Regina had been so happy using magic. What if it got worse? What if they just couldn't stop? He didn't think what his mom said about practicing was really going to work. Practicing wasn't like the real thing. They'd never be happy without it. Not if it had enough time to become part of them. No one believed him. No one else understood how dangerous it was or maybe no one else cared. His grandparents had been happy too. They seemed to have forgotten that magic ruined people's lives.
"So it's true, they won't be able to stop?"
"I couldn't, darling, and I'm the daughter of a king of the sea. My own brother had to banish me and it half-killed him to do it. Know how he doesn't smile? That was me, I'm afraid. He used to be quite the cheery king, until he had to send me away. He was right to do it. I couldn't be trusted. I liked using magic so much I put my nieces in danger just to have reasons to save them with magic. Maybe if you're lucky, you won't be the one who has to banish them."
He shook his head. "No, I can't do that. You have to help me. Please, help me. They're using more magic all the time. My mom doesn't even talk about stopping any more and Emma, she keeps using more. It's only a manner of time before someone gets hurt."
"I don't know how I can help you, darling boy. It takes magic to deal with magic and I don't have any of that around here." Ursula pulled him close, hugging him with her soft arms. "I wish I could. You'll have to stop them before they get in too deep, like I did. Maybe that man can help you, the darkling-"
"The Dark One, and he won't help me. He likes magic more than anyone." He was trapped. He was going to lose both of his mothers if he didn't do something.
On the shelf across the room, a conch shell glowed weakly. She'd talked about it before. The shell was a magical vessel. One that held all of her magic. She had to keep it, to remind her of what she'd been.
"Your shell!" He swam over to the other side of the room. "This holds all of your magic."
One of Ursula's tentacles grabbed the shell and held it up. "It does. A reminder of how much I risked to keep using magic and how much I hurt my family. So I have to look at it every day and know what I lost."
"Are there any more? Where did it come from?"
"It came from the abyss dear. The darkest part of the sea. It's too dangerous. You can't go there. Only the king of the sea can."
"No." He'd been so close. He could have used shells like that to save his moms before they went too far to come back.
Ursula patted him in sympathy. "I'm so sorry. It was a good idea. It would be the perfect solution to your problem. If only there was some way-"
"I can help," Ariel said, swimming in with a huge smile, a shell in each hand. "I got them, Ursula. I got them. They were in my father's room, just where you said they'd be. He has a whole chest of them, but I just brought two."
Taking them from Ariel's hands, Ursula smiled. "Oh, my darling girl, how fabulous." She took the shells and handed them to Henry with great care. "These will solve all of your problems."
"It won't hurt them, will it?" He didn't want to hurt them. This would help, take the magic away so that they'd never be locked up.
"Not at all," Ursula promised. Her eels drew in and she stroked them. "They won't feel a thing."
Henry cradled the shells to his chest. This was the way free. They'd see it. They'd have to.
Ursula leaned in close, drawing him and Ariel near. "I'll even let you in on a little secret that I've seen in my globe. Shadows are coming from the sea, the day after tomorrow, and if you use these before then, they'll both see how strong they are without magic. They'll fight the shadows off with swords and arrows, just like heroes are supposed to do and when you tell them, someday, I bet they'll thank you for saving them from a fate like mine."
She had to be right. She knew what it was like to be eaten alive by magic and lose everyone. He wouldn't let that happen, not to his 'd see. They'd finally understand. The shadows sounded kind of scary but they'd be able to fight them off. They always had before. They were the heroes, and not because of magic. When he used the shells, they'd see that. They'd have to.
Snow and David arrived from shore early in the morning with three men helping carry their purchases. The porters used long bamboo poles over their shoulders and dropped their goods to the dock. Snow paid them and David tied the bundles to be hauled aboard.
Emma had been confident enough in her translation charm to cast it on both of her parents, at once. Other than a slightly annoying tendency to speak to each other in the language of Qin, mostly flirting when no one understood them, it had been fine. They'd be dying to find leatherworkers and blacksmiths. Not having the armour and weapons they were accustomed too had made them nervous, so their order had been significant.
They'd kept many crafters busy and substantially increased the income of this little port town, but judging from the many bundles of goods, they'd been successful. Regina sat at Emma's side on the deck, listening to her parents recount the news from shore.
Terrible storms were rumoured in the east. The large city they'd thought too big to risk visiting had been hard hit by some kind of disaster. Nearly all of the vessels they'd passed had been destroyed.
"I don't know if it was just a translation issue, Emma, but everyone on land kept calling it a 'storm of shadows' apparently there have been several incidences in the east."
"I cast it the best I can. Maybe that means a thunderstorm?"
"Or a typhoon," David said. "The kind of destruction they were talking about sounded brutal. We should be careful."
Gold tapped his cane on the deck. Emma was convinced he looked more like a kung fu villain they longer they stayed in Qin. "I have numerous weather wards around this vessel. None of them predict anything more dangerous than more drenching rain. Why we're sailing through monsoon season is a question for the ages."
Regina yawned, resting her head on Emma's shoulder and only half following the conversation. She'd already fallen asleep reading on deck yesterday, then fallen asleep again while she'd been peeling potatoes for breakfast. Emma had finished preparing them for her and sent her to sleep until the food was ready, but she was still tired. She blamed Emma, but Emma only said sweet things when she did that.
"What if it's not weather?" Emma asked. "We were all worried about shadows. Most of us have had nightmares about them."
"One meeting with Pan is enough to give anyone nightmares," David said. Unwrapping the cloth from the bundles, he started sorting things out.
"We have things for everyone." Snow waved them all closer. "Even you, Henry."
The child had been quiet ever since Regina had woken up with him in their room, staring at her while she slept. She'd thought he'd had something in his hands, but she hadn't been sure. He'd said that he'd been worried about her then he climbed into bed with her, talking about their long journey and how it was worthy of being a story. She'd humoured him, it was nice to have the company, but it had been so odd to find him in their room.
He was still on edge about magic and perhaps they'd have to take more caution to keep Emma's training out of sight. There was no real point in hiding it though, both of his mothers had magic and magic was part of this world. There was magic living in the streets of Qin where fortune tellers promised to tell your life story with their sticks and magic went into the creation of all of the fireworks Henry loved so much.
Maybe he just needed more time. Sometimes she didn't know who he was, this little person with such a fanatic hatred of magic. She'd only held him prisoner once and immediately regretted it. That couldn't have done any long term damage. Could it?
She must have been frowning because Emma brought her hand to her lips and kissed it, as if to promise everything was all right, no matter how concerned Regina was.
Snow dragged over to piles of leather armour and set one in front of each of them. "We choose these for you. I did most of the design ideas, so if you hate them, blame me."
"Which is which?"
"It should be easily enough to figure out."
Emma leaned close to whisper that she hoped Regina's had space for her cleavage.
"As if your mother would worry about that-" she replied. Lifting one leather tunic, Regina was pleased. Qin armour was designed to be light and flexible, and panels of leather covered metal were bound together with more leather and bamboo. Hers was a deep red, with horizontal stripes of black along the individual plates. It fit snug to her chest, (very snug considering her swollen breasts) followed her waist then flared at the hips into a skirt that went down to her thighs. There were separate pieces of armour for her arms and legs, leather boots that went underneath and a helmet that looked just like the others, except in Regina's colours.
Emma's was a deep blue, with the occasional brass accent. Hers was less ostentatious, and it fit well. Snow knew her daughter. Snow's was pale tan, with parts of it white and David's was mostly black with some bright red. Hook had refused armour and Gold said he had no need of it, so the four of them would be the matching team of soldiers.
They'd even gotten a smaller set, all leather so it would fit more comfortably, for Henry, and he was thrilled to have his first suit of armour, even if he kept calling it his samurai suit. Emma pointed out that was not the right country at all, and he'd have to learn another word for it.
It had been years since she'd worn armour and rarely had Regina excepted hers to be function. She was usually well back from the fighting unless she was fighting with magic, then no one had really been able to stand before her.
Emma stripped down to her tunic and pulled her chestpiece over the top. With her blonde hair in a long braid down the back, she looked like she'd just walked out of a costume party, although the sword at her waist was deadly.
Snow handed Regina two daggers, a small knife and a short, light sword. "Just in case. I wasn't sure what you'd used before, but you really can't have too many daggers."
"Thank you." Regina studied her armour and found places in the legs to hide daggers, a place in the chestpiece for the knife and realised Snow had put careful thought into it. "They're very nice."
"I feel like Xena," Emma said, swinging her sword. "And none of you understand how cool that is."
"I do," David volunteered. "I watched a lot of TV in the hospital."
"Thanks dad."
Gold studied Emma and her sword thoughtfully. "Now that you have your attire, perhaps you'll consider my quest."
Emma sat down again next to Regina, still in her new armour. It creaked and smelt of newly formed leather. "Ride into the mountains above the sea, defeat the guardian of the magic grass and nab a bunch of it so you can scry our land properly. What do you think, dear?"
Regina resisted the urge to smack Emma's armour, just to test it. "You're the one who was concerned about riding."
"If you're confident you can get me up to speed. We probably don't want to take days to get there while I figure out how to giddyup."
"We could always ride double if you're that terrible."
Emma contemplated many responses to that, most of them indecent, and finally just grinned at her. "There's an idea."
"Wait," Henry asked. "How long will you be gone?"
"Just the morning, kid. It's a ride in, grab the grass, ride out, sort of thing."
"It's yao grass," Gold reminded them. "Quite sacred."
"Respectfully grab the grass," Emma amended. "I'm up for it if you are."
Fighting and losing to the impulse to yawn, Regina nodded. "If we leave shortly, we can be back before the afternoon."
"You don't need another nap first?"
Regina tapped Emma's armour with her new dagger. "Watch it, saviour."
Emma shrugged. "Mom, show me how the boots go, would you?"
After Regina slipped below deck to empty her continually full bladder, Snow and David were their squires, helping them into their armour. Regina wasn't sure they'd need all of it if the mission was as simple as Gold said, but nothing ever was as he said it was, so the better prepared they were, the better off they'd be.
Strapping on her sword, Emma slipped her helmet over her head. "I feel like a turtle."
"What until you try plate armour," David said, shaking his head. "You're like a baked turtle wrapped in foil. It's hot, you can't move and if you fall over you'd better have someone to help you get up."
As far as armour went, this was less confining than most Regina had worn, and she had no corset, which was a blessing. Perhaps they would finally slip out of fashion now that everyone had seen how pleasant life was without them. Even if they were beautiful.
David brought them water and Snow made sure they had more than enough food to get lost in the woods for several days.
"It's a sacred mountain. There's a trail, isn't there?" Emma asked, looking over the preparations with concern.
Snow tightened the straps on Regina's arm. "There's a trail and a map, apparently it's a well known sacred site."
"There's just the guardian to worry about," David said, looking at Gold with only mildly veiled suspicion.
"And this is why we have armour now," Emma said. She stretched, checking her range of motion. Having the arms and legs and separate pieces really did help made it easier to move and Regina had found she could move fairly well.
Snow tucked her daggers away into Regina's boots, then gave her another one. "Just in case."
Emma looked from her parents to their son. "We'll be back before you even miss us."
Henry came up and hugged them both. First Emma, then Regina, after he'd fussed with his amulet and hung it away behind his back. He really was out of sorts today.
"If this is so well known," Emma said. "Why is there not more about the guardian?"
Gold's eyes had that wicked light Regina knew as Rumplestiltskin behind them. "Because the trail is worn by those going up, not so much by those coming down."
"Right." Emma flexed her hands. "Ready?"
"It'll be fine. You'll like riding. It's very freeing."
"Says someone who's sure she'll stay on the horse." Emma shook her head and pointed the way down the gangplank. "After you."