Chapter 10: Running Through a Coral Castle Wall

Everything was dark, and Emma found herself waking up feeling euphoric yet drained of energy. She didn't know where she was. Everything was quiet, but when she concentrated she could hear a faint voice in the distance. She knew she wasn't in her physical body, no, she was someplace else…in her mind, but also in a distinct space.

She was dreaming. She listened closely and the voice was calling out, "Daddy? Daddy, oh father, where are you?"

She recognized it, it was Regina. Emma blindly fumbled down a long tunnel. She wasn't really walking, and she could see all around into the stretch of darkness as if she wasn't limited to what her eyes could perceive. She could sense Regina, she felt close. Her heady brand of magic infiltrated all of Emma's being as she ventured farther down the tunnel in this strange dreamscape.

She saw a pinpoint of light and as she half floated and half stumbled closer the light grew. She tried to will the light bigger and discovered she had changed the distance with her thoughts.

Although, she should have been frightened of the unknown, Regina's energy provided a calming sensation. Emma felt safe and cozy even as she stepped through the portal of light.

Silhouetted in shadow, there was Regina and another figure, an aged man. They were embracing one another. He was whispering to Regina and stroking her hair. Emma gave them privacy, but she watched the scene playing out before her with wonder. The man must be Regina's father. What were they doing here?

Emma couldn't see her body, she knew she had one, but when she tried to hold out her arms it was as if they were clear. The thought that she had died during the magic events crossed her mind, but the calm permeated and healed her. She didn't feel dead. If she were dead she wouldn't feel at all she reasoned.

"Emma?" Regina had noticed her, and when Regina called her name, Emma felt her body manifest as if she had just been created into the shape that she knew as her own.

"Emma, meet my father, Henry," Regina sounded joyous and overcome with feelings. "Daddy, this is Princess Emma of the light kingdom…I think she is the reason I was able to finally break mother's spell and venture to the dream realm."

"Princess Emma, my pleasure," Henry greeted her. Emma curtsied out of habit, and then felt embarrassed like the formal ritual wasn't appropriate in this land.

Regina came to stand by her and look her over. She frowned in concern, "Emma, you need to imagine your body. It's like you're only half here."

"What is this place?" Emma asked and reached for Regina's hand. As she did so her body sharpened as if the details were coming into focus.

"Welcome to the dream realm," Henry said with a pessimistic tone.

"My mother banished my father here as a punishment," Regina explained sadly. She held Emma's hand tighter and they both looked down as magic began to bloom between them. "She made it so I couldn't dream anymore, so I couldn't visit father…or Daniel, but I think you broke her curse over me."

Emma turned that information over, and tried to make sense of it, but her feelings were stronger here, and especially with Regina now leaning softly against her side. It felt like they were melding into one being. The power of light and darkness turned their shadowy skin silver.

It was overwhelming and Emma felt herself sliding back down the tunnel, pulling away, as she struggled to wake up for real.

"No! Emma come back… damn it!" She heard Regina calling for her in earnest.

Emma opened her eyes sunlight streamed through the windows of her dorm room. She felt heavy and too hot. Her head was pounding painfully and her mouth was completely dry. She tried to turn her head and found that every muscle ached.

A breathy gasp startled her, and she found Regina lying next to her. They were still holding hands and Regina was pressed securely against her side. A new set of feelings roared up in her, the heat she felt tripled and her body ached and pulsed in a new way when Regina moaned deep in the back of her throat.

"Oh good god of the garden, Emma," Regina opened her eyes and turned her head to peer at her through a haze of sleep. She lifted her hand to her forehead and paused to gather her thoughts.

"I'm sorry…" Emma started to apologize. She didn't remember how they ended up in bed together, but she felt the wild sting of inappropriateness and panic, especially when she lifted the covers to find she was only wearing her undergarments. She couldn't help but notice Regina's black lace corset that pressed her breasts up with every draw of breath. "I need to get up now…"

"Wait!" Regina lifted her torso and pinned Emma beneath her, the action caused Emma to breathe harder and the blood to rush into her ears. She wasn't sure why she was so scared, no, that wasn't the right feeling. Her whole body felt overly sensitive and every nerve ending tingled like it was blazing hot. Regina needed to stop touching her in this bed.

She had to get out of it.

"I need to get up," Emma repeated through the sheer haze of strange sensations that had overtaken her. She was never playing with magic again.

"I met with father! Emma, you brought me to the dream realm," Regina was smiling, her eyes were shining and she was staring in wonder at Emma in a way that made her toes curl.

"So we were really there together? And that man was really your father?" Emma tried to ask some questions to get a hold on her emotions. It was like she was truly woken up in every sense of the word for the first time.

Regina closed her eyes and then nestled her face against Emma's neck, nuzzling her as she squeezed her sides into a hug. Emma was sure her heart was beating out of her chest, and when Regina let out a little breath it tickled the skin of Emma's neck. Her eyes almost rolled back in her head from the bliss of it. She'd never embraced someone like this except for her mother and father, and a few of her nanny's but it had been a long time since she'd felt any sort of emotional connection or intimacy with anyone. And her parents had certainly never made her feel like this. Loved yes, but this sensation was entirely new and wonderfully frightening. Emma tried to focus as Regina was speaking as she kept her face pressed closely on Emma.

"Ever since I was a little girl, I would dream of a boy named Daniel. We would play in the dream realm and we grew quite close. As time went on, Daniel asked me to stay with him. He can't leave the realm of dreams as he is the King, unless he bequeaths the throne to someone of royal blood. He asked me to marry him and help him to rule the dream realm. My mother found out about our engagement. She was furious. She wants me to be queen, but the dream realm doesn't have enough power in her opinion."

"What did your mother do?" Emma asked as she listened intently. She found she had begun to stroke Regina's back slowly, it seemed to calm her and it felt really nice to touch her so freely.

"First, I rebelled…I told her I'd rather live in an imaginary realm than with her in the Shadow Kingdom. My father was going to help me run away to be with Daniel and to a place Mother couldn't find me."

"But she found out…"

"And banished my father to the dream realm permanently, and then put a spell on me so that I can no longer dream at all."

"But you dreamed…"

"With you, yes, Emma…our magic must have broken my mother's spell. I'm so relieved that father is okay. He was sick before she banished him."

"We have to dream again, you must sleep with me and let me dream. I have to find Daniel."

Emma didn't think that was a good idea. She already felt overwhelmingly guilty about using magic she had no control over. Plus, opening a dream hole was way too much to deal with, even if it meant Regina got to visit with her dad. She couldn't imagine her own mother locking her father up in a metaphysical prison, but in that regard she sympathized with her new friend.

She wasn't sure about this Daniel, Regina was prattling on about, but Emma didn't particularly want to meet the King of Dreams. She figured she'd totally feel like a third wheel. Regina was still looking at her so hopeful with those big chocolate eyes and holding onto her so warm and sweetly, it was definitely hard to say 'no.'

Emma was finding that sharing a bed with Regina was both a blessing and a curse; just the same way she was starting to feel about all this magic.

Regina sniffed and rubbed her eyes, beside her and then pulled away and left the bed. "Emma, for a princess and daughter of the fabled Snow White, one would think you'd be a bit more refined." Regina started picking stuff up off the floor and arranging Emma's room. How Emma's room got so messy when she had just arrived was a mystery, but at home she always had servants to pick up after her.

"One would think this was the Hog princesses sty, not the famed princess of the Light kingdom."

"I just got here, and it was a rough night," Emma groaned, pulling the pillow over her face to avoid looking at Regina in her very tight black lace. Her head was pounding from the after effects of the magic and the last thing she wanted to do was get up and clean her room.

"Where are the facilities located on this floor? I need a shower," Regina asked primly, snagging one of Emma's towels from inside her closet door.

"Uh, down the hall," Emma finally forced herself to sit up, and realized she was in desperate need of a shower as well. Her hair was all gunky and limp, and she smelled like forest. She made haste when she realized she also smelled like Regina's perfume, and though it was a nice reminder of their night together, she also didn't want to torture herself by smelling like that all day.

As she grabbed another towel and followed Regina out the door, she vowed that she could not get high on magic and pass out with Regina on top of her and enter the shifting dream realm ever again. She just had to stay strong. As she peeled off her underwear, she realized her legs were stained black from the leather she had been wearing.

She took a deep breath and reminded herself on why she had come to Princess School in the first place. Aside from it practically being mandatory, she was there to focus on her academics and life skills so she could please her parents' and find her true love.

She reminded herself of that fact again when she heard Regina crank the water on in the shower one stall over from hers in the shared dorm bathroom. Emma stepped in and turned the facet; the warm water soaked her hair and she started to soap herself up. She was not going to think about Regina, so close yet so far, soaking wet and naked. No, Emma turned the facet the other direction and shrieked and shivered when the water suddenly turned icy cold. That was better. Much better. It was so much easier to focus on washing the enticing smell of the brunette off of her when her lips were turning blue.

Emma got lost in her thoughts and wondered what activities were planned for the day. She knew for certain she was definitely going to see more of Regina as her academic partner. The thought both thrilled and troubled Emma. She shouldn't be so obsessed with Regina or magic. Could it be that just one night of binge magic and Emma was already addicted? Why did her academic partner have to be her enemy and also so damned pretty? Most importantly, what on earth was she going to wear?

When Emma exited the shower, Regina had already dressed and left. Emma sighed and pulled out one of her gowns. She struggled into her corset and undergarments. Today she wore pink. As she breezed down the hall on a whim she stopped by the lounge and curiously found that another chess piece had been moved. She tapped her chin and smiled. She moved out another pawn directly across from her opponent.

Emma found she was starving from missing dinner the night before. She ducked into the cafeteria, but Regina wasn't there. It was mostly the stragglers and slow moving princesses that kindly ignored Emma. There was fruit and some sort of live insect medley, that didn't look fit for human consumption.

She made a mental note to stop being late for meals.