Chapter eleven
"What the hell was that?!" Regina's voice bellowed throughout the throne room where she knew Dawn would have stormed off to.
The younger brunette turned around with fire in her eyes, though she did look a lot calmer than she had in the courtyard a few minutes ago.
Dawn ran her hand across her face and took a deep breath, "I thought I had it under control…it just made me so angry that she could naturally do the things that I have worked most of my life mastering."
Regina sighed and shook her head, "that doesn't excuse attacking her with that sword."
"Why?" Dawn asked indignantly, "if she is planning to compete in the tournament than perhaps you shouldn't be treating her like a child?"
"She is a child," Regina replied instantly.
"And yet she is still a year older than me," Dawn shouted back, "for her to have the adventure she truly wants, you cannot put any restrictions."
Regina heaved a sigh and admitted, "I offered to take her to Tartarus."
"And what? You're just going to take her to look at the entrance and leave at the first sight of danger. How can she fully understand the decisions she makes unless she understands fear. The princess is undoubtedly brave, but she is bordering on moronic," Dawn replied exasperatedly.
The goddess considered this for a moment, today was probably the first time that the blonde's skin had actually been broken in any real way, she was beginning to wonder whether Emma had actually felt any real pain.
"If she wants to live a normal life, then she needs to learn to be afraid, then she can use those heroic genetics of hers to do something about the fear," Dawn continued when her mother made no attempt to refuse her words.
"You're suggesting that she be put danger?" Regina asked incredulously.
"Why not?"
"Because she's mortal!" the brunette shouted.
Dawn narrowed her eyes and stared at her mother intently, "I was mortal until two years ago and you no qualms training me."
"Because…you was eager to learn…" Regina replied weakly.
"Do you hear how ridiculous you sound, mother?" Dawn laughed, "she is nothing if not committed to this training. Have you not considered that it is unfair to treat her like this just because you're afraid of her death, how does that make you any better than her parents?"
The ruler of the Underworld scowled deeply at the comparison, but finally she allowed the tension to fall away from her shoulders, "you make an excellent point, but what if…"
Dawn looked at the woman expectantly to finish her question, but it seemed as if the all-powerful goddess was having issues putting her worries into words.
"What if she dies?" she finally supplied.
Regina refused to make eye contact and simply nodded in confirmation.
Dawn sighed with a small smile finally coming over her face, "this is your dominion, surely if one wished to be kept safe, travelling with you would be their best bet."
The older brunette tilted her head and asked, "are you suggesting that I fake danger?"
"Just to ease her into it," Dawn assured, "in the moment she doesn't have to know that she is completely safe, it can be part of your lesson."
Regina nodded slowly, she could hardly deny that Emma needed to form a less idealistic view of the world if she was going to survive, especially if she allowed her to return to the Enchanted Forest as she had been thinking about since Hecate's visit.
After a short pause, she replied, "very well, you make a very good point dear."
Dawn smiled weakly and then looked down at her feet, and mumbled, "I'm sorry for my outburst."
"I believe that I am not the person that you should be apologising to," Regina pointed out.
The younger brunette nodded and said, "I'll talk to Emma before I leave…you do know that I really like her, right?"
"Are you giving my marriage your blessing?" Regina asked with a small laugh.
Dawn finally looked up with some humour in her eyes and replied, "I didn't have the chance to meet her while you were engaged, but I suppose she wasn't your fiancé for very long, was she?"
"You're hilarious, dear, I'm sure Derek has been missing you dearly."
Dawn sighed and walked over to her mother, falling into a hug, she mumbled against her shoulder, "his name is Devin."
Regina brought her hand up to rest in her daughter's hair and she replied, "I know."
Regina paced the length of her throne room over three times before she turned to look critically at Graham, "how can the Fates be late?"
The trembling man's eyes widened, he was already basically hiding behind the pillar, almost as if he was hoping that Regina would forget that he was present.
He swallowed hard and replied, "they should be here any moment."
Regina narrowed her eyes at Graham and watched as the colour drained from his face.
With a sigh, she rolled her eyes and continued her pacing, "you said that two hours ago you incompetent fool."
Graham made no attempts to deny her words and she just decided that it would be best to ignore him, she had bigger things on her mind anyway.
It was certainly a painful experience to be invited to the wedding of Persephone and Athena, otherwise known as Ruby and Belle. Nevertheless, she decided to going couldn't be worse than sitting on her throne thinking about how the event was playing out. But as it turned out, it was much, much worse.
Ruby was so obviously in love with the woman who could offer her so much more than a living hell, Belle could offer her a home where she could be happy, where she would be able to effectively fulfil her job as the goddess of nature. None of this made it hurt any less.
Granted, Ruby hadn't just moved on in a blink of an eye, it had been over a two hundred years, but it still felt like being repeatedly stabbed in the heart for Regina. The Fates had promised her another Persephone, and though it had taken her time to accept the possibility of another, she could certainly do with having some inkling of who it was.
None of this was helped by the looks she received from those she used to consider family. It was rare that she should be present at Olympus and she told herself that this was out of personal choice, but she knew the real reason was because she no longer truly belonged among the ranks of her brethren. She now only made the trip when she needed to convene with her family over matters of great importance, and apparently, for heart wrenching marital arrangements.
Finally, she heard three pairs of footsteps and she turned around to face the hooded hags that were approaching her, "how can you be privy to the future and yet still be late?" she growled.
"This may surprise you, Hades, but you are not our highest priority," the shortest one hissed, this time she was the one holding the eye.
Regina closed her eyes in frustration, ignoring the little pathetic noises that Graham was emitting, and walked over to the three Fates, "you lied to me!"
"Our prophecies are true, you lack the patience required to see them through," she hissed back.
"How is it that I am forced to leave my True Love for loneliness and after all this time, I am no closer to finding even a spark of affection. There are none on Olympus who holds a candle to Ruby and yet you claim that I will find 'another Persephone'," she sneered, she would have tried to invade their personal space if she didn't find them so repulsive.
"Patience is a virtue," the tallest replied.
Regina's face contorted into an expression of anger and she was one octave from bellowing, "how is that fair? My sister is allowed to rule Olympus while I am confined to this horrid dominion, pining for a person who probably doesn't even exist!"
"She will exist," the third Fate replied.
"When?!" Regina shouted, just about holding back tears of frustration.
"In due time you will have a chance to ensure her birth, do so and your new Persephone will exist, remain in this constant state of despondence and will be alone for all of time!"
With that the three of them turned on their heels and began to make their way out of the throne room.
Regina desperately tried to think of a question to get further information out of them, but her mind was completely blank as it tried to unsuccessfully work through their words.
Eventually, she realised that they were gone and with a deep breath, she went over to her throne and fell heavily upon it.
With her head in her hands, she finally recognised that Graham was still in the room, and with one of the few vulnerable expressions she would ever offer him, she said, "leave."
Graham quickly nodded and bowed slightly before scurrying out of the room, it was quite obvious that she had planned to send Graham out of the room while she talked to the fates, she didn't want anyone to have witnessed that. In fact, she was beginning to wish that she hadn't requested time with the Fates at all.
She felt as if she knew less than she did two hundred years ago.
Emma stared at the ceiling considering whether she would ever fall asleep.
Even though it had been four hours since her training session, she still felt pure adrenaline running through her veins. At this point, she was thinking that she would be travelling to Tartarus with no rest, but she couldn't find it in herself to care.
A moment later, a knock at the door came accompanied by, "are you awake, princess?"
Emma took a moment to look at the door, before she swung her legs over the side of the bed and went over to yank it open.
"Couldn't sleep?" the teen asked as soon as the door revealed her step mother with no hint of tiredness upon her facial features.
The blonde smiled and nodded and then opened the door wider to invite the girl into her chambers.
"I thought you would be back in the Enchanted Forest by now," she commented as she followed her into the room.
Dawn took a seat on the edge of the bed and looked up at the blonde who didn't look in the least bit angry at her.
"I owe you an apology for my actions," Dawn finally said, she had actually been thinking about exactly what to say to her, and had finally come to the conclusion that there was only one way that she could truly regain the blonde's trust, even if she wasn't aware of the tradition. Even if this was going to be far more informal that it should have been, she knew she had to do this.
"It's truly fine, it was all part of the training," Emma smiled good-naturedly.
Dawn considered this for a moment, this was certainly a way out of the thing she didn't really want to do, but she decided to just suck it up.
Standing from the bed, she waved her hand, in which a sheathed sword instantly appeared.
The blonde woman's eyes widened when she realised what it was and she took a step back, only for the brunette to hold up her free hand, "calm down, blondie."
In explanation she shortened the gap between them and handed it to her taller woman.
Emma looked at her questioningly, and after a moment of hesitation, she stepped away from the blade she had worked so hard to earn, and then said, "I acted dishonourably in our training session, until my mother decides that I deserve it to be returned to me, the sword is yours."
The blonde's eyes remained widened for a few moments and then she began to run her hand over the intricate design on the hilt, "thank you…"
Dawn nodded and then was about to walk away, until Emma grabbed her shoulder and was about to say something before she changed her mind.
"What is it princess?"
"It's not important…"
"Now is the time to ask favours, I don't plan to lose that blade for long," Dawn replied with a small smirk.
Emma nodded and admitted what she was thinking, "if you are going to the Enchanted Forest, perhaps you could…"
"Ask after your parents?"
The blonde looked down and gave a small nod.
"You shall have a full account in a week," Dawn assured.
Regina rolled her shoulders as she walked towards her destination.
Beside her, Emma seemed to be vibrating with excitement, she obviously didn't know that Regina had planned a detour. Her latest unpleasant dream only cemented the need to visit a certain someone.
"I trust that you recovered following your arduous training session," Regina said over her shoulder to get the blonde's attention.
Emma's eyes snapped up to meet the brown ones of her companion, she hadn't considered that Regina would actually be the talkative type while on an 'adventure'. Graham only talked when he was shouting 'stop' or detailing everything in the area that could harm her.
The blonde brought her hand up to rest on her cheek where she could feel a phantom sting from Dawn's blade and she just smiled slightly, "it honestly wasn't that bad."
As they continued walking, Regina looked at her wife who was now walking beside her and replied, "Dawn can be…rather temperamental," she began, after a pause she decided that the woman deserved a full explanation. "As a child, Dawn was always astonishingly well mannered, but when she asked me to begin training her, I saw a change in her personality. I considered refusing more lessons, but she had already been confined to the Underworld for so many years. After she competed, everything about her just changed and it seemed the smallest of things would anger her. She promised me that being with Devin was helping with this temper of her, she clearly has been away from him far too long."
Emma tilted her head and thought about this, she had never considered that an immortal would put much thought to love, after all, their parents were more focused on power.
"Devin is a mortal?" the blonde asked after a brief pause.
Regina nodded and raised her eyebrow at the taller woman, "is that important?"
Emma swallowed hard and replied, "what will Dawn do when…"
The brunette nodded in understanding when the princess trailed off, telling her that she didn't need to finish the thought.
"Dawn has been immortal for a mere two years, I suppose she hasn't yet grasped what the inevitability of death means. Of course…time being limited can add to the romance."
"Like with Dawn's father?"
The goddess gave a moment to consider the hint of jealousy in her companions voice, before she shook her head, "romance and lust are very different."
"So Dawn wasn't planned?" Emma asked with a furrowed brow.
"A lonely night with a stable boy was not how I imagined my child being conceived, but it was certainly not an unwelcome surprise," Hades replied after a second of consideration.
Emma nodded and was about to ask another question, only to be interrupted by the other woman.
"May I ask you a question?" Regina asked, even if she was just trying to change the subject, she had a question that had been burning to be asked for a few days now.
The princess allowed her eyebrows to shoot up at the implication that the goddess even had to ask and just nodded instead of giving verbal confirmation.
"Have you ever exhibited…magical abilities?"
Emma tilted her head and thought back to some of the more unexplainable things that had happened in her childhood. Once when she really wanted a flower that was just outside the boundaries she had been set, it had poofed its way across the line and into her hand. She had changed the colour of things, managed to somehow convince the guards that had been posted to watch her closely that they should take a break when she wanted privacy. Even though she now knew that these were likely magical feats, she had never considered it in the past. After all, she had very little frame of reference for what was 'normal' during her solitude in the White palace.
"I suppose," she finally replied, "just parlour tricks…why do you ask?"
Regina managed to resist the urge to bite her lip and said in answer, "I considered the fact that you are the product of True Love. That would make your magic the lightest it is possible to be, while at the same time making it incredibly potent."
The blonde looked down at her hand moving her fingers slightly as she turned them over to look at the other side.
Regina rolled her eyes at the childish action that she somehow found adorable, and continued, "such abilities are not…discouraged in the tournament. Assuming that you are capable of more than mere 'parlour tricks'."
Emma smiled broadly in excitement until she looked up and noticed the River Lethe, she looked up at Regina questioningly and the brunette explained, "we're making a slight detour from Tartarus, but we will be back on the correct path as soon as my…issue has been resolved."
As they made their way up to a cave, Emma noticed some plants growing on a patch.
"Flowers…" Emma breathed and before Regina could tell her to stop, she fell to the ground and touched one of the petals.
She instantly fell asleep and Regina rolled her eyes while walking over to her, "foolish princess," she muttered and waved her hand to bring a blanket over her. She had business to attend and Emma did look as though she was rather lacking sleep, so she decided to just leave her be for a while.
With a final look to ensure her well-being, she walked over to the cave and entered the pitch black area and held up a hand to light a flame ball which lighted up the cave to reveal a snoozing man in the centre.
As soon as the light reached him, he blinked his eyes opened and sat up to look at the brunette through blurry eyes.
"Hades?" he asked groggily.
"Hypnos," she replied and walked further over to him, "I have a request."
The god of sleep blinked a few times and sat up, "okay…" he said with a yawn.
"I have been having vivid dreams that I would prefer to remain in the past," she replied without making eye contact, not that the sleepy man often made eye contact with people.
"I do not make it my business to control the dreams of the divine," he replied after a moment.
Regina furrowed her brow and said, "then why am I suddenly having these dreams?"
"Because something is bringing them to the surface," he said, "if you wish to get rid of them, you must be rid of what is causing them."
Regina blinked a few times, even if she didn't wish to continue having the dreams, she was also almost certain that she didn't wish to get rid of the blonde who she was sure was causing them.
She was about to ask a further question until she noticed that he was already almost asleep.
Rolling her eyes at the man, she extinguished the light and turned to exit the cave.
As soon as she was back outside, she looked at the woman sleeping peacefully and she knew instantly that the painful dreams were worth it as she reached down to wake her up.
A/N Hope you guys enjoyed, please let me know what you thought XD
I need to thank QueenApples and PerditusFic for all their help.
Also, I probably won't be updating everyday since I have been neglecting my other stories, I may take a week break to finish Back to the Start, but I haven't decided. At the latest the next chapter will be next Tuesday :)