A/N: This chapter really should have been longer, but I wanted to get an update out to you guys. Enjoy, and if you like it, please review =]
Snow White had always been a reactive person, but the words that fell from Regina's lips that day caused a bomb to go off in somewhere in her mind.
Emma'a heart...Cora...Cora with Emma's heart...
"My mother...she has your daughter's heart."
And with those seven words, the rightful queen of the enchanted forest panicked.
"Your mother?!" she cried, shaking her head and pulling Regina roughly to her feet, where she wobbled unsteadily for a moment. "How could she—?! The last time she tried—It didn't work the last time! How do you know she has—Why should I believe you?!"
The pixie-haired woman began to pace back and forth, the distance between each turn gradually shortening until she was virtually spinning in circles. Cora had Emma's heart. Cora...Emma could already be dead... It wasn't until Regina Mills snapped her hands down on Snow's upper arms and gave her a rough shake that the pure one finally came back to reality.
"Listen to me Snow White!" Regina ordered, her voice low and stern as her manicured nails dug into her counterpart's pale skin, "I know we've had our differences, but I think there's one thing we can agree on here."
"And what is that?" the shorter woman snapped, her brows pinched and her eyes narrowed.
"If Cora wanted Miss Swan dead, she would have already killed her."
"We have no way to know that she isn't dead!"
Regina scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Have you not figured out yet that there is some sort of magical interference to this situation?" the brunette exclaimed to the schoolteacher, seeming incredulous.
"I have...but I'm not sure what you're saying..." Snow returned, wary.
Regina sighed, shaking her head and closing her eyes as the pain in her chest fell to a dull, constant ache.
"Your daughter and I have been...connected...somehow, and it seems my mother is aware of it. I suspect—suspect—that I would know full-well if any true harm had come to Miss Swan." She gestured to her chest now, and Snow finally nodded in understanding.
"You think that Emma's capture is causing your own issues?"
Regina sighed and shook her head.
"No, Snow, these were occurring before Cora even had a chance to reach her."
"And just when were you planning on informing me of this little detail Regina?! If I had known earlier, maybe we could have stopped this before—"
"Oh don't be stupid!" the fallen queen barked, cutting her off. "Do you really think that you having knowledge of my connection with your daughter would have put a stop to any of this? I don't even understand what's going on here. What makes you so sure you could have helped?"
Here Snow paused for a beat, studying Regina as if the woman was the dumbest person on the Earth.
"Well, for starters, I actually care about Emma. I have more incentive to help her."
Regina, seeming resigned, shook her head and covered her face with her palms. A groan of what Snow deemed annoyance issued from deep in her throat. When her initial reaction had come to a close, the dark eyes settled on Snow's with an intensity the younger woman had never seen before.
"Once a Charming..." Regina said finally, her voice calmer than her features implied it should be.
Snow White only tilted her head in confusion. When Regina noticed, she rolled her eyes and huffed.
"I saved both of you at the well that day!"
"Yeah, but only because Henry convinced you to!"
Regina cocked an eyebrow.
"Far cry from the story you spun of me at breakfast."
As much as it pained Snow to admit it, Regina's vague implication that she didn't hate Emma seemed genuine. Her actions thus far were far more supportive of that statement being true than false. If Regina was pleased at Emma's capture it was unlikely she would be with Snow then, and she would certainly not have divulged the information that Cora had made it to Storybrooke. Snow surmised Regina was just as fearful of her mother as everyone else in the town. In fact, she probably had a great deal more to fear from her. The woman had killed her daughter's only love, for God's sake! But why take Emma?
Could the evil queen really be magically connected to the Savior? And, could Cora really be aware of that connection? Why did Emma matter if Cora was, as Regina claimed, only interested in getting to Regina herself?
Giving in to her more trusting—and perhaps, naive—side, Snow White signed in resignation.
"So...how do we find Cora, and how do we get Emma's heart back?"
The schoolteacher watched perceptively as Regina's face took on an exceptionally worried expression.
"I'm certain she is in my vault," said the fallen queen. "It is the most secure location in the town."
"Not secure enough, I see."
Regina ignored her, continuing on.
"But...Snow...you can't help me with this."
"What?! Why not?!"
Holding up her hands, Regina said, "Because if you and I show up together, she will kill you on sight, and she will know that I'm working against her. If I show up alone..."
Snow began to nod.
"...She'll think you've come back to her."
"Yes. And to get the heart back, I'll need to convince her I'm pleased at Swan's capture."
"But, Regina," Snow started, her eyes narrowing, "If you're to convince your mother...that also means convincing Emma!" She heard Regina's teeth grind.
"I'm aware of that."
"If she escapes, and you haven't revealed yourself yet...she will never forgive you."
"I am aware of that too."
Snow's eyes narrowed, but there was a softness in them now that she'd never allowed herself to use on the former evil queen before. Emma had been right. Regina was changing.
"If you pull this off, Regina..." the schoolteacher began, offering a faint smile, "I promise I will never question your loyalties again."
At this, the dark eyed woman gave a wicked smile in return.
"No need for sentimentalities, Miss Blanchard. As you are already aware, I am an excellent actress."
"Did you see that?" Henry asked his grandfather as he dropped his sword for the third time that evening.
Charming raised his eyebrows, glancing around in the process and then shook his head.
"See what?"
"There was a light over by the cemetery."
"Probably your mother going into her vault again," David dismissed, tossing Henry's sword back to him.
The boy made no effort to grab for it, instead taking off in the direction of the light.
Emma's eyes followed Cora's pacing from across the room, her weight held entirely upon her shackled wrists. Cora had placed the tri-colored heart into a small box, which she now carried about in her palms like a trophy. The smile that split her features seemed unbreakable, and after a moment she turned her eyes back to the blonde woman hanging from the wall.
"You seem tired, my dear," she observed, the sweetness in her voice making Emma's stomach threaten to mutiny against her as it had not long ago. "But, have no fear. Soon my daughter will arrive, and then we can get down to the business of finding out exactly whose soul you are harboring in that impressionable little heart of yours." She shook the box containing the heart, letting it bounce about within, and Emma's body lurched and seized.
"Regina isn't who you think she is," the Savior gasped when Cora took pause, and she spit a glob of blood on the floor for good measure. "She's changed. You changed her. For the better."
"Nonsense!" Cora laughed, setting the box on a stone pedestal behind her and moving closer to Emma. She bent at the hip to align her face with the younger woman's, pearly whites showing between the crazed, smiling lips. "You will see. She intended this to happen. I may have put it into motion when I became aware of her dreams, but she is the one who wounded you." Slowly, her hand slipped lower, and an index finger pressed cruelly against the Savior's injured abdomen. Emma screamed, the sound foreign and wild to her own ears, as Cora poured dark magic in addition to physical pressure against the false scar.
Writhing against her bonds, Emma attempted to kick out at her attacker but to no avail. Cora's magic washed over her, weakening her, draining her of her fight. White-hot electricity seared her skin, blistering it until it finally began to bleed. Thick, dark blood oozed from the edges of the scar, staining her shirt and pants.
Then, all at once, Cora stopped and pulled back. Her expression was thoughtful, and Emma wanted nothing more than to rip the flesh from her bones for the pain she had inflicted mere moments before.
"That's...very interesting..." the crazed woman pondered, looking into Emma's bloodshot eyes again.
"...what?" the blonde spit through gritted teeth.
Cora only raised an eyebrow.
"It seems my daughter's first love was stronger than I thought."
Emma stayed silent, still struggling for breath as the red on her clothing continued to spread.
"I see how why she longed so deeply to rid herself of you. You bear his soul."