11.

"I assume this means you're feeling better?" Regina spoke up, her head tilting sideways to properly look at Emma.

She had sensed she was being being watched while waking up, and it hadn't been all that surprising to find Emma sitting across the now extinguished campfire, her arms wrapped around her knees and seemingly content to quietly observe her.

"Well I suppose none of my digits fell off, so I guess?" Emma quipped, and Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the typical response.

She also resisted the urge to comment on how she had found a certain limb wrapped across her waist in an almost possessive way when she had woken up in the middle of the night. The memory brought a small wave of embarrassment along with it, but in a way it had also felt comforting to her. She had felt safe, with Emma's presence so close to her. Even safer than the wards which she had conjured up before laying down to sleep made her feel. And it was enough for her to keep her awake at night. To keep having her eyes drawn towards the woman, her sleep-tousled hair framing half her face, peacefully slumbering next to her. She remembered thinking Emma looked so much younger while she was sleeping. The little half-smile playing around her lips as her fingers curled around Regina's waist had made her suck in a shaky breath and lay perfectly still while debating whether to wake Emma up or not, but eventually the toll of the day's events had caught up with her and sleep overtook her.

Something expanded in her chest at the thought that Emma might've watched her sleep this morning for as long as she had watched Emma the night before.

"Perhaps the prospect of possibly losing a limb to frostbite will be enough incentive for you to pack some clothes that actually protect you the next time we go on a journey somewhere."

All she got was a huge smile in response and both of her eyebrows hiked up into her hairline. "Why are you smiling?"

"You said 'next time'."

"Out of all the things…" She shook her head, and with a small flick of her wrist put her clothes back on. Though she wrinkled her nose at having to wear them again, and made a mental note to wash them as soon as they reached a body of water.

"I got us some berries for breakfast."

"You've certainly put the early morning to good use, haven't you?"

Emma shrugged and stood up. "You were still sleeping soundly when I woke up."

Regina thought she saw a blush spreading across Emma's cheeks, giving them a rosy color, and then there was the fact she was refusing to meet Regina's eyes as she spoke. Smiling to herself, she could only guess that Emma had woken up to find her arm wrapped around Regina's waist and struggled to untangle herself without disturbing her sleep.

"And yeah I guess I figured it would be good to get an early start on the day," Emma muttered from where she was standing next to the grazing horses. She walked back while unwrapping a bundle of cloth she was carrying, revealing the freshly picked red berries. "I can also already hear your unspoken question about them being possibly poisonous, and I suppose we'll find out in a few hours from now, since I already ate a few on the way back here."

Emma smirked, her eyes sparkling with joy as she set down one of their waterskins next to their bedrolls. "They're safe though, I have paid attention to the things you told me when we went camping in the woods with Henry the last time."

The mention of that trip they had taken, just a few days before Emma's birthday made her thoughts drift. She couldn't remember too much of that day, but there had already been a shift in the nature of their relationship even then. And she wondered if she had just been blind for far too long to notice how everything between them kept building and building.

She was also reminded of her own suggestion just days ago. Before everything had come crashing down from the tension which kept building up between them. It had been a spur of the moment thing. The thought of going to the coast, and spending some time there. Together, as a family. A spur of the moment thing she had almost instantly regretted as soon as the words had rolled across her lips.

But now.

Now she couldn't help wanting nothing more than that. As her eyes settled on Emma's features again and she returned the smile Emma was giving her, longing for something didn't feel like the weakness she had long believed for it to be.

"Thank you," she murmured as she slipped a few of the berries into her mouth and slowly chewed down on them. They were not as sweet as she had imagined them to be, and despite the fact she wasn't overly fond of berries in general, she surprised herself by eating every last one of them.

There was an odd look on Emma's face right after she thanked her, and Regina had no idea what to make of it.

"I should thank you instead," Emma said after another moment had passed.

Though she didn't clarify, and Regina didn't know what to make of Emma standing up after she had spoken, and walking up to her. "For helping out last night?"

"Yes," Emma answered simply. "And for..for what you said."

"I was merely repeating the same words you once t.."

"But you remember them. You understand them," Emma interrupted her. One of her hands was extended palm outwards, and Regina flicked her eyes up to look at Emma, before she accepted the offer and allowed herself to be pulled up. "You understand…" Emma stopped speaking and after a moments hesitation leaned in to press a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth.

"I just..wanted you to know that.."

She wasn't able to resist reaching out herself; caressing one of Emma's cheekbones with the pads of her fingers, as she gazed into hazel-green eyes shimmering with emotion. "I.." she stopped and cleared her throat; constricted by all the things she wanted to say. But the words simply eluded her. "There are things I need to say, but..."

"But we need to continue our journey first."

"Yes. I suppose we do."

Emma looked past her, lips slowly curving into a smile. "I came across a small stream up ahead we can use to refresh and for the horses to drink before we move on."

The water proved to be clean enough for them to refill their skins too, and she used a little magic to help speed up the washing of their clothes. She was relieved to find the weather having cleared, and they were soon leading their horses along a trail she had determined to lead back to the Chron river.

"Can we visit Greydrift after this?"

"Any particular reason why we should?" Regina wondered as she glanced over at Emma. She thought of how far the town would be from where they were and mused they would actually be able to reach it before nightfall. Though she preferred to travel straight back home, instead of taking that detour. It had been too long since she had seen Henry, and she was starting to miss him more and more as the days passed.

"Well considering the lovely weather we've been having lately, I wouldn't mind being near a town when the next inevitable thunderstorm hits. I think I've seen enough rain and lightning to last me the rest of my lifetime," Emma grumbled as she steered Pyrois around a fallen tree.

"I do not think I will ever understand your fear of lightning."

Emma muttered something under her breath Regina couldn't understand, and she was distracting from inquiring what might've caused Emma to be afraid of lightning in the first place, by something scuttling away in the underbrush.

They eventually reached some grassy area closer to the Chron river, and stopped for a moment to orientate themselves. The river made a sharp bend to the northeast from where they were and there were more woods that blocked their view as well. They could still see south along the river, but there was no sign of the fleet they had observed earlier and Regina found her attention drawn back towards the woods in the distance.

"Something wrong?" Emma queried.

The word 'no' was hanging on her lips, but something made her hesitate. Because she knew in reality they should've spotted the fleet by now. And then there was the smell that she had picked up on a minute ago.

"I'm not sure," she said honestly, she shared a quick look with Emma before spurring Alastor onwards. "There's an odd smell in the air."

"Yeah. I thought that was just me but.. Smoke right? That's what it reminds me of at least. Gunpowder?" Emma asked as she hurried Pyrois up to ride alongside Regina.

"Could be." But it reminded her too much of something else. It reminded her of wood burning. And she would know, she thought with a sudden lump in her throat at the surfacing of unwanted memories.

The smell was stronger the closer they got to the woods and Regina caught some of the worried glances cast her way by Emma as they followed the river's course downstream. They had only travelled through the woods for a little while when they came across rows of trees laying on the forest floor. Some of them had become uprooted and had fallen over onto other trees, making it impossible for them to continue travelling on horseback.

"I guess last night's storm wreaked havoc here too," Emma murmured as she dismounted from Pyrois. "I suppose you'll want to at least travel to the river's edge to see if we can spot the fleet there?"

"Would there be a problem with that?" Regina inquired, a little curious as to what brought out the little whine in Emma's voice.

"Other than my boots being ruined you mean?" Emma cocked her head down after she finished tying Pyrois to one of the trees. "I'm guessing the uprooted trees have something to do with the ground being absolutely drenched. Can't you do one of those spells of yours to help with that?"

"On the entire forest?" Regina asked incredulously.

"Yeah, guess not." Emma shook her head and Regina's eyebrows rose when she unsheathed her sword.

"Unless you want to have one of your eyes poked out, I'm going to cut us a path to the river," Emma answered her unspoken question.

"I could use magic for that actually."

"Yeah..no, I saw what you did with those branches when you took out those Orcs. I think I'll take my chances with a sword that won't suddenly take on a life of its own."

Regina shook her head, a bemused smile playing along her lips at Emma's unfounded fear. "Lead the way then," she said as she looked down at the ground and made a face at how far her own boots sank away into the soil.

Every time she took a step there was a squishing sound that made her cringe, and she muttered expletives under her breath when some mud got splattered on her dress by one of Emma's cut down branches falling down in a small puddle.

"You notice they've pretty much all fallen into the same direction?" Emma spoke up after a few minutes. "It reminds me a little of giant domino stones."

She had noticed, though she had chosen to remain silent about it. Much like she had also noticed how the terrain became more muddy the further they walked, and some of the trees they were coming across now were missing most of the leaves as well as the smaller branches.

In the distance, she noticed something white and grey moving back and forward. She thought it to be a flag or some tattered piece of cloth, but it was hard to see from where she was standing. Her vision was mostly obscured, and the object she had spotted only seemed to move along with some stray gusts of wind.

Emma sheathing her sword again drew her attention back to the trail they had been making, and she quirked an eyebrow up as she looked at the haphazardly fallen over trees blocking their path.

"You want to magic these away or try to pass around them? I think think we can fit underneath these two trees here and continue onwards." She watched on as Emma walked over to the two huge uprooted trees. The way they had fallen the trees only left a tiny gap in the middle where they might be able to pass through. Though Regina wasn't looking forward to any possible rips in her dress as a result.

"I don't see why we should move into that direction actually. The path ahead has been easy enough to traverse."

"Yeah but the river is over here."

"No it should be more north from here." Regina frowned and walked over to where Emma was standing. And noticed the same thing she assumed Emma had seen, there were less trees there and the area appeared to be clearer. Less trees, but there shouldn't be, and Regina swallowed convulsively as she used a spell to pry the two fallen trees next to Emma further apart without warning.

"Hey!" Emma called out as she stumbled backwards, though Regina paid her little mind. "What the hell is wrong with…" She stopped mid-sentence and Regina could hear Emma gasp in surprise.

"What the hell happened here?!" Emma questioned, a startled expression on her face.

"I don't know."

Because she had no idea what the hell could've caused such a large amount of trees to just disappear altogether. Or what could've caused the riverbank to have broken off completely and having sank into the river. It looked like something had instantly transformed everything in front of them into swampland. Trees were piled haphazardly on top of something that was sticking up in the middle of it all, with two small streams of water flowing around it.

And everywhere she looked there were large broken off branches strewn around as if someone had picked them up and then tossed them away again without a care in the world. Back in Storybrooke she remembered having seen documentaries depicting damage caused by floods, and what she was seeing now reminded her of that. Only it was if the opposite had happened. The flattened trees, the area completely devoid of them closer to the river, and the damage to the river itself, it reminded her more of an implosion, like something had drawn everything inwards for some reason.

"Oh God," Emma exclaimed, and Regina saw her run to the side of the muddy grounds.

"Emma?"

She was about to ask what was wrong when she saw it herself. Half obscured by the mud and a tree broken in half, there was a large piece of a hull lying on it's side. A canon was sticking out of the mud close by, and there were many other wooden fragments strewn around everywhere. But it wasn't until she walked around Emma that she noticed the bodies. One man, dressed in what remained of a traditional navy costume, was crushed face down underneath a enormous branch, and there was another body lying close to the canon. Though all she was able to see from him was his head, upper body, and a single arm twisted inwards towards his chest. There was still a rusty spot near his body, and she had to avert her eyes from the bone protruding from one side of his arm.

"This..this wasn't caused by a flood was it?"

"No. I'm not sure what could've caused this."

Her eyes scanned their surroundings and she felt numb with the scale of destruction stretching out in front of her. There were more chunks of wood and various items used on ships, spread across the ground north from where they were standing. The more she saw, the more bodies she found, and her stomach turned at the thought of how many sailors would've perished here, considering the amount of ships that had been sailing down the river. Most of the bodies were scattered between the trees, though a few were lying on top of what remained of the ships they had sailed on. One particularly large section of wood was lodged between a clutter of trees. The tattered and dirty remains of what had once been a ship's sail were caught in one of the tree's branches. Every now and then it flapped around a little with the winds, and Regina realized it was the same piece of cloth she had caught glimpses of a few minutes prior.

"You said...there were dozens of ships, but…" Emma had walked up to a piece of a mast sticking up from the mud and she was looking at it pensively as she spoke. Then she turned and glanced across her shoulders and Regina wondered what she was thinking as her eyes darted around. "All this," Emma continued, "it might be from two or three ships at the most. I..where did the rest go, Regina?"

"It is possibly some escaped whatever transpired here."

"But what did transpire here? I mean.." Emma shook her head and confused green eyes found Regina's own for a moment, before they flicked away again. "You think this was caused by some kind of weapon? Could something magical have done this?"

The questions came as a surprise to her, though they also aligned with where her own thoughts had been drifting. It made her lick her lips, while attempting to tamp down on the sparks of nervosity she felt at the subject. After all she was painfully aware of what magic could do when it was funneled into something like a dark curse. The devastation that was wrought all around them was minor however and she wondered if there was a reason it seemed this controlled. As if there was someone out there with enough magical power to bend and shape the elements to their will and cause something like this.

She locked eyes with Emma for a second and thought of what she had said. A weapon. And Regina wondered if Emma had been onto something.

"Whomever is leading Greydrift right now would never have sent out most, if not their entire navy, without a good reason. The city is well fortified and they have their own army, but the fleet of warships they possess is their largest defensive as well as offensive asset."

"So what..they knew what they were sailing into?" Emma asked.

She caught the incredulous glance directed her way, before it was replaced by a solemn expression as Emma hunched down next to another sailor's body. "This wasn't even a fair battle Regina." Emma shook her head, and there were hard lines drawn around her face. "If this was even a battle at all. From the looks of the mess all around us, it seems more of a slaughter to me."

"And we have yet to find out why," Regina stated as she looked around to survey their surroundings once more. "But if we are to get any answers we should travel to Greydrift as fast as possible."

Emma's head whipped up sharply at that, and there was a question burning in her eyes as she stood up abruptly. "You think they might be in danger?"

"I don't know. But I'm assuming that if some ships did survive whatever took place here, they will be found in Greydrift."

"And our answers along with them."

Regina flashed a soft smile Emma's way, before carefully stepping around the large puddles of water and mud. Her boots were starting to soak through, and she could feel the clammy coldness taking hold of her feet. Making a face, she was about to tell Emma they might be better of taking a small detour around the worst of the muddy soil, when she noticed a flash of blonde in her vision. She turned her head in time to see Emma making a beeline for a few oblique trees surrounded by chunks of wood.

"What are you doing?" She huffed out on a disgruntled tone. The longer they stayed here, the less likely they would be able to make it to Greydrift before nightfall.

"I thought I.." Emma halted. "Saw someone," she finished a second or two later, and Regina sighed under her breath before trudging across the dirt and making her way towards Emma.

She wanted to scold Emma for her impulsiveness and lack of communications in general, but then her eyes settled on the form lying in front of Emma. A young sailor; seemingly still in his teens, was lying on his side, next to one of the trees. One of his legs was a badly mangled mess. A large jagged piece of bone protruded through his pants at an odd angle, and she assumed he had bled out from his wounds because of the rust colored soil that surrounded him.

"For a moment I thought he was alive," Emma spoke up, and Regina caught the shimmering of tears in her eyes as Emma glanced her way, before she focused her attention back on the sailor. "From a distance he looked as if he was resting, you know?" Emma murmured.

"There might be others that did make it out of this alive."

"Yeah, but we don't have the time to try and find them, now do we?

"I suppose we don't, no," Regina answered as she took one last glance at man before turning around.

"You see this?" Emma said. Regina followed her line of sight to some impressions made in the mud. "He crawled for a while. He.." Her lips pursed and Regina was stunned by the swift change in Emma's demeanor. "When we followed up on your hunch, after we ran into those Orcs, all I wanted to do was go home again, Regina. All I wanted to do was…" Emma left the sentence hanging and there was visible anger in her eyes when they returned to meet Regina's own. "I want to find out what happened here. I want to find out who did this, and why, and I want to catch whomever is behind this. Whomever is responsible for a painful death of someone this young is going to pay for it."

"Emma…" She placed a hand on Emma's shoulder without thinking and squeezed, hoping it would be enough to calm her down. Because she understood where Emma was coming from. She had picked up on the barely discernible hitch in Emma's voice while she had been speaking. The focus on the boy's short crop of hair, and his facial features. He could've been a more grown up version of Henry, and it seized her own heart in a crushing hold to even consider the notion.

Regina felt a hand covering her own where it rested on the shoulder and looked up to see Emma looking at her, smiling faintly. "I know." Emma whispered quietly, holding onto Regina's hand for a moment longer and then giving it a squeeze. "Let's go find the horses."

-x-x-x-