The Monster In My Bed

Chapter Twenty: Turn it All Around

Turning into a monster, right before your eyes

-Beth Crowley, Monster-

There was only one way to salvage this situation. And that was to go into her first form. She closed her eyes and let the magic inside her expand. Her shoulders shook as her skin peeled away to reveal dark brown underneath it. She rose twenty feet, then thirty until she burst through the room she was in, growing and growing, the skyscraper sliding off of her and crumpling to the dust below like that had been the skin she had shed.

She was so tall now that she could see the clouds floating mere inches from above her head, buildings only reaching up to her waist. The hounds were no longer attacking her, only nipping at her heels like small bugs. She picked up one of her feet and squashed them all under it, wiping off the residue on the floor next to her. But even as she wiped them off, she could see them reforming already. If they thrived in the shadows and were made of shadows, than light could be their downfall. They had been stronger in the dark after all.

She summoned up a cage of pure fire in her hand; no demon could do light magic, but fire was as close as she could get to it. Then she scooped them up and placed them into the cage as they snapped and snarled at her fingers. That would hopefully do the trick for now, for while they could be held off, no one could ever escape them, and Regina would have to deal with them another way later. If not they would trail her for all eternity or until she died; whichever came first, and knowing the dogs, it would not be eternity.

She set the flaming sphere on top of the lightning rod of a nearby structure.

But she was no longer worried about them, only of what Emma would think of her form. She ducked down behind a block of buildings, using them for cover. "Emma, look away," she said, her voice booming and low and rough like bark scrapping on dirt. "I don't want you to see me like this."

"Afraid she'll see you for who you truly are and leave you?" Cora taunted, her words stabbing right into Regina's heart and feeding her insecurities.

Regina peered around the corner and saw Emma there, face grim but eyes honest. "I want to see all of you," she mouthed. "I'm not afraid." A pause. "I love all of you."

"Shut up, you," Cora snarled noticing what Emma was doing and smacking her in the mouth hard with her ring heavy hand.

Emma hit the floor, lips and gum bleeding where the rings had struck her.

"Emma!" Regina roared, coming out of hiding. Emma said she wouldn't hate her, wasn't afraid to see all sides of her, so she'd believe her.

Regina didn't have time to worry about that; she had to save her angel.

Emma sat up and with wide eyes took in Regina's new form.

Regina was now a massive creature that reminded Emma a lot of the fictional character Groot. Her skin was brown, leathery and barky, outgrowths of the weird skin forming sharp ends on her elbows, chin, and fingers. She had no nose, except for two holes where it should be, situated above a mouth full of sharp long teeth that went past the confines of her mouth and reached up and down past her jaw. Her eyes were red and set deep into her face, the ears on the sides of her head red and shaped like an elves might be. On her head was a set of massive horns that curled back. They looked heavy and ornate, gleaming in the sunlight with their black tones.

Emma found Regina's form not to be terrifying though she knew it was meant to be, and it would be for many upon many. But to her, it was comforting. How it should be.

She smiled softly at Regina to let her know wordlessly she approved.

It was hard to read Regina's features while she was like this, but her eyes relaxed from their narrowed squint so Emma took that as a good sign. "Go get them," she mouthed and Regina nodded her head, turning back to face Cruella.

The goblin like woman looked up at her now decidedly more sizable opponent and decided a change of form was needed.

She began to bubble out, skin extending comically from her skeleton as she grew, turning even greener. Her form was disturbing and it was disgusting. It could best be likened to a frog that had been dunked into a vat of radioactive fluids before being mashed flat with a hammer and hastily repaired by some drunk pottery maker.

She was misshapen and glowing a toxic green, rife with postulates that oozed blood and pus and something else that Emma didn't want to think about. And the smell that came off of her, made Emma's eyes water, her reflex react, and her stomach tense in pain. She covered her mouth and nose but it did little.

"Regina," the demon ribbeted and then launched her long tongue out at the woman. Regina caught it in her hands and tugged on it, not willing it to come back into the safety of Cruella's mouth. She was going to rip it out! And so started the biggest game of tug of war Emma had ever seen.

The city was in upheaval as the angel army lay waste to the demons that had crawled through the fissures in the earth. Hundreds of them were useless, just low level minions, but there were some that were stronger, commanding the lower levels to their aid. More angels had thus been summoned as reinforcements, David's wife one of them. Mary Margaret had already taken down three of those and David had taken down two. They were busy fighting to protect the humans, but they did have time to be concerned over their newly found daughter.

"Do you think perhaps we rushed things a bit?" Mary Margaret asked over the din of slashing swords, grunts of exertion from the angels, and the screams of demons.

"What do you mean?" David asked as he slung his battleaxe downwards, spraying acidic blood onto his shirt front but cleanly cutting off the monsters head in one fell swoop.

"We just got our daughter back and we had to tell her of her great destiny before giving her the Sword of Gabriel and sending her out onto the field to slay demons. Do you think she might have been overwhelmed by all that?" Mary shot an arrow into the eye of a demon that had hobbled over to her before she jumped up and kicked it hard in the head with her reinforced steel boots. It stumbled back and David was behind it, driving the sharp handle of his ax into the beast's back right to it's blackened heart. It roared in pain before disintegrating much like it's other slayed brethren.

"I think she'll be fine, Mary. She's a tough woman. She's braved the human world by herself for so long, and even withheld having a demon by her side, tempting her to sin all these years. I'm sure she can handle saving the world from the apocalypse." His eyes sparked with memory. "Remember us, all those millennia ago? Remember our first apocalypse?" He strapped his weapon to his back and took Snow by the hands, slow dancing with her a bit beside corpses. "We were scared and lost, and didn't know what we were doing. But we knew we could trust each other."

"I remember," Mary grinned up at him, feeling her heart grow warm. They had met on the battlefield, after she had saved his life from some demon, laying waste to it with a nicely timed arrow.

"You ought to be careful, pretty boy," she said cockily, pulling him up from the ground. "I'd hate to see a face like yours ruined."

And not ten second's later he had saved hers. "And I'd be careful if I were you, of being too proud of your skills," he had said as he pushed Mary to the side and lodged his blade into the skull of a demon that had snuck up behind her without her awareness. "I heard it's a sin," he said with a shit eating grin.

Mary smiled up at him from where she was on the floor, waiting for his hand to pull her up.

"Well then, good thing I have you to keep me level headed."

"And good thing I have you keeping my pretty face from being smashed," he added, pulling her up, and it was decided. From then on they had fought the battle together and stayed friends after, their friendship slowly budding into something else.

"Emma might be scared," Mary Margaret murmured, back in the present. "But she has Regina on her side, misguided as the demon is right now, like you had me." Mary's face twisted up on the fact that they had to rely on a demon to help Emma, but discussing an inter-species relationship would come later, after the battle was done.

"Exactly," David kissed Mary softly and the demons that had been trying to sneak up on them and circle them in, were obliterated by the burst of pure magic that erupted from the couple by their kiss. The demons were washed away in white light as if they had never been there.

"Come, let's keep the demon army away from Emma, while she fights her fight," Mary said. She knew the council of seven had arrived, but she had faith in her daughter that she would be able to stop them, or at least banish them, despite Emma still being new to her powers.

Because Good always won.

"Hey, Regina, I could use some help over here," Ursula shouted out to the now giant demon. "Tremaine is pulling out pest after pest and I happen to be on land, where my water powers suck ass."

"I'm a bit busy over here," Regina grunted out as she started slapping at Cruella's very flexible and insistent tongue that kept coming at her.

"Just send me something over from your Vault and I'll be fine."

"There's no way I'm allowing you to have something from my Vault," Regina shot back. "That's my stuff!" The stuff in there was her's. She had envied people of it, had coveted, and then had finally killed for it. "My shiny!" she stressed.

"No need to be so territorial. I'll give it back to you. I am helping you here after all, against my own will might I add," Ursula grunted out and went into a roll to avoid Lucifer's swiping claws. What the hell was Tremaine feeding that cat. He was like a humanoid cat thing, but on steroids, muscles big but head teeny tiny. He was more jacked than body builders. Ursula had captured a few of their souls after they od'd on steroids.

"Me-ow," he cried out in a deeply disturbing masculine voice. Then he swiped at her again, dagger like claws swiping a few centimeters off the top of her do. Damn cat was fast.

"I'd even be happy if perhaps you had some cat nip or something. Really, a midge of something to help me would be enough." Any time she'd tried to use water from the fire hydrants here, or some water pipes, he had evaporated it away. Water was her element, yes, but salt water was her element element. Comparatively using fresh water for Ursula was liked using a butter knife to saw a log. She could do it, and she would be damned good at making it work, but it wasn't ideal. Salt water in her hands was like dropping a missile onto the fucking log. Way more bad-ass and effective.

Unfortunately, she was on land and far away from the ocean. Poofing over there and bringing back water wouldn't help, because the ancient rites of the rituals prevented any of the demons from poofing past the lines of the battlefield.

So she needed a real weapon to aid her. Her hands were only so good at ripping into things as long as they couldn't rip right back into her.

"As if I collect such useless things. Why don't you just seduce him? You do that to all your victims."

"I only seduce those things I want seduced. I don't want this damn cat hanging all over me!" Her face turned into one of disgust as the cat inhaled deeply and than spat a hair ball at her. A flaming hairball. "And now he's retching hair on me!"

"Not my issue," Regina grunted out as she knocked over two buildings in her fall, crushing a whole block under her. She moved her head to the side to avoid getting a good tongue lashing from Cruella. "Watch it," she warned the frog. "I only let Emma do that to me." Then she got back up to her feet and opened up her portal, reaching blindly in and throwing something at Ursula. "Here, take this and shut up."

The object impaled itself a mere inch from Ursula's head. "You might need to work on your aim. You almost got me!" Then she saw what the object was. "Is that the trident? I thought you destroyed it!"

"Oops," Regina shrugged uncaring before punching Cruella in her fleshy throat.

"That woman-!" Ursula trailed off in anger, grabbing the weapon and letting it's power flow into her. At least she had it now; she'd get Regina back for lying to her and hoarding it from her later. Already she could feel her resolve refreshing, could feel the energy and magic flowing into her limbs. "Prepare to take a bath, cat," she sang at it and then summoned up a giant tsunami wave behind her out of thin air.

The cat watched as the wall of water got larger. His whiskers quivered in fear. "Me-ow?"

Then she slammed the trident butt down and the wall collapsed over him, washing him away in sea green foam back to the portal he had come through. "Me-ouch!" his cries were small as he disappeared for good.

"Come on, get up Tremaine," Ursula kicked the demon's bed, trying to wake her. "It's rude to sleep when you have guests over."

When the woman still did not wake, Ursula stabbed her right in the back with the Trident. Tremaine sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, weapon still sticking out casually from her flesh. "Couldn't you have given me another hour?" She got up, removing her sleeping cap and robe, jerking out the trident in her and looking at it in distaste before tossing it to the side.

"No, your highness of sloth, I could not. I still have another numskull after you to fight and I wish to be over with this so I can feast on Robin's soul and be free of my contract." Ursula called the weapon back to her hand.

"Very well, if only I can go back to my pleasant dreams about tormenting humans, I will fight you so this may be over soon." Tremaine magicked her bed away and lifted her hands up. The very earth they stood on began to tremble.

Right, she had the power to manipulate the very earth itself.

Good thing Ursula had the trident to help her out because this fight was going to get real ugly.

Real fast.

Cruella had managed to finally wrap her slimy appendage around Regina's waist and by putting her back into it, she began to spin the other demon around in the air, circling her high through the clouds. Regina tried to free herself from the tight hold on her waist, clawing at it until it bleed as she picked up speed. But the tongue would only regenerate as fast as it was cut. She roared out in frustration and summoned up a fireball into her hands but didn't get a chance to use it as she was unceremoniously let go. She went sailing and landed right into the lake just outside the outskirts of the city. Water flooded over the edges of the lake, the rest raining down in a light spray, until half of the body of water had disappeared. Regina got up, wobbling unsteadily on her feet, trying to get her bearings.

Cruella opened up her mouth to draw her tongue back in, and to power up a bolt of green light that came in deep from inside her. It aimed true and struck the whole of Regina's being, enveloping her in a green mist. Regina let out a gurgled cry and dropped to her knees, shaking all over. That damn frog had poisoned her!

The green mist stayed floating around her, sinking into her skin, muddling up her head. She couldn't see straight and everything was tinted green. Her body burned and ached and all she wanted to do was sleep.

She landed face down in the water, weak. She had to fight this. She knew she could.

"What's wrong? You're looking a bit green," Cruella's voice swam in Regina's ears and she opened her eyes to see the woman had reverted into her second form. And then the other demon kicked Regina right in the face. Regina snarled in pain and got up, clutching the spot where two of her teeth had once been. Cruella only giggled in cruel amusement and took the two fallen teeth and drove them into the tops of both of Regina's feet, pinning her to the lake bottom.

Then, happy that Regina wouldn't be going anywhere soon, she leapt up the woman's barky body and began to kick and punch at her. It was much like fighting a fly, Regina thought groggily. A fly that could kill you. She ripped a hand free painfully and swatted at Cruella trying to get a hit on her, but she always missed, slapping herself instead in various spots over her body. Cruella was too fast for Regina's massive and slowed down limbs. Once Regina even ended up punching herself right in the jaw, spittle flying out.

This was seriously pissing her off!

To an outsider, it looked like Regina was fighting herself, because she was indeed doing just that. Cruella's poison was making her hallucinate and whereas Regina thought she was fighting Cruella, she really was only fighting herself. And there was no way to snap her out of this. Cruella was doing her croaky impression of laughter as she watched. All the other demons were laughing as well, Cora throwing her head back in amusement, Gothel snickering into the reflection of the fight in her hand mirror. Only Maleficent stood solemn, eyes ahead and not on the fight.

"Are you not amused, Maleficent?" Cora asked.

"Why should? If Cruella succeeds in killing Regina, then I will miss out on my chance to fight her. I had been eagerly awaiting it."

"Ah, that is quite a shame. Gothel could always reanimate her corpse for you, and you could have a go at it," Cora offered.

"That is not the same," Maleficent was ardent. "I wanted a challenge."

"Either way, she possess no challenge now," Gothel spoke. "Have you not seen how miserably weak she has gotten? Or see all those wrinkles by her eyes. She's going to have crow's feet. No one wants to deal with a woman with crow's feet."

Maleficent said nothing to that, just tightened her hold on her magic staff.

Emma watched as Regina fought herself, hoping there was some way she could reach the other woman. That she could somehow tell her this wasn't true at all. That she was only imagining things. But her words were silenced and her body bound and she had no way to help.

Instead she could only watch as Regina dropped down to her knees, bleeding from wounds she had given herself. Her blood was magma, slowly dripped down and sizzling when it fell into the lake.

In Regina's mind, Cruella had just brought her down to her knees, and by knocking out more of Regina's teeth, had used those to pin the tops of Regina's hands down again more securely. So now Regina's motions were even more limited.

"Love will be your downfall."

"Love will be my downfall," Regina repeated halfheartedly, resigned to it.

"You might as well rip out your heart and hand it over to mother for all the good it has done you."

"I'll rip out my heart..." she winced through the thick fog enveloping her mind. Her fingers twitched to dig deep into her chest but she didn't move them. She had to fight this. She didn't know why she had to fight Cruella's sensible orders, but she had to. For someone's sake, if not her own.

"Don't try to resist. You are weak. You cannot even destroy me in your first form."

The voice was right.

Here Regina was in her first form and she could barely combat Cruella's secondary form. How far had she fallen? How weak had she gotten?

She didn't know if she could do it any longer. She had thought the strength of her love for Emma would be enough to fuel her weary limbs. But that had been when Regina still thought she was the second strongest sin. Now, she wasn't so sure.

"Don't give up Regina!" Robin's voice echoed from where he stood on top of a building, having watched the fight thus far, forgotten by everyone. "Love isn't weaknesses. It's a strength. My love for you drove me to new places and to do crazy things all because I wanted to find a way to reach you. And so will your love for Emma help you reach her."

Regina shook her head, speaking through blood encrusted lips. "I don't know. I don't have my powers. My demonic abilities have waned..."

"Who is that human?" Cora hissed in irritation. "He's disrupting the battle."

"I do not know," Gothel shrugged. "If he were younger and more handsome I would surely know but he's too average for me."

"He must be Ursula's contracted human," Maleficent said sagely. "His balls are brazen for a human, if he's been able to watch us demons fight."

"He won't be watching for longer," Cora snarled and let a fireball flare to life in her hand.

Robin powered on with his speech, cupping his hands around his mouth so Regina could hear him better. He shouldn't have worried; she had super hearing. "Love often gives you strengths where you least expect them. Maybe you don't need your demon powers anymore."

That's right...love was a magic of it's own. Regina had been trying to fight it this whole time, had tried to fight the fact that she was desperately in love with Emma. Everyone knew she was; she was the only one who hadn't said it out loud, who hadn't let the feelings pass through the guarded chambers of her heart.

"I love her," she said softly, tasting how the words felt on her tongue. They were sweet and light.

"I love her," she said a bit louder, rising to her feet. Suddenly the fog on her mind seemed less strong and her body no longer pinned to the floor.

Cora flung a fireball at Robin and he ducked down barely missing it. It singed his beard on one side but he ignored the smell of burnt hair. "Say it, Regina. Say it loud and proud." He waved his hands like a conductor trying to force a crescendo out of his orchestra. He jumped onto another rooftop as the one he stood on erupted into flames when Cora threw a barrage of fireballs at him.

"I love her," she picked up her gaze to where Cruella was; she hadn't been in her second form but in her first. She looked past her, to her mother.

"I love her," a shout. She watched her mother's face twist in disgust.

"I love her!" a scream, ripping right from her gut. Painful in its honesty. She could feel the chains around her heart dissolving.

She made eye contact with Emma, whose eyes were wide and wet with tears. "I love you, Emma Swan, with all of my sinful and blackened heart!" A declaration of freedom.

Finally, finally. This is what Emma had been waiting for, wanting for. Regina's honest love.

A warm tingling filled Regina's body. Each utterance brought warmth and strength into her bones and weary limbs, refreshing her.

"No," Cora stood up aghast, forgetting about Robin. "How...how is this possible?! A demon using love magic!"

Regina let magic flare to life on her palm. Her dark purple mixed in with the white of love. Together they made pink.

She had no clue what the hell she could do with her new powers, but she wasn't just going to stand around and wait to find out. She shrunk down to her human form. She was a mess in it but now wasn't the time for appearances; what mattered was that she had thrown off Cruella's poison and was now feeling refreshed and ready to take on anything. She poofed herself to where Cruella stood on her tiny frog legs, too small for her massive body.

"I must admit I had forgotten about your toxins. Is that a new one you've been working on?"

Cruella looked on uncertainly at Regina, backing up like the woman was a bad disease. She had never encountered a demon that could use love magic and she didn't know what that entailed. She was wary of coming into contact with Regina least the love rub off on her skin.

"What? Scared?" Regina said, baring her teeth. "I won't hurt you. I'm just hungry for some frog legs." And fire flared to life on her hands.

Cruella did what she always did with most of her problems. "Not if I eat you first."

And with one flick of her long tongue, she had swallowed Regina up.

A/N: With the reveal of Regina's true form comes the reveal of her true feelings for Emma. About damn time.