EPISODE 21: HEART AND SAND
Regina paced the small kitchen in the Charmings' loft with her arms folded over her chest and her heels clicking on the floor. The noise was wearing down on the nerves of Snow and Charming, but they didn't dare to say a thing. With a sigh, she sat herself gracefully upon a stool at the counter and opened a story book to a loose page that Henry had created sometime in the night.
Image: The Savior held tightly against the Evil Queen as a hostage with Regina Mills looking on in anger.
Regina pulled her lips into a line as she stared down at the page, barely holding back a shudder of…rage? Panic? Fear? She couldn't quite place the emotion, but she did not dwell on it, either—there were more important things to be thinking about.
Emma Swan was missing, along with the pirate, Belle, and Sidney Glass of all people, whisked away through yet another portal at the end of the fight against Hyde and the Evil Queen, and although Hyde was no longer a threat, the Evil Queen was still out there, somewhere.
Everything had happened so quickly.
Emma and Regina had hardly made it back to the diner before things went down. Hyde and the Evil Queen appeared in the center of town and magic crackled in the air, signaling the beginning of the ritual to merge the realms. Everything had kicked into gear then, the various heroes taking up various roles in the attempt to stop the merger.
Snow and Charming, Henry and Zelena, and Hook and Belle took off towards the edge of the town to find and remove the three staves if they could, directed, unbeknownst to them, by the intel given by the Evil Queen.
Emma, Regina, and Dr. Jekyl made their way for a showdown with Mr. Hyde and the Evil Queen. It was a flurry of action and magic through the air as the Evil Queen fought off Regina, Dr. Jekyl weakly faced Mr. Hyde, and Emma through in her magic and wit wherever she could.
It was chaos, and in that chaos no one noticed as Regina slipped a small vial to the Evil Queen, the finished rejoining potion that Jekyl had made. Then, in what seemed like a severe breach of their loose alliance, the Evil Queen suddenly had Emma in her arms, her own personal hostage, and the fight came to a standstill.
And then suddenly everything was happening at once.
The ritual, which had been vibrating the air with its magic, growing in strength by the minute, came to a shuddering halt: one of the teams had been successful in finding a staff.
Regina turned the page.
Image: A grotesque illustration of a man in pain with features of two separate men. An empty potion vial rested at his feet and the Evil Queen with Emma in her arms stood behind him on one side with Regina behind him on the other.
Regina had captured Hyde at that very moment, and worked together with the Evil Queen to force the potion down his throat, much to Emma's surprise, and yet the Queen did not let go of her hostage. Jekyl followed suit, drinking his potion, and the two men joined together once more in what seemed to be a very painful melting and meshing of flesh until they stood as one, rapidly morphing features from one to the other until only Hyde remained, having won the battle against his weaker self.
Then, with a quick tug while the man was still stunned, the Evil Queen pulled out his heart.
No amount of pleading from anyone left standing was enough to stop her from crushing his heart with an evil sneer, leaving the dust to scatter in the wind.
Her heart beat faster as she turned the page yet again, not wanting to face the loss that occurred on the next.
Image: A red genie with an evil sneer holding in his giant hands the genie, Sidney Glass, and the mother of the unborn Dark One, Belle. Behind him is a portal.
Thunderous footsteps had echoed from all around as they were joined by the other groups, each carrying a staff, and overhead a dark red cloud was forming, twisting and turning in the sky like a tornado until it took form—the form of a red-skinned genie, accidentally set free from the staff.
In one hand he held Sidney Glass, his nemesis, and in the other he held Belle, who held the Dark One inside her.
Then there was a portal and the genie, Jafar, was making his way through it.
It happened so fast, but it felt like slow motion.
Hook ran towards the portal and Emma had turned around, catching the Evil Queen by surprise, ripping out her heart.
Hook jumped through, chasing after his newfound love, and Emma freed herself from the Evil Queen's grasp.
Emma shared a quick look with Regina, a look that said more words than the mayor could understand, and then she was off through the portal as well.
Others tried to follow: Henry, the Charmings, and Regina, but the portal closed, leaving them separated once again.
Regina let out a long, shaking breath that she hadn't been aware of holding and slowly turned the page once more to the newest edition that Henry had brought down not long before.
Image: Hook and Emma walk side by side through the sand towards the city of Agrabah—the bright city shaded by a dark red cloud overhead.
She stared down at the page, trying her best to fight off the anxious, jealous feeling writhing in her mind and stomach. The words of the page did little to help, mentioning how the two heroes have chased after the newest evil in their quest for good.
Why had Emma chased after the pirate like that? Did she still love him? Regina struggled to wrangle her wild thoughts. She could not figure out what it is she wanted or how she felt, but she did know how that song had made her feel, and how her heart had raced in that moment, so near to kissing Emma's lips.
But now Emma was gone, chasing after her the one-handed wonder yet again, and Regina felt…she felt…
She felt angry.
But it wasn't as angry as she wanted to be. It seemed that anger, that vengeful, powerful anger, had been taken from her when she split from the Evil Queen. So instead, she was angry, but also so very…empty. Bereft of sense and purpose.
Sad.
Tired.
Hopeless.
She had no way of knowing, after all, that at that very moment the duo was trekking ever nearer the shining desert city, talking about her and about true love.
She couldn't know that Emma was laying it out for Hook, reason by reason, memory by memory. Telling him about how she had fallen in love. When it had started. How it had grown.
How she had tried to fight it.
She was the Savior, after all. She wasn't meant to love the Evil Queen. Former Evil Queen—was she?
But Hook thought so.
Even though it did hurt to realize just how long Emma had been harboring those feelings, he could not fault her. She had given their relationship a fair chance, after all. But now he was pushing her forward.
Towards the city.
Towards Regina.
Because it did make sense.
The Savior was created by true love. She was a product of love. She was meant to love.
She was destined to defeat the Evil Queen.
To chase off that darkness.
To protect the ones she loved.
So she did—she had led Regina towards the light.
She had given Regina the strength to move passed the darkness.
She had believed in her as only the Savior could.
She had loved her.
She still loved her.
And once they were done rescuing Belle and destroying yet another dark foe, she needed to find a way back to her.
And she agreed, flashing him that wide charming smile.
She would find her way back. She would always come back to her.
Henry came bounding down the stairs, causing both of the Charmings to jump slightly on the couch where they sat cuddled up and half asleep.
"Another page!" He called out happily, slapping it down too loudly on the counter next to his mom. She was tired, irritated, and on edge, but his excitement brought a smile to her face. He had his moments, but he was so often the optimistic one and for that she was thankful.
Maybe being descended from the Charmings wasn't so bad, after all.
"Good job, Henry," she beamed, picking it up to look at the image on the page, trying to ignore the presence of Emma's parents now hovering over her shoulder to see as well. She couldn't, after all, deny them access to information on their daughter.
Image: Emma, Hook, Aladdin, and Jasmin stand outside of a closed gate, looking puzzled and pensive.
Caption: The Savior, the pirate, Aladdin, and Sultana Jasmin found themselves locked out of the city, and they must work together to get inside in order to defeat the evil genie, Jafar, who has sought to obtain the powers of the Dark One.
"Well, at least now we know why he took Belle," Snow whispered with a frown as Charming rubbed her back, looking equally as distressed at the idea.
"He probably took Sidney because he's the other genie, and helped to take him down in the first place," Henry added, supplementing the story with what he knew of the tale of Aladdin.
Regina sighed. She didn't care about any of that, or at least, not very much. Not at that moment, when Emma was in some foreign land and there was so much between them that hadn't been dealt with.
The night went on slowly. The Charmings dozed lightly on the couch, waiting for another update. Regina eventually gave in to her fatigue as well, sitting in a small uncomfortable chair. She meant only to rest, but she found herself nodding off on occasion as well.
They were interrupted throughout the night by Henry with another new page of the story.
Image: Sidney looks miserable in a cage in the back of the scene as Jafar looms over Belle who sleeps on a slab. He is trying to steal the magic of the Dark One.
Image: An epic battle between dark and light, between the Savior and the red genie, as the others dodge bolts of magic and try to free Belle and Sidney and to recapture or defeat Jafar.
Image: Aladdin, Jasmin, and Sidney embrace as Emma, Belle, and Hook wave goodbye, standing in front of another portal.
Image: Emma, Belle, and Hook are in Storybrooke once again. Emma is holding up the Evil Queen's dark heart. Behind them the clock tower strikes dawn against a blood-red sky.
They were home.
A/N: This chapter is short. I know. I'm sorry. I'm also sorry for the delay. I really struggled with this one for some reason. There is only one chapter left in this story, at least for part one. If you guys are interested, I have loose plans to continue with a part 2, one that has much less build up and much more direct Swanqueen. Let me know what you think!