Chapter 21: The Girl, She is Dreaming
"Your bard has been waiting to speak with you about school, Emma. Are you up for telling your story?"
Emma rolled her eyes when she heard her mom's voice drifting through the door to her bedchamber.
"I'm trying to sleep!" Emma shouted as the knocks grew louder. She hadn't been able to sleep since her parents came for her, along with the royal army, and 'nobly rescued' her from the Shadow Kingdom, along with her hopes for a loving, future with Regina.
First, when Regina's mom had found them, she whisked them away with a magic teleportation spell. Emma had no idea what was going on or where she was. Now, she was home in her own lonely, but comfortable, bed.
She hadn't seen Regina for two weeks.
"Emma, Sweetie? We're not mad at you, just disappointed," David spoke through the door, and Emma realized the parental unit was ganging up on her and not going away until she spoke with them. They'd probably bring in the Cricket again to help them all 'facilitate' their feelings.
At least everything was out in the open. Emma was mad and disappointed with her parents.
They had kept her so sheltered; they didn't give her the skills or healthy ways to handle the world. She looked like an ignorant fool in front of the worldly and unworldly princesses of neighboring kingdoms. She wanted to blame everyone, but ultimately her decisions and the way she had given into temptation caused the destruction and livelihood of the La Ville Flottante Des Féesand ruined a whole bunch of Princesses' summertimes.
Without the revenue from the charm school, the Mairies had no income to keep up their lifestyle. Queen Cora invited them to come and work for her and having no other options they were going to have to accept her offer. She thought they'd be perfect to run her gambling and bath houses, and Emma had overheard her talking about how their tiny hands and big wands were just right for picking poppy seeds from Oz for Zelena's cartel operation.
"Fine. Come in and we can talk," Emma finally agreed. While she was away her parents had preemptively signed a Realm wide publishing deal for the rights to her storybook, and now every move she made had to be documented by her bard.
Snow and David came into the room quietly, followed by Emma's beleaguered bard, Mike, but the atmosphere was tense.
"Just tell your story to Mike so he can write it," Emma's father said, but he sounded exasperated. "Don't leave out any of the unsavory details, Emma."
"I know the story doesn't quite have the happy ending we wanted for you, but at least you're alive. I knew I should have paid more attention the red flags you were exhibiting, but I thought the school would be a fresh start," Snow said as she motioned for Mike to take a seat at the desk. Emma watched him unroll his scrolls, and set up his quill and ink.
"It was a fresh start, Mom. Do I really have to tell him everything that happened?" Emma pinched the bridge of her nose and flopped down on the bed. She wanted to be left alone so she could try and get to sleep. She hoped that her love was strong enough to break through and make contact with Regina in her dreams despite the spell.
"Well, you can leave off the part about how we had to pay for your safe passage home from the Shadow Kingdom after Queen Cora and her daughter kidnapped you," Snow's lip quivered in shame and anger.
"She didn't kidnap me. I wanted to go with Regina. I love her!" Emma pleaded with a shake of her head as she pulled the pillow over her face to hide her tears.
"That's absurd. I don't how they put this ridiculous notion in your head and influenced you to use sensual dirty magic, but it was nothing but a dangerous power play. Queen Cora wanted to talk marriage between you and her daughter can you believe the audacity of that woman? She's immoral," Snow informed Emma, but what was meant as a scathing judgment only served to perk her up.
"Regina wants to marry me and her mother would allow it?"
"The notion is ludicrous. She talked about joining our kingdoms and setting up brothels along the road to the Enchanted forest, said it would be a cash cow in our Puritanical society," David rubbed his chin in contemplation. "The Shadow Kingdom is our sworn enemy and we can't have our Princess associated with the likes of those people. They are hardly even royalty!"
Emma's mind was reeling. If her family had rejected Cora's proposal then what was going to happen to Regina? She'd done nothing but try to think of a way to get back to her since they parted.
"Not to mention how she had you dressed…leather pants, really?" Snow just had to get in that little jab. Next, she'd insult the braids in her hair or the way she walked.
Her mother was starting to chafe on Emma more than any leather ever did.
"As soon as I can magic myself up some new clothes on my own, I'm going to wear leather all the time. That's right, I slayed a dragon at Princess Camp and everything. I'm not your little helpless girl anymore."
Snow and David stared at her in shock, "You what?"
"I have room to move in tunics and vests. I'm tired of being uncomfortable in corsets and billowing skirts just because of some outdated notion that's how I'm supposed to dress," Emma shrugged in nonchalance, and steered the conversation in her favor.
"I know how important my storybook is to you two, so I will talk to my bard under one condition," Emma had to hope that her bargaining would work.
"What do you want, dear?" Snow cautiously stepped closer and sat on the bed.
"I want to see my Fairy Godmother. I have two wishes left and I want them granted," Emma sat up and looked her mother in the eye. She knew royal law stated that a princess was entitled to her three bestowed wishes from her Fairy Godmother. It was in the treaty that the female fairies signed with the Light Kingdom in exchange for their ration of pixie dust mines.
"Oh, honey… whatever are you going to wish for?" Snow's eyes were opened wide in fright.
Emma ignored her mother and shouted toward the ceiling, "Blue! Appear! Come on, I could really use a wish right now!"
In a sparkling cloud of blue glittery dust and trumpeted in by the tinkling of tinny sounding bells, the blue fairy appeared in the middle of the room.
Mike was already scribbling furiously on his parchment, recording the scene as it unfolded.
"You want to use a wish?" Blue seemed annoyed and judgmental.
"Yes, two wishes… actually."
"At once?" Blue rolled her neck and cracked her knuckles. Emma knew she had been informed about the fate of the floating city and her male fairy friends.
"At once," Emma confirmed standing her ground. "I know my rights as royalty of the Light Kingdom; you have to grant them for me.
"If I may interject," Mike cleared his throat and piped up from the desk. "According to the report I received from the fairies Emma had already asked for her second wish and it went un-granted."
"When?" Emma racked her brain trying to remember wishing for anything besides getting her ears pierced.
"Well, it says here that Emma was serious when she called out to her fairy godmother in vain and wished for Princess Regina to use her talented tongue to lick a searing trail down the valley between her breasts, across the indent of her belly button and straight down to her-to her- aching and sodden-."
"Yes! I heard that wish," Blue narrowed her eyes and stomped across the room, trailing glitter everywhere. She waved her wand at Emma, "I don't grant 'special night time' perverted dream wishes like that so it went unanswered."
Emma blushed furiously and wished her mother would stop looking at her with abject horror like when the stable boy kicked the royal puppy in front of her.
"I'm an adult now, mom, and I have a true love so it's okay to do special acts of true love like that," Emma was feeling rather frustrated and embarrassed. She did remember making that wish in her dreams, and she would give her first born to have Regina back in her bed and for that wish to come true.
"My baby is unmarried and talking about wedding night activities…" David stared at Emma like the world was ending.
"I think I need to leave the room," Snow fanned herself and she jumped up from bed and grabbed her husband, ushering him out.
"I have a new wish," Emma stood up and spoke directly to her lovely and personable Fairy Godmother. "For my first wish I want you to restore the Floating City so the Mairies can re-open the school."
Blue sighed heavily, "That's a big wish, a lot of work… dwarf contractors don't take their pay in pixie dust and I heard there was quite a bit of structural damage from dragon breath."
"Can you do it or what?" Emma asked firmly and through gritted teeth.
"Yes," Blue closed her mouth after that. She waved her wand around for ceremonial purposes and tried to take her leave.
"Eh-hem, I said I wanted to use my second wish too," Emma reminded her and grabbed her wrist before she could dissipate in a cloying cloud of blue lilac smelling magic.
"I hope you're asking for a new true love, because Princess Regina is unfit for you," Blue hissed.
"What's it to you?" Emma wondered in all seriousness. Why did it matter to her parents and her fairy godmother who her true love was? They should all just be happy she found someone who wanted to be with her. Her kingdom was much more prejudiced then she previously thought. Everyone had their own selfish agenda, but Emma was determined to get away from it. She would find her happy ending or die trying.
Blue sputtered and preened and batted her annoying hummingbird wings, "What's your wish?"
Emma paused in thought. She knew she had to word it carefully. "I wish to go to the dream realm."
"You go to the dream realm every night when you sleep," Blue rolled her eyes and her wings stopped their incessant fluttering.
"No, like, you know that Ambien flower that mom takes when she can't sleep at night but it makes her look like she's awake, but she's still technically dreaming?" Emma knew she was rambling, but she didn't know how else to explain what she wanted.
"Your mother has a special prescription from the royal doctor for Ambien flower and Xanax fruits, there are side effects, and I can't just give you magic drugs..."
"I don't want that. I want to be able to visit the Dream realm when I'm awake."
"You want to the power to physically transcend realms?" Blue asked in shock. "Well, don't we all."
"Yes, but not only for me…for Princess Regina too," Emma added and licked her lips nervously.
"I can't do it," Blue replied sounding sure of this fact.
"I've had enough of your sass, Blue. If you can't grant it then you're not much of a fairy godmother, anyway," Emma sneered at her, knowing an insult would hurt the woman's pride. Why did everything have to be so difficult?
"I can do it for you…any request can be granted with magic," Blue huffed and readjusted her ridiculous corset, "But not for the Shadow Princess."
"Why not for her too?" Emma was starting to worry that this wish wouldn't do.
"I can't do it for her because she's already in the dream realm in her physical form. Her mother banished her there right after you came back," Blue spoke and realized she shouldn't have revealed that information, but it was too late.
"She's there?" Emma felt her heart race in excitement. "Do me then, please?"
"Fine." She waved her wand and glowing dust shot out from the tip and settled over Emma.
"Done," Blue crossed her arms in defiance. "But I hope you know what you asked for. The King of Dreams doesn't like wakers in his land. He'll probably give you the boot before you can find your Princess."
The window in Emma's room turned black and Emma realized it was an open portal.
Emma didn't care what her Fairy Godmother said. She was already leaving her bedchamber and crawling into her dream channel. The sensation was new, but familiar just like she had done every night as she fell asleep. The Dream Realm was always dark and sparse when she entered. She had no feeling of warmth or cold, and she wandered around getting a feel for being there in reality, but still being in a dream.
She could feel Regina's magic reaching out for her as she trudged through the unshaped space of dreams and that feeling was what she clung to.
Emma realized as she went in the dream realm anything was possible if she willed it. To test her theory she imagined a big juicy BBQ Cherna-burger and one appeared floating in front of her. In awe, she reached out and grabbed it. She took a bite, and then another. It tasted just right like the ones she got at McDisney's with all her favorite condiments.
The dream realm was so dark.
She imagined the sun shining down on her and lo and behold the sun began to rise in the horizon until it was directly above her beaming down and illuminating all around her.
As she walked on through the nothingness she created a meadow and flowers for her path. She added some happy looking trees and some fluffy clouds as she went. Then she waved her hand to bring up a breeze that rustled the leaves and made the inanimate clouds float through her sunny sky.
"Nice," she said to herself as she looked around. Every step she took she felt she was drawing nearer to where Regina was. It was like she had an internal compass guiding her.
After some time with no sign of her, Emma left her meadow and her sun and found herself on the very edge of the dreaming. She hit a black wall of void, and to her dismay she was certain Regina was trapped behind it.
She tried to touch the solid black wall, but couldn't grasp it. She called out, but found she had no voice. As she looked down at her hands she couldn't see her body. Fear and doubt started to creep into her mind like a thick fog. What if she was wrong? What if Regina wasn't here? Or there was no way to break through the void and reach her?
There were no more scrumptious Cherna-burgers and no more dreams. Her sun was beginning to set in the distance behind her. For the first time she felt cold, and the desolate isolation of the nothingness was pulling on her; pulling her down with it. But this, she knew in what was left of her heart, wasn't a dream. She wouldn't wake up from this. She was here in all ways and this was happening.
She felt herself merging with the void, panic overtook her, and for a brief moment she ceased to exist. She was only atoms, close but not touching. She was everything and she was nothing, and the dreams and hopes and thoughts of the entire universe were inside her, but she was nothing.
Then through the din a thought floated by and she reached out for it, trying to grasp it with her nothingness. She sensed the idea and pulled it closer until it was a whisper of a thing and she could just make it out: dream bigger.
And she pushed and fought to keep her tiny million pieces that made up her essence together. She coalesced in a rush of light and particles, and pushed through the void to the other side. She bent the stars and the heavens to reach through, but she had done it. True love transcends any realm.
There was Regina, waiting.
Emma cried out in relief and Regina looked up and gasped raggedly. She looked weary and frightened, and shiny tear tracks were visible on her face. Emma shuddered and ran to her.
"Are you real?" Regina blinked and held out her hands. Emma noticed that Regina's dress looked tattered and her hair was wild, which was a far cry from the usual state of rigid perfection Regina maintained at all times. She helped her to her feet and wrapped her up in a long soul-loving hug.
"Are you?" Emma questioned as she closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the long overdue reunion.
"Oh, of course…I thought you'd never…I thought you were lost to me," Regina whispered in saddest voice Emma had ever heard.
"It took me awhile, but I'm here…" Emma rubbed Regina's back when she felt her body shake with sobs.
"Mother, she put me in this place. I couldn't get out, and you…I didn't have you," Regina pulled back arm's length as she realized something and swatted at Emma in anger. "It took you long enough to find me!"
Emma burst out in laughter, and Regina's face tightened for a moment until she too, started to laugh.
"Let's go," Emma took her hand and led her carefully, confidently through the wall and back to the Dream Realm. She kept hold of Regina's hand and magic began to swell where their fingers entwined. They started to run together just because they could. It finally felt like they were free and literally in a limitless world.
"This is your dream?" Regina stopped when they reached the meadow. "You created this place?"
"Yeah," Emma sat down in the grass and hugged her knees. Regina kneeled beside her. With a thought alone Emma redressed Regina and fixed her hair. "We can do anything here."
Regina marveled at the beautiful crimson dress Emma had imagined for her. She lunged forward and tackled Emma on the thick grass. Emma had never heard Regina giggle until this moment, and then their smiles quieted as something else took hold and both women studied each other. Regina trailed her fingers over Emma's cheek in wonder.
"I missed you," she said softly and with such sincerity that Emma leaned up and kissed her slowly, sensually and properly expressing her similar thought. The whole time they were separated the need for this shared touch and intimacy had been building and rising like a fever in Emma.
She surprised Regina by rolling them over in the grass and pressing the length of her body down onto her. Regina surprised her too when she reached down, hiked up her velvet skirt and spread her legs before wrapping them around Emma and trapping her between them.
Emma stroked Regina's hair gently and she smiled shyly but her eyes were sparkling with want. "We can stay here. We can live in this dream forever if we want to," Emma promised as she lowered her head to Regina's chest and held her protectively as they basked in the warmth and magic radiating between them.
"Who is it that comes wholly formed to my land?"
Emma heard the voice come booming from somewhere above, and she was suddenly eclipsed by a shadow. Regina opened her eyes in fright, and Emma heard and felt the vibration of her voice rumble deep in her chest when she exclaimed, "Daniel!"