A/N Sorry for the long wait, it's just the usual excuses of work and uni lol
Hope of you enjoy the chapter and I will try and update again next week :D
Chapter twenty-nine
It had been a few days since the marriage of Ruby and Belle and this was the last place that Regina wanted to be. She could practically feel people's eyes upon her as she walked up the steps and Regina couldn't find it within herself to give of them dirty looks.
She wasn't sure why she would need to see her sister so soon after she had been forced to watched the love of her immortal life get married. It still stuck in her mind how happy the brunette had been in that moment when she had said 'I do'. The looks of pity were more than she could handle and she was sincerely regretting accepting Zelena's invitation since this was no doubt going to be mockery disguised as 'important business'.
She finally made it into the throne room and she found the red-headed goddess lay across the throne with a book between her hands. Regina briefly wondered why Zeus never appeared to do more than lounge around her throne room and occasionally assert her dominance over other immortals and her mortal subjects.
"You summoned me," Regina deadpanned in order to get the woman's attention.
Zelena looked up from her book and smiled broadly at her sister. Just as she had expected she looked to be an absolutely miserable mess, she couldn't see that there was any way that this broken mess of a goddess would ever be destined to take her position as the ruler of the Olympians.
"I thought I should check on my dear sister, it couldn't have been easy to know that Persephone is married to another," she said, sounding almost sympathetic to the untrained ear.
"And you couldn't have achieved that by visiting me in the Underworld?" Regina asked with narrowed eyes, though she couldn't really find it in herself to sneer in the way that she usually would.
Zelena scrunched her nose up in disgust and Regina rolled her eyes deeply. Zeus's hatred for her dominion was well known though she was not quite sure why the woman was always so openly disgusted by the mention of the Underworld. It seemed to go beyond simply trying to annoy her sister.
"Should I assume that you called me here to insult me?" Regina asked with absolutely no bite in her voice.
"Not at all," Zelena replied, "I simply asked you here to see how you were, wouldn't want any innocent souls being dammed because you're sad."
Regina rolled her eyes, but she still felt her jaw clench in frustration.
"I'm fine," she replied lowly.
Zelena smirked at the woman even more deeply and she swung her legs around the throne so that they were actually touching the ground.
"So the land of Hades isn't making your depression worse?" Zeus pressed, obviously not wanting this mocking session to end too abruptly since she couldn't often find reasons to invite her sister to Olympus.
The brunette blew out a breath and looked over her shoulder, as if she would be able to find a way to escape if she looked hard enough. To be fair, she could just walk away and return to the Underworld without another word to her sister; however, she decided that wouldn't be the best course of action. She still had some level of responsibility as one of the Olympians and that meant that she shouldn't piss off the most powerful goddess, it would mean a potential war that would just hurt mortals.
"The very thought of spending even in a moment in that place is enough to drive one insane, I don't know how you spend so much time there, dear sister," Zelena continued when Regina didn't say anything, "when father informed me that I would become Hades, I felt physically sick."
Regina's eyebrows scrunched together as she tried to figure out if she had just heard what Zelena had just said. As horrible as living in the Underworld for all of these years had been, at least she had lived under the impression that it was the position that she was supposed to have. If she was actually supposed to be Zeus then that would change everything.
"You…" Regina began but she quickly trailed off when she found that she couldn't voice what must have happened.
"Father trusted me in his final moments to pass on the roles he assigned," Zelena supplied, "if you were in the same situation, you know that you wouldn't have accepted the title of Hades."
The brunette swallowed hard. She could see choosing not to become Hades if she had the choice, but the fact was that she never had the choice.
"I.." Regina said as her mind worked through the implications, "you called me here to tell me that I was supposed to be Zeus?" She finally asked hollowly.
"If you were supposed to be Zeus, then surely you would be?" The red-head replied with a tilted head. She had never planned to tell Regina this piece of information, but at the pathetic sight in front of her, there was no way that she would be able to resist. There was no way that the woman stood in front of her would have been able to take back the title that she was technically supposed to have.
Hecate was the only other Olympian who would be willing to stand with her if a war did take place since it wasn't as if the goddess of the Underworld had taken the time to form any kind of alliances. It was honestly a miracle that she even had even one friend.
Regina opened and closed her mouth a few times, but no words actually came out. She wanted to yell and scream at the woman who had taken everything away from her, but she was just so tired and drained. As she thought about what would happen if she ever did become Zeus, she didn't see herself being happy. She would be just as miserable as she was in the Underworld since there was no way that Ruby and Belle would be separating just because Ruby's ex was no longer Hades. It was obvious to anyone with eyes just how much the two loved each other. The only thing that she would achieve if she started a conflict (assuming that she would actually have the resources to win) would be that she would be miserably sitting on the throne of Olympus rather than in the Underworld.
Zelena smiled broadly at the mixed of expressions flashing across her sister's face and she rose from her throne to walk towards her.
"I have other matters to attend to," she said as she passed the woman and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I believe that it's time you return to your own personal paradise…"
Regina drew her eyebrows together as wakefulness returned to her mind.
It had been a while since she'd had one of those dreams and it had certainly been a long time since she had allowed herself to think about that day. After Zelena had left, she had simply stood and waited for the shock to wear off. The knowledge that she was destined to be Zeus should have ignited a deep desire within her to get what she deserved, but she just didn't have the energy or the desire. Since that day, she had been more apathetic than vengeful when she thought about the subject. As more time passed, she found that she didn't even care about titles anymore, whether she was Zeus or Hades she would still be alone.
At the thought, her mind seemed to finally register that there was a weight on top of her out stretched arm and she opened her eyes to find a mess of blonde hair next to her.
Regina frowned for a moment as she experimentally shifted her arm and the woman next to her turned over so that she could burrow into her shoulder. The brunette smiled when her tired mind caught up with the fact that Emma had come into her room last night and that, despite the dream, she felt as though she'd had an amazing sleep, just as she did every night in Camelot.
Emma remained in her position for a few moments, before she seemed to realise that there was no point trying to go back to sleep right now and she opened her eyes to look up from her wife, though she didn't move away from her shoulder.
"Morning," Emma yawned and Regina smiled as she motioned for the blonde to move so that she could sit up.
For a moment, they simply stared at each other before the older of the pair seemed to remember that she couldn't spend an entire day doing that, especially since they had certain dinner plans later. At the thought, Regina looked down at her lap as Zelena's words from her dreams came back to her. She couldn't put aside the thought that there was no way that her sister had invited her just because she wanted to meet her wife, there was always an ulterior motive behind everything the vindictive red-head did and Regina would sooner wipe Emma's memories of divinity rather than allow her to be caught up in a feud that she didn't even know about a few months ago.
"Regina?" Emma frowned as she inspected the many feelings flashing across the woman's face, "are you okay?"
Regina offered the blonde a small smile of reassurance, though it was obviously rather forced since there was no way that she could smile broadly with all of the thoughts running through her mind in that moment. She had the distinct feeling that if anything did happen to Emma then there was no way that any prophecy from the fates would be able to give her hope that she could find another person to love. There was no way that she would ever be coming back from that, it was perhaps the only thing that would force her to finally give up and resort to the River Lethe.
"I'm fine, dear," she said when she realised that Emma was still looking at her expectantly, "I just have some preparations to make for dinner later. I believe that Dawn said that there was something she wanted to show you this morning…"
Emma frowned. She was sure that there was something that Regina was keeping from her, but she decided that there would be no use prying. She was quickly learning that it was unreasonable to expect the immortal woman to tell her everything. Hades had literally lived for thousands of years and she had probably already told her more than maybe even Dawn knew, so she just knew that she would eventually would be told if she was simply patient. There was also the fact that they were technically still in the courtship phase of their relationship, which was another reason that she shouldn't really expect the brunette to be so open with her feelings, even if she doubted that there was anything that the woman actually needed to prepare.
"Okay," she smiled, "I'll go and find her and see you later?"
Regina nodded with a grateful expression overcoming her face when she noticed that the blonde was letting go of the question that was no doubt on the tip of her tongue.
The pair sat motionless for a moment as they considered what the next movement should be. It wasn't as though a couple in the courtship phase should be sharing a bed, but they also shouldn't be married, so all of the rules had already gone out of the window. Emma finally decided what would be appropriate and leaned up to place a quick kiss on the older woman's cheek before she turned over so that she could stand from the bed.
Regina smiled at the woman as she walked towards the door and sigh heavily when the chamber door shut behind the princess.
"This is amazing," Emma breathed as she ran her hand across the patch of dirt that Dawn had presented to her. Other than the fence surrounding the portion of ground, it was immediately obvious that it was no longer the dead dirt of the rest of the Underworld. "How did you do this?"
Dawn uncrossed her arms and crouched down so that she was on the same level as the woman inspecting the wedding gift. She had originally planned to show Regina at the same time, but apparently the woman was off somewhere brooding about the dinner that they had planned later, she actually quite happy that Regina wouldn't find out just yet. This way, it would be easier to tell Regina when she saw the thriving garden, she might actually start to believe that Emma was truly her 'new Persephone'.
"I'm not really sure," Dawn replied, "I kind of just threw every spell I knew at it…so you'll have to figure out if anything will actually grow. If it doesn't, I guess your wedding present is this fence."
Emma chuckled and smiled as she fell from her heels so that she could sit cross-legged next to the small wooden posts. Dawn did the same and they sat in silence for a moment, before Dawn finally decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to get the answers that she wanted:
"So…how was your training?" She asked.
Emma frowned at the question as she considered exactly what she meant. After a few moments, however, she remembered that she and Regina's little adventure was originally meant to be an opportunity for her to train for the tournament, which she technically had done.
"We went to Wonderland and Camelot," Emma replied with a slight red hue spreading across her cheeks as she thought about what she considered to be some of the more memorable parts of their trip. Though she would be forever in awe of the fact that she had gotten to learn sword play from Lancelot and that Merlin had personally trained her in magic, there were parts of the trip that she found far more memorable. Like getting to share a bed with Regina, having one of their first real kisses and then agreeing to let Regina court her.
The brunette raised an eyebrow at the woman and smirked slightly at the expression on her face. With all of the commotion of the dinner invite the previous day, she hadn't had the chance to ask her mother how things had gone, but now she was sure that they must have gone well.
"Camelot?" She asked, deciding that it would only make her step-mother an awkward mess if she started asking her what progress they made in her relationship.
"Regina said that it would be the best place to learn swordplay…Arthur and Merlin 'saved' us from some bandits and then we were invited as special guests of the king," Emma explained. She was still honestly surprised that these kinds of things happened to them, she was fairly certain that if she hadn't been travelling with a goddess then nothing would have happened. It almost felt as though the immortal attracted adventure wherever she went.
"Of course, you were," Dawn laughed, though she had a feeling that the blonde wasn't telling her everything. "Interesting things always seem to happen to mom, that's why she won't go anywhere of anything important is happening. It would probably completely rewrite the story."
"She did explain that to me," Emma replied as she tried not to pout at the fact that she had only gotten to meet Arthur during his womanising prince stage, rather than being able to great King Arthur Pendragon who she had spent so many years reading about. She couldn't really complain though considering that she would have never imagined herself leaving the White Palace, let alone being sat in the Underworld talking to a demi-goddess who also happened to be her step-daughter. Overall, she really had to say that she was actually enjoying her life more than she had since she was old enough to know what boredom was.
Dawn nodded and then tilted her head at the pensive expression that overcame the blonde's features and she asked, "is there anything else that happened?"
Emma blinked out of her thoughts and blushed profusely when it occurred to her just what she had missed from recounting of events. She could just lie and say that training was the most important part of the trip, but she realised that there was no reason to. It was hardly a secret that Dawn was all for her mother's marriage, so it only made sense that she would be happy about the huge developments that had during their little vacation.
"Regina…asked if she could court me…" Emma said slowly as she watched carefully for Dawn's, despite all of her confidence in the young woman, she couldn't help the slight doubt that was currently invading her mind. What would she do if Dawn was secretly actually against her mother falling for a mortal? It all sounded so impossible on paper but Emma found that when she was with Regina, she almost forgot that she was in the company of a being who had been around almost as long as time. Regina just felt like a person to her.
Dawn began to slowly smirk as she nodded, "you're already married and sharing a bed and you think that you should now start the courtship process?"
Emma just frowned at the reply and furrowed her brow as her mind worked through the brunette's words, "how would you know that we shared a bed?"
"The mirrors talk, princess," Dawn laughed and Emma's eyebrows shot up at the implications. However, she just shook her head to push it aside so that she could focus on the matter at hand. She would later ask Regina to move the mirror out of what she was hoping would become their room.
"So…you're okay that…"
"Considering that you're already my step-mother, I hardly think that this is the time for me to start complaining," Dawn laughed.
A smile tugged at the corner of her lips, before it turned into a complete smirk when something occurred to her. She had noticed the change in dynamic between Dawn and Graham and now seemed as good a time as ever to ask the brunette about it.
"Have you been back to my parent's palace lately?" she asked as she looked back down to the fertile ground next to her.
Dawn frowned at the question and she shook her head, "was I supposed to?"
"Well, I just assumed since Devin is probably still there, right? Killian didn't seem as though he was ready to leave any time soon."
The brunette sighed and blew out a breath as she realised exactly what the blonde woman was doing. She always forgot just how smart the princess actually was since her sheltered life left her with very little common sense.
"I…have no idea where Devin is…" she replied as she looked down at her lap. A sudden guilt began to eat at her stomach when she realised that she couldn't think of the last time that she had mentioned the man who she was technically in a committed relationship with.
Emma just raised her eyebrows and looked at the immortal woman expectantly as she simply waited for her to elaborate on what she meant.
Dawn sighed and finally looked up at the other woman, "I've been spending my time…in the Underworld while you and mother were realm hopping…"
The blonde nodded and asked, "and you have been spending all that time with Graham?"
The demi-goddess cringed at the words and she prayed that she wasn't actually blushing at the thought of the man who she supposed was her first crush. He was the first and only man she had known until she had left the Underworld for the first time. Even years later, it was undeniable that he was one of the most physically attractive men she had ever met and as he slowly got less and less anxious around her, she found that he was far more than just physically attractive.
"Does that blush mean what I think it does?" the blonde asked with a smirk. She did like Devin during her brief interaction with him, but she didn't really feel like she was looking at True Love when they were together. Even if her parents were not perfect, she had always been able to tell that they loved each other, there was also a certain amount of spark between them that just wasn't present between Devin and the young woman who he had no idea was going to live for the rest of eternity.
"I'm…not sure…" the brunette admitted as she looked down at the ground again.
"You could just talk to your mom about this?"
"She might murder Graham if she thought there was a possibility," Dawn replied with genuine concern dripping through each of her words. "I don't want her to know until…I know," she added, making sure that she didn't say the possibility aloud.
"She wouldn't kill him…" Emma replied with a small frown, at Dawn's sceptical look, she added, "I mean…he's immortal, right?"
The brunette smirked at this and nodded, "I suppose, but for now, could you please do me a favour?"
The princess nodded without hesitation and motioned for the other woman to tell her what she wanted her to do:
"Could you just keep mom distracted with the courtship thing until I figure everything out?"
Emma just laughed and nodded again, "I'm sure that I can manage that."
Reviews would be much appreciated, always love to hear what you thought :D
