A/N: Hello SQ'ers and fangirl-ers alike! Alas, we have arrived at the penultimate chapter of Trust Me. This chapter is a long one, and its the longest chapter of the entire story. I hope I've done the end of this story justice. It is finally at the place where I always wanted it to go, and I hope you all approve of it. I really enjoyed writing this chapter (and the following epilogue) because I feel like it opens up a whole new adventure if I ever decided to revisit this AU - I will be open to suggestions on that one in the reviews!
Anyway, thank you all for your wonderful reviews/faves/follows - I'm so glad that so many of you are invested in the little adventure I put the ladies through. So, here goes nothing. Enjoy!
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE – Through the Looking Glass
Emma woke the following morning to a very empty bed. The previous night had found Amira refusing to sleep alone in her new bedroom, so her adoptive mothers had wrapped her up in her favourite blanket and brought her to bed with them – much to the disappointment of their pre-made plans that had already began unfolding before the toddler at the end of the hall began to scream. She had snored and wriggled all night long once she was wrapped up between Emma and Regina. Emma wanted to be annoyed by it, but as she watched the toddler's tiny fist grip her blanket and smile through her dreams, she found her heart swelling with nothing more than happiness. And now, here she was in the over-sized bed surprisingly alone.
She hadn't heard Regina stir or Amira wake from her restless night sleep. Somehow, she had managed to pass out from exhaustion long enough to miss her bed mates waking. The blonde wrapped herself in a dressing gown that hung behind the bedroom door and made her way downstairs in search of the brunette. When she found the kitchen and living room empty, and Regina's study door uncharacteristically shut, she tapped her knuckles on the door and opened it wide to find the brunette attempting to pull her huge mirror from the wall with a baby monitor half falling from her own dressing gown pocket.
"Need a hand?" Emma asked with her deep, gruff morning voice, startling Regina into stumbling away from the wall without the mirror.
The brunette's hand shot to her chest in fright. "Emma," She muttered breathlessly as Emma approached her with a smug smile. She whacked the blonde's shoulder before accepting the woman's embrace. "You startled me, you idiot."
Emma laughed into Regina's pristinely primped hair before placing a delicate kiss in the curve of her neck. "I'm sorry." She pulled away from the embrace enough to look at the brunette. "What were you actually trying to do?"
"I was stealing the mirror from the wall. What does it look like I was doing?" She playfully swatted Emma again as she pretended to gag at the blonde's flirtatious attempts at kissing her neck and jaw, but never once did she try to pull away, only to pull Emma closer. "I wanted to prepare everything for this afternoon, and that included getting the mirror off the wall when we didn't have an infant running around our ankles."
"You should have woke me, Regina. That could have seriously hurt you if it fell." Her serious tone startled the brunette even more than the moment she announced her presence in the study. Aside from her mother, she had never had anyone care about her safety, and even then her mother only wanted to make sure that she didn't damage her body for the vanity and sale side of it. "Are you sure I can't come with you today? I kind of wanna be there for this, you know? And I'm not entirely happy that you're gonna be alone with him."
Regina bit her lip contemplation. She didn't want to put Emma in the situation of having to cross realms with the young man that had tried to kill her, but the more Emma asked, the more she worried whether she could do it alone. It was definitely a thought that she had spent the previous night considering. She even tried to overlook the sincerity in Emma's voice as she worried about her safety. But the anxiety she had over Emma's situation with him was enough to dampen that.
"Help me get the mirror down and I'll think about it." She offered the woman. She had the whole morning to decide whether she should take Emma with her or not, and this would just distract the blonde from practically begging her until she had no choice but to agree.
When Emma let her go, Regina took hold of one end of the mirror and instructed Emma to take the other. They hoisted the huge frame down from the wall with a grunt or two and leaned it against the marble fireplace beneath it.
"Why the hell is that thing so heavy?!" Emma huffed as she let herself fall back onto one of the couches. Regina gracefully fell by her side and laughed as she rested her head on Emma's chest.
"Because it's a portal to multiple other worlds and realms. Magic weighs heavily on different things." Emma looked down at her as if to question whether the brunette was talking literally or figuratively. Regina didn't see the confused look on the blonde's face, but took her silence as a request to continue. "On humans, it's usually a physical or a mental weight, whereas with objects, it's simply a physical weight. Mine has always been a mental weight. Yours on the other hand, is the best there is; yours is a spiritual weight. Your mind and your body will never be physically impacted by the weight of your own magic because you were a child born of true love. You always have, and always will have magic coursing through your veins that is too powerful for even the strongest sorcerer to wield."
The blonde looked at her puzzled. It made sense, she supposed, but the idea of it was still absolutely ridiculous. She couldn't even conjure a fireball without messing it up and producing a giant cupcake. Emma shrugged it off with false acceptance, knowing too well that it would take up the majority of their morning together if Emma sat there and asked the brunette everything there was to know about the weight of magic. It wasn't that she didn't want to know, because she did, it was more towards the fact that she knew they had the rest of their lives to learn from each other. And that's what she was holding onto. But this morning, she simply wanted to enjoy the serenity that had happily grown between them.
For a while, they sat together in silence, with Regina leaning into Emma's side and her feet tucked beneath her rear, enjoying the peace that early mornings at the mansion seemed to offer them, and the lack of a child's feet pressing into her back. Still, they patiently waited for the sound of the baby monitor in Regina's pocket to crackle and confirm that the child was finally awake.
Forty-five minutes later, found them both jolting out of their daydreams when they heard Amira's cry through the decade old monitors.
"I'll get her," Emma said when they eventually woke out of their daydreams and shifted off the couch rather reluctantly.
Regina nodded and followed the blonde out of the study, ensuring that the door was shut tightly behind them. As Emma climbed the stairs, Regina found her tired legs carrying her towards the kitchen and instinctively starting a fresh pot of coffee. She was exhausted. Amira had kept her awake for the majority of the night with her wriggling and occasional babbling through her dreams. So, when Regina had been disturbed from her slumber for the final time at 6am, she decided to move the unconscious toddler back to her own crib and retreat downstairs.
It had become routine now for the couple in the mornings; one would fetch Amira from her bedroom, and the other would prepare the coffee or milk. They had fallen into their domestic roles like a well-oiled machine; like they had been doing it for years, and Emma had settled into the mansion much more comfortably than either woman could ever imagine.
The light pitter-patter of tiny footsteps and hushed 'shh's echoed through the hallway and into the kitchen. Regina pretended not to hear it as she feigned ignorance with a huge smile on her face. She could hear Amira's bare feet slapping on the marble tiles as she ran up behind her. Then, when the toddler screamed out a 'boo!' Regina held her hand tight to her chest and gasped in a false terror. Amira roared with laughter as her adoptive mother pulled her into her arms with plenty of kisses to her cheeks.
For Emma, the sight before her was more than beautiful. Regina had always meant to be a mother, and seeing scenes like this every morning was just a friendly reminder for the blonde that there was no one in this world that she would have rather raised her son. It was even a strong reminder of how much the woman had changed from her terrifying counterpart. Emma's heart skipped a beat when she saw how radiant the brunette looked as the morning sun shone through the window on her smiling face. It was a beautiful sight to see someone that had been so sad and broken become someone so strong and happy.
'Have I told you that happiness looks good on you, yet?'
'Once or twice,' Regina looked up from the toddler on her hip to smile at the other woman. 'Thank you, Emma.'
"It's my pleasure." Emma said aloud. She grinned at the brunette and crossed the kitchen to press a delicate kiss on her lips. She knew what Regina was thanking her for, and it wasn't the compliment.
*#*#*#*
At 11am on the dot, just as they had promised, Charming, accompanied by Ruby, Rumple, and Snow waited on the mansion's porch after ringing the doorbell. They had organised during the council meeting to muster up a plan together for Regina's realm travelling trip through her mirror and into Arendelle later that afternoon. They had already sent word to Queen Elsa of Arendelle of Regina's expected arrival, but they needed to organise the final aspects of how Hayden would be dealt with and carried through the portal.
Regina ushered Charming, Ruby and Rumple into her study, while Emma and her mother joined the children in the living room. Emma didn't want to hear all this stuff again. Physically, she had moved on, but mentally, she was still struggling to process everything. Her father had allowed her to see the photographs that Hayden had taken of her and Regina, and even allowed her to read through the journal that he had kept. The freedom of the investigation annoyed her more than it should have, mainly because she didn't think that it was necessary for her to know everything that happened or what was planned to happen to her. She would have been fine with accepting Hayden's punishment and just trying to move on with her new life with Regina, but with her parents and Ruby insisting that she should know about most of it, she couldn't find it in herself to completely move on.
She just wanted the entire thing to be over.
"How are you doing, sweetheart?" Snow asked her daughter as they sat on the floor with Amira, who was much more interested in playing with the princess Barbies that her mothers had bought for her than the two grown-ups that joined her.
Emma accepted one of the dolls that Amira thrust into her hand and smiled at the floor. "I'm okay. A little disorientated because I feel like I'm living two lives at the moment, but after today, I'm sure I'll be fine."
"You look exhausted. Are you sleeping, or are you still having the nightmares?" The pixie-cut brunette gripped Emma's upper arm with concern. Her daughter's eyes looked more than sunken and every little movement that she made looked tired.
"Actually, this monkey didn't want to sleep in her own bed last night," She tickled Amira as the child played, "so, we had an extra bed mate that couldn't keep still. Regina and I spent the entire night with feet in our backs or the occasional slap to the ribs. She wriggled all night, and snored, and I could have sworn that she was talking in her sleep at one point." Emma smiled; it wasn't an ideal night's sleep, but it was comforting to have experienced such a familial moment for the first time in her life. "Between the two of us, I think we managed to get a solid hour of sleep."
Snow matched Emma's smile, but managed to hide the sadness that swam through her mind. A restless night sleep was never appealing, but for a long while, she had longed to have experienced her daughter's youthful restless nights, and this moment was no different. She had missed so much of her daughter's life and now she had moved in with her true love and started a family – she had missed an entire generation because of the curse.
Somewhere in her attention span, she could hear Emma contemplating the idea of investing in a travel crib to keep in her and Regina's bedroom for nights like that, but Snow couldn't stop thinking about how much she had missed of her daughter's life. Someone else had seen her first steps; someone else had heard her first word; someone else had soothed her first fever; someone else had experienced her restless nights and someone else had been called mom, even if it was for a little while, but it was never her. She had never been lucky enough.
"...and then we would have the crib if you ever wanted the kids to stay over with you and dad, you know?" Snow finally caught the latter half of Emma's one sided conversation and nodded. She and Charming had been thinking of extending their family for a while, but until then, they would always have their grandchildren.
"That would be a wonderful idea, Emma." She took her daughter's hand in her own and squeezed it for a moment. "Your father and I want to be much more involved with Henry, and now that the girls are here – we'll have so much fun."
Emma kept hold of her mother's hand as she looked up at the young woman.
"Are you sure that you're okay with all of this? I know it's a lot to take in and to get used to, but I just wanna know whether or not you're supportive of it…" She knew that this was all a lot to ask a mother to understand – she got it – she had been put through the mill when she found out about the curse, so she understood how difficult it was to comprehend a lot all at once, but Emma needed her mother's support. She needed someone to be there to cheer her on at the side-lines – literally.
"I am so happy for you, Emma." Snow told her with a genuinely happy smile this time. "You've found your true love, you have your son back, you have your real family back, and you're beginning your own family. That is all I have ever wanted for you, Emma, under different circumstances, of course, but you've got here. I always dreamed of taking you to your first ball or teaching you how to dance and wear your crown in ways that would make sure that it didn't fall. But what I wanted the most for you was for you to be happy – that's all I've ever wanted. It's just going to take a little while to get used to your happy ending being with Regina... but I'm sure that will come with time."
"And I am happy, mom," Emma looked up at Charlotte and Henry, who were aggressively trying to play tennis on the Nintendo Wii, and smiled. Amira had hoisted herself into her lap and Regina's presence throughout the house was always a comfort. She had everything in this house that she ever wanted. "After all of these years of searching, I've finally found the place I'm meant to be. Having Regina and Henry brought it into perspective that I can have everything that I've ever wanted, then the girls came along and proved it. And yeah, I get that it will take a while to get used to me and Regina being a couple, but it just feels so right, you know?"
Snow smiled at her daughter, knowing how happy she had become and felt an even bigger smile grow on her lips when she thought about how grateful she was to be able to share Emma's happiness. Blue's spell had weighed heavily on her heart and mind, but it would never have been strong enough to dampen the joy she felt for her daughter. And she knew how right the love of a true love felt, even if it was frowned upon by many.
She watched as Amira shuffled around in Emma's lap and lifted the blonde doll up for her adoptive mother to see. "Look, Ma – a p'incess!"
"Wow! Does she have a name?" Emma matched the toddler's enthusiastic voice with a grin. When Amira shook her head, Emma sported an exaggerated frown. "I think we should give her a princess' name, don't you think?" Amira nodded, prompting Emma to hum in thought. "How about… Hm… Princess Amira of Storybrooke?!"
Amira giggled and covered her mouth. "I Amira, Mama!"
"Yes you are! And you're also my princess." Emma engulfed the toddler in her arms, revelling in her screams of laughter as she peppered her with loving kisses.
The two played and laughed until Amira managed to escape Emma's grasp to find security in the arms of her adoptive grandmother. Snow gladly joined in and held the laughing toddler in her arms as Emma wound her up by trying to tickle her feet and ribs.
"Please try not to wind my daughter up while Emma and I are in Arendelle this afternoon, Snow." A thick, rich voice in the doorway interrupted Amira's laughter and made Emma's head whip around to face her. "Otherwise, we'll never get her to sleep tonight."
"Moma 'Gina, save me!" Amira squealed as she slipped through Snow's hands and waddled towards Regina's shins with her hands in the air. Regina instantly pulled the toddler up to her height and held her close. Her blonde ringlets had fallen out of the hair ties that Regina had put in an hour ago and stuck out in all manner of messy angles. Her dress had twisted half way around her body, and her tights had disappeared a long time ago.
"I leave your mother alone with you for a moment and you suddenly look like a wild child!" Regina comically gasped and looked down at Emma with a fake glare. It hadn't taken long for the child to develop Regina's wicked sense of humour, nor did it take long for her to master Regina's very skilful glare. "Miss Swan, could I have a word?"
Emma raised her eyebrows in amusement and pulled herself to her feet. Over Regina's shoulder, she noticed that her father, Rumple and Ruby had already left the study and congregated in the vast opening at the foot of the staircase. 'That was a quick decision,' she thought to herself as she approached Regina and followed the brunette and toddler into the vacated study.
"Rumple has agreed that you should join me this afternoon." Regina told her after shutting the door behind themselves. "He thinks that Queen Elsa would be much more obliging to help if she met you and saw what he did to you."
Regina reached out to touch the ever healing laceration on Emma's stomach. The blonde flinched as delicate fingers made contact with her skin through her shirt. She shuddered at the thought of what was hidden beneath the fabric. It wasn't the memories that the scars held that made her shudder; it was more towards the idea of what Regina thought of her now that she had become more damaged than ever before. She was damaged goods and definitely not worthy of the love of a former Queen.
The hand that traced Emma's laceration scar travelled across the blonde's abdomen and wrapped around her hip. Regina pulled the woman close to her front, grinning when Emma's nose brushed against her own.
"I also wanted you to join me. Coincidentally, we also seem to work better when we're together."
*#*#*#*
The Sheriff's department, that now seemed to consist of David, Ruby and Rumple, returned to the station with one of the biggest tasks they had ever been faced with in this world. Ruby had been more than nervous when she had called Nova to the station to aid them in their newly appointed mission. She had been nervous about their pretences, so when Nova turned up with a bag of vials, a heavy spell book and a solemn look on her face, Ruby's own anxieties churned and formed into nothing but worry for the dainty fairy. It was clear that she had guessed what she was there to do, only from Rumple's odd requests.
"Thank you for coming, Nova." Ruby said to her as she offered to take some of the things that she had been carrying.
"I didn't really have much of a choice, did I?" The fairy asked with clear disappointment lacing her voice. It was clear to anyone with eyes that she didn't want to be preparing to perform the worst task of her life. Ruby simply shook her head. She would never understand what they were making the fairy-nun do, but from the utter embarrassment and shame that emitted from her, the lanky brunette could only guess.
Rumple and Charming had already collected the Blue Fairy and seated her in the middle of the station. Her magic had been returned to her for the extraction and reversion to work successfully. For a moment, Charming worried that the fairy would escape, but the moment he spotted Rumple tightly holding her wings behind her back, he knew that she wouldn't be going anywhere.
As he had watched Rumple transfer her magic back into her veins for the removal of her wings, he could feel his own personal anger build and build. He had never fully trusted the fairy in all the time he had known her. When she suggested teleporting his new born in a tree trunk to some unknown world alone, he had been incredibly dubious. Then, when he learnt that August had been allowed to pass through the portal before her, his anger only escalated. The only reasoning he had for remaining unbiased towards the fairy was for his wife's sake. He still had no idea why she still believed in the fairy, but if Snow trusted her, Charming felt every obligation to do so too. Now he just had to fight the urge to scream 'I told you so' at her.
"Let's get this show on the road, shall we, dearies?" Rumple asked as soon as he spotted Nova and her anxious demeanour. He nodded to Charming to allow the prince to begin his announcement as to what would be happening to the fairy's future.
"After long consideration and talks with a mediating council, it has been decided, that you, Mother Superior and Blue Fairy, have be objected to the punishment as follows." Charming started, falling straight into his former roles as the lawful husband of Snow White. During their time in the Enchanted Forest, Charming had envisioned himself and Snow standing over Regina, handing her a special form of punishment, much like this one. They had failed in previous attempts to kill the Queen, and now with the hindsight that he had, he knew that they were never destined to end the Queen's reign. She was meant for greatness and forgiveness, and this punishment would give her all of that. "It has been decided that your magical abilities will be officially stripped from your being. The magic will be locked away under the occupation of both Regina and Mr. Gold. This magic will only be returned to you should the town be in need of it; if it is ever returned to you, you will be expected to do as Regina or Gold instructs you, then it will be removed from your being once more. If you abuse this leeway, your magic will be crushed instantly."
He paused for a moment to watch the utter fear in Blue's eyes encase her entire body. Taking away the fairy's magic would do nothing but break the woman into dust – much like the way her magic would appear should she ever choose to abuse the trust they would be handing over to her in a case of emergency. He averted his eyes for a moment before beginning again.
"Secondly, it has also been decided that today you will lose your wings and fairy status." Charming ignored the fairy's outburst as she tried to throw herself at him in protest, only being stopped by Rumple's pinch on her wings. He cleared his throat slightly, trying to ignore the fact that he was revelling slightly in her reaction. "Your wings are to be removed and destroyed by Nova, who will be taking over your position on the fairy council. You are permitted, and expected, to remain at the convent, following whichever faith or way of life you choose to, but you will no longer be regarded as a fairy. From this day forward, you are to be known as a simple human being with no magical capabilities whatsoever. And, if you so choose to do so, you may remain in your position as Mother Superior at the convent.
"Lastly, you are no longer permitted to work alongside the Storybrooke Children's Home. The children will remain under the care of a few fairies who have offered their permanent services to raise the children until they are found a home and families to call their own. Thanks to you, the town is now fully aware of the lack of care and education that these children have been faced with. There will be no objection to any of these called punishments under the Storybrooke justice system, therefore, you are required to remain under house or convent arrest until I deem it fit for you to leave your probation."
The fairy ducked her head to her chest as a glistening tear trailed down cheeks. Glitter clung to the remanence of liquid that stained her skin. She slumped in the chair, looking like she had officially lost every last will she had to live. Her own narcissism and idiocy had caused her to lose everything that defined her. She was being stripped of everything she had become and everything she ever was, and there was nothing she could do about it. For her, it was concerning how much she understood the council's reasoning. It was clear as day that she had made a mistake, and there was no turning back now. She did what she felt like she had to do, and now she had to pay the consequences for a delinquent man that she had so stupidly taken to like her own son. Blue couldn't even consider who was more to blame: herself for being so stupid or Hayden for actually thinking he could get away with the things he had planned.
She didn't, however, begin to even remotely feel sympathetic towards Sheriff Swan and her familial surroundings for the pain and devastation that she had essentially caused. In her mind, giving the Evil Queen her chance at a happy ending was more than a drastic mistake, so to mix that with the happy ending of the Saviour, would be setting the Charming family up for their ultimate demise.
"Rumple, Nova – if you will." Charming stepped back to stand beside Ruby, who he could see was enjoying it as little as he was. In the Enchanted Forest the two would have been more than enthusiastic about witnessing a drawn out procedure of capital punishment.
They both leaned against Charming's desk and watched as Nova explained how the extraction of a fairy's wings would consist of so much more than a simple magic retraction. With baited breath, they watched as she skilfully and fluently recited spell after spell above the sounds of Blue's torturous screams and cries until she was torn free of wings that fluttered for the last time in Nova's hands. Rumple, unlike Charming and Ruby smirked as they witnessed Nova levitate the wings from the palm of her had before disintegrating them into a ball of bright blue flames.
When the last flicker of blue magic faded in the dust, and nothing but ashes remained in Nova's hand, she slid them into a vial and reluctantly handed them over to the Dark One. He tucked them into the inside of his jacket with a pat and a sadistic grin.
"I think the Queen deserves a little souvenir from you, dearie." Rumple practically slurred with excitement that Blue's pain inflicted upon him. As Blue looked up to witness the raging excitement on his face, his hand plummeted deep into her chest.
"Gold, what the hell are you doing?!" Ruby practically screamed as she watched him retract the former fairy's heart from her chest. She wasn't surprised, however, when she saw the black, beating organ cradled in his hand.
"This needs to be preserved – for safe keeping." He magicked a box into his free hand, before gently placing the glowing heart inside and locking it tight. "And security measures."
*#*#*#*
A few hours later, Ruby, Charming and Rumple returned to the mansion with Hayden cuffed and magically silenced. Regina had made sure that the children were under Snow's supervision in the living room with the door shut in an attempt to keep them away from such a messy situation. She wanted to do the same with Emma, but the seamless grips that they had on each other's hands proved how much they needed one another for this trip. The acting Sheriff and former Dark One ushered Hayden into Regina's study, where they had moved the mirror so that it rested against the wall lengthways. Everything had been prepared and organised to the last moment, but Regina still felt uncomfortable with the idea of it all.
They had already been debriefed on the extraction and abolition of the Blue Fairy's wing and the boxing of her magical abilities. Rumple, however, had insisted that Charming and Ruby kept silent about the whereabouts of the fairy's heart.
"Are you ready, dearies?" Rumple asked, once everyone had found their positions in front of the mirror and the two women had finally let each other go.
Emma and Regina stared back at him – their faces pale and empty of any emotion as they both let go of one another and gripped onto Hayden's upper arms. They had agreed to maintain a physical connection with him as they crossed realms, as to assure that they didn't lose him somewhere on the way, but that didn't mean that they wanted to be doing it.
"As we'll ever be," Emma muttered, feeling more than a little anxious to be getting this over and done with. "Just make sure that you get us back if we're not home in an hour, okay?"
Rumple nodded. "After an hour, I'll be through there myself."
It wasn't much of a consolation, but it helped a little, and Emma was grateful for that. She needed someone other than Regina to remind her that it was all going to be okay, even though it was a very rare occasion that she trusted the former Dark One.
'Are you ready?' Regina asked, peering over Hayden's slumped shoulders to the blonde.
'Yeah, let's go.' Emma nodded and matched her step forward with Regina's and stepped through the mirror.
*#*#*#*
Before Emma knew it, the three realm travellers fell into a messy heap in the middle of a tiled floor. As she found her feet and helped Regina to stand, after giving Hayden an accidental kick to the ribs, they found themselves surrounded. Tens of men circled Emma, Regina and Hayden, pointing sharpened swords or spears at their faces. Each man was dressed in a dark blue uniform with a matching beret on their heads. The sight was more intimidating that Emma ever cared to believe.
"Stand down," a woman's voice echoed through the huge room that they had appeared in. Seeing Regina's shoulders ease calmed Emma slightly as the group of guards retracted their swords and spears before stepping backwards to allow an elegant blonde glide through them in a flowing ice blue dress.
"You always did have a knack at those warm welcomes, Elsa." Regina commented as she spotted the Queen. Both women grinned at each other and found themselves in a friendly embrace. "It's wonderful to see you again."
"I could say the same to you, your Majesty, but I seem to have been faced with a few consequences of your curse." The blonde Queen raised her eyebrows, but there was no malicious intent in her words.
"I would apologise, but I think what I have brought for you is worth a thousand apologies." Regina stepped aside enough for Queen Elsa to see Hayden on his knees between herself and Emma.
Elsa's eyes widened at the sight. This time, her intentions were malicious. She smirked at him as she signalled for two of her guards. They hoisted the young man up by his armpits and held him an inch above the floor. The sight was all too familiar for Emma, who instinctively found her way to Regina's side. She graciously took hold of the hand that Regina offered her when the brunette spotted her discomfort.
"Where in the realms did you find this monstrosity?"
Regina's breathy and sarcastic laugh was enough for Elsa to question it with just a look. "Unfortunately for us, Hans found his way over to the Enchanted Forest shortly before my curse, so like everyone else, he was brought over to our new world with it." The brunette glanced over to Emma for a moment, to see the conflicting flash in her eyes. "He had only recently made a public appearance, where he found his way into trouble with the royals again."
The Queen nodded briefly and turned to address her guards. "Take him to the dungeons. I will deal with him later, but someone must remain with him at all times. The rest of you are required to protect this portal." She referred to the mirror that floated above the ground behind Hans. "The looking glass is to remain untouched – it is the only way for Queen Regina and her companion to return to their realm."
In unison, the Queen's guards nodded and marched to their assigned duties.
"Shall we take this somewhere private?" The Queen twirled on her heel and glided out of the room with Emma and Regina following closely behind the flowing train of her dress.
'This is ridiculous. I knew we shouldn't have agreed to watch Frozen last night.'
'Just be grateful that you don't have to meet Kristoff and his stinking reindeer.'
'Oh, god. I'm actually terrified to ask about the trolls now.'
'I'm sure they're around here somewhere. They're not as cute and tiny as they are in the movie. Ask your parents – I'm sure they will inform you about their wild encounter with trolls in the Enchanted Forest.'
Emma raised her eyebrows at Regina in surprise, but the brunette simply smirked. Returning to Arendelle was odd after seeing the Disney rendition of the chain of events, especially when it was the furthest thing from accurate, but she didn't need to share what information she could remember with Emma. It was better that she had simply overlooked the differences, otherwise she would ruin the world of Disney for the blonde all together.
Elsa pushed open a set of double doors that led into the castle's incredibly extravagant library. A fire roared in the centre of the room, much to Emma's surprise, and the candle lit walls created an incredibly warm feeling. Elsa took her seat beside the fire and waited for Regina and her companion to join her in the loveseat opposite.
"I must apologise for my ignorance in the ballroom," Elsa said, addressing Emma. "I didn't ask for an introduction because, you see, the guards talk around here. We don't get a lot of gossip or controversy in Arendelle, so I'm sure you're already the word on everyone's lips."
As Emma opened her mouth to speak, Regina placed a hand on her thigh, instantly stopping her with the distraction of the placement of her hand. "Elsa, this is Princess Emma." She paused, waiting for a response from the Queen. When Elsa gave her nothing but a blank look, she smirked. "Emma is the daughter of Snow White and her Charming husband."
The Queen's eyes widened this time. She couldn't believe the sight before her: the Evil Queen and the daughter of her arch-nemesis sitting together – sitting closer than close together. Then she spotted Regina's hand high on the princess' leg. Never in her lifetime would she had predicted that Queen Regina would ever manage to get the ultimate revenge on Snow White, but here it was, and it was completely perfect.
"I just can't believe you're friends with Snow White's daughter. The baby that was supposed to be your demise and you're casually crossing realms with her… Have you gone soft or have you completely lost your mind?" Elsa's amusement was apparent in her voice, and even more so in the grin she sported.
Regina laughed. "Apparently both." She looked at Emma and entwined their hands in the blonde's lap. "Actually, it's rather ironic."
Elsa raised her eyebrows again, already assuming the gossip from the sight before her, yet she waited for her old friend to indulge her by confirming her speculations.
"Emma and I recently learned that we're not just true loves, but soul mates too. She is the birth mother of my son, and we also have two daughters." Regina revelled in the bug-eyed look she received from Queen Elsa. She smirked and squeezed Emma's hand. "I didn't have to enact any sort of revenge for Snow. Apparently, it was written in the stars that I would one day get my own back on her."
Regina offered her friend a devilish grin. She didn't mean it, and Emma understood that, so she joined in with Elsa's laughter. It was, after all, incredibly ironic for the Evil Queen to fall in love with the one person that was meant to be her ultimate demise – not to mention their true love or soul mate connections. When Emma really thought about it, she knew it was the only thing to really make sense.
"We accidentally broke a curse with True Love's Kiss, which then started Hans' ever troublesome reign." Regina frowned. "Let's just say that I'm just about ready to crush his cold little heart beneath my boot; hence the reason why we were so willing to bring him to you. He needs a punishment fit for treason and as I recall, you would very much like to provide him with your own little bit of revenge."
The blonde queen's mouth formed into a perfect 'O', before drastically changing into a sadistic smirk that Emma knew could give Regina's a run for her money. It was more than worrying, yet Regina's delicate squeeze of her hand was enough of a reassurance for her.
'She's got this under control, darling.'
Emma looked over to Regina and smiled. She didn't know how, nor did she know why, but somehow, Regina always seemed to know what she was thinking and exactly what to say in those moments. The blonde knew it had nothing to do with their true love connection, because she would have been experiencing Regina's thoughts and feelings as well, wouldn't she?
"Oh, I'm sure I can organise something most… chilling." Elsa winked at the couple across from her, knowing that Regina would get as much of a kick out of her puns as she did. "After the hell that he put my family through, he deserves nothing more than my very worst, and if the Evil Queen won't even deal with him after hurting hers, then it must have been bad." She looked over at Emma with a sad smile, knowing exactly who this was about. "What did he do to you, sweetheart?"
Regina's grip tightened on Emma's hand and she knew that the woman was telling her that she needn't react, but Emma actually wanted to. She wanted to show someone that seemed to understand what Hayden was capable of – not that Regina didn't, because Emma knew that she did, it was just everyone else that was incessant on asking her what had happened and why she didn't fight back. She let go of the brunette's hand and stood to raise the front of her shirt to expose the deep, pink laceration across her torso. Elsa gasped and sighed as she bit back her temptation to reach out to the mess he had left on the blonde. When Emma dropped the front of her shirt to turn and raise the back of it, Elsa cringed as she saw the three separate lacerations on her back.
"Oh, my," she breathed, as Emma let her shirt fall and sat with Regina once more. The Queen looked at the other blonde with sad eyes; she had seen this all before from him, just before he had slipped through her fingers. The last person he had done it to, in her knowledge, never recovered. "Anna… He did this to Anna."
Emma glanced at her puzzled, her brow furrowed. "Anna as in your sister – Princess Anna?"
Elsa nodded and wrung her hands in her lap, only then dropping the walls that she had so clearly put up around her. The woman had visibly cracked before their very eyes. Now Emma understood why she wanted Hayden back under her watchful eye.
"You were incredibly lucky to have gotten Emma out of that alive, Regina." She practically whispered. "How did you… you know… stop the bleeding?"
Regina retook Emma's hand in her own, not providing Emma with stability, but requesting it for herself this time. Emma hadn't much of an idea around what had happened shortly after they found her in the basement. Her arrival at the hospital was still a complete blur for the woman, but the things Regina had told her about her near death experience was still fresh in her memory.
"Medicine in our world is a wonderful thing," she mused as she shook her head. "The Dark One – he managed to stop the bleeding as our healers pumped fresh blood through her veins. Her heart stopped momentarily, but with the magic that was still pumping through her body, they were able to save her with drugs and remedies. Snow and I – we thought we had lost her for a moment."
"Well, I'm glad someone could have been saved from his hand."
Regina stared intently at Emma with a sad smile. She had worn her heart on her sleeve for the last couple of weeks, and now it ached. She hadn't realised how similar Emma's attack had been in comparison to Anna's, and in hindsight, she was glad that she couldn't remember it in it's entirely. They had been so close to losing one another – Regina was so close to losing another loved one, and she knew her heart never would have healed if that had happened.
"That's why we've brought him to you. Rumpelstiltskin has destroyed his magic completely, and he had been magically silenced. The silver things on his wrists can be pried off with tools, but magic will easily remove them." Regina told the Queen, who seemed to be just as lost in thought as the rest of them.
"Thank you, Regina. Maybe now, my sister will have the justice she so deserves."
The brunette smiled at the Queen. She really did hope that Elsa was able to get the justice that they all knew she needed for Anna. And technically, the justice they deserved for Emma. Not that she wanted to admit it to the blonde, but Regina knew that Hans was about to meet a very sticky ending whether he liked it or not.
"I think we should probably be going," The brunette suggested as she took to her feet. As much as she had enjoyed seeing her old friend again, Regina wanted nothing but the comfort of her own home, with Emma's arms wrapped around her waist and their three children in her sight. There were still too many ghosts of her past roaming around this library and the rest of the castle. She looked down at Emma and cocked her head towards the door. "Amira is probably already trying to wreck the living room or tormenting your mother with her new magic tricks."
The Saviour nodded with a smile and stood to wrap her arm around Regina's waist before addressing the Queen. "I'm so sorry about your sister."
Elsa dropped her head as she stood. "Thank you, Emma." She guided them both to the library door before stopping in her tracks and turning around to face the two women behind her. This time, her smile was back and the ghosts of her own past drifted to the back of her head. "You have to promise me that you will return to Arendelle during winter. I think you would enjoy how much it has changed here, your Majesty."
She winked at Regina, who nodded, noncommittally. This was the last place that she wanted to return to, but if it made her friend and her children happy to return, then she would consider it – even if it was just for a weekend break, she would think about it. She thought about the ice-skating lessons that Elsa and Anna had given her on her first visit to the kingdom. It had been one of her more favourable memories as Queen after all.
They followed Elsa back to the huge ball room, where at least six guards surrounded the looking glass portal, ensuring that no one went in or came out of it. Hans was gone, but the guards had left a visible trail of blood in their wake, which made Emma shudder at the thought.
"If you ever wish to visit, Storybrooke is always welcome to you, Elsa," Regina said to her friend as she hugged her goodbye. "I think you would like it there – it's far too cold for my liking, but it can be beautiful when it's not being destroyed by curses and other things of magical ridiculousness."
The blonde Queen smiled her gratitude at the offer as she approached Emma and whispered: "You're a lucky woman, Princess Emma. I always imagined that I would have been the one to thaw Regina's frozen heart, but I'm glad it's you. I see how much she loves you – she looks at you like you are the only person she sees – you're the only one that matters in her world. Cherish that. Cherish her. She needs someone to love her."
Emma grinned at the other woman. "Thank you, Elsa. It has been a pleasure to meet you – strange, but pleasurable."
Elsa bowed her head. "But don't you dare break her heart. Break her heart, and I'll freeze yours, do you understand?"
Holding her hands up in surrender, Emma held back a chuckle. "I won't break her heart – that's something I could never do."
Retaking Regina's hand in her own, Emma pulled the brunette into her side and guided them back towards the mirror, both woman feeling ready to be at home at the place that started all of this. They were ready to create their own normality in the comfort of the mansion surrounded by their children and the people they called family. They were the lucky ones; they had managed to get out of this alive and happy, but now it was time to return to reality.
They waved over their shoulders to the Ice Queen who had wrapped her arms tightly around her waist and nodded to them in farewell as they finally stepped back into the portal; back to Storybrooke.
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