Chapter Thirty-Four: Reunions
A million different thoughts ran through Regina's mind.
The first was that none of this made sense. Emma could not be standing in her yard, the remnants of the now-broken protection barrier clinging to the air around them. She could not be here, in this land, when only yesterday she had been trapped in the Enchanted Forest, separated by an impenetrable barrier. And she absolutely could not be radiating this level of power.
The second thought was that perhaps this wasn't Emma. But Cora didn't have this kind of power, and maybe Gold could pull it off – but that was doubtful, and anyway, why would he?
The third thought was that Henry was in the house behind her and until she understood exactly what was going on, she was not going to allow this person – Emma or whoever it might be – to get anywhere near her son.
"Regina!" Emma snarled, striding forward. Her expression reflected anger and another unidentifiable emotion that sent shivers down Regina's spine. She quickly closed the distance between them and reached out to grab Regina's arm.
Regina batted Emma's hand away and narrowed her eyes.
"How are you here, Miss Swan?" she asked, drawing herself up to her full height. Her heart hammered wildly in her chest, but she would show no fear. She might not have the slightest idea what was going on, but she was still a queen, and would address this issue with the regal demeanor she had worn for years.
"Where is Henry?" Emma asked. She made a move to step past Regina, towards the house, but Regina immediately blocked her path. Emma whirled on her, blonde hair flying. "You cannot keep me away from my son!"
"Do use your head, Miss Swan," Regina drawled, fingers tightening into fists. "It is the middle of the night. Do you really think storming into my home to wake up my son is good parenting?"
The Emma Swan that Regina had known before would have glared defiantly at Regina for those words, but would have hesitated, even for a fraction of a second, to question her own parenting abilities. The Emma Swan from before was full of self-doubt and insecurities that, though incredibly well hidden, Regina could still see.
This one did not even blink. "And feeding him a poisoned apple turnover was good parenting?"
Regina reeled back, feeling as though Emma had slapped her. It took her a moment to recover, and that moment of uncertainty, of being wrong-footed, was all Emma needed to shove Regina aside and stalk towards the house.
"Miss Swan!" Regina seethed. "How dare you…?"
"Don't," Emma warned, her voice low and cold. She turned towards Regina again, her eyes hard.
"Tell me how you got here," Regina demanded tersely. Emma said nothing, and Regina shook her head in frustration and exhaled a breath between clenched teeth. "My mother and Captain Hook are in this town, plotting God knows what. And you – you suddenly show up, storming around, using magic, and demanding to see Henry. Can't you understand why I might want an explanation before I allow you into my home?"
Her appeal to logic did what intimidation could not, and Emma paused, a frown marring her features. The pause stretched out a moment longer, and the fierceness of her expression faded. "Is Henry alright?" she asked worriedly.
There were so many potential answers to that question, none of which could adequately explain everything that had happened. Henry was alive and relatively safe, all things considered, but he was not alright. That word could not be used to describe a boy who stared at his once-beloved fairy tale book with such betrayal in his eyes, who blamed himself for the town falling to pieces all around them, who didn't understand why Good couldn't simply win like it always did in the stories.
Regina smoothed her hands over her bathrobe, suddenly aware of how under-dressed she was. Of course, Emma was wearing the grime-covered ruins of a torn up dress and jacket, so neither of them were appropriately dressed for the power play they were having.
"He's safe," Regina answered coolly. "I've kept him safe." There was a hint of reprimand in her voice, a reminder that she had always kept Henry safe.
Except, of course, that she hadn't. Emma narrowed her eyes, thinking the same thought, and both of them were silent for a moment, remembering Henry lying pale and lifeless on that hospital bed.
"I used water," Emma said in a clipped tone.
Regina's eyebrows rose. "Water?"
"Yes. Water. It connects different realms."
"Oh." Regina wasn't really sure what to say to that. "So you… swam… here?"
"Yes," Emma said flatly. "Lake Nostos has magical properties."
"Lake Nostos is just a lake," Regina countered automatically, dismissively.
"I dove into it," Emma said, her words clear and assertive, ignoring Regina's disbelief, "and started swimming towards the bottom. Eventually, I used some kind of magic," and here she finally faltered, unable to explain what exactly had happened. "A white light burst out of me. I woke up at the bottom of the well in the forest outside of town."
"The… well," Regina murmured. The same well her mother had come through. The same well that had connected them to the Enchanted Forest once before. The story didn't make any sense – really, she was supposed to believe that Emma swam between worlds? – but the details were just a little too unerringly accurate for Emma to be making this up.
"Yes." Emma lifted her chin, lips pressed into a thin line, and met Regina's gaze unflinchingly, traces of power hugging her.
Regina wondered if Emma, too, could feel the heat in the air, the crackle of energy between them.
Emma smiled. There was something predatory in her eyes. "May I see my son now?" she asked softly, almost sweetly. Almost threateningly.
Regina narrowed her eyes.
There was now no doubt in Regina's mind that this person was, in fact, Emma Swan. Everything about her, from the way she moved to the way she talked to the way she looked at Regina, was so infuriatingly familiar. But there was something still slightly off about her.
Regina glanced back towards the hedges that enclosed her yard. There should be a protection barrier there, but there wasn't. Not any more.
Through sheer force of will, Emma had brought herself across worlds and then destroyed an indestructible barrier… and she didn't even seem to realize the enormity of what she had just done. And the confidence that she wore now, the self-assuredness, the unwavering belief that she was right in everything she did and that she could simply walk over anyone or anything standing in her path – Regina recognized that. She'd seen it before, in herself. That was a side effect of magic.
The power Emma had made Regina shudder. This was not someone she could trust.
And this was not someone she could stop.
Francis smiled as he bowed over Eva's outstretched hand. "Princess Eva," he said, "welcome back to our kingdom." Blanche stood next to him, her back straight and her chin high, a delicate gold tiara resting on her black curls. She, too, smiled at Eva, though there was no warmth in her eyes. She looked uneasy, tense.
And, of course, the reason for that was obvious to everyone.
Cora was holding her own court.
Not an official court, but what else could it be called when every courtier in the palace hovered around her, fawning over her beautiful new dress and her stunning jewelry? Even the visiting royals, after paying their brief respects to the newly enthroned king and queen, drifted towards Cora. This was the coronation ceremony for Francis and Blanche, and yet Cora was still the center of attention.
Eva rested a hand on Blanche's arm and offered a sympathetic smile. She might find the new queen unbearably dull, but she did at least have empathy for her plight.
Francis stepped away from his wife for a moment, turning his attention to Eva's parents, and Blanche said in a low voice, "Nothing changed. Perhaps I was a fool for thinking it would."
Eva nodded. Xavier might be dead, but everyone in the kingdom still knew that Cora was the true power behind the throne. Her ability to create gold had not died with Xavier, and the profitable running of this kingdom still relied on her.
Eva clenched her hands into fists, then slowly flattened her fingers against the stiff skirt of her dress. "Francis says he will try to make the kingdom less reliant on gold, but…" She trailed off with a slight frown, her eyes narrowing as they focused on Cora. "My father-in-law focused only on gold. He didn't bother investing in anything else because he assumed everything could always be bought. Our farms are failing, our mills are nearly all shut down, our relations with other kingdoms are all but destroyed… we are so reliant on gold now, I don't know how we will ever change that."
Eva glanced across the floor of the palace ballroom. Cora was laughing at something someone had said, throwing her head back so that the flickering light of the torches lining the walls caught the bright gold of her earrings. Henry stood beside her, ever the attentive, and yet still extraordinarily dull, husband. The other nobles in the land circled her, talking, laughing, their backs to their true king and queen.
Cora looked over at Eva then, catching her eye, and smirked.
"Mom!"
Henry threw himself at Emma the moment she appeared in the house, his arms wrapping tightly around her waist.
"Hey, kid," Emma said, hugging him back. The relief flooded through her, tinted with incredulity. She could not quite believe that she had actually made it back to her son, and the weight of him in her arms did not complete assuage her fears.
What if she lost him again?
"How are you here?" Henry asked, his words rushing together in his eagerness to get them all out. "How did you get back? We've been trying to reach you but we couldn't get through. Mom's been working with David and Sidney Glass and Mother Superior, but…"
"Hey, hey," Emma interrupted, grinning, "slow down, kid. Remember to breathe." She stepped back from him, sizing him up. "Have you grown since I've been gone?" she demanded.
Regina closed the door and slipped in around them, her expression guarded.
Emma ignored Regina and ruffled Henry's hair. "Let's go find Mary Margaret and David," she suggested.
At that, Regina snapped, "It's the middle of the night, Miss Swan. They are probably both asleep." She slanted an admonishing look at Henry and added, "Where you should be."
"But Emma's back!" Henry protested.
Emma rolled her eyes. "They're not going to care that it is the middle of the night," she pointed out.
"I think David is at home," Henry said, piping up helpfully. "He said he was going to spend a few nights there…" He trailed off with a curious frown, and Emma made a note of the way Regina averted her gaze. Henry shrugged, and added, "I'm not sure why."
"Where does he usually sleep?" Emma asked, confused.
"Here," Henry answered, "because it is safest here. The spell around the house protects us."
"I brought that down," Emma countered. If she had been able to destroy the barrier, there was no possible way it would have stood up against Cora. Cora knew magic, and had been using it for decades. She had to be stronger than Emma – maybe stronger than everyone, except probably Gold.
"Yes," Regina said, her expression unreadable, "you did."
"Was Mary Margaret staying here, too?" Emma asked, still trying to put together all the pieces.
"No," Henry said softly, lowering his voice. "She's in jail."
"What?" Emma spun towards Regina, face flushing with anger at the thought of Mary Margaret imprisoned again. How many times would they have to go through the same thing? "Jail? Why? What did you do?"
"It's not her fault," Henry said immediately, jumping in before Regina could reply. He tugged on Emma's arm, stopping her before she could continue her rant against Regina. "It's not. Leah and Stefan did it. Mom even tried to free her, but there's magic on cell, so she can't."
"Who are Leah and Stefan?"
"Aurora's parents," Regina answered smoothly, cold eyes meeting Emma's. "I believe you met Aurora? And then left her trapped in another world?" She gave a glacial smile. "That is what her mother seems to think, anyway."
Emma swallowed back a retort. It was true that they had abandoned Aurora and Mulan, but it had not been an easy decision, and she still felt regret whenever she thought about them. But what else could they have done? Cora had made it to Storybrooke, and they had to stop her, they didn't have any time to waste…
She shook her head, forcing away those thoughts. They had made the only decision that they could at the time, and she didn't have to justify herself to Regina of all people.
"Well, they can't just… just lock up Mary Margaret," Emma said firmly. She drew herself up to her full height, squared shoulders, straight back. "I'm the sheriff. I'm the one with the badge and the gun."
"And they're royalty," Regina answered. She folded her arms over her chest and regarded Emma for a long moment. Once more, her expression was inscrutable. "I think you'll find, Miss Swan, that Storybrooke has changed. You may not recognize it anymore."
Emma didn't know what to make of that.
"Well, royalty or not, Stefan and Leah are not going to keep me away from Mary Margaret," Emma said firmly. "I'm going to get David and then…"
"I'm coming with you!" Henry interrupted immediately. He faltered for a moment as he caught sight of Regina's raised eyebrows, but then demanded defiantly, "Why can't I go?"
"Of course you can come, kid," Emma said warmly, impulsively hugging him again.
"It's the middle of the night!" Regina snapped. "He's a child. He should be asleep."
"It's just one night," Emma argued, rolling her eyes at Regina's scathing response, "and I've spent quite a bit of time trapped in a different land." She hesitated, but didn't add the thought that the whole reason she'd even been sucked into the hat in the first place was that she had been attempting to protect Regina from the wraith. Instead, she said in a tone underlined with steel, "I don't think it is unreasonable for him to come along to a family reunion. It's hardly contributing to the delinquency of a minor."
"Yes, and you would know a lot about delinquency of minors," Regina muttered.
Emma raised an eyebrow. "I don't think you have any right to tell me how I should or should not treat my son," she snapped angrily. She had lost her parents and had grown up entirely alone because of a spell cast by this woman – she would not let Regina stand between her and her son, too.
Regina pursed her lips but didn't respond. There was something in her eyes – resignation, maybe? – that Emma couldn't identify, but that seemed so jarring, so out of place.
Henry cleared his throat. "Please, Mom?" he said, directing his words to Regina. "I don't want… I mean…" He leaned against Emma with a helpless shrug, and said artlessly, "I just got Emma back."
Emma frowned. This was different. Henry pleading with Regina? Henry still wanting Regina's permission even after Emma had basically stated that he didn't need it?
Regina exhaled slowly. "Alright, dear," she agreed. "But I'm coming with you. And we both need to change out of pajamas."
Henry turned and rushed up the stairs, and Emma automatically started to follow him.
Regina stopped her with a hand on her arm. "He's not a toddler, Miss Swan," she said pointedly. "He doesn't need you to dress him."
Emma flushed, embarrassed. "Right. I just… I don't want to lose sight of him. I worry that if I look away…"
"He'll disappear?" Regina murmured. Her expression softened for just a moment, and then she turned away.
There was a moment of tense silence.
Emma cleared her throat. "So… your mother is in town. With Hook."
"Yes." Regina's reply was clipped, short. Emma studied her, noting the other woman's stiffness, the tension in her back. Emma remembered what Mary Margaret had said – that Cora had abruptly disappeared before Regina's marriage to Leopold. Mary Margaret had assumed that Regina had been behind it then, and Hook had flatly told them that Regina had sent him to kill Cora later…
Emma chewed her lip. It was not an unthinkable proposition that the Evil Queen would banish her own mother for one reason or another, but despite her continued distrust of Regina, Emma could at least admit that there was more underneath Regina's façade than she had originally suspected.
And it was clear just how afraid Regina was of her mother.
"Has she done anything? Cora? Has she… what did she do?" Emma asked.
But before Regina could answer, Henry came charging down the stairs, pulling on his winter coat as he ran. He skidded to a stop in front of Emma and gave her a broad grin. "I'm ready."
Regina turned around then, and swept her gaze over Henry. With a resigned sigh, she said, "The guards probably won't let you in, Miss Swan, and they certainly won't let me in. Or David. So we will need to use magic."
There was something in Regina's voice, a slight inflection on the word magic.
"I'm the sheriff. They can't keep me out of the sheriff station."
"They can. And they most likely will," Regina cast a quick glance over Emma's disheveled appearance, "unless you plan on fighting your way in."
"I will if I have to," Emma snapped back, irrationally angry. She didn't care if the town had changed, and she didn't care how much of it was a result of the curse being broken and how much of it was due to Cora. She was still the sheriff, and she was not going to let anyone take the job away from her.
She paused – the thought took her by surprise. Since when had she started feeling so strongly about this job?
It was more than just an attachment to Henry – she was attached to the town.
Regina raised an eyebrow. "Suit yourself," she replied dismissively, a sardonic smile curling the corners of her lips.
Emma felt Henry's hand in hers, and looked down to see worry in his eyes. "It's true, though," he said. "They aren't letting people into the sheriff's station. And you can't hurt the guards just because they're doing their jobs. That's not…" he faltered, looking uncomfortable, and sounding almost as though he didn't believe what he was saying, "that's not what heroes do."
Emma glanced at Regina in time to see a look of sadness flicker through her features before it was replaced by her usual icy mask.
"Alright." Emma looked at Regina. "Can you magic all of us in there?"
Regina nodded. "Shall we stop by David's place first?" she asked, distaste coloring her voice. Emma nodded, and Regina added, "Let me put on some clothes," and swept from the room, leaving Emma and Henry alone.
"It's really good to see you, kid," Emma said.
Henry grinned.
Eva rose from the table and slipped out of the banquet hall, through the wide double doors and onto the balcony, hoping no one would notice her absence from the crowded feast. The cool night air felt refreshing against her flushed skin, and she closed her eyes and leaned against the railing. In her mind, she could see her mother's strained smile as she bent her head to listen to Cora's prattle, as she fawned over the pretentious miller's daughter.
Eva gritted her teeth. How desperately she wanted to be anywhere but here.
The sound of footsteps on the marble of the balcony caught her attention, and Eva opened her eyes and turned to face the person intruding on her solitude.
"Enjoying the view?" Cora asked silkily.
Eva pursed her lips. "I've seen better."
The other woman smiled viciously as she crossed the balcony to stand by Eva's side. "Have you?" she asked. "I find that hard to believe. There is no better land than the one I now rule."
"Rule?" Eva challenged. "Have you forgotten your place?"
"I know exactly where I stand," Cora replied in a dangerously soft tone. "And it is no longer kneeling at your feet." She tilted her head to the side. "Though perhaps one day soon you'll kneel at mine."
Eva's eyes flashed. "How dare you?" she seethed.
Cora merely smiled. "I'll bring your entire kingdom to its knees if I have to," she said casually, as though they were discussing something as benign as the weather. She glanced over her shoulder, back towards the banquet hall, and her eyes filled with laughter. "It's amusing to watch your parents feign such… delight… in conversing with me. So desperate for my favor, so eager to win the support of this kingdom." She paused, and slowly swept her gaze over Eva. "But it won't save you."
"You fool," Eva retorted through gritted teeth. "You think you have power? You think you are untouchable? You are a miller's daughter. Jewelry and fine dresses do not change what you really are, underneath it all. And you know nothing of how this game is played."
"We'll see," Cora murmured, then she turned and swept from the balcony.
"Emma!"
David couldn't believe his eyes. This was not possible – it simply couldn't be true. But there Emma was, standing in the apartment's kitchen, covered in grime and a few bruises and very much alive.
He reached out to touch her, fingers closing over her arm. He had to convince himself she was really back. He'd had this dream enough times in the past to know better than to fully trust his eyes. Otherwise he would get his hopes up only to wake a moment later, alone.
Of course, his dreams generally didn't feature Regina leaning idly against the counter next to Emma, looking incredibly bored. Or Henry clinging to Emma's side, as though afraid of letting her go.
"I'm really here," Emma said, shifting uncomfortably. She patted his arm awkwardly, trying to be reassuring. "I got back a little while ago."
"I.. but I don't… you're here…" David stammered, dropping his arm to his side.
"Yes, yes, she's really here," Regina cut in impatiently. She gave David a level look, unhappy with being in his presence. "Can we finish this awkward reunion in the car?"
"The car?" David questioned. "Where are we going?"
"To the sheriff's station," Emma explained. She turned towards Regina. "But I thought we had to use magic to get past the guards. Why the car?"
"The same reason we used the car to get here," Regina huffed irritably. "To limit the amount of magic we are using."
David could tell that Emma wanted to argue – or, at least, to demand more of an explanation – but he had questions of his own, and discussing Regina's decision to drive to the sheriff's station seemed far less pressing than gaining a better understanding of Emma's sudden reappearance in Storybrooke.
"Can we go back a few steps?" he asked. "How are you even here? Did you find a portal?"
"Yeah. I mean, sort-of. I think so." Emma shrugged and said, "I swam."
"You… swam," David repeated. He glanced at Regina for confirmation, but she merely gave a shrug of her own, as though she didn't understand it, either. And strangely, the fact that Regina didn't understand made him feel better – at least he wasn't the only one bewildered – and yet also much worse. If she didn't know what was going on…
"It's really Miss Swan, though," Regina added sourly. "Not a trick."
"Try not to sound so disappointed about it," Emma snapped back.
"I've had a lot of disappointments lately, Miss Swan," Regina replied coolly, dismissively. "You aren't important enough to be anywhere near the top of that list." She turned away from them both and stepped around the counter and out of the kitchen.
David stared at her. Their last conversation had ended with him pointing out that Cora had planned on killing Daniel long before Snow had entered the picture and Regina furiously ordering him out of her house. They hadn't spoken since then, and the ramifications of that realization had yet to be discussed. He needed to talk to her, even if he was dreading resuming that conversation. There was too much at stake to leave things the way they had ended.
But he pushed aside that thought for the moment and focused instead on Emma.
She was standing there – alive. Safe. Back.
And covered in grime and torn clothing.
He wanted to hug her. He wanted to pull her into a tight embrace, to tell her how thankful he was that she was back, how much he had missed her. But the words were stuck in his throat and his arms hung limply at his sides. Something was holding him back.
Everything was… wrong, somehow. The curse had broken and almost immediately Emma and Mary Margaret had been snatched away from him. He'd had no time with his daughter, with this prickly, guarded woman that he barely knew.
How could he make up for all the years they'd never had together?
How could he adequately express everything he felt?
He didn't even know where to start. Worse, he didn't know if Emma would care to hear any of it.
In that single moment when Emma had broken the curse, everything had changed, and now she was back and this wasn't what he had envisioned. He'd assumed that when he had his family back, things would be perfect. And yet Emma was standing in front of him, and they had absolutely nothing to say to each other.
Or maybe the problem was that they had too much to say, and neither wanted to start.
"I never wanted… we never wanted to give you up," David said.
Emma offered a weak smile that did not reach her eyes. "I know," she said. "I…" She swallowed uncomfortably. "I saw the nursery that you and Mary Margaret made. My nursery." She crossed her arms over her chest, a protective gesture. "I understand why you had to do what you did. I get it. Really."
David had never heard a less convincing statement.
Before he could think of what to say in reply, Emma glanced over her shoulder at Regina and asked, "I still don't understand why we have to drive to the station. Can't you just… you know… poof us in from here?"
"Yes, dear," Regina drawled, rolling her eyes at Emma's choice of words. "But it makes more sense to drive to the sheriff's station and… poof… in from there."
"Why?" Emma demanded.
"She's limiting her use of magic," Henry explained, a combination of pride and concern in his voice.
David winced inwardly. Henry still didn't know, of course, about the curse Regina now carried around inside of her, the one that would slowly kill her if she continued to use magic. He knew only that she was trying to change – to be better, for him.
But he was perceptive enough to know that something else was going on as well, and David wondered what they would tell him if he started asking questions.
Regina's drawl dragged him from his thoughts, "As delightful as it is to stand here while you two awkwardly stare at each other, can we please hurry this up? Some of us need sleep."
David grabbed his coat off the coat rack by the door and pulled it on over the sweats he had been sleeping in. Emma came to his side, Henry and Regina trailing her.
Once again, he wanted to reach out to Emma, to say something – anything. But he couldn't find the words, and they walked to the car in silence.
The dance hall was awash in a golden glow from the torches lining the walls – and the ridiculously excessive amount of gold thread woven into every single tapestry in the room.
Eva stood in the shadows. It was not a place she was used to standing, in the dark, overlooked. But she could not take much more of this pretentious decorum, this stilted formality. She did not want to be pulled into it, did not want to be forced to make boring small talk with people she did not care about.
Cora was dancing with Francis. Blanche stood to the side, as though it did not bother her to see another woman dancing with her husband. Henry was no where to be seen, and Eva wondered briefly how the prince felt about his manipulative and grasping bride.
A moment later, though, something changed. It was small – just a slight tension in Francis' shoulders, a missed beat in his steps. Cora leaned her head forward, her lips moving as she whispered something the newly crowned king clearly did not want to hear. Francis didn't reply, though, and when Cora tilted her chin up to meet his gaze, she was smiling triumphantly.
Eva forced herself to look away from Cora, and found her eyes landing on a man standing nearly opposite of her. His receding hairline and heavy brow made him look older than he probably was, but he stood tall and square-shouldered, his eyes confidently surveying everything. He was richly attired – at least nobility, probably royalty.
Francis stepped away from Cora abruptly, gave a courteous bow, and walked from the dance floor. As he did so, the man with the receding hairline stepped into Francis' path, and the two spoke for a moment. Then Francis inclined his head politely to the other man and continued across the hall towards Blanche.
Eva watched the scene curiously. Cora had ignored the brief interaction, and was instead dancing with some other man, a courtier who had quickly stepped up to take Francis' place. She turned and twirled about, her feet moving quickly as the tempo of the song increased, thin strands of dark hair flying loose from the jeweled headpiece and framing her face.
Francis looked angry, his expression dark enough that only a few of his closest friends dared approach him.
Blanche slipped out of the room.
Across the hall, the man with the receding hairline had turned his attention to Cora, and was watching her shrewdly.
"Emma! Oh, thank God… Emma!"
Mary Margaret darted forward, extending one hand through the bars of the cell, all of the fear and frustration she'd felt over the past several days evaporating at the sight of her daughter. Emma was back.
Emma took Mary Margaret's hand immediately, squeezing it tightly. She would have reached through the bars to hug the brunette if she could, but settled instead for a broad smile.
But despite the smile on her lips, Emma's gaze was hard and cold as she swept her eyes over the cell.
Mary Margaret said quickly, reassuringly, "I'm fine." She squeezed Emma's hand once more than pulled her own arm back and dropped it to her side. Her gaze flicked over them all – David, standing slightly behind Emma, a mixture of relief and discomfort on his features, Henry clinging tightly to Emma's free hand, Regina leaning against the desk, looking bored.
"I don't understand," Emma said, shaking her head, skipping over all of the pleasantries and getting right to the point. "How is this… how did this happen?" She glanced to her right and added incredulously, "And what is Ruby doing here?"
"I'm accused of murder," Ruby stated flatly. She's gotten up when the purple smoke had appeared, tensing in preparation of an attack. But now that it was clear that they were in no immediate danger, she'd slumped back onto the cot in her cell and was watching everything with guarded eyes.
"You're… what?" Emma started at her blankly, as though she couldn't comprehend the response.
Maybe she didn't. Even Mary Margaret didn't fully understand how everything had gone so wrong so quickly, and she'd been involved in most of it. How long had Emma been back, she wondered - and had David or Regina tried to explain any of it to her?
"Stefan and Leah – though, really, I think King George is behind all of this – him and Regina's mother," Ruby said, offering the jumbled words as though they were an explanation.
"Who is King George?" Emma asked. "No – wait. I know this. It's in the storybook." She frowned in concentration, trying – and evidently failing – to remember all the details of what she had read. "He was… David's… father?"
"Not exactly," Mary Margaret said grimly. She exchanged a brief look with David. "It's a long story, but it ends with him hating us."
"Mm… funny how many stories end with people hating you," Regina commented dryly.
Mary Margaret ignored the barb. "He can't be trusted," she gave Regina quick look, daring her to contradict the statement, before adding, "and Ruby is likely right that Cora is using him somehow."
"Oh – okay," Emma said. She absorbed everything in silence for a moment, then turned to Ruby, "Who died? Who are you accused of killing?" She hesitated, then rushed on, "Not, of course, that any of us believe you're guilty."
Ruby offered a wan smile. "Moe French. Sir Maurice before the curse."
"Who?"
"Belle's father."
"Who's Belle?"
"Gold's girlfriend."
"What? Gold has a girlfriend?" Emma echoed in utter surprise.
Mary Margaret blinked. That had been her exact reaction – words, expression, and intonation – when she'd been told about Belle.
"Had," Regina said, eyes flicking up to catch Emma's gaze. "She's no longer his girlfriend. Also, possibly, no longer actually Belle."
There was something bitter in her voice, and David shifted his weight from one foot to another at her words. He glanced at Mary Margaret, his eyes conveying how much he needed to tell her. Something had happened – something with Gold and Regina and Belle. Something that he couldn't say now – not in front of Henry.
And Mary Margaret could tell from the way David cast a last, lingering worried glance in Regina's direction exactly who the victim had been.
But what had happened to Belle?
"What do you mean – no longer Belle?" Emma demanded, verbalizing Mary Margaret's thoughts.
Regina sighed and said in a bored tone, "She lost her memory. Magically." She waved her fingers, brushing away any follow-up questions Emma or Mary Margaret might have had. "Long story."
"I'm going to want more details on that," Ruby interjected sharply. "Belle is my friend."
Regina gave her an uninterested look. "Well, you're going to have to rebuild that friendship, because Belle decided to take herself over the town line."
Emma looked confused by Regina's explanation, and Ruby looked horrified.
Then Emma blinked and said abruptly, "Wait, Moe French? He's the one with the flower business, right? Gold attacked him last February." A look of confusion marred her features, and she chewed her lip for a moment. "He kept shouting something at him – something about a girl. He kept saying," she scrunched her eyes closed, remembering, "about her being gone forever. About how it was all French's fault."
"Well, if he thought Belle's father had killed her, he was evidently mistaken," Mary Margaret murmured softly.
"Yeah, French was definitely father of the year," Ruby growled sarcastically, viciously. She ran a hand through her hair, eyes narrowed in frustration. "Of course, someone would have to actually investigate the crime for us to find out what really happened. At the moment, it seems like everyone's forgotten about him."
Ruby had become more and more disgruntled lately. And while Mary Margaret completely understood the reason – Ruby was currently being held captive, accused of a crime that she didn't commit, almost certain to be found guilty if Stefan and Leah had their way – it was still hard to watch her friend grow so moody.
Hadn't Ruby been through enough?
"But this still doesn't explain why you are here," Emma protested. "What motive could you possibly have for killing French?"
"I'm a werewolf," Ruby answered with a sardonic smile. "What other reason do I need?"
"You're a what?"
Mary Margaret winced at Emma's outburst. Ruby's comment hadn't been intended to surprise Emma, but Mary Margaret had not mentioned Ruby's wolf side to her daughter, and apparently no one else had, either.
Emma glanced between Mary Margaret and Ruby – a quick, unsure look. "Is that… normal?"
"It's unusual enough for people to think I'm a monster," Ruby replied. She rubbed at her eyes for a moment, as though she could rub away the redness and the dark circles.
Mary Margaret sighed heavily. Neither of them had slept well since being locked up, but this confinement was harder on Ruby than on her.
At least they hadn't had a full moon yet.
"Leah and Stefan are convinced that Ruby killed French, but we're fairly certain it was Cora," Mary Margaret explained, sparing a quick glance for Regina. "We're not sure what her ultimate endgame is, or why she framed Ruby, but…" Mary Margaret trailed off with a shrug. "If she wanted to cause tension in the town, she did a very good job of it."
"She wants more than that," Regina murmured.
"Mother Superior – the Blue Fairy – cast a spell over the cells," David added, slanting a look towards Emma. "She says that even she can't undo it – we can only open the cells with the keys, which, of course, we don't have."
Emma nodded, a thoughtful expression on her face. She turned her eyes down towards Henry who was still wrapped around her, but her gaze was distant and unfocused. "In the storybook, the Blue Fairy was good – wasn't she? Why would she work against you?"
"Oh, I'm sure she thought it was for the best," Regina interjected, bitterness dripping from her words. She met Mary Margaret's gaze, her dark eyes filled with an almost malicious humor. "She always does like to meddle in places she doesn't belong."
"What is going on in this town?" Emma grumbled. She shook her head – a quick, angry movement – and wrapped her fingers around the bars of the cell separating her from Mary Margaret.
White sparks crackled along her palms.
"M-Mom?" Henry asked uncertainly.
Emma yanked her hand back from the cell, and stared blankly down at her palms.
"Mom, how did you...?"
Emma looked down at Henry for a moment, then stepped out of his grasp with a reassuring smile. She moved closer to the cell, wrapping both hands around the bars. And Mary Margaret watched in fascination as Emma's gaze became intensely defiant, as she dug her fingers into the bars as though she could snap the metal into pieces.
White sparks spread outwards from her hands, forming tendrils of light and fanning like spider webs across the cell. The bars reverberated, humming, vibrating, shaking… and then they dissolved into silver dust that hung suspended in the air for a moment before floating to the floor.
"What did you… how is that… but everyone said – Regina and Mother Superior, both… how…?" Mary Margaret stammered over her words as she stumbled out of the cell. There was no way Emma could have just done that, could have overcome both the magical barrier of the spell and the physical barrier of the cell. It was impossible. It had to be impossible.
And yet.
She surged forward, wrapping her arms around Emma, and tears of relief burned in her eyes as Emma returned the embrace.
"I'm back," Emma whispered, her words thick with emotion. "I'm here. I'm fine."
Mary Margaret pulled back and offered a watery smile. "I was worried," she said slowly, reluctantly. She didn't like to admit to that, to the fact that she had started to doubt, started to lose hope. But it had been hard to hold on to her belief that everything would turn out alright when she had been separated from both her daughter and husband.
She glanced over at Henry, who was staring at Emma in amazement. The fact that Emma had just used incredible magic was not lost on him.
Mary Margaret ruffled Henry's hair, and Emma moved to Ruby's cell next, that same determination in her eyes as she grasped the bars and conjured up her magic.
Mary Margaret looked over at David next, and caught a glimpse of jealousy in his eyes. But it was gone the next moment, and he was pulling Mary Margaret into an embrace of his own, wrapping his arms around her so tightly that he nearly forced the air from her lungs. She laughed into his chest, clinging to him tightly, terrified of what might happen if she let go.
She was so tired of being separated from the people she loved.
Over David's shoulder, she caught a glimpse of Regina, standing alone, watching Emma uneasily.
Shaking with pent-up fury, Eva stormed down the hallway of the castle.
She and her parents had been given a suite of rooms for their stay, and her parents had already retired for the evening. But sleep did not come easily for Eva, not after what she had learned.
Her mother had told her everything with halting, unsure words – Francis was going to cut off trade to their kingdom. He didn't have a choice, Cora was demanding it, forcing his hand. For amusement, to entertain herself, to gloat – Cora was going to destroy an entire kingdom just because she could.
And so Eva was stalking about the palace, growing angrier and angrier with every passing second. She had hoped the walk would calm her, but it didn't. There was nothing at all that could soothe her inner fury, nothing that could calm her raging thoughts.
She spun around the corner and nearly crashed into another figure coming from the other direction. She lost her footing and stumbled, but a pair of strong arms wrapped around her, holding her upright. "I beg your pardon," a male voice said. "I was not paying attention to where I was going."
"Oh, no," Eva said, smoothing her hands along her skirt and straightening, "it was my fault. I did not mean to…" she looked up, and found herself staring into the face of the man from the dance hall, the one with the receding hairline and heavy brow.
"You are Princess Eva, aren't you?"
"I am," she replied with a slight frown. Who was this man and how did he know her? "I'm sorry, I don't recognize you…" she began.
He smiled, and the expression made his face softer, kinder, and his eyes much warmer. "My name is Leopold."