DISCLAIMER:: do not own. just borrowing for purpose of creative expression. no profit obtained.
A/N:: sorry for the long wait on this update. not my fault. i will henceforth no longer have internet on any device but my phone and i can't exactly upload from it. this break has allowed me to get the next six updates for this story done, however there will most likely be breaks in between posts as i have to travel 40 miles to a friend's house for computer time. we'll just have to see. this chapter gives you a little more insight into the woman in the white cloak. her story will be revealed soon enough. until then, enjoy and review.
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-Chapter 34: Please, Don't Take The Girl-
Emma woke to a small face pressed nose to nose with her own.
Savya pulled away and looked to her right. "Yep, she's alive Momma." She held up her arms and Emma watched as Regina swooped in, grasping the girl under each of her arms and hefting her easily up into her long arms. She strategically balanced the toddler on one hip and Savya laid her head down on her shoulder.
"Good morning Mommy." Regina smirked down at the blonde.
Emma felt her heart, which had been so heavy since Rumpelstiltskin's news, lift. Regina was glowing, looking truly happy. Emma could see that the lack of sleep was putting a strain on her body but she was covering it up wonderfully, looking just like every other tired mom back in the other world. Her heart lifted even more at the brunette calling her Mommy. This is what she'd missed with Henry and the Regina in Storybrooke. She'd missed the opportunity to grow as a family. Henry was over halfway to adulthood and Regina wouldn't even admit they were both his mothers, let alone call her Mommy or anything less formal than 'Miss Swan'. She stretched and sat up. "Good morning." She threw off the covers and got out of bed, placing a kiss on the little girl's nose, to which she giggled and scrubbed playfully on her nose with a grin. Then Emma leaned in and kissed Regina quickly but deeply.
Regina smiled at Emma tiredly. "You seem better today. I'm glad. I don't want our time together to be spoiled."
Emma looked towards the little girl. "Savya, sweetheart, how would you like to play with the Huntsman for a little while? Momma needs some rest."
"Emma, I'm fine."
Emma held up a hand to halt her objections and took the small girl from her arms. The Huntsman was waiting outside the parlour doors, most likely on Regina's orders. After promising to play with the little girl that evening, she finally agreed to spend another day with the Huntsman. As he carried her off down the corridor, Savya affectionately howled like a wolf at him and Emma couldn't fight back her smile. She closed the parlour door and returned to the bed chamber.
Regina was still standing where Emma had left her, her arms half-heartedly crossed across her chest. "I'm fine, I told you."
Emma raised an eyebrow. "Fine, don't sleep. That's your choice."
Regina nodded. "Thank you."
Emma looked towards the comfy bed. "Will you at least lay down beside me for a time?"
Regina gave her a small smile and nodded. She laid down on the bed, adjusting herself against the pillows into the right position and then held her arms open in invitation to the blonde. Emma crawled up onto the bed and tucked herself neatly into the brunette's embrace. Regina placed a kiss to her hair. "You're still sad, aren't you my love?"
Emma frowned. "I'm surprised you're not. All I can think about is how much I want to be with you and yet that no longer matters."
Regina smiled sadly. "Quite the contrary, that is all that matters."
Emma took one of Regina's hands in both hers, playing with her fingers, tracing indiscernible shapes on her palm. "You know, it's funny, but growing up I always wished it was someone else's decision. Why did the Fate of the world have to be on my shoulders? It was always my curse, my burden, and every moment was spent wishing for a way to somehow unload it from my shoulders. I didn't want the responsibility, the pressure." She brought the hand to her lips and kissed each of the fingertips in turn. "Be careful what you wish for, I suppose. Now the choice has been taken from me and I'd do anything to have it back." She nuzzled the open palm of the hand she was holding. "It is just so like the Fates to wait until I've made my choice to tell me I never had a choice in the first place." She moved to kissing her knuckles. "I have lived my life accepting the hardships as they are. My mother died, I accepted it. My father crumbled, I accepted it. The realm called for a King, forcing me into a marriage I didn't want, I accepted it. Everything that has been asked of me and I have done it with nary a complaint. That's life, I told myself such. But I do not accept this. I think of you gone and I…" She bit back the sob that welled in her throat. "And I can't feel my heart anymore. It doesn't stop beating, it just disappears entirely."
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The woman in the white cloak had seen the magical barrier that separated the Evil Queen's lands from that of the Forbidden Forest around them. Invisible to the naked human eye, the dingy green bubble appeared before her plain as day. It wouldn't harm anyone who passed through it, not even herself, but that was hardly its function. It was meant to be like a bell over a shop door, alerting its creator to anyone who stepped through it. It looked to be intricate enough to even assess their threat level.
Rumpelstiltskin hadn't been out of his cell when the baby was born and therefore he had still been in the Enchanted Forest when the prophecy began its fulfillment. She smirked to herself. His magic had been diminished, just like the Evil Queen's. So that's why he had the magical alarm system. He'd remained quiet enough that she'd given him no wayward thought over the past twenty eight years, not since the night he was released and told her where they were sending the Evil Queen's body. He'd flounced away to the dark castle where he now resided and had stayed there, in solitude, all this time. He'd never much been the come-to-you type anyway. People always found a way to seek him out for the unsavory wishes they needed him to grant. He was the anti-genie, someone who made your dreams come true but only for the high price of something you cherished. She remembered the one deal she'd been forced to make with him. It had been a dark time in her life when her magic had been new and so had his.
She moved through the small village, smiling as a group of small boys ran by kicking at a crude ball made of some dried animal hide. She wondered if his son had played with these very children once upon a time. Everyone in the magical circles had heard of the disappearance of the Dark One's child. He'd gone on a small yet effective magical rampage in the first few days after his grief. Many had died, his village lived in constant fear of him. He had left his cottage at the edge of the village, the one he had shared with his son, and moved to a shack in the woods in seclusion. He had truly became the dark man everyone believed him to be in his son's absence. She could only hope that he'd help her. He was her last hope.
It took nearly an hour trek through the village, into the woods, over streams and fallen logs, until she stumbled upon the small cabin. There was smoke pouring from the chimney, indicating he was home. When his son still existed he'd had a woman to cook and clean for him. The villagers had warned her that she had been the first to fall victim to his rage. They'd begged her to value her own life enough to stay away. While the Dark One frightened her readily enough, her mission here was bigger than herself. She was confident her magic would protect her from him long enough to make her escape should things turn sour. She was young yet, but the Wisdom assigned to her said she had the potential for greatness. Then again, all Wisdoms wished to believe that of their pupils.
She stepped up to the small wooden door, crude and misshapen in its frame, hastily made. He must have blown out the original and done with a quick replacement. She knocked loudly. She had no doubt he was already aware of her presence but she wanted to convey that an acknowledgement of her presence was required.
He pulled open the door slowly and she was greeted for the first time with the creature they called Rumpelstiltskin. He was short of stature, though like most individuals with a Napoleon complex, he held himself with an air of tallness. He favoured one leg over the other though he hid it well. His skin was an olive green, dull and sickly, but there was a slight gold sheen to it. His eyes were bright, like liquid gold, shifting constantly as if there were waves rolling just below the surface of his irises.
"I do not welcome visitors dearie."
She pursed her lips. "I do not come to call on you socially. I come desiring your assistance in an important matter."
He tilted his head and considered her curiously. "Whether social or business dearie, I am not taking visitors." He started to close the door.
"Your son is gone."
He froze, dirty nails digging into the wood of the door, splintering it beneath his grip, giving her insight into his hidden strength. So he wasn't as weak as he appeared to be. Good to know. He glared at her, the hostility in his gaze threatening her. "You should learn to choose your words carefully. I have killed for less dearie." He searched her determined face.
"I am not as weak as one might assume."
"You do not fear me?" There was challenge in the lilt of his voice, deceptively high for one so dark.
"I do not claim to be without fear. I fear many things. But I also know there are things more important than fear."
"What is it you want of me? To prolong your beauty perhaps? You are a fair one, aren't you? Do you lust for power? Or do you wish for true love?" He was just mocking her now.
"I come here to offer you the chance to redeem yourself of your biggest sin."
He grinned. "And which sin is that dearie? There are so many."
"Your addiction to power cost you your son, the one deal that you didn't keep. Redeem yourself by never breaking a deal again, make it your calling card."
"Starting with the deal you wish to make?"
"It is rather poetic. Your broken deal lost a child, your first new deal will save one."
He finally stepped aside, fully opening the door and ushering her in.
She looked around the shack. A bed was in the back left hand corner, the small cookstove on the opposite corner. There was an old armchair off to her immediate right, next to a table with a lone candlestick, the candle half gone. A stack of ancient looking books sat beside the chair. In the center of the cabin was a small wooden dining table, three rickety stools placed haphazardly around it. To her left, dusty and forgotten in the corner was his spinning wheel, its spindle and spokes covered in cobwebs.
He ushered her forward to one of the stools, busying himself with putting tea on. "So, what child is this that you wish to save?"
"The Lord and Lady of Millhaven have a child. A daughter. Regina. She's a girl of twelve."
"And she's in some danger?"
She tensed just thinking about the evil woman, never meant to be a mother. Her heart, black and rotten in its cavity, had no capacity to love anything, let alone a child. "Lady Cora is unforgiving. She is trained exceptionally well in the dark arts. I know not who taught her, but her instructor must have been powerful because she knows much. She takes it out on the child."
He set a cup of tea before her. "What is your interest in this child?"
"It is my assignment to watch over her. She is my responsibility."
He grinned, his eyes flashing brightly. "So she's meant for something?"
She nodded. "She's destined for a great many things. She must be protected at all costs. My powers have been enough until now, but her mother broke through my wards. She tore open her lip; it will surely scar her. Now that she knows someone is magically protecting the girl, she will be better prepared."
"So you wish to protect her from the mother?"
She gave a sharp nod.
"And you are willing to pay my price dearie?"
Again she nodded. "She is too important. Even if it means my life."
He waved her comment off with a flutter of his fingers. "I have no need of your life young one."
She took a deep breath. "Is that so? Then why did you poison my tea?"
He clapped his hands together, pleased. "Merely a test of your skills dearie. You were clever enough to check it."
"Trust is something to be earned, not freely given."
He tilted his head, regarding her. "I will help you."
"And your price?"
She shook away the memory. Her Wisdom had always told her never to dwell too long in your past, lest it drive you mad. She had paid a hefty price, though it had seemed impossibly small at the time, to save Regina as a child, a price that had inadvertently led to the creation of the Evil Queen, but she'd pay it lifetime after lifetime. Regina had been meant to live and she would protect her until she drew her last breath. And now it was up to the woman in the white cloak to make sure both Regina and Emma were safe. It was time to lure them away from the manipulative influence of the creature who once protected Regina from the threat in her life. And she knew just how to do it.
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Emma absentmindedly stroked her fingers up and down the bodice of Regina's dress. The older woman had been napping for four hours now, but Emma had refused to move. She didn't want to waste the days she had left with her. If that meant just laying in her arms as she slept, she'd gladly comply. There were many worse ways to while away the afternoon. A hand caught her own and she looked up to see sleepy brown eyes regarding her.
"As wonderful as that feels my darling, it just makes me crave for those fingers to be against my flesh."
Emma grinned. "And that's a bad thing?" She didn't wait for an answer, instead leaned up and pulled Regina's mouth down to hers.
Regina gripped the blonde's hips and lifted her up onto her lap.
Emma pulled away and sat up, staring down at kiss bruised lips and lust filled eyes. She grasped Regina's hands, entwining their fingers. They stayed that way for several moments, just gazing at each other, breathing together.
Finally, Regina pulled a hand away and slipped it under Emma's skirts, sliding up the heated expanse of her thigh, her goal obvious. "I want you, my Queen." Her voice was thick with arousal.
"I need to feel you inside me Regina."
That was all the provocation the brunette required. She slipped into Emma with ease.
"Oh yes." The blonde bore down on the fingers inside her.
A knock shattered all her good feelings, dissolving them effortlessly into panic.
Regina didn't remove the fingers nestled tightly inside her lover. "What is it?" Her voice gave nothing of their current situation away.
"It is Belle. You must come quick, both of you. The Huntsman is beaten, the child gone."
At that, Regina withdrew from the blonde as Emma herself leapt off the bed. She raced to the door and pulled it open. "What do you mean? Where's Savya? Where is our daughter?"
Belle worried her lip. "It attacked the Huntsman in the forest, coaxing the girl away."
Regina came up to Emma's side, her face already etched with lines of anger. "Who attacked him? Who did this?"
Belle glared at her. "It isn't who. It's what. A wolf."
Regina shook her head. She pushed past the two other women and out into her parlour. "My mirrors, I know he kept them. I need a mirror."
Belle nodded. "I'll get one." She turned and hastily left the room.
"Regina, what is it?"
Regina wrung her hands together angrily. "Wolves respond to Graham. No wolf would attack him."
"But Belle just said…"
"I know what she said!"
Emma cringed.
Regina and sighed, coming across the room and wrapping the blonde into her arms. "I apologize my love. Worry sets me on edge." She pulled back but grasped one of the blonde's hands to maintain a connection. If there was anyone who could ground her, it was Emma.
"If it's not a wolf, then what was it?"
"Someone with magic. It's not a difficult spell. A shadow wolf. But why would Savya go with it? It's the only thing that does not make sense."
Belle returned, carrying a hefty looking mirror.
Regina finally pulled her hand from Emma's to take the mirror from the woman. She carried it to the wall and lifted it to the hook it had been originally pulled from. "Genie."
At first all three women saw nothing but their own reflections, but then blue smoke consumed the surface of the glass and slowly formed into the face of a man. He looked rather bored until his eyes fixed on Regina. "Your Majesty? You've returned!"
Regina waved his awe away. There'd be time for that later. "There was a child lured from the surrounding forest by a shadow wolf. Can you find her? I need to know who conjured it."
The glass clouded over once more and then a scene played across it like a movie. A figure in a white cloak was visible, lips moving under the hood of the cloak in a deliberate pace, though no other feature of the face was discernible. Savya trailed a few feet behind, skipping delightedly.
"I know her!"
Regina glanced at the blonde. "What do you mean?"
Emma stepped closer to the glass. "She helped my father and I escape the palace. Hadrian had cornered us in the garden and she held him off long enough for us to escape."
Regina frowned, lines creasing her forehead. "She knows magic. She's singing the Lullaby Hymn. It requires perfect mastery of every little inflection. If you break one note or wander off-pitch, it'll break the spell over the child."
"Where are they? They're no longer in the forest." Emma traced the images on the glass with her fingers. "The forest goes on for miles and miles."
"The sorceress must have transported them." She glared at the looking glass. "Genie."
His face reappeared, causing Emma to withdraw her hand and jump back. "Your Majesty?"
"Where are you drawing that reflection from?"
"The first Hex."
Regina let out a low growl. "She's taking her to the Forbidden Fortress."
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The Huntsman lay in the bed, his top half stripped. Deep gouges penetrated his torso, chunks of tissue and dead flesh hung from the edges of claw marks so deep that, in many places, you could see the bone at the bottom of the wound. His pants were torn in several places where the shadow wolf's jaws or claws had caught him. He was awake, his eyes clouding over and then adjusting over and over again as he obviously fought unconsciousness. His mouth was twisted into a permanent grimace, but he didn't cry out despite his obvious pain.
Emma felt her stomach roil violently.
Regina walked to the bedside. She flexed her fingers. "I will accomplish what I can, but my powers are not enough yet to heal you completely."
He clenched his teeth together and nodded.
Regina's fingers crackled with energy as she placed palms over each of his wounds in turn. It wasn't an easy process and he writhed violently under the energy shooting out from her hands and into his wounds.
Emma stepped across the room and grasped his hand.
His eyes turned to her questioningly, but finally his hand gripped hers back as he accepted the minimal comfort she was trying to offer him.
After she had done all she could, Regina stepped back. The shallowest of the cuts had healed with nary a trace of their existence remaining. The smaller gouges had been healed to thin, angry pink lines of scar tissue. The bigger wounds however had certainly gotten smaller, but still gaped open. Regina waved Belle forward from where the quiet woman was waiting by the door. "He'll need a salve to be put over those still open."
Belle nodded and shuffled out of the chamber to get the salve and bandages.
Regina regarded the Huntsman. "You always were a fool. You fought it. It was after her and you fought it." She put a hand to his cheek. "Thank you, for being a fool, for trying to save her." She dropped her hand. "With the salve, you'll be able to ride soon enough. You may return to Peppergrey. Your service to us is done."
The Huntsman fought to sit up. "I will accompany you. We will get her back."
Regina looked about to object, but finally, she relented with a smirk. "As I said… always a fool. Very well. We ride at first light. Rest...you'll need it." She grasped Emma's hand and turned, leading the blonde from the room.
Emma let herself be led back to the chambers that had once belonged to the Evil Queen and into the bed chamber. Now that the Genie had a bird's eye view of the parlour, it wouldn't do to linger there.
Once they were in the secluded safety of the bed chamber, Regina pulled Emma into a heavy embrace. She buried her face against the blonde's neck and let her tears fall openly.
Emma rubbed soothing circles on the brunette's back and allowed her to slowly come undone. Regina was always the strong one. If she needed a moment to come undone, it was the least Emma could give to her. She shuffled them over to the bed and guided them down onto it.
Finally, after her tears had been shed, Regina raised her head. "This woman in the white cloak… she's baiting us. We may be walking into a trap."
Emma nodded. "We might be, but I care not. Nobody messes with my family. We will get our daughter back Regina."
The certainty in the blonde's voice was almost enough to convince them both. Almost.