Chapter thirty-four
Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT or any of its characters. I am simply borrowing ideas and developing my own for creative writing purposes.
Notes from me: I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far!
"I can't believe we let him see…"
"Regina, calm down. It's not a big deal. So what if he knows? Was this going to be a secret forever?" Emma had been trying to ease Regina's mind about the eventual discovery of their relationship since they left their camp a few hours ago. Neal and Hook walked a little ways ahead and Emma followed with Regina farther behind, just out of earshot. Neal led them with a single torch, which he had lit from a match once he deemed they were far enough away that the light would not be seen from back at the camp.
"We stop here for now. This is where we agreed to meet Bruin and Belle." Neal and Hook stopped under the branches of a large oak, the largest tree and only one of its kind in this part of the forest. They both sat on large roots at the base of the trunk and ignored the women completely.
"Can't believe how childish…" Emma mumbled as she and Regina sat down on a small turf of grass, a little ways away, but still in sight of them.
They sat in silence for what seemed like hours, but Emma suspected at most only twenty minutes had elapsed. Finally, they heard something rustling through the bushes and from the overgrowth, immerged Bruin and Belle.
"Were you followed?" Neal asked, hardly bothering to lift his head.
"We don't think so. Caleb and Lionel were still the only two on guard when I told them I was going to try and get some sleep. I don't think they suspected anything," Belle assured them, adjusting the straps of the pack she wore on her back.
Bruin chuckled and threw an affectionate arm around Belle's shoulders, dwarfing her. "Our fine lady here is quite the actress," he said with pride. "Both fools believed she was frightened of the night after what happened with the hellhounds, which got them talking aaallllll about how they would be sure to protect her, no matter the cost."
"Well it wasn't a total lie," the young woman blushed.
"Don't be modest, milady, you were the one who kept your head during the beats' attack and found how to defeat them!"
"Right, good job, Belle. We should keep going." Neal nodded his head to Hook and they both stood with their packs and resumed following their trail.
"What's his problem?" Belle asked those left, confusion written over her delicate features.
"The boy… is jealous," Buin said hesitantly, casting a sideways glace at the two royals; seeking confirmation that his response was acceptable.
"Jealous? You mean he knows about Regina and Emma?" Belle gasped.
"Excuse me?!" Regina reeled around to face the small woman. Her regal face held rage; such rage that Belle immediately took several steps back and Bruin took as many forward, placing himself between his queen and the source of her wrath.
"Gina, calm down," Emma whispered, placing her hands on Regina's shoulders and easing her back.
"My Queen, she knows the same way I do: your actions give away to your affections for the Savior."
"What!" The furious brunette turned her attention to her knight, him now the target of her fury; her hands beginning to glow with heat.
"Regina, we've been happy! They know us; they can tell things are different between us. We trust Bruin and we can trust Belle. There's no need for angry fireballs, 'kay?" Emma gently turned her girlfriend around to face her and tentatively covered her lips with her own until she felt the tension ease out of Regina's body and she melted into the kiss, despite their silent audience.
It was Emma who pulled away first and gave her a heart-warming smile that made one stretch over Regina's now relaxed features.
"Come on," she whispered, entwining Regina's fingers with her own and pulling her along; following Neal and Hook, who hadn't – thankfully, but not surprisingly– stopped to wait for them.
They continued walking until dawn appeared on the horizon and they could just begin to see without the aid of their nearly extinguished torch.
"The lake is just beyond those trees," Neal said pointing ahead. "Everyone clear on their part?"
They all nodded and continued on until Emma could smell the water. Before she could see it, though, she felt it. The water's power. It resembled the power she felt from Neal's shawl, the one he said contained the power of his father. This feeling, however, felt different. More calm and… wave-like, she supposed. Fluid and shifting; this made sense since this power was connected to a lake.
Finally, the water came into view. The lake was surrounded by a ring of trees with a small expanse of sandy beach. In the early morning light, the water shimmered and reflected the pinking sky with such accuracy one could almost believe it was a giant mirror. It looked almost like something from off a postcard; the perfect place for a small wood cabin and a family get away. It was so much different from the last time she'd been here with her mother. Which reminded her…
"How is the water back?" she asked as they set foot on the sand. "When we were here fighting Cora, there was nothing but sand and the bones of the lake-witch-thing my dad killed."
"Seriously, Swan? You ask this now?" Neal shook his head and removed the shawl from his bag.
"I just thought of it!"
"I guess it isn't your fault. Your mind has been occupied with… other things," he spat, his eyes shooting to a smirking Regina momentarily.
"Oh grow up Neal!"
"Enough! Emma, when you and Snow returned to Storybrooke, Cora was able to bring the water back. Don't ask how, I didn't question her magic." Hook skipped a flat stone over the water, the ripples the only disturbance on the smooth surface of the lake.
"Let's just get this over with," Regina groaned and snatched the shawl from Neal's hands. "Emma, here with me." She placed herself at the water's edge and Emma stood facing her. The waves just barely lapped at their feet.
Bruin, Hook and Neal each unsheathed their swords and formed a triangle around the three women. Belle stood beside Regina, holding one of the only things Regina had brought: her mother's spell book.
Regina took a deep breath and locked eyes with Emma. "You remember how we stopped the crystal from blowing in the tunnels back in Storybrooke?"
Emma nodded.
"I need you to do exactly what you did then; lend me your magic and I will direct it where it needs to go."
"Got it," she said her face serious and focused.
"You three, while we're doing this, neither Emma nor I will be able to move. If anything happens, you contain it! Any distraction could have fatal consequences. Understood?"
The men nodded and kept their eyes locked on the trees. Regina knelt down, placing the shawl on the sand and poured some of the lake-water over it with her cupped hands. She stood and, with Emma, held her hands over the shawl and magic flew from their fingertips.
Emma suddenly felt as if she were encased in cement. She couldn't move; couldn't breathe. She was rooted to the spot by the weight of the magic coursing through her veins. Her eyes fell shut and she watched a magical lightshow play on the backs of her eyelids. Outside, it sounded as if she were caught in the center of a tornado. She had no idea what else was happening.
****SWANQUEEN****
"Holy fucking shit!" Neal screamed as he ducked around the first creature to come flying out of the trees at them. "What the hell is that?"
"No idea, just kill it!" Hook yelled as he swung at another creature hurtling towards him. They came from every direction. They were large; they were fast; and they looked freaky as hell!
Bruin threw one of his knives at an oncoming beast; hitting his mark, it crashed into the sand.
"It looks like a monkey with wings!" he said pulling the knife from its chest and throwing at another.
"Oh, you've gottato be kidding me!" Neal laughed, slicing one of the winged primates wings as it flew over him.
"You find this funny?" Bruin yelled, ripping off a creture that was clinging to his back and stabbing it with his sword.
"Right, you've never seen The Wizard of Oz."
All around them, sand was being picked up and whipped around in the giant gale caused by Emma and Regina's magic, making it that much harder to see where the nearest attack was coming from. Behind them, the three women were encased in a glowing sphere. Neal could just barely see them through its shifting, shining blue membrane and he hoped that it was strong enough to hold against these flying monkeys, in case they weren't.
The sand was red from the dozen or so monkeys they'd killed so far, but there were still more coming. As he fought in the middle of this hectic chaos, Neal's thoughts went back to the movie and, despite himself, laughed when he thought of the Wicked Witch yelling 'fly, my pretties, fly!". It had been one of the first movies he'd seen when he returned back to Emma's realm and it had been one of his favorites, reminding him slightly of home. He was pretty sure, after this, he'd have nightmares if he ever watched it again.
They were surrounded. Whenever one monkey fell, another appeared. They couldn't take much more. Their muscles ached and all three of them knew, eventually, they would be defeated. One right after the other.
Hook lifted his sword to cut down one that was flying straight at him when, for no known reason, it cartwheeled through the air and crashed in a heap at his feet, a single arrow sticking out from its side.
"Look!"
Suddenly, from out of the trees came an army. At least, to them it seemed like an army; a welcome army come to help them defend their friends while they resurrected their greatest ally.
Robin ran at the front, his bow in hand and a second arrow notched and quickly let loose, right through an advancing monkey's throat.
Strengthened by the arrival of help, Neal, Hook and Bruin rallied and felt revived; fighting just as energized as the Merry Men.
With help, it was easier to control the onslaught of advancing primates, but their numbers never seemed to drop. They hovered just out of reach, calculating their attack now, instead of just assaulting the men head on.
The men had closed a circled around the women; standing up to their knees in the lake to be sure nothing would get past them.
Neal had tried to count how many there could be, but there was just no way. There was too many.
The next wave came; they attacked from all sides when all of a sudden, the wind stopped. Then a blast of fiery air caught the monkeys by their open wings, pushing them back and singeing their feathers and fur. Then men fell forward into the water or onto the ground, each feeling like he suffered from strong sunburns.
Neal looked behind him at where Emma and Regina's magic had created their magical glowing orb. It had disappeared. Instead, he looked directly into the face of his father.
"Papa…"
The Dark One looked exactly as he had the last time Neal had seem him, when he'd been sucked through the portal that had separated them for centuries. His face and hands were golden and scaly, his nails long and pointed, and his eyes wide with madness.
His father winked at him and, with a high-pitched giggle and toothy grin, flicked his wrist and sent the monkeys flying back further, some on fire and some with such force they were impaled by branches upon their impact with the trees. Those who could still fly retreated quickly, headed west over the forest.
Before the men could run and finish off those left behind, they were all surrounded by a cloud of thick, sweet smelling purple smoke.
Neal felt his stomach twist almost painfully and his head swam as he fought off the nausea that came with being transported so suddenly.
There was a painful jerk as he hit something hard, and he caught a small flash of green and gold, turrets and grand walls. Then, with more pain and another wave of sickness, it all vanished, and there was darkness.
****SWANQUEEN****
Emma crumpled to her knees once the weight of the magic lifted from her exhausted body. Her vision darkened and swam as she looked up at everything around her. The sounds were muffled, but she could tell there was a lot happening just beyond her. People were running and fighting all in a circle surrounding her, Belle and Regina. She turned her head slowly and caught sight of Regina lying in the sand, unconscious.
Emma tried to crawl over to her, but she couldn't move. Not like before, when she was trapped in place by the force of her magic, but now from her weakened muscles.
She felt a hard blow of hot air and was knocked off her knees and onto her back, completely winded.
Above, she saw someone standing over her. She squinted, forcing her eyes to recognize what she was seeing. "Gold…" she gasped, still breathless.
She heard a shrill giggle and a voice she had never heard before echo in her ears. "Not quite, dearie," it laughed inside her head. "May I present… Rrrrrrumplestiltskin!"
Then she felt as if she were on an intense roller-coaster. She lost sight of The Dark One in a cloud of purple smoke and tried not to throw up when her stomach lurched violently. Then she felt something tickling her back and exposed skin and everything was bright. She slowly brought her hand up to cover her eyes from the painful light and shifted her head to the side. Green. Grass. She wasn't on the beach anymore!
She tried to sit up, but her muscles still weren't cooperating and she slumped back down onto the cool grass.
With her ear pressed to the earth, she heard a pounding and rumble, then several gasps and cheers of joy.
"Moms!"