Chapter 53

Everyone on the ship was trying to catch up on the events that they had just gone through. Cora was still angrily muttering about the sirens stealing her baby, Red and Snow were still gushing over Emma and trying to find a way to handle becoming queens. For the most part, Henry listened to Belle and Ruby explain what had happened.

Cora frowned at the baby in her arms, "she was still the dark one? How does that even work? Would she have aged? Would she have been able to use magic?"

Belle shrugged and rolled her eyes, "Cora, please. We don't know those answers. All we can tell you is that Regina is no longer the dark one. When the sirens come back, you should probably say thank you." Cora gave Belle a look that made her blush, thinking of just how she would like to thank Lorelei.

Ruby turned away, looking to the ocean again. She would come back, she had to. Henry took Ruby's hand and tried to comfort her. They both stared off across the water, waiting.

After about an hour, everyone had calmed down. They made their way to the beach again, making a fire and magicking up some breakfast. The sun was just coming up now. Ruby eventually let Regina talk her into leaving the ship to get something to eat.

Regina pushed her down onto a log, "Ruby, standing watch on the ocean won't bring her back sooner, I'm sorry. You need to eat, and rest."

Snow nodded at her sadly, soothing her restless baby. "We are going to go back to the castle… our castle, I guess."

Red gestured at the babies, "they should probably be inside. We will come back every so often to check on you all."

Cora huffed, "you mean I will be coming back. As far as I recall, you two have no magic at all."

Red raised a brow at her, "look, I may not be an all powerful witch, but I am a werewolf. I can run faster than you can run your mouth."

Cora looked ready to demonstrate her magic for Red, but Snow interrupted them both, "you will take turns coming back. You will also learn to live together. We're a family now…" She beamed at the blonde baby who smiled back at her. "Now, Cora, if you would be so kind as to take us all back to the castle…"

Cora smiled at her and looked at the grown Regina, "we will be back, dear."

Once they had left in a cloud of magic, Emma and Regina settled down with Ruby and Henry to await the sirens return. Henry looked around and found Belle just coming down from the ship. He waved her over and gave her a plate of food. "Thank you. I haven't seen anything out there. I'm sorry Ruby."

Ruby just nodded and picked at her own food. They sat and talked for another hour. Cora came back once, and left again. Red came back and sat for a little while, but then she left too. The hours slipped by until it was somewhere around noon. Red and Cora had been coming back periodically, but there had been no changes.

Red had just come again when it was just after noon and everyone had taken to wandering around the beach, there was an explosion far out to sea. There was a cloud of fire that ballooned on the horizon. Everyone instantly came together at the shoreline to stare at it. There was no sound, presumably being too far away. As everyone stared, Belle broke the silence. "Uh, guys, I think we should do… something…" She was pointing at the shoreline.

Everyone looked down and watched as the water receded at an alarming rate. The ship was dropped onto the wet sand where the water had been before. "Where's the water going Gina?" Emma asked.

Regina stared at the rapidly vanishing water, "That explosion… I think it's making a sort of tidal wave."

All at once, they were hit with a blast wave that knocked them all to the ground. It was accompanied by a roar that was deafening. Regina helped Emma stand again, "Emma we need to get back to the castle, I have no idea how big this wave is going to be, but I don't want to be here for it."

Emma nodded and when everyone was together she waved her hand to poof them away. Nothing happened, "Regina, I can't!"

Regina tried her own magic, but nothing happened with hers either, "shit! That wave must have been from the sirens, it obviously blocked out magic."

Ruby stared out, hopeful to see Lorelei, but there was nothing there. "I don't see her…"

Regina made everyone stand close to her, putting Henry behind her. "Everyone can swim right?"

Red looked terrified, "What? No! I can't swim!"

Ruby stared at her, "Granny didn't teach you to swim?"

Red shook her head, "no, actually, she was going to but when we got to the lake, there was a weird thing in the water that we really didn't want to piss off."

Ruby shrugged, "well she taught me. I'm stronger than anyone else, hold on to me. Don't let go." Red clung tightly to Ruby, looking more pale and terrified as they watched a far off wave beginning to head towards them at a very alarming rate.

"Regina, should we run?" Emma was breathing heavily as she made sure she had a very good grip on Henry, Regina had a similar grip on his other arm.

Shaking her head, Regina tried to sound unafraid as she watched the wave reach an inconceivable height. "We couldn't possibly outrun that."

They all watched and tried to make sure the grips on each other were firm. The wave towered over them and everyone took as deep a breath as they could.

Ruby opened her eyes as she let out her held breath. She wasn't under water, or dead. She looked up and there was water rushing past, carrying all sorts of bits and pieces of things from the ocean with it. But it didn't touch them. She reached out cautiously and before her hand touched the water, it hit a barrier that shimmered silver at her touch. She released Red and grinned wildly. "It's Lorelei! Look!" She showed everyone the silver barrier and they all waited for the wave to stop. Eventually, the water flow began reversing. It flowed outwards again, dragging trees and a few small animals with it. When the water was gone finally, Ruby reached out again, the barrier was gone, apparently with the wave.

They all breathed a little easier, being dry, alive and free of a watery bubble. Ruby looked around excitedly, immediately spotting her Lorelei, wings spread wide, carrying her duplicate over her shoulder fireman style. Ruby rushed towards her as a sob ripped itself out of her chest. When Ruby was within a few paces, Lorelei carelessly tossed her counterpart onto the sand and wrapped her arms tightly around Ruby instead.

Ruby held onto her like she might disappear if she ever let go. When she did finally pull back to look her in the eye, Lorelei leaned in to kiss her and Ruby jumped back, holding up a finger. "Hold on, how do I know for sure that you are you and not the other you?"

Lorelei rolled her eyes, "well, I have wings," She waved her wings a bit before continuing, "and I have this lovely black trim everywhere…"

Ruby looked at the siren on the ground suspiciously, "yeah, ok, but what if the other siren stole my Lorelei's powers… or some shit?"

Dropping her arms and folding her wings against her back, Lorelei smiled sweetly at Ruby, "that's pretty fair reasoning I suppose. Considering she attempted to do exactly that, I actually appreciate the verification process." Pulling a frown, Lorelei thought for a few moments. She then lit up with a bright smile and wrapped her arms slowly around Ruby again, looking her in the eye and saying softly, "what if I told you, I love you. Not only do I love you, Ruby, but you are my soulmate. Look…" Lorelei put her hand over Ruby's eyes and when she removed it again, Ruby gasped, tears coming to her eyes.

"I believe you…" Ruby stared at the silvery rope connecting her heart to the sirens. She asked curiously, "where do these others go?"

Lorelei cleared her throat and waved away the siren sight she gave Ruby, "we don't talk about that. Don't abuse the power darling. If you don't believe me now, I will start telling you loudly about the time we snuck into Regina's office and proceeded to…"

Ruby giggled and pulled her siren in for a deep kiss that she desperately missed feeling, and to shut her up. Lorelei held her tightly, pressing their bodies together. She wrapped her wings around them and proceeded to ease her hands up Ruby's shirt, needing to feel the womans skin again.

Henry coughed loudly, pulling Ruby out of the trance she had been in. She noticed the secluded little fort Lorelei had created and giggled some more, giving her siren another quick kiss before tapping the wings. Lorelei let her wings vanish and still held on to Ruby.

Regina stepped forward, a small smile on her face, even with the fact that everything in her office likely needed disposing of, she was happy for them. "Okay, well I'm glad we have the correct siren, but what about the other one?" She gestured at the siren on the sand, still out cold.

Lorelei groaned loudly, finally releasing Ruby. She went over to the other and grabbed her by the shirt, shaking her violently. "Wakey wakey you little snakey!" She continued shaking her until the shinier woman opened her eyes and started swinging at the other. Lorelei released to fall back on the sand again. "There you are! We have been waiting for you to wake up so we could chat my sexy little friend!"

The other siren glared at Lorelei and stood on shaky legs, "well, you lovely creature, I just wanted a small piece of what you have. You really can't blame me, I'm certain you would have done the same." Lorelei nodded and shrugged a bit. "Right, well. You won, and technically I healed you so… you know, you're welcome." She finished by winking playfully at Lorelei.

Lorelei raised a brow at her, but then shrugged and smiled at her, extending a hand to shake. The other siren nodded and took her hand, only to end up face down in the sand with Lorelei's knee holding her down painfully. "Right, well thank you so very much. Now, how about you give me that little charm upon your well rounded breast and we shall call it even?"

The other siren shook her head and mumbled something nasty into the sand. Lorelei pushed the other down with more force and magic, causing the shinier siren to howl in pain. "Lorelei, what are you doing?!" Emma had run up, trying to stop her.

Lorelei glanced at the blonde, rolling her eyes, "absolutely none of your business woman. Go away now, I prefer to molest myself in private."

Ruby and Red both giggled and Ruby mumbled something about masturbating. Regina bit her lip to prevent herself from laughing also. Emma didn't look amused, but she knew she really couldn't do anything, so she just backed away to stand with Henry who looked concerned. Lorelei pushed at the other siren again, and then said, "pretty please my little sugar cake? I would hate to break your prefect little spine."

Nodding, red faced and in pain, the other siren relented. Lorelei helped her stand on shaky legs and the other siren slowly rolled her eyes, then pulled a tiny silver charm off her chest. Lorelei smiled brightly and bounced the charm on her palm, "there now, wasn't so hard was it?"

Rubbing her back the other siren glared at her, "why you want it anyway? Not like it'll do anything for you."

Lorelei walked over to Red and after the wolf quit trying to get away from her, she leaned in and whispered something to her. Ruby was the only other one who could hear what she said and she frowned curiously.

Red looked the siren up and down and then looked to Ruby for guidance. Ruby nodded so Red just shook her head and took off in wolf form towards the castle. Ruby approached Lorelei, "what exactly…?"

She didn't get to finish her question because her rather inappropriate girlfriend decided to pull her in for a very invasive and very thorough kiss. Lorelei broke away to look her in the eye as Ruby tried to gather her spinning mind again. "My dear Ruby, no questions that might alert our little friend please." Lorelei smiled, smacked her backside playfully and shoved the other siren down to sit on a tree that had been deposited by the wave. "Now my gorgeous doppelganger, I am going to teach you a valuable lesson in what happens when someone tries to steal my magic!"

The other siren leaned away from her and narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "what could you possibly do with that charm?"

Lorelei beamed at her lovingly, stroking the shinier womans hair gently, "oh, my sweet little, baby version of me. You are so cute!" Lorelei held the charm up and it began to glow brightly, looking as if it was being super heated. The other Lorelei just stared at her like she was completely insane. When the charm shot a few sparks and then returned to it's natural state of shine, she looked at her weaker half expectantly. However, the other just stared blankly, causing Lorelei to roll her eyes so hard they quite nearly fell out. "Oh my god, you are so dense. Do you realize any part of what I just did?" The other shook her head. "Okay… well you see that boy over there?" Lorelei pointed to Henry. The other siren nodded dismissively. "Right, well he doesn't look like much yeah? Okay, but on his palm is branded my charm. I have a violin, you see, much prettier." Ruby looked closely at the charm in Lorelei's hand, realizing it wasn't a violin, it was a harp. "Anyway, somehow, my magic essence so to speak, or more accurately, MY essence now is connected to him. He believes in me, stupid thing that he is. With that connection, he knows what I am feeling! Well…" Lorelei waved her own dismissal towards Henry, "he can feel it, but he is a mortal boy, so he can't really decipher such things. Anyway! Now, whoever I smack your charm onto, will get that, plus a bonus! They will be able to track you, like a little silver GPS." Lorelei looked so proud, but the other siren look mortified.

"Who the fuck do you think you're going to stick that on then?" The other siren was pale and looked completely horrified.

Lorelei opened her mouth but was interrupted by Cora poofing just a few feet away, "what is going on down here? That wave only fell a hundred feet short of the castle itself!" Cora looked frantically around, accounting for everyone, before her eyes landed on the sirens. She glanced at Ruby's Lorelei, but lingered appraisingly upon the other siren.

The other Lorelei however was wide eyed and looked very close to hysterics. She stared down at her chest and started swatting some invisible thing frantically. Lorelei laughed and went to Cora, bowing nicely to her. "My dear Cora, I apologize for not consenting to your advances before, but you see, I have a soul mate already." She cleared her throat, "my counterpart, however, does not…" She winked at Cora before flashing the charm in her hand onto Cora's chest where it flared brightly before settling in like a silver tattoo.

Cora gasped and jumped back, frowning down at the new addition. The other siren was snapping her fingers and looking to be very irritated. "No, I… absolutely not. This is ridiculous! You," she pointed at Ruby's Lorelei, "are a bitch! Just because you went and got roped into some committed bullshit doesn't mean I will!"

Lorelei went to the siren, sighing deeply, "what is wrong with you? Come now, she is a lovely woman and I know from personal experience with her other worldly counterpart that she is perfectly capable of satisfying all of your needs. I assure you, you'll be perfectly happy."

The other siren glared at Cora, "I usually attend to a younger sort of company, no offense."

Cora glared at her and rolled her eyes as she waved a hand over herself. When the smoke cleared, there stood a very young version of Cora Mills, likely close to 18. Both sirens cocked their heads at this new rendition of the woman. Ruby kicked a small rock at her siren who promptly blushed and quit ogling the woman before them. "Well… I mean, obviously I'm not the settle down sort. But, I mean…" she couldn't seem to stop staring at this woman. "Well, ok, now you're quite lovely and I wouldn't mind a taste," Regina groaned and along with a grimacing Emma, headed off towards the water. Belle was giggling, enjoying the show. "But, then again, you things tend to age, rather quickly I might add. Before long you'll be dead, and my other self has been kind enough to release me from the underworld, so I really don't want to go back."

Cora smiled and approached her new interest, "actually dear, there is a magical stasis here. I won't age. No one except the babies age, and they will stop too eventually."

The siren took on an interested look, "babies?"

Ruby's Lorelei sort of pulled a sour face, but the other Lorelei looked rather curious. Cora smiled at the shiner version, "yes, I have a baby. Snow White has a baby too, there are two little princesses to care for."

Taking Cora's hand firmly in her own, the siren smiled at her, "well then, we should go take care of them."

Cora had enough time to wave goodbye to everyone before they vanished in a streak of silver.