There was a slight movement and it was that movement that finally got Regina to open her eyes. She blinked several times, trying to win the battle to stay awake. Her first thought was to wonder why she was looking up at a wooden ceiling. She felt the movement again and she closed her eyes again. She felt weak and groggy but was not in a lot of pain. She remembered Sidney and what happened and a big part of her wanted to continue to lay there until she fell asleep.
Regina opened her eyes again when she felt the movement again.
Boat, she thought. I am definitely on a boat.
Not just any boat she realized, it was the Jolly Roger. She recognized it from their trip to Neverland.
Hook, she thought.
Sitting up in her bunk, she let her head stop spinning before getting up and going over to the door. She pushed against it and heard the chain that was keeping it locked on the other side.
If Sidney thought that would keep her locked in, he had definitely been in that hole too long. She put her hand against the door and called up her magic – she felt it and then it stopped. Closing her eyes to concentrate, figuring that her tiredness was keeping her from being able to use it, she again called up the magic – but again it failed.
She tried several more times with the same result, finally pushing against the door to no avail. Frustrated she returned to the bunk and sat down. Her head was pounding as she lifted up her blood-stained shirt to see the stitched up wound underneath.
Sidney attacking her had been unexpected but the idea that she was now on the Jolly Roger was even more so. First of all, how had he gotten the ship back in this time line and secondly, why would Sidney think to bring her here.
It didn't make any sense.
In the other timeline Hook was working with Gold.
How could Sidney be working with Hook if he had been locked up this entire time?
There had to be something else at work here, something she hadn't thought of.
Sidney had attacked her and she couldn't help but wonder if he had been waiting all this time on the off chance she would ever visit him. If he had the means to escape, why wait until she showed up?
Sidney had been her right hand man for years. Yes, she used him, she used him every chance she got. And she didn't care. She never cared about him. He wasn't the only person she had used over the years. There were so many that she had trampled on in her pursuit for revenge and she had never given those people a second thought.
She had earned the title Evil Queen.
And where had it gotten her? Here she was trapped in the belly of a ship owned by someone who in one timeline had killed her. She had been brought here by a former associate whom she had been so sure she could manipulate. She chuckled thinking of how much of an ego she had and it had finally caught up to her.
She laid there for a long time, trying not to think of all the wrong turns she had made in her life. Finally there was movement at the door and she heard the chain being removed so she got to her feet.
"You are going to pay for this," she said as soon as Sidney appeared inside the room.
"My queen, you are hardly in a position to make threats," he said.
She turned her back to him, moving to the back of the room where she turned again and leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. "Where did you learn the magic to erect wards around this room?" she asked. "That is how you are blocking my magic right?"
"Did you think I wouldn't take precautions? You are forgetting, I may be the one person in the world who knows exactly what you are capable of."
"Just as I know what you are capable of. You are a genie, you don't the knowledge to put up wards as sophisticated as these. So who is up there with you, Mr. Gold?"
"No," he said. "It is just me and Hook."
"Neither of you are capable of this kind of magic," she said. "I will ask again, what is the point of all of this?"
"You don't get it, you don't call the shots here," Sidney said. "Well it's a lesson you will learn soon enough."
He didn't say anything else as he left, reattaching the chain. She could have tried something, maybe even rushed him, but she decided to wait. There was something going on here – of that she was sure – but she needed more information.
She hadn't been lying there doing nothing, she had been thinking about why her magic wasn't working. She had considered that it was because she had been feeling weak, but soon realized it was more than that. Something was blocking her from using magic which meant there was something actively working against her.
Wards were a common practice, but in order to get them to do what you wanted them to do it required a subtle touch. Even with her knowledge it would take some work for her to set them up correctly to block magic such as hers. No, Sidney didn't have that power which meant there was someone else on this boat.
In the future
"Emma."
Future Emma opened her eyes when she heard her name being called. Yawning, she sat up from the cot she had been taking a nap on to find Alex standing nearby.
"I'm ready," Alex said.
Emma didn't have to ask what for. When Alex had shown her to this little cubby hole in the reference section of the library it was with the idea that she could get some rest while Alex continued to work on the problem of transferring the Dark One's power to her counterpart. Emma was surprised she had been able to get any sleep, especially after she realized this cot was most likely where Alex slept – assuming she slept.
Emma nodded to her and followed her out to the main part of the library where Alex had been working. The other Emma was there and she was pacing. Emma couldn't help but think of how different this Emma was from her. There was a manic energy to her, a nervousness that she was sure she had never shown. This Emma had a desperation about her and future Emma didn't like it. She was placing a lot of faith in this version of her, faith that she would be able to do what needed to be done back in the past.
"So what do we have to do?" future Emma asked.
"Stand there facing each other," Alex said pointing at a circle that had been drawn on the floor.
Future Emma waited until her alternate moved first and then she made her way into it.
"Take the dagger out," Alex commanded her. "Now slice your hand open and hand the dagger to her."
"Excuse me?"
"We don't really have time for me to explain every step in the process," Alex said. "I need you to slice your hand open because I need your blood and her blood in order for this to work."
Future Emma took the dagger out and she looked down at her left hand for a moment before making a small slice along it. She hesitated before handing the dagger to her counterpart. She didn't care for this version of her and if Regina wasn't in trouble she wouldn't even consider doing what she was doing. She looked at Alex – here was someone she definitely didn't trust – but Regina was in danger and that was one thing she did believe was true.
Finally she handed over the dagger. Her counterpart didn't pause before slicing her own hand and future Emma noticed that she kept the dagger firmly in her hand.
"Grip hands," Alex said.
Like a handshake they gripped hands. Future Emma stared into her eyes – holding her gaze – until alternate Emma blinked and averted her eyes. Once again, Emma was struck by how different this other self was from her. When facing a person like she was now, Emma knew she would never avert her eyes. That showed weakness and doubts again crept into her mind about this woman.
Would she up to the task? Could she do this without messing things up? They had talked for a while down there – each of them on one side of the door. Alternate Emma had asked her more about what it was like be married to Regina. She had been happy to talk about it at first. Unlike her past self, this one wholeheartedly supported the idea of her being with Regina. It was also the thing that made her wary of this alternate self. The more they talked, the more she recognized the Emma that had been in those videos, the one who had become unhinged.
She had to brush aside her instincts about this woman in order to agree to this because frankly she was beginning not to trust her anymore than she trusted Alex. There was an eagerness to this Emma about talking about Regina and to her at least it seemed to border on an obsession.
When she had first watched the videos she too had been freaked out to hear herself talk about the child Alex, but other things bothered her just as much. There were some videos there that she had not copied onto the flash drive – videos where Emma had carried on conversations with Regina long after she was gone - and those videos had been disturbing to her. At first it was just because of the idea that her wife was dead in this timeline. But now that she had met and talked with this Emma she found the woman to be off kilter just a little bit.
If this weren't the only way to help that past Regina, Emma would have told both of these women to go to hell. But this was the only way to help that Regina so she had to try.
She wondered if this other Emma had averted her eyes because she saw her weakness reflected in her eyes. She was about to say something to her alternate self, give her some words of encouragement that she could do this, when Alex started the spell. Emma didn't know the words as they were in a different language but a pain suddenly flared in her gut and she cried out. Soon it was driving her to her knees as it felt like it was spreading throughout her body.
Looking down, she could see the Dark One's magic leaving her body. Her eyes followed its path upward where it was entering her counterpart's body. Where she felt like she was being flayed, alternate Emma appeared to be experiencing no pain and there was an almost euphoric look on her face.
It was over almost as quickly as it started but Emma remained on her knees still feeling the aftermath of the pain. Alex bent over and helped her to her feet, but she felt unsteady and Alex directed her over to a chair where she gratefully sat down. Alex used her magic to heal her hand from the cut and conjured a bottle of water and gave it to her.
"Sorry," Alex said. "I did not know it would hurt like that."
"What does it matter? The important thing is that it worked," Alternate Emma said.
Future Emma looked at her as she was examining the dagger which still had Emma etched on it, but she knew that it now belonged to this other version of herself. The look of euphoria was now permanently plastered to her face.
Emma's head was pounding and she tried to stand only to be forced back down by a wave of dizziness.
"Take it easy," Alex said.
She took a drink of the water. She looked at the table next to her and tried to get her mind to focus. It hadn't felt like this when she had taken on the Dark One's magic, but she had been almost overwhelmed by it leaving her body. There were more romantic books on the table and she wondered if Alex had any idea what it was really like to love another person. If she was getting her ideas from books then she was surely being misinformed.
There were several stacks of books across the table and Emma wondered if Alex was close to finishing off the entire library and what she would do when she did finish. She saw a copy of "Eat, Pray, Love" sitting there. She had never read the book but she had seen the movie with Julia Roberts. She had thought the movie was ok, although she figured the book was probably better because people were always saying books were better than their movie versions.
She turned back to see that Alex had moved away from her and closer to her counterpart where they were talking and alternate Emma was nodding her head yes. Emma didn't like how these two were suddenly being all chummy so she got to her feet. Both women turned to look at her and Emma took a step forward.
"Get to the portal," Alex said to the alternate. "You know what to do."
"I'll bring her back," Emma said smiling at future Emma.
"Don't forget the spell book," Alex said.
"No," future Emma said, as realization dawned on her. "You … you are working for her!"
"With her," alternate Emma said. "It seemed silly to be odds when we both want the same thing – for Regina to be here."
"Stop wasting time," Alex said. "Get moving."
"Stop," future Emma said as she rushed her counterpart, only to run into an invisible barrier. She moved her hands all around and discovered the barrier surrounded her completely. She punched it in frustration.
Alternate Emma walked up to it and leaned closer. "Why shouldn't I get a second chance with her? I love her as much as you do, but you don't understand what it's like to lose her. I would have done anything. I will do anything to be with her again. You don't have to be afraid or even angry. You get to go home to your wife and your daughter. Go live your life, while I build a new one with the woman we both know we were destined to love."
"You're crazy," future Emma said. "If you think for a moment that Regina will have anything to do with you, you're crazy."
"Oh, but don't you see, you've already laid the seeds of love for me," she said. "Regina will love me. She will come back here with me because of you."
Future Emma took a step back as this sunk in. She had done it – she had put the idea in Regina's mind that they could be together, that they could have a family together.
Alternate Emma backed away with one last smirk and then left the room. Alex approached next.
"Don't worry, I mean to keep my promise. I am going to send you back to your time, back to your family," Alex said. "It's the least I can do for all the assistance you have given me."
"What are you going to do to her?" She didn't have to say Regina's name because she finally understood this really had been about her the entire time.
"I told you, I want to know her."
"Don't bullshit me. Not after this. I get it, you played me, you won, so tell me what you intend to do to her," Emma said. "I'm betting my counterpart there doesn't have a clue does she?"
"As I said before, she is flawed, which is why having you was so important."
"Why? Why any of this?"
Alex stepped away, studying Emma as if trying to decide what to do with her. Emma didn't like being under this creature's gaze but she wasn't about to back down to her either. She refused to think of her as a human. This thing was some sort of abomination.
"Rumplestiltskin was an idiot – flawed much like your other self. What he did in order to create me, if he had any understanding of the bonds of life he wouldn't have done it or at the very least he would have chosen a better soul to take than Regina's. Don't get me wrong, her soul was exactly what was needed for the spell because of her own inborn magical ability. It had the power to create this life and by all rights I should have been exactly what he thought he was creating – a powerful living magic. And if he had tried this in another timeline, such as the one you thought was your past one, he might have succeeded. But he didn't and so here I am trapped in Storybrooke."
"You can't leave the town?"
"I can not. I am stuck here, only able to read these books and wonder about the world out there. The world out there; that is where I want to be. I want my freedom," she said. "
"And you think that Regina will be able to let you do that. Why, because she created the town with her magic?"
Alex laughed and Emma wanted to punch her for it.
"No, Regina does not have the ability to use her magic to set me free."
"She has something though or else you wouldn't have done all of this to bring her here."
Again, Alex smiled. "If I were all-powerful as the living magic should be, the barrier around this town would be child's play for me. I guess you could say my making was miscalculated by Rumplestiltskin." She walked over to the desk and Emma had to turn to keep her eye on her. Alex picked up one of the romance novels. "Funny, that he created me for a purpose tied to love, yet it was him not considering the powerful bonds that love makes that has led us to this point."
"Stop speaking in riddles," Emma said. "Tell me what you plan to do with Regina."
Alex tossed the book down as if she was bored with it and the conversation.
"You were able to travel back in time as you did because your soul recognized a past self's soul there. It's why I was able to pull you into this one. You had to have a connection. I don't have that because of how I was created. If I had a complete soul I would be able to, but I don't have a complete soul, can you guess the reason why I don't?"
"As far as I can tell you don't have a soul at all."
"Oh, I have one. Regina's soul in fact. It was what gave me this life, but her soul is also at the crux of my being trapped here and unable to fill my full potential," Alex said. She took her seat at the table, again looking at her books for a moment. "Rumplestiltskin chose you – well the other you – because not everyone could carry the living magic inside them as you did. A lesser person, it may have torn them apart. But you are the Savior, a product of True Love which gives you your magic and the protections that come with it. He chose Regina's soul because of its magic and its potential. The problem was the pairing of the two of you in this process. If he had chosen anyone else who could have carried the child but you, then we wouldn't be sitting here now. If he has chosen someone other than hers, we wouldn't be sitting here now. The choosing of the two of you specifically is what keeps me at bay. I don't have a full soul because you two women, despite all the odds, fell in love with each other. Yes, even in this timeline with all the missteps your counterpart took, she managed to get Regina to love her. That is why I needed a Regina from a timeline where the two of you weren't together. To become whole, I need a soul from a Regina who hasn't already given a part of her soul away to you."
Emma understood finally. Alex was going to do to Regina what Gold had done to her this timeline. She was going to take her soul from her. Alex had set this all into motion so that Emma would make that other Regina care for her just enough that she would come to this time – deliver herself into Alex's waiting clutches.
"I won't let you," Emma said hitting the barrier again.
"You are no longer a part of this," Alex said simply as she again approached her. "In fact, it's time I let you return to your own time. Thanks again for your assistance."
"No!" Emma screamed as Alex waved her hand across the barrier.
In the other future
Emma blinked as she found she was standing not in the library but in a bedroom, her bedroom. She whirled around, taking in the sights that she knew belonged there – all the signs that showed this was the bedroom she shared with Regina. Alex had done it, she had kept her promise and sent her back to her timeline.
Emma quickly left the room, and ran down the stairs. There was no one in the main room but a noise from the kitchen had her moving in that direction. Opening the door, she was struck by what she saw.
"Mommy!" Alex yelled from her booster seat at the kitchen table. The word made the woman at the sink turn.
"Emma?" Regina said. She ran across the room, practically slamming into Emma with a hug. "Where have you been? I've been so worried."
Emma allowed her body to sink into her wife's. She buried her head against Regina's neck, breathing in the scent of her. Her wife. This was her wife holding onto her. She wasn't even sure when the tears started as she choked back a sob.
Regina pulled back, cupping Emma's face in her hand. "Talk to me. Let me know you are ok."
Emma nodded. "I'm okay," she said, her breaths sounding heavy as her emotions felt like they had been put in a blender on puree. "I'm okay." She pulled Regina into her once more, needing to feel her body against hers.
When she felt something tugging at her pants she looked down to see Alex there. She didn't pause as she scooped her daughter up into her arms and held her tight against her. Her daughter, her precious Alex.
"Emma," Regina said. "Where have you been?"
"Not now," she managed to say. She kissed Alex on the cheek and cried even more at the sound of her laughter. She had thought she had lost this forever. She never wanted to let go of her or Regina. She shifted Alex to her one hip and pulled Regina in once more. "I've missed you so much."
Later that night
Regina stood in the doorway of Alex's bedroom watching Emma. She had put Alex to bed, having read her two stories until the girl could no longer keep her eyes open. And now Emma was staring at their daughter.
Emma had yet to tell them what had happened to her and where she had been. Even Henry had been unable to get it out of her. Snow and Charming had come over immediately after Regina called them to say Emma was home, yet all Emma would say was that she was fine and she didn't want to talk about it yet.
This was her wife, and Regina knew her wife was not fine.
It hadn't escaped her notice that Emma got antsy whenever any of them left the room or were away from her for any long amount of time. She had insisted they all sit and watch a movie together that evening, saying she just wanted to spend time with her family.
But there was fear in Emma's eyes and it was not something Regina was used to seeing and she wondered if they were all in some sort of danger. Surely if they were Emma would not be so secretive about it.
So she decided to let Emma have some time to collect her thoughts. That time was over now.
"Emma," she said softly. Emma looked up at her. "Come on, let her sleep."
Emma hesitated and then leaned over to kiss Alex's forehead and then reluctantly left the room. As soon as she closed the door, she took Regina's hand in hers and led her to their bedroom. Once they were securely behind the closed door, Emma brought Regina in closer and kissed her gently.
She felt Emma's hand move from her hip up to her side, pulling up her shirt with it so their flesh was touching. Although she wanted to continue, wanted to feel Emma's touch, she pulled away. "Emma," she said again. "What is going on? Where have you been?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Emma said. "I just want to be here with my wife, to make love to my wife, is that too much to ask?"
"I want that too, but you need to tell me what happened? I've been worried sick ever since you disappeared. We looked everywhere. I used my magic and it failed, it failed to find you. I failed."
"No," Emma said, reaching out and taking her hand again. "You didn't fail. This … none of this is your fault. I got caught up in something and …"
Emma looked away from her, but Regina took her other hand alongside Emma's face, turning her toward her and planting a kiss on her lips. "Whatever it is, you can tell me. Are we in some sort of danger?"
"Why would you think that?"
"You've barely let me or the kids out of your sight all day," Regina said. "like you're afraid something is going to happen to us."
"Something did happen to you. I lost you."
"You didn't lose me," Regina said not understanding. "I'm right here. Please Emma, I can tell something is weighing on your mind. Just tell me."
Emma let go of her hand and moved around to her side of the bed and sat on the edge of it. Regina waited a moment and then went and sat beside her.
"I messed up," Emma said quietly. "I messed up real bad."
Regina took her hand this time. "Do you remember when we were dating, it had been maybe six months into it, and you asked me why I had given you such a hard time about going out with you in the first place? You thought it had to do with Robin, and I said no, that it had to do with you. I told you then that I was afraid of you, afraid of these feelings I had about you because I feared that one day you would leave and I would be left behind. I knew your past, and even though you had settled down here I couldn't get it out of my mind that you would take off one day – not leaving Storybrooke per se but leaving me. I had gone through the loss of love once with Daniel and I wasn't sure I could go through that again," she said. "That night when I told you all of that we were sitting in that yellow monstrosity of yours and you took my hand and you looked me in the eye and said, 'I promise, you never have to worry that I will leave you because I love you and you're stuck with me and whatever happens tomorrow or 30 years from now, we're going to face it together.' Well now it's my turn to say that to you, whatever it is that happened to you, we're going to face it together."
Emma squeezed her hand a little tighter and then began to speak.
Regina tried not to interrupt much as Emma told her of waking in the other timeline, believing it was her timeline and then her subsequent trip to the past to try and get her younger self to fix it. In typical Emma fashion, there was a lot of pacing, hand gestures and emotion as the story poured out of her.
When she heard about the way she had died in that other timeline – the shooting – she had stopped Emma if only to hold on to her for a moment, more upset that Emma had to deal with thinking that had really been her than her own feelings about it. She asked the most questions when it came to this Alex and Emma told her what she could, but Regina still wondered at this thing Gold had created.
"I don't know why she sent me back here," Emma said. "I don't know why she didn't just kill me or why she sent me back with my memories of it in tact."
Something had been bothering Regina about the way Emma had told the story, especially at the end, but she knew her wife well enough to make an educated guess at what was really bothering her about this – about why she didn't want to talk about it.
"She sent you back because you fulfilled your purpose and she had no use for you anymore," Regina said. "She sent you back because you can no longer do anything about what she had planned."
When Emma looked at her – the desperation clear in her eyes – Regina knew she had guessed correctly.
"But you wan to try and do something, don't you?" Regina asked.
"I can't just let her be led into a trap like that," Emma said. "It's my fault if she goes forward in time to where Alex is. It's my fault that the other Emma has the power of the Dark One to go back and find her. Whether it's Alex or that other me, she's in danger. I can't sit here and know the things I know without doing something. But I can't do anything."
Regina sighed. "That settles it then," she said standing up. "I said before, we're going to face it together, so it's up to me to find a way for us – the two of us – to travel to that other timeline and stop this Alex and save that other me."
"No," Emma said. "I won't put your life in danger. Besides, Alex just had to go through one of her moms being gone, she shouldn't have to have both of them disappear on her."
"I'm not letting you go back there by yourself," Regina said. "Alex will be fine. Your mother will watch her while we're gone. I don't plan on us being gone very long and as it is I need to figure a way there and unfortunately for this to work we have to wait until past me is there too."
"Why? I was thinking I would travel to the past and stop my counterpart there and not have to bother with that other time line at all."
"We need to wait because my past self has to be there in that alternate time line for me to travel there. Clearly, from what Alex said having a soul there to connect to is key to all of this. Would it be simpler to travel to the past, yes it would be, but that won't stop Alex. She will find another way, even if it means manipulating another version of you and targeting another version of me. No, we have to go there and take the battle to her."
"So, we're really going to do this?"
"Yes, we're going to do this and we're going to do it together," Regina said. "Besides, I want to have a word with my past self about keeping her lips off of other people's wives."
"In her defense, she thought I was her future wife."
"Not helping matters," Regina said. "Don't think you and I aren't going to talk about you kissing her first."
