Startled from a sleepless dark, the Queen grabbed the ringing annoyance and closed her eyes when the cheery greeting rang out of the speaker.
"Good morning sunshine!"
"David listen to me very carefully," she said with a calm she did not feel at all.
"I know I know, look-"
She sat up in bed and barked, "Shut your mouth and listen. Go home. Go get your wife from Granny's and go home. Do not leave until I call you and tell you that you're safe."
"What are you talking about Regina?"
"The life of your wife and unborn child is at risk, Mr. Nolan!" She waited a moment to let her words settle in the man's blond head before asking, "Do I have your attention?"
"Yes."
"Good. If you hear from Emma," holding out hope her doom and gloom outlook wasn't accurate, "Tell her I need her at the pawn shop, but under no circumstances are you or Snow to go to your daughter's apartment. It isn't safe."
Music blasted from downstairs, and Regina rolled her eyes and disconnected the line without another word. She bypassed the warrior princess and got Gabrielle up from her self induced Pinterest-coma.
"Get up your Highness."
"Five more minutes mom!" The blonde grumbled and snuggled in tighter to the bed.
Regina circled the bed and pulled at the woman's bedsheets and informed, "There's a world-ending catastrophe, and I need help!"
The blonde huffed and covered her head with the pillow and groaned, "What is that racket?"
"Miss Lucas has become password buddies with our warrior princess. Now get up!"
"Oh god, it's awful."
The brunette couldn't argue with the woman, so she instructed, "Go tell her to turn it off. We don't have a lot of time."
Regina rushed back to her bedroom and got herself nearly dressed when she heard Xena's distinct battle cry outside. She pulled a tee shirt on over top of herself and rushed down the stairs. When she opened the door, a pile of dead bodies greeted her on the front lawn. Gabrielle lay dead on the stoop; an arrow sticking through her neck, dull, lifeless eyes stared up at nothing.
"Oh no," the Queen whispered and looked out into the carnage. Several corpses she recognized came into her vision, and she shook her head in disbelief. She carefully stepped out onto the porch and saw a very dark warrior princess holding Sidney Glass with one hand and slicing her chakram through his neck with the other.
"Well, that's just awful. What are you going to do now? Run amuck on Storybrooke reaping your revenge?"
Xena nodded her head with menace and dropped the little man's corpse. The Queen grumbled, "Fantastic." A dark glee overtook the warrior princess as she unsheathed her sword and ran off in the direction of the surviving mob. She looked back at Gabrielle's dead body and hoped beyond hope the day would repeat just one more time. She took out her phone and dialed her son and was annoyed when it went to voicemail.
"Mom, no one uses voicemail, text me." -Beep-
She rolled her eyes and left a message anyway, "I'm unnerved that I don't know where you are. Whatever it is that you are doing, stop. Go to the Charmings, don't let them leave no matter what they hear. I've got to make a stop at Gold's, and then I'll be by to get you, stay safe, baby boy."
She went back into her home and grabbed her jacket and then made her way to the pawn shop.
She entered the shop and saw her former mentor idly dusting off a tea set. "There's a problem," she said, her voice filled with the dread she felt.
"There always is," the Dark One quipped and replaced the teacup he was dusting and casually picked up another.
"Regina? Help!" A woman's frantic voice cut through the shop and Regina's eyes grew wide with surprise, "Is that Belle?"
"Rumple's gone mad! He has me locked in a cage!" The librarian cried in her desperation.
A grimace crossed the older man's face, and he called back, "It's for your own safety, my love! Things have gone amuck amuck amuck ah-muck!"
Regina peered at him in her skepticism and asked, "Are you awake?"
"Whatever do you mean?" A slight eyebrow lift and a wicked sneer caused the Mayor to roll her eyes and huff, "Augh, you're always awake."
She called back to the librarian, "Sit tight, Belle!"
"Regina!?" The disbelief the blue-eyed beauty had was evident in her high pitched squeak.
Regina turned her focus back at the task at hand, "I don't know how to fix this, how do I fix this?"
"You do, I told you. The Savior is the key."
"Emma's missing," the Mayor said with anxious regret.
"Mom's missing?"
She whipped around at the upset tone of her son and exclaimed, "Henry! What are you doing here? I told you to go to the Charmings!"
"I have an afternoon shift here at the shop. What did you mean Emma is missing? How long?! Why didn't you tell me!" The hurt in her son's eyes ripped at her heart, and she shook her head and tried to get the teen under control, "Henry, I-"
He dropped his book bag to the floor and demanded, "I'm not a little boy anymore!"
"No of course not darling, I just…" In the span of a second, he was ten years old once again, and she felt like the manipulative woman who made him believe he was crazy.
"When will you stop lying to me?!" he screamed and rushed out of the shop.
Regina cried as she ran after him, "Henry wait!"
When she breached the door to the pawn shop, she was stunned to find her son had a lance sticking out of his chest. His wide, surprised eyes bulged as he fell to his knees, blood pouring from his gaping mouth.
As the boy dropped from her view, she met the terrified gaze of a little ginger man standing a little ways away from Henry's still body. When he turned and started to run, she kicked off her shoes and gave chase quickly catching up to the man. She tripped him by throwing her clutch between his feet then pounced on him after he'd fallen to the ground. She grabbed up his collar in clenched fists and demanded, "You killed him. Why!?"
"I'm sorry! I thought it was you!" There was genuine fear in the man's blue eyes, but also remorse.
"What sadistic fucked up thing did I do to you that required sacrificing my little boy?" Her anguish was thick in her words as the vision of her son falling to the ground gripped her.
"You… you pushed the judge to give me both a fine and time in lockup for my unpaid parking tickets."
"What?" Regina wrapped her hands around the man's neck and screamed, "What!?"
He choked, "I'm sorry!"
"I don't care," she hissed through clenched teeth and squeezed his throat until she felt crunching and the man was clearly dead. She slowly got up off of the dead ginger and made her way back toward her son.
As she walked closer to him her face crumpled, and she stopped and turned away, unable to view her young son in such a state. She forced herself to turn back around, and her knees grew weak as his lifeless body was taken into view. She was overwhelmed by her sorrow and cried as she knelt next to her child. "Oh, my baby boy. My beautiful baby boy." She carefully pulled the spike from his chest and noted the blood was not pumping from the wound any longer. His dark eyes were wide and lifeless, and she pulled him into her chest and let loose her emotions on the sidewalk just outside of Mr. Gold's pawn shop, "Oh Henry!" Her heart broke, and she gasped between sobs and wished with every ounce of her life that today would repeat — just one more time.
"I told you what to do dearie."
I need to find Emma.
When the day reset she laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. She could still feel her son's blood on her hands, the smell of his shampoo, her eviscerated heart.
Never again.
She answered the annoying ringing and set Charming to task with taking care of Snow White. Then called Rumple to have him lock Henry in with Belle and got up and sent off Xena and Gabrielle to the stable for the day. She fought her way through the small angry crowd and got into her Benz and drove to the Savior's last known location to look for clues.
She followed the alley when it dumped out near the docks and followed her instincts and walked up the pier. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked out into the water. The water used to comfort her, until their ship was attacked by mermaids in Neverland.
"Damn stupid pirate ship," she muttered. Damn stupid pirate.
Then the darkness came after you. We were all in Camelot because of me. He was going to die because of me! His love for me got him killed, how could I not try and save him?
Words that were unfamiliar infiltrated her mind, and she closed her eyes and cursed under her breath. "Dammit Emma, where are you?" She looked around and didn't see anything out of the ordinary, let alone something left behind if the Savior had been there. It wasn't as if she'd expected a sign that read, "Savior's gone fishing, be back in 10." However, the lack of solid leads irritated her, and she took off her shoes and walked up the beach. The sounds of the tiny rhythmic waves soothed her, and she thought about everything that had happened over the last three days. Groundhog day... from hell.
She decided that all of this had to be curse related. Even in her most damaged state, her brain would never conjure up the death of her son. It was a scene that she would never forget, and as the memories trickled in, she felt the weight of his loss ground her.
He is safe. The Dark One will protect him. All I need to do is find Emma.
As she met the end of the beach, she put her shoes back on and realized she was at the edge of the ranch property where Xena and Gabrielle were camping. Without any other ideas on how to find the Savior, she decided to trek up to their campsite.
She found them easily, and when she did, Xena was doing pull-ups on a sturdy branch of a nearby tree, and Gabrielle had her head buried in her laptop. "There's no way you've got bars out here," the Queen said catching the couple's attention.
Gabrielle held up a little black device and wrinkled her nose and said, "Mobile Hotspot."
"What for?"
A wide smile crossed the young bard's features, and she replied, "I'm blogging!"
She sat down next to Gabrielle and let her tell her all about the website she set up and all the topics she wishes to discuss in her new blog. The Queen listened and made suggestions and watched as new memories were triggered within the blonde. Once Xena was finished with her workout she sat down next to the Mayor and asked about the evident agitation the woman was exuding. "So what's going on, why did you banish us to the woods?"
"Emma is missing. I'm uncertain as to how to find her. The curse is breaking down, and the day is repeating just like it did for almost thirty years. Every day is a little different. First Snow died. Then David. The third day both Gabrielle and Henry died, and I've looked everywhere for her. She's gone."
A soothing smile parted the warrior's lips, and she replied, "Clearly you haven't looked everywhere Regina..."
"Hey what's that?" Gabrielle asked and pointed into the horizon. A bluish-white energy pulsated off in the distance and rapidly expanded blanketing the countryside and came straight for the women.
"A clue!" Regina exclaimed in astonishment then looked down at her cell phone and noted the time, and as soon as the electric energy swept over them, she awoke in her bed, her cell phone blaring in her ear.
After doing her morning safety check, she pulled out town zoning maps and looked over the area where she estimated the light had originated and noted the proximity to the mine shaft entrances and the quarantine zone. She bit her lip in worry remembering dropping suddenly into a magicless realm, but this time she wouldn't have the impulsive blonde hot on her heels. With little choice, she packed up and made her way out to the border of the quarantine zone to see what was out there.
She drove out to the line and noticed in the clearing, wet blobs of viscous material floating in the air. She parked her car and got out to inspect the area. Walking the length of the forest's edge, she came across her sister's abandoned farmhouse. She steered clear of the main building — too many bad memories.
She held regret that her sister was dead and hadn't intended on a reminder of that regret. She tried to forget the fiery redhead and was unsuccessful until she heard glass break from within the dwelling.
"Emma?" She rushed toward the sounds of crashing and burst into the house. She rounded the corner and skidded to a halt when a very large angry man rushed her with a blast of magic pushing her hard to the ground. His face was contorted, and he had thick red welts across his features. His crazed eyes were wide as he pounced on her, lifting his knife he smiled down on her before slicing the blade across her throat. The pain and terror she felt was immeasurable, and all she could think of as she choked on her own blood was that of her loved ones. How would Henry survive this without her? Would Emma come back, if she even could, or would she be lost forever because of the Queen's failings?
She jolted awake at the sound of David's ringtone and grabbed the place on her neck where the metal pierced her flesh. She could still feel the blade against her skin and the feel of the hot thick syrup as it flowed over her shoulders. She took a deep breath, cursed and shook off the feeling of her death then answered David's call.
Once everyone was safe, she drove directly out to her sister's farmhouse and did some reconnaissance.
Emma.
What if she fell into a portal and is stuck in another world, alone?
Focus.
She was surprised when the joints of her vehicle started to creek and was shocked when she felt the car's tires leave the ground. She opened the door and leapt from the driver's seat then watched helplessly as her Benz floated away.
"Shit."
She ducked down behind the stone wall that surrounded the property and rolled her eyes at her failed attempt at her first stakeout. As she considered what she was going to do next, she felt a burn against her ankle and hissed in pain. A small clear glob of unidentifiable liquid was clinging to her skin and where it made contact, was burning. She attempted to brush it away only for it to burn her hand and stick to her skin. She noticed as she frantically brushed the substance off that her skin turned grey as the dermis was burnt.
A woman's agonizing scream pulled her attention, and she looked toward the direction the wounded cry was coming from. She vaulted the wall and cautiously made her way toward a storm cellar she was all too familiar with.
The room was pitch black, and she looked around for the strange warrior she suspected was the god of war and then ducked inside. She heard a sniffle in the dark, the telltale end of weeping and she called out, "Hello?"
A weak voice answered, "Regina?"
"EMMA!?" The Queen pushed both doors open, allowing the afternoon light to guide her and what the light revealed devastated the Queen. Her love was hanging limply by her wrists inside of a rot iron cage; she was filthy and battered and had clear wounds to her abdomen and chest. She rushed the cage only to be stopped by the thick, viscous material that clung to the metal. It burned her hand, and she cried out.
"Hold on. I'm getting you out of there!" She looked around the area, and there was little in the way of helpful implements. She tried to grab the metal again, and again the pain rejected the attempt to force the door open. Emma screamed out as little floating bubbles touched her and she could do nothing to brush them away. Regina's eyes blurred in her upset over hearing her love in such agony, "No baby!"
The Mayor reached between the bars, careful not to graze the transparent material and attempted to contact the Savior, "Emma…"
"Regina, run." The low warning was far too late when Regina noticed the lumbering warrior enter the cellar.
"What do we have here?" the man cooed toying with a small weapon.
Regina in her rage rushed the warrior only to be taken up in his powerful arms and effectively subdued. Thick hands gripped her around her neck, and she was forced in closer toward the cage.
The Savior cried as she pulled at her metal restraints, "Let her go!" She received a crazed chuckle at her futility.
The man's attention went back to his new captive, "My little pet has spunk don't you think? She's been nothing but trouble since I got her."
"Emma…" Regina's tears breached her lids in her helplessness. There was nothing she could do. She was powerless to stop him as he pressed her against the metal bars of the cage. She shrieked in pain as the thick material that coated the metal burned into the side of her face. Pain she'd never felt before in her life was only overshadowed by the Savior's anguished cries as she bore witness to the Queen's torture.
"You care about this one pet?" His laugh was sinister as he pulled the Queen away from the bars.
"Please don't hurt her anymore! I won't fight you. You can take my magic! Just let her go! Ares please?!"
Regina felt a familiar blade against her jaw and gasped as the blade sliced through the tender flesh of her throat. Emma's protesting screams echoed within her as everything went black.
David's annoyingly loud ringtone startled her from the depths of the black nothingness, and she helplessly covered her face and let out the sob that welled up. She shook herself from the brink of her despair and answered her ringing cell phone.
"Good Morning sunshine!"
"David, Ares is here he has Emma. Gather whatever weapons we have, we need to get to her!"
"What?"
The Queen cried, "God damn it, David, he is torturing her! Right NOW!"
"What?"
"Go get your wife from Granny's, pool our resources. We need to attack him head-on. Before he becomes more powerful!"
"Ares, like the god of war?"
Music suddenly blasted from downstairs, and Regina started to cry in her frustration. "I need your help, David, please just listen to what I'm saying to you. The day is repeating just like it did during the curse, and we don't have a lot of time. We need our best line of offense ready in an hour. Can I count on you to do that?"
"Yes, of course, Regina," the man's voice was anxious and she could hear the fear behind the calm reassurance. She got off the phone and laid still for just a moment to settle the unexpected appearance of Emma Swan in her memory. The anguish at seeing her love in such a state set the Queen to focus on her goal, and she got up and marched downstairs to tell Xena to turn off the music.
"Ares? Is here? How?!" The warrior princess demanded in surprised loathing.
"My former mentor is a selfish imp determined to make my life a living hell at every chance he gets."
The doorbell rang, and Regina stopped Gabrielle before she went to answer it. When she opened the door, she was surprised to find the Charmings, Red, Granny and six of the seven dwarves standing on her porch. There was a sizable crowd, and the White Princess was instructing the townspeople to vacate her property.
Regina ushered them into her home and Snow asked, "What's going on?"
The Queen paced as she explained the main points, her mind was scattered taking every possible chance to remind her of the desperate state of her love. She answered questions as they were asked and felt herself grow more and more agitated as time ticked by.
Xena, of course, asked all of the crucial questions about the offensive structure and took charge of pulling a plan of attack together. Regina paced and watched the clock as they slowly figured out how they would save the Sheriff.
"This is taking too long," she huffed as yet another question from the group spurred the warrior princess in a detailed explanation of tactical warfare.
"We can't go in half cocked," Gabrielle responded, her worry about the god of war etched across her face.
"We literally do not have all day. We need to go, now."
Snow pulled away from her husband's embrace and took the Mayor's hand and said, "We've only got one chance at this Regina. We can't screw this up, Gabrielle is right."
"You never listen to me! The day isn't a full day, and if we don't go soon we are going to miss our chance, and I'm going to have to do this all over again with you tomorrow!"
As it were, they assembled as many of the town's residents as was willing to help and made their way out to the farmhouse. Regina took her bow and watched as Xena briefed the newcomers. Once everyone was in place, they started their attack and much to the Queen's dismay she watched as the mighty god slew their group down a little bit at a time.
Xena's battle cry was cut off as the god froze her form then killed the bard in front of her. Regina drew back her bow and landed her shot, but the damage of the mortal weapon seemingly did little to slow the man down as he ran toward the remaining offensive townsfolk. She made a mad dash towards the cellar hoping that she could get to Emma but as she ran a sharp pain crippled her and she fell to the ground.
The burning ache under her shoulder blade paled in comparison to the pain of her lung collapsing. She laid paralyzed and felt the warm wet syrup of her lifeblood pool under her. She watched as her friends and family were mercilessly cut down before finally, the painful darkness took her once again.
I need magic. Magic and a plan.
