A/N Just to let you guys know, I'll probably go back to one chapter per update because I've caught up with what I have written so far, next updates should be soon but I'll try to come up with an actual schedule so I have an actual chance of finishing this time around

Chapter nineteen

Emma wasn't quite sure what it was that she was wearing.

She'd woken from a nap to find a pile of clothes with a note telling her to get dressed and meet Regina in the throne room when she was ready.

The note mentioned that she was wearing something called a hoodie and jeans though she really couldn't see the point of pants with holes on the knee.

She reached down to tie up the white Converse on her feet and stood from the bed.

For a second, the princcess pulled at the material before she began making her way towards the throne room, since it became apparent that touching the clothing wouldn't answer any of the questions she had about them. As she went, she continued staring down at the shoes which were so strange but so comfortable.

Finally, she made it to the throne room and her attention was stolen from her own clothes when she saw that Regina was wearing similar attire, though hers was a plain sweater instead of a hoodie and her jeans appeared to be fully intact.

Regina looked away from her daughter and over to her wife and a smile instantly spread across her face.

"Could you please explain to me what this is?" Emma asked and tugged at the hoodie again.

"Did Dawn not explain?" Regina replied and looked over to her daughter who just shrugged.

Honestly, she just wanted them to go so that she could go and talk to Graham about Neal. She was surprised that she even managed to write a legible note.

Regina narrowed her eyes slightly.

Dawn had been off since earlier and she really wanted to grill her further but Dawn had a tendency to get defensive at the suggestion that she wasn't an adult.

"Dawn suggested a break from training, she thought it could be interesting to visit the land without magic for a few hours and that is the type of clothing they wear in that realm," Regina explained turning away from Dawn, deciding that she could deal with that later.

"Land without magic?" Emma asked, "what will we do there?"

"Anything you wish, Emma," Regina replied as always.

"I assume something is wrong?" Graham asked.

Dawn stopped pacing and looked at the man she had stormed up to and taken the book right out of his hand (mid-sentence no less).

The brunette fell into the seat next to Panic and threw his book aside with a deep sigh.

Graham leaned over and placed his hand on her knee.

Despite everything, Dawn actually smiled at the contact, however, now wasn't the time to dwell on her growing feelings for her mother's personal servant, now was the time to focus on what her uncle told her.

Graham removed his hand and looked at the demi-goddess expectantly.

"Poseidon came to speak with me earlier…"

Graham visibly swallowed hard.

Even if he was doing better with his fear lately, you didn't have to be the most anxious person to be afraid of one of the big three Olympians.

"W-what did he want?" Graham stuttered.

It was now Dawn's turn to place her hand over Graham's and waited for him to take a couple calming breaths.

Once she was sure that he could handle it, Dawn said, "he came with a warning, supposedly Zeus is planning Emma's death during the tournament by having Ares enter."

Graham blew out the breath he had been holding and said, "assuming that he was telling the truth, the most simple solution is that Emma must not compete."

"You know that Emma cannot be deterred, she will probably be excited to learn that Ares is competing…" the demi-goddess shot back and Graham sighed as he sunk slightly in the chair, Dawn was unfortunately correct.

The possibility that Emma could die felt all too real.

She had only been in his life for a couple months, but he somehow couldn't imagine his life without the princess in it.

A happy Hades meant a happy Underworld which meant a relaxed Graham.

"Then we should tell your mother," Graham said, perking up a little at the idea.

"So that she and Zelena can both declare war?" Dawn asked and the man gripped the side of the chair.

It was true that losing Emma could send Regina over the edge, which could result in abject devastation, possibly for every mortal in existence.

"We have to do something, Dawn!" he exclaimed.

Dawn nodded slowly as she thought through an idea that had sparked while Graham had been talking.

She leaned forward and replied, "we could just let her die."

Everything was bright and loud.

If Emma didn't know that this was a land without magic, she would have assumed that the sensory overload was a curse designed to punish the people of New York City.

However, people were rushing past her and Regina with no concern for their surroundings, so perhaps they were not bothered by the light and sound as Emma currently was?

She was brought out of the moment she spent trying to adjust when a man smashed violently into her shoulder and she fell into Regina who promptly caught her,

Emma watched the man with wide eyes as he continued walking with a rectangular device glued to the side of his face.

He looked over his shoulder and scowled at the princess and she heard something like 'tourists' before he continued walking towards the destination that Emma could only assume he was desperate to get to.

Emma would have been more infuriated by him if it hadn't resulted in Regina holding her closely by the waist.

"This land is…" Emma began, but she trailed off as she looked around.

Even if she did understand everything she was looking at, she was fairly sure that she wouldn't be able to think of a word to describe to all of it.

Regina just smiled, she loved how cute the blonde? looked when she was both awed and confused and nodded in understanding.

"It can be overwhelming," she replied and took a step back so that she could take her wife's hand.

It would be a nightmare if she lost the other woman in New York City, where she didn't so much as know what a car was.

"I might be able to suggest a quieter place where you can decide where to go?"

Emma nodded eagerly and allowed herself to be pulled along by Regina.

The young woman looked at everything that she possibly could and smiled when she realised that absolutely no one cared who she was.

It didn't matter that her wife was Hades either. In this land, they were just two normal women who were allowed to enjoy their time together, something she would never get in the Enchanted Forest.

Finally, Regina brought Emma to one of the smaller buildings and the younger of the pair furrowed her brow as she inspected what appeared to be a list of items written on a chalk board.

She didn't know what a 'hot cocoa' was, but she did know that she wanted to try it.

"What is this?" she asked as Regina pushed the door open and led Emma into the building.

"This is a coffee shop, it is an establishment where the people of this realm purchase hot beverages…and write screenplays," Hades replied in a whisper so as not to attract too much attention.

Emma's frown deepened, but just shook her head. She'd resigned herself at this point to the fact that there was no chance she could possibly learn everything about this place in one day. No magic certainly made everything different.

Plus, she was rather distracted by the fact that Regina had yet to release her hand in spite of the fact that they clearly reached their destination.

"What can I get you?" the man behind the counter asked, far too chipper compared to every other person they had encountered thus far.

Regina finally removed her hand from her wife's and looked at the menu.

She knew she wanted black coffee since that was what she got every time she came to this land, but the question was what to get the princess who probably would want to try everything on the menu since it wasn't very likely that she knew what much of it actually was.

It was for this reason that she decided not to ask the princess what she wanted for now, she could always ask for something else if she didn't like what Regina chose for her.

"Could we please have a regular black coffee and a hot cocoa with cinnamon?"

The guy nodded along and it wasn't long until Regina paid and carried the two mugs over to the most secluded booth in the corner.

Emma followed, sparing glances at a few people scattered around the shop.

There were a few people typing furiously at devices with strange glowing apples, whilst others had those rectangular talking devices and were tapping lazily at whatever was on the screen.

The princess longed to know how every piece of technology in this room worked, so she was pretty sure that she would be convincing Regina to come back here once they had more time.

Emma stopped looking around when she and Regina slid into the booth and brought her attention to the hot cocoa.

She wasn't too surprised that Regina had guessed what she wanted, though she was somewhat confused by the addition of cinnamon.

She brought the drink up to her lips and took a deep sip and her eyes widened at the flavours playing across her tongue.

"Wow," she breathed.

Regina smiled into her own drink, before she asked, "have you thought about what you would like to do, dear?"

Emma's first instinct was to say that she wanted to explore, but that didn't feel like a good courtship activity and she could imagine it wouldn't be the best course of action in New York City.

"What do people typically do here for courtship?" Emma asked.

The goddess's cheeks coloured slightly before she replied, "in this world it is not known a courtship. I believe it is called 'dating'."

"And what does dating entail?"

Hades considered the question for a moment, she only had secondary information when it came to the answer, though she figured she had a pretty good grasp on the concept.

"From what I've gathered, it typically starts with having coffee together…"

"Which is precisely what we are doing now?" the blonde asked.

"I suppose it is…" Regina replied and she wasn't sure why she was still blushing considering that she had been in far more intimate moments since they had met, "I assume that this isn't the only thing you would like to do today?"

"So how would a date usually proceed after having coffee?"

"Well…I suppose one person surprises the other with some kind of activity they would both enjoy," Regina explained.

"That makes sense. Then you should surprise me with an activity? I have no idea how anything works in this place…" Emma asked.

"I…suppose that makes sense," Regina sighed as her mind went through all of the possibilities, but she blew out a breath when she felt a hand over hers and she looked over to the blonde who was smiling at her nervous wife.

"There is no reason to worry Regina, I'm sure you will choose the perfect date."

As it turned out, they did spend a couple hours exploring the city.

They walked hand-in-hand as Regina explained all of the significant sites of interest, but without a deeper knowledge of this realm, the landmarks were not exactly as awe-inspiring as they could have been.

Around Central Park, a thought occurred to the goddess.

The princess was clearly enamoured with the technology she had witnessed thus far, but taking her to the movies probably wouldn't be the best decision since it would take time to explain how to appreciate how fiction functioned on the screen.

Ultimately, she decided to go with something that required less explanation, which is why the couple were currently on a ferry to Coney Island.

Hades smiled at the blonde who was leaning over the railing, staring at the water treading underneath the boat.

Traveling by boat was yet another new experience for Emma, and she found it just as exhilarating as the other new experiences.

Regina walked over to lean her back against the railing and Emma turned to do the same, deliberating moving closer to the older woman.

Another new thing that she was learning was that it was far colder to travel by water.

A beat of silence passed between the pair, Emma checked that there was no one listening before she said, "this realm is truly beautiful."

"I believe that there are many here who would prefer the Enchanted Forest," Regina replied with a little scoff.

"And why would that be?"

"To them, it is a land of fantasy, they find hope in the love of Snow White and Prince Charming."

The blonde pushed herself from the railing fully so that she could look at her wife with her eyebrows now raised, "they know of my parents?" she asked.

"More like they know of a version of them who defeated the Evil Queen with True Love's Kiss."

"The Evil Queen? That cannot actually be her name…"

"Fairytales in this land tend to be rather reductive. I'm sure that there are many in the Enchanted Forest who would have no problem calling a wicked monarch 'The Evil Queen'," Regina said, her mouth pulling down in a deep frown.

Emma watched the woman's eyes drift over to the water, obviously thinking about some people in particular.

The goddess turned her attention away from the water when she felt fingertips brush against her own, showing the younger woman more vulnerability in her chocolate orbs than she had to anyone other than Persephone.

"My parents may believe that you're evil but they also believed that it would be wise to imprison me in my own home for 21 years. I wouldn't be so quick to place much stock in their judgment."

Regina smiled and asked, "was that your way of calling them idiots?"

Emma let out a laugh and fully entwined her fingers with her wife's before she replied, "I did not say those words exactly…"

The goddess was about to say 'thank you' for the reassurance, but the attempt was interrupted by a horn and both women turned to see that they had reached their destination.

Emma wasn't sure what it was that she was looking at, but she already knew that she loved it.

The lights were not quite as overwhelming as they had been in the city, but they were definitely more colourful.

She could faintly hear shouts of joy coming from the island and she could already see a collection of children running around gleefully on the sand.

A call sounded out indicating that they should now disembark and Emma kept her hand firmly in Regina's as they crossed over to the island.

Every fiber of the princess's being was itching to go and find out exactly what Coney Island was.

"What is this place?" she breathed once they were on the sand and away from anyone that would give them curious looks.

Hades couldn't help the wide grin on her face, she was pretty sure that the young woman before her had not been this excited in either Camelot or Wonderland, she may have finally outdone herself.

"This is one of the New York neighbourhoods, dear," Regina replied, "only this one becomes a site for entertainment for the people during the summer."

Emma nodded slowly.

Regina had tried to explain how all of the neighbourhoods worked and she was pretty sure that she had retained at least some of it.

However, her interest in geography was quickly stolen as she turned to look at the giant metal structures.

"That is Luna Park," the brunette supplied before the other woman could ask, "it is an amusement park, the people of this realm pay to ride the structures for enjoyment."

Instead of asking any further questions, Emma simply grabbed Regina's hand and pulled her towards the park.

S

Emma poked the thing in her hand and a frown took over her face as she realised that didn't help her identify it at all.

There was no way this was something that existed in nature.

"What is this called again?" she asked.

Regina looked over to the woman with a raised eyebrow as she was distracted from picking the next booth to go to.

"It's a corndog, dear," the goddess replied.

Emma nodded, though her question wasn't really answered. She decided that the best way to get an answer was to just go for it, which was why she took a large bite.

"It's disgusting," the princess announced, "I love it," she added and took a larger bite this time.

Regina laughed as Emma slipped her hand back into hers and they continued to walk while Emma finished her 'meal'.

They had been on the island for a couple hours and had been on a few rides, which Emma seemed to love even if she had no earthly idea how they worked.

Regina felt her hand tug back and realised that Emma had stopped moving and she turned to see what had caught the younger woman's attention.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked, before she followed the blonde's eye-line over to the booth and a smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

It was a ring-toss booth that had stolen Emma's attention probably because of the ten or so giant teddy-bears hanging above a load of smaller ones.

A moment later, Emma felt herself being pulled over to the booth.

Emma's eyebrows were pinched together as they came to a stop in front of the booth. Before she could ask what it was, Regina was pulling out a few dollars, much to the joy of the man behind the booth smiling at his newest customers.

"One dollar gives you three throws," he said with an obviously fake excitement which Emma thought sounded awfully cheap, "you could be in with the chance of winning one of these wonderful bears for the lovely lady."

Regina silently handed him a dollar and accepted three rings in return.

The goddess looked over shoulder at her wife and smiled at the interest on her face before she turned back to toss the first ring.

Despite the rigged odds, the ring found its target, which caused the smug expression on the man's face turned to one of disbelief.

This expression remained as she threw the next two rings.

"I believe this means I won?" she asked as the rings swung around a few times for good measure.

The man stared at the rings for a few seconds while trying to figure out whether it was actually possible.

He ultimately decided that it wouldn't be worth accusing this woman of cheating, she looked like the type to tear him a new one.

"Amazing," he shouted, returning to his carnival persona, while silently hoping that this couple wouldn't be claiming all of his large prizes, "which one would you like?"

Regina tuned her eyes back to Emma and motioned toward the larger prizes to silently tell her which ones she could pick from.

The princess could tell they were all animals, but there were a few that she didn't recognise.

She pointed at the cutest looking one and the guy brought it down and placed it into Emma's arms with a smile on his face that was looking more forced than it had a moment ago.

Regina thanked him and began to walk away with her wife following her.

On instinct, Emma tucked Regina's prize under her arm and took the older woman's hand.

Once the blonde was sure that no one was listening, she asked, "what is this?"

"It's a panda, dear," Regina replied.

Again, Emma didn't understand the answer when it came to this earth, but she had another question which was far more pressing than that, "was that another part of a date?"

"I suppose it was," Regina replied with a shrug, though her smile betrayed the fact that she had recognised her attempt at romance.

Emma nodded and allowed her gaze to go to her surroundings.

She really did not want this day to end. It had been one of the best in her life so far.

At the same time, she only had a couple days until the tournament.

She could just tell Regina that she wanted to stay here longer and not compete at all, but she didn't want to do that after she told Zelena that she would be.

Personally, she blamed her mother for how stubborn she was.

"So…how do these dates usually end?" she asked, hoping that Regina would get the hint that she was sending out.

The smile on the other woman's face fell a little when it hit her that they would have to go back to the Underworld.

Her eyes fell onto the tallest ride in the park. She could use that to make the most out of their remaining time for the day.

"I'll show you," she announced and started pulling the blonde towards the Ferris Wheel.

The pair were only in line for about ten minutes until they were sat in a carriage with the panda between them.

Emma visibly tensed as the wheel began to rise upwards.

She could see the whole island as the reached the top and she made a quick checklist of the things she hadn't got a chance to see.

As her muscles relaxed, she decided that they would definitely be coming back here soon.

She tore her eyes away from the sight and looked over to the woman sat on the other side of the panda and her heart fluttered a little when she realised that Regina had been staring at her the whole time.

Apparently, they had both been admiring the view.

"Today was amazing," Emma said, "dating seems to be more enjoyable than courtship."

Regina hummed in agreement.

The pair sat in a comfortable silence and simply enjoyed being together with no chance of interruption.

Emma noticed the carriage below had a couple kissing, completely oblivious to the outside world. It didn't take the princess more than a second to scoot closer to the goddess, getting as close as she could with a panda between them.

Before Regina could ask her what she was doing, she leaned over to place a chaste kiss to her lips and leaned back so that she could see her reaction.

The goddess spent a second in shock before it occurred to her that Emma was finally starting to understand the concept of dating.

She reclaimed her wife's lips in a more fierce kiss and decided that she would simply allow herself to enjoy this in a realm where it didn't matter that they were a princess and a goddess.

Dating really was better than courtship.