Chapter twenty-eight

Emma expected the lowest level of hell to be dark, cold, hopeless, among a great number of other negative descriptors.

Once she passed through the final gate into the deepest section of Tartarus, she registered that all of those words could be attributed to what she saw to varying degrees but wasn't the abject oblivion that had come to mind when Kronos was mentioned back in her parents' dining room.

Perhaps the strangest thing was the cold air that hit her face as she passed through the gate, it simply couldn't be right.

There wasn't even a breeze up in the Underworld.

However, her feet still took her forward, and the princess, with her sword held up, decided that this couldn't really be what Kronos's prison actually looked like.

It had to be yet another in a long line of tricks.

Platinum columns held up a domed ceiling through which twilight was trying its best to filter in from a collection of holes at the top.

The ceiling was painted, proudly displaying an event that Emma had kind of hoped hadn't actually happened.

She would rather not think about the end of Kronos's father which resulted in the birth of Aphrodite, so she tore her eyes away from the rather graphic images that would likely return to her mind at some inopportune moment in the future.

Right now was not the time to worry about the potential psychological scars of seeing the demise of her wife's grandfather.

Instead, she continued to slowly inspect the platinum all around her and decided that this had to be a throne room and that it had to belong to someone obsessed with others knowing that they deserved it.

She hadn't seen Zelena's throne room on Olympus, but she had to imagine that it was just as elaborate as this one.

All of her suspicions were confirmed when she pushed past a colossal pillar to find a woman sat atop the dark throne, staring intently at the doors opposite her.

Emma knew straightaway that she was an immortal, but there was something else to it.

The only word Emma could think of was 'older'.

Olympians were already ancient and powerful enough to make any mortal feel insignificant but Emma had never felt this so acutely.

After all, what was she to Time itself?

Still, the princess gripped her weapon and held it up but the woman didn't react so she relaxed her hand and started glancing around, trying to figure out what was going on here.

She got her answers in the form of the woman's voice that boomed, "you're late!"

Emma actually jumped and held her breath until it hit her that the furious woman couldn't see her and she focused instead on the person who was being addressed.

It was a red-head who was gliding towards the throne.

"This may surprise you, mother, but it is not easy to sneak away to Mount Othrys," Zelena replied.

Emma wanted to raise her sword again and frantically swipe it at Zelena but she somehow managed to hold herself back.

Apparently she couldn't see her either and she would rather not make a fool out of herself, at least for no reason.

When she pushed past this desire, the meaning of the Olympian's words registered in Emma's mind and confirmed her suspicions.

Mother.

The woman on the throne was wearing the same scowl as Zelena but her mother-in-law definitely had her wife's hair and eyes.

The similarities were as striking as the differences.

"From my understanding, you are rather adept at sneaking, Hades," Kronos replied lowly.

"Don't call me that!" Zelena shouted back and Cora openly laughed as she leaned back in the throne and languidly brought her fingers over to trail over the blade of the scythe leaning next to her, always ready for use.

Her eyes seemed to bore into Zelena as she replied, "your father is quite sure that it's the role you were always supposed to play when you and your ungrateful siblings 'overthrow' us terrible Titans."

"Ungrateful," Zelena scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest, "you do remember what started all of this, don't you?"

Cora gripped the arms of the throne and, with a strong flourish, pushed herself to her feet before she crossed the distance to stand over her child.

"Yes, I remember your father's deceptions quite clearly," Cora replied with narrowed eyes and Zelena leaned back, "as I remember, he expected you to follow the great Zeus into battle, which really begs the question, why are you here?"

Zelena took another step back, her eyes drawn up to the images of her grandfather's fate, before she admitted, "I don't want to be Hades."

"And you came running to your mother for help?" Cora laughed, "have you considered perhaps that your father was right?"

"So you believe that you are destined to lose?" Zelena asked, just a little meekly.

Cora turned and pulled her weapon into her hand and then held it up so that the blade was close to her daughter's neck, before she replied, "of course not, he's a fool but perhaps it will be easier with one less of you."

Emma was finally witness to the expression on her sister-in-law's face that she had back when Regina threw a lightening bolt at her, but this time, the weapon that she was being threatened with had the chance to actually rip her very soul from her body.

"Perhaps we could help each other? Together we can change each other's destiny?" Zelena asked.

"And what makes you think that I need your help?" Cora replied, though she did bring the scythe back down to her side, prepared to raise it again at a moment's notice.

"Perhaps if I reveal a traitor in your ranks?" Zelena suggested, clear desperation in the words.

"I already know about Prometheus," Cora replied, dismissively.

"And his brother?" Zelena said without much hesitation as she perked up with hope.

Cora froze in her decision to return to her throne and send her daughter away and she narrowed her eyes before she said, "and what is it that you want in exchange?"

"Simple, tell me what makes Regina Zeus," Zelena said and the scene dissolved just as Cora opened her mouth to respond.

Emma was about to rush forward, as if she could grab the scene and force it to come back.

Just one more sentence and she would have all the information that she needed to help her wife!

However, she didn't have much time to dwell on how close she came as her surroundings morphed into a place she vaguely recognised as Olympus.

The atmosphere made it seem like another place entirely when compared to her own visit.

There was singing, drinking, celebration, just general merriment that definitely wasn't present among the tense Olympians of the future.

It's the kind of thing that Emma dreamed of back when she thought a ball would be an enjoyable affair.

Just like the last scene, Emma was sure that no one could see her, though in this instance it could very well be because they were all too intoxicated to notice who was next to them.

There was one person who caught her eye in particular though and she let out a sharp breath as she pulled over to the woman sat on the edge of a water feature, looking out onto the party.

Emma's cheeks caught fire as her eyes raked over the woman with her hair braided over her shoulder which as covered in a thick layer of fur that trailed down her back and covered her golden armour.

Emma's gaze stopped on the eagle embossed on the headpiece and then moved back down to the chocolate orbs that were somehow familiar and foreign.

"Regina," she breathed, her sword completely forgotten at her side and her stomach twisted when the woman didn't react to her.

In spite of not being acknowledged by a single person since she arrived, her wife not looking at her was perhaps the most painful, especially since she had no idea where her Regina was. If she was in pain, whether she was disappointed in how long it was taking Emma to help her.

It stung more when Regina looked up to the sound of another woman's voice, especially when she smiled at the owner of that voice.

"Look around, Regina, everyone is happy. Why are you brooding?"

"I'm not brooding," Regina replied and Emma narrowed her eyes as Ruby stepped directly through her and sat next to the armoured Olympian who added, "there's so much to do…"

Ruby held up a glass in response, which Regina accepted while her companion drank from her own.

Regina sipped from hers, not taking her eyes off her promised bride, who placed her glass onto the side of the fountain and shifted so that she was sitting closer to her, Emma clenched her fists as Persephone placed her hand onto Regina's knee.

"Tomorrow, my love. We can start putting Cosmos to order tomorrow," Ruby said softly, "Zelena will pass down your father's will and then you can get to work righting all of your mother's wrongs."

"And what is it that makes you so sure that it will me who will be responsible for that task?" Regina asked.

Ruby quirked an eyebrow and plucked the headpiece from Regina's forehead and held it up to her eyes, "you do see what you're wearing?"

Regina laughed and took the headpiece from her, placing it beside her glass and then taking Ruby's hand in her own, "I didn't choose this, Ruby."

The other brunette hummed and pushed some stray hair behind Regina's ear before she replied, "and yet it suits you so well."

Regina was prepared to argue that she only did what needed to be done, but Ruby's hand came down to cup the back of her neck so that she could pull her forward and place their lips together.

Acid rose in Emma's throat.

If her magic was currently working than her jealousy would have definitely ignited flames in her hands but as it was, the torturous scene continued for a few more moments until Ruby pulled back and Emma had to resist her desire to go over and slap Persephone.

Somehow, she managed to continue just watching as Regina's fingers trailed absently onto the ring on Ruby's left hand.

Emma's own thumb came to rest on her golden band, reassured that it was still there as Ruby placed her palm against the gold plate on Regina's stomach.

"Is there any chance that you could wear this tomorrow evening?" Ruby asked.

"You want me to wear armour to our wedding?" Regina replied, though there was a definite blush that had Emma clenching her jaw.

"I would very much enjoy it, especially afterwards," Ruby replied sultrily.

Emma had to turn away from the scene when Ruby's hand moved down Regina's leg only to find someone behind her, someone who was actually looking directly at her.

Her mouth dropped open a little, but she managed to remember that she wasn't defenceless and she lifted her sword but the woman regarded her before she effortlessly pushed the blade down.

As she did this, Emma registered that everyone else had disappeared (she did quickly check that 'Regina' was gone) they were still on 'Olympus' but now it was just her and her mother-in-law.

"The passage of time is a strange thing, isn't it Hera? What a difference a moment can make," Cora mused, sounding genial enough, but Emma was still very much on her guard.

"A moment?" Emma repeated, "these things happened thousands of years ago."

"A moment? A century? A millennia? What is the difference, really? Either way, jealously doesn't suit you, your highness," Cora replied, smirking deeply.

Instead of arguing that she was in no way jealous, because she knew that Regina was once in love with Persephone, she gave herself a moment to really take in Kronos's appearance.

Much like Tartarus, she was expecting something approximating unending darkness, an evil so heinous and old that it had to be sliced up before the first mortal ever took a breath, however, even after so much time, Cora appeared almost exactly as she had in the memory.

She may be the most ancient immortal Emma had come face-to-face with, but without the scythe and throne room, it just wasn't the same.

"How is it that you know who I am?" Emma asked, deciding that she wouldn't ask Kronos about the whole 'Hera' thing. The woman may seem to be in good spirits, but she had just witnessed her threaten her own daughter with a soul ripping weapon, so she was not eager to prolong this conversation and she was coming to suspect that no one would tell her what it meant anyway. She was hoping that Regina would know.

Kronos spread her hands and the image of Olympus flickered away to reveal the oblivion behind it, revealing the chains clasped around the woman's feet which Emma's eyes flicked down to.

This was all closer to what she thought it would be like down here but her mind hadn't been capable of conjuring a darkness so devoid of light.

She didn't get a chance to think of an apt descriptor for it though, the empty Olympus reappeared as Cora replied, "as of late, I find that I have time to simply observe and I agree with you dear, my children are extremely petty."

"And yet you helped Zelena?" Emma asked with narrowed eyes.

"She proposed a coalition of sorts, between Titans and Olympians, but when the time came, she had no qualms letting her little sister bring me here," Cora replied with a sigh as her eyes briefly moved around her prison.

"So you'll help me?" Emma asked cautiously.

"Of course I will," Cora replied and Emma visibly relaxed, but she didn't get the chance to launch into all of her questions as the Titan held up her finger and added, "only, incase are you haven't noticed, your precious wife isn't fond of me. You wouldn't inprison your mother for all time, would you dear?"

"No I would not, but my mother is not the queen of the Titans," Emma replied without considering her answer too much.

All pretence of friendliness fell away from Kronos when the statement hit her ears and, with a scowl, she asked, "do you even know what it is that I supposedly did to deserve this?"

"I don't need to," Emma replied.

Cora drew her lips into a thin line and said, "oh no, of course not, why wouldn't a mortal prefer the Olympians? There is a reason that I never tainted my world with such lesser beings!"

"I'm not mortal," Emma said firmly, stepping towards the ranting Titan, "you've admitted that Zelena betrayed you, all I need to know is how she did it."

Cora laughed coldly and replied, "yes, I am aware of your immortality, Emma, True Love truly is a pesky thing…but don't pretend that your life is anything more than a drop in the oceans of every realm. Do you expect me to relinquish this chance of freedom in the interest of cooperation?"

"Freedom?" Emma scoffed, "why would I ever help you with that?"

"Could you live the rest of eternity without your wife?" Cora asked, "am I not proof that an immortal can suffer for all time? It's quite simple, really, release my chains and I will tell you everything that you need to know how to help Regina. You must understand that I no longer crave the throne, only the very freedom that you spent two decades dreaming of."

Emma closed her eyes and took in a heavy breath.

She was starting to understand why Neal was afraid of her even if the chains stopped her from physically attacking.

Her words were quite effective.

It would be simple to release the chains and then save Regina, but then what?

Surely Cora was lying about her disinterest in power? Regina wouldn't want to be saved just to enter into a second Titanomochy, right? Even if it did seem like a good way to end Zelena's reign of terror?

Emma didn't think too long about it because she couldn't swap the pettiness of Zelena for the power that her mother possessed.

"No," Emma replied and sheathed her sword with a resigned sigh, "I can't free you."

"Really? I thought that becoming Zeus's wife would be quite the incentive," Cora tried again.

Emma shook her head and replied, "I will find another way," but her resolve faltered when she turned and the scene shifted again to something much more familiar.

It was not the kind of familiarity that she wanted to have.

She was back in the White Palace's library once again and she was faced with an image of herself at a table moving flowers around a vase.

"My lady, your parents are requesting your presence in the throne room," the servant's voice announced the moment that the door to the library creaked open.

The younger version of Emma inclined her head and asked, "pink or white?'

"Pink, your highness," the servant replied.

The memory version of Emma bit her lip as she picked up a pink flower from the table and placed it delicately into the vase and then took a step back to smile brightly at her creation, "perfect," she said, "they should call you Persephone."

The servant ducked her head and the mortal princess moved over to the door and out into the hallway to go and meet Regina for the first time.

From across the library, the chained Kronos said again, "the difference a moment can make, from an in-prisoned princess to Hera. You were allowed to leave the life you hated, would you really impose that onto another person?"

"You're hardly a person," Emma said over her shoulder.

Cora sneered and replied, "I was referring to Regina."

Emma looked back to the door that once took her to Regina, back before she was married, before she knew what real adventure was, before she was literally incapable of death.

In that moment, Emma mused that she would have happily left the flowers behind if she had known what she was heading towards and that it was something that she had to protect. She couldn't just take the easy way out here.

Bolstered by the thought, she said, without turning around this time, "I will find another way," before she crossed the distance.

As she stepped through the door, it became a gate once again and, as soon as Emma crossed the threshold, the gate closed locking Kronos behind it.

Light flickered down through the treetops and down onto the ruby encrusted hilt of the sword fused with the rock at the centre of the clearing, sending small red rays shining into the air.

Below the hilt, the blade itself seemed to emit a low white light that could surely only be explained by some form of magic and Emma truly thought it was beautiful.

Across the clearing, Regina sat on a blanket that her wife had magically summoned and she drank deeply from her goblet of wine as she watched said wife closely inspecting the blade that would remain in the rock until its owner was ready to become the 'one true king'.

"It's hard to believe that Prince Arthur could be worthy of this," Emma said, her reverence for the artefact finally giving way to actual words.

Regina placed her goblet down to the floor and gave Emma a few more moments to simply admire the workmanship of Excalibur, before she replied, "Prince Arthur certainly isn't worthy, but King Arthur is quite a different man."

Emma turned away from the blade, satisfied that she had inspected every inch of it, and she smiled as she came over to sit next to her wife.

As she sat down next to her, she said, "still, it's strange to think that they could be the same person."

"People can change dramatically in very short periods of time," Regina said before accepting a peck on the lips from Emma who then picked up her goblet and took a few sips from it.

"Speaking of changing…" Emma began but Regina sighed deeply so she placed her hand onto her knee, "I know that you think it's a bad idea…"

"It's a terrible idea," Regina replied, "something will go horribly wrong if I enter your parents' palace."

"They won't know it's you," Emma argued.

"And if they find out? I didn't exactly make the best...impression the last time I was there," Regina pointed out as she stared down to the goblet of wine that Emma had already finished.

Before she could think about waving her hand to fill it back up, though, Emma took her hand and repeated, "people can change dramatically in very short periods of time."

Regina turned her eyes over to their joined hands and let out a very heavy sigh and said, "I'm sure that your parents won't see it that way, won't you enjoy their company more without having to contend with that?"

"Historically, the answer is no," Emma replied as Regina entwined their fingers as she added, "but there's no reason to dwell on that, we still have another day."

This simple statement relaxed Regina exponentially and she asked, "have you decided where you would like to go yet?"

"I would like to go back to the land without magic but I don't know enough about it to say where we would actually go," Emma said and shifted so that she was leaning against the older woman as she stared up into the idyllic treetops, the faint sound of birdsong ringing throughout the forest only made this moment all the more perfect. It was precisely for this reason that she had dropped the subject of her parents, she didn't want to pass up the opportunity to spend time with her wife without anyone else around, which was something that Regina appreciated immensely.

Regina hummed as Emma leaned into her and her hand came up to stroke her hair lightly as she looked at the filtering light and she replied, "well we could visit London, you could see Queen Elizabeth's palace."

This tore Emma's attention away from the light and the bird song and she asked, "they have monarchs?"

"Britain does, among other countries," Regina replied, "but it's very different to the Enchanted Forest."

Emma let out a breath and looked back up to the treetops as she leaned more into Regina and said, "different sounds nice."

Regina's eyes slowly opened as the memory came to an end and she was once again met with the ruins atop Mount Othrys.

It had been two painful days but she still felt like she had been up here for years.

When Zelena had set out her insane plan, Regina figured that she could handle it for as long as she needed to in order to make sure Dawn was okay but physical pain was not something she had grown used to yet as she had with the more psychological type.

During the 'act' itself, there was literally nothing to focus on other than the pain and she really had to wonder whether Prometheus had managed to hold onto his sanity through his similar torture.

In the hours after the physical-pain had dulled from agony to an ache, she managed to endure it by thinking back to the moments from her relationship with her wife.

As much as these memories were her 'safe haven', she wished that she had more to draw on.

Of course, the moment that she found out that her time with Emma was no longer limited by mortality had to be marred by Zelena but at least the revelation gave her faith that Dawn would have someone to protect her for as long as she was chained to her mother's throne.

None of this helped with the anger running through her divine being at her sister's audacity, though.

If she had coveted her title at any point in even the last thousand years, then maybe she could have understood the root of this ridiculous overreaction, she may still have thought it was insane but at least she could see where it was coming from to a certain degree.

As it was, she truly did not care which throne she sat on until the very moment that the current Zeus had threatened her wife and daughter.

This was not what she had in mind when she planned to take down the Titans with her siblings.

Was Zelena all that different from Kronos?

For the first time since her older sister revealed the truth to her, Regina felt ashamed with herself.

How much suffering had been caused by refusing to take any action? Should she have cared about who it was that sat on the throne of Olympus?

The goddess shifted on the damaged throne and glanced up to the sky to check the position of the sun.

She figured that she had some time before the eagle reappeared, so with a deep breath she was about to close her eyes and conjure some more images of her adventures with Emma but she was distracted by rubble falling.

Regina's eyes shot across to find that someone had infact appeared before her, however, it was definitely not who she expected it to be nor was it who she hoped it would be.

Regina shifted in her seat, the chains dragging across the arms of the throne, as she did and inspected Hermes who was looking back at her with widened eyes.

He had the expression of someone who was shocked even though he didn't know what he was expecting to find when he came back here.

"August," Regina said and her voice broke him out of his surprised stupor as the younger god began to walk over to the throne but hesitated and remained rooted to where he was.

"Are you…" he started but he had no idea what he actually wanted to say and rocked on his feet before he settled on, "what happened?"

"Nothing happened, can you not see that everything is fine?" Regina asked sardonically, raising her shackled hands at the end.

Hermes was unaffected by the sarcasm though as he replied, "did Zeus do this to you?"

"Yes, Zelena did," Regina said, she didn't know Hermes well enough to hazard a guess as to why he was here, it couldn't be Zelena looking for information because what else could she possibly need?

Plus, he did appear genuinely concerned, if a little nervous, as he asked, "but…why?'

"I honestly couldn't answer that question," Regina replied, "you would need to ask her."

Hermes visibly cringed at the suggestion but he did take a step forwards after he took a second to recover from the thought of Zelena's voice booming that it was none of his business.

Hermes ran his tongue over his lips, and said, "my mother told me of your deeds in the war against the Titans. She was surprised that you did not become Zeus and I never really understood why it mattered, but this…" he gestured towards the chains, "this isn't right."

Regina would have perhaps have been glad to hear that someone else recognised her sister's insanity earlier in her life but at this point it didn't mean quite as much, especially coming from her messenger who had long since lost the sense of wonder that had him stealing sacred cattle.

"What can I do?" Hermes asked, drawing himself up as a squawking behind him hailed the return of a certain bird which elicited another sigh from Hades.

Hermes glanced over to the creature that was rearing to go but before he could ask why it was here, Regina said, "you could help me by going to the Underworld and making sure that my daughter was actually released and that she is safe."

"Released?" Hermes repeated, "your daughter was Zelena's prisoner?"

The eagle squawked again and Regina pulled herself up against her mother's broken throne before she said, "yes and I need to know that she is unharmed."

Hermes's eyes remained on the eagle before they slid back to the chained woman and he replied, "I can certainly do that, but…"

"There is nothing you can do to stop this, checking on my daughter is the best way that you can help me, August," Regina said, already bracing herself for the upcoming physical agony.

Hermes hesitated but bowed his head in agreement.

His form turned to smoke as the eagle took flight again and Regina gripped the platinum under her fingers.