A/N: What's that? An update for this fic that didn't take a month or 3?! Holy shit balls! Ahem. Hopefully, this pace will continue, although there are a few things I still need to figure out. I hope you enjoy this update! Reviews would be lovely :)
"To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Maleficent asks as Lily stalks into the kitchen with Regina at her heels.
"I need to speak with you."
The Mayor cuts to the chase, and when Maleficent smirks and offers to pour them some wine, she accepts but warns
"This isn't a social visit."
"No?"
"I'm afraid not. Lily says you might be able to help us. I need a way back to the Enchanted Forest."
"Oh? Are you planning anything fun?"
The witch asks hopefully, and Regina offers her a withering look- her old friend quick to tease her since losing the darkness that had once given their relationship its bond- and sighs as she takes a sip of her wine.
"Not by your standards, no... Not by my standards, either. I need a way over there to go and help Emma and bring her back."
"Emma? The Saviour's gone missing?"
"Yes, but that is not information you are to share or to do anything with."
The brunette warns, and Lily speaks up from her perch on the kitchen counter and assures sternly
"Don't worry. She won't."
With a pointed look at her mother.
"Pity."
Maleficent sighs, but she greets the frown Regina throws her with a dismissive sweep of her hand and scoffs
"Don't worry, darling. There's nothing left for me over there since you destroyed the place, and the surly young Princess is your plaything. She is of no interest to me."
"My plaything?"
Regina asks icily- incidentally considering the witch's use of the term 'surly' to describe the blonde as rather rich, given the general mannerisms of her offspring- but the cruel titter she'd been expecting doesn't come, as it would appear Maleficent isn't thinking what she's thinking- nothing like that!- as she explains impatiently
"Yes. It's clear to anyone that the Saviour has replaced the role of her mother as the recipient of your rage and games. Now that that's less your style, it seems she remains your sparring partner, although the game has become frightfully boring, I'd imagine. Emma plays the antagonist in your story, Gina dear, not mine."
"Interesting... I believe it is we who are more often considered the antagonists."
"Well, that's because the heroes are the ones with too much time on their hands; they're the ones writing the books. Are you saying the Saviour doesn't antagonise you?"
"Oh, no. Miss Swan manages the task quite well."
Regina sighs, and Maleficent nods with a bored shrug, before asking after the matter at hand.
"So, what led to Emma finding her way home?"
"I'm not so sure that she meant to."
The brunette thins her lips, but when Maleficent asks her what she means and what might be going on, she shares a quick glance with Lily who appears in agreement that it might be best to skim over the specifics; telling her old friend only that Emma appears to have come to misfortune in her inarguably unusual basement, and that a brief consultation with Rumplestiltskin has confirmed where she is likely to have ended up.
"I never did understand why she chose to live in that place after what happened."
Maleficent frowns, and it's Lily's turn to speak up as she hops down from the marble counter and stalks to the fridge.
"I'm sure there's more to it, but I'd guess that her parents sharing a bed in the living room might have been an incentive to move out."
A grimace of disgust from her mother and the Mayor, who agrees
"I'd imagine that might do it."
"Why that house, though?"
Maleficent pushes, and Lily shrugs while Regina offers a similar gesture of uncertainty, although deep down she has her suspicions that Emma's attachment to the house exists somewhere between secrecy and embarrassment. Her ownership keeps others out as much as it serves to keep a roof over her head, and the brunette supposes she can understand why the younger woman might feel protective over what had been her dark space. She suffers similar emotions when it comes to her vault; on edge when any of the others have a reason- or the audacity!- to explore the place. It is tied to complicated parts of herself that she both resents and pities, and she would be so bold as to bet money on the idea that the blonde feels the same way about her basement.
"Can you help?"
She reverts back to her reason for visiting, and Maleficent raises a brow as she asks
"What's in it for me?"
"My respect."
Lily interrupts, and when her mother turns to glance at her, she takes a sip of the beer recently pulled from the fridge and reminds
"Regina's not the only one invested in Emma."
"Oh yes, that's right. I forgot, she threatened to kill you..."
The witch muses silkily, and the younger woman rolls her eyes as she reasons matter-of-factly
"Well, I was planning to murder her parents, so... tit for tat."
"Kids these days."
Maleficent sighs dramatically, before sitting up straight and adopting a serious tone.
"If I help you, Regina, you go alone."
"Fine."
The Mayor agrees immediately, while Lily growls at the exact same time
"What? Why?!"
"Because," the witch orders, "the nature of your power is internally damaging when it is not successfully harnessed. Here, you have suffered enough, but if you go back to a land rich with magic in the earth, the water, the forest, I have no way of knowing what might happen to you, and that's not a risk I am willing to take! There's too much you don't yet know about how to control yourself, and while I spare the Saviour's fate no real interest, I would fear that you might injure yourself should you rely on changing your form to help her or to hinder her."
"I wouldn't hinder her."
Lily frowns, and Maleficent shrugs as she replies with an air of finality
"Your intent makes no difference. You're not going."
"So how do we do it?"
Regina interrupts before the others can continue with their familial bickering, and Maleficent turns her attention back toward her old friend and smiles.
"It's fairly simple."
"Really?"
The brunette raises a brow sceptically, and the witch smirks as she nods in agreement.
"For those in the know. I understand you've struggled to find your way around the realms since taking up residence in this... Hovel... But not all of us are so ill-informed."
"Yet you linger, dear. Like a foul odour."
Regina points out waspishly, unable to hide just a note of offence from her tone, and Maleficent throws a glance towards her daughter and sighs
"Yes, well, you're not the only one who has had to come to terms with the realisation that there are times when our wishes must come second to the wishes of others."
"But you know a simple way back?"
"Relatively simple."
"And you never thought to mention this before?!"
"Oh, I have, just not to you. Ursula and I have had numerous discussions over the ways of this land and that. Dear Cruella too, until the Saviour saw fit to do what she did."
Maleficent muses; her face a parody of grief, and Regina rolls her eyes as she mutters that Emma wouldn't have acted without a reason, earning herself a knowing smirk which she bristles at irritably.
"Why was I never invited to any of these discussions?"
She snaps, and the witch raises a brow as she points an accusatory finger at her old friend.
"Regina, darling... You have to admit that you're no longer as fun as you were back when you owned the throne. Us girls like to gossip over wickedness and destruction, and you, my love, have gone soft. You're no longer invited to the party."
"Is that supposed to upset me?"
"No... Although it would be an amusing bonus."
"Well, it doesn't."
The brunette insists haughtily, sounding almost convinced herself, and she meets Maleficent's quiet tittering with a dismissive flick of her hand and gets back to the matter at hand.
"How do I do it? How do I get back there? Tell me now, this isn't the time for games."
"Not for you, perhaps."
The witch shrugs, before catching a murderous glower from Lily and crossing her arms over her chest moodily.
"How did it come to be that everyone in my life has turned so dull? All this fuss over a woman most of us would be better off without."
"That's not true."
Regina warns, and when Maleficent makes mention of Henry, she holds up her hand to demand silence and advises coldly
"Miss Swan's value to this town and its people has been proven many times over. Yours has not, and I would like to remind you of the fact that my power surpasses your own."
"Is that a threat?"
"A statement. One I suggest you consider carefully."
"No need. I'm one of your oldest friends, and any fire that might once have lent that adorable warning some credence is long gone."
"I wouldn't count on it."
Regina hisses, and Maleficent splays her palms in a 'suit yourself' gesture and relents.
"Alright. I'll help you rescue the Princess... Ugh. Just saying that makes my skin crawl."
"And mine to hear it, but please elaborate."
The brunette sighs with a hint of a smile, and the witch smirks but does as she's told.
"I take it you possess a full-length mirror? I would be rather surprised if you didn't."
"Of course I do."
Regina nods, finding no reason to feel offended by this presumption in the slightest.
"And you recall the layout of a room within the Enchanted Forest containing a mirror of a similar size well enough to call it vividly to mind?"
"Yes."
"Good. Now... Are you willing to bleed for the Saviour?"
"... Bleed?"
The brunette asks dubiously, and she glowers as the witch purposefully meets her with silence.
"How much blood?"
She asks finally, and when she is still denied an answer, she narrows her eyes further but confesses
"Provided you're not suggesting sacrifice, or an amount that would render me in great peril, I'll do it. Perhaps not willingly, but it seems the lesser of two evils when I consider my other choice is to leave Miss Swan stranded in the Enchanted Forest; something which I don't relish the thought of explaining to Henry, nor her parents."
"Wonderful."
Maleficent smiles, and when the brunette clears her throat expectantly, she laughs and assures
"Don't worry, darling, I'm not suggesting anything so messy. I was just curious."
A death glare in response to this and the witch's amusement only increases, before she relents and explains what has to be done.
"A small prick will do it. No need to fret."
"That's it?"
"That's it. Conjure up a clear image of the room, and once you have it accurate enough in your head to alter the reflection, you simply open up the seal between the realms by drawing yourself a door with your essence; your blood. Be sure there are no gaps- so perhaps cut a little deeper- and you will be able to pass through."
"That's it?! That's all that's needed?!"
Regina asks incredulously; recalling several times where this knowledge might have saved her immeasurable stress and heartache.
"Well, there is one small catch."
Maleficent admits.
"Of course there is. What is it?"
The brunette sighs apprehensively.
"A door such as the one you plan to make can only last so long. Imagine the chaos that would ensue if it were permanent! That, and you need something to bind you to this realm in order to find a way back."
"A bind?"
"Of sorts. You know of the gift of sevens, I take it?"
"Seven hours granted by an object enchanted. Yes, I know of it from my mother's books, but I have never used the spell myself."
"It's not difficult. Symbolism takes care of most of it. The object, in this case, must be a candle, enchanted to burn for seven hours. Once you have made your blood seal around the mirror, you must tether yourself to the candle. Seven drops of blood before you go through, directly into the flame. Contrived, I know, but the old spells sometimes do work best. Don't worry, the enchantment will keep the flame from being dampened by your offering, but I advise you to leave it burning somewhere sheltered. Close enough to the mirror for it to call you back, but proficiently covered to keep the flame from going out."
"If it does, am I to take it that I will be trapped on the other side, unable to make it back through?"
"Very clever, and partially correct."
"Partially?"
"Indeed. If the candle burns out and you run out of time, or if the flame is prematurely snuffed out, the door will be forever closed to you, and none may use it. Your offering remains in play, however; it hasn't been completed, as your act of magic never reached a conclusion. So, not only will that door be forever closed to you, but all doors within the realm you find yourself will be closed to you. You may never repeat the enchantment should you find yourself with unfinished business. You won't be able to use the same trick to get back, and your power will never be quite the same. There will always be an element of your magic that is lost to you. Forever in play, paying the toll."
"... Just a small catch, then..."
Regina frowns, and Maleficent splays her palms and asks of the brunette
"When has magic ever come without its price?"
Moody silence follows this question, finally broken by Lily who asks from her resumed perch on the counter
"Will you do it? Will you go get Emma?"
"... I suppose I have little choice. She would do the same for me."
"Touching."
Maleficent taunts, and when the Mayor offers her a sour look, she holds up a finger and points out seriously
"If she were to do so, she would do so blind. She knows little of the ways of that world and its rules. You, darling... You're going in knowing full well what a bad idea that's apt to be."
"I am. And, Miss Swan better believe she'll owe me, and that I will never let her forget it!"