"Victor..."
The young man growls and takes a menacing step closer, fury clouding his sallow face. The blonde moves in turn to stand in front of Regina, but the brunette finds her waist and pulls her gently to the side, whispering in her ear to stay out of this.
She wishes she could demand Emma cover her ears and leave the room altogether, but she knows neither party that shares the floor would allow such a thing.
"You... You did this... All of this... You bitch! You-"
"-Hey! Don't you fucking talk to her like that!"
The doctor glances irritably at the younger woman as she barks at him angrily, supposing they must form a very odd tableaux indeed between the three of them; what with the Swan woman standing as though ready for battle in her fucking underwear.
"I will talk to her however I wish! After everything she's done, she deserves no form of dignity or respect! And who the hell are you to jump to her defence? After everything she's done to you! What she's taken from you! She destroyed my happiness, and she stamped yours out before you were even born, you dumb little bitch, so why in the hell would you care how I talk to her?!"
"I don't-"
But the doctor doesn't wait to hear whatever the Saviour has to say, he merely lunges at the Queen that has caused all of his despicable misery with a blind rage that causes the brunette to flinch as she remains frozen in place with shock. She is pulled rudely from her numb state when Emma counteracts Victor's assault, sending the doctor, along with herself, into a snarling heap of flailing limbs and teeth on the dust-dirtied floor; green eyes flashing towards the gun that lies just a little out of reach. Before she can scramble over to claim purchase, Regina sweeps the weapon swiftly up into her shaking hands and points it at the hateful young man, crying out desperately to be heard over the alarming sound of the blonde and the doctor scrapping with a ferocity that frightens her to the core.
"Stop! Get off of her! Emma, get up! Come here, get behind me!"
The doctor stills as he catches the silver gleam of the gun glimmering fatally from between delicate hands. He suffers a brief wave of fear, before frowning when he ponders the fact that the Queen seems reliant on weaponry rather than power. He moves to sit up slowly, his hands wet with blood that isn't his own and he watches as Emma pushes herself up onto her feet shakily, the dressings to her wrists ruined and saturated with fresh scarlet that matches the twin splotches of rage at her cheeks.
"She's not who you think she is, Emma! She's... She's evil. She's-"
"Hold your tongue!"
Regina growls as the Sheriff moves to stand beside her with a wary frown. The darker woman glances down at the fresh blood that coats the blonde's wrists and arms and grits her teeth, her fingers trembling at the trigger frantically.
"One more word out of turn and I'll shoot you where you sit, do you understand me?"
"No you won't... If you were going to use that gun on me you would have done so already, much like she did when she offed the Hatter just now..."
Whale points accusingly at Emma who casts a fretful glance down at the crumpled body of the madman and stammers.
"Jefferson?...I had to do that! H-he was going to kill her! It was us or him!"
"And he would have been doing us all a great favour, Miss Swan! If the Hatter had killed the Queen, then all of this madness could have ended! We would have been free! We would have-"
"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up! I'm sick of this fucking game! I don't know which one of you talked to Henry, but it's enough! I'm not scared of your fucked up little game alright?! So you just damn well quit calling Regina the Queen- calling her evil- because it's fucked up! You hear me!? I don't know what I did that made me deserve all this crap with Gold, and you know what? I couldn't really give a shit right now! But I'll be damned if I'm going to stand here listening to you reciting such crazed, lunatic theories to try and freak me out! It's done! It's over! Gold is lying on the floor unconscious, and I'm getting the hell out of here! So you can stop with the-"
"-Stop denying what stands before your very eyes! Your ignorance is your own burden, but I must implore you, please, step away from her! She is not who she claims to be; she is not the Mayor, she is the Queen! She ruined your parents, ruined your family, ruined your hope! You think what Rumplestiltskin did to you here was bad? That woman will have you screaming for mercy without lifting a finger! She's having you on, Emma! She's-"
Whale's words taper off into a pained scream as his thigh explodes into an abused crater of gore. Regina drops the gun with a cry, her dark eyes flickering to the blonde who stands motionless with her mouth open, and back to the doctor who curls up on the floor sobbing as he claws at his ruined leg.
"Enough... I warned you..."
"Oh jeez, Regina... Oh shit, you shot him... Oh shit..."
"I know... I know, dear... Hush now, okay? Hush, Emma, I need to think what to do..."
"Regina, he's bleeding out... He's... Oh fuck..."
The brunette bites her lip as the Sheriff mumbles fretfully, a simple glance in the younger woman's direction enough to warn her that Emma is on the verge of freaking out; her sanity already abused mercilessly by her time spent cooped up with the madmen that scatter the floor of the room, and now shadowed with the blood that seeps into the floorboards from the young doctor's thigh.
Must have hit the femoral artery... How inconvenient...
"Emma, go sit on the bed and put your head between your legs."
"What?! N-no! Regina, we need to-"
"-Please! Things are already completely out of control! I can't have you passing out on me!"
"I'm fine! I just-Ah!"
Regina jumps and looks back at the blonde from her position crouched over the bleeding doctor; eyes widening to match the Sheriff's as the pawnbroker growls the younger woman's name as he slowly regains consciousness.
Chest tightening, her eyes flicker feverishly from Gold, to Emma, to Whale and back again. The Pawnbroker's dark eyes open blearily, and the cruel sneer he offers as those poisonous orbs focus upon her is enough to make what is one of the hardest decisions she's ever had to make. Lunging forward towards the Sheriff, she pulls her flush with shaking hands- ignoring the surprised yelp Emma emits into her glossy hair- and closes her eyes.
The sensation of power that courses through her is nauseating in its cobwebbed un-use, and she prays frantically that she possesses the strength to do what must be done. She is vaguely aware of slim fingers digging painfully into her shoulders as Emma clings to her fearfully; the younger woman coughing fitfully as purple smoke engulfs them and throws them into a dizzying darkness.
Eventually, the spinning stops, and Regina struggles to battle down a resultant wave of nausea; the weak retching that makes her frown in her disorientated state suggesting that the Sheriff has been less successful in this particular endeavour. Keeping her eyes clamped stubbornly shut, she cautiously spreads her fingers out at her sides and proceeds to explore her surroundings.
Her nervousness abates somewhat at the familiar feel of plush fibers beneath her fingertips, along with the unmistakable scent of sweet apple musk that greets her, and she knows without opening her eyes that she lies on the floor of her bedroom. Reaching out blindly to her left, her fingers brush against warm flesh and she sobs quietly in her relief, pushing herself up to regard the blonde as the younger woman lies on her back with wide fear-filled eyes.
"Emma..."
"...What in the actual fuck...?"