Chapter thirty-one
Out of instinct, Emma placed herself in front of Hermes, pointing her blade at the man standing in the way of getting any semblance of her life back.
Fear may be a relatively new emotion for her, but the abject rage that pulsed through her when Zelena started hurting her father was entirely foreign.
Now it was rearing its ugly head again.
Why did there have to be a god at every corner?!
Even though the man was unaffected by the pointing of her weapon, she still demanded, "why are you here, James?"
James chuckled as he pushed off the rock and stalked towards the blonde, his eyes flicking up and down his target as he moved.
"I'd heard a rumour that Regina's precious princess is now somehow immortal. I thought you would like the chance to thank me," he taunted.
It was Emma's turn to laugh derisively while stepping more fully in front of Hermes, "thank you? For what?"
"Well it seems to me that without the…minor injury I dained to give you that you would have remained pathetically mortal," Ares replied, grinning his most punchable grin.
"How did you find us?" Emma demanded, her stomach twisting.
If Zelena had sent him, then that surely didn't bode well for her wife?
If she was moved from Mount Othrys then Emma would be forced to start her immortal life just looking for Regina.
She had no doubt they would eventually be reunited, but she would rather not be parted from her for much longer, especially since hardly any of this seemed necessary in the least.
This was why she narrowed her eyes at the cocky god as he replied, "oh don't worry, Em, your dear sister-in-law has no idea where either of us are. I just thought I would check in on the Underworld and I got into a conversation with Penny."
Emma drew her eyebrows together, briefly worried when she considered what else he could have run into in the Underworld.
She was very close to asking if he'd encountered Hestia and Poseidon, but managed to hold that urge in.
Surely their betrayal would have been more important than some newly immortal princess?
"You mean Penelope?" Emma asked, squinting at the god while Hermes squeaked at her back.
James focused on the messenger, not at all concerned with incorrectly identifying some demon he'd interrogated.
"You felt it too didn't you, Hermes? Don't you think you should be running along to the call?"
Emma glanced at the nervous god and asked, "what is he talking about?"
"Zeu…Zelena is calling all the Olympians to a meeting…if I don't go, she will come looking and…" he rushed out.
"Please send along my apologises little messenger," Ares interrupted, "tell Zeus I'm currently preoccupied with an important task," James interrupted.
"Emma…" Hermes started, butEmma shook her head.
"I'll be fine, August, you should go," Emma reassured.
Hermes bit his lip as he disappeared into smoke, his last view of the master bolt blocked by Ares waving at him, as smug as ever.
Once he was gone, Ares turned all of his attention to Emma and said, "I see you're just as brave as ever, princess."
Emma drew her lips together, not bothering with a retort since it would only bolster the smug level.
Instead of trying to figure out words that would pierce his bravado, she just launched forward with her father's sword, ready to draw ichor.
Ares blocked the strike with the flat of his blade, barely moving as he did while Emma gripped the hilt of her weapon with both hands.
Ares tilted his head and said, "well someone has been practising, your form is much improved."
Rather than thanking him, she pushed forward with all of her strength and Ares's smile disappeared as he actually stumbled back.
He regained his footing quickly, though, and dodged three successive strikes that were aimed for his chest.
On her last attempt, Ares pushed forward, twirling his blade before throwing a strong blow at the princess who ducked under it at the last possible moment.
She also recovered quickly from the attack, not breathing hard at all.
There was no exhaustion in her features this time, not physically anyway.
It was a far cry from the determined, but fragile mortal of their last fight.
"Still not going to thank me?" he asked.
Giving up completely on the idea of thinking of a response, Emma just met his blade again, with more force this time so that he was pushed back again.
When she tried to strike during his brief stumbling, though, he stepped out of range far too quickly giving her no time to react as his blade arced up.
Emma hissed and touched her fingertips to the ichor dripping down her right cheek but ducked just in time to avoid a thrust aimed for her chest.
She met his blade one more time, feeling that he was definitely putting all of his power behind it.
This was only further evidenced by the fact that his smile had officially melted into a scowl.
It must be extremely annoying to discover that the princess could now seriously match him.
With his teeth clenched hard, he made a real concerted effort to push back so that he could grab her wrist, forcing her to let go of the hilt of her sword, which clattered down to the rock.
He then swung her around, throwing her down behind him.
His smile returned as she huffed loudly and he placed himself between his fallen opponent and her weapon.
"You know, it really is so impressive just how long you've survived," he said, raising his own sword, "now that you're not quite as fragile anymore, I suppose that I'll have to be a little more creative."
As he pulled up the sword, a creative idea of her own flashed through Emma's mind.
Without any hesitation, she thrust her palm out, creating a bright light that seemed to sear his eyes as he threw his hands up to cover them.
His own sword fell to the ground and Emma launched up, grabbing it as she approached him.
She didn't miss a beat before it sank into his stomach and pushed him back, the whole blade vibrating as it's tip fused with the rock beneath him.
James let out a shriek and Emma couldn't help but just look at his scrunched up face.
For anyone else she wouldn't have felt a small burst of joy at the fact they were in pain, but she could make an exception for the man who had inflicted the same injury upon her with such gusto.
Still, she had to remind herself that he was still a god so she had no idea how long her magic would hold him here, preventing Zelena from finding out what was happening.
Stepping over him, she swiped up her father's sword and returned it to the sheathed position as she approached the master bolt that crackled in its case.
"Regina will never win!" Ares shouted, struggling to free himself, but also feeling some kind of force weighing down on his usual strength.
Without turning around, Emma flicked her wrist to silence him.
She then opened her mouth to summon the cyclops.
S
Hermes had never been this nervous.
Since Mount Othrys, he'd had no control over what was happening to him.
He just couldn't ignore Zelena chaining Regina up and threatening her daughter's life and now he was going to attend an Olympian meeting as an indisputable traitor.
With no way to avoid their brand of 'family-get together' though, he just made his way to the throne room.
He started at the ground as he entered, hearing Aphrodite complaining about how she was too busy for this.
He briefly glanced up to make sure that he wasn't the last to attend, but he was disappointed to find there was only one other empty throne.
Hermes faltered, involuntarily looking over to the seat beside Zeus, but Posedian refused to catch her eyes.
Of course it made sense.
It wasn't as though they could share a meaningful glance, as much as August was desperate for any sign as to Dawn's wellbeing.
While he was in the process of comforting himself that Hestia was probably a better caretaker anyway, Zelena called over to him, "ah, Hermes."
August forced himself to finish the trip to his throne without looking at the ruler of the Olympians while everyone else in the room closed their mouths simultaneously as Zelena continued to address the messenger, "it seems that the message has reached everyone but Ares, are you aware whether he has received it?"
August swallowed and made a real effort not to shift in his seat.
So Zelena didn't know what James was up to?
Of all of the Olympians, he supposed that it made sense that the god of war would be the one to hedge his bets.
It was also a huge silver lining when he considered Emma's chances.
Comforted by the thought, Hermes cleared his throat and said, wombat truthfully, "Ares sends his apologises. He is at present…preoccupied…"
Zelena narrowed her eyes at the messenger, but decided that Ares would be unlikely to reveal whatever he was up to for August of all people.
It did ignite a strong urge to go to the god who hadn't been bestowed a task at present, but that would hardly inspire the grip on loyalty that she was hoping to impart upon the other Olympians.
Besides, out of all the gods, Ares was the one that she was least worried about anyway.
It was for this reason that she placed her hands onto the arms of her throne and pushed herself up so that she was sat taller than the others.
"My…deepest apologises for calling you all here on such short notice but I thought it imperative to address an issue of the utmost importance," Zelena announced, only a few of the others giving her eye contact.
"And what issue would that be?" Apollo, or Robin, piped up.
This brought Zelena's attention over to the archery siblings just as Mulan straightened her back, a faraway look in her eyes.
Putting it up to Artemis's usual anxieties, Zelena focused on Robin and said, "I'm sure I'm not the only one who has registered the dissent among our family, so I was just hoping to air any…misgivings…"
"In that case, why don't you just tell them all the truth?"
Genuine confusion overtook Zelena's face.
It shouldn't have been possible to hear that voice without seeking it out first.
Even if she hadn't personally placed her into the cell, a minor goddess would never have dared to interrupt a meeting of eleven real Olympians.
The rest of the group were just as confused, if a little afraid, as they all turned to look at the intruder.
"Mal…" Neal said warningly, though he had no idea how he wanted to finish his caution.
He couldn't exactly announce that Regina would be here as soon as Emma and Graham had finished their little quests.
Zelena turned sharply to her brother, who pretended to shrink back, hopefully for the last time.
"I do not recall extending an invitation to you, Hecate. If you have any grievances that you would like to voice…" Zelena said, her fingers gripping her throne hard.
"Then I would raise them with the true Zeus," the sorceress spat back and murmuring broke out among the hall.
Zelena scrunched up her face and glanced along each row, effectively shutting all of the Olympians up.
Once satisfied that she had quiet, Zelena pushed herself up with a flourish as she approached the centre of the room.
"You are speaking with the true Zeus, what would give you such a ridiculous idea as that?" she asked loudly.
"Hestia," Mal replied, her voice echoing around the domed room, "if you wished to keep your secret then you should not have in-prisoned me with her. You've left her with little else to talk about."
Zelena's mouth became a thin line as the muttering erupted behind her again and she vaguely registered that they were discussing the last time they had seen Marion.
"I warned you, Hecate," Zelena hissed, though the sorceress held her gaze, daring her to follow through in the presence of her tenuously pliant subjects.
Zelena, having officially reached the end of her tether, just waved her hand so that a cloud of green smoke bellowed next to her and she roughly grabbed the young, disorientated woman who appeared.
Hecate's eyes widened and she involuntarily took a step back, genuinely surprised that Zelena would actually do something like this.
Or at least that she would do it here.
More than that, though, she was shocked to actually meet Lily's eyes, especially as she actually found understanding in them.
Was she aware who she was?
She certainly wasn't as confused to suddenly find herself in an Olympian meeting as every other mortal should have been.
She did try to escape her captor, though, when a thin blue dagger was ignited against her neck.
The former barmaid was no match for 'Zeus'.
Silence officially fell over the throne room and Neal pushed himself up to his feet.
"Zelena!" he admonished, "She's mortal!"
Zelena held the woman more tightly, all the while staring at Hecate, daring her to make a move, but Mal could only look at Lily.
She had often imagined how she would meet her daughter, maybe by pretending to be someone else just so she could make sure she was okay?
Their present circumstances had certainly never made it onto the list of scenarios that she would have to protect her child against.
Now that she was aware of the true nature of the ruler of Olympus, though, she supposed that it was never out of the realms of possibility that this would happen.
Even if Zelena had stolen the mantle she was currently clinging to, she still had all the power in the world to hurt Lily.
This was why Mal held up her hands in surrender, prepared to return to her cell for as long as it took for Zeus to calm down.
Before she could think of a way to make that offer without further incurring Zeus's misplaced wrath, the fire went out.
Zelena looked at her fingers, pure incredulity on her face and she temporarily loosened her grip on the mortal as she attempted to figure out what force had caused the extinguishing.
Hecate saw the opportunity and tore forward to pull her daughter away from the goddess.
Lily squeaked as her mother touched her arm for the first time that she could remember.
She couldn't really process the significance as she was thrown behind the minor goddess who placed her body between her daughter and Zeus.
Zelena, on her part, had lost interest in the mortal as she continued to stare at her hand, trying to remember the last time she had felt that brand of power.
It was thousands of years ago.
Confirmation hit her a second later.
"Hello again, Hades," Hestia said, for the whole, confused meeting to hear, "I thought you would like to know that Zeus will be here soon."
S
It was his greatest fear and yet he barely registered it happening.
As the Hesperides removed his immortality, he just stared straight at the tree that proudly bore the item he so desperately needed.
With the mountaintop breeze passing through the leaves, it was perhaps the most peaceful thing he'd ever laid eyes on, but his muscles were still tense.
The ability to die came with the first real time in a long life where failure was tangible and an option.
If he didn't make it to the fruit, then he had no idea what he would do with his immortal life anyway.
His focus meant that he wasn't really aware of which of the Hesperides' hands fell down from his shoulder from behind.
"Are you ready, demon?" the indistinguishable voice asked.
Graham didn't bother turning around as he inclined his head and lifted up Durendal while he stepped towards the tree.
Having read a few accounts of the trials of Hercules, he hadn't been one-hundred per cent sure what to expect from the creature that materialised, twining its body around the tree.
He wasn't at all surprised to find four sets of slitted eyes staring back at him, four tongues hissing out of the draconic faces that each led down to its own neck, and then combined into a single, strong body.
Its four sets of claws held tight to the tree, leaving no other route to the glowing apples that the tail was hovering over warningly.
Frankly, Graham was relieved to find that there were only four sets of eyes staring at him murderously.
Using his relief, he launched forward to the tree, twisting Durendal and then arcing it at two heads when he got close enough.
The sheer pitch of the creature's hiss of pain, reverberating across two of its mouths, actually blasted pressure through Graham's head and he cringed.
The blade didn't get to break through any scales anyway as the other two heads snapped at the cringing demon.
Graham registered the danger just in time to roll out of the way of the sharp teeth, the long tongue trying to follow, though he was already out of range.
Just as Graham struggled back up to his feet, one of the other heads growled and blew out a heavy stream of flame, one of his comrades joining in a second later.
Graham threw his arms up to cover his face hastily and fell backwards.
When the fire finally stopped, he was suddenly aware of the snickering coming from the Hesperides at the edge of the garden.
Graham took in a few deep, long breaths as he pulled his arms down and waited for his blurred vision to clear enough to register just how much danger he really was in.
After a solid five seconds, he realised that the fire had made him drop Durendal, he swiped it back up and held it between his hands at the snarling teeth, working hard to ignore the pain in his scorched arms again.
With no real plan, he charged forward with the sword raised, hopped away from a sharp snap and hacked at another of the heads that extended its neck.
Ladon snapped that head back before he could make contact and another bellowed out smoke, throwing Graham back with enough momentum that he landed on his back.
For only a second, the demon allowed himself to just stare into the clouded sky that was held up somewhere by his amused audience's indentured father.
He snapped back up before his mind could descend into contemplating how it was that he'd found himself here.
Deciding that proximity was not the answer, he brought Durendal over his head so that he could gain enough strength, before he flung the weapon straight at the beast.
He missed.
Amid howls of laughter, Graham's shoulders slumped as he realised that the blade was dug firmly into the tree, Ladon's body having moved out of the way just in time.
With no other option, Graham charged at the tree, desperate to rend Durendal from the bark and regain any semblance of an advantage.
As he'd fully expected, a claw struck at his shoulder and he gasped as he grabbed it and ducked under another strike but was again thrown backwards by flame, falling face down this time.
Graham thrust his red-stained hand into the ground and lifted his body.
For the first in his long life, he truly cursed an Olympian.
"Damn you, Artemis," he growled.
Even if he was well aware that she had been threatened by Zelena, he couldn't help but allow his anger to take off.
Mulan was so much more powerful than he or Dawn and yet she let Zeus force her to remove the gift that Dawn had indisputably earned.
Dawn's imminent death was her fault, at least that was what he had to cling to right now.
Maybe if he'd begun training earlier he wouldn't be having this much difficulty defeating a monster that had already been bested?
In spite of all of the anger and frustration flooding through his system, Graham still stood with no idea what he would actually do, only that laying face down was not an option.
A series of gasps from the sidelines had him tearing his gaze away from his hissing opponent to actually see something glowing at his feet that definitely hadn't been there a moment ago.
His eyes flicked up to the sky, feeling the sudden need to apologise, but he instead just scooped up the shimmering, golden bow inlaid with images of various prey that he didn't care to identify.
Experimentally, he pulled back the string on which the arrow had already been nocked.
Unlike every other bow he'd ever held, it was exceptionally easy to pull it taut and he closed one eye as he looked down the shaft of the arrow straight at Ladon, ignoring the pain that was pushing at his consciousness.
With another glance at the sky, he muttered, hoping she was actually listening, "I'm not very good at this, I may need your help one more time…Lady Artemis."
All control momentarily left his body, but he very much welcomed it.
His feet moved as he broke into a run, his eyes trained onto Ladon as he moved.
At his highest speed, he slid underneath yet more flame and when he rose back up to his feet, all of the heads had lined up, ready to blow out an unavoidable wall of fire.
Before the creature so much as opened one of its mouths, though, Graham's hand pulled back on the arrow, losing it only a second after.
Control returned to his body, but he didn't move as he watched the sharp point fly through each head with quick and deadly precision.
The bow finally fell down to the ground amid a series of gasps as Ladon dissolved into dust that pooled beneath the tree.
For the final time, Graham didn't bother turning to look at the Hesperides' surprised faces as he marched up to the tree and pulled down an apple, staring at it reverently.
It took him more than a few seconds to remember to pick one for himself, but not before wrenching Durendal from the tree.
Finally he turned away to hone in onto the entrance to the upper mountain, indescribably relieved to find Emma already there, looking extremely impressed with a cyclops towering behind her, the master bolt in hand.
S
Following their little adventures to the Hesperides, Emma and Graham wasted only a few moments before returning to the Underworld.
This involved Emma questioning why he had been allowed to take two apples and then insisting that he eat his as soon as possible, only for him to vehemently refuse.
He was adamant that Dawn would be the first to eat one.
Deciding that there was no need for argument, Emma just poofed them to the Underworld seeing as neither of them were inclined to address the Hesperides now that they'd been able to get what they needed.
She wasn't quite sure why, but she'd expected Dawn's chamber to feel exponentially less oppressive than before they left, but it was somehow much worse.
Dawn looked no worse, no more pallid, but that wasn't saying much considering her circumstances.
What made it worse was the inexplicable emptiness of the room.
She hadn't expected Poseidon to ignore a summons from Zelena, but where was Hestia?
The question caused worry to burn down Emma's throat, but a light sobbing stole her attention from the oddity of the scene.
On the seat beside the Demi-goddess's bed sat a shaking figure who seemed unable to wrench her gaze away from Dawn's pale face.
Graham frowned at his fellow demon and it hit Emma that she hadn't even told him that Ares had made another unwelcome appearance, let alone what he had said.
Sensing that it would hardly help to voice the god of war's name right now, Emma tentatively stepped forward and placed her hand onto Penelope's shoulder.
She sniffed hard and sat up straight, looking at Emma through bleary eyes which widened when she registered who she was looking at.
She leaned forward to also find Graham disheveled, but very much in one piece.
"I'm so sorry, my lady," tumbled out of the demon's mouth and she rose up to her feet as tears continued to stream down her cheeks, "it hurt so much…but I didn't tell him everything, he only wanted to know what you were doing…"
"It is fine, Penelope, we are both fine," Emma reassured as Graham's eyebrows drew even closer together, "now we need to help Dawn."
Penelope allowed the princess to lead her away from the bed so that Graham could rush into the vacated seat.
After a moment of consideration, staring at the apple, his eyes shot over to Emma questioningly with her arm still around Penelope's shoulder, she clicked her other fingers.
The apple disappeared into a cloud of white smoke, the glow transferring over to the goblet side of the bed.
He let the other apple fall to the bed and grabbed the goblet before he gently lifted her head, slowly pouring the juice into her mouth, both praying she would actually swallow and that magically changing the composition wouldn't negate the effects.
After the longest second of his immortal life, she finally swallowed what had be be the only cure to her condition.
He shoved the goblet away and just stared at her face.
The following seconds lasted even longer than the first.
Her face remained unmoving and Penelope burrowed further into Emma behind them, her sobs renewed.
Finally though, a low groan emitted from her throat and her eyes scrunched together.
The chair scraped against the floor as Graham pulled himself closer to the bed and took her hand into his own just as her eyes cracked open to reveal clearly brown underneath.
Her gaze took some time to focus, but a smile crossed her face when she registered who it was that was staring at her with such concern.
"Graham," she said hoarsely, trying to remember how it was that she had ended up here. She was vaguely aware of feeling incredibly weak, a feeling that had seemingly disappeared.
Her hand came to rest on the rapidly healing wound on her stomach.
Everything came back to her all at once and she had her attempt to sit up interrupted by Graham and she looked around instead, relaxing when she saw Emma smiling at her with relief written in her features, alleviating at least half of her concern.
Her head sank into the pillow.
"Hello princess," she sighed.
Penelope lifted her face and she felt her relax under her arm and she replied, "Welcome back, Dawn."
Step-daughter and step-mother shared a warm smile before Dawn returned her eyes to Graham who was gripping her hand with both of his.
Seeing that the pair could likely do with some privacy, Emma began leading the female demon toward the exit, "com on, Penelope, we'll…get you cleaned up…"
Dawn briefly glanced up to see them leaving and when the door clicked shut, before she sat up a little to look at the silent Graham.
"What happened…" she started.
Graham cut her off and said impulsively, "marry me."
"What?" Dawn asked, the pain finally seeping fully out of her body in time to be replaced with utter shock.
Graham drew himself closer to the bed if possible and said, "for my entire life, I have been terrified of everything, but until Zelena took you, I never felt real fear. When Ares sent you back…I was even more scared if possible…I never want to feel like that again, so…please marry me?"
Dawn's eyes became less wide as she took in his words and she launched forward to wrap him into a tight hug.
She felt a strange wetness at his shoulder before she could say 'yes' into his ear and she pulled back so that she could reach up to place her fingers to his tunic.
He hissed and she drew her eyebrows back together and ran her thumb over the red and scrutinised his face.
"What…how…" she stammered.
Graham frowned, but it occurred to him what she meant and said, "oh, I forgot, the Hesperides made me mortal."
Dawn watched him blankly as he grabbed the apple at the end of the bed and chewed into it.
"What exactly did I miss?" she asked as he chewed casually, "where's my mom?"
Graham swallowed and replied, "that's a long story…Emma should probably tell you most of it…"
S
"This is amazing!"
Regina grinned up at the woman who had draped her arms over her shoulders so that she could whisper her gleeful words into her ear.
The goddess leaned back in the old chair and replied, "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, dear."
Emma pressed a hard kiss to her wife's cheek and pushed off to return to the masses of shelves that held millions of books belonging to the British Library.
Since the princess had become so enamoured with the world without magic, she'd resolved that she would one day take her to one of the largest libraries that it had to offer.
Unfortunately, Zelena had shown up and put an end to all of the plans she'd been ruminating on to cheer herself up while attempting to act civil with her in-laws.
In spite of the knowledge that this scene never happened, and likely never would with the current trajectory of her life, she still twisted around to watch Emma walking down the shelves, running her finger along the books' spines as she went.
With no one else to steal her attention from the beauty of the excited woman she was so deeply in love with. Regina just allowed herself to appreciate the view and consider how great her life could have been.
This was why she was surprised to see the blonde de-materialise before her eyes and any attempt to catch her was interrupted by a voice that was edging towards unfamiliar.
"Have you run out of memories already?"
Regina's head whipped around and pain very briefly bloomed in her chest, a suggestion of what was happening outside of the scene her mind had conjured and she gripped the table as her gaze fell upon a smiling man.
She quashed the pain and turned to fully face Henry while she asked, shakily, "father?"
The titan continued to smile, looking around the library space as he said, "this really would have been quite the life for you, but you've always been destined for more, I think you know that."
Regina's shock morphed into the repressed anger that was boiling to the surface, it was the anger she had been sure would never have an outlet after he left.
"If you knew my destiny, why would you leave us to Zelena's deceptions?" Regina demanded, leaning into the table.
Henry just continued to smile at his youngest child, though, it became less full as he said, "I did not foresee your sister's actions, but it all makes sense now."
Regina scoffed, "makes sense? Nothing she had done for thousands of years has made any sense! You clearly did not know her very well."
"I suppose not, " Henry replied with a hum of agreement, "I saw only a…notion of what a balanced world would look like. The only thing that I was sure of was that there was no place in it for the Titans."
"And that's why you left? If you had just waited until the battle had been won…" Regina argued, the words feeling childish as they left her mouth.
Even if she'd truly believed that she'd gotten past all of the nonsense that she'd cared so deeply about in the past, but faced with her father (or some hallucination) who was looking at her as if no time had passed, it all sprung back.
It was a stark reminder of everything she had contributed to the Olympian's victory only to spend so much of the proceeding centuries alone.
"If I had done that, then Prince Charming would have succumbed to his injuries and Emma White would have never been born," Henry replied, unaffected by the well placed anger, "I never understood your relationship with Ruby, but now I can see the truth. I could not see Hera because had not been born yet. Balance has never been possible until all twelve Olympians sat on their thrones, which could not happen if you were Zeus."
"Hera?" Regina repeated, her anger having melted somewhat as the mention of her wife brought twinkling green eyes into her mind. She'd read the name 'Hera' many times over her lifetime, but she'd always chalked the missing divine up to the many differences in interpretation she'd found mildly interesting she'd found mildly interesting, "you expect Emma to be an Olympian?" she asked.
"Does that really surprise you?" Henry replied.
Regina drew her eyebrows together and expected many objections to run through her mind, but nothing came to her.
The image wasn't as unrealistic as it perhaps should have been.
A more important thought occurred to her, though and she decided to take the opportunity to ask on the off-chance that she was really talking to her father.
"So you really were responsible for Emma's immortality?" she asked.
"Of course not," he replied, accompanied by a small chuckle, "it was your love for her that achieved that feat, I just used the chance to pass a message to her."
"And you're here to pass a message to me, I suppose?" Regina asked tiredly.
"I am," Henry replied and, instantly, Regina saw a flash of the Olympian throne room, its gods dodging and sending attacks at each other.
It was chaos that hadn't been seen since before they first sat on their precious thrones.
The scene ended when Regina opened her eyes and she sighed, "and what is that supposed to be a symbol for?"
"Not a symbol, it's what is currently happening on Olympus, they need their true Zeus to restore their balance."
"Zelena has my daughter, I cannot go to Olympus while that is the case," Regina replied.
"Of course, I would expect nothing else, but I believe your wife has that matter well in hand," Henry said and smiled when Regina perked up at the news, "once you are reunited with your family, I know you will make me proud, Regina."
"And I don't suppose you would willingly tell me how I am to defeat Zelena?" Regina asked, actually sitting forward hopefully.
Apathy was less difficult to cling to when she discovered that she was going to be returned to her family.
"It seems that the answer to that question has just arrived," Henry pointed behind him at the stacks of imaginary books.
Regina took in a deep breath and looked over her own shoulder to find that 'Emma' had reappeared, chewing her lip as she pulled out a book, wearing her patented excitement as she ran her hand over the cover.
She turned to again address her father, but found the seat opposite her empty.
She closed her eyes and allowed reality to seep into her psyche instead of dwelling on her disappointment.
The library melted back into dank rock as a screech filled the mountaintop and an unfortunately familiar pain took hold of her body.
The goddess ignored this thought as a large brown eye stared at her curiously.
The pain did stop Regina from voicing a question to the cyclops as her healing process began already.
She did manage to keep her hooded eyes open to see the creature pull a sheathed weapon from his shoulder to drop it down to the rock at his feet, part way between himself and the throne.
It sparked before she lost consciousness.