The only time Regina actually enjoyed visiting Rumplestiltskin, was when she had something to gloat about. It had been quite some time – fifteen years, to be exact – since she had had anything to hold over his head. She felt this visit was long overdue.
The vile smell of rotting food and rodents met her nostrils the second she began to descend the cobblestone steps to his magical prison cell. The single guard on duty jumped up the moment he heard her heels clicking, but she froze him in an instant with a flick of her wrist.
"Your Majesty. Do what do I owe the pleasure?"
She heard him before she saw him, creeping out of the darkness on all fours like a wounded animal . The putrid stench grew stronger the closer she stepped to his cell, and she realized much of it was him.
"I just came to inform you that I've won," Regina said, haughtily.
"You think so, do you dearie?" Rumple asked in his condescending voice, as neared the bars of the cell. He gripped on tight and pulled himself to standing, though he was still hunched over. Regina assumed that was the result of years without sunlight or proper nutrition, but she didn't particularly care about Rumple's fate.
"Yes," Regina confirmed, "and I didn't need your Dark Curse after all. How stupid you were not to take Snow White up on her offer, to trade your freedom for her daughter's protection."
"So you've killed the savior then, is that it?"
"No, actually," Regina sighed, "I've decided murder is just so… pedestrian. I have a far worse fate in store for Snow White."
"Dearie, everything you do is pedestrian. I knew it wasn't in you to kill a child, even if that child is the offspring of Snow White. It's almost charming that you think you have a chance of succeeding without the Dark Curse. You can't escape your destiny, dearie."
"I already did."
"No, dearie, you didn't. You will cast the curse. The princess will be the savior. All you did was cost yourself ten years in your new world."
"It's been fifteen years," Regina pointed out.
"Has it? My, my, how time flies," Rumple mused. "Carry on, Your Majesty, don't let me keep you from whatever plan you have concocted in that devious little brain of yours. See you in the new world."
Without another word, Regina turned and stormed out of the prison. She should have known better than to come here. She should have known conversations with Rumple never went the way she expected them to. She should have known better by now than to let him get to her, and eat away at her self-confidence.
He was wrong. She was sure he was wrong. She would win, even without the curse.
Regina stormed through the hallways of her palace, still seething from her conversation with Rumple. All the things that could go wrong were streaming through her head now. What if Snow never brought Emma back to the palace? What if she called her bluff, realizing that it took her fifteen years to get her in the first place? What if Emma told her that she had run away of her own volition the first time?
Regina was panicking as she waved her hands in front of a mirror, bringing Emma's bedroom into view. She was surprised to find it wasn't Emma there, but rather Snow and David, in the midst of a rather heated conversation.
"We are not handing our daughter over to her like a lamb to the slaughter," David said, his arms crossed and his face intense. Regina wished she had got to see the beginning of this conversation. She would have loved to see Snow propose this deal to her prince.
"What else can we do? If we don't abide by Regina's terms, she'll just take Emma anyway, and she might kill her," Snow said. Tears were still fresh in her eyes, and that brought a smile to Regina's lips.
"How can you be so sure that's not her plan anyway?" David insisted. He did make a valid point, Regina thought, as she waited for Snow to counter.
"If she was going to kill her, she would have done it already," Snow replied. Ah, there it is, Regina thought to herself. Even after all these years, if there was one thing she could count on, it was Snow still having faith in her goodness, no matter how many times Regina proved that she had snuffed it out completely.
"Save a bitch's life one time, and she's forever in your debt," Regina muttered to herself, before allowing herself to come into view on Emma's vanity mirror. "So sorry to intrude, dears, but my ears were burning."
Snow and David both jumped at the all-too-familiar voice, and turned to face her in the mirror.
"You will never get your hands on my daughter again," David said, drawing his sword and stepping towards the mirror.
"Is that so?" Regina asked, pressing one hand to the mirror, and allowing it to pass through to their side. "How to do you plan to stop me?" She pulled her hand back before David had the opportunity to chop it off, but she figured her point had been made. They didn't need to know that she couldn't actually step through the mirror, and her only chance of pulling Emma through would be if Emma was within arms' reach of the glass. They just needed to believe that Regina had a way in.
And by the looks on their faces, Regina was sure they were convinced.
"So, dears, my offer still stands. You bring Emma to me, whenever I ask, and I will not harm her. If you go back on your word, well... then I can't make any promises. What's it going to be?"
"We'll have her there by sundown," Snow said, and this time, David didn't disagree.
"Actually, I'm bored. Bring her now," Regina said suddenly.
"Regina…" Snow said, but apparently decided against arguing, for the sake of Emma's safety.
"Send her in riding clothes," Regina continued.
"She doesn't ride," Snow said, sounding almost ashamed at the admission.
"Yes, I'm aware, and it's appalling. It's high time she learned. Send her now or I will come and fetch her myself," Regina said, before vanishing herself from the mirror again, not allowing Snow or David to get another word in.
"What is your plan, your Majesty?"
Regina jumped at the Genie's voice from a mirror behind her. She spun around and grinned at his vaguely interested face.
"I have to win the girl's trust before I can enact my plan," Regina said, matter-of-factly. "She needs to see me as an ally, first. A friend, even."
The word left a bitter taste in Regina's mouth, but she shrugged it off as she headed to her bedchambers to get ready for the princess's arrival.
The carriage from the White kingdom brought Emma to the dark palace in the early afternoon, several hours before sunset. Regina was waiting, outside, dressed in black leather pants, and a tight, red velvet riding jacket. Her hair was pulled up high and she had on tall boots and long black leather gloves.
By contrast, Emma stepped out of the carriage in tan riding pants, and a cream coloured jacket. Her hair was tightly braided down her back, and Regina smiled at the sight of her, looking as innocent and untarnished as ever; her sweet girl, naïve and unjaded, ripe for corruption.
But not today.
Regina refused to acknowledge Snow and David as they stood with their daughter, and instead reached across the magical barrier to grab Emma by the arm and pull her through. "Ta ta," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, before leading Emma off in the other direction.
Emma stiffened as Regina wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and led her across the palace grounds, towards the stables.
"Did you parents ask what happened last time you were here?" Regina asked, as if she were just making idle small talk with an old friend.
"Yes."
"And what did you tell them?"
"I told them the truth," Emma said, quietly.
"The truth? And what was that?"
"I said that you didn't hurt me," Emma offered. "And that I wasn't afraid of you."
"Good," Regina nodded her approval. "I don't want you to be afraid of me. Your mother likes to paint me as something of a monster, but I disagree. I think you will, too."
When they reached the stables, Regina brought Emma up to a large steed who was tacked and ready to ride. Emma's eyes went wide as she looked at the animal.
"This is Diablo," Regina said, as she reached up to stroke the horse's mane, "and we're going to ride him today."
"I've never been on a horse," Emma admitted, nervously.
"Yes, and that truly is a shame. But it's never too late to learn, my princess," Regina smiled. "Now, no time to waste. Come over here and put your foot right here. Left foot," Regina directed, indicating to the stirrup.
Emma hesitated for a moment, but then stepped over and lifted her foot into the stirrup.
"Good," Regina said, "now, I want you to hold on to the saddle, right here, both hands, and put all your weight on to that foot, and lift your right leg over."
Emma took a deep breath and did what she was told. It took three attempts to get enough momentum to get her leg up and over the horse, and when she finally did, she was at a slightly awkward angle, leaning too far over to the left, and looking panicked.
Regina put her hands on Emma's left leg for support, lest the girl fall off. "Find the other stirrup with your other foot."
"I can't!" Emma cried. Regina could see that her knuckles were going white from how hard she was gripping the saddle.
"I'm not going to let you fall, dear," Regina reassured her. "Just find the other stirrup."
After a few more moments of panicking, Emma finds the other stirrup and managed to relax a little, until Regina let go of her leg and removed her left foot from its stirrup.
Emma watched as Regina stepped into that stirrup and mounted the horse, right behind Emma. Regina let Emma have the stirrup back and let her own feet dangle as she pressed her body up against Emma's and reached around her to pick up the reins.
"Now, Emma, I just want you to relax," Regina said, as she started the horse off on a slow trot. "We won't go fast or far, I just want you to get a feel for it."
"Why do you care so much if I ride?" Emma asked, as she still sat tensely against Regina's body.
Regina didn't answer. She didn't really have an answer to give, at this point. "Don't question me," she said, finally.
Regina took the reins into one hand, and wrapped the other around Emma's waist, holding her tightly as she let the horse pick up the pace, just a little. "One day, little one, you and I will race side by side," she promised.
"My mother used to ride," Emma said. "She told me she was good."
Regina's expression darkened. "Do not talk about your mother when you are with me, do you understand?"
Emma nodded. "Sorry, I just…"
"It's alright, you didn't know. From now on, please refrain from mentioning her, unless I do. Your mother ruined my life, and I suffer every day because of her. You, on the other hand, are sweet and good, and I don't wish to taint my image of you with thoughts of her."
Somewhere in the discussion, Regina lost sight of what she was doing on the horse, and before she realized it, she had Diablo going fast enough to scare the young princess.
"Your Majesty!" Emma cried out, putting a hand in front of her face as if to shield it from an unseen force about to strike her.
What happened next surprised even Regina.
A blast of white light shot out from Emma's fingertips, stopping the horse and freezing him on the spot.
"What was that?" Emma cried, her voice shaking.
But Regina just grinned. This was an unexpected turn of events indeed, and her mind was already racing with ideas on how she could use this to her advantage. Something in her touch must have spurned something lying dormant inside Emma, and now that it was arising, Regina could use it to transform Snow White's innocent little girl into her own Dark Princess.
She could see it now: a taste of the darkness, and in time, Emma would renounce her family and her former life. And Regina, with her hands on the rightful heir to the throne… well, the possibilities were endless. Suddenly, she could see where the appeal had been for her own mother.
She would find a way to turn Emma from ally into friend into lover into ruler, and the disgraced Savior would help her destroy everyone's happy endings even without the curse.
Rumplestiltskin was wrong. He would suffer nearly as much as Snow White.
But right now, all Regina had was a terrified girl trembling in her arms. She dropped the rein from her other hand, and wrapped that arm around Emma as well, squeezing her tightly from behind, in a way that she hoped was reassuring, but she couldn't quite tell anymore these days.
"That, my dear," she breathed into Emma's waiting ear, "was magic."