Hello! Between the 2 sites that I have posted this on, I've had quite a few reviews/comments/personal messages, showing that people are really worried that I would let something awful happen to Emma and she would end up married to a man and pregnant.
Don't worry, I would never do that. Nothing truly awful will ever happen to our ladies in a fic written by me. So, I've decided to take pity on you all and will be reuniting our ladies more quickly than originally planned. Emma will be coming home very soon, I promise!
To the guest who has commented a couple of times about Emma's Dark One abilities and referencing things that have happened previously, which have since confused you with what I'm currently writing, I think you may be thinking of a different fic. The things that you have mentioned didn't happen in this fic or the prequel. Hope that clears things up for you!
Vx
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The first few weeks in the Enchanted Forest were a difficult time. Regina found herself slipping further and further into depression, as the continued search for Emma was proving fruitless every time. They hadn't been able to find her in Storybrooke which was one town, and now, they had an entire realm to search.
They had been aware of activity at Snow's castle, and had placed trusted members of Regina's old staff in place as spies. The reports back from Snow's castle were always the same though.
No sign of Emma.
Snow and Blue were both living there, disturbingly sharing the master suite of rooms, confirming to everybody just what their relationship now was. There was a full staff living in the grounds, but Emma was nowhere to be found.
Regina and Mal did their best to cater for everybody in their care, allocating rooms within the castle for those that wanted to stay there, and finding alternative accommodation for those who wished to live away from the main castle. It had been a hard few weeks, but slowly and surely, things settled down and life began to feel normal again.
Belle had been doing very well with the pregnancy. It suited her to have rounded curves, and everybody could see she was glowing. Mal watched in awe as her girlfriend blossomed into a beautiful woman, and it made her realise that she wanted this for themselves. One day, hopefully in the not too distant future, Mal wanted them to have a child. She wanted everything. Marriage, children, a family.
Mal had been supporting Regina as best as she could, but truthfully, she was worried about her. The stress of life without Emma, not knowing where she was or what was happening to her, was adding a burden and a heaviness to Regina's soul. No amount of love and laughter from the people around her seemed to be able to shift it. They spent the afternoons while Henry and Willow were in lessons, going through book after book, all brought over from Regina's vault, searching for another way to locate Emma.
Mal had been worried that maybe Snow had left Emma in Storybrooke after all, but Regina could still feel her. A myriad of emotions were coming from her wife, but mostly, she felt determination.
Emma had not given up. She was still there and she was still fighting.
Regina felt so much comfort from this and it just made her more determined. If Emma could still fight, so could she!
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Emma kept a straight face, as she looked at Blue, trying not to laugh.
It had been the same for weeks. Blue would use magic to freeze her to the spot, and then a guard would come into the cell and tip a potion down her throat. She had a choice - swallow or choke, which she had found out the hard way. The potion was meant to cause hallucinations and disorientation. She had heard the guards discussing the potion outside of her cell when they thought she was sleeping, and she knew it was meant to, with some manipulation from Blue, turn her against Regina.
Emma knew that her quickest way out of the cell was to play along, but it was hard to do so keeping a straight face.
Blue, once again disguised as Regina, was standing in front of her, tormenting her and saying terrible things. Emma, once again, let it look as though she was affected by it.
Did they really know so little about the bond of true love or being soulmates? Even if it wasn't for all the small differences between the real Regina, and Blue disguised to look like Regina, Emma would have known. The differences in posture, mannerisms and speech were enough of a give away, but Emma could feel through the bond that it was not Regina, without even opening her eyes.
Emma decided today was the day. Today, she was going to 'break' after weeks of slowly making it look like Blue was winning. It was time for a big gesture.
Dropping to her knees dramatically, Emma looked at Blue, disguised as Regina, with tears in her eyes, "I hate you!" she screamed, "I wish I never met you! Stop coming here, I want nothing to do with you. All I want, and need is my Mom! She should have killed you when she had the chance!"
Emma covered her face with her hands and sobbed as realistically as possible, making sure to shake her shoulders, all the while inwardly gloating at the satisfaction she had seen on Blue's face.
Oh, if only Blue knew!
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Regina woke as the first tendrils of light entered the room. Automatically reaching out for Emma, as she did every morning, before reality crept back in and she realised she was alone.
This was their time. Mornings, before the children needed breakfast, before the world needed them to be the Mayor and the Sheriff, this was their time to just be together and she missed it so much. Sometimes they would make love, sometimes they would just have sleepy snuggles, content to just lay in each other's arms and soak up the love they felt radiating from the other.
Soon, she promised herself. They will get Emma back, and then they will never be apart again.
Willow burst into the room without knocking, which is something normally she would have been lightly scolded for, but the look of excitement on her face was enough to take Regina's breath away!
"What is it, little one?" she asked, patting the bed and inviting Willow to come and get in next to her.
"I know where Mom is!" Willow squeaked, "well, I don't know where it is exactly but I know where she is!"
Regina sat up so fast that it made her slightly dizzy, and her vision blurred.
"What? Willow? What do you mean?"
"I had a dream. Well, Aunty Mal says they're visions," Willow corrected herself, "I saw Mom, she was in a cell that was like a cave, with big bars at the front to stop her getting out. She was wearing a long pink dress, like a princess, and looked very silly," Willow added with disgust.
"Willow, think carefully, do you know where this was? Were there any other clues? Could you see anything else?"
"That's all I could see, but there were two guards there, and one of them said 'at least she's nicer to look at than Rumple'. Do you know what that means?"
Regina caught her up in a fierce hug and kissed her on the forehead, before putting her gently back down on the bed.
"Yes, my little one, I know what that means," Regina told her with a blinding smile, "I know where your Mom is and we're going to bring her home!"
"I'll go get Aunty Mal, and meet you in the dining hall," Willow squealed happily, "I'll get Henwy too!" and with that the little girl danced happily out of the room.
Regina allowed herself a moment of happiness before she got up and chose herself an outfit for the day. Loose shirt tucked into leather pants, with comfortable boots. An outfit ready for adventure.
Walking into the dining hall, the noise hit her, as people excitedly talked about getting Emma home. It was heartwarming to Regina, just how loved her wife was and just how many people cared about her. There was no doubt in her mind that any of these people would risk their life not just for Emma, but the whole family.
Sitting down next to Mal, she grinned widely, "eat up dragon, we have to go rescue a Princess today!"
Mal grinned back, "don't worry, I will be fully prepared. Are you though?"
"What do you mean? Of course I am!" Regina said indignantly.
"If Emma is in Rumple's cell, then we will need to research ways of undoing the magic that is holding her there. We probably need to find a source of squid ink, which may take time. However, at the very least we can go and see her today. Give her some hope that we haven't given up and that we will get her out of there."
Regina was silent, how could she have forgotten? Just because they knew where she was, didn't mean that Emma would be coming home with her today.
Regina was suddenly overcome with the need to just even see her wife again. To see those emerald green eyes, and all the emotions that they always carried transparently.
"It's enough to see her, to see her face. I still want to go today, even if we can't get her out!" Regina told Mal.
"Let's go get our girl then. Ready?"
Regina nodded determinedly, "ready."
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Emma was still playing the long game. Each day she let Snow and Blue believe that her feelings towards Regina were becoming more and more hostile, eventually going so far as to beg Snow to release her, so she could go and kill her.
Emma was clever. The more she claimed her hatred for Regina, the softer she became towards Snow, and yesterday for the first time, she called Snow 'Mom' to her face. Emma cringed inwardly when she saw the expression on Snow's face, it wasn't one of love, or joy that her daughter had called her 'mom'. It was a gloating expression. One that said, 'I've finally won' but Emma just let her think that and would do for as long as necessary. If she didn't, then she would have no chance of ever getting out of there.
Snow always used the back entrance to the underground cell, and would stand watching Emma in the shadows, still not quite trusting her. Emma had always had the ability to know when she was being watched though and during these times, would sit on the floor of her cell, or pace from side to side, muttering about Regina and all the different ways she was going to make her suffer before killing her.
She was a good actress, she thought to herself smugly and Snow began to seem satisfied that her plan had worked. Snow really believed she had managed to turn her against Regina. Now it would be time to work on the rest of her plan.
This morning, Emma could feel Snow's presence again, watching in the shadows as always. Once again, Emma ignored her and gave no indication that she knew she was there. In front of the cell, two colourful swirling mists of magic revealed Regina and Mal.
Emma stood in shock, wanting nothing more than to reach out and touch her wife. More than aware that Snow stood there though, she realised she would have to make this as realistic as possible and hoped that her wife would forgive her one day.
Before Regina could walk up to the cell, or even begin to speak, Emma snarled ferally "what are you doing here?! I don't want to see you!"
Regina froze. What? What was wrong with Emma?
"You know, seeing you stood there, I hate you even more than the day I took a chainsaw to your apple tree. What is it with you and your obsession with red apples anyway? You turned up with a basket of red apples at Grannies when I first came to town, and it was a red apple that you used to put my Mom into a sleeping curse. Maybe try to be a bit more original, next time?!" Emma taunted.
"Emma, I love you. Why are you acting like this?" Regina asked, stunned.
"You don't love me. You just used me to help you get Henry back. Well, now you have him. You have everything you ever wanted, so leave me alone. I don't want to see you ever again. Go and get cosy with your dragon sidekick, for all I care," Emma jerked a thumb towards Mal, who was staying quiet, not wanting to make things worse.
"Emma, please. Please don't let them turn you against me," begged Regina, "I love you!"
"You don't love me, you never have. You could barely disguise your hatred for me, most of the time," spat Emma.
"Emma, even when you took a chainsaw to my tree, yes, the one with my precious 'red apples' on it, I never hated you. This dragon is my very good friend, but nothing and no one, could ever replace you," Regina tried to reassure her.
"I will say this once and once only, take your dragon and go! If I ever see you again, I will kill you both," Emma threatened.
Snow watched smugly in the shadows, this was even better than expected. Maybe it would be time to let Emma out soon. Maybe she had finally been broken.
Regina's eyes turned to ice, "fine, you get your wish. I will go and you will never see me or my red apples again since you hate them so much. Come on dragon," she said, turning to Mal and gesturing for them to leave.
Emma watched them go, feeling dread. She hoped that Regina understood and would forgive her for all the hurtful things she said. It was necessary, but it hurt her to say these things. Emma felt like crying, but she couldn't allow herself that luxury knowing that Snow was still standing, silently watching in the shadows.
Mal and Regina walked away as quickly as possible, before using their magic to transport themselves into the library at the castle.
Mal turned to Regina, tears of compassion and empathy in her eyes, "I'm so sorry my love, I promise you we will find a way to undo whatever they have done," she vowed.
To her surprise, Regina burst out laughing! Tears ran down her face, but these seemed to be tears of happiness and not despair.
"Regina? I don't understand? Are you ok?" Mal was concerned about Regina's mental state now. Laughter was not a normal response for what had just happened.
"Sorry, Mal," Regina said giggling, "Emma is fine! They think they have broken her but they are not even close!"
"But you heard her! She hates us all now!"
"No, she doesn't Mal. My guess is that she was being watched, and had to say those things. She didn't mean them," Regina grinned widely, "my wife is incredible and more clever than most people give her credit for."
"I'm still lost," admitted Mal, "how do you know she didn't mean all of those things she said?"
"First of all, because I love her, and I could feel her love for me through the bond."
"Ok?"
"Secondly Mal, she mentioned 'red apples' three times in that short speech. Three! Don't you remember? That was our code! When we first put protection around the house, Emma made us remember a password, so we could check each other's identity, and it was 'dragon' remember?" Regina asked her, "Emma made sure to call you a dragon back there, several times. The code words 'red apples' were to let someone know that they were in an unsafe situation! She was letting me know that someone was there and that she was being forced to say those things. Don't you see?"
Mal whistled slowly, "that clever women! She really does have a cool head under pressure."
"She's amazing," agreed Regina, smiling widely, "I hope she knows I understand? I repeated 'red apples' and 'dragon' back to her, so I think she will know that I understood her message. Now, lets get her out of there. Time to hit the books again!"
