Hi all! Thanks for the reviews. They always make me smile! Here is the next chapter. Thanks again to Laura.
After the two had been travelling for half a day, they approached another clearing. The riddler had not returned but their map had been a bible to them.
"It looks like we're still on track." Emma commented, looking back at where they had come from and at the patterns of the hills around.
"So at least that rules out us being in Neverland." Regina added, remembering their first adventure together and what a challenge the map had been. "Whatever this well is or does it said we're going to need light and dark magic to access it. We're going to need both our powers combined."
"I guess it's a good day to have the Evil Queen as your wingman then." Emma jested as Regina raised an eyebrow.
"Well I could say the same about a former Dark One." She replied, reminding Emma that she wasn't the only one to flirt with darkness. "But we both know you're right, that is no doubt what the riddler has in mind by sending us this route."
"It sounded like only light magic can use whatever this thing is though." Emma remembered. "Or at least the dark magic will get trapped there without it."
"So dark magic can help the light get there but only the light can use the power. Typical." Regina rolled her eyes.
"Ah. The victim villain complex. It's been a while but good to see you, old friend." Emma teased as Regina threw her a glare. "I'm just saying. You never get good needing to help evil and then good getting left behind."
"I'm pretty sure that is literally the reason they put the caveat in there. If the protection is there to ensure you need both sides to collaborate they wouldn't want the bad guys to be able to just dispose of the good guys and run off with the goods." Emma defended the stance as Regina shrugged.
"I guess that is what I would do." She thought it over as Emma's eyebrow raised. "Would have done." Regina waved it off. "You know what I mean."
"Well..." Emma paused, holding the map out in front. "We're going to soon find out. I think we're here." They looked at the pattern of trees around them and double checked.
"The part that is circled is definitely here." She looked around as Regina put her hands on her hips. "But the well definitely isn't."
They scouted the grass checking for ruins.
"Come on then, little riddler man." Regina called out. "Aren't you going to share some words of wisdom. "You are here, now scratch your head 'cause without this clue you'll both be dead or whatever other pointless crap you want to feed us." She ridiculed as Emma shook her head with a laugh while kicking up some dirt. Underneath it she spotted the ground wasn't so soft.
"Wait, I found something." She bent down, wiping at the dusty soil below. It was a circular stone, deeply embedded in the dirt but with a yin and yang like sign that was desperately degraded. Cross-checking it with the map, she looked to read the words again. She had recognised the symbols.
"I think these could correspond to "light" and "dark". She matched them as Regina checked. "Maybe the well grows from it."
"It would make sense that if it's protected it's not open access." Regina agreed.
"So what do we have to do?" Emma looked between the stone and the map.
"I suppose we only have one way to find out." Regina stood opposite on the dark side of the plaque. Standing up to match her, the two women spread out their arms and gave each other a subtle nod. On their signal, both began to fire a stream of light into the stone. It immediately swirled through the grooves, flinging the dirt into the air and illuminating it with a backlight of purple and blended white. The two sorceresses began to shake with the pressure but Emma began to wince in pain. "Regina..." She yelled. "Something is wrong!" She shouted across as the lights grew brighter. Before they could react, the earth below them began to shake.
"I think it's about to come through. Can you hold on?" Regina yelled back as her purple faded and shot upwards and Emma's blinding light, now consuming them in a spiralling cylinder, began to whirr. There was a screeching of what sounded like birds and a darkness began to form at the top, filtering down through the white.
"I can try but I feel like I'm slipping. My energy..." Her words were straining before there was an almighty crack and the two of them felt themselves being plunged down as the black began to chase them. They disconnected from their magic but it had taken on a form of its own as they felt themselves falling through the air into an enormous cave. It was as if the ground had sucked them in, the earth now above and sealing up the two holes they had plunged through. While Emma's light splattered to swirl around the walls and ceiling, illuminating the chamber, the black magic had formed into a flock of crows, swarming and circling above.
Some magical force slowed them as their feet met a ledge, a wind battering them that was cyclically returning. "Well this is new!" Regina yelled across. The crows had now dispersed and each taken a perch on one of the blocks of light. Their tranquillity provided little comfort as each was lit up demonstrating their terrifying demeanour as if a countdown to the inevitable. Noting that Emma hadn't responded she looked over, seeing she was propping herself up against the wall, trying to breathe with exhaustion. She noted the colour on her amulet.
"Emma - " She shouted louder, catching her attention.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting the plunge." She batted her away with her hand, but Regina persisted. Her state wasn't what she was worried about. "Your amulet." She pointed.
"What? What's wrong?" Emma asked, looking confused but catching her breath.
"The colour." Regina explained, as Emma looked down. The purple glint is almost faded. I think it's almost fully drained..."
"I thought they were going to last days?" Emma's eyes narrowed in confusion.
"They should have...but then they shouldn't have absorbed the troll magic." Regina cursed as Emma stood straighter, recovering from the drop and the drain. "You think the mix maxed it out?"
"I don't know what to think." Regina replied, the panic growing. "We just had a hundred foot drop into the ground and unless this is the well -"
"Look!" Emma cut her off, spotting a structure in the distance.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" She blasted, seeing that across the chasm was a collection of stones with a tiled roof.
"Why do I get the feeling we can't just materialise there?" Regina groaned.
"So we have to form a bridge of some kind..." Emma immediately got to work.
"You're about to run out of magic. You can't seriously be about to rush into this riddler's game!" Regina chastised her as Emma tried to see as much detail as she could, squinting across to their target.
"Well, I'm pretty sure we can't climb back up." She pointed out, noting their ledge was only about a 10 square yard size, otherwise surrounded by a drop too deep to see the bottom of.
"Wait! I've been in this situation before..." Emma's eyes flashed with inspiration. "Regina," she turned, trying to think of an admission. "The vandalism. The report and the graffiti on your tree. We concluded it was some local kids?"
Regina squinted in confusion as Emma looked between her and the well. Emma looked across before wincing, reluctant to do it, but determined.
"I lied. Killian did it with his hook one night when he was drunk and I hid the evidence. Well, the truth."
"Why the hell are you telling me that now? Because I can't kill you and still get out?" Regina spat back.
"Dammit." Emma cursed, ignoring Regina but looking to see there had been no change. "In Neverland we had to make a confession and it made a bridge grow. You try, maybe it needs us both to do it." She urged Regina on. Baffled by the plan she folded her arms, bracing herself against the constant turbulence in the air that was battering them.
"How about when we get back to Storybrooke I'm going to string Guyliner up from the tree until the bark grows back by itself! That confession enough?" Regina replied, playing along with frustration, but more annoyed at the idea.
"Well as the bridge still isn't here, no, so hopefully that means that's not true -" Emma replied sheepishly as Regina bit back.
"No, it means we're not in Neverland, Swan, as we already know. That cave was to humiliate, this one is to protect." She lectured, growing more annoyed but not for the reasons she was admitting.
"OK!" Emma shot back defensively. "I'm only trying, you can't be that mad about the tree right now, why are you yelling?"
Regina scrunched up her face, looking over to the well. Something else was on her mind.
"Listen." She finally responded, grabbing Emma's arm. "You need to take my amulet. Yours could run out any time now and I can't top it up. I made them with a potion."
"Regina..."
"I'm the most experienced with channelling magic in strange lands. Even if you can access it, it will be unpredictable. You may not be able to learn fast enough... "
"And you may not either. I could use the trolls' fast enough and I generally have the stronger - "
"Yes." Regina cut her off sharply. "So you keep reminding me." She squinted with a gentle chide. "But that is all the more reason you need to be top of your game. You're the strongest with the amulet and I'm the most experienced working at channelling what there is."
"Really? How long did it take you in Storybrooke to get it to work when the curse broke?"
"And how long did it take you full stop?" She hit back firmly as Emma bit back her response seeing the determination in Regina's eyes.
"We both had our rations. I'm not going to leave you vulnerable because I've used up mine. We'll figure it out." She insisted, taking the last word before moving on. Regina backed down, deciding not to debate further. Ultimately, she didn't need Emma's permission.
They were interrupted by the vibrations of the mirror again.
"Emma?" Belle's voice yelled through as the signal struggled through. "We have the translation!"
"Quick!" Emma ordered. "My magic is-" seeing Mary Margaret and Belle's concerned look Regina cut her off, grabbing her hand again to strengthen the signal.
"We have a challenge we need to get on with. What do you have?" She gave Emma a look to communicate that now was not the time to induce any motherly panic.
"The second passage. It says dark must protect and light has to find the way." Mary Margaret explained.
Regina tried walking towards the edge, eyeing each of the dormant crows and the distance they had to work with.
"That's all you have?" Emma checked.
"That was all that page said, other than places on the map."
"It's OK. I have an idea." Regina worked it out, trying to juggle all the pieces of the puzzle in her mind.
"We have to go." Emma explained. "Love you, mom." They broke the connection and put the mirror away.
"I just need to try one thing first." Regina disappeared in a flash of her purple smoke before Emma could ask. She almost immediately came crashing back to the area she first landed as Emma hauled her back up to her feet. "I just needed to be certain that wouldn't work." She explained after her failed materialisation.
Conjuring herself a rod with a double headed axe she flexed her shoulders and practised swinging it round before latching it into a holster that had appeared over her back.
"You need to build a bridge using the lights in the cave." She explained.
"How does that work?" Emma asked.
"The lights, they're blocks. Blocks of pure magic. It creates the way. You poured them in and light magic commands them."
"And the crows? I'm guessing they aren't just there for decoration, especially when I start pulling down their perches." Emma put her hand up to shield the light to try and look at them. "Why do you need the weapon? If the blocks are the light then won't you be using the dark for the crows?"
"Yes, but I don't need to just kill them. I need to attract them to me. Keep distracted from you. The weapon is for insurance and something to draw their attention."
"Will I have enough magic?" Emma asked, taking another check at the amulet.
"You will." Regina insisted, earnestly. "There's enough to do it." As Emma turned to locate the blocks she would go for first, Regina bit her lip, gripping her own amulet. "Now, fast! The sooner this is done, the better."
Emma nodded, running forward as she held out her arms, approaching the edge and began to command. As her proximity to it increased, the crows began to grow restless. Caws began again and they all began to poise for attack.
"And Emma - " Regina added. "Whatever happens, you can get out without me. If it comes to it just do what -"
"We're both getting out." she insisted, giving Regina a final glance before facing the drop in front.
Emma steadied her arms again, deep in concentration. As she moved them out, flexing her hands, blocks from the edges of the cave began crashing down in front of her. Each one caused a thunderous clang as the light faded and they solidified into a rock step, merging to form a solid structure with only a faint glow compared to before.
With each one, a crow was displaced as they collected into a swarm and soon enough others began diving off their own rocks to form an army. Their screeching grew louder and the flock ducked and dived in their patterns edging closer and closer. The ones still remaining at the edge cheered them on with chilling calls. As Emma tried to move faster Regina saw the crows had split into two factions and were taking a final lap of the cave edge, their sights set on Emma.
"The first attack is coming." Regina shouted. "Just try and get as far forward as you can!"
Lighting the edge of the axe with a purple fire, Regina began to call and holler at the crows, successfully drawing their attention. She fired at one with a flick of her fingers, followed by another as their target lock changed, now forming a V shape towards her.
As the crows began to dive, locked on their target, Regina began to walk backwards catching up with Emma before sending out a first blast. A sphere of purple light blasted out from her centre, scattering the approaching crows and vaporising a handful, but their attack was just the first wave. With the backdrop of the deafening screeches, Emma continued to pull the blocks, trying to advance each time, Regina a few steps behind and the two back to back.
As the crows regrouped Regina turned to see Emma struggling with the blocks. She could see they weren't moving as fast and knew it was time to do what she had planned to do from the start. She touched her hand to the amulet on her neck without her deeply focussed companion noticing.
As she moved her hand from it, it was revealed to have taken the faded colour of Emma's.
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She could feel the impact of her blasts reducing each time until eventually she was barely getting a flicker. The amulet had now returned to the colour it was when they first retrieved them. A clear swirl of nothing with a grey tint.
Drawing her insurance axe, she began to use that to get the closest swarm and she had successfully drawn them from Emma who was running far ahead, pulling blocks as fast and furiously as she could with the dulling tint of the light around them.
