Darkness is a Funny Thing… It Creeps Up in You
Chapter Five
Meanwhile, inside Regina's office within the Town Hall…
The Mayor and former Evil Queen had been sitting at her desk carefully studying Henry's storybook for some time, searching through its pages for any answers that would lead to finding the Author. It wasn't the first time that she's done so, but after she, Henry, Robin, and now Emma had all failed to find anything about him elsewhere, the storybook was still the best chance they had. So Regina continued to search the book's pages despite her losing hope that she would ever find him.
Finally, she let out a weary sigh in frustration, just as Emma walked inside carrying some food for her in her hand and approached her at her desk, then set the package down in front of her friend while she questioned, "How do you feel about kale salad?"
Without looking up at the blonde haired woman now standing in front of her, Regina responded sternly, "Like someone found someplace other than Granny's for takeout."
"I'm fine with her grilled cheese, but I know it gets to you," Emma replied, as she continued to play along upon sensing Regina's frustration.
"You eat like a child," Regina stated again with a laugh and then finally lifted her head to look up at her friend, then saw Emma was also carrying a bottle of soda pop she was now holding as well. "Is that a root beer?"
As she pulled out the second bottle she was carrying beneath her arm and began to struggle to open one of them, Emma quickly corrected her, "Two. I got you one. Thought you could use a break."
Regina looked up at Emma again out of frustration as she asked rhetorically, "A break from what? Dead end after dead end? This Sorcerer… Or Author… Whatever he wants to be called… Doesn't want to be found."
"It's only been a few weeks," the Savior answered her, once again sensing what was really bothering her friend, yet not feeling one hundred percent certain.
"Exactly, and I've conquered entire realms in less time," the former Evil Queen brusquely retorted.
As Emma continued to struggle to open her own drink, then walked away from the desk in search of a bottle cap opener so she could drink it, Emma sarcastically responded, "Can you conquer these bottles? I thought they were twist offs."
Regina then scoffed, "Do I look like I can pry them off with my teeth? I'm a Queen and a bit more refined."
"Yeah, I got that," the younger woman curtly replied once more, then opened one of the room's cupboard drawers and closed it when she didn't find what she was looking for. "My mom had a bottle opener here during her brief tenure… somewhere."
"Wait!" Regina then suddenly shouted out to Emma a she quickly rose from her desk and stood, after she raised her head just in time to see which cabinet drawer Emma was about to open next. "Don't…"
However, Regina was too late, as the Savior opened the drawer before her friend could finish her objection to her doing so, and found the mysterious page twenty-three that Robin had found weeks ago inside his bag when he and Will Scarlett had been searching for their own answers inside the town's library.
Emma stared down in surprise at the picture of what appeared to be a much younger version of Regina and Robin, as they were kissing outside of a tavern of some sort Emma suspected was within her family's old world, then she finally turned to look at her friend again while she asked, "What's this? Did you take it from the book?"
When Emma started walking back over to Regina who still stood behind her desk, the Mayor answered sadly, "It's not from the book. Robin found it…"
"When did he find it?" the blonde question once more. "This didn't happen, did it? What does it mean?"
"If I knew the answer to that question, I wouldn't be on such a drive to find this Author we're looking for, now would I?" Regina brusquely responded out of frustration, then reached out to take the page away from her friend and began to stare down at it like she's done quite often since Robin brought it to her. "I'm sorry. It's just that I… Robin told me when he showed me this page, that he believed it meant there is hope for us."
The Savior looked at her as she steadfastly replied, "Of course there's hope, Regina. You and Robin are still together. And you're happy. Despite Zelena's efforts to tear you apart when she posed as Marian for that brief time. I know that you're worried something's still gonna happen that might still break you two apart, but…"
The former Evil Queen interrupted, "It isn't just that, Emma. You wouldn't… You wouldn't really understand. Only those of us who are villains… or who used to be villains, can possibly understand. Hook does. We've talked about this briefly once before."
"You've talked about what?" Emma then worryingly asked her upon hearing that the man she loved had once expressed his own fear to Regina, rather than to her. "And when?"
"Back when we had just arrived in Neverland," Regina quietly answered her, as she then thought back to that moment between her and the pirate Captain upon their arrival in that dark world.
While Regina had been staring off in the distance towards the island, Hook appeared behind her to take up the helm of his ship once again as he reached out his hook to stop the wheel for a moment in order to slow the Jolly Roger down, and she immediately turned and walked over to him while she asked angrily, "Why are you slowing down? In case you didn't know, my son's life is in danger!"
Hook began to steer once more as they continued on towards the island, then he responded quietly, "Oh… I know, my hotheaded Queen. The plan is to bring us to the far side of the island, link up with the widest part of the river, then we sail right through… take him by surprise. The irony…"
"What irony?" Her Majesty questioned him curiously in reply upon seeing the look of amusement over their current actions on his face while he continued to man the helm.
"Oh… I spent more time than I care to remember trying to leave this place to kill Rumplestiltskin," Hook somberly answered her. "And here I am, sailing right back into its heart with him as my guest of honor. It's not quite the happy ending I was hoping for."
Without nodding her understanding after he finished his explanation, even though she did understand him, Regina looked out at the distance ahead of them again, before she turned back to face him once more as she responded, "Greg Mendell said something funny to me. He said I'm a villain, and that villains don't get happy endings. You believe that?"
Hook had then replied out of worry, "I hope not… or we've wasted our lives."
"You should really convince him to talk to you about it, because it's not really my place to say," Regina at last spoke to Emma once she broke from her thoughts as the memory faded. "I understand why he's struggling to talk to you about why he's so worried. It's kind of why I am too. For different reasons of course, but… But you have to get him to open up about why he's so upset with himself after everything he did under Gold's control. It's eating at him even more than you know, Emma. Trust me. However, just know that he spoke to me then about fearing the consequences from being the villains we used to be. I don't know about Hook… But I am afraid that at any moment, someone… or something, is going to one day take Robin away from me in some way. All because this Author wrote me as only the Evil Queen because he or she sees me as nothing more. And what if… villains don't get happy endings just because this Author and his book says so?"
"We will find him, Regina," the Savior finally answered her with confidence and assurance. "Or her… whoever this Author may be. I promise. Because we won't stop our search until we do. And you know just how determined Henry is to help you."
The Mayor nodded as she smiled and then she responded, "I do. And you're right. I suppose I just needed to be reminded. Thank you, Emma. Listen… about Hook…"
Unfortunately for Emma, before Regina could finish, Belle suddenly charged into Regina's office and upon seeing the Savior and the Queen there, the beauty breathlessly called out to them, "Regina… Emma! Oh good… you're both here. Thank goodness. Hook is actually on his way to your loft to find you, Emma. But hopefully your parents will be there and let him know you're here."
"Whoa, Belle… just slow down," the Savior finally said to encourage her to take a moment to get her breathing under control. "It's okay. Now… what's going on? Did you and Killian find something to free the fairies?"
"Yeah, I uh… I found an incantation," Belle more calmly replied to her. "It's uh… it's part of a spell in uh… an ancient tongue I've never seen before. Which made translation a challenge. But I did it. I found a professor of linguistics from Oxford, and he just emailed me with the translation. It's an ancient ceremony, but uh… one that'll bring them back."
She then turned to Regina as she quickly added, "I uh… I just need you to enact it."
"Ceremony, huh?" the Savior confidently answered her, then looked over again at Regina. "Well, Madame Mayor… ready to pronounce today, 'Free the fairies day'?"