Darkness is a Funny Thing… It Creeps Up in You

Chapter Eleven

Once Emma started to drive with Regina sitting in the passenger's seat in the hope of destroying the winged creature they know now as a Chernabog, it wasn't long before the monster found them before they could find it, and the Savior immediately began to drive towards the town line as fast as she could, then while it continued to roar behind or above them, the Mayor roamed her eyes around her friend's car until she finally questioned cynically, "What made you choose yellow?"

As she quickly glanced towards the woman beside her, Emma curtly questioned her out of confusion, "What?"

"Your bug… Yellow?" Regina anxiously clarified for her as she continued, in an effort to take her mind off her fear of the monster now chasing them. "Bold choice."

"I like yellow," the Savior retorted brusquely out of frustration over her friend's choice of conversation. "I stole it. Is this really the time to question my taste?"

The former Evil Queen immediately apologized, "Sorry. I'm just trying not to think about being some demon's lunch."

While looking through her rearview and side mirrors to keep her eyes on the winged beast behind them in between keeping her eyes on the road in front of them, Emma assuredly responded to her, "You're not going to be."

"I'm glad you're confident," Regina replied worryingly, then all of a sudden, the Chernabog flew down and roughly landed on top of the car as it roared even more loudly and growled, causing her anxiety to heighten even more than seconds before. "What is this thing made of? Tin?"

"Hang on," the blonde woman immediately answered her, without giving into Regina's ridicule about her car. "We're almost there."

Emma struggled to keep her car on the road while the beast still hanging onto them continued to thrash and knock the bug around in order to get at the target in its sight, then once it crashed through the car's windshield, shattering the glass all over the two women inside, Regina spoke to Emma again fearfully saying, "It's too late. I'm not gonna let both of us die in this metal coffin on wheels. Thanks for trying, Miss Swan."

All of a sudden, Regina vanished within her cloud of purple smoke to escape, while the Chernabog stayed on top of the car and attacked the Savior as she cried out, "What?! Regina!"

However, as soon as Emma came into view of the town line, she immediately saw Regina once again, standing there in front of her, and the former Evil Queen quickly shouted at the winged monster to gain its attention, "Hey!"

In the moment she did so, the hell beast screamed again at the former Evil Queen, and Emma swiftly slammed her foot down on the accelerator to speed up as fast as her yellow bug could go, then swiftly released the pedal, before she slammed down again on the break in order to force the monster off her car, as her move hurled it forward and across the town line, causing the Chernabog to suddenly burst into flames and ash.

The Savior stared ahead of her in shock and with disbelief, then finally allowed herself to release her breath she had been holding in since Regina vanished from the seat beside her. She let out a frustrated sigh of relief and then finally opened her door to get out so she could talk again with her friend now standing before her just in front of the town line.

"So, that didn't exactly play out like I expected our plan to play out," Emma grumbled to Regina out of frustration as she approached the Mayor, then she softened her expression before she continued. "I'm just glad that it worked. For a moment… I almost thought you were abandoning me."

"If I was still the Evil Queen, I would have," Regina responded to her and then she smiled. "I'm glad that worked too. That was some pretty fancy driving, Miss Swan. Nice work."

Emma smiled at her friend in return, just as David's truck appeared behind them as her parents, along with Killian and Robin who were standing in the back of the truck, drove up in order to make sure that she and Regina were alright. Once David brought his truck to a stop just in back of his daughter's car, Killian was the first to meet up with Emma again after he immediately jumped down from the back of the truck while he called out to her in worry. Robin jumped down as well and ran over to Regina, followed closely by both David and Mary Margaret as well.

While Killian looked the woman he loved over so he could make sure she wasn't harmed and then reached down to take her hand before she could lift it once again to his face to caress his cheek, he asked her nervously, "Swan… are you all right?"

She nodded as she smiled up at him, then whispered, "I'm fine. Just like I told you I would be. I promise. That monstrosity… whatever a Chernabog really is, is gone. It burst into flames and then turned to ash the second it crossed the town line."

"That beast may be gone, but we're not finished here yet," Regina said again to her friends, before she and the others then all turned towards the two villainesses standing next to the Panther De Ville roadster now parked not too far from the line, completely unaware of what just transpired within Storybrooke thanks to the protection spell over their town. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Which is why we shouldn't let them in," David firmly replied, making his own opinion over letting the women in known as well. "Mary Margaret's right… they can't be trusted. And it's not like you gave them your word that you would actually let them in."

In agreement with her husband, Mary Margaret adamantly continued, "They may have told you the truth this time about how to defeat that beast, but it doesn't mean they can be trusted. We don't know why they're really here. It may be that they're looking for redemption like they said, but we can't know that for sure. This is wrong, Emma. Please don't agree to this."

Emma looked between her parents as she sensed something was off with them and then she suspiciously answered, "Mom… this doesn't sound like you. You always believe the best in everyone."

"I'm also a realist," her mother sternly responded again.

"Emma, she's right," her father stated again with the same conviction. "Things were just starting to get back to normal in Storybrooke."

"You too?" Emma questioned him out of disbelief by her parents' attitudes towards these villainesses, especially given their normal belief that everyone deserves a second chance.

The Princess sighed, then she answered again, "Look… we don't know anything about these two."

David added, "For all we know, they could be just as evil and twisted as Gold and Zelena, or even worse. Besides… they called you using Gold's phone, didn't they? Which means they stole it from him. That doesn't seem like the best thing they could have done in order to begin to prove their intentions to us, does it?"

The Savior sighed again in frustration before she looked again at Killian, who appeared to be just as nervous about allowing Cruella and Ursula into Storybrooke, then much to her surprise, he finally spoke again in spite of feeling apprehensive about his words saying, "If Emma believes we should give them a chance, then I agree that we should. After all… you all gave me a second chance, even though I wasn't deserving of it."

"No matter what you might think, Hook… and even though I was more wary than anyone about our decision to trust in a pirate, you have proved yourself worthy of the chance we've given you," Charming responded to the man he now saw as his friend, much to Killian's surprise. "We've all made mistakes we're not proud of."

"Including your mother and me," David strangely added with more apprehension than they had allowed everyone to see before as he and Mary Margaret both turned theirs heads to look towards Ursula and Cruella once again, making Emma suspect even more that there was something about her parents involving these villainesses that they weren't telling her.

As he looked over at Regina, Robin asked, "None of us may not like it, but do you feel we should give them a chance?"

The former Evil Queen looked between Ursula and Cruella too and then she replied, "If I wasn't given chance after chance for redemption, then I wouldn't be the woman I am now, and we wouldn't be together. So… as much as I wish we didn't have to, I think it's what's right."

"So do I," Emma said again in agreement with her friend. "Let's let them in. Regina… do you have the Snow Queen's scroll?"

"I do now," Regina answered her, as she swiftly magicked the scroll that Ingrid had used in order to find her way into Storybrooke years ago into her hand, then reluctantly handed it over to the Savior, who took it from her feeling the same reluctance. "I'm telling you right now… if they step out of line even once, the Sea Witch and that dog hater are going to regret our generosity."

Emma smiled at her before she too looked towards the women patiently waiting across the town line for them as well, then upon observing their appearances for a moment, she stated again, "You know… I've seen both the of the Disney movies their characters come from and I have to say, they look nothing like I would expect them to. Actually… Okay, Cruella looks pretty close to how I would expect her to look, but Ursula…"

Hook couldn't help but laugh, until he responded in jest, "I would think you would be well used to the fact that so few of us are hardly as the world sees us by now, Swan. And thank goodness for that. If I looked as I did in that rubbish you call an 'animated' movie, or even in that other 'live action' movie with me as its main character that your boy loves so much… surely you and I wouldn't possibly be together. Or worse… if you wished to be with a man who looked as the pirate in those movies did, you would have had to choose to date Black Beard instead. And if you had, you most certainly wouldn't be as clever as I believe you to be."

"Can we get on with this, please?" Regina impatiently replied once more, having grown tired of waiting around to let the villainesses into their town.

"Sorry," Emma answered apologetically for getting off track, then nodded to her friend to indicate it was time.

Regina nodded back, then without any further hesitation, she opened her hand holding tightly to the scroll and finally tossed it over the town line. Emma, Killian, Robin, David, and Mary Margaret, all watched on as she did so, then waited as they all turned their eyes on both Ursula and Cruella so they could observe their next move.