Hope
The Evil Queen could barely ever see Emma. Since she learned the truth about her "Miss Swan", she started to look for a solution in every spell book she could find, but she came up empty.
She growled as she threw one of her books against the wall next to her. The imp was not lying when he said the only way to break this spell was True Love's Kiss. It was his curse; it would be broken on his terms.
But she would not give up so easily. There had to be a loophole, there always was. She saw Emma through her mirror and felt her pain intensifying every day. The pain now started where the feather was branded on her skin. It burned and ached and traveled up her arm and into her heart.
Every day was tiring and sickening for the Queen, but today she needed more of Emma. She needed not only to see her, but to talk to her. She felt an unshakeable pull towards her and no matter how hard she tried to stay away, to understand that this was wrong, she couldn't.
She waved her hand over her mirror and the woman appeared before her. This time and for the first time in days, she was filled with warmth. She often wondered if that feeling was what others called happiness.
She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling as she stared at the woman, who held small, dark swans to her chest. She smiled at them and talked to them, but her words were lost to the Queen. She was taken by the happy expression on the other woman's face.
Her Majesty transported herself to see the Swan Princess. Emma was lying on the ground, laughing with little baby swans on her chest. Her laughter filled the made the Queen's heart skip a beat.
What sorcery did Emma possess? This was something no other being could do. It had to be some sort of magic.
One of the ducks was hidden in Emma's neck for the little one was afraid. The kind woman took the little thing in her palm and kissed its head, sitting up. The rest of them slid down to her lap and stumbled through the feathers of her gown and onto the ground.
Three of the black swans in the lake met the little ones half way as they approached their ruler, necks bowing before speaking.
"Your Highness," One of the black swans said, "Your family is doing well." Emma put the little swan on her lap and glared at the one who had just spoken to her. "Well, your mother still seeks you. Your father does too, but she is…quite affected, Your Highness." She nodded, looking at the swan in between the other two, with sad eyes.
"Lilith is helping your parents, my Princess; she and the young man Baelfire, who swears undying love for you." The swan said quickly. The princess nodded, smiling softly at the thought of her friends.
The Evil Queen's eye narrowed as she took this in. Baelfire…did Emma love him as well? And why did the thought taste like bile in her mouth?
"No, no…he must feel guilt. Great guilt for what's happened to me." Emma answered, kissing the frightened little swan that did not leave her lap. "Do not let them find me." She ordered the three swans that had come to talk to her and they took that as their cue to leave her.
Emma's eyes went back to the swan she held; she was smiling brightly at it and laughed at the other little ones as they played. The sound was like a beautiful melody to the Queen's ears…she could not get enough.
She stood and joined the other little swans, humming a song for them. She put the shy one on the ground next to the others. She smiled and danced around with them, laughing at the trembling little one she held. Regina found herself smiling for she had never seen her Miss Swan so happy.
"If I could break the spell, I'd go to her today," Emma sang, softly. "…but somehow I know, I know she's on her way to me," Her voice was addicting and the way she prolonged the last word made Regina close her eyes to savor this. When she opened them, Emma was waving her hand over the little swans and they began to talk, all at once.
"Shush, little ones. One at a time, please." Emma said kindly.
"Are you going to name us, Your Highness?" The shy one asked softly. Its voice was one of a girl's.
"If you'd like me to, little one…and please, call me Emma." Emma said, picking her up as her siblings played about. The princess kissed her little head and smiled. "You shall be called Ducky. I was someone's little ducky once and you shall be mine." The little swan rested her head against the princess' cheek as a gesture of gratefulness.
"Thank you, Emma." The little swan said, happy with the princess.
"Off you go, little one. Join the others." Emma let them go, looking at the moon, still smiling.
Regina's head was foggy with the pleasure Emma's happiness had brought her and her heart warm with what she had just seen. As much as she hated to face the truth, she had to accept that she was no Evil Queen when it came to Emma. She melted her heart and undid her completely.
"It would appear the princess is happy today." Emma's head turned so she could meet Regina's eyes. "How come you never sing or smile like that for me, Your Highness?" Regina questioned sarcastically, swaying her hips as she neared the princess. Emma's heart pounded, threatening to explode in her chest as the raven haired woman walked towards her, her body exposed under that transparent nightgown.
"You barely come to see me, Your Majesty. I bet you use your mirror…I feel your eyes on me." Emma whispered with a small shrug. "Did it ever occur to you that I only sing or smile for those who have earned it?" Regina licked her lips and raised her chin, cocking an eyebrow.
She would have loved to push the cheeky girl against the nearest tree and show her just how much she was going to earn the smiles and the songs, but she reeled it in. This was Emma. Little, innocent Emma.
"You cannot hide what you truly feel behind that attitude, Miss Swan." Regina whispered, raising her branded wrist and taking in how almost half of Emma's feathers were dark. "Did it ever occur to you that you could not act around me anymore once we were connected?" Emma's smile grew and she closed the space between them.
"Dance with me." She whispered, swaying gently as her green eyes burned into the Queen's ebony ones.
Regina tried to keep a straight face as the other woman approached her, still moving with the grace of the moon that hung above them.
Emma stopped dancing and pulled Regina's body close, her hands grasping the Queen's waist. Regina stopped breathing as their fronts were pressed together and her almost naked breasts brushed against Emma's. Their noses were touching, Emma's caressing Regina's and the princess' emerald eyes were on Her Majesty's blood red lips. Regina closed her eyes to keep from doing what her body longed for, but she still felt her knees buckle when Emma's hands squeezed her thin waist.
"Look at me." Emma whispered. Regina opened her eyes to find the girl looking at her lips. Emma longed to kiss the Queen, to feel her luscious lips against hers. She hoped it would break her curse, she hoped the kiss would save her, but there was only one way this would work: if the Queen kissed her. Emma's hands moved up, making Regina gasp as they brushed her breasts and stopped to take the Queen's face.
"You can save me, Regina." She whispered, her lips just a breath away from Regina's. Regina sighed and pressed her lips together.
Before Emma could utter another word, the Queen disappeared.
Red had enough of waiting for her beautiful pup come home. She and her husband had gone to every library, every sorcerer and every witch.
The feathers they wore around their necks had turned as dark are charcoal and it worried the couple all the more.
Red could not stand the pain anymore. She had begged Graham to go to the Evil Queen and ask for help, but he simply would not.
"That is the very last thing I will do, my ruby. Please understand. She's evil, the darkest sorceress that has ever wielded such power. She would do nothing but harm our Emma." He had told her.
They only had one more option. The one that Red did not want to go through with.
The Light Kingdom.
They had defeated the darkness and they should have been able to find Emma and fix her somehow.
But Red did not want to go to Snow and James for she knew that once she saw her beautiful swan, she would take her away from her. The resemblance between them was too noticeable now that Emma had the body and face of a woman.
Red was torn because either way she'd lose her daughter, she just had to choose which one: to darkness or to Queen Snow and King James.
Every night she forcefully turned into the wolf in hopes of finding her daughter, but her body was getting exhausted and her efforts were in vain.
But this night, she and her husband were going into the Light castle; they were going to seek the King and Queen.
"Red, how are you? I haven't seen you in so many years…My gods!" Queen Snow White asked, rising and hugging her friend. The King shook the huntsman's hand and smiled kindly at Red. "Oh no…what's wrong?"
"Snow, we came to ask for a favor." Snow White's heart hurt for her friend. What could sadden her like this?
"Go on." The King prompted.
"Our beautiful Goldie Locks was cursed and we have no way to break the dark spell. We cannot find her, no matter how much we look." Red explained, tears running down her face.
"You are royalty, there must be a way you can help. The Dark One has done this to her and we need a way to reverse it." Graham's arm went around his sobbing wife. The King and Queen looked at each other and then at the couple with regret.
"We are afraid we cannot do much. We have no magic and the fairies are no longer servicing us. In fact, we have not seen Blue for many years." The King explained, his kind green eyes saddened.
"It's true...and we do not even know what your Goldie Locks look like. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, Red." Snow whispered, shaking her head.
"No, please! You have to find a way to help us!" Red begged. Graham held her closer, hoping she would not lose it and say something she would regret.
"We are so sorry." King James whispered.
"Please, Your Majesty! Help us find our Emma. PLEASE!" Red sobbed, Graham's arms falling from their hold on her.
The King and Queen froze, as did Graham.
"Emma?" Snow asked, her voice barely a whisper. "After our daughter was born, it was no longer legal to name another child Emma for we had not found ours." She explained, her eyes turning hostile.
"No, that's not what I said, Snow…I—" The King raised a hand to silence her.
"Your child is our Emma?" The King asked, his voice laced with venom.
Red uttered "No" as Graham said "Yes".
The leaders of the Light Kingdom looked at each other and then back at the couple.
Snow White walked towards her friend and looked her in the eyes.
"How could you do this to me?" She whispered. "You took her and paraded her in front of me, giving her a fake name all just to keep her…" Both women shed tears, Red because Snow was right and Snow because anger burned inside her like wildfire.
"GUARDS!" The King shouted.
"No, please! You have to help us find her. Do not lock us up!" The huntsman begged as the guards walked in.
"Oh, we will find her, but you both should consider jail a privilege, considering what you've done." Kind James said.
"Take them to the dungeons." Demanded Snow White, never taking her eyes off Red's.
"I am so sorry, Snow." Red whispered as the guards took her arms and placed them behind her and another did the same to her husband.
"As am I, Red." Snow said, wiping tears off her face. "As. Am. I."