A/N: A huge thank you to everyone who left comments and positive feedback! Just a quick clarification before you start reading this chapter - just in case it's not clear enough: whenever Emma and Regina open the jewelry box, the crystals' power is triggered. If the box is closed, they don't feel their energy, and the same happens if and when the crystals are placed inside of it. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 10 – Regina – Learned

I hesitantly took the purple crystal from Emma's hands – and there it was again, that static electricity that constantly flowed between us. It had been there also as we... you know… and it had been intoxicating, to put it simply. Which was exactly the reason why I was never going to have sex with Emma Swan ever again.

Even just thinking about it made me shiver with such anticipation, such desire – I was already craving her touch, and it had only been half an hour since it all happened. I was turning back into a hormonal teenager, and I didn't like it – or, better yet, I liked it too much. I was supposed to be a queen, for crying out loud! You'd think I'd be able to control my body, but no, let's have inappropriate fantasies and ladyboners like a damn fifteen-year-old!

Desperate to suppress those thoughts, I opened the jewelry box, curious as to what that particular crystal would make me feel. The green swan had been so, incredibly strong… it was a primordial need, an urge that had a sprinkle of frustrating fondness and an aftertaste of cinnamon.

It was different now, with the Dark Curse: it was agonizing and suffocating, and it aroused in me the deepest, most unmitigated sense of loneliness; but the worst part was that it felt familiar, and I understood what the 'old me' used to be like. All of a sudden I felt exposed, not wanting Emma to know what that side of me felt in her heart. I didn't know whether she was perceiving the same emotions or not, but by the look of concern and compassion on her face I could tell she wasn't very far off the truth.

"Don't," I said curtly. I scowled at her: I didn't need her pity.

"You know, you're not that different from me," she confessed, ignoring my words. "We used to understand each other – you've always been the only person in this town I could talk to and trust completely, because you were the only one who knew exactly what I was going through."

"Why are you telling me this?" I deadpanned.

"Because you can trust me too."

I diverted my gaze, a bit overwhelmed by her words, and relented. I placed the third crystal in the jewelry box, glad as the emotions it had aroused faded away.

A door slamming shut and some rustling from downstairs caught our attention; Emma put an arm in front of me, protectively, and I could see her golden-white magic starting to gather right on top of her palms, when the door to my office thrust open and her parents hurtled themselves into the room. My heart fluttered when I saw Henry was with them as well.

"Emma, Regina, are you okay?!" her father said, placing caringly a hand on my shoulder – much to my surprise – as her mother hugged her.

"Of course, why wouldn't we be?" she asked, her expression mirroring the bafflement on mine.

Miss Blanchard rose her brows in surprise. "Didn't you see the storm?"

"Storm?" I echoed. A quick glance at the windows proved that it had rained, but surely I would have noticed if a storm had hit town.

"At least that's what it looked like," Mr. Nolan concurred. "Thunders, lightning, a whole lot of wind…"

"… But only on top of Town Hall," Henry concluded.

"We didn't hear anything…" Emma said, looking at me for confirmation.

I nodded in agreement, approaching the window and moving the curtains to take a better look outside. The short hedges in the garden were completely disheveled, and mud and dirt covered the once immaculate lawn.

"Well, there has definitely been a storm," I conceded, "but how is that possible? When did this happen?"

"Around half past ten," Henry replied. Then, hesitantly, added, "Were you doing something… strange, at that time?"

"It's alright, kid, I told her everything. You can talk about magic," Emma reassured him.

I mentally went back over what we had done that morning; I had finished getting ready at about quarter past ten, then Emma brought me breakfast and…

Oh.

I shot Emma an appalled look, and realization spread through her features as she arrived to the same conclusion. I could tell she was thinking fast of an excuse, so I helped her.

"We found this," I said, grasping the jewelry box from the table and showing it to her parents, "it's magical, so that must have been the cause."

"But why didn't you hear anything?" her mother was still confused and, I sensed, a bit suspicious too. Her lingering gaze on the box wasn't lost on me, but I didn't address the peculiar behavior.

"Must've been the box. You know, magic is weird…" Emma intervened.

Fortunately, Mr. Nolan opened it, gaining his wife's attention as well as Henry's, so I was able to approach Emma and take her to one side.

"How the hell did we cause a thunderstorm by having sex?!" I hissed, baffled and incredulous, careful that neither her parents nor Henry would hear us.

"I guess it was our magic," she replied, just as disoriented as me. "We must have… I don't know, lost control over it or something…"

"Well, that's not alarming at all."

At least now I had yet another reason not to have sex with her again.

"It won't happen again, anyway," she said, perfectly reflecting my thoughts, as an attempt to comfort me.

"Undoubtedly," I replied, hemming right after and redirecting my attention back to the others.

As I looked at Emma's parents, I fleetingly wondered how old they were. Then I looked at Henry, and I decided a little chat with my son was the right thing to do. I approached him.

"May I speak with you for a minute?"

The Charmings – the thought of that being a real name made me want to laugh for a second – politely moved to the couch to give us some privacy, still studying the artifact we had found, Emma telling them about the crystals. I started wringing my hands, feeling suddenly nervous. I didn't know where to start.

"I know how hard this situation must be, for you," I told him, looking at him in the eye, completely sincere, "and I know you have already gone through a lot of problems just like this one, but I wanted to tell you that I'm going to do anything that's in my power, that I'll try my very best, to get my memories back. I don't want you to lose a mother – I won't let that happen."

Henry's eyes filled with pain, but I thought I caught a glimpse of pride and respect as well.

"I know you'll figure this out," he said passionately, and I couldn't help but hug him. "You always do."

I may not recall him, but I definitely did feel some kind of affection for that young man. My love towards him used to be too strong for that curse to suppress it completely, and I could feel the ghost of it, still.

Unshed tears began to blur my vision, forcing me to look up as an attempt to make them go away. I broke away from the hug and smiled ruefully, more resolute than ever on getting my old life back. Likely, it was going to be painful: the old me certainly had her reasons to do what she – what I did, but it definitely wasn't worth losing a child.

Then, the craziest, most insane idea made its way into my mind, igniting the spark of hope that, eventually, led me to sharing the realization I had just had.

"Emma?" I called before I could change my mind.

She looked up, curious as to what I was going to say next.

"Will you teach me how to use magic?"

We were walking – or hiking, rather – in the woods that surrounded Storybrooke. Spending every second cursing those damn high heels that were killing my feet, creating a new blister every step I took, I was following Emma to the place she thought most appropriate to teach me how to pull a white bunny out of a top hat.

"Couldn't we just do this at the office?" I asked her, frustrated, after ten minutes of killing bugs and moving leafy branches and twigs out of the way. "If I happened to break anything you could just… magic it back as it was, right?"

"Nope," she simply replied, without interrupting her march. "You were the one who repaired things, not me. I made the mess, you sighed, rolled your eyes and fixed it."

I grunted in resignation and kept walking.

I was a bit concerned: Emma had said that Mr. Gold wasn't going to come for us and that I would be fine outside her protection spell, and I really hoped she was right.

"Here we are!" she said, abruptly stopping and causing me to crash into her.

"Ouch." I looked past her and right in front of us was a precipice, the remains of an old bridge curiously clumped to our side.

What on Earth is she planning to do?

"This is the place where you taught me how to swim," she said loudly, trying to overcome the whistle of the wind. "You teleported me on a bridge and then tore it apart, because my magic was completely instigated by my instincts, and risking my life would definitely trigger it."

"Well, on second thoughts, I don't think I want to learn magic so bad," I replied, starting to feel very concerned. "Isn't there a safer way? Let's try by, I don't know, lighting a candle, for instance."

"Don't worry," she replied, an amused smile curving her lips, "I'm not here to try and kill you. I thought this might have been a good place to start, maybe you might remember something in the meantime. Besides, we don't have to worry about damaging public property or injuring the Merry Men…"

"Right, because they exist too," I murmured to myself, still yet to completely adjust to this new reality. "Then, what do you want me to do?"

She took a few steps towards the edge of the cliff and turned back towards me.

"You once told me magic was all about emotions. You didn't have to think, you had to do – and I need you to remember that.

"So, we're going to take this one step at a time and start with something easy: I want you to summon your necklace," and as she said that, the small pendant I kept around my neck appeared in her palm, surrounded by a white mist, "back into your hand."

I stiffened. She was holding it dangerously close to the drop of the cliff, and that necklace was very important to me – for some reason that, of course, I didn't recall.

"So I just… think about having it in my hand?" I asked, hesitant.

"Well, pretty much… but you have to feel it. Free your mind and calm down; close your eyes, if you think it might help. And then… do it."

I followed her instructions, trying not to think of anything other than my necklace. I opened the palm of my hand, but regardless of how hard I tried to imagine it between my fingers, nothing was happening.

Emma was studying me with a critical look, serious and completely rapt in her role as teacher.

I looked back at her hand, and I saw she was holding the ring with only two of her fingers, now. It was about to fall down, and that motivated me to put even more effort into my attempts – and, surely, she knew that.

I was holding my breath in concentration, trying to move the pendant before she dropped it – when I finally felt it: my magic. It wasn't much different from the feeling you get when you're falling: a void right behind your stomach. It was directly linked to the necklace, and right when Emma let it slip from her grip, I felt my palm tingle, and there it was, appearing in a cloud of dark red smoke.

I smirked, smug, and raised a brow as I looked at Emma, waiting for her to praise me.

"Too slow," she scolded instead, and the bit of confidence that I had just earned completely disappeared, along with my smile. "You're gonna have to be much quicker than that, especially during a battle."

I glared at her as I handed the necklace back; I wasn't actually angry, but I could use a bit more support.

"Keep it," she said, and I put the pendant back around my neck. "We'll have to try something more motivating."

That being said, she took a deep breath, looked at me and smirked, teasingly, although I could see the concern behind her nonchalant façade.

"Save me," she said, and with her arms spread out, she dove backwards, off the cliff.

Surprise, disbelief and utter, agonizing panic took over me. I didn't run to the edge to see if she was alright, I didn't scream for her name; it hadn't been any longer than a second, before I summoned her back beside me.

It didn't occur to me that she wasn't in any actual danger, since she could just teleport herself to safety; my rationality had completely disappeared, just like my ability to breathe.

Now she was standing there, without even a scratch, satisfied with her job, laughing at the horror displayed on my face.

"See? It worked!"

I looked at her. I couldn't believe what she had just said. My fright was quickly being replaced by fury, and I was about to vent, when she raised a hand to stop me, apparently pleased.

"What?!" I snapped.

She nodded towards my hand, and a ball of freaking fire was floating right on top of my palm.

I jumped and yelped in surprise, instinctively shaking my hand to get it off of me, regardless of the fact that I wasn't feeling any pain, but with that movement I accidentally ended up shooting it at a nearby elm and setting it on fire.

Oops.

As an awkward attempt to somehow put out the blaze, I swung my hand, but it seemed to only worsen the situation.

"Emma? I need help" I murmured. She hadn't done anything yet, and the fire was starting to expand.

"I told you," she replied, her voice a little panicky, "you were the one who sorted everything out when I messed up!"

"And you didn't think that I could be the one messing up, today?!"

"I might not have thought this through," she conceded, as I backed up to where she was to distance myself from the growing flames. "Alright, Gina. Focus."

I looked at her in shock. What were we going to do?! But then I saw her resolute expression, a fire of determination burning behind her eyes, mirroring the one right in front of us, and I felt… safe. I knew we were going to fix this.

Something in my stomach moved, as I felt her grab my hand. It was probably the effect of our magic combined.

I saw Emma raise a hand out of the corner of my eye, and I mimicked her action, unsure of what to do but determined nonetheless. I took a deep breath as I felt the increasingly more familiar grip right behind my stomach, and then a bright flash of red energy shot out of my hand, complementary to Emma's white one. They solidified, forming a dome over the few burning trees, impeding oxygen to get through. After a couple of seconds the blaze died out, and we dropped our arms to our side.

"Well, that was… intense," Emma breathed out, panting just like me.

I scowled at her and started making my way out of the forest.

"Hey!" she exclaimed as she saw me take off. I didn't turn around when she called my name. "Regina! Wait up!"

She ran to keep my pace, but I wasn't planning on slowing down any time soon, pained feet or not. A frustrated sigh later I was back at the mansion (not the office; a detail I did register but didn't question), surrounded by that white smoke of hers, and I knew I couldn't keep ignoring her for much longer.

Putting my hands on my hips, I turned around, infuriated to say the least.

I kept staring, waiting for her to talk. She had a few leaves stuck in her blonde curls, and sweat had stuck some hair to her forehead. Mentally grunting, I wondered how she managed to look so pretty even after a hike, a fall off a cliff, and a magical mishap.

I was still angry, though.

"I'm sorry," she said sheepishly, rolling her eyes. "I should have known better."

I didn't relent at her apologies, nor did I reply. I simply turned around and headed upstairs, in desperate need to wash my frustration away.

"Where are you going?" she questioned.

"To take a shower, unless you're planning on having another one of your brilliant magic lessons," I replied sarcastically, glaring at her.

She simply smiled, raising an eyebrow.

"What?"

She shrugged. "You remember where the toilet is."

Half an hour later I was drying my hair with a soft towel, slightly baffled after seeing the shampoo in this house was the same I used back in New York, but I imagined it made sense. I was still the same person, although didn't remember most of my life.

As I got out of the bathroom, a bit more calm but still frowning, I was pleased to see Emma had brought back my baggage and my handbag, which I had left back at Town Hall. I slipped into some comfortable clothes and joined her downstairs, where she was sitting on the rug, nice and snug in front of the fireplace, watching TV. I noticed her hair was wet as well, and she had changed into her nightwear.

"Thank you for bringing back my stuff," I grumbled, still annoyed but actually grateful.

She beamed at me, happy to have at least partially redeemed herself. "I ordered some food," she added, pointing to a brown bag onto the coffee table. "I got you a chicken salad, since you're a healthy weirdo who doesn't do greasy food. I hope that's alright."

I nodded, grabbing the plastic container and fork and curling up on the couch, right behind Emma. She unconsciously leaned into me when she felt my legs against her back. I had to fight the urge to run my fingers through her hair and massage her head. What the hell was wrong with me these days?!

"Why are we here?"

Emma shrugged. "I figured it would be more comfortable than the office. I checked, and Gold isn't here anymore. I enchanted the house with Blood Magic again, just for good measure, but you will be safe here."

We fell into a comfortable silence, during which I clearly felt my annoyance at her start to fade away.

"I can't wait to finally go to bed," she muffled after a while, her mouth full of fries. This woman didn't have the slightest bit of grace, when it came to food, I'm telling you. "I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted, and my feet are starting to ache. I don't even want to imagine how much yours hurt, wearing those death traps that you call shoes…"

She went on rambling for a while, and I kept listening. It was nice; her voice was soothing, and she definitely liked to talk, which meant I didn't have to. She moved on the couch when she had finished her food, snuggling up next to me, and I rested my head on her shoulder. It was a matter of minutes before I fell asleep, her voice ushering me into a dreamless sleep, cradled by the comforting tingle of her magic.