A/N: Still unable to reply to your reviews! I'm sorry - I promise I'll do it as soon as possible. Thank you, as always, for reading... Only two more chapters left.
UPDATE: I'm back home, so I can reply to y'all. Yay!
CHAPTER 24 – Emma – Faced
Holding the blackened, pulsating organ in one hand and the now-whole crystal in the other, I felt an almost crazed grin ease its way onto my face.
I looked up at Regina and was startled by the confusion – and… was it betrayal? – sprawled on her expression. Then I realized I had just taken her heart out of her chest without a hint of an explanation, and hers was a completely understandable reaction.
"Take my heart," I said, encouraging Regina.
Her puzzlement only increased, but she followed my instruction nonetheless, the blind trust it had taken her over three years to cultivate now showing blatantly. She placed her hand on my chest and with a swift, expert motion, she dipped it all the way to her forearm, slowly pulling the organ out. It didn't hurt; but the utter void I felt inside made up for the absence of physical pain.
"What are we doing?" Regina asked, now growing impatient at her lack of understanding.
I took a step back and placed the precious crystal on the coffee table, before replying. "I know exactly how we're going to defeat Aphrodite – if it ever comes to that."
"Care to elaborate?"
I joined her on the couch and moved her heart closer to mine. I admired the differences between the two: Regina's was mostly a dark shade of purple, although a portion of it still shone bright red; mine had an almost-as-large blob of black right in the center, while the rest was still its natural hue. Curiously, they reminded me of a yin and yang emblem: the light balancing out the darkness and vice versa. It made me muse that maybe Regina and I had always been somehow meant for each other.
However, the most peculiar – and, consequently, interesting – trait was something the two hearts had in common. I knew Regina was also studying intently the glowing surface: our hearts were broken – literally. Thin yet long cracks branched out over the organs, distorting with every pulsation and shrinking as the hearts, now beating in sync, did so. Although the crevices didn't seem deep, they were… well, a lot. For some reason I was sure that, had I counted the times in my life that I had suffered or was hurt, the number would coincide with the amount of fissures.
"Emma…" Regina whispered then, pulling me out of my speculation. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"
I looked up and saw a hesitant but thrilled Regina stare back at me, her eyes shimmering with eagerness.
I nodded once and, without another word, we split each other's hearts in two and exchanged one half of them, handling everything with extraordinary delicacy, considering the already fragile state of our hearts.
Carefully, after one last eye-lock through which we both drew confidence and reassurance from the other, Regina and I held our breaths as we joined the mismatched halves together and drank in the sight of those heartrending cracks mend, leaving only a light pink trail behind as a sign of their previous presence. They were now healed wounds that had left nothing other than a faded scar and a fleeting memory.
"Ready?" Regina asked, eloquently nearing her hand to my chest. At my determined nod, we once again stuck our hands inside each other's chests.
As my – our – heart retook its place, the most overwhelming sensation spread through me and knocked the air out of my lungs, leaving me breathless and clenching my chest as if it hurt. A tornado of unknown emotions filled my heart and radiated throughout my entire body, rending it almost painfully laden with this new and disarming wave of pure feelings that weren't my own but felt like it.
I was glad Regina and I had been sitting, because every muscle inside my body seemed to have weakened under the sheer force that overtook me. However, as soon as the shock had worn off and I embraced the invading emotions, I came to terms with the knowledge that now Regina and I were sharing hearts. Our pains, our angers, our fears were now melting together into such a mind-blowing mixture of emotions that I could barely digest it. Nonetheless, it was the most powerful of them that really struck me: our love, intense as sunlight and just as indispensable for our survival. My eyes glossed over as I finally accepted – truly accepted – that Regina's adoration for me was just as powerful and deeply rooted as my own. There was no emotional scar, no painful memory of foster families sending me away, no trust issue that could possibly make me doubt the sincerity of how Regina felt, now. We shared a connection that was likely going to cause an unwanted amount of problems – being so undeviatingly linked to each other meant that even the smallest layer of privacy was completely torn off, which was the exact recipe for an obsessive relationship, rather than a healthy one – but I couldn't help but be glad of the fact that this new bond was allowing me to get to know Regina in a way no one else ever would… not to mention how this brainwave that hit us was going to save Regina's life.
Deciding not to focus too much on the recently-fostered emotions (analyzing them was in equal parts invading and intriguing; but definitely not appropriate for the situation we were currently in), I finally breathed deeply to let my nerves relax and get ready for what was waiting for us.
"I really hope this works," I murmured, standing up and drying my sweaty palms on the sides of my jeans. It certainly didn't help that now my anxiety was twice as intense, what with being fueled by Regina's as well.
"It will," she retorted, taking my hand and squeezing it reassuringly. Her decisive look filled me with determination. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we made magic work. Here. If we're capable of doing that, nothing can possibly stop us."
I only managed to flash her a smile, before a sudden thought hit me.
"Regina, the jewelry box!" I exclaimed, frantically looking around to find it.
She was already holding it, by the time I looked back at her. "I open it and you put the crystal inside?" she asked.
I shook my head. "I don't think I'll be able to do it. It will be unbearably intense, I know that for a fact…"
"Together, then."
"Together."
Regina placed the box on the coffee table and grabbed the heart, motioning for me to hold it as well. With one final look, I nodded resolutely and we unclasped the lock and lifted the lid of the jewelry box. For the second time over the course of five minutes, we were almost knocked off our feet by the violence of our love for each other. And, yes, it was a wonderful feeling; but way too overwhelming for us to be able to bear its intensity for longer than a few seconds. We barely managed to move our hands forward and settle the heart in its recess, finally able to breathe easily. I turned my head and looked at Regina: she looked absolutely stunning, with her disheveled hair and glossy eyes, and I couldn't help but kiss her with all my might, saturating it with the passion and the despair of a finally-hopeful soul, and the promise that everything was going to be absolutely fine.
We only broke the kiss when we felt a wave of power – earthshaking and primordial, it seemed to be flowing inside every object in the room and was absolutely everywhere around, above and below us – materialize out of nowhere and impregnate the air.
I slipped my hand in Regina's and let our fingers intertwine, a small source of comfort to the nervousness filling our stomachs.
"It's coming from the west," she commented, abruptly turning into her work-self, all politics and no messing around. Her experience with magic made her sensitive to even the smallest things, allowing her to draw knowledge from every single trait of the magic we were feeling – traits that I normally tended to ignore or couldn't perceive. "I think she wants to make a scene out of this."
"What do you mean?" I asked slowly, already dreading the answer.
"She wants people to see us. She's the goddess of beauty, remember? She's vain. She wants to… show off."
"Isn't that going to put everyone there at risk?"
"I don't think so," Regina sighed. "Aphrodite wants me, not civilians. However, letting people in the knowledge that magic and Greek gods exist? That is going to be dangerous. Henry has made me watch enough superhero films to give me quite a detailed idea of how the world is likely to react to magic and, generally, things that are out of its control."
"Well, that might be the case… But I'd like to hope today's society's a little more open-minded than the one in the X-Men movies," I joked. Truth be told, my hands were shaking and my heartbeat seemed to get faster every second, and I was sure Regina could feel it too. "Listen, let's just get through one problem at a time. First we defeat Aphrodite; then we'll think about whoever saw us. How does that sound?"
A nod from Regina was all the response I received, and after grabbing the jewelry box and securing it inside her coat pocket, she teleported us away.
Central Park was oddly unpopulated, that afternoon; then again, it was Christmas Eve, and most people were probably spending time with their family. Of course, that didn't mean some of those families hadn't decided to go for a walk in the park, couples hadn't indulged in a lazy stroll, runners hadn't committed to their workout routine. There were still a lot of people around, although not nearly as many as usual. I envied the normality of their lives: not being threatened by supernatural forces was definitely something I would welcome back into my own existence.
As I watched the little families wander, I briefly let my mind picture Henry's face as I brought Regina back home the following day… What a wonderful present would that be for him. I silently promised myself that I would commit to that task and deliver on it.
I looked at Regina. Her ragged breath was coming out in light puffs of mist and her cheeks and nose had reddened at the contact with the brisk December air. I felt my chest swell at the strength of my sentiment for her, and she must have felt it as well, because she turned to me with a slightly surprised expression.
"I love you too," she said in response, a warm grin that seemed to make the cold weather around me disappear.
"How sweet," another voice, sharp and thundering, resonated from behind us, and I immediately turned around. "What is this, Regina? You brought someone along to die with you?"
I couldn't help but stare as Aphrodite (because not even in New York would someone dress in a toga in the middle of winter unless they were an actual deity) smoothly made her way towards us, drawing glances here and there from the few roamers still around and naturally radiating energy, her power so strong that I could feel it vibrate through the air. To say she was beautiful would be an euphemism: her physical appearance was entirely flawless, starting from her blonde mane, so long it almost reached the ground, up to her curvy body. Behind her grey eyes, however, seemed to be hiding a swirling fury, barely contained and bound to burst at any moment.
"No one's going to die today," I commented, only to then add a hesitant, "Your… Divinity…"
Her gaze moved onto me and seemed to pin me to the ground, keeping me unable to do anything but stare back. "Emma Swan," she enunciated slowly, "Savior of the Enchanted Forest, daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, and now… lover of the Evil Queen? Isn't she, what?, your step-grandmother?"
"Former Evil Queen," I shot back, my own anger now fueling my words. A wave of gratefulness and adoration radiated from Regina, and I struggled not to smile warmly at the sensation.
"You're one to judge our relationship," Regina commented, hiding her sentiments behind a mask of utter indifference. "Didn't you have children with your half-brother?"
"Speaking of…" Aphrodite intervened, blatantly ignoring Regina's assumptions and twisting the conversation so it was once again in her favor. "You know why I'm here, Regina. Children."
"Right! About that…" I awkwardly stepped in. "Can't we just all forget she took that potion? I mean, considering she's in love with me, a woman, it's not like children were ever in the charts for her. Except for Henry, of course, but that's not the point. Or maybe it is," I added the last part as an intuition popped into my mind. "Maybe, someone up there knew all along Regina and I would end up together and they gave us a chance to have a child that would be in equal parts hers and mine! So, if my theory is correct, it's not Regina's fault that she took that potion. It had already been planned, it was already written in the grand scheme of things or something, so that she would one day adopt the kid I gave up."
I ignored the resigned – though slightly amused – way Regina slapped a hand to her forehead and focused on Aphrodite's reaction instead, hoping against hope that she would just drop it and leave the two of us alone.
But then she burst into a fit of derisive laughter, and I knew my attempt had been for naught. Well, I thought to myself, at least someone's having fun.
"You tried, dear," Regina murmured, and I shrugged helplessly.
"Was worth a shot."
"The only mind behind your child's adoption was Rumpelstiltskin's. I'd like to assume you're familiar with the Dark One?" Aphrodite commented once she had caught her breath, directing a pointed look towards me. I repressed the memories that title evoked, and Regina squeezed my hand as she sensed my uneasiness. "Now, what should I do to you…?" She brought a finger to her chin as she pondered on Regina's punishment. "Oh, yes! What a wonderful idea!" She grinned and her eyes lit up as she came up with the perfect solution. "I shall turn you into a pomegranate!"
A moment of silence passed as I let her words sink in.
"Uh- Sorry, what?" I asked then, unable to comprehend the logic behind her decision.
"A pomegranate, dear. The tree, not the fruit," Regina explained. At my still-confused expression, she rolled her eyes and complained, "Honestly, is your knowledge of Greek mythology that scarce?"
I shrugged, slightly annoyed.
Regina patiently elaborated. "It wasn't uncommon for Gods to turn humans into plants or flowers, for one reason or another. Daphne, Myrrha, Anemone, Myntha… Countless legends narrate this type of metamorphosis. Pomegranates used to be known as an emblem of fertility and procreation. It isn't a completely pointless punishment – it does make sense, in a way."
"Well, of course it does!" Aphrodite intervened, seeming almost giddy with euphoria. "Now, how about we skip the small talk and get straight to the fun part?" The goddess crowned her question with a thrust of magic – a powerful one at that, although it seemed to be pretty effortless for her – sent in our direction and just narrowly missing Regina.
I felt the adrenaline start to flow all throughout my body, fueled by the frantic heartbeat of my heart. The by-now-familiar sensation of having every sense alert and every nerve tense that only overtook me during a fight was back, urging me to stay on the lookout for upcoming attacks and helping me think of ways out our current situation.
A surge of screams erupted from the few bystanders, who immediately darted as far away as possible from the fuming hole in the ground Aphrodite's magic had caused.
Regina and I reflectively responded in kind, our own powers intertwining as white and red beams of light hit the target and sent an increasingly angrier Aphrodite flying backwards. She recovered from the fall fairly quickly, her eyes barely hiding the most guttural ire I had ever witnessed, and as I caught her gaze dart quickly to Regina and I's joined hands, I immediately knew what her next move would be.
Once again she sent a wave of power towards us; only, this time it was aimed at the tiny space right between us, as an attempt to divide us. Luckily, Regina (whose reflexes were quicker than my own, her having years and years of experience with magical battles whilst I barely had a couple) waved a hand in front of us just as the goddess's golden dart reached us, and her barrier was resistant enough to protect us. I reacted as well and mimicked my move from earlier, although this time Aphrodite was ready and effortlessly deviated my attack.
"May I ask," Regina spoke up, as the two of us caught our breath, "how exactly you managed to find me?"
Aphrodite let out a smug laugh while she thrust a couple more jolts of magic that had me tug Regina by her hand to get the both of us out of the way.
"After over three decades of me searching high and low for you, in each and every land I could possibly think of – yes, even this one; you were concealed under that curse of yours and I obviously didn't find you – you made one little mistake…"
"What are you doing?" I hissed at Regina as Aphrodite went on talking.
"… You went to the Underworld." The goddess scoffed, shaking her head as if thinking of a silly memory. "Not that I would've ever thought to go look for you there, not when I knew for a fact that you were still alive…"
"I'm buying us some time," Regina whispered back, careful not to get caught; but Aphrodite seemed to be so involved in her story to have all but forgotten about the two of us.
"Time for what?" I let out, but a quick look at my surroundings was enough to answer my question. A translucent veil of energy was leisurely taking shape around Aphrodite, to the goddess's unawareness, ultimately trapping her, although I imagined it wasn't supposed to be a permanent cage, as much as a temporary impediment.
Her monologue continued. "… Yet, when you witnessed your mother and your father's departures towards Mount Olympus, of course I caught a glimpse of you. I was right on the other side of that bridge. I never let you out of my sight, after that, and it wasn't long before I warned you about my intentions with you… But you already know that part of the story. Although mine was a pure act of benevolence to grant you a chance to bid your farewells to your loved ones, you tried to get away from me again. You hid away in this godforsaken land with no recollection of who you were, and I lost track of you. Fortunately, we have to thank Miss Swan, here, if you went back to your dear little town and I was able to find you."
"Wait a second," I intervened, "are you saying that you didn't know Regina had been here, up until recently?"
Aphrodite shot me a lazy glare. "Well, of course not."
"Then you didn't have anything to do with a certain file about a job Mary Margaret Blanchard supposedly commissioned Regina to do?"
"Do I have to repeat myself? I had no idea she was here."
Regina and I exchanged a puzzled glance, but our attention was immediately back to our adversary, whose glare quickly turned into bewilderment and then rage, as she finally noticed the barrier around her.
"Did you really think a petty spell such as this would be enough to stop me? Ha!" She let out a humorless laugh. "You gullible insects. I'm a goddess, you can't defeat me!"
"You may be right… But we can slow you down." Regina turned to look at the terrified crowd hidden behind sparse trees not far from us and, imperative as only a former Queen could be, yelled, "Out of here!"
None of the civilians thought about it twice as everyone quickly ran out the park, far from wanting to witness Aphrodite's fury, especially now that Regina's little expedient had enraged her even further. I noticed some of them were pocketing their phones, and I really hoped none of them had filmed us. But that was the last of my problems, at the moment.
"We are going to defeat her, you know that, right?" I suddenly asked Regina as I tightened my grip on her hand, my eyes fixated on the goddess's golden magic repeatedly jabbing at the barrier as if trying to find a weak spot that would allow her to break it.
"What makes you so sure?" Regina retorted, and she squeezed my hand back. I felt the wave of uncertainty she was feeling, hidden behind her emotionless tone.
I turned to look at her, plastering on a confident smile and tilting my head to the side. "I love you," I responded simply.
"Oh, Emma," she said, sighing, and a strange longing fluttered behind her eyes as they roamed over my face, taking in every feature and projecting such warmth, such devotion, such adoration that it almost felt impossible to take in. "I love you too. But when has love ever been enough?"
And then Regina's barrier shattered to pieces and a wave of pure power sent us flying back, causing Regina to smash onto a tree and me to hit my right arm onto a nearby lamppost, inevitably fracturing it. Aphrodite's joyful laugh, however, wasn't due to her predictable freedom, nor to the harm she had caused us: she had managed to separate us, to break that physical contact that had always brought about the utmost efficiency of our powers, to keep True Love from being a threat to her thirst of revenge. And she was going to keep us apart for as long as she could.
I tried not to pay too much attention to the fearful expression Regina was displaying and gathered just enough energy to throw a large rock at Aphrodite, making it look like my non-dominant hand had me miss my target but actually offering up a brief distraction to the goddess.
During the few seconds she looked at the outcome of my pathetic, alleged attack and mocked me for it, genuinely amused and arrogantly insulting me about it, I glanced over to Regina, several meters to my left, to make sure she was okay: apart from a slight limp in her step and a couple of scratches on her face, she seemed uninjured. She gave me a curt nod that I mirrored, both wordlessly agreeing on our next plan of action. The adrenaline in my system increased, reaching almost impossible levels, as I thought of our only trick up our sleeve and the fact that we were going to use it.
Aphrodite then attacked yet another time, shooting a ray of golden magic at Regina; but we were ready for that.
Despite what the goddess thought, the physical link that made our powers infinitely stronger hadn't been broken. Of course Aphrodite couldn't know that Regina and I had exchanged halves of our hearts, secretly sealing the bond True Love needed to activate magic in a place where magic purely wasn't; which caused her to gasp in surprise as Regina poofed away and I attacked right back, catching her off guard and hitting her square in the chest. Of course, since she was a goddess and I was me, that only had her stumble backwards and cough at the shockwave.
But, thankfully, Regina had reappeared behind her, and with one swift motion of her hand, vines and branches started growing and wrapping around Aphrodite's legs, arms and torso, effectively immobilizing her.
"Never underestimate the power of True Love, dear," Regina commented while I stepped closer to them. My heart (and Regina's, too) was racing.
Aphrodite scoffed. "As if," she mocked, and in less than a second the vines were gone and Regina and I were standing dangerously close to a very angry and very powerful goddess. "As I told you earlier: insects."
Once again she hit us with her magic, and this time it was even more powerful than her earlier attacks. We flew through the air for no-less than sixty feet, and I ended up with a rustle in a bush while Regina hit her head on a bench and passed out. Although my landing had been enormously more harmless than Regina's, my head was spinning and the air had been knocked out of my lungs, causing me to cough painfully as I tried to ignore the broken branches piercing through my skin and the nauseating pain in my arm.
I caught sight of Aphrodite slowly stalking towards Regina's motionless body and I rushed to get to her, but, without even sparing me a glance, Aphrodite magically pinned me in place.
"Don't touch her!" I yelled, and I could swear the fear I had now would be enough to wake Regina up.
"Shut up, you spoiled brat," she spat out as she kept walking.
"Please!" I begged then. "I will do anything, but please-"
"I said, SHUT UP!" And my mouth was suddenly numb and I couldn't move it. I watched helplessly as Aphrodite finally reached Regina, and as soon as she raised a hand to touch her, I managed to poof between the two, still in the same awkward position I was in in the bushes, half sat and with my non-broken arm raised up.
"You stupid human, what do you think you're doing?!" She unceremoniously slapped me, and the fact that it was a magicless action made it all the more threatening. "I might transform your little girlfriend in a tree, but you, my dear… You will suffer so much more…"
"Oh, come on now, quit being so melodramatic," somebody spoke up, and I struggled against Aphrodite's magic restraint to turn and see who it was, although I didn't manage to move by an inch.
"After all, some of this is our fault, not theirs," another voice added, and Aphrodite rolled her eyes at whoever was behind Regina and I. Whatever their identity was, they were insanely powerful – I could feel the soft static of their magic flow through me.
"Yes, I figured as much," Aphrodite sighed. I was surprised to see that the vindictive look on her face had been replaced by a warm one, all sparkly eyes and sweet smile. "They wronged me, though…"
"I'm sure they have learned their lesson and won't repeat their mistakes. Come on, leave them alone… If not for them, for us."
Aphrodite pouted and crossed her arms, petulant as a child. She seemed to be holding a staring contest with the two strangers, until she grunted in reluctance and vanished in a cloud of golden speckles, making sure to glare and sneer at Regina and I as she did so.
Suddenly, the immobilizing and muting spells vanished, and I was able to move once again. Along with the goddess, the overwhelming fear that had engulfed me left as well.
Before even sparing a glance at the new arrivals, I checked on Regina and healed the bleeding wound on her head as her eyes fluttered open, and I highly hoped she wasn't suffering a concussion. It would have been fairly inconvenient, given the situation we were in.
"How are you feeling?" I asked as I helped her up, my left hand wandering and checking every exposed inch of her body while I held my right arm still.
"I'll survive," she murmured back, and her brow furrowed as she looked at me. "You're hurt," she commented, and proceeded to fix my arm, letting her hand linger on it for a second, enjoying the reassuring touch.
Then she finally noticed the two figures behind me. I turned around and suppressed a gasp at the sight: two angels – it was the first word that came to my mind when I saw them: beautiful men with blond hair and huge, white wings – were standing there, almost completely naked (seriously, what was with these people? It's like the more powerful they were, the less clothes they wore. It's ridiculous) and irradiating an aura of energy not dissimilar to Aphrodite's, if only a tad less intense. I imagined them to be gods as well.
"Ah, Emma, Regina!" one of them greeted us, stalking towards us and pretending he didn't notice how we took several wary steps back as he moved. "I was wondering when we'd finally meet the two of you. Of course, this wasn't the situation I had in mind, but…"
"You're scaring them, E," the other spoke up, a placating hand on his arm to stop him from talking. Their resemblance had me assume they were brothers – maybe even twins, albeit not identical. "I hope you do realize we're here to help you. We know how… intense… our mother can get, sometimes."
"A, I don't think they even know who we are…" 'E' squinted his eyes as he regarded us, noticing the uncertainty and caution flashing in our eyes.
Regina took a step forward as she replied, "Eros and Anteros." I couldn't help but think, funnily enough, of how much she reminded me of Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, always so deductive and with an answer ready for every question she was asked. "Deities of love and mutual love, respectively."
"Very well, Regina," the one I assumed was Anteros praised. "Was it the wings that gave it away?"
"That, and the fact that you referred to Aphrodite as your mother," she quickly explained. "I imagine your visit isn't casual…?"
Eros shook his head. "We came here purely to save your lives… And, well, to have a little chat with you. I hope you understand just how difficult it was to get the two of you to open your eyes once and for all."
Regina and I shot them equally confused looks.
"You've been in love with each other since forever, but you were both too scared and too scarred to admit it even to yourselves," Anteros hurried to explain, shaking his head in exasperation, "let alone to pursue your feelings. You made yourselves fall in love with other people because you couldn't allow yourselves to even believe in the possibility of being truly happy with each other, having seen that same happiness ripped away from you time and time again, being afraid your feelings weren't returned and unwilling to put your ever-so-delicate alliance at risk."
Eros continued. "And yet, despite how much you suppressed that love, here you are, fully embracing it at last… And you earnestly thought we would simply let you die, after all the time it took you to sort your feelings out?"
"You know, sometimes True Love is effortless to find. Look at Snow and Charming: one glance at each other and they already knew they'd be spending the rest of their lives together," Anteros pointed out. "Other times, it takes a Dark Curse, twenty-eight years of frozen time, almost four years of repression and a memory curse. Now that you've truly found each other, at last, we promise we will do everything in our power to make sure you will get to enjoy every last bit of it."
"But why?" I couldn't help but ask. "Why go through all this trouble just for us? We're mortals. Insignificant."
"We saw you too, when you were in the Underworld" Eros explained, smirking. "We felt your pain and your love and it was just. So. Frustrating!"
Anteros nodded in agreement. "We could feel your sentiments for each other, and we couldn't let so much potential for a wonderful love go to waste. When you parted ways, after Regina cast her curse, we knew we had to do something before it was too late (and before either of us popped an aneurysm). So we sent Regina a way to get back to you: Snow White's phone number. Luckily enough, everything worked out for the best, this time around."
Ah, so that's how my mom's apartment had ended up in Regina's office.
"And what about the jewelry box? Was that your doing as well?" Regina chimed in.
Eros sighed. "We have created them, yes; but we cannot rule or control them."
"Them?" I cut in. "Is there more than one?"
Anteros nodded. The fact that they were taking turns to talk was giving me a headache. "We have created two, all perfectly identical except for the incision on the bottom."
Confused as to what he was referring to, I looked at the box and Regina helpfully turned it, so that I would be able to see the barely noticeable cursive phrase on one of the facets.
"This one says, 'Dolorem Animi Extinguo', which is Latin for, 'I erase the pain of the soul'. It was destined to appear to someone whose love would be so powerful that it could ease every sorrow and every torment their lives had put them through, and help them to nourish and maintain that feeling," Eros elaborated. "We mailed it at your flat in New York once we discovered you had been chosen by the crystals.
"The other box can help revive an extinguished love, and displays the sentence, 'Amorem Suscito': 'I awaken love'."
"Albeit it was our creation, and it was our intention to let it get to you, we did not have a say in what the crystals would look like; only in the fact that they would start appearing once both parties were open to the possibility of falling for the other."
"They all represent parts of yourselves you've once had a hard time accepting, and they would each materialize when your relationship took a step in the right direction." Eros rolled his eyes at our persistent confusion. "Regina, please, open the jewelry box."
Regina followed his instructions. On Anteros' command, underlined by a wave of his hand, the five crystals levitated from their spots on the velvet cushion and started rotating behind each other, similar to an odd, circular tag-you're-it game.
"When you, Regina," he began, "decided to enact the memory curse, you did so as an attempt to protect your loved ones. You couldn't fathom the possibility of Henry or Emma – the two objectively most important people in your life – getting caught in the crossfire of your fight with Aphrodite. That caused you to accept, although perhaps unconsciously, that you loved Emma. Hence, you opened yourself up to love, once again; this time with the person you've always forbidden yourself to dream of. That's what ultimately triggered the first crystal's apparition."
Eros continued. "The green swan, however, only appeared once you made a connection with your old life, the life where you used to know Emma; and that connection was calling Snow and Emma's loft to redesign their apartment. Do you understand, now, what 'a step in the right direction' means?"
"The crystal swan metaphorically symbolizes Emma's past and the reasons behind her surname: her lack of parental and familiar stability, the inevitability of growing up without anybody, the need to build thick, tall walls around herself. It's one of the sides of her that had you fall for her, although you didn't remember it." Anteros smiled softly.
"It was only after Emma decided to actively find a way to break Regina's curse, that she found the next gem: the crown, this time emblem of Regina's opposition to becoming a queen, her growing hatred towards the king she was forced to marry, the constant reminder of the lack of control over her life she had always had to endure – firstly due to an abusive mother, then to a careless spouse."
Anteros smirked allusively before picking up from where his brother had left off. "You know what 'step' was taken, right before you found the crystal curse." He bobbed his eyebrows at us, obnoxiously to say the least.
Eros slapped him on the arm, although he was chuckling at his silliness. "This crystal, of course, represented the Evil Queen: Regina's reaction to her pain, the persona she created to face off her life's countless betrayals. Symmetrical to this was the following gem, the blue-ish dagger of Emma's own dark period, which appeared after you went on your first date and, implicitly, fully embraced and decided to cultivate a romantic relationship."
"Every single one of those crystals embodies facets of your personalities – of who you are – that the other has accepted, albeit with some difficulty, and has learned to love." Anteros took a few steps closer and put his hands on our shoulders. "You have gone through a lot, ever since you were young. You have endured loss, treason, heartbreak; some of which you have inflicted upon each other. But what you have now, what you have found together and what will help you fully and truly move on from all the sorrow of your past, is wonderful, unique and so, so special. Don't let anything ruin it, don't be scared of losing it… It's only when you are together," and Eros touched, with the tip of his finger, the still moving red crystal, which immediately stilled and shone brighter, as if to make a point, "that the wounds on your heart will mend."
He approached the three of us, the floating crystals following close behind. "You are strolling towards a future that will certainly not be easy; but it leads towards the happy ending you've yearned for your whole life... And we know how much you deserve a chance at that."
"Allow yourselves to be happy with each other and, for once, your hopes won't be shattered."
"You will live happily ever after. That's a promise."
And with that, they vanished, the crystals and the jewelry box falling to the ground with a dull thud.