A/N: Hello again everyone! Thank you for the wonderful response to my chapters thus far.
As usual, laurathechef did amazing work getting this chapter ready for your eyes. I hope you enjoy it!
I don't claim any ownership of the show, characters, plots, or settings. Any resemblance to any real people, places, or events is entirely coincidental.
"Do you think she'll show up?" Snow asked her husband across the table at Granny's.
David looked over her shoulder at the door, waiting to see if it would open. When it didn't, he returned his attention to his wife. "I hope so, Snow. I really do."
The brunette shook her head. "She needs to know that we're looking out for her."
"She knows that we do," he replied, stirring his now-cold coffee with disinterest. "Henry's been after her almost daily to get her out to meals with us."
Snow nodded. "But it's been a struggle every time. She's so dedicated to waking Emma."
"Do you think she knows why yet?" David asked, looking up from his coffee.
That actually made her chuckle. "A woman as stubborn as her? Not a chance. Hopefully we can give her the nudge in the right direction."
"Well, isn't that pretty much what this is all about? At least somewhat, anyway," he nodded.
Whatever Snow responded was lost to him as his entire body froze, gaze locked on Granny's front door. David swallowed the spike of fear.
Ursula and Cruella were standing in Granny's Diner.
Eventually Snow stopped talking when she realized he wasn't paying attention. When she turned to see what distracted her husband, she reacted the same way.
"Oh come now, darlings. It's not like you're seeing ghosts," Cruella drawled as she slid into the booth across from them.
"Indeed," Ursula commented as her tentacles pulled a nearby chair over, "We're very much alive."
Snow's mouth opened and closed a few times like a goldfish. When it became apparent that she was in no shape to continue to the conversation, David took over. "How did you get into Storybrooke?"
Ursula gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "We made a deal with a mermaid. She let us use one of her scales to create a potion that opened a portal. It was just enough magic to get us here."
"Ugh. I hate sea travel, too," Cruella grumbled.
That made the sea witch snort. "You think you have it bad? Do you have any idea how long it's going to get the wet dog smell out of my hair?"
At last Snow found her voice. "So what is it you want with our peaceful little town?"
"The same thing anyone else wants, darling," replied Cruella as she looked around the diner, "peace, and happy endings, all that jazz."
"And what makes you think we're just going to welcome a couple of dark magic witches with open arms?" Charming bristled.
"Because they're just like I…was…," Regina answered, approaching the group. "Bitch. Sea Bitch," she greeted Cruella and Ursula, respectively.
"Regina!" Ursula responded with a smile that actually appeared genuine.
"You look awful," Snow commented before three glares and a reproachful squeeze from her husband brought her up short. "Sorry, I just meant you look tired is all."
"Yes, well, I've been losing sleep over our little problem. I find I don't have the energy for my usual beauty regime," Regina muttered.
Cruella's eyes grew wide. "I don't think I've ever heard Regina say she didn't have the energy for anything. What do you make of that, Ursula darling?"
The other sorceress chuckled. "No, never. It's strange, but these are strange times, especially with me on land and us…here," she finished, glancing around the diner.
For her part, Regina looked suspicious, but not hostile "How in the worlds did you two find out about my little town?"
"It's all over the old world, darling," said Cruella, "When the good Snow here and her daughter got away from Cora, rumors started flying like the very birds themselves."
Regina rolled her eyes as she slid in next to Cruella. "Wonderful. Shall we be expecting any more incursions?"
"Now you're just being paranoid. We were the only two that came through that portal, and the mermaids only helped us because Ursula here promised to give one of them her voice," responded the older woman.
"Besides, we're getting tired of being screwed over by the Dark One and not getting our happy endings anyway because we're the villains," Ursula responded, "So we thought we'd join you in your wholesome little town."
"You want to settle down. Here, in Storybrooke. As reformed dark magic witches?" Regina's voice made her disbelief apparent to anyone listening.
"Is it so hard to imagine?" Ursula looked offended.
"Not that hard, just surprising from the two of you. I never imagined either of you to be the kind that would willingly settle down."
Cruella nodded. "We're tired, darling. Tired of being screwed over by Rumpelstiltskin. Tired of not having a happy ending. It's time we had some peace."
Regina fixed them each with a hard stare, looking them straight in the eye for any signs of deception. Finding none, she nodded and shrugged. "Okay. Welcome to our town. I'm the Mayor (she ignored Ursula's snorted (of course you are'), Snow is a teacher, and Charming here is the deputy sheriff."
"Deputy?" Cruella smirked, "Just the deputy position for the Prince? Who's the Sheriff, then?"
Neither of the newcomers missed the nearly identical looks of anguish that crossed all three faces in front of them. "What? Was it something I said?" Ursula asked
Snow shook her head. "No, it's just…my daughter was…IS the sheriff."
"Was?" Cruella asked in a gentle tone, trying to avoid provoking anyone.
Regina shook her head. "She still is; she's just temporarily on leave. She put herself under a sleeping curse because of a giant misunderstanding."
Two pairs of goggled eyes stared back at them. "Wait, wait, and wait. First of all: you two have a daughter old enough to be the sheriff?" Cruella asked, finding her voice first.
"And why did she put herself under the sleeping curse?" chimed Ursula.
Regina gave a mirthless chuckle. "The age thing is because of the Dark Curse. It froze the town for twenty-eight years, but Emma wasn't affected, so she's basically the same age as her parents. As for the curse thing, well, it's all just a misunderstanding. We're working on breaking it now."
"There's only one thing that can break a sleeping curse, darling, and that's True Love's kiss. I take it by the fact that you're all here means that Mommy and Daddy dearest failed?"
Rather than face the righteous ire of the assembled people in front of her at her intentionally cruel words, Cruella sat back in her seat, stunned at the deflation she saw. Charming, Snow, and Regina all folded in on themselves, seemingly tucking their bodies into smaller versions of themselves. "Oh. I'm…I'm sorry to hear that," she offered, with the awkwardness at trying to appear sincere breaking her voice.
Surprising the newcomers, Charming was the first to collect himself enough to answer. "We're still working on it. There are various reasons for everything that's happened. It's just a matter of trying to figure out what will work."
"Anyway, we'll go with what we said earlier. You two can find a place here in town and start working on your redemption, turning over a new leaf, and all that good stuff," Regina interjected over the awkward moment.
Cruella and Ursula shared a look. "I think we can manage that. Just where do you suggest we take up residence?"
"Where everyone else stays until they find something more permanent: right here at Granny's Bed and Breakfast," Regina grinned, knowing how the prospect would seem to the two witches used to much more splendor in their dwellings. She gestured to Granny. "She'll get you set up."
Cruella and Ursula shared another look before shrugging and nodding. "See you around, darlings."
When they were alone again and Regina had resumed her seat across from the Charming's, she looked at her former nemeses. "This changes things. I don't like them being in town."
"Then why did you let them stay?" Snow asked, eyeing the retreating forms with a wary eye.
Regina gave her a pointed stare. "Because this way I can keep an eye on them. If we'd turned them out God knows what havoc those two could wreak."
"Then what's the problem?" Charming wondered.
"Two dark magic users that powerful in this town and the Savior, who is under a sleeping curse? We need to ramp up our efforts to wake Emma," declared Regina.
Snow leaned over the table and grasped Regina's wrist. "Then you do whatever you have to do to wake our daughter up. Whatever you have to do," she emphasized with a squeeze.
3:23
The blinking red lights seared their way into Regina's eyelids, mocking her inability to find sleep.
"Damn it," she groaned, rolling over for what felt like the thirty-seventh time. There was no position that she could find that felt comfortable.
It was the same story every night. She wanted to sleep. She tried to get to sleep. She just couldn't get to sleep. The guilt was overpowering. Regina's mind played a constant stream of self-recriminations. Regardless of what Snow or David said, she couldn't shake the feeling that the root cause of Emma's actions could be laid at her feet.
She grumbled and threw back the covers, hissing when the cold air hit her silk-clad skin. Winters in Maine were the worst part of being cursed to this world. Dealing with the feet of snow and below-zero wind chills that were never a part of even the worst winters in the Enchanted Forest was definitely a punishment of some kind.
Throwing on her heavy fleece pajamas – her sheets and comforter were far too heavy and warm for that level of sleepwear – she made her way past Henry's room. Smiling as always at the soft rumble of his snoring, Regina kept walking to the guest room. At first seeing Emma's still form on her guest bed was unnerving, but over time she'd gotten somewhat used to the sight. It bothered her, but not to the degree it had initially.
Sitting in a chair next to the bed, Regina took in the sight of her son's birth mother, the daughter of her former archenemy, and the only woman she had ever thought to call a friend.
Her friend, she snorted at the thought. For most of her life the idea of friendship was alien, removed from anything she ever thought she deserved.
"I'm back, Emma," she whispered, feeling foolish for talking to someone under a sleeping curse. "I don't even know why I'm talking to you like this. You can't answer. Depending on whether or not you believe Henry you might not even be able to hear me.
"And yet I keep coming back here and talking to you," continued Regina, dropping her head into her hands and running her fingers through her hair, "because I've never felt so much regret and guilt in my life. Never, not even once."
Regina winced, forcing her eyes closed to fight the tears that always seemed to be on the ragged edge of her consciousness in these long, dark nights. "And then I hate myself even more because the curse brought me Henry, so I wouldn't change it, even knowing what it meant for you. It eats at me all day, but even worse at night."
Getting to her feet, she made her way around the room. "I've always been alone. Always. Even when I was just a girl, my father never stood up to my mother. I never had a friend, a confidant. He would always help me after Mother's abuse, but he never helped me in the moment. I thought I had someone in Daniel, but Mother soon made sure I wasn't allowed even that bit of happiness. I don't even blame your ridiculous mother anymore. The woman is clearly incapable of keeping a secret; Daniel was just the first unfortunate victim."
Fatigue weighed her down. Regina wanted nothing more in that moment than to lie down in her disgustingly comfortable bed and give herself to the sweet embrace of slumber, but it would be a futile effort, just like every other night. Without the grace that she usually reserved for her every action, Regina all but flopped back on the bed next to Emma. "Sorry," she apologized.
"I thought the curse was my way out. I thought it was the one thing that could give me my happy ending. My mother was safely banished to Wonderland, and with Snow and Charming deprived of their happiness, it was all I could ever want," she breathed, "But that wasn't the case. Eighteen years in the loneliness and sheer repetitiveness of every single day was a drudgery that I had never known. That's when I went to Rumple for help adopting a child.
Of course I know now that was all part of his plan. Seriously, he makes this world's Machiavelli look like the Pope," she chuckled, patting Emma's shin, "it was all foretold. We were all just pawns in his game to get his son back. Of course you have to wonder if he's really all he's cracked up to be if he went to the trouble of creating the Dark Curse when he could have at least searched the giant's castle for an extra bean, right?
"Anyway, that brought you into my life, and I reverted back to the Evil Queen right away. There's almost nothing that I did from that time that I'm proud of right now, but even those days pale to what happened when you got back from the time portal," Regina paused for a shuddering breath, knowing the next words would be the hardest to speak, but confessing these particular sins to an empty, silent room would be the best rehearsal for when she worked up the courage to apologize to Emma's face. After the Savior awoke, of course.
"I was horrible to you. I have excuses in my head for why I acted the way I did, but the truth is that nothing can excuse treating you that way for a simple mistake. Words will never be able to express my sorrow and regret for those days, Emma, but," she sniffed, unwilling to brush aside the tears that finally overflowed their banks and eliminate that sign of her remorse, "I hope that finding some small way to wake you up can help. I just wish I knew what you were thinking of in those last few minutes before you pricked your finger. If there was someone you were thinking about it might give me the idea of who your True Love is."
She got back to her feet and wobbled her way to the window on unsteady legs. The waxing moon reflected off the recent snowfall, bathing Storybrooke in a kind of second dawn, almost as bright as the first. "Were you a Shakespeare fan?
'To be or not to be, that is the question:
whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune
and by opposing end them: to die, to sleep
no more; and by sleep to say we end
the Heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
that Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish. To die, to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to dream; aye, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,'
Her voice grew in strength as she progressed through the soliloquy until she was so overtaken by the passion that she almost gasped her breath when she stopped. "I have always loved reading his works since we came to this world. I wonder if those lines reflected your own thoughts. Maybe your love is in your dreams right now. It wouldn't surprise me, being the Savior and a creature of such powerful light magic. You might be strong enough to escape the fiery room that all other sleeping curse victims seem to find themselves damned to. I just wish…" she paused to collect her thoughts, "I just wish there was a way I could see your thoughts to get an idea of who you would want to wake you up."
As Regina voiced her desire to see Emma's True Love reflected in her memories, the moonlight shining through the window caught her attention. With the words echoing in her mind as she gazed out the window, the answer came to her in a flash so tangible she half-expected to see it in front of her, transported by her magic. Her shout of triumph was loud enough to rattle the pane in front of her.
"That's it!"
"You're joking. You have to be joking. That or you simply misheard what they said," declared the Dark One as he looked at his two guests.
The witches stood in front of him, Ursula with her arms folded and Cruella with hands on her hips. "No joke, darling," Cruella retorted, "The daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White put herself under the Sleeping Curse."
He sat back, flabbergasted. So rare was it to see Rumpelstiltskin truly taken by surprise that the two women enjoyed the sight, even with the added complications it brought to their situation. "What in the bloody hell did she do that for?"
"They weren't as forthcoming with all the in's, outs, and what-have-you," Ursula answered him, "All they said was that she put herself under the Curse because of a misunderstanding that they were trying to fix."
With a huff, Rumpelstiltskin got to his feet, pacing around the small cabin. "This changes things. Did they say where Emma was? If we can find her…well, putting herself under a curse like that speaks to darkness already forming in her heart. It's a drastic action. Simply finding her might be enough."
"No, they didn't tell us where the girl's being kept," Cruella answered.
"Well, then I guess you'll just have to do some searching," answered the Dark One in a voice that was barely more than a hiss, "Walk around town under the guise of meeting your new neighbors, showing you've turned over a new leaf, and all that nonsense. See if you can sense a protection spell or any defenses from this world around a particular location. If we can find a strong enough protection around any particular building, the chances are that's where Snow and Charming's daughter is sleeping. Then we'll strike. Once I have my tainted Savior blood, I'll be able to find the Author and get him to write some happy endings for the villains."
A/N: Comments and constructive criticism is much appreciated!
