There were no dreams.

Mother, was gone as it would seem.

There was only light dreams, happy ones. The ones she used to have back with daniel, of a new life together.

As she stepped down from her horse, she could see a figure standing underneath their tree.

"Hello?" She hurried forward, leaving her horse and pulled her arm around the stranger, turning them to see her.

"Who are you?" The woman turned around a face marked with confusion.

"Uh… Regina?" Shock spilled through her, this was Emma Swan, and she was occupying the space where Daniel was supposed to be.

"What did you do to him?!" She pushed Emma against the tree forcing her into it with one arm.

"Regina all I did was fall asleep and you're in my dream asking what I did to someone?" that caused regina to falter.

"I.. you're in my dream, sheriff." Emma shrugged Regina off of her and countered so that Regina's back was against the tree.

"Uh.. Okay so we're in the same dream, but like, why are we here?" Regina pulled herself away from Emma stumbling back from the tree.

"It's... Daniel's tree." Emma nodded, noting Regina's hostility, she stiffened when she stepped forward, and she took it back.

"Why are we at Daniel's tree? In our sleep? Together?" Regina shook her head and ran off, grabbing the reins to her horse and climbing back on, speeding off as the horse charged in the opposite direction.

"Regina?"

"Regina?" She pulled herself into a sitting position on the bed, she could feel the warmth that regina had left behind. The bedroom door was left ajar and she followed the space left behind. She checked every room she passed by and there was nothing, she wandered into the kitchen, to grab a glass of water, maybe even something stronger, when she noticed a small note sitting on the counter.

Swan,

I've gone to find out about the dreamwalk from last night, from my knowledge of such things, I only know there are dangers, many dangers, and we have to know the specifics of both of us walking for the first time, which can bring us to becoming lost in our sleep and I can't have that.

Stay here until I get back, and don't fall asleep.

Don't even get yourself caught in a daydream. It's not safe.

-Regina.

Emma placed the note back down on the table and opened the fridge looking for some food to eat, she fixed herself a bowl of fruit loops and wandered back up the stairs to go take a shower.

She let her mind swirl through her thoughts as the water droplets fell against cold skin.

From the books she had in her vault, she knew three things so far:

Two dreamwalkers can visit each other only if the connection of souls was strong enough.

Dreamwalking is a powerful ability, and it comes from the necessity to communicate or see someone, and is only used with a mixture of light and dark magic.

Anyone who can be visited in a dream by a dreamwalker, has to have magic that counteracts the magic of the walker.

That only cleared up two things.

Emma had to have light magic that counteracted Regina's.

And somehow seeing each other, was necessary.

And the fact that their souls had a connection. Through Henry?

She read further on into the books she had, dream decipherers weren't what she was looking for and neither were dream changers. Not yet, though she made a mental note to read up more on that later for the sake of the nightmare memories that plagued her.

As she came to understand it, the dangers were very high, and you could only dream walk through necessity because of this.

Most of the books told her the same thing, which was that if the connection was broken by means of one of the people in the dream state by any other means than waking up, they become in a sleeping state much like a sleeping curse, living in their dreams.

The only way to break that, was to put them in a sleeping curse, and reviving them from that, it was too complicated and dangerous.

Word of the day.. But still- That couldn't happen.

She brought the books in a pile next to her trying to find how to stop themselves from dreamwalking.

She gathered her things and stepped out of her vault, almost dropping all of her items when she saw Henry lock eyes with her in the street, his sweet little face contorted with a mixture of hate and confusion, and his little eyes opened wide in fear, what from?

Then everything went black.

Black, and very very cold.

She was being pulled through darkness, towards a light in shades of golden and soft yellows and made of slightly red hues, when eventually she was pulled through, she found herself on a slow corner of a busy street, blurry people walking by, and she was unable to make out any of their faces, stumbling blindly toward the only figure that was clear enough for her to find in the crowd, she made out a small figure leaning against the wall of a small coffee shop that marked the corner, this blonde woman was staring down at her coffee cup, feet scuffing at the ground.

This blonde was very familiar.

And very stupid.

"Miss swan!?" The blonde certainly looked like the sheriff of storybrooke, but wasn't wearing her classic red leather get-up. She was adorned in a small pair of black jeans, boots to match quite stylishly, buckled up that came halfway up her shin, a cute though frankly too-small grey and baggy wool jumper and her hair high in a ponytail, blonde curls descending from the high spot on her head, cascading low enough to skim her shoulder blades, when she turned to see who had called her name the small fleeting look of hope on her face descended into a shallow frown.

"Miss Swan." It came out like a question but Emma just shook her head.

"Leave." What? Why was she being so openly stern and hateful, what was this place they were in anyways?

"Emma, why are we here? What is this place?" Emma stiffened and fully came off of the wall and glared a magnificent hatred at her.

"Not Important. Leave. Now." The harsh words actually managed to pull the stern woman back from the blonde.

"Emma this is too dangerous! Dreamwalking is not something I am lightly going to subject myself to without knowing why I am here! What you do not seem to understand that this practice can kill us or worse!" The mayor's yells went unnoticed by the passers by, her words being expressed by her arms flailing wildly to express her point.

"Regina." She spat out every syllable as though it pained her, which it did. "Later. Leave. Now" She said the last word as though expressing it to someone who didn't know what language she was speaking.

"I can't, Emma you have to wake up from what this is, you initiated it, otherwise I could be trapped in this realm forever." She spoke softly, arms in front of her, pleading for her to wake herself up.

Emma's whole body shifted in response, leaping back from anger to her solemn look of slow depression.

"I don't want to." She let the words out so softly, eyes on the floor, expecting a fireball to land at her feet.

"What does this place mean to you, Emma?" Emma shook her head, tears cascading down her eyes, but still, she went on.

"We were at… his tree." The words came out strangled and caught in her throat, she persevered, fearing her answer. "Who does this spot belong to Emma?"

"This is where Tana was last seen alive."

"Tana is..?" Emma let the tears fall, knowing Regina would pick them up when she accepted she had to leave.

"Tana is dead." Regina shook her head and pulled her arms out towards the other woman, as if keeping her there, steady in her arms would anchor her to the ground, but she shrunk away, this place was Tana's.

"Tana is… was, the only person to love me. Unconditionally. She was true and kind and selfless."

Regina succeeded in embracing the cold Emma in her arms, sobs breaking through her.

"If you can accept it we can both leave."

She felt Emma's nod as tiny as it was, but the words that sent them home were cold and not what she was asking for.

"It's my fault she's dead."

OKAY SO FIRST MORE APOLOGIES IF YOU'RE MAD FOR UPDATE SPEEDS AND LENGTHS. I think it's good to end here, no?

The idea behind the dreamwalks is that they're not, they aren't what you're thinking right now but we'll find that out later ;)

Second thing is that I'm not making Emma out to be a murderer here, or torturing them on purpose, It's the same guilt Regina feels over Daniel and this is specific to them because they have gone through similar things so that they can bond over it.

Lastly, Tana's name is as such because it links to regina's, props if you know how :)