I am so so sorry that this hasn't been updated in months! I was busy with exams for my last year at uni, so had to put aside all my writing. Updates should come more quickly from now on!
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favourited and followed this story. Each email notification that came through made my heart jump for joy (even if it is encased in a wooden box ehehehe). I struggled with this chapter, and am still not 100% happy with it, but hopefully it doesn't disappoint.
One point: I know that Storybrooke version of Belle should be called Lacey, and have a different personality. However, chapter 1 was done before 'Lacey' aired. I won't change it, since I think library-lovin' Belle suits this story more than racy Lacey!
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine :(
This story is unbeta-ed, so all mistakes are glaring monuments of my failures *sobs*
Everyone had fallen silent. Emma, being glared at by no less than two Reginas, felt her life begin to flash before her eyes. Leaving that last bear claw had been a mistake, she realized morosely. Then, she snapped out of her daze. Unclenching her fingers from the waist of the funnily-dressed Regina, she stepped forward and confronted the Mayor, who was stalking towards her with a thunderous expression on her face.
'Please tell me this is your crazy twin that your family kept locked in the attic for decades,' Emma begged before Regina had a chance to say anything else. 'I'm not sure I can handle a clone of you.'
Her words seemed to break the spell that kept the surrounding people quiet. A murmur rippled through the crowd, before Leroy the hospital janitor, or at least someone who had the appearance of Leroy, raised his fist in anger.
'This is all her fault! She ripped us away from our homes, attempted to curse us and even made herself a double in order to be twice as strong, no doubt!' he called to the group. 'But she no longer has her powers; she said so earlier! I say we take this witch down.'
Regina Mills had an affronted look on her face, as if she couldn't believe the audacity of what she had just heard.
'I am your Mayor!' she snapped, just as another voice rang out.
'I am your Queen!' the other Regina announced, with a disgusted look on her face. 'And I am nobody's twin or 'clone'. How dare this person try to look like me!'
Emma wasn't sure how it had happened, but suddenly the crowd of spectators had turned into a snarling mob, that began pressing inwards as fingers scrabbled to grasp onto either version of Regina. She threw her hand out, gripping onto the Mayor's wrist and yanking her to safety. Pushing both women behind her, she pulled out her gun in preparation for facing the danger. It was tempting to fire a warning shot into the air, which would have the bonus of making Emma look extremely badass, but she refrained. Regina was rather protective of Storybrooke's heritage, and would certainly not approve of bullet-holes in the library's ceiling. Besides, there was a possibility of someone being upstairs, and it'd be an even more awkward situation if Emma managed to shoot someone by mistake. She had to be content instead to wave her gun around with what she hoped was a menacing look.
'If anyone tries to attack Regina again, I'll arrest the lot of you. Also, my finger might just accidentally slip on the trigger and fire a round into someone's ass.'
The mob ceased its forward momentum, and Emma sighed in relief. Before she could even start thinking about her next move, however, Belle reappeared, this time wearing a dress in keeping with the fantastical costumes of the rest of the people squashed into the library.
'Has anyone seen Rumpelstiltskin?' Belle asked softly. 'I must let him know that I'm alive.'
'Oh, not you too,' Emma groaned in disappointment. 'You were acting normal just a minute ago.'
Belle did not respond. The young woman had caught sight of both Reginas standing behind Emma, with identical frowns on their faces. Her complexion paled.
'T..two of them?' She gasped in fear, before taking a deep breath. 'You will not separate us again! What Rumple and I have is True Love, and I shall save him from his curse.'
'I highly doubt it, dear,' sniffed the other Regina (Not-Regina? Bizarro-Regina? Eviller-twin-Regina? Emma really had to come up with something to call her). 'Although, I must find that imp also. He deserves to pay for his lies.'
'You…just be quiet!' Emma spluttered. Fists clenched, not-Regina looked for a moment as if she wanted to argue, but then seemed to think better of it as she eyed the waiting crowd.
'Belle,' Emma continued without pausing. 'I need you to go back to normal now, and stop talking about having "true love" with Mr Gold, or Rumpelstiltskin, or whatever you want to call him.'
'Why on earth would I be going after Mr Gold, when I have a gorgeous girlfriend waiting for me at home?' Belle's voice questioned. Emma twisted her head to see the version of Belle that she had conversed with earlier, and then turned to 'her' Regina, with an even more confused look on her face. Regina's expression mirrored her own, as the Mayor gripped Emma's arm.
'Miss Swan, do you have any idea what is going on here?' she hissed quietly. 'I certainly don't have some secret twin, and I highly doubt Miss French does either.'
'I may have just had a horrible thought,' Emma hissed back, eyes wide. She put away her gun, and pulled out her mobile instead, searching hurriedly through her contacts before dialling a number. Regina, she noticed, had not moved her hand from her arm.
'Hello?' a voice answered the call.
'Mary Margaret?' Emma asked breathlessly. Without waiting for confirmation, she plunged ahead, eager to test out her theory. 'Where are you exactly?'
There was a pause at the other end of the line.
'I'm at school, Emma,' the response came back. 'Teaching, like I do every weekday. You're lucky you caught me at lunch break. Is everything alright? Did you need to speak to Henry?'
'No, that's fine. So…you're not at the hospital with David Nolan?'
'David Nolan? He's at the hospital? No, Emma, I'm not with him. I barely even know him. Why are you asking?'
'No reason! What…what are you wearing?' Emma tried for nonchalance.
'Umm…Emma? I know we're close, being roommates and all, but I do hope you haven't gotten the wrong idea about our relationship…'
'NO!' Emma practically screamed. Regina leant in closer, trying to hear the conversation, whilst not-Regina seemed to be enjoying the look of distress on Emma's face. 'I just needed to know if you happened to be wearing a white dress and wig, is all. Gotta go, talk to you later.'
Emma hung up quickly, trying not to think about the awkward questions she'd have to face that evening, and turned back to the Reginas, the Belles, and the waiting crowd.
'I think we might have two versions of Mary Margaret too,' she announced, almost apologetically. She felt fingers dig into her skin.
'That is perhaps the worst news I've had in a long time,' Mayor Mills snapped, her eyes dark and her lips pressed into a thin line.
'I would have to agree with this imposter on that point,' chimed in the other Regina. Emma frowned. Of course Regina would bond with herself over her hatred of the poor, sweet schoolteacher…
'We need to work out how many people have…doppelgangers,' Mayor Mills continued, ignoring her counterpart. 'We need to sort out what exactly is going on here, and why.'
Leroy stepped forward once more.
'This witch cursed us all,' he gesticulated wildly at not-Regina. 'That is what's going on! And now she must pay for her crimes!'
Madame Mayor held up a hand, and he fell silent once more. Emma noted with some satisfaction that for all his grand talk, this Leroy still seemed to be scared of any version of Regina (and why Emma was satisfied about this was anyone's guess).
'I think we need to first deal with this mob,' the Mayor amended. 'Let us take all of these people to the town hall, and try to find some sort of solution.'
Emma stared.
'I am the sheriff of a small town in the middle of nowhere. My duties are meant to be rescuing cats from trees and putting up with you in a bad mood, not dealing with what are apparently alternate reality doubles-'
'We're from another world,' interjected not-Regina, with a sneer. 'Not an alternate reality, as far as I'm aware.'
'-who think they're named after fairy tale characters. I mean, really, Snow? Rumplestiltskin? I feel as if I'm on an episode of some science fiction show… And you! How can you be so calm about all of this?'
Emma was breathing rather heavily at this point. Regina, her face displaying no inner turmoil except for the slight twitching of an eye, leant closer in a conspiratorial manner.
'This is my "disaster mode", so to speak, Sheriff Swan,' she confided quietly. 'Tonight, when all this hopefully seems like a bad dream, I'm going to have the biggest glass of apple cider possible, and try to forget this ever happened.'
Emma pondered over this information for a moment, relieved that this Regina was acting her normal self, and that she wasn't the only one freaked out by the situation. Her and Regina were not by any means 'friends', tolerating each other mainly for Henry's sake, but she felt a strong sense of camaraderie with the Mayor in that moment, surrounded by people acting out of character.
'I really, really need alcohol right about now,' she admitted.
It was Ruby who came up with a solution. There was no way that the invasion of the town by these doubles could be kept a secret from the citizens of Storybrooke. Nor was there any place to house all of them in one place (no matter how much Granny would appreciate the extra business). Instead, each strange doppelganger would need to be paired up with their Storybrooke equivalent.
What had then ensued was a long afternoon of calling up unsuspecting citizens of Storybrooke, requesting that they come to the Town Hall, and then attempting to explain to them the highly unusual situation, even though no-one, including Emma, actually knew what was going on. They were then given strict instructions to prevent their doubles to leave town, to question them, and then to report back to the Mayor or Sheriff.
'We need to gain full knowledge about what has happened,' Mayor Mills had insisted, her face a mask of calm. 'And I highly doubt our only Sheriff can interview this many people by herself.'
Emma didn't even want to protest.
Some people took the news shockingly well. Ruby, with a large grin on her face as she ran around organizing the crowd, had loudly announced how amazing it was to have something interesting actually happen in Storybrooke. Others were decidedly not so open-minded, and once the hospital staff had overcome their own shock at the sight of their doubles, they gave aid those who were struggling. Archibald Hopper, the town psychiatrist, was being run off his feet.
Seven hours later, Emma had still not been able to have lunch, nor had she had any alcohol. She'd thankfully avoided becoming hysterical, however, and now the crowd of strangely dressed people had finally dwindled down. She slumped down on a seat.
'We've almost completed the database of the pairings,' Ruby informed her, sitting down to her left. 'Every new person had a Storybrooke equivalent, but I made a list of people from our town who don't have one.'
Emma glanced at a list being waved under her nose. Her name was right at the top, as she had now guessed it would be, and she was thankful to note that Henry's name had also been included. For all she loved her son, having two of him around might be more work than a double dose of his adoptive mother.
'Great job, Rubes,' she said tiredly. Ruby's attention was elsewhere however, focused on the pair of Belles who were talking to her doppelganger, Red. Emma instead turned to smirk up at the Mayor, who had approached during this conversation, and indicated the list.
'Guess I'm just too unique.'
'I think I too must be unique,' a smooth voice proclaimed. Mr Gold, who had watched the entire proceedings from a dark corner, had limped his way to join the group. 'I don't see another copy of me anywhere.'
'Oh no, Mr Gold, you definitely have a double,' Regina informed him snidely.
'He sparkles,' Emma added gleefully.
'Sparkles?' Mr Gold choked out.
'Sparkles,' Emma emphasized with a nod.
Regina's double, the 'Evil Queen' as everyone seemed to call her, had earlier been handcuffed to a chair after one too many escape attempts, and had spent the rest of the time glaring at the back of Emma's head. Hearing this, however, made her sit up straight.
'You let him escape?' she growled. 'You fools.'
'We do need to find him,' Regina agreed with a worried frown. 'We don't want anyone leaving town right now.'
'I think we should currently concern ourselves more with her,' Emma pointed to the 'Evil Queen'. 'I think she knows more than she's saying. And everyone seems to be scared of her.'
An almost-proud expression flitted quickly across Regina's face.
'I told you, I cast a curse that Rumpelstiltskin gave me,' Queen Regina snapped, beginning to struggle against the handcuffs again. 'It failed miserably, and my father paid the price of the imp's incompetence.'
'Suuure, and you come from the land of fairy tales,' Emma grimaced.
'Exactly!'
Emma was relieved to see that Ruby had gone to usher the last few people out of the Town Hall.
'Let's get your clone to the station, and interview her there,' she suggested to the Mayor. 'After all, Henry's safe at Mary Margaret's. We need to understand what's going on, and I think she's the best place to start.'
That call back to her roommate had been slightly uncomfortable, Emma had to admit. At least the topic had been about Henry, and not what Mary Margaret was wearing. However, both the schoolteacher and Henry were most likely out of the loop, having gone straight from the school to the apartment, and Emma wanted to avoid having to explain the entire situation yet again for as long as possible. She also didn't think leaving the Reginas alone together was the best plan (and truth be told, there was perhaps a miniscule part of Emma who didn't want to miss out on the fun). Instead, she un-cuffed the Queen, and pushed her out of the hall. The Mayor followed at a brisk pace, with Mr Gold limping quietly behind.
'I really need to have a big drink of something alcoholic, go to bed and wake up tomorrow with the realization that this is all a really weird dream,' Emma muttered, knowing that it was wishful thinking. Her Regina snorted.
'For once, we might be in agreement.'
The fresh air hit Emma's face as they exited the building, and she inhaled deeply. Turning to the Mayor, she asked, 'Want to follow me to the station in your car?'
Regina's response was drowned out as a thunderous rumble sounded, and the sky darkened dramatically.
'What is that?' Mr Gold breathed. He was pointing to a large purple cloud which had begun to roll into town from the forest. The group froze in the street.
'Belle described something like that. Last time, it brought all these people with it,' Emma recalled with astonishment. 'Maybe it'll take them back, and then I can hopefully just wake up.'
Emma, holding onto the handcuffed wrists of the prisoner, pulled not-Regina closer as the wind began to howl. Her leather jacket brushed against the feathery cape of the Evil Queen, and had she not been pressed quite so close, she would have missed the whispered exclamation.
'Magic.'
Mwhahahaaaa. Magic is coming. But who is it going to come to? Dun dun duuuun.
Now that the humungous crowd of doppelgangers has been dispersed, we can have a lot more focus on 'Emma + Regina + Evil Queen' scenes! However will poor(/lucky) Emma cope?
Thank you for reading! Reviews are very much appreciated.
