Chapter 11
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"There you are. Slinking off are you?" Zelena asked the crystal ball as she caught sight of Walsh stalking the Inn where the witch knew the Savoir and her brat were safely tucked inside. She spoke into the ball and noticed how Walsh could hear her immediately. "It's time to come home, Walsh. We haven't the time for your vendettas."
The man scowled at the air around him but turned away from the bushes and transformed into his monkey form and began to fly back home to her. With a smile she looked back at the crystal ball and watched as the image changed to see the room that young Henry was sleeping in. The poor lad was tossing and turning under his sheets. "You poor pretty thing you. Whatever is it plaguing your dreams?" She smirked and began to cackle.
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Everything was in shadows. Henry was moving slowly through the miasma towards the sounds of distorted voices. He could hear the sound of the oceans waves but couldn't see the water. The sun seemed to be shining at the fog was gray rather than black nothingness. The closer he came to the sounds of voices the thinner the fog became.
He saw a tall woman dressed in black speaking with someone. He couldn't see who or their faces as he stood several feet behind them. A part of him wanted to run in the other direction but his feet brought him closer and closer. It was as the woman's head began to turn and her profile became visible that an intolerable pain in his chest spread throughout his whole body and made him scream.
Suddenly he wasn't behind the woman anymore. He was standing in front of her sitting on the rock under the dock like he had the other day. The pain in his heart was matched by the pain in his head that seemed to travel and meet at the center of his neck. His movements were sluggish as he struggled to hear the woman's voice. He stood from the rock when he realized he didn't know who it was that was coming under the deck, cornering him and blocking the only exit. He couldn't really see the woman very well because of the shadows playing out from the deck. But she was tall and she was moving closer and something primal in him told him to run. He tried to take a step away but found his limbs wouldn't move. He wanted to run as far and as fast as he could away from this woman bathed in shadow, because he knew something horrible was about to happen.
The woman tisked at him, "Where do you think you're going?"
Apparently, he wasn't going anywhere. He stared down at his body and noticed a strange glow around it, like a force field of some kind keeping him still. He shot his eyes back to the approaching woman, fear spiking through him sharply. "Who are you? What do you want?!" He struggled valiantly against the magic holding him captive. Trying not to panic.
The woman stepped closer, finally out of the shadows and he noticed she was wearing a green and black cape like outfit that he'd seen in movies for women in the 1940's. She was wearing heels but for some odd reason they weren't sinking into the sand like they should. It was almost like she was gliding just above the sand, but that was impossible. It was also impossible for him to be stuck with nothing but a force field surrounding him. Her hair was curly and a nice shade of red, but it was her face that scared him. The way she was looking at him, the anger and threat in her eyes alone.
"Which would you like me to answer first? Who I am, or what I want?" She asked as she stalked towards Henry with a predatory smile. It was always lovely when a plan came together. To think these were the fools that had defeated Pan.
Henry opened his mouth as if to answer but she continued speaking without waiting for his response. "I am your aunt Zelena." Henry's eyes widened, he didn't have an aunt Zelena. But honestly it wasn't the fact that she was claiming to be his aunt that scared him. It was how the skin around her neck and face was slowly turning green. At first he thought it was just a trick of the light and the moss shining green streams down on the woman, but as it spread and the green darkened he realized it was just the woman's skin. It was green. It was turning green.
"What I want…" She hissed as she stepped up to him and used her elegantly long green fingers with sharp nails to tilt his chin up so he was looking into her eyes, not staring at her skin's pallor, "Is your heart."
Henry opened his mouth to scream, but it was too late.
While he had been so focused on her eyes and her green skin her other hand moved to his chest. It felt like his chest was about to explode as she reached her hand into his chest cavity and grabbed a hold of his heart. Her hand had literally just gone through his skin and he was still alive. The pain that was in his head was all encompassing now. Every inch of his body ached and trembled around her arm.
And yet, there was something nagging at him. Something about this sensation was familiar to him. He had felt this kind of pain before. This type of invasion into his body had happened before. He just couldn't seem to focus on when.
There was a tug on his heart, the woman was trying to pull it out.
Zelena frowned as she focused on her task.
"It seems like your mother is very protective after all." The demon woman growled as she focused more intently on his chest. He felt something warm begin to burn inside his chest. Her arm was turning red and he couldn't help but scream. The sound of his scream didn't even leave the small area, as Zelena erected a bubble around them. A trick she'd learned from Glinda many years before. It trapped Henry's screams inside, unfortunately making her listen to them as she worked to counter act his mother's protection spells.
It was with a single moment of clarity through the pain and burning sensation that he stared at the witch with clear, knowing eyes.
He remembered. Everything!
Emma's 28th birthday. Finding her in her apartment.
Teaching Emma about the curse and her family.
The poisoned apple turnover.
Emma breaking the curse.
Meeting his dad in New York with Mr. Gold.
His mom being framed for killing Archie.
Tamara and Greg kidnapping him.
Pan tricking him.
Losing his heart.
Switching bodies with Peter Pan and his mom saving him.
The curse consuming everything behind them and his mom giving him and Emma new memories as they crossed over the town line and escaped.
The tears in his moms eyes as she raised her hands and changed the curse.
How the door had slammed closed after her and Emma fought their voices echoing throughout the whole house before it went silent and the only thing he could hear was Emma's pleas and the sound of the car driving away.
He remembered everything. The life he was so sure of not a few moments ago was fake and he knew it.
Zelena disabled the magic that Regina had protecting Henry's heart easily. Her sister was far too fond of blood magic and although Henry's body convulsed with the pain of her exploration of his chest, she continued on. With a simple tug, she pulled her hand out of Henry's chest.
"My moms are going to destroy you." Henry predicted, promised. His last thought of his own as she whispered softly to his heart, her control over him cementing itself.
It didn't matter anymore if he remembered or not, because now he was hers.
Zelena smiled as she looked into Henry's glazed eyes. She had some work to do before he could go back to his parents and spy for her, but he would do just wonderfully.
"You and I, Henry, we are going to have so much fun together." She smiled as she looked down at his golden heart and met his eyes
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"Henry. Henry…Henry!" Emma shook Henry's shoulders roughly as she tried to wake her son from the nightmare that had him screaming and thrashing in his sleep.
Henry's eyes opened and for a moment he didn't react. He simply remained staring up at the sight of Emma's face directly above him. It was after a few moments of being awake that he finally blinked and shot up, his hands grabbing a hold of Emma's and squeezing them tightly.
"Mom…" He whimpered.
Emma's heart tore as she pulled Henry closer to her and held her against her chest. She soothed him by rubbing gentle circles around his back.
He whimpered softly against Emma's chest. Unknowingly to the blonde bounty hunter his eyes flashed green for just a moment and his lips curled up into a snarl before his whimpers and tears continued.
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"You look horrible." Ruby mentioned as she set a cup of coffee down in front of Emma.
Emma rubbed wearily at her eyes. "Henry was up all night with nightmares."
"I heard him." Emma went to offer an apology but Ruby waved it off, "Everything alright now?" Ruby asked as she took a seat down next to Emma on the couch.
"He's in the room with a cold towel on his head. He's got horrible headaches." Emma tugged at her own hair. "I'm worried that the spells messing with him like it did with me."
"Is nightmares how it started for you?"
"No. It started with migraines that got so bad I'd get sick." Which, they both realized, was what had happened to Henry yesterday. "Then I'd lost time, blacking it out, and the nightmares kept me from sleeping. It's different when I'm the one that can't sleep. I'm used to it. But I've never heard Henry cry like that. Even when we thought Regina wasn't coming back."
Ruby squeezed Emma's knee as they fell into silence and both drank their coffee.
When Snow and Charming arrived they noticed how worn down Emma was immediately. They tried to convince her to wait to set the trap with Regina. Emma knew that she couldn't handle watching Henry progress down the same road of insanity that she had. They needed to do this, and they needed to do it today. There was no time left.
Even Regina's arrival didn't brighten Emma's demeanor. Regina noticed the tension in the Inn immediately. She frowned as she saw how Snow was dotting over Emma.
"Whats happened?"
"The spell is affecting Henry in the same way it did Emma." Ruby answered noting how Charming seemed unable to open his mouth to answer the question his jaw was so tight.
"He's having nightmares and migraines. He lost part of the day yesterday. He didn't get more than a few hours of sleep." Emma didn't even look up to meet Regina's eyes.
Charming snarled at Regina, making the witch flinch. "You think I did this on purpose? That I would hurt Henry? Regina accused Charming of exactly what he was thinking.
"No one's accusing anyone. We're just concerned for Henry." Snow found herself trying to placate Charming and Regina before they had an opportunity to take things farther.
"I…" Charming wanted to reply for himself but stopped when Snow sent him a dangerous glare.
"Please…." Emma whispered, "Please, can we just focus on how to help Henry? No one is at fault. Regina didn't do this. So instead of infighting again we need to work on how to help him. He's in pain." Emma's voice cracked at the mention of the pain that Henry was suffering.
"You don't look well enough for this plan of yours." Regina decided it was better to comment on how horrible Emma looked instead of how much pain Henry had to be in for it to be affecting Emma this profoundly.
"I'll be fine once we get our hands on this witch." Emma stood up from the couch with purpose. They had things they needed to get done.
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Regina kept periodically looking at Emma. The blonde was resting her head heavily on the edge of the table, her eyes watching each of Regina's movements as she measured out certain ingredients to try and make the memory potion. There was a tiredness around Emma that Regina had never seen, not even in Neverland.
"How long has it been since you've had a good night's sleep?" Regina found herself asking unable to stop herself from conversing with Emma. Seeing the blonde so defeated and withdrawn tugged at her heart in ways she'd only ever felt when Henry was hurting.
"Fourteen…no fifteen months." Emma amended, remembering how she hadn't been able to sleep much in Neverland, not when she could hear the cries of the other lost boys.
Regina nearly dropped the vial she was holding. "Fifteen months…"
"The last year I've been having the same symptoms as Henry. Mine just progressed slower than his. He was fine until we came back to Storybrooke."
"I never intended for you to be plagued with troubles Emma."
Emma sat back in her chair, slowly nodding at the sincerity in Regina's words. "I know. I believe you. It wasn't…" Emma chuckled to herself, "…it wasn't so bad having those memories. They were better than the real ones, for the most part."
Regina tilted her head as she considered Emma critically. "You truly believe those memories are preferable?"
Emma couldn't help but smile, "We were happy." Emma sighed wistfully. She leaned back more and stared up at the ceiling. "We were in love." She groaned as she slouched forward. "Everything's so confusing."
Regina's focus was on the vial she hoped contained the memory spell even as she fought the urge to give Emma her full attention.
"The spell would only have affected your memories, Ms. Swan. Not your emotions. Those, were yours to begin with." Emma froze. Her eyes widening as she looked at Regina, her body on immediate alert. The voice did not belong to Regina. It was however one that Emma was very familiar with.
Emma shot up from her seat, her eyes locking in on the shrouded figure by the door. "Walsh." She growled reaching for her gun on her hip. Just as her fingers slid over the metal of the gun her body froze.
She looked down and saw that her body was constricted by green magic. Emma's eyes met Regina's. Regina's focus was on Walsh as well and she was using her own magic to hold the good doctor against the wall. Emma knew that Walsh didn't have magic. He wasn't a sorcerer.
"He's the decoy!" Emma tried to warn Regina. Just as she met the Queen's hazel eyes Emma was forced to watch as Regina recognized her warning and the tell tail signs of magic along her skin. Regina flew through the air right into the wall on the far side of the room. The plaster of the wall cracking with the force of the impact.
"Regina!" Emma yelled trying to force her arms to move even with the magic confines squeezing around her tighter and tighter. Emma watched as Regina tried to lift herself off the floor but her body was picked up and thrown across the room into the glass statue of a unicorn, the glass shattering atop the newly unconscious woman.
Walsh wasn't the one playing with Regina like a ragdoll, that only left one other.
"Poor little Savoir. Always falling in love with people who will never pick you." Emma growled as she heard the voice of the witch from behind her. "Poor dear. Afraid to get left behind yet again. For someone to know you, all of you, and choose to leave you." Emma felt her face enflame with shame and anger as she heard her own fears being thrown back in her face. "You'll never be good enough. Not for your parents. No, they're going to have another baby now. Someone to replace you. To give that child the life that you never had."
"Damn you…" Emma cursed as she stared daggers into Walsh, who remained by the door with his arms crossed over his chest, his own scowl in place.
Emma felt the presence of the witch behind her and tensed. She tried, feebly to move. The only part of her body she had control over was her head.
"Release me and fight fair."
"Fair? Oh Savior. Don't you know?" Zelena walked out from behind Emma so that the blonde could get a good look at the woman for the first time. Her skin wasn't green. It was as pale as Emma's own. The only emerald color on her was her striking emerald eyes. "The wicked never play fair." Zelena caressed Emma's cheek, truly looking at the Sherriff. There was something she saw in Emma's eyes that she had not expected to find.
"You're not like the others. You will never be like them. And one day they will turn on you. No matter how much they profess to love you. They will turn on you because they will come to fear you. And fear truly is the most powerful of emotions. It will even cut down the strength of love when used correctly." Zelena squeezed Emma's chin to the point of pain before she released her.
"Get my sister." Zelena commanded, never allowing her eyes to move from Emma.
Walsh took the command with a grain of salt and moved towards the fallen Queen. Emma's eyes narrowed, her heart racing inside her chest the closer that Walsh got to Regina's unconscious form. Emma was only momentarily shocked by the witch's comment. As far as she knew Regina had no siblings and yet here was the Wicked Witch claiming to be a long lost sister to the Evil Queen. God…Emma felt like groaning. Only shit like this could happen in Storybrooke. An enchanted soap opera at its worst.
"Don't worry though. Soon enough you'll never have to worry about being born at all." Zelena smirked, her fingers twirling around Emma's hair for a moment. "What a shame. You would have made such a lovely hand maiden."
As Emma struggled against the binds holding her Zelena went to the table Regina had been working at for hours and destroyed the progress they had been making and yet Emma could care less. Her focus remained on Walsh and his movements towards Regina.
"Leave her alone!" Emma's panic set in as she fought furiously against the magic holding her like a cobra. "No, get away from her you animal!"
Walsh stopped his movements just as he reached Regina and looked over his shoulder at Emma. His smirk was malicious and the teeth that of the animal Emma was afraid he would become again. "You're just as useless as you always have been. No wonder why your family was happy to get rid of you. Soon even Regina will leave you and taken Henry. You're not worth their time."
The combined panic and anger fueled Emma's rage. Around her the magic that was holding her began to fizzle out. The touch of it was like hot needles prickling into her skin. She grimaced as the heat began to grow and the magic holding her burst, knocking the Wicked Witch and Walsh off their feet.
"I said get away from her!" She screamed, her hands glowing white as around her the light bulbs began to pop with the electricity in the air surrounding Emma.
Zelena rushed to her feet, surprised at Emma's show of magic. No one should have been able to get out from her hold. No one.
"How…" Zelena gasped, truly having underestimated the Savior's capabilities.
Emma glared as she threw her hands out at Zelena and the magic crackling around her hands flew towards the older witch. Zelena deflected each of the electric bolts Emma threw at her as best she could. It was clear that Zelena was struggling as Emma continued to toss the magic at the witch without care of tiring. Zelena was forced to step away with each deflection. Emma hadn't the faintest clue how she was using her magic in a way she'd never done thus far. All she knew was that she needed to listen to her instincts against this witch.
Regina had taught her that controlling and channeling her magic was all about emotions and right now she was bursting with enough emotions to take on three Wicked Witch's. And maybe her mind was a little clouded by the adrenaline.
Emma's eyes glowed a bright white as she snarled at Zelena, "Fear IS the strongest motivator." She repeated to the cocky witch as she watched her recoil as Emma's bolts pierced through her shield and hit her shoulder. Zelena fell to the floor with a cry of pain as the white magic pierced her skin.
Emma was about to take a step towards the fallen Wicked Witch when she heard Walsh's heavy footfalls coming towards her. He was trying to rush her from the side. She clenched her fists and turned her body when he was right on her. The fist she'd been clenching burst open so her fingers were splayed widely apart. A small implosion of magic erupted from her hand and pushed directly into Walsh's chest.
Walsh's limbs wind milled as he was sent flying right through the window of Regina's office.
Zelena watched from where she lay sprawled upon the floor at Emma's show of power. With a scream she slammed her hand down into the floor before she disappeared in a cloud of green smoke.
Emma's body relaxed as soon as Zelena disappeared. Her breath came in pants as the magic that had been circulating around her like a wind tunnel disappeared.
Without wasting another second Emma raced to Regina's side, doing her best not to focus on the words their enemies had fed her.
"The spell would only have affected your memories, Ms. Swan. Not your emotions. Those, were yours to begin with." Could she have been in love with Regina before she'd left Storybrooke? Is that why the spell had been corrupted? Because her own desires had changed Regina's intended spell?
Cleaning the glass off of Regina's back so she could pick the woman up, Emma knew that she could have been in love with Regina. Even then she would have died to protect the bitchy woman. She carried Regina over to the couch in the middle of the office and placed her down gently.
Maybe the woes that she had suffered the last year were her own doing. And maybe, just maybe those fake memories were a gift to herself. She wasn't afraid of being in love with Regina anymore. What she was most afraid of now was living without her.
"Emma…" Regina whispered as she started to come to.
"Hey, there. Sleepy head." Emma responded just as softly.
"What…what happened?" Regina asked as she tried to look around her office but cringed at making any sudden movements.
"You got your ass handed to you by the Wicked Witch. Took a pretty hard hit to the head." Emma was a bit concerned about that hit. She knew how tough it was to come back from a beating like Regina just suffered.
"Must you be so crass?" Regina's insufferable nature appeared and still, Emma could only smile softly at the woman.
"Only as much as you need to be the one in control. So, you know, yes. I do."
Regina squinted in confusion as she met Emma's eyes. "Are you sure you weren't the one to hit your head?" Emma appeared to be fine, though a bit…happy.
Emma rolled her eyes, "Yes, I'm sure. Now come on. Let's go check those security cameras so we can ID this bitch."
"You just want to see me get thrown across the room again." Regina complained as she took Emma's offered hand, wincing internally as she moved.
"No." Emma's mood suddenly shifted. "No. I don't want to see that happen again. But it worked. She came after us."
"What did you learn?" Regina asked as she moved with Emma to the security room down the hall from her office. She'd had cameras installed after the last time something had been stolen from it. She hadn't told anyone about the installations.
"Well, she's your sister."
Regina's steps faltered. "She's what?" Her voice grew low and dangerous.
"Your sister." Emma flinched at the outrage upon Regina's face.
"She lied. She isn't my sister. I don't, I don't have a sister." Regina's brow creased as she tried for what felt like the millionth time to remember the missing year. It only got her frustrated as she could remember nothing more than watching Emma and Henry driving away. Her heart lurched in her chest as it did that day when she recalled Emma looking back at the town line just before the curse reached her.
"What else did she say?" Regina knew that trying to disprove the woman would be useless. This wasn't about her. This was about saving everyone from whatever the witch had planned. It didn't help that knowing the wicked witch thought they were sisters helped her understand how the woman had broken through her blood magic spells.
"She's obviously after you. She wanted to take you with her." Regina nodded, unsure what having her would accomplish. "She mentioned something weird about how I'm not going to be born." Emma mentioned as they went into the empty office. Regina went to the computer and put in a few passwords. The screen powered up and began to replay the last twenty minutes.
Regina winced as she heard the taunting Emma had to suffer by both the wicked doctor and his mistress. The point the witch made about Emma not being born worried her. But it was how easily and how naturally Emma controlled her magic when defending her from a threat that caught Regina's immediate attention. Emma's magic had surged in a way that Regina had never seen. The display of power was truly incredible. She was in awe of the blonde. To have so much power and to use it as effortlessly as she did with no training was something Regina thought impossible. It would appear that Ms. Swan was capable of even the most impossible feats.
"What does she mean when she says I'll never be born?"
"I don't know. But I'd hate to find out." Regina made a copy of the footage. "There are spells, impossible spells, for traveling back in time to change things. It has never been accomplished before."
"But she seems pretty certain of herself."
"Yes, that I can see. Which means we had to stop her before she can make her attempt. If she is able to complete her spell…" Regina left the statement conclude, the obvious fear of that possibility clear within her eyes. "…then you will never have been born and neither will Henry."
Emma felt her heart clench inside her chest. Regina's worry was not over her. It was over Henry. Sighing softly, Emma followed after Regina. They needed to inform the others of what they'd learned.
Now that they knew who the witch was and what she was planning to do they would have a better idea on how to stop her. Emma just hoped that after they stopped her that she'd have time to breathe before another crisis arrived on their doorstep.
End Chapter Eleven
