A/N: There will be a lot of angst in this chapter. I also wanted to say thank you to Fenix-Jane-Quinn and SwanQueen4tw for all the help in making this fic possible! 3 They have helped with Chapter 6 and onward.
Regina woke up the next morning in such a delightful mood. She touched her lips in remembrance of the kiss from the night before. She never expected Emma to kiss her without any warning, but she liked that part about her.
As she got dressed, she repeatedly told herself that the kiss was a one time incident and she wouldn't let it repeat again. It wasn't because she didn't want it to happen again, but she couldn't allow herself to be vulnerable like that.
Ever since Emma had come to stay with her, Regina was able to be the woman she truly was. It was a relief because her beloved horse wouldn't have to be the only one that knew her in that way.
Emma had been floating on cloud nine ever since the kiss and she woke up in the clothes that she wore the night before. She changed her clothes and knocked on the door. The last thing she wanted was to repeat her mistake again and almost have her hair set on fire.
Regina opened the door and saw Emma smiling at her. Emma was prepared to take on her 'rival", Regina's horse. This time, she wouldn't let the beast control the situation.
"Are you ready to go to the barn, Princess? I promise not to fall."
Regina returned the smile, "We won't be visiting the stalls today. I know how much you love falling."
Emma rolled her eyes.
"So what adventure will we be going on today?"
"It's a surprise, Emma."
Regina lead the way out of the castle and down passed the stalls. They walked down a pathway until they reached an area that looked like a miniature colosseum. There were stone walls encircling the dirt floor. In the middle of the arena were guards practice fighting.
At the entrance, there were multiple types of weapons lined up. They were wooden ones as well as metal ones. There was a bow and arrow set, crossbows, and other ranged weapons. There was also practice arnor that varied from the full guards' armor to leather versions.
Emma's eyes lit up with excitement at everything that was before her eyes.
"I can tell that you must really like what you see."
"I have heard rumors about the guards trainings as a kid. My friends and I would pretend we were guards and "train" together to protect the princess. I was the one that rescued her too."
Regina raised an eyebrow, "You were the rescuer?"
"Well yeah, the boys I played with had no idea how to rescue a princess from a giant dragon."
The brunette found it amusing that Emma would ever play such a game like that as a child.
The two of them had entered the arena and the guards fighting one another immediately stopped when they saw Princess Regina.
"Good morning, Princess Regina. What may we assist you with today?"
"Mother wants me to train my magic and I was wondering if you could teach my servant, Emmet, how to wield a sword."
One of the guards glanced at Emma, "I'm afraid I can't teach your servant, your highness. You know that it's against the law to teach anyone except a royal guard how to fight with a weapon."
"Yes, I understand that Mother said that, but what if you aren't able to get to me in time and he is? Would you risk the safety of your princess?"
"N-No, we never would! I will show your servant how to wield a sword."
While Regina was using her magic on a dummy made of straw and one made out of a flower bag full of grain, Emma was learning how to hold a sword first.
"Emmet, is it?"
"Yes, that's my name."
"I'm only doing this because of Princess Regina. Before I will let you hold a real sword, you have to learn how to wield a wooden one. If you don't listen to everything I say, then I will stop teaching you. Is this understood?"
"Yes Sir."
He had grabbed a wooden sword and tossed it to Emma, who caught it easily. The guard traded in the sword he held for a wooden one as well.
"You need to hold it by the handle and stand with your feet a part like this."
Emma copied the stance that the guard did and watched him very closely.
He started to tell her about all the techniques necessary to know when it came to fighting.
She had learned fairly quickly and was now at the point where she could "kill" the straw dummy. She hit it with the sword and the dummy swung around, but she dodged it. She did this for what seemed like forever. The guard finally said that she could stop fighting it.
"I'm impressed that you were able to catch on quickly. Even the new guards here tend to be a bit slow when it comes to learning. I have even seen some drop their "sword" on their foot. I told them that if it was a real sword, then they would've lost a limb."
The guard handed her a real sword, "I think you're ready to wield the real thing. If I didn't think you were ready, you wouldn't be holding one."
Emma cautiously took it from the guard and watched him exchange his weapon too. They were now facing one another with each of their swords drawn. The guard had said that at the count of three, they would begin their duel.
She rushed the guard, who dodged her attack. She was able to recover and defended herself when the guard's sword came crashing down on hers. The way that someone would "win" a duel when training is if there was a safe word or the first shed of blood. The guard never told Emma which it was.
The blonde woman did her best to hold him off, but she felt the weight of his sword bearing down on her. If she wasn't careful, then she could possibly be injured. She used her leg to kick his chest, which forced the guard back. This gave her the opportunity to find her footing again.
The guard advanced on her and as he swung at her, she ducked and tripped him. He landed on his back and Emma pointed the sword at his throat. If she pressed down, then she could easily draw blood.
"You have to draw blood to win."
"No, I won't do it."
"Then you'll be seen as the loser."
"I don't care, I won't do it."
Emma removed the sword from his throat and the guard stood up. He easily towered over her. The guard stuck out his hand, "It was good training with you, Emmet. I hope that next time we meet, I can call you a winner."
He bent down closer to her so only she could hear him, "I consider you a winner."
Emma nodded and held onto the sword as she made her way over to Regina.
The dummy was a pile of ashes on the floor while the other one had large holes in its "body".
"So that's what would've happened to me if you used your magic fireball thing."
Regina smiled, "I told you that I knew how to use my magic. I saw that you decided to take the more honorable route and not shed blood."
"He never told me the rules."
"You never assume that he would say a safe word, that's not how he trains."
Emma was looking at her sword, "I was wondering if you could try training with me."
"Do you mean with a sword? I already know how to use one."
"No, I meant with your magic."
"That would give me an unfair advantage."
"I want to duel you then."
"Duel me? Have you lose your mind?"
"You can't say no to a duel, Princess."
Regina shook her head, "No, I refuse to duel you."
The guard that Emma had trained with came over to them, "You have to duel your servant, Princess Regina. You have no choice in the matter. Your Mother wouldn't approve of you turning it down."
The entire arena was emptied out except for Regina, Emma, and the guard.
"The rules to a duel is simple. The two of you can duel until the safe word has been said or until blood is shed. Since her highness is in the duel, it will only be the safe word. What is it going to be?"
"Apples."
"Very well, apples it is."
Regina had her fireball prepared as Emma locked eyes onto her target. She knew that this was probably a stupid idea, but she wanted to see Regina use her magic. She also needed to know how to defend herself if magic was used against her.
Emma waited a few minutes before rushing at Regina with her sword. When she was about to touch her with the tip, Regina vanished into a cloud of purple smoke.
"Hey, that's not fair!"
"This duel isn't supposed to be 'fair'."
Emma scowled and was ready for Regina to attack. The brunette had a fireball in each hand and she threw them at the blonde with precision. Emma had avoided all but one of them, which had burnt the side of her cheek. She hadn't expected Regina to actually hurt her.
The blonde woman pressed a hand against her cheek and winced.
Regina kept her focus on Emma as she had recovered after being burnt. She hadn't wanted to hurt her, but she couldn't lose to anyone, especially her servant. She had to be seen as being stronger than them.
Emma waited until she had come up with a plan. She was going to do something that was risky, but it was worth a shot. She acted as though she was about to throw her sword and Regina had disappeared once again.
When she had reappeared, Emma ran at her, and knocked her to the ground. Regina hadn't expected for her to do this at all. Something was coming over Emma and as she raised her sword the same way she had when the guard was on the ground, she wasn't hesitating. The sword was so close to touching Regina's throat, but it had been knocked out of Emma's hands and thrown a few feet away.
The guard had been watching this entire time and he had thrown one of his swords at the sword in Emma's hand. It had cut her knuckles, which caused her to drop it. The guard pushed Emma away from Regina and helped up his Princess.
"The duel is over."
He turned towards Emma.
"You're lucky that I was here to intervene or your head would be on a platter in front of The Queen. You got too caught up in the moment and I saw that gleam of bloodlust in your eyes. I think you should return to the castle, alone. I will escort Princess Regina with the rest of her duties."
Emma wanted to say something to defend herself, but she knew he was right. What had come over her? Was it because she was angry about Regina physically hurting her? Was it more than that?
She didn't say anything as the guard lead Regina out of the arena and left Emma standing there. She was staring down at the impression Regina's body made on the dirt floor. The look of fear in Regina's eyes were haunting her.
Emma had spent the rest of the afternoon with Rocinante and even he was ignoring her. She sat down on a small stool next to him. She thought about brushing him, but he wasn't letting her do so at this moment.
"I know I screwed up, okay? I don't know what came over me. Maybe I was just scared because I had only heard about what magic can do to people. She threw a fireball at my face and actually hit me! I couldn't let her get away with that."
Rocinante was turning around so Emma had to move before he tried to kick her.
"She brought something out in me that I never experienced before. I'm sorry, Rocinante, I didn't mean to hurt her. Who knows if she'll even forgive me. You should've seen that look in her eye..."
Rocinante's ears seemed to perk up and he turned to face her.
"It's nice to not get a view of your ass anymore."
When he sneezed, Emma barely avoided whatever came out of his nose.
"Nevermind, I think I preferred you facing away from me."
He was about to headbutt her when Regina heard a familiar sound.
"I told you that you need to respect him or else he won't respect you."
Rocinante was now in between them and Emma was having trouble looking over him. She was now standing on top of the stool to get a view of Regina.
"Regina, I'm so sorry."
Regina went over to pick up a brush and began to brush him.
Emma had finally balanced herself on the stool when Rocinante had decided to move to make it more difficult on her. She was trying not to grab onto the horse, but was tempted to when she felt that she was losing her balance. The blonde woman found the right footing again and he stood still as Regina brushed him.
A few minutes had passed and Regina was still brushing her horse while ignoring Emma's presence. Regina was beyond hurt by what Emma had done. How could someone she cared about hurt her in such a way? She expected it from her mother, but not from Emma.
Emma got off the stood and was walking towards Regina while avoiding Rocinante. He was too engrossed in having Regina brush him that he didn't notice Emma moving away from him.
She was standing in front of Regina and looked her right in the eyes.
"Regina, I said I was sor-"
The brush that was in Regina's hand had disappeared and in its place was the riding crop. Emma felt unbearable pain when it came into contact with her cheek. The magic that Regina used on Emma in the battle had a temporary effect, so the burn had healed when Emma left the arena.
The riding crop's force had made a cut on her cheek and the blood was dripping from it. Emma was on the ground and looking up at Regina, who was ready to strike again. Emma could've defended herself, but she didn't. She told herself that she deserved it since she almost ended Regina's life.
Regina was about to strike Emma again when she caught a reflection of herself in Rocinante's eyes. In that moment, she thought that she had seen her Mother instead of her in his eyes. She dropped the riding crop, dropped down to her knees, and held Emma tight to herself.
Tears were streaming down Regina's face as she held onto Emma tighter.
"You're going to stain your clothes if you keep holding me like this."
"Shut up."
Emma kept her mouth shut as Regina continued this awkward embrace. The blonde woman did something that Regina hadn't expected, she wiped her tears away.
"You look so beautiful when you cry."
Regina rested her head on Emma's shoulder and the two of them stayed like that for a while. Neither of them moved a muscle and Emma felt all the sadness in the world as Regina remained where she was.
"I forgive you, but can you forgive me?"
Emma responded by kissing Regina's tears away and had moved to kiss her on the lips. The kiss was the only way that Emma knew how to express her feelings in this particular moment. She couldn't trust her voice right now and hoped that Regina understood.
When Regina responded by kissing her back, Emma knew that she got her message across.