A/N- Disclaimer: There is a death in this chapter (not Emma or Regina, what kind of monster do you think I am?) and so if you would rather not read the violence that is to come, that is your prerogative. You have been warned.
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Emma wandered aimlessly through the halls until she heard what sounded like Regina's voice. "Regina?"
"Emma." The woman called.
"What is it?" The blonde questioned as she made her way toward the voice: instinct told her something was wrong. The voice was definitely female and deep. It could be Regina, but then again, Regina only ever called her Emma when they were in bed. "Where are you?"
"In the courtyard." The woman called and the blonde stepped toward the sunlight. With a hand on her sword, she strode out the archway and blinked in the brilliant light of the sun rising over the mountains in which the courtyard was built into.
"Emma." Said the woman standing before her and smiling.
But the blonde had barely registered this strange woman when her eyes slid to the figure beside her. The large man that they had elicited information from was standing next to the stranger with a person draped casually over his shoulder.
"Regina!" Shouted Emma and she started forward, but several men also flanking the woman stepped forward and lowered their spears at her. It was no use, she couldn't fight them all at once and even if she could, what's to say the bastard wouldn't just pitch the brunette off the side of the wall? Emma stilled herself and turned to the woman with brown hair, large eyes, and a heart-shaped face. "Who are you? What do you want?"
"I'm the Queen."
"I gathered that much." The blonde quipped.
"Careful now," The Queen said and stepped forward, "we don't want my guard to drop your friend, now do we?"
Emma's head was reeling. How much did this woman know? The blonde decided to play dumb. "I thought there was an Ozma. What happened to her?"
"I overthrew her. I am Dorothy Gale's daughter." She said proudly.
"Like the one that killed Elphaba?"
"The one who vanquished the Wicked Witch of the West, yes." She turned her back on the blonde and strode to the middle of the circular wall. "Melted her in this very courtyard, actually." She spread out her arms. It was obvious the woman was proud of her ancestor's achievement and the notoriety it gained her.
Emma wasn't impressed however. She sized the woman up and decided that had it not been for the unconscious brunette, she would have simple attacked the woman with her sword: if nothing else, to wipe the insufferable sneer off of her face. For now, however, she continued to play dumb while willing her companion to awake before everything got out of hand.
"What do you want with me?"
"Magic."
"Can't you do magic?"
"I can do magic so long as I can take yours." The woman answered with a smirk. Emma bristled, bringing her sword up in a defensive posture. "Now, now, it won't take long." Crooned the woman. "It's a simple spell, really." she pulled a book bound in green and brown leather from her robe and flipped the pages. "Just hold still."
At the first syllable of the woman's rhythmic chanting, Emma felt her knees go weak. She gasped and sank to the ground as pain wracked her body. "Stop!" the blonde shouted as she doubled over. Realizing the woman wasn't just taking her magic, but her life-force too, she began to panic slightly and her breathing shallowed out as she gasped for air. As the blonde toppled over on her side and lay panting in immeasurable pain, something unexpected happened: a shockwave went out and the pain stopped. Looking up, she saw Regina and the energy around her crackling like fire.
When the brunette had come to, hanging over the back of the gargantuan man, she had heard Emma gasping for air. Raising her head and twisting around, she had seen a strange woman with her hand outstretched and reading from the Grimmerie. The brunette didn't need all the facts to know that she had to stop the magic in progress. In a fit of protective rage, Regina sent out a shockwave that burst forth and cast all the guards off the wall in one fell swoop. Perhaps it was a bit of overkill, but the brunette had always had a flair for the dramatic.
The surprised queen turned and regarded the furious brunette's wicked grin. "Pardon me, but I must insist you stop that immediately." She stated regally and tossed her hair back.
"I don't think I will." The woman answered as Emma raised herself to her knees.
"Allow me to introduce myself: I am Regina." The woman looked taken aback a moment but recovered quickly. "I see you have heard of me. Good, let me make my intentions clear." She strode toward the woman and as she did so, her dress darkened and lengthened until there was a train behind her and her cleavage was displayed proudly. So too, her hair lengthened and spun upon itself to cascade in long curls down her back. She looked powerful, intimidating, and completely in control. "You will drop that book, hop on the next hot air balloon, and leave Oz to its own people." She stopped in front of the younger queen looking superior and unapproachable.
Emma almost didn't feel as though she was looking at the same woman. She had never seen Evil Queen Regina. She only knew her as the mayor, Henry's mother, and an incredible pain in her ass. But this Regina, this Regina was different by far. This was a Regina Emma had only seen in her fantasies. She watched as the drama unfolded.
The younger queen seemed to regain her composure. "I don't care who you are, last I heard; you were fallen, disgraced in your realm. You have no business here; be gone." The woman said and Emma felt the air around them tremble. "I have magic; her magic." The woman cut her eyes to the blonde regaining her feet. "White magic." She said triumphantly. "And I am prepared to use it."
"That is where you are wrong, dear. You cannot feel the energy here." Regina gestured around. "It's like a livewire, this castle. Magic is trapped here. If you, with your inexperience, cast a spell, you could blow everything up."
"I'm willing to risk that." The woman sneered and the blonde detected desperation in her eyes. The thirst for power had turned her into a kamikaze and Emma sensed her instability. But before she could act, the young queen balled a fist and unclenched it suddenly; palming a fireball as Emma had seen Regina do so many times. But something was wrong.
The woman looked down in alarm as the ball became an orb, which quickly grew to the size of a basketball. She screamed in frustration as it grew larger. Then her screams became shrieks of anguish as it licked up her arm.
"Stay calm!" Regina shouted as she backed away. "Control it!" She commanded helplessly. But the woman wasn't listening and soon the fire shrouded her body.
"Put it out!" Emma yelled frantically.
"I can't, not without making it worse!"
"We need water!" Emma shouted back as the woman sank to her knees and crumpled over, now sobbing. The blonde leapt over the woman and ran back toward the castle, but Regina caught her as she ran past.
"Miss Swan!"
"We have to put it out!"
"Miss Swan-"
"There has to be water here-"
"Emma!" Regina shouted, shaking her. "It's pointless! She's better off dead than like this!" The blonde turned her head back to watch the burning woman twitch. She turned away and rammed her fist into the wooden support beam of the pavilion. The fire went out and the young queen no longer moved; she was dead. Silence rang for a long time as both women stared sadly at the form of the woman.
"Why did that happen? Because of the energy here?"
"Yes, and because she didn't know what she was doing." Regina walked over and picked up the book the woman had dropped. "I tried to warn her-"
"You did." Emma sighed. "You tried to tell her, but she didn't listen." The blonde looked sadly down at the woman. "God, the irony of it all."
"Yes, burned alive in the very courtyard her mother melted Elphaba. Poetic justice, perhaps?" Regina looked at Emma who smiled without warmth. "Now let us find the bean."
As Regina waved her hand and turned the woman's body to dust; allowing it to drift away, a thought struck the blonde. "When she stole my magic, I felt like I was dying."
"You were. Your magic is linked directly to your life-force. If she had succeeded in taking all of your current supply of magic, she would have killed you."
"My current supply?" Puzzled the blonde.
"It regenerates over time. Some conditions can block this recharge, if you will-"
"Like spells put in place by Evil Queens and metal bands put in place by pirates working for kidnappers?" Emma snorted shrewdly.
"Yes," the woman confirmed tersely, "But in a place like Oz, where magic is in the air itself, I should say you'll have your strange brand of emergency magic back in no time."
"Good..." The blonde said awkwardly. "Hopefully, I won't need it." She said as they began to comb the castle for their quest items.