Emma was halfway down the bottle of whiskey and feeling much the better for it. She stretched out on the soft grass, vanishing her clothes down to her black tank top and leather pants, humming as the sun kissed her skin. Music, booze, nice weather… What more did she need-
"Regina? I'm kind of new to this magic thing, but I didn't just magic you here, did I?"
Regina seemed confused. "You wanted me here?"
Emma sat up, trying to make her fuzzy brain work faster. "I, uhm, I mean, I wanted to ask you about like, dark stuff."
Regina let out a breath. "I am not here on your summons, Miss Swan."
"You look, wait, kind of… Like you're here but not here?"
Regina smiled. "I'm in your mind."
The blonde's face fell with disappointment. "Oh. So I'm chatting to hallucinations now?"
"No. I am me. I'm just not physical. I'm here through a complex spell performed with your dagger. Henry and I decided it would be prudent to check on your wellbeing."
"But, wait, if the dagger works, why didn't you just summon me?"
"I didn't think you would appreciate it. And anyway, as it turns out, you are not in our realm. It wouldn't have worked."
Emma seemed interested. "I guess I should read up on all this stuff… So you can only summon me from the same realm?"
"That is correct."
"But you said you're using the dagger?"
Regina tried not to be patronising. After all, why should Emma know this? "I am. It is allowing me to talk to you."
"But you're kind of in my mind."
"Yes. Technically, your soul, but your soul is really just a part of your-"
Emma held up her hands. "Okay, that'll do. I'm already confused. Let's not make it worse."
Regina laughed. "Very well. I agree, straining your brain is probably all too easy."
Emma threw a fireball at a nearby tree. "Bitch."
Regina tried to remember how easily the darkness had taken her over at the beginning. It was as easy as regretting a slaughtered village.
"Henry wanted me to tell you that he loves you, no matter what, and that he misses you and wants you to come home, but only when you're ready. And I wanted to tell you…" Regina trailed off awkwardly. Emma stood, facing her. They would have been a hair's breadth apart if Regina had actually been there.
"What?" Emma asked, her green eyes flickering black.
"Thank you, Miss Swan," Regina said stiffly, yet still with more emotion than most people would put into a kiss.
Emma leaned back, dancing, more flamboyant now she was drunk, but no less graceful.
"You're welcome," she drawled. "Hey, if you're in my mind, can I…"
Emma concentrated, then blushed bright red as Regina's clothes disappeared. Regina raised one eyebrow as Emma covered her eyes and returned her clothes.
"Sorry, I didn't think it would actually work," Emma stammered.
Regina wondered if Emma had undressed her for the hell of it or because she was actually interested in what was underneath her clothes. From what she knew of darkness, it was raw, angry magic, fuelled entirely by emotion. Especially lust. Lust for blood, lust for flesh… Regina sighed. She knew she was attractive. That would be all it was. Still, Swan was attractive too. And if she was interested… But that a bridge that she really didn't need to think about crossing right now.
"That's alright. I know you must be feeling rather volatile. But, yes, how are you, Miss Swan?"
Emma thought about it. "Drunk," she answered.
Regina flicked her eyes pointedly to the whiskey bottle. "I figured. Enjoying that?"
Emma shrugged. "It's weird. How's Henry?"
"He is well. As I said, he misses you. But he is trying to understand. He wants you to have the space you need."
"He's a good kid. You raised him right, Regina. And… And you, are you okay?"
"Yes. Thank you. I...ah, I broke up with Robin."
"About time!" Emma blurted out before she could stop herself. "I mean, uhm, sorry?"
Regina chuckled. "I fear your true feelings have already been betrayed. But do not worry, Henry shares them. And I do, too… It was never something I chose."
Emma nodded. "I think… I think you could be in a really good place, Regina, if you want to be. That's why I saved you. I mean, partly. Now I'm kind of just pissed at you. But in a good way? I dunno, I… This is so weird, my body's so eloquent but my mouth..."
"Is just as useless as usual," Regina supplied.
"I'll have you know, there are some things my mouth is awesome at."
Regina smirked, as if to say, prove it. Emma smirked back, as if to say, whenever you're ready. But neither of them actually said anything at all.
"What about my parents..?"
"They wanted to summon you. Hook, too. He is quite worried."
"Oh, shit. Him. I forgot about him."
Regina almost cackled. "Please may I tell him that?" It seemed being around Emma brought out the darkness in her.
"Only if I get to watch," Emma said wickedly. "Hey, Regina?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Is it normal that I really want to fuck shit up? I also really want to… fuck."
Regina smiled ruefully as she thought of some of her conquests when she first embraced her darkness.
"I'm not sure I count as 'normal'. But I certainly felt similar."
Emma paused. She looked around, feeling conscience-free energy bubbling up inside her, wanting to roar with the passion of it.
"How do you control it?" she asked. For some reason, Regina felt an impulse to reach out and touch her shoulder. She was glad she was only a flicker - it was much harder for her physicality to betray her this way.
Emma felt suddenly afraid, but it only lasted a moment before her magic channeled the fear into an angry kind of power. Her anger built and built, she thought of everything she had seen, Regina's horrible past, everything the visions had reminded her of in her own world.
Regina seemed to be following Emma's thoughts. They were very connected, the sorceress supposed. She felt her heart snag on something in Emma's mind.
"What are you doing here?" she asked suddenly.
"Were you just in my head?" Emma accused.
"I am still in your head," Regina evaded. Emma narrowed her eyes, but decided they were probably about even.
"I wanted to get, like, your origin story."
"Like those superhero comics Henry reads?" Regina chuckled. "I am no hero, Miss Swan."
Emma shrugged. "The bad guys have origin stories too."
"Was mine as you anticipated?"
Emma bit her lip. "I didn't want to look. It reminded me too much of my own childhood. But… Fuck, Regina."
"It was a different time. A different world."
"Bullshit. I mean, maybe what you're saying is true, but you're saying it like it makes a difference. How could people hate you? How could they not help you?"
"I killed hundreds. Do you mean to imply you believe that was in some way just?"
Emma thought about the people Regina had killed, all the people who had failed to help her, who had allowed their society to develop in such a way that it was allowable to treat children the way Regina had been, both by her mother, and by her husband.
"Yes," Emma spat. "I do. I would kill them all again."
"That is the darkness talking. Killing solves nothing."
"Maybe not. But I feel like it would feel damn good."
Emma took another swig of whiskey.
"Can you drink with me?"
Regina considered her consciousness. "I drink when you drink. I can feel the effects."
Emma grinned and downed the rest of the bottle. She looked a little queasy for a moment, but her grin remained.
"I've always wanted to get you drunk," she admitted.
Regina quirked an eyebrow. "Why?"
Emma did a kind of dance. Sometimes the magic just needed to move.
"Because you're hot. And you have all these walls, and I want to get past them."
"Why?"
"Are you five? You can't just keep asking why."
Regina pouted. "But I want to know."
"You're interesting. Real. I always thought that, even before the curse was broken. And even after the curse it was broken."
She swatted at Regina's pouting lip, even though she couldn't touch it. Then she paused.
"I don't want to use you."
"Use me in what way?"
Emma rolled her shoulders. "I know you like sex. I know I'm not bad looking. And right now I really like sex too. But you're not a sex toy, Regina. You never should have been."
Regina saw something else, something Emma had seen-
"You watched," she whispered. Her emotions flew across her face too quickly for Emma to recognise, but the resting one was
RAGE.
"Regina, I-"
"Save it, Swan," Regina spat. "I'm going back to our son. You should, too. He misses you."
"No, don't go, I…" Emma reached out with everything she had to keep Regina with her, to make her understand, but it was no use. Regina faded out of her mind, and she was left alone.
BREAK
"Mom? Mom!"
Regina awoke to Henry standing over her, looking panicked. She tried to pull herself together, but Emma had thrown some magic crap after her and she felt…
She leaned over and threw up all over the floor. She cleaned it up almost instantly with magic, but it was still gross.
"I thought you said it was safe," Henry protested. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Regina croaked. "That was just the whiskey."
"Whiskey? You were drinking? I thought you didn't have a body… Can you drink without a body?"
"Emma was drinking," Regina said weakly.
"Is she okay?"
Regina thought about it. "She will be."
Henry narrowed his eyes. "You look like you're mad at her. Are you mad at her?"
Regina opened her mouth, but Henry interrupted.
"Don't lie, Mom. I'll know."
His mother sighed. "Fine. I am mad at her."
Henry groaned. "What did she do this time?"
Regina settled into a more comfortable position on the couch. "She invaded my privacy, she looked, watched things she had no right to see. And she wasn't going to tell me, the magic showed me."
"So you saw in her mind, too?"
Regina glared at him. "It's not the same."
"No. But… Usually when you or Emma do stupid stuff that makes me mad, it's really because you care about me. Even if you had no right to gang up on me and go through my things."
"Henry Daniel Mills, there is no excuse for pornography, and the fact that you were hiding those magazines in your room suggests your other mother and I have every right to both gang up on you, and search your possessions whenever we see fit."
It was still a sore topic. Henry reddened. Truth be told, he was ashamed of having the magazines. One of the older lost boys had given them to him as a "present" and yeah, the girls -women- in them had been hot, but he didn't really believe in objectification.
What if it had been me in there? Or Regina? Would you be okay with random guys jerking off to us, too? Because that's what this is, kid.
Emma had been pretty mean even before she was dark. But she'd had a good point. They still shouldn't have gone through his stuff, though. Two moms were way worse than one when it came to spying on him. Neal wouldn't have grounded him for porn. Then again, that was probably because Neal had never been a very good parent.
"Okay, okay," Henry muttered. "But seriously. Maybe she just looked at whatever it was because, I dunno, she thought it was the right thing to do. Didn't you say it would be super hard for her to control her impulses right now?"
Regina sighed. "Yes."
"What did she look at?"
"I… I will tell you, Henry. But I'm not ready. And I would ask that you do not question Emma about this, either."
"So you think she's coming back soon?"
"I… I hope so. She seemed to miss you, she wanted to know that you were okay."
"But she didn't say how long she would be?"
"I'm afraid I… When I became angry with her, I cut our conversation rather short."
"Mom."
"I am sorry, Henry. I was angry! Dr. Hopper said exiting volatile situations is a reasonable strategy."
"Yeah, but he didn't mean this one! I guess I understand, Mom, but now we don't know anything. She was drinking, she made you mad… She usually gets pretty upset when she makes you mad. Mary Margaret's gone through, like, seven toasters since Emma came to town."
Regina tried not to smirk at the destruction of Snow's household appliances. After all, Henry was right. Pre-darkness, Emma might just have hurt toasters. But these days there was no knowing what she would do when she was in a mood.
BREAK
"FUCK! YOU BITCH, YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE, MOTHERFUCKING EVIL FUCKING WHORE! SERIOUSLY REGINA WHEN I GET BACK TO YOU I WILL WRING YOUR GORGEOUS LITTLE NECK!"
Emma continued to screech and scream, a cacophony of curses and threats that were hardly even conscious. She was so angry, so, so angry. And so powerful. A storm brewed above her, thunder cracking between dark clouds, rain beginning to pour down, soaking through her clothes. Her magic kept her warm, it was a fire burning within her, dark and delicious and furious.
How could Regina have left? Emma wanted her. Wanted to punish her, wanted to yell at her, wanted to get right up in her face and kiss her- Wait, what? Kiss her? She was mad, why did she want to kiss her?
Emma paused. The rain slowed. Her anger evaporated into wild lust. Oh, hell.
"I won't use her," Emma muttered. "I just have to see her."
Realm hopping. She flexed her magic. What did she know about realm hopping? You needed lots of magic, lots of energy, and a portal. Magic beans, Jefferson's hat, or-
"A mirror!"
Emma remembered the story and raced back to the house. Yeah, it wasn't a portal right now, but she knew with the combined forces of her true love magic and dark one magic, setting it up again couldn't be that hard.
She was going to get back to Regina and they were going to finish their conversation. Their conversation about…
Back in the house, it was impossible to avoid. The thoughts, the memories, the latent magical anguish. The building was stained with a lifetime of Regina's suffering, and Emma felt it. All of it. It flashed through her mind, memories she shouldn't have, memories she didn't want. She shuddered, and remembered Regina's anger. Regina didn't want her to know this, she didn't want her to know any of it. Emma wondered why. It made her make so much sense. Why didn't she want to be understood?
Emma faced her reflection, appreciating her toned figure. She touched up her outfit, drying herself off and fixing her hair into a tight, elaborate up-do. She stylised her make-up, too. She didn't have to look as dark and sparkly as this, but it worked with the leather. And the general Dark One vibe. Because she was the Dark One. She liked Regina, she respected her, she wanted to be friends, but she was the Dark One. She was in charge.
She waved a hand over the mirror, feeling for the ripples in the magic that held all the realms together. They were easy to find, her fingers caught on them, areas of pliability, and she reached in and pulled them apart until the entire surface of the mirror swam like liquid.
Storybrooke. That was easy too, it was an anomaly, unlike anything else in the universe. She made sure it was fixed as her destination (she really didn't want to end up in Wonderland, no matter how appealing removing heads sounded right about now) and looked around one last time.
She had no conscience. She could tell. But she was still Emma Swan, and her heart still ached for the little girl she had seen. She let out one last wave of grief for the child, then dived into her portal.
BREAK
Snow snuggled up to her husband. The baby was sleeping, and they were alone. It had been a long day, Emma was still missing, Regina was being no help at all, and right now she just needed comfort. Charming stroked her hair, and then other places…
"Seriously?!" Emma demanded as she burst out of the mirror. She checked the window. "It's the middle of the day!"
Snow hurried to properly cover herself with the sheet, her cheeks crimson.
"Emma! We didn't, I, uhm-"
Emma had forgotten, in her haste to get to Storybrooke, that everyone else would be here too. She wanted to see Regina; she had no desire to deal with these people.
"I'm moving out," Emma said tonelessly, snapping her fingers for effect as she magicked all her possessions down to her car. "I'll leave you to it."
With that, she disappeared in a puff of acrid smoke.
"What happened to our baby?" Snow almost sobbed.
"Hey, hey, at least she's back," Charming soothed.
BREAK
Ew. Fairytale characters. Gross. Emma was sorely tempted to destroy their happiness. But Regina. Right. She was here to see Regina. She could incinerate things later. She got in the car. Maybe Regina could get her a house, too. She had designed the town, after all.
She drove like a maniac, since she couldn't die, and she didn't give a shit about anybody else. She reached the mansion and swerved into the drive, then bounced along to the door, rapping on it with enthusiasm.
It was opened by a tired looking Regina, who attempted to slam it in her face as soon as she realised who was outside. Emma stopped it with her foot.
"Talk to me," she pleaded, in a rather terrifying impression of her mother.
Regina groaned. She thought about what Henry had said, and opened the door more fully again.
"Fine. What do you want to talk about?"
Emma did her best "dark" face.
"You left me. It was rude."
Regina rolled her eyes.
"Don't roll your eyes at me!"
"Miss Swan, this isn't 50 Shades of Pleather. What do you want?"
"To talk."
Regina waved her hand. "So talk."
Oh. Emma hadn't really planned anything out past this point. She'd envisioned a grand battle, not a tired, gorgeous mother allowing her to speak her piece.
"I want a house," she remembered, smiling that she'd thought of something reasonable. It was definitely better than, "I felt inexplicably drawn to you, especially your lips."
Regina blinked, but she only took a millisecond to catch on and gather her snark. "So you finally realised you might be a little old to be living with your parents?"
Emma pouted. "Give me a house or I'll go all evil on your ass."
Regina raised an eyebrow. "No you won't."
"I might!" Emma insisted. "I'm the Dark One, I'm wicked and unpredictable."
Regina held back her comments about how adorable all this was, and beckoned Emma inside.
"The town plans are at my office. We can go there now, or we can look tomorrow. You can stay here tonight, if you like. I'm making chili and baked potatoes, and Henry would be delighted."
Emma couldn't resist. "I'll stay. But you should know, I'm cutting you a lot of slack."
"Thank you, your darkliness," Regina teased as she led the way to the kitchen. "Henry! Your biological mother is here," she called up the stairs. She turned back to Emma. "I know it's even harder than usual for you to control your vulgar impulses, so I have chosen to forgive you, on the condition that you never speak of what you saw, you do not treat me any differently, and you promise to begin working on controlling your power immediately."
"Working how?" Emma asked, trying not to sound whiney.
Regina stirred the chili. It smelled amazing. "I will help you."
"What if I hurt you?"
They both knew it was a very real possibility.
"I have the dagger. If need be, I will stop you."
Emma nodded. "Okay. I… I'd rather you have it than anyone else," she admitted.
"Really?" Regina seemed surprised.
"Yeah," Emma said. "I trust you."
She said it as if it was the simplest thing in the world. It resulted in them both thinking about kissing an awful lot until Henry came in and cannonballed into his blonde mother in a way he hadn't done in years.
BREAK
A/N: Please tell me what you think, especially now we have SwanQueen interactions!