"Regina!" Emma calls the next morning as she rushes down the staircase after having caught sight of Regina speaking with Mulan. After last night, she knows she needs to talk to Regina, to tell her about Harper. She needs Regina's help to sort through all of this.
Regina freezes for just a moment at her voice, before she continues walking just as she had been.
"Regina, wait! Please!" Emma manages to catch her, grabbing her arm, which Regina quickly pulls away. "I need to talk to you."
"Well, I am sorry, Miss Swan, but I need to leave for a patrol immediately."
"Regina, please." Emma says, her eyes pleading. "This is important. I need you."
Regina cannot look at her or she knows she will bend. She's already faltering over Emma's words. "And I need to go on the patrol to be sure the castle is safe from the Wicked Witch. That is important."
"Regina!" Emma tries again but Regina just walks away, looking at Mulan who is standing by the gate.
"Are you coming or not?" She snaps, not even waiting for an answer.
Mulan follows her after shooting a sympathetic look at Emma.
"How do you do it?" Regina asks once she feels like they're a safe enough distance away from the castle. Her words are quiet, almost as though she hopes that Mulan won't hear them, but she does.
"How do I do what?" Mulan glances over at Regina, her expression showing that she's already well aware of what Regina is asking, but wants the queen to say it out loud.
"How do you…" Regina searches for the right words, picturing the scene she'd witnessed between Mulan, Aurora, and the baby before they left. The way Mulan had cradled the little boy before handing him back to Aurora. The way their foreheads had touched as they'd whispered softly to one another. The gentle kiss the warrior had bestowed upon the tiny forehead before she'd straightened up and left the room without looking back. "How do you love Philip, knowing that he isn't yours?"
Mulan is quiet for a long while before she answers, as though she's been turning words over in her head. "How did you love Henry when you knew he wasn't yours?"
Regina opens her mouth, ready to filet Mulan with sharp words before she takes notice of the way Mulan is watching her. There isn't judgment there, only true curiosity and perhaps understanding, although of what, Regina isn't sure.
"He was mine. In my heart. I didn't know who his parents were. I didn't have to be reminded every time that I looked at him that…" She trails off, unwilling to give voice to her thoughts, her pain. "Even after I met Emma and knew that she was his birth mother, I loved him because he'd been mine all those years. He'll always be mine. But…"
"But Harper won't?" Mulan gives a small smile that is nearly hidden by the shadows they are riding through.
Regina doesn't answer. She looks away, staring straight ahead, her posture perfectly straight. Mulan doesn't push, just rides beside her in silence, waiting until Regina is ready to continue speaking.
"How can you forgive her?"
"There is nothing to forgive." Mulan replies easily. "I never told Aurora of my feelings. I always knew of her love for Philip and his love for her. I was afraid to tell her the truth. I waited and I nearly lost her. We did lose him, forever. How can I be angry with her if she didn't know what was in my heart? And how can I do anything but love Philip? He is a part of her and a part of his father, who I also respected and loved. But more importantly, he is innocent in this situation. He's done nothing wrong, just as Harper has done nothing wrong."
Regina's eyes close. "Every time I look at her, every time I hold her, my heart… it expands and constricts all at the same time."
"You wish she was yours."
Regina opens her mouth to protest, but finds she cannot say anything past the lump in her throat and the burning in her eyes.
"You could love Henry because you didn't know of his parentage. That's what you said. But you know of Harper's and that's what is hindering you. Because Emma was with someone else and that hurts you." Mulan looks over at her for a long moment. "Does she know of your feelings, Regina?"
"I –" She wants to say yes. She wants to say that if Emma doesn't know – didn't know – of her feelings then she was just as much of an idiot as her parents. But she also knows that she never said the words. She never admitted her feelings to Emma because she hadn't even admitted them to herself until after Emma was gone.
"You cannot blame her if she didn't know. And if the child is not Hook's or Neal's, which Emma says she isn't, then that means the child was conceived while Emma was under your curse. She had no recollection at all of who you were – who any of us were. So how can you blame her for that?"
"I've blamed others for far less." Regina admits softly.
"And look how that turned out."
Regina looks over at Mulan in surprise. She never would have expected the stoic warrior to say something like that to her.
"By punishing Emma, you are also punishing yourself and that little girl. And it's sad, really, because Emma cares so very much for you and every time you ignore her and turn her away, she is hurt."
"You think I have the power to hurt The Savior?" Regina scoffs.
"I think besides her parents and her children, you have the most power to hurt her. And I think, deep down, you know that."
"I'm the Evil Queen. Hurting people is what I do."
"But you're not. At least not to Emma. I don't think you ever really have been."
"And to you?" She asks, because she cannot touch the rest of what has been said. "Who am I to you, Mulan?"
"You were the Evil Queen, at least at first. But then I saw you through Emma's eyes and you became… Regina. And now I've seen you through my own eyes and I see someone too afraid to take their happy ending when it's right in front of them."
"How dare you." Regina growls, even as her stomach flips in acknowledgement of the words spoken.
"I dare because you no longer frighten me, Regina. And because of what I told you. I have been where you are. I know what is at stake. I dare because someone has to."
Mulan goes quiet after that, refocusing her attention on the path they are traveling. Regina does her best to follow suit, but Mulan's words ring too loudly in her ears.
Emma frowns as she and Henry enter the Great Hall. She had thought she was coming to talk with her parents, but instead, she is presented with a whole slew of others.
The dwarves, The Blue Fairy, Tinker Bell, Archie – in his bug form and damn if that doesn't throw her for a loop – Ruby, Granny, Belle, Aurora, Marco, and even Hook are all sitting around a large table. It's a council, she realizes. And something tells her that whatever they want, it isn't going to be good.
"Emma," Snow tries to stand, but her protruding belly makes it difficult. Emma looks away from her, trying to catch Ruby's eyes, but she's helping David fawn all over Snow. Emma glances at Hook, raising her eyebrow, but he merely shrugs and shakes his head, his lips turned down. None of this is giving her any warm fuzzies.
"Henry, maybe you should –"
"Ma, I'm staying." Henry is resolute and Emma finds that as much as she knows she should send him away, she also wants him there for support.
She looks back at the table where Snow has been reseated. "Look –"
"Please," Snow cuts her off, "sit down."
Emma huffs, but she and Henry both slide down into the chairs that have been left open for them.
"Look, whatever you want to talk about, can we make it quick? Harper's down for her nap but she'll probably be up soon and I don't want her waking up alone." Emma knows what it's like to wake up crying and have no one come to comfort you. She's determined that her children will never feel that way.
"We believe we've found a way to defeat the Wicked Witch." Snow begins, thankfully cutting right to the chase upon hearing Emma's tone.
"Okay. Great. How?" Emma feels like this seems a little too easy, but easy would be welcome right about now.
"There was a prophecy. It was passed down through the fairies. We didn't think it was possible, however." The Blue Fairy begins.
Emma feels herself grow weary at the word prophecy, although Henry's face lights up. "But now you do."
"Yes. Now we believe it can be fulfilled."
"Okay. So what's this prophecy say? How do we defeat the witch?"
"We need to use the Waters of Oblivion." David tells her.
"The Waters of what now?" Emma's never heard of such a thing before, but then that's really nothing new.
"The Waters Of Oblivion. Glinda The Good is the creator of the fountain from which they flow. They have been used in the past to bring about the end of evil rulers." Blue explains.
"And if they don't work, maybe we'll still get lucky and just melt the bitch." Grumpy grouses.
Emma rolls her eyes. "Yeah, because that apparently worked so well the last time." She sighs. "Okay, so I'm assuming this fountain is in Oz. We've got the beans now, so we can get there pretty easily, right?" It's not like she wants to be jumping universes, but the quicker she gets this over with, the quicker she can work on getting back some semblance of a normal life with her family.
"Well, we do have the beans, yes." Snow's voice is halting and Emma instantly knows that there's more to this. Of course there's more to this.
"But?" She prompts.
"But from what we know, the fountain has been destroyed. The waters are gone."
"And we know this how, exactly?"
"That's where I come in, love." Hook offers, but he's not even trying to flirt with her from what she can tell, which really sets her teeth on edge. If Hook's trying to be serious, then she knows she isn't going to like this. "I made a stop over in Oz before I came to find you. Spoke to Ozma herself, the saucy little minx. She showed me the fountain, told me the waters are gone and that only Glinda is able to bring them back."
"So why didn't you just ask Glinda to bring them back?" Henry wonders, his eyes still wide and filled with wonder. Emma wishes she could find even a bit of his excitement within her.
"Kid's got a point. I mean, it shouldn't be that hard to spot a giant flying bubble carrying her around. Especially if the Wicked Witch is over here."
"That's the problem though." Snow explains. "Glinda hasn't been seen in Oz for years."
"28 years to be exact." Hook adds.
"So she was cursed to Storybrooke." Emma begins mentally flipping through all the residents she knew, trying to think of who her persona could be.
"That's what we thought at first, but it doesn't appear to be the case. No one remembers her and Regina has said that she wasn't part of the curse."
"Then where did she go?"
"No one knows."
"Okay, so, you need the Waters of Oblivion, but to get them you need Glinda, but no one knows where she is. But you still think you know of a way to defeat the Wicked Witch. Am I getting this right?"
"According to the prophecy, there is a way to find Glinda."
"What is it?" Emma nearly snaps. She's tired of all this cryptic bullshit. She just wants them to tell her what it is she has to do.
"Hook brought back a possession of Glinda's. We believe that it will steer the portal to wherever she is and help the one that goes through find her."
"What is this possession? The ruby red slippers?"
"No, no. Nothing like that."
"More like this, love." Hook holds up a pointy black hat. "Ozma assured me that it was one of Glinda's most prized possessions. She certainly had it locked up tight enough."
Emma wants to comment on just how much the hat looks like it would belong to the Wicked Witch rather than to Glinda, but figures she's better off keeping those thoughts to herself. She is still in the dark about so much of this stuff.
"O-kay. Well, give me the hat and let's get this show on the road." Emma says, turning to Henry. "Listen to me, Kid. I want you to stay with your Mom and watch out for –"
"It isn't you." Blue cuts in, causing Emma to stop and look back at her.
"What?"
"The person that the prophecy says will defeat the Wicked Witch. It isn't you, Savior."
"Well then why did you call me in here to tell me all this if –"
"It's your daughter."
There is a collective gasp from the people around the table who apparently had no idea this is what Blue would say – Snow and David, she notices immediately, don't look surprised at all – before silence falls, nearly deafening in its emptiness.
And then, Emma starts laughing.
It's loud and long and on the verge of hysterical, but she can't seem to stop herself, even as she gasps for air and everyone else looks at her as though she's the one that's lost her mind.
"I'm sorry." She manages, wiping away tears that have started to fall down her cheeks. "Really. I just – that was a good one. I mean, you really had me going for a second."
"Oh." Henry breathes beside her, letting out his own little relieved laugh.
"This is no joke, Princess." Blue's voice is stern, the epitome of a nun chastising a naughty schoolgirl. Henry's laughter dies immediately.
"No." He whispers, his eyes searching his grandparents' faces, but they are somber. "You can't mean –"
"No." Emma shakes her head, denying it instantly. "Tink?" She asks the fairy she trusts, praying that she'll say there's been a misunderstanding.
"The prophecy states that the baby of the Savior will bring about the end of the Wicked Witch." Tinker Bell says softly, unable to look Emma in the eye.
There's a crash as Emma jumps up, sending her chair toppling over. "You're insane. You're absolutely fucking insane!" She shouts.
"Emma!" Snow scolds.
"No!" Emma shouts back. "You cannot be serious. You cannot be thinking – actually thinking – about sending my daughter – my baby – through a portal that you don't even know where it will go."
"She would have the hat and the prophecy says –"
"Fuck the prophecy!" Emma shouts back. "I will not let you do this. I will not – I will get every single bean you have grown and I will take them and my family and we will leave this place, do you hear me? We will go back to our lives."
"Your family?" Snow is teary eyed as she stares at Emma. "Emma, we are your family."
"No." Emma shakes her head, tears sliding down her cheeks. "Not if you think that it's okay to send my child away for the greater good. My family is Henry and Harper and –" The other name is on the tip of her tongue, ready to burst forth, but David interrupts her.
"Emma, please. I understand how you feel. You have to know that I –"
"That you what?" Emma spits. "That you know how it feels because you stuck me in a wardrobe and shipped me off without knowing where I was going or what my life would be like when I was only hours old?"
"We believed in you. We believed in the prophecy. And we need you to do the same now. If Glinda isn't found –"
"I don't care if Glinda isn't found. I don't care if the Wicked Witch attacks. I don't care if this whole place burns to the ground. You are not getting my daughter. She is a three-month-old baby. An innocent, defenseless child. And I will not sacrifice her. I will not give her up."
"You gave up Henry." The words are out of Snow's mouth before she can even think about them and the reaction is instantaneous. Emma rears back as though she's been physically hit and Snow's hands fly to her mouth.
"Grandma!" Henry gasps, completely floored by what his grandmother has just said and done. He could not believe that they were even considering sending Harper away, but those words cut both he and Emma far worse than anything else could have.
"Emma. Henry. Oh god. I didn't mean –" Snow pleads.
"I gave up Henry," Emma's voice shakes under the weight of her anger, "because everyone else was pulling all my fucking strings so that I could 'fulfill my destiny'. I gave up Henry so that he would have his best chance because I knew I couldn't take care of him. Because I couldn't be a parent – not when I'd never had one. Not when I'd been abandoned by the side of the road and abandoned in a foster home and abandoned in jail all because of a fucking prophecy. I gave up Henry for him, not for the greater good and not to save myself or my kingdom. I would not and will not ever give up my children for the greater good. I would do anything, anything to protect them and keep them safe. I will kill you all with my bare hands before I let anything happen to them."
Emma spins away from the table, heading for the doors of the Great Hall before she stops and turns back around, pinning Snow and David with her gaze. "You want to send a baby through a portal without knowing where she's going or what will happen to her, then you send yours." She flings her hand out towards Snow's stomach accusingly. "You're good at that."
Snow sobs as Emma turns, never looking back as she bursts through the doors. Henry rushes after her. The rest of the room is silent.
Regina and Mulan can hear the commotion from the moment they enter the castle and they're both instantly on guard.
"Is it an attack?" Mulan asks, already drawing her sword.
"I don't know." Regina's got a fireball in hand. "But I'm going to find out."
They move swiftly toward the Great Hall, but before they make it to the door, it flies open and Emma comes barreling out, looking both determined and shaken with Henry trailing behind.
"Emma? Henry? What's wrong? What's happened?" Regina calls to them, but Emma just keeps going and Henry only tosses the words "Harper" and "Snow" over his shoulder before hurrying to keep up.
A growl makes it way up Regina's throat as she enters the room, wondering what it is that Snow has done this time and what it has to do with Emma's child.
Everyone in the room looks startled to see her, especially still wielding the fireball. Snow is crying rather heavily and David looks sad and confused. The Blue Fairy is frowning and Aurora is holding Philip to her tightly, as though afraid to let go of him. Everyone else is ashen.
"What happened?" She demands.
No one answers. Regina feels the fireball flare with her anger.
"There was a prophecy." Aurora's voice finally cuts through the silence, a slight tremble to it. "That the baby of the Savior would save us all from the Wicked Witch."
Regina whirls on Blue. "What prophecy? Who told you of it?"
"It has been passed down through the fairies from an oracle."
"What have you done?" She demands of Snow, who only cries harder.
"Based on the prophecy and the information we have about Glinda The Good and The Waters of Oblivion, we believe that the child is the one who will bring her back here to stop the Witch," Blue continues.
"What have you done?" She practically yells.
"They wanted her to send the baby through a portal, to find Glinda. Alone." Aurora says and when Regina looks at her, she sees that she's crying. Mulan has moved over and is holding tightly to her and the baby, her dark eyes hard as they stare out at everyone else in this room.
"What?" Regina's voice is deadly.
"Emma got very upset." Tinker Bell picks up the story. "A lot of things were said…" She doesn't say any more but she doesn't need to. Regina's got a fairly good idea of what went on and she knows that she'll find out the rest from Henry later.
Now, she's got other things to worry about.
"If any of you lay a hand on so much as a hair on that child's head, I will destroy you myself." She hisses before turning on her heel and heading for the nursery.
"Regina!"
Regina spins so quickly and with such a vicious snarl that Ruby shrinks back. She may be a wolf, but right now Regina is giving off major alpha vibes that Ruby knows better than to mess with.
"Do not speak to me, Miss Lucas." Regina growls. "Not after you sat there in silence while those idiots –"
"I did." Ruby admits and there's a bit of anguish there. "You're right. I did just sit there. I didn't do anything and I should have. For Emma, I should have."
"But you were too loyal to your precious Snow."
"No." Ruby denies, but there's a part of her that knows it's true. Snow was her best friend first and after everything they'd been through, she's well aware that her loyalty will always lie first and foremost with her.
But Emma was her friend too and more than that, her goddaughter. She'd made a promise years ago to help guard and protect her and so far, she'd done a bad job of it. She should've done a better job in there, when she'd so clearly witnessed the anguish on Emma's face. She should've, but she didn't. And that's why she knows she needs to start now.
"I do not have time for this simpering. You've been a naughty puppy. You deal with it."
"Regina!" Ruby calls in exasperation. "I didn't know. I didn't know that that's what the prophecy said or that they were going to ask her –"
"And if you had?" Regina's eyes flash.
"I would've stopped it." Ruby says, her voice unwavering. "I cannot believe that they ever even considered it. After what they did – I don't know how they could –" She shakes her head in disbelief.
"Well, that makes two of us. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go see what kind of damage they have inflicted on the daughter they claim to love."
"Regina, wait." Ruby calls, moving with speed that is more wolf than human to block Regina's path. "You know that's not a good idea. Not now."
"You think she won't want to see me?" Regina looks ready to rip her limb from limb to get passed her.
"No. I think you're the only person besides Henry and Harper that she would want to see right now." Ruby admits. She's well aware of the beyond complicated relationship Regina and Emma have. She knows about Emma's feelings for Regina. And if her senses are right, she has a feeling she knows about Harper's parentage too. "But you and I both know Emma. We know what happens when she feels cornered."
"She runs." Regina whispers more to herself, but Ruby hears her and nods.
"Snow and David have her trapped in a corner right now. If you go after her, even if it is for damage control, you'll do more harm than good. Give it a little while. Let her calm down. Then go to her."
Surprise flashes through Regina's eyes. "You're telling me to go to her in a few hours? Me? The Evil Queen?"
Ruby rolls her eyes. "We all know that that's not who you are. Not anymore. Not to Emma. And not to me. So yeah, I think you should go to her, because we both know that she's been trying to talk to you since you came back."
Regina stands tall under Ruby's gaze, but she does feel the guilt rising up again. She cannot blame Emma, she knows she can't, and yet…
She pushes past Ruby, heading for her own chambers to gather herself before going to Emma.
"Regina?" Ruby calls after her once more. She turns with a frown.
"What?"
"Just don't hurt her."
Regina turns away, unable to reply. But in her heart, she knows what she would have said.
I'm more worried about her hurting me.