Chapter 29
Emma stopped short, her heart suddenly pounding in fear for some strange reason. She and Ruby were in the midst of shopping at a surprisingly cute boutique. Ruby was sifting through the sale rack, jeans piled in her skinny arms.
For an unknown reason, Emma had this feeling that Henry was in danger. Which made no sense. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of these thoughts. It was probably just yet another side affect from her meds. Again.
She stepped over to another rack, trying to calm down her racing heart. But it was no use. This strange feeling coursed through her veins, making it hard to breathe. Her head spun, and her vision spun.
"Emma?" Ruby turned towards the sheriff. "Is everything ok?"
"I don't know." Emma murmured, collapsing against a table full of more sale items.
"You look really pale." Ruby said worriedly.
Emma ignored her. The feeling grew stronger and stronger. She couldn't say anything, and her thoughts were incoherent.
"Henry." She muttered.
"What?" Ruby was confused. "Here, I'll just go get you some water…"She turned away, but Emma stopped her.
"Henry. Something's wrong with Henry." She gasped.
"I'm sure everything's ok…"
"No. Something's wrong. He's in danger. I can feel it."
"Ok…"It was clear that Ruby was confused beyond belief, but she went along with it. "Where is he? What's he doing today?"
Emma shrugged. "Don't know. I think he said something about going to Granny's with a friend…" She trailed off as she realized the inevitable.
Ruby looked down guiltily, picking at her long nails. "Uh oh…"
"What is it?"
"Um…you're not going to like it."
"Just. Tell. Me." Emma said, her voice rising in urgency. "Whatever it is, my son is in danger because of it."
So Ruby launched into the revenge plan and how Graham, David, Mary Margaret, Henry, and Jefferson were planning to lure Regina to Granny's and suck her into a portal opened by Jefferson's hat.
"Nothing was supposed to go wrong, I swear." Ruby said desperately. "We went over and rehearsed this so many times. It was supposed to be foolproof."
"I can't believe you kept this from me." Emma said angrily. "I can't believe Graham didn't tell me…" She said, more to herself than Ruby.
"I'm sorry..." Ruby said, sounding like she was about to burst into tears. "They made me swear to not tell you. I wanted to all day!"
"It's fine." Emma said curtly, not really listening to what Ruby was saying. She grabbed her bag and strode rapidly out the door towards her car, making sure her gun was firmly in its holster. She didn't know what lay in store at Granny's, but if Regina had something to do with it then it wouldn't be good.
~The New Normal~
Regina looked around in satisfaction, admiring her handiwork. All around her, Snow, James, Graham, and Jefferson were frozen in place, eyes filled with fear. She gripped Henry firmly in both arms, despite his struggles.
"Regina…" James began slowly. "Can we talk about this?" He cautiously took a step forward, but Regina inched closer to the portal, being sure to not back too far so they'd get sucked in.
"Let the boy go." Jefferson urged from his spot towards portal. "This is just between us."
Regina ignored Henry's squirming. She laughed, enjoying the sound ring around the otherwise empty diner. "No." She smirked.
"Please." Snow said desperately. "Don't do this. Henry's innocent."
"Oh, don't worry my dear; I'm not going to hurt him. He's my son." Her eyes flashed angrily, and everyone instinctively took a step back.
"Mom." Henry gasped. "Please let me go."
"Henry. It's ok." She said in a voice she hoped was soothing. "Everything's going to be fine." She looked around the room, enjoying the power she had over everyone. It'd been so long since she'd been in control. "Now, here's how things are gonna work…" She began, but was interrupted by the formerly closed door flying open.
"I don't think so." A voice said. Regina immediately seized up in anger at the sound of that voice. It was her. Emma Fucking Swan. With Ruby at her heels.
"Ms. Swan. You're looking better." Regina mocked. "Out of the hospital I see."
"Yeah. No thanks to you." Emma snorted, stepping slowly into the diner. "Still torturing people I see." She looked around the room at her scared family. Ever so briefly, she locked eyes with Graham, hoping to convey all of her betrayed feelings through her stare.
"Oh, I wouldn't call it torturing. Sounds so awful. More like putting in their place." Regina said amicably, as if they were talking about the weather.
"Wow. You're a real bitch aren't you? No wonder Graham left you and Henry doesn't love you."
And then it happened. Regina launched herself at Emma with an animalistic screech at exactly the same time Emma leaped at Regina, screaming, "Henry run!" As Emma expected, Regina released Henry, who took off running towards Snow.
The two grappled on the floor, but Emma, who was slightly smaller, was eventually overpowered. Emma, pinned on the floor under Regina, mere inches from the swirling portal, somehow wrenched her gun out and aimed it straight at the evil queen's heart.
But Regina merely cocked her head and clucked her tongue mockingly. "So pathetic. Just like your mother." With magic she didn't even know she still possessed, Regina waved her hand and the gun flew straight into the portal, swirling down into its depths. With her other hand, she froze everyone in the room in place, save for herself and Emma. Instantly, it was as if time was frozen. Everyone's irritating shouts of protests were silenced, and the room was eerily quiet.
"Ah. Much better." Regina said calmly. Underneath her, she could feel Emma struggling to throw her off, but she merely pressed her knees harder into the blonde's skinny arms.
"Get off me you bitch." Emma grunted. Regina, annoyed at the sound of Emma's voice, waved her hand and took away her voice.
Regina leaned over and patted Emma's face in a faux-soothing way. "Don't worry, my dear, where you're going, I won't be there." She reached into her jacket and pulled out the knife, where she'd stashed it before exiting her car earlier. She held it up to Emma's face, thoroughly enjoying the look of terror that crossed the blonde's rapidly paling face, making sure that Emma got a good luck at the knife and its sharpness.
"See this knife here? It used to be my mother's." Regina stroked the knife like it was a pet. "It's so sharp it could slit your throat with just a flick of my wrist." She admired the glinting knife in her hand. "It's the only thing left of my mother." A dark look crossed the evil queen's face. Using the knife, she mockingly traced the outline of Emma's cheek. "I cherish it, for it's a constant reminder of everything that went wrong in my life, which includes you." She sneered. "It reminds me every day that LOVE. IS. WEAKNESS. That's right, Ms. Swan. Trying to save my son was valiant, but in the end your love for him is your ultimate weakness. Which is why you're trapped on the floor under me, instead of being with your pathetic family and boyfriend."
Fury crept over her features as she raised the knife in the air. "You've taken everything from me. And now I'm going to take away your most valuable thing. Your life."
As Emma registered that she was about to die, she tried as hard as she could to scoot away from Regina and the portal. She scratched at Regina with her nails, kicking and flailing wildly. But of course that was no use, for Regina was stronger than Emma.
"Now let me see? Shall I get this over with quickly? Or do it slowly and let you feel the pain, just like the pain you've caused me." She tapped her finger against her chin, pretending to think. "Hmm…I think the second!" She snarled.
As the knife came rushing towards Emma's heart, Emma willed herself to keep her eyes open. She would not allow herself surrender to Regina. She would stare down the evil queen as she died. Emma braced herself for the coming knife, making sure to keep the defiant stare in her eyes.
But then something strange happened. Instead of the knife plunging straight into Emma's heart, it stopped just mere millimeters away from her chest. A confused look crossed Regina's face, but she blinked quickly and it disappeared as fast as it appeared. She raised the knife and thrusted down again, but the same thing happened. The knife stopped just before hitting Emma. It was like there was an invisible force field surrounding Emma, preventing Regina from killing her. Again she plunged the knife down, and yet again she was unable to. It was physically unable to, like there was an invisible brick wall.
As Regina tried to regain her composure, she could feel herself sweating from exertion and rapidly weakening. She knew she was draining her last bits of magic, and already she could feel the spell she cast over Snow and others waning.
She took a deep breath. This was just a ruse. Nothing more. She was Regina, the evil queen, and if she wanted to kill someone, then by all means she could do it!
"Love. Is. Weakness!" She screeched as she thrusted the knife down one last time, harder than before. But the force from her knife bounced off the force field or whatever the hell it was surrounding Emma and she was blasted backwards.
"No. Love is strength." Emma realized as she shakily stood up. She seemed momentarily disoriented, but regained her composure quickly, advancing towards the confused Regina, who was huddled in a ball near the door.
As Emma neared her, the evil queen immediately stood up and they began to fight just like before. But this time, Emma was the strong one, and pretty soon she had Regina backed up inches from the portal.
"You know, I almost feel sorry for you, your majesty." Emma growled. "You're all alone. But then again, it's all your fault." In one hand, she held Regina's abandoned knife. "You deserve it." Emma said quietly as she toyed with the knife, aiming at the evil queen's heart. "But like I was told before," She looked up and looked at Graham, who was still frozen with a look of horror transfixed to his face. "You're not worth it." She shoved Regina into the still open portal with one hand, and dropped the knife in after her.
Author's note: Ding dong the witch is dead! Well not dead but sucked into a portal. Whatever. Same diff. Review!