Emma's sword whistled through the air before it bit into the trunk of a tree with a solid thunk. She quickly pried the blade free, only to swing it in an identical arc almost immediately. She was breathing heavily, her lungs burning with each breath. Her brow was pouring rivers of sweat. Her muscles were stiff and aching, but she didn't care. Again, and again, she just kept swinging her blade at a brutal, feverish pace. She knew that she should stop – the sap from the tree would dull the blade, and she would exhaust herself when she should be resting for tomorrow. She wanted to stop, but she knew this was exactly what she needed right now. The strenuous physical activity was the only thing that keeping her thoughts at bay.
After her group had made camp for the night, Tinkerbell announced that she would only help them to rescue Henry if they had a sensible plan to get off the island. That was the first time that they were forced to face the reality that they did not know how they were going to get back home. When they managed to save Henry from Peter Pan, how were they going to get away from here? No one knew. Mary-Margaret was spouting her usual "We'll find a way" crap, but right now Emma needed something a little more tangible than "hope" or "faith" or whatever it was called. She needed real plan.
For a long while after, Emma had poured over every inch of the map of Neverland, hoping that it would reveal some secret, some hint telling them how to make it off the island. Even after the sun had set, she sat and strained her eyes by the faint light from the embers of the waning cook-fire. She had sat and stared until the futility of her efforts finally dawned on her. After all that time, she was still no closer to figuring out how to rescue Henry and get everyone back to Storybrooke. Frustration flared, white-hot, in her chest, quickly shifting to a smouldering anger. Fully aware that she was on the brink of a meltdown, she shoved the map into her pocket, picked up her sword and set off in search of a tree to beat the crap out of. She needed anything to keep her mind busy. She didn't want to think about the fact that yet another day had passed with Henry still in the custody of that psychopath. She didn't want to think about the fact that they were stuck on this God-forsaken island with no way to escape. She also desperately needed to forget about what was happening between her and Regina right now.
"Regina…" her thoughts settled on the Mayor for the umpteenth time since she had started hacking this tree to bits. Emma heard herself grunt as she pulled her sword from a particularly deep gouge. She wasn't sure if it was from her exertions or her present frustrations with the brunette.
Earlier that day, Regina and her parents were arguing about whether they should attempt to cross a landslip. The Charmings wanted to be cautious and find a way around, while Regina wanted to save time and just magic them across to the other side. When their argument had reached a stalemate, they looked to Emma to weigh in. Needless to say, she was absolutely torn. She trusted Regina implicitly. She knew that the brunette would never do anything that could place them in jeopardy unless she was utterly confident in her ability to save them; not when Henry's life was at stake. She also felt the same sickening desperation that Regina did. She was loath to waste even a second that could bring them closer to their son. However, she knew no one had a clear line of sight to the other side of the landslide. Regina could get them across, but the possibility existed that she might place them on unstable soil. Emma didn't want to risk anyone getting injured, or worse. If any of the others were to be hurt in anyway, they would use it as another reason to hate Regina…and if anything were to happen to Regina…well, Emma didn't even want to think about that.
Emma could remember how anxious she was as she was about to share the decision - her palms, cold and clammy; her heart, thudding in her chest. She knew that her words wouldn't sit well with the Mayor. She could sense that there was more riding on her choice than which route they were to take. Since that night that she and Regina had spent huddled together beneath the stars, things were different between the two of them. They were more comfortable with each other. Emma felt like Regina was finally beginning to open up to her a little more. She was afraid that siding with her parents would undo all of the progress that they had made. Emma knew that Regina would be hurt. She knew that what little trust she had managed to build with Regina was about to be destroyed. She had just hoped that, once given the opportunity to properly explain herself, the two of them would be able to move forward from this.
"Well," Emma grunted with the force of her next swing, "I never got the chance to explain myself, did I?" She ground her teeth as she increased the speed of her chops. She could feel flecks of bark stinging her face. She kept on swinging.
That was the main source of her frustration with Regina. In the middle of her explanation of why she was siding with the others, Regina abruptly cut Emma off and walked away from her. Emma could have sworn that she saw the faint glimmer of tears in the brunette's eyes, but before she could say another word, the brunette had stalked off into the forest with nary a backward glance. Emma was pretty sure that Regina didn't have a clue where she was going, and she didn't want her to wander off too far on her own, so she ran after her, desperately trying to get her attention. She shouted and hollered, trying to get Regina to stop, but Regina just ignored her and kept walking. When she was finally able to reach Regina and grab her hand to stop her from going any farther, she was met with a cold "Leave me the hell alone!" With that, Regina yanked her had from Emma's and continued her trek into the forest. By then, a stunned Emma could hear the footsteps of the others close behind her. "Well, at least I don't have to turn back" she had thought, "I hope that Regina knows where she's going…"
It wasn't clear whether the brunette did know where she was going, but soon enough, she had managed to stumble across a path that would take them around the landslide. That had been about two hours ago. Since then, they had made it to the other side and found a nice clearing where they started to set up camp. Since then, Emma had also tried, several times, to talk to Regina. It was all to no avail. Regina just kept shutting her down.
The last time that she had tried was just before Tinkerbell had made her announcement. Regina was sitting on a log, absent-mindedly turning a small, metallic object over in her fingers. It looked like it could have been a ring, but Emma wasn't sure. Emma had marched up to her and begged for Regina to just give her the chance and hear her out. She didn't want to be too forceful; she knew that it could have the opposite effect when dealing with Regina. But she couldn't help herself; she just stood there, pleading like a lost puppy. Emma's heart sank when Regina didn't even look at her. Without a word the Mayor just rolled over, turning her back to blonde. Emma remembered just standing there; staring dumbly at Regina's back, struggling to find something to say. She didn't know whether she should leave or stay. Suffice it to say, she had never felt like more of an idiot. The only thing that brought her from the limbo of awkwardness was Tinkerbell signalling that she had something that she wanted to say to the group.
"Arrrgh!" Emma snarled. She was so lost in her thoughts of Regina that her concentration faltered for just one second. Her blade hit the tree at an awkward angle, causing her wrist to twist painfully. She growled angrily as she flung the sword into the ground beside her. She could feel her rage seething. She had hoped that the physical activity would have calmed her down. Unfortunately, the more she thought about how powerless she was to do anything, the more temper got the best of her.
"This is ridiculous!" she thought to herself as she rubbed her sore wrist. "Why am I doing this to myself? I can't do anything about Henry or Peter Pan right now, but I can do something about this situation with Regina. She's here with me, right now; not twenty feet away. She's gonna hear what I have to say, whether she wants to or not…"
At once, Emma steeled her nerves and set her resolve for what she was about to do. Before she could think too much about what she was doing, she turned and marched over to Regina, grabbing her arm and plunging them deep in to the silent forest.
"What the HELL do you think you are doing?!" Regina shrieked, if that word could ever be used to describe the usually composed Mayor, as she violently wrenched her arm from the Saviour's grasp and rounded on her angrily.
At any other time, Emma might have wilted under the heat of Regina's wrathful glare but, right now, Emma had a boiling anger to match the brunette's rage. She returned the Mayor's steely glare as she seized Regina's shoulders and pushed her up against a nearby tree, an action that was probably ill-advised. Emma tried her best to ignore how good it felt to have Regina's soft body pinned beneath her weight; the feeling of Regina's breasts rising and falling against her own, as the brunette took fast, angry breaths. She felt her stomach flutter when she noticed that Regina's lips were dangerously close to her own. "Focus, idiot!" She couldn't afford to be distracted by these things, right now; she needed to keep her anger burning. It was the only thing standing between her and her better judgement, at this point.
"What the hell is your problem, Regina?!" Emma demanded. She leaned in close, refusing to break eye-contact with the Queen, "I've been trying to talk to you for hours and you just keep ignoring me."
"Why should I hear what you have to say?" Regina's lips curled into a snarl as she leaned her face even closer to Emma's, "…your words are worthless to me." The Queen spat the words with as much venom as she could muster.
Emma knew that Regina was upset so she was expecting the Queen to lash out; however, that didn't prevent her from feeling the sting of Regina's words. She was surprised at how much it hurt her to hear that Regina didn't care about her, even if she knew the words to be untrue.
"You know what, Regina?" Emma's words were biting as her rage flared in response to the Queen's hurtful words, "You might not care what I have to say, but I'm still going to say it anyway. I spent the entire evening trying to figure out how to apologize to you for what happened earlier. But you know what I just realized? I'm not sorry and I would make the same decision again in a heartbeat!"
Emma realized that she was shouting louder than was advisable if she didn't want their group to be discovered by Pan's Lost Boys, but she couldn't stop herself. This confrontation had broken the release valve on her anger and frustration, and now all of her emotions were tumbling out in an uncontrollable torrent. "You might want to pretend like you don't care but I know that you were hurt," The blonde had to make a pointed effort to ignore the Queen's precipitant scoff as she shook her head and tried looked away from Emma. She also had to make a pointed effort not to let her eyes linger down the brunette's neck and think about what it would feel like to have her tongue trace that path. How it would feel to hear Regina's soft moans crashing over her as she nipped and sucked her way down to that smooth expanse of chest peeking out from that damned blouse. "Get a grip!" She needed to hurry up, speak her piece and leave. This situation was quickly becoming unmanageable. She forced her eyes back up to Regina's face and her thoughts back to the argument at hand, "When I made that call today, I didn't do so lightly. I didn't do it to choose my parents over you. I made that call because I –"
"Because you what, Ms. Swan" Regina cut Emma off with a low growl. She turned her smouldering chestnut eyes to the blonde, every word bringing her face closer and closer to Emma's, "What could you possibly say to justify a decision that prolonged our quest to save our son?"
"Because I care about you, you idiot!" Emma wasn't sure if she had screamed it or thought it. She was too distracted by Regina's soft lips that were again a torturously short distance away from her own. Her body began to move before her brain had time to figure out what was happening. Her hands slid from Regina shoulders and cradled the back of her neck, as she lunged forward and angrily claimed the brunette's lips with her own.
A/N: I'm sorry for the long wait for the update. I know how frustrating it can be. I hope you guys enjoy the story enough to continue on this ride with me. Please review and let me know what you guys think. :-)