"Emma! Mom!" Henry's voice rang through the house urgently. "Mom!"
Fortunately he didn't come bounding in, instead shouting from the front door. Otherwise he would have found his mothers in a very compromising position. The women jumped apart as it took a moment for the world to return to around them. Emma slowly remembered that the window was not just a solid square of light nothing rather there were trees and houses, roads and people existing just outside. Regina moved first, pushing the color back into the lines of her lips and propelling herself to Henry with long determined strides. Emma vigorously wiped her mouth with the back of her hand to erase the evidence as she hurried after Regina. They found him hanging the top half of his slight frame through the open door.
"Henry what is it?" Regina asked her eyes expertly scanning for any sign of injury but finding him wholly fine.
"Yeah, what's wrong kid?"
"The curse is broken." He exclaimed with unbridled delight. "People are coming out and remembering!"
"Yeah, we know." Emma said awkwardly, hoping to skip over exactly how that happened and still not entirely certain what was actually happening. "But what is with the hysterics?"
"Something is coming." He disappeared outside prompting them to follow. Henry ran straight out of the little picket fence to the street, stopping in the middle, and pointing off into the distance. "Look!"
Emma noted the people who had wandered from their homes with dazed expressions of people having woken up from a long afternoon nap. They murmured indistinctly and stared off into the direction that Henry indicated. Regina stood next to her son, following his line of sight. Emma stared in incomprehension at the scene before her. Slightly elevated, they could see the quaint little shops and houses that congregated together to form Storybrooke and a large purple cloud billowed from the stocky hilltops that flanked the north end of town. It continued to blossom and grow, the lilac and plum cascading ominously down the hillside and into town. Emma watched it plowing forward with blatant disregard for the buildings in its path. It overtook the clock tower peaking through the neighborhood trees, steadily looming closer.
"What is that?" Emma found herself tired of the particular question.
"Something bad." Henry intoned.
"No, it's magic." Regina said enthralled. The voluminous smoke now reached the end of the block showing no signs of slowing.
"What- what will it do to us?" Trepidation gathered heavily in her stomach, like weighted marble dropping into a cloth sack.
Now fear registered with Regina, "I don't know."
"Well brace yourself." She realized it would be futile to run, rush of purple nearly upon them. Regina wrapped herself protectively around Henry, the young boy turned into his mother's chest. Emma impulsively stepped in front of them as the unfurling smoke consumed them.
Next thing Emma knew she was doubled over on her knees. Her vision doubled as she attempted to focus on her palms that tingled as if sand pouring over them and emitted a vibrating white light. Disoriented, Emma shook her head at the thought. Her hands couldn't glow. When she looked again, she could see more clearly and the bizarre feeling had ebbed. Her hands comforting looked like they always did. Adrenaline still fled through her, similar to a startled flock of birds making her feel jittery. She shakily got to her feet, determined to be all right and check on the others, "You guys okay?"
Finding Henry and Regina, she assessed the pair. Henry appeared relatively unaffected though he was gaping at her in an unsettling manner. Regina looked less steady than her son but hadn't been floored like Emma had been and was quickly regaining her senses and flexing her fingers experimentally. Ignoring her question Henry excitedly barreled toward her, "Emma! You have magic!"
"Magic?" She asked dumbly.
"Yeah, you were glowing all over. It was so cool!" He bounced around a little.
"So cool." Emma parroted him mindlessly but looked at Regina for some clarification.
"You're the product of true love, the most powerful magic of all. It would stand to reason that you yourself would possess magical abilities."
"Okay…"
"Something is happening at the clock tower!" Emma didn't have time to process as a gruff and panting voice came trailing up the road, pulling all their attention to Leroy who jogged, or perhaps more accurately lumbered, toward them at a painfully slow pace. He stopped before them, hands falling to his knees as he fought to drag air into his lungs.
Regina snapped impatiently, "What is happening at the clock tower?"
The winded herald sucked in more oxygen and continued laboriously, "There is some crazy broad with a sword making a scene. She is calling for you."
He made a fatigued gesture toward Regina. A flicker of concern flashed across her face then the icy imperious glare of a queen settled back over her features. Feeling trouble brewing, Emma declared, "Sounds like a job for the sheriff. Regina come me and we'll go check it out. Henry you stay here with Leroy."
"Actual its Grumpy." He corrected her, his wheezing coming under control.
"Right…" She did not have time to deal with that revelation. "Let's go."
Without a glance back, she marched to her yellow steed and climbed in behind the wheel, Regina wordlessly sliding into the passenger seat beside her. The car grumbled to life, a few brusque snorts sputtering from the muffler, before galloping off to battle.
/
"Do you know who it is?" Emma asked abruptly.
Regina had been vacantly staring out the window, thoughts passing through her mind as quickly as the passing scenes outside. The old yellow Volkswagen rumbled down the street with the women sitting in contemplative silence until Emma posed her question. Regina cleared her throat, "I have a good idea."
"Great, care to share with the group?"
"I'm not sure you would believe me if I told you." Regina said dryly.
"Well, you're right about that. I find this whole thing unbelievable." Emma swept her arm dramatically. To be fair, the queen also was having a difficult time keeping up with the events that unfolded before them. Her thoughts namely whirled around the kiss she had shared with the Savior only moments ago, the kiss that started the earth spinning once again. It wasn't just an improbability that it happened, it should have been an impossibility for them to share True Love's kiss and yet here they were on the other side of her broken curse. However that thought was nowhere near as jarring as the fact that she kept circling back to the idea of kissing Ms. Swan again.
They took a sharp left onto the main street, tires shrieking resentfully in protest at the unexpected movement. Regina would have rebuked her driving skills but Emma kept a stream of her own litany of criticisms flowing out, "You're telling me we're all from some magical land with unicorns and fairies and I just left our son with Grumpy, as in Grumpy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, not Leroy the town drunk."
"Well he still may be a drunk." Regina said sarcastically.
"Not helping Regina." She said, shooting her a jade-razor glare.
"Look out!" The mayor shouted and Emma stamped on the breaks, tires again squealing at the abuse. Traffic had stopped, cars sitting in the middle of the road and people getting out to gawk at whatever or whoever waited beyond the circle they created.
"For Christ sake." Emma glowered. She reached for her glove box, the small compartment dropping open to reveal her holstered service weapon and badge, two items she had yet to surrender despite her plans to vacate town. Nabbing both, Emma flung open her car door and exited to make the rest of the short journey on foot. Regina followed close behind in the widening path Emma stomped out as she flashed her badge and put on her best cop voice. "Out of the way folks, official Sheriff's business. Please step back."
Regina heard the woman before she saw her. A rasping, crawling voice like decades of smoke were trapped in her throat fumed, "Come out, come out wherever you are. Come on Regina, no use in hiding. I've a score to settle! Regina!"
As they broke through the small crowd, Emma faltered, Regina running into her at her loss of momentum. The blonde uttered a soft, "Whoa."
She peered over her shoulder at the picture before them. In front of the boarded up library, a woman, amidst her rabid barking, paced back and forth in the street dragging behind her a gleaming sword across the asphalt, a metallic scrapping droned with the sound of her voice. She wore dark robes, tattered and dusted with soot and ash. Atop her head, sat a black crown of two coiled horns, appearing as if it were seamlessly attached to her skull. All of which looked extremely out of place in Storybrooke and yet it was the face that bore the warning of something decidedly nefarious.
Her skin was a pallid green and flecks of black and purple scales framed her eyes that glowed a dim yellow. Her mouth and nose seemed to jut farther out than any normal humans should, nearly like a pointed reptilian snout. Regina maneuvered around Emma who remained stalled out at the sight she took in. Facing the seething beast, she coolly interrupted her tirade. "Hello Maleficent."
The deformed woman turned on her heel to them, her lips pulling back in a grim smile that horrifically showed a row of daggered teeth. Her ire evaporated as she politely greeted Regina, though her voice still crackled like a crocodile welcoming her guests to afternoon tea. "Regina, you look well. Your curse has done wonders for you."
"I can't say the same for you Mal." Regina replied starkly. "You're looking a little long in the tooth."
"And whose fault is that? It's difficult to make the change when you've been a dragon for 28 years." Maleficent literally snarled, her congenial pretense dropped in an instant.
Regina said with a shrug, "It's not my fault you weren't in human form when the curse hit. I couldn't really have a dragon flying around Maine, could I?"
"Dragon?" Emma asked dubiously. "Did you say dragon?"
"Ah, and who might this be?" She didn't wait for a response as she went on condescendingly. "Prince Charming's eyes. Snow White's chin. Why if it isn't our very own Savior? I imagined you taller… Still, nice to make your acquaintance."
"Likewise I'm sure." Emma gave her the flippant reply then whispered harshly to Regina, "Where the hell have you been keeping a dragon?"
Regina summarized for her, "Caverns underneath the old library. I had her chained there, mostly out of necessity but there was no love lost. We've had our differences in the Enchanted Forest. Looks like when magic was released, she could transform herself back, sort of, and escape."
"Well what does she want?"
"You know it's rude ignore people." Maleficent disrupted their sidebar. "And what I want is to kill the Evil Queen. Then perhaps everyone else in this retched land."
"I'd like to see you try." The brunette concentrated summoning her magic, feeling the high frequency that made her bones hum and her fingers heavy with atoms.
"Careful what you wish for your Majesty." She cautioned darkly.
"You wanted the Evil Queen. Then that is who you will get." Regina felt the arch of energy dancing across her palm. Drawing back her arm, the magic taut in her muscles like an archer bow, she propelled her arm forward to thrust the magic from her limb. But nothing manifested, the kinetic feeling fizzled out falling short of her fingertips.
"Shit."
A howling laughter filled the intersection, reverberating off the buildings creating a choir of one singing out with cruel glee. The pealing laughter died down to girlish giggles as Maleficent said. "Oh Regina, this will be fun. I suppose I don't want the fight to be completely unfair… So here."
She lobbed the sword through the air and it clanged then skittered over the pavement landing closer to Emma's feet then her own.
"I do hope you know how to use that. Now it's my turned." She chuckled deep in her throat, the sound distorting to a crescendo of drumming thunder.
Her jaw shifted outward with the crack of bone, the nose following, while her eyes pulled back, growing larger and blazing brighter. Scales rippled up her lengthening neck as it swayed her head dangerously like snake about to strike. Pitching forward, Maleficent didn't fall to her hands, rather landed on black claws that were expanding. Her whole person was expanding; spikes tented her back until they ripped through fabric of her cloak and her body writhed and crunched. The last vestiges of her human laugher vanished with the fire that began to pour from her serpentine smile.
The flames climbed around her higher and higher obscuring the woman from view until smoke collapsed and extinguished the flames bringing peculiar silence. The cloud of smoke churned nervously in the quiet. Then a bone-shaking roar pierced through the grey and pandemonium struck. The townspeople answered back with their own screams of terror, everyone suddenly fleeing in all direction. Except for Regina and Emma who stood rooted to the spot and watched a dragon emerged from the mist, great wings stretched and casted a dreadful shadow.
The dragon reared back, shouting a column of fire into the sky. Regina stumbled backward, "Emma get the sword. Run!"
The blonde followed the instructions though Regina grabbed her wrist and yanked her along to be sure. They hid behind temporary cover in the form of a brown truck. Emma crouched next to her using the sword for support, "What happened out there?"
"My magic. It's different here." Regina clenched her fists. "I can feel it, but I can't get it to work."
"So like what? Your battery is dead?"
She scoffed. "That's not how it works."
"Whatever." Emma rolled her eyes clearly not interested in semantics. "What are we going to do now?"
"I just need a minute to-" Their hurried conversations was interrupted by a dragon's foot crashing on top of their hiding place, talons crumpling the metal frame like a used napkin, the pickup was tossed down the street. Emma moved fast, her self-preservation and athleticism kicking in as she now snatched Regina's hand and ran them to the closest alley.
Maleficent scuttled after them but she was too large to fit in the passage, her jaws thrashing and smashing the red brick of the buildings. The beast huffed air into her lungs, holding it in to let it boil. Regina quickly realized their precarious position. "Inside. We need to get inside."
Emma caught on too, wrenching side door open and they both dove inside just before the alley turned into a char-blackened oven. Tumbling through what turned out to be the hardware store Regina continued her halted statement. "I think I can get the magic to work. I just need time to figure it out. Do you think you can distract her?"
"Yeah…Yeah, sure." Emma brandished the sword tentatively, sounding less-than-confident. "Distract it…"
"You can do it. This isn't the worse mess you've gotten into, right?"
Emma gave a short laugh in surprise at the reference, as she also recalled their first late night conversation in he study that was a lifetime ago, the moment of honesty that started the events spilling out before them. She noticed their hands were still clasped together, drawing comfort from one another without their permission. A piercing cry sliced between them, reminding them of the peril that impatiently waited.
Their hands fell apart reluctantly and Emma gave her a faded smirk. "I did have this really awful boss once."
The brunette returned it with a brave grin. "Take the sword. I'll be fast as I can."
"What am I supposed to do with it?" The younger woman asked, though already moving to make her exit.
Regina could only impart with her vague mysticism in the guise of advice. "It's your father's sword. You'll figure it out."
Their eyes locked once more, Emma lingering at the door as if to steal a few more seconds of already borrowed time. Then with a solitary nod, she strode out to face the enemy with all the reckless valor of a true knight. "Hey brimstone breath! Over here!"
With Emma departed, she rushed to the glass window to watch her run across the street, Maleficent encumbered by her hulking size slowly swung her head to spit a trail of fire after the woman. The sheriff evaded the blaze and ducked behind the row of cars parked along the street. The dragon smashed the cars one by one searching for her prey.
Meanwhile, Regina tugged at her strands of magic like trying to unknot a ball of yarn but the more she pulled the more entangled it became. She tried to visualize the anger, burning and radiant, that sat at the center of the ball. Her fuse had been so short in the Enchanted Forest magic burst out of her quick and easy, always ready to perform on her whim.
And now it sulked and dawdled, defiantly immobile. The queen caught sight of Emma once more. She had managed to flank the mountainous monster, stabbing underneath her wing where her skin was more leathery and less plated by the armor of her scales. Maleficent howled with incensed pain and Emma darted away, sliding into another alley just in time to avoid the whip of a forked tail.
As if remembering her wings, the dragon flapped them experimentally, and then stronger, creating gusts of wind that blew leaves and debris down the road. With a leap into the air, she was airborne, wings pumping and pushing her higher into the sky, unhindered by the puncture in her side that lazily leaked slimy green blood. She hovered over the alley, raining her fire breath into the narrow space. Emma escaped with the flames licking her boot heels. Regina growled as her fingers sparked irritatingly.
Her quarry back out in the open, Maleficent swooped, her claw descending upon the blonde. Emma flung the sword upward in a hysterical swing and the dragon received the bite of sharp steel instead of the pliant flesh and bone of her opponent. She retracted her appendage with a shrill cry and flew away to circle for a second aerial strike. The younger woman fled down the street as the winged-creature made a dive for her. She fell to her knees hard to narrowly dodge the assault.
Maleficent looped back and landed back at the center of the intersection with a force that cracked the cement under her. She roared ferociously, fangs bared and back of her mouth glowing menacingly at Emma who was still planted on the ground, trying to regain her bearings. The sheriff appeared to be considering her sword and then tossed it aside in favor of drawing her gun that she'd clipped to her skirt earlier. Making it unsteadily to her feet, she held the gun with both hands, arms fully extended, to shoot up at the dragon. The lead bullets pinged harmlessly off of the impenetrable scales. Maleficent approximated what she supposed passed as laughing for a dragon, which came out as an amused purr; that was until one of Emma's shots embedded into her soft cornea. Using the distraction Emma took off down the road as the pulp of her left eye caved in and green blood oozed as she wailed and clawed at her face, blindly letting out a surprising stream of fire down the street right for a defenseless Emma.
Regina felt her cells dissolving before she realized what was happening. The sensation of floating away filled her gut and with a swoosh of purple smoke she was by Emma's side. Her hands up in defense would have been worthless in shielding them from the blaze except for the lavender force field that emitted from them surrounded the two women. The heat throbbed; fire threatening to envelop them whole but Regina gritted her teeth and her magic held strong. And it wasn't anger that drove her magic.
The rage, like hot lead in her heart, that once accompanied her magic was gone. Instead her chest felt like a warm meadow, blue skies dappled with clouds, horses galloping across the land like a distant storm, and wild flowers swaying contentedly in the breeze. At the center of it all, Emma stood with Henry. Her golden curls shined brighter than the sun and her arm draped with comfortable familiarity around her son's shoulders as they gaze out at the wonder before them. The feeling over-flowed her heart so much that it hurt; it was too much for her to ever hope to have.
The fires around them finally withdrew, feeling like a rush of cold at the absence of sweltering heat. Regina immediately looked at Emma, running an inventory of her appearance. Her hair was wickedly wind-swept and her face smudged with soot like she'd been cleaning the fireplace. Her breathing came in harsh, frantic pants and her tights were ripped at the knees from her fall, livid red blood peaking through the black. She was alive. Though they didn't have time to revel in that.
"You need to get the sword."
"It's useless. I can't penetrate her scales with it." She shook her head. "She barely took any damage under her wing."
"At the base of her neck is where her fire is stored." Regina pointed to the smoldering part of the dragon's anatomy as she continued her rapid explanation. "The scales separate to help oxygenate the fire when she is about to expel. It's her weak spot."
Regina could see her calculating the distance and weight of the sword, her muscles probably tiring now. She grimaced. "I can't make it from here."
"Go, get closer. I'll provide you with cover." She trembled with conviction and a sliver of fear. "Trust me."
The blonde only hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then conceded with a firm nod. Her gaze as solid and sharp as emeralds, Emma leaned in to capture Regina's lips in a fierce burst of a kiss, too short for her to savor but powerful in conveying her implicit confidence in the other woman. Then she was gone in a flash, scooping up her discarded weapon as she charged the malicious, vengeful dragon.
The next blast of flames already spewed toward her as she boldly hurtled into it. Just as it seemed like the fire would consume her, Emma skidded to a halt, arms crossing over her face to stave off the blinding, white light and Regina shoved the magical shield outward to meet the gust of fire. It enclosed Emma, the flaring ether of Maleficent sliding harmlessly off to the sides, like water gliding around a boulder. The brunette held her breath until the dragon ran out of hers. The molten orange and yellow dissipated and Emma lowered her guard to survey the threat once more.
Maleficent prepared for another attack, with great rasping breaths she took in more air, her chest swelling, scales shifting open like vents to reveal the furnace roiling within. This was her chance. "Emma, go!"
Emma jolted from her spot, sprinting hard to gain momentum. Both hands held the gleaming sword overhead, and then with shouting effort, the Savior hurled the blade with all her might, tumbling down to one knee with her follow though. It cart-wheeled through the air with purposeful glee, until with deadly accuracy, it struck its target. The cool metal slipped effortlessly between the scales so it nearly disappeared from view. As it pierced the unsuspecting beast, she bellowed with pained surprise. The fire that had once been contained inside her exploded with incendiary force. The heat and sparks radiated all over Maleficent's shrieking and twisting form, burning everything in its path like a thin sheet of paper plied with a match.
With a final rupture that rocked the town, the creature ceased to exist, leaving nothing except the smell of ash and smoke swirling languidly now, neon embers floated up like fireflies. The town square now incongruously serene with the destruction that had just befallen it. Emma rose slowly, turning back to Regina. Her stare was a bit dazed and vacant, but honing in on the queen like she were a beacon in the night. The older woman started toward her, a slight reassuring smile drawn on her lips.
Then the moment of peace crashed down around her as the rest of the world caught up.