Changelings

Let's find out

Regina didn't turn when she heard their whispers approaching but it was their giveaway alongside with the rustle of the sword's tip against the leaf-covered floor once Emma came close enough for her to see it, right hand half-closed atop her heart, the faint pain she had been suffering ever since that morning seeming to get slightly stronger as she swallowed and turned fully towards the couple. Hook's eyes weren't looking at her, his own eyes settled on the shadowed figures of the trees Regina herself had been looking at before they arrived. Emma's, however, were trained on hers and for a second they shared a look, Emma's green turning darker as they fell to her hand, narrowing when, unconsciously, Regina rubbed her chest, the phantom pain twisting inside of her once again.

The blonde looked much more sure of herself than what Regina had seen her in a very long time and for a second too long she stared at her, not bothering to look at Hook once the pirate walked towards her, rebasing her and walking even closer to the tree-lines, his footsteps and mutterings getting lost on Regina's periphery as she kept looking at Emma. The blonde's gaze never left her hand until she dropped it, one last twitch on her fingers answering the seemingly silent question.

"You okay?" She heard and for a second she was tempted to explain herself but the glowing gem on the sword's handle twinkled and Regina found herself getting lost on it instead of the actual answer to the question until Emma cleared her throat, one pointed look to her chest enough for Regina to know the blonde knew. Or suspected. Which made her want to question why, why then, why now.

Instead of that, however Regina found herself wanting to take a picture from Emma, a picture that didn't burn her fingers just like she felt them scorching as she gazed at her, pirate too close for her to feel calm, her own evil self's shadow long enough for her to sense it twirling behind the dark trees, waiting for them. For her.

"I had a talk with myself." She replied, nodding before taking a step towards the path that would put them all on her vault. "But I'm okay."

Emma's left hand curled around her forearm for a moment, the younger woman halting her movements as she started to walk. Regina felt the touch above the clothing she wore and for a second she waited, waiting for Emma to say anything at all. The blonde, however, merely squeezed once before positioning at her side, eyes set on Storybrooke's graveyard.

"You shouldn't have gone alone." She mumbled and for a moment Regina wanted to laugh mirthlessly at the words before her voice got trapped on her vocal chords, Emma's eyes seeming to devour her entirely as they looked at each other for longer than they probably should have.

"I didn't want to bother any of you." She finally said and Emma seemed to burn with righteous fury before she deflated as Hook's footsteps became closer once again.

"Still." She muttered and for a second Regina thought on the moment she had walked on both herself and her sister, the first just about to kill the second.

"This is what heroes do." She had said and, in that moment, she had believed it but she also had known that the punishment she had inflicted on her own heart in order to stop her other self had been inflicted out of gluttony for feeling an ounce of pain she felt like she should be feeling. For being the one behind the new Evil in town for, at the end, demonstrating that she was too weak to even handle her inner demons just like her mother would say. Guilty was written on her forehead and for that she opened her mouth, ready to say something to Emma, anything at all, as she could see the last bit of energy, of the red and gold she had been able to see moments before, sipping away as Hook approached the two of them, positioning himself at the other side of the blonde's figure, never truly looking directly at Regina herself very much as Regina also didn't bother to look at him longer than necessary.

"I would have gone with you." Emma whispered and Regina found herself entertaining herself with the thought of it before she smiled ruefully, hands turned into fists and eyes already set on the forest.

Why, she wanted, to ask, why, why you would want to go with me, why I can't stop myself from looking at you, Why. Emma's words had been stuttered the last time they had talked and Regina wondered not for the first time what would happen if she brought her back to the light instead of letting her watch from the shadows her own guilt shining on the back of her pupils as well as longing.

"We are a family." The thought had come and go but it still swirled and grew inside of her with every passing second and for a moment she wondered what would be to not think twice about what she wanted to say, about her aching heart and the lines and ridges she had seen on the surface of it the moment she had out it back on her chest, lungs still protesting, lightheaded and smelling blood.

The second she opened her mouth, however, a hoot came from the forest and Hook's voice break the silence between the three of them, the slight movement Emma's shoulders did enough for Regina to realize the younger woman had been as engrossed as herself in something they, just like many other things, would never truly talk about.

"Shall we love?"

The question was laced with the same pettiness Regina felt bubbling on her throat and for a second her right foot hovered over the forest floor, a tad too long as Emma moved forward, sword glinting and making Regina think back on a time she had thought she hated the woman and where dragons and secrets had been their biggest problems.

"Will she remember that as well?" She thought, swallowing her pride as she finally took that step, fog seeming to cover their tracks the second they moved towards the tree lines. The answer to that, however, got lost on Emma's final glance at her, bottom lip trapped between her teeth before she released it.

Probably yes, she found herself wanting to think. Probably not, her other part firmly whispered. At the end, however, it didn't matter.

Or did it?