ABC owns Once Upon A Time. This is fan fiction.

I know this story veers wildly from the OUAT Canon. I don't care its my story. And its how I see...or how I'd like to see...the characters.

But I would like input...good or bad...and if you like this, please repost.

Now...where were we? Oh yes...Emma's hand was getting flame-broiled.

Enjoy...

…...

Day 6 1:01pm

Emma Swan's hand was on fire. Not just a burn. Not something hat would make flesh glow. This was flame. Actual flame. Her hand was literally on fire.

She held it up to her face and she can see it. That was enough for her brain to comprehend. What her brain could not process...there was no pain.

Maybe the fire had cut off were nerves. Or maybe the trauma was so great that feeling had shut down. But her hand was on fire and there was no pain. The look on her face was beyond one of panic.

So was the gathering throng in the den. Snow and James heard the scream from Regina followed by Kathryn and Archie. Henry was still upstairs, probably napping..probably a good thing.

There were gasps and yells, but through all this, there was Emma standing still in panic...and Regina calm as a cucumber. Concerned...but calm.

"Emma listen to me..." Regina's voice was steady...one could almost say hypnotic. "Listen to me carefully.' Then she quickly turned to Snow and yelled for her to open the door the lead to the back yard. ""DO IT, SNOW!" Snow White obeyed and opened the twin doors that lead to the outside. Regina's attention now refocused to her sheriff/lover. "Step back...straight back...keep your eye on the flame...back...back.." As Regina guided Emma towards the outside, the others were transfixed on the scene, almost mesmerized by the two women...one ablaze and the other guiding her outside.

Regina managed to guide Emma to an open spot in the large yard before they both stopped. "Now, Emma...pretend that flame is a ball and pitch it out in the air..." Emma, more confused and startled than what she could repeated, "pitch it?" Regina, with emphasis replied, "yes..NOW!"

Emma Swan then rared back and, as if it were a baseball, threw the flame into the air where it dissipated. Everyone rushed to Emma to see if she was alright. Amazingly, the hand looked untouched...as if the flame never happened. Regina put both hands on either side of Emma's face. "Em..Em baby...are you alright." Still trying to come out of it, Emma replied, "yea, 'Gina...what happened." There was a chorus of "don't knows," interrupted by..

"Now THIS looks familiar..."

"Frannie?" Snow was the first to notice..

"Mallie, aren't you a little..late?" Regina, was a combination of surprised and annoyed as everyone turned to the door to spy on the statuesque redhead standing at the door. Frannie (Realm name Maleficent) was apparently late for the council but came in to watch the fireworks (pun intended).

"Last time I saw a fireball like that, it was headed in my direction." Frannie did have a style about her as she walked past the astonished, kissed Regina on the forehead and headed to examine Emma. "No burns...not a mark," Frannie mumbled, then asked a still stunned Emma, "Did you feel anything...heat...pain...anything?"

Emma pretty much stammered her response: "Na-nothing. I was upset at something and I got too close to the fireplace..."

There was a look on Frannie's face. Regina knew that look when Frannie was her, then, best and only friend Maleficent. A look of realization.

"I didn't think...that it would be possible here...maybe we never left..." Frannie was trying to put together a theory in her mind about what happened to Emma...that maybe...maybe...

"Regina! We never left! THIS is the Realm!" Frannie announced with emphasis to an even more stunned group. Regina replied, "What...are...you...saying..."

Frannie explained: "This is Rumpelstiltskin's curse. I got it, frankly, because it never wanted that curse set. HE couldn't set it because he was imprisoned. He had to find someone to set in motion..." Eyes turned in response to Regina who probably wanted to leave the room. A recovery Emma draped her arms around the mayor as Frannie continued her thesis: "The curse you set 'Gina was a time-push. Actually the real curse was a three-parter. The second part...that's what Gold wants to do now that he's out...is get his power back all of it."

John was to the point: "What's part three."

Frannie very quietly replied.."You don't want to know."

The was a moment of silence with everyone contemplating the...well...apocolyptics of what Frannie said, but there was more to come. "But we can fight Gold even if he is at Rumple's full power."

Regina: "How Mal? I've seen that devil at his worst...John and Snow have too."

Frannie: "No you haven't...but we can still can. All of us.."

"The question is,' Snow White interjected, "how?"

Frannie took a deep breath, because she knew what the answer meant. It meant everything changes.

"Technically...we're still in the Realm, we just advanced. Now I don't still know if we advanced in time or in another way, but it means that nothing changed. Including what we call magic."

Rapt attention was paid to the judge/witch as Frannie continued.

"The fact is that what we call magic is really energy. That energy is all around us. People like me and Regina have learned to harness it. The truth is that anyone can if they knew how..."

"Anyone?," asked Snow.

"Yes," answered Frannie. "The sad fact is that its information that has been kept from most for a very good reason. I mean, can you imagine Al Quida with powers? The Tea Party or the Occupiers with powers?"

"Charlie Sheen with powers...?" There was much eye-rolling at Kathryn's silly suggestion, but in essence, she got the point. "Seriously," continued Frannie, "its one of those if-it-got-into-the-wrong-hands things. And believe me, there are a lot of wrong hands."

Emma was silent through all this. If she knew she could have powers similar to Regina's the Evil Queen could have been defeated. But then, that would also mean that Regina could not be her lover. Her friend. Maybe, even, her...anger turned into relief, enough for her to ask the question, "And all of us can get this power?

Regina's hug on Emma grew a bit tighter. "Yes, Swan," the mayor answered. And I'll teach you.

Frannie: "We'll all learn. This may be the shot against Gold that we need..."

…...

TO BE CONTINUED

Next time...a crash course in Magic...and guess who gets kissed...and by WHO?

Later FFers!