"Regina, duck!" Emma yells out to the brunette. Instead of ducking, Regina turns her attention to the blonde girl, only to have a hard object smash into her forehead.
"Ouch! Emma! What the hell?!" Regina says with a pained groan, rubbing at the sore spot on her forehead. Emma winces at the red spot forming on the girl's forehead and offers an apologetic smile.
"You're supposed to duck, Regina… I didn't think that you'd just stand there…" Emma mumbles out sheepishly. Regina looks at the girl with a raised brow and huffs indignantly.
"Well, how was I supposed to know that you were going to hurl a teacup at my forehead?" Regina asks with a groan as she rubs at her forehead. Emma walks over to the water-filled basin on the kitchen table and dips a nearby rag into it, walking over to Regina afterwards to place the wet cloth on her forehead. Regina releases a pleased groan at the feel of the cool cloth on her forehead and offers Emma a grateful smile, though the look in her eyes is letting the blonde know that she is still at fault.
"Look, I'm sorry. I lost control of the teacup and sent it hurling towards you by accident. I was actually aiming for the couch…" Emma mutters in embarrassment, causing Regina to chuckle. The couch was on the opposite the side of the room where Regina was standing. Regina walks over to the couch and takes a seat on it, resting her head on the back cushions with a small sigh. A few seconds later, Regina feels the couch dip on the other side of her, signaling that Emma has taken a seat next to her. Regina cracks open one of her closed eyelids and smirks at the blonde beside her. Emma rolls her eyes at Regina's smirk and copies the brunette's position, resting her head on the back cushions as well. "Why is it so hard to control my magic?" Emma asks after a few seconds of silence, a resigned sigh escaping her lips.
The girls had started their magic lessons with Cora over a week ago, and so far, Cora has had the girls practicing the lessons they've learned on the first day. Only, instead of learning how to merely float objects or call for them, they have been learning how to control the movement of these objects, hence why Emma was hurling the teacup across the room. Though, she was supposed to stop it right before it hit the couch, or well, Regina, in this case.
"Because you're still new to it, as am I. With more practice and time, we will get it right." Regina tells the girl reassuringly, reaching out her hand to pat the girl's knee.
"You're already a natural at this. You've been studying magic for as long as I have, yet you've managed to successfully navigate your items with the use of your magic. I, on the other hand, can't move a freaking teacup, or pen for that matter, without sending it crashing or flying uncontrollably through the air." Emma says grumpily. Regina picks up her head off the back couch cushions, holding the cloth in place on her forehead as she does so, and sits up to face Emma. Emma seems to sense Regina's eyes on her, so she sits up as well and turns to face Regina, immediately locking eyes with compassionate pair of brown orbs staring back at her.
"You. Will. Get. It." Regina says slowly, punctuating every word sternly, as if to let Emma know that she means what she's saying. As Emma looks into Regina's eyes, she can see that the brunette means every word she's saying, and that she truly believes in her. She can't help but believe the girl so she nods her head.
"Okay. I believe you."
"Good." Regina says with a satisfied smirk. Both girls share a smile with one another before they lean back again, resting their heads back on the couch cushions. "We have sword fighting lessons soon, don't we?" Regina asks after a moment of silence. Emma hums her answer and Regina groans in displeasure. "How am I supposed to go through a sparring session when my head feels like it was hit with a hard porcelain teacup? Oh wait…." Regina says playfully causing Emma to groan in embarrassment once again.
"I told you I was sorry!" Emma groans out, causing Regina to laugh loudly at the pink tint forming on Emma's cheeks. Teasing Emma is fun. Suddenly, a flashback fills her mind, taking her back to a scene with a young Emma and Regina seated on the floor of her bed room in the Mills Castle.
I'm sorry, Regina… I didn't mean to hit you with the ball. In my defense, I was aiming for the wall!" Younger Emma stated defensively to a semi-annoyed Regina. Regina clutches at her sore forehead and aims a glare in Emma's direction, causing the blonde girl to shrink back in embarrassment.
"Tell that to my forehead, Emma!" Younger Regina exclaims, wincing at the soreness she feels in her forehead. Who knew a rubber ball could inflict such pain? Emma cautiously makes her way closer to Regina, removing the brunette's hand from her forehead. She, then, slowly places a light kiss to the forehead, causing Regina to flinch in pain. Emma offers her a small, apologetic smile and blows her cool breath onto the red forehead, causing a hum of delight to escape Regina's throat.
"I'm sorry. I really was aiming for the wall…" Emma says apologetically, her cheeks tinged with pink. Regina smiles at the girl and shakes her head in amusement.
"You have really poor aim, Miss White. You should work on that." Regina says with a chuckle, causing the blonde's cheeks to turn an even darker shade of pink. Regina gets up from her spot on the floor and holds her hand out to Emma, waiting for the blonde to grasp her hand. As she does, the brunette pulls the blonde girl up to her feet and begins exiting her room. "Let's go outside and play catch, perhaps we can work on your aim."
Regina shakes herself out her daze, trying to remember when that memory took place, but is coming up empty… This her third flashback since last week. Her second flashback was one of her and Emma having a running race in the castle's courtyard with Timothy as their chaperone. Everything about these flashbacks seem so familiar, yet, she can't recall a time when any of these moments occurred. As Regina turns her attention to Emma, she sees a faraway look in her blonde companion's eyes, as if the girl in question is having a flashback of her own…but how would that possible? How could both of them have flashbacks of things that, as far as they both knew, never even happened?
As Emma shakes herself out of her daze, she and Regina stare at one another with unreadable expressions. A knock on their front door snaps the girls out of their staring contest and they quickly hop up from their spots on the couch, grabbing their swords from the doorway. As they open the door, Alexander and Archibald are staring at the girls with small smiles, though Alexander's smile aimed towards Regina is more of a scowl than a smile. He hasn't really gotten over the fact that Regina shot him.
"Good morning, girls!" Archibald says to the girls in a chirpy voice, casing both girls to return the greeting. "Today, our lessons will be a lot different than what you both are used to." He tells the girls with a sly smirk on his face, causing an uneasy expression to grace the girls' faces." You'll see what I mean when we get to the practice field. So, on we go!" He says enthusiastically, quickly making his way to his horse, causing Regina and Emma to follow him unsurely. All four of them, wordlessly, mount their horses, their swords strapped securely across their backs. Without saying a word, they begin trotting away on their horses towards the direction of the practice field, Regina and Emma apprehensive to see what awaits them on that field.
"So, Emma, Regina, these are my sons, Stanley and Evan. Both of whom are skilled swordsmen." Archibald says, pointing to two tall and muscular blond men standing on his left. "And these two lovely ladies on my right, are my daughters, Alexandria and Freya, both of whom are skilled swordswomen." He says pointing to two fit looking blonde women before he continues. "Today, instead of you fighting me or Alexander, you will be fighting one of my sons and one of my daughters at the same time. In other words, this will be a two on one fight. Seem unfair to you? Good." Archibald says before either Regina or Emma can protest, which judging by the scowls on their faces, they are definitely ready to argue with the man. "I will give you two a few minutes to stretch and prepare." Archibald says with a smirk before he walks away with Alexander towards the sidelines of the field.
"I'm sorry about our dad just springing this up on you, he loves using the element of surprise. I'm also sorry that we couldn't have met you two under better circumstances, your highnesses." Evan says to the girls with a respectful bow. Regina and Emma smile at the boy, who couldn't be any older than 16, and curtsy at him in response.
"It's okay, I guess. It's not your fault." Emma says to the boy, causing all 4 siblings to smile at the two princesses.
"So, what's it like being royalty?" Alexandria says as she begins stretching her limbs, watching as Emma and Regina follow suit.
"It's almost the same as being a non-royal. The only difference is that people tend to recognize us wherever we go and we tend to have enemies that we've never even met. That's about it, really." Emma says half-jokingly, half serious. Their guard's children all laugh at that and nod their heads in understanding. "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you all?"
"Well, I'm 20." Stanley says before pointing at the rest of his siblings. "Freya is 18, and Alexandria and Evan, who are fraternal twins by the way, are 16."
"Ah, so we're all close in age. That's good. At least I won't have to feel bad about kicking a child's ass." Emma says in cocky tone, paired with her signature cocky smirk. Regina's body inwardly shudders with arousal at that look. Damn Emma's sexiness, Regina thinks to herself.
Evan snorts in amusement. "Oh, please. We're going to wipe the floor with you." He says, bumping fists with Alexandria. Emma and Regina roll their eyes at the twins and smirk in amusement.
"We'll see about that." Emma says with a wink.
"Alright guys! Time to fight!" Archibald says, walking back over to the group with Alexander in tow.
"You might want to ice your jaw, it's looking pretty swollen." Emma says to Evan cockily as the teenager grunts in pain, flinching as his fingertips touch the underside of his jaw. On the other side of him is Alexandria, groaning at the pain in her leg from where Emma kicked her. "You might want to ice your leg as well." She says to her with a cocky smile, earning a grunt of disapproval from the teen girl. Emma walks away from her two "victims" and saunters over to where an injured Freya and Stanley are lying down on the grass, groaning in pain and exhaustion. Emma smirks at them as she takes in the sight of an unharmed Regina. "She got you good, didn't she?" Emma asks the two older siblings with a smirk. They glare at her in mock anger, causing her to giggle at them.
"My father and Alexander have trained you well." Stanley says hesitantly, clutching onto his injured arm. Emma and Regina lock eyes with each other, sharing a triumphant smile.
"Thanks. Your father has trained you all well, too. You guys weren't easy to take down." Emma says, complimenting the groaning siblings with a smile. They all smile (more like grimace) back at her and nod in agreement.
"Here you go, kids, drink up." Archibald and Alexander say, handing out cups of cold water to the four bruised children.
"You guys can head to the bathhouse and take a bath if you want. Alex and I have warmed up the water for whichever two of you want to go first." With that being said, Alexandria and Freya shoot up from their spots on the ground, groaning in pain as they do so, and sluggishly make their way towards their father's bathhouse. Archibald chuckles at his daughters and turns back towards the remaining group. "Regina, Emma, feel free to continue practicing with each other if you want. I think you two have proved that you are more than skilled in the art of sword fighting, so if you want to go do something else, feel free." Archibald tells them with a kind smile. Regina and Emma smile back at him and decide to just sit on the field with Stanley and Evan. It's not every day that they get to hang out with people around their age-unless they count each other.
After spending the last few hours with Archibald, his children, and Alexander, Regina and Emma made their way home, exhausted from the long day they've had. Once they got home, they bathed, changed, and crawled into bed together, more than ready to let sleep overcome them. As they lay in bed together, Emma's arms wrapped tightly around Regina's waist, her even breaths filling Regina's ear, Regina lays awake, unable to let the sleep overcome her. As tired as she is, her mind won't turn off, allowing her the luxury of something as coveted as sleep. She just lays there, staring at the wall in front of her and listening to the sounds of Emma's deep and even breaths. Regina wishes that she could fall asleep as easily as the blonde. Life would be so much easier if she could just fall asleep.
Regina sighs to herself and turns over from her side, now resting on her back. She stares up at the ceiling above her and slightly turns her head to look at the sleeping face of Emma. Gorgeous and Angelic-looking, Emma. Regina takes in the sight of the blonde's smooth and angelic looking features, seeing no worry or anger, or anything but pure peace, on the girl's face. Regina wonders if she ever looks that peaceful when she's asleep. Too bad it's impossible to stare at your own sleeping form. She wonders if she should ask Emma how she looks when she's asleep…does the blonde ever watch her sleep the way she watches the blonde sleep? If not, does that mean what she's doing is creepy? God, she hopes not. That would just be hard to explain. She can only imagine all of the teasing Emma would do if she were to ever admit, or even imply, that she watches the blonde sleep. She'd die of embarrassment.
Regina closes her eyes once again, hoping for sleep to finally come. But instead of sleep coming, another one of those confusing flashbacks pop up in her mind. Except, in this flashback, it's neither her nor Emma speaking, it's her parents along with Emma's parents, speaking. Regina's brow furrows when she takes in the scene before her, staring at her seemingly lifeless body lying on the floor of her ballroom, a hysterical Emma holding her head in her lap.
"What the hell happened here? Who did this to her?!" Henry demanded, taking in the sight of his unconscious daughter. Henry stares at Regina's slumped body with tears in his eyes, while Snow and Charming look at the couple with sympathy.
"It's the sleeping curse…" Cora mutters quietly, stealing a glance at her daughter being held in Emma White's arms. Cora wipes away a stray tear on her cheek and turns her attention back to the White Queen, as well as Charming
"Who do you think could have done this?" Snow asks with a sniffle, not quite able to stop the tears from falling from her eyes at the sight of her distressed 14 year old daughter, as well the poisoned 14 year old girl in her arms.
"Rumplestiltskin. That damn imp did this! He put my daughter under this curse as a way to get back at me…That imp is going to pay!" Cora says in anger, the air in the room crackling around her. Snow and Charming look at her in alarm and do their best to placate her.
"You can worry about revenge later, right now what we need to do, is see if there is a way to wake Regina up." Charming reasons. Cora lets out a long, drawn out breath and nods in agreement.
"Fine. Carry her to her bedchamber and then follow me into my vault. We will have find a way to wake my daughter before it's too late."
Regina's eyes widen once the flashback ends. She turns her head to the side to stare at Emma, expecting to see her sleeping face, but instead, finds her brown eyes locking onto Emma's wide and alert green ones. The two stare at one another in tense silence. Regina suddenly recalls Emma telling her that an event happened four years ago that caused Cora to put a memory erasing spell on both her and Emma… and then it finally hits her….
She's remembering.