Chapter 11.
Emma merely grumbled a muffled goodnight as she crashed herself onto the pillow which felt like heaven on her pounding head, her eyes fluttering close dopily, only mildly aware of a hand sweeping through her hair and the quiet groan she let out in response; she did love the way Regina did that, she thought, before she drifted off to sleep before Regina's hand even made it to her cheek.
Regina smiled and bent down to press her lips against the sleeping woman's cheek before standing up, turning the light off on the way out as she closed the bedroom door. She could feel herself shaking and attempted to calm herself down, pouring herself a whiskey with her trembling hands.
What she was about to do went against her very nature and quite honestly, she couldn't believe she was considering it. Who would have ever known that when she had rescued the younger woman from her car that night the impact that Emma would have on her. She had never thought she would, or even that she could care about anyone that way again.
She followed the steps down into her basement, closing and locking the door behind her. She didn't even know if this would work, the strength she had put into this curse was a formidable opponent; she knew she was the only one who could break it.
She laughed upon thinking that, it wasn't her that would break it at all, it hit her, it was Emma. She really was breaking the curse and she didn't even know it. Emma had turned up, twenty eight years later, and unknowingly the Evil Queen had fallen in love with her enemy's daughter... And it was that... true love, that would break the curse. Who ever would have thought?
And so with a pinch of this and an ounce of that, she made a simple potion. Simple, at least, until the last vital ingredient were added.
She closed her eyes, gritted her teeth and, well there was no gentle way to do this, she knew, so she threw her hand inside her chest, unable to hold a gasp of pain back; so this was what it felt like she thought, her vision blurring as she pulled her hand out holding her heart.
She had only done this once before, a long time ago, after her first kill to see how dark it had made her heart, but now...now it was so much darker, though there was a beaming red light in the center that seemed to radiate, and Regina knew just where that had come from. With a thumb and forefinger she took the smallest pinch of her own heart that she could and added it to the potion.
Then, with just as much pain as taking it out, she slipped her heart back into chest, unable to quench the whimper of pain that escaped her throat. But just like that, the pain was gone.
It wasn't a dark and purple haze this time and it wasn't slow either. It was just an enthusiastic pulse that swept across the whole Storybrooke, making the air feel somehow fresher, crisper and by this time of night most of the town was asleep, but there was sure to be havoc in the morning, Regina knew, and probably a very angry mob at her door. Which was why she needed to go and see Snow, now.
Regina quickly checked in on Emma, who was still sleeping peacefully spread out on her bed; she would probably be out for a while yet, Regina figured but still, she knew she had to act as quickly as she could though she'd give anything to procrastinate this day for a while longer. She quickly scribbled a note just in case Emma did wake up and left it on the kitchen counter; Trust me, it said, just wait for me.
She knew this was her only chance as even possibly keeping Emma Swan in her life. She grabbed her coat as she headed out of the mayor and climbed into her car, giving herself one last pep talk before turning the ignition and reversing out of the driveway.
Snow was jerked awake by a violent banging on her door, and it didn't take her long to wake up once the memories of the Enchanted Forest flooded through her mind. Charming, she thought, it must be and she jumped out of her bed, not bothering to pull on her dressing gown, in her silk pyjamas and swung the front door open with a giant smile on her face that quickly vanished as her expression darkened.
"Regina," she breathed coldly, her voice matching the anger in her eyes.