Regina could hear a sigh like a small child's light laughter around the bushes to her right. The trio had begun looking for a "non-descript" magical item. Merida started to explain that the item could be anything from a shield to a boat, sword, treasure chest, or a compass. She said another legend claimed it was a mill of sorts which was capable of making flour, salt or gold out of nothing. The last possibility, she admitted, was the World Tree. When Killian had asked her if the World Tree was the rowan that we had seen earlier, she responded quickly that the "World Tree" was most likely not a tree at all.
At the confusion in the pair's eyes, Merida laughed softly before sitting on a fallen log for a moment to share the legends that fueled the magic of the land they were searching. Legends were clues to help them find the person they were seeking.
Merida explained in a shortened version the tales her mother had taught her as a child in which a smith named Will is either tricked or stolen away to a place in the north which is believed to be "the birthplace of all evil". Once there, he is commissioned to forge the Sampo but he's not told what it's supposed to be and he's given no tools or forge, but he's promised the beautiful daughter's hand in marriage as payment. So he finds a magical flame that he uses to build a forge and uses many of the finest metals like gold and silver and copper, but he makes many objects and each has a dark or evil aspect to them. The boat led them to the middle of the stormiest seas, or into the fiercest of battles. The sword found its way into the flesh of every enemy and even the wielder. The final and remaining Sampo was believed to be that of the mill. The only one that Will Smith did not break and throw back in the forge is the one that could make flour, salt and gold from thin air. This he locked deep in an underground cavern, which may also be at the root of the World Tree, now that I think about it. When Merida mentioned the "Mill" that could spin gold, she couldn't help remembering Rumplestiltskin's gold-spinning loom. The reality of what Emma might imminently face as the Dark One suddenly hit her and she realized she'd had enough of story time. They had to find Emma NOW.
No sooner had the trio split up, each knowing no better now what they should be looking for, than Regina heard the soft twang of an arrow leaving a bow behind her. She turned around quickly, her senses tingling as she tasted the metallic tang of dark magic in the air. Dark Magic meant Emma.
Regina nearly soared through the foliage to a small clearing with tall, upright stones standing in a circle surrounding Emma. Regina didn't have time to be happy to see Emma before she saw the redhead nock another arrow and pull back on the string.
"What the HELL are you doing?" Regina bellowed as she strode across the forest floor as though it was a bullpen. But she was the angry bull. Merida's red hair only furthering the metaphor in Regina's mind. How dare anyone threaten my Emma, she thought before exclaiming aloud, "Put your weapon down! Emma will not hurt anyone!"
"Yeh, sure. That's what she was trying to convince herself of too, when I walked through here and heard her yellin' at herself like a right crazy person, so I just figured I'd be cautious. I don't know this girl from Eve, so I've a right to fend fer meself! Besides, I'd have hit her if I really wanted to." Regina fought off the urge to be condescending and instead just addressed Emma, who was standing in the middle of the circle of giant stones looking more forlorn than Regina had seen her since the first day Henry had brought her home to Storybrooke. A single arrow from Merida's quiver lay on the ground near her feet where she had no doubt caught it in midair and dropped it. Regina's tracking abilities were a little rusty, but she could see a clear storyline in the fresh footprints. Emma had retreated. She had backed away from Merida, whose prints showed the mark of the hunter, not the hunted. Whatever Emma had said or done to make Merida switch gears from defense to offense, Emma was retreating from the battle. At the very least, she'd been about to.
How very unlike a Dark One, Regina mused.
Emma spared a glance in her direction, daring her to question the blonde, or to give her the go-ahead to rip this girls' heart out. She did neither, and turned towards Merida to command her in her most authoritative voice to lower her weapon.
"She won't hurt anyone," the Queen urged further when she saw the girl falter, "at least not while I'm here." Still she paused a moment longer, drawing out her scrutiny of the platinum blonde. When Merida finally released her from her death glare, Regina took a few steps towards Emma, hands and palms outstretched, reaching for a small consolation to soothe her harried nerves. She needed to feel her to prove that she was real. But the moment that Emma paused at the thought of welcoming this contact, because her mind suddenly filled with thoughts of kissing Regina, was the precise moment that Killian came crashing into the small clearing.
"Impeccable timing, as always, pirate," scoffed Regina.
Killian flashed a haphazard grin upon seeing Emma standing there, and Regina ducked back, but not before stealing a glance at Emma and noticing a very different look playing across her face as she looked back and forth between the raven-haired pair. Hook, of course, strode up and planted a kiss on the blonde's mouth before saying another word. She was a little surprised but not unhappy with the gesture until he pulled away suddenly and peered into her deep, sea green eyes, but there was a storm on the horizon.
"It didn't work," Hook looked baffled and slightly dejected. If his pout hadn't made him seem so pathetic, she might have laughed.
"You thought I was your true love?" she asked incredulously.
Regina's eyebrows shot up in surprise before ducking her head as if trying to dodge stray verbal bullets. That was harsh, she thought, and that's coming from the former Evil Queen.
Hook just stared at Emma like she'd just grown another head, with his mouth agape, silently hoping she'd take that garish question back. Emma just nonchalantly added, "Oh, honey. My happy ending isn't a man," she purred as she stroked his cheek with her knuckles. As her cool fingers caressed his stubbled jaw, her eyes found Regina's and sent a shiver straight down the brunette's spine. Hook clenched his jaw, tensing at the gesture, as though Emma was a boa constrictor offering to give him a hug. Regina had experienced that very reaction from several of her victims over the years, but she wasn't used to seeing someone else strike such fear into others in her presence.
Yet another fear struck her at that moment; even if she somehow managed to rid Emma of the darkness, how much of the blonde's true and heroic nature would remain untouched? How could she possibly escape the fate the darkness had thrust upon her? What if she was permanently tainted?
Whether light or dark, Emma Swan would be the death of her.
Without sparing him another word, Emma circled around him, catching Regina's eyes as she was peeling them from a certain twig on the ground. Emma only walked close to Regina, maintaining eye contact as she sashayed right past her, enjoying the feeling of Regina's gaze following her as she started down the forest path. Regina wasn't sure if she felt awe, lust, or just foreboding in that moment. Hook had been rendered speechless by the cavalier way in which the blonde had brushed off his feelings for her. Regina and even Merida could sense his distress as they headed back towards the tree to which they had tethered the horses. None of them spoke out loud as they made their way back up the wooded path, but Regina didn't miss Emma's furtive glances to the left of the path towards a noticeably cleared patch of forest. Before Regina had time to ask the younger woman what she was staring at, the horses whinnied a greeting as the four of them approached.
Merida's mount, however, intuitive beast that he was, nibbled his rope tether until it was freed of the branch and proceeded to back up a solid ten paces away from Emma. No doubt sensing the darkness in her, he never took his eyes off the blonde as he steadily backpedalled. Merida let out a sharp whistle, to which the long-haired steed stopped and began pawing at the ground to share his displeasure with their new company.
Regina subtly put a calming spell on her charge before offering Emma a leg up. Emma had felt the slight buzz in the air as Regina had waved her hand over the mare's forelock, but the wide-eyed expression on the horse's long face still made her pause for a moment before reaching for the mane and swinging her leg up over its back. Regina did not hesitate to deftly slide her leg up in front of Emma, taking the lead position nearest the mare's withers. As she settled back on the saddle, she was suddenly acutely aware of the proximity of her backside to a rather profound heat that seemed to build gradually between Emma's thighs. Regina's heart fluttered momentarily at the sensation, glad she was facing away from the group so no one would see the redness blossoming from her neck to her defined cheekbones. Emma could sense her body tense, though, and caught the scent of arousal rising off of Regina's body. She saw the slight flush of color in the skin just above Regina's high leather collar and just a tinge of pink marked the tops her her ears before she nudged the horse forward with her heels. She didn't turn around to see if the other two were following. She couldn't trust her facial muscles not to betray her at the moment. She realized at that moment that this was the closest she had allowed herself to be to the blonde for any extended period of time. Just as she reminded herself to let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, she understood why: Emma Swan could break her heart. After all her years of locking her heart away, guarding it with every spell, and building up so many walls around herself, Emma had come crashing into her life and tore down decades of hard work by simply uttering one syllable; "Hi," with a flash of white teeth behind a shy, lop-sided grin.
Now Regina was left defenseless, with no walls to hide behind when faced with Emma's new ruthless demeanor. As if Emma was reading Regina's mind, the Dark One's to rest gently on the other woman's hips and gently pressed her thighs down into the saddle before surreptitiously placing both hands dangerously low on Regina's abdomen and pulled her backwards, tightly molding herself to the brunette as though she were trying to mount Regina instead of the horse.
"Shit. Emma, what're you…" Regina hissed and pulled up on the reins just as Merida and Hook caught up to them, the redhead reminding the dark-haired beauty that they still had another job to do. They had found Emma, now it was time to make good on their deal to help Merida on her quest.
"Alright, so what's the plan?" Regina asked, inexplicably flustered. The other three just looked at her for a moment, each one bearing different assumptions about what had the woman so on edge, but only one of the three people had noticed that the mayor's legs were shaking despite being wrapped tightly around the body of the horse. One corner of Emma's lips pulled upwards deviously, but her eyes were crinkled with a mirth that Killian noticed, though it seemed foreign to him somehow. Had he seen her smile like that before?
A rush of something like magic sparked a small but noticeable electric current between the two women as they sat astride the big bay horse, one of them edging towards the brink of mortification, the other wondering why she'd never tried to ruffle the Queen's plumage this way before.
"Well," Merida paused thoughtfully for a moment, " there's more to that legend of the Sampo that I was telling ye about earlier," she began hesitantly, as though she was unsure of how much information to divulge in front of the Dark One.
"It's okay," Regina reassured her, feeling a little better for knowing that she wasn't the only one feeling insecure in the group, even though it was for vastly different reasons.
Merida glanced around at Hook to be sure he was paying attention, too, which he was. He seemed grateful to have any task to focus on to distract him from Emma's 'devil may care' attitude towards him. Once she had their undivided attention, she continued her explanation of the legends of the Sampo as she had heard them told by clansmen that had passed through her kingdom from the islands to the east. She explained with unmasked skepticism that if Emma truly wanted to rid herself of the Darkness, that their quests might truly align to become one. Quen the blonde bowed her head forward in a nod that did nothing to settle the red-haired woman's doubts, one look from the regal woman in front of her told Merida that Regina would take on responsibility for the Dark One's actions if need be.
After what felt like an unnecessarily long pause, she continued.
The Sampo was no ordinary magical item. Previously she had imagined that the Samp would be found at the mouth of the Fire Falls at the base of the Crone's Tooth. But they had searched all over the area looking for Emma and they'd seen no sign of a magical doorway or cave entrance, which is what Merida had interpreted as the real "roots of the World Tree" that went deep underneath the mountain at the base of a monolith. As Merida pored over her various musings of the actual location that they were seeking, Emma realized she'd been too distracted since the trio's arrival to remember to tell them about the cavern she had escaped from just prior to Merida launching an arrow at her.
She carefully chose her moment to interject.
"Did you say it could look like a shield?" Emma asked quietly, her light brow furrowed in thought.
"Well, not to you, I didn't. But I told ye'r companions here before ye showed up. I'd wager that a Dark One doesn't reveal the mysterious sources of their knowledge," she challenged. Curiosity quickly won out over apprehension, however, and Merida inquired about what had prompted Emma's specific question.
"When I came out," Emma paused for dramatic effect until she heard a small gasp from the woman sitting in front of her, "of what I can only assume was the Dark One's tomb," and the brunette's pulse slowed down again as she turned her head to search the blonde's face. Listening intently, Regina simultaneously realized all that the blonde must have been through in the week and a half that Regina had been forging her rescue. You're here now, Emma's eyes reassured her silently, a wordless exchange that did not go unnoticed by Killian, who remained the stoic mascot as he had been since they'd left the clearing where they'd found Emma.
"Once the dark substance that formed me into the Dark One flowed off of me, I was left standing on what I first thought of as a kind of medieval-looking sewer cover. Especially with the tar-looking stuff disappearing into it, that's what it reminded me of. But now that I think about it, there was a crest on it. There were markings, or runes around the edge of it as well. It may have been a shield of some kind placed at the mouth of the cavern to help seal in the Dark One. To trap… Me."
All three of the people listening to her describe the confines of her enclosure felt there was something missing from the story of her timely escape, but none of them felt like the missing pieces would gain Emma favor with them, so they left it alone. They decided instead to let her lead the way back to the large metal disc that marked the site of Emma's recent escape from captivity. As she did so, each was trying to avoid speculating about why Emma was so sure she wouldn't be caught again and thrown back in the cell by her captors. Their wild though not altogether inaccurate musings were cut short by their arrival and Emma's return to the small clearing that had borne Emma out of the damp caverns not two hours ago. As Regina slowed, Emma unceremoniously dropped off the back of the horse.
Dark One or not, Regina thought, damping a grin that threatened to form, she's still an awkward duckling.
The Queen needn't have been concerned with darkening the mood further when Emma's expression did that for her in the next moment. Emma was staring at a spot next to a tree at the edge of the thicket, looking as though she was either haunted or listening or both. She turned on her heel abruptly and marched over to the edge of the grove and to an outcropping of rocks before Regina realized that the metal plate at its center must have been glamoured to blend in unless you knew where to look. Regina and the others finally dismounted and Merida offered to take a turn at feeding and watering the horses before they tied them to to begin their search through the underground caverns that Emma had described. Regina offered to give her a hand, which Merida graciously accepted. Sensing that they could both stand a little distance from Emma's dark aura for a few moments.
Killian, on the other hand, seemed to need something from Emma before he could continue on this quest at her side. He needed to redeem himself in her eyes so he didn't feel like a useless accessory in this venture. He needed reassurance that his efforts to redeem her would not be overlooked. In fact, even a smile thrown his way would be welcome reward at the moment. It was not easily won, however, because even though the other two women ad left the thicket to walk the horses down to the stream, Emma still had yet to look at him. She was staring intently at a spot that Killian judged to be about 5'10" above what he now, with his new-fangled knowledge of Emma's world, recognized as some sort of ornate manhole cover. Not only was she staring, but her gaze seemed to communicate frustration or even anger towards what Killian misjudged as empty space save for the foliage at the edge of the trees.
"What do you see, love?" Killian asked gently, although his efforts to avoid startling her proved fruitless as she turned quickly to face him as though she'd already forgotten his existence.
That look cut him in half. Ever the stalwart rogue, however, he regained his composure and tried a different tack.
"Do I really mean so little to you, princess?" His look shook her out of her daze.
"What?" She raised an eyebrow and searched his face then. "No… I mean," she stuttered for a moment and suddenly looked flustered, "Are you seriously looking to be coddled right now?"
Hook lowered his eyes to the ground, effectively cowed, but she continued.
"In the past week and a half, I watched you die, I watched my best friend and co-parent of my child nearly die, then I was consumed by the darkness and spent the past nine days in a dark, moldy cell while I struggled to hold onto my humanity, before realizing that the only way to rid myself of the darkness and free myself from the cell was to allow the darkness to guide me. I had to let it overtake me so I could feel powerful again. I've been through all of that, sacrificing my sense of self, my hope, my very soul for everyone else, and you want me to feel bad because these powers are allowing me to see clearly? I won't apologize for telling you the truth. I may always love you, Killian, but you're not my True Love."