Regina's sound sleep shattered along with her front door. Whomever, whatever, it was, broke down the door and destroyed her morning's peace. Splinters of wood clattered in her entryway and sent Regina's heart straight into her throat. Still in her nightgown, acting purely on instinct she teleported downstairs, hands already curling into fists as she pulled forth her fire even before she finished materialising.
Whoever it was wasn't going to get her without a fight. Not only had they dared attack her home, they were stupid enough to do it when she was still nursing a hangover.
Emma had stayed late last night, in no shape to leave long after they'd finished the bottle of whiskey. She'd been trying to help, showing Regina everything she'd found so far, which
sadly, wasn't much. The long list of abandoned babies in the Northeast had been a knife to Regina's heart, and the whiskey hadn't been able to dull the pain she felt thinking about all those children. How was she supposed to know which one? Why were there so many? What
if no one had found her daughter and she was just lost…forever?
The sight that greeted her within the remains of her door, however, drowned Regina's anger like frigid water.
Ursula and Cruella stood on her stoop and Maleficent lay unconscious in Ursula's tentacles. Her hair hung limp, out of the neat updo she'd worn the last time Regina had seen her and her arms hung free, elegant fingers lax as if she were dead.
The burning heat of anger gave way to icy cold of fear and Regina's heart beat a staccato rhythm against her ribs. The pain in her head was suddenly, utterly unimportant. "What
happened?" she gasped, staring in horror at Maleficent's form.
"She went over the line," Cruella said, growling the words like one of her Rottweilers. "We told her that it wouldn't work, that she couldn't just leave."
"We tried to warn her," Ursula added, shaking her head. "She wouldn't listen to us, like usual."
Gathering her scattered wits, Regina shook herself then motioned to the other women. "Over here," she said, leading them into the kitchen.
Ursula put Maleficent's limp body on the table, unusually gentle. "She wouldn't stop. She said she was sick of waiting for the Author to show himself. She wanted her child," Ursula explained, still hovering over Maleficent's body.
"I don't know what happened," Cruella continued. "She was fine for a few steps, then she just collapsed."
"We had to drag her back over," Ursula finished, crossing her arms over her chest in a defensive gesture Regina knew hid real fear. "I knew something bad would happen, but we weren't sure what. Cruella and I were both fine on the outside without our magic. Rumple gets his limp back but she should have been at least functional. This was like someone flipped a switch and-"
That explained the leaves and twigs in Maleficent's hair. It didn't explain why her skin was ice cold, her eyes rolled back into her head and her pulse only a weak vibration beneath
Regina's fingertips. "We need her spellbook."
"I assumed you have it, darling," Cruella replied. She took off her fur coat and laid it over
Maleficent's still body, and the motion was gentle. Whatever else was under the dramatic makeup and mannerisms, both Cruella and Ursula genuinely cared about Maleficent. "That's why we're here."
"It's in my vault," Regina answered, hoping her memory was reliable and what she needed was actually contained within the book's pages. "Ursula, would you-?"
"I'll get it." The woman nodded, heading for the door before Regina could even finish, let alone hand her the key to the crypt door.
"And the black chest that's with it," Regina called after Ursula's retreating figure. She moved unnaturally fast for a woman with supposedly only two legs. Regina rolled her eyes, she should have known Ursula would just break in without assistance. Correct methods of entering people's property, however, was a conversation for another time, when Maleficent wasn't on the verge of returning to death.
Regina turned to the dog whisperer. "Cruella, we need Emma Swan."
"The Saviour?" One of Cruella's eyebrows tried to join her dark hair.
Regina nodded, filling her biggest pot with water and setting it to boil on the stove. She left the kitchen and threw all of her clean towels into the dryer, setting it on high so they'd warm up. Cruella followed her, waiting for an explanation.
"Emma has a lot of raw magical potential. We'll need it."
She expected a barbed comment but it appeared Cruella really did care, because she simply nodded and headed out without her coat, or a complaint about being sent on an errand.
Alone again, Regina turned to the too-still figure lying on her kitchen table. Taking Maleficent's face in her hands, she slapped the icy cold cheek, in what she knew was likely a vain effort to shake the unconscious woman around. "Come on," Regina growled. Maleficent's cheek didn't even redden, her blood barely seemed to be moving through her veins.
Silently berating herself for daring to hope it might be that easy, Regina turned back to her preparations, searching the distant edges of her memory for what ingredients of the spell she could recall.
Opening one cupboard, Regina took down all red pepper flakes she had. She moved to the pantry, taking down far potent ingredients from the highest shelf. Setting them out on the
counter, Regina tried to remember what proportions the spell called for but it had been decades since she'd read that particular passage. Some of what she needed were still vivid in her memory but others had faded. With a silent curse, she turned back and touched Mal's wrist to count seconds against her near-absent pulse for lack of anything better to do.
When the water began to simmer, Regina turned back to the stove and started carefully measuring and adding those few ingredients she was sure of, and had on hand. She'd have to wait for Ursula to return for the rest.
Emma and Cruella returned first. Cruella noticeably without complaint about the outside temperature, even though her slinky black oufit must have provided little warmth.
"What happened?" Emma asked, eyes wide as she took in the mess from the door in the hallway and Maleficent on the table. Emma's face was flushed as if she'd run and she was still in her coat and beanie.
"Maleficent went over the town line," Regina explained without detail. "Cruella, would you measure the fire salamander? I'd rather not destroy my kitchen."
"Shouldn't she just lose her memories or be prevented from coming back to the town or something?" Emma wondered aloud, taking off her gloves, she touched Maleficent's bare wrist. "Regina-" Emma trailed off, concern pulling the corners of her mouth down.
"I know," Regina said, trying to keep her voice level rather than showing the panic that had been threatening to take hold ever since she'd seen Mal lifeless in Ursula's grasp.
"Should we get her to the hospital?" Emma asked, but she seemed to know the answer to the question before she finished.
"They won't be able to do anything. You, the Dog Catcher, the Fish and I have magic, and when we go over the town line we lose it. We're all okay without it. Rumplestiltskin's is
more integrated into his being, when he goes over he's no longer the Dark One, and he loses some of the spring in his step. Maleficent, more than any of us, is her magic. Without it, it's like something went out inside of her."
"Regina, we'll need gargoyle blood," Cruella reminded her. Dropping pieces of fire salamander into the boiling water, Cruella took out the next glass bottle and started to measure the Ifrit ashes. The combination of fiery herbs and magical ingredients made the air sting Regina's nose as the steam rose.
"Your twitchy girlfriend should be bringing it from the vault," Regina snapped in her direction, fear gnawing at her and shortening her temper even more than usual. Emma still stood next to her, one hand on Maleficent's wrist, the other on Regina's shoulder.
"Okay Regina, what can we do?" Emma's fingers tightened on her shoulder and Regina sucked in a breath, forcing herself to be calm. When she looked up at Emma, the other woman's eyes were so green, her expression so incredibly earnest. It helped. Only a little but something fluttered in Regina's stomach that wasn't fear.
"Cruella's working on a dragon's breath potion which we should be able to complete when Ursula gets back. To be honest, it's always been a little beyond my abilities, even now," Regina paused, then looked right into Emma's concerned green eyes. "I'll need your help."
"Yeah, of course," Emma said, without even asking what she'd agreed to do. "Will it bring her back?"
"It worked before, sort of. There was a tree she had burned with dragon fire, and it was still burning after years, and breathing that in brought her magic back. If we can make the potion work, and get it into her, somehow, she should be able to warm herself back up." Regina stared down at Mal's unconscious face again. Her lips were still blue, but that was a little better than grey. "I'll kill you myself if you don't come back," Regina whispered.
"Hey," Emma said, leaning closer to Regina, thumb making small circles on the point of her shoulder. "It'll be okay."
Ursula's tentacles reached into the kitchen with the little black chest and Maleficent's silver spellbook well before her body followed after them and Regina felt Emma repress a shudder. Under other circumstances it might have made her smile. Instead, she just snatched the book as Cruella took the chest. Emma gave Ursula's tentacles – now vanished beneath her coat – one last look, then turned to read over Regina's shoulder. She turned the pages in a rush, her fingers clumsy with worry. The spell they needed was on the second to last page, right before the complex ritual that unlocked the true power of the dragon.
"Here it is," Regina said, handing the book over to Ursula, who helped Cruella find the rest of the ingredients. The potion had ceased to be a spicy soup and had turned into a red-orange goo. It bubbled and hissed, as if lava had been captured in the pot. While it continued to cook, Emma grabbed the hot towels out of the dryer and they started piling them on top of Maleficent, beneath Cruella's heavy coat.
"Careful with that-" Ursula said, peering over Cruella's shoulder. "Too much of that and we'll all be in pieces on the next block.
"I am being careful," Cruella argued. "You're the one who-"
Regina tuned them out, took Maleficent's cold hand between hers in a warm towel and started rubbing. Emma did the same on the other side of the table. It seemed foolish, but they needed to do something while they waited.
The potion finally started to lick upwards in the pot, like daggers of fire. Regina destroyed her own smoke alarm with a flick of her wrist when it started to scream a warning, and they moved outside. Emma carried all the blankets they could grab from Regina's spare room. Cruella had the potion, which now had to be contained with a heavy metal lid. Ursula carried Maleficent, her tentacles tender as they held her aloft.
It was cold outside, the air crisp and damp, but it wouldn't be for long. Regina handed Emma the big metal soup ladle and paused, trying to read Emma's face. "I can try first, if you want."
"Try what?" Emma asked, her eyes wide with concern. "What's going to happen?"
"One of us needs to drink that, then when your lungs fill with fire, breathe it into Maleficent's body," Regina sat on the damp ground, not even thinking about how thin her pyjamas were. They put two blankets beneath Maleficent and laid the other one on top. Holding her head in her lap, Regina tilted her head back and held her throat open.
The pot of potion had already started to scorch the grass where it sat. Emma stared at it, then turned back to Regina. "You've tried this?"
"A long time ago I burnt myself rather badly, I was still struggling with my magic back then, it wasn't strong enough. Maleficent healed me, then, obviously that won't-" Regina trailed off. She wasn't willing to lose her. Not now. Not when they had a chance of getting their daughter back. Mal had to see her. She had to live for that.
"Well, I'm supposed to be tough, right? I'll try first and if it doesn't work, you can heal me." Emma looked at Maleficent, then up at Regina and decided. Her fear faded from her eyes and her jaw set in a line. "What do I do, say something? Think something?"
"You need to drink the potion and then breathe the fire back into Maleficent. This isn't just any flame, it has to be living." Regina said.
Emma glanced uneasily at the smoking pot.
Regina had to tell her. "There are side effects."
"Other than burns?" Emma asked, not veiling her fear.
"It's dragon's fire. A living flame that carries much of the power of a dragon with it," Regina paused, tensing her hands. "You could lose yourself, for awhile. It is temporary and you will come back, but you might not be you, for awhile."
Emma's trust never wavered, and neither did her gaze. "But I'll come back?"
"It doesn't last more than a few hours," Regina promised. "You don't have to. I'm much stronger than I was then, I'm sure I can-"
Holding up a hand, Emma stopped her. "Look, if I screw up, you can heal me, then try. If you screw up, I can't heal you and we might lose you both. Besides, I'm the Saviour, remember? Maybe I can save dragons too." She brought her hand to Regina's shoulder and squeezed. "I can do this, you're here."
Regina nearly missed the knowing look between Cruella and Ursula as they pulled back to a safe distance.
"Find your inner dragon, darling," Cruella advised, her arms wrapped tightly around her chest. The words were slightly mocking but the advice was actually quite sound.
"Focus," Ursula added. "Nothing gets you burnt faster than not paying attention."
"Find your magic like you've learned," Regina said softly, watching Emma close her eyes and take a deep breath. When she opened them, Regina could see the soft glow of power just beneath Emma's skin. She really was getting better. Good, now think of your strengths," Regina said softly. "Think about what you care about and what you want to accomplish. I'll
be right here."
And Emma, brave, stupid Emma who was utterly willing to rush headlong into danger to protect those around her just nodded. Her hand touched Regina's elbow and again, something fluttered in Regina's stomach. "I know."
Emma nodded to Cruella and handed her the soup ladle. In a way, it was ridiculous, opening the pot like they were at a chili cookout, but fire blasted from the beneath the lid. It raged in front of them, crawling all over the ladle like a furious living thing as Emma held it up. It stank of sulfur, smoke and charcoal, overwhelming everything else. Emma shut her eyes for a second to centre herself, but kept them wide open as she drank. She coughed, choking, and fell forward onto her hands. Fire rolled down her chin, burning marks into her clothing and singeing the grass beneath her. Emma swallowed. She writhed for a moment, shaking as fire consumed her.
When she looked up, her eyes gleamed, even in the weak daylight. Regina held Maleficent's mouth open, willing her to be able to accept the fire Emma offered. Emma bent low over her mouth, and their lips touched. Fire crackled around their mouths, but most of it went deep into Maleficent's chest. Emma sat up, gasping as if her lungs had been completely drained of air. She took a breath, then nodded to Cruella for the ladle again. This time, Emma only coughed once, and fire licked up from her nostrils. She bent low over Maleficent again, closing their lips together and pouring more fire into her lungs. Maleficent's fingers twitched on the blanket. Emma took another drink, and breathed in more. This time Maleficent seemed to move towards her, breathing in the fire she offered.
Emma poured fire into Maleficent's mouth with her own twice more. Maleficent lay still, and her pulse finally started to beat again. Regina wiped trailing fire from her mouth, then slapped her.
This time a reddish mark rose on her cheek, following the sharp sound of Regina's hand against her skin. Emma, who radiated heat like a bonfire, scooped the potion into her hands, which had become immune to the fire for the moment. She began rubbing it into Maleficent's skin. It sank in, leaving smoke behind as it disappeared into her flesh. Emma kept rubbing, working as if some kind of instinct that wasn't her own had taken over. Regina and Ursula helped strip Maleficent's clothing before it all burned away. The blankets smoked a little, but they held the fire in long enough for Maleficent's body to pull it inwards. Emma finally rocked back, her own clothes nearly burned away from her glowing flesh. Her eyes raged with flame. Stumbling back as if she'd lost control of her own body, she threw back her head and roared, spitting fire high into the sky above Regina's apple trees.
The sight stirred something deep inside Regina, something she'd tried very hard to keep buried. Regina yearned to touch Emma then, to feel the fire dancing under the surface of her skin and she couldn't. It was too dangerous. For her, for Emma, and for Maleficent, who was still not awake and needed to be tended.
It took far too much effort for Regina to turn way from a now panting – though no longer breathing fire – Emma and help Ursula bundle Mal into blankets so she could be taken upstairs.
And even though it was Ursula who carried Maleficent, Emma kept finding ways to touch the unconscious woman, her eyes, still so full of fire, fixed on Mal's sleeping form, as if she was forgetting the other women existed. Regina saw Ursula and Cruella sharing a glance. The side effects had already started to take hold of Emma.
They said nothing though and Regina forced herself to focus on Mal for the moment. Emma was strong, she would survive this.
The question was, whether Regina would.
hr
Inside Regina's guest room, they tucked Maleficent into bed and then simply moved out of the way. As Regina had guessed, Emma crawled in after her immediately, wrapping herself around the Mal's sleeping form as if it belonged to her. Emma still radiated heat, and Maleficent needed the warmth, but Regina watched Emma's restless gaze and her hands trembled. Emma fidgeted, toying with Mal's hair, the edge of the covers, whatever she could reach. She heated the room like a furnace and didn't seem to feel any of it, and in the dim light of the bedroom, Emma's eyes shone, flames dancing in her green irises. Carefully, moving slowly so as not to startle her, Regina settled on the edge of the bed, Emma's eyes flicked to her, then back to where Cruella and Ursula stood, leaning against the wall as far from the crackling heat of Emma as possible while still in the room.
Then Maleficent began to tremble and Emma stopped paying attention to anyone else.
It was a good sign, Mal responding like a hypothermia victim, and shivering was good, but Emma growled low and soft in her throat, muscles tense and eyes burning as her entire attention was taken up by the woman in her arms. Emma wrapped around her, protecting her as if she were a horde of jewels. Mal's eyes still hadn't opened, and her trembling worsened before it improved.
At one point, Ursula stepped away from the wall toward the bed and Emma growled, the sound rumbling low in her chest and reverberating through the room. It was not a sound a human throat could have made. Ursula nodded in satisfaction and stepped back, but Regina had to swallow several times to get her voice to work.
"It's all right,"Regina whispered to calm her. "She's safe with us. We won't hurt her."
"And here I thought it might take more than a little dragon's breath to bring out the possessive side in the little princess," Cruella remarked. She stepped away from the wall and started going through Regina's drawers, presumably looking for something to change Mal and Emma into instead of their ruined clothing.
"That was hardly a little dragon's breath," Ursula said. She held some of the diluted potion up, sealed tight in a jar for later. "That much would have roasted you or I from the inside, probably Regina too."
Regina let them talk, their familiar bickering fading into the background. Emma was her whole focus now. Emma who shifted restlessly and whose shoulders moved as if searching for the wings that weren't there. Emma who held Mal's head against her chest and bared her teeth at Regina, but relaxed when she didn't get too close.
"It's all right," Regina sought to assure her again. "We just want to look after her." Regina wanted more than that. She wanted to touch Emma, feel the heat of her skin, knowing instinctively that their magic would combine, rushing together like two steams meeting, heady and potent."Is she mine?" Emma
asked, her voice guttural and deep in her chest. "She feels like
mine."
"She's a friend," Regina answered, temporising. For some reasons she couldn't place, she was
jealous of Emma or Maleficent, perhaps of both of them and the way they were entwined so tightly together. It had been so long since anyone had held Regina like that. Rationally, she knew the situation wouldn't last. It was only temporary. The magic would wear off and Emma would be iEmma/i again, awkward and brave, too caring and far too appealing in her own, so very human ways, but not a dragon, not channeling fire in her veins.
All Regina had to do was resist the almost magnetic pull Emma gave off with every wave of heat.
Regina didn't remember it ever being this bad with Maleficent and someday when there was time she would ponder whether that was due to Maleficent's nature, or her own changing desires, but that would have to wait.
Cruella and Ursula continued to talk. Their easy conversation about how none of Regina's pyjames were going to fit Maleficent, and the promise of breakfast, helped remind Regina that the worst of it was over. Maleficent's shivering had slowed, her breathing was calm now, and as she lay in Emma's arms, she could have been sleeping.
Now they just had to wait for Emma.
And then Emma shattered all of Regina's careful distance with a single question. She ran one hand over Maleficent's bare arm, following the same path, as if marking her with her fingertips. Regina's eyes followed the hypnotic pattern, her own hands clenched in her lap to keep from reaching out. She was so busy staying still and not upsetting Emma she didn't realise that she was being watched.
"Are you mine, then?" Emma asked. It was soft and curious, almost innocent, but the rumble of 'other' of 'dragon' still echoed somewhere below the human range of hearing, making the air shiver and taking Regina's breath away. Startled, she looked up, straight into Emma's fire-filled gaze.
Behind her, Ursula listened to something Cruella whispered and chuckled. After sharing a look, they left the bedroom. "To get something for everyone to eat, darling," Cruella explained. Regina barely heard her. She didn't care where they were going, or even that they were most likely about to rummage through her kitchen, have someone deliver food, or somehow make a mess. None of it mattered.
Maleficent was alive and healing, fast asleep in Emma's arms, and Emma stared at Regina in a way that left no doubt as to what the answer to her question was. With Cruella and Ursula gone, it was just them. Regina stared at Maleficent's still face first, almost willing her to wake and help her deal with the dragon she'd dredged up in Emma. She'd know what to do, because all Regina wanted was thoroughly inappropriate. She wanted to surrender, to let Emma take her, own her, to hear Emma's draconic whisper of possession and reply that she was, that she'd always be, hers.
"Are you mine?" Emma asked again.
Regina closed her eyes, despairing. She'd hoped Emma might let the question go. She should have known she wasn't that lucky.
Her throat was dry from fear. If she lied, Emma might sense it, might become angry. But if she told the truth, there was no telling what response it might trigger, or what the repercussions might be. She wasn't even sure how much of this Emma would remember. There wasn't a lot of precedent for the side effects of humans drinking dragon fire.
Emma tilted her head just slightly and for a second Regina could have sworn she saw those soft pink lips stretch into a familiar smirk. If they did though, the expression was gone in an instant.
It was still her undoing. "Yes," she whispered, hating herself for the weakness even as she couldn't avoid it. Nearly losing Maleficent, seeing Emma like this, it was almost too much. She remembered so clearly what it had been like with Maleficent, how she'd been cared for and how gentle Mal had been. It was tangled up in her head with her complicated feelings for Emma and the pull of the dragon's magic.
Thankfully, Emma merely smiled, her lips curling back from her teeth as if she had just confirmed something she had already known. And if that were true…Regina's mind shied from the implications even as her heart lurched in her chest.
"Good," Emma said simply, settling then and getting comfortable on the pillows, holding Mal's sleeping body close.
Regina let out a breath she had no awareness of holding.
Emma could have her, heart and body, when ishe/i asked, not the dragon.
Regina wasn't sure how long she'd sat there, listening to both of them breathing, watching Emma trace her fingertips over Mal's skin like claws over scales. Emma's eyes shut after some time, and they lay there, spooned together while Regina worried for them both. She couldn't leave them, even though her front door was still lying in ruins downstairs. She didn't know if they'd be safe. If she could count on Emma's to remain quiet and Maleficent to keep breathing. She lowered her hand to Mal's wrist, counting out a pulse that mirrored her own, firm and regular.
Emma's fingers caught hers, the movement so quick that Regina gasped. The grip was tight, but not yet painfully so. "Was she yours?"
"Almost, a long time ago," Regina replied without thinking, Emma's touch making her that
much harder to keep her distance. And what was the point in lying now? She knew
Emma – even without the dragon – had been wondering about her and Mal since the
trio of witches had shown up. She owed Emma the truth of this, however the question was asked. And it was a question she still struggled with herself. Perhaps they could have been something wonderful together. Maybe she would have been able to find happiness with Mal
and a child but… but their baby wouldn't have been Henry and a path without Henry was one Regina could never accept. The world needed her son as much as she and Emma did.
"She smells of you," Emma said. Her voice still echoed with the other, the dragon side. She didn't seem angry, or jealous, simply taking stock of the situation.
Then she pulled Regina's hand to her nose, turning her wrist and breathing deeply the scent of Regina's skin, a low rumble rolling from her throat.
The unexpected touch and the sound set Regina's heart racing even though she was still sitting on the bed. Regina couldn't smell anything other than the remnants of the potion and scorched blankets, but Emma must have found something in the scent, because she smiled. It was not a wholly human smile, and yet even now there was something familiar about the line of Emma's mouth, the quirk of those pink lips and the flash of teeth.
Not letting go of Regina's wrist, Emma slipped out of the blankets, turning Regina around and guiding her up, off the bed and back towards the wall. Her touch was gentle but her whole body radiated intensity and intent. Emma's eyes lingered on her neck, her lips and her chest.
Suddenly, Regina's back pressed against the cool surface of the wall.
Emma kept moving, slipping closer.
"You don't smell of me," she whispered, her voice still echoing as if her chest were so much deeper than it was.
She still radiated heat and magic and being next to her was like standing in the sun for too long. Regina's knees melted, her heart pounding against her chest. She iyearned/i. For what it hardly even seem to matter, only that she needed more.
"We haven't," Regina managed, her throat dry and lips clumsy as she answered the unspoken
question. "Our relationship… isn't like that." Her voice sounded weak, breathy, and Regina
hated that she didn't feel guilty about it.
Hissing softly, Emma nipped at the air above Regina's neck. Her breath felt hot enough to blister, but Regina's skin didn't register pain.
Emma wrinkled her nose and shook her head slowly. Regina couldn't help remembering Maleficent when she'd first met her, how she'd advanced so quickly, even in her drugged state. Maleficent had a violent temper and lightning quick moods.
Even like this, though, Emma was different. There was a calm about her, the fire inside steady
like the sun, and not wild like it had been with Maleficent.
She didn't ask why they weren't closer, nor did she demand they rectify that problem now,
immediately, up against the wall the way Regina's blood screamed that they should. But she didn't back away.
"I should mark you," Emma said, lips close to Regina's neck, making it more of a
promise than a threat. The way she pressed against Regina almost burned through
her clothing. "I should make you mine."
"Mark?" Regina's voice cracked.
There was no malice in Emma's eyes. They still shone too bright, too green, almost alien, but Regina wasn't afraid. She didn't fear Emma's touch, or her marking, whatever that
would entail. She probably should have been, but somewhere between the bed and having her shoulder blades pressed to the wall, she'd crossed a line. Her stomach flipped over, as if she were at the very top of a rollercoaster and she was all too aware of the heat building within her, a very human, non-magical kind of heat. Regina wanted Emma, all of her, even, or perhaps especially, this dragon driven side of her.
There was a flash of very white teeth as Emma smiled. Her tongue danced just above the skin of Regina's neck, and Regina's knees turned to water as understanding dawned. A mating bite, that's what Emma wanted to mark her with. Mal had talked about it, warned her, and let
her decide if she wanted to share herself that totally but Regina had held back then, already too bent on her revenge against Snow White to accept the possibility of what Maleficent was offering.
Now she was faced with the same choice…and there was nothing standing in her way. Nothing
but the knowledge that Emma might not truly be ready for this, that when the dragon born emotions inside her faded, this would be too much, and she'd run. Then again, Emma wasn't a full dragon. Perhaps the effects of the bite would only last for the next few hours.
Either way, it hardly mattered. Regina wanted everything. She wanted Emma's teeth on her skin, her claws on her flesh and no more of the frustrating separation of fabric between
them.
"Can I mark you?" Emma asked and something was different. Regina blinked, struggling to
focus on Emma's face, not just the feel of her body pressed against her. She was there, in green eyes that didn't burn quite as brightly, in the tilt of her mouth and the emotion, the gentleness of the question. It wasn't just the dragon. This was Emma, really Emma. She was still Emma, just brighter, stronger, and less afraid to make her feelings known. She was there, beneath; Regina could feel her.
The last of Regina's resistance faded away like smoke on the wind and she nodded, her voice barely a moan when she replied. "Yes."
It was fast. Regina wasn't expecting that. She'd thought…she wasn't sure, but maybe that Emma would toy with her, tease her, but there was almost nothing, just the soft brush of
lips against her skin and then a quick bright sting. She gasped, tensing against Emma but the other woman was already pulling back, just a little, too-hot lips nuzzling the line of Regina's throat as Regina struggled to make sense of what had just happened.
Then Emma purred with approval and a kiss pressed into the corner of Regina's jaw.
"Mine." Emma murmured softly against Regina's skin.
Reaching up haltingly, she brought her hand to her neck. Her fingertips came away red, though there were only a few drops of blood. Emma had human teeth, not the needle-like daggers that would fill the mouth of a true dragon, yet Regina's skin had been pierced. She was marked. Emma had been content just to hold Maleficent and touch her skin, hadn't needed to taste her. With Regina, she did. She wanted her blood, and now that she had it, Emma grinned and retreated to the bed again as if content to nest there.
When she was gone, Regina shivered from the sudden loss of heat. She took a deep breath, trying to collect herself as she leant against the wall.
"That can't be undone, you know." That voice was so weak that Regina barely heard it over her own rushing heartbeat. That wasn't Emma, because she was content on the pillows. Her
eyes followed Regina, hungry and proud at the same time. She hadn't spoken.
Mal's eyes fluttered, then opened wearily as if the lids were too heavy to lift at all. "So it was bad."
"You nearly got yourself killed," Regina said, surprised by the sharpness of her own reply. "The Squid turned up with your body, as if you'd been electrocuted."
"Sucked dry," Mal corrected. She ran her tongue over her dry lips and slowly became aware of the motion of her fingers. "I thought it might-"
"But you hoped you'd survive it?" Regina asked, caught between fury and relief. "You thought what, you'd become powerful enough not to need your magic?"
"Perhaps become weak enough that I didn't," Mal answered. She moved her head the
smallest amount, and Emma had to help her lift her chin.
Regina sat back down on the edge of the bed, now welcomed by Emma's sniff of approval. She grabbed one of the jars of leftover potion and unscrewed the lid. Calling up a straw with magic from downstairs into her hand, she held it out to Mal as if she were Henry, home sick from school.
Mal closed her lips slowly around the straw as if they were painful, or bruised. She managed a sip, then started to cough so violently that Emma had to hold her steady. The cough came deep from her chest and sounded wet, as if she'd been drowned in water instead of simply deprived of magic.
Regina touched her cheek, sympathetic to her pain and making no effort to hide her concern."It'll be better if you drink this," Regina said.
Mal fought to keep her eyes open, but somehow she clung to consciousness. Steam slipped from her lips as she exhaled.
"You made dragon fire," Mal said. Her mouth moved slowly into a painful smile. "I'm...impressed."
"Emma, can you help me sit her up?" Regina asked, pulling back a little to give them room to move. Emma's expression turned suspicious again for a moment, but she helped arrange the pillows so Mal could be propped up on her own. Regina pulled the blanket up, because Mal's clothing had been burned to ash, and it didn't seem right to stare at her naked. Even though she'd been pressed so intimately against Emma, that was restorative. Now, she had started to return to herself and should be protected.
Emma watched them both as if ready to pounce if they weren't civil to each other.
"Drink," Regina ordered, and Emma watched over her shoulder. Maleficent managed a
few more sips before another coughing fit took her. This time she coughed up steam and something dark, like water mixed with charcoal. Wiping her mouth with a towel, Regina frowned. "I've never seen magic turn out this badly."
"Letting a flame go out does less damage than dousing the fire," Mal said, her voice a croak. Emma took the jar from Regina and held it up. Regina glanced around but there weren't any clothes in the guest room. Cruella had said something about getting something for Maleficent to wear, but perhaps they were still out.
Emma muttered encouragement when Mal lost herself in coughing again. More dark water, like black ink, trickled from her lips, but Emma's hands were steady and calm as they held her. Regina watched her lean close, touching her forehead to Mal's and breathing with her when the coughing grew too pained. She was still Emma, underneath. She had to be. She
still had Emma's compassion, her kindness, even mixed with the dragon.
Even though Regina needed clothing, food, Maleficent's spell book and time to catch her breath, she could barely leave either of them. Mal's weakness tugged at her heart as Henry's had whenever he was ill, and something deeper, more wanting, couldn't bare to be out of Emma's sight.
She couldn't leave. She waved her hand absently and summoned some of Maleficent's and Emma's clothing from their drawers with a thought. Emma had to help her dress Mal, because her limbs weren't responding and any time spent lying down just turned into more coughing. One of Regina's white towels was already soaked with the black liquid from her lungs. There was no blood on her lips, and she'd managed to stay conscious even though she coughed so hard that tears came to her eyes.
Emma changed behind Regina, apparently ignorant of how beautiful she was. She stripped down and put on her new clothing as if Regina couldn't see her perfect skin, and the curves of her stomach. She knew better. She knew this wasn't them, that they weren't together, no matter what the dragon part of Emma had done, yet Regina wanted her so badly that her blood sang.
"You can take some of it from her," Mal whispered, still struggling for enough breath to speak. "You can share it."
"Share it?" Regina repeated. Maleficent knew what she was suggesting. Regina had seen that smile before. Had she watched Regina's face while Emma changed? Was Regina that transparent in her affection? Had Maleficent seen the bite? Could she sense it somehow?
She didn't seem angry or jealous, and Regina was so accustomed to not being trusted, being jealously guarded by her former husband, that she looked between both women, absolutely confused.
"Don't you think feeling your inner dragon is the kind of experience that you should share?" Mal asked, smirking even as she struggled to hold up her head.
Emma agreed with her. Her hand stroked the small of Regina's back, teasing her through the thin fabric of her nightgown. Her fingers worked upwards, stroking along Regina's spine, then finding her bare back. Trembling where she stood, Regina turned away from Mal in the bed, because her weak smile was too knowing.
Emma waited for her and her hand ran up Regina's neck, easing her closer. Emma's green eyes threatened to drown her, and Regina let them. She let herself go, surrendering to Emma the way she'd never given herself to anyone. She'd been taken most of this life, controlled by her mother, then her husband, then Rumplestiltskin. She'd been handed from one person to another like a trophy. She'd repeated that, hurting Graham the way she'd been hurt. Controlling him as she had been. She hadn't known this need, this kind of desire, and it frightened her even as Emma drew her in.
Emma didn't want to control her, even as a beast of legend, Emma wanted her. Emma's hand brushed against Regina's cheek, pulling her closer, further in. Her lips parted and her head tilted to the side, welcoming Regina in. They shared a breath, and the heat of Emma drew her in. Her lips parted, her heart fluttered in her throat, and fire crackled against her lips, then in her mouth. Emma let her close the gap, waiting for Regina, and the connection of their flesh came almost as an afterthought.