The next morning when they were ready to go, Emma pulled out the map. Pan had changed the location again. This was going to make their journey a lot harder. They all stood arguing on what to do next.
"We should split up," Hook suggested.
"And why, may I ask, should we do that?" Snow said.
"No splitting up," Charming stated.
"I don't believe you're in charge of this journey, Charming," Regina retorted.
"What do you suggest we do, Regina?" Snow asked smartly.
"I'm not the leader. Whatever Emma wants us to do, I suppose." She was standing next to Emma. She leaned toward the blonde and just above a whisper, stated, "but if we split up, I'm not going with the happy couple."
"Little obedient one, queen? What are you playing at?" Hook asked Regina stepped in toward him.
"I won't have any more blame on me for things I haven't done. I have enough blame for the bad I have done."
"Guys, enough!" Emma raised her voice. "There's only one map, so we're not splitting up."
"We'd better get going," Tinkerbell said.
Emma stared at the map a moment more, pointing to a part of the island they hadn't yet been to. "We'll head this way. Maybe we can head him off from the next camping area, if he changes again."
They left, Emma leading, Regina trailing behind the group. She wanted to be near Emma, but she didn't want the blonde, or the rest of the group to know. Regina had felt what Emma's feelings were. Emma was so sincere and fairly innocent and Regina felt the pull of it. The blonde was likely the most innocent person on the island. The brunette wanted to fell it. She hadn't felt that type of innocence since the moments before her mom had killed Daniel. Still, she was cautious.
Emma didn't want Regina to know she wanted to be close to her. She didn't care about using magic. Actually if she was being honest, she didn't want to use magic at all. Something in her had changed and it made her need the queen. It bothered her, though, not knowing if this connection was because of their magic, or if their magic was because of a connection. She wanted to know but if she was being honest with herself, she wasn't sure it really mattered at this point. All she wanted was to find Henry, and on her way to finding Henry she wanted the dark haired queen near her, beside her. She imagined Regina's full lips against her own, but shook that thought off.
Hook walked up beside Emma and stayed mostly silent. He trekked along next to her, supporting her over obstacles and helping prevent her tripping.
"I appreciate your doting, but I am quite capable of walking," Emma said.
"What can I say, any excuse to be near you," Hook joked. He looked behind them at the other four followers. The injured Charming and his wife Snow, both looking at each other adoringly. Tinkerbell, angry to be near Regina but grateful to be with people. Regina, who couldn't stop looking at Emma, always searching the other four pairs of eyes before looking at the blonde. "I'll tell you, though, Emma, Regina keeps looking longingly at you."
Emma turned around and looked at Regina, who was in fact staring at her. Regina's eyes caught Emma's and the brunette cast her eyes down. The blonde's heart began to race and she looked forward. "Regina and I just want the same thing. You aren't here to save Henry, and even though Snow and Charming want to save Henry, it isn't for the same reason."
"I know you and the queen want the same thing, it just doesn't necessarily have to do with Henry right now." Emma gave the pirate a sideways glance, rolling her eyes.
"Shut up, Hook." Even as she said it, she knew he was right. The way Regina had been looking at her was warmer than she had seen Regina look at anyone aside from Henry, even Graham and they had been sleeping together.
"I'm telling you darling, it's true."
"Can you help me?"
"It depends, I fancy you, I'm not sure I want to assist you in your journey to be with the queen. Well, unless you'll both have me," he tried slyly.
"Right, gross, no. Also, please, just keep leading, I'll be back." Emma turned around; when Snow and Charming gave her inquisitorial looks she just shook her head and kept going. When she got back to Regina, the brunette gave a small smile.
"We're making good time, Emma," Regina said.
"Yeah, I'm hoping we can get there today so Pan doesn't change camps again."
"A wishful goal."
"Let me ask you, if we touch, magic happens, right? But I grabbed your arm the other day and nothing happened."
"Well, you grabbed my arm through my sleeve, maybe it has to be skin on skin."
"So, just anytime we touch, magic will happen, if our skin is touching."
"I guess, I mean, maybe it's just because it's untamed magic. I don't really have much experience with this either."
"I don't have any experience with any type of magic except what I've used with you."
"We're a match, I guess. You're the good to my evil, equal parts I guess."
"I wish I could figure out what that means."
"Maybe you will, someday."
They found food on their journey and all decided it would do good to break in the middle of the day and walk into the night. While the others rested, Emma wandered around, hidden in the trees looking for clarity. She leaned against a tree and leaned over with her palms on her thighs. She heard the sound of someone clearing her throat. She turned her head to the right and squinted against the sun.
"Regina."
"Emma."
"Can't seem to stay apart today."
"Can't seem to want to stay apart is more like it."
"You're feeling it, too, then?"
"Then need to be near each other?"
"Yes. I don't like it. Is it the magic?"
"As flattered as I am, Miss Swan, that you think I know everything, this is one situation in which I know next to nothing more than you do."
"Hmm, fine. I'll blame it on the magic."
"You do that."
"Do you prefer to think of it as something else?"
"I don't know. I've lived so long with the magic as part of me. Magic has been the strongest part of me. Then I created the curse that made Storybrooke and I wanted someone to love, because people want someone to love. That's when I got Henry. And even though I didn't actually have magic while we were in Storybrooke, the magic I had before is what created my life there, everyone's life."
"I already know this story, Regina."
"I have a point," she stated. "Anyway, of all the magic I've used, none of it has every made me feel good. Lighter, better, the way doing this magic with you has. That's what makes me think it isn't magic."
"But?"
"But, it is a type of magic, that's obvious. I'm just trying to figure out how it's working. Emma, look at me."
Emma stood straight up, back against the tree and Regina stepped forward. They were less than half a foot away from each other and Regina stared into her eyes like she had never seen them before.
"Emma Swan, I cannot figure out the creature you are."
Emma opened her mouth to respond. She couldn't, though. She didn't know herself. Born of true love, but raised jumping from home to home, not having anyone to love her. She was supposed to have been a princess, something that wouldn't have fit her anyway. She was an orphan. That was how she could see the map. That was what she wanted to tell Regina, but she couldn't bring herself to speak. Instead, she took a small step forward, closing the gap between the two of them and put her lips to Regina's. The brunette made a move, as though she couldn't be near her, and Emma grabbed her at the shoulders and held Regina where she was, and placed her lips back to the brunette's.
The kiss started off slow, light, Emma testing Regina's limits. Something about the sunlight made it feel off, too. All the magic they had been using had been during the night. Eyes closed, Regina pushed her lips into Emma's in return. The kiss became stronger, the two women grasping at each other. Regina's hands were on Emma's waist, pulling her body into her, and using her body to force the blonde back against the tree. Emma released the brunette's shoulders in favor of moving her hands into the dark, silken hair of the other woman.
The kiss didn't spark the red glow it had the other times they used magic together. This time it flooded Emma's mind with images of Regina and all of Regina's emotions. She felt the brunette's feelings toward her, the hatred the woman had felt at Emma's arrival. The feeling of hate dissolved into annoyance, then tolerance and now, Emma felt Regina's enjoyment. For Regina, she felt the blonde's confusion. They kissed only a moment longer, releasing each other in the need for clean air. When the two women separated, Emma touched her fingertips to her mouth, and Regina clutched her stomach. She stepped in toward the blonde again and pulled her into another kiss, desperation filling every crack between them. It grew heated, her full lips kissing the smaller, warmer ones. She took Emma's bottom lip between her teeth and bit gently, tugging. She slipped her tongue into the blonde's mouth; tasting her and underneath Emma's moan, relaxed and slowed the kiss, pulling herself away.
The two knew that they had crossed a point of no return.