Chapter 21

The journey home

Regina finds herself standing on a green hill overlooking a vast blue ocean. The day is gorgeous as a cool sea breeze hits her whole body. A welcome contrast to the warm sun hitting her back. She confidently walks forward past a massive fig tree as she feels the blades of grass sneaking through the exposed portions of her sandals. She decides she might as well take off her sandals as she enjoys feeling the cool grass beneath her. A tall and handsome man, familiar to her and expected, appears in her line of sight at the foot of the hill. He turns around and smiles brightly at her as he embraces her so passionately she is lifted off the ground. This blonde haired man is incredibly strong and agile. They begin to speak in a language she doesn't recognize but she knows inside he comes will terrible news. The beautiful man is troubled and she feels it deep within her.

Regina feels prodigious anguish as he turns away. The next thing she knows the sky is screaming with lightning and thunder, and all has turned to darkness and grey. The wind is howling and the fig tree has gone barren. She frantically searches for the man but she cannot find him. There is someone else with her, urging her, pleading with her. A beautiful woman that doesn't seem to touch the now yellow, dying grass. Before she knows it she is falling from the precipice of her hill but before it's too late she sees him. He found me she realizes! The man's face is blurry with shadows but she knows that it's him as he charges forward to save her only to be stopped by the beautiful woman. Regina hears his cries as she tries to find his eyes all while she plummets towards her ocean bound death. The last thing she sees, as his face up above begins to come out of the shadows is not the man...but instead, staring frantically down at her in his place is Emma.

Regina startles in a jolt, feeling her body rack violently as she's certain she's hit the rocks in the sea!

"Mom!"

"Henry?" Opening her eyes she feels a crushing hug as Henry knocks her back. She surveys her surroundings and finds she's back home; laying on the ground in front of the lake in Storybrook, Maine. She looks passed him to find Snow and Charming fretting over a confused looking Emma. 'Emma!' Regina quickly disregards her strange vision as her thoughts focus on the last thing she remembered before it.

Just a moment ago she stood in Tartarus, watching herself, dead. Standing next to Hades she looked on as Emma held half her heart in her hand. She saw the hesitation in Emma's eyes as they looked at one another. The hesitation worried Regina greatly as she knew Emma was running out of time. She would never forgive herself if Emma found herself trapped forever in hell as she was. But beyond the dubiety Regina could see an emotion in Emma's eyes that was so incredibly intense. Something, that if she wasn't a spirit, surely would have sent chills up her spine. There was a wild passion in Emma's gaze boring into her own. And in a second it was as if Emma's pupils focused in on the deliverance of decision; a mental clarity she could see pouring out from her at once. At that moment Regina's world stopped as she knew that Emma had readily decided to give her heart away. Regina blamed her dreadful suspense and imminent pain on knowing that once the pirate had life again she would be alone in the underworld. But something else kept gnawing at her. Why this moment felt to her like such a train wreck she couldn't comprehend. As painful as this experience was becoming she couldn't turn away from her friend. Suddenly, her best friend, the brave Savior turned to Hook and Regina could only think, 'Here it comes.' The last thing Regina ever suspected was that Emma, meeting her eyes one last time, with all the certainty in the world and without batting an eyelash, plunges her hand into her lifeless corpse. At that very moment everything went white. Soon after, the strange vision came.

Regina unconsciously clutches at her chest now, feeling the strongest heartbeat imaginable. 'I have her...Emma GAVE me her..?!' Regina cannot complete the thought even in her mind as the very thing that is causing her turmoil sits in her chest giving her palpitations.

"Mom are you okay?" Henry worriedly asks as she nods her head in a silent but awestruck yes.

"Are you guys okay?" Henry excitedly shouts back and forth to both his mom's as he squeezes Regina's shoulders and runs to check on Emma.

"Regina." A warm and strong embrace from Robin. "I'm truly sorry about before. I don't know what came over me."

Regina, not capable of focusing on anything now except what she just came from asks, "How long were we gone?"

"How long?" Robin looks as perplexed as Regina feels.

"I mean was it days, weeks...it couldn't have been months? I assume time is different but..."

"No, no wait...days? Regina the three of you were just here. Right now."

When Regina stares at him blankly he continues to explain, "I mean you went off on the boat but as soon as you disappeared you reappeared here. All three of you. You weren't even gone a full five minutes." Robin keeps talking about something related to the mission and Hook but Regina is distracted again.

She looks to see Gold picking himself off the ground and dusting himself off. He's looking between her and the Charmings as if he's about to say something. 'By God she'll kill him right where he stands if he dare open his mouth!' Thankfully he's attention is drawn away. She sees Belle tentatively approaching him. Regina lets out a sigh of relief. She doesn't know what's happening and the last thing she needs is anyone knowing more than she does.

Robin helps her up but she can't help but look straight at Emma again who hasn't stopped gawking at her. Regina, for once, is speechless. She doesn't know what to say or do or how to behave. She's in shock at now having not one but two memories of dying (if the second even was a memory?) but she's even more in shock of what is currently keeping her alive. At the thought of it she's experiencing something she so rarely feels...she's frightened. Fear is becoming a trend for her since her stay at Tartarus but the very thing that wants to frighten her suddenly sends a wave of warmth through her. She wants to teleport away from all of this yet she stands frozen in place. She simply cannot look away from Emma.

Snow runs towards her. "Regina! Are you alright?" Snow looks between her daughter and Regina wondering what ever happened that has them both mute. "You both must have been through so much. Here you were only gone minutes."

"So I heard."

Snow decides to ignore her sarcasm as she already knows it's her self defense. Which seems to only emerge under extremely stressful circumstances. She wonders again what the hell happened. But it couldn't have been anything good when Hook didn't survive the journey. "Why don't we get you guys into Granny's diner for something to eat."

Snow wasn't really asking.

At that Regina blinks away from her and the 'Emma' trance she was under, "Actually I need to go home." She says rather sternly.

"Oh ok. Well...let us know if you need anything." Snow knows better than to push her former step-mother and current friend.

Regina nods her head. Robin moves in to lead her by the arm.

"Robin I think I need to rest. Why don't you come by tomorrow?"

"No, that's absurd. I can stay with you."

"No really." She truly doesn't want to hurt his feelings. "I think it'd be best if I stayed alone tonight."

"Are you certain?" He looks at the woman he loves with concern written all over his face. But the tell tale eyes of Regina let him know everything he needs to know without words.

"Well, I can at least escort you home." He looks confused and injured.

"Mom...you ready to go?" 'Gotta love Henry when he interrupts your adult conversations.'

"That's alright Robin, thank you...I've got Henry. Please just get some rest yourself. I'll see you tomorrow." She smiles lightly to reassure him.

He smiles back and kisses her cheek, "Alright. I'll see you first thing in the morning."

Regina suppresses an eye roll and she's suddenly hyperaware at her annoyance with his persistence. The truth was she didn't care to see him in the morning. Perhaps she was still angry with him from their argument when they left for Tartarus. Perhaps Robin lately had been getting on her nerves at times. Maybe he always had. Why this worried her she didn't know. All couples got on each other's nerves every now and again. But she felt the familiar pang of indifference. Regina suddenly couldn't get away any faster. Because the person she did want to go home with, the person who always irritated her but she could never disregard, was Emma. And right now she needed to create some serious space with her supposed best friend. She 'just needed some time to think' she told herself.

As Regina walks off with Henry, she can't help but look over her shoulder at Emma; who is being guided away by her parents but Emma is also looking over her shoulder for she can't take her eyes off of Regina.