Dreamscape

by B of Ericaland

AU Every night when Queen Emma falls asleep she becomes Emma Swan, or is it the other way around? When she meets beautiful Regina in both worlds simultaneously, she begins to question all she's ever believed.

3. The Ripples of True Love Lost

DISCLAIMER:: not mine yada yada.

A/N:: only posting this because it was already all uploaded and edited. the updates for this and all my stories will be few and far between as unfortunately my mother broke one of my fingers and i can't type effectively. i have to do that chicken peck typing with my opposite hand, my non-typing hand, and it's very slow going. thanks to everyone who's shown any intrerest in this story. after this chapter it should be pretty clear what movie this is modeled after, as well as the parallels between that other show. either way, i'll tell you at the end of the chapter their names, just in case you want to check them out. that is all. enjoy and review.

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-Chapter 2: The Ripples of True Love Lost-

"My Queen? My Queen you must come down from there!"

Emma awoke with a start, hard wood at her back and underneath her legs. She looked down at the cords tied around her brown leather trousers, securing her to the thick branch of the tree. She'd fallen asleep while out hunting yet again. When she had been a Princess, none of that had mattered, but now that she was older, and a Queen, it wouldn't do if someone stumbled across the Queen asleep in a tree.

"My Queen?" Emma looked down to the ground where a familiar face stared back up at her. Daniela had been with her for a very long time, her mentor, best friend, and closest confidante. Her long brown hair was pulled up today as it almost always was, making her look older than she did when it was down. Funny that the woman had been with her since her toddler years and yet she still had a face much like Emma's own. She never seemed to age a day and it was something, if she were at all vain, Emma might envy. Her dark blue eyes stared up at Emma meaningfully. "The King has been asking for you. He wishes to speak with you regarding the matter of… your father."

Emma frowned. Were they to rehash this argument yet again? It really was growing quite tiresome. With a sigh she unbound the cords, pushing them away from her legs and leapt down from branch to branch until her boots gave a healthy crunch as they landed on fallen leaves and other debris from nature.

"How many times have I cautioned you against venturing into the woods so late in the evening? You know better my Queen. With the sleeping sickness, I fear one day you will not make it to the trees and the wolves will stumble upon you."

Emma waved off Daniela's concern. "You caution is endearing but ill placed Ella. You know I have decent control over it now. Besides, I have had twenty seven and a half years of practice. I know when it's coming." She led the way back through the woods in the direction of the castle.

"How was your day?"

Emma didn't need her to clarify; she knew the woman was talking about her day there.

"It was… quite different actually. I… met a boy."

"I thought you agreed that you were going to stop these pointless trysts?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "Not that kind of boy. An actual boy. It was him Ella, my son. He… he found me." She grinned over her shoulder at the woman.

Daniela's eyes shot open wide. "And… how does that make you feel?"

Emma shrugged. On one hand it made her deliriously happy. She had never wanted to give Henry up, not by a long shot. Those green eyes that had seemed to stare into her soul as she held him in her seventeen year old arms. She'd wanted him with every fibre of her being. But it wasn't in his best interests and she knew… mothers must sacrifice for the good of their children. She'd learned that lesson long ago, but it was one that was constantly on her shoulders. Henry would have had no life with her, none at all. So she'd given him his best chance. And still, he'd found her. In a world where she made it a point to never retain any sort of permanence, he'd found her. It seemed fated. And yet, there was that small voice in the back of her mind that reminded her that she could still not offer him the life he deserved. She couldn't be a part of his world, never fully at least. Not while she was also a part of this one. "I've taken him home to the woman who adopted him. I'll linger a few days, see that he's settled and he won't attempt to find me again. Then I'll leave. I packed the locket and blanket in the trunk of the car, so I won't even bother going back to Boston. I'll just head for…" She ran through cities in her mind. "Minneapolis."

Daniela was quiet for a time. "You want to stay with him, don't you?"

Emma nodded. "The town… I know it sounds crazy, but… everyone there is from here."

Daniela paled, shaking her head in disbelief. "What do you mean?"

"It's odd. But the Huntsman, that man for hire out of the pub down in Peppergray, he's the Sheriff and Widow Lucas runs the inn and a small dining establishment, with the help of Red of course. And then… she's there."

"Who?"

Emma slowed to a stop, her eyes haunted and downcast. "Mother."

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Emma paused outside the door of the tower room. Once this had been one of her favorite places in the castle. It had been a place of solitude, of peace. But no longer. Now all she felt when she stepped into the room was the culmination of all that had been lost to her, all that had been taken. With a sigh, she pushed open the door.

It hadn't changed since the yesterday of this world, not that she ever expected it to. She glanced around the walls where the drawings and paintings glared back at her, her mother at various times in her adulthood, short lived as it had been, all of which she looked happy. Emma felt the familiar pangs of love lost swirling in the abyss of her soul and she had to steel herself to fight against it. The sharp pains of her guilt always felt the most intense here in the tower. But she couldn't bear to seal the tower off. No, because even though this was the place where Snow White still lingered, it was also his place. Her hell was his sanctuary.

"I've brought you lunch Daddy."

James was no longer the Prince Charming of old. He'd fallen apart before her very eyes after Snow's death and Emma knew that without Daniela, she would have been lost. James had lost his true love and this was what remained. A broken man locked away in a tower cell, by his own hand, trapped in the prison of his memories of a love that would never again exist.

James didn't even look up from his seat at his canvas. He was drawing again, always drawing. Whatever image he'd seen of her in his dreams, he must recreate it, lest he forget her face. It was sad seeing her father reduced to this, the part of a once whole soul that still remained, doomed to remember its other half. When one doesn't know their incomplete, the cannot possibly miss the feeling of being complete, of being one with another being. That's why Emma herself had married for practical reasons, not for love; she preferred to remain blissfully ignorant. True love was not worth the destruction it left when it was destroyed.

"I dreamt of a curious town last night Daddy. This place, called Storybrooke. It's run by the woman. Regina... that was her name. She…"

The charcoal fell from James's hand and collided with the floor with a thud that seemed to reverberate through the room.

"The Evil Queen." James's voice was barely above a whisper, as if in his years of silence and solitude, he had almost forgotten how to use it.

"Daddy?" Emma set the tray down on the bedside table and rushed forward, standing next to the easel so she could look her father in the face.

James looked lost in thought, alarming Emma. She hadn't seen anything but numbness in him for so long. His eyes moved to hers and it was as if he was seeing her for the first time in almost two decades. And slowly, a grin spread across his face, and Emma saw in his eyes, hope.

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"Where are you going?" Daniela entered the stable and raced over to where Emma was helping the stable boy saddle her prized steed, a mahogany stallion named Freedom.

"I ride for the dwarves, the ones who helped my mother in her time of need. My father said they were the last to see her."

"See who?"

"Reg… er, the Evil Queen. They were carrying her to a drop off point but word is that they never reached it. It's not much but it's the only place I have to start."

"You're going after the Evil Queen?"

Emma froze. She regarded Daniela in a new light. "You know of her?"

Daniela nodded. "There are those who, before the Battle at Fallen Tree would have claimed she was the worst thing to ever happen to this land. As they now know, evil existed long before her and it will continue to endure long after."

Emma bit her lip. "Will you come with me?"

Daniela smiled and inclined her head. "Of course, my Queen."

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"Will you tell me of her?" Emma glanced over at Daniela, riding on a black mare, next to her. They had another three to four hours ride before they reached the cottage where the seven dwarves resided.

Daniela regarded Emma with caution. "What would you like to know?"

Emma shrugged. "Everything, I guess."

Daniela frowned. "The Evil Queen was your mother's sworn enemy. They spent many years bent on each other's destruction."

"Why?"

A smile tugged at the side of Daniela's mouth. "Why indeed. You know, not many people bothered to ask that in those times. They saw your mother as their brave and beautiful leader and that left the Evil Queen to fall into the roll of villain. No one ever questioned why, or where it all started. They weren't born hating each other, the story is much longer and more complicated than that. They loved each other once, quite dearly, but they were manipulated by an evil witch, a woman rotten to her very core."

"Will you tell me the story?"

Daniela gave a quick incline of her head. "Regina came from a family of high regard and nobility. She was hauntingly beautiful, from a very young age. She had many suitors, but none of them struck her fancy. She had her eyes on someone else, a…stable boy." She paused for a brief moment but before Emma could think on it, she launched back into her story. "Her father, a slave to her whims, just figured she was picky and let her have her freedom from an arranged marriage, but her mother, a woman who had sacrificed quite a great many things to raise from her peasant beginnings to a position of nobility, was more suspicious. Regina was careful, she treated the stable boy crossly in the presence of her mother to throw suspicion else where."

Emma was enthralled. She didn't see much of true love at work in her day to day life in either world. She'd certainly never experienced its effects. Her closest brush with it was merely the witness she bore to the downfall of her father. She'd only seen the aftereffects of loss, rather than the benefits. The subject fascinated her. "So what happened?"

"One day, while meeting with the stable boy, a spooked horse, dragging a young girl came speeding by. Regina hopped on her own steed and gave chase. She rescued the girl from being trampled or thrown, saving her very life. The girl, as it were, was a young Princess, the King's only daughter, only child."

"My mother?"

Daniela nodded. "Snow White was visiting with her father, who was making the usual rounds of the high nobles. When the King heard of Regina's deed, he immediately sought Regina's hand in marriage at Snow White's behest. She worshipped Regina from the moment they met. And Regina did love her so. Still, Leopold was not where her heart lie. But it is quite one thing to refuse a Duke or Lord, it is quite another to refuse a King. Regina had no choice but to agree. Still, she made plans to spirit away with the stable boy. She knew a life in squalor in the presence of love was far better than having everything you could ever ask for in the prison of a loveless marriage." Daniela looked at Emma pointedly and the blonde shifted under her gaze.

"I care for Hadrian."

"Caring is a far cry from true love, my Queen."

Emma frowned. She had married Prince Hadrian because it was the proper thing to do. Like every Princess she had her fancy ideas of true love, of the one who would sweep into her life unannounced and just… settle there. But she was almost twenty eight and she never felt even the briefest of stirrings… not until last night. She remembered the feeling of fire that had caressed her skin as it had made contact with Regina's and a smiled crossed her face. But she quickly pushed it back down below the surface. She could never have Regina, all things in that world were fleeting. True love didn't exist there. "Please, continue. Tell me what happened next."

Daniela sighed. "I'm afraid this is where the tale turns dark. The young Princess caught Regina and the stable boy kissing. Regina was able to catch her and swear her to secrecy. Regina taught Snow White the meaning of true love that night. But, Regina's mother was very manipulative. She exploited Snow's weakness, appealing to her desire for a mother. The young Princess told all, tossing away Regina's secrets for a mother's love. It was… wrong, and yet, how can you blame her?" Daniela looked forlorn.

Emma frowned. "Because it's a secret! It's a vow of trust between two people." She shook her head. "She should have kept it."

Daniela inclined her head. "Maybe so, but she didn't all the same."

"So, obviously Regina married Leopold, or else she wouldn't bear the honorific of Queen. But what of her stable boy? Surely he would have fought for her."

"Yes, he would have…" Daniela's brow furrowed and she seemed to struggle to find the right words. "No one but the three people who were there that night- Lady Cora, Lady Regina, and the stable boy- could tell you the exact events that transpired in the stables that night. Rumour has it that Cora used her powers to rip the heart from the stable boy's chest and crush it, still beating, until it was reduced to dust, its owner dead. Others claim that the stable boy was offered a hefty sum and ditched Regina for the payout, that he never truly loved her at all. And still others claim that the stable boy waited in the wings for his chance and they're off somewhere together now, all these years later, living as true love promised them they would one day."

"Which do you believe?"

"That matters not, my Queen."

"It does to me."

Daniela regarded her for a long moment. "I believe there is a thread of truth around which all rumours are wound. So I imagine, part of each theory is true."

Emma nodded, accepting the answer. "Poor Regina."

Daniela smiled. "You do not grieve for the pain your mother suffered at her hands."

Emma shrugged, navigating Freedom around a nasty piece of root that was jutting up from the trail. "Until her last day, my mother led quite a wonderful life. What sort of existence has Regina led? It's easy to grieve for the ones who are close to us, the ones we love, but in that we tend to forget the broken ones, maybe the ones who need our love and support far more. My mother had no lack of friends. From what it seems, Regina had no one on her side."

"Of all the things in the world the Evil Queen felt, loneliness was most certainly chief among them."

Emma felt a pang in her heart. She had no clue if Regina was still alive in this world. Maybe she had run away with the stable boy; maybe she was off somewhere living her happily ever after. But Emma felt an inexplicable need to know, for sure. Because, Emma was starting to realize, though she wasn't quite sure why, that Regina's happiness was detrimental to her own. It was an odd feeling, wanting happiness for a stranger, especially one with such a shadowed past, but she would go with it. For now.

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"Oh boys!" Emma rode into the clearing, a huge grin on her face. She had spent a great deal of time in this cottage as a child. The seven dwarves were like her uncles, her mother's best friends since before she was born. They'd looked out for her, taught her to appreciate diamonds, and, once when Sneezy sneezed a little too hard and blew some fairy dust on her, they'd chased her flying form for miles. That had been an experience.

"Look who it is."

She grinned down at Grumpy and dismounted. "Gather your brothers; I have news."

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Six pairs of eyes stared at her, giving the Queen their full attention. The seventh pair of eyes were hidden behind Sleepy's closed lids. To his credit, he had tried hard to stay awake, but Emma's tone had always had the ability to lull him into slumber. Daniela was making lunch for the group in the cottage's small kitchen.

"What's this about?" Doc looked at her with concern. Emma hadn't visited much since Snow White's passing. There were just too many memories here. They always went to her at the palace, and as they grew older, those trips were becoming less and less frequent.

"I need you all to tell me what you remember about the day I was born."

Grumpy's brow crinkled. "You came all the way out here for sentimental story telling?"

Emma shook her head. "My mother entrusted you with transporting a package, a woman, in a glass coffin. I need to know why you never made the delivery. Every detail."

"Why?"

"Because my father has requested that I discover what became of the woman in that coffin."

"Your father?" Doc sat up straighter. They all did. "He spoke?"

Emma nodded. "I fear if I do not accomplish the task that has been put to me, then I will lose him again. So, please, tell me all you know."

Grumpy shrugged. "There isn't much to tell. We were almost to the drop off point and then…" He trickled off, unsure of what to say.

"All of a sudden we were all convinced we'd already delivered her." Doc finished Grumpy's thought. "We simply… changed our minds. And the cart was empty. There was no reason to question it. Only when your mother received word that we'd never showed did anyone become suspicious of magical intervention."

"You think someone stole the body magically?"

Happy nodded. "We don't think, we know. Your mother sent spell casters and they picked up the remains. But too much time had already passed and they couldn't trace it."

"If someone was trying to protect her, would they have taken her back to her castle?"

"Her castle is no longer hers." Doc shook his head. "It is in the hands of Rumplestiltskin."

"Would he have taken her?"

"He's the one who cursed her in the first place, so I wouldn't see why."

Daniela reappeared, carrying a platter of food. "Anything I missed?"

Emma shook her head. "I don't have any clue where to find her. Someone has either freed her or hid her away. It has to be somewhere no one would think to look or she would have been found by now."

Daniela shrugged. "You currently reside in the summer castle, but Regina spent many years at King Leopold's winter castle. It's at the base of Mount Alda. It's secluded and it's been unoccupied for years. Maybe someone stashed her there."

Emma frowned. It was a long shot. King Leopold and Snow White were both dead. Who else but Regina would know about the winter castle? "It's as good a place as any. I'll start there."

They'd tried to have her stay the night, but it was a long way to the mountainside castle. She'd sleep in the woods, as she had done many times in her life. She was comfortable there and she'd cover more ground that way. With any luck she'd reach the castle by tomorrow night. She had sent Daniela back to care for her father while she was away. She knew Hadrian would not see to Charming's best interests in her absence. He'd never been very tolerant of her father after he'd retreated to the solitude of the tower and abdicated the throne. Hadrian, strong willed as he was, had lost any respect he'd ever had for the former King in the wake of his emotional destruction. Emma only prayed that she'd find Regina fast enough, not just for her father's sake, but also for her own. She just couldn't shake that something was coming her way, and Regina was the bringer of it.

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The woman in the white cloak sat in wait, under the cover of the canopy of the trees. Any moment now the Queen would be heading this way which, consequently, wasn't the right way at all. She'd waste precious days searching a castle that had been abandoned and left to ruin, not to mention the time it would take to travel. No, this wouldn't do. She'd been waiting for this for far too long. It was time to give the Queen a push in the right direction, a magical intervention was in order.

She heard the hoof beats before she saw the horse. It was now or never. She mumbled the incantation under her breath and with a thunderous crack, a thick limb of the tree broke and swung down in an arch. The horse, as predicted, reared up, nearly throwing the Queen and shot off through the trees to the west.

The woman in the white cloak smirked to herself. Now, things were on track. Her work here was done. For now.

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Emma tried her best to calm Freedom, but it was to no avail. He zipped through the trees, deaf to her pleas for him to stop. She could do nothing but duck and cling to the reins, hoping to survive this unscathed.

The trees grew dense and then began to thin out. Finally, they broke free from the woods, emerging in a meadow. Once they were out of the trees, Freedom calmed and slowed down to a trot. She rubbed his neck soothingly, whispering softly too him. Once he had slowed to a complete halt, she looked around. The land was vast, stretching almost as far as she could see. In the distance, she could just make out where the woods began once again. There was a stable not far off, in near shambles. Beyond it, the meadow sloped upwards towards a squat stronghold. In the days of old it might have been considered a castle, but compared to the palaces she'd lived in, it was hardly more than a fortress. It looked like it might serve as the barracks for the royal army if it weren't so far from the castle. It appeared to be abandoned, maybe she'd use it as a place to get away when Hadrian became too overbearing. She clicked her tongue and Freedom set off in the direction of the stronghold.

The courtyard was overgrown with weeds when they entered it fifteen minutes later. A well stood off to one corner and a fountain stood in the middle, though the water it must have once let flow freely had long since run dry. She dismounted and tied Freedom's reins to a wench that had once appeared to operate the portcullis. She pressed her forehead to his nose. "Wait here. I'll be back."

She stepped up to the grand archway that led into the small castle. It took nearly an hour to examine the ground floor, not because it was big, but because there was debris everywhere. A long hall, most likely meant to receive guests had collected layers of dust. The chairs were broken apart and strewn across the floor. No one had been in this place for years, maybe even decades.

Finally, she found herself at the foot of a grand staircase. She ascended to the second floor and was once again met with dust and ruin. With the exception of one room. At the end of the west wing, she opened the last door to find a bed chamber that had been recently occupied. The bed was immaculate and unslept in, the mirror covered in a layer of dust, but the window was mysteriously clear as if it had been recently cleaned so someone could look out. Someone had been in this room not too long before her.

She ran her hand along the vanity, rubbing her fingers together to loosen the dust that had collected on them. She picked up the hairbrush. A few stray dark locks were trapped in its bristles, testament to the woman who must have occupied this room when once this stronghold was alive and thriving. Next to the brush was a hand mirror. She picked it up and used the hem of her riding cloak to wipe the grime of old age off its surface. She stared at her reflection for a moment. When had her eyes gotten so tired? She'd aged in her mother's absence. The responsibility of ruling a kingdom before you even hit sixteen had weighed heavily on her shoulders. She set the mirror back down, no longer able to bear the truth of her reflection.

She glanced over the couch, the bed, the armoire, one door hanging from a hinge, leaving the old dresses inside open to the dust that infected this entire place. She was about to leave, when her eyes caught the tapestry. It hung from the ceiling and down the far wall. It was beautiful, almost hauntingly so, depicting a world even more enchanted than this one could ever hope to be. Horses raced, unsaddled and free, through a wild landscape that stretched out around them. Magic seemed to drift through the air around them. She crossed the room towards it, a smile lighting her face. She ran her hand down the front of the tapestry, tracing her fingers over one of the horses and she felt it. Or rather, she felt the lack of it. There was no support behind this section of the tapestry. She grabbed the edge and looked behind it curiously. An archway stood, hidden, stairs leading upward.

Curiosity got the better of the blonde Queen and she slipped behind the tapestry and up the stairs. At the top there was a solitary door. It called to her, beckoning her forward with unseen fingers. Slowly, with a hitched breath, she opened the door.

The room on the other side was completely devoid of windows, leaving it dim. She wouldn't have been able to see at all were it not for some magically conjured werelights that danced across the walls. There was no decoration, no ornamentation whatsoever, except for the glass coffin in the center of the room. She slowly crossed the threshold toward the crystal box and its occupant. Her hand touched the clear surface and she gazed down fondly at the face of Regina. She was different here, of course, just as Snow had differences when compared to Miss Blnchard, but she was still the same woman as the mayor who'd adopted her son.

Emma gripped the lid of the coffin and pushed. It budged slowly but surely and little by little she was able to slide it free until it clattered to the floor. She winced as glass made contact with stone, fearing it would shatter, but it didn't. The enchantments that kept its occupant in stasis must also protect it from conventional damage.

Regina lay as if in a peaceful sleep, her hands clasped together over her stomach. She was dressed in a dark gown, her long hair half up half down, just as she had been in Emma's brief flash of memory in Storybrooke. Had she met Regina before all this? She realized it didn't matter if she had. It didn't change now. She ran her fingers delicately along a cheek, smiling at the softness. She closed her eyes and when she once again opened them and fixed them on the sleeping woman, there was something akin to affection in their green depths. "I never believed I'd find you."

Regina's eyes shot open.

Emma stumbled backwards, tripping over her feet and falling to the stone floor of the tower chamber.

Regina sat up, looking around the room and then looking at her. "What am I doing here? Where's the baby?"

Emma's mouth opened and closed, but her shock prevented any words from actually leaving her mouth, not that she'd be able to answer her questions even if she could utter a coherent sentence.

"Answer me!" Regina's eyes ignited with a fury and she threw out her hand. Nothing happened.

Regina looked down at her hand incredulously. "You stole my powers! Who are you?"

Emma's brain registered that the brunette had finally asked a question that she knew the answer to. "I'm the Queen."

"Queen?" Regina scoffed. "Of what?"

"The Enchanted Forest. Well, most of it anyway." She got up and brushed the dust off her riding trousers. She stepped closer to the coffin.

Regina narrowed her eyes. "That is impossible! I can't possibly have been out for more than a few days, not enough time for a new monarch to take control."

"You've been under a spell for a lot longer than a few days, try a few decades."

Regina looked up into Emma's face for what seemed like the first time since she'd awakened. And as dark brown met sage green, the air seemed to leave the room and an electricity seemed to flow between the two women. Emma stepped closer to the coffin, dropping to her knees next to it, her eyes never breaking contact with Regina's.

Recognition dawned on Regina's face. "It…it can't be." She reached out, without thought to what she was doing, and cupped the blonde Queen's cheek. "Emma."

Emma placed a hand over the brunette's on her cheek. "Welcome back Regina." Then she felt the tug, that not so subtle draw towards unconsciousness. No, not now, not when she'd just found her! But the pull just increased and Queen Emma got in one more smile before she crumpled to the floor.

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INSPIRATION:: a gwenyth paltrow movie by the name of 'sliding doors'. as for the show that came into existence after i had already started writing this fic, i believe it is called 'awake'.