DISCLAIMER:: do not own. just borrowing for purpose of creative expression. no profit obtained.

A/N:: sorry for the long wait. i was on a month long holiday and then came back to jury service. but now that i've completed that, i am once again focused on getting this posted. i was hoping to have it finished before the season 2 premiere but that is a pipe dream now. oh well, the new season won't affect this either way. thanks to everyone who's stuck with this so far, more updates to come. enjoy and review.

SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN

-Chapter 46: We'll Run Away If We Must-

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Snow White came up beside Regina, who was holding a hand mirror and staring into it; its reflection depicted the blonde Queen, fast asleep.

"We don't have much time left, her and I; I use this to know when she wakens so that we may spend what time we do have left together."

Snow White watched the blonde fondly for a moment in the glass before moving to a nearby seat and sitting down. She'd watched Emma this way many times since she'd faked her death; it was the only way she could. She stared out the closed window at the snowy landscape beyond the fortress walls. "She sensed you, even from a young age; she'd spend hours staring curiously into the mirror. When I asked her why, she'd claim she was waiting for someone to appear. At first I panicked; I thought you had somehow been in contact with her. But as time went on, I realised she never had seen you, but somewhere deep down she was searching for you, even then." Snow took a deep breath. "Hearts call to each other when they're in true love." She couldn't keep the melancholy from her voice; it obviously didn't please her.

Regina ran her fingers over the image in the hand mirror. She still had yet to look at her lover's mother. "My curse was different than yours you know. I trapped you inside your body, unable to move, to function, but still aware of everything around you. It wasn't the same for me. I was asleep, a consumingly deep sleep, and the only thing I saw, for nearly twenty eight years, was her. Her face. Maybe it was true love's way of making sure I'd reconise her when I finally woke up. From the moment I first laid eyes on her in the nursery, I've never truly been without her." She set the mirror in her lap. "I love her Snow."

Snow sighed, tears stinging her eyes. "She is my daughter."

"She is my everything." Regina finally turned her brown eyes on the woman who had been her sworn enemy since she was but a child. "I would do anything for her; I would die for her."

"As would I. I already have."

"And I'm about to."

They were quiet for a time in the mutual realisation that they were martyrs for their shared cause, their shared love, for Emma.

"Snow!" Daniela burst into the parlour.

Both women looked up in surprise at the woman.

Snow stood, instantly alert at the worry in the woman's eyes. "What's happened?"

Daniela's eyes shifted to Regina as if weighing whether she should speak in front of her or not.

Regina stood. She'd be damned if she wasn't going to hear what she had to say. "I would know what you know. If Emma is under any threat whatsoever…"

"We all are." Daniela spoke softly to Regina as if trying to soothe a raging bull. She turned her attention back to Snow White. "Your presence back in the realm has been sensed."

Snow paled. "We knew it was a risk, but I didn't think it would happen so soon."

Regina frowned, looking between the women. "What are you talking about?"

"When I faked my death, I was sent to live among the elves. Their border lines are protected by an old magic, no enchantments can be carried across. When I escaped to the North, all enchantments being used to track me became useless, it was as if I no longer existed. It's why I haven't returned until now." Snow frowned. "But now that I've reentered the realm, the evil we fought during the war… it knows I'm alive."

"And it's angry." Daniela looked at Regina meaningfully. "We must leave this place. Emma must be taken North; she must be protected, as must you."

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Emma wasn't alone when she awoke. Savya was curled against her body, her small head resting in the crook of her neck. She kissed the top of the little girl's head and glanced around, looking for Regina. The former Queen was not in the bed chamber. She sighed and gently removed the small girl from her body. She got up and stretched.

In the parlour beyond their chamber, she found Regina standing next to a chair with a hand mirror set face down upon it. She met the brunette's eyes, taking in their worry and the rigidness of her posture. "What's happened?"

"An army is headed this way. We are, at most, a sun's turn ahead of them."

"How has Hadrian snuck up on us so fast?"

"It is not Hadrian." Regina glanced to the window as if she could see beyond the shelter of the mountains to where the threat was coming from. "It is a much bigger threat we must now face. Snow White wishes us to go North, to the elves."

"How did they find us so quickly?"

"Your mother believes they were tracking her magically. Once she left the North and crossed into the Enchanted Forest, the spell attached itself to her again. The how is regardless, the point is, you're in danger, we all are."

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"War is upon us once again Emma. I thought I did the right thing sixteen years ago; I thought the madness would end and that I'd be able to protect you. But the choice I made… it didn't win the war, just delayed it. I see that now." Snow White looked the most forlorn Emma could ever remember seeing her. Her regrets of the past must be weighing heavy on her. She had chosen a life of exile from those she loved, a great sacrifice to be sure, and yet it had not accomplished that which she had traded it for.

"Are they coming for me? Am I the target once again?" She paced around the parlour. Regina was tending to Savya.

Snow White sighed. "I believe it to be so. Thanks to Rumpelstiltskin, Regina has no control over her other half. She can no more dictate that Regina's actions than her other half can of her. To apprehend her is pointless, but you…. You carry the fate of the world in your hands, dear one. Though it was never meant to be your burden to bear is beside the point now, it is yours. You are all that is left between the destruction of this world or its salvation. The leader of this army wants to see this world destroyed."

Emma closed her eyes, part of her wishing that when she opened them again she would find herself curled up in the arms of Mayor Regina. Her entire existence was about running from one world to the next, always trying to use one world to buy time to think about decisions in the other. She was on a precipice, tipping dangerously towards the abyss below, an abyss that threatened to overwhelm her. How could one person be expected to do so much? She didn't even realise she was calling out for her brunette lover, too ensconced in her own thoughts to be aware of what she was saying.

Cool hands slid around her and she struggled against them, her eyes still closed, fighting the contact. She still had not entirely forgiven Snow for her abandonment and she wasn't about to let the woman hold her. But the embrace persisted.

"I am here my love. You are safe in my arms; I will protect you."

Regina. She began to breathe again, only becoming aware she'd stopped as air once again filled her lungs. Regina. That's what kept her from the abyss. That was the answer to everything. Why must she do this? Regina. How would she find the strength? Regina. What was she fighting for? Regina.

She stopped struggling and let herself be held securely in strong arms. Soft lips pressed against her temple as the arms pulled her against the warmth of Regina's body. Her hands clawed desperately in the older woman's skirts, trying to gain purchase at the same time as pulling them even closer together.

"We must leave soon."

Emma's eyes squeezed even more tightly closed as if that were the way to block out her mother's voice. She felt Regina tense and shift. Fearing the woman was trying to pull away entirely she gripped the woman more tightly, a muffled whimper escaping her lips in protest. Another kiss touched her skin, this time at the peak of her forehead.

"We need a moment."

"Time is not on our…"

"We need a moment I said!"

Emma felt instantly safer. Though she knew Snow White meant her no harm, it still eased her anxiety to hear Regina be so openly protective of her to her own mother.

Some wordless exchange must have occurred between the brunettes because after a long pause, Emma heard the sounds of boots retreating across the floor and then the door opened and closed. Only once she was sure they were alone did Emma chance opening her eyes. She was wrapped securely in Regina's arms, her head resting against the woman's shoulder.

Regina looked down into her eyes, concern the only emotion evident in her gaze.

"What if I cannot do this?" Emma sighed, not moving an inch from her position.

Regina shrugged. "I have faith in you."

Emma lifted her head, leveling Regina with an intense gaze. "Why? What makes you so sure I can do this, especially when I was never meant to?"

Regina stared back with just as much intensity. "Because I love you, and she's a part of me."

Emma shook her head. "That doesn't matter. Just because you love me, doesn't mean she will as well."

The edge of Regina's mouth turned up in a smile. "That's exactly what it means."

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"How does this work?" Emma looked around the library, the room where she'd first learned the truth about her mother's existence. All the lounge chairs and side tables had been pushed towards the towering shelves along the perimeter, leaving the middle of the chamber barren and open. Regina was holding Savya with one arm, resting the four year old on a flared hip, while her free arm was firmly wrapped around Emma's waist, holding her close. Emma saw that her lover's eyes were boring holes into Snow White who, for her part, stared right back, unflinchingly. Daniela seemed preoccupied, as if going over a checklist in her head. The Huntsman shifted uneasily, unsure of this new development. Maleficent, who had been surprisingly absent most of the morning, hung back by the ornate fireplace, out of the way of their activities.

"It's quite a complicated spell. I can only transport one being at a time normally. Ideally, I would transport myself, the Huntsman, and your mother, and Regina could transport you and Savya. However, because Regina's magic is not whole- even though magic is dormant in that world, half her powers still lie with the other Regina- she is not capable of transporting all of you that far yet. So we must use elemental magic."

Regina paled. "No." Her voice was firm, insistent. "This is my betrothed and my child we're talking about. It's too risky."

Snow flinched at the word betrothed, but no one took notice.

Daniela frowned. "It's our only option."

"If we stay here, the risk is greater yet." Snow took a step forward. "You have not faced this foe Regina, you know not what this evil is capable of."

Regina glared at her old, though apparently not forgiven, enemy. "You have no idea what I'm capable of when the things I love are threatened."

Snow's look went from anger to pain instantaneously. "To the contrary, I believe I know that better than anyone."

Regina's back straightened in acquiescence. "Perhaps. But even you never saw the extent of what my powers could achieve."

"Enough!" Emma pulled from Regina's embrace, leveling a glare that she swung back and forth between her mother and her lover. "What is this elemental magic?"

Regina's look softened. "It doesn't matter, because we are not going to use it."

Emma turned her gaze on Daniela, obviously the only person capable of answering her questions without subjective commentary.

Daniela glanced briefly at Regina before answering. "I use magic to break us down into our basic substance components and then transport those and reassemble them once we are safely across the northern border."

Emma frowned. "Well that doesn't sound too bad."

Regina let loose a sound somewhat akin to a growl. "What they're not informing you of is the risk involved. If one word, one syllable even, of the spell is wrong, we will not reassemble correctly."

Emma looked to Daniela. "Does she speak the truth?"

Daniela gave a sharp nod. "What she says is true."

"Can you do it?"

"I've never attempted it with this many people before. There is greater risk the more people involved. I have to modify the spell, it becomes more complex."

Emma's head swiveled her gaze back to Regina. "Are you capable of it?"

Regina nodded. "I have done it successfully, but only a handful of times. I always had enough power that it was not necessary."

"Do you think you could transport yourself and one other?"

Regina nodded.

"Then you will take yourself and Savya. Daniela can transport herself, me, the Huntsman and Snow White."

"No! I will not leave your side!"

Emma stepped forward, coming close enough and lowering her voice so that only her small family could hear. "I will be right behind you my love. You told me to have faith that I will break through to your other half. Now I'm telling you to have faith in Daniela, in her magic. I will be fine." She placed a soft kiss to her lips.

Regina didn't look pleased but she nodded. "Very well." She glared past Emma at the other two women. "If this doesn't go perfectly, you will answer for it."

Daniela raised a challenging eyebrow. "Believe me, young one, I know."

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Emma hadn't seen Regina this focused since she'd healed the wounds the blonde suffered in the Apasma attack. She was standing over the basin, whispering words Emma had never heard spoken before. Slowly a ball of water separated itself from the liquid in the basin, lifted by Regina's magic. It moved to the right of the basin and began to expand outward in all directions until it made what could only be described as a door.

Regina glanced over her shoulder at the blonde, her hand clutching their daughter's.

"I'm right behind you. Go." She willed herself not to cry; Regina would surely refuse to leave if she did.

Regina nodded and then her and Savya stepped forward. The second they touched the wall of water, both it and they dissolved into nothingness.

Emma turned to Daniela. "Don't prove me a fool."

Daniela nodded and the three women as well as the Huntsman stepped to the basin. Maleficent had already refused to come, claiming to be above running, but Emma knew her refusal went deeper than that. Still, it was her decision to be made and Emma didn't have time to waste convincing her to change her mind.

She watched as Daniela lifted the water from the basin and the process repeated, just as it had for Regina. "Will it hurt?"

Daniela slipped one hand into hers and the other into Snow White's. "No, little swan, it will not cause you pain." It seemed as if there were a but to her statement however she said nothing else.

Emma wasn't given time to inquire as Daniela pulled her towards the water and the room dissolved away behind them. She saw nothing. The sensation wasn't painful, though it wasn't entirely pleasant either. She felt herself being tugged in all directions at once, her strength plummeting away from her until, for a brief moment, she actually believed she would become too weak to sustain breathing and would die. And then, just when she felt the end was near, she smacked back down into the solid world again. Vegetation caressed her cheek. She tried to open her eyes, but found she wasn't yet able to. Her strength still had yet to return to her and with the way her body was feeling, she feared it may never come back.

"What did you do to her?"

It was Regina's voice but she sounded far away, almost beyond vocal range. Emma couldn't tell if it was a trick of her own ears or if Regina really was at a distance.

"I was worried, with her condition, that it might force her to go back prematurely."

"So, you're telling me I've lost half a day with her."

"It's better than losing her altogether."

Strong arms lifted her into a bridal carry. She tried to make a sound, open her eyes, anything, but she had no energy left to do anything but let the rocking motion of her holder's body as they walked lull her into sleep.