Regina -
She listens to the click of the door lock, wants to call Emma back, scream for help, it didn't work Emma, it didn't work but the words are trapped in her throat, she cannot breathe, spots darken her vision, she blinks, her legs will not hold her weight, she stumbles forward, hands out to reach the narrow bed, misses, hits the floor.
Emma-
After the shock, comes the rush of adrenalin, it hits her hard, she needs to move so she runs back to the street, David & Mary Margaret push past her, she doesn't stop them. She has questions and needs answers, her feet pound the pavement, heading to the one place she may get them.
Of course, Gold and Belle are fine and dandy, all safe and sound in Gold 's shop, protected by a barrier spell. "Why, how?" Emma sputters.
"How, I assume magic, why I don't know, the question is, why are you not frozen?" Gold asks.
"I don't know, we were underground, maybe" Emma trails off, once again frustrated by her lack of magical knowledge.
"Possibly" Gold acknowledges.
"Who else remains?" Belle asks quietly.
Emma points at herself, "me, Mary Margaret, David, Tink and Regina I guess, but I don't know".
Belle sends a soft look her way, "Henry and the baby? Emma shakes her head, scared, the fear shows in her voice,"Gold are they alive?".
Gold shakes his head "yes and no, one can stay cursed neither alive or dead until the curse is broken or forever". He shrugs.
"This has happened before?" Didn't David once say he had briefly been turned to stone, there must be a way to free the town.
Belle answers eagerly "yes, it's surprisingly common actually, I've read of many instances where people have been turned into stone or gold. In fact, I think I read one recently but I left the book at the house". Belle turns to Gold, Emma seriously hopes she is not going to ask his permission to go, she is not sure she could stomach that. "I will go, it's not safe for you alone".
Belle argues "I can look after myself you know" "I know dearie but I'd rather not take any chances" turning to Emma "I suggest you call your parents and the fairy, they can wait here with Belle until I get back".
"What about Regina?"
"Best leave her where she is for now" with that Gold disappears, no smoke proceeds his departure, just blink and he is gone.
Emma sighs and reaches for her phone.
Emma tells herself their are spending the time productively by searching through books. David recounts his tale of being turned to stone, broken by the death of the monster that cursed him, he speaks also of how Princess Abigale's fiancee, and Emma has to think about who before she remembers, was once turned to gold and cured by the waters of Lake Nostas, which held the power to return what was once lost.
Belle doesn't think they have any lake water but they look anyway.
Frustration burns at her as she paces the shop, feeling trapped. Once again facing a curse, once again in the dark and Gold has been gone a while, seriously how long did it take to retrieve a book?.
"Emma" her mom sighs at her, "we've been here before, don't worry we will find a way, we always do.
"Yes we always do until the time that we don't" she snaps back, she shakes her head, behaving like Regina will not help"I'm sorry" she takes a seat next to her mom, who just smiles and tell her not to worry about it.
David is suddenly out of his seat, Emma can practically see the light bulb above his head. "Hang on, the lake, has the power to return what was lost, just like the well, maybe it's one of the same?"
"Yes yes" Mary Margaret 's head is bobbing in agreement.
"It's worth a try" Emma turns to Belle questioning look on her face.
Belle smiles brightly, "I don't know but it did return magic and it returned you from our realm" she nods at the two women.
Mary Margaret and David look at one another, give a determined nod each, a look that Emma has seen before, a nod that means let's go save the kingdom, she hides her smile, honestly her parents are so insufferable cute sometimes. David is searching the shop, returns with his arms full of thick fur coats, a couple of swords and a bow and quiver. Emma holds up the brown furlined moth ball smelling coat he has given her "where's this from, Narnia?" She gripes.
"Possibly" Belle answers with a small smile.
"Seriously?" Is she joking? Emma wonders.
Mary Margaret pulls on a black furlined cape, face determined as she counts the arrows, running her hands over them, checking their weight, she seems satisfied and swings them over her shoulder. David straps on his sword, his chosen coat is rather large and black, both seem perfectly comfortable wearing furs and weaponry. Emma longs for her gun, locked away at the sheriff station, shifts the sword in her hand, she will have to make do for now.
Belle hands them watering cans with a shrug, better than nothing she says, nothing like being prepared Emma smiles back.
"Are you going to be okay here?" Mary Margaret is asking her, Belle nods yes but time is ticking by and Gold is still not back, all four of them are thinking it, Belle says she will ring Rumple, "we will be straight back" Emma tells Belle firmly.
The town is quiet as they jog through the empty streets, Mary Margaret gives a small gasp every time they see someone she recognises, standing frozen. It's unsettling, Emma nerves are tight, ears straining, any small sound magnified by the silence. A clunk makes them jump, a cat runs across the street, they breath their relief and lower their weapons "maybe others have escaped too?" Mary Margaret wonders staring after the cat "we can't be the only ones who the curse didn't reach".
Emma agrees but wonders just how many under-ground places exist in StoryBrooke, she can think of two, Regina's vault and the hospital, then she thinks of the storm cellar where Zelena had kept Gold, so that's three, perhaps there are others she thinks.
They reach the edge of the woods, David pulls out a torch but then thinks better of it.
It is fully dark now but the moon is bright and the snow reflective, they do not need the torch light and it may draw attention to them, without speaking they slink into the woods, sticking to the path, single file, David takes the lead with Mary Margaret at the back.
Emma smiles a little, swords and arrows are their forte, she will let them take the lead this time, and its nice not to have have to go it alone. The StoryBrooke saviour, who's parents literally ripped their hearts in two to cast a curse to get back to their daughter, the saviour, who's light magic could save them, except she didn't, not that time, she screwed up and lost her magic, Regina had stepped in and saved the day with her light magic, StoryBrooke may never be dull and it was certainly full of surprises. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice that David had stopped until she bumped up against him, he held up the back of his hand to her, turning slowly, he nodded to his left, behind her Mary Margaret was ready, bow in hand. To her surprise the attack came from above, a blur of movement too fast to do anything other than raise her hands as something large and dark fell at them.
The Evil Queen.
Blasting the door to smithereens was easy, the magic crackles and flows from her fingers freely, God it felt so good and so strong, not that weak watery white crap or the tortured desperate purple. This magic was darker than any she'd had ever wielded before, black as night and as smooth as silk, it raced through her body, rushing through her blood, it was intoxicating, burning deeper than whiskey, reaching further than lust, it hit her harder than any orgasim. She was drunk on power and it felt amazing. Finally she was free, the decades of being held back, by others or by that weaker version of herself, the one that cried in the dark over some fool of a man, shed tears over an ungrateful brat, the one that hesitated, longed for love, felt shame and fear, that foolish weak woman she was gone and she was never coming back.
She raised her hand, clad herself in more fitting attire for the Queen that she was, lifted her head and stalked through the doorway, time to go take what was hers, justice and power.
Foolish of him to leave her alone with such a weak spell protecting her, one wave of her hand and the spell melted away. How much stronger would she be with his dagger, the fire that ran through her veins demanded to be fed and she would feed it. Greedily she licked her lips, she could feel the power emanating from the building.
The little girl bent over her books looked shocked and then scared, she laughs as she stalks into the room, door blown back from its hinges.
"Regina" Belle stutters.
"No" she snarls "you have two choices, tell me where is it" leans into the girl's personal space, she can feel the fear coming off her in waves and it smells delicious, she leans back, inspects her nails, almost bored "or die".
The girls eyes flick back and forth "Regina, what happened? What..."
She cuts her off, bored with the babbling, fool she thinks and flings her across the room before the girl can struggle to her feet, she is knelt in front of her, grabs her face, strokes her cheek softly, so softly breathes into her "come now dear, no need to be a hero, just tell me what I want to know".
The girl struggles against her, pulls her face away, is pleading with her Regina Regina blah blah, she is not listening. This is taking too long, the dagger is calling to her, it's here but why tear the room apart, the girl has the dagger, she remembers the pathetic being she once was handing it to this sniveling girl. Such a pretty little thing, all bright eyes and shiny hair, shame about the sickening goodness that covers her like a disease, goodness that makes her stupid and weak. "Really dear" she taunts her, smiles widely as she reaches her hand into the girls chest, pulls out the bright red organ, how foolish of Rumple not to protect her heart and he claims to love her, "bring me the dagger" she whispers, rocks back on her heels, making room for the girl as she stands and walks to the back room. She follows her, breathing hard, yes so delicious, so close she wants to laugh but she must be patient just a little longer.
The girl is pointing a wooden cabinet "in here". She swipes her away and her magic smashes the cabinet in half, she grabs the dagger, swallows hard lifts it in her hands, yes, yes this is it...
Rolling back she seizes the girls shoulders and shakes her, the girl is weak, nothing more than a rag doll in her hands, "this is not the dagger, this is a fake, you stupid girl, where is it?"
She screams spitting out her anger, stupid stupid girl, does she think she can fool me? She almost misses it in her rage but the girl looks shocked, confused even, she did not know she realises and she laughs of course the imp gave his lover a fake and the poor girl believed him.
"It's a fake" grabs the girls hand thrusts the dagger into it, "this is how much he loves you, he gave you a fake" she hisses into the girls ear and she is trying not to cry "poor thing" she soothes "poor thing, did you think he loved you? that you were special?, that it was true love?" throws in a mimic of the Imps hand gestures just for fun"poor poor thing" she repeats, "so sad, so upset, it will hurt even more in a minute dear" violently she shoves the heart back into the girl, who gasps and clutches at her chest, the tears roll down her face freely now. She watches the girl's sorrow for a few moments, savoring the sight, perhaps she will leave him, wouldn't that be something, Rumple alone, no power, no son and no true love, more than she could wish for, yes the girl can live for now but just incase she gets in the way and the crying is beginning to get tedious, she flings magic at her, shuts her up.
Head on one side, she listens for the dagger, sends her magic into the room, watches as its dark tendrils drift through the room and sink into the floor. She sighs, so predictable, Rumple has placed his dagger in the not so secret hole in the floor, along with Pandora's box, she doesn't need that but will take it anyway. Her magic fills the room, twisting as it shifts funnel like into the invisible gaps in the floorboards. The floor begins to shake as the floorboards rattle loose. Her magic is ripping away at the protection spell, tearing its hold over the hiding place to shreds, the floor cracks and groans, she flicks her wrist lazily and the dagger rises up to her, shoots to her hand. She trembled at its power, oh yes, they will beg at her feet now, no one can stop her.
It hurts and burns, she gasps shocked momentially but recovers, just needs a little outlet, a little release from the suddenly overwhelming surge, laughing she raises her hands, her power shoots across the room, the windows rattle, the floor shakes, bookcases and shelves tumble to the floor shattering glass. Laughing she storms through the ruined shop, devastation that's her gift and it would be rude not to share.