Trigger Warning: Implied Abuse
A/N:
Hey guys! Happy Easter!
There were some really good responses to last chapter and I'm glad you seem to like where I'm going with the story, especially all the (almost) feelings that have been coming to light recently. There's more of that here and hopefully some further illustration of this connection between Regina and Emma, and their growing understanding of each other. One reviewer early on gave me the idea for this chapter and I know you all enjoyed the dream sequence before; this is a little different but equally as important.
If you like this story please please please review, it only takes two seconds and it'll make my day!
Enjoy!
Rosie xx
P.S. The title of this chapter is a little ode to Game of Thrones, I know I'm not the only one excited for season 5!
(I do not own Once or any of its characters, no copyright intended).
A set of dirty, broken double doors, almost hanging on their hinges swung magically open and Regina was presented with the sight of a long corridor. It was poorly lit with only a torch on the wall every hundred yards or so in between huge solid steel doors with industrial locks on them. The cold permeated through her thin clothes and through her skin, deep into her bones. It wasn't just a physical cold, but a cold feeling; one of dread; suffocating, oppressive. Her heels clicked on the concrete beneath her feet as she carried on, not sure where she was walking or where the path was taking her, but following it anyway.
As she continued to make her way along, wrapping her arms around herself for warmth she thought she heard a noise. It was faint at first, almost imperceptible, but the more she walked the more sure she became that it wasn't just in her imagination. She came to a junction and stopped, pausing in an attempt to determine where the sound was emanating from. Once she heard it again, to her left, she continued down the darkened walkway and the voice became louder. It was someone whimpering, crying, the slow measured sobs of someone in immense distress, a child perhaps? Her feet moved quicker as the sound grew louder, the flames of the torches flickered with the wind as she walked past. It felt like she was walking forever; a never ending corridor which only grew more dim and depressing the closer she got to whoever was trapped.
The crying stopped for a while but Regina carried on making her way towards what she hoped was an end to this dark, terrifying maze. When it started up again it was so loud that for a moment she thought it was in her own head. She slowed, creeping forward towards the source until she stopped at a door. It was different from all the others; wooden, with a small gold handle. She held her ear to the door for several seconds before gently pushing down the handle. Immediately the sniffling stopped but that didn't change the feel of the air around her. It was filled with innocence, and fear. She watched as the opening door created a path of light into the room and she opened it ever-so-slowly, pushing forward inch by inch until the room was covered with the low light from the torches outside. Immediately she noticed that there was a figure cowering in the far corner of the room, knees drawn up to her chest, long blonde hair flowing across her shoulders and arms like rippling sand dunes.
"Who's there?" a timid voice said through the silence of the room.
She was curled up in the corner between two concrete walls, holding her arms around her legs to stop her heart from beating so hard that it fell right out of her chest. Crying and sniffing she wiped her nose clumsily on her jean clad knee. In the distance she heard the soft click of shoes on the concrete floor and she held her breath, held her tears, to listen. The noise got louder and louder, more and more ominous. They were coming for her. When she let out a breath she couldn't stop the cascade of tears that fell down her face and the tortured, yowling cry that came from her mouth. She tried to quiet herself but she was struggling to breathe as her chest constricted and forced the air out of her lungs; quick and unsatisfying. The person was close now. She could hear the sound soften as they approach the room slowly. She was terrified. They were coming to get her and this time they would succeed. She wished more than anything that she could magically disappear or make herself invisible, so she shrank impossibly further into the corner as the sound of the handle moving broke the silence of the room. The door opened slowly. Something she didn't expect. Usually they barged in, brash and angry. But whoever was on the other side of this door was cautious and unsure of what they were to find on the other side. As the door opened fully she saw a figure; a woman. Her face was in shadow so she couldn't distinguish any features but she wasn't scary, she actually exuded a calming presence like Emma had never felt. Before she could stop herself the words left her mouth and she clutched tighter to her knees, hiding her face in them and allowing her hair to fall around her.
"Who's there?" she asked quietly, afraid of the answer she might get.
She watched through hooded eyelids as the woman approach her, kneeling down to ground level on her left hand side. The woman's face was clear now; it was gentle and looked soft. Emma wanted to touch it but restrained herself, instead choosing to look deeply into the chocolate brown eyes that stared warmly at her.
"I heard crying," the woman said as she reached her hand out to rest on the blonde's knee. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"No," was her reply, still fixated on the eyes in front of her. So loving, so beautiful. She didn't think she'd ever seen anything like it before nor would she see anything like it again.
The woman rubbed her hand along Emma's leg and she flinched away, pushing herself into the stone wall on her right. She held out her hand and looked as if she expected her to take it.
"We should get you out of here. Come with me. This is no place for a child."
"I can't leave. They'll be angry," the blonde replied, breaking eye contact and staring straight ahead at nothing and everything at the same time. "I don't like it when they're angry."
She felt movement beside her as the woman shifted to sit in front of her, forcing Emma to look her in the face again. She felt like she'd seen the woman's face before. But she didn't know where, or how she would be able to know this person. She was sure she had never met anyone this nice.
"No one's going to be angry, I promise."
Regina sat in front of the little girl and inched her hand forward slowly until it was resting on the her forearm gently. She could feel the cold skin prickle under her touch but this time the girl didn't move away.
"They will be. They're always angry. They'll come for you too. You should go."
The brunette felt an inexplicable draw to the huddled, skinny little thing in front of her. She stroked her hand up and down and the girl lifted her head to look at her properly. Blonde hair fell down around her face and Regina could see the cheeks stained from crying; red puffy eyes with huge black bags underneath which shouldn't be possessed by any child as young as this. What was more disconcerting though was the huge purple mark that stretched from her eye down one side of her face, bruised and painful.
"I'm not going anywhere," she cooed. "You're safe now. I promise."
"You can't promise that. People always promise that and its never true. I'm never safe."
Tears welled up in the older woman's eyes as she struggled to cope with what she was being told. This girl was just a child, a sweet, innocent child who had obviously been hurt too many times to trust anyone.
"Will you tell me your name?" Regina asked, putting on her most comforting smile even though inside she wanted to break down. The girl simply shook her head and lowered it so it was resting on the brunette's hand.
"I don't think I can. I shouldn't be talking to you," she replied after a few seconds.
"Would it help if I tell you mine first?"
The girl nodded and lifted her head to look curiously at the woman in front of her again.
"My name is Regina, and I promise, I will never, ever hurt you," she stated, a lump catching in her throat at the words. "Can you tell me yours now?"
Blonde hair bobbed up and down slowly, brushing against Regina's arm as she waited for the words even her subconscious wasn't expecting to hear.
"I'm Emma."
"I'm Emma."
The words resonated in Regina's head as she sat bolt upright, hands gripping the sheets with such force that her knuckles became the same colour as the fabric beneath them. When she realised where she was, safely in her own room, the brunette's heart-rate slowed down somewhat, but still no where near normal levels. She had been dreaming but…it had been so vivid. The little girl with familiar blonde hair and those same captivating eyes. She unclasped her hand from the sheets and reached up to rub her face, only to find it wet with tears. She remembered crying in her dream, crying for the girl who was so scared and afraid, crying for Emma.
The room around her was still bathed almost entirely in darkness, only a hint of light behind the curtains. She glanced at the clock, 8:43am. She had only been asleep a little over four hours, yet now she was wide awake. Usually upon waking a dream disappears, like smoke drifting away into the air, but this was different, she couldn't get it out of her head. The rich images were flashing through her mind; the corridor, the room, the girl, as if they were trying to tell her something. She screwed her eyes shut and tried to get them to disappear but all it resulted in doing was making them that much stronger. Regina could still feel the touch of skin on skin, the coldness of the concrete walls. But what unnerved her most of all was the feeling that what she had imagined was real; completely and utterly real. She shook her head to try and clear her thoughts, No, she reasoned, my worry for Emma is making me imagine things. Terrible things. Regina attributed whatever she could think of to try and cover up the unsettling feeling inside her; she was overtired, drained, stressed, but the more she thought about it the less she could convince herself that any of those things were the case. She and Emma had a connection. After the fight with Zelena, everything that had transpired, even though Emma didn't know about it, there was some inexplicable affinity between them and she had experienced the exact same thing in her dream as she had on so many occasions when she and Emma were close to each other. It was as if she had really been there; as if Emma herself in some form had been there in front of her. But that was utterly impossible, wasn't it?
It was then that it dawned on her. It was different, but the location in her dream had an unmistakable similarity in its atmosphere to somewhere Regina had been many times before. Suddenly and out of no where the realisation hit her like freight train. The dream had been a message, a sign.
I know where Emma is.
Within ten minutes Regina and Charming were in the Mercedes flying at near-death speed towards the hospital. The brunette had unceremoniously burst into the guest bedroom and roused David from his slumber after throwing on last night's clothes. He had still been dressed, so he grabbed his gun and sword, left a note for Mary Margret and they ran out of the door.
"How do you know where we're going?" he asked, voice still laced with sleep.
She contemplated telling him the truth for a second, but thought better of it. This was more complicated than she understood and if she told him she would simply sound like a madwoman.
"I just do, okay," she glared at him, "get in the car."
Regina slammed her foot on the brake as they turned corners, flinging them both to the side of the car before pressing her foot equally as hard on the gas and accelerating them at full-speed towards Main Street.
They stopped just short of the open front doors and both threw themselves out of the car without even stopping to cut the engine.
"Regina, what are we doing here?" Charming asked as they walked swiftly through the doors and into the lobby.
The mayor didn't reply and simple strode through the hallways of the hospital as if she belonged there. She earned some strange glances from patients and staff alike but no one dared to stop her with the look of determination she had on her face.
They swiftly turned the corner and walked slightly more calmly up to the door marked 'Exit'. One nurse looked up at them from under her glasses as Regina punched in the code but took little notice and continued with her work.
The door clicked shut behind them as David walked behind Regina down the stairs. She made her way down cautiously and David's hand subconsciously drifted down to his gun, ready for what might be around the corner. The severe nurse that usually sat behind the desk was no where to be seen but as they moved towards the corridor they saw her. Her body was sprawled across the floor; her head rested in a large pool of blood and millimetres away from her hand was a bunch of flowers. On closer inspection Regina realised that it was Hemlock.
The door to Gold's Pawn Shop burst open and through the doors stormed the Wicked Witch, her inability to even knock angering him more than slightly. He hadn't even opened the shop yet; the 'Closed' sign clearly visible on the front door, obviously this hadn't bothered her. After their last conversation he had hoped that she would steer clear of him - if for no more reason than her anger - but apparently that was not the case. He stood behind the front desk and watched as she barged her way through the shop, an air of confidence and certainty surrounding her that she had not possessed before.
"Zelena, what a pleasure to see you again," he said, voice low and measured, his statement obviously not truthful. "There is a custom we have in the world," he continued as she made her way towards him, "it is called knocking, I see you haven't encountered it before?" He questioned, but it was rhetorical. "I assume there is something I may help you with?"
"In fact Rumple," she began, stationing herself in front of the glass cabinet and looking him square in the eyes, "I neither want nor need your help."
Gold thought he knew where this was going and it wasn't going to be enjoyable for him; he didn't appreciate gloating.
"Then I hope there is a reason why you let yourself into my establishment, my dear, otherwise you may show yourself out." His tone was cold and unappreciative and she noticed, but her ego overcame everything else and she couldn't stop the need to inform her father of everything she had managed to achieve without his help.
"I simply wanted to inform you that I did not need your aid. I have rectified my little problem," she stated matter-of-factly, a proud grin on her face.
"And what problem might that be?" He asked, playing the fool, however the glint in his eyes betrayed him.
"You know exactly to what I am referring," she replied. She glanced around the room to check that his little wench was no where to be seen, which she wasn't, so the witch continued. "Those 'forces' you spoke of, they have been neutralised. The Saviour is in my captivity and with it the problem of her power has disappeared."
Rumple raised his eyebrows in mock surprise though obviously he had been well aware of Emma's kidnapping and its culprit since the previous evening. He had considered offering his aid to Regina in finding her but something told him that it would't be needed and helping others as little as possible was always the crocodile's prerogative.
"Then I must congratulate you," he answered, knowing exactly what to say to give the woman what she wanted. "It appears that you did not need me after all."
A smile of achievement stretched over Zelena's pale features then. She was very pleased with herself. The Saviour was powerful however she would no longer cause any problems. The room she was kept in was magically sealed and she knew for a fact that her sister's magic would not be able to break through it.
"No, I did not," she said smugly. "I just thought you would like to remain informed about the situation." With that she turned on her heels, allowing her cloak to billow out behind her and swing around dramatically as she moved to leave.
"One more thing," the mischievous voice called from behind her.
"Yes?"
"Be careful," he smiled, resting his hands on the glass and leaning forward predatorily, "It is simply a suggestion, mind you, but I think you somewhat underestimate your competition. I wouldn't want to see you get hurt."
"Thank you for your concern, Rumple, but I think it is obvious that I have everything under control so unless you have any more useless advice I shall be going now."
Rumple's face stilled. He didn't appreciate being told his advice was useless, especially by someone so relatively uninformed as the woman standing in front of him.
"Watch yourself, dearie. You forget that I know everything; not only about you, but also about them. I would be more considerate about who you call useless. You wouldn't want to get yourself into any trouble, would you?" He asked with a smirk. These days he got very few chances to show his darkest side and it was something he appreciated with the utmost enjoyment.
Zelena looked at him with fire in her eyes, obviously not used to being spoken down to. She was fuming at him for having the audacity to tell her she was wrong. Without intention her feet shortened the distance between them again, her face darkening.
"Whose side are you on Rumple?" she asked menacingly, though it did't even make him flinch.
"My own dear," he answered, much to her surprise, "always my own."
On edge, Regina and Charming continued to walk along the corridor. They expected the Witch to jump out of the shadows but she never did.
"Emma?" Regina questioned loudly once she was sure they were alone.
"Emma!" Charming chimed in too, his voice booming and echoing off the walls.
She yelled again and from the around the turn of the passageway they heard the quiet chinking of chains.
"Regina?" croaked a quiet voice.
Immediately the brunette started to walk faster towards the source, the final cell at the end of the corridor. "Emma, are you there?" She said, a quiet desperation in her voice.
"Yeah," came the tired but optimistic reply, "I'm here."
"Oh thank god, you're alright!" Charming said as they rushed towards her. He stretched out his hand to reach the door handle but Regina quickly stopped him.
"No David," Regina said, turning to him. "It's been too easy for us to get in here; she didn't leave anyone on guard which means she's protected Emma so well in some way that she doesn't expect anyone to be able to get her out."
"Well I'm chained to the wall if that helps anything," the blonde's sarcastic voice drifted through the door. Regina didn't need to see into the cell, however, to know that the woman was simply making a joke to cover her true feelings. With her left hand Regina attempted to flip upwards the metal window which would allow her to see in. As soon as she pushed upwards with her finger a huge surge of magic forcefully threw her backwards into the stone wall behind. She was quickly pulled to her feet by David and brushed herself off before coming to stand next to him again.
"Emma, we're gonna get you out alright?" He shouted through the door.
"If you could, that would be totally awesome," she joked. "I'm not exactly a 5* hotel in here."
Regina stood in silence for several seconds as she decided what to do. Given her recently acquired information and the knowledge that Emma's power was much stronger than even the woman herself knew it was, she reasoned that they might be able to breach the door if they combined their full force of magic into it. They had done much more difficult things before but Emma's weakened state and the strength of her sister's magic could be a disadvantage.
"Charming?" she addressed the man in question, "I need you to go and stand guard in case Zelena comes back."
"But how are we gonna get Emma out?"
"I think if Emma and i combine our magic then we can break the spell but we have been down here for a while now and I doubt my dear sister would leave Emma alone down here too long." She replied. These weren't the only reasons. Really, she wanted to make sure that Emma was okay, especially after what she had seen in her sleep, and it would also be much easier to complete the task at hand without any distractions.
"Okay, shout if you need anything," David replied, attempting to abandon his fatherly and heroic instincts in favour of trusting Regina.
Once she heard his footsteps stop at the far end of the corridor Regina moved as close as she could to the door without being shocked away and spoke.
"We're going to have to use our magic together, can you do that?" Regina asked. It sounded somewhat harsh, but had an undertone of concern.
"I think so," came the blonde's quiet reply, much more vulnerable now that she and Regina were alone.
"You can," Regina corrected her, "I need you to imagine it, just like when you rebuilt the bridge, or opened the book. Visualise the door as a barrier of magic and then project your magic outwards towards it. I'm going to do exactly the same. As hard as you can, you can do it."
"Yeah," she affirmed nervously. "I can do it."
Regina heard the movement of chains as the blonde moved herself closer to the door.
"Are you ready?" the brunette asked, moving herself backwards several steps from the door. Silence.
"Emma, are you okay?"
There was silence again for a few seconds before the blonde's voice crackled into life, quieter and more scared than the brunette had every heard her.
"No…"
"…Get me out of here Regina," she finished, her voice so similar to the one Regina had heard last night that it caused her heart to ache.
"I will," the brunette said defiantly, "I promise. On 3. 1…, 2…,"
"3!" They said in unison. Emma closed her eyes tightly and imagined the door in front of her as a sheet of magic, like a sheet of paper that needed to be shredded. But more than that, however, she pictured the woman behind the door; expelling her longing for the other woman out of her with such force; willing and wishing and pulling Regina towards her. She felt the magic beam out of her hands and almost fell backwards when it hit the door and combined with the brunette's magic on the other side. She opened her eyes and saw that her cell was no longer dark or gloomy or scary in any way; every inch of the air inside was sparkling with beautiful stars of white and gold. The feeling overwhelmed her as she watched the power come from inside herself. White mixed with purple across the entire surface and turned it into a glowing lilac entranceway before the power became too strong for the spell to withstand and it exploded outwards, whiplashing both women to the ground with the sheer pressure.
The smoke cleared and the room was revealed to Regina. The sense of deja-vu was intense as she saw the cold, concrete walls and the body curled in the corner, only this time it was a woman and not a child.
Emma saw a figure rush towards her as she scrambled to her feet. She couldn't stand fully for the chains attaching her arms to the ground but nevertheless she reached out for Regina and was surprised when the woman barrelled into her and wrapped her up in her arms seemingly without even thinking bout her actions. Emma exhaled a breath she hadn't known she had been holding and breathed in everything that was Regina. Nothing had ever felt so right in her entire life and as the magic still crackled softly around them the blonde allowed herself, just for a few seconds, to melt into the warm body surrounding her.
Footsteps down the corridor forced them apart and the brunette really took in Emma's appearance for the first time. She looked like she had been trapped in the cell for much more than 24 hours. Her skin was pale with huge black crescent moons under her eyes and the usual sparkling colour in her emerald irises was dull and worn out. The brunette suddenly felt overwhelming guilt at being the cause of this pain. It was all her fault.
"How did you know I was here?" Emma asked, somehow sensing Regina's guilt and distracting her from it.
"I…" Regina started, but she didn't get a chance to explain.
"Emma," Charming said excitedly as he crossed the threshold into the tiny room, "You're okay."
"Yeah, Dad," she smiled weakly up at him, "I'm fine." The blonde turned her attention to Regina. "Hey, you reckon you can get me out of these things?" she asked, comforted still by the soft touch on her arm.
"Of course," Regina replied and allowed the purple magic to pulse from her hands and encircle the shackles at the blonde's wrists and ankles before they dropped noisily to the ground.
Emma took several tentative steps forward and straightened her posture but she was still unbalanced on her feet. The brunette walked closely and protectively alongside her until they reached the open corridor.
"I think the safest way to do this is by magic. The chance that she'll see us is too great," Regina reasoned.
"Give me your keys," Charming interjected. "I'll drive your car back to the mansion and meet you there."
Regina raised her eyebrows as if to ask if he was really serious but in the end nodded her assent and passed her keys while Emma looked around her and shivered.
"Yeah, I just…uh…wanna get out of here now please."
Zelena left Gold's shop frustrated and full of rage in a cloud of thick green smoke. She had hoped that she had finally proved herself to him by capturing the Saviour but clearly nothing she did could please the unappreciative man she was unlucky enough to call a father. His continual need to put her down and tell her to watch herself angered her more than anything because she knew what she was doing and didn't enjoy being told otherwise.
When the foggy greenness cleared she looked around her at the unmanned desk, the woman lying on the floor right where she left her. However something wasn't right; she could feel it in the air. This place was dingy and depressing and she had chosen it to house the Saviour specifically for these reasons but now there was something else around her, something so good that it was attempting to permeate even through her layer upon layer of evil; something magical.
It was then that she ran, projecting herself forward and down the corridor, turning the corner at lightning speed. She hadn't even orientated her body fully into the hallway when she realised that the door to the Saviour's cell was open. The redhead slowed and grabbed the door to open it fully and see into the room. When she did so, however, something in the metal sent an electrical impulse through her hands and her eyes turned momentarily lilac, though she wasn't aware of the fact. Immediately she let go and peered into the room. The clear, virtuous feeling inside of her was overtaken by pure unadulterated fury; the Saviour was nowhere to be seen.
They arrived in a puff of smoke in the lobby of Regina's house and immediately Henry came running in from the kitchen with Snow on his heels.
"Ma! Mom!" He ran into Emma and gave her a hug, his head pressing into her chest. She took in the feeling and grounded herself, still not used to travelling by magic. Snow must have told him what had happened, and she was glad that they hadn't kept anything a secret from him.
"Hey kid, sorry I worried you," she smiled reassuringly and buried her face in his hair for a minute before allowing him to let go.
"Are you hungry?" Snow asked, "I'll fix you up something," she said as she gave Emma a tight squeeze. "I'm so glad you're okay."
They all made their way into the kitchen and Emma ate her way through almost half a loaf of bread's worth of grilled cheese. Happily reassured that Emma was fine and just wanted to sleep, her parents took it as their cue to leave, though not without some encouragement from Regina. Once they had left the blonde ruffled her son's hair once more before she made her way to the guest bedroom. She showered, washed her hair and stared at herself in the mirror for a few minutes, noticing how drained she looked. She had just collapsed on the bed when she heard the door close and the soft padding of footsteps on the carpet. The bed dipped on one side as the brunette sat down next to her and she felt the soothing touch of an outstretched hand along her lower back. Regina sat in silence for several minutes and watched the rise and fall of Emma's breath, though she knew she wasn't asleep. They needed to talk about what had happened, even if it was only how Zelena had managed to take Emma, but right now wasn't the time to bring it up and Regina recognised that. They could talk about it later, after Emma had got some rest.
"I know you're not okay Emma, and I know you probably don't want to talk about it," Regina reassured, "but if you do, at any point, don't hesitate to come to me. I will not turn you away or judge you, that is a promise."
Emma moved her head to the side and made tentative eye contact with the woman above her. "Thank you Regina…for getting me out and for…just thank you."
"You are so very welcome, dear," she answered with a soft smile, like the blonde's guardian angel, however screwed up that was.
"I'll let you get some sleep now," Regina continued quietly as she moved and pulled the covers over the blonde's tired body.
Emma made an indiscernible noise, already drifting off to sleep. Regina crossed the room but as she did so the saviour's voice piped up again.
"Regina?" she asked, on the cusp of sleep.
"Yes Emma?" The brunette awaited the blonde's question.
"How did you know where I was?"
Regina paused and considered her answer carefully. After what they had been through - what Emma had been through - she couldn't bring to herself to lie anymore, couldn't bring herself to cover her true feelings anymore, so she took a deep breath and replied.
"I saw you in my dream."