A/N:

Hey!

So Emma and Regina are going back in time! I want to let you all know that this is going to be very little like the trip back in time at the end of s3. Big reveal of something in this chapter, which I hope you all enjoy! This chapter is a shortish one again and they're probably going to be like that from now on because of uni essays and general life getting in the way but I will try to update as often as I can! Thanks for the reviews, favs and follows, they are always appreciated.

Big love!

Rosie

(I do not own Once, no copyright intended).

It felt like they had been spinning for hours, caught in a never-ending vortex to the centre of the earth. All Emma could see was flashes of faces and bright, blinding sparks of magic. When their velocity began to slow Emma prepared herself for what she expected to be a pretty heavy fall, and she was not mistaken. When they landed, hard and heavy on the ground the blonde heard a loud crack emanate from her own elbow. Searing pain shot through her arm and she lay on the ground, eyes closed, counting her breaths, trying to make sure she didn't pass out.

Regina jumped to her feet as quickly as she could, shaking off any bumps she received in the fall then scouting the surrounding area for foes. They had landed in some dense woodland, Regina didn't have to see a single other living create or place to know that they were in the Enchanted Forest. .

"Fuck!" The Saviour said sharply under her breath as she tried to push herself into standing position and inadvertently knocked her arm with her own body. Regina immediately turned her attention to the other woman.

"Oh god, Emma. Just stay sat down for a minute, okay?" Regina told her as she knelt down on the floor in front of the blonde. She stretched her hands out to take Emma's injured arm in her hand but as she did the other woman jumped away.

'Ouch, that fucking hurts Regina. Could you at least try and be gentle?" Emma said with a scorning tone.

"I barely even touched it." Regina retorted, "you know for a Saviour you're such a big baby."

"Hey!" Emma exclaimed, "Take that back! I totally defended your life no more than an hour ago, be more grateful," she said in a grumpy tone more suited to Henry as a young child than herself.

With gently probing fingers Regina pulled Emma's shirt sleeve up to reveal what was a quickly swelling joint. She ran her fingers softly across the woman's skin, softening her touch even more when Emma winced in pain.

"Okay. I think its just dislocated. Good news is its probably not broken, which means that we won't have to go seeking out any medical attention - not that there's much of that here," Regina paused for a second, "Bad news is I'm going to have to put it back into place. And its going to hurt." She did look genuinely sorry about the prospect of having to cause Emma pain.

"I'm not being funny Regina, but are you even qualified to relocate an elbow? Are you sure you're not going to render me one-limbed?" Emma joked, but her face spoke her seriousness.

"Believe it or not I used to rather enjoy dislocating people's joints for fun, so I would say I'm fairly adept at dealing with such situations," the brunette spoke with a small. crafty smile, knowing that her comment would provoke the blonde but hoping that her words might distract the Saviour from the pain.

"Sorry…" the blonde sputtered, "did I just hear 'Emma, I'm totally fine to put your elbow back in place because I used to dislocate people's joints for fun'? How did you think that was going to make me feel any better?"

"Just be quiet and let me get on with it," Regina stated. Usually Emma would have thought that this sentiment was accompanied by feelings of annoyance towards Emma, but the way the brunette articulated her words made the blonde reconsider.

Regina grabbed a thick branch from the woodland floor and handed it to Emma, "Bite down on this. Try not to make too much noise, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves."

Emma simply gave Regina a raised eyebrow in reply and accepted the proffered stick, placing it delicately between her teeth and clamping down. She closed her and and took a deep breath.

"Are you ready?"

Emma nodded, eyes screwed shut.

"Okay, on 3. 1…" Crack. Regina took Emma by surprise and she howled loudly in pain, teeth baring down into the solid object with all the force she possessed. The brunette crossed Emma's arm across her chest and then began to remove her coat. She took off her shirt too and fashioned it into a kind-of sling while Emma sat still, breathing heavily and recovering from the pain.

"Screw you for taking me by surprise," Emma said, strained, eyes still closed as she tried to overcome the sudden nausea which had snuck up on her.

"It would have been worse if I hadn't," Regina promised, which she knew was true. She knelt down in front of the blonde and tied the sling around her neck, tucking it underneath her arm to finish it off. Regina looked down at Emma with sympathy, and something else, in those big chocolate eyes but Emma couldn't or didn't at that moment want to pinpoint what the hidden emotions might be.

"Thank you," Emma stated gratefully as she pulled herself up with her good hand. First to her knees, then to her feet, leaning back against the bark of the tree again while the world around her stopped spinning.

"No need to thank me," Regina answered truthfully. "However, we should probably get moving. We're going to need food and water and a walk a while to see if I can get my bearings, in which case we can head back to my castle."

Emma leant down and picked up Henry's storybook before they moved off, stroking the leather cover under her fingertips, thinking about what Henry and her parents would be thinking right now. "Okay, I'm pretty hungry. Lets go," she said absent-mindedly.

"That was really weird," Emma said, still distracted by not only the Storybook but also the thought that they had just come through a magical portal. I mean, you would think she would be used to it by now, but apparently not.

"What was really weird?" Regina asked in return.

"That portal. I mean the curse was supposed to kill you and make it so that you had never been born which, if I'm not mistaken, is definitely not what happened," the blonde voiced softly as they began to walk through the woods, staying clear of the road so they could avoid as many nosy travellers as possible. They weren't exactly dressed in the most inconspicuous of clothing; Emma in skinny jeans and long sleeved white top - which was now more brown than white - and Regina in a regal red coat and high heeled boots. To the residents of the Enchanted Forest they would definitely make quite a sight.

"Well yes, it appears that I didn't die and therefore that the spell didn't succeed in the way she planned it, but I don't think we should judge our situation too quickly. You never know whats going to happen here, Emma."

They had been walking for the best part of an hour when they finally came across some sign of civilisation, a tavern, set deep into the woods and well away from viewing distance of the road.

Emma's arm had been hurting her, but she refrained from complaining about it too much lest she annoy the brunette. She didn't know why she was all of a sudden concerned about not pissing Regina off but she felt like after everything that had gone through on this weird, weird day the woman probably deserved a bit of peace and quiet. They were just approaching the clearing when Regina stopped dead in her tracks, grabbed Emma's good hand and pulled her behind a tree. Emma was taken by surprise and almost tumbled over her own legs in an attempt to stay upright.

"Regina what the…?" Emma began, but was interrupted by a loud 'shush' and finger over the lips from the brunette.

The blonde followed the older woman's line of sight and her eyes met the form of a young brunette girl, dressed in a beautiful blue and silver gown which swirled around her ankles gracefully. She was with another woman. Emma could see neither woman's face but assumed that it must be someone Regina really, really didn't want to see; the Evil Queen wasn't really the one for avoiding people rather than confronting them, even if she wasn't the Evil Queen anymore.

Regina released her hand from Emma's mouth, trusting the woman to stay quiet enough as to avoid their being discovered. Their bodies were pressed into each other, side by side, both watching the back of the young girl, both waiting for her to turn around.

When she did Emma sucked in a shocked breath.

"Thats…" she whispered, looking dead into Regina's eyes and back at the younger woman.

"Yes," Regina answered, words so quiet that she didn't even know if Emma would hear them, "that's me."

"What…" the blonde expelled quietly, "does this mean? What I think it means?"

"I believe it does dear. Somehow we have managed to go back in time."

"But why here, why now?" Emma asked, forgoing thinking about the fact that they were in another land for the more important matter at hand, that they had gone back in time. Emma had never, ever believed such thing could actually happen; though now she wondered why not, considering all the other crazy stuff she had witnessed and been a part of.

"I don't know. This is…Remember when I told you about the tavern where I saw Robin that day? Well this is it. I think it may even be the very same day."

Emma was quiet for several seconds while she figured out what in the world all of this could mean, what effect of all this could have. She was really not pleased about the fact that Robin seemed to keep coming into this where he wasn't wanted. She watched young Regina for a while. Her smile was so innocent and free, her eyes lit up as she talked passionately about something and her hands moved around in excitable gestures as she spoke to her friend who's face Emma still hadn't seen.

"Okay." They had to formulate some kind of plan, "So, obviously past you can't see…now you," she said, gesturing down Regina's body, "otherwise all hell will break loose. So how about I go into the Tavern, buy some food, clothing and whatever else I can find for us and then we can go and set up camp not far from here?"

Regina's eyes were transfixed on the smiling past version of herself and she only half took Emma's words in. "That is as good a plan as any dear, but are you forgetting that we possess no currency of this world?"

"You could just make some by magic?" Emma asked, hopeful.

The brunette frowned at her. "Making money is one of the most frowned upon magical things to do, after going back in time, of course. Though I suppose that since we've already committed one crime we might as well commit another."

With a wave of Regina's hand Emma was holding two small velvet pouches of coins. The former Queen hadn't created them from thin air, because that was truly impossible, she had simply magicked them from her room in her mother's castle, knowing full well that they wouldn't be missed; there was plenty more where that came from.

"Okay, I'll be back soon," Emma turned to walk away but Regina grabbed her hand and pulled her backwards.

"Be careful, Emma. Try to blend in," Regina said. With another flick of her first Regina materialised a deep red hunting jacket to cover Emma's sling and upper body, making her look more like one of the natives.

"I will," Emma smiled, "thanks." She squeezed the older woman's hand in hers and the corners of her mouth flickered up in just an inkling of a smile before she started walking swiftly and confidently towards the tavern.

Emma pushed the heavy wooden door open in front of her and was immediately met by the strong overpowering scent of mead and men. It wasn't entirely pleasant. She quickly made her way up to a table to sit down and was swiftly approached by a serving girl who looked at her with both suspicion and awe.

"Hello," she said nervously, "Um, what can I uh…what can I get for you?"

Emma smiled politely back and answered, "My companion and I are on our travels, looking for some food and supplies for the road. Would you be able to help with that?" She tried to remain as confident as possible, now painfully aware that there were more than a few pairs of lingering eyes her; a strange and commanding new woman who appeared out of no where was not a common sight in the Enchanted Forest.

"Yes, of course. I will make you up a package of food and mead, and some other essentials, anything else?" the girl asked.

"Um, any medicine you have for swelling or bruising would also be useful and maybe some clothes, a cloak or two will be fine?"

"We have a small store, I will see what I can find, but it will cost you?"

"Thats fine," Emma answered plainly and waited until the woman walked away before she let herself relax even a tiny bit.

Over the other side of the large, dimly lit room she saw a group of men drinking and playing cards over the table. She watched them for a while, something oddly familiar about the one who had his back turned to her. She couldn't put her finger on it but whatever it is, it was undeniable.

She had been waiting for almost five minutes, picking at the chipped edges of the wooden table with her increasingly destroyed fingernails, when she noticed a faint green trail of sparkly magic begin to make its way through the door. It began weak, only a faint glimmer in the air, but after a while it was very noticeable, a swirling trail of magic leading towards something in the far corner of the room. No one else seemed to have even noticed it and thats when Emma realised that she must be the only one who could see it. It made its way across the room, coming to rest on the familiar man at the table.

This is it, Emma realised, the trail of fairy dust that lead Regina to her true love. Thats why that man is so familiar, its Robin.

The blonde was pulled out of her reverie by the serving girl's return, laden with two large sacks. Emma checked them over and saw that the had everything she had asked for, plus a few other things.

"That'll be four gold pieces please," the girl said nervously, knowing that she was over-charging the newcomer into town.

Emma fished five gold coins out of the purse and handed them to her. "four for the stuff, one for your trouble, and discretion?" she asked, eyes saying what her mouth didn't.

"Of course, my lady, I am grateful to have helped," the girl said before scurrying off.

Emma slung the two sacs over her shoulder with her good arm and began to walk towards the door. The strange green trail had almost disappeared now, but the smell of magic still lingered in the air, now unmistakable to her. She turned around once more to give one final glance to the man that had been intended to be Regina's true love. When she turned around, however, she was not met with the solemn and grimly set face of Robin Hood, but a face she knew so much better than that; the smiling, laughing face of her own father.

Emma's breath caught in her throat as she made eye contact across the room with the man who should have raised her, but did not yet even know she existed. She hung her head low and pushed out of the tavern door, quickly making her way back to Regina.

Her face must have been a picture when she returned to the brunette's sight, because the woman immediately laughed.

"Emma, is everything okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Emma placed the sacks down gently on the floor and then looked up into Regina's eyes seriously.

"What is it Emma?" Regina said, starting to become worried.

"The fairy dust…" Emma began, and before she had time to continue Regina interrupted her.

"Oh, did you see it?" Regina asked. She didn't know why Emma was so bothered by something she had already been aware of. Maybe seeing it in real life had been too much for her? She knew that the blonde had been jealous of Robin, that much had been obvious, but Regina also thought that the moment they had shared after Zelena was defeated had blown all of that nonsense away; she didn't want Emma thinking that it had only been a spur of the moment thing because it most certainly had not. She had wanted it for a long time but the timing always seemed to get in between them and there seemed to be nothing they could do to stop it. "Did you see Robin?" Regina asked, voice dripping with concern.

"It wasn't Robin," Emma said ever so quietly, wishing that she was anywhere but there at that moment.

"What do you mean it want Robin? He's the man with the Lion Head tattoo, no?"

Emma was silent.

"Emma, tell me what is going on right now," Regina said, the tone of her voice dropping two octaves.

"The man the fairy dust lead to…it wasn't Robin. It was…"

Regina waited patiently as Emma ran her fingers through her hair and let out a few long, calming breaths.

"It was my father. It was David."

The brunette couldn't comprehend the words that had just come out of the saviour's mouth.

"So you're telling me, that the man I was meant to spent the rest of my life with was… your father?" Regina spluttered out.

"I wish I was kidding Regina, I really do. But I saw it. It touched him and only him. There's no doubt," Emma said, realising that this would be a very difficult thing for the brunette to take in. "I just don't understand…how? Aren't my parents supposed to be soulmates? I mean, they're Snow White and Prince Charming, meant-to-be, together forever, right?!"

"I mean I thought so…but now….I have no idea Emma. None of it matters anyway because your parents ended up together and everything worked out the way it was supposed it. Its not like we could change anything anyway, because if we start to alter the past then we will never be able to go back to Henry. There won't be a future for us to go back to."

Regina did have one idea, but it was so far fetched; so absolutely ridiculous that she didn't even want to think it. Emma was her true love, that much she knew for sure, if for no other reason than that she could feel it in her bones. So maybe the spell had simply indicated that to her in a slightly non-traditional way? The brunette didn't want to think about it because it made her head ache. She needed food and water and rest and so did Emma, so that is what they did. Little did either woman know that cogs were turning in both their heads, that they were both desperately trying to make sense of what they had discovered. Little did they know that things were a lot more complicated than they seemed, and little did they know that this was just the beginning.