Warning: Non-graphic torture in this chapter.
Chapter Thirty—"Worth Fighting For"
4 Years Before the Curse
"What are you looking at?" Belle asked curiously, noticing how her fiancé—and oh, how excited she was to put that label on him, even in the privacy of her own mind!—was riveted on something small on his worktable.
It was dinner time, and Belle had come to find him, rather than the other way around like it usually was. She'd been caught up in a book until hunger got the better of her, and by the time Belle had looked at a clock, she'd been shocked to find that Rumplestiltskin hadn't pried her out of the library already. Most nights, he was much better at remembering dinner than she was, which was rather a switch since she had to remind him about most meals. But now that she was his betrothed instead of his maid, her golden imp seemed determined that she should eat properly, which meant he usually came out of his favorite tower to find her. Except tonight he hadn't.
"Hmm?" he asked distractedly, his eyes still on the crystal ball before him.
"I asked what you're looking at," Belle repeated, sitting herself down next to him on the bench and bumping his hip with hers. That finally seemed to break Rumplestiltskin out of his trance, and he glanced at her, smiling.
That smile was enough to make Belle's heart pound unevenly, enough to take her breath away. She was still getting used to the fact that he admitted he loved her—that he wanted to marry her!—and somehow being together like this always made everything real. It had better be real. We're getting married in a week!
"A brave little princess," he finally answered with only a hint of a giggle, "who is doing just the wrong thing."
"What's happened?" she asked, leaning forward to squint at the images. Sure enough, there was a dark haired young woman on horseback, riding at a good clip through a forest. "Who is that?"
"Princess Snow, of course," Rumplestiltskin replied with a little flourish of his right hand. "Running away from her dear True Love to protect him."
Belle's breath caught in her throat. "But that's terrible. Don't you need them for the curse?"
The look he gave her said that he couldn't possibly understand how she wasn't still furious with him—or hadn't left already—but Belle was determined to help. She believed him when he said that a curse was the only way, and when he said that he'd do his best to make sure that no one suffered unduly. Losing their memories would not be pleasant, but Rumplestiltskin assured her that no one would suffer any worse harm than Cora would be able to subject them to in this world, even those whom she sought revenge upon. Belle had never met the Queen of Hearts (now starting to be styled the Evil Queen), but she didn't doubt Rumplestiltskin when he said that Cora would do something dramatic if she was defeated, and controlling exactly what kind of vengeance she could wreak made sense. Even if she still didn't like it.
"I do," Rumplestiltskin said slowly, a slight smile making his lips twitch. "But this is good."
"How so?"
"Because True Love has to be fought for. It's the most powerful magic of all, but if you're not willing to fight for it…you will lose everything," he replied quietly, and Belle found herself smiling.
"Can I tell you that every time you start doubting yourself?" she asked, leaning over to perch her chin on his shoulder.
"Belle, I—"
She cut him off with a kiss to the cheek. "I love you, Rumple. And I know you love me. I think we've fought quite a bit to stay together already, and I'm not going to let you stop just because you think you're unworthy of me, understand?"
"I do," he whispered, and Belle smiled as he leaned over to rest his forehead against hers. They stayed that way for a long moment, his arm snaking around her waist and pulling her close, before she asked:
"So, do you know what's going to happen?"
"Well, our charming prince will hunt his princess down, but how it will happen, I don't know," he said honestly. "She'll find some dwarves. He'll figure it out."
"Can you help? Should you?" she wondered.
"Not unless they ask. Their love must be strong, and to do that, they'll have to overcome more than just two of Cora's attempts to kill Snow. Or three, I suppose, if you count the charge of patricide…" Rumplestiltskin trailed off whimsically, shrugging.
"Rumple," Belle chided him gently, hating the way he could make light of Cora trying to kill her stepdaughter.
He just giggled, but the pitch was a little off; it was the laugh her True Love used when trying to change the subject or pretend he didn't care about people. Belle wasn't sure if he saw Snow and her prince as anything other than tools at this point, but she knew that there was a good man buried somewhere beneath the darkness, and she was determined to bring him out. Little by little, if I must, she told herself for the hundredth time. She loved Rumplestiltskin, and she knew he loved her. For now, that would have to be enough. Belle couldn't expect him to fight back the world's oldest and darkest curse overnight, or even ever, maybe. But she could help him try.
"Gold? Are you in here?"
"Well, it is my shop," Rumplestiltskin muttered, standing up from behind his workbench in the back. Thankfully, he was alone back there; today, Belle and Renee had been out to do shopping with Dove and then go home. As much as Rumplestiltskin would have loved to have his wife and daughter in the shop all the time, neither of them were blind to the way half the town was looking at them. Speaking for himself, Rumplestiltskin really didn't care what these people thought of him, so long as they didn't think him weak, but he knew that giving additional grist to the rumor mill was only asking for trouble.
Trouble like Emma Swan, who was standing with her hands on her hips in the showroom when he came limping out from behind the curtain. So, he put on his most blasé look and asked: "What can I do for you, Sheriff?"
"You can tell me what the hell game you're playing," she replied, making Rumplestiltskin's eyebrows go up. She hadn't come by often, their Savior, and certainly hadn't since she'd asked him to get the restraining order keeping her away from the Huntsman lifted. She didn't seem to like him much, but Rumplestiltskin was more than willing to watch her from afar. For now. Besides, that was a pairing he had not anticipated, and one Rumplestiltskin found fascinating, albeit in a terrifyingly dangerous way. Graham might like Emma Swan—he might even love her—but Cora still had his heart. When push came to shove, he wouldn't be able to fight the matir, and Rumplestiltskin found himself glad that Cora had crippled her pet. At least then Graham wouldn't be able to do much to Emma, at least not physically.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to be more specific," he replied casually, not daring to hope that she'd come to talk about the curse. How much had Regina told her?
"Lacey French," the sheriff replied immediately, and Rumplestiltskin bit back the need to snarl something nasty. Or to turn someone into a snail.
Just kill her, his curse whispered. That'll break the curse. Then you can get on with doing what you need to. It was tempting, but no. With an effort, Rumplestiltskin pushed the thought aside. Doing so would cross a line he had no desire to cross, and bring about repercussions he would not enjoy. Besides, he needed her to eventually find his son. He had seen that she would help, and she owed him the favor already.
"Ah, yes, my employee. It seems everyone is interested in her these days," he said, allowing a hard edge to enter his voice. Rumplestiltskin really was starting to get sick of this idiocy.
"Probably because if there's one thing this entire town agrees on, it's that you're bad news. And that she's a nice girl who deserves a lot better."
She does, but try telling her that, he almost said, and quirked a tiny smile at the thought. But his words were cold. "And what did she say when you asked her about it?" he demanded.
Perhaps he came off a bit too cold, particularly if he wanted the Savior to trust him, but Rumplestiltskin's frustration was too high for him to play nicely.
"She said that there's nothing inappropriate going on between you two, but I know she wasn't telling the whole truth," Emma shot back, leaning across the counter to get in his face. It had been years since anyone other than Cora had dared threaten him, and Cora only did it because she thought he was Gold. Rumplestiltskin found himself respecting the Savior a little more because she dared to challenge him, and that made a bit of his frustration ease.
"Well, do tell me when you find out what the problem is, Sheriff. I'd like to know, too."
"Don't screw with me, Gold. If I felt creative enough, there's a half dozen charges I could arrest you on."
Rumplestiltskin snorted. "Of course there are. That's why you're here, fishing for information and not putting me in jail." She scowled, but he continued a bit less coldly: "I'm not your enemy, Sheriff. I'm a businessman and a property owner. I'm hardly the one pulling the strings around here."
He was weaving them, after all. Carefully and meticulously weaving, as had been his art centuries earlier. Not pulling them.
"And what kind of good business does hiring Lacey French make?" Emma asked, latching onto the wrong part of his statement.
I'm also her husband, he wanted to say, and later would wish he had. It might have saved them all a great deal of trouble had Emma believed him, but Rumplestiltskin liked playing his cards too closely to try that tact. So, he just shrugged. "She's worked for me before and knows my eccentricities. It saves me time having to explain things."
That was an incredibly weak answer, and they both knew it. Emma even obviously knew he was hiding something, but she couldn't tell what. That made the Savior leave in a huff, sans arresting him on any one of those bogus charges she'd claimed to be able to think up. Watching her go, Rumplestiltskin made a mental note to talk to Regina again. Emma was stronger than they'd expected, but also more stubborn, and they had to do something to make her believe. And soon.
4 Years Before the Curse
"Did you think I would not notice, Regina?" Cora asked coldly, and Regina whirled away from the horse she had just dismounted, facing her mother as soon as her feet hit the ground.
She had been in a good mood. Regina had taken herself riding, just to get her mind off of things, but Cora always wanted to ruin any happiness Regina experienced. Not that I'm feeling very happy right now. Daniel's still a prisoner, Mother refuses to let me see him even though there's no Leopold to fool, and Snow ran away from George's kingdom. Yes, life is wonderful! David had gone after Snow just a few days earlier, as soon as he'd noticed she was gone—because she'd waited for Regina to leave before running, of course; Snow was far from stupid—and Regina wished she could have gone with him. Instead, she was stuck here with her harpy of a mother.
"Notice what, Mother?" she asked as soon as she got a grip on her temper. Not lashing out at her mother was getting harder and harder. The only thing stopping her was Daniel.
It had been so long since she'd seen him that Regina was beginning to wonder if he was even alive…except she knew that she would feel it if he died. He was her True Love, no matter what her mother said, and her heart would know.
"You visiting your step-sister," Cora snapped, her eyes flashing. "I thought I taught you better than that."
"The only thing you've taught me is never to give up on those I love," Regina shot back, her anger getting the better of her common sense.
That response made her mother frown disapprovingly. "Clearly, I have allowed you to dwell on petty feelings for too long, darling. I shall have to rectify that, obviously."
"What are you going to do, rip my heart out?"
"Of course not. When I am done teaching you, you will do that for yourself."
Regina rolled her eyes. "That's not going to happen."
"Of course it is. You will learn, Regina. You will learn not to depend upon flimsy emotions like love, because love is meaningless. Love is weakness, because it can force you to do things that you would not otherwise do." Cora paused, gesturing imperiously, and suddenly Daniel landed in a heap by her side. Regina's True Love was bruised, battered, and thinner than she'd ever seen him; he squinted in the bright light of the barn, half doubled over and looking like he was drugged.
"Daniel!" she gasped, though Regina knew better than to bolt towards him. Cora would only stop her, and she wasn't strong enough to make it through her mother's magic. Not yet. But her love was so battered, so abused. He looked like he was wasting away, and Regina began to fear that Daniel wouldn't survive many more months in her mother's hands. She was not ready to win this fight, but what if now was the only chance Daniel had?
"Regina?" Daniel whispered raggedly.
"Oh, Daniel," Regina breathed. "I'm so sorry."
She didn't know what she was sorry for, but Regina knew she would be crippled by regret before the day was out. The look on her mother's face told her that, told her that Daniel was about to become Cora's example once more. This would not be the first time that Cora had hurt Daniel to force Regina into submission. Although Regina knew in her heart that it would never stop unless someone defeated Cora or she managed to wrest Daniel's heart away from her mother once and for all, she couldn't help giving in. She couldn't bear to see Daniel suffer like this, and fighting her mother was impossible.
"It's all right," her love wheezed weakly. "It's all right…"
"No, it isn't," Regina replied, squaring her shoulders and shifting her glare to Cora.
"Mother, this has gone on long enough. I am through learning lessons from you. I am not you, and I love who I love. Please, let Daniel go. I don't want to fight with you, but I will fight for what I believe in."
It was now or never, Regina knew. Despite her uncertainty over if she could defeat her mother or not, she had no choice but to draw the line here. So, she called magic to her hands and brought her chin up, glaring defiantly at Cora and making her stand.
Purple lightning glowed in Cora's hands as she spread her arms wide from her body, and Regina felt a whirlwind of power rising around her mother, whipping through the air like a great storm. The sky outside the barn actually darkened slightly, and a hard chill tore down Regina's spine as she faced a maelstrom of the likes of which she had never even imagined, but she knew she had no choice. Now or never, Regina, she told herself, and lashed out with the most powerful spell she knew before her mother could complete her preparations.
The strike took her mother unawares and actually made Cora stumble back two steps, her dark eyes wide with surprise. But the maelstrom facing Regina never faltered, and Cora's hands came up again, lightning fast and black with power. A wall of darkness hit Regina before she could even blink, quicker than she would have thought possible, slamming into her. The ground rushed up to meet her back; Regina's head snapped back as she hit, her neck cracking and her head striking the ground hard. Colors swirled in her eyes, and the roof of the stable twisted wildly as her vision failed. Another wave of power hit without warning, and then the world went black.
Several seconds passed in sheer nothingness, until Regina awoke to Daniel's screaming.
"Dad and Mary Margaret are out again," Henry said happily, perched at the table in the loft and turning a glowing smile on Emma. But his cheerful declaration made Emma's stomach twist uncomfortably.
"I'm not sure you should be so happy about that, kid," she told him, trying not to think of all the casual friends she'd known who got involved with married men. Mary Margaret was hopelessly in love, and Emma wanted to be happy for her roommate…but she'd never seen this end well. "Everything's great right now, but in the end, they're both going to end up with broken hearts."
"No, they won't," the ten year old replied earnestly. "They're True Love, Emma. They're meant to be together. They might not remember that they're Snow White and Prince Charming, but they are. The curse is the only thing standing in their way."
Somehow, she managed to bite back a groan. "True Love only exists in fairy tales." And so do curses.
"No, it doesn't! Don't you see? Everyone in this town is from a fairy tale, including you. True Love is as real as everything else! It's the most powerful kind of magic there is."
"Henry—"
"It's True Love. It can't be wrong," he insisted.
"True Love isn't real," Emma countered, only to have a third voice interject:
"It is," Regina said quietly, slipping back into the room. She'd stepped outside to take a phone call shortly after she arrived to pick Henry up for the evening, but now she was back, her face tight with emotion. "Believe me, I know it's real."
Emma blinked. Hard. "Regina, I know you buy into this curse stuff, but really? True Love is just something that Disney came up with to sell more movies."
Her friend—and supposed step-aunt—sighed. "Are you ever going to stop being a skeptic?" she snapped, but the flicker of pain in her eyes made Emma think twice before saying something snarky in return. "I know you didn't grow up in our world, and I get how that makes it a hell of a lot harder to believe, but Henry's right. This is all real, and so is True Love."
"And how do you know True Love is real?" Emma asked, not wanting to start a fight. She and Regina were good enough at that already, and snapping at one another really didn't get them anywhere. Besides, she was a little curious to see what Regina would say.
She wasn't expecting the older woman to look away, not answering at all.
"Mom knows because of Daniel," Henry supplied when the silence stretched on several seconds past comfortable.
"Who's Daniel?" she asked, looking at their shared son.
"I showed you his story in the book," the boy reminded Emma with a pointed look. "He was the stableboy. Mom's True Love. Grandma locked him away because she didn't like him."
"What do you mean 'locked him away'?"
"Just what it sounds like. Excuse me." With that, Regina walked out of the loft, not even bothering to tell Henry that it was time to go home. But Henry followed anyway, waving goodbye at his birth mother and leaving Emma to think.
She really believes this stuff, the Savior thought to herself, scowling at the door as it closed behind Henry. The pain on the older woman's face had been impossible to fake, and Emma had seen old hurts flashing through her eyes despite Regina's best efforts to hide them. She had loved this Daniel, that much was clear. And she'd lost him, obviously, which still ate her up inside. Emma knew how loss felt, and she could see it echoing in Regina's every movement. And Regina isn't crazy. Her mother's the certifiable one, so if Regina believes in this curse…
She was crazy to even consider it.
4 Years Before the Curse
"Mother, stop! Please!"
Cora had defeated Regina without even breaking a sweat, and now it was Daniel who was screaming in pain. Regina's fists beat impotently against the magical barrier between herself and her mother, but she might have been fighting a mountain for all the good it did her. Cora's magic was just too strong, and now she had turned it on Daniel to teach Regina a lesson. She did so by completely ignoring her daughter and venting her fury on the innocent stableboy whom she had always hated, making Daniel scream for minute after minute while Regina howled in protest. Not that Cora seemed to even notice her daughter's desperation. She just kept hurting Daniel.
Regina didn't know how long her mother tortured Daniel for, only that it felt like an eternity. By the time Cora finally turned to face her, a small, self-satisfied smile playing over her lips. Daniel lay at her feet, panting and sobbing for air, twitching weakly and shaking spastically. Regina burned to go to him, wanted to rush to his side and sweep him up in her arms, but the magical barrier in between Regina and her love was too strong. Every spell has a weakness, an internal voice reminded her, and it sounded suspiciously like Rumplestiltskin. Find the right thread. Forcing herself to take a deep breath, Regina tried to calm her pounding heart and focus on magic, but a whimper from Daniel distracted her, and she felt an invisible fist clench around her heart.
Perhaps Rumple would have been able to be dispassionate enough to focus on magic when someone he loved was being tortured, but Regina was not that type. She could summon up plenty of emotions to fight with, but finesse was not in the cards right now. Not when Daniel was being hurt.
"Are you prepared to listen to reason now, darling?" her mother purred, ignoring the suffering man at her feet.
"What do you want?" Regina asked brokenly.
"Your obedience. I have a task for you, and if you refuse to carry it out, your dear Daniel will not survive the day."
She could beg. She could plead. But Cora wouldn't care. Regina knew that from experience. Cora had been using Daniel to control her for years, but it had been a long time since she'd actually threatened to kill him. However, Regina didn't dare call her mother's bluff, because Cora wasn't bluffing. She could see that in the cold, heartless eyes focused so unerringly on her face. Cora was ready to kill Daniel, and she would not hesitate. So, Regina swallowed hard, cast one last, heartbroken look at her former husband, and said:
"And what do you want me to do?"
"You're going to give something to Snow for me," Cora replied in a purr, holding up a polished red apple. It shone ominously in the stable's fading light, and Regina did not have to be a sorceress to know that there was something dangerous about that apple. "And you'll make sure she eats it. If you do that, I may—"
"I'm not hurting my sister!" Regina interrupted hotly, but the maw of the horrible trap in front of her gaped wide open, waiting to swallow her whole. She felt herself shaking, and tried again to reach Daniel, only to bounce off of the barrier and stumble back a step.
"Your choice is simple. Daniel dies, or you give your dear sister this apple. And you make sure she eats it," her mother replied, a hint of nastiness entering her tone. "Pick who you love more."
Regina gaped. How could she choose? She wanted to crawl into a hole and die, wanted to provoke her mother into killing her or somehow doing this herself, but she knew that wouldn't happen. Having been raised by Cora, Regina knew there was no easy way out. There was no way around making this decision. Her mother was smirking, because she knew she had won, but Regina could barely breathe through the pain. She couldn't choose. She couldn't.
"Regina…it's all right," Daniel said for the third time, struggling to his knees at Cora's feet. "Save your sister. I'm—"
He cut off in a scream as Cora flicked a hand his way, collapsing back into a heap.
"Stop!" Regina cried, and her mother looked at her, right hand hovering over Daniel ominously.
"Have you made your choice, or should I continue?"
"Anything but this," she pleaded. "Please."
Daniel's next scream was the only answer she got; Cora withdrew the spell and waited once more. Regina felt tears starting to trickle down her face, felt like her heart was already in her mother's hand and crushed to dust. But she could do it. If she were sufficiently cold blooded, Regina could just let her mother kill Daniel, and then there would be no way Cora could control her. Then she would be free. Her mother would have done it, Regina knew, without even blinking an eye…but Regina had never truly been Cora's daughter. Not like that.
"Why are you doing this?" she whispered brokenly.
"Because you will learn or you will pay the price. I am done coddling you, sweetheart. This is for your own good."
"For my own—" Regina cut off, gaping. She was still crying, and felt utterly sick. Again, she looked at Daniel, and he met her gaze, his eyes full of understanding despite the way sweat plastered blonde hair to his face and pain made his body shake. He would not blame her, Regina knew. But she would blame herself. Sucking in a shuddering breath, she asked: "What's in the apple?"
She had to know before she could choose, had to know what she would be doing to her beloved sister. Cora, however, seemed to sense victory in the question, and smiled a little more kindly. If such a word could ever be used to apply to her mother.
"A nightmare curse," the Evil Queen replied.
"A what?"
The nightmare curse was one of the most horrible curses ever written. It was designed to use the power of someone's own memories and worst fears to destroy their mind, mixing memories with every imaginable horror to drive someone towards insanity. There was no cure for it, and nearly everyone who had ever been cursed—less than two or three dozen people in all of recorded history, if Regina recalled correctly—eventually died of it. A nightmare curse was not a quiet curse. Those subjected to it were often mindlessly violent, sometimes hurting those they loved because they thought they were absolutely unaware of anything except what was happening in their nightmares. Leave it to her mother to wish something so terrible on Snow.
"You heard me," Cora said coldly, and Regina swallowed again.
It won't kill her, she thought desperately. And any curse can be broken with True Love's kiss.
Was she ready to bet her sister's life on Snow and Charming being True Love? Regina thought they were, but she'd never seen proof of that. And yet, giving Snow the apple was the only chance both Snow and Daniel had. If Regina made any other choice, one of the two people she loved most would die.
"Snow ran away," she objected quietly. "No one knows where she is."
"Oh, I don't want you to do it now," her mother told her sweetly. "You can wait until after George's weak-willed son chases her down. And I'll even sweeten the deal. So long as you promise to give Snow the apple, we'll move Daniel to rooms in the palace. You'll be able to see him."
"I will?" Regina asked breathlessly, hope and guilt warring within her.
"Certainly," Cora drawled, stepping forward and gliding through the invisible wall between them like it was nothing. She reached out to touch Regina's face, and although the gesture was gentle, Regina shuddered. "Perhaps, if you continue to behave yourself, I will let you keep him. Not as a husband, of course—he is not worthy of that—but you can keep him as a pet."
"Mother…" Part of Regina rebelled against that characterization for Daniel, but even being what Cora called a pet would be better than being Cora's prisoner. She was not a fool; she knew her mother would still force her to marry some prince or another, but if Regina could keep Daniel with her, then life might be livable.
What kind of monster are you, thinking of your own happiness when you're going to be willing to put your own sister under a Nightmare Curse? Regina asked herself, hatred for her mother, for herself, and for the situation welling up so strongly within her. But she could help Charming find Snow. She could make sure the nightmare curse was broken before things got too bad. Couldn't she?
Cora stroked her cheek, making Regina flinch. "Will you do as I ask, darling?"
Kill Daniel today or risk a horrible death for Snow later, unless Charming could save her. Regina was sure she would never make another decision so heartbreaking. She could not answer. She could only nod miserably, too sick for words.
Emma wasn't exactly much of a cook, but she'd tried. Jefferson—an unlikely friend for Graham to have, given the way the manager of Modern Fashions had spent years stalking Mary Margaret—told her that Graham hadn't been eating very well since getting out of the hospital, so Emma had cooked up her one specialty and brought it over to the former sheriff's apartment. She felt a little awkward doing it, particularly since Graham seemed determined to avoid having anything resembling a social life. Everyone in Storybrooke knew that the former sheriff had become something of a recluse since his accident, but Emma wasn't going to let him do that. Not today.
"Tacos?" Graham asked with raised eyebrows as Emma unveiled the meal she'd brought. He'd been very surprised to see her when he'd opened the door in his wheelchair, but Emma hadn't even given him the opportunity to refuse the dinner she'd cooked.
"Yeah, well, I never claimed to be a gourmet," she said with a shrug, and was rewarded with a smile.
"Well, I happen to like tacos. Thank you."
"Quit saying that. Three times was enough. I draw the line at the fourth," Emma chided him with a smile.
"Okay. Sorry. I guess I've just been a bit down lately," Graham admitted.
Emma finished setting out all the various toppings and taco shells and sat down at the small kitchen table Graham's studio apartment sported. The table looked like Graham had salvaged it from a tag sale, and knowing him, he probably had. His apartment was cleaner than Emma expected, particularly given that Graham was now paralyzed, but it was small, cramped, and rather impersonal. It didn't seem to be owned by a man who cared much about what his home contained. The furniture was old and nondescript, and Emma couldn't even see a lot of knickknacks or mementos on the shelves. Looking around made her rather sad, though she couldn't quite define why.
"Hey, I get it. You're in a…rough spot," she said. "Dealing with everything has to be hard."
"I think it's probably what I deserve."
Emma had been paying attention to scooping out some sour cream, but that comment made her drop the spoon, which fell with a clatter. "What the hell makes you say that?"
"I ran my car into a restaurant, Emma," Graham replied bluntly, his eyes full of self-loathing. "I was damn lucky that no one got hurt, but I destroyed Dave's. And I can't even remember it."
For a long moment, Emma could only stare. Graham was such a good man, one of the few genuinely nice people in this screwed up town, and listening to him blame himself for an accident broke Emma's heart. No one knew what had caused Graham to run his car off the road and into Dave's Fish and Chips; Whale had determined that he hadn't been drunk or otherwise intoxicated, and even Keith's investigation had turned up nothing. Henry said that it wasn't his fault, she remembered, and maybe she was just grasping at straws, but Emma wanted to believe that so badly. If nothing else, maybe knowing it hadn't been his fault would clean that broken expression off of Graham's face.
"You once told me that Cora had your heart." The words came out before she could think it through, but Graham only shrugged.
"Maybe I was a little crazy that night," he replied glumly, shrugging. "Because now it sounds really crazy."
"You didn't seem crazy to me. You seemed like you were…remembering things."
He shrugged again. "I thought I was, but I must have been wrong. Everything that made so much sense that night just seems to be a blur now. None of it makes sense."
"You mean you don't remember it anymore?" Emma asked, trying to figure out if that disappointed her or not. On one hand, if Graham had told her that the curse was real, and that Cora had his heart, that might have finally been enough to make her believe. On the other, maybe if Graham had been wrong, Storybrooke was just a weird town, and Henry's curse was just a figment of an overactive ten year old imagination.
"Not really."
"Oh."
A comfortable silence filled the air for a moment or two, before Graham somehow dredged up a smile. "So, uh, are you gonna pass me that sour cream, or just use it to decorate the table?"
"Oh. Sorry," Emma replied, embarrassed. When she'd dropped the spoon, it and a bunch of sour cream had ended up adding odd designs to the weathered tabletop, and Emma hurriedly picked up the spoon and wiped it off with a spare napkin. Then she grabbed the container of sour cream and passed both over. "Here."
"Thanks." Graham spent a moment paying attention to his tacos, and then glanced back up at her. "You know, Emma…you don't have to do this. You're not responsible for me."
She shot him an annoyed look. "I didn't think I was."
Graham shrugged again. "I just mean that it's probably better for you if you don't try to hang around me too much. I'm not much fun at all these days."
"What, are you worried you'll depress me or something?"
"Maybe. Something like that."
"Well, I'm plenty able to do that for myself, and I can choose my friends, too. So stop it, okay? Unless you don't want me to come around, I'm going to keep coming. Got it?"
Her friend had the good grace to go a little red. "Got it."
A/N: So, Regina's had to make a rough choice. Do you think she'll find a way out of it, or will she wind up doing Cora's bidding?
A note on the timeline for everyone – it's now December, which means Emma's got a bit of time before she believes if we're going to stick with the timeline of the show. She may come around a bit earlier than she does in canon, but being Emma, she makes it hard!
Stay tuned for Chapter Thirty-One: "Love Destroys and Love Rebuilds," where Belle has a run in with her father, a stranger comes to Storybrooke, and Regina finally asks Rumplestiltskin who Errol is. Back in the past, Regina continues to struggle with her choice and Rumplestiltskin prepares to get himself thrown in prison. In the meantime, please do let me know what you think!
The cheat sheet has also been updated.