Chapter twenty-five
Regina stared for a moment at the place where her mother had disappeared. As Snow ran towards her injured daughter, the older brunette desperately tried to comprehend what had happened. How could she do this to me twice?
"Regina!" Snow shouted, applying pressure to the gushing wound.
Regina tore her attention away from the thin air, and fell to her knees beside her ex-stepdaughter.
"Emma," she said softly, only to receive no response.
Shakily, she brought two fingers to the blonde's neck.
She waited with bated breath, hoping to feel anything. A weak sensation met her fingers, and hope erupted within the queen. She let out a sigh of relief, which caused Snow to look expectantly at her.
Aurora gave her the same look, with Mulan looking thoroughly confused. She had seen many strange things in her life, but seeing herself turn into a witch and stab a woman that helped to save the camp from ogres, was something else. Though neither she nor Aurora knew the blonde very well, neither wanted to see her dead after what she had promised.
"She's alive?" Snow asked excitedly.
Regina gave a small nod, before she furrowed her brow.
The already barely there beat was rapidly weakening.
"Emma," she whispered, how can she be dying this fast? Desperately, Regina tried to think of any spell that would help, but all that came to mind was the many she had used to hurt people.
She shook the saviour, "Emma, you have to wake up," Regina cried.
"I thought you said that she's alive," Snow said accusatorily.
The queen shook her head, before swallowing hard and pressing her fingers back upon the pulse point, only this time they were met with no sensation.
"She's..." Regina began, only to be cut off.
"No, she is not dead, now do something," Snow replied angrily.
"Snow, healing is a feat of light magic, I can't do it," Regina retorted, though she berated herself harshly, why can I never save the people I love?
The mother looked away from Regina, clearly trying to hold back tears, something that Regina had failed to do as silent tears tracked their way down her cheeks.
"True love is also a feat of light magic, and apparently you can do that," she replied after a moment.
Regina ran her hand down Emma's cheek, and looked up at the other woman angrily, "apparently?"
"For God's sake Regina, this is not the time to argue," Snow shouted. Regina looked at her for a moment, watching as she finally broke down, "please, I can't lose her again," she sobbed.
"And I can?"
Mulan watched the exchange, only for something to catch her eye. Bending down, she inspected the dagger that Cora had thrown on the ground, it was very noticeably steaming with green energy, "magic," she whispered in astonishment. Eyeing the Evil Queen, the warrior tried to decide whether she should share this information, only for Aurora to beat her to it.
"It was some sort of curse," she announced.
Regina and Snow each snapped their heads towards Sleeping Beauty who was pointing towards the dagger.
Regina looked at it for moment, before feeling nerves build. She knew instantly that Cora had coated the dagger in a death curse, obviously she believed that I don't love her enough. Despite the proof of true love she already had, she couldn't help but consider whether her mother was right. Maybe as the saviour and product of true love, Emma was just somehow better at it than the queen could ever hope to be. Looking down at her unmoving girlfriend, she imagined a future where she wasn't good enough to break this curse. She knew that she would almost certainly lose Henry, as well as having to live in a world without the saviour. Regina always saw herself as a rather resilient person, but she didn't see herself being able to move past this heart break.
"What does that mean?" Snow asked.
"Mother used a death curse."
Snow looked between Regina and her lifeless daughter and demanded, "kiss her."
"Snow..." Regina began,
"No, you don't get to make any excuse, just break the curse and have your happy ending instead of wallowing in self pity."
A sharp retort instantly came to Regina's mind, only to realise that Snow was right. Emma had broken the dark curse and a sleeping curse by kissing her. She certainly wasn't going to allow the blonde to die, just to spend years in regret.
Nodding, she leaned down, "please be okay," she whispered, before softly pressing her lips against the cooler ones.
Pulling back, she looked expectantly at the blonde.
The next second felt like an eternity.
Despite this, Emma shot up and let out a deep breath. Inspecting her surroundings, she noticed Regina and Snow with tears staining their cheeks'.
"Your mother is insane," she panted once she remembered said woman thrusting a dagger into her gut.
Regina laughed through her tears, and Snow launched forward and hugged her.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled.
"For what?" Emma asked with a furrowed brow.
Snow just shook her head, unable to put into words what she needed to apologise for.
"You should rest," Aurora encouraged.
Mulan looked at her in shock, and she just shrugged.
Snow and Regina agreed..
"What about this Storybrooke?" Aurora quickly asked.
"Cora is probably already on her way there," Emma sighed, "we just need to use the other way to get there."
"Which is?" Regina asked.
"We need to get a magic bean from a giant."
Regina nodded, "you definitely need to rest then."
Emma woke up a few hours later to find Regina fast asleep next to her. Letting out a breath, she allowed herself to believe for a moment, that she was back in Storybrooke, and that any moment her alarm would sound.
Shaking head of the wishful thoughts, she turned to see her mother staring at her, "Jesus Mary Margret," she whispered.
"Sorry," she cringed, "couldn't sleep."
"So you decided to watch me sleep," Emma laughed quietly.
Mary Margaret looked over to see Regina still fast asleep, granted it did take her a while for her to agree to rest once Emma had been asleep for a couple of hours.
Snow offered her a small smile, "sorry."
Emma furrowed her brow and removed her arm carefully from underneath Regina, sliding down onto the floor, she sat next to her mother and looked out into the starry night beyond the tent Mulan had led them to.
"Why do you keep saying that?" Emma whispered once she got in a more comfortable position, much to everyone's amazement, Regina's kiss had also healed the stab wound, though it still stung.
"I guess...I don't know what else to say," she sighed.
Emma offered her a weak smile and nodded.
"I keep forgetting that I've known you longer, I guess we only met two days ago to you," Emma laughed.
"What happened before?" Snow asked.
"We were roommates, and we had conversations about one night stands, that fully traumatised me by the way. We were friends for a year, and then the curse broke and I suddenly had parents that were the same age as me," Emma chuckled.
Snow remained silent for a few more moments and sighed, "it's just strange trying to be a parent to a twenty-eight year old."
"Well if last time is anything to go by, you'll adjust pretty quickly," Snow answered with a weak smile, and Emma asked, "is that why you've been acting so strange?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well one minute you're saying that my relationship is wrong, and then you're kneeing Cora in the gut for saying the same thing," Emma laughed.
Snow nodded, and thought for a moment, "it's hard to explain...Regina was right, most of what my parents taught me was in opposition to each other, so I suppose my belief systems are a little...off."
"So why the sudden change of heart?" Emma asked.
Snow looked at Regina's sleeping form, and for a moment imagined the Evil Queen strolling cockily into her wedding and pronouncing her plan. A moment later, she remembered the young woman who had saved her from certain horse related death. She was sure in that moment that Regina would have made a great mother, though in the first few years Snow thought she had been right. But then her father died and it became painfully clear that the queen had no interest in being her mother. And now she had to deal with the fact that the Evil Queen had apparently been redeemed in another timeline, and that she was now in love with her daughter, that she had known for two days.
Honestly, she was sure that her bipolar-like behaviour was just her trying to come to terms with everything. Seeing the way that Cora treated Regina had just made her realise that she had been wrong in her reaction, but she was still certainly not okay with the situation.
Snow just shook her head and sighed, "a lot has happened in the past couple of days, I think it's just a lot to adjust to."
Emma nodded in understanding, and to her mother's amazement scooted closer to her, "don't worry, it won't take you long to adjust."
"How do you know?" Snow scoffed.
"Because, last time I was the resistant one, and you didn't give up until I got used to having people that loved me unconditionally," Emma laughed.
"And how did I do that?"
"You shot an ogre."
Snow laughed quietly, but stopped when Regina made a groaning noise and turned away.
After a moment of silence Emma said, "she's different now."
Snow nodded, "I can see that, but I did give her so many chances, it's just difficult to believe."
"Well could you give her one more chance for me?"
Snow looked into Emma's pleading eyes that were exactly like her father's and found that she was unable to deny her the chance.
Nodding she said, "how did you go back in time again?"
"Someone was trying to destroy Storybrooke, so me and Regina stopped them, and the rest I don't actually understand."
"You seem oddly calm about the whole thing," Snow frowned.
"Who would say no to a good do-over?"
"Regina," Snow mumbled.
"Mary Margaret, just give her one chance. She did save my life."
Snow thought back to the moment of complete fear, when she thought that she would only get to spend two days with her daughter. She had imagined returning to Storybrooke and explaining to her husband that she was unable to protect their little girl, but then Regina had saved her, with True Love's Kiss no less. Though she still had to get used to the idea, she could no longer deny the truth, and she no longer wanted to give her daughter a reason to have to choose between her true love and her parents.
"I promise, I'll try," she smiled weakly.
Emma laid her head on the other woman's shoulder as she had wanted to do the other day and let out a sigh of relief, "you won't regret it."
A/N Hope you enjoy the chapter XD I need to thank QueenApples for helping out so much with this chapter, she is a completely awesome writer who I recently co-authored a SwanQueen story with ('The King of Redemption') so please check it out if you want to. Also I was wondering how long you guys would want them to be in the EF for, with Cora already on her way to Storybrooke I was thinking that her plot as a villain should end in Storybrooke. Maybe they could return in the next chapter? Please feel free to let me know what you guys think in a review or PM J