Chapter forty eight
Ruby fell back against the couch with an audible sigh, she looked up and shrank back slightly under the expectant gazes of Snow White and Prince Charming.
"I couldn't get the scent, the hair was covered in something, I think it was hairspray or something," she explained.
"Emma doesn't wear hairspray," Snow protested.
Ruby shrugged and with an exasperated sigh explained again, "I got the hair from Neal like Regina told me to and then I couldn't get a scent."
Neal nodded in agreement from his place at the kitchen counter and said, "have you not thought about the fact that she doesn't want to be found?"
"What?" David asked incredulously.
"She did run away a lot, maybe the commitment freaked her out and she took off. I mean all of her stuff is gone."
"She wouldn't leave," Snow said adamantly.
"How would you know? How long have you known her..." he was cut off when David launched forward with a drawn fist, only to be grabbed by his wife.
"He's not worth it, let's focus on finding her," she said as calmly as possible, and no one in the room bothered mentioning that the princess had finally listened to her former stepmother.
"Speaking of which, where is Regina?" Neal asked, having not even moved from his seat under the threat of attack, "I would have thought that she would have at least been helping."
"She said she has something important to do, to make sure everyone stays safe in the future," Snow shrugged, she really couldn't care less at the moment as long as Regina was doing something to help Emma in the long run.
Neal sighed dramatically and turned around to face the kitchen island, his smile dropped and he considered whether he would have to do something to stop the queen from making his plans completely fall apart.
Henry watched his mother curiously as she read over some forms for the tenth time, and finally he asked, "how does this help Emma?"
Regina looked up from her desk, seemingly shocked that anyone was in the room, despite the fact that she had told Henry to come home with her.
"I assume you know the way that this originally happened," she sighed, hoping that she wouldn't have to explain one of the most painful, or at least physically painful, things that had happened to her in Storybrooke.
Henry nodded solemnly, he had been tempted to skip over that part of the book, but something made him read all of it, and now he just wished that he could forget every word he had read, "Greg and Tamara...hurt you and you admitted what you did to his father or something."
Regina smiled sadly and held up the forms, the name 'Kurt Flynn' standing out among the other words, "in the original timeline, he died before Emma broke the curse."
Henry furrowed his brow, and asked, "how did he die?"
Regina's throat constricted as she thought about the moment she had received the news that the man she had locked up for eighteen years had managed to commit suicide with a makeshift rope he had somehow made. The nurse of the institute under the hospital had been completely distraught and she had somehow managed to hide her sorrow under her usual masks, and frankly the fact that she had was beginning to make her feel sick.
"Trust me you don't want to know."
Henry looked like he was about to protest, before he realised the implications of her words, "so he's alive now?"
Regina nodded and finally signed the form, "yes and I think it's about time that he was released."
Henry nodded and then grabbed the phone that had interrupted their conversation and handed it to his mother, "hello?" she sighed.
"Ruby couldn't get a scent," came through the device without pretence.
Regina pinched the bridge of her nose, she was sure that they would have found Emma by now, and that she could bring Greg's father to the station which would make the man back down.
"Are there any other options?" she asked through gritted teeth, desperately trying to maintain the calm that she had been so adamant about people keeping throughout this dire situation.
"We were hoping that you would have an idea," he replied, a slight edge to the father's voice.
Regina shook her head and then realised that the prince was unable to see her, so she said, "give me some time."
David agreed and hung up the phone, and Regina instantly dropped her head into her hands.
Henry walked over to his mother, and brought his arms around her comfortingly, "you'll find her mom," he assured.
Regina nodded and brought her arm around his small shoulders, "I suppose I'm not as used to hope as you are," she laughed sadly.
"You're in love with the saviour," came from the doorway of the study, "I believe that hope is an obligation."
Regina looked over to see her mother smiling tentatively at her daughter and grandson, and she visibly relaxed when Regina smiled back.
Cora came closer to the pair and held up the locator spell, "I was thinking that she may have left something of hers here."
Regina's eyes widened, how could I have been so foolish? She had constantly told Emma off for leaving her things strewn across her bedroom, and had eventually given her a drawer to keep them in.
"Go," Cora laughed and handed her the potion, "I'll take Henry back to his grandparents."
Regina nodded, Cora turned to exit the study, and the mayor called, "mother..." she turned around and looked at her daughter expectantly. In that moment, Regina knew that there were many things that she needed to tell her mother, but this certainly wasn't the time for a heart to heart, she could try and air her emotions when she had her girlfriend back. It was for this reason that she just said, "thank you."
Cora smiled broadly at the words, it was honestly more than she could have hoped for, "you're welcome dear, now go and find your saviour."
Regina tore the drawer open, and had to stifle a sob when she found it to be empty.
She was seriously beginning to consider the fact that Emma had just up and left, maybe she wasn't as comfortable with the idea of actually having a functional life as she had appeared to be.
She searched her memory for any sign that the blonde had been planning to leave, but she could find none. Emma had seemed legitimately happy.
She had begun spending more time with her parents, almost calling Snow 'mom' on a few occasions before going red with embarrassment and refusing to mention that it had ever happened. She spent as much time as possible at the mansion without making it seem as if she were neglecting her parents, and Henry had become happier by the day, Regina thought it was because he finally had his full family. She knew that this fact should have bothered her, but she was an integral part of his family, with the saviour holding everything together, the former Evil Queen had finally found her true happy ending, and she refused to have it taken away from her.
So in desperation, she began to violently tear open the other drawers, only to find her things. By the end of the rampage, her room was in a mess, but only with her possessions. Heavily she fell onto the bed, and put her head in her hands, and stared into the open closet with some tears falling down her cheeks. She knew that her old mother would have used this to prove that love was weakness, and in a way she was beginning to agree, if only in this moment. This pathetic feeling of uselessness was certainly a sign of weakness to the former queen, but the feeling of empowerment and happiness when she was with her girlfriend, proved that her mother's life long teachings had been the result of a warped view of the world, she had no doubt that her mother may never had experienced true romantic love, she certainly never loved Henry Sr.
Her eyes fell down to the floor, and she instantly furrowed her brow when she saw a thin line of red in her washing hamper. She knew that she did own some red clothes, but she often favoured blues and blacks and honestly she couldn't remember the last time she had worn that colour, even though she now considered one of her favourites, more specifically when a certain idiot wore it.
Jumping up, she tipped the hamper onto the floor, and let out a half sob, half laugh when the red jacket fell onto the floor surrounded by her own laundry.
Picking it up, she hugged it close to her body, and chuckled when she remembered shouting at Emma for leaving leather all over her house. She must have shoved it in here when she heard me coming, she thought while smiling fondly.
Producing the potion from her pocket, she was about to pour it on the saviour's iconic jacket, before she changed her mind, and picked up her phone.
"Regina?" was her answer after one ring, "is everything okay?"
"Yes mother, can you come and help me?" she asked after a deep steeling breath.
Her reply came in the form of billowing smoke, her mother materialised a moment later, "what do you need?"
Regina smiled, deciding she definitely liked the idea of having a mother, and held up the jacket, "help me find her."
"Please stop!" Emma screamed, the voltage now higher than any normal human could survive.
Maybe being the saviour means I can take more? She pondered, and decided that if that were true then it just meant that she had to suffer more.
"Well if you would just die than I will stop," Greg growled and finally turned the dial to the highest setting.
Emma felt darkness beginning to cling to the sides of her mind, and dazedly she looked around the room where her loved ones would find her dead.
Greg was about to hit the button, before they were both distracted by a sharp intake of breath.
The blonde turned her head, and had to close her eyes for a moment against the pain, before she opened them and saw her four saviours. Her parents, Cora and of course Regina, who caught the floating red jacket as it fell from its floating position.
Her father brandished a gun, clearly ready to shoot the man that had tortured his daughter, while her mother held her hand over her mouth for a moment of shock.
Emma cast her eyes down to her body, and saw the copious amounts of blood, since Greg had decided to cut her a few more times before he continued with the electricity, and then she imagined that she must be covered in some pretty severe burns.
Through her grogginess, she counted the number of people a few more times, before the issue clocked in her mind.
"H-Henry?" she managed to choke out.
Regina instantly furrowed her brow, and answered the question, "Neal is looking after him."
Emma took deep heaving breaths, she desperately wanted to tell Regina to go back and protect their son, but everything hurt deeply and her voice box felt almost broken, "n-" she managed, before without warning Greg lunged forward and mashed his hand against the button.
Massive volts of electricity began to course their way through the blonde's body. Her back arched off the table, and she finally felt everything going black as she had been wishing to happen for the past six hours.
Just before, however, she heard a gunshot and someone dropping heavily to the ground.
Henry sat hunched over his book, attentively reading while Neal bade goodbye to Ruby, who had been sent to release Kurt Flynn from his incarceration. The only other sound was the roaring fire, that was the only thing cutting through the freezing Maine winter.
Finally the door shut, and Neal turned on his son, eyeing the book intently.
As casually as possible, he made his way over to him and sat down next to him, "what're you reading?"
Henry looked up at his father; he was still irritated that he had been told to stay behind, though he secretly knew he was too young, that didn't stop him from having fantasies of heroism.
"You know what it is," he muttered, and continued to turn the pages.
Neal nodded awkwardly and said, "can I see it then?"
"Why?" Henry muttered, looking up at the man distrustfully, he didn't know why but he felt something was different about him since his humiliation at the diner.
"Who wouldn't be interested in an alternate timeline?" Neal laughed nervously.
Henry narrowed his eyes and replied, "I already told you stuff about it, shouldn't you be more worried about Emma?"
Neal swallowed hard, and then said, "of course I am, I'm trying to distract myself. Isn't that what you're doing?"
The boy tilted his head and answered "I'm double checking what happened last time just encase they don't find her."
"Well then let me help you," Neal insisted, trying to grab the book, but the boy snapped it away. "Henry," he tried to scold, but it didn't have the same effect as his mother's disciplines.
"I got this," he said petulantly, "why don't you go and do something else."
Neal furrowed his brow and snatched the book out of his hands.
"Hey," Henry protested trying to take it back but Neal stood and starting flicking through it, "trust me kid, it will be better this way."
"What would be better?" Henry whined, giving up on trying tograb the book since he wasn't tall enough to even attempt to get it back.
"I go back in time and stop Emma from giving you up, all I need is the trigger," he mumbled almost to himself.
Henry's eyes widened, the basic that he got from his father's plan was that he wanted to take him away from Regina.
In a split second, he made his decision and kicked Neal in the knee as hard as possible. The man coiled over slightly and Henry snatched the book, throwing it into the fire.
Neal stared at the smouldering paper for a moment, and after a second anger contorted his face and he picked up Henry by the lapels of his jacket.
"Well then I suppose there's only one place that I can get the information from," he growled.
A/N Hope you guys enjoyed :)
Need to thank Quindecim for helping out again XD
I also forgot to mention last time, Tutu Pele is looking for a beta, they ship both OQ and SQ and is willing to have a beta for each ship, but would prefer someone who also ships both (they are currently leaning more towards SQ at the moment and planning their first SQ fic) if anyone is interested either pm them or me if you can't find them and I will put you in touch. I would really appreciate anyone willing to help out since I was unable to XD
I would love to hear what you guys thought of the chapter, so please review if you want to XD