Chapter Fourteen- Off with Her Head
As soon as the magic left her body, Emma went limp in Regina's arms. The bleeding had finally stopped as Regina wiped it away, still rocking her slowly.
"Mother, we need to fix this! I can't keep seeing her go through this! This is going to destroy me." Regina looked up at Cora with glassy eyes.
"Dear, you have to be strong for the both of you. She needs you to be her rock right now. It might not seem like it right now because she has always been great at hiding the way she really feels, but this ordeal is weighing heavy on her." Cora replied, waiting for Zelena to come back with the items she requested. She knew the princess had been having trouble eating and keeping her food down, but the girl was already skin and bones as it is, she didn't need her wasting away any further.
"Granny says she shall send up some broth for Emma once she wakes." Zelena said as soon as she reappeared. Handing her mother the items, she walked over to the two princesses but made sure she kept her distance.
"Why are you so far away?" Regina narrowed her eyes, while sniffling in an attempt to keep from crying.
"I don't want to set her off again." Zelena replied, placing her hands in her lap before sinking to the floor.
"You have to know that wasn't really her saying those things. She loves you and Elsa dearly, and I'm sure given time she'll come around to your relationship." Regina pushed back some of Emma's hair that had escaped her braid
"What if she doesn't? What if she still decides that she doesn't like the fact that I am with her best friend?" Zelena frowned.
"Then you have a choice to make. However you shouldn't allow her opinion to effect your relationship. You deserve happiness too, Lena. You and Elsa are closer in age than Elsa and Emma. You are twenty six seasons and she is twenty-four. Emma is barely eighteen. I can't explain why she was so angry about the two of you, all I can say is you should wait until she is well to sit down and have a discussion with her." Regina shrugged, before pulling Emma closer to her. She was becoming sore sitting on the hard ground, and after Cora gives Emma her milk she was going to transport them back to her room.
"If I was made to choose, I'd choose her. She's my daughter, regardless of age. She's never been anyone's first choice, not even your own. I promised her after she came to live here, she'd always be mine. She knows this, I-I don't know why she'd think I was taking sides with her and Elsa. I just wanted her to see that she was hurting her friend." Zelena shook her head sadly, wrapping her arms around herself.
"Lena, you know Emma loves you. Sometimes I get jealous by how much. When she woke up, she didn't want to see me. She asked for you, she asked for her mom. When she's sick or needs comforting because nine times out of ten I am the one to upset her, she seeks you out. Emma wouldn't want you to chose her or your happiness, this had to be leftover traces of the magic still inside of her." Regina tried to reassure her sister.
"Listen to your sister, dear. Don't take what happened a few moments ago to heart. We knew Emma wasn't going to be herself for a while after this ordeal." Cora chimed in, finding a dropper so that she could place some of the medicine milk on Emma's tongue. After giving the girl a couple of ounces, she told Regina she should take her back to her quarters.
Regina had placed the blonde in her bed, while she went to the nearest mirror in her quarters. Glancing back at her pale Princess, whose body was going through hell and back she made her decision.
"Genie!" Regina's voice was leveled and firm, her eyes still locked on Emma's body, her heart broke when the blonde didn't even move.
"Yes , Your Highness." The dutiful man replied, his face appearing in the mirror.
"Summon the army at the Dark Place, tell my Captain Graham to prepare my men for battle. Once your done here, I need you to summon Captain Walsh and tell him to do the same for the men in Oz." Regina's tone left no room for discussion.
"Princess I don't believe-" Regina cut him off with a withering glare, watching the face disappear from the mirror.
"Once you wake up darling, the fun is going to start." Regina grinned slightly, before slinking over to the bed.
Zelena hadn't expected to be engulfed in a hug as soon as she walked into her room, but she still held the sobbing Ice Princess in her arms trying to console her.
"Dear do try to calm yourself, you are dripping all over my dress." Zelena spoke with a teasing tone as she rubbed the blonde's lower back.
"I meant what I said! I spoke to Emma often about you, yet I never told her whom you were. I don't want this-us to end!" Elsa admitted once she was able to catch her breath.
"I wish to believe that she was simply caught off guard and didn't mean the things that she said. It could very well be the residual magic left in her system. After you left, she seemed to calm down some but her body expelled whatever dark magic was still lingering. She hasn't woken since." Zelena filled in the blonde on what she missed.
"What?! Is she okay?" Elsa pulled back startled.
"I have no idea, all when can do right now is wait. Healers know nothing to help her but my mother is working on something. All I know is that since that eleven year old girl came barreling into my life, she has taken a piece of my heart. I cannot bare to see her in so much pain." Zelena replied, breaking their embrace to walk over to her desk.
"I was a drunk, a violent one at that. Many called me a tyrant before she came here, came to me. My princess has changed me for the better, something about her lightness seemed to be contagious because she made me want to be a better person. Once she let me in and I learned what it meant to be a true mother, I realized that was what I was missing all along." Zelena explained.
"Lena, I'm sure she will be fine. She's a fighter, she has always been one." Elsa tried to assure her lover.
"At what point does one simply give up? She has had to fight for far too long as it is. Maybe it is time for me as a mother to do the fighting for her. My army will be summoned by tomorrow, along with that of my mothers and we shall declare war upon the white kingdom." Zelena's hollow eyes peered into soulful icy blues.
"Then mine shall mark beside yours. I will do anything in my power to assist you in your journey. Emma is my best friend, regardless of tense feelings right now. I would do anything to make those bastards pay for what they have done." Elsa locked her jaw firmly, not wanting to give Zelena room to discredit her attempts.
"For the Princess." Zelena's lips quirked slightly into a smile.
"Tomorrow is for the princess, tonight is all about My Queen." Elsa swaggered towards the red head and stopped several feet in front of her watching blue eyes darken considerably.
"Well don't let me stop you." Zelena husked before licking her lips. However there was a knock at her door that interrupted the moment.
"I am going to freeze whomever is on the other side of that door!" Elsa hissed, causing Zelena to chuckle.
"Calm yourself, we shall have our fun." Zelena promised, a smile on her pink lips as she went to answer the door.
"Captain?" Zelena rose an eyebrow to the man. While on the scrawny side and resembling the intimation factor of a circus monkey , he used this to his advantage. Agile and lean, he was her best fighter with his magic.
"My Queen, you wish to summon the men?" Walsh bowed deeply in his show of respect, and Elsa could feel her green eyed monster stirring.
"I had not sent the orders yet, I was planning to first thing at sunrise." Zelena frowned.
"The Genie told me-" Walsh stopped speaking when Zelena held up her hand.
"Those would be my sister's orders. Please see to them, she shall be commanding this army. Whatever demands she makes, you see that they get done." With that Zelena closed the door before turning back to Elsa.
"What has your face so sour?" Zelena's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. What could have upset the Ice Princess is so little time.
"How well do you know your Captain? You two seem awfully chummy." Elsa remarked.
"Well enough I suppose. He has been my Captain for almost five summers." Zelena answered.
"Has he been your concubine for almost the same time?" Elsa raised an eyebrow.
"Concubine? I have never taken a man to bed, dear." Zelena shook her head, watching Elsa's reaction.
"Never?" Elsa asked in disbelief.
"Well there was one, but he couldn't preform the job so I hardly feel that counts. I have always been attracted to the fairer sex, I just choose to keep it my business and not make a reputation out of it." Zelena couldn't help the little jab, but sighed deeply when Elsa frowned.
"Does it bother you? Knowing how many people I have allowed to touch my body?" Elsa questioned, playing with her nails.
"We all have a past dear. I wasn't expecting you to be able to wear white to your wedding. I knew all about your reputation before we started whatever this is. It changes nothing. However it did help me to keep my distance this past winter when you cornered me at that ball while you were drunk." Zelena chuckled again.
"That isn't funny! I made a fool of myself then!" Elsa pouted but stopped when Zelena yanked her into her arms.
"You make me want to bite that lip." Zelena hungrily smashed their lips together in a teeth clattering kiss. It was all parts sloppy but something about it simply felt right.
"Now lets see if you can put that cold tongue to use." With a flick of her wrist, their clothes had vanished and they were now on her bed.
"Oh My Queen, you know very well I can put it to use." Elsa grinned before sliding down pale legs.
Emma rolled over with a groan, her whole body protesting the movement. She could smell Regina, but it seemed like a chore to actually open her eyes to see the Dark Princess.
"It's time to wake my love. Unless you wish to miss out on the festivities." Regina's voice was enticing to Emma as she brought up her hand to rub at her eyes hoping it would help. One lid popped open first, followed by the second as Emma looked up to see a grinning Regina.
"I think you have slept enough to last us a life time. It's time to rise." Regina pecked her lips before pulling back.
"Why the hell are you so chipper this morning?" Emma grumbled.
"No reason in particular. I just love waking up to you in my arms." Regina replied in a cheesy tone.
"No really, what's going on?" Emma yawned while sitting up.
"Today is the day we set out to make you an orphan and an only child. We are going to get your crown, My Princess." Regina responded genuinely, while pushing Emma's bed hair over her shoulder. The blonde's dazed green eyes watched her for a moment before widening.
"We are going to war?" Emma gasped.
"We are, and we shall be victorious!" Regina bared her teeth in a full fledged grin.
"I finally get to kill those bastards. By the Gods, how am I going to do that? I would say poison but it seems they've beat us to the punch. Maybe dismemberment? Starting with their genitals and moving towards their chest. Or maybe I can rip out their hearts and force them to kill one another. That would be fitting." Emma drummed her fingers on her chin as Regina watched on amused.
"My Princess, you shall have plenty of time to think of that on the journey there. For now we have to assemble, so lets get your pretty ass out of this bed." Regina stood up.
"Have you seen my ass before? I mean how do you know its pretty?" Emma stood up and bunched her sleeper above the waist in just a pair of sheer panties. Regina eyed her hungrily, her hands reaching out but Emma tutted.
"Now now! We said we were going to wait until marriage. I have yet to even receive a proposal." Emma tsked.
"Well I wish to amend that!" Regina walked over to her dresser before hesitating.
"Regina I was just joking." Emma pulled her dress down, before stepping off the bed.
"You may have been, but I was serious about what I said when you were under. I know this may not be what exactly you wanted, but I always said I would give it to you when I decided to put on my crown and be a woman worthy of you." Regina turned around with a small white gold ring. It looked like it was meant for a male, it didn't have any sort of diamond or pearl on it.
"My father proposed to my mother with this ring. Back when she thought he was nothing more than the kings gardener, she still loved him. He wanted to see if she would accept him regardless of stature. She did and he brought her to our palace. He was very important to me...he died for me." Regina sniffed but plowed on.
"So with this ring I wish to know if you shall accept me. Regardless of my past..." Regina finally looked into Emma's eyes and was surprised to see the normally collected blonde crying.
"Of course I will. Regardless of your past, and how much we have hurt one another. I simply know in my heart that you are my future." Emma's voice cracked as Regina slide the ring on her finger.
"After this war, after our crowns. I shall make an honest woman out of you." Regina grinned watching Emma scoff wetly.
"Baby I think that is the other way around." Emma smiled when Regina placed a soft kiss over the ring finger.
"This maybe true. After our victory, you shall make me the happiest woman alive by becoming mine, My Queen. Now lets hurry along with this, so that we are one step closer to our wedding." Regina grinned.
AN: Yep another boring old day. Next chapter will be a slight time skip because I really want to kill off some characters or what not. So expect some blood shed!