A/N: Part 2/ Enchanted Forest part to come tomorrow (promise!). None of this is what I'd planned to write tonight- it's not even the scene I'd had planned to write!- so I have a lot more to come, but it's getting late, and I find it hard to edit them when the chapters get too long, so I thought I would update with this scene first as it's been a while :) Hope you enjoy, and I'll get into what's going down between Emma and the Evil Queen tomorrow!
Entering Gold's shop, Regina takes the lead with Lily at her heel. The windows had been dark on their approach, the open sign turned around to read 'closed', but Gold's car is parked outside, and the Mayor knows the little man makes a habit of tinkering in the back room of an evening, especially as all seems doomed in paradise between himself and Belle. Keeping to himself in the shadows provides the additional benefit of avoiding the messy situation in town, as tensions remain and grow around the newcomers that have descended upon their world from the airship wrecked in the forest, and Regina feels a pang of jealousy as she would quite like some distance from the chaos herself.
That sort of thing has always been Snow's strength- hers and Charming's- while Emma and I do better keeping a watchful eye on the periphery.
True, but for vastly different reasons- her own, because for a long time, she had known she wouldn't be trusted any further, while Emma maintains this position purely as she lacks the interest and social generosity of her parents- but they've each done their part until recently.
Until the younger woman's strangely flirtatious change in attitude, and her decision to wear the dress.
That goddamn dress...
Swallowing, she pushes aside the heavy velvet curtain separating the shelves stocked with curios and Gold's workroom to find the man bent over a small wooden box, no bigger than the palm of his hand.
"Regina."
He greets her without looking up. Whether in response to being ignored, or merely by coincidence, Lily clears her throat as she emerges from behind the Mayor, and the little man finally glances up with a frown.
"You..."
He muses, having spent little time around the surly young woman the others brought back to town. He has discussed her at great length with Malificent in regards to what power she might possess and what hazards might linger from the prophecy of her birth, but he has only spoken to the woman herself on a couple of occasions, each time receiving little more than a series of grunts in return. He has seen her talking animatedly with Emma, however; occasionally spying the two of them stalking past his shop towards the woods with their stance and mannerisms amusingly alike. It fascinates him that the two had found each other and formed a friendship in the outside world, and he supposes there must be more to Lily than meets the eye, as he knows firsthand that trying to get close to Emma to the point of the blonde readily participating in friendly conversation is no easy feat. It is something she will only allow of him now after their years spent enduring a complex and occasionally tempestuous dance, and he has found that beneath her chilly exterior, Emma can be surprisingly upbeat and genial. It is something that both amuses him and irritates her when he finds cause to mention it.
As such, he has marvelled at the fact several times in her presence.
He would guess that Lily might be a little harder to crack as she lacks the cheek he'd sensed from the Saviour upon first meeting her; seeming to favour scorn over wit, and bitterness over sarcasm. He imagines there must be a reason and that he would find it intriguing to know more, but Storybrooke is not the sleepy town it had been before Emma showed up to set prophecy in motion, and it is rare that he has the time to delve deep into the psyche of others these days, much as he might like to.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?"
He asks curiously, and Lily narrows her eyes distrustfully while Regina gets straight to the point.
"You were the one that messaged me requesting a meeting."
"Ah, yes, I-"
"-And I want to know what you make of this."
The brunette interrupts before she can help herself, pulling the fractured cuff found in Emma's basement from her coat pocket and dumping it out on the desk.
Gold looks down at the crude metal for a tense moment of silence, before finding dark eyes glittering with confusion and something else that surprises him a little.
Fear. She's afraid...
"Where did you find this?"
He asks with a frown, recognising the cuff for what it is immediately, but he has never seen such an item bearing the damage apparent to the one on his desk. It shouldn't be possible to blemish an object bearing the enchantment that lingers in the metal, much less destroy it and render it useless.
"Emma's. In the basement."
Regina replies, and to save Gold from asking what she perceives as a logical follow-up question, she elaborates in a strained voice
"She's not there. She's not anywhere! I've been looking for her after spending some time with her earlier where she seemed... Out of sorts."
"Upset?"
"No... Just... Not herself."
The brunette shakes her head, intriguing the little man as he notes a delicate blush creeping across her cheeks. Taking a seat behind his desk, he leans over the cuff to study it up close and murmurs politely enough
"Vague replies beget vague solutions, Regina. As my student for a number of years, I would hope that you'd know that."
"Tell him."
Lily interrupts, and the Mayor glances back at her with an irritable scowl, before returning her attention to Gold and balling her hands into fists inside the pockets of her coat.
"She was... Behaving in a manner not befitting our relationship."
"That could mean anything."
Lily points out from behind her, and Regina purses her lips as she takes in a slow, placating breath, before explaining in a carefully expressionless voice
"If not for the fact I know her better than that, I would have said that Miss Swan was... Flirting with me."
She feels her complexion darken with heat and discomfort, but rather than incredulous laughter or shock, she receives very little in the way of a response from Gold, who merely offers a small nod to let her know her words have been acknowledged as he continues to study the cuff, and an audible escape of breath from behind. Looking back at Lily, she expects to be met with disbelief or cruel amusement, but the younger woman's expression is complex and one she is unable to read. Frowning, Regina turns back to Gold and splays her palms impatiently
"Well?!"
"Is it out of character for Miss Swan to flirt with you?"
The pawnbroker asks, and he offers the flustered stammering the Mayor manages in response a moment's amusement, before addressing her gravely.
"I only ask as the two of you have suffered a grand spectrum of changes to your relationship, rendering your read of the situation possible, if a little unlikely."
"She has Hook."
Regina replies, unsure why she does so through gritted teeth and with just a hint of resentment.
"And I had Mila."
Gold replies quietly, but he drops the subject rather than pushing it further as there are more important things for them to discuss.
"Snow informed me that you protected your father's crypt using blood magic."
"Yes... What of it?"
Regina frowns, thrown by what she sees as a sudden change of direction, and she feels a flicker of dread as dark eyes rise to meet her own and Gold informs her solemnly
"The seal was breached."
"How is that possible?... Zelena?!"
The Mayor barks accusingly, and Gold shakes his head.
"I asked her. She said she had nothing to do with it."
"Oh, and it would be entirely out of character for her to lie! It-"
"-It wouldn't at all, but in this instance, I believe her. It lends credence to a theory I've been troubled over for some time now... And you've just brought me the proof."
"What's that?"
The brunette furrows her brow in confusion, looking down at the fractured cuff on the desk.
"Charmed objects carry within them an essence of those affected as well as those who charmed them in the first place... Tell me, what did you feel when you found this?"
"... Emma. It has something to do with her... I've worked alongside the woman enough times to recognise her magic, only-"
"-Only she shouldn't have been able to use magic at all with that on, right?"
Lily speaks up as the Mayor trails off with a deeply troubled expression, and the latter nods, before adding quietly
"The magic she used was dark... Very dark."
A small noise of disquiet from behind her at this, yet Gold merely nods with his weathered features appearing drawn.
"Yes. That's what I feel too... One of the things I feel."
"What do you mean?"
Regina asks, extending a hand to touch the cuff, and Gold raises his own as he advises her gently
"There's no use in you doing that, dearie, it's almost impossible to detect one's own magic in such a way."
"My magic?"
"If you will."
Gold agrees, before imparting what had started off as a worrisome theory a little over a week ago, and what he now believes to be true.
"It's your magic, Regina, of that I have no doubt; I know your signature better than anyone. But, as with Miss Swan's, the magic used by your hand here carries a darkness. It-"
"-What the fuck have you done!?"
Lily bursts out, and when both Gold and Regina offer her a startled look, she rounds on the Mayor aggressively; pointing a finger in her face.
"You! You fucking snake! You made up this whole story and acted so goddamned stung when I suggested you might mean Emma harm, and you fucking cursed her with that thing! You-"
"-No."
Gold interrupts loudly to be heard over Lily's tirade, and when the younger woman shoots him an incredulous glance, he repeats sternly
"No... Regina didn't have anything to do with it."
"But-"
"-I didn't," Regina interrupts emphatically, "I wouldn't. I wouldn't hurt Emma, I believe I've made that quite clear!"
"You can understand her confusion."
Gold points out, and when the Mayor throws him a look that suggests she is similarly at a loss for what seems to be going on, he sighs as he picks up the cuff and holds it in his palm.
"Regina, when you split from the Evil Queen... I had my doubts. Not because I was unsure whether your intent was pure, or anything so accusatory. It simply seemed too easy, and I have been around long enough to know that magic rarely is. I was content to leave my unease at that, until spending some time with Mister Hyde. That encounter set the cogs turning if you will, as did several oddities I've witnessed over the last week. The breach to your seal over the crypt gave weight to my growing suspicion, and the lingering power trapped in this cuff concludes what I'd feared... You separated the Queen from your body- your soul- dearie, but she didn't die. She lives as her own dark entity, free of the constraints that bound her when tethered to your conscience."
"... She's alive?"
Regina breathes, dark eyes widening with a combination of horror and uncertainty.
"I believe so, and I believe there has been some altercation- some interaction, at least- between herself and Emma."
"Oh god..."
"Quite... Yet, I can't explain how this cuff came to bear the damage it does. I have never seen such a thing... But, I have read of something similar."
"It's happened before?"
"That really depends."
"On what?"
"If you believe in legends... A similar occurrence is transcribed in the Book of Lille; not a book known by many in the Enchanted Forest, but a popular compilation of mythology from another realm."
"Stories, then..."
Regina frowns, and Gold grins- his false tooth twinkling- and muses silkily
"Stories like the ones in Henry's book?"
"... Alright... So what happens in this myth? What happens with the cuff?"
"In the story of Prya, it is a bejewelled amulet, not a cuff, but the idea behind it is the same. It dampens the power of the one that wears it and is impossible to remove, save for by the hand of the one who cast the enchantment or placed it upon the victim. In the tale, Prya is faced with a series of tasks- as is formulaic with these things- each one harder and more humiliating than the last. When she is given her final task- the particulars of which, I forget- she is overcome with such rage and such wicked fury, that the enchantment breaks beneath her wrath; her anger and will a thousand times darker than that of the enchanter. The amulet breaks in two, and she and her enforcer are engulfed in the magic that escapes; bringing them to face one another where their story first began. To where that darkness was ignited and began to fester. In the tale of Prya; a market stall in the city square."
"If that story bears any resemblance to our current situation... Emma's darkness was greater than that of the Evil Queen."
Regina speaks up hoarsely, remembering both the way the blonde had smiled coquettishly while sitting too close- too intimate- beside her on the sofa, and an altogether more familiar meeting with the younger woman last week when the blonde had helped her figure out a confusing new update on her phone with greatly appreciated patience; laughing now and then as they had chatted agreeably. She struggles to picture that grinning woman besting the Queen. She has seen several unsavoury sides to the younger woman in their years of knowing one another, but she has never seen a malicious streak tainting that occasional darkness that would match the cruelty of her former self. Emma has shown anger and bitterness on occasion- most notably when under the control of the dagger- but even as the Dark One, her threat had been one of fury, of wrath, rather than the twisted need for revenge that had marked the brunette when sat on the throne.
"Emma isn't like that..."
Soft words- uncertain- and the Mayor frowns as she hadn't meant to say such a thing out loud, before realising that they come from behind her. Looking back at Lily, the younger woman challenges her defiantly with her stare, but Regina simply nods and turns back to Gold with the same point of view.
"Miss Swan wouldn't stoop to the depths that woman would go."
She insists, and it feels odd talking about a version of herself in such a way, and yet she feels nothing like the despicable entity she'd torn from her being out on the roof. Gold shakes his head.
"Miss Swan has a higher propensity for darkness than most... She has thus far kept any urge to let it overwhelm her contained where possible as she seems also to be equipped with a wish to do good... But even the friendliest of dogs- and I would not call Emma particularly friendly- will bite if poked enough times with a stick, and you know as well as I do, Regina, how dearly our fallen Queen enjoyed such a pastime of torment... I can't tell you what it is that she did to send Emma over the edge, but I can tell you that she succeeded. Else this cuff would still be on the Saviour's wrist and wouldn't carry such an aura of darkness."
"So what now?"
Lily asks, and she sounds just as strained as the Mayor feels.
"Where are they?"
"I believe Regina might be able to guess the answer to that."
Gold sighs, placing down the cuff and steeping his fingers beneath his chin as he regards the darker woman shrewdly.
"The Forest... They're in the Enchanted Forest."