Author's note: Few people are probably following this story anymore, I'm sure, since it hasn't been updated in years. A combination of things are responsible for this, but it's important to me to finish this story and a few others that have languished unfinished. ~ LZ
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"I'll take Henry home," he said, not unkindly.
Regina nodded, numb as she stared at the shredded hat. It was quiet so long, she thought he had gone. Then she heard something rustle and looked up.
David held out a ring in his hand toward her. The green stone glimmered in its setting.
Regina frowned. "What is-" she asked, fisting her hand at her side rather than reach out and take it.
"I found it in Snow - Mary Margaret's things. My mother gave it to me for finding my true love." He shrugged. "Rumplestiltskin told me it would help me find Snow. Maybe there's magic in it."
She firmed her jaw to prevent it dropping. "Why would you entrust this to me?" Then the mention of Rumplestiltskin reminded her of what he had tried to do to her – what he had done to her for so many years.
David said, "I think, now, that maybe Emma was right."
That made her stomach flutter. She cupped her other hand over the sensation. "Right about what?"
What he said next surprised her. "You have changed. You just want someone to believe in you."
Emma had said that? When? Why? How? She rubbed her face, trying to jog her memory. David grasped it. She tensed and her gaze flew to meet his. "But-"
"I don't understand magic, but you do." He pressed the ring into her palm and pressed her fingers around it. "You say you need true love to make the connection and bring Emma and Mary Margaret home, then use it."
"But, I don't-" Her first thought was how much lighter this ring felt, how insubstantial, compared to the tack ring that had been Daniel's promise ring to her. She loosened her grip, suddenly struck by what must be Charming's trust in her to let her touch something so precious. His hand tightened around hers again, assuring she couldn't drop it. His blue eyes were serious when she looked up.
"Bring my daughter and wife home, Regina."
She stared after him until the sound of his footsteps and Henry's faded away, leaving her in the cavernous silence of her vault under her father's crypt. She glanced up, thinking of her father, impossible dreams, and terrifying choices. Swallowing, she opened her palm and looked closely at the ring. It glittered faintly. Definitely had magic.
What was it Emma had said after thwarting the wraith attack? "She's not dying."
Regina had been so stunned, staring at Emma's profile a handful of inches away as she leaned on the bars of the cell and watched her nemesis defy the parents she had been searching for her entire life.
She looked down at the tattered and burned hat, leaned over and set it aside, on a grand chair she had in the corner. Light shifted and she glanced up, seeing a flash of sunlight off the large looking glass where she'd once trapped the genie. Retracing the beam, she was surprised not to see a source. The light simply vanished into the ceiling.
She looked at the mirrored surface and held the ring up so it should be reflected in the glass. There. Its faint green glow was the source of the light. The angle had shifted so that the light now directly reflected onto her chest. She walked forward until the fingertips of her left hand met the glass just an inch ahead of the ring. The glow was bigger at this distance and she could see the fine metalwork of the silver band, which was two strands twined around each other, meeting at the top and cradling the gemstone, was shimmering also.
The green gem was very nearly the same color as Emma's eyes, Regina thought, bringing to mind the other woman's face again in profile as she stood toe to toe with Whale telling him to "Back off!"
The mirrored surface under her fingers began to ripple. Startled, Regina jumped, dropping her hand. The mirror stopped rippling.
Regina's heart hammered in her chest as though she'd run miles. She swallowed and said plainly, as if she was once again giving an order to her genie. "Show me Emma Swan." And she touched the glass with her left hand and moved the ring in her ring until the light reflection encompassed her left hand. The mirror rippled again.
Emma turned over restlessly in her sleep, palm adjusting her position against the ground. Fingers splaying, she realized she was on top of the mirror. Then the surface rippled, disturbing her slumber. "Uhn, wha-" Afraid of tripping the thing again, Emma jerked upright and blinked rapidly, staring around wildly.
Her mother was tied up at the Queen of Hearts- Cora's- feet. Emma scrambled to her feet, trying not to be noticed as she checked that the ripple she'd caused was gone from the mirror. "Let her go!"
"What's this?"
At a simple nod from Cora, Emma was seized by guards she hadn't noticed behind her. Dragged backward, her boots kicked at the glass surface and she winced when she noticed it crack.
Cora crouched, and reached out a hand toward the gilded mirror. "A looking glass?" She narrowed her gaze at Emma and demanded, "Is this how you arrived in Wonderland?"
"No, we fell down a hole." Emma swallowed. "We found it hiding from you."
Cora waved a hand and the hairline fracture vanished. "Hidden from me no doubt by my daughter's minions." She looked over her shoulder at Snow, whose eyes were wide and afraid behind a cloth gag that had been pushed between her teeth. "Do you know where it goes?"
Snow's eyes widened; Emma realized her mother's fear of Cora was something the older woman was using to her advantage. Snow shook her head. Cora laughed.
"I don't care where it goes," Cora said. "As long as it goes away from here."
Emma wrestled against the guards' hold and managed to free one arm. With that leverage, she flung herself at Cora and landed hard against the woman's thick belled skirt even as Cora was rising again to her feet. The move was fast enough and low enough that Cora's balance was upset. The two of them tumbled to the stone floor of the cave. Immediately, Emma's street-smart fighting demanded she take the upper hand. Shifting her energy through her hips, back, and then shoulders, she drove her fist toward Cora's face. A moment later, she was several feet away mid-punch and slammed her fist into the cave's stone wall.
"Shit!" She winced. The skin of her knuckles was cracked and bleeding. The pain lanced into her wrist, suggesting several of the bones in her hand were also broken.
The residue of Cora's magic, puffs and swirls of red smoke – Queen of Hearts, right – dissipated. Emma spun in place, locating Cora again.
Cora had her hand out and magic swirled again, this time over the surface of the mirror – looking glass, apparently. Beneath the red smoke, Emma saw the glass rippling. Shit.
She had just enough presence of mind to grab her mother and follow Cora as she stepped onto and into the portal.
Cora was frowning as she dusted her skirts when Emma and Snow stumbled out of the mirror-portal behind her. They stood in an alley next to a brick building, a brass gilded mirror lay at a slight angle against the wall. Emma realized that must be where they had come out.
"Where is this?" Cora's expression was one of confusion.
"You opened it," Emma said.
"Actually, I only borrowed it. You opened it. So, I'm asking you again. Where are we?"
Shit. Emma had been hoping to get to Storybrooke. She glanced across the street and found the edge of a sign – a familiar sign.
"Probably went haywire with your interruption," she tried for accusation in her town. "I don't recognize anything." Her mother's eyes widened behind the gag, thankfully a few feet behind Cora where the woman couldn't see. Emma shook her head; don't give it away. She glared again at Cora. "It's not like I know how to control it."
Cora started walking away; Emma ran in front her. "Wait, wait. Whoa!"
"Get out of my way!" Cora's hand flew up and Emma found herself flung into the street.
A beat up baby blue pickup truck rumbled down the street toward her.
Even garbled by the gag, her mother's scream of her name reached Emma. She was collecting herself and rising to her feet when another magical grasp flung her to the further curb and she crumpled at the foot of Granny's sandwich board.
The blue pickup truck's horn and wheels squealed. When the truck had come to a stop – four or five feet past where Emma had been only moments ago – two people scrambled out, one from behind the wheel, the other from the passenger seat.
"Emma!" Two male voices mingled.
She looked up in time to see Henry and her father charging toward her. Emma was wrapped up in her father's arms, his hand slipping to the back of her head, and Henry's smaller arms wrapped around her waist from behind. She gasped and grasped her father's jacket.
My god, it's real! He's real! She was back! Her eyes squeezed shut to pull back the tears that threatened to fall.
When she opened her eyes, Regina was stepping off the nearby curb and coming toward them. Shit. There was no way that Cora wouldn't recognize her own daughter. Emma, however, did not see Cora as she gave a quick glance up and down the street. Alarmed, she quickly scanned further right and left, but did not find the wily Queen of Hearts anywhere in sight. Damn it.
Emma pulled back from her father's hug and smiled up at him as she grasped his arms. "Hey," she offered.
"Emma!" Snow ran forward.
"Snow?" Her father turned just as Snow White reached him and he gathered his wife up into his arms.
Emma felt a pair of arms go around her waist and glanced down to see Henry smiling up at her. "Hey, kid."
"Emma!" He hugged her tighter; she ruffled his hair. He gave her a mugging sort of smile and she laughed. "You're back!"
"Yeah, kid." She brushed his hair back from his face.
"Is something wrong?" Regina's rich voice – God, how she had missed it – felt so good against Emma's ears that she smiled. But then her expression soured as she remembered what Cora knew.
Holding Regina's gaze, she said quickly, quietly, and quite seriously, "We have to talk." Regina's reaction to her words was hard to read. Emma jerked her head toward the diner, gaze touching on her mother and father's faces as well. "I'm hungry. Let's eat."
Snow balked. "But, Emma -"
"Not here," she obliquely answered her mother's unspoken question. "Inside. It's like 12 degrees," Emma said while she shivered not altogether fakely.
Her father wrapped his arm around Snow's shoulders and her own and led the way up the walkway to the diner entrance. Emma grabbed the door and held it open for all the group to pass through. When Henry, with Regina's hand on his shoulder, had entered, Emma put her hand out in front of Regina.
"Miss Swan," Regina said, tone dangerous and low.
"Regina, wait. We have to talk."
"I thought that's what we were going inside for." Regina rolled her eyes. "You're keeping me from Henry."
"I'm keeping someone else from Henry, too," Emma said, dipping her gaze back toward the street. "Snow and I were not the only ones to arrive in Storybrooke."
"What?"
"Someone else came through the looking glass with us."
Regina's gaze pinned her. Menacingly, she demanded, "Who?"
"Your mother."
Regina's features drained of color until Emma thought the stalwart mayor might faint. But then she snorted. "My mother's dead."
"Whoever told you that lied to you."
"How do you know? I've never said-"
"Your mother's name is Cora," Emma interrupted. "And for the last thirty years give or take, she's been the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland."
Emma had grasped Regina's hand as she spoke; the woman's gripped tightened painfully and the corners of her eyes pinched with pain – and fear.
The woman's usually strident voice was barely a whisper when Regina finally managed to speak. "No." She shook her head. "No, no. No."
Emma nodded, and scanned the street once more. Then she put her arm around Regina's back and finally, she guided the woman ahead of her into the diner.