They had gotten to a little stream and stopped to drink. Snow was grateful for the break, she tried her best to hide it but the long days and sleepless nights were beginning to affect her. Not to mention the lack of food, she couldn't remember the last time she'd had a proper meal. Snow walked a little ways from the group, she needed a moment to herself. She watched them from her spot behind a tree.
Captain Hook was a little too flirty with her daughter, she decided, and felt a little jolt at thinking of her that way. It should have been easy, to accept Emma as her daughter, to fall into a mother daughter dynamic. Snow wouldn't admit it to anyone, but it hadn't been. Emma had become her friend, a friend with whom she'd talked about all sorts of things, some of which weren't exactly appropriate to discuss with one's daughter. She supposed mother daughter relationships had never been her forte. Her own mother had died when she was too young, still a child. And her step mother…well everyone knew how that had gone didn't they? There was even a movie about them. Snow smiled a little as she remembered watching the cartoon and feeling strangely connected to the characters. She'd shrugged it off at the time.
Now her step mother was chained to the ground in a giant's lair. Snow was torn on how to feel about Emma leaving her up there, on one hand, it wasn't a very heroic thing to do, on the other…this was Regina they were talking about. The woman who had tried to destroy her life in every possible way, who was the reason Emma was now barely more than a stranger to Snow. She felt tears prickle her eyes. It didn't matter anymore, really, they were together now, and they'd find a way to become a family, somehow. As her line of thought veered into her usual mantra of hope and positive thinking, Aurora's voice reminded her of what had happened while Emma was on the beanstalk. She rose and walked towards the group,
"Emma," she called out, causing her to turn away from the pirate with whom she'd been talking. Snow stood with Aurora and Mulan, she gestured for Emma to join them, hoping the pirate got the hint. He did, and Emma walked over alone.
"Remember we said we had something to tell you?" Snow asked, and, at Emma's nod, continued, "While you were up there, on the beanstalk, something happened," she looked to Aurora, "while Aurora was asleep, she saw someone, in her dream,"
"You had a dream?" Emma asked, she sounded skeptical. Snow supposed it wasn't easy to accept the realities of the enchanted forest, having grown up in the land without magic.
"It wasn't just a dream," Aurora said, "it was real, I was in a room full of fire and there was a boy, he said his name was Henry,"
Emma stared at her open mouthed, then looked to Snow, who nodded.
"Emma, Aurora can talk to Henry in her dream!"
"But, how is this possible?" Emma asked, in the meantime she dug through her pockets and pulled out her wallet,
"It's because they've both been under a sleeping spell," Snow explained, "their souls can meet where they were taken during the curse,"
"Weren't you under a sleeping curse too?" Emma asked,
"I was, but I've learnt not to fall back into that room, they still haven't," at Emma's questioning glance, she added "Blue told me all this after I woke up from the curse Regina put me under,"
Emma nodded, then she pulled a picture out of her wallet, it was a portrait of Henry.
"Is this him?" She asked Aurora, waving the picture in front of her nose.
"Yes, that's him! Henry!"
Emma stared at her for a moment, before turning and walking away. Snow followed her at a jog.
"Emma! This is good!" she said, slightly breathlessly, when Emma had stopped,
"We can communicate with Storybrooke through Henry, we can ask him to help us defeat Cora and Regina,"
"You mean his mother and grandmother?" Emmasked,
Snow sighed, she put her hand on Emma's shoulder,
"Emma, you're Henry's mother, Regina has done nothing but hurt him, she doesn't deserve to be his mother,"
"How can you say that? I'm the reason he was under that sleeping curse, if I'd believed him none of this would have happened!"
"Who gave you that apple turnover?" Snow asked, she kept her voice even, although she felt like shaking her daughter back to her senses. Leaving Regina in the enchanted forest was the only option, to protect Henry, and to protect everyone else. Snow knew Regina well enough to know she'd never give up her quest for revenge, not even for her son.
"Emma," Snow continued, "You did the right thing leaving her up there, now let's figure out how to get the tree dust from Cora, and how to activate it, and go home,"
Emma twisted her hands together, she looked away from her mother, into the dense forest ahead of them.
"Regina tried to put you under that curse, with no way of waking up," Snow added after a moment.
Emma nodded, "You're right," She said, "We have to leave her here, we'll tell Henry she couldn't make it through, or…something,"
Snow understood Emma's conflict, it was difficult to lie to one's child, but what needed to be done needed to be done. Regina was a threat. She smiled encouragingly,
"Let's talk to Henry," She said.
Regina followed her mother through the camp, they zig-zagged their way between the corpses, which, Regina noticed, hadn't begun to rot yet. They should have, with the sun shining all day, the smell should have been unbearable. She suspected some trick of her mother's.
Once they'd gotten to Lancelot's hut, Cora stopped, she stood on the stairs leading to the entrance and raised her a moment, the bodies began to rise, they got up slowly, they carried their limbs as if they were too heavy, their heads bent, like their necks were not strong enough to support them. Regina watched in horror, she had heard of spells like this, spells used to raise the dead, not to bring them back but as empty vessels and tools for the sorcerer. She had never seen it in action, even at the height of her power, she had never dreamt of casting such a spell.
"Go after them," Cora commanded her small army, "Find us Snow White," She ordered, then turned to Regina with a smile.
"It's Emma who has the compass," Regina said, unsure of what else to say, she wondered if her mother expected a show of gratitude.
"And she'll be with her mother," Cora said, her eyebrows knitting together, "Don't worry, my love, we'll be in Storybrooke this time tomorrow,"
As she spoke the corpses had begun to move, Cora followed them into the forest.
It was dark by now, and Regina lit a ball of fire in her hand to light the way, but her mother quickly told her to put it out.
"Why?" Regina asked,
"We need to take them by surprise, it won't do to alert them to our presence too early,"
Regina huffed, she wished Cora would be more forthcoming with her plan, but she wasn't surprised that she played her cards close to her chest.
They walked through the forest slowly, following the army of the dead at a good distance, the bodies were surprisingly quiet as they moved, and Regina had to strain to hear them walking ahead.
They had been walking for more or less half an hour when Cora stopped her, putting her hand out against Regina.
"They're here," She whispered, then she raised her hands again, "Attack them, kill them," She whispered. Regina stared at her with wide eyes,
"Kill them?" She asked in an angry whisper, "You're ordering your…creatures to kill them?"
"Of course, darling, that's the only way we'll get them off our back,"
Regina was quiet, she jumped slightly when she heard the sounds of battle a little ways ahead of them, the corpses made no noise, but she could hear Emma calling out to her mother and Mulan. She squinted to see what was going on in the clearing, but it was too far, and it was too dark, she couldn't make anything out. She clenched her fist. Snow's death was something she had been dreaming of since she was a girl of eighteen, it was her reason for being. Now it was going to be taken from her by a bunch of dead men.
"Stop!" she said, "Tell them to pull away, order them to stop attacking," She grabbed her mother's arm, and Cora turned to her,
"Why would I do that?"
"You cannot kill Snow! She's mine,"
"What about her annoying daughter?" Cora asked, cocking her head to one side,
"She's mine too!" Regina growled, wondering what she meant. She didn't have time to ponder the question when someone ran past her. A streak of pink in the darkness. She reached forward and grabbed her, pulling Aurora to her. The girl let out a yelp of surprise, but Regina pressed her hand to her lips.
"Mother, call your monsters off, we have the leverage now," She said with a grin, enjoying the look on her mother's face.
"Fine," Cora muttered, she raised her arms, "Stop, let them go," She called out to her army, and suddenly the forest was quiet again.
In a cloud of purple smoke Regina, Cora and Aurora were back at the camp, the bodies now gone. Aurora struggled against Regina's grip, and she held her by the arms. Cora twisted her fingers, and Aurora's wrists and ankles were tied together. Regina hauled her up the steps to Lancelot's hut and onto the bed, dropping her unceremoniously.
"What do you want from me?" Aurora asked, her voice stricken,
"From you?" Cora laughed, "We don't want anything from you, but now we have something to trade,"
Aurora stared up at them, "You really think they'll trade me for the compass? They just met me,"
"If I know my idiots, and I do," Regina said, "they will,"
"Perhaps. In the meantime," Cora said, sitting down next to Aurora, "You can tell us what they've been up to,"
Regina watched the girl, Aurora's face was set in a scowl, contorting her pretty features. She looked from side to side, searching for escape. Regina grabbed her by the jaw, forcing her to look into her eyes.
"Tell us what their plan is," She growled, her face inches from the princess,
"Never," She whispered back, and Regina's eyes narrowed,
"Why do you care for them? As you said, you've only just met them,"
Aurora didn't answer, but pulled her head away from Regina's fingers, her auburn hair falling over her face.
"It's not like you can go to Storybrooke with them," Cora mused, and Regina smiled when she saw Aurora's eyes widen,
"Oh you foolish girl," Cora continued, "You think you'll find another prince in the land without magic," She turned to Regina, "She's forgotten Phillip already,"
Regina cocked her head, but didn't respond as Aurora pulled herself up as tall as she could,
"How dare you?" She said, "Phillip is in my heart every day,"
"Is that so?" Cora asked,
"If I were you" Regina intervened, "I'd be trying to get him back, and not letting anything stand in my way,"
"The wraith took him," Aurora said, tears filling her eyes,
"What if I told you that when a wraith takes a soul, that soul is not gone but held in the netherworld?" Cora asked, her eyes glimmered with malice, but Regina hoped Aurora didn't see that.
"Like in the room with the fire and the boy?" Aurora asked, her eyes widening. Regina's eyebrows rose, she leaned forward,
"What room? What boy?"
Aurora shook her head, apparently realizing she had spoken too much, "My loyalties are not so easily bought," She said, "I don't have to speak to you,"
Regina grabbed her throat, "Oh yes, you do, princess," she growled, "tell me what you meant, now" her fingers constricted around the woman's throat until she knew she wouldn't be able to breathe. It took a moment, but she saw the fire die in Aurora's blue eyes. She had seen it too many times not to recognize it. She let go of her,
"When I sleep," Aurora croaked, "My soul is sent to a room, where the curtains are on fire, lately…" She stopped speaking and Regina reached forward again, causing her to lean back in panic, "Lately I've been seeing a boy, he says his name is Henry, Emma says he's her son," Aurora finished weakly. Regina stared at her for a moment, before turning and leaving the hut.
Aurora could talk to Henry. Their souls met in the netherworld. Regina knew exactly what Aurora had been talking about, she had studied the effects of a sleeping curse, and how it tethered one's soul to a world that was not of the living nor of the dead. Henry could access that world because he'd been under a sleeping curse. Her sleeping curse. The one that was supposed to get Emma out of the way. Regina paced the length of the steps that led up to the hut. She had hurt her son. She hadn't meant to, but she had…
"Regina," Cora's voice shook her out of her thoughts, and she pushed the curtain aside and walked back into the room. Aurora still sat on the bed, and she was looking at her with a mixture of fear and defiance.
"What did he say?" She asked, "The boy in your dream,"
When Aurora gave no signs of answering she pressed her into the mattress, her hand at her throat again, "You will tell me, or you will die," She whispered,
"You won't kill me," Aurora choked, "You need me,"
"Try me," Regina said, her voice had easily slipped back into the Evil Queen's and she felt a thrill at the fear she elicited in Aurora's eyes.
"I'll tell you," A voice came from behind them, and Regina spun around, momentarily forgetting the princess. The pirate.
Cora smiled and beckoned him in, "Hook! I thought you'd abandoned me," She said. Regina rolled her eyes, remembering when she'd sent him to kill her mother, somehow Cora had made him her ally.
"Cora," He said with a smile, " I would never" He put his hand to his heart, his expression one of fake outrage.
"You–" Aurora stopped herself, her breathing was heavy and her eyes flashed.
"Sorry princess, I don't fight for the losing side," Hook said with a smirk, "Do you want to know what the boy told her?" He asked, turning to Regina. She gave him a scathing look.
"He spoke to the crocodile, who told them the key to stopping you lies in his cell," Hook said.
"Rumple's cell?" Regina wondered aloud, "What could he possibly have in there that could stop us?"
"It doesn't matter," Cora said, "because we've already won" she grinned, then reached into Aurora's chest, causing the girl to yelp in fear. When she pulled her hand out, Aurora's heart lay in her palm. Regina looked at her mother and smiled.
—-
Emma walked in silence, she wasn't sure what was propelling her forwards anymore, exhaustion weighed heavy on her limbs, and her head was pounding. It didn't help that the day was sweltering, and she was sweating buckets. The nights in the enchanted forest, on the other hand, were freezing, and Emma had slept a grand total of two hours in the last two days. She thought back fondly to the night spent in the castle, next to Regina…she flexed her fingers, pressing her nails into her palms. She couldn't get the woman out of her thoughts! It was a curse. Emma briefly wondered if it actually was, then decided it was the exhaustion talking.
She and Mary Margaret were alone, Mulan had gone off in rescue of Aurora, who had most likely been kidnapped by Cora during the attack of the dead. Emma shivered at the memory, it had only been a few hours earlier, but she was already trying to purge it out of her mind.
"We're nearly there," Mary Margaret said from a few paces ahead,
They were walking back to the castle, it felt a bit like a game of cat and mouse, from the camp to the castle, from the castle to the camp. But they had a lead now, Henry had told them to go to Rumplestiltskin's old cell, where her parents had apparently kept the most powerful sorcerer in the world. According to Gold, who was Rumplestiltsikin, Emma reminded herself for the fourth time, he had left something there, something that would help defeat Cora, and maybe Regina. Squid ink, a substance that, according to Mary Margaret, could trap even the most powerful of sorcerers. Unfortunately, they had no idea where had hidden it, but her mother's incessant positivity spurred them forward.
It was daybreak when they arrived, they'd walked throughout the early morning stopped for a moment to admire the dawn splitting the sky open over the castle. A rustle of leaves behind them caused both women to jump, Emma unsheathed her sword and Mary Margaret nocked an arrow.
"It's me!" Aurora's familiar voice came from the bushes, Emma relaxed and put her sword away as the princess came into view.
"Aurora! Are you alright?" Snow asked, embracing her.
"I'm fine, Cora capture me but Hook let me go," She told them with a smile, "she didn't even have time to torture me for information,"
"Was Regina with her?" Emma asked, her heart rate picking up as she waited for a response,
"No," Aurora said, "I didn't see her,"
Emma took a breath, that was good. But also, where was Regina?
"Come on," Snow said, using her head to point in the direction of the castle. Emma nodded, deciding to leave her worries alone for the time being.
The three of them quickly made their way into the bowels of the castle. It was very different to the luxurious upper quarters, it was damp and dark and Emma shivered from the cold. The tunnels leading down had stone walls, but as they progressed deeper and deeper underground they found themselves in cave-like halls. Mary Margaret walked ahead, her torch lighting a small circle around the three. After what felt like an eternity, they reached the end of the passage. A wooden structure had been built to create a small cell against the rock.
"This is where you kept Rumplestiltskin?" Emma asked, bewildered. The cell didn't look capable of containing a drunk dwarf.
"Appearances deceive," Snow said, opening the door to the cell, "there is no way out of this place, except through here," She gestured to the door they'd walked through, "And it's enchanted,"
Emma looked around, unsure of what she was searching for, she felt the walls, her fingers skimming over them, feeling the roughness of the rock, searching for something, anything. Mary Margaret was doing the same on the floor, she had knelt down and was combing the dirt inch by inch. Aurora watched them.
"Hey!" Mulan's voice echoed down the passageway that led to the cell, and Emma and Mary Maragaret looked up from their work, "I found you," Mulan rushed to Aurora, pulling her in a warm embrace. She looked happier than Emma had ever seen her.
"Are you alright?" She asked, concern spreading over her features. She pressed two fingers under Aurora's chin and looked over her face. Aurora pushed her away with a smile,
"I'm fine, Mulan," she said, "We're looking for a weapon, squid ink. Henry said it would be here,"
Mulan scanned the room, seemingly noticing where she was for the first time. She nodded, then went over to the wall and began to search. Emma went back to her hunt. They worked in silence. With nothing to signal its passage, time slipped away unnoticed. At some point, it may have been minutes or it may have been hours, Mulan gasped.
"I've got something!" she said, pulling her hand out of a hole in the wall, a tiny parchment, no bigger than her palm, between her fingers. She passed it to Aurora, who unfurled it. Her eyes scanned over the paper, then she looked at Emma, "I think it's for you," She said. Emma's eyebrows knit, "For me? Why–" She stopped when she saw the letter Aurora passed her. On it her name had been written over and over again. There was nothing else, just the name Emma. Those four letters repeated ad nauseam over the paper. She stared at it. How had Rumplestiltskin known? How had he known she would be here? The letter had been written long before she was born, there was no possible way he could have predicted she would be standing here today, staring at his curly handwriting of her name. Her name, written over and over again, like an obsessed stalker.
"There's something else," Mulan said, pulling another tiny object out of the wall. She held it up to the torchlight, an inkwell. It was empty.
"The ink is gone," Mary Margaret murmured, Emma sighed. She stared at the letter again,
"What did he want to tell you?" Mary Margaret wondered, looking at the parchment over Emma's shoulder.
"I don't know,"
"Well, he obviously thought it was important, perhaps it's the reason he sent us here?"
The four grew quiet as they contemplated what Rumplestiltskin was trying to tell them.
They were pulled from their musings by Aurora, who picked up a rock and chucked it at the entrance to the cell, making the door swing shut. Locking them in.
"Aurora!" Mary Margaret gasped, "Why would you do that?"
There was no time to recover from the shock, Cora's voice echoed down the hall,
"Don't blame her, dear," She appeared, flanked on one side by Regina, on the other by Hook. She held something in her hand. "I made her do it," Cora continued, holding up the object that Emma now recognized as a heart.
"You took her heart?" Mulan cried,
The three had walked closer to the cell, and Emma stared at Regina, who refused to meet her gaze, choosing instead to focus on Mary Margaret.
"Give us the compass, or we kill the girl," Cora said, matter-of-factly,
Emma didn't need to think about it, she pulled the compass out of her pocket and handed it to Cora through the wooden bars. She never took her eyes off Regina.
"You're just going to leave us here?"
Cora gave her a scathing look, "What would you do in our place?" She asked, one eyebrow cocking, the expression eerily similar to the one Emma had seen on Regina a thousand times.
They began to walk away,
"Regina!" Emma called, her hands gripping the wooden bars, "We'll starve if you leave us here,"
Regina stopped walking, her back to them. Slowly she turned back around. She walked to the cell, until her face was inches from Emma's.
"I know you won't, Miss. Swan" She said, "You Charmings are like cockroaches, impossible to kill" She smiled sweetly, "But that makes my revenge so much sweeter, knowing you're alive, and suffering, alone in this ogre-infested hellhole" She pressed her hands to the wooden bars next to Emma's face, "I'll tell Henry you did your best, you were a hero till the end. He'll remember you fondly." She gave her one last smirk, her dark eyes never leaving Emma's, "goodbye, Miss. Swan"
"Henry will never forgive you," Emma spit, her anger boiling in her chest,
"Henry will never know," Regina retorted, and Emma laughed,
"You underestimate our son," She said, and saw Regina's eyes soften imperceptibly, her lips pressing together to push the momentary weakness away. Emma could read the woman like a book.
"You underestimated me, and now you're paying the price," Regina growled.
Cora and Hook, who had watched the whole scene, walked away. They were out of sight before Regina, and, as they turned the corner, she looked back.
"Emma," She said, "Squid ink," she stopped, giving her a meaningful look, "It's ink".
Regina didn't give them time to reply, before spinning around and joining her mother and the pirate.
A/N I just realized that Aurora would definitely have recognised Regina when she first saw her, since, when Maleficent put her under the sleeping curse Regina was there too. But let's just pretend that she forgot about her because she only saw her for a few seconds before being put under. Anyway, I'm posting twice this week, HOPEFULLY I can update today and Friday or Saturday. We shall see. In the meantime, enjoy! And I hope you don't hate me for this chapter where Regina is pretty evil. She still has a long way to go before redeeming herself, but her feelings for Emma are already shining through, although she refuses to acknowledge them! Also I included Snow's POV a bit more in this chapter because I actually really like Snow, and I want to explore her motivations and feelings a bit more, I feel like she gets a bad rap for being so hard on Regina in seasons 1-3, but she has her reasons I think, and she lets go of her anger pretty quickly imo, though not in this chapter. (P.S. Sorry for the rant)