Chapter Nine
Emma Swan had always hated the paperwork portion of her sheriff position, but there had been one bright side; it was the best way to guarantee some facetime with the mayor of Storybrooke.
Even when she considered her an enemy, she relished the chance to see Regina Mills. At the time she believed that it was because it afforded her opportunities to figure out what the woman was up to and, more importantly, to confirm that she would never hurt Henry.
Once they got to the point that her feelings for Regina were fully formed, she could use the piles of monotonous paperwork from the mayor's office as an excuse to see her.
Now that Emma was aware that her feelings were shared, she suspected that some of the forms were manufactured by Regina to give her a reason to come to the station and trade barbs with the sheriff.
Storybrooke currently didn't have a mayor but Emma still found herself filling in reports that no one would read.
It passed the time at least, without the task, she was liable to fall into despair.
Her theory that it would occupy her mind long enough to not think about Regina for a few minutes was proven wrong as she reached the end of the page on the next form to find that it must have come from a stock that was at least a few weeks old.
As neatly as ever, the mayoral part of the form had been signed by 'Regina Mills.
Emma slammed the pen down and leaned back in her chair as her vision blurred.
It did mean that she could no longer see the offending signature but it was too late to believe that she was going to banish all of the thoughts that had been weighing on her since the morning.
A light knock at her office made her sit up straight while wiping her hand over her wet cheeks.
"Hey, are you hungry?" David asked but didn't wait for the answer upon registering that his child was crying. He pushed into the office and said, "Emma, what's wrong?"
He was already around the desk and sitting next to her before Emma blew out a breath, "Just thinking."
"About?" he prompted and then when she hesitated, "You can talk to me."
Sniffing, Emma nodded, realising he was one of the best people to answer the question that was bothering her, "Does True Love mean I won't feel this way about anyone else?"
It was David's turn to hesitate but he didn't take long to recover, "I…It might not be as intense but it doesn't mean you won't love again."
"Would you want to move on from mom?" Emma pressed. Before the Underworld, she would have anticipated at least a grimace from her father for comparing her love with the former Evil Queen to that of Snow White and Prince Charming, but now she saw only the same kind of sympathy she got from her mother whenever she mentioned Regina.
Both of her parents being supportive was yet another painful point that made Emma believe that her relationship with her True Love could have been perfect, which led her to the question that she was still awaiting the answer to.
"Of course not," David finally replied, recoiling a little at the suggestion.
"Right the 'I will always find you thing'," Emma sighed, "But what if you knew where she was but there was no way back and she made you promise not to try?"
"If it was Snow, I…" he said slowly and consideringly, "I would respect her wishes even if it feels impossible and I think she would want me to be happy again eventually."
Emma blew out a breath, beginning to realise that it was too theoretical for him to really understand, unfortunately, it was very real for her.
Hanging her head tiredly over the back of the chair, Emma lamented, "Regina wants me to move on which is so weird because we never got to be together. How's that fair?"
"I don't think she meant right away, Emma."
"What's the point when I know my True Love is in the Underworld?" Emma huffed.
Shifting closer, David touched her shoulder and said, "I know it's hard, there were so many times I feared I could lose your mother."
Emma's eyes flicked up and she was struck with jealousy that her parents got to share a heart. Despite never sharing so much as a kiss with Regina, there was no doubt that they could have done the same given the chance.
If Hades hadn't thought the same, she would have had her heart out of her chest in a flash, maybe Regina would have woken up before they reached the shore of Storybrooke.
Not allowing herself to imagine all of the amazing things that would have happened if Regina was alive, Emma said, resignedly, "But you two always found your way back to each other."
"Well…there were times that I thought it was over," David replied, "I had to have hope that Snow would find me."
Drawing her eyebrows together, Emma puzzled out his words until she asked, "Are you saying…do you think there's a chance that Regina could find a way back to us?"
"She's crossed realms before, more than once," David reasoned.
Emma smiled cautiously.
Rather than seeing the beaten spirit of Regina she had witnessed in the graveyard, she imagined a healed version of her working against Hades, making sure that he couldn't hurt anyone else.
By all indications, there was no way that the dead could get out of the Underworld but then again, only three decades ago, the very town she was sitting in didn't exist.
If anyone could figure it out…well it was nice to think that, even for a second, there was the smallest chance that there was a happy ending in her future.
"Thanks, Dad," she said, smiling minutely, "That makes me feel a little better."
"Anytime," he replied, placing a kiss on her forehead, "Come on, I'll buy you lunch."
Emma got up to follow her father, trying to hold onto the hopeful mood for as long as it would last.
For right now, she chose to believe that Regina's return was really a possibility.
S
When casting the Dark Curse, the Evil Queen didn't have the slightest idea what her life would become in the mysterious land without magic.
She hadn't anticipated that she would spend eighteen years trying in vain to believe that she wasn't empty.
She certainly hadn't seen herself becoming a mother and falling in love with her son's biological mother who happened to be Snow White's daughter.
None of this topped the bizarreness of what she was currently partaking in.
Walking through the Underworld, which was a creepy imitation of her home, with the stable boy she'd given up on seeing again, the mother she never wanted to see again and the half-sister she didn't know existed.
Most of all, she would have never believed that Daniel would be walking a good distance behind, seemingly unwilling to be near the woman who was so different to the girl he knew.
Regina couldn't blame him, even if she was already unrecognisable to the woman who had cast the curse, she couldn't think of any way to explain decades' worth of details to him.
Especially not when none of these details painted her in a particularly good light.
Her dour mood was not improved as Zelena slowed her stride to fall into step with her, putting her further away from their mother at the front of the group.
"Who exactly is he and what did you do to him?" the Wicked Witch asked, jamming her thumb backwards to the stableboy, "I can't tell if he hates you or not."
Looking straight ahead, Regina replied, lacking all confidence, "He…does not hate me. I knew him before…"
"Ah, I see now," Zelena chuckled, garnering Regina's narrowed gaze, "He must be so confused meeting the Evil Queen."
Regina pursed her lips but took the opportunity to focus on someone else's problems, "Why exactly is it that you have not accepted Hades' advances? I would have assumed you would have jumped at the chance to be in such a position of power."
Zelena's lips pursed in a similar manner to her sister's before she admitted, "It's not exactly what I had in mind, I want to have a choice."
Laughing derisively, Regina said what she had been thinking since learning the other woman's motivations, "Then you should not have coveted my life."
"Do you expect me to believe that you didn't choose to be queen?" Zelena retorted doubtfully.
"It is the truth," Regina said, glancing back at Daniel who had his gaze stuck to his feet as he walked, "I had a different plan entirely."
"Him? Seriously?" Zelena mocked.
"Mother had other plans," Regina mumbled.
Zelena glanced over at him, surveying him for a moment, taking in his age and putting together what must have happened. This stunned her into silence and perhaps drained a little of her envy towards her sister.
Maybe she was starting to get that her jealousy was not at all warranted.
Zelena didn't get to voice this, probably in a mocking manner to hide her true emotions as they reached the riverside and Cora turned towards her daughter.
Addressing Regina, she asked, "Do you trust this Graham man?"
Daniel caught up to them as Regina cleared her throat and replied, "He has no reason to help me, but yes. I do not believe he would do anything malicious."
She opted not to add that he wouldn't do anything malicious as long as his will was his own.
"And who exactly is he?" Daniel piped up, all of them shocked to hear his voice.
"I…that is complicated," Regina replied, stuttering uncharacteristically.
This ranked quite high on the list of things that she did not want to explain to Daniel, but his deep-set frown made her certain that he would be better off not knowing.
He didn't get to push for more though as the dark waters behind them were suddenly disturbed as a tall boat sailed up to the dock.
Regina blinked, hit for the first time that this was the last place she had seen Henry, where he had begged her to tell Emma about her feelings.
Where she had assured her son that his other mother loved Captain Hook, the place where she had literally allowed herself doubt to end her life.
She was consumed by this thought as the faceless dead disembarked, wandering into Underbrooke, followed by a hooded, towering figure holding a lengthy oar.
"Regina Mills?" he asked.
"Yes?" Regina replied, stepping forward not at all intimated by the figure. He was not as scary as the Dark One army that had invaded her town back when she had things to lose. "And you are?"
"Charon," he said, "Are you prepared to return the Underworld to how it is meant to be?"