In Love

xxxxxXXXXXxxxxx

“Enough,” a clear and commanding voice entered the din and it abruptly fell silent, the arguing men and women turning to the head of the table where a woman sat rigid. She was beautiful, almost beyond compare, and held herself with the bearing and grace of a Lady in one of those masterpieces that hung in hallways or in museums. “Since you children cannot follow the simplest of conversing rules, I will enact my own.” She proceeded to calmly order that the speakers would go from her left, around the table with their thoughts and opinions on the subject, and anyone with questions would be required to raise their hand. They would be polite and courteous to their fellow council members and would not interrupt or she would have them thrown from the meeting. They would not yell accusations or verbally attack any other member of the council, and they would endeavour to share their feelings and thoughts on the matter, not the people involved.

Men and women of different ages and ethnicities shifted in their seats at her taking command so swiftly and mercilessly but settled down as her glare fell upon each of them individually.

“Are we clear?” There was no challenge to her authority, though several glares were offered to her and fell short of even affecting her. “Good. Mr Ryan, begin please.” She lifted a delicate hand to her left and a scrawny black man bobbed his shaven head in acknowledgment.

“Madam Mayor. I agree that something needs to be done, but I urge the council, our people, to consider who they are turning their fear and ire upon.” There was silence from the gathered men and women, though many of them shifted as though to speak, though a glance at the brunette at the head of the table made them slump back in silence.

“We all have a history of hearing what we want to hear,” he continued, casting a glance to his right and the woman with her dark eyes intense on him. “I don’t want to see anyone hurt, especially someone who has done so much for us all. If this can be avoided without bloodshed I would be happy.” He ducked his head and leant back in his seat. “That’s me.”

The woman next to him was elderly, with grey hair tied back and she was knitting something bright and red while she talked. “Thank you, Cameron. As a small business owner I don’t want to see a fight like today outside my diner. My store was torn to pieces in the duel and many of my customers were wounded in the fight. Though the Mayor fixed the damage,” she inclined her head to the end of the table where the woman in charge ducked her head in acknowledgement, “I had to close to clear the mess and deal with my insurer.”

“We offered to pay for the loss of custom,” a handsome blonde haired man half rose from his seat and placed his hands on the table as he gazed across at the speaker. There was a pixie haired woman to his right and she had her hand on his arm, to support or restrain him, even as they both stared, almost desperately, over at the elderly woman.

“David,” the Mayor turned her gaze on him, “speak out of turn again and I will have you kicked out.”

David’s blue eyes flashed furiously and his jaw worked but he slowly sat, as though commanded by the power of the mayor’s gaze.

“Granny,” the mayor inclined her head again and Granny continued where she had left off.

“I’m not worried about that,” she waved her hand tiredly. “I am worried about the next time the Savi-er, Emma, and the Dark-Gold have a brawl on main-street. We are very fortunate that Regina showed up and was able to contain the magical backlash. We need to contain them both,” she held her hand up to silence the protests from David, the woman at his side, and a group of short and scruffy men either side of them both. “Or, ensure, somehow, that they never have a fight again. We can’t have people’s lives risked unnecessarily.” Granny sighed and looked down the table to Regina.

“Is there any way you could be convinced to use the Dagg-“

“Traitor!” Spat out a portly man with dark hair and beard. He banged the table and there were murmurs of agreement from the short men around him. “She’s your Princ-“

“Dwarf!” Regina turned her full attention on the short man. “Speak out of turn again and I’ll have you removed!” She didn’t need to yell, all she did was raise her voice to be heard across the mutterings of the dwarves, and it was as though she had boomed it and let it echo loudly in the room.

“Granny. I have already expressed my reluctance to use the Dagger to force Emma to obey,” Regina said, sounding apologetic but resolute in her conviction. “Unless it is the last option, it is not an option.”

“If you don’t have the stomach for it, give it to someone who does.” This came from a thick white man with a balding crown.

Dark eyes lifted slowly from the elderly woman and across to the speaker. “Mr Gibbons,” Regina said silkily. “You spoke out of turn.” Her voice was sweet and kind, the kind of softness that could only be a threat as she added, “And you will have to pry the Dagger from my cold fingertips to get your hands on it.”

A few members of the council swallowed and Mr. Gibbons slunk into his seat and looked at his lap.

“I want something done, but I don’t want it to come to death,” finished Granny and the woman to her left offered her opinion. Around the table the group went, offering their feelings and thoughts on the matter, with no interruption until a haughty looking red-head had her turn.

“We should lock them both up. Lock all of them up. And all of the non-humans.” She gestured over to the Mayor who’s dark gaze was even and unafraid. “Who causes the damage to the town? Who makes us afraid? Who is a danger to us?” There were reluctant nods around the table, though there were faces of betrayal and even of anger.

“Why you traitorous bitch!” This was the angry dwarf again, he was on his feet with his fists trying to force their way through the table. “Half of us here are non-human!” There were nods of agreement and many upset faces. “We should lock-“

“Enough!” For the second time Regina had called order to the meeting. “Mathias, escort Leroy, and any of his protesting brothers, from the meeting.” The man to her right rose slowly, commandingly, and walked quickly around the table.

The dwarfs were bristling as he approached, the difference in height and size like David vs Goliath. “Now look here, mister. We have as much right as any to be here!”

“You didn’t follow the rules,” Mathias rumbled and proceeded to dodge the attacks thrown at him. “Will you not leave quietly? I would hate to have to toss you out.”

“We have rights here! We won’t be just locked up like criminals when real criminals get away with it because they’re human!”

“Very well.” Mathias’ skill became evident as easily evaded the attempts by the Dwarves to halt his instruction and proceed to throw, literally, each protesting Dwarf out the door. Only two remained, Doc and Sleepy, who had been asleep for much of the meeting and therefore hadn’t protested. A glowing purple barrier appeared in the doorway to forbid them re-entry to the meeting.

Regina turned the weight of her gaze on the red-head. “Mathias, please remove Miss Froon as well.”

“What?” Her jaw slackened and her brow furrowed. “Why? Because I want to lock you up like you deserve?” At this there were heads turning to and from the mayor and Miss Williams like a tennis volley, waiting for Regina to explode at her.

“No,” she offered simply. “It’s because your comments were hateful and unhelpful.”

She nodded to Mathias and he moved around the table to stand near Miss Froon, who had turned almost as red as her hair.

“Storybrooke is free of judgement in that no matter our pasts or races or even species we are a united people and we have the opportunity to be whoever we want to be. Opting to imprison all non-humans is a prejudice I had hoped would fade with the merging of the people into one, it seems though, that I was incorrect.” Regina had no judgement or disapproval in her voice or features as she spoke. “Will you leave freely?”

Sneering Miss Froon rose and stalked from the room, glaring at the non-humans she knew and then leaving through the purple barrier.

“If anyone has ideas like Miss Froon, they are welcome to leave and are more than welcome to their silence. Please, continue.” Regina took control of the meeting again and settled in her chair as Mathias returned to his seat.

It was the Dwarves’ turn and Doc shifted forward on his seat. “We know what Emma has done for us, as Sheriff, as Saviour, and as a citizen. She has laid her life down for us on many occasions, and the amount of distrust and hatred directed at her because she’s now cursed with Dark Magic is appalling!” Various citizens were nodding in agreement to his words and he continued strongly. “We’ve all heard of how the Dark One is a manipulative bastard, we know if she attacked him, or even defended herself, that she would have had a good reason to do so. We can’t just lock her up, not without trying to help her first.” There was a smattering of applause and the people were nodding in full agreement.

The woman next to David had tears in her eyes and was reaching for the Dwarf with a trembling hand.

Sleepy said nothing and then the woman was ready to speak. “I know Emma’s made a few mistakes, and I know we don’t know how to help her get free of the Darkness, but I don’t think locking her up, or making her do what we want,” this was said with a glance down the table to Regina, “is the right answer. We need to be understanding, and I’m not just saying that as her mother.”

There was a moments pause and then David started to speak. “I agree with Snow,” his wife offered her hand and he took it, interlocking their fingers. “Emma has done so much for all of us. I know you are all mad at the damage to the street, but Regina said she’d fix it.” Regina inclined her head regally and David continued. “I don’t want to abandon my daughter again but I don’t want her to have to defend herself, or hurt other people while she is trying to defend herself. I also want to know what happened with her and Gold. Last we knew Rumpelstiltskin was in some sort of coma?”

“I was going to speak with Rumple as soon as we are done here,” Regina said slowly. “Ripping the magic from someone causes a great unbalance, especially when the being is made of magic, or has had it for so long. I’m not surprised he was in a coma, but I am surprised he woke so quickly… or was woken…” She withdrew her cell and dialled a number before bringing it to her ear. She rolled her wrist and a purple dome appeared around her head and when she spoke they couldn’t hear her.

“Do we know of the Saviours movements after she was claimed by the Darkness?” Mathias queried from his seat next to Regina, wanting to move the meeting along.

“Um, well,” David ran a hand through his hair. “She disappeared after she walked into the darkness and then, um, she showed up at the Dock’s, she threw Hook into the harbour, then vanished.”

“Until she and Rumple had a brawl on main-street,” Regina added wryly as she lowered her phone and the spell faded. “The hospital says she showed up there and woke Rumple. They argued and then vanished… this was about one thirty yesterday morning.”

“So, where was she between one-thirty and eight-thirty when she and Rumple had a fight on main street?”

Regina lifted a shoulder in delicate response. “I have no idea, just as I have no idea where she is now. But that isn’t the issue. The issue is what we, as a town, as a people, want to do about it.”

Regina hesitated for a moment and then continued. “What I would like is for Emma to be left alone, not confronted or approached by anyone other than her family until we can get her to come talk to us. I don’t want anyone making her mad, or saying or doing something that could upset her, she isn’t stable right now.”

She lifted her head to David. “I want you to go and speak to Hook, see what you can get him to tell you.” Her lips twitched even as her brow furrowed. “He wasn’t very willing to speak with me. I’ll go and talk to Rumple and see what that fight was about.”

She looked around the table. “Until I’ve talked to Emma, and know what’s happening, I don’t want anything done. We can decide what to do, if anything, later on. Dismissed.” Command given the townspeople rose to their feet and began to leave the room. Some weren’t happy with their dismissals, if the disgruntled glares they shot the mayor were anything to go by, but most we okay with the instruction. Soon only David, Snow, Doc, and Sleepy were left, the latter snoring quietly in his chair still.

“You still won’t use the Dagger?” Snow asked almost desperately. “Not even to call her to talk to us?”

Regina stood in a fluid movement, drawing some sort of invisible power to her that made her swell in size and bearing. “We’ve been over this before, Snow,” she replied with the exasperation of one who was tiring of defending themselves. “She obviously doesn’t want to speak with us, if she did she would come and see us. She has the power.”

“But-“

“Enough, Snow.” She wasn’t angry, didn’t raise her voice, she sounded tired. “If Emma want’s to talk, I have no doubt that she will.”

She lifted her head to David, ignoring how Snow’s face had fallen. “Please see what you can get out of Hook.”

Prince Charming nodded and then took his wife by the arm and led her, and the dwarves, from the meeting, glancing back to see Regina pinching her brow in thought as the door shut behind him.

The docks smelt like they always did, salty and fishy and the squawking of gulls heralded his arrival aboard the Jolly Roger. The lunar pull rocked the vessel gently and it bobbed next to the wharf as his boots announced his boarding of the vessel.

The Roger seemed more unkempt than normal, almost as though it was abandoned, but he could smell the faint scent of strong alcohol and followed his nose down to the captain’s quarters.

It was dark and musty in Hook’s cabin, and smelt like stale alcohol. The obvious source was several empty bottles of cheap rum littered across the small table on top of a stack of parchment, maps most likely. There were several more bottles clinking on the floor as it rose and fell with the sea and they would roll back and forth. The pirate himself was sprawled across his bed, the blankets beneath him damp and salty and David wondered if the pirate had collapsed here after Emma had sent him for a swim.

He was snoring loudly, drool at the corner of his mouth, even as it was muffled by the blanket he was nuzzled into.

“Hook,” David didn’t want to touch the pirate and raised his voice a little louder. “Oi, Killian.” The pirate stirred just a little and David sighed, resigned.

One of the pirate’s legs was hanging off the bed and David steadied himself and then lifted one of his to kick him repeatedly on the leg, trying to wake him. He didn’t do it hard… just firm enough to wake the man up.

“Wer,” Killian groaned and David kicked him again.

“Hook, wake up.”

“Wha? Waz it,” he lifted his namesake in a go-away gesture before letting if fall limply back on the bed,

“Hook!” Patience stretched thin David raised his voice again and kicked him a little harder.

Groaning the pirate rolled onto his back and glared through bleary eyes up at David.

“Ah, Charming,” he grunted and shifted a little. “Wha can I do fer ye?”

“I needa know what happened with Emma.”

The slight light in Killian’s eyes faded, and they turned dark and stormy. “Aye,” he said bitterly as he rolled forward and pressed his feet to the floor. There was a bottle of mostly empty rum underneath him and he peered into it before uncorking it and downing what remained. “I’ll tell ye about Swan.”

xxxxxXXXXXxxxxx

The door to the pawn shop ripped open and roared back on its hinges, shattering the glass in the window. A gust of wind burst through the door and playfully picked up items and hurled them around the room, as a woman in black stalked through the open door and into the shop.

A sweet looking brunette woman behind the counter had flinched at the rude entrance and straightened bravely as the other woman prowled up to the counter, all malicious grace and cruelty.

“Where.is.Gold?” She growled out as she got closer and in the flickering ceiling lights her white skin seemed to sparkle, like how veins in rocks would sometimes catch the light.

The brunette woman swallowed and lifted her hands peacefully. “Emma,” she began calmly, failing to hide the fear in her eyes as the woman, Emma, was suddenly against the counter and in her personal space.

“Don’t make me ask again, Belle.” Her voice was a dangerous rumble, like a landslide, dark and dangerous. She leant over the counter, trying to use her presence to force the brunette backward, but she was rigid.

“I don’t know,” Belle seemed to draw herself up, even as she stood several inches off the other woman and her light seemed cowed by the dark aura of the woman in front of her. “Please leave.”

“Or what?” Dark eyes flared with malice, amusement swirling in the depths of them.

“Or I will make good on my promise yesterday!” A third person had entered the shop and Emma’s shoulders fell as she huffed out a sigh while Belle smiled a greeting.

“Rumpelstiltskin,” Emma drawled as she straightened and spun, now noticing that the wind had died down and the lights had stopped flickering. “Just the man I was looking for.”

Rumpelstiltskin had a cane at his side and rage in his eyes as he strode towards the two women.

“Belle, go out back,” he commanded and she glared at him a moment before he added, “Now!”

Jaw clenching she tilted her head slightly and moved through the curtain to the back of the shop, perhaps hoping that she wouldn’t be in the middle of a magical duel.

“Wanna tell me why you were at Regina’s today when no one was home?” She voiced it like a question, but their was no request in her tone. It was as hard and as sharp as frozen steel. A command.

The former Dark One met her gaze evenly, calmly, and if anything that made the rage in her swell and roar inside her, demanding he cower in fear and submission.

“No reason, Miss Swan,” drawled the Imp and he wandered over to the counter, passing the blonde who shifted to keep her eyes on him, barely contained fury within her.

“Bullshit!” Emma growled and the lights flickered again.

Rumple lifted his head curiously and then looked back at her with his features blank. “I do feel sorry for poor, young Henry,” he offered as he absently began to wipe down the counter.

Emma stiffened even further, if that were possible.

“What? Why?” She inched forward a little, darkness faltering at the thought of her son and then rampaging at the perceived threat to him.

“Oh nothing,” Rumple said, purposely maintaining his nonchalance and his even swipes over the counter. He focused on a spot and rubbed it harder as a snarl rumbled from the Dark One’s chest.

“Losing one mother to the Darkness and then the other…” He trailed off suggestively and barely flinched when there was a high-pitched sound, rather an energy, that light the room and the glass shattered, the lights blowing and sending shards of glass down to the floor. The ground tinkered with the sound.

“What’d you do to Regina?!” Emma was leaning over the counter now, palms face down on it as Gold looked around his shop in annoyance.

“Do? Oh, nothing,” he said airily, even as he waved his hand across his front and the glass flew back to its original placement and the store was restored.

“Gold!” Emma warned, Darkness flared in her eyes and a black aura emerged from her skin, hovering in the air around her like an Aurora Borealis orbited to her body. Bright white sparks were stark against its sheer black fire.

“I didn’t do anything to Regina, she wasn’t home,” Rumpelstiltskin said, a weird gleam in his eyes as he noted the magic leaking from her skin.

Emma’s hands tightened on the counter, the wood melting away beneath her fingertips and leaving grooves deep in the wood. Gold was frowning in annoyance at it.

“Tell me or so help you,” she threatened in a low hiss.

“It was just a potion,” he conceded airily and the Dark One launched herself over the counter and grabbed him around the neck. Snarling she forced him against the wall, hearing the glass of the picture behind him split at the force.

“What potion?” She squeezed her fingers tighter and delighted in how his face had lost its arrogant nonchalance and was steadily turning red. The magic in his body was coiling, she could feel it, but was ready to throw it back in his face.

“Rumple?” Belle’s voice was faint but her footsteps were heard approaching.

“You can save her,” he gasped, fingers clawing at the wall behind him and the death grip on his throat loosened.

“How?”

A potion appeared in his hand and he lifted it as his wife came through the curtain.

“Rumple!” She gasped and took a half step towards the two feuding magic users.

“Belle! Stay back,” Rumple commanded as Emma snatched the potion from his fingers.

“If this doesn’t save her….I’ll kill you,” Emma promised voice tipped with poison. “But I’ll make you watch as I kill Belle first.”

The brunette gasped and Rumple’s previous weak-man façade fell as he straightened and pushed of the wall, eyes dark and cold. “Be careful, Dearie. Don’t pick a fight you can’t win.”

A sneer crossed the Dark One’s face as she vanished in a tornado of grey smoke and Rumple rubbed his throat and healed it in the same movement.

“Rumple,” Belle came forward and he pulled her into his arms. She was tense but accepted the affection and reassurance, leaning back to look him in the eyes.

“What did you do to Regina?” Her accent was stark in her anger and suspicion and he shook his head.

“There was no potion,” he admitted and her head snapped back in surprise.

“Then what was in the potion you gave to Emma?” Her voice was higher in distress and he hated being the source of it.

“Something that will rid us of the Darkness that threatens our family. That threatens the whole town.” He cupped her cheek, stroking his thumb back and forth across it.

“You tricked her,” Belle accused, brow tight.

“Yes. Regina would never willingly take anything I offer her. I promise it won’t harm her. Everything will be okay,” he promised and guided her head to rest against him, she reluctantly did so, inhaling his aftershave. “Magic-dark magic-will never threaten our family again.” He swallowed his own guilt and held Belle tighter as her arms came around him again. Magic could never threaten him and his family ever again, not when he was the only magical practitioner in town.

xxxxxXXXXXxxxxx

“Henry,” Regina called as she entered the mansion and shut the door behind her. “I’m home,” her voice echoed in the large house as she set her handbag on the small table under the mirror in the hall and clicked her way into the kitchen.

She had spent the evening with Gold talking about Emma becoming the Dark One and what she would be going through. The former Dark One had suggested that Emma wasn’t opening to letting the Darkness out and had offered a potion in exchange, vowing on Belle’s life that it wouldn’t hurt or harm Emma in anyway, or anyone else, and that its sole purpose was to let the Darkness out. It wouldn’t cure her, only True Loves Kiss could do that, but it would make her more open to it, seeing as her kiss with Hook hadn’t been successful.

David had rung her after speaking with Hook and had learnt that Emma had shown up at the docks to tell him to’ piss off out of her town and life’ and when he had tried to kiss her to break the curse she had tossed him into the harbour. And so reluctant to trust Rumple, but reassured in his vow on Belle’s life, she had accepted the potion and had it in her hand bag, ready to somehow give to the blonde. She didn’t want to make her drink it, she hoped to slip it to her somehow, or mix it in her drink or something. She had promised herself that she wouldn’t force Emma to do anything, and would only use the dagger to prevent her from harming someone or herself at a last resort.

There was light coming from the kitchen and it smelt warm and her stomach growled in response.

Brow furrowed she stepped into it and paused. It was pristine, like it always was when she left the house, but it smelt like something had been cooking. Her sharp eyes took in her aligned mugs, her coffee, tea, and sugar jars set perfectly against the wall, and her mug from this morning, left on the washing rank indented into the sink. There were bubbles around the rim as it rested upside down on the grooves and her eyes narrowed.

Suspicious she left her keys on the hook and silently padded through the house, muffling her shoes with a thought and a puff of magic. She ducked her head into the living room to see if Henry was maybe playing console with his headphones in; he wasn’t. Her next stop was the dining room and she paused as she entered it. The table was set for a romantic dinner for two, with candles and white serving cloths made into elaborate shapes. An empty wine glass sat at each seating and her fine china gleamed in the light of the candles. The two plates were piled with vegetables and meat and her stomach growled again, making the figure, who stood looking out the window, turn.

“Hi,” Emma-no, not Emma, the Dark One, offered and flicked her wrist at the table. “Dinner?” The chair closest to Regina slid out in offering.

Eyes narrowed Regina took in the Dark One. She was wearing a black leather jacket with some sort of puffy collar and had tight, oh-so-tight, black pants on. Her heels set her towering above the brunette even in her own heels and her hair was white, platinum white. It looked coarse and hard to the touch, like she had dunked her head in a bucket of silver paint. Paler than normal, her lips curled into a cruel, bloody smile as she inclined her head to the table again.

“I cooked. You don’t want to let all that effort go to waste, do you?” Her voice was high and controlled, cruel, and something in Regina’s chest clenched and twisted painfully.

“Emma.” She didn’t know what to say. What could you say to the woman who sacrificed her soul for you?

A wry smile that seemed out of place on her face twisted the Dark One’s features.

“It’s fine, Regina. Kid’s with his grandparents. Please,” she inclined her head to the table and Regina slowly walked over to it. It was romantic. Intimate. Dangerous.

She sat slowly as she chair slid under her and positioned her in front of the table and there was a pleased tilt to Emma’s lips.

She glided into her own chair, the embodiment of grace and confidence that she hadn’t had less than two days earlier. Regina felt a pang for the blonde who would flop into her seat with the grace of a new-born foal and then inhale her food as though it were her final meal.

“We’ve been looking for you,” Regina said gently, still tense but hiding her discomfort well. She’d had a decade of awkward dinners to practice her composure and while she hadn’t needed to draw on that place in years, it came back to her easier than breathing.

“I know,” Emma said as she lifted the bottle and offered it to the brunette. “Wine?”

“That’s my wine,” Regina said but manners bade her to raise her glass in acceptance. The feast before her made her mouth water but she overrode her desire for dinner by concentrating on just how out of character this was. No one ever made her dinner, and Emma certainly didn’t, not unless she was having both her and Henry over for tea, and as Henry wasn’t here…. Also, she couldn’t ignore that her friend was now the Dark One, she knew that. She had taken the dagger, amid much protest, especially from the Pirate, but she couldn’t be swayed. She could guard the Dagger better than anyone else. She was pretty sure that Rumple didn’t cook.

“I borrowed it from your collection,” Emma explained like she was thinking through each word before she spoke it as she poured the wine into the glass.

Regina hesitantly took it back and watched as Emma took a sip and closed her eyes in satisfaction.

“Not going to have any?” The Dark One’s eyes opened and she was channelling innocence.

Regina’s lips twitched as her stomach clawed at her insides, eager for the feast that awaited her. But again as with her composure, she’d had practice in denying her belly a feast when it lay before her.

“It’s not poisoned if that’s what you’re asking,” she seemed almost amused as she lowered her glass of wine. “You can even check with the Dagger, if it makes you feel better. Go ahead.” Her eyes snaked over Regina curiously. “Summon it.”

Regina’s fingers twitched and slowly rose to her chest and she started to unbutton her jacket. The Dark One’s features flashed with something and she kept her eyes locked on Regina’s as she slowly moved down her torso. The two sides fell away and revealed the dagger sheathed at her torso against her dress. It was in a sheath specially designed for it, with magic clearly, and for Regina’s body shape. Padding around it made sure it’s shape was disguised, even if it did add a little weight to the brunettes figure. The blade rested between her breasts and the pommel ended below her navel.

Emma arched an eyebrow.

“I wanted it with me,” Regina explained. “Just in case.”

A light entered Emma’s eyes before fading like embers in coal. “That explains the clothes,” she noted. Regina was wearing a long dress, not skin tight like normal, and it waved around her body and her breasts were sitting higher than normal, something she’d have worn during her Evil Queen days. Her jacket was reinforced like a corset, pretty gold embroidery against the sheer black colour. It was an odd look, but she pulled it off, she always managed to look amazing. She’d had many eyes on her today.

“Have you poisoned my meal or drink?” Regina asked, hesitantly wrapping her index finger and thumb loosely around the pommel at Emma’s reassuring nod.

“No,” Emma was forced to answer truthfully, command given through the Dagger.

Satisfied Regina let the dagger go and button her jacket again, hiding it from view, even as Emma’s eyes tracked her fingers with predator like intensity.

She relaxed once the dagger was out of site and watched as Regina took a delicate sip of her wine, sighing as she savoured the taste.

Emma’s head tilted to the side slightly, sharply, bird-like, eagle like.

Regina raised a delicate shoulder in a shrug. “Can you blame me?”

“I wouldn’t poison you, Regina.” There was a twitch to Emma’s brows, almost as though she were offended.

“I poisoned you, or tried to curse you,” Regina offered, eyes on Emma as she picked up her cutlery.

“That was a long time ago,” Emma defended herself calmly, emotionlessly.

“People like us have long memories,” Regina hesitated with a chunk of potato part way to her mouth. “It’s not cursed either, is it?”

Emma lifted a brow and took another sip of wine before taking her own cutlery and digging into her chicken. “No, Regina.”

“I would never hurt you,” she said quietly, the confession odd in the cold tone of the Dark One and she ducked her head as though she had said too much and started to eat her food with relish.

She naturally ended up trying to inhale too much food and ended up coughing harshly to clear her air-way. It was so Emma that Regina couldn’t hide her smile and the fond shake of her head. Not even being bound to the most Evil and ancient magic in all of the realms could stop Emma being Emma.

“You idiot,” she said and took the potato into her mouth. It was delicious. Emma looked over at her offended for a moment, before she beamed in response, unable to help herself before the radiance of Regina’s smile. It was a reflex. Whenever Regina smiled, she had to.

A few minutes passed in silence punctuated by the clinking of cutlery or the faint slosh of wine. “What can we do, Emma?” Regina sked eventually as she cut into her beans.

“You mean why didn’t the kiss Hook planted on me work? You know the rules, Regina,” Emma’s voice turned slightly mocking as she ended and Regina frowned across the table at her.

“I don’t love him enough,” Emma hesitated, “or maybe he doesn’t love me the right way, the way to break a curse.”

Regina snorted into her wine glass. “Yes,” she drawled as she pulled away. “The man who thought he’d be cured of villainy with a kiss and promptly exchanged one obsession for another couldn’t possibly break a curse, especially one like the Dark One Curse.”

Emma offered her wine glass in toast. “Damn straight….” She was pensive, looking through Regina in thought. “Ya know, the way mum and dad talk about it its like this..magical thing. Like equals, like a partnership, like two halves… they make it look so easy.”

“Snow did always have a jaded view of it,” Regina offered dryly as she brought a carrot piece delicately to her mouth.

Emma’s eyes were like members in the candle light, the flame reflecting in their fathomless depths. She tilted her head to the side in question and Regina elaborated.

“You have to work for it,” Regina said as she patted her lips with a napkin. Her meal was delicious and she was pleasantly content. “The easy path isn’t always the best path, and Snow and David did clash in the beginning. Your true love is someone who is meant to challenge you, push you to see who you can be, to be the best person that you are.” Emma held her gaze like some sort of gravitational pull, some sort of spell ensuring she couldn’t look away as the words tumbled from her lips. “But they also see the darker parts, the parts you hide from the light, the ones you are reluctant to confess. They expose those parts and they love you all the same.” Emma blinked and Regina was released.

“You aren’t a half,” she offered, rolling her wine in her glass with her attention on it as the red waves lapped at the rim of the glass. “You don’t fall apart when you are apart, but you are stronger together.” For some reason she was reminded of ‘we did it,’ and ‘yes, we did’, and two pairs of palms raised to a moon and to a glinting black gem. Of them standing in a road facing a black winged beast, of eyes meeting across the town line with a yellow coffin-on-wheels between them. Of a gaze shared over the head of their son, arms brushing as he was safely cradled in the harbour of their arms.

Emma made a noise and pulled her from her thoughts before she could dwell on the parallels her mind had unwittingly conjured with her words and her, at times, complicated friendship with the Saviour.

“You don’t agree?” She asked, curious to how Emma would view True Love, having not grown up in a realm with it was revered.

“Hook and I don’t have that. He was a distract-“ she cut off abruptly and swallowed. Jaw moving tightly as though keeping her words caged, she spoke again. “I guess it was nice being pursued, not having to make an effort.”

Regina lifted her brow and took her wine-glass back. “A relationship where only one person’s invested… do let me know how it ends.”

“With him taking a swim,” Emma responded with a smile that was part impish and part malicious, half Emma and half the Dark One.

“I’ll get dessert,” Emma rose abruptly, bumping the table with her thighs and winced as the wine in their glasses sloshed.

Regina hid her smile in her wine-glass as Emma vanished the remains of the dinner and wandered out to the kitchen. Flicking her fingers she summoned the vial from her hand-bag and rolled it between her fingers. She could hear Emma clattering about in the kitchen, probably making a mess, even though she had done a good job of cleaning up after herself beforehand.

She leant forward over Emma’s wine glass and uncorked the vial. Could she give it to the blonde and have her never trust her again? Did the pro’s outweigh the con’s? From what she had said maybe Hook couldn’t break the curse anyway, and Emma needed an equal, someone to challenge her, not just a yes-man. Someone who guilt-tripped her into a relationship by offering material possessions instead of himself. Someone who based their own goodness and redemption on their ability to keep the Saviour at their side. But… if the potion made Emma her again, it would be worth it. She could save the blonde as the blonde had done so many times for her. She owed her, she was her friend. She would save her, she had to.

Hearing Emma return she made a decision and banished the vial, leaving no trace of it having been in her hand or near Emma’s drink.

Emma was balancing two plates of dessert on her hands and she set one down in front of Regina, casting her a curious glance before looking over the table with narrowed eyes. Moving back to her seat she settled in for the treat and lifted her spoon, the flames of the candles dancing along the silver.

Regina kept her eyes on her pudding, feeling guilt swelling in her and trying not to think to the potion. Her pudding looked amazing and it was easy to turn her attention to it. It was white and red and black; some sort of cheesecake with strawberry sauce, actual strawberries, and dark chocolate garnishing it. It looked almost too pretty to eat.

Emma moaned in delight as she took her own bite and something inside her flickered at the sound. Brow tightening she lifted her gaze up to the blonde opposite her and watched as her lips enveloped another bite into her mouth, her eyes fluttering shut in delight and another sound falling from her lips.

Regina swallowed, mouth suddenly very, very dry, and with a flare of dangerous warmth making itself known in her abdomen.

Emma’s eyes flickered open and stared at her, holding her gaze for what felt like an eternity, the dark spaces flaring with light and growing the longer they held gazes.

Nausea hits her swifter than a summer storm and she is certain her face turns white before turning various shades of green.

She wasn’t one for unnecessary swearing but she didn’t fight the curse falling from her lips. “Fuck.” Emma’s brow was tight and her eyes worried as Regina suddenly stood, and then her ears were roaring and her heart was thudding and her vision went grey and faded into black.

xxxxxXXXXXxxxxx

For the second time that day the door to Gold: Pawn Broker’s store slammed open and in stalked a livid Dark One. Power was jumping from her skin like gleeful waves before the bow of a ship and the air about her crackled with it. The atmosphere instantly tightened and became heavy with power and Emma stalked down the shop, the cabinet’s rattling and the items cracking in her wake. She took no satisfaction in the destruction of the property as she sought the former Dark One. It took her less than a minute to realise that Gold and his wife weren’t present and she left the store in an explosion of power, reappearing in Regina’s bedroom where she had left her.

After Regina had collapsed Emma had caught her before she hit the table and had carried her up the stairs and into her room. She’d never been in Regina’s room before and it was neat and tidy, sleek and modern with a large bed covered with decorative pillows and with a fluffy blanket at the foot. She had gently lain Regina on the bed, using magic to dress her and tuck her under the covers before taking up vigil on the comfortable chair in front of the vanity where Regina obvious did her make-up.

It took her three hours for her to realise that there was a reason her magic wasn’t working on the brunette, why it was almost draining into her unconscious form, why she was thrashing on the bed, violet magic escaping her skin, was because Gold had tricked her. In a whirlwind of fury she left her seat and went to extract answers from the former Dark One, from his blood if necessary.

On her return to the room she halted. It was empty. Regina’s covers were thrown back and the door was open.

Swearing violently she went to the first place she could think of, her parents’ place.

Teleporting, she had learnt from her lessons with Regina, was like picking a place, and opening a channel between where you were and where you wanted to go. She had explained it in terms of A and B and the Path. A, was the spot she was and where she was leaving. B, was obviously where she intended, and the Path was the magic that connected her to the two. It is difficult, Regina had explained, but it is possible to track someone’s path with magic and follow them, or pull them from it to where you are. She had even demonstrated, using her magic to light the area she was training Emma in and showed her how the path looked when using magic. A vein of magic had connected part A to part B and she had even plucked the apple from the path, as Emma tried to send it to B, as a demonstration.

As she was teleporting to the Loft she was grabbed and thrown violently from her tunnel of magic and dragged out into the open. She landed harshly on the concrete in the middle of a street, feeling it dig into her skin as she fell and it felt like her bones were bruised. Darkness rising she rose to her feet and turned to face the person who had dared to drag her from her own magical path.

The Evil Queen’s lips rose to a sneer as she glared over at her with dark eyes.

“Regina,” Emma gasped as she rose to her feet, fighting the urge to strike out at the woman who had dared cross her path.

“It’s ‘Your Majesty’,” the Evil Queen corrected with a growl and an imperious lift to her head. She was different to Regina; long curls of hair tumbling down her back, with legs encased in smooth black leather, and a tight leather corset forcing her cleavage up. Her make-up was darker too, lips a cruel dark purple and eyes encased in liner. She carried herself differently as well, confident in her ability to make the world bend to her will and with an arrogance that called to the Darkness in Emma, urging her to join her.

“Hello Saviour,” her features crinkled at the title in disgust. “Or should I say, Dark One?” She asked with faux innocence and then Emma noticed her twirling the Dagger between long fingers tipped with blood red polish.

“Regina,” Emma said stiffly, as the darkness roared in her, rampaging its way to the surface and rippling along her skin at the obvious threat the Queen possessed. “You aren’t you, please give me the dagger.”

“Hm,” the Queen tapped her lips in exaggerated thought. “No,” she said coldly.

“Rumple gave me a potion to give you,” Emma lifted her hands as she tried to reason with the furious brunette. “He tricked me into turning you back,” she said quickly.

Regina’s, no the Evil Queen’s, eyes narrowed and she rolled her wrist, flicking the dagger elsewhere. “Oh, I know. I’ll deal with him as soon as I am done with you.” With that she tossed a fireball in Emma’s direction and the Darkness rose and consumed her, roaring back in challenge and she tossed her own fireball back.

The night was lit with the crack of their duel, the roaring of their fire, and lightening, and their taunts. Dark Saviour vs the Queen, a fight til the death.

xxxxxXXXXXxxxxx

David’s phone blaring the emergency line for the Station awake him in the early hours of the morning, three days after his daughter became the Dark One. Heart hammering at the abrupt awakening and instantly wide awake he dove for it as Snow stirred next to him and as his baby-son verbalised his protest.

“David,” he answered as Snow rolled out of bed and hurried over to Neal, hoping to silence him before they awoke Henry in the room upstairs.

“Emma and Regina are having a fight in the forest!” Roared the dwarf who was manning the line for him tonight and he felt his blood run cold and the colour fall from his face.

“What?” He barked and slid from the bed, feeling the chill of the early morning air lick along his skin as he searched for his pants. There was a scuffle on the other end of the phone and Snow looked over curiously as she tried to rock Neal back to sleep in her arms.

“The Evil Queen and the Dark Saviour are having a disagreement in the forest,” came a calmer voice, feminine. Mulan.

“We had reports of them duelling on Brooke’s lane however they have since moved on,” the stoic warrior continued. “The lights over the forest would suggest they have moved their disagreement there.”

“What?” David asked again as he pulled on his boots, not quite believing his ears. “Regina would never-.”

“I did not say Regina,” said Mulan quickly. “Reports state the Evil Queen and the Dark One Saviour. A Mr…” there was a pause while she checked her facts, “William Baxtor says it was the Queen, not the Mayor, who initiated the fight with the Dark One in front of his house.”

Neal was still screaming behind him, oblivious to Snow’s shushing noises and gentle rocking.

“Alright. I’ll head over there now. Can someone contact Mother Superior-er, Blue. The Blue Fairy?”

Snow’s head snapped up and she kept her dark eyes on him even as stood and looked for his shirt.

“Leroy says she and some of her fairies are on their way as we speak.” Mulan replied and he thanked her, asked her and Leroy to meet him at the forest, and hung up once she voiced her agreement.

“David?” Snow asked, eyes grave. “What’s going on?”

He sighed, hating to tell his wife that two of the people she loved most in the world were having what seemed like a grudge match until the death. “Emma and Regina are fighting,” he said hesitantly as he unlocked the drawer that held his fire-arm and badge and settled them onto his belt.

Snow shot him a look, that said, quite sufficiently, that she knew he wasn’t telling her everything and that he had better start unless he wanted to spend the next few weeks on the couch.

He cleared his throat. “It looks like they have both gone Dark and are fighting until the death?”

Snow’s face paled and her eyes turned glassy and round. “No,” she mouthed.

“I’ve to go,” he said quickly, kissing her and Neal in turn before striding across the floor. He grabbed his jacket from the coat rack and slid into it, grabbing his keys from the hook and unlocking the door. “I’ll ring you as soon as I know anything,” he promised and then he was out the door and running down the stairs of the building.

It was dark outside but in the distance where he knew the forest lay the sky was lit with lights and the flashing of lightening. He could see the thunderclouds above the area, even as the rest of the sky was calm with the stars and moon as watchers.

He drove quickly, feeling the temperature drop and the rain start and the winds pick up as he got closer and closer to where he now knew Regina and Emma were having a ‘disagreement’ as Mulan had called it.

Many cars met him on the way out, clearly knowing that something was up and were fleeing the fight least it leave the forest and encroach into their homes. Lightning flashed through the sky as he parked up near the trail and bolted through the rain into the forest, flashlight guiding his way. The further he got in the harder the rain lashed and the louder the thunder crashed. It was booming and roaring around him as lighting whipped across the sky and the air was thick and heavy with magic, dark magic, it made his skin crawl and shiver and he fought the urge to run.

The signs of the fight were clearer the closer he got; charcoal smears along trees and great gouges in the earth. Trees had been torn from the ground and the earth around them scattered across the forest, pressed to the forest floor by the rain.

Thunder without a sound boomed in front of him, a sound so powerful he felt it jar his bones and knew he wouldn’t be able to walk without a great deal of pain tomorrow and he saw the fire fight through the trees as he stumbled into a clearing.

The rain was falling down on the two figures dug into a crater in the middle of the forest. It was charred black and smoking, even as the rain cascaded over them. Power cracked and arched across the distance between the two of them, both in black, and both with coloured hands flicking whips of magic at each other. A purple whip arched through the rain and cut into the earth where his daughter was once standing, it tore through it like a knife through butter, like a light-sabre did, leaving a greet crevice in the earth that had burning edges and smoking sides.

Emma sent her own blast of power back at Regina and she caught it in a purple shield, calling her power around her and bracing herself as Emma started an onslaught. They were screaming something at each other, insults and cutting words no doubt, but he couldn’t hear the words.

Hesitating he rocked back on his heels, wondering what he ought to do when he heard someone behind him. He spun to see Mulan, Grumpy, Doc, Sneezy, Blue, and a group of her fairies.

“Don’t go down there, your majesty,” the Blue Fairy warned as she took in the scene. She, like her nun sisters, was wearing nightwear and her pink slippers were almost non-recognisable.

“We’ll set up around the perimeter and try to contain them,” she informed him as her fairies started to pick their way around the edge of the crater, some of them flinching with the thunder and lightning that Emma was tossing into the purple ball of magic at the bottom.

The Evil Queen was panting inside her bubble of protection, feeling her magic strain as her shield absorbed each magnificent attack of the Dark One and she let her lip curl, feeling the power behind each attack steadily fade. The problem with those new to magic was that they lacked the discipline and proper instruction for basic magic working, let alone something as complex and dangerous as a sorcerers duel. The Dark One had raw power, yes, but she used it with the finesse of a giant using a dam to douse a small hearth fire and eventually she would run out of raw magic to use.

Were she wiser, more experienced, she would only use the magic she needed, rather than hurtling raw force at the shield she had up. With the right magicing her shield would be destroyed, but for the moment it was absorbing the magical attacks and using them to strengthen itself, keeping her increasingly protected even as the Dark One’s magical reserves fell.

After her first attack in the street the two of them had exchanged magical blows and it was exhilarating! The magic wound around them both, dancing together, familiar and enthralling, as they threw attacks back and forth. She almost regretted having to kill the blonde, her magic was delicious. They hadn’t spoken until the Dark One had teleported them elsewhere, and this was only after Regina had turned the powerlines into snakes and had used the electricity to direct in a magical attack at Emma. The Dark One had caught the spell and then thrown the magic up into the clouds, summoning the storm as the magic was released. Had it hit her, or stayed with her, the raw power would have consumed her within a heartbeat.

In the forest they had hurled boulders and trees at each other, even as they dogged fireballs and whips of magic. She had felt the raw power in the Dark One’s attacks and it hadn’t taken her long to figure out all she needed to do was goad the other woman into using too much of it and then take her out. She was all rage and righteous fury, not cold and calculating with the simmering rage of the Evil Queen.

She had all of Regina’s memories, all of her knowledge, and had used to it distract the blonde and urge her further into the Dark magic slowly consuming her, snuffling the light in her. The power and frequency of the attacks increased after that and Regina hid safely in her bubble content to wait a little longer until the blonde exhausted herself, but not before seeing a figure at the top of the crater they had made.

There was an increasing gap in the attacks and she saw her moment. Calling her magic she brought her arms up to cross over her chest and then launched them back to her sides. Her magical shield was sent roaring out, with tsunami like strength and fortitude and collected the blonde on its way out of the crater. A group of figures were on the outside of the crater at the points of a clock and she felt her ire rise as they caught the magic and it dispersed against their shields. She’d see to the bugs in a moment.

The Dark One collided with the fairy dust shield and slid down the front of it and tumbled down into the crater. Her platinum blonde hair was out of its severe bun, pulled towards the earth by the wright of the rain water and her eyes were burning like coals as they glared over at her.

Sneering in response she glided forward and flicked her hand up to block an attack and let it roar into the earth around her,

“Is that it?” She asked, almost disappointed in the final stand of the Saviour, she’d make sure to tell Snow of her daughters failure before she killed her, it would be very fitting.

The Dark One spat out blood and her breathing was coming in pants, a weak fireball coaxed into life in her palm. It hissed and spat like a cat in the rain, and its size faltered, evidently the blonde was more tired than she had thought.

“Regina,” she said quietly and the Evil Queen rejoiced in her impending victory. “Don’t do this. Please.”

She’d never responded to begging and she certainly wasn’t about to start now. She picked her way over the torn earth as the Saviour swayed on her feet, exhausted. Around them the rain continued to fall but the lightning had stopped now that their magic wasn’t fuelling the storm. Up on the crater a few figures were restraining another and she lifted her head, letting the rain caress her face on its journey to the ground. She recognised the figure now. Prince Charming was locked in the arms of three dwarves and a warrior in armour she recognised and she pondered handing the legendary female warrior over to Maleficent as a gift. She could use her to taunt Phillip and Aurora. The fairy’s were no doubt up to something, their leader wasn’t to be trusted, but she had a vault she could return to, to recover after she killed the daughter of Snow and Charming, the girl who was prophesised to defeat her.

Something was niggling at the back of her mind though, something that had bothered Regina also, in the seventy-two hours since Emma had taken the Dark Curse for her. Why?

“Why’d you take the curse for me? For Regina?” She asked and then cursed her weakness. She didn’t need to know what kind of misguided righteousness drove the Saviour to protect her, she just needed herself, knowing, and asking, was a sign of Regina’s weakness.

The Dark One didn’t answer, panting over at her as she got closer and a small smile crossed her features, looking out of place in her defeat. She looked like a drowned rat, the look didn’t sit well with her. Emma should never look at her like that, she should only look at her with defiance, eyes sparking in challenge.

Not liking the disobedience to her command she waved her hand and the blonde was lifted from the ground, not even fighting her, as magical ropes bound her still.

“Tell me!” She demanded, lifting her hand to strike the blonde in the face. Her head was wrenched back and she winced, but still looked at her, expression turning soft even as blood joined the water streaming down her chin. It left a trail down her neck and she was oddly captivated by it.

David was shouting something up on the crater and she speared him a glance as she ordered the water to form into a crystal spear. She tossed it up and down in her hand as she looked at the blonde again, confused and conflicted. She wasn’t looking at her with defiance, defeat or fear, the dark eyes of the Dark One were burning, bright and warm.

“Come close and I’ll tell you,” she whispered and the Queen hesitated, fearing a trap, but she was confident her magic would hold the blonde so she inched forward, planting the butt of the spear in the ground.

“Tell me,” she commanded, not liking how broken and desperate her own voice sounded. Why did she need to know? Why did it matter that Emma had willingly given up her soul for her? Why?

She leant in further, feeling the blonde’s body heat through the rain and feeling her chest rise and fall and press against her own.

Her pulse was thudding in her neck, she could see it and had the strangest desire to…

“Tell me,” she asked, almost resting her cheek against the blondes.

“Because….” Emma whispered and she strained to hear it. “I’ve not given up yet.”

Her brow furrowed in confusion and then she was sent reeling backwards, a hand to her head in pain and the ropes around Emma fell to the ground and she was launching herself at the Queen. She had head-butted a Queen! Furious, both with herself for letting Emma get the drop on her, and with the blonde for daring to use physical force with her she caught her as she hit her and they scrambled in the dirt like animals, biting, kicking and punching.

Growling and with her eyes flashing purple the Queen commanded that there be stillness. The rain froze and so did Emma, she was lifted and turned from the mud, arms lifted and legs bound like she were on a cross. “Why?! The Queen screamed, composure lost. The blonde would tell her and then she would die. “Tell me why?!” She commanded and then she fell back in shock at the blonde’s confession.

“Because I love you!” Emma screamed into the mud.

The Evil Queen stumbled back, feeling something in her chest flare and swell, and awaken like life in spring. The rain resumed its path to the ground and Emma was released, slumping forward on her knees in the mud.

Regina looked down on her with wide brown eyes, seeming like she didn’t fit in her Evil Queen clothes and make-up. She turned and slowly walked across the bottom of the crater to the side near David, head bowed to the rain and the information she now knew. Emma’s final words were defeated, but laden with love, “Because I love you.”