The Evil Queen's Chambers

Chapter Six

The stale smell of alcohol had suffocated Hook all evening.

He was accustomed to Rum, but was too stressed with the prospect of rescuing Emma to really enjoy himself like he did when he was living as a pirate. It was cold out, and he couldn't face another night curled up under a leaf-blanket.

Overnight, he had managed to hide successfully in the back corner of the pub as they shut, pressing himself up behind a few heavy barrels of beer, waiting for the door to close and the owners to leave. He slept on a chair, essentially a wooden plank, and even in his bad mood Hook could appreciate the irony. The sunrise woke him up at 5:46 am, according to the small clock on the bleak wooden wall.

"To Snow White's hiding place I go," he declared to himself, scowling at the fact there was no-one there to speak to him. He missed Emma with her sarcastic comments. He missed Emma full-stop. He wondered if she missed him too.

For now, he told himself, "I'll just have to get on with it. I'll tell Snow White the Queen has captured my sweet Princess Leia and I need her assistance. I'll act like a true believer, and I won't slip up and call her Emma. I mustn't do that." After this brief reassurance, he proceeded to break the lock on the door with his hook so that he could leave.

The sun was glowing warmly as he made his way down the muddy path. According to the map, he was about a 2 hour walk from where Snow White should be. That is, if she hadn't gone hunting or stealing, or whatever bandits do. Or did. Hook still found the whole going-back-in-the-past thing a little bit confusing.

It had been 2 hours on the dot, and with sore feet and a rumbling stomach, Hook had reached what he could observe as the lair of Snow White. Before he could call out her name, he heard a deep growling behind him. Twigs were snapping loudly and he turned round to a wolf, crouching down and bearing its teeth, growling.

"I'm here to speak to Snow White, I come as a friend, I mean no harm," Hook declared, putting both of his hands up so as to show he was weaponless. "Leave him Red, he looks safe," shouted a familiar voice from behind him. He turned to see Snow White standing in a khaki cloak which was wrapped around her, and large brown boots with huge buckles on them. She put one hand on her hip, and the other rested on a tree.

She asked Hook why he was there, and he had scripted it many times in his head, so answered with, "my name is Prince Charles. My Princess Leia has been captured by The Evil Queen. I know you are on the run from her, but for the wrong reasons, and you in fact have done nothing wrong. I know it's a big ask, but I was hoping that you could help me enter the castle, as I know it used to be yours."

Hook finished and in anticipation of her reply added, "I would have found my own way to the dungeons, only the last thing I heard the Queen say was that she wouldn't be taking Leia there, she would be taking her to her chambers."

Red came from behind Hook, now an elegant woman with a brown corset, a ruffled khaki dress and a bright red cloak, and stood next to Snow and nudged her, as she was staring at Hook in awe. "She took her to the chambers? You do realise that probably means your poor Leia is dead?"

Hook cringed at the idea of Emma being killed by her now friend, Regina, and replied, "I was sure of that also, until I made contact with the dark wizard Rumplestiltskin, and he told me that she was not dead. We aren't your enemies, Snow White, but for some reason he thinks we are useful, that is why he directed me to where you would be hiding."

Red turned to Snow, obviously not trusting this mysterious stranger. "How do we know we can trust him? If the Queen catches the mere sight of you she will kill you, Snow." But pure of heart and eager to not let the Queen take anyone else's happiness away, Snow did want to help this man. "Say I did help you, what would I gain out of it? You would gain my knowledge of the castle and a quicker, safer route in. I would like a small payment for my assistance." Snow hated the fact she had to do this, but she knew that one day away from her normally successful ambushes meant no money.

Hook was filled with hope, and figured he would find money from somewhere, "yes, of course. Thank you Snow White." She smiled and said, "we better get planning our route in then. It may take a while, I need to explain to you a few things. The first is that Red will help sniff your Leia out, so if you have any belonging of hers, that would speed up the process."

And with that, the three started to plan their way into the Evil Queen's Castle, whilst Emma was telling Regina... Everything.

*

Regina was wearing a striking black and silver dress and on her face had dark, gothic makeup, including blood-red lipstick. She had curled her hair into thick locks and clipped up the sides with large, silver clips.

Emma figured it was to make herself look intimidating, once again. In a poof of purple smoke she gave Emma new clothes, similar to the Queen's red lipstick, and alike to her dress at the ball. Emma for a minute felt beautiful. She was confused as to why the Queen would care what she was wearing, but had more pressing matters to be concerned with: telling the Queen who she was, and therefore risking her safety. Emma thought she wasn't that safe anyway.

She decided to go for it. Her first introductory sentence to the story was "my name is Emma Swan." Which she followed with, "please don't flip out and kill me, but I am the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming."

Before she could continue, Regina stamped her feet as she strode up to her, gritting her teeth and fighting with herself, trying not to rip Emma's heart out. After a brief moment of calming herself, she scowled and said, "maybe I will let you continue..." she licked her lips, and commanded, "go on then."

Emma continued, "I don't know what is going to happen now I've told you this. Rumplestiltskin said that when you change the past the future becomes unpredictable. He helped cloak me and Hook, my accomplice, as we are important to his plans in the future. One day, in the near future, you will use a deadly curse to enact your revenge on Snow White. This curse will send you and the people in your land to a place called Storybrooke in Maine. But Snow White and Prince Charming get word of this. Snow had just had a child. A daughter. That's me by the way."

Regina pulled a face of false surprise at this, and Emma continued, rolling her eyes.

"She sends her, me, away in a magical tree. I ended up in the adoption system, and later on I had a child of my own. My boyfriend, the father, had betrayed me and I never learnt how a mother should look after their child, so how would I? I decided to give him up. One day, a little boy called Henry turned up at my door and told me he was my son. Turns out he was adopted by a woman, a woman named Regina who was mayor of Storybrooke."

With this revelation, Regina sat down on her bed, in visible shock, "I...I don't understand. How could I adopt a son? That must mean..." Emma filled this in, "you got lonely."

"I know it's hard to believe, but your revenge, it wasn't all that you hoped for. That's where I come in. We didn't mix at the start, because we found out I was the saviour to break your curse. You didn't want me anywhere near Henry, and there was a lot of friction between us. Cut a long story short, Henry ended up in hospital, due to you taking your vengeance too far. I kiss him, and it inadvertently causes true love kiss to break your curse. Purple smoke engulfs the town, and everyone gets their memories back. They remember the curse, and the Enchanted Forest. It takes a while, but eventually, they start to like you. And you them. I know it's hard to believe. But it is, Regina. You aren't consumed by your revenge, you have your son - our son - and... You find your soul mate."

Regina was already tapping her knees, anxiously, not believing a word of this. Mayor? Just about right, she thought. But a son? A soul mate? This final thing shocked her to her very core.

Maybe that was why she felt that strange... Feeling... When she first saw this intriguing woman. I mean, first, it was the glamour spell. But then, it was more. It was the face behind the glamour spell. She scoffed, out loud, "I'm supposed to find my soul mate? You?" and then she laughed, manically, and partially nervously.

"M...me..." Emma stammered, "when did I ever imply that your soul mate... Was me?"

Emma's voice broke. Silence was deafening. Regina sat there, saying nothing.

She felt like she should fill the silence, "well, that's awkward." Regina declared plainly.

Emma looked down at Regina, directly into her big brown eyes. She wasn't sure of how she felt towards this version of Regina at all. But she knew, that while she resisted in Storybrooke, that for some reason in this moment, she couldn't deny one of her feelings. She loved Regina's eyes.

Just as she accepted this, the darkness seemed to fade from them. Emma was in deep thought when she noticed Regina smiling up at her.

"What is the point of all this if my curse is broken? I might as well not even do it. Or I could just kill Snow White right now." Emma knew her eyes had begun to water at this, "you could, but then I'll never exist, and then this will never happen. God knows what will happen."

She slumped down onto the bed next down to Regina. "Aren't you supposed to be evil, ripping me apart by now?" she unintentionally smirked. Emma pulled one leg up onto the bed, shuffled her dress and wrapped her arms around her leg. She then leaned in closer to Regina, put her hand out for balance and tilted her head slightly to turn to her.

"Why haven't you killed me?" Regina threw up her hands and turned to Emma, laughing. "I already tried." Accidentally, she hit Emma's hand, and Emma, in the same dry voice as before, said "oops, sorry."

For some reason, as much as she was unwilling to admit it, Regina really liked this woman. She didn't know just how she could ever like the product of Snow White, but she did. She then proceeded to lean closely into Emma, smiling, "And you still haven't told me just how we, the saviour and the evil queen, became friends."

It was then, in the Evil Queen's Chambers, that Emma knew, somehow, maybe she wasn't the only one who was trying so hard to deny their true feelings.