#darkswanqueen

I guess Iwanted to make this one slightly darker Xd Thanks for the prompt strega, I’mstill ironing some kinks on our collab but I hope to be fully back by tomorrow<3 Hope you like this one.

(As always, I don’t count dialogues)

“What thehell are you doing?”

The questionreached through time and space and the newly appointed Dark One smirked at the memoriesit brought as she turned and glanced at the brunette that now stood at herback, hands dug deep in the red blazer the older woman seemed to be preferring thesedays. It suited her, the bright color, and Emma smiledcurtly at such thought before she stepped aside from the apple tree; the barkmarred with both her name and Regina’s, the fading residuals of her magic sparklingas she bowed.

“Since youseemed so keen on being with a forest lover I thought you would appreciate thegesture.”

Her mindwas at war as spoke but she, as she had previously done far more times than shewas able to count, shoved away the Emma that still fought against the darknessthat now seeped through her with just a shake of her head. She was done with subtleties, with the pinning and longingher less, her worse half, seemed so adamant on focusing on. She was thesavior, the dark one, she was far much stronger than some petty thief and ifshe needed such gestures to let the Queen that still laid dormant within thewoman in front of her see it… so be it.

Bless my darkness, bless my light I lost my soul in your skin tones, now

Well, thank you for reaching out and letting mewrite a story with all of these words as one single one shot 😉 As soon as I read them all an idea came to mind and I felt that,considering the amount of times I’m asked to write Emma as a vampire, that itcould be something you’d enjoy. I hope I was right on that one!

Still, if you happen to prefer a story for eachword after this just drop by and I’ll be more than happy to do so.

Thank you for the ask! <3

PS: Set on an AU; Emma is transformed into theDarkSwan and creates her own unique realm while at it. Regina tries to saveher.

The skin ofthe horse was covered in a fine sheet of sweat, its warm breath a cloud infront of both rider and mount as the sun at their back painted oranges and redson the sky above them. The path they were trying to follow was becoming blurrierwith each passing moment and, under the hooves of the horse, pebbles clashedagainst each other. Its sound enough to almost drown the sound of another horseneighing at their back

Come back before the last sunray hits theground.

Magic and timewere about to run out and, under the pale silhouettes of the first appearingstars, Regina grasped the reins and narrowed her eyes, trying to see thetelling pulsing light of a portal. Purple magic bursting out of her skin,adrenaline rushing through her veins, she saw the titillating glow just as thefog that had been licking the undersides of her horse ever since she hadescaped the castle finally closed around them; its grey, pearly color darkeningand thickening quickly as the portal’s light blinked lazily, almost dead.

Spurringthe horse and not listening to its angry neighs, Regina glanced at her back,her sight straining on the few seconds she let herself glance away from the treacherouspath she was in. Just as she had expected, hoofbeats echoing through the fogand haloed with dirty white -almost grey- magic Emma’s own horse was quicklyclosing the little distance she had managed to win a few seconds ago, back whenshe had used her last magic reserve into propelling her and her mount down thehill. The sharp rocks and uneven ground were worthy enough to be a trap for thepoor horse she was currently trying to direct to the quickly weakening portal.

Emma’smount, however, even with the grey glow of the blonde’s -now white-haired-magic glowing around it, didn’t seem as bothered or as tired as Regina’s horseand, muttering curses through clenched teeth, Regina realized the last dyingsunray was about to be swallowed by the darkness that seemed to erupt from theoutline of the tall castle that reigned over the horizon at her back.

She was outof time.

A risk, shethought, glancing down at the dark and red dress she still had on, purplesparks trying helplessly to transform into its usual fireballs, she had takenthe moment she had heard where Emma was. Chocking as she felt her magic falterinside of her, she jumped from her horse; a practiced movement she was gladthat she seemed to still remember how she needed to do it, and started to runtowards the portal, the curving and wrapping ends of the glowing vortex risinga few meters away from her.

If shemanaged, she thought as the thundering echoes of Emma’s horse became closer andcloser, to simply touch the portal as the white-haired woman grasped her shecould, perhaps…

She hadknown, she thought again, the memory of purple roses coming back from herscrambled thoughts, that she was taking a risk, a risk no one seemed preparedto take except her as news had started to arrive of a new realm. One thatsucked darkness and magic in a way that could only be Emma’s newfound powers.She had known the moment she had been sent there with only a few warning wordsfrom Gold and Snow’s teary beg of both of them returning safe and sound, thatshe could get trapped into the web and magic she had felt pulsing and singinginside her veins, inside her lungs, the moment she had known Emma was there,waiting for her.

The castlehad surprised her, of course: The roses and the candles flanking both sides ofthe main staircase that led to the wooden-made doors something that she couldhave had on her Evil Queen days. It hadn’t taken her that much to realize thatEmma had constructed the realm while thinking of her, her smirk and dark greeneyes telling her as much as the wooden doors had parted and there, waiting forher while draped in shadows and magic, had stood the blonde. Dark suit andglimmering fangs the last piece of a puzzle that made Regina’s mind reel.

“I’vemissed you.” The taller woman had said, matter of fact, and yet softly. Theshadow of a kiss had been swiftly dropped on Regina’s hand, dress appearing ontop of her clothes, being formed out of the shadows, pulsing and fitting to thebrunette’s body, snug on her ribcage and chest as Emma waited, smirk in place. “Iwas starting to wonder if I was going to need to cross myself.”

Her graspwas tender, and Regina had swallowed at the words, realizing belatedly that heranger, her worry, had slipped away, suffused in a way with relief. Relief offinally having Emma standing in front of her.

“You didn’tanswer to the dagger when we called.” She had answered, softly, and she had glancedat Emma’s lips as they parted, fangs more pronounced while the woman chuckled.

“Being onanother realm has its perks.” Her answer hadn’t been enough and yet Regina hadfound herself nodding.

That hadbeen her first mistake perhaps; thinking that, maybe, she could work with Emma’spsyche. Even if every inch of the white-haired woman’s body called for her in away the power the blonde had previously sported didn’t. She guessed that it wasthe residual black power of the dagger, calling for her in the same way Emmahad pushed her aside, saving her from it as she had stabbed the vortex, tearson her eyes.

Or it couldvery well have been just her own desire to kiss the other woman, admit what shefelt, ask her to come back to Storybrooke, to her.

Back to thepresent, she heard Emma’s feet hitting the ground as she took one final leaptowards the portal as that final sunray disappeared. The portal exploded in amillion shards of light that fell to the ground, robbing her her breath as sheturned, drowning in the power that was pressed against her skin, seeking anentrance her own magic was unable to grant.

She hadseen the risk, she thought as Emma strolled towards her, one hand alreadyextended, grey wisps creating shadows on the fog that now reached Regina’swaist.

“Stay.” Sheasked, green eyes seeking hers, face in shadows and want written on the waymagic curled and breathed and Regina could feel her willpower dwindling as shefelt the call of power urging her again, coiling on her chest and lower belly,going further still as the voice of the Queen returned to her.

Why not,she considered, magic hot now, washing over her, infernal flames starting tolight up inside her chest. She could stay, she could…

And, with anod, she took Emma’s hand.

A/n I kinda like to dub this as DarkSwanQueen 😉 I hope you like my intake. In case you play Dishonored I admit takinginspiration from the times the Outsider brings Corvo and Emily to their ownrealm as a description of the magic pocket. At first I thought on the vault butRegina would’ve probably spotted herself back there so… magic pocket it is xD

“Look what the wind has finally brought us.”

The words were said slowly and with a smirkstretching over every vowel as Emma turned her hands into fists while both sheand Regina entered into the magic pocket they had finally found after weeks ofsearching. At her side, the former queen placed a soft hand over her shoulder;a small warning not only for her but to the woman that stood tall and lanky infront of them.

Black leather losing itself around the darkedges and shadows the pocket seemed to be full of, green eyes narrowed as agiggle erupted from dark red lips. Magic crackling on her body, Emma tried notto shudder as her own self looked back at her; white hair framing a face that,unlike her, seemed to show no qualms on keep looking at her. Eyes as bottomlessas the ocean.

A second presence let itself known in the formof a whisper and a scorching breeze that caressed Emma’s nape like probingfingers; the ghost of a kiss being placed just beneath her ear before she couldeven think on turning towards it.

Regina’s calm demeanor shattered, however, themoment the lips turned less ghost-like and more real, a playful hand grazingher left wrist by the moment Regina’s voice rose above the small moan Emma’sthroat seemed intent on producing.

“Let her go.”

Emma could feel the body behind her move andwalk away but she didn’t quite turn until she felt Regina’s hand on the spotthe Evil Queen’s had had hers. The monarch, however opted to let herself visiblejust next to the Dark One with her lips turned into a curt smile; one thatreached her brown eyes in where swirls of purple glowed warningly.

“Don’t tell me what to do here; Regina.” TheEvil Queen’s reply floated towards the two women as if being underwater, thesound seeming to reach their ears for many places at once as a muffled laughterfrom the white-haired Emma suddenly rose, erasing everything but the four ofthem. Winking at Emma while interlacing her fingers with the Dark One, the EvilQueen rose her right elbow, letting the snug clothing of her black dress gapeon her clavicle, creating shadows Emma could feel herself about to fall throughthem. “I was just saying hi after all.”

A muttered curse escaped Regina’s lips but shesaid nothing, as Emma took a sharp intake of breath as the black void aroundthem morphed, shapes changing for a few dizzy moments until everything settledonce again.

“After so long…” The Dark One said whilepouting, eyes flashing with dirty white power as she stepped in front and,suddenly, behind Emma and Regina. “We were starting to think you didn’t want tofind us.”

In a flash, Emma’s mind brought her back to theday a few weeks ago, back when her lungs and throat had been filled with theburning potion that had washed everything away but pain until, sobbing, she hadfelt her entire being been ripped apart. The memory left her dizzy and shestumbled forward as the Queen shooed the Dark One away with one smile and akiss she very much tried to ignore. Grunting slightly and trying to move herfeet towards the couple, which suddenly felt much more difficult than before,she felt Regina’s fingers tracing her skin in a warning, a call she nodded atbefore slouching, anger all but leaving her.

That had been the first thing that had toldthem something was wrong. The excruciating pain had resulted in her passingout; a maddening giggle on her ears as she tried to grasp the air around her,fingers numb. However, after being woken up by a worried Regina the lack ofanger, of brashness, was what made the two of them suspect what had happened.Even more so when her magic, the one she had become accustomed to, felt weaker,lighter in a way she didn’t truly understand. The presence of the Queen, thehazy memory of the potion, came back as she swallowed down, looking at theother versions of them.

“We want you to go away.” Regina’s voice brokethrough the memories and thoughts, her tone brisk and calming as a cold clothcould be on Emma’s suddenly feverish skin. However, it lacked the bite sheusually could have felt on the back of each word; cutting and sure of herselfin a way the Queen was but the mayor wasn’t and Emma could see it on the wayher other her rolled her eyes amusedly as she touched the Queen’s cheek in agesture she felt as if being far too private, far too warm for her.

Moving away from the Queen, her very silhouettetransforming into shadow that lapped the world around them as it changed; voiceechoing as it grew once again, the Dark One spoke. Her voice threatening, herfingers claw-like as she moved her hands, creating thousands of sparks thatslit open the darkness that all of a sudden surrounded her only to disappear inthe blink of an eye.

“You should really start thinking twice beforetelling her to go away, Regina.” The white-haired woman muttered darkly, haltingand smirking as Emma put herself between her and Regina. “How about you,savior?” The last word as acid as vitriol. “Do you want me gone?”

It was a tricky question, Emma thought. One shereally didn’t have an answer for it. As opposed to Regina’s original idea, shehad never wanted to split and so, as she stared at the woman she had been once,she felt stunned while Regina growled, positioning herself next to instead ofbehind her with a warning look towards both herself and the Dark One that gother to shake her head, slowly at first, as she tried to clear her head.

“That’s not important.” She managed to reply,eyeing the Queen and tightening her jaw while she did so, teeth protesting fora moment. “Why?” She failed to finish the question, The Queen’s laughterechoing while she walked next to The Dark One, hand snaking up the other woman’sback, drawing impossible lines Emma felt too dizzy to even look at.

“Why I brought the potion to the station? Whydid I give it to you?”

The almost feline-like grin both women had nowmade Emma stare at Regina uneasily; noting the way the brunette kept eyeing theQueen with something close to worry on her features. A look, the blondethought, that been permanently fixtured on the older woman’s face the momentshe had had her head clear enough to be able to explain what had happened.

“I think we both prefer for you both to keepguessing.” The Dark One replied, red lips leaving an imprint on The Queen’sface the regal woman didn’t do anything to erase. “Perhaps you learn a thing ofyou about yourselves.” And, with one final twitch of her hand Emma felt herbody being propelled out of the pocket, magic closing around her only torelease her alongside with Regina back at the clearing they had found beforewhile following the magic markings their doppelgangers had left on their wake.

“Fuck.”

I can! ;) I hope you like it anon, thanks for the prompt!

A03 Version

The crow huffed on Emma’s hand, ruffling itsfeathers in the process as it tilted its head, its eyes gleaming black underEmma’s stare. The dark pupils of the bird created the perfect glass in wherethe Dark One stared at herself, her green eyes standing even more so on herface thanks to the paleness that had been accentuated ever since Camelot.Shadows seemed to move just on the edges of her face, blurry lines that run andcurled as she smirked into the animal’s eyes until a dirty white swirl of magicenveloped the crow’s talon, a simple message appearing on a newly conjuredpaper.

The crow cackled and jumped, its wingsextending as it fled away from the black-clothed woman who stared at her, her silhouetteformed by angles and lines that seemed to tremble and dilute into the settlingsun’s light. A raise of an eyebrow, a slight tremble and the crow was gone, itsfigure a dot on the sky outside the tightly closed windows and doors of the Victorianhouse the now almost albino woman had taken as her own after she had landed onStorybrooke once again.

That, she thought with one brow still cocked, asatisfied smirk curving the deep red shade that covered her lips, will suffice.She could see the contour and hear the cackle and doubts of Rumplestiskin,curled up in one of the chairs on the further corner of the room, his smirk asunnatural as the one of the Cheshire cat. That, however, didn’t deter her andso she approached the tightly closed window, the trembling shadow of dealsunheard that followed her pouring out of her hands and drawing ghost-likefingertips on the suddenly cold surface of the glass.

She won’t come.

She will.

She didn’t breathe while waiting, she almostdidn’t move as she pried into the night, the platinum blonde her locks hadtransformed into framing her face as she waited, the black of her long jacketeating away the remaining dots of light that danced on her house’s porch.

She could feel it after all, her brain offeredas she felt yet again the stabbing pain of Rumplestiskin’s memories emerging,whispering truths and lies on her ears. She shook her head and shot to the maddeninglygiggling man a dirty look until he winked and disappeared into a puff of maroon-huedcloud. She could feel Regina’s magic like a flickering flame close to her; itswarmth painting purple on dirty white sheets. She only needed to wait. She knewthat. Wait and see.

She came with strides that left painted shadowson the path that led to the main door of the mansion, her brown eyes raising tothe sky in where the crow cheeped before falling into a cloud of feathers asblack as ink. The touch was overdramatic, Emma knew that, but she still waitedsilent, perched at the window’s shelf as the moon appeared, navy blue replacingthe almost tired gold that had brushed flecks of color on the planks of herhouse.

She is here.

She is not.

She could sense Regina’s taste on the back ofher mouth, swirling on her lungs as she breathed, memories of her potentialmurmured from Rumplestiskin’s voice, his profile a drawing on her walls, an embroideryon her couch, a whistle of the wind. It was a memory that wasn’t hers and yetit was; a decision done hurriedly.

Regina had been her decision, hers and yet not.-Me, whispered Rumple yet she didn’t listen to him- Magic had been reached,offered, gifted, pushed until the ultimate decision had been robbed.

It wasn’t you.

It was.

The cracking of the door opening slowly wokeher up, a smile and a hum and yet another shudder erasing Rumplestiskin’sshadow from her own, her white teeth glinting as she parted her lips, lettingthe whispers on her ears and the visions from her eyes to disappear enough forher magic to spill and scatter on the floor, its scent strong and equal toRegina’s. Without a doubt, she rose her voice, much hoarser than the otherEmma, the one she had -No. Yes- had.

“In here.”

She half wondered what Regina saw when sheturned to look at her, her profile illuminated in silvers and blues, her blazercutting her figure in straight, broad lines. Did she saw Emma Swan? The womanwho had jumped in a vortex in order to save her three weeks ago? Did she saw areflection of the man that had taught her, indoctrinate her? Did she saw someoneelse? Something else? Something more?

She crossed her arms and waited for Regina tonod or answer, her green eyes narrowing, widening, smirking, as Rumplestiskinappeared and disappeared, the static sound of his apparition cutting the air asRegina swallowed once, then twice before pursing her lips and taking a steptowards her, her shoulders and back as straight as a rod. She, Emma thought,uncovering the dagger from the magic pocket she had created prior sending thecrow, looked beautiful.

Useful.

No.

“What do you want Emma?”

That was Regina, the blonde thought, grazingthe dagger’s handle and feigning to be entranced by its blade; always cuttingto the chase. A trait she had always admired. -No, not you, I.- Smirking and motioning to the couch, Emma walkednear to Regina, stopping a few steps in front of her as the brunette refused tosit. She didn’t look afraid and that made Emma nod, reflections of a mandisappearing from the brunette’s shadow as she did so.

“Did you like the crow? I wasn’t sure if youwould have preferred another bird.”

Regina’s hum barely broke free from her vocalchords before the brunette arced a brow, not amused, apparently, with Emma’sinside joke. Which, the blonde decided, wasn’t important. Her offering was.

Raising the dagger until the silver light hit thename of the blade, the blonde thought again on her words, on her own wants.

“I want to propose you something.”

The voice was too soft, her manners too daintyand Emma growled inwardly at that, at the woman she saw and felt, at the womanshe could see beneath. Rumplestiskin bit the air and shook his head and as theyboth stared at Regina Emma could feel the magic scorching her insides, pryingher open.

“What?”

Happiness.

Choice.

She was gorgeous and Emma needed to blink andlook away, her eyes lost as the creacking of the settling house protested asRegina waited, never looking away, never moving an inch except for a blink, adoubt, a shadow, to her lips. Lips that curved as Emma rose her hand andstopped just enough, the blade disappearing into a gust of wind.

Rumplestiskin winked and offered her a copy ofthe dagger, one that would disappear the second Emma reached for it.

“I want for you to come with me.”

She saw the shudder, felt in the way Reginablinked and bite her bottom lip. She saw and felt and tasted and she could distinguishthe drumming expectation of want and will on her head, the whispers and warsthat brought as she let her gaze drop. A second too long, two seconds too long.

“Why bothering with the charade? This could bea trap.”

It was a whisper, a weak, feeble protest. Onethat didn’t bear any sting, any heat with it and they both knew it. They bothcould feel it on the magic that slowly circled them both, raising like dust,tickling like feathers.

“Yes, I could very much come near you and reachinto your chest.” Emma rose her hand again, this time prying appart the lapelsof Regina’s blazer, looking directly at the red blouse she had underneath, atthe straining buttons that awaited, at the black lace that could even be seen.She didn’t reach for them, she just kept talking. A deep whisper, a secretbeyond Rumplestiskin’s reach. “Pluck your heart from it and whisper instructionsand desires so you don’t know what you truly want.” A pause, a gaze. “. I couldlet you leave this place with your heart on my hands or with your heart on yourchest but with a string of words floating around it, burning offerings andpower until nothing but your magic remained. I could do that but I’m notinterested.”

Sweat glimmered on Regina’s upper lip but hervoice was steady as she spoke. Emma could feel her own perspiration asRumplestiskin turned, unhappily.

She won’t take it.

That’s not the point.

“Then what do you want?”

Emma felt herself tremble.

“For you to make the decision. Don’t you wantthe power? The magic? You can walk away now and you know that. But you arestill here. I want you to choose it. We both have been robbed of that, ofdeciding, of being able to want and wish. What do you want, Regina?”

She could see the faint pulse beating faster onRegina’s neck, the way her eyes darkened before they changed colors, a facelong gone peeking between the cracks. She could see the way her hands flinchedand trembled, muscles and tendons fighting against the sparks of magic Emmacould feel drumming on her own skin as she stood barely inches apart from thebrunette. She could even taste her words as she ran her tongue through herteeth, Rumplestiskin’s smirk all but disappearing as she breathed in and out,her right hand tantalizingly close to the other woman’s chest.

The light was almost gone and only a glow camefrom them, creating dots of lights that ran away from the darkness as Reginasurged forward, her mouth curving. From her lips a rumbling laugh escaped, one thatonly stopped once the brunette slid her right hand through Emma’s tresses,pulling and pushing herself against her.

“You.”

Free, she is free.

Myheadcanon is that apart from Henry they don’t really have more kids so it willonly be him but I hope you like the story ;) Thank you so much even if this onewas from forever ago! I’m sorry for that. ^^’’

“Is there a reason of why I shouldn’t be transformingyou into a weed on the spot?” The Queen snarled to the chief of her militia, a forty-somethinglooking man whose salt-and-peppered moustache quivered as he tried to keep upwith his Queen’s wraith.

“Your…” He began, only to be cut short by a second femininevoice at his back.

“I prefer the idea of giving him to the dogs dear.”

Not daring to turn but looking anxiously as much as hecould to the edges of his peripheral vision the man swallowed as the darkcorners of the throne room gave form to the quietly smirking Dark One, her facehalf-shadowed under a light that seemed to only affect her as she walked pasthim to the Queen’s side. The Queen greeted her with a nod and offering her handwhich the Dark One took between long fingers, bringing it to her mouth and kissingthe flesh in a slow movement so intimate the man looked away, not knowing whereto look.

His reprieve, however, didn’t last much and soon theDark One let the Queen’s hand go and positioned herself close to the throne,fingers drumming its intricately decorated armrest, caressing from time to timethe Queen’s own arm. The ire that had disappeared from the Queen as soon as theDark One had made her appearance was back again and he felt himself tremblinginto his boots, knowing very well that he was as good as dead.

To be truthful, the debacle his men had had with the militiaraised from the kingdom they were currently fighting had been his fault and hisalone. He hadn’t listened enough to the spies who had advised him to wait andhad decided, foolishly, to attack in a part of the river that crossed theEnchanted Forest that wasn’t his own. The battle had transformed into a slaughterin where mud and stalled water had done its work as his men tried to defendthemselves against a much more prepared enemy.

Needless to say, they hadn’t won.

“Maybe,” The Queen was saying as she crossed one legover the other, looking at him over the slight advance height the throne atopthree stairs gave her, “I could simply burn your insides until you collapse.”

The man swallowed, unable to speak. Trembling, heparted his lips, reading himself from the inevitable when a third voice, toohigh-pitched to be from one of the guards that had been eyeing him with a mixof pity and curiosity ever since he had entered on the throne room or from thetwo women in front of her, paused everything.

“You promised to tell me a story when you’re back!”

The man didn’t move, afraid of that voice to be a meretrick until his fear-addled mind recognized the voice of none other but theprince, his sleepy eyes staring intently at the Dark One who quicklytransformed her passive aggressive stance into another, a smile crossing herface as she did so.

“Weren’t you supposed to be sleeping already kid?”

Leaving the queen’s side the Dark One approached Henrywho was a few feet at the right of the man, not even looking at him. Pickinghim up, the Dark One smiled as the toddler yawned and shrugged, brown eyes shining.It would be a mystery how he had managed to escape his rooms but it was abadly-kept secret that the prince always managed to do so whenever he was leftalone.

“I wanted to wa-aaait-“Another yawn interrupted himand the Dark One chuckled before turning towards the Queen, a smile on herlips.

“I’m going to take care of him. Finish that and don’tmake me wait My Queen.”

With that, the Dark One disappeared into a dirty whitecolored cloud leaving the man alone again.

“Where were we?” The Queen asked, making him swallownervously. “Oh, right.”

So.. @supercat86 told me I was able to write something based on this beautiful, breathtaking pic and even if I know for a fact I don’t I wanted to write something about the longing that I consider it comes from the pic. The story written below is just... something(?) I don’t know what to call it so there. xD

“Tell me, Savior” The Queen whispered, terrible and glorious, bloodthirsty and beautiful coming closer to Emma, where the remains of the debris and the dust that had once been Granny’s dinner remained. “What are you going to do now?”

Emma eyed the woman in front of her, her hands twitching, her magic spent. Coming in single burst of energy that floated between her fingers in tired wisps of white one single spell tried to float, respond to the Queen’s power to no avail. Her mouth tasted like blood and she sucked on her bottom lip, her eyes watery from the tiredness, the sheer amount of strength she needed to even keep standing almost impossible to maintain.

The Queen took another step towards her, the black coat she wore -long at her back, embroidered with dozens of black crystals that glowed in greys and metallic hues every time she moved- billowing at her back. Her smirk was gone, the one that had been there for almost the entire fight, and she now looked somber. She did not gloat when she raised one hand, her fingers hovering over Emma’s face who merely swallowed deeply as she remained standing, tresses of hair stuck to her neck and cheeks.

The savior wanted to answer but no words came to her as she looked at a face she knew well and still seemed too dissimilar to the one that she had been looking hours before, she wanted to close her eyes and fall. She, however, didn’t and the Queen continued staring at her, her face tilting to her right as she looked at the blonde with frightening openness. As if she really did not have anything to loose.

“What are you going to do?”

Emma licked her lips and winced, a profound gash on her left shoulder screaming in pain while she straightened her back, the pendant she always wore at her neck glinting ever so slightly as she moved. Her left feet trembled when another burst of energy danced between her thumb and index finger, a twinkle that vanished as quickly as it had come but she refused to speak.

The Queen did felt the power though and for a second her eyes fell to the blonde’s hands, a quiet smile curving her lips before she looked back at Emma, a calculating glow on her pupils.

Storybrooke was deserted around them, no sound, no echo, no noise and the dust and debris, the rocks and smoking ruins, were the only thing that watched over them as she finally nodded once, an answer neither the blonde or herself had really asked. Or answered.

“Savior”

Except… A sound, a single sound of another set of steps, another boot-covered feet that approached the two figures with cold determination.

Emma and Regina had talked about the possibilities of losing, the possibility of death. They had spoken about it in hushed tones in that WishRealm that had ended up disintegrating around them the second Emma had looked at Regina above the flames of the fire the former queen had been able to create with her eyes glinting and full of words neither of them had been brave enough to speak.

“If she wins” Regina had said, her eyes glowing ever so softly, her hands clasped tightly in front of her where purple tendrils were visible like sparks writing words in a language Emma barely seemed able to remember anymore. “We need to have another plan ready, just in case.”

Emma hadn’t spoken in that moment, nor when the world had started to tremble and dissipate. She hadn’t needed it just like she hadn’t needed to look at Regina and know that the woman’s head was many miles away, next to a woman that was her as well, another kind of her.

“And I think I have an idea.” The brunette had said after a few minutes of silence, her eyes lost in the flames and Emma’s on hers.

It had been the second Regina had explained her plan Emma had felt a fading caress inside her chest and a sudden realization, too brief and quick to comment on it and still powerful enough for her to look around her, shadows seeming to swallow the very same air they breathed.

The terrible squelching sound the blonde had learned to link to the act of penetrating a chest never came this time and for a second The Queen stood, paralyzed, as Regina- standing up less than a meter behind her- locked her gaze with Emma. The blonde swallowed thickly as she looked at both Queen and Mayor, both Regina and Evil Twin as they shared a similar expression on their eyes while looking at her. Or perhaps no, not yet.

Regina had thought about her plan many times after she had landed back in Storybrooke, Emma’s eyes glowing on her mind’s eye. She had thought on the possible outcomes of every single possible failure and when she had seen the magical blast wipe out the entire dinner she had had troubles not appearing between her other self and Emma, changing her plan entirely and not caring about it in the slightest. However, the dust had started to settle and Emma had remained standing and with it Regina’s last doubt was gone.

Her fingers had trembled the second she had searched inside her chest; the pang she had felt as she removed her own heart somewhat dulled as she had looked at the red patches that swirled between what once upon a time had been black tendrils. She had once despised to look at her heart and for that she had closed her eyes and rose the organ to her lips where she had whispered one last command, one that wasn’t hers to follow but the woman that was now currently approaching Emma with a question on her eyes and slow, too slow, movements. As if waiting, as if expecting something else.

“Show her”

So now there she stood, with her right hand buried deep on her counterpart’s chest with her fingers still around her heart that seemed to halt for a moment too long before beating once again.

The Queen muttered one single “oh” that echoed between the three women, her eyes locking Emma’s in the same fashion Regina’s were, a glow coming from them as she parted her lips, trying her best to breathe.

“Regina, wait.”

“I always know when you are lying.”

“You have worked too hard to get your happiness destroyed.”

Memories, memories of another time, of a different mind but still memories she had once shared with the woman that kept holding her heart -their heart- as it continued pumping ever single memory, ever single second that had once been shared with the blonde woman in front of her.

“You saved me.”

There were too many, too strong and her whole chest cried as she tried to swallow and keep standing, Emma’s green eyes keeping her up as she looked at her as if she hadn’t saw her before. Perhaps not like she was now looking at her.

It was Emma herself after a few long moments the one who approached the two brunettes, her right hand the one hovering now in front of the Queen’s face in a fashion never Regina or herself had truly done before even if that didn’t seem to matter, not anymore. Realization, the blonde considered as she looked at the Queen’s pupils, pain.

Love.

“Hi.” She whispered, the word almost written itself between her mouth and The Queens who swallowed it, unable to move.