XenaGabrielleForever

Personality hire

I headcanon that from season 1 to 4, Emma was in love with Regina. Like, in love, in love, with all its stages from attraction to lust to getting to know her to getting to like her, understand her, want her, love her. But Regina can’t let her in, not YET, as both Henry and Robin are necessary for her development into someone who understands that it’s okay for people to love her. She needs to learn things before she’s ready for Emma.

Emma’s sacrifice marks the change. It’s a last declaration of love, a desperate one because she cannot keep doing this anymore, so she throws herself at the darkness, hoping that at least Regina will he safe.

Except people keep coming after her, Hook keeps coming after her, and Regina treats her differently these days, even more carefully, not quite sure how to handle the whole sacrifice thing. And Emma is tired, damn, so eventually she gives in to the pirate, because she can’t keep running forever (and the one person she’s running to keeps turning away).

Except finally Regina understands just what she’s had in Emma. She’s coming got terms with her feelings and all that, but now it’s too late. “You’re too good for Hook,” and Emma looks at her like What do you want Regina, and Regina shies away because even now she cannot bring herself to fight for Emma. Not like this, not if she’s putting herself out there, and besides, maybe she’s misread things all along and Emma isn’t even into her and she’s overthinking this and -

It’s too late. She gets rid of the Queen, to be finally good enough for Emma, to be finally deserving. She runs after Emma, because Yes, she’s finally ready, ready for her happy ending…

But Emma’s choosing the pirate now. A treacherous ring is glinting on her finger and Regina chokes and watches Emma look at her as if she’s broken too. “What do you say now, Regina?” Her eyes seem to say, “I couldn’t wait for you forever.”

And yesss, Regina knows, still her heart is breaking because Emma… But what can she do, she’s still a best friend, and she resigns to the role with a hug cause that’s what best friends do, right, best friends yes but not friends who are teetering on the edge to something more. The hug is a goodbye, a goodbye to an almost, a goodbye to a could-have-been.

She still finds herself watching Emma Swan from time to time, with longing she knows she isn’t allowed to feel. Emma ignores her glances, changes the topic, leaves the mansion early although Regina made her favourite dessert. She returns home to her pirate and she gets pregnant and Regina doesn’t know how to handle all that pain so she leaves.

She follows Henry.

She doesn’t see Emma for a long long time, but she doesn’t notice because her memories are gone now. In a way, that is a generous fate, and when she drinks the potion and everything comes back, she lies awake at night and thinks It would have been better to remain Roni.

Because she’s started missing Emma again. Every day a little more, her heart starts crumbling again, so much so that she seeks distraction in Facilier. He’s the furthest she could go from Emma but it isn’t far enough.

Things happen, the curse breaks, Storybrooke is an option again, and although Regina is content with coming back, there is still Emma, lingering in the back of her mind. She thinks, maybe she’s over it. She knows she’s lying to herself. She also knows she cannot indulge this further.

When Emma enters the room, with Hope and the inevitable pirate in tow, Regina allows herself one sigh of “Emma” that makes even Snow look at her oddly. It’s just one sigh though, before she remembers her role. Friend. Hugging, no kissing, no matter how sweet Emma smells and how soft her curls press into Regina’s cheeks and how wide her smile as, as if maybe she has missed Regina too.

It is not a happy ending, but she can’t help thinking: coming back, to Emma, to this, pain and all included. Maybe it has its good sides. Maybe, just maybe, something can happen down the line. Maybe fate is giving her a second chance, not only at being a Queen, but also with Emma.

So you know that episode where Cupid’s son causes Xena to fall in love with Draco and Gabrielle to fall in love with Joxer. Well. When Xena is in love with Draco, she starts acting way more soft/submissive with him than she normally is. Like she starts talking in a softer/gentler voice and she doesn’t want to hurt him and when she does hit him she’s all like “omg I’m sorry sweetie that hurt me more than it hurt you!!”

Whereas when Gabrielle is in love with Joxer, she acts way more aggressive/dominant with him than she normally is, to the point where she kind of freaks him out a little even though he’s in love with her too. She’s like chasing after him and kissing him so hard she accidentally chokes him out and all that.

Cupid’s arrows don’t cause people to change their personalities when they fall in love, as evidenced by the fact that Draco was obsessed with trying to “conquer” Gabrielle when he fell in love with her. Because that’s his personality, he’s a conqueror. Even when he was trying to appeal to Gabrielle, the best he could do was to tell her that he’d “only kill the elderly” when he raids villages from now on. Their personalities are still intact under the effects of Cupid’s arrows.

Happy birthday, Michelle Yeoh! (August 6th, 1962) 🎈