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seriousfic ([personal profile] seriousfic) wrote2012-03-16 10:40 am

OUAT fic: Not A Fairy Tale Romance (Regina/Emma) Part 8

Title: Not A Fairy Tale Romance
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,759
Characters/Pairings: Regina/Emma
Notes: This fic is an AU as of 1x07 - The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
Previous: Part 7
Summary: The curse is broken. So's Regina.


Outside, the mist rolled in. The winds screamed and pushed it along. Something hung in the air, oak-scented and ancient. It drove people together, pushed this way and that until they saw each other on the street, finally out of their personal mazes.

***

Sean Hermann had never been sure he'd done the right thing. His father was the richest man in town, even more money than Mr. Gold. Maybe he knew something Sean didn't. Hadn't every dumb teenager in every crap romance around the world thought they'd known better than their parents? There was a knock at the door of the room they were staying in (it came with his new job of fixing up Granny's bed and breakfast; lucky for him Ruby couldn’t fix an unplugged toaster). Sean got it and the mist swirled in as he saw Ashley, a dress thick and white around her, wrapping up her pregnancy like a gift. She could've been a princess.

"Thomas," she said softly, faltering just until he caught her.

***

Of course Michael didn't know if he'd done the right thing. Adopting two kids just because he was their biological father, how was he supposed to not have doubts about that? Sure, Ava and Nicholas were good kids, but how was he a dad? He didn't even know how many years he hadn't been there for them. They could've been eight years old, nine, ten…

The mist came in and he knew. Eleven. For their birthdays, he'd gotten a doll for Gretel, a toy sword for Hansel…

***

Regina wasn't afraid to die. She would've preferred life, of course and there was little she wouldn't have done to see Henry and Emma (her family) again. But now they'd never leave her, because she'd leave first. She'd have memories of a family, happy and united, kept perfect forever.

Gold had given her time to think all that, his sword hovering at her throat. "You've had time to come to your senses. Still want to die for the brat?"

"He's my son," Regina said, closing her eyes.

"No. He's your orphan." Gold drew back the sword, taking Regina's breath with it. She knew what was coming. She'd seen enough executions in the courtyard. Snow White had once told her you still thought with your head off; it took minutes for you to suffocate. The bitch would devil her even now.

Please, don't let Henry be the one who finds me.

"Hey!" It was Emma's voice. Regina was too practical to dream of angels and fluffy clouds—as if they'd take her—but damn if she couldn't think of a better voice to welcome her. "Deal's off, asshole!"

Regina forced her eyes open. Emma was standing in the kitchen doorway, Henry behind her, peeking through the front door. Emma must've heard him in the trunk; he must've been making all sorts of noise. Of course he'd fought, he was their boy.

Gold turned just in time for the bullet to hit him in the face instead of the ear. He fell at Regina's feet like just another one of her victims.

"Please don't use that language in front of Henry," Regina said as she fell to her knees, her whole body shaking.

Emma picked up Henry, holding him so he couldn't see the body. "Come on, Regina, come on. Let's go into the other room." With her gun holstered, she could take Regina's hand and pull her along. Regina hadn't seen her tuck the gun away. She stared at Mr. Gold. Was blood a different color in the Kingdom than it was here or had it just been so long that she'd forgotten how blood really looked?

Regina let herself be led to the dining room, wondering if there was anyone else she'd trust to guide her. She already knew the answer. It made her feel alone.

Emma toed the door open and a white-hot fog poured into envelop them as they fled the gathering pool of Gold's blood. In a moment, they seemed to come out on the other side. Henry hadn't changed. Neither had Emma. But Regina was now dressed in dark finery, black silk covering her every inch like armor. Even her face was shielded by a veil. She tore it away, but Emma had already seen it. She'd seen everything.

Emma let go of her hand, stepped away, regarded her with the first look they'd ever shared: suspicion. Like everything they'd been through had burned up, leaving Emma just like all the rest. "So. This is who you really are."

Regina twisted the veil in her newly gloved hands. "It's what I really look like."

Regina had heard Emma angry. Heard her shocked. Heard her sad. She'd never heard her empty. "Henry was right. He was your son and you made everyone think he was crazy."

Regina had to defend herself. It was her nature. When she was attacked, she defended herself. "He was—confused. He thought I didn't love him."

"I thought you loved me. Or was I 'confused'?" She put both arms around Henry, getting a good grip on him for when she ran. "Was that just your way of getting me to back down so I wouldn't expose you?

"I would never do that!"

"I don't think there's much you wouldn't do. Everyone in this town can prove that," Emma said, a mournfulness creeping into her voice. She sounded so lost, Regina just wanted to hold her close, protect her, comfort her, she just had to make Emma see that this had all been blown out of proportion and then they could go back.

"I was merciful!" Regina insisted. She could still feel the old anger in her stomach. All those smiling faces at the wedding, all laughing at her… "I could've burnt them all to ashes, but I left them a chance at happiness!"

Henry spoke for the first time. Small and quiet, but cutting through all Regina's protests. "Just as long as they weren't as happy as you."

Regina bit her lip until she tasted blood. "And why not?" she screamed suddenly, tears flooding her eyes. "Don't I deserve it the most? All the others got their happily ever afters just handed to them for being good. I couldn't be good! I had to be ruthless to survive. But here, with you and with Henry, I didn't have to be. I could be good. And I have been, you've seen it! I've changed! I'm a good person now!"

She wiped her tears as best she could with trembling eyes and offered a reassuring smile, meeting Emma's eyes, trying to convey all the fear she had of this moment. Just minutes ago she'd been willing to die for Henry, couldn't Emma see that?

"You're not a person at all." David pushed on the door so hard it snapped against the wall as he came in, making room for his broad shoulders. He had his knightly bearing again. Regina was used to him looking uncertain, off-balanced. She'd forgotten how tall he was. "You're a monster. I just remembered what to do with monsters."

***

Regina would give David this, besides the cheekbones. He didn't make a game of killing. He just put an hand around Regina's throat, the other tightly coiled at his side in case she tried to fight back, and pushed her against the wall. Simple, yet effective. No wonder Snow White fell in love with him.

"This is a lot more satisfying when you can't disappear on me," he growled. Regina shut her eyes. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. She hadn't for Gold, and she certainly wouldn't for this… himbo.

With colored spots dancing in her vision, Regina felt a sudden longing in her gut. It wasn't to survive; that was thoroughly squashed. It was Emma. She wanted to see Emma, one last time, take her along if only in sight. She opened her eyes and looked over David's shoulder and saw the most interestingly stricken expression on Emma's face as she held Henry, averting his eyes.

"Don't bother," Regina tried to say. After all, she'd seen her mother die. Look how she'd turned out. But she wasn't very loud without air.

Emma wouldn't meet her eyes. Seemed ungrateful. Regina's throat didn't hurt anymore. It seemed ungrateful because after all, she had taken care of Emma's son, all those years. She felt lightheaded. Hadn't she done a good job? Even Emma had said she'd done a good job.

Regina closed her eyes, satisfied. Emma had seemed concerned at the end there. That was enough. In the end, someone had cared enough to change their expression. More than she'd expected.

"Is he hurting her?" Henry asked. His voice was shaking. Henry, stop fidgeting, no one respects a fidgeter. Stand up straight and tall and ask your mother like a young man should.

"Shh, baby," Emma replied. Typical.

"He's just gonna take her to jail, right?" Don't waste time on hoping, Henry, for God's sake. It leaves less time to react. Did I teach you nothing?

"We should go, Henry." Regina heard a brief clap on Emma's boots on tile, then an 'oof'' of exertion from her—had the little devil actually hit her?—and the patter of little feet moving fast. No running in the house, Henry.

"Don't hurt my mom!" Henry cried, the impact sounding in front of Regina, her eyes flying open in concern to see Henry butting into David's leg. It was enough to throw him off-balance and he let go of Regina to steady himself. Involuntarily, Regina gulped in air. Her body hurt again.

"He's right," Emma said, suddenly vehement. She stalked over to Regina, putting herself between David and her. Regina didn't trick herself into thinking Emma was shielding her. If she were, she'd have been facing David. "Whatever else she's done, she was merciful. Putting you all here was… cruel, but it wasn't… she doesn't deserve to die."

"How can you say that?" David demanded. "You, of all people, you she's hurt the most."

"What are you talking about?" Emma asked, still eying Regina as if daring her to answer.

Regina looked away.

"You're our daughter," David said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Mine and Snow White's. You were going to have everything and she took it from you. The rest of us, we can start over. But you'll never get back the years we were supposed to spend raising you. They're gone. Forever."

Emma looked at Regina, her face completely blank, wiped clean. It was like looking in a mirror for Regina, only she could feel the tears running down her face. She remembered thinking that Emma was stealing her life all that time ago, before they became whatever they were now. And now that paranoid delusion had come true. Emma was the royal, sitting in cold judgment over her. And Regina had nothing.

"We'll lock her up," Emma said. "Hold her until we've all calmed down. Then we'll decide, as a community, what to do with her. We can't give into our emotions. That'd make us as bad as she is." Emma turned Regina around. Her handcuffs rattled as she got them out. "Watch Henry," she told David. "I'll bring her in."

***

Usually, Emma coped with things like this—there weren't any things like this—but with heartbreak and despair and bad days by drinking, or ice cream, or hell, a one-night stand. She couldn't do that now. All she had was her police training. It'd just been a few minutes of Graham goofily lecturing her, but it gave her something to focus on. She put her hand on Regina's head—fingers in her hair--as she moved her into the backseat of the squad car.

As she drove, she thought through every turn. She didn't let her eyes near the rear-view.

Then Regina started sniffling.

"Don't!" Emma said stridently. "You don't get to cry! Not after all you've… done."

Regina rested her head against the window, hiding her face behind her hair.

Emma pulled the car over and waited for her to stop.

***

It was like herding cats, but Graham got everyone into town hall. There wasn't enough space. They had to prop the doors open and seat people in the halls, wiring the microphones to the PA system so everyone could hear.

Emma was in the jailhouse, listening to it on the radio. She was probably the only one using the broadcast—everyone else was there. But she needed to keep an eye on Regina. She'd thought that… the Queen might escape, and honestly that wasn't so bad, the idea that she'd just disappear from their lives forever. But then she thought Regina might hurt herself, and that was unbearable.

Regina sat inside the cell, prim and composed, her legs crossed, her hands in her lap. Only her puffy red eyes gave up the lie.

David took Regina's old podium.

"Hello everyone. I think we're all aware of our circumstances. We're trapped here. We have no magic that works. I, and the royals, have formed a provisional council until… I don't know, really. All we can do right now is decide what to do with the woman who brought us here."

The sudden roar could be heard both on the radio and over the distance from the town hall. Emma looked at Regina, missing her wince. "They really do hate you."

"I suppose I gave them reason to."

David started talking again. "Order! Order!"

"Everyone calm down, please!" It was Mary Margaret. Emma could just picture her standing beside David at the podium, leaning in to use his microphone. Somehow, her admonishment worked. "Thank you. Now then, David?"

"I have something I'd like to say." The voice came in tinny over the radio, far from the mike. Footsteps as he got closer. When he spoke next, it became clear it was Archie. "I don't think we should be too hard on her. No one died. We didn't even age. And… I kinda like not having to worry about people stepping on me. We may not have magic, but we do have medicine and technology—honestly, I like it here."

"Well," Emma said, pacing in front of the cell, arms crossed. "Someone still likes you."

"I'm not in a mirror anymore!" Sidney cried. "Even Geppato's parents…"

"That's beside the point," Mary Margaret said gently. "Regina had no right to do as she did. Most of us she deliberately contrived to cause pain."

"This goes beyond her just wanting a happy ending," David continued. "She's wicked. Mad with power and revenge. We can't trust that she won't try this again, or something worse. What we need to do is take steps to—" Again he was drowned out by the roaring mob.

"Would you let him do it?" Regina asked. "Again?"

"It's not up to me," Emma said simply. Like she'd already resigned herself to the fact.

"You're a police officer. You have more authority here than he does. Are you going to endorse vigilante justice--"

"Is this what you have to say to me!?" Emma shouted, overwhelming Regina's argument. "Some… pedantic bullshit about who gets to be in charge?"

Regina just stared at her. "What else can I say?"

"That you're sorry!" Emma insisted. "That there's a part of you… God, a part of you that doesn't need to hurt people to feel happy because you are happy. Because you have people who make you happy." She sat down pathetically, wrapping herself in her own arms, her voice falling. "Because you let yourself be happy."

Regina had already been sitting down, but now she huddled in on herself, mirroring Emma. "It wouldn't make a difference."

"It would to me."

Emma turned off the radio. Silence reigned. From the town hall, they still caught snippets of particularly raised voices. The noise of it singed.

"I'm sorry," Regina said. She sounded so small. "I'm sorry I hurt people to feel happy. I'm sorry I pushed away the people who made me happy. But most of all, I'm sorry I put my happiness—no, my self-indulgent misery ahead of everything and everyone else. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'd give up everything to take it back."

Emma looked at her. Her eyes didn't seem to fit into her face, twin beacons of emotion in a mask of stone. "I wish that were enough."

The silence broke in a mass of footsteps, gritty voices. The debate was over. The mob was coming.


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