Summary: Emma doesn’t remember who she was before she was found in the woods, but she knows that she has a few close friends, a good job, and a loyal cat that greets her every day when she gets home from work. What she doesn’t know, however, is that her past is about to catch up to her in the strangest of ways. She learns quickly that not everything is as it seems, not even her cat.
Rating: E
Content warnings: smutty smut, brief mentions of the loss of a hand
Chapter specific content warnings: some battle-ish stuff at the start, some more happy smut, and hopefully a satisfying ending.
A/N: Just… all my love. I can’t believe it’s over, and this is the last time you’ll be seeing an update for this story. Out of this world, man. All my love to the team of people that helped me through this, and of course to @clockadile for her lovely artwork. And my eternal love to all of you that read, and left comments, and liked and reblogged, and sent me messages. You guys are rockstars. Thank you! x
Surrounded on all sides by the presence of Dark
Ones.
It’s not exactly how Emma would’ve
imagined a homecoming, but it’s what she’s getting. Regina is standing steady
beside her, holding her arm, but otherwise there’s a fire in her eyes that Emma
can’t remember ever seeing in their time as friends.
“You okay?”
“Never better,” the other woman grits out, and
there’s an edge that she’s never heard before. Emma raises an eyebrow at
her, and the look Regina gives her back is telling more than anything. “Might’ve
shaken something loose,” she adds.
When Emma was growing up, stories about her
mother’s step-mother were very few and far between. Snow always told the story
of how Regina saved her from a runaway horse accident, and how Snow would later
betray her on accident by sharing a secret she was never supposed to tell. Emma
knew the lore that Snow was framed for Regina’s disappearance when it was
thought that Regina killed Snow’s father, and even had to go through high trial
for it, but no one could prove anything so the issue was buried and Snow was
crowned queen.
Every story about Regina included her fierce
tenacity and the strength in her voice, and Emma is seeing all of that right
next to her. Her suspicions are further confirmed when the barest hint of a spark
emits from Regina’s fingertips. Unlike her own magic, Regina’s is red,
reflecting her fiery personality. It’s all extremely fitting to the woman she
got to know in Storybrooke.
They both do a visual check of their
surroundings. Killian, back to poor Cat, is still trying to pull his leg free
from the pile of his clothes. Robin is still mostly unconscious, but he at
least winces and curls into a ball, which isn’t the worst sign of life she’s
ever seen. They need to wait for the perfect opportunity to strike, but being
outnumbered is really putting a damper on any possible plan.
All things considered, Emma figures there are
worse ways to die. They’re not going down without a fight, and maybe Killian
can run away fast enough. Of course, judging by the way he limps his way over
to stand by her feet when he’s finally free, maybe that’s not a possibility.
She looks down at him, wishing she could remind him how much she loves him one
more time, but turns to face the man that got lost in the power of dark magic,
and all the entities that came before him.
It All Starts With a Dance 