Chapter Text
Tell me the story of how it all began. Lay out the details for me one by one. I can’t recall now how each moment passed. Were they agonizingly slow or faster than the light from the sun? I want to know how the course of history changed, how our history changed. I used to know the story well, better than the greatest historians ever could but now time has proven a thief of my memories. All I can recall is that it unfolded with a nightmare and ended with a bang.
The grandfather clock in the hall rang out its chime of midnight as an owl echoed through the house with an eerie woo. The ever present ticking of the clock haunted Regina on this sleepless night and the howling of the wind sent her skin crawling. The noises of her oversized empty house where normally a comforting music to her but the new ones of this particular night kept her eyes peeled on her bedroom ceiling. She heard a bird chirping as she eventually drifted off; it never occurred to her how out of place it was.
She had felt herself fall asleep but she could swear that she was still awake. The sudden disorienting feeling of floating jolted her senses. Her legs lifted one by one followed by her arms and eventually her entire body floated above her bed. It hovered inches above the mattress and ascended painfully slow toward the ceiling. Without warning her perspective changed and she could see her body from the other side of the room. She was clad in her favorite silk pajamas, her hair matted from its recent contact with her pillow. If she hadn’t been so frightened the image might have been serene. Her new perspective was violently torn from her as she zoomed higher and higher bracing herself to smash into the ceiling. When she was inches from the textured panels, her body went through the ceiling; like a spirit passing into a new existence.
Panic rose in her chest as she tried to flail her arms and legs but she couldn’t feel them. She was outside, where the unfamiliar new sounds of the night originated and had tormented her pre-sleep mind. Her backyard lay below her but not as it was now. It was as she remembered it during her son’s childhood. Toys were strewn all over the grass along with the swing set she had installed especially for the warm months of summer. All of these items had been removed when her son had outgrown them but here they were again just as freshly in her mind’s eye as if it were yesterday. Her body, if she dared call it that, began to lose altitude and plummeted to the back patio that sat along the white fencing outlining her property. The patio housed a red brick oven and it came into view at a startling speed. She swore she was going to crash right into it. She halted inches from its brick corners. She struggled to get her eyes to focus as she picked out an odd looking piece of paper jutting out from between two bricks and their crumbling mortar. It’s smudged and aged edges gave the paper’s age away.
Regina tried to reach out but her hand went through the oven just as her body had the ceiling. She tried to turn and leave but she was paralyzed. The howling wind had seemed to die down but she could still hear a far off sound, too distant for her ears to discern completely. The closer the sound came the more she felt the sweet syrup of its tone.
“Upon a stone of Earth lay ire, what long since thought dead cometh through fire.”
Just as quickly as the words floated into her mind, she woke with a start flinging her body upright from where it lay in bed. She could feel her arms and legs again as sweat poured from her brow. The sensation of feeling her body was comforting but the rapid beat of her heart make it impossible to shake her state of anxiety.
~~~~
It had been months since she and Emma had returned from Emma’s wish version of the Enchanted Forest. It had seemed all a blur since the day they fell through the portal. They had found an easy rhythm to their interactions. It was a tentative friendship as always but with a new curiosity about who the other really was. Now there was time for questions and stories, whereas before they only knew how the other reacted in dire situations. They had begun to truly see one another.
Ever since she had jumped with Emma’s hand so securely tucked into hers, everything had been quiet. A haunting quiet that she had never experienced in her life suddenly dominated her days. She had grown accustomed to fighting the next threat on the daily and for the first time since Emma had arrived in Storybrooke, the days looked the same. There wasn’t a new reason to run around flinging fireballs at some unimaginable monster every moment. Suddenly there was time to sip an espresso or hum a tune under her breath and she wasn’t sure how to manage in this new state of peace. It was calming but the quiet was still altogether unsettling. That’s when the nightmares had really begun.
Mostly she dreamt that she was falling back into reality, not through a portal but through a series of her memories. Small moments from her time as the Evil Queen would surface that she hadn’t thought about in decades. Unimportant moments like the way a mirror glowed off the moonlight or how she had started a spark with a snap of her fingers for the first time came flooding back to her.
The images came slowly; first a swirling pallet of color would blur her vision much like the strong winds of a tornado. She would inevitably be spit out into a deserted Storybrooke no matter where the dreams had taken her. The next night’s dream would compound on the one before, taking her further into her previous life but ultimately leaving her in a desolate place. Then finally she would see Robin’s confused face as she took Emma’s hand and left the final incarnation of him in another world. She didn’t regret choosing her family over the echo of a Robin she had once loved. Yet the dreams persisted.
The nightmare of the previous evening was altogether different and left Regina out of sorts. She went about her morning routine trying her best to brush the fanciful images of her resting mind from her conscious. She had been tempted to venture into the yard and examine the bricks of the patio stove but thought better than to give in to such folly. Henry had already left for school an hour prior. She walked past her son’s bedroom and to the vanity in her room that sat next to her bed. She examined the creases next to her eyes and pulled at the skin below her chin. She now had the extra time to actually see herself in the mirror. From her window she could see the back yard and her attention was drawn to the red bricks of the patio stove. She didn’t make the decision to move her feet and descend the stairs but she felt her limps responding as if she had. The stairs creaked under her despite her light frame and she passed through the kitchen to the backyard. The dew covered grass of the morning soaked her shoes that she didn’t remember putting on and she was once again face to face with the crumbling corner of an oven she had never used.
This time when she reached out she felt the cold hard surface of the stove. Just as in her nightmare she found the corner of a piece of paper sticking out from beneath the brick. She paused at her prophetic discovery and pulled on the corner of what she could now tell was an envelope. She applied a light pressure, careful not to rip the fragile aging paper. It slipped out from under the brick with ease. It was a letter with large scrawl across the front addressed to her. She tore at the side of the envelope.
My dearest,
You owe a debt yet paid. I’ve come to collect from my betrayed and lay waste to what you so hastily made.
X
Regina turned the paper in her hands looking for more, anything more. The twisted scrawl turned her stomach and caught her breath in her throat. It was a dripping cursive that etched the paper like a blade. She buried the letter in her inner blazer pocket and marched back into the kitchen. She stopped suddenly and stood silently as she ran her fingers over the marble counters of her kitchen. She moved through the passageways of her house touching every surface she could, grounding herself to the here and now. She stood in the foyer staring at nothing in particular, trying to get used to the feel of ease again. It really was so foreign to her. She was beginning to realize she didn’t know how to let the tension of always fighting go and it looked like she might not have to.
The day’s sun had begun to show through the west windows and Henry ran in the front door from school. As if in the blink of an eye it was afternoon and he was home to greet her. She hadn’t moved from the foyer and her coffee cup was still in hand; the letter burning her skin through her coat.
“Mom, hey what are you doing here? Did you get off work early?” Henry’s concerned gaze shook her from her thoughts.
“Yes darling. I was just thinking that maybe we could have dinner with Emma and your grandparents this evening.” She let the smile that she reserved only for him creep to her cheeks; realizing that she had not in fact called in to work that morning.
“Yes! Let me get my glove. Grandpa said we could play catch next time I saw him.” Henry diligently ran up the stairs to his room.
Regina retrieved her cell phone from her pocket and dialed Emma without looking at the keys. Her concentration was still non-existent when the line began to ring. It continued until Emma’s crude message began to play.
~~~~
The stairway to the Charming’s apartment was worn but clean. It was altogether unappealing despite the homey sense the loft carried. It occurred to Regina that she didn’t know a single other tenant of the building despite the numerous times she had been to their home. She held a pie in her arms as she knocked on the green apartment door. After an impossibly long beat, Emma swung the door open.
“What are you guys doing here?” Emma questioned. Henry pushed past his mother and immediately went to find his grandparents. Regina froze in place realizing that she had never actually cleared their plan for dinner with anyone.
“We are here for dinner.”
“Oh crap. Did we have plans and I forgot?” Emma opened the door further and ushered Regina in with her arm pointed toward the kitchen.
“Not exactly, I meant to call. I did call.” Regina began to fumble over her words. Emma held up a hand to stop the cascade.
“No worries, per usual I don’t have plans.”
“What about the pirate?” Regina had long since given up on hiding her distain for the miscreant.
“Away.” One word was all it took to settle Regina.
“Too bad.” Regina’s smile returned as she made little effort to hide her pleasure.
Emma searched through the cabinets for something resembling dinner and decided upon spaghetti. Somewhere in between boiling the water and finding clean dishes, Regina had taken over and Emma was sitting at the kitchen island. Regina had even managed to find Emma a snack while she prepared their meal.
“How have you been lately?” Regina suddenly interrupted the comfortable silence in the room.
“What do you mean ‘how have I been’? I saw you yesterday.” Emma’s mouth was chock-full of crackers and cheese as she attempted to answer Regina.
“How have you been sleeping?” Regina averted her gaze and stirred the warming tomato sauce.
“Fine, are you not sleeping well.” Emma swallowed the last bite of her cheese and turned her attention to Regina.
“I’m just making small talk, finish your snack.”
“Nightmares?” Emma questioned. Regina sighed heavily and balanced the wooden spoon over the boiling water. She finally met Emma’s eyes and shrugged.
“I’ve caused enough horrors in my life that nightmares are my normal fare but that’s not what these are. They feel more intimate, more realistic.” Regina returned to the boiling water.
“How?” Emma abandoned the plate of cheese she had been devouring.
“I didn’t expect you to be the psychoanalytical type. They’re nothing really. Let’s eat shall we.” Regina poured the steaming pasta into a serving dish and took the food to the table. All the while, Emma watched concerned as Regina gracefully sidestepped the question. She was beginning to think her nightmares were the real reason for Regina showing up unannounced.
~~~~
Another night passed with the same nightmare greeting her again except for one small detail. Just before Regina woke the echoed line from the previous dream was repeated but louder in a voice that made her stomach churn. It instantly startled her awake. She skipped her morning obligations and ushered Henry off to school. The moment he left for class, she feverishly made her way to her beloved vault. She searched through her belongings that were still tucked away in every corner of the mausoleum. She tossed trunk after trunk from its storage space until she finally found a black leather satchel tucked securely into the final trunk that lined the wall. She slowly lifted the flap of it and removed a single thin book. Its well-worn cover showed the attention it had received over the years. She quickly opened it and it fell to the exact passage she had been looking for. The words jumped off the page, as they always had with each time she had read it. Its contents mirrored the verse that had echoed through her nightmare just as she had suspected.
Upon a stone of Earth lay ire, what long since thought dead cometh through fire
Even the smallest of faeries know, the watchful eye will never sow
A lover’s lost heart grows dim, when the wicked come to collect of him
Beware the secrets you hide in night, they’ll be reaped from you in the daylight
Regina dropped the book and let a fresh tear fall from her eyelashes. She fell back onto her knees and let the poetic words circle in her mind. She had been an innocent child the first time she had read them, trying to decipher their meaning. The last time however, she had been in her darkest of years and knew all too well what secrets being reaped felt like. She lifted the warn cover once more and smelled the aged pages; running her fingers along its binding. After studying it, she flung it against the stone wall in front of her. The books binding cracked and toppled to the ground. Regina twisted her fingers in the air and every piece of her former life that she had scattered across her vault was returned to its resting place. She wouldn’t let the prophecy she had learned of as a child, destroy her future.
~~~~
The surprise dinner from the previous week had become the norm between the Swan and Mills clans. Whether it was an unplanned coffee run or takeout on Wednesdays, they were together. It wasn’t something they talked about per se but it wasn’t something that went unnoticed either. This time Emma showed up at Regina’s office during her lunch hour and ushered her off to the new Italian restaurant in town. It was the third unannounced lunch they had spent together that week. Emma had been watching Regina closely since her admission about her nightmares and she could tell there was something eating at the former queen she wasn’t willing to share. The quiet of the past weeks had granted Emma a chance she had rarely had in her life, a chance to reflect. She had found that most of her thoughts had been consumed by Regina. She had never realized before just how much of her mental energy she relegated to the woman; everything from simple mundane thoughts of wonder to deep contemplations; each and every one centered on the mayor.
They sat on the newly built wooden patio of Giuseppe’s. The sun shined directly above them and the breeze brought a welcome coolness to the late spring air. Neither Emma nor Regina was ever put out by the unannounced visits but instead increasingly intrigued. Regina had never been one to be spontaneous but she now found herself looking forward to Emma showing up at her home and office. They fell into an easy silence as the waiter brought their food. Emma caught herself staring as Regina ate her salad, mesmerized for no particular reason but gawking none the same. She tried to pull herself from the trance.
“Have you tried anything to make the nightmares go away?” Emma tried to focus on the Reuben in front of her and not on how Regina delicately placed every bite on her tongue, every bit the former royal.
“No.” Regina didn’t make eye contact as she changed the subject. “Henry will need at least 20 hours of supervised drive time to get his license. You’re schedule has more flexibility than mine. I trust you can teach our son to drive without imparting all of your bad habits behind the wheel?” Regina arched her eyebrow with a smirk and returned to her salad.
“I’m not making any promises but back to the fact that you keep changing the subject. Have you had any different dreams?”
“Just the same one.”
“Maybe Dr. Hooper can give us some insight?”
“Us, I don’t recall the dream being a shared state. I don’t want to involve anyone else.”
“Ok then maybe I can help you interpreted it.”
“It seems to me that we rely on each other too often.” Regina let the statement escape her mouth before she could vet it. Emma’s face contorted with confusion as Regina immediately began to back track. “Never mind, I need to get back to work.”
She quickly gathered her things and left the patio. The truth was that the nightmares had increased tenfold each with a new landscape and out of body experience followed by an assault on Regina’s most closely guarded secret. She had become more irritable after each dream but found she could comfort the unfounded anger by spending time with Emma. Today was the first time she had thrown that anger at her lunch date instead.
~~~~
Regina’s mind rocked back and forth between the images of her floating over her house and Emma. She had felt a pull in her chest as she sat with her at lunch; the first clear sign it was the beginning of the end to her ill kept secret affections. A familiar shot of adrenaline coursed through her veins and hummed under her sternum as she quieted her thoughts. The sensation had stayed with her into the night and now fought her efforts at sleep. As she finally drifted off, images of the Enchanted Forest encompassed her. She was flying above the water that separated her kingdom from the next and watched the ships dock as night fell. The sailors made hasty work of unloading covered cargo and shouting songs of the sea as they did so. She could feel the cold tinge of darkness creeping at her neck as the sun set.
“Where have you been hiding, Your Majesty?” A sick soprano voice squealed.
Regina turned to see the Black Fairy in her deceiving beauty inches from her face. She tried to speak but found that she couldn’t make a sound, her throat tightening the more she tried. The fairy inched ever closer and ran a single finger over Regina’s shoulder and down her arm.
“Whoops, fairy got your tongue. Consider this a friendly reminder. You owe me a debt and I always collect. There’s a storm coming your way, one you aren’t going to survive even if you have True Love’s magic on your side. Speaking of, the glow of it on your skin really is a sickening color. I will find which realm you’re hiding in.” The Black Fairy leaned in quaintly and kissed the corner of Regina’s mouth. “For old time sake, now wakey, wakey.”
Regina shot up in a cold sweat back in her own bed. Her heart was racing as she tried to see in the pitch black of her bedroom. She stumbled over her night stand to reach the phone and immediately dialed the last person she wanted to speak to.
“This better be good.” Rumple sneered sleep still distinct in his voice.
“Donella is coming.”