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She was dressed to the nines with nowhere to go but down. Regina had been poked and prodded for the better part of six hours all in preparation for her upcoming nuptials. “The Prince won’t be able to keep his hands off you,” her mother whispered into her ear, as if that was supposed to please her in any way.
Regina bit her tongue and smiled, as she had been taught to do her whole life.
“In less than a month, you’ll be Queen. The Kingdom will be yours.” Her mother’s grip tightened around her, tighter than the corset that was cinching her waist in to the point that she could barely breathe. “Don’t disappoint me.”
“Yes mother,” Regina acquiesced, a rictus of a smile plastered across her face.
Getting married to the Prince would only further the attrition of Regina’s spirit. It started with the death of Daniel, accelerated with the knowledge that it was her blind trust in a young girl that killed him, and all culminated with the knowledge that in a month’s time she would be married to someone thrice her age, forced to carry out all the duties that being a wife entailed, whether she wanted to or not.
Regina lay in bed that night, haunted by nightmares of what her future held; of the loss of remaining innocence that lurked around the corner. She was awake into the early hours of the morning, long after all the palace staff had fallen asleep when she followed through with a thought that had been rattling around her head for the better part of three months. She made her way to the stables, fighting against every urge to take Rocinante (Mother would notice), and took a black stallion named Liberty. She rode into the night with only a vague determination that anywhere must be better than the place she left behind.
::::
Emma threw back the last of her ale, putting the pitcher down with a resounding thud. The bar owner walked up to her, placing a rolled up piece of parchment on the table in front of her.
“You need to stop doing business out of my tavern,” Robin said with his Nottingham lilt.
“Oh, you would despair if I did,” Emma said with a playful wink, “You’d miss me too much.”
Robin chuckled as he walked away with Emma’s pitcher, and went back to tending the bar with his fiancée by his side. Emma unrolled the parchment, reading the summons. It was the typical ‘Royal has been kidnapped and we need you to find them’ business; she’d be back in the tavern by the end of the week. The note wasn’t signed with a name, but instead said ‘come immediately’ and had an address scrawled in the bottom right corner.
“Duty calls,” she said to no one in particular as she set more than enough coins to pay for her drink and the room she was renting at the adjoining inn, waving to Robin and Marian as she left The Fox and Raven. She took note of the directions, got on her horse, and set off.
Emma was a royal bounty hunter, for lack of a better term. She hunted down Princes and Princesses, Dukes and Duchesses who’d fled or, more often than not been kidnapped, usually by some enemy kingdom (although she had the displeasure of facing a dragon once before; she vowed never to do that again) for a price. The more ‘important’ the royal, the higher the price. As the White castle loomed on the horizon, Emma’s eyebrows shot into her hairline; this was going to be quite the bounty indeed.
She trotted up to the royal palace, and produced the summons out of her pocket in order to be let through the gates. A guard pointed her to the castle doors, and showed her where she could stable her horse. Emma dismounted and ran her hands through her hair, wishing she had taken the time to bathe (or at least comb her hair) before coming to the palace. She settled with tightening the belt around her waist, working the knots out of her hair and putting it into a braid, and brushing the dust off her pants.
She approached the imposing front doors and took a deep breath. Another guard answered the door and escorted her to a drawing room bigger than she’d ever seen. She sat perched at the end of one of the overstuffed Chesterfields, not daring to get too comfortable. Even though she should have put it together by now, Emma was still taken aback when Queen Regent Cora Mills appeared at the door, a picture of regality, oozing composure. She was beautiful, but hard, as if a layer of humanity had been scraped away.
“Emma Swan I presume?”
“Yes, your Majesty.” Emma rose and gave a shallow curtsey. She may be a ‘disgrace of a lady’ (various townie’s words, not hers), but she still dealt with royals enough to know proper manners.
“So glad you could come on such short notice.”
“Your note presumed the utmost urgency your Majesty.”
Cora gestured to the seat behind Emma, and the blonde sat back down, the Queen Regent taking a seat in the regal looking armchair at the head of the room. When one of the palace servants came in with hot tea and biscuits on a tray, the woman got straight to business. “My daughter, she’s been... taken from me.”
Emma studied the woman’s face as she took a sip of tea; she didn’t seem as distraught as mothers usually were, but it wasn’t really her business how people dealt with grief.
“Do you know who would do that?”
The woman laughed, but it was hollow. “We would be here until next week if I tried to list everyone. My daughter is the heir to Misthaven, and several kingdoms would like to see her overthrown. She is to be married within the month, and she needs to be home by then. Once she’s married and the White and Mills family merge, she will be the most powerful woman in the Enchanted Forest; that’s why I came to you. I tried using my own means to find my daughter, but to no avail. You come highly recommended; do you think you can handle this job Miss Swan?”
“Yes your Majesty.”
“Your business needs to be conducted with the utmost discretion; we can’t lead our enemies to believe that the kingdom is fragile, do you understand?”
“Of course.”
“While you finish your tea, I’ll have the palace artist draw up a rendition of Regina. You can start immediately I presume?”
“Of course...” Emma rubbed the back of her neck; this part was never easy for her. “There is the matter of payment, your Majesty...”
“You’ll get half your asking price now, and we will double it when you return my daughter home safe.”
The blonde stiffened. “That’s not how I usually do things.”
“You’re not usually looking for the heir to Misthaven, are you ?” The brunette’s sharp tone left no room for argument, so Emma nodded.
“That’s very generous of you, your Majesty.”
“No price is too high to see my daughter safe.” Emma was still put off by the woman’s stony demeanor, but it’s not as if she would say so.
Just as Emma took her last sip of tea, a mustached wiry man came in with another parchment rolled up, handing it to Emma with a flourish. When the blonde unrolled the paper, she saw a scarily accurate sketch of a girl not much older than herself. “I’ll do everything I can to bring her Highness home safe.”
Emma had seen Regina once before, she’d rode through a village that Emma was visiting while on the hunt for one of her less high-profile bounties; the Princess had seemed troubled, but kind. She remembered the day like it was yesterday; she was hunting down a bandit in order to claim the reward and put food in her stomach. She stayed away from hunting down the common thief as much as possible, but well, bills had to be paid, and there were only so many high society people to get lost after all. Cora’s voice snapped her out of her little flashback.
“Would you like some biscuits for the road Miss Swan?” Cora reached into a velvet pouch and counted out several gold coins.
The blonde pondered this for a moment, trying to determine if it was more polite to accept versus reject the woman’s offer. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, your Majesty.” Cora gestured to one of the servants who had been in the room throughout the exchange, and they packaged up a sizable amount of food quicker than she could blink. Emma gave her thanks, and gave one more curtsey before she made her way to the door.
She put the provisions in her saddlebag along with what she had brought from the tavern, and rode off with no particular direction in mind. This was always the hardest part; where to start. She had a name and a photo to go off of; it wasn’t much, but she had worked with less. Emma still had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach about the whole encounter; Regina’s father was nowhere to be found, neither was the supposed fiancée, and the mother was acting more like she lost her handkerchief than her only daughter.
The matter was made all the more challenging by the fact that she couldn’t exactly ask anyone if they’d seen the heir to Misthaven just roaming around. She’d have to pull out all the stops and only liaise with her most trusted contacts if she was to be successful. Emma didn’t want to raise suspicion by even showing the royal’s photo around, lest suspicions be raised, and the Princess ended up dead, or worse.
She rode through villages, asking only the vaguest of questions such as ‘have you seen anyone new around town?’ or ‘has anyone come through lately that looked like they didn’t belong?’
She spent days like this, riding by day and asking around, sleeping at night at inns if she stumbled across one, or outside if the weather permitted. This was the least fun part of the job by far; when you had nothing to go on, it just felt like you were burning daylight and wasting energy.
She arrived at another village and rode through the marketplace. As usual, most people just shrugged or didn’t really have anything valuable to tell her, until one fruit merchant gave her information she could actually use.
“I’d seen a girl ride through here a day or two ago, bareback on one of them black stallions,” the man scratched his beard, trying to remember more. “Long brown hair and a riding outfit that looked to be with more than my entire cart. She traded me some fancy earrings for a basket of fruit before heading east,” he fished into his pocket and pulled out studs made of the finest pearls. “If I had to say someone didn’t look like she belonged, it was her. She looked more like she belonged in one of them flashy palaces than trading in the streets with us. That any help?”
Emma let out a breath the didn’t realize she had been holding. She almost pulled out the photo of Regina to ask the merchant if it was her, almost . It wasn’t for sure, but it was a start, and for the first time since she started this journey, a spark of hope bloomed in Emma’s chest.
“That’s a lot of help actually, thank you, kind sir,” Emma pulled a coin out of her pocket and set it down on the merchant’s cart, “For your troubles.”
“Thank you !” The man yelled as Emma walked away, got back on her horse, and set off east, following the first real lead she had in days.
::::
It took a day and a night to arrive at the next village, and Emma almost threw herself at the feet of the first person she saw. Emma didn’t consider herself to be particularly extroverted, but going over a day without seeing another human soul takes a toll on a person.
She dismounted her horse and chose to walk the area on foot. She knocked on a door, and an elderly woman answered.
“I don’t have any money if you’re trying to sell me anything,” the woman almost closed the door in Emma’s face.
“No, ma’am wait!”
The woman looked wary, but opened the door again. “How can I help you then?”
“I’m looking for a woman,”
The old lady chuckled, “Aren’t we all.”
Emma couldn’t help but laugh at that. “No, a specific woman. Has anyone new shown up around these parts in the last... week or so?”
“As a matter of fact, a young maiden moved in right over there,” she pointed to the hut across the way from her, and there was a brown-haired woman taking laundry out of a wash basin and hanging it on the clothesline that ran across half the property. “Beautiful girl, doesn’t say much through.”
“Thank you ma’am.” Emma gave the woman a slight bow before turning around and approaching the woman.
“Hello, miss, can I ask you something?”
The woman turned around, and Emma’s breath caught in her throat. If you told her she’d find the heir to Misthaven doing laundry outside of a shack that was probably the size of one of the palace’s broom closets, she would have said you were insane. Yet, there she was, face scrubbed free of makeup, and a warm smile on her face that no photos in the world could have done justice.
“Are you... alright?” Emma wasn’t sure where to start.
“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” The girl, Regina, was still smiling. “What can I do for you dear?”
She was never one to beat around the bush, so she went in for the kill. “Your mother seems to be under the impression that you’ve been kidnapped.”
Emma had never seen a smile die so fast.
“I have to go.” With a face like thunder, the brunette turned and walked briskly away, abandoning her task.
Regina had been myopic. To settle down so close to home and think she wouldn’t be found was irresponsible. She should have gone farther, run faster, jumped realms even, before she considering stopping. She thought she was strong enough to stay hidden from her mother, but she underestimated the art of pounding the pavement and finding people the old fashioned way.
“Miss? Regina!” Emma chased after the woman, barging into her humble home without an invitation. “Your Highness!” she hissed at last.
Her formal title made the woman’s back stiffen and she turned to regard the blonde.
“So you are Regina. Your reaction confirmed it.” Emma crossed her arms.
“As if you don’t know,” Regina replied haughtily. “I wasn’t kidnapped.”
“That much is clear. So… what are you doing out here?”
“My mother is trying to marry me off to someone older than my father in order to secure control of the Enchanted Forest. She’d marry me off eight times if it meant more power.”
“Listen, I’m sorry, but arranged marriages kind of go hand in hand with the royal life. It’s not really my problem; my problem is getting paid, and I don't get paid until I return you, so say your goodbyes, and at dawn we’re leaving."
Regina opened and closed her mouth like a fish; she had never been told flat-out-no by anyone besides her mother. “Fine. You can sleep in the corner.”
“Oh, it’s really no bother to sleep outside,” Emma said as she walked further into the shack Regina called home, “I’m used to it.”
“Nonsense, I’m not going to have someone sleeping outside of my house like a vagrant.” The brunette waved her hand and a bed with a thin mattress and threadbare blanket appeared from out of thin air.
Emma blinked. “You’re a witch?” She had always seen magic as inherently evil, and the thought of spending a night under the same roof made her heart stutter in her chest.
The brunette quirked an eyebrow. “Scared?”
“No, of course not.” Emma sat on the bed that was conjured from nothing and lay back with her hands behind her head, as if to prove her point. “Did you conjure up this entire place?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, I traded my horse for it.”
“You traded a horse for a home ?” Emma asked incredulously.
“He was a prized stallion I’ll have you know. And the guy who owned this place was a little more than a little drunk,” Regina said with a shrug. “Do you want... dinner or something?” Regina offered, taking a pot out of one of her cupboards.
“You’re awfully calm about this whole thing.”
“I know when I’m beat. Living among townsfolk for the last few weeks, I’ve learned how to turn weaknesses into strengths, and how to turn shit into gold, so to speak. Soup?”
“Sure... What does that have to do with anything?” Emma sat up, watching the woman move about the kitchen as if she’d lived her whole life in that small house.
“As much as I don’t want to go back, I have to. I have to make the Enchanted Forest better for the people like Irma who live across the way. For the people who royalty forgets.”
“That’s... noble.”
Regina made a noncommittal noise as she got to preparing dinner. Emma watched the Princess tie her hair back with a piece of twine and pull spices and vegetables out of various cupboards. Now that Emma knew she was a witch and could just as easily pull the finest feasts out of thin air, but chose not to warmed Emma’s heart in a way she couldn’t name.
“So, your Highness–”
“Regina, please.”
“Regina. Does anyone ever call you Gina?”
The Princess looked up from what she was doing to look Emma in the eyes with a playful smirk. “Not twice.” She went back to cooking.
“Right,” Emma chuckled. “What made you choose here? You have everything you could ever want in the world and well... the old man is going to die soon enough. Why would you run away from all of that?”
Regina put the wooden spoon she was stirring with down with more force than was strictly necessary. She took two wooden bowls out and poured soup into them, and brought them to the table with spoons. Emma got up from the bed and joined the woman at the table. Emma took a sip of the soup in front of her and was pleasantly surprised. “This is really good.” Regina didn’t say anything.
“I don’t want any of it.” Regina said after minutes of silence. “A life like this, just me and D–” she stopped herself. “I never wanted a royal life... it’s all for my mother. She wants me to be everything she could never be. Haven’t your parents ever forced you to do anything you didn’t want to do?”
It was Emma’s turn to be uncomfortable. “I don’t know my parents.” Her parents were always a sore spot for Emma. She prided herself on being able to track down anyone anywhere, whether they wanted to be found or not. However, the mark that always eluded her was her parents. If she stopped and did some soul searching, she'd probably figure out that the reason she got into the line of work she was in was so that maybe one day she'd be able to find her parents, but Emma never really stopped and reflected long enough to come to that conclusion.
That’s how the night continued. Regina gave Emma little insights into her royal life, and Emma told the Princess things she never told another soul, much less a stranger. There was something about Regina that made Emma want to be honest.
“See you in the morning, we’ve got an early start,” Emma said after stripping off her riding clothes and climbing into bed. “Sorry about all this, really.”
The brunette’s gaze was fixed on the blonde’s nearly naked form, and she felt her mouth go dry. She answered with a non-committal “mhmm” before turning over and falling asleep.
::::
Emma woke up to birds chirping outside, and the sun fully up. Emma wasn't usually one to sleep in, but she chalked it up to the fact that it had been almost a week since she’d slept in a real bed. To her absolute surprise, Regina was still there, and she was making breakfast.
“You’re still here?” The blonde asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
“You’d rather I wasn’t?” Regina answered, not turning around.
“No I... no,” Emma chuckled, “It makes my job a whole lot easier.”
“Right. Your job.” Regina turned around and set two plates of eggs and sausages on the table. “You hungry?
“Always.”
The Princess rolled her eyes, “Why does that not surprise me?”
Emma got out of bed and sat at the table, and they ate in relative silence. She was making a point of trying to separate Regina the person from Regina the bounty. Trying, was the operative word.
“Where did you learn to cook?” Emma asked, clearing the dishes.
“I watched the staff sometimes. Mother always yelled when she saw me sneaking off, but when she wasn’t around, the cooks would teach me little things.” Regina put the dishes in the sink and started washing them, even though she was minutes away from leaving that house, never to return. “Those were some of the best things about my childhood if I’m to be honest,” Regina said, much quieter now, to no one in particular.
Emma fiddled with her hair, braiding and re-braiding it as Regina moved about the kitchen. “So... you ready?”
Regina sighed. “Yeah, one second.” She picked up a bag not much bigger than her palm and slung it over her shoulder. With a wave of her hand, everything from the little house disappeared, and the bag looked only the tiniest bit fuller.
“What did you just do?” Emma asked, staring wide-eyed at the bare walls.
“I packed up.” Regina said nonchalantly. “Come on, let’s go.”
Emma stepped out of the house first, and Regina followed behind, closing the door behind them. Emma half expected the entire house to disappear, but it stayed perfectly intact.
“Do you want the first go?” Emma asked, gesturing to her horse. “I’m used to walking.”
“I’m not soft you know, I can walk just fine.” Emma just glared at her. “Thank you.”
Emma helped Regina up on to Cyrus, and they set off towards the White palace. They were sure to keep a brisk pace as they maneuvered over the brush and fallen logs. With a canopy of leaves shielding them from the harsh sun, the two continued to trek.
Emma had accidentally-on-purpose been giving Regina much longer turns on Cyrus’ back, but if you asked her about it, she’d say it’s because Regina was royalty, that was it.
As the sun set on their first day together, the women fell into comfortable conversation. Emma pitched a tent that she had in one of her saddlebags by a river, and they set up a fire between two fallen tree logs. Emma pulled out some smoked meat that she had taken from the tavern before she set off, and shared it with the Princess. Regina brought out two canteens out of her seemingly bottomless bag and filled them with cool water from the river, before sitting down again in front of Emma.
Looking at the Princess, with the heat from the fire distorting her face, a fleeting thought crossed Emma’s mind, that she wouldn’t mind spending more days like this, and that Regina has already been the best reluctant travel companion she’d ever had.
“A Princess set to marry a King and rule over the Enchanted Forest, sounds like a dream come true,” Emma muttered. “I think you’re the first person I’ve ever seen run away from that. Yeah he’s old but... it’s probably one of the better ways to live if you ask most people. I still don’t get it.”
“You’re joking, right? I’d think you over anyone would understand.”
“What do you mean by that?” Their eyes met through the fire briefly before Regina looked away.
“You don’t seem the type to do what you’re told, that’s all. I doubt your adoptive parents were thrilled when you told them you wanted to do... whatever it is that you do.”
“I was never adopted,” Emma mumbled, “grew up an orphan.”
“Sometimes I wish I was an orphan,” Regina looked up at the sky. “Then I wouldn’t be being forced to be married off to money and a reputation. I’d actually have a say as to where my life goes.”
“Who’s to say you don’t?”
Regina quirked an eyebrow. “The first time I tried to take control of my life and do something I wanted to do, the man I loved died. The second time... well, here we are, so you know how that turned out. So yeah, I would say I don’t have much say in how my story ends.”
Regina got up from the log she was sitting on, and walked into the tent. “I’m tired.”
“Okay.” Emma dusted off her pants and extinguished the fire, before climbing into the tent after Regina. Unlike her purse, Emma’s tent most definitely wasn’t bigger on the inside, and Emma bumped Regina several times before she settled into her side of the tent.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. No one’s happiness is worth any amount of money.”
Regina laughed, but it was a forced laugh–like that of someone who didn't have anything better to fill the silence with. “You must realize how ridiculous that sounds coming from you. You’re trading my chance at freedom for a few gold coins.”
“It’s different.”
“How?”
Emma turned over on her side, her back to Regina. It’s not , Emma thinks. “Goodnight Regina.”
People, the princess had learned, would do anything under the name of love. They thought love justified everything. I love you, my darling daughter, so I know what’s best for you. I love you, my darling future wife, so I have to protect you from your own foolishness and have you dragged home like a misbehaving child. I love you, so I’m going to let you go. But it was a careful game, love. A dangerous one. It had backfired on her once already with that bloody arranged marriage - she should have been more careful. She knew she had to make the bounty hunter fall for her before they reached the kingdom border; it was the only thing people felt more strongly about than money.
::::
Emma woke up before Regina did, and decided that was as good a time as any to get a bath in before they continued on their journey. She stripped down to nothing, before stepping into the river and letting the cool water wash over her skin. Just as she had dunked her head underwater and was coming up for air, she saw a pair of olive feet at the riverbank.
“Mind if I join you?”
“No, of course not.” Emma made a point of looking away as Regina took her clothes off and joined her in the river. Regina hummed a tune that Emma didn’t recognize as she ran a comb through her hair, and Emma turned around just in time to see Regina soaping up her body, water droplets dripping down her back and shining in the early morning light.
Her mouth went dry as the brunette turned around, long hair clinging to her form as she tilted her head with a slight smirk. “Soap?”
“Wh-what?”
“Soap, Miss Swan. I presume you know what it is. Would you like some?” The Princess extended the bar towards Emma, a peace offering, a dare, or a come-on she wasn’t sure.
“Yeah, thanks.” Emma took the soap, making sure to keep her eyes fixed firmly on Regina’s face, and turned around again, relishing in the bubbles that were forming on her skin. Emma refused to turn around again, but that didn’t stop her feeling Regina’s eyes burning on her back.
Emma heard the woman behind her sigh and then leave the river. She closed her eyes and counted to one-hundred before even daring to turn back around.
She left the river and put her clothes on. When she returned to the campsite, Regina had already packed everything up and was sitting and waiting, her gaze fixed somewhere within the forest.
“Thanks for packing up and uh... for the soap,” Emma said awkwardly, handing the damp soap back to Regina.
“No problem,” she said, before magically drying it off and putting it in her satchel. “Ready?”
“Yeah.”
::::
Day two of their journey consisted of them talking about everything and nothing. When silence fell between them, the only sounds in the rather quiet woods were twigs snapping every now and again under their feet, and Emma found a strange comfort in walking through the forest with Princess Regina Mills.
Maybe part of it was the fact that she didn’t act like all the Princesses she was used to dealing with. The ones who had been kidnapped especially, would usually insist on riding her horse all the way back, whinging about sleeping outside and refusing to say more than the bare minimum to her.
But Regina was nice, and didn’t look down on her. If things were different, she could have made a nice village girl, or even owned the very tavern that was the closest thing Emma had to a home, but that’s not how life panned out. She was a betrothed Princess, and Emma was her jailor, marching her back to the fate she tried so desperately to escape.
They spent the day walking side by side, with Cyrus walking alongside them, or falling behind when the path got too narrow. As the hours went on and the sun made its way across the sky, their pace gradually slowed, until neither of them protested at the suggestion of a break. They stopped at a barely trickling stream and Regina sat down, peeled her shoes off, and soaked her feet in the cool water.
Emma stood awkwardly behind her, before she shrugged and joined the brunette.
“Could I ask you a question?” Regina asked as soon as Emma got comfortable beside her.
“I mean you just did, but shoot.”
Regina rolled her eyes before continuing. “How did you get into your line of work? It’s not every day you run into a Princess bounty hunter, or whatever it is you call yourself.”
Emma sighed, looking down the stream. “I’ve never really thought about it to be honest. I guess... I don’t know. The biggest mystery in my life is where I come from, and maybe... I don’t know, maybe somewhere deep down I thought if I reunited enough families and found enough missing people that... one day I wouldn’t be lost. I don’t know Regina, I don’t know. It was this or prostitution, so I thought I’d take my chances with this.”
“You’re good at it,” Regina said with somewhat sad admiration in her voice. “You did what even my mother couldn’t; that has to count for something.”
Emma shrugged, “I guess.” She kicked at the water. “Do you want to just... hang out here for the rest of the night? The castle isn’t going anywhere.” Emma looked at her travel companion with a tentative smile.
“Yeah,” Regina smiled too, and for the first time since she’d met the Princess it seemed real, “I’d like that.”
The moon crossed the sky, and the only sounds on the forest floor were whispered voices and woodland creatures scurrying, scampering, and shrieking.
They were laughing about something stupid, curled up under blankets. Stomach clenching, unable to breathe, no-holding-it-back cackling when Emma caught the look on her travel companion’s face.
“What?”
“I - nothing. It’s stupid,” Regina looked away.
“Well, now you have to tell me.”
“This is just... the happiest I’ve been in a while, you know?”
And suddenly Emma couldn’t breathe again for an entirely different reason. It was only when twilight came that they drifted off to sleep, huddled together for warmth under a shared blanket, too tired to put up the tent.
::::
Dawn came, and Emma woke up to the tap-tap-tap of a woodpecker on a nearby tree. Regina was still asleep, and sometime throughout the night, Regina’s arm ended up draped across Emma’s midsection. Emma turned her head to face the Princess and her breath promptly caught in her throat. It was creepy to watch her sleep, Emma knew that, but the sight of her bathed in the early morning sunshine was utterly stunning. Peaceful. She ached to reach out, to trace contours and memorize every inch, but doing that would shatter the blissful rest. So she watched, entranced... and promptly slammed her eyes shut in panic when Regina began to stir awake, cheeks burning, pretending to still be asleep.
“…Are you blushing?” Regina asked, her voice still laced with sleep. Emma’s eyes were still closed, but she could hear the smug smirk on the brunette’s face.
Emma cleared her throat. “What, no!” Emma got up and stretched, pretending (unsuccessfully) that she had just woken up as well. “Did you just wake up?”
“Uh huh ,” she replied, rolling her eyes and getting up, cracking her back as she stood. “You ready to go?”
“Always,” Emma stood up, a little too quickly and stumbled before getting her footing. “I’m fine.”
“Sure you are,”Regina replied with an arched eyebrow and a cocky smirk.
Emma folded up the blanket that they slept under, fed Cyrus, and started off, getting ever-closer to the castle. Within a day or two, it would be in view. Regina was a lot less chatty, falling behind and not speaking unless spoken to. Emma felt like shit. Every step they took, Regina’s freedom was falling farther and farther away, and it was all because of her.
They found their way to a paved road, which was a welcome reprieve from walking across the uneven forest floor. Emma continued to attempt to crack jokes, and the most she got out of Regina was a small smile or an exhale of breath that sounded vaguely like a death rattle. By midday, Emma gave up, and they walked without speaking, the clicking of Cyrus’ hooves the only thing breaking the deafening silence.
Emma was broken out of her daze when she heard a rumbling coming towards them, just around the bend of the road. Stepping to the side to let who she assumed were merchants or travelers through, she was surprised, to say the least, when a band of thieves appeared, and stopped their horses, blocking their path.
“What do we have here?” the man at the front of the pack drawled. “Two little girls far away from home. Didn’t Mommy and Daddy tell you, these roads are dangerous.”
Regina looked left and right, before whispering “This road is known for bandits.”
“Listen,” Emma put her hands up in surrender, “We don’t have anything of value. So, if we could just be on our way–”
The men started howling, cutting Emma off. “Now, it don’t look like you don’t got anything of value. You’re too clean and you talk well. And look at her,” the leader pointed at Regina, “She looks like she’s never seen a hard day in her life!”
This spurred Regina into speaking. “You wouldn’t know a hard day if it crawled out of your chamberpot and bit you in the ass, you absolute fucking urchin,” she spat out.
“Oi, this one’s got a mouth on her. That ain’t gonna save you though.”
Emma turned her pockets inside-out. “Sir,” she tried pulling the respect card, “we don’t have anything for you, I swear it.”
The man grabbed Emma’s arm, eliciting a whimper out of the blonde. “I don’t like being lied to. That horse looks nice, I want it.”
“Um,” Emma weighed the pros and cons. If she was alone, she would’ve tried to take them on, but she has Regina with her, and she couldn’t put her life in danger. So no matter how much it pained her, “I guess you can–”
Regina stalked forward, palms up. In her right hand, the sword Emma had strapped to her waist in a holster materialized out of thin air; in her left, a smoldering fireball. “Ask us again, I dare you.”
“A witch!” The men looked like they’d seen a ghost, and they promptly got on their horses and rode away as quickly as their horses could carry them.
“That was impressive,” Emma stared at Regina, long after the bandits had rode away, and Regina had extinguished the fireball in her hand. “You know how to wield a sword?”
The brunette laughed, “of course not, but it looks intimidating. It worked, didn’t it?” She smiled, handing Emma her sword.
“You’re a barrel of surprises you know,” Emma smiled back. “Not to be dramatic or anything, but thanks for saving my life.”
“Couldn’t risk that pretty face of yours,” Regina flipped some hair over her shoulder and continued down the path, leaving Emma blushing yet again.
The rest of the day was uneventful, but Regina was closer to her usual self; she was talking again, but there was still an air of gloom around her. They bantered and bickered until they came across a nice secluded patch of grass, far enough from the road to lay their heads for the night. Again, they chose not to put up the tent, and instead slept under the stars amongst the wildlife.
As Regina fell asleep, she felt something akin to friendship, or maybe more, blooming in her chest when she looked at Emma. She sighed; it was time.
::::
Emma woke up earlier than usual, to the almost light that announced dawn. She turned over, expecting to see Regina beside her, as she had every morning thus far. What she wasn’t expecting however (although, if she thought about it for two seconds, it made complete sense) was for the space beside her to be completely empty, save for a folded piece of paper.
Stupidly hoping that maybe Regina just went for a walk, she reached over and picked up the paper, sighing loud enough to wake the dead when she was greeted with a single word written in pristine script, ‘sorry.’
“Son of a bitch,” Emma muttered, throwing the blanket off of her.
Emma clicked her tongue, and Cyrus came trotting around the corner looking right as rain. She plucked an apple out of her saddlebag to feed him, along with the toothbrush that she’s been woefully forgetful about.
Just as she finished running a brush through her hair and cleaning her teeth, Emma nearly jumped out of her skin when a cloud of purple smoke materialized in the middle of the clearing.
“Fucking Hell! Regina?”
“Now is that any way to speak to a Queen?” a harsh voice said as the smoke cleared, and Emma’s blood went cold.
“Your Majesty?”
“On first name terms with my Daughter?” The older woman said by way of an answer.
“Uh...”
“Have you found her then?”
“Umm...”
“Dear Gods child, say something sensible!”
“My apologies, Your Majesty. I... had her?”
“What do you mean you had her?” Cora stepped into Emma’s personal space.
Emma scratched the back of her neck, “We were on our way back and she... escaped? Excuse me for asking, but are the entire royal family Witches?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
“It’s kind of my concern when I’m trying to find someone who can disappear into thin air on a whim Lady!” Emma exploded. “I’m sorry.” She apologized for her outburst. “How did you find me anyways? Are you tracking me or something?”
The older woman hummed, “something like that. That’s for me to know. This was the first time in days I was able to get a lock on you however, so I assumed you had good news.” The woman stepped back, and Emma exhaled. “Do better,” were her parting words, before she left the same way she entered.
“Fucking hell,” Emma muttered before taking a drink of water, and setting off once again. This time, she had far less hope that she’d find the Princess with any sort of ease; now that she knew Regina had magic, she could be anywhere.
Emma was thankful that the money she had received from the Queen Regent would hold her over for several more weeks if she was smart, because it was becoming more and more clear to her that this wasn’t going to be the cut-and-dry rescue mission she thought it was. Regina was complex, magic was complex, and Emma hadn’t the foggiest idea of how to find Regina again, and bring her back.
She left the clearing that she had arrived at the night before, with one less person in tow than she was expecting. Emma rode through the forest, with no particular destination in mind, and she was feeling dejected and rejected beyond belief. Regina was on high alert now, and if she didn’t want to be found, she wasn’t going to be. A thousand thoughts were rolling through her mind, one of the loudest being ‘how long until Cora Mills loses her patience?’ The Queen Regent didn’t appear to be a patient mother, and Emma sympathized with Regina; if Cora was her mother, she would have run off ages ago.
The sun disappeared below the horizon, and Emma hadn’t seen another person all day. She set up camp on the forest floor beneath a large set of leaves, and fell into a fitful night sleep. While she was sleeping, she dreamt. She dreamt about Regina riding a horse through a field of wildflowers, but she didn’t seem at peace. Regina was looking over her shoulder ever-so-often, and a few times it was as if she looked right at Emma.
That’s how the next several days and nights went. During the day, Emma would ride through forests and villages; by this point she was long past Misthaven, in the neighboring kingdom, the Gold kingdom, rumored to be ruled over by a ruthless imp. At night, she would have fragmented dreams about Regina, some nights the dreams were stronger than others.
One night, a night with no dreams, Emma was startled awake by a voice.
“Sleeping on the job I see?”
Emma’s eyes snapped open, and reflexively she reached for the sword she’d taken to carrying openly again.
“I thought you were the best, but it’s been weeks and I still don’t have my daughter,” Cora said, standing by Emma’s feet.
“I’m sorry for asking Your Majesty,” Emma said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and moving to a sitting position, “Why can’t you find your daughter yourself? You seem to have no problem finding me.”
The woman wrung her hands, a scowl on her face. “I taught her how to cloak herself, and now she’s using that against me.” She sighed. “She’s near here though, I can feel her magic. I can’t say where, but she’s no more than a day’s ride away. The next time I see you Miss Swan, I do hope you have better news for me.” Cora disappeared, leaving Emma alone with her thoughts.
Unable to sleep knowing that Regina was close to her, she hoped to cover ground while the Princess would be sleeping. Not usually a gambling woman, she took a stick and balanced it on a rock before spinning it, resolving to go in the direction it pointed; intuition had been failing her after all, so she took a stab at chance. “Take me to Regina,” she whispered to no one in particular.
The stick pointed West, and Emma shrugged, taking off in that direction. Emma got onto Cyrus’ back and headed West, which was a completely different direction than she would have ridden otherwise. She put her faith in the universe and hope it paid off.
She rode towards what she hoped was Regina. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and she allowed the faintest glimmer of hope in. Emma wanted to feel like she was getting closer, she wanted to believe that she’d find Regina again. She never thought she’d say this, but she hoped Cora Mills was right. Emma hoped against hope that riding through the forest in the middle of the night with not even the moon to guide her was a good idea.
Maybe it wasn’t, but maybe, just maybe, her risk paid off. When she approached a little cabin in the woods that looked well lived in, the first sign of civilization she had seen in too many days, she brought Cyrus to a gallop, and turned her head skyward, praying for the first time since she was a little girl that this was the end of her search.
Emma hid her horse out of sight and walked right up to the door. The sun was just beginning to rise at this point, so she hoped not to alarm whoever it was in that cabin. She knocked on the door and held her breath. The door opened a fraction of an inch, and Emma caught sight of Regina’s eyes, brown like autumn.
“Fuck,” she hissed, and tried to close the door in Emma’s face.
“Not so fast Princess,” she stopped the door with her boot, and due to the fact that she was considerably stronger than Regina, was able to push it open with hardly any effort on her part.
“How did you find me?” Regina asked, crossing her arms in a huff.
“Would you believe me if I said it came to me in a dream?”
“No.”
Emma chuckled, “If I’m going to be honest, your mother paid me a visit.”
Regina visibly stiffened. “Mother knows where I am?”
“Not exactly. She said she sensed you were near where I was, but even she didn’t know exactly where.”
The brunette let out a sigh of relief.
“But listen ,” Emma said, strolling into Regina’s new home, “I’m tying you to me until we get you home because I can’t keep playing this cat and mouse game with you.”
“What, am I some kind of prisoner, then?” Regina said with her arms crossed
“You.” Emma smiled tightly. “Are an untrustworthy, backstabbing, flight risk. I’m not stupid enough to let you out of my sight again. Just come quietly, your highness.”
“What,” Regina returned. “So they can quietly lock me up and throw away the key, with you, always on call to bring me home if I escape? I think I’ll pass on that fairy tale ending, however charming you think you are.” She sighed, “I’ll pay you double what my mother promised you, just please don’t do this.” The brunette had resorted to begging.
“It’s not about the money, Regina.”
“What is it about then, Em-ma.”
“I uh... I just want you to be safe,” the blonde rubbed the back of her neck, “and it’s not safe out here for a Princess.”
“You think I should be grateful? Don’t make it sound like you’re doing me a favor, like you’re doing something for me!” Her fists curled instinctively, “You’re doing this for money, or glory, or to satisfy your insatiable need to save someone, or you can’t live with yourself, can you? I’ve met a hundred men like you, who think it’s your duty to keep me safe, but your supposed kindness always comes with strings attached.” Regina stalked to the door and opened it forcefully, “I’m leaving. Don’t you dare follow me. I don’t want to talk to you.”
Regina left the cabin door open, and Emma stood dumbfounded as she watched the brunette leave. She counted down from fifty before she even dared set foot outside the cabin, and when she left, she went the opposite direction that Regina did.
She found a broken down bridge a few hundred paces from the cabin, and sat on the edge. She sat there on that abandoned bridge, gazing down at the water as it reflected a face that she couldn’t recognize as her own. They called her the savior. Savior of the damned, savior of the distressed. Self-identified damsels were her thing; Regina clearly wasn't a damsel, and the only thing distressing her at the moment was Emma herself.
Emma had never done this, but she’d never connected with anyone she had met the way she was connecting with Regina. That, and Emma prided herself on being a decent human being, and by taking Regina back to the arranged marriage that was waiting for her, the last thing she was being was decent.
Sighing, the blonde hoisted herself up and went to find Regina. She found the brunette sitting under a tree, and when she spotted Emma, her face hardened immediately.
“I said I didn’t want to talk to you, and I meant it. Are you here to collect your bounty? That’s all people see me as anyways, property.”
“Go.”
“Beg pardon?” Regina stood up.
“Go. I do what I do, but I’m not a jailor. I know I said your predicament wasn’t my problem, but it kinda is. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that you’re in a loveless marriage with someone much too old for you because of me. So go, and don’t turn back. I’m not going to come after you.”
The brunette smiled, “She has a heart after all. What about my mother?”
“That’s a me problem,” Emma shrugged. “Have a nice life, Regina Mills.”
Regina, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, smiled and poofed away, leaving Emma alone in the middle of the forest.
::::
She had been running for days, snatching rest where she could, fragments of sleep. She was afraid to sleep, afraid to dream, afraid to even stop. Her dreams frightened her more than the things pursuing her. Emma didn’t have magic, she didn’t have any idea where Cora Mills was, and she had even less of an idea as to how the Queen Regent was tracking her. She knew she’d be caught eventually, which is why she kept moving, jumping every time the air felt too heavy, or an animal looked at her to keenly.
It had been a fortnight before she slept longer than she should have, delirious with exhaustion.
She woke up to the bright noonday sun, cursing herself for sleeping in. She turned over and nearly jumped out of her skin when she was brought face to face with Cora Mills, sitting on a large rock as if it were a throne.
“Well?” The woman said by way of greeting.
“Hello to you too,” Emma grumbled.
“I don’t have time for pleasantries, did you find my daughter?”
“I...” Emma sat up, not in any condition to have this conversation, but the Queen Regent waited for no one, clearly. “I won’t be able to complete the job you’ve hired me to do; I’m sorry.”
“Excuse me?”
“I won’t–”
“I heard you child, I just can’t believe what I’m hearing! I thought you were the best.”
Emma shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “Even the best fail sometimes. Your Majesty, she has magic, she probably knows exactly where I am at all times. She’s someone I just can’t outsmart. Really, you should be proud; she’s brilliant.”
“Of course she’s brilliant, she’s only had the best education money can buy.”
“Right, so... I’m sorry I let you down.” Emma reached into her pocket. “This is the money I have left from what you gave me. I’ll pay the rest back as soon as I can.”
“Don’t bother,” the woman got up, snatching the satchel out of Emma’s hand. “Good day Miss Swan.”
The woman disappeared, and Emma was left on the forest floor with a sleeping bag, hardly any food, and no money. Emma did the only thing she could do, go back to the closest thing she had to a home, where she always had a bed and hot meal waiting; she went back to The Fox and Raven.
::::
Emma got back into the swing of things sooner than she’d thought. Robin had handed her a pile of summons when she returned, and she was able to find the kidnapped child Kings and runaway brides as easily as she could before. She still thought of Regina sometimes, and she wondered if the brunette was doing well. She hoped that Regina was able to stay hidden, because no one deserves to be traded for power like they were nothing more than a prized sheep.
She had made her peace with never seeing the Princess again, and never knowing if she found her happily ever after. Which is why, she was never expecting Regina to track her down, and come sauntering into the tavern on one summer day, a few months after they said their goodbyes.
Emma was sitting with Robin, regaling him with her latest conquest; a Count’s mistress who had befriended a shapeshifting dragon to make it look like she was kidnapped, in order to get some of the ransom money that she thought the Count would put up for her. When he hired Emma to track her down instead, well, needless to say her plan didn’t pan out, and she was banished from the kingdom.
The blonde was laughing with her friend when she felt a tap on her shoulder. “I can come back later if I’m interrupting something.”
Emma froze. She never thought she’d hear that voice again, and she assumed either her mind was playing tricks on her, or Cora Mills had come to finish her off wearing Regina’s face. When she turned around, instead, she saw Regina, the inimitable smirk on her face putting her at ease. Except, she wasn’t dressed like the Princess that left her behind in the woods. Now she had her hair in a braid that fell over her shoulder, and she wore a vest made of suede and fur, pants, and brown riding boots that came up to her knee. If Emma didn’t know better, she would say she was dressed like a bandit.
“Regina? What are you doing here?” Emma stood up from the table, motioning for Robin to ‘give her a sec.’
“I was looking for you. You’re not an easy woman to find, you know.”
Emma chuckled, “Speak for yourself! What have you been up to?”
“Sometimes I’m looking for people, sometimes I’m the person people are looking for. But that’s not why I’m here; I wanted to give you something.” Regina unbuckled the sheath that had been around her waist and handed it to Emma, a silver sword handle inlayed with an onyx stone peeking out from the top.
“Oh?” Emma took the sword from Regina, the weight heavy in her hands; it was by far nicer than any of the swords she’d ever had. “What did I do to deserve this? Where did you even get this, it looks expensive.”
Regina shrugged, “I got it off a pirate who got it off a King.” Emma raised an eyebrow. “That’s not important, I wanted to apologize.”
“ You ? What for? I was the one who was a grade-A asshole.” Emma unbuckled her well-worn leather sheath that held her dulling sword from her waist, replacing it with the new one Regina had just given her.
“I realize I was a bit hard on you, back when you were tracking me through the Enchanted Forest. Our interests didn’t align, but at the end of the day, you were only doing your job, and I can’t really fault you for that. I’ve learned... recently, that we all have to do what we can to make ends meet. I was a spoiled brat, and I’m sorry.”
“Wow, I’ve got to say, you were the last person I was expecting to see ever again. And I never thought in a million years that you would apologize to me .”
“Expect the unexpected, Swan.”
“You’re chock-full of surprises Princess.”
“Yeah... I don’t think I can claim that title anymore.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“After you told my mother that you couldn’t find me, she hired some poor peasant girl and glamored her to look like me. The stupid Prince couldn’t tell the difference; so now she’s Queen, and I’m just a disgraceful runaway.”
“Honestly?” Emma’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline, “That’s kinda fucked up. She replaced you, just like that?”
Regina looked down, smiling a smile of someone who has given up. “I’m not surprised; she never cared about me, she only cared about what I could give her. Once I was no longer useful, I was tossed away like last week’s trash. I’d seen her do it before, with people who didn’t bend to her every whim. I was just next on the list of the people that let down Cora Mills.”
“God, Regina I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I finally got what I wanted; I’m free. So uh… you and that guy with the lion tattoo? Anything going on there?"
"Oh Robin?" Emma looked over her shoulder, "Gods, No! He's one of my good friends, that's it. Besides, he's absolutely smitten with the head barmaid over there," she gestured to Marian with her thumb. "They're engaged."
“Oh, okay. Well, good for them I guess?”
“Uh huh, right... so, where does this leave us?” Emma
Regina looked sheepish. “Right, the other reason I came looking for you. I... had a question actually, a favor if you will.”
“...What is it?” Emma asked, her eyes narrowing as her guard came up in the slightest.
“I’m looking for a partner.”
“Me? Look at you Regina, I’m not a bandit. In fact, I actively look for bandits. I shouldn’t even be talking to you!”
The brunette smirked. “But you are anyways.”
Emma didn’t respond.
“I’m not looking for you to steal . I’ve taken up the ‘looking for people’ business, just like you. With my magic and your skills, we would be unstoppable. All I ask is... if I come home with extra money sometimes, just look the other way.”
“Um...”
“If you say no, I’ll be out of your hair,” the brunette stepped back. “You never have to see me again, I’ll make sure of it. It’ll be like I was never here.” The brunette turned slowly, waiting for Emma to speak up.
The blonde sighed. “Regina, you know I don’t want that,” she paused. “I’ve never worked with anyone, but I’m willing to give it a go if you are.”
Regina extended her hand, and when Emma took it, the brunette pulled her in and gave her a quick kiss. “For luck.”
Emma smirked. “Well, aren’t I lucky.”
And that she was.
::::
Regina made Emma a magic amulet that would hide her from Cora Mills, or any others who would be looking for her with ill-intentions, and Emma finally showed Regina how to wield a sword for real. Word spread even further than Emma could have imagined, of the locating prowess of Emma Swan and her mystery companion.
So, that's how the story ends. The bandit and the bounty hunter, living in a small cabin in the woods. Emma would stop by The Fox and Raven every other week or so and collect any summons that came her way. None were ever so interesting as the call that led her to Regina, and she wasn't particularly mad about it. Regina helped her track down runaways and bandits alike, and the few times that Emma came across a wanted poster bearing Regina's likeness, she would take it down, look the other way, and warn the brunette to stay away from a particular area.
They were an unlikely duo, and that’s the understatement of the year. The feisty bandit and the fearless bounty hunter. Long after they were gone, it would be a story for the ages, of how two opposing forces came together and were something beautiful.
Needless to say, Regina Mills got her freedom, and the ex-Princess and the bounty hunter lived happily ever after.
THE END