Chapter Text
[Forbidden Treasures | Season 1 | Episode 10]
…
Eliana felt an invisible force on her body, retaining her against a tree. As she felt the hard wood digging into her back, she looked around and saw her trusted companions scattered around the clearing, the few of them that were still conscious also seemed to be held in place by magic.
They were her soldiers, her friends, following her in this quest. And now they will lose their lives, because the Queen who swore to protect them failed.
The shadow-walker lunged at them as they were traveling through the forest, he had waited for nightfall to attack. They couldn’t do anything against him, against magic.
The dark mage looked at Eliana who stared back with fury. She fought with all her force against the magical barrier, with no result.
“Pathetic.” His hoarse voice resonated around her, echoing through the forest. He walked a few steps toward her. “I think you need a little motivation…” His hands raised toward her companions, and she heard their grunts and pain.
“Stop! Please stop!” Eliana pleaded.
The mage did. But only to focus his powers on one person. Eliana has no choice but to watch as the shadow-walker used his powers to hurt the younger of her companions. The redhead, barely 17 years old, had joined the group after fleeing from her abusive father. She had dreams of traveling across all the realm, drawing every town she would visit.
The Queen listened to her cries. She asked him to stop, again and again, but he kept going. Eliana heard the girl’s bones break, first her arm, then her legs. The girl was screaming in agony, begging for him to stop, and she couldn’t do anything but watch.
Except she could.
Eliana had been aware of her own magic only for a few weeks, and she had no idea how to use it. It was always on accident, never when she wanted it. But seeing this man hurting her people, being cruel to the young girl, enraged the Queen.
She focused on her hatred for the shadow-walker, trying to channel her magic to hurt him. With a scream, Eliana finally broke from the mage’s invisible restraints, freeing a surge of power from her chest, and fell down on her knees.
Seeing this, the mage instantly stopped, releasing the young girl and the others. He turned to face the Queen. “Finally,” he chuckled.
The Queen got up and started walking toward him, only one goal in mind, killing this monster. She managed to deflect the few spells the shadow-walker sent her way. She stopped walking and lunged everything she had, magic surging from her hands to hit him. He put a barrier up at the last second, protecting himself, but Eliana noticed he was struggling so she kept pushing more and more, knowing she could break through.
She was drained before her magic could reach him, but so was the mage. They both stared at one another, breathing heavily.
“You have his strength.”
“Who are you talking about?!” the Queen asked, still filled with rage.
The mage turned his head to the side. “You don’t know…” he seemed surprised.
The next moment, he had vanished from the clearing in a cloud of dark smoke. The Queen looked around, knowing fully well he could still be around and fall on them at any moment, but stopped when she heard a grunt behind her. She turned around to see the young girl laying in a puddle of blood, coughing.
Eliana ran and fell on her knees beside her. The girl couldn’t move, calling her name faintly. Almost every bone in her body was broken, bruises and cuts all over her skin, the Queen knew she wouldn’t make it. She held her head on her lap, gently stroking her hair.
“Shh...” she spoke quietly, as tears fell down from her face, “it’s gonna be alright…” She almost didn’t notice people joining her side, some hurt too, but everyone was there for the girl.
“Promise me…” Blood was pouring out of her mouth. “You won’t… give up…”
“I promise.” Eliana nodded, caressing her cheek. “I promise…”
She spent the girl’s last moments speaking gently, whispering reassuring words, until her breathing started to slow down. She drew her final breath looking at the night sky.
[End of season 1]
To say Emma was nervous would be an understatement. It’s been a few weeks since she knew she would be working as a camera operator on Forbidden Treasures, and she really didn’t want to mess this up. It was a great opportunity for her career and for her to make more connections in the industry, plus the job paid well.
The show had been a hit since it started the year before and the first season ended on a huge cliffhanger about the main protagonist, Queen Eliana, portrayed by star actress Regina Mills. The fans had been very active on social media, plotting and theorizing about what would happen in season 2.
Season 2 that would only start to be shooting in a few days.
Emma’s first day was quite slow as they were only starting to prepare the set and testing every equipment. She worked alongside August, the camera A operator, and two camera assistants would be joining them on the first day of shooting.
Everything was going well, but her nerves got tested early afternoon when August informed her she wouldn’t have an assistant. She was surprised as it was something she discussed upon her hiring, but August had been told it was because of budget restrictions and they couldn’t afford it anymore. The woman was angry, and hearing the news from her friend and not the production didn’t help.
She planned to go talk to the producer, but it would have to wait until the end of the day, as she still had work to do.
The blonde was carrying heavy boxes that blocked half of her vision, from the truck parked outside of the building, to the set. Someone was blocking her path in the hallway and didn’t seem to be moving.
“Lady, can you move? I’m trying to work here…” she said, annoyed.
“Who do you think you are?!” the woman asked back.
“Listen, I’m already pissed enough, I don’t need a lecture from anyone right now.”
Emma moved past the woman, who had to step aside, and went through the studio to continue setting her camera up. She left the woman without another word, who seemed shocked at her attitude, but she honestly couldn’t care less.
“Did they also remove your AC or am I the only one who will have to do the job of 2 people?” she asked August once she put her boxes down.
“They didn’t…” He seemed apologetic. “For what it’s worth, I’ll tell my AC to help us both if he can.”
“Thank you August. You shouldn’t have to do that…”
It was later in the afternoon when Emma got called in the Gold’s office, the producer. She had to guess it was related to the AC situation, they finally decided to talk to her about the budget cut.
She was going to knock when she heard someone loudly talking on the other side of the door. “I don’t care! I want her removed from the production! If she thinks she can talk to me like that, or to any other actors, I’m not going to let that flow!”
The blonde knocked gently, and opened the door when she heard Gold tell her to come in.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said, “You called for me?”
“Ah, Miss Swan. Please come in!”
Emma took a few steps inside the office, and realized who the other person was. The Regina Mills was there.
“Hi…” She waved shyly in her direction, a little impressed.
The woman seemed pissed. “Oh, so you do have manners!” At her, apparently.
“Excuse me?” Emma asked, surprised at the tone.
“Don’t play dumb with me. Did you really think you could talk to me like you did earlier and get away with it?” the actress started, “I’m going to make sure you don’t even see the first day of shooting. You won’t be working on this show when I’m done here.” Regina barely looked at her, focusing on Gold for that last part.
Thinking back at her interaction with the woman in the hallway, Emma quickly connected the dots. Shit.
“Listen, for what it’s worth, I didn’t even know it was you. I was just mad at something that happened, and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you, or anyone,” Emma tried to apologize.
“I don’t care if they asked you to carry some boxes and you broke your nail because of it, Miss Swan. You just don’t talk to people like that!”
Emma scoffed. “If you must know,” she started, “I learned that I wouldn’t have the assistant I was promised when I got this job. So yeah, I was a little angry, and the production didn’t even plan to warn me before we started shooting.” Emma turned to Gold. “They expect me to do the job of 2 people. I was mad because the budget cuts only affected me and not the other camera operator and I have a feeling I know just why.” She looked persistently at the man sitting in front of her.
Everyone got silent after that. Emma could see Gold was trying to find something to say, but Regina cut him off.
“So, you approved my demand saying we have the resources for it. When in reality, you removed a needed crew member?”
Gold immediately tried to defend himself. “We can afford to spend more on you, Regina. It really is no problem.”
“Find her someone. Forget about the bigger hotel room if you need, but she’s having an assistant tomorrow or you’ll hear from me.” Regina left the room without waiting for an answer.
Emma didn’t see that one coming. Not only was the budget cut because of the actress, but now she was taking her side? She turned to Gold.
“I guess I’m not firing you anymore, Miss Swan.”
The blonde rolled her eyes and left too, trying to catch up with Regina in the hallway. “Regina, wait!”
The actress stopped and looked at her. “I’m not your friend, Miss Swan.”
“Miss Mills,” she corrected, “thank you for what you did in there. You really didn’t have to.”
“No, I didn’t.” Regina paused. “I don’t like you Miss Swan, but I’ve had enough of Gold’s sexism. And he shouldn’t have accepted my request if we don’t have the budget. You shouldn’t have to work in bad conditions because of the actors’ demands.”
“I’m really sorry about earlier,” Emma apologised again, “I’m usually not rude to people without a good reason.”
“Try to remember that from now on.” Regina replied, then left toward the exit.
When Emma arrived at the studio the first day of shooting, she stopped at the craft table to get a coffee and something to eat. It was 8am and her body wasn’t ready for the long day ahead, but she knew it would take a few days for her to get used to the rhythm. She was walking toward the set when another woman called out her name.
“Hi, you’re Emma Swan, right?” I was a tall brunette, with red streaks in her hair, she looked younger than her.
“Hmm… Yes?”
“I’m Ruby, I’m your AC!”
“Awesome!” Emma said. “Do you need a minute before we start working or can I fill you in now?”
“I just had a coffee, I’m good to go!” Ruby replied.
The two women walked to where their camera was set and Emma started to fill her in on the gear they would be using and how she set up everything. They briefly talked with August and his assistant camera, Killian, but soon the rest of the crew got there and started setting up for the day.
8pm came quicker than Emma thought but she was exhausted and wanted to get home fast. When the 1st Assistant Director called the end of the day, everything started to wrap up their gear and leave the studio.
“Ruby, great work today, you can go home,” the blonde said. “I’m just finishing a few things here so we don’t have to do it tomorrow morning.”
“I can help, it’ll be faster!”
They both were setting up the camera for the first scene they needed to shoot the next day when Regina Mills walked by. The actress had changed out of her costume but was still wearing her long wig. Emma wondered what she was still doing in the building, she figured the woman would be in a taxi by now.
She realized she was staring when the brunette looked at her and stopped walking. “Miss Swan. I’m glad to see Gold found you someone after all,” she nodded to Ruby.
The assistant was almost ogling the two women, who acted like she wasn’t there.
“He did. Thank you again for that,” Emma replied.
Regina nodded but didn’t say anything else, so Emma got back to her camera.
She couldn’t help but ask, before Regina could leave. “I’m curious, what are you still doing here?” she paused. “Almost everyone left already and actors are usually the first people to get home.” She thought she crossed a line again because Regina was staring at her.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I had some arrangements I needed to make with Gold.”
“About the hotel room?”
“I gave that one away for you, Miss Swan.”
“Why did you need a bigger room in the first place? You’re only there to sleep, right?” Emma joked, but it didn’t land right with the woman.
“Definitely none of your business,” Regina replied before leaving.
Emma watched her walk away until Ruby brought her back to reality. “So… You’re familiar with Regina Mills.”
“I’m not, actually,” Emma replied.
“Well, you’re gonna have to tell me more now.” The younger woman stared at her with curiosity.