Tangled in Red

Chapter One: Not even destiny is set in stone

Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time.

Warning: Language. Little bits angst.

A/N: This is me messing around with tenses and writing style. Also, the idea of fate, destiny, and soulmates.

The first time she notices it she's bringing a well deserved cup of coffee to her lips. She's half asleep and too exhausted from the ungodly amount of hours she's been working to competently function. So when Emma catches sight of the flash of glowing red at her finger she initially dismisses it. Sleep depravation is known to cause hallucinations after all.

The second time she notices it she's walking away from nearly being set on fire by Regina Mills. No matter how many times she attempts to apologize for unintentionally bringing Regina's boyfriend's (ex-boyfriend's) dead wife back from the past, the brunette hasn't budged. She figures that at least Regina is threatening her very existence instead of completely ignoring her. She's so distracted by their recent showdown that she doesn't notice the damn thing until she's tripping right over it. She calls it a prank and blames its well timed placement on Regina's vengeance.

The third time she notices it she's in the middle of eating a bear claw. The last heavenly, mouthwateringly delicious bear claw left in Granny's diner today. The delectable treat is halfway to her mouth when suddenly it's being jerked away by her own traitorous hand and flying across Main Street. Emma actually whimpers as she watches her treat being repeatedly splattered by passing cars. She briefly wonders why she's suddenly channeling Lazy Anton before glaring down at her hand. If the thing starts going on a killing spree she's gonna be super pissed. She glares down at the offending appendage for a moment before she sees it. There, tied around her ring finger is a glowing piece of string. When she squints her eyes she recognizes it as the same line of string that tripped her the other day. Her immediate response to the discovery is to think Regina and curses and revenge and how she knows she deserves whatever the other woman decides to throw at her. She did ruin her happy ending.

It's later that day when she picks up Henry from school that she rethinks her initial suspicions. She catches sight of similar pieces of string attached to some of the other parents and even a few of the children. But Henry doesn't have one and Emma wonders if maybe Regina really is behind it. They're splitting a sundae at Granny's when Emma sees that damn glowing red string again. This time attached to Robin Hood. What peaks her interest is the fact that the other end of his is tied to Maid Marian. She watches them, her shared sundae forgotten. She watches the way the string pulls and reels like a fishing line every time the two of them move apart or closer together. She watches it get tangled around chairs and tables and mugs of coffee and even other people. No one else seems to notice. And when Robin and Marian leave, the string leaves with them. Unwinding from its tangled mess about the diner and snapping into place between their joint hands.

After that she starts noticing it more. The glow of the string becomes brighter, the red of it more vibrant, and the sight of it far more realistic. Three excruciating, entertaining, and confusing days of watching and Emma thinks she's finally figured out the mystery of the red string.

Soulmates.

Ok. So Google might be helping a little. Or a lot. A quick search and everything starts to make a hell of a lot more sense. It also leaves her with more questions. The most pressing of all: who is attached to the other end of her supposed red thread of fate? Emma isn't 100% sure she wants to find out. Another question she can't quite find an answer to is why some of the cords she sees are black or why some people don't have one at all. She wonders if she should tell someone that she's suddenly gained the ability to see this soulmate string.

And then there's the troubling matter of her own red thread being more corporeal than everyone else's. She's woken up tangled in red a few times already. She also has a habit of tripping over the thing, which, since no one else can see it, ends up looking like she's tripping over thin air. It's during one such instance that she discovers she isn't completely losing her mind or hallucinating.

"The more you ignore it," Mulan tells Emma seemingly out of the blue, her gaze never leaving the computer in front of her. She's absolutely hooked on the Internet. It kind of annoys the blonde that she still calls it a looking glass when she knows it's a computer. "The more it seeks to remind you of its existence."

At first Emma looks around the empty station before deducing she's speaking to her. "Uh, what?"

She gestures absently at the space the sheriff just tripped over. "Fate."

"You..." Emma's eyes widen to saucers and she hopes she isn't as crazy as she feels. "You can see it?"

It's the pure astonishment, the utter disbelief in Emma's tone that has Mulan finally turning to face her. She regards the blonde with her usual stoic expression. "An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break."

"I see you've mastered Google." Its sarcastic and teasing and the total opposite of everything Emma is feeling.

Mulan allows a hint of a frown to mar her stoic mask. She wonders, not for the first time, why her new boss is incapable of taking things seriously the majority of the time. Even in dire moments of battle, Emma chooses to grace the moment with her sarcastic brand of humor. "It may be a myth in your world but in mine the red thread of fate is very real. It connects you to the person you are destined to love and who is destined to love you in return. To posses the ability to see it is an honor."

"So this is really real?" Her brows crease and her lips purse and she sort of hopes Mulan will tell her she isn't serious. But this is Mulan. "This thing," She holds up her hand and gives it a little shake. "Has my soulmate attached to the other end of it?"

"That is its purpose." The warrior nods and turns back to the computer.

Emma really does try to hold her tongue. She really, really does. It's just that she's seen the thread around Mulan's finger and who it's connected to and she's so fucking curious. "What if the person I'm connected to, my uh soulmate, is already connected to someone else?"

The only indication she's stepped over a line is the way Mulan tenses and the dark shadow crossing her stoic features. The expression passes before Emma has the chance to blink. "That is... a rare circumstance."

She knows she should drop it but she also needs to understand the things she's seen. "Are they always different colors when it does happen?"

"No."

Emma ignores the strained grunted response. "Are you both Aurora's soulmates?"

The strain shows in her face this time. Then it's quickly covered up and Mulan sighs. A soft breath of shaky air. "Sometimes when a person's soulmate dies they are fortunate enough to find another. It's what is destined to happen. When fate's course is disrupted it can alter that destiny. This is why Aurora has two threads of fate bound to her, one black for the love she lost and one red for the love she gained."

"Then why is she with Phillip and not you?"

Mulan stands from her seat a split second before Aurora and her prince enter the station. "Nothing, not even destiny, is set in stone, Sheriff."

Emma is left to her thoughts. Left to ponder Mulan's words. To stare sightlessly at her red thread and decide whether or not she wants to discover what she might find at the other end.

She isn't sure what she expects during their weekly trade off with Henry. The last thing Regina said to her was, "If you attempt to apologize one more time, Miss Swan, I will rip your tongue from your throat."

Granted, that was over two weeks ago and she hasn't been anywhere near the brunette since then. Two weeks where Emma hadn't been able to stop thinking about the countless threads of black and red and what color she might find tied to Regina. She's been wondering, some would say obsessively, if her former nemesis is suffering the same fate as Mulan. Unable to be with her soulmate because of a case of resurrected dead ex. She's been wondering if changing the past, if altering Regina's destiny, has totally fucked the woman's chances at True Love. She wonders if the loss has granted her a new soulmate. Emma wonders if Robin was even Regina's soulmate at all. She wonders about Daniel and if maybe Regina wasn't as lucky as Aurora. Maybe there's a knotted, frayed, black thread dangling from Regina's finger without anyone attached to the other end. Maybe Regina's fate mirrors Killian's.

The though of the pirate captain has Emma frowning. She's been avoiding him. Ever since she realized what the little red string meant and that he wasn't at the other end. She knows it isn't fair. She knows she shouldn't allow him to continue chasing her when she knows, she knows, there will never be anything meaningful between them. Not now. Maybe not even before now.

"Hey, Ma." Henry beams at her before his gaze shifts pointedly across the diner. "You're late."

She follows his gaze and immediately winces as she takes in the sight before her. Regina is standing near the counter, smiling a smile that could strip paint. Emma is momentarily thankful that that particular smile isn't being pointed her way. The moment is fleeting because in the next second she recognizes just who is holding Regina's attention. Robin Hood… and family.

Emma frowns at that. Her green eyes narrow when she catches sight of Robin's oblivious grin and Marian's near scowl. When her gaze lands on the small hand clutching Regina's, travels to the excited and adoring smile encompassing most of Roland's small face, her frown deepens. Some strange pang starts beneath her chest and plummets into the pit of her stomach. Guilt. She's used to it.

Without a second thought, Emma makes her way over to them. Her initial intentions are to diffuse the ticking time bomb the situation is. Somewhere between her good intentions and Regina's scorching glare landing on her, Emma loses the ball. She somehow finds herself standing awkwardly in front of them; anxious smile tugging at her lips and hands stuffed into the pockets of her jeans. "Uh, hey?"

"You're late."

Emma's eyebrows raise, her stare shifting nervously between Regina and Robin and back again. "Yeah. Sorry about that."

"Well," Marian clears her throat and gives them all a smile that has Emma thinking of nails on a chalkboard. "We should be going now." She reaches down and scoops Roland into her arms, ignoring his small pout as he's forced to let go of Regina's hand. "It was lovely to see you again, Sheriff."

Then she's heading for the exit before anything more can be said. Robin gives Regina an altogether apologetic look, his smile losing its brightness and nearly falling away completely. Whatever he says to Regina before he follows after Marian is far too soft for Emma to catch. The blonde does however catch the effect of his words written in the devastation across Regina's face. The vicious pang returns, plummets, pulses, and explodes within her.

Emma moves to say something, anything to remove the look of excruciating heartache from dark brown eyes. It's the little sliver of red she catches that distracts her. She stares, brows narrowed and mouth gaping, at the string tied around Regina's left ring finger. Her stare shifts to Robin Hood's retreating back, trails frantically down to his red string. Follows the line with her eyes only to find it connected solely to Marian.

Regina isn't stuck like Mulan. She isn't out of luck like Hook. Regina has a soulmate that isn't Robin Hood. A soulmate that is out there, waiting for her, and fully prepared to give her the happy ending she deserves. He's out there somewhere and maybe if Emma can find him she won't feel as horrible as she does. Her insides won't turn to mush, her heart won't feel like a lead balloon, and she won't feel so completely chaotic whenever she's around Regina.

"Miss Swan."

The even tone, nearly devoid of emotion, shocks Emma back to her senses. Forces her to rip her gaze away from Robin and return to Regina. Regina who is suddenly standing much closer than before. Regina whose eyes are boring into her with a contained type of fury. Regina whose breath is warm and falling in steady bursts against Emma's lips she's so close. The swelling beneath her chest, the frenzy in her blood, the hazy of her head returns and, again, Emma calls it guilt and wishes she could stop feeling it so intensely.

"I thought I made it very clear that I do not appreciate your meddling in my affairs."

No matter how guilty she feels or how much she believes she deserves Regina's wrath, Emma has never been able to resist rising to the bait. She blames the way the brunette's proximity always manages to send a crackle of electricity shooting through her bones. She labels the feeling rage and ignores how similar it feels to exhilaration. "Excuse me for trying to help you out of-"

"Help me?" Her upper lip curls and her eyes flash dark danger. "Do not fool yourself into believing you-"

"Jesus, Regina!" She can't stop the rising of her voice. The exhaustion of always feeling so fucking guilty is getting to her. No, it's not the acceleration of her heartbeat or the way her stare keeps shifting to the snarl of Regina's lips. It's not the way her fingertips are aching to reach out and brush that stray strand of dark hair back into place. "I said I was sorry."

"Sorry doesn't give back what you've taken from me." It's a low, vicious hiss.

Emma crashes, breaks, falls apart at the words. Her face takes on a kicked puppy expression; green eyes wide and lips parted with failed retort.

Regina doesn't give her a chance to gather her thoughts, doesn't give her the chance to recover from the blow. She brushes past Emma, her next few words far less vicious and far more tired. Terse. Diplomatic. "Henry has a math test on Thursday, make sure he studies."

She's gone, out the door, down the street, and around the corner before Emma is fully able to process.