Title: A Different Kind of Magic
Author: Vida Optimista
Category: TV Show/Once Upon a Time
Pairing: Emma/Regina
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters referenced in this story and am writing this simply for pleasure (mine and hopefully yours, too!), not for profit. Please do not sue!
Summary: Emma has broken the Dark Curse and magic has been restored to all in Storybrooke. Fearing that the town will revolt against Regina's oppression, Emma must grapple with her feelings and decide whether saving the Evil Queen is the right thing to do. Regina must also grapple with her own feelings that Emma's actions give rise to. The result is one hell of an emotional rollercoaster.
A/N: Though not new to writing - fanfiction or otherwise - this is my first Once Upon a Time story. I felt compelled to write it to show what I feel should be the direction the show takes our favorite leading ladies in. Then again, what do I know? ;) Please read and review. I can also be found on twitter: VidaOptimista. Thanks, everyone!

Chapter 1

The mayor walked resignedly up the winding staircase of her massive home, her footfalls slow and deliberate, heavy as the sinking feeling of regret that burdened her heart. She knew she must have looked quite the absurd vision to the outside observer; this petite woman, shoulders hunched and dark eyes glistening with tears as she trudged up the grand staircase among all of her worldly possessions. Who on earth could possibly feel anything but pride and a sense of accomplishment in this mansion, this monument to her power and the control she had exerted over the town – her town?

In creating Storybrooke, she had given everyone the things they deserved – quaint, cozy homes, careers tailored to each individual and the gorgeous backdrop of coastal Maine to live out their lives. For as long as anyone could remember – memory was an intangible thing here, for which she had everything to do with – she had been a mighty force in Storybrooke, feared and yet respected by all. But the tables had turned, and she knew that her life would soon be in danger as the townspeople woke up from their oblivious slumber. At this moment, people all across the small town were gaining back their memories from the other world, their world, in which magic pulsated and thrived in the air, an element as essential as oxygen. They would remember that she was not their mayor, but rather the Evil Queen who had cursed their lives and banished their happy endings by sending them here, to a land without magic. She had stripped away their true identities and with it, all the memories of who they were and who they loved. Now it seemed that she was about to lose the one thing that she loved the most in this world, her son.

Henry.

Tears prickled her eyes and constricted her throat as she ascended the steps of her empty house, knowing he wouldn't be returning any time soon, if ever. She had known that this day would come inevitably. Her loss of him had been slow and gradual, though that didn't make it any less painful. It had all started when he was given the book, that damned book of fairytales that told of princesses, knights and of course, Regina herself. It had only served to cast her as a vile, ruthless monarch in contrast to the other fairy tale characters, whose epic love stories and virtues were expounded on to no end. Regina had been innocent once, too, had loved with all of her heart before it was torn away from her, but of course that had conveniently been left out of the narrative. Despite all the years Regina had doted on her son, despite being the one to feed him, clothe him and soothe away his nightmares, she knew that the only person he saw when he looked into her eyes was the Evil Queen, the soulless monster who had thrived on the destruction of all those around her.

She then approached the top of the stairs, daylight streaming through the large picture window ahead. Moving toward it, she took in the sight of her well-manicured grounds: the vibrant azaleas, the hedges, which had been trained into sharp, geometric lines, and then, her beloved Honeycrisp tree, which had clearly seen better days. As her eyes descended upon the withering fruit and the scarred bark where a limb had been severed, she felt anger begin to seethe within her chest, her breath quickening.

Emma Swan. It was all her damn fault! Somehow, just mere months after roaring into town, the reckless woman had managed to destroy every single thing of value in Regina's life – her tree, her arrangement with Graham, and now, most significantly, her relationship with Henry. True, Henry's blind faith in his fairytale anthology had already tainted his perception of her and caused him to see Regina as the Evil Queen long before he snuck off to Boston to search out his birth mother, Emma. The book revealed her identity as the child of Snow White and Prince Charming, the child destined to become the Savior, and the only one who would break the Evil Queen's curse and free the people of Storybrooke from their hell on earth.

As soon as Emma's existence had been made a reality to him, Henry had felt that he finally had an ally in the fight against evil – against Regina, herself. Of course, she had not known initially that Emma was the Savior; Henry had encouraged Emma to burn the pages that revealed her identity in order to hide it from Regina. The only thing she had witnessed was the child she had been a devoted mother to turning his back on her in favor of his biological mother, a stranger that had heretofore never had a thing to do with him and, quite honestly, never had wanted anything to do with him. And how selfish, brash and cruel had it been to give him up for adoption? At least Regina had always wanted her son, always craved his presence in her life. When looked at in those terms, it could not be more clear who was evil and who was good.

And yet, for as much rage as she felt at the thought of Miss Swan, her heart was also full of gratitude to the woman for saving Henry's life. She vividly remembered the moment Emma had leaned down and kissed Henry's forehead, the boy lying lifeless in that cold, sterile hospital bed. A moment had ticked by, and then, a rush of energy as potent as an earthquake came tearing through the room, knocking the breath from the lungs of everyone standing there to witness it. With it, the breath had returned to Henry's lips and he gasped, sitting up abruptly, eyes wide open in complete and utter shock. It had been the most beautiful sound to her ears, something so often taken for granted, something she had feared she would never hear again.

"You did it!" she had said to Emma, incredulously. And in that moment that her son's eyes opened, love had come rushing back into her heart with such a blinding force that she'd wanted nothing more than to run to the woman and embrace her. Dazed beyond words, instinct urged her to go to Emma and show her, make her feel every bit of gratitude soaring within her. How else could the woman ever know that in saving Henry, she had saved her, as well?

But as the disoriented hospital staff came rushing into the room around her, the words that came out of Henry's mouth stopped her dead in her tracks.

"The curse, I think you broke it!"

Of course. The people Regina had cursed so many years ago were now waking up to their true selves, and as their memories returned, so would their recollection of who she really was and what she had done to them. There would be hell to pay when they came looking for her. Rumplestiltskin, detestable creature that he was, had been right when he said that all magic comes with a price. Regina knew the truth of those words now more than ever as her son's life had been saved, and as a result, her own now imperiled.

Before running, she had knelt beside Henry's bed and professed her love for him, so amazed that her little boy had been brought back to life. With tears in her eyes, she had looked deeply into his and willed him to believe her oath with every fiber of her being. He was the only person she had every truly loved in this world and she didn't think he could ever possibly comprehend how much he meant to her. But she needed him to hear the truth, even if it was the last thing she ever said to him.

Shuddering as she returned to the present, Regina began moving slowly down the hall toward Henry's room. Every step took tremendous effort as the energy within her drained away and her thoughts drifted further into the darkest recesses of her mind. How she'd wanted, no, needed Henry so desperately to believe in her love for him. How was it that he'd looked at her in that moment of her confession? Was it defiance? Indifference? Doubt? She racked her brain, the image of him staring back at her in the hospital bed burning a hole into her subconscious. What hurt the most was not knowing. He had not acknowledged her admission at all; he hadn't breathed a word, whether of acceptance or denial. His rejection was what she dreaded most in this world.

Tears sprang anew to her eyes as she sank down onto his bed and picked up his pillow, holding it close to her face, feeling within her heart that she had lost him for good. Of all the things she valued in this world, he was the most precious to her. He had been her only hope for a happy ending, her only love – she knew herself incapable of showing love any other way, but that had always been fine by her. Her son had given her exactly what her heart craved. In raising him, she had hoped to put her past behind her and redeem herself as a woman who couldbe seen as selfless, nurturing and good – at least in his eyes. She had fooled herself into believing that she had changed for him, but as she came slowly undone in stillness of his empty bedroom, she felt every bit of blackness still reigning in her heart even as it shattered.

Then, suddenly, something changed. She heard a massive gust of wind whipping around beyond the window. Frowning, she slowly backed off the bed and stepped across the room. Laying her hands on the window frame, she peered outside and saw an ominous storm of purple smoke rolling toward her, rapidly enveloping every single part of Storybrooke. Consternation knitted her brow at first, then, recognition: this was the return of magic. It could be no other thing than this!

No wonder Gold had wanted that potion so badly. Of course he wanted his power to return, greedy little snake that he was, but somehow it seemed that he had unleashed it over the entire town. Immediately, the implications dawned on her. She would have her power back, too, and with it she could do anything – and that meant getting Henry back.

Yes, she vowed, a smirk tugging at her lips and a devious gleam blazing wildly in her hooded, dark brown eyes, I will get what I want this time. Just try and stop me.

xXxXx

Emma moved quickly to the hospital window with Henry by her side, joining the nurse who stood there shocked and rendered speechless by what she saw outside. What she witnessed she could not explain: a gigantic cloud of purple fog, stretching as far as the eye could see and obscuring everything in its path as it billowed menacingly toward them.

"What is that?" she asked, eyes wide and mouth agape in fear.

"Something bad," Henry intoned, unable to take his eyes off of the threatening, otherworldly storm clouds approaching.

Emma braced herself for what came next, instinctively throwing her arm around Henry and pulling him closer. There was nowhere to run, not enough time to get away. Would they be swallowed up in the noxious smoke, choked to death? Would it obliterate everything in sight, transporting them out of this world and into that other, strange land? She didn't have time to panic, nor time to think as purple sashes slithered in between the gaps of the windows and began to fill the room.

"Hold on!" she shouted to Henry as everything fell into chaos around them – screams, gasps, curses and prayers of the hospital staff all fusing into a crescendo of real terror. She held her breath as the storm whipped through them, willing all the strength she could muster into the tiny body that clutched her fearfully.

And then, just like that, it was over. Emma spun around to watch the last of the purple menace disappear behind them as it permeated the wall like an ethereal spirit walking between two worlds. Immediately, she looked down at Henry, whose eyes were still wide with fear.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Frowning, he started, "I – I think so. What happened?"

"I don't know, kid," she replied, "I'm not sure I want to know."

Then, the Mother Superior stepped forward, a look of confident certainty breaking through the bewilderment she, too, had just experienced. "It's magic," she uttered. "It's returning!"

Okay, now this was just too much to take. It wasn't enough that she had learned that Regina really was the Evil Queen of Henry's fairytales, had slain a dragon and defeated the Dark Curse with true love's kiss – all in the space of a few hours, nonetheless. Now magic was real and was returning to Storybrooke?

"What in the hell does that mean?" Emma demanded, thoroughly pissed as the last little bit of the reality she thought she had known came crumbling down at her feet.

"It means that all that was lost to us has now been returned," Mother Superior replied. "We will all have our powers restored!"

The implications of that came crashing down on Emma immediately. That meant Regina and Mr. Gold – no, no, the Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin – would once again have the ability to inflict whatever tortures on whomever they saw fit. But so would anyone else in Storybrooke, as the magic had touched everyone and everything within the town. And ultimately, that meant that no one was safe – least of all, Regina, who had just been exposed as the master of manipulation she truly was.

She could envision it now, the townspeople storming the streets below, mobilizing into a witch hunt of epic proportions. The irony of those last words not lost on her one bit, she knew that at this moment there were hundreds of people that wanted Regina's head and would stop at nothing to get it.

Fuck.

As infuriating as that sick, twisted woman was to her, Emma knew she had to protect her. She was Sheriff, after all, and she couldn't let the townspeople exact their murderous revenge against another citizen, not even Regina.

As if reading her thoughts, Henry spoke. "They're going to kill my mom."

Emma looked down at him, then, somewhat taken aback at the raw fear she saw in his eyes. After all, up until that moment she had never heard him utter anything but abject loathing for the woman. But perhaps he'd had a change of heart when she'd knelt at his bedside and tearfully professed her love for him. Emma knew – had known for quite some time – that she loved Henry with all her heart and that she would do anything to protect him and his best interests. That was all the convincing she needed.

Determination steeled her jaw, hardened her green eyes as she looked at her son.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," she vowed.