Emma was so busy staring up at the giant ape that she missed the moment when Regina raised her hands and she and the other "Four Thieves" disappeared in a whoosh of purple smoke.
"What—"
"They went poof," Maleficent noted.
In the distance four shapes appeared over the giant ape. All four hung in the air a second too long to be natural. Than three plummeted to the ground and the fourth, still hovering, launched an enormous fireball at the ape's eyes.
Emma winced when the ape backhanded the fourth figure into a copse of trees. "She's been through worse right?"
Maleficent's eyes followed Regina as she shot out of the trees like a missile and lobbed another fireball. "She's the all powerful evil queen. If she can't stand a backhand from a giant monkey she should retire."
"King Kong."
"Who?"
"That's King Kong."
"You're saying that like I should care."
There was the unmistakable sound of gunfire. A distant pop pop pop. Someone had found a gun and was trying to shoot ape. Kong kicked and Emma saw another figure sail into the air, black leather coat flapping in the breeze. Just before he smashed into the roof of a house he disappeared in a puff of purple smoke and reappeared in the same copse of trees Regina had just shot out of.
"He's this famous monster. Skull Island? Like Beauty and the Beast only big."
"The Skull Island vaguely rings a bell. I want to say that was a popular tourist destination in the Land of the Black and White."
"Okay, now I'm confused."
"Where your doctor comes from."
"That's really the name they went with?"
"It's the name the rest of us went with. Miserable place. Just thunder and lightening all the time—"
Kong punted Hook back up into the air, his arc of descent sending him careening towards Emma and Maleficent. At the last minute he jerk to a stop ten feet above them.
"Ladies," he said with a respectable amount of swagger.
Then suddenly he was flung back towards the fight.
"You're doing," Maleficent asked.
"Thought that was you."
"Must have been Regina. Her skills in a fight have really improved. Used to all she could do was threaten unicorns."
The glass in the windows behind them rattled as a booming explosion went off around King Kong's feet.
The Dark One's powers probably helped too.
Emma shook her head. "Okay, I have to go actually deal with this. Are you going to contribute to society or—"
"I'm fine thanks."
As much as Emma wanted to drag Maleficent's skinny ass along and force her into saving the town she was now living in she had more important things on her plate. Like stopping a giant ape sent by who knew who to destroy the town.
And hopefully keep the town's one special visitor from seeing the four story tall monkey currently shaking Mulan and Aurora like rag dolls.
She stopped at her car to stare—really she was just unable to look away. It was like looking at the cover of an old comic book. Regina flying around throwing fireballs and Mulan and Aurora each grasped in a hairy paw with Hook climbing up the monsters back with a torch clutched in his teeth.
She had to fight the urge to at least pull out her phone and grab a picture because she was pretty positive she was never going to see something as bizarre (and cool) ever again.
Her phone buzzed in her back pocket, and eyes still on the tableau in front of her she pulled it out and answered. "Uh huh."
"You're seeing this right?" It was David, the sound of his truck's engine in the background.
She nodded even though he couldn't see that. "Uh huh."
"I'm headed to Granny's. Hopefully I can grab our guest and keep him from seeing anything Facebook worthy."
"That—" King Kong lobbed Aurora at Regina and they both crashed onto the top of a building in a tumble of arms, legs and skirts. Even from a distance she distinctly saw red lace panties. She tilted her head and tried to work out who was wearing them. "That's a good idea."
"Are you…going to help fight the monster?"
"They seem to be doing a good—" Hook stabbed Kong with his torch, setting a tuft of fur on fire. Kong roared—dropping Mulan like a stone. "I should probably help."
Kong stumbled back and then dashed away.
"Shit."
She could hear David's tires squealing over the phone. "What?"
"The giant ape is running?"
"Good. I mean as long as it's not towards hospitals, churches or schools right?"
She tried to stay quiet but there was still a hiss accompanying her wince. The four story tall ape was definitely headed towards one of the three.
David sighed, "Which one?"
"The school."
####
Until she'd met the three idiots the closest to combat she'd ever come was lobbing a few fireballs while atop a horse. Regina didn't do action. She was a shock and awe sort of woman and not especially good at dodges and feints and all the strenuous activity that came with a fight.
And battling King Kong was a fight.
An exhausting and grueling one that had her calling on magic she'd just told Emma she'd try not to use.
Killian had managed to light a little of the ape on fire but he was otherwise flame retardant—casting off her fireballs like they were made of feathers.
The other habits she had for defeating giant beasts involved being a distraction while Mulan did her genius military strategist thing, but that required Aurora and Killian to listen to Mulan and they were both too busy pretending they didn't need—or even know—one another to listen to anything Mulan might have said.
Which left Regina doing the brunt of the work and trying to ignore the chill climbing up her arm.
She forged another fireball in her hand and worried at the delicious contrast between the heat of the flame and the spreading chill of her magic. Kong grabbed Killian off his back and flung him at Regina. She was able to teleport Killian before he struck her, but it left her open just long enough for the beast's meaty fist to smash into her.
She went cartwheeling through the air, losing all sense of space and direction.
Glass shattered.
Linoleum floor rushed up to meet her and she twisted at the last second, heels sliding on the floor and hands, still aflame, gouging scorch marks into the tile. The acrid smell of burning plastic hit her nose just seconds before the collective gasps of a classroom full of children reached her ears.
She reluctantly turned her head already knowing who she'd find staring at her with a mixture of awe and horror. Henry was half out of his chair and looking manically gleeful at the sight of his mother flying though the window. The rest of his classmates were merely stunned into silence.
"Regina?"
She whipped around to find Mary Margaret pressed up against the chalkboard, hand on a meter stick and half ready to use it.
Regina stood up. Her joints creaked. "We have a problem."
"Clearly—what—"
She nodded towards the broken window. "Invading ape."
Mary Margaret, to her credit, didn't do a double take. Just glanced and nodded. "We should get the children to the gym. It's rated to be a shelter."
By a curse Regina had cast thirty years before. She bit her tongue.
"We want to help," a child shouted. One that suspiciously sounded like her own son. She refused to turn around to confirm her suspicion and she and Mary Margaret were at least of the same mind when they shouted "no" back in chorus.
While an older student teacher's aid guided the children to safety Regina turned her attentions back to the window and tried not to look at Henry as he was ushered past.
"Mom," he called out, and there was just enough wonder and concern in his voice—for her—that she turned. He was wide eyed and worried.
About her.
"Stay with your class." She moved towards the window and didn't look back. She couldn't.
"A little harsh don't you think." Mary Margaret had chosen not to follow her class.
"I know my son. If I looked him in the eye he'd want to stay and I wouldn't be able to say no and then I'd spend half my time worrying about him getting hurt."
Outside Aurora was dancing away from Kong while Killian and Mulan dithered about. Mary Margaret frowned.
"Don't remember you bringing that guy over with the curse."
"I didn't."
"So how'd he get here?"
"With a portal jumper."
The wind through the broken window caught in Mary Margaret's short hair and she brushed her bangs away. "Any idea which portal jumper?"
She glanced at the empty desk where Grace usually sat. Jefferson wouldn't have done this-not if it meant risking his daughter. He was too content to inflict the giant joke outside on the town.
But he was also the only portal jumper she knew that was still alive in Storybrooke. Any of the others…it wouldn't be easy to break through to their world. Certainly not with a giant ape in tow. And the amount of magic they'd used…she glanced down at her hands. One grey against the bandage. She half expected more magic to skitter across her skin.
"None alive and living in Storybrooke."
"It could be someone from out—"
"We should worry about who's smuggling the giant ape after the giant ape is subdued."
She started to fly back into the fight but Mary Margaret reached out and grabbed her arm, holding her down like the albatross she just loved to be. "It requires a lot of magic to bring something like that here right?"
Regina set her jaw, but nodded.
"If they came too all they'd have to do is wait. That thing tires us out and they can kill every one of us.."
She snatched her hand away and appraised the other woman. "That's pretty dark for you Mary Margaret."
Mary Margaret sniffed, "It's what I'd do. And if you're being honest it's what you'd do too."
"Well," she smiled too sweetly, "let's hope the only heartless monsters in this town are in this room."
####
Okay. Emma took stock of things. The fight was getting messy and the Four Thieves were bumbling around creating more than half of it. Mary Margaret and Henry had both texted they were safe and David had hidden away their out of town guest and was working on evacuating people close to the fight.
Emma should have been doing the same thing. Only from what she could tell, safely hidden behind someone's ancient Oldsmobile, her big guns were being really terrible at their job.
Which meant she probably needed to step in and help with the fight rather than the evacuation.
She glanced down at her hands and tried to envision all the magic she was supposed to be able to command. Then she sighed and peeked out again.
Regina was back in the air darting around like a superhero and making the magic thing look annoyingly easy.
"Wow, she makes that magic stuff look annoyingly easy huh?"
Emma wasn't proud of how high she jumped before twisting around. "Neal? What the hell are you doing here?"
He'd snuck up beside her and was crouched down watching the fight with casual awe. He tried to look at Emma instead of the fight, "Was making sure you were okay."
"That's sweet, but shouldn't you be more worried about your fiancé?"
The crows feet around his eyes deepened as he frowned. "Evacuated to some old bomb shelter by your dad. Which is where we should be." He tried reaching for her arm. All presumptuously. Like bagel breakfasts and sheepish apologies were enough to just settle him back into her life.
She yanked her arm away. "I'm Sheriff, Neal. My job is to be here."
"I think they can handle it." He winced as someone didn't handle it just over her shoulder. "I mean eventually. They're not actually doing so great now."
"Which is why I'm here and why you should be with your fiancé. Safe."
"She's fine. You aren't." Someone else behind them fell and Neal winced in sympathy. Then he was back on her. "I mean what the hell are you supposed to do?"
"Help her."
The words were coming from Emma's mouth, but it wasn't actually her saying them. She stared up at the woman suddenly standing just behind Neal. An older version of herself in broken glasses.
Emma's personal ghost.
Neal noticed her staring and looked too. "What are you looking at?"
"Can you feel the cold Emma?" Suddenly the other her was kneeling just in front of her—her head shifting through Neal. She jerked back, her shoulders slamming into the car. "She's always been so cold. You have to feel it."
Regina.
She'd gotten used to the chill of Regina's magic. It was like the white noise of a city. A constant and comforting drone. But when she focused she could still feel it. Just there on the fringe. A cold like death itself.
Emma nodded.
"It's growing and she doesn't know it."
"What are you," she finally whispered. Her voice dull and terrified in her ears.
The other her wasn't capable of much and all of it was drenched in melancholia that was as chilly as the cold creeping up Emma's arm. "An echo."
####
Regina didn't always fly. It was a short term solution that usually left her drained and hungry. She could only stay in the air flinging fireballs so long before exhaustion would hit or she'd be stuck calling on other sources of energy.
She was worried she already had though. Her hand was clumsy and cold and when she landed next to Aurora for a quick tete a tete Aurora kept staring at her neckline in horror.
"Are you all right," she asked.
She shook her hand out. "I will be."
"You're half gray," she whispered gently. "That can't be good."
"Neither is the giant ape trying to destroy the town."
"Regina—"
"And it's not like you're actually helping. You and Killian are too pissed off at each other to do more than flail."
"At least we aren't taking the Dark One curse literally. You look like you fell out of his world." Aurora stabbed her finger in Kong's direction.
"How would you even know what his world is like? That would mean looking anywhere beyond your own selfish needs."
"I'm selfish. I didn't send my friends to New York City to recover and asshole so I could stay back and make passes at the sheriff!"
"That wasn't how it happened."
"And I haven't been hiding my relationship from my friends for weeks. Unlike some people here I actually discuss my feelings."
"Fat lot of good that's done the drunk pira—"
Killian's body colliding with Aurora and Regina ended all ill-timed arguments. As pirates being flung at a person tended to do. They went down in a tangle of writhing limbs.
Regina managed to get her head and one arm out from other the other two. It was just in time to see Kong stumble back towards them-his movements clumsy and erratic.
And there wasn't enough time. His foot was coming down. The leather sole rushing towards their upturned faces. She could hear the whoosh of a gasped curse from Killian and feel Aurora's hand suddenly clutching her leg.
And there wasn't enough time. Not to teleport them all out of the way. Not intact.
There was just enough time for Regina to throw up her hand and close her eyes and hope she still had enough magic in her to hold Kong back.
But the crush of Kong's weight never came. Just a flash of familiar light and a hint of ozone in the air. When she opened her eyes she found Emma looming over them, red in the face and with the whole weight of the monster on her back.
"Hey," she wheezed. "Could you guys get clear already?"
"Emma how—"
"I'm doing that whole channeling magic thing. I may suck at fireballs, but I'm thinking this super strong thing comes naturally."
Aurora wordlessly darted away. Killian took a moment to grimly nod his thanks before following.
Regina didn't move.
Above them Kong roared and continued pressing down. The asphalt under Emma's feet fractured. Cratered.
"Hurry," Emma grunted.
But Regina instead reached out and to cradle her face. Emma's magic, wild and powerful, sparked at the touch and she pulled her hand away. "You can't do this."
"Too late."
"I can help—"
"I've got Ghost of Christmas Future warning me you're headed to the Dark Side so no thanks. Just run. I'll be okay."
"No, but—"
"No buts, or magic. Just go Regina. I'll be fine." She sank another few inches into the road. "Can't say my knees will like me, but I'll be okay."
####
Emma hadn't really had thoughts doing their thoughts thing when she'd seen people she liked, and Hook, about to be crushed. There was just a "save them" compulsion that had sent her teleporting down the street and directly under the biggest plantar wart she'd ever seen.
She was pretty sure it didn't matter that it was Regina she was risking her life for. It could have just been Hook and Sinbad and she still would have tried to help. But saving Regina felt good. She kind of got that thing about Superman and Lois Lane when she was holding a few ton of gorilla and had her girlfriend staring up at her with no small amount of wonder.
Emma had a girlfriend.
A girlfriend she'd just saved from King Kong.
"Go," she reiterated.
Only Regina didn't go. Even though the curse was creeping up her neckline and looking like a tacky scarf. Her hand was hot and cold all at once against Emma's cheek, but her lips were ice when they pressed against hers.
"I'm not leaving you," she whispered, her breath the only part of her truly warm. "And you don't get to leave me."
All of Kong's weight seemed to be on Emma's shoulders. Her legs were being slowly driven into the ground. Her arms quivered. "Regina-"
Regina shooshed her. Then kissed her again.
Something cold and invigorating and unmistakably magic shivered through her. "What are you doing?"
"I've been taking your magic for weeks. It's time to give some back."
"But-"
"Just hold on. If they're smart they'll realize we're keeping the ape off balance and-"
There was the sound of feet beating against the pavement. Then a grunt. Above them Kong groaned. Regina wrapped herself around Emma. The weight above Emma shifted and she dropped her head onto Regina's shoulder.
Kong groaned again.
She heard Regina's intake of breath.
So she did what felt natural and pushed. Her triceps screamed from the exertion. More magic surged through her.
Then the shadow they'd been hunkered in was gone and the ground shook as Kong collapsed backwards onto the street.
Regina smiled at her, all pretty and stunning. Like she wasn't half gray from the Dark One's curse. "See," she said, and Emma had to wonder when Regina had gotten so optimistic, "I knew they'd do it."
The "them" doing "it" was not the them Regina had thought it would be. Which was really obvious when they both stepped out of Kong's shadow and looked up to find David with a giant sword resting on his shoulder and an even more giant wolf curled around his legs and the sun backlighting both of them like heroes out of a cartoon.
Regina used her bad hand to shade her eyes and her pleased grin fell away.
Emma pulled her a little closer-because Regina definitely seemed to barely be standing on her own-and tried not to look awed. It wasn't cool for the sheriff to be awed by their deputy's ability to take out a bajillion foot tall monkey with a sword and a badass werewolf.
"David," she called up, sounding way too confused to be cool, "What are you doing here?"
The wolf beside him turned back into Ruby and slugged David in the arm. "Nice to know we still have it."
He was ignoring his own daughter. Instead sheathing his sword and chatting with Ruby casually. "Yeah I was kind of worried with my poor depth perception and you being out of the game."
"I'm not out of the game. Emma's always working my butt off." She jerked her thumb in Emma's direction and David squinted at her like he was trying to figure out if there was some innuendo in there.
Which…valid. Everything Ruby said was laden with innuendo.
"You work her butt off," Regina murmured.
"Not like that. But with work. Actual work." Regina sagged a little and Emma repositioned her hand to better support her, but kept her eyes on David and Ruby, "And why are you two here?! You're supposed to be getting people to safety."
"We did," David said, "and then we saw that you-I mean-they-"
"It was a hot mess so we came to help."
She could actually feel Regina bristling at the perceived insult. "We were not a 'hot mess.' We've just been having…issues."
"Like Hook trying to kill us," Aurora snapped, appearing from behind a building with twigs in her hair.
"Once," Hook cried, coming from the other direction with a thorny branch still clinging to his arm. "And I apologized." He struggled to yank the branch off with his hook. "Repeatedly. You're the one with issues princess."
"A man I trusted tried to murder me. Shocking."
Regina rolled her eyes, "Oh like you were the only one nearly murdered. I seem to recall getting shoved down into that pit right along side you."
"See," Hook shouted, pointing at Regina, "She forgives me."
"Please. She's an emotionally needy idiot. She'd forgive Hitler if he said he wanted to be her friend."
"Hit-who?"
"I am not emotionally needy." Regina pushed away-pausing briefly to shoot Emma an apologetic look. Then she was back to limping over to the other two so they could continue their "discussion."
Ruby leapt off Kong (still alive judging by the rise and fall of his chest) to land lightly beside Emma. "I think they need couples counseling."
David landed heavily beside her. "I think that might end with Archie killing them all."
"Or at least Hook," Emma agreed.
Ruby tilted her head. "Isn't there a fourth one?"
"Usually."
Mulan, looking more like a dark cloud of pure fury than an actually human being, came from the direction of the pond, squelching by them without so much as a nod.
"You know," Emma observed, "I get these feelings sometimes. Like something bad is gonna happen? And that," she nodded at the bickering foursome, "is giving me bad feelings."
"Worse than the giant monkey," David asked.
"Much worse," Ruby said. When they both look at her in confusion she shrugged, "I get those feelings too. And that is curse level disaster over there."
Really only one portion of the foursome was curse level. Mulan, Aurora and Hook could do a lot of damage to the town and people, but Regina was the one wielding the power of dark gods or whatever. And she was still gray from the neck down-the magic brushing up against Emma as cold as a Maine winter night.
She shivered.
David stepped closer, his own warmth a beacon Emma had to work hard not to be drawn to. "You okay," he asked, his voice low enough that even though Ruby could probably here she knew it was supposed to be private.
"Yes. No." She turned back to King Kong, still passed out on the street. "Someone sent that monkey after us. And it happened to be at the exact same time a huge rift formed in our "famous" group over there."
"It's a coincidence."
"We both know when magic's at play there are no coincidences David."
"She's right," Ruby said. "This thing reeks of magic, and not the good kind."
"What is it then? A distraction? A vanguard for some," he waved his hands around, "invasion?"
Ruby pointedly sniffed again, "Maybe a vessel?"
"A what?" David stared at Ruby.
Emma stared too, because she had no idea what the hell she was talking about.
Ruby reached out to touch the sole of Kong's foot. "It could be some kind of-"
Her musings were interrupted by half the town charging up the street in a herd, with Mary Margaret and Henry at the forefront. Henry slammed into her and wrapped his arms around her tightly-knocking a whole lot of air out of her lungs.
"Hey kid that's-"
"-Was amazing! You were like the Hulk!"
She ran her hand through his hair.
"And Mom-Mom!" He shouted and Regina stopped arguing to limp back over to them. "You flew! Like-like Iron Man!"
Regina ruffled his hair but gave Emma a soft smile, "Why are we both superheroes? Does this world not have any superheroines?"
He ignored her and instead eagerly recounted the entire battle, with whooshes, whumps and a litany of curse words he really shouldn't have known.
The way Regina and her little trio had stopped arguing and were all blushing and failing at chastising him meant he was doing a verbatim retelling.
"Kid how exactly did you see all that?"
"Grams and I watched from the roof."
Mary Margaret winced when Regina and Emma both rounded on her. "We were watching to support!"
"And how exactly is nearly getting my son killed supportive?"
"Oh please Regina, he was hardly in any danger. At least not after my daughter got involved. And my husband. And my friend." Something way too savage to be a grin crossed her face, "What exactly were you doing at the end?"
"Sister's got a point." When the hell had Leroy gotten there? "Walter and Dopey would have been of more use than your 'thieves' and you. And they wouldn't have wrecked half the town bringing that beast down."
Everyone, including Dopey and Walter, nodded. A murmur of discontented agreement rippled through the crowd.
"Hey, let's all-"
"Calm down," David shouted. "Regina and her friends put their lives on the lines to bring this beast down."
"And they wrecked the town," Leroy cried. "Just like they did when Cora attacked and just like they did when that fairy killer showed up. They're a menace."
Another murmur.
Hook scowled and stepped up beside Regina, putting them between Aurora and Mulan and the crowd. Regina laughed. "Please. I didn't see any of you during the fights. Maybe cowering." She loomed over Leroy, smiling darkly. "Hiding."
"We would have helped," someone in the crowd shouted. Others agreed.
Regina just smirked, "Oh I'm sorry, was I supposed to send out invitations?"
Leroy's barrel chest jutted out, "Or maybe you could have let the officials handle it. We got a savior sheriff and a deputy prince for a reason."
A voice, high and clear, run out. "Oh, so she's back to sheriff now? How cute."
####
Everyone else watched the figures who'd crawled out of Kong's mouth with curiosity. They were all busy taking in their definitely not of this world brass and canvas deep sea diving suits. And the color of their skin. One jade. One pearl.
The rest of the mob, her friends, her son, even Emma, were all just curious. Perhaps confused. It wasn't every day you watched two people crawl out of a giant ape's mouth. Certainly not people with skin the color of jewels.
Regina was in the same position. She wasn't used to people using giant apes to transport their own selves across time and space.
And she wasn't accustomed to seeing people with skin the color of jade and pearl.
But she knew the two women sauntering down Kong's torso.
She'd nearly ripped them apart with a thought once upon a time.
Seeing them alive and grinning wickedly like the little witches they were she desperately wish she had ripped them apart.
The two witches laughed. Their cackles grating in her ear. "Look at all of them," the green one said.
"The stone ones are flesh again," the white one said.
"And the city's gone."
"Long gone."
"What did you do Swan?"
"Yes Swan? What did you do while we were gone?"
Emma, having not waged war with the witches for ten years, just frowned. "I'm sorry. I have no idea what you're talking about."
"No."
"I don't think you do."
Their eyes glossed over Regina. Instead focusing on Henry, pressed between her and Emma. The white one grinned first. "Time has been rewritten."
The green one's eyes brightened. "Yes. Yes. Old is young again."
"And dead alive."
"And progress lost."
"What did you do-"
"Little Henry?"
####
Emma wasn't about to wait for the two crazy rainbow ladies to start making sense. Not when they were glaring at Henry with the kind of unsettling zeal that would have raised her hackles even if he wasn't her son.
She took a step towards them and put herself directly between them and Henry. "He didn't do anything. So why don't you calm down and we'll figure this out."
They both laughed. It was like glass breaking.
"Figure this-"
"Out?"
Fantastic. The friggin' Bobbsey twins had invaded Storybrooke. "You're obviously confused," she said carefully.
"Oh no. We're far from confused."
"Your son has done something to destroy our world."
"And we'll have the truth from him. Now."
Ice crept out from the center of Emma's locket and Regina spoke through gritted teeth-her eyes hot with fury. "You want to know why your paradise is lost? Then look at me."
She didn't wait for the two women to actually look at her. Her foot slammed into the ground and a barrier of magic blew up in front of them.
"Get Henry out of here," she growled to no one specifically. Then she was launching herself over her barrier and lobbing fireballs at both women.
It wasn't the epic display of power between her and Cora or the messy fight between her and the fairy killer. There was cool focus and startling precision to Regina's attacks. Her hands rose and fell and pieces of the world around them were quick to her aid. Car doors flying up to block gouts of fires and chunks of broken road smashing into dislodged telephone poles.
People screamed.
Scattered as debris smashed into the barrier.
"Are those witches," Emma asked.
Mulan's fingers twitched on the hilt of her sword.
"They're wicked witches right? Like Wizard of Oz?"
Mulan almost shrugged. "She said she had sisters."
"Those are my aunts?"
"Henry get back."
"But if they're my aunts-"
Regina was flung over their heads. She smashed into a house which immediately collapsed from the assault.
"We are your aunts," the green one crowed.
"Nice of you to remember us."
It was Hook and Aurora who reacted. Mulan helped, pushing Henry away from the women while pointing her sword at them menacingly. And David did join her. And Emma did stand between them and start calling up all that magic Regina had been teaching her to use.
But Hook and Aurora were the ones on the offensive. One letting loose half a quiver of arrows in a few seconds while the other was suddenly just there sliding the blade of his saber in between a green woman's ribs.
For half a second the dispersing crowd and drone of a far off motorcycle was white noise and those that remained, poised to fight, were still. The white witch stared at the arrows jutting out of her like pins in her cushion and the green witch looked at the hole created by Killian's sword and there was-okay it wasn't peace-but there was a beat of calm that hung in the air.
Then both women laughed.
They didn't die. Or explode. Or melt or whatever the hell dead witches did. They just laughed and pointed at their wounds with honest to god mirth.
Emma groaned. "Oh my God we get it. You're evil witches and you have apparently spent thirty years perfecting your cackle. Enough."
"Tell you what-" The green one vanished and reappeared, arm around Emma's shoulders.
"You give us Henry-" The other disappeared and reappeared by Henry, hand firmly on his shoulder.
"And you all get to live." Green witch (was that the one from the west?) squeezed Emma's shoulder.
David and Mulan both still had their swords drawn and looked to Emma, waiting for a signal to attack. "Not crazy about that deal," she said.
"Perhaps no one told you how this story ends Emma. But you should know," she leaned in, the thick canvas of her suit creaking, "we always get what we want."
Most of the crowd had disappeared. The noise of traffic was gone. For the most part. Someone, somewhere, was on a motorcycle-the whine of its shifting gears just far enough away to not be piercing.
Emma put her hand, all friendly like, over the witch's. "I got a bad feeling I know who you two are, so there's something you should know about me too." She spun around, keeping the other woman's hand on her shoulder and then using it to pull her into a really good right jab to her previously unbroken nose. "I'm not her."
Blood-cartoonishly red-splurted out of the woman's nose and she fell to the ground, green hands trying vainly to keep all that red at bay.
Before her sister, or whatever the hell she was, could vanish away with Henry or come after Emma, Neal was ramming into her with a motorcycle, throwing Henry onto the back of it, pausing just long enough to squeeze a helmet onto Henry's head, and speeding away.
####
She was really. Really. Really tired of being thrown into buildings. She was a sorceress as powerful as gods and a nightmare that haunted children in their beds and she kept. Getting. Thrown. Into buildings!
And she kept seeing her.
A dead woman looming in the debris.
"Go away."
"I can't," the long gone Emma Swan said sadly. "I'm-"
"Dead. And you're apparently the only part of that world that's stayed that way."
She didn't have a body so when Emma walked through the wrecked house to sit next to Regina, splayed out on half a window and a bed and covered in a good bit of roof, her movements made no noise.
"Couldn't you be haunting those two?"
Emma smiled, "There's only one Mills sister I want to haunt."
"Yes, haunt the one trying to save the town and protect our son. Much more useful than haunting the two insanely evil ones who hitched a ride in King Kong to get here."
She reached out as if to brush the hair out of Regina's eyes. Only her phantom touch was a cool breeze. "Is my haunting you really that bad?"
Regina sank back into the debris in sullen silence.
A motorcycle raced by outside-its engine a deafening rattle that shook loose broken glass from shattered window frames. Soon there were booms and the sharp report of guns.
She closed her eyes.
The living Emma was out there tugging on magic and knowledge she could only barely grasp.
"She needs your help."
Regina opened her eyes to find the dead Emma perched heroically on a fallen armoire and surveying the battle outside.
Carefully she extricated herself from the debris and limped over to stand beside her. Her bad hand went to her ribs to try and contain the pain lurking there and she noticed how gray it was. How gray she was.
"If I help…I don't think I'll be able to hold the Dark One's curse back."
Emma stared at her through glasses that had no reflection.
"That's what you want isn't it? For them to see the last monster you saw?"
Emma's face was a mask. "What I want doesn't matter. It never has."
####
Time had a habit of stopping when people were throwing around magic. Emma didn't really understand it. Just like she didn't understand how she could be some kind of all powerful magic savior when she'd spent twenty-nine years associating the stuff with two dudes and their white tigers.
Magic was supposed to be slight of hand and overpriced tricks bought in the mall. Not the punch she threw powerful enough to shatter a fire hydrant or fire arcing through the air and aiming for her head. Or a woman who could appear in a puff of smoke and save her with a single outstretched hand.
Regina burst out of the house she'd crashed into like a bullet and was standing in front of Emma saving her from getting toasted one second and then tossing a witch with her mind the next.
"Get the boy," the green one shouted and then an honest to god broom appeared in the white one's hand and she streaked off on it like she was living the Harry Potter life.
Regina burst off after her.
"I'm never gonna get over the flying," Emma muttered.
"Yeah," David sighed, "that's a new one."
"So she can fly without a broom," the green one grumbled, wiping flecks of debris off herself. "She's not immortal."
"That may be the case," Hook said.
"But you're the one outnumbered," Aurora announced, another arrow trained on her.
The witch held her hand out and another broom materialized. "Honey, I'm an immortal witch who rules the whole west of Oz. I'm never outnumbered."
####
Emma pulled herself half out of the police cruiser to study the sky. "There! I saw a fireball up ahead."
In the driver's seat Hook pressed down on the gas pedal, and leaned into the steering wheel like he could just will the car to go faster.
She slid back down into the passenger seat and tried not to bounce with nervous energy. The two of them had abandoned everyone else to chase after the witches, the girlfriend, the ex and the kid.
It had only taken them two minutes to spy the fireballs, and Emma was hoping that the fireballs would also lead to her son. And maybe a solution.
"Did you see how grey Regina was when she took off?"
Hook gritted his teeth and his hook twisted on the wheel. "I'm one-handed, not blind. And if you'd let me cut that hand off she wouldn't be running headlong into a curse that will kill her."
"Hey, I wasn't the only one poo pooing the hand idea. Regina wasn't crazy about it either."
He actually scoffed, "Of course she wouldn't be. It's her hand! You think anyone wants a hook for a hand?"
"From the way you talk-"
"I compensate. Because the last Dark One decided to punish me by taking my hand and the woman I love. And now the new Dark One's trying to do…"
He stopped talking.
Like he was gonna say something he'd regret. Or she'd regret. Or they'd all— "Hook…"
"Regina's my friend." He sounded pained. "And she's fighting off those witches and very likely destroying herself for people who don't love her." He kept his eyes on the road when he spoke.
"Henry loves her."
"Maybe. But let's not pretend he's the only one she's doing this all for. He wasn't the one being crushed to death by King Kong."
"Do us both a favor and stay out my relationship."
"That what it is? Here I thought you were just boffing her to get over Baelfire."
She wasn't about to engage with the idiot. Not with all the other stuff on her plate. Above them an explosion blossomed and the two women on brooms rocketed forward after the motorcycle just coming into view. Emma and Hook both sat forward trying to spot Regina in the sky a— "Left!"
Hook veered left and Regina landed loudly on the hood of the cruiser. It dented inward from the impact. Then she leapt off again, chasing after the two witches.
"Try to get us past the magic show and up to Henry and Neal."
Hook glared at her incredulously.
"I've got an idea okay. But it only works if the people leading this parade know what I'm thinking."
Scowling Hook stepped on the gas. "You're not being fair to her."
"Seriously?"
"You're using her. Over and over again, and it isn't fair."
They were closing in on Neal and Henry. Henry's small form huddled against his dad's back.
"You know what isn't fair?" She peered out the back of the cruiser to try and spy Regina and the witches. "What isn't fair is being orphaned by a curse. Or abandoned to jail. Or forced to give up your kid so he can have the chance at a life that you never did."
"You're blaming Regina?"
"Of course I blame her! Just like I blame my parents, Neal, August and every other person who made a shitty decision that fucked up my life. Doesn't mean I don't care about her, or any of them. But you know what I'm tired of? I'm tired of fate and all those people that believe in it running my life. I want something for me Hook. And Regina gets that."
"You're using her."
"And she's letting me."
They came up beside Neal and Henry and Emma rolled her window down, leaning out of the car and shouting instructions to Neal. The wind whipping past forcing her to repeat herself, louder and louder every time.
Neal glanced at her and Henry looked stricken.
She slid back into the car and was met with an incredulous Hook, "Your idea, to stop two immortal murderous witches, is to leave town?"
"There's no magic past the border. Which means they're mortal. It should slow Regina's curse too."
Up ahead the forest was giving way to the fields beyond Storybrooke. Emma shook her hands, letting the magic flicker through her.
"They're also more than twenty feet in the air. The minute they fly through that barrier they'll be dead!"
"I'm not an idiot Hook." She went through all those lessons Regina had try to give her. The ones she'd half ignored so she could make out with her new girlfriend to feel good. "I have a plan."
"You have a plan." He didn't believe her.
All of Regina's lessons had been about control. Nothing about making mattresses or ponds or anything else that could break a fall. "Not a good plan."
"If she dies Swan—"
"Just shut up!" She concentrated on her locket—brimming with Regina's magic knowledge. All the things Regina had begged her not to touch. "I just need…to concentrate."
She could see the back of the welcome sign. See the "Now Leaving" sign opposite it.
"We're running out of time!"
Going into the locket and pulling out the magic she needed was like wading into a pool full of algae. Slick and odd and nearly impossible to navigate.
"Now's your chance, Swan."
She pulled herself back half out of the car, her butt resting on the open window. Out there Hook was just wind in her ears. She glanced up. Spotted Regina.
For just a moment they saw one another. Regina breathless and furious and breathtaking and dying.
And Emma, her savior.
####
They just had a moment. One stretch of time that lasted much longer in their heads than in reality. Regina glanced down at the police cruiser that had been chasing them and spied Emma hanging out of it and looking up at her.
They were headed towards the edge of town. Regina wasn't so caught up in the fight that she didn't see that. Only she couldn't slow down or stop if she wanted to keep Henry safe. All she could do was keep pace with her "sisters" and keep them distracted long enough for them to cross the town line. Then, at her speed and height, she'd hit the ground on the other side of the barrier like a meteor.
Unless Emma saved her life.
####
It was something about physics. They all hit the barrier, but instead of plummeting straight down like she'd expect them to they fell in an arc.
Emma had to take all that confusing magic bumping around between her head and the locket and shoot it out of her hands. It created a gust of wind Dorothy Gale would have been proud of. One that rushed ahead of her through the barrier. Regina was caught in the updraft—hanging briefly—before hitting the ground.
Hard.
"She'll be fine," Emma insisted. Her assurances not sounding too hollow in her ear.
The other two were, at least, a lot less fine. With no magic wind to slow their fall they smacked into the ground and skidded across the asphalt—gouging up dirt and grass as they drifted into the field beyond.
####
She heard the squeal of brakes on hot metal wheels. Heard the sound of dirt and gravel crushed beneath car tires. Heard feet pattering across the road and cries and hugs. She tried to pushed herself up to her knees but everything was dull and slow.
Her hand was in the shade of her body and she stared at it. At skin that was brown like sand on a beach far from Maine. Not gray or muddy like Maine sand. Like it might have been. Like it should have been.
The curse had been pushed back. At least for a little while. All of her shoved back from a precipice of…evil or darkness or power. She dug her fingers into the ground and marveled at the feeling of dirt catching in her nails.
A darker shadow fell of her and a cool hook caught her arm, "You all right," Killian asked—his voice too gruff with worry.
She was, but she was too tired to say much and only managed a nod. "Henry?" Her voice was rough.
Killian knelt next to her and smelled like burning fuel and spiced rum. "He's all right. Baelfire kept him safe. Can you mo—"
"Mom!" Henry slammed into her before she could even register the sound of him. Killian's hook around her arm was the only thing keeping her from falling.
Carefully she put her other arm around Henry's slender shoulders and press her face to the top of his head. "I'm all right," she whispered, and even Henry had to know it was a little bit of a lie.
She looked past him, and past the long hang of Killian's coat, and spied Emma, standing apart and looking…Regina closed her eyes. For once she was too exhausted to try and understand what this Emma in this time was thinking about her.
Emma came closer. "I'm glad you're all right," she spoke softly. Almost shyly.
The corners of Regina's mouth tipped upwards. "Thanks for catching me."
That earned a smile that Regina didn't have to try to read. It was honest. Warm.
####
"You were—" a hitched gasp, "the only one she caught."
Emma spun around, drawing her gun and stepping protectively in front of Henry and Regina on instinct.
"I didn't see her—" another gasp, "catching anyone else."
It was the pale white witch. Limping towards them with one arm slack at her side and the other cradling ribs that jutted, violently, from her chest. The broken bones were sleek and as white as her pallid skin.
"I thought magic didn't work," Hook muttered, standing shoulder to shoulder with her.
Regina grunted and stood behind them. "I guess magic peaches trump whatever keeps magic out of this world."
"Not completely," Emma noted. "She's not looking so great."
"Good enough," the witch sneered. Her mouth was a splash of red against her skin. "Good enough to kill all of y—"
The wicked witch of whatever the hell direction she was didn't get to finish that threat. Because David's truck smacked into her and she was pulled under those big tires that he'd just replaced and chewed up like meat in one of those sausage machines at the butchers.
She really hoped Regina had remembered to cover Henry's eyes because as far as Emma was concerned it was the most horrifying thing she'd seen in her close to thirty years on the earth, and that included seeing a guy killed when she was fifteen and watching Regina rip apart a man with her mind.
The body just sort of lay there, leaking fluid onto the pavement. Neal, on the other side of the body with the bike and car, looked green. Hook covered his mouth and nose with his hand.
What was as much, if not more shocking, then the sudden sort of demise of a wicked witch, was who got out of David's truck. The truck's engine was still going, like it had been hot wired to start and they hadn't bothered to undo the wire job. Which was probably the case because Emma had never seen the woman who got out of the truck.
And she would have noticed her. Storybrooke, Maine was about as lily white as a small town in Nebraska and the number of people who weren't white Emma could count on two hands and a toe. If there'd been a gorgeous black woman with a cocky witch killing grin and ruby red shoes on her feet just hanging out in Storybrooke Emma would have remembered.
Hot wired truck and excellent timing aside whoever she was she was still new. Like the half dead witches and Neal and his fiancé.
She peered at Emma like Emma ought to know her. "Someone want to tell me what's going on," she asked—her accent carrying the barest hint of the south.
Emma, still incredibly confused, holstered her gun. "How about you tell us who you are first."
It was Regina who answered, breathless, just a moment before she fainted dead away. "Dorothy?"