Hello there!

This is my first chapter fic, my first chapter story ever, to be exact, so I'm really looking forward to working on this. Reviews are highly appreciated! That's what an author feeds on, after all :) I hope you'll like this story of mine! If all goes well, there's much more to come.

May 24th

Emma tossed back her shot of tequila and scrunched her face as the awful taste burned in her throat. She bit down on her lime as hard as possible and sucked at it until no drop of juice was left. Ruby laughed as she took her own shot, not seeming to care too much about the taste.

"How can you just do that?" Emma half-shouted as the music at the bar pounded loudly in her ears, "It's so gross."

Ruby wiggled her eyebrows and smirked as she licked the remaining drops of lime off her lips.

"Years of practice."

Emma puffed out a breath as Ruby laughed again, tossing her dark locks over her shoulder.

"Oh come on, Em, don't be so grumpy. Tequila's not for everyone. It just happens to be for me."

Emma rolled her eyes and asked the bartender for a beer, her own personal favorite. She took a long sip as it was sat down in front of her. When she could no longer sense the tequila in her mouth, she smiled widely at Ruby and turned around to face the dance floor. She quickly scanned the room. Mostly drunk teens with fake ID's. She still had to get used to the fact that she didn't need hers. It was a Thursday night, which meant school the next day. Except for Emma of course, who was off on Fridays. Not that many of these teens cared about school anyway. Emma once again blessed her work-schedule as she'd done so many times before. Teaching first grade could be a blast, but it could sure as hell also be a pain in the ass. Only doing it four times a week made it less of a pain. She loved having these long weekends. Long weekends meant more time to work on her songs. It gave her more time to herself, and that was something she had always cherished. And of course, time to practice with her band, Skyfires.

She suddenly felt a smack on her ass and turned to see Ruby grinning, while eagerly pointing in the direction of a brunette sipping a Strawberry Daiquiri in one of the booths at the bar. She was wearing a tight, black dress that showed too much of her cleavage and hugged her waist so tightly Emma wondered if she was even able to breath.

"She's hot! Go talk to her!" Ruby's voice sounded shrill from shouting over the sound of the music. Emma shook her head.

"Not my type."

Ruby sighed heavily.

"No one is your type. Either they're too much of this or too little of that. You're so damn picky it's starting to get on my nerves." She threw back another shot of tequila before crossing her arms over her chest.

"I think both you and I know it's been getting on your nerves for quite some time", Emma said and winked at the brunette. That earned her a smack on the shoulder from Ruby, and she rubbed at the now sore spot while laughing.

"I don't know what it is with you and this crazy obsession with finding me a girlfriend", Emma said.

"It's not crazy!" Ruby threw her hands up in frustration, "You're a hot lesbian without any lesbian experience. That's what's crazy. You've got to get yourself some pu—"

Emma threw a hand over Ruby's mouth and pinned her with a glare.

"Shut. Up." The blonde kept her hand over Ruby's mouth until the brunette caved and nodded.

"Fine. But it's true. You can't call yourself Japanese until you've had some sushi," Ruby said and wiggled her eyebrows again. Emma just rolled her eyes.

"What's that even supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means."

The two young women continued to drink, and Ruby continued to point at possible girls for Emma to go home with, which the blonde continued shrugging off. It wasn't until the bar was almost empty and the sun was rising did they leave. Emma alone, Ruby with her hand in the pocket of a tall football player.

Regina hurriedly scribbled in her notebook, trying to follow what the lecturer was saying. She found this class horribly boring. She didn't care for statistics. She could not see the use of learning this. It wasn't like she would ever use it in the future. If there was one thing she hated about University life, it was this class. Not that she was particularly fond of anything surrounding her education. The bitter realization of her parent's 'betrayal' came creeping back to her mind.

"We've signed you up for Harvard, darling."

"What? But I thought I could choose for myself?"

"Well yes sweetheart, but you were taking awfully long, and appliance needed to be done. Besides, Harvard is your best possible opportunity. What else could you possibly have in mind?"

Regina curled her lip. A bittersweet taste lingered in her mouth as she thought back to this moment. Her parents knew nothing. Nothing about her, her dreams. Or maybe they knew but chose to 'forget' due to their own neatly thought-out plans for their daughter. But they loved her deeply, she knew as much. And she couldn't bear to let them down. She wanted them to be proud of her. Especially her mother. Which was why she hadn't said anything when they'd shoved Harvard University in her face.

"Nothing, mother. Nothing at all."

"Well that settles it then. Starting this year, you'll be studying business at the University of Harvard."

Regina's parents wrapped her in a tight three-way hug. Her father kissed her hair softly.

"We're so proud of you, honey."

Even now, almost a year later, tears appeared in the corner of her eyes. No matter what they made her endure, those words from her parents made up for it all. She could deal with hours and hours of statistics, finances, and marketing if it meant her parents proudly smiling at her when she graduated.

She felt a nudge against her side. As she turned her head she found Kathryn, blonde and blue-eyed, looking at her skeptically. Regina smiled a tight smile.

"What's wrong? You've been staring into the air for the past ten minutes," Kathryn whispered.

Regina shook her head slightly, realizing that indeed, she had.

"I was just…lost in my own thoughts, I guess."

Kathryn gave her a tender smile and stroked her arm. It was almost as if she knew exactly what had been going on inside Regina's head. And if she had guessed, she would most likely had guessed right. Kathryn knew Regina way better than Regina cared to admit. And well, vice versa.

"Fifteen minutes left till freedom. Don't forget, my house, tonight, 8 o'clock." Kathryn smiled brightly.

Regina giggled silently. She'd forgotten that Kathryn had planned for her and the last member of their trio, Belle, to have a little 'party' at her house this Thursday. None of them had lectures until noon the next day, so "might as well take advantage", as Kathryn had put it.

"I'll be there. But you remember, as far as my parents are concerned, it's just a cozy sleepover with PJ's and hair-braiding."

Both young women had to laugh, earning them a few looks from other students. All of these people are so ridiculously up tight, Regina thought to herself. No wonder Kathryn was the only friend she'd made in all of her classes. Apart from Belle, but she was studying education and therefore, they had no classes together. They'd all met at the walk-through of the first day.

"I guess I'll cancel the male stripper, then," Kathryn joked.

Regina clammed a hand over her mouth, choking down her laughter. She would never understand for what reasons Kathryn was studying something as dry and boring as business. "I couldn't make up my mind, so I left it up to fate." Eeny, meeny, miny, moe that was. At least that was the explanation she'd once received from Kathryn, after having shared three bottles of white wine.

The lecturer finally dismissed the class, and everyone collected their things and headed for the door of the auditorium. Kathryn gave Regina a peck on the cheek as they parted ways.

"See you at eight."

"I'll bring the wine."

May 25th

The next day, Emma woke up with a blinding headache and a furry mouth. She blamed Ruby as much as she blamed the tequila. She opened one eye halfway to look at her phone. It was 9am. Damn it. How she hated that no matter what, she was unable to sleep in. She'd slept three good hours. She turned over in her bed and felt her stomach do a flip. She froze, lying perfectly still as she waited for the nausea to pass. As it did, she groaned loudly over her own misery and tugged the duvet up around her ears. She knew she wouldn't go back to sleep, but she wished that just for once, she would. As the minutes passed and her stomach started growling along with her pounding head, she decided there was no point in hoping for a miracle, and threw the duvet aside. She sat up slowly, not wanting to anger her already upset stomach. Luckily, both her parents were at work, so they wouldn't have to see her like this. Adoptive parents, she corrected herself.

As Emma rose from the bed she knocked over a glass of water from three hours ago. It splashed meters ahead, soaking all her previous notes for her next lesson that were lying on the floor. Shit. Shit shit. Fuck this. In a rush she pulled her t-shirt over her head and laid it down on the pool of water, trying to soak it up before it completely ruined her work. As her t-shirt got soaked through, she threw it away and collected her papers, laying them out to dry in the window. She continued to curse herself as she cleaned up her mess. Well done Swan, fucking well done. As far as she could see, her notes were still readable and her lesson was saved. She picked another t-shirt from her closet and pulled it over her head, heading for the kitchen.

As she gulped down her second glass of water and ate her sweet cereal, Emma's body started to complain less. She sat in the window looking over their front yard, her skin warm from the sunlight shining through the glass. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the silence for a few moments. She really loved being alone. With no-one to judge her, no one to stand up to, no one but herself and her own thoughts. Even though they did get awfully loud sometimes. Music, she thought to herself and got up to turn on the stereo. The soft tones of Daughter filled the living room and she immediately relaxed. She walked back to the window and sat down, crunching her cereal and sipping her water. It was only 9:40am by now, and she wondered what she might get this day to go by with. Endless possibilities. For now she'd just enjoy the peacefulness of being on her own with a bad hangover.

She glanced over the walls of the living room, walls covered in family pictures that had only recently started to feature herself. She'd been adopted by Mary Margaret and David Nolan at the age of 16, which would make it almost five years ago. Pictures of them at the beach, at restaurants, her graduation, the first time they took her to a bar when she turned 18. Or rather a pub. She was still trying to get used to the surroundings of Devon, England. Up until she was passed on to the Nolan's, she'd only ever circulated families in the U.S. It had been a terrifying experienced to be pulled from her home country at only 16. But she'd soon settled in with Mary Margaret and David. And truth was, she'd never been happier.

She'd been passed on to 10 different families during her short life, but it was the first time she'd ever felt like she was a part of a family. Her parents loved her deeply, she could tell. And they did everything that stood in their power to prove it to her. Apart from family and love, the sexy British accent she'd gotten during the years was also on the plus side. She chuckled to herself. She'd started talking to herself a lot after she realized how sexy she sounded all of a sudden.

Emma's thoughts were interrupted as her phone made the chiming sound of a received email. She picked it up and furrowed her brows. It was from her band's YouTube account. Someone had commented on a video.

Regina sat at her desk, body aching and head pounding. She stared at her laptop, eyes wide and scanning the screen attentively. Her mind was still hazy, but even so, one particular part of the previous night stood as clear as daylight. She typed something new in the search bar. I have to know. I just have to know. She felt as if she couldn't move on without knowing. And even though that might seem "overly dramatic and ridiculous", as her mother had told her when she'd kept rambling about having to look it up on her laptop, Regina knew she wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully if she didn't know. It saved my life. I have to know who made it. And thank them. She cleared her throat. It still felt achy and a bit too tight after last night, but the doctors had said she'd be just fine. The only thing she'd now have to worry about was reassuring Kathryn that she should not feel guilty.

Regina tried picking at her memory, willing herself to remember. She recalled the chilly air as she was carried to the ambulance. She recalled the smell of chemicals and metal. The burning in her chest. How her world kept leaping in and out of darkness. She remembered the heartfelt plea of someone telling her to hold on. She remembered thinking she was going to die. She remembered that she almost did. But then those words had echoed in her head. The words that had kept her eyes from rolling back in her head again. And the voice singing them.

"You're still alive, your story's not over

Pick your heart's pieces up

Your blood is thicker than water

Can you feel the flood in your arteries?

That is your life calling from underneath."

Yes! There it was. What she'd been trying to remember ever since she'd woken up in the hospital bed. The lyrics. The lyrics to the song that had been playing in the ambulance's radio. Regina did a little jump in her chair and eagerly clapped her hands together. She typed in the words, and awaited her Wi-Fi to cooperate and give her an answer. As the search ended, on top of the page was a link to a video. She clicked it.

Regina was unconsciously holding her breath as the video opened and music started playing from her laptop. As she recognized the tune and lyrics, tears suddenly sprung to her eyes. It was so immensely beautiful. The depth to the powerful words was indescribable. And the specific part that Regina had remembered was truly what had kept her on the right side of life. You're still alive, your story's not over. She laughed at how perfect it had actually fit.

As Regina took a look at the actual music video, it was easy to see that this was not professionally made. It couldn't be a known band. However, it didn't bother her. It didn't really matter. The music was what she focused on. And the lead singer. A blonde woman stood at the center of the setup, microphone in front of her and guitar in hand. Her head was bend down towards her guitar, curly locks covering her face, making Regina unable to see her face. But the raspy sound of her vibrant voice was as clear-cut as crystal. Regina watched her, not taking notice to whoever was playing the remaining instruments.

As the blonde reached the sentence "Can you feel the flood in your arteries?" she raised her head and looked into the camera. The video cut to a close-up of her face and Regina gasped slightly. She felt the tiny hairs on her body rise as she looked into emerald eyes shining with emotion. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she took in the sight. She's beautiful. She's absolutely beautiful.

Regina continued to replay the video for another half hour, and then decided to make a comment, expressing her gratitude. She did realize how utterly insane she sounded when explaining her reasons for leaving a comment, but frankly, she didn't care. I might have died if it hadn't been for this song. She pressed post. As soon as her comment was sent, she decided to dig into this band she'd discovered. Apparently, their name was Skyfires. Interesting. It consisted of not more than three people – a bass-player, a drummer, and a guitarist/lead singer. The blonde. Or as their band profile informed – Emma Swan.