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" Emma.. Swan". The queen chuckled cruelly, her grip slightly loosening so that her fingers were more caressing Emma's cheek than digging into them like they had been. From anyone else, the gesture would've been loving. From the queen, it was.. well she did not know what the Hell it was, but she did not think it was loving.

The queen took a step back and the look in her eyes made Emma focus with all her might on her magic. She could feel it against whatever spell9?) the Queen had woven in order to knock her out and freeze her. Magic is about emotion she heard Regina's voice in her head , prompting her to focus on the first time Henry and she had really connected , on that easy smile he had given her. On the first time she had not felt angry at her parents- we would have been together- at all, just happy that they were there. On..

Regina. Regina and our son. Regina and no, but I can give you one. Regina and thank you for trying Miss Swan. Regina and gentle eyes, Regina and her love for Henry, Regina and a fierce protectiveness, Regina who would die for their son even if she did not remember them, Regina Regina Regina.

The spell was blast apart right when the Queen came at her with a foul-smelling potion. When Emma took on a fighting stance, she merely smiled. " What are you going to do Em-ma? ".

Emma twitched at how she almost sounded like Regina. But not enough. " Stop you".

" Hurt me … and you hurt her ".

Emma shook her head, summoned her gun. " You are lying"

" I am a part of her. Regina is me and I am Regina. A serum won't change who we are, Emma".

Emma hesitated. What if she was telling the truth? She did not even want to hurt this foul, murder-happy version of Regina, let alone the Regina of family evenings and gentle sarcasm and-

Emma staggered back as the Queen threw the potion at her fight. Fired. Had enough time to think REGINA NO. Felt a horrible lurching of her gut that just seemed a mix of anger and pain and desperation ( I hit Regina , I hurt her, I ki- ) before she staggered and realized it was not that at all.

She barely managed to raise her head- it was so heavy suddenly- and got a glimpse of dark eyes and heavy make-up as the room started to spin and tilt (or did she?). The Queen's laugh was hollow and cruel. " Let's see whether Snow and Charming truly are so good at finding their family".

Then the Queen turned into a giant. Or that is what it looked like to Emma's blurry vision: the Queen stretching and getting bigger like they were in a house of mirrors, like they were in Alice's wonderland or there was another giant but just with Regina's-

Hands on her face and a deep voice was the last she heard before the world disappeared.

—

Funnily enough, Emma had never been fond of Swans. They might have been really beautiful and gentle-looking, but Emma knew better. A group of bullies had once thrown one of the few belongings she had in a pond and she had hardly thought about the swans that were gliding on the water not far from where the toy had landed. She had just wanted her toy and not really cared. Until the crazy birds came at her with flapping wings and the most horrifying, terrifying battle cry she had ever heard. She had stumbled from the pond screaming , crying and bruised.

So yeah, she was less than pleased when she woke and she was surrounded by swans.

Which okay, she should probably be glad that the Queen did not do something especially psychopath-y like crushing her heart – or worse, controlling her with it. But that was probably just because she couldn't and Emma was still in the middle of a small army of swans.

Could all versions of Regina please stop sending her off to almost- certain death? Because it seriously sucked.

Don't make eye contact. You are three times as big as these things. You have magic. You could make a nice dinner out of them if you wanted to. Which you don't because yuck but-

Then Emma nearly drowned because she tried to swim and there were wings around her and that horrifying flapping sound she had heard in her dreams for months after these things had attacked her and –

She stared down at herself. Or more specifically, the part of herself that should be arms and hands and fingers and was instead all wings. She craned her neck, stared at the white feathers. Right in the middle of the near- panic attack that followed that , she was hit on the head by a piece of bread.

" I think I like you better like this" the version of Regina that was still a total asshole remarked. She threw bread again. Emma made a honking sound that made her simultaneously embarrassed, angry and scared. " I am sure you said something very offensive".

The Queen stood up. Emma clumsily tried to float towards her, but managed to get the exact wrong way as well as getting her head underwater somehow. She glared as the queen smirked. Flapped her wings awkwardly in order to get closer to that woman and –

Damn.

Regina 2.0 (or was that technically 1.0 because this Regina existed before Emm- eh current Regina) summoned a fireball, then another. " Careful dear or I will have roasted Swan tonight". She licked her lips, almost obscenely and gave Emma a look that should not have been- well. " And believe it or not, but I might actually prefer you alive".

Emma gave her a 'yeah right lady' look that was obviously deciphered correctly, for the response was 'you are much more valuable alive. And no matter how much I would like.. " The Queen smiled in a way that made Emma have a flashback to when she had attacked Regina's precious apple tree. " A taste of you.. I am not going to touch you".

She smirked. " For now".

The queen calmly put out her fireballs as Emma flapped and honked and tried to get closer to the infuriating woman. Dark eyes glittered with amusement and made her seem more like Regina, right after Emma had stumbled over her own feet trying to catch Pongo. Or something.

Emma was just reaching the edge of the pond (and ridiculously proud of it) when the infuriating woman flicked away imaginary dirt and Emma was pushed backwards by magic. The glare she gave could have made a volcanic eruption feel cold in comparism.

" Quite impressive. You are still not getting away from me however". She let Emma stumble from the pond, then waggle towards her and nearly fall. Right when Emma was about to lunge she disappeared amidst purple smoke and chuckles.

"Until next time…

"Swan".