A/N: Hello my dears and welcome to the newest chapter of Supernatural! I got a few requests to continue the story so here I am with another chapter for you to delve into. I hope you enjoy the story and I want to inform you that not all the chapters will be so sad. I have a few heartwarming Swan-Mills family chapters planned so keep a look out for those! I really hope that this story is entertaining and I would appreciate feedback, comments, questions, and reviews (but please be kind!) Thank you all!
Emma frowned and looked into the darkness of the doorway that Regina had disappeared into. Why? She wondered. The one word set off a blazing forest fire of anger inside the Savior, Emma turned and walked out into the patchy grass clearing in front of the shack, her eyes looking up at the sky. "WHY!" She demanded loudly. "WHY THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE TO KEEP SCREWING US OVER! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE! WE DON'T WANT TO FIGHT YOUR FUCKING BATTLES! WE DON'T WANT TO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU! WHAT DID WE EVER DO TO FUCKING DESERVE THIS! FUCK YOU AND YOUR FUCKING APOCOLYPSE!" She yelled to the partially cloudy sky above her. "FUCK YOU!" She screamed and picked up a rock only to pointlessly hurl it up at the star scattered sky.
"That is a very ineffective method." A monotone voice came from behind Emma.
The blonde turned around fast and felt a mixture of relief and anger surge within her as she looked at Jefferson, the former Mad Hatter and new angel vessel. "Where the hell have you been!?" She demanded. "And how did you even find us Cas?"
"I have been waiting for you to call me… you said to wait." The angel replied as if he were confused by why Emma had asked the question.
Emma's eyes widened and she looked at the man who had once held her captive in a mansion in the woods. "That was over a week ago Cas! Don't tell me you've been waiting in the same place this whole time!"
The angel's eyebrows knitted together in a look of confusion at the blondes statement, "That would be what waiting is." He pointed out.
Emma stood staring at the angel, her mind struggling to figure out a way to explain what she had meant by telling him to 'wait'. "Cas… the next time I tell you to wait… you don't have to wait in the same spot for an entire week." Was all she could manage to say.
"Then what is the point of me waiting?" Cas asked seeming lost by the concept.
Emma shook her head and sighed, "You know what Cas, let's just leave it." Closing her eyes, Emma ran her fingers along her scalp through her mane of blonde hair. "How the hell did you even find us anyway?" She asked again.
"Henry called me." Cas replied. "He informed me that you had found a place to hide Regina." Jefferson's blue eyes glanced around at the woods and the patchy grass clearing before drifting to the old shack.
Emma nodded and took a breath. "Yeah, yeah we did. She should be safe here; no one has ever been able to find this place." Emma mentally patted herself on the back as she spoke.
Cas's gaze returned to Emma as the blonde spoke about the secrecy of the location. "It will not work." He stated plainly.
"WHAT!" Emma demanded and took several threatening steps forward. "What the hell do you mean by 'It will not work'?"
The mad hatter's expression seemed unfazed by the outburst and he nodded to the shack his blue eyes unfocused as if he could see through the rotten walls into the heart of the hovel. "Regina will not be able to escape this, she cannot hide." His sapphire gaze turned to meet Emma's as he continued. "I am sorry Emma but Lucifer is determined to find his vessel."
"HE ALREADY HAS HIS FUCKING VESSEL!" Emma yelled her emerald green eyes wide with panic and despair.
Cas shook his head, "Lucifer has a vessel, he needs his vessel." The angel explained, his monotone voice emphasizing the difference. "And he will not stop until he has found his vessel. From what I last heard in Heaven, every demon is searching for Regina and they are determined to deliver her to Lucifer to gain his favor."
Emma's entire body was alight with a burning cocktail of panic, fear, anger, and many more emotions that she couldn't even name but they felt like red hot needles in her nerves. "They can't have her!" She growled. "Cas! Please, you have to help me protect her!" Emma pleaded. "Please Cas."
There was a moment in which neither spoke with words, but Emma continued to soundlessly plead as she stared at Cas. "I will see what I can do to help you." Cas finally promised.
A small wave of relief washed over Emma as she heard the angels promise. "Thank you Cas." She said with a small, grateful smile.
"Do not thank me yet Emma, Lucifer is very powerful and anything I do to keep him from finding you will most likely not work and the odds of me dying are substantially high." Cas admitted with a look of almost sympathy. "But I will do my best to give you time." And with those final words the angel disappeared leaving only the brief swishing sound of his wings in the air.
Emma stood in the dirt and grass, her smile gone and her eyes unfocusedly looking at the spot in which the figure of Jefferson had just been standing. He's giving us time… is that all we have? She thought to herself as a cold feeling spread through her limbs. Is that all we've ever had? Are we just running on borrowed time? The effort it took to stand didn't feel like one Emma could bear at the moment, so silently she sunk to her hands and knees, the cool grass and small pebbles making imprints into her palms. How much time do we have!? She thought to herself and in the next heartbeat she knew the answer. Not enough, we never had enough, we were never supposed to. Tears prickled at Emma's eyes as she hung her head, a curtain of blonde hair hiding her face. My promise means nothing… Henry is going to lose Regina. Tears began to slip down Emma's reddened cheeks as she realized that they had never been fighting a war because in a war each side has a possibility at winning and they had never even stood a chance.
"Emma!?" Regina's concerned voice came from a faraway place and caused the blonde to look up and see the former queen racing down the steps of the rotting porch and over to her side. "Emma, what is it? What's wrong?" Regina asked as she got down to Emma's level and wrapped her arms around the Savior, trying to sooth her.
"We… we never had a chance." Emma sobbed. "I'm sor-sorry Regina." She gasped through her tears.
Regina rubbed circles on Emma's back as she held the blonde close letting her cry freely into her shoulder. "Emma, don't say that. Of course we have a chance. We are safe Emma, just like you said." Regina reminded the blonde knowing that in this moment she needed to put her own doubts aside and mend Emma's broken spirit. She couldn't afford for Emma to lose hope, not with her own belief for a better tomorrow having already died and Henry's still hanging in the balance. Emma needed to believe, she needed to have a Saviors heart for Henry's sake and for her own. "No one can find us here."
Emma shook her head which was pressed against Regina's thick coat. "Cas said… Cas said they would find us." The blonde continued to cry. "That every de-demon is looking." She gasped out the last word and as the words sunk in she felt Regina almost immediately go rigid. "Regina! I'm so sorry! I wanted to keep you safe!" Emma cried out in a broken voice.
Heartbeats passed and Emma heard no response from the woman who was holding her. Mustering up as much strength as she could Emma finally looked up at Regina, her emerald eyes peering through strands of thick blonde hair. What she saw surprised and even slightly scared her, she could see the fire of Regina's soul roaring within her whiskey brown eyes as Regina looked into the woods in front of them. The former queen suddenly looked like a phoenix reborn from the ashes of horror and heartache that the past weeks had held, a new dangerous determination was radiating from her and Emma could feel it rolling off the former queen in waves.
"Regina?" Emma squeaked out as she looked at the dark haired woman.
"It's not over Emma." Regina said in her most assertive tone. "We are not going to give in, we are not going to sit back and wait for Lucifer's army to find us. That bastard might be the Devil, but I am the Evil Queen, and I will not let him or anyone else forget what that means! They have no idea what we are capable of!"
Emma couldn't help but stare in awe at the powerfully determined woman in front of her. It had been too long since she had last seen this fiercely passionate fiery side of the former mayor and seeing it again felt like seeing the sun for the first time after living for weeks in nothing but darkness. Emma could have sworn that in that moment she saw the petite woman that was Regina once again become something larger than life.