Name: KC

Title: Learning to be a Hero

Fandom: Once Upon a Time and Xena: Warrior Princess

Disclaimer: I don't own Regina or Emma, or any other character from Once Upon a Time, and this makes me very sad. SwanQueen is my OTP in OUaT, unless Regina decided to visit me. They are not mine and never will be… unfortunately. Suing me will accomplish nothing. Xena and Gabrielle are greedily kept by Renaissance Pictures, Universal, MCA, and whoever else who has rights to the show. They are not mine and never will be, much to my disappointment.

Pairing: Regina/Emma and Xena/Gabrielle

Rating: PG for now.

Summary: (OUaT/Xena) After coming through the portal mostly unscathed, Emma and Regina embark on an unexpected journey home with unlikely companions, Xena and Gabrielle. They learn surprising things about themselves and each other. With a dark past in many realms, will Regina learn to become the hero Henry wants her to be? Will Emma learn to be the savior? Will Xena and Gabrielle endure the bickering mothers?

Spoiler or Other Information: - Launches from Broken (2.01) of Once Upon a Time, so will include anything leading up to that. Features Fins, Femmes and Gems (3.18) from Xena, but there may be other references.

Author's Notes: Let us go on an epic adventure together. There will be laughter, maybe tears (probably from laughter), and just good old literary entertainment. This will be the first time I'm posting something without having it finished first. I do have the outline written out, so don't panic. I'm a little eager to get this out there so people stop thinking I'm crazy when I laugh at ducks. I'm also trying to work in quotes from Stargate and Xena (non FFG).

Learning to be a Hero

Regina's legs gave way and she sat heavily on the bed. She stared at her hand with a look between disbelief and understanding. This is it. I'm going to die trapped in a cell within a place I created. Of course this is it. Her heart ached for Henry, the boy who had taught her how to love again. For the briefest moment she thought she might even miss that interfering woman, but she just as quickly quelled that line of thinking with the conclusion that she would only miss having a beautiful adversary. Beautiful?

Regina didn't have time to berate herself for such a despicable notion; she heard and felt the harbinger of her doom. The wraith was coming for her. Regina stood up and faced the front of the cell, ready to face her death with defiance and dignity. She would not be like many of her countless victims who had begged at the end. She would die a Queen.

Feared filled her when the abomination appeared before her, and she thought again of her son. Suddenly she felt a tear inside her as the wraith sucked at her soul. I'm surprised there's anything left, she thought dryly to herself as a deathly coldness seeped into her body. As quickly as it had begun the pain stopped and only the coldness remained.

"Regina?" She heard a concerned voice. She wondered if this was death, if she could hear the thoughts of the living, and if she would hear her son mourn for her.

"Regina!" She opened her eyes to see Emma's face hovering over her. She frowned. That can't be concern.

Regina sat up, with the help of Emma. "I'm quite capable of sitting up, Miss Swan. Please remove your unwelcome hands."

Emma hesitated for a moment before snorting and letting go. "You're welcome, by the way."

"I'm surprised you didn't let the wraith do your dirty work. It could have left you with a clean conscious."

"I'm not going to just let you die. Besides, I promised our son that I would keep you safe."

Regina scoffed at this. "Since when is he our son? You have been trying to take him from me since the day you arrived."

"I have not! I stayed to make sure he was safe and cared for, and…"

Regina cut her off, "And thanks to you coming in and breaking my curse there is now god knows what dangers lurking the streets. A wraith, Miss Swan! Do you know what they do?"

Emma stammered, "I… ah, I saw…"

"You saw only a fraction of what was happening. Now don't just stand there gaping like a fish – we need to stop it before it hurts our son." Regina spat out with more venom than she felt. She was secretly thankful for the Saviour and the two idiots coming when they did. Regina stood without help and was impressed with only being slightly wobbly on her feet. She noticed Emma's hands reach out to steady her, and was both glad and sorry when they stopped mere inches away. "We need to send the wraith where it cannot hurt anyone."

"Where?" Snow spoke for the first time.

Regina glared at her, "Where, indeed."

"You had Jefferson's hat the whole time?"

Regina ignored Emma. This wasn't the appropriate time to discuss where to keep objects that open portals to other realms, or how the blonde even knew about the hat. They were at the courthouse, Emma, Snow and James with their weapons raised, and Regina behind the barriers trying to activate the hat. She was getting increasingly frustrated. The wraith appeared and was held off by James' fiery torch. He set the barriers on fire as the 3 retreated back to Regina.

"It's not working!" Regina growled.

Emma grabbed her arm, whether to take the hat or comfort her Regina didn't know, but she was too shocked to care. The hat begun to spin and kept spinning as it created the portal. The wraith used the distraction to lunge at Regina. Emma's past allowed her quick reaction; she pushed Regina out of the way. The wraith screamed as it was pulled into the portal, reaching out and grabbing Emma as it was sucked in.

"Emma!" Snow screamed.

Regina acted without thinking and leapt into the shrinking portal, closely followed by James. He was too late, and landed on the hat with a thud. Snow pulled him up and they both tried in vain to make the squashed hat spin again. They shared a pained look, once again feeling the loss of their child.

"I'm not in Kansas anymore…" Emma mumbled as she sat up and rubbed her arm. She had come to with a small branch lying over her shoulder. She looked up and saw the tree she was next to was missing a branch. She heard a groan next to her and turned to find Regina face down. "Regina!"

Regina groaned again and Emma gently twisted her onto her back. She didn't appear injured, but Emma was no doctor and couldn't be sure. "Regina? Can you hear me?"

Regina's eyes fluttered open and a look of confusion was quickly followed by shock, anger and fury. "What did you do?"

"Me?" Emma gasped. "It was that stupid wraith. It dragged me in." Emma frowned as the memory came back. "It must have got you too…"

Regina frowned, "Indeed." She breathed in sharply and looked at her hand, now unmarked. She closed her eyes and let out the breath she had been holding.

Emma stood up and then helped Regina up, despite the woman's objections. They turned, taking in their surrounding; trees, trees and more trees. Emma sighed in frustration. She was just getting used to Storybrooke and now it's like she's been expelled for bad behaviour. Expelled by magic… Emma looked at Regina and glared, but she noticed that Regina didn't look happy either.

"This isn't the Enchanted Forest."

"Huh?"

"This is not the Enchanted Forest. There isn't a way to dumb it down for you." Regina snapped.

Emma was going to snap back but the familiarity of the trees swallowed her words. She looked all around her again. No way! Emma chuckled to herself. You gotta be kidding me. "It seems we've woken up in the Xenaverse."

Regina stared at Emma like she had grown a second and third head. "The what?"

"The Xenaverse! You know, like the show. I would recognise these Ancient New Zealand Greece trees anywhere." Emma ignored Regina's scowl and nodded to herself, "Yep, definitely the Xenaverse. And before you ask how I can be so sure, I was watching it last night."

"You can't be serious," Regina claimed. "It's a TV show."

"Sure, says the Evil Queen." This retort earned Emma a fierce glare, and she momentarily regretted her words.

"The Enchanted Forest really exists," Regina huffed, "This… place is just nonsense."

"So was the Enchanted Forest to me until you hit me over the head with it." Emma mumbled. "I'm telling you, this is the Xenaverse."

After a moment Regina's lips twitched in what could be called the beginning of a smirk. "So, you're a closet Xena fan?"

Emma grinned and started to walk the way she was facing. She glanced over her shoulder as she said, "No Regina, I was never in the closet."