Slay Me Weaponless

Chapter 15: Camelot

Four weeks.

That's the official count, as per Belle, who has been keeping track. Four weeks since they'd left Storybrooke to find Emma, though the days seem to bleed into each other as time passes. Here, there is little that distinguishes each moment from the next. It's a bit like the days during the curse, before Henry, when Regina's determination to win had led to a hellish, empty eighteen years in which only she had been aware enough to grasp how miserable it had been.

Here, this is hardly hellish. She has family and friends here, and even Zelena is beginning to mellow out. Arthur has spoken to several knights about giving Regina more freedom of movement than most women have here, and she can travel easily through the kingdom, searching libraries and following leads. Camelot has become a sort of home, slowly but surely, and they have all grown excellent at adapting to new places.

If not for Emma's misery, Regina might have imagined that this were sustainable long term, might even consider staying here with Robin. But Emma is a factor, and she is still suffering. Her visions haven't abated, and she is getting weaker, has fewer lucid hours even when Regina is holding onto her. When she can, Regina sits with her at night, a hand on her back so she can sleep. In the morning, though, Henry reports that Emma is always awake, staring at the ceiling as though she's been frozen in place for hours.

This morning, though, that's a plus. Regina has found documentation of a distant forest with a mysterious energy, and Arthur has deemed it a quest worthy of a hunt at breakfast. This is the best lead she's gotten in weeks, so she agrees to it and heads back upstairs to find Emma.

Emma rarely comes to breakfast. She eats, though it isn't clear if she needs to, but she has grown thinner in the past month, frail and small, and Snow likes to bring up extra food for her. Today, Regina has snatched the plate from Snow and headed to the room, invigorated by the promise of a possible path to Merlin.

The sitting room is empty except for Hook, who is sitting on the couch with his flask and a scowl. "What do you want?" he demands.

Regina holds up the plate of food. "Breakfast for Emma," she says. "We're chasing another lead today and she'll need her energy."

Hook shakes his head. "She's asleep," he says. "You aren't going in there." There is something puggish about how he says it, obstinate and smug in his spot on the couch.

Regina stares at him. "She doesn't sleep," she says. "She doesn't need it, and she rarely gets more than an hour or two a night. If she seems asleep, she's just pretending so she can have a break from you."

Hook stands. He's not a tall man, but he's tall enough that he can loom over her, just a bit, much larger and more physically imposing than she is. "Emma loves me," he snarls, his face twisting. "You need to invent tripe about Merlin to persuade her to spend the day with you. I think I've had quite enough of it." He laughs sharply. "You haven't done a thing to help her. All you've done is insinuate yourself into her life when she's vulnerable."

Regina, for her part, has faced down far worse than Hook in her lifetime. "That's rich from you," she says coolly. "I'm trying to help Emma. What are you doing except hovering and putting undue pressure on her?" Hook is always there , lurking whenever Regina tries to help Emma and stepping between them. He's gotten angrier since it had become clear that Regina quiets the visions and not him, more adversarial, and she's beginning to get fed up.

"You're not trying to help Emma," Hook says dismissively. "If you were trying , she'd be cured by now. You're going at it half-cocked, hoping it'll earn you more alone time with Emma. Enough! " He snaps his hook down at the plate that Regina holds, sending it crashing to the ground, and takes a step forward, heedless of the food now strewn over the rugs. "Your pathetic little game is about to end," he hisses, and he puts his hook against Regina's chest, just under her throat, and shoves her back with the blunt edge of it.