SwanQueen: A Powerful Weakness (Lesbian Stories)

Chapter 13. Emma

Chapter 13. Emma

Emma woke up with a few strips of straw stuck to her face. The cards had knocked her and Regina out so that they could not attempt an escape. A dripping sound echoed around her. When she looked up she noticed a steel bucket beside her, the black brick walls were letting in water and the bucket was catching the droplets, though many of them slipped through the bars of the drain the bucket was placed over. As she sat upright Emma looked for Regina. "Regina?" she called not able to see very far into the distance. "Emma, over here" Regina panted from the left. Emma crawled across the wet stone floor, following the sound of Regina's voice. She'd not moved very far until she came across a set of steel bars. "Regina" Emma repeated using all of her strength to pull herself upright. Regina sat with her hands wrapped around the bars, she could just about reach her hand between them. Emma took Regina's hand in hers. Both hands were extremely cold but somehow managed to comfort one another. "Where are we?" Emma asked. "I have no idea" Regina admitted. Suddenly a flickering of light appeared in the near distance, along with a guard. "Well, look who's awake" the guard bellowed, holding his fat belly as he laughed, his chubby fingers brushing over the painted number nine on his body. "Let us go" Regina growled. "Easy kitten, you just got here. How about I fetch you a nice saucer of milk?" the guard said, laughing again. "How about I make you regret the day you were born?" Regina warned pulling herself onto her feet. She stared deep into the guards eyes, a gaze he was more than happy to return. "Oh, Meow" the guard sounded, "That's not very nice is it?" he added, "I'm not a very nice person" Regina hissed, "Neither was your mother, neither is your sister, your whole family are just as bad as one another" the guard teased. Regina suddenly thought of Henry. "You're wrong" she gloated, an inner strength encouraging her to be brave. Emma watched on from her cell as Regina and the guard taunted each other. She knew better than to get involved, Regina could handle this. A short time went by until the guard stepped back, a siren wailed overhead. "As much as I am enjoying our little heart to heart, I am officially off duty, but you are more than welcome to give your new supervisor the same treatment you gave me". Regina frowned and looked over at the door. Sure enough another guard marched into the cell. Emma watched as the guard grew closer, although he looked much alike the guard before him, there was something about him that felt less threatening. "Three? Why are you here?" the guard asked. "Seven isn't here, said something about his bird getting out of her cage. Sent me instead". Guard nine looked angry but quickly tried to hide his true emotions from the prisoners. He then pulled guard Three to the side and whispered something into his ear. Emma glanced at Regina who was trying to hear what was being said. With that guard Seven handed over the set of keys and marched out of the room, leaving guard Three in charge. For a while nobody spoke, Regina sat back down opposite Emma. "The guards a half wit" she whispered between the bars, "You're telling me" Regina replied. "There must be some way we can trick him and get out of here", "Like what, because I'm not exactly flooding with ideas Swan" Regina moaned. Emma thought for a moment, looking around the dark cells for inspiration. Many minutes passed before Emma came up with an idea. "Water" she whispered with excitement. "What about it?" Regina queried, keeping her eyes on the guard. "Water can destroy fire", "What's your point?", "We can threaten to set this guy on fire, he doesn't know we already tried that with the Jack's. He will think he's clever by letting you take a swipe at him with one of your fireballs, then when the times right i'll sneak over with some water and throw it over him. He will think i'm helping him." Emma explained, Regina looked confused, "Somehow I don't think he's just going to melt to the ground like Zelena did", "No, but he IS made of card paper, and what happens to paper when it gets wet?", "it rips" Regina gasped suddenly understanding Emma's plan. "You clever girl" she muttered. Emma smiled and crawled over to the wall. The guard watched as she slinked into the background, "What?" Emma shouted at him as she leaned against the brick wall. The guard said nothing and instead continued keeping a closer eye on Regina. After sitting still for a moment, Emma began to shimmy over to the steel bucket, by now there was a fair bit of water inside it just waiting to be used. Emma slowly moved her hand and gripped onto its handle. Regina looked behind her and saw that Emma was ready. They only had one shot at this and so she had to time it just right. Emma counted to three in her head and then gave Regina the signal. "I've always wondered how you keep your whites so clean" Regina mentioned to the guard. The guard furrowed his brows and looked confused. Regina rose to her feet and walked to the front of the cell. With nothing but thin bars between her and the guard she pressed herself up against them. "It comes naturally" The guard spoke trying to keep authority. Emma waited patiently for Regina to spark a flame. "Oh, you see I'm always getting mucky, take a look at my hands" she mentioned, The guard took his eyes from Regina's and glanced at her palms. Instantaneously fire appeared the guard jumped but then chuckled softly to himself. "Fire can't hurt me" he spoke matter of factly. "Oh yeah, how about water?" Emma asked, with that she threw the contents of the bucket over the guard soaking him from head to toe. His clean white self turned instantly into a dark soggy grey. He shrieked with fear as he watched the water soak through. Regina sniggered and tore the card right down the middle. The guard now literally in pieces, fell to the ground. Emma snatched the keys from around his fingers and yanked on the chain. She fumbled with a few before the lock unclicked. Emma squealed in delight as her cell door sprung open. She then rushed to Regina's aid and set her free. "Swan, I could kiss you" Regina said proudly. "Maybe we should get out of here first" Emma suggested, "Right, yeah, lets go" Regina agreed heading for the door. Just on the other side of the door was a hallway split into sections. "Alright, we need to find a way of repressing this deck of cards" Regina explained keeping an eye out for the changing of the guard. "Woah, what about the sorcerer's hat?, that can trap people inside" Emma mentioned, "Are you gonna tell me you have that thing in your back pocket?", "No, what I was thinking is, playing cards come inside a box, if we can find the box these guys came out of perhaps we can trap them back inside". Regina wrinkled her forehead and laughed silently to herself. "Boy am I glad you're on my side" She said, taking complete faith in Emma's plan. Emma grinned, glad Regina approved of her idea.
Regina pushed the door open and together they snuck down the corridor in search for the playing cards box. The first hallway lead to what looked like another set of cells. The second was almost exactly the same. How many people did Zelena think she was going to have trapped down here? Thankfully the third corridor lead to a study. A giant desk stood alone in the centre of the room. Something about the room looked familiar. Emma squinted into the drab room and spotted two armchairs. Then it hit her. "We're in the mansion. Regina this is the secret room behind the library" Emma exploded. Regina thought back to the tiny doll house and recovered the memory of Emma searching through the desk. Together they both said, "The box". Emma grew kind of excited as they tiptoed into the room. Regina kept a lookout while Emma lifted the lid of the desk. Sure enough, inside was the card box, the pacifier, blank paper and green quill. Although the compact mirror was not amongst the other objects it didn't really matter, they got what they needed. Emma picked up the box and forced open the top, a red light glowed from inside, powered by magic. This was it.
Emma and Regina strolled over to the bookshelf and pushed against the 'Clues To The Curse' book. As Regina's fingertip clicked the book into place the bookshelf began to spin. Many voices belonging to the guards began shout alarmingly, the sound of running footsteps grew louder. "Freeze" one of the Jack guards boomed over the stomping of feet. He pointed his spear at them both. "I wouldn't do that if I were you" Regina chuckled. With that Emma produced the card box and pointed the glowing red light at the guards. "I think it's about time you got back in your box" Regina smiled. The guard suddenly looked panicked and tried to scramble backwards, but it was no use, the magic of the box was stronger than he and so dragged him and the fifty other cards towards their fate. The guards shouted and screamed out, cursing Emma and Regina as they shrunk in size and drew into the box. Just as the last guard was placed inside; the two ripped pieces of guard Three floated towards them. He too disappeared inside the box. Emma laughed and shut the lid. Regina noticed a roll of sellotape on a table in the library. She bit off a piece of the sticky tape and wrapped it around the two openings to the box before dropping it into the bin. "Let's get out of here" she spoke smiling to Emma. Emma returned Regina's look of achievement and followed her out of the house. Once they got into open air Regina was able to poof them somewhere safer to come up with a new plan to get Neal back.

It was now early evening and the blue sky turned into the colour of whiskey as the sun began to set. Regina sat on a large rock staring into the distance. Emma walked slowly over to her and knelt at her feet, peering into Regina's chocolate brown eyes. "Gold said Zelena was here" Regina said after a moments silence. Emma sighed, "Well perhaps she was and she left just as we got here. There's no reason for Gold to lie to us", "How can you be so sure of that?" Regina asked, "Rumpelstiltskin doesn't exactly have a great previous record of telling the truth" she added worryingly. "What should we do?" Emma asked, "I don't know but I think leaving the mansion was a mistake. We're out in the open here, that rabbit said there were many dark creatures on her side. We're not safe" Regina told a slight fear sounding in her voice. "Then let's go back to the mansion, there are other rooms, loads that I didn't get chance to look in, perhaps the cloak is in one of them" Emma suggested, "Maybe, maybe not, but it's worth a shot" Regina agreed. With that she summoned her magic and the purple smoke took them back to the grand mansion.
This time Emma reached out for the door handle for real. She and Regina stepped into the real hallway and took in their surroundings. Everything looked so fresh and expensive, including the ugly painting of the flying monkey. The staircase perched up ahead, Regina lowered her gaze and stared at the red carpeted steps. "Ready?" She asked when Emma joined her gaze. Emma nodded. Together they took their first step up the stairs and steadily made their way to one of the unexplored rooms. All the doors were the same; tall, narrow and wooden. Emma went to twist the doorknob. "Wait" Regina said stopping Emma from touching. She lifted her own hand and attempted to touch the door. As she got closer a green light flashed in front of them. Emma gasped and jumped back. Regina waved her hand and brushed away the spell. She then opened the door and stepped aside, allowing Emma to enter the room. The interior wasn't what Emma expected. Unlike the other rooms this one had been completely destroyed. A mirror that hung to the wall was smashed and gave off a thousand reflections due to the many chipped pieces of glass. The curtains were ripped to shreds, pillows and cushions had been torn apart, the white stuffing sprawled across the blood stained floor. "What the hell happened in here?" Emma mouthed. Regina didn't reply, instead she ran her finger across a dusty tabletop. When she looked down at the grey grime clinging to her fingertip she noticed a transparent trail in it's wake. The table was made of glass. She used her elbow to wipe away the remaining dust and almost choked on the shock of what she had appeared to have found. "Emma" she breathed shakily. Emma put down the vase she had been looking at and shot to Regina's side. When she looked through the glass her jaw dropped open. The compact mirror that had once resided in the desk downstairs was now locked inside, fully enchanted allowing them to see into the realm where its sister resided. The image from the other realm shone through the glass, glimmering with a bright light. "I know that place" Emma said. Regina swallowed making Emma think that she also knew the place the mirror portrayed."We need to get back to Storybrooke" Regina disclosed turning and marching from the room.
Back outside Emma gripped onto the whistle around her neck and blew it firmly. "Did it work?" Regina asked when Emma removed the whistle from her lips. "I don't know" Emma replied, slightly confused by the lack of sound the whistle made. It was silent for a moment until a rustling sound reverberated from behind. Emma grabbed Regina's hand meaning to protect her from whatever was about to become known to them. A silver light emitted from her palms and locked itself tightly around both Emma and Regina. Just then a small white figure materialized. The white rabbit emerged before them. "Oh thank god" Emma panted relieved, the silver enchantment fizzling out. "Did you get what you came for?" the white rabbit asked, "No but we're a step closer to finding Neal, we need a portal back to Storybrooke" Emma told without mentioning why. The white rabbit nodded and immediately began to cast a spell. A large blue circle formed on the ground, growing deeper as it spread in width. "Good Luck" The white rabbit jested taking a step back. Emma took Regina's hand and together they leaped inside the magical rabbit hole. In a flash they fell onto a grassy embankment outside of the abandoned house, back in Storybrooke.