Regina's Jewel

Chapter Twenty-Five

After leaving the graveyard, Jewel walked back through town clutching her coat tighter to her body and ignored all the fearful looks she was getting. She was getting tired of people judging her without giving her the chance to prove she had changed, sure, she had done many terrible things in the past but that was before being here in Storybrooke made her realise who she wanted to be. She just wanted a chance, that's all.

She walked past Gold's shop and peered into the windows and saw him talk to his girlfriend, Belle about something. Shrugging it off as nothing, she continued walking towards the station and unlocked the door with her key.

Turning on the lights, she could tell no one had been here for a while and sat her coat down on the desk in front of her. Papers were dotted around, an empty coffee cup was in front of the computer and one of Emma's leather jackets were on the back of the chair. Jewel sighed and sat down burying her face into her hands. 

She didn't hear someone walk in until the door to the office opened. "Jewel?"

Jewel looked up and wiped her tears. "Emma...hey"

"What are you doing here?"

"I do still work here, ya know," she chuckled. "I'm just thinking"

Emma walks further into the office. "You couldn't have done that at home?"

"Have you tried living with my mum?"

Emma nods like she understood. "Right yeah..."

"You think we could try and keep the place tidier? This still is a Sherriff station ya know," Jewel quickly stood up and started cleaning up the papers to try and distract her from the awkwardness in the room.

"We've had stuff to deal with, like Archie-" Jewel froze and looked down making Emma sigh. "I'm sorry Jewel, but with his death, we've had stuff to sort out"

"Like figuring out how to turn the town and Henry against me and my mother?" Jewel hisses, turning to glare at Emma. "We didn't kill Archie!"

Emma glared back. "What else am I supposed to think? I saw it myself!"

"You could have seen wrong! Your magic is rusty, you've never used it before!"

"I know what I saw," Emma says firmly. "Be thankful that I haven't pressed charges further"

"Thankful?" Jewel snorted and picked up her coat. "No, you should be thankful that I haven't ripped out your heart for accusing me and my mother of such things. We're doing our damn hardest to prove that we want to change and once again, you Charmings ruin it for us! That's all you guys do, ruin things for us so we don't get our happy endings!" Jewel and Emma were now standing face-to-face. "Well, I'm going to prove it to you that we didn't kill Archie and you'll have no choice but to beg for our forgiveness and you better pray we're in a good mood" Emma swallows thicky. "Say 'hello' to Henry for me"

Jewel poofed herself out of the station and appeared at the one place she can think, the docks. She sat down on the nearby bench and sighed as she gazed out at the open sea ahead of her. A boat creaked from behind her and she turned expecting to see one, but she saw nothing making her eyebrows furrow in confusion. Was she hearing things now?

After a few minutes of sitting at the docks, Jewel stood up and walked back into town to head back home. She looked down whilst walking and bumped into someone. 

"Watch it- hey, you're Belle right?" she asked the brown haired girl.

Belle nodded, looking fearful. "Yeah...and you're Jewel, the Dark Princess"

Jewel forced a smile. "I really don't like it when people call me that"

"What am I supposed to call you? You and your mother locked me in a cell before the curse and when the curse was cast, locked me in that asylum. You live up to your name"

"That was in the past," Jewel groaned. "I'm sorry okay? I'm trying to change and it's a lot harder than I was expecting"

"Well, try harder, your majesty"

Belle walked off leaving Jewel standing there stunned, she collected her thoughts and walked away not knowing that Belle was about to be put in danger. 

She reached her house and walked straight in, she took her heels off and collapsed on the couch. The whole town hated her and her mother, she couldn't even walk the streets without people glaring at her. As tears fell from her eyes, she laid down and let sleep consume her.

*

Night had fallen when Jewel was awoken from her nap by her mobile phone ringing. She sat up, rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and answered the call without checking who it was. "Yeah?"

"Hey Jewel, it's Emma-"

-"Miss Swan, if you want another fight, can we do it another time?"

"No, that's not why I'm calling," Emma says. "How fast can you and your mother get to my apartment?"

"I dunno why?" asks Jewel, standing up.

"I need to speak to you both"

"My mother's out at the moment, so it'll just me be" Jewel heads for the front door and slips her shoes back on. 

"That's fine, just get here"

Emma hangs up and Jewel stares at her phone for a moment before she slips it into her pocket and grabs her coat. Once she's straightened herself up, she waves her hand and poofs herself into Emma's and the Charming's apartment, landing in the living room.

"I'm here- Henry!" Henry rushes over to Jewel and embraces her. Jewel hugs him tight whilst closing her eyes, loving the feeling of her little brother in her arms again. They hug for a few seconds before they pull apart. "Why am I here?"

Emma enters the room. "You were right"

"I'm right about a lot of things," Jewel giggles. "But what about this time?"

Emma points behind her and Jewel's eyes winded at the sight in front of her. "Archie? But- how?"