Memories

Snow Fall

Now that they had freed Charming, they made their way back out of the dungeon and instead went to find Snow to try and talk some sense into her.

"If we can't talk sense in her, what will we do?" Regina asked and looked at the blonde who bit her lip.
"I'm not really sure to be honest."
"Last time, my words didn't seem to come through to her at all... It's like she is bewitched or something." Charming said and Regina looked at him.
"Bewitched?" She asked and stopped in her tracks. "Wait a minute..." She said and turned to everyone. "She's been like this ever since I was chased out of the forest, right?"
"Yeah... But I'm not sure what you're getting at." Charming frowned.
"Didn't your darling wife hire all those dark wizards to overthrow me?"
"Yes..." The man confirmed and then something clicked in his mind.
"You think she's under the control of one of them?" Emma asked and the brunette nodded.
"It's a possibility, yes."

"It would make the most sense. Normally she values my opinion, at least a little bit, but right now she disregards everything anyone says except..."
"Who?" Emma asked and the man groaned.
"The Puppet Master."

It was silent for a while before Regina broke it in an uncharacteristic manner.
"Well, that's just fucking great." She put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes.
"What is it?" Michael asked and frowned. "He doesn't sound too threatening."
"He might have a funny name, but he's anything but fun." The brunette said and crossed her arms. "He can make people do anything he wants when he gets his strings on you. If he really is the one controlling Snow, then we have to be smart about this. We can't just storm in. He can control people from an amazing distance."
"How do you know all this?" Charming asked and the former Queen sighed.
"Because he used to work for me. Apparently Snow made a better target for his world domination plans." She explained and started moving to the throne room again.

"So, what will we do now?" Emma asked and bit her lip. "Can't we at least see if our words will get through to Snow?"
"That's not really the problem in this case. He can't really control their minds. She can hear us, she just can't do anything against his will because he controls her body and her speech. It's like holding someone's heart, just without ripping it out."
"What would happen if we were to take her heart?" Charming asked and Regina turned to look at him.
"That's the point, the strings are around the heart. If we were to rip it out, it would only hurt Snow."
"Well there went that idea." Emma said and groaned. "Why do you even know such troublesome characters." She said and Regina shot her a look like 'Really?' before stopping quite suddenly. Charming bumped into her back and the woman glared at him before moving to take Michael's sword.

"Wh-what are you going to do with that?!" Emma panicked a little and Regina shook her head before reaching up to a nearly invisible thread, using her magic to light it up.
"These seem to go through the entire castle." She said and used the sword to cut it.
"Could we be able to cut them all?" Charming asked and the former Queen nodded.
"In theory, yes. If we were to cut them all, his hold over her would weaken and force him to come out of hiding. He's not particularly strong, but we don't know how many pawns he has."
"I'll cut through all of them, if that's what it takes!" Charming said and Emma smirked.
"Right!"

"Lets do this!" 

~*~

They decided to go in teams of three to find the wires and cut them. Regina had rolled her eyes a little as Charming insisted on going with them, but on the other hand she could hardly blame the man for wanting to be with his daughter that he hadn't seen in a long time.

"So... What is going on between the two of you exactly?" The man asked and looked from his daughter to the former Queen and back to his daughter again. "I can't imagine the two of you becomes best friends overnight." He muttered a little. Regina cocked her eyebrow but decided against a snode remark and instead went for the truth.
"After your dear wife chased me out of the forest, I got injured. Emma found me and nursed me back to health as I had lost all my memories until recently." She said and left it at that. She wasn't about to tell him how they fell in love and how they very much consummated that love too.