Walking in Darkness

Chapter 3

Emma

As Regina's command leaves her lips, my whole body stiffens, obeying her immediately. Sitting down, I realise that when she said 'not do anything', the dagger took it 100% literally. I am not breathing. I can't even move my arms. I try my best to fight it, needing to breath, and manage it. For a moment, my arms rise to my throat and scrabble around as I desperately try to inhale, but a searing pain shoots through me and my arms drop back down to my sides. Regina doesn't notice, but Killian watches me and, as soon as I start struggling, he cries out.

"Regina! She can't breathe." She turns around and holds the dagger out in front of her again.

"Breathe," She commands, and I gasp as my throat clears, oxygen rushing back into my lungs. Damn her for having the dagger. Damn me for giving her the dagger and agreeing to their stupid plans. Why couldn't the darkness be less obvious? That would solve all of my problems.

"Killian, meet us back at the Charmings' loft. We shouldn't be too long." She adds, seeing the look of worry cross his face. Reluctantly, he goes to the door, shooting one last look at me before leaving.

As these thoughts finish running through my head, stars appear in my vision before everything goes black.

I come to moments later in the same position, my body still obeying Regina's earlier command. I try to make eye contact with her to let her know that I've changed back, but she is facing the other way, and the only thing I can do is breathe.

She finally turns around and notices that I'm back to normal, so she revokes her command, holding the dagger in front of her. I stand up thankfully and turn to her.

"Well," I say, walking towards her, "now we know that the dagger is very literal, and that I can still be controlled when I'm back to normal. That makes it even more important that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands." She sighs.

"I will guard it with my life."

Regina

I put the dagger back in my inside coat pocket, placing a protection spell around it when I'm done. Emma can be controlled with it even when she's not the Dark Swan, which leads me to believe that she will still have her dark magic under her saviour magic as well.

I follow her out the door of her house, and we hurry to deliver the news to Snow and Charming. She pulls open the passenger door before walking around and getting into the driver's seat. I cringe at the brightness of the yellow, the sun shining off the bonnet blinding me for a moment until I get used to it.

"Why is your car go garish, Emma?" It doesn't exactly blend in in this town. The bright yellow stands out against the dark brown of the wall behind it, and the headlights, that the idiot has left on even in pure daylight, shine onto the road, illuminating the drain.

"I like yellow!" She protests, looking back at me and laughing. "Anyway, at least I don't drive like I own the road." I roll my eyes.

"Is that your idea of a good comeback? Anyway, Technically, I do. I am the Mayor."

"Actually, no. Gold owns the entire town, which means he owns the roads. And, since we're getting technical, my Mum's the Mayor, because she cast the last curse." We get in the car and drive to her parents', parking outside and running up the stairs. I knock smartly on the door.

Hook opens it a moment later.

"Regina!" He cries, a look of concern taking over his face. "What's wrong?" I should have known he'd think something bad had happened. It does every other week in Storybrooke, after all. The Charmings come up behind him and Snow notices Emma behind me.