88And finally, the last chapter!
What an absolute ride it has been.
To be honest, I had my doubts this fic would ever be completed, and yet, here we are!
This chapter ended up getting a bit longer, but I figured that no one would enjoy me telling them they would have to wait for yet another chapter after this.
Let's get started on the end of the story.
Enjoy!
Emma and Regina's faces were nearing, almost touching, going in for a kiss, when Dancer made a sound of distress and they rapidly began losing altitude.
"Hang on," Regina said, taking tighter control of the reins as Emma yelped and fell back onto her seat, clutching again for her dear life.
Something was seriously wrong. Dancer was trying to keep climbing, but they were still free falling. Without much of an alternative, Regina mustered as much magic as she could and teleported the entire carriage and deposited them in Zelena's backyard with a definitive thump, safely on the ground.
Regina took a look at Emma and saw that she was practically shaking, chest heaving as she took big gulps of air. She didn't have much time to check in with Emma before her attention was drawn to the glass doors of the house as they blew open, and Zelena and Belle came rushing out, with Cora, Mulan and Snow trailing behind them.
A chorus of worried questions greeted them. "What happened?" "Are you okay?"
With a definitive shush from Regina, she moved closer Emma, and laid a soft hand on the other woman's shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?"
Emma smiled softly and nodded. "Your landing skills could use some work."
Regina cracked a smile at that. "Funny. Now come on, let's get you inside and warmed up."
Zelena and Belle immediately reached forward to help Emma down, while Snow and Mulan went towards Regina, who had jumped down from the other side and was going to check on Dancer.
"We can take care of her, you go with Emma," Mulan said, nudging her head to the trio slowly going in. Cora stood close by, ready to accompany Regina inside.
She acquiesced, truth was, she would rather not leave Emma alone. Nor did she herself want to be alone. She was confused and she was worried about the situation. There was something seriously wrong. Dancer was a highly experienced reindeer. If she fell, it had been because someone, or something, had interfered.
When she entered, she found Zelena leading Emma to the living room while Belle had rushed off, presumably to find blankets. Cora headed into the kitchen, mumbling something about hot cocoa, leaving Regina to trail behind her sister and girlfriend, removing her jacket in the process.
The living room wasn't too large, but it was cozy. It had rich wood panels, a few couches, and a large fireplace. Zelena had opted to sit Emma down on the couch nearest the fireplace, with a coffee table in front of it.
Zelena then helped Emma remove her jacket. Once that was off, Belle swooped in and wrapped a warm blanket around Emma's shoulders, depositing another blanket onto Regina's shoulders with a reassuring rub on her shoulder.
As Regina approached Emma, she saw that Zelena was flicking her wrist, getting the fireplace to light up.
Emma yelped at that, eyes widened in surprise, clutching the blanket tight around her.
Zelena rounded off to Regina with confusion. "I thought she knew? Hence the flying and crash landing?"
Regina winced. "We didn't get much further than 'magic is real.'"
"You know magic too?" Emma piped up, looking around at everyone in the room. "Does everyone in this household know magic?"
Belle raised her hand. "Except me, and Robyn is too young for us to know."
If anything, that just made Emma's eyes widen even more.
Regina cleared her throat and approached Emma. "I think it's best that I just explain everything."
Zelena originally didn't get the hint, and had to have Belle drag her away, muttering under her breath. Cora silently came in and deposited two mugs on the table before she also left, giving Regina a pointed look.
"So," Regina began after a moment of heavy silence. She sat down and grabbed one of the mugs, offering it to Emma.
Emma shook her head and smiled politely. "I'm okay, thanks."
"You sure? My mother's cocoa is magical."
"Literally or figuratively?" Emma quipped.
Regina chuckled. "I think a bit of both. It helps with nerves, I should know."
Emma tentatively reached out and took the drink. She took a small gulp and immediately hummed. "You're not kidding. How much alcohol did she sneak into this?"
"You'd have to ask her, but good luck - she considers the recipe a trade-secret of sorts and she's not going to give it up so quickly. All I know: she sprinkles cinnamon on it."
With a snap of her fingers, Emma triumphantly said, "That's what it was!"
They continued sitting in relative silence, and eventually, Regina ventured to ask, "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, and I am open to answering all of them."
Emma didn't say anything at first, choosing to drink a bit more of her cocoa. And then, "So, you're an elf?"
Regina set her cup down to unclasp the glamour from her neck and raise her hair a bit, showing off her pointed ears.
"Whoa. Why didn't you open with that?" Emma asked, gaping, leaning forward to get a better look.
Regina sighed, letting her hair fall back down, grabbing her warm drink once more. "I meant what I said earlier tonight. Getting someone to believe in magic when they don't believe already is really hard. The mind is capable of rationalizing anything it wants."
"Like the elephant?"
"Yes. I had two choices: bring an elephant out of nothing, which would involve a lot of magic usage, which is a story unto itself, or bring an elephant from nearby. I did the latter, and while you nearly believed, the trainer came in at the worst moment. What you ended up believing was that it was just a wayward elephant that was in proximity, rather than me having used my magic to teleport a giant animal out of their cage and towards us."
"But Dancer flying?"
Regina grimaced. "That's more of an 'diving off the deep end' type of initiation. I had no guarantee that it would work. For all I knew, you might think I had been playing a visual trick on you. Or that I had plied you with hallucinogenics or enough booze to make you think you were flying."
"Kind of hard to think of that as anything but real," Emma laughed softly.
"That's true, but I couldn't be sure…" Regina looked down at her mug.
Emma nodded slowly. "So then why did you do it?"
"Because I couldn't lose you," Regina said with a sigh, looking back up at Emma. "I knew that if I let you leave, I would never get another chance to explain, to get you to believe."
There were a few moments of silence before Emma reached out with her free hand to rub Regina's shoulder softly. "Despite everything, I am glad you told me."
"Really? I thought you'd be terrified," Regina laughed.
Emma joined in the laughter. "At your flying? Sure. At magic being real? It changes so many things, and only doubles my questions."
Regina sat up straighter and grinned. "Well, ask away."
And Emma didn't disappoint. "So, why are you here? Isn't this the crucial moment that you're all supposed to be preparing for Christmas?"
"Somewhat." And so Regina set out to explain their whole problem. Emma listened raptly. She asked questions at certain intervals and Regina was more than happy to comply.
By the end, Regina was sure that Emma's mind was blown.
"I don't know what's wilder: the fact that the North Pole is real, or that my kid's best friend's family is made up of mostly elves."
Regina laughed. "It's a lot to take in. I can understand if this changes things between us…"
Emma set down her mug back on the table, and even edged closer to Regina. "It does, but in a good way. I like you Regina, a lot, and while this is quite a big discovery, I want to help."
"You have no idea how much that means to me," Regina said, setting her own cup down, hoping that now she would be able to kiss Emma.
"We've got a big problem," Snow said, scrambling into the room, getting Emma and Regina to jump back.
Regina whipped around to face the other elf, wondering what could possibly be the problem. "What is it?"
"We've all lost our magic."
"Can you guys lose your magic like that?"
Emma and Regina's moment had been put on hold and they were all now having an impromptu emergency meeting to try and resolve this latest conundrum.
Regina had looked at her magic watch, and after briefly showing 30%, it was now stuck at zero. Not even gently banging it on the counter did anything to the dial.
They all checked, no one had any magic that they could access, except for Regina. She was afraid to use it, in case it was limited and she needed it for an emergency.
"Not ideally, but I can think of one gnat that would do this," Regina responded Emma's question, eyes narrowing.
They all turned to Tink, who could only look helplessly apologetic. "I swear I have no idea what's going on. Even my magic is gone."
"Mainly because we're holding you here," Mulan gritted. "And I'm not afraid of using you as leverage."
"Easy," Regina said calmly. "We need to find a way to resolve this. There's barely a month left till Christmas, and we need to find a way to get to the North Pole and get Blue to stop."
Tink timidly offered, "I can try to reach out to her?"
Cora tutted. "If I had to hazard a guess dear, I'd say you've been let go as an 'acceptable loss'."
Tink blanched at that.
"Any chance we can get Dancer back flying?" Snow suggested.
Regina shook her head. "That would involve an immense amount of magic and not only do I not know how much magic I have, but I don't want to waste all of it before we get there in case she puts up a fight."
"Dumb question but," Emma began, "any chance you guys can catch a plane there?"
Zelena made a face. "Yes and no. You could, but good luck explaining all of that to the poor pilot."
Belle suggested, "How about the fireplace? Didn't Blue come through that?"
"That would be the best option, but potentially dangerous: that would leave us in the middle of the workshop, and we need to treat Blue as hostile," Regina explained. "If we walk in to an ambush that won't do us any favours."
In the end, they decided to call it a night. They were getting nowhere, and everyone was getting tired. It was past 2am and "some of us have work to get to, and New York traffic to battle," as Zelena succinctly put it.
Emma and Regina didn't get the chance to talk again, and while Emma was ready to take Henry home, everyone insisted that Emma take the extra guest bedroom and stay there rather than go out at this time of night. She agreed, and soon enough, everyone was heading to bed.
Except Regina.
Regina made her way to the fireplace slowly, knowing that any small sound could alert someone to her sneaking around. She approached the fireplace, and lit it up with a fireball, getting ready to use her magic to transport herself back to the North Pole.
"I'm going too."
Regina whipped around to see that Tink was standing by the doorway. She was so surprised she at first didn't quite register what the fairy was asking. "What?"
Tink pointed to the fireplace. "You are clearly going to the North Pole, and I'm going with you."
"Why?" Regina's immediate reaction was mistrust.
"I want to help. Besides, I know no one trusts me, and if you leave, Mulan is sure to blame me. Maybe I can be some buffer between you and Blue…"
Regina was truly contemplating what to do. On one hand, she knew that what Tink was saying was right, and she could use the extra help; on the other, what if this was Blue's entire plan, to have Tink infiltrate their team? She decided to take a chance. "Alright, I have no idea how much magic I have, so let's get this done quickly, and before anyone else decides to tag along."
Tink scurried to stand beside Regina, and once Regina had prepared the portal, she took a deep calming breath, wondering what might be waiting for them on the other side.
"Ready?" Regina asked, holding out her hand. Tink nodded and clasped the offered hand. Together, they stepped through the fireplace, and into the North Pole.
To Regina's immense surprise, she didn't walk into an ambush. In fact, her workshop was dark and quiet, too quiet.
"Isn't the workshop always open?" Tink asked.
Regina was wondering the same thing. There was usually a few elves who were mingling about at all hours, but there wasn't anyone around. She had an inkling of where she would find someone with the answers, and began walking there with purpose.
"Where are we going?" Tink asked, following a few steps behind.
"My office. I'm sure I will find your beloved head fairy there."
Sure enough, when Regina blew the doors open with her magic, she found a small group of fairies convening, with Blue at the head. They all turned around to face her as she entered, and Blue's face contorted in rage as she shot up from her seat.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Blue shrieked.
Regina didn't cower, and rather just raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "I was wondering that myself. Last I checked, I was the ruler of the North Pole, which means that I am the only person who has the authority to-"
"Not anymore. In your absence, I have taken matter into my own hands, and I have formed a Magical Council and we all agreed that you didn't have anyone's best interests at heart, so I have usurped you from your position."
"Wh-" Regina was flabbergasted, to say the least. "I refuse to believe a word that you're saying. I will go to speak to this Council myself and-"
"You are looking at them." Blue presented the group of fairies with a flourish, and a few of them waved shyly at Regina.
"And what gives you the right to form this Council, gnat?" Regina wasn't sure if she wanted to yell at Blue more or just throw a fireball at her calmly smug face.
"It's simple. I was taking a look at the clauses that give you your power, and came across this tidbit: If the leader of the North Pole, having been absent from their post for over three weeks, seems to be shirking their duties, concerned citizens are allowed to form a Council in order to hold a trial to decide whether to replace the leader."
"Then when is the trial?" Tink asked, since Regina was absolutely dumbfounded by all of this information.
Blue's surprise and indignation at Tink's insubordination was short-lived, as she quickly recovered by saying, "I sent out a notice. It was last week"
"I never received anything," Regina ground out.
"Hmm, that's unfortunate," Blue said, clearly not sounding remorseful at all. "Nonetheless, the decision stands. You're out."
When the doorbell rang in the morning, Zelena answered it, none the wiser to Regina's absence yet.
The mailman greeted Zelena with a quirky smile and handed her a letter. "Someone clearly has a sense of humour," he said, holding out a machine to get her signature.
As Zelena signed, she asked, "Why?"
"They listed the return address as the North Pole, suffice it to say that our system first thought this was a scam, so it got a bit delayed. Hope it wasn't anything important."
Zelena closed the door with a huff; after seeing who it was for, she went towards Regina's room and banged on the door. "You've got a letter from the Pole."
When Regina didn't respond, Zelena cracked the door open a bit and said, "I'm coming in, you better be decent in there."
Opening the door wider, she saw that her sister wasn't there. She didn't get much time to process before Mulan came bounding up to her, breathless. "The fairy is gone!"
"So is Regina...did Tink take her?" Zelena mused out loud.
"If she did, she has a lot of nerve," Mulan gritted.
They headed back into the kitchen, where Belle and Emma were idly chatting near the counter, with Robyn and Henry playing nearby. Snow was standing by the doorway, nursing a mug of cocoa.
"Have any of you seen Regina?" Zelena asked.
Emma's eyes grew with worry. "No. Why, where is she?"
Mulan said, "Gone as, best as we can tell. The thing is, we don't know if Tink took her."
"Took her?" Cora asked, waltzing into the kitchen way too dressed up to have woken up that way. "What could she gain from that?"
"Regaining favour with Blue?" Mulan suggested, hands tightening into fists.
Snow hummed. "We can't just jump to conclusions. What do we really know?"
"And what's that letter about?" Cora asked, gesturing with her chin at the letter in Zelena's hand.
Zelena tore the envelope open, silently apologizing to her sister for opening her mail, and began to read the letter. "Well shit. It seems that Blue has invoked a clause to kick Regina out of the Pole!"
A chorus of confusion answered her, but Cora shushed them all. When everyone silenced, she asked, "What clause is she trying to invoke?"
"Invoked - past tense. She did it last week. But the letter just got here now."
"Let me see." Cora held out her hand for the letter, and Zelena handed it over. After scanning it for a bit, she huffed. "This is a bunch of nonsense, and I can stop this. Now, how can we get to the Pole?"
"If I am 'out', as you say, then why do I still have my magic?" Regina asked.
Blue frowned, confused as well. "You shouldn't, but nonetheless. I shut down your little workshop, sent everyone home, and turned off the generator that allows anyone from accessing their magic. It's the best way to conserve magic."
"But I was getting magic back! We were up to 30%-"
"Which is less than what you left the Pole with."
"Because you drained it! I had 10 and managed to raise it to 30. You keep changing the rules and trying to make me fail, so stop with this nonsense at once and let me finish my mission."
"No, I don't think I will," Blue said with a weary sigh. "You see, I had a plan, and if you had only just stayed in the Pole and not done anything, it would have worked in your favour so well."
Regina's mind was going into overdrive as she thought. Blue was clearly an opportunist, but this seemed to be way too meticulous to have been thought up on the fly by herself, even before Regina had left the Pole. And then it dawned on her. "You're working with Rumpelstiltskin."
The other fairies all gasped and turned to look at Blue, to see if she would dispel the rumours. But Blue only let out a blood-chilling laugh, further confirming. "And it was the perfect plan. But I don't have time to regale you with the entire story. I have to prepare to cancel Christmas, so my fairies here will just lock you up and I can continue with my work."
"You won't get away with this," Regina ground out, while the fairies in the Council were reluctantly standing up, somewhat confused by the situation, unsure as to who they should be listening to.
Blue laughed mirthlessly once again. "And who's going to stop me? Your friends in New York? Face it Regina, you're done." To the fairies, she said, "And if you lot want to keep your wings, I'd suggest listening to me."
She left with a definitive slam of the door, leaving everyone confused. The fairies certainly understood Blue's words for what they were: a threat, and none of them were too brave to try and stand up to her. So they went to follow her orders, and approached Regina and Tink.
One fairy asked, "Does the Pole even have a prison?"
Regina sighed. She needed to figure something out, fast.
"Are we sure this is going to work?" Emma asked as they all stood in Zelena's backyard. Personally, she was freezing her butt off and her jacket could only ward off so much of the cold. The elves, Zelena and Cora looked completely unaffected by the cold, and she had to envy them, making a mental note to ask Regina if she could build such an immunity to the cold.
"It will," Cora said, scanning the sky.
Suddenly, they all heard it. A roar that, to someone who wasn't paying attention, would think that it was the engine of a plane flying by. But Emma saw a giant dragon flying right at them.
"Should we move out of the way?" Emma asked with trepidation, backing up a few steps.
Zelena chuckled. "Nope, she knows where she's going."
Emma had closed her eyes and braced against the deck, and with a dull thump that shook the ground, the dragon landed in the garden. When she opened her eyes again, she was staring at a real-life dragon. "Holy shit."
"First time is always a bit crazy," Belle said with a sympathetic smile. "But this is Mal, and I promise you, she is much more fun when she is a human."
The group of six approached the dragon, who huffed and seemingly shook her head.
"I believe 3 is the maximum she can carry," Cora said, turning back to the group. "So, who else is coming with me?"
"Me," Zelena and Emma chorused. They looked at each other and nodded.
"Then, let's go."
As Regina paced for what was probably the millionth time, Tink groaned. "You are going to wear out the stables' floor at this rate."
"It's your friends' fault for thinking this was an adequate 'prison'," Regina said, gesturing around to the empty stalls around them. She hoped the other reindeer were alright.
Tink hummed, fiddling with the haystack she was sitting on. "Don't think too harshly of them. We...we've all lived under Blue's guidance for so long-"
"You mean fear. She tells you all to jump, and you say how high."
"I- yes. She threatens us with so many things, but promises us so much more-"
Regina sat beside Tink and put a comforting hand on the fairy's arm. "Don't worry. Once we get out of here, we'll remove her and see if we can't get the fairies under a new leadership."
Tink nodded and smiled. "I'd like that. Now that you're done pacing around, how about we get out of here?"
"And do what?" Regina asked. "I can only try to annoy Blue so far before she takes more drastic measures."
Before Tink could respond, they heard a distant roar.
"What on earth? That sounds like Mal..."
Tink hummed. "What do you say we get this power-dampening cuff out and see what's going on out there?"
They both looked at the new accessory Regina was sporting. "Pity Blue had to come back and get that on me. And here I thought this would've been easy."
"Easy wouldn't have been any fun." Tink reached into her hair, pulling out a pair of hair clips. She got Regina to rest her wrist onto her lap and got to work.
As Regina watched, she said, "I wouldn't have guessed you to be a lock-picker."
"We can all be full of surprises," Tink responded. After a few more minutes fiddling, she got the cuff unlocked. "See? Fun."
Regina grimaced. "I could have thought of a few different ways to spend my day."
They stood up and walked towards the stable doors. Just as Regina was about to blast the doors open with her magic, they heard another roar and a few panicked screams, followed by cheers.
"I have to say, I'm very puzzled by what we'll find on the other side of these doors," Tink said.
"Let's find out." Regina opened the doors with her magic, where a wondrous scene was playing out in the town square. Mal was perched on the roof of the workshop, screeching and snapping at the fairies, while Cora and Blue were squaring off. Meanwhile, elves were coming out of their houses to provide support and backup.
"Look!" Tink said, pointing at the two figures approaching.
Zelena and Emma were running towards them, and when the latter saw Regina, she bounded up and hugged her tightly.
"You're okay!" Emma said, sighing as she clutched Regina like her life depended on it.
Regina hugged just as tightly back. "You're here? How?"
Emma broke the hug to point at Mal. "I flew here, on a dragon!"
With a chuckle at Emma's pure unadulterated joy, she turned to her sister. "How did you guys know to come here?"
Zelena explained about the letter, and when she was done, she said, "But our mother said that she had a few tricks up her sleeve."
The four of them looked at Cora, who was looking like she was gearing up to fight Blue with her bare fists, which the latter was more than happy to match, rolling up the sleeves of her aptly coloured dress.
"Should we go and help her?" Emma asked with trepidation.
Regina hummed. "While my mother could take Blue any day, I'd rather not let things get to a wild brawl."
They made their way to the two women, and when Blue saw Regina, she huffed and smacked her hands against her side. "Of course you managed to get out."
"Thanks to Tink," Regina said with a smirk, holding up the cuff that was no longer attached to her wrist. "Now, give me one good reason why I shouldn't just make this your new accessory and arrest you for conspiring with that imp to steal our magic supply?"
There were murmurs and seemingly, even the rest of the fairies had stopped fighting. Mal grumbled and laid down on the roof of the workshop to watch everything unfold.
"How dare you?" Cora hissed. "And for what? You do realize he's a self-serving jerk who will dispose you as soon as this transaction is completed, right?"
Blue was flummoxed to say the least. "As opposed to being under your daughter's thumb, who wants to waste magic on a world that believes less and less in us?"
"Because of you!" Regina countered. "I know that you have been meddling with the lists, removing people without consulting me first."
"For the good of the magical world! Non-believers are a lost cause-"
"Like Emma?" Regina interjected, pointing to the woman standing beside her. Emma, for her part, stayed quiet, eyes widened. She felt like she was way in over her head. "Emma didn't believe, and yet I have gotten her to see the truth about magic."
Emma smiled shyly at Blue, who was looking like she was a few seconds away from having her head explose. "And believe me, it took me a while to believe. But Regina is right. To be honest, I'm only here because of she took me on a magical sleigh ride over New York."
Blue rounded off on Regina. "You did what?!"
Before Regina could say anything, Cora said, "We can keep discussing this until the end of times. I'm a bit more direct - Blue, give up and surrender."
"No." Blue gave a saccharine smile to Cora. "I am now the leader of the North Pole, which means that my word is law."
Despite that, Cora didn't seem fazed. "Except that I am the one that wrote the clauses that you tried to use. And unfortunately for you, I know exactly the clause you tried to enact, and that's not how the clause goes."
"Oh, and how does it go?" Blue asked nonchalantly.
"'If the leader of the North Pole, having been absent from their post for over three weeks, has depleted the magical energy reserves, concerned citizens are allowed to form a Council in order to hold a trial to decide whether to replace the leader.' So you see, Regina didn't deplete the magical reserves at any moment. Therefore, you can't actually have formed this bogus council - there was never any infraction in the first place. Which is also why Regina still has her magic. It recognizes the truth, and doesn't accept your sham as legitimate."
"No!" Blue shrieked, her left eye twitching. "Then I invoke the clause that any reckless endangerment-"
"Which is just not true."
"Oh yes, flying a magical sleigh and a dragon is very much in the safe practises area of magic. What if people had seen?!"
Emma cleared her throat. "I might be jumping the gun a bit, but isn't that exactly what you guys should be doing? The way I see it, you guys have been going about this all wrong. You want to make people believe but you guys do it so secretly that it's tough to figure out whether it is magic or a stroke of luck. But a dragon? Hard to dispute with that."
Mal, from her perch, made a noise of agreement.
Blue was so angry by that point, that sparks were flying from her. "I will not be taking cues on magic from someone who didn't believe in this a couple of days ago."
Regina laughed. "It's the new age, Blue. And you are out."
With a swirl of her hand, Regina magicked the cuff onto Blue's wrist, getting the latter to shriek as she tried to pry it off.
"No! I will not let this stand. Fairies, attack!"
However, the fairies just floated in the air, looking in confusion.
"Why aren't any of you attacking?!" Blue demanded.
One fairy, that Regina was certain was named Nova, stepped forward and said, "Because what these women are saying are true, particularly the part about us going about this the wrong way. Neither Regina nor her father have ever steered us wrong, and I think they are our best chance to save magic, without cancelling Christmas."
"No..." Blue could feel that her power was diminishing, and the fairies were becoming more assured, no longer afraid of her. "You can't do this to me!"
Regina walked over to stand in front of Blue, silently daring her to try anything. "And yet, we have. You're done, Blue."
"I will have my revenge, Regina, you will see!" she screeched, as Tink, Nova, and a few other fairies went to take her away.
Unbeknownst to Blue, while she had been talking, Tink was talking to the fairies, explaining to them how things could be different, if they just let go of their fear of Blue. It had worked, and as they all left for their corner of the Pole.
Emma approached Regina, a soft smile on her face. "You did it, how does it feel?"
"Good, I was worried that she actually had the power to kick me out," Regina responded with a shudder.
Cora harrumphed. "Not on my watch. I made sure those clauses could not be misinterpreted."
Zelena gave Cora a side hug and grinned. "And we're all very appreciative, mother."
Leroy approached the group, hat in hand. "Now that that's over, any chance you can turn magic back on? The toys won't get made by themselves."
Regina smiled and nodded. "Of course."
With her magic, she unlocked whatever mechanisms Blue had put in place, and the elves rushed to go turn all the lights back on, filling the workshop with sound and laughter. Regina went to check her pocket-watch, and saw that magic was now at 35%. "Huh, it rose again."
Mal, now human, approached the group, and chuckled. "A few curious eyes might have seen and swore they saw a dragon fly by."
They all laughed at that, and when she sobered up, Cora said, "Now, I imagine we should get Dancer, the elves, and maybe Belle and the kids up here."
"Oh yes, let me help," Regina began to offer, but Cora shook her head.
"It's quite alright dear, your sister, Mal and I can handle it. What do you say, Zelena?"
Zelena readily agreed, leaving Emma and Regina alone. They didn't say anything at first, choosing to move to a quieter area so they weren't interrupted.
"So..." Emma began, with a soft smile.
"So?" Regina parroted, getting the blonde to laugh.
"What happens now?"
"With Christmas? I suppose we just try to catch up so that Blue's interference doesn't delay us, and we try to see if we can get the non-believers to believe again," Regina explained.
Emma bit her lip. "I was also wondering about us?"
"Oh," Regina said, eyes widening. "I-I don't know actually. I mean, I know that I would like to continue seeing you, see where this goes, because I really like you, Emma, a lot."
"I feel the same way," Emma said, stepping ever so closer towards Regina. "But, how would this work? Do I upend my life and move here? Will you come live in New York? I don't think you can but-"
Regina put a comforting hand on Emma's left arm. "We can figure it out as we go along. With the portal, I can visit you any time, and if you did want to move here one day, we have a wonderful school, run by a great woman named Ingrid, you'll love it."
"I'm sure I will," Emma said.
Once again, they went in for a kiss, and this time, they were able to do so, without any interruptions.
All of a sudden, light flowed from them, and everyone took a look at the magic meter, which shot up back to 100%. Cora, from inside the workshop, smiled knowingly, while the elves murmured in surprise and amazement before they began cheering.
But for Emma and Regina, they were so in their own bliss that they didn't hear the commotion and celebration. They were so lost in the moment, and in the kiss, that the magic of their true love's kiss went by unnoticed. There would be time for that later, but for now, they were just content to be together.
Finally, finished.
I want to thank everyone for their patience with this fic, and for waiting. I know a lot of people asked me why it was taking so long, and I feel everyone deserves an explanation.
If I may be serious for a moment, this story was incredibly bittersweet for me to write and to continue and finish because I had originally written this story for someone, but their dismissal/ignoring of this story was pretty hard for me to accept, and essentially it made writing this story (and others) very hard, as I doubted a lot of what I enjoyed writing up until now. Nonetheless, I am happy to have this finished, and I hope you know I am now dedicating this story to all of you, the ones that stuck around, the ones that believe in me and reviewed because you enjoy my writing.
Thank you.
Now, to new adventures!