The Way

Chapter Fourteen

Startled into wakefulness, Emma Swan groaned and opened her eyes. Her head lifted just long enough for her to determine that Cora was no longer in the room, no longer inflicting pain upon her, and no longer making bizarre accusations such as Emma's harboring another's soul within the confines of her heart. She allowed her head to drop again, for it felt as though it weighed tons, and allowed her mind to drift back to the dream she'd just experienced.

Regina.

She'd kissed Regina in this dream—and then she'd watched her die.

Where had that come from?

Could this be what had been happening to Regina herself in her own dreams? Was this why she had been so unwilling to share the details? Because, if this theory was true, Emma fully understood why Regina would be uncomfortable talking to her about it. Dreams like that would indeed be difficult to deal with. Still, it was only a theory.

The sound of a door opening somewhere in the darkness jolted Emma back to reality, and within moments the silhouettes of three individuals entered the cavern, and Emma's stomach dropped.

"Mom?"

Henry's voice echoed against the stone walls, but something restrained and prevented him from running to her. Cora stood behind him, her hand resting on his shoulder, and Emma was able to see that his wrists were bound by a glowing string of light—magic, obviously. Her attention turned to the other figure in the room, and when she realized her father was with Cora as well she began to struggle, re-energized in her rage, against her own bonds. Still, her efforts were useless, just as they had been before. With her injury and her exhaustion, the chains held fast.

"I brought you some company, Miss Swan!" Cora's voice exclaimed from a few meters away, and Emma could hear the sickening smile in her tone. She wanted nothing more than to wrap her hands around the crazed woman's neck and end her once and for all.

"What do you want from me?" Emma snarled, leaning as far from the wall as the chains would let her.

Cora chuckled as she situated Henry and Charming a few meters away from her, and then magicked some light into the cavern.

Emma squinted and blinked until her eyes adjusted to the change in lighting, and then glanced around. She recognized this place! They were beneath Regina's vault!

"Right now I am simply waiting for my daughter to arrive," Cora told them all, her smile never fading. "All that is left for me to do is to greet her when she does, allow her to see that I have done the hard work of capturing you on her behalf, and then remove you and your father from the picture. She will have her happy ending, I will see to that."

Emma laughed bitterly.

"You've never wanted her to be happy. If you did, you wouldn't have ruined her life time and time again."

"People change, Miss Swan. Time changes things. You preached that much yourself just a short while ago."

Emma looked at Henry, then her father, back to Henry, and then to Cora.

"So you should understand that I was speaking the truth when I made those claims."

Cora only smiled and, with a rough shove, sent Henry and David against the cold stone walls a good distance from each other, and a good distance from Emma as well.

"I know my daughter, Miss Swan."

"She saved us."

"For her son, not for you."

Henry's voice jumped into the fray.

"You won't get away with this! My mom will be here soon and then you'll pay!"