genessia | [video]

Damn. That's...damn.

[A beat.]

Do you...know how something like that works? The memory thing?

[Hear that hopeful little note in his voice? Definitely not asking for a friend. Teach him your ways, strange Cocoa Girl.]

Um. Magically?

[ Look Emma's still new to this magic stuff. ]

Sorry. I'd ask someone, but the only person I know for sure has the answer isn't very happy with me right now.

[...damn it. That would have been cool.]

Well, if they're here, maybe I can talk to 'em? I can trade, too--I know some great defense spells I'd be willing to share. And hey, I can teach you a few if you're into that sorta thing. I've met a few magic practitioners here already, but I only know maybe one other person that does anything that looks like the battle magic I learned as a kid.

They are here. [ But Emma has no idea how much of herself Regina has felt like revealing. ] I'll, um. I'll have to ask them first and make sure it's okay. We come from a place where we can't reveal what we can do, so...

...Well, okay, no, not originally. Technically we were both born somewhere magical, but we've both spent more of our lives in a land without magic.

I get it, that's cool. Well, if they're cool with it, y'know. Have 'em come find me--Neil Blair's the name.

That's cool, though--I mean, your story's kinda the opposite of mine. I'm assuming a land without magic's like...the one with cars and pizza and shit? That's where I was born, but I've lived among dragon shifters since I was a kid. Magic fuckin' everywhere, it's where I learned to use mine.

Emma Swan.

Definitely has cars and pizzas. Dragon shifters, huh? Believe it or not, I've met one. She, uh, did not care for me much.

[Not like her? She seems cool enough. It's only a moment before a slow, knowing smile spreads across his face.]

She was a shadow dragon, wasn't she? Yeah, they can kinda be assholes if you don't know how to handle 'em.

Uh...maybe?

In her defense, she'd been locked up under a library for almost thirty years, and I had to cut an egg out of her throat. And I'm sure it didn't help that the person who stuck the egg in her throat was my dad.

...It's complicated.

[Congratulations, Emma. You stunned the dragon mage into silence.

There's no reproach or judgment, just...wow. He absently rubs the back of his neck with a shake of his head.]

Yeah, that's complicated, all right. And that's comin' from a guy who got his heart ripped out on a first date.

[ Oh Jesus Christ. ]

Her name wouldn't be Regina, would it?

[ Like, surely to God, Regina would've told her if Zelena, Cora, or Rumple were kicking around. If she'd known about them.

And this is probably the first time Emma has ever hoped that it was Regina tearing hearts out, because the alternative was worse. ]

[Recognition lights up in his eyes--but so do the rest of his features, with a mix of surprise and delight in his smile. The joy there at the mention of Regina's name is visceral, immediate and sudden and tangible through the image on the feed.]

Yeah! That's her--holy shit, you know her?

[The silent ISN'T SHE WONDERFUL is written in every line of his expression.]

Yeah, we share a son.

[ It's spoken very dismissively, like, that's not important right now. ]

She gave it back to you, right? The heart?

[The delight dims, and the smile softens with warmth, joy becoming something more like affection--and pride at the memory. It left her raw, what she'd done, but he'd never forget what it felt like to kiss her with his heart in her hand...and lodged in his chest for a hot minute, but that was personal.]

Yeah--yeah, she put it back.

[The tender smile on his face lingers for a moment, then he shakes it off, but the good mood remains.]

But go back a sec--you're Henry's biological mother? That's great! Hey, how's he doin'? She hasn't seen him in forever--misses the shit out of him. Ah crap--I'm an asshole. Does she know you're here?

[ And Emma just exhales a quiet sigh of relief. Cause if Regina backslides, bad days are ahead. ]

Okay. Good.

Henry's good--or he was the last time I saw him. He was reading stories to his new uncle.

[ There's a soft, quiet sound, just a brief expulsion of breath. ] Yeah. She knows.

Good. [He sighs in relief--least now Regina can hear it from a good source. She must be thrilled to know Emma is around...

...so why does Emma seem wound up about it?]

You two okay? I mean, I know timelines can get weird--apparently she met me before in some place called New Dodge and I was a moron. Well, a bigger moron...beautiful women make me stupid.

[ Emma inhales and exhales a long, slow breath, a bit of her hair fluttering on the sigh. ]

Honestly? I'm not sure. I'll have to let you know.

Hey--just take it with a grain of salt if she gets up in arms about anything, okay? I mean...you know her. It's Regina. You can handle it.

[Regina, who's been so badly twisted by others and come back from it to tell the tale. Regina, who loves so deeply it's damaging. Regina, who sees something in a man like him--a man who kills and maims with half her issues and a thirst for blood that love and redemption can only deepen.]

And if you need anything, holler. [He shrugs with a wry smile.] I'm a dragon mage--if nothing else, I'm good with healin' burns, 'kay?

[ Oh, Emma has plenty of experience with Regina, and Regina's temper. ]

Yeah, I can handle it. It wouldn't be the first time that she's been pissed at me. I don't even think it'd be the second. Or the third.

[ At least this time Emma thinks she genuinely deserves it. Since most of her crimes in the past have been, like, existing. ]

I believe that. [A beat, then another dopey grin.] She's beautiful when she's pissed. Like, storm lion beautiful, or...shit, that big fuckin' tower in Paris. What's it called? Eichen Tower?--no, that's German...

[ Emma's face is powerfully reminiscent of a grossed out teenager. ]

You know she's my step-grandmother, right?

[ Like. Can you not, dude? ]

[Neil blinks, confused. His mouth works soundlessly...give him a second, he's working through it and Disney is a very fuzzy memory, just ask Regina...

When it hits, his jaw drops open and his eyes widen, a hand going to his mouth in shock.]

Ember's Balls--Snow White is your mom? But--wait, that makes Henry...

[Oh no, he's dangerously close to going cross-eyed.]

Yeah, it's--complicated.

[ Emma has never sat down and tried to draw her family tree--or, even worse, Henry's--and she really doesn't ever want to. It's a lot easier to just ignore the all the twisted branches. ]

Nah, but that's cool. Maybe it's a knotty fuckin' family tree, but you're all close. That's amazing...just...

If you were born in the Enchanted Forest, and you're in his life? How'd Regina end up adopting Henry?

That's also complicated. [ And Emma has no idea how much Regina's told him. ]

My parents...right after I was born, they sent me through a magic tree to escape a curse, because I was the only person who could break it. I got pregnant when I was, well. [ In jail. ] I was way too young to raise a kid.

Flash forward a decade, and Henry tracked me down and brought me to Storybrooke. Where Regina was, and my parents were. So I could break the curse.

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