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*
Emma can't remember much besides the wet, wooden plank to her head. Blood darkens Regina's fingertips.
"Oh... this is nice..." she mumbles, letting a concerned-looking Regina examine her.
Her eyes drop to Regina's cleavage in her unbuttoned silk shirt.
"Very nice..."
Regina notices Emma's voice going husky, scoffing good-naturedly. "Is this REALLY appropriate to—"
They're interrupted by a woman forcefully dragging in an unimpressed Henry.
"You..." Regina drawls, narrowing her eyes. "You were the mermaid on Hook's ship. I turned you into a statue."
Emma blinks, shakily wiping blood from her eye.
The Neverland mermaid? She didn't recognize her without the jeweled headpiece. Or fins.
"And I have your son as my hostage."
The mermaid-with-human-legs grins nastily, pressing her dagger harder to Henry's throat. Its blade oiled with cuttlefish toxin.
"Choose who will die, Henry," she croons. "Your mom... or your other mom."
Henry scoffs a familiar Regina scoff.
"I'd rather die."
Groaning, Emma Henry's name and struggles standing. Her vision woozy. Regina lets Emma go, cursing, summoning her magic. She runs when the dagger buries into Henry's shoulder so suddenly. The mermaid's grin widens. Emma feels her heart stutter—
"—mm, no..." Emma says sleepily, Regina's fingers brushing her forehead.
"What was that?"
"Henry..."
She thumps Emma's cheek instead. "Emma, wake the hell up," Regina declares, straightening up, her nudeness glowing in the lamplight. Emma does, blinking and finding nothing. She squirms, touching over her bare breast. Emma's heart still feels uneasy.
"I had... a dream or something..."
Regina seizes Emma's face with both hands, so suddenly, gazing into Emma's pupils as if searching something in the dark.
"A vision," Regina corrects, becoming stern. "Tell. me. everything."
She tries.
Henry....
*