Bonded Through The Realms 17

“What can I help you with?”Emma asked the man and the woman standing outside the police station. Looking them over suspiciously. She had just finished doing a patrol of the town. With Regina’s concerns fresh in her mind every person she encountered was a threat until she was given evidence to prove otherwise. These two people that she didn’t recognize coming to the station right after she had a fight with Snow and David had her slowly moving her hand to her gun. She didn’t want to kill anyone but she would if it was her life on the line.

“Her majesty sent us over here to help you out.”The woman said.

“Snow sent you?”Emma asked.

The man scowled.”No the actual queen. Not the princess and her false prince.”

“So Regina sent you.”Emma could tell by that statement that they were not alined with Snow. Even if she ordered them to act like they hated her none of her allies would dare call her just a princess and David a false prince.

“She said that Snow will be causing some trouble soon and you could use a couple more officers to help out.”The woman told her.

“Let’s get inside and we can work all this out.”Emma unlocked the station door and ushered the pair inside her office.Taking a seat she motioned to the ones across from her.”Why don’t you two take a seat and tell me who you are.”

“My name is Eliza and this Gerold. We are two of the Queen’s Black Knights.”Eliza told her.

“What did Regina tell you to get your help?”Emma was curious about what Regina told them to get their help.

“She told us that Snow is making a move against the town and we were needed to help keep the citizens safe. We figured if you wanted to tell us anything you would.”Gerold said.

“Snow has it in her head that she is going turn the town into a monarchy, due away with all the government jobs including the police and crown herself queen.”Emma explained.

“Does she have much support?”Eliza asked.

“She at least has David and Henry on her side. Probably the blue fairy as well.”Emma wasn’t pleased that her son was involved but there wasn’t much she could do about it.

“Snow never did care if she had to involve children in her need to gain power.”Gerold grumbled.

“What do you mean by that?”Emma wasn’t sure why Gerold would say that.

Gerold waved away her question.”Nothing just that Snow doesn’t care who she has to step on to reach her goal.”

“What is it you need from us?”Eliza asked taking attention away from Gerold’s statement.

Emma knew what she was doing but would allow it. She had a feeling these two knew something that she didn’t. Something that Regina knew as well. She didn’t understand why things were being kept from her. When she went to Regina’s for magic practice she was going to push for some answers.”What I need are some more boots on the ground. I got into an argument with Snow and David about me moving out of the loft. During that argument I told them to leave me alone and I didn’t want them in my life anymore.”

“You believe Snow is going to kill you.”Gerold concluded.

“I didn’t initially but Regina thinks she will.”If someone else came to that conclusion so quickly Emma thought there may be some validity to Regina’s theory.

“You are her heir. In her mind you could kill her to gain the crown. At least that’s what she would do.”Eliza said.

“It’s what she did.”Gerold added.

“What do you mean that’s what she did?”Emma asked.

“You don’t know?”Eliza asked in surprise.

“Know what?”Emma had no clue what they were talking about.

“Snow killed her father. She then tried to kill the Queen but her majesty is a lot harder to kill than a weak old man.”Gerold told her.

Emma wanted to accuse the man of lying but her gift told her he was telling the truth.”Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?”

“It’s common knowledge. That’s what the whole war was about. Snow wanted to be queen and to be queen she had to make sure that a male heir wasn’t born. It wasn’t a big deal when her father was single but as soon as he got himself a young wife Snow’s future was threatened.”Eliza told her.

“I don’t understand why I wasn’t told this.”Emma thought at least Regina would have mentioned it.

“I thought that was one of the reasons you were friends with her majesty.”Gerold said.

“I need to talk to Regina.”Emma had many questions for the mayor.

“Can we set a plan for how we can help you first?”Eliza asked.

”That’s a good idea.”Emma could speak to Regina later.Now she had important matters to deal with.”First thing we need to do is get you both uniforms and badges.Do either of you know how to shoot a gun?”

Gerold nodded.”All the former knights have trained with modern weapons.”

“Good that will save some time.”Emma made a mental note to get the gun David was issued back from him. He was no longer a police officer and he wasn’t legally allowed to keep it.

“We even know how to drive cars.”Eliza told her.

“That’s a relief.”Even though the town had cars during the curse Emma knew most of the people walked places.

“Her majesty even had all of us studying the land without magic’s laws so we are well versed in what is legal and what is not.”Gerold said.

“Why did she have you guys doing that?”Emma asked.

“She wanted to make sure that we knew how to stay out of trouble because once the cruse broke we were targeted by Snow and her followers. They would have used any excuse they could to lock us up.”Gerold explained.

“That is true they would have.”Emma had been to enough calls about Regina’s people to know how Snow’s followers liked to target them for no reason.”I actually expect to receive some backlash about allowing the two of you to join the force.”

“We aren’t the only ones who volunteered. If you need more people you have many at your disposal.”Eliza said.

“I find it funny that Regina who is dubbed the Evil Queen’s people are more willing to help out with the town than Snow White the pillar of good’s are.”Emma had to beg people to help her do anything for the town. Now that she was thinking back on it Regina’s people always showed up.

“Our Queen traded her own loyalty for ours. Every single person who fell under her command was taken care of no matter what the situation was. Myself she helped take care of my wife and newborn child after it was born because of some complications that happened during child birth. I didn’t even ask her for help. She heard about it and visited my home personally to escort my family to the castle where they stayed long after my wife was better.”Gerold told her.

“I always knew she was good person.”Even in the beginning when they were fighting Emma knew deep down that Regain was not the evil person everyone was trying to make her out to be. It made her feel guilty for not trusting her gut and siding with Snow against her in regards to Henry. There was nothing that could be done about that though. It would take something huge for Henry to see Snow as anything but a hero.

“It wasn’t only her knights and soldiers that benefited from her generosity. When she took over as queen when the king died she cut taxes in half and set up programs for people who couldn’t afford food to get free meals. She was well known to hire anyone who needed a job to do things around the castle. At one point there was a different person assigned to keep each hallway clean because they couldn’t figure out what jobs to give them.”Eliza said.

“What was Snow’s kingdom like?”Emma figured that these two would give her the real story. They hadn’t lied about anything they said so far and seemed willing to tell her about things.

“When Snow became queen of the Charming kingdom she raised taxes and in prisoned anyone who couldn’t pay them. To get released they had to work off the debt on one of the many royals farms or by joining the army.” Gerold told her.

“Joining the army doesn’t sound to bad.”Emma said.

“If you were joining her majesty’s army then you would be right. Snow’s army was overworked and underfed. During the war some of her soldiers sought us out to surrender just to get away from it. Many times we came across soldiers that had starved to death. The rations they did get went to the higher ranking officers. The troops got the scraps. At least when we captured them they got good food and were less likely to be mistreated.”Eliza said.

“I’m afraid to ask but how did Snow’s army treat prisoners?”Emma wasn’t sure she wanted to know but doubted anyone else would give her an honest answer. By Gerold’s scoff she didn’t think it would be good.

“Snow’s army didn’t take prisoners. If you were caught by them they killed you. The only ones who weren’t killed right away was important people. They were questioned and then killed. Even those that surrendered were killed. Snow’s people had no mercy and were known for killing entire villages to include women and children.”Gerold said.

Emma flinched when her gift confirmed he was telling the truth.”If all this happened why does anyone follow Snow?”

“Unlike her majesty who was right there on the front lines with her soldiers Snow spent her time putting out false stories of how ruthless and horrible her majesty was. Her majesty’s kingdom knew the truth and supported her so she didn’t care about what Snow said. By the time Snow cast the curse to ruin her majesty’s happy ending it was too late to change any of Snow’s follower’s minds.”Eliza told her.

“Wait a second. You said Snow cast the curse. Don’t you mean Regina cast the curse?”Emma asked.

Gerold shook his head.”No her majesty had no reason to cast the curse. Her life was going well. She was winning the war and she had many things to look forward to in the future. It was Snow who was close to losing everything. She cast the curse to get back at her majesty for living a life that Snow thought she deserved more than her majesty did.”

“What the fuck!!!”Emma wanted to call the man a liar but knew she wasn’t.”Why does everyone think Regina did it?”

“Do you honestly think that the towns people who are mostly loyal to Snow would believe that she was the one who cast the curse?”Eliza asked.

Emma sighed.”No they would never believe it.”

“Exactly and her majesty doesn’t care enough about them to bother putting up the fight. No matter how much those loyal to her wished she would.”Gerold said.

“Why do I have a feeling that you are going against her orders telling me all of this?”Emma asked.

Eliza smirked.“The both of us and some others may have come together to figure out a way to get her majesty more respect from the town. Who better to make them believe that Snow is the real villain than her own daughter. A daughter that is a walking lie detector.”

“Regina should have told me about this. It would changed so much.”Emma wouldn’t have sided with Snow if she had known the it was her not Regina who cast the curse.

“When would have a good time to do that? She could have told you the first time you spoke and you would have always sided with Snow. She’s your mother. Someone you have wanted in your life since you were a child. Some stranger wouldn’t have made you turn your back on her or David.”Gerold pointed out.

“I hate that you’re right.”Emma had ignored the obvious signs of her mother’s true behavior not wanting to see her as anything other than the woman who gave her up to save the world. That brought about another thought.”If she cast the curse why did she put me in the wardrobe?”

Eliza shrugged.”The only one other than Snow who may know is her majesty.”

“I’ll have to add that to the list of things I need to ask her.”Emma grumbled.Standing up from her chair she motioned for the pair to follow her.”Lets get you outfitted. I have a feeling you are going to be needed soon.”

“We are more than willing to do anything you need us to.”Gerold said.

“Thank you.”Emma had a lot to think about. The fact that Snow cast the curse and not Regina being the most important out of everything. She wondered why Regina never told anyone what happened. It was obvious that others knew about it. Why did Reagin keep it a secret. Maybe she couldn’t have told Emma when they first met but Emma thought they were friendly enough that she would tell her about something as important as Emma’s own mother dooming the town to the land without magic. Beside confronting Regina Emma wasn’t sure what she should do with the information. She needed to let the town know but how to made them believe it was the problem. The only real way to get the truth out was to get Snow to admit it. That wasn’t something Emma thought she would do. Sighing Emma unlocked the supply closet. The first thing she needed to do was set up her two new employees. Once that was done she was going to head over to Regina’s early. Then she was going to ask Regina all the questions she had and not leave until they were all answered. Hopefully Regina would be in the mood to talk because Emma really didn’t want to be hit with a fire ball.