Reset

“Maybe she’s trying to be a better person, looking for redemption for her crimes,” David went on.

“Sure,” Sean said with a shake of the head, “that’s all it is.”

~*~

It wasn’t Regina’s smoothest of landings and she had to admit she was glad that no one was around to see it. Deciding to glide down she had quickly entered the water, luckily only up to her shins, but the rocky bed of the stream had caught her off guard in the darkness and she had stumbled into the wall.

She pushed herself away from the wall of the cavern and found a solid footing and then conjured a fireball in her hand to light the area. Once her eyes adjusted to the bright light in the dark space she could see that the cavern was long, longer than she could see in either direction. It was pitch black, the ceiling rose to twice her height and the walls ranged from being one metre to three metres. The water rushed along at a strong pace, the depth may have only been thirty centimetres but it was easily enough to create a current.

She looked up at the hole above her and examined the edges for any clues, some torn clothing or some blood but found nothing. She looked around and again couldn’t see anything.

“Emma?” Regina called tentatively, she didn’t want to shout and cause a cave in.

“If you’re not down here,” she muttered to herself, “and I’m down here for nothing.. you will wish you were dead.”

She looked again at the walls of the cavern and at the floor, it was extremely rocky and she considered that if Emma had fallen through the hole there was a good chance that she hit something on the way down. Regina looked up in the direction the current was travelling and decided that if Emma had hit something she could have lost consciousness and been dragged along with the current. Otherwise the blonde would surely have stayed at the bottom of the hole to await rescue.

She started to walk carefully forward, mindful of the uneven ground as well as the varying depths of water and the current. When the river started to turn to the left she went with it, lighting her way with a small fireball. Suddenly she saw something in the distance reflecting off of the light she was casting and she picked up the pace, “Emma?”

There was no answer but she had definitely seem something glimmer and she rushed forward until she finally saw the blonde woman on the ground. She cast the fireball to float in the air above them to light up the area and she bent down beside Emma and looked at her. A large gash to Emma’s forehead was the first thing she saw, the blonde was out cold and her usually pale skin was now a deathly white and Regina quickly felt for a pulse on Emma’s neck.

She looked down at Emma’s body which was arranged in an uncomfortable looking manner and it looked like she had floated along with the current and then had been beached on a bit of higher ground. She felt the flicking of a pulse and smiled as she pushed damp strands of hair away from the blonde’s face, “Emma, can you hear me?”

She could see Emma’s eyes moving under her eyelids so she cupped Emma’s face with her hand and gave her a very gentle shake, “Emma, wake up.”

Her eyelids flicked open and Emma’s eyes adjusted to the light before they focused on Regina’s face and her cracked lips formed a small smile, “Regina?”

“Yes,” Regina smiled happily.

Emma looked around at her surroundings and then back to Regina, “jeez, you really wanted to talk about your cannibal intruder didn’t you?”

Regina laughed in relief that Emma seemed to be compos mentis, “we need to get you out of here,” she said as she looked around the cavern to try to ascertain how far the walk back would be. She wanted to get as close to the hole as possible so she would need to use the smallest amount of magic to get them both out.

Emma’s eyes clouded over and Regina frowned, “what is it?”

Emma didn’t answer but there was growing panic in her eyes.

“Emma, talk to me,” Regina demanded.

“I.. I can’t move,” she breathed, “I can’t feel my body at all.”

Chapter 33

“What do you mean?” Regina’s breath hitched.

“I can’t feel anything,” Emma replied with rising panic, “my God, oh God, oh God, why can’t I feel anything,” the blonde began to panic and Regina started to look at her body to see if she could ascertain the problem.

Emma attempted to look down at her body but she couldn’t move, “I can’t move my neck! I can’t see my body.. do I still.. do I still have everything?”

“Yes,” Regina answered quickly, “I know you’re frightened but I need you to calm down so I can figure this out.”

“Figure this out?!” Emma cried, “I’m fucking paralysed, what is there to figure out?!”

“I’m going to move your body,” Regina said matter-of-factly as she shifted her kneeling position.

“No! Wait! Wait!” Emma cried out and Regina paused and looked at her with a frown.

“You’re not supposed to move someone who might have had a spinal injury,” Emma said hurriedly, “you could..”