“What? Paralyse them?” Regina retorted and then softened her tone, “Emma, I have magic, if I can figure out the problem I might be able to solve it.”
“I think I’d rather see a real doctor,” Emma whimpered as Regina made another move forward.
“Oh? You want to see Whale? He’d solve your paralysis, no problem, you’d be a head in a jar of formaldehyde and you’d communicate by blinking once for yes and twice for no, remember who he was, Emma,” Regina barked back, the seriousness of the situation not lost on her.
“Can’t you be nice Regina? I like nice Regina, she joked about cannibals and made croissants,” Emma stalled Regina further.
“Nice Regina drugged you,” Regina smirked, “you want that Regina back?”
“I knew it!” Emma spat, “I knew you drugged me!”
“Emma,” Regina said calmly, “I’m going to move you, I’m going to gently roll you so I can examine your back but I need you to tell me immediately if you feel anything, okay?”
There was a pause and Regina tried again, “okay?”
Emma laughed a sad, chocked up laugh, “I thought I nodded.. yes, okay..”
Regina nodded and with a wave of her hand she conjured a large white pillow and placed it under Emma’s head very gently. She then grabbed Emma’s shoulder with one hand and her hip with the other and gently rocked the blonde until she could roll her onto her side. She really began to worry when she realised that Emma was a dead weight beneath her hands, she reached down and lift Emma’s leg to keep her body from rolling any further. Once she was certain that Emma’s body wasn’t going to move and that her head was comfortable she stood up and stepped into the small space behind Emma and looked at the blonde’s shirt and jacket covered back.
“Emma,” she mumbled softly, “I can’t see because of your clothes.. I need to take them off..”
She heard Emma chuckle, “well, good luck, I’ll be no help to you..”
“I can use magic,” Regina explained, “is that okay?”
“I don’t think I have any choice,” Emma said quietly, “do what you need to do..”
Regina took a deep breath and waved her hand gently over Emma’s body and the jacket and shirt disappeared leaving Emma in just her black bra and tight jeans. Her back, sides and arms were already starting to discolour with the bruises from her initial fall and being dragged along the stream.
But the biggest bruise by far was at the top of Emma’s spine, in her neck. The bruise was red and purple and looked swollen and Regina nodded, she had watched enough medical dramas on television to have an understanding of what was happening.
“Emma,” Regina said softly, “you remember when I told you that every magical act depletes my magical energy?”
“This doesn’t sound good, Regina,” Emma replied tersely.
“I can fix your spinal cord, I can see the problem,” Regina continued anyway, “but it’s going to take a lot of magic to do something like this and.. I’m.. I’ve already used a lot of magic today.”
“Regina, don’t..”
“Just listen,” Regina sighed, she didn’t want to waste valuable energy having this argument, “when I’ve finished you must take it easy, no running around, no cartwheels. Odds are you will feel absolutely fine but the residual magic will still be repairing the damage and you’ll need to allow it to do that. Whatever happens to me.”
“What do you mean ‘whatever happens to you’?” Emma demanded.
“I may briefly lose consciousness, I will certainly need to rest,” Regina explained, “whatever happens just stay still, no Charming heroics.”
Emma chuckled, “okay, I promise..”
Regina nodded despite Emma not being able to see her, “this may hurt a little,” Regina admitted.
When no answer was forthcoming she took several deep breaths before closing her eyes and floating her hand above Emma’s neck. A large wave of purple mist appeared from her fingers and palm and it pulsated directly into the injury. Emma gasped at the feeling and closed her eyes tight in fear and pain.
In Regina’s mind she could see the shattered bones in Emma’s vertebra and the jagged edges of the spinal cord. Blood was oozing around the damage and Regina used her magic to clear the blood away and started reassembling the bones and knitting them together, she soothed the nerve endings and gently reattached the spinal cord.
Emma screamed at the sensation but Regina carried on working and intensified the amount of magic she was producing and quickly began to reassemble the vertebral bone casing that made up Emma’s spine. She placed a healing spell on the area and repaired the damaged blood vessels and then began to feel her magic falter, she broke the connection through fear of further damaging Emma’s injuries and then darkness fell over her.
Chapter 34
Regina could hear something. It seemed far away. Or maybe she was far away. Either way the thing she could hear was distant, so she tried to grip onto it with her mind, tried to focus on it and understand it.