imagine me and you (and you)

Emma Swan has experienced a lot. She's fought dragons, traveled back in time, and seen people turn into flying monkeys. She knows magic. She's been the Dark One. Her parents are Snow White and Prince Charming. There shouldn't be that many things that faze her anymore, yet when she is met with the sight of Regina Mills in her Evil Queen gear in her kitchen, she's certainly surprised.

"Emma. Hello," Regina greets her and flashes her a wide smile.

"Whoa..."

She knows Regina well enough to be able to tell that this isn't her Regina. She's faced with the Evil Queen version of Regina, leaning on her kitchen counter and biting into a red apple. The irony doesn't escape her.

"Want a taste?" the Queen asks after swallowing and flashes her another smile. She keeps leaning on the counter, completely unperturbed by Emma's arrival.

Emma doesn't understand what's happening. She saw Regina destroy the Evil half of herself. She was there. How on Earth did the Queen survive?

"What are you doing here? How are you even here? I saw.... Regina crush your heart..." Emma thinks out loud, ignoring the question about the apple. The smartest move for her would be to run or magic herself out or... call Regina, really, but she can only stand still and become engrossed by the Queen smirking at her.

"All magic comes with a price," the Queen answers, her voice low. "Did you really think Regina could just live free without me after everything she did? What I... we did? No. I'm here to stay just as long as Regina is, whether you like it or not." She pauses and takes another bite of the apple. "To be fair, I think you might like it."

Emma isn't sure if that's the right reason, but she's honestly come to the conclusion that magic doesn't follow rules half the time anyway, so she just moves on to Regina's next remark. "Like what?"

"How things are now," the Queen purrs as she moves closer to Emma, the apple still in her hand. Emma knows she should be making some sort of an escape plan, but she finds herself oddly fascinated by the Queen instead. She knows she shouldn't be. This is like her time travel to the Enchanted Forest all over again. "You don't have to worry about Regina now... She's all weak. Good. You can play happy family and... braid each other's hair now while you watch chick flicks."

Emma is about to mention that she's neither braided Regina's hair nor watched chick flicks with her (although she wouldn't be opposed to the idea), but she realizes that's not the main point here.

"But then again, I know the darkness tempts you too," the Queen continues, her dark eyes flickering from Emma's eyes to her mouth, down to her chest, and then back up to her eyes again. "And for some reason, you have always seemed to understand me and, absurdly enough, trusted me. You liked Regina despite the the fact that the Evil Queen was always a part of her too."

Emma is about to argue and tell the Queen that she likes who Regina has become; Regina fought the evil inside her so hard and became a better person who could redeem herself and love again and be a mother to Henry. And that's true and Emma admires her for that, of course. But there's a part of her that is also enticed by the Queen. Maybe it's partly because she's a part of Regina too, so Emma can't even disagree with her.

"You seem to have liked me and understood me - all of me- like no one else has." There's a flicker of some deeper emotion on the Queen's face before she returns back to her smirking self and approaches Emma so that there's almost no personal space left between them. "But we can talk about that some other time. I think we should call Regina and see what she thinks."

Before the Queen can even finish her sentence, she's opening her palm and Emma can feel her phone disappear from her pocket before it repears in the Queen's hand.