Once Upon a Time 1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Written for Movie Plot AU for Swan Queen Week. Title (I'm not original today) and some dialogue taken directly from the film. No infringement intended.

* * *

"I'm so pleased that you're buying this place." The realtor grinned as she pushed open the door to the large white house, motioning for the three others to go ahead in. "I think your kids will love it."

"Oh," Mary Margaret smiled as she watched Ava and Nicholas enter the house, their eyes scanning everything and taking in the vastness of it, "they're actually my late brother Michael's children. He and his wife passed away last winter."

"Oh, I'm so terribly sorry." The realtor said in that way that grated on Ava's nerves. She wasn't really sorry, couldn't be really sorry. She hadn't even known Ava's parents, so what did she have to be sorry about?

Ava rolled her eyes and moved over next to Nicholas, who was looking at the living room and the large fireplace with interest.

"It'll look lovely with a fire going, don't you think? Not to mention how warm it'll be on those cold Maine nights." The realtor grinned. Nicholas just looked at her blankly.

"Nicholas hasn't spoken a word since it happened." Ava told her.

"Oh! As I told your aunt, I'm so, so sorry for your loss."

Ava waved a hand as if shooing away a pest. "It's fine. We barely even knew our parents. They were always away, hobnobbing with kings and queens. We didn't even know if they really loved us. But when the avalanche hit them on the ski slopes in the Alps, they managed to write us a really lovely message on the back of a dinner receipt that the rescue dogs brought to us." She pulled in a gasping breath before burying her face in her hands. "Excuse me." She walked away, her shoulders shaking. The realtor would think it was from crying, but actually it was from trying to keep her laughter in.

As she raced up the stairs, she heard her aunt explaining things to the woman. "They were very devoted parents. It was a car crash in the mountains."

* * *

"Nicholas, will you please take some of these empty boxes up to the attic?" Mary Margaret asked as she placed them into the hallway. Ava was pretty sure she only asked Nicholas because she knew he wouldn't speak and therefore couldn't refuse. But really, that was his own fault, so Ava didn't feel bad about it.

Nicholas picked up the boxes with a frown, but did as he was asked.

Not even three minutes later, the screams started.

* * *

"He said it looked like this." Ava insisted, showing the exterminator the picture of the bat that Nicholas had finally found on the internet when he'd stopped screaming.

"That?" The exterminator frowned. "That's an African bat. No way one of them's here in Maine. Although another girl claimed to have seen some around here back about twenty years ago. But it couldn't be, like I said."

"But that's what he saw." Ava insisted angrily.

"Well, whatever it was, it's gone now. I've checked this whole place over. No bats in sight. Besides, bats aren't what I'd worry about in this house anyways."

"What would you worry about?"

"Well, personally I wouldn't want to live in a house where someone was murdered."

Ava and Nicholas' eyes went wide. "Murdered?" Ava gasped.

"Little Emma Swan. Some people say she just ran away – wouldn't have been the first time with her – but I don't believe that. Rumor has it Cora Mills killed her in this very house. That's what I'd put my money on. Didn't want her daughter mixing with 'riff raff' like Emma, Cora didn't." The exterminator swung the flashlight around the attic, lighting up dark corners for just a moment, just enough to grant glimpses of things, but never full views. It was frightening in a way, especially paired with his words. "There's 1,001 places she could've hid the body in this old house. Especially if she cut it up first."

"Kids? Come on, we'll be late for school!" Mary Margaret's voice carried up the steps, causing both of them to jump. They stared at the exterminator, but he merely shrugged, flipped off his flashlight, and left the room.

"No bats here, ma'am."

* * *

"I cannot believe that you got sent to the principal on your first day!" Mary Margaret groaned as they walked into the house. "And for fighting. Ava, you know better. And you know that this kind of behavior doesn't only look bad on you, it looks bad on me too. I'm teaching at that school. If you act this way, what will they think of me?"

"Who cares what they think of you?" Ava snapped. "Just tell them what you love to tell everyone else – I'm not really your kid. You're not responsible for how awful I was. My dead parents are."

"Ava!" Mary Margaret gasped.

Nicholas moved to stand by his sister, his shoulder brushing hers.

Mary Margaret seemed to deflate then, closing her mouth, her shoulders sagging. "Let's just get dinner and talk about something else."

"I know what we can talk about." Ava smirked. "We can talk about how you got this house so cheap because someone was murdered in it."

"What?"

"Emma Swan. The woman who owned this house killed her and cut her up in little pieces and stuck her in the walls."

Something inside Mary Margaret seemed to snap at that. In a harsher voice than either of them had ever heard her use, she yelled at Ava. "I am sick of your lies, Ava. Go to your room!"

"Fine!" Ava jumped up, shoving her chair back so hard it hit the floor with a thud. "But just for your information, _Auntie M_, that wasn't a lie."

Mary Margaret looked over to Nicholas, searching his face for confirmation. Nicholas just frowned and got up, following his sister.

* * *

"Did you hear something?" Ava whispered across the room to the bed where Nicholas slept later that night. She could just make out his form and the glitter of his opened eyes in the darkness.

He shook his head, but remained quiet. Then, finally, he spoke. "Ava, do you miss Mom and Dad?"

"No." She replied instantly.

"Liar. If you don't stop it, Aunt Mary Margaret's gonna send you to Dr. Hopper for therapy."

"Please, shrinks are easy. And you're one to talk. Where do you think she's going to send you if you don't start talking in front of other people?"

Nicholas just shrugged and turned over in the darkness.

* * *

"Are you two sure you'll be okay to walk to school?" Mary Margaret asked as she came down the stairs to find Ava and Nicholas with their heads cocked as though they were listening to something.

"Huh?" Ava blinked and looked over at her. "Oh, uh, yeah, Aunt Mary Margaret." She replied before once again looking upwards in wonder.

"Are you sure? Did your parents take you to school every morning? I'll just take you and you can stay in my classroom while I go to the faculty meeting and –"

"What?" Ava shook her head. "No. No. We're fine. Really. Go. It's not a long walk and we need to get to know the neighborhood. Besides, you'll be late."

Mary Margaret hesitated, not sure that she should actually leave them, especially when they were acting so strangely, but finally the looming meeting time shook her out of her concern and she nodded. "Okay. Make sure you lock the door after you. You have your house keys, right?"

"Yes." They both replied without looking at her.

"I'll see you at school." She told them before finally leaving.

As soon as the door shut, Ava spun on Nicholas. "You do hear it!"

"Hear what?" Nicholas scoffed, but a second later, the sound Ava had been hearing since the night before – the sound of tribal drums – increased and Nicholas jumped. Both their eyes went wide before they took off up the stairs, towards the source of the sound – the attic.

"Ah!" Ava yelped as the sound and intensity increased when they entered the attic.

"Over here." Nicholas raced to a pile of games in middle of the attic, shoving them away until he reached the bottom one, his hands tracing the wooden box as the drumming finally stopped.

"Jumani." Ava read from behind him.

"C'mon, let's set it up over here." Nicholas moved to a small coffee table, setting the game down on it and opening it up.

"Wow." He breathed, looking at the intricately carved game board. He ran his fingers over a marble piece, trying to pick it up, but it wouldn't move. "It's stuck."

"A game for those who seek to find a way to leave their world behind. You roll the dice to move your token, doubles gets another turn." Ava read the directions.

Nicholas noticed a small area of the box covered by a flap. Lifting it, he found two more pieces. He picked them up and looked them over. When he went to put them back, they suddenly dropped from his hands and spun on the game board before each sliding to a starting spot.

"It's gotta be magnetized or something." Ava said upon seeing Nicholas' wide eyes.

Nicholas picked up the dice and put them in Ava's hand. "You go first."

"Afraid, little brother?" Ava taunted, dropping the dice and watching as they landed on a five and a one.

Ava's game piece began to move on its own and the formerly dark orb at the center of the game began glowing green with yellow words forming inside. Ava leaned over to read them.

"A tiny bite can make you itch, make you sneeze, make you twitch." Her nose wrinkled. "What does that –"

There was a sudden buzzing sound and when Ava looked up, she spotted a flying bug that was bigger than she'd ever seen. It seemed giant and the stinger attached to the end of it looked deadly. "Ah!"

At her yelp, the insect turned and headed right for her.

"Ava, look out!" Nicholas yelled as he dropped down to the floor.

Ava reached behind her, grabbing a tennis racket and swinging wildly at the giant mosquito. She managed to hit it with enough force that it flew through the air and crashed through the small window near the roof of the attic.

Another mosquito made a dive for Nicholas, but Ava jumped in front of him, swinging the racket again and knocking the bug away. Angrily, it buzzed out the window and a few more quickly followed.

Once they were all gone, Ava and Nicholas both moved back to the game board. They looked between the broken window and the board for a few moments until Nicholas picked up the dice.

"Don't!" Ava tried to warn, but Nicholas had already dropped the dice. They each landed on one and Nicholas' piece moved the two spaces.

"This will not be an easy mission." He read. "Monkeys slow the expedition."

"Monkeys?" Ava questioned before a sudden noise from downstairs shattered the silence. "Oh no!"

They both got up and raced downstairs, stopping at the door to the kitchen where the sounds of various crashes were coming. Pushing open the door, Ava gasped at the sight of twelve monkeys essentially destroying their aunt's kitchen.

They were pulling open drawers, throwing food, banging on pans, and all sorts of other things.

"Holy –" Nicholas gasped, yanking the door closed as one of the monkeys tossed a knife in their direction.

Once the door was closed, they both looked at each other and moved back up the stairs.

"I bet those things came from the game." Ava said. She moved to the game and her eyes widened. "Oh no. I didn't see this part. Adventurers beware. Do not begin unless you intend to finish. The exciting consequences of the game will vanish only when a player has reached Jumanji and called out its name."

A door slammed and Nicholas moved to the window. "It's the monkeys. They left."

"Good."

"Put it away, Ava." Nicholas demanded as he moved back over to where the game was.

Ava shook her head. "The instructions say that if we finish the game, it'll all go away. We have to finish or Aunt Mary Margaret's gonna have a conniption."

"Ava, I don't think –"

"We'll just get through it quickly. I mean, there's no skill involved."

Nicholas snorted. "None but staying alive." He moved to hand the dice to Ava.

"No, you rolled doubles. You get another turn."

Nicholas looked down at the dice with trepidation.

"Come on, just get it over with."

He dropped the dice, watching as they tumbled over each other before finally stopping, one on two and the other on three.

"Five." He said as he watched the piece move. "His fangs are sharp, he likes your taste, your party better move post haste."

"Well, that sounds promising." Ava muttered, reaching for the dice.

The sudden sound of piano keys jangling startled them both.

"Ava." Nicholas whispered, moving over closer to her. "Something's up here."

From the darkness of a corner, a low rumbling growl sounded and then, two glittering eyes appeared followed by –

"Oh god." Nicholas whimpered. "It's a lion."

"It's not real. It's a hallucination." Ava whispered, but she grabbed Nicholas' hand and squeezed tightly.

"His fangs look pretty real to me." Nicholas whispered back. "I don't want him to taste me."

"Run!" Ava tugged his hand and they took off down the steps, the lion bounding after them. It jumped the balcony and landed right in front of them. They froze in fear.

"Oh god, we're gonna die."

"At least we'll see Mom and Dad." Nicholas murmured, closing his eyes tight.

"Hey! Over here, you big pussy!" Came a shout and they both spun to see a dirt-streaked woman with wild hair waving a knife at the lion. The lion turned and saw her too.

"That's right. That's right. Here kitty." She moved the blade. "Here kitty kitty."

The lion stalked towards her and she slowly moved backwards, finally coming to a stop underneath a chandelier. With a sudden move, the woman tossed the knife down and jumped up, grabbing the chandelier as the lion lunged for her. It missed her and skidded along the hallway and into a bedroom.

The woman jumped down and pulled the door shut, resting her forehead against it as she exhaled for a moment. Claws suddenly burst through, nearly catching her face, and she jumped back. The door held, thankfully.

Looking around, she noticed her surroundings and gasped. With wide eyes, she took it all in. And then she caught sight of Ava and Nicholas, still standing frozen, gaping at her.

"Did somebody roll a five or an eight?"

"He did!" Ava quickly pointed at Nicholas.

"Ahhh!" The woman charged at them, causing both of them to scream and take off running, but she was faster and quickly grabbed Nicholas, pulling him up into her arms and spinning him around in a hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She chanted as she spun him before finally putting him down. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I scared you. I just – I'm back." She laughed wildly and then screamed even louder. "I'M BACK!"

She jumped up and began running around the house, sliding down the banister and just laughing as she ran until she finally stopped at the foot of the steps where Ava and Nicholas stood.

"I'm back." She laughed again. "Are you from the home?"

"Uh, no." Ava shook her head. "I, uh, I don't think so. But… are you Emma Swan?"

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"I'm Ava Zimmer and this is my brother Nicholas. We live here with our Aunt Mary Margaret."

"But, where is everybody? The staff, I mean, I can't believe –"

"There is no staff." Nicholas frowned. "This house has been empty for years. Everyone thought you were dead."

"Dead? But… how long was I gone? What year is it?"

"It's 2014."

"Two thousand…" Emma's voice trailed off. "Twenty years. I've been gone for twenty years. And no one… well of course no one… I mean, who would?"

"Are you okay?" Nicholas asked.

Emma nodded, but they both noticed that her dirty cheeks had two tear streaks over them. "Just alone. Again."

"We're alone too. Well, I mean, except for Aunt Mary Margaret but… our parents are dead. They were CIA agents who got caught trying to infiltrate –" Ava began, only to trail off when Nicholas jabbed her in the stomach with his elbow.

"Our dad was a mechanic. He could fix any car, no matter the problem."

"I bet you miss him."

Nicholas nodded and Emma did too for a moment before she turned away.

"Hey, where are you going? Emma?"

But Emma didn't listen, she just kept walking towards her destination – the bathroom.

* * *

"She's been in there a really long time." Nicholas said, checking his watch. "Like, I know girls are supposed to take a while but… you don't think she drowned do you?"

"No, Nicholas, I don't think she –" The door to the bathroom opened as Ava spoke, revealing a much cleaner Emma Swan.

She was dressed in blue jeans and a white tank top that she had snagged from Mary Margaret's closet. Her hair, Ava could now see, was blonde, instead of the dirty brown color it had been before, and fell in curls around her shoulders.

"Whoa." Nicholas exclaimed upon seeing her. "She's hot."

It was Ava's turn to elbow him in the stomach. "Shut up." She growled, then turned back to Emma, who was rocking on her feet as though she wasn't sure what to do. "Listen, I really feel like we need to finish the game so…"

"We?" Emma stopped her with a raised hand. "What do you mean we? Why do you need me?"

"Well, just in case any other scary stuff goes down. You handled the lion so…"

"No. Sorry, kid. But that's not gonna happen."

"But –"

"Come on, Ava, let it go. She's not gonna help us. She's afraid." Nicholas said.

"What did you just say?" Green eyes narrowed as they stared at Nicholas.

"I said you're afraid. It's okay. Let's go set up in the living room, Ava."

"You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

"Whatever it is, we can handle it. We have so far."

Emma jumped in front of them, blocking the door. "I don't think so. You've got no idea. I've seen things you've only seen in your nightmares." Her eyes looked almost dead as she thought back to the horrors of the jungle she'd finally been released from. "Things you can't even imagine. Things you can't even see. There are things that hunt you in the night. Then something screams. Then you hear them eat and you hope to god that you're not dessert. Afraid?" She laughed. "You don't even know what afraid is. You won't last five minutes without me, kid."

"So you'll help?" Nicholas asked fearfully.

"I'll watch." She said, turning and walking out of the room before turning back to them. "But I'm _not_ afraid."

After she was gone, Ava turned to Nicholas with awe. "Nicholas, that was amazing."

Nicholas grinned and shrugged. "Reverse psychology. Dad used it on me all the time."

* * *

"Ready?" Ava asked, clutching the dice. Nicholas nodded. "Ready, Emma?"

Emma laughed. "There is no ready."

Ava rolled her eyes and then rolled the die. Nothing happened. She frowned and picked up the dice. "I'll try again." But again, nothing happened. "Emma, it's not working."

Emma moved over to look at the game board and frowned. "Damn it. It's not your turn."

"Yes, it is. I rolled first, then Nicholas went twice because he rolled doubles. And now it's my turn again."

"No. Look." Emma gestured to the board. "Two of these pieces are yours, right?"

"Yeah."

"But the other pieces…" Nicholas realized.

Emma's fingers reached out to caress one of the pieces. "The elephant was mine." She shook her head. "Damn it, we're playing the game I started twenty years ago. And I'm going to have to play. Shit."

Ava went to hand the dice to her, but Emma shook her head. "It's not my turn."

"But… whose turn is it, then?"

Emma touched the other piece, her eyes glazing over with memories as she said the name.

"Regina Mills."


	2. Chapter 2

"Regina Mills." Ava repeated. "Okay. So who's that?"

"She was…" Emma was still lost in memories, "a friend, I guess."

"You guess? You don't know if she was a friend?"

"I didn't exactly have many, okay?" Emma huffed. "And Regina was – well, she coulda done a lot better than me as a friend. Something her mother was sure to remind her of every time I came over."

"Cora Mills." Ava murmured in recognition. She was the woman who had supposedly killed Emma.

"Yeah. How'd you know that?"

"Uh, just heard of her before somewhere, I guess."

"So where's Regina now?" Nicholas asked.

"I don't know." Emma looked around. "This was her house. But if you say that no one's lived here for years…" Emma shook her head. "She probably forgot all about me. She's probably married to Daniel whatshisface and has a stable full of horses and a house full of kids."

Something about that thought hurt Emma, although she didn't know why. It's not like Regina would be the first person to move on without her.

"Well, we can't play the game without her. So let's go find out." Ava stood up.

"Find out? How?"

* * *

"What in the –"

"It's called a laptop." Nicholas explained as Ava typed away on the device that Emma was staring at. "It's a type of computer."

"What are you doing?" Emma leaned closer, watching as Ava typed 'Regina Mills' into the search engine.

"A basic internet search. It should bring her up, with any luck."

"Internet?" Emma frowned, then murmured to herself, "Twenty years."

"Anything?" Nicholas asked.

"Huh." Ava said as she scanned through the pages. "All the information about her ends with her being sent off to boarding school when she was ten. I looked at the school she was supposedly sent to, but can't find any record of her. It's like she disappeared too."

"You don't think that she got sucked in too?"

"No." Emma shook her head. "If Regina was there, I would've known."

Ava and Nicholas exchanged a look. "Okay."

"What about her parents? Maybe they know where she is."

"Hmm." Ava typed something else into the search bar and then frowned. "Looks like her father died from heart problems not long after Regina was sent to boarding school. And her mother died five years ago in a car wreck."

"Did she have any brothers or sisters?" Nicholas asked, hoping to find some kind of a break.

"No. She was an only child."

"So we don't know where she is, we can't ask her parents, she doesn't have siblings… and we can't finish the game without her. Perfect." Nicholas sighed.

"Wait a minute." Ava leaned forward, typing something else into the search bar. "Here." She pointed to the screen. "There's one person still living in town with the last name Mills. No first name is listed. It could be her."

"Okay. So how do we find out if it is or not?"

"Simple." Ava scribbled down the information. "We pay this Mills a little visit."

* * *

"Are you sure this is right?" Emma asked as they headed up to the rather run down looking apartment building.

"It's the address that was listed online."

"I just can't imagine Regina living here." Emma said to herself, running her hands over harsh brick. "It's so…" She couldn't find the word.

"Here. Mills." Nicholas pointed to the faded name on the directory. "Second floor. But how do we get in?"

"Like this." Ava tugged on the door, smirking when it opened. Clearly the building wasn't much for security, which suited their purposes just fine. "Let's go."

* * *

"Well? Knock." Ava nudged Emma, who was standing and staring at the apartment door.

"It's probably not her."

"And we won't know for sure until you knock. Come on, Aunt Mary Margaret's going to realize that we're not in school soon if she hasn't already and then we're all going to be in trouble!"

"No, you'll be in trouble. You forget, I don't have a family that cares whether I go to school or not. I never have."

Ava and Nicholas both stilled at that, not knowing what to say. It was obvious that Emma was haunted, not only by what she'd seen in the jungle, but also by her life prior to it.

"I'll do it." Nicholas offered finally, moving forward and rapping his knuckles against the wood of the door.

It took a long time, but finally they heard the sound of locks being flipped and slid open. The door opened just a crack, enough for one dark eye to peek out. "Yes?"

"Hi." Nicholas offered. "We're hoping you can help us. We're looking for someone named Regina Mills. Do you know her?"

"What do you want with Regina Mills?"

"Regina?" Emma moved closer, trying to get a better look at the woman hiding behind the door.

"No. No. There's no Regina here. I'm sorry. I have to go. I can't –"

Emma stuck her foot in the door, leveraging herself to push it open further, even as the woman on the other side tried to push it closed. "Regina." She said the name again as she took in Regina's face for the first time in twenty years. She felt her throat close up and she had to swallow hard before she could speak. "Twenty years ago you played a game with a little girl from the foster home down the street. A game with drums."

"How – how do you know that?" Regina gasped, her eyes widening.

"I was that little girl, Regina."

"Emma?" Regina whispered. Then her eyes rolled back in her head and she started to fall.

"Whoa." Emma grabbed her before she could hit the ground. She was out cold.

"Well, that went well."

* * *

"Dr. Hopper? It's Regina Mills. I – I need your help." Regina spoke into her phone as she paced back and forth. Ava, Nicholas, and Emma watched her from their place on the couch. "That event we've been discussing for a long time now… the one that didn't really happen? Well, I'm having an – an episode today. I'm sitting here, in my childhood home, with a little girl that didn't really get sucked into a board game, drinking lemonade. So if you could please call me back as soon as you can, I'd really love to talk to you about this."

She hung up the phone and clutched it tightly as she turned back to look at Emma. "He'll call me back and this will all go away." She whispered to herself.

"Well, while we're waiting…" Emma leaned forward and opened the game that had been sitting closed on the coffee table.

Regina caught sight of the game and let out a scream as she raced across the room away from it. "NO! No, no, no. Oh god."

"Regina." Emma moved after her, speaking calmly. "Regina, it's okay."

"Emma!" She shouted back, still amazed that she was speaking to what she deemed to be a hallucination. "No. No. I have spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of therapy with Dr. Hopper convincing myself that that game doesn't exist. I just made it all up because what happened to you was so horrible."

"Regina. It was. It was horrible. It was." Emma continued, moving slowly closer to her, reaching out carefully like she was approaching a wounded animal. Regina continued to shake her head and babble about her delusions. "But Regina, it was real."

She gently took Regina's hand into her own and whispered. "It was real. Just like I'm real. Look at me. I'm right here."

"No, no, no. It wasn't real. You're not real. You're not here. My mother killed you. She murdered you and she chopped you up into little pieces and I saw the whole thing which is why –"

"Regina." Emma spoke louder, squeezing her hand to interrupt. "Come on? Your mother did that?" She raised an eyebrow. "We both know your mother couldn't even deign to look at me, let alone soil her floors with my blood."

Regina shook her head, but said nothing as Emma began to lead her slowly back across the room. "Twenty years ago, we started playing a game. And today, we're all going to sit down and finish it."

She sat down on the couch and Regina followed suit, their bodies pressed together, with Emma still holding her hand. "Emma, please." Regina begged, closing her eyes tightly against the sight of the game.

"And guess what?" Emma said softly as she reached out and picked up the dice, laying them in Regina's open palm before closing her fingers around them. "It's your turn."

She let go of both of Regina's hands after giving them another squeeze and moved to sit next to Ava on the other couch across from the table.

Regina opened her palm and stared at the dice in something akin to horror. She looked to Nicholas who was still sitting next to her and moved the dice towards him, her eyes begging him to take them, but he just shook his head and pushed them back at her.

"Play the game, Regina." Emma coaxed, but Regina just shook her head.

"No. No. Please, Emma. Please?"

Emma sighed. "Alright." She held her hand out over the game. "You don't want to play, you don't have to. Just give me the dice and you can go home."

"Thank you, Emma." She whispered as she dropped the dice into Emma's hand. Only Emma snatched her hand back at the last second and the dice fell to the game board.

"Oh my god!" Regina gasped, jumping back in horror as her piece began to move. "How could you do that?"

"Law of the jungle." Emma shrugged. "You get used to it when you live there for twenty years."

"When I think of all the time I spent crying over you…" Regina shakes her head angrily.

"Well," Ava prompted, leaning forward. "Aren't you going to read it?"

Everyone else leaned forward and finally, with a shaking voice, Regina began to read. "They grow much faster than bamboo. Take care, or they'll come after you."

As she finished reading, a few pieces of plaster fell onto the game board, making them all look up. A small green vine was pushing its way out of the plaster, crawling across the ceiling, and heading for the walls.

"Shit." Emma exclaimed as she jumped up. Everyone else followed and instinctively, she reached out to pull them close to her.

"Oh god, this isn't happening." Regina closed her eyes and tried to make everything fade away.

"Oh, but it is." Emma frowned, moving them closer to the coffee table. "Everyone stay together and stay still. No quick movements. Don't go near the walls. And don't touch _anything_."

Ava watched in fascination as the vines continued to grow and cover the walls. A purple flower suddenly sprouted and opened from one of the vines. "Wow." She breathed. "It's beautiful."

"Oh, it's beautiful alright." Emma's tone showed no appreciation whatsoever. "It's also dangerous as fuck."

"Emma." Regina chastised, even as she clutched onto the other woman and kept her eyes firmly closed.

"The purple ones shoot poisonous barbs." Emma continued her lesson, ignoring Regina's rebuke. "And definitely stay away from the pods. The big yellow ones."

"What big yellow ones?"

Suddenly, Nicholas let out a scream as a vine wrapped around his ankle and started tugging him across the floor.

"Nicholas!" Ava screamed as Emma jumped over the couch after him.

"I gotcha." Emma grabbed his wrists and pulled back as Ava and Regina both rushed to grab his body and pull back too.

"Get it off me!" Nicholas screamed as he saw the cabinet he was being pulled towards burst open and a giant yellow pod come out.

"Oh my god." Regina gasped as Ava began to scream at the sight of it.

The pod closed around the vine and began to suck it in, pulling all of them with it. "Hold on, boy!" Regina called.

Suddenly, Emma spotted something on the mantle. "Hold him." She called as she let go of Nicholas.

"Emma!" They all called after her in fear as the pod pulled ever harder.

Emma grabbed the glass-encased sword that was sitting on the mantle and dropped it to the floor.

"That was my great great grandfather's!" Regina shrieked at the crash and the sight of Emma picking up the sword.

"Sorry." Emma replied as she focused her attention on the pod. "It's harvest time!"

She brought the blade down on the vine, cutting through it and causing Regina, Ava, and Nicholas to fall backwards, while the pod sucked the rest of the vine in and then moved back into the darkness of the cabinet it came from. Emma watched it for a few more moments to be sure it wouldn't reappear before she moved forward to the group on the floor.

"Nicholas!" Ava gasped as she pulled him into a hug.

"Are you alright?" Regina ran her hands over Nicholas' arms, trying to check for any injuries.

Emma dropped to her knees and wrapped one arm around Regina's back tugging her closer, while using the other arm to pull Ava into her body so that the children were sandwiched in their embrace. "I got you. I got you." She whispered, still keeping her eyes on the cabinet.

* * *

"There. That oughta hold you, you bastards." Emma hissed as she wrapped one of the vines around the handle of the living room, making sure it stayed closed. Before they left the room, she had grabbed the sword's sheath and fastened it so that it fell across her back. She wasn't about to take her chances with what else might come out of the game.

Just as she turned from the door, she caught sight of Regina trying to walk away. "Regina!" She called out, which only made Regina break out into a run. "Regina!"

She chased after her and caught up in no time, grabbing Regina's arms and holding them tightly behind her back so that she couldn't wiggle free. "Get off me!" Regina hissed, trying to break free from the hold, but Emma was too strong.

"The game isn't over yet, Regina."

"It is for me!" Regina kicked. "You are not in the jungle anymore, Emma. Stop this! You don't get to treat people like this!"

"I'm not in the jungle anymore?" Emma laughed bitterly as she moved Regina into the library of the house. Ava and Nicholas followed. "No, I'm not. But I was. For twenty years, I was!"

"Emma." Regina's voice softened as Emma let go of her.

"We're finishing the damn game," was Emma's only response.

Ava put the game down on the table in the library and opened it back up. She and Nicholas both sat down.

Regina looked at them and then back to Emma. "Is anyone hungry?" She asked, standing up. "I could get us some snacks, maybe whip us up a lasagna or –"

The sound of a sword slamming into the floor stopped her. She looked back to see Emma staring at her with hard eyes, her hand on the hilt of the sword. She sank back down into her seat, her eyes searching Emma's.

"Emma, please, the last time I played this game, it ruined my life."

Emma laughed again, the sound harsh and grating and nothing like the laughter that Regina remembered from those few months when they were friends as children. "It ruined _your_ life, Regina?" She shook her head. "In the jungle you must wait until the dice read five or eight." She spit the words out in a sing-song manner, the words that she'd had seared on her brain from the moment she first spoke them.

Angry tears filled her eyes as she shook her head. "I waited!" She shouted at Regina. "For twenty years, I waited. Because I believed that you would get me out. That you wouldn't leave me there. But you did. You left me, Regina. Just like everyone else."

Tears pricked Regina's eyes then. "I was a little girl, Emma." She whispered, trying to make Emma understand. "You disappeared and a bunch of bats surrounded me and chased me down the street. I was afraid." She took in a deep breath as a tear slid down her cheek. "I'm sorry, Emma. No one believed me. And Mother –" She stopped herself, shaking her head as more tears fell. "I was all alone."

Emma cleared her throat before answering. "So was I. For twenty years I was alone. And afraid."

"Me too."

"It's okay, Regina." Ava said, trying to interrupt the highly emotional moment to help both women. "We're scared too. But if we finish the game, it'll all go away."

Regina looked at the children and then back to Emma before voicing her biggest fear. "What if I get stuck in the game?" Emma had been brave and strong, even at ten years old. She had survived in the jungle. Regina knew that she wouldn't.

"You won't." Emma voice was strong as she assured Regina. "Because I won't stop playing. I won't leave you."

"And neither will I." Ava assured.

"I won't either." Nicholas said, reaching his hand to the center of the table. Ava almost instantly recognized the gesture and reached out to put her own hand on top of his in a show of solidarity.

Emma smiled and reached forward, settling her hand over both of theirs and giving it a small squeeze.

"Come on, Regina." She coaxed.

"Please." Ava asked, willing Regina to be brave.

Slowly, Regina reached forward, allowing her hand to fall on the top of the pile. Emma, Ava, and Nicholas all smiled at her as her fingers clutched at Emma's hands and she closed her eyes.

"I knew this was going to be a bad day." She whispered to herself.

"Hey, come on." Emma said, pulling their hands back, but still holding onto Regina's fingers. "It'll be fine." She ran her thumb over Regina's knuckles, hoping to soothe her. "We just have to keep our heads and roll with the punches."

Regina held on tightly to her hand, managing a small smile for her before she finally let go so that Emma could roll.

Emma picked up the dice and held them, her fingers shaking just slightly before she closed her fist and shook. She glanced at Regina and offered her a small, strained smile before she let the dice fall. They landed and the elephant piece moved its appointed spaces.

They all leaned over to read the message, but only Emma actually spoke the words aloud, her voice shaking and her face losing color as she read.

"The Dark One from the darkest wild," she stood up suddenly, her eyes moving around the room, "makes you feel just like a child."

"What is it?" Regina asked, looking up at her.

Emma whispered the name.

"Rumpelstiltski n."


End file.

Once Upon a Time, Adventure, Drama