Who: Snow White & The Evil Queen What: Mary Margaret wants her heart ripped out. Willingly. You can imagine Regina's confusion. When: idk, recently? Where: Casa de Mills Rating/Warnings: Relatively low, aside from magical heart ripping Status: Complete!
Mary Margaret had been dwelling on the last dream she’d had for a few days now. Because she’d killed Cora, her heart was turning black and knowing that certain things bled over into the real world, from the dreams, she was worried that it was going to happen in real life. Then there was the fact that a few nights later, the double ended candle that she had used to kill Cora showed up on her nightstand. After freaking out for a few minutes, she had stuffed it inside a box in the back of her closet and tried not to think about it again, but she couldn’t stop.
Eventually, she had realized that there was only one way to find out if her heart was turning black and that was to see Regina. Sure, she didn’t know if the other woman could even rip out hearts in the real world or if she would do it for Mary Margaret, but it was worth a try. Not telling Ruby what she was doing, Mary Margaret headed over to Regina’s house, which she had found out was also where she worked.
Parking her car, she stared up at the house for a moment or two before heading up the walk and after taking a deep breath, she rang the doorbell.
Chattering could be heard behind the door. Regina’s voice was raised, actually, with a blue tooth tucked in her ear and she’d been pacing back and forth what could be considered the ‘common area’ in her house - where the stairs started, that dividing room between her office (and Neal’s desk) with the rest of the house (kitchen, dining, living). All tastefully decorated, spotless despite the in-and-out filtering of men who were personifications of garbage disposals. It took them a couple of daggered looks but they listened. Eventually.
Today, Regina was irritated. A lot of back-and-forth bantering with a vendor in regards to a sample shipment, a lot of sass and snide remarks on corporate incompetence from her behalf. Belittling people over the phone had been a finely honed skill, especially when they weren’t doing their job.
Then rung the doorbell. If at all possible, she was even more irritated, holding a finger to the device as she opened the door. “If you think I’m going to pay the expedited shipping on a parcel that was supposed to--”
What the fuck? Those exact words were almost blurted, but she kept it internal, thank god, and the look Mary Margaret received was at first one of surprise. Then suspicion, an annoyed kind of suspicion. “Let me call you back. I’ll make sure to speak with your manager when I do.” The bluetooth was turned off. “Can I help you?”
Not that she meant it with a lot of sincerity, really, but there wasn’t as much acid dripping from her tone as one might think.
Now that Regina had answered the door Mary Margaret realized just how awkward this was. Unlike in the dreams where Regina had already been wanting to kill her, the other woman had no intention of doing that. At least Mary Margaret didn’t think that she did. She had no idea, if she was completely honest. “Can we talk? Somewhere private?” Unlike in the dreams, Mary Margaret didn’t think that asking Regina to rip her heart out on the porch was a good idea. It was obvious that Mary Margaret was the last person that Regina wanted to see right now, but she hoped that she’d at least hear her out.
Months of being aware of each other’s presence, and now she wanted to talk? Part of Regina wanted to slam the door in her face and be done with it, and the other part had already been dipped in biting curiosity. Not that they had much in common here, so it was safe to guess that if darling little Snow needed to talk, it had to be something related to the trainwreck that was their shared dreamland.
Biting back a sigh (and maybe something of a tiny growl, it rumbled in her throat barely), she stepped aside and held the door wide open. “Come in,” she said, though she didn’t seem all that excited about playing hospitable host at the moment. To Mary Margaret, the house may look a bit familiar - it resembled a mix of the large house in Storybrooke and the Mayor’s office, with that modern woodsy kind of theme. She’d been meaning to change it for that reason alone, but time slipped by too quick, and other things had caught her attention.
Mary Margaret wasn’t sure what she had expected from Regina’s home, but she hadn’t expected it to look similar to the dreams. She knew that Regina was an interior decorator and briefly wondered if she had done this before or after she’d started dreaming. But that wasn’t what was important right now. “Thank you. I know that we’re not exactly on the best of terms….or any terms for that matter, but I didn’t know what else to do.”
“How sweet of you to acknowledge that,” Regina retorted, a dash of sarcasm. After shutting the door, she led her to the kitchen - pristine as usual, very white, and the brightest splash of color was the bowl of bright red apples, recently polished and piled up into a crystal bowl. “Must be desperate, if you’re coming to me for whatever reason, so. Go on. I’ve got a conference call in a half-hour, so there’s your timeframe.”
She grabbed two glasses, a pitcher of ice water with cucumber and melon, and poured a drink for them each. Okay, she could play host, a little bit. Despite the fact that Mary Margaret had a tendency of making her bristle just by existing, they were on better terms, back in their little dreamland. Helped her cast another curse to bring them back to Storybrooke, even made amends over Cora’s death. That was there, however, and here she had the vibe Snow still regarded her as some villainous woman just itching to wreak a hex over the area, despite not even doing a damn thing.
Mary Margaret could have spent time apologizing for how she’d treated Regina in real life and in the dreams, but she didn’t think that that would go over well right now. Another time maybe. Right now, she needed to find out if her heart was turning black. Ruby had said that she was a good person in real life and that’s all that should have mattered, but they had no way of knowing what things would bleed over in real life and what wouldn’t.
“I don’t expect you to jump at the chance to help me, but I’m going to ask anyway.” Mary Margaret had no way of knowing where Regina was in the dreams so she had to think of how to word this in case she didn’t know what happened to Cora, “Cause you’re the only one who can do it.”
The glass was slid towards her. “You’ve got my curiosity. On with it, Snow. I really don’t have all day.” Not for her anyway, and Regina did her best to rake her memories for any incident that would cause Mary Margaret to come to her, of all people. Their last little interaction was more of a spat she didn’t quite let go. But she was doing her best to keep away from that bitterness, that all-consuming hatred because she’d been working on that, too - over there, in Storybrooke. The Enchanted Forest. They were making strides to amend things, start new.
Stepmother to stepdaughter.
Odd to think, isn’t it?
It was odd to think that technically, Regina was her stepmother. The same way that Emma was technically her daughter, but that was another situation she would have to deal with eventually. Right now how they were all related wasn’t the point of her visit.
Taking a deep breath, Mary Margaret wrung her hands together as she looked at Regina, not taking her eyes off of the other woman, “I need you to rip my heart out. I need to know if my heart is turning black.” It was a strange thing to request of anyone, not just Regina and Mary Margaret knew that.
Okay, that was most certainly not the request she’d been expecting and Regina hadn’t even bothered to disguise the look of complete and utter surprise.
“Um,” was her oh-so eloquent response at first, brows furrowing and knitting together in the center. Tongue clicked, and she shifted her balance to one leg and a hand on her hip. Now that definitely brought up memories. Mostly bad ones, there weren’t many good ones anyway - all about her mother, the way she died. Who killed her (spoiler alert: Mary Margaret). It was, needless to say, a goddamn mess. “There’s some things that do bleed over, but I don’t think that does. Unless you killed my mother in this world too and just didn’t tell me?”
A little bit inappropriate, and that was something of a jab she regretted even saying. Regina didn’t know Cora here, she was a gold digger that left her and her father and with the way the dreams portrayed her, perhaps it was the best possible thing that could have happened.
Mary Margaret wasn’t sure how she’d expected Regina to react to her request, but confusion and surprise were probably good ways to react.
“I...Ruby said the same thing.” Despite that fact, Mary Margaret didn’t think that she would be able to sleep through the night or relax in general until she knew, “But we don’t know what bleeds over and what doesn’t. I just….I need to be sure.” She could apologize for her part in Cora’s death later on, if she had to.
Regina knew she could do it. Ripping out hearts, it wasn’t something she did often here, but it was a token skill that couldn’t be forgotten. She’d done it so many times, even had her own vault of hearts - like mother, like daughter, she supposed. And those carried over too, hidden deep in her crypt. A quick rip, a quick look, and a quick put-back-in.
After a minute, she sighed.
“Fine,” she agreed, agitated. “Only because it’s the only thing that’ll get you out of my kitchen. So, fine. You do know it’s not a cakewalk, right? You remember how much it hurts?” A disclaimer was a necessary. “You don’t want to drink first? I’ll spare you a shot of tequila, if it’ll help.”
Might as well, since it wasn’t like Mary Margaret was asking her to do her damn taxes for her.
Mary Margaret could recall the pain well. She’d woken up after having that particular dream with that pain in her chest and the panic attack that had accompanied it hadn’t helped. “I know. And I’ll pass on the drink. I just want to get this over with as quickly as possible. The sooner I know, the better.” If the blackness on her heart didn’t bleed over then she’d be able to rest easier and would be able to stop worrying so much.
She was tempted for a little tequila, but she’d keep her own nerves and doubts about this entire request under wraps. Clearly, she knew what she wanted to do, otherwise Mary Margaret wouldn’t even have the guts to show up so boldly on her doorstep.
Regina’s fingers flexed, sparing a last eye-to-eye look her with her supposed step daughter before taking a deep breath. And it was done quick, with not a second to spare - her hand dove into her ribcage, gripped that beating organ, and tore it out with a blur of magic. Like ripping off a bandaid except not at all.
And there it was, throbbing in her hands, bright red, and she showed it to her.
It all happened so fast that before Mary Margaret knew it, she was gasping and a searing pain went through her chest. Feeling her heart get ripped out in the dreams had prepared her for what it would feel like, but in real life the pain was ten fold and she clutched at her chest as she tried to catch her breath, blinking tears from her eyes as she tried to focus on the glowing organ in Regina's hand, "Is...is there a spot?" Mary Margaret could only see so much even if Regina did turn her heart to display it to her.
It felt like deja vu, holding her heart in her hands. Regina remembered her begging for death, remembered the tiny speck of darkness that tainted it. There was none this time. Just a vibrant red and the rhythmic bumpbump against her palm.
“You’re fine,” she assured, her voice containing a bit of surprising tenderness. Well, she had to hand it to the woman for trusting her with this, first of all. Most would think she’d crush it to black powder and let it blow in the wind. It’d kill her. Except Regina didn’t have that intent in mind. “See?” It was even turned for display, the organ dealt with care. “It’s fine. How unsurprising.”
Finding out that her heart was still pure, Mary Margaret wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh or cry. All she knew was that she was immensely relieved and oddly enough she wasn’t worried about Regina crushing it. It was something she’d been worried about while she’d been contemplating this, but now she found that it was the furthest thing from her mind. “Thank god.” It was times like this that she wished David were still around, because she’d go right to his place to tell him, but he was in New York and calling him when he had no idea what was going on would be a little awkward.
Now it was an appropriate time to return this thing back to where it belonged, so as quick as she’d torn it out, she returned it with a dive into her chest and a quick tug out. This time, sans the organ that kept her alive. It never felt like anything slimy, not like what it’d be in medical terms, but Regina had the need to wipe her hands on a kitchen towel anyway.
“Congratulations. You can sleep at night. Is that going to be all?”
As her heart was thrust back into her chest, Mary Margaret gasped and the pain was renewed, but she barely felt it, she was so relieved that her heart wasn’t turning black. “Thank you. I mean that, Regina. You didn’t have to do that, but I really appreciate that you did.” There were still things that she didn’t know about Regina, but she felt like this could possibly be a turning point for them. “I’ll let you get back to what you were doing.”
The woman had a quite the storm coming, if this is the only point she was up to - there was still the matter of Neverland, Pan sending them back, Zelena and the second curse. Plenty of things to maybe later discuss, but right now she’d just wait it out. “You’re welcome,” she replied, a sincerity in her words, and tucked that raven hair behind her ears. Regina led her back to the door, holding it open for her grand exit. “I suppose I’ll be seeing you?”
Or something. This was a slightly awkward visit, having to have ripped her heart out in the kitchen.