The Curse -OUAT (Swan Queen & More)

[PropertyofCora]

The recent influx of other Oncers has encouraged me to finally post one of the stories I am working on. This will mainly be a Swan Queen story, however, due to the way it has been set up, many characters will go in and out. As of now, I'm certain there will be Snowing involved, the Blue Fairy, and likely any other character I can find a way to work in. If there is anyone you want in, feel free to ask. The timeline on this story is after season 4a, however I may end up ignoring some of what happened in the last few episodes so all characters are available, and knowing me, some past character deaths will probably be ignored because I still refuse to accept that they happened. In other words, be weary that some spoilers for the show may come up in this. This is just the short little introduction to the actual story, so it will really start with the SQ I've already written in the next section that I will post very soon. Enjoy!

Title: The Curse

Fandom: Once Upon a Time

Pairings (so far): Swan Queen, Snowing

Sneeze cause: Well... I tagged it as allergy because it was the closest but... you'll see. First section only- illness.

Part One: Introduction

The Blue Fairy held a tissue up to her nose and blew, frowning at the gurgle sound that resulted. She had woken up, only to discover she had somehow contracted an annoying cold, probably from that particularly sneezy dwarf who was always hanging around the convent with Grumpy. She loathed being sick and would have much preferred to spend her ailing time in bed, but first there was something she needed to take care of.

A curse, bigger than the one that had brought them all to Storybrooke, was in her possession. If cast correctly, it would not only bring them all back to the Enchanted Forest in one piece, but also erase all memories of their time in this world.

Blue hated the newfound camaraderie the Charming family seemed to have with the Evil Queen. They weren’t exactly the best of friends by any means, but there hadn’t been any threats to her life in months. It was boring, and not only that, but it meant they went to Regina for all their magical needs. There had been a time where she was the main source of power to the White family’s rule. She was highly regarded and her words were taken with the utmost importance.

Now, with Regina in their favor, there was no more need for the fairies beyond the frivolities of granting wishes to those in need, and that had never suited Blue’s desires before. She preferred to feel important and above the status of the throne, not as the menial helper of children.

So with that in mind, Blue sniffled and got to work mixing the ingredients to the potion together. As a fairy, it was strictly against the nature of her kind to ever fall in love, and of course this curse would require the heart of the thing she loved most, like any other. Love, she found, could also be accounted for with loyalty. There was one fairy in specific named Pink whose loyalty had always been shown to her with unwavering support. She did feel a bit sad to have had to rip her heart out in such a way the evening before, but it had to be done for the greater good, so she was willing to make the sacrifice.

After throwing the heart with an ample amount of fairy dust into the mix, Blue began to recite the carefully crafted words of the curse. Unfortunately, her nose was impossibly stuffed, and several times throughout her words were muffled by stifled sneezes.

“And I call upon ngxxt to take us... heh nchxt b-back to…”

Blue sniffled, wishing the throbbing in her head and the constant sneezes would stop. She was only a verse away, though, so the fairy mustered her strength and carried on.

The ending was punctuated by a particularly loud sneeze for the fairy, but she held off from so much as sniffling and looked up. A dark cloud appeared over the potion, consuming the entire basement of the convent. Blue closed her eyes as she was encased in the smoke and glowing green magic, knowing that when she opened them back up she would be standing back home again at last.

When her eyes peeked open, though, it was the sight of the same damp basement and a few remaining tendrils of magic that Blue was greeted with.

“Pixie fluff,” she cursed, “I must have messed something up. Ahh… eh… nchxxt, huh ncht, gunshhoo.”

With an aggravated sniffle, Blue accepted that something must have gone wrong. She was definitely still in the convent, which would not have returned to the Enchanted Forest with her. The curse must have failed. She looked into her mixing pot and saw that the ingredients had been incinerated—the heart included—meaning there was no way she would be able to try again until she had time to regroup and find everything again.

With a heavy sigh, Blue moved the curse-related items back into their hiding places, intent on getting some sleep and trying again in the morning. It was strange, from the way her magic reacted, Blue was certain that her curse had worked. All the signs of proper magic were there, yet the results were too blatant to ignore. Perhaps she had used the wrong heart.

Little to her knowledge, the cloud of magic smoke was slowly creeping its way across the slumbering citizens of Storybrooke, leaving no one untouched by its path.

[Melody]

I love OUAT!! Interesting pairing, but I'll definitely be reading more of this!

[evilregal]

yay for more OUaT stories and double yay for Swan Queen!

[Evilduckling108]

I am LOVING the sudden influx of Swen on here! I have a bunch of stuff I've been meaning to write and stuff I never finished that I'll have to post on here now. Can't wait to see where you take this story and I'm super looking forward to some sneezy SQ of course!

[PropertyofCora]

I love OUAT!! Interesting pairing, but I'll definitely be reading more of this!

Yay! I'm glad you like it so far. If there's another pairing you want to see in here somewhere that wouldn't interfere with the established ones so far, let me know. I have a feeling our ladies are going to be paying some people visits around town. Thanks for reading!

yay for more OUaT stories and double yay for Swan Queen!

Always yay for Swan Queen! Thank you =]

I am LOVING the sudden influx of Swen on here! I have a bunch of stuff I've been meaning to write and stuff I never finished that I'll have to post on here now. Can't wait to see where you take this story and I'm super looking forward to some sneezy SQ of course!

I agree! It made me so happy. For years I have barely posted on here at all, but I always have to break out of my silence for my ship. There was finally enough that I felt like people might actually want to read some of mine. You should definitely post that stuff you want to write on here. Thanks for reading!

All right, everyone, don't get used to me posting this fast all the time, but here's part 2. I felt bad my introduction was so short, so I thought you all deserved a more typical sized chapter for being so kind and responsive. This still isn't the sneeziest chapter, but trust me when I say, it's coming.

Part Two

Emma Swan woke up feeling an odd sensation under her skin. She couldn’t quite place what it was, but her magic almost felt electric. Since she still was lacking a grasp on how to actually use it, she figured it must just be a normal thing, but tucked it away to ask Regina later. They were set to have another magic lesson this morning.

Ever since the latest frozen fiasco, things in Storybrooke had remained relatively calm. No one was out trying to steal any hearts, and even Rumplestiltskin tended to keep to himself, preferring to spend his days with Neal and Belle while he still could. Overall, Emma had been enjoying discovering what a normal life with her family could look like—well, as normal as finding out your parents were fairytale characters could possibly be.

Despite this, Emma still felt it was pertinent to learn magic after some persuasion from Regina. Just because nothing bad was happening yet, did not mean it wouldn’t be coming eventually. She figured it was better to be prepared this time, and Regina was quick to agree to give her the lessons, mumbling something about wasted potential that Emma had rolled her eyes over at the time.

They had been making some considerable progress, as Emma no longer involuntarily lit things on fire, but she still sometimes lost control or accidentally performed little spells without meaning to. Regina was as patient as the older woman knew how to be, which wasn’t very patient at all, but it still made Emma smile to be around her when she did try.

After a quick shower and getting dressed, Emma realized it was almost time for Regina to arrive at the apartment. They were planning on going out for breakfast before the lesson started, as it had become a bit of a tradition between the two of them recently. She still felt vaguely off about something she couldn’t quite identify, though, and it was beginning to bother her.

“Do you guys feel, I don’t know, weird at all?” Emma asked when she entered the downstairs kitchen.

Her parents were already up and about, David seated at the counter and Snow flipping pancakes. The little baby Prince was seated regally in his high chair, ruling over his bowl of applesauce and babbling to himself. Upon seeing Emma, Snow frowned and placed her spatula down, immediately walking over.

“What do you mean? Do you think you might be getting sick?” Snow asked in concern.

Before Emma could say anything to stop her, Snow’s hand was up on Emma’s forehead, the rest of her standing just close enough to make Emma feel uncomfortable.

“You don’t feel hot,” Snow remarked, finally removing her hand and looking Emma up and down.

“No, that isn’t what I meant. I’m fine, it’s just… I don’t know. It’s more like a sense of something being off. It’s probably nothing.”

“Let’s hope it’s nothing. Your mother made pancakes and I, for one, would really love to be able to eat them,” David joked. He was already reaching across the counter with a fork to grab a few to pile on his plate.

Snow walked up and swatted him playfully. “Save some for Emma, Charming. I swear, between the two of you and Henry, I don’t know how we ever have any food left.”

“Oh please, you love it and you know it,” he teased. “Besides, Emma is leaving us for her magic lesson with Regina, remember?”

“Oh, right,” she sighed sadly. Snow had been against Emma learning her magic at first, and though she trusted Regina and had gotten more accustomed to it, Emma could always tell it bothered her just a little bit that she spent so much time in the company of the other woman when Regina could barely stand to be in the same room as Snow for five minutes before making a snarky quip.

“But thank you for making me the delicious breakfast, Snow.” Charming smiled and leaned over from his barstool at the counter to place a loving kiss upon his wife’s lips. Emma was used to the affection being a regular occurrence in her home and found she could think of Regina whenever she wanted to pretend it wasn’t happening.

When Snow pulled back quickly, however, Emma’s attention was drawn to the way she scrunched up her nose before dropping her mouth open. Snow breathed heavily for only a moment, her chest heaving, but she barely had time to turn her head away before erupting in a series of soft sneezes into her open palm. “Huh-chew! Heh… huh chiew! Chew!”

“Oh,” Snow sniffled loudly, “excuse b-behhchEW… be.”

“Bless you,” Emma said. She walked over to the counter where the tissue box was stored and grabbed a few to hand to the other woman. Snow accepted them gratefully and dabbed at her nose, sniffling again.

“Should we be worried that you might be getting sick now?” Emma raised an eyebrow, not easily forgetting the awkwardness of having her newfound mother checking her for a temperature not five minutes before.

“No, that was her allergy sneeze,” David piped in.

Emma’s head snapped in his direction, confused spread across her face. “I’m sorry, you… what? Do I even want to know how you know that?”

Snow smiled sweetly and leaned into his open arms. “I think it’s cute that he does.”

“When she has a cold they get a lot louder. And messier. Trust me, you learn to know the difference after a while.” David smiled back at her and leaned in to place another kiss, this time on the tip of Snow’s nose.

Emma could only watch as the surprise flitted across Snow’s face just a second before her breath hitched. She managed to move only so that her sneezes landed in the crook of David’s neck, as his arms were still holding her in place, now wrapped around her waist.

“Heh-chew! Huh… hehechiew! CHOO!” Snow’s sneezes grew harsher and wetter as they progressed, each one landing right on David’s neck. Emma had to give him credit, he barely even flinched, just lifted one arm and patted Snow on the back a few times. It kind of amazed her how comfortable they were around each other sometimes.

Well, amazed and disgusted, depending on the circumstances. This was strangely a lot cuter than she would have imagined.

Snow laughed as she pulled away, apparently done, and raised the tissues back to her nose, this time giving a gentle blow to ease some of the stuffiness that was beginning to form. “Ugh, I wish I dew wadt wad bakig be sdeeze so buch.” She paused to sniffle and smiled when it finally seemed to clear her up a bit. “I’m only allergic to roses normally, and we don’t have any in the apartment.”

“You were fine before you kissed me,” David pointed out with a pout.

“Well, are you wearing anything new?” Snow asked him, eyebrow raised in question.

He crinkled his brow in thought for a moment before responding, “No, nothing new that I can think of. Same old shampoo and everything.”

She smiled at him. “Then it’s clearly not you.” To prove her point, Snow shifted in his arms and moved in to place her lips gently against his own. Emma had to look away, still finding it too early to see such intimate moments. She was about to say something to try and make her exit when David gasped behind her. Emma turned just in time to watch him muffle two harsh sneezes into his elbow in an attempt to turn away from Snow.

“GUShmmff, HURmpff!”

Emma lifted an eyebrow and looked between them. “That was odd.”

Concern flickered quickly through Snow’s face, and Emma could tell her mother was holding something back that she clearly did not wish to say.

“What’s wrong?” she asked with a heavy sigh.

Snow twiddled her fingers in front of her anxiously and looked around. “It’s nothing,” she hesitated.

“You clearly don’t think it’s nothing. What aren’t you telling me?” Emma knew her tone was a bit overly demanding, but it was too early for this. She was just supposed to get up and go have magic lessons with Regina, not deal with that look that usually meant Snow knew something she wouldn’t want to hear and was going to tell her anyways.

“It’s just that, it has been a while since anything has gone wrong around here…” Snow trailed off and looked over at her husband, purposefully avoiding Emma’s eyes. They shared a knowing look that made Emma’s gut churn uncomfortably.

Those were the dreaded words she had hoped not to hear, but of course, in Storybrooke there was no escape. Emma closed her eyes and groaned, wishing herself anywhere else, hearing any other words. At this point, another pregnancy would have been more welcome.

Emma was about to retort with something that, in her mind at least, would debunk any claims that something was wrong. She knew it was possible, perhaps even likely after everything they had been through in the past few years, but she refused to get sucked into another problem based on a few sneezes. Before she could say as much, the familiar smoke of Regina’s magic filled the apartment and cleared away to reveal the pristinely dressed woman herself, not a hair out of place.

Emma was stopped from greeting her by a strong tickle deep in her nasal cavities. Her eyelashes fluttered and her breath hitched, the itch overwhelming her every thought. She couldn’t remember ever feeling such a desire to sneeze before in her life, but like fire spreading throughout her nose, Emma had no choice but to bend forward with the force as she extinguished it, halfheartedly covered by her hand.

“HurESHOO! Ehh ehSHOo!”

In the background, she heard the telltale signs of her parents and baby brother reacting similarly, but was too preoccupied with making sure there was nothing on her face that might embarrass her in front of Regina. A wet sniffle and a quick dab with the back of her hand told Emma she was in the clear, so she looked over to her tentative friend with a welcoming smile.

Regina, for her part, was standing off to the side with a hand covering her mouth and a slightly fearful look in her eyes. “Are you all ill?” she asked, even while taking a step back. The words were muffled behind her hand but Emma could still make them out.

The blonde rolled her eyes at the ridiculous antics, as if Regina was afraid breathing the same air as them for two seconds would leave her infected. “We’re fine,” she countered pointedly. “There must be something in the apartment irritating everyone this morning.”

Regina reluctantly lowered her hand and grimaced, looking around the apartment from where she stood. “Yes, there must be a great deal of dust or mold around here somewhere, I’m sure. Perhaps both.”

It took everything in Emma to prevent an actual facepalm in that moment, but Snow had reacted to the bait and was currently trying to defend her housekeeping to an amused Regina.

“Regina!” Emma yelled a bit too eagerly. “Why did you stop in, exactly?”

This seemed to pull the other woman from her taunting, much to Emma’s relief. “You are late for your magical lesson. I wanted to see that you were still planning to come.”

“And you couldn’t, I don’t know, call or use the door?” Emma countered in annoyance.

Regina huffed and straightened her blazer with a smirk. “Well, I could have done that, but then you could have just ignored me. I needed to make sure you weren’t slacking off or trying to get out of it.”

Emma rolled her eyes, but in her mind, she knew Regina wasn’t exactly wrong. That did sound a lot like something she would do. “All right, fine. Next time, just assume I’m running late for at least five minutes before you show up, okay?”

Regina nodded to herself. “I suppose that is agreeable. However, tardiness is not to be tolerated. You wish to have my time, fine, but it is not there for you to waste. As punishment, you will be poofing us back to my home.”

Emma didn’t even try to contain her groan this time. “But Reginaaaaaaaaa. You know I hate doing that. I always crash into things and it makes me dizzy to have to focus on the magic and the landing at the same time,” she whined.

Regina’s smirk widened. “Then it’s a good thing I have already Emma-proofed my study. Now, come here and get on with it.”

Reluctantly—there may have been some feet dragging involved—Emma managed to get herself across the room. She clutched tightly to both Regina’s hands, decidedly ignoring the flutter it sent through her stomach as usual. Pleasantly, her own smoke began to form around them, and soon the twisting motions of the magic moving them overtook them both.

Emma knew they had landed, but hesitated to open her eyes. She was still clutching onto Regina’s hands in a death grip, which the other woman was attempting to extricate herself from, but Emma was too afraid the dizziness would hit. Still holding, she took a deep breath and cracked upon her eyes, just in time to be met with the sight of Regina violently twisting her upper body away as a sneeze tore through her.

“Heh-ishoo!”

She dropped Regina’s hands like they were on fire, her mother’s words from earlier floating through her mind, mixed with the odd feeling she had felt upon waking up. She had never seen Regina sneeze; it was too weird to be coincidental that today was her first time, right? For a second, she wondered if maybe she was just obsessing over a few sneezes far too much, but her instincts rarely failed her.

“Regina, what the hell is going on?”

[Evilduckling108]

Ooo! This seems like it'll be a lot of fun. Looking forward to the next update!

[SexyGodlikeHair]

This sounds really cool! I can't wait to see more of Regina sneezes though, so I am a little partial...but I can't wait for more!!