Chapter Text
By some token, Ruby had to count herself lucky that the curse originally spat them out in the 80’s. If it had sent them to the modern day, the amount of stuff Curse Ruby would've ordered with the luxury of online shopping would've been terrifying. Considering, though, that she was staring at a package she didn't remember ordering, perhaps she still had a problem, curse or no.
It was nothing extravagant and the packing itself was rather nondescript. Just a small box wrapped in brown paper with her name printed across the front. She frowned, picking at the little twine bow tied around the thing. She shrugged and closed the mailbox outside of the diner before making her way back inside. The bell jingled above the door when she entered, the noise of lunch rush filling her ears and pushing aside thoughts of the mysterious little box for the time being as she stuffed it under the register and spun back around to the main dining area.
Her mind clicked into autopilot as she worked, whirling around the restaurant with practiced efficiency. She slung plates and smiles left and right, racking up tips as she went. If she flirted along the way to bump those tips higher, well, who could blame her? She had done it well for thirty years without knowing, may as well use it to her advantage now that she knew she was good at it.
Within the hour, the lunchtime patrons began to slowly filter out of the diner, leaving only a few regulars and stragglers. Ruby sighed and glanced at the clock that hung behind the bar. The hours of 2PM-4PM were golden, barely any work, a lot of scrolling on the internet and occasional other distractions. Which reminded her, she already had one of those lined up sitting under the register. She finished wiping down the last vacant table and swept around to the back side of the counter, grabbing the little package and pulling herself up a stool.
As she sat down, the bell rang above the door. She glanced up as Regina Mills, Evil Queen, and somehow still the best looking woman in Storybrooke, diabolical personality aside, walked in, looking around as if someone might jump at her from the shadows. She didn't need to look at the shadows. Ruby was right there and more than capable of doing that herself if the mayor wasn’t careful.
It wasn’t that she hated Regina. She didn’t, really. She knew the woman had made admirable strides toward being a “reformed villain” or whatever. She just also didn’t quite trust her or appreciate the fact that Regina had quite literally hunted her best friend, and subsequently her , for the entirety of her adult life in the Enchanted Forest and stolen her memories and her life for thirty years once they got to Storybrooke. But, she digressed.
“Hey, Regina,” she greeted, plastering on her most saccharine smile. “I’ll be with you in a sec.” Regina nodded, her dark brown hair bobbing a bit with the action, and found herself a seat on the opposite end of the bar from Ruby. To Granny, money was money, but that money could wait until Ruby figured out just what the hell was in this package.
She turned her attention back to the parcel in her hands, turning it over and looking for any indication of its origins. No return address, just the address of the B&B and her name printed on a label. She wasn't going to be able to tell by handwriting. So it had to be from the internet. Though, if it was, she didn't remember ordering it. Finding nothing to go off of, she decided opening it was her only option to figure out what it was and where it came from. She pulled the tails of the bow, tugging the twine loose and setting it beside her on the counter before slipping her fingers beneath the edge of the brown paper.
The wrapping fell away easily, uncovering a small black jewelry box. Well, that tracked for her shopping habits at least. Curiosity made her lift the lid without further inspection, revealing what had to be the most beautiful bracelet she had ever seen. Gold detailing shimmered, even in the harsh lighting of the diner, and a single large inlaid ruby winked back at her surrounded by several smaller cut rubies. The gold filigree was gorgeous but the stones were the showstoppers, here.
Ruby’s jaw nearly hit the tile floor beneath her as she stared at it. There was no way this was hers. Her credit card limit wasn’t nearly high enough for something like this. But it was her name and address on the box.
“Well, someone has expensive tastes,” Regina’s voice sounded from a few feet away at the bar.
“I…” Ruby stammered, struggling to pull her voice from her throat. “Yeah, apparently,” she managed, adding on a mumbled, “but it sure as hell isn’t me.”
Regina hummed, “An admirer, perhaps? A patron with a crush?”
“Maybe,” Ruby said, still stunned as she slowly turned the bracelet around in her grasp. “You know anyone in Storybrooke besides you who could afford this much real gold?”
Regina laughed something short and bitter. “The man with the word in his name, probably, but unless I’m mistaken, his tastes are a bit more bookworm than lupine.”
Ruby twisted it around again, running her fingers over the clasp as she pondered.
"How do you even know it's real gold, dear?” Regina continued. “Magic is back in the world, after all. Could be any number of other materials."
"Gold doesn't conduct heat like other metals,” Ruby answered simply. “It isn't warming in my hand." She shrugged. Maybe if she wore it whoever gave it to her would notice it and fess up. She unclasped it and was just fixing it on when Regina sucked in a breath, eyes wide in realization.
“Wait, it's magic, don't–!"
But then the clasp was fastened. Ruby felt a zing of something unrecognizable blast through her right arm and up into her shoulder. There was a tingling sensation like the limb had fallen asleep and she waited for what she thought would be inevitable pain but nothing came. And then she realized– nothing came. Truly nothing. She had lost feeling in her arm entirely.
Panic began to set in but before she could even really process anything that was happening, she watched as her hand shot out against her will and she was suddenly dragged the few steps down the length of the counter to where Regina had risen from her seat, watching her with shock painted across her features.
"I don't know what's happening!" Ruby tried to grab onto the counter with the hand she could control. "Definitely magic!"
“Take it off!” Regina shouted, taking a frantic step toward the counter. She cast her gaze around at the sole other patron, sat flabbergasted behind, calling, “Get help! Get Emma!” at them. She didn’t pay close enough attention to see if they listened or not but she hoped the jingling of the door’s bell meant they had.
“I can’t!” No sooner had Ruby uttered the words, did her hand then fly across the counter and grapple for Regina’s throat. Regina had no time to duck away before the werewolf’s clutches wrapped tight around her slim neck with all the strength of the moon.
“Ruby what–” she choked out, clawing at Ruby’s wrist as her feet began to lift off the floor.
“I can’t even feel it, Regina, I don’t know !” Ruby’s panic multiplied as Regina’s face started to redden. Flashes of waking up in the snowy woods covered in Peter’s blood reeled through her mind. Villagers screaming, hunting her through the trees, her own screams rivaling them all… oh god, oh no, it was happening again. Some power she couldn’t control and this time she had to watch as Regna’s life drained from her eyes.
“Ruby!” Emma’s voice shouted from the doorway following the faint tingling of the bell. “Ruby, what the hell, put her down!”
Ruby screamed back, “I can’t, it’s magic, Emma, please you have to help!”
Emma appeared beside her in an instant, “What happened, what’s doing this?”
“Brace…let…” Regina croaked, her voice straining and her grip on Ruby’s hand growing weaker.
Emma looked at the very obvious and ominously sparkling trinket. "Hell, Ruby, why did you put that on, it screams 80’s movie death trap!" The blonde grabbed at the golden bracelet but as soon as her skin touched the metal, a shockwave threw the trio in all different directions around the diner.
Ruby went flying into the wall behind the bar, slamming full force into the pastry display. Emma soared over the counter and crashed into the bar stools on the other side while Regina was sent into the main dining area, knocking over some chairs and a table as she went. Ruby heard her gasp and could see from her place on the back counter that the woman was clutching at her own throat, already splotching with purple remnants of Ruby’s fingers.
Ruby’s not-possessed hand rose to her now pounding head, touching her forehead and sliding down her cheeks. She pulled her fingers back when she felt a wetness there, realizing she had apparently been crying. She heard Emma groan and chairs scrape across the floor over the sound of Regina raggedly catching her breath. Before she could even get her bearings, her hand was flying forward again, dragging her out of the destroyed display and around the counter.
Her feet were scrabbling to get under her, but it wasn't working very well. Slivers of glass were embedding themselves in her knees and those were going to be a bitch to deal with later. Unfortunately, that wasn't her biggest problem right now, because the blast had knocked Emma's gun out of her holster and Ruby’s hand was heading right for it.
“Uhh, Emma…” she called, fear trembling in her voice.
Emma’s head popped over the counter. “Shit,” she muttered, taking immediate notice of Ruby’s trajectory. She moved to launch herself across the bar top but it was too late. Ruby’s hand snatched a quick hold of the sherrif’s sidearm and aimed it directly at the sorceress on the floor, now crawling to her feet with a hand still touched tenderly to the discolored skin of her throat.
Emma’s eyes blew wide. “Ruby, put it down!”
“I’m fucking trying!” Her voice cracked on the last word. Regina finally looked up and took register of what was happening, just as Ruby’s hand switched the safety off. The brunette’s face was grimaced in the strain of trying to force her own arm down. “Someone needs to knock me out !”
"I knew working as a bouncer would come in handy." Emma drew back, picking up a chair leg that had been broken off in the blast and coming up swinging. "Time for a nap!"
“Not my face, please, not my face!” Ruby pleaded as Emma came nearer.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Regina’s voice sounded over the chaos before her hand glided through the air, effectively sending the gun with it, and then waved back the other direction. The last thing Ruby saw before blackness overrode her vision was Regina’s brow furrowed and her brown eyes boring into her from across the diner, and then she was out.
When Ruby awoke, it was an ‘all at once’ sort of deal. She jolted upright, bolting to her feet, heart pumping in her chest like she was about to be hunted for sport. Where was she? What had happened? Had someone taken her and tried to skin her alive again?
She tried to take inventory of her surroundings. Everything smelled of metal and concrete and stale coffee. She scrunched her nose.
“Oh, good, you’re up,” a familiar voice said behind her. She whirled fast enough to nearly dizzy herself and was met with… bars. Steel bars.
She was at the station.
Why was she in the cell, though?
“Whoa, you look like you’re about to come through the bars. Not that I doubt you probably could if you like hulked out, but dude, I’d rather not get blasted across the room again today. Once was enough for my ribs.”
Ruby blinked. Emma. Emma at the station. Right. That made sense.
“And I’d personally rather keep any further bodily harm to myself at a minimum, thank you,” a second voice sounded.
Regina? Regina at the station. Well, that made significantly less sense.
Ruby’s eyes began to focus beyond the bars. Emma was standing, wide eyed and arms up like she was trying to placate a wild animal a few feet on the other side of the cell. Behind her, perched daintily atop the deputy desk with her legs crossed, was Regina.
“What the fuck is going on?” She rubbed at her head. She didn’t feel like she’d gotten a knock to it, but she felt groggy like that one time someone had tranquilized her. Now that had been… a bad experience to put it mildly.
Emma looked at Regina; though, Ruby would be more inclined to call it a glare. Regina huffed. “Give her a minute, it will come back, it’s just a side effect.”
“A side effect of wh–” Ruby stopped mid-sentence, feeling an uncomfortable pulling sensation on her right side. The discomfort quickly morphed into pain and she gritted her teeth, fighting the urge to cry out. She grabbed at her right arm with her left hand and froze, snapping her eyes to her side because what the fuck ?
Her right arm was tucked into some fashion of sleeve and effectively strapped across her chest like a restraining sling. Except she definitely hadn’t broken her arm, even if she had it would’ve been healed by now, her wolf would have made sure of it. But something was going on with it, clearly.
“Uh, guys? Are we trying to institutionalize me? Er… half of me?” She rubbed her head with her free hand. Something was pressing against the back of her brain, fuzzy but leaking forward like sludge. Magic? She’d been knocked out by magic, definitely, that would explain why Regina knew about the side effects. But there was magic before too, her arm, something…on it? Oh, fuck, the bracelet .
“Bracelet,” she said suddenly, jerking her head upward to look at Emma. The bracelet had turned her arm evil. She had… Regina. Her eyes shifted from the blonde to the woman seated atop the desk behind her. She frantically searched her from a distance for any of the bruises she was sure would’ve been left behind after an attack of that magnitude but came up clean. “You’re fine? But…?”
“I healed myself, no lasting damage.” But her eyes looked almost haunted. Ruby felt a little bad for that, not much, but a little.
“Ruby,” Emma’s voice called her attention back to her. “Where did you get the bracelet? Who did it come from?”
“I…” the werewolf stepped back and sank down on the edge of the bed in the corner of the cell, trying to allow herself time to process everything that had happened in the last twelve hours. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I got the package in the mail. It had my name and address on it. I put it under the register for the lunch rush and opened it after.”
She paused, thinking back. “There was no return address or name or anything. I thought maybe if I wore it, whoever gave it to me would fess up if they saw it.”
“So you put it on and…what, your arm decided to choose violence?” Emma asked, head tilted to the side, squinting.
“No, well, I mean yeah, but…if it just wanted violence, I would’ve been the easiest target. Or if it’s not like a self-targeting thing, you were there and trying to take it off, why didn’t it just start strangling you?” Ruby looked up at the pair again, brow furrowed.
“Well, Miss Lucas,” Regina sighed, clapping her hands on her thighs once before sliding off the desk. “Sounds like, like everything else in this town, that arm of yours really wants me dead.” Her heels clicked as she strode across the floor the few steps to stand beside Emma, crossing her arms over her chest as she went. “The question is why? Or, better yet, how do we stop it?”
“Is that what the straight jacket thing is for?” She looked at Regina. “And I don’t know about everything else, aren’t you supposed to be the magic expert?”
“The straight jacket, as you so eloquently put it, is just a temporary solution. It’s not a permanent fix,” she narrowed her eyes at Ruby, “and I don’t exactly have much experience with cursed jewelry that makes the wearer want to kill me, unfortunately.”
“Wow, one would have thought with your stellar reign you would’ve gotten more chances.” She curled her lip, showing her teeth. She was still woozy, whatever this jacket was doing to stop the arm didn’t feel pleasant, and it wasn’t like Regina was her favorite person anyway.
“Okay, let’s just try to focus on the task at hand, yeah?” Emma interjected, stepping between the two dark-haired women mid-glaredown.
“What’s the task exactly?” Ruby asked, but she wasn’t about to lose the glaring contest. She just peeked over Emma’s shoulder instead.
“Making sure that we can let you out of there without you trying to kill Regina again.” Emma looked at her with a very ‘duh’ expression.
“The straight jacket is a bit of untested magic, thus the bars. I had no idea if it’d hold.” Regina nodded to the sling.
“What, so I’m like a guinea pig?” Ruby scoffed.
“No, dear, of course not. I don’t believe in animal testing,” the mayor said back with a mocking smile.
“Regina,” Emma scolded, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation. “The goal is not to have her murder you, remember? At this rate, I’m pretty sure the non-demon hand is going to go for it soon.”
“I would like to see her try,” the former queen sneered.
“Open the door and you can get that wish,” Ruby snarled.
“Guys! God damn, I didn’t know I was becoming a middle school teacher when I got this job,” she grumbled. “Look, Ruby, I’m going to open the cell door. Try to push whatever feelings you have for Regina out of the way for now. We just need to make sure the sleeve holds, okay?”
“Fine. Whatever. I’ll shut up.” And then she remembered just how much of a mess the diner was and how much Granny was going to kill her if she didn’t get over there and start cleaning it up. “I have better places to be,” she concluded with a grimace.
“Alright then, good.” Emma picked up her keys and walked to the bars. “Just, the second you feel anything go tits up, let us know,” she paused, hands on the door, and glanced at the brunette. “Again– the ribs, Ruby. I don’t need another jolt; Whale’s a creep.”
Now that Ruby could agree with. “Yeah, yeah, I will.” It wasn’t like she actively wanted Regina dead. At least not by her own hands. She wouldn’t necessarily be broken to pieces if she did die, but choking someone…well, she never wanted to murder anyone again if she could help it. Especially not against her own will.
Emma hesitated only a second before turning the jingling keys in the cell lock and swinging the door open. Ruby stepped towards the doorway slowly, nothing happened, another step, same thing. It still wasn’t comfortable, but at least there was no attempted murder. She made it all the way out of the cell before the pain increased. She clenched her jaw and gripped her arm again, feeling the muscle in her face twitch. The closer she stepped to the pair, the worse it got. She got within two feet of them before she grunted and stumbled into the desk beside Emma, overbalanced trying to catch herself, and landed on her ass.
“Rubes?” Emma’s voice was laced with concern as she came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Hurts,” she managed to grit out between her teeth.
“Fascinating,” Regina said, voice a bit dazed like she hadn’t really meant to say that out loud. When Emma and Ruby both turned their attention to her, she shook her head. “It hurts you to fight what it wants, and it’s proximity based, based on your expression.”
“Oh yeah, fascinating is the word I’d use.” Ruby’s voice was practically a snarl. She had to get away from Regina, but her legs weren’t cooperating.
Regina actually looked a bit chastised at that. “Sorry, it’s been a long while since I’ve actually gotten to play with magic theory.” She waved her hand, stepping back from Ruby a few steps in the process, which lessened the pain, but the purple haze that settled into the sleeve helped more.
“What the fuck did you just cast on me?” Because even while it felt better, she didn’t trust Regina as far as Emma could throw her, which muscles or not, wasn’t far.
“Oh, relax,” Regina said with a hefty eye roll. “It’s a pain relief spell, I infused it into the fabric. It targets magical pain instead of pain from normal sources like inflammation. I don’t know how long it will last in the fabric like that, but normal castings last about a day before they need to be refreshed.”
“So after a day I’m just fucked, then?”
Emma rolled her eyes too. “Or you could ask nicely to have it renewed, Rubes. You’re the one throwing yourself under the bus now.”
“Please,” Ruby said, finally pushing herself up from the floor, “I’m Snow’s best friend. As if I’d get the favor.”
Regina’s answering expression was one of thunder and lightning on her brow. “Your grandmother has manners, so I know you were taught them. Did living in the woods like an urchin steal them from you?”
“I mean, you stole a good portion of my adult years and sent me fighting for my life, so.”
Both of them were glaring at one another again, and this time Emma was one hundred percent done with their bullshit, Ruby saw her throw her hands up and toss the keys to the cell back on her desk. There were mutters of ‘ you can lead a dumbass to water… ’ but she didn’t pay attention to them.
And then Regina just…stopped. Or, well, it looked like she took a breath, rolling her eyes towards the ceiling as if that might help her, and then looking back at Ruby. “Once a day. When I stop in to get my morning coffee. I’ll recast the spell if it wears off,” she met Ruby’s eyes, a challenge lurking behind them. “Take it or leave it, wolf.”
She should refuse, she knew she should refuse. It was Regina the honest to god Evil Queen who was telling her that she was going to cast a spell on her daily. She could cast whatever the fuck she wanted on her every day and Ruby would have no idea what she’d done until the magic settled. But the pain relief…it was huge. She couldn’t really feel her arm at all now, which was concerning, but before being in low level pain all the time, that had been a nightmare. She hadn’t been in pain for long periods of time in years. Wolf healing had stripped that ability to take a long recovery with a brave face from her. Oh hell, she was going to take it, wasn’t she?
“Fine,” she said stubbornly, agreeing all the same. “See you then.”
Regina nodded stiffly and then looked at Emma. “Find me if the jacket breaks.”
“Will do, Madam Mayor.” Emma gave a fake half salute. “Not exactly about to go to Gold with all this, freaky bastard.”
“No that would be…a very bad idea, Miss Swan.” And then she walked from the Sheriff’s office, clicking on four inch heels.
Even with wolf speed, stamina, and strength, cleaning the mess in the diner with one arm was absolutely, unimaginably draining. Ruby had spent the entire night and into the following morning sweeping up broken glass and righting tables and even rebuilding a couple of shelves. By the time her 8AM shift rolled around the next morning, she had barely slept a wink and felt like one of the undead.
She strolled into the restaurant with heavy lids, barely picking her feet up as she moved. She just wanted this day over with and to meet up with her bed as quickly as possible.
“Eight a.m. is not when I get my morning coffee,” Regina said, foot tapping as she stood at the diner counter.
“Yeah, well, it’s when my shift starts today, so here I am,” she grumbled, rounding the counter behind the bar. She grabbed her apron from beneath the register and stopped, staring at the fabric blankly for a breath.
“What? Is the apron cursed too?” Regina snapped, annoyance prevalent.
“No, I… I can’t put it on,” the waitress muttered under her breath, frowning.
Regina sighed and rolled her eyes, snatching the cloth out of Ruby’s grip and gesturing for her to spin.
“Why would I trust you enough to turn my back on you?” She stared at Regina as if she was insane.
“Because it’s either that or no apron and then when coffee spills on you, it’s your skin it’s burning, not the apron. Turn. You’ve already kept me waiting long enough.”
Ruby huffed but turned. At least they were in public and if something bad happened Regina wouldn’t make it out of the diner before Granny could get her crossbow and shoot her.
Regina threw the apron over her head, but the second she grabbed around Ruby’s sides for the tie, fingers brushing against her waist, pain shot through her, worse than it had been before the spell, and her body lost all structural integrity. She cried out in agony.
“What the fuck did you do!?” She curled herself into a ball on the diner floor, trying not to throw up and wishing it was over. Granny appeared in the window in an instant, bursting through the door when she saw Ruby on the floor.
“What the hell is going on out here?! Ruby?” The old woman shouted, glaring at Regina and then back to Ruby who was fighting tears at this point.
“I- I don’t know, I was putting her apron on and my hand touched her side. I guess the curse didn’t like me touching her,” Regina stammered, wide-eyed and hands up in surrender.
“Well, fix it , please!” Ruby pleaded. She had never been one to beg but that had to be the worst pain she’d ever felt. And that was saying something, considering she had eaten her own boyfriend.
“I don’t know if anything I do will make it better or worse.” Regina looked worryingly at Granny, who didn’t have the crossbow just yet, but was in reach of at least five different weapons that would do in a pinch.
“The sleeve spell didn’t hurt,” she ground out, “just do something .”
Regina threw her hands up and cast. “Whatever you say. Just remember you asked for it, if it goes wrong!”
Ruby felt instant relief as the spell washed over her. She let out a huge breath she had been holding and was able to unclench her muscles. She groaned.
“ Fuck , that hurt,” she whined, pushing herself into a sitting position. Granny helped her to her feet.
“I take it the spell at least didn’t worsen things, then,” Regina said, eyes on the counter.
“No, thank god. Though I don’t know how much worse it could’ve made it, if I’m honest.” She was still a touch winded. She glanced at her surroundings and noticed every eye in the diner on them. Perfect.
“Great, because this town needed anything else to throw at me,” she mumbled under her breath.
“Don’t worry, dear, if anyone’s getting chased with torches and pitchforks again, it’s me,” Regina said, glaring at a few nosy neighbors until they turned their attention away. “All anyone here saw was you screaming when I touched you.”
Ruby blinked and bit her tongue. Usually I’m the one who has that effect on women, she thought. “Right, anyway, thanks for uh, that.” Ruby wiped her hand on her apron and cleared her throat.
“Yes, well. I’ll see you in the morning,” Regina replied, turning toward the door, heels clacking on the tile. “On time, please,” she added over her shoulder.
Ruby rolled her eyes so hard that she started to see lights and perhaps her own brain.
“And if you keep doing that your face will get stuck,” Regina added, shutting the door to the diner behind her.
“I hate her,” Ruby said simply once the mayor was gone. Not that she wouldn’t also say it to her face, of course.
Granny barked a laugh. “Sure got a funny way of showin’ it.”
Ruby’s brow furrowed. “What?”
“Oh, come on, girl. I may be old but I’m not stupid,” Granny said, spinning Ruby to finish the apron-tying job Regina had started. “Wake up and smell the pheromones.”
Ruby cringed, actually grimaced, and mimed throwing up in her mouth. “Ew, Granny!”
Granny just rolled her eyes much the same way as she just had a second before. “You younger generation never want any advice from those of us who have been around the block before.”
“Granny,” she groaned. This was a long standing argument between them and hearing it from the 64943758345th time was not going to do her sanity any favors, not when she was that tired. “We’ve got customers.” And she glared at all of them who suddenly had something else to do but stare at the real life Storybrooke soap opera that was her life lately.
“Well, get crackin’ then,” Granny said, before turning back to the kitchen without another word. Ruby shook her head. You’d think after spending her life with that woman she’d be used to her… finesse by now but she always found new and exciting ways to make her cringe. Grandmas. Ugh.