For Love of Family
AUTHORS NOTE: I do not own Once Upon a Time, that belongs to Adam and Eddie as well as ABC. What I do own, though, are the feels I felt when I read the quote from Zelena from the premier, and this fic came from that.
This starts out really sort of big in the Mills sister feels, and then changes to a bit of Swan Queen with some insinuated possibility of the Mills sisters being badass in the future. And then, of course, it explains, in my opinion, one of the later scenes as well. Or what I wish it could be really.
"You destroyed the part of you that's most like me, Regina!" Zelena screamed, tears burning in her eyes and falling slowly down her face. Her heart was breaking on the inside at the thought that she was going to lose her sister right after having just found her again after so long. "How could you do this?" she whispered.
Regina's lip trembles, her own heart breaking for her older sister, "Lena," she says, reaching out to hold her sister's hands, "I will always love you, no matter what happens to me, but…I had to. Knowing the Evil Queen was still inside of me was destroying me. I…I can't fully move on if she's always there in the background waiting to tempt me like my own personal Devil. You, of all people, should understand that more than anything."
Zelena closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears from falling and squeezed Regina's hands tightly. She didn't know how exactly to explain to her little sister the fear she felt, but she's pretty sure that even without her words, Regina understood her. "I just don't want to lose you. Not when we just found each other again," she whispers, finally finding the words. Herr eyes are still closed as she's afraid to see Regina's reaction. The pity that she's sure is in her little sister's eyes because her big sister can't stop being a blubbering mess.
Instead, Regina's hands gently release Zelena's and go to cup her face, "Look at me," she says gently. Zelena opens her eyes to see Regina with a small smile and tears in her own eyes, "You are my sister, you were my best friend when I had no one in the world to lean on. I can still see that day that we found out we were sisters, the day you were ripped away from me, and it breaks my heart. There is nothing, and I do mean nothing, in this world that will make me abandon you ever again Lena. You're my sister, and I love you. We were sisters before we became the Evil Queen and the Wicked Witch, and we'll be sisters long after we've moved past them." In Regina's eyes, there's a fierce determination, almost like she's begging Zelena to see that she's telling the truth, begging her to see that everything will be alright.
"Do you promise?" Zelena asks, her eyes wide and childlike. It's still strange for her to receive so much devotion and love from her little sister, especially since they've been fighting for so long now, but at the same time, it feels familiar. It feels like when they were little girls and they had found out the truth. The look she'd seen in Regina's eyes then was so full of awe and devotion and love that it almost brought Zelena to tears. She remembers Regina taking her hand and squeezing it tightly, determined never to let her sister go back to the abusive father she'd always known, but keep her there with them in the relative safety of their home.
"I promise," Regina swears, her face scrunched in seriousness, "I had to let you go once, back to that wicked father of yours, but I won't let that again. I won't push you out into the cold, I won't turn my back on you. You're my sister and I love you. If I have to say it a million times to prove it to you, to make you see that no matter what you'll always be my sister and my family, then I will."
Zelena smiled, and reached out to hug her sister, pulling Regina tightly to her, "I love you too, Gina," she says closing her eyes as her little sister hugs her back with such ferocity that all the air seems to leave her lungs. She doesn't tell her though, just revels in this moment, in knowing that her sister won't abandon her, that she finally has people in her life that love her. Hell, her sister's own not so secretive crush, that blonde meddlesome Savior Emma, even seems to have taken a better liking to her now, as well as the son they both love, which Zelena finds just a tad bit funny. She wonders how long that's been a thing, and how she can help to make it happen sooner. Pulling away, she looks into Regina's eyes, remembering something that had happened that day, "What did Emma see, from the Oracle I mean?" she asks, her eyes searching Regina's.
Regina's own eyes, so full of light, seemed to dim, and Zelena knew it was bad. She explained to her older sister that Emma had seen her own demise, her death in a battle against a cloaked figure that, unsaid between the two, they were sure it was the Evil Queen. Zelena could see the fear in her sister's eyes, as well as the guilt, and realized that Regina would no doubt blame herself if that came to pass, if Emma died at the hands of her evil self. After all, Regina was the one to release her out in the world. She was the one who failed to kill her permanently. Whatever bad things the Evil Queen did between now and that final fight, Regina would undoubtedly be blaming herself. It didn't take a genius to figure that one out.
After she had finished explaining, Zelena nodded, "Then we fight," she said, standing up straight, a determination in her eyes that warned Regina that she wasn't going to be talked out of this, "We figure out a way to stop this, to stop whoever is going to kill Emma, and we fight. If we can destroy them before they destroy her, then she'll be safe."
Regina smiles ruefully, shaking her head, "That won't solve this. The Oracle told Emma that no matter what happened, no matter how she tried to change her path, it would always lead to that moment, that fight. It seems that Emma is destined to die to save us all," she said, her voice taking on a rough hitch as she fought back the tears.
It had seemed that she was giving up without even trying, suggesting that she'd already had this argument before with Miss Swan, but Zelena could tell that even doing that was crushing her. So, Zelena shook her head and smiled, "No," she said, "there has to be something. Fate can change, destinies can change. If Emma's fated to die by the Evil Queen's hands, then we'll kill the bitch before she can get to her. If that fate goes to another, then we'll take care of them too. You, my dear little sister, obviously love this Savior, and I can see that it's killing you to just take this as a fact, so we'll fight. We will save Emma Swan. Hell, I'm sure that her parents and the stupid pirate of hers will take any and all help they can get to save her."
Regina's lip is trembling and the tears are falling quickly down her face, "Thank you," she breaths, and her whole body seems to relax, "I…thank you," she says again, and then attacks her older sister in a big hug.
"Anything for you, little sister," Zelena promises, holding Regina as she cries against her, her body shaking as she lets go of the fear she's been holding in since Emma told her about her fate.
Hours later, Zelena enters her house to find the Evil Queen sitting at her kitchen table, two appletinis sitting on the surface ready to be drunk. The Evil Queen smiles, a wicked gleam in her eyes as she gestures to the seat in front of her own, "I thought it was time we had a little chat, sister," she says, smirking.
Zelena, having known this was coming, tries her best not to cringe at the woman who looks and sounds so much like her sweet, troubled sister, and sits down without a word, waiting for the other woman to make her bargain. After all, it didn't hurt to be the inside man on the bad guy's plan. And if this is what it took to save her sister more heartache, then she would make a deal with the Devil. Make her think that she was on her side. And then, when the moment came, the Evil Queen would see just how wicked Zelena could be.