The Gift of a Prince and a Thief
Chapter 1
A/N - Hello everyone! So this is my very first OUAT fic and it is entirely Regina-centric because she's my favourite and deserves all the happiness. Just so you're aware, the first half of this story will be loosely following the events from the end of Season 5 through to the end of Season 6, and then everything else will be leading on from the "happy beginning" post-Season 6 finale.
Our story starts just after the episode 'Sisters', they are still in the underworld and Regina and Zelena have just sent Cora into the afterlife. Hope you all enjoy it! (And if you do, I would love it if you could leave a review and let me know what you thought - thank you!)
Physically there was no change as he walked outside. Not that he expected there to be. They were still in the underworld after all.
The sky was still a murky red colour and the air was still damp, but something had happened. His power and his chance to be a hero like his moms and his grandparents was possible. He had the pen back; he was the author again.
What that entailed he wasn't entirely sure. Aside from writing them out of the Heroes and Villains realm he had not accomplished much. This was supposed to give him authority, a purpose that he didn't have before, and yet, he didn't know quite how to use it. He'd had the pen back for a few days but it was only now that he had found himself with time to contemplate his new role as the writer of stories, not just a character within them. Yet, he still had to prove himself as more than the heart of the truest believer, and the little boy that helped the Saviour break the curse. With his new-found sense of responsibility, he would find a way to break that stigma and be a hero in his own right. He would not squander his duty like before; this pen would remain unbroken.
As he walked slowly down the empty Main Street of the town his mother was commonly referring to as Underbrooke, his mind flitted back to the beginning of the search for the original author. Operation Mongoose. His mom wanted her happy ending, but she felt she was destined never to get one. Was she happy now? She had Robin back in her life, that was a start, but it would always be complicated by Zelena and their daughter. He would never hear her complain about the complex family scenario they found themselves in as she was a very private person, but he knew it hurt. She was now surrounded by three children who were not biologically hers, not that that mattered to him, she was his mom, she was the one who raised him, but still, she now shared him with Emma.
Perhaps her happy ending would lie with a miracle? A change of fate which could only come from someone who held the power of a pen, not a sword – or magic.
"Henry?"
He looked up and quickly tucked the pen he had been previously examining into the pocket of his coat. It was no surprise to see his mother - his adoptive, former evil queen mother - heading towards him. Although he was now a teenager, he was still not trusted to walk the streets alone. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact they were not the quiet streets of Storybrooke, Maine, but the fairy-tale equivalent of purgatory.
"Mom, what are you doing here? Weren't you with Zelena?" he asked as she reached him. As he spoke, he recalled a conversation he probably shouldn't have overheard whereby she explained how she would use her own mother to make her sister realise that perhaps Hades was not the most desirable life partner.
Regina Mills, as calm and collected as ever, paused in front of him and sighed lightly. It was becoming ever redundant to try and keep things from her son anymore. He was far too inquisitive and had been involved in too much to shield him from the truths of the complicated world they found themselves living in.
"I was," she answered with a slight shrug. "My mother has moved on from this place and my sister has gone to seek her true love in the form of the God of Death. I suppose I better warn Robin of the stepfather his daughter could potentially be getting."
"Wait," he cried suddenly before she had a chance to leave. The plan he had been formulating just moments ago returned to the forefront of his mind. He knew his mom well enough to understand that she was hurting, whether it was about Cora or Zelena or something more he could not tell, but regardless he wished to alleviate some of her pain for once. The past few years she had done nothing but work on changing herself for the better. She had come so far and now she had a family and a man who loved her. Maybe he could give her that last piece to secure her happy ending once and for all.
Henry paused as Regina looked back at him expectantly. He knew he was acting before thinking of the consequences of his actions, but his hero complex was not uncommon in his family. He had learnt that to help those who did not wished to be helped - usually one of his mothers - sometimes difficult conversations needed to be had, and difficult decisions had to be made.
"Can we talk for a second?"
"What's wrong?" She carefully studied his face, wondering what was the matter this time. Her son was no longer the little boy she could soothe with bedtime stories and chocolate, he was growing up and facing problems which were foreign to her. She knew how much he yearned to be a part of the action, he wanted his chance to be the hero his all his family strived to be, but she wasn't ready to put him in such danger. Even being in the underworld came with its risks but at least she was there to protect him if necessary. Not that he needed her protection anymore, even from their time in Neverland, her son had constantly been surprising her with his strength and bravery; she couldn't be prouder of him.
"It's just..." Henry struggled to find the words. The last thing he wanted was to upset his mother by bringing up such a sensitive subject. She had never actually spoken to him about it, when he was younger he had innocently inquired about having siblings but she had always made light of the situation and claimed that there was only room for one prince in her life. Now he was older, he understood the complexity of the situation and wanted to help her, even if it did mean he would have to ask a rather difficult question. "With Zelena and the baby... does it make you upset that you can't have kids of your own?"
There was a stunned silence as Regina's lips parted in surprise. She was about to ask how her son knew such a secret part of her life but then she remembered he was now the author, and he would be learning more and more about her past whether she wanted him to or not.
She sighed and shook her head before cupping her glove-clad hands around his face gently. "The situation is not ideal to say the least but there is nothing I can do about it, so I'm just trying to work on moving forwards. I've spent too long harbouring anger, I won't do that again. And besides, I have you, I don't need anyone else." She kissed him lightly on the forehead and turned on her heel, heading towards the forest.
"There may be nothing you can do about it," Henry muttered to himself as he watched her disappear into the shadows of the trees. With only one goal in mind, he rushed back to the apartment, knowing it would be empty as his family were still out on their latest quest. As he walked with haste, with his fingers clenched around the pen in his pocket, the voice of the Sorcerer's Apprentice played in his head, he was not supposed to change events, just record them.
"This is for good," he assured himself. "It won't happen again. I just have to do this for my mom, to help her get her happy ending. I am the author, and I will finish Operation Mongoose."
Once he sat down on the significantly less comfortable underworld copy of his bed, Henry took the pen and held it in his hand for a second. He could feel the power resonate through his fingers. It was a power that he had never asked for, it was his moms who used magic, not him, and as his Grandpa was always saying, 'all magic comes with a price.'
That thought almost made him falter but then he remembered the look of loss in his Mom's eyes when he asked about having her own children. She had been robbed so long ago because of her selfish, power-crazy mother, and the least he could do for her was to try and make the impossible possible once more. He was not even sure that it would work, Isaac may have managed to manipulate some stories before he was sentenced to imprisonment within the book, but Henry was unaware if it was possible to change a person's biology with the power of the pen; all he could do was try.
The newfound sense of determination spurred Henry to throw open his story book to the next blank page and put pen to paper, writing exactly what he wanted. And once it was done, he could only look at what he had written. The newly printed black ink shone back at him. It did not disappear but rather confirmed its permanent place within the book. All he could do now was hope that it had worked, and hope he had made the right choice and done the right thing.
And to retrieve her happy ending, a miracle happened to Regina. The ability to have children which was once so cruelly taken from her, due to the pressure of her mother and the darkness years prior, was restored. It was then that she could hope to find happiness with Robin Hood and a future child.
