Being pushed around. By a knight no less.
"Get off of me!"
Normally, Regina would never take any sort of harassment from anyone, especially a guard, but being surrounded by all males in a bar was not the most ideal situation for her to fight back. But she pushed him off of her when he touched her. "I said get off!"
"What, love? Can't handle a little contact?" His voice made her skin crawl, and the notions he was imply was no cleaner than he was. This man was infamous for his… adventures with the local woman and clearly, her refusal to participate hit his ego. Hard.
He continued to press on, hands trying to wander to places she would normally kill him for. She backed away, again, but this time right into another large man holding a pint of bear. The brunette gulped, desperately trying not to show any sort of fear. These men fed off fear, seeing it as a weakness and a direct way to what they want, whether it's consensual or not. They were stupid enough to go after her, so she knew they wouldn't stop.
I'll have to fight my way through.
Being a bandit was never ever easy. A queen would never be treated with such disrespect. Hell, even a regular woman in a bar was treated better than this. But a wanted criminal? The face on a poster in the forest was fair game for them, and Regina has had her fair share of men definitely not care about boundaries.
"No, I just don't fraternize with scum in bars," she spat out, seething. It was hard for her to stay composed. The past memories of falling for people like this still haunts her, and she couldn't let that ever happen again.
The man feigned offense. "Oh, lord have mercy. I'm scum now? Didn't look it when you were giving me eyes across the bar." If looks could kill, his smirk would've burned into her skull. It's like he could read her thoughts when he ran his hand over her breasts and chuckled. "Do you really think I care what a lowly bandit thinks about me? I take what I want." His tone sent a shiver down her spine.
Just as he was about to press any further, a loud bang echoed through the tavern, followed by a bellow. A female bellow. "Leave her alone."
Wait, what?
The blush that formed on her cheeks at the sight of the woman standing in the entrance.
All eyes fell on the new comer and she vaguely heard a man in the back say, "The master guard.." over the blood rushing in her ears.
The mystery woman was nothing short of gorgeous. Regina immediately noticed the piercing green eyes that met hers before they darted towards the offending brute of a man. "Step away from the lady." There was no accent there. No different from hers, anyway. It was thicker in a way, courser in a way she couldn't explain. Cut and hard and threatening, but could also be soothing and soft, but also sexy.
Sexy?
She snapped her attention back to the scene in front of her. She noticed that the man was now a few feet further from her, and she silently thanked the guard. Then he spoke. "I'm sorry, master guard, but this isn't… your concern." He was nervous. Regina can sense things like that from a mile away, but that didn't stop him from confronting the guard.
"I don't care," the woman responded, not having any of it. "I will not have this type of behavior in my kingdom."
"B-but it's the Queen's kingd-"
In a few swift steps, she had him pressed against the wall, fist balled in his shirt. "I am responsible for this part of the realm, and what I say, goes. When I tell you to step away, you step away." All formality was gone from her voice, anger seeping through and knuckles turning white. The offending man tried to move, to avoid her death grip, but was quickly responded to by a punch straight to his jaw.
Serves him right.
All attention was on this man, who was now on the ground, and the knight made her way back to the door, grabbing Regina's hand and pulling her with her. She led her outside, into a quiet alley, where she turned and pulled her helmet off.
The action almost melted Regina's heart.
She knew blonde would always be her weakness.
And this knight's wavy locks made the muscles in her chest tighten and her breathing shallow.
She didn't know what to say to the stranger, so she went with the first thing that she could think. "How do I repay you?"
Her smirk caused the brunette to almost stop breathing. "You owe me nothing, Regina Mills."
"You know…"
"I'm not blind," she chuckled. "A woman on every poster in the Enchanted Forest is bound to get recognized."
Regina's blush practically echoed through the alley, but then she felt a warm hand on her cheek. "Hey. You've suffered enough today. I'll let you go and I never saw you."
The other woman had never felt something like this before; the over-awareness of the hand on her face, the heat spreading through her body, the faint urge to wrap her arms around her. She almost jumped the woman in front of her.
"Are you sure there is nothing I can do?"
The blonde nodded. "I'm very sure. I wouldn't be able to stand and watch you get harassed by one of my knights in a bar." The woman's ability to be so upfront was strangely attractive to Regina, and without thinking, she grabbed the sides of the strangers face and pressed her lips to hers.
A few moments went by.
The guard didn't fight it. Complete opposite. After the initial shock, the blonde wrapped her arms around the other woman and melted into the kiss.
But as soon as it started, it stopped, and then broke apart.
Regina only smiled and turned to walk off, hiding her insecurities with the feeling of her heart beating hard.
Little did she know she was leaving the knight with a smile on her face. "I'm Emma.." She said to dead air.
The bandit was already gone.
[X]
No matter how hard she tried, Emma Swan couldn't get the bandit out of her mind.
The bandit, Regina Mills, the wanted criminal who's face is posted on every tree in the realm. It was a dangerous thought, to see the woman for anything but rip her heart out. The knight was special, some sort of magic that is yet to be explained, but it was feared across all the lands. When she discovered her powers, she immediately searched for answers, eventually landing on the assumption that it had to do with the man and woman who abandoned her on the doorstep of a tavern. She was alone almost all her life, self-trained in sword fighting and defense, and was one day spotted by the Queen.
Her Majesty Queen Cora Mills.
Everyone has made the connection that Regina Mills was her daughter, but nobody ever dared to ask.
It would be a death wish, Swan thought to herself, shaking her head.
The difference between being a dark knight or a light one for the Princess Snow White didn't bother Emma. Being scouted, almost, by a royal thrilled her, and she had finally felt excepted. now, now...
Now the one person she was sent to kill was the one she couldn't.
"What the hell am I doing?" she muttered to herself. Hours she had spent in the woods, searching for the face she will never be able to forget smiling and thanking her and kissing her.
She shuddered.
Focus, Swan.
She used the excuse to the other knights that the bandit was "her kill" and that she were to go looking for the woman by herself. It was a terrible excuse, and she knew that, but the Queen had called for her specifically for this job, so the rest of the team backed off. Emma also knew how persuasive she could be, and intimidating, so she knew for a fact that no one would go against her wishes.
"Where are you?" she said to the trees, the birds, anything that would listen. Emma had been tracking footsteps for the first hours, but they quickly stopped abruptly, and no amount of tracking skills could've helped her then. She had to resort to wandering, something she hated doing, but she had to find this woman. "Wherever you are, wherever you go, I will find you." The passion in her own statement shocked her and made her stop in mid-step.
Or maybe it was the cracking of a branch.
Immediately, out of reflex, she drew her sword, expecting a wild animal, a creature, a dragon. Danger. She could usually sense what was stalking her, but everything about her had been clouded by the brunette she saved the other day, and the only information she had now was that something was there.
And watching her.
Emma's breathing was heavy, blood pounding in her ears as she silently awaited what came next. Her body tingled with the feeling of something's eyes on her burying into her.
Gone.
She lowered her sword cautiously, worry slowly fading into the distance. She let out a sigh of relief and began to continue her journey, keeping more of an eye open this time.
Failure.
Failure.
Failure.
That's all she got.
After another hour of searching what seemed like a forest that would never end, she made her way back to the tiny village she called her home. Cora had offered her housing in the Queen's village, but Emma had politely refused and told the Queen that she had been living in the small area for years and wasn't ready to leave it. It was close enough to the castle for Cora to give the okay, and that in itself was a shock to the kingdom. Cora would never give leeway to anyone for anything, and it just showed how valuable Swan was to the army.
A child spotted her from across the square, all but bounding towards her. "Hey, Emma!"
The blonde grinned, ruffling the kids hair. "Hey, kid."
"Have you killed the bandit yet?" His smile could light up the entire kingdom as he spoke. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet. He was only ten, so he didn't understand the violence in his sentence. He believed in Emma, and he knew Emma's mission was to destroy the thief. When she shook her head, his face fell slightly. "Oh.. Well did you at least find her? See her? C'mon, Emma!"
She chuckled, amused by his enthusiasm. "I'll get her soon, Henry. Don't you worry."
But maybe not in the way you think.
The thought startled her. Henry still hadn't moved, eyes gazing up at her with such intense innocence. She cleared her throat. "You should go home, kid. Your dad's probably worried about you."
His face had fallen completely now. "Fine... See you tomorrow?"
She smiled again, knowing not to make any promises she couldn't keep. "Maybe. But be careful out here, alright? There are ogres around here. My men can't catch all of them." And with that, she went into her little home. Through the window, she could hear a male voice calling out for Henry, and it made her heart sink.
Henry's father.
Baelfire, son of Rumpelstiltskin.
Emma had loved him, once upon a time, eventually only leading to heartbreak. No matter how much she wanted to now, she couldn't, ever, tell Henry the truth. Baelfire was her first love, and myabe now the only reason she'd ever leave this village. He had used her, hurt her, broke her heart, and left her. Pregnant. There was no way she could've raised a child at a young age, so they struck a deal.
Forever ago Baelfire vowed never to become like his father, and now that's exactly who he was.
As much as she wished she could take Henry and leave, she couldn't. He could never know she's his mother.
He thinks his mother died in a fire.
The thought made her shudder and move away from the window.
Her home was tiny, barely enough for even one, but it suited her. No useless knick knacks, no treasured memories, just her and her thoughts.
Her thoughts that would definitely keep her up that night.
[X]
The line between stalking a prey and stalking a person was very thin for Regina.
Watching. Always watching.
It had been an hour watching the blonde in the forest, each minute meaning more than the last. Regina had never felt like this before. She had surely been hunted by guards before many a times, but she could definitely tell that the head guard of the Queen's court was not there to kill her.
The brunette wanted to reveal herself when the other woman said she'd find her onto what she thought was the deaf ears of the wildlife around her, but Regina could never, ever be sure what someone's intentions were. Especially when it came to herself.
Regina knew all the secrets of the local villages. No one expected her to be around, so when there was a problem, celebration, or secret that was spread around a tiny town, she was there to hear it. She hid, listening in on a commotion that would be happening, and took mental notes. She would do this while hiding in then royal courtyard as well, finding weak spots in the army, drama within the castle, and who was planning to overthrow the queen that month.
Needless to say, none of those insiders lived to see the sunrise.
Sometimes, she would sneak into the castle itself to watch the Queen, the most powerful sorceress in the lands.
Mother.
It was never supposed to be this way. Her father, Prince Henry, the one Regina trusted the most, had his heart ripped from his chest by her herself. Cora had forced her, so that Regina could show loyalty to her mother and the kingdom. The Queen threatened her with death if she didn't do it, and she sobbed as her hand pushed into the mans chest and squeezed. She then emptied the contents of her stomach when her father collapsed onto the floor, eyes staring, life taken from them.
That's when she decided to escape.
Somehow she got past the guards with her sack of close personal belongings, traveling deep into the forest and wandering to small villages before finding a cave to live in. She made herself at home, crying herself to sleep every night for the first few months before her heart began to grow harder and colder. It pained her some nights, and at times she longed to go home to a mother's touch, even if she was just being manipulated and used.
Those nights she doesn't sleep at all.
Regina could sometimes physically feel the toll a darkened heart had on her, but she stopped caring a long time ago. She began to be able to kill without feeling, after seeing that her mother had declared her a wanted bandit. She embraced the role and became the thief and murdered any guards to come near her. Her bow and arrow served her well, taking down food as well and she began to live as she wanted.
Then came that damned knight.
The knight had thrown a wrench into her life. She almost spat at the guard that she didn't need help, but her self control was tossed to the side and she thanked her with a kiss.
All her young life, her mother had tried to "remove" any urges Regina had towards the female help. As a child, she didn't understand the harm of the feeling she didn't understand, but after leaving she had her fair share of seducing wandering women from far off lands, but none had felt as perfect as the kiss with the blonde.
She felt something, something different that couldn't be explained. She knew the master guard probably had some sort of magic, but that wouldn't explain why a simple kiss could have so much...
Electricity.
Regina never trusted magic, but that's exactly what it felt like, and it made her feel something she hadn't in a long time. It gave her a sense of happiness, even just a sliver, and it fueled her in a way she couldn't understand. She would do anything to have that again, but she knew why the knight was in the area in the first place. The guard was there, searching, hunting, desperately trying to fulfill her duties to the Queen.
A shiver ran through Regina's body and she lost her concentration for a second, taking a step right onto a twig.
The knight she was spying on perked up and drew her sword.
Shit.
Regina could only stare, trying not to breathe or do anything that would alert the blonde even more. This was a head guard she was dealing with, her mother's number one, and the brunette knew how easy I was for the knight to throw her sword and hit her right in the heart. Regina knew the opponents life more than the woman herself, and knew that her skills with a sword was passed down to her from her father.
Regina swore to keep her mouth shut about any higher up's personal lives but...
I could reunite her with her family.
She shook her head, deciding against it. She was getting ahead of herself, and she'd needed to focus on the task as hand.
Not dying.
She held her breath, hand clutching at her chest as she waited, hoping that the woman would leave soon. She wouldn't spend another hour in the spot, knowing from the hard way that people will ransack her cave.
After a couple more moment of watching and waiting, the stalker looked as though she had given up, mumbling and kicking dirt and trudging off back towards civilization. Regina let out a shaky breath then, and double checked the belongings that she had with her and made her way deeper into the woods, thinking and rethinking about her encounter with the mystery woman. Rumors travel fast through the Enchanted Forest, and the name of Swan is not taken lightly.
She wondered if that was who she had met.
Swan.
As she got back to what she called a home, she found herself exhausted, immediately curling up on her makeshift cot. She wondered if the woman was sleeping right now, if she was as tired as Regina was, if she would dream of her as the bandit would probably dream of the knight. The thoughts consumed her until the pitch blackness of night started to fade to blue, and only then did it lull her to sleep.
[X]
Emma's dreams were anything but good.
Dreaming of Henry, stars, dragons, ogres ripping her apart, swords melting into nothing in a fight to the death, Regina.
Regina.
Regina.
Emma dreamt of kissing her, holding her, taking her to a safe place, her bed, her clothes on the floor...
But she also saw herself killing the bandit, putting the sharp end of a sword through her heart and twisting, ripping the flesh and muscles there until her victim was lifeless on the ground in front her here, eyes empty. Emma could see herself bringing the body to the Queen, relishing in the glory over the pain in her chest and bile rising in her throat.
Victim.
Regina was a victim.
She bolted upright, sweat covering her skin in a thin layer, fear overtaking her body. There was no explanations for her state of mind other than her infatuation with the brunette woman she met the day before, but the dreams of killing that woman she couldn't explain. It terrified her. It almost scared her more than failing her Queen and being slaughtered and replaced.
But...
The thought of loving someone she just met was ridiculous. She promised herself that she wouldn't love anyone other than Henry to spare her heart, but now...
Was this worth it?
She got herself up, grimacing at the cold air, and got ready, making her way out the door to search again.
I'll find her.
[X]
The sound of chirping woke Regina that morning, and she had woken with a smile on her face for the first time in years. Her dreams were lighter and happier than she could've ever imagined, images of the blonde flowing through brain like a soft lullaby. She dreamt up any fluffy fantasy she ever had, but now with the woman, and it went through her like waves. Her heart was swelling with something she thought she would never have again, and as shed began to prepare for the day, she only had one thought in her mind;
I will find her.