I own no one but my own people
As long as Regina Mills had lived in this realm, or any other, she would never understand this realms version of music.
People talking rather fast over the same patterned beats, voices so altered with computers it might as well not even be human, people screaming incoherently while they played incredibly loud music overtop of it.
What on earth had made this realm change from waltzes and soft music that you could actually dance to?
She had gotten lucky with Henry. As he aged he preferred the less, but not quite, obnoxious sounds of what Regina learned was called 'techno'.
Roland had, unfortunately to his father and step mothers bleeding ears, decided that a genre called 'punk' was his favorite while Robyn, thankfully, had chosen by far the least offensive type of music.
The sound of twangy guitars and soft spoken lyrics of country living and romance was a welcomed change of pace from the shouted lyrics and fast playing instruments or the electronic sounds that their sons preferred.
Then Robyn had turned fifteen. And overnight the teenager girl had changed. She had gone from the forest greens and browns that her father preferred to dress her in to black. Lots of black. All black as a matter of fact.
Black jeans with chains hanging off of them, tight black tops with fishnets, heavy black boots with metal studs, heavy dark makeup and her dark blonde hair now seemed to change colors every other week.
Regina and Zelena didn't see much of an issue with that. Hadn't both women gone from innocent neutral colors and childish outfits to dark outfits that seared themselves in men's mind long after they had left?
Robin though… Not a day she spent with her father went by that he didn't ask her to wear something to cover herself, to just go back to her jeans and tshirts. Robyn just rolled her eyes and told her father to relax.
One argument he had won was if she was going to start wearing skirts that left hardly anything to the imagination, a pair of leggings were going to go underneath. That had been a fight until her father had to be magically held back by Regina after Nottingham had wolf whistled at Robyn and had slapped her on the ass when the fifteen year old walked past.
But what had changed the most they noticed wasn't so much the attitude that one associated with this particular style of dress, Robyn acted like any other teenager in Storybrooke, no more or less angry or defiant than the rest of them, but her music taste. Gone were the twangy country music and instead in its place were heavy metal bands. Not singing but screaming at the top of their lungs, loud guitars, deafening drums, deep throated roars and high pitched screams…
It was torture to listen to. Not just for Robin, Regina and Zelena but it almost seemed to be for Robyn as well. She truly didn't look like she was enjoying the noise that was coming out of her speaker or headphones and she seemed to be studying it almost. She spent hours online looking up facts about the bands, the singers, what the lyrics meant… she didn't enjoy the music anymore, she obsessed over it.
Then one day the young teen had ran home from school, a beaming smile on her face.
One of the bands she listened to who typically only played in Europe were doing a single show out in LA. The next time they would be in the states wouldn't be for another few years, at least.
Robyn BEGGED them to let her go alone. She would 'like absolutely totally like literally just like die' if she didn't get to go see this band. She promised to do all her chores without an allowance for the rest of her life, at her step mother mansion, her father's camp they still occasionally spent weekends at and her mother's farmhouse, she promised not to ask for another thing as long as she lived, she promised all the things desperate teenage girls promised when they wanted something and had no intention of following through.
Regina said it was up to her parents.
Zelena said since Robyn mainly lived with her father and step mother it was up to them.
Robin said there was no way he was letting a fifteen year old go to LA by herself. He wasn't even comfortable with Regina's suggestion that the nineteen year old Roland go with her.
He has done his best to raise his children to be righteous and good but even he knew the temptations of a place nicknamed 'sin city' would be far too tempting for any teenager no matter how honorable they were.
So he said that he and Regina would fly with her to LA and accompany her to the concert. Robyn huffed and stomped her foot, begging them to just trust her to go alone or if they HAD to go to LA with her to let her go to the concert alone but Robin refused to budge on that point.
Which is how Regina and Robin found themselves standing in a far too crowded auditorium surrounded by people with piercings too numerous to count dressed in leather and spikes and fishnets and corsets and skirts so short they might as well have not even worn them headbanging and fist pumping to the music neither adult could understand.
Regina had at least tried to make a reasonable effort to blend in with the crowd, wearing dark washed jeans and a simple black tank top and had allowed her natural curls to come out to play. Robin, to Robyn's extreme embarrassment, had worn his regular cargo pants and a plain brown T-shirt with his signature gray hoodie and green leather jacket overtop.
"You look like such a dad!" Robyn complained when she saw what her father was going to wear. "Regina, make him change!" she begged her step mother.
Regina just chuckled and draped her arms around his neck.
"I don't know, I think he looks rather good like this."
Robin smirked at his wife, putting his hands on her hips before he gave her a soft kiss to Robyn's utter disgust.
"You two are such dorks," she muttered before she had walked back into the bathroom to finish her heavy makeup.
Robyn had decided on a black and dark purple corset with a long sleeve fishnet underneath and a matching short skirt with ripped black leggings underneath. Her hair had dark purple streaks in it and she appeared more nervous than excited.
It was far too crowded, far too loud, and a fairly attractive girl with half of her hair shaved off and the rest was a dark blue, a face full of piercings and an outfit that consisted of no more than a few strips of studded leather to cover her nipples and a skirt that if she bent over, it would be as if she hadn't even bothered to wear anything at all eyeing Robin FAR too close for Regina's liking and, 'accidentally', bumping and touching the thief who was far too polite to tell her off.
Regina kept glaring at the woman every time her hand found part of a growingly embarrassing Robin but for the sake of her step daughter, the Queen stayed quiet.
Robyn, meanwhile, appeared to be too busy looking around the crowd then to pay attention to either the woman harassing her father or, truthfully, the band playing on stage.
"Love, you're missing it," Robin told his daughter as they played one of the songs she had previously proclaimed as one of her favorites while she looked around at the people around her.
"Huh? No I'm listening," Robyn said without even turning towards the stage, craning her neck to see overtop the crowd. "This is a great song."
Regina and Robin looked at one another, confused as to the girls actions.
"Robyn, is something going on?" asked Regina but before the teenager could answer there was a loud boom from the stage, a planned explosion to go in time with the band and lights flashed in the arena brightly illuminating the arena.
Then, as if the pyrotechnics had given the half shaved girl the final bit of courage she needed, the blue haired girl grabbed hold of Robins shirt and slammed her lips against his and forced her tongue into his mouth, utterly stunning the thief.
"HEY!" Regina barked as the people around them cheered the blue haired girl on, their roaring approval growing when she grabbed at him between his legs.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Regina's yell was barely heard over the music and the crowd as she watched Robin push the girl away but without so much as half a second the crowds had pushed her back into him and she was kissing him again.
The Queen forced herself in between them and pushed her as far away from her husband as possible.
"Touch him again, I DARE you!" The black haired Queen warned with a fire in her eyes, ignoring the hopeful yells of the crowd who was hoping for the girls to throw a punch or for the two women to kiss one another.
"Regina, calm down," Robin pleaded, grabbing hold of Regina's shoulders incase he needed to hold her back, not wanting the security, who was already eyeing them closely, to come over and embarrass Robyn by getting them thrown out.
"He's here with his WIFE and DAUGHTER!" Regina spat at the woman who at least had the good sense to looked a little ashamed at that new information.
"It's fine," Robin, ever the gentlemen, told her again, gently running his hands up and down her arms in an effort to calm his hot headed Queen. "Why don't we move over a bit?"
Regina was just about to agree when she noticed the whole reason they were here in this cesspool was missing.
"Where's Robyn?" Regina asked out loud, any thoughts of revenge against the girl gone quickly from her mind.
Robin immediately whipped around the crowd.
"Robyn?" The thief called out, his voice barely heard over the music.
"Robyn!" Regina cried out louder. "Robyn!"
For a moment panic seized both of them but Robin wasn't the world's greatest archer for nothing. His keen eyes spotted his daughter a few rows up, fully engrossed not with the concert but in the conversation she was having with someone in the audience, smiling and laughing for the first time tonight.
"There," Robin yelled to Regina, pointing out the teenager. The two of them fought against the crowds to get to the fifteen year old.
"You disappeared on us," Robin said when they reached her.
Robyns eyes went wide as she turned to her parents.
"Go, away." The teenager was practically begging them, her words desperate and pleading.
"No, I'm not letting you alone with these people," Robin said, the experience with the random woman fresh in his mind. "You're staying by us."
"Dad, please, just go…"
"Your Dad isn't joking," Regina added. "The people here are insane."
"I am begging both of you to just-."
"Regina? Robin?"
At the sounds of their name the two of them turned and realized just who Robyn had been talking too and they smiled at the young girl.
"Alex? What are you doing here?"
Eighteen year old Alexandra Boyd smiled at the Queen and the archer. Her light blonde hair had steaks of cherry red in it, one of her brows was pierced and she wore a black belly shirt that showcased her sapphire belly ring along with a pair of tight leather pants, the same kind of wardrobe she had worn for years.
"Oh I've always loved this band," Alex told them.
"Me too," Robyn added quickly. "Seriously adored them for years."
Robin and Regina caught one another's eyes and the Queen cocked her brow at her husband. Robyn had only liked this band for about the past two months. Right around the time she started dressing like this.
"So you've said," Alex said with a laugh and Robyn struggled and failed not to smile at the older woman's laugh.
"Sorry," Robyn said with a soft chuckle, pushing a piece of purple hair from her face. "I just get so excited about this band."
"Sweetie, trust me, you're fine," Alex said with another warm smile, putting a hand on the younger girls bare shoulder. "I feel the same way about them."
Robyn swallowed hard, biting her lip as she glanced down at the hand before she looked back up Alex's face, her heart racing impossibly fast. She took a deep breath that as hard as she tried not to make it, trembled.
"So um, as I was saying I- I was wondering what you were doing after the concert," Robyn asked, trying her best to be as cool and confident as the woman standing before her. "There's um, there's this burger place around the corner that ads say are supposed to be really amazing if- if you wanted to get some…"
Robin raised his brow at his daughter but said nothing as Alex smiled again and something vaguely familiar flitted across Robyn's face.
"I'd love too, Robyn."
"Yeah?" Robyn could barely believe it and she almost wanted to laugh out of relief.
"Yeah. I just gotta see if my boyfriend wants to go with us or if he wants to just head back to the hotel and meet up later."
Regina and Robin could practically see the color drain from Robyn's face.
"... Boyfriend?"
Regina swallowed hard as she recognized the look on her step daughter's face fairly well.
But… that would… that would mean...
"Yeah." Alex looked over Robyn's shoulder towards the bar and grinned, waving her hand at someone. A second later a rather good looking man with a mop of platinum blonde curls who appeared about nineteen in black jeans and a black T-shirt and three piercings in his ear walked over to the group.
"Got you a drink, babe," the man said with a grin, handing Alex a cup of something and giving her a quick peck on the lips.
"Thanks," Alex said with a smile that was world's apart from the smile she had been given the fifteen year old before she turned back to Robyn. "Robyn, this is my boyfriend Caleb, he goes to school at the place I'm going to in the fall. Caleb, this is a friend from back home Robyn, her dad Robin and her stepmom Regina. They're friends of the family."
"Naming the girl after the dad? Progressive. I like it," he said with a friendly grin towards the fifteen year old who couldn't even find it in her heart to even tug her lips up a little.
"So he grew up outside of Storybrooke?" asked Regina, just to clarify before one of the three of them said something that he would find unbelievable.
"Yup," Alex answered, knowing the reasoning behind the question.
"Got it. Well it's nice to meet you, Caleb," Regina said with a friendly smile as she stuck out her hand, giving him the chance to shake it before he wrapped his arms around Alex's waist and she leaned back into his embrace.
"So Robyn wants to know if we wanted to go get burgers after the show, you wanna go?" Alex asked her beloved.
But before Caleb could answer Robyn spoke up, forcing herself to speak around the painful lump in her throat.
"Um, actually I- I just remembered Regina wanted to take us out to dinner, someplace in West Hollywood," Robyn told her. "Sorry to get your hopes up."
Regina and Robin looked at one another but said nothing to contradict her.
They had made no such plans for after the concert. The three of them had decided they'd wait to see how long the concert would last and see what they were hungry for before they decided anything.
Alex just smiled at her again. "It's fine, Robyn. Me and Caleb are probably gonna head back to the hotel," she turned back to her boyfriend and gave him a rather devilish grin and winked. "Get something to eat there?"
Caleb smirked at Alex before he kissed her, pulling her tighter against him.
Robyn would never be so grateful for the darkened arena that hid the tears that gathered in her eyes.
Alex released the kiss and turned back to Robyn. "I'll see you back in Storybrooke?"
The young girl didn't even bother to answer, just forced a grimace of a smile to her face before she walked away with her parents following.
Once they had gotten far enough away Robyn turned towards her parents and leaned up close to their ears so that she wouldn't have to shout.
"Can we go?"
Robin swallowed hard at his daughter's voice, full of pain and tears that were making themselves even more prevalent with every moment.
"The concerts barely half over. Don't you wanna stay until the end?" Robin asked her.
"No, can- can we please just-." She tried to fight it, struggled to fight back her tears but she couldn't anymore and a quick sob left her. "I just wanna go."
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Robin asked, his heart breaking at the sudden appearance of his daughter's tears.
"I just wanna go," she said again as she brushed away her tears.
"Okay, okay, we'll go," Regina said, rubbing her step daughter's shoulders in an attempt to calm her down. "We'll leave."
The small family left the concert and once they were outside the crowded dark hall they saw just how upset Robyn really was.
Without warning she hugged her Dad, burying her face in his shoulder and crying uncharacteristically hard. Robin stood in the middle of the crowded LA sidewalk frozen as he looked at Regina's whose heart was being crushed at what she suspected was wrong.
Robin finally got over his temporary shock and wrapped his arms around her. "Sweetheart, what's wrong? Talk to me, Robyn."
"Everything sucks," was the only answer he got as her sobs continued. "It's not fair."
"What's not fair?"
"Robin," Regina said softly, catching his eye. "Remember the alternative universe that Isaac sent us to?" When he answered with a nod Regina continued. "Remember how upset I was after finding out you had a fiancée?"
Robin furrowed her brow for a moment. "But who on earth would she be feeling this upset-?" His eyes went wide with shock. "...Oh."
The thief felt his daughter go stiff in his arms, as if she realized what exactly she had revealed about herself thanks to this little outburst.
Robin took Robyn's face in his hands, gently lifting her her head up so she was looking at him. The pale green eyes she had inherited from her mother showcasing embarrassment and nervousness.
"Is that it then?" he asked softly. "You have a crush on Alexandra?"
Her bottom lip trembled as she nodded, too afraid to speak.
"And I'm assuming this isn't a one off thing and you actually like like girls?"
Another nod, another wipe of her eyes with the back of her hand.
Robin smiled softly at his daughter. "Sweetheart, why didn't you tell me?"
Robyn sniffed away more tears and shrugged. Truth be told she wasn't sure why she had hidden this from her father. Or her mother or step mother for that instance. They had never been bigoted towards people like her, they had never used harsh or foul words against people who loved the same gender. Sure her father was a touch religious, still going to his former camp in the forest every Sunday where Friar Tuck would give a sermon, but the Friar's words were always full of love and kindness, not fire and brimstone.
"I don't know," Robyn finally admitted. "I mean I- I kinda always knew but I didn't… are you mad?"
"Why on earth would I be mad? Why would either of us or your mother be upset with you?" Robin asked looking from Regina back to his little archer.
"I dunno. Because I like…" She bit her lip for a long moment, forcing the words she had only said aloud in her head to come forth. "Because I like girls."
"And I love the Evil Queen," Robin answered as he looked over at Regina and smiled at her, being rewarded with her own smile in return. "And she loves a thief. I would think that is far more worthy of being upset over then you liking the gentler sex. Granted I'm a tad miffed that it looks like you dragged us out to California for a concert where I was accosted just to impress a girl…" Robyn looked down at the sidewalk at that but couldn't help but smile tearfully at the next words. "But faint hearts never won fair lady."
"Is this why you've started dressing different and listening to this god awful music?" asked Regina. "Because you were trying to impress Alex?"
Robyn nodded as a confirmation, wiping away more tears as she muttered, "a fat lot of good it did me."
"Robyn, you shouldn't have to change who you are just to get a girl to like you," Regina told her gently and, despite everything that had happened, Robyn couldn't help the tug that pulled her lips upward. She hadn't realized how good it would feel to hear her family talk about her liking girls just as normally as they talked about her brother liking girls too.
"Regina's right," Robin added. "If she doesn't like you for who you are, then she's not worth loving."
"Your father fell in love with me, despite everything I've done," Regina said. "I didn't have to change for him to love me back."
"You're already so amazing, Robyn… if Alex doesn't see that and doesn't like the real you, that's her loss."
Robyn let out a rather sad laugh as she wiped more tears away.
"I think her being straight has more to do with her not liking me than me actually liking country music."
"Well to be fair to Alex, we all have our faults."
The green eyed teenager chuckled as she took a shaking breath, running a hand through her streaked hair. "You're both such dorks." Without waiting another second she hugged her dad again, resting her head on his shoulders. "Thanks, Dad."
"Of course, Sweetheart."
Robyn turned her attention to Regina and hugged her step mother who kissed the top of her head. "You too, Regina."
"You don't have to thank us for that, Robyn. And hey… your mother is going to be just as accepting and open minded as we are," Regina added. "And hey, we can talk to her if you don't want to, or you can tell her or you can keep this from her as long as you want, it's completely up to you."
Robyn just gave her another smile before she pulled away, taking a deep breath. "Sorry I dragged you guys out here just to impress a girl."
"It's fine," Robin told her. "I've done many an ill advised things in my youth for a beautiful girls attention." Ignoring the raised brow of his wife Robin rubbed her back. "So is it safe to assume that we're done with the all black wardrobe?"
"Oh my God, yes please!" Robyn answers as if the weight of the world was coming off her shoulders. "Do you know how annoying wearing all these stupid chains are? Not to mention I think coloring my hair all the time is beginning to fry it. I just wanna go back to my old clothes, my normal hair and listen to music I don't have to read along with on my phone to understand the lyrics."
Robin and Regina chuckled and the thief nodded.
"Of course, Sweetheart. So." He clapped his hands together. "Our plane doesn't leave until tomorrow night and we are in one of the grandest cities in this realm. Any ideas on what you wanna do?"
"Well tomorrow I wanna check out the walk of fame and the Chinese theatre but tonight…" A shy grin appeared on Robyn's face. "There's this restaurant like twenty minutes away in that has really good burgers…"
"And…?"
"And it's Alice in Wonderland themed…"
Both thief and queen groaned loudly and Robyn just gave them a rather pitiful look. "I just had my heart broken. I deserve a good burger."
"You do but you and this 'Alice in Wonderland' thing..."
"I've loved Alice since I was a kid," Robyn argued.
"We know," they both said rather dryly, both of them having been subjected to that movie at least twice a day for weeks when Robyn was a child.
Not to mention the themed bedroom when she was a young girl, the books, and for her thirteenth birthday party Zelena had managed to get a hold of some magic beans and the two sisters took Robyn to the whimsical world for the day.
The one thing that had stuck with the teenager for as long as they could remember was her love for the blonde haired adventurer.
"Sooo… is that a yes?" Robyn asked hopefully.
"It's a yes," Regina told her, much to the excitement of the teenager.
As the three of them made their way down the sidewalks of LA, both Robin and Regina could only hope that the young girl walking ahead of them would, just as her metal music and goth phase eventually disappeared, grow out of her Alice phase eventually….
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