Regina had been operating under the assumption that anything that happened to her, happened to the Evil Queen. The Queen knew what she knew, the Queen felt what she felt, and the Queen would die when she died. She had never directly attacked Regina, had never tried to physically hurt her the way she had everyone else in town, and Regina had thought it was because they were connected, that it would hurt her, too.
Apparently, that was not entirely the case, as Regina felt another hard blow to her stomach, launching her across the open stretch of green grass and landing her on her back, knocking the wind out of her, all while the Queen's laughs echoed through the silent park.
Going after the Queen alone may not have been her best choice of recent, but Regina had been certain she would be safe, that she could talk to her, try to get through to her, without anyone else getting hurt. She was tired of others paying for her mistakes, and damn it, she'd fix this one way or another. If getting turned inside out by her darker half is how she had to do it, so be it.
She lies on the ground for a moment, gasping for air and wincing between the shocks of pain that spread from her ribs with each breath, while the Queen paces around her. She's stalking, waiting, pulling every ounce of pain she can from Regina without letting her escape; it's all a game, and Regina is losing.
"If only you weren't so pathetic, I might feel bad about this," The Queen says, an airy giggle escaping her as she moved around where Regina lay.
Regina grunts, an attempt at a laugh, and rolls to her side, pushing off the ground. "If only I wasn't so pathetic, you might not exist."
The Queen's smile falters at that, her mask slipping with Regina's snark, but it's quickly back in place, and she lets out an unimpressed laugh. "You can talk as big as you want, but soon enough, you and I will no longer be connected, and I'll finally be free of you."
Regina's heart jumps to her throat, and she swallows thickly as she watches the Queen continue her pacing – or rather, tries to watch, her left eye is near swollen shut, and her vision is blurring at the sides, pulsing with each pounding of her skull. Hyde's serum, one he and the Queen had been working on in secret, could cut all ties between the two versions of themselves so that they could finally destroy what was holding them back. Regina had thought it destroyed, taken by Rumple to keep it out of the Evil Queen's hands, but apparently that, too, had been a lie.
"What makes you think I'm letting you leave here?" Regina tries, faking strength that she certainly could not feel, and throws her hand out, pushing her magic to her fingertips to throw the Queen against the trunk of a tree. Her skull cracks against the wood while she yelps in pain and she crumples to the ground.
She's not down long, throws her head up, tossing her long dark curls around her face, and lets out a furious growl that turns into a scream as she lifts herself from the wet grass. She runs at Regina, throwing all her weight at her, and tackles her, pinning her to the ground.
Regina thrashes beneath the Queen, kicking and squirming with all her strength, but she has very little left, and it's useless. She can't do anything but lay there as the Queen punches her across the face, cracking her knuckles across her cheek before pressing her forearm on her neck. It feels like her throat collapses, and there's blood trickling from the side of her face into her one good eye. She tries to scream, to tell her to stop, that she's going to kill them both, but nothing comes. No air, no words, nothing.
She throws her hands into the ground beneath her, gripping the grass and digging her nails into the dirt, and pulses her magic into the earth, begging for help. Someone could find her, she knew it, she just needed to call them to her.
Regina's vision darkens at the sides, and her train of thought is lost as the Queen pushes on her throat and digs her nails into her shoulder. She can't focus on her magic, and instead her thoughts drift to her family, her loved ones, the people she would miss most in the world when she eventually slipped from it. She closes her eyes and sees a flash of Henry's face, of Emma's, Snow and Charming, Daniel, her parents, and then Robin. Robin.
"I suppose I can't kill you…" the Queen whispers into her ear, her breath hot on Regina's skin, "If I want to succeed. But I must admit, it's fun watching you squirm."
She loosens her hold on Regina's throat, but doesn't release her completely; instead she sits up and wraps her fingers around her neck, still holding her against the ground. Regina gasps for breath, desperately drinking in the cold, damp air, and for a moment she feels a gust of wind, strong enough to shake the trees, but only for a moment, and then it's gone.
Looking up at the Queen's malicious grin, Regina notices something just over her shoulder, up in the sky. It's thin, distant, a flash of silver that grows as it gets closer to the two them. She has only a second to register what it is, enough time to gasp and widen her eyes in her fear, but she doesn't have time to move.
The arrow pierces the ground just beside Regina's head, with a piece of the Queen's dress attached to it. The Queen looks at the arrow and then down at her sleeve, jaw dropped and eyes wide before she threw herself up and off of Regina, turning towards their attacker.
"That arrow almost took off my head!" She screams in her fury, and Regina lifts a hand to her throat, rubbing at the sore muscles as she tried to sit up.
"Oh don't worry, your Majesty, I never miss."
That voice. His voice. It's clear and strong through the silence of the forest, as it always had been she's certain, and it hits her directly in her heart. Regina forces her stiff muscles to move, and stands on shaky knees behind the Queen to look at the hooded figure standing across the clearing.
Her eye has swollen shut now, and the sight she has left is blurred by blood and tears, only made worse by the pulsing in her head. But still, it looks like him; she would never mistake someone else for him. But it can't be, he's dead. Obliterated. He is not standing before her, bow drawn and pointed at the Queen's heart.
The Queen is stunned to silence, an impressive feat for anyone, and Regina could swear she sees a sparkling tear that she bats away.
"You can't trick me," She spits, and Robin furrows his brow at her, lifting his chin as she takes a step closer. "No one will stop me from getting my revenge, not the Savior, not Regina, and not someone pretending to be the thief."
She throws her hand up, using her magic to grab Robin by the throat, and he stutters and gasps as she clenches her fingers. His bow is still drawn, his fingers up at his cheek, and they stand frozen and silent, two statues ready to kill each other.
Regina's heart is pounding in her chest for a new reason entirely, and for a moment she feels a prickle of fear in the back of her mind. There is only one reason Robin would be here; she was about to die, and he had come to find her.
Her vision starts to swirl, darkness blending with the green of the grass and the grey of the sky, and familiar words echo through her mind.
The way to take out the Evil Queen is to kill you.
Even if you choke the life out of me, this arrow will still leave my bow and trust me, I never miss.
There was no time to think, no time to second guess; Robin was here to help her defeat the Evil Queen, and this was the only way.
Regina steps forward and knocks her shoulder into the Queen, throwing her to the ground. Her grip on Robin releases as she shouts and tumbles to the ground, and Robin gasps, his grip on the arrow slipping and releasing.
The pain is sharp and instant, straight through her chest as if she's ripping her heart out, but it's constant and hot, burning through her veins right down to her fingertips. The air whooshes from her lungs as her mouth hangs open, and she stumbles, nearly falls before she catches herself. For a moment, she looks to Robin, and tries to smile to him despite the pain ripping through her chest, but the look on his face stops her and has her face falling.
She has never seen him so terrified, his eyes are wild and bouncing between her and the Queen, his jaw hanging slack, and she can see his hands trembling from across the park. He throws his bow to the ground as if it horrifies him, and he starts sprinting across the stretch of grass, screaming her name, a shrill and panicked "Regina!"
It confuses her, but her mind feels too foggy, too weak and muddled to make sense of anything, so instead she looks to the Queen. She is clutching her chest as deep crimson pours through her fingers, and she starts choking and coughing, drips of blood falling from the corners of her lips. But her eyes are steady on Regina, there was no fear, no shock, just a simple sadness, a betrayal that she had only seen once before, when she crushed her heart into dust.
They both collapse together, knees giving out as they fall to the ground, and Regina can hear the Queen's ragged, strangled breathing beside her as she chokes on her own blood.
Her senses feel dull and sharp at the same time, each fading in and out together; as her eyes blur, her hearing sharpens, and she notices the distant sound of a siren. An ambulance? A police car? Then her hearing wavers, and her limbs feel heavy, each blade of grass distinct against her clammy skin.
"Regina!" Robin's voice comes up beside her, and then he's above her, his face right above hers, and he's just as panicked as she had thought. His cheeks are wet, his eyes red and rapidly bouncing around her as he tries to press his hand to her wound without moving the arrow protruding from her chest. "Regina, oh god no, please no."
"I-it's… okay…" She tries to say, struggling around the pooling blood in the back of her throat. "I… g-get to see… you again."
"No, no, baby please." Robin shakes his head and screws up his face as tears slip down his cheeks. He presses his forehead to hers, and she fights against her heavy eyelids, wants to soak in as much as she can before she's gone. "You can't leave me, I just found you," he whispers against her skin, pressing his lips to her nose, her temple, her forehead, and finally her lips.
He feels so warm, so light, against her skin, and she can't help but smile at him. He tries to pull her closer, to lift her onto his lap, but she winces when he shifts the arrow, and he lets her go, settles for cradling her head in his hands, his fingers laced in her short locks.
He starts to cry in earnest, his tears falling onto her forehead and slipping into her hair, but his sobs are muffled by the blaring sound of a siren and several pairs of screeching tires that tear up the grass along the edge of the park. Regina hears the sound of car doors opening and slamming shut. Several voices start shouting her name, though she couldn't be sure who sounds the most panicked. She can hear Emma, her voice the steadiest amongst the others, and soon enough she sees her blonde head above Robin's.
There's so much sound, so many voices screaming above her now, so many hands reaching out to grab her, but she cannot feel them. All she is left with his the tight grip of Robin's fingers at the back of her head, tugging on the short hairs as he pulls her head up to his, lifting her from the ground to press her face into his chest.
She closes her eyes as she takes one last breath, inhaling the familiar scent that she never thought she would find again, and she cannot find the strength to open them again.