Written for Inspired By OQ Week, Day 5. Inspired by the wonderful art made by flaviaottaviane on twitter.
Not Every Story Has a Happy Ending
Shifting her weight from one leg to another, Regina narrows her eyes at Lucy. Her look has a meaning – the girl needs to stop talking immediately – but her granddaughter doesn't get it and keeps blabbering about hope, true love and soulmates.
Unexpectedly, a lump forms in Regina's throat at the memory of how easily Henry could read her – it took only one look and he knew exactly what she meant. All of a sudden, she remembers the day when they faced the Queens of Darkness, when her son was so brave and played his cards just right.
Sighing Regina pushes these thoughts out of her head and focuses instead on the girl who's soon going to ruin everything.
"Enough, Lucy!" Regina says in a stern voice, making Lucy stop rambling immediately.
The girl is sensitive, and she also has never heard Regina raise her voice, so the action makes her eyes turn wider and fill with tears. It breaks Regina's heart and she feels the urge to apologize instantly but fights it off, reminding herself the reason of why she has to continue pretending to be Roni and stop everyone who wants to break the curse.
"Lucy," Regina starts in a much softer voice. She stretches her hand out to cup her granddaughter's face and then says, "Fairytales are not real. We're not characters from Henry's book. This is real life. I'm not a former Evil Queen, I'm just Roni. Rob is not the infamous Robin Hood. We're real people."
Her words make Lucy's eyes fill with tears and her lovely face turns into a grimace of hurt.
Regina swallows hard and continues despite the pain piercing through her chest, "You have a powerful imagination but that's all it is. It is not real." When she says the last words, she hopes that Lucy and Robin don't notice how much her voice shakes, "Rob is not my soulmate, there's no magical tie between us. He's a handsome man who likes to drink in my bar but there's no love between us."
A tear rolls down the girl's cheek but she angrily wipes it away. Her breathing is shaky and she's obviously fighting the urge to break down.
When she takes a step forward, her posture full of determination (she's a real Mills, Regina thinks). She's angry and hurt and ready to fight.
She stares straight into Regina's eyes with fire in her own, but Regina doesn't let up – she stares right back at the girl hoping that maybe, just maybe her granddaughter will understand what she means.
All of a sudden Lucy turns around and runs away from Robin and Regina, her fingers angrily wiping away her tears.
When the girl disappears around the corner, Regina lets out a quiet sigh of relief. Her granddaughter must hate her now, but when she finds out what Regina was trying to protect (if she ever finds out), she'll forgive her. At least Regina hopes so.
Wiping a single tear away from her cheek, Regina turns around to face Robin who's standing behind her with amused look on his face. He's been in Hyperion Heights for months now and he's not met Lucy yet and, most importantly, he's definitely not heard her stories.
"Wow," Robin says when their eyes meet. He chuckles, shaking his head and states in voice full of surprise, "I heard some rumors about this girl but I didn't think it was anything like that."
Regina nods her head, hopes that her smile doesn't look like a grimace.
"I must admit she has a powerful imagination," Robin says then taking a step closer to Regina and taking a piece of paper from her hands. For a moment, he stares into the page, and Regina, who doesn't believe in higher power, prays that his memory would not return after seeing their story. "Page twenty three tells me we are soulmates," Robin states with a laugh and Regina chuckles quietly too, when deep in her body, her heart shatters into pieces.
Robin puts the page, their page, on the empty table and looks back at Regina with mischief in his eyes. "Truth be told, milady, I wouldn't mind it at all if you were my soulmate," he says, wiggling his eyebrows at her. He then puts his hands on her sides then and pulls Regina a bit closer, grins when her breath hitches in her throat giving away her enjoyment. "To be honest, I've always felt an indescribable pull towards you."
Being so close to him makes Regina's feelings even stronger. The longing, the heartache, love – all of it burns her soul, makes her eyes fill with tears.
Robin or Rob, as they call him in Hyperion Heights, is at her bar every single day, flirting with Regina on every chance he gets. He's even asked her on a date a few times but Regina grinned at him and told him that she doesn't do dates while all of her body screamed at her to accept his proposal.
But she's not ready to risk it. You see, if Robin ever remembers who he is, he dies. And so does Henry. If Henry remembers, they both die too. And maybe, just maybe Robin wouldn't remember who he is during the date, but there's not even a chance that he would not try to kiss her after. And true love's kiss would break the curse, and then the loves of her life would both be died.
So Regina keeps Robin at arm's length, flirts with him and watches him when she's sure he's unaware, but that's all she can do. She tries to keep Henry and Ella apart, she tries to do everything to keep her men safe, even if it breaks her heart every single day.
Regina swallows hard and blinks her eyes quickly willing the tears to disappear. She then smiles at him, one of her teasing smiles and tells him, "Oh, I know how attracted to me you are. Too bad I'm not interested in you at all."
Chuckling to herself, Regina grabs the page from the table and makes her way back into the bar while her heart tries to jump out of her chest. There's a lump in her throat now, and she finally lets a few tears roll down her cheeks.
Not every story has a happy ending, she reminds herself and makes her way back to the bar, a huge fake smile plastered on her face as she offers her client another drink.