This is a concept that really came to me out of no where, and I'm not sure if I'll be continuing it but I wanted to share the idea anyway.
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Storybrooke:
Sweat beaded on the man's hairline, perspiration running into his bushy eyebrows as he stared up, taking deep, labored breaths.
"Look. I need more time-" he began, his plea devolving into a scream as the bat pressed down harder onto his hand.
"Your team lost."
"I don't have your money!" he yelled, "I had to use it! Gold, raised my rent. I had to pay him, I had no choice, but I'll get it for you I swear!"
He lifted the bat, the other man lifting his hand limply off the bar with a groan. The explanation made sense. Everyone feared Gold in this town. More than him, certainly.
"Understandable. Tell you what?" he leaned across the bar, "I'll give you two days to get me what you owe."
The older man's eyes widened as if to protest, but he met the look, daring him to argue.
Wisely, he chose instead to nod in agreement.
Satisfied, he motioned to the entrance steps, which the man hurried toward clutching his hand.
Sniffing from down the end of the bar, Caleb looked at him, "An extension, Rob? You're going soft."
Tossing the Louisville Slugger beneath the bar he glared at The Rabbit Hole's owner, "Fuck off!"
Caleb laughed, sliding off his stool and shambling toward the back, most likely to get high.
With a sigh, he poured a shot of whiskey and downed it in one gulp. Maybe was going soft, but he wasn't even really sure if he'd ever been any different.
Enchanted Forest:
Regina winced, curling into herself as another cramp ripped through her abdomen. She'd been in pain for hours. Wave after wave of cramping radiating through her belly, back, and thighs.
Eyes watering, she gripped the edge of her pillow, drawing her legs up.
When she'd taken the potion she hadn't known it would be this bad...that it would last this long.
Tears fell from the corner of her eyes into her hair as she held onto her stomach, trying to resist the urge to cry out against the pain in her womb.
She'd done enough of that already, though, as her mother watched with the same disdainful look she's seen so many times as a child whenever she'd done what something her mother disapproved of.
Swallowing, Regina clenched her hands in anger.
She'd been so foolish to think her mother had changed. That she actually wanted to make amends for Daniel.
A fresh wave of tears poured from her eyes at thinking of Daniel.
Hands scrambling to her neck, she pulled the golden chain from the neckline of her nightgown. The tarnished copper ring was barely visible through the moonlight, but she knew it better than anything she owned.
She could still picture Daniel pulling it from the bridle hanging on the stable wall before falling to his knees, love and reverence in his eyes.
Her throat tightened. This was her fault.
Her bottom lip quivered as she raised the ring to her lips and pressed a kiss to it, sending up a plea that, if Daniel could hear her somewhere, he could forgive her for betraying them. For letting herself believe she was actually going to meet her soulmate...for wanting to.
Lowering the ring, thought bitterly to herself that she should have known better. Should have known things like that didn't happen to her. They never had, and never would.
Beating her fists against her pillow angrily, she pushed herself up shakily, and tossed back the bed curtains.
She'd intended to pour herself another cup of wine from where she'd left the pitcher on an end table, but froze half-way out of bed.
She was momentarily struck dumb, actually wondering if she were hallucinating as she watched a figure climbing a rope down to her balcony and in through the window.
He strode into the room with long steps, stopping in his tracks only when he caught sight of her. His hooded cloak hid is face from sight in the darkness, but it was obvious he was staring right at her.
Spurred into action, she leapted backward across the bed yelling for the guards.
Before she could get even half the call out, however, the man pounced on her, clapping his hand tightly over her mouth.
He pressed her into the bed as she struggled against his grip.
"Shh, stop," he hissed.
Opening her mouth, she felt his fingers slip in between her lips. Impulsively she opened her jaw and bit down on his hand.
"Ah!" he cried out, dropping his hand away from her mouth.
"Help!" she yelled once before he again covered her mouth.
Reaching behind her she clawed at him, struggling to kick backward.
"Stop, stop!" he ordered, "I'm not going to bloody well hurt you!"
At the words an idea came to mind, and she stopped struggling, letting herself go limp his arms. Slowly he loosened his grip on her, and lowered his hand away from her mouth.
As he lifted his weight off her, she reached down over the edge of the bed until her hand encountered one of the books she'd left on the floor. Whirling around, she clocked the invader upside the head with it, and kicked him away.
Scrambling away, she stood from the bed and turned back to face the man who had gotten the drop on her.
Anger rose in her as she realized that she hadn't even thought before to call her magic. Putting out her palm, she called up a fireball.
Unluckily, at the same time the hooded intruder pulled a bow from behind his back and drew an arrow, which she could see pointed at her in the glow of the fireball.
"Who are you?"
He didn't respond.
"Why are you here?" she screamed, "Answer me or I'll kill you where you stand!"
"Not before I loose this arrow," he answered calmly, "And it never misses its target."
Breath coming out in fuming pants, Regina demanded, "Who sent you here? Was it my mother?"
He stood silently for a few tense moments before answering, "No...no one sent me here."
"No one sent you here?" she repeated skeptically, "You decided to just come on your own?"
"Yes."
"Why?" she narrowed her eyes, "Have we met before?"
"We have not," he answered.
"Then why are you here?" Regina growled.
He waited another moment before answering, "I heard the Evil Queen was seen in the northwestern region...and this castle would be mostly unguarded."
She blinked at the words, slowly figuring out the meaning behind them. Her lips dropping open incredulously, she asked, "You're here to rob me?"
His silence was answer enough.
Her hand shook for a few seconds before she dropped it, the fireball extinguishing into it. Glancing around the room, a bark fell from her lips. Leaning against her bedpost, more peals of dark, bitter, hysterical laughter bubbled up out of her. It was ridiculous at this moment, but she couldn't have stopped it if she tried.
Finally, she managed to catch her breath, and shook her head mirthlessly. The intruder's arrow followed her as she stepped away from the bed toward the end table.
Picking up her cup, she swallowed a generous gulp of wine, tossing the cup down angrily after draining it.
Lifting her head, she turned back to him and growled, "Well, thief, you made a major mistake in that!"
With that, she re-conjured the fireball. Before she could move to throw it, though, a great crash shook the room. The widow to the balcony exploding in a rain of rocks, fire, and chaos.
Regina stumbled as the room shook. Vaguely, she noted the thief crying out in shock as he was knocked to the ground by falling debris.
Regaining her footing, she stumbled over to the gaping hole that had once been the balcony.
The air sang, and she looked out just before another giant stone projectile hit the castle, rattling the room and forcing her to grab onto the wall for support.
She could hardly believe her eyes as she looked out. Surrounding the castle was an army of several men on horseback, foot soldiers, and trebuchet artillery that was currently bombarding the castle.
She was under attack.
And explosion sounded in the distance, and she was alarmed to note that it had come from the front gate. The trebuchet round hit the castle gates, blowing the heavy wooden doors open and scattering several of the black knights posted at them.
She was under attack...and no one had alerted her. Where were the black knights?
Turning, she made her way through her bed chamber to the door, tripping over fallen stones several times.
Throwing the doors open, she was horrified to find that the knights normally stationed outside her chambers were not at their posts.
Where were they? How was this happening?
Angrily, she stormed down the corridor. She needed to find them, find out why they weren't responding to the attack, and rally them into action!
Her bare feet slapped against the marble floor before her footing went out from under her as the corridor shook, a deafening explosion sounding as a stone obliterated the corridor in front of her.
She landed hard on the floor, her ears ringing.
Her head swum as she felt herself being lifted off the floor.
Dazed, she let herself be dragged down the corridor and down a staircase.
She snapped back to consciousness as, a pair of hands shoved her through a door out of the stairwell.
Regina whirled against the person leading her, attempted to rush back in the direction they'd come.
"Get down!" a voice ordered, shoving her into a wall and pressing himself against her back, shielding her from falling rocks as another round hit.
She recognized that voice. It was the thief.
He pulled her up from the wall and into a nearby room. It was one of the many uninhabited quarters in the castle.
Ripping her arm from his grip, she demanded, "What is happening here?! Are those your men outside?"
He glanced back at her briefly, rushed over to the window, and threw open the shudders, "Why would I sneak in if I had an army at my disposal?"
She had no answer, and clearly this was a waste of time, "I need to get back. I need to defend the castle!"
"I fear it's too late for that," he answered, dragging her over to the window.
"What are you doing?!" Regina demeaned as he unceremoniously lifted her onto the window sill, "Put me down!"
He, mostly, ignored her, swinging her off the side. She clawed at his arm in shock before he let go, sending her plummeting to the ground below.
She fell two stories, landing hard on her back in the flower bed below. The blow knocked the breath out of her, and, before she could recover, a thump sounded beside her head as his landed next to her.
Grabbing her hand, the thief pulled her to her feet and through the gardens. Tree limbs slapped her face.
"Wait!" she yelled, "Wait!"
"If we wait, we're dead!" he barked.
Arrows whistled through the air above them, rustling as they dropped through the trees.
He was probably right about that, but she would be damned if she was going to let him drag her around any more. She dug in her heels, forcing herself to a stop and conjured her magic. He was still holding onto her hand when purple smoke surrounded them, transporting them both away.
They materialized in an open field. One she remembered running through as a child. It was the southern field at her parents long since abandoned estate.
Realizing the thief still had a grip on her hand, she yanked her fingers from his grasp and yelled, "What the hell was that?! What do you think you were doing?"
Tossing his hood back, the man glared at her angrily, "What I was doing was saving your arse!"
She blinked at the man before her. He didn't look familiar. Apparently he was just a random thief.
"What you did may very well have cost me my kingdom!" she screamed.
"I had no interest in your kingdom," he shot back, "And, from what I saw, it would seem you have enemies!"
Glaring, she stormed toward him, "Indeed, and I will eliminate them one by one...starting now!"
Conjuring a fireball, she whipped her hand back, fully prepared to torch this thief where he stood. As she reared back, however, an inopportune cramp ripped through her lower belly, doubling her in half with a shout of pain.
She stumbled over her feet, knees landing on the ground. Her head swirled, nausea rising in her throat, and grey clouding her vision. As the world slowly faded around her, she didn't register his hands catching her waist before her face could land in the grass.