Title: On Opposite Sides
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Pairing: Regina Mills / Ruby Lucas
Warnings: Rated M for some violence, references to slavery and sex, and mild swearing.
AN: This short story is written for RQ Week. I wanted to tap into the Angst prompt and I had this idea awhile back seeing all the Star Wars posts popping up, but since I have another story to go with AU prompt, this one gets to go up earlier. Enjoy!
. . .
On Opposite Sides
. . .
Two lightsabers clash together sending sparks flying in different directions. The noises of energy blades connecting echo loudly in the almost empty compound. The machinery whizzes and glints in red all around, a barely perceivable background noise below the flashes of lightsaber battle. They circle and swirl. The fluid moves bled together in this dangerous dance, one inch away from victory or defeat. The industrial smoke slithers beneath their legs, crawls through the grates and clings to the soles of their boots. Dimmed, reddened emergency lighting does not do anything to clear up the darkness of the twisting tunnels and edgy platforms of unclear purpose.
They burst through one of the doors, bend out of shape metal flying off its hinges at the sheer power of Force push. Beyond – another room shrouded in twilight and filled with red gleams, just like any other they had fought through before.
Two figures are engaged in a dance. It could be beautiful if it wasn't so deadly.
One dressed in white and tanned leather – a traveling garb of a Jedi Knight, though the bright scarlet tethers braided into her long carmine hair seem oddly out of place. Her lanky, agile body weaves and ducks along with the swings her bright blue saber. She's young, brimming with energy, but her angular, sharp features already bear the signs of wisdom earned through experience. Still, in the moment her face is hardened, intense with anger. Anger and something more. Something even more raw pulsing behind green eyes striving to get out, break through the last vestiges of her self-control.
The other woman is older. Clad in all black – silk, armor plates and leather, she's nimble and steadfast, unwavering. Her body doesn't move an inch more than it needs to. The red of her lightsaber always in the perfect spot to deflect at any moment. She turns and sways in a swirl of a black cloak. Her face is lax, unperturbed by the fight. At the corner of her mouth a ghost of a smile tugs insistently, which makes the scar on her upper lip stretch. It should be ugly, but it only increases her beauty. A mocking crooked smirk pulls on her lips. It's as if she's so completely sure of her victory... No, that's not it. She is enjoying the fight, there's an almost proud expression below the mocking, edging on grin. But, just like her opponent, that's not all. Deep in the chocolate eyes, hidden from view is pain. Pain and hesitance.
The race through the facility ends as abruptly as it began. The woman clad in black rotates rapidly, so fast she's no more than a blur. Blinding red strikes twice and the grate beneath the Jedi's legs collapses taking the younger woman along with the pieces. The melted off edges of the hole hiss as the other fighter straightens up, but an unexpected pull of something invisible and she is dragged through the hole as well.
She flips in the air and lands on her feet glancing over to the Jedi, already standing at the ready with her lightsaber in defensive position. But there's tension in the way she's holding onto the handle. Tear and wear.
"Don't fight it, Red. I don't want to harm you unless you force me to."
Her voice is harsh, hoarse as if she had not used it in a long while. The raw scratching intensity of it visibly crawls up and down the Jedi's spine, bit the traces of the more familiar silky notes are still in it, too. The ghost of the old Regina, her Regina, smooth overtones and seductive whispers.
And Red – the fearless, headstrong, cheerful Red – shudders! The bright slice of blue lowers just a bit, but then the moment of weakness is gone and she stands at the ready once more.
Regina lets out a tiniest of sighs. She's already circling the Jedi, drawing her saber up, and yet her eyes are searching. Searching for a weak link in Red's armor, her hold on the light side. All she needs is one minuscule opening. Because it can't end here. Useless, pointless, like none of it ever mattered.
Sliding between the hanging wires with the grace of a cat, Regina notices that her lightsaber had not damaged any of them. Her eyes dart to the back of this enclosed room. The far-off end of the hall is clouded in white smoke, the swirling white wall reaches the ceiling. The triumphant gleam deep in her dark brown eyes doesn't last more than a second. This time she attacks first. Feigns and strikes of her red blade slice the thick air. The Jedi of the same name as the color of her weapon dodges.
Regina guides her masterfully. Not a step in a wrong direction. She backs up when needed, reinforces her attacks as Red gets closer to the wall of smoke. She draws her in, wide and small circles along the platform, draws closer and closer to the slowly opening up arena behind the wisps of smoke. Her only mistake is locking her dark eyes with Red at the last moment before she steps in a perfect spot. Green eyes are piercing and Red sees something, catches something in her eyes. She feigns a step back and slides to the side instead. Well, Red does have that uncanny ability to sense her emotions, even behind the perfected mask, thinks Regina advancing once more.
She draws her free hand back and purple lighting flows off of Regina's fingertips blasting the wall. The brunt of it being absorbed by the pulse beam of the blue lightsaber.
"You are a Sith! And you had been all along!" screams Red advancing in a flurry of bright blue strikes.
Regina redirects all of them with ease. Red's emotional, her technique has gotten sloppy. It's no effort to keep her at bay. They fight along the border of the pit from wherein there thick smoke emanates. Regina lets a part of her mind wonder, her mercilessly trained into perfect instinctual fighting machine body doing all the work by itself.
Overlapping the grim picture of the dark facility and flashes of colliding sabers a different picture emerges in her mind's eye. A memory of a better time.
A young Jedi learning her ways around Coruscant, suddenly charged with protection of an up and coming Senator of a little, almost forgotten planet, but one with famous history. The unlikely friendship that is formed after the guardian and her charge butt heads at first. The way that Jedi saves the Senators life. The years later spend with regular meetings, growing closer, seeking each others company. The Jedi appreciating the sound advice on the challenges she has to face. The Senator enjoying her young protégé's energy and wit. And then…
What had happened took both of them by surprise.
Red was not supposed to fall in love. She was a Jedi, her path was to be traveled alone. But she did fall. She did open her heart, fought a battle with her Jedi code and lost.
Regina had only wished to seduce, to gain an unwitting pawn, but she had played too good a role. Her fake feelings had become real. The means to an end become prized, precious, invaluable.
The first time she told Red "I love you," and meant it was in the small room next to her office. The first time she let the realization wash over her was on her home planet. Regina didn't know how Red managed to get herself assigned to as her aide again, she had some suspicions, but for once in a long time the unknown did not grate on her nerves. For once she was able to let it go.
Images of their time together, secret, guarded, flash in Regina's mid. Conversations in the twilight of almost always gleaming with bright lights Coruscant. Meals shared under the pretense of simple friendship. Red's nude form whirling under her, moments of intense physical pleasure, but also more. Deeper, closer, cutting her chest open and tearing her beating, bleeding heart for Red to burn herself into. Laying in a sweaty, spend mess of arms and legs later. Breaths mingling, lips searching and barely audible whispers promising. The free laughter that flows out of Red in the morning as Regina's feeding Red fresh fruit in bed, sticky juices dripping onto both of them. And licking those drops off turns into fits of laughter and a tickle fight. The kaleidoscope reel fuses into one. Regina had been warned of the dangers. The pitfalls of opening up to more than desire, to deeper attachment. She had been the one seduced, not Red. Seduced by the fiery, unbearable love she harbors for this girl.
And now the need to keep her close blazes in her mind, even as their lightsabers clash together and fly apart. Her desire to have Red long became as strong as the goal she set herself in the shroud of the Dark Side. The plan gained a new layer, one she didn't foresee...
There!
Her eyes fix on the slight elevation behind Red and all reminiscence flew out of her mind. This is what she needed to end this. She presses Red further, uses the change of the elevation to her advantage, one calculated move and...
A wide swish of the red lightsaber.
Smell of burning flesh and a thud.
Red screams in agony.
She falls down to her knees clutching her arm – her hand at the wrist sliced clean off. The lacerated and burned flesh is smoking, but the pain of the first moment will fade quickly. The blue lightsaber clatters along the floor and falls down the exhaust pipe.
"Now, Red, you will listen to me," says Regina tuning off her blade. She tilts her head and grinds her teeth. "I didn't want to hurt you. I really didn't. But you left me no choice, Red."
The Jedi on the ground clutches her mangled arm and hisses at her. "What did you expect, Regina? A heart to heart? I'm supposed to fight you! And you've just proved why. You cut off my fucking hand!"
Red splutters and bends at the middle, the blazing green eyes still on her. The hurt and rage in them almost gives Regina pause, but no, she has to finish this.
"A hand is nothing. I can preserve your hand here," she gestures to the limb lying on the floor. "and reattach it later. Or, if you prefer, a prosthetic limb offers a great deal more. That's not important, you'll survive. People can survive a lot, if they put their mind to it, if they have to. In fact I'll make sure that you will, but first we have to talk."
"I have nothing to discuss with you, Sith!" throws Red in her face. "I won't believe anything you say. You are done feeding me lies, Regina."
Regina sighs. "Silly girl. Don't you see what has happened? What we have–"
"Is nothing!" interrupts Red vehemently and with far too much passion for 'nothing'.
"That couldn't be any further away from the truth, which I'm sure you realize yourself." Regina purses her lips seeing the defiant glare thrown her way. "However, ignoring whatever it is between us for now, what do you think you know? Red, my dear, strong, willful Red, you have followed the breadcrumbs left for you to find."
"No! I have seen the records! You can't lie to me anymore, Regina. I know who you are. I know you were behind the attack on Enturan, your own homeworld! Your denial means nothing to me."
"I wasn't going to deny anything," answers Regina calmly. She smirks seeing Red's disbelief. "The attack wasn't orchestrated by me personally, but I was a knowing and willing participant, a co- conspirator if you will. I needed the public support to solidify my future candidacy for the position of the Chancellor. I have done far worse deeds. If you choose to look at them from the point of view of the Jedi, that is."
"There is no oth–" Red's protest dies down under Regina murderous glare.
"The wise and honorable Jedi!" Regina is mocking, her most venomous sneer contorts her face. "Where were these paragons of justice in the Republic when I had to scrape to get a meal because I had the gall to be born a woman?! Where were they when my mother sold me into slavery to the Huts?! How much have they done for all the injustice in the galaxy? If not me, then for the billions of sentient creatures suffering and calling out for help every second! But, no, the Jedi Order sits on their saint asses and does nothing."
"We keep order, the Jedi have kept the Republic safe for gene–"
Regina's incredulous laugh interrupts that feeble excuse as well. "Really? You are going to spout the 'protectors of peace' party line? The Republic could have done the same with a police force. And likely more effectively, too. The only influence the Jedi had actually made have been their advice to the Senate. Like telling the Chancellor the Order admonishes slavery, but it's his choice if he wants to do anything about it. Ha!"
"It's true, Jedi do not get involved in politics," hisses Red still clutching at her arm, but some of the rage seeped out of her face at Regina's admissions. "But the Dark Side is worse, it's evil. You can't twist that around!"
"Oh, I wouldn't claim such a thing. My point is that your beloved Masters are hypocrites. They herald themselves as the highest authority on justice and goodness, but look at what they really accomplished? Nothing. Not the least of which is lie about the Force. The Dark Side is different."
Red groaned in pain, but it looked more like it wasn't of physical kind. Regina continued on forcefully.
"The Dark Side is true to our nature, no more than that. Instead of suppressing anger, hate, ambition, drive, it encourages it. It allows us to realize our true potential without dishonest limitations." She stands to her full height. "You seen the records. Well, then you must have put two and two together. I am going to rule this galaxy. I will do it by any means necessary and I will do it for myself as well as others. Rejecting the pleasures of life is as stupid as ignoring its hardships. The Dark Side is ruthless, unwavering, but most of all, at the core of it, the Dark Side is honest with its disciples."
She frowns and grinds her teeth again. Her dark eyes fix in a point behind Red, unseeing, though there can be no doubt that she would react in a blink of an eye if Red attempts to run.
"My Master had underestimated me. He thought he could string me along as a loyal pet. I'd be the face, a figurehead upon the throne without any real power. He likes to pull strings from behind the scenes. I don't know how he found out about us, how he saw that it was more than seduction for me, but he did. Rumple counted on my survival instinct, on my fear of him. He was wrong. I want it all. And I don't fear him as much as he thinks."
Suddenly Regina flexes her hands and a harness drops down from the ceiling. She pulls Red up from the floor with the Force and the next second she's tied up in a vertical position, arms bound tightly to her sides. The harness jerks up on thin wires and holds Red there, suspended in the air.
Regina takes a slow step up to her. Now there's fear mixed with defiance blazing in those green eyes. Even like this Red looks more relentless, wild, than vulnerable. She steps as close to her captive as their position allows.
Her hand comes up and Red flinches, but Regina caresses her cheek in a surprisingly gentle motion. "I do love you, Red. No matter what you think now, I do. I'm not going to risk anything happening to you. Not until I have won. Rumple thinks himself immortal, but he does sleep. He bleeds like any other. All your Masters think themselves untouchable, they're wrong too. I will destroy them all. I'm going to forge my empire and then... Then you will be standing by my side."
She surges forward and kisses Red hard. Her hand on the nape of Red's neck grows forceful. Regina puts everything into that kiss. No walls, no masks, no pretense. She unleashes her longing, her insatiable desire to have it all. To have Red by her side in her moment of triumph. To keep what had bloomed between them despite either's better judgment.
And then she feels it. Red's resolve crumbles, she hangs freely in her binds and answers the kiss drawing Regina in as much as she does. The effect is almost narcotic. Regina's blood boils, she longs to rip the restraints off Red and have her, right here on the rusty floor of the facility.
But she can't. Using her steel resolve and more power than it would take to move a mountain, Regina tears her mouth away from Red's. They both are panting, lips bruised and cheekbones flushed. A bead of scarlet blood seeps out of the corner of Red's mouth and rolls down to her sharp chin. In the throws of the heated kiss Regina had bit on her lower lip. The sight causes her stomach to flip, a sensation Regina hadn't experienced in decades, not since before Red. Transfixed on the red drop she bends down and licks it off Red's skin earning herself a shudder. A shudder and a sigh from Red, but no swearing or recoiling in disgust. She opens her eyes, the coppery taste of Red's blood still on her tongue, and comes nose to nose with her Red. Hers. The emerald oceans full of emotion, yet stronger than all the others is the same familiar gleam.
"D-did your mother really s-sell you?" mumbles Red in a hoarse whisper, the most important thought blurting out of her mouth of its own will.
"Yes, she did," utters Regina, her fingertips mapping the contours of Red's face like she wants to commit it to memory. "Rumple found me. He knew about my lineage so he took me from the Huts. He wasn't gentle, neither with them nor with me. I was to be his puppet. He took me in, taught me the ways of the Dark Side..." as Regina traces Red's lower lip with the pad of her index finger, she glances back up. "He wants me to kill you. And I should by his thinking. He thinks you a distraction, bit I... I see you as a treasure."
Red stares at her. The storm of emotion blowing across her face, her big green eyes are glistening with still unshed tears. Regina swallows and continues, they no longer have all the time in the world.
"He was the one who left the clues for you to find. All designed to reveal the truth about me and lead you back here. However, he underestimated you, my dear. You were quicker on the uptake. I managed to trick him into believing it would take you another week to put it all together. So you fell into my trap instead." Regina chuckles mirthlessly. "This is not a victory, not by a long shot. He's not going to stop. I have to remove you from the field completely, it's the only way."
"Regina?" utters Red under her breath. "What do you mean?"
She grippes Red's arms tighter. No matter how necessary this is, it's torture to have to let go of her. Regina winces, then her face steels once more.
"You know what this facility was used for, don't you?" she says not straying from Red's gaze.
The Jedi gasps. "Regina, no!" she cries out, now incredulity dominating her features.
Regina fists her hands, fingers trembling slightly, and steps back. The pleading look slowly coming on Red's face hurts more than she cares to admit.
"I have to, dear. It's the only way I know how to keep you safe." She flicks her hand and he harness moves Red to hang over the steaming pit. "Once I have won, I'll get you. And everything will be to our liking. We'll rule the galaxy together."
The mechanical sounds of a large machine fills the room. The thick white smoke coils and shudders like a living organism. Red glances down and then back up again, now her face shows fear. Fear and strange longing. The tears are scratching at her voice, "Please, Regina, don't do it. I can't..." she gets cut off with a sob.
The sight of pale white Red, tears finally streaming down her face and striking green eyes fixed upon her, thrusts daggers into Regina's heart. Most of Red's body had disappeared into the smoke when a serene expression forms on her face. In a clear, certain voice Red says, the words loud, carrying to every corner of the room.
"I love you."
"I know," answers Regina, a single tear traveling down her right cheek.
It's over in a few seconds. The carbonate slab with Red, preserved for eternity, emerges from the whiteness. The diodes on the side blink and peep uncaring of what had transpired here. Regina glances back at the display. All the readings seems to be within norm. Yes, Red's body had been stressed to the limit during the freeze, but she's stabilizing. She's safe, preserved in hibernation, beyond anyone's reach.
Regina steps up to the hovering slab. Red's likeness is etched in the hard carbonate. The stoic expression haven't left her features. No matter how much pain Red was feeling she didn't let it show. But Regina can see it. She traces the oval of her face, the strong, sharp lines and untamed edges. The crease on her forehead, in-between the eyebrows. The lines formed by her mouth. The running tear frozen along with everything else.
Her inner clock pings a warning. She should be giving the droids orders to carry Red into her shuttle. Regina should be getting away from this place as fast as she can. She grinds her teeth again, the practiced mask of a busy politician slips onto her face, though this time hurt and rage shine bright red through it. She puts a few commands into her wristband and waits. When Rumple, or Red's fellow Jedi, get here there will be nothing left but a smoking crater. Of course, she'll play the part of inconsolable mourning to perfection – passive-aggressive sass for her Master, fake tears for the Jedi and the press. No one will know what she really feels, no one will be the wiser.
"It won't be long, Red," she promises to the rising slab. "I will burn and pummel this galaxy into submission if only to see you again. No one will stand in my way. And once I have won, we will see each other once more. You were born to be free, to rule, you'll take to the Dark Side well. I will need a pupil after all. And a loyal consort to stay by my side."
Regina watches as the shadowy form of the slab disappears in the opening in the ceiling. She waits for another beat, then turns on her heel – black cloak billowing around her – and strolls out of the room.
There are Masters to plot against and galaxy to conquer.