No matter how many times she went over the scene in her mind, it never made sense.
The words that came out of his mouth, cutting her where he knew it would hurt. The way he smirked when he thought he had her turned over to his side. The sheer anger she saw on his face when he was holding the crystal, yelling for her sister's death as Robin lay at all their feet.
She had never seen his lips stretched back over his teeth like that, even when she had been kidnapped. His anger was quiet, violent but contained to focus on a single point. He didn't rage like fire, he was too intelligent for that.
And she couldn't pass it off as his excitement to take over Storybrooke, because that hadn't made much sense either. Up until that office, love had been enough for him. He had said it would be.
His fear of the heroes had been completely justified as she had quickly found that through the heroes' self-righteousness they were completely willing to stoop to any depths in the name of what they considered defense. They were going to kill Hades.
She could have handled him being imprisoned until they finally set their fears to rest, no matter how unfair it was, but they were prepared to take any action their befuddled, narrow-minded brains had deemed appropriate.
None it sat right with her.
Not their reaction, not his, not the fact that now two of the best men she'd ever known were dead, one of them without even a grave to show for it.
Sitting at her kitchen table, Zelena choked on yet another sob, just thinking of how her True Love had left nothing but ash to remember him by, barely enough to fill an urn she had finally gathered and set on her mantle, behind several other objects, unable to bear looking at it.
She would have talked to Regina about it but her sister was in the throes of grief herself. Zelena had been trying to help but she did admit that her sister could occasionally use some time to herself. All too late did Zelena realize that this meant she too was alone and had to deal with the grief she had been holding back until that point, unwilling to show it to Regina and having no one else to turn to.
She also feared she'd turn to alcohol if left to her own devices, a state of being she loathed more than anything, considering how much it reminded her of her good-for-nothing adoptive father. She would give anything to have a yeast allergy or something that would keep her from considering exactly what had driven him star in all of her most terrible memories.
So she questioned the events that had led up to that terrible moment because she would much rather feel suspicion and confusion, than the pain she could still barely even believe to be real, it was so raw. Everything about him since she had come back to meet him in her sister's office had been all wrong.
His grip on her hand was too tight, his eyes were too dark, and that crystal. Blasted thing. He was so consumed by it, unable to stop forcing his divine magic into it for even a second until it became one complete object.
Come to think of it, she never had found any evidence of it when she had put his ashes in the urn. It shouldn't have been destroyed along with him but she would have sensed magic that powerful if it was still in Storybrooke. Who would have the magic to keep it hidden from her?
The answer had her throwing back her chair in a whirl, her eyes flashing purple. With a wave of her hand she appeared in her sister's house, where the woman was sitting on a couch with a glass of wine, staring desolately at a wall. Zelena strode forward and shook her shoulder. Regina looked up slowly, dazed by everything and anything around her. Zelena stared straight into her eyes.
"We need to go do something."
Regina blinked, her eyes unfocused on her sister but she did set the wineglass down absentmindedly on a side table.
"What, sis. What on Earth could we need to do?"
Zelena sucked in a harsh breath.
"I went back to your office to do…something…and didn't find the Olympian Crystal even though it could not possibly have been destroyed. It must still be here in Storybrooke."
Regina blinked again and the film over her eyes cleared completely, the deep brown focused and furious.
"Gold. He has it."
Zelena drew herself up and crossed her arms.
"He has to."
Regina stood up and waved a curt hand over herself, changing clothes and doing her hair in an instant. She took Zelena's hand and together they made a quarter turn on their heels, appearing inside of Gold's shop where the man himself was just arraying several objects on the counter. He noticed them come in and, to Zelena's incredulity, the bastard had the nerve to smile at them.
"What can I do for you ladies?"
Regina was frozen to the ground in anger so Zelena strode forward. She stopped on the other side of the counter, level with Rumplestiltskin.
Then without warning she swung half of her body back and twisted forward to slug him in the face. Rumple stumbled several feet to the side, only keeping his footing by grabbing onto a chair. Zelena rounded the counter and drew him up by his shirt.
"Where is the crystal?"
Rumple opened his mouth to respond then paused and looked away, as though there was something over Zelena's right shoulder he was seeing. He stayed like that for a moment then the edges of his lips began to curl, creeping up his face into a smile. By the time his head made its rotation back to Zelena he was laughing, laughing so hard he was crying, his entire body shaking in her grip.
He regained his footing and leaned into her, forcing her to take a step back. He sneered into her face.
"I have it, dearie. It's just in the back, along the broken shards of a terribly fragile heart."
Zelena suddenly found herself unable to breathe.
"Whose heart?"
There was a silence and Rumple pried her hands off of his collar, leaning onto the counter then looking over to grin at her.
"Why your True Love's of course."
Zelena felt her vision narrow and her muscles tense, barely holding her back from throwing herself onto him; a tiny thread of something like hope growing in her chest.
"So it was you. Controlling him. Every moment in Regina's office was you."
"Absolutely, my dear. It was surprisingly simple to take it from him. Really, the man should know never to turn his back on an enemy. Even if it is to protect a baby."
Zelena rushed around the counter and grabbed him roughly by the arm, drawing him close to fling him backwards, his back slamming against the sharp metal corners of the glass desk. The breath flew out of him with a whoosh but she didn't stop, grabbing handfuls of his shirt with both hands this time.
"So did you lie?"
"A-About what dearie?"
"About the crystal. It probably doesn't kill anyone, just sends them away or something."
Rumple laughed again.
"How cute. You actually gave yourself a bit of happiness right there. Don't worry though, I'll be more than happy to take it away. The Olympian crystal absolutely does what I, or rather Hades, said it does. He's gone dearie, and he's not coming back."
Zelena heard Regina gasp behind her, a kind of sobbing gasp that even in her darkest imaginings she had never wanted to hear from her sister. Zelena turned around and found her dabbing at her eyes with her coat, shaking from head to toe.
She let Rumple drop and strode over, folding her sister into her arms. Regina quivered against her and for once Zelena was glad to be taller, so she could wrap her sister completely in her arms.
The former Evil Queen continued to shake for a couple moments then took a shuddering breath before looking up at Zelena.
"Are you alright?"
Zelena asked.
"I'm fine. I just think I should probably go back home now."
Zelena didn't need a code breaker to translate. I'm breaking up inside and I know if I stay he'll only continue to hurt me, please let me leave. She nodded and with a poof Regina was gone, most likely back to her couch.
Fury seethed in every bone of Zelena's body as she turned back to Rumple, who had stood up and walked back behind the counter, just as pleasant faced as ever, except for a few winces when he stood the wrong way.
He called out to her mockingly, "do you miss him?"
She stared blankly at the floor, stuck in the middle ground between action and thought.
"You have to pay for what you've done," she whispered.
Rumple giggled like a madman.
"What was that?"
She said it louder and approached him.
"You have to pay for what you've done."
Rumple smirked.
"And what am I paying with dearie?"
Zelena had her answer immediately.
"The Globe of Days to Come."
Rumple's eyes darkened.
"No. Not unless you have quite the sweet deal to offer me."
Zelena stared him straight in the eyes.
"I am this close to ripping out your throat with my teeth, magic or no magic. You owe me, you two-faced bastard. Congratulations, you forced me to kill my True Love. Give me the Globe, now."
Rumple opened his mouth to speak but the singular force of the witch's hate he could see in her eyes stopped him. He reached under the counter, opened a cabinet and drew out a small snow globe shaped object. He set it on the counter but kept a hand on it.
"You know of course what this globe does."
Zelena nodded.
"It shows you what the future would have been like if one event didn't happen."
Rumple hummed and slid it across the counter to Zelena's waiting hand.
"Pleasure doing business with you dearie, please don't come again."
Zelena left the store, her anger dissipating into the cold spring air. She had to hold the globe with two hands, as its size was quite immense, but it wasn't too heavy and she began the walk home in reasonable comfort.
Her hands continuously skimmed the cool surface as she mulled over Rumple's words.
"You actually gave yourself a bit of happiness right there."
She hadn't wanted to. Zelena set the globe against her chest. Her heartbeat felt as though it had slowed, the steady thud all too loud in her ears. If only she could see it as a normal practice of life and not a constant reminder of what she had lost, now that she knew she truly had lost it. Lost him. Everything was tainted now. Flowers, fire, the color blue, suit jackets, wineglasses, even her own heartbeat.
His anger wasn't loud, but hers was, full of screams and throwing things and violent outbursts. So why wasn't she doing that now? Why wasn't she falling to her knees in the street and just screaming, letting herself cry until she couldn't stop? Why hadn't she torn up a room? Or smashed up some furniture?
She had found in the past that anger was even more satisfying when she exercised it herself, rather than relying on magic. Of course after that realization she had become disgusted with herself for giving admiration to the way her adoptive father used to have acted. He had been her worst, and when she really thought about it, blotting out the last couple minutes, Hades had been her best.
He was considerate, understanding, respectful, and cute. Everything any woman would want in a man but also tailor made to suit her specifically. His family situation was so exactly like hers and even his darkness felt familiar. But it had all gone wrong. Thanks to Rumple.
But try as she might, Zelena still couldn't bear to shift the blame fully on the Dark One. For some reason Hades' death had to be her fault, in some way, or she had lost any lasting connection to him. He left behind so little it was as if he never existed.
If only her child could have been his, and she could have seen his brilliant blue eyes beaming at her every morning, rather than the inquisitive yet accusatory blue-green of Robin's eyes. She had never loved Robin, not for a moment, but the time they had spent together in New York as husband and wife had helped her realize a simple truth.
He was a good man.
An honorable one, who put other's needs before his and cared deeply about his family. She would never stop being sorry for having taken some of that from him. It unbelievably unfair to him, to Roland, and to Regina, who now had to add yet another soul to her ever increasing list of love lost. They all deserved better. But thanks to her ignorance in not recognizing the signs and Rumple's cruelty, both the good man and the great love, were gone forever.
Zelena's heel clacked up the wooden steps to her house. She set the globe on the table while she checked on baby Robyn then upon reassuring herself that the child was asleep stumbled back to the table and took the globe in her hands. She closed her eyes, remembering what she had to think to get the globe to work. I wish the sour circumstances of that day had never occurred.
She opened her eyes and the globe began to glow, magic rushing out of it. The purple tendrils crept up her arms, rooting her to the spot then finally tapped her lightly on the temples. Her eyes closed again and images began to flash through her mind like a film.
/
The first image was a big unclear at the beginning. It was just her, with uncombed hair and wearing a bra and sports shorts. She was in a room she recognized as her own kitchen, cooking something in a pan. She didn't look particularly happy or sad, just, comfortable.
Then a noise sounded in the background, much like a door opening and bare feet on cold wood. Hades walked into the frame, wearing soft Capri pants and a tight white tank top. He approached her in the image, casually slung his arms around her waist, and rested his chin on her shoulder. He had to lean over a bit to do it, being a couple inches taller than her.
The her in the image did start a little but quickly relaxed, looking more content than before. She set the spatula in one hand down then set that hand over his on her waist, before turning her head to the side to plant a little kiss on his cheek. Her face was aflame but he just smiled at her and gave her a kiss on the nose back, respecting her reluctance to give kisses, as he had respected all of her decisions in the past.
He whispered something in her ear and she gestured vaguely to whatever food she was making. He grinned and the image fuzzed out to be replaced by anther one.
In this one she was wearing a medium length black dress, sitting across from him in a restaurant she didn't recognize. He was smiling that little adorable boyish smile of his, and she had her hand over her mouth, eyes wide. He leaned further across the table and whispered something to her that had her collapsing against her chair, trying vainly to stifle her laughter.
The imaginary camera panned over a bit to focus on Regina and Robin of all people, who were sitting a bit away, but situated in a spot where while Zelena and Hades could see them, they couldn't see back.
/
The image fuzzed a little then refocused on later in the dinner, the two of them clanking clear glasses together, a bottle of red wine sitting unopened and abandoned to the side. It came as a bit of surprise to her that he would turn away something he had a great love for. Maybe it was out of respect for her. She had drank with him in the Underworld but not much, merely sipping from her glass. He could just be more perceptive than she had thought or maybe, just maybe, she had told him about her father. It seemed a bit fast for a first time relationship but when she actually put thought into it, she had been wanting to get those memories off her chest for a while and he provided quite the appealing ear.
/
The image blurred again and the already dark background got even darker, so they could be seen in the dark of night, walking together in their large black coats. Anyone else would say they looked as though they came from a funeral but the shining happiness on their faces assured her they were coming back from the date she had just seen.
This segment ended quickly then began to flash smaller and faster images of the two of them together.
The two of them on her couch, hanging onto each other for dear life as they watched a horror movie.
Her, in a nightgown, casting a longing gaze at the door of a room she had not seen before but saw was in her house.
The two of them in adjoining armchairs, reading books, the most adorable reading glasses perched on his nose.
Her crying on her bed with a tiny pink shoe in her hands, and him coming in to comfort her.
Cheek kisses, nose kisses, forehead kisses.
/
Then the flashing stopped and settled on a single image. They were coming up from her cellar, several food items in their hands when he opened the hatch and a gust of rain came down. She seemed to call for him to shut it, sighing. But he didn't and instead set the food down in a dry spot and walked out into the rain, as if in a trance.
She saw herself setting her packages down and rushing out after him, looking concerned. What she saw when she came out shocked both versions of her.
Hades was sitting in the middle of the lawn, his fluffy blonde hair soaked to the scalp, and his suit getting wetter by the second. He wasn't talking, just looking up at the rain, but he did look up as she approached, getting just as soaked as him.
She offered him her hand and he stood, but kept her hand close to his chest and his head down, something she barely noticed as she questioned what he was doing. She didn't look angry, just very confused. He didn't answer at first and eventually her expression grew even more grave and she lifted his chin with a finger.
His face was completely expressionless except for the tiny tear trails that were almost indistinguishable from the rain on his cheeks. Her eyes softened with understanding and she laid a hand on his face. With that he crumbled into her arms, crying onto her shoulder.
She wrapped both arms tightly around him, but she was smiling, as she could hear him crying but also laughing, the happy noise slowly beginning to outweigh the sad one. He was shaking in all sorts of ways, so much so that their two bodies began to sway in all directions, stumbling and almost dancing through the slippery mud of the lawn.
At the peak of his laughter his arms came up around her and he hefted her onto his shoulder, spinning them around. She cried out but began laughing as well, tugging lightly on his wet hair and begging him to stop. In response his hands just began to tickle her, and she writhed in his grasp, trying to get away. He almost dropped her and indeed they both fell, catching themselves enough to avoid being hurt but now were stuck, him braced on top of her and their lips inches apart.
He surely felt the same want she did in that moment but he closed his eyes and began to pull back. Her hands shot out and grasped his lapels, yanking him back and connecting their lips. He responded immediately, smiling into the kiss and running his hand through her hair, heedless of the wet ground they were both lying on, already soaked to the bone.
/
Then suddenly they were both standing in front of Regina's house, not touching, just beside each other. Zelena's hands came up and cupped her own elbows, wrapping in a frightened way around her body. She made to move forward but Hades stepped up to even with her. She stopped and looked up at him. His hands gently uncurled one of her hands from its white-knuckled grip and lifted the back of it to his lips. With that the tension drained out of her body and she took his hand before they both knocked on the door.
Regina opened it, Roland koalaed onto her leg, and waved them in.
The image moved inside with the two of them both sitting on a couch, facing Regina and Robin, who were seated in armchairs opposite. A small argument seemed to be taking place that Hades and Regina sat back from but there wasn't anywhere near as much hostility in the room as would have been before.
Robin sighed suddenly and ran a hand through his hair. Zelena stood up, then, of all crazy things, kneeled in front of his chair. He looked up and she met his eyes strongly.
There was no audio but Zelena had no difficulty reading her own lips and the two earnest words that spilled out.
I'm sorry.
Robin gave her a weak smile in return and she returned to her seat, some sort of agreement reached.
From there on the conversation moved to different topics that slowly cleared the pressure from the room and actually had them all laughing. One of the topics even led to Zelena and Regina arguing strongly but good-naturedly over it, waving their hands to enunciate their points. If she hadn't been staring at the two of them, fascinated, Zelena might have missed the simple squeeze of her hand that Hades gave her.
The night ended after several hours and Regina and Zelena exchanged hugs before leaving. Her goodbye to Robin was a bit awkward, but then he held out his hand and she shook it. He also shook hands with Hades, whose eyes suddenly began to shine with the prospect of one day having a friend in the other man. Zelena walked off to get her bags and Robin went upstairs but the image stayed focused on Hades as Regina walked up to him, grinning.
They too shook hands then Regina used the movement to tug Hades forward so she could whisper in his ear. Her eyes flickered over to the hallway Zelena had gone down and the more she continued whatever she was saying, the brighter Hades' cheeks became. Finally she pulled back and he cleared his throat before saying something to her with his whole face aflame. Regina laughed and patted him on the arm.
/
More domestic tasks were shown: breakfast, TV watching, and an amusing laundry one where he was shown holding up one of her bras and looking embarrassed as she rushed at him to grab it away. The only difference was that these little encounters always ended with lips kisses, growing longer every time.
/
Then there was an interesting little tidbit where they appeared to be having a slightly awkward dinner with the entire Hero Parade. They were sitting next to each other and as the image slowly panned down she could see their hands, completely intertwined under the table.
Zelena scrunched up her face, trying to enhance her view of the image as it continued to zoom in on their hands, and then she saw them. Two silver rings, glinting on their mixed up ring fingers. They weren't showy enough to be engagement rings, plus they both had them, but that simple piece of evidence of their union caused her breath to catch.
A few more moments of quiet domestic bliss were revealed to her eyes. They held hands more often, even in public, and they were both allowed at town meetings, standing in the back with his arm around her waist.
Then one day Robin and Regina were at the door, handing over a small bundle to Zelena's arms. She began to cry almost immediately after they left and it was Hades' turn to be the one smiling yet comforting. The blanket wrapped around the child was embroidered, probably by Snow, with a simple word and name: Faith.
/
Events suddenly changed from the two of them together to the three of them together. Her rocking the baby to sleep, him singing to the little one in Greek, both of them changing diapers, and taking turns to wake up late at night to comfort the baby.
Some short amount of time passed and the child was handed back.
/
The images became them as a couple again, doing fun daily tasks. The seasons passed before her eyes and she was able to discern that their little girl appeared to be switching hands between her parents every week or so.
The images slowed for a moment and focused on a single scene during a week where the little girl was with Robin and Regina.
/
It began when Hades burst into the kitchen with a picnic basket in hand. He waved her along with him, radiating a kind of beautiful joy that only reminded her how much of a wonderful decision it had been to free him from the Underworld.
She laughed as he spun her around, then escaped deftly to change into a beautiful, simple green dress he seemed to have never seen before. His body stopped moving when she came out of the back bedroom, taking a moment to really see her. It was truly painfully obvious how much he loved her.
Eventually he did stop staring and led her outside. He pulled her bicycle away from the side of her house, and, laughing, they both got on and rode down a small path into the forest. When they found a suitable sunlit clearing they got off and set up the picnic. It was so unlike the one they had in the Underworld, suspicion simmering in the air between them and their seemingly comfortable poses staged for the other's benefit. This one was all natural, leaning against each other as they ate, altogether unaware of how much they were touching.
After the food was gone he stood up and took her hands. His head lowered to his chest for a moment then she lifted his chin with a finger, much the same way she had during that rainy day kiss, so long ago.
He breathed in deeply then locked eyes with her and began to speak. It was too fast for her to read his lips but judging by the seriousness in his expression and how her face began to heat up, the words weren't really needed.
After a one minute speech he took another deep breath and let go of one of her hands. The next part seemed to happen in slow motion.
His free hand moved to the pocket of his brown slacks, and he sank to one knee in the grass. His face was turned up to hers and her hand flew to her mouth as he asked her something entirely different from what he had said in the Underworld but with the same intention.
Will you marry me?
The sunlight glinted on both of their faces, refracting off the shiny diamond ring in nestled in the tiny velvet box in his hand.
Her hand moved down from her mouth and her answer came as naturally as breathing.
He leapt up and pulled her into a kiss, probably the sloppiest one they'd ever had, disregarding all attempts grace in their happiness. They were so taken with each other that it took them quite the while to even remember the ring, the bike leaning dangerously against a tree as she whispered "yes" between every kiss.
When they finally broke apart, fingers fluttering across each other's faces, he pulled the ring out of the box and slid it onto her ring finger with pride. She held it up to the light before flinging both her arms around his neck and embracing him.
They walked the bike back to her house, then Zelena grabbed his arm and dragged him all the way over to Regina's house. Regina unlocked the door and let her in, already bouncing with happiness.
Zelena looked mildly confused as she hadn't even shown her sister her ring yet but it all became clear when her sister held out her own hand to show off a different shiny diamond ring. The sisters were turned momentarily into little girls, shrieking and hugging and laughing across Regina's kitchen.
Robin came into the room at some point and when Regina and Zelena weren't looking he and Hades bumped their fists together. But they could never keep anything from the women they loved for long and soon had to admit to the whole plan.
/
The following scene showed Hades and Zelena packing several large bags with magic. The boring specifics were skipped and they were then shown jumping through a portal made by a magic bean. Their feet landed with ease on a familiar road, built of golden bricks.
They set up in an old abandoned castle in Western Oz without making their presence known, then the two of them magicked their way to Zelena's old hometown.
Several people looked terrified to see them, especially the munchkins, so Zelena made sure to grant them a heartfelt apology that they reluctantly registered, at least enough to not drive her out of the town with fire and pitchforks.
From there on they walked into a large, warm looking tavern whose kindly old owner greeted Zelena with a huge hug. Other people soon crowded around, shaking her hand and smiling at her.
It was then that it became apparent that the good people of Oz had finally found out that other than a couple people she had sent to the Underworld on accident because she couldn't control her magic's effect very well, her rule of Oz had actually been one of the best events that had ever happened to the realm. Especially those of the West, who had suffered without a ruler and under the thumb of the Wizard, appreciated her well-intentioned if heavy-handed policies on crime and poverty.
Those who had been the closest to Zelena when she had lived in the town eventually got up to asking her how she had been and discovered the ring. With that realization she pulled Hades over from where he had almost been forgotten in a corner and introduced him to the others.
The women and men alike immediately came to like him and although no alcohol was consumed by either of them, a wonderfully rowdy night was had, full of dancing and singing and generally catching up with the only people who had ever kept her childhood from being miserable.
/
The next morning in the castle she woke up with a very serious expression on her face. Watching, she didn't quite know why but it was revealed when they both magicked their way to the doorstep of her old house. She knocked but no one answered so she went around the back and there he was. Her adoptive father.
She curled her lip but the image of her called out to him pleasantly if a little nervously. He spun around, looking a little less downtrodden than he had during his drunken days. His eyes widened and he dropped the tool he was holding to fall to his knees. He searched her face then his face fell to his hands and he began to cry bitterly.
Zelena approached him, a tiny smile decorating her lips. She knelt in the grass next to him and set a hand on his shoulder. He shied away but for once it wasn't out of fear or anger but shame.
Her father's mouth opened and a stream of endless apologies poured out, in between his tears, apologizing for anything and everything he had ever done to her. She made to speak then stopped and let him get it out.
When he was finally done, panting on the ground, Zelena met his eyes and smiled widely. Her eyes glittered and before he could stop her, she drew him into a hug. He floundered in her arms but she just tightened her grip and after a while his ears flushed, but one of his hands came tentatively up to her back and patted her.
Zelena let her father go after a while and stood with him, waving Hades over. Hades immediately curled a hand around her, his gaze wary. Zelena just ignored it and introduced the two men, her lips curling around the French word, fiancé. The three of them had a mildly uncomfortable conversation but Zelena was smiling by the end of it and waved as they said goodbye to her father.
/
The rest of the trip was spent touring Oz, sneaking around so Dorothy and the other Witches of Oz wouldn't catch them. This meant lots of hiding or crouching in cramped places, pressing fingers over each other's giggling mouths so no one would hear them.
The trip lasted maybe two weeks then they pulled out yet another magic bean and crossed back into Storybrooke.
/
Even though they were engaged their lives quieted down soon after the trip. There was one difference though, during the weeks they weren't taking care of Faith.
Their kisses were becoming more heated, passionate. Neither felt awkward anymore, limited in their actions still, but more than willing to run their hands up and down each other as they locked lips with increasing frequency and experience.
/
Time passed then yet another dinner was shown, a short clip, both of them looking mildly preoccupied and yet unable to avoid sneaking glances at each other. The meal ended quickly.
/
Soon they were home and he was setting his jacket up alongside hers and taking his shoes off, unable to look at each other. He begun to walk away from her when he spun gently on a heel before running his hand through his unbelievably soft looking hair and locking gazes with her. She was rooted to the chair she was sitting in, so taken by the absolutely desirous look on his face.
He was seemingly about to ask her about something then she reached forward and took his hand, smiling lightly before that smile became a smirk and she tugged him along a hallway, giggling.
The next she saw they had just burst in the door to her room, one of his hands locked around her back and the other drawing down the zipper of her dress. His vest had been discarded somewhere along the way and her hands were already on the buttons of his dress shirt, both of them completely locked up with each other. She used her grip on his collar to draw him forward into a deeper kiss, kicking the door closed with her foot.
They slowed for just a moment, long enough to exchange several breathy words. She lowered her head and fiddled with one of the buttons of his shirt. When she looked up his ears were just as bright red as her cheeks. She giggled and he grinned at her. His thumb smoothed across her lips and he whispered three words to her. She returned the sentiment with gusto then hooked a leg around behind his and he fell freely, the two of them landing out of the frame with a telltale poof of pillows.
/
The next image had both of them sleeping in her bed, obviously missing several articles of clothing. Lipstick still blotted several spots on his face and his arms were wrapped completely around her, her hands resting over his beating heart. She shifted in her sleep and unconsciously he laid a kiss on her hair.
/
Next morning saw lots of kisses and some hilarious hunting for clothing, finding things strewn all over the room. However, both of them took it in great humor, unashamedly glad they had taken the next step in their relationship after what the object portrayed as about two years of waiting.
They ate breakfast together as normal, laughing and talking, then some little tidbit slipped from his mouth that made her whole face light up and him grin fit to split his cheeks. She pouted and ruffled his already unruly hair.
/
The images sped up again, the two of them sleeping in the same bed fully clothed, his things moving to her closet, the two of them going to and returning from various unseen jobs.
Then came the one image of the two of them, standing over the kitchen table shouting at each other. They were both almost crying and whatever the problem was it seemed to be no one's fault but they both went to bed in a huff, him taking the couch of his own volition. But the next day he left early and she cried at the kitchen table, only for him to return with a whole armful of flowers he had obviously picked himself and his apologies. She responded with her own just as quickly and the fight became a bad memory that they had unfortunately needed to move on. They were just as affectionate afterwards, having gained a new understanding of how to work situations out between them when something didn't go well.
/
Everything became them as a couple again, him playing piano for her, the two of them dancing in fuzzy socks across the hardwood floors, and them sharing an ice cream.
The images turned to Faith again and they kept having beautiful moments with her, watching her become a young woman over time. Her first word, "magic;" first steps, at a gathering of all four parents; then a larger time skip and both Robin and Hades shooting increasingly threatening looks at their baby's new boyfriend.
/
She didn't quite know how long she sat there, staring at herself growing older and her husband staying exactly the same because that was what he had become, in a beautiful ceremony the whole town came out for. She wore pure white for the first time in her life, and he wore black, but his tie was as blue as his eyes and as bright as his hair.
/
Her magic kept her alive to see her daughter married and with children. The two grand-babies were named Sylvia and Nathaniel. Their family had expanded once more.
One of the best images the globe showed was a simple moment where Henry ran out from behind a black tripod, settling in between his moms just in time for the entire Charming-Mills-Swan family to take their first ever family picture.
/
Zelena continued her normal life for many years when one day she just lay down on their porch and didn't get up, her long red hair having since turned a deep white and her youthful beauty given way to the folds of wisdom and laugh lines.
She saw her husband come out of the house and although he cried to see her lying there he reached a hand out over her body and with a single wave, a pale younger woman parted from the body, her soul taking his hand and getting its unsteady feet for the first time.
They both hung around, him and her spirit, for the funeral service, at which many of those she had never thought to care cried desperately. But what meant the most was the speeches given by Regina and Faith.
Hades himself had put a glamour spell on himself, not wanting to throw his immortality in the faces of those who mourned his wife. Also, he was getting her forever, there were no goodbyes to be made. That didn't stop him from gently patting the shoulders of his new family when he walked through the crowd. He also set a small kiss on his wife's brow before they lowered her into the ground, feeling unnaturally unhappy that they were leaving the world they had lived in for so long.
After the service was over he put out his hand to the immortal spirit of his love. She had to go and he was happy to accompany her, taking her home to the kingdom he had made to so resemble the one she had wanted.
In Zelena's hands the globe whirred and the images came to a stop, the spell fully aware that any successive visions would just extend on into eternity, a forever of happiness for two so bonded by love.
/
Zelena blinked and regarded her own hands, which were trembling against the sides of the globe. She tried vainly to calm them but they just shook harder, knocking the globe off the table, where it shattered on the floor.
Her heart vibrated in her chest and without really noticing her hands had moved up to her face, digging their nails into her cheeks and dragging. The pain barely registered.
Her head turned slowly to look at the mess of glass on the floor but her sight was slowly leaving her, the image filling up as though someone was pouring water into the space between a picture and protective glass.
It fuzzed out completely, the tears spilling so forcefully out of her eyes they dripped down her chin and over her fingers. The salt stung the scratches on her cheeks.
Her hands dropped from her face and slammed onto the table, a burst of magic leaving her in all directions, sending pots and pans clanging and her curtains whipping around in the wind. She wrapped her arms around herself in a vain attempt to keep in it but found that just made the rocking motion her body was going through even worse, bending her ankles this way and that.
She moved too far at a certain point and fell sideways out of the chair, her hand coming up to cradle her head as she fell completely in the middle of a bed of glass. The tiny shards glinted near her eyes and dug into her hands but she couldn't care.
She was shaking and crying so hard now, her own wails not even familiar to her ears anymore. Her sides shook up and down, just letting the shards cut through her shirt fabric.
She looked up for one vain second and her vision obligingly cleared to give her a split second image of the jar of ashes she had put on the mantle falling in midair, only to crack open into broken pieces on the ground, the dark ash mixing in with the bloodstained garnish of glass and her own salty tears.
Zelena's lips fell open and she gasped hopelessly for a moment before falling back into despair, her eyes fixed on what could have been everything if not for the simple, harsh, true fact that it was nothing.
Author's note:
*Hefts this fic down onto the table.* Here, this is what I have been working on for so long and why I've been so inactive. I'm not even sure if this is the final draft. My beta will get back to me, she's better at grammer than I am.
Please don't kill me. I know I'm a terrible person for writing this.
If you can see through the tears, please R&R.