Dubcon but tagged as non-con for safety. Does include Robin and Hook but neither particularly favourably. If you're into CS or OQ, this is not for you. I've been reading load of Coalitiongirl fics recently and thought I'd try one in the present tense. Feedback welcome! I'm aiming for like 15k words, so about 6 chapters.
Regina is woken by a soft voice and rough hands.
"Hey, it's just a dream, it's just a dream" he says
She opens her eyes and for a moment she is still in it, she doesn't know him. Robin. He wraps his arms around her, it's not what she wants but for some reason she lets him. Maybe she has no fight left in her, or maybe she will just take any comfort she can get. Neither feel like her. A laugh rings in her ears and fresh tears rolls down her face.
"You're ok" he says.
When he finally lets go she slides shakily from the bed. The silk night dress clings to her skin and she grips the corner post of the bed just in case. She can feel him watching her walk stiffly to the bathroom. She turns on all the lights and the fan and the shower and stands staring at the mirror. Her body isn't bruised but it hurts. Her fingers slide up her arm. Sensitive patches of skin scream out at her touch.
She wipes her eyes again and stares unseeing at her reflection. This time was not like the others. This was...dark.
It's 4 o'clock in the morning. She steps into the shower and turns the temperature as far down as it will go. The laugh in her head grows quiet and she lets the last of her tears wash away.
"Archie, I need an emergency session today. I'll see you at 9am." She dithers over whether to sign it as "Regina" or "Mayor Mills". In their sessions he uses her name. She leaves it unsigned and sends.
"I thought you might come back to bed" Robin says dozily, rubbing his eyes as he enters the kitchen. She doesn't know what to say, she hasn't thought about him since she got up three hours ago. She hasn't thought about anything but...
"Breakfast?" She asks, trying to wipe the nightmare from her mind. She has already made it, prepped dinner, packed Roland and Henry's lunches and cleaned the kitchen twice. They eat in silence until Henry appears.
"Morning Mom" he says sleepily, his hair brushed down but for a violent protest at the back.
She abandons the piece of toast she was thinking of eating and hugs him tightly. He lets her, his concern growing with every second she hangs on longer than usual. She kisses his face too and he smiles.
"How did you sleep?" He asks. Her smile falters and he doesn't miss it.
"No worse than usual" she says. He frowns. He can see the lie in the shadows under her eyes. "Well, not much worse anyway" she corrects and lets him go.
"How was this dream different from the others?" Archie asks at 9.06am.
She sits stiffly in the chair, partly because of her deep discomfort at being counselled by Archie, former cricket, and partly because her invisible bruises are too sore to let her relax.
"She..." She begins. How can she explain what was different? Her dreams have featured Emma since she first came to Storybrooke. Often in the early years she had to defend herself or Henry or something that was hers against her, in later years they worked together or she featured as a friend. Sometimes she featured as more than a friend and Regina feared those dreams most of all.
They did not talk about the deep connection between them. It was best not to for everyone's sake. And Emma had Hook now anyway. And she had her soulmate. Therefore, she rationalised, her romantic interest in Emma must be purely physical, and she would overcome it. Sometimes her dreams felt so real she had to avoid Emma for days under the pretence of work, her mind wandering back to her mouth, the feel of her skin between her teeth or the things she did with her tongue-
Archie slurps his coffee and Regina's mind hurtles back to the present.
"She was different" she says eventually "dark and...cruel"
Archie nods "Why do you think that might be?"
"Because I'm worried about her, and she's the dark one now and I'm...responsible"
"Regina, you're not responsible. Emma acted on her own"
"She did not!" She's so fucking sick of people saying that, nullifying any responsibility they had for the pressure Emma was under "She did what we have trained her to do, to sacrifice for everyone else. We've been telling her she's the saviour!" She almost shouts "'It's in your nature, it's your destiny' she's this towns goddamn insurance policy!"
Archie watches her over his hands, fingertips pressed together. "May I tell you what I think the reason for this change could be?"
She breathes out her frustration in a huff and nods.
"You feel guilty" Obviously. She suppresses an eye roll "You think you deserve to be punished for what happened to Emma. That could explain why someone who cares so much about you is now hurting you in your dreams"
'They're not just dreams' she almost says, rubbing her sore skin. Emma's teeth.
Archie is still talking but she is lost in her thoughts again. Emma's hands snaking around her waist, strong and groping. The depth of her eyes with all their pain, all their passion reflecting it back into her own. They don't feel like dreams.
"That's just what I see" Archie says. "May I ask about Robin?"
"What about him?" she almost jumps at his name
"Do you talk about this with him?"
"No! I mean, he knows I have nightmares but not...he doesn't.." She struggles to find the words and feels sick.
"That's ok" Archie says "it's a personal thing, no one can tell you what you should and shouldn't share. It's good to have clear boundaries with partners."
He pauses. She senses something awkward coming in the way he doesn't fidget, suppressing nervousness by not doing anything.
"You don't have to answer these questions but they may be worth thinking about. When was the last time you and Robin...spent time together?" She frowns and he soldiers on. "When was the last time you let off some steam? Pent up frustration can-"
"Doctor Hopper" she cuts through his speech "this is not up for discussion"
They don't, they haven't since Emma... She's too guilty, too sad, too lost to stand it. She sits quietly for a while longer before leaving.
She runs her fingers down the flat side of the blade.
EMMA SWAN
It has been two weeks and she still can't believe it. If Emma saw it she would probably think the writing looked like the Harry Potter font and think it was cool, if it wasn't the Dark One's dagger.
"Where are you?" She whispers to no one.
She has hardly slept, hardly eaten, hardly spoken to anyone but Henry and Rumple who is still in hospital recovering.
Hook screamed and shouted that he should have the dagger because she loved him. 'She loves all of us' Snow had reminded him as she stared at the dagger on the ground and David placed himself between it and Hook. Regina had stood facing away from them all.
"You idiot" she whispered to the night with closed eyes and hands pushing hair back from her face "you complete and utter idiot. Why? Why did you do that? You..."
"Regina" Snow had called her back with sadness and numbness ringing in her voice "you should take it. You're the only one who can keep it safe enough"
So she took it. She holds it every day, disgusted at the darkness raging within it and the way it stirs darkness within her, but it is part of Emma now and she needs any connection she can get. She locks it away in the safe in her room as Robin enters. She seals it with magic and replaces the mirror over it.
"What's that?" he asks
"I moved the dagger, my vault wasn't safe enough" she replies. His face falls but she doesn't comment on it. She is staring into the mirror, thinking about the dagger.
"You can't keep that in the house!" He declares. Her frown deepens.
"It's the safest place for it. You know the house is protected"
"You can't protect anything from the bloody Dark One. What's wrong with the vault?!" He asks
"Here is safer" she says, her calmness clashing with his panic.
"You can't be serious" he says though he can see that she is. She doesn't answer. "I'm not comfortable with it being here"
"I'm not comfortable with it being anywhere else" she replies and walks out of the room.
"I won't have Roland sleeping in the same place as it!" he calls, following her to the landing
"This house is the safest place in Storybrooke" she replies "are you thinking of Roland's safety, or your own?"
Dark One or not, Emma Swan would never willingly hurt a child. Robin, however she has a distinct distaste for, which they have never discussed because, well they don't talk about it.
"How dare you question my priorities. We don't all have a child with the Dark One" he spits, making it sound perverse. He stalks down the stairs away from her.
She watches him go. Does she even care? God, she's so tired. She can't remember the last time she slept without waking feeling like Emma had been right with her, or listening to thunder and lightning as unseasonal storms batter the town each night.
Evening comes eventually and she has to sleep. A glass of applejack might help. Two more on top of it might help more. She hasn't felt this awful since...'shots?...'
"Where are you?" She asks the darkness before climbing her stairs that feel like a mountain tonight. She slides into bed beside Robin, who seems to have swallowed the presence of the dagger for now. Silly, indecisive Robin. He throws a heavy arm over her and she waits.
Thick bass thrums through her. It's dark and heady. So powerful it seems to beat her heart for her. She's walking but she doesn't know where to. There are people all around her but none notice her. They seem blurred, grey and faceless. There is only one thing she can see clearly. It's Emma.
Everything is slow motion. She dances in the crowd, though no one around her comes close. Light seems to catch her pale skin, or is it coming from her?
She's getting closer, watching Emma's form like her movements are creating the music itself. Her hips swing and Regina's mouth goes dry. She turns, arms up, hair cascading across her face and smiling. Regina's heart seizes. She tries to speak but no sound comes out.
She's so close she could touch her. Emma is facing away and backs into her. Regina doesn't move, can't move, she's frozen. Emma's body slides down her and up again before she turns.
Regina is on fire. Her heart aches at the sight of her. Emma presses into her, rolling with the music, she felt her breasts against her own. She feels her breath on her lips. If she could move she would close the tiny gap between their mouths in a second. She's burning to grab hold of her, to taste her, to make her know she is wanted. But she can't move. Emma is still moving to the beat against her. A leg slide between Regina's and she gasps. Emma is looking down but she still sees her smirk with a shadow of a dimple. Regina strains against everything holding her still. Why can't she move? She feels Emma's hands slide up her thighs to her waist. She curls around her and her hands follow. Her hips, her ass, up her side as Emma emerges from behind her again.
Emma whispers her name and licks the curve of her ear. She would shiver if she could move at all. All she can do is continue staring at the woman in front of her. Emma breathes in her perfume and slides a hand around her neck. Her grip is firm as she turns Regina's face away. The touch of skin on skin and sudden movement feels like relief in itself. Her head is back, she's exposed. She feels Emma's teeth at her neck. She feels rather than hears Emma groan. She notices her heartbeat for the first time, banging like her life is ending. Emma bites into her and it hurts like nothing she has felt before. Her teeth grind together. What she would do to her if she could get free.
Emma's grip on her face hurts as she pulls it down to meet hers.
"I like the way you taste, your majesty" she says with a grin. Blood drips from the corner of her mouth and she licks it away.
"Regina!" Her eyes snap open. She tastes blood, her neck is screaming in pain. She tries to touch it but Robin is on top of her holding her wrists, palms down into the bed. They have done this before, he has learned.
"You were dreaming. It was a dream. You're ok" he says firmly. The pain in her neck is not subsiding and she struggles beneath him, gasping for air.
"Mom?" Henry's voice cuts through the haze of pain and confusion. Robin sits back and she leaps from the bed. The door opens and Henry throws his arms around her. She feels the tension and pain begin to flow out of her body, as if he brings something that soothes her. Maybe she draws strength from him. Her little prince. Maybe it helps her to know there is a little piece of Emma with her in him, a piece that has stayed good, that will always be good.
"That's it" Robin climbs out of bed, tears the mirror from the wall and attempts to open the safe. Suddenly his body locks and he can't move.
"Don't you dare" Regina's voice rumbles like the thunder outside, but closer and more threatening. Henry stands behind her as she instinctively holds him back. Her other hand outstretched at Robin.
"Let me go, Regina. This dagger is making you-" he stops himself just short of something irredeemable, but not quite soon enough
"Making me what?" she grinds out, her hold on him tightening with no effort at all. Excess magic is radiating from her, she can feel it. Her nerves are shot and it rolls off her in waves. She could snap him in half with a flick of her wrist. He tries to speak but it comes out as a choke. Lightning illuminates the room for a split second.
"Mom!" Henry shouts from behind her and she stops immediately. Robin falls to the floor and coughs.
She stares at him but sees Emma's smirk again. She can't feel Henry holding her shaking hand.
