I know I said I wasn't going to update this until it was fully completed but I got the impression most of you wanted more sooner rather than later so I decided I was going to post the whole chapter for you. I just wanna thank you all for your reviews on this, it's place a proper smile on my face and definitely cheered me up.
So you'll notice a lot of changes happen in this. I wanted to take the original concept of Regina's backstory with the hunt for Snow and all but make it more realistic so hopefully I've achieved that. As for the whole regal believe in this, I just wanted it in there and even though their relationship is more like it is in season 1, Regina's practically at her darkest here so that was only natural. Their relationship might get better, it might get worse, who knows but I just wanted Henry to be a part of her journey in this and with Robin being here it does change things up a bit so who knows, maybe this curse doesn't get cast in this version. Anyway, I hope you enjoy :)
It feels like something's missing. Well, something is missing, isn't it? There's no lie there. Yet when he offered his heart, he hadn't noticed how different it would be without it. How different it would feel. Robin can't explain it, there's just an emptiness.
But she should thank her after all. Thank her for removing his heart. With it gone, what he's felt, what he's lived with for years has lifted off. It's not fully gone but it feels lighter, less prominent. The regret, guilt, even the darkness and anger, it's like mist; he can see it but it only touches him lightly.
"There we are," she says, closing the draw to where his heart now lay. "All safe and sound."
Robin hums, he has no doubt about that. Yet there's something that's been plaguing him since he offered his heart. A question that's been on his mind for a while now and one he has the right to know.
"Why do you need my heart?"
She turns, tilting an eyebrow. "Isn't it obvious?"
No, Robin thinks. If it was obvious, he wouldn't be asking now, would he? Of course, Robin isn't about to say that to her. He prides himself as smart, and he values his life.
"Not really." he settles with and she lets out a frustrated sigh, moving away from the shelves.
"When I was looking for someone to kill Snow White, I wanted someone without a heart. It," she pauses, as if looking for the right word. "...gets in the way, makes you question thinks and believe things. I don't want anyone questioning killing Snow White."
Robin could resonate with that. His heart has surely gotten in the way in the past. He'd learned to ignore it since then but it still spoke with its glimmer of doubt, prompted questions of whether or not he should do something. He oft ignored it, choosing to do the thing he wanted and that's how the guilt formed.
Yes, he glad she took his heart.
"Then there's also the fun part," Robin doesn't miss the glint in her eyes. "You won't leave without your heart and if you do, I get to crush it."
Ah, yes, he'd been waiting for this part. The Queen's love for crushing hearts were no secret amongst the peasants, they all knew and that was partly the reasoned they all feared her. Robin wonders if she knows that. Knows what's whispered amongst small folk and alike. Does she know they want Snow White to be their queen? Well, the half that believe she killed the King, anyway.
She'd divided her small folk. Some chose to support the story of Snow White, of how she was innocent and some chose to support the Queen, how she'd found the King dead in his bed chamber and Snow White's fingerprints all over it. They'd been some verbal wars; those who believed Snow White believed that the other side were scared of the Queen; the other side, well they thought they were sucking up to a killer.
Robin never chose a side; choosing to keep himself out of political wars and the likes. As far as he was concerned, he was a free man; an outlaw, and outlaws have no laws to obey.
There's a knock on the door, one that has them both turning towards it and Robin frowns; she's the Queen, she probably gets visitors all the time but here and at this hour?
"What?" the irritated Queen shouts.
"Your Majesty, it's your father," the voice calls through. "With...Henry."
The Queen's eyes widen at that. "He should be in bed," she calls.
The voice behind the door falters. "He couldn't sleep, Your Majesty. He wants to see you."
She sighs, clearly annoyed. At what, Robin can't figure out, it's not like they were doing anything, she was only putting his heart in a box and then Robin was hoping to go to bed, she might not be tired but he bloody well is.
"Fine. Send him to my bed chamber, I'll be up there shortly."
Her father leaves, one last Very well, Your Majesty. Robin also has a mind to leave but he looks back towards the door, to where her child had stood behind it and a question comes to Robin's mind, but he saves it for later, tucking it away.
"Does he often wake up in the night?"
She looks up at him, eyes scanning his face. "Nightmares," she says. She looks unsure, though, almost like she doesn't want to tell him...for whatever reason.
"I'll make a potion for him." She begins looking under the desk, pulling out a chest and opening it before taking out various bottles of coloured liquid.
"How's he been since his father's death?"
She pauses what she's doing, slowly placing an empty glass down as her expressions change and...he thinks he sees something, part of the mask fall off, a flicker in her eyes. It's a second, blink and the facade is back on, like it was never there before. He tries not to smirk, he'd obviously hit something within the Queen and he shouldn't, shouldn't store it away and perhaps use it against her later, but he will, he will because he has no morals.
"You have a lot of questions for a peasant," she continues, tending back to her potions, swirling liquids.
"I'm just merely trying to make a conversation."
She pours the now green liquid into a cup, moving it to the side and packing the used potions away into the chest. Robin keeps his eyes on the green potion, trying not to show his disgust- he wouldn't drink that as a grown man, how the hell is she going to get a little boy to do so?
"Why?" she asks, kicking the chest back under the table. "After your task is complete, I'll have no reason for you."
He studies her for a moment, eyes scanning from toes to head, lingering on the tops of breasts that the corset so generously push up, before landing on her face. Behind all that heavy makeup, he images that she could be quite pretty- gorgeous even. She's seemed to have notice his gaze now, the way she looks down at the bottle she's holding and Robin can't help but smirk, didn't he once hear someone say A Queen never bows her head before a peasant? Maybe it was from her, maybe from another Queen from another land, the gods know Robin's been to many and yet, he always ends up back here.
He kicks himself off the wall, uncrossing his arms and walking those few steps towards her. She looks back up when there's barely a distance between them, when he can feel her hot breath on his face. Keeping eye contact, he hand finds the bottle (but not before landing on her hand, sending some strange current through him to which he glowers) he places the bottle on the table, still keeping his eyes on hers. It's strange, he's without a heart and yet he can feel something fluttering, if distantly and if this is some trap like the one he almost caught himself in before, he certainly has the reigns if the little gulp this evil ruler makes is anything to go by.
He dares to place his fingers on her arm, tips feeling the rich fabricate small folk women can only dream about. They skim up and down her arm, slowly and she's yet to have done anything, anything but gulp and breathe a little heavier, yes...Robin certainly has the upper hand here; the pawn surpasses the Queen.
"I think," he says, keeping her contact, his middle finger making circles on her arm. "That you have plenty of reasons to keep me."
It happens in a flash. Smacking his hand away. Breaking all contact as Robin's eyes follow his falling hand. She pushes him away from her, distancing them once again.
Voice full of malice and disgust she says, "As if I would ever lie with you." She walks towards the door then and Robin's ego in his no way wounded. He's been refused before, his pride can handle it. Besides, he knew it wasn't going to happen, can't really think of a reason why it should, they've known each other for less than a day.
"Now if you'll excuse me," she says in a tone that tells him that she doesn't want his dismissal. "I have my scared son to tend to."
His hand fist into his pocket, lowering his head he asks the question he'd been pondering before. "Do you love him?" After all, he's heard the Queen doesn't love much.
She stops her motion of opening the door, turning around to glower at him.
"Of course I love him. He's my son."
She's pulling the door open then, forcefully, as it shuts with a bang leaving Robin alone in this vault of hearts and potions.
Well, he wanted a challenge and he certainly got one.
.:.:.:.:.:.:.
She has a mind to make that potion for herself. Her son sleeps peacefully beside her- no need to worry about nightmares and being unable to sleep.
Regina does, though.
She hates the dark. If it were possible, she wouldn't sleep at all then she'd have no issues with her own nightmares. Dreams, images, flashing before her eyes, showing her every dark deed she's ever done, every fault that she'd ever made. But there'd been one lately. One nightmare that had rendered her unable to sleep for the rest of the night. It's of Henry. Of her child killing her while she sleeps, wrapping his tiny hands around her throat, squeezing and squeezing until Regina can breathe in no air, until she is on that edge of death. But it's not Henry's killing that scares her, it's what comes after, just as she almost falls into Death's hands there's a flash, a swirl of magic coming from her hand, a suck of air reclaiming her life and Henry, on the floor, dead in her place.
Do you love him?
The thief's voice echoes in her mind as she turns to her slumbering son, reaching over to brush a hand through his hair. Of course she loves him, why wouldn't she? Daniel's own flesh and blood, the last living piece she has of him.
Isn't that why the dream scares her so? That even her dream self could even dare to kill Daniel's son?
She tries not to think of the way the peasants believe he's Leopold's, as if she'd ever bear any child of his anyway. Still, only few knew who the real father of Henry was, that was the bargaining tool after all- marry Leopold and her secret be safe, or be cast out, left alone to fend for herself and her child, ruined and frowned upon by anyone she tried to ask for help. That wasn't a life for Henry- he deserved a chance in this world, a chance to live past two weeks old. All she does, she does for Henry.
And the thief, outlaw...whatever he wants to be called, he's nothing more than a rodent, a rat in the streets, how dare he ask that question. If he even knew the hells she'd walked through all ready in Henry's name, questioning her love for the child would've been the last on his mind.
Then again, what does he know about conditional love for a child? He left his out in the woods, if the rumours are to be believed.
He's bold, however. Bolder than all the other mindless fools she's met in the past, venturing places, pushing buttons before he even knows what they do. It's a dangerous game he wants to play, a thin line he's walking on. One wrong step and he could fall. And Regina would gladly watch.
She'd been lying if she hadn't felt something before. When his hand touched her for just that second, it sent shocks of a thousand bolts of lightning. Zooming up her arm and through her chest, sizzling out somewhere deep below that hadn't been awakened in years.
She has mixed feelings on this Robin of Locksley. She'd seen his kill, the arrow protruding still out of the Huntsman's neck, a very clean shot for how far away he was. That was what had her agreeing to this, his skills to kill. From a tree he could just shoot straight into Snow White's neck and Regina would have her heart and her revenge.
Yet, it seemed to have his skills, she needed him, something she wasn't the greatest fan of. He irritated her. Whether he did that just for her or if it was part of his personality, she didn't know or care. All she cared about was her son and her revenge and if she had to shut his pretty little mouth up to do so, she would.
Pretty, huh. She supposes he is quite pretty. When he isn't talking.
Dawn brings morning, and with morning, brings tomorrow. Something Regina hadn't wanted to happen.
She fell asleep eventually. Not for long, three hours or so and wakes with a brewing headache that she can only imagine will intensify throughout the day. Just wonderful.
"Can I come to Court today?"
Breakfast had been small, only three in attendance; Regina, Henry, and her father. Others had tried to join them; a few black knights, even Regina's maid Eloise had tried to join them. There was one person who was of somewhat importance who'd insisted they'd discussed the betrothal of Henry and Violet. Regina had ushered them all way, though, promising them she'd speak to them later. (Ridiculous, a Queen doesn't promise, she demands) But it had got them all to go away.
"Court is tedious, Henry." Regina sighs, the headache worsening by the second. "It's not something you want to sit through."
The boy pouts, his spoon swirling around his porridge, his head leaning into his hand.
"Perhaps, Your Majesty," her father speaks up, glancing from his grandson to his daughter. "Henry could benefit from you taking him today. He is to be king, after all, and a king must learn what it is to rule a kingdom."
Regina throws her spoon down, leaning back against her chair in annoyance. She didn't realise that as Queen her word meant absolutely nothing.
"And he will," she says. "When he's older." She stands then, having no appetite anymore. "Until then, he'll attend his lessons like any normal boy his age."
"I'm the King," Henry pipes up, sounding more like a spoiled little boy than a king. "I command it you let me go to court."
A silence forms in the room. The only sound heard is the seething of Regina's anger as Father bows his head and even Henry has the brains to look away in shame.
Regina sits back down on her chair, shuffling towards Henry as her father watches from the other send, weak and silent as he's ever been.
She leans forward so she's somewhat near Henry and the boy looks at her from the corner of his eye, top lip quivering in fear. Perhaps that should be enough to stop her from scolding him but he may be a king to others, but to her, he's her child.
"You are a ten year old boy," she says, keeping her voice low. It's not threatening, but it isn't soft either. "I am your mother. You don't command me to do anything, understood?"
The boy nods, glancing back down to his now cold porridge as Regina sits back up.
"He's a child." comes Father's voice and both she and Henry look towards him. Regina can see the fear in his eyes, the fear he hides behind a brave face. He'd never be so blunt with Mother.
Regina stands back up, smoothing out her skirts before saying, "I was a child. And I learned."
She leaves the room then; breakfast left cold and forgotten. She meets Claude half way to the audience chamber and he accompanies Regina the rest of the way. Together they walk in silence. She'll need to do something to stop Henry sprouting out that he's the king. While the whole kingdom knows so they aren't quick to say it aloud however, if they heard it from Henry, they'll be comments coming from all over the place, and Regina needs to remind people that she deserves to be their Queen, at least until Henry is of age.
There was another reason Regina didn't want Henry accompanying her to Court; an important matter awaited her at the end of these tedious complaints, the only thing that was getting her through this ordeal. A man had whereabouts on Snow White. Had Henry accompanied her, she'd have to put that off for another day. Of course, there was no telling that Henry would last through it. Court was wearisome, exhausting, migraine inducing (though Regina was already on her way to getting one of those) But Henry was dutiful- Leo raised him to be like so. No doubt when he's ruling as King, he'll gladly listen to the world's complaints, Regina just hopes that doesn't kill him.
.:.:.:.:.:.
His chambers had been good enough, if a bit dank and small, but what could he expect? It was a bed, a warm place to sleep, that's what he'd asked for right and that's what the Queen had given him.
Well, no, that wasn't strictly true. After the Queen had deserted him in the vault, he'd taken it upon himself to find a place to sleep, he wasn't about to lie down and kip of the floor, there was neither a bed nor it warm down there and he'd like his end of the deal thanks.
She hadn't came for him this morning (albeit she didn't know where he was but he'd been in the main hall by breakfast time) so Robin rendered himself not needed and spent the day exploring the castle. It was his first time in one, after all.
He'd grew up in a small village just outside Sherwood Forest, stared up at the castles high over the tree line wishing he could live there. As he got older, it became less about living in them and more about seeing the contents in there. He wondered if there really was a vault of gold- the things he could do with that.
Robin never made it to breaking into castles and stealing what their residents owned. They were dreams and nothing more.
He finds himself in the garden and he's not alone; a few guards and some servants off duty. What startles him, though, is the laughter sounding from the fountain, a splash of water and a few giggles. Curious, he walks towards it, suddenly interested.
And when he turns the bend, the sight before him really does surprise him. He expected kids, children of the servants and guards that reside in the castle, serving girls that have snuck away from their duties but what meets his eyes instead are ladies. Dressed richly in velvets and satins and over expensive fabric most small folk could only dream of, they dance in the water, with no care in the world to how costly their clothing is.
They continue to laugh and splash each other, seeing who can get a person the most soaked.
He's never thought Regina's castle to get many visitors. Perhaps when the King was still alive, he could imagine it'd be full of people but not so much if the Queen was ruling alone.
"Can we help you, sir?"
Robin blinks, focusing on the girl who's just appeared in front of him. Her purple dress and long brown hair soaked. She was the one standing in the middle of the fountain, Robin realises. Completely oblivious to the game her friends were playing, letting the fountain rain on her.
"Oh, no," Robin stumbles, straightening himself up. "I was just looking around."
"Do you work for the Queen?" another one pipes up, Blonde she is, not as drenched as her friend.
Robin nods, realising and yes, he does now.
"Do you know if she's said yes to the marriage?" The brown haired girl speaks her words rushed and filled with hope.
Robin just stares, however, unaware of what marriage was supposed to be taking place. Then again, it would explain their presence here.
"Marriage?" he asks.
"Violet's marrying the king." the blonde girl giggles, excitement in her eye. The brown haired girl- Violet- only glares at her, though, whispering a warning, "Ola..."
Robin pauses for a second. The King in dead, the Queen is hunting for her step-daughter, and she's organising a marriage between her son and some girl. Well, that's fast acting.
"What?" the Ola girl exclaims. "It's a good thing, Violet, you should be happy."
Violet smiles shyly, bowing her head and looking up towards Robin only with her brown eyes. "Well, yes, I guess that does mean I get to be Queen."
Queen, Robin thinks. He can't imagine that sitting right with Regina. She doesn't seem the type to give up her title too quickly.
"And when are you getting married?" Robin asks, if he's living here now, he might as well get all the information as to what's going on and when.
"Well, he hasn't been decided yet. Father says the Queen's still in mourning so it'll have to wait."
"The Queen's been in mourning for ages," Ola whines, turning towards the sky and sighing. "It's not that hard to say yes or no."
Robin bites back a laugh. He finds he likes this Ola girl, she doesn't seem one for courtesies.
"Ola!" Violet cries. "The Queen is allowed to mourn for as long as she likes. I mean, she was married to him." But Ola only huffs, probably disagreeing.
One things certain, though, this Violet girl definitely has her head in the clouds. She's probably completely unaware of how the marriage between the king and queen was, choosing instead to live in the fantasised version of the reality. Which is why Robin will never marry.
He leaves the girls to their games and fountain, moving on through the gardens and around half the castle. It's nightfall when he returns to his chambers. While today had been eventful enough, exploring, finding out about this marriage the Queen has planned, he wonders what he's to do tomorrow. Sure, there's the second half of the castle to explore but still, he came here with an intent of being useful, with the intent of killing Snow White, yet he's done neither.
Whatever tomorrow brings, he hopes it's a knock on the door with whereabouts of Snow White otherwise, he's taking his heart and leaving. The Queen and her beauty be damned.
