Day 5 (Friday) of #OQPromptParty2018 Prompt #193 - Queeny and Locksley bring Robin back to Regina. and Regina meets dark OQ baby (Part 2 of Paranoid)
Crossfire
Roni stared down at Robbi, jaw still locked open in shock. Her eyes focused on the ring that glinted from the box he held in his hand as he waited on one knee. Robbi's expression was waning from hopeful to worried in front of her but Roni's thoughts were too lost in that dark void of her past where she kept Seth locked up. Soon enough Robbi stood in front of her, pulling on her arms and asking if she was okay. His words were muffled as a ringing started in Roni's ears. Robbi guided her over to one of the patio chairs in the corner telling her to breathe.
"I need to tell you something…" Roni's eyes levelled with his and his face paled as he sat down on the chair beside her. His hand reached out to clasp over hers and she let out a deep breath. She let her head drop, unable to hold his focus. He squeezed her hand and she let it all come flying out. She told him of her past, who she really was. Losing Ben, their baby, and her inability to create another child leading into spiralling herself to grief and depression.
Robbi alternated between rubbing her shoulders, holding her hands, and wrapping his arms around her. When she got to her disastrous marriage with Seth, she'd felt Robbi tense at her words. How in the beginning Seth was fun and sweet, always ready to party. But he changed, went unhinged. Started to hit her, then beat her, force himself on her and claim it was all her fault. It took a few years but she finally managed to escape that small town in Maine with only fifty dollars to her name. She sought refuge in Hyperion Heights, an urban big city being a harder place to trace someone down in, and shortened her name to Roni. Robbi relaxed some then, but they both knew Seth was still out in the wind. Robbi swore he would never allow a single hair to be harmed on her head again and by the end of it, he was all but holding Roni on his lap.
Roni had expected him to be angry or to take the ring and run but this…this comfort and warm he showered her with caused her heart to constrict and fluttered all at once. Robbi pressed a kiss to her temple whispering how much he loved her. She melted into his arms, finally giving in to tears she's been fighting to wrestle back. Robbi pulled her to her feet, guiding her across the floor. He stepped back and forth, to and fro, until soon enough the two of them were dancing. He dropped his hand to rest at the small of her back, the other entwined with hers above their heads.
Robbi leaned his head next to her ear, humming the melody of the song they first danced to. The hair on her arms stood on end as he sang in soft whispered tones in her ear. "Oh girl, you stand by me. I'm forever yours... faithfully." A chill ran through Roni's spin as her stomach flipped, leaning in to catch his lips with her own. "Do you remember that first night together, in that old seedy tavern you used to bartend in?" he asked against another soft kiss, pulling away just enough to meet her eyes.
Roni relaxed into his hold, laying her head on his chest. She could hear the melody of the song that played through the jukebox of that tavern in her head. Roni wouldn't call herself a hopeless romantic but Faithfully by Journey had always been a favourite of hers even before Robbi insisted she allow him to one dance. A song about distant lovers who fought for their love, who were each other's whole heart and soul who matter where in the world they found themselves. Discovering each other all over again when the miles closed between them. It was beautiful and small part of her had always longed to be loved the way the lyrics spoke of.
Then she'd met Robbi after a lifetime of heartache. She closed her eyes, letting out a deep breath as she heard their voices from that night in her head:
"Roni. Short for anything?"
"No. Just Roni."
"Well, 'just Roni'. I'm Robbi. Just...Robbi."
Roni wasn't someone who believed in love at first sight. She found him intensely attractive, slept with him with full intend to ditch him the next morning as she did others most nights. She woke up the next morning to find him hunched over in the corner of her apartment whispering loudly into the phone, to his young son who lived overseas she'd found out later. He made her breakfast and they talked for hours. He told her stories of his life. Most of which was utterly painful and filled with loss and loneliness (much like her own). She did have a good chuckle when he explained the dark lion chest tattoo on his forearm. He'd lost a bet, one he preferred not to admit to despite her begging and pleading for him to tell her, and his best mate took him to a tattoo shop and picked out the first design he saw.
She'd have laughed about it harder had Robbi not already seen the lyrical tattoo embedded above her right breast. A decision made after far too many shots of vodka. Not her proudest moment, though she couldn't deny that Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" was one of the best songs ever written. Robbi, however, agreed to disagree. Though he continued to tease her about to this day.
More hours had passed and Roni couldn't believe that they were practically strangers and yet somehow he knew her better than she knew herself. By the end of the night, after a passionate session of lazy lovemaking, she knew she'd already fallen hard for him. He healed her scars with words of love, gently creases along her bare skin and soft kisses that stitched the bleeding pain in her heart. From then on, they were inseparable and she started to believe that perhaps fairytales weren't always just stories.
She told him of her dream to own her own bar which he'd jumped on board with instantly. Now here they were, standing in the courtyard of what would be her own bar with the man who wanted to share his future with her. Not that it made any sense to her at all, but Roni felt as if she's loved him in a whole other life and was just lucky enough to have been given the chance to love him again.
"We should adopt." His words send a strangled cry from her lips, her eyes shining with tears.
"Really?" Roni's voice was small. "You would want to do that?"
He reached into the pocket of his jeans pulling out his cell phone. "A child is a child and it'll be our child regardless of whose DNA runs through its veins."
"You still want to get married? Adopt a baby after the secrets I've kept?"
Robbi rested his forehead against hers, pressing a kiss to the top of her nose that sent a shiver down her spine. "As far as I'm concerned, you're still the same woman I fell in love with - who I want to spend my life with. So my love... Yes or no?"
Roni opened her mouth to answer, but the sound of shouting and the door slamming open startled her. Robbi tightened his hold around her. And then her eyes caught sight of the figure behind Robbi and Roni screamed as she hid her face into Robbi's chest.
"Told you I'd find you, bitch!"
"Get out, Seth!" Roni hissed though her tone was filled with terror. How the hell did he find her!?
Robbi stepped in front of her, holding his hand out to shield her. He looked back and forth between Roni and Seth, cursing. "This is Seth!?" He glanced back at Roni, who whimpered. He shook his head, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, Lockwood - sleeping with my girl. Once a thief, always a thief." Seth spat.
"You know him?" Roni's mouth hung open in shock, staring at Robbi.
Robbi's lip curled in disgust. "Don't remind me. Shared a cell with this piece of garbage for over a year when I got nabbed for petty theft. Figures you're the spineless bastard who doesn't know how to treat a woman."
"She's my wife, I'll do whatever the hell I want!" Seth swiftly reached into his belt and pulled out a gun, aiming it right for Roni.
"Doesn't give you the right!" Robbi snarled. "Now put it away. See? He's no knight in shining armour, isn't that right? He's too much of a coward to own up to how worthless he is!"
"Shut your mouth, Lockwood!" Seth roared, retraining his aim on Robbi. Seth's feet shuffled closer and Roni trembled as she sobbed, trying to pull Robbi away.
"Robbi, don't!" Roni clung tightly to his bicep, tears streaming down her face.
"Get back, love - I won't let him hurt you!" Robbi nudged her backward, rotating his body to cover her more."Back away now, Seth." Robbi pointed his finger toward the door.
"Screw you, asshole!"
Robbi slowly stepped forward, still holding his arm out to block Roni. "Just give me the gun, mate. Do you really want to go away for murder this time? You'll never get out."
"Don't move!" Seth warned, still holding the gun out - Robbi froze and Roni held her breath realizing Robbi was closer to Seth now than her. "Damnit, Roni - why do you make me do this? Do you want me to kill your loverboy? Cuz I will! I swear!"
A shot rang out and Roni's eyes shut on instinct as she jumped. Someone shouted and she her eyes shot open again, her hand over her mouth at the sight of the two men fist fighting and toppling over broken tables and chairs. "Nooo!!"
"Run, my love! Call 911!" Robbi grunted, clawing at Seth to hold him back. Roni eyed her purse on the top of the dirty bar, her feet twitching as she started toward it.
"I said don't move!" Seth aimed the gun high in the air above her.
"Roni, no!" Robbi let go of the other man and lunged for her as two more shots rang out and both men fell to the floor, covered in blood.
"Robbi!!"
Regina was glued to the street side bench, sitting with her hand firmly grasped in Henry's, transfixed in her adult son's eyes. Her memories had been back for all of less than an hour and she was already shattering to pieces under the weight of them. Now she had both Regina's and Roni's memories floating around in her head, all of them as painful as the next. She supposed that's what she deserved, to feel what it was like to live with two worlds in your head. Roni's memories were all a lie, a complete fabrication created by the curse. But still, Regina could swear they were real. She could feel it all as if it actually happened, and not just because Roni's life seemed to coincidently mimic her own. Roni's mother, Vivian, was just as belittling and controlling as Cora had been, down to the last detail. Roni had been really close to her father Marcus as well, at least for the first eight years of her life before he died. After that, she was alone with her mother, and Vivian's cruelty only grew.
Those short years Roni had with Ben had been a dream compared to the rest, just like the hours Regina had spent with Daniel and their horses. She knew now that Ben was Roni's Daniel though Regina doesn't recognize Roni's first husband Seth as anyone she'd ever met - sort of. It was odd though, with Seth. Almost like she didn't recognize his face but with every snide comment, physical assault and beating, and controlling motive…. It was ludicrous but it was almost like Seth had been a manifestation of her troubles with Leopold, Sydney, and Graham all in one.
It's those new scars (both physical and emotional) she's not looking forward to carrying for the rest of her life. She felt solace, though, knowing that every whip and lash she'd suffered at Seth's hands was payment for the lives she ruined and stole in her worst days as the Evil Queen.
It was Roni's memories that hurt the most. She could vividly feel the ache she felt in her chest when Roni woke up from her coma from the same accident that stole both her fiance and unborn daughter. The failure and devastation in mind-numbing sobs Roni choked out when the doctor told her she would never be able to conceive or carry a child to term the rest of her life, her reproductive organs damaged in the accident that killed her baby. The years and years Roni spent mourning them, Ben and the baby - and the first night she passed out high and blitz-drunk trying to forget. Regina had sabotaged her own fertility for the wrong reasons but Roni's had been taken away completely. And when she'd found Robbi, Regina remembered the nights Roni would curl up in a ball in the bathroom floor bawling her eyes out because she couldn't give him the family he deserved. The relief Roni had felt when Robbi suggested adoption still gave Regina goosebumps, though it would always remind her of Roni's devastation when she tried to adopt a child on her own and was rejected.
Regina's adoption of Henry had been almost guaranteed with the strings Gold pulled and she thanked those strings every day. She looked over to Henry who stared off into the distance and she could see the pain in his face. Her son believed he grew up alone and unwanted and it gutted her. She wanted to break the curse if only just to end his suffering but she knew the cost of that would be his death.
It was honourable how Roni had opened the bar herself the way they'd planned after Robbi died - putting arrows up everywhere in his honour. Roni was a lot stronger in the face of her soulmate's death than Regina had been losing her Robin. Roni never let it tear her down, never held back. The woman cut her hair for a fresh start, took on her best friend Kelly as a partner, and became the busiest lady in all of Hyperion Heights. Roni dealt with her pain via tequila and men, jumping in bed with someone new way too much - yet another curse habit Regina wasn't interested in continuing...if she could get control of Roni's wandering libido.
Regina knew the behaviour was a direct result of Roni's trauma. That even though Roni and Robbi weren't real, Regina just knew how much Roni had loved Robbi because it had been how she had loved Robin. She can still see Roni and Robbi dancing in the courtyard, reminiscing about how they first met. With her memories back in full force, Regina could honestly say she wasn't at all a fan of the music Roni had subjected her eardrums too in the last few years, but she couldn't deny that she simply adored the song Robbi had hummed to Roni the night he proposed. It gave her hope, that love could make it. And she wished nothing more that she'd been the lucky one to have the man she loved down on one knee asking her to be his...faithfully and forever.
Regina didn't have those kinds of memories with Robin, not really. Their time together was always interrupted by villains or curses or her sister… Even their dancing fun in Camelot had been cut short by an attack. Other than the night of Robbi's death, he and Roni had three years together as opposed to the barely over a year that Regina had gotten with Robin. Roni and Robbi weren't even real and Regina was jealous of their fake doomed relationship.
Regina's eyes widened as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks - Robbi wasn't real. That meant that Robin - her real and very much alive Robin - had never been in Hyperion Heights at all. Robin hadn't been swept up in the curse at all - he was still out there somewhere, in some other realm. Probably held by the one who brought him back from the dead.
That damned voodoo drama witch doctor and his theatrics!
Memories came flooding back to her once again. Shortly after Lucy's birth, her other half and Robin of Locksley had paid a visit to Tiana's castle, anxious to meet the newest princess born only a few days before. Regina only felt it was fair, Henry was just as much The Queen's son as he was her own and her other half deserved to meet her granddaughter. What she hadn't expected was the Queen informing her that she also had other plans for her visit. She came bearing news of an attempt to bring the real Robin - her Robin - back to her. Roland had come with them, the boy now an adolescent, still a mop of curls on his head. She hadn't expected the intense wave of emotion that hit her seeing her little Knight again, all grown up. He was starting to look just like his father and that hit deep, especially when she heard the teen's accent. She'd nearly doubled over from the force of it hitting her ears, shooting straight to her heart.
The biggest surprise of all had been the other child with them, a year old little girl. The Queen and Robin announced that her name was Willow, and she was their daughter. Regina's first thought was that they'd adopted her or found her or something. The more she studied the child, though, the more she realized how much she looked like both of her parents. Regina's heart had flipped and she'd locked eyes with her other half, both of them tearing up. The Queen explained that they found Lake Nostos still flowing in the Wish Realm, its restorative properties fully intact and they took some for emergencies for their journeys. When the royal soldiers attacked them and the Queen's side was pierced by a sword, the magical water she drank healed more than just her wound. They realized it reversed her fertility curse months later when she began to feel ill and she could feel the baby's magic within her.
Regina had absolutely adored her new little niece. Willow had been so smiley and happy and just loved to be held. Regina conjured a little white stuffed bunny for her and Willow latched onto it right away. She hadn't quite mastered the art of walking on her on at the time though she had crawled like a champ, always eager to be on the move. She had been able to walk if someone held on to her hands or if she was hanging on to something. Shortly before the little family left though, Willow let go of her mommy's hands and walked a few wobbly steps on her own, headed straight for Regina who held her arms out in wait, encouraging her with a wide smile before the toddle clasped into her arms. Willow's first steps - reserved for her auntie Regina.
That had been before the curse was cast. Now they were years into the curse, with no end in sight. She really wasn't even sure exactly how long they've been in Hyperion Heights, all the different timelines in her head conflicting with each other. Her best guess would be about two or threes year which… would make Willow almost four now. Regina's already missed out on so much in her younger niece's life.
Regina looked up at Henry again, smiling nervously. Her stomach dropped as she realized she's missing out on her life too. Another curse taking years away….so many… She'd be well into her hundreds by the time this curse ended. Just the idea of it had her feeling exhausted.
She just missed being around her family, all of them - and when they actually knew who she was. Her son and both her nieces and her granddaughter were the most precious people in her life yet three of them had no idea who she was. One had been far too young to remember her. She needed to break this curse soon before all of them lost more of their lives to it.
Before they left Tiana's castle, the Queen took Regina aside and told her of her deal with their old friend (or rather lover though Regina preferred not to remember those specific details) Dr. Facilier. Her old locket necklace (with a lock of her hair of course) in exchange to bring Robin back. He did indeed bring Robin back, but broke his deal with the Queen and also demanded an extra fee from Robin himself. The Queen explained that Facilier sent Robin away, and though she searched everywhere, she couldn't find him.
With a heavy heart, Regina told her how he did the same thing to Tiana and Naveen. They both knew he'd never give up a soul. She thanked her other half for her actions and sent the Queen, Roland, and Locksley back to their realm so they would be safe. After that, Regina searched for Robin herself but to no avail. Soon enough they learned of Henry's poisoning and Regina was forced to once again enact the dark curse.
Roni's memories were overactive, overwhelmed by the new knowledge of magic and her connection to the young man sitting across from her. Regina was screaming inside, desperate to unleash hell for this cruel torture.
Knowing her son was saved by her decision to enact the curse but also knowing Robin could be out there somewhere with different memories was causing a war in the pit of her stomach. She remembered now that Roni's lost love Robbi was indeed Robin and she'd had the sincerest torture of watching him die in front of her all over again.
A part of her couldn't reconcile Roni's memory of his death. It hasn't been real, it couldn't be. And yet she remembered the funeral she'd held for Robbi, smaller than Robin's (it was just her and Kelly, her cursed sister Zelena, and her daughter there as Robbi had no family but a son he was kept from) but just as brutal. Even still, Robin could be out there somewhere, with cursed memories like she had Roni's. With the curse still holding, she had no idea of knowing where he was and she couldn't break the curse and make a martyr of her own son.
Her boy...who wasn't such a boy anymore but a father himself with a beautiful little girl. Regina wasn't ever going to allow her granddaughter to lose her father, but she also owed it to Roland and young Robyn to find their father as well. Neither of which she could do with Drizella, Gothel, and Lady Tremaine sniffing after her - and she suspected it wouldn't be long before Facilier showed his face either.
She had no idea how she was going to fix any of this, but she knew she had to try.
Over a month later she was still no closer to figuring out how to break the curse without hurting Henry. Nor had she found any trace of Robin or Robbi in Hyperion Heights. She had Zelena awake and back in her life, but she still had yet to tell anyone about Robin. The enemies were closing in and she was running out of time and ammo, every day that Henry and Ella got closer to each other and breaking that curse with True Love's Kiss.
Facilier had indeed shown up - presenting himself as the cursed Samedi. Regina wanted to punch him on the spot but held herself back. What she needed from him was answers - and she knew she was only going to get those by seducing them out of the witch doctor. She hadn't gotten much out of him yet, but she wouldn't give up.
She revealed her 'awake' status to her granddaughter, finally caving into Lucy's infectious hope speeches that both inspired and annoyed Regina to no end. It reminded her of the girl's great-grandmother Snow, who Regina missed just as dearly as the rest of her family back in Storybrooke. Lucy was also much like her father in her sense of spirit, one which Regina both worried about and applauded.
Roni's memories continued to haunt her daily no matter how much she pushed them down. Watching the loved ones of her life die in new and horrible ways was especially excruciating, like a nightmare that wouldn't stay in the dark.
After a particularly taxing night at the bar, Regina walked along the sidewalk, rubbing her arms to ward from the Seattle chill. She really had to get out of reverting to Roni's tank top habit - it was much too cold.
Everything was falling apart and she just didn't know what to do anymore. Every day revealed another threat to her family and Regina just couldn't keep up with it anymore. As horrible as Roni's life had been, there were days Regina would rather go back to only being Roni.
She was terrified she wasn't going to be able to save her son and the thought of losing him paralyzed her. She'd lost so much already, she couldn't lose Henry too.
There was the matter of finding Robin as well...if he was even in Hyperion Heights. If he wasn't, well...Regina didn't have the slightest clue where to even begin looking. If Roni's memories of Robbi were just that, memories, then Robin may have never been in this realm at all. She was running out of time and options - especially without a single access to any kind of magic. She shivered, the momentary thought that if her cursed memories had been real that would mean Robin really was taken from her again. She couldn't handle that either any more than losing Henry.
She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling completely defeated. She just wanted her Henry and Robin back, wanted to stop this hollow ache in her chest that made it feel like she was dying inside. She just...she wanted it all to stop.
A flash of gold light enveloped the city around her and she felt lightheaded for a moment, realizing she could feel her magic flood through her again. Her skin grew warm and panic flooded her system - Henry!
Her hand shot up to huddle with Roni's ring still around her neck. Her eyes scanned the area as her heart pounded in her chest. The curse was broken, the flash of light had proved that. How or why Regina wasn't sure, her only concern was finding Henry and making sure he was okay.
"Regina!"
She froze on the spot, her brow twitching at the sound of her name and not Roni's as her ears began to ring.
She would know that voice anywhere. She's heard it a million times in her dreams. That beautiful soft accent that used to make her melt and weak in the knees, now sending sharp daggers into her chest and causing her heart to stop dead in its tracks.
She was dreaming, of course, she was dreaming. There's no way she was hearing that voice. She didn't remember falling asleep, let alone outside where she had just been walking but Roni had spent many a night curled up on benches after far too many shots at the bar.
Those are lies, the voice in her head whispers. Not once had she slept on a street even as her cursed persona. So if she wasn't dreaming….
Regina felt her hand being pulled away from her side and folded into the warmth of another, sparks flooding her system and butterflies fluttering about her stomach. She kept her eyes shut tight for a moment, feeling a warm breath blew gently by her ears as that beautiful voice filled the air around her once again.
And as if a magnetic force took over, Regina could do nothing else but turn her gaze to soak in the sight of baby blues she'd worked so hard to let go of causing the stitching in her heart to pop open and bleed once again.
To Be Continued…
