A mini-fic I came up with, I just had to write it, BUT IT'S NOT SQ (BTW). AU: Zelena was never given up but Regina is still born. They're around the ages of 6 and 9. This is Zelena's promise on Regina's happiness. I hope you like it!
KWH :)
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Cora could hear tiny squeals coming from the other room.
"Girls, behave." As if they were twins and not three years apart, the girls respond in unison.
"Yes, Mother." The girls snicker at one another from almost getting caught. Zelena hushes Regina.
"You have to talk softer or Mother will catch us."
"Sorry." Regina did feel bad for being responsible for her and her sister getting in trouble, but she was too excited to frown.
Zelena was showing Regina her favorite trick again. It involved magic, something they didn't want Mother to find out about.
For the third time, Zelena does the same trick. Zelena places a pebble in one of three cups. She makes sure Regina sees the pebble before she shuffles the cups, trying to confuse her, and once she's done she has Regina choose which cup the pebble is in. Each and every time, Regina chooses the right cup, she never took her eyes off of it, but every time she lifts the cup, there's no pebble. There's no pebble under any of the cups. Instead, the pebble is in Zelena's hand. Zelena does the same trick each and every time Regina asks, no matter how often, and she asks very often. And each time is just as exciting like the last to Regina.
Zelena knew she could do magic from a very young age, she was happy when she found out, she was just like her Mother. Until she became old enough for her Mother to use it to punish her with it. She was 6 when she first started using it on her. It was terrifying. It was emotionally and of course physically scarring. And the worst part is that Regina was just across the hall. She loved her sister, she was born innocent, as pure as snow, but their Mother was nowhere near that status. It was then that she decided to keep Regina from ever experiencing that, and she did just that, for two straight years so far since their Mother felt Regina had become of age to experience her wickedness. But Regina was adventurous, she always loved getting into things, that made keeping her safe harder, but she still did all she could to stop her from going too far.
She did the best she could with the magic she learned on her own, not wanting to learn from their Mother knowing only bad things will come of it, but she still tried. She still wanted to protect her sister and her happiness, that's why she always showed her that magic trick, she did everything in her power to keep Regina happy. She promised herself she would.