What happens when Robin brings a witch into his camp?
He's happy she's agreed to join him at his camp and he'd be lying if he said he didn't want her to stay. They need her and her power if they have any hope of defeating Nottingham. But it's not just that, he grew attached to her while they were imprisoned. He likes her, more than he should, and he isn't ready to say goodbye just yet.
They reach the edge of the camp and he stops, putting his arm up to stop her, as well.
"It might be best if I go ahead first."
He sees her nod in understanding. "I take it your friends won't take kindly to you bringing a witch into the fray."
He's quick to reassure. "They'll like you, I'd just rather not have whoever is on sentry duty wake everyone because they smell magic."
Her skepticism is evident on her face. "I highly doubt that, but it's fine because you've showed me where to go. I can find it I ever need it, so I should go."
"No!" The fierceness of his tone surprises both of them, and shit, he is making a total fool of himself. "I, uh, I just mean you shouldn't leave yet, you need to meet my men so, if you stop by when I'm not here, you don't get attacked."
"Mm, well, I guess that make sense."
He lets out a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding, he's far too happy she's not leaving just yet. You would think after spending almost six days with her he'd be tired of her company, but he's not, not in the slightest. If anything, he wants to spend more time with her, wants to get to know her better, to see her elusive but satisfying smile. If he's being really honest with himself, he longs to kiss her, to hold her in his arms, but that is something that can never happen. A vampire and a witch is unheard of, after all, they are sworn enemies.
He makes his way into the camp and sees John, sitting by a fire, doing a very poor job at keeping watch. He decides to have some fun. He sneaks up behind him and throws his hands over his eyes, causing John to jump up into the air and yell out, "What the-" and then he sees Robin. "For fuck's sakes, Robin, you scared the bloody hell out of me."
Robin can't help but chuckle at the dramatic reaction. "Well, perhaps if you had been doing a better watch, I wouldn't have been able to." He really should be scolding John, someone could have easily snuck into camp on his watch, but Robin's tired and doesn't want anything upsetting John before he tells him about Regina.
John shrugs and then moves on, sitting back down. "Where have you been? We've been worried sick."
Robin sits beside him on the bench. "I got caught by Nottingham and thrown in his cave."
John pats him on the back. "I'm glad you escaped. We thought the witches had you, but we sent Will and there was no trace of your scent there. He didn't see the mask though, so we thought maybe you had it and were somewhere else."
"No, I got the mask, but then Nottingham captured me and took it."
"Oh shit, so how'd you manage to escape?"
"I had some help actually." He turns over his shoulder and yells into the woods, "Regina, you can come out now."
John's face is friendly until she gets closer. He can smell the magic on her and then he hisses, "Robin, what the hell are you doing bringing a witch to the camp? Are you insane?"
Robin speaks calmly, loud enough that Regina can hear, too. "Relax, John she helped me escape, she's not a threat to us."
John glares at him, refusing to turn and look at Regina. "Of course, she's a witch, you know better than to bring her here, now we have to find a new camp."
Robin rolls his eyes and turns to Regina, who's frozen awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable.
"Regina, my tent is that one with the blue door behind us, could you give us just a minute, please."
She looks like she's going to challenge him, but then turns and makes her way into his tent.
John at least has the decency this time to wait until she enters his tent, not that it does much good because he shouts, "You cannot be serious, Robin."
Robin hisses, "Lower your voice. Let's not wake the whole camp."
John's tone is mocking. "Oh what, so I don't hurt your girlfriend's feelings?"
"That's enough, John," Robin says coldly. "It's not like that, she is the key to us defeating Nottingham and we need to work together."
"So what, you are willing to risk it all on this girl you barely know who may have bewitched you?"
"When you spend five days in a cell together, you get to know each other pretty well, and I'd still be in that cell if it wasn't for her. But you know what, you don't trust her, that's fine, trust me."
John storms off in a huff and informs him, "It's Will's turn for watch, you can go wake him up and give him the news."
Robin shakes his head, frustrated, he gets that John doesn't trust Regina but by god's they've known each other for years and he should trust Robin enough to know she's not a danger to them.
He's still fuming when he goes and wakes Will, telling him that he brought a visitor, she's not a threat and that they will discuss it in the morning. He can tell Will has more questions, but he is not in the mood for another fight, and Will is a good enough friend that he doesn't push.
He enters his tent, belatedly realizing he should have asked for some sort of sign she was ready for him to come in. She's sitting on his trunk, the only spot to sit other than the bed and jumps a little as he enters. He's quick to apologize and she shakes it off.
She gets up off the trunk and whispers softly, "It's not worth it, you know."
He leans in so he can hear her better. "What's not worth it?"
"I'm not worth fighting with your men over. It's not- I'm not worth it."
He feels guilty that she had to listen to that but she is so wrong, she is worth it and they need her if they are going to take down Nottingham. It pains him that she can't see her own worth.
"I think you are worth it, you saved me, twice actually, and I owe you a debt."
She scoffs and moves to leave the tent, bringing her even closer to him. He stops her, his hand lightly grabbing her waist as their eyes meet. He see the conflict in her eyes and he wants to take it away. "Regina, we need you, I need you, the only way we are going to win this is if we work together."
"I'm just a liability."
He turns so they are actually face to face, his hand still on her waist, and he looks deeply into her eyes as he tells her, "No you are not, you are smart, capable, powerful, creative, and... Beautiful." He hadn't actually meant to say that last one, but she's so close and he's so struck by her beauty, it slipped out unintentionally.
She moved in just a little at his words, so their faces are mere inches apart, and his other hand moves to thread through her hair. The air is charged, and he can feel his heart racing in his chest as he sees her look down at his lips. He does the same, wants so badly to kiss those bright full lips and watches as she takes her lower lip between her teeth. He's unsure if it's intentional, but she releases it when she looks back up at him and he can't help himself, he needs to kiss her. He leans in, so close he can feel her breath and-
Will storms into the tent, then realizes his mistake. "Aye, uh, sorry, mate, I was, uh, just, um, wondering if the lady needed her own tent, but, uh, clearly that's not needed, so I'll, uh, just be going then."
They break apart and she lets out a little chuckle at Will's stammering. "No, you weren't interrupting, I was just leaving to figure out where to sleep."
Will's face shows he doesn't buy it, but he doesn't press them. "Well then, I can help you set one up."
"That won't be necessary, just show me where I should put it."
Will walks out and she follows, whispering a "Goodnight, Robin," over her shoulder.
His mind is still reeling from that almost kiss and he curses Will to every God he can think of for interrupting. That may have been his only opportunity to kiss her, to know what it feels like. It was probably for the best, but it doesn't stop him from fantasizing about what her lips taste like and what it would be like to have her in his bed. Because he's alone with his fantasies for the first time in almost a week, he lets a hand slip down as he imagines how good she would feel, and the sounds she would make. He comes with a soft cry of her name before drifting off into a dreamless sleep.
She shouldn't have stayed, should have left last night after that almost kiss. She doesn't know what she's still doing here, it makes no sense, she needs to get home. Except what is there for her at home? Going back to a life of doing nothing and only interacting with her family is depressing. As much as she hated captivity, it's been nice to have a break from the monotony that is her life at home.
She likes Robin, a lot, too much, and she wants to help take down Nottingham once and for all. It's supposed to be her family's job, but she's the only one taking it seriously.
So maybe she could stay and work with the Merry Men to get the mask back, but then, then she needs to go home. She can't be spending so much time with vampires. She can practically hear her mother scolding her for bringing vampire smell into her house.
She thinks she hears her name outside, followed by some muffled grumblings, which she takes as her cue to actually get up out of bed and leave her tent. She changes quickly, with the help of magic, into a red velvet dress and cloak. It's warm, comfortable, and, though it doesn't look it, surprisingly light and easy to run in, should she need it. She throws her hair into a loose braid, puts back on her boots, and then makes her way out of the tent.
There are seven vampires, all men, gathered around a table, as they debate what she can only assume is her presence at the camp.
She coughs sharply, alerting them she's near and Robin turns to invite her in. "Good morning, Regina, Alan here knows where Nottingham's likely keeping the mask, so we're hatching a plan to get it back."
John grumbles to himself, but says nothing, though the look of distrust on his face makes it clear he'd rather she not be a part of these plans. The others either don't mind, or are just better at hiding their dislike of her. Will moves, making a spot for her between him and Robin and, since there is nowhere else for her to go, she takes the spot and tries to focus on the task at hand and not the attractive man beside her.
They spend the morning planning the attack and she learns a lot about these vampires; they are smart, cunning, a well-oiled machine. She thinks she wins everyone's trust with her suggestions, well, everyone except John, who seems to have decided ignoring her and pretending she doesn't exist is his best bet.
The plan is finalized by mid-afternoon and it's genius in its simplicity. Nottingham's lair is split in two sections. Robin and Regina will go in one way, while Alan and John go the other. The Merry Men know the lair inside out and have a scent system she doesn't really understand they deploy if one of them is caught that somehow tells the others where they are and whether to escape or try to rescue them.
Tuck and Much stay to guard the camp, while Gilbert and Will accompany to take watch for each pair.
Regina offers to transport them all there, but John is still wary of her. Instead they walk, taking the (unnecessary) two hour trek through the forest to Nottingham's lair. She's glad she picked this dress, both because of all the walking and because of the temperature. The days are slowly getting longer and warmer, but the night temperatures still drop to below freezing most of the time.
They arrive and split up, Regina spies the underground entrance easily, but goes in last as per the plan. When she gets in, it's dark and she can barely see. She stumbles on a rock as John and Will go off to the right.
"Shh," cautions Robin. "You must be very careful and very quiet."
"Does it get any brighter?" she asks, her voice as soft as she can make it.
"Not until we get into the main castle."
Great, this is going to be fun. She slowly makes her way toward Robin, but navigating is difficult and she's paranoid she's going to hit something and make too much noise. She knows she's falling behind, so is shocked when she bumps Robin.
He chuckles at her faint intake of air upon hitting him. "This isn't working, get on my back and I'll run for it so we catch up."
There's no time to argue so she does as he says, gripping her hands tightly against his neck and wrapping her legs around his waist. They come up into a vent of some kind, he urges her off his back while he holds onto the corner. The vent is small so he keeps his body down in so she has room to climb off of his back. Once she's off he climbs up and they awkwardly shuffle so he can get back in front of her. The vent has small openings that look down onto lit rooms. She's looking down into one them, Robin a few crawls ahead, when she sees it, the mask. It's hidden from view by a sheet, but she can feel the magic coming off of it. She crawls forward, jabs Robin, and points down. He looks down in confusion, then takes a breath as understanding colours his face.
There doesn't seem to be a way to get out of these vents without being smaller, so she does just that, transforming into a bat so she can fit through the grates. She flies down to inspect the mask as Robin grumbles in displeasure. She knows she was supposed to follow his lead, but she had a solution and explaining it would waste precious time.
There aren't any spells guarding the mask that she can sense, so they should just be able to grab it and go. She starts to fly back up to tell Robin but he's not there anymore, he's beside her and pulls the sheet away. She changes back, since apparently there was a way down, then hears a voice and freezes.
She hears "Mal" coming from the other room, and she approaches the wall trying to hear better.
There's a second voice that sounds awfully like her stepfather, but she can't make out what's being said. She needs to know what they were saying about Mal, her childhood friend who disappeared months ago, another problem her family has ignored.
"Regina," hisses Robin. "We need to go, now."
"Wait, I just-"
The door flies open and there's one of Nottingham's men. He goes to cry out, to sound the alarm but she's faster, stealing his voice, so he can't do that. She only recently learned this trick, she found it when she was killing time guarding the mask, then tested it out on her sisters until it was perfect, and she may have done it couple of extra times, just to be certain.
She misses the pistol he grabs as she turns to reach for Robin's hand to transport them out of there. Her mother can transport people without skin to skin contact, but transporting others has never been Regina's strong suit.
She's inches away when she hears the bang. The sound reverberates through her brain, and it takes her a minute to realize what's happening as Robin falls to the floor, still clutching the mask.
Nottingham's man shoots another time, just missing, and she catches a glimpse of silver whizzing by and her blood runs cold as she remembers what her mother told her about the ways to kill a vampire.
Her stomach is in knots, panic flooding her, this is her fault, Robin is dying because of her, because she didn't listen. She wants to throw up, to scream, cry and kill this bastard all at once. She sends the silver bullet back at him, using magic to ensure it hits its target.
He goes down and there is no time to lose, she grabs Robin instinctually and tries to transport them out of there, but she can't focus, too many emotions swirling as the poison spreads in his system, snuffing the life out of him.
Don't hate me =) you don't have to wait long, the next part will be up tomorrow, let me know what you think.