Hello my lovely readers! Well, I am still mad and upset about the whole Zelena thing...but hopefully we will get a good resolution to this in the finale (and if we don't, I'll be coming for Adam and Eddie!) I tried to write a longer section for what our Green Bitch is up to, but since my feelings towards her are currently negative I ended up writing a longer section about OutlawQueen. It's kind-of muddled, I'm not really happy with it, but hopefully everything will all tie together when I write the next chapter :)
Happy reading!
-OUATAddict Xx
Kiamo Ko was cold and damp when Zelena arrived. It smelled musky and mould was growing where the damp had set into the walls. Nothing she couldn't get Chistery and her other primate companions to take care of. It was where she would keep them anyway. It had been some years since she was last here, but unlike her occupancy of the Emerald Palace and her sister's Castle, Kiamo Ko was a real home to Zelena. Not someone else's. So it would be here that the finalisations of her wicked plot could be planned out. It would be here she could return through the open portal disguised as Maria. She'd never been so clever.
Maria was unfamiliar with where Zelena had taken them to, but she knew it had to be somewhere of familiar comfort to the witch. She had discovered that there were creatures in Oz that traveled across the realms, reading the book Chistery had given her. She hadn't yet deciphered the spell out loud that would supposedly free herself from Zelena's control, but she had read about the creatures she might find to get a message to Regina. She just needed to figure out where in Oz she was, and if those creatures were found there.
Zelena settled herself back into her old chambers, they were nothing luxurious…but she'd never had that, had she, because her darling baby sister had been given that. She didn't know at this moment what Maria was trying to do, but the old cow wouldn't be able to control her body once Zelena found the final pieces of the potion she needed for her release. Zelena laughed wickedly to herself, startling Chistery, who had wandered into the room to keep her company. Zelena turned her attention to the primate, chittering nervously at her side.
"Oh do stop that Chistery. You know, my sister thought she was Evil. But I'll show her. She doesn't even know what evil is. She doesn't even know what Wicked is."
Zelena laughed some more, before shooing Chistery out of the room. She had some preparations to organise.
They'd had another fight that morning. The stress was getting to Regina. Not knowing what these new nightmares meant, not knowing if what Emma had seen at the cemetery was a threat to her and her unborn baby. Robin had tried talking her out of her hysterics, but Regina wouldn't have any of it, and eventually she had left in a huff, driving to nowhere in particular to clear her head. That was how she had ended up at the stables.
She got out of her car, wrapping her arms protectively around her bump, and walked slowly into the barn, where fourteen horse faces greeted her. There was only one she wanted to see. Her gelding, Fantasma, a dappled grey with a dark mane and tail she had purchased just before she'd adopted Henry. He was no replacement for Rocinante, but she loved the gentle creature. Regina walked up to him and held the horse's muzzle between her hands.
"You missed me didn't you?" She said, quietly, breathing in the scent of horse and leather and the musky hay. Fantasma nickered softly back at Regina. She smiled. "I've missed you too". She let go of his head, turning slowly and looking around to see where his treats were kept. His polished tack sat next to his stall, a bag of the gelding's favourite apple biscuits sitting on top of the saddle. Bingo.
Regina picked up the bag, pouring three of the treats into her hand, then picked up a brush. The horse saw what she had for him, getting excited for his treats, Fantasma playfully nodded his head in anticipation. Regina laughed.
"Oh here you are then. Now, I'm going to brush you, but you better behave because I'm not as tough as I was back then." Regina said, feeding the gelding the treats before entering the stall.
It was soothing, brushing the dirt from Fantasma's coat, the long strokes across his back, watching the small clouds of dust dancing in the crack of sunlight as they fell back down to earth. Regina missed this. She missed riding. She thought carefully for awhile as she began braiding Fantasma's mane. Perhaps a short turn around the arena? Just a walk. Fantasma was too old to do anything more than plod along now anyway. She was five months pregnant. If she could still get on…
Robin found Regina at the stables after looking for her in every other place he could think of in Storybrooke. He'd given her time to cool off after their argument that morning, but when he found her again, he was furious. There she was, in the arena, riding her old grey gelding around at a walk. At least she'd had sense enough to put a helmet on.
"Regina!" He called out to her, and her head snapped up to look at him. She turned her horse around to walk over to the fence where she could talk to Robin more clearly.
Robin sighed when she came to a halt in front of him.
"Yes, Robin?" Regina said, still bitter.
Robin took the reins of the horse as Regina dismounted.
"Regina, love, just what do you think you're doing? You can't ride while you're pregnant!" Robin exclaimed.
Regina rolled her eyes. "I can, and I will. Fantasma needs the exercise, and he is too old and slow to be of any harm. You needn't worry about me Robin." She replied stubbornly.
Robin ducked through the fence, leading Fantasma behind him as Regina tried to walk away.
"Regina, I know I don't have to worry about you. But what about JellyBean? Aren't you even concerned? You were the one who came to me scared out of your mind when you thought history would repeat itself. Forgive me Regina, but why would you consider riding if you were that scared before?" He tried to reason with her.
Regina stopped suddenly, turning to him with anger in her eyes.
"Don't talk to me about my history, Robin!" She snapped at him, snatching the reins out of his hands and lead Fantasma back to his stall.
Robin stayed outside the barn for awhile, thinking it best not to aggravate Regina more. After fifteen minutes he decided to go and find her. She was sitting on a hay bale outside Fantasma's stall, crying.
"I'm sorry Robin" she said when she heard him approach.
Robin sat down beside her, brushing away her stray curls and looked in her eyes.
"I'm sorry I upset you Regina. For this morning and just now. You know I try for you, that I love you. Sometimes I am just a bumbling idiot." Robin said gently, and Regina smiled.
"No, I'm sorry Robin. I should be more careful. I wasn't supposed have this. Any of this. And now I have it, and I'm just so careless. After everything I've been through…we've been through, it isn't fair of me to put JB in harm's way. It's just…it's just this stress is getting to me. I don't know what my nightmares mean. I don't know if JB and I are really in danger…it's just all too overwhelming." Regina said, her voice hoarse from crying.
Robin pulled her into a tight hug, comforting her. He heard her mumble something into his chest, and pulled away to ask what she had said.
"I cursed myself" Regina repeated. Robin stared at her blankly, not understanding.
She sighed, pulling away and standing up with her back to him.
"After I lost Daniel's baby, I didn't want to feel that pain again. And I didn't want my mother to hurt any child I could have the way she had hurt me either. So I cursed myself. That's why I wasn't supposed to have this. Maria didn't even know that." Regina turned to him, more tears in her eyes.
"Jellybean is possible because you broke the curse Robin. So you're right. You may be a bumbling idiot, but you're my idiot, and I shouldn't be so careless to think…"
Robin stopped her with a kiss.
"I love you Regina. I don't care about the past" Robin said, placing his hand on Regina's belly. "All that matters is our future. If, by some terrible fate, you and JB are the target of some kind of evil… I will protect you." He kissed her gently again in her forehead.
Regina smiled. Coming to the stables hadn't been a bad idea after all. There was still magic within the barn doors after all these years. She walked out with Robin, after a final pat of Fantasma, and drove home. Perhaps she would sleep easy tonight.
*A/N: The apple biscuits Regina gives Fantasma are like dog biscuits but for horses. My boy used to love these, which is why I made them Fantasma's favourite treat.
