The Enchanted Forest - One Year and Three Months Earlier
It was time. Snow White had gone into labor only hours earlier, leaving everyone else in the palace anxious for the arrival of both the child and the Wicked Witch.
Regina stood by, lying in wait for Zelena. Hints of fear crept up inside of her as she began to feel doubts that her plan would work. Though, why wouldn't it? It had successfully worked on her in the past.
Leaning her back against a wall and placing a hand to her stomach, Regina closed her eyes and sighed. After a short, silent moment, she felt a pair of hands slowly slide onto her hips. "You alright, love?" she heard the accented voice ask her before she opened her eyes and met with his loving gaze.
"Mmm," she hummed in response, still feeling a bit weary. Clearing her throat, she replied, "I'm just a bit nervous."
"Why?" he asked, his thumbs gently caressing the delicate fabric lining her waist. "This is your plan and you must be confident that it shall work. You have nothing to lose, Regina."
She gazed into his deep blue orbs and shook her head. "That's not true," she replied, "because I have you."
Robin chuckled, "You won't lose me."
Placing her hand to his cheeks, she whispered in reply, "I better not," before kissing him.
Suddenly hearing the sound of clicking heels, the couple knew that it was time. Robin nodded to Regina and smiled. He then returned to his stance and prepared for the witch.
"Well, well; I was hoping I'd get to run into my baby sister," the redheaded, green-skinned witch commented as Regina stepped out of her hiding place and directly into Zelena's path.
"You're not welcome here," Regina replied simply, as if giving the other sorceress a warning to leave and never return.
"Oh dear," Zelena's eyes widened in a playful manner. "How awkward is that?" She began to laugh at the brunette standing several feet away. "Do you really think that has ever stopped me before, Regina?"
Regina remained calm, almost emotionless as she replied, "This is your final warning. Leave now and I won't hurt you."
"Hurt me?" The witch laughed again in disbelief. "Should I be frightened of the great and powerful Evil Queen?"
"Yes, you should," was all Regina said before instantly lifting her hands and emitting a large amount of static energy. Zelena was quick to refute with her own power. The two women remained at a head, each of their power equally fighting the other's.
However, as seconds passed, Zelena noticed her sister weakening. Regina's arms began to shake as she ruthlessly tried to hold onto her stance. Robin saw this and, though he knew he had yet to receive his signal, chose to go ahead with the plan. The thief lifted his bow, aiming the arrow about an inch from Zelena's face. As he released the bowstring, he watched the weapon fly just as he aimed. It was just enough to startle the witch and throw her off guard.
Regina was quick to overpower her, tossing her across the corridor. Though it took Zelena by surprise, it was clear that it had barely shook her. As she stood, she laughed, "Did you really think that was going to work? Regina, dark magic cannot harm me."
Regina approached her sister with a confident grin on her lips and replied, "I know. But light magic can." Suddenly, Regina glanced up and watched as a large shock of the Blue Fairy's magic fell upon Zelena just as she was about to strike again. She laughed as her sister froze in her position, only her head able to move. Regina commented, "I just needed a good enough distraction so you wouldn't expect it. I hope you enjoy the west end of The Dark Forest, sis." Glancing up at Blue, Regina announced to her, "Inform the kingdom that the plan was a success."
As Robin approached Regina and the still frozen, infuriated witch, Zelena threatened, "You can't get rid of me that easily. I'll be back sooner than you think. There is nothing in this world that can stop me!"
0-0-0
Storybrooke - Present Day
"My baby?" Regina questioned, growing both shocked and confused. She looked to Belle for some answers, as did the rest of the group.
Turning away to look for something on one of the shelves, Belle began to explain, "This past week, I have been searching through as many books as possible for weaknesses, spells, anything that could help us stop Zelena. It wasn't until I found this particular book, that I had finally found something."
Pulling a hardcover book from the shelf, Belle then placed it onto the large table that everyone was surrounding. The group stared at it with confusion in their eyes, unable to understand what Belle was trying to tell them.
Emma was the first to speak out, "The Wizard of Oz?" she questioned the validity of the book. "That's just a storybook. How is it supposed to help?"
"Could you kindly explain this to us?" Robin asked on behalf of the rest of them.
Belle looked around at all of them as she spoke, "To a normal person, this may seem like just a storybook. But we, of all people, should know that fairytales and storybooks are not always what they seem to be. This," she pointed to a set of intricate designs on the binding. Tracing her finger down the book cover, she followed the path of the pattern.
"It's just a cover design. All books have them," Emma chimed in once more, not entirely understanding all of it.
"As I said." Belle repeated, "Things aren't always what they seem. I've done my research and these symbols are far from ordinary." Pointing to particular patterns on the binding, she explained, "I've seen these before, etched on tablets, scrolls and books in Rumple's library back in the Enchanted Forest. Those writings all held word of foretold prophecies."
Regina sighed and mumbled with aggravation, "I'm starting to get really tired of these prophecies popping up everywhere."
"What exactly did this one say?" David asked, ignoring Regina's snide comment.
"It foretold of a girl, a child, who possesses a power strong enough to defeat Zelena," Belle replied simply.
"So," Mary Margaret furrowed her brow while trying to figure it out, "you're saying that's Regina's baby is… Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz?"
"Not exactly," Belle tilted her head, trying to explain the difficult points to the confused group. "You see, the tale in this world is not entirely true; similar to how none of ours were completely true either. Just as the stories in this world only weave pieces of our real stories into them, this world's tale of Oz only weaves in pieces of the true prophecy and pieces of an imagined story. There was never a young girl from Kansas who traveled to Oz and defeated Zelena with the element of water. That part was simply imagined in order to hide the prophecy. The truth is between the lines."
"Why does it need to be hidden?" Robin asked curiously.
"To protect it, so that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands," Belle answered. "If Zelena knew that Regina's baby was the key to her defeat, she would kill her before she was even born, bringing an end to the prophecy and becoming invincible. There would be no way to stop her."
"How are we sure that she doesn't already know?" Mary Margaret asked.
"Because I'd already be dead," Regina replied quickly. The brunette stared down at the book placed on the table and back to Belle, one thing still stirring in her mind. She asked, "How do you know it's even my baby? There are billions of little girls in this world and many more in other ones. How do we know that this prophesized child isn't one of them?"
With a soft sigh, Belle began to flip through the pages of the book, almost feeling sorry for having to show this to Regina. She pointed to a particular part of the story, a small illustration lying in the corner of the page. The picture showed the Wicked Witch in possession of a globe. The group all recognized the item as the same artifact that Gold used to find Henry in Neverland.
"In this part of the story," Belle says, pointing to the drawing, "the Witch must prick her finger upon the point of the globe and allow her blood to fall onto the orb in order to find Dorothy." She looks to Regina who still seems bewildered. "The child shares the same blood with the witch. Regina, you are the only blood-relative Zelena has and your baby is the only child who shares that blood. She's the only possibility."
0-0-0
Regina quickly fled the library, unable to handle all of this information and, moreover, not wanting to believe it. She walked as briskly as possible down the sidewalk, breathing heavily as she tried to calm all of the thoughts racing through her mind.
"Regina!" She suddenly heard his voice call out to her. But she ignored it. Closing her eyes tightly as she kept a steady fast pace, she tried to drain out the sound of his voice. However, it only grew louder and louder as he approached. "Regina, please wait," he beckoned to the woman as he finally caught up to her.
She didn't say a word; didn't even acknowledge his presence. It was too much right then; her head was just aching. She knew that if she even spoke a word about what had just occurred, she would just burst. "Robin, don't," she warned him.
"Don't what? Just talk to me." He only wished to be sympathetic towards her. But he couldn't even realize how his pushing was only making it worse.
"I don't want to talk," Regina answered as emotionless as possible.
"Regina-"
"What do you want me to say?" The pregnant woman yelled at him as she suddenly stopped and turned, so aggravated with his persistence.
Robin noticed the anger and fear in her eyes, the desire just to hold it all in. He shook his head and answered softly, "Whatever you are feeling."
"What I'm feeling?" Regina let out a laugh. "It'd be a better question to ask what I am not feeling right now," she replied, shaking her head and holding her hand out. She looked to him with so much pain as she continued to speak, "I can't handle it." Everything in the back of her mind was flooding out of her as she continued, "Only a little over a week ago, I was saying goodbye to my son, whom I thought I would never see again, and then… I wake up like this." She gestured to her large stomach. "Only days later, I discover that I have a long lost sister who, by the way, wants to take my child and my heart to destroy me… and I don't even know what I did to her to deserve it. My son has no idea who I am, my unborn child doesn't have a father, and now I find out that she was somehow bestowed with the burden of saving all of our lives and she's not even born yet!"
Robin watched the tears begin to fall down the brunette's cheeks as she began to lose all control of her emotions. He saw how hard she had been trying to hide it all of this time. It seemed that the reveal of this prophecy was the final trigger for her.
Regina shook her head and stared down at her bulging belly before closing her eyes and admitting, "I was having a hard enough time with the simple things like finding this baby's father or… just preparing myself to have another child." She looked up at Robin and raised her brow. She looked seemingly calmer. "You know," she spoke softly, "Henry doesn't even know that he's about to be a big brother. He doesn't know anything about me…" She shook her head, more tears falling from her eyes. "I can't do this anymore," she whimpered.
He didn't know what to say. He wasn't even sure what to do in that moment, but he knew that he wished to comfort her. She seemed so lost and so confused; her life was practically crashing around her, and she didn't know where to go anymore. Robin placed his hand on her shoulder as a sympathetic gesture. It seemed like all he could do then. But, the brunette was quick to shove it off.
"Please, don't touch me," she requested, stepping away from him.
"Regina," Robin shook his head. "I only wish to-"
She cut him off, "Robin, do me a favor and just stop trying to help me." Her tone was cold as she stepped further away from the man. "I want to be alone. Please, just respect that." The pregnant brunette said no more as she turned, sorrow still painted in her expression, and walked away.
I thought it'd be cool for Regina to come up with the idea to use the same method that Snow and Charming used to catch her in catching Zelena. I like bringing back old parallels from the show too.
Also, yes, I did alter the original Wizard of Oz tale to fit my story. The original story didn't have the Wicked Witch using her blood to find Dorothy, but that piece connects a lot here and also gave me the chance to use a magical artifact that we had seen in the show already. Thought it'd be a fun twist.
What did you guys think? And how do you think Regina is going to deal with all of this?