I own no one but my own people
"Did you get it?!"
Emma grinned, holding up the ember. "We got it."
Both Snow and Charming ran over, embracing their daughter as tight as they could, the small family letting out the first since smiles since they had gotten to Camelot.
"I'm gonna be alright," Emma told them as she took a step back. "I am."
"Your daughter resisted the darkness and passed her test," Percival added as he walked into the room, he too was smiling. "Now all we need is the dagger, reforge it with Excalibur and we'll be able to cut the darkness out of her."
"Well how do we get Excalibur?" asked Charming, not taking his hand from Emma's back. "Ones no good without the other."
"Leave that to me," Percival said with a nod. "Arthur trusts me, if I say we need Excalibur he'll give me Excalibur."
"I know." Emma gave a kind smile to the knight. "I trust you, Percival. But before we can join reforge Excalibur, we need to wake Regina up."
"I know you want your friend to be alright but destroying the darkness is more important than letting her be without love for a bit longer."
Not to mention the ember would do absolutely nothing for the curse he put on Regina. Only the kiss of a soulmate could break that curse but since she didn't remember that Robin Hood WAS her soulmate, it would be practically impossible to break until Percival decided it was time to break it using the antidote, a lock of hair from the person she hated most, in this case Snow White, which he had gotten soon after he got the lock of hair from Robin.
No one's love was that powerful.
Emma shook her head. "No you don't get it, we need Regina to find the dagger. She hid it somewhere, no one knows where but her."
Percival blinked. "What?"
"Yeah, Regina hid the dagger for me. We all agreed she would keep it the most safe and wouldn't hesitate to control me if she needed," Emma explained.
Percivals hand curled into a trembling fist. No… no this wasn't right. It wasn't fair. He was so close, SO close to getting his revenge and now there was another goddam quest he had to go on? Another set of lies he had to come up with?
"No," the knight snarled. "No… it's not fair, it's not FAIR!"
"Whoa, Percival, you okay?" asked Emma, her father's arm clutching her tighter while Snow oh so subtly stepped in front of her and if she hadn't been so confused she would have thought it was adorable that even though she was the most powerful person in all the realms, her parents still had the instinct to protect her.
The knight ignored Emma's question as well as the looks the Charmings were giving him. He was done with these foolish quests and games.
"Arthur!" Percival shouted to no one in particular. "Arthur!"
The group watched as the famed King walked in from one of the side doors, his hand resting on the hilt of his broken swords while three lesser knights flanked him.
"Percival, what's happened? Did you get the ember?" the king asked as he approached them while his guards went over and stood by the small family.
"Wait you knew what we were doing?" asked Snow, her question being ignored.
"Regina hid the dagger!" Percival barked, every frustration he had since he saw that witch walk into his home overflowing. "Only she knows where it is!"
"Percival, calm down," Arthur told him but his knight was too far gone to listen to reason.
"No! I'm sick and tired of all these quests, of all these lies, of everything!"
"We break the second curse, we get her to tell us where it is and we carry on with our plan."
"And then what?" the knight snapped. "Another quest for another enchanted item? Another adventure, another thirty odd years of waiting for my revenge?!"
"Okay, one of you tell me what's going on and tell me now," Emma demanded. "What the hell are you talking about, what revenge? And what do you mean 'second' curse? How many is she under?"
Arthur and Percival looked over at Emma as if they remembered they were standing there before Arthur gave a curt nod to the silent guards the Charmings had all but forgotten about and without warning the one closest to Emma grabbed an anti magic cuff from his pocket and slapped it on her wrist before the three guards pointed their swords at the family.
"What the hell?!" the blonde gasped as she yanked her hand away from the guard, feeling her magic already draining from her. "Percival, what-?!"
But before she could finish her thought there was a loud crash that almost deafened the gathered group. Then just as quick a blue shockwave of magic slamming through the entire castle, present room not excluded.
The Charmings as well as those who lived in Camelot were slammed against the brilliantly painted walls as the blue force disappeared into thin air.
David was the first to recover. He slowly stood, first helping a sluggish Emma to her feet and then Snow, the guards, Arthur and Percival all picking themselves up.
"Hook…" Emma breathed, her voice trembling. "Hook…"
Percival swallowed hard, his heart slamming painfully hard against his chest.
His curse. It was broken. His memories hadn't been affected but he knew; things had gone back to normal.
Robin was back in love with Regina and Emma with Hook…
Everything was ruined.
The blonde turned her attention to the knight.
"You," she hissed. "You did this…"
Without waiting Emma stormed over to the knight, a storm brewing in his eyes.
"Emma the cuff, you don't have magic!" Snow warned her.
"I don't need magic, I still have a fist!" she yelled before bringing her fist back and slamming it square in Percival's face. Percival crashed into the table but came back just as quick with a mean right hook to Emmas jaw, sending her flying across the room and slamming into the stone wall. With an angry grunt, Percival was on her in half a second and smashed his fist into Emma's side as hard as he could.
"Seize them!" Arthur shouted at the guards, pointing at Snow and Charming.
David reached for the sword at his hip, swinging it expertly and landing the steel in the first guards chest, effectively dropping him to the ground. He swung his sword around just in time to catch the second guards steel, the clang of steel echoing as he and the guards danced a deadly waltz.
Percival struck again, getting Emma right in his eye. Emma forced herself to see through the pain and the tears that had come of their own accord and used every bit of strength she had to hit Percival across the jaw.
The Knight was only dazed for a second but that's all that Emma needed to take advantage and grab Percival by the collar of his shirt and send them both crashing into the table and onto the floor.
Flesh hit flesh, steel hit steel as gasps and pants and painful cries filled the room.
For half a second Percival had the upper hand and was on top of Emma. Just as he drew back his fist, the Savior slammed her fist into the Knights stomach. Hard.
Percival gasped for breath that wouldn't come. Emma shoved Percival off of him and quickly got up off the floor, grabbing the sword at his hip and letting it a loud cry as she went to swing it.
"EVERYONE STOP OR SHE DIES!"
Emma, Percival and David, who had managed to defeat the three foes turned and saw Arthur, with a jeweled dagger at Snows throat.
"This dagger might not be magical but it can still cut through flesh!" Arthur shouted, his eyes darting wildly around the room. "Now everyone calm down!"
Emma glared at The Knight as he got off the floor, leaning against the table for support.
"Why did you curse me?" Her voice was low and deadly. "Why did you make me no longer love Hook, what did I ever do to you?"
"Oh shut up this wasn't even about you!" the knight shouted. "You and your Pirate were just collateral damage! I wanted to hurt Regina!"
He spat the name as of it were poison.
"I wanted her to watch her soulmate fall in love with someone else, I wanted her to know what it was like to be alone, I wanted her to watch as her life was destroyed!"
"So you made Robin Hood fall in love with me," Emma finished, hardly able to see out of her now bruised and swollen eye. "And she would have to watch us be happy together."
"I hadn't counted on him falling back in love with her so fast. I thought I'd have a month, Hell a week or two at least before they found their way back to one another. It hasn't even been 3 days."
"It doesn't matter," David told the knight. "Your curse was broken, they saved themselves. Arthur…" He turned his attention to the King. "We have what we need to mend Excalibur, we can destroy the darkness once and for all. You can be the legend you were always meant to be… just give me the sword."
Percival swallowed hard when he saw his King's hand start to lower. No… no, he had to get his revenge, he couldn't come this far and be denied it, not when he was on the cusp of it…
"Regina won't show you where the dagger is," Percival told him. "She won't, not after all we've done to her. She's going to steal your sword and then you will never fulfill Merlin's prophecies!" He held out his hand towards the king. "Give me the sword so I can do what we said we would, we can make her tell us where the dagger is."
"Your Majesty, I know Regina," Emma pleaded. "She WILL forgive you, she will tell you where she hid the dagger."
Arthur swallowed hard, his eyes darting between three of them.
"No she won't. My king, you can trust me. I know her, she is nothing but an evil witch who destroys lives! The only reason they gave her the dagger in the first place was because they knew she was evil enough to use it against her!"
"You are a hero!" Emma pleaded with the fabled king. "In EVERY story I've read, EVERY legend I've heard about you, you are a hero! You lead your kingdom to glory! Give us the sword and you can be that same hero who I watched and admired and wanted to be when I was eight years old!"
The knight saw his kings defenses waning, saw his grip loosen on the Princess, saw the making of desperate tears in his eyes.
"They will steal your sword and the glory. Your Majesty, if you give them the sword…" Percival waited until the king was looking at him. "You will be left with nothing but a broken kingdom and failed name."
Arthur swallowed hard as tears leaked out, his breath trembling dangerously. The green in his eyes shone with desperation and regret.
"I'm sorry," Arthur told the group, all of them unsure who they were talking too. "But I can't let Camelot down."
Without taking the knife from Snows neck he reached down and took the broken sword from its scabbard and handed it to Percival.
"NO!" David yelled as the knight held the sword aloft, a crazed desperate look in his eyes.
"Do it!" Arthur commanded, holding the knife tighter at Snows throat. "Quickly!"
Percival took a deep breath, lowering the sword and running his hand over it.
"You have magic," Emma said when she saw the dark blue light come from his hand.
"Did you think I spent all that time learning about the evil witch who killed my family and not pick up a thing or two?" he asked as he ran his hand over the sword, the ancient metal glowing a brilliant blue before it disappeared.
The knight grinned wildly as he held the sword aloft, the Charming family's eyes going wide when they saw what was inscribed on the sword.
"A tethering spell," Percival explained as he lowered the sword, running his fingers of the inky black letters that now spelled out 'Robin of Locksley'. "I now control the world's greatest thief."
They watched as the knight lifted the sword grinning madly at it. "Robin of Locksley! I command you…"
…
"Regina," Robin called louder to the unmoving Queen as a slow steady drop of blood ran down her forehead where she had crashed against the stone. "Regina, M'lady, wake up! Regina! REGINA!"
The Queen groaned softly as she slowly sat up, putting a hand to her bleeding head.
"Regina," Robin called out to her as relief washed through him, the name on his tongue feeling a thousand times more natural and beautiful than Emma's had been.
He was desperate to have her back in his arms again, desperate to hear her voice call out his name again.
The Queen looked up when he spoke and she froze, unsure if what she was seeing was real or not.
"Robin," she breathed as tears flooded her brown eyes and streamed down her cheeks, any willpower she had not to weep gone the moment she set eyes on him.
"Robin!" she cried again as she got to unsteady feet and sprinted across the cell to him.
"Regina!" he yelled, his own blue eyes glistening with tears.
The Queen and her Outlaw pressed one another against the bars, crashing their lips together as he buried his hands in her hair while she grabbed his collar and pulled him as close to her as she could, the frigid iciness in her touch long gone.
"I'm sorry!" he cried as he pulled apart, barely able to get the words out before she pulled him back and attacking his lips again. "I'm so sorry, the curse-!"
"I know I know!" she sobbed before she kissed him again, both of them holding on as tight as they could to the other, as if afraid that they would let go and the curse would take hold again.
After they had both calmed down some they still were unwilling to let the other go as every time Robin tried to apologize Regina would hear none of it.
"We were cursed," she told him. "What you said, what you did… none of it matters."
Hook, standing against the opposite wall, scoffed, glaring daggers at the outlaw.
"He and Emma slept together," he reminded the Queen darkly. "You expect me to just forget that? To forgive that?"
"Yes," Regina snapped, tearing her eyes away from Robin for the first time since she had awaken from the curse. "But that doesn't matter now, what matters is getting out of this prison and helping the others."
"How do you propose to do that your majesty?" Hook asked sharply. "We've looked around this entire cell, there's nothing he can use to pick the lock."
"Your problem was that you looked..." Regina reached up and pulled out two bobby pins, her hair cascading forward. "Before I arrived."
She handed the pins to Robin through the bars.
"Thank you, M'lady."
Her heart fluttered frantically at the pet name she hadn't heard in what felt like a lifetime. It was her name and hers alone. Even the curse hadn't taken that from her.
"I've missed you," she told him with a shaky voice.
He smiled at her. "I know."
Robin put his arms through the bars, going to work on picking the lock of his cell, tediously working on the door.
"You were faster with Percivals door," Hook muttered as he watched the thief Work.
"Well there's a tad bit of difference between a simple bedroom door and a locked jail cell where I can't see what I'm doing," Robin told him before the sound of the lock clicked sounded.
He held back a smug look at the pirate, remembering that he had dishonored Hook as well as Emma, as he opened the door from the inside. But he would worry about his honor later, right now he had to get Regina out of there.
He hurried over to Regina's cell and began work on that one, taking half the time now that he could see what he was doing.
When the locks clicked he threw open the door, grinning at the Queen who ran out and embraced him, inhaling the beautiful forest scent that was uniquely his and prevalent even down in this dark damp dungeon.
"You're so beautiful," he whispered as he stroked her jet black hair.
Regina snuggled into his warm chest, wrapping her arms around him tighter. She never wanted to let him go. She WOULD never let him go again.
"You two can kiss and make up later," Hook told them, glancing around nervously. "We need to go."
"He's right," Regina said, holding out the wrist that the leather cuff was on out to Robin. "They could be here any second."
Robin reached out to take off the cuff but froze suddenly, his brows knitted together.
"What the devil?" he muttered, willing his hand to grab the cuff but it didn't move.
"Robin?" Regina asked, trying to keep her fear to a minimum. "Robin, what's wrong?"
He shook his head, confusion in his eyes. "I-... I can't…"
Then, all of a sudden, Robin grabbed her by the throat and slammed him against the stone wall, easily overpowering the 5'5 110 pound magicless woman.
"Robin!" Regina gasped as he squeezed. "Robin, stop!"
"I- I can't!" he cried, struggling to pull his hand away to no avail, his blue eyes wide with terror. "Regina, I can't stop!"
She clawed at his hands as it became harder and harder to breathe.
"Mate, stop!" Hook yelled, using his one good hand to pull his hand away but Robin felt the hand not squeezing Regina's throat move of its own accord and pushed Hook away.
"I can't stop!" He yelled at the both of them as tears streamed down his face, his hand squeezing harder. "I can't-!"
"Please!" she begged, gasping for air, the fear and terror in his heart nothing compared to hers as her vision began to darken. "Robin, please! Stop!"
Please Review :-)