See? I told you the next updates would be quicker =)
Huge thanks to the lovely Allison (SomewhereApart) for her help with this chapter, and for being there when I was having a rough time today 3
Quick reminder: still not mine.
They run into Captain Jones on their way up the Boat deck, and he enlists John to help the other sailors load people into the boats, so the man gives Roland back to his father and leaves them, promising to meet up later. Robin holds his son with one arm and keeps the other one around Regina, his hand at the small of her back as he ushers her through the hallways. The usually guarded entrance to the first class compartments is devoid of crew members, but there are people lingering outside their doors, looking around and trying to put bits and pieces of information together based on what each of them has heard. Regina keeps her head down, her arm now stretched behind her so her fingers can lace with Robin's as she leads the way, her heart pounding in her chest.
When they finally reach her rooms, the setting is completely different from what it had been the last time she'd brought Robin here. No calm, quiet atmosphere, no reverent silence and warm, dim lights, instead it's all bright glares from every lamp, the bustling about of her maids, and a welcoming party in the shape of Cora, Leopold, Sidney, and the ship's master at arms waiting for them.
Sidney harshly bumps his shoulder into Robin's with an angry look on his face as he walks out of the room, closing the door behind him, and Roland cowers in his father's hold as he takes in the strangers, asking under his breath if these are the people who will help them get off the ship. Robin says no, explains they're Regina's traveling companions so they're here to let them know what's happening, and then they'll go find a life boat. Roland nods and says nothing else, staring curiously at Cora, scrunching up his nose as if she's familiar to him, and Regina supposes that she is, considering how much she and her mother look alike, but there's a darkness in Cora, a bitterness that Regina doesn't share, one that Robin and this beautiful little boy have helped banish from her entirely, and she'd be willing to bet that it's that darkness, that cold stare, that's scaring Roland.
"Mother, something terrible has happened," she starts, trying to get the information out as fast as she can so they can leave and never look back, but Leopold interrupts her.
"Indeed, something has. Sidney filled us in on your… less than decorous adventures with the rabble," he tells Regina, Cora throwing her a look of utter disgust as she pipes in.
"Honestly, darling, I raised you better than this."
"It's not your fault, dear Cora, you tried your best, but it seems she's determined to be this street rat's whore," the letch amends, putting a comforting hand on her mother's elbow, and Regina sees red.
"I'd rather be his whore than your wife," she spits, and she feels a little lick of satisfaction as Leopold's eyes widen in outrage, but he regains his cool composure and pretends not to hear her, turning to look at Robin instead.
"And you," Leopold continues, "Locksley, is it? I have to admit, you had me fooled for a second there, during our dinner, I almost believed you were a gentleman." He turns to the master at arms then, throwing a look of satisfaction at Regina before he speaks.
"Let's see, now that one of the things I reported missing has come back, I have a fair idea of where we might find the other one, Mr. Nottingham?"
The officer requests that Robin put his son down so they can search him, and Roland instantly squirms, refusing to let go of his father, but Robin glares at Leopold, says he has nothing to hide, and then gently asks Regina to take Roland for a moment. She does, and watches in confusion as master Nottingham pats Robin down, hooks white-gloved hands in his pockets, until he seems to find what he's looking for in one of them, and pulls out something shiny.
Recognition dawns on her as she sees the diamond, but it can't be, it just can't.
"What the hell are you playing at, Leopold?" she snarls at him.
"Me? I'm merely trying to find the possessions that have been taken from me by this thief."
"The ship is sinking. We're in the middle of a real emergency, you idiot! This is no time for your stupid games. He's not a thief, and you slipped that thing into his coat. I don't know how, but you did, he can't have taken it. I was with him the whole time," she says that last sentence to the officer, who seems hell-bent on ignoring her and instead caters to the whims of the rich, influential man asking for Robin's arrest.
"Perhaps he took it when you were putting your clothes back on, my dear. Maybe he thought he was the one in need of payment after going through the arduous task of bedding you," her former fiancé sneers at her.
"How dare you?!" she seethes as Robin struggles against the officer's hold, trying to get out of the handcuffs being placed on him and firing insults at Leopold.
"You're not getting away with this, you filthy animal," he tells him.
"It seems I already have. I always win, Locksley," the older man throws back, and Roland begins to cry in her arms, calling out for his papa. The sound breaks Regina's heart as she moves to one side and then the other, at a loss as to what to do.
"Regina, take my boy somewhere safe, I'll be fine," Robin begs her, and then he looks at his son.
"I'll be just fine, Roland," he promises, "we'll be together again soon, just be a good boy for Regina and go find Uncle John, I'll come get you later." He sounds so sure, so confident, that Regina would believe his words in a heartbeat, if it weren't for the somber look he throws her way after he says them.
"No… no!" she whispers brokenly, and Robin smiles sadly at her.
"Take care of my son, alright?" he says just as the master at arms drags him away from the room, depositing the diamond heart into Leopold's waiting hand.
Regina cradles Roland closer, trying to muffle his sobs and soothe him enough for his body to stop shaking in her arms, but it's no use.
"It's okay, sweetheart, it's going to be okay, I promise," she tells him softly, no longer paying attention to the vultures circling her. That is, until her mother hooks her hands under Roland's arms and tries to wrench him from her grasp.
"What the hell are you doing?" she barks, holding the boy tighter and moving him away from her clutches.
"This is not your child, let go, Regina," her mother commands, and that's when it hits her, that's when she realizes that Cora's orders no longer trigger in her the need to obey. She knows better now.
"No," she says firmly, clearly, and her defiance surprises her mother. It seems she's also figuring out that she doesn't hold as much power over her daughter as she used to.
"Excuse me?!" she gasps in shock, and out of the corner of her eye, Regina can see Leopold huffing in exasperation as he watches the scene unfold.
"You heard me," she tells her, and Cora moves to try and take Roland again, making the child's cries escalate.
"Don't you dare lay a finger on him," she snaps, pushing Cora off when she makes to remove Roland from her arms again, and then she runs, cradling the boy as close to her as she can while she breezes through the long hallway and down the steps, until she reaches the boat deck and finds John untying the ropes that hold one of the lifeboats to the ship.
"John, I need you to take him," she says urgently.
"Where's Robin?" is the man's first question as he looks around for his friend.
"There was a problem, but it'll be fine, please just take him, I'll take care of it," she insists, and something about the urgency in her voice must convince him, because he takes the crying boy into his arms and shushes him gently while Regina bolts down the deck and towards Captain Jones, who is yelling commands at a few other sailors.
"Captain, where would the master at arms take a man in custody?"
"This is not the time to ask such random questions, lass, you need to get yourself into a life vest and to a boat."
"Someone I care about has been wrongly accused of a crime, I need to find him."
"Miss—" the captain starts, but she's running out of time, and she's tired of being polite. Grabbing the lapels of the man's jacket, she slams him against the window overlooking the bridge and looks straight at him.
"You either answer my question, or I beat the answer out of you!"
"Fine! Fine! Alright!" he agrees, moving off the glass surface forcefully to free himself from her, and then proceeds to explain where she must go.
It takes her a few minutes, but finally she's in the right corridor, all the way down into the lowest levels of the ship. The water is already starting to swallow G-Deck, and Regina feels it seep into her stockings as she trudges through, until she hears a scuffle, and then Robin's voice as he struggles against the man dragging him towards the makeshift prison room.
"You know this is not fair, you know he was lying!"
"You were caught red-handed."
"His lackey placed that necklace in my coat!" Robin protests, and of course, Regina thinks, no wonder Sidney looked so pleased with himself after he knocked into Robin and left the room, he'd planted that thing in his pocket. It doesn't surprise her that Leopold would go to such lengths to prove a point, but she refuses to let him win, refuses to lose Robin.
In seconds, she catches up with them, and she pulls on the officer's arm to try and free Robin, but the man is too strong and shakes her off easily, telling her not to make this any worse than it already is, but she's not giving up, and an instant later she's thrusting the heel of her hand up into his nose, like Robin taught her, but she does it with such force that she makes blood ooze out, and master Nottingham loses all decorum, screams a nasty word at her, but only one, because then Robin is hitting him around the head from behind and the man falls to the floor, completely knocked out.
"Are you alright?!" they both ask at the same time, Regina's hands holding on to Robin's forearms as she looks over his face, takes in as much of it as she can, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I'm fine," Robin murmurs when she buries her head in his chest. He's still handcuffed, so he can't hug her back, but she feels his lips on her head, landing a loving kiss there.
"Roland?" he asks in a strangled voice.
"With John, I told him everything would be alright."
"You didn't believe Leopold," he states, smiling at her when she moves away slightly to look into his eyes, her hands now grasped in his.
"Not for one second," she tells him with a watery smile.
"You saved me," he says simply.
"Of course I did." She says it with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulder, trying to be cheeky, to make this into a funny moment they'll laugh about later, but it doesn't work, she's too rattled, and her lower lip trembles as she looks down at their joint digits and shyly adds, "For a moment there, I thought I'd never see you again."
"And I, you," Robin confirms as he pulls on her hands to bring her back against him and they breathe each other in, reveling in the knowledge that they're together again.
After a few precious seconds, they part, and Regina bends next to the unconscious guard and retrieves a set of keys from his belt, using the smallest one in the bunch to unlock the handcuffs chafing against Robin's wrists. When his restrains finally fall to the floor with a metallic clink, she wraps her fingers around his wrists, brings his hands to her cheeks, and moves her head to the left to kiss his palm, then does the same to the right.
"Let's get out of here," he tells her, and she nods, hums into the chaste kiss he plants on her lips, and then they're moving, running back up to the boat deck, informing an officer passing by of his unconscious colleague downstairs so that someone can tend to him. The young man runs down the steps instantly, leaving Regina and Robin to look for Roland and John.
They find them by a boat that is already loaded with people, and the boy jumps into his father's waiting arms the second he sees him, crying and holding on tightly. Regina is lost in soaking up the view of them hugging each other, and it's only when someone shouts her name that she tears her gaze away, noticing that Ruby is the one calling for her from the boat about to be lowered into the water, a scared Henry huddled in the cold next to her.
"Where's Emma?" Regina asks her friend.
"A little girl got lost in the chaos downstairs, she's helping her family look for her, so she left Henry with me. She'll catch the next one," Ruby replies confidently, hugging Henry closer. "You should get in here."
Regina is about to reply that no, she can't until she's sure Robin and Roland and John are safely on a boat as well, but Robin speaks before she can, utters a scared yes, you should, and it makes her turn around to look at him, her mouth set in a thin line.
"We've already discussed this."
"Regina, look around you, this is starting to fall apart. I want my boy safe."
"We said we'd do this together, Robin."
"And we will, I promise you I'll find a boat and reach you, but please, take Roland, and get on this one."
"Papa? What about you?" the boy interrupts, sniffling and wiping his nose on his father's shirt.
"I'll help Uncle John lower the boats into the ocean, and then we'll catch one together and meet with you, alright?" Robin insists, looking at Regina as he begs her, "Please, I... I need to give him his best chance."
It's that sentence that breaks her, and she nods reluctantly, putting a hand on his jaw and kissing him fiercely before she makes a request of her own.
"But you have to promise me that you'll get on a boat and meet us."
"I promise I'll do everything I can to get back to you," he says instead, and this feels wrong, this feels horrible, but she can't deny Roland a sure chance at survival, and she realizes then that Robin knows this, that he's guilt-tripping her into saving her own life, and she hates it.
Robin kisses his son's cheek, ruffles his curls and tells him he'll see him soon, then lands another fervent kiss on her lips, one that feels awfully final when he starts to voice a particular sentiment as they part.
"I…" he begins, but she won't let him, won't have him say goodbye to her like this.
"I know," she whispers back, but doesn't let him finish, because it's a sentence she knows contains only three words, three beautiful words that she refuses to hear as a farewell. A crying Roland is placed back in her arms then, and suddenly everything is moving faster, an officer holding her gently by the arm and helping her onto the boat, where she sits next to Ruby and jiggles Roland in her lap to try and calm down his scared shouts of "Papa, no!" and "Papa come with us now!" before they completely tear her up inside.
The women and children all around her are shouting teary goodbyes to their husbands and fathers, and their wails join with Roland's, suffocating Regina as she looks up at Robin's serene smile while the lifeboat is being lowered into the water. She hears Ruby somewhere next to her, telling both Roland and Henry that they'll be alright, that Emma and John and Robin will make it to the next boat and all they have to do is wait for the rescue ship to come and they can all be together again.
Regina thinks then of the two occasions where Robin was resigned to die, to be swallowed up by the freezing waters once the ship went down, and she realizes that she can't do this, she can't leave him, not now. The boat is almost all the way down into the ocean, the descent made shorter because of the way the ship is slowly tilting down into the dark abyss of the Atlantic, half the decks already under, and she makes up her mind before it's too late and she can't return.
"Roland, honey," she starts, hooking a finger under his trembling chin and tilting his face up to look at her, "I promise, I'm going to get your papa back, and we're all going to be just fine. Do you trust me?"
The little boy nods, wiping brusquely at his tears with his tiny gloved hand, and Ruby widens her eyes when she realizes what's about to happen.
"Take care of them until we get back, alright?" Regina tells her friend as she stands, and the other woman has no choice but to nod as Roland is placed in the now vacant seat next to her, her arm going instantly around the boy and bringing him close, just like Henry, who is looking up at Regina with a frown.
"You could die," he says, teeth chattering in the cold, and Regina feels her heart shrivel up at his words, because Henry knows Titanic like the back of his hand, and he is not as young as Roland. He understands the gravity of the situation, there's no way to shelter him from it, no comforting words to shield him from the pain and confusion he must be feeling, the fear he must be experiencing because his mother is still on the ship as it continues to sink.
"Henry," she says, no fearful smiles or empty reassurances, "I have to do this."
"I know," he tells her, and she can see that he does, sees the understanding in his eyes as he looks at her, "just... find us? And bring my mom with you, if you can."
"I will," she promises, giving him a small smile before she looks at Ruby, wordlessly pleading with her.
"Go," her friend finally says, "I'll keep them safe until you're all back."
Regina turns then, not wasting one more second, and calculates the distance, sees how much room she has to gain momentum, and then runs through the space between the benches, bumping into people's knees as she goes, reaches the end… and flings herself off the boat and back onto Titanic, almost falling into the water as her body smacks against iron and she clings to an edge of the C-Deck railing. Robin's scream of her name is heard from above, cutting through the panicked cries of the people around them.
She's pulled up into the ship by strangers whose faces she won't ever remember, too caught up in the adrenaline of the moment to discern their features, and as soon as her feet hit the linoleum floor, she takes off, running faster than she ever has in her life, looking through the stricken faces around her, searching for him.
She finds him when his body collides with hers as she reaches the boat deck, and suddenly he's holding her, somewhat shaking her as he looks her over with a broken expression.
"Why did you do that?! That was stupid, Regina! You can't stay here! You have to go! Get out of here!" his commands lose their bite with the way he's frantically kissing every inch of her face as he holds it in his hands, and she tears up as she smiles at him.
"You jump, I jump, right?" is all she says, breathless as the rush starts to wear off, and Robin chokes on the heartfelt right he says in reply, letting out a breath as he holds her close and buries his hand in her hair.
"I promised Roland I'd get his father back, and that we'd meet him soon. Don't make me break that promise," she begs him, her voice shaking as she tightens her arms around his middle, her lips peppering desperate little kisses all over his chest and up his throat. Robin's head falls to her shoulder, his breath hot against her exposed skin, and then he nods against her, draws back and looks her straight in the eye.
"There's still a few boats left by the port side, near the stern, go wait for me there while I get John."
"We need to find Emma, too."
"I saw her when I was running down to find you. She was about to get on a boat near the bridge… or what's left of it anyway, this entire thing will go under any minute, panic is breaking out."
He says all this as he pulls her by the hand through the corridors, until they get to the point where they must go their separate ways. Robin kisses her, promises he'll see her in a minute, and then takes off, leaving her to find them a boat.
"That was quite the spectacle you pulled, darling," a cold voice stops her in her tracks after a couple of minutes into her journey to the stern, and she turns to find Leopold casually resting against the corridor wall, his arms and legs crossed as he looks at her.
"What do you want?" she snaps, no longer afraid.
"Simply to congratulate you on pulling your dumbest move yet. Honestly, Regina, abandoning your lifeboat? And for what, a chance to throw your life away with that miserable piece of trash you rescued from master Nottingham?"
"Robin is more of a man than you'll ever be," she fires back, and she sees his fists clench, sees his eyes flare with anger as he moves closer, but a crew member is suddenly there, handing them both life vests and telling them to please make their way to the nearest boat to evacuate the ship. Leopold, ever one to play the hero for all the world to see, fastens the life vest around her and then shrugs off his coat, putting it on her and speaking in a loud, worried tone.
"Yes, my darling, we better get you to a boat so you can be safe, wouldn't want you to stay here."
The officer leaves them alone then, and Leopold's gaze returns to its cold and harsh manner.
"I've bribed a member of the crew so that I'm able to catch a boat despite that ridiculous women-and-children-first rule. You'll come with me and your mother, we'll make headlines in New York when we marry after this tragic event, everyone will forget about your indiscretions, and from then on, you will obey me. I won't have my wife tainting my name by running off with some charlatan."
"Did you not hear me when I told you I don't want to be your wife?! I'm not marrying you."
Her ire turns into fear when he lets out a bloodcurdling laugh as he grabs her arm, shaking her as he brings her closer.
"Oh, dearest, what makes you think you even have a choice?"
He's dragging her then, pulling her along even as she struggles, but he's strong, and his grip on her tightens despite the punch she manages to land on his side and knocks some of the wind out of him. She's wincing in pain as she tries to fight him off, and seconds later something bumps harshly into Leopold, and Regina lets out a relieved breath when she realizes it's Robin, his fist having crashed against the man's jaw, causing his hold on Regina to loosen enough for her to escape, her body smacking into Robin's for a hug before he pulls her behind him, pinning Leopold with a deadly stare.
"Get away from her, you pig," Robin snarls, and Leopold goes for him, raging something along the lines of "you dare lay your disgusting hands on me?!" but Robin is faster, fingers grabbing the collar of Leopold's shirt before he can return the punch and slamming him against the wall behind him, much to the wide-eye stares of everyone around them.
"You will not lay a hand on her," he spits, bringing him forth by pulling on the fabric and then throwing him against the wall again, "you will not go anywhere near her, understood?!"
"Robin, let's just go, we have bigger things to worry about," she tries, scared of the menacing look in his eyes, his tight grasp on Leopold's shirt, the way he seems to be using his own body weight to deprive his enemy of oxygen as he spews threats. At her pleading voice, however, he lets go, and the older man slumps against the wall, taking deep breaths as he bends over, his hands placed on his knees.
"You know, it's a shame I didn't keep that drawing. It'll be worth a lot more in the morning, when you're both dead on the bottom of the Atlantic," he hisses at them when he regains some of his basic functions.
"Excuse me?!" Robin barks.
"You heard me," the man responds, looking up at them. Regina is back in Robin's embrace, and Leopold wheezes out a mocking laugh at them when she murmurs not to pay attention to the man's ramblings, that they'll get off the ship and survive together, like they planned.
"Aww, look at you two idiots, fighting for true love 'til the bitter end! Face it, imbecile, you can't bypass the women and children's priority to get on a boat, at least not without a bribe, and as we've already established, you're scum, you can't afford to pay for your survival. And you," he says as he trains his disdainful eyes on Regina, "why, you're simply too stupid to save yourself, if your little acrobatic display from earlier was any indication. You're both going to die here because of your precious sentimentality, and when I read your names on the list of the drowned, I will enjoy every second of imagining your cold, wet torture."
Regina feels Robin tense before he goes for Leopold again, fists ready to slam into his face, but she stops him, wraps her arms around one of his and pulls him back. He relaxes visibly at her touch, though he's still staring daggers at her ex-fiancé, his body shielding Regina from him once more.
"It's not worth it, and we don't have time for this, let's go."
Robin nods, though he has yet to look at her, and he starts backing a few steps, never taking his eyes off the man that made her miserable, his hand rising to point straight at him in a threatening stance before he turns around and starts to move in the direction the remaining boats are located, his arm gentle where it loops around her frame even though he's still fuming, almost growling when her former fiancé continues to shout barbs and nasty words at them as they walk away.
It's the last time Regina sees Leopold, his black topcoat draped around her shoulders the only evidence left of his presence in her life.
Just 3 more to go, guys! Next update will be Monday, if the muse cooperates ^^