Hi, so here is the third part of this update and I hope you enjoy it. There are now five more chapters left of this story and I hope to give you another chapter before 2021.
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And now there are only five more chapters left of this story so stay tuned as we get to the end of it.
Old Scars, Future Hearts.
Chapter 10-In The Midnight Hour.
Regina breaks into her own castle and meets her sister and finds a new purpose. Robin Hood and Regina have a conversation in which he realises that there is more to the Queen than meets the eye. Final Chapter for the Enchanted Forest arc—at least completely in the Enchanted Forest. Again major changes to dialogue and scenes.
How she had ended up in this situation she did not know.
Actually she did know. Once again the fault lay at her stepdaughter and her insipid husband's feet. Naturally she had to have someone with her as she broke into her own castle and naturally Roland's father had offered his services. David seemed to like him on sight (probably because they were both weapon wielding, slightly short sighted and sickeningly noble). Regina had felt a headache coming on and she was desperate for this to end. She was desperate to sleep.
Sleep was all that was keeping her going. She was aching to lay down in her own bed and not wake up. She was desperate to get out of this corset and into her nightgown where she had left it that morning when she had chased down the dark clouds to the castle laughing the whole way. She was desperate to get lie down her head on her pillow and close her eyes.
The only difference was she was very clear on not waking up.
There was Henry, that was the only thing she had left. Indeed the only thing she had ever done right. Of course there was Roland, that might have once been a consideration but the fact of the matter was that now he had gotten his father back in his life he too was settled down. His life would carry on as normal and Regina would soon be a forgotten memory.
She closed her eyes as she walked. She was ready. She was so ready in fact she was desperately ready. She was ready to sleep and not wake up until Henry was there in front of her. She had no True Love other than him. Daniel was long gone and there hadn't been anyone since. Indeed she was not sure if she had it in her to love another man in that way ever again. Daniel had made her feel so utterly complete, safe, respected, adored…he had made her feel like a woman of the earth and not the princess of spun glass her mother had wanted her to be. To love another the way she had loved him, so deeply, so cleanly…well…she was not sure she could do it.
Of course she had nobody else to speak about this either. Usually her isolation was quite…comforting. She had been alone for a very long time both before she had become a Queen and afterwards. She'd had no brother or sister, no friends in the castle, no relationship with her maids and certainly nothing with a mother who had constantly been heartless and not as a metaphor. Before Daniel her father had been her only friend other than horses and books.
And even though events had changed somewhat between herself and the Charming's (meaning they were less likely to kill each other on a daily basis) they were not 'besties'. She was not going to break down on Snow White's shoulder—children were a touchy subject between the two of them and to be honest with the pregnancy hormones Snow might show an excess of emotion and Regina was not in the mood for that.
And if she told them what she was really up to then they'd go into a complete meltdown put her under lockdown and give her a long and rousing lecture on what she had to live for. Not that she had much as far as she was concerned.
She carried on walking in silence. The thief next to her was saying very little but he looked as if he was debating what to say. Regina sighed. She had never had patience when it came to dithering and if he was not going to say what he was thinking about then she was going to have to. As a parent she had a pretty good idea what he wanted to talk to her about as well.
"So are we going to talk about the glaringly obvious?" she snapped as they walked through under the tunnel that would lead to the door that she had sealed with blood magic.
He started as if she had started throwing fireballs in his direction. Regina sighed. She could feel her temper rising with every step and she had to concentrate on what she had to do. Once she got the potion set up she could finally close her eyes and never wake again. It had to be better than this hell that she was trapped in.
"If you mean Roland then…then I am thinking about the things that I want to say" he said finally. "One hears things about you, Your Majesty, I would hate to be burned alive for saying the wrong thing. My son has already lost one parent"
"Yes he mentioned that"
Robin Hood raised his eyebrows at that as if it was the last thing he had expected. Regina tried not to feel a bit of smugness at the look on his face and began to remove the various enchantments—had it really been twenty nine years since she had been here—God what spells had been in fashion at the time? What had she booby trapped her castle with other than the basics?
"I see. Then you know if I die he will lose everything. And I intend not to let that happen so if your planning to kill me—"
"Why on Earth would I want to do that?" she asked feeling utterly exasperated. God men were really so obvious, they had to go for the easiest option without seeing the real issue which was more often than not right in front of them.
"I don't know because—"
"Because I am the Evil Queen—oh no save it—" she said when he showed every sign of interrupting.
"I don't need to hear you say what I know you were thinking…everyone does. Let's just get this job done and then you can go back to being with your son. And may I suggest when you enter my castle you give him another bath and a good delousing because there was a black ring around my bath by the time I'd gotten him properly cleaned"
There was a moment of silence.
"Well—" Hood said with a raised eyebrow. "Thank you for that, I had only been his parent for five years—"
"Five and three three quarters that's—"
"Nearly six but not quite" Robin Hood finished with a grin now firmly plastered on his cheekbones. Actually when he smiled he looked decades younger than he had looked when she had first seen him. He had looked almost…old then. She couldn't criticize him. There would be no point for a start. She could not have a go at one for shoddy parenting when her own heart felt like it was being trampled on by a herd of rampaging rhinos every second that she was away from her son.
"He says that all the time" Robin Hood said his smile soft. "Actually M'Lady it's not…I just…I have no idea how to thank you"
It threw her a little bit now she had to think about it. She had not been expecting a thank you, she had not been expecting much of anything from him to be honest and most certainly she had not expected the soft almost yearning look on his face as he said it.
It was most disconcerting.
And despite herself she felt herself softening towards him.
"You don't have to" she said finally. "I did what anyone would have done on that island and…and he managed quite well all things considered. He kept up even though were working to…well a bit of a deadline at one point. And afterwards…well I know where we are from can be a bit, well a lot confusing. But he managed very well though I did give him a bit of sugar. I think he saw chocolate on a menu and went for what he knew so I do apologise if he's coming down off that high"
Robin Hood laughed and when he looked at her his eyes were very warm and Regina found despite everything that she was smiling back and she knew her expression too, to be very warm. Actually now she was thinking on it, it was rather nice to have him there. To have him with her for the company if for nothing else. It was nice going to meet the curse another had made famous to know that the boy she had slowly started to love like her own son had someone out there who cared for him.
"If it makes you feel any better I whole-heartedly agreed with you about punching Neal Cassidy—Baelfire—you are not the first nor the last and had your son not been with me I assure you I would have been vocally cheering you on from the side-lines"
Robin snorted the smile dropping again as that darkness and hollowness that came when you thought your child lost to you (Regina did have experience with the feeling). Regina again noticed that he was rather good looking. For a thief.
"I wanted to kill him" he confessed. "I wanted to wrap my hands around his throat…I fantasised about it so much when I thought Roland—some days it kept me sane, the anger, the pain, the agony…the thought of holding one person responsible for it one day kept me going"
Regina thought about it and found she understood in a way that she knew Snow and Charming wouldn't. After all had her anger at Snow White and her desire to make her pay had been the only reason after finishing off her mother she had not decided to take a small vial of poison just to be with her love in the afterlife. Had not Hook taken the same approach with the woman he had loved? Had Gold not gone slightly off track (by his standards) when Belle had lost her memories?
She opened her mouth to say…well she didn't know but her attention was taken away from him by the sight of something disturbing.
An open door.
She was powerful he'd give her that. The spell that she had used to bind his feet to the floor was powerful. He couldn't move and he had tried.
He had to get her to realise that her life was precious, that she was precious and that her boy would not want her to give up. She had to understand that there was hope out there that she would see him again. He had clung to hope through the dark days and now Roland would sleep tonight safe and sound in a big bed and Robin just knew he would fall asleep in a chair that would utterly undo his back just so that he could watch the little chest rise and fall.
He could help her, perhaps, she needed a friend, perhaps that could be how he repaid her for giving him back the most precious thing in his life. She was lonely he knew that. And it would not be a hardship being her friend, actually it could be easy, conversation between the two of them already flowed without any script or pause or silted moments.
Hell she could use him for pleasure if that was what she wanted but he could not allow her to do what she was thinking of doing when everything inside him was screaming and clawing and begging for her to realise just how wrong it was.
There was the clacking of boots across cobblestones but Robin did not allow himself the luxury of thinking Regina, the Evil Queen had decided not to go through with her plan. Whomever this was the person she had claimed was in her castle and now he couldn't defend himself due to the spell.
Fucking typical.
The door opened and he opened his mouth to shout but he felt the spell release his knees and he felt them go weak in a way they had not done so in a long time.
She was there.
She had not stabbed herself with a needle.
She had chosen to carry on.
It filled with him something he could not understand, emotions that he had not felt in a long time, that he did not want to dissect here in front of her so open and vulnerable as she was telling him in her no-nonsense tone that he was right and she had found something to live for.
"Something I haven't had in a long time?"
"What?" he asked though he had a feeling that it was nothing good. To be honest he didn't care. He should be the last twenty four hours had been so emotionally draining for him he didn't care what she did as long as she admitted that she had something to live for.
She turned to him and the smile on her face reminded him how and why she had earnt her moniker. It was gleeful with an undercurrent of malice to it.
"Someone to destroy"
Oh shit, Robin thought as she turned back to her dresser the smile still on her face.
This couldn't be good.
But he had a feeling that he was in too deep to stop now.
And he wasn't sure if he wanted to.
And there you go, let me know what you think. And i will update as soon as i can.
And if i dont get a chance to update, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a very happy and safe start to 2021.
Next Chapter-Regina wakes up in Storybrooke. Henry is back in town. People are disappearing and Regina meets a man that claims to have lost a son at a farm house.