Happy birthday Nani! To celebrate, here's chapter 2!
Just as she had known would happen someday, Regina suddenly found herself standing in front of a door that had once been so familiar to her. She opened the door of the white mansion that had once been her home (just how many years ago that had been remained to be seen) and walked inside, the place smelling oddly unfamiliar.
The strange odor made her pause, but Mal and Zelena swept inside, happy to reclaim what had once been theirs, just as she had known they would be. The spell her mother had cast just before their death would only last for this one night, but it was as if the other two Mills women, particularly Zelena, had completely forgotten that in their enthusiasm to be home. Regina, however, knew they had to use this time wisely… or, more accurately, she had to use this time wisely to ensure that her sisters and, God forbid, her mother, never set foot on this earth again. As for herself… all she wanted was rest and freedom from the life she had lived. The fact that she was back in the land of the living would be appealing to most, but Regina, personally, had relished the reprieve from her sisters, particularly Zelena. She loved Mal, really she did, but she had swayed toward their mother's ways too much, lured by the promise of power provided by their mother (or rather, sought by her) that Regina had despised. Her mother had had knowledge of that preference and Regina, with her mother's support, even went so far as to make it known among the others of their kind that she was the most fearsome of Cora's daughters. However, encouraged by the love of her father, she had remained true to herself and the woman her father wanted her to be- much to her mother's everlasting frustration. She had put an end to her father in the cruelest way, devastating Regina, but if her mother thought the lack of her father's presence would make Regina bend to her evil will, she had been sorely mistaken. Her beloved padre had entrusted the fate of the family to Regina, and she wouldn't let him down. She had given up on Zelena as a lost cause, knowing that her eldest sister had learned her wicked ways at their mother's knee, but Mal… she had always had hope that her sister would eventually realize that the way their mother wanted to do things was wrong. However, Mal, as the middle child, had always been swayed too easily by the need to belong that Regina had never felt. She had always been perfectly content to live life the way she wanted to, knowing that in the end, what she was doing was right.
Not that that strong sense of what was right and wrong had ever done her any good. Unwelcome tears welled in her eyes at the thought of her beloved father. He had passed not long before the fate of them all was sealed. So recently, in fact, that the pain of his loss was as fresh as if she had just buried him in the ground the day before. Her father was the one who had taught her everything he knew about being a good person, and he had always been her hero, declaring long ago that she wanted to be just like him when she grew up.
She smiled fondly at the recollection, letting herself get lost in the memory…
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" her daddy asked her, smiling down at her. She always thought he was so tall, and he always protected her, just like the princes and knights in the stories he secretly read to her at night. Her mother had never read to her, believing that not reading to her children before bed would help them realize that they could only rely on themselves. Regina had never understood her mother's way of thinking, in all honesty, and she had welcomed her father with happy giggles every time he would sneak in with the treasured book of fairy tales under his arm.
She giggled. Wasn't it obvious? "I want to be you, Daddy!" She knew no one else who was as kind as her father- her mother had made sure of that. She and her sisters were kept at home, and while her mother did keep up appearances, if only to make sure no rumors of what the Mills women were really up to started circulating around town, the only people she let enter their home were just like her: determined to get their way at any cost, even if they had to resort to actions that could only be described as evil to do so.
Her father, however, was the exact opposite. Instead of focusing only on casting the latest wicked spells and brewing potions that would enable him to get what he wanted (not that he had the magic to do it, but that was beside the point), he always had a heart for those in need and loved each of their daughters with a depth she could not help but admire.
Her father smiled, but she thought she saw a tear in his eye, and it worried her. "Why are you crying, Daddy? What's wrong?"
He shook his head, and she could see now that he was smiling. "Naught is wrong, Princess. I am simply so proud of you. However, you may want to rethink your choice. You see, I am far from perfect."
She immediately refuted him, so confident in her beliefs that she had to make sure he saw her way of thinking and agreed with it. "No, Daddy, you are perfect. At least, you are to me."
He held her close and pressed a soft kiss into her hair. "Thank you, Princess. You do not know how much that means to me."
She had gone to bed that night sure of one thing: at least she was doing something right in the eyes of the person who mattered most.
In the days (years now, she supposed, though she had no idea how many) since, Regina had strived to be as much like her father as possible. She knew that it was always his goal to see his daughters see the evil deeds their mother did as what they truly were, and she had always done exactly that, tried to toe the line between honoring both her mother and her father's wishes. Her sisters, however, were another matter entirely. She had long ago given up on Zelena, knowing that she would always follow in the footsteps of their mother, always eager to please to an extent that Regina would never understand. Then again, Zelena probably often wondered why Regina didn't enjoy the attention their mother gave her…
Mal was different, and always had been. Regina would never know whose side she was truly on, and had been trying to make her see the error of the other Mills women's ways for years. Mal had always been addicted to power though, and had apparently seen that in what their mother did, so Regina's task of fulfilling her father's dying wish was not an easy one by any means.
Take now, for example. While she was contemplating all they had lost, her sisters had forged ahead, clearly far more eager than she would ever be that they were home once more.
She stepped over the threshold, happy to be in this place again… Or at least, she was eager to be in a place where her father had once been. She certainly was not thrilled to have to deal with Zelena, and was thankful the spell had only brought back the three of them, her and her two sisters. She shuddered to think what would happen to Salem if she were to return to the land of the living… And honestly? She would not be surprised if they found out, if there was a secret part of the spell that had raised herself and her sisters from the grave that they hadn't been aware of..
A thought occurred to her all of a sudden, and she rushed into the house. She could imagine that the first thing Zelena would do would be to try to bring their mother back from the dead, and she had to stop that from happening at any cost. The world did not need to see the evil Cora Mills could conjure, that much was certain.
"Malena, look! All of my things, just where I left them," Zelena crooned, her fingers caressing the bottles that by some miracle were still standing all lined up in a row on their shelf. Regina did not know how long they had been gone, but she had thought that the first thing someone would want to do would be to get rid of any evidence that they had been witches, that the ever-so-perfect Puritans would want to eradicate every artifact of their lives that went against their precious moral code. After all, wasn't that why they had gone after them in the first place?
What she was curious about was the set of hoofbeats she had heard when they came back… and who had brought them back in the first place.
It seemed that for once, she and Zelena were thinking the exact same thing, because her half-sister (her father had always welcomed Zelena as his own, but Regina would neither forget nor forgive the chaos and upheaval she had brought to their lives) was looking around the house, a wolf on the hunt. "Where is she?" she screeched. "Where's the virgin who said the incantation?"
"Calm down, Zelena," Mal soothed her. "We will find her eventually."
It was immediately apparent to Regina (and Mal too, she hoped) that she had said exactly the wrong thing. Zelena rounded on the blonde member of the family, her eyes blazing. "Calm down? Calm down? Do you realize that you are only here because a child, a virgin, said the incantation, and that we are only back from the land of the dead for this one night? We need to find more children, so that we can live forever! You do not want to only be here for this one night, do you?"
Regina tried to not let it show, but she was surprised that her mouth did not drop open at Zelena's declaration. So that was her plan. Now that Regina knew, she vowed to stop her, make sure that she could not hurt anyone once and for all. In the far corners of her mind, she was aware that that meant that she would depart from this earth forever as well, but to Regina, that was a small price to pay for ridding the world of her wicked sister. From what she had seen of this time (whatever year they had landed in), there was nothing worth staying here for, anyway. She doubted she would find her final resting place somewhere better, with her father, but she could hope, could she not?
Suddenly, they all seemed to hear the sound of voices at the same time. While they were muffled by the fact that they were on the second floor of the mansion, Zelena's ears seemed to perk up. "Is that… Sisters, dost thou hear children?" She sniffed the air, her eyes gleaming with a maniacal frenzy that Regina knew she hadn't missed in the however many years it had been since they had last walked the earth. It meant that Regina had work to do. "It is children! Sisters, we must give them a proper greeting."
"Would it not be better to plan this out better instead of ambushing them?" Regina tried to suggest, but Zelena rounded on her.
"Of course it would not! The element of surprise will be in our favor, and we must strike now, while the iron is hot! You want to be here for more than just this one night, do you not?"
Earlier when she had asked that question, she had not been face-to-face with Regina, so she had not seen the hesitation in her eyes that she could see plain as day now. "You do not, do you? I wonder why…" At Regina's answering stare, she cackled and answered her own question. "I believe I know exactly why you do not want to live forever, sister. You want to join our dear father in the afterlife, do you not?"
Regina tried to stay calm- it was always the best method for dealing with Zelena- but under the circumstances, she felt she deserved the outburst she unleashed. "You know I miss him more than anything, so how could I not?"
Zelena smirked, and all Regina wanted was a spell that would wipe it right off of her face. "I'm sure it's been even harder ever since that one stable boy we had- what was his name again? Anyway, it matters not. What matters is that you did what our beloved mother taught us never to do. How many times have you heard her tell us love is weakness, Regina? More times than I have, to be sure."
"Forget it," Regina snarled. "Why can you not just leave me alone, Zelena?"
"I would," Zelena tutted. "But I believe I only have your best interests at heart- and I certainly have our mother's wishes in mind, as should you. Or have you forgotten her, sister, even though she raised you from the day you were born?"
The comment stung, as Zelena surely had known it would. Or perhaps she was too caught up in her jealousy to realize that her words were hurtful ones? Regina honestly never could tell with her sister. As a rule, though, it was always true that Zelena had never quite forgiven Regina for her existence- or rather, the fact that their mother had apparently not been ready to be a parent when Zelena was born, but had been perfectly willing to be a mother to Regina and Mal. Regina thought Zelena's jealousy and anger were grossly misplaced- after all, she had had nothing to do with the events that had led to Zelena's abandonment, and growing up with Cora Mills was certainly far from a walk in the park. "How could I forget?" she asked, muttering the remainder of her thoughts under her breath. "After all, you never let me."
"What was that?" Zelena asked, one hand cupped around her ear. "Did I hear you say something else, or is my hearing not quite right since we returned?"
Perfect, Regina smirked, knowing she had the ideal opportunity to mess with her sister's mind. Not that she needed it- far from it, her sister was delusional enough- but it would be fun to make Zelena think something had happened during the transition from the limbo they had been in to the real world. "I believe it must be your hearing, for I uttered not a word. Perhaps we should find the nearest healer."
"How is this possible?" Zelena cried, beginning to look around them frantically. Regina had a sneaking suspicion she knew exactly what her sister was looking for, a guess that was confirmed when her half-sister moaned, "Where is it? Where is the book? The spell that brought us back was in it, I know it! That is the only place where we can find answers- and the potion that will allow us to live forever!"
Regina shrugged. "I do not know, Zelena. We do not even know yet how many years it has been since we last walked this earth. It is very possible- probable, in fact," she muttered. "That someone found and destroyed the book you are looking for so desperately years ago, perhaps even centuries." Given what they were hanged for, it was very likely that an angry mob had destroyed all evidence of the witchcraft performed in this house, the last remnants of who they had been (and, it seemed, the witch Zelena would forever wish to be) lost in the whispering winds of a time long gone by.
She couldn't help a small smile when Zelena heard her words. She may regret it later- likely would, in fact, if she knew her sister- but she had to admit that it felt good. For too long, she had seen the terror Zelena and their mother had inflicted on the villagers residing in Salem, and had wanted to stand up to them and resist their efforts, but never acted on her desires. She knew she would never be considered good- what daughter of Cora Mills ever could be forgiven for what they had been led to do under their mother's guidance?- let alone accepted, but it would be nice to help the cause of good for a change.
Zelena advanced on her, a murderous glare in her eyes that Regina did not like one bit. "You had best hope that you are wrong about that, sister dear. If they have condemned that book, then they have condemned not only me and our mother, but you as well. Or had you forgotten that? I do not know what this little act of rebellion is, but it will stop now, or I promise you, I will not rest until I have made you regret your words and actions a hundred times over."
Regina sighed. That was the problem with Zelena… or a blessing, she supposed, depending on how one looked at it. Yes, she loved their mother, but because she saw their relationship as one where she constantly had to win Cora Mills' approval, she was always saying things like that and would rarely follow up on her actions. She acted tough, but it was all a show for their mother… though why she was continuing it now when their mother had likely been buried in the ground for years, Regina had no idea. There was no one left to impress, so Zelena could drop the act. "I do not see what we can do. The book is not here, so it seems that your plans are over even before they have begun."
"That cannot be, it simply cannot!" Zelena shouted, stomping her foot. "That book is not ordinary, it is magical, as you very well know. It has safeguard spells on it, it has to be here!"
It was in that moment that Regina heard a soft thump outside. She hoped Zelena had not heard it, but-
"Wait, what was that?" Mal asked.
Regina shot her sister a murderous glare. Whose side was she on?
Zelena's eyes gleamed with the thrill of the hunt, her spellbook all but forgotten- at least, Regina hoped it was. At the same time though, she dreaded the thought of whatever schemes were running through her sister's mind at that particular moment. As with everything her sister plotted, it did not bode well for her victims. "Sisters, we must find out! Whoever they are, they do not know the wrath of the Mills sisters when they have been wronged, do they?"
"Is it really necessary-" Regina began, trying to placate her sister, but it was immediately clear that Zelena was having none of it.
"Of course it is necessary, dear sister! How could it not be? Now that we have returned, we must remind the good people of Salem of the magic we can do, what we are capable of."
Mal sniffed the air, and her eyes lit up. "I smell a child!" She sniffed again, lifting her nose to the ceiling, to get a better gist of the scent on the air, Regina was sure. Her sister's gift for having an extraordinary sense of smell and ability to turn into a dragon at will were ones that Regina would never understand, but nonetheless admired, to an extent. She was certain her sisters would say the same about her ability to conjure fire. Mal, of course, could use fire as a weapon once she had shapeshifted into her dragon form, but neither of them could wield a fireball quite like her, and she was proud of it.
Zelena's ability to rip out hearts (one shared by Regina, even though she hated doing it) was the most deadly magical gift of all, however, and it was that gift that worried Regina the most. Once their hearts were in her hands, any children Zelena captured would be at her mercy. Regina had seen firsthand exactly what happened to those poor children, and she had resolved from the moment she and her sisters had returned that the same thing would not be happening now that she had a second chance at life- not if she could help it. Her father had always taught her to live an honorable life, and for too long, she had let her mother's tyranny and evil ways dictate her actions. Now that neither of them were around to guide the sisters in the direction they should go, Regina resolved to live a life that her father would be proud of- no matter how short that life might be. The potion that, if she could find it, would enable Zelena to exchange children's lives for the increased longevity of her own life required magic of the darkest kind, and while Regina knew that her own magic would never be light magic, she was determined that what she did do with her magic from here on out would be for the good of the world, not to harm someone in any way (unless, of course, it was used to stop her sister). Like Zelena, Cora would also likely wonder what had gotten into Regina if she was here, but now that she had an opportunity to live her life again (for no matter how short a time), Regina was determined to make the most of it, and make her father proud of her. Yes, he had always said that he would always be proud of her, but Regina had never felt deserving of his love and praise, and now was determined to earn it, even though it was far too late and she had never needed to earn her father's affection in the first place. He left behind a legacy of kindness that she was determined to emulate, no matter what the cost. Zelena's most potent ability wouldn't be used to harm innocent children, no matter what the cost.
"A child?" Zelena questioned, her eyes shining. Regina could already see the wheels turning in her wicked sister's mind, and she was determined to thwart whatever malevolent plan her wicked sister concocted. "Do tell me more, sister."
Mal sniffed the air again, and her eyes lit up with her latest realization. "It seems that we are in luck! There is more than one child present just outside the house this evening." She sniffed again. "In fact, there are so many smells that resemble that of a child that I can barely take a second to savor the unique flavor of each one."
Regina tried not to shudder at her sister's description, but she couldn't help the frown that settled on her lips. She loved her sister, she did, but this particular gift was one that she would never understand or appreciate. Mal was describing the children outside the house as if they were the latest scrumptious meal prepared by their cook (not that the Mills family had ever had the means necessary to hire a cook even if their reputation had all but made every cook run away screaming from their door), and Regina hated it. The thought of eating children was repulsive. So much so, in fact, that she needed a little fresh air to cleanse her stomach and help her not think about that particular topic anymore.
"Where are you going?" Zelena demanded to know. "You will not live to see another day if you do not participate in my plans, Regina."
When had she ever expressed interest in partaking in Zelena's wicked schemes? Not at all since they had come back to Salem, that much was certain. However, Regina also knew that it would be wise to not completely alienate her sister, or she would never know what her plans were so she could put a stop to them. To that end, she replied, "I only need a little fresh air," hoping that that would be a reasonable enough excuse for Zelena to let her go in peace.
She was relieved when her sister nodded. "Very well. While you're out there, perhaps you could make yourself useful and find out some information for us, sister dear? What year it is, what the world has become in our absence, matters of that nature."
"Of course," Regina readily agreed. This part of her sister's plan she had no problem with. After all, she wanted to see what had become of the world and what changes had been made as much as her sister did, but for very different reasons. And if she found out information that would help her put a stop to Zelena's plans, she and the rest of Salem would be all the better for it.
Robin and the kids had run out of the house the minute they figured out what was going on. Hearing the witches downstairs in the front of the house, they had found a back staircase that would allow them to sneak out of the house undetected.. or so they hoped. Only Henry and Roland were with him, Peter choosing to take another, more dangerous, route out of the house through the second story window. Robin had tried to convince him that that wasn't the smartest idea, but his efforts had been in vain. Henry had muttered to just let him go, to not worry about him, and while the honorable part of him wanted to at least try to make the teen see reason, he was also well aware that the oldest of the three boys was also the reason they were in their current predicament in the first place, so, contrary to what he had always taught Roland to do, he had just given up on Peter and taken Henry and Roland to find the back staircase so they could get out before the witches found them.
There had been a part of him that hadn't believed that the witches really had come back (despite the eerie effects the words Peter spoke had on the house), but his skepticism hadn't lasted long, especially once they had come back to the first floor of the mansion. They had spotted the backs of the three sisters, one of them too busy ranting about he didn't even want to know what for any of the three to pay attention to them, thankfully. Robin had been too busy focusing on getting Roland and Henry out of the house to worry about taking a closer look at the three sisters, the boys under his care his top priority.
Now that they were a good few yards away from the house, Robin knew it was time to take a minute to stop and rest. They needed to regroup, and most importantly, he needed to make sure that both Roland and Henry had escaped the house unscathed.
"Thank goodness that's over with," Henry breathed, resting his hands on his knees as he panted.
"Are you both all right?" Robin asked, making sure that his visual assessment of the boys' well-being had been an accurate one.
Both boys nodded, and a voice told them, "Be thankful you are. Those three- two of them, at least, although the third would have you believe she's the same way- are not to be trifled with."
Roland frowned. "Huh? What does that mean?"
"It means that it's dangerous to mess with them," Robin quickly explained, not fully paying attention to his son because he was trying to find the owner of the voice that had spoken to them. All he could see was the bustling streets around them, filled with children and their parents (who steered their younger counterparts far away from the Mills mansion, much to Robin's relief) out trick-or-treating. There was nothing out of the ordinary- or at least, there didn't seem to be. Eventually, he spotted a majestic black stallion, a mustang, if he wasn't mistaken. However, he knew that horses couldn't talk, so it was impossible that the voice they had heard could have come from the beautiful creature before them… right? At the same time though, he had just learned that evening that witches were real, so who was he to say that horses couldn't talk?
As he was having this internal debate, the horse sighed. "Yes, I can talk. I haven't, not in decades, if not centuries-" a fact that had been obvious to Robin from the moment the horse first spoke from the gravely, unclear sound of his voice, "However, after the stupidity you all allowed to happen, it seems that I have no choice. You let that scoundrel of a boy wake my daughters, and now I have to clean up the mess you've created- which I can assure you is not going to be an easy task."
The horse paused, clearly waiting for a response, and Robin looked at Henry and Roland, trying to gauge their reactions to this new development. Was he imagining things, or could the two younger boys see and hear what he was experiencing too?
Both boys had their mouths wide open, and Roland whispered, "Can you really talk?" There was no small amount of awe in his voice, and Robin could imagine how he was feeling (which, truth be told, was how he was feeling as well. Like father, like son, they said…). Like Robin, he was probably surprised but overjoyed that the horse in front of them was talking. Robin had always taught him to believe in magic, while Marian had always had her head a bit more firmly planted in the "real" world. It had caused many an argument between them, and some had wondered how they managed to become a couple in the first place.
"Of course I can talk!" the horse replied indignantly. "As I said, I just don't do it often. Look at how you're reacting now. People would have tried to kill me long ago if they thought I could talk. People don't take kindly to what they don't understand. That's something that's been true for centuries. No matter what decade I'm in, I've noticed that people haven't changed, and at this rate, never will. People are afraid of what they don't understand, and always will be."
"How…" Robin began, not sure how to phrase his question, afraid he would offend the mysterious creature in front of him.
"How did I get like this?" The horse neighed, and Robin could have sworn it was a laugh. "That's a story for another time. We need to get away from here and make a plan."
"To stop the witches?" Roland asked, his eyes shining with the thrill of adventure, and the horse nodded, the majestic mane tossing back. If they didn't live in the city, Robin would love to get a horse. They were magnificent creatures, all of them, and Robin couldn't believe he was standing in front of the best, and most unique, one he'd ever seen.
"Two of them, yes. One, however-"
There was a flash of lightning and the roll of thunder above them, and Robin immediately ushered the kids under the nearest awning. When he next looked around, Robin couldn't see the black mustang anywhere. The end of his sentence made Robin think that there was in fact more to the story of the Mills sisters, but he had also seen enough already that night to know that he couldn't know everything about them no matter how hard he tried, that appearances could easily be deceiving.
He looked out at the now-empty courtyard outside of the building where the Mills sisters had once made their home. He saw the flash of something out of the corner of his eye that caught his attention. It was a bright red piece of fabric, one that was dazzling to behold. The woman wearing that singular dress (for he discovered upon further inspection that that's what it was) disappeared into the shadows before he could take a closer look or call out to her to be careful, given the weather conditions.
Robin looked at the door behind him, trying to see where he and the boys had sought refuge. It was a storefront, much to his relief, with a sign that declared the place was open for business. Robin opened the door, ushering the boys inside, hoping that they would be safe there, at least for the time being.
Inside, there were trinkets everywhere of all shapes and sizes. Looking around, Robin noticed that all of these odds and ends had to do with the Mills sisters. Why the shop for the museum wasn't in the mansion itself he had no idea, but he was very thankful for it at the moment.
"Crazy weather, right?" the shop's only visible employee, a short woman with her blonde hair in a bun, asked. "I don't know how on earth anyone can justify not believing in global warming these days, not with weather like this at the end of October."
"It is rather unusual," Robin acknowledged, looking around. "So what do you have here?" Though he probably wasn't going to buy anything, he was trying to be polite. No one liked someone who came into their store and used it for something like using the restroom or seeking shelter from a storm and didn't buy anything.
"Oh, just odds and ends, trinkets, if you will," the woman said. "The name's Tink, and I'm the resident expert on the Mills sisters."
"Really?" Robin asked, his eyebrows raised. He would have thought that anyone who worked up at the mansion would be an expert on the ancient family, not someone who just sold souvenirs.
She shrugged. "The woman who works up there, Victoria Belfry, and her daughters Anastasia and Ivy know nothing about the Mills family. Oh sure, they know how to fake it, and it fools the tourists, but anyone who's lived around here for their entire lives like I have knows that what they tell our abundance of visitors isn't what really happened. Oh, and Isaac Heller's over there too, he always did try to spin a good story- with absolutely no success, I might add."
"So what really happened to the Mills sisters, then?" Robin asked softly. After everything that had happened, he suddenly found that he wanted to know everything she could tell him about them- particularly Regina. Whether or not he had really seen that particular Mills sister in the flesh, he didn't know, but he had to know more about her. After all, if the horse they had encountered who had since disappeared (how was a talking horse afraid of something as natural as storms?) was correct (and given the fact that he could talk, Robin couldn't imagine that he wouldn't be), not all was as it seemed with the family.
He shook his head. Snap out of it, Robin. You know better than anyone that appearances can be deceiving. After all, wasn't that how you ended up in the situation you're in now? He would have thought that what had happened with Marian would have taught him to be more cautious, but he had always been a goner for dark eyes and dark curls… he had a type, that much he knew for sure. He needed to be more cautious, look at the situation from every angle, but how? He needed the horse to cone back…although given that it (he) had found them of his own accord, it was likely he would find them again. After all, they may not have been directly responsible for bringing the sisters back, but they had been involved, and from what he had seen so far, it seemed that for the horse, that was enough. They needed to fix what they had wrecked, and to do that, Robin knew that he and Roland (maybe not Henry, given that he was from the area) needed more information. They needed to really know what they were up against, or there was just no way on Earth they'd be able to defeat the witches…or even know if defeating them was what they should be doing. From what the horse had said, Robin had a feeling that there was in fact more to the story, just as he had first suspected, but he had no idea what it was, and he was eager to find out.
Tink's eyes shine, and she looked around the room for something- Robin would've asked what, but he figured she'd tell him eventually. Sure enough, a minute later, she groaned with pent-up frustration. "I can't believe I've never put furniture in here!" She sighed. "You'll just have to use what you were given at birth, but I think I do have a few rugs. Follow me."
They followed her to the back of the shop, but they didn't even get to sit, not before Roland glimpsed something outside and pointed. "Look Papa, it's Regina!"
Robin looked through the window, and sure enough, there she was… and at the sight of her, Robin was speechless. He had known from the minute he saw her portrait that she was beautiful, of course, but it seemed that a canvas couldn't truly capture her beauty, and he was left reeling from everything the portrait had missed in its depiction of her. Her hair was so dark it shone, even without the hair products he knew she wouldn't have had in her time. Her lips were red, bright with whatever they had used instead of lipstick back in the day, and her eyes… Robin was transfixed by them, if truth be told. Now that she was right up against the window of the shop, he could see them more clearly, and the artist who had painted the portrait of the Mills family hadn't done them justice at all. There was a hint of whiskey in them that hadn't been present in the painting, and Robin was absolutely mesmerized by it.
He had to remember, though, that she was a witch, one with powers that were probably unimaginable to a mere mortal like him. More than anything else, he needed to exercise caution. After all, no matter what Tink supposedly knew about her, she was an unknown entity to him, one who was in a set of circumstances that would be unfamiliar and strange to anyone. Even if not everything was as it seemed, she might be a wild animal cornered given her unusual surroundings. At the very least, he needed to keep Henry and Roland far from her. He would never be able to forgive himself if anything happened to either of the boys. Nor would Marian if anything happened to their son on his watch.
Although he didn't know what he was worrying about. After all, "Roland, it may not be her," he reasoned. "It's Halloween, you know. Someone might have dressed up as her to go trick or treating, or to a party."
He wasn't able to convince himself though, even though it was a plausible excuse- and if he wasn't able to do that, how would he be able to convince his son?
"No, it's her," a voice said from over his shoulder. He turned to find Tink beside him, looking out the window like the rest of them.
"We need to get out of here then," Robin declared. He wasn't going to chance the witch coming in and hurting either of the boys, not if he could help it.
Tink shook her head. "No you don't. It's Regina, she won't hurt you."
"You can't know that," Robin pointed out. Obviously she couldn't. After all, no matter how much research she had done, it would never compare to actually knowing a person. History was always written by the victors in any given situation, and was biased toward one side or the other.
"Actually, I can," she argued. "And if I told you how, you would never believe me."
Robin let out a bit of a growl in frustration. "We don't have time for this. Roland, Henry, come on. We need to get somewhere safe." He may be mesmerized by her appearance, but he wouldn't let that cloud his judgment. He needed to put Roland and Henry's safety first.
At that moment, the doors of the shop flew open and they all looked up. Was it the wind?
Of course it hadn't been, that was just Robin's wishful thinking. In the doorway stood Regina, the witch he had been so entranced by,
Oh no, he thought. What were they going to do now?