first one for the OQ prompt party, monday.
from prompt n.153:
Robin's soul wasn't obliterated, but instead was sent to the worst part of Hell as punishment for loving the Evil Queen and Regina just found out.

p.s. it kinda has a bit of doq, just foreshadow.


The Devil, You Know

.

She doesn't know for how much longer she can hold back tears, at this point.

As it happens, a new page has showed up in Henry's book. And it's late. Too late, because months have passed from his death, and Regina was just starting to feel slightly better – after sending the Queen away, and vanquishing Jekyll and Hyde and the Black Fairy, after Emma's wedding and countless hours of worrying, of planning and hoping it'd all go well, now they've done it, and she actually had time for herself.

To visit his grave, to mourn him.

To start planning for Roland to come back to her.

And yet – it's like the book knows, it knew it wasn't a good time for her, too many evilness at once and even the Evil Queen can lose her balance, her sanity. The book waited months to show her, or to show Henry for that matter, where Robin went after his death.

Henry has called her as soon as he found out, then he called his grandparents and Emma and Hook and Zelena, and now they're all in her living room – doing what heroes do, planning, discussing, but she's looking at the fireplace and not listening to any of it.

"Regina?"

"Mom?"

The voices come from far away – she hears them, but she's thinking of something else, and she knows she should focus on how to save him, but –

He woke up with tears in his eyes, and for the first seconds, he didn't know why. It came all back to him, his sacrifice and his true love's tears as she said her goodbyes.
He found himself lying down in a street, the stinky smell of sulfur reaching his nostrils almost instantly.
"Why hello there," a voice said from above, his eyes blinking furiously to focus the one who was talking to him. "You woke up at last."
It was a girl, her smile sly, and she tilted her head. "What's your name?"
"R-Robin of Locksley, milady," he coughed. What was this place?
"Oh well. I used to know that name. I know you, Prince of Thieves," the girl laughs. "So, what did you do? Show me the tag, come on!"
"The tag?"
"Yeah, the identification tag. We all have one here," she explains. "I'm Medusa. Not the Greek chick, I wish I were so cool. Medusa Aris, assassin, pleased to meet you," she smiles. "So what's your tag?"
He fumbles with his shirt and jacket, searching, and finally finds the identification tag, and there's a small engraving, but clear enough.

Robin of Locksley
He loved the Evil Queen, and died because of it.

.

"Mom!"

Henry's voice now reaches her, loud and clear, and she turns, shaking herself from her memory. Seeing those words in Henry's book… it crushed her.

Welcome to the worst part of Hell, Prince of Thieves. Judas' circle.

"Sorry," she murmurs. Finally looks at the others, and they're all staring at her. Delightful.

"We have come up with a plan, Regina," Snow whispers, as if she doesn't want to startle her. "We… we think it should be David, Emma and Hook – we don't think you should go, it's…"

"No, I have to go," she interrupts. She doesn't understand, how did they come up with this idiotic idea? Of course she has to go. "He's there because of me. Because he loved me."

Saying it almost makes the dam break.

"I know, but Regina," Emma says, with that voice she uses when she wants to be reasonable, "If he's there because he loved you, what do you think they'll do to you?"

"I don't care," she shrugs, because she genuinely doesn't. "I've suffered worse. The only thing that matters is getting him back in some way. Don't, Miss Swan," she cuts, when she sees Emma about to argue. "We followed you to the Underworld for him," she motions at Hook. "You don't get to tell me what to do."

"Mom, you don't think we should… think this through? I wanna save Robin, but I don't want to lose you in the meanwhile, I…"

She looks at Henry – and this, this makes the dam break, the tears roll quietly down her cheeks. Seeing Henry – who usually is the most hopeful of all – seeing Henry lose hope, it's killing her.

"We can plan something. But I want to leave tomorrow, plan or not, I'm going. We know how to get to the Underworld, and I'll figure out how to get to Hell once I'm there," she says. There's silence in the room, now, even her sister is uncharacteristically quiet.

"I'm going to sleep," she adds, unnecessarily, as none of them speaks.

.

She doesn't sleep.

She spends at least half an hour staring at the new page in Henry's book. There's nothing there, just the start of Robin's story, but she knows something has to have happened. Something more, that the book isn't telling her.

When sleeps threatens to steal her from her vigil numbness, she shakes it away.

The books becomes pocket-sized, thanks to her magic. Her magic makes new clothes – boots, leather pants, a black leather corset and a warm cloak, because if she's going down, she's doing so with some sort of style.

She writes Henry a letter – just a quick goodbye, nothing of those tearful farewells, because she is coming back. She doesn't think, doesn't wait, just goes, teleports herself down in the street and then to the forest and the lake, fast, fast, before she can change her mind.

She's just about to take the vial that contains Gold's blood, when a coughing startles her.

"I thought I might find you here, little one," Mal says, from the shadows. She steps into the light, and Regina stares at her. "Yes, your son called me before your little heroic meeting. Told me you might attempt something tonight."

"You won't stop me," Regina warns, squeezing the vial in her fist.

"I have no intention to stop you. In fact, I'm coming with you." Mal smiles gently, and approaches her at the edge of the lake. "Little Henry and Emma and the pirate, they wouldn't survive another trip to Hell; and I don't think your thief would be happy to see your sister. Snow and Charming… I think they've done enough, don't you?"

"What about Lily?"

Regina's voice is hoarse, when Mal takes her hand.

"Lily knows, as does Henry, that we are going to return."

There's a lump in her throat, so Regina nods, wordlessly, and squeezes Mal's hand tighter. "Thank you," she murmurs, and her friend nods.

"Let's go get him back."

.

Cruella is actually helpful, when she wants to be.

It only takes some prodding, and Mal looks almost pleased to see where her old frenemy ended up. But Cruella gives them directions for Hell, and even better, tells them how to get out.

"Now darlings, it could be quite a stretch, but I'm confident you… two… can actually succeed, and if you don't… we'll see each other soon, won't we? But I'm so hopeful you will, you know, I'm quite enjoying this whole Queen of Purgatory thing."

"I'm sure you are," Regina smiles, because are things going well for once? With not so many obstacles, as she thought? She nods to Cruella, then follows Mal out of the Other Granny's diner, and they walk through the streets to reach the library and Hades' old quarters.

It's easy to get down there. Easier than it was months ago, actually, and Regina's heart clenches when she thinks of the last time she was here.

The gates for Hell are hidden – down a creepy staircase, how convenient, and Mal offers to go first, but Regina stops her. "I am glad you're here, but at least let me face the danger. I… I don't want you hurt, too."

"They're not ready for me, believe me," Mal reassures her. "But… go, if you want. I don't think there'll be much of a difference anyway."

Regina nods, and turns to face the stairs. With a deep breath, she starts descending, and the air is more and more heavy, it's difficult to breathe. She glances at Mal, but her friend just smiles at her, and Regina knows – she's a dragon, after all, it's unlikely that fire would bother her.

"You alright, little one?"

"Yeah… I think so," she breathes. The staircase is steep, and apparently endless, the walls are somehow… sticky? of something that looks like mold and spider webs.

And when they reach the lower level, she slams her palms on her thighs, tries to catch her breath as Mal stops beside her.

"Regina…"

Mal's voice is low and dangerous, her hand curling around Regina's forearm. She finally looks up, and her breath catches.

It's a city.

An enormous, never-ending city, with skyscrapers and houses and shacks made of foil, the air stinks, there's no other way to describe it, and the sky is pitch black. She hears yells and screams and tormented voices of agony, and this place is so fucking enormous, and how exactly are they supposed to find Robin here?

"At least we'll blend in," Mal whispers.

Regina lets out a dry chuckle, looking around. "We need… we need to find the person who rules this place – they'll know where Robin is. We need to –"

"Hey there, you two!"

It's a man, yelling at them. They turn to face him, he's – huge, strolling between trash cans in flames. She instantly flinches, but he doesn't seem to be dangerous.

"New meat, huh? And just who are you two? Never seen you around before."

She sees Mal trying to speak, no doubt trying to feed him a lie of some sort, but he doesn't let her. Instead, he gets next to Regina in a second and grabs her shoulder, and before she can react, his hand curls around her neck.

Her first reaction is to burn him, burn his hand, but the fireball she has tried to summon never comes, and he shuts Mal's attempt to hit him with a chill "Relax, lady, I just wanna see the tag to know who we got here."

His hand releases her neck, and goes down, finding a chain that wasn't there before. And yes, she has a tag now, as Robin did in the book, the man reads out loud:

"Regina Mills
Alive, visitor – please report
"

He raises his eyebrow at her, then motions at Mal. "Check yours."

She looks stunned, Regina notices, but obeys and reads her tag that says the same thing.

"You're lucky as fuck, you know that? You gotta come with me now," he says, jerking Regina ahead. "I knew you two weren't dead yet – you look too pretty and proper, have you seen the other souls down here?"

"No, not – can you please leave me?" she hisses, trying to keep calm.

"Ooh, sorry, love," he chuckles. "It's been a long time since I've had to be polite down here."

"Who are you?" Mal asks, following him and looking a bit pissed. "You haven't even told us your name."

"Name's Neti, nice to meet you. I'm part of that crew of underworld gods, I'm just giving a hand to the Queen here. Her henchman when I fancy it, I just try to keep the place going smoothly, you know? Now, though," he stops, facing them, and Regina sees an ancient rage in his eyes. "I haven't asked. Before we get to the Queen… what are you two doing here?"

.

His lip is bleeding.

He's in pain – the entirety of his body is in pain, but he is holding on, he's waiting – because he still hasn't accepted that this is going to be his reality from now on.

"We have been at it for months now, dear," the Queen snarls. "If you could just cave…"

"I – won't," he mutters through his teeth.

She's been trying to convince him for weeks and weeks, and Robin still hasn't said it. Queen Ereshkigal is tough – she is the ruler of Hell, after all, but he'll be tougher.

He will never say that he was wrong about loving Regina. He'd never betray her, but it seems the Queen wants him to. She has been promising him a life in Paradise, saying there's no use for him here, to keep him in chains, it's a waste, but he holds on.

"Oh well." She crouches down, her finger tipping up his chin. "You're sure, Prince of Thieves? After all, I have… all eternity."

"I'll never do it," he almost spits.

"Very well," she sighs, sounding disappointed. She straightens and motions at him, then tells her henchman, "Back to his cell, then, and we'll try again tomorrow."

.

Neti changed his mood very quickly, once he knew what they're doing there. It seems like her story isn't convincing him, for he clicked his fingers and – Regina has suddenly found her wrists bound of chains, as the man pushed her and Mal ahead.

"Let's go see the Queen, my dears," he has said, politely almost. "She has been waiting for you, for a long time now. I thought you'd come earlier, to be honest."

He leads them to a car – he has to be the only person in Hell who has access to a car, Regina thinks as he shoves them inside. She notices Mal is quiet. The dragon knows, probably, that the best course of action now is to go with the flow and wait, because he's leading them exactly where they want to go.

"Mal," she whispers in the car, later, when Neti isn't looking. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, little one," Mal sighs. "We should have seen this coming. At least, finding Robin will be much quicker."

"Yes, but what if…"

Regina never finishes her sentence, but stops there, bites her lower lip. She looks out of the window, as the car speeds through Hell, and waits, hoping that this won't turn into a disaster.

.

When he leads them into the throne room, she's more worried than ever.

The room is dark, a few polls of fire around, candles and black curtains concealing various part of the enormous room. Mirrors scattered everywhere, and it looks much bigger than it actually is, she's sure. Neti leads them on, grunting, his hands on their shoulder as they walk, then releases them when they reach the end of the long corridor to the throne. He makes them kneel, and Regina hears Mal's annoyed hiss, but they are powerless – they may as well fight barehanded, but it wouldn't do them any good.

"Your Majesty," he bows. "They're all yours."

"Thank you, my darling," a voice comes from the shadows. "You may go now."

He bows again and silently walks away to exit.

A tall figure rises from the throne, her clock black as night, her face still in the shadows. When she takes a step towards them, Regina sees her face, pale and feverish, her eyes sunken, her darker colors molding into whiter patches here and there, swirling rounds of gold and white and black all over her skin.

"Queen Regina the Evil, at last," she says, her smile never reaching her eyes. "And her friend, the Mistress of Evil. I suppose you've come to claim your prize, your majesty."

"I… I just want to take him home." She lifts her eyes to meet the Queen's, and does something she would never have thought she'd do. She begs.

"Please."

"You just want to take him home? You're so cute," Queen Ereshkigal smiles, now, taking a few steps towards them. When she reaches her, Regina watches a slim hand curl out of the cloak, then bring her chin up slowly. "So I assume I should just let him go. Just like that. After all, you'll say, he has no use to me, right?"

"I can't see what you'd want from one of the purest people I've met, your Queenlyness," Mal snickers from beside her. "Or is he your Prince of Hell now? You've made a demon of him?"

"Ah, Maleficent. You never learned when your temper and… flames are appropriate to show, right? Right…" the Queen smiles softly, then waves her hand, and suddenly Mal is collapsing to the ground, a stifled scream exits her mouth.

"No!"

Her scream is cut by the Queen's slap across her cheek, and she joins Mal down, her eyes closing for a moment.

"You see, your Majesty," Ereshkigal continues, pacing now with slow steps. "I've quite enjoyed my time with your thief down here. I thought of a good hellish punishment for him, you know. But he – won't – surrender," she snarls, staring down at Regina. "The worst tortures, and I can't get him to say that loving you was wrong. You know why he ended up here? Because he loved you. You, you were a monster, and you sent hundreds to their death, sometimes too early, depriving me of that pleasure!"

Regina breathes, lying down there, and feels a lonely tear roll down her cheek. She won't say anything – it would worsen their situation. So she will wait until the Queen has ended her tirade, and then, then she'll speak. But Robin – she can't think of Robin now, because the Queen wants her to, she wants her to lose control, and to give her an excuse to hurt him.

"So you know, I guess I should give you a small chance," the Queen ponders, slowly. "Try and convince me, Evil Queen. Try to make me see why I should just give him back to the living."

"Because he's innocent," she blurts out. Ershkigal raises an eyebrow, as if she's telling her she'll have to do better than this. So she takes a breath and tries.

"I don't know why he loves me, I don't. I asked many times. But I can tell you… I changed, in these years, and he was unlucky enough to fall in love with me, and he suffered quite a lot already. I don't –" there are tears coming up to her eyes, but she chokes them down. "I don't know why he keeps up with your tortures, I would never fault him for surrendering, and for searching Paradise when he knows he can have it. So I'm asking… I'm willing to give him up, to send him ahead to a better place, even if it means we won't meet again, but please – please save him," she cries, now, her hands curled up in fists, her nails digging deep into her skin, never losing sight of the Queen.

The goddess hesitates, she can see it. She's scrutinizing her, her emotions concealed, and Regina just hears Mal's slow labored breaths next to her.

"You've gone soft," Ershkigal says, almost gently. "I guess love really changes a person."

She seems lost in thought, the Queen. Regina waits, averts her eyes from her, looking down. Right now, she wishes nothing else but running away from this place, and to take Robin and Mal with her.

"Alright," the Queen suddenly says.

Regina's eyes snap up at her, almost disbelieving. "You're… letting us go?"

"Almost," Ershkigal smirks. "But we're going to play a bit first. A little game, just because I can't make it too easy for you, can I? Neti!" she calls, and the man immediately appears, waiting for orders. "Free them from the chains and pull that one up," she says, motions at Mal. Then speaks again, looking at Regina.

"Now, your Evilness. The rules are simple. Many have played, during my reign, but not all of them succeeded. Here's what's going to happen…"

.

They find themselves in front of an endless staircase, Mal and Regina.

It's not the same one they used the first time. This one is new, larger, and they will be able to walk side by side.

"You ready, little one?" Mal asks, as she looks up towards the stairs. "You can do it."

"I'd never forgive myself if I failed," Regina whispers. "Let's go."

It starts slowly, the first steps up are easy enough, and she wishes she could just run until she runs out of breath, but the rules forbid it. They're simple, really. Don't run. Don't change your direction. And no matter what you hear or feel, don't look behind you.

She knows this game.

She knows this legend, of Orpheus and Eurydice, how he went down to Hell to get back the woman he loved, only to play the same game with the gods – and to lose when he looked behind. But he was alone, and his love was tempting him… until he gave in and looked, and he has lost her forever.

She won't.

No matter how much she misses Robin, she won't make that mistake. Her resolve is solid, her heart like steel as she follows Mal up the stairs.

But all her resolve threatens to crumble as soon as she hears his voice.

"Regina."

It's clear and low, his touch a whisper on her hand, a fluctuation of wind. She stops abruptly on the step, and her body freezes, her heart thumping madly.

"Robin?"

"It's me, my love," he says, his voice warm, so warm, and she wishes nothing more than to turn and fly into his arms.

Mal is one or two steps ahead, but she stops too as soon as she hears his voice. Her voice, however, is low and dangerous as she her gaze stays fixated on the stairs, but her hand goes back towards Regina. She never looks behind her, Mal, because it would break the rule, and she doesn't want her to lose Robin in such a stupid way.

"Little one, don't… don't turn." Regina sees her taking a breath, her hand still stretched back. "Take my hand. Don't turn."

She nods wordlessly, and laces their fingers together. Following Mal, she keeps going up, and up, as Robin's ghostly hands touch her skin gently.

"Please," she whispers. "Please don't."

"I'm sorry," he murmurs, and the touch disappears. "I thought you missed me, I thought you couldn't wait to get to touch me again."

"I – I do," she tells him. "Just… not yet."

"Just like that, little one," Mal says lowly, squeezing her hand. "Hold on just a little longer."

"You know, it's probably best if you don't look at me. The Queen made a monster of me, with her endless weeks of torture. You wouldn't even recognize me."

Regina feels the tears fall, now, her heart clenching. "I'm sorry – I'm sorry, I…"

"Because you know, every last drop of blood was for you. And you won't even care about me."

Every step she takes, it feels like her legs are made of stone. Mal keeps relentlessly to pull her upwards, towards the light. And she tries, she tries not to look, but she knows now – why Orpheus failed.

"I've never wanted you to suffer because of me, you know it."

"I know," he says quietly. "But you won't stop it either."

"Don't listen to him, Regina," Mal's voice comes. She follows blindly, now, her eyes veiled of tears, one step after the other as she goes up, and up. "It's not him, it's a trick. We need to keep going. Don't look."

The flow of Robin's hurt whispers and Mal's encouragements make her cry in pain, as she keeps walking.

"You never loved me. You liked that I loved your darkness, but never cared for me."

"She came to Hell for you," Mal answers. "Believe me, she loves you as I've never seen before."

It's… too much, all together. She feels she's about to fall down, and she'll never get up if it goes on like this, crying, whispers of pain and blood coming from behind her and she wants to look at him, wants to ask if he really means what he's saying or…

"Almost there, little one."

She can't see – can't even try to open her eyes, she's blinded, wants to vomit and cry, but Mal keeps going and she thanks the skies she has Mal because she would have lost herself – lost him.

The air smells like grass and trees.

She falls to her knees, her tears falling, her eyes clearing up as she finally can see. They're in the woods now, in Storybrooke, and the sun is about to rise.

"Mal?" she croaks, her hands curling around the wisps of grass.

No one answers, but there's dirt on her hands – there's blood on your hands, she hears voices saying, you heartless monster

"Regina," Mal's voice comes, and she's crouching next to her now. "Are you alright?" She feels Mal's gentle hands on her skin, on her forehead.

"We're… we're home?"

"The stairs have gone, darling. You can look back now."

She doesn't dare yet, because if it hasn't worked, if she failed in some way – she hasn't looked, right, she doesn't think she has at least, and if he – he's not…

"Regina," another voice comes, deeper, and the sunrays are filtering through the trees now, blinding her again, her tears filling her eyes. "Regina, you can look now."

"You're not real," she whispers, her words broken. "If I turn, I'll lose him."

She feels a weight beside her in the grass, hands on her forearms, and she keeps her eyes on Mal – Mal is safe, Mal was with her during their return and Mal will make sure she doesn't lose herself. But now Mal nods to her, murmurs, "Look at him, Regina," gently, she motions towards her – him.

Him.

"I'm here, my darling," he says again, tempting, oh so tempting. "I promise, it's real."

It's when she sees Mal with tears in her eyes, that Regina knows.

And she turns, slowly, her eyes down, she sees a hand placed on her arm, a hand she knows so well – then she looks up. Blue eyes meet her gaze. It's him, it's –

"Robin," she breathes, and suddenly she doesn't see anything because he's holding her in his arms and she's crying into his shoulder. "You're here, you…"

"You saved me," he murmurs, his lips pressing against the crook of her neck. "Thank you."

She feels him kissing her, his embrace just as safe as she's always known it to be, and he holds her to him – now it feels real, she knows it's real. He lifts his head and thanks Mal, "without you, I fear we'd have lost her forever," he says, and Regina feels Mal tremble against her.

Because she's been strong for so long and for them all, and she loves her too.

The grass is humid under her legs, and the only thing that matters are Robin and Mal's arms around her and the feeling she's finally home.

She breathes, now. She can actually breathe easily, as if someone has lifted an enormous weight from her shoulders. As if she's accomplished a task she was postponing, as if – the world has finally started spinning again. She feels tears on her skin, and she knows they're not just hers, that both of them are crying too. And something suddenly comes to her mind – she turns, she lifts her head to see.

"Robin… she hurt you," she says. It's not a question. Her finger thread on his cheek, and he looks… well, terrible. His lips is dirty of dried blood and his eye has a black patch around it, and she doesn't even have the courage to look for other scars, other bruises. Her throat clenches, the urge to cry stronger than ever.

"She did," he murmurs. "But it doesn't hurt anymore."

"We should get you checked out," Mal says, her voice trembling just slightly. "I'm sorry for what she did."

Robin looks at her, and Regina sees him smile, his hand stretched to take Mal's. "I'm fine, I promise. Thanks to you as well, Mal. I… the game she played with Regina, is made to make you lose. I don't think we'd be here without you."

"I don't think I could have done it without her," Regina murmurs, "we'll never know, but… I'm glad you were there with me, Mal."

Mal doesn't answer, but smiles, squeezing her hand. "I am glad you're back," she tells Robin. "The world just became a better place. I am glad we did it."

Regina sighs, leans against Robin's chest, closes her eyes. She would like to start thinking about the hundreds of things she needs to do now that Robin is back – first of all, get Roland back, then ask Robin if he wants to move in with Henry and her, then, probably, dismantle his grave, and…

Well, maybe there could be the start of something beautiful – in time, when they have healed, and made peace with the universe again and forgotten all their sufferings, she can maybe ask Mal to come for tea, and see where it goes from there. Because it took the efforts of two souls to bring him back, not just one, and she will not waste this second chance.