A/N: Regina was banned and cursed as Medusa after the events of "The cricket game" flashbacks. Dimples Queen.
Medus-ssa.
Voices in her head. Her only companions for years she has long since stopped counting.
The beasts caress her skin, cold like death, their tongues hissing in her ears silent torments. She has been wandering in those walls for decades, her numbed feet grazing the cold stone aimlessly. Eyes, translucent like water, accustomed to the cruelty of the night. Skin as pale as the moon. A ghost. A monster feared by all, sentenced to solitude for all eternity.
Medus-ssa.
A name that shouldn't be hers to carry. A curse, a treason and shameful punishment for sins justified.
A sound that belongs in the night, scaring children away. Little creatures running to hide under their mother's skirt at the mere mention of the damned name.
A beast, blind in the light, blind in the dark, luring preys in her lair, peasants seeking vengeance, thirsting for blood, deeming her turmoil not suffering enough. One glare and time stops, imprisoned in a stoned prison colder than her own. A sweet delicacy. The only one thrust upon her.
Medus-.
The heads snap up. Her spine straightens.
Another soul to break, another enchanting cry to caress her ears… It's been long since she's heard songs other than her own.
The beasts glide on her shoulders and arms, tongues salivating for another feast, eyes shining in the dark.
She smirks. She learnt to enjoy it as much as they do.
She hides against the stone, surrounded by her previous preys. The egotists fallen to their knees condemned to share their final resting place with the monster they so loathe.
It's close. She feels it in her skin.
"Hello?"
The voice takes her off guard. They don't usually make their presence known. The fools usually think they can sneak up on her never mind that she can smell their stench from miles away.
"Hello?"
The voice is trembles, the word barely escaping the lips of its carrier. It's…
A child.
Her back knocks against the wall, her numb heart fliting for the first time since – since she was a child herself, before all the horror. A child turned woman turned monster.
The hellos stop but the sniffing doesn't.
"W- Who goes there?"
There's no answer but she hears the child move. She stops him with a raise of her voice and a sharp "no".
"Stay where you are."
"I'm lost," the voice replies.
"To whom?"
"My Papa."
She freezes. A trap?
Yes-ss.
Sssh.
"Where did you get lost?"
"The bridge. I'm not allowed to cross it, but I was following a butterfly…"
The voice breaks and the cries start anew.
"Silence!"
Shocking sounds, quiet sniffings and silence.
"C- close your eyes."
She peeks from her hiding spot and lifts the hood of her black dress to cover the beasts.
Medus-ssa!
They protest, the hissing intensifying in her head.
"Are they closed?"
"Yes."
"If you're lying, you will die."
Silence.
"I'm not lying."
She chooses to believe him. Either way, it wouldn't change much for her.
She finds him in no time. He smells of moss and flowers, of rain and burnt wood and sweat. She scrunches her nose. Displeasing.
"Hold my hand."
He shivers when her skin touches his. Cold. She forgets sometimes.
"I'll bring you to the bridge but you'll have to find your way home from there."
"Yes."
She knows the bridge he spoke of. The one linking the Enchanted Forest to Sherwood's.
She's been on this road sometimes. In the dark of the night, once all souls are asleep and hers can rove in peace. She's stood atop the hill wondering how much he would take for her to reach the Dark Palace, her stolen home, and how she longs to turn all its illegitimate inhabitants into stone. Futile dreams. She's one. They're thousands out for her head. Perhaps they would use it as a mean for war, hang on a spear, dead but alive.
Medus-ssa.
"Shh!" She snaps, stopping in her tracks.
"I didn't talk."
She tilts her head to the boy.
"Never said you did," she deadpans, resuming her walk.
"Who are you talking to?"
"The voices in my head."
The walk isn't long per se, but he talks much and loudly. She doesn't mind. It's a nice melody, a new tune not unpleasant to the ears. She wonders if she should keep it, wonders if it'd stop working if she did. Probably.
They're not too far. She recognizes the smell of the bluebells and wood anemone that never grows on the rotten lands of her lair. The spring wind is now caressing her face instead of pushing her forward. They've reached north.
"Do you know how to count to ten?" She asks the boy and he stops whatever tale he's been telling her about.
"Yes, I do," he says, and she feels his body straighten.
Pride.
She chuckles, and she freezes with surprise. She didn't know she could still produce such an innocent sound. A wet bead glides against her cheek.
"We have arrived, the bridge isn't far. Count to ten and then, and only then you can open your eyes. Do you understand me?"
"You will be gone when I open my eyes?"
She hears sadness in his voice… For her? Does he fear he will miss her? Oh, foolish boy. Most would sacrifice fortunes for her to draw her last breath.
"Yes, I will."
"Can I ask you a question?"
"You may."
"Are you the lady with snakes in her hair?"
Sssss-
"Would that scare you?"
"Uncle John says she's a monster."
"Uncle John is a wise man."
"Papa doesn't agree."
She frowns and tilts her head in surprise.
"He doesn't?"
"Nah. He says that you did bad things and that's why you were punished to have snakes in your hair. But he says that everyone deserves a second chance. He did bad things too, you know? When my mama died. Because he was sad. Are you sad? Is that why you did the bad things?"
"I… You should listen to your uncle."
"I know. Papa says so too. Even if he doesn't agree, he doesn't want to take his chances, not with me. I'm his precious boy."
She can hear the smile in his voice and she can't help but smile too through the now pouring tears. Her heart is beating fast, like that of an unborn child. It hasn't been touched by words so kind in so long they burn through the flesh.
"You're going to have to start counting."
"Wait, what's your name?"
She lets his hand fall from hers.
"Medus- Regina," she says before turning and disappearing through the thick woods.