Authors note: This week's episode wasn't a lot of Regina or OutlawQueen so I don't have much to say about that (the magic lesson with Emma will be in the next chapter, so it will come). But I do have something to say about last week's episode (yes I'm late, sorry). The showdown was nice, but I don't like the idea of Regina yet again not being good enough. Seriously, can't she just catch a break? And Zelena's backstory was disappointing, the bad parents thing has been a little overdone. I know I shouldn't have, but I laughed so hard when Zelena was literally turning green with envy, I mean come on! But Outlaw Queen was cute, which kind off made up for the overall annoying episode.
So this chapter is going to be a little emotional, I felt like the talk between Regina and Zelena was a little disappointing, I expected more emotion seeing that Zelena was actually wishing for a life full of abuse. So I think it's time she got a little inside in how horrible Regina's life has actually been.
...
~ Storybrooke, Present. ~
There was a certain kind of sadness and grief hanging in the air, surrounding the small group of people that were all watching as the black coffin was slowly being lowered into the cold ground.
It was exactly that reason that Regina hated funerals. Which was ironic seeing that she had killed many people herself, but it was still different from being at an actual funeral. The grief was thick and it felt like it was getting harder to breath. Her pained brown eyes found her teenage son who was also staring at the ground. He looked confused, like he was unsure if he should cry about a man he'd never met - or thought he'd never met.
Her glove clad hand found Robin's in a search of silent support and she squeezed softly. There was nothing being said, but that was to be expected. They couldn't very well talk about the Enchanted Forest with Henry there. He would think they were all crazy.
And then it was time to really say goodbye. One by one they stepped forwards and grabbed the shuffle that was sticking out of a pile of sand. She couldn't contain the single tear that broke loose when her little boy swooped up some sand and threw it in the grave.
Robin squeezed her hand again, signaling that it was her turn. She used her finger to quickly swipe the salty liquid from her cheek as she let go of his hand and stepped forwards, reaching for the shuffle.
The once shiny coffin was now covered in dirt. Regina slowly tilted the shuffle, letting a rain of black sand fall down to add to it.
In her head, she said goodbye. For both herself, and for Rumple.
...
There was a tense atmosphere hanging in the diner, a vast contrast to the usual cheery and loud one. There wasn't much talking, most people were softly whispering or staring at their coffee. Henry had been shipped off with Hook, something Regina was very nervous about.
And then there was a sudden bang when the door swung open, which caused everyone to look up with a start and stare at the doorway.
"My condolences, I'm not to late for the speeches, am I?" Zelena grinned as she stepped inside. "Or shall I make one? I am, of course, responsible for his death, am I not?"
From the corner of her eye, Regina spotted Emma being held back by her parents and she mentally rolled her eyes. Emma couldn't really be that stupid, could she? Trying to fight the Wicked Witch with what? Her fists?
"What the hell are you doing here?" Regina's voice pierced the heavy tension as she stepped down the barstool she had just been sitting on and took powerful strides towards the redhead. "I'm quite certain you aren't invited."
"Oh, no need to be so mean, little sis." Zelena chuckled.
Regina wasn't quick enough to hide the surprise on her face as she stared at woman in from of her. "Sis? What do you mean, I'm an only child." She questioned in a calm voice.
"What I mean is that Cora has been keeping secrets from you, Regina dear. I am your half sister."
A twitch of anger was visible in her brown eyes she as intensely stared at the woman who claimed to be her sister. "That can't be."
Zelena chuckled as she put the tip of the dagger under her chin. "Oh it very well can be. But enough with the family drama, I actually wanted to invite you."
Now it was Regina's turn to laugh. "You wanted to invite me? To what, dinner, because I think I'll pass."
"Oh no, little sis. Not dinner." She said and her lips curled up in a vicious grin. "A fight. Sundown, Main Street. Be there, and if your not, I'll let Rumplestiltskin kill every last one of you."
And then she was gone in a plum of deep green smoke.
...
"And you're certain you didn't do anything?" Charming asked.
Regina sighed, the Charming family has been interrogating her for the past ten minutes, asking her all sorts of questions she couldn't answer. "No, I've never even met her. And I will say it again, I don't know what I did to her."
"Maybe it was in the missing year?" Granny spoke up from behind the bar. She put the glass she had been drying off down.
Regina eyes snapped up angrily. "Stick to the lasagna, lady."
Robin's comforting hand on her back was the only thing that kept her from snapping their necks, they were really getting on her nerves.
"And you didn't know you even had a sister?" Again that insipid Charming.
"No, I think I would remember if my mother told me she had a lovechild with a scarecrow."
Snow was about to open her mouth again before Robin cut them off. "Look, I think we've established that Regina knows nothing of this woman. So now we're going home and we're going to try and figure out how to beat this Wicked Witch, and that's that."
...
~ The Enchanted Forest, Past. ~
She very slowly closed the door so as not to wake the sleeping child. Roland had finally fallen asleep after two stories and now, to be completely honest, Regina could sleep too, she was exhausted.
"Your Majesty?" A soft and uncertain whisper came from the right and Regina's head snapped to the source of the sound.
It was Robin.
No, thief, it was the thief.
"It's been a while since I last saw you." He said with a soft smile. There was a small, bright twinkle in his eyes that was enough to make Regina believe that he had actually missed her. Which was impossible, right? He couldn't miss her, she was the Evil Queen.
"Yes, I've been... busy." Regina said as she avoided meeting his bright blue eyes.
"So I've gathered, I hope it wasn't something I did." He took a careful step forward, almost as if he was closing in on a wounded animal.
Regina quickly shook her head. "No." She snapped and couldn't stop herself from uttering the next words. "You're not that important that I'd feel the need to stay in my bedchamber for two weeks, thief. I've been busy creating spells to defeat the Wicked Witch."
By the way the glimmer in his eyes died, she knew her words had hurt him badly. She wanted to apologize, but also realized that this may be the only way to protect the man. To protect him from falling in love with her, because every person who had loved her died in horrifying ways.
This would be best. Putting on the cold mask that had been her companion her whole life.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I'll just..." His voice faded as he just stood there, looking at her with his piercing eyes. He didn't know what to think. How could this woman be so kind and caring one moment, and the next she'd be cold and cruel, spitting biting words to whoever tried to help her? "Go, I'll just go."
"I think that would be a great plan."
She didn't allowed the tears to fill her eyes before he'd rounded the corner of the big hallway. And when he did, the salty tears felt like acid, scorching the soft skin of her cheeks.
God, she hated herself.
...
~ Storybrooke, Present. ~
The three women slowly walked down the stone steps and into the secret lair under the Mills' mausoleum.
"Watch your step." Regina said softly as she stepped on the cobblestones, her heels clicking loudly on the solid floor as she moved towards her mother's possessions. The many boxes and chests were still just standing there, she hadn't touched anything since the day her mother... died. The dress she'd ripped apart in a fit of rage was still lying on the ground. Just like some spell books and other small trinkets that held no value.
"Do you think there's proof in there?" Snow asked softly as she looked around with curious eyes.
"I hope so." Regina sighed as she bent down as much as her belly would allow her to. "If there's any proof that Zelena is my sister, it ought to be in here." Her glove clad fingers deftly opened the chest and she began rummaging though it, searching for any indication that would mean the formerly green witch was telling the truth.
And then she found it. Her brown eyes stared at the yellowed paper as her now shaking hands grabbed it. She quickly unfolded it, already knowing what it would say because she had read it oh so many times before, but she still needed the confirmation.
Stunning in every way...
Her teary eyes ripped away from the paper as she quickly stuffed it in the pocket of her black coat.
"Regina, you found something?" Emma asked as she noticed the sudden change in the air surrounding the former Queen.
"I did." Regina said softly, hoping her voice didn't sound as weak as it did in her head. "Zelena is my sister, she was telling the truth." She stated and stood up. "I got this covered, this is my fight."
And before any of the two women could object, Regina had already stormed passed them and out off the mausoleum.
...
"Regina?" He asked softly. The brunette was sitting at the kitchen table, dried tear tracks on her pale cheeks as she stared up at him with red and tired eyes. "What happened sweetheart?" He swiftly moved to crouch down next to her.
"Zelena really is my sister." She finally answered in a croaked voice. "I found this between my mother's things." Her words came out in almost a whisper as she grabbed the yellowed paper from the wooden surface of the table and handed it over to him. He looked at her with worried blue eyes and quickly unfolded it.
"I saw that letter a hundred times before." She started when he was done reading. Her brown eyes were staring down at her hands that were resting on her belly. "In my darkest moments I'd go to it for comfort, for solace... for a boost when I needed it, because I...because I always thought it was about me."
He sighed softly and placed a comforting hand on her thigh. "It's about Zelena."
She nodded. "Rumplestiltskin thinks that she's more powerful then me."
"You don't have to go to Main Street tonight, to tell you the truth I would prefer it if you didn't."
She shot him a watery smile. "I have to go. I can't let her hurt Henry. He may not remember that I'm his mother, but that doesn't mean that I still can't protect him like I've always tried to do."
He nodded. "So you've already placed the protection spell on her?" He nodded towards her belly. "And you're sure she's going to be safe?"
"Yes, I'm sure. I'll never let anything happen to her, Robin."
He smiled softly. "I believe you, because that's who you are, Regina. A mother before everything else. And I know you can beat her, you are the most powerful and headstrong person I've ever met and I know you can do this. I don't care what this letter says, you are the one that's stunning in every way, my love."
Her brown eyes finally looked up to meet his blue ones. "There's just one last thing I need to do."
"Anything, darling." He whispered softly.
"I need you to hold on to this." She said and lifted the black satchel that had been resting on her lap this whole time.
"What is it?" He asked and reached for it.
Her watery smile was enough to convince him that he should not object to whatever she was going to say.
"My heart, Robin."
...
His blue eyes anxiously searched the road. The witch was threatening to kill them all if Regina didn't show up in the next five minutes. He actually didn't want her to come, he didn't want her to put her life on the line just for these people. But he knew she would come. She would do what was right.
"Didn't you know? Black is my color."
He immediately recognized the snarky bite and the sultry voice that came from behind him. She was here. She had chosen to do the right thing. If only it wasn't the most dangerous thing of the two.
Her stilettos clicked on the pavement, her hips swayed and her grin was deadly as she stepped closer and closer.
"But it looks so much better on me, don't you think?" The redhead grinned and lowered the large dagger she was holding in her right hand. "I see you've finally excepted me into the family."
Regina chuckled and stopped walking when she was almost nose to nose with the witch. "I've excepted that we share a mother, yes. But I just have one question."
"Which is?"
"What the hell did I ever do to you?"
"Isn't it obvious?" The woman's grin fell immediately as she bared her white teeth. "You were born!"
A satisfying crack echoed throughout the tense and too quiet Maine air. Regina shook her stinging hand as she watched how a small droplet of blood leaked down the woman's chin.
"I've wanted to do that all day." She growled and grinned dangerously.
Zelena let out of quiet chuckle and used her thumb to wipe the blood away. "He should've chosen me." She growled.
"Who?"
"Rumplestiltskin!"
Regina grinned as the wheels started turning in her head. "That's what this is about? You're jealous of me?" With a biting chuckle she twisted her hand and loosened the traffic light above her to throw it towards her sister.
But the witch was quick and she deflected it with a simple flick of her wrist, sending it towards the nervous spectators, forcing them to jump aside quickly.
"You still don't realize what you had, you never did!" She yelled. "You got everything I ever wanted and you didn't even deserve it!"
"Don't you dare say I got everything!" Regina spat back as pure and vicious anger filled her being. Does this woman really have no idea what her life had been like?!
"I'm going to take it all away from you!" With one quick movement she threw the brunette backwards.
Regina landed on the car with a pained wheeze as the air was knocked out of her. Her hand quickly moved towards her stomach as she slid down the car and got to her feet with only a small stumble. The anxious movements within her told her that the protection spell had worked.
Everything is going to be okay, sweetheart. Mommy will protect you...
A flick of her wrist caused the unexpecting witch to fly backwards and land hard against a lamppost. With quick steps Regina moved in closer and summoned a fireball to her right hand, but right before she wanted to release it, it dissapeared in a puff of dark green smoke.
"Did you really think that trick was going to work, little sis?" The redhead groaned and got up from the ground. She reached out a hand and lifted the brunette up in the air. "You can't beat me. Everything Rumplestiltskin taught you, he taught me too." She grinned and squeezed harder, slowly crushing Regina's windpipe. "The only thing is, I was the better student."
Within a mere second, Regina was flying through the sky, breaking the window of Storybrooke's clock tower as her back connected with it. The glass scratched her skin as she tried to sit up. She was gasping for air when Zelena suddenly appeared right in front of her again.
"Do it." Regina growled as she stared up at her sister with cold eyes. "Kill me, it doesn't matter anyway."
"Oh I don't want to kill you, Regina. I only want your heart." Zelena chuckled. "I need it, for a curse."
"A curse, huh?" Regina chuckled. "Let me guess, you already have Charming's courage, now you want my heart. Those are very peculiar ingredients for a simple curse."
"Oh but this won't be a simple curse, sis." Zelena grinned and crouched down in front of her. "This curse will take us back in time, before you were even born."
"Ah." Regina sighed in realization. She'd read about this curse once, but only a fool would try to enact it. "You want my life that bad? You really know nothing, do you?"
The redhead's grin fell slightly but it didn't disappear. "What do you mean?"
"Cora was abusive." Regina growled. "And seeing that you're so eager to grow up with her, I'll tell you a little more. She hit me, used magic on me, killed my true love and then forced me to marry an old King who did whatever the hell he wanted to do to me." Regina spat. "She forced me into a loveless and abusive marriage where I was treated like nothing more than an object the princess could play with and that the King could fuck whenever the hell he felt like it! If you want my opinion, I think you've chosen the wrong life to be jealous of!"
The grin that had been on Zelena's lips might have turned sour, but her plans still hadn't changed. Regina knew it the moment the woman's hand was buried into her chest. She released a pained breath when the hand twisted, searching for a heart Regina knew she would never find.
"What?!" The witch growled in disbelieve as she pulled her still empty hand back. "Where is it?!"
Regina chuckled softly and leaned closer towards the woman. "Our mother taught me one thing. Never bring your heart to a witch fight. Something you would've known if she hadn't... abandoned you!" She spat and pushed Zelena backwards.
The fury was obvious in the woman's green eyes as Zelena summoned her broom in her right hand. "This is not over, Regina! I will get your heart!"
Regina stared at her with a grin. "Not today."
And then she was gone.
"Regina?!" A worried yell came from behind her and she immediately recognized Robin's voice. "Are you alright?!"
"I'm still alive aren't I." She chuckled and groaned when she was pulled into a hug by the former thief. "We are okay, dear." She said softly and kissed him on the lips.
"That may be, but I'm still taking you to the hospital, you flew through a window!"
"What did she want from you?" Emma asked as she stared out over the town. "My heart." Regina sighed as she got helped up by Robin. "She has Charming's courage, now she wants my heart. Those are ingredients."
"For what?" Snow asked carefully. "Another curse? But we're already in Storybrooke."
"No, she doesn't want to take us to another realm." Regina said and shook her head. "This curse will alter the past."
"Why would she do that?" Charming asked.
"Because that way, I'll never be born."
...
Zelena huffed as she dropped down on the single chair in the room. Rumple was safely locked up again, right where he belonged.
To be honest, the things Regina had told her today were bothering her. But it wouldn't matter. She wouldn't get Regina's life, she would get her own life, with her mother. The fact that Cora had been abusive was probably Regina's fault anyway. If she'd just been the perfect daughter, nothing of that would've ever happened.
It wouldn't happen to her, because she is the perfect daughter.
Perfect, indeed.
...
The Enchanted Forest, 41 years ago.
There she was, sitting at her vanity, brushing her hair. This would be her chance. All she had to do was plunge it in her neck. Regina would be dead in an instant.
"Don't make a sound." She whispered dangerously as she held the shaving knife to Regina's pale throat. "Rumplestiltskin is wasting his time with you, you don't deserve him." She said and plunged it in. A satisfying pained gasp left her sister's dark red lips and Zelena stood back watching with a grin.
And then the grin fell.
He let out a childish giggle and and waved one perfectly manicured and soft hand in front of his - or actually Regina's - face. With one flick of his wrist the smooth, slightly tanned skin of the hand changed to it's previous, golden and green state.
"You." Zelena whispered in shock as she came face to face with Rumplestiltskin.
"Yes, it's me dearie." He grinned and pulled the shaving blade out off his neck. "I kind off already expected you would do something like this."
"How?" She whispered in a mixture of shock and horror as she stared at her teacher.
"Well, you're literally turning green with envy, dearie." He giggled and stood up, pointing at her neck. "It was only a matter of time."
"Where is she?!" The redhead growled.
"Regina is busy, entertaining..." He said vaguely and masked the worry he felt for his younger apprentice with another giggle. "You failed your test, dearie."
"Test?"
"Jealousy drives people to do crazy things, dearie, and I can't have that. Envy is a horrible trade."
"You tricked me!"
"Guilty." He chuckled.
"But I was just trying to make your decision easier." She tried. "Show you that I'm more powerful, that I'm the one who's going to cast your curse."
"Well, I appreciate your efforts, dearie, but I'm afraid you're just not qualified, as am I."
"What... Why?"
"Casting the curse takes a sacrifice, one neither of us can make." Rumple stated and looked around the vanity, touching the many bottles. "You have to give up the thing you love most."
"I can do that." Zelena said eagerly and stepped forwards.
"That the problem, dearie. The thing you love most is me."
"You think I love you?" She asked with a nervous chuckle.
"I'm a perceptive sort."
"You're insane."
"Besides the point." He snapped. "It's okay, dearie. I have that effect on women. You love me, and that dearie, makes you too dangerous."
"So Regina..."
"Has the job." He finished.
...
He growled to himself. He shouldn't have let the insipid little witch go. Now she was gone with those slippers!
"Rumplestiltskin?" Regina asked carefully as she quickly closed the door behind her. "What are you doing here, out lesson isn't until tomorrow."
He turned around with a chuckle. "I'm not here for a lesson, dearie."
"Then why are you?" Regina asked with confusion as she slowly started to stumble towards her bed. Her whole body was hurting.
He watched with masked pain in his eyes how the young brunette stumbled forwards. Her breathing hitching in pain. He knew why she was hurting, he'd helped her before.
"To heal you."
Regina shot him a watery smile. "Thank you for helping me."
"I'm only doing this because you're no use to me injured."
"Thank you either way."
...
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