I gotta admit, it is so fun being able to write Regina in all of her hateful-ass glory with someone who can match it. it's good for me, is it good for you? ;)
Regina came to with her heartbeat pounding in her head, groaning at the pain and coughing at the tightness in her chest. Her mind was cloudy as her eyes opened, wincing at the bright light of her unknown surroundings. Her body ached from what she could only assume was a combination of her fight with James and this hard surface she'd been on for god knows how many hours. When her eyes adjusted she saw nothing but concrete and metal, confusing her further. It took her a few moments before registering where she was before pushing herself to sit up abruptly.
"What the hell?" She frowned, finding herself in the sheriff station jail cell. Her eyes widened when she saw James in the cell opposite her, sitting on the bed and facing her with a bemused expression.
"Morning," He raised an eyebrow, looking none too fresh himself with tired eyes and longer scruff than usual.
"What are we doing here?" Regina felt instant rage, bringing her hand up with intent to knock the door from her cell before her mouth gaped, "Who the fuck put this on me?!" She nearly screamed, seeing the cuff on her wrist prohibiting her magic.
"My guess is the same people who found us, brought us back here and stole my black diamond," He sighed casually, crossing his arms as he stretched his legs out on his jail cot. He'd obviously woken up a good bit before her with time to process their situation and was going to delight in watching her catch up.
"The Charmings," Regina glared, jumping up from her bed in her disheveled clothing and gripping the rails of the cell.
"The Heroes locked us up? Who would've guessed," James mocked, leaning his head back against he wall, "They're the only ones stupid enough not to let us both go out in a blaze of glory with the farmhouse. Would've saved them the trouble of dragging us back here."
Regina scoffed, hugging her arms and pacing her cell in irritation, "They told me not to come after you, said that they couldn't let me kill you. What do they care? Charming can't stand you, nobody can. You would be missed by no one."
"Because you're such a ray of sunshine," James smiled fakely at her when she threw daggers at him, "Exactly who in this town are you on good terms with? When was the last time you saw your son?"
"Don't you dare!" She growled, marching over to the bars that separated their cells to get as close to him as she could, "Don't you dare bring Henry into this. You have no idea of my life right now."
"Good morning," Emma's voice interrupted Regina's tense stare down of James, coming into the station followed by David and Snow, "I see the near death experience did nothing to stop you two from living to fight another day."
"You!" Regina roared, turning to the cell wall to face them all, "Let me out at once and take this trap off of me before I manage to myself! And let me promise you when I do it won't be pretty!" She raised her wrist in pure outrage, causing James to chuckle from his own cell at her theatrics. David and Snow exchanged exasperated looks, undoubtedly considering the difficult days ahead of them spent trying to diffuse the two big personalities in the jail cells from clashing with each other.
"We're sorry, Regina, we really are," David pursed his lips, standing in front of her with a safe distance between him and her cell, "But you went to my brother's house with criminal intent last night."
"Oh, I'm your brother now? Not the outcast?" James perked up with a smirk from his relaxed position on his cot, earning an eye roll from Regina, Emma and Snow alike.
"...Like I said, we know what you went there to do and we have to treat you like anybody else in this town would be treated had they done the same thing," David ignored his twin while he tried to reason with the mayor, though she was vibrating with fury by now, "Regina...it was attempted murder," He stepped up, whispering more quietly with wide eyes pleading for her to understand.
"And just how long do you intend to keep me here for my crimes?" Regina snarled a bitter smile at the three Charmings who all stared back at her with a mixture of disappointment and pity. Judgmental bastards.
"Until you calm down," Snow intervened, stepping somewhat closer to David's side and looping her arm around his in the sickly supportive way that they always did, "This is for your own good, we're just trying to help you."
"Help me?" The Mayor gave a throaty laugh, tilting her head back before shaking it from side to side in disbelief, "Is that what you call it? Well thank you so much for all of your help Charmings. Please, let me know what I can do to pay you back for your kindness. You know, like the next time you need someone to save one of you, maybe I can just sacrifice myself instead of someone I love so you all can continue living happily ever after," She eyed them all malevolently, seeing the guilt flicker across each of their features and echo throughout their body language.
By this time James had hopped up from his cot, sauntering over to the door of his cell and propping his arms above his head on the rails, "Not to interrupt, but can anybody tell me why I'm locked up, too? I'm the victim here," He mocked innocence.
"How about stealing?" Emma piped in, shoving her hands in her back pockets as if she were bored with the situation already, "Yeah, we know all about that," She added with a grim smile.
"Oh, yeah," James raised an eyebrow as if he only just remembered, "Damn, sorry, please continue your rant, Your Majesty," He added, bowing to Regina dramatically upon his return to his cot, earning a glare from her.
"We're gonna give you two a couple days in here together, until you can come to some sort of truce and agree not to kill each other," David let out a breath, picking up the jail cell keys as he pressed a hand to Snow's back to turn and leave, with Emma following them. Their intent was clear and their holier than thou hero complexes were in full force. Regina and James were to remain in this close proximity until they resolved their issues or managed to somehow kill each other through their cages.
"Looks like it's just me and you, Queen."
The light in the jail cells began to dim as the sun went down, both of the prisoners tired from bickering back and forth for the remainder of the day. Granny came to deliver food with a side of disdain for their disorderly conduct, but Regina had no appetite. Her emotions swirled inside of her; anger, hurt, bitterness, resentment and loneliness. They chipped away at her sanity, heightening her anxiety and making it harder and harder to keep it together.
"You gonna eat that?" James asked, eyeing her left over garlic bread after she'd picked over her plate. She rolled her eyes up at him incredulously from her perch on her cot, annoyed that he would even attempt to speak with her.
"No, but I still wouldn't give it to you," She smiled fakely at him, licking her finger and shoving it into the piece of bread spitefully.
"Hm... that was kind of hot," He raised a brow, smirking back at her which irritated her even more, making her shoulders square and spine prickle. Her temper got the best of her as she hastily picked up the piece of bread, lodging it through the cell bars and smacking him in the arm before it rolled onto the floor.
"Now that was just rude," He sighed, moving his own food tray from his lap before stretching his legs out on the cot, "You know if anyone should get along in this town it should be you and me. We have the most in common; Both villains, both devastatingly good looking and both wronged by the same people."
"I have nothing in common with you," Regina snarled, kicking off her heeled boots and crossing her legs, pulling the crude blanket over her lap in an attempt to get comfortable, "And the fact that you're not even smart enough to know why I hate you proves my point."
"I know why you hate me," James shrugged, folding his arms behind his head in a way that annoyingly showcased his biceps, "Because you think I'm responsible for taking your soulmates life. I had no clue what Hades was gonna do, he just said he would help me. And I don't know if you noticed what my life was like down there, but I was a little desperate. The whiskey is shit and Cruella was getting to be a stage five clinger."
Regina rolled her eyes at his comment, too tired and numb to berate him any more for that day, "Is it true what you said? Hades just traded your death for Robin's life and that it can be reversed?" She asked, her voice eerily level as she avoided eye contact with him.
"What do you have another sister for Robin to come back and sleep with?" He asked bluntly, getting her attention as the dark glint came back to her eyes that were now focused on him once more, "Do you like being fed full of lies and then betrayed? Is that what gets you off?" James prodded her, trying to provoke her into another fight rather than answering her question.
"Robin was a good man," She hissed, leaning her head back against the wall and hiding her face in the shadow that was now cast partially over her cell from the decreasing daylight, "Something you know nothing about."
"Maybe not, but I do know that if he said he chose you, he shouldn't have fucked someone else a month later," James shrugged, internally disappointed that she wasn't taking the bait. For some reason he'd rather her lash out at him than be in the current dejected state she was in. "Some soulmate that is."
"Don't talk to me like you know about my relationship," Regina gritted out, her face hidden from him but her voice dangerously low.
"I know a good bit. I mean what else do the dead have to do but revel in the misery of the living? It was the town gossip for weeks," James fished his cigarettes out of his pocket, deftly slipping one out and lighting it as he spoke, "What I don't get is why you would fight so hard for a man that was unfaithful to you. You're like me, strong and prideful, a hell of a grudge holder when anyone wrongs you. Yet you're sulking and self destructing over a bastard who caused you nothing but grief for the past year by knocking your sister up and not having the balls to stand up to her."
"We had our ups and downs but I loved him," She replied, not quite sure why she was feeding into the conversation. Though speaking with James felt like an audible version of the conversation she had had in her mind a million times; arguing with her doubts, hating and defending Robin for his actions simultaneously. James wasn't saying anything she hadn't thought about before in her dark moments.
"So basically you settled for that treatment because you thought you couldn't do any better," James took a drag, the cherry glow illuminating his face in the now near darkness of their cells, "Or was it that you thought it's what you deserved? To watch the man you loved betray you and share an experience with your sister that you'll never have. Was that your karma for all the shit you did in your past?"
Regina clenched the blanket in her hands as James' words sank to the pit of her stomach, "You should know better than I do villains don't get happy endings," She smiled bitterly in the darkness, "Look at your pathetic life. Your parents sold you like a farm animal while keeping their favorite son. You endured all of those years under your tyrannical ruler of a father and for what? To fail in a battle and have your simple brother get everything you ever worked for?"
"Sad little tale when you tell it that way, isn't it?" James retorted, seemingly unmoved by her barbs back at him.
"Indeed," She replied in disinterest, "So was that entire conversation just to rile me up or deflect from the fact that you don't want to answer my question?"
"Both," James lost all smugness to his expression, an almost hesitant expression flickering across his chiseled features before they turned stone cold, "I only suggested that what happened with Robin and me could be reversed so you wouldn't kill me on the spot last night. Swapping death for life is final, I watched Hades do it many times down there. When Hades intentionally exchanges a life for a death, it makes the recipient of the death's outcome irreversible. My death was from a mortal, it can be changed. A death given to you by Hades cannot."
Regina bit down on her lip angrily, tasting the metallic flavor of blood she unintentionally drew, "How does it feel, stealing a man's life that you don't deserve? You'll never be half the man Robin was," She spat out, her nails digging into her palms as she clenched her fists harder, a tear spilling from her eye and rolling down her cheek.
"Like I said, I didn't know it was going to happen," James replied, his voice edgy as if he were trying to defend himself to her, "I didn't set out to ruin your life, your majesty, and even though I guess I did, I'll be damned before I let you send me back down there."
His tone was firm and his body tense as she watched him from her shadow in the dim light. He stubbed his cigarette out on the brick wall before grabbing the neck of his shirt and bringing it over his head, appearing to prepare for sleep. She couldn't quite figure out why he'd deflected from telling her that Robin would never be coming back. It almost seemed like he was trying to spare her additional pain, but that theory was contradicted by the vile things he said in order to do so. She settled for the conclusion that perhaps he was just as twisted in his approach as she, for she couldn't guarantee she wouldn't have used the same tactics.
"We'll see about that."