Using prompts 2 (Leave me alone) and 35 (You're going to make yourself sick)
It feels silly to worry. It's just another workday, another day where Regina is probably busy running this town, too busy to ease his fretting with a phone call. Aside from her phone being out of service, there is nothing at all to signal that something is wrong.
And yet, Robin cannot help but think that there is.
He had waited until noon. Lunch time. Waited to see if she would call when she got a spare moment or when she finally let herself eat halfway through the day. But the twelve o'clock hour had come and gone without a peep from her and now it's nearing one thirty and Robin just can't take it anymore. He needs to know she is okay, even if it makes him seem ridiculous or overprotective. There is a knot in his stomach that just won't untangle and it'll only get bigger until he hears her voice telling him she's fine.
So that's why he's climbing the stairs of city hall, taking two at a time, all the while telling himself that everything is okay.
Marie greets him with her usual cheeriness (it amazes him sometimes that Regina elects to keep such a… peppy secretary). "Hi, Robin, how are you?"
"Fine, thanks," he says even though he feels very far from fine. "Is Regina in?"
"Yes, is she expecting you? Lunch date?" Marie asks, picking up the phone receiver.
"No, actually, she's not expecting me, but I haven't heard from her since I called this morning and… well, I'd just like to see her, if she's free please."
"Sure, not a problem. She doesn't have a meeting until 2 today," Marie explains, her smile dipping into a frown the longer she holds the phone to her ear. "Huh. She didn't pick up. Maybe she's in the middle of something. Let me go check."
Robin should wait by Marie's desk. He knows that. There's no reason for him to barge his way into Regina's day. No reason at all. But he has always had an overprotective streak, so he follows Marie down the hallway to Regina's door.
"Mayor Mills?" Marie calls as she knocks on the glass. "Mr. Locksley is here to see you."
Silence is the response. A few seconds pass, dread working its way up Robin's spine, then Marie knocks again. "Mayor Mills? Are you in there?"
Still no answer.
"She should be in there," Marie murmurs. "I haven't seen her leave all day."
One more second of silence is all it takes for Robin's worry to get the better of him and he knocks on the door himself. "Regina?" he says, doing his best to keep the tension out of his voice. "It's me. Are you alright?"
The silence he gets in response is deafening. "You're sure she's in there?" he asks Marie, just slightly accusatory.
Marie nods. "She hasn't come out since she arrived this morning. She didn't have any meetings or appointments anywhere."
Robin grits his teeth to quell his panicked frustration. He just needs to see her, damnit. Then he'll know she's alright. He tries the doorknob only to find it locked which is only more concerning. Regina never locks her office door (their occasional lunchtime rendez-vous being the sole exception). Undeterred, Robin reaches into his pocket and pulls out two pins, crouching down in front of the lock.
"What are you doing?" Marie asked incredulously. "You can't pick the mayor's lock."
"Then call the sheriff on me," Robin mutters as he fiddles with the pins, a bit clumsy in his haste. Something is wrong. He knows it now, more than just a feeling. He needs to see Regina. Now.
The tumblers in the lock click open and Robin turns the knob, standing quickly as he pushes open the door. "Regina? Regina, are you-" He stops mid-sentence, eyes flitting frantically around the room, and seeing no sign of Regina, aside from her laptop on her desk and a spilled coffee cup on the floor. He spins around on Marie who stands hesitantly in the doorway.
"I thought you said she hasn't left her office," he accuses, blood pressure rising by the second.
"She… she hasn't," Marie swears, shaking her head. "I've been at my desk all day, and she hasn't left."
Robin turns back around and crosses the room to Regina's desk. Her purse is still in the bottom drawer, her papers and pens still scattered across the top, her cell phone-
Robin swallows thickly as he crouches down by the chair, hands shaking as he lifts the shattered remains of what had been Regina's cell phone. The screen, the battery, the frame, all smashed and twisted beyond repair. A heavy ball of lead drops into Robin's stomach and stays there.
He stands and holds the destroyed phone up for Marie to see.
Her eyes widen. "Is that-"
Robin nods, pulse pounding loudly in his ears. "Call Emma."
Regina doesn't know how much time has passed since she woke up, but hours seems like a good estimate. There's no clock anywhere, and no windows, so she can't really judge the passage of time, but her arms and hands have gone completely numb by now, so it's definitely been a good bit since Nottingham tied her up.
Ugh, Nottingham. Just the thought of the slimeball has her shuddering. In normal circumstances, she wouldn't be afraid of him, but now without her magic, with no idea where she is or what he wants, she feels incredibly vulnerable to him. And that's a feeling she had hoped to leave behind in her first marriage.
She doesn't know what he plans to get out of this, taking her hostage and everything, but surely he can't expect his little stunt to go unnoticed. Robin and Henry will be concerned when she's not home for dinner, and Marie will probably go looking for her when she hasn't emerged for her two o'clock meeting. Nottingham might not be as stupid as she thought, but he still hasn't thought of everything. They'll be looking for her soon enough.
Her cheek still stings a bit from where he struck her. Her throat is less sore from the choking, but her lungs scream just a little too much if she takes a too big breath. Nothing she can't handle. Certainly nothing she hasn't experienced before-
The door swings open just then and Nottingham comes swaggering back into the room, a pleased little grin on his face. "Miss me?" he asks, crouching down in front of her.
"As much as I miss a piece of gum stuck to my shoe," Regina deadpans, rolling her eyes in disgust.
"Mm, cheeky as ever I see," Nottingham mocks, dropping his smile in favor of a glare. "Let's see if we can do something about that…" He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a switchblade, flipping open the knife with practiced ease.
Regina's heart leaps into her throat, but she forces her detached demeanor to remain intact. "Oh, are you finally going to cut these insipid ropes and let me go? How kind of you, really."
Nottingham ignores her as he looks her up and down, tapping the handle of the blade in thought. "Hmm, let's see… which part of you would be most effective? Where to start, where to start…"
Regina scrunches herself up slightly, that slimy feeling returning as he appraises her like a piece of meat.
"Hmm… ah, yes, I do believe right here…" He reaches out his free hand, toward the buttons on her shirt, and Regina sees red, instinct taking over as she shoots out a leg to kick him, nearly making contact with his stomach but he catches her ankle at the last second.
His grip tightens as he scowls at her, leaning in closer. "Don't make me tie your feet, bitch. Keeping your legs together might be a challenge for you, but try your best."
"Get your hands off me," Regina seethes, pulling her ankle free from his grasp. "Touch me again and I'll-"
"You won't do anything if you want to live," Nottingham threatens. "One wrong move, and this knife will slip into a very important artery."
"Do it then," Regina challenges. "Go ahead and kill me. That's what you want, isn't it? For me to die?"
Nottingham chuckles lowly. "Oh no, you majesty, I don't want to kill you." He grabs her jaw, fingers digging into her skin. "I just want to watch you bleed." At that, he pulls open the top button on her blouse, exposing her collarbone and the few inches of skin below it.
Regina twists in his grasp, unable to do much but struggle. "Leave me alone. I swear to god-"
She doesn't get to finish. Her voice dies in her throat as the knife digs into the skin of her chest, a sharp, searing pain that takes her breath away. She expects him to go deeper, to drive the knife through muscle and bone, but he stops at the skin, shallow enough to hurt (and oh god, does it hurt, her nerves are on fire) but not enough to kill her.
Nottingham chuckles at her struggle to keep from screaming, her teeth clamped so tightly against her bottom lip that she fears she will make herself bleed there too. "You can scream if you want to," he whispers into her ear as he draws the knife down, down, down her skin until pulling it away. "No one's going to hear you anyway."
The knife bites into flesh again, sending the same shock of biting pain through her body as it slices a path across her chest. She won't scream, though. She will not scream. She will not give him that satisfaction.
He draws the knife through her skin one more time and then he pushes her back, her head knocking hard against the wall behind her. She's breathing heavily, the sharpness of the cuts morphing into a burning sting that radiates throughout her entire body. Her eyes are squeezed shut as she tries to regain her bearings, white dots bursting behind her eyelids.
Then there's a soft "click" and Regina opens her eyes just in time to see Nottingham tucking a phone into his pocket, looking much too pleased with himself. He smirks at her and runs a finger down her chest, ghosting over the cuts. "Has anyone ever told you red is a good color on you?"
"Go to hell," Regina grits out through clenched teeth, shaking his hand off.
"Oh, I'm sure I will," Nottingham says as he stands. "But not until I'm through with you." He smacks her across the face again, and white spots burst in Regina's eyes once more. "See you in a little while," he promises and heads for the door.
Regina waits until it's shut and locked to look down at herself, trying to make out what he cut into her chest. It takes a moment, but when she deciphers what he's written, she has to force herself not to vomit.
Robin is pacing. Hurriedly, frantically. Back and forth across the floor of the sheriff's station, mind whirling as fear grips his chest.
They don't know where Regina is. She is nowhere to be found and they have looked everywhere. As soon as Marie called Emma, the search was on. Between Robin, Emma, and David, they covered nearly all of Storybrooke in a few hours, and there was not a single sign of Regina. It's after four o'clock now, and he hasn't heard from her since this morning. Hasn't seen her since this morning. Hasn't touched her since this morning, and the panic he's been trying to manage all afternoon is starting to reach its boiling point.
Robin spins around to continue his pacing path when Emma stands from her desk.
"You need to stop that," she says firmly, hands on her hips. "Pacing and worrying is not going to find Regina."
"Then what do you propose I do?" Robin argues, stopping in front of her desk. "We've looked everywhere and have yet to find her. We haven't heard anything. No one has seen her or knows where she could be. We have no leads on who is behind this. I have to keep moving or else I'll go mad."
"Okay, but remember to breathe," Emma concedes. "You're going to make yourself sick with worry and then you'll be no help to any of us, least of all Regina."
Robin stops pacing with a sigh, sinking down into David's vacant chair and resting his face in his hands. "I can't help it," he mutters. "I just… I need to find her. What if she's hurt? What if… " He shakes his head, unable to bare the thought.
"Regina is going to be fine," Emma assures him. "She's tough, you know that. Whatever's going on, she'll be fine. And we'll find her. I promise."
Robin nods dismally as he stares out the window. There are few places left to search, and the more time passes, the smaller their chances are of finding her unscathed. Someone did something to her, forced her to go somewhere against her will. Their earlier conversation about coffee makes sense now, thanks to Marie. Someone had left Regina coffee before Marie arrived that morning, and they both just assumed it was from Robin since he has been known to pick up a cup for her before work. That coffee contained some powerful magic. Emma had waved her hand over the bit of splatter on the floor and grimaced immediately. Apparently whatever magic was in there was particularly "nasty." She didn't know exactly what it was, but she knew it was not good.
Their list of suspects is… long, to say the least. Who knows the number of people who want to exact revenge on the former evil queen? Emma's initial sweep of the office had turned up no clues, aside from the phone and the coffee, leaving them at a puzzling dead end. With every minute that passes, Robin's frustration and worry multiple exponentially.
"Have you heard anything from David?" he asks, not allowing himself to hope.
"No, he hasn't called me yet," Emma answers, reaching for her phone. "Has he called you?"
Robin shakes his head and pulls out his phone, glancing at the screen and looking away before doing a double take. There's a notification on his lock screen, but the number is blocked. Frowning, Robin unlocks his phone and opens his messages. He taps on the one from the blocked number and nearly throws up at the picture that opens.
It's Regina, eyes closed, sitting against a wall, a pained expression on her face. Her arms are behind her back and her shirt slightly unbuttoned.
What makes all the color drain from Robin's face, however, is the bloody letter N carved into her chest.