Sorry if this chapter is a little bit shorter than usual. The following chapter will be longer with more action, hopefully. Thank you to everyone that has reviewed and followed! It is so encouraging : ) Chapter 8 is an emotional one so enjoy.
Chapter 8
No. No no no no no! This cannot be happening… Robin! Emma?
Regina's mind is a web of fragmented emotions as the man stuns her features with a curious gaze. Completely unsure of how to react, the brunette steps a little further in to the shadows.
"You need not fear me, my lady. I am simply concerned, that is all."
His voice emulates the tone she hears too often. The Robin she knows just gives and gives and gives, expecting nothing but Regina's acceptance in return. It is a harrowing thought that he, a father tainted by the grief of his past love, feels compelled to prove himself to a woman who deserves nothing short of contempt. Little Roland, who gazes at her with an adoration reserved only for a maternal figure, is oblivious to all the pain Regina had inflicted on his family. And that is just all so wrong. She didn't feel this way at first. It was a love that she never thought she could experience; the classic kind, peppering each other with light kisses and brief dalliances that would be thought of throughout the remnants of that day. And she did love Robin. She does love Robin. So why was that never enough?
Why is it when she's with Emma… it just is?
"Do you know who I am?" Regina whispers in a voice that barely splinters the silence between them.
"No. I do not believe that you have yet graced me with your name."
"Regina." She surprises herself by stating her true name.
"Regina…" Robin muses, dismounting his horse and bridging the gap between them in one swift motion. "The only Regina I know of in this land is the queen, and I very much doubt that is you. I have only heard of her beauty on my travels."
"Travels...?"
Robin shifts uncomfortably, clearly embarrassed. "Well I say travels… I am an outlaw, you see. I have to keep hidden so I am always on the run." He laughs, shaking his head. "I really should be on my way by now, I always travel at night."
"Well then, don't let me keep you," the brunette says dryly, directing her stare away from Robin.
"No! Believe me; it is quite pleasant to have a conversation. It can get quite lonely always running." He lowers his voice to a whisper, similar to Regina's. "Are you on the run too?"
I don't even know anymore.
"I can find you a place to sleep, if you would like. I know a man who owns a respectable inn. He's very trustworthy," Robin fills in for Regina's silence.
His eyes crinkle as he smiles, and she has to turn away from him. Her feelings for Robin are about as ambiguous as Emma's reasoning for the sacrifice.
"Yes. Thank you," she nods, knowing full well that she will flee as soon as the man has left.
…
She stumbles through the town, mindful to keep her head down. It surprises her how alive every house appears to be to the naked eye. Even at this late hour there are candles and shouting and laughing emanating from every door. The Enchanted Forest's very own New York: the city that never sleeps. Ironically, she really is on the run now- fleeing the kind man and his loving gaze that she will never deserve. That she doesn't want.
"Regina!"
A sharp hiss stings the woman's senses and she pivots, a fireball automatically appearing in her left palm.
"Woah! Hey, it's okay. It's me."
"Emma?" The bewildered brunette croaks, crouching down to peer inside the small hovel in the ground. She has to swallow back tears at the sight in front of her: Emma, like a wounded animal, is curled in on herself, blonde hair matted and hands raw from scratching. The creature lifts her head and Regina draws a breath at the other woman's facial features.
"I guess I am grotesquely ugly now, huh."
Eyes that once used to explode with a sparkle, that Regina could only describe as Emma's, are now a hollow black - ringed with red, like a tortured sky. Her skin has been drained of colour, now a deathly white: a translucent sheen over heightened cheek bones. She just looks… empty….
"You've certainly looked better, Miss Swan," Regina attempts at levity and is rewarded with an almost imperceptible smirk. The brunette's hand wavers in front of Emma's skin, and Regina wants nothing more than to inject all the life that is Emma Swan back in to her papery mask.
"Are you still…?"
"Am I still what? Emma?"
Regina shrugs. "Are you?" And she's afraid of the answer.
"Judging by my wit and endearing charm, Your Majesty, I would say so."
The brunette snorts, instantly at ease. Emma.
"Endearing charm? Oh please. Even your insufferable father has more charm than you!"
"Well that would make sense, he is called Charming. Didn't you know that?" Emma challenges, untangling her limbs so that she can face Regina.
Rolling her eyes, the older woman says, "I thought you would have fashioned a castle for yourself by now." She gesticulates around the hole in disgust.
"A castle, really? A yellow Bug perhaps but nah, castles aren't really my style," Emma wrinkles her nose.
"Well that makes sense," Regina says dryly, again, gesturing.
"Sorry, Your Majesty. Were you expecting a palace?" The blonde asks sweetly.
"Your Majesty?"
Both women freeze at the sudden interjection. Regina notices Emma visibly recoil, eyes mutating to an even darker shade of black.
"Robin I-"Regina begins, straightening as if trying to shield Emma from Robin…or perhaps Robin from Emma?
"How do you know my name?" His tone is dripping in accusation.
Regina stiffens. And then she stiffens even more. From behind her, the presence that was previously passive is now growling in distaste.
"Robin," Emma snarls, pushing Regina aside so she can face the mystified man. "Why, what a lovely surprise?"
It's not Emma talking. It's Rumplestiltskin. It's not Emma, it's Rumplestiltskin. It's not Emma, it's Rumplestiltskin. It's not-
"Emma!"
Regina watches in horror as Emma's magical grip tightens around Robin's neck. He is elevated in the air, his breath shuddering under the tenacious hold of the Dark One. The malice in the other woman's face is hinging on sadistic pleasure… much like the Evil Queen in all her glory, and very much like Rumplestiltskin. But Robin cannot die.
Regina throws herself in front of Robin's fragile form, willing Emma to stop with a hardened glare. She has to find her. Under all that darkness, Emma is still there. What happened to endearing charm?
"Saving your soulmate are we, dearie? Good luck with that!"
The brunette is tossed aside so vehemently that breath escapes her throat. Robin is urging her, in a strangled voice, to run. Regina shakes her head and wills a fireball to her palm.
"Let. Him. Go," she hisses, aiming the ball of fire towards the other woman's twisted smile. Emma laughs and continues to squeeze the life out of Robin. Out of Roland, out of Regina herself, as she squeezes and squeezes.
"Emma. Stop."
And she does. Robin is a crumpled heap on the floor and Regina runs over to his fragile limbs. Summoning all the energy that is within her, the brunette begins to heal the pressure marks where the magical grasp had been. Robin's eyes flicker in and out of consciousness, his breath a fluctuating rhythm of life, death, life, death. She's struggling and he's struggling. Both are slipping: one in to despair, the other in to an eternal slumber.
Then there is another hand. A gnarled one, tainted by darkness and self-loathing, as it skims over the fallen man's body. Regina has never seen the Dark One heal before. It is blindingly beautiful; darkness entwined with the purest of white, dancing together in an enamoured embrace of life. Survival. Wet tears fall on Robin's grazed cheek, and it takes a long moment before Regina realises that they are not her own.
"I just wanted to protect you," Emma whispers, shoulders shaking as silent tears cause her skin to glisten.
Regina reaches out to place a hand on the other woman's wispy fingers. And this time she doesn't retreat. Both stare at the intimacy in confusion.
The Evil Queen and the ghost.