Hello everyone, back again are we? So I underestimated my powers of postponing learning, and found myself in writing another chapter. Oops. So to contrast my earlier message, I am going to upload whenever I've written enough, and that might be tomorrow, but it can also be in four days. I will make sure though to keep it under four days. Now for some critical information:
-Zelena won't be in the Underworld, and none of that Zades crap is going to happen,
-Belle is here just by herself, and her unborn child of course.
So I guess that's it, enjoy this next chapter!
"Regina! You're back. How'd go?" A man with a scruffy walks in, and heads immediately for Regina.
"Hey Robin, it went all right. We found her." She gestures towards me as she pulls into a hug with the man. Then a kid walks in, together with the charming prince.
"Henry!" Regina walks over to the kid, and kisses him on the forehead.
"Please, you've been gone for only two hours." The kid pulls away and goes to sit on the couch. Regina smiles at him, and turns back again to the man, Robin.
"So, you found her huh?", he asks, while letting his eyes scan the room, stopping when they reach my face.
"You're the one we were looking for?"
"That's me. Raena. Pleasure."
"The pleasure's mine milady. But aren't you a bit young?"
"I'm older than I look, and besides, isn't everyone here?"
"I suppose so indeed. Regina, is something wrong?" Regina tried to mask her anger with me, but doesn't completely succeed. She shakes her head. He whispers something in her ear, and she nods. Then… What? But… He… She's…not…They- The kiss takes way longer in my head then in reality, and my head is spinning with questions. I stumble backwards.
"No…" Regina looks at me, and I can see in her eyes that she regrets the kiss.
"Rae, wait." But I run out of the door, trying to mask my tears as much as possible. Out the door, onto the street. Left, right, left… I end up on the cemetery, and I sit underneath one of the big oak trees. I thought she was lesbian, that she still loved me… Stupid. How could I think she wouldn't move on after more then 30 years?! I breath in and out, very slowly and steady, to try and stop the crying. It works. I suddenly realize I'm not alone on the cemetery. I dodge behind one of the tombstones, and watch the figure further on the hill. It's a girl, or woman, it's hard to see from here. She has brown hair though, and I'm fairly sure I haven't seen her before. But the energy radiating from her tells me she's very much alive. I consider letting her know of my presence.
"Uhmm, hi! Over here!" I wave at her, and she turns around quickly.
"Oh, hey! Sorry, I didn't see you over there!" Her accent disgusts me from the moment she starts talking. Where do you have to live to get such a horrible accent? Poor thing.
"That's okay, I wasn't paying attention either." I walk towards her, and notice she's rather young compared to the rest of the people who travelled down to the underworld. Her eyes are blue, and her skin sparkles with that well-known glow. I wonder if she knows yet. I decide not to mention it. She wears a reddish brown coat, and a black hat.
"I'm Belle, and you are?" Ughh, I'll just have to ignore the accent.
"Raena Maren. Belle, as in beauty? Pretty name"
"Thanks, I rather like yours too. Who are you here for?" I realize she thinks I came to visit a grave.
"Oh, no I am not here for anyone. I actually ran from someone." I try to laugh, but the attempt fails. She notices the not yet dried tears on my face, and looks at me with worried eyes.
"Are you okay? Who did you run from?"
"I'm fine, thank you. And that's none of your concern, but thanks for the interest." It could have been said a bit warmer, but I don't feel like mentioning I know Regina, who she surely knows as well, and having to explain myself.
"Who are you here for?"
"An old friend of mine. I was once betrothed to him, but it didn't work out." The gravestone says 'Gaston', and I wonder if I know.
"Sorry I don't know him, is he still around?" I never bothered to learn the signs on the tombstones, and I'm still not interested. And then suddenly tears come streaming down her face, and she falls on her knees.
Shit, what did I say now? I can't deal with this right now! "Woah, easy! What wrong? Talk to me", I say to her, and she looks up with eyes filled with sadness.
"I- he- I didn't want to-" "Shhhh, calm down. Breath in and out." I don't know why I'm helping this woman, but at least it distracts from my own fucked up situation. "There, that's better. Start from the beginning."
She sits up straight, and starts talking.
"And now he's gone", she finishes. Well shit. That's one crazy story. "So if I understand correctly, your old boyfriend was mad because you dumped him to marry the bloody Dark One, and when he tried to kill your husband you pushed him into the river of lost souls?"
"That sounds horrible! What am I going to do now?!" "First we have to find your husband, the, ehh, Dark One." "Okay. Yeah, let's do that."
I slowly pull her from the ground, and once I make sure she's steady we slowly leave the cemetery. Bad idea. Because coming from the right are Regina and Emma, and from the front Charming, Robin, Snow and a man I don't know approach. So we go left. But unfortunately Belle is still a bit unsteady, and when she trips, she and I both go down, making it possible for the Charming army to catch up.
"Belle? What are you two doing?" Regina pulls me up and forces me to look into her eyes. Yeah, what are we doing again?
"I'm helping Belle to get back to her husband, and then I plan on getting as far away from all of this mess as possible."
"Getting her back to Gold. Right", Emma repeats, and she looks with unbelieving eyes at Regina.
"Why would you do that? You don't even know her." Regina lets me go. Snow helped up Belle by now, and the Charming's watch us.
"Because I… I thought maybe…", I stuttered. Get it back together you peasant! You are a deadly assassin, not a stuttering coward!
"You thought that if you helped Belle, I might forgive you", Regina says, and when she does I realize how stupid my plan is.
"No. Because you haven't forgiven me, have you?"
"Rae, don't be stupid. I'm not angry with you. I was just", she sighs deeply "I was just angry at the world. At Snow, at David, and I reacted on you. I shouldn't have, and I'm sorry. And now we have to save an extra thirty people, but that's okay, we'll find a way." I let go of the breath I didn't know I was holding, and stare at her. Then my eyes start welling up, and she's pulls me in for a hug.
"I missed you", I say softly, and she pulls me tighter.
"Ehh, guys, this is real sweet and all, but what are we going to do now? We have no plan to get out of here, and things just got even more complicated."
Regina pulls away, and straightens out her jacket. I smile faintly. That's the Regina I know. Always trying to look her best, to look strong.
"Good question miss Swan. I'm glad you asked." Emma rolls with her eyes.
"No need for the drama, Mayor Mills." Regina glances at Emma, but then her eyes slip to Snow and Charming. I suddenly wonder what happened after I ran off? Regina must have told them she knows, right? Regina looks back at me, and shakes her head so lightly that it's only visible for me. Guess she didn't have the guts. Weird situations we got ourselves in.
"I say we go back the way we came. With the boat", Charming suggests. It might work, but we'll have to fight Hades.
"We have to fight Hades in order to do that. And if you didn't realize is yet, he's a god." The sarcasm drips of my tongue, making Regina smirk.
"We know dear, but do you have a better plan?" Regina arches her eyebrow in expectation.
"Not to mention we still have to save Killian", Emma brings in. Regina groans softly. She clearly dislikes whoever they are talking about.
"We know Emma, but we also have to think of our family." Snow steps forward.
"Mom, the whole purpose of going to the underworld was to get Killian back!"
"Uhmm, I'm sorry, you lost me. Who's Killian again?" I ask.
"That'd be me love, but you might also know me as recently departed Captain of the Jolly Roger, Hook." The man with the hook speaks with a tone I know all too well, and I don't like it. It reminds me of the men I met on my missions, full of themselves and all they care about is themselves and wooing ladies.
"Hook? As in the pirate you speak so lowly off Regina?"
"Yes dear, that's the one." Regina smirks at Hook, who looks quite offended.
"Anyways, we'll have to start with reviving Hook. Then getting Raena's mark off, and then find a way back. And the mysterious case of Belle. And the thirty locked up people." Regina sighs. "This is going to be a long week."
"Raena's mark?" Emma questions.
"Yes, when I tried to escapes Hades marked me with a way to track me in the Underworld."
"Why were you trying to get back? Did you find a way to revive yourself?" Emma's eyes suddenly fill with hope.
"What? No, I am not dead. I never was." How can the Saviour not feel my energy? Worst magician ever.
"Well, how'd you get here?" Emma continues, a bit disappointed.
"None of your business", I snarl at her, and she retreats from questioning me.
"This is all great, but we need to worry about Belle first, something's wrong", Snow urges us. Belle is gagging, and I rush over.
"It's morning sickness. Regina, magic me a bucket." She does as I ask, and just in time, because she throws up 2 seconds later.
"How'd you know she's pregnant?" The beard man comes closer, and yes, I am refusing to call him by his name. I leave Snow to deal with Belle.
"She's glowing. You can tell by the way she looks. It's easy if you know what to look at."
"Ah, right." He looks at her, and I can see he notices as well. He has sharp eyes for someone without magic.
"What is your profession, Mr. …"
"Locksley. Robin of Locksley. And I used to be a thief milady."
"Used to?" Regina chuckles.
Robin smiles at her, and I feel kind of confused. It's nice to see Regina so happy, but I wish it was with me, and not with some thief.
"Aha. A very serious business, thievery."
"It is indeed." Snow and Charming help Belle up, and say something to Emma, which I am surprised to not understand. But then I notice the faint purple glow around them and realize Regina put up a sound barrier. I laugh at her, and she wiggles with her eyebrows.
"You were confused there for a second weren't you?"
"I was indeed, but I recovered."
Then Emma walks towards us. "My parents are taking Belle back to the loft, and I suggest we head to the library to search for a way to revive Killian."
We nod, and move away to the library.
"Regina", I start, "who was the boy in the loft?
""That's Henry, he's there now waiting for Emma's parents. He is my adoptive son, and Emma's biological son."
She has a son. Great. Quite the way to make me feel like I just died. Pun intended.
