Their footsteps echoed rather ominously through the small hallway as they climbed the stairs to Snow's apartment with fingers clutched tight together. They'd called a half hour before to warn the Charmings of their plan - she knew they'd assumed she'd drag this meeting out but in all honesty, she just wanted to get it done and get back to normality...or at least their version of normality.
Henry had demanded he join them, that he be there to protect her and to stand up for her and though the thought of having her son close by comforted her, the thought of him knowing the extent of her suffering at the hands of the King quelled that desire. In his innocence she knew he believed that the abuse she'd suffered had been purely physical and whilst most of it had, she didn't want him learning about the horrors of the world by eavesdropping.
He'd protested when she'd told him he couldn't come, had been close to tears with his frustration but he'd listened when Robin had told him that Roland needed him, he'd calmed when the archer had pointed out that his son didn't really know Emma yet - she'd offered to stay and look after the boys with a somber look to Regina - and that having Henry at home would keep him from getting scared.
Henry had still wanted to come but, with one last look at Regina - she'd been close to breaking, her distress at the entire situation so very clear in dark eyes - he'd nodded and he'd promised to stay behind before burying himself in his mother's embrace.
"We can do this another time, you know" Robin soothed quietly when they reached the first floor landing, squeezing her hand gently and tilting his head to catch her gaze. She looked terrified. "You owe him nothing, just as you said."
She nodded, licking her lips before swallowing heavily and replying "I know," on a low whisper before turning her head to meet his eyes with her own and explaining "I just feel that this has hung over me for so long now and…" she shook her head, "it sounds silly but I feel as though once we've done this, once I've finally confronted him in a way that I never could before…"
"You'll be free," he finished for her with a kind and understanding smile that had tears pricking in her lovely eyes as she nodded solemnly before falling into his open arms and fighting back the heavy sobs he knew were building within her. She wouldn't go in there looking weak, something he knew as he whispered "build up those walls, my love" and then "he can't hurt you any more."
The atmosphere was heavy and weighted as Snow set about fixing everyone a cup of tea. It was unnecessary and only made the whole thing feel a lot more awkward than it already was with only the clink of china cutting through the terse silence but this was never going to be easy.
She'd asked, when she'd called earlier, for Snow to remain impartial in this if she were to stand witness to it all and though she knew it would be hard for the girl, she hoped it was a request she could grant. Regina had been her hero at one point in her life and now, now the truth of those years was going to come out.
They were sitting at opposite ends of the table, Regina and Leopold, like warring leaders with their council filling the remaining seats on either side. Robin sat with his hand and her thigh beneath the wood, something she knew her former husband had caught with his cold grey eyes - he still saw her as his wife, his property - but she wouldn't shake Robin's touch from her skin, not ever. David sat closest to her whilst Snow, when she'd finally finished, sat down beside her father and allowed the silence to envelope the room completely.
He looked far worse than he had the previous day, frail and weak in his seat opposite her but there was still a strength in his eyes that only lit the burning rage in her very bones. He didn't belong here, he didn't belong in this time or this world and so the universe was taking his stolen soul. He was dying. It quelled her desire to kill him where he sat for this death would be drawn out, torturous and though she felt a little flare of sympathy for Snow, she felt nothing but gratitude for the work of the fates.
"Your hair was always one of your more prettier features, Regina" Leopold commented after a long moment, his voice weaker than she thought he'd meant it to be and though Robin's grip tightens on her thigh - it doesn't hurt, just has her pre-emoting his need to stand up for her and so she drops her own hand to rest over his, a silent request for his patience - she does nothing but laugh softly and humourlessly.
"You always did value an object's material value over anything else."
He shrugged the comment and her laughter off, something that seemed to take more energy than he could really afford but he remained arrogant despite his waning health. "And I always put that pretty little mouth of yours to far better use than that, didn't I Regina?"
She tensed in her seat, ignoring the gasp of disgust that escaped Snow - she looked disgusted at her father, a sadness in her round eyes that told Regina that finally she was beginning to see what she'd missed as a child.
"Oh don't be so prudish, Snow" her father intoned with a roll of his grey eyes, the last of his kindness no doubt taken with his health, "you have two children, I'm sure you are aware of what a marriage entails."
Her jaw set as she turned her body towards her father and told him "trust, honesty, love and respect." She shook her head slowly, "or so mother taught me."
Leopold softened somewhat at the mention of Eva, pulling a shiver from Regina as she remembered those awful nights in which he'd find himself too lost in his mind and cry out for his late wife whilst his young bride lay trembling and sobbing beneath him, waiting for the torture to end. Robin must have felt it for he tugged gently on her arm, a silent request for her to look at him and when she did, she could see the loving concern in his deep blue eyes, we can always leave. She shook her head, a wordless assurance that she was okay and it wasn't a complete lie.
Still, his gaze lingered for a moment longer before he flashed her an encouraging smile and rubbed his thumb up the length of hers, I'm with you. She nodded and managed a small smile back before looking back down the table to find Leopold staring at them.
"Our marriage still stands, Regina" he looked between her and Robin, eyes lingering on their touching upper arms where their hands were joined beneath the table before continuing "in our land you would have been dragged through the streets with your hands and feet tight, allowing all of the Kingdom to see you for what you really are," and when she merely raised an eyebrow in response, he leaned forward and spat "a whore!"
David saw what was going to happen before the rest of them did so when Robin jumped up from his seat in his rage - face already reddening and fists curling tight when he let go of Regina's hand - the prince was able to both steady the furniture with a palm pressed flat against it and press a hand to Robin's chest for the archer looked set to leap across the wooden surface and finish the King off himself.
"You do not get to speak to her like that." he warned, heeding Charming's request for him to stay put but remaining on his feet, fingers linking with Regina's when she stood to slide her hand down his arm and over his wrist in order to calm him.
Leopold merely smirked, looking between them and asking "you're fucking her, are you not?" Robin's jaw set as Snow's eyes fell to the ground, her face crumpling with the destruction of the man she'd once known to be nothing but good, a man she truly hadn't known at all. The King didn't stop though, he leaned forward once more and grinned "is she still as tight as she used to be?"
It was Regina this time who stopped Robin from murdering Leopold where he sat as she jumped between them and threw her hands up, magic creating a barrier on both sides of herself. She looked to Robin with tears in her eyes as she whispered "not worth it."
He wanted to defend her, she could see it so clearly in his expression. He was torn, torn between listening to her and following the strong urge to shut the King up forever but after a few moments, he finally sighed heavily and nodded, his stance growing lax and his shoulders dropping. She mouthed a silent 'thank you' before inhaling a steadying breath and turning to look at Leopold. No more games and no more procrastinating.
"I want a divorce."
Snow's head snapped up as Leopold's tilted in confusion, clearly not the beginning either of them had expected but it had been the easiest place to start in Regina's mind.
"Your daughter will explain to you what such a thing is after we have left," she looked back to Robin with nothing but gratitude in her eyes when he stepped up behind her but made no move to go past her - a supportive warmth at her back, her strength - before turning back to the King "but essentially it will end our marriage for good." A snarl curled at her lip as she looked him up and down and warned "you no longer own me, no matter what you may think. I am not yours and if you even think that having me first means anything" she practically spat, "then you are deadly wrong and not that it is any of your business but no, Robin is not fucking me but when he does, when he does make love to me," she amended as her expression softened at the thought, "it will be because I wish it too, it will be because I want to just as much as he does and not because I am obliged to do so." She leaned forward enough to plant a hand upon the tabletop as she told him, "you may have had a part of me," she shook her head at she stared at him with pity in her eyes, "but the man behind me will have all of me and not because he or anyone else says so," she growled with tears streaming down her face that she ignored, "but because I have said so, because I have chosen to."
She stood straight once more, lacing her fingers with Robin and holding tight to his hand before beginning the walk towards the apartment door, their cups of tea left cold and forgotten on the tabletop. She stopped at the door though, turning to find the man still facing the other way and shaking her head at his back before finishing "the papers will be with you by morning," and stepping out through the door she'd pulled open, not looking back as she left the King's company for the very last time with her soul mate in tow