I'll apologize ahead of time for the lack of outlaw queen in this episode. I had to move the plot along a bit, and wanted to get some other character interaction in there, but I really miss writing Regina and Robin together. Don't worry though, the next chapter will be full of them, lots and lots! I promise ;) Otherwise, I hope you enjoy this chapter for now. Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews! Some of you have great ideas, and have inspired me as I go.
Chapter 15
Restlessness streams through her body and mind. Inside the tent she finds herself sitting, just sitting in that chair Rumple had conjured as time passes, thinking about the mess she has made. At first, the situation hadn't seemed so grim. She was determined to make a memory potion for Robin, and his men before finding the dark one, and returning to her time, but now, now so much has happened. So many people are involved, and days have passed instead of hours. With a final sigh, lifting her body from the chair, she knows she needs to talk to Rumple. That imp will tell her what he has up his sleeve if she has to force it from his throat.
At that thought, that moment, a spark ignites in her hand, and looking down she is shocked to find a small flame hovering above her skin. A smile forms on her lips as she stares wide eyed at the light before extinguishing it, closing her eyes, and finally allowing her magic to spring forth. A cloud of purple and white surrounds her, and she supposes her magic will never be the same. No longer can she conjure pure dark magic. She is too filled with light, too filled with hope, and the thought makes the magic come forth even stronger, flowing more powerfully than she knew it could.
The smoke clears, and looking down, Regina cannot contain the self-satisfied smirk that appears on her face. She no longer has to deal with a lack of appropriate clothing. Her small frame is covered with comfortable black leggings, a long dark blue cardigan that will keep her warm now that the sun has moved below the horizon, and black calf high boots, gorgeous but sturdy and comfortable. A sigh of relief leaves her mouth. Controlling her magic, all of her magic again, makes her feel strong, powerful, safe and invulnerable.
"Mom," Henry speaks from just outside her tent, "can I come in."
"Yes Henry, you may." She finds it silly that at this moment, when so much has happened, she is still a mother correcting her son's grammar, and he appears at the tent flap with a smile on his face, a smile for her, that she returns ten fold.
"Are you feeling better? You looked really tired earlier." Henry questions.
"I'm feeling much better, Sweetheart." She states moving to wrap her arm around his shoulder, and plant a kiss on his temple. "I even have control of my magic again, see?" she says waving her hand, and a fog of her magic hovers in the middle of the tent before clearing, leaving behind a comfy looking mattress.
Henry smiles, then teases, "Mom, it is not really camping if you have a bed in your tent. You're supposed to use sleeping bags."
She chuckles and smiles at her boy before responding, "I've never been one for camping Henry."
"Mom," her boy starts, looking sheepish as he continues, "I am going to stay in a tent with Emma and Grandpa tonight, if that is ok with you?" His gaze returns to hers, questioning insecurely.
She can see he is worried about hurting her, concerned for her feelings, and if she is completely honest she is hurt. She had hoped he would want to stay with her, be with her, it has been so long since she has shared the company of her son, but she understands. She spotted Emma on her way back to the tent earlier, and the blonde was looking quite distraught, definitely anxious about their current predicament. Unlike Regina, Emma has not mastered the art of building walls and masks, and their son can see clearly how upset the woman is feeling.
"I understand Henry," she says reassuringly, because she does, and she won't be selfish with him, not anymore, "we'll have plenty of time together when we fix all of this." Now it is his turn to reassure her with the tightest hug he has ever placed around her waist, burrowing his head in her shoulder before responding with 'we will' and 'I love you Mom'.
Moments later she is alone again, but feeling lighter, less burdened than she has in days. A thought crosses her mind, and she lifts her coat and scarf from the chair, throws them over her much more appropriate attire and steps from the solitude of her tent into the brisk night air. The fire burns bright several yards away, and there are still many of Robin's men, and Snow and Charming's group rustling about.
In the distance she spots Robin, 'her' Robin, she thinks, his hair looks a little lighter at the temples, and then she is certain when she recognizes the man next to him, his younger self. Great, she thinks to herself, the man she is dating and the man she kissed only minutes ago, talking with one another. Technically they are the same man, but Regina is not sure she wants Robin to hear that she kissed his younger version from the man himself. She intended on telling him herself once they found themselves alone again, soon she hoped.
Watching the two men interact feels peculiar, odd and out of place, but it puts her mind at rest. Their conversation seems friendly, pleasant, playful even, and when she sees a little Roland pulling into 'her' Robin's lap her lips draw into a content smile.
"Be careful, deary." The voice of her former mentor meets her ears, and then he is standing beside her. "Your mask is slipping."
She turns to him with a roll of her eyes and pursed lips, "Actually, I was just coming to find you."
"Oh, and to what do I owe the pleasure?" He asks in a way that makes her think he knows exactly what she wants.
"I know you have a plan, a thought." She corrects, because if he had a complete plan he would have voiced it already. "The idiots are in over their heads with this, and you and I both know that you are the most well versed in magic, especially dark magic so what exactly is swimming around in that head of yours?" The smug smirk drops from his lips at her questioning, bringing her a small measure of satisfaction.
"Follow me." He states, turning to walk toward one of the other tents without waiting for her reply.
She follows. Her only hope at the moment is that this man will have a useful strategy. Plenty of thoughts and ideas have popped into her head, but she has discounted almost all of them due to either lack of ingredients for the potions and spells of such magnitude or lack of know-how.
They enter the tent Rumple deemed his own, and she is immediately overcome by the sight that meets her. If Henry thought she was cheating at camping, he should see this. The space inside the tent is far larger than it should be, like she just walked into another world. On top of that, the tent is filled with not only a bed that looks fit for a queen, but rugs on the ground, chairs and a table. It really is ridiculous, she thinks. After all, why would he need half of this for what is hopefully only going to be an overnight stay.
"I see you've made yourself comfortable." She steps further into the tent and takes a seat on a plush chair near the table.
"As have you." He states gesturing toward her change of clothing, and Regina finds herself sitting a little straighter while sending him a glare.
"Well?" She questions eagerly. "I assume you brought me here to discuss your plan of action."
He nods at her, takes a few steps to her left, until he too is settled into a chair across from her, "I have an idea, but," he pauses to look at her, emphasizing the word 'but' causing her to quell her excitement, "I am not sure if it will work, and if it does...there could be...consequences."
"Like what?" Her brow furrows, the anxiety that had slipped her mind earlier returning fully. "What do you have in mind?"
"I am not sure," His hand moves to the table, his fingers splaying across the surface. "There could be no consequences, but...no one has ever done any of this before, so, there is always a chance there will be a price. I know how to reopen the portal, how to send us back, but that will not repair the damage done now that you have been gallivanting for two days with people who were never supposed to meet you." He says staring at her pointedly, but before she can open her mouth in defense he continues.
"Rather, my thought is that we open a portal, and firstly fix what has happened. We make sure you never meet these people. Then we can open another portal to reinsert ourselves back into our respective time and place."
"Am I understanding you correctly?" She questions snidely, because he makes all of this sound like a simple step by step process, but creating several time portals does not seem easy to her, "You want to open a portal that will bring us back to the moment I arrived here, in this time?"
"Yes. Once there, we can wait for your arrival through the original portal and send you back immediately. Before Robin and his men have a chance to take you captive, then all of this, will never have happened."
"Ok, but won't that remove us immediately back to our timeline?" She says pensively. After all, if she never set forth on this path to begin with, then all of them should no longer exist in this time and place.
"Perhaps, but more than likely, we will remain until we use the wand again, opening portals that will embed us just where we should be in time."
"Ok...but how do you know this will work?" Her fingers have found their own way to the table next to her, tapping nervously while she awaits his reply.
"Well, deary, that's just it, I don't know if this will work." He says it so simply, and it reminds her of when she was his student, he her mentor. The way he makes this all seem so obvious. "As I said, this has never been done before. I am confident that we can use the black fairy's wand again to reopen the time portal, but whether everything can be returned as it should be," his eyes fall from hers, "that I cannot say."
"We'll tell them the plan in the morning." She says looking to the rug beneath her feet, getting lost in the pattern. "All of us will need to cooperate for this to work."
Rumple nods again, the atmosphere feels oppressive, burdening, and Regina stands with an urgency, a need to get out of this space overwhelming her. She does not say a word, just slips quietly from his tent, watching the ground as her feet meet with it. When she had first seen Rumple here with the others, she immediately felt relief, she was certain he would know what to do, and as it turns out, she was right. He does have an idea, but even he lacks confidence in whether or not it will work. The initial comfort, the reprieve, she had found at the sight of his presence, now chokes her with a foreboding panic.