A Bandit's Rise

Regin drowned in her sorrow for months. She crawled into the bottom of the bottle and wanted to stay there. There was no point in getting up, in eating in anything. She wanted to disappear.

However, months after the loss of her child, Keith did something strange.

For months he'd been at her side, his shoulder to cry on, her confidant, her caretaker. He'd been everything to her. He was her only friend. But she was still grieving, she could barely function.

So Regina was utterly shocked when he kissed her. She pushed him away, outraged at his audacity.

Regina's beloved had been cursed to sleep forever. She loved him more than she ever thought she could love anyone, and yet it could not save them, it couldn't even save her child. If her love with Daniel was not 'True', there was no way Regina could anyone ever love again. She could barely feel anything anymore. She was broken and shattered and constantly waiting for the next shoe to drop, waiting for something to add to her misery.

Keith raised his hands to defend himself from her rage.

"I know you don't love me. Honestly, I don't think you even like me," he admitted.

"Then why the hell would you kiss me?" she snapped.

"Because you need something," he said. "Or you'll waste away here."

She shrugged off his concerns. What did he know about her and her feelings? What did he know about loss?

"I don't need anything," she snapped.

He raised a brow arrogantly. She literally wanted to shoot him with an arrow for it.

"You're not ok," he insisted.

"Did I say I was?" she countered. "Because I'm not. I lost everyone. They're all dead –

my parents, my sister, my love and my baby – my only chance at ever having a family."

He shook his head. "Not your only chance." Was he really implying that he could replace Daniel? How dare he. "That's not what I meant. I just thought I - never mind," he said, shaking his head. "It was stupid."

She whole-heartedly agreed with that.

Regina couldn't get his words out of her head. Of course she wasn't ok. She felt like nothing. She barely ever wanted to get out of bed. She barely felt human.

Keith had been nothing but kind to her. He'd taught her to fend for herself, offered her his home, and now he was trying to help her heal. Regina appreciated his efforts, but she couldn't quite figure out what he had been thinking.

"Why did you kiss me?" she asked suddenly over dinner nearly a week since his ill-advised kiss.

Caught by surprise, he eventually found his words. "Because I thought it could help you forget," he admitted. "You're beautiful Regina. I just want to help you in any way I can, give you the…comfort you deserve. I'm not Daniel, but I care about you."

She knew the kind of relationship she was offering. Zelena used to talk about such arrangements, even participating in them on occasion. "To scratch an itch," she'd said. Zelena never cared about waiting until the sanctity of marriage. She'd even told Regina in confidence that she honestly never intended to get married. Their mother would have been so disappointed if she'd known. Cora always had a soft spot for her elder daughter. Cora always hoped she'd get to plan a beautiful wedding for her eldest daughter, have her marry a perfect guy that would love her like she loved her husband. The thought of Cora learning of Zelena's transgressions would have killed her.

Regina wasn't like that. She'd had Daniel. They'd only just started…acting on their feelings, on their everlasting commitment to each other. Regina thought Zelena was going to get married at one point. They were so close. She'd thought Zelena was going to have a Spring wedding and she a summer one. It was a beautiful fantasy, but it had fallen through at the last minute.

"I love Daniel," she responded. "That won't ever change."

"I suspect nothing less. I know you, Regina, at least a bit. We're the same, you and I. We…there's only space to love one person," he stated. "But it doesn't mean we have to be miserable and all alone. We're both adults. I just wanted to put this…out there."

Regina just didn't have the energy to talk about this anymore. The very conversation felt like a betrayal to Daniel. She loved him with every bit of herself. How could she try to move on with Keith, even in just the physical sense?

"I'm tired," she said suddenly, leaving the room without another word. She could hear Keith cleaning up as she laid in bed, using the alcohol he brought her to help lull herself to sleep.

She didn't talk about his offer the next morning, and he didn't push her. They went into town to pick up supplies – Keith food, Regina another bottle of whatever the tavern had in stock.

"Excuse me," said a small voice. Regina searched for the voice, annoyed at whoever was prolonging her trip. She hated talking to people lately.

"Missus?" Something pulled on her pant leg. She looked down to see a small child looking up at her. "I can't find my Papa."

Regina's anger faded the second she saw the little girl's big brown eyes. Her skin was pale, but her bright blue sundress was clean. Regina took the little girl's hand. "Where did you last see your Papa?" she asked. The girl led her over to the market, babbling about the trips her father often takes.

It was nice, being given a tour by this sweet little girl.

"What's your name, sweet pea?" she asked, a strange feeling settled in her chest. She wondered what would happen if they never found her father. She would have no one and so Regina would have to step in. They could set up that spare room for her, the one Keith had once offered for her child's nursery.

It was irrational, she knew, but it made her feel alive for the first time since she lost her child.

"Papa!" the girl cried out as a man appeared. He looked frantic, searching the crowds.

"Grace!" the man called, suddenly seeing her. Regina could see his relief as the girl released Regina's hand and ran at full speed into her father's arms. The man pulled her up in a hug that reminded Regina of the way her own father held her.

It was obvious just how loved 'Grace' was. Regina waved goodbye to the small family, feeling happy for once. She felt sure, like she had a plan in the first time since before the death of her family. She didn't even see the need to buy alcohol today.

She realized that Keith was right. She did need something.

She met up with Keith as he finished his errands with a spring in her step. He raised a brow. "You seem happy.

She smiled. "I know what I want," she replied, because it was the truth. She had found a way to hold onto hope, to keep from feeling so numb. She sprang it on Keith with no preamble. "I want a baby."

He was shocked. She didn't blame him. The baby wouldn't be Daniel's, but it would be hers. Her child could have her brown eyes or her father's green, maybe Zelena's freckles that their mother always said skipped a generation. She didn't want to be without love but she had lost all of her loved ones. She wanted a baby who would love her.

Her child would be loved like no child had ever been loved before.

"With me?" Keith asked again. She nodded. Her child would need a father after all, and Keith could teach him how to hunt, or scare off the suitors from their daughter, not that she'd nee it. Any child of hers wouldn't need any help from anyone. It didn't matter that she didn't love Keith. He was her friend, and after all, it had been his idea to try to heal with each other's company. So she was trying to build something more from it. What was wrong with that?

"Regina…are you sure? After your last pregnancy, this won't be too much for you?" She narrowed her eyes at his lack in faith in her.

"Give me a baby, or I'll find someone who will," she snapped.

"Right now?" he asked in alarm.

"Right now."

XXX

Months of failures faded into years. Every month she'd pray for a baby, and every month, her cycle would be just as regular as always. She started getting discouraged when she hit thirty. By forty, she didn't want Keith to look at her, let alone touch her. She started blaming him, hating him. And she knew deep down, he felt the same way toward her.

"You're beautiful," Keith used to say every evening when she escaped to her bedroom, tired from the activities she had once enjoyed. Eventually he stopped saying anything when they finished, just rolled over and went to sleep. It left her feeling used and dirty, a far cry from the loving embraces she used to share with Daniel. It all just left her bitter.

It must have done the same to him, because as the years went by, he drank more and more. It made his temper flare more often and more violently. He never laid a hand on her, and she was too numb to feel anything from his cruel words, but it annoyed her all the same.

As Regina hit forty-five, they stopped trying altogether. The dream they had together was dead.

However, one day, Keith said something funny. "You haven't changed a day."

She looked at him thoughtfully. His youthful outlook was slowly leaving him, grey was spreading through his once brown hair, and wrinkles were forming. He wasn't the young guy who'd saved her and taught her how to survive so long ago. Regina didn't have a single grey hair, no wrinkles, nothing. She looked exactly the same as the day her life ended. She had noticed the lack of change, in the back of her mind, but she didn't realize the extent of it until now.

"I told you to eat better," she quipped back defensively.

"I told you to mind your own business." The years had not been kind. Prey in the forest was becoming scarce, they barely had enough money to survive.

Regina thought that was how she'd spend the rest of her days, barely living with a man she didn't love, didn't even like anymore, empty inside and out. As if that life wasn't bad enough, Keith started keeping secrets, leaving early and coming home late, hiding things from her. At first Regina didn't care.

"I wonder what would have happened if I had never found you," he asked one day. "I wonder if I would have found someone to fall in love with."

No matter how hard she tried, Regina couldn't forget that, nor could she shake the gut feeling that Keith's secrets were dangerous for her.

She remembered the times when she saw her face plastered on every tree and every shop in sight of it made her ill. Snow had posted it. Once her best friend, Snow took away everyone she loved, and now she was just rubbing salt in the wound even after all these years. It terrified her to think of being hunted, of having to leave this place and be on the run. Keith would tell her that everything would be alright, she would stay out of town for a few days and everyone would forget about it.

He didn't do that any more, now he sneered at the posters. "She looks much younger than you." He'd say. but she'd seen him lingering around those posters for a bit, deep in thought.

It made Regina suspicious.

So she did the only logical thing. When Keith fell asleep in a drunken stupor, she ransacked his bag. Dread knotted in her chest as she pulled out a flyer. It looked like it had been posted recently. She saw her own image staring back at her.

Regina Mills

Murderer and Thief

Wanted Dead or Alive

Her shock and sadness quickly turned to anger. Why was Keith hiding the flyer? What did he have to gain from any of this? They had been in it together so far? Why would he turn on her now.

She got her answer at the bottom of the page.

Reward for Capture

"I wish you hadn't seen that," said a cold voice. Regina saw Keith looking down at her, hunting knife in his hand. "I wish I could have done this while you were sleeping."

He went right for her, knife poised for her throat. She pulled away, grabbing one of her own weapons and holding it up, keeping him back.

"Why?" she asked. "I know things have changed, but I thought you were better than this."

He didn't answer, instead going after her again, not caring when Regina slashed at his arm. He used his greater weight to smash her into the wall.

"Because I'm tired of struggling, I'm tired of never being good enough." He insisted, his hands settling around her neck. "Not for you, not for Marian." His hands tightened. "At least now I'll be a hero. I'll be known for putting down a murderer." She struggled against him for a moment then Regina kneed him right away as hard as she could. He went down quickly, cradling his injured crotch.

"I'm not a murder." She spat. "And you know that." That was what hurt the most, the fact that she was innocent and would still kill her.

"That's not what everyone else thinks. I'll be a legend, be able to live in the lapse of luxuries until my dying days." He said, crawling back onto his knees. He was reaching for the fallen knife again.

"I regret ever meeting you." She declared. "Agreeing to stay here was the biggest mistake of my life." She stepped back, wanting to run, wanting to just get away from here.

"Mine too." Keith said, and then before she could run, he was up on his feet grabbing her hair. Regina reacted on instinct. She found her knife deep in Keith's chest.

He crumbled and Regina crumbled with him. Blood pooled from his chest, he gasped in shiver in utter pain. He gave her a final look.

"I guess you're a murder now." He chuckled.

She looked down at him, then her blood soaked hands. Regina didn't feel guilty, she felt free, like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"I guess I am." She said. Regina didn't wait for him to die. She left him bleeding on the floor still breathing and gasping in pain and fled into the night.

I'm back! Not dead yet!

Thanks to my fantastic beta, CaptainSwanlurker, this finally got finished and proof read!

Regina's story is still going to have one more piece though, don't worry, not leaving everyone off like that!

Stay tune for more soon, I'm very excited.

~Luna