Forbidden

Confrontation:

"I said we had to meet covertly. Now I see you brought the entire Charming softball team and their pirate mascot!" Regina says exasperated, because how stupid can these her newfound "friends" be? She's supposed to be one of the bad guys again. She really can't be seen with the "hero"-gang.

"We were worried about you," Mary Margaret says calmly.

"Well, then worry quickly. I can't be seen with all of you."

It would seem that Emma has been giving this some thinking during the night, because she tries to "warn" Regina about Maleficent, and then she offers to help her with the undercover thing.

But Regina declines. She doesn't need help. She got this. Or, at least she thinks she does.

She waits until they're gone, then she adjusts her coat slightly and prepares to leave the library and join "The Queens of Darkness".

Or, she thinks she's alone. When she passes a shelf on her way to the door, Emma steps out behind said shelf, and Regina nearly yelps in surprise.

"What the hell, Emma? I thought you've left with the others!" Regina says and presses a hand to her heart. Seriously, how many surprises can she handle?

"I was worried. And I'm not a fan of this whole undercover-thing." Emma says and folds her arms across her chest.

"Yes, well, neither I am. But I can't very well back out now. And I promised your mother to keep an eye on the queens," Regina says sarcastically.

"That may be, but she doesn't know that Maleficent is your ex-girlfriend…"

"Stop calling her that."

"…And out for your head." Emma continues and ignores Regina's remark. "I mean, what if she's gonna try and attack you?"

"I'm not completely lost when it comes to fighting witches."

"But I doubt even you would stand a chance if she turned into a dragon."

Regina just shrugs. Because Emma is absolutely right about that. She doesn't have the shadow of a chance if Maleficent goes "dragon-crazy" on her.

"Then I guess I'll go out with a bang. Or in flames, or something like that," Regina quips half-heartedly, and sees a flicker of panic in Emma's green eyes.

"And what am I supposed to tell Henry if his mother ends up as a dragon's lunch?" the blonde inquires with a raised eyebrow.

"I doubt she would go as far as eat me. I'm too bony for her." Regina says dryly. That's true. Maleficent repeatedly told her that she "needed to eat more".

"Seriously, what if she decides to follow through and threatens you?" Emma presses. "Please tell me you have some sort of plan."

"Oh, I have," Regina scoffs. "It's called I'm sorry."

Emma's jaw drops a little. "Seriously? You're gonna apologize to her?" she sounds so shocked, and Regina can't blame her. Heavens know she isn't big on apologizing.

"Yes, I think an apology is in order." Regina mumbles and fiddles with her gloves. She's still not sure why she's talking to Emma Swan about this.

"Wow, you really mucked things up bad, didn't you?" Emma says plainly.

"You have no idea." Regina says and winces slightly when she's assaulted by a flashback of herself laughing in Maleficent's face while Maleficent clearly tried to say something important to her.

Yeah, I really "mucked things up" badly.

"What happened?" Emma asks earnestly. Clearly, Regina's little journey back in time hadn't gone unnoticed. And the Savior doesn't sound irritatingly curious, she just sounds like a concerned friend.

"Let's just say I screwed up spectacularly," Regina says and decides to let it be with that. "And if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be."

She pats Emma's shoulder lightly in an "I'll be fine"-manner, and then she walks toward the door.

"Did you care for her?"

Regina freezes for a moment. "I was incapable of caring for anyone."

With that she leaves the library and Emma Swan.

Regina walks the short distance to the outskirts of Main Street. She doesn't have to wait long before Cruella's big and rather tasteless car pulls up in front of her. Both the passenger door and the driver's door opens, but the car appears to empty.

"Ready to take a drive?"

Regina freezes for the second time that night. Maleficent is standing right next to her. Dressed in her "blouse, skirt and tie" attire. Her hair is pinned into soft curls and a grey hat is bouncing on top of them.

"Where are the other two's?" Regina asks plainly, and her voice comes out softly in the howling wind.

"Don't worry about them. It's just you and me tonight. Just like old times," Maleficent smirks.

Great. Wonderful. So tonight, is the night where Maleficent is gonna make her move.

"Why don't you get in?" Maleficent suggests silkily. "I'll drive."

Suggestion or not, Regina suspects she doesn't have much of an actual choice in the matter, so she calmly walks over to Cruella's car and climbs inside.

Maleficent follows suit and takes the drivers seat, but she isn't doing much driving. The car appears to be driving itself, and Maleficent spends the time with staring Regina down.

Regina silently wonders if Maleficent perhaps is planning to murder her right here. In the car. But on seconds thoughts, Cruella would probably not like that. No, Maleficent is taking her somewhere isolated to "have it out with her". The woods? No, not the woods. People would both see and hear them in the woods.

Where then? Maleficent doesn't already have a house, does she?

But they are in fact heading towards the woods. Hmm. Not very original. But obviously, there's plenty of leg room for a dragon.

Regina scoffs quietly. My magic is absolutely useless against a dragon. So if THAT'S what she's planning… well, then I'm screwed.

Great.

"Are you afraid of me?" Maleficent suddenly asks, and it takes Regina back to a night long ago in her old bedchambers.

"No." Regina says plainly. She has kind of already made her peace with this major witch fight that's about to happen.

Maleficent purses her lips but doesn't say anything.

The car rounds a corner and suddenly they are parked in front of what appears to be a cottage in the woods.

A cottage. Well, this place certainly isn't big enough for a dragon. Unless Maleficent is planning to blow up the whole place of course. That could be a possibility, too.

Maleficent swiftly exits the car, and Regina finds that she has no choice but to follow her.

The cottage is modest but has every furniture one could desire. There's smoldering flames flickering in the fireplace, and Regina listens to the sound for a moment.

Then she turns her attention back to Maleficent who is looming behind her. The blonde sorceress is staring her down like she did in the car, and her blue eyes flickers dangerously.

Regina stares back. She honestly thought she was prepared for this, but she doesn't get the chance to even summon a fireball before Maleficent waves her hand. The movement sends Regina straight into the wall. Stars dances before her eyes as the back of her head collides with the hard wall, and three second later, she's restrained by whatever spell Maleficent cast upon her.

So. This is it.

Maleficent is in front of her within seconds and she practically snarls in Regina's face as she wraps her fingers around the brunette's throat.

Regina halfheartedly tries to move her arms, but it's not worth it. She can't move at all. She's bound by whatever magic Maleficent used. And Maleficent keeps squeezing her throat. Harder and harder. Regina's breath becomes ragged, her lungs burns due to lack of oxygen and her vision begins to blur slightly. She's gonna pass out. She's definitely gonna pass out.

Maleficent squeezes again, but her fingers aren't quite as certain anymore, and her grip around Regina's throat not very fierce either.

Regina opens her eyes and stares at Maleficent's pale, angry face. What is she doing? Is she gonna kill her or not?

"Why... aren't you fighting?" Maleficent hisses irritated. "Why aren't you trying to make me stop?"

Regina coughs and wheezes in response. She can't very well tell Maleficent that she has expected this.

"Fight me, damnit!" Maleficent growls and Regina is suddenly able to move her arms. But she doesn't. She just keeps on staring at Maleficent. And Maleficent squeezes her throat again.

"I said fight me!"

"No," Regina croaks.

That seems to rattle Maleficent completely. Her fingers suddenly become loose around Regina's throat.

"You… Have every… Right to… do this." Regina coughs and her eyes starts to water slightly at the sudden rush of oxygen.

For a moment, Maleficent looks like she's gonna explode in a fit of rage, her fingers are still nestled around Regina's neck, she growls something Regina can't quite understand, and then- then she kisses her.

Regina stiffens completely at the unexpected contact. What in Hells name is even going on?! Maleficent's mouth is hard and angry against hers, but she's not squeezing Regina's throat anymore. Instead she uses one hand to grab Regina's wrists and pin them above her head.

For the first time in a very long time, Regina is a hundredth percent confused about what the fuck is happening. Well, she's not an idiot, Maleficent is kissing her, that much is obvious. But the million-dollar question is exactly why Maleficent is kissing her? is this some sort of twisted foreplay before she actually follows through and kills Regina?

Maleficent's hand, the hand that isn't pinning Regina's wrists above her head, suddenly travels down and palms her breast roughly.

Right then. Okay. Regina bites back a moan when Maleficent suddenly wedges a knee in between them and starts rubbing said knee against her core. What, is this turning into angry sex now? Okay. It wouldn't be the first time they had angry sex, but Regina can't for the life of her imagine what spurred this. And Maleficent is still kissing her. She's still plundering Regina's mouth with her tongue, and more or less "forcing" Regina to respond to the kiss. Her knee is still rubbing swiftly against Regina's core, and Regina can feel how she's getting wetter and wetter.

And suddenly, Maleficent is nowhere near her. Regina can once again move her wrists, and she barely gets the chance to reposition herself into a more "normal" standing position before the door opens.

"And exactly what is going on in here?" Cruella asks and smirks as she glides through the door with Ursula right behind her.

Regina settles for an eyeroll. Mostly because she doesn't have the faintest idea of what the hell is going on. She's at her wits end.

"Shouldn't you two be somewhere else?" Maleficent snips.

"Change of plans, darling," Cruella drawls.

"The Savior and her entourage was out and about," Ursula spats. "We can't make a move tonight."

Regina hasn't the faintest idea of what "move" Ursula refers to, and honestly, she doesn't care at the moment. She's still deeply confused about what the fuck just happened. One moment Maleficent is going full on murderous bitch on her, and the next she's kissing her and basically getting her off against a wall.

"Hmm. What a shame," Maleficent drawls. "It seems we've come out here in vain then."

"Apparently." Regina says and finally finds her voice again.

"Perhaps we should disband before the Savior and her gang decides to follow us out here," Ursula suggests.

"A fine idea," Cruella says. "But you'll have to find somewhere else to be, because I'm staying right here." With that she saunters over to the cabinet and pours herself a drink. "Now get the hell out of my cabin."

Ursula scoffs as she disappears in a cloud of smoke.

Maleficent remains frozen to the spot and stares Cruella down like she stared Regina down a moment ago.

Regina settles for walking out of the door. What the hell just happened? She wonders as she walks through the forest. She had imagined this grand confrontation. A battle. A regular witch fight. A fight that involved throwing each other around like rag dolls, and instead Maleficent pulls a stunt like this.

That was definitely an angry kiss, but Regina isn't sure what to believe anymore, and she's definitely not gonna think about what would have happened if Cruella and Ursula hadn't barged in.

No, she's not thinking about that. Of course she isn't.

To Be Continued?