You Are Not Your Yesterday: Chapter Seven: I'll Be Your Mirror/Changelings
Title: You Are Not Your Yesterday
by Jesterlady
Pairing: Robin/Regina
Summary: At the end of S5, Robin has died and his soul is saved from destruction by the Greek god Zeus, but he is presumed gone forever. Regina is devastated with grief and struggling with her own darkness. After she removes her evil half, the Evil Queen doppelganger begins to wreak havoc on everyone in Storybrooke, finally making a wish that creates a whole new realm and provides a way for Zeus to send Robin’s soul into an alternate self. But this Robin doesn’t know who he is, having an alternate set of villainous memories. When he and Regina meet again, they must struggle with the disconnect and longing they both feel. Can he reclaim his heroic self? Can Regina accept her own dark past and defeat the Evil Queen? And can their true love win through the trials that would reunite them?
Disclaimer: I don't own OUAT. Some lines are from the show. The title is from Ann Voskamp
I really thought the show missed the mark with the return of Robin Hood on the show. So I wanted to take this opportunity to write the story in the way that made sense to me.
I wanted to focus on Zelena and Regina’s relationship here as well, making it a lot more intentional than canon. I think Zelena provides a great foil for Regina’s growth, and I think Zelena’s character deserves better. It provided a way for me to delve into Regina’s growth, her understanding and acceptance of redemption, and how she will continue to be strong and fight. In allowing Robin to go through his own villainous redemption, it gave them an equal ground they hadn’t been able to share before.
I have strong feelings about the Wish Realm. Apart from the its creation, I hated how it was used (so illogical)! So just to be clear, in this story the Wish Realm is not real. Only Robin (with a real soul inside him) can come through to the other side; it collapses as soon as Emma (the point of it) leaves. We see this as Wish Rumple tries to leave and wasn’t able to. This also explains why Robin (and characters connected to him) were young when everyone else had aged.
You definitely need to be familiar with S6 to read this fic. I do ignore a lot of S6 ie Gideon and Black Fairy. You can assume those things are happening alongside of the main events, but I’m ignoring it and deliberately changing where it intersects, because the story needed to focus on Robin and Regina and have a resolved ending that didn’t immediately jump into the next problem.
Robin slipped through the forest like a shadow, every skill and trick he’d learned his entire life put to its best use. His mission was real and urgent, but the danger in completing it equally so. Yet this wasn’t the hardest part. A crack sounded from up ahead and Robin slid behind a tree, holding his breath. He couldn’t wait forever, but caution was his friend in a situation like this.
The woods were guarded by the Sheriff’s men, a blockade set up to keep Robin from escaping, but he had to. And then he had to break into the Dark One’s castle. And then he had to escape with his intended object. And then he had to make it back safely. He was on the first part of his quest and he didn’t dare mess up here.
After waiting a longer period of time than he normally would, Robin continued his silent journey through the forest. He navigated by the small amount of moonlight that made its way through Sherwood Forest’s dense tree cover. For anyone else it would have been suicide, but he knew this place well. It had been his home for many years and he considered it a part of who he was. The trees had watched him grow up and he’d watched them in return.
Watch out for the big root there. Duck under the hanging limb there. Skirt the brook there.
Still, he was going too slow and Marian’s life hung in the balance. With their wedding day looming on the horizon, Robin wanted nothing more than to make sure she was alive to see it. And he’d exhausted all other possibilities but magic.
He was nearing the edge of the forest, and the road where the Sheriff’s jurisdiction ended was a scant hundred feet away. Robin was so close to achieving this part. He didn’t doubt the Sheriff would follow him anyway, but at least most of his men would remain behind.
Robin ducked under the edge of a large tree, peering cautiously around it, looking for the telltale glint of moonlight on swords, the whisper of many men breathing, the shuffling of weary feet. He heard nothing but the night song of birds and the rustling of wind in the leaves. That in itself was a good sign. Too many men around and the forest itself would grow quiet.
Robin made to step forward from his last available hiding place when light roared to life in front of him. A sudden heat made him throw up his hand in front of his face. Fire blazed on the road before him, lighting the surrounding forest and sending a wave of animals scampering toward freedom.
What the hell was going on? Didn’t the man know he could burn the whole forest down? Then what would he be in charge of ruling?
The fire raged from left to right as far as Robin could see, cutting off his direct route to the Dark One’s castle. He would never make it there if he had to circle back and come at it from a longer direction. That had to have been the Sheriff’s plan, knowing that Robin was too good to be caught any other way.
“Wherever you are, Robin,” roared the Sheriff from somewhere on the other side of the flames, “it’s over. You’ve lost. You’ll never get out. Better run, back to your hovel, because tomorrow I will burn this forest down to find you.”
Robin stared at the flames, the urge to try to run through them uppermost in his mind. He’d never make it, only land half-charred on the other side for the Sheriff to gloat over. But not doing it meant he hadn’t done everything humanly possible to save his love.
But dying for her would leave her all alone to face the oncoming pain.
Robin made no answer, but turned and ran with all haste back through the woods. He feared no danger unless it was a spooked animal, but he didn’t care. He was one of them after all, driven to run from harm, toward the only safety he knew.
Panting, Robin arrived at the small room occupied by Marian as she slowly died. She was so weak she was no longer able to work at the tavern. He dropped his bow and quiver at the door, staring at her shivering form on the bed. One of the girls who sometimes stopped by to attend to her looked up and shook her head. Robin covered the entire floor with a bound and fell to his knees by the bed.
Marian was ice cold to the touch as he grasped her hand. Her lips were blue and he wished a kiss would warm them.
“Darling, I’m here,” he said, choking out the words.
“I’m sorry, Robin,” she said, her own words hard to hear. “I would have liked to have been your wife.”
“No, don’t talk like that. We can marry now, I’ll-I’ll get the friar.”
“There’s no time,” she said, coughing. “You only just made it yourself. Even if you had gotten the-the wand, it wouldn’t have done any good. I would have been gone by the time you got back.”
“How did you know I was going for the wand?” he asked, smoothing her hair back from her forehead.
“I know you. All that deep thinking, stroking your arrows, looking at maps.” She laughed and then coughed again. “But I told you before, this was coming. I’m just sorry it came so soon.”
“No,” he said. “Loving you is everything.”
“I fear it won’t have been enough,” she said. “For the darkness that will come for you. For the darkness that will rise in you.”
“Don’t talk like that,” he said.
He knew she was right and that was why he didn’t want her to say anything. It was bad enough knowing his own evil deeds, having her guess at them was torture.
“What would you have my last words be?” she asked, reaching a feeble hand toward him.
He kissed it gently.
“You decide.”
But there were no more words. The chattering teeth stilled, the shaking limbs ceased their movement, and Marian was gone, separated from him forever. Never his bride. Only his almost everything.
Robin’s eyes filled with tears and he bowed his head, clutching her hand, the warmth already stolen from it by the disease that had crippled her body. This wasn’t how tonight was supposed to go. Despite her words, he knew if he’d only gotten that wand, somehow, he could have prevented this or changed it.
How had the Sheriff known? How had he gotten there ahead of Robin and set his ambush so quickly? Robin had only mentioned his quest to one man, the man who let him know of the existence of the wand in the first place. Robin’s face tightened and he rose quickly.
There would be one less man breathing in the forest tonight.
---
Regina stood in the loft, hands on hips, guilt deep in her bones. Snow was hunched over the bed where David lay, sleeping deeply. She clutched his hand and whispered words the rest of them couldn’t hear. But Regina didn’t want to stand there and listen to sad words; she wanted to end the source of them. And she appreciated everyone wanting to protect her, but she couldn’t let them do it any longer. It was time to end this.
“This is all my fault. I can't let them suffer for it.”
She resolutely headed for the door, stopping only when Emma caught up to her and grabbed her arm.
“Regina, where the hell are you going?”
“To stop the queen. I can hurt her. I'm the only one who can hurt her. Anything that happens to me will happen to her.”
“No. I am not letting you sacrifice yourself.”
“Well, I'm not asking for permission,” Regina announced, raising an eyebrow in defiance.
“This is not the time for the sacrifice play,” Emma hissed. “We have already lost too much. We’re down one person, do you want us to be down another? The person who really knows magic? Just because you kill the both of you doesn’t mean that we will figure out how to end this curse and that’s what we need from you right now.”
Regina sighed, hating that Emma was right, when Regina just wanted to do something.
“Okay, that's enough despair for one day,” Snow said resolutely, getting up and handing a piece of paper to Henry. “I'm going to wake him up. If you would please give this to him.”
“Of course.”
Snow bent over the bed while everyone watched and then froze.
“Are you okay, luv?” Killian asked.
“No,” Snow answered. “She's watching us.”
Snow got up and smashed the mirror beside the bed. Regina ducked instinctively, throwing up a shield. She felt shards of glass bounce off of it.
When she straightened up, Snow had already leant over David and kissed him, and was falling asleep on the side of the bed.
David’s eyes fluttered open and he sat up, staring down at Snow.
“Snow? Snow?” He looked up. “What’s going on?”
“I still don’t want to watch this anymore,” Regina muttered to Emma, and turned for the door as Henry wordlessly handed David the note. “I need to think.”
“Just think about what I said,” Emma said pointedly.
Regina waved a vague hand behind her and stepped out the door, leaning back against it once it was closed. She breathed deeply, pondering her next move.
Emma was right, but Regina still couldn’t shake the idea that this was all going to end in her needing to sacrifice her life. Everyone was in this mess because she couldn’t handle the darkness. That had always been her problem; she hated the person she had become.
It didn’t matter that she had Henry or that Robin had loved her or that Snow and David had forgiven her. What mattered was that she knew how despicable she really was and she couldn’t live with that, haunted by the notion that someday it would all be too much.
She felt sudden pity for Zelena, remembering her words about being upset that Regina had rejected the part of her that was most like herself. And maybe that was a good reason for Regina to have a hard time accepting her big sister. Regina didn’t like looking in the mirror at her own issues, so watching someone else go through them, especially when it had cost Regina her true love, felt impossible.
Maybe she needed to go and see Zelena again, try to set things right after their fight at the graveyard. But right now, she didn’t have the energy. She needed to spend it all on helping the Charmings and fighting the Queen. With the idea she’d just had, Zelena would have to wait.
---
Regina stared at the mirror in her vault, studying her reflection, before she draped the frame, wanting to hide her actions in case her evil doppelganger was watching. She’d spent a lot of time thinking about her plans and there was no way she was letting the Queen foil them.
Turning, she spotted Emma entering.
“How are your parents?”
“I can't stand seeing them like this, so please tell me you have something,” Emma said. “I spent the whole day calling New York trying to track down the Dragon, but no luck.”
“Well, that's a hell of a long shot.”
“That's all I got. He helped August. He has magic in a World Without Magic. Maybe he can break my parents' curse. Of course, it would help if he had, you know, like, a name.”
“Well, when Snow broke that mirror, it gave me an idea. Now, we can't hurt the Queen, but maybe we can trap her.”
Regina displayed the hand mirror she’d selected.
“In a mirror?”
“In the world behind the mirror,” Regina corrected, putting the mirror away carefully. “I can enchant it to imprison her.”
“We have to find her first.”
“So we dangle out bait. Something she cares about.”
“Like what?”
“Like me,” Henry answered, walking in to join them.
“No. It's too dangerous,” Emma protested.
Regina couldn’t deny that, but she had a feeling it was the only way.
“She's not gonna hurt me,” Henry insisted. “And, anyways, I need a distraction today.”
Regina only half paid attention to Emma’s questions about Henry’s problems, that is until Henry confessed he was worried about Violet and his blossoming relationship. Regina’s only solution? A distraction.
“How about we go defeat a queen? Hmm?” Regina wrapped her arm around Henry’s shoulders. “What do you say?”
They quickly formed their plan and headed for the beach where Regina and Emma hid themselves while Henry waited for the Queen to appear.
Regina watched anxiously until the right moment and then Emma poofed Henry away for his own safety.
“Now, that is a new low . . . using my own son against me,” the Queen said, turning to face them.
“Henry is not your son!” Regina said.
“That's exactly what you used to say to Emma.” Regina couldn’t resist a sidelong look at Emma, before returning her attention to the Queen. “You both fought so hard to be Henry's mother, but neither of you got the job done.”
This time Regina wasn’t going to chat. It was time to end this.
“This conversation is over, and you're about to go on a very long trip.”
Regina pulled out the mirror and brandished it toward the Queen. Nothing happened.
“Sorry. But that's not the mirror you enchanted.” The Queen materialized her own mirror. “This is.”
“You switched them,” Regina said in horror.
“Anything you can dream up . . . I've already dreamt it.”
Before Regina could say or do anything else, a cloud of blue smoke enveloped her and she knew only darkness.
---
Regina’s eyes struggled to adjust to the light as she opened them, feeling a sharp edge under her cheek. Sitting up, she pulled back from the ornate edge of the gilded mirror that her head had been resting on. A glowing, blue cloud was reflected on the mirror’s surface.
Regina looked around in horror; the mirrors were everywhere, mocking smoke and broken frames. A world she had trapped others in, but never seen herself.
Emma was nearby, frantically trying to get Granny’s attention through a mirror, but Regina quickly disabused her of the notion that anyone looking inside a mirror could see them on the other side.
“This is a world of one-way mirrors, Emma. All you're doing is giving me a headache.”
“Oh, stop being so melodramatic. We're gonna find a way out.”
“There is no way out. We don't have magic here. We have no way to communicate with home.” Regina began to shout in frustration. “This was the perfect prison for her. Which means it's the perfect prison for us.”
“No, no. It's different for us, for-for you. You have something she doesn't.”
“And what's that?”
“People who care about you. We might not be able to break out, but maybe they can break in.”
“Henry,” Regina said in realization.
“Henry?”
“He won’t give up. He will figure this out. And when they try to break us out, we have to be at the exact right mirror at the exact right time.”
“We need to find a mirror at Granny’s,” Emma said suddenly.
“Granny's?”
“That's where Henry's taking Violet before the dance.”
They quickly searched and found one that was in the back hall at Granny’s. One that Henry was looking into, smoothing back his hair and taking a deep breath. Despite the circumstance, Regina found herself really looking at him. He was so much taller than she felt he had any right to be. He was so grown up, and yet she could see he was nervous.
“Okay, what's next?” Emma asked.
“Well, he’s not going to hear us,” Regina said. “We need to follow him from mirror to mirror so he can break us out once he realizes what’s going on.”
“That could take a long time,” Emma pointed out.
“If you have a better idea, I am all ears,” Regina said, but was distracted by the sight of the Queen appearing at Henry’s side and giving him a spiel about royalty and confidence and posture.
Regina’s heart sank as she realized that Henry really thought the Queen was her. Maybe he wouldn’t know to rescue them after all.
“She's going after him when he's his most vulnerable,” Emma said.
Regina turned away, sinking to the ground.
“You don't think I know how bad this is? I fought the worst parts of myself for years, and I failed. Henry doesn't even stand a chance.”
“I think someone else is here,” Emma said, shushing her, and Regina looked up in annoyance.
“There is no one here, okay? It's just you and me.”
Another voice sounded from behind them.
“Well . . . that is not true exactly.”
Regina got up and spun around. The Dragon stood before them, hands folded in front of him.
“How the hell did you get in here?” Emma asked.
“The Evil Queen paid a visit to my shop after you left her for dead.” He looked steadily at Regina. “When I refused to assist her, she banished me here.”
“Well, I guess that makes us a club,” Regina muttered.
“Back in New York,” the Dragon continued, “the battle I spoke of deep within your soul was supposed to remain there. But you let it out.”
Regina shifted uncomfortably, already well aware of her part in all of this.
“I didn't take a one-way trip for you to pick me apart, thank you.”
“Perhaps not,” he replied gravely. “Everything is about balance . . . the dark and the light. This is a lesson sometimes learned at great cost.”
She stared at him for a moment, wondering exactly how to take what he meant. Weren’t heroes supposed to fight the darkness at all costs? Shouldn’t getting rid of the Queen portion of herself, so long as she could actually do it, be the ultimate goal?
“Yeah. Well, we're about to lose our son,” Regina said to cover her confusion.
“I sympathize.” He bowed slightly. “A long time ago, I lost a daughter, and I paid a price for my ignorance.”
Now she felt even more guilty and she softened her tone.
“I'm so sorry.”
“So you understand,” Emma said. “We have to get back to our son. Please, please tell us you've found a way out of this prism.”
“Indeed, I have. I found what you call a back door.”
He led them through the maze of mirrors and Regina wondered how he was able to navigate it so well, for she was soon lost. The mirrors were different, but they were all the same. There was nothing but hard shapes and blue smoke for miles.
They came to a place with columns and no roof. A simple bed and raised table were on the floor. A glowing mirror was mounted on the wall. Regina realized where they were and felt a wave of guilt wash over her.
“Sidney did this,” Regina said softly. “This must have been his home.”
Why was it that everywhere she looked, she was reminded of her own atrocities? Sidney had his problems, but he hadn’t deserved this, even if he’d technically done it to himself the first time. Even that had been because she’d chosen him for her scapegoat. This was why the Queen had to die, so Regina could finally move on from things like this.
“This Sidney you talk of,” said the Dragon, “he was working on a way out.”
“Another mirror?” Regina asked, turning around in hope.
“Oh, more than that.” He gestured toward a pedestal in the corner, holding a bowl of broken mirror fragments. A full-length mirror frame stood beside it, the top of the mirror jagged from missing the rest of its glass pieces. “If we can put it back together again.”
“A portal out,” Regina realized.
“I've been trying since I arrived. A Sisyphean task. But together, hopefully, it is possible.”
Regina and Emma looked at each other before Regina picked up a shard and held it up to the mirror. When she found the place it belonged, it glowed and its edges melted into the frame so that it appeared as one more piece of the unbroken part of the glass.
This was still going to take as long as waiting for someone else to come and break them out.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Emma summarized, moving to help.
Regina wasn’t sure how long they stood there, matching up pieces, getting cut fingers, and only rarely having the satisfaction of a piece being the right one. She was beginning to think it truly was a Sisyphean task.
But then the Dragon spoke behind them and all thoughts of the mirror flew out of her mind.
“Enjoying your little puzzle? Oh, don't worry. Henry is safe with me. In fact, he is better off.” Regina and Emma looked at each other before setting down their glass and turning to face him. He spoke but the words were clearly not his own, and Regina realized what had happened a second before the Queen spoke through him again. “I may have put his body in the mirror. But I kept his heart.”
The mirror on the wall glowed and Regina could suddenly see Henry’s reflection, standing at the mirror in her vault, the Queen behind him, a glowing red heart in her hand.
She and Emma yelled his name, running forward. He could clearly see them because he called out for them as well.
“We're coming to get you, Henry,” Regina assured him.
“Are you sure about that?” the Queen gloated.
The mirror went blue again and Regina turned as the Dragon crumpled toward the floor in pain.
“What's wrong?” asked Emma, hastening forward. “Did she hurt you?”
“No, don't come any closer.” He held out a hand in warning. “I'm sorry. I . . . I don't want to do this.”
Swirling red smoke surrounded him and when it dissipated, they faced a huge, red and gold serpentine figure, and Regina was pretty sure she now knew exactly why he was called the Dragon.
The Dragon leapt into the air and spun to face them, a pillar of flame issuing from his mouth, shattering the pedestal with their mirror fragments. Regina ducked out of the way and tried to put something between her and him. She stood with her back to a column, Emma mirroring her on the other side.
“The mirror. That was our ticket out of here,” Emma whispered. “Any ideas?”
“We don't have magic, but The Dragon does,” Regina mused. “If we can aim his fire at the mirror the Queen is using-”
“Can we blast our way out of here?”
“It's worth a shot,” Regina said as a roar echoed behind them. “One of us should stay here, just in case.”
“Right. In case the other one gets fried. I'll go.”
“No, I've got this,” Regina insisted.
“Why do you keep trying to martyr yourself?” Emma hissed.
“Emma, just listen,” Regina began before she had to dive for cover again.
They crouched behind rocks as the flames cooked the air over their heads.
“I haven’t wanted to admit this,” Regina said, but she was sure that Emma wouldn’t let her do what had to be done otherwise, “but I need you. I'm afraid to raise Henry alone.”
“What? You've done great.”
“But every time I see him with Mommie Dearest over there, it's just a reminder of the horrible mother I could have been.”
“Well, you're not,” Emma said. “There’s no point in wondering about what might have been. I know you feel guilty about her, but we are a team. Unlikely, but that’s the way it is. We are both his mother and we always do what's right for Henry, so you're not sacrificing yourself, and neither am I.”
Regina stared at the woman she’d once viewed as her enemy and rival and realized that she was right. Regina was trying to take the easy way out. Again.
“So we do this together?”
Emma smiled and Regina returned it. They leapt out from their cover and ran for the mirror together, calling for the Dragon.
He circled behind them and they dodged a stream of fire. Regina lost count of how many times she almost burnt to a crisp, playing bait for the mirror. But then there was a loud sound, like a gong, and a cracking noise, as sharp as the ice during spring on the lake in the Enchanted Forest. Regina felt heat blazing from the mirror and the Dragon’s fire poured onto its surface. A pulling sensation sent her flying.
But when she looked up, she was on the floor of her vault, Emma beside her. Regina got up as Henry ran toward her and hugged her.
“You made him soft!” accused the Queen from behind them.
Regina thrust Henry behind them. She could feel her magic again and she was more than ready to use it.
“You stay away from our son,” she said.
Henry didn’t stay behind them, but stepped out in front.
“Family makes you stronger than you'll ever be by yourself. And that's something you'll never have, because you'll always be alone.”
“I wanted to give you a choice,” the Queen said, advancing toward them. “But it appears you weren't ready yet.”
Regina and Emma readied their magic, but the Queen suddenly gasped as Killian appeared behind her, his hook at her throat.
“I suggest, unless you like the feeling of hook piercing flesh, you shove off, Your Majesty,” he growled.
The Queen looked at Henry and there was softness in her eyes Regina could understand, but then she looked at Regina and a more vicious expression appeared.
“You know, he’s not the only family you’ll lose.”
The Queen vanished and Regina relaxed, but her heart was pounding at the Queen’s message.
“What does that mean?” Emma asked, turning to Regina.
“I’m not sure,” Regina said. “But I think I should check on Zelena. She was pretty chummy with Belle at the cemetery, and I can’t imagine Gold was too happy about that. And while the Queen might have been happy playing family for a time, I doubt she was planning on sharing her crown with anyone.”
“Then go,” said Emma. “I’ve got Henry.”
“I think he has us,” Regina said, smiling at Henry, who was getting a clap on the shoulder from Killian.
“He’s going to be okay,” Emma said, turning as well. “With or without us.”
“The Queen was wrong about him,” Regina said. “I was so worried about how I was going to raise him I didn't even notice.”
“We already had?” Emma said, facing Regina again.
“Something like that,” Regina said. “Now, it’s your shift.”
“Go help Zelena,” Emma said. “Call us if you need us.”
Regina turned and ran from the happy reunion Emma and Killian were having. She might have been willing to put Zelena at the bottom of her priorities, but she wasn’t willing to let her die.
---
Regina arrived at the farm, just in time to see Zelena take a fireball to the chest and go flying back against a shed door.
“Looks like evil does beat wicked,” gloated the Queen. “Goodbye, sis.” Regina didn’t have a lot of options, but she did have a hell of a trump card. She thrust her hand into her chest and pulled out her heart. She felt the loss instantly, and evidently the Queen did as well, for she leaned forward, groaning. “My heart.”
“Not your heart. Mine,” Regina clarified.
“You can't control me with that,” the Queen said, turning to face her.
“Oh, I don't have to,” Regina said, tightening her grip. “All I have to do is crush it.”
The Queen groaned with the pain.
“You wouldn't. Not for her.”
Regina felt a wave of shame at the words. Had Zelena really felt so abandoned and insecure to convince the Queen of that?
“Really? Let's find out.” Regina squeezed her heart and bent over at the pain stabbing her chest. The Queen gasped with her, and it might have been funny if it wasn’t so deadly. Regina reached the point of no return and let up her grasp, straightening up. “So, now that you know I'm serious, you're going to tell me why you'd do this. Didn’t you have enough fun destroying lives today?”
“It was Rumplestiltskin,” said Zelena from behind the Queen. “He said it was either me or him. You see, he can’t kill me himself since I control his heart. So he got her to do his dirty work.”
“Did he now?” Regina asked, eyebrow raised.
“Oh, you're just jealous!” spat the Queen.
“You think he cares for you?” Regina scoffed. “Don't you get it? He lied to you because he knew your revenge wasn't enough. You still have a hole in your heart, just like I did when I first came here.”
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
“And you're so desperate to fill it, you actually believed him.”
“You're wrong!” hissed the Queen.
“Am I? Go ask him and find out. After all, we're done with you here.”
Regina felt her breath release once the Queen vanished from in front of her. Zelena stared up at her, breathing heavily, blood on her forehead.
“Just happen by, did you?” Zelena asked, with her typical attempt at levity.
Regina sighed and extended her hand down.
“Let’s get you inside.” Zelena accepted her help up, and winced, feeling her forehead. They walked inside. “Is there a reason you weren’t fighting back?”
“You try conjuring magic when your head is on fire,” Zelena grumbled. As they entered the kitchen, she went straight to the crib to check on Robin. Regina felt her heart soften a little more. Zelena then sat down at the table. “Thank you. After a scrap like that, I don't think I could magic a glass of warm milk, let alone heal myself. I'm lucky you were here.”
“Well, after the Queen was done torturing me and Emma and tormenting Henry, she mentioned her little mission. It seemed rude not to at least check on you.”
Zelena looked down at that.
“So glad I made the hero to-do list.”
“Look, you’re safe now. So is Robin. Let’s just leave it at that.”
“Fine with me.”
“But you do need to be careful. The Queen and Rumple’s alliance means that if you get in between him and Belle, like you clearly have been, he’s not going to stop until you’re dead, and since he can’t hurt you directly, the Queen is his deadliest weapon.”
“Oh, so now when I try to help people, I’m doing the wrong thing.”
“It’s not because you wanted to help Belle,” Regina said, sighing. “We all should probably help Belle more than we do.”
“She wanted out of Storybrooke, to save her baby from him.”
That explained it all. Regina knew Rumple would never stand for that.
“Then he’s going to do everything in his power to keep her here,” Regina warned.
“I’m well aware,” Zelena said, her eyes flashing fire. “I just got a very good reminder.”
“You know, I warned you she wasn’t going to be the sister you always wanted,” Regina said, changing tactics.
“Because I have so many other options,” Zelena snapped.
“That wasn’t what I meant,” Regina said, trying to hold her temper in check.
“No, it appears you just wanted to gloat that you were right and I was wrong. I’m always in the wrong.”
“Maybe because you do wrong all the time!” Regina said, her control failing.
“Well, I haven’t been given the many opportunities for redemption that some people have,” Zelena said.
Regina’s eyes narrowed.
“No, that’s not an excuse. You have been given opportunities and I’m the one who gave them to you. And what did you do?”
“Killed the man I love to save your life,” Zelena shouted.
“After he killed Robin!” Regina roared back.
Zelena stared for a minute and then folded her arms across her chest.
“So this is about Robin Hood. You still blame me for his death.”
“Yes, that's exactly right.”
“What about forgiveness? You've grown. You've changed!”
“Well, we’re not exactly seeing an effort from you,” Regina said, looking away.
“That’s insane!” Zelena replied. “I have reached out to you over and over. I’ve come every time you called. I helped you with your little Gold problem. And look where that got me.”
Regina took a deep breath and tried to force herself to see this rationally. As soon as Robin’s name had been mentioned, her vision had been blurred by rage, but that wasn’t who she was.
“Baby steps. Keep making them.”
“You know, there will come a point when I will no longer be willing to just sit here and hope that one day you’ll stop being enough of a hypocrite to see that I’m really trying.”
“If you were trying so hard, you wouldn’t have been so chummy with the woman who just tried to murder you.”
“With my sister,” Zelena said firmly. “With the person who acted like I mattered.”
Regina stared at her, at the blue eyes so stubborn, at the lips that so resembled their mother’s. It would take a miracle for her to fully forgive Zelena. But maybe she needed to try a little harder.
“You matter,” she said simply. “I wouldn’t have saved your life otherwise. But as I’ve told you again and again, I am struggling with this. And it’s not going to be an easy fix. I really don’t feel like I can ever forgive you.”
Zelena turned away, but not before Regina saw the tear fall from her eye. Zelena got up and went over to the crib.
“Struggle over,” she said, her back turned. “I won’t bother you again.”
“That’s not what I said,” Regina said.
“But it’s what I heard,” Zelena said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m feeling rather tired after my busy day, and Robin needs to be fed. Go back to hero-ing or whatever it is you do.”
“Fine,” Regina said, too tired herself to continue this argument. “But please let me know if she comes back. And someday, Zelena, someday we will continue this conversation.”
Zelena laughed a little bitterly, but made no other reply.
Regina poofed herself home, more than ready for a shower and a long night’s sleep. Why was it that nothing, especially the things that were supposed to be easier, ever made sense in her life?
by Jesterlady
Pairing: Robin/Regina
Summary: At the end of S5, Robin has died and his soul is saved from destruction by the Greek god Zeus, but he is presumed gone forever. Regina is devastated with grief and struggling with her own darkness. After she removes her evil half, the Evil Queen doppelganger begins to wreak havoc on everyone in Storybrooke, finally making a wish that creates a whole new realm and provides a way for Zeus to send Robin’s soul into an alternate self. But this Robin doesn’t know who he is, having an alternate set of villainous memories. When he and Regina meet again, they must struggle with the disconnect and longing they both feel. Can he reclaim his heroic self? Can Regina accept her own dark past and defeat the Evil Queen? And can their true love win through the trials that would reunite them?
Disclaimer: I don't own OUAT. Some lines are from the show. The title is from Ann Voskamp
I really thought the show missed the mark with the return of Robin Hood on the show. So I wanted to take this opportunity to write the story in the way that made sense to me.
I wanted to focus on Zelena and Regina’s relationship here as well, making it a lot more intentional than canon. I think Zelena provides a great foil for Regina’s growth, and I think Zelena’s character deserves better. It provided a way for me to delve into Regina’s growth, her understanding and acceptance of redemption, and how she will continue to be strong and fight. In allowing Robin to go through his own villainous redemption, it gave them an equal ground they hadn’t been able to share before.
I have strong feelings about the Wish Realm. Apart from the its creation, I hated how it was used (so illogical)! So just to be clear, in this story the Wish Realm is not real. Only Robin (with a real soul inside him) can come through to the other side; it collapses as soon as Emma (the point of it) leaves. We see this as Wish Rumple tries to leave and wasn’t able to. This also explains why Robin (and characters connected to him) were young when everyone else had aged.
You definitely need to be familiar with S6 to read this fic. I do ignore a lot of S6 ie Gideon and Black Fairy. You can assume those things are happening alongside of the main events, but I’m ignoring it and deliberately changing where it intersects, because the story needed to focus on Robin and Regina and have a resolved ending that didn’t immediately jump into the next problem.
Robin slipped through the forest like a shadow, every skill and trick he’d learned his entire life put to its best use. His mission was real and urgent, but the danger in completing it equally so. Yet this wasn’t the hardest part. A crack sounded from up ahead and Robin slid behind a tree, holding his breath. He couldn’t wait forever, but caution was his friend in a situation like this.
The woods were guarded by the Sheriff’s men, a blockade set up to keep Robin from escaping, but he had to. And then he had to break into the Dark One’s castle. And then he had to escape with his intended object. And then he had to make it back safely. He was on the first part of his quest and he didn’t dare mess up here.
After waiting a longer period of time than he normally would, Robin continued his silent journey through the forest. He navigated by the small amount of moonlight that made its way through Sherwood Forest’s dense tree cover. For anyone else it would have been suicide, but he knew this place well. It had been his home for many years and he considered it a part of who he was. The trees had watched him grow up and he’d watched them in return.
Watch out for the big root there. Duck under the hanging limb there. Skirt the brook there.
Still, he was going too slow and Marian’s life hung in the balance. With their wedding day looming on the horizon, Robin wanted nothing more than to make sure she was alive to see it. And he’d exhausted all other possibilities but magic.
He was nearing the edge of the forest, and the road where the Sheriff’s jurisdiction ended was a scant hundred feet away. Robin was so close to achieving this part. He didn’t doubt the Sheriff would follow him anyway, but at least most of his men would remain behind.
Robin ducked under the edge of a large tree, peering cautiously around it, looking for the telltale glint of moonlight on swords, the whisper of many men breathing, the shuffling of weary feet. He heard nothing but the night song of birds and the rustling of wind in the leaves. That in itself was a good sign. Too many men around and the forest itself would grow quiet.
Robin made to step forward from his last available hiding place when light roared to life in front of him. A sudden heat made him throw up his hand in front of his face. Fire blazed on the road before him, lighting the surrounding forest and sending a wave of animals scampering toward freedom.
What the hell was going on? Didn’t the man know he could burn the whole forest down? Then what would he be in charge of ruling?
The fire raged from left to right as far as Robin could see, cutting off his direct route to the Dark One’s castle. He would never make it there if he had to circle back and come at it from a longer direction. That had to have been the Sheriff’s plan, knowing that Robin was too good to be caught any other way.
“Wherever you are, Robin,” roared the Sheriff from somewhere on the other side of the flames, “it’s over. You’ve lost. You’ll never get out. Better run, back to your hovel, because tomorrow I will burn this forest down to find you.”
Robin stared at the flames, the urge to try to run through them uppermost in his mind. He’d never make it, only land half-charred on the other side for the Sheriff to gloat over. But not doing it meant he hadn’t done everything humanly possible to save his love.
But dying for her would leave her all alone to face the oncoming pain.
Robin made no answer, but turned and ran with all haste back through the woods. He feared no danger unless it was a spooked animal, but he didn’t care. He was one of them after all, driven to run from harm, toward the only safety he knew.
Panting, Robin arrived at the small room occupied by Marian as she slowly died. She was so weak she was no longer able to work at the tavern. He dropped his bow and quiver at the door, staring at her shivering form on the bed. One of the girls who sometimes stopped by to attend to her looked up and shook her head. Robin covered the entire floor with a bound and fell to his knees by the bed.
Marian was ice cold to the touch as he grasped her hand. Her lips were blue and he wished a kiss would warm them.
“Darling, I’m here,” he said, choking out the words.
“I’m sorry, Robin,” she said, her own words hard to hear. “I would have liked to have been your wife.”
“No, don’t talk like that. We can marry now, I’ll-I’ll get the friar.”
“There’s no time,” she said, coughing. “You only just made it yourself. Even if you had gotten the-the wand, it wouldn’t have done any good. I would have been gone by the time you got back.”
“How did you know I was going for the wand?” he asked, smoothing her hair back from her forehead.
“I know you. All that deep thinking, stroking your arrows, looking at maps.” She laughed and then coughed again. “But I told you before, this was coming. I’m just sorry it came so soon.”
“No,” he said. “Loving you is everything.”
“I fear it won’t have been enough,” she said. “For the darkness that will come for you. For the darkness that will rise in you.”
“Don’t talk like that,” he said.
He knew she was right and that was why he didn’t want her to say anything. It was bad enough knowing his own evil deeds, having her guess at them was torture.
“What would you have my last words be?” she asked, reaching a feeble hand toward him.
He kissed it gently.
“You decide.”
But there were no more words. The chattering teeth stilled, the shaking limbs ceased their movement, and Marian was gone, separated from him forever. Never his bride. Only his almost everything.
Robin’s eyes filled with tears and he bowed his head, clutching her hand, the warmth already stolen from it by the disease that had crippled her body. This wasn’t how tonight was supposed to go. Despite her words, he knew if he’d only gotten that wand, somehow, he could have prevented this or changed it.
How had the Sheriff known? How had he gotten there ahead of Robin and set his ambush so quickly? Robin had only mentioned his quest to one man, the man who let him know of the existence of the wand in the first place. Robin’s face tightened and he rose quickly.
There would be one less man breathing in the forest tonight.
---
Regina stood in the loft, hands on hips, guilt deep in her bones. Snow was hunched over the bed where David lay, sleeping deeply. She clutched his hand and whispered words the rest of them couldn’t hear. But Regina didn’t want to stand there and listen to sad words; she wanted to end the source of them. And she appreciated everyone wanting to protect her, but she couldn’t let them do it any longer. It was time to end this.
“This is all my fault. I can't let them suffer for it.”
She resolutely headed for the door, stopping only when Emma caught up to her and grabbed her arm.
“Regina, where the hell are you going?”
“To stop the queen. I can hurt her. I'm the only one who can hurt her. Anything that happens to me will happen to her.”
“No. I am not letting you sacrifice yourself.”
“Well, I'm not asking for permission,” Regina announced, raising an eyebrow in defiance.
“This is not the time for the sacrifice play,” Emma hissed. “We have already lost too much. We’re down one person, do you want us to be down another? The person who really knows magic? Just because you kill the both of you doesn’t mean that we will figure out how to end this curse and that’s what we need from you right now.”
Regina sighed, hating that Emma was right, when Regina just wanted to do something.
“Okay, that's enough despair for one day,” Snow said resolutely, getting up and handing a piece of paper to Henry. “I'm going to wake him up. If you would please give this to him.”
“Of course.”
Snow bent over the bed while everyone watched and then froze.
“Are you okay, luv?” Killian asked.
“No,” Snow answered. “She's watching us.”
Snow got up and smashed the mirror beside the bed. Regina ducked instinctively, throwing up a shield. She felt shards of glass bounce off of it.
When she straightened up, Snow had already leant over David and kissed him, and was falling asleep on the side of the bed.
David’s eyes fluttered open and he sat up, staring down at Snow.
“Snow? Snow?” He looked up. “What’s going on?”
“I still don’t want to watch this anymore,” Regina muttered to Emma, and turned for the door as Henry wordlessly handed David the note. “I need to think.”
“Just think about what I said,” Emma said pointedly.
Regina waved a vague hand behind her and stepped out the door, leaning back against it once it was closed. She breathed deeply, pondering her next move.
Emma was right, but Regina still couldn’t shake the idea that this was all going to end in her needing to sacrifice her life. Everyone was in this mess because she couldn’t handle the darkness. That had always been her problem; she hated the person she had become.
It didn’t matter that she had Henry or that Robin had loved her or that Snow and David had forgiven her. What mattered was that she knew how despicable she really was and she couldn’t live with that, haunted by the notion that someday it would all be too much.
She felt sudden pity for Zelena, remembering her words about being upset that Regina had rejected the part of her that was most like herself. And maybe that was a good reason for Regina to have a hard time accepting her big sister. Regina didn’t like looking in the mirror at her own issues, so watching someone else go through them, especially when it had cost Regina her true love, felt impossible.
Maybe she needed to go and see Zelena again, try to set things right after their fight at the graveyard. But right now, she didn’t have the energy. She needed to spend it all on helping the Charmings and fighting the Queen. With the idea she’d just had, Zelena would have to wait.
---
Regina stared at the mirror in her vault, studying her reflection, before she draped the frame, wanting to hide her actions in case her evil doppelganger was watching. She’d spent a lot of time thinking about her plans and there was no way she was letting the Queen foil them.
Turning, she spotted Emma entering.
“How are your parents?”
“I can't stand seeing them like this, so please tell me you have something,” Emma said. “I spent the whole day calling New York trying to track down the Dragon, but no luck.”
“Well, that's a hell of a long shot.”
“That's all I got. He helped August. He has magic in a World Without Magic. Maybe he can break my parents' curse. Of course, it would help if he had, you know, like, a name.”
“Well, when Snow broke that mirror, it gave me an idea. Now, we can't hurt the Queen, but maybe we can trap her.”
Regina displayed the hand mirror she’d selected.
“In a mirror?”
“In the world behind the mirror,” Regina corrected, putting the mirror away carefully. “I can enchant it to imprison her.”
“We have to find her first.”
“So we dangle out bait. Something she cares about.”
“Like what?”
“Like me,” Henry answered, walking in to join them.
“No. It's too dangerous,” Emma protested.
Regina couldn’t deny that, but she had a feeling it was the only way.
“She's not gonna hurt me,” Henry insisted. “And, anyways, I need a distraction today.”
Regina only half paid attention to Emma’s questions about Henry’s problems, that is until Henry confessed he was worried about Violet and his blossoming relationship. Regina’s only solution? A distraction.
“How about we go defeat a queen? Hmm?” Regina wrapped her arm around Henry’s shoulders. “What do you say?”
They quickly formed their plan and headed for the beach where Regina and Emma hid themselves while Henry waited for the Queen to appear.
Regina watched anxiously until the right moment and then Emma poofed Henry away for his own safety.
“Now, that is a new low . . . using my own son against me,” the Queen said, turning to face them.
“Henry is not your son!” Regina said.
“That's exactly what you used to say to Emma.” Regina couldn’t resist a sidelong look at Emma, before returning her attention to the Queen. “You both fought so hard to be Henry's mother, but neither of you got the job done.”
This time Regina wasn’t going to chat. It was time to end this.
“This conversation is over, and you're about to go on a very long trip.”
Regina pulled out the mirror and brandished it toward the Queen. Nothing happened.
“Sorry. But that's not the mirror you enchanted.” The Queen materialized her own mirror. “This is.”
“You switched them,” Regina said in horror.
“Anything you can dream up . . . I've already dreamt it.”
Before Regina could say or do anything else, a cloud of blue smoke enveloped her and she knew only darkness.
---
Regina’s eyes struggled to adjust to the light as she opened them, feeling a sharp edge under her cheek. Sitting up, she pulled back from the ornate edge of the gilded mirror that her head had been resting on. A glowing, blue cloud was reflected on the mirror’s surface.
Regina looked around in horror; the mirrors were everywhere, mocking smoke and broken frames. A world she had trapped others in, but never seen herself.
Emma was nearby, frantically trying to get Granny’s attention through a mirror, but Regina quickly disabused her of the notion that anyone looking inside a mirror could see them on the other side.
“This is a world of one-way mirrors, Emma. All you're doing is giving me a headache.”
“Oh, stop being so melodramatic. We're gonna find a way out.”
“There is no way out. We don't have magic here. We have no way to communicate with home.” Regina began to shout in frustration. “This was the perfect prison for her. Which means it's the perfect prison for us.”
“No, no. It's different for us, for-for you. You have something she doesn't.”
“And what's that?”
“People who care about you. We might not be able to break out, but maybe they can break in.”
“Henry,” Regina said in realization.
“Henry?”
“He won’t give up. He will figure this out. And when they try to break us out, we have to be at the exact right mirror at the exact right time.”
“We need to find a mirror at Granny’s,” Emma said suddenly.
“Granny's?”
“That's where Henry's taking Violet before the dance.”
They quickly searched and found one that was in the back hall at Granny’s. One that Henry was looking into, smoothing back his hair and taking a deep breath. Despite the circumstance, Regina found herself really looking at him. He was so much taller than she felt he had any right to be. He was so grown up, and yet she could see he was nervous.
“Okay, what's next?” Emma asked.
“Well, he’s not going to hear us,” Regina said. “We need to follow him from mirror to mirror so he can break us out once he realizes what’s going on.”
“That could take a long time,” Emma pointed out.
“If you have a better idea, I am all ears,” Regina said, but was distracted by the sight of the Queen appearing at Henry’s side and giving him a spiel about royalty and confidence and posture.
Regina’s heart sank as she realized that Henry really thought the Queen was her. Maybe he wouldn’t know to rescue them after all.
“She's going after him when he's his most vulnerable,” Emma said.
Regina turned away, sinking to the ground.
“You don't think I know how bad this is? I fought the worst parts of myself for years, and I failed. Henry doesn't even stand a chance.”
“I think someone else is here,” Emma said, shushing her, and Regina looked up in annoyance.
“There is no one here, okay? It's just you and me.”
Another voice sounded from behind them.
“Well . . . that is not true exactly.”
Regina got up and spun around. The Dragon stood before them, hands folded in front of him.
“How the hell did you get in here?” Emma asked.
“The Evil Queen paid a visit to my shop after you left her for dead.” He looked steadily at Regina. “When I refused to assist her, she banished me here.”
“Well, I guess that makes us a club,” Regina muttered.
“Back in New York,” the Dragon continued, “the battle I spoke of deep within your soul was supposed to remain there. But you let it out.”
Regina shifted uncomfortably, already well aware of her part in all of this.
“I didn't take a one-way trip for you to pick me apart, thank you.”
“Perhaps not,” he replied gravely. “Everything is about balance . . . the dark and the light. This is a lesson sometimes learned at great cost.”
She stared at him for a moment, wondering exactly how to take what he meant. Weren’t heroes supposed to fight the darkness at all costs? Shouldn’t getting rid of the Queen portion of herself, so long as she could actually do it, be the ultimate goal?
“Yeah. Well, we're about to lose our son,” Regina said to cover her confusion.
“I sympathize.” He bowed slightly. “A long time ago, I lost a daughter, and I paid a price for my ignorance.”
Now she felt even more guilty and she softened her tone.
“I'm so sorry.”
“So you understand,” Emma said. “We have to get back to our son. Please, please tell us you've found a way out of this prism.”
“Indeed, I have. I found what you call a back door.”
He led them through the maze of mirrors and Regina wondered how he was able to navigate it so well, for she was soon lost. The mirrors were different, but they were all the same. There was nothing but hard shapes and blue smoke for miles.
They came to a place with columns and no roof. A simple bed and raised table were on the floor. A glowing mirror was mounted on the wall. Regina realized where they were and felt a wave of guilt wash over her.
“Sidney did this,” Regina said softly. “This must have been his home.”
Why was it that everywhere she looked, she was reminded of her own atrocities? Sidney had his problems, but he hadn’t deserved this, even if he’d technically done it to himself the first time. Even that had been because she’d chosen him for her scapegoat. This was why the Queen had to die, so Regina could finally move on from things like this.
“This Sidney you talk of,” said the Dragon, “he was working on a way out.”
“Another mirror?” Regina asked, turning around in hope.
“Oh, more than that.” He gestured toward a pedestal in the corner, holding a bowl of broken mirror fragments. A full-length mirror frame stood beside it, the top of the mirror jagged from missing the rest of its glass pieces. “If we can put it back together again.”
“A portal out,” Regina realized.
“I've been trying since I arrived. A Sisyphean task. But together, hopefully, it is possible.”
Regina and Emma looked at each other before Regina picked up a shard and held it up to the mirror. When she found the place it belonged, it glowed and its edges melted into the frame so that it appeared as one more piece of the unbroken part of the glass.
This was still going to take as long as waiting for someone else to come and break them out.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Emma summarized, moving to help.
Regina wasn’t sure how long they stood there, matching up pieces, getting cut fingers, and only rarely having the satisfaction of a piece being the right one. She was beginning to think it truly was a Sisyphean task.
But then the Dragon spoke behind them and all thoughts of the mirror flew out of her mind.
“Enjoying your little puzzle? Oh, don't worry. Henry is safe with me. In fact, he is better off.” Regina and Emma looked at each other before setting down their glass and turning to face him. He spoke but the words were clearly not his own, and Regina realized what had happened a second before the Queen spoke through him again. “I may have put his body in the mirror. But I kept his heart.”
The mirror on the wall glowed and Regina could suddenly see Henry’s reflection, standing at the mirror in her vault, the Queen behind him, a glowing red heart in her hand.
She and Emma yelled his name, running forward. He could clearly see them because he called out for them as well.
“We're coming to get you, Henry,” Regina assured him.
“Are you sure about that?” the Queen gloated.
The mirror went blue again and Regina turned as the Dragon crumpled toward the floor in pain.
“What's wrong?” asked Emma, hastening forward. “Did she hurt you?”
“No, don't come any closer.” He held out a hand in warning. “I'm sorry. I . . . I don't want to do this.”
Swirling red smoke surrounded him and when it dissipated, they faced a huge, red and gold serpentine figure, and Regina was pretty sure she now knew exactly why he was called the Dragon.
The Dragon leapt into the air and spun to face them, a pillar of flame issuing from his mouth, shattering the pedestal with their mirror fragments. Regina ducked out of the way and tried to put something between her and him. She stood with her back to a column, Emma mirroring her on the other side.
“The mirror. That was our ticket out of here,” Emma whispered. “Any ideas?”
“We don't have magic, but The Dragon does,” Regina mused. “If we can aim his fire at the mirror the Queen is using-”
“Can we blast our way out of here?”
“It's worth a shot,” Regina said as a roar echoed behind them. “One of us should stay here, just in case.”
“Right. In case the other one gets fried. I'll go.”
“No, I've got this,” Regina insisted.
“Why do you keep trying to martyr yourself?” Emma hissed.
“Emma, just listen,” Regina began before she had to dive for cover again.
They crouched behind rocks as the flames cooked the air over their heads.
“I haven’t wanted to admit this,” Regina said, but she was sure that Emma wouldn’t let her do what had to be done otherwise, “but I need you. I'm afraid to raise Henry alone.”
“What? You've done great.”
“But every time I see him with Mommie Dearest over there, it's just a reminder of the horrible mother I could have been.”
“Well, you're not,” Emma said. “There’s no point in wondering about what might have been. I know you feel guilty about her, but we are a team. Unlikely, but that’s the way it is. We are both his mother and we always do what's right for Henry, so you're not sacrificing yourself, and neither am I.”
Regina stared at the woman she’d once viewed as her enemy and rival and realized that she was right. Regina was trying to take the easy way out. Again.
“So we do this together?”
Emma smiled and Regina returned it. They leapt out from their cover and ran for the mirror together, calling for the Dragon.
He circled behind them and they dodged a stream of fire. Regina lost count of how many times she almost burnt to a crisp, playing bait for the mirror. But then there was a loud sound, like a gong, and a cracking noise, as sharp as the ice during spring on the lake in the Enchanted Forest. Regina felt heat blazing from the mirror and the Dragon’s fire poured onto its surface. A pulling sensation sent her flying.
But when she looked up, she was on the floor of her vault, Emma beside her. Regina got up as Henry ran toward her and hugged her.
“You made him soft!” accused the Queen from behind them.
Regina thrust Henry behind them. She could feel her magic again and she was more than ready to use it.
“You stay away from our son,” she said.
Henry didn’t stay behind them, but stepped out in front.
“Family makes you stronger than you'll ever be by yourself. And that's something you'll never have, because you'll always be alone.”
“I wanted to give you a choice,” the Queen said, advancing toward them. “But it appears you weren't ready yet.”
Regina and Emma readied their magic, but the Queen suddenly gasped as Killian appeared behind her, his hook at her throat.
“I suggest, unless you like the feeling of hook piercing flesh, you shove off, Your Majesty,” he growled.
The Queen looked at Henry and there was softness in her eyes Regina could understand, but then she looked at Regina and a more vicious expression appeared.
“You know, he’s not the only family you’ll lose.”
The Queen vanished and Regina relaxed, but her heart was pounding at the Queen’s message.
“What does that mean?” Emma asked, turning to Regina.
“I’m not sure,” Regina said. “But I think I should check on Zelena. She was pretty chummy with Belle at the cemetery, and I can’t imagine Gold was too happy about that. And while the Queen might have been happy playing family for a time, I doubt she was planning on sharing her crown with anyone.”
“Then go,” said Emma. “I’ve got Henry.”
“I think he has us,” Regina said, smiling at Henry, who was getting a clap on the shoulder from Killian.
“He’s going to be okay,” Emma said, turning as well. “With or without us.”
“The Queen was wrong about him,” Regina said. “I was so worried about how I was going to raise him I didn't even notice.”
“We already had?” Emma said, facing Regina again.
“Something like that,” Regina said. “Now, it’s your shift.”
“Go help Zelena,” Emma said. “Call us if you need us.”
Regina turned and ran from the happy reunion Emma and Killian were having. She might have been willing to put Zelena at the bottom of her priorities, but she wasn’t willing to let her die.
---
Regina arrived at the farm, just in time to see Zelena take a fireball to the chest and go flying back against a shed door.
“Looks like evil does beat wicked,” gloated the Queen. “Goodbye, sis.” Regina didn’t have a lot of options, but she did have a hell of a trump card. She thrust her hand into her chest and pulled out her heart. She felt the loss instantly, and evidently the Queen did as well, for she leaned forward, groaning. “My heart.”
“Not your heart. Mine,” Regina clarified.
“You can't control me with that,” the Queen said, turning to face her.
“Oh, I don't have to,” Regina said, tightening her grip. “All I have to do is crush it.”
The Queen groaned with the pain.
“You wouldn't. Not for her.”
Regina felt a wave of shame at the words. Had Zelena really felt so abandoned and insecure to convince the Queen of that?
“Really? Let's find out.” Regina squeezed her heart and bent over at the pain stabbing her chest. The Queen gasped with her, and it might have been funny if it wasn’t so deadly. Regina reached the point of no return and let up her grasp, straightening up. “So, now that you know I'm serious, you're going to tell me why you'd do this. Didn’t you have enough fun destroying lives today?”
“It was Rumplestiltskin,” said Zelena from behind the Queen. “He said it was either me or him. You see, he can’t kill me himself since I control his heart. So he got her to do his dirty work.”
“Did he now?” Regina asked, eyebrow raised.
“Oh, you're just jealous!” spat the Queen.
“You think he cares for you?” Regina scoffed. “Don't you get it? He lied to you because he knew your revenge wasn't enough. You still have a hole in your heart, just like I did when I first came here.”
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
“And you're so desperate to fill it, you actually believed him.”
“You're wrong!” hissed the Queen.
“Am I? Go ask him and find out. After all, we're done with you here.”
Regina felt her breath release once the Queen vanished from in front of her. Zelena stared up at her, breathing heavily, blood on her forehead.
“Just happen by, did you?” Zelena asked, with her typical attempt at levity.
Regina sighed and extended her hand down.
“Let’s get you inside.” Zelena accepted her help up, and winced, feeling her forehead. They walked inside. “Is there a reason you weren’t fighting back?”
“You try conjuring magic when your head is on fire,” Zelena grumbled. As they entered the kitchen, she went straight to the crib to check on Robin. Regina felt her heart soften a little more. Zelena then sat down at the table. “Thank you. After a scrap like that, I don't think I could magic a glass of warm milk, let alone heal myself. I'm lucky you were here.”
“Well, after the Queen was done torturing me and Emma and tormenting Henry, she mentioned her little mission. It seemed rude not to at least check on you.”
Zelena looked down at that.
“So glad I made the hero to-do list.”
“Look, you’re safe now. So is Robin. Let’s just leave it at that.”
“Fine with me.”
“But you do need to be careful. The Queen and Rumple’s alliance means that if you get in between him and Belle, like you clearly have been, he’s not going to stop until you’re dead, and since he can’t hurt you directly, the Queen is his deadliest weapon.”
“Oh, so now when I try to help people, I’m doing the wrong thing.”
“It’s not because you wanted to help Belle,” Regina said, sighing. “We all should probably help Belle more than we do.”
“She wanted out of Storybrooke, to save her baby from him.”
That explained it all. Regina knew Rumple would never stand for that.
“Then he’s going to do everything in his power to keep her here,” Regina warned.
“I’m well aware,” Zelena said, her eyes flashing fire. “I just got a very good reminder.”
“You know, I warned you she wasn’t going to be the sister you always wanted,” Regina said, changing tactics.
“Because I have so many other options,” Zelena snapped.
“That wasn’t what I meant,” Regina said, trying to hold her temper in check.
“No, it appears you just wanted to gloat that you were right and I was wrong. I’m always in the wrong.”
“Maybe because you do wrong all the time!” Regina said, her control failing.
“Well, I haven’t been given the many opportunities for redemption that some people have,” Zelena said.
Regina’s eyes narrowed.
“No, that’s not an excuse. You have been given opportunities and I’m the one who gave them to you. And what did you do?”
“Killed the man I love to save your life,” Zelena shouted.
“After he killed Robin!” Regina roared back.
Zelena stared for a minute and then folded her arms across her chest.
“So this is about Robin Hood. You still blame me for his death.”
“Yes, that's exactly right.”
“What about forgiveness? You've grown. You've changed!”
“Well, we’re not exactly seeing an effort from you,” Regina said, looking away.
“That’s insane!” Zelena replied. “I have reached out to you over and over. I’ve come every time you called. I helped you with your little Gold problem. And look where that got me.”
Regina took a deep breath and tried to force herself to see this rationally. As soon as Robin’s name had been mentioned, her vision had been blurred by rage, but that wasn’t who she was.
“Baby steps. Keep making them.”
“You know, there will come a point when I will no longer be willing to just sit here and hope that one day you’ll stop being enough of a hypocrite to see that I’m really trying.”
“If you were trying so hard, you wouldn’t have been so chummy with the woman who just tried to murder you.”
“With my sister,” Zelena said firmly. “With the person who acted like I mattered.”
Regina stared at her, at the blue eyes so stubborn, at the lips that so resembled their mother’s. It would take a miracle for her to fully forgive Zelena. But maybe she needed to try a little harder.
“You matter,” she said simply. “I wouldn’t have saved your life otherwise. But as I’ve told you again and again, I am struggling with this. And it’s not going to be an easy fix. I really don’t feel like I can ever forgive you.”
Zelena turned away, but not before Regina saw the tear fall from her eye. Zelena got up and went over to the crib.
“Struggle over,” she said, her back turned. “I won’t bother you again.”
“That’s not what I said,” Regina said.
“But it’s what I heard,” Zelena said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m feeling rather tired after my busy day, and Robin needs to be fed. Go back to hero-ing or whatever it is you do.”
“Fine,” Regina said, too tired herself to continue this argument. “But please let me know if she comes back. And someday, Zelena, someday we will continue this conversation.”
Zelena laughed a little bitterly, but made no other reply.
Regina poofed herself home, more than ready for a shower and a long night’s sleep. Why was it that nothing, especially the things that were supposed to be easier, ever made sense in her life?