#outlawqueensituation

"REGINA, WAKE UP!" Robin was on top of her. She was fighting, crying, she could half-remember screaming out something, "It was just a nightmare, dear. I'm here."

She sat up, crying into his shoulder. "I dreamt... I dreamt I taught myself magic, to defend myself from Cora. She killed me instead of Daniel..."

Robin pulled her away and framed her face with his large, strong hands. "That must've been so horrifying for you, dear. Don't worry. I'm here and I won't leave you." She hugged him tightly, but she was confused. It had felt so real. Even her chest was in pain.

"Good morning, Madame Mayor. Would you like some gingerbread cookies? I promise, they have no children in them." Miss Ginger held out a basket full of cookies, but Regina calmly and kindly rejected the offer. As she pored over some documents, her eyes began getting heavier and heavier. She barely noticed when her head slammed into her desk, though she did grunt out a sharp curse word.

  “So do we have a deal, dearie?” the strange, golden-skinned man held out her mother’s spell book towards her. Daniel was dead, Cora was worlds away and she had her entire life before her.

“I’m sorry, Rumpleshtiltskin.”

“Rumplestiltskin, my dear Ree-jai-na.”

“Right. I’m sorry, but I’ve decided I’m going to live my own life, just how Daniel would’ve wanted me to.” She calmly pulled her horse past him, when he grabbed her viciously. She tensed, remembering all the times Cora had grabbed her in such a way.

“But it’s your destiny to cast my Curse, Regina! You will not keep me from my son, dearie!” she didn’t know what he was talking about, but the childish imp’s voice was gone, replaced by a demonic man’s screaming. Regina grew scared and thought of Daniel. A white light erupted from her body and blasted Rumplestiltskin away. He slammed into a tree, dying.

“With as dark as your mother was, I never knew you could be capable of light magic of all things…” he wheezed out a last, gargling breath and died. A horrified Regina hopped on Rocinante and galloped off at full speed, ignoring the branch that scratched her face as she raced by.

  Robin entered Regina’s office with wine and a picnic basket full of food when he saw her. His raven-haired vixen, unconscious, was slumped over her desk and bleeding from a cut on her forehead. She also seemed visibly distressed. He gently nuzzled her awake, and he told her a tale of having slain Rumplestiltskin with light magic.

“Regina, I have to tell you something.” He said, terrified.

“What is it, Robin?” Regina rummaged around her desk for a bandage. A mother is always prepared for boo-boos.

“Henry…”

“Is Henry in danger?!”

“No, he’s fine. But while he was in the Sorcerer’s mansion… He found more pages. Pages that clearly show the alternate paths in your story.” Robin looked at her calmly and with a stern face, added “Both of the dreams you had… they were two of the pages Henry found.”

Regina was shocked. She couldn’t believe that her insignificant dreams had been the opportunities she might’ve taken. But she was also concerned. “I didn’t have any sort of strange dream when we found the first page. The one of us meeting. Is it possible that… Someone’s doing this to me? To punish me with what could’ve been? Emotional pain is probably the best weapon anyone could use against me…” Tears rolled down her face and Robin rubbed every single one away.

“I don’t know, but it seems like we’ll need to do something about this quickly.” He kissed the top of her head, “I refuse to have the love of my life struggling with such things.”

Regina looked up at this man, feeling very much like a scared little girl. This man wanted to protect her, wanted to heal her, comfort her. He wanted to remove her scars, but celebrate her for them at the same time. He wanted to be her savior, wanted to be her hero.

But these memories… They proved to her what she’d always feared… She was a villain. If she could’ve made the heroic decision in another reality, multiple times, why couldn’t she have done so in this reality?

“Thank you, Robin. I love…” the words got caught in her throat behind sobs.