Psychotic | OUAT

Chapter 24 - "It's really not that easy, Ed!"

Atarah was riding her way along and she was a few good hours away from all the others, and a very long way from her castle. She was bored, and while she was on her own with no one to distract her she began to feel the heartbreak of the knowledge that Peter was dead, and not coming back.

Atarah wished she had someone to speak with, when her eyes spotted something ahead and she frowned as she stopped the horse on the tracks. She looked up in the air, she saw something flying towards her from the sky, and she narrowed her eyes at it.

She had never seen anything like the creature headed towards her. "What the bloody hell is that?" She muttered to herself softly as she held her hand out and a fire ball appeared in her hand. She threw it towards the creature as it got closer, and the fire ball just skimmed past it.

But the creature was still headed for her, and she widened her eyes, when suddenly a sword sliced through the creature when it was just yards away from her. She looked towards the owner of the sword and found Edmund stood there, panting slightly.

"Edmund?" She breathed out in relief. "What are you doing here? What the hell was that?" She paused for a second. "Where are the others?"

"I lost them!" Edmund told her. "I don't know what happened but we all got separated after we arrived. Like, after the smoke surrounded us, I felt myself slipping away, and I felt the others around me. But...I arrived a few miles from here alone. We've been separated, I guess. But we'll find them - I promise." He moved and stood beside her and looked up at her and she moved his dark hair from his face. "I was tracking this one, and then I saw you!"

"Well, I'm glad." Atarah told him as she held her hand out to him. "Need help up?" She teased with a small smirk.

"I can get up just fine." Edmund told her, before he got on the horse just behind her. "I know you probably don't want to. But we need to head away from here. There's a few of them ahead."

Atarah really didn't want to go find the others and join them again, she wanted to go to her castle and just relax and not be bothered by anyone. But the look at Edmund's face was serious, and she let out a sigh. "You better be grateful for this!" She muttered before she turned the horse around and headed the way she had come from.

After about half an hour of riding, she came across the others. Snow smiled upon seeing her headed for them, and Regina raised a shocked brow. "You're back." Judas grinned at her happily.

"Yeah, well, there was this creature." Atarah shrugged.

However, just at that second an arrow went soaring for her face, and she held her hand up and caught it when it was just inches away from her face. She looked towards the shooter and found Robin stood there, and she smirked upon seeing him. "Ahh, Robin." Atarah mused as she tossed the arrow to the side. "Lovely to see you again. How's Raven?"

"Alive, actually!" Robin told her, and Atarah caught herself from making a surprised or shocked expression. "No thanks to you, or that monster!"

Atarah held her hand up, and the man slowly rose in the air as she began to choke him. He dropped his bow and arrow and began to claw at his throat as he gasped for air. "Have care how you speak!" Atarah snapped at him. "I'm in a temperamental mood, especially when you concern or mention Peter!"

"Atarah!" Edmund whispered harshly in her ear. "Leave him be." Atarah then realised that he had never seen her as for what she truly was, Edmund had only ever seen the sweet Atarah Jones. And not the villain she was, and she felt weird. She didn't want him to think bad about her as he was one of her oldest friends.

Atarah lowered her hand and Robin crashed to the floor as he gasped to get air back into his lungs. "It's a shame about your sister." Atarah mused softly. "She should've stayed dead!"

After a while, they arrived at the castle and Atarah and Edmund were one of the last to arrive. As they did they saw Regina standing by some sort of green haze, that slowly began to disappear. "A protection spell." Regina told them. "The entire castle's encircled by it!"

"Yeah, well, who put it there?" Atarah asked her irritably.

"Didn't you do this?" David asked her. "Undo it?"

"Well, don't you think if I could, I'd be halfway home by now?" Regina questioned him. She headed back towards them all. "No. Someone's hijacked it!"

"Wonderful." Edmund muttered.

"Who?" Snow demanded. "Who's in there?"

"I don't know." Regina told them all. "But I'm gonna find out whoever's been eating my porridge. Nobody sits in my chair. Nobody takes our castle."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Judas questioned nervously as he looked towards the castle.

"We've got a lot of people looking to us." David told Regina. "They're scared, and rightfully so. Let's get them to safety first!"

"They'll be safe when whoever's in there is dead." Regina told him.

"I agree." Atarah told them all with a nod. "May not be my castle, but I have a feeling those freakish creatures belong to whoever's in there!" Edmund gave Atarah a small look, but he shrugged it off after a few seconds.

"Rushing in there is a bad plan, Regina, Atarah!" Snow told them both sternly. "You both know that."

"I can offer safe harbour in Sherwood Forest!" Robin spoke up as he joined them all. "It's not far. We can offer food, shelter, a thick canopy no creature will spy you under." Robin gave Atarah a sweeping look for a few moments. "I will even welcome the witch, if she promises not to kill anyone!"

"Do you have weapons?" David questioned.

"We're lousy with them." Robin replied.

"Fine." Regina gave in after a short while. "Lead the way. But we're coming back. And whoever did this, is going to suffer!"

"Regina, it's our home." Snow began. "We'll make it safe again." They all faced Robin, who didn't move a single inch as he just simply stared at Atarah, and they all knew what he wanted. For Atarah to promise not to be horrible and to not kill anyone.

"Well?" Robin questioned her.

"I promise not to kill anyone." Atarah replied in a deadpan.

"Like you mean it." He told her.

Atarah scoffed and threw her head back as she ran her tongue across the inside of her cheek in annoyance and irritation. She looked back at him. "I won't kill anyone, Robin." She told him with a shrug. "Unless they bother me, or try to talk to me about Peter. If they don't, they're safe from me. I promise."

"Splendid!" Robin replied, but he knew he was still going to keep on eye on her. He still didn't trust her.

They had begun to follow Robin back to where they could be safe from the flying creatures. Atarah was walking with Edmund in silence. "Why did he think you were gonna kill people?" Edmund finally asked her after a while.

"It's complicated, Edmund." She told him. "Very!"

"Then uncomplicate it." Edmund said.

Atarah frowned. "It's really not that easy, Ed!" She told him softly. "It's a very long and complex story. I don't care to reiterate my life story to you, because it's not all good. But to shorten it, I'm not a hero. I'm a villain, that kills people and ruins their lives just because I can!"

"That's not you, Atarah." Edmund told her gently. "I know you-"

"No!" She told him. "You knew me!"

However before they could continue the conversation, one of the creatures began to fly high above them. Atarah widened her eyes as her eyes followed the creature. "Incoming!" Neal yelled.

The creature swooped down towards Atarah, and Edmund quickly grabbed her and pulled her into him, and moved them both out of the way as he stumbled and they fell to the floor as the creature swooped down on the others.

"Thank you." Atarah breathed out as she moved to get up off of the floor, she dusted herself off and brushed her hair from her face as she did so.

"You're welcome." Edmund told her. "And now, back to the other conversation."

"Oh, Edmund!" Atarah groaned. "I don't want to talk about it, and that's final!" She then walked off away from him.