A Thief and a Queen

The Mausoleum

Written for Spooky OQ Day 4: Cemetery

Regina glanced up and down the country road, watching for any cars that might be coming. She knew none would drive down this way, especially not this late at night. It wasn't used much anymore, not since the town built the main road that connected Storybrooke to its two closest towns years before her birth. The only people who now used the dirt road they were on were those who wanted to go on a long drive or who wanted to visit the old town cemetery, like them.

She looked over her shoulder to see how her friends were doing. Her boyfriend, Robin, was crouched down picking the lock on the gates to the cemetery while their friend Emma held her flashlight to give him light. Killian stood nearby, peering through the fence into the dark graveyard. "This is going to be so amazing," he said.

"I know," Emma replied, grinning. "Do you think the stories are true?"

"Of course not, Emma. Ghosts don't exist," Regina scoffed, trying to sound braver then she felt.

Emma's grin turned into a scowl. "Why are you even here then? If you're going to be a wet blanket, you could've stayed with Mary Margaret and David."

Regina seethed, seeing red as she turned around. "I'm a wet blanket for not wanting to break into someplace where we are clearly not wanted. Nor am I one for wanting to disturb sacred ground and the resting place for so many souls. It just seems...wrong."

"Admit it, Regina, you're just scared," Emma shot back. It sounded like she was close to clucking at her.

Straightening up, Robin sighed. "Emma, leave her alone. If she doesn't want to come in, that's fine. You and Killian can go in while I take her home."

"Come on, mate, we agreed to do this together. Regina can wait in the car." Killian clapped him on the shoulder, shaking his arm.

Regina frowned, crossing her arms. "Stop talking about me like I'm not here."

Shaking off Killian, Robin approached her and gently gripped her arms. He crouched down a bit to make sure he was looking in her eyes. "If you want to go home, just say the word. I don't want you to do anything you don't want."

Melting under his gaze, she almost asked him to take her home so they could cuddle and watching movies together. But Regina caught sight of Emma over his shoulder, flapping her arms as if they were wings. She was calling Regina out and that couldn't stand.

Squaring her shoulders, Regina met Robin's eyes again. "I'm fine. Let's go in, prove that this stupid ghost doesn't really exist and get out of here."

"That's the spirit," Killian said before chuckling at his own stupid joke. He swung the gate open, its creak echoing around the empty graveyard.

Robin took Regina's hand, giving it a squeeze. "You give me the word and we can go, lovely. It'll be okay," he told her.

"Thanks," she whispered, her bravado already failing as they followed Killian and Emma into the graveyard. She swallowed, reminding herself that there was nothing to worry about.

The dead couldn't hurt them.

Regina didn't have a good grasp of time but she had to guess they had been wandering around the cemetery for almost an hour. They passed by several tombstones and she stopped to read them, marking the ones from back when the town was founded back in the early 19th century. "Imagine what life was like for them back then," she said.

"They definitely wouldn't recognize Storybrooke now," Robin replied, standing beside her. "Imagine trying to explain cars to them? Or television? Or any modern device?"