DESTINY

Chapter 1 - Nothing is really lost

To keep my sanity this hiatus, I decided to write this. As Once Upon a Time season 3 finale had left a huge hole in my heart, I needed something to hold on to.

Plot: Emma and Hook came back from the past and brought someone with them, Marian. She saw the Evil Queen and instantly got afraid of her. To ease her, Emma reassured that Regina isn’t evil anymore. Marian was about to meet Regina for the first time in Storybrooke but before they even had the chance to speak to each other, Robin Hood saw her first…

        

        Her heart was pounding loud as she saw the Evil Queen. For a moment Marian thought this would really be the end of her, that she hasn’t really escaped the fact that she’ll be executed by the Evil Queen. Emma saw Marian shaking from fear the instant Regina entered the diner.

“It’s fine Marian. She’s Regina Mills here and not the Evil Queen.” Emma said trying to calm her down.

“I was going to die if you haven’t saved me from her prison.” Marian replied, still not meeting anyone’s gaze.

“I’ll arrange a meeting for you two and you’ll see, you’ll eventually like her, and this town too.”

Emma left Marian with Hook and went straight to Regina. “Hey.”

Regina raised an eyebrow on how serious Emma’s approach could be.

“Hook and I…”

“I don’t care.” Regina cut her off as she folded her arms across her chest. And then she let a smirk flash her face.

“You seem to be in a good mood.” Emma turns her gaze to Robin Hood and Roland as she teases Regina.

“Oh stop it. What is it? Hook and you are what? Finally dating?”

Emma blushed but didn't confirm it, nor deny it. “What I’m saying, we brought someone here, from the past and she thinks you’re still…” The gravity of the word “evil” seems to be so much to be spoken to Regina herself, especially with the change she had for the sake of everyone, especially for their son, Henry.

“Evil.” Regina completed.

“Yes. And I think she won’t be afraid if you speak to her.”

“I understand. Let her come over.” Regina smiled as she eyed the woman Emma was referring to. She is seated on the corner, with Hook, not looking at anything except her plate with untouched burger and ketchup spilled over her fries.

Emma came to get her and as they walk towards Regina, a familiar voice spoke Marian’s name. That’s one thing Marian is sure about this time, the voice that will comfort her through whatever she is going through.

“Marian? I thought you’re dead. I thought I’d never see you again.” Robin ran to Marian and hugged her while tears are slowly rolling down his cheeks.

“I thought I’d lost you too.” Marian cried as she savored the safety offered by Robin’s arms.

And while a reunion between Robin and Marian is happening just beside her, Regina is forcing herself not to cry. Surely, it wasn’t tears of joy. It was like a knife stabbed across her heart except she wasn’t bleeding, but she was dying inside. She sees her supposed to be soulmate with his wife. “You did this?” Regina stared at Emma in anger and in surprise as she managed to utter those words with her teeth clenched.

And as if that weren’t enough for Regina, Marian called on Roland, the boy she treated as her own son too, as Henry’s brother. “My baby!” Marian exclaimed as she walked closer to where he is. To her surprise, the boy ran. He sought for comfort, for security, for familiarity. He didn’t run to his father because he was too close to the woman claiming to be his mother. He went straight to Regina, hid from her back and held her hand so tightly. “Mama Gina,” the boy cried in confusion and in fear.

“Mama Gina…” Roland repeated with his voice softer this time but still holding Regina’s hand close to his chest.

“Roland.” Regina smiled a little and let the tears fall down her face. For a second, she wasn’t angry at Emma nor did she hate what was happening. She was more concerned of the little boy hiding behind her. For once, she wasn’t alone in this misery. For once, someone saw relief at her presence. And finally, she wasn’t the Evil Queen everyone used to run from. She was, by all it means, the boy’s mother.

Marian stood there, confused, wanting to hug and hold her son but she wasn’t able to. For one reason, he is hiding behind the woman she knew as the Evil Queen. And for another, Roland himself doesn’t know who she is. For a moment at Granny’s, while everyone should be celebrating, there was a deafening silence.

“Regina.” Robin finally spoke, breaking the stillness of the diner. His face cannot be painted, his movements were very slight and his words, carefully chosen. “I was just…” and his voice faded on its own.

“You don’t need to explain. She’s your wife.” Regina whispered as she looked down on her hands, still holding Roland’s tiny hand. She lifted Roland and gave him to his father but before the boy let go of his grip to Regina, he hugged her and kissed her on her cheek. She embraced him for a little while and let go. As Regina was about to leave the diner, Henry called her.

“Mom.”

The voice that has always been so comforting to Regina’s ears especially when he calls her mom. There wasn’t anything that could have made her feel better that time, only Henry. She looked back at him and saw him waiting by a table, with an empty chair in front of him and a plate of lasagna on his hand. She hesitated for a moment and walked towards him. And as she nears the table, Henry stood up, wiped the tears off her face and hugged his mother.

“Do you want to go home?” Henry asked.

Regina just nodded. From a bit far, Robin stares at Regina. He wanted to go to her, to hold her hand, to hug her and to tell her that everything is going to be fine, that they are going to find a way and that he loves her still. But with Marian beside her, he can’t do any of those. And just when Regina and Henry were about to leave, the door at Granny’s diner swung open. A sudden chill blew into the wind, the doorstep was already covered with ice and the outside was bright white with snow. Everyone was frozen not just with the icy cold change in weather but with the curiosity of what could have happened that brought that change. And as a shadow appeared on the entrance, blazing ice spikes went flying through the diner, hitting objects and injuring some people. As a mother’s instinct, Regina shielded Henry from any harm that could land on him. Emma, also thought the same thing, she secured her parents and her newborn brother and flee to Regina’s side for Henry. They have to protect all of them but the danger is just rapidly approaching to everyone.

Frost spears are still flying across the room and for a split second, one, two or three are going to land on a boy’s tiny body. Three ice spikes and Roland’s body will fall lifeless on his father’s arms. But Robin was quick. As he saw the threat directed towards his boy, he saw no other option but to swiftly turn his back from the pointy ice spears and let his self bleed. He waited for a stabbing pain, for his body to be cut open, for blood to squirt and leave his body, he was willing to die for his boy but there was nothing.

Now with Emma beside her, to protect their son, Regina managed to make fireballs and throw it on the woman at the doorstep who appears to be sending the ice spikes. One fireball after the other came thrashing to the woman until the ice spikes stopped, the woman gone and they were left with melting frosts, water mixed with blood on the floor and a doorway on fire.

Robin Hood was still wondering with the loss of pain from what he anticipated that could be the end of his life. He wasn’t harmed and his little Roland was also safe as he holds to his father so tightly. He was looking around him to check what has happened. He saw Regina, she was fine and he was relieved. But the look on her face tells that something went wrong. He surveyed the place again and that’s when it hit him, Marian wasn’t beside him. She’s nowhere to be found and as he looked down, there he saw, bodies on the floor and his wife whom he was reunited few minutes ago, lying. Pale as snow, cold as ice, soaking in her own blood, lifeless. She shielded her son with her own body, giving what she only have to show him that even though he doesn’t know her, she will give everything to him. He put Roland down and he immediately ran to his mama Gina. Regina scooped him up and just embraced him reassuringly. While Robin knelt before Marian as he cried, for the second time, he lost her again.

 P.S. Votes are highly appreciated! (That is, of course, if you enjoy reading it.)   :)