The one she thought was lost

Chapter 18: Ready, set, go! Part 2

Regina and Robin were walking in silence, like the last hour, when Robin broke that silence.
"This will lead us Zelena, right?" Regina hummed, but didn't speak, allowing him to continue. "That means we'll have to confront her." Regina glanced at her companion and smirked a little.
"Yes. Why? Are you afraid?", she asked teasingly. Robin smirked back.
"Quite the opposite, milady", he tossed back, but he turned serieus after a few seconds which caused Regina to look at him in worry. "It's just that... Zelena's weakness is light magic, is it not? Which means we are going to need a really good plan, otherwise we're going to get our ass kicked."
"The only ass that's going to get kicked is Zelena's", Regina said confidently, but she sighed not long after. She had to admit, they couldn't go in without a plan.
"But you're right", she admitted after a few moments," We're not going to be much help for Daniella if we arrive half dead. So tell me... what do you have in mind, thief?"
"I was thinking, what if we split up?" Regina was about to protest, but Robin spoke first. "I mean, right before we go in? Then we have the element of surprise. Zelena's going to know that you're going to try and save Daniella, she probably knowns I'm coming with you. But if you go in alone and convince her you came alone, she'll battle against you alone. When she'd distracted, I'll be able to shoot her with one of my arrows and you can use you're magic to... I don't know freeze her of something."
Regina took a moment to think and she had to admit, it could work. She told Robin that. "...., but she has got to be thoroughly distracted because she has had the same training as I have. And the first thing I learned is to sense a thread, however small, from a mile away."
Robin nodded. "You could rile her up, use things she'd insecure about against her. She's jealous of you, right." After Regina's nod, he continued. "Use that to your advantage."
Regina raised her eyebrows. "It could work." She glanced at Robin. "Sounds like you've done things like this a lot."
The man shrugged. "I've done my share of bad things in the past. I'm not proud of it, but I changed my ways because of Roland." Regina sensed this was a difficult subject for him, so she started talking about something else.
"Well then, I guess Snow White isn't the only hero who had done some bad things." Robin looked at her, confused, but she also saw a hint of gratitude. "She killed my mother."
Robin eyebrows shot straight into his hairline, his blue eyes full of shock and Regina bit her lip to stop herself from laughing. "She did what?!"
"She killed my mother. Though if you knew my mother, you'd know why." This time it was Regina who didn't want to continue the conversation, so Robin changed the subject.
"Is there a chance I knew her?", he asked curiously.
Regina shrugged her shoulders and answered. "I guess, she was known as the Queen Of Hearts, though she had that reputation in Wonderland, mostly."
"That name does sound familiar, but I've never in contact with her and something tells me I should be happy about that." Regina hummed and nodded. 
They walked in silence for a few minutes, but it was a comfortable one. After five minutes, Robin started telling stories about Roland when he was younger and of his own youth.
Regina listened, every once in a while turning her gaze to the hairpin flying in front of them.

How long had she been sitting here? Daniella didn't know, but judging from the light that shone from the little wholes in the wall, it was day. When was the last time she'd eaten anything?
As if reading her mind one of Zelena's monkeys showed up and shoved a plate of stew on the ground in her cell, before closing the door once again.
Daniella crawled towards it and started eating, not caring if she looked like an animal while doing so. At least she didn't until Agatha decided to comment on it.
"You're eating like you're an animal, I thought I taught you better than that, Daniella."
Daniella froze, not having heard the woman appoach and looked up to see her standing right in front of her. She found she wasn't hungry anymore, so she shoved the plate back and crawled back to the wall that was furthest away from Agatha.
"What? You're not going to say anything? I thought you'd have at least a few things to say or ask.
Don't you want to know why I adopted you, why I was so nice to you the first year? Or you know, who your real parents are?", Agatha said nonchalantly.
That captured Daniella's attention. "You know who my real parents are?"
"Oooh, I do. Did I forget to mention that before?" Daniella knew Agatha was playing with her, but she couldn't care less.
"Forgot to mention it?!", Daniella screamed. "You're a pathetic excuse for a human being. It shouldn't have surprised me that you are best friends with the Wicked Witch who is as insane as a person can get. What, you couldn't get other friends, so you decided to be friends with Zelena?"
The moment Daniellla had finished her rant, she realised that she'd made a mistake. But it was already too late.
Two seconds later, Agatha's hand came in contact with Daniella's cheek like it had done a hundred times before.
Daniella closed her eyes for a moment, pushing her tears back. She stayed quiet, only looked at Agatha with as much hatred as she could. The woman glared right back, but didn't do anything else, which made Daniella uncomfortable. Agatha was thinking, calculating and that was dangerous.
"You know, I've been thinking. You've been here for what? Two days? Where is your 'family'?", Agatha asked with a smile. Though it was a genuine one, probably because she enjoyed hurting her, it sent shivers down Daniella's spine.
Daniella tensed at the mention of her family. She felt a shimmer of fear and selfdoubt. Agatha's smile widened. "Are you sure they are coming for you? I mean, it's not like you've known the Queen for long and Robin? He was the first one to back out once he found out about your magic, wasn't he?", Agatha said smugly.
Daniella dropped her gaze, suddenly not so sure about it anymore. After all Agatha was right, Robin was the first to criticize her for her magic and she didn't know Regina all that well. What if she only used her for her magic?
Agatha laughed internally when she saw the doubt in Daniella's eyes. She had her right where she wanted her.
"Why would they want to save you? It's not like you're worth anything. They're only keeping you at the castle because of your magic, the Queen's training you because your magic could be very convenient, not because they care about you." Tears started gathering in her eyes as Agatha's statement bounced around in her head, the woman's voice ringing in her ears.
"And Robin? He only took you in because he pities you, kept you around because his son likes you. But nothing more." Daniella placed her hands on her ears, trying to block Agatha's voice. She whimpered, trying to push her tears back. The effort was futile, since the tears rolled down her cheeks only moments later.
"And don't even get me started on prince Charming and princess Snow White. I mean, they obviously don't trust you..."
"Stop talking!", Daniella suddenly yelled in tears. "Okay, fine! People don't trust me, don't care about me! I've never had a family and once I thought I did, Robin turned on me the moment he found out I had magic! I know that! I know that nobody cares about me, I know nobody loves me!" After that Daniella sat back down, pulled her knees up to her chest and burried her face in her hands. She didn't sob only cried silently, tears rolling down her cheeks silently.
"My dear child...", Agatha started, but Daniella interupted. "Get out."
"What?"
Daniella looked up, pure hatred in her eyes as she looked at the woman in front of her. "I said, get out!"
Agatha took a step back, shocked. Daniella had never yelled at her, always did what she asked of her. But she obeyed the girl.
Agatha turned around, her shocked face turning into one of glee. She'd finally broken Daniella and Agatha couldn't help but feel estatic about it.

Daniella on the other hand, sat in the cornor of her cell, crying. She cried until she didn't have any tears left.
Afterwards she just sat there, her eyes blanc. She felt numb. There was no sadness, no anger, no hate.
Just nothing.

*A/N: Hello again! Here's the new chapter! I hope you enjoyed it!