❃
|Tartarus|
❃
When Regina woke up, Robin's arms were wrapped around her and Regina was curled into his side. She blinked a few times, her eyes trying to find light before she remembered that the only light was that coming from the river. Regina managed to sit up without waking Robin. She grabbed her sword and began using the point to doodle on the layer of durst that covered the rock-hard ground.
Robin awoke a few minutes later and sat up next to Regina. "Good morning, love."
"Morning," Regina muttered. "Do you feel good enough to walk?"
"I think so. Either way, we should probably keep moving."
Regina nodded in agreement and helped Robin stand up. He leaned on her for support when he took the first few steps, but after that, Robin was able to walk on his own. The two continued walking downstream, hoping that Tantalus was telling the truth about the legends.
They stayed far enough away from the edge of the water that no one could see them, but just close enough that they could still see the light. As they were walking, an arrow whizzed past Regina's ear. She and Robin both turned back to see Cruella standing next to a woman with white eyes and a dragon-like creature with nine heads.
"Hello, darlings. Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me?"
❃
|The Fields of Asphodel|
❃
Ruby and Mulan were lead through what looked to be some slightly-creepy version of Storybrooke by the man in the cloak and he let them go at the Underworld Granny's. "Through there is the Fields of Asphodel. Out here is the Fields of Punishment, take your pick." He then vanished.
Ruby opened the door to Underworld Granny's and Mulan hesitantly followed her through. "So this is Storybrooke?"
"Yep," Ruby answered, "but I have no idea why the Underworld seems to be a copy of it."
"Hello." Both Ruby and Mulan looked up to see Graham standing across from them. "Welcome to the Fields of Asphodel. Have you come here to see Henry, David, and Neal too?"
"Uh, n--"
"Yep!" Ruby interrupted. "That's who we're here to see."
Mulan had no choice but to follow Ruby and Graham out the back door of Granny's and to a some building with the words The Seven Seas on it.
"Why did you agree?" Mulan hissed at Ruby.
"Because I know who they are," Ruby whispered back. "But I didn't know that Henry and David were dead!"
Graham knocked on the door of the building and a black-haired woman let him in. After the two spoke for a minute, she gestured for Ruby and Mulan to enter as well. Graham bid them farewell before he headed back to Granny's.
"Ruby?" Henry asked. "What are you doing here?"
Ruby shrugged. "We died. And you?"
"We came here looking for Hook, but everyone got kind of split up."
Mulan rolled her eyes. "Oh great. So not only do we have to worry about the redeemed Evil Queen, but also the now-heroic Captain Hook."
"Uh, Mulan," Ruby nudged her friend and lowered her voice, "the 'redeemed Evil Queen' is Henry's mom, so be careful about what you say."
Mulan raised an eyebrow. "I was told his mom was Emma Swan?"
"I have two," Henry explained. "Emma's my birth mom and Regina's my adoptive mom."
"Wonderful," Mulan muttered. "I bet that shared parenting works out well."
Ruby shook her head and led Mulan over to where David was sitting so she could introduce them.
❃
|Tartarus|
❃
Regina raised her sword and stepped in front of Robin. "What now? Come back for another duel?"
"Oh, no. We came here for your precious thief. See, you should never reveal you weaknesses."
Regina walked towards Cruella until she was standing a foot away. "Love is not weakness."
"Well perhaps you should ask my dear friend the Hydra." Cruella and the other woman stepped back and the Hydra took a step towards Regina. She swung at it, not thinking, and sliced off one of its heads. The blood from the wound bubbled and from it sprung two new heads.
"Fire," Robin shouted as Regina backed away from the creature. "You need fire!"
"Sorry, I'm fresh out of that," Regina called back. She swung at the Hydra's body, but one of its heads snapped at Regina and she really didn't like the acidic smell coming from the fangs. Regina ducked away from it and held her sword out. "Any other ideas?"
Robin glanced around Tartarus. The only thing that could be seen was a few boulders that were far to heavy to lift, Cruella, the other lady, and the Hydra. And of course, the river. Regina slashed at the Hydra again, careful to not cut the head off entirely. Blood spilled from the wound, but no head sprung from it. Could the Hydra bleed out from wounds?
Regina slashed again, but the Hydra snapped back at the sword and Regina backed up into Robin.
"What's dripping from the fangs?" Robin whispered.
"Poison?" Regina answered in the tone of a question. "I don't know. It doesn't smell very friendly."
"Could the Hydra be defeated by its own poison?"
"Maybe..." Regina blocked one of the Hydra heads from hurting Robin, but while she was turned, another head bit into her left arm. Regina dropped her sword and clutched her arm. Robin caught her before she fell. Regina nodded weakly, "It's poison."
Robin picked up the sword and jabbed it into one of the Hydra's mouths. The Hydra spit out poison in an attempt to get the sword out of its mouth. Robin removed the sword and blocked two of the heads from coming at him. The sword now had poison dripping off of it and Robin could only hope his plan would work because he needed to make sure Regina was okay.
Robin ducked underneath all nine Hydra heads and drove the sword into the Hydra's body. The Hydra began to shake and spew poison everywhere. Cruella and the other woman ran for cover and Regina used her good arm to pull Robin away. The two ran in the opposite direction from Cruella, continuing downstream. They could hear the Hydra hissing behind it as the poison travelled through it's bloodstream. Once they could no longer hear the monster, Regina dropped to the ground. Her face was pale and the skin on her arm around the wound had begun to turn a green-ish color.
"Can I see it?" Robin asked, dropping the sword a safe distance away so the poison wouldn't touch any bare skin.
Regina slowly extended her arm so Robin could examine the wound. She winced every time he touched a different spot, but she tried to not let him see how much it actually hurt.
"We should wash it out and wrap it so the bleeding stops," Robin said. Regina figured he knew what he was doing because she had been living in the comfort of the twenty-first century nearly three decades longer than Robin and she was used to being able to dial 911 and knowing everything would be okay with the help of modern medicine. Robin helped her over to the river and rinsed the wound out in the glowing water. After that, he took his scarf off and wrapped the wound tightly so the bleeding stopped. Robin helped Regina sit down and looked her in the eye. "You okay?"
It took Regina a few seconds to focus on Robin. "Y-Yeah. I think so."
Robin placed his hand on Regina's forehead. It didn't feel like she had a fever yet, but if they didn't get out of Tartarus soon and the wound got infected... "I don't think you should keep moving until you get some rest."
"But Cruella and the witch..."
"The sword still has Hydra poison on it. I can threaten them enough to hold them off for now. But you need rest, okay?"
Regina didn't have the energy to argue, so she simply nodded. Robin pressed a soft kiss to her lips and she laid down. Within seconds, she was fast asleep.
❃
When Regina woke up several hours later, Robin was sitting up next to her. He helped her stand up before picking up the sword. "As much as this poison could be dangerous to Cruella, I think its more dangerous for us to carry it around."
Regina nodded in agreement. "We could probably wash it off in the river, but I still wouldn't risk touching the blade. I have no idea if there are enchantments that would keep the poison in the metal or not."
After Robin let the blade soak in the river, he and Regina continued downstream. Hopefully Cruella and her friends wouldn't try bothering them again, but Robin figured there would be at least one more attack.