The world felt like spinning from Regina’s eyes as she stood at the center of the crowd, in front of her soulmate who, right now, has no idea who she is. He’s looking straight to the windows of her soul but he couldn’t recognize her. Everything that is happening made Regina sick to her stomach, she wanted to puke. Her head was hurting not understanding anything at the moment. She felt like she was thrown into an angry wave at the sea, battling not to drown, and just as when she’s at the shore, the surge picks her up again and throws her back to the ocean hurting her every sense of being, again and again.
“What do you mean who I am?” Regina questioned, her fists clenched, so as her teeth, fighting the tears that were about to fall.
Robin just stared at her, not knowing what to say. “I mean…” he paused, thinking how to answer the woman looking at him who’s clearly upset with what he had just asked her. He went near her, trying to remember who she was, his forehead creasing until something hit him. He gasped and took a step aback, kneeled before her and bowed his head, “Forgive me, your majesty,” he apologized. He remembered her, but it wasn’t Regina he dredged up, it was the Evil Queen.
Regina flinched at what the thief had acted. He recalled who I am, but he doesn’t remember US, she miserably assumed. A sudden throbbing pain hit her again, stabbing every memory she had with him until all that’s left were blurry images of what they used to be. She turned her back on him, prepared to walk away as he still knelt on the floor.
“It’s Elsa,” Anna declared, stopping Regina from exiting. “This guy,” she continued, referring to Little John, “He said that he saw a woman left him unconscious in the woods.”
“I’m sure it’s the same person who attacked us at Granny’s diner,” Little John confirmed.
They were still babbling about some things but Regina no longer listened, she couldn’t bear it anymore. Before she bawls her eyes out in front of the whole town, she decided to just leave. She bolted towards the door, the people parted in two like the ocean had split for her to pass through, not wanting to get in her way.
Roland pulled his father up to which he obeyed and stood upright. The little boy held Robin by his finger pulling him to the direction of the door. “Mama Gina,” he said to his father. And while Robin was still confused, he lifted the lad up and carried him with his strong arms bringing him closer to his chest having no plans of chasing the Evil Queen. But the boy didn’t stop, he wanted to follow her. “Mama Gina!” he shouted, wishing she would hear him. He protested from his father’s grip but Robin wouldn’t let go of him, he wouldn’t let his son anywhere near that woman. “Mama!!!” The poor boy repeated while he started to tear up.
“She just needs some time,” Snow reassured Henry as she pulled his arm and rubbed his back giving him just enough comfort. And just like that, they all watched her walk away. No one dared to follow her, not even Emma.
Mama, Roland’s voice kept on echoing in her head. Regina stopped just outside the town hall, collecting herself. Her knees were trembling as she covered her mouth with her hands, preventing loud whimpers from escaping her lips. She was sobbing uncontrollably under the harsh howling of winter, alone, and once again, there she was, the villain who’ll never seem to have her happy ending.
o-o
Amidst the absence of Regina on the town meeting, they continued, trying to figure out a plan to stop the seemingly endless horrible winter.
“I would just have to show up,” Anna volunteered. She swallowed even though her throat doesn’t seem to close. “As bait,” she offered. Everyone looked at her, disbelieving what she has just said. “I’m her sister, she wouldn’t hurt me,” she tried to explain.
“What?!” Kristoff bellowed, unimpressed on Anna’s proposal. “We spent the last few weeks, in the woods, hiding from your sister and now you just want to go out and meet her like it’s going to be a happy family reunion?! That’s ridiculous!” He protested. “Don’t even think for a second I’ll let you do that,” he glared at her, and at the people in the room.
“That’s actually not a bad idea after all,” Zelena commented.
“Didn’t you just hear what I said?” Kristoff shrieked.
“Oops!” Zelena even teased. “It’s not that we’re going to let her die in the hands of her own sister,” the Wicked Witch reassured. “I will be there, Emma and Regina will be there, the three of us with magic. Once Elsa showed up, Anna will be free to go,” a wicked smile fled her lips.
Regina, that name again, Robin Hood thought as he walked away from the group of people who were talking about stuff and people and situation he doesn’t even know and understand. It sounds so familiar, yet when I saw her face, it was all the Evil Queen I figured, he pondered as he sat on the corner, watching his son run around another boy, Henry, whom he only recognized as Emma’s son. His memory of meeting Regina had been wiped clean, all he knows was that she’s the Evil Queen, they were running from her black knights at the Enchanted Forest and she’s not to be trusted. But his gut is telling him something else.
“Hey,” someone startled him as the lady tapped her shoulder. “How are you holding up?” Tinkerbell inquired.
“Tinkerbell,” he mumbled, a bit surprised.
“Oh, you know me?” The fairy asked, shocked.
“Of course I do. What made you think otherwise?”
“It’s just that…” her voice faded, looking towards Roland and Henry, then back at Robin. “Regina introduced me to you and since you don’t remember her, I doubted you’d know me. But here you are,” she joked smilingly.
What? Robin Hood wondered. She introduced her to me? “I don’t understand,” he confessed.
“It seems to me you don’t understand a lot of things right now,” Tinkerbell hesitated. “Can you recall the first time you met me?” The fairy asked. Robin thought for a while, his brows narrowing, then he shook his head. “Do you know why your son appears to be so close with Henry?” she asked again in which Robin replied with another shrug. And lastly she tried to elicit something from him, not necessarily an answer, but perhaps, an emotion, “Do you have any idea why your son called Regina ‘mama’?”
He glimpsed on Roland who was laughingly sitting next to Henry as they took turns playing with the Gameboy, “No,” he answered as he shrugged his shoulders another time.
“They said that when Elsa struck your head, you’ve forgotten something. Maybe, a painful part of you,” Tinkerbell tried to enlighten him.
“If it is painful, is it just not right that it remained to be forgotten?” He asked raising his eyebrow, sounding uncharmed.
“Maybe,” she answered, not wanting to push him so much. “But what if the pain was just a tiny part of something big? Let’s say, something about second chances, love and soulmates,” she smiled.
His eyes opened wide, stunned from Tinkerbell’s choice of words. “What do you mean?” He sought for further information.
“Before all the curses that happened, I met the Evil Queen, Regina,” she beamed calmingly. “She was alone and miserable, but she wasn’t dark, she wasn’t the ruthless woman in fancy suits we used to know of her. I tried to help her, at the cost of my own wings, you know,” she let a nervous laugh out.
Robin was waiting for her next words, attentively listening to her story. “And?”
“She lost her first love and she wanted to go all evil, revenge if I must say. I told her she could be happy again, that she could learn to love again. We used pixie dust to locate her soulmate and it led us to a tavern with this guy with a lion tattoo on his arm.”
“So, the Evil Queen… Regina,” he paused. He looked at his arm and spotted the symbol the fairy has been talking about, “She’s my soulmate?” He doubted.
“Well, that’s according to the pixie dust,” she shrugged. “Do you believe it?” She answered him with another question. Robin Hood sat there, unmoving. “The head forgets but the heart…” Tinkerbell’s voice trailed. “…the heart remembers.”
o-o
He was lying on a bed, in a room just behind the counter on his pawnshop. His palm was still bleeding from the self-harm he did, his dagger beside him. He heard a loud banging on his door but he didn’t even cringe. It could be Zelena who came in, seeking revenge but he wasn’t afraid or anything. He didn’t care. He was or is, after all, the Dark One. The footsteps were coming closer so he sat upright, waiting for his visitor to find him. And alas, he was found.
He smirked when he saw her standing by his door, “And I thought I’d see you last,” he marveled.
“I need your help, Gold.” Regina greeted him, her face blunt with her eyes fired and darkened by anger. Her fists haven’t relaxed opened since she left the townsmen and her insufferable Outlaw with a selective memory loss. Gold didn’t say a word. But the melting of snow dripping from the hemline of Regina’s black trench coat tells something about her impatience growing as seconds passed by. “Gold!” She yelled at him, she needed an answer.
“Of course, you need, my help,” he boasted.
“I need you to bring Robin Hood’s memory back,” she pleaded without the sound of begging.
“Oh,” he jerked with his hand, trying to sound amused but pleasing no one, not even his own self. “Has the Snow Queen finally got the best of you?” He asked, talking to Regina as if she was a child whose candy was robbed. “Did she strike your poor thief in the head and he totally forgot about the love of his life?”
Regina didn’t appreciate the sarcasm, but she wanted Robin to remember her. She wanted him to remember the times they’ve spent together, the long walks and the kisses, every drink and every conversation they had, even all the arguments and their bickering. She needed for him to be able to reminisce the night they shared few weeks ago, under that thin white sheet of blanket on her bedroom and the moment he woke up finding her in his arms. She needed him to remember he loves her, or at least, that he told her he loves her. She wants him to remember every-single-thing. Even if it would mean that he’ll remember the fact that I had Marian killed, she thought. I don’t want to live a life that he doesn’t even remember our second chance. She shut her eyes closed ignoring Gold’s mockery and just answered, “Yes.” She gathered the composure she needed and continued, “And I want you to bring back what Elsa stole from him.” What she stole from ME!!! She angrily added on her mind.
Gold chuckled under his breath. “Don’t you get it, dearie?” He said as he stood up and went near Regina, his grip on his cane stronger than ever. He leaned towards her and with his teeth clenched he whispered, “Villains don’t get happy endings. You and I, of all people, should know that.”
o-o
P.S. Tell me what you think about it! We're two chapters away from the ending. Thanks for reading this chapter! I love you all so much. Mwah!