Shaya

Chapter 26 - Blood stains

Regina entered the mansion with a tired sigh. She gave a look at herself: the black armor was all covered in blood, and the four rips were highly visible over her intact belly.
She gazed at the stairs. " Henry!" she called him out, a hint of fear clenching her stomach. Shaya joined her after the recognition around the mansion, in search of any survivor with bad intentions. The warrior shook her head, and Regina nodded once. " We're back home, sweetie! Operation Wolf is accomplished! We're safe!"
Regina heard the sound of a door opening, then fast steps, Henry's steps. She was already smiling, relieved, and walking towards the staircase. Henry ran down the stairs and jumped on her. She hugged him tight, holding back the tears. She had risked not to see him ever again. She couldn't even stand the simple thought.
" Mom! I was so scared! Why did it take so long? Are you fine? Did they hurt you?" he spoke rapidly, overlapping the words, moving her to check her. He touched the rips on her armor.
" Mom!" he screamed, looking at her in shock.
Regina couldn't hold back the tears anymore. She caressed his cheek and crouched." I'm fine, my little Prince, don't worry."
Henry hesitated just a second, then launched between her arms, holding her tight, trying to hide under her neck his crying. She held him tight, pressing his tiny, strong body against hers, rubbing his back to comfort him, repeating to him that she was fine, that he didn't have to worry, that they were safe. She couldn't believe that he was that worried, that scared for her. And she didn't want him to be it: she wanted to see him smile, not cry. It killed her, even if she was happy that he cared that much about her. That he loved her.
A red sleeve surrounded Henry's shoulders together with her arms. Regina turned her head to look at Emma at the same time with Henry, slightly smiling at her.
" Momma!" Henry hugged her too, leaving Regina with just one arm around her neck.
" Hey, kid! How are you? "
" I was home just waiting, you fought! How are you?"
Regina laughed together with Emma.
" Fine, fine. We're all fine, don't worry. " the Savior answered.
" Waiting can be exhausting." Regina objected, leaning back her head to look at the boy. He pursued his lips and shrugged.
" I'm fine now."
Regina proudly smiled at him. He was a strong, brave boy.
Regina stood up, even though she would have stayed there just cuddling him her whole life.
" Sweetie, give me your shirt, I stained it." she said, raising a hand. She was too tired to use magic again to wash the blood away, she had to use soap and water this time.
Henry took off his shirt and handed it to her. " Gotta take another." he said before rushing upstairs.
Regina looked at Emma, who stood up in turn.
" Emma, you... you can stay the night, if you want. Henry would be happy if you did. I have a spare room. " she said to her, trying not to blush. She couldn't help gazing at Shaya, who had goggled at her. Did she really think that she'd have let her sleep alone in that room again? Sometimes Regina was sure that the warrior still didn't believe that she loved her. Regina smiled at her, and Shaya adorably blushed, glancing down. Regina couldn't repress a smile.
" Ehm, dunno, maybe it's better if he comes at Mary Margaret's tonight..."
Regina suddenly turned to lock gaze with the Savior, glaring at her, yet with the shadow of a smile around her lips. Emma was sneering, after all. " Do you really think that I'd shock my son in such a vulgar way, Miss Swan? I'm not one of the Charmings..." she remembered to her with a mocking smile. Emma blushed, but didn't look away, actually she grinned at the former Mayor.
" Are you out of your mind, Mills? You're family now. You are one of the Charmings."
Regina narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to reply, but Henry ran down the staircase, jumping the last three stairs, and widely smiled at them.
" So are you staying tonight, momma?"
Emma glared at him, but ruffled his hair. " You sneaky nosy parker! Would you like it?"
Henry grinned vigorously nodding. Emma burst into laughter. " So be it! " She then narrowed her eyes towards Regina in a fake challenging look. " I'll pick some apples for breakfast tomorrow morning." she sneered.
Regina stifled a laughter, but raised a threatening finger towards the Savior. " Don't you dare, sister."
There was a moment of silence before that both of them bursted into laughter, even though they were too tired to make it last.
Emma sighed. " Okay then, I'll go take a shower and pick my stuff for the night. I'll be here in a hour, then we all can go lunch? I'm already angry." she pressed her lips in a smile, shrugging." And then we could go visiting David and Hook." she added with a forced indifferent tone.
" With your yellow death trap, I suppose." Regina teased her.
" It's not my fault if your Mercedes is a mess!"
" It is, seen that you were the one who had to hold still the werewolf!"
" I..."
" Alright, ladies! Stop it." Shaya tiredly intervened, just in time. Regina was really getting angry. She liked that car.
" Hey, she began!" Emma said pointing at Regina.
" You let him destroy my car!"
" "Destroy"! It just has some scratches..."
" Some scratches?! The right window is gone, the hood is a mess, the wheels are gone..."
" Regina!" Shaya loudly said, then tensely smiling at her. " Regina..." she repeated, lowering the tone. "... love of my life, it's just a car. You can fix it in a moment. What's the matter?"
Regina muted. She didn't know it. She was just angry, but she wasn't really angry. And then she suddenly realized it: she was afraid. She was trying to defend herself again with anger, as she always did. But the truth was that she had been terrorized on that ground, with life streaming out of her, and, yes, even angry, because she couldn't even tell Shaya that she loved her before passing out, and Henry, and because that weasel had claimed the right to take her life now that she could finally be happy. After all of those years, all of those tries, she had seen her happy ending slide away from her, and she had felt helpless, just like when her mother had ripped Daniel's heart out and crashed it. She had hated it, laying in the ground, gazing at the blue sky, she had hated it and she had hated Finnegan for having being faster and smarted than her, and herself for having being that silly and arrogant to think that she could run faster than a werewolf. But more than this, she hated herself for being that frightened to die. She had never been. She had never had something to lose. Henry hated her, Shaya was lost somewhere, just a distant memory, and Emma was just another enemy to defeat. But now...
" Hey." Shaya leaned forwards, cupping her face between her hands. Regina looked at her in surprise. " Talk to me. I've almost lost you today, I'm not in the conditions to stand your silent suffering." she slightly, sadly smiled. Her voice had been so sweet that had brought tears to Regina's eyes. She felt guilty for having made her feel cut out of her life again. Shaya looked worn out: she had bags under her eyes, that were reddened, and she moved as if even just standing was a great effort for her. Moreover, Regina really didn't want to hide her her feeling. Actually there was nothing she wanted to hide to her. She wanted to share everything with her, but she didn't know how.
Regina had to search deep inside herself to find the right words. The only possible ones.
" I'm sorry. I was trying to find the answer myself, I didn't know it before you asked me." the former Queen took a deep breath, worryingly looking at the warrior. But Shaya slightly smiled, wiping away any fear, any embarrass to talk openly about herself in front of Emma.
" So you know it, now?"
Regina nodded once. " I was angry because I felt... vulnerable, today. I didn't want to die. I was afraid. I have much to lose." she added in a murmur, smiling. Shaya moved to hug her, but Regina stopped her raising a hand. " Wait. I hadn't finished yet."
Shaya frowned, a little of worry narrowing her eyes. " Sorry." she said stepping back.
Regina shook her head with a smirk. How much patience that woman could have?
The former Queen turned her head to look at the Savior. Emma was watching them with something similar to surprise on her face. When Regina looked at her, she gave a start as if she had just caught her spying them.
" I owe you an apology, Emma. I was childish."
Emma raised her brows in total surprise, open-mouthed. " Hem, ah... o-okay."
Regina frowned. It wasn't the first time that she apologized with her, so why was she that surprised?
" What's the matter?" the brunette asked, narrowing her eyes.
Emma hesitated a second, then shrugged. " What? Nothing. "
Regina rose an eyebrow, skeptic. She didn't have the "superpower", but she wasn't an idiot. She didn't need to say it loud.
" Okay, okay, relax. It's just that your sudden change of mood surprised me. Usually, if you get angry, you stay angry. Like, you know, for decades." Emma sneered.
Regina had to hold back a smile. She wasn't wrong, after all. The former Queen glanced at the warrior, who locked gaze with her, entrapping her look in those fresh, calm waters of her eyes, holding her there, in a warm, safe place.
" Someone remembered me that I don't need to be angry anymore." Regina said, not even she knew to who.
She saw Emma roll her eyes at the corner of her eyes. " You complain about Mary Mar... Snow White and Prince Charming, and then you do the same." the Savior said, grinning. Regina glared at her, but glanced at Henry, who had just listened to them, smiling all along. She winked at him and mustered up the courage.
" Those two idiots aren't enough to be compared to me." she said, lifting her chin with air of superiority, but just half hiding a smile. Henry's laugh was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard.
" Language, Miss Mills." Emma scolded her, pretending to be her, apparently. She wasn't good at it, not even a bit. That voice was nothing like hers, let alone that sulky pout. Henry laughed even louder, however, and Shaya stifled a laughter, gaining a glare from the brunette.
" You'd better get out of my mansion if you want to be in time for lunch, Miss Swan. Your princess' hair would need more attentions from you. Perhaps you should start today, before you have to cut it at mine's length." Regina sneered, narrowing her eyes. Emma had been enough distracted during the battle to let flow all of her thoughts out of her mind. It was a miracle that none else was listening, or they'd be all dead. But, apart from their battle plans, Regina had felt her admiration for her haircut. She would have never suspected it. The curse had been a great hairstylist, however, she had to admit it, even only because of Snow White ugly haircut.
Emma paled a little, but pretended indifference. Regina couldn't allow it. Before that the Savior could say a word, she spoke again. " But I don't think you'd mind?"
Emma stayed open-mouthed. She was fucked, and she knew it. She couldn't deny, or she would have offended her, and she couldn't agree, or she'd have to admit that she liked her hairdo. Regina couldn't hold back a victorious smile.
Emma tried to answer three times, but everytime she renounced and closed her mouth, only to open it again. She couldn't contain herself in the end.
" Oh, to hell with it! You already know it, don't ya?"
Regina nodded once, grinning.
Emma made an annoyed gesture, grumbling something under her voice. Regina stifled a laughter.
" I'm afraid I don't know it, little Prince. " Shaya answered to some silent question Henry had asked to her.
Regina couldn't let that occasion pass by. " We're talking about my haircut, dear." she explained to her son, glancing at his furious mother. " Your mother seems to highly appreciate it."
Henry frowned. " And what's the matter with it?"
Regina shrugged, enjoying Emma's face. " She would have never admitted it."
" Why?"
Regina gazed at the Savior, waiting for her answer. There was something strange in her look, but she looked at Henry, hiding it.
" Because... because... Ah, it's complicated, kid. You'll get it when you'll be older. "
Henry arched an eyebrow. " Yeah, sure."
" Really!" Emma squeaked, frowning.
" You don't wanna tell me because you think I wouldn't understand because I'm a kid." Henry said, pouting and glaring at the Savior.
Regina rolled her eyes. He was bloody suspicious. It had to be Emma's DNA. And her influence, too, maybe.
" Henry, I really don't know how to explain it to you!"
" Yeah, sure."
Emma was speechless. Henry didn't believe her. Regina knew how she was feeling. She sighed, then leaned a hand on Henry's shoulder to make him lock gaze with her.
" Sweetheart, it's not about you, or your age. Emma is right, it is complicated, it would just be a long, boring and useless talk, because we were just kidding. It's about pride and... Maybe just pride, after all?" she asked to Emma, who thought a bit about it before shrugging.
" Maybe."
" See, there's nothing that you can't understand. You lived with me for ten years, you know something about pride, don't you?" Regina smiled to her son. His gaze sweetened, but he was still pouting.
" But she said that I'll get it when I'll be older..."
" She meant that you'll get it by your own when you'll be older, because you'll have more experience with the adults's stupidities."
" Reading books can help, little Prince. Trust me." Shaya intervened, secretly winking at Regina while smiling at Henry.
How on earth did she manage to make her feel always grateful for her to be there?
Henry gave a smirk. " Yeah, I noted." He then looked at Emma, his face full of regret. " Sorry." he murmured, blushing.
Emma bursted into a laughter and hugged him tight, eying Regina gratefully. She knew that she knew, after all. No one more than her knew it, seen that Henry's lack of faith in Regina was the cause of her arrival to Storybrooke.
Emma let Henry go. " Well, better if I go now. See you in a hour." she said before awkwardly kissing the boy's cheek and running out of the mansion.
Regina looked at him. " Sweetie, I need to have a shower, and Shaya is very tired."
" I'm not..."
" Shush! Henry, you didn't sleep tonight, and I bet you didn't even this morning. Have a doze, dear. I'll wake you up when Emma comes back. "
" But mom, I'm fine!"
Regina arched an eyebrow. " I'm your mother, Henry. I can tell when you're fine, and now you're not. You need to rest, as any of us. Now you have one hour with nothing to do, why shouldn't you take advantage of it?"
" But I can sleep later, when you do it too!"
Regina shrugged. " Sleep now won't prevent you from sleeping later, too. I bet you're tired enough to do the two things without problems." she smirked at him.
" But..." he was beginning to say when Shaya interrupted him.
" Regina, I can be with him, there's no problem." she said, gazing then at her son. " If you want, obviously."
Henry enthusiastically nodded. Regina stared at the woman she loved. She was evidently exhausted, she didn't want her to be it even more. She knew that she was doing it because Henry was her son but for how she could feel guilty, she couldn't help but love her even more. Shaya looked at her, and smiled. She never failed to smile, no matter how tired she could be.
" Alright then. " Regina agreed smiling. " But don't speak ill of me while I'm upstairs."
Shaya sneered, winking at Henry. " Oh we would never dare, isn't it, young Prince?"
Henry repeatedly shook his head. " Never!"
" Sure. I'll try to make haste, however." the former Queen said before walking upstairs.
She entered the bathroom, turning to lock the door behind her, but then she simply closed it, hiding a smile to the mirror.
She began to undress, slowly, as every inch of her body was aching. That battle had been truly hard, she had had to use all of her energies to stay alive. The Lost Boys were in numerical advantage as those cowards of George and Mitchell didn't support them, so they could attack each of them from all sides at the same moments. Fortunately, Shaya's defensive strategy had worked, or they'd have been lost.
Regina unknotted the armored corsage, finally properly breathing. She took off the armor looking at her bare, bloodstained body under it. Her own blood. A few bruises were visible, but except those she was unscathed. She touched her belly, following the invisible lines of the wounds that Rumplestiltskin's magic had made disappear. She owed him her life, and that was a very bad thing.
Finally free from the heavy armor she turned on the shower and went under the warming spray of water.
The former Queen sighed loudly, closing her eyes and letting the water wipe away any worry, fear, anger.
She cleared her mind, breathing the hot, wet air. There was nothing to fear, now. They had saved her. Snow hated her, but Emma had said that she had summoned the Dark One and so saved her. Again, as with Greg. Did she really hate her? Or was she just angry with her? Regina couldn't tell, she had never really understood the girl. She had thought that, with her heart darkening, she could finally get what Snow had in her mind, but she still didn't. Snow White was a mystery, but it wasn't the time to think about it. Now she had to relax, or she would have collapsed.
When there was nothing but a comfortable emptiness in her mind, she let Henry's laughter in, his smart smile, the way he walked. Regina hugged herself, surrounded by the "magic rain" and the vapor, leaning against the white, cold tiles behind her. She slightly smiled, recollecting Shaya's reaction to the shower. It had been her own when she had used it for the first time, twenty-nine years before.
The blood didn't seem to want to go away. It stayed on her skin like an old tattoo, taking away her smile. Regina had to use half of the soap pot to be finally clean.
She got out of the shower, wrapping herself in the soft bath towel. She dried the mirror, then looked at her reflection while passing a hand through her wet hair. She looked tired, yes, but there was something new in her eyes, a light she thought she would have never seen again. Regina smiled at herself and got out of the bathroom.
" The shower is free if..." she began to say while walking downstairs, but she stopped as she saw Shaya turn her head and motion to her to lower her voice. "... you want." Regina ended, walking towards the couch. She moved around it to see that Shaya was sitting on it, gently caressing Henry's head: the boy had fallen asleep on her, his head leaning on her chest, his arms wrapped around her waist. His face was totally relaxed.
" He fell asleep. The story I was telling him had to be more boring that I thought." Shaya whispered with a sleepy smile.
Regina locked gaze with her, but couldn't answer. There was something that was chocking her, and it was beautiful. Family. She was beginning to understand that she had never really known the real meaning of that word.
" Hey..." Shaya whispered. Regina repeatedly blinked, realizing that she was weeping. She dried her eyes.
" Sorry, it's just that..." the brunette tried to say, but a wave of feelings stopped the words in the middle of her throat. She significantly waved her hand in the air, pointing at them.
Shaya gave a little, sad smile. " I know, I know. " Her smile suddenly brightened. " I was just gonna say that you're beautiful."