The one she thought was lost

Chapter 19: Game over

The hairpin had fallen on the ground, the glow from the spell faded out.
"We're here", Regina breathed. She looked over at Robin, who had been silent for the last few minutes, trying to figure out what he was thinking.
"What are you thinking?", she asked curiously. Robin sighed and turned to look at her, his gaze conflicted.
"What if Zelena hurt her? What if she's..." Robin felt his throat close up at the thought of losing Daniella. Ever since he'd found out about her magic, he hadn't been the father that she deserved, that she needed, and he wanted to make it right. The thought of never getting the chance to do that, to earn her forgiveness, made him want cry and than kill the witch who was responsible for her death.
"But you don't know if she's dead or hurt. You don't know what has happened", a voice whispered to him and it took him a moment to realise it wasn't a voice in his head. It was the Queen who'd said them. And he wanted to believe the words, wanted to nod and execute their plan to get Daniella out of there. But he just couldn't, not just because of his own doubts, but also because he saw that Regina didn't believe her words either. And just like him, she was trying and failing to do so.
"I know, I just... can't help but think...", Robin started, but Regina interupted. "No, you're not going to think those thing right now. What you need to think about right now, is finding Daniella and if she's hurt, than we'll deal with it once we get her out of there safely."
Robin nodded and pushed his thoughts away to concentrate on the task at hand.
"Okay, let's do this." He squeezed Regina's arm and gave her a small smile before walking backwards, towards the woods. Once he was in position, he loaded his bow and waited.

Regina stopped herself from thinking about the tingling feeling Robin's hand had left behind on her arm and focused on the cottage in front of her. She knocked, Zelena probably knew she was here anyway, and took a step back.
The door opened to reveal her half sister, a smirk plastered on her face.
"Come to get your precious Daniella, sis?", she said with a little laugh that made Regina narrow her eyes at her. Regina didn't trust Zelena in the slightest and the way that she was smirking at her, made her suspicious.
"What have you done to her?", Regina said in a low voice, barely able to contain her anger at her sister.
"I haven't done anything and didn't you bring your Outlaw? What was his name again? Robert? No it wasn't Robert. Robin, aah yes, Robin." Zelena stepped out of the doorway, slamming the door closed with a flick of her wrist. "Though our mother probably wouldn't agree with your taste in men, I've got to say... He's not bad on the eyes."
Regina let a breath that almost sounded like a growl as the anger inside her grew. Somewhere in the back of her mind there was a voice that said that Robin wasn't even hers so she had no right to react the way she was doing now, but she ignored it easily. The anger inside her rushed through her veins like fire and her magic reacted.
Before Zelena could even blink, she was thrown against the wall of the cottage. Zelena groaned and realised she probably had a few bruised ribs before using her magic to do the same to Regina, only against a tree.
"So protective of him, even though he's not even yours." Regina looked at Zelena with as much hatred as she had for Snow White two years ago. But Zelena didn't back down, she just kept going, pushing all of her sister's buttons.
"Same goes with his son, Roland? Cute little boy, but also not yours. You seem to have a thing for that, wanting things that are not yours to want. I mean Robin, Roland," Regina heard Robin growl at his son's name. "even Henry."
Regina tensed when she heard her son's name. "Leave my son out of this!", she all but screamed, the control over her anger lost as she tossed Zelena agaist a tree. But Zelena barely looked affected, she just stood up and walked towards her again, her eyes lighting up with glee.
"Still a touchy subject, I see?" Zelena smiled. "I told you, Regina, I'm going to take everything away from you." Zelena used her magic to grab her sister's throat.
Regina gasped, but looked Zelena straight in the eyes. "You were stupid to come alone, sis. Did you really think you could defeat me? I mean, I thought you knew by now. I'm stronger than you."
Regina's longs burned, but she spoke anyway. "Then why did Rumple choose me to cast his curse? Isn't that what this is all about? People chosing me over you. Our mother kept me and even Rumple thought I was the better choice for his curse." The grip Zelena had on her throat tightened as Zelena looked at Regina in anger. Regina's heart jumped at this small victory, Zelena was angry and distracted and hopefully enough so she couldn't sense Robin being here as well. She continued: "You are stupid to assume that I came alone, just because you can't see the person I came with", Regina sat up straighter, looking her sister in the eyes and smiled.
Only a second later, an arrow impaled Zelena's shoulder and two more followed in her legs. Distracted by the pain, Zelena let go of her grip on Regina's throat.
Gasping for breath, but desperate not to waste anymore time, she got up. She took a moment to catch her breath, but looked up when she heard Zelena scream in outrage. But before she had time to trap her sister, Zelena disappeared in a cloud of green smoke.
A moment later, she felt Robin's hands on her arms, steadying her. "Are you okay?", he whispered. Regina nodded, not speaking just yet, and squeezed one of his hands. But Robin didn't let go of her yet, worry still evident in his gorgeous eyes. And Regina tried her best to ignore the warmth that she felt in her chest when she saw this.
She cleared her throat. "Doesn't matter anyway, we have to go and get Daniella." Her voice was hoarse and her throat burned, but she ignored the pain.
Robin still looked worried, but his desire to save Daniella won out and he took a step back.
"Okay, come on. We still need to be careful, who knows what's still in there."
Regina nodded. "Let's go."