The one she thought was lost

Chapter 29: Waking up

Just by the way his heart squeezed painfully in his chest, Robin knew that he was going to regret the decision to leave, but what else could he do? As long as he lived in the castle, he would constantly be looking for a glimpse of Regina, willingly or not. He would constantly crave her touch and he would be constantly reminded of how she rejected him.
He could handle a lot of things, but he wouldn't be able to handle that. So while the decision to leave hadn't been an easy one, he had made it pretty fast.
With a heavy heart he started to gather all of his and Roland's things and put them into a satchel. Though it didn't take very long since they didn't own much.
He then put on his shoes and looked one last time at the letters he'd left for Daniella... and Regina, doubting wether or not he should've written her one. He knew she didn't want to be with him, so why did he even bother? But he let it there, lying on his pillow. It didn't matter anyway, it wasn't like she was going to come running after him after she read it.
He sighed and picked up Roland, who stirred before settling down again, and made his way out of the room.
He slowly walked through the corridors, hesitating at Regina's door for a second before making his way down the hall. He descended the stairs, rounded the corner and made his way to the main entrance.
Quietly opening the thick brown doors, Robin winced as they creaked and woke up Roland.
The little boy opened his eyes, disoriented and looked at his father.
"Where are we going, papa?", he asked him, his voice still full of sleep. Robin sighed before kissing his sons forehead.
He quickly stepped through the doors before closing them again, walking away from the castle that had been his home for the past six months. He looked at Regina's balcony, couldn't help but hope that she'd somehow awoken and would be looking for him, but was disappointed to be greeted with nothing. He looked at Roland, who was still looking at him, and answered his son's question.
"Where going to live outside the castle for a little while", he explained quietly as he kept walking further and further away, the pain in his chest worsening with every step he took.
Robin swallowed as his son asked his next question, one that made the pain in his chest just a little bit worse.
"Is Regina coming to visit us, papa?" And while he knew his son couldn't know what had happened between the two of them, Robin wished Roland wouldn't be so curious, but he couldn't lie to his son, not about this.
"I... I don't think so Roland", Robin told him gently," She is very busy with all of her duties as Queen and she probably doesn't have the time." Roland's pout almost made Robin turn around, but he couldn't. So, he didn't. He stayed on the path that let to the woods, to a cabin he'd found during one of his robberies with the Merry Men, ignoring the nagging feeling at the pit of his stomach that he made the wrong choice.

Regina couldn't remember the last time she felt this helpless. Sure, when she was little, she couldn't defend herself against her mother and while she was married, she didn't have the strength to fight her husband. But never, not once in her entire life had she felt this helpless, this hopeless.
She was literally trapped in her own body. She couldn't move, let alone talk to anyone and she had no idea how to fix it. She had no idea how to wake up. And she had no idea where Robin was.
She'd known the moment he had left. Not just because she had heard him walk away, but she could also feel it. The pain and loneliness seeping into her bones and there was no way she could stop it.
And she had no idea how she was going to deal with it.

It had been almost a week since her mother had fainted and Daniella was starting to get more and more worried by the second. Ever since she'd met her mother, she had always thought she looked invicible. 
Now that Regina was lying on that bed, barely breathing, she felt the panic she'd felt during the battle, return.
"Mom, please, you have to wake up", she begged her mother, hoping she would hear her and somehow respond to her plea. No such luck, of course and Daniella felt her hope fade as quickly as it came.
"I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm begging you. Please, wake up. Snow needs you, Granny needs you, hell, even Grumphy needs you. I need you, mom. Now that Robin is leaving, I only have you and I don't want you to leave. Please, don't leave me." Daniella collapsed onto the bed, her head on Regina's chest as she started sobbing. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she cried, landing on Regina's heart in the process.

Regina swore her heart broke a little bit more when she heard Daniella beg her to wake up. No matter how much she cared about Robin, no matter how much she wanted to wake up to find him, her children where more important.
'I'll find a way to wake up, Daniella. I promise you'

Too far lost in her grief, Daniella didn't notice the glow that erupted from the place where her tear had hit Regina's chest. The glow started from Regina's chest and travelled from her heart to the rest of her body, healing whatever had been broken.

Suddenly Regina felt a warmth in her chest. It felt like magic, it was familiar, but didn't know where she'd felt it before. It felt different from hers, not as dark. And it felt warm, but not like the burning feeling that ran through her veins everytime she used her dark magic. It was comforting in some way.
And it was spreading through her body. Fast.
She felt it running from her heart to her shoulders, her arms. From her arms to her hands, towards her fingers and fingertops before moving back up. It ran through her legs, her knees, her ankles, her feet and back towards her upper body.
It ran through her veins, towards her lower stomach and seemed to stay there for a minute, before going to her chest again. It pressed down on her lungs, making it even harder to breathe for a moment before moving away and Regina gasped as the pressure completely disappeared.

A soft gasp was heard and Daniella sat up, hope burning in her chest. She grabbed her mother's hand.
"Mom?", she asked hesitantly. She lifted her gaze to Regina's face, waiting for any sign that her mother was awake.
Regina still layed perfectly still and to anyone else, there might not have been a change, but Daniella had seen it.
The colour had returned to her mother's face, her chest moving up and down more clearly with every breath that she took.

The magic had disappeared and for a beat it was deadly silent in the room. Regina held in her breath for a moment as she tried to move. She felt Daniella hold her hand and she tried to squeeze it.
She heard Daniella let out a sob.
"Mom, can you do that again?", Daniella whispered and Regina obeyed, willing her fingers to do it again.
Relief ran through Daniella as she felt her mother squeeze her hand again. She squeezed back and let out a small 'thank god' when she saw her mother open her eyes for the first time in three days.

Regina opened her eyes and frowned at the tears in her daughter's eyes. Raising a hand to Daniella's face, she whiped away the ones that had fallen and pulled her close.
"I'm so glad you're okay", Daniella whispered, her mother's embrace calming her down.
Regina closed her eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying having her daughter so close before pulling back slightly to look Daniella in the eye.
"Whatever happens, I'm not leaving you, I promise", she assured," And if something does happen to me, I will always find my way back to you. I did it once, I did it five minutes ago, and I'll do it again as much as I need to." Regina didn't care how much she sounded like the Charmings, the only thing that mattered was her daughter.
Daniella nodded and burried her head in the crook of Regina's shoulder once more.
Regina returned the embrace and kissed Daniella's forehead, once again telling her she wasn't going anywhere.
"I love you, mom. I love you so much." A smile lit up Regina's face, hearing those words would never fail to make her happy, and returned the sentiment.
"I love you too, my little princess."

*A/N: Soo, here's another one! It's a little shorter than my other chapters, but I hope you enjoy it either way!