Once Upon a Second Chance

(7) - Merry Deadmen

The group arrived at the Mills Mausoleum. When they entered, Regina pushed aside a coffin that was labeled 'Henry Mills, Beloved Father' which led to an underground vault.

The kids stared in awe at the environment. Some were nervous. Some were curious.

"Don't. Touch. Anything," Regina said in a sharp tone and gave a pointed look at all the kids who nodded their heads vigorously and Regina knew she got her point across. While she did feel guilty using such a frightening tone with children, she knew it would be nothing compared to the guilt she would feel if one of them got hurt or worse because they messed with something they shouldn't have.

She nodded and went to collect the necessities for the spell. She had cast the potion so many times, she had come to memorize them.

She was about to gather the ingredients when she heard someone clear their throat.

She turned to see Evie leaning against the corner and giving Regina a sheepish smile. "Need any help?" she said with a hopeful look in her eyes which Regina fought the urge to return.

In all honesty, Regina was dying to get to know more about the girl who was apparently the daughter of another version of her, however, she didn't want to make the girl uncomfortable or make her feel like she had any obligation to treat her as her real mother.

But, if she approached her, why turn her away? "...You can help me gather the ingredients," she smiled. Evie stepped up and carefully grabbed and handed her the instructed components for the mixture.

She was taking her time. Despite the awkward silence, Evie too desired to know more about her alternate mother and perhaps even bond with her, but didn't want to intrude on any boundaries or appear needy.

"So..." Evie attempted to make conversation as Regina began creating the potion. "You look pretty skilled with this magic thing," she said.

Regina shrugged, "I suppose so..." not knowing what to say or attempting not to say the wrong thing. "So... how was your mother? With magic?"

Evie was at a loss of words when she thought about her mother. Remembering the events from earlier, she felt her eyes well with tears she was praying weren't noticeable, but they were. Out of instinct, Regina put her hand on Evie's. "I understand... I lost my mother, too... and that kind of loss is one that leaves a mark that... feels like it will never heal."

Evie looked at Regina in confusion until she realized the misunderstanding. "Oh, my mother isn't dead!" Evie gave a forced chuckle.

"Oh," Regina said in realization.

"We just... don't have the best relationship," Evie said lowly. Responding to Regina's question from earlier, she said "All I would know about my mom and magic is from the stories I would hear about from before I was born. But I never saw her do any myself. There wasn't any magic on the Isle."

Regina gave a look of confusion. "What's the Isle?"

"Back in our realm, after the villains were defeated and Auradon was formed, the former king, Ben's dad banished all the villains to an island prison with a barrier around it to keep out magic—the Isle of the Lost," Evie explained.

Regina was even more confused. "And you were born and grew up in this... 'Isle of the Lost'?"

"Yeah," Evie nodded.

"You were raised on an island prison because of the crimes that were committed by your parents?" Regina asked, trying to see how one could think that would make sense.

"Basically," Evie nodded.

"How was it like there?"

Evie grew silent. While she was happy she had managed a conversation with Regina, her past on the Isle as well as her life with real mother was honestly the last thing she would want to discuss.

Regina noticed Evie's silence and how her face dropped when she asked about the Isle. It was then she regretted the question, it being obvious that it is a difficult subject for Evie. It now became clear that she had a difficult life—one she didn't deserve. Which made the anger in her grow all the more. Evie seemed like such a sweet and innocent girl. How could someone have the heart to leave her and a bunch of other children on an isolated island for doing nothing but being born?

But, Evie answered nonetheless. "It wasn't that bad. It was a really fun and wild place," she said, trying to show the bright side. "Well, I mean—we didn't have WiFi. There was danger and gang activity everywhere, but I was raised in an isolated castle for most of my life there so I was more sheltered than a lot of the other kids," Evie continued to mindlessly ramble. "And there wasn't any form of medical care and all the food we ate came from the leftovers of Aur-"

"What?!" Regina asked in utter shock and horror, startling Evie who immediately regretted opening her mouth. The more and more Evie had been describing the Isle, the more Regina felt a rage develop inside her.

Kids left on an island populated by murderers and criminally insane people, with no medical care or decent food? It's a miracle any of the villain kids were still alive.

Regina let out a a sigh of disbelief. "It appears this king is an even crueler ruler than I was."

"No! Not at all," Evie defended. "Ben's dad is actually really kind and understanding. He was probably just... too blissfully ignorant to realize what was going on over on the Isle and not expecting that parents would-" Evie stopped mid-sentence.

"Parents would what?" Regina asked, her attention being grabbed.

"You guys almost done?" Emma asked, coming over to the pair, interrupting their conversation, causing Evie to give an internal sigh of relief.

"Yes," Regina exclaimed, remembering the reason they had come in the first place. She had finished the potion during her conversation with Evie.

She carefully took the vial of the pale blue liquid and dipped a drop on the top of the lighter which immediately ignited in a very small, almost invisible flame. "The closer we get to the owner, the brighter the flame will glow."

"Let's go," Regina said, grabbing the attention of everyone in the vault. "I can only assume that the longer we leave these three villain kids unaccounted for, the more property damage I'm going to have to deal with later."

———————————————

The large group was trekking for about an hour, turning various directions to see where the flame would glow brighter.

They had left the cemetery, much to Celia's disappointment, claiming it was her 'happy place', raising much concern from the adults.

They finally made it to a point where the flame appeared to approach its brightest.

Regina's eyes widened when she realized where they were heading.

"It's the Merry Men's camp," she said.

(A/N): Did I mention that Robin Sr. is alive in this story and he and Regina are engaged? 😁 SURPRISE!

They picked up their pace a bit until they heard the distant sound of shouting.

Everyone sighed as they ran to the camp to find absolute chaos.

Uma was pointing one of the camp's crossbow's at Friar Tuck's back as she was barking out demands.

CJ was yelling out threats as she held her sword against Will Scarlet's throat.

Freddie was holding a large torch over one of the tents, daring to burn the whole forest to the ground should anyone make a wrong move.

The Merry Men has their crossbows up in a panic as Robin was shouting as he had his hands up in surrender, trying to diffuse the situation and reason with the three teenage girls to reassure them that they meant them no harm. He was trying to appear non-threatening, but it was difficult to stay calm when his men's lives on the line, and not to mention he would never hurt three children.

Killian sighed as his eyes caught the blonde haired girl who couldn't be past her mid-teens, who had a blade pressed against the Knave of Hearts' throat. "Move and your a dead man!" she said to him.

"Yup," Killian sighed and closed his eyes as dropped his head. "Definitely mine."