Daughter of Darkness || Once Upon a Time

Chapter Sixteen | A One-Way Trip

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|The Throne Room|
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Megaera was sitting on Hades's throne when the god himself stormed in. She glanced up, but made no effort to move.

"GET OUT!" He bellowed.

"No."

"Megaera, GET OUT!"

"Fine, fine," the fury snapped her winged out and flapped them just enough so that she was hovering above the throne. "What's wrong with you?"

"You have failed your mission! James was supposed to defeat David, not lose to him!"

Megaera rolled her eyes. "So I was supposed to teach James to swordfight better? I think you left that bit out."

"If I were you, I would stop talking. You're already nearly on the last straw."

"Please. You can't get rid of me and you know it. That was part of the deal, remember?"

"But I can still expel you to Tartarus."

Megeara tensed at Hades's threat. Knowing she had sent someone to Tartarus was punishment enough, wasn't it? Although, it helped that it had been Robin Hood and not someone else.

Megaera didn't respond. She simply vanished in a cloud of smoke. She had better things to do.

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|Tartarus, Nine Days Later|
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The first thing Regina noticed about Tartarus was that it was dark. If possible, it was darker than the room underneath the library that connected to the Labyrinth. Regina still had her sword in her hand, but it wasn't going to do her much good if she couldn't see anything.

Second, Regina realized she didn't know how long the fall to Tartarus had been. It felt like she had been falling for an eternity, but how long had it actually been? Hopefully not too long because Robin had been down here by himself all that time and from what Regina could already guess, Tartarus wasn't a very fun place.

Regina tightened her grip on her sword and began to walk forward. It wasn't long before a soft, blue, light lightened her vision a little bit. She was sure it was probably a trap, but human instinct was to be able to see, so it was probable Robin had went towards the light (literally, not metaphorically), right?

As Regina got closer to the light, she could tell that it was being emitted by a river. A man was standing in the river underneath branches that hung from a nearby tree. He didn't look very healthy, unlike the river he was standing in and the tree next to him.

"You don't happen to be looking for a man who came through here several day ago, do you?" The man's voice cracked several times when he spoke, but not because he was on the verge of tears. Rather, because he hadn't had any food or water in the past few days. "He said something about dying for the first time in the Underworld and being sent here."

Regina stopped. It had to be Robin, right? She wasn't aware of anyone else dying for the first time in the Underworld, unless it had been David.

"Did he tell you his name?" Regina asked.

"No."

"Do you know which way he went?"

"Why should I tell you?"

Regina walked the three more steps it took her to arrive at the banks of the river. She held the sword out so the point was nearly touching the man's throat. "Because if you don't tell me, I'll run this sword through your neck. You may not die forever, but I bet it won't feel good."