Daughter of Darkness || Once Upon a Time

Chapter Twenty-Two | The Blind Woman

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|Tartarus|
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The next attack came two days later. Regina was looking worse as the days went by, but the only hope was to somehow escape Tartarus, so she kept walking on, occasionally leaning on Robin for support.

Cruella and the other woman cut them off in their path. Regina, who had the sword in her right hand, stepped towards them with the sword raised. "I see you don't have a pet today."

"No, but she has me," the woman with milky white eyes said. "Evil Queen, I remember your scent well."

"Yeah, well no surprises there."

The witch swirled her hands around each other and summoned a ball of purple magic. "Would you like to defeat me again?" She asked. "You have no magic or children to help you, and I have no sight. I think that's a fair fight."

Regina didn't have the energy to argue that it was definitely not a fair fight, and the Blind Witch wouldn't have cared either way. So Regina held her sword up in a defensive position, unsure of what the witch's first move would be.

"Regina, this isn't--"

"Ooooh, I smell thief," the Blind Witch interrupted. She shot a blast of magic at Robin, who had to duck to avoid it. "He has your scent all over him, Evil Queen. Cruella was right; he is your weakness."

That was enough to make Regina lunge at the witch, her sword digging into the witch's shoulder. But the Blind Witch didn't even flinch. She simply lunged back at Regina, who sidestepped out of the way, hoping that she could cause the Blind Witch to lose her balance and fall. No such luck. The witch easily caught herself and blasted magic at Regina. She managed to somehow deflect it off of the sword and Cruella had to duck for cover.

The Blind Witch went for Regina again, this time her sharp nails dug into Regina's bad arm. Luckily, they didn't meet the Hydra wound that still hadn't healed.

"Regina!" Robin called. He attempted to run for her, but the Blind Witch blasted him backwards using her magic before turning back to the Former Evil Queen. Regina swung at the witch with her sword, but the witch just laughed.

"You see, Regina, there's a very big difference between the two of us. It doesn't matter if I die."

Regina tried to make contact with the witch again, but she twirled out of the way and clawed at Regina's right shoulder, making her cry out in pain. The witch cackled and summoned a ball of magic, ready to destroy Regina, but Robin jumped in front of the blast.

"No!" Regina dropped down to where Robin lay. He wasn't breathing and Regina didn't have time to check for a pulse.

And suddenly, Regina couldn't feel her wounds anymore. She felt a surge of adrenaline rush through her body. She stood up and swung her sword at the witch. The battle didn't end until both the Blind Witch and Cruella were running back upstream.

Regina dropped down next to Robin again, the pain she had been feeling earlier now even worse than before. She looked down at Robin, "Wake up," she whispered. "You're supposed to wake up." Regina grabbed his hand and held it in hers. The heat was quickly leaving his body. He couldn't be gone. No. He was supposed to come back. That was the rule, right? If he died in Tartarus, he would come back?

Regina lifted Robin's hand up and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. "I need you to wake up."

After what felt like forever, a soft yellow light emerged from Robin's stomach and wrapped around his body. When it faded a few seconds later, he was still pretty battered, but he was alive. His eyes cracked open and instantly found Regina's. "Regina?"

Regina smiled down at her soulmate before pressing her lips to his. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I couldn't watch you die."

The two were silent for a few moments as Robin's breathing regulated again after his temporary death. Eventually, Robin's voice broke the silence. "Why did you come down here? Really?"

Regina sighed. "I wanted to prove that fate was wrong and that I could have a happy ending."

"Haven't you already done that?"

"I don't know. After the fury took you away, my mother revealed something she had kept a secret for over sixty years, and it made me think that maybe I really couldn't be anything more than a wannabe hero."

"Regina, you're already a hero. I don't care what secrets Cora held back from you--"

"Gold is my dad."

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|The Fields of Asphodel|
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Merlin had begun pacing back and forth and everyone was beginning to get restless. Mulan spent most of her time outside the restaurant, battling dummies Ruby had helped her make. Henry was constantly playing a word game on his phone to get his mind off the fact that Merlin pacing wasn't exactly a good sign about the things that might be happening in Tartarus. Milah hardly ever spent time in the restaurant despite the fact that it was her own. Instead, she spent her time talking to friends she had made while in Asphodel. Neal had left to see if he could get any information about anyone from the Seer, but she seemed to have vanished from the Fields of Asphodel. No one had seen her since she encountered Emma, Mary Margaret, David, and Graham. So he ended up coming back empty handed.

It was the middle of the night when someone knocked on the door. Neal instinctively moved so he was in front of Henry as Mulan stood up and opened the door, her sword in one hand.

She opened it to reveal the Seer. Her hair was a mess and she had several scratches and bruises covering her arms and legs, but before anyone could think of something to say, she spoke.

"He won't make it."

And then she dropped to the ground at Mulan's feet, unconscious.