Daughter of Darkness || Once Upon a Time

Chapter Twenty-Five | Running Out of Time

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|Tartarus|
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Regina wasn't even surprised when the next attack happened. She simply sighed and turned around, expecting to see either Cruella or some friend she had hired to try and kill the two of them. Robin raised the sword and the man stepped out of the shadows. "So the rumors are true?"

The man's face was a mess of scars, as if someone had tried to slice him to pieces. He wore a suit as nicely pressed as Gold's were, but it was a deep navy blue instead of Gold's normal black or dark grey.

"You two really are here," he continued. "Wonderful. Now I can succeed where Cruella and her pets have failed."

Regina stepped forward. "So she didn't hire you to do her dirty work?"

"Do I look," the man raised a hand and Regina felt the telltale sign of dark magic close around her neck and cut off her ability to breathe, "like someone who was hired to do the dirty work for a self-proclaimed queen?"

Robin charged towards the man, fueled by his anger about him hurting Regina. Regina dropped to the ground as the man changed his focus to Robin. He thrust his hand out and a wave of magic hit Robin, causing him to freeze in place. "I control all of time; you cannot stop me!"

Regina couldn't even sit up before a blast of magic knocked her back to the banks of the river. Robin unfroze and the man knocked him down with another blast of his magic. "I am Kronos, titan of time, and you are purely mortals!"

When Kronos said his name aloud, Regina thought she saw the river's glow brighten with a golden tint, but it faded quickly and she decided it might have just been a hallucination. She tried to stand up, but Kronos froze her and used his magic to knock Regina backwards into the river.

"REGINA!" Robin broke free of Kronos' time-lock, but only  for long enough to make it halfway to the river.

When Regina was fully submerged in the river, everything seemed to slow down. She tried to open her eyes, but all she could see in either direction was water and sand a few feet below her. After the shock of the cold water passed, Regina felt like all of her wounds were reopening and being soaked in salt water, even the Hydra bite that was still covered by Robin's scarf. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the pain and think of something else. She heard Robin call out her name, but there was no way she could reply.

Regina felt herself slowly sinking to the bottom of the river and she was sure she would drown soon enough. Her hand brushed the sand at the bottom and she felt something hard and cold that was definitely not sand. It felt like a sword hilt, but much longer. Regina grabbed hold of it and yanked it out of the sand, using what strength she had left. She blinked her eyes open just enough to see that she was holding a scythe with a golden glow surrounding it. Her lungs felt about ready to burst open, but Regina managed to force her way back to the surface of the water, scythe in hand.

Once her head broke the surface and she could breathe again, the pain from Regina's wounds subsided and she was able to swim back to shore much easier. Robin was frozen and Kronos seemed to be in the middle of talking to him when Regina climbed out of the river, holding the scythe. Kronos looked over at her and his eyes widened when he saw the weapon.

"No..." Kronos attempted to knock Regina back, but the scythe seemed to create a forcefield around her that absorbed the magic. Regina continued walking towards Kronos, careful to not let him see how hard it was for her to walk without stumbling. Kronos backed away a few steps before regaining his posture. "I... I didn't mean it..."

"Mean what?" Regina was surprised at how steady her voice was considering the amount of effort it took to even speak at all. "You didn't mean to try to drown me? You didn't mean to try to kill Robin and I?"

"Regina..."

Regina was ready to swing the scythe at Kronos when he said something that made her stop.

"You're running out of time, you  know."

"Running out of time to do what?" Regina demanded.

"You're simply running out of time. I know time, Regina, and you don't have much of it left."

"As long as I get Robin out of here alive, I don't care what happens to me," Regina stepped closer to Kronos.

"I'm sorry," was all he said before he vanished. Robin unfroze and Regina dropped the scythe and rushed over to him. As soon as the scythe was out of her hand, she felt weaker and Robin caught her as she approached him so she could keep her balance.

"What happened?"

"The scythe was buried at the bottom of the river," Regina managed.

"Regina, when you were holding it...your eyes were glowing gold."

"Th-they were?"

Robin nodded. "Yes." Regina grasped Robin's arm tighter in an effort to stay standing upright and Robin shifted how he was supporting her. "Do you need to sit down?"

Regina shook her head. "No. We need to keep moving."

"Regina, you need to sit down," Robin said more forcefully. "Five minutes is all I'm asking, okay?"

Regina reluctantly gave in. "Okay."

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|The Fields of Asphodel|
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Merlin was pacing outside the entrance of the Seven Seas when the Seer emerged from the restaurant. Fortunately, it was late, so everyone else was still inside.

"Did you see it to?" She asked in a barely audible whisper.

"Yes," Merlin answered. "Let us hope it comes after Tartarus or they may never return to their home in the Overworld."

The Seer nodded, "Yes. I cannot see much, do you know what will happen to her?"

"I'm afraid not. But as you told Henry and Neal, it is nothing good. For their sake, we must keep this between ourselves. They are her family and we must protect her from these prophecies."

"I agree."

"Nimue has also agreed to not say anything and the bits that David, Ruby, and Mulan know won't hurt anyone."

"Then we all must hope for the best," the Seer concluded.

"Yes indeed," Merlin agreed.