Outlaw Queen Shorts

Somewhere Only We Know

Authors Note:
Prompt fill from tumblr - soulmate heaven au
Thank you everyone who still reads/votes/comments on my writing, it means the world!

For a moment, everything was completely white. Similar to looking out of the window at snow blanketing the ground with blinding brightness from the sun's glare. Regina blinked hard, pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes to rub away the intense light. As she squinted into the distance, she realised she was sitting down, suddenly supported by a ground, where just a second ago there had been nothing.

She pushed herself up as the world came into focus, greens and blues, gravel crunching underfoot, the soft rustle of a breeze.

Where am I? Her first guess was the enchanted forest, after all this time she was back in that wretched land, but...it didn't feel like that. This place had a glow; each step along the path was like nothing she'd felt before. Light. Easy. Suddenly her shoulders were free of every burden she'd ever carried.

Lifting a hand to brush back the hair from her face, she stopped dead in her tracks. Regina held her hand in front of her face, slowly turning it over in the sun. Her skin looked like it had done fifty years ago. No wrinkles, no blemishes which showed tell-tale signs of age, just her hands. The hands used to conjure countless fireballs and rip hundreds of hearts from the chests of, well, anyone. Not that she thought about that so much anymore – the lingering guilt would haunt her for an eternity, she was sure of it, but life carries on, and she knew dwelling on things she couldn't change would not improve her future.

She continued her hands journey to her hair and pulled on the strands, bringing them into view. Shining raven tresses fell through her fingers, and the sight of her shoulder-length locks being back to their rightful colour nearly made her cry. For years now, her hair had been grey. Dull and lifeless, no matter how hard she tried to style it. She was born for dark hair to match her dark eyes. People told her she had aged like fine wine, but looking in the mirror, her reflection longed for the younger woman she'd left behind.

The smile now on her face was beaming, so large she couldn't help but laugh into the air, her voice renewed with depth.

"Regina?"

Her breath was cut short with the sound. Cobwebs decorating the cogs of memory deep in her mind began to fall apart, disintegrating as each wheel slowly jarred itself back into action. That voice. His voice.

No.

She didn't want to turn, didn't want to get her hopes up for something she knew wasn't possible because hope had never done her any good before. But it's a funny thing, hope. It crept up at the least expected times, working its way inside her heart bit by bit until she forgot why she didn't trust it in the first place.

Blood sung in her veins, rushing to her ears to muffle all the sounds around her.

A hand clasped the top of her arm.

"Is it really you?" She was frozen. Unable to speak, unable to move. Her body sparked with electric lights as soon as his fingertips brushed the exposed skin of her bicep. Goosebumps flared along her arms and she shivered, leaning into his touch which traced a line to her fingers. Her tear glossed eyes finally fell shut, and a bead of salty water ran down her face like a single raindrop cascading across a window.

He tugged on her arm, pulling her to face him, the calloused pad of his thumb brushing against her wrist where he clutched it. She kept her eyes to the ground, caught sight of his brown boots scuffed and smattered with dust from the gravel, and her eyes welled again.

"Regina." His voice was so soft, calming and intimate, talking to her like she was the only person worthy of his words.

She lifted her gaze.

Half a lifetime fell away in an instant as brown eyes met ocean blue, sweeping her under and drowning her in memories, in grief she never got to feel, in the overwhelming leap her heart made into her throat.

"Robin," Like a caress, his name slipped from her lips, cautious and whispered for fear this was all some trick of her imagination. So many nights she'd woken up tangled in sheets, her cheeks wet with tears of longing for a man she could only ever reach in her dreams. In recent years, even the dreams had left her.

"It's me," he grinned, "Regina, it's me," his laugh was contagious, and she caught it like wildfire as she launched her arms round his neck; hugging him and hugging him. The strength of his arms looped around her back was enough to make her weep, but tears mingled with laughter as a breeze floated past them and whipped Regina's hair behind her.

Robin placed his hands on her hips, bringing her back down to the ground from her tip-toes before he brought up a hand to rest on her cheek like he always used to. His fingers immediately twined with the dark strands of hair by her temples, as if a magnetic energy was pulling them there, and he looked at her with such love it made her heart full to burst. He stroked a thumb up and down her cheekbone, perusing the planes of her face with a look of longing that had her lifting her hand to run her thumb along his lip. The flesh was soft, warm, and his shuddered exhale of breath heated the air in front of him.

As though the world was moving in slow motion, Regina inclined her neck, feeling a pinch in her stomach as her eyes locked with his. His lips fell to hers, just as she remembered them – better than she remembered them – every movement sending jolts of glorious sensation through her body. He sucked her bottom lip, and she nipped his with her teeth, skimming her tongue over the skin afterwards and running her hands into his hair to tug on.

The fire burning in her gut with passion roared, sending heat to cheeks she knew would now be pink and flushed. Their torsos were pressed tightly together, shirts ruffling and bunching, hands roaming with every languid movement of tongue and lip.

Breaking for air, Regina finally spoke. "Where are we?"

"I'm not entirely sure," He replied, smiling at her with dancing eyes. "I just knew one day you'd get here. I could feel it. From the second I got here, I knew."

"So this is real? It's not just–"

"It's real. I promise." Every fibre in her being believed him. In that moment, she didn't care if she'd wake back up to the crushing reality of being alone. She was here now, and this was true. Regina grasped his hand, their fingers slotting together as easily as matching pieces of a jigsaw. Like not a day had been spent apart.

"Well wherever we are, let's have an adventure."

Robin squeezed her hand before lifting it to his lips and planting a kiss on the back of her knuckles. He nodded and smiled with his tongue poking out between his teeth.

"Lead the way, milday."