Once on Instagram III

Ill-Boding Patterns

A/N: ⚠️Okay so this chapter got dark, which I kind of expected given the plot line I decided to go with, but I feel the need to put a trigger warning before this chapter starts even though it's more talked about than shown. So trigger warning for mental/emotional abuse.⚠️

January 1, 2018

Regina knew she must be dreaming because she was in the Prophecy Room and she could not remember how she got there, but there was a young girl who looked vaguely familiar studying one of the prophecies engraved on the wall.

"It's all ruined," she muttered. "They changed the future with one kiss. To think that a single kiss could lead us from the path that was laid. Someone didn't want this if that's all it took." She paused for a moment and brushed her fingers against the wall. "The path was sabotaged. But who would've sabotaged it?"

Regina didn't want to frighten the girl, but this was only a dream, so what was the worst that could happen. "Um, hello?"

The girl didn't jumped. She remained calm as she turned around to face Regina. Regina gasped when she saw the girl's face.

"Hello, Regina Locklsey. It's been quite a long time since we last spoke, hasn't it?"

"You're the Oracle," Regina stated. "Why'd you bring me here?"

"I brought you here to remind you of a prophecy I showed you some time ago now. A prophecy that is now in flux because the path has been changed."

Regina gave the Oracle a weird look.

"It's best if I just show you."

Suddenly, Regina was in Storybrooke instead of the Prophecy Room and the Oracle was gone. Regina was standing in a street, facing a hooded figure. Whoever it was held the Dark One dagger, but there was no name on it. Yet for some reason, Regina believed teh hooded figure was, indeed, the Dark One. And for some reason, Regina knew she couldn't die. Physically, yes, she could die. But if she did, something bad would happen.

Suddenly, she remembered what was going to happen. She was going to attempt to fight this unknown person, and the unknown person would win.

And that was exactly what happened until the final blow. The hooded figure drove Regina's own sword through her stomach, but Regina didn't fall and Regina didn't bleed. She just stood there and though she couldn't see the figure's face, they seemed equally as confused as Regina.

Then the vision began to glitch, as if the Oracle was trying the pull Regina back to the Prophecy Room but the vision wanted Regina to stay there, with a sword in her stomach, for all eternity.

It was only a few seconds before Regina was fully back in the Prophecy Room and she was no longer impaled with a sword.

"What happened?" She asked. "It was different. I didn't die. I was supposed to die."

"Yes, that was what the prophecy said. The path the universe was supposed to take did not have you in it, though I shielded that from even the Seer. However, that is no longer the case as we are beyond the reach of prophecies now. Any prophecies that might have been true before can be changed rather easily now."

Regina took a step closer to the Oracle. "You said something about a kiss. What kind of kiss was so powerful that it took us 'beyond the reach of prophecies'?"

"Grace Hatter and Ella Cinders kissed at midnight on New Year's. Had the future stayed as it was supposed to be, Henry and Ella would have kissed at midnight. But events took place to prevent that and instead, Grace and Ella kissed and took us into the realm of the unexpected, where the Seer and I can be of no help to you now."