The Most Resilient Heart.

Widow's Hill.

Finally. I know exactly where this is going. So everyone, don't be afraid of a bad ending... at least, I don't think it's a bad ending. Now, just need to write it all. You know that feeling? :I

He was watching her. She could feel it. But she couldn't admit to herself that she liked it. How much she liked his eyes following her fingers as they threaded through his son's long locks, or staring at her eyes as they would slowly begin to close from the tiredness that suddenly seemed to be coming onto her. And this whole time she felt like looking at him too, but she couldn't give in that easily. He did not deserve her attention. Not after... that.  

It pained him to look at her. It pained him to see her sadness, to see her hurt. But it pained him most of all to know that it was him, him who did this to her. And yet he couldn't take his eyes off her. 

He wasn't watching her anymore. She could feel it. And so she gave in to her unwavering desire to look up at him. He was watching his son with a hint of fear and regret in his eyes. It wasn't an apology, but it was enough for her to know he was sorry. She only managed to watch him for a few seconds, lips tingling and eyes drooping, before he looked up as well and caught her eyes in his before she could look away. 

No words were spoken, but they both felt as if a million promises could be heard in the whispers of the cold wind. Promises. Of things they wanted to hear. Of things they knew they never would. 

She was looking at him in a way that annoyed the Hell out of him. He couldn't resist. And it was all because of the way she looked at him at that very moment. She had looked at him like that before, but being so close, it was impossible to resist. He leant in slowly and kissed her, softly holding her upper lip between his own for a bit longer than he should have. But it was a type of sign for him; the longer he held on, the longer it would last. 

Regina had waited long enough, he wasn't going to keep kissing her. She took over. And in doing so, she felt his smile against her lips bringing one up to her own. 

But she suddenly stopped. And her eyes flung open. Robin's opened soon after but closed again in a matter of seconds. Before they closer though, before he lost conciousness, he saw that look in her eyes; that dead look. 

Regina couldn't control her body anymore. Her eyes remained open and she could feel everything; the cold wind against her bare arms and legs. She could see her lover, she saw him lose conciousness and she saw his head flop against the tree trunk as if he were dead. It scared her, but no scream could escape. She couldn't move, she couldn't speak. Her body suddenly lifted itself up and made her feel even more paralysed as she watched, out of the corner of her eye, the head on her lap fall frightingly loudly onto the large roots potruding out of the forest floor. The sound seemed to echo in her ears as her legs began to move. They were carrying her somewhere. Her whole body seemed to be detached from herself. And all she could do was look ahead out of those eyes she knew seemed dead to anybody else that were to look upon her.

***

Roland awoke. With a BANG. His head throbbed from the sudden bump but the confusion wasn't enough to make him forget about Regina.

"Gina?" His small voice seemed lost in the forest. Lost and alone. "Papa?" 

His vision cleared and he saw his father there, out cold. He suddenly felt very awake. Awake and powerful. He knew what did this. This small boy knew immediately what had happened, at least what it dealt with. Magic. He didn't know how he knew, but then again, a boy of his age doesn't think how, he only thinks what. And maybe a bit of where. 

He gets up and looks around. Regina is obviously not there and obviously didn't want to go because he wouldn't have let him fall like that. So, importantly and decisively, he trudges out of the clearing and follows Regina's footprint trail.

***

Panting, he runs into another clearing. The wind was stronger here and there was a faint sea odour. He looks ahead. He does see Regina, but he wishes that he weren't able to. The forest finished here. It definitely finished here. He watched, frozen to the spot, as Regina walked slowly and uncontrollably towards the end of the clearing. Towards the cliff-edge. She walked, towards a hundred-metres above furious waves and unearthy rocks, in a slow and mesmerising rhythm. 

***

"Gina! Gina! REGINA!" The boy's voice just got carried away in the wind. No one could hear him and certainly not Regina. The boy looks around desperately. No one. Nothing. 

There are two people on that hill, but the boy knows all the same that he is still alone. So he starts to run. The wind pushes him back but the determined little kid can't let himself give up. He runs and runs towards the walking woman getting closer and closer to the cliff edge. He continues to scream and shout her name, knowing that nothing and no one will hear him, but he does it all the same. They were getting closer to the edge but he had almost caught up to her. He was almost there. An average arms length away. He could touch her now. He reached out with his arm to grab her, pull her back, save her...

Too late. She fell. Stepped off the cliff and fell. Roland's breath got caught in his throat as he stop suddenly. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't think, he could only see. He could only see that amazing woman that he had seemed to find so easy to love. 

Regina knew herself. She knew that she loved easily. She believed it was a flaw to fall in love so quickly, not knowing what you're getting yourself into, but the thing she didn't realise is that every person she seemed to fall so quickly in love with, fell even more in love with her.  For here was this boy, watching her fall to her death, scared out of his mind. If only she were concious of the love this boy had for her and of how quickly he had learned to love her.

Of course, Regina was petrified. She could see those jagged rocks threatening her as she fell closer and closer, but she couldn't move, she couldn't do anything but watch her death approach. 

Roland's eyes shut, tightly. His hands fling out in front and if his voice were heard in the wind, you would hear a young boy's shout, a young boy's chant: "Magic, come on! Please! Magic. Magic. MAGIC!" His eyes flung open and he gasped. He'd done it. A light flew from his fingertips and down to the falling woman.

Regina felt her body being pulled up and she knew immediately who it had been.

Suddenly she had control of herself again and she could finally take in a breath of sea air and sigh as she fell hard onto the edge of the cliff. She lay there, too tired to move. She saw the small face of a boy above her, grinning down. Kneeling beside her, he gave her a hug and then sat up, again with that beaming smile. She smiled weakly back.

"You did it."

His grin widened. "I believe a small thank you would suffice." A son reciting his own father's lines. It should have hurt Regina to think of the real first time she had met his father but it only made her want to smile more. Her face muscles wouldn't let her so she just had to keep the wince. 

"Thank you." She whispers, wishing she had said the same thing to his father. 

The boy helps her up a little and she sits up against his small body. They now face the forest and she gasps. There a far away figure stands. At the edge of the forest. She stares at him. And he stares at her. There may have been a little bit of understanding in that exchange of stares but Regina still couldn't stand the sight of him. She tries to stand up and manages it after a while. It took her as long to stand as it took the far away figure to reach them, walking.

He doesn't say anything. He just nods and smiles at his son and throws Regina's arm around his shoulder. She doesn't protest, but she wishes she had. For now she can feel his strong shoulder beneath her figertips and his muscular arm around her waist. And then, for the first time in longer than she can remember, Regina faints. 

Ok... I may or may not have put in a bit of Dark Shadows... but I guess that's a fairytale/ folktale as well, right? And I think this may be the first chapter of this story that I haven't left on a What-happens-next?. But I guess, I already wrote the climax halfway through...

... Into My Arms...

CC;)