#zelena deserves some love

[captainswanfire]

hmm hmm wicked snowing

[ouatsqincorrect]

Do you think the whole fam would go on vacation together? Or a road trip? If so, what role would everybody play on the journey?

I have a few thoughts: Zelena would be the one stir up drama and start arguments during the flight/drive, just for the hell of it.

Regina and Snow are the ones spending loads of time together making dinner for the family every evening whilst on the vacation (it also gives them that extra bonding alone time). That's all I've got right now. How would you categorise the rest of them?

i like to think that, after emma and regina get together and the family starts becoming closer, they spend summers away from storybrooke. they just deserve a break, you know? whether that's going to new york and living there for a couple of months, or traveling around the world, experiencing parts of this realm they've never seen before. storybrooke is home, but it's also stressful as fuck being the people in charge of saving everyone every other day, and regina and rumple have enough money to make any travel plans possible

when they go anywhere in the u.s., they drive. a lifetime of riding horses to get everywhere will make plane rides seem not so fun, so they'll take everyone in a couple of cars and make whatever trek they've decided to venture out on. there are 11 members of this family, so usually, emma, regina, henry, the charming's and baby neal ride on one car. and belle, rumple, gideon, zelena, and robyn ride in another one. (although, when they live in new york for the summer, they take more than two cars just so they don't have to drive each other every where or use taxis--another thing none of them, besides emma) have really gotten around to

but when they go to places overseas, obviously, they have to ride on a plane. and you're absolutely right, no matter how they travel, zelena is always the one causing trouble. it's why regina forces her to ride with belle and rumple because she drove regina crazy the one time she was allowed to be in the same vehicle as her for a more than five hour long drive (belle says having zelena ride with them is like having a third child in the backseat)

and yeah, regina and snow are usually in charge of dinner. emma and david are usually on breakfast duty. belle and rumple figure out lunch, and regina and snow do dinner (zelena's useless--love her sm but this woman is more focused on causing chaos than figuring out this family's meal plan)

traveling with the rest of the family is super important to belle, because she's always wanted to see the world, you know? and now she gets to see it with the people she loves most. regina and her are usually the ones who plan out the day, like which museums they go to, what sights to see, and the two of them definitely geek out the most when going to art exhibits

rumple isn't the biggest fan of traveling, but he finds he actually does enjoy it when it's with the whole family. belle reminds him too that he spent so long trying to come to this world, he might as well explore it a bit. he also loves the museums, he's just quieter about it. david, zelena, and him end up playing card games to pass the time when they're not doing anything

henry finds movies at nearby theaters that they can all go see and emma and regina make sure to take him to video game museums and arcades so he gets to have some fun doing things he loves as well (they also love video games. this whole family is actually so nerdy but--)

they collect magnets from every city they go to, and they put them on the fridge at mifflin. regina's never been one to allow anything to hang up on her fridge, but when emma gets all excited about the idea of having a little piece from every place they've visited together, regina can't help but allow them to decorate her fridge with magnets

also, regina is still mayor, and she still takes care of business in storybrooke. they all do. they communicate with everyone back in storybrooke regularly because even if the job gets tiring, they still want to ensure their town and the people in it stay safe, but it's really fucking nice to leave their everyday live's behind for a little bit and just breathe, get a break, and spend some time together that's away from the weight of being storybrooke's personal heroes

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Season 3 Rewatch Drabbles: 3x16 It's not Easy Being Green

Note: I don't know who created the above gif. If you're the creator, reach out to me, and I'll add an attribution.

Summary:  A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my    rewatch of season 3 of Once Upon a Time.  There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season.  Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an emphasis on Captain Swan’s epic love story.

Word Count: 649

Other Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) (28)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Emotions swirled within her that evening as she heard the knock at her door at the B&B and opened to find her son and Killian–windswept, smiling, excited–standing before her.  So many emotions, she wondered how they could all exist within one person and not tear her apart.

Grief over Neal’s death, anger over the Zelena for causing it, frustration that they’d survived the recent encounter but still been thoroughly trounced, relief that her son at least was safe and happy, something like butterflies at the very sight of Killian, guilt that she might, possibly, perhaps, in some small way feel….something…for him.  Not love of course!  Couldn’t be that, but…something.  But yes guilt that she could feel anything for someone else when Neal had just died, anger at Neal for his bull-headed stupidity in getting himself killed.

Yes, all of that, but above all, an overwhelming desire to run.  A part of her deep inside knew things were more complicated now, that she couldn’t just run back to New York, to the good life she’d thought she had, and forget about all of this–Storybrooke, magic, being the savior, her family, Henry’s family. Killian.  But the fact that she knew that was the case didn’t make the desire lessen.

Why, why, why couldn’t she just have an ordinary life?  A peaceful one?  One where she didn’t have to worry about some sadistic green witch turning her son into a flying monkey?  One where she could have an ordinary job (albeit one with more than a little danger and unpredictability)?  One where she could have a perfectly ordinary (even if kind of boring) man to love?

He was lying to you.  He was really just another one of Zelena’s flying monkeys, the honest part of her that she could never completely drown out pointed out helpfully.

And there it was.  Even her happy, ordinary life was an illusion.  But she’d built a happy, normal life for herself and Henry.  She could do it again, and she could put all of this behind her.

At least so she told herself when she was alone, when Killian wasn’t standing in front of her looking at her like that–like he knew her, really knew her to her core and loved her anyway.  It was terrifying.

“How did the queen fare against the witch?” Killian asked as soon as Henry disappeared into their room.

“She survived, but the rest is definitely more than a doorway conversation,” she said a little dismissively.  But Killian deserved more than that.  He deserved at least a little gratitude.  “Thanks for taking him.”

Killian smiled wistfully.  “There’s more Bae in your boy than you realize,” he said sadly.  

She could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice.  It was easy to forget–especially after the idiots the two of them made of themselves over her in Neverland, but Killian cared for Neal too, mourned him too. She prepared to say something comforting, something to let him know she understood and was there for him like he’d been there for her, but then he continued and touched on the heart of the issue.

“He needs to know about his father, Emma,” he said gently but firmly. “You can’t just take him back to New York when this is over and pretend like none of this is real.”

The fear, guilt and need to run bubbled up again, and she knew she couldn’t deal with this any more tonight. 

And so she ran.  Rather than answer, she smiled sadly, said good night and disappeared into her room.  One day, probably one day soon, she’d need to confront the truth of what he’d said, but that day was not today.  Today she just needed to shut him out, listen to her son gush about the fun he’d had with Killian, and pretend like normal was still possible.

NEXT CHAPTER->

[victoriously-wicked]

ROBIN HOOD S5 RANT

Would you consider me mentally unstable if I told you that during my first watch of OUAT, I cried for 30 minutes straight after watching Robin Hood get killed?

Y-You would?

*coughs* well then, it’s a good thing I definitely didn’t do that . . . 😳

. . . okay maybe I did, BUT in all fairness, while I was of course crying because Robin was dead, a large part was over the fact that Regina’s happiness was once again stripped away from her, AND FOR WHAT REASON?!

I mean c’mon, she had redeemed herself countless times up until this point, I’d say she’d more than earned it. And honestly, Robin made her SO much better, he was one of the best things that ever happened to her and yet, look at how his story ended.

He did not deserve this at all.

Seriously, who was Robin’s living affecting? nobody.

Hell, the reason he died was because he threw himself infront of Regina, saving her from dying at Hades’ hand. And you’re telling me that’s NOT someone who deserves to be revived from the underworld?!

(yes I know Hades said the crystal that killed Robin blinked him from existence, but for some reason a part of me thinks Hades was bluffing, just to screw with Regina even more. There has to be some world where Robin’s soul is currently at. And in my mind, Robin’s at peace in this other world and watching over the Swan-Mills-Charming-Stilskin Squad and their adventures while also just waiting for the day that Regina, Henry, Roland, Nobin and the others will eventually join him.)

What makes his death a hundred times worse is that, like Regina said to Emma, it’s not fair that Hook got to come back from the dead, but Robin didn’t.

Look at it this way, before their redemptions, Hook was a pirate that would sail the seas, pillaging and killing hundreds of people with zero remorse, but Robin? He was just a common pickpocket. Not trying to hate on Killian because he did end up redeeming himself after coming to Storybrooke, but looking at it from the angle of Robin and Hook's wrongdoings, Killian seems to deserve a fate of death more than Robin. I feel like if anything, Robin has probably only killed one or two people ever, and it was most likely in self defence or something.

Oh, and another thing- Hook mentions that he was revived as a reward for helping defeat Hades. Uhhhh . . .

. . . WHAT THE HELL WAS ROBIN DOING WITH THE GROUP IN THE UNDERWORLD THEN? WHAT, HE JUST TAGGED ALONG FOR THE FUN OF IT? NO, HE HELPED THE SQUAD DEFEAT HADES.

And he helped just as much as Hook did, even more so, in my opinion. If Robin hadn’t sacrificed himself, Regina wouldn’t have had the time to knock the crystal away from Hades. And if Regina hadn't knocked it away from Hades then Zelena wouldn’t have been able to grab it and use it to kill him. Hook, he got the missing book pages to Emma, who was outside the building when Zelena killed Hades. Even if the pages hadn’t reached Emma, Robin and Regina would’ve still been in the office with Hades and the crystal. But, I’ll give Killian credit; if he hadn’t gotten the pages to Emma, she wouldn’t have tried breaking the protection spell on the building, and then Robin and Regina probably wouldn’t have had a diversion to sneak in the office.

Just another little note, I HATE how they gloss over the funeral and his death in general. I don’t feel as though everybody’s reaction to it were really touched upon in the following episodes.

All in all, I’m just so upset at how badly they screwed up this epic couple and storyline. Robin didn’t deserve to die. Regina didn’t deserve to watch another True Love die in her arms.

They both deserved better.

Sorry for the rant, I’m just REALLY passionate about this topic

[daggzandarrowsnew]

Let’s go on Dreaming

Every time I listen to the song So Close and think of the scene it is from in Enchanted, I think of Outlaw Queen during that bloody painful Frozen arc and I HAVE to write something.

So we’ll pretend that Marian was really Marian and after she gave her blessing to Regina, nothing else happened in the town of Storybrooke. There was no Zelena issue to resolve but our Regina wasn’t quick to forgive Robin for things that happened during that time.

I’ve left descriptions of clothing etc. out of it purposefully. When I’m reading a fic, I usually like to visualise some of my favourite characters looks and just go with that so when descriptions come into it, it either muddles my brain or I just ignore them 🙈 that is only me though! If you prefer descriptions, let me know and I will include them in the future.

—————————

“I’m fine right here, sweetheart,” Regina smiled at Henry. Waving him away when he attempted to lead her to the table that Emma and her parents were sitting at. “Go have some fun.”

She had only agreed to come because Henry had refused to go without her.

If there was one thing Snow White loved, it was a victory party. She almost found herself wondering how many had been thrown over the years she’d attempted to kill the girl but decided not to take herself down that path tonight. They were in an extremely healthy place now. They’d never be the young princess and her kindhearted rescuer again, too much had happened. But they’d become something of a family once more.

She smiled over at the woman in question, shaking her head when Snow frowned at her resistance to join them.

Almost subconsciously, her eyes drifted to where Robin stood with his back to her and his eyes trained on his whiskey glass at the bar. When she looked back to Snow, she found sympathy there but no pity and for that, she was grateful.

She and Robin hadn’t spoken much since Marian had given her blessing. Regina hadn’t seen much point in it. They’d missed their time many years ago in a land far different than this one and they’d been fools to think otherwise. She’d been the biggest fool of all.

Darkness hadn’t yet touched her heart when she’d first laid eyes on him in that tavern. Sure, she’d had the first suggestions of darkness shrouding her thoughts but her heart had still been pure, much like Robin’s was. But now…she was the furthest thing she could have been to what he deserved. How she’d ever believed it could work was ridiculous. Of course he’d choose another over her. Of course he would.

It was a deep ache that threatened to steal her breath entirely every time she allowed herself to think too much into it. Tonight wasn’t about that though. Tonight was about spending time with her son and the people he loved and who loved him, even if they didn’t all love or even like her. So she took a deep breath and swallowed against the lump in her throat. She’d weathered the storm before, she would do so again with the help of Henry this time to keep her on the right path. On the only path she wanted to be on.

When a glass was placed in front of her, amber liquid swirling within, she took a deep breath, readying herself to look into shining blue eyes and refuse the offer of a drink only to release it swiftly and in no way subtly when she found Granny to be standing before her.

“Knock it back quick, girl.”

Regina frowned up at the woman before realising how she was standing right in front of her, her bulking frame hiding Regina from view of any who may be looking over. She smiled gratefully before picking up the glass and tipping the whiskey into her mouth, swallowing like she was a dying woman and this was the elixir of life. “Thank you,” she coughed lightly, placing the glass in Granny’s hand.

“Atta girl.”

And with nothing more than a comforting squeeze of her hand around Regina’s, she was moving off towards the bar once more.

——————

A short while later, Regina found another glass in front of her. This one easily identifiable by the smell that reached her instantly. Tequila.

“Miss Swan, I’m-“

“You may look fine, Regina,” Emma interrupted as she lowered herself into the booth opposite her, her own shot glass in her hand, “but I know I’d prefer a friend in this situation.”

Robin had since moved from his place at the bar to sit beside his (now) ex-wife and son. Their gazes had met a couple of times, holding only for one painful instant before she was looking anywhere else but at him despite the feeling of those eyes still on her.

“It’s been a hard few weeks for everyone,” she continued, her fingernails tapping at the glass in her hand now resting on the table in front of her. And Regina blinked.

Though she’d initiated the search that had helped stop Emma from relinquishing her powers - a ridiculous notion that the Charmings had somehow entertained for a terrifying moment - she’d been too wrapped up in her own issues with Robin to remind Emma that magic was in the very fabric of her being. So she nodded and lifted the shot glass in front of her, smiling when Emma mirrored her and knocked them together with a satisfying clink before they were sinking the tequila without so much as a grimace.

Emma’s eyes moved back over to her family and Regina studied her for a moment. Here was a woman who’d finally found everything she wanted - the son she’d been too afraid to keep, the parents she’d always searched for and the love she’d always craved from other partners but never found. Yet, much like Regina, she’d been unable to accept it and had tried to change herself.

Regina shook her head, knowing that she too should be accepting that she was simply enough as she was despite her past but it was so much easier to give advice rather than take it.

“If ever you should need my help with anything, Emma…” she began tentatively, lifting her eyes from the table when the blonde turned her attention back to Regina. “I may not be the most approachable, but I am always here…whenever you need.”

Emma nodded gratefully before chuckling softly to herself and eliciting a frown from Regina. “You may not have been approachable when I first got here, Madame Mayor,” she grinned, able to laugh at their initial rivalry now despite how both were nearly killed numerous times during those first couple of years, “but you’re most definitely not as scary now as you were then.”

Dark eyes flashed with a dangerous humour as a perfectly tweezed brow lifted. “You think I’ve gone soft, Miss Swan?”

“Okay, no,” Emma laughed, lifting herself from the booth. “Let’s leave the Evil Queen in her cage, shall we?”

Regina merely shrugged in response as Emma began backing off with a much easier smile than when she’d first sat down. “The night’s still young.”

“Yes,” Emma nodded, that smile softening as she cocked her head towards where Robin now sat alone, “it is.”

——————

She was on her way back from the bathroom, weaving slowly through those who’d chosen to get up and dance - Henry and Emma among them, she noted with a smile - when small fingers curl around her hand suddenly.

“Dance with me, R’gina!”

“Roland, use your manners,” Marian’s admonishment came instantly as Regina turned to find the two behind her.

“Dance with me please, R’gina!” he amended adorably, Regina’s heart growing two sizes as she crouched to his level with a warm smile.

“By the looks of your rosy cheeks,” she tapped at the side of his face, eliciting a shriek of laughter from him, “I���d say you’d already been dancing.”

He nodded before reasoning, “But I haven’t danced with you yet!”

“You can’t just abandon your mama,” she replied, not wanting to step on Marian’s toes with their checkered past. “Who will she dance with?”

The woman in question laughed easily, shaking her head as she explained, “You’d be doing me a favour,” she raised a hand to her forehead for Roland’s benefit as she added, “I’m all danced out, I’m afraid.”

Roland looked from his mother and back to Regina excitedly as she looked up at Marian with her eyebrows raised in question, asking if the woman really was sure. When she merely smiled wider and nodded, Regina looked back to Roland.

“Well I guess that’s settled then.”

And with that, she hefted the giggling toddler onto her hip and began turning them in circles, revelling in the same excited shrieks this kind of dancing had once pulled from her own son when she’d twirled him around the kitchen as a child.

—————-

She was almost out of breath and quite ready to call it a night. Roland had allowed her a moment of reprieve, running to his mother to ask if she’d been watching their two, three, four different dances (which, of course, she had). She was about to turn and start making her way back towards her table when she felt it. She felt him. Standing behind her.

“May I have this dance, milady?”

Regina turned slowly on the spot, quite sure at least four pairs of eyes were on them already as she finally locked a steady gaze on the man she’d been unable to look at all night.

His smile was so earnest, so full of hope as he stood before her that she found herself automatically nodding despite the lump rising in her throat.

Robin gave her a long moment more to change her mind before he was slowly and tentatively stepping into her space with his hands held up palm outwards.

She shouldn’t, Regina knew she shouldn’t but somehow, her hands lifted of their own accord. One found its way onto his shoulder, curving over the muscle there as she felt him cup her waist, while the other laid gently atop his waiting palm.

There was a moment in which their eyes locked once more. One filled with every single word they’d never been able to say to one another, never been brave enough to voice in these last few heartachingly awful weeks. And then, without any more thought to it (because what needed to be said right now, here in this frozen moment between them) they pulled one another closer and began to move, feeling for the first time in a long time that perhaps things wouldn’t have to be so difficult anymore. Perhaps for once, things could be easy.

Just this once.

[themattress]

THE TOP 5 BEST AND WORST DEEDS OF ONCE UPON A TIME’S MAINSTAY VILLAINS

THE EVIL QUEEN (REGINA): 1. Confronting Tinker Bell - The first wholly altruistic, no-strings-attached deed Regina does in the show’s present-day narrative happens early into Season 3, where she splits from the rest of the “Nevengers” in Neverland in order to confront Tinker Bell, who plans to murder her. Regina risks her own life, fully accepting the fact that she might die and probably deserves to, in order to convince Tinker Bell to help the rest of her group save Henry. And afterwards, she even reconnects with Tinker Bell as a friend, in full honesty. It’s a legit great moment for her.

2. Atonement on the Town Line - In order to stop Peter Pan’s out-of-control Dark Curse from killing everyone, Regina reverses the effects of her original Dark Curse so that it cancels it out. This means that she and everyone else from the Enchanted Forest will return there, and she has to give up Henry, since he and Emma will stay behind and forget everything. She does so gracefully, and even gifts Emma and Henry with good memories of a life where Emma never gave Henry up for adoption. She even accepts that she was a villain and that this painful personal sacrifice is karma for her years of atrocities. Damn it, why couldn’t she have just stayed like this!? Her character regression did no-one any favors, least of all her.

3. Evil vs. Wicked - The writing for it may not have always been the best, but everything that Regina did in Season 3′s second story arc as she and the others struggled against Zelena was totally on the up and up. Splitting Snow White and Charming’s hearts so that the latter could survive, not succumbing to her obsession with Henry and being willing to forge a new type of relationship with him, training Emma in magic, opening herself up to a new romance with Robin Hood, defending Snow from Cora’s wrathful spirit, and ultimately saving the day while also sparing her half-sister’s life in order to give her the same kind of second chance she got....all of that was good and further showed a Regina that was capable of true nobility.

4. Saving “Maid Marian” - Yeah, I know she technically killed Marian in the original timeline. But in the present day, she saved her life three times: first from a snow monster, then from the freezing curse that Ingrid the Snow Queen put her over, and then insisting that Robin Hood take her across the town line when it looked like staying in Storybrooke was making her deathly ill. Being willing to give up the man she loved to save his other love interest is heroic no matter how you slice it. If only it really had been Marian and that last one not a total con...

5. Partaking in Operation Firebird - While this one certainly could have been better, with her taking an active role in confronting her dead victims and helping them move on, I will begrudgingly admit that her signing on to Operation Firebird in the Underworld and being in support of it at all shows some measure of decency, even if somewhat selfishly motivated. -----------

1. The Huntsman - She ripped the man’s heart out, used it to control him which included raping him, and when he finally defied her as Sheriff Graham in Storybrooke, she crushed his heart, murdering him. That she completely got away with this remains a sore spot for many.

2. Razing Villages - Men, women and children were murdered. Families were torn apart. Hearts were ripped out to create new slaves. And why did she do any of this? For the lolz.

3. Wedding Crasher - I don’t mean Snow and Charming’s wedding; no no, I’m talking about the time she encountered a random civilian wedding being held on her lands without her permission and when the groom tried to apologize for this, she ripped his heart out and crushed it. Killing him in front of his friends, family and now widowed bride. What. The. Hell!?

4. The Failsafe - In the case of the curse breaking and her losing her grip on Storybrooke, Regina prepared what amounts to a magical nuke that would wipe the town and its entire population off the face of the Earth. And she was fully ready and willing to use it, only helping to stop it once it was forcibly taken away from her and used in a way that endangered Henry.

5. Casting the Dark Curse - This one was a given. Killing her own father to enact a curse that would upend the lives of countless people and trap them in a never-ending day-to-day cycle of misery where she reigns supreme over them all, just to satisfy a petty grudge? It’s pretty damn heinous. The only thing worse would be enacting a curse that forcibly merged all realms together without their inhabitants’ consent and her getting to reign supreme over the whole magical universe. But no, that would be way too stupid, so I won’t bother considering it.

RUMPELSTILTSKIN (MR. GOLD): 1. His One Phone Call - When Gold is dying from Dreamshade poisoning inflicted by Hook in the middle of Season 2, he calls an amnesiac Belle on the phone and gives her a heartfelt speech about who she really is and what she meant to him, all for the purpose of providing her with comfort and the strength to carry on living a good life in spite of her memory loss.

2. Embracing his Father - In a deadly embrace. When Peter Pan is about to kill his loved ones, Gold makes the ultimate sacrifice, using his enchanted shadow to root his father to the spot while he thrusts the Dark One Dagger in his back. When Pan tries to tempt him to stop with promises of a happy ending, Gold simply replies that he’s a villain and that villains don’t get happy endings, right before literally twisting the knife and obliterating the both of them.

3. Choosing to Forget - When the Rumple of the past forces a time-traveling Emma to reveal that his son Baelfire dies in the future, he is tempted to alter time in order to prevent that from happening even though it could risk worse things occurring. But when Emma pleads with him to respect his son’s heroic sacrifice and not potentially condemn him all over again, Rumple gives in and drinks a memory potion to forget he ever heard anything of the future.

4. Doing the Right Thing - During the Final Battle, Gold is tempted by both his mother Fiona and the embodiment of the Darkness taking Rumple’s shape to do the wrong thing for the sake of power yet again. But finally realizing he can’t bypass the price of magic, Gold refuses to give in, doing the right thing and saving his son Gideon’s heart...and Emma’s life as well.

5. Unlikely Friendships - As Rumple and later as Weaver, he forges a tight bond of friendship with both Alice/Tilly and her father, Wish Realm Hook/Rogers, looking past the latter’s resemblance to his former nemesis. This friendship ultimately leads him to sacrifice his life to save Rogers from Wish Realm Rumple, even risking not reuniting with Belle in the afterlife because he now knows you do right for right’s sake, not for the sake of a reward. ----------- 1. Killing his wife twice - In a fit of entitled rage when he discovers his wife Mliah left him for a pirate, Rumple rips out her heart and crushes it.  Later, he actually reconciles with her in the Underworld as Gold, only to end up betraying her as part of a deal with Hades - throwing her into the River of Lost Souls which erases her individual personhood; basically re-killing her.

2. Abandoning his son - The act that drove Rumple into complete madness: letting go of his son’s hand and allowing him to fall through a portal to another world, all because he never got past childhood trauma and was too scared of the possibility of living without his power. So much pain and suffering followed for so many people, all because of this one cowardly deed.

3. The Sorcerer’s Hat - Everything that Rumple / Gold did in his quest to harness the power of the Sorcerer’s Hat in the first half of Season 4, both past and present, was an example of the great cruelty and selfishness he is capable of. It was particularly bad in the present, where Gold’s recent trauma at the hands of Zelena convinced him all he can ever be is a villain, and as a result there is no line he’s not willing to cross in his pursuit of absolute power.

4. Beauty and the Domestic Abuser - Yeah, from lying to her in his wedding proposal all the way to trying to force her pregnancy to speed up so that he can kidnap her baby, Gold was the definition of an emotionally and psychologically abusive husband to Belle. Then again, given what he did to his first wife, are we really all that surprised? Stopping short of killing Belle hardly lessens the myriad of other ways he harmed her throughout their marriage.

5  The Darkest Dark One - When there was a real chance to destroy the Darkness once and for all, Gold sabotaged it, betraying the heroes and re-absorbing the Darkness that was now fully charged by the souls of all past Dark Ones, becoming the most powerful Dark One ever. And he has no remorse for it, fully accepting it as proof of the kind of selfish man he truly is.

CAPTAIN HOOK (KILLIAN JONES): 1. Neverland - It was Hook that allowed the Nevengers to reach Neverland in order to save Henry by coming back with the magic bean in the Season 2 finale, Hook who provided the ship they sailed upon, Hook who guided them through the terrain he knew well, Hook who saved David’s life, Hook who was responsible for rescuing Neal, and Hook who followed Emma’s lead at all times to see the mission through to its success. He was excellent here.

2. Bringing Emma Home - Trading his beloved Jolly Roger and his career as a pirate for a magic bean, Hook travels to NYC to restore Emma’s memories so that she can return to Storybrooke and save her family, all for a love that he fully accepts may remain unrequited. 

3. Making Amends - Several times, Hook wrongs someone, only to later redeem himself by fixing his mistakes. Aurora, Belle, David, Neal, Ariel, Ursula, Nemo, Liam...the list goes on.

4. Sacrificing his life four times - First in the alternate reality that Isaac creates in order to buy Emma and Henry time to escape, then in Camelot in order to save Snow’s life, then as Dark Hook in order to vanquish the Darkness and save Emma and her family, and finally in the Underworld where he gives up on ever finding a way to return to the land of the living so that Emma can make it out on time. For Emma and her family, Hook will truly do anything.

5. Repairing the Broken Kingdom - In the Underworld, Hook teams up with the man who killed him, King Arthur, in order to help Emma. He shows Arthur his passionate dedication and nobility, making the king rethink how he lived his life. At one point, Hook even saves Arthur from being dragged into the River of Lost Souls. Together, the two of them play an pivotal role in Hades’ downfall, and because of Hook’s influence, King Arthur goes on to become the new ruler of the Underworld who restores all the lost souls and reshapes the whole despair-ridden realm into a place of hope and healing. Understandably, Zeus deems this proof that Hook is a True Hero, and thus restores him to life so that he may reunite with his True Love, Emma. ----------- 1. Taking Ursula’s Song - A meeting with the mermaid Ursula almost reforms Hook during his villainous years, but then in order to spite her father he steals her singing voice, the thing that brought her the most joy. This leads to Ursula finally snapping and becoming a villain.

2. Killing David’s Father - Hook killed David’s father....who was literally about to be killed anyway....so that he wouldn’t tell anyone he robbed a carriage belonging to King George and killed his soldiers...even though a pirate thrives off reputation and should want his crimes to be known. Yeah, I’m not sure what the Hell went on with this one. It was so fucking dumb.

3. Stealing Aurora’s Heart - In order to restore his alliance with Cora, Hook stole Aurora’s heart while she was sleeping then manipulated her into thinking he was on her side by setting her free. It was all a ruse so that he could give Cora her heart to control her with, allowing the two of them to set a trap for Emma, Snow and Mulan. His smug attitude about pulling it off and his vicious taunting of Emma once she fell into the trap only made this evil deed worse.

4. Shooting Belle - Aboard the deck of the Jolly Roger, Belle convinces Gold to spare Hook’s life, and how does he repay her for this? Shooting her in the back so that she falls across the town line, causing her to lose all her memories. To be fair, he did want to die...

5. Pawn of Darkness - When Emma turned Hook into a Dark One against his will and even attempted to control him with the Dagger, he regressed into his old depressed nihilism and became a willing servant to Nimue’s sinister agenda, crushing Merlin’s heart to enact the Dark Curse and, once back in Storybrooke, bringing the souls of Nimue and the other past Dark Ones to the land of the living in order to exact his revenge on both Gold and Emma.

THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST (ZELENA): 1. Aiding Belle - In the Underworld, Belle comes seeking Zelena’s aid when she wants to be put under a Sleeping Curse so that her baby isn’t born in the Underworld where Hades can take it. Zelena gives it to her out of an unexpected feeling of empathy toward the “bookworm”.

2. Killing Hades - After Hades kills Robin Hood, his Olympian Crystal winds up in Zelena’s hands. Defying his urges for her to kill her sister Regina so that they can “have everything”, Zelena stabs Hades with it, disintegrating him and finally putting an end to his reign of terror.

3. Giving Up Her Magic - When the Black Fairy tricks her into imbuing crystals with her magic that can then be used to produce the fairy dust needed to start the Final Battle, Zelena prevents this from happening by giving up her magic altogether. After having lived in her sister’s shadow for so long, she finally was able to do something Regina was never able to.

4. Crash Course - She hits the Black Fairy with a car. That is all.

5. Motherhood - Under the name of Kelly, Zelena ended up becoming a pretty great mother to Robin / Margot, putting her wicked ways behind her and raising her daughter to be a hero. --------- 1. Her Tyranny in Oz - An obvious one. She’s the Wicked Witch of the West. Duh.

2. The Death of Neal - Tricking Neal into signing his own death warrant in order to have Rumple resurrected was a truly nasty deed, one she never shows any kind of remorse for.

3. Caging Rumple - After killing Neal, Zelena used the Dark One Dagger to enslave the newly resurrected Rumple, keeping him locked up in a cage and doing everything she could to make him feel helpless and vulnerable out of pure sadistic spite, while also kind of forcing herself on him. The trauma this caused him directly led to Gold’s relapse into pure villainy.

4. The Maid Marian Switch - Traveling back in time, Zelena kills an unconscious Marina in order to absorb her appearance into a glamour charm, making herself appear to be her. Returning to the present with Emma and Hook, she then willfully kept Robin Hood and Regina apart and eventually getting herself impregnated by Robin....so, essentially, rape.

5. Helping to Create Dark Hook - In Camelot, Zelena betrayed the heroes and teamed up with King Arthur, which led to the scuffle where Arthur fatally wounded Hook, which led to Emma turning him into a Dark One. In Storybrooke, Zelena is the one who made Hook regain the lost memory of having become a Dark One in order to get back at Emma for kidnapping her and planning to kill her. She even takes advantage of the crisis Dark Hook creates to steal sole custody over her baby away from Regina and Robin Hood, who had previously been generous to allow her to even have a share of custody at all. It’s just all so...wicked.

[ladystrallan]

Once Upon a Time season 5A thoughts

I’m rewatching OUAT and I wanted to share some of my opinions on each season!

- The random girl shushing his ominous speech is so funny

- Wow he just poofed into dust

- Omg the end of excalibur is the dagger

- “Mate don’t” idk why but that is funny

- “We need someone wicked” yassss

- Omg the rose

- Wow iconic move to cut her hand off to remove the bracelet

- She is so good at manipulating everyone

- Gaslight gatekeep girlboss

- “Accent’s a bit much no?” Lol rumple

- “Out dwarves, adults only” Regina…

- “Well… you don’t look like a crocodile” why is this episode so funny

- Okay I remember really not liking Arthur and the whole Camelot plot line

- OUAT loves a memory loss plot

- Omg dark emma

- She’s got a cool look

- Not dopey turning into a tree

- OMG WHAT IS THAT THING???

- Hook: Emma look at me this isn’t you

- Of course she can’t dance

- Omg that guy is evil or something

- A demon sent from the underworld… hmmmm I feel like I know a hot guy from there

- I seriously can’t wait for 5b to see my man <3

- Omg Henry and Violet is so cute (I remember liking them together)

- He whips out the ipod lol

- This song is kind of a bop

- Omg she destroyed his village

- I guess there was a Robin fake out death before it actually happened

- Can you make the price like a dollar or something? Or does it have to be of equal value

- “WE’VE BEEN VIOLATED” lol

- “Have you thought about kissing it out?” Omg that’s so funny

- Regina is such a hypocrite

- She has done things just as bad if not worse than what Zelena did and yet she deserves redemption and Zelena doesn’t???

- “I wished him happy just not with my wife” lol

- “What’s that then” “It’s a picture from up inside Zelena” “Woah mate” I’M DYING

- Arthur is giving me Louis from Versailles vibes

- And if you’ve seen my Versailles thoughts, you know how I feel about Louis (I hate him)

- Noooo not on her birthday

- DAVID NO DON’T TRUST HIM

- Omg they kissed

- I mean, if you’re neglecting your wife it’s kinda understandable if she cheats

- “Well, there’s this girl” “Is there indeed?” Loved the delivery Killian

- “Is that your dad?” “No it’s my horse” lol

- That’s sinister, using magic to keep your wife from leaving you

- Arthur is such an asshole omg

- Omg Merida is back

- “I need you to make him brave” wow that’s what her movie is called

- Ooh that’s Merlin

- I’m pretty sure he was talking about Nimue (and she was the first dark one)

- Well that’s a way to meet the dad

- “When this kingdom is attacked by ogres” WHY IS IT ALWAYS OGRES???

- Awwww that’s cute a little date

- “Um hi milady” lol

- Not the friend zone

- This is giving me so much second hand embarrassment

- Taunting rumple with belle is the way to make him brave

- She is his courage… that’s so cute

- Love the arrow in the intro

- Wow I guess no one cares about rumple then

- Slay belle for standing up for him

- NO NOT THE CHIPPED CUP

- Please tell me they can fix it :(

- NOOOOO DON’T KILL BELLE

- I do like the idea of rumple being all heroic for her

- Omg I’m crying this is so sweet

- Zelena and Emma team up??? Iconic

- YASSSS RUMPLE

- “He’s not my sweetheart” I think he is belle ;)

- OMG SLAY RUMPLE

- “You saved me” “Actually I think you saved me” AWWWWWWWW

- “I would change everything for you” screaming

- YASSSSSS RUMPLE PULLING THE SWORD

- I’m a slut for good rumple (or just rumple in general lol)

- I do miss him having magic though

- Why is Zelena so slay all the time?

- The outfits, the acting, the trickery, 10/10

- Emma’s lucky she didn’t get the dark one skin condition

- She just got a bleach job and a new outfit

- Arthur is such a dickhead omg i can’t stand him

- Lol Rumple’s Merlin impression

- Zelena was like switched sides? Time for an outfit change

- Omg she’s going into labour

- Why does every evil person want a baby? How many dark spells require that?

- Omg the house that he picked

- “Did someone scream for a doctor?” Yasssss Dr Whale is back!

- Did he go to the same hair salon as Emma lol

- Yassss mulan is back!

- Mulan and Merida: iconic team up

- RUBY!

- So many characters I love are back this season :)

- OMG IT WAS ARTHUR

- Me anytime I see Arthur: “Dickhead”

- OMG RUMBELLE

- MY HEART

- THEY ARE SO CUTE

- Regina & co are actually so awful to Zelena about this whole baby thing

- Like I get that it’s Robin’s baby but it’s hers too

- And I’m pretty sure being away from the mother is bad for a baby’s development

- Like at least let her visit with supervision

- I guess when you become the dark one you immediately know how to use magic

- Ok I guess they are letting her see her baby

- SHE CAME TO THE WELL

- NOOOOOOOO

- Was not expecting the break up part 2 :(

- Me sobbing

- How is she pregnant in 5b though???

- They must get together by the end of 5a

- Catch me opening the underworld portal so I can see my man <3

- The visual of all the dark ones sitting in the boat together is so funny to me

- It’s giving summer camp vibes

- “The underworld is worse than you could possibly imagine” uhhhh no rumple my true love is there so I think it’s pretty great

- Awwww rumple sending her to see the world

- NOOOOOO RUMPLE IS MARKED

- That’s actually so vile to send her away so she literally CANNOT SEE HER BABY

- Slay move by hook

- Rip (until he gets resurrected)

- Belle didn’t leave!

- THEY’RE KISSING

- YASSSSSSS

- And the baby was conceived ;)

- Rumple being the dark one again, kinda slay

- Kind of bad for his redemption arc though

- “I will always find you” we love a good iconic line

- I am so excited to see Hades!!! Love of my life (and death)

How I feel about the characters this season

Love: RUMPLE (10/10 character development), Belle, Zelena, Dr Whale, Merida

Like: Emma, Hook, Mulan, Ruby, Nimue (idk she’s kinda cool)

Neutral: Snow, David, Merlin, Guinevere, Henry

Dislike: Regina, Robin

Hate: Arthur

Season rating: 6/10

Firstly, I HATE ARTHUR AND I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL HE’S DEAD. I don’t care for the Camelot arc, but I do like dark Emma and Rumple got some really good character development (even though he went back to being the dark one). I also like Merida and it was nice to see Ruby, Dr Whale, and Mulan again. Gets an extra 0.5 for setting up my absolute favourite arc in the show (the underworld)

[japepperony]

See no one talks abt it so I keep it to myself but I have to tell y’all about this.

Once upon a time has been my favorite shown since I was five years old and that’s something that’s never changed. And there’s so many things they’ve missed in the show or they had and did badly with (season 7) and some of it is talked about and some isn’t.

So firstly. Can we please talk about how Regina didn’t love Robin at all. I feel like (as much as I love that show) they’re so based on one thing. “You can only have one truly” and I think that’s utter bullshit. Now listen I know it’s a fictional show. But Regina barely knew shit about him. She just yearned to be loved SOOOO much. She settled for the first person to except her. And it’s the same person, that ignored her dark side. And I’m 100% the kind of person who thinks. You can’t love someone without loving them wholly. And I don’t think he did that. He literally left her the minute his wife got back talking abt some fucking “I made a pack” oh shut up you shit head.

Secondly. I think they had so much potential with Zelena and Emma. And you’re probably like… bitch what? IM TALKING ABOUT FRIENDSHIP! I feel like zelena would definitely make a group chat and name it “coven sisters” with Emma and Regina. I think Emma and Zelena has sooo much in common. They would be really quick friends. And see each other as sisters. And maybe even best friends eventually.

Wtf was that aging shit. The seventh season was so confusing. I mean we got so many characters we DESERVED. But it was so fucking confusing. There’s so many doppelgängers and everyone is DEFINITELY related to everyone. And this is suppose to be a whole other universe but y’all saying when Regina was the evil queen she was with dr.faciler. Idk how to spell homeboy name. All I know. Is they wanted money. And that wasn’t the way to get it.

And lastly Emma is the fucking savior. STOP MAKING HER SUFFER. Im so tired of Regina this regina that. Who’s the main character? WHO IS IT? Also. She wasn’t in the last season. What were you trying to accomplish by NOT putting her in there?! Also the truama she has. The pain she has. Emma has had red in her eye-line from season four to season SEVEN. That girl is in pain. Unspeakable pain. And no one talks about. They say she got her happily ever after but home girl still suffering. Also that girl ain’t love hook. This is not some swanqueen agenda. This is me giving it to you straight. Hook said he HATED her. Even as dark ones. Emma still loved him. And Henry. Rumple still loved Neal. SO MUCH HE CASTED A CURSE FOR HIM. Even as a dark one they still were able to love the ones they love most. And shit LOVE THEM EVEN MORE. That’s how the dagger did it. Show you what you desire and STRIP IT FROM YOU. Hook ain’t love shit. NOTHING. NOT A DAMN THING. I think it was something they fed to themselves. They both desired to be loved. Him not wanting to me alone. And her simply because she’s the product of true love. She thinks she NEEDS it. She HAS to have it. And honestly I think she’s better alone.

Anyways… rant over. It’s 7:24 am. I haven’t been sleep. Goodbye children.

[martianbugsbunny]

Is This Love Persevering? (It Feels More Like The End of the World)—A CaptainCroc Fic

So this is a fic in which Rumple actually gets to attend Bae’s funeral (bc Zelena can just get fricking lost for making it so Rumple didn’t get to do that) (actually she killed Bae, too, so….) (she can just get lost either way). Also it’s CaptainCroc; like most of my fics for this pairing, I’m operating on the base assumption that they were together for some length of time before the curse, and for either heart-sharey reasons or bc Killian still ended up in Neverland or some other ✨magical BS✨ like that, Killian has the canon-typical extended lifespan. (Not quite sure why I explained that part, it seems pretty obvious, but whatever.)

I felt sentimental and I had a couple of sads lying around, so...this is the result. Enjoy seems a bit odd of a word to use, considering the plot? but read on!

There weren’t many people at the gravesite. Emma and Henry were there; Henry at least had as much right to be there as Rumple did, given that Bae was his father, and Emma…Rumple had considered her an irritating obstacle from time to time, but she had loved his son, and for that he liked her. Her parents stood beside her, David’s arm around her shoulders, and Mary Margaret holding one of Emma’s hands and one of Henry’s.

Only one person stood by Rumple. He felt alone, if he was being honest, and despite the warmth of Killian’s hand in his, there was a chill that cut through his bones.

They might all say they were there for Bae, but it was only partially true. The Charmings were there for their daughter and grandson; Emma was there for Henry and he was there for her…Killian was there for Rumple. It hurt that, even after he had tried to die for them (although that in itself was also mostly for Bae), and although it was his child whose body was being lowered into the ground, the Charming clan didn’t seem to consider Rumple in need or deserving of their comfort.

Rumple felt the weariness of his accumulated centuries in every fiber of his body as the coffin finally reached the bottom of the grave. His son was in that damn box, but at the same time he wasn’t, and it was simply too much.

He felt some small twinge of comfort in the fact that Mayor Mills, a queen in their home realm and one of the most important people in Storybrooke, was the one to speak the funeral rites. Bae deserved at least that much.

“Neal Cassidy—Baelfire—regardless of which name we knew him by, he was a good man,” Regina said. Her voice had a note of genuine sorrow in it. “He was the father of my son, for which I will always be grateful to him.” She glanced over at Henry, and Rumple could see the pain that came from imagining that it was her child to be buried. “He died a hero, like his father.”

She paused for a moment of silence. Henry’s sniffles and the rustling of the leaves of a nearby tree were the only sounds in the air.

Regina spoke again before anyone else. “The family is invited to throw in a handful of dirt before the coffin is fully interred.”

Rumple approached the grave first. The coffin had been decorated with flowers; roses from Emma, something small and white from the Charmings, and a single yellow lily from Rumple. (Bae had always loved yellow.) Now, Rumple poured a handful of dark, stony dirt onto the coffin, trickling over the bright petals.

Most of the people in the cemetery weren’t actually Bae’s relatives, but Henry, Killian, and Emma also took their turns at the grave.

Then, just like that, it was over. Mayor Mills left the cemetery first, followed closely by Mary Margaret and David. Emma and Henry stayed until the last of the dirt was heaped into the grave by city workers, and then they were gone too.

Rumple allowed himself to lean against Killian more heavily. He didn’t bother to hold back the tears that had been accumulating throughout the whole ghastly afternoon. “He didn’t deserve that, Killian. He still could’ve had a good life,” Rumple sobbed.

“I believe in an afterlife, love,” Killian said softly. “And I know Bae is having a good one of those.”

“How can he? He died for me. Dying for an evil man isn’t how you get into heaven.”

“His death was a supreme act of love and forgiveness, Rumple. I know he shouldn’t have died so young. I know it’s killing you because it’s killing me and whatever I feel, you’re feeling it times fifty. But I also know that you raised him right, when you had him, and he didn’t step off the good path even though he had a lot of anger. There’s no way our son is going to hell.”

Rumple stared at the patch of fresh earth in front of him, so newly-filled there was no grass. He should plant lilies there, when things warmed up, so Bae would never be without something beautiful. He had earned at least that.

“We should go home now, Rumple. We can come back tomorrow, and every day after that if you like, but you need to rest.”

He didn’t feel tired, just worn, but for once Rumple didn’t argue. He couldn’t bear to leave Bae’s grave, to leave Bae alone, but he also couldn’t stand to be there for another second.

They had only been home for five minutes when someone knocked on the front door. Killian went to answer it, while Rumple poured hot water into two mugs.

Killian re-entered the kitchen with Mary Margaret in tow. “Rumple, Mrs. Charming wanted to talk to you,” Killian said. His attempt at humor, light as it was, didn’t mean a thing to either him or Rumple. It was automatic, but it would be a while before he could really joke or laugh again.

“Some of our friends left food outside our apartment,” Mary Margaret said. “And we were about to start our dinner, when we realized…we had everyone gathered except the person who cared about Neal the most. And we also realized that you could probably use a few friends in your corner right now. Would you like to have dinner with us?”

Part of Rumple wanted to say no, to isolate himself in his bedroom and live alone with his grief. They hadn’t cared before, but Killian had, so he should stay at home with Killian and ignore the Charmings’ collective existence.

That wasn’t what Bae would want. He would want Rumple to be open, because openness was a step away from the dark. How much better would both of their lives have been if Rumple had been the man his son wanted—needed—him to be?

“We have time,” Rumple said, glancing at Killian. There was pride in his eyes, shining out past the heavy surface sorrow. “We’ll come.”

Not too long later, Rumple was seated, only semi-comfortably, on the Charmings’ couch with a mug of chicken soup in his hands. It felt strange to be seated among the heroes, and it felt stranger to know they were sharing a common emotional state.

Henry was upstairs in his room; Mary Margaret mentioned that he had been asleep for a while. Emma sat on one of the stools at the kitchen counter, her head leaned on her hand as she ate her way steadily through a dish of lasagna. Killian and Mary Margaret were at the table, both eating from a dish of ice cream that sat between them.

Which left Rumple sitting next to David.

They weren’t exactly enemies, but David always viewed Rumple as a threat to his family and as a result their interactions were generally tense. Rumple respected that, even if he actually found Mary Margaret to be the more intimidating of them.

Most of the evening passed in silence. Rumple preferred that; he knew what each person would have to say, and it wouldn’t help. Emma, something about how Bae was Henry’s father, and she wasn’t sure what to do for Henry. (After all, that, rather than the way she had loved him, was what would be on her mind.) Mary Margaret would try to say something comforting, but of course it wouldn’t work and then everyone would be *more* down. Killian would tell some story about meeting Bae in Neverland when he was younger that would be funny, or sentimental (maybe both, knowing him) and everyone except Killian and Rumple would feel better. David would probably try to distract them from the subject of Bae entirely, and that would fail, too.

The silence was much better.

And then, in the blink of an eye, it was morning. Rumple found himself curled up against Killian’s side, Killian resting his head on the arm of the couch. And David was on the other end of the couch, Rumple’s feet crossed over his lap and resting on the other arm. Mary Margaret was slumped over the table, a pillow under her face—Rumple suspected Killian had put it there—and Emma was sprawled out across her parents’ bed.

It was far from the perfect life, especially for Rumple. In the perfect life, his son would still be alive.

But having a family, even a makeshift, undefinable family to help get him through his grief…he supposed that might be considered a good life. And maybe in a month or two, he might be well enough to enjoy it.

Knowing he was safe for the time being, he curled closer to Killian and began to sob.

[treatian]

The Chronicles of the Dark One: Domestic Battles

Chapter 30: A Busy Morning

He hated to admit it, but there was a part of him that just loved playing the role of the villain. He loved teaching lessons and giving those who deserved it a taste of their own hardships. He liked the way that his mind worked when he had to be sneaky, liked solving problems that no one else would ever see solved and presenting a final end product, something his clients believed to be chance perfection, all the while knowing exactly what had gone into making it perfect. Putting on an act, giving people a show, becoming a savior in his own way to those who needed it…there was lying; some part of him loved playing the villain.

But there was another part of him, a stronger part of him, he was coming to believe, that was counting down the hours until he could give it all up for good and just be whatever she wanted him to be…this.

The smile that broke over her face as she carried a bag of food out of Granny's, likely two burgers with extra pickles for him, and spotted him took his breath away. It made him smile right back at her as she happily hurried down the stairs to meet him on the sidewalk. And when he presented her with the flowers he'd been hiding behind his back, he beamed at the joy that radiated off of her.

"For me?" she asked, taking the flowers and pressing her nose into the petals.

"Only if you'll have them."

"Always!" she smiled happily before letting him walk her around to the passenger side and holding the door open for her as she got in. She liked this side of him, the romantic hero. And for that smile alone, he'd be all too happy to give up the role of villain just to make her that happy for an eternity.

It was a long way from now to eternity. And so, for now, it was enough to make her happy for the night. To put a smile on her face over and over again and finally fall asleep in one another's arms.

But all magic came with a price. And the cost of spending an evening with her, completely and totally enamored and focused on her alone, was that his mind rebelled. In sleep it refused to let him rest, refused to let him have peace, refused to let him be with her and her alone.

When the images of Zelena and Baelfire overtook his mind and demanded his attention, he shoved her aside to sit up and catch his breath.

He shoved her…

Again!

She'd been right there by his side, and he'd practically tossed her from their bed, from her bed, from-

"It's all right," she'd cooed, her hands moving over his back and shoulders. "Everything is okay…"

But clearly, everything was not okay. It wasn't going to be "okay," not until he had his freedom, a clean heart, and some fucking privacy!

She'd gotten him back to bed, but only for a little while. He'd stayed curled in her arms far more for her benefit than his own. He wanted to show her, to make her see that he hadn't meant to push her way. Everything he was doing now was for her. For them. Which was why he couldn't stay in bed, wide awake as she slept. Not anymore.

Before the sun broke, just as the sky was turning light blue, he pushed himself out of her grasp. Last night had been fun, but there was work to be done.

"What are you doing?" she questioned. She'd slept soundly through his shower, and he'd been hoping to leave her a note to explain the absence, but now that she was up and glancing at the time…

"Going to the shop," he responded, filling his vest over his shirt.

"It's too early. I'm not ready yet, just…come back to bed for another hour or so…we need the sleep."

She needed the sleep. He needed work.

"You don't have to go anywhere," he assured her, taking a seat by her hip and attempting to knot his tie around his neck. Why weren't his fingers working this morning?! "I'll leave you the car so you can leave when you're ready. I'll use magic to get there. I'll be just fine."

But the look on her face, even tired as she was, told him that she strongly rejected that idea. "You weren't 'just fine' a few hours ago."

He froze where he was, tie half knotted, mind and heart still racing. He knew that he wasn't fine. That was why he was up. That was why he wanted to go to the shop. He was meeting Hook this morning, not because he wanted to, hell would have to freeze over for that. But he was meeting Hook because there was a potential solution to truly make him "fine" again. He had an opportunity right at his feet; he couldn't allow it to vanish now.

But he also wasn't ready to confess to her what was really going on yet. She wouldn't understand. Not yet. A few years from now, once things were settled and this was a distant memory, then she'd be upset, but it would be a hurdle they could overcome. Now, it would just be too much on top of what was already too much.

Belle sighed, the sound echoing off the walls in the silence of the quiet morning and his lack of response. He felt her shift in the bed beside him and lift her hands to the tie he'd been struggling with.

"Tinkering is one way to take your mind off of it, Rumple," she muttered, getting it tied properly before smoothing it down his shirt and moving on to button his vest over it. "But talking to me is the way to get rid of it. I can help you. You just have to let me."

He nodded. Not in agreement, simply out of obligation. She knew. Nothing precise, of course. But he'd been foolish to think she wouldn't notice that something was bothering him after Bae had died. She'd noticed it just as he'd noticed something had been bothering her after their honeymoon; something that she had yet to divulge and he hadn't yet dug out of her. They were both carrying secrets and…maybe that wasn't the worst thing!

Marriage didn't mean they couldn't keep secrets. In fact, he believed that sometimes keeping something secret could be the kindest, gentlest thing someone could do for an individual. One day, when all this was out in the open, she'd see that, but for now…

He took her hands in his own and held them tight before bringing them to his mouth to kiss.

"I'm going to take care of it, Belle," he promised. "I'm going to fix it." And before she could question him on what "it" was, he leaned forward to kiss her before telling her he'd see her later that night and leaving the room.

After stepping outside the door to their room, he used his magic to relocate himself to the shop, where he promptly pulled out his cell phone and sent a message to Dove. Last night, Belle had reminded him that she'd been waiting on paperwork for their marriage and to change her name. He'd thought nothing of it since they married, but the fact that she'd brought it up more than once in the last few days…it was important to her, he could tell. And given the fact that he'd now run out of their bedroom for the second time since they'd been married, he owed it to her to make sure that he accomplished that particular goal.

So he left Dove a message telling him to go to city hall. He was on orders to pick up a marriage certificate, to take it to Maurice and Archie for witness signatures before bringing it here. He was also told to inquire about the forms for Belle to legally change her name. Then, from his office at home, he summoned copies of Mr. Gold's will, the titles to the house, the car, the cabin-everything and anything that had meaning and purpose he called to him. Once he was back from dealing with Hook and the Apprentice, he would magically make the changes he should have made long ago to add not just her but Henry as well to his life.

But until then…

He pulled the bristles that he'd found at the cottage out of the safe, feeling the magic still dripping from them. They weren't ideal, at least not in this state, but for what he had in mind, they would do just fine. He spent the rest of the morning fashioning a broom out of magic, one that looked as close to the one that the Dark Ones remembered as he could get it. For a locator spell to work, he had to convince that broom that it belonged to the Apprentice, and for that to work, he needed the bristles to believe it.

He felt Belle's presence finally enter the library as he was attaching them to the broom itself and felt a pang of sadness that he hadn't driven in with her today. Fuck, he was ready to be done with this…with all of it. The sneaking around, the lying, the dagger…with any luck, it wouldn't be much longer. Soon enough, this would all be over, a terrible memory that he and Belle could move on from happily. He was ready to live for real. And with this broom, he was positive he was one step closer.

He grabbed the hat, then read through a few more of the notes Zoso had left behind to make sure that he understood before magically departing for the docks. He went straight for the Jolly Roger but there wasn't a heartbeat to be found on the vessel. Ordinarily, something like that might make him nervous, but that pirate had been so desperate to get his Hook back last night that he couldn't imagine that he'd miss this. So he walked along the dock, keeping his eyes peeled until he saw…there.

Hook was just up ahead, passed out on a picnic bench with an open flask of rum or some other strong drink, he suspected. He noted the cloth over his knuckles as he lay there and smiled. There was something to love about the beauty of self-fulfilling prophecies.

"Good morning, Captain," he said loud enough to shake the pirate awake.

He jumped and startled at the voice but then rubbed his eyes and came to with a groan. He wasn't sure if he was more unhappy to see him or have the sun in his eyes. Either way, he'd be getting what he wanted today. He and every other Dark One who had ever lived...

"Well…I trust you're ready."

He sighed and began to sit up. "I'm ready to pay the price and get this over with."

"Good." With a bit of overdramatic flare, he summoned the broom he'd fashioned from the bristles into his hand.

"What are you gonna do with that?"

"This is gonna help me find an old friend."

He set it on its bristles and forced magic into it, a locator spell, to be precise. But his magic…it reacted as he'd never seen it react to an object before. Instead of hovering in the air slightly and drifting away toward the individual it sensed it belonged to, the bristles of the broom split in two. From its handle, two objects like arms grew out of it, and then…it walked off! It simply left them both standing there.

It's like what he turned the broom into as a child! Nimue hissed in his head. There must be some of Merlin's magic still left in it along with the boy's. It's just reacting to our magic!

He heard himself make a noise of interest at that but didn't waste time. He couldn't waste time theorizing when there was something to be done. The broom was odd and fascinating, and the fact that it walked away from him certainly suggested that the added bristles had done their job in identifying the Apprentice as the owner instead of him, but none of that was the point of this. Finding the Apprentice was the goal.

"After you," he muttered to Hook.

The pirate rose from his seat, swung his jacket over his shoulders and the pair of them followed.

[rainbowgothdisaster]

i wanna make a podcast, even just one episode, where me and my mum watch a review about something we like and talk about what we agreed and disagreed with

bcuz that once upon a time review i watched totally talk about things i disagreed with and completely didn't mention some criticisms me and my mum had

uh anyway regina deserved a romantic relationship or they shouldn't have put everyone but her in a romantic relationship

most everyone elses "true love" relationship was romantic and therefore, bcuz its a disney show in the 2010s, reciprocated and exclusive, but her true love was her son and he got a wife (his true love) and daughter and she was just. there.

everyone she loved romantically died and everyone in her family and friend group either died or got married and/or had a kid.

i mean her niece is an adult, they coulda had her and her sister be a fucking iconic duo but instead zelena goes back to sanfran with her fiance.

mary margret has david, emma has killian, zelena has fucking chad, rumple has belle, and regina has henry who has ella. everyone is kissing someone and regina is just standing next to her son.

literally im glad they were promoting a nonromantic relationship but it doesn't work if its one way. henrys true love isn't regina. everyone else is a two way street except regina.

i mean fuck, her "evil side" that was split from her got a romantic true love. she got a different version of her dead boyfriend. all of reginas boyfriends fucking die.

mum says it shoulda been dr facilier, i just think they shouldn't have killed robin hood. what their two canonical main character lesbians couldn't have two loving parents? one had to have whatever the fuck mother gothels whole deal is and the other had to have her dad die?

[countrymusiclover]

28 - Fight The Green Witch

Part 29

His Golden Princess

@fanficismydrug @misskitty1912-blog @alanaangie24

Everyone is gathered around Storybrooke hoping that Regina will show up and fight through wicked witch who is apparently her sister that she never knew about until now. "This isn't good. For all of you. If my sister isn't here in five minutes I'm going to let the Dark One of his leash." Spinning on my heels I gasped seeing Rumple by her side with his head bent down sadly. "Who'd you wanna kill first, Rumple?"

My sister stepped forward. "He's not kill anyone. If you wanna fight someone, Zelena, fight me."

"Sorry dear, I don't dance with amateurs." Zelena stuck her tongue out not impressed.

My sister got ready to fight wanting to defend our family. "I'm not an amateur. I'm the savior."

"Looks like someone has an inflated sense of self-worth." Zelena looks at Rumple who threw his magic at my sister throwing her backwards into the street.

Bending down to my sister's side I glanced to Rumple rising to my feet. Waving my hand I created a fireball raising it behind my head. Zelena smirked pointing the dagger at me causing Rumple to raise his hand trying to throw me but I throw the fire towards the witch. Rumple tried to choke me but I teleported away back to Zelena trying to grab the blade from her hands. She swiped the knife across my cheek blasting me back with magic. "Anybody else wanna give it a go?" She taunts swinging the dagger in her hands.

Regina's voice broke through the crowd. "I do."

"You still don't realize what you had. You never did. You got everything I ever wanted and you didn't even deserve it. But I'm gonna take it all from you." Zelena jostles Regina away causing her to crash backwards into a blue car.

Regina created a fireball that the witch took out. Zelena lifts her sister up into the air chocking her at the same time. "You can't beat me, little sis. Everything Rumplestiltskin taught you, he taught me, too. But I was the better student." She sends Regina flying through the Clock Tower's window,

Getting to my feet again I glanced to my boyfriend with fear in his brown eyes. Blowing hair out of my hair I charge towards the witch creating my sword but she spun around shoving her hand inside my chest. I gasped sharply dropping my sword at my feet. "Astrid no!" Rumple and my mother gasped through tears.

"I thought that theif had taught you better. Never put your heart in danger." Zelena bared her teeth twisting my heart inside my chest before I saw memories flash through my mind that I don't recognize.

Walking through the woods I sighed coming from Rumple's castle. Neal was with Belle but I couldn't stay there long. It's too painful to think of bringing Rumple back. Foosteps approached where I drew my sword aiming it directly at Robin Hood. "I would be great full I don't lose my head, princess."

"Sorry. I'm jumpy in this new world." Lowering my weapon I put it back in the holder when he sits down beside me on the log.

He reaches up wiping away a tear that has fallen down my cheek. "Can I know what has you so upset my lady?"

"My first and only love...I lost him. He wasn't supposed to die. And when he did...I thought I was going along with him." I sniffed feeling more tears picturing Rumple dying in front of me all over again. "I'm just afraid that if I love again...I'll lose that person again."

Robin rests a hand on my shoulder making me look in his eyes wiping away some more tears. "Well when I lost my wife I felt that fear too. That I would lose someone else close to me. So I put my trust in my men and you can put your trust in me to not lose yourself."

"I don't understand what you mean..." I trailed off shaking my head at the theif.

He dropped to a knee before me causing me to gasp. He revealed something from his pocket that was a ring. "On my honor Princess Astrid Swan. I vow to guard your heart if you'll let me that is."

"Robin, I - I accept." I stuttered out with a smile on my face when he slipped the ring on my left ring finger.

Zelena released me flying away on her broom stick while I gasped for breath. Clutching my hands into fists at the ground my father rushed over resting a hand on my back to see if I was alright. Closing my eyes I still don't understand what she just saw me. I would never move on from Rumple if he had stayed dead. But that's what that memory looked like. Shaking my head my eyes fell to the ring letting my thoughts control my magic. Opening my eyes again I ended up standing directly in front of Robin and his men in his camp in the woods. "Astrid, what's troubling you?" He asked striding up to me closely.

"I don't know...my head is betraying me or something..." Holding up my left hand he saw the ring not understanding what I was saying. "Zelena just showed me this and I have this weird feeling I can't explain."

Robin takes my freehand in his locking eyes with me. "Then don't explain. Some things are done better through action."

Once he spoke those words I crashed my lips onto his. He stumbled a little wrapping his arms around my waist holding me a second before kissing back. Wrapping my arms around his neck I leaned into him enjoying the kiss but he wasn't Rumple. Foosteps approached us so we broke the kiss seeing Regina who bawled her hands into fists at her sides. "You Charming's can't let me have happiness can you!"

Oh snap are Robin and Astrid together in the Enchanted Forest year they don't remember???

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[themarcspector-a]

baybees. brief info under readmore. 

Tagged by: @blissfulalchemist (thank you!🥰) for this picrew. 

tagging: @gothamrains / @grant-steven / @fayelistic / @thelittlestspider / @fabledmoon / @stevienicksrps / @outfromthesea / @blightshored / @lesbiannoir / @pretendsweetly and anyone who wants to do it.

claudiaxunknown - marta blake (biological: she isn’t violent, she’s just like made to be a weapon due to grandma being a little shit) & ford ellison blake (adopted: lmfao ford is my boy. he was essentially some kid who hung around marta a lot, but cloud started using him to get information out of people. and eventually, she met his mom, wanted to fight her, and yeah, his mom was like “take this terror of a child, i do not want him” and cloud was like “this child a gift. i will take care of him.” skfhjsdfsf like it’s in his bio) // opheliaxbruce - natalina w.ayne (biological: gets into trouble, likes a good puzzle. her parents aren’t together because her mom says bruce deserves a swirly in a middle school bathroom. but oh well.) // laylaxjohn - zelena alvarez (adopted: just some kid that had sucky parents that would follow lala around the city. so she basically raised the kid without adopting them. but they’re her kid if anyone asks LOL.) // fordxlara - richard ellison (biological: thinks his mom is so so cool and ford is like “yeah your mom is amazing”) // amadaxlayla - zahara el-fao[u]ly (biological, artificial insemination. me thinks layla carried her because ama is horrified of childbirth. okay but this is the most loved baybee ever because ama is like full of love and i feel like layla would be a great mom. but they both travel a lot so the bab gets to see things all the time.)

[konako]

Ruby Slippers could have been so much better than that. Maybe make the storyline longer, and not cram everything into one fucking episode and calling it done????????????????????

Opinions of what they should have done with it?

Agreed! They could have spread that out!!

Before I go into it: I know making a TV Show is hard. I know actors aren't always available (specially when they were once promised to be made regulars only to be pushed aside, forgotten and forced to find new work somewhere else). I know when you're working with the intellectual property of someone else, you don't have as many liberties as you would have normally, I know a network and its need to make money can get in the way of the script process, the filming, directing, editing. I know, I know, I know.

But in an IDEAL world,

working off the material we had up until season five, I sincerely would have made Red Warrior the ship here.

It made more sense for both characters. It made perfect sense, as the Witch's plan to imprison Ruby and leave a cauldron out with the convenient spell to break her free from the Wolf's body, just waiting for her "pack".

It was a pay-off, closure, an exciting happy ending* for Mulan, who deserved so much better!! And it was a perfect partner introduction for Ruby (meeting your True Love in your artificially aggressive wolf body, and being proven that this True Love can handle herself against a wolf and there's no need to fear the worst in the future, maybe)

[*their story wouldn’t end as they kiss, pfffft. I know better than that!]

I would have moved their story to even earlier in the season. I would have made it the B, C, D whatever parallel storyline there, and I would have given them more than two episodes to develop. Maybe every other episode they would have a single scene together, maybe two, maybe a tiny arc, solving the problem of the day — just so we could get a feel of how they were getting to know each other, learning about each other, connecting and working together.

The jump we got from 5x09 to 5x18 was a lot! (Thankfully, I know fandom can make wonders in that gap!) But I would have liked to actually see some development on screen, to then have the big pay-off of a Sleeping Curse. Yes, still that device. Yes, Mulan would fall into one, maybe a sacrificial move, as Mulan often does. Because we need this last reference to her past with Aurora, we need the closure there, and we need her experience to come into play for this. And Ruby would break it, to keep that sweet parallel to Snowing they had in canon — that I wouldn't change a thing of!! I loved it! Keep all the tiny bits comparing Ruby to Charming and Mulan to Snow. Nicknames, bumpy first meeting, working together, sacrifice, Sleeping Curse, True Love's Kiss and the "I always will". All of that! And sprinkle that in the many episodes they would get, have it happen naturally, slowly, before our eyes but under our noses, until it all comes together and you realize, hey! They're just like Snowing! But GAY! I guess gay people really are like normal people, huh!!!

My first option would have been to make Red Warrior happen. But if we can’t, let's work on Red Kansas.

Same thing. Spread it out. Introduce Dorothy way way waaaaaay earlier. Keep her on the entire season, milk Zelena's angst and redemption struggle using Dorothy as reference of her past. Actually use Dorothy as a character! Introduce her properly, give us more mysterious hints about what happened to her after she went back to Kansas, throw in a flashback or two, show us more of her temperament, of her fighting style, of her relationship to Toto, to Oz, to her duty to the people of it. Flesh her character out. And then, after we get one, two or three solo portions of episodes for her character alone, bring BROTP Red Warrior into the mix.

One episode for their meeting and how they do not work well together. Dorothy at least. Notably. Ruby and Mulan are in perfect synch, but Dorothy doesn't work well in a group and she's trying to learn that. She's rude and blunt and she didn't care to learn their names, so when she yelled at Ruby to watch out for a trap, she chose a nickname. Have Ruby stare at her and question it. Have Dorothy poorly explain, blush of embarrassment visible, that she meant no harm by it, she just forgot her name. Then have Ruby laugh at how genuine she sounds, and have Ruby offer Dorothy a nickname back. Hint at the attraction from Ruby's point of view. End the episode with a sweet moment between the three, resting around a fire, Mulan petting Toto, Dorothy explaining Oz to them, fade that out slowly, let us appreciate what's coming next...

Then on to the next episode. Make them face a minor monster/enemy together. Show them learning to integrate Dorothy in their team, show Ruby protecting Dorothy, slow the moment down, have them gaze into each other's eyes, build that moment, cue the music, close-ups and gasping — then have Dorothy, entirely unused to physical and intimate human contact, pull away harshly, sending Ruby mixed signals. Drag that confusing feeling until the last second of the episode, and show us, the audience only, the truth, that Dorothy is just awkward and she likes Ruby back. Have Mulan give her a knowing look. End the episode.

Finally, have them face Zelena. Things can go as normal from them. A sweet Red Warrior talk about taking a risk and following your heart. Definitely the same Red Snow talk, that was the highlight of the episode for me!! Have Ruby risking it all to save her! Have the same self-doubt and have her exhaust her options, before she realizes she could possibly deliver a True Love's Kiss. And end it with it. Lovely, a new couple for the cast.

NOW, IN AN EVEN BETTER WORLD, we would have been able to see them after that. How they're still working as a Trio in Oz, how Ruby and Dorothy are adapting as a couple. How Ruby is overcoming her traumatic memories of Peter to be fully present for Dorothy, how Dorothy is terribly rusty when it comes to a relationship of any kind. Explore Ruby and Dorothy's love, Dorothy and Mulan's friendship and Mulan and Ruby's friendship.

Keep that Trio, for godsake! Stop introducing new characters and villains that will be used and discarded by the end of the first half of the season! DEVELOP THE UNDERUSED CHARACTERS WE ACTUALLY HAVE GROWN TO LOVE! Mulan! Gay! Ruby! As a wolf! Gay! Dorothy! Gay! Oh my god, the potential there!!! Keep tapping into it, stop worrying about new twists and reveals and bringing recognizable characters!! USE THE GAYS!!!!

[glassheartstonesoul]

rewatching ouat rant season 5 ep 11: IM FUMING LMFAO I HATE WHAT THEYRE DOING TO REGINA WTAH SOMEONE PLEASE GET ROBINS UGLY ASS OFF THE SHOW BCS HE’S RUINING EVERYTHING !! I love regina idk why the writers are making her so fucking selfish she never once thanked emma for FUCKING SACRIFICING HERSELF and turning into the dark one to save regina she never thanked emma for using her dark magic to save ROBINS BLAND FERRET LOOKING ASS and now when emma is about to sacrifice herself for the town (some of them i mean) INCLUDING REGINA regina’s fucking selfish ass doesn’t stop her and she turns down a goodbye dinner at granny’s to go be with ROBINS BORING ASS and to protect roland and zelena’s child instead of spending time with HER OWN FUCKING SON LIKE WTAF REGINA !!??!!!? and she literally shows no affection or thankfulness or basic fucking appreciation towards emma throughout the entire season even after emma did so much to ensure regina’s safety and happiness im so mad rn OH ALSO EMMA SHOULDNT EVEN BE THE ONE SACRIFICING HERSELF WHY THE HELL ISNT RUMPLE DOING ANYTHING like look I love him and all but the guy has nothing to live for atp he has no children no love interest no parents no power and he’s lived longer than all of the people in storybrooke it’s time for him to die he even said he deserves going to hell and being punished so he knows he should die the least he could’ve fucking done was offered to sacrifice himself instead of emma having to do it because she has parents she has a child she has a love interest (sorta) she actually has something to live for he doesn’t ugh

[daggzandarrowsnew]

A New Horizon

Outlaw Queen FF

Not quite canon - set after Zelena’s defeat but OQ hasn’t happened…yet

“Milady.”

Regina turned at the, now familiar, endearment of sorts the thief had adopted for her. With Snow, it was Princess. With Emma, it was Emma. But with Regina, it always seemed to be ‘Milady’ and she found she quite enjoyed it.

Robin nodded to the tumbler he was holding out to her, Amber liquid swirling within and that damn tattoo visible through the glass just as before.

She’d worked hard at keeping her distance from him or, at least, at trying to during the last few weeks of the chaos wrought by her sister. It was strange to think of her as such even after all that Zelena had done but Regina didn’t exactly have an abundance of family to choose from. And though she was now gone, a decision of her own making that Regina couldn’t help but respect in a way, Zelena had left a strange mark on her heart that Regina hadn’t yet been able to work through on her own. Perhaps a visit to Archie was in order at some point soon.

“Thank you,” she replied with a small smile, not at all ignorant to the fact that he was stepping over the same log she sat upon to take his place beside her.

Across the way, a burning bonfire between them, Snow and Charming were engrossed with one another. Arms linked and heads together as they spoke quietly, laughing softly every now and then, Regina felt almost wistful in her longing for that kind of love. It was hypocritical, she knew, for here was a man beside her destined to be her soulmate, the other half of her, and she hadn’t been able to let him in.

“It’s been quite the day,” he smiled, both of their eyes falling to the tent in which their boys had practically collapsed together after a day filled with activity.

Regina nodded with an affectionate hum, lifting her glass to her lips at the same time as Robin. “It certainly has.” And then, because she hasn’t said it yet, “Thank you.”

“No need for thanks,” Robin waved her off as he looked over the place he’d come to call home here in Storybrooke. “It was no trouble.”

But she didn’t mean that. She took the hand not holding his glass - the hand attached to his tattooed wrist - and waited for him to turn those pale eyes on her as she explained, “Thank you for giving me a chance.” Because he had, right from the very beginning, right from that awful year she’d spent away from her son and in the company of everyone she’d ripped from their land to begin with. He’d offered her his help when she’d fallen, had kept her on her toes throughout the plan of their return and had stopped her from succumbing to the pain of losing Henry indefinitely.

If it were anyone else, she’d likely receive a scoff of laughter in return at the notion she even deserved a second chance but, of course, Robin took her words to heart. He took his glass along with her own and carefully placed them on the flat space of log behind him before turning and taking her hands into his own.

Regina’s eyes widened in surprise at being touched so openly and Robin seemed to sense this, apology colouring his expression as he moved to release his gentle grip on her before she was curling her fingers around his own and shaking her head to allow the contact.

“I am not unaware of your past, Milady.” And of course he wanted, his own face had brandished wanted posters beside Snow White’s though Regina’s attention hadn’t been on him during that time. “I too have made some deplorable decisions in my youth due to abuse at the hands of people who were supposed to love and protect me.”

Her heart knocked in her chest at that as tears filled her dark eyes. They’d talked of her mother previously, of her marriage to the King and those dark dark nights she endured with him. She’d poured her heart out to him more than any other in her life and still she’d kept herself away from him because everyone she ever loved had died.

“I am not immune to darkness, I know the temptation it holds…” he brushed his thumbs over her knuckles, taking the breath from her body as he shifted closer to her, their knees knocking slightly. “But I also understand the joy and the peace of living in the light. And, I think, over the last few weeks at the very least, you’ve started to feel that too.” He moved their hands together so that he was now clasping both of hers between his own as he smiled so warmly at her. “I’m not sure if I’ve earned the right to feel this way, Regina but…I find myself filled with pride watching you navigate this new horizon you have found.”

And it was then that she found herself absolutely unable to hold back from him. Whether it was the invisible tie of destiny between them, his heartwarming words or just the look of pure admiration in his eyes, Regina found herself slipping her hands from between his to pull his face towards hers and capture his lips with her own in a kiss that was most certainly overdue and the most perfect she had ever experienced.

Taken from the September Prompts list currently on my page. This is number 2. Horizon

Open to prompts/requests as always