CHAPTER 10 - RISE

                                    

                                          
          
                          
|FIVE YEARS AGO, SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA|

                          
It took Zelena a while to process what had just been told to her.
                          
"Listen, despite the fact that this may sound crazy.. we really need your help with this.", the man said, as if replying to her facial expression.
                          
"You're..you're telling me that Robin can open those bloody things?"
                          
"It seems so."
                          
Zelena's confusion was only made worse. "But how is that even possible?! It's not as if there's such a spell anyway."
                          
"It's nothing to do with the spells she can use, it's to do with the origin of her magic. Trust me on this, it may be difficult to believe now but you'll understand the good parts of this some day."
                          
"Some day? Why don't you just tell me now?!", she shouted.
                          
There was a pause, and the silence became deadly. It took a while for him to say anything.
                          
"Look, if you had a chance to save the people you loved would you take it?"
                          
Zelena glared at him.
                          
"Because this is the only way."
                          
|PRESENT DAY, HYPERION HEIGHTS|
                          
The sound of footsteps suddenly approached Detective Weaver, who was at that point in time looking for Tremaine. He knew what she was up to, or at least he suspected it. And despite not knowing who this girl was or what relation she had with any of this, he knew that it wasn't worth letting someone who could potentially break this curse suffer because of her.
                          
But whilst he expected those echoes to come from the high-heeled shoes of Victoria Belfrey, they instead came from someone else.
                          
"Roni, it seems your friends are looking for you."
                          
"Let them look.", she sighed. The idea of some kid's party seemed so pointless at that moment.
                          
"..okay then, but if it's Belfrey you're looking for I don't suggest trying to."
                          
This however, caught her attention. "Why? I'm not here to shame her for coming here if that's what you think."
                          
"Then why are you looking for her?"
                          
"It's complicated. And I'm not looking for her, I know exactly where she is so if you could excuse me."
                          
"Wait.", he responded in an irate tone. "Whatever your problem is with Belfrey now, I can help you."
                          
"No, I'm pretty sure you can't help me with this thank you.", she said before beginning to walk off again.
                          
"Roni, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into."
                          
She paused.
                          
"It's Regina, and I know exactly what I'm getting into."
                          
[a/n: that burn tho]
                          
~
                          
"So, how did you know it was me?", Robin said sincerely. She didn't exactly expect to get caught, or at least caught so quickly, but she knew that she was still prepared to fight back.
                          
"Let's just say that before this curse was cast, I did my own special digging into that realm you come from.", the woman strolled in a circle with her head as high as it can get. She obviously had no shame in what she was doing and that only made Robin more sick of it.
                          
"I've got to say though, I'm actually quite impressed. Of course, the girl born out of some pesky little affair has some sort of magic that can disrupt my curse. I mean, for god's sake, even your birth was the most unnatural thing I've ever heard of.", she continued.
                          
"Be quiet."
                          
Tremaine simply laughed in response. "So, aren't you going to do it? Aren't you going to show me what exactly makes you so special?"
                          
"Do what?"
                          
"The magic, of course."
                          
Robin panicked. She'd never used her magic before, and despite knowing the basic idea of it essentially transporting you to another realm, she didn't know anything else about where it led and what it could do.
                          
"I can't use magic."
                          
Tremaine smiled. "Well they wouldn't have sent you here if you couldn't, would they?"
                          
"I'm not kidding, I don't know how to use my magic!"
                          
"You're serious?", the grown woman suddenly changed her attitude as she sighed. "then what is the use of you here anyway?. I was told you could open some ghastly things."
                          
"What kind of things?", Robin questioned in curiosity. Did this woman know what her powers were? Would she finally find the answer to her question that she'd been looking for.. for what felt like an eternity?
                          
But instead of disclosing it, Tremaine just smiled. She gave that kind of evil smile, the one in which children were bound to hide from behind sofas if they saw it on a television. The smile of a deranged, broken woman seen as nothing but a villain from the outside and she made it look so easy to pull off.
                          
"You know what you are Robin? Useless. Utterly useless. You'll never be able to break my curse – even after I'm dead!" .
                          
Her words echoed across the emptiness around the halls, but that emptiness was soon to get far more grim.
                          
"Miss Belfrey, I don't care what you think. I don't care if you think that I'm just some annoying little piece of this world, of this story, that always makes everything fall apart. As are you, I am human. And I will not break my promise to Lucy. I will break this curse."
                          
And as the significance of the pause heightened, the world around them grew smaller and far more crowded than beforehand. Like the jump before a fall, as she spoke –
                          
"and there's nothing that's going to stop me!"
                          
[A/N: woo! sorry for the delay, but writing this chapter was pretty difficult and when things are difficult I usually end up postponing them till the end of time. Anyway, I'm working on the next wrong right now so stay tuned my dudes.]