Work Text:
#01 – Ring
Despite the erratic hammering of her heart, she presents the ring with surprisingly steady hands; wetting her lips as she prepares to ask the question that’s been burning a hole through her tongue for what feels like forever, “Regina,” she begins, her voice as steady as her hands, “Will you marry me?”
#02 – Hero
Ruby’s never thought of herself as a hero (she is, after all, something of a villain in her own story) but, sometimes, Regina looks at her and she feels like, maybe, for her, she could be.
#03 – Memory
It’s hard, sometimes, to separate the true memories from the false, to pinpoint exactly when she became aware, truly aware, of her surroundings, of Storybrooke, of herself, when Ruby started bleeding into Red and vice versa; in the end, she supposes it doesn’t matter what really happened, the memories are still there, still hers, and that’s enough.
#04 – Box
Stepping through the door, Ruby closes it with her heel before dropping the box she’d been carrying, dusting off her hands as she goes; “That’s the last one,” she says, humming contentedly under her breath as Regina steps up behind her, arms settling around her waist, “You’re officially stuck with me,”
#05 – Run
The wind whips at Ruby’s lanky frame as her bare feet slap tirelessly against the pavement; her eyes, a dark and haunted hunter green, shine wetly in the lowlight of the early morning, glistening with tears she fights not to spill, not here, not in the safe haven of the run.
#06 – Hurricane
Like a hurricane, she’s there and then not, a flash of ebony fur and blood-soaked teeth, an unnaturally natural flurry of violence and death; the wolf is as fierce as magyk itself, wild and untamable, and Regina can’t get enough.
#07 – Wings
The light streams unfiltered through the open window, surrounding Regina in a dazzling halo of the purest gold; Ruby, propped up on an elbow beside her, decides that, even if a pair of gossamer wings should suddenly sprout from naked shoulders, she still wouldn’t look more ethereal than she does right now.
#08 – Cold
The cold nips unpleasantly at Regina’s exposed skin, causing her to unconsciously sink further into Ruby’s seductive warmth, eventually earning a quiet laugh from the were; wrapping her arm tighter around the other woman’s shoulders, she presses her lips to her ear and speaks in a husky whisper that sends shivers totally unrelated to the temperature racing along Regina’s spine.
#09 – Red
To the bulk of Storybrooke, she’s many things: she’s Ruby, former promiscuous waitress, current werewolf, best friend (or was it godmother?) of the Savior, and, perhaps most importantly these days, lover of the (former?) Evil Queen; to said Evil Queen, however, she is simply Red, the woman who offered her heart (and accepted her own) without fear.
#10 – Drink
At Ruby’s announcement of last call, Regina promptly returned her now-empty glass to the counter, not hesitating to wrap elegant fingers around the waitress’ wrist when she moved to take it away, “Won’t you join me for another drink, Miss Lucas?” she purred, fingertips dancing along the back of her hand.
#11 - Midnight
Midnight, the dreaded witching hour, comes at long last, but this time it’s arrival is marked by nothing more or less than twin heartbeats beneath a thick coverlet and, perhaps, this is a different kind of magic.
#12 - Temptation
After recognizing her growing attraction for what it was, the first thing Regina tried was avoiding the diner altogether; Miss Lucas’ barely-there skirts and shirts and – gods, why did she even bother wearing clothes when they covered so little? – were far too tempting for her suddenly predatory gaze.
#13 – View
Curled up in the armchair closest to the fire sat Regina, legs tucked dutifully beneath her and glasses precariously perched on the end of her nose; eyes trained on the book in her hands, she gave no indication she knew Ruby had framed herself in the doorway but for the subtle quirk of full lips.
#14 - Music
Ears twitching at the melodic sound that had drawn her from sleep, she padded slowly down the stairs and into a part of the manor she didn’t usually frequent; the formal living room was a little too formal for her tastes, but the spellbinding (pardon the pun) melody Regina coaxed so effortlessly from the piano’s ivory keys was more than enough to coax her inside.
#15 - Silk
Ruby has always been beautiful, sensual too, there’s no use in denying it; still, the first time Regina glimpses pale flesh teasingly concealed beneath layers of silk the color of her name, she finds she also can’t deny that the sight (and what a sight it is!) leaves her appropriately breathless.
#16 - Cover
Regina tucks the covers around the twins, the girls nestled close together in the bed that, before too long, will no longer be appropriate for the two of them to share; but here, now, they’re young and small and their closeness warms her heart far too much to bother dwelling on what will be.
#17 - Promise
“You promised to be with me forever…but yet you’ve abandoned me like all the rest,” the words are broken and so jagged at the edges that her throat aches, “You stupid, selfless, beautiful mongrel,” she says, “Don’t you realize your dying killed me as surely as that arrow would have?”
#18 - Dream
Regina’s never told her but, sometimes, during wolf’s time and the few nights surrounding, when Ruby’s sound asleep, her body curls in on itself, arms and legs twitching, her muscles straining beneath her skin; occasionally, a distinctly feral whine slips from her mouth, earning a small smile from Regina as the were slumbers on, unaware of her less-than-human dreaming.
#19 - Candle
Ruby takes one whiff of the proffered candle and immediately buries her face in her elbow to sneeze – sometimes, the wolf’s heightened senses were more curse than blessing – the entire affair making Regina smile, “Well, maybe not this one, then,” she teases, dutifully returning it to the shelf.
#20 - Talent
The wolf has a talent for bloodshed, Regina thinks as she studies what little remains of her opponents army; sometimes, it’s hard to equate the monster with the slip of a girl who stood at her side but here, now, standing ankle deep in gore, it’s hard to think of anything else.
#21 - Silence
There are times when they talk for hours and, though Regina cherishes them, truly, it’s the times of companionable silence that she finds so extraordinary; the moments where they share things without words, a small smile or wink of the eye taking the place of a thousand less meaningful syllables.
#22 - Journey
The snow is heavy and deep, threatening to swallow her whole with every step and she’s sure that, had Red not been there to look back at her, her face sharp and soft all at once, not even the irony of being killed by her former rivals’ namesake would have kept her moving.
#23 - Fire
With horror etched across her features, Ruby could only watch, paralyzed, as lavender fire burned through her once familiar brown irises, consuming them from the inside out and, with them, Regina herself.
#24 - Strength
With an ease only inhuman strength could provide, Ruby lifted her bleeding form and raced towards camp; Regina flickered in an out of consciousness after that, waking what feels like months later stretched out on a cot, her body bare but for the bandages and a blanket placed over her for modesty’s sake.
#25 - Mask
Eyes twinkling behind the anonymity of her mask, Ruby extended her hand towards the clearly surprised, and not a little suspicious, mayor, “Come on,” she urged, her words silken, “Not much of a masquerade ball without dancing, is it?”
#26 - Ice
There’s an edge to Red’s smile, a wild, icy look with the power to shred as surely as her teeth and, suddenly, Snow understands why the expression seems familiar, despite never having seen it on her friends face before, “Regina,” she whispers and the false she-wolf’s smirk grows wider in response.
#27 - Fall
The wolf falls with a piercing cry, the sound echoing eerily off the nearby hills and drawing the attention of the entire battlefield in the process; Ruby forcibly shifts back into her human form, twisted limbs sticky with blood and body wet with snow and, in an instant, Regina’s at her side, the Witch’s soldier a pile of ash at their feet.
#28 - Forgotten
“Regina, about what we…what we did, were doing, while I was, uh, cursed,” Ruby-no-longer began hesitantly, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, “I don’t, I mean I don’t blame you or anything but I…well, I just wanna forget about it, ok?”
#29 - Dance
The music is obnoxiously loud in her ears, the pounding rhythm guaranteed to give her a migraine before the end of the night; she’s plotted her escape for the hundredth time in ten minutes when Red appears, scantily clad in something straight out of Ruby’s wardrobe, and, suddenly, Regina can’t remember why she wanted to leave in the first place.
#30 - Body
Her body’s like a map, Ruby can’t help but think, all gently curving lines and sculpted plains; a seemingly endless array of scars crisscrosses tanned flesh like roads and rivers, telling the story of her journey to this place, here and now, laid out before her in all her naked glory (and, gods, she is glorious).
#31 - Scared
She’d known it would end like this from the first moment she’d heard of Snow White’s cursed little friend, since she’d heard that first branch snap when she’d entered the wood; yes, she’d known she would die here, tonight…but she hadn’t expected to be frightened by the sight of burning amber eyes and pitch black fur.
#32 - Farewells
Ruby hates goodbyes – in her life, both her lives, really, she’s experienced more than her fair share – so this moment, this…pledge to find one another again, despite the obstacles, despite the odds, means more to her than she has words to explain.
#33 - World
Cupping her face in her hands, Ruby leans in, whispering what could very well be her last words against the corner of Regina’s mouth, “Regina, I don’t care what happens or where we end up; no matter how many worlds we have to get through, we will find each other again, I promise,”
#34 - Formal
Red shifts self-consciously from foot to foot, unused to and distinctly uncomfortable in such formal attire; she can feel her cheeks warming as her fidgeting draws attention, and she’s sure she’d have already left if Regina wasn’t so keen on making an appearance.
#35 - Fever
Despite being the picture of health, Adriana’s skin burns hot under her hand and Ruby offers Regina a meaningful look that says ‘it won’t be long now’; before this night is done, their daughter will experience the world cloaked in fur.
#36 - Laughs
Regina remembers the way Ruby laughed before the curse was broken – freely, deeply, as if she were the size of a fairy and could only feel one emotion at a time – more than that, she remembers almost consciously deciding that that single-mindedness was the curses doing (but, oh, how wrong she was).
#37 - Lies
“There will be no more lies between us,” Regina says slowly, hesitantly, because she’s never offered someone such a thing before – she’s never offered someone her heart – but she trusts Red as she’s never trusted anyone and she hopes, desperately, that this trust is not misplaced.
#38 - Forever
She isn’t sure if she believes in fate, in happily ever afters, but as Ruby slips a matching ring onto her finger and promises to be hers forever, well, maybe, there’s something to fairytales after all.
#39 - Overwhelmed
She’s been a prisoner of fear, crippled by loss, felt blackness seep into her heart, consuming everything it touches; in her life, Regina’s been overwhelmed by many things but never happiness…until now.
#40 - Whisper
The moon calls to her all the time, like song, a constant drumbeat in her blood, a whisper in the back of her mind but during wolf’s time it feels like it’s screaming, like she’ll go mad if she doesn’t answer, and, for a reason she doesn’t dare look into, it only quiets when she’s with Regina.
#41 - Wait
The beast growls under her breath, hackles high and fangs bared, but Regina raises her hand and, obediently, the wolf quiets, dropping low on her haunches as she waits for the signal to attack; for once, her queen doesn’t keep her waiting long.
#42 - Talk
It isn’t that they don’t talk because they do – Ruby, incessantly, Regina, less so – but there are only so many things people like them can say with words; no, for people like them, who have seen and done so many things, sometimes silence speaks far louder.
#43 - Search
She’ll never be one for overly dramatic declarations – she doesn’t share the Charmings’ penchant for ‘I will always find you’s – but when she says she’ll find her, she means it with everything she is; to find Red, to find her happily ever after, she’d search forever.
#44 - Hope
She knows what people think Ruby’s presence provides – a bodyguard, a willing plaything, a way to get back at Snow, and Emma too, in a way – and, while she does, in fact, provide her all those things, the most important thing Ruby gives her…is hope.
#45 – Roses
She walks through the trees for what feels like hours; the light is dim and there’s no path to be seen, no marker to guide her steps but, still, she finds her destination as she always does, stopping a few feet away from the twining rose bushes that mark her grave.
#46 - Gift
Loving Daniel had been wonderful, a rare breath of fresh air in her otherwise oppressively stagnant existence, but loving Red…loving her was like a gift she’d never expected to receive, one made all the sweeter and more precious by the inherent surprise of it’s being.
#47 – Lightning/Thunder
The sky crackles, lightning hissing and spitting as it splits the sky with bursts of white-hot light, and the raw power of it, behind it, makes Ruby grip on Regina’s waist all the tighter; the raven haired woman doesn’t dismiss her fears, as so many have before, she just holds her that much closer until the storm passes.
#48 - Unknown
Yet another in a seemingly endless series of villains prowls the edges of Storybrooke and, though the threat remains unknown, for the moment, Ruby can’t find it in herself to worry, not when she has but to turn her head and see Regina standing there, strong and confident beside her.
#49 - Lock
Regina doesn’t need a lock of dark brown hair entwined with her own to know she’s found True Love; she can feel it every time Ruby smiles at her, every time their hands brush, every time she’s sitting at her desk and her thoughts stray to warm green eyes, and, gods, but she’s never felt anything like it before.
#50 – Breathe
Only moments after her chest rises, then falls, for the final time does the sound of the wolf’s mournful cry haunt the ears of every creature for a hundred leagues; ‘the queen breathes no more’ it says, ‘and my heart is broken’.