Work Text:
"This is all your fault," she grumbles, glaring daggers at the idiot sitting next to her.
"How is this my fault, milady? I was merely trying to conclude a business transaction when you chose to interfere and attempt to get me killed."
"I did no such thing, you filthy Terran thief!"
"I wasn't the one who got us caught by Nova Corps."
"That wasn't m--"
"I am Tiny."
"You know what, Tiny," Regina says, spinning to stare at the towering humanoid-shaped, vine-covered creature crouching across from them in the transport unit. "If you don't have anything worthwhile to add to the conversation, you can just shut up and keep regenerating." Her glare turns to the cybernetically enhanced rodent next to him, pointedly ignoring his Shut up, Tiny, the Evil Queen don't wanna hear it. "And you, vermin, you keep your mouth shut in general. I don't like you and I don't care what you think."
"You don't have to be so rude to them, you know."
Regina lunges at him, hands curling into claws in the need to throttle him until he stops breathing. She just wants some peace and quiet and to gaze upon his pretty, scruffy face without his incessant speaking and breathing and… Wait! But before she can fully unwrap the emotions behind that thought, her entire body shudders as the taser's electricity arcs through her again.
It's nothing she hasn't felt before. Less than what the rodent and Locksley shot her with on Xandar. Definitely less than what Rumpelstiltskin used when training her and Zelena. But this hurts more somehow, saps her of her strength. It takes everything in her not to whimper. Show no fear, show no weakness. She grits her teeth and remains silent against the onslaught of pain.
Until suddenly, there's nothing. No pain. No sound.
Nothing.
It feels peaceful, soothing. She wants to stay here for the rest of eternity. No more fighting, no more wars, no more pain.
No more…
The sudden intrusion of sharp, searing pain lancing through her body is most unwanted, as is the cacophony of sounds assaulting her ears. She's grateful that her eyes are closed until she feels an odd sensation against her lips. It's soft and prickly at the same time, forcing air into her lungs in a rhythmic cadence. She wants to fight it, but she can't. Maybe if she keeps her eyes closed, she can pretend it's all a dream in her afterlife somehow.
Until the vermin has to ruin it.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to save Regina's life. What does it look like I'm doing?"
Oh. So that soft, prickly sensation is… Oh.
"What the hell do you care if she lives or dies, Locksley?"
He can die now. When she feels stronger again, she'll kill him herself. One hand should be able to wrap around that little neck and snap it easily.
"No one deserves to die like this, Grumpy."
She can't believe the Terran thief is sticking up for her.
"Locksley, she was gonna collect a bounty on you!"
"I am Tiny."
"No, Tiny, that's not right. She tried to take our bounty from us, plus everything else she's done for Rumpelstiltskin over the years. She deserves what she gets in The KYLN."
He's right. The little piece of vermin filth is absolutely right. She deserves the fate she'll get once she's left alone in that prison. There are more than enough beings from more planets than she can count upon which she's committed atrocities in Rumpelstiltskin's name. She deserves a fate worse than death, but she's not exactly sure what that is. Perhaps it's better to die here on this disgusting transport ship before the other prisoners can exact their revenges on her.
"Shut the bloody hell up!" Robin growls.
She wishes Robin would stop talking to the little vermin and put his attention back on her. Better yet, she wishes he'd put his lips back on h-- Wait! When did she start calling him Robin? And when did she start wanting him anywhere near her, let alone kissing her? She just wants to get the orb to take it back to Rumpelstiltskin. She knows that should make him proud of her. She cannot be distracted from her loyalties to Rumpelstiltskin by such foolish things as attraction or feelings for some smelly, dirty, Terran thief who fancies himself an intergalactic outlaw.
And yet…
"Regina?" His voice pulls her from her thoughts, but she still can't quite come to open her eyes. "Come on, Regina, let me see those big, dark eyes of yours. I know you're in there somewhere. Come on out and join us again, yeah?"
"Maybe you should kiss her again, Locksley." Her fingers curl into fists, aching to bury one deep into that tiny skull of Grumpy's, but apparently Tiny sides with her, judging by Grumpy's reaction to his soft I am Tiny. "No, I don't wanna kiss her, Tiny. She's creepy and totally not my type!"
"Don't listen to them," Robin says, voice suddenly softer and close enough now to feel his breath waft across her cheek. "Just relax and breathe, okay? And when you're ready, you open those pretty eyes and let me see that you're still in there." He pauses, and she finds herself craving the sound of his voice like a common weak female, something she thought Rumpelstiltskin had beaten out of her years ago. "You know, I've heard many stories about the great and terrible Evil Queen, but from this angle the evil moniker seems somewhat of an overstatement." She can hear the smirk in his tone, wants to wipe it off his face. "Bold and audacious perhaps, but not evil."
"Go to hell," she mutters under her breath, making him laugh.
"I thought you might be playing possum."
He helps her sit up slowly, then gets her up onto the bench they'd been previously sitting on. He's so solicitous, she almost thinks he actually cares for her wellbeing, but she knows better. No one could care for someone like her.
"I am no dirty vermin like him," she growls, gesturing with her chin toward Grumpy, who is arguing about something with Tiny. "And you smell like forest. You need to bathe more often."
"I'll take that into consideration, milady."
There's a knowing smirk playing about his lips and, more devastatingly, his eyes that makes her bristle, but also makes her heart skip a beat.
This is bad.
This is very bad.