Title: The Beauty of a Silenced Tongue
Author: In-Betweens
Plot: A look at the inner turmoil and solace the Evil Queen finally finds as her curse takes hold.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters taken from Once Upon a Time and am making no profit from this story.
Author's Note: First Once Upon a Time fanfiction. Have several more in the works. Don't be afraid to critisize, compliment, or just say hello. :-)

Part 1 of 1

Silence.

Peaceful uninterrupted silence lived in the dark castle in the deepest recesses of the dark forest kingdom. It was just how her majesty, the Evil Queen, liked it. The guards made not a sound as they stood at their posts. They were bothersome fellows and many of them had been lost when Snow White had returned. It seemed even after all the time that had passed since her banishment and her crimes the people still adored their little pure hearted innocent Princess.

Disgusting.

The people's infatuation with Snow White, their inability to see her own wickedness disgusted her majesty. They could not see through to the rotten core of that girl, but she could. She tended to the purest apples in the realm, she knew just by sight a rotten apple. And Snow White? She was as rotten as they came, even if her outer layer was as red and juicy looking as any pure honeycrisp apple could. She seemed to be the only one to know of the girl's lies, betrayals. The people thought they could trust Snow White, that they could confide in her their wishes, their deepest most precious secrets and know that not a word of it would be spoken.

They were wrong.

She…had been wrong.

Snow was nothing but a liar, a thief, and a murderer. Oh no, the girl had not delivered the killing blow herself. She had simply been the one to speak, to utter what should have remained unspoken. Her tongue should have never slid across the words, words that together were deadly. Separate, they were nothing but words, insignificant. They had been her words, her secret. She never should have trusted them with Snow. They should have remained within her own mind, her heart, never to be said aloud.

If…if they had, then none of this would have happened. The King, her dearly 'beloved' husband would not have had to die, Snow would not have had to be taken care of, and she would not have been forced out from a Kingdom that was meant to be hers. It had always meant to be hers. It had been forcefully taken from her own father while she was only a child.

The people forgot that, as all people of a conquered land did. The victor of the battle wrote history, and in this history it was a blessing to be out from under King Henry's rule. As if it were such a bad thing to be under it in the first place! Her father and her mother at his side had been a beautiful powerful ruling couple. That is, before her dearly departed husband had come gallivanting onto their lands stealing what was not his to take. Life had been…perfect. No one wanted for anything, and she had been guaranteed her own happy ending. Why wouldn't she have been? After all she was a good girl, just as her father always told her she should be, and she was a Princess. Weren't all good little Princess' promised a happy ending?

It seemed her happy ending had been long lost to her. Promising to marry the man who'd stolen everything from her family had only been half of it. The second half had been confiding in the daughter of her new husband. Attempt to bridge the gap that had lived between them. She had tried to be a good step mother. Even if step-mothers never got happy endings in this world, she had thought she might be different. Maybe, just this once nothing would force her into becoming the evil step mother, like what happened with Lady Tremaine and her youngest daughter—step daughter Cinderella.

She had been wrong. Her own name had been changed when she had finally shown the world her true intentions, her true nature. At least, it seemed evil was her true nature. She had always preferred the dark of night rather than light of day. Fate had been right in placing her in her position in life. She was not meant to receive her happy ending, as she was no longer a good little Princess that only wanted to make her father proud.

Now, she was a witch.

A witch that conjured in the dark arts to avenge the death of the person she had loved most in this world. Evil, they called her the Evil Queen. Her name, the name her mother had given to her as she coddled her as an innocent infant. Yes, even she had been innocent, truly innocent at one point in her life. That name, one only two others knew had been lost to the people as they much preferred the moniker they had stuck her with. She let them keep it. The hate that had long ago consumed her had made the blow, the assumed insult nothing but a pitiful poke to her ribs. It meant nothing, it had done nothing to her. Let them call her Evil, let them think of her as the villainess for taking the revenge that was rightfully hers.

Snow White had made a fatal mistake in voicing a secret that was meant to remain kept, remain silenced.

The Evil Queen loved silence, she craved it. It had been in the void of silence that her very life had changed from what it could have been. Her Happy Ending had been taken from her, just as everything else in her life had been taken from her. She swore she'd have vengeance and what better way than by taking the happy endings of everyone else? All those little know it alls, those innocent little brown nosers that thought that they were so much better than witches, trolls, knombs, dark fairies, and Evil Queens. Why did they deserve happy endings?

Once Upon a Time she had been just like Snow White. An innocent good little princess waiting for her Happy Ending and Prince Charming. She'd found the route to her happy ending, she had been sure of it. So she'd shared the secret, the joy she'd felt over it, with a girl that had almost reminded her of herself. She confided in Snow White and had faced the consequences of being unable to keep her happiness to herself. She'd stood horrified over the lifeless body of her happy ending, tears in her eyes as she watched her 'dear' husband wipe the blood off his stained sword and order the body disposed of.

He'd paid for his treachery. Just like Snow White would pay. She would not find her happiness long lasting with Prince Charming. She would find it short lived and lost to her forever, she wouldn't even be able to bask in the memories of her happiness.

And perhaps that was where she was kind, the goodness of her heart still remained, even if it was a small sliver only.

It was a curse in and of itself to live with half assed memories of happiness. The pain of it was there, just beyond the surface as they were only memories and could only be remembered. Not felt, not lived, and none could be made again. They were stagnant. Time would not change them, they would be frozen just waiting to be looked at, peered into like her Magic Mirror. They held no opinions or answers. They were just what they were, memories of a life that was now untouchable even as you longed for them to be real. To feel the touch, hear the true sound of a laugh or peer into mirth sparkling eyes, rather than see a faded image, hear a ghostly echo of melodious laughter, or recall lifeless, soulless eyes looking at nothing.

She would spare Snow that pain, even while she wished she could spare herself the same turmoil. She wasn't all evil, selfish yes. But she just wanted what could have saved herself her happy ending, her happily ever after.

Silence, and as the dark curse casted over the white castle, and she looked into Snow's eyes, she finally got her wish. Those rose puckered lips were unmoving, her tongue still, and finally silence reigned.

The End