Regina ran through town, clutching the box close to her chest. She couldn't stop smiling. The object in the box was her ticket to happiness, and now everything made sense. It was never her; she was never the reason her for her mother's disapproval. No matter how hard she tried, she wouldn't ever be enough. She couldn't ever be enough.

She thought about Snow White, poor Snow White. Regina had made it her goal to ruin Snow's life. Why would she even want to help me? Regina stopped smiling and put a lot of thought into the question. Was Snow telling the truth? Of course she was. It all made sense. If Cora had her heart, that empty void she spent so much of her life trying to fill with magic, would finally be gone, replaced with love. And Cora would finally accept her daughter, and love her.

There it was, Mr. Gold's shop. She took a deep breath and shoved the door open, taking the glowing red heart out of the box. It looked so pure, so perfect. Regina wondered how something coming from someone so evil, could be so beautiful. But it's not her fault she is evil, Regina thought to herself, evil isn't born, it's made. And her mother was only trying to protect herself. She heard her mother's words ringing in her ears, "Love is weakness, Regina. The sooner you learn that, the better off you will be." Regina smiled, and made a promise to herself. She would show her mother that wasn't true. She would never do anything to hurt her mother, because love isn't weakness. Love is strength.

Regina quietly walked behind her mother, pushing her heart into her chest. She waited to see her mother's reaction. It took a moment, but Cora finally looked to Regina and smiled. Her eyes had a sparkle that Regina had never seen before. Happiness covered Cora's face until she was unrecognizable. And a strange, but beautiful, noise came from her mouth. Laughter? Happy laughter, not evil or sarcastic. "Mother," Regina said, as a smile comes back across her face.

Regina felt sick to her stomach, but not in a bad way. In a wonderful, beautiful way. Like riding a roller coaster, or finally accomplishing something you've been working towards. She wanted to run to her mother. She wanted all those years back. She just wanted to be held and loved unconditionally, by one of the only people who mattered. But she could only stare at her.

Cora felt sick too. Her heart was racing and it was hard to breathe, but she mistakened the feeling for happiness. Memories flash through her. She is holding her baby in front of the kingdom. They all bow down, and she can remember the feeling she had when this happened. She felt so accomplished.

Cora hugged her arms across her stomach. Her breathing became harder and her knees weakened. "Mother?" Regina caught her in her arms. "Mother, what's wrong?"

Cora snapped back to present time. Looking into her daughters eyes, she realized how things could have been different. How they could have been better. "This would have been enough. You. You would have been enough," Cora managed to get these words out, before dying in her daughters arms.

"Mother?" Regina looks up to Mr. Gold, "What's going on? Mother? Don't leave me, please," Regina pleads desperately. She hugs her mother, "What am I going to do?"

Mary Margaret runs into the room. Regina looks up, "You did this." And at that moment, Regina knew exactly what she had to do. She had to avenge her mother's death. She had to avenge the death of her love, Daniel, and the loss of her son. All of it was her fault. It was all caused by Snow White.