A Curse Broken, A Heart Healed
By BroadwayStarlet
Pairing: Stable Queen. Focused on Regina and Daniel, with appearances by Henry, Snow/Mary Margaret, Charming/David, Emma, Ruby, etc.
Genre: Romance. Fluff. So much fluff and cuteness.
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time and its characters belongs to ABC, Adam Horowitz, and Edward Kitsis. If I DID own Regina and Daniel, this is how things would go.
Summary: Set around 2x01 "Broken". The curse breaks and a certain stable boy suddenly finds himself very much alive in a town called Storybrooke. The only thing on his mind: his true love, Regina.
Chapter 1
The purple cloud passed through Storybrooke, Maine, and brought magic to a land previously without it. As the townsfolk came to the realization of their past and what had happened, a young man appeared at the town stables, the same place where he was last seen. He wore clothes from the other world, and certainly looked out of place wandering from the stables to town.
He placed his hands over his chest and marveled at the most amazing thing. He had a heart – beating heart, pumping warmth and blood through his body.
This wasn't possible. His heart had been ripped out. He'd seen it in her hands! His eyes had darted to the other person in the stables. Her eyes were wide with shock and terror, and the last things he'd felt before he died were her arms around him and a last kiss on his lips.
But how could he be alive now? How could he have a beating, warm, miraculous heart in his chest? And where was she? His one true love. He had to find her.
Regina.
This wasn't the same world, he could tell, so he couldn't be sure that he'd even find her here. What had brought him back? He'd been dead for decades.
He wandered further into town, watching the townsfolk hug as they found lost loved ones, and remembered who they were.
One particularly poignant scene in the middle of a street caught Daniel's eye. A young blond woman in a red coat with a little boy hugged another young couple – a dashing young man and a pretty young woman with short black hair.
When the black haired woman's face came into view, Daniel stopped in his tracks. He knew her. She looked about fifteen years older now – but there was no mistaking the princess, even with short hair. Lips red as a rose, hair black as night, skin white as snow…
Snow White.
"Daniel?" Snow White gasped when she saw him. "But I don't understand. I thought you were – Regina said –"
Daniel's face lit up. "Regina, where is she?"
Snow smiled. "I'll take you to her, come with me."
The young man with Snow White was obviously her beau or husband, well, obviously they were in love. He spoke next. "Um, Snow, who is this?"
"It's a long story, I'll explain on the way. There isn't much time. We have to find Regina before everyone else does."
This Daniel didn't understand. Why did it matter that they found her before everyone else? And who was everyone?
"Come this way, Daniel. She lives this way."
He followed behind the unusual family.
"Snow, who is he?" the man asked again.
"This is Daniel. He's Regina's one true love. He worked in the stables where she grew up—"
"Wait, Regina had a true love?" the blond woman asked.
"Of course she did," Snow said, her voice sad at the memories. "She taught me all about true love when I was a child. She was different then…" Snow turned to Daniel. "I am so sorry for what I did. I didn't understand what I was doing when I told Cora about you and Regina. She's hated me ever since. I understand now."
"Regina couldn't hate anyone," Daniel said. "She's so gentle. I'm sure she doesn't hate you, Snow."
The blond woman snorted. "Are you sure you even know Regina?"
"Emma, please," Snow said, silencing her. "She's right though, Daniel. Regina is different now. After you died, she went…evil. She turned to dark magic and when she became queen, her powers in the dark arts and her cruelty became legendary. And she cursed us all to this world, which is why…things are so different."
"I want to see her," he said. "Won't she be happy to see me?"
"I honestly don't know what to expect."