A/N: All characters belong to ABC/Ouat.
She is physically and mentally exhausted. She is burned out, worn out by every little thing in her life. Her son, her mother, every godawful person in this goddamned town. Her whole life felt as if she was this puppet, to her mother, to Gold, and now even Snow White joined that list of puppeteers when she tricked her to kill Cora.
She is tired of everything, the only thing that ever made sense in her life was brutally, senselessly taken from her. She should have known, she should have seen it coming, she knew what her mother was capable of, she should have known!
She was so blinded by the love she felt for Daniel that she let her guard down, she should have known that Cora was not going to let her be happy. She should have been more careful, shouldn't have told an eleven year old, but she was so happy, so in love.
She wishes everyday that Emma hadn't come to her rescue when the town wanted to punish her for her crimes. She was ready, she had accepted her fate, she was ready to finally get that peace she has always craved, but Emma Swan once again had to interfere with everything she does. Not only does she takes Henry away from her, she has to come to her rescue like some sort of hero. Maybe it's better this way, because maybe this is the one of the few choices of her life she can have absolutely control over. She will have that choice and nobody will take that away from her.
She has a rope and a bottle of pills laid on top on her silk sheets in her bedroom. If she was going to kill herself, it wasn't going to be messy. She signed the adoption papers of Henry giving sole custody to Emma. Her Assets were to be put in a trust fund for Henry until he reached eighteen. Her house was to be divided between Henry and Emma. Every document was neatly tucked in a file in her office downstairs. A letter explaining her decision was left to the Savior, and another for Henry, letting him know her profound love she felt for him and making certain that he did not blame himself.
She didn't leave any specifics in how she wants to buried or disposed of, she figures whatever is done with her body will not matter.
She sits down at the edge of the bed. She feels cold all of the sudden, as if the reality of the situation finally sets in. She shudders at the thought of not seeing Henry for one last time. Her son, he is the main reason she is doing this, she doesn't want to hurt him anymore, she wants him to have a normal life and even though she clashes heads with Emma most of the time, she knows the Savior is a good person. She wont be a puppet of the Charmings, and that's what soothes her the most.
Sometimes she wishes things were different, but she wont think too much of that, it is to late for her, she is far too broken, she is beyond repair and she knows it.
She picks up the rope, because she wants to be certain that she is going to die, she doesn't want to be saved, and so she heads for the closet.
The reality of what's coming catches up to her as she is tying the rope in the hanger rod. Her hands are shaking and she needs a minute to collect herself. Breathe in and breathe out. You are not a coward, Regina! she reminds herself as she resumes tying the rope.
She stands back and looks at her work. Breathe in and breathe out. Tears fall down her cheeks. Is this really how she is going to end? It is the only way, she reminds herself, you are doing this for Henry, you are doing this for yourself.
She looks down at her watch, it is 9:35 pm. She steps out of the walk-in closet and goes downstairs, to make sure everything is tidy and in order. She double checks all the documents in her office and pours herself a glass of scotch. She sits in her desk and sips slowly. She picks up a photo of Henry when he was about four years old and puts it face down. She doesn't need any remainders of what she is leaving behind. She places the unfinished glass of scotch hard on the desk and goes upstairs.
She paces for about five minutes before deciding to go in the closet. She stares at the rope, hard. Tears gather once again at the corner of her eyes. She should not care about this, she is The Evil Queen for gods sake!
She grabs the rope and places it around her neck. She tightens the knot and takes a deep breath. She slumps forward and feels the rope cutting her air supply. It takes a great amount of will to not stand up straight and loosen it up. She starts to feel lightheaded and as she is in the verge of loosing consciousness, she swears she hear knocking on her front door, but it is too late, her knees buckle and she hears or sees no more.
As Emma parks her bug in Regina's driveway, she is presented a unusually dark house. Confused, she steps out of the car and mades her way to the front door. Regina is definitely home because her car is here.
She has had the older woman in the back of her mind this whole week, even more so since Henry told her about the whole love potion fiasco. He hasn't stopped talking about her since. He is starting to realize that his fairy tale book isn't as black and white as he thought it was. She had seen the distraught look on the other woman's face that day, and as much as she pretended not to care about her, she actually did, a lot. Today though, a nagging feeling in the back of her head was telling her to come to the mayor's house.
She knocks on the door but doesn't hear any noise from inside.
"Regina, open up!"
She yells because she knows it irritates Regina, maybe that'll get her to open the door, if only just to yell at her. She just needed to make sure she was alright. When she didn't hear any movement coming from the house she tried the lock and to her surprise, the door was unlocked .
The feeling of dread in her stomach got stronger, something was definitely not right. Regina never leaves her door unlocked. She pushes the door open and walks in.
"Regina? You left your door open so I came in."
Nothing.
She glanced towards Regina's office but it was empty. It was the only room with the lights on downstairs.
"Regina!'' she called loudly as she went up the stairs. She could see light coming from the Queen's bedroom.
"Regina, are you in the bathroom?"
Silence.
"Cover yourself cause I'm coming in!"
She walked in expecting to see an enraged Regina coming out of her bathroom but instead found an empty bedroom and a dark bathroom. She notices that light is coming from the closet as the door is open ajar.
"Regina?"
She doesn't bother waiting for a reply and pushes the door open. What greets her make the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
"FUCK!"
She rushes into the closet and holds Regina up straight against her body with one hand while reaching for her pocket knife with the other.
"What the fuck did you do!" she mumbles as she cuts the rope off and takes it off the woman's neck.
She drops the knife carelessly on the floor and quickly drags the brunette outside the closet. She can feel that Regina is still warm to the touch, which brings a tiny amount of relief. She lays the older woman down on the floor and checks for a pulse.
None.
Without thinking she starts to give her CPR. She notices Regina's lips, they are an ugly shade of blue. She closes her eyes and continues the compressions on her chest. She breathes into Regina's mouth, once, twice. She places her ear on the brunette's chest, still nothing. She starts compressions again.
"Come on! You. are. not. dying." each syllable is accentuated with every chest compression.
By the fourth set of compressions, she checks for a heart beat again. Tears gather in her eyes as she feels the tiniest of beats coming from her blackened heart. She looks up at Regina's face and lowers her ear into the brunette's nose, checking to see if she is breathing on her own.
She is not. She starts breathing into her mouth once again, feeling the brunette's chest rise with every breath she gives her. After a couple of minutes with no response from the older woman, she dials 911.
"I need you to send an ambulance to the mayoral mansion ASAP!''
TBC.