A/N: So I was on Instagram one day and saw an edit of who Regina is to different people. I really liked it so I decided to make this fanfiction about it, I apologize because I don't remember where I got it but the first line under each '…' is quoted from the edit so yeah. Hope you enjoy this quick little one shot.
Cora's Queen
"Keep your chin up Regina," Cora scolds. "A queen doesn't slouch."
"I'm not a queen, mother," Regina says quietly, eyes downcast to the plush carpet.
"You will be," Cora vows. Her hands rest on her hips as she circles her daughter, eyeing every inch for any flaw. "Eyes up, hands folded in front of you. Straighten your shoulders, stomach in."
As her mother listed off her every flaw she knew she would only ever be Cora's meal ticket. She would be Queen, but her mother would be pulling the strings.
"Pay attention," her mother snaps, pulling her focus back to the present. "Empty headed girls do not make Queens, Regina."
The brunette frowns. "I do not wish to be queen, mother. You want me to be queen but I want to marry for love, I don't want to be some king's property," Regina says angrily, fists clenching at her sides.
She doesn't expect her mother to lash out. Well at least not without magic, but the throb under her fingertips as her cheek reddens proves otherwise.
Her mother's dark eyes bore down on her. "Mark my words Regina, you will be queen."
With that the lady marches from the room. The door slams closed behind her and the lock clicks into place.
Once her mother is gone the fiery eyed brunette removes her hand from her cheek as she locks eyes with herself in her mirror. She promised herself she would not be the queen her mother wanted her to be. She would beat the vicious sorceress at her own game because she didn't want to be her mother's queen.
She became queen.
...
Leopold's Second Wife
Every time the dark haired woman was in the same room as the father-daughter pair she became morose. Every time she saw the bright eyed child she was reminded of the fact that the young girl wasn't hers.
Her husband never looked at her the way he looked at his daughter. He never looked at her like he looked at the painting of his family of three, him, his daughter, and her mother.
When he looked at her, she knew he was wishing for someone else.
She would never be anything but an obligation, for what else could he give for his daughter's life but his own hand in marriage.
She would only ever be his second wife.
...
Henry's Hero
"You've worked hard mom, you're a hero now," Henry says with a grin.
She looked troubled for a moment before she gives him a small smile.
"Henry, I," she starts before being interrupted.
"No seriously, you've saved everyone in this town a bunch of times and you always save me," he says. "I believe in you."
She sighs as he hangs up the phone. Despite his insistence that she's his hero he was spending yet another night with the blonde sheriff. She didn't want to be just his hero, she was his mother, why could he not see that sometimes.
But he needed someone strong and until her last breath she would be his hero.
...
Robin's Second Chance
"We can be each other's second chances," Robin says with a grin. "The redeemed villain falling for a former thief and the widowed father getting his second chance with the Evil Queen. An intricate history, no?" He did not add 'former' to her moniker, she notes as he stares happily into dark eyes that do little to hide what she truly feels. He doesn't bother to look any deeper than noting the colour of her dark honey eyes as he's lost in the thought of who they were.
The brunette in his arms forces a smile. "Yeah," she croaks. "It makes for quite the tale."
He pulls her closer, lips brushing against hers before pressing harder, molding their bodies together. "I love you my Queen." He calls her the title she had used to loathe. The one she associated with pain and anguish. She was stronger than he had been then but she was afraid he only wanted her for the allusion or the claim that he fixed the broken Evil Queen.
When he shifts her away to look into her eyes when she didn't respond, she offers a small smile, not giving a response to his uttered words but fusing their lips together in a cold embrace.
...
To Emma, Just Regina
"Are you alright," Emma asks, approaching the brunette.
Regina wipes the tears her flaming cheeks as she tries to regain her composure. "I," she breaks off when she catches the blonde's look. Right. She always knew when Regina was lying. "I don't understand," she mutters instead. "How can you forgive me?"
Emma's soft gaze hardens at the question. "Did Henry make a dig at you because I think that boy needs a stern talking to and possibly grounding if he keeps this up."
"No," Regina replies with a light smirk. "But you should have been much angrier with me initially than you were. I don't understand why."
"Oh," Emma replies, running her fingers over the back of the study's couch. "I didn't know you before the curse. I only knew Storybrooke's version, I only knew who you became and to tell you the truth after seeing you in the past I get a better appreciation for you now. I don't know what you went through in your past but you are overcoming it and I'll make sure you get a happy ending. For Henry," she trails off, rubbing at the nape of her neck. "It means a lot to him."
Reina hums in amusement at the blonde's apparent discomfort, though inside is a circus of emotion, butterflies be damned. "Of course to Henry," she mutters. "I'm his mother, and working on being his hero. But you, Miss Swan, what am I to you?"
An impish grin unfolds on Emma's features bearing a striking resemblance to a disappearing cat. "To me, Madame Mayor, you are just Regina. Nicknames and formalities aside, you are and always will be just Regina."
