It was a perfect day in Storybrooke, Maine. Mayor Regina Mills looked out of the window of her town hall office. The sun was in full shine. The sky a light blue with a wisp of clouds. It was a busy day with people going to and fro. A perfect pleasant day.
Regina usually did not marvel too much at her own creation. A town she literally willed into being. She created every building, every street, every tree and blade of grass. She gave everyone a name and a function. All the way to giving her most hated enemy the most important of jobs...schoolteacher.
When the curse she created was lifted, there were people...pretty much most of the population...who, when they got their memories back...wanted to burn the witch that did this to them and the town she created. That was, until she was saved by the two people most unlikely to do so.
The sheriff was one, though with the unwitting flirting each did, maybe it was expected. Emma Swan reminded the people of Storybrooke what a good life they did have...little crime, save for the occasional mysterious disappearance and Grumpy Leroy's battle with the bottle. That people would give their right shoulders to live in a place like this.
The other, more surprisingly was Mary Margaret, aka Snow White. "The last words she said to me before she sent me here was that she'd would send all of us to someplace horrible. Funny thing is that she took a wrong turn and we landed here."
"I was a Queen. You were my subjects. I tried to be as fair of a queen and as likeable a queen as I could. Regina made me into a teacher. I guess this was her way of getting back at me. But I realized when I see Henry and all my other students that I have the best job in the world; helping train young minds to think and to grow. And I'd rather have one 'thank you Ms. Blanchard' than a million 'your majesty's' any day!"
As she thought of that, and looked out into the city she created, she smiled. Not a smirk, but a real smile that showed that she was happy and proud of what she did. That content seemed to drown out the radio that was rambling in the background.
Regina was so content that she did not hear...or berate...the sheriff when she sneakily opened the door with paperwork without knocking. The radio squawked loud enough to hear in the next but it seemed Regina had blocked it out. Emma approached the mayor from behind.
"Penny for your thoughts, Madame Mayor.."
Regina stood in silence for a few moments, then replied, "just looking out here. Asking, my gods, what have I done. I thought I created Storybrooke I really thought I was going to create someplace horrible. Can't even do that right..."
Emma stood for a moment and watched Regina as she looked out the window. Then she picked up what might have pushed the mayor to this fit of wistfulness as the radio droned on..
"...the count is now at 17 dead, over 50 injured...shot by a gunman while watching the premiere of the new movie...the city paralyzed in fear and grief...'
And the screaming headline on the updated tablet page of the Mirror
MOVIE THEATRE MASSACRE IN COLORADO!
Emma came closer to Regina and wrapped her arms around the mayor who accepted the embrace and held tightly to the blonde's arms. And Emma tried to comfort the brunette with kisses on the back of her neck, she realized that maybe she did create the perfect place. For right now in a perfect town, and a perfect lover embracing her, there is no place she would rather be.
And she smiled because the town she created was, at least on that day, a happy place. And there were places, like small town in Colorado, that were not.
After this morning, I had to write this, so that Storybook can give its voice to those who greive. The prayers of all of us go to those in Aurora who have lost.
Thank you for reading.
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