Regina had borne the weight of the world upon her shoulders for so many eons that she found herself unable to keep track of time as it passed. The sky itself weighed so much that it almost brought her to her knees, but that on its own was bearable. Over time, one could learn to brace themselves against the almost crushing weight of the sky, as endless as it was. It was a burden and it tormented, as it was supposed to but that alone could be bared, even through the endless years.
The thing that made her punishment unbearable were the memories. She could remember every moment of her former life in vivid detail. Every precious and painful second of it danced through her mind in agonising detail, she could see it all in perfect clarity. Her life before her punishment had been nothing short of perfect. She had been a hero, worshipped by many and loved by all. Her name was one that had been destined to go down in history, surviving generations and living in glory through the eons.
Her name had been remembered, as it turned out, but where it had once been pronounced with awe it was now filled with scorn, said as the vilest of all insults, away from the familial hearth. She had lived much of her mortal life being loved for the protection she provided and being lusted after and adored for her astounding beauty. After her name had become something reviled, she could feel the poisonous way in which she was treated.
Another part of her curse, other than supporting the weight of the world (as if that wasn't punishment enough for her rather minor crime) was that she could feel everything that the people around her felt. She felt every last thing and it pained her beyond belief, it made the world weigh so much more upon her struggling shoulders.
The thing that got to her most though, even after such a long time was that she could no longer feel her. She couldn't feel Emma's soul as she should have been able to. Every time her soul had reentered the living realm Regina had sensed it. It had happened several times and although it made the pain Regina felt all the more tangible, it was something she held on to desperately. But it hadn't happened in so long and it made Regina both desperate and tired all at once.
Emma's lives had a tendency to end rather abruptly and in the most painful ways possible. Everything Emma felt, Regina felt too, in painstaking clarity. Emma spent each and every life searching for some body to love and she would never again find that person, it was the curse that had been placed upon her soul.
When they had first met Emma had been a priestess, sworn to Zeus. Her vow had been sacred, and they had both tried so hard to abide by it. Regina had run as far away from her pull as possible but she had inevitably found herself drawn back in again, in a stupidly short amount of time. Regina had known it was love from the first instance, but it was forbidden. After physical distance had failed, she had try to be emotionally distant and she had failed miserably.
In the end that had led to Emma telling her to leave and never return before pressing her against the wall in a passionate embrace. Even after eons the memory of their first and only night together brought heat flooding to her cheeks. They had whispered confessions of love to one another over and over, and she had wanted it to never end. Of course, all good things end and they had been caught because the gods see all.
Zeus had made her watch as Emma was stripped, humiliated and killed. Never once had Emma cried out, her brave Emma had simply kept her unwavering gaze locked on a Regina the entire time, her chin tilted defiantly, her jaw locked firmly in place. Her punishment had been never ending ever since, but not once had it made her regret her actions. The only things she regretted was the painful way in which her love had died, and the cruel way in which she was now prevented from finding her love in a new life.
She had long ago resigned herself to her punishment. She knew that Zeus had meant to make a spectacle of her, he meant to use her as an example. He had used her as a way to affirm that those that were marked as his could not be touched by another. Any one who tainted what he seems to be his property would be suitably punished, and so she had been.
Still, the weight of the world had learnt to settle on her shoulders and if it meant that she had known a love like she had, she would gladly accept this as her punishment. What was the weight of the world when the love of a woman has filled her with light and joy, no matter how fleetingly.