She felt the ground pounding underneath her feet. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She was running so fast it felt like her throat was closing up. She was forcing herself to breath. She ran around the corner of the library and hid on the other side. Regina and Emma have been playing this little game all week. They have been playing pranks on each other and scaring each other. Emma was finding it difficult to scare Regina. Regina was a rock and was never scared of anything. Emma on the other hand was a scardy cat, though she would never show it when her family was around, but she was scared of everything. She was always scared of losing the ones that she loved, and the things that she has worked hard for. After a few sessions with Archie she found out she felt this way because of her parents giving her up at birth and from Neal leaving her, and letting her get arrested.
Though Regina has won every single time in succeeding in scaring Emme, and Emma couldn't even get a little jump out of the former Evil Queen. Actually it seemed that no one can, but today was the day that all of that was about to change. Emma got the entire town to play along. All day the town had seemed abandoned. No one was walking around, no one was driving to work. In fact it seemed like there was no shops or stores, or anything that was open. No one was in sight, just as Emma planned. She wanted Regina to believe that she was alone and when she least expect it, Emma would jump out of nowhere and she would scare her. All day today Emma had been watching Regina. She could tell by the way Regina was carrying herself and walking into every building and trying every door knob that she was starting to get nervous. Emma had followed her to the library and decided this was where she would attack.
Emma could see the shadow of Regina through the windows of the library. She got wrapped up in her thoughts about how she was actually gonna get her revenge on the Evil Queen, that when she looked back at the windows Regina wasn't there anymore. Instead she was heading towards the front entrance to leave. As soon as Regina opened up the door to the library, Emma jumped up from around the corner, closed her eyes and screamed at the very top of her lungs, that it echoed down the empty streets of Storybrooke. When Emma oped her eyes she was met with a smiling brown haired women leaning on her side on the door. "Miss. Swan, next time when you want to fail at scaring me, please don't shut down my entire town." Regina turned on her heels and began walking down the street. Emma followed her. "How did you not get scared. I spent all of yesterday just trying to convince Mr. Gold of shutting down his shop for most of the day. I thought for sure that this would scare you. I mean come on! What is more scary than having everyone around you vanish in a blink of an eye." Regina's face went white as she thought of her greatest fear. No one knew what her greatest fear, not Daniel, her first love, not even Robin the man of her dreams. She knew what her biggest fear was but there was no way she would admit that she had one, even to herself.
"Regina, you okay." Emma asked. "Ye...Yeah, just got caught up in thought that is all." Regina went to walk away before She felt Emma grab her by her wrist. "No, you can't pull that on me, I know you too well. What's the matter?" Regina's eyes began to fill up with tears. "Emma… I know that I have a fear of something but if I admit it I know that it will seem all too real." Emma took regina's face in hers, wiping away her tears. "Regina, you can tell me anything." Looking into Emma's eyes Regina drew in a large breath. "Promise me that you won't hold this against me, or even use this against me while we continue this little game that was have been playing for the past week." "Regina I promise that i won't do anything to actually hurt you. Everything that i have been doing has been for the fun. I would never hurt you." "Emma. my biggest fear goes back to when I was the Evil Queen. When I was the Evil Queen I was ruthless, but I was also numb. I didn't care if I was hurting people. I never thought of the pain that I was causing to my victims or to their families. I would just walk around in my ball of hate. I only knew one thing and that was revenge. Ever since I learned what it means to have a family, and to love and to be loved, I have been terrified that I would feel what I put all those people through. Emma, my biggest fear is that I will lose everyone that will mean something to me, that I will feel the pain that I gave all of those people, all of those years ago." "Regina, You are no longer that person anymore. You are this wonderful person who has learned from her mistakes. Don't forget that you know loss. You didn't take from people not knowing how they feel. You know exactly how they feel. You lost your First love, you have lost your soul mate, you have been tortured, and taken advantage of. I promise you that you have paid enough, and you have learned from all of your mistakes and you have grown into a strong and wonderful women. Trust me. You are not going to feel what they went through, because you already have."
Looking down Regina took in a deep breath and wiped away her tears. "Thank you Emma I really needed to hear that." "Of course Regina, You are my best friend.I want you to understand that no matter how carried away I get with all these pranks trying to scare you I will never actually hurt you. I want to thank you for sharing your greatest fear with me. I know that couldn't have been easy for you." Regina gave Emma a small smile than looked around her empty town realizing that there still wasn't anyone walking around town. "So where is everyone? Where are they hiding." Emma then began to look around and began to laugh. "Oh, they are hiding in the woods. I knew that would be the last place that you would look.. Come on let's go get them and let this town be filled with life again." The two women smiled at each other and joined hands walking down the empty streets of Storybrooke.
A few days later Regina was beginning to feel a little more relax. Ever since she told Emma what her biggest fear was was had been feeling on edge. She had been feeling paranoid, always making sure that her doors were locked, and always looking over her shoulder feeling like someone was following her. Finally after a few days and a pep talk with herself about how she is the Damn Evil Queen and she is the most powerful Being in this world, that no one would dare to hurt her, she began to calm down. She heard a knock on her door and immediately she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. "Stop being such a coward" She mumbled to herself as she went to open up her door. On the other side of the door was none other than Rumpelstiltskin.
"Rumple?! How may I help you today.? Regina asked, wondering why the former dark one would want to work together. They haven't worked together since Regina separated herself from the Evil Queen. She was no longer Evil witch meant they no longer did business together. "Regina." rumple said in a very happy and relieved voice. "I was hoping that I would be able to catch you at home." Regina took a step back immediately regretting opening the door. "Why?" Was all REgina could say, She was beginning to feel like it was hard to breath. "Well the town has a gift for you. Emma may have told us what your biggest fear was and we all decided to should you what you truly mean to us, as Regina and not the Evil Queen. We all understand that you are no longer the person who you use to be." Regina gave a sigh of relieve, but there was still a small pit in her stomach, mixed with a little bit of anger. How could Emma tell everyone her biggest secert. "I'm gonna kill Emma." Regina said under her breath. Giving a chuckle Rumple reach out his hand waiting for her to take it. "Well before you do that, will you please see what the town has put together for you." Smiling Regina took Rumple's hand and said, "Well only because you said please."
Regina and Rumple were walking down the streets of storybrooke. Regina felt like something was wrong ever since she left her house. Sher looked around seeing the place was empty. No one had their lights on, even the street lights were blinking. "Where is everyone?" REgina asked, turning towards Rumple, who kept a now seemingly creepy smile on his face. "Remember the other day when Emma emptied the town and had us all hiding in the woods." Rumple asked with a slight irritation in his voice. Still a little annoyed with Emma for having him shut down his shop for the day. "Yeah." REgina said, scared om were this conversation was going to go. "Well while we were hiding we found an abandoned building. We decided ti throw a party for you there. Away from everything else. A place where there are no memories, a place to make good ones." REgina began to relax and was liking the sound of getting away, even if it was in the same town. "Okay, how far into the woods do we have to travel." Regina asked. She was not dressed for a hike. She had on a white button down with a black skirt and matching blazer, with a pair of black velvet ankle booties. "Not far, about a ten minute walk." Rolling her eyes Regina could see the beginning of the forest. She felt her heart begin to race. Something didn't seem right, but being the person who she was, she carried on. Not wanting to seem like a coward or weak.
Thirty Minutes laters Regina and Rumple were still walking in the woods, looking for the abandoned building. "I thought you said it was a ten minute walk. We must have walked over 2 miles by now." Regina was getting irritated. She should have known this was gonna happen. "You must be patient my Queen." Rumple said in a small monotone voice. "My Queen? Why would you call me that? You know I prefer Regina now. The Queen is gone, or as other like to say, the Queen is dead." Rumple stopped walking and pointed straight ahead. Regina was looking towards where Rumple was pointing. She could see a giant building covered in vines and looked to be over 500 years old. "It looks like it use to be a hospital." Regina said. "That it was Dearie. There is a legend to this place. It first opened as a children's hospital. Till one day a child went crazy claiming he was seeing people who would chase him around the hospital. He would scream at night, and when the nurses and doctors would run into his room he would be hysterical, crying claiming that there was someone standing at the end of his bed. The doctors labeled him crazy and put him in the push toward. He passes away a couple of years later by taking his own life. He was tired of being labeled crazy and having no non believing him. Depression set in and he lost the battle with himself. After years has passed, the hospital turned into a psychiatric hospital. Everyone there would claim that they were hearing a little boys screaming in the middle of the night, and that he would play little tricks and pranks on them, and their visitors. The hospital closed its doors after a decrease in funding." Rumple began walking forward towards the hospital, leaving REgina behind. "This is where everyone is?" REgina asked feeling terrified. "Why yes. Why? Are you too scared your majesty." Rumple said, giving a small chuckle to himself when he heard Regina footsteps behind him. He knew that she didn't want to seem weak or scared in front of everyone.
Regina and Rumple made it to the front door of the massive building. "After you" Rumple said, smiling. As soon as Regina walked through the giant doors she looked up and saw a giant white flash that made her blind for a moment. The Flash took her by surprise so much that it made her fall back and she suddenly felt the cold floor of the hospital on her back. After a few moments of laying on her back, Regina was finally able to pull herself up and open her eyes. She noticed that she was in a large room with a tall ceiling and the temperature felt like it had a dropped 20 degrees. She suddenly felt cool. Looking Around she noticed that there was no one around her. She wasn't even near the front door anymore. In fact the door was nowhere in sight. "Hello?" Regina spoke, hoping this was just another one of Emma's pranks. "Emma? Emma this isn't funny!" Regina raised her voice. She got this strange feeling that was alone, but that feeling quickly got away from her when she heard banging on one of the walls. Standing up she walked towards the far end of the room where the banging had happened. There was nothing there. When the banging happened again, Regina realized that is was coming from the other side. She pounded her fist on the wall. "Hello?! Is there anyone there?!"
The banging stopped as soon as it happened. Regina was getting a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. She felt like she couldn't breath. "Pull yourself together. You are Regina, the Evil Queen. Everyone is afraid of you." Regina told herself in the hopes that she could calm her nerves. You make her feel even more better she decided to cast a spell. It was a protection spell. A spell that can keep her safe from people who aim to harm her. The spell could only be broken by blood magic. In the back of her mind she was praying that her sister wouldn't be here with the intent to harm her. After there was a transparent cloud of purple smoke surrounding her Regina finally allowed herself to feel safe and to explore her surroundings and to find whoever was doing that banging.
Regina looked around the room that she was in. She noticed that the room was very dark but had two windows in the far right hand corner of the room. The light from the moon was the only thing that was illuminating the room. The moon gave her enough light, once her eyes adjusted, so she could see what she had gotten herself into. She saw that the room she was in was very large, but there was a door just across from the windows, taking a deep breath she began walking towards the door. The door opened with a loud and ear shrieking CREAK. She poked her head around the corner to see if there was anyone there. "Hello.." Regina said, have expecting someone to answer her. Nothing. Taking another deep breath, Regina light a fireball in her hands to expose some new light and began to walk around. She was in a very large and dark hallway. There wasn't a corner that wasn't covered in dust or a spider web.
Regina began to shudder, she hated messy things. When she lived with King Leopold shew would be the one to clean the whole castle, the servants just couldn't do it right. That's why she would get mad at henry whenever he would leave his shoes laying around. She continued walking down the dark and dingy hallway, when something caught her eye. It was bright and glowing. The light would go dim than go back to being bright. Walking closer to the object it took her a moment to realize that it was a heart. Whose heart, she wasn't sure, but they were still alive. She looked down the hallway and saw another heart a few feet away. There was a trail of them. Regina stood still for a moment debating on whether or not she should follow them or not. After what felt like an hour standing there, Regina took a deep breath in and started following the hearts.
The hearts took her to a narrow hallway. The hallway was darker than the Regina continued walking through the hallway till she felt her foot slip on something wet and slippery. She looked down, with fireball in it, bringing her other hand down to touch it. She looked closely at her hand, and it didn't take her long to realize that she had stepped in blood. Regina gasped loudly, her mind racing on what could have happened here. Soon her eyes adjusted to her surroundings. She could see there was more blood than what she was stepping in. There was a trail of it as well as the trail of hearts. They both were leading to the same place. Regina suddenly felt cold, she could feel goosebumps forming all over her body. Something was definitely wrong. Regina stood up straight and began running, following both trails. Regina was hoping and praying that no one was hurt or killed. She doesn't think she can handle anymore heartbreak in such a short time period.
Regina wasn't looking to where was she going, she kept her eyes down looking at the trails that she was following. She turned another corner and suddenly bumped into something, that knocked her on the ground. Regina felt winded once she hit the ground. She looked up wondering what should have banged into. Standing in front of her was a tall man with broad shoulders but was slightly hunched over and turned away from her so she couldn't see his face. Regina got up as fast as she could. When she was fully standing up she could smell something that was so strong that it felt like it was burning her nose. Regina tapped the man on his shoulders "Excuse me," Regina started to say, but than the man turned around. "R...Robin" Regina said so quietly it was almost a whisper. She couldn't believe that her soulmate was standing there in front of her. After a few seconds of staring at him in shock, Regina started to notice things about Robin. His face was all pale and sunken in. His clothes were all dirty and torn. His expression was what scared her the most. His face was set at neutral but his eyes were cold and hard, but also with a flicker of anger. "Robin…...Robin what is going on." Regina asked. She grabbed ahold of his shoulders, hoping to change his expression. "Yo...You.." Robin's voice was deep and hoarse, like he had been asleep for hours and had just woken up. Regina couldn't understand what he was trying to say. "What!? What is it Robin!" Regina was almost screaming now. She needed answers, and she needed them now. "You" Robin said pointing at her. "Yes, yes Robin it's me, it's Regina." Suddenly Robins expression changes from neutral to fear and anger. "You….you..You KILLEd ME!" Robin screamed, pushing Regina away from him. "And now I am going to kill you." Regina let out a gasp just as he went to lunge at her. "We all will."
Regina looked around and found a bunch of people walking slowly toward her. Taking a closer look Regina realized they all looked familiar to her. "Leopold, Graham..Father." REgina whispered in horror. There was all the people from the villages she terrorized when looking for snow. "Re...gin..a… Re...gin...a" They all began to chant. Regina turned around and ran down the long and dark hallway. She realized the trail of blood and the hearts were gone. Regina ran around the corner and found that she was in a different place. Though she was running back the way she came, somehow she was in a different place. She was still in a dark and scary hallway, but the hallways was getting smaller the more she ran, more narrow. She looked behind her seeing everyone chasing her. Regina ran faster and harder than she had ever run in her entire life.
Regina turned a corner and she suddenly found herself in a small, very cold room. She turned around and slammed the door shut. She looked around a couldn't see a thing. She lifted her hand and flicked her wrist to bring up a fireball, but nothing happened. She tried it again, nothing. "What is going on?!" Regina grunted at her hand. She began to panic, hearing the angry mob coming close to the door. Regina out her ear up next to the door, hoping that the angry mob would walk past the door, and to her relief they did. As soon as she couldn't hear any of them any more Regina opened the door and ran the way she came. She was gonna find her way out of here even if it killed her, and it just might.
Regina ran around another corner and stopped dead in her tack. There were giant bear traps everywhere. Regina took a deep breath and slowly walked her way around the bears traps, trying to get to the other side of the room. She could see a door with light under it on the other side of the room. That was it. That was her ticket it out of this nightmare. Regina could hear a very faint "Re..gin..a...Re….gin...a" in the distance. They were getting closer, and regina knew she had to pick up her pace, but didn't want to get her foot stuck in a bear trap.
Regina finally made it to the door, before she opened the door, Regina looked behind her and saw a group of people standing at the entrance of the room, but they were not trying to get past the bear traps. They were just standing there, staring at at Regina with sinister smiles across all of their faces. They all had their faces facing the floor but their eyes were looking up to looked at Regina. Regina quickly turned around placing her hand on the door knob suddenly feeling slightly unnerved on what was on the other side of the of the door. Regina took a deep breath and opened the door. There was a sudden bright light that made Regina close her eyes and take a moment to adjust to the new light.
When Regina reopened her eyes she saw Robin, not the dead, dirty Robin who wanted to kill her, but her true love Robin, the Robin who sacrificed himself just to save Regina. Regina felt her breath caught in her chest. "Robin...Is that really you?" Regina cold feel the tear running down her cheeks, her mascara was probably running but she didn't care. "Yes Regina, it's me." Was all that Robin said, Regina reached her hand up to touch his cheek, to prove that he was truly there. Regina could feel her heartbreaking when her hand went right through Robin's cheek. "Robin, what is going on. I thought you were here. Why is it that I can see you and hear you, but I can't feel you." "Regina, love, you need to understand that, even though you can see me and hear me, that doesn't change the fact that I am dead. I am my spirit, I am not a physical being, I am the part you fell in love with." "But why are you here." Regina asked, feeling like someone ripped her heart out and squashed it. "I came to tell you something." Before Regina could ask what he needed to tell her, Regina felt a sharp pain on her left leg. Looking down Regina could see that one of the dead angry villagers had ahold of her leg and was digging their claws into her, causing her to bleed. With a sudden jolt Regina could feel herself being pulled backwards but it was cut short by the feeling of someone grabbing her arms. "Regina, Hold on." Robin shouted, holding onto her arms. "Robin….." Regina started, her mind racing. How could he be grabbing her. He was a ghost. "Regina.. You need to listen to Emma." "What..What does Emma have to do with this." Robin looked her in the eyes, his own tears filling in his eyes. "Just listen to her, and Regina, I love you."
With that last statement ringing in her ears, Regina felt her body being torn away from the villagers grabbing her leg and she was in the air, flying over Robin's spirit and into the bright light beyond the door. Regina felt her body hit the ground and She arose with a sudden force that it almost hurt, she could hear herself screaming Robins name, and suddenly there were multiple hands on her body. Regina finally found the courage to open her eyes,but what she saw surprised her. She was no longer in a dark, and dirty room filled with angry villagers, but instead she was in a dimly lit room, filled wit the people she loved, Snow White, Prince Charming, Henry, Belle, Mr Gold, and Emma. "Regina, whats going on, are you okay?" Snow asked, placing her hand on Regina's forehead. "Ye...Yeah, I'm fine. What happened?" Regina asked Standing up, getting help from Emma. "Well we all thought we would give you a small surprise party in here, to should you what you mean to us. That we don't see you as an evil queen, we see you as Regina. When you opened the door, Mom took your picture and you passed out. You have been out for a little over an hour, we were about to call doctor Whale to make sure that you were okay." Emma said,the whole time never letting go of Regina arms.
"Emma...I saw something when I was passed out. Something told me that you have something important to tell me." Emma's face suddenly went pale but Regina saw a small amount of blush reaching her cheeks. "Regina, I really want you to understand that you are the most important person here. You made all of this possible. You have changed so much, you are one of the strongest women I know. I really wish that you can see that one day." Emma said. Regina could tell there was something more going on, based on her voice, but decided that it was better left unsaid. "I Think I am starting to." Regina said, pulling Emma into a hug, "Thank you." Regina said, letting go of Emma and giving her a smile
After a brief moment Regina turned to Mr. Gold and told him to met her outside. "What do I owe this pleasure, Regina." Regina turned around and looked at him fiercely. "You know very well what I want to talk to you about." "I can assure you I do not." Mr Gold said with that snake smile of his. "Where did I go? I saw things, that make me believe this wasn't some dream of mine." Mr. Gold turned to walk back inside but turned around and looked back at Regina. "All I can say dearie, face our fears, before they kill you."
Regina when to run after him before her left leg began to ace and she looked down, lifting up her pant leg, and seeing small holes in her leg, the size of fingernails.