For love or for revenge

Catherine started to nervously pace back and forth, despair was evident on her face and the reason of it was now probably walking around the castle feeling already as the owner of the place, the sovereign of France. But she was the queen instead, even if the sensation of powerlessness she was feeling in that moment was denying the meaning of the crown she was wearing.

Because even for a queen the future is something uncontrollable and love was too.

"We have to eliminate her, there is no other way!" she exclaimed, suddenly stopping and turning to the man in the room.

Nostradamus seemed contrary to the idea, but didn't look surprised. The queen had already tried anything against Mary but the Scot and Francis were more in love than before and the visions about his death hadn't changed at all, on the contrary they almost appeared clearer.

"What are you planning?"

The queen remained silent for a while after the question and as she finally spoke, there was a hint of hesitation and fear in her voice.

"I've heard about a powerful evil sorceress who rules in the White Kingdom…"

The seer didn't try to hide the astonishment at her words and immediately tried to dissuade her. He had heard about the Evil Queen as well and her power along with that, but if her malice could soften in the legend, what he knew for sure was that magic was something dangerous and destructive.

"They say that magic has always a price" he warned her, allowing himself to give her a scolding look.

But she didn't care about a reproach, she was perfectly aware of the risks and was ready to face them. The decision was made and with just one look she made him understand that what she needed wasn't the wise seer or the caring friend, but the useful helper and the loyal servant. So he took a breath and looked at her with a resigned and yet determined look.

"What do I have to do?"

Catherine quickly approached him more and made a soft smile raising a hand to caress his face; then she let it fall and as that short moment of unusual sweetness vanished, an almost evil smirk appeared on her lips.

It had been a long since the last time Regina went to a Ball and she was quite enjoying it. It wasn't the company of the pirate or the atmosphere to give to her that positive feeling, she was not even dancing; it was rather because of the evil scheme that was already forming in her mind.

"What are you smiling at, love?" Hook asked a bit confused by the queen's expression.

He tried to follow the direction of her look, but it only led him to a couple dancing in the centre of the hall. He continued to watch them for a moment, until he finally connected the dots and turned her eyes back to the woman.

"That's the girl, isn't she?" he asked, sighing deeply.

The captain secretly dissented from that sort of alliance that Regina seemed so willingly to accept. They had been two lonely lives crossing their paths in name of revenge, but as time passed, there was more than the desire to destroy Snow White and the crocodile to keep them close: there was more, at least for him. That travel to that realm however was resulting in a new push for her toward darkness and he couldn't do anything else but follow her in the dark. Wasn't the dark their place after all?

"Yes, she is" she replied, still staring at the couple.

Mary. That was the name associated to that lovely young woman she had had the task to kill. Was she going to accept that? Yes, at least until that Catherine was really going to fulfill her promise as the seer told her.

"How foolish of me thinking that you just wanted to spend some time with me as a love escape"

Regina chuckled at the words of the pirate and pretended not to notice the fact that he was only half joking.

"Foolish indeed, captain" she agreed then, moving her eyes again to the dancers "You know I only care about one thing"

Hook nodded but he couldn't hide the disappointed expression on his face. He knew what she was devoting herself to and he could understand that devotion too well. Revenge.

"Hello, Evil Queen"

The two queens finally met, an empty room and something potentially deadly dangerous in the hands of both of them. It wasn't Catherine the one to have spoken though, it had been Regina with a humorless chuckle and an unfriendly glare.

"I have heard about your attempts to kill your daughter in law…" the brunette spoke again when she noticed that the other woman wasn't about to answer to that provocation "Allow me to say that I think you are very evil indeed"

At that point, Catherine finally smiled and the fear she had felt at first was somehow forgotten, or at least temporarily put aside.

"I have heard more about you" she simply replied, smirking back.

"Well, not everything you listen is true, dear" the queen of the White Kingdom replied "On the contrary, people tend to omit some parts of what I really do"

Her cruel laughter made the fear came back again and the Queen of France subtly swallowed trying hard to keep her courage and bring her purpose to an end.

"You must really be able to help me, then"

"Of course I am, I am able of everything"

"Then it's set: Mary for Snow White"

Regina nodded with no trace of irony in her face this time, just determination and the longtime wanted revenge shining in her eyes. Her precious enemy would have died by the hand of that new ally and she would have been in charge instead of the murder of Mary of Scots: nothing really difficult for someone so powerful like them, but it was something that could make them if not happy, tranquil.

At that nod, Catherine nodded back and then slowly turned to the door, but suddenly something stopped her right before she could leave the room. So she approached the other queen again as she pronounced the sort of justification she had been keeping telling herself all the time since the idea first came into her mind.

"I'm doing this for love…"

Regina looked up to her and raised an eyebrow, but no mock came out of her mouth this time; a melancholic look was instead all that she gave and an expression of human pain covered her regally impassive expression. Then she looked down and focused her attention on her hand, her left one, the one with a sort of cheap ring that she was touching almost compulsively. When she looked up again, that face turned into despair and her voice almost broke.

"What do you think I've been doing this for?"

The Queen of France couldn't understand the meaning of that question and of course she couldn't guess the story behind that ring, but she felt immediately a connection to that woman as she was seeing her for the first time like that – like a woman, a human.

Doing it for love or for revenge, being so powerful and yet feeling so lonely and unloved, choosing power over love maybe for fear and loss.

They were so similar, they were two queens of nothing.

Because all the Queens can never have is happiness after all.

Hello everyone! This my try to a short crossover of the two shows I'm currently liking the most, and in particular a probable meeting between my two favourite characters Regina and Catherine, set in the first episodes of Reign and before Storybrooke. I also couldn't omit some slight hints to my favorite ships: Hooked Queen and Catherine/Nostradamus.

Hope you liked the idea! Let me know what you think :)