Okay, so this is my first Once Upon a Time fanfiction but I am a veteran of the site and you can read House, Justice League and some other stuff by me if you give my name a click ;).

I don't own any of the characters, if I did, there would be a lot more Regina love going on. She might actually catch a break every once in a while :D.

I'm currently about halfway through writing this story -maybe I dunno how long it's going to be- so I'm going to go ahead and post the first five chapters and see what kind of response I get. There's no point in finishing it if nobody wants to read it, after all.

Hopefully that will not be the case.

WARNINGS FOR RATINGS!

This story started off really angsty but i really hate writing angst so I quickly got over that and moved on to what I'm good at. Which is fighting, fucking and blowing shit up. There are HUGE magical fights in this, you really get to see Regina cut loose in this story because that's what i really wanted to see in the show (she's the Evil Queen for futz' sake!). There will also be derring-do from Prince Charming, lots of werewolf shenanigans, cannibals, dragons, Dark Ones and sorcery oh-my!

Brace yerself, Effie, it's going to be a ride.

ANYWAYS, the summary is as follows;

Regina manages to bring Daniel back to life and his sanity along with it but that's not all that comes along for the ride. With consequences toppling on her from all sides, Regina is set to lose absolutely everything just as the thing she wants most has come to within her grasp. Still, when you've hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up. With Regina forced to start again, to forge new friendships and take new risks, to learn to trust, she might just manage to scrape together some stability.

Not everyone gets a happy ending, but she might just manage a hopeful beginning.

Chapter 1 – Love Again

"No! No! I won't let you hurt him!"

David Nolan –or James or Prince Charming or the Sheriff- was nearly bowled clean over by the frantic attack from one borderline hysterical Evil Queen –Regina Mills if you wanted to be mundane about it.

David braced his weight against the stable door, the pounding from the other side threatening to throw him away from it. David was by no means a small man, but even he struggled to hold back whatever was on the other side.

What threw him though, what shocked him more than a man raised from the dead, was Regina's reaction.

"He'll listen to me!" Gone was the poised Mayor, the ruthless Evil Queen.

She shook him as hard as she could, which was surprisingly strong for a woman of her petite size and beat at his shoulder with her hands, trying to stop him. Frantic and uncoordinated. Had she been thinking clearly, David had no doubt that she could have removed him, with lethal force had she been of a mind to, but she was terrified. All rational and calm thought up and gone.

He'd seen many things from her, master manipulator that she was, but never this. Never the sheer desolation, the helplessness that poured from her. It was her next words that nailed it.

"Please…"

David would never have expected that from her. Demands, bargaining, bluffing, any of those, but never pleading.

She collapsed against the door alongside him, her eyes begging him, screaming with it, David felt his chivalry gland act up.

She was the Evil Queen, that…thing behind the door was a monster. It had maimed Whale, nearly killed Henry and…and Regina knew that. She knew that and, far from being apoplectic with rage, far from burning the entire town down to get to the man that had dared even touch her son, she was pleading for his life.

"Let me talk to my fiancé."

David went slack against the door for a moment. Wavering.

"Please, David, please just let me try."

"Regina, he could kill you. He's dangerous." David was weakening and there was enough of the Evil Queen left in her to leap on the opportunity.

"I can look after myself. I'm hard to kill. You know that better than anyone." She managed something like a smile, trying to gulp down her tears. "Come on, Charming, don't tell me it wouldn't make your life easier."

"Regina," David spoke sharply, scowling at her, "I'm not about to let you be torn apart by some monster!"

"He's not a monster!"

David actually took a step back from her at the ferocity that poured from her.

"He's my fiancé and he's hurt and he's scared and I'm the only one that can get through to him. Please," Regina clutched at his jacket again, seemingly needing to in order not to just sink to the floor, "please let me try."

"I…"

"Somebody needs to go to Henry." Her head lifted suddenly and she looked into his eyes. "You promised me you'd look after my son. Go and do that now. Make sure he's alright."

"Regina, I can't." David shook his head. "Whatever is in there might not be Daniel. It tore Whale's arm off, he would have killed Henry if he could, why won't he do the same to you?"

"Could you ever do the same to Snow?"

David blinked. No. Never. He couldn't ever imagine being in enough pain to hurt Snow. To have come all the way back from the dead, to see her one last time…

"Please, David, Henry's scared and frightened. He might be hurt. Go and help him. He'll…he'll let you help him." She didn't look at him when she said it, her head resting against the worn wood of the stable door.

"Alright, I'm going to find Henry and I'm going to check on him. Then I'm coming back."

Regina looked at him and then he realised what she was going to do. If she couldn't get through to him, if she couldn't save Daniel…there might not be anything to come back to.

He had to hurry.

"Here." David turned his gun, offering her the hilt. She looked down at it, nonplussed.

"I don't even know how to use it. Even if I did, I couldn't." Regina's hands closed around his and she tightened his grip on the gun, pushing it back towards his body. "You keep it, swords are a little outdated here and…you need to protect Henry."

Everything in David was screaming at him. Screaming that this was wrong, that she was giving her last goodbyes to him, that she was going to leave him to try and explain to Henry why he had left the mother who had raised him alone in the stables with a monster. Other parts were howling that she was going to die, yet more were wondering why he cared. She was right, her death would solve a lot of problems but…but there was nothing he could do to stop her.

He knew her asking was a formality. She'd remove him with magic if she had to and –if he did as she asked- Henry would be alright and then he could come back and hopefully be in time.

He had to be fast.

"I'll be right back." He holstered his gun and then gripped her arms, squeezing. "Don't die between now and then."

She gusted a brittle laugh and an even more fragile smile.

"I'll do my best."

David gave her one last nod and then turned and ran from the stalls, heading in the direction that he'd seen Henry run off in.

Regina watched him go, her hand resting against the door of the stall. She felt the rough texture of the wood as if from very far away. She waited until David was completely gone and, slowly, turned to the door. She lifted her hands, she felt like she was moving through water. Sounds were distorted, every move seemed to take ten times the effort. She slid the bolt back, eased the door open and all the air left her lungs in a whoosh when she saw him.

Daniel. Her Daniel.

He was pressed against the back of the stall, his face turned from the light. He was so still. He turned, slowly, blinking. He was confused. He shambled forward, pushing off the wall. He looked curious, like he had seen her before but couldn't remember where.

Regina's hands dropped to her sides, she was aware she was smiling.

Daniel's hand lifted, questing for her face and Regina, felt her eyes burn but –for the first time in as long as she could remember- the tears threatening to fall were happy.

Something that changed when his face twisted, rage pouring over him like someone had upended a jug of it over his head. She was so horrified that she could only stand frozen when he closed on her. He loomed from the doorway, his hand manacled around her throat, and hoisted her off the ground..

"Dan…!" She tried to say his name, to get through to him, but she choked on the word before she could finish it.

Daniel lifted her effortlessly, her toes scuffing against the wood shavings on the floor, her hands clawing at his wrist. Stars burst behind her eyes when he shoved her roughly against the wall of the stall.

"Please…"

Regina could barely make him out around the red encroaching on her vision and the thunderous pound of her heart in her ears. All she could see was the mask his face had been pulled into and all she could feel was the steel of his hand banding her neck and the pounding in her head.

"I…I love you…" Her voice was dragged from her by willpower more than anything else and each syllable cost her in agony.

She saw the mask slip. Daniel's eyes flickered, something stirring in him, a memory, a moment, and her words finally got through to him.

Daniel sagged, ragged pants torn from him, his grip finally loosened and Regina dropped from his hold, wracking coughs hunching her over. Her throat burned, and she leaned against the wall to hold herself up. She couldn't give up, not yet.

"Regina?"

"Daniel." Regina's voice was torn from the crushing of her throat but that didn't stop her from flinging herself into his arms when he stumbled towards her.

It felt good. It felt so good to be held by him again. He shivered all over, hunched around her, clinging to her like a lifeline. Her brief moment of happiness was shattered by the hoarse sound of pain that was ripped from him.

"Daniel."

"Make it stop." He staggered back, curling over on himself. "The pain…make it stop…please."

"How?" She clutched at his arms.

"Let me go." His eyes were pained, desperate. Wracked by the agonies that raced through him with every movement.

"No!" She shook her head wildly. "I can't. I can't lose you again…without you, I'm lost." She cupped his face in her hands, pleading with him. To not make her do this. She couldn't do it. She couldn't let him go again.

To go back to the desolation, the loneliness, she couldn't stand it. She couldn't stand to be without him. She knew it was selfish, she knew she shouldn't let him suffer but…but she just couldn't…and neither could she let him suffer.

"I love you."

Truly, madly, deeply. Beyond all reason or rhyme, she loved this man. She would take any pain for him. She would -and had- live in hell for him. Her heart had already been broken, her soul shattered. What did it matter if it all happened again, so long as Daniel didn't suffer one moment more?

"Then love again."

Regina stared at him, sightlessly, even as he staggered back. Clutching at his middle and gasping in pain. She watched with a strange kind of disassociation.

Love again?

How could he even suggest that? How could she possibly hope to move on from him? How could anyone ever compare to him? How could she settle for less?

Daniel hunched over, ragged sounds of agony ripped from him and, when he straightened she saw it. She saw the light that was Daniel leaving his eyes, saw it disappearing and she lunged forward. She had to stop this, she had to do something.

What was the point in all that magic, all that power that she had clawed and bitten and torn at herself for, if she couldn't save the one man she loved? If she couldn't do this one good deed then she couldn't see the point in anything else.

There was nothing for her in Storybrooke, she would always love Henry, but she didn't have him anymore. He was with the Charmings, David would keep him safe until Emma and Snow returned and then he' have exactly the family he wanted and Regina…Regina wouldn't be around to be tortured by it.

It was madness, sheer stubborn stupidity, but she was going to do it anyway. She wondered if this was what nobility was like, if this was what it felt like to be a hero.

Regina's fingers laced through Daniel's dark hair and she tugged him forward, pulling his mouth down over hers and kissing him one last time.

True love.

Despite all she'd done, the pain she'd caused, the lives she'd ruined, she had always truly loved Daniel and she always would.

She felt the power, the unstoppable power of true love, burst from their kiss. A rainbow wave of light, untameable, uncontainable, to try would be madness.

Well, nobody had ever accused Regina of being sane.

She snapped the spell into place, consciously using magic for the first time in weeks. She caught the power, all of it, screamed into Daniel's mouth as it tore into her. Filling her completely, ripping into her body and burning her from the inside out. For a moment –one agonising moment- Regina thought she was going to lose it. She thought she was going to burn them both, but then she attached the new spell, forging a connection between her and Daniel, and poured her power into it too.

The explosion was incredibly powerful and stunningly localised. It went off like a nova between them a swirl of black and purple light, whirling over in a Yin Yang wheel of power, and then lashed out.

Into Regina and Daniel.

It was long moments before Regina came back to herself and she knew she had to be alive. Nothing dead could hurt this much.

Regina groaned, huddling in on herself to try and ease her cramping muscles. She forced herself upright. She was accustomed to pain. She scrambled up onto her knees, breathing through it.

She could already feel it…what she had done…the repercussions.

In all honesty, she hadn't expected to survive that, but there she was.

She had to blink several times in order to get the pink and green spots plaguing her vision to recede. She weaved alarmingly, her sense of balance shot, a ringing in her ears. She had just been in an explosion after all.

Regina went completely still when she saw him.

"Daniel!"

He was so still. Gods, please, no. Don't let it have been for nothing, don't let her have failed. She had to crawl over to him, she couldn't stand yet, and gripped him by his lapels.

"Daniel, please, wake up." She cupped his face in her hands, not caring that the heat pouring off him scalded her.

He was sizzling he was so hot, her tears evaporating to steam when they dripped onto his face. His eyes were closed, vapour rose from his skin and clothes. Excess magic. She'd poured a LOT of power into him. Hoping to obliterate the curse that caused him such agony. Repairing the damage done, forging connections between him and his new heart, taking the pain for him.

And what a pain it was.

Regina gulped, ignoring it, and collapsed over him, not entirely voluntarily. Her ear and cheek were burned by the magic snapping from him in miniature lightning strikes but she didn't care.

Boom.

She jerked away, almost too afraid to believe, and then pressed her ear to his chest again.

Boom…boom…bu-boom…bu-boom…

His heartbeat. A thundering, living, heartbeat. Regina choked a sob and Daniel's breathing, deep and steady, lifted her as she lay over him.

Regina straightened, rubbing at her scorched face, not caring in the slightest, staring down at her true love.

He was back. She had done it. She had finally done something good, something worthwhile. It had taken everything she'd had and more, but she'd done it.

She'd saved him.

Something moved behind her and Regina whirled, confused for a second. She saw David staring down at her, shock painting his face and realised how she must look.

Clothes ragged from the explosion, her hair in disarray, makeup smeared from crying, bruises already rising livid on her neck and one side of her face seared red with burns…but happy. Grinning.

"He's alive." The words rushed from her in an elated whisper.

"Really?" David stepped cautiously closer, his hand on the butt of his gun and Regina moved, leaning over Daniel's body. She shook her head wildly.

"He's fine. He's not going to hurt anyone anymore. I promise."

David's mouth twisted. Yeah, because her promises had a good exchange rate.

"Help me." Regina stood suddenly and then toppled, her legs buckling.

David surprised himself by catching her before she fell.

"I'm alright." Her arms swinging out to help her balance belied her words, but she stubbornly staggered around to Daniel's shoulders, struggling to lift him.

"Should we move him?"

"We need to get him to the hospital." Regina grunted with the effort of trying to lift the much larger man. "Help me."

"Regina, I don't think we should take him to the hospital, there are too many other people there. If he isn't…better…"

"If he isn't better, if this hasn't worked, then I'll deal with it myself." Regina looked up at him. She had managed to get Daniel into a sitting position, his head lolling against his shoulder and her arms wrapped around his chest. "Then you can do whatever you want with me."

David blinked down at her again. This was new. This was disconcerting. He knew that Snow had told him that it had been her fault that Daniel had died but he hadn't really believed her. Seeing Regina now, he had to wonder how much truth there was to it.

He was also a little distressed that he was glad she wasn't dead. He'd handed Henry over to Ruby as she had run to meet them, bidding her to take the boy and keep him safe until he could return for him. Then he had hurried back to the stables, hoping that Regina was alright.

He frowned at that.

It must be because of Henry. His grandson was one of the fiercest advocates of his mother's redemption and –surprisingly enough- Regina actually seemed to be trying. Maybe it was Snow rubbing off on him, but David found himself inclined to actually let her try.

"Please, David," Regina seemed to force the words out, "help me."

David pressed his lips together. Then again, it might be because she was a woman in distress and he'd always been a sucker for those.

"I had better not regret this." David warned her and then stepped forward, pulling Daniel's arm over his shoulder and lifting the other man into a fireman's hold with a little effort. Damn, he was heavier than he looked.

Still, he was no pushover and David managed to get Daniel and Regina into the truck without too much hassle. He had to put Daniel in the flatbed at the back. Regina, unsurprisingly, had insisted on staying with him, cradling his head in her lap.

David threw the truck into gear and peeled out of the stable yard. This was weird. Beyond weird. Glancing into the mirror, he watched Regina's face. She was staring down at Daniel, unmoved by the bouncing of the truck, probably magic –he snorted at that- but her face had turned pensive.

He took that as a sign that Daniel might be deteriorating and pushed the truck as fast as he dared in the gravel road.

He couldn't be sure, but he suspected there might be another reason for the worry on her face. Maybe she was beginning to realise what she had brought Daniel back to. Who she had brought him back to.

The Regina that had married the king had apparently been a very different one to the woman that had worn the crown of the Evil Queen. She still loved Daniel –David had no doubt of that now- but, when Daniel came back, when he saw what she had become, would he still love her?

David huffed out a breath and pushed the truck faster still. He wanted out of this. He didn't want to feel sorry for Regina, didn't want to attribute human emotion to her.

Some people didn't deserve happy endings.