A/N: There's no spelling mistake in the title, it's indeed one word. And it's a new story and I hope you'll all like it. It's a SwanQueen story, just so that there'll be no complaints later. This is the prologue and it's fairly short - shorter than the following chapters will be.


"What is this child's name?" the ministery figure asked as he was holding the baby.

Snow White looked at her husband and they smiled at each other.

"His name is...," but that was as far as Snow got. She was interrupted by the opening door, a gust of wind blowing in and the surrounding people gasping. A moment later a gap formed and a voice rang out even before Snow and Charming could see the late arrival.

"Sorry, I'm late," Regina said and a chill ran through the whole assembly as everyone was having a nightmarish déjà-vu.

Regina stood in the doorway in all her black leather-clad glory and the memory of her standing in the entrance of the throne room of the castle on Snow and Charming's wedding day overwhelmed everyone. But that was all it was - a memory. They weren't in the castle now as a new one was still being build.

A year had passed since they had returned to the Enchanted Forest and no one - no one present at least - had seen Regina since that day. Some had thought her dead, others were sure she was hiding. But now she was here and while everyone remembered the scene from the wedding, there was little doubt that it wasn't the evil queen that was standing before them.

Regina was thinner than anyone had ever seen her, her cheeks were hollow, her eyes set into dark circles, her hair was hanging wildly around her head. The people in the room would probably have been surprised that they were all reminded of the same cultural reference from the world they had left a year ago: Bellatrix Lestrange from the Harry Potter-movies. That's how Regina looked, it was a disconcerting sight.

"Regina, what are you doing here?" Snow roused herself from the memory. She didn't mean to be unfriendly to the woman who had saved them all from Pan's curse but her appearance was too unexpected to produce a friendly greeting.

The other woman turned and closed the door behind her. When she turned back to everyone she was wearing the faintest smile.

"I... I wanted to see the baby," she said and came closer.

David turned to the minister who looked a little alarmed.

"It's okay," the king said and took the boy from the richly robed man. He held his son as Regina stepped closer, looking down at the baby. A single tear fell on the tiny head and Regina looked up at David.

"He's gorgeous," she said and then she looked at Snow.

"That he is," the other woman answered with a soft smile.

"I need your help," Regina then said and shocked the room into absolute silence. "I need your help with a curse."