Regina Mills. The Evil Queen. The Mayor. A vision of poise, grace, cunning and beauty. Bearer of the Most Resilient Heart. Mother. Lover. Sister. Daughter. Protector of children. The True Savior of Storybrooke. Outcast. Outsider. Forgotten. Deserted. Exiled. Discarded.
Regina mills stood in the center of her living room, staring into the beautiful fire currently crackling in the hearth. In her hands, was the picture of her and Robin from the storybook, their happy ending. Her fingers no longer felt the starchness of the stationary, neither did her eyes fully see what was before her. The intensity of the resilient flame that had once burned in her eyes was gone, forever doused with overwhelming pain and betrayal by so many that she thought she loved, that she thought loved her. It was painful and humiliating, even in the safety and privacy of her own home, to lose the control that she'd had for the majority of her life, to see her power crack and slip through her numb fingers.
Her heart had been broken was nothing to dull the pain, the growing hatred trying to fill the emptiness in her heart. Her Happy Ending was nothing more than a foolish dream. She was the Evil Queen. She'd killed, lied, cheated, and destroyed to get what she wanted, and in the process hurt so many. There were so many nameless faces, faceless names that had all suffered at her hands. She was a fool to think that she could be redeemed, that she would ever be happy.
It finally settled in, that she was a villain, through and through, and nothing could EVER change that. Her son was gone, glued to the hip of the idiot blonde that had brought Marian back and took away her happy ending. He didn't care about her anymore, she hadn't left her house in over a month and he hadn't even come to check on her. And they were supposed to be heroes. The one thing that Regina truly loved had turned his back on her, there was nothing to prevent her from tasting it. The darkness, the desire for vengeance, the incessant scent of destruction. It was all on the tip of her tongue, so sweet and so sour all at the same time.
Regina bent on one knee and placed the picture on the fire. She smiled to herself, watching her soulmate burn for his bitter betrayal. No one but her knew the true depth of the blow sustained at his choosing the beautiful maiden over her. A sword to the heart would have hurt less. But again, no one cared about the Evil Queen. No one spoke to her or visited her, unless they wanted something. Then they'd come by the dozens, asking her to fix this problem or fix that problem, and if she so much as said no, they'd spout that bullshit about redemption, faith and hope, manipulating her using her own son's safety, knowing that she'd jump at the chance to prove how much she'd changed to him.
The wall that Regina had built around herself came crashing down, stripping her of all the goodness and hope that she'd gained over the past few years, leaving nothing but a broken bomb that could still explode at any second. Pain was nothing new to Regina, but this vivid clarity that she was experiencing, was. She saw herself and everyone else for what they truly were.
Regina found herself shaking, on the verge of crying and tearing the very world apart, all while struggling to regain some semblance of control. But the emotions were too strong and the final truth hit her like a brick: she had nothing left. There was nothing and no one here to stop her from succumbing to the darkness. She wasn't sure if there ever had been anyone who cared about her, of if her so-called family had only been there to make sure she didn't turn evil again. But it was their fault...again. It was like they wanted it to happen, as if they were giving her love only to snatch it back so they could watch her suffer...like she deserved. Watching Henry give all his love, the love that he could never give her, to his real mother. Dreaming about a man that her mother killed in front of her. Watching her soulmate choose someone else over her. Saving a town over and over again and receiving nothing for it.
This was worse than being evil. It wasn't the same as before. She felt something strange surge within her. It wasn't emptiness, anger and hatred was quickly filling that void, but it was something else.
"Regina!" The brunette turned her head slightly to look at the blonde who was the cause of her losing her happy ending. Her signature red jacket was draped over her head and soaking wet. Regina then noticed that her lovely mansion was burning. The flames were bright and hot, burning a multitude of colors. "Regina, what are you doing?! You need to get out of here!" Emma screamed.
"I don't think I do. I am quite...alright." And Regina did feel alright. She felt pretty damn good as a matter of fact. She smiled to herself. She felt anything but peace, but she was in no danger. The mansion burned with the fire of her pain, the intensity of her emotional agony. And yet, she remained strangely calm.
"You're going to get yourself killed! Come with me!" Emma yelled as pieces of the house began to collapse.
"No, dear. You may be the Savior, but I do not, nor have I ever need saving." The flames grew taller and brighter as she uttered the words. She could hear the sirens, the firetrucks and squad car, trying to put out her flames, but she would not let it be. With an Evil Queen-like smirk, she opened her hands and let her magic intertwine with the fire and felt the heat enter her veins, turning her blood into an inferno.
"What are you doing?!" Emma called.
Regina felt herself change. Her hair lengthened, stretching down her back to her thighs. Her pants suit became leather and curled tightly around her frame, hugging each and every one of her beautiful curves, until she now wore black leather pants,tall black dominatrix heels, a black corset that sparkled with diamonds and a black leather jacket. She shrugged after examining herself. The outfit wouldn't have been her first choice, but she couldn't deny that she looked good in it.
"Regina! We need to get out of here!" Emma said taking a few steps towards her.
"Go away, Swan." Regina hissed.
"I won't leave you." The blonde said adamantly.
Regina rolled her eyes. "Always trying to be the hero" she jumped when Emma grabbed her arm and her magic reacted on its own, blasting Emma backwards and straight through the front door. She rolled her eyes again. "Stupid woman." She summoned her magic for one final show.
"I wouldn't do that, dearie." Gold said, appearing behind her. When Regina turned to look at him, he couldn't hide the shocked look on his face. Regina looked mad, deranged, and he knew that it had all finally become too much for the woman to bear. The burdens so heavy, she was crushed beneath, leaving a broken woman to put the puzzle of herself back together. "Regina, think about what you're about to do." Her magic was growing in strength at each second that passed and he couldn't understand where she was finding it. He'd always had the most powerful magic and had always been capable of keeping Regina in line, but she didn't look scared, or afraid. She was so calm, so powerful that for a moment, he was afraid of her.
Regina laughed, a sound as deep hollow as her eyes. "Go away, Rumplestiltskin. Leave me to the fate that you tried so hard to orchestrate." She turned back to the fireplace, her magic full to bursting.
"Regina, don't!"
She ignored him and unleashed everything she had. The great mansion exploded in a conflagration of color, blasting wood and glass in all directions with enough added force to knock the fire trucks on their side. A powerful surge ripped through the earth, cracking and breaking buildings within distance of the explosion. When the smoke cleared, Gold was laying on the ground, blood pouring from numerous cuts and bruises. Regina was nowhere in sight.
"What was that?" Mary Margaret asked, helping Henry and Charming to their feet.
"That was Regina, at her full strength and on the verge of madness." Gold supplied as he magically healed himself.
"She turned evil again?" David asked, as though he wasn't too surprised.
"No, Regina is in a lot of pain and we need to find her before she loses control."
"Look at what she did!" David said, gesturing to the destruction surrounding them. "I say we leave her where she is, then she won't bother us anymore."
"That never works, Charming." Mary Margaret said.
Emma stood up, slowly, her magic slowly healing her burns and bruises. "We're going to find her, and bring her home. None of you have to come, but I promised to get everyone their happy endings back. That includes Regina."
"I'll come with you." Henry voiced.
"No, you won't." Said Emma.
"I can help. You almost died five minutes ago."
"Don't argue with me Henry." Emma have him a stern look before turning to her parents. She knew they hadn't really forgiven Regina for the things she'd done and never really made an effort to do so, except maybe Mary Margaret but it wasn't much. "I'll go check the vault, you guys check on the townspeople." They nodded and she went to get into her car.
Regina was no idiot, she knew the first place they would look would be her vault and she placed a few powerful enchantments around it to make sure the Savior and her light magic couldn't get in.
After the explosion, she made her way to the cabin where she knew the Queens of Darkness were staying.
"Well, well, if it isn't Mommy Dearest." Cruella said.
She rolled her eyes and looked at Maleficent. "What do I have to do?"
"Pardon?" The dragoness raised an eyebrow.
"You wanted to know if I could still hang. What did I have to do?"
Regina found herself sitting in the passenger seat of Cruella's car, sitting on the train tracks while a train barreled towards them.
"The first one to save us loses."
Regina smirked. "As you wish." Just seconds before the train hit them, purple smoke enveloped the car and Regina appeared standing safely on the other side of the train tracks. She grinned as Maleficent saved them and she poofed herself back into the car. "Next."
xxxxx
"What do the idiots know about the Author?" Cruella asked as the Queens returned to the cabin.
"Nothing much." Regina said, pacing in front of the fireplace. For some reason she couldn't settle. She was a bundle of nerves, her body alive with too much energy to even sit down. Mal had noticed her change in demeanor but hadn't commented on it.
"What's with the new getup?" Ursula said, eyeing the former queen's new outfit.
"I thought it was time for a change. Anyways, you guys need to get the storybook, they believe the Author is trapped inside it or something."
"How are we supposed to do that? Doesn't your boy carry the damn thing everywhere he goes?" Ursula asked.
"We need a distraction." Maleficent said.
Regina eagerly raised her hand. "Pick me."
"What did you have in mind?" The dragoness asked.
Xxxxxx
There was nothing left within Regina but pain, a constant and overwhelming pain. She knew that she had no happy ending, that the Author would never write her one, so what was the point of trying to be good. What was the point of living according the false standards of the so called heroes of storybrooke? Regina was done with all of that.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion as she walked from the town line towards the town. The forest around her was on fire. She heard every crackle and pop, fully aware of every aspect of her magic. She experienced the same vivid clarity as before and the same strange feeling that she couldn't quite place.
She reached the town and the fire leaped from the trees and onto the buildings. The people panicked and Regina smiled as she practically smelled their fear. It'd been too long.
She heard someone calling her name and turned slowly to face Charming as he aimed his gun at her. He was saying something but she wasn't listening, too amused at how cute he looked when he thought he was in control with that little trinket he called a weapon. The gunshot was shockingly loud yet distorted, as though she were underwater. She raised her hand, the bullet stopping an inch from her palm. She waved her hand at it, firing back at the false prince and struck him in the leg. He fell, clutching his wound.
"Regina!"
"Mom!"
Regina sighed. And here comes Henry to calm her down, to try and get her to stop burning the town. But the fog of anger and hatred was too heavy around Regina to even care that her son was near. He'd left her, treated her like crap when all she wanted was to be loved, and now expected her to simply fall to command. The Evil Queen bowed to no one.
"DO NOT come any closer." Regina hissed, freezing them both in place. "Remember what happened last time, Savior?"
"Mom, why are you doing this?" Henry asked.
Mom? Mom? What Mom had to beg her son to love her? What Mom had to fight another woman for her son's love and whether she won or allowed Emma to win, she still received nothing. Henry had turned his back on her for his family of heroes. He would always be Regina's son, even she knew that, but she was done letting a child control her life. A child who hurt every chance he could get. There was only so much that the Most Resilient Heart could take before she wanted to rip it out of her own chest and crush it, if only to end the torment.
"Why, Henry? Look back over the last year and tell me why, son." She was surprised he even still called her such when he treated her like a bad taste in his mouth since he left to bring back Emma.
"Regina, don't do this. This isn't you." Emma said. "You're not yourself. Don't stop fighting against the darkness. Don't give in, Regina."
Regina had always been fighting the darkness, trying to constantly prevent the downward spiral that everyone knew would happen sooner or later. For the first time in so many long years, Regina basked in the darkness like it were the sun, as it consumed her very being. Her body was no longer exhausted from the constant battle. She felt renewed and invigorated with new hope and a new purpose.
Regina laughed. "I am the darkness, my dear." She spread wide her arms and buildings all around them began exploding and erupting in colorful fire.
Ursula walked towards her, a tentacle curled around Snow's neck. "It's not at the house. We tore it apart." Cruella joined them before stepping towards Henry and checking his bag.
"Here it is, dahling." She opened it and flipped through the pages. "A page is missing."
"Where is it?" Ursula glared at Snow and increased the pressure on her neck.
Snow held her ground and stayed silent even as she slowly lost consciousness. Emma struggled but it was pointless. "Wait stop! I know where it is, just stop destroying everything and let my Mom go."
Regina squeezing her hand, slowly crushing the blonde's rib cage. "I don't think so, Miss Swan. You have about 30 seconds before your ribs crush your heart and Henry will be forced to watch you die. Decide quickly my dear." She smirked evilly.
"Alright!" Henry said after watching his mother groan in pain. "It's in my pocket." Ursula used one of her tentacles to retrieve it.
"Got it."
Regina released them and waved her hands, a massive cyclone formed around the queens of darkness and spirited them away, leaving the heroes to salvage the town, mend their wounds and find a new strategy for facing the newly formed Regina.
A/N: Please review and tell what you think! I have no idea on whether this will become an actual story or what, but let me know what you think anyway. I wrote it in like 30 minutes so this may suck. By the way I do not Once upon a time. If I did, Regina and Lana Parrilla would still be the same sexy and awesome queen and the Charmings, more specifically Snow, would be locked in the asylum simply because I find her overly self righteous, creepy and annoying with her all of hope and faith crap.
