A/N: This is a Charming-Mills Family fic, at the moment no romantic ships are planned except for Snow/Charming. The prologue takes place after the events of the 2.20 flashbacks.
Prologue:
Snow White traveled for three days, catching very little sleep as she tried to put as much distance between not only her crazed stepmother but also anyone she might hurt to get at Snow. She needed more sleep than she was getting of course, but it wasn't just the imperative to get as far away as she could but also the images of those people, bodies dumped into a canyon. Not forgotten. If they had been that Regina wouldn't have had her wanted poster pinned to the bodies.
Her fault. And her fault for falling for another of the Queen's cruel games.
Finally she was sure that she had reached a safe enough distance that she could set up a new camp. She lay some traps to catch rabbit and sat down to restring her bow under the clear starry night. The manual labor of repairing her bow helped calm her mind and allowed her to stop thinking about Regina.
But the problem with trying not to think about the dragon is that guarantees that that is exactly what you will think about. Enough that when she went to check her traps to see if she could have meat for dinner she even thought she heard the voice.
"For a moment I believed." Snow stopped dead mid-stride frozen in fear. Hoping that it was her imagination. "For a moment I believed that there was still good in me. That if I just let go ... but it was the thought of a foolish girl."
"Regina." Snow said through gritted teeth as she turned around. There was the Queen, standing among the trees, no knights or horses in sight. "How did you find me."
"I don't know how might a powerful sorceress find one desperate girl?"
"You do fail at finding me on a regular basis." Snow reached for her belt and gripped the hunting knife she was going to use to kill any rabbits she'd caught.
Regina scowled for a moment, but there was no fireball or even a threat, "Did you mean it?"
"Mean what?"
"What you said before ..."
"Before we stumbled onto the mountain of innocents you'd slaughtered?" Snow said with a raised eyebrow. "How did you get so lost Regina? What made you like this?"
The Queen clenched a fist and Snow wondered if this was the night she died. But there was also something in Regina's eyes... were those tears?
"I meant it. Every word of it. Including wishing I had a feather bed. But you love hurting too much to stop, don't you Regina? You love being a martyr."
"Projection doesn't suit you, Snow."
"Evil never suited you, Regina, but you wear it like a silk cloak."
"This was pointless," Regina said with a growl. Snow clenched her teeth and wondered if this was the end. Regina raised her hand and Snow started to run. She didn't get far before glancing back sure the witch was following only to see the last tendrils of purple smoke.
Regina was gone. And she wondered if the Queen had ever even been there or if the entire encounter was the ravings of a sleep deprived mind.
