Hey, guys! This is a complete AU. To make a few things clear:

Zelena was never born

Johanna is not killed in this one

Hope you´ll like it! I don´t own anything. If I would it would be whole lot more different.

She stood in the clock tower holding her servant´s heart in her hands and squeezing it hard. Her mother stood tall and proud next to her while Snow White begged for the old woman´s life giving Cora the dagger.

,,Such a good girl." The old witch grooned and looked at the servant with a sneer. Johanna coughed as the younger brunette released the pressure around her glowing heart. She stared at the former Queen for a moment before giving her attention to Cora.

,,Tell her, Cora. Tell her the whole truth." She demanded weakly almost fainting. The former Miller´s daughter just laughed at that. ,,Why should I?" she asked challenging.

,,Tell me what?" asked Regina confused while looking between the two older woman. She didn´t understand what her mother could still be hiding after revealing the truth about Queen Eva´s death? She needed to know.

,,Tell her! She deserved to know what else happened to make her a Queen." Johanna was pleading now. All of them were curious. All but Cora. She seemed nervous something Regina never saw in her mother before.

,,I-I uh- I´m not- I´m not your mother." The witch whispered stammering. Although it was loud enough for all of them to hear. Without another word the younger brunette disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke while tears ran down her rosy cheeks. Her whole life was a lie. The woman she called ´Mama´ all her life had not given birth to her.

She was in the middle oft he forest now, her knees pulled to her body and her head on them. She remembered everything now. Her first word had been ´Mama´, the woman she always wanted to make proud wasn´t her mother. It still wouldn´t sink in.

At the hospital…

After Regina disappeared Cora did too and Snow and David brought poor Johanna to the hospital. The older woman was resting as Snow held her hand.

,,Johana? How did you know that Cora wasn´t Regina´s mother?" the former princess asked her nurse maid carefully. Johanna didn´t know how to explain.

,,I´m her mother." She aswered still very weak from almost being killed. She only had two pictures in mind: One oft he little girl she gave away long ago and the second oft hat little girl now a grown woman holding her heart in her hands. The pair was rather shocked by her confession and looked at her to continue.

,,Years ago a woman knocked on my gottage door and asked for the child I was going to bare. She said she was barren and needed the child to make her the future Queen. I was really poor and after the death of my husband, Regina´s father, I couldn´t take care of myself. So how could I take care of a baby? She promised me money and that the child would be well treated so I agreed. What other choice did I have? I couldn´t let my child die. When Regina was born she came and asked what I wanted to name her. I wanted to name her Rapunzel for the little curls she had, however Cora said it was not a name fit for a Queen. So she named her Regina. I never thought I would ever see her again. But now I know that it wasn´t destiny that brought her back to me but Cora. She planned it all. And killed my little girl´s true love and with him my little girl dyed inside. If I hadn´t given her away we wouldn´t be here." The woman explained saddened. Tears running down her face. Snow couldn´t believe it. Johanna was really Regina´s mother. Now she felt even guiltier for telling Cora the truth all those years ago. But if she hadn´t Regina and Johanna would have never met.

Back in the forest…

It was getting dark now but she didn´t care. Her eyes were red and puffy from all the tears she´s shed and her body was getting colder every minute. Sighing the brunette ran a hand through her cropped locks and remembered how Cora cut her floor lenght curls off when she was sixteen and how Johanna brushed her hair ever so gently when she was Queen and Cora had long gone to Wonderland. Now she knew why the old servant was always so kind to her. Always listening to her and giving her advice when she was still a very unexperienced young woman. Still a virgin before the King stole all her innocence from her. And how the servant comforted her after every night with the much older man.

She also wondered about what could have been had she been raised by her real mother. Would Daniel and her still have met? Would she still have turned out the way she did? From a kind, loving young girl to a coldhearted revenge seeking Witch Queen?

All this questions ran through her head and more.

Who was her real father? Where was he? Was he still alive? Why did her mother give her away to that terrible woman in the first place? Was she not wanted by her mother? Was she not enough? Or was she just chess figure in it all to get her mother to a higher status?

She didn´t know what lay in the future for her now and she was afraid by that. She always liked having the control but she never really had that until she became the Evil Queen everyone feared. Regina never wanted that life. It was always Cora. She was behind it all. She even knew about Daniel before young Snow White told her. It was all planned. She was never supposed to be happy.

At this point she didn´t care about the coldness around her anymore and just cryed harder.

Thanks for reading! Well that was the first chapter. Any thoughts on it? Just let me know. I´m not a native english speaker so please be kind!