(Before the Sun Goes Down) You Will Find It All Unraveled
Summary: The curse isn't the only thing that has begun to unravel in the town of Storybrooke. When magic arrives, the savior and the Evil Queen get involved in a terrible mix-up, and nothing seems to turn out how anyone quite expects it to.
A/N: This is one of the first unexpectedly clear ideas for a multi-chapter story that I've had in a while, so I'm excited to see this thing through in all its progression. As you may have realized, this will pick up at the finale and explore a rather unconventional way for things to play out in Storybrooke. It will build up to its 'M' rating and eventually focus on a Swan Queen relationship, though you may see sprinklings of other pairings in here as we go. Here's to hoping you guys will enjoy this ride with me!
"In spinning a robe of your own righteousness, before the sun goes down you will find it all unraveled." - Curtis Hutson
The Prologue
When the curse unraveled across Henry's room, across the hospital, and through the entire town of Storybrooke, it swept up all its citizens and drowned them in their own awareness.
Every memory that had been locked away, every experience that had been undergone, and every last feeling that had encompassed every moment had crashed upon them in one overwhelming rush. It had floored every last townsperson.
And the good were very much aware of the Evil Queen who had put them there.
Regina Mills felt the spite in the Nun's – or was she her blue counterpart once again?- words and the loathing in the surrounding glances. She had but moments left, she knew, before she would be reduced to a refugee in the town she had just previously controlled.
"Henry," She couldn't help but gasp through her tears as she clutched his small hand, knowing it may be the last time she would ever come in contact with her son. And he was her son; he would always be her son. Despite everything, no one could take away the ten years she spent as his mother – his mother in every single sense of the word. "No matter what you think, no matter what anyone tells you," she was pleading, an act of desperation now that she was losing it all again, because he had to know, he had to… "I do love you."
Her sad, watery smile was rewarded with a flicker of something in the young boy's expression, a flicker of something that was reminiscent of his toddler days, when she had been the hero of his story. It was, maybe, the only thing left she would get to take comfort in.
She started back from Henry's bed and chanced a glance at Emma Swan. The savoir was, surprisingly, not glaring in contempt as the others were. For a moment, Regina thought the blonde woman was giving her a look of pity, but she realized that the softness in her gaze was that of understanding. She also realized that she no longer had the strength or desire anymore to stand against the woman who had saved her son. Regina did not have time to contemplate this, however, as she was required by self-preservation to flee the hospital.
And flee, she did, though she found herself inside the home she had built for her and her son in this town; she knew she could not stay even here for very long, for this manor would be the first place the townspeople would look on their inevitable witch hunt. But when the curse shattered, Regina felt a part of herself shatter as well, and this was the only place she would be able to drop the remaining pieces of herself in hopes of gathering them up again.
Henry's pillow smelled exactly of him – his room was the one she found herself sitting in – and she instinctively clutched it, willing the familiar smell to engulf her as sticky tears dripped down her face. A part of Regina had hoped, prayed even, that this was all a nightmare, reminiscent of the one she had a few nights ago, and that she would wake up in her silk pajamas with Henry still innocently asleep in his bed. She clutched his pillow tighter as she felt very lucidly her heart clench in her chest. No, this was her reality; Regina's wishes and prayers had never been answered before, and she chided herself for thinking they ever would be.
But it was all so much worse this time, for she had lost everything and this time, her everything was Henry. She stood from his bed and dropped his pillow, as if breaking contact would also clear the flickering memories from her mind. Regina tried not to think about how she was so pathetically lonely before her decision to adopt, or the first time she held the tiny new baby boy in her arms and how it reminded her to feel something other than malice and solitude. Her mind and body both betrayed her though, and sobs racked her body as she stumbled forward and braced herself against the window.
She couldn't keep on like this, risking it all for what? Power? Happiness? It seemed she couldn't have both, nor did she ever quite fully keep one. It took too much of herself.
Swiping one hand across her face to clear the moisture from her eyes, the Mayor chanced a glance out the window at the town that she had created, but that would most surely destroy her. Her eyes widened, however, at the familiar wisp of energy billowing across the horizon. As realization sunk in, Regina couldn't help the slight smirk that pulled at her lips. Perhaps she would indeed have one last hurrah to hold tight to.
Well then, the people of Storybrooke could keep their newfound awareness of old memories, because the Evil Queen would soon also regain a part of her past, as well the power that defined it.
For, magic had come Storybrooke.
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- mirroredhearts