Hello lovelies! Before you read this know that there re going to be implied and straight up mentions of physical, and emotional abuse in this story. There are also implications of marital rape. None of these afore mentioned acts are in anyway acceptable, and are purely fictional in this scenario. I own nothing of the Once Universe and all rights go out to those that do. Please let me know what you think! Happy reading!
Chapter 1 – At The Beginning
"A Dark Curse?" Zelena looked across the room at Cora. "Is that our only option?"
"Your father has given your sister everything you were meant to have. Yes my dear, it is our only option." Cora smiled at her daughter. Henry had given Regina everything, he had ensured she was crowned Queen, but that didn't mean that Zelena would be left with nothing. No, Cora would make sure that her elder daughter got everything that she deserved. With Rumplestiltskin's help she was in a position to change her daughter's future.
The two women stood in the window of the castle overlooking the courtyard where Prince Henry was conversing with King Leopold's men as they loaded Regina's luggage. Little did she know that she would never get the chance to be a Queen. Zelena turned away from her wretched little sister and back towards the task at hand.
"What do I need to do Mother?"
"I have prepared everything for you. Only one ingredient is left." Cora retreated from the window and moved across the room towards the cauldron.
"What is that?" Zelena could see from her mother's movements that this was crucial. Something important was happening. "Mother, how do I enact the curse?"
"With this…" From the shadows a man appeared as Cora beckoned him forward.
"Daniel?" Zelena moved across the room towards the man that she loved. "Mother, what does Daniel have to do with any of this?"
"My dear girl, he is the key. In order to enact this curse you need one more ingredient." Cora smiled wickedly, getting rid of Daniel was an added bonus for her. Zelena didn't need any distractions in their, her, newfound happiness. "You must crush the heart of the thing you love most."
"No!" Zelena cried out and rushed to Daniel. "I won't do it. Loosing you is not worth it. I love you!"
"Zelena," Daniel took her face in his hands, "Zelena, I love you, and I want nothing more than for you to be happy. If this is your happy ending, then I am more than willing to give my life for it."
"No, Daniel, no. I love you, I don't want a happy ending unless you're there too." Zelena started to cry as she clung to his vest.
"Zelena!" Cora had had enough of her daughter's outburst. Zelena turned to look at her mother. "Zelena, take his heart. Now." The severity in her voice left very little choice in the matter.
"Daniel, I'm so sorry." Zelena gave him one final kiss, and then, before she could really think about what she was doing, Zelena plunged her hand into her lover's chest and took out his heart. With tears streaming down her cheeks Zelena turned away from him and back to her mother. "Now what? What do I do with it?"
"I told you before my dear. You must crush it." She extended her arm towards the cauldron. "Crush it over the cauldron and let the dust fall into the curse."
Zelena moved to the cauldron, but she couldn't bring herself to watch as she crushed Daniel's heart into the curse that her mother was determined would bring about her happy ending. Her dark curse began to take form as an ominous, billowing cloud began to rise from the cauldron.
"You've done it my dear!" Cora smiled at her eldest daughter. "Absolutely nothing can stop us now."
"Hee hee hee, on the contrary," both women spun around at the sound of the all too familiar laughter.
"Rumple! What are you doing here? You told me that this would work! That if Zelena cast this curse she would get her happy ending!"
"You're right, I did say that, but you forgot about the other thing I said. Remember dearie, every curse can be broken."
"How? How can this one be broken? No one is going to remember anything from this land. No one is going to have the power to stop us."
"Now, now, now, never underestimate the power of True Love my dear. It's a powerful thing. And from what I can see of the future, that daughter of yours has a power all her own."
"Why would I break my own curse?" Zelena seemed to have found her voice at last. "That doesn't even make any sense."
Rumple looked confused. "Who said anything about you dearie?" He shook his head back and forth as he laughed. "No, no, no my dear, your sister."
"Regina?!" Cora looked taken aback. She rushed to the window to watch as her younger daughter climbed into her new husband's carriage. Cora could almost hear the girl's laugh as she smiled at her young stepdaughter. "Regina is weak. She has no power at all. And as for love. Ha. That man will never love her, and I know for a fact she cares more for that brat of a daughter of his than she does for him."
"Yes, yes, yes. Things look that way now, but as you well know dearie, appearances aren't always as they seem. Hee, hee, hee." And with a flip of his wrists the imp was gone.
"Mother?!" Zelena rushed forward. "What is he talking about? How will she ever be strong enough to beat me?"
"She won't." Cora flipped her fingers towards the curse that was still rising and beginning to spread through the room. "She won't be able to stop us. True love. Ha. That's something she will never see." Cora's menacing laugh was the last thing that Zelena heard before her curse overtook her.
"Mother?" Regina turned towards Snow, she was starting to get used to being called that.
"Yes dear?" She smiled and reached for her stepdaughter.
"Are you sad to leave your family here? You love us don't you?"
"Oh Snow. Yes, I love you very much, and as for my family. I will miss my father, but we can visit each other often. It will be just fine."
"What about your mother? And your sister? Won't you miss them?"
Regina couldn't help but sigh. She wouldn't miss the women who had made her life miserable. In fact she was pleased to be rid of them, but she didn't want to burden Snow with her past. The carriage traveled on underneath her as she tried to decide what to say. She settled on a half version of the truth. "They won't miss me, and I have you to be the best girl in my life now. I don't need my sister around anymore." A beautiful smile graced her lips and she hoped, the young girl would believe her.
"Okay." Snow leaned against the wall of the carriage and looked out the window as they drove away from Regina's childhood home. "As long as you are happy, I will be happy too." She smiled as she looked back at her new mother. "I'm just glad I don't have to be alone anymore."
The young queen smiled. She knew exactly how Snow felt. A palace was never empty, but they could be the loneliest places in the world. Since the death of Snow's mother Regina knew that the young princess had been unhappy. She was determined that together they could find a way to be happy again.
The elder brunette turned to look back at her father's palace one last time. "Oh!" She saw the magic billowing out of one of the top most windows of the castle. "Leopold!" The queen called out the window to her new husband.
"Yes Regina?" The King rode up alongside the carriage in which the young woman was riding. "Whatever is the matter?"
"Magic," she pointed behind him to where the dark, flashing cloud was beginning to chase after them. "It's my mother, or my sister. Whatever it is, it won't be good if it catches up to us."
The King looked over his shoulder to where Regina was pointing. "Can we outrun it?"
"I don't know."
The King reached down and took her hand. "We will try." He rode forward to the front of the party. "Make haste, try and outrun that storm!"
Regina looked across the carriage at the scared young princess. "Come here Snow. Your father and the knights are going to do everything they can to get us out of here, but just get ready."
"Ready for what?"
"Honestly, I have no idea." The carriage lurched as the horses broke into a run. They weren't going to be able to outrun it. Regina was certain her mother would have made sure of that. The only question was why was it happening in the first place? She closed her eyes and wrapped an arm around the younger girl, who had moved to her side. Whatever was coming, whatever happened next, she would take care of Snow White. After all, she was a mother now, and that should always come first.
"No! Faster!" She heard the King's urging and knew the curse must be gaining on them. Regina couldn't bring herself to open her eyes. There were some things that you just never want to see. She felt the wind pick up, and she could hear Snow's tears as she held her close. Somehow without really knowing how she knew the Queen was sure of one thing. Nothing would ever be the same.
Light flooded into the room when Zelena opened her eyes. She looked around her, the dark grey room was nothing like she had ever seen, as she sat up the blankets fell off of her and she was even more surprised by what she was wearing. She rushed out of bed and into her closet, everything was made of the finest materials, but it all looked so different. It was then that she thought about how she got there. The curse, her curse. She rushed to the window. Everything, the entire town, belonged to her.
Zelena got dressed in her strange new clothes and left the house quickly; she wanted to find her mother. If everything had gone according to plan Cora would have all of her memories as well. Unlike everyone else in this town. Zelena smiled, it may be just the beginning, but at least she knew that Regina's happy ending was gone for good.
"Good morning Madam Mayor." Zelena looked up as someone addressed her. The cricket, or at least he used to be a cricket. She nodded in agreement.
"Yes, I suppose it is." She headed off briskly down the sidewalk. She was looking at everything around her. Nothing here even resembled the Enchanted Forest. The curse had done everything that had been promised. No one would be able to change Mother's plans.
"Oomph…" Zelena was knocked out of her own thoughts as she collided with someone on the sidewalk. "Oh I'm sorry," she looked up, "Regina?" Zelena took in the sight of her sister. She was still small, with long, dark hair and chocolate eyes, but something was different. Zelena could tell, something was drastically different about her baby sister, and that's when it hit her. Happiness, that's what was gone, the old Regina used to radiate happiness. Here, now, this version of Regina looked to be on the verge of tears.
"Oh, Zelena! Madam Mayor! I'm so sorry. It's entirely my fault, I wasn't watching. It won't happen again I promise. I'm so sorry!" Regina was stumbling over her apologies as she automatically stepped back from her sister.
Well, well, Zelena thought as she looked at the tiny brunette, what a way for the Queen to behave. She simply nodded at her and continued on her way. It turned out Mother was right, she could be happy here. Regina was beneath her, and she, Zelena, had everything.
As she entered City Hall she noticed that everyone working there stopped talking at once. Oh well, let them talk. They couldn't do anything about it anyway. No one could, this was her town, her curse created it. She was in charge here. Zelena opened the door to her office, only to find someone else already sitting behind her desk.
"Mother…" She breathed it out quietly, praying that Cora still knew everything. Suddenly hoping that she wasn't in this alone.
"Zelena!" Cora smiled at her. "It worked, the curse worked!" She was positively beaming with pride. "You did it! The town is yours, you can have everything we have ever dreamed."
Zelena smiled at her mother. She wasn't alone; there was someone there to continue to guide her. She had never had to rely entirely on herself and she wasn't sure she knew how. She did, however, know how to keep up appearances. "Mother, I believe you are in my seat."
Cora laughed, "Of course." She got up and dramatically ushered her daughter to the seat. "Madam Mayor. Have you seen your sister yet?"
"Yes, just now actually. She looks smaller here, not nearly as proud. She was apologizing all over herself, merely for bumping into me. She is…weak."
"Good. We can't have her any other way. Not after what that imp said about her being a threat to our curse."
"Well, don't worry about that. She doesn't look like any kind of Savior. She looked like she was about to cry. What did the curse do to her?"
"The curse itself did nothing. I, on the other hand, changed that darling husband of hers, for the worse. He may have been a kind and gentle King, but he is neither kind nor gentle when it comes to his wife."
"Mother!" As much as Zelena despised her sister subjecting her to abuse was awful. "You didn't have to make her miserable!"
"Isn't that the point of a curse darling?" She walked towards the doors as she left the new mayor alone in her office. "Besides, we can't have them loving each other. True Love is all too powerful." Cora left without waiting for a reply.
True Love. She had given up her true love to get to this land. To get everything she ever wanted. But how? How was she supposed to be happy, when the person she was supposed to be happy with was dead? "Daniel…" She whispered his name as she touched the ring on her finger. It was there, sitting in her office on the first morning of her curse to find happiness that Zelena began to cry.
Regina moved down the street silently. She had run into the mayor! She prayed no one had seen, that Leo wouldn't find out. She was already in trouble for burning his toast that morning; she didn't think she could take any more punishment.
She tugged the sleeves of her turtleneck down further around her wrists as she walked. Nobody could see the bruises. People would ask questions and the last thing she wanted was people getting suspicious. Her husband wasn't one to let something like that go lightly, and she was his wife after all. She didn't want to cause him any trouble. Besides if she took the brunt of his anger he would leave Mary Margaret alone.
The girl was only ten after all, and Regina tried to make sure that she didn't see her father when he came home drunk from the station or the bar almost every night. Regina was young herself, but she was the parent, well stepparent. It didn't matter; she had to protect that little girl. She loved her, and didn't want to see her innocent views of the world interrupted by her father.
Regina couldn't let anyone find out, not in a town this small. Not when her abusive husband was, in fact, the sheriff. There was no way out. It was an impossible situation. She sighed as she entered the library. This was the only place she felt safe. Here, with Lacey, surrounded by all of the books.
She knew that she couldn't stay long. Leo was expecting her to meet him for lunch at Granny's, but something was compelling her into the fiction section. She waved to Lacey on her way past the desk and kept moving towards the back. She pushed her hair behind her ears as she browsed through the shelves. Peaceful and content, she wandered aimlessly through the books, until she checked the clock.
She had wasted the entire morning in the library! If she was late to lunch she knew she would pay for it later.
She rushed out of the library and into Granny's just before the minute hand hit twelve. She had made it. They had lunch, made small talk with Ruby and acted like everything was perfect. Leo went back to work, and Regina headed for their home, back to her prison.
She was alone with her thoughts until Mary Margaret and her best friend Ashley came crashing through the door later that afternoon.
"Mother!" She heard Mary Margaret call out to her as she left the kitchen and moved up the stairs.
"Yes dear?" Regina answered from the living room and the girls came running in.
"Can Ashley stay for dinner?"
"Of course. Ashley why don't you go call your mother and tell her you will be staying?"
"Thank you, Mrs. Blanchard."
"No problem, dear."
The girls bounded back up the stairs as Leo came in the back door. "We have a guest." She muttered quietly as he passed her. He nodded, but didn't say a word as he continued past her to the other room.
The night passed uneventfully, and it wasn't until they were lying in bed, his arm thrown possessively around her waist and his leg pinning hers down that she had a chance to breathe. She fell asleep nursing a busted lip, and praying that she could hide the new bruises come morning.
And so it went on. Everyday like the one before. Zelena learned to lead the town, and Regina continued to be a dutiful wife. But if they listened carefully the citizens of Storybrooke could hear the mayor cry behind her office door every morning, and yet no one could ever hear their Savior cry herself to sleep under the weight of her husband every night.