She could hear the drops of rain somewhere above her head – a weak sound of the outside world that - she hoped - still existed. What the hell had gone wrong, she thought robbing her arms. Trying to ease the shackles on her wrists and suddenly freezing to the footsteps coming from the stairs. A complete darkness surrounded the woman but she was pretty sure she knew who was slowly aproaching her. It was David Nolan, or whatever he turned into after the curse was so widely broken. Of all the things Regina could expect, her kiss on the man's lips breaking her 28 years of misery would be something insane. Unbeliavable. Impossible.
Sitting on the cold concrete floor for so many days have given the former queen a nasty flu if not a neumonia. She tried to force back the cough – failing to do so, and filling the basement of her own house with a violent sound of a heavy breath. Regina was fevering for sure, barely keeping herself from falling down onto the floor – knowing full well she'd only freeze faster then. No, she needed to survive this – whatever it was – she needed to find out what happened. Henry. Her son was what kept her sane these days, gave her mind something to rely on, think of, live for. If only the world still existed. The last thing she saw before David – Charming – that man – knocked her out was the purple fog covering the town of Storybrook. Regina could still remember the sweetest kiss she ever had since Daniel's death, the dinner she shared with David prior to the heart to heart conversation leading to the kiss, and…
"Good morning, Regina" she heard Charming's voice a moment before the lights went on causing her a headache. She closed her eyes wishing the pain away. It was still here, and so was the man standing in front of her with a glass of water and a handfull of random pills. He'd force the woman to open her mouth and make her swallow the meds; Regina would try to bite his arm on the way, spitting into his face and being backhanded right away. Ever since she fell sick, it all became sort of their everyday routine.
"Is it now, prince" she whispered, her voice broken, her throat on fire. "I need a bathroom" she continued and the man nodded.
He'll allow that, he always does. But not before he gives her the meds to keep her alive and – probably – even fight the fever. She'd recover sooner if he'd allow her to the bed instead of a cold basement floor, but for obvious reasons – like her magic coming back to her, or the former queen making an escape attempt – he won't go for that.
Having no idea of how much time had passed since the curse had been broken, Regina had little to hope for aside from finding out that her son was still alive. Well, maybe breaking Gold's – Rumple's, she corrected herself – thin neck for tricking her into this mess. Little imp had always had the power to lead Regina all the wrong ways and give her all the bad choices to make, but this… this was beyond the line of her forgiveness.
Emma would break the curse, he said. Emma. And technically it was still true – it was Emma's presence that pushed Regina to try separating Mary Margaret and David Nolan so desperately. These two always found each other, and it was time to stop that. And so Regina went for the simplest plan ever – having failed to frame the school teacher for a murder of Nolan's wife or keep the half dead man in the hospital forever – she was to make sure Charming would stay away from Snowwhite. The former evil queen would seduce him. Conquer him. Break.
The curse was falling apart – letting the fairytale memories slip through the cover of the Storybrooke reality. It was time to act, so Regina did. She had the prince in her house, a little bit drunk and strongly feeling sorry for the woman; there it was, a point of no return for him. He'd belong to her, and Snow would suffer. Forever. With only one small problem: right after Mayor Mills kissed her victim, the curse fell apart…