This will be a story about what life would've been like if Cora had gone to our world with Regina. Each chapter will begin with a flashback to Cora and Regina's time leading up to their launch of the curse, and then will continue with the main storyline. I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter One
The Beginning
Past
Her body, lifeless and cold, lay there in the stone tomb and, though she was dead, Cora's presence still made Regina nervous. She feared what her mother would've done if she hadn't been killed by Hook.
Death, Regina was certain, would've been her fate had her mother survived.
Even still, Regina had to say something to her mother. She had to justify why she did it.
Cora may not have been the best mother to her, but she still was just that, her mother. Even after everything, Regina felt she had to say something.
She had to explain why.
"After you killed Daniel, you told me something I've never forgotten…" Regina paused, her mind flickering back to that fateful moment between her and her mother, "'love is weakness'" she paused again, finding herself emotional. She fought to hold back tears.
Regina could feel the pain she had felt then, after her mother had killed Daniel. The shock, the betrayal, the hurt. It was numb, but still present.
She'd never forget it, but nor would she ever forget the woman that lay before her.
"Well mother you are my weakness, because I love you. That's why I couldn't risk taking you to the new land with me. Your grip on my heart is just too strong. And for what I need to do, I can't have any weakness." Unable to hold it back anymore, a tear gently slid down her cheek and fell onto the edge of the tomb. Regina took the red rose she had been holding in her hands - her mother's favorite - and placed it calmly on top of her. "Goodbye mother."
The Evil Queen slowly turned away from her mother 's body and quietly walked away, tears rolling down her cheeks. It felt unreal. Her mother was dead, and she had killed her.
"Regina," a familiar voice croaked before she had left the room. Regina froze and her eyes widened. She shook her head. No, she must've just heard it in her head. She continued to walk out of the room.
"Regina," the voice echoed again, this time louder. It wasn't in her head, it was real.
Regina stumbled in disbelief as she turned around to see the figure of her mother sitting up straight in her coffin, clutching the red rose in her hand, very much alive. Her expression was serious as she looked directly at her daughter. The Evil Queen turned cold white.
"Mo-mother?" she stuttered. Only moments before she had been laying her dead mother to rest, and now she was talking to her. Her mother was alive.
It was like seeing a ghost.
"Yes, my love," Cora reassured, poofing herself from inside the coffin to outside it. She reached, open-arms, for her daughter, "I'm alive. I was the whole time."
Regina took a step back, very much afraid of what her mother might do. Regina had killed her - or, as she now realized, had tried to kill her. She would surely be furious with her.
Cora moved towards her daughter.
"I heard what you said over my coffin. You cried, my love. Your words moved me."
"You-you're not angry with me for trying to have you killed?" Regina asked, very much she surprised with her reaction. She melted before her mother.
"I was, at first, of course. But then I heard what you said earlier. That I was your weakness and that you loved me," she smiled and took her daughter in her arms. Regina let her. "You tried to have me killed so that you would have no weakness when enacting your curse. That shows strength," she leaned in and whispered in Regina's ear, "I am so proud of you."
They remained that way, tightly hugging each other, in silence for a minute or so. This was the closest to her mother Regina had ever felt. She meant every word she had said to her mother earlier, and now, hopefully, things would be better between them.
She wanted it more than anything…
Finally Cora pulled back and broke the silence.
"Now, about your curse," she said, looking her daughter in the eyes. "I am going to help you enact it. And in this new land - with no magic - you will finally be able to get your revenge. And we will both live, happily, while watching Snow White, Prince Charming and everyone else suffer for eternity."
Present
Cora Mills's eyes gently fluttered open as she awoke from her slumber. She let out a small groan as she stretched out her arms and hands, laying there as her body slowly woke up.
Slowly sitting up from her pillow, she rose out of her bed and walked across her large, sun-filled bedroom, with it's grand red furniture, tall, elegant windows, and big, four-poster bed, and into her adjoining bathroom. Stepping into her closet, she slipped into a satin, pink robe over her silk nightgown and slid her bare feet into a pair of cozy slippers. Walking back into her bathroom, she glanced at herself in the dominating mirror - checking to make sure her appearance was decent. Deciding her hair needed some brushing, she pulled a brush out of the drawer and ran it through her thick, brown locks of hair.
Since they had come to this land, 28 years ago, Cora had always had a hard time adjusting to life without magic. She missed her magic, of course, mainly for the power magic afforded her, but also for the small things it gave her. For example, in the Enchanted Forrest and Wonderland, all she had to do to get ready in the morning was twirl her hand, the magic that she summoned taking care of the rest for her. Even so, before she had been that skilled at magic, she had had an army of servants dress and prepare her in the morning. The only time she had ever had to dress herself was back when she worked on her father's mill.
Though she much preferred to forget that chapter of her life - her life of poverty as the miller's daughter - she knew all too well that the experience helped make her into the woman she was today.
But, even still, she did miss her magic.
A loud thud suddenly sounded from nearby, interrupting Cora from her thoughts. It was followed by the clicking open of a door and then a patter of footsteps through the hallways and then down the stairs. Cora smiled at the familiar noise she heard every morning. It always meant one thing: Henry was awake.
For the past few months, Henry had been acting up. It had all started when he had found out he was adopted, which he didn't take lightly. He was saddened, and depressed, that his birth mother had given him up, a feeling which he kept hidden from Regina and Cora. They had only found out through his teacher, Mary Margaret Blanchard, who had reluctantly revealed it to them after being threatened by the mother and daughter duo.
As a result, they had decided to send him to therapy.
The elderly lady set her brush down and walked back into her room and then out the door. She strolled down the hallway and to the grand staircase, where she slowly glided down to the first floor of the large house - looking every bit like the queen she was. Cora paused before the dark, circular table that stood at the center of the entry hall, where a small purple vase of red roses stood. She gently took a whiff of the flowers before walking into the dining room. Red roses were her favorite.
She was greeted with the image of her grandson seated at the table, quickly stuffing several books into his backpack. He avoided his grandmother's gaze.
"Good morning, Henry," she greeted him with a smile, patting him on the shoulders.
"Morning, grandma."
Cora quietly chuckled at her grandchild's lack of formality or concern as she passed through the dining room and into the kitchen, where her daughter was busy making breakfast. The smell of eggs and toast were in the air.
"Good morning, my love" Cora said as walked into the kitchen.
"Good morning, mother," Regina said as she pushed around eggs in the heating skillet. She walked over to her mother and kissed her on the cheek.
Cora smiled faintly.
She was not known for showing affection towards her daughter. Regina knew that very well, and she never expected anything more than words of praise and an occasional hug or kiss as a sign of her mother's love. Cora always seemed incapable of anything more.
Regina always tried to overlook it.
"Tea?" Regina asked as she walked back to the stove.
"Of course," Cora replied, sitting down on one of the barstools that decorated the kitchen island.
Regina retrieved a red cup from one of the wooden cabinets and set it before her mother, pouring her mother some of the hot tea she had made a few moments ago. The steam rose up steadily from the cup as Cora took it in her hands and brought it to her lips.
She gently blew away some of the smoke.
"Thank you, dear," the elder women said warmly, taking a small sip of the liquid. "So," she continued, "Henry appears to be in a better mood today. He seemed excited for school. Maybe his spell has passed."
Regina sighed as she flipped off the stove and placed the spoon she had been stirring with on the counter. "I truly hope so, but I worry that he's not." They were careful not to raise their voices too loud, so that Henry wouldn't hear them.
"What makes you think that?" Cora questioned, setting the cup down. An air of severity suddenly filled the room.
As Regina was about to answer her mother, the little voice of Henry shouted from the dining room. "Uh, my bus is going to be here soon and I don't want to be late, gotta go!" he fumbled together his books and his backpack as the sound of his feet clapping against the hardwood floors burst from the other room.
"Henry!" Regina called after him, rushing out of the kitchen and into the dining room to catch him, only to see the front door close as the little boy left. She could see him run down the driveway and cross the street to where his bus picked him up. He was gone.
Regina sauntered sadly back into the kitchen to see her mother at the counter, skillet in hand, shoveling the now-done scrambled eggs onto a small, white plate. The younger woman sat down on a barstool, a look of somber on her face as Cora pushed forward the plate of eggs towards her.
"Eat up," Cora motherly commanded, handing her daughter a fork. Reluctantly, Regina scooped a few pieces of the yellow mush onto her fork and into her mouth. She did so aimlessly, as if her mind was elsewhere.
Cora could tell something was wrong with her daughter.
"What is it, my love?" the elder woman asked, gently rubbing her daughter's back.
Regina sighed as she looked at her mother with desperation in her eyes.
"It's Henry," she confessed, bringing the conversation back to where they left off only moments ago, "Apparently he's been going on to Dr. Hopper about how we're all characters from his story book. He thinks that I am the Evil Queen, and that I placed a curse on everyone. Mother, he's practically figured out the whole thing!"
"Regina, he's a confused child with a very creative imagination," Cora reassured, "No one is going to believe him. And in time he will outgrow this preposterous theory. We have nothing to worry about, my love."
Cora gently rested her hand against her daughter's cheek and smiled at her. "Maybe you're right," Regina agreed.
"Of course I am, my dear."
They sat in silence, for a moment, as Regina continued to munch on her eggs and Cora sipped her tea, before the elder woman interrupted. "Well, I had better go get dressed for the day. I'll see you at the office, my love."
Cora Mills exited the kitchen and slowly walked back through the dining room, in the entrance hall, and up the staircase. In the back of her mind played the resounding truth that was oh so important, Rumplestiltskin's familiar words: the curse will be broken in 28 years by a savior. Could Henry's discovering of this plan be a precursor to that? Cora didn't know. But for now, she was content with the life she had. It was one of comfort, of power, with her daughter.
And she wasn't going to let anything disrupt that.
Anything.
