It is hours before bedtime one Thursday evening when Regina finds herself sent to her room without supper, a bloody upper lip the testimony of her punishment. Regina is used to being punished, Mother says that it is the only way to teach her to be a proper Lady, but today the punishment feels very unfair and most unjust. She is not entirely sure what it is that she did exactly, but she knows that she will be careful to not anger Mother again in such a way.
Mother says that her punishments serve as lessons that only she can teach her. Mother says that only a Mother can teach a daughter such lessons. And only a daughter can learn them. Regina knows that Mother had hit her hard with the back of her hand (her ring had caught Regina's lip) because she hadn't liked the look on her face when she had happened to turn around. She's just not entirely sure what she should do about it. She's not sure what she can do to sort this.
She studies the cut in the mirror and finds that she has blood smeared all over her face, the cut is quite deep, deeper than usual. She supposes that she must of angered Mother more than usual. Because Mother had used more force than she normally would. Regina hopes that it won't scar, because surely Mother will blame her for that as well. She will blame her for the blemish on her beauty, and then she will be punished all over again.
Mother in her anger is scary, but she knows that Mother only gets like that because she loves her. Mother loves her more than other Mothers love their daughters and that is why she must be punished. Because she is not the perfect daughter, not yet. She will be one day, she just knows she will be.
One day, Regina will please her Mother and she will never again have to worry about displeasing her. One day, and Regina longs for such a day, she will please Mother beyond her imagination. Because Mother is the only person in the world who loves her. Just the way it should be.
Having only Mother to love her sometimes made her very lonely. Mother loves her, and she knows that, but sometimes she longs for someone to talk to, someone her own age, who could understand her.
Sometimes she wishes for a friend, she wants another person who understands her, who makes her feel less lonely, less alone. But she would never make such a wish, Mother has always made it very clear that she is never to rely on fairies. So when she closes her eyes, she makes sure not to think the word wish, she never lets it pass through her thoughts, because Mother would surely punish her for such a thing.
She closes her eyes as she stands in front of the mirror, and she finds herself feeling very alone, more so than usual, and it makes her tummy ache with longing. She screws her eyes shut, so tightly shut that no light sneaks through, and she thinks really hard about how much she wants someone other than Mother. Because Mother loves her, but it doesn't always feel that way. And Regina almost slips, she almost lets herself wish because she has always longed for a friend.
She stays in front of the mirror with her eyes closed for so long that her head starts to ache and swim in a dizzying fashion. So when she opens her eyes, after so long that it takes a great deal of blinking for her eyes to adjust, what she sees greatly surprises her. In the mirror, or rather through the mirror, is a pretty little blonde girl and a very large man. The girl is bleeding and crying, curling in on herself, trying to make herself a smaller target. Regina knows the picture before her well, it reminds her of Mother in her anger and her before she learnt how to take a beating with the 'dignity and poise' (her Mother's words) of a lady. But the man doesn't look like he is doing this out of love. His face is twisted in a way that Regina doesn't recognise, but will come to learn is hatred.
He looks scary, and mad. Much madder than Mother ever gets. He is looking at the little girl like he really wants to hurt her and he looks as though he means to, but she's just a little girl, not much younger than Regina. He stands over the little girl, hand raised like he's going to hit her again. He stands frozen over her for a few seconds, shoulders tense and spittle quivering on his lips, then all of a sudden he leaves. Regina hears a series of doors slam behind him.
Regina watches as the girl sits up slowly, gasping in pain, and she moves haltingly towards the mirror. It occurs to Regina that she can hear through the mirror, and she knows that whatever is happening is magic. As the girl comes closer, Regina can see the bruises on her wrists, a mottled patchwork of yellow and green and a deep, angry purple. They look like they hurt, yet the girl doesn't seem to notice them. It occurs to Regina that maybe she is used to them.
The girl comes towards the mirror, looking up as though to start assessing how bad her injuries are. It looks as though this is a routine, perfected in the way it is made to seem ordinary, as though the little blonde girl has had to do this many times. She reminds Regina of herself, and she hurts for the other girl.
Regina hears the gasp of surprise leave the girl as she sees Regina staring back at her. She supposes that she was expecting to see herself in a state, not a strange girl. The blonde girl blinks rapidly, as though not believing what she is seeing, and then pinches her arm, right over a vividly purple bruise and she curses foully even as she winces. The language makes Regina flush all over, warming her cool skin in the chilly room.
The girl, gaping at her in a disbelieving manner, seems to be taking her in. The room the girl is in is hugely different to Regina's own. Regina is royalty and so, even if Mother is always very hard on her, she never wants for anything. Her bedroom is befitting of her status, it is a symbol of her being heir to the throne, and it is a symbol of her being importance and wealth.
The girls room is tiny, and the paint on the walls is chipping and flaking. She takes the room in, but it seems empty. There's no bed, no wardrobe and certainly no toys of any kind. The girl is dressed strangely too, in materials that Regina has never seen before. She can see that they are fraying at the edges and ripped at the seams though. That should make her back away from the mirror, if Mother finds out that she had spent time in the presence of one below her status for anything other than charity she would be punished. Regina's sure it would be a worse punishment than a split lip. She shudders to think what it would entail. But she still doesn't back away, she finds herself transfixed.
The girl seems to be done staring, or rather gaping at her, and so she decides to remember her manners and introduce herself.
"Hello, I'm Regina. Who are you?" She sees the girl smile a little, wincing as it pulls at her split bottom lip.
"Hiya, I'm Emma!" And Regina is a little admiring that she can smile through the pain.
"Where are you?" She asks, because it seems like as good a place to start as any.
"I'm in my room, for now. I'm in New York, are you real? Why are you all bloody?"
"Where's New York? I've never heard of such a realm. Of course I'm real, what else would I be? My Mother saw it fit to punish me."
"What's a realm? I'm in America, the country. I dunno, but I wished for a friend. Where you are looks real funny and fancy, places like that don't exist here. My foster Dad likes to punish me too, I think it's the drink."
"A realm is a Kingdom. I've never heard of it. You wished for a friend? I suppose we are meant to be friends then."
"I've never had a real friend before, I move a lot. And other kids don't like me much. Are you a Princess? You look like a Princess."
"Why ever not? And yes, Emma, I am a Princess." She watches as Emma's eyes light up, a look of awe flashing across her face, a delighted and breathless laugh leaving her lips.
"Awesome."
She sits before the mirror, awkwardly in her fitted dress and full skirts, and her and Emma talk for longer than she's ever talked to another person before. And she laughs more than she has ever laughed before, loudly and fully, for once not thinking on the punishment she could receive for it. She sits on the marble floor, undisturbed for hours, until far later than bedtime and no one comes to check on the Princess. She sits and sometimes slouches, relaxed and so very happy, until she can't feel her legs because she has been sat on them for so long and her whole body is numb from the cold seeping into her from the tiled marble floor.
Emma sits in her tiny bedroom, legs crossed and back straight, and Regina watches her. Every time Emma smiles or laughs, Regina can feel the warmth in her chest, pleasant and rather wonderful. It makes her smile because she can't remember ever feeling this happy or free before.
They both sit before the mirrors in their rooms until their eyelids begin to droop, fluttering closed. They sit even then, heads nodding suddenly down to their chests and eyes flying back open. Neither wanting to sleep in case they realise that this was all a dream, neither wanting it to end, because dreams are wonderful but they don't last.
She watches through heavy eyelids that refuse to stay fully open as Emma gives in to tiredness, hours after they had started talking. She watches as she curls up into a tiny ball, head resting on her arms, knees drawn up to her stomach. She hears a quiet "goodnight, Regina" mumbled sleepily through the glass of the mirror as Emma's breathing evens out.
It isn't long before she follows suit, curling in on herself despite the heavy and cumbersome dress she wears. She sleeps before the mirror, not wanting to leave, not wanting to look away. She sleeps before the mirror despite the cold seeping from the hard marble floor into her bones, despite the fitted bodice of her dress (which Mother insisted she start to wear, even though she is not yet eight) digging into her, pinching the skin of her sides. She sleeps peacefully, for once not worrying about dirtying the intricate embroidery of her hand made dress on the immaculately clean floor, no longer feeling the smarting and stinging of her deeply cut upper lip.
She sleeps before the mirror, because deep in her heart she knows that she has finally found a friend. She has finally found the person whom can make her feel less alone, less lonely, whom can make her smile and laugh and for once not concern herself with the consequences of such actions. She sleeps before the mirror, as she is bound to do for many more nights to come, because she has found a friend and she can not bear to leave that, even if only to move mere metres away, even for a night.
