A/N: I wrote this as a RP sample and was so proud of it that I wanted to post it here. Since Episode 2.17 is coming up, giving us a look into the first days of Storybrooke, I figured now was the time. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or any of the characters mentioned in this fic.
The Name of a Thing Gives It PowerKirra White Tigress
The Evil Queen - no, her name was Regina again - sat back in her black leather chair. A spiral-bound notebook lay before her on a glass tabletop. Its blankness taunted her. She didn't know why it bothered her; it just did. She never did well with blank slates. Perhaps it was because she believed she was too far gone, that her own soul was too tainted to make it last for long.
Regina looked out the window of her office. Birds flew across the wide blue sky, chirping happily as they did so. Power lines stretched from one wooden pole to another; a strange force that fueled oil-less lamps and other unusual appliances coursed through them. There were more buildings than trees and more trees than people. Practically barren. It was perfect, she supposed.
The only problem, though, was the people. Her subjects. They ambled about without purpose, barely recognizing each other even though they used to be close in a not-so-past life. And while Regina enjoyed the thought of being the only sentient being in a parade of fools, that wasn't the point of this world. She brought them here to exact her revenge, to make them pay, to destroy their happy endings for once.
And there was only one way how.
It started with a name.
Regina bit her bottom lip. Her focus returned to the notebook. It was pathetic, of course, that she could be so stuck on a trivial task. These people were blank slates - dolls, almost. She could make them anything she wanted them to be. Except a name was everything. A name in itself was a spell that defined the very nature of a being. One mistake and the soul would be lost. Just because she was the Creator did not mean that her powers were limitless.
She thought for a while, turning over past identities in her head. One in particular kept tugging at the back of her mind no matter how many times she shoved it aside. Snow White. The very thought of her name made a bitter taste fill Regina's mouth. She didn't think it was possible to hate someone so much. But she did. It consumed every fiber of her being to the point of near physical pain. Snow White deserved to suffer dearly for ruining her life, for breaking her promise, for killing -
All at once, it hit her. Regina's lips quirked up in a twisted smile. The die had been cast; her plan for revenge was finally in motion. She grabbed the pen nearest her and set down to write.
It started with a name.
Mary Margaret Blanchard.
A/N: Thank you for reading!