There was no use in stopping, yet there was no use in running either. Confused and consumed with fear and devastation, she couldn't think long enough to come to a stop. But where was there to go? Nowhere, that was for sure. Even if her mother wasn't standing right there when she broke into a run, Cora always had a way of discovering Regina's whereabouts. She didn't have to stop herself. That would be done and over with in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, escaping wasn't an option. It clearly wasn't when her plan was to get away with the stable boy she'd fallen head over heels with, so she obviously wasn't going to be allowed to carry out her plan solo. She had a wedding to attend to very soon: her marriage to the older King named Leopold. There wasn't an attraction and if it were up to Regina, it wouldn't be happening, but Cora agreed to the arrangement before Regina regained herself enough to gently reject him. How was she old enough to marry? Now that she was quite literally running from her problems, she felt like a child. Even though her land was accustomed to people marrying young, the Queen to be suddenly felt as though it shouldn't be allowed until you were at least out of your teen years.
Her foot catching onto something, possibly a root, gravity made a successful test run as Regina crashed to the ground too fast to catch herself. A loud thud sounded the instant the air was knocked out of her and there was a chance that she was working off of adrenaline and would be able to pick herself back up and continue running, but she preferred staying put. Unsure of when it began, she eventually noticed a seemingly endless supply of tears trailing down her face. Was she supposed to be strong right now? Was there even a way to be strong after witnessing such a terrible thing?
She tried closing her eyes as though holding her tears in would simply… wash away the memory. No such luck. If anything, when she closed her eyes, the image became clearer. Cora reaching into Daniel's chest only for her hand to come out with the man's heart grasped in her fingers. Having taken many beatings via Cora's magic, Regina knew firsthand that the woman was cruel. Still, that didn't stop her from being surprised seconds later when the organ was being crushed into a useless dust that fell to the ground. The instinct to pick up all the dust and hold it in her hands as she sobbed crossed her mind, but the breeze scattered the ashes to match the soil beneath her.
Leaning up against the passenger side of her black car, her eyes set on a tree in the near distance, although she didn't actually see it, now beyond the point of zoning out as she allowed herself to get lost in her thoughts. The mind of Regina Mills wasn't the safest of places, but it was very easy to lose yourself in. She came to terms with that about forty years ago when she was married to King Leopold and the stepmother to Snow White even though she couldn't find it in her to give a damn about the child. She spent her time wallowing in self pity and caught somewhere in the five stages of grieving Daniel's death. At that point of her life, she was already tainted with the knowledge of what it felt like to use magic and was it ever enticing. What she found was that it made her feel all too good and who was she to ignore her only chance at feeling some sort of pleasure in her empty life. Even after she managed to rid her life of the King, it hardly put a smile on her face for longer than a single night. His death was not only supposed to free her, but she originally assumed that it would avenge Daniel's death. Her love had died because Cora wanted to make sure Leopold became Regina's husband. Yet, his death was hardly a victory at all. He was not nearly as guilty of Daniel's death as his dear daughter Snow White. Her inability to keep a secret was what inspired Regina's mother to act in the first place.
Taking in a deep breath, the brunette told herself to snap back into reality and to remember that the stage of her life she was stuck on was so long over with. But was it really? She dedicated so much of her time trying to figure out a way to come to terms with the precious life that had been unjustly taken. Sure a lot of it involved her taking lives that one may believe to be unjustly taken, but Regina planned everything carefully. You only died at her hand if you were involved in making her life so miserable, or if you got in the way of her plans. She valued life a lot more than one would assume. She was much more loving than one would assume, even if she wasn't necessarily taught to love.
"Why wasn't I surprised when you ran off?" the familiar voice of her mother filled the air, causing the burning of acid to rise up in her throat. Trying her best to suppress the urge to throw up right where she was lying, she decided against responding. She already said the little she could muster at the stable and seeing how Daniel was already gone, there wasn't really a point in conversing with the vile woman standing in front of her. "I know you think it's the end of the world right now, but some day you will see that I saved you. You don't really love Daniel and even though you may not love the King now, you will," the woman spoke as though she actually wanted to be heard. "And at the end of the day, love doesn't even matter at all. It's all about power."
The only think that fueled her need for power was the lack of love in her life. She loved others but being loved in return was no easy task. Every bit of her ugly side was the result of Cora's bad parenting and now she was being accused of being a bad mother. The one person who managed to bring a smile to her face and some warmth in her heart didn't want to be around her. She recalled Henry telling her that she made him feel like he was crazy when he believed in the curse and instead of owning up to it, she had him sent to therapy and denied it up and down. It wasn't fair and when he worded it so bluntly, she had no choice other than to feel terrible about it. She never meant to make him feel so badly. Her fear of the curse breaking and her losing everything disabled her from a normal thought process for a very long time. And now that the curse was broken, she did in fact lose him. The brunette managed to get Henry back into her home for a short while after Prince Charming took his grandson to live with him. She did let him go back with Charming when he expressed how he felt and when she felt willing enough to explain that she didn't know how to love sufficiently. She also told him that she wanted to be able to redeem herself. Normally she wouldn't give a damn about her image, but Henry deserved for his mother to be a good person. When Emma got back, she didn't want him to choose to continue his life with his birth mother.
So she stood at her car, looking ahead at the building her son was currently living in with Prince Charming. It was actually the home Snow White shared during her days as Mary Margaret along with Emma Swan. Now that the two had been sucked into a portal, the two Charming men occupied what would have been a perfectly good vacant apartment. She wanted to walk inside and up those stairs but even if she managed that much, she wasn't sure if she was currently brave enough to knock on the door, knowing that her son willingly left her. There was something in his eyes telling Regina that he had faith in her, but he still left and when he had, he didn't even look back at his mother one last time. Would he want to see her right now? What would she say? In three days, not even the child would believe she shed all of the evil she radiated more than often. But he was in his mind all the time. When school picked back up two days ago, she watched him enter and leave from a distance. Now she stood in front of the building he was living in.
"I don't know whether or not this counts as stalking," a man's voice caused her to jump back into reality. Eyes focusing, she looked over at a harmless looking Prince Charming, or David Nolan, or whatever in the hell he wanted to be called here. Prince Charming, she assumed. She's called him by the name several times already and he didn't protest, although he wasn't technically a Prince of the land here. Now wasn't the time to ponder such a thing.
Shaking her head very seriously, she crossed her arms against her chest. "No, this is my town. I can't stalk it. Even if I could, can we just pretend it's not possible?" she asked and it almost frightened her – how friendly she sounded at that moment. He was the husband of the woman who ruined her life with a leaked secret.
Taking the spot beside her, the Prince leaned against the car. Their shoulders touched and when she looked over, he crossed her arms against his chest, mockingly she felt, and shrugged. "Sure, we can pretend that for now," she couldn't remember him ever being kind to her other than when he was David Nolan and had no clue about his true identity. "Even though it's a bit weird coming outside to find you trying to stare a tree into flames," he smirked playfully.
Somehow it worked and she responded in the form of a small chuckle as she shook her head. "I can't do that stuff now. I have a son that I want more than anything in this world. If I make one slip, I can lose him for good…" perhaps it was the fact that she didn't have someone to talk to that she was telling the man these things. Maybe she did need a nice chat with the conscience, Dr. Hopper. Jiminy Cricket. "This is as close as I'm getting to him for a while, I assume, so-"
"Maybe not," normally she didn't like being cut off, but the Prince was about to offer a single ray of light, she was going to shut her mouth. "He misses you. He's hinted about it and I know he'd like to see you. Just because you told him to live with me as you work on yourself doesn't mean you can't see him at all."
For some reason, the thought hadn't come to mind before. Maybe because she wasn't looking for loopholes since she believed Henry was worth much more than taking the easy way out. Now that the thought was in her mind, she was quickly coming to the conclusion that seeing him would do them both well. He could see that she was starting to change over time and that she was never going to give up on him. Also, it was about damn time to show him that they could get along and when he came home, things would be different in the most positive of ways. "I can see him now?"
The blue eyed charmer nodded his head. "Yes, but maybe you can help me first. I need to get something to eat and I'm not good at this. I don't know what to get or what to make and since you're a food guru…" he stopped talking, hoping for Regina to take the reigns.
"It's dark out and my son hasn't eaten yet?" was all she could think to say.
"I told you I'm not good at this."
A sigh escaped her lips as she held up her keys, walking around to the driver's side and turning the key in the ignition. As the engine roared to life, the man sat down beside her and closed his door. She wasn't sure if they were still rivals or allies now, but it wasn't time to question things. He had her son and she needed to see him. He didn't know the necessities of caring for her son and she absolutely needed to help. Her mommy instincts were kicking in full force. And then she also needed another adult to be around, even if it were just for a single night. "Is Henry home alone?"
"You've done it before, too," he said defensively. "Hey, want to eat over?" a toothy grin showed that he was desperately trying to move away from the fact that his parenting skills weren't the best. For now, she'd let it go.
"Sure, thanks," she offered him a smirk before looking ahead and pulling out of her spot.
"Of all the ways I thought I'd be spending my day…" Regina was able to see him shaking his head from the corner of her eye. "Being in a car with you to pick out dinner did not come to mind."
"I know, it's so weird," she spoke evenly. "I hope you're not one of those people who say grace before a meal, because that would be just plain awkward tonight."
Biting his lip as a failed attempt to hold back a laugh, he shook his head. He knew she was joking and he also knew that he wasn't the type to say grace. What he did agree on was that things would be extremely awkward if he did. A part of him wanted to force her into it for his own amusement. "No, I think we'll have to skip out on that tonight."