A/N: no beta...you should give the song a listen to...might expand it

That was the second time this week her instructor had caught her day-dreaming, one more time he would tell her mother. She would not approve of her daughter neglecting her royal duties for some silly fantasy. Yet, she risked it time and time again. Something always dragged her from her reality to play in some other reality, or was it fantasy? It was quite scary, having to face the consequences every time that pull started to tug. Then again what happened when she let it take over was far better than anything she has ever experienced.

They always had a common idea, the dreams. What if there was a another reality where she was in a different role? A reality or two or three where all the hurt and lies her mother has bestowed onto her, vanished? Was it so bad to want to live there forever and relish in those blissful moments? That's what happened there, her simplest dreams coming true. All responsibilities were gone in these alternate universes. She could be anything she wanted to be; there in her head, it was limitless. She no longer had to become her mother's image.

Some of them expanded, she could see years go by. Regina grew attached to those. The detail became more and more prominent every dream. Then again when she did have one that just so happened to expand, she often longed for more. It irked her, how could something so trivial have such a dramatic affect on her? Nothing should do things like that to her, with the hell her mother had put her through already, she should be stone cold.

Then again her heart would warmed her up and she would pick her favorites. The one that beat the rest, was the one where she was a "mayor" in a strange land that had many funny things milling about. It seemed funny that it would be that one, her instructor always said that the land that she was describing was horrible, dull, and lacked magic. All of those qualities appealed to the young girl, a land without magic, how wonderful. The people there seemed to hate her at first, then again it was her dream, her supposed fate there, she could change it. It looked like years had past, but they did change their perspective on her. She was good there, she didn't end up like her mother.

Regina never wanted it to end, but the town faded away each and every time. People told of many ways to remember or relive dreams. There were potions, spells, and old fashioned techniques; unfortunately, potions and spells would lead her mother to suspicion. Old fashioned was the route she had to take, one was writing. She tried to write it down, but it kept changing or she would dream ahead. So, instead of writing everything she picked people and tried to remember anything about them. The most intriguing was a lady called Emma, she was also fascinated with a boy they called Henry. They were her night and day, she didn't know what she would do without them. Those two people chased away all the bad, in both lives.

"Regina, are you paying attention?"

"Hmmm?"

"I asked if you were paying attention, but from your response I see that in fact you were not. How many times have we told you to stop staring into nothingness and stay focused on your work?"

"I know, but sometimes it just happens. It isn't the lessons, well at least for the most part. It just sometimes I get these urges to, well, see someone…."

"Who is this someone?" a stern voice from behind asked.

"No one, mother. Just someone I made up."

"Why would you have to do something like that? Don't you have enough friends that you don't have to have this fake person invading your mind, especially during something as important as your lessons?"

"I'm sorry, mother. I will forget them."

"Very well, see to it you make up for today."

"Of course."

The truth of the matter was that she would never be able to forget about her family. They meant everything to her, even her mother's threats wouldn't stop her. Losing their faces, their voices, would mean that she had given up hope. Hope was the one thing she had left in this world, it kept her from giving in to "those" desires. To stoop that low scared her, it would be the end of her. Regina couldn't let that consume her, she just had to wait it out. She needed to continue seeing their faces, to live in that village.

She did to, every night in her dreams. It wasn't enough though, but then again she couldn't risk being caught red-handed by her mother, again. Speaking of her mother she was pleasantly surprised she didn't do something to make sure those dreams wouldn't happen. She was so stern and followed through on everything she said, one would guess that a spell or some sort would be cast. Then again, Regina was not trained in that sort of thing so she wouldn't be able to tell. Nothing felt off, so it was safe to assume she was okay.

Weeks went by and she stayed true to her word. She didn't day-dream during lessons, made up the ones she did, and behaved like royalty should. There was only so much she could take though. With all of this time being consumed by lessons and training by her dear mother, she couldn't dream of her beloved Emma and Henry at night. There was too many thoughts cogging up her mind for her to even think about conjuring up her home. Home. She had never really even considered it home until now.

Home: a place where one lived and was happy with their family. That wasn't here, it could never be here. She wasn't happy here. Sure she may live in the palace but it didn't mean she wanted to. Regina just wanted to be happy, gods be damned she was going to be.

That night she went to sleep with only two things on her mind, her family and how she was going to protect and stay with them. The answer seemed so simple. Making sure everything went accordingly was the difficult part. For the first few hours it did, but then her body didn't transfer and the whole plan went out the door.

"Is she going to wake?"

"It's too early to tell."

"She did this to be with those-those people I just know it."

"Cora, please calm down."

"I told her to forget about them."

"Love, dear. She loves them."

Footnote: leave some love and reviews they make me happy HAPPY/MERRY WHATEVER