To the Hearts Content

A Return to the Living

0o0

Fire was beautiful, so very beautiful, a bit like a flower, a wild flower that was beautiful and dangerous but one that stood out from the others. Regina always liked to think that she was like fire, she was beautiful – many people have told her so – and dangerous, with had imperfections; everything she touched burned and crumbled around her, people feared her and didn't wish to get close. A tear leaked out of her eye, she was fire, fire was put out to save others; she deserved to be put out.

The tightness in her chest got a little more constricting, maybe she should take the corset off, but then it would be awkward for when the owner of the castle found her.

Regina shut her eyes, she wondered what Henry was doing, was he starting a new school? Was he moving into a new room? Was he happy? He probably was happy. For the past two years he had done nothing but reminded Regina that she was not his mother and that he wished for nothing more than for a life with the woman who gave birth to him. He had that now, he was happy with his Evil Queen in the Enchanted Forest breaking under the weight that was pressing down on her shoulders.

"You look tense," the voice was smooth but at the same time a little croaky as if the person spent years smoking... Regina chuckled at the irony.

The Queen took a swig of the wine bottle she had curled into, "No, not tense, broken," she answered before taking another deep gulp.

Maleficent sighed, "What happened now?" she asked mockingly, "Did the Charmings say something that upset you?" she mocked further.

Regina realised that perhaps she shouldn't have come to the castle, especially when she knew Mal held a lot of resentment towards her (rightfully so). She did, after all, keep the only true friend she had hidden in dragon form under a library and then let a stupid blonde go after said friend so that they could cut her stomach open and save a child that didn't love her. "Daniel is alive," she deadpanned.

Mal took a step back in shock, "Your Daniel?" she asked in a whisper.

"No, not mine anymore… he moved on," the pain in Regina's voice made Maleficent hurt.

"What do you mean?" Mal sat beside her on the other chair, Regina was curled up on the one she had always sat in when talking to Mal; she already had the blanket around her legs and the wine in her hand, occasionally taking a long swig. They've done this multiple times already, it comforted both women to know that they could still find a sense of normalcy in each other's company, even after all that had happened between them.

Regina chuckled darkly, she used her magic to pull the chair Mal was in closer to her and again used magic to make a little table appear, on it was a bottle of whiskey and two glasses, Regina frowned and made another bottle appear, this one of Tequila; she rather liked the alcohol of the other land, it may not have the same kick but it certainly tasted better.

"We're going to need this," she poured herself a shot of tequila and downed it before she started talking, "So after I reversed my dark curse that Peter Pan had cast to save Henry, my son, we appeared at a clearing in the Enchanted Forest…"

0o0

Hours earlier

Regina only opened her eyes after all the smoke left her lungs, she wasn't a believed of any higher power such as Gods but she prayed, begged anyone who would listen that when she did open her eyes she would see Henry standing before her, or maybe she would end up in her mansion with Henry just down the hall, but none of that happened.

"We're back," Snow sighed out.

Regina struggled to keep the tears from falling, she didn't want anyone to see her weakness, but then again she didn't want to be in the one place in the world that was filled with dark memories, filled with the reminders of her loss...

She pushed on, ignoring the pain in her chest and reacting with her usual sharp barbs and broken threats. Snow seemed to be having a good time, being reunited with friends and trying to build back the kingdom she had, they've only been there an hour and she could see that Snow was enjoying herself as much as she could.

Regina felt like lashing out when Snow wanted all their people to find refuge in her castle, like always Snow ignored that Regina had more right to the kingdom than she did; as long as Regina was alive, she was the Queen.

Yet she didn't say anything, she kept going, it all hit her so suddenly when they were walking and someone asked her if she wanted to use their horse, at that moment it seemed too fragile of a question. They just got back and everywhere Regina looked she could see the ghosts of a past life, everywhere she looked she either saw something that reminded her of the book and in turn Henry or just Daniel and her youth, it made her hurt. Somehow she managed to decline 'I should start getting back into Enchanted Forest shape' she commented, a lie that covered the pain she held (not that anyone cared), Regina had ran every morning before waking Henry for school and before getting Henry she would run for hours through the woods.

The thing that really made her heart hurt enough to want it gone was when Snow said how Henry would have loved the Enchanted Forest. The thought had been in the back of Regina's mind all day, however, she refused to think about it, but she was, it was the only thing on her mind.

Henry.

All of Henry's reactions to this land that he had wanted to visit, and then how Henry had wanted to visit the land without her, how he didn't want anything to do with her and more to do with Ms. Swan. The emotion were all different swirling inside of her, she felt as if someone was stabbing her in the chest, her heart felt as if it was going to stop, it was beating in a lazy beat that made Regina short of breath – so she snuck away and took it out.

Quite the sight it was, the little black ball that kept her alive had fewer light spots shining but the terrifying thing was that here was a light crack in the middle, almost unnoticeable, but Regina knew her heart. Regina didn't dwell on it much, she found a place she felt like she'd remember and started burying the organ.

Naturally her insipid step-daughter had to find her and talk her out of it, the words had struck a chord inside Regina though. Henry did want her to be happy and that meant having her heart in her chest to actually feel the happiness (She avoided showing Snow the state of the organ). So, despite everything she was low-key feeling, The Evil Queen put her heart back in her chest, held back the tears and started walking; it hurt more that it should, this was bad.

A monkey with wings was the last thing that Regina had ever expected to see in her life. EVER! It was flying without problems too, flying fast, fast enough to dodge her magic. It was out of pure luck that that thief had shown up, he seemed nice enough, a little handsome for a forest dweller. She didn't trust him. Then again she didn't really trust anyone.

Regina couldn't help but question Snow, why would she let a stranger join them? He could be dangerous? She sometimes envied how Snow trusted everyone and couldn't fathom that someone could have ill intentions against them and their little group.

It didn't matter anyway, with each step they took closer to the castle Regina was more and more happy, she could hide away in her lonesome misery. Or so she had thought, the idea that someone even dared to take her castle when she was away angered Regina to an extent where she didn't even recognise herself, this was unacceptable.

She was so deep in her anger and her hatred and the thoughts of ripping that person in half that she almost missed the thief's offer of taking them to his camp. Only when Snow had given her a little shove did she come back to reality and follow them, maybe a little confused to where they were heading.

She thought that his camp would be… well, she didn't really know what it would be, it was just a bunch of tents in what seemed like random places but as Regina walked in she saw that they weren't as random. They were there so that they could protect the camp, men piled out of tents and stood up with weapons pointed at her, all ready to attack.

Yet only one man caught her eye, tall, lanky but with some muscle, his hair slightly greasy but only enough to look as if he had put wax in it to make it stay in place, he looked older, some wrinkles here and there, a young girl stood beside him, and Regina never knew tears could fall from her eyes this fast. The girl was beautiful, with raven hair and blue eyes, just like his.

"D – Daniel?" she stuttered, the camp went silent all eyes on the man in question, shock on every face. The young girl was standing with her eyes fixed on the Evil Queen, she was mesmerised, never before had she thought she'd get to meet her.

Before either could say anything two women appeared both heading for Daniel. One woman had dark skin and was carrying a child with dark curly hair and sun kissed skin, he had deep dimples, she smiled softly at Daniel. The other woman had tan skin and light yellow hair. Regina could see from the way that she was acting around Daniel, a little jittery and nervous, she was blushing as she leaned in and… and kissed Daniel, a little peck on his lips really. But it was enough to make Regina's heart do a thing it had never done before and she stumbled backwards her hand shooting up to her chest, Regina blindly walked to a tree and stood by it for a moment fighting the pain, it was crippling, like someone was stabbing her over and over and over again.

Everything she had done in her life suddenly seemed pointless, all those people she had killed; she had ruined so many lives, for absolutely no reason. She had tried to do everything to bring back Daniel, only to find out that he was alive all along and with someone else, she needed more than a minute to collect herself.

He was looking at her with an expression Regina didn't even know how to read, this was someone else. Her Daniel had been just as in love with her as she with him. He probably saw that she was not the woman he fell in love with, that girl had been pure, innocent and had the lightest heart, that girl had become the Evil Queen, she was not someone to be loved, she was someone to be feared. Anger started to build up inside Regina and she found herself talking again, yet it felt like an out of body experience, like she was just someone watching.

Regina turned her nose up on the tents she saw around her, this was no place for a Queen, she was above all those peasants, she scowled at all the faces looking at her, "As if I would be caught dead in a tent in a forest with a group of thieves," she spat, "I am not staying here."

"Well, if you haven't noticed your Majesty, your castle has been taken, this is the only place you have left," Robin Hood said.

The Queen turned to look at the Thief, she was shocked that he would actually say something that he thought might change her mind; she could see that no one else wanted her to stay.

"As if I have one palace," she scoffed, she watched as Snow opened her mouth and started talking again but she didn't actually hear anything, instead she looked down at her mud covered shoe and groaned, the act actually stopped Snow from talking, "My shoes," she whines silently, "I need to get new shoes," she muttered to herself, "I loved these shoes," she kept saying as she walked out the way she came, "Maybe I could clean it out," she made another noise, this one sounding as if she was in actual pain, "Leather and water," she sighed while shaking her head in disapproval.

"Regina!" she stopped walking but was not going to turn around, "Those monkey things are after you, what if something happens."

Regina turned sharply, "They need to fear me," she said darkly, "The person in my palace should fear me, you all should fear me," with each word her voice got more murderous and dark, people close to her took a step back.

"But… what if we get attacked?" Snow asked softly.

Regina rolled her eyes, she reached down to her cleavage and let her fingers stretch the tight material away from her breasts to allow her access to pull out a ring. She held the ring out to David who was standing the closest to her, she let the simple silver band fall from her finger and then grabbed mid-air only for a chain to appear, a chain that was attached to the ring.

"There, now if you need me, just say my name and I shall hear you," she smirked at the Shepard, "I don't promise that I will actually turn up," and with that said, she took one final glance at Daniel and the young girl. Her young features were relaxed into a star-struck look while Daniel's face screamed guilt and sadness, yet his arms were wrapped around the blonde woman from before she looked scared as Regina scowled at them. She didn't need to be stupid to know that a romance between her fiancé and some blonde was brewing, The Queen's scowl slowly morphed into a frown, she hated blondes.

0o0

"And after that I came here, there was nowhere else I could really go," a deep painful sigh left her lip.

"Okay, there's something else… isn't there?" Maleficent knew Regina, they spent years together, their relationship may not have been one normal friends have but through the nights that they had spent together they had gotten to know each other, their insecurities and their life. Maleficent may not be able to think like Regina does, sometimes it shocks Mal that Regina still has a pulse after her reckless and stupid actions. The dragon knew her little Queen, one of those things is that no one says no to her. She doesn't react well to rejection and seeing Daniel with another woman should have brought out a different reaction from her, she would have tried to make him jealous, not run away.

"He was with a girl," she sighed.

"Yes, a blonde."

"No," one more sigh, Regina took a really long gulp of tequila, "Before he died, we… well, we had sex. I didn't know why I was being sick every morning, I didn't realise anything was wrong until the day before he died mother had asked me why I skipped my monthly bleed… twice," she looked down at her hands, "I was going to tell Daniel when we were far away enough from the estate," tears were collecting in her eyes.

"Tell him what?" Mal already knew though, she just needed to hear it from Regina, she knew that the Queen probably spent hours trying to forget, years trying to stop the pain in her heart.

"I was pregnant," tears actually leaked out of Regina's eyes. Mal wasn't sure when the last time she saw Regina cry was, probably when Leopold was still alive and married to her, "She's so beautiful Mal, I saw her, it took me a minute to fully recognise who she was but… she's so beautiful," a sound that was half sob half laugh came out of her mouth, "She looks just like me, very little Daniel in her, maybe the height, she was tall for a fourteen year old. But she's still so beautiful," the Queen took a few calming breaths and then wiped her eyes.

Mal smiled, she was going to keep talking about it but she heard footsteps leading to the room they were in.

"You don't mind, I invited someone," Regina stood just as the door opened to reveal their partner in crime.

"Scar," Mal drawled out.

Scar smirked, he sure did miss his favourite Queen and her pet dragon. Scar was a tall man with very pale skin, incredibly pale, he rarely had any reason to go out in the sunshine, not since Regina had moved to the other world anyway. He was also skinny, his black hair reaching his shoulder the top sleeked back and a little dark stubble at his chin that brought out the shape of his jaw, dark bushy eyebrows hid pretty green eyes and a long ugly scar running through his eye. Scar was a handsome man who, much like Regina, had a permanent scowl on his face, Mal always joked that they were too much alike.

"Shall we drink?"

0o0

After the Queen Left the Merry Men Camp

The camp was still engulfed in silence long after the Queen left. There was no movement, no one spoke, even the children sat frightened.

"For years you had refused every woman because you were so sure that the one would return to you, and the day that she does return you are with someone else?" Robin Hood had a frown of his face as he looked at Daniel. He had found Daniel almost thirteen years ago with a baby and no place to go, he had helped the man, he had taken him in and in turn Daniel took care of the horses.

Daniel didn't move, Regina, he had seen her, she was still so beautiful, he looked at the place that she had stood not knowing what to do, this was Regina, his Regina and… he didn't really know what to think.

"Daniel?" Snow took a step away from David, her voice shaking a little, she couldn't believe it, it was Daniel, he stood, flesh and blood, breathing and being alive, "But, how?"

"Cora, she didn't actually kill me she just, she knew about Natalia and she gave her to me after Regina gave birth to her," he spoke fast but still turned to look at his daughter after mentioning her. She was such a beautiful young girl, looked just like her mother at that age, and he knew, she was around fourteen when they met.

Snow gasped, "Regina gave birth?!" she stared wide eyes at Natalia, the girl was beautiful, looked very much like Regina, only a fool would miss it, "Hello," Snow smiled at her in awe, "You look just like her."

Natalia blushed and looked down, "Thank you," she smiled innocently back at Snow, "I'm Natalia."

Snow almost cried as she looked at the girl, "You're too much like Regina for your own good," the way Natalia had spoken, it was almost like being back on that runaway horse and being saved by a wonderful and kind woman.

Once again the young girl blushed, yet there was a troubled frown on her beautiful young forehead, "Why'd… why don't I get you a tent, I'm sure you're tired," she lead Snow to a tent and that's when life returned to the camp.

.::.

It was hours later when they were all huddled around the fire that someone came running in yelling about being attacked, Hood stood bow at the ready, "They must have followed us," yet no one attacked from between the trees, no one jumped from the trees, beasts swooped down from above, horrible beasts, one that Snow and Hood knew. It was the flying monkeys that attacked Regina.

The flying beasts were swooping down, they didn't attack anyone it seemed as if they were looking for something… or someone… Daniel thought grimly, he knew from Robin that those things had attacked Regina once already.

Snow stood off to the side hitting one monkey after the other with her newly acquired bow and arrow, she had just shot one down when she noticed another flying at high speed towards Natalia. Snow knew that Regina would quite literally sacrifice everyone in that camp to make sure her daughter was okay.

She shot the monkey down and then ran as fast as she could to the young girl, she was hiding behind a tree, Snow was half way when she remembered that Regina gave them a way to contact her, David had given her the necklace and she had put it around her neck, the princess reached for it and frantically screamed into it calling out for Regina.

"Are you alright?" she panted once she got close to the young girl, she seemed scared and disoriented, "Don't worry, I called your mum she should be here soo-" Snow didn't get to finish her sentence because a booming roar filled the camp, everything stilled, all the flying beasts were suspended in the air and couldn't move, in the very middle was a lion, with a long black mane and a scar running down from his eyebrow, through his green eye and down to its cheek. Snow was too focused on watching the majestic cat and only noticed that the sky was darker when she started feeling too hot. Looking up at the sky both Snow and Natalia gasped, the monkeys were literally burning to a crisp and above them, incredibly high up was a dragon.

Maleficent circled the perimeter to make sure all the beasts were gone, she also made sure that there was nothing more coming their way. She knew that Scar was supposed to do that but she didn't quite trust him, then again she didn't quite trust anyone.

Once they both decided that it was safe they turned back into people and without a word made their way to Natalia; Regina wasn't joking when she said the girl looked like her, it was quite weird really.

Mal marched up to the girl who was sitting on a log close to a fire, they had been checking the perimeter for a few minutes, but it was enough time for everyone to settle down, there were people being checked by medicine men and people just resting or eating; Mal could smell that there were some people in their tents.

Scar stood a little behind Mal and watched in a brooding type of silence as she made the girl rise by gently tugging on her shoulder. Most people who weren't doing anything watched in a fearful silence.

Mal used her senses to make sure that she was okay, she had made sure that her blood was pumping okay (it was a little fast but that's because the girl was scared), then that there were no broken bones, she was about to turn her around when she heard Scar shout, "Holy baby Jesus, we are both dead."

"What did you do?"

"I did nothing," he shouted incredulously, he gripped Natalia by the shoulders and turned her around so that she was looking at Scar, "But Regina, Regina is going to kill us," there, right at the base of Natalia's head, was what looked like a deep cut, blood oozing out of it and dripping onto her clothes.

Maleficent looked at the young girl's head in shock, when she had arrived she had tried scanning through all the people to find Regina's daughter, it was fairly simple, not only did the girl smell similarly to Regina but she also looked so much like Regina it felt like she was actually looking at Regina herself, "How did this happen?" she felt around her head to see if there was anything jammed inside.

"I don't know, I think I passed out, I remember daddy telling me to hide and then I think I hit my head on a rock or a tree because the next thing I remember is squatting and Princess Snow running at me," Natalia said slowly as if she was trying to remember what happened.

"Oh god, honey how many fingers am I holding up?" Scar put up a few fingers in front of the girls face.

"Three," she said in a dead tone.

Mal chuckled, "You said that with all the boredom as Regina."

"She's also giving me that look Regina has when she's talking to an idiot," Scar mumbled, he started examining the girls head.

"You mean the one that is permanently etched on her face?" Mal smirked.

Scar didn't answer her, "Are you feeling dizzy?" he asked Natalia instead.

"A little," she shrugged.

"Are you going to be sick?"

"I don't think so, no."

"Were you sick?"

"Yes."

"Are you sleepy?"

"A little."

"She has a concussion, oh no, do you know what that means?" he looked at Mal with a slightly scared look, "Regina is going to give us a concussion… before she rips us to pieces!" he overreacted, "We are two dead people walking around, the minutes she sees the blood she is going to heal her and then she is going to kill us, we won't even have time to explain because we will be in inexplicable pain. Oh no, Regina can make killing someone last days, literally, I've seen her do it once, we are going to be dying for 7 days. Then, you know, because Regina is all chummy with Hades we are going to be tortured for eternity, damn," he kept going on and on about how they should start digging their grave and whatnot.

"Scar," Mal sighed, he kept talking, "Scar," it was like he didn't even hear her, "SCAR!" she shouted, "Pull yourself together, we're not going to die."

"Are you sure? Because Regina said 'one hair off her perfect head out of its place and I will make you entire life feel like a smoothly sailed cruise', I would call this," he indicated to Natalia's head still bleeding a little, most of it seemed to have stopped, "A hair on her perfect head out of its place."

"Scar, Regina's not going to do anything, because she won't know," Mal grinned.

Scar didn't seemed relieved, "We both know that she knows everything, there is no way she doesn't know that her child has a concussion," he deadpanned.

"We heal her then," Mal ordered the girl to sit on a log and she gave her some tea that would help with the headache, then she told Scar to go find some herbs in the woods.

Scar turned into his lion form and ran off, he wasn't gone long and when he returned it was with the herbs Mal needed. She grinded them together, added some water and then some dirt until it looked like a paste.

"What is that?" Natalia asked apprehensively.

"Combined with my magic it will be able to heal your head and probably stop the headache, I actually haven't done this without Regina walking me through it so just…" Mal finished off somewhat hesitantly.

"My…m-" Nat cut herself off, but with the encouraging smile she received from her father who was sitting close by making sure that she was okay and the little smirk at the corner of Maleficent's face she continued a little quietly, "My mother taught you this?" she looked at her hands as they fiddled with her trousers.

"Yes, as powerful as we are, healing magic has to come from… love, I couldn't heal myself until I accepted my dragon part, Regina still can't heal herself, she doesn't like being the Evil Queen because it ruined her but she doesn't stop because she knows that the darkness in her heart can't be removed," Mal was glad she didn't have to look the girl in the eyes she wouldn't have been able to cope with the tears of sadness that gleamed in Natalia's eyes.

"It's a price for every life we take, Regina had taken a lot of them. And after the life that she had lived she doesn't believe that people deserve her remorse, people don't deserve her love and people don't deserve her. She's a good person, but she has a destructive streak," Scar looked down, when he had first met Regina it was as King Scar, he could see that Regina was going in a downward spiral and she had seduced him and he foolishly fell for her purred words and dark eyes.

Natalia winced, her hand shot up to her head and she felt around for the tender ripped skin, to her utter delight she couldn't find the cut and smiled widely at Maleficent, "Thank you," her eyebrows crinkled in sincerity.

"I can't believe how much alike to Regina you look," Mal mused, every little thing the young girl did it was as if Regina was the one doing it instead.

"Oh, Regina!" Scar exclaimed, "She was meant to show up here too, Mal would you…"

Mal rolled her eyes but flicked her wrist all the same, a little tent appeared off to the side of a tree, she marched over to the tent and right inside, she was in there for only a couple seconds before she ran out, "She's not in there, she must have left my castle after us," Mal sat on a log and waved her hand towards the fire.

"What are you doing?" One of the Merry Men asked, his tone was filled with curiosity.

"I'm going to see where The Queen had gone," the Dragon rolled her eyes, she really should have expected it from Regina; she hated doing anything that even resembled being helpful.

"You're going to spy on the Evil Queen," another, much larger, Merry Man chuckled.

Mal joined along in a sarcastic manner just as Regina's Stable Boy scolded the man for calling the Queen, Evil.

The fire started crackling way above the trees, there was an image being made, it was large, the fire changed colours, slowly they could make out what was happening, the image was distorted only slightly but still clearly visible. They could see the Queen sitting down somewhere with a pipe between her lips, her chest inflated with a breath and smoke puffed out in beautiful tendrils from her full lips, she relaxed after another puff, her features softened, the frown disappeared and her eyes closed as her hand went to her left breast, she then dropped her hand and started talking.

"What is that? What is she doing?" Daniel asked.

"She's in her castle, and that pipe just so happens to contain a drug from Wonderland," Mal sighed, "I hope she's not going to return to that again," she sighed and made the fire go back to normal, "We can probably head to her castle soon."

0o0

So originally I was going to make this into a one shot but I have too many ideas for this, Regina might be a little ooc in this fic but I think that that would be the case if she had lived through more than just the loss of Daniel, if she had met the people she did in this fic then maybe.

I have not forgotten about Home's Part Memories I just have a writer's block and I canny think of anything D: