Princess Emma Swan was only five years old when she first met the woman in the glass coffin. She had been exploring the large expanse of the castle she called home. There had been a dusty storage room that made for a great place to hide from her maids and nanny. She hid behind a tapestry when she felt the feel of wood, rather than stone. There, behind the tapestry, was a door. Little Emma opened the door and was amazed at what she found. Chests and wardrobes were filled with elaborate dresses made of black lace and leather, all in dark hues of blue and purple and red. A painting leaning against one wall depicted a striking woman with hair as dark as a raven's wing, and lips red as blood. To some, she might have looked frightening, but Emma caught the sadness captured in the painting's eyes.
Then, in the middle of the room, lay a glass coffin. Emma stepped up to the coffin, careful not to touch it. Inside was a woman and even through the layer of dust, Emma could see it was the woman in the painting. She looked just as beautiful as the painting, with no hint of decay. It was like she was sleeping. It made Emma think of the sleeping curse her mother was under years before she was born. Perhaps this woman was a victim of the Evil Queen as well? Emma wanted to reach out and help the woman, but her nanny was calling her, and Emma didn't want her hiding place discovered, so she left with a silent promise to return soon.
The young princess was nine the next time she saw the woman in the glass coffin. Just on the cusp of puberty, she needed a moment away from her mother, who was constantly reminding her of all the changes her body was going through. Sick of talk of her moons blood and development, Emma went to find the woman. Having believed it had all been a dream, the princess was relieved to find the woman, still in her eternal sleep. Emma saw the ugly layers of dust and searched for a rag to clean the coffin. She used one of the dresses in the Chests and wiped as much dirt away as she could.
Now that the coffin was clean, she could property gaze upon the gorgeous woman. Her eyeliner looked smudged, as if she had cried herself to sleep and simply never woke up. Beneath her crossed arms laid a book. Curiosity had Emma attempting to open the coffin, but the lid was just too heavy for her. She didn't want to break the glass and hurt the beautiful woman inside, so she left it alone.
Over the years, Emma returned to the hidden room, if only to clean the glass coffin and talk to the woman. She had been the first to know when Emma started her moonsblood, when Emma kissed her first boy... and when she kissed her first girl... when her younger brother was born, and whenever Emma just needed to vent about her mother. The woman in the glass coffin was the first and sometimes only person to hear every milestone the young woman hit.
When Emma turned sixteen, she was finally strong enough to open the coffin. For the first time, she was able to feel the cool, smooth skin of the woman, to stroke the silky softness of her hair. The book was pried from the woman's grip and snuck up to her room. She never really had much time to sit down and read it, but when she did, she was taken into the perspective of the woman, from the time she herself was sixteen. She read the budding romance with the stable boy and the loss she felt at his death. She read about her life married to a man she did not love and the betrayal of her step-daughter. She read as the woman became addicted to dark magic and the years she spent terrorizing those that dared hide the step-daughter she had wanted dead. It was then that Emma realized: the woman in the glass coffin was the Evil Queen.
Despite the realization, Emma couldn't stop reading. She had seen what made the Evil Queen. Inside, she had just been a hurt girl looking for love and acceptance. When every try had blown up in her face, she fought back. And now, despite everything her mother had told her about the dark woman, Emma couldn't blame her. Emma was lucky, she knew. If her life had been so full of pain and loss, she too would have become dark and bitter.
Every day, Emma read the story of the Evil Queen. She read about her plans to enact a curse, to sent them all to a land with no magic and no happy endings. But something had gone wrong. Someone in her circle was a rat and set her up for capture. And here, in the last chapter, The Queen wrote about her escape from the dungeon, her plan to put herself under a sleeping curse, so she could only wake if her true love finds her. If she had no true love, then the pain and emptiness in her heart would at least be silenced as she slept for all eternity.
Emma had cried for the woman in the glass coffin. Now nineteen years of age and with pressure to find a prince and marry, Emma returned to the hidden room. She cried tears of sorrow as she ranted to the sleeping Queen about how she couldn't be the perfect princess her parents wanted her to be, about how she could not love a prince because her heart belonged to a beautiful Queen who had all the worst luck in the world. She was in love with the Evil Queen.
Emma cried for the woman to wake up, to take her away and live a happy life in another castle far from the White Kingdom. In a last effort, Emma leaned down and kissed the sleeping Queen's lips. There was a burst of light and the Queen sucked in a breath. Her beautiful brown eyes fluttered open and focused on the blonde princess. Her own eyes filled with tears as she realized what had just happened.
"You woke me." She said in happy disbelief. She drank in every bit of her savior: blonde hair, sparkling green eyes, pink lips, creamy skin. "How? How did you find me? No, first your name. What is your name?" Emma took a moment to answer, still stunned at the awakening of the Queen. Her voice was so stunning! Low and sweet. Emma stuttered when she realized the Queen was waiting for an answer.
"Emma. I am Princess Emma of the White Kingdom." Emma answered. "I first found you when I was five years old, Your Majesty. I have been coming back off and on over the years. You were just so beautiful, I couldn't help myself. And when I found your diary, I... I'm sorry I read it, but I read how you were devastated at your love's death and then forced to marry someone you didn't love. I... I felt for you and the more I read, the more I fell in love with you."
"So... you know I am the Evil Queen... and, yet, you still love me?" Regina was confused. "Why?"
"I know you never wanted to be Queen, never wanted to be evil... you put yourself under a curse, just waiting for someone to let you be Regina. I want to be that for you, because I just want to be Emma. My mother wants me to marry a prince, but I can't do that. My heart belongs to you." Regina's eyes overflowed with tears and Emma embraced her, trying to make her feel better.
"Then let's go. You and me. We'll take our chance and find a place where we can truly be free."
Dear mother and father,
You always told me the story of how you two met. How fate kept bringing you together, how you beat the odds and found your happy ending. Well, I found my true love in Regina. She might be the last person you ever want to see me with, but I know she will never hurt me. All we ever wanted was to be ourselves, no royal ties, no labels. I love you with all my heart, but I must go. I will see you again, but not until you can forgive me running off. At least you still have little Leo! He will be a fine ruler someday. Cover his face in kisses for me!
Your daughter,
Emma.
Snow,
I know you and I never had the perfect relationship you wanted, but despite that, you gave me so many chances to change. The darkness in my heart never allowed me to take those chances and when faced with my execution, I feared I had wasted those opportunities. However, your daughter gave me one last chance at happiness, so I am going to take it. I will not let happiness slip by because I couldn't let go of my grudge against you. I forgive you and I hope someday, you might forgive me. Perhaps one day, we can sit down together and talk about everything, but until then, I will be building a life with my true love. It seems so ironic that you gave me my true love when all these years I thought you had taken it from me.
No longer the Evil Queen,
Regina
Snow and David found the two letters later on when searching for their daughter. They had felt the shockwave of true love and had been waiting for their daughter to tell them the news of her finding her true love. When it didn't happen, they went in search of Emma. Instead of their daughter, they found the letters. At first, Snow wanted their soldiers to find the pair and execute the Evil Queen like they meant to years ago, but David reminded her they had felt the magic, that maybe all the Queen needed was a little love, and who had a bigger heart than their daughter?
Eventually, Snow agreed, though she asked her bluebirds to keep track of the pair, seeing as she at least wanted to know her daughter truly was happy.
Meanwhile, the newly joined pair of true loves were enjoying each other in a distant cottage far from the castle Emma had known as home. They knew nothing but the scent and the feel of the other's skin, the both of them celebrating their freedom and their love. They had found their happy ending.
