Regina just had to get out of there, that room, that castle, it all felt like it was suffocating her. Now that they had returned to the Enchanted Forrest after she had reversed the curse, she felt like she didn't belong anywhere. In this realm or the next, all she longed for was Henry and this feeling of loneliness without his presence to alleviate itself. Being back here and being regarded as the "Evil Queen" again just didn't feel right anymore. She was trying so hard to be the person Henry saw her as. Now being away from him she had so many conflicting feelings. She needed air. She needed to breath.

She threw open the front doors of the castle with one swift flick of her hand and almost could feel her legs sprinting out the door to just find a quick place of solace to think all of her thoughts through. Everything was clouding her thoughts, her head filled with so many happy and terrible moments of what seemed like two different people all residing in one body. As she rushed through the forest, dragging her long, extravagant, black lace dress behind her, she thought she had no idea where she was heading as long as she was far away from the Charmings and their positive attitudes and hope that always encircled them.

Being so distracted by all of her thoughts and emotions, Regina didn't seem to notice she had run straight to a lake in the middle of no where. She had never seen this lake before and realized in all her haste she had no idea of the path that would lead back to the castle. She let out a deep breath and popped down onto a long and just looked over the view of the river. So peaceful and so calm, the exact opposite of what her whole body and being felt like.

After a few moments, in which she spent trying to calm herself from all the pain and agony of remembering Henry, a noise disrupted her concentration. The light crack of the stick made her whip around to see who it was that was intruding on her alone time. She squinted to see into the brush but couldn't see anything.

"Ugh" she grunted annoyed that she would have to find another place to go to be in peace.

She stood about to leave when she realized, "I'm the Evil Queen goddammit. I do not run from others, others run from me"

She held up her head high and took a few steps toward the noise she had heard and said in her most menacing tone, "Who dare disturbs the Queen?"

Then he came into view, a small figure walking slowly towards her, whimpering in fear. When he finally emerged into the moonlight, she realized he was just a child, scared and obviously alone and lost in the woods.

Her whole body calmed and in her most soothing tone she inquired "Who are you?"

The little boy sniffled and replied, "My name is Roland"