AN: This is not very canon compliant; I guess you could think of if as sometime after Neal is born, but not compliant with recent events. Although I really like the newest version of Regina that Once has come up with. She might make an appearance ;) Please review and follow!
Broken, confused and helpless, she half sobs and half sneers at her accusers. Hurtful as it may be, she'd expect the betrayal from those who stand before her: the princess, her once stepdaughter turned friend, Snow White; the hopelessly devoted champion called Charming; the pontificating gnat called Blue, and the mindless sycophants that leech off their every word. The small crowd that gathered behind the Charmings includes the one-handed pirate – giddy with glee at her misfortune – and the ever-present dwarves, who'd no doubt follow their leaders to their demise. She looks on at the group and feels betrayal, for she'd fought alongside them for so long now and yet they see fit to excommunicate her for crimes which have not occurred. But that betrayal is slight next to the outright pain she feels when she looks beyond the crowd, to the woman and the boy who won't even be bothered to get out of the yellow, metal death trap to see her off.
"How dare you stand here and accuse me of such a thing?" her voice hoarse with anguish.
Snow moves closer to her, menacingly closer. "I dare because I have a family to protect. You know exactly what you've done, Regina. The least you could do is muster up some of your old audacity and own up to your offenses!"
"I've done nothing!" She looks around at each face in the crowd of heroes but none of them are moved by her words. Regina glances out to the yellow car where Emma and Henry sit, Emma looking down into her lap expressionless and Henry glancing out of the window unperturbed. She's confused as to why they don't defend her, why they don't even look in her direction. She thinks for a moment that they must truly believe she's done this evil, horrible thing. Regina turns her attention back to Snow and Charming. "How is it you can trust me with your child's safety one day and the very next accuse me of plotting to harm him? Are you so fickle minded?"
"We saw what you tried to do to him!" barked David.
"Have you hijacked Pongo's distorted memories once again?"
"We saw what you did, and this time there can be no mistaking it." The prince turns to the crowd of onlookers. Gossip had quickly spread through town of the scene unfolding at the town line; the size of the crowd had doubled. "The Blue Fairy has revealed to us the crimes of Regina Mills against Prince Neal!" He turns back to face Regina. "You are charged with treason against the crown."
Gasps and whispers are heard through the crowd. The ex-mayor looks to the Blue Fairy and sees nothing but wrath and hatred in her eyes. It's then that she begins to panic. It's then that it sinks in that these people truly mean to banish her from her own town. "Show me," she spits out. "I want to see what it is I've been accused of. If you could show them," Regina points to Snow and David, "then show me. Now!"
"You have no place making demands," Blue coolly states.
"Show me!"
The fairy looks to the Princess and Prince who nod their consent. Blue makes a performance out of twirling her wand and conjuring her magic, and moments later a blurry image begins to play out before the crowd. It soon focuses and against a backdrop of thick white smoke, Regina is seen standing in the Charming apartment, a crying baby Neal in her arms. She stands with him calmly as he wails and raises her hand above his head. Regina makes a flourish of her hand movements and thick, black magic begins to swirl around the baby's head. In the crowd, expressions of shock and fury are heard. As the black swirl begins to dissipate, baby Neal's eyes close slowly and he appears still in Regina's arms. The queen grins to herself and chuckles before whispering to the baby, 'I always win.'
It's at the very end of the vision that Regina spots Ruby Lucas running down the road, making her way toward the crowd. She'd parked to the side and run the rest of way, just catching the end of what appeared to be a drive-in movie in the middle of the road. Their eyes meet for a second; Regina is standing with her back facing the orange painted line, facing off against Snow, Charming and the rest. Looking around the crowd, she sees Ruby scan for someone who can explain just what in the hell is going on. She spots the bug, but doesn't make an attempt to go near it. Ruby pushes her way to the front of the crowd.
"That didn't happen," Regina stutters.
"So you're accusing the Blue Fairy of being a liar?" Snow questions.
"I don't know if she's a liar or a fool but that did not happen!"
David, tense and unyielding, demands, "Did you or did you not use magic on our son?"
For a moment Regina doesn't know what to say. She's somewhere between bewildered that they're back to their old ways and enraged that no one has yet questioned the blue beetle's intel. "I did not use dark magic."
"But you used magic on my son." Snow has the nerve to glare at her in disappointment. "Regina, how could you? After all the chances we've given you? We trusted you!"
By this time, Regina can't control the tears pouring from her eyes, egotism be damned. "Why have you not questioned your supposed ally? How is it she can spy on me, twist the truth and present it to you on a silver platter without you questioning her motive in all this?"
"What would she have to gain? Why would she lie to us, Regina?"
"I don't know!" She wipes furiously at the tears. "I don't know, but that vision was not truthful. What you think you saw is not what happened!"
"Blue," Ruby steps up to the fairy, "were you there when this happened?"
The nun smooths out her clothing and takes a moment before looking up directly into sharp, audacious eyes. "I've long suspected Regina of plotting against the royal family. And to unsuspecting eyes, she's appeared to have turned over a new leaf. Admittedly I remained concerned and I began to magically surveil her. True to her ways, she did not disappoint."
"Fuck you, Blue," Regina spits.
The fairy replies evenly, unaffected, "You truly are your mother's daughter."
Regina tries to find it in her to hit back, but she can't. She glances in the direction of the bug hoping for backup which is not likely to come. Ignoring the jeers of the crowd closing in on her following the proclamation of her sentence for a crime she did not commit, Regina frowns noticing that neither Henry's nor Emma's positions have changed. They've neither looked in a different direction nor shifted their bodies since this whole madness began minutes ago.
The alarm must show on her face because the werewolf catches the direction of her gaze and turns to see what Regina is looking at. This time though, there is something different about Emma and Henry. There's magic. A small wave of irrefutably blue fairy magic ripples in the blonde's eyes. Regina's stomach sinks as she turns to the waitress, who has undeniably seen it too, judging by the look of horror on her face.
Before either woman can do anything, the pirate aided by three dwarves move to hustle the queen over the orange line, as ordered by Prince Charming.
Ruby tries – she tries to make them see reason. But she's outnumbered – the dwarves warning her not to be drawn into the queen's lies. "It's not true, she's changed! You all know it! You've seen her do good!" She's being held back now by the remaining dwarves, who threaten to throw her over too if she insists on siding with the enemy. Ruby sees them all differently now. She doesn't manage to break free.
"Emma! Emma you're under a spell! Snow!" she struggles to keep herself on the side of the line the rest of her family is on. "Snow, don't believe it, she has them under a spell, dammit! Henry!" Her screams are useless; her family will never hear her and will probably never even know what took place today. She fights. It takes Charming's magically enhanced sword and a few more fairies to back her right up to the edge of the line for just enough time for Blue to blast her back about twenty feet. Regina can feel the magic recede within her. She gets up to run but by the time she makes it back to the border, the blue wall of magic has gone up. It's powerful, that much she can tell.
Regina glowers at her former friend, her ex-stepdaughter, the mother of her secret fiancé, and releases all her rage in a primal scream. She punches her fists against the invisible wall to no avail. She tries to appeal to Snow's more sensible half just one more time. "Snow, please don't do this. The Blue Fairy has not been honest with you; you don't know what she's capable of! Please!" In one blink of an eye the border's magic completes itself and she can no longer see the people on the other side.
For her part, Snow barely even blinks an eye at the accusation against her trusted advisor, Blue. She does however shed one single tear and not a single one more.
Blue comes to stand at Snow's right side, both women looking out onto the seemingly empty road before them. "Let's wrap this up, Blue."
"Of course, Your Majesty."