Hidden in the Dark
Summary: Regina's past holds many dark secrets. As her happiness in Storybrook unravels everyone finally sees the real Regina and realizes that the evil queen isn't so evil, and she's not the evil they should fear.
This idea came to me after The Stable Boy, and a friend of mine encouraged me to go ahead and write it. This is also a Belle/Rumpelstiltskin story, and there will be some dark themes.
I don't have a beta for this chapter, but I should have one for the next one.
I don't own Once Upon a Time.
Prologue
A long time ago there were two sisters who loved each other, but their lives weren't full of rainbows and smiles like the other little girls in the kingdom. Instead they suffered through fear and torture.
The sisters survived the monster that resided in their own home, but the sister's futures were forever wounded by their pasts.
The younger sister succumbed to madness, while the older sister succumbed to evil. Yet the love they had for each still remained.
Regina's POV
This isn't the first time I have made the journey down this stairway. At least once a week for the past twenty-eight years I have walked this same path, hoping that what awaits me isn't the same as last time.
The nurse who works down here is paid from my own pocket, she knows what I expect from her. She knows that I have come for one reason, and she knows what I will ask her, she hasn't failed me yet. The nurse takes the keys from her desk after I am finished asking my questions, and leads me to the cell that holds her most important patient.
When I reach Belle's cell I look in on her, and like every other time I have visited she notices my prescience , and lifts her head to look at me. I look into her eyes and I see the madness that has held her hostage for twenty-nine years, the madness that I despise and would do anything to have replaced with the loving warmth that belongs there instead.
I move away from the door so the nurse could unlock it and I wait for her to leave us. When she is back at her desk I enter the cell and closed the door, knowing that the nurse will let me out when my time here is up.
I walk over to Belle, and I see the recognition in her eyes, so when I cupped her cheek she didn't pull away instead she moved closed. She remembers that this is the way I have always shown my affection for her.
I finally let my hand fall, and move to sit on the stone bench beside her, and after I get comfortable Belle lays her head in my lap so that I can run my fingers through her tangled hair. This makes me think of an easier time, when we would sit like this. Just me and my baby sister alone together where no one could hurt us. Before the madness took her away from me, and before I became evil.
I hope you enjoy. I want to go ahead and point out that Regina didn't want to commit Belle, but she had no other choice. Please Review
Amanda