A/N: this is my first fic, I hope you like it, an update will be in another day or two. It will be a SQ fic.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or ouat, if I did Regina and Emma would be married already. I do own any original Character I come up with and the plot of this story. I am not making any money off of this.

Beyond Storybrooke

Caramel eyes narrowed as the wind shifted, the droplets of water dripping from her finger tips splashing onto the ground like a metronome a constant reminder to her of the ravages and victims that time leaves behind, she knew of only one person who would come to her in her darkest moment. Every tragedy, every devastation that afflicted her life he would come, with a mocking smile that she so detested, and his telling eerie laugh of a manic child who only found delight in others misery. Regina stood there at the town line, drenched and chilled to the bone completely empty from what had happened just hours earlier. The only tell that she knew her mentor was beside her was the narrowing of her eyes. Nothing more or less. She knew as soon as she stopped that he would show up eventually.

"Out for a stroll your Majesty" Rumple mocked as he danced around her, "or perhaps a trip down memory lane with a handful of forget-me-nots."

She refused to respond to his childish ways the way she knew he wanted to her. She was just so tired. Even standing here exhausted her. Moving past the imp she stops directly on the yellow line of oblivion that separates her from heartache and a new beginning.

"Oh, boo hoo poor queeny all alone once again, how poetic that the savior should find fun with the pirate and you…"

"I read once in a book that one has never truly lived until they have seen their first sunrise," Regina interrupted him her voice filled with wanting, "I have seen many sunrises and sunsets in the many years I have been under both my mothers and your tutelage Rumple."

"What pray tell is your point my dear?"

"You can't see me anymore can you Rumplesteilskin?"

"I can see many things dearie"

"Yes. You can, but I am no longer there am I?" Turning to face the damnable imp that had shaped her into his perfect pawn a smile crossed briefly past her features as she caught a rare look of insecurity filter across his face. "I am done Rumple." She continued slipping out of her high heels. The feel of the cold concrete against her bare feet an exhilarating moment for the brunette, as she shared the smile she only saves for two people that she loves very much. Its striking glow disappearing as soon as it appeared as she remembered the heartbreak those two had caused her as her heart twinged and throbbed in her chest. Placing a hand on her chest attempting to comfort her broken heart, she gazed at that hand, the briefest thought of ripping it out again passing through her mind. It would be so easy to just reach in and unfeel all that she had been exposed to. The memories of what she had been, who she was today. A tear stubbornly escapes as her hand drops back to her side as she is not willing to repeat the same mistakes twice.

"You don't have an alter ego to fall back on if you cross dearie, what shall you do as a walking drooling idiot with no memory?" Rumple mocking voice was filled with honest curiosity as he posed his question. It had been an odd few decades, and a part of him didn't want to lose his favorite plaything, especially since she had disappeared from all the glimpses of the future that he kept track of. It unsettled him how much it disturbed him that he couldn't see her anymore.

"I'm going to watch the sunrise," Raising her head up high, Regina steps forward crossing the line that connects Storybrooke from the real world, her voice floating on the wind to him as her magic and memories leave her completely. "Happily Ever After."

Barring his teeth Rumple walked away from the town line as the realization of what just happened hit him. He had just lost his favorite toy, all because the savior couldn't leave well enough alone. Maybe he should pay the sheriff a little visit. Pausing a smile stretched across his face as he shook his head, no he would let her come to him, that would please belle immensely to know that he was helping the peasants and letting them come to him instead of actively seeking his customers out. With a cackle of joy he fazed himself home to his waiting wife. It was his honeymoon after all.

SQSQSQSQSQ

A faint feeling overcame the young brunette woman as she stumbled across the black pavement feeling weaker and weaker with each step. Like a weight had been lifted off of her she moved as a new faun would when first learning to walk. To an outside observer the beautiful regal looking brunette would look as if she were stumbling home after an all night bender on a walk of shame. In any other circumstance that explanation would have been plausible, however this far into the woods with no one around for miles it definitely didn't speak the same reasoning. Still she moved forward, stopping only when she collapsed after tripping over a tree root, landing on the shoulder of the road. The impact of the fall a jarring shock to her body. Turning onto her back with a groan of pain, confused caramel eyes stared up at the early morning sky. The rippling shades of vibrant color entrancing the confused woman into stillness as she watched the sky change from colbalt, to deep magenta, to orange, and pink to a sky blue with rows and rows of slow moving white fluffy clouds. The faint squeal of a car breaking near by blending in with the background noise of the world awakening as the sun rose and the sky changed. It was the last thing she saw before her eyes slipped closed and she was lost to her subconscious.

TBC…