Rowan stood outside of the supermarket, a cigarette in clasped in one of her hands and a lighter in the other. She twirled the cigarette around and around in her hands as she watched the people of Storybrooke go about their lives as they always did. Happily. Their happiness irked her to no end. How could they be so happy when all she felt was such hatred and anger? She flicked on the lighter running her thumb over the edge of the flame allowing for a split for it to burn the edge of her skin.
"Hey!" a cry erupted.
The shock made her drop the lighter sending it clattering to the ground a few feet away from her. A stiletto heel stepped on it crushing the cheap plastic into shattered pieces. The shoe belonged to no other than Regina Mills. She bent down carefully and picked up the remains of the lighter.
"Playing with fire is never a good idea." She half scolded as she pocketed it.
"Oh now you are going to scold me?!" Rowan cried, "how does that make any sense at all?"
Fairytale Land, "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter", Rose is now eight
"Mirror? Mirror?" Rose called out impatiently as she banged the mirror against the table.
The man in the mirror had become the only person who'd spoken to her since Snow had gone away. Her mother spent many hours away tending to the peoples of the land who were still missing daddy.
"Rose," her mother's sharp tone cut across to her, "place the mirror down now. It is not a toy."
Reluctantly she placed the mirror into her mother's out reached hand. Her makeup reminded her of the birds Snow used to speak to. But it seemed they didn't come no more. She missed the other castle. She missed her bed and the horses and all of the kind servants who all bowed to her, called her "Princess Rose Red" and would hold her hand and walk her along the vast walls. No one aside from Grandpa would do that now.
"We have a guest coming Rose," Regina said bowing slightly so that her child was now at eye level. She squeezed her upper arms gently.
Her brown eyes staring curiously at her, a smile spread across her features, "is Snow the visitor?"
It took every ounce of self control for Regina not to press painfully tight onto the girl's arms. Snow wouldn't be a problem much longer she kept telling herself. And no longer would the kingdom be so empathetic to Snow White but rather to the only dear sweet poor princess Rose who'd lost both her father and her sister in a very short time. She'd have the masses bowing and sobbing for the poor child and for once she'd win.
"No not Snow White."
The guards opened the door announcing the arrival of the huntsman. Regina dismissed the guards as she took hold of Rose's hand leading her to the chair. The man must have been a giant, Rose thought. She'd never seen a person so tall and giants were supposed to be tall. Though his eyes were kind and soft. Kind of like her daddy's. They were bright.
"You have no name?" Rosie piped up breaking the uneasy tension between her mother and the huntsman.
The huntsman turned and smiled kindly at the child hoping his smile wouldn't terrify her as children did him. Children were just as observant as wolves at time but acted in much different ways. They went around the problem whilst wolves were direct.
"I was not old enough to remember the name my birth parents bestowed upon me," he answered.
The child was quite for a moment tapping her chin with her pointer finger letting out soft humming, "Graham…," she decided after a moment, "that can be your name if you'd like!" she proclaimed.
"Graham?" he muttered trying it out. The word was foreign to his lips. But oddly he liked it. He'd been called many things, animal, dirt bag, and many other words he didn't care to remember.
"Let's discuss the identity of the person I want dead is," Regina interrupted.
"Dead?" Rose whispered, "killing is bad! Bad people kill! Bad people go to the dungeon! Mama I don't want you to the dungeon….," she trailed off.
"Oh sweet child Mama won't go to the dungeon…," Regina said softly cupping the edge of her face, "there's something called vengeance. Someone does something bad to you, you do something bad to them."
It was the most simplistic terms that she could manage.
"Ven….ven-
"Vengeance," Regina corrected.
A/N: This story is set in the middle of Season 1 prior to Snow White knowing who she was. And the flashbacks are from different episodes in which Regina and Rose were involved. Please let me know what you think of this chapter.