p"Henry, no matter what you think, no matter what anyone tells you, I emdo/em love you."/p
pemI love you, Henry. I love you, I love you. Please believe me./em Maybe, if she repeated the words over and over to herself, they would echo in his head. /p
pOh, what was the point? She probably shouldn't even let herself think about Henry. He had his proof now; proof that that stupid book of his was gospel. From now on he would only see her as "The Evil Queen," defeated by the "hero," Emma Swan. Did he really emwant/em to see the world in such two-dimensional terms? Hadn't his school's curriculum assigned any more nuanced literature?/p
pBut she was "The Evil Queen." Or she had been. She'd worn the mantle with pride. She might have even coined the term, she couldn't quite recall. Over the years, however, she'd grown comfortable with being plain Regina Mills, the only mildly-crooked mayor of the most uneventful town in Maine. True, she'd enjoyed her petty powers. Issuing undeserved parking tickets, a little bit of good old-fashioned bribery (more to create a fun ambience of corruption than to get her way, because in this world she always got her way eventually). Watching Snow's romance-novel brand of angst, as she gazed longingly out of windows, sensing that her true love was, "Out there, somewhere, but where?" - that had been entertaining too. But was any of that really evil?/p
pShe emhad/em kept that Belle girl locked in a basement. That might qualify. Also framing Snow for murder. But that was entirely deserved./p
pThe point was, she had ceased to emthink/em of herself as evil. She didn't want the moniker anymore. All she'd ever wanted was a dominion to call her own, no matter how small and unglamorous. Was that really so much to ask for?/p
pShe snapped; threw her alarm clock across the room, where it pointlessly smashed. Then she held her head in her hands, and cried like a heartbroken teenaged girl. She emhated/em them, all of them, with their fated, ribbon-tied happy endings, and stupid, smiling faces. The way they'd all reacted when that jolt of True Love struck them, radiating from Emma's lips - like recognizing something that was meant for them... /p
pEntitled brats. At least it felt good to hate them./p
pShe wished, with all her might, that she could hate Emma Swan./p
pBut how could she hate someone who loved Henry? Loved him so much that it had created a wave through space, and changed everyone's reality. While Regina had to beg Henry to remember her love, Emma's love provided physical evidence. /p
pAnd because of Emma's love, Henry was alive./p
pRegina's former hate for Emma had missed its mark - it had almost destroyed the only person whose death she would never have been able to bear. With a single action, taken unconsciously in the heat of grief, Emma had melted Regina's carefully-assembled version of of the world, and destroyed her life. She had also saved her. /p
pSo she couldn't hate Emma. But she could hate everyone else./p
pAnd it seemed they were more than capable of hating her./p
pThere they were now, pounding down her door, like the comically predictable torch-and-pitchfork mob they were. Well, let them come. If they thought she'd lie down for them they had another thing coming. She may not have had her magic, but if she didn't have Henry, then all she did have left in this world was her Evil Queen persona. And if they wanted her to dust it off and wear it, she was going to commit. /p
p"Get out here Regina! Don't make us come in ourselves!" Shouted Obnoxiousy, or whatever that Dwarf's name was, "We'll tear down the door if we have to!"/p
pIf she'd said she wasn't afraid, that would have been a lie. The rabble wanted her dead. The kind of dead that became dead through particularly violent means, by the looks of things. They were certainly generous and kind, these good and noble citizens. But they weren't going to see her crack, not for a second. Her mouth bloomed into a beaming smile, as she swung the door open wide./p
p"Hello everyone! How can I help you?" /p
pThe dwarf took an emphatic step forward./p
p"You can emsuffer/em."/p
p"Ha!" Regina took great pleasure in stepping right towards him, flipping back her suit jacket the way she had once flipped her long, dramatic capes out of the way before doing something dreadful. It was always an impressive gesture, and she saw the crowd shrink back. "Aside from annoying me, there's no way you pitiful peasants could ever hurt me." She flashed another winning grin. "But I would sure like to see you try." /p
pA whisper of speculation spread through the crowd - something to the effect of "She must have her powers again!" Then a ripple of doubt - could there really be magic in this land?/p
pThe dwarf looked cowed for a good moment, and then straightened up again./p
p"I think you're bluffing."/p
p"But are you really sure you want to find out?" Regina drew clawed hands back, as if preparing to shoot the deadliest magic from her palms. /p
pBut it was true, she was only bluffing. And that couldn't last long./p
pShe hoped, prayed, that somehow her magic emhad/em returned. She imagined a fire ball big enough to swallow the whole crowd, to rid her of them forever. She closed her eyes, and gave it her best shot./p
pAnd….nothing./p
p"She's powerless! Get her! Do it now!"/p
pThey moved in and surrounded her. Animals. Regina tried to steel herself, to close her mind to the fear, as she felt hands close around her neck.../p
p"Stop!"/p
pAnd then, breaking through the crowd - who else? /p
pEmma Swan, of course. Savior once, Savior forever after. /p
p"Stop! Get away from her!" Emma threw Regina's attackers aside with a fervor that could have been mistaken for concern, by someone who didn't know better. Regina would probably always consider Emma her enemy, possibly her worst enemy, but she had to admire the way she fought for the people she loved. And right now she was fighting for emHenry/em, saving Regina for his sake, again. /p
p"Stand down! We are not murderers here!" That was Snow, following closely behind her daughter, speaking, as she always had, as the Elevated Voice of Goodness and Justice. Regina had not missed her one bit. /p
p"She cursed us!" the dwarf needlessly shouted./p
p"That doesn't make it right to kill her!" And there was Charming. The goody-two-shoes-duo was united again. "I may not be a Prince in this land, but emwill/em stand up for law and order in this town!"/p
pEmma stepped between Regina and the crowd. Rather than addressing the mob she turned to Regina./p
p"You okay?" she asked quietly. /p
pRegina glared, but nodded. /p
p"She deserves to be punished for what she did to us!" /p
p"And she will be!" Snow stood before the crowd in full orator mode, commanding everyone's attention. "But killing her won't provide us any answers! The curse is broken - so why are we still here in Storybrooke, and not back home? Regina may be the only one who can get us back there!"/p
pRegina smirked. Snow tended to lead with the whole Universal Moral Code thing, but she was a realist underneath it all. She knew she'd never tame this mob unless she could show them there was something in it for them. /p
p"She needs to be locked up," Snow continued, "For her sake, but emmore importantly/em for ours." Yes indeed, Snow certainly had her priorities straight. /p
p"For now, why don't you all go on home," Charming suggested, and because they were all sheep, the effect was immediate. As the crowd begrudgingly dispersed, Regina heard someone call in a soft but determined voice, "Long live Snow White!" She rolled her eyes./p
pMeanwhile Emma - Sheriff Swan, as she still seemed determined to be, even given these vastly altered circumstances - unclipped her handcuffs from her belt. She looked almost apologetic, her eyebrows creasing in that anxious way, as she fastened them onto Regina's waiting wrists. /p
p"Well - Your Majesty - I guess you're under arrest."/phr /
pRegina lay on the little cot in her jail cell, and stopped existing for a bit. What they were planning to do to her, what she would plan to do them first - all that could wait, for just a little while. She held her hands together on her chest, and imagined none of this was real. /p
pShe closed her eyes, and pretended it was yesterday. No, before Emma came to town. No, no, not even then. Much earlier than that. Before she married the King. Before what happened to Daniel. Before she ever met Snow White. Yes, that was it, before Snow…/p
pShe tried to send her mind back to the time before Snow, but the first thing she thought of was her mother's face - smiling, kindly, condescending - as it had looked when she'd bound Regina's arms fast to her sides with magic branches to keep her right where she wanted her to be. Was there a time she could go back to before that, a time when she wouldn't have her mother's voice in her head, telling her she was weak, a disappointment, that she'd never figure out how to be happy…/p
pThere was no good time to go back to. That wasn't how Regina's life worked. /p
pInstead she turned to the powers of imagination. She made up a scenario of happiness that seemed at least a little bit attainable. In this vision, Henry loved her. He came to her with his fears and his dreams, listened to her advice, cuddled up to her on the couch. She was the only mother he had, and he didn't need anyone else. Why was it that something so simple seemed like it could only be achieved through a miracle? /p
pOr...through magic…/p
pRegina sat up straight in bed, focused and alert. Something suddenly seemed off. It was as though she could hear a hum that made no sound; a small, gentle vibration. Where was it coming from? One moment it seemed to originate in the top right corner of the room, the next she was convinced it was coming from inside her own head. It seemed so familiar, but she couldn't seem to place it…/p
pAnd then she saw it. It came a tiny bit at a time - through the edges of the windows, underneath the door. It came in thin wisps, but that color of purple was unmistakable. She grinned - genuinely grinned - not to put on a show for anyone, but with real heartfelt delight. It was all rushing towards her. It recognized her, like an old friend who had missed her. And she had missed it too. /p
pWhy, exactly, had she wanted to come to a world without magic? When she'd tossed magic aside, she'd lost the one thing that had ever truly been hers. /p
pBut that didn't matter now. She was about to get it back./p
