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Regina smiled at Daniel. "I love you," she whispered.
"I love you too," he whispered back, bending down to kiss her.
Their lips touched for only a moment before Daniel cried out in pain and collapsed. Regina fell to her knees beside him, pulling him into her lap. "Daniel!" she cried. "Daniel!"
"I'm afraid that won't work, my dear." Regina looked up and saw her mother calmly standing before her, holding Daniel's heart in her hand.
"Let him go!" Regina pleaded. "Please, give Daniel back his heart."
"Why should I?" her mother asked.
"I love him, mother. Please..." Cora laughed.
"Love, Regina? Let me tell you something about love." She leaned closer.
"Love is weakness." And she crushed his heart. Regina screamed, but her mother just shook her head. "You should thank me," she said. "Falling in love with a thief." She snorted and shook her head.
"A thief?" Regina asked, confused. "Daniel isn't..." She looked down and gasped.
Staring sightlessly up at her was Robin Hood.
"Daddy?" Regina spun around to see Roland. He looked up at her, his eyes trusting. "Have you see my Daddy?" he asked. Regina stood, reaching out for him.
"Roland," she said, between sobs, "I am so, so sorry." His face twisted into hatred.
"No!" he cried pushing her away.
"Roland!" she called, except now he was Henry, looking far older than just twelve.
"I was wrong," he said. "You're no hero. You'll always be the Evil Queen."
Regina woke with a gasp, shivering in the cold night air. At some point during her nightmare she'd thrown the covers off and they'd fallen off the edge of her bed. She slowly sat up, running a hand through her hair.
Nightmares weren't new for her; she'd suffered from them for as long as she could remember. At first they had been of Daniel's death and her captivity under her mother's rule, and then they had been of using magic against her mother, and liking it. As 'the Evil Queen' she had still suffered from those nightmares, but not as frequently, and she often forgot them once she awoke. When Emma Swan came to town she'd had many nightmares of losing Henry, but he'd shown that he still wanted her to be his mother, even though he had a much better family with the Charmings, and somehow because of that she'd managed to become part of their family as well.
What really scared her about this was Robin. His death was a prospect that continually haunted her, enough that it had started to invade her dreams. Robin had come to mean so much to her in so little time. If anything was to happen to him, or to Henry...
She was halfway down the corridor to check on Henry before she remembered that he wasn't actually there. She sighed and leant against the nearest wall. Instead of Henry she had a strange child in her house, a child who was probably damaged by her past beyond what Regina could help her with.
She sighed again. What had she been thinking when she'd agreed to this? Dinner had been full of awkward, stilted conversation, with Ashley constantly calling her 'Miss Mills' no matter how many times she said to call her Regina, especially after the discovery that they had almost nothing in common.
Well, to be fair, she was just saying that. In truth, Ashley had practically refused to speak to her at all, except from answering questions, and even then her answers were mostly 'maybe', 'I don't know' and 'I guess so'.
Regina glanced over at Ashley's door, wondering what she was dreaming of.
Ashley was walking down a long corridor. It looked like Miss Mills' house, but she'd never seen it before. She just had a strange sense that she knew it.
It seemed endless. She almost stopped and gave up, but it felt as though something was urging her on. She stumbled forwards, feeling as though she was carrying something impossibly heavy. She focused on the carpet and took one slow step forwards at a time.
Abruptly she came to the end of the corridor. There was nothing in front of her, just a huge cliff. She stood there for a moment, wondering where she was supposed to go next. She turned to look back down the corridor and saw a huge wave of inky darkness coming towards her. She stepped back involuntarily and stepped off the edge of the cliff.
For a handful of heartbeats she slowly tipped backwards, frantically windmilling her arms in an attempt to keep her balance, but it was all in vain.
She tumbled off the cliff and fell into the abyss. She tried to scream, but it got caught in her throat, her rising panic cutting it off.
Ashley was vaguely aware that she'd woken up. She was in her new room, clutching at the sheets, trying valiantly to fight the panic clawing at her. It's not real! She screamed in her mind. It's not real! She fought for air, taking gasping breaths as she tried to breathe through the panic. Her heart was thudding in her chest as though she was running and she clenched her hands tightly to stop them from trembling as the overriding panic threatened to engulf her.
"Ashley!" Then Regina was beside her, genuine concern in her eyes. Ashley tried to reply, but couldn't find enough air. Regina sat next to her on the bed and gingerly put her arms around her, rubbing her back and whispering words of comfort.
Regina didn't know how long it was before Ashley was breathing normally again. She felt useless, just sitting next to her and trying to comfort her. She was just glad that she had decided to check on Ashley and make sure that she was comfortable in a new room.
Eventually Ashley could breathe again, slowly taking deeper and deeper breaths, which turned into sobs. Regina just held her close and let her cry, resolving to speak to someone in the morning. The tears stopped soon enough and Ashley stiffened in her arms, apparently noticing where she was. Regina reluctantly released her.
"Are you all right?" she asked gently. Ashley nodded. "What happened?" Regina asked. She hated to push Ashley for answers when she was clearly unwilling to talk, but seeing Ashley choking on her own panic had scared her beyond belief and she needed to know what had happened if she was to help her.
"Panic attack," Ashley mumbled.
"A panic attack?" Regina repeated. Ashley nodded. "What caused it?" Ashley shrugged.
"Nightmare," she muttered, her voice barely audible. Regina felt a surge of empathy for her. Her own mother had deemed nightmares as weakness and had scolded Regina for being so afraid of the dark. How many nightmares did I suffer through on my own? She wondered. Too many. I can't – I won't – allow that to happen to Ashley.
"I see," Regina said, standing and walking over to the chest of drawers. "I used to have nightmares as a child," she said, finding a candle. "My mother didn't want to know about them, so I found my own way to cope." She opened one of the drawers and found the matches. Smiling in triumph she turned back to Ashley and put the candle on the table next to her bed. She lit the candle and put the matches next to it. Ashley looked at her in confusion.
"I would light a candle," Regina said. "And I would watch it while I was trying to get to sleep, and I would tell myself that I shouldn't be afraid of the dark because it couldn't even put a candle out." Regina smiled at her and made her way to the door. "Good night, Ashley. Sweet dreams."
For the first time, Ashley ventured a small smile in her direction. "Good night, Miss Mi– Regina."