Misthaven
Early Twilight
6:13 PM
The doors to the hall swung open, and gasps of horror could be heard upon the Queen, the heiress, and the Savior stepping into the room.
"Sorry I'm late." Regina said with a smirk, her heels clicking menacingly as she walked forth with her daughter and the Savior.
"Not…" One of the dwarves quaked in her presence. "Not the Queen –"
Regina silenced the room for a moment with her magic, pushing aside everyone who moved to confront her.
"She's not a Queen anymore!" Snow declared, pointing her husband's sword at the woman.
Charming narrowed his eyes as he held his wife. "What do you want, Regina? You have no power, you're no longer the Queen –"
"Oh don't be like that," She said. "I haven't come here to ruin anything. In fact, I've come to give you a gift."
Snow stared at her in horror. "We don't want anything from you –"
"Yet you shall have it," She replied. "My gift to you…is this happy, happy day."
Snow and Charming shared a look of both concern and surprise.
"However," The heiress said, tossing back her dark hair. "Tomorrow, our real work begins because, for all the vows you have made, we have our own."
"No one in this room…" Emma bit her lip but forced herself to meet the unwavering gaze of her mother that was ready to kill. "There is no one in this room is truly innocent, and –"
"And everything you love," Regina said haughtily. "Everything you've ever known or loved will be taken from you."
The Queen sauntered out, the heiress and the Savior still by her side, but they all turned upon hearing a yell from Charming.
"Hey!"
The sword with such force that he had thrown did not pierce the Queen as was his intention. With the snap of her fingers, she and the others were gone.
"I can't do this!" Snow said, pushing herself up in bed much later that night. "Charming, I cannot sleep knowing that they're –"
"Snow," He said, leaning over and gently caressing her cheek. "They're not really going to be able to do anything. They are desperately clinging to the power that they had so much of just over a month ago. I know it's terrifying, and I'm scared too, but we're going to be okay. Everything is going to be alright."
She sighed heavily, curling into him as he held her close. "I hope so…"
"Regina –" Henry started, trying to reason with his daughter.
"I have the dark curse," She reminded him, then laughing. "I can use it, and this will finally be over. I won't have to deal with this anymore, and everything will be the way it's supposed to be!"
"I'm still uncomfortable with this," Emma told her as she squeezed her shoulder. "I don't care if it takes us back to my realm and gets my mother back for the wrongs she and my father have done. It's not worth it. It can't be."
"It could be," Caitlin countered. "If we do this right."
"And then what?" Emma asked. "Are we just going to live our lives knowing that we cursed everyone to be exactly what we want them to be? And what about myself? I'm not supposed to be in this realm in the first place, let alone during this time! There are going to be two of me! Do you have any idea how –"
"Then we'll cast the curse before you're born," Regina snapped. "This can work, and it will."
Henry shook his head. "Regina, please don't do this. It's not going to make you happy."
"Nothing makes me happy anymore!" She exclaimed. "My entire life is…I've lost so much, and I just…"
"Mom?" The young Henry stepped into the room, biting his lip. "Are you okay?"
"No, Henry, I'm not," Regina said. "For once in my life, I just wanted to win and even that seems to be impossible."
He came over to her and embraced her tightly.
"You'll find your happy ending," He promised her. "I know it. You and Emma love each other, and you have me and Caitlin. If we're rewriting the story, then we can stay here. We can make things better."
"No," Regina said sharply. "That is not an option. I'm getting my revenge on Snow even if it kills me."
"This isn't who you are!" He exclaimed. "You're supposed to be my mom! Not the Evil Queen!"
"I've never been the Evil Queen," Regina snapped. "I'm simply the Queen; it was Snow who added Evil to my name."
He clung to her almost as if he were a baby. "I don't want you to be miserable."
"None of this is going to make things miserable," She told him. "It's going to help make things better. Henry, I promise, I'm never going to lie to you."
"I wish I could talk to angels…" Regina murmured as she rocked her adoptive son in her arms even while the baby boy slept calmly. "I wish you could have known your sister, and I wish I didn't have to do the things I've had to. Nothing has ever made much sense in life…and I hope you will never have to find yourself lost in the abyss."
Henry curled into his mother as he continued to sleep.
"Things can't end like this," Regina said, glancing out the window as the rain fell. "I hate wishing for so much, but I'm falling apart and don't know any better ways to calm down, to force the world to be a little better. I hate the person I've become…but I'm never going to be able to truly admit it."
"Caitlin?" Regina stepped out onto the balcony of her daughter's room where the young heiress was sitting with multiple books, a candle, and looking up at the clear night sky. "Are you alright, dear?"
"I suppose," She said, writing a short note into one of the books before turning towards her mother. "I'm just counting the stars, looking for patterns."
"Really?" Regina hesitantly sat down beside her. "How come?"
"Because I…" She sighed heavily. "Honestly, I don't know but I just hope that the hope the night sky and the full moon gives me isn't false hope. If things are going to get worse…then I don't want to believe that they can or will get better. The world isn't like that."
"You're right, it isn't," Regina glanced towards the sky herself for a brief moment. "Why so late?"
"Because I'm still searching for answers," The heiress replied softly. "Because I will always be looking for something to explain why nothing ever really changes, and how so many horrible things can be made from the things that we cling to...whether it's in anger and spite or not."