Author Note: Cliffhanger tiiiiiime! Figured since I would be crazy busy and unable to post the latest chapter, I would also be like Adam & Eddie at a season finale. Sorry, not sorry.

Regina was lying on her back, in a completely white room. Blindingly, annoyingly white. I mean, what was Merlin going for, an Angelic look? Well it turned out badly!

Maybe this is what Leopold got the Snow White idea from. Regina blinked. What the hell happened? Oh, I know. I'm in hell. Yup. Something killed me, and living in this constant reminder of Snow is my hell. Damn, they got me good. I'd prefer fire and red hot coals.

"Sorry! The first couple times are hard, I know, but you'll get used to it. Everyone does. Marisa was the worst. She puked!" Vanessa giggled, pulling Regina up to her feet. It did not go unnoticed by anyone that Regina immediately used magic to fix her hair and cloths. As soon as it was available, magic was her go to problem solver.

"Ey, nobody who wasn't there needs to know that!" Marisa yelled from an extremely white chair to Regina's left. "Welcome to our humble... are we supposed to call it a home now? Sure as hell doesn't feel like one." She stood up and walked over to the white fridge to grab some food that was… you guessed it. White.

"You live in this place? That sounds… nice." Regina was eyeing the room with a look of absolute disdain.

"Well, there aren't a lot of options for Merlin's Chosen Ones. Hell of a way to live, right?" Marisa was now eating said food that looked like chicken, but drained of all color.

"Guys, we're getting off topic. Vanessa, you changed the story line?" Alex intervened, always the leader.

"It was an accident! I thought she was going back to Emma! And after everything that happened between the two of them, I just knew it would turn out badly!" Alex's eyebrows shot up like a bullet.

"We do not interfere! Not directly at least, and especially not with things like romance! It's not important enough. The world would not have ended if Emma & Regina got back together." Alex was pacing. "And you brought her here!"

"How can you say that? Have you forgotten how she cried for hours after they broke up? If you actually cared about Regina at all, you would've done the same thing, but all you care about is getting a good story!" Vanessa screamed, matching Alex's pace.

"Oh would you both just shut up! Alex, stop being an asshole." Marisa shot a look at Alex. "You're both right. But we can't talk about this in front of her." She jerked her head to Regina.

"So here's the deal. We are Authors. You don't get that yet, but you will, some day. The last Author was a total fuck up, so Merlin decided to get a group of people who would stop each other from being fuck ups. Crash course on my life." This was obviously a sore spot for Marisa. She seemed pretty pissed.

"Why did he pick teenagers? Not that having a bunch of teenagers around 24/7 isn't great, but it's the single dumbest idea of my life." Regina questioned.

"Something about teenagers being more trainable and blah, blah, blah. Anyways you get it. Vans? Take her home. Make it a couple hours later so she doesn't go after Emma again." Marisa commanded.

"And Alex? Stop being a jack ass."

XXX

Regina was walking to her father's grave when she heard voices coming from the tomb. Emma Swan's voice. She was still a bit confused about the things her kids- that's what she'd begun to think of them as; a kind of second family- had said, but she knew she felt only hatred for Emma Swan. And now the woman had broken into her father's tomb, her sacred place! This is unacceptable.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Regina froze when she saw who Ms. Swan was with. They were impossibly close, practically on top of each other. If she hadn't interrupted, they probably would've ended up on each other and in a cemetery no less!

"What are you doing here?" Emma had no right to ask that, considering that she was technically breaking and entering on private property.

"Being flowers to my father's grave, like I do every Wednesday." That was a lie. Regina went to her 'father's grave' only when she needed to think. Her vault was the only place she felt safe, and right now, she needed some stability. She couldn't stop thinking about that white room, and how those kids were living. It seemed horrible.

"Don't blame her. It's my fault. I wanted to look in there." Graham slowly moved towards Regina, most likely out of habit. 28 years is a really long time, and even without the curse, it's human nature to stay with what you know. Predictably, it wasn't enough to keep him with her.

"Really? Why? What were you looking for?" But Regina already knew. His heart.

Holyshithe'

"Nothing. It was, uh… It was nothing." Graham was nearly falling over as he said this.

"You don't look well, dear. Let's take you home." Just come with me, and I can deal with this. You don't have to die. I'll work something else out. There's magic in my vault. I can save you. Just come with me. Regina thought.

"No, I-I-I don't want to go home. Not with you." Ouch.

"Oh? But you'll go with her." This was not a question. No, this was a fact in Regina's mind. There is no in between. It was her or Emma, and if it's not her, it's Emma.

"Hey, this is between you two. Leave me out of it." Emma pleaded.

This situation is volatile and I do not want to mess with Mayor Mills. No matter how cute Graham is. And Regina. Wait, what? Nope, not going there Swan. She's like a cactus. Pretty flowers with thorns. Thorns filled with poison. Plus she's a bitch. And probably doesn't swing both ways... But bitch is the bigger one. Right, Swan? Emma thought.

"She's right. It's between us, and things have to change."

"And I wonder why that is all of a sudden."

"It has nothing to do with her. You know, I've realized that I don't feel anything, Regina, and I know now it's not me. It's you."

"So you're leaving me for her."

"I'm leaving you for me."

"Graham you're not thinking straight." Regina slowly edged towards him. If she could just touch him, just for a moment, the curse would work. Except she wasn't sure about that anymore. For some reason, the curse wasn't working anymore.

"Actually, for the first time, I am. I'd rather have nothing than settle for less. Nothing is better than what we have. I need to feel something Regina, and the only way to do that is to give myself the chance."

"Graham." Regina closed the space between them. It didn't work.

"I'm sorry. It's over." He stepped away.

Regina looked at Emma with fire in her eyes. That woman came, and ALL OF THIS started. She must be some sort of karmic justice wrapped up in a little blonde package, because she was fucking with everything in Regina's life.

As Regina said this, she nearly cracked. All her anger was gone, replaced by defeat.

"I don't know what I ever did to you, Ms. Swan, to deserve this. To have you keep coming after everything I hold dear."

"I told you, it's not her." Graham tried, but his politeness, his calm, kindled the last little spark Regina had left, and soon it was a fire. I'm taking someone down with me, even if it costs me this entire town. Even if what I'm taking down with me is the entire town.

"None of this happened until she got here!" Regina yelled, imagining how hard it would be to jump from where she was to Emma. Decidedly not too hard.

"I'm sorry, but have you ever stopped to think that maybe the problem isn't with me, but with you?" Emma snapped back just as Regina was preparing to jump.

"Excuse me?"

Henry came and found me. Graham kissed me. Both were miserable. Maybe, Madam Mayor, you need to take a good, hard look in the mirror and ask yourself why that is. Why is everyone running away from you?"

Now was a good time to continue with that jump plan. Yeah, lets go with that with plan, but with my fist…

And then everything went red.

The only thing she remembered was squeezing a small, red heart into ashes.

Bye bye Sherriff.

XXX

She liked to think she did a lot of damage. She liked to think after everything went blank for her, Emma was looking worse for wear. But she also knew that while her head hurt like crazy, Emma was watching Graham die. It would be a lie if she said that didn't make her feel better. I would be a lie if she said that her enjoyment of his death didn't make even herself a little sick.

"Damn girl, whatcha do, attack a T-Rex? Emma has got one mean right hook!" Alex complimented, walking into the bathroom.

"Here honey, let me see that." Vanessa appeared too, and held out her hand to cup Regina's face.

"Ouch. You'd better cover that in makeup tomorrow, but it's gonna be hard with your busted up hand. Want me to come by in the morning?" Zorana asked. Apparently her bathroom was the new Scooby Gang hang out. They were all here. For some reason she didn't really mind.

"Regina, do you want me to grab some ice?" Andrew asked like a little puppy. His eyes got really wide when her head turned and he saw the bruise.

"She'll be fine. She's a tough girl." Marisa said. "But yeah. Go get that ice."

Andrew ran off faster than a roadrunner.

"Sure." Regina answered Zorana. Vanessa was dabbing at her face with disinfectant and numbing cream. Regina didn't really think she needed it, but whatever helps, right?

"I'll need some help tomorrow morning."

There was a moment of silence before Marisa spoke up. Thank God she did, or else they might've never spoken of it.

"…We need to talk about this… Regina fucked up tonight. We all know it, and we can't just pretend that every thing's fine." Marisa was always a subtle one.

"She killed Graham." The blonde continued.

"We knew what we were getting into when we decided to help her and not someone like Snow, or Emma. We picked her because she's the one who us the most. So get busy and fucking help." Zorana pulled out some makeup from her bag.

"I've got some of my little sister's makeup still. I'm adopted, so she's Latino like you." Zorana set to work on Regina's face. "She's 14. I haven't seen her in a year, but she doesn't know that. It's only a year of our time. Time is different when you're one of Merlin's chosen ones." She sounded sad, and bitter. "Until we fix your life, I'm not gonna see her again. So get your shit together." She snapped her compact shut and stepped back to admire her work.

"All better."