A/N Regina fic inspired by the song "She Used To Be Mine" by Sara Bareilles. Wrote this a whileee ago. Disclaimer: I used the dialogue from the scene where Regina tries to put herself under a sleeping curse. I don't own it, or OUAT.

She was the Queen-no the Evil Queen, she reminded herself. She shouldn't be feeling like this. She shouldn't have empathy or mercy and she definitely shouldn't miss the weak person she used to be. Because that is what she was. Weak.

She had weaknesses. She could be hurt. She was naive and good and kind and only wanted to please her mother and she was broken and alone but she had Daniel and love and-and love... That was taken away by Snow White. And Snow White had to be punished for taking her only source of happiness and freedom away.

The Evil Queen's heart filled back up with vengeance at the thought, and her memories of the innocent little girl she once was were shoved back into a box and soon forgotten.

The Queen momentarily remembered what she had said before, however, and a sudden pang of regret pierced through her chest. "The Queen is dead, long live the Evil Queen," she whispered to herself. That girl that saved Snow White's life, that girl that had love in her life, despite her mother's abuse, that girl who didn't want to give into the darkness was long gone. Long Live the Evil Queen.

They were in the Enchanted Forest again, and for Regina it brought back memories. None of them good. Being here in the Evil Queen outfit and in her old castle, it reminded her of the woman she was, and the girl she was long before that.

There were two versions of herself that lived in this forest, one version she admired and one she was ashamed of. She remembered the Evil Queen in her and the girl in love with the stable boy. Which she admired and which she despised should be obvious.

She admired the person in herself who once was innocent, nieve and kind and who had love in her life. Now she was alone in the Enchanted forest, Henry, her only love and only reason to live, taken from her once again. She supposed this was her punishment for so many years of giving into the darkness. Not that she had much of a chance to fight it, not with Rumple whispering darkness and revenge in her ear, and her mother's words that made her feel like she was weak-like she was nothing. Between her mother and Rumpelstiltskin she was turned into a monster, but she let it happen. She had to fault the naive version of herself for that.

She never meant to become the Evil Queen. She had never meant to hurt anyone, but it all just snuck into her heart a little at a time and before she even realized what she had became, she was given the title the "Evil Queen." Being back in the Enchanted Forest reminded her of that person and how no matter how hard she tried to go back to the way she once was, she would always have the scars of the Evil Queen, and the Evil Queen is how everyone would always see her. She was stuck as this half transformed woman, this person who wanted so badly to be good again, to have love in her life and to stop the pain of her childhood. Henry was the only one who could take that pain away, and now she was doomed to never see him again.

Henry. That's who she was thinking of when she tore her heart out and that's who she was thinking about now, making the sleeping curse.

"What is that?" Robin, the thief who had insisted on helping her break into her castle asked.

"Nothing that concerns you," Regina answered. The thief reached for an arrow and Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"How dare you threaten me in my own castle!" she said and without batting an eye she used her magic to put him into the all too familiar choking position.

"Even if you choke the life out of me this arrow will still leave my bow and trust me I never miss," the thief threatened her. Regina looked at him and she thought of Henry. He would hate that she was doing this. She hated that she had already reverted back to this. Regina let the magic holding him go and he dropped back to the floor. He asked again what she was making.

"A sleeping curse," she answered finally. If she was going to use it, he wouldn't be able to stop her. They exchanged words on her reasons for coming to the castle in the moment or two it took for her to make the potion.

"Who do you plan to use it on?"

"Don't worry. No one you'll miss. No one anyone will miss," she answered. And she knew it was the truth. No one would miss her, no one would care if the Evil Queen turned up dead. Good riddance they would think. Because she killed so many people, ruined so many lives. When Robin asks if it's about her son and tells her that she can't give up, it almost gives her pause, almost makes her change her mind. But in this realm, she remembers, she is the Evil Queen again, and she knew in time Robin would see her as so, not as the woman with a broken heart who saved his son.

She is saved from her sleeping curse, given a reason to live by the Wicked Witch, but it doesn't give Regina the will to live, it gives the Evil Queen the will to live. "Someone to destroy," she had said. Because in this land that's all she would ever be. The Evil Queen. The Evil Queen would be guided by the other two versions of herself, but Regina and the Girl Who Loved The Stable Boy were gone. She missed them; their kindness, their eagerness to please, their love... but she lost Regina when she lost Henry. And she didn't think she would ever get that back. Long live the Evil Queen.

It was strange, not being the villain for once, not being the person everyone was on edge around. It felt good to not be the person people were afraid of. Not that she wanted Emma to be the villain, but it was a nice change for Regina at least, stepping into Emma's shoes. In Camelot she was the Savior. Her past didn't matter, even when they learned that she was once the Evil Queen. Well... until Arthur turned on them that is, but that still didn't even have to do with her. For once in her life, she hadn't done anything wrong to get them where they were.

She was able to be one of the heroes.

She was nothing like she used to be, yet close to what she once was. The Evil Queen was gone, and the young girl had found a place back in her heart. She had the goodness back but she also had the wisdom of knowing what was on both sides. She knew what the evil felt like and she knew what the good felt like. It shaped her into who she was. And now she had family. It wasn't the family she asked for and it wasn't the family she had wanted but it was better than she had ever expected. Yes, there were still days where she wished she could rewinds the tapes and save Daniel, skip ever being the Evil Queen, but she reminded herself if she did that she would never have Henry. And he was what really mattered to her. Her happy ending wasn't what she expected but she was happy, and that was all she could ask for. Finally, the Evil Queen was dead. Long Live Regina: the woman who found her happy ending.