A/N: I love Regina.
Disclaimer: OUAT characters belong to Adam & Eddy!
Magic, she learned, is both a cruel and beautiful thing.
Everyone wants a taste of magic. It can give you the flicker of hope during the darkest of times - the promise of a cure, the gift of eternal life, the spawning of wealth, True Love's kiss. The opportunities it provides are endless, and that is what makes it so desirable.
But what people often overlook is the fact that all magic comes with a price, and the price paid is never pretty. Magic, she learned, can take away your happiness at the snap of a finger, at the stirring of melted ingredients, at the wave of a wand, at the crushing of hearts. To know magic and to want it is to understand both its darkness and its light, and how the latter can never exist without the former.
Cruel and beautiful.
She, too, was both.
But Regina wasn't always cruel - no, once upon a time she was only beautiful and happy, and she once held in her arms everything that she could ever desire. She had a home, a family - she lived a dream that she wished she had never woken up from - until the day that girl took it away from her.
She hated that girl - ever since her loud mouth led to that incident, Regina had lost not only her past love, but her ability to even have any prospect of love in her future as well.
Why is it that she can never get what she wants?
She looked at her reflection in the mirror, examining herself. Here she was, one of the most powerful and most feared sorceresses in all the realms, and now the Queen of Wonderland. She has everything she wants, doesn't she? After all, she sacrificed many things to get to where she was - shouldn't she be happy?
"What is wrong, my little Queen?"
She looked at the face that had appeared in the mirror and sighed sadly. "Why aren't I happy?"
"But you should be happy," the Mirror replied. "You are beautiful, powerful, and feared by many. And you have what you have been looking for all your life is right here in this castle."
She shot him a glare. "But why do I still feel this way?" she snarled. "I thought that bringing them here would fill this, this-" she points at her chest firmly. "Hole in my heart! Nothing has changed!"
"Perhaps it is because since then... you still have not yet learned to love."
"Love?" she laughs shrilly. "What has love got to do with anything? Love is weakness - I don't need love to be happy." She turned to the window and smirked. "What I need is right here in this castle. That sea witch is going to prevent every ship from entering so that- that prophecy won't be fulfilled, and I can finally do that curse and destroy their happiness-" she took a deep breath and sighed with a satisfied smile. "It'll be all worth it because I'll finally get my happy ending."
She looked back at the mirror but found that the face has now disappeared. Where did he go? She panicked to herself, banging on the mirror. "Daddy?" she whispers. "I'm sorry. Please come back…"
What have I done?
Later that day, Regina walked to the dungeons. Hopefully there is some good news, she thinks to herself. She was quite sure her little plan worked, and if it did not, well... that prophecy will continue to haunt her until she finds another way to prevent it from occurring.
"So? Did you do it?" she asked the sea witch, who was standing over a pedestal with her back turned to her.
However, she doesn't turn back to face Regina when she speaks. "It didn't work," she replied grimly. "They managed to avoid the storm."
"Excuse me?" Oh yes - this definitely did not make her mood better. "What do you mean it didn't work?"
"Something about that specific boat wouldn't allow the Black Storm to destroy it. I used all the magic I could-" then Ursula paused, her eyes widening with realization. "No, now I remember! This trident-" she pointed at the golden spear in front of her. "It was made by the first King of the Seven Seas. And there is a story saying that when he created it, he also created a ship - a special one. So perhaps this ship is the exact same ship that King made, making it null to the trident's powers."
Regina grabbed the sea witch's bare shoulder so she can face her. "So you're saying," she said in a low, dangerous voice. "That I helped you kidnap the merman, steal his trident, and all for nothing? You're more pathetic than I thought, Ursula." She roughly let go of the witch and grabbed the golden trident from her, and began to walk away.
Ursula widened her eyes in anger and stormed after Regina - nobody speaks to the Sea Witch that way. "I did what you asked, Regina. I prevented every single ship that tried to cross the Third Sea - so give me my end of the deal." She lunged for the trident, only to find that Regina had disappeared in thin air.
"Oh no, darling," Regina sang, reappearing behind her. "You didn't stop every ship, so I'm afraid you're not getting anything."
This jeer seems to anger Ursula more, and she lifted her arms as if to cast a spell. However, nothing appeared.
Ursula looked at her hands in bewilderment, which were now covered in chains. "Wh-what…?"
"I may be much younger than you, sea witch," Regina laughed shrilly. "But age doesn't determine skill level, I'm afraid."
Ursula glared at Regina. "Listen, you little brat, you promised me-"
"Promise? Hardly!" She walked towards Ursula with a malicious smile on her face, and picked out a strand from Ursula's elaborately-styled gray hair. "Your old age has thwarted your abilities, as I can see," she continued. "You're useless to me now."
Suddenly, Ursula let out a loud scream, its sound echoing off the walls of the dark room, and she looked down at her chest where Regina had shoved her hand into.
Regina took Ursula's heart and held it up in the air, as if to examine it. "Hmm, how interesting," she mused. "It's not as black as I thought it would be." Wait a second… She shot her eyes back up at Ursula. "Did you lie to me?"
Ursula shook her head furiously, fear clear in her eyes. "No, never, I-"
"You liar," Regina snarled, her face getting closer to Ursula's. "There was a different reason for you wanting the trident, wasn't there? You didn't want to take the King's place in ruling that kingdom - you wanted something else, didn't you?"
The sea witch glances down to her right instinctively, but to her horror, Regina didn't fail to notice.
"Oh my- you love him, don't you?" Regina let out a mirthless laugh. "It all makes sense! You don't want his throne." She leans in closer to Ursula and hisses the last words out. "You want his heart. You want him to forgive you - and maybe, you hope, he'll love you back."
The fearful look in Ursula's eyes confirmed to Regina everything - it was all true.
"Well let me tell you something, Ursula," she hissed, squeezing the heart in her chest. She ignored the screams that the sea witch let out. "Love is weakness."
She feels nothing when she watches the old sea witch crumple to the floor, screaming out the last of her breath. What Regina feels after, however, is fury at what the sea witch was screaming as she was dying:
Triton.
"Die, old hag."
Then she leaves the room, not bothering to look back at the sea witch whose hands were still reaching for the floor, towards the imprisoned King who will never, ever know her love for him.
"Are we stopping yet?!"
The other four glared at Smee, who had now stopped beside a tree, breathing heavily. Though Emma couldn't blame him for complaining - they had been running away from the wolves for what seemed like forever, and the evening seemed to had only just begun.
"You think they're gone?" Eric looked around anxiously before bending on the ground next to Smee.
"Aye," Killian replied, then he glanced up at the sky above them. "However it is still a full moon, so I would not breathe so easily."
"Don't worry," Emma gasped as she finally caught up to them. "No one's going to be breathing easily after that."
"How is the huntsman doing?" Killian nods at Graham, who was now sitting on the ground with his back faced to them.
Emma looks at Graham worriedly. The whole evening had been such a blur that she could barely process what had just happened. Once evening had fell, two wolves suddenly appeared out of nowhere, chasing them left and right. Furthermore, as soon as they heard the first howl, Graham's chest started to ache strongly - it was a miracle that he was able to somehow run away from the pack of wolves behind them. Emma scanned around the dark forest cautiously before glancing back at Graham. Now that she thinks, it seemed that the wolves had a strange effect on him. Whenever they howled or they were nearby, he would feel the pain in his chest instantly.
As if mocking her thoughts, the sound of a loud howl was suddenly heard nearby.
Graham gasped and doubled over in pain, causing Emma to run towards him immediately. "Graham! Please, just hold on - we have to get out of here!" However Graham's eyes start to close instead, making Emma shake him roughly. "Graham?! Stay with me - don't you dare leave us!"
But his eyes only continue to close. Emma stares at him in horror. Please, please, not him too, please… She panics inside. But his eyes never open.
Emma holds him closely, willing herself to stay calm. She refuses to believe that whatever wrong was happening to him was taking him away. He feels so.. Warm, she thinks, which was quite strange. Why did his chest feel so warm? Emma pulls him back to look at him, then pats her hand on the breast pocket where he kept his pocket watch. She reaches into the pocket, trying to see where the source of heat was coming from, and then-
Ow! The pocket watch was searing hot. What the hell is happening?
She tries again a couple of times, attempting to yank the watch out, but each time it seemed the watch was burning hotter and hotter. Why is it that Graham wasn't being cooked alive by this thing yet? She wonders, then she gets an idea in her head. Maybe it wasn't the watch - maybe it was Graham instead.
She reaches for Graham's faces and touches his cheek gently.
The pocket watch. Warm hands. Red coat. Red lips. Her laughter. The way she looked into his eyes - ocean blue meeting earth-brown. The feeling of her skin, the scent of the cool forest air. The soothing melody of their howls, the beautiful shape she takes when she forms into-
Graham opens his eyes abruptly, and looks up at Emma, breathing heavily.
"I remember."
A/N: Graham gets his memories back! :D
NEXT CHAPTER: It seems that Emma's touch caused Graham to get his memories back, causing him to jump up and lead the rest of the group to somewhere - or someone - unexpected! Lots of things going on for all of you the next few chapters :) Oh & don't worry - we'll see more CS moments soon enough :)