Fourteen
"What's going on here?" the Mirror bellowed as he sized up Casey. "You're not my queen."
Casey wanted to run, hide, cower away from this beastly piece of magic, but the the desperation rising up inside of her ignited a strange courage that was foreign. Holding her head high and clutching Regina's spell book, she spoke.
"No, I'm not, but I have her book, and my own magic has summoned you." Casey refused to lower her eyes from the Mirror's penetrating stare. "I need your help."
"Oh, I know who you are. Yes, you're that orphan from the Enchanted Forest, lost in the woods and taken in by her majesty when Storybrooke was brought to life," the Mirror said. "Tell me, how did you manage to steal the queen's spell book. More curiously, how did you come to have magic of your own?"
"It doesn't matter, I have them," Casey continued. "I need you to show me the truth. I need to know how I ended up in that forest all those years ago, what happened when Regina found me. I need to know why she kept me close once we got to Storybrooke."
"Why not ask her?"
"If I could do that, do you think I'd be here?" Casey snapped. "Please, just show me."
"As you wish, but keep in mind: sometimes truth is a more difficult road than the alternative."
"Show me."
The Mirror lifted a taunting eyebrow as a final warning but when Casey refused to budge, he disappeared into the mist, and soon, Casey was staring at a clearing with piles of rock scattered about. The sun was shining and birds were chirping. Then, there was the sound of a baby crying. Casey's heart sank to her toes as she watched an unfamiliar woman carrying a small basket appear. Next to her was a small troll.
"Pabby, are you sure somebody will find her once we go through with this?" the woman asked. Casey remembered what Ingrid had told her earlier; this must be her sister, Gerda.
The woman who trapped her mother in some magical urn and abandoned her sister's only child. Casey couldn't help but feel a sting of anger.
"Yes, I have foreseen safety for this child," the wise troll replied. "But if we go through with this, there is no telling where she will end up. A portal has the capability to send the child to another time, another dimension, another kingdom. We have no way of knowing where she will end up. Yes, she will be safe, but she will not be home."
Gerda placed the basket on the ground, the baby crying inside. "Ingrid killed my sister, Pabby. We cannot allow our kingdom to remember them. If our enemies knew what happened, they would take Arendelle and we cannot allow the kingdom to fall into their hands. You must take all memories of Ingrid, Helga, and now this baby, from our kingdom. It is the only way."
Pabby sighed. "As you wish, your majesty."
As the troll waved his hands, a purple smoke rose from the ground surrounding the small basket. It yawned open, drowning out the baby's sobs with its powerful storm. Gerda stole one final look at the shrieking sobbing baby in the basket, and just as quickly as the portal had opened, it disappeared.
And the baby with it.
A portal; she'd been pushed through a portal. That explained how she could be younger than Elsa, though she'd been born first. The portal must have shifted her through time, somehow. At least something made sense.
Still, Casey felt a tear trickle down her cheek as she watched the moment she was abandoned. She'd known her whole life she'd been abandoned, but to see it, right there in front of her, was heart-breaking.
The mist appeared again and night had fallen on the Enchanted Forest, where the small basket landed. The baby was silent now and Casey could hear the sounds of a carriage approaching. Appearing not too far from where the small basket lay, a black carriage halted and a footman jumped out, running out toward the baby.
"What is it now?" a voice shrieked from inside the carriage. Casey barely recognized it, but there was something familiar about it too. Sure enough, when the carriage door burst open, a regal lady in a pitch black dress and cape came flowing out, narrowed eyes and a curl in her lip. Casey gasped; it was her, Regina. Casey had never known her as the evil queen, only heard stories of her at the orphanage, but to see her the day she'd found the baby in the woods, well, Casey was terrified.
"What is the holdup?" Regina asked, approaching the footman with a sneer.
"Your majesty, I'm sorry for the delay. But there is a…a baby." The footman pointed at the small basket.
"A what?" Regina stomped her way into the clearing and stared down at the basket, glaring daggers at the child.
"It must have been abandoned by some poor-"
"I didn't ask for your opinion!" the queen said through clenched teeth. "Go wait by the carriage. I will deal with this."
The footman ducked out of the thicket, leaving Regina alone with the baby.
Casey had never seen such hatred in Regina's eyes, but even behind that mask of evil, Casey saw something familiar glimmer behind them while she stared at the child.
Regina reached into the basket and picked the baby up, held her at arm's length. The baby began to cry.
"Yes, and right you should cry. Better for you to learn early on that your queen is not one to be trifled with," Regina said with a curl to her lip.
And then it started to snow.
In July.
Casey watched incredulously as Regina's confidence and regality seemed to falter at the sight of the magical snow. With wide eyes, she stared at the baby, who continued to cry with tight fists.
"No," Regina whispered. "It can't be."
Regina continued to stare at the crying child, as if fighting with some inner struggle Casey couldn't see. Regina bit her lip, took it all in: the child, the snow surrounding her, until she finally found her voice.
"So you have magic. I hardly expect you to understand, but this presents a problem for me. I can't exactly have you growing up and learning to control those powers. Your magic is far too strong and if it was ever unleashed, you could grow more powerful than me. I can't allow that to happen." Regina lifted an eyebrow. "I'll just have to put you where you'll never learn to use them. Perhaps that poor, filthy orphanage isolated in the woods. I've heard the mistress there is quite harsh, and the orphans are miserable. That sort of life will crush any spirit in you, any hope that your magic could spark to life. You'll be far too miserable to even dream of magic."
And with a puff of purple smoke, Regina, along with the baby, disappeared.
Casey swallowed hard, tears burning her eyes as the truth stared right back at her, just as clearly as her own reflection would. She didn't know if she could take anymore, but the Mirror had one last thing to show her.
It was years later, and there was Regina, conjuring up the curse that would bring everyone in the Enchanted Forest to Storybrooke, to a world without memories or happy endings. Regina was watching a young girl through a crystal ball, her eyes cold, yet worried.
"I've kept my eye on you from a distance all this years, and I haven't any cause for concern, but you've just turned 12, the prime age for latent magic to come out. In this new world, I am going to have to keep a fiercer eye on you, make sure you don't discover that power inside of you," Regina snarled. "You have the potential to ruin everything I've built."
As the curse began to work its magic, Regina glided over to the balcony and stared out at the Enchanted Forest. "I suppose in this new land, I shall have no choice but to keep you under my roof. Just another burden I will have to bear."
The Mirror went black, and then the floating face appeared again. His eyes were wide as saucers.
"Y-your majesty…"
Casey shook her head. "I'm not-"
"He's talking to me."
Casey whipped around and there stood Regina, staring at Casey with a look Casey was all too familiar with. How many times had she been grounded under that look?
Casey tried to find her tongue, but couldn't, not under Regina's penetrating stare. It wasn't until Henry slouched in behind his mom that Casey's tongue finally unhinged.
"Henry, you said you'd-"
"I know, I'm sorry," Henry said, biting his lip. "But I think you need to talk to her."
Casey felt her fingertips grow tingly and chilled. Whatever power she had within her, she only hoped she could control it.
"Henry, why don't you give us a minute?" Regina said quietly, turning to her son. Casey's heart hammered mercilessly in her chest. The truth was laid bare now; no matter how Regina tried to weasel her way out of it, Casey knew the truth.
Henry lowered his head and nodded, sharing a significant glance at Casey who looked away just as quickly. As Henry left the two alone, Regina closed the distance between them and waved her hand at the Mirror.
"Some privacy, Mirror," she said, and the face in the mirror disappeared. Casey swallowed, staring up at the woman she'd looked to as a mother, the woman who lied, who'd kept her close just to make sure her magic would never emerge, who stuck her in a hole of an orphanage just so her spirit and hope would be too crushed for any magic to take hold.
Ingrid was right; Regina never cared – Casey was only a means to an end. How did that old saying go? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Regina was so focused on being the most powerful that she sentenced a young girl to a meaningless childhood just to make sure a magical enemy wouldn't rise up against her.
It was enough to make Casey sick.
"We've been looking everywhere for you," Regina said, clearing her throat. "I've been so worried."
Casey shook her head. "I don't believe you."
Regina narrowed her eyes. "You don't believe me? Ask Emma, Snow, any of them."
"Of course they'd believe you, Regina. Lies just slip off your tongue, don't they?" Casey hissed.
"What has gotten into you, young lady?"
"Oh I don't know, maybe the fact that everything I thought I knew and cared about in life meant nothing!"
Regina puckered her brow. "What are you talking about?"
"I know the truth, Regina. I know what you did, and I know why." Casey bit her lip to keep the tears from spilling over. She didn't want to appear weak, not now, not ever.
Regina moved forward, but Casey only backed away. Regina sighed. "What did that snow queen tell you?"
"That you only kept me close so you could make sure I wouldn't learn about my magic." Casey watched for a reaction, but Regina's face was stone. "I didn't believe her at first; I wanted so badly to believe there was good in you, but then…"
Casey swallowed. "I stole your spell book so I could make the Mirror show me the truth. I saw it all, Regina. Everything. You did find me in the woods, but that wasn't all, was it? You stuck me in a crappy orphanage so I wouldn't discover my magic and then when you brought everyone to Storybrooke, you pretended to adopt me like I was special or something, but it was all so you could keep an eye on me, make sure I didn't become more powerful than you! All this time, Regina, I thought you took me in because I meant something to you, but now I know the truth!"
Regina shook her head. "Casey, it's not-"
"I don't get it, Regina! If I was such a threat to you, why didn't you just kill me in the woods when I was a baby?"
Tears flooded Regina's eyes. "There's a lot you don't understand, Casey. I may have been the Evil Queen, but I still had…feelings. You were a baby. I'll admit, what I did to you was…wrong, careless, well, terrible. But killing you…that was never an option."
"Well, I guess that was pretty convenient for me, wasn't it?" Casey glared. "Besides, your big plan didn't work. I figured out how to use my magic today, so everything you ever did was for nothing."
"My office, the frozen desk." Regina swallowed. "It wasn't the Snow Queen. It was…you."
Casey managed a small nod. "Like mother, like daughter."
Regina stepped forward again. "Well, it doesn't matter. Things are different now, Casey. If you would just listen to me."
Casey stepped back. "I don't want to listen to you. You lied to me! You pretended to care when all you cared about was yourself! My mother was right! I'm nothing to you but a threat that needs to be crushed!"
"Casey, you can't listen to that woman, she's-"
"What, a liar?" Casey crossed her arms. "Seems like I'm surrounded by those everywhere I turn."
Casey dropped Regina's spell book on the floor and went to pass Regina, but Regina stopped her by grabbing her arm.
"Do not walk out of here, Casey," Regina said through gritted teeth, but even Casey could see the desperation in her eyes.
"Let me go," Casey whispered, tears threatening.
"Not until you let me explain."
"I don't want to hear it!" And then all the anger Casey felt inside manifested itself once again. Regina yanked her hand from Casey's elbow as if she'd been burned, and Casey glanced at her arm quickly enough to see her icy blue skin turn back to its rosy pink. Wide-eyed, Regina stared at Casey, and without another word, Casey turned on her heels and ran.
This time, Regina didn't stop her.