Chapter Twenty-Nine

Closure


A/N: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! Today marks the second anniversary of this story. Yes, it has been TWO YEARS! It is because of this that we realized it was really unfair to have written only 29 chapters in the span of two years, and we know that we spent many months absent from this story. We apologise from the bottom of our hearts.


The cold and clammy air of the mausoleum clung to Regina's skin as she followed Maleficent down the stairs to Cora's tomb. She felt the draft downstairs wind its way up the staircase and breeze past her skin, and instinctively tugged her jacket closer to her body.

The last step of the staircase opened up to a wide hallway. Maleficent and Regina passed by the rooms in silence, and Regina watched impassively as Cora's room drew nearer. When they approached the doorway, Regina stopped. She watched Maleficent walk towards Cora's tomb without thinking twice. "Why are we here?" Regina asked, watching Maleficent stop by the tomb.

"You've got to get over her," Maleficent said.

"She's my mother," Regina retorted. "How am I supposed to get over that?"

Maleficent leaned against the far wall, watching Regina. "You said you weren't alright, and I figured the main problem was because of your dead mother."

Regina walked slowly into the room and glared at the blunt usage of words, but Mal only shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not one of those—" She scrunched up her nose. "—princesses. I won't put it softly or coat it with kisses and unicorns. She's gone, Regina."

Regina look away and sighed tiredly. "I know."

Maleficent pushed herself off the wall and walked to Regina. "If you know she's gone," Maleficent said, placing two hands on her friend's shoulders and forcing her to turn to the coffin, "then why are you unwilling to look at her casket?"

Regina pushed off the supportive hand on her shoulder and stared Mal down. "What the hell do you do when the last thing you find out about your dead mother is that she never loved you, that she was so obsessed with power that she was willing to kill your loved ones? How are you suppose to respond to that?"

Maleficent raised a brow. "I think we can both agree that this is not something new."

Regina shook her head at the thought of Daniel. "She's my mother!"

"A rather horrible one," Maleficent replied, returning back to the wall. "She tried to kill you—" She began to count her fingers. "—your daughter, your son, the Prince and his wife, Rumple." She raised the rest of her fingers. "And five hundred others?"

Regina squeezed her eyes shut. "Shut up."

"She may have been your mother, but she was a heartless shrew who was incapable of love. She was hungry for power and only that."

Regina's eyes fell to the floor as she swallowed the lump in her throat. "She never loved me. I'm her daughter and she never loved me." There was a long pause. "I don't understand. Was there something wrong with me? Was I that unlovable?"

Maleficent grimaced slightly and walked over, putting a hand on Regina's arm. "Stop torturing yourself. This may be a little sickly sweet, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. It is rather unfortunate you were born with a power hungry monster of a mother."

That earned a chuckle from Regina. "I was like that for a while." She glanced at Mal. "With Henry."

"So was I, without the part about being a mother." She watched as Regina brushed away the tears. "We're not like her. I have Conner and you." She paused. "And you have that very dysfunctional family of yours."

Regina smiled, though more tears fell.

Maleficent went to the opposite wall and brushed away some imaginary dirt from the ground before sitting down. She magicked two tumblers and a bottle of alcohol to her feet. "It does feel quite odd with the knowledge that the old shrew is finally gone."

Regina chuckled. "Did you call my mother a shrew twice?"

Maleficent poured a drink for both of them and handed one of them to Regina. "I did, and it's very satisfying. Give it a try."

Regina sat down next to her. She shook her head but with a smile, lifted her drink. "To my very complicated mother."

Maleficent lifted her drink as well. "To your mother."

They both emptied their drink and felt the burn of the liquid down their throat in an odd relishment.

Silence.

"You know, since Ebony is a child now, her scars and bruises from back then are visible again and…" Regina let out a shaky breath. "It's not good."

Maleficent nodded and placed a hand on top of hers. "It's not your fault."

Regina shook her head and gave Maleficent a bitter smile. "Don't you see?" she said. "It is."

Maleficent shook her head. "No, it isn't."

"Whoever had looked after her beat her and hurt her ruthlessly." Regina swallowed the lump in her throat. "She had bruises along her arms, legs, back, and a scar below her ear. It's all my fault."

"How could it possibly be your fault that Cora took her aw—"

"If I had fought harder and kept a closer watch on her or—"

"Regina," Maleficent warned.

Regina looked over at Maleficent with a new pain in her eyes. "If only I fought harder," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Maleficent poured the pair another drink and downed half of it in one gulp. "If we all fought a little harder," she said drily, "we wouldn't be who we are today."

The two powerful sorceresses sat on the floor with their backs against the stone wall, an odd contentment in the oddest of places. Maleficent poured another drink for both of them and they sat in silence, eyes on the casket, reminiscing.

After a long silence, Regina made a move to stand up. "I think it's time for us to get back."

Maleficent nodded, and pulled herself up next to Regina.


After the two returned to the mansion, Regina and Maleficent bid their goodnights to each other and quietly went back to their respective rooms.

Regina let out a relieved breath when she saw her daughter still sound asleep on the bed. With a sudden tiredness, she removed her jacket and prepared for bed once more.

When she slipped under the blanket, she recalled the conversation she had with Mal.

"I love you," she said quietly to the little girl beside her, and placed a kiss on the crown of her head.

The next morning, Regina was awoken by a sudden weight on her stomach. She cracked open an eyelid to a little six year old grinning down at her.

"Hi Mommy!" Ebony said.

Regina smiled. "Morning. You're up early."

Ebony giggled. "You waked up late."

Regina laughed at her daughter's quip. As if in the spur of the moment, Regina got a twinkle in her eye and suddenly began to tickle the little girl's sides.

"Mommy!" Ebony shrieked, surprised by the sudden tickle attack. She squealed as she tried to squirm out of her mother's hold. She giggled uncontrollably. "Stop it, Mommy!"

Regina grinned, leaning back, and gave her daughter some time to regain her breath. All of a sudden, someone knocked on the door, and both mother and daughter turned to look towards the entrance.

"Come in," Regina said, bending down to pick a pillow lying on the floor.

Henry smiled as he came in. "Hey. Grandma's making breakfast."

Regina rolled her eyes. "I hope my kitchen is still in one piece by the time she's done." She held out her hands and beckoned him to walk closer to her, but he motioned towards Ebony. It was only then that she noticed that Ebony had hid herself behind her.

"Ebony," Regina said, beckoning the girl who, in a moment, crawled out of her hiding space and onto her mother's lap. "Remember Henry?"

The girl nodded shyly. "Hi."

Henry smiled but stayed by the door. "Hey."

Regina whispered into her ear. "Can he come sit with us?"

Ebony giggled as the small puff of air tickled her ear and nodded. She turned to Henry. "Henry, you wanna sit here?"

Henry glanced uncertainly at his mother, but when she gave him a small nod and a smile, he entered and sat cross-legged on the bed. "Hey."

"Hi, Henry," Ebony said again, though she still held onto Regina's hand tightly.

Henry admitted to himself that the little girl was very, very adorable with weak reluctance.

"Emma, stop eating it. They're not even here yet!" a voiced exclaimed from downstairs.

Three heads turned to look at the door instantaneously at the sound of Snow's voice, loudly chastising Emma.

"Oh right," Henry said sheepishly, raising a hand to rub the back of his head," grandma's making breakfast and wants you two downstairs."

"Breakfast?" Ebony asked, perking up.

He chuckled. "Yeah, she's making all kinds of food. Hash browns, scrambled eggs, bacon... I'm not actually sure how much she made."

Regina pursed her lips. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you're falling in love with her breakfast."

Henry scooched over to Regina and gave her a tight hug. "You know your breakfast will be the best forever."

Ebony tugged on Regina's sleeve. "Mommy, I'm hungry."

Regina smiled. "Alright. Let's go downstairs, shall we?"


When Regina and Ebony made it downstairs into the living room, Ebony smiled in delight as her eyes fell upon the large amount of food on the table.

"Morning," Snow greeted.

Regina motioned Ebony to sit on the high chair next to hers. Everyone apart from Gold and Belle were seated around the dining table.

"We're missing two seats. Where's Gold?" Emma asked.

"He said that he won't be able to stand the Charming's sick optimism, so he and the girl went to Granny's," Maleficent answered, taking the jug of orange juice from Henry.

"And you can stand it?" Regina asked.

"Staying for the little girl right beside you." She gestured to Ebony, who was too busy to notice them as she munched up the scrambled eggs.

Charming looked at the table of food, unsure of what to pick first. "You really outdid yourself this time."

Snow shrugged. "I didn't know who liked what, so I just made everything."

"I squeezed the orange juice." Emma said, taking a bunch of bacon, egg and a few hash browns onto her plate.

"Maybe it's 'cause you can't cook anything," Henry commented, smiling.

"You better watch it, kid."

The odd family ate together, enjoying the small talk that filled the otherwise awkward silence.

"So what are we doing afterwards?" Charming asked.

Henry glanced out the window. "Well, it's sunny today. We should go to the park!" He looked at the people around the table for approval. Most of them nodded.

"Sorry kid, I gotta go to work," Emma said, ruffling Henry's hair, "but you guys go on ahead. I' might join later today."

"What do you think, Ebony?" Henry asked the fidgeting child. "Wanna go to the park?"

Ebony beamed. "Yes!"


The group had gotten ready for the park, which, to Henry's disappointment, took more than an hour. Half an hour after breakfast, Snow had decided to make sandwiches to bring, asking Charming to help.

"Are we ready?" Henry asked, stabbing the couch with his finger.

Regina stood in front of the mirror fixing her hair, but smiled at Henry's whining tone. "We're just waiting for the Charmings."

"I didn't know they took so long."

Regina moved towards Henry and placed a kiss on his forehead. "It'll be quick."

After a little more time, they finally got out the door, heading towards Storybrooke Park.

Once they reached there, Ebony, carried in Regina's arms, squirmed in her hold, excited to run around in the large field.

When Regina gave up and let the girl go, Ebony immediately started jumping and running around, a little ways away from where the group settled down.

"Henry, can you keep an eye on her?" Regina asked, motioning towards the energy-filled girl.

"Yeah, alright." He started out with a jog and then ran towards the little girl. "Ebony, wait up. Let's play a game."

"Okay!" she chirped, bouncing slightly on her feet. "What are we gonna play?"

The two of them played tag while the others set up a picnic a little away, still within eyeshot of them. Regina and Mal sat next to each other while Charming and Snow fiddled with the basket of food.

When Mal noticed Regina gazing at the kids with a grin plastered on her face, she placed a hand on her arm to get her attention. "You know she'll turn back to a teen, right?"

Regina smiled. "I know." She glanced down at her fingers. "Just thinking how different life would've been if—"

Mal rolled her eyes again. "Reminiscing about the past again, are we?"

"Henry was right. Today is a rather lovely day," Snow said, looking up at the sky.

Maleficent shook her head. "And you're ruining it."

Charming opened a pack of chips and ate from the bag, occasionally offering it to the others. Maleficent glanced at the bag with a questioning look. It was only then Regina remembered that Mal was still quite new to the world their in.

"Here." Regina took a large Frito fry and gave it to her. "Try it."

Maleficent noticed the Charmings trying to resist laughing at her and so she confidently took it and ate it.

They watched as her mouth formed into a smlie.

"Like it?" Charming asked. "These are called chips," he said, emphasizing the word chips.

Regina took a few and threw it at Charming. "I suggest you refrain from ever talking to anybody like that again. It's for your own good."

Just when Charming was to reply that he was joking, Ebony's squeal made all their heads turn. "Mommy!" She laughed, running away from Henry, who at that point was pretending to be a wolf. "Save me!"

The little girl scurried behind Regina and Mal, pretending to be terrified of 'the wolf'. "Help me," she giggled, out of breath.

Regna grinned and hugged the little girl. She remembered when Henry was about this age, running around and asking her to play with her. When she saw her son running towards them, she chuckled seeing as his son had sweat through the back of his shirt and was practically panting. "For a tiny kid, she's really fast. Where is she?"

In her best innocent voice, she looked up to Henry. "I'm afraid the girl can't be found."

Henry, catching onto his mother's skit, pretended as well. "Oh well then, I'll just look for her somewhere else!"

Regina heard a half-suppressed giggle as Henry pretended to walk away from where Ebony was. When she finally scooched out of her hiding spot, Henry spooked her, hugging her by the waist. "Gotcha!"

They both fell to the blanket, falling into a fit of laughter. Maleficent and Regina couldn't resist and laughed along, but their laughter subsided when a phone rang.

"Emma?" Snow said, holding the phone close to her ear.

She nodded a few times before her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "What?"

Regina looked to her questioningly. A few seconds later, Snow hung up and turned to the group, eyes wide.

"Scar escaped."


A/N: We are so very sorry for the very, very late update. We feel horrible about it. After a lengthy consideration during our eight month hiatus (the very number makes us cringe) we have decided to wrap this story up. Yes, Skye and I have decided it that it's time we ended this story. We felt that it was long overdue, and it was unfair that we now only updated the story once every blue moon. We didn't like the idea of putting you guys through the torment of forgetting what happened in the story and/or losing interest because of our absence.

Of course, we won't rush the ending. We still have plenty of things we want to go through before we end this story, so from today out, we will be posting a new, long chapter every 2 days! We predict it to end in probably five or six chapters.

We love you guys and hope you will stick around with our other stories afterwards. We love you guys so much and want to thank you for all the wonderful things you've said. They really make our day.

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— Cafe

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