It had taken four days of driving – not three – for them to finally arrived at their destination. As the third fastest growing small city in the country, Odessa seemed significantly bigger than the quaint town called Storybrooke.
"Well, here we are," said Jefferson, as they drove down a street surrounded by buildings that towered over them. "Do you know where Daniel lives?"
Regina nodded. "The Colters live on 25 Stable Avenue."
"Alrighty then. Let's go."
It didn't take them long to find the Colter residence. When they did, Jefferson parked the car outside the house.
"Thank you, Jefferson," Regina said, "for everything. I won't forget it."
"I'll stay here just in case they aren't home," Jefferson replied. Regina got out of the car, carrying her schoolbag on one shoulder, and looked at the house for a few seconds before putting one foot in front of the other. Before she knew it, the front door was right in front of her. Regina took a few deep breaths, and then pressed a finger onto the doorbell. It rang, but nobody answered. After a few seconds, she tried ringing the doorbell again.
"Hang on!" came a man's annoyed voice from inside the house. The front door opened, and man who vaguely looked like a middle-aged version of Daniel looked down at her.
"Uhh, hey," said Regina. The man stared at her for a few moments before speaking.
"Can I help you?"
"I hope so. My name's Regina, and I'm looking for Daniel Colter."
The man's eyes narrowed. "And just who the hell might you be?"
"I'm from Storybrooke," Regina told him. "Daniel and I, we used to go to school together before..."
"Before that evil whore principal drove him outta town?"
Regina cleared her throat. "Yes, before that. Can I see him? I've traveled all this way–"
"For nothing," the man snarled. Regina frowned.
"What do you mean?" she wanted to know. "Doesn't he live here anymore?"
"No."
"Well, where does he live?"
"He doesn't!" growled the man, looming over her. "He's dead, you silly little bitch!"
Regina felt something twist deep inside her. Her heart seemed to be beating in her throat. She felt sick.
"W-What?" she murmured, feeling tears sting her eyes. "No, he's not... he's..."
The man rubbed the stubble on his face. "I told him. I told Daniel not to go riding with his friends, but he didn't listen. He crashed his motorbike a few miles south from here while racing one of his friends. He had too much to drink. I told him..."
"He's... dead?" Regina felt like dying. There was nothing she wanted more than to stop existing right there and then. "I'm sorry."
She turned to leave, but as she started walking away, the man called out. "What did you say your name was again?"
Regina turned around and faced him. "I'm Regina. Regina Mills."
"He left something for you," Daniel's father said, and she could see regret on his face, possibly from snapping at her. "A letter. He wrote it months before he died, but he never got around to posting it. Wait here."
Regina stood there as he disappeared back into his house. When he emerged again, there was an envelope in his grip. He walked out towards her and held the envelope out for Regina to take. She wiped tears from her face, then reached out to grab it.
"He never liked writing letters," said Daniel's dad. "You must have been special to him."
Regina sniffed, then nodded. "He was special to me, too. Is he... is he buried here, in Odessa?"
"Yeah, he's in Ector County Cemetery. If you visit him... well, just give him my love."
She was about to ask him to join her in visiting Daniel's grave, but decided against it.
There's a reason he told her instead of going to the cemetery himself, Regina thought. When she returned to Jefferson's car, he saw her tears.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Daniel's dead," Regina said, still not wanting to believe it was true. "Died in a motorbike accident."
"Ah, shit," Jefferson muttered. "I'm so sorry, Regina. Really, I am."
Regina looked down at the envelope. It had her name written on it in Daniel's handwriting. Then, she looked at Jefferson.
"I need you to take me to Ector County Cemetery. It's where he's buried."
"Sure," said Jefferson. Regina cast one last look at the Colter household, where Daniel's dad still stood, looking at her. Then, they drove off. When they got to the cemetery, Regina and Jefferson got out of the car and opened the gates, stepping into the place where the dead rested. It didn't take them too long to find the grave that said 'Daniel Colter' on it.
"Someone's tipped the tombstone over," Regina said.
"Fucking vandals," Jefferson grumbled. "Should we try and fix it?"
"I don't think we would be able to. Maybe we should call someone to fix it."
Jefferson nodded. "I'll go call someone and... leave you to it."
He walked away, pulling a phone from his pocket, while Regina looked down at the fallen gravestone with Daniel's name on it. Blinking back tears, she opened the envelope and read it.

Regina,

I'm really bad at writing letters, so I hope this doesn't end up being too hard to read. First, I want you to know that I don't blame you for what happened. This is entirely your mom's fault, but you are not her. You're kind and beautiful and loving – and she's just jealous. But, she is your mom. No matter where you go and what you do, she'll have power over you. That is why we can never be together. So, if you can't be with me, then I hope you find someone better than me. Someone your mom approves of. Someone who will be successful in the future. Someone who makes you happy.

I hope you find love again. There's nothing in the world I want more than your happiness, even if I'm not there to see it.

You will always be my true love.

Daniel

"Daniel," Regina whispered, clutching the letter to her chest as tears ran down her face. "What have I done?"
I never should have come here, she told herself. If Regina had stayed in Storybrooke instead of coming all the way to Odessa, then Daniel would have still been alive to her. She never would have found out the horrible truth. But it was too late now. Daniel was dead, and Storybrooke was far behind them now. His last words to Regina had told her find love again, and she had already found it in Robin, but now the distance between them was too great, and he had refused to come with her. After a while, Jefferson came back.
"I called someone to come and repair the tombstone," he said. "Are you okay?"
"No," said Regina. "I don't know what to do. I came all this way without a Plan B. What do I do, Jefferson? I'm so lost."
"Well," said Jefferson, "you could go back to Storybrooke. I could take you some of the way there, but... from a certain point, you'd be on your own. I'm not going back there again, ever. I'm done with Storybrooke for good. Or, you could stay with me. I'm going to try and find work here in Texas."
"Work? You mean, like... as a hitman?"
"Shhh!" Jefferson hissed, looking around. "No, not as a... I just want a normal job and a normal life from now on, okay?"
"Okay, okay," Regina said, putting her hands up. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize," said Jefferson, "remember?"
"Well, I am sorry. I can't help that."
Jefferson looked at her for a few moments, before cracking a smile. "Fair enough. Shall we go? This place is kind of giving me the creeps."
Regina gave one last look downwards at Daniel's broken grave, then nodded. "Okay, I'm ready."

FOUR MONTHS LATER

Zelena leaned back in her seat and looked at the other two student councilors, Glinda and Seraphina, who were both looking back at her. Ever since Regina had run away from home and school, it had just been the three of them on the council.
"So," she said, "have we found a replacement for Regina yet?"
"We've been drawing up a list," said Seraphina, sliding a piece of paper across the conference table towards Zelena, who picked it up and examined the names that had been hastily written on it.
"I see," Zelena murmured. "Most of these names are just people who sat on the council while Eloise Gardener was president, and... why the hell is Dorothy Gale's name on here?"
Glinda cleared her throat and leaned forward in her seat. "Well, I have mentioned her to you before, Zelena. I think Dorothy would be a good addition to the student council, and she has expressed interest in joining."
I'm sure she has. Zelena withdrew a pen and crossed out Dorothy's name.
"I remember," she said, glaring over at Glinda, "but I already told you, she can't join. Dorothy is in the Silver classes, not Gold."
"That shouldn't matter!" Glinda protested. "Anyway, it's not even a real rule"
Zelena rose from her seat. "I am the student council president! I get to decide who sits on the council, which means that I make the rules! Do you understand me?"
Glinda simply looked up at her, shaking her head in disapproval. "What is happening to you, Z? It really is true what people say about power corrupting people."
"Power only corrupts weak people," said Zelena. "I'm anything but weak, Glinda."
Rolling her eyes, Glinda stood up, picking up her schoolbag. "Whatever."
"What are you doing?" Zelena demanded. "The student council meeting isn't over yet."
"I'm leaving," said Glinda. "You obviously don't want to hear what I have to say."
"Glinda," said Zelena in a cold voice, "if you walk out of this conference room, you're off the student council. I mean it."
"You know what?" Glinda replied, with a scoff. "I don't really think I give a fuck."
Without another word, Glinda turned and walked out of the conference room, leaving Zelena and Seraphina alone.
"Well," Seraphina said, after a long silence, "it seems as though we're now looking for two replacement councilors."
"Good riddance to her anyway," Zelena muttered, scanning the list in front of her once again. "I don't need people like her on my student council anyway, and I definitely don't need Dorothy fucking Gale." None of the names on the list really stood out to Zelena, but she forced herself to pick two anyway. "How about Anastasia and, let's see... Isaac."
"Isaac?" replied Seraphina, lifting an eyebrow. "You want a guy on the student council?"
"What's wrong with having a guy on the student council?" asked Zelena. "The position of student councilor has never been exclusively held for girls, you know."
"True," Seraphina said hesitantly, "but aren't you worried that he'll try and, y'know, run everything?"
"If he oversteps his boundaries, I'll remind him who the president is," Zelena said. "Isaac is smart, though. I doubt he'll need to be reminded. Well then, I think that's settled. During today's lunch break, you go and recruit Isaac and I'll go find Anastasia and extend our invitation to her."
Seraphina nodded. "Very good."

When their lunch break came, Zelena had to cross half the school before she found Anastasia. She wasn't surprised to see that Anastasia was arguing with her boyfriend, some idiot named Will Scarlet.
Well, he mustn't be that big of an idiot, thought Zelena. He's in Gold classes, after all.
"I already told you, it's nothing!" snapped Anastasia.
"Well then, why won't you show me your phone?!" Will barked back at her.
"Hey guys," Zelena said cheerfully. Anastasia and Will both stopped and looked at her suddenly.
"Oh," Anastasia muttered. "It's you."
"Hi Zelena," said Will, trying to act as if she hadn't just seen them yelling at each other only seconds ago.
"Can I speak to Anastasia alone for a moment, Will?" asked Zelena.
"Yeah, sure," Will replied, before walking off. "Go ahead."
Zelena sat down on the bench next to Anastasia. "Trouble in paradise?"
"It's nothing," Anastasia said. "He just thinks I'm flirting with Red, that's all."
"Who's Red?" asked Zelena, frowning. Anastasia gave her a quizzical look.
"You don't know Red?" she said incredulously. "Arthur King's older brother? Most people just call him K."
Zelena shook her head. "Never met him. But that's not why I'm here."
"Well then why are you here?"
"We need you back on the student council," said Zelena. "You were a valuable part of our team, and–"
"And Glinda's fucked off, so now you need me back," said Anastasia, looking as though she wanted to laugh.
"How do you know that?" Zelena asked.
"How do you think? Glinda told me," Anastasia replied. "She said something about power and corruption..."
"She has every reason to be angry at me, but I couldn't keep putting up with her bullshit. She wanted that new girl Dorothy on the student council."
"Dorothy... Gale?" said Anastasia, frowning. "You don't like her?"
"Like her? Absolutely not," said Zelena. "Her dog nearly killed me and Regina, and she's in Silver!"
"Well, I don't know enough about her to judge," Anastasia replied, "but daaamn, her auntie Em makes some good chicken."
The woman who Dorothy called 'Auntie Em' had recently opened up a new diner in Storybrooke. Zelena had been displeased to find out that it was growing wildly popular, serving as the only competition to Granny's Diner. Since then, whenever Mrs Mills suggested that they get takeaway for dinner, Zelena had frequently insisted that they should drive straight past Auntie's Chicken & Waffles and get something from Granny's instead.
"The chicken is irrelevant," Zelena replied. "I don't want Dorothy on the student council. I want you. Are you in?"
Anastasia lifted an eyebrow. "That depends. Do I have to write a stupid essay?"
"No," said Zelena.
"Good. Then I'm in."

After school, as Zelena made her way towards the school gates, the last person she had expected to see waiting for her called out.
"Zelena!"
"Hello Will," she said, stopping and facing Will Scarlet. "What do you want?"
"You were talking with Ana today," he said.
"I know," replied Zelena. "I was there."
Will rolled his eyes. "What were you talking about?"
"If you must know, I was inviting Anastasia back onto the student council. Why do you ask?"
"I, um... she hasn't mentioned anyone to you, has she? Like, any guys?" said Will.
This time it was Zelena's turn to roll her eyes. "You mean this Red guy she told me about?"
"She told you about him?" Will said, anger flashing in his eyes. "What did she say?"
Zelena shrugged. "Just that you're jealous because you think she's flirting with him."
"And is she?" he wanted to know.
"How the hell am I supposed to know?" snapped Zelena. "I don't even know Anastasia that well, and I don't care to find out if she's cheating on you or not. Why don't you ask her instead of sneaking around behind her back?"
"I'm not the one sneaking behind peoples' backs," growled Will. "Lately, she's been–"
"Holy shit, I really don't care," Zelena said loudly, before shoving past him and walking off.

For the past four months, Regina had visited Daniel's grave once a week. The tombstone had been fixed, and Regina had gotten into the habit of bringing flowers with her to place at the grave, making it feel less desolate. The best part about visiting the cemetery on a weekly basis was that there was rarely anyone else there when she was, allowing Regina to speak her mind or just linger in peace. As she put a bunch of roses in a vase that stood beside Daniel's grave, however, Regina heard the gates open behind her. For a moment, she wondered if it was Jefferson. When she turned around, it wasn't Jefferson standing there, but a man wearing a red beanie. He was looking at her.
"Can I help you?" she said, a little annoyed at being disturbed.
The man approached her. "Oh, sorry to disturb you, young lady. Do you have any spare change?"
Regina frowned. "No, I don't have any money."
When he reached up to scratch his neck, she saw that he had a sheep tattoo on his upper arm.
"Oh, okay," he said, nodding. Just him standing there was making Regina uncomfortable. "What about a friend? Are you meeting anyone here?"
"No. This is a cemetery," said Regina. "Why on earth would I be meeting anybody here?"
The man shrugged. "I just wanted to make sure."
Before she could react, he grabbed her and pulled her towards him with one hand, using the other to pull out a damp cloth.