Author's note: Since Blue was taken out of the equation early on in this AU (about 300 years before the "present day" of the main storyline), something else must have happened with Tinker Bell and Regina. The "Gold Fairy" is what I'm calling the fairy godmother from "The Price of Gold" (and she was also King George's family's patron fairy in canon, apparently). "Flora Knotgrass" is me combining both names of the fairy from the animated "Sleeping Beauty" and the live-action "Maleficent." Taking liberties with her personality, since presumably the OUAT version would have been different from the movies in any case.

While we're at it, why not ship Regina and Tinker Bell? I thought they had good chemistry in "Quite a Common Fairy"...

Tinker Bell knew she was in for it the moment she flew back into the flowers that formed the fairy sanctuary, but put on a brave face as the head of her order stepped out from between unfurling green petals.

"Good evening, Tinker Bell," said the other fairy, eyes ancient and wise and seeing all too much.

"Hey, Flora," Tink managed with a semblance of a smile. "You look amazing. Did you do something to your—"

Flora Knotgrass held up a palm, cutting Tink off. "Pixie dust. There's a vial missing from our stores."

"Ah. I can explain... I was helping someone." Tink's heart sank, dreading the prospect of explaining how exactly that help had been received.

"Don't you know how rare and powerful pixie dust is?" demanded Flora. "What kind of help did you think you needed pixie dust for?"

"It was for a queen in the Enchanted Forest. Regina."

"Regina! Do you know who she is? Her mother was Cora, who ripped out hearts. Her teacher is the Dark One!" Flora waved a hand in agitation, wand sparking. "The risk you took! She's surrounded by darkness."

"That's exactly why I needed the pixie dust," Tink said mutinously. The young woman had nearly flung herself to her death! She had needed help, and fast. It wasn't Tink's fault Regina hadn't taken the hand offered. A fairy had to try. "Someone surrounded by darkness is someone who needs help the most."

Flora shook her head. "You're lucky you're still alive."

"It wasn't like that. I couldn't ignore someone who needed me."

"Wanting to help isn't wrong." Flora looked at her wearily, then sighed and put her wand away. "But as a fairy, someone with magic, you can easily harm where you want to help. That's why you need to find out the full story rather than act as rashly as you have done."

"I knew enough!" retorted Tink hotly. "She was miserable, trapped in a cold castle in a prison of a marriage. Her true love was killed, and only pixie dust is strong enough to find someone a second true love."

"And did the pixie dust make her happy?"

Of course not. Tink could see that Flora already knew the answer, but remembering the way Regina had refused to even talk to the man filled her with fury. "She rejected it! She's hell-bent on revenge and is so afraid of happiness that she'd rather ruin two lives than choose to be better!"

"Is that so?"

"She's unbelievably selfish!" spat Tink. "I showed her the path out of the darkness. She could have become a good person, if she just believed in me!"

Flora regarded her sadly. "You're not helping her if you're manipulating her into 'good'. It's the same thing the Dark One is doing, except he's better at it than you."

"Manipulating?" Tink was shocked at the accusation. "I would never! Fairies don't do that..."

"Need I remind you of what happened to the Gold Fairy?"

Tink frowned, puzzled at the shift in topic, but she did her best to remember. "Uh... She became leader of our order after we lost the Blue Fairy, and ruled for nearly three centuries, but then she was voted out, and you took over."

"You know why?"

"Uh...politics?" Tink shrugged sheepishly. She didn't like to get involved in politics, human or fairy.

"It was shortly after the debacle in Avonlea," Flora said slowly. "She was the patron fairy of the royal house of Prydania, but had her eyes set on Avonlea as well."

Tink nodded. "People said she was ambitious."

Flora snorted darkly. "She was another manipulator who found herself outmaneuvered by the Dark One."

"Yeah, I heard he made a deal with the king of Avonlea himself."

"Indeed. The king is the stubborn, independent sort, not terribly pious despite his family's divine heritage. Willing to dabble in darkness when it suits him. You can see why the Gold Fairy found him not to her taste."

"But he's the rightful king. It's not a fairy's business to play kingmaker," said Tink, still not sure what any of this had to do with her attempts to help Regina.

"Technically, no." Flora gave Tink a hard look. "But Gold wasn't going let that stop her. So when the ogres attacked, she saw her chance. She heard Avonlea's cries for help, but withheld her assistance, sure that sooner or later, the king would fall to the ogres. At which point she would step in, 'save' Maurice, and put him on the throne."

"Maurice?"

"The king's son. Someone Gold felt was more... pliable, shall we say. Someone she could influence."

Tink looked at Flora blankly. "But that didn't happen."

"No. Shortly after the Dark One made his deal, the truth came out. How could we, supposedly a force for 'good', accept someone so heartless as our leader?"

"And that was when you took over?"

"The council of elder fairies elected me, yes." Flora grimaced. "Gold was stripped of her wings and sent into exile. Her attempt to manipulate events for the 'greater good' only resulted in even more souls falling under the sway of the Dark One!"

Tink felt sick. "You mean... you're saying... you think I pushed Regina deeper into the darkness? I was only trying to help!"

"The humans have a saying: the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Flora was silent for a long moment. Then she began again with a new question, and Tink was both impressed and shaken at how carefully Flora had researched the case. No wonder she had been elected to head their order! "Do you really think a ten year old Snow White murdered Regina's lover, or even intended him any harm?"

Tink had to shake her head at that. She had to admit that she had taken Regina's word that the princess was a spoiled, thoughtless brat — having met plenty of royalborn children who were exactly that — but cold-blooded murder? No.

"The truth is," Flora said gently, "the little princess was much like you, just trying to help, and easily deceived by a pretty face — in that case, Cora's. Like mother, like daughter — Regina fed you a version of events that was hardly the full story."

Tink hung her head, ashamed as Flora unspooled the details one by one of Regina's tragedy.

"...so well-intentioned or not, Snow's actions did result in the stableboy's death. She bears a share of the responsibility, though not the blame — that is on Cora for being a heartless murderer."

"So you're saying I'm responsible..."

"Your meddling has only hardened Regina's heart, and played into the Dark One's hands. We can only hope the damage can still be mended." Flora's eyes were stern. "You blaming Regina for ruining two lives is as misguided as Regina blaming Snow for her unhappiness."

"But it's not the same thing," Tink protested. "I didn't betray anyone. I was helping her find love. How can that be bad?"

"Of course love is a good thing, but she needs to find it for herself, not be led by the nose by magic." Flora's expression softened as she tried to explain. "It's not right to use pixie dust to decide their fates. When you use that magic, it can't help but be shaped by your own desires."

"I didn't! I didn't even know where it would lead. I hadn't even met the man before, the one with the lion tattoo. And pixie dust doesn't lie."

"They could potentially be happy together, yes, but it is only one of many possible outcomes, good and bad. Nor does she require a man for her happy ending. You're not helping by narrowing her vision."

"What do you mean?"

"Forcing someone into a romantic relationship when they're not ready for it is a mistake. Telling her that a man is her happy ending is misleading at best. Ignoring the underlying issues is no solution. Cora may be gone, but the wounds she left in her daughter's heart still bleed."

Tink nodded slowly, beginning to understand. Running away from her problems by diving into a new relationship wouldn't have worked in the long run. "Oh."

"And the true lesson you taught her is that magic is the solution to her problems — I think she had enough along those lines already from her mother and the Dark One! Do try to be a little more creative, Tink!"

Tink swallowed. "Creative. Right. And maybe a little smarter, huh?"

Flora smiled. "You can be a good fairy, Tinker Bell. I believe in you."

A few years later.

Regina had chosen her path, and it was a dark one. After her failure, Tink had chosen to help those who wanted a fairy's help — short of assassinating the Evil Queen, a betrayal of their short-lived friendship which Tink refused to even consider.

Now it came to this. Digging a mass grave near the ruins of a village that had dared defy the Evil Queen. The scattered survivors had come together with Tink's help. They had gone to Regina's castle and returned home with their dead, three wagon loads full. All executed for being traitors to the queen.

Tink had gone numb, drowning in the grief and guilt of those who still lived. She wanted to protest when some started whispering that they had been wrong, that they should have given up the outlaw princess, but Tink was too tired.

They hadn't been wrong to stand up for what was right, but who could blame them for having second thoughts? Sometimes was it better to bend to the wind rather than break?

She didn't know. She only knew that it was her turn again to heave a body from the wagon and dump it into the ground.

Then the corpse's arm flopped back and she saw the tattoo on his forearm.

A lion! The man with the lion tattoo... Tink bit back a gasp of dismay. No...

The woman behind Tink nudged her impatiently. "What's the hold up?"

"This man," Tink croaked hoarsely. "Did you know him? He wasn't from the village..."

The woman glanced at the pale, dead face. "Oh, him. Sad tale." She shook her head. "But aren't they all? You're right, he's not from around here. It's his wife who had kin in the village. She got swept up with the others, wouldn't talk any more than they did..."

Tink sighed. "And died for it, yeah."

"Well, her man, he heard she was in the queen's dungeons. Him being a bandit, you know, he tried breaking her out, but the queen caught him, so..." The woman made a chopping motion.

"Oh." Tink looked down at him one last time, then let the body slide down into the grave. She said blankly, thinking of lost opportunities. "A pity."

"Yeah." The woman dropped her own burden into the ground. "They had a child. A son. So there's that. Heard the man's gang took the lad back with them to the Sherwood Forest."

So the man with the lion tattoo had found love, after all, but not with Regina. Who was to say the other woman wasn't as deserving of happiness, however brief it had been? If Regina had chosen differently, would that other woman have been alive now?

Tink didn't know, but she no longer trusted pixie dust to provide her with the answers. Fate was decided by people, by chance, by power and the lack of it. A common fairy could only do so much to change things.

More years later...

Tink had never expected to be taking tea with the former Evil Queen on her island of exile, nor to be welcomed with such sincerity. They sat in the parlor of a small house, humble compared to the grandeur of the castle she had once ruled. The furnishings were old, but of fair quality, as might be found in the home of a well-to-do tradesman. There seemed to be no house servants — Regina prepared and poured the tea herself.

"When we first met," said Regina, "I was a queen, but I felt like a prisoner. Now I am a prisoner, yet I feel more free than I did back then."

Tink nodded, too surprised to say much.

"No more voice in my head telling me who I should be. I've said my farewells to Daniel. He's in a better place. And I've made peace with my mother."

At which Tink blurted out, "It must help that she's dead!"

Regina chuckled, not taking offense. "Perhaps. Or perhaps it was that she had her heart again before she died. This little island is all the kingdom I need. I have my daughter..."

"Daughter?!"

"The old caretaker's granddaughter," Regina amended. "After the old woman died, I adopted the child. I taught her to ride, and she taught me to spin."

Tink blinked, her eyes sliding to the distaff in the corner, a spindle tucked into the wool. "That's yours, then?"

"My mother would turn in her grave." Regina smiled. "She wanted her daughter to be above all that. Is it strange that I find it relaxing? No wonder Rumple... well... let's not talk about the infuriating little imp. Why does he have his true love at his side when all I have are sad memories?"

"Apparently because the shadow demons of the Wood Beyond are better at matchmaking than I am!" grumbled Tink. "Ironic, isn't it?"

Regina snorted. "And if the rumors are true, the Dark One had a hand in my stepdaughter's marriage to that shepherd prince."

"Yes, I've seen them. Just shepherds these days — no more prince or princess."

"And here am I, breeding horses. Who'd be royalty?"

Tink quirked an eyebrow at Regina. "Besides your mother?"

Regina rolled her eyes in a most unroyal manner. "At least she's given up projecting her ambitions onto unwilling targets."

"No point, now that she's climbed — or descended — as far as it gets," Tink pointed out.

"Queen of the Underworld. At least her subjects are already dead!"

"And good luck to them! Anyhow, it'll be years yet before you meet again, let's hope." Tink lifted her cup in a toast, as if it were wine instead of tea.

"I'll drink to that. Cheers!" Regina tipped back her own cup. "Come on, let me show you the horses. There's an Yrktheran mare I bought last season, very promising. We can ride down to the village..."

"I don't know... I'm more used to flying."

"Well, this is as close as us humans can get." Regina stood up. She met Tink's gaze somberly. "You know, I never thanked you, did I?"

"For what?"

"All those years ago. Trying to give me hope. Everyone else had ulterior motives. They wanted something from me, but you were the only person who wanted to help me for my sake alone."

Tink gaped at her. "Oh. Wow. I... I'm sorry I went about it wrong, and things... well, you know."

Regina leaned over to pat her hand. "It's all right. I forgive you."

"You! Forgive me?" Then Tink saw the twinkle in Regina's eye and huffed. "Yeah, yeah, I forgive you too."

To her surprise, she found that it was true.