It was meant to be a bittersweet day to end more bitter than sweet. The Evil Queen had prepared to enact the dark curse, to reclaim her happy ending, but the product of true love was on her way into the world.

No one was ready for her. Prince Charming had devoted most of his time planning ways to keep the kingdom. The Evil Queen worked hard on the curse that she didn't pay much attention to Snow's pregnancy. Snow White focused on keeping the baby safe and healthy in the womb when she wasn't busy worrying about the Evil Queen's plans of revenge.

No one thought the baby would be born an entire month too early. They thought they still had time until Snow felt the contractions and when that happened, everyone in the kingdom was informed.

The Evil Queen was in a rush as she heard the news in passing. She grabbed the box containing the heart of her prized steed and called upon the darkest of beings of the lands, those scorned souls with magic, those like her.

They gathered around a fire in the forest as the Evil Queen read the incantation. When all was said and done, she tossed the heart into the fire. It burned brighter as the smoke went from dark dray to purple, but the fire abruptly died.

"What," the Evil queen angrily asked though gritted teeth.

The gnome pointed and laughed at her.

"You failed. A-ha. Ha! The Evil Queen failed. And we're supposed to loyally follow you? Ba-ha ha."

The Evil Queen glared at the gnome as he carried on in his mocking tone. After he'd had a good laugh, she waved a hand out at him and turned him into stone.

If anyone else there had bothered to laugh or even crack a smile, they certainly hadn't after that display.

She didn't bother to glance around the group before she left in haste. Her only chance to gain the upper hand and take back the kingdom resided in the castle she once lived in.

She hopped into her black carriage and charged her horses in the direction of the castle. When she reached the grand palace, she sent her army after the guards.

Nothing shall keep me from this child, she thought. I will have my happy ending.

She didn't wait for her men to tell her the halls were clear. She crept into the back entrance, one she'd used often at one time to escape her depressing reality, and followed Snow's screams.

She grinned as she hurried down the long corridors, glad to know she wouldn't miss the tiny life in some final escape plan.

She rounded a corner and was greeted by a few alert guards. They ran at her full speed with their heavy weapons, but she threw out both of her hands and flung the guards across the marble floor.

The first two guards knocked into the other three and forced them on the floor like bowling pins. The amount of men told the Evil Queen she'd reached the right corridor.

But Snow's yells had stopped and she was left to listen for other indications to their location.

Then the baby cried.

She grinned again as she darted for the door the cries sounded from.

She burst inside to see Prince Charming crowded over Snow White and the little pink baby wrapped in a stitched white blanket, the name Emma embroidered on the side with purple lace.

"Emma," the Evil Queen breathed as she stared at the baby girl and left her lips parted after the name fell from them.

Emma squirmed in Snow's arms and turned to face the Evil Queen as her cries died down. She was able to open her eyes for a fleeting second, her emerald green orbs drawing the Evil Queen in like a moth to a flame.

Charming stepped away from the bed and drew his sword when the Evil Queen tried to come too close for comfort.

She tore her eyes from Emma only when she felt the tip of his sword press against her neck.

She looked up at Charming and closed her mouth. She glanced down at the sword then met his gaze again.

"You will not lay a hand on her, Regina," Charming barked.

She looked over at Emma again and watched Snow hold the girl closer to her, more protectively and tighter than when she'd entered the room.

"You assume I mean the girl harm," Regina asked as she kept her eyes glued to Emma.

"Of course," Snow answered. "You want nothing more than to punish me and what better way to do that than hurt what I love most."

Regina flashed a crooked smirk as she looked at Snow.

"It was wise of you to remember that," she slowly said.

"And it was not wise for you come here," Charming piped.

"What shall you do to me, Prince," she briefly flirted. "You will not kill me. Not in front of your daughter."

"No, but I will kill you outside the palace."

Regina laughed and shook her head.

"You will not kill me at all," she cockily said.

"No? How do you know what I will and will not do?"

"Simple. You will have no grounds to do so."

"You have done much evil," Charming started. "Anyone would see your death as justified and long overdue."

"Not anyone. The people of your kingdom, yes, but you forget. I have friends of my own, friends with magic. Watch out for your little girl. I shall be back for her. For Emma."

Regina looked from Charming to the baby.

Emma fidgeted in Snow's arms and groaned in protest of her mother's hold.

Regina grinned as she looked back at Charming, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

Charming slowly went slack jawed and tightened his grip on his sword. He closed his mouth after a short moment and clenched his jaw.

Charming jabbed his sword forward, but the Evil Queen vanished in a puff of purple smoke. He stumbled forward, but caught himself before he could fall to the floor.

Emma started to cry.

He turned to Snow and Regina reappeared through another puff of smoke.

Regina leaned in and kissed Emma's forehead.

Emma quieted down as Regina's lips lightly pressed against her skin.

"Soon enough, my dear," she said in a low, sultry tone as she brushed her fingertips over wisps of golden blonde hair.

When Snow tried to pull Emma away from Regina, the Evil Queen smiled down at the baby and disappeared once again. Charming and Snow looked at each other with worry and confusion. They looked at Emma as she started to cry again and squirmed in Snow's protective embrace.

The Evil Queen reappeared at her dark palace on the farther part of the kingdom's outskirts. She stood by one of the windows and stared across the forest at the grand castle.

She touched her fingertips to her lips as she thought about kissing Emma's forehead. Though the connection had been brief, when she'd kissed the girl she'd felt something deep. A heavy, magnetic pull that drew her to the Princess.

"Regina, is that you," a short, round man asked with a twinge of hope in his voice.

His hair consisted of more salt than pepper in terms of color and his face had started to pale with age as his eyes sunk with years of wear and tear. He looked tired and worried as he walked into the dismal room, a look he wore since Regina let darkness consume her heart and soul.

Regina dropped her hand form her lips to her side and turned to face the man.

"Yes, father," she answered.

"Where did you go? There was trouble at the palace."

"I'm aware."

"Oh, Regina. Tell me you were not the cause of it."

"You wish for me to lie to you?"

Henry sighed and looked down at the floor.

"Why must you challenge the kingdom?"

Regina angrily glared at him.

"I am still the Queen. I should be ruling them, but since Snow White and her pathetic husband took the kingdom from me, I will destroy their happiness."

"How did you get this way? My daughter loved to ride horses and climb trees. She had hope and her smile would glow brighter than any star in the sky. The woman in front of me...isn't her. "

"She is no more. This is who I am. You should know better than most how that came to be. You let it happen."

Henry shook his head.

"I did no such thing."

Regina scoffed.

"You think you played no hand in this? In what I have become? I am this way because you did not stop her. When mother pushed me to be someone I wasn't and didn't want to be, you stood by and watched. When she married me off to the King, you insisted she wanted all the things for me she never had. I told you I didn't want her life, that I was angry all the time, and you blamed it on cold feet. I love you, but you did nothing to stop her. You let her carry on and make me unhappy, let her punish me for doing silly things most girls my age would get to do."

"Regina, darling-"

"No," Regina shook her head. "You didn't protect me. You knew how she was and you didn't protect me."

He looked down at his feet and nervously played with his hands. He looked sad, guilty even.

Regina clenched her jaw and tried not to cry as she thought back on the damage her mother had done. She slowly looked down and hid her eyes from Henry's view as he looked back up at her.

"I-" Henry started, but Regina grimaced as she held back tears and vanished.

Henry frowned as he watched the purple smoke appear and drift upward before it dissipated.

Regina took herself to the stables. She hadn't been there in a while and it looked the same as the last time she'd visited, Daniel's grave included.

She reached out and touched the small monument. After his death, she'd fought to give him a proper place of final rest, a painful reminder of the fatal day she lost her true love. Not even her kiss would bring him back to life as she cried over his lifeless body. The day she lost him was the day her heart started to go cold.

She gripped her fingers around the top of the grave and fell to her knees in her tight black dress. She suddenly began to cry, the first time since the night she'd lost him when she'd been able to cry over him.

Her body shook as a violent and loud scream ripped itself from the pit of her stomach.

She only had two people to blame for her misfortune and one of them had been sent to Wonderland.

She wanted to be a queen so badly that she tried to live vicariously through me. So I made her a queen. Queen of Hearts, she thought even as she cried. Ironic considering she doesn't have one.

Usually thinking of her mother stopped her from crying and helped her regain her tough, steely exterior. It started to work until she pictured her mother's face. She saw her mother standing in front of her with a smile before she was to marry the king. The picture then morphed into the memory of her mother at the stables with a stone cold glare as she looked down on Regina. From there, the memory played out until every last detail flooded her mind.

She started to cry as hard as she had before she'd thought of her mother and dropped her hand from the grave to her lap as she sat back on her ankles. Her make up started to streak down her face as she shook her head and wept.

"Daniel," she whispered as his face made it to the foreground of her thoughts.

She cried for a few more minutes then pushed herself back onto her feet. She brushed her tears away and looked down at his grave. She stood still in front of it as a calm wind blew past. She closed her eyes and let the wind hit her face.

After a long while, uncertain of definitive time, her tears had stopped and she felt in control of her emotions once again. When she regained her regal stature, she took a deep breath and magically transported herself to a new place.

Regina popped in to visit an old friend and enemy, the man who'd originally given her the dark curse.

"Hello, dearie," Rumpelstiltskin grinned as he stepped closer to his jail cell. "To what do I owe this surprise visit?"

"You know why I'm here," Regina bitterly spat at him as she approached the enchanted jail cell. "The curse didn't work."

"And you wish to put the blame on me?"

"It was your curse. Of course, I blame you."

"That curse should have worked, dearie. Whatever went wrong is because of something you did."

Regina clenched her jaw again.

"Maybe you misunderstood the ingredients," he suggested.

"No, that's impossible and don't think to tell me I said the spell wrong either because I didn't."

"Then I cannot help you."

Regina blew out a sigh through her nose as she tried to keep her anger at bay.

"Did you see her," he asked.

"See who?"

"The young Princess."

"Yes, I saw her."

"You're the one who was at the castle earlier. The one everyone is talking about."

"How do you know about that? It happened not too long ago."

"You forget, dearie, I have eyes and ears everywhere. How does she look? Healthy, I presume."

"She's beautiful," Regina softly confessed after a moment.

Rumpelstiltskin knowingly smirked.

"Oh, well. The curse is irrelevant now," he said after a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the way you carried on earlier today at the palace. Snow White and Prince Charming are working on a way to keep you out."

"What? How do you know this?"

"What they need is something only I could provide for them. I guaranteed them a solution that not even your magic could penetrate."

"Why would you do that," she angrily asked as she tried to keep her voice from hitting a shrill octave.

"Because my freedom depended on it, dearie," he grinned.

"They're letting you go?"

"Indeed they are. In about an hour's time, when they finishing putting up the barrier, they will come back to release me."

Regina shook her head.

"They are fools to think you are less than a threat compared to me."

"That they are, but that's not to say they didn't give me conditions upon my release."

"And what provisions did they request of you?"

"As long as I leave their precious kingdom and the people in it alone, I can live freely beyond the Enchanted Forest."

Regina rolled her eyes.

"That means nothing."

"I know that, dearie, but their only concern now is their beloved daughter and you're the only one that threatens her existence. I do believe I owe you a 'thank you' for that."

Regina tried to keep her breathing even, steady, as she clenched and unclenched her fists. She stared down at the dirt covered ground beneath her feet as Rumpelstiltskin coiled his hands around the bars of his unbreakable cell.

"I suppose that giving you some warning of what's to come would say that well," he added after a moment of pause to enjoy the view of her weakened state.

She immediately, though gracefully, raised her head and locked eyes with the Dark One.

"What do you know?"

"You will have a second chance at the Princess. In twenty-eight years time, something major and unnoticed will occur to the magical barrier they're casting over the kingdom. Our dear Emma will be unhappy and she will try to leave the kingdom. She will successfully create a hole in barrier. Find the hole and you find your way back in."

"Twenty-eight years? Why such a long time?"

"Because as the barrier keeps you out, it will also keep her in. Our lovely girl Emma does not like to feel trapped. She's much like you, adventurous."

"She isn't even ten minutes old yet, how would know that?"

"I am speaking of the future, am I not? I can tell you she will not like being caged inside the kingdom."

"Then why would she wait twenty-eight years?"

"There will be plenty of things in her way, keeping her from doing what she wants, nones of them to which I can see right now. But just before her twenty-eighth birthday, she will get what she wants...and so will you."

Regina knew Rumpelstiltskin was a tricky man to believe. He wasn't even a man anymore, hadn't been in a long time, but she liked the sound of getting what she wanted. Even with her mother out of the way, she still wasn't happy. She fought like hell to make sure she got her way, but those damn Charming's were persistent. Their drive to fight back was how she lost the kingdom after all. She wouldn't let them take anymore away from her and if she had to wait twenty-eight years to finally get her way, she would.

"What shall I do in the meantime," she asked him.

He grinned.

"Live your life. Do what you want when you want as long as you don't cause a fuss. Go back to your own palace and wait. Keep your hands busy. I don't really care what you do. That's not what's important. What happens when you can get past the barrier is what's important."

"And I have a feeling you're not going to divulge anymore information about how I'm to do that?"

"No, but I will be back to see you when the time is right. I speak only the truth, dearie, and you will have your day. You will find what you are looking for."

"And I don't have to make a deal with you for what you have provided me?"

"No. I told you, this is repayment for going after Emma. If it had not been for you, Snow White would not have come to me for help and I would still be condemned to this awful place."

She furrowed her brow in confusion as she looked him over.

"What shall you do once you are free," she asked.

"Roam the lands maybe? Do as I please. Snow White and her Prince will hear no more about me after I am free. I will be no problem, no worry, for them and that is the arrangement. I will be free so long as I keep to myself, away from them."

"That doesn't exclude other cities, does it."

"Afraid not," he smirked. "Again, I owe that all to you. They only want to protect their own and since you are the only one interested in attacking them, they have a narrow focus on possible future troubles."

"Great. I set free a monster," she muttered to herself, though Rumpelstiltskin heard her with perfect clarity.

"Yes, with your desperation and recklessness. Maybe now you will learn from your mistakes."

Regina looked at him.

"Thank you for the information," she said then turned to leave.

"Oh, before I forget. There is one more suggestion I have for you."

Regina turned back around to face him, a bit wary as she tried not to let him play her.

"Twenty-eight years, as you said, is a long time. You should do your best to keep yourself young. Vanity will be your only friend in the lonely years to come."


The blonde Princess stood in front of the mirror on a platform in a ball gown during another tiring dress fitting. Looking her best for yet another sheltered birthday party bored Emma. She didn't want to be a Princess if it meant she had to live a dull life.

She'd tried several times before in her youth to run away, leave her unsatisfying duties behind with her parents, but someone would always stop her before she got the chance to go far. She frowned at the memories that filled her head. She would be twenty-eight in a few days and she'd never left the kingdom.

"Oh, Emma, that dress is looking more and more stunning every fitting," Snow White warmly smiled at her daughter.

Emma sighed.

"Yes, but...how many more fittings do I need to attend before it's to your liking?"

Snow frowned.

"You don't like it," she asked as she shook her head.

"I...do, but I don't want to waste a perfect day inside the palace when I could go out and explore."

"Emma, your father and I have told you there is nothing to enjoy outside the kingdom."

"Yes there is. You got to see the world outside the palace walls. Why can't I?"

"The Evil Queen. That is the only thing waiting for you beyond the barrier. How many more times do I need to remind you of her and her intentions to harm you?"

"She has not tried to get through the barrier in all the twenty-eight years she had the chance."

"Maybe she has, but she no matter how hard she tries she will not be successful. Magic more powerful than hers was used to create it and as long as the barrier walls are up, she will never come to harm you."

Emma shook her head.

"I don't think that's what she wants."

"Of course it is. She tried to take you from us the night of your birth!"

"I know," Emma rolled her eyes as she knew she'd have to hear the same old story yet again.

"She nearly ripped you from my arms."

"No, she didn't."

"You question what the Evil Queen tried to do to you? Every night I warned you about her in stories, telling you the truth about what she did. You would not remember that night. You had only just been born."

"You tell the story differently now. You told me she got around father and could have taken me, but she left before she tried anything. If she was as close as you say, she would have taken me if it was her true intention to harm me."

"You are naive."

"Am I?"

"Her last words before she left were 'Soon enough, Emma.' It was a warning she would one day come for you after she gave your father and I a blatant one."

"Fine. Then why don't you tell me another story about the Evil Queen. Tell me why she wants to harm me."

"I accidentally caused her a pain so great, her heart turned as hard as stone. The only thing she has to live for is revenge. She would love nothing more than to take you from us, knowing you are what we hold most dear."

"So it's your fault she's evil."

"No, darling. She did that herself. She had a choice."

"What choice? Maybe I don't completely understand the situation, but I know that if something was taken from her, torn away from her, that she wants only revenge then her options were rather limited."

"I knew her when she was good. She killed my father, your grandfather, Emma. She didn't have to do that. She could have stayed good. She chose to be evil, to be the way she is now."

"Out of every story you have told me about her, it sounds to me like she was unhappy."

"That may be so, but we do not kill to make ourselves happy. That is the difference between good and evil. It is what sets us apart from her and people like her and if you continue to defend her, I don't what I'll do with you."

Emma glared at her mother, but remained silent.

"Now, focus your attention on the ball. There will be a lot of people to please there. You haven't exactly been the best choice for a Princess in years past. Maybe this year the kingdom will actually put faith in you because, you know, your father and I will not be around forever. One day you will rule this kingdom."

"But I will never be Queen."

Snow sighed as her frustration grew.

"Sadly, no, but that does not mean you should act any less like one. You are this kingdom's future. The people that live within the barrier are counting on you. You are aware that your father's health has been an issue as of late, especially with your childish behavior. He does not need more stress, but you continue to push and my health is not much better."

"Ruling the people can do that to you," she informed Snow.

"Yes, but raising an unruly daughter can also cause quite a negative impact as well."

"If you are disappointed in me than why spare my feelings. You should say what you feel and I know you and father agree that I am too difficult to ever be proud of."

Snow shook her head.

"We don't feel that way. We never have. Yes, you are difficult, but we will never regret having you. You are special and beautiful and we would not want you to be any other way."

Emma sardonically laughed.

"What a lie. There are plenty of things you wish to change about me."

"Enough," Snow nearly growled.

"No. You wish I wanted this life. You wish I liked being trapped inside the barrier and would just except my responsibilities as a Princess, as a Charming. I may not be perfect, but I like who I am. Your lack of pride for my spirit proves how much you would prefer me to be more like you."

"I was spirited once too, Emma. Have you forgotten the stories I told you about the dwarfs and my search for your father when the Evil Queen tried to keep us apart, ruin our happy ending?"

"How could I forget? All your stories involved you on a horse riding through the forest. It was a struggle, yes, but it was worth it. You fought for the life you have now. I can't fight for anything when I'm locked away."

"You have a lot of land to travel before you reach the barrier. You cannot possibly be bored with everything we have provided for you."

"I am! I am bored and unhappy. Why do you think I tried to run away all those times before?"

"As I have told you, as long as she is out there you will never be safe."

"I can take care of myself," Emma shouted as she stepped down from the platform.

The seamstress hadn't finished her alteration and Emma's sudden movements tugged on the fragile material in her hand. The bottom of the dress ripped and destroyed the work the woman had put into it that day.

Snow snapped.

"The dress! Emma! I swear, I don't know how to handle you anymore."

Emma balled up her fists as she tried not to scream.

"So don't handle me!"

Emma shimmied her way out of the dress and let it fall to the floor. She gave her mother an angry, dirty look as she walked toward the room door in only her undergarments and the heels she had been forced to wear to compliment the dress.

She left the room without another word and went to her bedroom. She went straight to the closet and grabbed the simplest outfit she owned. She had only had a few riding lessons when she was younger and even a few more after that when she turned twenty-five, but she never learned how to ride a horse well. She still had a riding outfit or two and rushed herself into one then fled the palace.

She grabbed a horse from the stables and a bow and arrow she had received on her tenth birthday and clumsily rode out the barrier with fierce determination.

No one followed her.

She stared at the glowing blue field as she slowed the horse to a stop. She tied the animal to a nearby tree, wrapping the reins around a thick branch, and defiantly stood before the barrier. She took a deep breath and released it in a violent sigh as she clenched her fists.

She charged the protection field at full speed, but when she connected with the magical barrier it shocked her and caused her to stumble back a few feet.

"Ah," she hissed as she assessed the damage it did.

There was a bleeding gash on her left bicep. The magic had cut through her riding coat's tough material and struck her with a stinging pain in her entire arm.

She gritted her teeth and stared at it only a moment longer before she dropped her arm to her side and looked over at the barrier again.

She grabbed her arrow from the sack on her back and pulled out one of five arrows. She got into proper shooting stance and aimed for the confining wall. The arrow bent on impact and quickly fell into the lush grass below.

She tightened her grip around the handle of the bow and clenched her jaw as she released a frustrated sigh. She spent another moment staring at the barrier then threw down the bow.

She took a deep breath then ran full speed at the barrier once again. She hit the magical shield with a right hook and cut her knuckles in the process. She immediately started bleeding and shook her hand as she hissed again in pain. She didn't waste too much time or focus on her hand as she approached the barrier.

She raised both hands and smacked her palms flat against the magical wall. She felt a shock rush from the barrier through her hands but that time chose to embrace the pain. She pushed against the wall and freed herself from the confines of the kingdom.

With that sole thought, she suddenly felt a wave of something indescribable. The only thing she could think to call it was magic.

Her jaw dropped and she gasped as she felt it course through her veins. She didn't feel a shock anymore as her hands stayed pressed against the web-like surface of the barrier. She felt it weaken under the pressure of her hands.

She wobbled as the magic continued to move through her then gave one final push against the barrier. The barrier split and created a door as she brought her hands back down to her sides.

She puffed out a sigh as her ticket out of the kingdom stood right in front of her. She smiled wide out of relief and joy, utter happiness.

She stepped through the opening and chuckled to herself. She took a deep breath and released it in a content sigh. She left the horse behind and headed into the forest.

She wandered around for hours as she kept her course. She only went straight except on a few occasions that the main path curved left or right. After a while, she stumbled on a palace beyond the trees in a vast, secluded clearing. The grass was green and the sun warmed the area, but the palace was dark and appeared abandoned.

She felt a magnetic pull call out to her and drifted toward the place with wonder. When she got close to it, she circled around the charcoal stone and reached out to touch it. She gently brushed her fingertips against the stone and felt her heart race.

She made it around nearly a forth of the palace when someone frightened her from behind.

"What are you doing," an older man asked as he attempted to sound authoritative.

Emma jumped and immediately froze, her shoulders as well as the rest of her muscles tense.

"Show show yourself," the man commanded.

Emma nervously, cautiously, turned around to face the gray haired man.

"Tell me. What is your name," he asked.

"E-Emma," she stuttered a bit.

The sickly man's eyes went wide in horror.

"Oh, please. ...You must leave at once."

"I'm sorry. I only wanted to see the forest. I-"

"No, you must go. My daughter, s-she has chosen a dark path like her mother. If she sees you here, I-I'm afraid of what she might do to you. Please, Princess, le-"

The man was cut off by a sudden fit of coughing. He keeled over and placed a hand on his knee while the other covered his mouth.

"Are you okay," Emma asked as she hurried to the man's aid.

He tried to talk between coughs but wasn't successful for several long seconds.

"No...stay ba-back! Go!"

A horse neighed in the distance as it approached the palace. His coughs got worse, more violent as he tried to push Emma away.

"Leave me," he said before she coughed again. "That is my daughter."

His words were strangled as his voice sounded like gravel.

"She'll take care of me, but she might kill you," he fought to tell her as his lack of oxygen brought him to his knees. "Run."

His last word to her was a whisper as she followed him to the ground. She cupped the side of his face with a look of concern as he laid on his back in the grass and continued to cough.

The horse galloped closer and closer, but Emma didn't want to leave. She stared down at the man and nearly cried not being able to help hm.

He pulled back his hand, away from his mouth, and Emma saw red around his mouth and in his palm.

"You are sick. I should get you some help," Emma told him.

"Don't worry about me, child. Go! My daughter's vengeance leaves little room for mercy," he warned. "And when she gets here, she will help me."

Emma looked from the man to the horse in the distance. She couldn't tell the identity of the rider, but when she looked down again at the man she made the split decision to take his advice, to heed his warnings.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as she pushed herself off the ground and ran back in her previously taken direction.

Not long after Emma disappeared behind the trees and continued to run back through the forest, away from the man, the rider came back to the palace.

"Father? Father!"

Regina leaped from her horse and rushed to her father's side. She knelt beside him and cupped his face much like Emma had.

She appeared young and healthy. Not much about her physical presence had changed since the day of Emma's birth.

"You were getting better," Regina said as she looked him over.

The sight of his tired, aching body shivering in her arms as she placed his head under her right forearm brought tears to her eyes.

Henry coughed a few more times.

"Regina, my beautiful daughter...I...I love you," he struggled to say.

Tears streamed down her face as she pulled him closer.

"You...are a smart girl. I believe..in you. You will find...your happiness. I wish...I could have done more...for you. I'm sorry."

Regina shook her head.

"No, father, I'm sorry. Please don't leave me...I love you," she cried as his coughing stopped.

He could no longer breathe. He didn't have it in him to fight anymore. He took his last breath in Regina's arms.

"No! Please," she begged. "Please come back."

She didn't know what to do. She did the only thing she could do, the thing she had done every time her father showed signs of declining health. She hovered her hand over his face and magically made him look well again, but it was only physical. It was too late to change anything else.

She stared down at him after she rested her hand on his chest. She started to cry again and held him. After only a few minutes, Rumpelstiltskin appeared.

"Sorry to see your father didn't make it, dearie."

Regina glared up at him.

"I want to be left alone," she told him.

"I told you when it was time I would be back, did I not?"

He waited for an answer he knew he wouldn't get and continued.

"Well, it's time. The Princess has left the kingdom. There is an opening in the barrier."

"She will have to wait. I need to time to grieve."

"Grieve for a couple days, but the day after tomorrow is her birthday. There's going to be a ball."

"And? You told me she made an opening. I can go to the palace any time I please now."

"As true as that is, timing is everything and the ball is your most opportune time."

She sighed out of frustration then sniffled before she laid her father flat onto the grass. She wiped her tears and stood.

"Why is that," she asked, clearly agitated.

"Because, dearie, it's a masquerade ball. No one will recognize you. No will know you. You will have complete anonymity and could just creep in. Whatever it is you intend to do to the girl can be done quickly and quietly. What...is it you you want to do with her?"

"You can see the future. You know what I'll do."

"Oh, what you do and what you want to do are two completely different things. I can only see so much and even then I never know if it's a person's intention or if that's how things just...turned out for them."

"Then what I want to do is none of your business. I will have my revenge on Snow White and that is all I will tell you."

"As you wish, but I do hope you take the best chance you have at your revenge...at the ball. I will not be back unless you have something to offer in exchange for my help. Understand?"

"Of course. That was always our arrangement."

"Good."

He disappeared as fast as he'd appeared, in the blink of an eye.

Regina smoothed out her riding pants with her hands and took a deep breath.

If I have nothing else, I will have my happy ending, Regina thought.


Let me know what you think. :) The original plan was to make Emma younger, but I thought she should be old enough to truly make her own decisions, which is why I kept the same 28 year wait like in the series. So hopefully my ideas for this fic are valid and make sense to someone other than me. :D