A/N: Hello again! This will be the first story in the collection with multiple chapters rather than just a one-shot. :)

This one is loosely connected to the previous story, Reflections of Gods and Queens, but it can also stand alone.

Summary: When Dr. Whale succeeds in bringing Regina's first love back from the dead, a certain God of Mischief returns to Storybrooke to help her through it.

Disclaimer: Title credit to Devin, the Title God. I do not own characters from either universe.

Enjoy!

Cursed Hearts

Chapter 1

It didn't take long for Regina to feel bad about the way she'd stormed out of Dr. Hopper's office that night.

She hadn't meant to get angry and defensive, but it had become her natural response when someone tried to get too close. She didn't expect the conversation to turn to Daniel; she'd only gone to his office because she was struggling to keep her promise to Henry to not use magic and she didn't know where else to go. What surprised her even more, though, was the fact that she gave in and told him about Daniel.

If you can't let go of the past, Regina… It's still going to haunt you.

The cricket's words had rocked Regina to her core, but not as much as the hidden meaning he was implying.

You'll never be able to move on.

Her heart leapt, and she wiped away the beginnings of a tear before it could fall. Instead of staying, explaining, Regina threw her walls up and resorted to her oldest defense mechanism: getting angry and walking away.

It wasn't that she hadn't moved on, either. She'd met and fallen hopelessly in love with Loki years ago, long after Daniel. She couldn't explain that to Dr. Hopper, though, because what could she expect the man to say about her falling in love with the fabled Norse God of Mischief? He would surely think she had lost her mind, and it's not like she could prove it.

Because you don't know where he is.

Now Regina wanted to cry for a completely different reason. She hadn't seen Loki in years, since before she'd cast the Dark Curse. He'd been off-world at the time, and as far as she knew he had no idea where she was or how to find her, and had probably returned to her castle in the Enchanted Forest to find the woman he loved gone without a trace.

The idea always made Regina feel immeasurable guilt thinking about how terrified Loki must have been. She had no doubt in her mind that he was looking for her, but the curse was broken a few months ago. As much as she ached to see him, she still didn't know how to find him and she knew there were other things to focus on first.

Things like her son, like keeping her promise to Henry and redeeming herself. That's why she'd been in the wannabe psychiatrist's office in the first place.

If you can't let go of the past, Regina…

I have let go of the past! Regina wanted to scream at him.

She would always, always love Daniel. It was impossible for her not to, but she did move on. Rumplestiltskin had shown up and taken advantage of her loneliness and old feelings of resentment Regina long-thought she'd buried, manipulating her into casting the curse. It didn't excuse her at all, but it had absolutely nothing to do with not moving on from Daniel. The very thought implied her relationship with Loki meant nothing, and that made her stomach turn.

The moment she told the cricket about Daniel, he seemed to believe that the fact that she'd brought his body with her into the curse was proof that she couldn't let go of the past. What else was she supposed to do? Regina knew they would never return to the Enchanted Forest. The idea of leaving Daniel alone in a cold, deserted castle that would eventually crumble around him felt cruel and disrespectful not just to his physical body, but to his memory.

The sound of a car honking jerked Regina out of her thoughts and she slammed on her breaks to avoid colliding with it.

She sighed, following the car's path down the street for a moment before she turned her eyes forward again.

What she saw suddenly made her breath catch and she felt her blood freeze in her veins.

"Daniel?!"

He was there, right across the street and staring at her inside of her car. He was soaking wet from the rain and there was a terrible, almost frightening scowl on his face.

Impossible!

Regina's brain instantly tried to make sense of the situation just as a flash of lightning illuminated the sky. She forced herself to look away and squeeze her eyes shut before she turned forward again to find… Nothing.

There was no one standing on the sidewalk across from her when Regina looked again. She struggled to keep her breathing under control, because there was no way she'd just seen Daniel standing across the street. He'd been dead for years.

Oh god, have I gone insane?

For the first time in a long time, Regina genuinely feared that was the case.

She didn't sleep that night. Instead she'd paced around her entire house endlessly and obsessed over what she saw. Regina knew she'd seen Daniel. Her mind wouldn't just suddenly create an illusion of him, even if she had been talking about him less than an hour before. It didn't take Regina long to figure out what she needed to do. Even if it turned out that she was crazy, she needed to know exactly what she'd seen.

So the moment it was light outside, Regina made her way to her vault. She was shaking as she unlocked it, but she all but ran to the double doors that led to Daniel's coffin.

The moment she opened them, Regina gasped and the sound seemed to echo in her ears. She could practically hear her heart hammering in her chest.

It was empty.

The glass case looked entirely undisturbed. She'd half expected to find it shattered across the floor, but it was completely intact. There wasn't a scratch or a fingerprint on the glass. It was as perfect as it had been the day Regina created it, but there was one essential thing missing.

Daniel.

She tried not to panic as she stared at the empty coffin, but she couldn't breathe.

Regina didn't even look at it again as she ran out of the room as fast as her trembling legs could carry her.

It was Dr. Whale.

It was the first thing Regina registered after she calmed herself down. He was the only one she knew that could have possibly done something like this.

But if he couldn't do this in the Enchanted Forest, how in the hell had he managed it here? Gold may have brought the magic back to Storybrooke, but this was still a world without magic. It still shouldn't have been possible. She needed to see him immediately.

Regina knew she would find him in the bowels of the hospital. When she opened the door to the room and turned the lights on, she tried not to be unnerved by the fact that they only flickered on and off. Even worse, the room was completely torn apart and she didn't see Dr. Whale anywhere.

"Dr. Whale?" She received no answer, but Regina turned toward a small rolling table covered by sheet. Regina's unease only grew, but she still pulled the sheet back against her better judgment.

Oh my God, is that his arm? Regina gasped and backed away from the limb, only to spin around again when she ran into the fluorescent light that was hanging haphazardly from the ceiling.

She turned back around and caught a glimpse of white and red. She immediately pushed the table aside only to find Dr. Whale lying on the ground. He was conscious, but just as Regina assumed, his arm had indeed been ripped completely off of his body.

"I know you took Daniel's body, and you took one of my hearts. Why?" She asked him, knowing she didn't need to explain herself further.

"Did you bring him back?"

Whale closed his eyes, "Yes, I did it." He admitted.

Regina's breath left her in a rush. "He's alive..."

She had seen him on the street last night; she hadn't completely lost her mind, after all. Regina's mind raced with a million different thoughts. She didn't even know what to think; she'd given up on the possibility of resurrecting her first love years ago. When Dr. Whale—Dr. Frankenstein—failed to bring him back in the Enchanted Forest, Regina had been forced to mourn him all over again and she swore to herself she'd never let herself live through that a third time.

"...He's not Daniel…"

Dr. Whale's quiet words broke through Regina's thoughts before she could spiral out of control, and she snapped her eyes back to him.

"What?"

Whale grimaced, his voice filled with pain as he told her, "He's a monster."

Regina stared at him, her eyes traveling to the bloody cloth that was covering the place where his arm should have been. Her eyes widened.

Daniel ripped off his arm.

There was something horribly wrong; Daniel would never do something like that, even if he weren't quite himself. It wasn't hard for Regina to make her decision: She would take Dr. Whale to the hospital for his injury, and then she would find Daniel by whatever means necessary.

Loki had never been happier to be back on Asgard in his entire life. The war on one of the less stable realms that Odin forced him to come back for was at an end, and it meant that he could finally focus on what he'd been thinking about since the moment he'd let the Bifrost take him away from Midgard.

Regina.

He thought about her constantly; he left Storybrooke only a few minutes after he felt the curse break, so he never got a chance to find her after her memories of him were restored. For the first time since the curse took hold, Loki was genuinely happy at the thought of reuniting with her at last.

"Prince Loki,"

The God of Mischief halted before he could move away from the Gatekeeper and turned to face him.

"Yes, Heimdall?"

"I think it would be wise for you to return to Midgard."

Loki blinked. Heimdall had never been particularly direct, but that was unusually cryptic even for him. Of course Loki intended to return to Midgard; he'd only planned on seeing Frigga for a moment before going back.

"I don't understand."

"Your mortal queen needs you, Prince Loki."

There was no inflection in his words, but Loki inhaled sharply and instantly felt his heart plummet to the floor. Oh god, no.

"What do you mean?" Loki hissed at him, but Heimdall's expression gave away nothing. He simply continued to stare at him.

"Tell me what that means, Heimdall!" Loki all but roared at him, but fear was consuming him with each passing moment that the Gatekeeper failed to explain himself, and Loki was rapidly losing his ability to remain calm.

Before he'd left with Thor, Loki had basically ordered Heimdall to watch over Regina. Even away from Asgard, Loki would check with Heimdall every now and then to make sure his queen was still safe, and each time he'd been assured that Regina was well. Even if Loki wasn't sure if it was entirely true, he was at least confident that she was not in immediate danger.

For Heimdall to mention Regina now, something must have gone horribly wrong.

"It would be wise for you to return to Midgard, my Prince." Heimdall repeated.

Loki growled, but immediately spun on his heel to position himself back in front of the Bifrost. He knew his mother would understand.

He turned back to the Gatekeeper and scowled; even though Loki was certain Heimdall's all-seeing eyes could see the fear behind the fierce expression.

"Do it!"

His command was obeyed at once, and as he felt himself being transported, Loki prayed to all the gods in the realms that Regina was safe.

A/N: Thank you for reading, please review! Three more chapters to go!