"Well…that went well. Just as you'd planned!"

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Regina sneered.

Sure, she didn't. Ever since that long-ago day that a near encounter with a stranger at a bar had nearly taken Regina and her future from him, he'd been sure to pay close attention to her activities, especially when the King was away. He was particularly vigilant now that the King had begun to leave Snow White behind, so she could learn to rule as Queen. All alone with Regina, the watchful eye was necessary. He'd thought that Regina had been frustrated before, when the King had simply left her alone, but now that Snow White stayed with her during these times, sat in the Great Hall by her side, watching her give orders to peasants and solving problems her husband never gave her credit for, his girl was starting to become a woman. Her anger and fury grew time after time. And on this time, as soon as the King had gone, he'd made note of one trip Regina had taken by magic, to meet a criminal in the woods. They called him "Dead Eye". And it just so happened, immediately after this meeting, that Dead Eye had invaded Regina's Kingdom. While her husband was away, she and Snow White had been left to deal with the problem.

He'd watched it all play out through crystal ball, cauldron, and mirror as Regina's attempt at making a power play, getting the Kingdom to see her as the rightful ruler and not just someone keeping the seat warm until her husband died, failed miserably. He'd known it would from the start, even without his powers of foresight.

He had to give her credit; her plan had been simple enough. Bring a terrible bandit into the Kingdom, create pressure Snow White couldn't handle, which would lead to failure and a very public humiliation for her step-daughter. At that point, she would sweep in, save the Kingdom somehow herself, and publicly comfort Snow White so the Kingdom would see her as their Queen and Snow White as nothing more than the next monarch who was still not ready to take the throne. No one would be any wiser as to the fact that it was their Queen that had brought the trouble in the first place. Except, of course, he who heard and saw everything.

"It was a good plan you came up with," he commented to a frustrated Regina who had just stormed into her bedroom after everything had failed. "It had decent goals, an untraceable source, and easy to remember lines. There was of course just one thing you neglected to account for?"

"And what was that?" she questioned rolling her eyes. "Please, enlighten me! Tell me where I went wrong!" The tone of her voice suggested that was anything but a begging plea, still, he did like to rub people's noses in their mistakes, especially those who called themselves his students.

"You failed to account for the determination of your step-daughter," he sneered. "Among other things…"

There were other mistakes that she'd made of course, but none bigger than that one. Snow White had been humiliated at the beginning and scared and frustrated as well, she'd wanted desperately to reach out to her father, but instead Regina had insisted she handle it. It was ironic, if she'd allowed her step-daughter to do what she'd wanted to in the first place and call on her Dear Papa for help, or instead just stepped in right then, her plan might actually have worked. Instead, she'd let Snow go, she'd let that teenage girl make friends with some boy or other who taught her archery, and after paying the robber not to kill the girl lest she become a martyr, the pair had faced off. Snow White had protected her people, and now they saw her in higher esteem than they had before. It practically had the people wishing Regina would die just so they could call her Queen.

Regina's lips turned red and hard as she made a face at him. "That girl! That miserable excuse for a Princess! She outwitted me!"

"Oh no!" he corrected quickly, getting to his feet. "One has to know who their true enemy is to outwit them. What she did was to overpower you with…love!" he stated in a high girlish voice putting his hands over his heart as if it could feel any more than Cora's could at the moment.

"Love!"

"Love is far more powerful than you realize, Regina. Capable of just as much and sometimes even much more than hate. There are a number of things one must account for in plans such as these. Timing, the temperament of the victim, and one must never fear backup plans. But most importantly of all, you must account for the relationship between the victim and the motivation you are using. Snow White, daughter of the King, loves her Kingdom as though they were her very children. If you had a mother that loved you, you'd know that parents will lay down their lives and sacrifice everything for their spawn. That was where you went wrong, which suggests, oddly enough that you don't know your own enemy. Strange considering she lives in the next tower."

"And now all the Kingdom looks up to her like she's perfect!" she suddenly burst out. "I'm the Queen; she's the Nothing, nothing but a princess! She's not as perfect as they all think she is! They just don't see it. They respect her more than me!"

"Of course they do! She's the treasure of the Kingdom! Who are you but the woman who replaced her mother?! You are here to keep the throne warm until she's ready to ascend. Jealousy is natural."

"What I feel for her it's not…it's not jealousy."

"Something more then…perhaps something a bit stronger…anger, maybe?"

"I hate her!" she shouted unexpectedly with rage that assured him she'd finally crossed into a place with Snow that he could work with. "Hate." She'd never used a word like that before, not in his presence. "Hate" was exactly what he'd wanted from the beginning, but this was only the start. Today Snow White, tomorrow the Kingdom, and from there...the realm.

"Hate is a very powerful emotion, dearie."

"But it's true! I hate her! I think I have nearly since the day I met her, ever since Daniel…"

"Ever since dear Daniel passed away."

"Well, it was her that did it! I told her not to tell my mother and she just…she told! Like it was nothing, like I was nothing!"

"To her…you were…"

"Are you here to cheer me up? If so then you're doing a lousy job of it!" she roared before storming out to her balcony. He smiled. No. He hadn't come to cheer her up. He hadn't come for a lesson or to find out what happened. He'd come because part of him was proud. Whether she knew it or not, she'd taken a step in the right direction for him today. Regina had plotted. For the first time, she'd wanted something and used her power and her wealth to try and take it for herself. The results had been disastrous, but the way she'd gone about it suggested something he was very pleased with. Her animosity and jealousy toward her step-daughter were growing. She was taking steps to ruin her. Steps that would one day lead toward a curse. He'd come to gloat today because he was proud of her. She'd grown a spine. And it was a spinney one indeed.

"So…what do you intend to do next, Regina?" he questioned, letting himself appear on the balcony before her so that he could rest his back on the castle wall.

Kill her. That answer was written plain as day on Regina's face. It was in the tightening of her fists, the way her knuckles shone white against the moonlight.

But there was an indent in her cheek like she was biting it and a muscle that twitched in her jaw that suggested she didn't want to open her mouth to say the words. That was good in a way. He didn't want the Queen to kill her step-daughter. He needed the hate that she had for her to exceed death, to want to make Snow White suffer, to make the entire realm suffer! But this was a one step at a time operation. First, he had to get her to the point that she was ready to kill her and then offer that more appealing option.

"Nothing," she finally huffed over her shoulder. "There's nothing I can do."

"Nothing?" he pressed.

"Haven't you been listening?!" she cried, turning toward him. "Haven't you been watching in your creepy little way?! I just tried! I tried to change things. I tried to get them to see her for what she is and turn the tables. It backfired!"

"Tried?!" he laughed. "That was a rather poor attempt if I do say so myself!"

"I tried," she snapped. "I'm sorry if we can't all come up with plans as grand as the Dark One!"

He bit back a laugh as she went back inside her room. He was getting to her. That was perfect. It was what he needed to get her to take this to a new level. She was ready to move forward with everything; with her magic, her plans, and her future, she just didn't know it yet. He needed her to know it.

"You failed," he stated appearing in front of her so that she stumbled when she came to an abrupt stop. "What is it that you want Regina…not what you intend, what is it that you want."

"I want…I want her to die for what she did to Daniel."

"Good goal. Short, sweet, easy to remember. It does of course lack a proper plan."

"So teach me! Teach me…how to kill her! Teach me how to finally take the revenge I should have taken long ago-a life for a life. If I can't earn their respect with her around, then I'll take it when they've no princess to fawn over! A spell, a potion, a curse…there must be something that you can give to me that will destroy her, that will end this…this pain…this suffering!"

"Well, of course, I do…but I don't really think you want to use it."

"And why wouldn't I?"

"Well, because then you'd be no better than you were the day your dear mother took a trip through the looking glass. Make no mistake of this, Regina, you've not been nearly as careful or discreet as you think you have. Their perfectly healthy and lovely Princess suddenly takes ill and dies or is found one day in her room with her life snuffed out…they'll look to you. Perhaps not right away, but they'll eventually make the proper conclusions."

"I can be miles away from here before they come from me! I can live on the run!"

"Perhaps but what then of your dear father. Oh!" he piqued as her face fell with sudden understanding and sadness. "Didn't think of that, did you? A rather half-baked plan indeed."

"Then it's true," she whimpered, slapping her hands against her thighs and falling into a seat. "There is truly nothing I can do. I'm trapped here in this miserable life until...until the day I die."

"Oh, now I didn't say that, did I?"

"But you just said-"

"What you need to do, Regina is think bigger and smarter. You need to plan wiser. You need to open your mind for a long game, not a short one. You failed because your attempt was only half thought through. You tried to control what you couldn't control and your plan backfired. You were so caught up on the way you saw things in your head you were unable to adjust to what was right before you."

"I don't even know what that means! What are you talking about? Why are you here if you can't help me?!"

"I'm beginning to ask myself the same question," he reflected. Regina was smart, but he was coming to find that in her anger, she could be one of two things. Abrupt and foolish. Or thoughtful and conniving. He needed her to be the second above all else. "I am good for more than the occasional magic lesson, dearie. It means that death is too good for her. Death is final; it's peaceful. Do you really think she deserves that after all she's cost you?"

"Without a doubt!" she growled.

He bit the inside of his cheek to keep his disappointment to himself. It was progress, but still a wrong answer.


I don't know about you, but I really like this chapter. I really wanted to use what we saw in the 5x13 episode in some way, despite Rumple not having anything to do with it. In the end, I put it here, between the 3x03 chapters and the 4x14 chapters and I know I'm biased but I think it works as a good bridge for those two episodes. You go from seeing her as this really indecisive miserable person, to accepting that she wants to kill Snow White, to realizing that suffering is actually better than death. I was really pleased with how this came out and I hope you'll agree.

Big thank yous to MissAmande, Alarda, Jennifer Baratta, and Grace5231973 for the reviews you left me. Wow! I'm so happy that you like what happened in the last chapter and the twist on the hunchback story. Not the happiest of tales, I admit it, but it was a very convenient way to find those wands! I'm so happy you liked it! Only four more chapters in the Regina Section. See! I told you it would pick up after the resurrection stuff passed. And the next section, well...I can't wait to get there! Peace and Happy Reading!