I refused to go back to the loft after what Mary Margaret did, my Mother was dead and it's all her fault. Regina and I, both dressed in black, went to her family Mausoleum...well…I guess it was our family Mausoleum now. Mother's body had been placed in the centre of the room, the plate reading 'Cora Mills, Beloved Mother'. I shakily reached out and lovingly placed a rose on top of her marble casket. Regina had tears running down her cheeks and was sniffling. I stared blankly at the casket, tears silently streaming down my cheeks. They hadn't stopped since Mother passed and I doubt I could get them to stop. My head turned slowly as I heard someone hobble down the stairs. Mr Gold imped into the room. "Black was always your colour." He commented, stepping towards us.
"We're here to bury our mother." Regina told him. "So if you came to gloat-"
"I came to pay my respects." Gold limped towards the casket and placed a red rose beside my black one. Love and death conveyed in two simple items. "We had our differences, but Cora will always have a place in my heart."
"You sacrificed her for your own benifit." I rasped, "She died so that you could live."
"Sadly, desperate times call for desperate measures."
"Like getting Mary Margaret to trick me into killing my own mother?" Regina asked, "You may be able to hide behind your dagger, but she can't. She is going to die for what she did."
"Oh, come on." Gold scoffed. "We both know killing her will cost you the thing you want most, Henry. Not to mention it would break your own sister's heart. Why don't you just give up this obsession with vengeance? You know it can never make you happy."
"Yes, it will."
"You had a whole Curse worth of vengeance, and what did it get you? A gaping hole in your heart."
"That was your curse."
"Which you cast. Still haven't learned your lesson, have you?"
"What lesson?"
"The same one your mother learned a long time ago. You can't have everything. She wanted power, ripped out her own heart to get it. You want vengeance? Henry and Hadley are the prices you'll pay. Time to cut your losses."
"I don't care about much right now." I muttered, turning my eyes to the casket, "Mary Margaret is the reason my Mother is dead, she isn't my family, Regina is. I don't care what she does as long as the two of us can stay together."
"I will not stop." Regina said, shaking her head. "I will have my son, and I will have my vengeance. I will find a way to have everything." Gold then limped away. Regina and I stood in silence for a little while.
"I'm gonna go walk around Storybrooke." I said to her, my eyes still not leaving the casket, "I'm gonna grab a book from the library, get some fresh air before I head back to the house."
"You're not gonna go back to the loft?" Regina wondered. I shook my head, finally letting my eyes focus on her.
"I can't. They for sure know that I'm with you and I don't want to deal with them." I went to leave before pausing. "Gina." I pulled out a worn photo from the inside of my coat pocket. It was an old polaroid photo of me and mother from the Isle. It was from when I was very young, I think around maybe ten at the time, Evie and I were banished so managing to find a working camera was a blessing. "This was taken on my tenth birthday." I explained softly, showing her the picture, "I have a couple more photos, but I left them back in my home realm." Regina took the photo gently. "I want you to have it."
"A-are you sure you don't want it?" I shook my head.
"We were raised by two different women, I just wanted you to know that the woman I grew up with talked very highly of you. She always told me stories of my big sister who's magic was unparalleled. She was strong-willed, determined. I would always ask about you because, in Auradon, we only know the stories of the original Disney tales, and there is no mention of the Queen of Hearts having a child. After receiving my Storybook it all made sense. I love you, Regina, I hope you know that Mother loved you too." I kissed Regina's cheek before leaving the Mausoleum.
TIMESKIP
After retrieving a book from the library, Alice Through the Looking Glass, ironically. I soon found myself sitting at the pier, watching as the waves as they came in and out of the sea. I hadn't even opened my book yet, just watched the water as the sea air ran through my hair. "Hadley!" A voice shouted, and the clack of heels came near, "Hadley!" A body crashed into my side and midnight blue was all I could see. Evie. She wrapped me up in a tight hug. "Are you ok? David and Emma have been worried sick!"
"Yeah...I don't really care what they think." I muttered.
"What?" Evie pulled away to look me in the eyes, "Hads…"
"Mary Margaret is the reason my mother is dead, Evie." I said, turning to look at her, "The one person who's stuck with me us through everything. Remember when we were banished from the Isle? Mother was always there with hugs and comfort when we weren't able to interact with anyone else."
"I know."
"Listen, E, you can not, under any circumstances, tell David or Emma or Ben that you saw me.
"Why not?"
"Hadley!" Another voice shouted, causing me to turn my head to spot Regina in her car, "Come on, Henry's in trouble."
"E, can you return this for me." I pushed the book into her hands, "I'm gonna go help Regina with Henry." I stood and hurried over to Regina's car and slid into the front passenger seat. When my seatbelt was secure, Regina drove off. She drove us near the forest, and she bolted out of the car. I scrambled to follow her. Soon, we found Henry standing at the well where we entered this world, with a box of matches in his hand and a roll of dynamite.
"Henry…?" Regina called softly, causing the young boy to whip his head over to us. We slowly approached him, our hands up to show we weren't going to cast any spells. "What are you doing?" Henry grabbed the dynamite off the well.
"I'm getting rid of magic." Henry declared, "I-It's ruining everything. And neither of you can stop me."
"All that's gonna do it get you killed."
"You just say that because you need Magic." Henry took a match out of the box. "So you can cast that curse on me." Henry went to light the dynamite, but with a wave of Regina's hand, it disappeared. Henry dropped the lit match in shock. I flicked my fingers and the flame went out before the match hit the ground.
"I can't lose you, Henry. You mean too much to me." Regina took a couple of steps forward and stopped in front of Henry.
"Then don't cast the curse." Henry pleaded. "Don't kill Mary Margaret."
"Henry, she has to pay."
"Gina, to be fair, having one of her daughters hate her is punishment enough." I spoke up.
"The curse, it won't make me love you for real." Henry said, "It'll be fake."
"But it will be something." Regina countered. "I know it's hard for you to understand right now, but you'll see. We can be happy, all three of us. We can have everything." Henry took a step back.
"Not like this."
"Hey! Regina!" The voice of my biological sister called out as she stopped beside me, alongside David and Neal. "Get away from my son."
"Henry is her son too!" I snapped, glaring at her.
"Hadley!" David muttered and grabbed my arm, pulling me behind him.
"He's not yours, he's mine." Regina said, sending her own glare towards the blonde. "And after I cast this, you'll never see him again."
"That's never gonna happen."
"If you wanna kill Mary Margaret you're gonna have to go through us." Emma stated.
"Ok." Regina said after a brief pause, igniting a flame in her palm. David lept forward, raising his gun and aiming it at Regina. Henry and I got into action, standing in between Regina and the others.
"Stop!" Henry shouted.
"Henry! Hadley! Get out of the way!" Neal called.
"I don't know you enough to listen to you." I snapped at him.
"I'm not getting out of the way until someone helps me destroy Magic!" Henry revealed.
"There's no way to get rid of it." Regina told him. "You can't just blow it up."
"Magic isn't the problem, kid." Emma spoke up, "It's her." Emma reached out for Henry.
"It's not her." I but in, "It's everyone here! Everyone has problems and won't own up to them. Mary Margaret killed my mother, you abandoned Henry, David, you and Mary Margaret didn't find a way for Emma and I to be together, and Neal, you left Emma to take the rap for something you did!"
"Look at what Magic did to Mary Margaret." Henry continued. He then looked to Regina, "Look what it did to you! It's ruining everything. It makes good people do terrible things."
"And not just in this world." I muttered as an afterthought.
"And bad people." Emma added, not hearing my comment as she reached for Henry again. Henry stepped towards Regina.
"Please, It's gonna destroy my family." He pleaded with his adoptive mother, "Help me get rid of it."
"I can't do that Henry." Regina said to him. "But there is something I can do." Regina lifted the Curse, which I'm assuming is the one Henry was talking about earlier, and dropped it into her palm of flames. It promptly burnt to ashes, and Regina closed her fist to dissipate the flames.
"Thank you." Henry then walked to Emma, hugging her tight before the blonde walked away with Henry and Neal in toe.
"Hadley, you're coming home." David stated, grabbing my arm once more and dragging me away.
"I'll be back!" I called to Regina.
TIMESKIP
I wasn't back as quickly as I thought. David kept my arm in a tight grip as he dragged me to the truck. I was promptly shoved into the passenger seat, and David slid into the front seat. He didn't start the car, just sat there. "You ran off." David stated, "With no explanation. You gotta give me something."
"After twelve years of limbo, I was released." I started in an even tone, looking out the front windshield and not looking at David. "I was found by Cora, my Mother. In the Kingdom we lived in, we lived in the more remote, run-down area. The food we got was rotten, the clothes, torn and full of holes. With everything we went through, Cora raised me to the best of her ability. She is my Mother in every sense of the word. She was there for my first words, my first steps, she changed my diapers, soothed my temper tantrums and she was the only person I had ever loved until I met Ben." My hands gripped the skirt of my dress, "I love her."
"Then why did you run away."
"I didn't run away, I was with Regina, we were grieving over our Mother's death."
"She's not your sister-"
"She is my sister!" I snapped, glaring at him, my eyes turning gold, "In every sense of the word, she is my sister."
"She is not-"
"Yes she is!" My hand gripped the door handle, and I pushed the door open. Unfortunately, I still haven't controlled my strength yet, and I pushed the door so far back that it actually ripped off the car. I stared at the door in my hand, dropping it instantly. I jumped out of the star and started running.
"Hadley!" David called. I ignored him, continuing to run. My tears stung my eyes as I ran towards the direction that I knew Regina lived.
I couldn't be in the same vicinity as my biological family.
They didn't understand.
They don't even want to understand.
I had to stay with Regina for the time being, she's the only one I can trust.
