Just a little drabble in my The Beauty in the Beast verse so I can have a ninth entry for Prompt Party 2020. Enjoy!
Regina stared down at the woman before her. She had been an unwelcome resident of the castle for only two days, but she acted like she had been there for longer. With every passing hour, she became more obstinate, her attitude worsening until Regina finally had to order Emma to remind her of her current situation, and to deprive her of balanced meals if she continued to act that way.
"Your Majesty, I'm not sure that's the wisest idea," the cook warned. "After all, she's older. Her health can easily deteriorate, and she likely has a worried family waiting anxiously for her return."
"Then she shouldn't have taken Henry's ball," Regina shot back. "Why isn't this affecting you? He was your son and someone tried to take something of his like they had a right to it!"
Tears glistening in her eyes, Emma said quietly, "Just because I'm not as upset doesn't mean I miss him any less. I just wanted another child to enjoy it as much as he did. After all, keeping his favorite toy won't bring him back."
"I KNOW IT WON'T!" Regina roared. She was well aware of that- didn't that ridiculously optimistic cook realize that she wished more than anything that Henry and Daniel were still with them? No magic that she had ever learned would bring them back, no matter what she did, so she was left to her misery- had been stewing in it for a decade, in fact.
She stormed into the thief's cell. The seated woman, whose hands were bound behind her back, was smirking, which only made Regina's temper flare. "What are you staring at?" she snapped.
"I was listening to your conversation. I might be in chains, but trust me, you are the prisoner," the woman taunted her, her arms crossed.
"Oh really? What makes you think that?" the queen demanded,
"I may not know you, and quite frankly, I have no desire to. However, it's clear to me that you have those you've loved and lost, and yet instead of enjoying every moment of life in their stead, you choose to wallow in your misery. To me, that seems to be a poor way to honor them."
Roaring, Regina turned and fled. How dare she! That woman had no idea what she's been through, that the memories of Daniel and her precious Henry still haunted her daily. She's been doing the best she could for all these years, trying to make it through each day without falling apart, and although there were some days when she found other ways to occupy her time, those days were few and far between. More often than not, the memories engulfed her, each moment so vivid in her mind that the pain was as fresh as it had been a decade ago. And while there was a part of her that savored the memories of those last moments with those she loved most, she hated when they would leave her with a feeling of loss so acute that she wondered why she hadn't just made herself forget them with a memory potion.
But to forget those moments meant forgetting Henry and Daniel, and as hard as some of the memories were, she couldn't do that. Her time with them was the only time in her life that she had ever been happy, so though she was often distraught, the memories stayed.
When Daniel had died, his last wish had been for her to love again, but that was impossible for her. No one could ever come close to loving her like he had, despite what those around her might think.
She was alone, and what's more, she preferred it that way. No matter how hard they tried, there was no one who could change that.
This oneshot fulfillls prompt 15 "I might be in chains, but trust me, you are the prisoner." Let me know what you think!
