...

'She tried to take you...'

'What do you mean she tried to take us from you?" Emma asked softly. "How could she take us? And Daniel... Regina he's gone. How could she have taken him? Please Regina I don't understand."

'Tried to take everything.'

...

Emma thought back to that moment as she held onto Regina from where she still sat in bed. Regina had fallen back to sleep a while ago, shortly after finishing her recount of what had happened with Blue. She had almost drifted off a few times during her telling of the story, but Emma somewhat guiltily kept her awake until the brunette had told her everything she could remember. Emma felt bad for keeping Regina from getting her rest; her mind and body were still a little lagged from the drugs, but Emma needed to know if Regina knew of any upcoming dangers.

Lost in thought, Emma was brushing her fingers gently through Regina's hair as the other woman slept in her arms.

It had been a memory, Emma had learned. She had assumed it was an image of the future but it had been a memory that the wand had shown to Regina.

Once again Emma hated herself for leaving Henry and Regina home by themselves that day. She had assumed the two would be safe, what with the protection spell around them and all, but she had never considered that the person who had cast the spell would be the one they needed to be the most wary of.

Emma went over the story again in her mind, thinking of how different things would be now if Blue had succeeded. Emma would have come home that day to a horrible surprise, and she may have spent the rest of her life never knowing what had really happened to Regina.

108 Mifflin Street:

The day after the curse was broken

The day was still very young, but Emma had already been gone for hours trying to calm things down in town. At the moment, Henry was upstairs in his room and Regina was resting in the living room. Despite all that had happened the previous day, she had still managed to get a relatively decent night's sleep, but as per usual lately, no amount of sleep it seemed would ever be enough.

Her breathing was coming more softly now, and just as she was about to drift off she heard a faint knocking at the front door. As she blinked her eyes open, forcing herself to wake up again, she felt a nervousness run through her. So far no one had come to visit since the attack the previous day and she didn't know what to expect. Her fingers subconsciously reached for the bruises on her neck from where Dr. Whale had nearly strangled her to death on the front porch. She didn't want to open the door, but the gentleness of the knocking told her that whoever it was, they were not someone she should fear.

With a heavy sigh, Regina grudgingly pushed the blanket off of herself and stood up. She felt like she had to drag herself across the hall and down the steps to the foyer, and she found herself wishing that she had just ignored the visitor and allowed herself to go back to sleep.

She unlocked the door, but opened it cautiously. She faltered when she saw who her guest was, not having expected it to be them.

"Blue." She said in surprised greeting.

"Good morning Your Majesty."

Regina nodded in response. She was holding onto the door with both hands, the sleep still evident in her eyes. "What can I do for you?"

"I just came to see how Henry is doing, may I come in?"

Regina glanced behind her, she didn't like the idea of letting anyone in at the moment, but she supposed she was safe with Blue. The woman was after all, still the Mother Superior, and she had saved Henry's life less than twenty-four hours ago. Regina gave a small smile. "Of course."

As she led the other woman up the steps and into the main hall she resisted the urge to go back into the living room to text Emma, just to let her know.

"I hope he is recovering well?"

"Hmm?" Regina asked distractedly, turning around to face Blue. "Oh, yes he's doing very well. He says he doesn't even have any pain anymore."

"That's wonderful! I'm so glad to hear that."

Regina's eyes softened as she dropped her gaze for a few moments, thinking of her son. "Thank you for what you did for him. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost him. I'm so relieved you arrived when you did." She breathed a deep sigh. "Thank you also for putting up the protection spell yesterday, I know you didn't have to do that."

Blue gave a small laugh in response, her smile grew wide and there was a twinkle in her eye that looked as if it were meant to be amiable, but which oddly sent a slight chill down Regina's spine.

"Well you can rest assured Your Majesty, no one wielding dark magic will be able to step foot into this house, I promise." Blue said in a friendly manner.

Dark magic? Regina thought. She herself had dark magic, did that mean the spell would affect her too? Surely Blue would have done something to prevent that, Regina told herself. But at the back of her mind was nagging feeling, telling her that maybe the way she had been feeling all day wasn't simply because the broken curse was accelerating her failing health. She pushed the thought aside. Blue had saved Henry, she was on their side, Regina had to remind herself.

Regina took in a deep breath. "Thank you." She forced out. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to gain strength for what she had been wanting to ask. Despite the strange feeling Regina had, Blue was here now, and so there was no better time like the present. She knew she had told Emma that Blue would not want to help her, but she had to at least try, especially now that she knew she was unable to do it herself.

"Blue... you've already done more than enough to help but..." Her gaze dropped away from the other woman's, not really wanting to open up to her but knowing it was the only option. "I don't know if you know this already, but I haven't been feeling very well lately. It's public knowledge that I tried to commit suicide a while back but... I don't know how many people know about what's happened since then?" She asked uncertainly, her eyes raising again.

Blue didn't respond, but waited patiently for Regina to further explain without giving any indication of whether or not she already knew about Regina's health.

Regina gave small sigh. "Well... what I did that day had some rather dire consequences I'm afraid. I'm currently suffering from kidney failure and liver damage as a result."

Blue nodded softly, there was a thoughtful look on her face. "I'm so sorry for you Regina, I had no idea." The fairy said in what sounded like was meant to be a consoling manner, but which for some reason was sending Regina red flags. Perhaps this was a bad idea after all. She didn't know if she was imagining them or not, but she decided to give Blue the chance to prove her wrong.

She swallowed uncertainly. "Yes well... the reason I'm telling you this is because I was wondering if maybe... um," she cleared her throat softly. "I was wondering if you would be able to heal me?"

Blue actually breathed a laugh, looking the other woman up and down.

Regina paled. Yes. Maybe it was a bad idea after all.

"Heal you?"

"Yes," Regina unintentionally whispered. She cleared her throat again, forcing her voice to return. "I tried to do it myself last night but... I'm not strong enough right now."

"Dear," Blue said in an almost derogatory way. "Perhaps the reason you were unable to heal yourself is because of who you are and what you've done."

Regina looked up at her in surprise. "Excuse me?"

"Maybe your illness is less to do with biology, and more to do with fate giving you what you deserve." Blue stated in a calm, almost sympathetic tone. "It's your penance. I think there is a reason why you're the only one whose magic has yet to return to them."

Regina felt the sting of the hurtful words more than she would have wanted herself to. There were tears in her eyes, she didn't know what to say.

"You've done so many terrible things in your lifetime," Blue continued. "Maybe this is the price you have to pay for all the pain you've caused."

Regina let out an angry breath, giving herself a few moments to gather herself. She had let her hopes get a little too high when she thought Blue might agree to help her. Now that she knew the truth she felt humiliated, but also quite hurt. However she hid it as best as she could.

"You know what?" Regina began in a stronger voice. "I think it's time for you to go. I've changed my mind about allowing you to see my son today." She said, furiously blinking back a couple of tears.

"That's alright, I don't need to see him anyways. I'm sure he's fine."

Regina folded her arms again, now she looked confused but also quite peeved. "I'm sorry, I thought that was your whole reason for coming here today." She snapped.

"Actually no... Perhaps I was dishonest. As it so happens Your Majesty, it was you I came to see. I just needed a reason for you to let me in."

Regina froze, there was a strong uneasiness growing in the pit of her stomach. She now realized that she had made a terrible mistake in letting Blue into her home. Whatever Blue's intentions were, Regina could assume they weren't good.

Her expression changed when she saw Blue withdraw her wand.

"Now don't be afraid, this won't hurt a bit." Blue said.

A numbed fear ran through Regina when the fairy raised the wand and pointed it towards her.

"What are you doing?" Regina asked, taking a step back and raising her hands defensively.

"I'm going to take your memories," Blue explained calmly, "so that you'll never remember ever having been the Evil Queen."

"What?" Regina felt her blood run cold.

"You won't remember marrying the king, you won't remember Snow White, you won't even remember that stable boy of yours and how you lost him." Blue continued. "Your future will be a blank slate again."

"Why?" Regina's voice shook. "That's more than half my life."

"Because now that there's magic in Storybrooke we can't have a reprisal of the Evil Queen now can we? This is the most humane way to prevent that. I'm sorry we have to go so far back, but there's no avoiding it, you must forget everything about being Queen. You must forget your reason for vengeance."

"Why not just kill me and be done with it?" Regina asked in disgust.

"Because that would be murder. That would be giving in to darkness." Blue responded.

"And this isn't?! It's going to destroy my life."

"On the contrary, it's saving your life."

"And how exactly is that?"

"Think of how much better you'll feel without all that anger and need for vengeance weighing you down, think of how much happier you could be."

"And what if I don't want to be 'saved'? What if I have already moved on?"

"Well I'm afraid that's not an option." Blue replied. "This is for the good of Storybrooke. This is for the good of everyone."

"But what's going to happen to me? Will I even know where I am? Will I remember Henry?! My family? Any of my friends?"

"There's no telling how much this spell will take from you." Blue replied sympathetically.

"Then don't cast it! I've changed, I don't want to hurt anyone, you don't have to worry about me. What you should be doing is going into town to do something about the fighting and destruction that's going on out there."

"It'll die down, they're simply adjusting."

Regina breathed an incredulous sigh, shaking her head. "So let me get this straight." She said, her voice breaking. "Since the curse broke I've done nothing but stay here, minding my own business, and there are townspeople putting each other in the emergency room and they get a second chance without any kind of punishment, yet I don't even get one chance to prove to you all that I've changed?"

"You've already had your second chances, back in our world. And now this time you're going to be stopped before you cause any more problems."

There was fear in Regina's eyes as she looked over her shoulder, desperately hoping Henry had overheard and was calling Emma. She didn't know what Emma could do against magic, but someone needed to know what was happening. Once her memory was wiped there would be no way for anyone to know what had caused it. She would simply be lost.

Blue raised her wand.

"Please," Regina said, stepping back again as she felt her heartbeat increase in panic. "Please don't do this."

"It has to be done. I have to protect the people of this town."

"I'm not going to hurt them, I promise."

"I'm sorry Your Majesty but I'm afraid this is the only way to be sure."

There were tears shining in Regina's eyes as she refrained from looking over her shoulder again. A part of her wanted to call for help but she couldn't put Henry in danger like that.

"Please." She whispered again.

"I'm sorry... I truly am." Blue waved her wand and aimed it towards the Queen.

Regina's cry was caught in her throat as the spell hit her and she fell to the floor unconscious.

Simultaneously, Blue shrieked as the wand unexpectedly backfired on her, knocking her into the wall behind her. It had scalded her hand, forcing her to drop it, and it was currently rolling slowly on the floor halfway between each of the fallen women.

Blue breathed a heavy groan of frustration as she pushed herself up from the floor and glared at the wand.

"Mom?" A voice was heard as the sound of footsteps made its way across the floor above. "What was that?"

Henry appeared at the top of the stairs and he looked down over the railing to see his mother lying motionless on the floor, and Blue grimacing as she picked herself up. Her eyes flicked up to the ten year old in a panic.

"Mom!" Henry hurried down the stairs as Blue quickly reached for the wand.

"What happened?!" Henry ran towards his mother and fell to his knees beside her, trying to wake her up. "Mom? Mom..." His voice broke when she didn't stir. He looked up at the Blue Fairy who was on her feet again, looking quite torn as she looked from the wand to him. "What happened to her?" Henry asked fearfully.

"I–" Blue stammered.

"Why are you just standing there? Help her!"

"I'm sorry Henry, I was trying to do what was best for everyone."

There were tears in his eyes as he looked up at her speechlessly, understanding what she meant. "What did you do?!" He demanded.

"I may not have been able to erase her history but I can still ensure neither of you remember this. No one must know why I was really here." The woman sounded scared, she looked afraid and... horrified? "I'm sorry Henry."

"Did you try to kill her?" Henry asked in a trembling but accusatory voice from where he sat behind Regina, holding on to her as if she could protect him.

"No, I didn't." Blue said, her eyes blazing angrily. "But perhaps I should have."

With a wave of her wand two separate strands of magic wound their way quickly towards the mother and son. The first hit Regina and almost immediately after, the second reached Henry. The ten year old slumped forwards against his unconscious mother, his eyes now closed too.

Blue's heart was beating furiously as she let out a deep breath. This hadn't gone the way she had planned at all. Something had happened, something she hadn't counted on, and now she was filled with a fire she had never imagined she could feel before. It was Regina's fault this had happened to her, and the Queen would pay. She knew no one must learn what had happened to her and therefore Blue would make sure Regina died at someone else's hands.

After magicking both Regina and Henry to their respective bedrooms so they would not wake up wondering what had happened, Blue fled the house as quickly as she could. Her intention had been to poof herself back to the convent as soon as she reached the road, but once her feet touched the sidewalk she was startled by someone who had been concealed by the hedges. On the sidewalk beside her stood Mr. Gold.

Blue gasped, raising a hand to her chest as she tried to catch her breath. "Gold! You scared me. What on Earth are you doing here?"

"Things not going your way dearie?" He asked smoothly.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Blue snapped.

"I know what your intentions were here today, and I also know how you failed."

Blue gave him a dirty look. "I came here to see how Henry was doing, that's all."

"That may be all the Queen will remember, but you and I both know the truth."

"What do you want?" Blue asked ill-temperedly.

Gold grinned again, relishing in the fairy's bad fortune. "To make a deal."

"Well I'm not interested." She tried to push past him but he held out a hand to stop her.

"I think you will be. You see, I know what just happened to you in there, and I also know that you'll want to keep that little secret under lock and key. Wouldn't want the town turning against you now would we?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, nothing happened to me." Blue shot back. However there was a small fear now evident in her eyes.

Gold's smile grew at her temper. "Well we'll see about that. You can fight it all you want Dearie, but in the end everyone embraces the darkness."

"What darkness?"

"Why the darkness that has just taken root inside of you."

"My magic has not turned dark!" Blue responded in an angry, hushed tone.

"The fact that you're saying that, means you already know it's true." Gold said with a glint in his eye, clearly enjoying the situation.

Blue was silent for a moment. She knew he was right. She had felt it when the wand backfired on her. She knew it was possible for a fairy to turn dark if they used their magic for evil, but her intentions had been good, she had wanted to protect the town. Regina was the villain in this story not her.

"Why did this happen to me?" Blue asked a little quietly.

"Because you tried to destroy her life, and in doing so you tried to destroy several other lives." He raised his hands in feigned disappointment in her. "That's not the fairy way. But let's not fret about that now. I know what it is that you want, and I can help you."

Blue shook her head. "Why should I trust you?"

"Because we both want the same thing."

"What's that?"

Gold gave a small smile. "To see Her Majesty suffer."

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A/N: Thank you for reading, please don't forget to review! Take care xx