Regina's POV
The roof of the StoryBrooke prison is white.
That's the only thing I've seen in the last 3 hours, after all, there's not much to do when an entire town hates you for having cursed them for 28 years, there's not much you can do when your own son watched these same people arrest and insult you, there is nothing to be done while that same son claims them as a family.
I spent over an hour trying to open the lock but I don't seem to have magic, no matter how many times I try it seems like magic doesn't work as it should in this world.
There's no way to bring my happy ending back.
How naive I was... I thought that I would finally be able to be happy, that I would be able to live in peace, just me and Henry, my little prince, the one who ended my loneliness.
Everything was perfect until he found out he was adopted. It was an accident! I would never have guessed he would scour my office for some stupid comic book!
But we made it through when I sat down with him and talked about the situation, everything was perfect again... at least I thought so.
Things changed once again when that woman, the source of all my unhappiness, gave that book to my son. From that moment on I was no longer his mother, I was the evil queen.
Even with no memories, Snow White keeps ruining everything I love, she keeps adding "evil" to my name. I will never forget the face of the sly Mary Margaret Blanchard when I reported her to the school board for disseminating inappropriate content and alienation. I was delighted to see those green eyes, eyes so familiar to me, full of tears at the time of receiving a three-month leave.
My relationship with Henry only got worse and I was forced to put him in therapy, I couldn't have my son constantly calling me evil, I had to get those thoughts out of his head, however true they were. But there was no result (Archie Hopper is better as a cricket than a therapist).
I almost had a heart attack because the morning after a serious fight with Henry, I found his bed empty and no sign of the boy in the house.
He showed up later with a blonde in tow, at the same time I knew my problems would increase.
Emma Swan changed everything in the city, everything I worked so hard for, she stole my son, my city, my happiness and my revenge. And in the end, the strangely familiar blonde is the daughter of the person I hate most in the world, Snow White. Again that brat finds a way to screw up the one thing that makes me something other than what she made me.
It's been eight miserable months so far and I can't forget Henry's face avoiding mine, like he even cares.
I feel a tear run down my cheek, I quickly lift my hand and wipe it away, This is no time to cry, I need to get out of here, I need to get Henry back.
I get up from the hard bed and go to the cell lock, maybe now it works. I hover my hand over the iron bar and try with all my strength to feel that unforgettable tingle in my fingertips.
"Magic works differently here, dear." I hear the silky voice come from behind one of the police station doors.
I lift my head to meet Rumplestiltskin's sharp gaze. He wears the same suit from earlier today and the corner of his mouth curls into an irritating smile.
"I noticed it" I lower my hand and stare at him "I assume this is all your fault."
"Most things are" he says as he walks over to me.
"I guessed it, Rumple. What do you want?" I ask impatiently "Have you come here to finish the job?"
"No, no, no…you're safe from me." He stops in front of my cell.
"I feel so relieved" I say sarcastically.
"I made a promise to someone that I wouldn't kill you" he replies grudgingly.
"Who would ask that for you?" I ask confused.
It couldn't have been Henry or Emma, let alone the two idiots.
"Belle" he replies waiting for a reaction from me.
So he knows... and he's probably here to kill me.
"She is alive?" I try to pretend to be surprised.
He reaches out and grabs my neck, I feel his breath near my face and his fingers pressing my skin, probably leaving red marks.
"You're a terrible liar" The man's face twists in anger and for a moment our noses touch.
"I could have killed her, but I didn't" I say, trying to breathe against the man's firm grip around my neck.
"No…you did much worse than that, you kept her alive and then you were going to kill her when it was convenient for you" He loosens his grip a little around my neck and pulls away from the iron bars "And that... which is, by the way, exactly what I prepared for you"
He pulls my arm violently out of the grate and presses something into the palm of my hand...no...it can't be...
"Is that...?" I can't finish the question.
"Yes, dear" He smiles still pressing the object "The only thing that no one can escape... destiny."
Rumple lets go of my hand and I pull it away from him.
"My promise was particularly unpleasant." He laughs and displays the gold medallion in front of me and sneers.
I stare at my hand and notice it turning red, hate throbs in my heart and before I know it I grab him by his collar and pull his face to the bars.
"I'm going to kill you, Rumple…." I say dangerously into his face.
"Oh honey I'm not so sure about that" He steps closer to the bars, our lips almost touching "You need to get rid of this first so…good luck."
"I hate you" I scratch my fingernail on his neck and Rumple moans in satisfaction.
"You were so innocent, my sweet Regina…" He lifts his hand and slides a finger down my face "What happened to you?" His voice is teasing but I can see a glimmer of sadness flash in his eyes as he lowers his hand.
"You happened to me" I reply, wanting to have enough strength to break his neck.
"That means I was a good teacher" The man gives me a smile and then winks.
He breaks free of my grip and walks to the door, but first Rumple turns and twists the amulet in his hands.
"Oh and you don't have much time so I suggest you make it quick" He winks and leaves me alone once more.
Shit.
Author's POV
The main street was empty, as expected. The cold wind cut through the place, passing between some trees and twirling the dry leaves on the ground. There was no longer a curse against everyone, everything was fine, Snow White would finally have her happy ending alongside her perfect family, her husband, her daughter and her grandson.
Storybrooke was far from being the perfect kingdom, it was far from being a kingdom, it was a city in another dimension, a city with twisted and vulnerable magic. It was difficult to decide the next steps, it was difficult to predict what would happen from now on.
The Queen was trapped, the most dangerous villain in fairy tales, the person everyone hated, the woman who had killed innocents only to murder a girl who had lost her father in less time than the lake would take to freeze during the cold winter they were used in the Enchanted Forest.
Now everyone was safe.
At least that's what Emma thought as she sat on the curb and stared up at the overcast sky. Things should be better, and they would be. She have a son and would do anything for that kid. Even protect the cause of it all. She is a hero after all, at least, was what Henry said to her.
The blonde huffed picking up a pebble and tossing it across the street. The same one stopping near to Mary Margaret' foot, who gave her daughter her best smile before approaching.
"Hi..." Her voice is shaky and barely audible. Emma thought if maybe she ignored the woman she'd avoided the subject "Emma… you know we to have to talk about this."
The sheriff curled her lip and the brunette couldn't help but smile as she remembered that this was what she did when she was little, when Regina refused to tell her a story, or even when she did, the stories were terrible and scary, so Regina used to excuse it with 'This is the way life works'.
"I don't think we have time for this. Not now." Emma watched Mary wither, it made her sigh and shake her head, it was awful to talk to the woman who abandoned her when she wears her best friend's face.
"I know I just... we're a family now" The woman looked at her with a sad look, the blonde stood up denying it.
"No. That is the question. We are not a family. You don't know what I've been through... We can share the same blood, but we don't have that..." The sentence stopped halfway when she saw that. The big black shadow approaching "What the fuck?"
"Emma, watch your mouth!" Snow complains before turning around and noticing the foreign figure "Oh my God!"
The creature moved haphazardly down the street, as if sniffing a smell, as if hunting someone. Something in Emma turned over at that moment, just above her stomach.
She didn't know what it was, but if it was a good thing, it wouldn't look like it came from Azkaban.
"What the hell is that?" She wondered as the creature entered one of the generators high up on a light pole, sparks flew and she was forced to cover her head.
'It's okay Emma. It's just magic. You're part of it now.' The woman repeated uselessly to herself.
The truth is she had been panicking and scared for a long time. Dragons and Black Flying Creatures weren't for her, she is Emma Swan, private detective and now Sheriff. She isn't the Savior or the person who would wield a sword and shield then save everyone.
The thing kept flying, ignoring people and heading to a place she knew well. The police station.
Regina.
That thing belonged to her. That would release her from prison. Emma forced her legs to run there. Of course the evil queen would invoke that, her planned escape. Not even caring about Henry.
She didn't notice her parents on her heels.
She just ran in, the cell already open and Regina trapped there, the big creature bending over her for a long time, as if enjoying the moment. And then something happened.
Regina wasn't running away as she'd imagined, that thing seemed to be sucking something out of her. She drew her weapon, firing twice at the creature, passing through and ricocheting off the cold stone walls.
"Emma!" Mary yelled.
Panic seized her as she saw the scene, her daughter trying to save the woman who had tried to kill her, the woman who had become her stepmother because she had spoiled her secret. Regina had a reason to hate her, a plausible reason, if she's going to be honest. It was her fault Daniel was dead, and as much as she hated to admit it, her "new mother" had been a good person before. When Regina saved Snow, she did have a pure heart.
And Snow owed that to Regina, she owed the old brunette her life.
'Only Light destroys Darkness.' The phrase is cliché but it can work! Light, light...she looks around, it's day...Snow needs a stronger light. Her eyes swept the room fast as when she stole carriages on the dirt roads of the enchanted forest. She grabbed an insecticide and a lighter, both from them same table.
Mary Margaret aimed her makeshift flamethrower at the creature that screamed and whirled in the air before breaking the window and fleeing. She saw Regina give in, her knees hitting the floor hard, her face was now pale and her lips purplish, struggling to catch her breath.
Emma approached the mayor, circling her waist with one hand and helping her to her feet with difficulty. The brunette in front of her squinted her eyes and backed away from the blonde leaning her weight against the cell railing, she wouldn't show any more weakness in front of them.
The truth was, as grateful as Regina was that they'd gotten rid of that thing, even for a moment, she wouldn't let them see it. After all, if Snow White hadn't meddled in her life she would've been happy living with Daniel somewhere where her mother wouldn't find her. Daniel was her happy ending. She couldn't remember loving someone as much as she loved her true love. She couldn't remember anything that made her as happy as the stable boy, before him, everything was a blank in her mind...
The mayor caught her breath staring at the charmings, the three of them, even Emma 'knowing everything' Swan, were staring at her with the same confused expression
"Rumple" She sighed "That was supposed to kill me, he tried to kill me!"
"So it wasn't going to help you get away?Didn't you summon that to escape?"
She couldn't help rolling her eyes and huffing.
"Of course, I, with magic as powerful as that, instead of picking the lock, I'm going to summon a specter. No, Miss Swan. I didn't create that thing" She held out her scarred palm "It's coming back. And it won't leave until I'm completely gone from here."
"So we have a problem" The blonde says.
"We don't. Regina does" David interrupts her almost immediately "If we're going to be honest, this is all her fault. We should let her die"
"What an example of heroism you set for your daughter" Regina raises her eyebrow, closing her eyes.
"No one is going to die today." Emma stares at her and sighs. She had made a promise to Henry and she will keep it. The sheriff faces the Queen "How do we get rid of that thing?"
The woman sighed taking in the situation and thinking. There was a chance. Small. That if it worked, she can save herself and send it away. Regina took a little more air, letting it out slowly then before starting to explain.
The mayor massaged her temples and sighed staring at the Mad Hatter's top hat. Her magic was weak and disordered. She twirled the hat one more time, some sparks came out of it. The lights flickered, the creature was close, she could feel it.
The town hall meeting had never seemed so small.
"How long will this take?" Emma stared at her approaching.
"I don't know" She speaks impatiently.
Panic seized her as the big, heavy doors slammed open. So is this the end of her? A death in a dusty town hall with the Charmings in the audience? She shook her head and twirled her hat more times and faster. That needed to work.
The specter has entered. Regina closed her eyes. No, no, no. Her head swiveled seeing the figure approaching.
"Hurry up with it!" The blonde grabbed her shoulder and half a second later the portal was open. Regina raised her eyebrows, an ancient custom she'd learned to irritate her mother, one of the only things Cora couldn't control.
Emma stared at the brighter and shine lights.
"Wow this is..." The blonde sighed.
And then it happened, the dark shape advanced on the mayor not caring who was in the way and instinctively Emma ducked, losing her balance and pulling the only thing, or rather person, that could hold onto the inside of the portal. Regina.
David tried to jump back before the portal could close, but it was too late, his body fell into the top hat destroying his daughter's only exit.
Mary Margaret on the other hand watched the specter whirl and shatter. Regina was gone, Rumple's work was done.
The Evil Queen had been lost inside the portal.
And worst of all: Emma was gone with her.
