Author's Note: Hello! So, I did not lie, I am going to continue this even if it may be at a snail's pace. New job, new city, new dog, you know? Despite being busy, I've felt really inspired lately and have tons of fanfic ideas that I just need to transfer onto the computer. If any veteran writers out there have some tips to deal with procrastination, I will gladly hear you out. Anyway, please review and THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed last time. It seriously improved my mood, my outlook on the world, for like a week. You are amazing people to take time out of your day and give feedback to needy fanfic writers.
Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT, though I wish I did so that I could meet the wonderful cast and make Regina's life a little easier.
"Damn it Regina!" Emma exclaimed as she dove forward to catch the rapidly falling queen. Her eyes bulged as she stared uncomprehendingly at the unconscious brunette in her arms. With all the subtlety and grace that she had, Emma shook Regina's shoulders back and forth helplessly. Turning her head abruptly, she glared at Cora's smug, joyous face and snarled "What did you do to her?"
"You'll see soon enough, dear." Cora chuckled, ecstatic that her plan was in motion and thrilled to have her daughter's worst nightmare revealed to her. That the information would be very useful, especially once the potion wore off. Plus, it would drive a huge wedge between her daughter and her "friends." There was no way they could understand her pain, not like a mother could. Regina would turn to her for comfort and the Charmings would hold it against her henceforth and forever, placing the final nail in the coffin of peaceful coexistence in Storybrooke.
"What the hell Cora? You're sick! You're toying with your daughter to what ends? So she can hate you more?! Be more determined to get you the hell out of her and Henry's lives?"
Emma shook her head in derision before turning back to Regina, noticing as her skin became paler and her breathing grew shuddered. "Shit!" Blonde hair whipped her face as she swung around and shouted to her parents: "Get Henry out of here! He doesn't need to see this."
David nodded and began to lead Henry up the stairs which Cora had so kindly unlocked, dragging his grandson as gently as he could. "Wait! Emma! What's going to happen to her?" screamed Henry, eyes wide as he saw his mother begin to writhe and shake on the ground.
Cora giggled, enjoying the anguish in his voice. He deserved it. After all, he had rejected her darling daughter and made her a sniveling mess of a bloody heart. Once the potion took effect, Cora hoped Regina and dear Henry might meet again, as the fallout would be of epic proportions. Maybe the worst nightmare that he would reflect would involve his namesake, the late Henry Mills, or perhaps it would be his own face twisted in hatred that Regina would see. It would be fitting that her worst nightmare about her beloved son had already come to pass.
In the meantime, though, Cora was tired of the racket he was making. She needed deadly silence to enjoy every delicious second of her daughter's transformation. With a twitch of her wrist, she flung Henry and Charming up the remaining steps and shut the door definitively behind them. The clang rang throughout the crypt, establishing a tone of apprehension and in Cora's case, anticipation.
Snow looked back and forth between the shut door and Regina on the ground. Part of her wanted to grab Emma and break out, leaving Regina to her fate, whatever that may be. But it seemed irresponsible to her. This potion could have done any number of things, like multiply Regina's powers or cause her to revert back to her Evil Queen days, not that she had ever really changed much. Still, it was her job to clean up after Regina, as it had been since the moment she told Cora about the stable boy all those years ago. And maybe, a little part of her acknowledged, she cared what happened to her stepmother even after all this time. Striding across the room, Snow leaned down next to her daughter, catching Regina's head just before it was about to seize violently towards the ground. She had to admit, Regina did not look to be faring well. It surprised her that the woman's own mother had done this to her, flicking her eyes upward she watched as Cora stared at Regina in rapture, biting her lip in glee and leaning forward ever so slightly in anticipation. A scream emanating from the fallen queen tore her concentration away from Cora and Snow looked on in growing horror as one of the strongest women she knew began to rip apart at the seams.
Regina could feel every one of her nerves burning within her. In fact, burning was an understatement, they were actually being eviscerated. Her eyes were frozen open and she had no choice but to stare at Emma Swan's scared-shitless face behind the large splotches of darkness that were swarming her. Passing out would be a welcome relief, but alas her body clung to consciousness, forcing her to endure uncontrollable spasms as her muscles fought to remove themselves from her bones, waves of nausea that ripped through her, and stinging that raced across her skin just like her mother's whip. Slowly, steadily, Emma's face began to disappear. The small part of her that was still coherent wondered if that signaled an end. If any second now she would be dead or else Emma would be helping her up with a reckless swing of her arm and they'd go back to Granny's or Gold's or her own house to find a way to end her mother's terror. If she could, she would laugh at herself for her own wishful thinking. Instead, red-rimmed eyes squinted heavily, attempting to make out a face where she saw only a flesh colored blob. All at once the pain stopped as her mind grew heavy and felt … fuzzy, as if she was forgetting something. Ah, yes, Cora had mentioned this before the Charmings had shown up and taken away her chance to process the information. She drew one last shuddering breath and stared deeply into the space she knew Emma occupied. "Help me," she gasped out, abandoning her dignity, knowing that any moment she would be a slave to her cowardice anyway. A scared little princess once more.
Just like that it was over.
Emma's eyes scanned Regina's body, watching the light remaining tremors and slow tears trace down the mayor's pale cheekbones. God, she was way out of her element. She caught bad guys and stopped curses. What could she do but wait and see. What if Regina had sustained brain damage or something? What if Cora decided to kill off her own daughter and try again or something? Not that she wanted to think about Cora deciding to get busy at a time like this, especially after Regina, the most uptight, bitchy, strong as steel woman she had ever known had just begged for her help.
Swiping her thumb across Regina's tears, Emma watched as the dark, drenched eyelashes fluttered erratically. Once Regina woke up, Emma could find out what shape she was in and end her 10 minute long heart attack already. In an instant emerald green met rich brown eyes and Emma's concern shot through the roof. Regina, who had met the entirety of Storybrooke's lynch mob with haughty indifference several times over by now, had gone stock stiff, frozen in fear as her wide eyes began spilling tears with wild abandon. Damn, her problems had just gone up exponentially, Emma thought before being roughly shoved away from the fallen mayor. "Uggh, why?" Emma said as she landed harshly on her ass, her bones smacking against the concrete in a none too gentle manner.
Regina had flung herself towards the door of the crypt, shoving Mary Margeret out of the way, and bypassing her mother completely as she lurked in the shadows. Desperately, and with an undignified amount of recklessness she yanked at the doorknob and threw her body into the door when it wouldn't open.
"Regina?" Snow called, slowly moving forward with one hand raised in surrender. "We're here to help you. You don't need to be afraid, I promise." Snow smiled gently at the end of her sentence, hoping to calm her down enough to explain what exactly the potion did. Her earlier guess was definitely not correct, Regina was in no way stronger. She didn't even try to use magic to break down the door.
Unfortunately, Regina had gone from a petrified runner to a broken, sobbing mess. Her limbs seemed to give out on her and she fell into a heap on the floor, muttering unintelligibly. Snow and Emma gradually got closer until their presence made Regina fling her eyes upward and plead directly to Snow White. "Please, please, your majesty, you don't understand! I don't belong here! I don't wish to be here, I can't be with you! I can't!"
Snow's eyebrows raised to meet her hairline and her mouth popped open to form a little surprised "O."
"I never intended to marry you, my mother made me! Please don't make me continue this farce! I cannot live with it! I cannot stand to lie in bed with you and -" suddenly, she cut herself off and arched backwards, as if she had been struck… or as if someone were holding her by her throat. Gasping as an invisible hand held her hostage, Regina's eyes stared deep into Snow White's, who flinched when Regina's head swung sideways, struck by a phantom hand. Panting, Regina clutch her cheek and shook violently. With a meek, wavering voice, she amended herself, "Please forgive me for my insolence, you are a kind and generous husband, your majesty."
Just as quickly as she had latched onto Snow's face, Regina's eyes roved over Emma's face and instantly another scene began to play out. "I'm sorry, Rumplestiltskin. I can't do it. I can't kill something innocent, I'm not like my mother. I never want to be like her." Her tears still ran down her cheeks and her chest pumped in and out erratically as she struggled to speak while holding back sobs.
Emma sought to reason with her, maybe talk her out of whatever nightmare she was reliving. "Hey, I know you're not like your mother. She was evil and merciless, okay? You're not her." If anything, Regina's demeanor grew more panicked, and she quickly shot back, "No! I want to learn! I am not incompetent! I can learn how to do magic, I don't care what it costs!" She shoved her hand forward, her fingers flexing mightily, before she yanked her hand back and seemed to present an invisible heart to Emma, who stared back at her in alarm.
Regina's eyes stared right through her, taking in her shocked expression as criticism and pleading with her "Please, I'll do it again! To anyone! Name it and I will do it! I have to escape my life!" Backtracking, Emma reached forward, grabbed Regina's arms and searched her face intently before telling her: "No, Regina. You need to stop. This isn't real. You already escaped that life, you need to come back to us, back to your son, Henry. Remember him?"
Regina jerked back her arms and nodded. "Yes, of course. I have to commit myself to dark magic to be happy. Truly understand the deeds that I do, not just do them carelessly." Looking down at her own chest, Regina grimaced as she brought her hand up to her breast as reached in. Stretching out of her chest, a glowing red heart, coated in a black dusting, emerged. With a squeeze of her fingers, Regina forced herself to double over in pain Her mouth wide open as a silent scream passed through. "Stop!" Emma shouted, diving forward in an attempt to wrestle away Regina's heart before she crushed it into dust. Regina allowed the heart to leave her hands, watching Emma intently with red rimmed eyes before asking in a small voice. "Are you going to kill me?" Emma's brow furrowed, shocked and confused the Mayor Mills could possibly sound as small and weak as she did right now. "No…" she answered softly, pushing the heart back into Regina's chest.
Dark eyelashes fluttered in confusion before the trauma of the potion and her visions seemed to catch up with her. Emma and a shell shocked Snow moved forward to catch Regina as she fainted. A huff of breath left the saviour as the chamber finally quieted and she met her mother's worried eyes.
"Well," started Cora, "That was interesting to say the least." She seemed uncomfortable, which was an odd look for her. She had been smug and practically joyous before Regina's day-terrors had began. A generous person might even say she looked a bit sick or regretful. She recovered quickly. With a newfound grin, she turned to Snow White and drawled "Daddy wasn't quite the gentlemen he seemed to be, was he?"
A quick irritation flashed onto Snow's face and she opened her mouth to defend her father: "My father was a great-" She cut herself off and slowly turned her head to Regina's prone body. This was the first time she had ever questioned her father's character, but if what Regina had been enacting moments ago was true, then she didn't know her father as well as she thought she did. "Maybe not." Snow agreed, piercing Cora with her stare and daring her to say more. She had sold her daughter to the king, after all, so whatever happened to Regina during the course of their marriage was also Cora's fault.
Cora inclined her head in acknowledgement. Of all the terrors in her daughter's life, she had not expected Leopold to be one of her worst nightmares. Truthfully, a big part of her believed she would be her daughter's worst nightmare, and that would have really spoiled the plan. Instead, she had gotten exactly want she wanted, but did not find herself feeling joyful. Cora was coming to the realization that her daughter's unhappiness was truthfully her own fault, not weakness or love. She had forced her daughter to marry a violent, controlling man old enough to be her grandfather. Swallowing this thought with distaste, Cora realized that Regina's words earlier had not been melodramatic or exaggerated in the least. It seemed that her early twenties were genuinely the worst times of her life. And she also knew that this was just the beginning. In the past it had taken her victims weeks to be broken down enough to see past the visions and learn to trust her. Given the fact that her daughter was a world champion in stubbornness and that Cora herself had done many evils to the girl, it would likely take nothing short of a miracle to reach the real Regina. She also knew now that she didn't want to do it alone. Just the ten minutes of hysterics had made strange feelings bubble up within her uncomfortably. She couldn't imagine weeks of her daughter's tearful, distraught face screaming at her about how she had ruined her life. Because unlike the real unaffected Regina, she could trust the potioned one to be brutally honest about her agony. Before she could push aside her guilt and continue as planned, a shred of humanity tore at the empty place in Cora's chest, pushed past the cobwebs, and whispered to her. Nodding, she prepared to right her wrongs.