Author's Note: Heya, here's another chapter. Hope someone enjoys, be prepared for more angst :)
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.
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The queen turned around slowly, already reaching out for the imp to whisk her away. The moment she met his amber eyes, her body began to shake. She pressed herself flat against the mirrored wall, taking in the sight of him. He eyed her curiously, never knowing her as one to back away so defeatedly.
"Well, what is it?" He trilled impatiently.
"Daddy," she breathed out. Her face was overflowing with sorrow, slow tears tracing down her face. "You are a coward." A sob tore through her, piercing the room and bewildering the Dark One. He was the type to roll with the punches but this reaction from her puzzled him in a way that wasn't entertaining. Calling him her father, coupled with just the right insult to chink his armor left him hotly uncomfortable.
"What is this?" He asked, seeking answers instead of toying with her. He could obviously tell something was wrong. He had seen her in her worst, most heart broken moments and still that did not compare to this. The total dejection ruling her face pulled at his emotions, making him upset for reasons he couldn't even understand.
"You were never there for me! Fathers are supposed to protect their children! And where were you? Why didn't you save me?" She howled, becoming louder and more furious the longer she spoke. The anger was beginning to overtake her, and she looked down to see crackles of magic flitting through her fingers. She stared at her shaking hands, horrified at herself. The same energy that killed Daniel and kept her captive for all of her life was now flowing within her. The darkness that was running through her veins, growing all the more toxic and volatile as her emotions erupted, forced her to start heaving. Turning to the side, she vomited and continued breath unevenly, not done in the slightest.
Rumplestiltskin, meanwhile, was reeling from the impact of her words. So confusing and random, yet they rang with truth. It was almost as if all his morbid and obsessive musings on Baelfire's potential reaction to him were being projected through Regina. It stung him as if she were his own child. He stood there dumbly much longer than he should have. Ideally, he should have popped away and let her deal with whatever this was all on her own. Or at least until she regained enough sanity to speak to him directly, not whatever hallucination she was clearly enduring. As he stared at her, uncomprehendingly heartbroken, he heard the jingle of keys turning the locked door.
"I'm here! I'm here! Sorry, I couldn't get the lock to open, it was jammed and I was shaking and th-" Snow rambled, silenced abruptly by a snap of Rumplestiltskin's fingers. Pointing absently towards Regina's heaving form, he asked "Care to explain?"
She pointed at her mouth curtly. "Ah, yes." He mumbled, snapping again to allow her to speak.
"Her mother gave her a potion that makes everyone's face trigger her worst fears."
"Ah, so she has reacted this way to everyone?" He asked, feeling mollified. If she shouted these claims at everyone, then he shouldn't feel singled out in any way. It wasn't as significant as it appeared, right?
"She's terrified of everyone! She thought I was…" Snow lowered her voice. "She thought I was my father in the middle of abusing her."
"A different reaction to each person then?" He asked, feeling his stomach sink again.
"Yes," Snow responded. "Everyone except Cora causes a vision." Snow expanded, feeling helpless as her step mother cowered in the corner of the room with her head between her knees.
Rumplestiltskin raised his eyebrow, finally gaining back a glimmer of control.
"Well, why didn't you just say that to begin with!" He exclaimed, a puff of black smoke engulfing him momentarily. When the smoke cleared, in his place was none other than Cora.
"Cora?" Snow asked.
"Try not to be so stupid" Rumplestiltskin instructed. "This way, she won't be scared. Here, you try it on too." He explained, waving a hand over her and gifting her the Cora disguise as well.
Snow gasped as she looked down at herself, feeling alarmed at the thought of looking like Cora but she brushed that aside, desperate to get through to Regina anyway she could.
She swished the large maroon dress a little bit, unaccustomed to such attire after so long as Mary Margaret. Her eyes widened when she noticed Cora-Rumple watching her.
"Done playing, dearie?"
Blushing angrily, Snow moved forward and pulled Regina's hair away from her face. The poor woman was still heaving unevenly, nothing left in her stomach to expunge yet still emotionally unspent.
"Don't touch me." Regina warned lowly, eyeing her mother suspiciously and wondering how she had gotten there. The last time she had seen Cora was when she pushed her through the mirror. She had hoped it would be the last time she ever laid eyes upon the woman. Clearly fate had different plans. In fact, Regina felt she must be being punished for some reason as she was seeing double of the evil witch. Only one of them was actually making any sense though. The one in the back was smiling at her curiously -no- sadistically. That was normal. The one in the front touched her warmly despite the warning. The contact, which was usually accompanied by sharp pinches of magic quietly gnashing at her skin, was amazingly soft and gentle. She jerked back from the touch anyway. A gentle caress would only make the pain to come acutely damaging in comparison. "What do you want?" She breathed out tiredly, feeling as all life had been drained from her body. She was bone-tired, the hard ground that dug into her back and legs feeling unreasonably comfortable to sleep on.
"I only want to help you," Her mother responded.
"I only want to watch as your mind unravels piece by piece," the other mother said.
The first mother smacked the second, or at least tried to. The second mother, the sadistic one, poofed away and reappeared a few feet away in the blink of an eye. Regina was tempted to roll her eyes at the theatrics, but she knew her mother was a draconian woman. Any sign of insubordination would result in a much worse punishment than the discomfort she was currently in. So instead she sighed as quietly as she could and tried to concentrate. Why was her mind so muddled and … frustratingly elusive? Each time she thought she understood what was going on, her line of thought deviated, skipping unpredictably over things that she knew she should remember. Like why the building they were in resembled nothing else in their world, or why she could recall being in a cemetery this morning but was unsure of the reason or whose grave she had been visiting.
It didn't really matter anyway. Her curiosity always took a backseat to her mother's whims. It was better for her to ignore any oddities. The burn of dissatisfaction wouldn't be so strong if she convinced herself not to care about anything.
"Take me home, please. I'm tired." She requested sullenly, her eyes painfully reminding her that she must have been crying recently. Everything was way too bright, she wondered how candles could achieve such brightness. Maybe her mother was experimenting with light, although it couldn't be for anything good.
The two mothers shared a glance, before seeming to reach a conclusion with their eyes. Together, they began to reach for her.
"Of course, dearie!"
"No, we can't leave."
Regina's eyes darted between the two of them, growing irritated the longer they eyed each other aggressively. "We can't let her leave, what if she sees someone? What if she sees Henry? Do you want that?" The odd mother whispered, ineffectively loud.
"Henry?" Regina asked, perking up a bit. "Take me to him please. I would really like to speak with him." She was desperate to see her father. He always knew how to set her to rights again after her mother disciplined her. For surely that was why she was so confused now. Her mother must have zapped her with too much magic or hit her head or something. She couldn't feel a wound, but her whole body felt tense and tingly, signaling the unmistakable remnants of her mother's magic.
She clutched her head, which was beginning to thrum painfully. She could imagine the pulse of blood rushing in and out with each beat, and suddenly she felt quite woozy. Not wanting to collapse in the mess she had made earlier, she attempted to stand.
"Hold on, Regina, hold on." The odd mother cooed, grasping Regina's arm to steady her. "There you are. How are you feeling?"
Leaning away from the touch, Regina stared suspiciously, "Awful, I'd like to go home now."
"Come on, fairest of them all, let the girl rest. She's been through so much today." The grinning mother wheedled out, an amused gleam in her eye the whole time. As much as Regina hated the horror that gleam promised, she was inclined to agree with this mother. At least this mother wanted to take her home to torture her.
"Can you, like, lock her in her room with magic? That way she can rest and she won't see anyone?" The odd mother questioned. Regina's blood ran cold at the thought of being locked in her room. Her longest stint of imprisonment lasted well over a month. It damaged her mind more than she cared to admit, especially when Cora spelled the windows completely shut and blackened. It became impossible to tell how many days had passed, leaving her ever more dependent on her mother for any shred of sanity.
"I can do anything, dearie. For a price."
"Oh come on, really?" The odd mother snorted out, indignant. "Look at her. You helped make this you know? She saw you earlier. In one of her terror visions."
"Do tell," the grinning mother, who was no longer grinning, prompted.
"After. Take us to her home, get her settled in her room, and I'll tell you everything. You'll need to know if you're gonna help anyway."
"Tell me half now, then. Give me a taste and I'll decide if I'm going to stay for the meal."
"Ugh!" The odd mother exhaled angrily. "Fine, half now. Half later. When she looked at Emma's face, she saw you. Teaching her magic. That's all I'll give you."
"Interesting, learning magic was one of her worst fears then?"
"Yup! And I bet you were responsible for most of that, which means you've probably hurt her worse than any of us ever realized." Snow told him, her voice peppy despite the dark, accusing look in her eyes.
"I never forced her to do anything."
"No, you only orchestrated her whole life to wind up needing you, whether she wanted it on not,"
"Careful, dearie!" Rumple interjected shrilly. "One might think you're sympathizing with the enemy. Funny how that worked out last time, isn't it?"
Snow flinched, a phantom thud against her abdomen reminding her of Regina's attempt to stab her after the cancelled execution.
"Whatever," Snow dismissed, her head beginning to hurt with the struggle to protect Regina mixed with the pain of their long history. "That's not important right now. Let's just take her home and talk more while she's resting."
"Very well," Rumplestiltskin agreed, reaching out to the women on either side of him. Both of them flinched when he grabbed their arms, but it only lasted a moment anyway since the very next second they were transported to the foyer of Regina's mansion.
"Where are we?" Regina asked, surveying the room with cautious curiosity. Before either of her companions had the chance to answer, a booming voice sounded through the house.
"SNOW? EMMA?"
Snow's eyes widened almost comically as she lunged forward and pulled Regina along with her.
"Come on! Run!" She urged, yanking Regina up the stairs with her, attempting to avoid another vision. They were almost as emotionally exhausting for her as she imagined they were for Regina. Unfortunately, Regina was weak, stunned, and mistrustful of the woman holding her hand. She had never witnessed her mother run from anything ever in her life. It was simply impossible, which meant that this could not be her mother.
"Who are you?" She accused, pulling her hand back as if it burned.
"Snow White!" Came the answer, as David came crashing into the room with his sword in hand.
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Okay, it's very angsty thus far, but I promise that things will start switching up soon. Thanks to anyone who's read this far :)