Blue missed her wings. There were definite perks to being in this world, electricity and modern medicine among them, but there are very few things better than flying. She was all about duty, always had been, but when she flew over a kingdom, she got to see how societies worked on a whole different level, helping the people who truly needed her.
It was harder here. In their world, she would be called by truly desperate souls with pure hearts. Their wishes were usually somewhat vain, but they were the greatest wishes of their hearts. Here, the townspeople had grown too used to comfort. So, while she got many requests for little things, money especially, there were very few people who made wishes with a pure heart. Fewer still would share their deepest wishes and fears.
With her ability to do her job properly all but stripped away, all she could do was try to organize the fairies-turned-nuns, who were looking for more freedom than they were ever meant to have. In the Enchanted Forest, everyone had their places. There were humans, fairies, dwarves, and all other manner of creature, and they were not meant to mix. But twenty-eight years in Storybrooke had convinced them all that they were equals, that fairies and dwarves could fall in love with each other.
It was exhausting trying to maintain the balance, a balance which was based on the separation between the dwarves, who were meant to work, and the fairies, who were meant to help, and the humans, who alone were allowed to live free lives. So occasionally, after a very long week of wrangling fairies without the escape that came from flight, she would have a few glasses of wine in her office.
She had just finished her second glass when a puff of smoke appeared before her, and with it, Cora, the Evil Queen's mother. Of course, they'd had their own history, as Rumplestiltskin had taught his young protégé Dark Magic by practicing on stray fairies, but that was a very long time ago. Blue wondered how long she had been in town. Nobody had thought to let her know, but that wasn't that surprising these days.
"Wine, Cora?" She pulled another glass out of her desk and offered it to the regal woman before her.
"I'm afraid it won't be that long of a visit. You have something I need, and once I have it, I will be on my way."
"I don't have anything for you." Blue let out a little hiccup. "Your daughter stole all of our fairy dust."
"Oh, but it isn't fairy dust that I came here for." Cora sat on the edge of Blue's desk, in what some might call a casual position. But nothing Cora did was casual, so it was more likely strategic. Claim the space. Show who was in power. That sort of thing. "Do you have any idea what it is like to lose your daughter?"
"You know I have no children."
"No, I suppose you don't. You do have your royal godchildren, though. Because born royals really need a magical leg up in the world." Cora spat out that last phrase. Blue had often wondered what might have been if she had been able to help Cora before she had the chance to become cruel, to make her daughter cruel. But there was no going back, and Cora was continuing to speak. "Imagine one of them were to turn on you. You granted wish after wish, giving them nothing but the best, and they repay you with rejection. What would you do?"
Blue laughed. "Drink. So I ask you again, wine?"
This time Cora took the offered glass and poured herself a generous amount.
"I know why I am drinking. My daughter has rejected me, yet again. Why are you?" It was disconcerting of Cora to care. Much as her to-the-point attitude was rude, it at least made sense with everything else she knew about the heartless queen.
"I am growing frustrated with being in charge in a world that has reduced the fairies to little more than ordinary humans. It had seemed as though that would change, but now that the fairy dust is gone again… I have begun to wonder what purpose we serve."
"Adapting to a world that has moved on without you. That's something I can understand." They shared a look of commiseration, and Cora raised her glass in a mocking toast. "To the ever-changing world!"
Blue found herself raising her glass, clinking it against Cora's before downing the last gulp of wine it contained. Curses certainly made strange bedfellows.
"So what are you going to do about Regina?" She tried to act as though this was an ordinary sort of conversation between friends. Not that either woman really had friends, but Blue supposed this was what it was supposed to be. Drinking and confiding their worries.
"What do you know about the Curse of the Empty-Hearted?" She knew that it was bad. One of the darkest curses a person could cast, it forced the victim to act as though they loved the castor. True love was too precious to be able to truly force, but this spell could mimic it well enough.
"You can't do that! Regina may be pushing against you now, but she may still love you. If you indulge in this level of darkness, she will never truly be able to love you."
"She doesn't need to." Cora sighed, draining her own glass and refilling both. "She is mine, whether I have the heart to truly love her or not. As long as she wants to be with me, as long as she is obedient… That is all I truly want from her."
"Dark magic is never the solution. There is a time for all things. If you can prove that you love Regina, then she may find it in her to love you back. Wouldn't that be worth waiting for?"
"Dark magic has been my solution for a very long time. If I leave it to chance, I may lose my daughter for good. This way, I can protect her. I can give her everything that she deserves."
"But what you feel she deserves may not be what she wants."
Cora leaned in close to her. "Be honest. You've spent your life hearing the wishes of children. How many of them make wishes that they truly want, but that are not good for them?"
Blue had no good answer to that because of course children had foolish dreams, dreams which hurt themselves or others. But that did not justify the use of Dark Magic. Particularly this curse of Cora's.
"If I remember correctly, this curse of yours requires the heart of your greatest enemy. Who do you intend that to be?" Cora looked at her for a moment too long before smiling, almost sheepishly. "I have hardly been that great of an enemy to you, Cora."
"No, there are certainly others that come to mind. But I have done a good job of killing my enemies, so the bar is quite low to be considered my greatest living opponent. You have made my life difficult more than a few times, so that will have to suffice."
Blue jerked forward, attempting to stand, but Cora threw what she recognized as squid ink over her, freezing her in place.
"A gift from an old friend." Cora crossed the extra foot of distance between them and tore her heart out. "I really did enjoy our conversation. Your advice was appreciated, though I am afraid I will not be taking it."
Cora summoned a jar and, before her eyes, crushed her heart into it. With that action, the Blue Fairy was no more.