Chapter 14.
Days passed as Rose acclimatised to her new surroundings, there were things she loved, such as electricity and the shower, but there were other things that bothered her. Living in close quarters with her sister and brother-in-law was too much on most days for her to cope with. Rose found herself up at dawn and leaving the apartment before her family awoke, she would walk to the forest or to the stables, on most occasions both. On this day Rose was sat on a fallen tree in the forest looking out across the waters that surrounded Storybrooke. The queen sat there and surveyed the area below her but looked out to the horizon and wondered what was beyond it. The longing for her home though, that was never far away.
"I thought I would find you here." Regina said as she carefully walked to where Rose was.
"It's peaceful here." Rose said in a flat tone, she was in no mood to be bothered today. Regina sensed the unease in her friend. "What do you want Regina?" Rose asked sighing heavily.
"I have something for you." Regina explained as she stood just behind Rose's right shoulder. Regina watched the red headed queen's head lower and listened as Rose breathed in deeply as she mustered the strength to speak with her.
"Not today Regina, I'm really not in the mood." Rose admitted as she kept her eyes on the horizon. Regina sighed as she tried to be patient with her friend; it wasn't easy for her.
"Rose," Regina began as she sat beside Rose, her back facing the horizon so she could look to Rose's face. "Moping around up here won't solve anything." Regina said looking to her hands in her lap.
"I wouldn't know how to solve this problem anyway." Rose said in a low depressed tone. "Regina, I appreciate you coming here but please, leave me be today." Rose asked again. Regina looked to the side of Rose's face, through the few wisps of hair that covered her eyes, she saw such loneliness and sadness.
"Enough!" Regina forcefully said as she stood again. "This moping and self pitying ends now!" Regina demanded.
"The what?" Rose began to argue in annoyance but before she could finish Regina had used her magic to knock Rose back off of the tree trunk to be laying on her back a few steps away from Regina. Clambering angrily to her feet Rose began to yell.
"What the hell Regina?! What was that for?" Rose demanded as she stood again stalking towards Regina.
"To try and pull you out of your depressed state." Regina simply stated.
"And using your magic to hurl me across the ground is supposed to do that?" Rose asked still angry.
"Well at least it got some kind of reaction from you! So you're stuck here in Storybrooke, we all are and not all of us want to be but we deal with it!" Regina yelled back.
"You don't want to be stuck here? You brought everyone here!" Rose argued back. That hit a nerve with Regina to the point that she again used her magic to knock Rose down onto her back. Rose flipped herself back up to her feet.
"Stop doing that." Rose warned Regina.
"Or you'll do what? Sulk about it or actually do something?!" Regina dared Rose.
"I'm warning you Regina, back off!" Rose ordered her voice rising to almost shouting as she moved toward Regina again.
"You forget Rose I'm not one of your subjects, I'm a queen also so you can't just order me away." Regina stood practically toe-to-toe with Rose who towered over her. Regina had to admit that it was intimidating having Rose stand over her the way she was, it wasn't just Rose's stature and the way she held herself, Regina knew Rose could beat her in a physical fight any given day but there was something else.
"Regina, back off." Rose stated again this time more controlled.
"No." Regina simply said as she shoved Rose back again, by hand this time not with magic.
"What is it with you and everyone else here?!" Rose demanded as she stayed where Regina had pushed her back. "Why can't you just leave me be?"
"You don't want to be left alone Rose, trust me on that. It leads to nothing but trouble." Regina explained as she carefully watched the red headed queen.
"All I want is space and peace and quiet, to just be left alone." Rose explained standing with her hands on her hips still angry at Regina. It was then that Regina saw what she thought she had sensed. Testing her theory Regina turned away from Rose for a moment forming a small low energy fireball, turning quickly Regina threw the flaming ball at Rose. Instinctively Rose raised her hand and blocked the projectile with a magical shield. The pair stood quietly facing one another for a moment, Regina was stunned to see the magic come from Rose, Rose just looked annoyed which she proved by turning on her heel and beginning to walk away.
"Oh no you don't" Regina said as she stormed after Rose. "You don't get to do that and just walk away, that you explain." Regina said as she grabbed Rose by the shoulder, as Regina attempted to pull Rose around to face her Rose was quicker, she turned and thrust the palm of her hand into Regina's chest throwing Regina to the ground with a thud, winding her. Rose started to walk away again when she stopped abruptly; looking down to her boots she shook her head and turned back to help Regina.
Regina had begun to sit herself back up as she coughed and spluttered trying to pull breath back into her. Rose held her hand out to Regina.
"Here, let me help you up." Rose offered, Regina looked up to her and then to her hand. "I'm sorry Regina, I lost control I shouldn't have done that to you." Regina slapped her hand into Rose's as she started to try to stand Rose pulled her up. Regina walked passed Rose as she composed herself.
"You have magic." Regina stated rather than asked.
"Barely." Rose admitted as she watched Regina process what had happened.
"This we need to talk about, but not here." Regina said as she raised her arms. Purple smoke appeared around both queens, engulfing them until they disappeared from the forest.
The pair of queens re-appeared in the main room of an unfamiliar home.
"Where are we?" Rose asked looking around her surroundings.
"This is what I came to tell you about and give you before our little fight." Regina explained as she took the few steps to close the space between her and Rose and held out a key to Rose. "Your own home, away from the Charming's, away from almost everything." Regina explained as she walked to the light switches flicking on the lights.
"How far away am I from town?" Rose asked looking around the room, it was large and beautiful, it had a comfortable homey feel to it and it was quiet, wherever they were, it was peaceful.
"You're about a half hours' walk from town. Not that far but you may wish to consider learning to drive." Regina smirked to herself knowing full well that Rose was not keen on motor vehicles at all.
"May be I'll just get a horse." Rose countered looking out the windows. "There seems to be plenty of land here and your horse could do with the extra exercise." Rose teased.
"Don't even try it." Regina warned as she sat herself down on a wing-backed armchair. "Now, back to what we were just discussing. You have magic." Regina stated again.
"As I said, I barely have magic." Rose explained as she sat on the sofa opposite Regina. "What you saw is pretty much the limit of what I can do." Rose said as she shifted in her seat, she was uncomfortable talking about this.
"How, how do you have magic?" Regina asked.
"You think you and your mother hold the monopoly on magic?" Rose asked smirking.
"Don't get cute with me Rose." Regina sternly said.
"Rumplestiltskin." Rose simply answered. Regina nodded slowly, understanding completely now.
"Of course. That little imp gets everywhere." Regina said as she sat back in her chair.
"I didn't need magic and I wasn't a very good student so he soon gave up and I wasn't sorry that he did. The price seemed too big and then it was…" Rose said quietly trailing off the end of her sentence. Regina picked up on Rose's change in tone and body language.
"What do you mean, what happened?" Regina asked leaning forward again towards Rose. Rose rested her elbows on her knees as she sat forward resting her head in her hands as she remembered, then, breathing in deeply Rose threw her head back and looked straight to Regina.
"The war and your mother, that's what happened." Rose began to explain.
"My mother and what war?" Regina was already confused and Rose had barely begun to tell her everything.
"Rumplestiltskin came to me years ago, just after I had taken back my kingdom and offered to train me in the ways of magic so that I might better protect my kingdom. I knew he was after more, everybody was, and no man thought a woman of my age could manage and defend a vast kingdom such as mine on their own and without a husband. I did however and without the aid of magic, not only that but I was a terrible student to him, we both knew it, eventually he gave up and left – with a slight shove I might add." Rose explained.
"If it was much like the shove you gave me earlier I can see why he left." Regina said as she gently rubbed her hand across her chest where Rose has shoved her earlier.
"I am truly sorry for that, my temper is a little fiery." Rose said apologetically as she wrung her hands.
"It's fine, carry on. What war and how was my mother involved?" Regina asked.
"After you cast your curse there was quite the upheaval, it took all the strength and strategy that my men and I had to keep things together for those of us left. Your mother tried to take over the rule of much of the land as possible. I kept her out of Snow's kingdom eventually and mine but it was a struggle and a lot was lost in the battles."
"How was it all ended?" Regina asked, she recognised the look that flashed across Rose's eyes, the same look she sees in her mirror, loss.
"Your mother couldn't keep her promises to the people who followed her, eventually they turned on her and worked with us to banish her. We thought it had worked but we learned eventually that she had escaped to another realm, we guessed to regroup, we didn't see or hear from her again for at least a year. The first time I saw her again was when she attacked us at Snow's castle but Snow said she had already seen her before then, I knew something was going to happen. Your mother has a reason, twisted or otherwise for her actions." Rose explained a dark look forming across her eyes.
"What did my mother do to you, what did you lose?" Regina gently probed. There was more to it, Regina could feel it.
"My heart." Rose simply said. Regina looked to her panicked. "I mean in the metaphorical sense!" Rose was quick to respond to Regina's wide-eyed panicked look. "Sorry, that just slipped out." Rose chuckled slightly forgetting for an instant that Cora can actually rip a heart from its chest. "She killed the man I loved." Rose explained as she looked from her hands to Regina. Regina fell back against her chair; her mother had done it again.
"Rose…I…" Regina stammered. Rose simply raised her hand waving it gently to dismiss Regina's words.
"Don't apologise for your mother Regina, she wouldn't." Rose said as she stood and walked across to the windows.
"How did it happen?" Regina probed. She watched as Rose's head lowered, she knew Rose's memories were flashing through her mind to that time.
"Your mother and her army had managed to break through to the outer fields of my castle, we knew they were coming so we were prepared. We weren't prepared for the strength they had, they forced us further and further back until we were within the heart of my kingdom. We were losing and Cora knew it, she kept attacking. We did everything we could to hold them off but with your mother's magical aid they were too strong." Rose explained as she turned and perched on the window ledge facing Regina. "Robert was the captain of my guard."
"And the man you loved." Regina interjected. She knew his name and knew that he had died but Rose had never spoken before now of how.
"Yes, he was the man I loved. We knew we had to pull back to the castle's protection. Get the people within the walls and safe. We shielded the soldiers as best we could to get people away to safety, eventually I had no choice but to use what little magic I had to create a barrier." Rose explained as she walked across the room returning to her seat opposite Regina. "It worked for the most part and it distracted your mother, she wasn't expecting that." Rose smirked slightly. "Cora continued to fight, her soldiers continued to fire their arrows and throw whatever else they could at us. It was a strain to hold the barrier."
"I can imagine." Regina sympathised to which Rose nodded.
"I took my attention away from the barrier for a moment to see how many were left to get to the castle, it was a mistake I'm not sure I'll every truly forgive myself for. Cora saw her chance and struck. She used her magic to attack the barrier and broke through, bolts of her magic fired in, others were hit and then…" Rose trailed off.
"Robert was killed." Regina finished for her.
"Robert had jumped to protect people and took the brunt of her powerful blast. I couldn't do anything to stop it." Rose admitted. "I threw what magic I had left into the barrier and threw it into them all, it bought us sometime as it sent them all, including your mother, flying back."
"Your emotions took over and strengthened your magic." Regina explained.
"If only I could have done that before." Rose said looking up to Regina as she did, her eyes heavy with sadness.
"Does Mary Margaret know all of this?" Regina asked the question caught Rose off guard.
"Does she…no she doesn't. Snow just knows that Robert died in battle; she doesn't know everything. Why, what would it matter if she did?" Rose questioned.
"I just think your sister and others might understand you a little more if they knew everything." Regina explained.
"Did you tell everyone about Daniel?" Rose countered.
"I don't really tell anyone anything, I learnt the hard way that telling people things can only lead to betrayal and pain." Regina said bitterly.
"And people say I'm closed off." Rose laughed ironically to herself.
"What people?" Regina asked.
"You and Snow mostly. At least my niece leaves me alone."
"You should tell your sister about what really happened."
"Snow knows enough, the rest will worry her and she'll become concerned and overbearing." Rose explained. Regina nodded.
"Yes she will, but at least she will understand why you are so shut off."
"Why didn't you come to me Regina?" Rose suddenly asked, catching Regina off guard.
"What do you mean?" Regina asked as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"When you were queen."
"You mean the Evil Queen." Regina corrected.
"If that's what you wish to go by."
"Well I was evil dear." Regina said as she pulled on her jacket, straightening it.
"Perhaps or just grieving and angry trying to find anyone to lay the blame on for your pain." Rose said as she watched Regina's reactions. "You never once came to my kingdom, never once attacked me and I am Snow White's sister, why didn't you come?" Rose asked. The question had been bothering her for some time now. Regina sat for a while not answering. "Regina?"
"I did come once to your kingdom. I even spoke to you." Regina looked to Rose, a slight smile across her face as she remembered. Rose was shocked to learn this.
"You did?! When, how, I don't remember it." Rose rambled.
"You wouldn't dear, I used a glamour spell to disguise myself. The truth is I couldn't face you as me as I was afraid of what you might do or say. I knew that news had travelled fast about me in our world. I was feared, and more often than not people tried to kill me, if I didn't kill them first. I wanted to see you though, I had missed you and our friendship."
"What did you find when you found me?" Rose asked folding her arms across her chest.
"I found a good, strong queen doing her best to protect her people." Regina explained. "And you were doing it, you were protecting them."
"When did we speak?" Rose asked.
"It was in one of your open courts, I bumped into you." Regina smiled slightly at the memory.
"On purpose?" Rose asked smirking trying desperately hard to remember.
"Perhaps, I was taking in the vast room and the people within it. The people seemed happy and content, although even I could hear the murmurs of those not too happy." Regina remembered.
"There are always a few that are not impressed or happy what ever you try to do."
"I hadn't realised you had entered the room, I walked straight into you and fell down. You knelt beside me to see if I was all right and helped me stand again. I could barely speak, I was a little taken aback by it all. I didn't think I would be that close to you again so quickly, not that you knew it was me." Regina explained.
"'Forgive me your majesty, I was lost in the art of the tapestries.'" Rose said making Regina whip her eyes up to look at her. "The most feeble excuse for bumping into a person I had ever heard, but then many find themselves dumbfounded when they are in front of me." Rose laughed. Regina found herself speechless. "You were a stranger in my court Regina, even in your disguise, and you were never seen again." Rose explained.
"You remember the face of all of those that live within your kingdom?" Regina enquired.
"No, just those amuse me." Rose continued to smirk, laughing a little to herself. "You should have come to me as yourself, you would have found a way passed my guards."
"Easily, but after that I couldn't. Like your sister there was so much happiness and goodness in your eyes I didn't want to see anger or disappointment." Regina explained as she stood up. Rose lowered her gaze to her hands as she thought on Regina's last statement.
"I cannot say that I wouldn't have shown disappointment, even uncertainty, but I would have liked to have seen you, spoken with you." Rose tried to explain.
"Do you think you could have saved me?" Regina asked smirking as she turned to look at Rose.
"Honestly? I don't know. Probably not, you were perhaps on a path that even I could not have swayed you from." Rose sadly explained.
"Don't beat yourself up Rose, I didn't want saving." Regina explained as she stood a little straighter putting on her best queen image. Rose sat back and looked to her friend, deeply looking into her eyes, Regina squirmed under the scrutiny.
"Yes, you did." Rose said flatly as she then stood. "Now, how about you show me around my new home?" Rose said changing the subject entirely. Regina smiled softly nodding her head.
"Good idea, come on, we'll start upstairs and work our way down to the kitchen."
"Are you cooking?" Rose asked as she followed Regina out of the sitting room.
"I don't think so dear. You really must cook for yourself." Regina scolded slightly.
"I can Regina, I just haven't had to, I don't think I'll start tonight either."
"Granny's it is then." Regina sighed as she ascended the stairs.
