New chapter people :)
You know I'd probably be really motivated and update more often if there were more reviews. :(
So many people reading this, yet so many keep their thoughts to themselves. Share them! ;)
Enjoy, np.
P.S.: Everyone who's thrilled about the new chapter: Thank smurfgirlx for her pm, requesting another chapter. Sometimes that's really all it takes; asking nicely. smurfgirlx - this one goes out to you!
"Sooo... I'm to believe that you are best friends with the Queen...", he looked at Belle, then grudgingly tore his eyes from the beloved he hadn't remembered for so long.
"And that you...", his eyes darted at the other woman and he chuckled at seeing her distraught face and knowing why she wore it. "That you, Snow White, wife of Prince Charming and mother to the Savior... are in love with your evil stepmother? The same one that murdered your father and tried to kill you several times?"
"Well, well, dearie. It seems Regina's curse has failed. She probably can't deal with her hatred towards you and has left before she can't stop herself from harming you..."
"Rumple!", Belle interrupted, glaring daggers at him. "Sometimes you really can be a beast. Now you've had your fun - help us find Regina!"
"Easy enough", the Dark One chuckled. "But you know, all magic comes..."
"Rumple", Belle growled.
"Oh well", he sighed. "What I don't do for love."
He turned around and rummaged through one of his many cabinets, finally coming back to the two anxiously waiting women, his fist wrapped around a very small item.
"As chance will, I have something very dear to Regina. It enables me to put a rather strong locator spell on it."
He opened his hand to reveal a simple golden ring.
"Is this?", Snow gasped and paled at seeing Gold nod.
"It is. The ring Daniel gave to her the night Cora ripped his heart out."
Snow gulped. She had caused this man's death. And only because she was naive and had trusted Cora.
"Still want me to find her?", Rumplestiltskin asked.
Belle took Snow's hand into her own and squeezed.
"We do", Snow said, voice unwavering. "We've forgiven each other."
"Alright then", he said and put a small drop of a blue potion onto the ring. "This'll take you to Regina's location. Just follow it and you shall find her."
He let the ring go, but instead of falling to the floor it started to glow bright blue and hovered in the air.
Then it started spinning until the only thing they saw was a blue blur. Then, it fell to the floor with a loud clink.
Three confused pairs of eyes were staring at the ring.
Finally Snow found it in her to ask.
"What's this supposed to mean? She's not ...?"
"Dead? No, I think not. The ring would've brought you to her body instead. Curious...", he mumbled and retrieved a book from a shelf.
He flitted through the pages, then stopped for a short time and started turning them again.
"Aha!", he said, putting his index finger info a page, his eyes full of excitement.
"Did you find something?", Belle asked, still clasping the nervous Snow's hand.
Rumplestiltskin looked up from the book, a crazy glint in his eyes.
"I can tell you where to find Regina... I'm not sure if you'll like the answer though."
"Oh Rumple, stop it with the riddles and tell us where Regina is!", Belle sounded really annoyed now.
"Oh let's say Regina's had a little accident. I believe she tried to travel using her magic, her magic is still very weak though from her bitch fight with Charming. She was lucky though. It should've killed her. But..."
"But?", Snow asked, worry and hope warring in her mind.
"I believe her magic took her somewhere and sometime entirely else. We'll know as soon as you start having weird dreams - foggy memories rather - of your past."
"We'll know what Rumple? Where is Regina?", Belle wanted to know.
"I think dear old Regina is back in the Enchanted Forest. There's no way to say if she ever will be back. With such magical 'accidents', there usually is a task to fulfill. And it never is easy... nor will she know what it is that she has to do."
"No!", Snow exclaimed. "There has to be a way to get her back. Or...or a way that I can follow her."
"There isn't. Even with a magic bean or anything else creating a portal - we don't know which time Regina was taken to", Gold shook his head. "She's got to do whatever it is alone, dearie."
"Your majesty"
Regina slowly opened her eyes, expecting to find herself in her bedroom back in her manor.
High, dark stone walls. Red and black everywhere. Satin bed drapes. A huge mahogany bed. And she was in it, wearing a nightgown.
'What the hell', she thought. 'I must've exhausted myself and fallen asleep. Really shouldn't have used my magic, I suppose.'
She closed her eyes, willing herself to wake up from this surreal dream.
"Your majesty?"
There it was again.
"What the hell!", she shouted and opened her eyes, searching the room.
There, cowering in a corner, was a young maiden girl, maybe about 18, holding a breakfast tray and averting her eyes to the floor. She looked slightly familiar.
Maybe this wasn't just a dream. But how?
"Girl", Regina said, waiting for the maiden to look up. "Look at me. Please."
With a very confused face, the girl finally looked up, but didn't dare to look in her Queen's eyes.
"What's your name?", Regina enquired.
"Mona, your majesty", the girl quietly said.
"Mona", Regina tried the name in her lips but didn't remember. And she probably wouldn't anyways, it's not like she'd cared about such things as servant names back then.
"Can you tell me which day it is today?"
The girl didn't answer immediately, probably fearing a catch.
"It... The wedding of Snow White and Prince Charming is in 7 days from now, your majesty", the girl finally replied.
"Oh", Regina just said. The wheels in her head were already turning when she remembered that she hadn't excused the maiden.
"Thank you, Mona. That will be all. You may leave and take the day off."
Shell shocked and surprised the girl nodded and made a hasty exit, forgetting the etiquette, which would've once upon a time have cost her her head.
Regina jumped out of the bed, hurriedly dressed herself in one of the many black dresses from the wardrobe, and headed to the throne room, servants and guards watching her with caution. The Evil Queen could always be in the mood to get rid of one of them...
In front of the door to the throne room, Regina paused. 'Could it be?'
Slowly she opened the door and nervously looked around the room until she found what she had been looking for.
A lone figure with white hair and a broad back was standing in a corner, awaiting his Queen's orders.
"Daddy!", she cried out, tears cascading down her cheeks as she ran through the room and jumped into the man's arms. "Oh daddy", she sobbed, inhaling his familiar scent. "I've missed you so much."
"Re-Regina?", he stuttered, not believing his eyes, ears or arms.
It was like his little girl was back, the one with the scraped knees who used to wait excitedly in front of the house for him, whenever he returned from one of his many business trips.
And after every trip he wished he didn't need to leave his daughter so often, because every time he came back home, another piece of her seemed to have stopped glowing with the light of youth.
"My little princess", Henry Mills Sr mumbled. "I never dared to hope to see you again."
"I'm sorry, daddy. So so sorry", his daughter sobbed again and he only held her tighter.
Finally her breaths became even again and she took a step backwards, her beautiful eyes red and puffy from crying.
"I need to tell you a story, daddy. Most of it is dark and one I'm done, you'll probably hate me and I'll deserve it. You still need to know..."
"I could never hate you, Regina", her father softly said. "Your my girl after all."
"Trust me, you will", she answered bitterly, before starting her long tale.
"So now you love Snow White?", her father asked with disbelief once she'd ended her story.
"Yes, but...", Regina started, only to be interrupted.
"I know what you want to say, Regina. I have to say, it was hard for me to listen to it, but I... I forgive you", he looked into her dark eyes and took her hands into his. "I am guilty for so many bad things that your mother did to you, Regina, and I am so deeply sorry... It may sound funny to you, but if my death has given you a second chance at happiness, than it was for the best. Seeing you this unhappy and full of despair was unbearable for me, knowing I could've kept some of the darkness from you."
He smiled at her through his own tears. "I forgive you, and I hope you can forgive me for just standing by."
"I do daddy, I did so long ago", she squeezed his hands. "Mother was the cross we both had to bear."
There was silence for a while.
Then suddenly her father's laughter filled the room and echoed from the walls.
"I can't believe you fell in love with Snow White", he said, still chuckling. "I would love to see this world's Snow's face, hearing it from you."
And soon father's and daughter's laughter filled the huge throne room, a sound almost forgotten in the Queen's palace.
"Mary Margaret? Belle? You won't believe what happened!", Emma barged into the library where both women were looking for a way to get to or help Regina. She'd been missing for 27 hours now.
"Emma", Snow said, coming out from between two bookshelves, carrying two heavy and old looking tomes. "You're totally out of breath! What is it?"
Two expectant gazes lingering on her, the blonde caught her breath and gasped out:
"There's a new man in town... I took him to the police station... Ruby is with him... He says... He says he's Regina's father..."
The books fell out of Snow's arms when she lifted her hands in front of her mouth.
"How?", she exclaimed, followed by Belle's, "Do you think it really is him?"
"I don't know", the sheriff replied. "But Henry texted me. He said that pages from his book have turned blank."
The Savior looked around the room before continuing. "The man said he needed to talk to you, Mary Margaret. Said he had a message from Regina for you..."