Sorry this took so long! I was having a lot of trouble conjuring the muse. But here it is. I hope you enjoy!
David sat at the table. He'd just returned from the stables and was slumped in a chair. He'd been crying for an hour. He couldn't stop. It had seemed so right. He was going to run away and spend the rest of his life with the woman he loved. And then suddenly she decided she didn't love him anymore.
He heard a gasp from the doorway. "David? What's the matter?" Ruth ran to her son, wrapping him in a hug.
"Sh-she left me," David choked out.
Ruth was shocked. "What? How is that possible?"
"We…we were going to run away together tonight," he told her. "We wanted to be together. And we couldn't do that here. Because of her mother. So I went to meet her at the stables, and when I got there…" He choked back the tears. "She told me that she was going to marry Daniel. That she would be queen. She said, 'love is weakness' and then she just left like I never mattered."
Ruth furrowed her brow as she hugged her son, comforting his broken heart.
Regina had hardly slept that night. Her eyes burned from crying. She missed her David. She wanted to see him again. But Cora had cast a spell so that Regina could not leave the house without her or Daniel, and there was no way around it.
"Regina, it's time to wake up," said Cora, walking into the bedroom.
The young woman snuggled further under her covers in rebellion. She also knew that her eyes were swollen from crying all night, and she didn't want Cora to see. "Can I sleep a little longer, mother?" She said quietly.
"No," she said simply, waving her hand, her magic pulling the sheets off her daughter. Regina's body instinctively curled up tighter from the combination of cold air hitting her skin and fear of her mother's magic. "We have to prepare to leave for the palace," Cora happily said.
Regina slowly moved from the bed. "Mother, please don't make me do this," she said, her eyes filling with tears again as she looked up at her mother, practically begging her.
Cora stared coldly at her daughter. "You are going to marry Daniel. And soon enough, you will be queen. You will have power." Cora grabbed her daughter's arms excitedly. Regina cried as her mother wiped her tears away. "Now get cleaned up. We have to leave in a few hours." She quickly walked out of the room again.
Regina leaned against her bed and gazed out the window. She could see David's house. She touched her fingers to the glass, desperately wishing that somehow she could reach out and touch him again.
Little did she know that across the field, her love was doing the same thing.
David looked out the kitchen window at the house. The aching feeling in his heart hadn't subsided at all. All he wanted was to run over there and kiss her again. He wanted to find out why things had changed. Why she had suddenly decided power and influence were more important than love. Their entire lives all she'd wanted was happiness. She'd always retaliated against her mother when she would say, "Love is weakness." How had Cora managed to change her mind in a matter of moments?
"David?" His mother came into the room to check on her son. "You need to stop staring out that window. It's only going to hurt you more," she told him.
"Mother, something isn't right," he told her, the wheels in his brain turning as he tried to imagine every possible scenario that could have happened between her coming to him, desperate to escape, and their encounter in the stables. "Regina spent her whole life trying to escape her mother. Why would she suddenly start talking like her?"
"David, I don't know. A mother can be very persuasive."
"She just wasn't herself. She was so cold and unfeeling…and when I kissed her…" His voice trailed off as tears formed. The spark wasn't there.
He turned back to the window and saw several carriages at the Mills house. "They're leaving?"
He was out the door in a flash.
The footman held out his hand for Regina, and she looked at it, contemplating whether she should take it or run. She could run until her legs gave out. Until she couldn't breathe. She'd go somewhere her mother couldn't find her.
"Miss Mills, are you alright?" She looked at the footman, his hand still extended toward her. There was genuine concern in his eyes, and it was comforting to Regina. "Yes, I'm fine, she said, putting on a fake smile and taking his hand. He helped her into the carriage, closing the door behind her.
Regina slumped against the seat, squeezing her eyes shut in a futile attempt to stop the tears. "David," she whispered.
David quickly ran toward the house, wanting answers. His lungs burned as he sprinted. He was so close. Almost there. He could feel her.
Then he was thrown on his back.
"Oof!" The wind was knocked out of him, and he lay on the ground. He tried to get up, but some invisible force held him to the ground.
"You will stay away from my daughter," Cora said, standing over him, looking down.
"I just want to say goodbye," he pleaded breathlessly.
She chuckled, amused at his audacity. "You said goodbye to her last night in the stables, when she told you she's going to marry the prince. She's going to be queen, not the wife of some worthless stable boy."
"She's my best frie—"
"And now she's not. Goodbye, shepherd," she spat.
The carriage pulled away with Regina and Cora inside it. Henry was going to follow a few days later, as he had some business to attend to. Cora was smiling ecstatically the whole ride. Regina, on the other hand, gazed out the window, her eyes glazing over as she rode closer to the castle and farther from the life she'd always imagined for herself—a happy life with the man she loved.
Instead she was on her way to the palace, where her fiancé waited for her arrival. "Oh, Regina, this wedding is going to be so beautiful," Cora said. She continued chirping about details as Regina zoned out, trying to block her mother out as she imagined being held in David's strong arms. She could still feel his kiss. The way his hands roamed her body. The feeling of him pressing into her. Regina squeezed her legs together a little bit as she thought about making love to her shepherd again. She only wished she was ever going to be able to do it again.
When they arrived at the palace, Daniel came to greet them, giving her a chaste kiss when she stepped out of the carriage. She reciprocated out of necessity rather than desire. If there was any chance of escaping this, she had to behave as if she was content with this arrangement.
Regina was given her own bedchamber for the time between her arrival and the wedding, as she and Daniel were expected to remain chaste until marriage (Regina had obviously screwed that up, having already slept with David).
She was unpacking her things when she came across a bag that didn't belong to her. It was her mother's. She really didn't feel like seeing her mother that night and chatting about wedding plans and power. She just wanted to unpack and go to sleep. She checked the bag to make sure there was nothing important in it. Inside the bag, she found various articles of clothing, but upon digging a bit, she found a book.
It was familiar. Regina had seen her mother with it multiple times. It was her spellbook. The young woman tossed it back in the bag. It could wait until morning.
That night, Regina tossed and turned. Despite the lavish comfort of the king-sized bed, she couldn't get to sleep. The thought of the book kept coming to her head. Regina had always hated magic. Her mother had never used it for good, only to gain whatever she wanted.
But what if this magic could get her out of here and back to David? What if she could find something in there that would allow her to see him again. At least one more time.
Regina climbed out of bed and opened the bag, pulling the object out. She ran her fingers over the carvings, over the heart in the middle of the cover. She opened it. "Rumpleshtilstkin?" She read aloud.
"That's not how you say it, dearie." Regina spun around to face the voice that taunted her, her heart nearly pounding out of her chest. "Rumplestiltskin," he corrected. "And you must be Regina."
"H-how do you know my name?"
"Well, dearie, who did you think gave your mother the book?" He said. "Judging by the redness in your eyes, you've been crying. Why is the future queen so despondent?"
She didn't know why, but her mouth just started talking to him of its own accord. "I don't want to be queen. I never did. I only did it for mother. She…cares an awful lot about status."
"Oh I know. I know your mother very well," he said. "After all, I am the one who helped her get where she is today."
"How did you do that?"
"Another story for another time, dearie. Now I believe you called me for a reason," he said, taking a step closer.
This man had a strange effect on Regina. She felt entirely uncomfortable yet incredibly drawn to him. And for some reason he made her just want to speak. "I need a way out," she said.
"Well, there are doors everywhere in this castle."
"Of course, but I need a way to get away from my mother."
"You need magic."
"No!" She shouted a little too loudly.
"Then I'm sorry, dearie. I can't help you," he told her simply.
"I don't want to become like her," Regina said quietly, tears filling her eyes.
Rumple looked at the small woman in front of her. "Well if you change your mind, you know how to call me." He disappeared in a cloud of red smoke.
She watched as the cloud dissipated. "I won't," she breathed.
Sorry, guys. It's going to be a while before our lovers are reunited... But fear not! True love will prevail!