AN: I promise I'll try to write a better chapter next time! I'm still just trying to learn how to transfer my thoughts from my mind to my computer without it looking like too much of a mess. Also, sorry for the delay in this chapter. Exam studying is relentlessly cruel. I swear there will one day be fluff injected into this story (because apparently it's forming into some sort of story now). Today is not that day.
She had been looking up to the sky and twirling around in the castle courtyard when you had next laid eyes on her.
The foolish girl tripped over a fallen apple and had curled herself into a tight ball before starting to sob quietly.
With an air of disinterest you had turned to walk away, but as you had done so a small voice with the fragility of a whisper grabbed for your attention.
"Regina?" It softly begged.
You froze, having wished to never further interact with her ever again in this life.
You had swirled back to face her, somehow finding it within yourself to muster a delicately convincing smile.
Your eyes gave you away, though. They always had.
One more day of pretending and you would be rid of this burden, you had thought to yourself. One more afternoon you would have to suffer.
You had glided over to where she still sat, your arms outstretched to wrap the child in a caring hug.
An unknown force had tugged at your chest at the embrace. You shrugged it off as nausea.
"Are you alright, child?" You had asked her, having to try slightly harder than usual to fit into the motherly role she had forced upon you.
The young girl sniffled and you had brushed a tear away from her warm cheek with your thumb. She had stopped crying by now and you had thought of it as such a pity – no other sound could bring you nearly as much joy as hearing Snow White in pain.
You pulled the girl to her feet and she had averted her eyes to the grey stones beneath her.
Cupping her chin, you had gracefully tilted her face up to meet your gaze.
The plastered smile had now come naturally to you, but your eyes continued to remain unkind as they bore into hers.
"How would you like to come with me this afternoon on my stroll through the forest?" You had suggested a little too eagerly, but the unsuspecting girl you still held by the chin mistook the offer as the friendly gesture it was disguised as.
An unmistakable gleam of excitement filled the young girl's eyes and you had felt a sharp twinge pierce your chest, painfully remembering having once had a similar expression grace your own features.
Once. That was before she had it taken from you forever. Ripped away just like a beating heart, plucked while it was still fresh.
The child quickly wrapped you in a tight hug as an answer and you had lightly squeezed her in return, reminiscent of the time you had saved her life.
You should have let her die on that horse.
It had taken all of your willpower not to guide your hands towards that pretty little neck of hers and snap it.
The violent thought had made you inhale sharply.
You silently questioned how you got like this, even though your mother had taught you better than to ask questions you already knew the answers to. The girl had made you this way.
Lost in your own broken memories, you hadn't noticed the tears spilling freely down your face until the young princess you were now gripping tightly looked up at you with concern.
"Are you alright, Regina?" She was now the one pleading to know.
Your smile grew unbelievably wide, almost as evidently fake as your love for her father, as your red eyes stung from the tears.
But Snow was just a foolish child who had never learned the difference between fantasy and reality, and so her eyes only saw your smile as a sign of your growing love for her.
You could have told her every detail of your plan right up to the part where the huntsman dissects her heart like a toad and brings it to you as a trophy, and she would have probably still looked at you with those bright green eyes and that sickeningly sweet and undying affection she still has for you, because god you must have loved her so much to want to literally steal her heart.
You pulled her in closer to you so that your head rested above her shoulder, your voice cracking.
"I'm fine. I am just so thrilled that I get to spend such a pleasant day with you…"
The last words left your throat in a hoarse whisper, "…my dearest Snow."
All you can remember is the deafening beating of a heart drowning out your thoughts.