There was no screaming. No pleading. No praying. No goodbyes.
There was no time for any of them.
She thought about how people always said their life flashed before their eyes when they were facing death.
But she only saw the muzzle of the gun.
She wondered whether this meant that there was nothing in her life that was worth to recall.
She watched the bullet slice through the air. It felt like time had slowed down, almost stopped.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Mary Margaret had entered the room and she wished she didn't have to watch her die. She wished they'd never met, that they'd never found out they were family.
Maybe Regina was right after all. Maybe love really is weakness.
She wondered how it was possible that she could think of so many things with such little time.
"Stop it!" Greg suddenly hissed.
She barely registered his voice. She strived to keep up a brave front for Mary Margaret. Her mother. Watching a child die was too cruel a fate, made so much more difficult if she was in tears. If it hadn't been for her, she would've been screaming in panic.
"Stop it!" he yelled, louder this time.
She didn't dare to take her eyes off the bullet. She needed to know when her end came.
But it didn't.
She realized time really had slowed down. The bullet was shaking in mid-air, struggling to cut on but held back.
"I'm saving you, Owen," Regina said, her voice distant and hoarse. Her arm was extended in front of her, fingers in such a position that it seemed she was holding the bullet, if only a few meters closer. "I only hope you'll understand it one day."
The gun clattered to the floor and slid towards Regina with a harsh scraping sound.
Emma glanced up.
She squeezed her eyes shut, her fist clenched as she struggled with the bullet. Emma swallowed as the bullet, as if it was being pulled on an invisible string, flew on sideways. Away from her.
But not towards Greg.
Towards her mother.
Regina fought. Her knees bent, her fingers whitened as she held onto the gurney to keep her upright. Her head was pounding as she struggled to stay conscious.
If she'd had the strength to think about anything but saving Emma and Owen, she would've wondered how she was able to use magic again. After all, Owen had taken that from her. Just like he took her dignity.
She might have realized Emma didn't just heal her physically. She gave her back her freedom.
She would have laughed at the sour irony of that. Emma giving her magic back to her. That certainly wasn't something she would have done intentionally.
She coughed, more like a bark. Her breathing turned hard and shallow. Her body was trembling violently.
So was the bullet.
Then it stopped inches from Mary Margaret's chest.
Emma couldn't stop the instinctive scream that broke free from her throat.
"You'll kill her! Stop it!"
She didn't have the strength to react to the accusation. Emma wouldn't have understood anyway. She didn't know who Owen was. She didn't know they shared the same fate. Only his was scrambled by the Evil Queen, like hers by her mother.
But Cora was gone. Maybe it was time for her to get her fair punishment as well. Didn't she deserve to be pinned down and electrocuted? Humiliated and shattered? Didn't Owen have the right to take everything she had? She'd ripped his life apart when she killed his father...
She couldn't direct the bullet at him. Not even after what he'd done to her.
She could have been surprised she didn't feel rage towards him. Nor did she wish vengeance.
All she felt was sadness and grief. She wondered whether that was better than feeling empty.
Mary Margaret closed her eyes. She didn't know whether she was going to get hit, but she didn't care. For Emma, a thousand times over.
Regina was too worn-out to taunt her for her useless nobility. She looked down on how the Charmings purposefully searched for situations where they could risk their own lives for basically anyone.
Why couldn't she just step away? Regina slowed down the bullet but she knew she couldn't contain it much longer. Why didn't she run? Why didn't they both leave her?
She drew a deep breath. She felt a teardrop roll down her cheek softly and she suddenly felt nauseous. Crying was even more mortifying than being tortured and forced to accept help.
And then that moment came. The moment she knew nothing mattered anymore. That whatever was going to happen next lost importance. When she had to face that no one was on her side, not even her parents. When everyone she ever loved was brutally snatched away from her. When she realized being ruthless and suffocating her emotions were simply means essential to she swore revenge on Snow. When she decided she wanted to learn magic. When she transformed into the Evil Queen.
She just saved Emma's life, but she already turned her back on her. And she wasn't there for her anyway. Only for Henry, she was sure of that. And Snow? She was the only one the Charmings wouldn't put their lives on the line for. Could she blame them?
Henry. He was the one she was sure she'd feel the lack of, even if everything was sucked out of her. If her heart stopped beating and she didn't even know who Henry was, she'd still feel something was missing. Always.
And Greg… She couldn't help but see her own distorted reflection in his eyes. He was right.
Pure evil.
Maybe it wasn't her fault. Maybe she's been scarred too many times, by people she trusted and by those who didn't even know who she was.
She grew sicker. Her headache made her see stars and using magic on top of that was unbearable. Her own magic was burning her up from inside, shooting through her veins like poison, boiling her blood.
Magic can't be controlled by the weak.
She braced herself. Just one more pull. And then it would be over. The pain, both physical and emotional; the grief, the emptiness. The constant dread, the loneliness. It would all be gone. Forever. And then…Nothing.
An almost peaceful concept.
She could settle for that.
For the last time, she took control of the bullet, ignoring her lungs failing to pump fresh oxygen into her veins. Magic took charge of her body. And it wanted to break free.
The bullet turned away from Mary Margaret and tore through the room, speeding up.
And just like that, it was done.
Was it selfish of her? To abandon Henry so abruptly? Without a goodbye?
He always said he'd found his real mom when he came back from Boston. And he always thought of her as the Evil Queen, a villain. Someone rotten to the core, someone unable or unworthy of being loved or saved. He'd never had faith in her, even when everyone else pretended they gave her a second chance. He was the first to abandon her, even before Snow.
Maybe it was on the contrary- her only purely selfless act. She saves Emma, Snow and Greg - and in the long run, all the inhabitants of Fairytale Land would be forever free of her reign of terror. And so would Henry. Free to finally live with his real mother. And forget about the Evil Queen.
Still, she hoped he knew she loved her. Just as much as she loved Daniel.
Daniel…
His soft, innocent brown eyes full of love and trust. For her.
Would he still love her? She'd turned into her mother. Killed countless others the way her mother had killed him and any hope of her happiness. A monster. That's what she was now.
But everything has to come to an end. And everyone has to go and let go when the time comes.
A relieved sigh burst out of her when the bullet hit her chest.
She barely felt it. She was utterly relieved she could finally give up. She let her knees buckle beneath her; her head cracking against the ground, hard.
She saw Emma launch herself at Greg and knock him to the ground, and Mary Margaret running towards her through blurred vision but she couldn't understand what was happening.
And suddenly there she was; Mary Margaret, her lifelong enemy, kneeling next to her, holding her hand, then pushing her chest. Whispering for her to not give in.
She wanted her to go away. She knew it was all in vain. There was no use in trying to bring back to life someone who's been dead for decades.
She suddenly realized how significant last words were but she knew hers wouldn't matter to anyone but herself. Maybe. She'd expected to damn her killers to hell when the time came. And she'd lasted so much longer than she'd ever anticipated.
She took a last, shaky gasp. She was already fading into the darkness.
Then she mustered the courage to whisper what she knew would reveal her at her weakest.
"Forgive me."
And she was gone.
Well, i really hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review if you have time! Have a good night, guys!:)
Thanks to Rachel (arosewithsteelthorns) for being a great beta!:)