Emma couldn't help but flinch at the words that confirmed what she had already suspected. This woman, this tantalizing goddess ,was responsible for her growing up without a father. She was responsible for the nights she spent crying because she wanted to know her father so badly and could never understand why he wouldn't wake up for them. Responsible for the look of misery that appeared in her mother's eyes when she thought Emma wasn't looking. Her mother had tried, but growing up right next to the looming absence of her father hadn't always been easy. And it had all been this woman's fault. Emma didn't care that she was the goddess of death, all she saw now was the woman that had taken away her happy ending before she had even been born. She felt anger burn through her veins, but tampered the fire and instead stared at the goddess. "Why?" She clipped at the woman. "Why did you do it?"
As the princesses walls went up, so did the Queen's. The humanity that had been so apparent in her dark eyes vanished and the magnificent and untouchable goddess took the place of the woman that spoke in whispers to the princess. Apparently Emma had decided for her to be the Evil Queen after all, so that was who she would be.
"Why? Do I need a reason? She said haughtily, only a slight tremble in her voice betraying the meaning hidden behind her words.
Emma crossed her arms in front of her and kept her eyes firmly locked with the Queen's. "Yes, you do. If there's one thing I've learned it's that there is always a reason to hurt someone, twisted as it might be at times."
The Queen pursed her lips, staying silent as she eyed the blonde for a long while. She could still see the fire and anger in the young girl's eyes, but she had apparently decided to hear the goddess out. IT was something new for the goddess, someone being interested in her reasons rather than outright condemn her actions. "Fine." She finally snapped, gesturing for Emma to sit down at her bed and walking to the other side of the room, as far away from the girl as possible.
"It was a punishment-" The goddess started, keeping her eyes fixated on the mirror on Emma's wall. She could see the princess behind her, already opening her mouth to ask questions. "Not for your father. I have no idea if he was a good man for not, be he certainly wasn't the one that deserved to be punished in such a … personal matter." She frowned at her own words for a second, shaking her head and continuing the tale. "It was your mother who was punished." She turned around at her statement to gauge the reaction of the princess. She saw exactly what she had expected: surprise that the perfect Snow White could do something that warranted punishment by the gods.
"What did she do?" Emma asked the obvious question, earning a small smirk from the goddess.
Emma didn't see the pain that accompanied it in the woman's eyes.
"She betrayed the gods and was punished for it." The Queen answered vaguely. Emma scoffed and stood up from the bed.
"You can't possibly expect me to be content with that answer." The princess challenged and the goddess raised her eyebrows at the challenge.
"Or you'll do what? Need I remind you I am the goddess of death? The Evil Queen? You can't possibly hurt me. In fact, I can end your life with the flick of my wrist if I desire so." The Queen mocked, crossing her eyes in front of her chest in reflection of the princess, unconsciously taking on a defense stance in her attack.
Emma rolled her eyes and scoffed again. "This isn't about who can kill who because we both know you won't kill me.-"
"Won't I?" The Queen challenged mockingly, raising up her hand as if to threaten. Emma stared at the hand unfazed.
"No you won't, because I am the only one who believes in you, and like it or not lady, without me you don't exist." She smirked at the shocked look that fell over the goddess's face. "But like I said, this isn't about that. This is about your owing me an explanation. I grew up without a father and I want to know why and I want to know more than 'Snow White pissed off the gods' because that is a shit answer and you know it."
The Queen couldn't find words to answer the princess, so instead contented herself with taking in the fire that was still burning in the girl's eyes. When she had been all soft mouthed and understanding, she had awoken something in the goddess, but now that she was challenging her in this way, it ignited a fire inside her that hadn't been there for centuries. For the first time in an era, the Queen felt alive.
"Fine." She finally spat out, closing in on the princess until she could have touched her if she had just lifted her hands, while also carefully making sure that could never happen. For all her threats, Emma was right, she had no intention of killing the only person that made her feel like she actually existed. "But you might not like what you hear."
Emma didn't answer, crossed her arms in front of her and silently motioned her to bring it on.
"Once upon a time, a god was born out of stardust and magic. He had powers that outranked all that was known in the universe, but he got weary without a home, so he build a world for himself and settled on the lush, magical lands. It was a good place without death and disease, but paradise wasn't enough, because he didn't have anyone to share it with. So he created the animals, but the animals couldn't see or understand him. Then the created the human and allowed them to inhabit his lands, the humans were virtuous at first, but finally forgot the god, losing the ability to see him. The god grew lonely again. So he started searching the land for a woman to be his companion, and he did. He fell in love with a human woman and took away her up to the heavens to be his wife. They loved each other very much, and out of their love a life was created: a little girl. Sadly her mother, even though she was granted immortality from old age, was at heart still human and died giving birth to the child that bore too much power for her. After this event, the First God whom we call the king fell into a deep depression and it was winter for seven months. It is not in the nature of gods to be called by a name, but the little girl soon became known as 'Snow'."
"Wait-" Emma stuttered, her mind reeling at what the Queen could possibly be telling her. She stumbled back to her bed, desperately trying to filter what was just a story and what was true. Surely there were more people in the world that were named 'Snow' or something equivalent. It was too much to process, but the goddess just continued.
"The king proceeded to raise his daughter without a mother, until she was ten years old. It was then, at the urging of his daughter, that he set out to find a new wife. He knew he would never love her the way he loved his first wife, but hoped that she could be somewhat of a mother to his precious daughter Snow. He found her in another mortal woman and took away her mortality. But the king was afraid that the fate that had befallen is first wife would also tread itself upon his new one, so he decided to take away her humanity too and shape her into a goddess too." The Queen stared at her reflection in the mirror, barely remembering the humanity that had once been in those stone cold eyes. She couldn't remember the feeling of her heart beating, the feeling of being touched. It was a story more than it was a memory, a tale that might as well be a lie.
"The King continued to rule over the lands, but failed to notice the one flaw in his creation: the humans started families; they lived and loved, but they didn't die. Soon the crops were not enough to feed the humans, the trees were not enough to keep them warm and the land was not big enough to house the generations upon generations of humans. The humans begged for an solution to their ever growing numbers, but the king wouldn't listen. So I listened instead and they crowned me 'The goddess of death."
She didn't smile and only a small lift of the corners of her mouth showed that it was a somewhat pleasant memory. "It was a praise at first. It was later that the title got the connotations it has right now, and I certainly wasn't called 'The Evil Queen'." She clarified with a slight scoff her newest title. Emma was still staring at her wide eyed, almost like her brain had just short wired from the amount of information.
"But that's not what you wanted to know. You wanted to know about your mother's sin and punishment. Well Snow apparently inherited the tendency to fall in love with mortals from her father and fell in love with a young prince on her twentieth' year. Snow's father had passed away at the time, leaving her as the Queen and Goddess of life. Snow, however, relinquished her honor and duty to follow 'true love'. Her father had trusted her with the task of life, but she hadn't even ruled for half a century before she gave up her immortality for a mortal man. She was the goddess of life and when she left, life started to crumble away. All would have died if the other gods and goddesses had not stepped in to hold away such a fate. After the destruction was averted, it was decided that Snow should be condemned to the same fate she had nearly bestowed upon all of humanity: death and disease."
Emma grasped for anything to hold on to as her mind reeled at the information. Her mother had been a goddess, her mother had nearly caused the destruction of humanity, her father had been cursed for her mother's actions, her mother had been a goddess. She thought she might faint, but willed herself to stay conscious, willed herself to remember everything, every word, so that she could ask her mother if it were true.
"That's the story. Do what you like with it." The Queen clipped, already walking towards the window to take her leave. Emma stood up shakily to follow the Queen to the window.
"You can't restore his life?" She asked, a small sliver of hope still inside her. The queen turned around and shook her head firmly.
"It is the will of the gods for her to suffer, Emma, I could not restore his life even if I wanted to." There was no hesitation in her voice, but Emma saw a slight flicker of remorse in her eyes, perhaps some pity too, before she firmly turned around and walked towards the window.
"Wait." Emma said. She didn't want to queen to leave, but also knew she couldn't stop her from doing so, so decided that she needed an answer to one last question. A simple question that held more importance to her than she cared to admit.
"What should I call you?"
The queen raised her eyebrows, surprised by the question. She had had worn many monikers over the years and couldn't fathom why the princess would want to add another one to the list. "I'm sure there's a lot of names for me in your books, Emma, but you can call me 'your majesty'."
Emma scoffed. "That's what they call my mother. Besides, isn't that because they call you the 'Evil Queen?' I'm not going to call you that."
The goddess couldn't help but chuckle at her words, but they also warmed something inside her. She cocked her head as Emma's forehead crinkled in thought, before a smile broke out on her face.
"I'm going to call you Regina. It's Latin for Queen, so I'll still call you 'Queen' without being reminded my mother." Emma declared with a proud smile and the goddess couldn't help but return it. It felt odd, having a real name again, it reminded her of the time she used to be mortal. She had long since forgotten the name she had worn in those times, but it made her feel like she mattered, like someone cared. Like she was loved.
"Regina." She whispered and nodded slightly. "Okay. I could get used to that."
She felt a small tear trickle down her cheek and tasted the salt on her lips before she even knew she had shed it. It tasted salty, it tasted like humanity, it tasted like a memory.
"Regina." She whispered again to herself, before disappearing from the tower without making another sound.
I didn't beta this chapter yet, but I hope it's readable. I was really exicted -and nervous- about this chapter and I hope you liked it. Please fav, follow and of course review =)