Author's notes: Thank you for your patience. The second fic is ready. As I did for The Queen is Dead, Long Live the Queen (give it a read if you haven't), I'll post one chapter a day. The story has 24 chapters plus a prologue and an epilogue.

Forgive Me is part of a series that will consist of 4 fictions. They are already planned and should be posted as I finish them. So if there is some things left unfinished in this one... you know why. Each chapter consists of a story narrated in the present and a flashback. So everyone can keep track, I put dates on the present time and flashbacks. So some of the questions you hopefully will have while reading the present time will be answered in a flashback (unless I really missed something) or in the next fic.

The fic is rated M for a reason: it touches upon dark, adult themes. So here are the trigger warnings for the entire fic (I won't post them on every chapter): major and minor character deaths, violence, sexual abuse, attempted suicide. If you trigger easily, this is not a fic for you.

Don't forget to review and follow my Twitter account EvilCharmingFic for updates and polls to decide on where some elements of the story are going in the next fic!

Prologue

Her entire world was only hot white searing pain as she absorbed the dark curse they had just cast over the well. Her body was convulsing from the effort but she forced herself to stay in place. She had been trying to be good, to do the right thing for her son. And sometimes doing the right thing meant sacrificing the few to save the many. Preventing her mother from coming to this town would save lives. The lives that her son cared about the most.

But he had convinced her otherwise. He had convinced her that good always won and she needed to have faith that only his biological family would come through the well. And her own history with this particular family had taught her that they had a knack at defying the odds against them. But above all, she had wanted to believe her son. She had wanted to do the right thing for him. So she had summoned all of her magic to absorb the death curse. She knew she wouldn't survive. But her son would be reunited with his biological family and would be better off without her.

She felt the waves of magic coursing through her blood, burning her veins. She was no stranger to pain and the thought of making her son happy sustained her. So she kept absorbing the deathly spell. She felt a familiar stabbing pain in her left side right above her hip. She allowed the tears to flow down her cheeks and grieved for the first life that would be lost today.

All of the sudden the pain stopped. She was thrown away from the well and landed hard on the forest floor, fighting the intense nausea as the remainder of the magic coursed through her blood. Her mentor watched her in silence. They had cast the trap together. It had taken the two strongest dark magic wielders, the most powerful dark wand, and an entire supply of pixie dust to cast this spell in the first place. But she had absorbed it on her own. She should not be alive and he doubted she would be much longer. She looked awfully pale and about to lose consciousness at any point. Her son didn't seem to notice as he looked desperately at the empty well.

She was breathing heavily, her physical pain only matched by the mental anguish of seeing the desperate look on her son's face. "I'm sorry Henry. I'm sorry."

Henry ignored his mother's plea, his gaze fixed on the empty well. He could not believe his eyes when he saw the blonde woman climbing out of the well, helping her own raven-haired mother. "Mom?"

The blonde woman screamed. "Henry!"

Henry started running toward his mom. "Mom!"

He passed the brunette on the ground without a second look and threw himself in the arms of his biological mother. "I missed you so much."

She could barely breathe. The pain in her lower abdomen had returned but it was nothing in comparison to the heartbreak resulting from her son's disregard for her well-being. She looked toward her former mentor. His expression was unreadable as it often was. He walked away as she slowly stood up with only the tree for support.

The other brunette she had once called a daughter looked around in fear. "What happened?"

Her son finally turned toward her. "She saved you. She saved both of you." Henry hugged his biological mother one more time.

The blonde woman looked at her former enemy and her son's adopted mother incredulously. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The pain in her abdomen intensified and she could feel the warm liquid starting to flow in-between her thighs. She knew she did not have much time and she did not want her son to witness what was about to happen. With the last of her strength, she transported herself home in a cloud of purple smoke.