Thank you: Nami Swannn, Queen of Light 17, thedoctorsgirl42, Grace5231973, Usio-Amamiya, Twyla Mercedes, EssenceOfEden

I do not own Once Upon a Time

Chapter 68 – Day 81: The Judgment

Blue watched Queen Regina sitting silently in her cell. She whispered small enchantments and grew worried. The effects of her magic were threatening to lose effect soon. She could prolong the spell for another two days at most. Blue was the most powerful fairy to ever exist, but even her magic had limits. Fortunately, her prays were answered when she heard great cheering coming from the castle's main square. Relieved to see the royal carriages, Blue descended swiftly; glad her friends had made it in time. Granny and the dwarves joined her and happily greeted the travelers. Blue and Baelfire were surprised to see each other. They had met in a tight situation, in which Blue had been forced to lead the child to a suicide mission. The fairy smiled sincerely when she saw the boy looking well and cheerful.

"Papa, that's Reul Ghorm!" Baelfire said excited, pulling his father's sleeve.

"The Blue Fairy? Of the Northern Star?" Rumpelstitlskin asked, truly fascinated, knowing her only from the tale of the Knight and the Wolf.

"You know your history." The fairy said eloquently, with a gracious bow. She then turned to the raven-haired princess and flew over so she was closer. "Snow White. You need to make a decision as soon as possible. I'm afraid the spell will come to an end tomorrow by nightfall." She expressed her worries, her hands clenched together in front of her long dress. Snow turned to Prince Charming and the others. She could see in their faces they were ready for a council meeting. Time was urgent. And nobody wished to know what the Evil Queen will unleash, once her powers are returned.

"We will meet in an hour."

Regina had seen the small column of royal carriages and soldiers enter the castle's courtyard. The day was reaching its end, the sun slowly setting lower in the sky. She wondered if this would be her last night in this world. She knew she would be sentenced. She knew Snow had gone to Armithil to gather Princess Belle and the Dragon Slayer. Now that her enemy's council was complete, Regina knew it was a matter of time for the verdict to be spoken. And she had a feeling, she knew what it would be.

"I think we all agree to what has to be done." Prince Charming said while he looked at the faces of the Council's members. "We cannot show the Queen mercy! She doesn't deserve it."

"Last time I brought her food to her cell, I had a little chat with her. I can assure you. She's completely unrepentant." Granny said, while she stroked her bow.

"Regina is proud. She doesn't want to appear weak in her final moments." Snow defended, desperate to convince the others to see her point of view.

"I've seen her kill, I've seen her terrorize. Every moment I've seen of her, has been one of evil." Prince Charming concluded, sounding clearly upset. If it was up to him, Regina would be dead already long ago and they wouldn't be sitting in the council, after a tiresome journey, discussing her obvious fate.

"Exactly. That you've seen. But I knew her before. I knew her when she was good. She saved my life when I was a little girl." Snow insisted with a spark of hope in her eyes.

"Humf! That was years ago!" Grumpy protested with a groan.

"She changed before. Why can't she change back?" Belle asked, sharing the same hope as her friend.

"You can't be serious. You want to rehabilitate the Queen?" Red asked incredulous.

"Maybe showing her mercy is the first step." The Princess of Armithil answered tentatively. She turned to her side and looked at Rumpelstitlskin, who had been silent from the beginning of the meeting. He met her blue pleading eyes and sighed.

"Yes. But, if you fail, the entire safety of the kingdoms is at stake. We cannot take that risk." He looked at Belle, but everybody knew he was talking to Snow. The black-haired princess felt her heart sink. She had been afraid his silence would mean this, but had always hoped he would share his wife's opinion. Snow felt tremors in her body, as she looked at the faces of her friends, knowing nobody understood her except for Belle.

"You're so sure of her black soul? Sure enough to kill? Because there's no going back from killing!" She almost spat at Rumpelstiltskin. At everybody in general.

"You should say that to the people who lost their love ones because of her." The spinner coldly answered and Snow stared shocked at him. It was like if he had hit her right on her face. "I understand your compassion, but we are talking about a woman that managed to engage three kingdoms in a war because of a personal feud. Don't get me wrong Princess Snow White, but Armithil's people expect Belle and me to keep everybody safe. It's our responsibility. Many already died under the fire of Maleficent and the commands of King George because of Regina's manipulations. You ask if we are sure of her black soul? Well, I am! She destroyed villages. Killed thousands cold blooded. Just to get to you. Women, children, elderly. Now you go and tell their families to have mercy on her life."

An awkward silence filled the room. Rumpelstitlskin stared at his lap, not daring to meet Snow's eyes. Belle bit her under lip, trying to find something optimistic to say, but couldn't think of anything. Charming looked relieved with the spinner's words, while Grumpy and Granny looked like they were about to jump and cheer. Snow leaned back on her chair defeated. Rumpelstitlskin's words had hit the hardest. Because what he said was true. Snow White had seen with her own eyes the massacres of innocent people. She had witnessed the Queen's evil actions. But she also had once seen goodness in Regina. Alas, that woman had lost much and now she was gone. Snow realized, all she had done was convince herself that, as hard as Regina tried to bury this good woman, she was still inside of her. And all Regina needed was someone to help her let her out. To let the woman who had saved Snow's life go. Give a chance to start fresh. To leave the evil behind her cell. How many more chances would she give before Regina would finally kill her, Snow wondered. And then she bitterly realized.

"I understand now." Snow said, as she stood up, fighting her tears back, doing her best to look dignified and confident. "As long as Regina is alive in this world, she will never stop trying to hurt me. And she will use others to reach her goals. I cannot allow her to hurt anybody in my kingdom again. In anybody's kingdom."

"Then it's settled. By agreement of the Council of Leostille and Snowland, I hereby sentence Queen Regina to death. The sentence will be carried out tomorrow, after day break." Prince Charming concluded the meeting and all members silently left the room.

Regina leaned against the cold wall of her cell. The sun had set down and the world engulfed itself in darkness. Just like the Queen's black heart had engulfed itself in hopelessness. She knew in her bones she had lost. Suddenly, the fallen Queen turned her heard towards the cell door, when she heard steps coming closer, followed a light coming from a torch.

"I brought you dinner, your Majesty." A man's voice announced, his face hidden in the shadows. He carefully put the plate on the floor and pushed it inside the cell. As he did so, the light of the fire illuminated his face. Regina's brow furrowed.

"Do I know you?" She asked perplexed. There was something awfully familiar about his man.

"We met, some time ago." He said, while he stood up and shed enough light in the room for her to see his face clearly.

"You. You are that woodcutter!"

"Yes, the father of the children you sent to the Blind Witch."

"I sent you to the Infinite Forrest. I sent you all there! How is it possible?" Regina yelled outraged, clenching her hands around the iron bars, unable to understand how this simple-minded man had achieved what even powerful sorceresses had difficulty in.

"My daughter. I had given her my magical compass before we were separated. It always points to our loved ones." He explained proudly, exhibiting his most precious object. Regina released the bars and took a few steps back shocked. She had already connected the dots and one great mystery was finally uncovered.

"You found Prince Charming in the forest, didn't you?" The woodcutter nodded, while he placed the compass back in his pocket.

"I stumbled across him in the woods. When my children found us, I loaned him the compass. And so he found his way back to Snow White." Regina let herself fall on the hard bench and felt completely defeated. Zozo's words were now taunting her mind. "the woodcutter that never loses his way". It just wasn't fair.

"I supposed you came here to mock me. Watch the great Queen locked like an animal, waiting to be put down like an old dog." She bitterly said from the darkness.

"Actually… I was curious about something." Bram said a bit uncomfortably. "You said you had offered my children a life in the castle, with all they would ever ask for…why?" Regina grimaced at the man's confusion.

"I guessed I wanted a family. I wanted to… be loved." She sadly confessed. Bram shifted again uneasily and came closer to the iron bars.

"You know, you do have a family. With Snow White. I can assure you, your death sentence is weighting on her terribly." Regina grunted at his words and stood up again, to stand opposite the woodcutter.

"So they decided. Death. How surprising." She bitterly spoke.

"You might not believe it, but it was not easy for some of them. As I said, Snow is not the least happy with it. Neither is Belle. Even Rumpelstiltskin seems to regret his choice in sentencing you."

"Rumpelstiltskin, the dragon slayer." She spoke with venom, having hated the name from the day she first heard it, loathing him because he killed her friend and ally. "I wonder, what made him think I'm so evil that I deserve death?"

"Well, I'm not sure if it's the fact you transformed everybody in his village into stone or because you forced him to spin gold until he nearly fell dead." Regina's eyes opened wide when the words were outspoken. All the air left her lungs and she felt her heart leap. For the first time she had a face to accompany the ridiculous name. The image of the scared and feeble spinner appeared in her mind. The man she used for an experiment and never had bothered to ask for his name.

"No! Rumpelstitlskin is the spinner I made the deal?" Suddenly all the pieces came together. "H-He's…Belle's true love!" So she had unknowingly brought the only person who could break Maleficent's curse to her castle. She had brought disgrace upon her friend and herself. Fate had truly a strange kind of humor and seemed to plot against her.

The spinner that can spin straw into gold,

the girl that rules a man's world

and the woodcutter that never loses his way;

are the key for the destruction of Maleficent and Regina's downfall.

Regina felt an unwelcome chill run down her spine as Zozo's words echoed in her mind. As the Seer's prophecy hit her with almighty power. She had lost because Fate wanted her to lose. The future was already decided and there had been nothing she could have done to prevent it. Zozo himself had said he merely took advantage of the situation. And for the first time in ages, Regina truly felt sorry for herself and wondered what she had done to deserve such cruelty.

"M-May I ask you something else?" Bram brought the conflicted Queen back to reality. She stared at him with empty eyes, too tired to scorn of bark at his simple curiosity.

"What is it now?"

"What did Snow White do for you to hate her so much?" He innocently asked. Regina blinked a few times and came closer to the woodcutter.

"W-What?"

"Well, she keeps telling you were good before, so I suppose she did something huge for you to change so radically." He with a sincere and natural wonder.

Regina stared at him in pure puzzlement. She had become used to people question why she hated the princess so much; but never had anybody put in cause Snow's innocent ways. This man, however, seemed to know that the princess was the cause and reason to bring this hate upon her. He actually wanted to learn her version of the story. Regina found herself lost for words a long time. Could it be, that even after what she did to him and his children, he hadn't labeled her Evil, like the rest of the world did?

She stared at the man with incredibility . In the eve of her death, the most unexpected person appeared with the most unexpected question. And suddenly, Regina had the great urge of telling him everything that happened, of making her last confession and opening her broken heart one last time before darkness would cover her eyes.

I will be away for a while, in holiday which means that I won't be able to post any stories/chapters in the following 2 weeks. Sorry for the long wait and the typical tourturous cliffhanger, but as soon I'm back, I'll be writing again :)

Anyway, what are your thoughts for this chapter? Please review :)