I am back from my refreshing holidays! The waiting has ended ;)

Thank you for your reviews: Megumisakura, Usio-Amamiya, Grace5231973, Nami Swannn, thedoctorsgirl42, Twyla Mercedes, joyce V, MavenMontagony, ShadowAuthor435

I do not own Once Upon a Time

Chapter 69 - day 82: Regrets

"She told a secret." Regina began. She sat on the cold stone bench and stared at the shadows born from the woodcutter's torch dancing in the floor. "An important secret." Her voice was a mere murmur and the Evil Queen closed her eyes. Old painful memories transported her back to a time when life was easy and happiness was all that existed. "Many years ago, I knew love. True love. I loved a man called Daniel and we were perfect for each other. But my mother…well, she couldn't see that. Daniel was the stable boy and I was the daughter of a prince. My mother longed for power. She always did. She always wanted to be queen but it never happened. So, my mother decided my fate. She would do anything to make sure I would become queen." Regina gasped as the image of an uncontainable horse running in a terrible speed with a child on it screaming for help flashed before her eyes. "The Queen had died and the King mourned. One day, he and his royal court were wandering in the woods close to my parent's lands. My mother wanted to impress the King so he would wish to marry me. And she knew me so well, she knew exactly what I would do. My mother used magic on Snow White's horse and before I knew it, I was ridding behind the frenzied beast and saved the little girl from certain death." Regina missed the glint in Bram's eyes as he subconsciously nodded, finally understanding Snow's convictions. "That afternoon the King asked me in marriage and that evening I was to flee with Daniel. Unlikely my mother, I had no desire for power. All I wanted was freedom. I wanted to be able to choose my own future, my own fate. A life of simplicity at the side of the man I loved. And then Snow White found us." Regina could feel cold chills run through her body. The image of a small girl crying because the woman to become her stepmother was trading her father for another man. "Snow already loved me." Regina bitterly spoke, her voice cracked at the realization. "She was such a small thing. Had just lost her mother she loved so dearly. Yet, she already loved me as her new mother." The Evil Queen wiped some tears that had involuntarily escaped from her eyes. "I told her the truth. I opened my heart to her and told her the truth about Daniel and me. About our dreams and our plan. I made her promise to keep it a secret. I insisted she could never tell it to my mother. Especially, my mother."

"But she told it, nevertheless." Bram finished and Regina nodded.

"My mother came at night to the stall. Daniel and I were about to leave." Regina had to control herself not to release painful sobs as she watched the memory of her mother rip her true love's heart out of his chest. "She killed him. She killed Daniel!" There was a heavy silence in the tallest tower of Leostille's castle. The only sound that broke the silence was once and a while a muffed sniff. Bram stood in front of the iron bars and watched with pity Regina struggling with her emotions. "That's why I hate Snow White so much! She couldn't keep her mouth shut! The silly girl actually thought she was doing me a favor. Thought she was saving me from the pain of losing my mother. Instead I lost Daniel!" The soft sobbing subsided and the thick silence returned to the cold rocks on the walls. There was a long silence. Regina's heart hurt for having lost everything that was ever dear to her. And all she had wanted with Snow's dead was to ease a bit of this pain. "All I wanted was to win. Just once." She murmured defeated. She was tired. Remembering and recounting the past had brought too many old memories back to life, too many intense feelings back to her soul. She remembered being happy. She remembered being betrayed. Cold anger and an endless thirst for revenge was all that was left over.

"With all due respect, your Majesty..." Bram said, while he shifted a bit, so he could look better at the Queen. "…it's your mother you should be angry with. Not Snow." Regina's eyes darkened. This man had the nerve. She should have known, even after opening her heart completely, this simple-minded woodcutter couldn't understand the pain the girl had inflicted in her.

"My mother always wanted what was the best for me!"

"Really? Is that why she decided your future for you? Is that why she killed your true love and whored you for a king? I am sorry to disagree with you, m'lady. But the way I see it, your mother was a heartless bitch that used her own daughter as a puppet to achieve her own goals and desires for power." Bram spoke in his typical blunt manner, but his words pierced Regina's heart and echoed in her mind. How dared he speak of her mother this way? She breathed fast of anger and wanted to scream at him the words that would counter his accusation, but could not find any.

"My mother loved me!" She finally shouted, her chest burning of rage at the unfair accusations of this common-peasant

"If anybody ever loved you in this whole tale you just told me was Snow White. Do you know how difficult it is for a child to get over her mother's death? Do you know how infrequent a child will accept a strange woman to take her mother's place willingly? It's almost impossible, I assure you."

"If she loved me so much, why did she tell my mother the secret?" Regina screamed insanely, throwing herself to the cell's door, gripping the iron bars with her long fingers like claws. Her head was stuck between the bars and her fiery eyes were locked on the woodcutter's.

"She was a child! You don't tell secrets to a child! It's difficult for an adult to keep one, even more a child. Besides, the girl told it with good intentions. She had no idea of what your mother was capable of. If the girl knew how horrible your mother was, she never would have told your secret to her. Don't you see it? Your mother is the problem! She is insane…has no soul." The man spat back, starting to feel annoyed by the Queen's blindness and stubbornness.

"Because of Snow, I lost Daniel." Regina choked between salty tears.

"You should stop looking at what you lost and value what you have. Snow White still loves you. She is still the little girl seeking a new mother." Bram concluded and took a step back, preparing to exit the tower.

"Snow doesn't love me." Regina bitterly replied.

"Then why do you think she keeps giving you new chances?" Bram said. Regina stared at him with widened eyes and with no answer to that question. He shook his head disappointed. "Stop looking at what you lost." And with these words, the woodcutter exited the tower.

Regina watched the man leave in silence, words dead on her mouth. She watched the light of the torch slowly fade away, until her cell was swallowed by darkness. Silence was all that was left. And Regina wondered if this was how death felt.

Snow White sat on the edge of the main hall's balcony. She had tried to sleep, but her mind was too restless. She looked at the courtyard below. In only some hours the sun would rise and Regina would be no more. She still had a hard time accepting her decision. Reason told her she had to. For the sake of the kingdoms. But her heart told her it was the wrong thing to do. Taking a live was an unforgivable crime. And as each second stretched itself beyond eternity, she wondered more and more if she could go through with the death sentence.

"Having trouble in paradise?" Snow startled at the male's voice behind her, even if it was soft and barely a whisper. "I'm sorry, dearie. Didn't mean to startle you." Rumpelstitlskin apologized with a smile. He looked at the empty place next to her, a silent request that was conceded.

"No, nothing of the kind." Snow said with a sad smile. "I just can't sleep. I could stare hours at the face of my sleeping Prince Charming, but I know the moment he would wake up, he would sense my trouble. I don't want to worry him."

"Same with me." He confessed with a sigh. Both sat silently, lost in their common thoughts. Rumpelstitlskin looked at the tower, knowing the Queen was in there, facing her last hours alone in the dark. "It's not right, is it?" Even if he didn't elaborate further, Snow knew exactly what he meant, so she shook her head. "Taking a life is a horrible thing. But when I see the faces of the dead. The haunted look in the eyes of the living. The destruction of villages and cities. I fear she will do it all again. Or worse."

"I know. I fear that too. That's why she has to die." Snow whispered regrettably, she too staring at the tower.

"A necessary prevention." Rumpelstitlskin sadly concluded.

Two guards escorted the Evil Queen to the middle of the courtyard. A crowd had gathered to watch the sentence being carried out and had grown from small to large the last past hour. Snow White and Prince Charming sat on their thrones, Belle and Rumpelstitlskin next to them, as well as the other notable members of their Council. Regina walked straight and dignified. Her hair was caught in a long black braid, her face clean of any make up, her dress poor, gray and simple of cut. Yet, she still managed to irradiate nobility and beauty. Her face was expressionless, her emotions concealed beneath a mask of impassivity. The two guards chained her to a pole, while a line of guards armed with bows stood in front of her, ready to shoot when their Prince would give the order.

"Regina. This is your opportunity to meet your end with a clear conscience. Do you have any last words?" Jiminy Cricket asked, in one last attempt to save the soul of this lost woman. Regina was quiet for a moment. She looked at Snow White. She could see the young princess too wore a mask of coolness. But her eyes denounced her pains, her fears, her pure heart. Regina's dark eyes moved onto Charming, Belle and recognized the spinner she had tormented not so long ago. How the tables had turned. Her eyes finally went to the crowd. She read in the people's eyes anger, hate, fear. Feelings the Evil Queen loved evoking in people. Feelings the younger Regina would have rejected and disapproved. Her eyes suddenly met the woodcutter. For a second her mask of impassivity fell, as she was reminded of his recent words. She had been haunted by them the whole night. She still could hear them in her head, right now. Her gaze finally returned to the small green insect.

"Yes. Yes, I do." She spoke low and Jiminy Cricket flew away to give her space. She hesitated but finally faced the crowd. "I know I'm being judged for my past. A past where I've caused pain, a past where I've inflicted misery, a past where I've… Even brought death." She paused feeling nervous and took a deep breath to gain courage to speak out the next words. "When I look back at everything I've done, I want you all to know what I feel. And that is… Regret." Some gasps in the crowd were heard. Snow White bended forward to see Regina's face better, her eyes denouncing desperate hope. "Regret that I was not able to see what I had. To treasure and value the love I kept receiving unconditionally. Regret that I was blinded by pain and obsessed by what I lost. But most of all, I regret blaming the source of my pain in the wrong person." Regina turned her gaze for the first time to Snow White, her dark eyes watery and sincere. The raven haired princess stood up and watched with expectation as the older woman continued her speech. "I am sorry, Snow White. That I wasn't able to see earlier. That it was you who had always loved me and sough for my love. And I denied it from you. I denied love to a motherless child because I was angry with my own mother. I didn't want to accept, to admit it was all my mother's fault, so I blamed all my misery, my pains and sorrow on you. That, my little princess, is what I regret the most."

Regina finished her broken discourse caused by her sobs and cracked voice. She closed her eyes, releasing thick hot tears and prepared to hear her last verdict. Prince Charming was speechless. He didn't know what to do. He looked hesitantly at the guards staring at him, waiting for his command. He looked at Snow White and saw the tears in her eyes, the smile of hope, relief and happiness in her lips.

"Undo the sentence." Rumpelstiltskin suddenly told Charming while he stood up. More gasps and mutterings were heard from the crow. Regina shot her head in shock at the direction of the spinner. After all she did to him, he was willing to give her another chance. "Undo the sentence!" He spoke more loudly and urgently. Grumpy stood up looking wild and furious.

"He cannot undo the sentence! She killed thousands! She'll kill thousands more!"

"Rumpelstitlskin is right!" Belle stood up and came in her husband's defense. "Didn't you hear her? She regrets! Truly."

"She regrets now that she is tied to a pole with arrows pointed at her heart." The dwarf contested.

"No! Her words were true. Her words came from her heart." Snow White interrupted them. "This was not the Evil Queen speaking. It was Regina. The princess that once saved me." Again the people of the crowd were shocked by the words coming from their beloved princess. Bram was one of the few smiling among them. He watched as Regina almost broke at Snow White's words and fought to not to sob uncontrollably.

"Guards, at ease. Remove your weapons, please." Snow commanded and crossed the courtyard.

"Snow! No! It's a trap." Prince Charming yelled, afraid the Queen was deceiving all of them.

"You don't know her like I do." The raven haired princess replied. She reached Regina and looked into her dark brown orbs. She could read the regret in them. She could read the guiltiness and shame. She started untying the knots.

"Snow, stop. I don't deserve…please." Regina uttered teary.

"I always knew there was a good woman inside of you. I've been waiting for her return for so many years. And today, for the first time in a long time, I see her in your eyes." Snow said smiling sweetly, untying Regina completely. The world watched shocked as the princess exposed herself completely to danger. She was unprotected and vulnerable to any attack the Queen would come up with. Prince Charming jumped from his chair to the courtyard, guards were already running to the women, people screamed of fear. But then, everybody halted when, instead of striking the good princess dead, the Queen fell to her feet, crying desperately, muttering over and over how sorry she was.

"She regrets. She truly does." Grumpy spoke low and with great wonder.

Belle and Rumpelstitlskin switched accomplice smiles and held their hands together. Jiminny Cricked and Blue sighed relieved at the turn of events. Red smiled tenderly, while her grandmother wiped the tears of her elderly eyes, just like the seven dwarves. Bram laughed happily, his children hugging him along with Baelfire and Humbert, already celebrating the Queen's redemption.

Regina and Snow sat on the dusty floor, holding each other tightly, both crying. Of regret. Of forgiveness. Of happiness. Regina was back. The Evil Queen had died.

Hope you liked this chapter.

The next one will be the final chapter of this story. I'm ending it with a nice round number (70 chapters) as I've written all the adventures I had to write about the characters in this story.

Please review :)