Chapter Thirty-Nine: Coming Undone

Regina had not slept peacefully for over a week. Ever since her last therapy session (if she chose to call it that) with Archie, she had been in solitude within a secret room in her underground vault. Her hair was disheveled, her skin was very pale, her eyes were bloodshot, and her breath was foul. She was physically and emotionally unwell. What Archie, Jack, River, and David had done to her during the last session had lasting effects on her mental state. Every time she looked in the mirror, she saw a version of the Doctor – an elderly man with shoulder length, greyish-white hair and piercing brown eyes, a middle-aged man with dark curly hair and a ridiculously long, multi-colored scarf, and a man with close-cropped hair wearing a plain leather jacket.

Because these visions of men who were familiar and unfamiliar to her at the same time had haunted her for days and nights, Regina shattered every mirror in her secret room. Unfortunately for her, the visions didn't stop there. Creatures far beyond any ogre or dragon that she had seen in her time in the enchanted forest appeared before her. Daleks threatened to "exterminate" her and Cybermen warned that she would be "deleted." Then there were the Silurians – reptilian humanoids armed with guns and tongues that killed – and the Silence.

On the eighth day of Regina's turmoil, she was visited by one terrifying vision of a creature known as an "Ice Warrior." Just like the Silurians, it was reptilian and humanoid in origin, but it was much larger – standing up to seven feet tall – and bore "bio-armor" that matched its scaly skin and featured a half-face helmet with a red blast-screen over each eye. It spoke to her, addressing her as "Doctor" like all the creatures before it, in a whisper and a drawn-out hiss.

"You have been a nuissssance in our planssss for too long, Doctor. You are a cursssse to all life."

Regina held her hands over her ears to deafen the hissing of the Ice Warrior; she shut her eyes tight to avoid looking at the alien. Both actions proved futile – Regina still heard the Ice Warrior's hissing voice beneath her clasped ears and saw its form underneath her eyelids. She even smelled the creature, plaguing practically all of her senses. It drove her completely mad.

"You will perissssh, Doctor. Perissssh."

"Leave me alone! Dammit! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Regina."

The hiss of the Ice Warrior ceased and she suddenly heard a completely different voice that made her reopen her eyes and unclasp her ears. She saw her mother standing tranquilly before her. Tears flooding her eyes and sweat pouring out of her forehead, Regina shook her head at what her mind tried to convince her was her mother. "No…no…it's not you. You're not really here. It's another trick."

Cora shook her head. "It's no trick, my love. I am really here with you."

"No!"

"Regina, trust your feelings." Cora took her daughter's left hand and held it in hers. Feeling her mother's touch, Regina was stunned from a sense of familiarity – something that she hadn't felt for days. "You can sense that I'm here, can't you?"

"Mother?" Regina's breathing quailed as she fought to maintain focus on the true form of her mother. "How is it that you're here? How did you get through?"

"Determination." Cora answered. "I had to see you. I needed to tell you that I know why you sent me through the looking glass. And I know why you tried to have me killed. And it's…it's alright."

"I think it's not alright."

"I love you. I just…I've always shown it in all the wrong ways. And I never should have made you marry the king. I'm so sorry. When you cried over my coffin, it…it all changed."

Regina listened to every word of her mother's. It all sounded believable yet unbelievable at once. The confusion – combined with seven exhausting days of living in fear, paranoia, and other forms of mental torture – made Regina collapse right into her mother's arms. Both women went down to the floor and Cora cradled her withered daughter back and forth.

"I don't know who I am anymore, Mother. I…I see things. I see a life that's not mine, but…my mind…it makes me think that it is."

Cora grinned with recognition. "You used the soul transference spell. That's the one spell I never dared myself to use, because of the very thing you are going through now. Who did you use it on?"

"The Doctor."

Cora's face hardened from the revelation. "Well…that explains a lot, doesn't it?"

"I…I can't handle it anymore, Mother. The headaches…the sleepless nights…the visions…I want it all to go away, but I don't…I don't know how. I want my life back. I want my son back."

"Let me into your heart. Together, we can get back everything you hold dear."

"How?"

"Oh, I have a few thoughts. But you must first be willing to make the journey."

"The journey to where?"

"To killing the Doctor."