A/N: Trigger warnings: possible rape flashbacks and mentions, no graphic detail

Chapter 14

"You've given my daughter hope again. I thank you for that. I am glad that you consented to being my wife. Snow needs someone who will be there for her now that her mother is gone. I cannot do it, because I have to run the kingdom."

"I understand, Majesty," Snow felt herself reply, but it was Regina's voice that answered.

Leopold came closer to her. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked down into her eyes. She smiled up at him, but Snow wasn't feeling the admiration or love that she had for her father. She was feeling Regina's fear, her heartbreak and the pain of knowing that Daniel was dead. He gave her a weak smile.

"I think that I should go, now. I'll let you get used to be here before I come to you, my Queen. One day, I hope that you can see what I see in you," Leopold told her as he left.

Snow's mind was racing. She was reliving Regina's memories as Regina. She felt a hand touch her forehead and she blinked back into the present. She saw Rhiannon and the lifeless body of Regina in the tub. She gasped, quiet loud, and then scooted across the massive bathroom floor until she hit the wall farthest away from the tub.

"Don't look so amazed, Majesty. You have only done what she asked, but now, I need your help. Can you help me lift her? I would like to put her on the bed. It will make the next part of her transition easier," Rhiannon told her.

Numbly, Snow moved. She watched the taller Celtic woman moving, never once straying from her path. Snow helped her put Regina on the bed. They laid her out on the left side of the bed upon some towels that Rhiannon had already laid out.

"She's dead. What good can you do for her? You know that magic can't bring her back."

"Not the type of magic that you know, no it can't. But, the magic that I have is different. It is healing her from the inside out. She isn't completely dead. She is just mostly dead."

Snow looked at her again, her head to the side. She didn't know what the woman wanted but Regina was dead. She was breathing and it was her fault. It was just then that another pain ran through her heart and she hit the floor hard. She pushed away from the sight in her mind but couldn't make it go away.

Emma and Ruby heard the thud from upstairs and ran up to see what it was. They burst through the door way to see the scene before them unraviling. Snow was next to the wall between the wardrobe and Regina's dressing table. She looked bewildered and devastated at the same time. Her blue eyes were shaking and the tears that were forming were refusing to fall.

Emma took in the sight before turning to her bed. She saw the lifeless body of Regina, laid out like she was on display for mourning. She didn't understand why Regina wasn't moving or why she wet. Then she saw that Rhiannon was standing over her with one hand on her heart and the other on her head. She was mumbling under her breath the phrase repeatedly.

Ruby left Emma's side to go to Snow. She tried to gather Snow up in her arms, but she pushed her away with a very determined force. Ruby turned back to Emma, who had suddenly found herself in a living nightmare.

Emma raised her weapon and pointed it at Rhiannon, "What did you do?"

Rhiannon didn't answer. She continued her chanting over the water logged body of Regina. She actually seemed completely oblivious to everything around her. Her eyes, when Emma could finally see them, weren't blue, but they were this ethereal white like all the color had disappeared. Emma cocked her head, but didn't make a move to lower her pistol.

"I killed her," Snow said faintly.

Ruby's expression changed. She studied her friend and then Emma, the daughter of her friend who was also her friend. The look that Emma shot her was one of pure and unfiltered rage, pain and love mixed. Ruby put herself between them, knowing that at the moment, Emma was liable to do something she would completely regret in the morning.

"You what?!"

"Emma…" Ruby started in warning, arching her body, preparing for a fight she didn't want.

"She asked me."

Emma's mouth dropped. She stared at her mother in disbelief and then at the body on her bed. She sank to her knees and began rocking. Her mind and her heart breaking at once, her hand dropped and Ruby took the pistol from her.

Ruby watched the scene unfolding before her. She didn't know what to do. Regina was dead. Snow was confessing to murdering her. Rhiannon was doing something over the body and Emma was…well, Emma was useless.

Ruby started to lift Snow up off the floor. She would take her to the jail herself, to save Emma from arresting her own mother. Just as she got Snow to her feet, she heard Snow gasp as she looked at the body of Regina. Ruby turned to see the blue eyes of her friend betray her as the tears began to drift down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Regina. I didn't know. I would have stopped him, if I'd known," Snow told her, trying to get to the bed.

Emma came to a little and bore a hole into her mother with her eyes. She stood up, crossed the room and stopped next Ruby. Ruby still had a hold on Snow, who was slowly moving herself to the bed and Regina. Emma's anger was rolling off of her in wave after wave.

"What are you talking about?" Emma demanded.

"If I'd known…I'm sorry…Forgive me," Snow said, falling to the floor again.

Rhiannon stopped chanting and turn around to survey the room. She was a little surprised that Emma and Ruby had joined them, but she knew that it would help with her task. She bent down to Snow and tipped her head back with a finger under her chin.

"Can you walk?"

"Yes," she replied.

"Good. Come over here with me. We aren't done. She's is almost ready," Rhiannon told Snow as she ignored Emma and Ruby like they were just spectators to the events.

She pulled Snow around to the other side of the bed and had her lay down. Emma almost lost herself, but Ruby stopped her with her hand. Ruby made it a point for her to see her sniffing the air and smelling the magics in the room. Emma then tried to do the same and swore she could faintly smell something. Snow blindly did was Rhiannon begged. She lay down beside the body of Regina. Rhiannon took her hand and placed it over Regina's.

As Rhiannon got them in position, she mounted the bed and got between them. She watched as Snow squeezed Regina's hand with her own. She knelt between them and placed a hand on each of their hearts. She began to chant again in a language that no one else understood.

Snow woke up in pain. She knew the room she was in wasn't hers. It was the Queen's. It was Regina's. She sat up slowly and stared into the closet mirror. She was Regina again, in her past.

She could feel every pained muscle. She felt the unwanted dampness between her legs, but she was afraid to investigate. She didn't want know more than she already did.

"Get up, Dear. This is no way to spend your days. You are Queen, now. Act like it," Cora told her, pulling back the curtains and letting the light of day wash over the room.

"You didn't stop him?"

"Why would I, Dear? He is your husband. He is allowed to your body."

Snow was aghast. How could she have not seen this as a child? Regina had been unhappy. She hadn't asked for the marriage. She hadn't asked to become mother to a teenager, when she herself was still a teen. She hadn't asked for the all the unwanted advances of King Leopold.

"But, he…he…"

"He can't, Dear. He is your husband and it is his rite. Besides, you will have to provide him with an heir unless you want that tattle-telling brat to take the throne from you," Cora told her.

"Snow?"

"Yes, she could be your undoing, Darling. I have done all of this for you, so you could be queen and now, you are. You can thank me later for it, but I promise that you will find your so called happiness now. You have all the power in the land. People will cower to you," Cora explained.

"I don't want power. I don't care about being Queen. I want love. I want Daniel."

"The boy is dead. And, it doesn't matter about love, my Dear. Love is nothing but weakness."

Snow gasped. Ruby held Emma back from the bed. She didn't know enough about what was going on, but she knew that Rhiannon was trying to save them both. Emma would just have to wait and believe. Both of which Ruby knew that Emma wasn't keen on doing.

"Everything is my fault," Snow said to the ceiling.

"If I hadn't told Cora about Daniel, none of this would have happened. Regina would have found her happiness and I would have been able to raise my daughter without consequence. That is all you ever wanted, wasn't it, Regina? You were just looking for your happiness."

Emma watched as her mother broke further and more completely on the bed. Her heart ached for her mother, but the anger that her mother had destroyed Regina was clouding her emotions. She didn't know what to do. But, Snow wasn't done telling them the awful truth.

"I was a child. I didn't know any better. I thought I was helping you, but instead, I am the reason that you became evil. If I had just kept my mouth shut. If I had just listened to what you were telling me, but I didn't. I couldn't. I was lonely and I wanted a mother. You saved me. You risked your life for me and how did I repay you? I was the reason that your happiness was crushed. I have seen the devastation of that night through your eyes. I am sorry.

"I didn't know what my father was doing, because I was too absorbed in getting what I wanted. He indulged me and you tried to be friend. You hid the fact that Daniel was dead, by telling me he'd run away. You tried to protect me even though it was my fault. I don't understand. Why would you do something like that? Especially for me? What did I do to deserve your love?

"And, then, after all the chances, after all the times that I set you free because somewhere in my heart I could still see the good in you. I could feel it in you. I tried to give you what you wanted. I tried to help you find your happiness, but I was too naïve to realize that it was dead. Your heart was broken and every time you saw me happy, it was like a knife to the heart.

"I don't blame you, Regina. I forgive you. I understand now the devastation and humiliation that I caused you. We are equally to blame for my daughter's upbringing. I cannot wholly blame you for that. I see that now. I forgive you. Now, wake up and look up at my daughter and find your happy ending. I release you of yours bonds and hereby fully royally pardon you of the crimes against me and my family. Wake up and love with a restored heart," Snow stated.

Emma blinked back tears that she hadn't known had formed. She felt Ruby relax beside her as they neared the bed. Emma took up Regina's other hand and held it. She stared down at the lifeless body, ignoring the chanting and Rhiannon, and she swore that she felt Regina's hand move in her own.

She leaned forward and kissed Regina on the mouth before telling her, "I love you."

Everyone in the room gasped as Regina and Snow's bodies both arched up off the bed. Another wave of blinding light passed through the room. Their bodies hit the bed with enough force that the bed sagged heavily before returning to its natural state. Rhiannon leaned back onto her heels and looked at them. Emma held her breath waiting for Regina to open her eyes.

"Tell her what you need to, Snow. She can hear you. Tell her the words she needs," Rhiannon told her, removing her hands from their chests.

"Regina, wake up. I've pardoned you. I forgive you. I just want the woman back who was my friend before my father died. I want that Regina back. I would give anything to see her, again."

"Anything?" Emma asked.

Snow could see the pain in her daughter's eyes. She knew what Regina needed to hear, but she was scared to say it. Too many times had she been burned by Regina, but that was before…before Emma healed her heart, before she realized that Emma was her true love and before she knew the truth behind the pain she always saw in Regina's eyes. She knew then what she had to do. She'd forgiven her, she pardoned her, but she was still holding something back.

"Princess Regina Mills of the Winterlands, I hereby as Queen of the Enchanted Forest and the Summerlands, due rightfully and without prejudice pardon you of the crimes against this crown and its people. I free you from your bondage and unbind you from your magical shackles. But most importantly, I give you my blessing to be with my daughter, your true love."

They all gasped as Regina's eyes fluttered open.