Chapter Thirteen~

3rd person POV

It was the middle of the night. The storm had stopped, so Regina used this time to walk the streets of Storybrooke. It was empty, silent, and the perfect place for thinking.

She had driven to the town line an hour ago, and for forty five minutes just sat there in her car, working up the courage to press down the gas and leave.

But something stopped her.

She never pressed down the pedal.

Instead, she had gotten out of the car, walking all the way back to town, where she now was pacing past Granny's, trying not to freeze in the cold.

She couldn't leave. What had she been thinking, really? What good would that do her? What good would that do Emma?

Regina had realized something as she stood in the rain facing the love of her life. She was scared. She had been scared since the moment she opened her eyes in the hospital. In fact, if she could remember, Regina felt certain that she would remember being scared since the first moment after birth.

Fear had controlled her life, contorting her thoughts and twisting her decisions. Fear was a dangerous emotion. It made your demons seem huge, and your angels seem so small. It was so easy to get lost in the world of shadows… so easy to become a coward.

That was why Regina was running. Not because she didn't want to hurt Emma (although of course that was also a reason). But because she was so damn terrified.

Regina drew in a sharp breath, filling her lungs with the ice-cold air, almost smiling at the fact that it burned because that meant that she could still feel.

She looked around her, studying the town as it slept in the dark of night.

She had been so silly, so stupid. What was there to fear, truly? She was done being afraid. She had made up her mind. First thing in the morning, she would go back to her car, drive it back to Storybrooke and spend the rest of her life here.

And, if Emma didn't hate her now, she'd go back and tell her how much she meant to her and beg her for forgiveness.

She smiled a little with her plan, but the smile soon turned sour. Of course she wouldn't forgive her. Regina had broken her heart.

With that final thought, Regina broke down, her knees landing on the pavement and her tights splitting open.

Oh god, what had she done?

Her tears rained down her face, burning her skin with their raging emotions.

Her soul was full of broken glass, her heart aching so deeply she figured it was beyond prepare.

With a loud sob, she screamed out into the cold, unforgiving night, "Why is this happening to me?"

And she got an answer. "I told you before, deary," said a high-pitched Irish drawl. "It's what you wished for."

Regina whipped around, squinting to see in the dark. Her eyes adjusted, and a well-dressed man holding a cane stood in front of her.

"Who are you?"

He giggled. "Things didn't work out as you'd planned, did they?"

"What are you talking about?" Regina was suddenly angry, her words aimed at the man like poison darts.

He walked closer to her, his cane hitting the cement and echoing throughout the darkness. He held out a hand, helping you to Regina feet.

"Regina," he said, "I've known you for years, and throughout all of them you have never been happy. You've let your fears control you. I was in a similar situation, until I found a certain girl that made my entire world seem okay. I waited for years for you to find yours…. We all thought Robin would be that person, but I couldn't see any chance of happiness in your eyes. I didn't see that spark until Emma came along.

"Emma changed your world. For the first time, you seemed happy. But there was still fear there. A few short days before your wedding, you asked me to grant you a wish. You were scared, you see, just like you are now. You were scared that you weren't the right person for Emma. You had put her through so much… you had put yourself through so much. And you didn't think that was fair. So you asked me to give you and Emma a new chance. You asked me to let the two of you start over and find love again, in better circumstances. You thought that this would finally make you happy."

The truth hit her like a revelation. "But that didn't make me happy, did it? Because I have to make my own happiness. My happiness was there the whole time, I was just letting my fears blind me."

The mysterious man smiled and nodded. "Exactly."

A rush of visions started spinning through her head. It was like other moments she had experienced…. It was as if memories from the back of her mind were approaching the front, and she could almost reach them, almost touch them, almost remember them again…. She stumbled backwards, and Rumple caught her arm to steady her. He smiled broadly.

"What's happening?" Regina asked. The visions still whirred around her head, making her dizzy and blinding her.

"I set a curse on you on you wedding day," he said. "Us villain, we deserve our happy endings too, don't we? I was helping you, Regina. You thought that my little spell would make you happy. So instead I made it a curse. A curse that could only be broken once you realized what true happiness was."

He released her arms, and as his words set in, the memories hit her like a blizzard.

It was like a bolt of electricity rushing through her veins.

The memories soared through her body, flooding her mind, taking her breath away and again making her lose balance and topple over onto the pavement.

They overwhelmed her, overjoyed her, again filled her up with all the beauty all the joy all the sorrow and all the pain that made up life.

She let out another sob.

"What's wrong Regina?" asked Rumple. Hadn't the spell worked? Wasn't she supposed to be happy now?

Regina looked up at him, tears staining her pretty face and flooding over her glistening eyes. "I remember," she said. "I remember everything."

All that was left now was to tell Emma.