Killian's Inferno

Chapter Twenty

Inside Regina's mind…

Regina appeared in the woods behind a tree within a cloud of purple smoke just in time to watch as a giant snow monster, somehow conjured up by an unknown enemy, attacked Marian as she tried to defend herself with a bow and arrow by knocking her to the ground and as she struggled to sit up, Regina slowly walked out in front of the monster, standing between him and the woman that Regina despised for coming between her and her happiness with the man she loved.

The Queen looked back at the others behind Marian, all of whom had been knocked unconscious, then glared down at Marian as the woman pleaded, "Please… help me."

Regina looked up at the ice monster while it watched the newcomer as if waiting to see if she would attack it as well, then turned back to the woman still on the ground and smiled cruelly as she replied, "I'm afraid I can't do that this time, Marian. I am after all the monster you think I am."

"No!" Marian cried out as Regina suddenly disappeared again the same way she came in, then gasped as the man of ice raised its giant foot and stomped down hard, killing the young woman from another time instantly.

The Queen immediately reappeared behind the snowman and used her magic to make it turn into nothing more than snowflakes, leaving behind nothing, but a few small piles of snow on the ground, then nervously looked over again at the people she had just started to come to care for as they slowly began to come to.

"Marian?" Robin called out upon waking up a few moments later and finding that his wife was nowhere in sight as she had been before they had been knocked out. "Marian!"

Emma struggled to stand again with Hook's help as she looked over at the archer and responded, "Don't worry, Robin. We'll find her. She couldn't have gotten far."

Without stepping forward, Regina spoke up saying, "I'm afraid that you won't."

"Won't what?" David asked sternly as he and the others all turned to look at the Queen in confusion. "Find Marian?"

"Why not?" Robin asked quickly. "Is she alright?"

Regina stared at him sadly, knowing that what she was about to say would mean losing him forever, then answered coolly, "I'm afraid not. She's dead. I came to try to help, but I… I was too late. That monster killed Marian before I could stop it."

Emma read the woman's facial expressions and realized that she wasn't telling them the truth, so she replied worryingly, "You're lying. What aren't you telling us?"

"Don't you think you've caused enough trouble for me, Miss. Swan?" the Queen asked angrily as she glared at the woman also responsible for ruining everything. "If you and your pirate boyfriend didn't bring her back here from the past in the first place, then Marian would have died back when she was supposed to and none of this would be happening. But no, you had to go and mess everything up. And this is the consequence."

"Regina, please tell me that you didn't…" Emma tried again as she slowly began to move closer until she was cut off.

The Queen interrupted, "Do you really want to know what happened? You're right, I am lying. And it turns out that Marian was right about me after all. I am a monster through and through. I arrived just as that snow beast attacked her and knocked her to the ground, but she would have been fine if I had interfered. I didn't. Marian stood in the way of my happiness and I wanted her dead. I'm sorry, Robin. But you were wrong when we spoke earlier in my office. You were wrong about everything. I am the Evil Queen, whom I have missed, for so, so long."

Robin looked at her in anger and despair until she whisked herself away in a cloud of smoke, leaving the archer, as well as Emma, Hook, and Charming behind to try to grasp the reality that the Evil Queen was really back and that Storybrooke was soon going to be in for far more danger than that of whoever it was who conjured up the snow monster.

When Regina returned to her vault, she immediately changed her appearance to something more suitable to the woman she really was, then turned to face the mirror she kept close as she called out, "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, who is the fairest one of all?"

"I believe you already know my answer to that, my Queen," Sidney responded with a cold smile on his face as he appeared within the glass. "Snow White will always be fairer than you, as will her daughter because of their goodness, but somehow I gather that isn't the reason why you have summoned me this time. I love your new look by the way."

"Thank you," she answered haughtily. "And no, I didn't bring you here to feed on my vanity."

The man in the mirror looked at her as he asked, "So what is it you wish of me now? I have seen that you have already gotten rid of that woman Marian yourself. And as you've finally returned to your evilness, I imagine you have something else wonderful cooking up in that twisted mind of yours. Shall I kill the Savior for you? After all, she is the one responsible for bringing that woman back from the past in the first place and making you miserable."

Regina snarled and replied, "Her and that filthy pirate who thinks he's become a hero like the rest of them. I'm not miserable, not anymore. I may have lost the man I love once again, but I fooled myself into believing that I could be happy trying to be as good as the rest of these people in this blasted town. I was never more wrong. And now I am finally back to being who I am meant to be. It feels wonderful!"

"I am happy to hear you say that," Sidney responded as he smiled at the woman in front of him. "I feared that you would never release me from that prison down in the loony bin. So again, what is it you wish for me to do for you?"

"What else?" the Evil Queen answered smugly. "I am going to make each and every one of those heroes suffer for crossing me one too many times. And we'll begin… with the Savior. I want her to learn what happens when she messes with time itself. I'm going to take away her happiness by killing Hook, just as she destroyed my chance to love Robin. Then, I will kill her, which will make Snow White and Prince Charming suffer as well."

Sidney asked again, "Would you like me to kill the pirate for you? You know I am an excellent assassin."

Regina smiled as she turned to the mixed ingredients on the table behind her, then spoke up again saying cruelly, "No, in fact I have something much better. Do you suppose you could still reopen my sister's time portal? I wish to go back to collect someone who will help me to tear them both apart first. Sidney, I need you to show me the moment that Captain Hook lost his first love and Rumpelstiltskin's wife, Milah. She may have died, and I can still see to it that she does for both men so that their own pasts don't change, but I will need her here in this time too. She will be integral to my plan. Emma brought back Robin's past love, so I will bring back his."