Her wrists were turning black, blue, grey, purple, and green.
A little bit of blood had clotted on the top of her left wrist.
And there were scratches and bruises on her chest.
It hurt to move.
It hurt to be touched in general.
She hated it.
There was something about the helpless feeling that she was experiencing now that not only infuriated her, but terrified her. It was all too familiar. At the same time, it had been a completely foreign sensation. There was something about that moment which had brought back some of the worst memories of her childhood. The pain. The weight of someone much stronger than herself pinning her down. The yelling. The primal urge to fight back, but only physically. The voice of her mother had been haunting her ever since. Useless. Worthless. Unmarriageable. It made her sick, it made it even harder for her to find it in her to get out of bed. Everything had been such a haze. She was aware that she was alive, that she was still functioning, but it felt like she was also just barely holding on. There were only two moments where she had felt alive, fully. When she had written out her ultimatum to Snow and had it sent to Leah and Stefan, whom she was certain were still hiding her, no matter what they said, and when she had been with Lynn.
Lynn was asleep, now.
She wasn't sure how many days it had been, if any at all.
What she did know was that she was in severe pain, and completely and utterly miserable.
Almost worse, she had been in and out of consciousness. She hated it. Every single time it happened, she felt completely out of it when she came to. She was seeing things, things that made no sense. It was just a dream, she told herself, but it felt quite the opposite. A parallel life, of sorts, seemed to be there, and it terrified her. Glanced over to her daughter, curled up happily beside her, sound asleep. Regina shivered a bit, pulled a blanket further over herself, and shifted onto her side. Everything still hurt, but slightly less so. She closed her eyes, but tried to clear her thoughts. She couldn't. They all came back around to the dreams. They didn't make even the slightest bit of sense. But, in all of them, some things were the same. Some things were always consistent among them. Perhaps that, she told herself, was why they felt to be a parallel life. There was no such thing. This was her life. There was nothing else, not unless she allowed for it.
The thoughts persisted.
She gave in. There was no use fighting them.
They might as well try to be understood.
What was always consistent was that these dreams were in the same place, though it was so different from anywhere she had ever seen. There were these odd looking things on odd looking roads that people moved in. They all looked familiar, but dressed so strangely. A couple of them, she recognised. A bar maid of sorts looked like the enigmatic woman her daughter had grown so attached to. A man under what appeared to be a sleeping curse was in an odd room with more oddly dressed people, and odd things attached to him. He looked like the man now in the dungeons, the one Snow was so very much in love with. Snow. She too, looked quite odd, but deferred to a woman who Regina could have sworn was herself, albeit among these odd people and in their odd clothes. She had a home, too, one that looked more like Willowsand than the palace. Lynn was happy, with her, and there was also a little boy who called Lynn his sister. They were all in the odd clothes. Then, there was a woman she did not recognise at all.
She was beautiful.
In some of the dreams, they fought.
In some of the dreams, they seemed to be in love.
In some of the dreams, they appeared to both be the mother of the little boy who called Lynn his sister.
It wasn't real, she told herself. It seemed like the perfect life, if in a world that made no sense.
Yet something whispered to her that there were some things she might never know, at least not yet.
"Your graces, thank you. I promise, if I do not return, a man will come for her if her parents cannot make it soon."
Snow stared down at her feet, her head spinning. She was afraid if she looked up she would faint. It was all too much. Regina. How could she go this far? Her hands shook, so she snatched them together behind her back. It was too horrifying to even consider. Charming had almost been executed by his father because he wouldn't marry someone he didn't love. He fought back against Regina when she told him he was going to be her insurance that she wouldn't pull anything on her for this parlay. If she didn't agree to come, he would die. Why? Why did anyone else have to be hurt? First it was her father, then countless others who got in the way of Regina trying to kill her. How could she live with herself? How was any of this justified? Snow tried not to think too hard about that. There were no answers that left things clear. Regina could get what she wanted, revenge, without harming anyone but Snow, yet she consistently chose to.
There were many things about Regina that left her as a person Snow did not recognise, but perhaps the most telling of them was the fact she cursed a baby.
Leah and Stefan had no reason to think Regina was going to harm their child.
Their child was completely innocent, had done nothing wrong.
They were completely innocent, and, even if they hadn't been, there was no good reason for what Regina did.
It was cruel.
Pure and unbridled rage.
Unreasonable. Still, she had sent a letter back, agreeing to Regina's request to parlay.
"Are you sure?" The lord of the village watched her whilst she finally sat down. "You don't owe anything to the evil queen, not even a conversation. By all rights, you should be queen, and not her."
Snow chewed at the inside of her cheek. "I wish that were still a possibility," She finally said. "But there isn't a future I can see in which I'm Misthaven's queen."
"You will be," The lady of the village shared a worried look with her husband. "She has no claim to the throne, and certainly not with the knowledge she killed your father. I'm sure Queen Leah and King Stefan would be more than willing to help you take back your kingdom."
"It's not worth it," Snow sighed. "It'll hurt Lynn, who I wanted to help in the first place. If there's anything I can do to reconcile with Regina, I will do it."
I can't let anything happen to Charming - James - and I won't risk her harming Lynn any further. If it's me she wants, then she can have it. I just hope that what she wants will be reasonable, and put an end to all of this.
"Princess Lynn has been through so much," The lord of the village remarked. "It's quite admirable of you to think so much of her and others before yourself and the justice that ought to be served to you, not to mention as it regards your birthrights."
"It's not admirable," Snow said quietly. "I was unable to protect her when it mattered most, and she not only harmed a close friend of mine in the process but now the one I love. If I had…if I had been a little better at protecting her, none of this would have happened. Regina would never have been able to have them both kidnapped."
"Do not blame yourself," The lord of the village said kindly. "She is the one who is tearing lives apart, not you."
"We'll take care of Princess Aurora as our own children," The lady of the manor added. "We will send word to Queen Leah and King Stefan soon, as well. But, please, Princess Snow, be safe. You are one of the most kind and well meaning people in the world. To lose you would be a tragedy not only for justice, for your kingdom, but for so many."
"I appreciate your words, your grace, but…" Snow said with a heavy sigh. "I don't know what to say other than that I have to do this. Regina is not the person who saved my life all those years ago now, but I know that person is still in there. Above all else, she's become subsumed by this sense of needing to find a person to blame…and I have to show her that things can be better. That not everyone is a horrible, duplicitous person. That I still care about her…and, more importantly, that I care about Lynn."
Replies To Reviews:
jasouatfan: anything that brings back memories of her past, especially with her mother, is not only uncomfortable but upsetting for Regina. Charming's upset at the thought of Snow being hurt was reasonable, but his reaction was not; similarly as some of Regina's have been. neither of them are particularly good at seeing things from the other side, but they are definitely far more clueless about who Regina is and what she's been through than she is about them. their view of her and Lynn's relationship is a perfect example of that.
barrattajennifer: Snow and Charming are almost totally blind to what they're doing, and Snow especially has trouble seeing beyond what good intentions she may have. with Lynn in particular, that's most clear, but it's apparent with Aurora too. just like Regina, they sometimes become subsumed by emotion and act solely on that, and the things done in emotion are not always the best, let alone rational.
Sammii16: that was one of the hardest scenes i've ever written, but i'm pretty happy with how it came out! i'm so glad you're all liking the story; sorry for this chapter being on the shorter side.