Chapter Text
Enchanted Forest, the past…
A long, long time ago, there lived a small, wealthy family. A father, a mother, and their six year old daughter. Their light in the darkness.
This family was no different to any other… besides the fact that the girl’s mother was a witch. A magic user, a spell caster. Her most prized possession (aside from her daughter) was a spell book borrowed from a dragon by the name of Maleficent.
Over the years, ever since the mother, Cora, married the King’s son, Henry, she had many enemies. Even the King Xavier had since begun to despise the woman.
The only person who didn’t dislike Cora was her daughter, Regina, for she saw the world in her mother. She looked up to her and relied on her, no matter how strict or how cold Cora was to the girl.
Cora was Regina’s entire world.
Even on the day she was cursed, Regina looked to her mother for help.
It happened on an ordinary day just like any other. Regina was playing in the field, chasing butterflies and dragonflies. It was a rare occasion as Cora preferred for Regina to stay inside and study, but on this day she allowed her daughter to play.
Her father was watching her from the shade of a tree several yards away with a tender smile on his face. He despised Cora’s treatment of their little girl with all his heart, but he didn’t have the strength nor the power to stop it. He was just as trapped as Regina was.
Moments like this, however, brought him joy and hope. Hope that his daughter might be okay.
From a distance, he saw Regina stop with her hand outstretched. It looked as if a butterfly had landed on her index finger. Henry’s smile widened.
Suddenly… she appeared. A witch in her own right with dark, crazy hair, a malicious smile, and pale skin. Henry’s smile slipped almost immediately and he began to make his way to Regina as quickly as he could.
He had no idea who the witch was or what business she had with Regina, but he wouldn’t let her get ahold of his little girl.
However, he was too late. The witch’s hand circled around Regina’s upper arm in a vice-like grip and the girl squealed, and by the time Henry made it to his daughter, the witch had vanished with a delighted laugh.
Henry crashed to his knees beside his daughter and put his hand son her arms, turning her to look at him. He immediately spotted a look of terror on Regina’s face.
“What did she say, Regina?” Henry hurriedly demanded. “What did she do?”
“Daddy…” Regina began in a small voice, “I don’t feel so good.”
“Regina?” Henry whispered.
The girl’s eyes slowly began to lift, hiding behind her upper lids as her head tilted back.
“Regina!” Henry shouted.
Before he knew it, Regina crashed to the ground, her entire body contorting and shaking. Faintly, in his panic to turn her onto her side, he thought he could see a purple light running through the veins on the back of her hands…
That was when the curse began. An angry witch who sought revenge on Cora, taking it out on an innocent girl who just wanted to chase butterflies.
From then on, Cora tried every potion, ever spell, every magical item she could find but nothing would lift the curse on Regina, and so she suffered for years until she found a potion which could subdue the curse’s effects temporarily.
As long as Regina drank the potion once every day, she wouldn’t suffer any more. Cora mixed the potion up as soon as she read about it, and when Regina drank it, her symptoms subsided.
And so, every day until the day of the Dark Curse, Regina relied on those potions. When she banished her mother through the Looking Glass, others magic-users brewed them for her until she began learning magic herself.
When the Dark Curse was cast and she sent everyone to a land without magic, the shakes and the seizures stopped altogether even without the potions. Of course, how could a curse affect her when there was no magic to make it work?
Regina had won in more ways than one…
Until Emma Swan ruined everything.
Storybrooke, Maine… The present
“I think you did it. I think you broke the curse!”
No… No, this can’t be happening…
Regina slowly looked around the hospital room, realising that Henry was right. Emma’s kiss to Henry’s temple was true love, and it had broken the Dark Curse. Everyone around her was waking up, regaining their memories, looking at her.
“It was true love’s kiss,” Mother Superior spoke as she approached Emma.
“No! No!” This time, Regina’s internal thoughts were spoken aloud.
Her entire body was filled with a sudden rage and disbelief. How could the curse be broken? For twenty eight years, things were fine! She was finally the winner!
And now it was all over. Just like that, because of a kiss.
Blue turned to look at Regina.
“If I were you, your majesty, I’d find a place to hide.”
Her words were soft, but Regina could see the barely concealed hatred hidden behind her eyes.
Regina barely cast her a glance, her eyes settling on those of her son. Because no matter what, Henry would always be her son.
She walked toward him, holding her stomach as it turned and tightened with anxiety.
“Henry, no matter what you think…” she managed to get out as tears welled in her eyes, “no matter what anyone tells you, I do love you.”
But Henry didn’t reply. He merely stared at her in silence, and Regina took that as her cue to leave despite the way her heart was shattering inside.
Without another word, Regina turned and hurried out of the hospital.
As she barged out of the double doors of hospital, many people stared at her. Regina could feel the hatred washing off of them, suffocating her, but she didn’t stop for a moment.
Not until she was in her car where her hand began to shake as she put her seatbelt on.
A sob escaped her.
Only ten minutes later did she arrive back at her mansion. As she’d driven, she had noticed more and more people wandering around with looks of disbelief on their faces. As if they couldn’t believe the last 28 years, or that the Curse was finally broken.
Regina couldn’t believe it either as she slammed the door shut behind her and rushed inside her home. She was sure to lock the door behind her.
Instantly, she ran upstairs and headed for Henry’s room. It was exactly as he’d left it. Bed made, toys put away, drawings still stuck to the wall.
A choked cry left her as she staggered to her son’s bed and sat down.
The Curse was broken, everyone had their memories back, time was moving once more, Henry hated her, and Regina… she had lost yet again.
Why does this always keep happening to her? Why does Snow White always win? Without even trying?
Slowly, Regina picked up one of Henry’s blue pillows and pulled it close to her body. She buried her face in it, inhaling her son’s smell and letting the soft cotton absorb her tears.
Suddenly, a distant rumbling shook the mansion. Regina sniffled and lifted her head with confusion. As she looked up, she caught a flash of purple in her peripheral and glanced to the window.
Outside, in the distance, she saw something that brought a smile to her face. Slowly, she put Henry’s pillow back and made her way to the window to watch a giant, purple cloud roll over Storybrooke.
Magic. Rumple had brought magic to this world.
Maybe things weren’t so hopeless, she decided.
The moment the cloud of magic washed over her, Regina let out a satisfied sigh. She felt it enter her every pore, coursing through her veins, and taking hold of her.
It had been so long since she cast the Curse, since she gave up her magic for revenge, she had almost forgotten what it felt like to have it. To feel it at the back of her mind, the tips of her fingers.
It felt good. Like she was living again.
As soon as it had started, the purple cloud dispersed and Regina was left standing in Henry’s room. Still alone.
Her satisfied smile slipped from her lips and she sighed, turning away from the window to look at Henry’s room.
Magic or not, she still didn’t have her son. Emma Swan had him. So how the hell did she get him back?
There was her book - Maleficent’s book. Her spine tingled at the reminder of the dragon, her heart skipping a beat. Mal was dead now. Killed by Emma in an effort to save Henry.
That thought sent a sense of unease and regret through Regina before she determinedly pushed it away, refocusing on the task at hand. Get Henry back. If she could get her book, there was most likely a spell in there somewhere that would help her.
It was most likely in her mausoleum along with the rest of the things she’d brought over with the Curse.
So that was the first place she would go. And then she would get her son back.
With her mind so set on Henry and her spell book, she almost didn’t notice the shaking of her right hand. Not until she accidentally hit her thigh with it.
Her head whipped down so fast, she almost gave herself whiplash, but she didn’t focus on that as her wide eyes took in the rapid, uncontrollable shaking of her hand, and the faint, purple glow running through her veins.
“No,” she whispered, her heart beginning to race. “No, not now.”
It had been almost thirty years since she cast the Dark Curse and sent herself to a world without magic, thirty years since she’d had to drink her potion to ward off the shakes and seizures, she’d almost forgotten she was cursed.
And now, with magic back, so was her magical curse. But she didn’t have her potion - not yet, not until she could get to her vault and brew one.
How was she going to get there, though? Her magic had only just come back so it was undoubtedly weak, and she couldn’t drive with her hand like this, and the risk of seizing behind the wheel.
But Gold… Rumplestiltskin might have one of her potions stashed away. He always liked to keep one up over her.
With that thought in mind, Regina swiftly exited Henry’s room, holding her right hand close to her chest in a vain attempt to prevent its trembling.
As she got to the top of the stairs, however, she began to hear faint chatter right before a loud hammering on her front door.
Regina paused momentarily, staring down into the foyer where her front door stood, separating her from the rest of Storybrooke. She had ten guesses as to who (or rather, what) was on her front doorstep.
“Open up!” Whale’s voice came forcefully through the door.
A scowl crossed Regina’s face as her hands curled into fists, her right one still shaking.
Fine, she decided. Magic was now in Storybrooke so if they wanted her to open the door, so be it.
Nothing, and no one, not even a mob on her doorstep, was going to stop her from getting to Henry.
“Open up or we’re coming in!”
Regina let out a steadying breath and made her way down the stairs to the front door which she threw open without hesitation. She plastered on a false smile as she immediately met the sight of the mob outside.
There had to be around thirty people there, glaring angrily and shouting at her. But Regina had dealt with this before, back in the Enchanted Forest, and she was unperturbed.
She hid her trembling hand behind her back, but the longer she stood there, and the longer she went without her potion, the worse she could feel it getting. Her left hand was begging to shake and she was starting to get lightheaded.
She needed to find Rumplestiltskin and get her damned potion.
“Can I help you?” She addressed Whale in a sickly sweet voice.
“That smirk isn’t gonna last forever,” Whale said. “You took everything from us, now-“
“What?” Regina interrupted him, her smile unwavering. She tightened her left hand on the doorframe in an attempt to stop its shaking. “Now you’re gonna kill me?”
“Eventually,” Dr Whale retorted, “but first you need to suffer.”
Anger flared within Regina at the threat and she moved away from her doorway without thinking. She pushed against Whale’s chest, sending him staggering back a couple of feet.
“Listening to you has been enough suffering for the both of us,” she sneered at the man.
With every step she took, she pushed the man further away until he was standing with the rest of the crowd.
“That’s right. You wanted to see your Queen?”
Despite the shaking of her hands and the cotton-like feeling brewing in her head, Regina gazed strongly around at the mob, not letting them see her moment of weakness for even a second.
She briefly hid the shaking of her hands by pushing back her blazer.
“Here… she is!” She hissed, and raised her hands before throwing them out.
She expected a fireball to launch at the crowd who instantly flinched away from her hands, but all she got was nothing but shaking hands and a smirking Dr Whale.
No… no, no, no. She didn’t even have enough magic for a measly fireball to deal with this damned mob. And now they had seen she was powerless and shaking.
They advanced on her quickly. Regina barely had time to reflect on her lack of power before the mob had swarmed her.
Whale slammed her against the pristine white pillar of her porch, his hands on her trembling arms. She stared defiantly up at him because if she was going to die here, she was going to do it with pride.
“Now… where were we?” Whale grinned.
His hands reached for her throat. For a split second, Regina felt his thumbs make contact, but before it could go any further, the annoying voice of Emma Swan interrupted him.
Regina wouldn’t admit it, but she felt a sigh of relief exit her body when she saw the blonde pushing her way through the crowd.
“Let her go!”
Without hesitation, Emma took hold of Whale’s arm and shoved him away from Regina.
“Why should I listen to you?” The man scoffed.
“Because I’m still the sheriff,” Emma swiftly answered.
“Because she saved you!” Charming’s equally as annoying voice spoke up over the crowd’s chatter. “All of you!”
Regina barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It was only because of the lightheadedness and the way her vision was beginning to darken around her edges that she didn’t.
“Because no matter what Regina did, it does not justify this!” Snow added.
Through the crowd and her swimming vision, Regina saw Henry. Her heart leapt into her throat at her son seeing this. She ached to reach out and engulf him in a hug.
“We’re not murderers here,” Emma told Whale.
“Well we’re not from this world,” he retorted.
“Yeah, well you’re here now.”
Regina’s ears began to ring. She needed to get out of here, now. She looked around for an exit, her eyes moving slower than she would’ve liked, but she found nothing. She was stuck with everyone’s eyes on her, and she couldn’t get away.
Charming stepped forward.
“Alright, come on, man,” he said to Whale, and Regina thought he attempted to grab the doctor only to be pushed away.
She was finding it increasingly hard to concentrate on what was happening around her.
Her eyes slipped closed briefly, the temptation to shut them strong, before she hastily forced them open again in time to see Snow stepping up onto the porch with her.
“-be locked up!”
Regina heard the woman say. She presumed they were speaking about her. She could no longer manage to keep up with the conversation.
“For her safety, and, more importantly, for ours.”
The shaking of her hands was getting worse and worse. Regina felt her jaw beginning to shiver too, to which she clamped it shut with vice-like strength.
At some point, as she was fighting the trembling of her body and the urge to drop to her knees, she became aware of the mob dispersing and leaving her garden.
Relief washed over her, however, it was short lived as she quickly realised the Charming’s and Emma were still there. To take her to jail, Regina assumed.
She wanted to do something about that — to stop them and make Henry love her again — but she was powerless right now, and about to start seizing if she didn’t get her potion.
She felt a hand on her arm, and didn’t even have the energy to pull away. All she could do was shake and try to follow along with the person who was leading her down the path.
“Alright, they’re gone,” Emma grumbled to her right, “you can quit the scared, little lamb act. Enough with the shaking.”
Regina couldn’t open her mouth to reply. It felt as if it was locked shut. Her breaths were beginning to come in quicker and quicker.
And, any moment now, she knew she was going to hit the floor.
“Emma, I don’t think this is an act…” Snow said, although she sounded unsure even to Regina’s ears.
Suddenly, they stopped walking. Regina almost collided with Emma as her eyelids began to flutter. She felt her head beginning to tilt back, her teeth clenching so hard she almost worried they’d crack.
Her arms began to curl in, almost until she was hugging herself. Her whole body was starting to spasm and seize. And then, before she knew it as the ringing in her ears grew, she felt the hard ground meet her.