Once Upon a Dream:

Page 75: Is It So Hard to be Happy?

The Enchanted Forest.

Many years ago.

Regina sat, covered in her bed, while Tinker Bell flew in and over to her. 

"How'd it go?" Tinker Bell asked her, hopeful that Regina had met her true love. 

"Oh... Uh... It was..." Regina started to stutter while Tinker Bell turned into her normal form, standing by Regina's bed. 

"What happened? I don't understand. You're not glowing with new love. You should be glowing." Tinker Bell said, sounding worried while moving to sit on the bed with Regina, who was upset. 

She was more upset with herself for not going in, but she lost Daniel, and she did not want to risk anyone else.

"Because it didn't work. The pixie dust. It was wrong... I went in and met him. And he was awful. He was just awful." Regina said, starting to lie as an excuse.

"Are you sure you went to the right man?" Tinker Bell asked her, knowing that pixie dust never lies. 

"Yes, the one with the lion tattoo... That wasn't the problem." Regina said, confusing Tinker Bell, who felt sorry for Regina. 

"Then what was?" Tinker Bell asked her, sighing to herself.

"You." 

"Me?" Tinker Bell asked her with furrowed brows.

"Yes, you. You're a terrible fairy." Regina spat, hoping that being angry at someone else could mask the pain she still felt. 

"You didn't go in, did you?" Tinker Bell asked her, trying not to be hurt by her words. 

"How dare you..." Regina spat again, sounding angry and frustrated.

"It's okay. You were afraid." She tried to reassure and comfort Regina.

"I'm not afraid of anything." Regina corrected her. "I can't believe I let you distract me!" She continued to say, making Tinker Bell sigh again.

"No! Don't do it. What you need is love." 

Regina shook her head, trying not to cry at the thought of Daniel. "I had love, and he's dead! And I suffered. What you sent me toward wasn't going to change that. Goodbye." Regina ranted, letting her anger get the best of her before she looked down at the rose that she was picking the petals off of. 

"What about me? I stole for you and for nothing... I'm in big trouble." Tinker Bell said, but Regina only continued to look at the rose, ripping a petal off of it. 

"As I said, you're a terrible fairy," Regina said with no emotion.

"I thought we were friends."

"I don't have friends... Fly away, moth. Don't let the doors catch your wings on the way out." Regina said, smirking at Tinker Bell with her last comment.

Present day.

Neverland.

"Okay... You want to kill me? I can make it easier." Regina said to Tinker Bell, who still held the dreamshade-laced arrow towards her neck. Regina moved her hand to rip out her own heart, holding it between her and Tinker Bell.

"What are you--"

"You wanna kill me? Oh, don't let the poison do it. You should do it. Go ahead. Crust it." Regina said while Tinker Bell looked concerned and slightly terrified. 

"You think I won't take it?" Tinker Bell said, masking her previous emotions to look angry. 

"No, I'm counting on it... Show me who you are, Tinker Bell." Regina said, looking Tinker Bell in the eyes, reliving the pain and suffering that she went through after trying to help Regina.

After a few moments, Tinker Bell moved the arrow when she grabbed Regina's black heart in her hands. Regina winced from the pain as Tinker Bell squeezed her heart. "Do you know what you cost me?" Tinker Bell scoffed at Regina before moving to pace a bit with Regina's heart in her hand. 

"Your wings..." Regina sighed while Tinker Bell's back was turned to her.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Regina asked her, while Tinker Bell still did not look at her. "Why did I hand over my heart?" She continued to ask until Tinker Bell turned to look at her again.

"No! Why did you lie? Because I've been over it a million times, and that spell worked! You never went in. It's the only explanation. Why couldn't you just go through that door and meet your soulmate? Was being happy such a terrible fate?" Tinker Bell ranted, making Regina tear up. 

"Yes. Yes, it was... You're right. I never went in. I was afraid. I didn't..." Regina paused, looking down as she let out a ragged breath. "You said I can let go of the anger that was weighing me down, and suddenly it felt like without it; I'd just float away. That anger was all I had. What would I be without it?" Regina sighed, trying not to tear up.

"Happy." 

"Weak..." Regina corrected her.

"And look what good it did you, that strength you gained..." Tinker Bell started to say, walking back over to Regina. "'Cause I'm holding your heart in my hand, and I'm not hearing one reason not to squeeze it into ash." She continued to say, still raising her voice at Regina.

"All right. You want a reason? Here you go... You think I was afraid? You think I did the wrong thing? Well, fairy, right now, you're making the same choice. I picked revenge over hope, and you're holding the result... a small, hard, dark heart." Regina said, holding up Tinker Bell's hand with her heart to her face. "If you make the same choice I did, then what you're looking at is your own future." She continued until Tinker Bell moved her hand away, still holding Regina's heart. "I'm not going to tell you what to do. The choice is yours. Kill me, or... act like the fairy you are."

"You said I was a terrible fairy."

"Well, then prove me wrong." Regina sighed at her. "Pick hope over anger. Choose love and help me get my son back." She continued, hoping she could talk Tinker Bell into helping them get Henry.

"You love your son?" Tinker Bell asked her, surprised that Regina could love anyone but herself.

"Very much." Regina smiled, letting a few tears fall down her cheek. "With Dream and Henry, I finally got something right... Don't you want to be able to say the same thing?" Regina asked, smiling at her own mention of her children, who made her a better person.

"It's too late for me." Tinker Bell sighed when Regina shook her head. 

"Only if you kill me." 

"I won't kill you. But I won't help you either... Besides, it's probably too late. He's been with him too long." Tinker Bell sighed, giving Regina her heart back.

~season 3, episode 3: "Quite a Common Fairy"~

~1080 words~