Once Upon A Time ~ Book 1

Chapter 108 - The Return

Regina ran towards the stable, dresser out of her royal cloths and into some peasants cloths, a bag in her hands. She reached the stables and smiled when she saw Daniel.
He ran towards her, beaming. "Are you ready?" he leaned forward and kissed her lips.
"Let's go." she said, talking his hand.
They ran outside, into the dark night and stopped in their tracks when they saw Cora standing in front of them, dressed in a black cloak, her face stern and angry. Regina gasped.
"You could have a least left a note." said Cora and she waved her hands, pushing them back inside the stable, throwing them against the hard, straw covered ground. She stepped inside and the wooden, stable doors shut behind her.
"Mother, I.........." Regina started, sitting up on the ground next to Daniel.
"Don't." she hissed. "You speak out of my house in the dead of night and think I won't notice? How dare you?"
They got to their feet.
"You're impossible to talk to. Stop with the magic and listen to me......I want to be with Daniel." she smiled.
"Oh, you don't know what you want. But I do......... I didn't make the sacrifices I did in life to get you to the cusp of greatness, so that you could end up the wife of a stable boy."
"It's my life."
She laughed. "You foolish girl....... It's mine. After what I had to do, the deals I had to make to get us out of poverty, to get us this life. And you just want to toss it away."
"Stay strong, Regina." Daniel said quitely to her, her hand in his.
"You magic can't keep us apart. I love him."
"And I love her." said Daniel to Cora.
"And I love her, too." she glared at him.
"If you loved me, you wouldn't try to keep us apart."
"And if you loved me, you wouldn't try to run away."
"I'm sorry, but this is my happiness. We're going."
Cora held up her hand. "No....... You're not."
"So, what's your plan? You're going to keep us here forever?..... Because that's what you'll have to do."
Daniel took her arm.
Cora looked at them and thought. "So this is your decision? This will make you happy?"
"It already has."
She gazed down at the straw covered ground. "Then who am I to stop you?"
Regina walked towards her and put her arms around her, her head rested on her shoulder. Then she broke away, holding her arms and staring into her eyes. "Thank you, mother."
Cora gazed over Regina's shoulder at Daniel. "Daniel......." she stepped away from Regina and walked towards him. She glanced a her daughter then put her arm around him, walking him a little down the stable. "If you want to have a life together, a family, then there is one important lesson I can impart on you. It's what it means to be a parent. You always have to do what's best for your children."
He nodded. "Thank you."
She smiled.
"I understand." he glared over at Regina. "Because that's what you're doing now."
"Yes. It is." she nodded and reached out into his chest. He gasped and choked.
"Mother!"
Cora stared up into Daniel's agonised face and yanked from his chest his heart. He dropped to the ground and Regina ran towards him, falling to the ground next to him.
"No!" she cryed. Pulling him up and resting his head in her arms. "No, no, no, no, no."
His heart beat in Cora's hand and then she crushed it and allowed the pale grey dust to sprinkle to the straw covered ground.
Regina held up Daniel's head and sobbed, staring into his pale, death tone face. She turned her head to Cora and glared at her. "Mother, why have you done this?" she cryed.
"Because this is your happy ending."
"What?" she sobbed and stared into Daniel's face again and kissing his lips.
"You have to trust me, Regina....... I know best....... Love is weakness, Regina....... It feels real now. At the start, it always does. But it's an illusion. It fades. And then you're left with nothing. But power.......true power endures. And then you don't have to rely on anyone to get what you want. I've saved you, my love."
Regina turned her head and glared up at her. "You've ruined everything." she sneered. "I loved him........" she stared at her. ".....I loved him!" she shouted.
"Enough! I've endured thus long enough." she pulled her to her feet away from her beloved Daniel. "Now, clean yourself up. Wipe away your tears. Because, now your gonna to be Queen." she stared at her nearly like she was possessing her.

Three maids made some last touches to Regina's long beautiful wedding dress. She stood high above them, her face down and depressed.
Then Snow walked into the room, gazing at her and sighing. "Wow....." she smiled. ".......You are mist certainly the fairest of them all!"
She pretended to chuckled as she looked down at her. "Thank you, dear."
"I hope for my wedding day I will be as beautiful."
"I'm sure you will be."
"I know you and Daniel will be so happy together." her face dropped a little and her eyes widened, she looked around at her. "What?"
"Well, I just knew your mother would let you marry him once she knew how happy it would make you. Once she knee how much you love him."
Regina sighed deeply, staring down at her.
"You have such a wonderful mother. She would do anything for your happiness." she smiled.
Regina breathed heavily then stumbled down from the dressing stool. The maids helped her keep her balance and she took Snow's arm, ushering the maids away. "Snow.......Did..... Did you tell her about me and Daniel?"
"Yes."
"But I told you.......very specificly not to."
"I'm sorry." she shook her head. "I just didn't want you to lose your mother...... Like I've lost mine."
Regina turned away, rage in her eyes as she breathed heavily, gasping.
"Arrow mad?"
She turned back to her and stared down at her again. "No. I'm not mad at all. You were just trying to help me."
She nodded.
"However, I'm not marrying Daniel. This dress is fir your father."
"But I thought......you were in love."
"So did I...... But I was wrong. Daniel has run away. What I had With Daniel wasn't real. It wad an infatuation. You see, that's thr thing about love. It can come in the most unexpected places. Your father and I have something even more special. Because it's not just about the two of us. It's about all of us." she smiled. "We're gonna be a family."
Snow's face lit up. "We are?" she smiled.
"That's right. I am going to be your stepmother and I couldn't be happier."
"Me, too."
She chuckled and Snow wrapped her arms around her waist, hugging her. Regina pulled on a fake smile again and hugged her back, secretly blowing up on the inside.
They broke away from one another and Snow stared up at her.
"Snow?" said Cora's voice from nearby.
She looked around at her.
"You need to go to your room and help with the packing. Your father wants you ready for the journey and we're heading to your castle first thing in the morning."
Snow gazed back at Regina the glanced between the both of them.
"You're both going to love it there."
"I know we will." smiled Cora walking towards them.
Snow smiled happily and skipped gleefully from the room.
Regina looked over at Cora, behind her smile was rage, hatred and anger she had never felt before.
"Well played, dear." said her mother, stepping closer to her. "You're learning."
Regina held her smile. "I should change. I wouldn't want to ruin the dress before my big day." She walked away, to the door, holding up the dress from the ground.
"I am so proud of you."
Regina stopped and her face fell. She likes around at her again. "You knew the King was travelling through our land, didn't you? That steed with Snow on it, didn't go wild on its own..... did it?"
"I've no idea what you're saying."
She raised her head and smiled a little then walked to the door, piecing everything together. She glared ahead. "I should have let her directly on that horse." she spat.

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Emma held the golden ring in the palm of her hand. She then closed her fingers around it and held her fist up to her mouth. "We got her Daniel." she whispered. "We got her." she smiled.

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Two security men stood either side of Mary Margaret in the sherif's station by Emma, one cuffing her hands.
"Mary Margaret........" started Emma but she egnored her as they walked her from the station. She watched her go then walked towards Mr. Gold who stood at the other end of the room. "You told me you could fix this. That's why I came to you. So that you could make sure Regina didn't win."
"Well, she hasn't yet."
"Well, she's going to. And now, my friend is gonna pay for me trusting you."
"Look, Sheriff, I know this is emotional. But it's also not over. You must have faith. There's still time."
"Time for what?"
"For me to work a little magic." he smiled and limped from the station on his walking stick.
Emma watched him go then walked into the Sherif's Office. She leaned against her desk, gritting her teeth, ten she took her rage out on the tulips that sat in a vase by throwing them against the filing cabinets. It smashed against it, the glass shattered and the water splattered accross the room. She pased the room then saw out of the corner of her eye a broken bug on the ground in the midst of the broken polystyrene, water and tulips. She bent down and picked it up from the ground carefully, shock in her eyes.

August stepped from Granny's Diner as Emma walked up the path towards it.
"Hey." she said.
August looked around at her surprised.
"I'm sorry."
He walked down towards her. "For what?"
"For doubting you. I made a mistake." she held out before him the broken bug in a plastic evidence bag.
He looked down at it. "What's that?"
"Evidence. Evidence that proves that I've been trusting all the wrong people."
He looked back up at her.
"I should've listened to you. This bug is from Sidney."
He looked at her confused. "The newspaper guy?"
"I should've seen it." she shook her head.
"No, don't beat yourself up about it, Emma. Sometimes it's hard to see what's right in front of us. But I knew you would."
"I'm trying." she tryed to pull on a smile as she gaze up into his shimmering blue eyes but then suddenly there was a scream from near by.
They both looked around in the direction of the alleyway where the scream had come from. They looked at one another and ran towards it, turning a corner.
They met Ruby panting heavily as he walked quickly towards them.
"Ruby, what's going on?" Emma asked.
"She's.......She's in the alley." she stammered, her voice quivering.
"Who, Ruby? What happened?"
She panted heavily and stumbled back against the wall.
"Hey, are you alright?" August asked concerned, taking her arm as Emma ran in the direction that Ruby had come from.
She stopped when she reached a car park and looked around scouring the area with her eyes until a body lying by a minivan caught her eye. She ran towards the dirty, beaten, motionless body, fear in her eyes. She knelt down on th e ground next to it and rowled it over to see Kathryn staring around fearfully, scared to death.
"Kathryn!?" said Emma under her breath, shocked.