The Underworld

The Truth

Snow White

I walked up the banister and cracked Regina's door open, observing that she had finally fallen asleep, I carefully closed it and wandered through the house, stopping in Henry's room. My heart ached as I silently walked through it, observing all of his belongings, I choked up when I saw a picture of him and I at our school, he had begged the photographer to let us take an extra one together until he finally obliged. I gently set it down and looked at his things on his desk, observing his schoolwork that was due on Monday, that he would never be able to turn in.

I kept sifting through his things until I stumbled on something that took my breath away. A simple card sat in an envelope that hadn't been sealed yet.

I took it into my shaking hands and removed it, slowly opening the cover

Dear Mom,
I'm sorry this happened to you. I know how hard you have worked for your happy ending and how much you've changed. Operation Mongoose was a fail, I couldn't help you and now Aunt Zelena has gotten what both of you wanted. I know I'm not a lot of consolation but I love you mom, and I hope that one of these days we can have another fun day and get your mind off of Robin, together. I love you so much mom, thanks for everything.

Your not so little prince,
Henry

I wiped my tears away and slid it back into the envelope, unable to look at that again, however I did make a mental note to show that to Regina a bit later.

I walked downstairs to clear my head from my grandson's room, the grief catching up with me. I leaned on the counter and dropped my face into my hands, the tears now running freely, the last person I had lost was my father, and I only had myself to take care of, but this was different, my daughter had lost her son, so had Regina, David and I were the rock of this family, so we had to remain strong for them, only until they all had fallen asleep.

The tears wouldn't stop falling until I saw a long piece of paper folded on the counter. I blinked to clear my tears and saw Mom written in beautiful handwriting.

Dear Mom,

I'm so sorry that it had to come to this. It's just that I couldn't let another one of my parents die. I would not be able to physically handle that. When I sacrifice myself please do at least one thing to honor me, find happiness again, don't hate or seek revenge, marry Robin, have more kids, get a puppy. Do whatever you need to do to be happy. You were a wonderful mother, and I couldn't have thanked you enough. I will always be watching, so don't worry, I'll always be there in your heart.

I love you,
Henry

I covered my mouth and dropped the paper, unable to look at it anymore. My chest throbbed from the pain and I couldn't stop myself from crying.

"Are you okay?" An accented voice asked, I turned and saw Robin standing in the kitchen with his newborn daughter in his arms. I sniffled and wiped my eyes in order to look at him clearly.

"No. I'm not. What are you doing?" I asked, trying to salvage my dignity in front of my stepfather.

"I figured that Regina wouldn't be alright on her own, so I should check on her, and I didn't recognize the car outside so I just wanted to make sure she was safe." He said meekly, I nodded and motioned towards the stool where we both sat down.

"Who's this?" I asked looking at the small baby in his arms, he pursed his lips and bounced her gently.

"Charlotte Elizabeth Locksley." He said quietly, I nodded and looked at her, she had a small patch of curly red hair that resembled her mother's, I saw many features that resembled the witch, then others that I could not put my finger on, but I knew they were not Robin's.