The Most Resilient Heart.

Don't Become Me. Please.

I just wanted to know whether it was obvious or not... if you don't know what I'm talking about, you will soon...

"Marion?" Mulan looks up at her new friend's sudden change in expression. 

Marion stands up quickly and stares at the woman who ruined her life; who almost ended it. "Her."

Her voice is deep and Mulan doesn't recognise it but, of course, she had only just met her. She watches as the bowl of porridge drops from the standing woman's hands and breaks into pieces after contact with the solid, forest floor. The whole camp goes quiet and they all look over to the woman who stands alone. A woman they had never known could look so beautiful. 

She's glowing. It was on everyone's minds. 

No matter how scared Regina looked at that exact moment, she really did have the face of an angel, a dark angel and Marion could not help but hate her more for it. 

Marion took her fury towards the intruder, stepping purposely past all the gaping mouths of each of the Merry Men who had all spontaneously fallen in love with the woman who had just stepped into the clearing.

"Regina..." A small voice escaped Mulan's throat as she came to understand the situation. She quicky got up to, placing her bowl of porridge softly on the ground by the broken one, and rushed over to Marion's side to make sure neither of the broken woman would hurt the other, or themselves.

"You." The rancor was heard in the dark voice that Marion forced out of herself. She had never been evil before, no matter what life had thrown at her, but this woman made her feel awful. The Evil Queen, or Regina, made her feel awful, made her feel like it was terrible that she was still alive. She made her feel guilty and they had never even spoken a word to each other.

Regina watched, sincerely scared. This was not planned. Robin was meant to talk to his wife first, not her. She could tell she was about to ruin something, if she hadn't already. She didn't know what, but she could feel it coming. Maybe it was the dark magic circulating her body, provoking her fingers or the furious expression that was pasted across Marion's face. Regina had never felt so conflicted with herself. She wanted to kill this woman, but she also wanted to comfort her. She was scaring herself most of all and that was exactly whawt showed through in her expression. Fear. But no one knew 'for whom'.

"Marion, I am so-" Regina tried. She really did, but these conflicting feelings were killing her. She could feel that heart beating fast and hard, but it didn't hurt. She couldn't help wondering why. It really should be hurting!

"Sorry? The Evil Queen is sorry, everyone." Marion turns to the Merry Men with an evil smile and then immediately turns back to Regina to throw her a seemingly-ever-lasting glare."You tried to kill me, for no specific reason, and then steal my husband like a bloody, minging* SLUT!" She steps forward and slaps Regina hard, leaving a large red, painful mark. 

(*minging- English slang for 'ugly'.)

"Minging?" One of the Merry Men whispers a little too loudly staring at the glowing Queen. "Slut, I hope, but minging... not a bit of truth in that."

"Marion!" Mulan gasps and pulls her back before she tries to take another swing. It was a really stupid idea to take on the Evil Queen. A really stupid idea.

Regina gasps and touches her cheek delicately. She then looks up at the attacker and a real evil smile pulls at her lips whilst her eyes seemed to dance. She could feel that magic in her and it felt good. She strode slowly and forebodingly towards Marion, who now seemed to hide inside Mulan's, clearly strong, arms but when Regina found herself only millimetres away from the face of her supposed 'enemy', her smile dropped and her eyes just seemed like they wanted to tell the truth.