A Thief and a Queen

Breaking Free

This is my fifth entry for Inspired by OQ week, based on a series of manips by orchidfeathers, which can be found on my Twitter.

This was all wrong.

It was the only thought echoing through Regina's mind as she stood in a beautifully decorate room located in a mansion designed to look like a European castle as people hurried around her. She stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror across from her, taking in the voluminous white gown she wore. The full skirt made her take up more room than she usually did, causing people to give the yards of satin forming the different tears of her skirt a wide birth. It also weighed her down and just walking from her bedroom to the middle of the room had been a chore. She couldn't imagine how she was to spend the rest of the day moving around in this unless she was going to be carried everywhere, though she doubted anyone would be able to pick her and the dress up.

The bodice was no better. It was a corset that was cinched so tight, Regina understood why Keira Knightley's character had fainted in that pirate movie. Regina struggled to take full breaths and she was certain blood was being cut off to some place vital. When she voiced her concerns, they were dismissed as more a product of her nerves than her dress being cinched too tight. Her mother had then said it didn't matter if she really couldn't breathe as her breasts were being displayed perfectly, making all the men who saw her picture want her and all the women want to be her. Mother had then adjusted the sheer off-the-shoulder sleeves to ensure they feel just right before walking away, allowing the sequins sewn into the bodice to reflect the sunlight and cast multicolored spots on the mirror.

Mother returned with the lacy veil, attaching it to the jeweled band wrapped around the half bun in Regina's dark hair. She arranged the curls hanging loose so they fell gently over Regina's shoulders before laying the veil just so over her locks. As Mother stepped back, all the activity in the room stopped and Regina felt every eye on her.

"You look like a fairy tale princess," Mary Margaret whispered, awe in her voice. Everyone murmured their agreement with that statement.

Regina didn't want to be a fairy tale princess. That was something right up Mary Margaret's alley. In fact, this dress wouldn't been perfect for her. Regina, though, didn't recognize herself in the mirror. She had to be staring at a stranger. This was not the dress she would ever choose for herself, it was not how she ever wore her hair, and she was pretty certain the makeup artist used pink eye shadow and lipstick.

She hated pink. She hated poofy princess dresses with sequins. She hated drafty castles in December. She hated peonies. She hated the silver and gold color scheme. She hated gold ballgowns. She hated chamber music. She hated pâté and duck and pretentious haute cuisine. She hated the nearly three hundred strangers waiting for her downstairs. She hated the man standing at the end of the aisle. She hated this wedding. Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated...

Letting out a primal scream, she sank to her knees as white satin material billowed around her. She pulled at the veil in her hair, determined to get it off as quickly as possible. Regina clawed at it, hearing a satisfying rip. It sent joy bubbling through her and she kept pulling, hearing rip after rip as she laughed hysterically.

Once the veil was in tiny pieces in her hand, she tossed them in the air like confetti. She slipped off the designer jewel-encrusted heels she wore, taking them in her hands before she wobbled to her feet. Pieces of lace surrounded her on the floor. Her bridesmaids stared at her in horror, unsure what to do, while the photographer cowered in the corner. Mother, though, advanced with a scowl as she scolded Regina like she was a misbehaving toddler. "What was that all about?"