Regina's Queen - OUAT Fanfic

CHAPTER SIX

Regina pressed her fingertips against the small of her back as she paced the length of her Vault. Magic crackled around her, sparking as dangerously as a livewire. She was fuming, furious, seething, enraged; she was so incensed that the dictionary didn't have enough words for her to describe her current state of mind. The knowledge that a mere, tangible person had managed to move her to helpless fear had ignited her. A vengeful firestorm brewed inside, desperate for release.

  "Who the hell does she think she is?" Regina spat. She paused in her pacing to hurl a fireball at the already-blackened wall.

  "How dare she push her magic at me! I am the Evil Queen!" She hurled another fireball, more furiously than the last.

  "No one pushes their magic at me, and gets away with it!"

Another fireball roared to life at her fingertips, but abruptly fizzled out as a serene voice unexpectedly interrupted her rantings.

  "It wasn't my magic. It was yours."

Regina whirled to face the source with a new fireball instantly raised high above her head.

The Red Queen reclined nonchalantly in an armchair, watching her with mild interest. One leg was hooked casually over the side of the chair, its outline just visible beneath the silky sweep of her long red dress.

  "You!" Regina's rage howled forth at the sight of her. "How dare you! I will destroy you!"

Intoxicated by fury, she flung her fireball at the Red Queen without a shadow of hesitation. It sizzled through the air, whining with the force of its velocity, and hit her squarely in the chest. The Red Queen's eyes flared open in surprise as it exploded into a whorl of flame and engulfed her entirely in an instant, and Regina's hungry, vengeful smile grew wide at the sight. 

After an intense moment, the flames died down to a quiet crackle, and then the Red Queen gingerly rose out of the burning chair, looking down at it in disapproval.

  "I liked that chair."

Regina gasped, her face draining of colour as she reeled back against the far wall. "It's not possible..."

  "Of course it's possible," the Red Queen disagreed. She planted her hands on her hips with a pout and gazed down at the smouldering furnishing. "You don't know my tastes - I really did like that chair!"

Regina didn't hear her. "You should be... You can't be... No one could have survived that!" Her fury dissipated as fast as it had earlier arrived, to be replaced only by the first icy shiver of true fear.

The Red Queen turned to look at her, raising delicate eyebrows. Without warning, she swept across the room in one smooth motion. In an instant, her face was mere inches away from Regina's, and Regina tried her best to surreptitiously melt into the wall.

  "I'll tell you a little secret," the Red Queen whispered conspiratorially. She tapped her lip thoughtfully, and then traced the tip of her pale, cool finger curiously down Regina's cheek, as though taking her measure. "You can't destroy me. If you did, you'd destroy yourself."

Regina inadvertently turned her head away from that cool, unnerving touch, squeezing her eyes shut to avoid the Red Queen's uncanny moonlight gaze. She was cornered, she was in trouble, and there was nothing her magic could do. Luckily, her stubborn pride came to the rescue, rising up to push aside her helplessness. She would not be cowed by this upstart. She reached deep inside herself for her resolve, lifted her arm like lightning, and backhanded her assailant across the face. 

The Red Queen staggered back in surprise, pressing a delicate palm to the sting in her cheek. Regina unplastered herself from the wall and drew herself up to her full height, pulling her wrath about her like a suit of armour.