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When the curse broke, Regina half expected a mob of Enchanted Forest/Storybrooke denizens to be demanding her blood. But… no one came anywhere near her… Not yet, anyway.
She stayed locked away in her mansion the remainder of the day, mostly hanging out in Henry’s room and trying to come to terms with the fact that she not only almost killed him, but likely would never see him again. Why on earth would he want her in his life after learning the woman who had raised him really was the Evil Queen?
Not only did she lose her precious boy, but she had lost someone she hadn’t quite understood her feelings for yet: Ms. Swan. She had hated that woman from the moment she entered her life (even more so when she learned who she was). But there was something there. Something she… enjoyed hating? She had been trying for so long to get Emma out of her life, but there was a sudden emptiness in knowing she would never see the annoying blonde again. And that made no sense, especially since she had tried to kill the sheriff less than two days ago. She wasn’t… pining for Emma? Was she?
After consuming an entire bottle of her apple cider in hopes that something would make sense by the time she reached the bottom, but only realizing maybe no one wanted anything to do with her, she turned in for the night and fell into a deep slumber.
Little did she know, that most of the townspeople wanted very much to do with her. They had a score to settle. And they were on their way.
***
Emma was having a hell of a time processing everything. Just the fact she saw Henry die and come back to life was enough to put her in need of her own visit with Doctor Hopper. But on top of that, magic was real? All of Henry’s crazy storybook and cursed fairy tale character nonsense was true? Her mother and father were Snow Freaking White and Prince Friggin’ Charming? But they were the same age as her? They had put her through some magic portal so she could come back and break a curse?
This was all too much.
In fact, the only person who seemed to make any sense at all (which was insane to say), was the one constant since Emma had arrived in Storybrooke: Regina. Regina… apparently the Evil Queen… seemed to basically be who she appeared. A driven… albeit, crazy, woman, who didn’t let anything get in her way. Emma had been doing just that since she arrived… getting in her way.
There had to be more than met the eye with Regina. How could she actually be evil? Sure… she had just poisoned her own son while trying to kill Emma… But she had done such a great job of raising Henry, which is all Emma had ever wanted for him. No one who was truly evil could have instilled such positive attributes into a child… right?
That’s why Emma had given him up. She knew she wasn’t his best chance. He found his best chance with Regina. But all the extra layers of insanity relating to Storybrooke could have easily been skipped.
Tomorrow, Emma was going to try starting fresh with Regina. Now that all cards were on the table, they had to find a way to both be happy and be a part of Henry’s life.
***
Doctor Whale and Jefferson organized a town meeting at midnight outside of town hall. They were careful to not invite the do gooders of the town. Ones who would try to talk sense and reason into everyone. The heroes. Anyone who might try to stop what they were going to do: Kill the Evil Queen.
It was easy to whip everyone into a frenzy and have them demanding blood and retribution for their lives being ruined. Especially since everyone had come prepared with torches, baseball bats, and whatever else they could wave around like a weapon.
WHALE and Jefferson took turns asking loaded questions.
“WHO STOLE TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS FROM ALL OF YOU?”
“Who ripped you from your homes and separated you from your loved ones?”
“WHO HASN’T SUFFERED AT ALL?”
“Who still needs to pay for her crimes?”
Each of these was met with an increasingly resounding “the Queen!”
“WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT IT?”
“Kill the Evil Queen!”
“Let’s get her!” Jefferson and Whale led the way towards Mifflin Street.
***
Regina shouldn’t have let her guard down so easily. She didn’t hear the windows being broken downstairs, or the dozens of people ransacking her house in the dead of night. She wasn’t even aware when the few men ran up the stairs and stormed into her bedroom.
She did wake up when those same men were restraining her down on her bed, handcuffing her arms above her head to a short horizontal pole. “What the?”
“It’s time to pay the piper, Regina.” Jefferson said.
“You took our lives away. Now it’s our turn to return the favor.” Whale said menacingly close to her face. He nodded at the two men who were near the headboard of the bed. Regina instinctively turned to try to get a look at them to see who they were. But it was too dark and they moved too abruptly. They grabbed opposite ends of the rod Regina was chained to, and dragged her out of bed onto the floor with a thud.
This wasn’t happening. Of course, it was… Did she really think she would ever be happy? This hadn’t been the first time she was tortured. But apparently, it might be the last. She was going to face this like she always did: keeping her head held high with her dignity until it was over.
She stifled yelps as she was dragged down the stairs, each bump downwards hurting a bit more than the previous step. She tried to keep her head curled into her chest as much as possible to avoid unnecessary trauma.
When they had dragged her into the street, she did cry when she saw the rest of the mob light her house on fire. That wasn’t just her home. That had been Henry’s. No matter what they wanted to do to her… they just destroyed his childhood home and memories. Although… Maybe that was a blessing for him. Give him a fresh start without any tainted baggage from her.
By the time they had hauled Regina back to town hall, the back of her night clothes were in tatters from the pavement, and her back was a raw mess.
They chained her to a flagpole in the green outside the building.
She looked Whale in the eye. “You had to bring me here for this? Why didn’t you just kill me in my room?”
“We’re not selfish. There’s more space out here for everyone to get a shot at you. And this is so much more visible than your bedroom.”
No. They were going to leave her body here after they killed her. Why did that surprise her? It shouldn’t have. But… Henry… No matter how much he hated her, he didn’t deserve to see her broken body on display. Perhaps Emma would take him out of Storybrooke and never look back.
“I’d ask if you had any last words… But… I don’t care.” Whale said with a shrug. “Everyone, have at her!”
Assaults came from every direction. The first few stung as rocks, broken glass, and other objects cut her flesh. But the more she was pelted with items or beaten with sticks that broke her bones and spirit, everything seemed to go numb.
She heard a great deal of yelling and expletives. She wasn’t certain if any of it was coming from her or not. Blackness clouded her vision, and she didn’t fight it. She embraced it like an old friend.
***
Emma’s alarm went off at 8:15 am. It was a Saturday, but she had a shift at 9 am. That gave her enough time to shower and grab breakfast with Henry before work.
As if she forgot her life had been turned upside down the previous day. Would today be any form of normal?
There was a frantic knock at the front door.
Apparently not.
Mary Margret… Snow White?...her mother?... got to the door first. “Archie?!”
Doctor Hopper and Pongo were at the door. Emma leaned over the landing.
“Emma! You have to come quick. It’s… It’s Regina.”
Emma’s heart dropped into her stomach. Was she hurt? Worse? Or was she planning her revenge on the town and making everyone apple turnovers?
Henry came out when he heard that name. Where was he just now? “Archie? What’s wrong with my mom?”
Whatever was left of Emma’s heart was no more. When Henry reverted to calling Regina “mom,” she remembered how messed up the whole situation was. No matter what he thought about her as The Evil Queen, she would always be his mother.
Archie didn’t look like he knew how to respond to that. He might have been thinking how much more therapy Henry was going to need after whatever it was that she had to see. After some hesitation: “You both need to come with me.”
***
Archie and Pongo led the way to the town hall. It wasn’t that far of a walk, and they ran the entire way.
Emma had been running through possibilities of what she was going to see when they got where they were going. Nothing could have prepared her for the sight that met her. She almost didn’t know what she was looking at at first.
There was a lump at the base of the flagpole.
As she got closer, she saw a whole lot of blood.
Fuck. No… It was Regina. This couldn’t be happening. Should she have brought Henry with her? Should she let him see his mother like this now? These were just two of a million decisions she was not ready to make as a parent. This is why she had given him up. Had he noticed? Was it too late to shield him?
Henry let out a guttural shriek.
It was too late.
He ran up to the broken form of his brunette mother, stopping a few feet away when he processed all of the blood. Where was it even coming from? He wanted to kneel down and hold her, the way she had always held him when he was sick or had nightmares and needed comforting. But she would never forgive him if he got blood on his clothes. Surely that would stain.
“Mom?”
Emma held her breath. She wasn’t ready to have the conversation about death and letting go.
“Mom?! It’s Henry. Please wake up.” He started to cry, falling to his knees within arm’s reach of his mother. Stains be damned.
“Daddy?” It was barely audible, but that’s what it sounded like. Did she think she was talking to her father?
“Henry. Your son.”
One of Regina’s eyes was swollen shut. With difficulty, her other one slowly fluttered open, struggling to focus on her distressed son. Her throat felt as if it were made of coarse sandpaper, but she tried to say a little louder than her last attempt at speaking: “Hen-ry.”
“Mom!” His instinct was to reach out and touch her. But he suddenly thought that might hurt her more, so he decided against it.
“I’m… sorry.”
“For what?”
“For… everything.” Breathing sounded painful. She had a rattle in her chest as she tried to get words out.
“Don’t… don’t be sorry. You did nothing wrong.” His tears were free falling.
Regina attempted to laugh at that. It turned into a cough that shook her damaged frame. Blood spattered from her mouth. Through labored breaths. “I have. I… deserved this.”
“No.” He adamantly shook his head, as if that would convince her otherwise.
“I hope… you always… remember… I… love you.” That was followed by one more jagged exhale, and the former mayor was still.
“Mom?” That was met with no response. “NOOOOO!” Henry lunged forward and would have embraced the lifeless body of his fallen mother, if Emma had not caught him from behind, wrapping him tightly around the middle.
“MOM! NOOOO! Hey, let me go!”
“Henry, it’s going to be okay. I got you.”
“NO, IT’S NOT! I WANT MY MOM!” He sounded more like five than ten as he struggled against his birth mother’s hold.
From the moment he had found Emma in Boston, he had been renouncing Regina as his mother. Now he was kicking and screaming for her. Kids…
“She’s gone, Henry.”
He stopped struggling and let that sink in. He eventually turned around and returned the hug Emma was giving him, and entirely broke down. Through sobs, he managed: “Why did they do this to her?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? Apparently, she had been the Evil Queen and cursed the citizens to live here for twenty-eight years. But… to execute her in such a barbaric manner? And was she really still the Evil Queen? The people didn’t even have a trial or anything. They took justice into their own hands. This was disgusting and disturbing. She had to get the hell out of here. Her and Henry would leave Storybrooke as soon as possible. Back to the world that had laws, made sense, and where magic was only a fairytale.
Emma pulled Henry arm’s length away. With her hands on both of his shoulders, she looked him right in the eyes. “What they did was wrong. We’re going to get away from here.”
His face conveyed that he didn’t want to leave the only home he had ever known. “But all my stuff is at my mom’s place.”
“We’ll get it, pack up what you have at the loft, and get out of Storybrooke.”
“But, what about mom? We can’t just leave her here!”
Emma looked at Regina, then back at Henry. Her instinct was to cry, but the mother mode that had been kicked into gear wouldn’t allow her to let Henry see her break right now. “Leave that to me. Let’s go get your stuff.”
Emma and Henry walked away from the town hall, past Archie and Pongo. At least one person in this town had the conscience to not beat Regina to death.
The two walked in silence, with the occasional sniffle from Henry. As they got closer to Mifflin Street, there was an undeniable smoky aroma in the air. Had someone had a bonfire last night?
When they turned onto the street, nothing could have prepared them for the sight that met them (even after everything the past twenty-four hours had thrown at them). Where the once ornate and lavish mayoral mansion had stood, was a darkened shell of the former house.
What the actual fuck? Killing the woman wasn’t enough? They had to torch her home? Those bastards. It wasn’t like it was hers alone. That had been Henry’s home. They took everything away from this kid without a care in the world on how it would affect him. What a way to thank him for helping to break the curse. Maybe she should have left them to live forever cursed. Perhaps Regina wasn’t as unhinged as she seemed. These people deserved what they got. Actually… Perhaps they got off a little too easily.
They paused when they saw the sight. Emma looked down at Henry, who looked as if he was ready to crumble into a million pieces.
“It’s all gone.”
“Not all. You have some stuff at Mary Marget’s.”
“But… my comic books. My games. My… photos.” He croaked. “I don’t have any pictures of her! What sort of son am I? I didn’t bring any with me because I thought she didn’t love me and I didn’t want anything to do with her… This… is all my fault.”
There literally couldn’t be anything left of her heart to shatter at this point, but it did. “No. This is not your fault. You are not responsible for what happened here.”
“I should never have gone to find you. The curse would never have been broken. I could have just lived with her until I moved out. And no one would have gotten hurt…”
“Listen to me, Henry. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Although, she’d gladly take a do over where that never happened. Except… having Henry in her life and having known Regina were special. But was it really worth all of this? Perhaps…
“It doesn’t matter. She’s gone… Everything is gone.”
Not everything… When Emma had gone to say goodbye to Regina… before she tried to kill her with a poisoned apple turnover… Emma may have stolen a souvenir from the mansion. There was a photo album on the table in the hallway she pinched on her way out. She wanted something to remember Henry and his gorgeous (albeit, crazy and a tad scary) mother by.
“Not everything.”
“What?”
“I have one of your photo albums.”
“You do? But, why?”
“I got it when I visited your mom one day.” That wasn’t a lie.
“She gave it to you?”
Not exactly. “She didn’t stop me from taking it.”
“You stole it.”
“Does that really matter? Aren’t you glad I took it?” She had removed a photo of Regina from the album and had been carrying it in her wallet. It was a simple image of her smiling and watching Henry ride off on a bike. Regina really had such a beautiful smile. If only Emma had seen more of it in person. She definitely was going to keep that picture, and hopefully Henry wouldn’t notice it was missing from the book.
“Yeah.”
They approached the scene. The heat from the smoldering wood was still intense. It was clearly obvious that nothing was salvageable from the wreck. “I’m sorry Henry.”
He looked around at what was his childhood home, reduced to a pile of rubble. It was difficult to discern where any landmarks of the once glorious home had been.
“Let’s go. I shouldn’t have left her.”
What was the worst that was going to happen to her? She was already dead. Although… Apparently the people here were sick, so Emma didn’t want to think about what else they might want to do to her. “Come on. Go pack your things. I’ll be over to get you soon.”
“What are you going to…?”
“I’ll handle it.”
***
Emma had no idea what she was going to do. But she was used to thinking on her feet.
When she approached town hall, someone was standing over Regina. “Hey! Get away from her!”
“Ms. Swan. What a pleasure to see you.” Gold turned and smiled at her, which sent a shiver down her spine.
“Gold? What are you doing here?”
“I came to see if the rumors were true. If the unbreakable Evil Queen truly was dead.” He had way too much glee on his face at those words. The people of this town made Emma sick, and she couldn’t wait to leave.
“Are you saying you had nothing to do with it?” She didn’t believe that for a second. There was no way he wasn’t more wicked than Regina ever had been. Something about the “pawn shop owner” never sat right with her.
“Of course not, dearie. Do you think me barbaric?” She wasn’t going to answer that. He had almost beaten a man to death with his cane once. “Alas, I just wanted to… pay my respects to my former pupil.”
“You were Regina’s teacher?”
“I was. Taught her everything she knew about magic.”
So, the whole curse was only possible because of Gold? Just then, she had a crazy idea. It left her lips before she had thought it through. “Henry doesn’t want to leave her here.”
“I’d say that’s a wise move. There’s no telling what would happen to the body if you left it here.”
For some reason, referring to Regina as the body made her want to vomit. “Is there any way you could help?”
He looked down on Regina and thought for a moment. “Perhaps. But you’d owe me another favor.”
“No.”
“No? Then why on earth would I help you?”
“It sounds as if you’re the reason Regina was able to cast this whole curse in the first place. Without that, the insane people of this town wouldn’t have killed her, burned her home, and left Henry homeless without a mother and in the situation of needing to bury her.”
Gold was silent for a minute as he rolled that around, thinking of an argument. “It’s a bit more complicated than that. But… I suppose that since this is for Henry… I’ll help you.”
***
When Emma returned to the loft, she was relieved to see only Henry there. She didn’t know how she would face her long-lost parents she had known as friends and just learned who they were (fairytale characters included). It was going to be easier to leave a note, instead of saying goodbye in person. Was that the coward’s way out? Emma didn’t care less. She needed out. And, now.
She scribbled a note to Mary Margret, explaining as best as she could, what was happening. She already had her phone number, so she didn’t bother leaving an address or anything. Emma didn’t want anyone else tracking her or Henry down.
She left the note on the fridge, and gathered all of her belongings, which essentially fit into two cardboard boxes.
Henry came down the stairs with his backpack and duffle bag. All the worldly possessions that that ten-year-old had left. Like mother, like son. Even though Regina had provided him with everything he could have asked for. That was all gone. Except… Emma almost forgot. She ran up and grabbed the photo album she had taken from Regina’s house, from under her mattress. The cover had a sweet photo of Regina and Henry on Main Street. Both looked so happy. When did he stop looking at her like she hung the moon and the stars, and began thinking she was the Evil Queen? Did the storybook really ruin a perfect mother-son relationship?
She gave one final look around the apartment. It didn’t escape her that Henry had left the storybook… the one he had so desperately clung to, on the table. It hadn’t been there a few moments ago, so she knew he had intentionally left it behind. And she didn’t blame him at all. “Ready, kid?”
Henry solemnly nodded. How much more change could he take in one day?
They carried everything outside and loaded the car.
Mother and son sat in the front seat of the yellow bug, and drove towards the town line with haste. Held firmly in Henry’s hands, was an urn with his adoptive mother’s remains.
-The End-