Chapter Text
The vault was quiet.
Not the comforting kind of quiet Regina usually preferred- the controlled, deliberate stillness of power contained, but something thinner. Uneasy. Like the air itself was waiting.
Regina stood at the center of the room, fingers tracing the rim of a small glass vial. The liquid inside shimmered faintly, gold laced with something darker beneath the surface.
“A simple spell,” she murmured to herself. “Clarity. Nothing more.”
She didn’t need magic to know what Emma Swan would say if she were here.
You don’t need a spell, Regina. Just ask me.
Regina’s jaw tightened.
Asking meant trusting the answer. And trust- no matter how far she’d come, was still the most fragile thing she possessed.
It had been a small argument. Barely worth remembering, really. A disagreement over something trivial; strategy, timing, who should go where. But it wasn’t the words that lingered.
It was the look.
That flicker in Emma’s eyes. Brief. Almost imperceptible.
Doubt.
Regina had seen it before. She knew it intimately.
And she hated that it still had the power to hollow her out.
So here she was.
Not to control. Not to manipulate.
Just… to know.
She placed the vial down on the stone table and reached for the spell book beside it, flipping to a page already marked. The incantation was precise, delicate and designed to reveal intent, to strip away ambiguity.
No tricks. No illusions.
Just truth.
Regina inhaled slowly, steadying herself, then raised her hand.
“Veritas ostende…”
The air shifted immediately, magic responding like a held breath finally released. Gold light curled around her fingers, soft at first, then sharper- threading through the room in thin, luminous strands.
“Cor absconditum revela.”
The vial trembled.
Regina frowned.
That wasn’t-
The light snapped.
It didn’t bloom outward like it should have. It collapsed, folding in on itself before surging straight toward her.
“Wait!”
Too late.
The magic struck like a shockwave-bright, blinding, wrong.
Regina staggered back, her shoulder hitting the stone wall as the vault dissolved around her.
————
She was standing outside.
Daylight. Harsh and unfamiliar after the dim glow of the vault.
Storybrooke.
But not as it was now.
The colors were slightly off, the air heavier. The town clock ticked louder than it should have, each second landing like a heartbeat in her ears.
Regina’s breath caught.
“No…”
She turned and saw herself.
Across the street. Walking with that same controlled stride, spine straight, chin lifted. The version of her that still wore power like armor and cruelty like certainty.
The Queen.
Regina’s stomach twisted.
“This isn’t real,” she said under her breath, already knowing she was wrong.
Movement drew her attention.
Emma.
Leaning against the side of the station, arms crossed, eyes narrowed as she watched Regina- that Regina- pass by.
Regina followed her gaze instinctively.
Emma’s expression was unreadable at first glance. Neutral. Guarded.
But Regina knew better.
She stepped closer-too quickly, too instinctively and reached out.
Her hand passed straight through Emma’s arm.
A ghost.
Of course.
Regina swallowed, forcing herself to focus.
Emma shifted slightly, weight moving onto one leg, her gaze never leaving Regina’s past self. There was something sharp in it. Measuring.
Distrust.
It landed like a blade between Regina’s ribs.
“Yes,” she whispered bitterly.
“That sounds about right.”
Emma pushed off the wall a second later, muttering something under her breath, too quiet to catch and turned away.
The world flickered.
Regina barely had time to brace before everything shifted again.
————
Night.
The docks this time.
Wind tugged at Emma’s jacket as she stood near the edge, staring out over the water. Her posture was tense, shoulders tight, like she was holding something in.
Regina was already there- watching from a few feet away.
Waiting.
Emma exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through her hair.
“I don’t trust her,” she said.
The words were quiet.
But they hit just as hard.
Regina closed her eyes.
Of course.
Of course that’s what this spell would show her.
Every doubt. Every suspicion. Every moment Emma looked at her and saw-
The Evil Queen.
A hollow laugh threatened to rise in her chest, but she swallowed it down.
“This is what you wanted,” she reminded herself, voice tight. “The truth.”
Emma shifted again, pacing now.
“She says she’s changed, but….” Emma cut herself off, jaw clenching. “People don’t just change like that.”
Regina flinched.
It shouldn’t hurt.
Not this version of Emma. Not these early days, when distrust was expected—earned, even.
And yet-
It did.
Because some part of her had hoped-foolishly- that maybe, even then, there had been something else.
Something softer.
The wind picked up.
Emma went still again, staring out at the dark water.
Regina braced herself for more.
More doubt. More confirmation of everything she already feared.
But Emma didn’t speak.
Not right away.
When she finally did, her voice was quieter. Rougher.
“…but she didn’t have to help today.”
Regina froze.
Emma’s gaze dropped, her expression shifting- just slightly.
Conflicted.
“She could’ve walked away,” Emma continued, almost to herself. “Would’ve been easier.”
Regina’s breath caught.
The moment stretched.
Fragile.
Uncertain.
Emma huffed a quiet, humorless laugh, shaking her head like she was arguing with herself.
“Doesn’t mean anything,” she muttered.
But the words didn’t carry the same weight.
Not quite.
Regina stared at her.
Really stared.
And for the first time since the spell had gone wrong, something inside her wavered.
Because that-
That wasn’t pure doubt.
The world flickered again.
The docks dissolved into light.
————
Regina stumbled as the vision shifted once more, her balance catching just barely.
Her heart was racing now.
Too fast.
Too uneven.
“This isn’t right,” she said, more to steady herself than anything else. “It’s showing me….”
Everything.
Not just what she expected.
Not just what she feared.
The worst parts were there, yes.
But so were-
No.
Regina shook her head, trying to ground herself as the magic surged again, pulling her into another memory.
She wasn’t ready.
She didn’t want-
The light swallowed her whole.
And this time…
She wasn’t sure which would hurt more.
What Emma doubted.
Or what she didn’t.