Chapter 34: The Queen is Back
Sneaking into Storybrooke had not been how Regina had planned to make her grand entrance. She liked being showy. She had been showy ever since she could remember. Save for when she had bamboozled Mother into Wonderland that had been discreet. Though to be fair, she had been wearing her royal wedding dress at the time so she guessed it had been sort of showy.
This whole endeavor had not. From sneaking in at the dead of night to disable that stupid nurse Rumple had hired for that stupid Belle.
Stupid. It seemed like it was the word of the day. Regina inwardly snarled as she thought about the bookworm. So, malleable only because Regina held the bloody girl's heart—her ultimate secret weapon, besides Zelena's magic of course.
The girl had been more than putty in her hands, to do her bidding. Of course, she had offered her a choice though. She had really been hoping that Belle would somehow see the light, and join the dark side. But the brunette had seemed appalled that Regina had wanted to get revenge on Emma, even though she seemed clearly miffed at Rumple and his infidelity.
Not that Belle remembered any of this; all she knew was that she had to make sure that Emma drank that tea.
Tea laced with dreamshade. Which wasn't cheap, that stuff was imported. Usually Regina used it to make her sleeping potions. However, she didn't have near the ingredients to make such a potion here so she gave it to Potter in its raw form. It wouldn't kill her in this world, but it would definitely cause her some nasty side effects. And cause enough of a distraction to do what Regina had planned to do—gain, what belonged to her.
Her son.
She was not a loser. There might be a court order that invalidated her adoption. Henry might hate her, but at the end of the day she was his mother and she was always going to be his mother and he was going to learn that.
And Emma Swan-Potter and Rumple, and that guy she was married too—Harry Potter—they weren't going to stop her.
They thought they had won. She realized that when she had unexpectedly spotted her son with Graham of all people at Granny's.
She was in disguise at that time—keeping the form of that stupid nurse as she listened to Graham and Henry.
"I don't understand why I can't go home." The boy said.
Graham sighed. He looked good. Better than Regina had seen him in awhile. There seemed something different about him that she couldn't pinpoint. At least, not right away, "Your parents have things going on, HJ. It's going to be okay."
"They're not fighting again, are they?" Henry asked. "I thought Emma was starting to like Harry more. She stared at his butt the other day, it was disturbing."
Graham shook his head. "And you pay attention to that?"
"It was sort of hard not too," Henry said. "I mean, she just lost her train of thought in our conversation and I had to ask her again if I could order pizza. While she kept staring. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're getting along more but it's disturbing. And confusing—"
"Confusing?"
"Yeah," Jaime said. "Because of Mr. Gold."
Ah, yes, Rumple. Rumple who just happened to be the baby of Emma Swan's child, which Regina had learned about and intended to use to her fullest advantage. She had first overheard them talking about the true paternity of the child when she took over the nurse's identity. Which had been days before she gave Belle the tea.
The looks of longing, the talking. It wasn't that difficult to put together and Regina was surprised she hadn't picked up on it earlier. She had almost blown her cover when she found out, but she played her cards quietly.
Again, not her style. But she was planning on winning. Rumple was not going to win. Regina was not a loser.
Mary Margret's hearing made a perfect opportunity to strike.
That fool.
It delighted Regina that the girl was still in jail, but to perfect her machinations she had to get her not so willing lapdog a proper defense. Or at least expose Emma Swan-Potter for what she was.
A whore.
Regina sat in the back of that courtroom trying not to laugh as she watched Emma Swan-Potter get more and more upset.
She was hoping that that would've been enough to strike, but it wasn't. Henry remained hidden, his stupid father and Rumple were still there and it wasn't like she could incapacitate them without causing a scene. Then, she found out from a little bird at the hospital that Emma and Rumple's brat was going to be okay. And it made her mad enough, to decide that something more drastic was in store like dreamshade tea.
While it wouldn't kill a normal person in this world it would cause some nasty side effects, especially for a growing fetus. A lot more than hypertension in a courtroom would. And when Harry Potter left to go on business—well, the time was right to strike.
Rumple, she was sure, would be at Emma's bedside leaving the boy exposed.
And there he was with Graham; Graham who was also putty in her hands. This was going to be so easy.
"Betsey?" Jaime said seeing her as he got up to use the restroom.
"Oh, hi, Jaime." She said. It stung saying that name. She hated it so much. She didn't need to worry, soon enough she wouldn't have to say it anymore. They would have an understanding when they reached their destination. "It's nice seeing you again."
She didn't know how the woman knew her son. She was supposed to be Belle's nurse. Not exactly someone Henry was supposed to have daily reactions with of the woman whose life she randomly took over. However, she'd take the convenience for what it was worth.
"You were supposed to teach me a lesson yesterday," The boy said. "You didn't show."
Lesson?
She gave him an odd look, but being the Evil Queen she was used to lying and said. "Time must have gotten away from me. Mrs. Gold requires a lot of care, you know."
Henry nodded and gave her an odd look. "Well, I did have a couple of questions about the assignment that you gave me. When do you think you can help me?"
This was too much. Regina almost wanted to laugh. Was he really giving her an opening. But she decided to play it cool.
"Maybe today, after school." She said, "I'll meet you here and then we can have our lesson."
"In public?" Jaime said caught off guard.
What was this lesson he was talking about?
Regina recovered quickly. "I thought some hot chocolate might be nice before we get started with lessons."
"My mom doesn't want me drinking and eating stuff from here." Jaime said, "The only reason I'm here today is because Graham has an addiction to the coffee. Even though my parents and Ford say it taste like shit."
"You shouldn't use that word, Jaime." She said.
The boy shrugged.
He always had a penchant for having a potty mouth. Though, Regina probably hadn't helped matters with that. She had cursed in front of him ever since she could remember. She didn't think it hurt things, God knows the brat picked up a lot from the television.
"The stuff taste bad." He said, "I am sort of boycotting it too. The wait staff is pretty horrible, unless you count Ruby's short shorts as good service."
And that was enough.
"Let's still meet here." She said, "I want to get some hot chocolate and then we can begin your lessons."
The boy nodded and went off towards the restroom as Regina tried to rationalize what sort of lessons the nurse turned mouse could've taught him.
Maybe she should've actually questioned her before throwing turning her into owl food, but alas that was not the case.
"What were you and HJ talking about?"
She turned around surprised to see Graham addressing her. She didn't like it, he wasn't supposed to be observant. That was one of the more delightful side effects of the man's heart being pulled out. He became a bit of a dope. A far cry from how the wolf once was.
"His lesson," She replied.
Graham gave her a look, "You know those have been canceled for the time being."
Regina gave him an odd look. "Of course, but I had to humor him didn't I? I offered him hot chocolate today. Thought it would break the blow a little."
"HJ knows there's no lesson, Regina." He snapped as he looked at her.
She stared at him. "Graham, are you okay? I'm not Regina."
"Are you?" He said looking at her. "Sure, you look like Betsey. But my nose has never lied."
Nose never lied? Maybe when he had his heart but—
"Oh, I know to trust my instincts, Regina." He said as he stepped behind her slipped something cold under her—handcuffs?
"I don't—"
He shook his head. "Regina Mills, you have the right to remain silent. Anything said can be used against you. You have the right to an attorney. Should you not be able to afford an attorney, an attorney will be provided for you."
"What?" She said caught off guard. "You can't be serious. My name is Betsey. I'm a nurse."
But Graham had already started pulling her out of the booth at Granny's. Good thing it was practically empty, otherwise people would be staring. Needless to say, Regina had had enough.
"You are going to release me, or you're going to regret it." She hissed. "Do you understand me, Graham. That's an order."
He didn't wince though. Not like he should've. She had so many spells on his heart; he should've bent to her will. But instead, he just blinked at her as if her words meant nothing to her.
"Come on, Regina. I really don't want to have to make a spectacle of this."
She'd show him a spectacle as she smacked down her heal onto his toes.
This only caused him to grunt in pain.
"I swear, Graham, you'll regret this." She whispered into his air as he lifted her up from the booth. He wasn't even trying to be gentle anymore. Dare she say it, he was being harsh with her and she did not like it. At all.
He laughed as he whispered back into her air. "Why? Because you'll make me have a heart attack. Afraid you lost that leverage, your majesty."
He knew.
She felt all the blood draining from her face. How did he know? Not only that but he had his heart. That was not possible, she had it locked in the vault. Blood coded. It should've been next to impossible
That was okay. Soon enough, she'd have his stupid heart in her hands again and he'd regret this.
Taking power from her sister's pendant, she willed the handcuffs to come off of her. There was a moment of resistance, but eventually they were off and Graham gasped.
"What?" Regina said, "They weren't supposed to fall off? Surely, you realized that I had my magic back when you saw me wearing Betsey's face."
He grimaced.
"You were always a dumb one," She said as she reached towards his chest. Only to be propelled back by some force. Some force that ended up pushing her into the other side of the diner. Good thing Granny's had been empty, otherwise God knows what Regina could've ended up in—a troll's lap.
The thought of that mortified her more than hitting the wall hard. She was dazed for a moment, as that idiotic sheriff walked up to her as she tried to rationalize what happened.
"It's not going to be to take my heart again, your majesty."
Rumple.
It had to be stupid Rumple. He was the only one who could possibly have the power to help Graham, but why. And how did Rumple have magic. It wasn't like the imp had a pendant like Zelena. But he was the Dark One.
Regina should've been the Dark One.
She had killed him, and yet none of those powers came to her and the imp was still alive. The question was how.
Maybe he had put all his essence in a magical pendant like Zelena did. It could be possible, Regina thought as she thought about her new power source. Speaking of her new power source, she had enough of Graham. He was not behaving.
"Don't do anything you'll regret." She snapped as she offered him one last warning.
He glared at her, "Anything I'll regret. Are you fucking kidding me?"
"I don't kid." She snapped. "You know what I can do, Graham. I'm sure you do, which is why you'll apologize for being so fucking rude to me and let the boy go home with me."
Graham started laughing.
Regina decided that she wasn't going to put up with such disrespect as she drew up a fireball.
Graham sighed, "You can't take my heart. You realize that now. Surely, you realized that I have magical protection."
"Who says I'm going to hurt you." Regina said—magical protection. There were lots of loopholes there.
Regina had failed to pull out the third or fourth maid before Belle's heart and frowned as she looked at her trainer. "What the fuck?"
"Her heart's protected dearie. Surely, you'd realize by now that I'm not going to waste good help."
"You told me to destroy her." Regina said, "Can't really do that if I can't take her heart."
Or any other form to permanently maim her since fireball throwing and the like didn't seem to work. Oh, sure the girl cried when she was hit by Regina's flame of rage and her clothes caught fire, but it didn't kill her. Not like it was supposed too.
She had tried everything, but nothing would kill her. Finally, she glared at Rumple in frustration. "Nothing is working. I can't kill her with magic."
It was time for the imp to laugh. Oh, God, did Regina hate that laugh. It was his you're a failure and loser, Regina, laugh. It agitated her to no end.
"I never said kill, dearie," He said, "I said destroy."
He then waved his hand and the maid was turned into a mouse and no sooner than she had been turned into a rodent did a large Rumple conjured hawk pick her up and proceeded to eat her.
"You see, Regina, technically, I didn't kill her. The hawk did."
"You conjured the hawk." She pointed out. "The hawk ate Bethany."
"Her name was Minnie or should I say Minnie Mouse, but I didn't conjure the hawk. We're in a wooded area that is filled with birds. I just turned Minnie into a mouse—she kept burning my toast—the thing is I destroyed her even though I could not kill her with my magic. Protection spells can only go so far, you have to think outside the box, dearie."
Outside the box.
She looked at Graham and smiled, as she snapped. "I don't have to use magic to kill you or control your heart to get what I want."
She then waved her hand turning the man into a wolf. He always wanted to be an animal, let him have his happy ending. Graham screamed in agony before he took his new form and lunged towards Regina.
She laughed as she dodged him, poofing away each time the animal tried to attack her.
"Such a stupid creature," She murmured before waving her hand and sending the animal into the forest where it belongs.
At this point, she took inventory of the diner. It was destroyed beyond all means. She shouldn't have been that surprised. She had after all gotten into a fight with a wild animal, though she would've thought that Granny, Ruby, or anyone would've checked on the state of their restaurant.
Yet, no one had come out.
What was wrong with this town?
She shook her head, as she spotted Henry's stupid scarf at the booth he had been sitting with, with Graham.
The boy's forgetfulness was actually going to be useful for once, Regina thought as she picked up the scarf.
He had been trying to run back home, like somehow that was going to protect him. Regina inwardly laughed as she poofed in front of him.
"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" She asked her son.
The boy paled. "I knew it was you."
Regina shook her head, "You don't need to be scared of me, Hen—Jaime."
Stupid Rumple and his stupid clauses.
The boy looked at her, "No. Get away. Get away from me, or I swear Regina."
"Call me mom." She said, "That is my name. I am your mother!"
"You're not," The boy said. "You are not my mother. Get away from me or I swear that—"
"You swear what?" Regina said with a laugh. "That you'll get Emma and Harry, or Ford to come and make a fool of me. That's not happening again. You and I are going to have an understanding young man. You are going to learn to obey me!"
The boy looked at her like she was crazy.
"No." He said simply staring at her. "I'm not coming with you."
"You don't have a choice," She snapped. "I am your mother."
And more importantly she had magic.
"Come here, Hen—Jaime."
"Don't touch me." The boy said. "He was walking backwards now. What sort of crap had Emma been feeding him?
"Jaime," Regina said as she stepped closer to him.
The boy winced and mumbled something under his breath. Regina couldn't understand what he was trying to do, but whatever it was it was pathetic. It was as if he thought that saying something would stop her. It didn't though; she soon reached out and grabbed his arms. And poofed away.
Poofed away to where the portal spot was. By all accounts, it looked like just a spot in the woods. But Regina knew better. She remembered first appearing here right after the curse; this was the edge between the two worlds.
A potential place for a portal, though you wouldn't notice she thought since the area was covered with brush all over save for a small wishing well.
She guessed its odd placement should've been a clue. Wishing wells didn't appear out of nowhere. Though, she guessed it wasn't exactly a wishing well. It was just a well. A well that's waters ran deep, deep into another world and when utilize properly—like when she happened to have a spare bean that she manage to save long ago from Zelena's stash.
She rolled her eyes. She never did get to ask her sister how she managed to acquire such a stash of portal travel beans. The things seemed to grow wild in Oz, though Zelena always ranted about how they weren't as travel friendly as some pair of shoes.
Whatever.
She remembered how Zelena had laughed at her for not using a bean.
"It's so much easier than a curse, Regina." She said, "You can jump from one realm to another. Easy peasy."
Easy peasy, her ass. She knew about the beans—or heard about them in her studies, not that she paid much attention when Rumple started droning on and on about realm travel. At that point in time, Regina had no interest to travel. If she did, she'd just get Jefferson to do her bidding.
But what Regina had wanted, what Regina had wanted was more. She wanted her revenge, which meant cursing the entire kingdom. Sure, in hindsight maybe it would've been easier doing to Snow what she had done to Cora, but it would've been a lot less flashy. And she would've had to worry about interlopers helping the princess find her way back to her true love.
Thank God for heart magic, Charming hadn't mentioned Mary Margret's name since she told him the revised history of what happened to the baby that Regina had murdered.
She subconsciously pated the ashes of Snowing's child that she had in her pocket as she looked at Henry who was staring at her gaped eyed.
"No," He finally managed to say. She thought it was borderline funny how long his mouth was opened, but she didn't say anything. She'd use it to mock the boy later. She wasn't heartless; she knew this had to be an adjustment for him.
"No, to what?" Regina said, "That you've finally realized you're not going to get your way."
Henry shook her head at her in disgust. The way the boy looked at her, made Regina frown.
"You can't have magic." He finally said, "No. You can't."
"I can and I do," Regina said as a fireball appeared in her hand. She wanted conversation to move along. In fact, she really didn't want to be having it right now.
She wanted to open the portal and start their new life. Where there would no intervention from the Potters or Gold.
Where she could have her happily ever after.
It was odd that she considered Henry to be a part of her happily ever after. Sometimes she swore she didn't even like the boy, but she did think she deserved him—oddly enough. He was her son after all, she adopted him. And he was hers. Not the Potters.
Still, was she very maternal? Not really.
"Oh, don't look at me that way," She said when Henry paled. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"You're holding a fireball in your hands." Henry said, "I think you could hurt me."
"I could," Regina said. "But you're going to be a good boy and listen to me and I won't have to hurt you."
"You're insane." Henry said.
Insane!
Regina felt rage going through her body, before she knew it she threw the fireball towards her son. It didn't directly hit him, but he definitely received some of the impact. She winced as she saw Henry scream when his coat caught on fire.
.She didn't want to hurt him, but at the same time she was so angry! Henry needed to be put in his place. Still she blanched as the boy screamed. What had she done, she quickly blustered off these feelings though—she was the Evil Queen. She had no regrets.
But seeing her son there, screaming, she quickly reacted throwing water to stop the fire.
It didn't stop the screaming though, which annoyed her. The fire was gone and she told him as much. Henry was ignoring her though.
"I just want to go home," He screeched. "Why isn't it working?"
"You are home," Regina snapped. "You're with me. Your place is with me."
The boy kept screaming, but Regina didn't care. He was speaking and breathing, any other injury she could heal once they got home.
She thought about home. The Enchanted Forest. Ridded of all her enemies now, it would be just him and her, and the areas that weren't effected by the curse. It would be a fresh start. A new beginning for him and her.
She dragged the boy towards the well, before throwing the bean into the well. The effect was almost instantaneous. A portal opened.
Regina smiled as she saw Jaime stare at her in horror, "Oh, yes," Regina. "You're going to get your wish, boy. We're going home."
End of Part II