A Curse Upon Thee 2-4

Idiot. She left the prince standing squarely in the middle of his own pathetic indecision, blond head finally full of something more than his own heroic fantasy. 

Heels struck the pavement, clipping a punishing staccato against the concrete, as Regina kept her eyes on her target just a few doors down. This town… The ever-present frown of her least-favorite dwarf was aimed her way, the dusty little creature staring at her like he had anything to his name but a pickaxe. You should all be thanking me. 

Twenty-eight years of small-town perfection and the complete calm of modernity; that’s what she had given them. Abundant running water, electricity and the pleasure of every other amenity in this realm offered freely, as well as safety from bandits and monsters and every other threat the Enchanted Forest and what do they give her in return?

Hate. 

She absolutely refused to turn her head or acknowledge the townsfolk as they milled around Main Street, still adjusting to their past memories among their present routine. Too many stares burned against the crisp lines of her tailored blazer.

The Maine air was thick already, the heat of the afternoon even more cloying and suffocating with all the raw tension bleeding off the residents. A weight in her lungs, every single time she drew a breath came heavy with that “new” magic and, even now, it coated the back of her throat. That sickening purple-black rot that Gold had so callously unleashed clung to the atmosphere even after the actual fog vanished to nothing.

Twenty-eight years of smiling stagnation in her perfect town — her normal paradise — shattered to nothing because of one infuriating man, and with it went her unchallenged peace.

“Good morning, Regina.” 

She blinked up as Archie Hopper walked towards her, the man walking his ridiculous dalmatian as he did every day. “H-how are you today?” The town psychiatrist slowed his pace, the dog pulling uselessly at the leash.

“Good morning…” Her teeth snapped together, Regina biting back the insult even as the word cricket fought bitterly against the back of her teeth. “…Doctor Hopper.”

Hopper’s eyes went wide behind his glasses, the man’s mouth actually falling open as he gaped at the actual use of his title. It could have been that or it could have been the uncharacteristic restraint on her part. 

No matter what it was, Regina didn’t bother to look back at his pathetic display, one eye halfway to twitching as her manicured hand reached towards the heavy wooden brass of the pawn shop’s doorknob.

The second she pushed the door open, the bell chimed with that exact same irritatingly neat note — cheerful, sharp and familiar — cutting sharply through the dusty, oppressive silence of the shop.

Dark eyes caught the only other movement in front of her; the second Regina took two proper steps into the dim light of Gold’s pawnshop. “Do you really think I’m here for you?” Her words were apparently no comfort as Belle kept stepping back, the young woman physically retreating to hide her small frame behind Rumple.

The ridiculous girl cowered away from her exactly as if Regina were a literal fire-breathing monster. 

Which was… fair. 

Though Regina honestly didn’t have in her the necessary emotional energy to care about the girl’s delicate sensibilities today. You lock someone up in a mental ward one time.

Shaking her head, Regina turned sharp eyes on the man in front of the frightened girl, the reason behind all her current problem standing casually behind the glass counter. The shitty little imp was currently leaning comfortably on his silver-handled cane, looking entirely too pleased with himself after doing everything but setting her town on fire.

“Rumple.”

“Regina.” He smiled just a little bit wider. “Good morning to you too.”

Several more steps took her toward him, until the only thing truly keeping her from choking the life out of his neck was the counter itself. Of course she would fail even without that, but it would be satisfying to try regardless. “Don’t think for a single second I’ve forgotten about last week.”

“And what exactly about last week have you not forgotten, Madame Mayor?” The Scottish lilt dragged heavily on the vowels, dripping with oily amusement. “Pardon me, I forget myself. It’s Ms Mills now, isn’t it?”

She frowned deeply at the smug smile that refused to fade from his face. Bastard. 

The unmitigated hell of that fight was still a fresh bruise, a vastly nearer brush with actual death than Regina was comfortable with. It would have been one thing to blame it on her own rustiness in actually using magic to fight — nearly thirty years would wear down anyone’s skill, after all — but no, it was more than that. That horrific wraith Rumple had summoned had been significantly stronger than it ever should have been, the thing bearing down on her with a weight that was actively physical.. Something fundamental about the magic coursing through the town had actively empowered the creature far beyond its natural limits.

Granted, that magic hadn’t been any easier on her either.

Still struggling with the feeling of being flush with magic again, it was a battle on the other end just trying to control the jagged power. With both of those together, it had been a terrifyingly close fight just to successfully ward the soul-sucking thing away into the portal of the hat.

A profound shame the portal had violently dragged Emma and Snow into the abyss right along with it, but she would take whatever silver linings that landed in her lap.

“You actively tried to have me killed.”

The bone-dry sound that was Rumple’s laugh filled the room as the Dark One tilted his head just enough to mock her. “Can you honestly blame me, dearie?” 

Regina gave him a careless shrug back, refusing to let the imp get under her skin.  “I suppose not. If our positions were reversed, I probably would have done the exact same thing.”

Gold’s smile widened significantly, gold tooth on display. “Well, we both know you would certainly try.”

“Enough, Rumple.” Regina’s jaw tightened, what little polished restraint she had left fraying at the edges. “The magic,. The power you set free. It’s contaminated.”

“Contaminated is such a harsh word, Regina. Ugly, even.” Gold adjusted his grip on the cane as the man leaned forward, eyes glittering her way. “I prefer… altered. The boy had such a unique magic to him, you see. Such a highly destructive and foreign nature that it acted exactly like I expected, a corrosive acid against what sealed the magic away.”

“It’s literal rot, you imp.” Regina snapped back, her breath almost crowding out the words. “It’s not just back in the town. The sickness is actively leaking past the borders and bleeding out into a world that has absolutely no defense against it.”

“What…” The third person in the room finally stepped out from behind the safety of Gold’s shoulder, curiosity fighting her fear enough to voice at least one question. “What’s wrong with the magic?”

“What?” Regina’s head snapped toward the girl, echoing Belle for a single word. A moment later, a sharp laugh forced its way out of her throat before she looked directly back at Gold, the theatrical precision returning to her tone. “What? You haven’t bothered to tell your little pet the truth? You had her play her part in your little sacrifice and you couldn’t share that, Gold?”

The Dark One’s expression went blank, gaze as sharp as hers. “I didn’t see any particular need to tell her. Magic is not her particular interest, after all.”

“Tell me what?” Belle stepped forward, a tremble in her voice.

“Rumplestiltskin’s little sacrifice at the well, the one you helped with.” Regina turned her attention back to the still-confused girl. “Apparently, it fundamentally changed the magic he tried so desperately to release. It’s tainted, poisoned, cursed.”

“So many words to describe the same thing.” Rumple shook his head. “We can simply call it changed.”

Regina’s face darkened. “You’re only saying that because I strongly doubt even you actually know what that boy’s magic did to it.”

“Ah, finally displaying some genuine curiosity for the first time in so very long, Regina?” The man tut-tut-tutted, shaking his head. “Tired of aggressively assuming you know absolutely everything, I see.”

This man… infuriating on every level, and that hadn’t changed one bit. 

Even when he wasn’t the giggly golden-scaled bastard that always appeared whenever he was least wanted, Rumplestiltskin was a thorn in her side that never failed to draw blood. “Who was he supposed to be, Rumple?” 

Regina stepped closer to the glass counter, voice dropping lower as she leaned over to stare Rumpelstiltskin in the face. “That boy was a complete stranger to this town, and he had magic of his own. That was the only reason I allowed him to continue drawing breath in my town, especially considering he had absolutely no memory of his past. Who was he?”

The man offered her a slow shrug of his own. “Your best educated guess is honestly as good as mine, dearie.”

Liar.

He had to be lying.

Regina stared the man down, eyeing him in silence as the imp just smiled back. “So, you aren’t that curious either, then.”

He tilted his head the other direction. “Don’t you have a son who spent the last few months looking up Irish fairy tales?” That gold tooth flashed at her. “Why not ask dear Henry?”

You… Thoughts of the son who wouldn’t even look at her, who hadn’t so much as talked to her for a week now, rocked her like a punch as Regina turned sharply on her heel. Without another word, she marched her way out of the cramped pawnshop, jaw locked tight as she bit back the venom boiling on her tongue.

The brass bell chimed as the heavy door swung shut behind her, instantly cutting off the sound of Belle asking the imp more questions.

That little worm… Her heels clicked louder and louder with every step that took her toward the Sheriff’s station. What would he even know of children? The station was the only place she could think of right now that wasn’t home; more than that, she desperately needed to exert some semblance of actual control over the sprawling administrative disaster David Nolan was currently presiding over.

The stench of industrial floor wax and a cheap salt-and-cherry perfume hit her as soon as she pushed the station doors open, the latter the same scent that stubbornly followed the Lucas girl everywhere like musk. More steps took her into the station proper and as soon as she rounded the corner, she saw the oh-so-glorious Prince David sitting heavily behind the main desk, the one his daughter once claimed. 

The man was completely buried under a towering mountain of paperwork, looking every single bit the out-of-his-depth man he truly was as he looked up from a file. “Regina…” His handsome face immediately went dark, the man’s mood visibly plummeting the same second his blue eyes landed on her tailored suit. “What exactly do you want now?”

“Absolutely nothing.” Regina smoothed the front of her blazer, dark eyes drifting between him and the sight of Ruby making her way over to the wall of filing cabinets. “I’m simply curious about all the chaotic goings-on of our local law enforcement office.” A manufactured smile touched her lips, colder than the air-conditioning. “I see the loyal guard dog is still here.”

The girl didn’t even twitch, jaw set in a hard line as she just kept aggressively alphabetizing the files in her hands like she didn’t hear a word.

Disrespectful. Regina scowled.

“If you don’t have a legitimate reason to be standing in this station, Regina,” Vowels flattened out by simple frustration, the normal courtly tone that David had been carrying since the day he took the office was barely anywhere to be heard. “Why don’t you leave Ruby and I to do our jobs?”

“Jobs?” The laugh was a single note but it was sharp and loud all the same. “You were a prince and, after that, you worked at a pet store, David. And now you’re playing with paperwork while your wife and daughter are lost in a magical wasteland.”

“And whose fault is that?” The mayor clenched his fists on the table as he bit back at her. “The two of them are only gone because they cared about saving your life, witch. Did you rip out your own heart too, what’s wrong with you?”

“See, I knew you had it in you.” Regina allowed herself a smile, even as the last sentence stung more than she’d like to admit. “How long have you been holding that in, David?”

“I am currently trying to keep this town from completely tearing itself apart.” David leaned forward, bracing his hands flat on the desk, ignoring Regina’s question to say his piece. “Which is significantly more than you’re doing, just hiding out in your mansion and playing with your little spellbooks.”

“I am attempting to understand the toxic sludge Gold unleashed upon my town.” Anger flashed much sooner than she wanted it to, the sentence ending in a bite. It was humiliating, this sudden inability to simply remain her glacial calm. “It’s more than you would understand.”

David just stared at her, blue eyes halfway to apathy.

“Oh, chin up, David. You should be thrilled.” She shook her head. “What red-blooded American man doesn’t secretly want to be a cowboy? A tin badge, a loaded gun to go with that shiny sword, and a terrified town to save — it’s just like the Wild West. Truly, it suits your simple, heroic sensibilities.”

Ruby still didn’t bother looking up from the manila folders, the heavy silence from the girl screaming significantly louder than a threat.

Well, fine. If you’re gonna be bores about it…. Regina turned sharply to leave, her manicured hand already reaching for the heavy glass door.

Before she could twist the knob and walk out, Regina froze where she stood as a sleek dark blue sports car suddenly pulled up to the curb directly in front of the sheriff’s station, the powerful engine cutting off with a low growl. What… 

Dark eyes went wide at the staggering display of high-end European luxury that very few people in the entire state could actually afford, and absolutely no one in this miserable little town possessed. A Maserati?

Ruby froze dead by the filing cabinets. “…no. How?”

Her mouth dropped wide open, the manila folders slipping from her hands to scatter across the floor as she stared blankly past Regina’s shoulder, looking straight through the glass front door as someone stepped out of the car.

“Finn?!”