Tucked into a corner booth at Granny's Diner with his family, Henry was making himself useful as a distraction for Regina. He was regaling her with a tale of one of his past adventures, and she smiled with affection as she watched him bring the story to life. Granny's was quiet this early in the morning, allowing Regina a peaceful moment of respite as she focused her full attention on her son. With a small sigh, she finally relaxed and let him draw her mind away from the events of the previous night.
Across the table, Emma furtively sat in quiet conference with Mary-Margaret and David when Regina wasn't looking. She whispered a quick explanation as to why the Evil Queen looked so drawn and washed-out this morning, and the Charmings' faces were creased with concern as they listened. They whispered back a barrage of questions at Emma whilst pretending to be caught up in Henry's tale. Eventually, Regina noticed and held up her hand to stop Henry mid-sentence. She arched her eyebrows in displeasure.
"Do you mind?" she interrupted. She leaned towards them with her elbow resting on the table, gesturing with a disdainful air. "Henry is telling quite the story over here, and it's rude to whisper amongst yourselves in company."
"See," Emma whispered quickly to her parents. Regina narrowed her eyes at her. "I told you, she's pretty much okay."
"Sorry, Regina," David said meekly. "Emma was just catching us up."
Before Regina could voice a scathing response, Henry broke in. "Catching you up on what?" He looked first to Emma, and then back to Regina. Regina turned to him, and her irritable expression quickly faded into one suffused with genuine warmth.
"Nothing for you to worry about," she smiled. She cupped his cheek softly as though to quiet him, but he pulled away.
"I'm too old for that to work anymore, Mom," he said, rolling his eyes. "Come on, what's going on?"
Regina met his determined gaze, and the corner of her mouth curved affectionately. Gently, he placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, to make her understand he wouldn't take anything less than the truth as an answer.
"Mom..." he prompted. He leaned forward, looking at her meaningfully from under raised brows.
Regina smiled, relenting. "All right, Henry, here's the deal. I-"
She broke off abruptly, her attention swivelling to something over Henry's head, something outside, beyond the window. She froze, mouth open in consternation though no words graced her lips. Her brow furrowed deeply above her riveted stare. Alarmed, Emma spun in her seat to follow her gaze out toward the street.
There, across the expanse of tar outside the diner, stood a woman, looking inexorably regal in a blood-red gown shot through with silver threads.
An unknown, out-of-place Queen, standing nonchalantly in the middle of Storybrooke.
Her night-dark hair, crowned with a delicate silver tiara, cascaded in loose waves down her back. It shimmered with hints of starlight as the breeze toyed with it. A stray strand caressed one delicate alabaster cheek, and she tucked it behind her ear before refolding her hands neatly in front of her. Her measured, unfaltering gaze was as chilling as a lioness' as she stared at them. Or more specifically, at Regina.
"Who the hell is that?" Emma swung back to Regina, whose facial expression was flashing through an outward barrage of conflicting emotions at lightning speed.
"Same – magic," she managed at last, frozen to the spot and unable to escape the gaze of the stranger. Her knuckles were turning white under her grip on the edge of her seat.
"Stay here!" Emma cried, leaping to her feet and running for the exit.
She flung the door open and leapt down the steps, gun drawn. As the door crashed shut behind her, the woman snapped her gaze away from the object of her intense appraisal. She cast such a contemptuous look in Emma's direction that it stopped her in her tracks. Before the Sheriff could gather herself to take another step, the woman lazily swung the train of her dress around her and disappeared in a cloud of red smoke.
Inside, Regina, released from the bind, slumped back in her seat. She gasped for breath, clutching at her hammering heart.
"Mom!" Henry exclaimed, gripping her shoulder tightly in fright. "Are you okay? Who was that?"
She tipped her head back against the chair and tried to take a few deep breaths with her eyes closed, before focusing her attention once more on Henry.
"I'm fine," she said weakly, still gasping as though her lungs were being crushed. "But... I have no idea who that was."
"Regina!" Emma swept back into Granny's and rushed to her side. "She's gone! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Regina repeated more forcefully, striving to convince herself as much as anyone else.
She sat upright with an effort.
"Just caught me off guard, that's all," she said grimly. Secretly, she wondered how on earth that could even have happened - again.
Her breath began to flow more evenly, and she felt the first tinge of true ire at seeing the embodiment of the threat standing nonchalantly on the pavement. She was aggravated at being taken repeatedly by surprise in such a short space of time – something that was alien to her usually well-prepared and vigilant nature.
The woman's insolence in showing her face so brazenly whilst toying with Regina's emotions brought a sudden surge of the darkness inside her. Henry, his hand still on Regina's shoulder, gave her a gentle, apprehensive squeeze, as though sensing the awakening storm beneath her deceptively calm exterior.
With an effort, she caught his gaze with her own, and her love for him abruptly reared up inside her. The darkness paused. Using her affection for Henry as a weapon, she fought against the curling malice, grasping desperately at control. She focused all of her attention on her son, striving for his sake to crush the dogged awakening of her dark side.
Henry believed in her, believed that her heart held the capacity for good. It was for his sake that she had cowed the darkness of the Evil Queen in the first place. She'd come so far; she'd tried so hard to move away from her malevolent nature. She couldn't relapse now. She willed the light in her to be stronger as she stared into his innocent eyes. She reminded herself that Emma should deal with the stranger; it was her duty as the Sheriff.
Besides, Regina's days of raining unrepentant punishment upon those who irked her were over.
But, the newly reawakened malevolence refused to coil back into its cage. Despite her best efforts, her son's face blurred before her. Her vision turned inward, despite Henry saying her name aloud. She didn't even hear his voice, and her face settled into a vengeful mask. She held up her hand and clawed it slowly into a fist, feeling her magic brooding there. A picture of the Red Queen burned fiercely in her head, driving away all else.
The stranger stood out in sharp relief in her mind - all gleaming red dress and mocking grey eyes. The ridiculous cause of Regina's sleepless night and crippling bouts of fear. As she pictured her, mortal and breathing, Regina felt the snap of Fear's collar as it fell away from her, and the synonymous flood of dark rage as it did so.
Nothing more than a foolish witch, with the audacity to challenge the Evil Queen.
"Well," she said to no one in particular. "We'll just see about that, dear."
Abandoning all hope of goodness, she gave in to her true nature. She opened her fist slowly, her fingers humming with power. A cold, dark fury stole into her features. Henry sat back apprehensively, his hand falling uncertainly away from its grip on her shoulder. Regina didn't notice.
"Uh-oh," Emma said under her breath.
Without another word, the Evil Queen surged to her feet. Her eyes were hard, her mouth set in a grim line, and she swept around the table towards the door as if she'd forgotten everyone else was there.
"Regina, wait! Where are you going?" Emma called after her, half-rising to follow, but not quite sure she was brave enough.
"To my Vault," she threw back over her shoulder. "No one threatens me and gets away with it!"
The look she flashed Emma was violent enough to make her sink back into her seat.
Regina abruptly exited the building, and the door slammed decisively shut behind her. Her deadly stiletto heels clicked ominously against the tarmac as she marched away, and she fairly crackled with fury. Passing cars screeched to a halt to avoid her, and unfortunate pedestrians were quick to leap out of her way as she stormed down the street. She hardly noticed; her entire being was caught up with her singular mission.
As she rounded the corner and disappeared from sight, Emma exchanged a helpless glance with her parents.
"Wow," Henry whispered haltingly into the silence. His face was pallid. "Mom's gone straight back to the dark side."
"You think?" Emma responded. "C'mon, kid, we'd better go find Gold. He knows something, I'm sure of it."