Capítulo 14: Chapter Fourteen
Regina wept bitterly over the still, cold body of the Red Queen.
She'd lost her chance at happiness before she'd even known it had been within her grasp, and her heart keened in anguish. Around her, it seemed the earth itself shook with her very grief, that the air hummed agitatedly with her distress. Regina's tears fell like rain, and the feeling grew until it was almost unbearable. Slowly, Regina realised through her savage grief that the earth truly was shaking, and that the air actually was writhing itself into gusting fits.
She looked up in confusion, and became aware of a bright glow descending rapidly from the dark sky. A flood of light preceded it, harrying away the last shadows of darkness. Regina froze, staring through wet, swollen eyes, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. Her heart beat faster at the impossible scene unfolding before her - the moon, travelling down to earth.
The great orb settled effortlessly against the dark, shaking ground, shining so brightly with white and silver light that Regina had to cover her eyes against its forceful radiance. As the earth and the air stilled, she saw a silhouette materializing against the blinding light.
Out of the indescribable luminescence, a woman in a flowing silver gown stepped forth. The woman's skin glowed with inhuman beauty, and her pale blonde hair cascaded the length of her back to fall in waves at her feet. Despite her heartache, Regina sat upright and protectively cradled the Red Queen's lifeless body against her chest. Swiping away a tear, she formed a crackling ball of dark magic with her free hand, steeling herself to do battle once more.
The stranger simply smiled and glided forth, unafraid.
Regina held her breath, following the woman's every move with suspicious eyes as she came forward to crouch beside the fallen Queens. She reached out her arms for the Red Queen, but Regina only clasped her tighter.
"Even true love's kiss cannot defeat death, Regina," the stranger chided gently, "But I can."
Despite her readiness to fight, Regina found herself becoming inexplicably calmed by the woman's presence. Her grip loosened of its own accord, and the other gently plucked the Red Queen free from her grasp.
"Who are you?" Regina challenged softly, wary of the unusual hum of the stranger's power. She found herself helpless to do anything but sit back and watch.
"I am Aphrodite," the other said, turning her attention to the Red Queen and laying her gently flat on her back.
"The - Goddess of Love?" Awestruck, Regina's disbelieving question came out as the barest breath, and the silver woman inclined her head lightly in assent, not looking up from her task.
She reached down over the Red Queen's heart, and with a gentle hooking maneuver of one slender finger, exposed the end of a snarl of the blackest magic. Delicately, she tugged it free and crushed it in her palm with a flash of silver moonlight.
The Red Queen heaved in a great gulp of air.
Disbelief warring with hope, Regina leaped to her side, reaching out to help her sit up. As her gaze came into focus, the Red Queen's moonlight eyes lit upon Regina. Without a word, she grasped the front of her midnight-dark dress in both hands and pulled her into range, crushing her mouth to Regina's with incredible urgency. Regina didn't hesitate, lacing her fingers through her starlight hair and returning the kiss with fervour. The Evil Queen felt as though her heart might explode, but now that she understood the force within, the feeling was euphoric. They embraced for a long moment, then pulled back and their thunderstruck gazes locked.
"Regina," the Red Queen smiled, her flawless face alight with wonder.
Regina mirrored her expression of pure joy, but then suddenly remembered the silver woman. Her gaze darted over to the Goddess, who stood quietly off to one side, allowing them the space to savour their reunion. The Red Queen followed Regina's eye and scrambled to her feet in surprise. She hurriedly dropped down to one knee before the silver woman, who smiled graciously at her before reaching out to draw her back to her feet.
The Red Queen caught up the silver woman in a deferential hug. "Mother! Thank you!"
Regina's jaw dropped at the exchange, and the Red Queen turned back to her with a mischievous smile.
"Regina," she said cordially, reaching out to her to draw her forward, "May I introduce my mother - the Goddess, Aphrodite."
"Yes, we've met," Regina unthinkingly snapped back to cover her shock. Abashed, she quickly averted her gaze.
The Red Queen laughed and twined her fingers through Regina's, causing her to look up and smile despite her blush.
"Then, may I properly introduce myself," the Red Queen said. She turned to face her, taking her other hand as well so that she held both. "Regina, I am Caerys Halloran, the Red Queen, child of the moon, daughter of Aphrodite."
Regina couldn't seem to voice the appropriate response, so instead she let her glowing heart be her guide. Shyly, she leaned forward, and Caerys met her lips, smiling through the kiss. They drew apart and turned together to face the Goddess.
"I am forever in your debt," Caerys softly addressed her mother, "I thought I had failed, but you've brought me into this world a second time, for a second chance."
"Indeed," Aphrodite agreed, then fixed her luminous gaze upon Regina's face, "For her. To bring the Evil Queen her Happy Ending."
Uncharacteristically, Regina's gaze dropped right to the floor. She might be a Queen, but she was feeling ill-equipped to bear the scrutiny of a Goddess who had just offered her the single thing she most desired.
Happiness.
"Villains don't get Happy Endings," she murmured softly, unable to bring herself to believe it.
"You are not a Villain," Aphrodite said calmly, and Regina managed to lift her eyes to the Goddess' silver gaze.
"Well, I'm not a Hero, either," Regina countered, only just managing to keep an edge of politeness in her voice.
"Exactly," Aphrodite said. She folded her graceful arms, waiting patiently for her statement to sink in.
Regina's thoughts whirled, wondering what on earth the Goddess meant by it all. All her life she had been the Evil Queen, a Villain on the side of darkness, and it was a long-stated fact that Good won, not Evil.
It didn't seem reasonable that a Happy Ending should suddenly just be delivered up to her on a silver platter by the Goddess of Love.
"Regina, you do not have your Happy Ending yet - your road is just beginning," Aphrodite chided softly, seeing into her thoughts, "It is still a long way to the end, but now you have a second chance to make the right decisions. The path is simple. All that is required is for you to be true to yourself."
The Evil Queen suddenly had the distinct impression that the Goddess was judging her worth, as though she were still deciding if Regina truly was deserving of her Happy Ending.
"I'm trying!" Regina entreated, wanting to explain herself. Desperation crept in along with the feeling that she was about to lose it all before she'd even tasted it. "I'm trying to make the right decisions, to step away from the darkness. I'm trying so hard to be Good, to be a Hero!"
Aphrodite sighed sadly, turning away. "You've entirely misunderstood my meaning."
Before Regina could say another word, the silver light surrounding the Goddess gathered with rapid intensity, enveloping her and melting her from their sight. When the blinding glow dissipated, the silver woman was gone. The correct hour of the day returned, and a watery sun peeked out from behind great tufts of white cloud.
Regina's breath caught in her chest, and she felt suddenly bereft as she blinked back tears in the mild sunlight.
"No," she murmured at last, hanging her head in despair.
She'd been so close - she'd almost had the chance to find out how to achieve her long-elusive Happy Ending. But under the judgement of the Goddess, she'd found herself unworthy, consumed with guilt at having relapsed into the darkness inside her. In trying to explain herself, she'd cost herself the moment with the Goddess, and the worst part was, she didn't really understand why. She really had been trying to err on the side of Good.
A tear rolled down her cheek at the realisation that all of her past efforts hadn't been enough.
Gently, the Red Queen took her hand, turning her to face her. Her moonlight gaze stole softly into the depths of her soul, and Regina took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry," Regina whispered, unable to meet her eyes, "I don't mean to cry. I am so happy that you are alive, and here with me. It's just... I don't dare to hope you'll be around very long."
"Why would you say such a thing?" Caerys asked curiously, "I am here, at your side. Where I should be."
Regina smiled weakly at her. "Even though I've tried to turn from the darkness into the light, I'm afraid that the Goddess has judged me, and found me wanting."
A muffled sob escaped her, and the Red Queen gently reached out to tilt her chin up, gazing deeply into her tearful eyes.
"You are wrong," Caerys whispered, "She has not judged you at all; no one may judge you but yourself. She has simply given you the chance at true happiness. She has even told you how to achieve it."
"But I don't understand," Regina shook her head, unable to see sense in her words.
"You've judged yourself, Regina," Caerys explained gently, "And in doing so you've pushed yourself into a corner. You have over-complicated your quest for Happiness. This is not a battle between light and dark... good and evil... Don't you see? There is no winning side. You are good, and evil. To deny one or the other is to deny who you are - that's what she was trying to tell you."
Regina stared at her cynically despite her tears, trying to match her opinions to the thoughts storming her mind.
"You'll come to terms with what I have just said," Caerys smiled at her, "In your own way, in your own time. It is not for me to choose your destiny. My task to only to protect you and point you in the right direction."
"No one can be good and evil," Regina murmured, her brow creasing into a frown as she considered the possibility of the root of her failure at happiness.
"But you are," Caerys said, watching her intently.
With a sigh, Regina relented in the face of the idea.
Perhaps, perhaps it was possible. She closed her eyes, reaching within for her magic, probing at it, tentatively exploring her own soul. She knew that she certainly had the capacity for both Good and Evil, but she'd tried all her life tried to be one or the other. She'd spent the first half of her life believing that love and light were weakness, and then spent the latter trying to escape the darkness she'd allowed into her heart. Maybe, just maybe, she could learn to understand, and accept, that both sides were equally important.
She admitted to herself that she felt weak when she caged the darkness inside her, but empty when she caged the light. Perhaps it really was time to let them both out at once, and just see what happened. As the thought filled her mind, she gasped in wonder at the sensation of chains snapping deep inside her. She held her breath, gazing within as the two sides of her soul squared off, and then, at last, had their first tentative meeting on equal terms. A profound tide of freedom engulfed her, and Regina laughed breathlessly in the face of the truth. She opened her eyes at last, her face alight with awe.
"Caerys," Regina said softly, savouring the name of the woman standing before her, revelling in the swell of sensations inside her. Light and dark swirled freely, setting her very blood aflame with an intensity she'd never before experienced.
She felt powerfully vital, as if she could sense the very essence of life in the air around her. And as she met the moonlight gaze of the Red Queen, she felt her soul melt with indescribable emotion. Her heart drummed wildly, frolicking untamed in her chest. Deserting any sense of propriety, she caught the smiling Red Queen around her waist and pulled her close in a feverish rush.
Time stood suspended as their lips met with reckless abandon, and Regina let herself go in the enchanting moment, not sparing a thought for how she would explain her recent revelations to the residents of Storybrooke.
All too soon, the spell of the moment was broken.
"Regina?" Emma's dubious voice broke into their private reverie.
The Evil Queen grudgingly pulled her head free from her lover's embrace, but did not relinquish her grip on her waist. She leaned around the Red Queen's stunning visage, and saw Emma and Gold standing nearby, staring at her incredulously.
"My, my, dearie," Gold sneered at her, "You do have some explaining to do."
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