Maybe it's All About Timing

Innocent to Evil Ch1-Part1

Chapter 1
Part 1

Present Day-Storybrooke

As he lay down for what he hoped would be his last night in Peter Pan's body, he could not sleep. He had been stuck in a box for what seemed like an eternity, and now he was trapped in a body that was not his own. Sure, it would be awesome to be Spiderman, X-Man, or Batman, but not Pan, especially since he was a villain, oh yeah and Rumples' father. So, what did that make him? His great-grandfather. It was weird. He was stuck in his great-grandfather's body. All he wanted in that moment was to be back in his own body, to be able to read all the comic books and play all the video games he wanted, to be back in his old room, in his old bed, not this tiny loft of his grandmother's. Most of all, he missed his mom... his adoptive mom. He wished he could go back in time, to when they would go to the beach together and have fun like they used to. A warm smile tugged at his lips as he reminisced on those days.

He glanced at the clock, it was 2am. Wow, if his mother found out he was up this late she would be livid. He kept tossing and turning, feeling something unusual beneath his pillow. He flipped the pillow over and discovered several missing pages from the storybook. As he lifted them up, the first page had a beautiful illustration of a woman holding a baby in the air, reminiscent of the iconic image from the Lion King movie. At the bottom of the page was a caption that read, "Her name is Regina, for one day she will be Queen."

Henry gasped in disbelief. He couldn't believe his eyes - the baby was his mother!
He whispered in a voice that was not his own, "This must be her story." He was taken aback for a moment, as he had momentarily forgotten he was in Pan's body. He really wanted his body back. Anyway, he was certain that these pages had been removed from the book. He wondered, were they here before? Or did they just appear...like magic? He concluded that the latter must be true, for this was Story Brooke after all.

He thought that since he couldn't sleep, he might as well take this opportunity to pull an all-nighter. He knew that his mom would be furious if she found out he had done this, But he figured that he wouldn't get in trouble since he was technically in Pan's body. This thought made him chuckle. He then decided to read up on his adoptive mother's story and find out what her life was like before she became the Evil Queen. After all, Henry Daniel Mills was finally realizing that the fairytale world isn't always what it seems, and sometimes heroes can turn out to be villains, or vice versa.

A Queen is Born

Once upon a time, long ago, a child was born - an innocent pawn in her mother's vengeful and ambitious game. Cora, the Miller's daughter, wanted only one thing - power. She was willing to go to any lengths to secure it, even if it meant sacrificing her own heart. She had one goal in mind - to make her daughter, Regina, the Queen of the Enchanted Forest. Regina had beautiful brown eyes and raven hair, with soft olive skin. The fairest of them all. Any mother would have been overjoyed at their bundle of joy, but no, Cora only saw a future queen in the making. Regina's father was Prince Henry, the son of King Xavier and furthest in line from the throne. Despite his nobility, kindness, and honor, he was weak - his daughter, the most precious gift he had ever received, was his Achilles heel, and Cora would use this to her advantage for the power she so desperately desired. For Cora, love was nothing but a weakness.

Regina and Daniel-Enchanted Forest

"Come on, Rocinante!" the raven-haired young woman said to her warm chestnut mare while riding through the breeze of the fresh air. Her long braid flew through the wind, and she felt free and at peace. She was on her way to see her beloved, and with a quick jump off of Rocinante, she ran up the hill to greet him.

Daniel eagerly pulled her close and their lips met in a passionate, long-awaited kiss, there on the hill, beneath the outstretched branches of her beloved apple tree.