Villains

Confrontations

Regina spent the follower days in her vault searching through her mother's things as the Dark One suggested. She had already studied magical items, potions, runes, and yet she had found nothing. The queen had even checked her mother's collection, a wall full of enchanted hearts, but there was not a single thing in it about the Thunder Stone.

"This is pointless!" She yelled, tossing the book in her hands at the table. "That imp probably said those things to mess with me!" The queen added, breathing out.

Regina was trapped in the vault for so long that she could not tell if it was day or night. Her only objective was to learn spells, potions or anything that could actually help her right now.

She had not felt like this since her lessons with Rumple many years ago. She had to prove people she could handle it. She would not be the only practitioner who knew nothing of this stone. The queen placed her hands on her temples and tried to focus on mentally visualizing her mother's things. If Cora and Rumple never talked to her about this stone, it would not be easy to find something related to it.

"Come on, Regina. Think." She said to herself. "Where did your mother keep all her secrets?" She questioned, frowning.

The room was a mess, so the queen had to analyze it carefully. Regina saw a pile of her own spell books and something lighted in her mind.

Cora's spell book.

"I'm such an idiot!" She murmured as the corner of her mouth twisted into a smirk. Regina walked down the stairs leading to a secret compartment in the room. The queen took a moment to find courage since she would have to open her mother's coffin.

"It's alright, she is dead." She said to herself., steading her breathing. "She wouldn't mind." Regina added firmly, waving her hands as the heavy coffin opened.

She swallowed hard and took a few steps closer. The queen looked down at her mother's lifeless body and then to her spell book on her hands. With a flick of her wrist, the book appeared in her arms and the coffin was again closed.

Regina was breathing heavily. Cora had always been scary but seeing her mother like this was even worse. The queen walked back to her vault's main room and studied the old book. It had a strange drawing, like a family symbol. She had never seen it before. Regina noticed there was something elvish written on it.

What the hell is this? 'Read me and know me.' She thought.

"Am I supposed to read this out loud?" She questioned, sighing. "Fine. Read me and know me." The queen said firmly.

The last thing Regina saw before collapsing on the ground was a deep blue light coming out of the center of the book.

-- |¥| --

It had been weeks since someone saw the queen. There were rumors she was gone away but Robin refused to believe it.

Regina would not leave without saying a thing to anyone, would she?

The more the thief asked himself about it, the more uneasy he felt. As walked down the halls, Robin spotted Granny next to Charming. The white-haired woman had the same conflicted expression on her face as the prince.

"She isn't missing." Granny insisted.

"We haven't seen her in a long time. Maleficent or Rumple could have done something to her after everything that happened." David pointed out, frowning.

"Rumple is with Belle, she is reporting to us daily! And Maleficent... I do not know, but I think she did nothing this time. It is already late, why we do not talk about this tomorrow? " The old woman suggested, her eyes pleading.