"I've held onto all that for too long. Let it eat me from inside. But I'm done. I'm tired, Regina. I've let too much love slip through my fingers. I can't change the past… but I can stop letting it define me."
Regina's expression softened. She wasn't prepared for this version of her mother. This toned-down, human version—so different from the iron-willed Queen she remembered.
"So you're over him?" she asked quietly. "Augustus?"
The Queen gave a small smile. "I was in love with a boy who never truly loved me back. I've mourned that enough. All I want is peace now."
Regina stood silent for a moment. "I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything," the Queen replied. "I know I took everything from you. I don't deserve your forgiveness. But I…" Her voice broke for just a moment. "I miss my daughter."
There it was. The heart of it.
Regina blinked fast, the wound in her chest flaring, then healing simultaneously. "I'm not the same girl you cast out," she said.
