Disclaimer: I own nothing beside my crazy mind and my computer… and sometimes it's more them owning me…

Note: this story alternate between Regina's POV and Maleficent's POV. This chapter is Regina's

You just woke up and decided to take a good view of your new kingdom. It's yours now. It's been yours for a few weeks already but you fully realize it now, in the peace and quiet of this beautiful morning. It's very early, the sun is barely up, there's still fog covering the forest. You love this palace lost in the valley between two mountains. It gives you the impression that you are free. You always had that impression coming here, even if it was with the king and his stupid little liar of a daughter.

It doesn't matter for now, soon you'll have your revenge. The Huntsman let you down, sure, but you'll find another way. A better way. For now, for all you know, she is lost and scared in this big forest and that is kind of comforting. You try to shut your train of thoughts to enjoy the rest of these few peaceful moments you're offering to yourself. That's when you see it. What should have been a graceful and beautiful dragon is flying not so gracefully right to your garden. You know something's wrong when you see it crashes on the ground, hold still for a moment then change into a… a person?!

You almost run down to garden, ignoring the fact that you are in your sleeping gown. It's not like there's someone to impress anyway and your servants know better than to give you a disapproving look. The morning breeze feels good on your almost bare skin. But there's no time to enjoy it, maybe another morning…

You're exactly where the dragon crashed but there's no one to be found. You don't understand, you saw it change into a person and that person wasn't moving. How… That's when you hear a whimpering sound coming from the trees. It's low and you barely hear it but it's there.

You carefully follow the sounds and that's when you see her. A young woman. She surely is beautiful but right now she is covered with bruises and cuts and dirt. She looks at you with terror in her eyes. For a second you see yourself many years ago… You had fallen down a tree, you were 10 back then and you were covered with dirt and bruises and cuts as well. Those bruises were nothing in compare to those your mother gave you that same day for ruining your dress.

You kneel in front of that poor scared woman and you talk to her in the best comforting and soothing way you can.

"It's all right. Don' t be scared. You're safe here. No one will hurt you, I promise. Can you stand up?"

She looks deep into your eyes. You smile at her. You haven't been smiling for years now. Who knew you still had it in you? Who knew you could still want to take care of another human being? But you do. You don't know why but you want to take care of her. You need to protect her.

She nods and tries to get up but her legs are too weeks and hurt her too much that she almost falls. You catch her just in time and put one of her arms around your shoulders

"I got you… lean on me… it's all good… I got you…" she sighs and you feel her lean on you.

You marvel at that new feeling inside you, a feeling you had tasted a very long time ago, a feeling that made you save a little girl's life, a feeling your mother made sure you had buried deep inside your heart: the simple joy to care for someone else.