A/N: Hey guys! So this is my first attempt at an Evil Charming fanfiction (and I'm soooo excited about it!). Okay, enough with the fangirling now. English is not my mother tongue so I'll apologize in advance for any mistakeI might make.

Now, speaking about the story, this first chapter was necessary to start introducing the story but the majority of it is taken (and I mean literally, word by word) by episode 1x18, except for the fact that Snow plays quite a different role in the story. So any dialogue or scene you might recognise obviously does NOT belong to me but to those geniuses who created OUaT (Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz).

Another important thing is that we won't meet our dear Charming until the end of the second chapter (at least).

Enjoy and please let me know what you think about it :)

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Chapter 1

"Regina, tell her! She'll get over it, what can she do?" Daniel asked, desperately trying to change her mind.

"Have you not see her magic? The real question is what can't she do?!" She retorted back, her eyes filled with sadness but also fear, which rose in her at the thought of what her mother might do to her beloved if she were to find out about them.

"Who cares about magic? True love is the most powerful magic of all. It can overcome anything." He whispered to her, gently caressing her cheek. He slowly leaned closer to her, her eyes fixed upon his mouth. They were about to kiss when they heard someone screaming for help and the noise of a horse getting closer.

"Shh, someone's here!" Regina whispered, distancing herself from the stable boy. They turned to see a little girl on a skittish horse, who wouldn't let go of its mane for the fear of being unseated.

Without thinking about it twice, Regina jumped on Rocinante and went after the little girl. When the two were side by side, Regina stretched out her arm in order to grab the girl into her arms. The girl didn't get a good grip on Regina and, when she slowed down the pace, she fell on the grass. Regina quickly got off the horse in order to see if she was fine and to get her on her feet, as she said "It's okay dear, you're safe!".

"You saved my life!" the girl whispered while looking directly into her eyes, almost in a state of shock, which had Regina's voice grow with concern as she asked the girl "Are you alright?".

She seemed to get off of her trance a little bit at the time as she looked down, looking for a possible injury but finding out she was quite alright "Yes, but I'll never ride again!"

The sentence had Regina laughing a bit "Nonsense! The only way to overcome fear is to face it, to get back on that horse as soon as possible."

The girl didn't know how to reply, for Regina certainly sounded like she knew what she was talking about, so her response was limited to a "Thank you..." filled with gratitude for the woman standing in front of her.

"...Regina!" she added, suddenly realising they hadn't actually introduced.

"I'm Snow. Snow White."

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The next day

Regina was looking at herself in the mirror, not really caring about the jacket she was adjusting onto her well-toned body but actually thinking about her stable boy. If she was luckymaybe her other would allow her to spend the whole day out riding, which meant she and Daniel would get to spend more time together.

Just as she turned around she heard her mother saying "No, this won't do.." and with a flick of her hand, Cora replaced her daughter's outfit with a light blue gown and loosened her braidened long hair.

"What are you doing?" Regina asked, frowning as she examined the dress.

"We have a guest, he'll be here any moment." Cora said as she made sure her daughter had been rid of any imperfection.

"I can't, I have a riding lesson with Daniel.." Regina tried to say, but Cora cut her off "Well, that's been cancelled. Now smile, we don't want to dissapoint him."

Regina was still unsure about her mother's behaviour but Cora seemed particularly excited for this sudden visit, which had Regina asking her "disappoint who?"

"The king!" her mother replied with a smile, leaving Regina in a state of shock. "The king?" she gasped in excitement, though she began wondering "why is the king coming?". Cora laughed and gently took her daughter's face in her hands "because you've finally done something right! That little girl you saved was the king's daughter" she told Regina as they walked towards the door, where they were met by the king himself, who was escorted by Regina's father and three royal guards.

"Is that her?" the man asked, stunned by Regina's beauty. "Yes", her father replied before formally introducing the two of them "Regina, honey, this is Snow White's father". At a loss for words, Regina managed to bow to the king but stopped by his kind words "No. It is I who should bow to you! You saved my daughter's life, there is no way to repay that debt. It is an honour to meet you." He said, bowing to the young lady standing just inches away from him.

She was speechless. Having the king in her home was a surprise already but having him bow to her almost felt like a daydream, and in the middle of this dream she couldn't force a sound to come out of her mouth, so she kept staring at the man in front of her.

"Regina, dear, the king is honoured to meet you, say something" Cora whispered to her daughter, who just then realized she hadn't said a word since the king had entered the room. "The honour is mine" she said shyly with a smile.

"You're quite lucky to have a mother who looks out for you. My dear Snow has many things but a mother is not one of them. We lost her years ago..." his voice trailed off, a feeling of sadness taking over him and showing clearly on his face as he continued "since then I have scoured the land looking for a wife. I've yet to find a woman with that interest in my daughter...until now".

And suddenly Regina's world started to crumble, her dreams being shattered in front of her eyes with every movement the king made, as he turned around to take an engagement ring from a cushion the valet was holding and he kneeled in front of her, for she knew there was no escaping her reality now.

"Will you marry me, Regina?" her father shook his head slowly, knowing she was in love with Daniel and thus understanding how unacceptable King Leopold's proposal was for her. On the other hand, her mother couldn't be more thrilled at the idea of her daughter becoming queen and couldn't let Regina refuse his proposal so she gave a slight nudge to her daughter's hand as she said "Yes".

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Regina spent the rest of the day with her mother, who had already started thinking about the arrangements for the wedding and wanted her daughter to try out what seemed to her like a thousand wedding dresses. But what Regina thought about had nothing to do with the wedding list or the shoes that would match her wedding dress best or the flowers that were more appropriate for the bouquet. The only thing on her mind was Daniel, her true love. She wanted to see him, to tell him everything but then again she didn't even know how to explain to him what had happened. How could she tell him she was to marry the king and never see him again? They were planning their life together, she didn't want to marry a man she didn't love. It would certainly break his heart as it did hers.

Regina waited until late that night to go down to the stables, making sure nobody saw her. She opened the stables' doors in a hurry, gasping for the lack of breath due to the running but, nevertheless, she started screaming Daniel's name until he emerged from a box stall asking what was wrong. She ran to his with her arms open and wrapped them across his torso as soon as she felt his body pressed against hers. She didn't want to let go of him but she forced herself to back off a little in order to look into his blue eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks while she whispered "Marry me..".

He was taken aback by her sudden request "Regina, what are you doing? What's happened? Did you tell your mother?" he kept asking questions for she just kept looking at him but looking scared as fresh tears started to well up in her eyes until she managed to finally speak, grabbing his arms firmly "No. Now I can never tell her, she won't understand!" her voice broke as she started sobbing. "That girl I saved was the King's daughter. And now he's proposed to me!".

"What?" it was all Daniel could manage to say, for he still didn't understand what Regina was trying to tell him. She loved him, he knew that, so she must've refused the King's proposal, but then again he couldn't understand why was she standing there with him in the middle of the night, clearly panicking at the thought of the King only proposing to her. Unless...

"My mother accepted!" Regina turned around, sobbing uncontrollably , unable to look into those blue eyes she had grown to love so much that were now filled with sadness and defeat. The stable boy knew he had no chance to be with her now. Her mother wouldn't allow it and now she had even more reasons not to. He would have to accept it in order to step aside and let his beloved live a happy life as queen.

"The only way out is to run..", Regina whispered as she came to the sudden realisation that running away was their only chance of being together she realised it was their only possibility of being together "..for us to leave this place, for us to be married, for us to never come back" she kept saying in a rush as she turned around to face him, walking towards him.

Daniel took her hands in his, trying to calm her down "Regina.. Do you understand what that would mean? Life with a stable boy is a far cry from a life as queen". His words were hearfelt, for he wanted her to have everything she deserved, everything a life as queen could offer, everything that she would be forbidden if she married him.

"Being queen means nothing. Daniel..." she whispered as she cupped his face in her hands, the brown eyes meeting the blue ones "..all I care about is you".

He took her hands in his, placing a soft kiss on her finger before speaking "Then if I am to marry you we must do this properly" they reluctantly let go of each other so Daniel could retrieve an engagement ring he had had with him for weeks and slip it slowly on Regina's ring finger. It certainly wasn't expansive, it wasn't a ring a queen would wear, but it didn't make it less precious to her. Regina was smiling from ear to ear, tears of happiness making her eyes shine a little brighter as Daniel pulled her into a passionate kiss.

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In less than an hour Regina had sneaked into her house to pack a bag with everything they needed and gone back to the stables to meet her fiancée, who had already prepared the horses.

"Are you ready?" he managed to ask before silencing him with a kiss and saying "let's go!"

But as soon as they turned around they heard a voice saying "You could've at least left a note". Regina hadn't noticed her mother had followed her out of the house, but maybe she had simply used magic. As soon as Cora stretched her arms, now releasing a purple smoke, Regina and Daniel were pushed backwards and fell with their backs on the straw that coated the stables' floor. They turned around looking for an escape just in time to see Cora magically closing the hardwood doors both in front and behind them.

Regina was scared to death thinking about what her mother might do to them but she couldn't take her eyes off of her fearful figure either as she started pleading "Mother, I.." but she was immediately cut off by the woman standing in front of her, her face distorted nto a grimace of disgust "Don't. You foolish girl... You sneak out of my house in the dead of the night and think I won't notice? How dare you. I've known about this for months, hoping it would fade away with time, trying to teach you best than to fall for a stable boy." Regina retreating into Daniel's arms with every word her mother spoke "I guess I should've just taken care of the problem at the beginning... Well, I made a mistake and here we are now. But still, you are to marry the King now and I won't let anything or anyone stand in the way of that"

I took all of the courage Regina could gather to respond to Cora "Mother, it's my life! I won't marry a man I don't love because of his status. I want to marry the man I love and have a family with him.."

She was cut off by a humorless laugh "But you won't, dear. Not after all the sacrifices and all the deals I made for you. I won't let you toss it all away for love. Love is weakness, Regina. It feels real now, at the start it always does, but it's an illusion. It fades and then you're left with nothing but a miserable life filled with regrets. I really wish it didn't have to come to this.."

Regina had barely enough time to intertwine her hand with Daniel's before Cora used her magic to push her to the side, making her hit her head against the wooden wall of the box stall. A scream of Daniel calling her name in a desperate voice reached her ears but she was hardly able to move due to the impact of her back against the floor. She was still concious when she saw her mother streching her arm into Daniel's chest before taking his heart out and crushing it to dust. She couldn't manage to get anything out of her mouth but a low whisper as she tried unsuccessfully to reach her fiancée, calling his name. A single tear rolled down Regina's cheek as she drifted into darkness.

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One week later

It was the day before the wedding. Everything was ready for the ceremony that would be held at the palace, the whole reign had heard about the news and the village had been festively decorated by the town's people with banners and ribbons that had been hung everywhere. Everyone was excited for the royal wedding. Everyone but two people.

Regina spent her days wandering aimlessly through the castle. She could be described as catatonic by the people who saw her. Most of the time she didn't know where she was, she simply walked and when she found a spot with no people she would just there and cry. A patrolling guard would usually find her and escort her back to her chambers.

It was the middle of night. As usual, Regina couldn't sleep, for images of her mother killing her fiancée still haunted her dreams. She slipped out of her bedchamber and started walking. After climbing a flight of stairs she slowed down the pace, for she heard indistinct voices coming from one of the rooms on her left. After taking a few steps forward she found herself standing in front of a door that had been left ajar, revealing a room with pink walls lit by a dim candlelight. Tucked comfortably under the blankets of a canopy bed that had white veils hanging at both sides was Snow White. She wasn't asleep, she was talking to her father, King Leopold, who sat on an chair next to her bed.

"Must you marry her, father?" the little girl asked him with puppy eyes and a pleasing voice. He took her daughter's hand in his before saying "Snow, dear, we already discussed this. I want you to have a mother again, I know how lonely you have been feeling since your mother passed away, and I've been feeling quite lonely too. Besides, I thought you liked Regina" Snow looked away for a moment, "She's... fine. But I don't want her to replace my mother! Nobody can and certainly not a stranger" she said as conflicting emotions built up inside of her: sadness caused by the memory of her mother's death and anger for his father's choice to marry again so shortly after the queen's demise.

The light coming from the room illuminated Regina's tear-stained face. She was hurt by the little girl's words, not because she cared about what she thought of her, for if she didn't have to rescue her none of it would've happened and Daniel would still be alive, but she cried because she felt unwanted by everyone. She was considered a disappointment by her mother, she had lost her one true love and was being forced into a loveless marriage with a man she barely knew and whose daughter rejected her because she saw her as a woman who was trying to replace the mother she had lost.

Just as she turned King Leopold caught sight of her from the corner of his eye. He bid his daughter goodnight and stepped outside her room making sure the door was closed this time. He descended the staircase looking for Regina but didn't find her, for she had locked herself in her bedroom, where she collapsed crying with her back against the door, her head resting on her bent knees and holding in her hand the engagement ring Daniel had given to her, the only thing she had left of him.