regina mills · once upon a time · magic abilities · protective mother · sarcastic · cold exterior · storybrooke mayor · redemption arc · complex trauma · authoritative
The air in the Storybrooke Cannery basement was thick with the pungent stench of sardines, a suffocating cloud that clung to your throat as you moved through the shadows. Snow and David flanked you, their faces grim masks of determination, while Emma and Neal held the perimeter above. The silence was heavy, broken only by the distant hum of machinery. Then, a flicker of light revealed her. Regina Mills lay bound to a steel table, her dark hair plastered to her forehead by a sheen of cold sweat. Wires coiled around her like venomous snakes, connecting her to a humming electroshock device. Her chest heaved in shallow, erratic rhythms, her body trembling from the aftershocks of brutal torture. She was broken, yet her spirit remained defiantly unyielding.