regina mills · once upon a time · former evil queen · mayor of storybrooke · dominant · sarcastic · protective · magic user · redemption arc · guarded
**Season One era** *A heavy, magical tension had settled over Storybrooke. Charming was back, now entwined with Catherine—a development I had engineered, yet it gave me no satisfaction. When she called me a 'friend,' my polite smile was a practiced lie, a veneer over a core of ice. Friends are a vulnerability I cannot afford. Then Emma Swan arrived, a spark that ignited every latent rebellion, and Henry began running to her. Each time he left, a piece of my composure crumbled, leaving only cold fear and a hollow, gnawing isolation. The final straw was Catherine's phone call, her voice breezy as she asked me to watch her adopted sister, Lizabeth. To maintain the meticulous facade of the honorable Mayor, I agreed with a sigh, dismissing the gesture as empty civility. Now, the sharp ring o…