something i want explored more is just how much snow loves regina. how much she always has. how this little girl, who had just lost her mother, latched on to the kind and beautiful older sister figure who saved her life and taught her courage. and yes, she looked up to her and misguidedly wanted her as a mother figure, and no i don’t think she ever really knew regina back then but god, she did love her. and i don’t think that love ever went away, even when she hatedher.
(sometimes i think too much about young bandit snow, struggling to learn to survive in the woods, reconciling her rose-tinted memories of her childhood and her love for her father with regina’s pain and her rage, fitting together hazy pieces of the daniel puzzle, remembering how regina would flinch around her father over breakfast some mornings. how snow went from the most spoiled and disillusioned princess to saying ‘she thinks i ruined her life’ ‘did you?’ ‘yes.’)
and even when she was older and stronger and smarter, snow still battled with hopefor regina, still dreamed of a day when the kind hearted girl she met all those years ago would come back to her.
and then after the curse breaks and regina starts trying, trying to change for henry - who is another link between them now, another thread tying regina into snow’s family - and god, it’s all snow’s ever dared hope for but there’s so much more bad blood now and things are so tenuous for so long.
but she watches. snow once again sees regina evolve in front of her, this time for the better. she watches and catches glimpses of the girl she knew, her childhood idol, sees fragments of her smile and voice and heart, recognises things about her she thought were lost years ago. (snow watches her own daughter fighting for regina, protecting her and believing in her and giving her everything she never had and once again, it seems their families will be intertwined forever, one way or another.)
and then gradually regina becomes her family again, someone she can trust and rely on and share precious times with, and it’s all snow’s ever wanted but this time it’s real and it’s good and neither one of them ever downplay or forget all the pain they have caused each other, but they’re both choosing to put that aside for the genuine goodness,the love and hope underneath that has tied them together since they were kids.
and somehow, suddenly, snowis the one looking after her when she is hurt, giving her advice and yes, sort of parenting her, because she’s the one who needs it now and it just feels right and natural. she sees regina more clearly than she ever has and it makes her understand everything that happened. these two women have been so vital to each other in every way and i just -
there is no conclusion to this ramble, i just have a lot of thoughts and feelings
