A/N: wow, okay, trying to do good, yeah. Anxious to hear your thoughts on this, actually... Hope you'll like. I'm trying to stay true to the original characters, so if you feel I'm sliding a bit and someone feels OOC, pray tell.

summary: Waking in a strange room in a strange village, Regina quickly finds herself on a quest to save one Miss Emma Swan. But where on earth are they, and just how are they supposed to get back home? AU SwanQueen

disclaimer: If I owned OUaT, no one would've had any doubts that Swan Queen is endgame. Sadly, it's not up to me to make that happen.

The Sleeping Savior - part 1

Regina opened her eyes to look at an unfamiliar ceiling. It wasn't the slightly off-white color she was so used to seeing, in fact it was made from wood. The Evil Queen blinked a few times, hoping her eyes were playing tricks on her as she thought back over the last 24 hours.

Yesterday was a rather normal day, as far as she could recall. She had picked Henry from school, ate her regular lunch at Granny's, kept her emotions in check whenever she laid eyes on Robin and Roland and that wife of his. All in all it was a perfectly normal day that ended with her driving her son to his other mother's house before tucking herself to sleep in her own queen sized bed in her lovely room inside her mayoral mansion.

The wooden ceiling did not disappear as the gears in her head continued spinning, trying to figure out where in the world she had found herself waking up at.

After a few more minutes Regina concluded she would not find the answer while lying in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room, and so she got up and for the first time she had looked around her at the room itself.

It was a fairly simple room made of worn wood. A simple single bed sporting the indentation of Regina's body formerly lying in it. Next to the only door in and out of the room stood a humble vanity table, and almost exactly opposite it was the room's only window. Regina approached the window and searched the view for clues to her location, what she saw however completely unnerved her.

She was in a village in the middle of a clearing, thick green trees as far as the eye could see stood tall and proud behind wooden houses. She saw the smiling faces of people dressed in what she could only call simple rags, walking to and fro around the part of this village that she could see from her small window. Regina raised her eyes, trying to find the end of this forest before her, and upon seeing a worn down castle on a hill in the distance a small gasp escaped her throat and her eyes opened in surprise.

"Oh, no…" the Mayor whispered as she stepped away from the window, one hand instinctively rising to stand upon her chest in a semi protective manner, "the enchanted forest..?" Regina closed her eyes as she shook her head from side to side slowly, trying to make sense out of all of it.

It was then that she noticed her cloths for the first time. She was dressed in a simple faded green tunic and brown wool trousers. As her eyes kept scanning the room in search of more fitting clothing for a Queen-turned-Mayor such as herself, she noticed a dismantled silver armor, completed with a shield and a sword, sitting in the far corner of the room. By its side lay a large, double pocketed, leather riding satchel with her initials stitched on its corner.

"Oh, please." Regina snorted as she made her way towards what appeared to be her armor and belongings on the floor, stopping in her tracks only when she noticed the crest painted on the shield. "God, please tell me that that is not what I think it is." In shades of purple and a sort of yellowy white a picture of a swan wearing a crown was painted upon the silvery shield. Regina couldn't help frowning at that crest. She closed her eyes and took a few long breaths that ended with a sigh when she heard a strong knock at her door.

Regina turned in her place to look at the door as a sharp "come in," left her lips on instinct. She watched as the door tentatively opened and a broad shouldered man entered the small room.

"Lady Regina, your stallion is ready to leave for the king's castle at once," the man spoke with a gentle – but urgent – tone, indicating with his eyes to the castle Regina saw through her window. "Do you require assistance donning your armor?" the man asked as he took a small step towards her and pointed at the silver at her feet.

"No," Regina said quickly before considering the question, she cleared her throat quickly to reconsider her answer, adding "no, I believe I can manage."

The man just nodded and turned to leave, pausing at the door and throwing her one more look as he added "I'll be outside when you are ready to leave, milady."

Regina turned back to the satchel and the armor on the floor as the man closed the door. She leaned down to open the satchel up and looked through its contents.

Food rations for several days, two full water canteens, what appeared to be a diary with a charcoal pencil tied to it and a rolled parchment. Ignoring the voice in her head telling her to hurry and complete her task, Regina reached for the parchment and opened it. As she read it a frown has etched itself on her brow.

The parchment was a simple call for a brave knight to lift a sleeping curse from a princess kidnapped by the evil maleficent. Regina grimaced at the drawing of much younger woman whom she could recognize anywhere, there was no mistaking those golden curls and green-blue eyes. Regina thought she even looked a tiny bit like Snow White.

"Emma Swan, what the hell have you got us into this time?" she whispered angrily into the air. Returning the parchment to the satchel, Regina decided to follow her quest as intended, shoving down that small flutter at her stomach that appeared whenever she thought of one Miss Swan.

Regina finished pulling the armor over her after about forty minutes has passed, she continued to try and think on how this situation came to be all the while. The penny has finally dropped as she was securing the scabbard to her hip.

"A curse?" Regina hissed, "Must be." She continued muttering to herself as she absent-mindedly slid the shield on her left arm and picked the satchel in her right. "Did someone curse us, maybe she touched something inside Rumple's shop…" Regina exited the room and didn't even take in the rest of the house she was in as she remained lost in her thoughts on the matter. "Got to ask Emma when I'll see her." Regina started to feel angry at the thought until she heard a familiar voice call her name.

"Lady Regina!" It was the same man who had walked into her room earlier. Regina looked up in his direction, and watched him walk towards her, the reins of a large white stallion in his arm.

"You have got to be kidding me." The absurdity of this – whatever this situation was – has finally reached her as she smirked at the thought of literally being a knight in shining armor, riding a white horse, all in order to go and save Princess Emma Swan. The man took the satchel from her hand in exchange for the horse's reins, moving to secure it to the saddle. She patted the stallion muzzle until she saw the man move. With his help, she climbed onto the horse's back. "Thanks." She muttered at the man and took another glance at the castle in the distance, pointing her stallion in that direction.

Regina managed to suppress a roll of her eyes as she started her horse towards a road that was hidden from her view until now, letting a quiet whisper of "coming to save you, Miss Swan. As per usual." Escape her lips. She tried to ignore the fact that the entire village came to watch her depart, expecting scared faces that came to view the Evil Queen. Regina really wasn't expecting to start to hear cheers, or cries of "good luck, Lady Regina!" She even caught a few children gasping "Miss Swan Knight..!" in awe. Regina grinned in amusement, feeling slight warmth inside her chest.

Hearing those kids reminded her of Henry.

"Oh, Henry…" she allowed herself a small moment of fear as she felt a small lump in her throat forming at the thought of her son. "I hope you're safe, because I'm coming home as soon as possible." She declared quietly to herself. "Just need to save your other mother first." She frowned, knowing that even if she how to reverse this curse – or whatever else this was – without Emma's help, she would still have to go and get her. For Henry's sake.

A/N#2: So, now that you've made it through to the end, I can clear my guilty conscience and tell you that this is my first try at OUaT fan fiction. However, I'm not new to writing. Also, not my first fanfic, just the first published here.
Now, as for the second apology, English is not my native language, so I promise I won't be touchy on any and all corrections you deem needed.

And to end on a bright note, I highly appreciate any and all reviews. I will be very glad to hear if you want me to continue writing this, though I suppose I will be at the very least have one or two more chapters on this first story arc. I'll be shutting up now. Bye.