A/N: I probably shouldn't start another story, but I find if I focus on just one, I'll lose interest. Also, this needed to be written down otherwise I'd forget. Yet again, another AU. And by reading this first chapter, or rather not-chapter, I think you can determine how. BUT, and I stress that word, this is probably not going to go how you may think it will be going. I think you may notice the pattern in which my chapters tend to be around the 1000 - 1500 word mark. I am working on making them longer, but for these particular scenes, that will remain their length. Now, as I forgot last time:
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Once Upon A Time. If I did, there would be a hella lot more Regina. Just sayyin'.
She - Part I
Sunlight was a rarity for her. She almost never saw it, never felt it ghost her skin, never had the chance for it to sting her eyes. Everything was dark, shadowed and black. They say that the Queen would grant you one last freedom, the chance to roam the garden's and embrace the light. Before you were sentenced, led towards your death. She had yet to gain this privilege. But there were times, if she was lucky, where she could find a glimmer of light trickling through a crack in the walls. When she was younger, the light would glaze across the stone ground, and she would try to chase it. Pouncing like a wild animal, clawing at the floor until her fingers bled, just so she could keep that glimmer of light, that moment of freedom. As she grew older, the calmer she became. But that light had always been a salvation for her. Those moments just as the sun rose, just before the castle stirred and the guards would clank down the winding staircase outside her cell, she could pretend.
Every morning, the guards would appear. Either with a new occupant for a new cell, or to collect an old one from an old cell. They never, however, came for her.
Until this morning.
Keys jangled together, echoing through the freezing cold dungeons they had been holed up in for nobody really knew how long. The door creaked as it opened, banging against the wall and freeing it's dust in to the air. She sneezed, coughing as she breathed in, her eyes blinking open. Two guards stood before her, staring down at her with narrowed, unfeeling eyes. At first, she struggled. Slamming her feet against the ground and biting at whomever and whatever she could reach. She kicked her legs, screaming hoarsely as she tried to make them stop.
She'd miss the light!
She couldn't miss the light!
Her eyes widened as just as they passed the doorway, a glimmer shone through the crack, following their footsteps until the door slammed shut, blocking her view. She sank in to their arms, each heavily armoured guard holding her up, one arm each. It was painful, but it was something. She hadn't felt much in the last few years.
Up the staircase they dragged her, her hands flicking out to trail along the roughly carved walls, nails catching and tearing from her fingers. With a hiss, she curled her hands in to fists, glaring at the walls before turned her gaze to her captors. She had little knowledge of who they were. Hell, she had little knowledge of who she was. There was only one thing one must know. And that was who the Queen was.
She had known at a young age that she was kept in that cell for a reason. A reason only the Queen knew of. She had heard other prisoner's speaking, glancing at her through the bars of their own cells and turned when they noticed her gaze. When she was younger, she would ask questions.
"Who are you?"
"Where am I?"
"Why am I here?"
Eventually, she stopped asking. She stopped speaking all together. Now, she doesn't remember how to. Wild animal, remember? The best she could manage is a roughly growled 'No!'. But even then, she had no reason to speak. This was, after all, the first time she had been let out of her cell since she was put in there. She didn't know how long, but other's did.
Fourteen years.
Fourteen years she had been locked away in a dingy, freezing, pitch black cell. No knowledge of who she was, nor with a capability of asking. She thrashed in the guards arms as they hoisted her up, kicking open the door with force and smirking as she hissed. So much light, too much light, everything was bright and yellow and white. She closed her eyes tightly, shielding them from the sunlight as tears slid down her cheeks. Her first taste of real sun, and she could hardly stand to look at it. Her eyes remained clamped shut tightly, and she refused to open them. Shaking her head and growling as best she could when a hand covered her eyes, fingers trying to pry them open. She snapped, sinking her teeth in to the flesh before her as her head tipped back, matted hair falling loosely in the air. His companion chuckled, speaking though she understood little of what he said. Another door opened, and she could feel the dark settle over her body, the coolness of the shadows sliding over her skin. Tentatively, she opened her eyes, blinking wearily as tears continued to fall. Sniffling, she cried out as she was forced to her knees, hitting the stone floor with a force she was unused to.
Though her eyes remained downcast, staring at a mark on the ground, she felt a shiver run through her spine, a warning, a foreboding feeling wash over her. In her line of vision, a person appeared. She tilted her head back, looking up with wide eyes as she stood before her.
The Queen herself.
She had seen Her Royal Highness only once before. As she was being pulled towards the castle, up the steps and no doubt led down to her hell, she had looked up. Standing above them, hands placed on the balcony edge, the Queen had watched with a perfectly raised brow, a smirk gracing her lips. Connecting their eyes, she had very nearly collapsed. From what, she didn't know. She had only been a child then, barely five summers old. But she had known. This was the Queen, and her life was now in her hands.
As a child, she had thought she would be taken straight to the Queen's side, but she wasn't. She was thrown in to her cell and left there for days until someone came to feed her. She remembers asking whomever had come -
"Why does the Queen keep me?"
She never got her answer.
Kneeling before her now, she can see the same perfect brow raised, the same smirk gracing her lips. Only this time - this time she can see the darkness in her eyes, a shadow she was familiar with. It comforted her, rather than scared her. While light was something she craved, darkness was something she was used to. A safety blanket, of such. She licked her lips, paying little attention to the dirt and dried blood that lay there, and she blinked. The Queen continued to smirk, glancing over her tattered rags she used for clothes and the dirt that marred her body. If she had kept track well enough, she was only nineteen years of age. But she couldn't be sure. The Queen hummed to herself, lifting a finger and placing it under her chin, lifting her face upwards with a slight dig of her nail. "My, how you've grown." The Queen purred, smirk growing as the girl frowned.
For she had grown, she knew that quite well. She was no longer short enough to crawl under the stone cot in her cell, no longer small enough to slip her whole arm through the gap between bars. She used to pat the dog that slept there, try and see how long she could do so before it woke and snapped at her. It was her only form of entertainment, until the dog died. She kept quiet, for even if she tried to speak she couldn't, and she doubted the Queen would let her. Her Highness circled her, observing every scrap of her body, every scar that marked her skin and every smudge that blackened her. The Queen lifted her hand, running her sharp nails through her hair and sneering at the dirt, the grease, the uncleanliness she found. What the Queen knew was once golden coloured, was now a dirty brown, glimpses of blonde shining through. Just like the light in her cell.
"I believe - she must be cleaned." She ordered, glaring at the servants before turning on her heel and walking away. "Have her ready within the hour." She commanded over her shoulder, flicking her fingers and smirking as the doors opened of their own accord. The girl watched, head tilted in confusion as the Queen sauntered away. She had no idea what had just happened. She didn't know if this was usual behaviour, if everyone who no doubt would face whatever crime they had committed to gain residence in the Queen's dungeon was treated as such. Her head jerked to the side as her arm was suddenly grabbed, hoisting her to her feet. Her eyes narrowed and she pulled away, wrapping her arms around her body and turned to stare at the closing doors.
The Queen disappearing from view.
A/N: So, there you have it. She - Part I. The chapter titles will determine the POV it's from, so pay attention to that. I apologize for the length, future chapters (though depending on the scene) will be longer. Review if you like, but I'm not going to push for any.
