Curled up in nothing but rags on a damp stone floor silently crying, Emma Swan wondered how she got into this awful situation. The sinister squeaking of rodents in, and around her cell echoed off the stone walls of her prison. An incessant torturous leak dripped in the distance.

How did she get here? She fell through a time vortex and started changing history, that's how. She messed up her parent's meeting so bad that she wasn't even sure what she did to get them back together had even worked. She saw the Evil Queen in all of her destructive glory and missed her friend so strongly, she forgot, for just a moment, this woman wasn't her Regina. She was not her son's other mother, but her mother's nemesis.

Emma wasn't sure how long she had been locked away in that cell. Guards brought the single meal she was provided for daily, at sporadic intervals. If one could even consider what they brought an actual meal nor was she entirely certain it was daily. The cellar was cold and damp; there was no bed, so she had chosen to sleep in the corner on the floor instead of the mildew-ridden hay pile that lined the back wall of her cell. That was when she could even sleep at all; her hunger pains were rivaled by only that of her self-loathing.

She failed. Her mission was supposed to be easy:

A) Get to Rumplestiltskin.

B) Get home.

Instead, she traipsed all over the countryside, interrupted her mother and father from meeting and got captured by the Evil Queen in a moment of weakness.

The doors to the ball opened wide, and the entire room focused their attention on the woman dressed in black as she sauntered into the ballroom. Her dark eyes casually looked around the room as if she were doing each and every one of the guests a favor for allowing them to gaze upon her. King Midas greeted the queen formally, but to his dismay, the Evil Queen brought in her guard. Queen Regina hadn't intended on gracing Midas' party, but word of Snow White's sighting had reached the queen, and she would not pass up on an opportunity to catch the bandit traitor.

Emma stopped dead mid-step and whispered, "Regina's here." Her heart caught in her chest at the sight of her son's mother; the woman commanded attention no matter what role she was playing. Emma was feeling off about the mess she had caused in the past and wanted nothing more than to run to her friend, sink into the comfort she was used to getting from the brunette. Masochistic comfort as it were.

"You're an idiot, Miss Swan," she would say and look at Emma with those dark chocolate eyes and an air of contempt, but then she would gather what little patience was had for the blonde and would help her find a solution to her problem.

That is not what happened with the Evil Queen.

Things went downhill from there. At least she was able to help Snow get away with the ring. She was still here; she wasn't fading out like Marty McFly, so she had to believe that David would do his Charming-thing and 'find' her mother and they would fall in love and the rest would be uninterrupted history. She would die alone in this little cell, and her friends and family would never know whatever happened to her.

The cell lock fell to the ground suddenly, and the door slammed open on its own, shocking the blonde from her mini pity party. She stood and poked her head out, but didn't attempt to flee. She held her ground. She heard the guards talking about her, all the things they wanted to do to her, it turned her stomach. If any of them came in there to do anything, she'd fight tooth and nail against them. If she was going to die anyway, she certainly wasn't going to be compliant to the whims of some dirty soldiers.

After several moments with no one making themselves known, Emma sat back down on the floor where she was before the interruption. She knew she wouldn't get very far if she ran. The castle was crawling with black knights, not to mention she had no idea where she was, or how to get out from what she assumed was underground. Her incarceration is much more intricate than just a locked door on a dingy cell, and she knew it. She was sure when the guards came around to fill her water trough they would fix the lock.

She held little hope of leaving this place alive, and the hope she had was contingent on seeing Regina at her trial. Or whatever the medieval equivalent was. She thought she could reason with the Evil Queen. It was small in the measure of Charming hope standards, but she had to believe there was a sliver of the woman she knew in there. No, she wanted to believe it.

After the blonde retook her seat on the damp floor, a dark image appeared in the cell doorway and startled the Savior. "Regina!" Emma gasped relieved, "Oh thank god!" She nervously laughed just happy it wasn't a guard looking for anything insidious.

"That is twice you have shown your insolence to me peasant. It would be wise not to test my benevolence a third time."

Emma nodded and bowed her head, "Yes Your Majesty." Remembering the term Regina used the first time she was corrected for her mistake.

Regina stepped into the cell with the young blonde woman and sniffed the air. "That glamor you have stinks of the dark one," she commented. "What are you hiding naughty girl?" Regina exuded sexuality and Emma burned in her core. The Queen, who stood before her in a tight black leather get-up, looked like the commanding leader of the known world that she was. She was smiling maniacally down at Emma who had lost all train of thought to answer the woman's posed question.

She crouched down before the Savior and grabbed the girl's chin roughly forcing her blue eyes to look up at her. "This is going to be painful, dear."

Emma thought she saw the tiniest flicker of remorse in the eyes of her friend before she was rendered incapacitated by the ice pick pain that stabbed through her skull. The Queen grabbed the glamor and began magically ripping it off.

"Your Majesty! Please!" her cries were desperate, she, of course, wanted the pain to stop, but she knew if the woman saw her face, her real face, she would be irreparably altering the future. Regina would recognize her when she first steps foot in Storybrooke, she would kill her back in Maine, and Emma has seen enough Sci-Fi to know this would be catastrophic!

Unfortunately, she was powerless to stop the Queen as she tore the magical mask from her body. Emma's shrieks of agony echoed in the cavern the jail cells were built into.

Regina's eyes hooded in pleasure at the girl's writhing pain. Bright green eyes looked up; her cheeks damp with fresh tears. "Now then, peasant, let's have a look at you." Regina manhandled the woman inspecting her features more closely. "That is much better, girl."

Emma openly wept, knowing the future was damaged beyond repair. Some savior she turned out to be.

"Stop your sniveling girl!" The Queen demanded. "Your agony has just begun!" A sneer graced the Queen's lips, and for the first time, Emma thought she might be in actual danger from this woman. She kicked herself for not realizing her life was nothing to the Evil Queen, she was not Regina. She should be afraid, that would be smart. Emma still couldn't help but think somewhere inside this Evil Queen facade, was the woman who raised Henry. Must be Snow White's forever hopeful DNA shining through.

Great I get her green eyes, her cleft chin, and her sunny disposition. Awesome.

Emma didn't bow to the woman, nor did she cower, she wasn't afraid of her, even after the excruciating pain the Queen had just put her through. "Please, Your Majesty…"

"Beg all you want, it will not save you from your fate," the woman taunted.

"I know," Emma said sadly, knowing it was far too late.

"Why were you hiding from Your Queen, girl? That hideous glamor to hide such…" Regina's eyes dilated as she looked over Emma's features once more, "...appealing assets."

Emma was shocked to witness her friend's flirtation with her even if said flirtation had a scary I'll-kill-you undertone.

Regina reached out and touched the fair skin of the girl who sat before her, almost lovingly, and Emma forgot, yet again, that this was not the Mayor and leaned into the caress. The slap that followed shot a blinding white light across her eyes and stunned her back to reality.

The Queen demanded with a raised chin, "Why didn't you run?"

"I'm sorry?" Emma was confused and still a little shocked at what just transpired.

"The door to your cell was opened for you to run. Why didn't you try and escape girl?" The Queen's tone held the exact level of patience for repeating herself that she had, which was none.

"This is where I want to be," Emma replied, figuring what else has she got to lose, the future was completely fucked now. Regina saw her, the real her, it was all over. It was also not entirely untrue. She wanted the familiarity of her son's mother. It was almost as if her own self-deprecating thoughts regarding the mess she had made weren't enough, and she needed the Mayor to kick her in the ass and get her back to fighting against her own nature to screw up.

"You want to be in a jail cell awaiting your execution? Are you mad?" The dark woman asked, honestly confused with the motivations of this woman.

"No, not the cell. Here with you," Emma corrected softly.

Regina was broken momentarily from her haughty Evil Queen character and was stunned into silence. She thought this must be a trick. Who would be foolish enough to want to be here? She sneered at Emma, pulling herself back into power.

"Your wish is my command, girl."

Regina stood and left the cell. She barked commands to the black knights who Emma just realized lined the shadowy walls of the cave. They blended in so perfectly Emma never noticed them before. Regina commanded them to haul Emma up to Roslyn, and then disappeared in a cloud of blueish purple smoke.

Emma was brought to a room in a secluded part of the castle. The antechambers and corridors they went through to get to the room were all dark, and the stone that made up the walls and floor were barely visible. There was no way for Emma to recognize landmarks to plot a way of escape, and she didn't even try. The men who practically carried her to the room she was summoned to, dropped her to the hard marble floor. She hissed in pain as her hip bone rang out in agony when it collided with the cool polished surface.

She took a chance to look around the room before an older woman appeared from a wooden door opposite the room. Light from the adjacent room flowed in, and Emma was able to see more of the room's contents. There was a bathtub, a large table with leather straps, a smaller table with unidentifiable supplies and a large fireplace which was the main light source, casting the bulk of the room in shadow once the door was closed. The woman who came into the room instructed her to strip in a firm tone.

"I'm not taking my clothes off," Emma said with an edge to her voice. It wasn't fear. It was defiance. She wouldn't be humiliated. Emma heard a loud snap from somewhere in the shadows. It echoed off the stone walls, so she was uncertain of its origin, what she was certain of was that in an instant her rags had been removed and she stood there before the woman she assumed was 'Roslyn' completely in the nude. Her arm instantly covered her breast when her other hand covered her dark blonde mound.

The older blonde woman went over to the small table and started sharpening the straight razor. After several skilled swipes, she checked the blade then put it aside, and started preparing a thick cream. "Lay down," she said as she whipped the mixture to a froth. "I will prepare you." Emma saw the fear in the older woman's eyes when she started to hesitate. The Savior thought better of it. She knew Regina was there, somewhere, watching, and could easily force her to lay down, or strap her to the table with her magic. Perhaps that is what the leather straps were for.

So why didn't she? Emma thought as she carefully got up on to the table. Roslyn pushed her to lay her down then opened her legs. She lifted her head to watch the woman spread the white cream over her mound. She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw the whites of Regina's teeth shine a smile from the darkness. Emma dropped her head back with a thump against the wooden table as Roslyn took the razor and skillfully trimmed down the hair between her legs. She closed her eyes as her pale skin turned deep red with embarrassment. She breathed through her humiliation and tried not to think about what was being done to her, or who it was that was observing the humiliation.

She suddenly felt a burning sensation being spread over her skin and her eyes popped open in surprise. Before she could protest Roslyn had already applied the strip of fabric over the hot wax she would use to rip the hair out from her sensitive areas. "What the hell?" Emma complained as she squeezed her legs together.

"You are to be clean, girl. It is my job to prepare you for Her Majesty," Roslyn replied as she rubbed the cloth flat against Emma's mound.

"I'm not… I mean… I don't want…" Emma stuttered as fear gripped her for the first time that night. She has never waxed her privates before; her legs once, and that was a hellish experience she never repeated.

"It isn't about what you want, girl. The Queen wants you," she said loudly, then leaned over pretending to prepare supplies and whispered into Emma's ear, "Please missus, I'm skilled, more so than the others." The implied threat spoke volumes to the blonde and Emma complied, allowing the woman to spread her open and do her job.

"Jesus FUCK!" the blonde cried out as the first of many strips were ripped free from her skin. She heard chuckling from the dark as her scream echoed out in the room. Emma heard the deep laugh at her disgrace, and it steeled her resolve not to give in. She masked over her tear-stained face, silent and stoic, and distanced herself from the pain and humiliation. She felt the emotional crackle of Regina's magic in the air and knew the brunette was in turmoil.

The brunette paced quietly in the shadows watching as her new toy resigned to her torment. She felt the anger bubbling under the surface at the blonde's defiance. She thought for a moment she would have to restrain the girl physically, but like a good pet, she complied with what was expected of her. This act of submission pleased and confused the Queen, and although she wanted to hear the girl's pain, the simple fact that she continued to submit as she suffered pleased the brunette in unexpected ways. Perhaps her newly chosen toy had the strength to endure.

Two young women joined Roslyn once the older woman's task was complete, they filled the tub and escorted Emma over to the bath and proceeded to wash her. Emma simply allowed them to do their job, without complaint or question. When they were finished, she stood in the center of the room, and the three women left quietly. Another girl, much younger than the rest, brought in a platter filled with food and set it down on the floor next to the fireplace then backed away from the nude blonde still standing in the center of the room. She didn't leave; she just stood by the door with her head down.

Emma sat down next to the offered food and looked at the girl and said, "Thank you." The child's eyes held fear and didn't reply. Knowing Regina was there Emma didn't engage the girl in conversation, she did, however, eat what was offered. It was protein and slices of bread and vegetables she didn't recognize, and she didn't care because it wasn't the watery porridge she was given in the cell.

She ate every single thing, even the chimera tasted good and washed it down with the water she was provided. She looked up at the young girl who hadn't moved a muscle and held out her cup. "Can I have more water?" Emma asked quietly. The girl silently picked up the now empty tray and left Emma alone holding the empty wooden cup. "I guess that's a no?" she said to the wooden door that closed behind the child.