This is my first SwanQueen fanfic, so bear with me. Of course, Regina, Emma and Mary Margaret will be at the forefront, though expect a lot of Cora, too. Chapter lengths will vary.

Chapter One

Welcome To Hell

*Starts off at the very end of Operation Mongoose, Pt. 2, just before the darkness attacks Regina*

"Well where the hell is it?" Regina demanded aloud to the group, looking around for the flying, inky cloud of Dark One darkness, just like they were. Only a few moments ago, the darkness that had been tethered to Rumplestiltskin's heart had been removed by the Sorcerer's Apprentice and trapped inside the hat. However, something had gone wrong and, instead, it flew out of the magical object, had overpowered the Apprentice, and had then escaped from Rumplestiltskin's shop and out into the open, where it now lurked about in hiding.

"We don't know," David explained, wrapping a protective arm around Mary Margaret, who looked concernedly at Regina and Emma.

Silence filled the cold, frosty air as their eyes darted about the empty streets of Storybrooke in vain attempts to find the hidden monster. It appeared that no one but the six of them - Emma, Regina, Robin, Hook, Snow and Charming - was out that night, probably all down at Granny's celebrating their recent defeat of the Queens of Darkness, and Rumplestiltskin's curse. It was probably a good thing they weren't out, too. That darkness would prey on anybody it could find. It would consume any soul it could.

Suddenly, Emma's voice broke the silence. "It hasn't gone anywhere." The woman said to everyone. She could feel the darkness's presence. It was close.

Not a second later, a streak of flashing black struck down from the sky, like lightening, aimed directly at Regina. Immediately, she was sucked into the swirling vortex of darkness, pulling her away from everyone else as it slowly began to rip away the light inside of her. Regina was numb to stop it; she could feel it eating away at her soul. She felt the light start to snuff out, as darkness crept it's way inside her heart.

"Regina - No!" Emma, Snow and Robin both screamed in sequence, with Robin lurching forward to try and rescue her, though he was thrown back into a nearby building with force, crashing into a window.

Emma could quickly see Regina's life escaping from her, as the darkness started to fill her soul with rapid pace. She had to do something. She couldn't just stand there and watch. "Regina, I'm coming for you!"

With the dagger in her hands, outstretched and ready to strike, Emma charged at the swirling evilness around Regina and crashed into it.

"Emma!" Snow shouted, and, her motherly-instincts kicking in, she ran after her daughter, trying to protect her. David screamed after both of them, but Snow ignored him, instead focusing on her daughter.

As the blade of the dagger collided with the darkness, a loud burst shattered through the air, and Regina was flown out of the darkness and onto the concrete near Emma and Snow. Thinking that the darkness was surely coming for her next, Emma held the dagger up in the air, ready for the attack, before watching as it, instead of coming for her, shot down into the ground. The concrete splintered into thousands of pieces, shaking the ground, creating a large hole between the three of them.

The shaking didn't cease, only increasing, as the hole grew wider and wider. Regina pushed herself up off the ground and onto her feet, just in time to see the hole start glowing a dark grey color, before, within a flash, Emma, Snow and herself were sucked into the hole, vanishing instantly.


"Regina, Regina, wake up" muttered a worried, hurried voice that the reformed Evil Queen easily recognized. "Oh, please don't be dead. . ."

Regina's eyes fluttered open, awake from the fall, as she could feel someone's cold hands shaking her body with great fever. She looked up to see the face of Mary Margaret looming close to her face, on her knees, with her eyes wide and her mouth gaped open. She wore a pale complexion across her face, one befitting of her birth name. The woman let out a heavy sigh as Regina woke up.

"Oh, thank heavens," Snow whispered in relief, falling back slightly on her knees, "She's alive. Emma she's alive!"

"Of course I'm alive," Regina said groggily.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Snow asked, waving three of her fingers annoyingly close to Regina's eyes.

"Three, now get that out of my face," Regina pushed away Snow hands and started to sit up from the icy ground she was laying on. She was okay, save for a slight discomfort she could feel at the back of head. "I'm fine, it's just-" she was interrupted by the sharp and biting agony she instantly felt as sat up fully, the pain from the back of her head suddenly intensifying times a hundred and sending shivers of pain throughout her body, causing her to let out a shuddering growl of torture. She moved an icy hand to behind her head, trying to feel the site of the pain. Cold, thick blood greeted her touch.

"What is it, Regina?" Snow asked, looking at the back of Regina's head where her hand was. "What's wrong?"

"What happened? Is she hurt?" another voice Regina recognized said. It was Emma Swan, and she was coming from somewhere off in the distance. Her shoes clicked against the ground as she ran up to them. Regina could barely see her; her head was pounding from the pain, and her eyes were growing fuzzy and foggy, before they suddenly and mysteriously regained vision. Emma was now right beside her, her hand gently on Regina's shoulder, and looking with Snow at her head.

"Oh my goodness!" Snow cried at the gash she saw stretched across towards the top of Regina's skull. It was furrowed between her dark locks of hair, but she could still see it, even through the padded blood. "That looks terrible."

"It's nothing," Regina said, before she cried out again due to the pain, completely negating her previous words, "Okay well maybe it is something. It's from the fall," she paused for a moment, quickly remembering what had just happened: the darkness and the portal that had sucked them through. "Speaking of which, where the hell did we end up? What land our we in now."

Emma and Snow were silent. "Hopefully it's at least a nice realm," Regina added.

"I don't think this is any land we want to be in," Emma said, helping Regina up off the ground, "Take a look around."

Regina looked up at the sight before her. It was Storybrooke, Maine . . . well, a much darker, run-down, decimated version. It seemed as if her beloved town now lay before her in complete and utter ruins: the streets were cracked; cars were crashed into each other and buildings and, were either on fire or had been; the shattered lampposts were flickering; the shops and storefronts were broken in to; there were skeletons and burnt bodies dispersed about; and the beloved clock tower now laid, murdered, in two pieces scattered across the ground like it had been pushed.

"What is this place," Snow asked, "It can't be Storybrooke."

Regina's gazed moved up to the sky above them: swirling ebony clouds in various shades of black and grey completely covered the sky, casting a blanket of darkness over everything they could see. Even the air seemed to have a darkness, an heaviness, about it. She could also smell the scent of a fire somewhere, of a burning aroma, yet the temperature was cold and frigid.

Suddenly, Regina turned grim, as it all made sense. The destroyed town, the coldness, the fire, the darkness. . . She knew exactly where they were. It could only be one thing.

"No, this sin't Storybrooke," she said, solemnly, "I know what this place is."

"You do?" Emma asked, surprised. "You know where we are?"

"What is it? Where are we?" Snow followed along.

Regina took a step forward. "We're in the Underworld. Welcome to Hell."