Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT in any way, shape or form.


Frozen where she stood, Emma's arm in her chest, Regina imagined her life flashing before her eyes until the blonde's deceptively soothing voice cut through the delusion.

"Tell me, Regina, are you really so afraid?" Purring had to be the word to most accurately describe the Dark One's voice as she drew near to Regina's face, nose nearly making contact with the former Queen's cheek. "Don't you miss..the freedom?" Grunting as her heart was torn from her body, Regina hissed out the breath she had been holding, watching with horror as Emma lifted her palm to eye level.

Free hand darting to take Regina's throat in a firm grasp, the Dark One brushed her mouth over the woman's cheek, savoring the shudder that served as reaction.

Pulling the cloudy red organ close, as if she might whisper a command that Regina would be helpless to resist, Emma sighed over the heart. "Isn't this so very heavy? All this.. goodness." Regina's breath hitched as the Dark One leaned in and pressed her lips to the pulsing heart, darkness spreading from the point of contact, eyes fastened securely to the former Queen's face.

From the moment the blackness began to take hold of Regina's heart, a mix of defiance and horror tinted with pleasure outlined the inner battle that waged within the woman. The loser was clear, her eyes fluttering shut to erase Emma's grin from her vision.

Thrusting the heart unceremoniously back into the Queen's chest, Emma drank in the sight of the woman's heaving bosom and breathless start as the darkness jolted completely through her system. Adrenaline racing through her veins, the Dark One said, "Embrace it, Regina."

Licking her lips of the remainder of the power that Regina's heart had exuded in abundance, Emma traced long fingers along the reborn Queen's own lips in a perfect mirror of her tongue.

"Yes.." responded the woman slowly, both assenting and also answering the questions posed to her long seconds before. Voice dropping an octave as her eyes opened to the Swan invading her personal space without a care, Regina continued, "I did miss this.. however.. I don't remember giving you permission to touch, Miss Swan."

Laughing in delighted rebellion, Emma pressed her chest into Regina's, challenge dancing in her eyes. Taking hold of the hand around her throat, the Queen gave it a twist that would have hurt a lesser mortal, but was merely fuel for the fire that now burned in Emma. "I suppose that someone will have to pay for your insolence."

"Oh goody, is it me?" Emma asked with childish glee, retreating the amount of space necessary for Regina to see her grin. The Queen surged towards her Dark One with a low growl and gave her ear a harsh bite before whispering, "Follow me and find out."

Vanishing on the spot in a mad flash of smoky purple, Emma was left alone by the devious Queen. Fuming and excited by the prospect of a challenge, the blonde followed the path of purple magic as if she were born for that task alone. "Looks like I'm not the only one who is going to have to suffer.