A/N: This is an idea that has been stuck in my head. It's based loosely off the idea of game. It's an AU story that deals with love and hate. So all the good stuff.
I haven't really checked for grammar and spelling I just had to get this out there! I will look over it again once I post it.

Disclaimers: I don't own anything.


Chapter One

"There must be a better life than this."

Queen Regina stood next to her balcony ledge looking out towards the night sky. The air was colder tonight than the other nights because this night in particular she had come outside with a heavy heart. A much heavier heart than all the days before weighed heavy on her soul but tonight was different. Regina could taste the bitterness in her mouth. The Queen's heart refused to sleep this night as she stood taking in deep breaths.

Regina was wearing her silk white night gown that King Leopold had always liked on her. The man would look at her like a piece of meat as he always had since she was married to him at just eighteen and himself being forty five. Regina's mother had forced her to marry him when he asked. It was because Regina had saved his only daughter, Snow White, from a horse riding incident. How the brunette Queen wish she hadn't. The man didn't love Regina the King was still in love with Snow's dead mother Eva. When King Leopold forces himself on the brunette he would cry out his former wife's name. Regina can't remember a day where she hadn't cried herself to sleep.

Tonight her hair was a mess from tossing and turning thinking about what she should do with her life here at the White Castle. Regina had on her makeup from that day; it was dark as per her usual, and slightly smeared from crying. No one knew about the Queen's depressive state. The people had given her the name, "Evil Queen" when she executed several people for not paying tax. Regina had to show strength and power if she was to make a name for herself. Like her mother had always wanted. She was living in her mother's shadow.

Yes… Yes I must end my life.

The Queen thought to herself. Regina stepped closer to the edge with her heart pounding and her chest rising up and down. There was a soft wind blowing upwards as she looked down to see how far the jump was and if she would be killed on impact. It was too dark to tell but it looked far enough for her to take one more step closer to the edge. Regina gripped the balcony rails harder and took in a deep breath about to pull herself up and over.

Just one more-

"Hey!"

Regina was startled backwards off the rail with her eyes widening. Her heart was pounding even faster now than before. The brunette haired Queen slowly stepped forward back to the railing and looked out a few feet away from the spot she had wanted to land, to see a blonde haired woman. She was wearing shinning white amour that fitted her body perfectly and a sword that was wrapped in leather tied to her belt. Regina noticed no helmet or any emblem from another country saying where this woman was from. The Queen shook her head from the stupor of thoughts she was in then composed herself raising her chin and folding her arms.

The brunette looked at the white amour clad woman from the side of her body waiting to see if she would speak and so she did.

"What's a beautiful woman doing out on the edge of a balcony so late at night?"

Regina scoffed and laughed lightly. She didn't think she was beautiful this night since she wasn't wearing her intimidating dresses and her makeup was smeared.

The brunette scowled, "What's a Knight doing next to a balcony so late at night?"

The other woman only but laughed at the question. Regina didn't find it amusing in the slightest and wanted to know why this armed woman was walking around her palace grounds this late.

"I'm looking for the White Castle."

"You're staring at it."

Regina watched the woman smile even wider now at the realization and took a step forward. The Queen wanted to step back but realized she was still on the balcony. HER balcony and her home. The blonde then suddenly looked to her side and frowned. Regina raised her eyebrow and wondered how can the woman go from smiling like a fool to letting her face fall in sadness?

The blonde nodded, "Well then I am truly at the right place. You must be Queen Regina? Or do all your maids wear revealing night gowns?"

This was starting to get more intriguing. Regina stepped closer to examine the woman better, "I am. Who might you be?" she said with as much regal in her voice as she could. It was her defense method that she used almost daily ever since she was forced to marry a man she didn't love or trust.

"I'm Emma… Emma Swan," the woman took a step forward and smiled stuttering slightly, "You're new guard. A knight. Kind of a Ranger. Sort of."

The Queen let her jaw drop slightly on the statement. How could she possibly have a new guard? The King had mention finding Regina protection from the town and other countries when she went out to market places or on business affairs. This might be the one he was talking about.

"Well… Knight Swan. I have no need for a guard," she said coldly, "I'm sure you can find your way back home or where ever it is that you live."

Emma placed a hand above her belt where her sword was tied to then with her other hand ran her fingers through her curly blonde hair, "Look. I have the papers. I applied. I showed my strength and skill to your King and now I am here. I am yours to command m'lady."

"I command you to leave."

The blonde sighed, "I meant," she paused then shook her head, "never mind. We can start tomorrow. And by the way," the blonde turned and looked into Regina's eyes, "it's not a far enough drop."

Before the Queen could say anything the blonde was already stepping away. Regina looked up at the sky in disbelief. She did not plan her night like this. The brunette's heart did something funny. Something she hadn't felt in a long time. Regina caught herself smiling softly but quickly turned it into a frown then looked down at where Emma had been. Regina realized that Emma truly was her guard or who else would have stopped the Evil Queen from falling to her death? The brunette haired woman hummed softly and returned to the world she wanted to escape.


Emma Swan set up her small green tent near the White Castle. It was beautiful to her and so large of a palace that she wondered who all lived there and what all went on inside. This was the most interaction she would have with people. The blonde had shed her amour leaving her in her white tunic and dark brown pants and black knee high boots. Emma easily started up a fire and sat by a log that was laid near it. She threw some twigs and small leaves into the fire to make it larger when she felt a large wind sweep through her causing the fire to diminish. Emma sighed and then knelt back down trying to rekindle the fire again with her flint and stone.

"You know you need to stop doing that every time I start to make a fire." Emma sat back down when she saw a small flame procuring again.

A bright ghost like figure stood next to the blonde knight. It was a woman and a beautiful woman at that. She wore a white dress that fitted her curves and kept her chest tight and high. The figure's hair was blonde like Emma's but lighter and was done up with some of her bangs hanging loosely on her face. The woman had bright blue eyes that stared down Emma.

"You're feelings are clouding your judgment." The woman said.

Emma looked at the growing fire she made and spoke softly, "Ingrid," was her name, "she was about to jump. You know that."

The figure disappeared and then reappeared in front of Emma with the fire in between them. Emma sighed and looked up slowly into Ingrid's eyes.

"You should have let her. We are not supposed to interact with people like-"

Emma stood up interrupting the blonde woman, "like what, like me?"

"You are not like them."

They continued to argue back and forth.

"I am like them. I am more like them than you are!"

"I can sense your heart Emma and I can hear your thoughts."

"I know you've been hearing them for ten years now."

Ingrid's voice grew deeper and louder and Emma could feel the earth beneath her shake. The blonde knew that meant that the other woman wasn't very happy.

"I know what you felt when you looked at her. She is of this world and you are not."

Emma stood on her feet and walked away from Ingrid not wanting to hear any more, "I don't want to talk about this right now."

The other woman disappeared again and reappeared in front of Emma, "You are undead!"

"Don't you think I know that!" Emma shouted back at the woman.

Ingrid stood there quietly and let Emma calm her rapid breathing. The air was too thick for both women and they knew they needed to calm down before a tree would snap.

"We have been together for ten years. Both victims of blood sacrifices. You were only twenty seven years old. Not being able to age properly like those in this Enchanted Forest or anywhere on this world. We are cursed Emma," Ingrid looked intently at the other blonde, "I have been cursed for two hundred years and this is the first time I have been able to interact with a person. A dead one but a person none the less."

"With me."

"Yes. Exactly. You were denied death. Stuck between light and dark. We need to find out why you were denied and find the one who cursed you and me. This is his or her doing."

Emma shook her head, "No this is your doing! You choose my body!"

"I thought you wanted revenge!" Ingrid's voice boomed.

The knight turned back to the small fire and walked towards her tent with her voice shaken, "I should have died with my family."

Ingrid followed letting there be a small pause, "I can leave you."

Emma's attention was spiked. She looked back at Ingrid for her to continue talking.

"I can leave you at any time and you will be a spirit like me looking for someone to help you but there is only one way we can close the circle so you can be at peace with death and so can I."

Emma wasn't so sure if she wanted that anymore and the other blonde knew it. Ingrid could hear Emma's thoughts if she wanted to and the knight tried hard to block out Ingrid. Emma wanted to die with her family ten years ago when they were slaughtered in a white circle with a symbol drawn on the ground. She didn't know the reasons why but all she knew is that she was stuck between worlds with a spirit following her and most of the time trying to help her.

Ingrid sat down on the log near the fire, "I have given you permission to help to interact with the living. Don't make me regret it."

"I will be fine."

"Emma, tread carefully. We do not know who this woman really is and if this will help us get closer to the one we are looking for," Ingrid stood up and slowly started to fade, "do not fall in love with her."

The blonde knight watched her spirit fade into the night and let out a long breath. Emma was undead, meaning that she was killed but was denied death and stuck with a blonde woman named Ingrid who was over two hundred years old. The knight has been dead for over ten years and would have made her thirty seven this year. She still can't get the memory of her father and sister being killed in front of her and she swore to find the person who did this. The blonde lifted her hand to her chest and touched the scar where she had been stabbed at near her heart that dreadful day.

Emma thought about what Ingrid had said to her. Not getting too close to people and falling in love.

That doesn't mean I can't be the Queen's friend.


Regina was getting pampered by her maids' right when she woke up. They had started with bathing her and fitting her into tight leather pants with a deep red corset and a long thin black coat with red trimming and had a collar that stood high around her neck. It was a tactic move she often used when she wanted to scare people. Her hair was long and her bangs pinned back and before a maid could do anything about the makeup the queen glared and growled at the woman. They all hurried away and gathered any clothes that were dirty and hair brushes.

The Queen's make up was hers. It was the only thing that she would allow only herself to do and something that was hers. She could apply it however she wants and it was mostly applied menacingly with thick eyeliner and dark eye shadow. A servant had walked in when she just finished applying red lip stick.

The man bowed, "Your Majesty. There is a blonde woman at the doors. Says she knows you?"

Regina instantly thought of Emma Swan the woman she had met last night. The brunette didn't even bother telling off her guard as she passed by him and down the large stair case. She quickly stepped down each step and when she got to her large doors there stood two guards that watched the door and in the middle was a blonde but not the knight.

"Maleficent." Regina sighed.

The woman had on a black dress and a black horned like hat and holding her black staff. The woman's skin was fair but the Queen knew her heart was far from it, "Nice to see you too Regina."

"What do you want?"

Maleficent swayed to the brunette Queen, "Why do you ask that every time I come over?"

"Because you never come here just to say, hello."

The other woman just laughed and then purred, "You know me like a book Regina. That's why you and I are good friends."

The Queen rolled her eyes. They have known each other for quite some time. Growing up as children then going their separate ways when Regina got married at eighteen. Now at age twenty eight things were a lot different between the two. Maleficent touched into very dark magic and Regina was just simply dark. The brunette's heart was black from all that she had done over the years and Maleficent seemed to be the only one that understood her.

The blonde smiled, "I was wondering if you would like to attend my ball tomorrow."

Regina squints her eyes a little in confusion, "A ball. As in you're getting married?"

Maleficent threw out her hand, "Aren't you happy for me?"

Their conversation was short lived when someone cleared their throat. It was a guard at the door and both women turned to see who it was standing next to the man. It was the blonde from last night standing there in, no longer in her armor but in a white tunic that was tucked into brown pants and boots but her sword was still there. Emma's hair was in perfect curls and Regina bit her lip looking at how stunning the woman was. Maleficent noticed and then grinned and walked up to Emma looking into her green eyes and then down to her sword.

"Well who do we have here? Let me guess. You're the queen's new letter opener."

Regina growled, "Leave. Now."

The woman in the black dress laughed hotly, "Oh alright fine. But do give me an answer by tonight? I would hate for my best friend to not be there." Maleficent let her staff rise then hit the floor and purple smoke covered her. Emma coughed and once it cleared the woman had disappeared.

The brunette Queen looked Emma up and down wondering what to make of the blonde. The green eyed knight was toned and she looked at her shirt that barely fit around the blonde's arms. Regina has never had a woman guard before so she was going to watch this one carefully. The brunette didn't know she could like a woman's figure until this one came along but she was married and nothing would become of it. It was simply business.

"Where are you from?" Regina asked.

Ingrid spoke in Emma's mind, 'Remember what I told you.'

The blonde smiled ignoring the voice in her head, "A lot of places I suppose."

Regina tilted her head and raised an eyebrow now speaking to her guards, "Leave us the place alone."

The Queen's guards stood up straight and bowed to her then they both left leaving the blonde and brunette in the large open area. The palace was beautifully crafted with gold and white stone work and red carpets with dark tiled colored floors.

The blonde spoke to the spirit in her mind, 'She means you too Ingrid.'

Ingrid laughed sarcastically but to Emma's surprise she actually did feel her leave.

Emma looked into brown eyes that looked back at her. The blonde can't remember when she was alone with a person besides Ingrid. Emma bowed, "Your Majesty. You have a beautiful home."

Regina nodded once and watched the blonde stand up straight again and stood there in awkward silence.

The blonde crossed her arms in front of her, "Well… What's on your agenda today?"

The brunette licked her upper lip that made Emma gulp, "Follow me."

So Emma did. The blonde followed Regina all the while looking at her back side, letting her eyes travel down the Queen's back but then suddenly she felt a pinch on her arm. It was Ingrid telling her to stop.

"Ow!"

Regina turned around, "Excuse me?"

Emma laughed awkwardly, "Sorry I had to pinch myself this all seems too real."

The Queen looked at her suspiciously and then continued to walk down the hallway.

Emma growled, Thanks Ingrid now she thinks I'm a freak.

The blonde could feel the spirit smile.


Leave some comments and any ideas you had in mind where you would like this story to go? I have a lot of ideas but I would like to hear some of yours.