"Tryin' to get control
Pressure's takin' its toll
Stuck in the middle zone
I just want you alone"

A/N: Thanks to everyone for the encouragement, and support. Reviews and suggestions appreciated!

…

"The Queen! The Evil Queen!" Emma shouted as she ran out of her room and pointed inside. Her guard threw back his mask and looked her over.

Maybe she was acting a bit over the top, but her goal was to instill a sense of panic so the guard would go in to investigate and leave the palace corridor clear so she could make her escape.

"Milady, fear not!" Chad exclaimed as he drew his sword in a valiant effort to protect the princess. "Did that debaucherously dangerous woman attempt to defile you, my Princess?"

"Oh yes! She's here to get me. I think she's hiding in my wardrobe. Please help!" Emma raised the back of her palm to her forehead and sighed in dramatic fashion. Chad charged through the doors of Emma's chamber and raced to her closet. "Yes, here…please investigate."

The stories of the Evil Queen and her evil deeds Emma had learned from her bard during childhood had been severely neutered for her young ears and sensibilities, but as she had grown and became wiser to the ways of the world, she had learned about the Evil Queen's alleged appetite for sexual violence. It did not surprise her that Chad would assume the Queen had returned for a nefarious dark and erotic purpose.

The assumption raised goosebumps on Emma's arms and she couldn't help but must about what she would do and feel if the Evil queen came to her with that agenda in mind. The woman in her dreams wasn't like that unless Emma dug deeper into her dream memories, but she didn't have time to contemplate those particular implications presently.

Chad took a deep breath and puffed out his chest as he peered into the large dark wardrobe. "I don't see her…Show yourself, Evil one!"

"I think she's in there deep. Go all the way in," Emma coaxed Chad to take a few tentative steps inside amongst her array of poofy gowns. As soon as he disappeared behind a curtain of fabric she threw the doors shut and placed a fire poker over through the latch to trap him.

"Princess?! What are you doing?!"

"Sorry, Chad," Emma muttered as she quickly grabbed her bag of supplies from under her bed. She didn't know how long she'd be gone or if she would return home. She knew she had to make a fast break for the woods. It was the first time she'd actively deceived her guard, who had vowed to protect and fearlessly serve her family, but she did what she needed to.

Emma had grown up in this castle. She'd played hide and seek with her nannies and then, when she had her own son, they had spent hours exploring the corridors and vast rooms. She knew the palace intimately and it worked to her advantage as she stole away into the night.

Exiting through a sub-level passage, it was a long walk through the forgotten, musky and cobweb infested dirt floored tunnels, but her torch burned true and soon she emerged on the other side of the lake that surrounded her castle. She extinguished the flame of her torch so the guard acting as lookout would not see her fire and she could remain undetected.

Like the palace, she was very familiar with the royal fields and the Enchanted Forest, but she had little experience being out alone and at night. She recalled returning by carriage from the summer palace late at night, sleepy and warm and cradled in her father's strong arms as she looked out the small round window.

Things shifted in the forest at night, creatures roamed freely for the dark was their time. That's what her father had whispered in her ear as she had wondered curiously about her world.

Now, the world she knew: of flowers, birds and sunshine had been temporarily replaced by the night time. As she entered a whole new and foreign place of darkness, she knew she had to be stealthy, light on her feet, and quiet so as not to draw attention to herself.

Emma told herself that this was important. She reminded herself and drew strength, despite her natural fear, that this quest was something she had to do. She searched the dark brambles and underbrush of the woods for the woman known as the most gruesome and violent, destructive force in myth and legend.

The temperature had dropped and it was colder than she had anticipated, a strong wind whistled relentlessly through the trees as the leaves rustled ominously. After a time of stumbling around the woods, Emma begun to doubt her plan: in her rush to escape the castle, she realized how shortsighted she had been. It was unlikely that the Evil Queen would simply be hanging out and roaming the woods all night.

She recalled more stories and fairytales she had heard time and again. Her own mother, during her exile had survived in the woods while she was on the run from the very same woman Emma was currently looking for. Queen Snow- a princess at the time, like Emma hadn't had the skills of hunting and survival taught to her, but she had somehow managed to thrive.

The thought of living out here was unconscionable, and just as tears sprung forth in her eyes along with a wellspring of doubt that had her turning on her feet to race back to the safety of home, Emma let in the memories of her dream of Storybrooke. The Evil Queen had this fiery and passionate smile. In her dream, Emma had not felt fear when she had turned her gaze on her; she'd only felt compassion and devotion to the woman. In her dream, she had actually vowed to protect Regina in much the same way Chad and the other guards vowed to protect her. It was devotion without regard to her own safety. Emma realized that in her dream she was certain she would lay down her life if it meant keeping the Evil Queen safe.

With a renewed determination to understand how these feelings could be, she trudged onwards, deeper through the woods, with a new destination in mind: The Evil Queen's deserted castle.