**TW: Allusion to rape and violence.**

CHAPTER 2

Emma instinctively covered her head from the blows that were raining down on her but otherwise put up no other defense. This unfortunately wasn't the first time she'd ever been woken up this way. Her mind was only starting to catch up to what the hell was going on when her body suddenly became airborne.

"Ow!" she cried out from the floor in pain and confusion. She blinked repeatedly as she tried to get her bearings.

"Who the hell are you?!"

There was enough daylight coming through the overhead skylight for Emma to make out what even to her sleep filled eyes was clearly the most beautiful girl she'd ever seen.

The large brown eyes were widened in terror. And her hair was a mess about her head. Still, Emma was stupefied as she laid on the floor staring up at her.

After a minute of the two just staring at one another, Emma realized she must look like a slackjawed fool. She snapped her mouth close with a loud click and cleared her throat, "Hi," she said weakly as she sat up and folded her legs underneath her. She wanted the girl to understand that she was no threat to her.

The girl glared at her but Emma could see that she was still scared. Her breathing was coming out in rapid puffs as she clutched the blanket that she had thrown over her the night before tight in her fingers. The knuckles on her hands were turning white.

Regina's chest rose and fell sharply as the terror clawing its way from her chest began to take hold of her. The last thing she remembered was watching the car rise up before her eyes. But that had been nighttime.

Now there was daylight streaming in from a skylight which meant a fair amount of time had passed. She could see her dress folded across a chair on the other side of the room. But why was she lying naked in what looked like a basement? And why was there a blonde girl lying beside her? She had never shared a bed in her life. Except for the odd times her sister had allowed her into hers after a bad night. But she had no idea who this girl was or where or how she'd ended up here, "Who are you?" she demanded to know.

Emma stared at the girl confused. It had been so long since she'd talked with anyone other than – Him. She was completely out of practice on how to interact with people, "I'm Emma."

Oddly that did little to nothing to help squash the panic rising inside of her. She could feel herself heading fast toward utter hysteria. Regina frantically looked around the room, "where am I? What did you do to me?"

Emma looked startled at the suggestion that she could have anything to do with the girl's present circumstances. She shook her head slowly, "Me? I didn't do anything to you."

Regina licked her parched lips trying her best to moisten her dry throat. Now that she was calming down from her shock her mind was starting to let her in on her physical predicament.

She was so thirsty she felt like she could down an entire gallon of water in one long swig. Her head was thumping so hard she knew a migraine wasn't far off. She was sore from head to toe. In fact, she felt like she'd been hit by a truck.

She had no idea what was going on. But she did know that she was getting the hell out of here. "Turn around," she ordered.

The blonde immediately complied. She continued to sit on her heels as she faced the wall in front of her. She started to hum her favorite tune quietly to herself.

Regina watched her for a second to ensure that she continued to comply. Then she leapt from the bed and gathered her clothes. She threw them on quickly while she continued to watch the back of the girl's head. Once she was redressed in her party dress and heels she turned back toward the girl, "how do I get out of here?"

Emma stopped humming and slowly turned toward the girl with a frown. She understood that she must've woken with one helluva shock. But it still confused her as to why she would think that she had anything to do with her situation. "How am I supposed to know that? You think I'd be here if I did know?"

Regina narrowed her eyes at her as she tried to assess whether the girl was lying or not. Try as she might, even through the fog that was still clouding her brain, she sensed no deception in the girl.

Looking away from her, she began to turn in a slow circle to evaluate the room. She first went to the door. It was overly large and it almost looked like the vault door to a bank. It was made of stainless steel and looked to be extremely heavy. It had some kind of a drop down panel next to it. When she pried the panel open, there was a keypad inside. She turned to the girl, "where is the code for this door?"

Emma grimaced, "He has it."

"He who?" Regina demanded.

"Him. The Him who brought you down here," she chewed on her lower lip for a second. "And me too," she added in a whisper.

Regina understood what the girl was saying but she had to be wrong. This was completely wrong. She couldn't have been – even thinking the world made her sick and she had to gulp down the bile that was busy trying to force its way up the back of her throat - kidnapped. That was just insane.

People being kidnapped was something you saw in movies. It was stories your parents told you so that you wouldn't take candy or rides from strangers. And she knew about stranger danger. She'd taken self-defense classes at the rec center. This – it just couldn't be real.

Her mind continued to fight the obvious. But her body was on its own track of coping with the situation. The air suddenly became thinner as her heart began to speed up. Her breath came out faster as she tried desperately to calm down. 'Okay, Regina,' she said to herself. 'You have to focus. The only way to win is to stay focused.'

Emma's head tilted to the side as she watched the girl. She wasn't sure if she was going to vomit, pass out, fight, go nuts, or all of the above. She understood she was in shock. Even though it had been more than a year since she'd been trapped here she still had a hard time when she woke up adjusting to this being her new reality. She decided to just sit quietly and wait.

Regina, meanwhile, was officially in freak-out mode. The only information she had was that she had been taken down to someone's basement and was now trapped inside. There was a girl here who – honestly to her anyway – looked as if she hadn't seen the sun in years.

'Oh God,' she choked on a sob that had managed to make its way up through her tightened throat while her blinking increased as tears began to dot her lashes. She didn't want to think about that. She couldn't think about that. She had to get home. She couldn't be here. That thought alone of being trapped here was enough to send her panic into near hysteria.

She closed her eyes and started to take deep controlled breaths to force herself to calm down. She knew she needed to keep her cool here. Curling up in a ball and screaming just wasn't an option for her here.

Once her heart rate became manageable again and her tears were pushed back, she knew she could continue. She squared her shoulders and opened her eyes again. She turned back toward the door and went back to trying to figure a way out.

There was what looked like a trap door cut out of the middle of it but it appeared to only be able to be opened from the outside. She tried pushing, then pulling then kicking at it. It wouldn't budge at all.

Emma's legs were starting to hurt from kneeling on the basement floor. Although it was carpeted, there was nothing but pure concrete underneath. She slowly stood up as she continued to watch the girl.

Regina looked behind her to where Emma had risen before turning back to the door. When everything that she could think of to pry it open failed she began to beat along the walls screaming for help the entire way. She slowly made her way through every inch of the room but her kicking, screaming, hitting, and pushing was all to no avail.

By the time she was done testing every inch of the room she was beginning to lose her steam. Her voice had failed somewhere before she'd hit the third wall and she could no longer scream out. Still, she refused to give up. She took some time to turn a fixated stare at the skylight above them. It was at least 10 feet above the bed but she refused to let that deter her. She grabbed at whatever was handy and began throwing it to try and break the glass.

Emma watched the girl and admired her fortitude. She didn't have the heart to tell the girl that there was no use. She'd spent everyday for the past 487 days trying to find her way out of here. She'd even used the same tactics the first few times. Still, here she was.

She still held onto her fantasy of getting out though. She knew one day eventually she would. She just hoped she was still alive when it happened. Her shoulders and other joints still acting up when the weather was bad were constant reminders of what He could do when He was angry.

Her stomach grumbled and she clutched at it then smiled shyly at the brunette whose head had turned abruptly upon hearing it. She decided to attend to it. She walked over to the metal stand that held some of their groceries where she began to put together some cinnamon toast for both of them. She poured them two glasses of crangrape juice while she waited for the bread to pop up.

Over the past year, she'd been able to turn the dungeon into something resembling a home. Since she'd never really had one of her own, she imagined it was as close as one could get to the real thing.

They were basically in a finished basement studio apartment. Everything in it had been brand new when she'd been placed in there. It seemed He'd created the place just to keep someone enslaved indefinitely inside of it.

She didn't remember coming down here. Her last memory of being in the free world was of her enjoying her freedom. She had snuck out of the latest children's center she had been forced into and was enjoying herself a walk of freedom before she'd be dragged kicking and screaming back to the place. Or maybe even somewhere worse when she'd been caught. But in the meantime, she was just enjoying the feel of the cool air against her skin. And the fact that there was no one above her yelling at her what she should or shouldn't be doing.

The next thing she knew a painful shock began to flood throughout her system. She remembered the entire world going lopsided before everything went black. The next thing she knew she had woken up here the same as this new girl.

There had been the handful of times that He'd allowed her upstairs to clean for Him. But He'd stand guard over her the entire time. Once she was done cleaning His house for Him from top to bottom, He'd immediately dragged her back down into the basement again. But in those brief moments before being forced into her prison, she'd at least get to feel some sunshine and cool air across her skin.

The apartment wasn't too bad. Had it not been a prison that she paid for with pain, blood, bruises, and her body, she would've actually even had enjoyed it. There was a small kitchenette which held a toaster oven, a small stovetop and oven, a small refrigerator, and two sinks. There was a small portable dishwasher and a dish drain beside the sinks.

Along the wall there was a thin metal rack where she kept utensils, cookware, and nonperishable foodstuff. There was a small 4 seater table that separated it from the living room.

The living room area had a large screen tv, a ps4, xbox one, wii u, roku, blu ray player, and tons of games and movies. He didn't seem to care what movies she bought through the roku so she loaded up on them just to screw him over.

She had a tablet but there was no way to connect to the wifi on it. He would sometimes take it upstairs and download more books onto it for her. Other than that, it was basically used for nothing except playing games that didn't require internet service.

There was an upright piano against the living room wall. And a guitar. He'd asked her to play for Him but she didn't know how. He'd looked like He was going to beat her and she'd braced herself to take it before relenting. Finally He'd brought her books on learning both instruments but she completely ignored them. There was no reason for her to learn to appease Him anymore than He was able to force her to.

There was an old laptop that she fancied herself doing schoolwork on. She had never been one for school but she had always loved learning new things. She had divided up her studies as if she was conducting her own school. She had her math, science, history, and geography classes. Which meant she read books on each subject. She also had PE classes which included her running around the apartment as fast as she could for track and teaching herself how to do the acrobatics and gymnastics she saw on tv. She was proud that she had almost gotten a front aerial down.

The bathroom held a shower and a large tub. There was even a whirlpool bathtub in it. She preferred showers though. The things He'd made her do inside that tub still made her cringe.

Across from the bathroom was a queen sized bed. It was covered in red silk sheets and a silk comforter set. The mattress was comfortable and there were a lot of fluffy pillows on it.

To the right of the bed was the closet. It's where she spent a lot of her time. There were clothes and linens inside. And just above the bed, was skylight.

The skylight wasn't really a skylight. It seemed to be a tiny window that she wasn't sure a mouse could fit through that allowed daylight to pass through the room. For the past year and a third it had been her closest ally. It allowed her to see enough of the outside world to know remind herself that there was still hope out there.

Somewhere in the midst of her musings as she poured the cinnamon and sugar onto the toast she'd begun to sing her little ditty. "You are my sunshine.., my only sunshine. You make me hap-py when skies are gray. You'll never know dear.., how much I love you."

"Why the hell are you singing?" a voice screamed out.

She turned to find the brunette staring at her as if she had 2 heads. She'd almost forgotten she wasn't alone anymore. Her cheeks heated up as she lifted a shoulder in a half shrug, "I don't know. Force of habit I guess. It makes things a little less lonely."

Regina looked the girl up and down with mild distaste written across her features, "Emma was it?" The girl gave a slight nod before Regna continued. She walked over to one of the chairs and curled her fingers over the top as she eyed the girl carefully, "My name is Regina Mills. My Father is Judge Mills and my Mother is Mayor of our town. If you help me get back home to them, I'm sure there'd be a huge reward in it for you."

Emma let out a deep sigh before shaking her head at the girl, "I don't know how many times I have to tell you that we're in the same boat," she pointed to the wall behind her where she'd added a mark for every day she'd been held captive. "If I knew how the hell to get out of here I sure as hell wouldn't be making cinnamon toast and singing a tune to help me not want to kill myself today."

Regina turned to where the girl pointed and her eyes widened as she took in the wall covered in tick marks. She lifted her hands and ran her fingers gingerly along the indentations before turning back to the girl, "You've been here this long?"

Emma didn't bother to answer her. She didn't want to think about it at all. Instead she put the toast on two plates and brought them over to the table. She brought the glasses of juice over and set one to the side of each plate. Then she sat heavily in a chair and began to eat her breakfast, "breakfast is getting cold."

The last thing Regina wanted was food. She only needed to get out of that place. And fast. The panic that had been lodged in her chest from the moment she woke up was starting to take ahold of her. She used every ounce of willpower she had to fight it back.

She walked over to the table on shaky legs. She fell into a chair merely because her legs were moments from giving out on her. She sat staring at the plate of food while her stomach churned.

Emma was a little worried as she took in the girl. She'd gone pale and she looked unsteady even sitting up on the chair. "Are you going to barf? Cause I'd really rather not see that. Especially while I'm eating."

The girl's chest had begun to heave. "My parents will come for me," she began to chant. "My parents will come."

Emma nodded still unsure of what to say. At least the girl had parents. Maybe they even cared about her, "Sure girlie. I'm sure they're looking for you right now."

Regina nodded. The sight of the unshed tears in her eyes nearly broke Emma's heart.

"They will," she insisted as the tears she couldn't hold back any longer began to make their way down her cheeks. "My parents will find me. They will come for me."

Emma was so startled she dropped her toast. She sat across from the girl with her head bowed as the girl dropped her head into her hands and cried to herself.

Growing up in foster care wasn't exactly conducive in teaching you how to form relationships. She had never really had a close friend. Or any friend for that matter. But something about this girl touched something deep inside of her.

She wasn't sure if she'd accept contact from her. She herself had only known hands as being used as weapons against her. She had no memories of ever being touched by real kindness before in her life. But the girl's obvious pain and despair wouldn't allow her to do nothing.

She took a deep breath and rose to retrieve a napkin for the girl. She sat in the seat next to her as she reached out her hand and handed it to her. She exhaled when the girl accepted the napkin and wiped at her eyes and nose.

"Oh God," Regina cried out as she threw her head back. "How are we going to get out of this hellhole?"

"We'll figure it out," Emma nodded. "Together." It was a promise she swore to herself that she would keep.

-:-

"Into the closet," a voice boomed out of nowhere.

Emma's body went into auto mode and she was halfway on her way to the closet before her mind caught up. She stopped and turned and looked at Regina who was eyeing her oddly. Her stomach began to roil as she stared into the confused brown orbs. She looked up toward the door, "No."

"INTO THE CLOSET!" it boomed louder this time.

Emma shook her head but stood her ground, "no." Her heart was pounding in her chest so loud she could hear it. She could taste bile rising up at the base of her throat.

The trap door in the center of the door opened. She tried to dodge it but she still felt the stab of pain as the dart entered her torso. Her vision became blurry and the next thing she knew the ground was rising up toward her. Then it was fade to black.

-:-

The first thing Emma noticed upon wakening was that her head hurt and her throat was parched. She felt like she could drink 20 gallons of water in one sitting and it still wouldn't be enough to quench her thirst. From far away she heard what sounded like wailing but she wasn't sure if they were hers or someone else's.

She cracked one eye a little and closed it quickly as even the small amount of light that the bedside lamp cast was too much. She tested her limbs one by one. When she was sure that she was still intact, she sat up with a loud groan.

After giving her eyes time to adjust, she slowly reopened them. What she saw made her wish she hadn't. Regina was curled up into a ball at the side of the bed that was against the wall. She had the sheets held tight across her body and was crying so hard Emma was a little worried she was on the brink of hysteria and would choke on her tears.

One look at the bloody sheets, torn clothes, bruises, and shattered look from the brunette beauty was all it took for her to know that she had failed to protect her new friend. She blinked tears away as she rose from the floor and headed to the bathroom, "I'll run you a bath."