Disclaimer: I own none of these characters if I did Swan Queen would be canon
Author's Note: With classes starting next monday do not get use to quick updates I will do it when I can. I'll do it while I'm on down time from surgery.
Chapter 2: Lesson One
Emma walked into the bathroom and could feel the warm mist from the freshly drawn bath kiss her skin. The bathroom was brightly lit from the large stained windows that lined the left side of the room. Emma was amazed by how beautiful it was; she had expected it to be dark and gloomy like the rest of the castle, but it was quite the opposite. The marble floor had a peach and pink stain to it, the tub itself was bright white with jewels encrusted around the rim, and the walls had been painted to look like the forest that surrounds the castles itself. Emma dipped her right hand into the clear liquid that was filling the tub. The servants had done a wonderful job getting the water's temperature just right. She quickly took off her clothes - her armor had been taken from her before she was taken to her new room - because she knew the water would get cold fast and she wanted to enjoy it for as long as she could. She slipped into the warm water and let out a sigh as it washed over her. She felt guilty for enjoying this, she had just lost a battle and most, if not all, of her men were dead. But she couldn't help it, they had traveled on foot for several days to reach the castle and then had to stay hidden for another day scouting out the area and waiting for night fall. Her body was exhausted, tense, and bruised and with every second she laid there the better her body felt. Emma rested her head on the tub and closed her eyes trying to imagine happier times.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself." Emma, startled by Regina's sudden presence, jumped, causing large amounts of water to fling over the sides of the tub and out onto the floor. Regina smirked, showing pearly white teeth, and gracefully entered the room. Emma was giving Regina a cold look when she reached the bathtub. "I see you don't even bother covering yourself, Princess." Regina was right. Emma had made no move to try to cover her exposed body from the Queen's wondering eyes.
"I am used to bathing and changing in front of people. All the knights live together, I am no different." Regina placed her index finger in the water, as if testing it, and glided a black painted nail across the White Knight's forearm. Emma recoiled from Regina's touch and Regina chuckled at her reaction.
"Are you saying that the King and Queen's daughter doesn't live in the castle? And must live with a group of men as if she is merely a servant?"
"Yes." Responded Emma shortly. Regina's hand had found its way to Emma's hair and she curled a strand of it between her fingers as if admiring it.
"How horrible," Regina said in an over exaggerated tone, as if she did not truly care. The Princess pulled away from the Evil Queen.
"Don't touch me," she spat. Regina smirked then turned her back to Emma to look over at a small table covered in bottles.
"You say that now, Charming." She twirled back around making her dress flutter out a bit and sending a wave of roses and apple scent towards Emma, whose cheeks turned pink once the smell hit her nose. Emma couldn't deny the Evil Queen was a beautiful woman and the White Knight was known among her most trusted men to have a severe weak spot for beautiful women. "Now," continued her Majesty as she held a bottle towards Emma. "Wash yourself with this; I need you to smell nice while joining me for dinner."
"I'm not hungry," replied Emma in defiance.
"Well that's fine, dear, but rule number two; if you do not eat with me you do not eat at all."
"And what happens if I break these rules you've made for me?" Emma retorted with a glare. An evil grin spread across Regina's face.
"Oh, I have a feeling that you will be finding out soon enough. I am heading down for dinner. I have laid out a nice dress for you to wear, that I'm sure that will fit you perfectly. You must put it on if you decide to join me."
"I'd rather starve then dine with you!" she shouted at Regina's back as she made her exit.
"Then starve. It's your choice."
Emma found the dress that Regina had mentioned lying on her bed. The room where she was being kept was different than the bathroom. It was much darker and not filled with many bright colors; except her bed sheets which were a bright red. The dress was a dark blue with hints of silver in the lining. Emma had never worn a dress before and didn't really know how to feel about them. Either way she wasn't putting it on, she had no plans to eat a meal with the Evil Queen. What she needed to do was figure a way out of here. Emma knew that this was going to be difficult; the Evil Queen had the place heavily guarded inside and out. Her door was kept a watchful eye on and Regina's magic mirror could see anywhere in the castle where there was a mirror. The thought caused Emma to grab the dress on the bed and hang it over the mirror, keeping herself from being seen. She rested herself on the bed and examined her body. From where she could see, seeing how this was a bit more difficult without a mirror, she was pretty bruised up even though she had done very little fighting. This led her to assume that the guards took a couple of jabs at her while she was unconscious. The back of her head had a pretty nasty bump but after the warm bath it had stopped hurting. Her eyelids felt heavy, the bath had made her body relax and now she was just realizing how exhausted she really was. She didn't mind being naked while she slept, even in this castle, if any guard was dumb enough to come in here and attempt to take advantage of her they were in for an ugly surprise. The silky sheets felt smooth against her body making her feel cooled yet at the same time a cozy warm temperature. Before she knew it she was wrapped up in them and fast asleep.
Emma awoke sometime late in the night, her room was dark except for the dim amount of moon light that was coming through the windows on each side of her bed. She wasn't sure what had woken her up until she heard the sound of her stomach demanding to be fed. The gnawing pain of hunger had reminded her that she had not had a proper meal in several days. Being on the war march gives you little time to stop and make food. She had lived off of the forest fruits and roots but did not eat the day of the attack since she did not have time. She got up and looked at the moon, from what she could see it would be dawn in a few hours, most of the guards would be stationed outside right now to watch out for any enemies. Just to be sure she would wait for the passing guard that would stop by to check on her so she could count and see how long she had before he came back around again. So while waiting for the guard she needed to find something to wear. Emma opened the wardrobe that was sitting next to the bathroom door, finding it empty. And she couldn't put on the dress, it was covering the mirror. If she put it on now she would be discovered and this might be her one shot at getting away. Her stomach growled, reminding her that it still needed to be fed and it was right. If she left now she wouldn't get very far without having at least eaten something. There weren't any houses near the Queen's castle and fruits and berries would not help her get home. She had eaten so little that she was sure her body just wouldn't have the strength to hold off for another several days. So first, she would sneak out to the kitchen to get some food, next find a weapon and take out a guard, then she would steal his clothing and weapon before making a break for it. It sounded like a good plan to her.
She sat and waited by the doorway of her room listening and watching the moon to keep track of the time. Nearly a half hour had passed and no one had come by to check on her. She gritted her teeth when another wave of hunger hit her; someone had to be here soon, unless the night shift was a bit lazy without their queen being around. About five minutes later she heard it, the beautiful sound of marching feet and clanky armor. She never thought she would be so happy to hear the approach of an enemy. The sound of footsteps stopped right in front of her door and she could see light coming from underneath it. The guard must be caring a torch with him to light his way. Emma sat perfectly still holding her breath and hoping her stomach would not growl, fearing that any small noise would give away that she was not sound asleep in bed. After a few moments the soldier continued on his way and the sound of his armor and footsteps slowly drifted away. Emma waited for another minute or two before opening her door and was actually surprised to find that it wasn't locked; perhaps Regina wasn't as smart as people said.
Outside in the hallway Emma could barely see, which she was completely thankful for. The less light the harder it would be to get seen. She kept low to the ground and out of any small amount of light as she crept towards what she believed to be the kitchen. Her mother had told her about this place, since her mother did grow up here, and that the kitchen was at the far end of the castle. Emma had to hide behind a few plants and walls from the occasional guard but other than that the place was practically empty. It took her a shorter amount of time than she had expected to find the kitchen and her stomach had never been happier. She found some salted meat by the stove and began to chew on it while looking for what else she could find. She found some stale bread and a bottle of wine. Emma was practically shoving the food down her throat, she knew she had been hungry but did not realize how bad until now. She gulped down the wine and only stopped when she needed to breathe.
"I see we have trouble listening." Emma spun around to find Regina leaning against a counter wearing a black robe. Regina laughed at the surprised look Emma had written on her face. "Do you really think that you could go sneaking around my castle and I wouldn't know? How stupid do you think I am? And I see once again you did not bother to cover yourself. Do you enjoy showing yourself off like a whore or are you just a wild animal?" Regina barely had time to react when the wine bottle headed straight toward her face. She ducked out of the way just in time and saw Emma making a run for it towards the back door that lead outside. Emma turned to see what the queen was doing when she ran into something solid causing her to land on her backside. She looked up to see Regina looking down at her threateningly, a snarl on her face. "I was just going to teach you a lesson for the fun of it but now I am really going to hurt you." Emma laughed at her.
"Bitch, I would like to see you try." Regina went down to grab Emma's throat but Emma took Regina's arm, pulled her towards her, then got her foot into Regina's stomach before kicking Regina up and over her head. Emma jumped to her feet and saw the door before her, but she couldn't leave, not yet. She was going to beat this bitch to the ground and if she could she was going to kill her for her parents. Regina had gotten back up on her feet by the time Emma had headed towards her. Emma threw a punch and Regina easily blocked it.
"What?" Regina asked, once again seeing a surprised look on Emma's face. "Did you think that in all my years I never had to learn to fight back?" Regina's knee quickly came up hitting Emma in the ribs causing her to lose her breath and a right hook caused her to stumble backwards. Regina went to hit her again but Emma had recovered in time to dodge it and sent Regina an uppercut, breaking her nose. Warm blood gushed out of her nose and tears formed in Regina's eyes. She grabbed her nose as Emma came in again, face red from the rage that was burning through her. "That's enough!" Regina rose up her palm and sent a wave of magic out towards Emma. It felt like a gust of strong concentrated wind hit Emma directly, lifting her up into the air and throwing her into the hard castle wall. Emma let out a small sound of pain, she was sure a rib or two had broken. "Stay down!" Regina shouted, her face twisted with rage as she pushed Emma back to the floor with her magic. "Fuck!" Regina's nose was still gushing blood and she was clearly in pain herself. Emma giggled at the sign of Regina hurt. "Don't worry about me, dear, it's an easy fix. I would be more concerned about yourself right now." Emma wasn't sure what she meant by that but a hint of fear raced through her. Not that she showed it, she just returned a cold, hateful stare. Regina placed her left hand over the broken nose and took a deep breath. Emma heard a crunching noise and Regina let out a cry then slammed her fist down on the counter. Regina took a moment to recover then grabbed a nearby cloth and cleaned herself up. Emma was still attempting to get up but the magic was keeping her well held down. Regina walked over to a straining Emma and kicked one of her bare feet into Emma's broken ribs. Emma cried out in agony and Regina let out a cold laugh before kicking her several times. Emma started to cry from the pain and was hoping the broken ribs had not punctured anything. Regina waved off the magic field keeping Emma on the floor and placed her fingers tightly around Emma's throat. "Now I told you there were rules, Princess, and if you did not obey you would be punished. I said," Regina squeezed harder and pulled on Emma, forcing her to rise, "if you do not eat with me you do not eat at all." Regina pulled out a pair of shackles from her robe pocket and dragged Emma over to the stove. She wrapped the shackles around a bar on the stove and cuffed Emma to it then pushed Emma down to her knees with one hand. "So now it's time for your punishment." Regina conjured up a whip and Emma froze. She was naked, being whipped with clothing on is painful enough but bare flesh, it will tear her to shreds. Regina took a step back and admired Emma. "I will admit, Princess Emma, you have an amazing body." A sound of the whip cracking made Emma jump and Regina let out a deep laugh. Regina pulled Emma towards her by her ear. "Not as brave as you thought, are you?" Emma yanked away from her.
"You can do whatever you want to me Regina, but I am not going to submit to you or your rules." Regina merely shrugged at Emma's comment.
"Fine, then I'll just have to enjoy your screams." The whip cracked again but this time it made contact with Emma's back, leaving a swollen cut. Emma yelped but bit her tongue as not to scream like the Evil Queen wanted. An evil smirk formed on Regina's face; Emma was trying to be brave and stubborn. How stupid of her. Another hit from the whip left a similar mark and Emma did not scream. Two more times and Emma finally let out cry. Emma could feel droplets of warm blood hit the back of her shaking legs. "You are probably wondering how I fixed my nose." Emma was of course not thinking of this but of the searing, burning, pain on her back and the aching of her ribs. Emma flinched as soft hands cascaded her back. "Magic." Emma felt a warm sensation on her back and then all the pain was gone. She could no longer feel the burning or the blood running; Regina had healed her. Emma didn't understand why until she heard the sound of the whip again and sharp pain on her back. Emma let out a scream this time and tried to fight back tears. "I will keep whipping you and healing you until you beg me to stop."
"Guess we'll be here for a while… I hope you got plenty of sleep… your Majesty." Emma was doing her best to sound brave and strong, but her stomach was twisted with fear of the pain that was coming and fear that she would give in to begging to the Evil Queen.
"I feel pretty well rested, dear, thanks for your concern though." A crack of the whip and the sound of Emma screaming filled the castle.