Even if the Evil Queen was Regina's past self, her mannerisms were only a little bit similar to the mannerisms Regina had adopted since she lived in Storybrooke.
The Evil Queen had excused herself by saying that she had to attend court and two guards had remained sitting at a table across from them. She ascended the staircase.
Regina sighed, "I don't recommend sitting down on the floor, Emma."
Emma rolled her eyes, "Come on Regina, I doubt there will be anything down here that I can't handle."
Emma saw that Regina wanted to sit down, but didn't want to risk getting her clothes dirty.
She unzipped her jacket and laid it down next to her, "You can sit now if you want." Emma said nonchalantly as she slowly sat down on the dirt floor.
Regina turned to look at Emma and said, "I haven't been called Regina in a very long time, Emma. The last time I was called that was the moment when I ripped my father's heart out of his chest in order to enact the curse."
Emma wanted to comfort her so badly. She moved a little closer to Regina, "It's freezing cold in here. Did you ever consider that your prisoners would freeze before they were executed or whatever?"
"You've to remember that I didn't care whether people froze to death or not in here. The only thing that mattered to me was that I got what I wanted. If my prisoners were important to me, then I'd give them a pillow and a blanket. You're lucky that you still have your clothes."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I'd either make my prisoner change into rags or have them wear no clothes at all. Most of my prisoners had sworn their loyalty to Snow White, so I'd make an example of them. I had executed many people when I was their Queen."
"Since you know your past self so well, then we should have no problem getting out of here."
"I wish that would make everything easier, but it won't. I can't do anything to change my fate and neither can you. I have to know where we are in my timeline to know where we go from here."
Emma wanted to lighten the mood and not have Regina dwelling too much on her past.
"I think your past self was checking me out."
Regina rolled her eyes,"If she had any interest in you, then it would be to manipulate you into doing what she wanted. She'd make a deal with you that you couldn't refuse, just like Rumple. You would do whatever she wanted willingly or she would control you by ripping out your heart. The worst case scenario is that she would crush your heart to ash."
"Is there a scenario where she would have me released as a prisoner?" Emma asked, hopefully.
"Perhaps, but you would need to find favor in her eyes. So far, you're not giving her much of a reason to keep you except that you're not from her world."
"Jeez Regina, have some faith in me! I was able to win you over with my charm a while back, so I know I can win over the Evil Queen too."
"Oh Emma, you can be such a fool! You're lucky that she hasn't found out who you really are or else you would be in a much worse position than you are right now."
Emma was about to open her mouth to say something else, but then a purple cloud of smoke appeared in the front of their cell.
The Evil Queen smirked, "I don't want my prisoners to be too comfortable here." Her eyes lingered on Emma as she said it.
Regina stood up, dusted herself off, and straightened her skirt. "I don't believe that myself or my knight have done any crime against you, Your Majesty."
The Evil Queen glared at Regina, "Who do you think you are to talk to me like that? I'm the Queen, I don't need a reason to keep you here." She opened her hand and a fireball appeared, "If you know what's good for you, then you wouldn't want to anger me."
She raised her hand as if to throw it at Regina, but Emma stood in between them. "Would you really attack someone when they are defenseless, Your Majesty? You don't seem like the type to resort to that."
Regina was holding her breath as she was waiting for her past self to respond to Emma. The fireball was extinguished, "I didn't think you'd have the audacity to challenge a queen while being her prisoner let alone risk your life to save this woman who masquerades herself as a queen."
"She's worth the risk and I'd protect her with my life against anybody who threatens her."
The Evil Queen raised her eyebrow, "You must believe that she's truly worth protecting if you'd stand up to the Evil Queen."
"She's worth a lot more than she thinks and as her knight, I'll always protect my queen."
The Evil Queen smirked, "Everybody has their breaking point, dear. Your loyalty for her will wane eventually and then I will make you mine. I will make you a deal, knight. If you can stay loyal to her for an entire month, then I will let you both go. If you fail, then I will keep you here with me as my personal knight and your 'queen' will be executed."
Emma clenched her fists at her side and wanted to punch that smirk right off of the Evil Queen's face. She felt a hand grip onto her wrist and Regina spoke so quietly that even the Evil Queen couldn't hear her.
"Emma, you can't trust her at her word. You need to have her do a Blood Oath in order for her to keep her word. A Blood Oath is unbreakable and there are dire consequences for those who try to break them. She is capable of monstrous acts, so you need to be prepared for anything."
"Why are you explaining any of this to me? I thought you'd want me to fail."
"I usually wouldn't care, but my fate is in your hands as well." Regina snapped at Emma.
"You tell me that you're different from the Evil Queen, but right now, you are acting exactly like her!" Emma moved her arm so that Regina would let go of her wrist and she didn't turn around to see how her comment had affected Regina.
"You have yourself a deal, but I want you to make a Blood Oath with me."
"Oh? You don't trust me?" The Evil Queen began to laugh. "Very well, knight. Come over here and stick your arm out in order to make this official."
Emma stuck her arm out of the cell and the Evil Queen had taken out a small dagger. She used the dagger on Emma's wrist and cut a symbol on it before speaking words in another language.
The symbol appeared on her wrist and it looked as though it was burnt onto Emma's skin like she had branded Emma as hers.
She had done the same thing to herself and then pressed their wrists together. It burned even more than before and after a few seconds had passed, she moved her wrist away. "The Blood Oath is complete."
Emma winced a little as she traced the mark that was going to remain on her skin until this was over.
"You're not going to succeed. Even your 'queen' doesn't think you will." The Evil Queen said.
She snapped her fingers and the door opened, "You're going to come with me and I will get you much better attire than what you're wearing now." She looked at Emma's clothes with disgust.
"The last thing that I want is that you treat Raena as though she is royalty as well and to not keep her down here."
"No, she will remain down here, but I will make it more suitable to live in here. I wouldn't want her to ruin her outfit. I will come visit her each night to make sure that she is comfortable. My patience is wearing thin, so I suggest you leave with me now." The Evil Queen snapped at Emma and followed the Evil Queen up the stone staircase.
