A/N - Heavy. See disclaimer tags and note my rating. If you are sensitive to animals this will pull at your heart, but justice within. Flashback to Storybrooke included.

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Parallel

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Emma peered out of the scarlet velvet curtain of the royal coach as it bobbed along the Queen's road, a winding snake that wrapped in a figure eight around the entire Kingdom. At the cross point in the middle she leaned left heavily at the sharp turn as the coach was directed to head back to the castle. Squinting through the streak of sunlight an iris within a green meadow shrunk, much like her shoulders when the curtain was magical yanked shut. Jerking back against the rebuke into the seat she returned to looking at her hands to avoid the dark woman's irritated glare.

Upon waking this morning after the blood feast, Emma's joints screamed in pain from straining in orgasm upon the hook. The capillaries around the skin of her eyes had burst from squeezing so tight as wave after wave of pleasure had consumed her. Despite their connection last night, the Queen was off, patience for nothing was granted, least of all attempts at conversation. She'd been reprimanded twice by a ringed hand slapping her ass and nipped by Red's teeth in the same place much to her embarrassment before lunch was over. Red had suggested fresh air to help clear the Queen's head and Emma was suddenly clothed and bound to accompany them on the ride.

Meant to be a distraction for the royal, Emma wondered over what. Determined to avoid another reproach she mused over the ill temper sharing space in the shadows of the black box on wheels, trying to figure out what was pricking the Queen. Needing something supple in wake of quandary, memories of Storybrooke, took over. Henry's sweet laugh as he chased paws on wood floors, the smell of Regina's cooking, her singing in the shower, their bed… skin on skin tangled in sheets on a Saturday morning… Red lips sucking her over the edge—

"Must you think so loudly?" Snapping, Regina skimmed the top of a stack of parchments using the monocle attached to a gold chain pinned to her purple corset.

Unable to help it, Emma stole a glance at the ridged woman wrapped in a black leather cloak, eyes darting to the floor before ebony ones found her out. "I'm sorry Majesty."

"Humph." Hand going to stroke the furry head in her lap. She set the stack of papers aside, dropping the monocle as Red's voice come through the wall of her psyche.

'My Queen, she misses her home.' Tongue licked a black nose as yellow eyes soaked in the somber stare of green.

Sighing Regina sent out a fine strand of magic, catching a taste of the blonde's brewing emotions. Despair, flickers of joy and ache meshed in mind. 'Her happiness is not my concern.'

'She is yours… Is pack. Scents match your own.'

'Regardless her feelings are not of consequence.' Nails paused behind furry ears.

Tail thumped twice. 'They could be one day my Queen.'

No, but maybe... Regina shook off the suggestion and chided. 'Enough meddling my pet.'

Red whined and quieted for a moment, then suddenly head popped up tilting sharply, ears forward before a low belly growl came forth. Regina's movements mirrored the wolf. Heat pooled the floor whipping the attention of those within on edge. Hearing acute and animalistic Regina could almost see the image of sounds invading her ears. Steal scraping to separate flesh from a still breathing pelt. Dying, the petrified roar of the victim's outrage burned in mind. Smaller thumps. Five counts slapped the earth in protest from the same blade cutting through bone.

"STOP!"

Emma jerked forward as the carriage came to an abrupt halt, wintry sunlight burst into the small space, burning her eyes as Red leapt out door and began howling. "Majesty? What's wrong?"

"Remain here." Regina departed, command arctic, following Red.

Emma pulled limbs in when the carriage door slammed, huddling for warmth on the padded seat in tunic and leggings from the cold Queen's wrath left behind. Frost so bitter it cracked the seams of windows formed on glass and the blonde pulled her cloak tight at the neck as faint puffs of her breath became suspended crystals in space. Shaking with alarm, she used the sleeve of her cloak to wipe the chill from the window so she could see what was happening.

Hand shot to mouth, Rope bound around her wrists brushed twitching lips as bile rose in the violent scene. Green blurred taking in the row of wolves hanging upside down from the limb of tree, paws and tails missing, skinned from flack to neck. A live pup cowered and was noose tied to the trunk of a tree, Red standing guard over it, fur heckled, teeth flashing and ready to tear out the throats of the kneeling men surrounded by the Queen's guards. The men's backs were too her and she squinted finally seeing the eyes of the pacing Queen. Ebony ruled where white should be in sockets. Emma had heard the eyes were the windows to the soul and the window into the Queen's spiraling rage was reptilian. Gaze shredding and damned the breathing dead men. Straining, she barely heard the clipped words from a primal red mouth.

"Butchering whores! Wolves are sacred and not to be hunted…This is my land, my subjects!"

Green watched as a ringed hand hovered over one man's head. He shook as a ripple of magic possessed him and got to his feet, pulling the knife at his hip from a sheath, raising it in point to the Queen who took a step back. Emma burst through the carriage door, lunging for the man who appeared to be ready to strike the Queen.

"Look out!" She was frozen mid leap by a royal hand, static in air on pause two feet above the earth. Those fury filled eyes swept over her with no detection, too deep in the pit of anger and lungs squeezed as breath was slowly strangled to a halt. One word escaped before a pale throat closed. "Maj-esty?"

Recognition slow, flickering in midnight irises as a candle would in a harsh draft, Regina released the blonde to fall in a heap at the base of the carriage steps, rooting the girl in place with magic. Her attention returned to the quivering men, choking on their own spit as they watched the standing hunter fight the spelled movement forcing his hand. He began screaming as he drew the very blade used on the wolves, still crusted with their blood, against his own flesh starting at the wrist. Agonizing and lazy slow, slow the stroke up to an elbow peeled the finest layer of epidermis exposing raw nerve underneath. Sliding and slipping, slipping and sliding up, up to a shoulder. Skin coiled on the hilt of the knife as the butcher became carved meat. Screams, sent crows scattering from trees, beaks crooning approval of the Queen's justice. And it began again at the wrist, over and over until the entire limb was stripped.

Emma, horrified could not look away, but more so still at the weeping flesh hanging from the tree. She locked eyes on the wolf pup pining at the pile of skinned pelts on the ground as the Queen moved over to repeat the same punishment on the remaining two men, spelling each as the hunters became the prey until they dropped, just as flaccid as the ones they stole life from. Losing her lunch in the ice crusted field as the smell wafted back from a strong wind Emma retched until nothing more could come up.

Feeling her feet released from the prison of earth, she moved slowly toward Red, catching wide blown golden eyes and trying to speak to the wolf on a mental thread, but failing. Concerned green spoke volumes. Able to approach, Emma worked the tight knot off the tied pup's neck best as her own bound hands would allow, little bundle of brown and blonde fur jumped into the folds of her cloak to hide. Scrambling back with the squirmy bundle, she got back into the carriage. The pup nested into her stomach, ear resting against her heart. Gently she fingered the rope burn at the collar where fur should be. Tears falling, Emma mournfully wondered which hanging wolf was the pup's mother. She barely caught the Queen's voice, same steal spike, but with less edge speaking to the guards.

"Burn the hunters, except him." Finger pointed to the last man twitching. "Put him on a pike to display and post his crime. Take their knives and return them to their families so they know of their fate." Turning back to the five lifeless souls hanging in tree, all skinned alive in front of the pup babe. "Cut them down with great care, bury them whole as they should be and mark the grave with my crest."

Red howled in approval and dipped her nose in gratitude, front paws stretched out in a low bow, flank high. She rose, head coming to rest under the Queen's assuring palm as the guards obeyed orders. Two dug ripping through the icy crust with conjured shovels while two began to lower the victims down. Another guard piled the men for burning while one drug the remaining hunter sentenced to a pike behind a horse up the road. A quiet hour passed as each wolf was wrapped back in its coat, laid to rest with missing appendages where they should be under the Queen's critical eye. Finally when the last stone was placed to mark the grave and a black banner was left sticking up in the middle of the pile, waving in salute overhead, Regina went back to the carriage. Red tucked into the silk skirts of the royal on the seat opposite the sleeping pup and troubled blonde.

As the gilded coach rolled along, Regina found her calm in the resting brown pup. A little black nose twitched in protected dreams cradled in pale hands, slack jaw allowed a pink bud to peek from a snout. Eyes moved up to the motionless girl staring unblinking out the window. Meadow green too full knocked against the iron cage in her chest. The girl's need drew the only response she knew how to give.

"You should have stayed in the carriage." Chilly laced with a hint of warm understanding.

"I should have Majesty." Agreeing as a palm began to stroke the fur in her lap. "I thought the man was going to hurt…" Ducking chin to chest as words became lost in the waking wolf pup licking her hand. Old feelings resurfacing from a life lived ages ago. Eyes glassed as the tip of a gloved finger lifted her chin.

"Why is there ache in your eyes?" Curious only of the change in the girl.

"This just reminded me of a time in my past I'd rather forget your Majesty." The glove left.

Another psychic probe dug at blonde roots. "Someone hurt you when you were young, like the pup. Many I gather from the waves crashing in that head of yours."

"I'd rather not go there right now." Swallowing grit. "Please Majesty."

"One day soon girl I wish to… understand." Red lips changed inquires. "What is her name?"

Emma's brows scrunched in confusion.

"She has claimed you as her own. Ask her for a name."

"How your Majesty?" Hearing Red in her brain was challenging enough. Whenever she'd tried to initiate mental conversation back it felt like hitting a glass door.

"Reach beyond your human trappings, a leap over the fence if you will. Envision the sound of your voice within her mind and reach."

The text book summary sounded easy and Emma tried, concentrating. Startling, eyes grew as a sleepy youthful rhythm broke into her head. Fragments pushed through the glass in jumbled pieces. 'Saved me… No… name.'

"She says she doesn't have one." Emma stroked a wet nose thoughtfully taking in the unique coloring. The pup was a dusty brown from snout to tail, lightening to a silvery blonde at the paws almost like... Heart pinching. "I think I'll call her Mia your Majesty."

Dark brow rose. "Strange. There is a story there I'm sure, but I care not to hear it now. Another time." Gaze returned to the pup as hands stroked Red, calming her pet from the events of the day.

"Yes Majesty." Flipping the pup on her back the little one lay sprawled content getting a belly rub. Déjà vu stilled her hand. Thoughts drifted back to another life, a realm away and she hoped not much further…

::::::: Past Storybrooke Dream-scape ::::::

Hand in hand they left the diner New Years Eve under the winking stars and sparkling street lights, heels and boots in harmony as frosty air turned grinning cheeks pink. Emma laughed at Regina's perfect imitation of Ruby telling Leroy off for stealing a kiss from the waitress under the mistletoe. The Mayor's voice, sweetly high with happiness was liquid velvet, infectious and warm in all the right places and in one Emma wanted to stroke to climax right in the street, onlookers passing be damned.

Sheriff paused under the Christmas banner across Main Street pulling her brunette fiancé close under the watchful eye of a full moon. "Madam Mayor will you do me the honor of a New Year kiss?"

"Very corny Miss Swan."

"Actually I'm horny for you." Blonde brows wiggled suggestively, trying to keep a straight face as a gloved hand tenderly cupped her cheek.

"Such a naughty girl and here I thought you were going to be on your best behavior tonight."

Shivering under lingering whisky orbs and the touch of leather. "Your naughty girl."

"Yes, mine." Touching foreheads, she licked Emma's lower lip, tugging gently with front teeth before releasing. "When we get home I want you in nothing but your birthday suit kneeling at the foot of our bed. I plan on starting the year off right with a celebratory fuck to remind you of your place dear."

"Will there be cake too?" Core clenching at the visual, she thanked whatever god that liked her that their kid was spending the night with her parents. Playtime was rare within their full schedules of keeping the town safe from fairy tale disasters and modern ones.

"For dessert after I've had you as my main course." Drawing back as the blonde searched blindly for her mouth. Tapping a pale nose. "If… you are a very good girl for me."

Whining at the lack lips. "I'm always good for you."

Smirking at that half truth. "We'll see my love." Playfully swatting the blonde's ass as they continued to stroll along toward home.

As they crossed the street past an ally way by the bank Emma heard rustling coming from behind the dumpster. Freezing, hand pushed the Mayor behind her as she stepped forward. Leather glove captured her wrist, stilling her boots from advancing. She pointed ahead and jumped when a black bag rolled into the middle of the gravel road. A soft whimper came from the plastic prison as brown fur poked through a hole in the side. Before she could move Regina rushed past, kneeling to tear open the bag to reveal a squirming puppy with the clearest watery blue eyes Emma had ever seen.

"Gina, what… Oh my God!" Emma used her cell phone as a flashlight, taking in the gash across the dog's right cheek and the torn tip of an ear as she approached. The white cashmere scarf she'd gifted the Mayor the week before left a regal neck and was carefully wrapped around the shaking pup, black nose nuzzled in the safe scent of apple and caramel. "We need to get it to the clinic."

"Her. Emma, it's a holiday, nothing is open." Standing with the fur baby in arms. "She's coming home with us for tonight. Poof us please?"

White smoke engulfed them to the safety and warmth of the mansion. Emma followed the brunette's clipped heels into the downstairs bathroom. In the bright light, she got a better look at the wounds on the puppy as Regina removed the scarf. Wondering aloud. "Is anything infected?"

Crouching on the tile, the Mayor summoned the first aid kit and a clean towel. "I don't think so. Come hold her so I can get her cleaned up." Opening the kit as Emma sat cross legged on the floor she wet a cloth and began to dab the blood from fur.

As Regina worked Emma watched pensive over the turn in their evening. Stroking the soft soul in the crook of her arm she took a ride down an old road in mind. The past sneaked up, as it always did, when she least expected it. This sweet baby had been thrown away, trashed, left for dead hidden away to suffocate in darkness. Before she knew why or could stop the moist heat from escaping her eyes, she sniffed back tears wanting to fall.

Shaking. "Who c-could just leave her like that Gina?"

Pausing at the cracked question, Regina took a pale hand and squeezed. "Whomever it was won't be long for this world. There are cameras on the street lights in that area. We can pull the footage and we will find out who did this. I promise." Running her thumb in slow, slow circles on the back of a hand. Sensing a deeper wound exposed in the room then the ones she was between cleaning. "Is that the only reason for your tears sweetheart?"

Emma swiped salt from cheeks. "I don't know…"

Letting that weighted answer sit, Regina went back to cleaning up the pup. Between the two of them they got the dog bathed, dried, brushed and fed over the course of an hour. Leaning against the counter in the heart of their home they watched a small tongue lap water and inhale meat. Skinny, but not yet on the side of malnourished the pup paused over bowls to look up at them as if in gratitude.

"Do you think they can understand us?" Emma pondered as arms pulled her into a side hug.

Kissing a temple. "I think they know more than we give them credit for and feel just as deeply as we do, maybe even more so. Why do you ask?"

Murmuring into dark hair as she broke away from the intensity of blue. "I want her to know that she's not disposable, that her life is worth more than what she was thrown into."

Regina watched the pup for both of them in quiet understanding of what else went unsaid.

A few minutes later Emma excused herself to the privacy of a hot shower after the puppy started in on a second helping of shredded chicken. Upstairs in the master en suite the Sheriff stripped off the red leather, sweater and skinny jeans with boots. Shedding armor down to the naked space of just Emma. There behind a frosted glass door she let her tears off the leash to fall freely. Breasts heaved, nipples chilled against white tile as water beat her back from the five heads arranged on the walls. Memories forgotten in mind, but not in heart stole her from the present once again.

Resting a forehead against the wall she wept for the little girl she used to be. One that still screamed inside on nights filled with the wails of thunder and sought comfort in the Mayor's embrace. For the one that kicked at the shins of a system that was supposed to protect her and raged against the people who damned her to it. The child who was called unlovable, damaged, and broken yearned to belong to someone who meant home.

She'd given these demons over, sorted and worked through them within the four walls of a cricket's office. Also, while bound to the posts of their bed as the tails of a flogger beat her back pushed welling emotions out of mouth driven by the loving hand of her soon to be wife. Regina understood her pain. The way it ate away her insides until she fractured and needed the mirror of another kind of pain filled glue from a firm hand to mend what tore. Rare it was, but often enough to require consistent attention.

Hands that knew how to bend her will in half and then render the secrets of skin to light caressed her back, moving the river of blonde over a shoulder as tan flesh melted into her own. Those same hands settled at her hips, encircling in support as silent cries turned into noisy sobs.

"Gi-na…"

"Right here my love." Regina rested her cheek against a shaking shoulder.

"It's too familiar."

Soft. "What is sweetheart?"

"She's just a puppy, she didn't do anything to anyone and she was thrown out like a piece of trash." Bitter ache from long ago.

Clarity as the tears made sense. "She did nothing wrong and she is not trash, she's perfect and safe now with us."

It had been months since she'd seen Emma triggered. Sometimes they were quiet and deep, a mask Emma could hide behind from someone who did not know her. Regina knew all of her. Every undisclosed thought, every curve, heart both sweet and sour full of memories of a life spent running, longing, and searching for home. Common ground they were both anchored to within the folds of each other.

Biting her lip, Emma turned around, cradled in round amber light. "We can't send her away."

"No, we cannot." Tucking dripping blonde hair behind ears. "And in that case she will need a name."

Brightening with hope. "We can keep her?"

"Yes, we can."

A soft bark from behind the glass door stole both pairs of eyes as the puppy rolled in their discarded clothes, tail wagging. Little white teeth chewed on a leather boot. Ears perked up, head cocking adorably as came. Paws ran over, scrapping glass to get to the warmth in the room.

Emma smiled fondly, wet eyes returning to the chuckling woman in front of her. "I think she wants another bath." Kissing as she tasted her own tears mixing with the promise on red lips. The decision was simple and pulled forth from a childhood memory of searching for family. "I want to call her Mia. It means wished for..."

"Mia she is."

:::::::: Dark Realm Present Day ::::::::

Emma sighed as she returned to the present. The parallels of both memories stung her mind. Mia there, now here in a way, and how they had found her was like looking into a shattered mirror from the past that had been glued back together by a clumsy hand. Some pieces fit, some missing, others mismatched in layers that still somehow made sense. How was it possible? Could two worlds exist and cross at points on waves of time? There were too many similarities and more everyday in much smaller things; a gesture, the phrasing of something, and a few flashes of brown in dark lashed depths. Yet shadows veiled what should or could be between them here. She didn't have an answer or even a guess at what was possible, but more and more this land was infringing on her carefully kept memories of home. She lost more of them upon waking each day. They blurred and mixed with new ones in the lumpy soup of conflict. Longing for something real when it may not be; like reading the Ugly Duckling as a child and calling oneself a swan.

Eyes found the Queen's gloved hands and needing a change asked. "Did you name Red?"

"No." Regina shifted remembering the first time she'd met her wolf. A bitter sweet date. Temper flared as she tried to quell the heat wanting to pour forth at the memory.

Emma took the short answer as a hint to ask something else before she registered the condensation on the glass, humid temper. The girl in her arms was asleep again and she rested her head against the seat in thought almost reading the royal. Caution asked. "How did you meet Red, Majesty?"

Darkness pulled the Queen inward and she spoke with an air of detachment that was anything but. "I was taking the spring tour of my kingdom a few years ago along this very road and happened upon a hunting party. Red was defending the downed alpha of her pack who had taken an arrow to the throat from young hunter." Recalling his terror stricken face when he'd realized who she was. "It was the boy's first kill and accidental. He had been aiming for a deer the wolves were chasing and their paths crossed at the wrong time. I spared him punishment for hunting on my land. He was but a child playing an adult under his father's direction. His father on the other hand was a fool who tried to go at Red with a spear after my command to halt."

Emma listened speculating if said fool was worm food now. There was a long pause as Red nuzzled into the Queen's resting hand prompting a stroke behind the ears. Those same hands that brought her the most intense gratification she had ever known and the most pain, marveling how broad the webbed spectrum of sensations was between the span of fingers.

"She followed my carriage to the castle and asked to remain in my service for saving her life. I asked of a name and she had one, but renamed herself in the moment. Red for remembrance of the blood spilled that day. The alpha was kin, her grandmother."

Gasping Emma pitched forward, words a punch in the stomach. Sick at the visual of the old woman she knew in Storybrooke who was just as skilled with knitting needles as a crossbow dead with an arrow sticking out of the neck. Stirring as if sensing her distress, the pup opened sleepy blue eyes and whined. Surprised at her own feelings of anger at the injustice Emma hissed. "And you just let her killer go!?"

Mia jumped out of the way. Pack ranking instinct made her tuck tail, ducking into Red as the Queen came within a breath of pink lips. Ringed hand cupped a pale cheek as nails dug into flesh and the other fisted blonde roots pulling to expose a bobbing throat. "Do not question my judgment in such haste girl." Bitter over the day and done with defiance, lack of title cut a nerve. "I will taste your tears again this evening as you pay for your actions and lack of respect under my hand." Promise sealed with a kiss firm, tongue deep in a wet blushing cave. Aching as the girl was, Regina offered one assurance in return besides the satisfaction she would feel watching the salt fall later.

Tear, a lead shot, leaked from Emma's green grief and hunger for more attention from that mouth. Corrupted, she leaned into the Queen's displeasure, daring to explore the mouth on hers and torn that she was allowed the opportunity, but brief. Pushed away, she felt Mia return to her lap and yellow eyes on her as dark ones returned to the window. The silhouette of the Black Castle crested the hill ahead, curved and red on the horizon in the setting sun as she was sure her ass would be over the chaise upon arrival.

She was wrong and right, but more so precise was the Queen. Emma lay across the chaise, but over a silk lap, stretched naked and tight by Rope at wrists and ankles. The position was much more intimate than she was used to from her indifferent guard and far more vulnerable. Struggling was pointless, but she tried none the less and was rewarded with a hard hand smacking the back of a thigh in the same damn spot. Emma sank her teeth into a fringed pillow to keep from yelling. The royal played her body like a taut drum, ass, calves, thighs, back all a fair target for rhythm of palms; rolling thunder over skin, finger tips cracking lightening with a magical spark. Ass became the focus for the last beats of their song. Two slapped cherries side by side as tears were forced from the bowel of her gut. Emma broke open; cried for what her eyes did not earlier that day, for the pup that lost a mother, for home, and for the inner child yelling for comfort. More for her love, and maybe for one possible. Too familiar were these feelings owning her.

Stoic Queen, stern palm finally stopped to rest, satisfied more than the lesson she'd originally intended was thoroughly absorbed. The girl needed a good cry after the horrors observed that day and she needed an outlet for baring the weight of it; a heady match. Stroking sensitive skin left shivers after her fingers. Loosening Rope with a snap, it coiled around a single dangling ankle freeing other limbs and yet the Savior did not scramble off her lap.

Sobbing, Emma slowly scooted down and turned into the Queen to lay curling around the familiar body, head in lap as her mind could not separate real from not in the moment of seeking comfort. Slowly a ringed hand found her hair, long strokes as a finger caught a tear to taste as promised. Petted and silently soothed, Emma's cries diminished into confused sniffles.

Regina tasted the perplexity in the longing for solace. While what was left of her heart felt little emotion aside of anger and apathy, through heightened senses she psychologically processed too much. Ability to connect with understanding in a way that wasn't human, but simply other, gave her an advantage over mortals. While not immune to death or sickness, she channeled a different sensory frequency entirely her own. Red could reach just above the depth she was able to travel inside her mind. With practice the girl may even be able to reach near as deep, but without magic that would be impossible.

A wet cough brought her mind back to the present. Regina drew the warm body of hope filled Savior up into her arms, allowing the beating heart in her lap a moment of closeness in the wake of shadows pushing to close in on them. For the first time a genuine desire for connection beyond the physical plane called the shriveled lump of flesh to beat in tune of another one full and willing to share.

Red lips found a temple and lingered knowingly.

Emma tried to speak, but failed. 'Don't leave me.' A silent wish for, but a breath shy of home.

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A/N - I always appreciate feedback.

Until next time...