Note: More abuse in this chapter. Also, I am sorry it has taken me so long. I have the rest of this story finished and will be posting over the course of the next few days. Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, favorited, etc. etc. ^^
The door to Regina's bedroom flew open with a loud CRACK as it hit the opposing wall. The girl on the bed was curled up into a ball, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks, but upon facing her mother's cool demeanor, she attempted to conceal all emotion. Cora's hand was extended in such a way that, had Regina not known better, she would have sworn that the door had opened in an act of sheer will rather than physical power. But, clearly, that was impossible.
Regina drew her knees closer to her chest protectively. "Where is Emma?" she queried softly.
Cora crossed the room in three swift steps before seating herself delicately on the edge of the bed, looking ready to engage in an afternoon tea with all her propriety rather than whatever was actually coming next. In an even, stern tone, she spoke her next words, "I don't EVER want to hear that you have been with that girl again. Do you understand?" She grabbed Regina's ankle, pulling her from her protective shell and digging her talons in deeply enough to break through the flesh.
Regina gasped but attempted to keep her face just as even and emotionless as her mother's, contorting it to abandon any shock or pain she might have felt. "But Mother—"
"Hmm," the older woman hummed softly, dragging her nails up and down her daughter's leg. "Is my foolish young daughter curious, perhaps? Does she wonder what women are like?"
"What—what do you mean?" Regina asked cautiously, her eyes widening at what her mother might be suggesting.
Her mother hummed lightly to herself again, as if considering something. She shifted her weight slightly, now lightly trailing her nail higher up Regina's leg. Smirking when she heard the young girl's breath hitch as she reached the inside of her knee, Cora kept drawing patterns higher and higher.
"S-stop." Regina was attempting to sound firm, but it came out completely differently. It was as if she was watching this happen to another girl, and not herself.
To the young girl's surprise, her mother did cease her movements. But then, as swiftly as Scar had dug his claws into Mufasa's flesh before throwing him off the edge of a cliff, Cora climbed on top of Regina. Her hands pinned down her daughter's shoulders, while her knees dug into her thighs. A hand shot forth to grasp Regina's chin, squeezing it so tightly that she feared her jaw might crumple with the force. Cora's eyes flashed with a fervor that, in all the years Regina had lived with her, in both lifetimes, she had never witnessed. Cora brought her face within inches of her daughter's, staring down at her with disdain and disgust. Her hot breath encompassed Regina like a slowly seeping poison as she harshly whispered, "You listen, my darling, and you listen well. If I ever, EVER, catch you with Emma again, in any capacity, even for a lingering moment, you and she will not be dealt with nearly as kindly as I am dealing with you now." And with those words, Cora quickly dismounted, keeping her grip tight on her daughter's chin, before using that grip to cast Regina to the floor like a ragdoll.
Regina lay on the floor, hunched over and hurt, physically and mentally haunted, either refusing or unable to look back up toward her attacker.
"Do I make myself perfectly clear?" Cora asked, her voice having returned to its normal timbre, her hands working to delicately brush off lint as if having to engage in the previous activities and getting worked up was a chore which was below her.
Still, Regina refused to look up, or even to acknowledge the woman. Breathing heavily she attempted to regain her composure, both hands still out in front of her supporting her weight.
"Answer me, girl!" Cora seemed to roar to life again, and with a swift kick (Or maybe it was her hands? Or nothing at all? Regina couldn't actually recall later what had caused the impact to her), Regina's arms collapsed from under her, causing the girl to pitch forward, chin hitting the ground with a sickening thud.
Tears spilled out the corners of Regina's eyes as she managed a weak "Yes." She stayed laying where she was. Past experience had taught her that attempting to get up at this point would be moot.
"Yes, what, dear?" Cora asked again, pushing further. When Regina didn't answer immediately again, she yanked her daughter's head up by the hair, forcing their eyes to meet. "Yes… what… dear?" she repeated through clenched teeth.
"Yes, I understand that I am not to see Emma anymore." Barely a whisper.
Cora let loose of Regina's hair, allowing her head to drop back to the ground in the same manner as before. "Good," she smiled, clasping her hands together. "Now, I really should send you to bed. I suppose that is what a good disciplinarian would do. But you know, dear, I have always possessed a fairly generous heart…"
Even in her pain, it took everything within Regina to stop herself from an eyeroll at this point.
"And so I am going to allow you time to complete your history homework first, so that you do not fall behind in your studies." Cora looked quite pleased with herself following her proclamation—as if she truly believed she had just bestowed her daughter with a generous gift.
"But Mother, it's," Regina glanced at the alarm clock beside her bed, "one in the morning!"
"I suppose you should have thought of that before you decided to partake in other activities tonight, hmm?" Cora was now turning away and swiftly walking toward the bedroom door. "Can't have my daughter falling behind in her studies, now, can I?"
"It's not due until next Wednesday," Regina muttered, knowing at this point that it wouldn't make much difference. At this point her mother was out the door. She sighed.
"Oh, and, Regina?" Cora peeked her head back in, and Regina nearly jumped a foot, visibly startled.
"Y-yes, Mother?" She had picked herself up at this point, but she, shrunk backwards now, fully expecting another onslaught.
"I expect that history homework completed and on the kitchen table by six in the morning so I can check it. Goodnight." With that, Cora turned and left for good.
"Yes… Mother," Regina repeated, even though there was no longer anyone there to hear her. Slowly unpacking her backpack and retrieving her history book, a sheet of crisp notebook paper, and a pencil, the young girl sighed once more. Looks like it's going to be another long, sleepless night.
…
The next day, Regina yawned as she made her way up the steps to the high school. Students were already pouring in. To be honest, Regina usually liked to make it to school earlier, before the hallways were so crowded. Just because she could part the Red Sea with her presence didn't mean she always enjoyed it—especially on a day like today with freshly covered bruises, dark marks under her eyes from lack of sleep, and an aching jaw. At the thought of her jaw, she reached up to touch it, but stopped herself. Too much disturbance and rubbing would cause the makeup to fade away, and then what? Have her darkest secrets exposed to the vicious high school rumour mill? Yawning again, she pushed open the heavy door to the school building. She didn't recall it having been so heavy before.
As 7:30 a.m. drew closer, and with no sign of the person Regina most wanted to see despite her mother's warnings (after all, she couldn't control who Regina HAPPENED to bump into at school, right?), Regina sighed and scrawled out a note for Emma: I'm sorry about yesterday. Are you okay?
That would have to suffice for now. Regina hoisted her backpack onto one shoulder and made a beeline for Emma's locker or… as much of a beeline as one could make in a high school hallway. Turning the corner, Regina couldn't have fathomed nor interpreted the scene in front of her. There stood Miss Powers, the terrible, awful, not-good-for-anything counselor in front of Emma's locker, fiddling with the combination lock and looking frustrated each time she tried to lift the latch only to find it would not budge.
Regina's haughty walk carried her closer, and she very nearly forgot she was actually addressing an adult as the words poured out of her mouth. "Just what do you think you are doing with Miss Swan's personal property?"
"Oh!" Miss Powers jumped a bit in surprise at the sudden arrival of the senior, but then her face lit up with a warm smile, completely oblivious to Regina's attitude. "It's so good to see you 'Gina! How are you today?"
Regina winced once again at her counselor's continued insistence upon that awful moniker as a stand-in for her name. "I am fine, Miss Powers," she answered tersely, just wanting to get to the point, "but my question stands. WHY are you attempting to invade Emma Swan's property?" she nodded toward the locker as if to emphasize her point, hoping that she could will the stupid counselor to concentrate for just thirty seconds on what she was asking and give a legitimate response.
Miss Powers did look back toward the locker, as if noticing it for the first time. She began fiddling with the lock again as she answered Regina. "That's interesting. I thought you and Emmie were close enough that she would have told you she intended to leave this school."
"Leave?" Regina questioned, but directed it more toward herself than toward the incompetent woman before her. "Wait you mean, leave as in… for good? As in not coming back?"
Miss Powers yanked up on the locker's latch again, this time hearing the satisfying CLICK before it swung wide open. She smiled as though she had won the lottery. "Yep! I don't know all the details, but I suppose she is just moving with her family, or perhaps moving in with another one, or…"
Miss Powers didn't so much trail off as Regina just began tuning her out. Leaving?! But why? Why so suddenly? And why hadn't she even bothered to tell Regina? Last time she had left, Emma had told her. Had Regina screwed things up worse than she thought—so much that Emma didn't even find her worthy of explanation? Thinking back to last night's giggles, pizza, conversation, and so forth, she really didn't think that could be it. She and Emma were closer than that. Weren't they?
Without even realizing it, Regina had begun backing away from Miss Powers, Emma's locker… everything. She vaguely made out someone calling her name in a faraway world. The hallways were swimming and morphing in front of her as she turned and ran, running too fast to part the seas this time, and yet she couldn't bring herself to care. Several students shouted after her or stared agape as Regina physically pushed student after student aside. They were mere obstacles now. An endless wave of bodies crashing down upon her. Suffocating.