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Bent

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Over the next few weeks as storms swirled around outside the castle, snow fell heavy and deep, white wool blanket outside appeared gray, like the dawn, dusk and everything in between. They had been inside too long for Emma's liking, walks and carriage rides had halted altogether. Court held, but had limited attendees, villages tucked in for a winter's nap. Queen seemed more pensive and quieter than usual. Emma, though content to be close by the royal, yearned for some action in the sleepy routine that had taken over their days.

The Queen had changed with the weather. Slept, almost hibernating in short still spells throughout the day. A veil would fall over ebony eyes, muscles stiffened and were unresponsive. The first occurrence had startled Emma and the more the state occurred Emma realized Regina couldn't hear or see her during these times, though dark eyes would be open appearing to watch. Blonde never knew when Queen would wake from these states and learned the hard way when she had stood abruptly the second time it happened to wave a hand in front of a still face. Wrist had been grabbed and she, forced to knees in rebuke. Emma had been more careful after that, and learned that slow precise movements on her part wouldn't disturb the wake sleep state as much as an abrupt one did.

When asked, Regina had explained since the curse her body adapted with the seasons, much like the wildlife in the kingdom. In the dark realm she was part human and other. Queen had no term for exactly what her existence had become. At times reptilian, others wolf like or even her favorite bird; a raven. Traces of each hinted and visible in a gesture or flick of eyes. Instinct ruled primarily over emotion.

They talked in the evenings. A lot, or Emma did as regal ears listened like the stone walls surrounding them; cold yet porous sucking for warmth. Warmth too in a bed now shared for sleep, but always with blonde at the foot. Since her punishment on the chaise weeks ago Emma had been carefully cautious, but unrelenting in her questions about the former King. Some were ignored, others earned her redirection and some surprisingly were answered. Keeping on, blonde didn't give up easily.

It was on such a frigid afternoon, in more than the weather outside, that Emma noticed something new about her guardian. Kneeling at the feet of the monarch, blonde tresses were being groomed when she felt the Queen go still behind her. Trapped with her hair in stiff hands, she realized a shift had occurred. Sighing, she slowly turned. She relished the eye contact, stolen in little bursts of time least Regina wake and catch her. Black orbs appeared like watered down whisky during these times, almost at rest and peaceful, save for the literal frost around the rim of irises.

Sweet chocolate missed in the darkness hiding, Emma had memorized Regina's gaze long ago. Knew every subtle dip of lashes and corner wrinkle. A book of information on what the woman was feeling. Queen had similar patterns, though more defined, less fluid in changing between mind-sets. Those eyes saw too much. And much unsaid by a pink mouth. Nothing that flashed behind green eyes stayed hidden for long and for Emma, when words became frazzled, welcomed the knock on her mental door of thoughts from the royal.

Emma dropped green to the chaise where royal bare feet were curled up. She studied the curves there, skin appearing like tight sheet of ice over muscle, smooth and glossy. Then she saw them. Faint and only visible from an angle in the faint cast of sunlight and flames in hearth. Lines, some crossed in tiny braided patterns on the soles of both feet.

Scars.

Scars she had never seen before.

Scars that flashed red in midnight eyes now awake and caught, Emma dropped her chin sharply as those feet jerked under the fur Queen was using as a lap blanket. Expecting a slap, but none came. Mild progress between them and she knew the effort of restraint it took for that hand not to fly. Instead, fingers came back to life and continued braiding her hair. Same hand also gave a firm tug once end was tied off. She turned at the signal, keeping green on her knees.

"Girl, you observe me, yet again. Am I that captivating?" Annoyed, however anger simmering far off.

Truthful. "Always, your Majesty."

And heat left for muted curiosity. "You confound me at times."

"As do you me, Majesty." Small bow of pink lips strung up.

Single brow arched and red scoffed softly at the unsaid. "What of the question spinning in your head?"

Tone thick and sure, but not in possible receipt. "I'm wondering if you will tell me how you came by them Majesty… the scars on the bottom of your feet."

Settling back on the chaise, Queen regarded girl with more patience than she thought possible of herself. That skill had since grown in the last few weeks. Deciding to break from her usual response pattern in favor of testing this new skill's longevity she began to answer. "I ran one time too many and never again."

Green closed processing the possibilities. "Why, Majesty, never again?"

Chin lifted as eyes narrowed in memory. "Rage, one long day past, became a very dear friend…"

:::::::::Flashback - Enchanted Forest – Pre/curse, Many years ago, King Leopold's Castle:::::::::

Hell Hounds.

Named for the place Regina fled and that chased her panicked heart beating against lungs, now heaving. Sweat slick down her back dripped also from brow, stinging her eyes. Squinting against the burn of sun, young Queen held her breath. Time to inhale not her friend while being pursued by the King's personal guard. Hoofs she rode slid down a wet bank, nearly lost in the mud. Slipping, down, down, down into despair.

Again.

Howling turned blood cells to ice in veins. Snapping reins as her neck did, whipping back, to see paws crest the hill ridge. Hounds closing in on her horse, Regina dug in heels hard enough she feared to crack ribs of the stolen steed from royal stables; black as the tunnel vision consuming her. Picking up lost speed, ears rung with grunts and shouts of the men giving chase. Filth and debauchery spewed from their mouths calling her to halt. Gold coins rang lusty in their tones, reward for bringing her to heel at the King's feet once chase was finished.

No.

Hunting.

For her.

The Queen.

No.

His property.

"Disobedient bitch!"

Shaking, as hunters closed in she kicked harder. Mount in the full day of a hard ride's fatigue set in and began to foam at the mouth. Third escape attempt, Regina was not going back without a fight. Not before she gave everything left she had knowing she'd never get another chance least caught until the King was dead. Month trapped in his closet and still bleeding from rape claiming her womb she'd planned carefully for weeks, this sweet escape, as she recovered. Determined to be free after breaking under him in mind and body, with her spirit shattered she had nothing left to lose, or so she thought as mud flew in her wake.

White shields and banners crept in along her peripheral vision, guards gaining to surround. Hunted by them at his command deemed her further unworthy of the deed by his hand. Minions sent to fetch her from tantrum thrown, according to him. Not meriting his effort or sweat. She wondered what he got out of it. Setting dogs and guards to run with but a word. The power there commanded attention and she struggled to reconcile with what that would feel like.

Absolute sovereignty.

Never wanting that power near a year ago, now craved the freedom it might bring her. Longing to turn the tables on him with it. Stripping King of title, lands, and control; flooded her mind taking over. How she'd make his knees bleed on stone and cut the cruel grin from his bearded face. No. His death would be kinder to her in the end. Painful yet quick, she'd force his bitter blood to leave this life. Then she would be free to reign, but for the White Princess, growing to be a beautiful mirror of father. Snow White, insipid darling of the kingdom, was not so innocent. He was schooling that seemingly sweet, but selfish mask well to rule in his stead. White would replace White in time, if allowed…

Regina shivered.

Keeping brown eyes on the horizon, even so, she hunkered down tight against a curved back and bested guards by a few more feet. Losing chasers in side eye, hope whispered she might have a chance. A narrow break in the tree line loomed in light. Fit right just for one slim rider and horse fleeing. If she made it, guards would be forced to reform, giving her precious moments to slip ahead, beyond the boarder of the White Lands, but guards would not cross she was sure, into Mida's Kingdom. War threatened from there. She'd be taken in ransom, but treated far better than what she currently knew as a royal captive. Granted too, precious time to think of her next move.

If.

Only if.

If slapped back, rude and heartbreaking.

One damning hoof cracked under a sharp rock unseen, horse knees slammed into the earth as she was yanked by the scruff of her cloak, belly first onto another horse. Screaming in outrage, she clung to the anger lifeline and leather saddle strap to keep balance as the King's guard laughed at the struggle. Feet kicked as the horse slowed to a stop and she was pulled upright. Rough hands tied and gagged, a white hood was placed over her head, hiding tears blooming from brown eyes now muted to the world passing. Regina wanted, but refused to let water leak. Red rage stifled need to weep as hounds nipped at the ankles of her boots, now straddling the guard's horse. Wrists tied to saddle horn, she turned mind inward to try and think of a way out. Hope leaving more with each passing moment; bleak flicker from the fire pushing her to run that morning.

Caught.

Like Cora had caught her the first time running.

No worse. Mother was a familiar creature. Punishments predictable and never scarring. He had been the first to taint the composition of perfect caramel skin. The scar above her lip healed now, a forever reminder never to talk back. King's twisted logic, never the same day to day. That had been the most terrifying in the beginning. Regina never knew what to expect and she didn't now as she was carried back to judgment's door, save for some form of unrelenting pain and suffering under his hand or worse; his word.

She felt the castle hours later, long before she could hear the life around it, sucking what life was left from her. Going cold, heart began to numb as she recognized the sound of bridge planks underfoot to the prisoner's gate. No warm welcome awaited her. Shadowed by hood, and peasant clothing stolen from a maid she appeared no more than the dust beneath the King's feet. No one wiser, to the fate that awaited her and beginning to wonder what sick punishment would follow for her crime.

Taken and drug, clawing into the darkness, Regina was led by one guard at each shoulder to the dungeons. Hood removed, left her stumbling and blinking in the harsh torchlight as she was forced forward toward a wood table. Bare and damning in the middle of the room, and vulnerable from all sides.

"No!" Shouting and digging heels into dirt did nothing but earn an echo of mock for efforts. Deep and long from the shadows toward the back of the room, she froze a moment too long for hands to push her face first onto the splintered surface. "NO! I am your Queen! You cannot—"

"But I command them, as your King." He stepped from her nightmares and into the reality of present. No more King than old man in flesh, but power spoke and listened at the order given. "Welcome home Regina."

She spat at him, eyes fire blown glass.

"Strip her."

Chains held rage in place and skin broke against the binds that held her body to this world as boots and wool were removed. Skin naked and flexing she trembled in the silence to follow and more still as braided leather was trailed along her cheek and down her back by a guard's hand. Trying to bite the fingers on the journey down earned a choking hold to near blacking out, that too good for King's liking, yet not good enough was she for his hands to be soiled in this punishment. He thrived on her repentant reactions and often she gave him the wanted submission and tears to end pain faster.

Slapped alert by ice water thrown over, Regina gasped as the first strike of wire wrapped leather struck the tender sole of a right foot. Teeth bit a lip refusing sound as scarlet owned her eyes. White pain burst as capillaries did on skin in mind, knocking her blissfully unconscious after the tenth blow. More liquid was thrown on her soaking and chilling to the bone. Awake, strokes began again on a new foot. Back and forth after that set complete, skin was stripped raw. Ire kept scream riding against the barriers of her thoughts, though breaking, but holding as whipping went on and on. All on feet that ran for hope. A flash of something. Then, there was nothing, but breathing.

His.

The guards.

Hers, soundless.

Sparks flew again from delicate finger tips or it appeared, washing the darkness with light. King jerked back as guard bearing whip dropped to knees. Choking on blood pooling in his throat and gagging in sputter the tin encased man convulsed on the ground as others fled to the rim of the chamber. New friend in rage reveled in the birth of a different kind of power unexplained within brown orbs. A mere flash between the blink of an eye, no one sure what actually happened save for Queen.

Brief and small, first taste of victory made her drunk. Fuel enough to begin planning her revenge, with the help of magic finally awakened. Suspecting it rested there since birth as Mother said, but never able to bring it to surface. Until now, when she needed it most and before she lost herself completely.

Heady at the prospect of a future blooming, red lips bent in triumph. And in the merest flash of fear in King's eyes Regina began to laugh.

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

Coming to again from the drawn shade between wake and sleep, Regina resettled eyes on the blonde kneeling close. Too close, but now a complacent comfort, she realized as the past left her. Brief in her description, the foundation of the event explained to the girl seemed to rile emotions under blonde roots. Air tasted of tang; sorrow and anger shaken together in a lukewarm cocktail.

"Bastard." Pale fists clenched as curls shook. "He's fucking—"

"Dead." Tone crisp and stale as it now was, Regina finished. "Many years now gone. Scars and it matter not." She had buried them ages ago and tears not shed since.

Emma dared reflective emeralds to gleam against black pools, now understanding words said many weeks ago when she had been caught in the woods. Running pray in a hunt she was never meant to escape. She hadn't believed it then, but now truth roared. "You knew what I must have felt that day Majesty and still… you knew."

"I did." Clear and unabashed, Queen nodded once at the hard lesson absorbed the day of the swan hunt. Different for each of them, but of the same mold. Girl had learned words said from royal lips were truth and meant with fidelity. She had learned she was capable of feeling the beginnings of more than anger or indifference.

"I was terrified until you…" Conflicted and doubting her mind frame at the time, Emma faltered.

Lack of her title in trailing words, she let go of a ready reprimand in favor of clearing the air on the matter blonde had yet to come to terms with in understanding. "Until I came for you. My hands claimed and lifted you up from the dirt. I corrected when you fought what you needed and I always will. You belong to me and began to the moment you obeyed my call to come out from hiding in the woods."

Stubborn still in truth, arms crossed. "Like I had a choice, your Majesty."

"You had then and still have the power of choice." Palms stilled as lips gave a brief kiss to crown of blonde head. Whispers made goose flesh rise on pale neck. "Obey or not. Trust or not. Stay or go. Always a choice my girl."

Green glared, but was softening under hands that now stroked her skin. Bent as she was by choices given, she would not choose to leave or run even if the opportunity arose now. Relaxing more as she realized she had chosen to stay long ago and in doing so of her own free will, had chosen to belong to the Queen.

Regina assessed. "That idea upsets you, but also calms the rapids running under your skin. Need wins every time, even when you do not want it to."

Emma leaned back, resting against royal knees. "We are alike in that way Majesty. That's how you survived. You needed that rage and the power it promised, but I know you didn't want it."

Ridged, but brief at the shared bluntness of commonality, Queen's arms encircled a neck anchoring blonde close. She had not desired the rage once it began consuming every waking hour, but needed it with every fiber left willing to live from moment to moment trapped under the King. Rage was all she had and it began to glue the fragments of her broken heart back together with sharp, misaligned edges. Edges wrinkling and loosening now more each day in the green that dared challenge her current silence.

Hesitant, but ready to test words said earlier and a title long missed when dark permission was granted to speak, Emma braved a request and a peek over a shoulder. "If I belong to you and you to no one, may I be no one and… you my Queen, your Majesty?" Red lips a firm line did not hesitate to remain quiet in answer. Though, neither agreeing nor refusing, for once neutral. That, for Emma, bent doubt in half; a rainbow in her eyes began to span grey world of shadows.

A test. "Thank you… my Queen."

For the first time, red mirrored a smile of promise in return.

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A/N – Hope you liked it! Next chapter called Broken