Warning, this will be a long-ish chapter and have slight mention of abuse.

"Two nights went by and Emma had moved from the dungeons and to the left wing of the castle, residing in a large room that had a wonderful view of the garden. She hadn't seen Regina since their dinner, but she had training earlier that day about politics and law of the Dark Kingdom.
"I wonder.…" Emma thought softly as she explored more of the room, several stringed instruments lay with dust on a shelf, a bookshelf that reached the high ceiling, and a vanity were some of the more prominent attractions besides the roaring fireplace near her bed. She went and grabbed an item that resembled a guitar; her calloused fingers strummed the instrument lightly before tuning it to the best of her ability. The woman sat down on a bench that was next to a piano that was in the corner and she began to strum a couple of chords she had remembered, bringing her back to a time where it was her, the bug, Neil, and an old beat up guitar that she used to keep in the trunk.

Her eyes closed, almost going into a trance like state as she hummed a bit, swaying a bit with the instrument secure in her hands as she continued to strum repetitively and before she knew it, she was playing a song that she had recently began to enjoy listening to""Underneath the echoes, Buried in the shadows…..There you were" She sung out softly as she recalled the very first moment she saw Regina, opening the door with that tight grey dress and rushing towards Henry and her.
""Drawn into your mystery, I was just beginning…To see your ghost, But you must know" Her voice continued with closed eyes; not once ever noticing the presence that gazed upon her from a mirror across the room.

"I'll be here waiting….Hoping, praying that The sky will guide you home. "
"When you're feeling lost I'll leave my love, Hidden in the sun….For when the darkness comes" She sang out and moments with Henry and Regina came into her mind. Rescuing him from the mine came in her mind in particular as she could only see the desperation and fear that clouded the usually composed woman.
Regina looked at her from a distance, her bed chamber being occupied by the sleeping dragon but the queen could not sleep. She was in her bathroom and looked through her hand mirror at the blond whom had declared her allegiance and was left in awe at what she saw, the girl singing so longingly and lovingly a song she had not heard yet felt so enchanted by. Her voice was a soft husk while her beautiful green eyes were closed in a sort of trance and it enraptured the queen in many ways. She couldn't help but smile to herself unknowingly while watching the blond.

Emma continued, already almost done with the song. Her fingers strumming in a knowing way as she furrowed her brows a bit "Hidden in the sun….For when the darkness comes" She drawled out before letting out a deep breath and smiling to herself before letting the old guitar rest against the leg of the piano and rolled her shoulders a bit.

Regina undid the enchantment and stopped watching the blonde, she had not seen her one on one since their dinner and had wondered how she was doing. That woman was already weaseling her way into her life and she felt perturbed at the effortlessness it took on the blondes part.

Turning around, she was slowly enveloped in a familiar embrace and felt soft lips press against her forehead.

"Are you ok, my dearest?" The warm voice carried out as blue eyes swam within brown.

"Mmn, I had a hard time finding sleep." Regina whispered as she stood up slightly and pressed her lips against Maleficent's, earning a soft hum from the latter.
Her body flush against the taller framed woman as she felt herself sink and let go in the embrace, this woman alone was the only that had made her feel warm and safe. After all, Maleficent was an incredibly powerful sorceress whom was revered across the lands.

"Was it another dream?" Her voice soft as she broke the kiss; fingers tangling in tousled brown curls as loving blue eyes took in the softness of Regina's bare face.
"Yes.…" She said truthfully, Leopold had plagued her dreams many a night and that was one thing that forced sleep away. His dark brown eyes would forever remind her of the void that she had felt within her every moment of their marriage. She began to feel herself slip back a bit as her breathing began to increase in pace while her head began to drown in the flashbacks of moments she wished she could forever forget. Her eyes closed and burned with tears that begged to fall.
"Regina, love breathe!" Maleficent said in a hushed calm tone as she slowly reached out to hold the girl but Regina flinched back and hit back against the sink.
"Please, Please no please no no no no no more!" She yelled as she covered her face and sank to the floor; her body shaking in fear. "Please no more, please stop please I don't want to." Regina cried out and caused Maleficent to stare at her with utter heart break at the broken woman that tried so hard to be strong, so hard to keep it together with the power and the regality she held but she knew that the woman in front of her was broken and pretty damn shattered.

With her palm outstretched, Maleficent held onto a blanket and sunk down to her knees; silken nightdress had brushed against the cool slabs as she made her way slightly closer and wrapped the blanket carefully around Regina's shoulders and whispered sweet nothings to her.
"It's ok my dear, it's ok he's gone…she's gone… you're safe….you are in control." Tenderness was coating each word as she slowly wrapped an arm around Regina's shoulders and she hummed a soft song to her; her eyes closing as she waited for the woman's breathing to even.

Several minutes had went by before the broken woman had began to calm; her head leaning into Maleficent's shoulder, her nose brushing slowly up into the crook of her neck and breathed in her familiar warm scent.

"I'm sorry." She cracked out.

"Don't be...you don't have to be sorry anymore." Maleficent reassured as she rested her forehead against the crown of her queen's head. "You have endured more than any know and your secrets and pleas will be with me till my grave." She whispered as she slowly helped Regina up and adjusted the blanket to drape around her almost like a cape and smiled warmly.
Regina's brown eyes were almost wider and glossed over with many years of tears, the tip of her nose burnt red, and her cheeks were slightly puffy and red from crying. She was raw and bare, without the outfits, without the makeup to hide away the tear stained cheeks and red puffy eyes. Maleficent saw the young girl who came desperate to her castle all those years ago and her heart ached for her then as it still did, a young girl so haunted by the cruelty of this world. She reached a hand up and cupped Regina's cheek, gazing into her eyes and into her very soul.

"You are a powerful woman…you are a beautiful woman…and you will never have to go through any of that again as long as I'm here beside you, you will get your happiness." Maleficent vowed as she leaned in and tenderly kissed the woman's other cheek; knowing too much intimacy may be too much at this tender moment before letting her other hand grasp the woman's soft hand.
"Now the night is deep into it's slumber and we should fall asleep so that the morrow will be better ok. I'll be right here." She softly noted at the end before leading Regina to bed and let the woman curl up into her side; her brown locks danced across Maleficent's chest as her hands wrapped around the woman's waist. br /Maleficent waited till sleep finally found Regina and comfortably wrapped it's arms around her, engulfing her in a subconscious realm of dreams. Her blue eyes took in the sleeping face and she sighed softly. "No one will ever hurt you again." She whispered with lips pressed against her forehead before she too fell asleep.

Two weeks went by now and it was driving Emma crazy that she had yet to see the queen again. Was something wrong, did she do something?

"Now, do you remember what I taught you yesterday?" The voice of the tutor that had helped Emma the first time had snapped the said blonde out of her daze.
"Yes, that the Dark Kingdom's military has a mixture of both magical and artillery that is tactically sat up on the southern and eastern border due to threats from King George as well as Ogre's that's lands are to the east." Emma stated as she looked at the model in front of her, her eyes scanning it slightly.
"But you know, if it was me…and I don't know too much granted…wouldn't you say that the border is weak here and is practically defenseless should one know about it?" She pointed to a spot south west, a spot that was overgrown with forest and had no sort of trail through it that was shown on the map.

The tutor squinted a bit and hummed a bit in acknowledgement. "Indeed, but that is the dark forest and none go through there unless on a suicide trip." She stated. "Very few make it out sane and it is said that the Queen enchanted the forest through there, so even if one were to go in the chances of coming out are slim." She continued on before then handing a book to Emma that had some information about finances as well as trades.

"I want you to read this and write a report about it before three days time." The woman stated before sitting down at a chair next to Emma and let out a deep breath. "You're doing well you know. The queen has overlooked the other work over the past two weeks and she had found your progression to be quite remarkable." The tutor smiled softly and sighed. "You know you can call me Mary….I know Elise wanted me to tell you hello but she had to accompany the other maids to clean up today." The older woman smiled lightly and sipped a small cup of tea that sat at the head of the table and hummed at the warmth.
A small smile broke out across Emma's lips at the exchange and took her own cup of tea, supping it. "So….her majesty, where has she been?"

Thin lips pursed, Mary had brought the tea cup back up to her lips and took another sip. "She is getting different plans organized." She said simply.
'Well that's not the way to find out…' Emma thought to herself and scrunched her nose.
"Mmn So how long has the Dark Kingdom been under her rule? She had a husband did she not?" Emma asked softly and watched as the tutor had tensed a bit.

A slight pause settled over the two women as the older of the two cleared her throat a bit.
"King Leopold." She whispered as if it was a curse. "He was Regina's late husband and father to Snow 's been gone for five years now" She softly said in a voice that would rival a whisper.
Emma's ears strained to listen but she knew that much already, she needed to learn more though as she could tell there was so much to the story than what her mother told her.

"Wasn't he a good king or-" she was cut short as a frail bony hand covered the blondes mouth and a hush pushed past the woman's teeth.

"Hold your tongue, if the Queen heard….no matter how well favored…she would make you wish she incinerated you when she found you." The tutor said in a low growl and peered towards the mirror and the door; letting out a sigh. "We do not speak of him nor do we bring up the White Kingdom or Reign of it….many secrets are held in the walls…many tears are engrained in the stone as well as the blood of young…there are things that the villagers of this kingdom do not know and for the sake of the queen are not to ever be brought up." Mary cryptically said as she then stood up and paced uncomfortably.

Emma observed and for whatever reason, she felt unsettled at what was said and squirmed a bit in her seat.
"Ok, well…since I'm done and I have some time…can I go on a walk through the garden?" She asked and slowly stood to her feet; her peasant pants and the crumpled red tunic clung to her figure with leather that bound across her waist.

A simple nod was all it took and Emma stuffed the book in her leather rucksack before walking down the hall, nodding towards the guards and maids that she had passed. She found that the people within the castle were actually pretty happy for the most part, very much unlike what her parents had stated. She was beginning to re think the whole idea of Regina ever really being a villain. As she walked through a large opened door that remained open until nightfall, she walked a stoned path towards a beautiful garden with a centerpiece of an apple tree. She sat under the tree and sighed at it's shelter from the sun. She gazed around her surroundings at the many flowers and couldn't help but smile before a throat was cleared and her eyes found their way up to a pair of honey brown eyes that could make Emma melt.

"Y-your majesty." Emma scrambled and fell to one knee and bowed her head, awaiting for some sort of reprimand that never came.
"Do not worry, my dear." Regina's voice carried out before taking a seat on the stone bench that was under the tree. "Come, sit." She asked softer and she gazed out at the forest beyond.
Emma slowly found her way to sit beside the queen and felt her heart rise to her throat.

A silence fell upon them and neither really knew what to say. "How-how are you my queen?" Emma quietly asked as she took her book out and let it rest on her lap as she planned to read outside where she could get some fresh air.

"Well, I suppose." a pause came before the queen finished. "Just a lot of buzz going around since there was a sighting of Snow white and apparently King George is having problems with his insubordinate son." Regina spoke with a sense of distaste. "You know…I always found it funny that those who are so self righteous who have only half a story could be made into a hero just…for simply being them, yet the moment someone does what is of law, what is right, and is doing something to right a wrong done…is a villain…I don't get it." Regina spoke out thoughtfully as she stood and reached up, picking one of those delicious honeycrisp apples. Her gloved hands picked another and offered it to an accepting Emma.

"You know.…I've found" Emma started and thought carefully. "That villains are often the heroes that were just never saved, they were the ones who had the purest of heart but were given a hand that was set up for failure and it is unfair." Emma looked up at Regina in knowing, she knew that Regina was hurting she knew the pain she knew of the hurt that the woman endured; granted not all of it but it was evident in those telling eyes.

Regina's eyes gazed up into Emma's, searching it for any secrets or any truth behind what she said and could only tell that there was honesty. She showed a slight smile as she looked upwards and slowly bit into the apple. The queen wasn't as done up today as she normally would be, adorned in a simple slim fitting royal blue dress that drug the ground as she walked, black lace running along the neckline the plunged slightly while a black belt hugged her beautiful curves.

"I find your words quite wise, the villains in your realm…did they ever find salvation?" She asked.

"They did...our mayor had a past and she wasn't as liked by her people but she did well and honestly she has changed and is becoming the person I think she was meant to be." Emma said softly and she felt her heart hurt. 'Regina', she was going to leave her and take Henry all the way back to Boston…the thought now only brought guilt forth into her stomach and made her sick at the thought.
Regina nodded and for a moment, the only sounds heard was the crisp bites and chewing of apples as the two sat in each other's quiet company, basking in the serenity.

"Mm when I was not even a day old…I was found on the side of the road in a blanket and from that day on, I never really had a home." Emma admitted, she wanted to get closer to the queen and she knew the way to do so was to admit some of her own troubled past to the equally troubled woman.
Regina looked at Emma and for whatever reason, Emma swore she saw a flicker of sadness in the woman's eyes.
"Who would ever just abandon a baby like that." The queen said in a voice that was both sad and yet angry.
"I like to believe it was because it was so I could have my best chance at a life that may have been equally as hard had I been with my parents…but I don't think those parents knew that I would be in many different homes, homes that were abusive in every way…homes where I never knew if I was going to eat or be safe…and it, honestly kind of messed me up. By the time I was sixteen I had enough….I was too old in my mind to be adopted or loved and I ended up being homeless instead and in a sense a thief." Emma leaned back, her legs spread out comfortably as she sighed a bit, eyes cast up though she felt another set of eyes bore into her very flesh.

"I stole and I finally stole a car at the age of seventeen, those machines I told you about that are like carriages…well it was stolen and I was dumb enough to steal and already stolen car with said thief inside…he was much older than me, but because I wanted to feel…wanted and loved I stayed." She continued and the more she talked, the more she realized that her relationship with Neil though consenting was not right in the sense she wasn't with him for the right reasons.
"We stayed like that for the year and I ended pregnant at the age of eighteen…barely eighteen to be honest." Voice cracking and a slight pause fell as Emma collected herself. "I thought he had loved me and I guess I knew that in a way we both just in a way needed to feel needed…but…I had helped him or tried to help him with some stolen watches…or I guess jewelry here and I got caught and took the fall…he sold a couple that were not confiscated and left me pregnant in prison…I was alone and I knew that the baby I had in me would never have a good life, hell the moment I got out I wouldn't have anywhere to go. So, I gave that kid the best chance and trust me I loved him so so much and everyday I wondered if he was ok…if he was being tucked in at night, if the mother who would have him would give him the love he deserved, would look into his eyes like they held the universe and if he would never go hungry or be scared…" Emma's eyes began to water as she let out a shaky breath and took another bite of the food. Regina was so engrossed in the story, she didn't notice that she had leaned closer and examined the pained expression on Emma's face.

"I, the moment I had him I couldn't look at him because I knew the moment I did…the moment I would look at that tiny part of me that grew and loved me before he even knew me….I knew that I wouldn't be able to let him go. So I looked away and closed my eyes tight, so tight I wondered if I could see anything if I tried to open my eyes. He was gone just like he was never there, but I thought of him every day and called the moment I got out to make sure he was adopted and not put in a home like I was…" She chewed her thin lower lip and gripped the apple core so tight her fingers nearly snapped the remaining apple in half. "Ten years later when it was my twenty eighth birthday, he found me and in a way forced me to take him home, so I did….and I met his mother who was a beautiful and kind woman who was just worried of her son. He said some harsh things to her and honestly, looking back at it…she was the most wonderful mother and I would have been lucky to have had someone like her growing up, so I was happy to know that woman treated him right. She gave me a job in town as sheriff since I was doing bounty hunter work, we in a way had shared custody and she let me see him though she had ever right to say no." Emma finished and looked at Regina who looked up at the woman like an idol almost.

"You survived, and you seem….well strong from it." She stated in a husky tone, throat slightly dry as she set the apple core down on the ground beside her, knowing some sort of animal will feast off it later.
"Indeed, so I may not know much about you M- Your Majesty" Emma almost slipped the name but caught it in time to only make it sound like a stutter. " But I do know that the moment you accept what ever is plaguing you, you look around to see those that support you, and you let go…is the moment life begins. But, that's just what worked for me." She stated confidently, at least in half truth as she still had things she was working out, but hey , she was trying.

"You are an interesting woman Emma, I have had yet to meet someone like you." Regina chuckled softly as she dusted off what ever was on her lap. "I can relate to a sense, though I had family it wasn't family and I can only say that it got worse up until the past couple years."
"How old are you, if you don't mind me asking." Emma asked curiously, wanting to know exactly how old Regina was at the moment.
"I'm twenty five at the moment and my infernal step daughter is actually barely eighteen. " Regina muttered the last part, though not necessary she felt the need to say it and Emma's eyes went a little wide.
"You're only seven years older than her?" Emma felt her throat constrict. "And the previous ruler had died…." Emma thought to herself. "Around five years ago correct?" She asked and Regina's brow rose.
"How do you know that?"
"I asked and was reprimanded for doing so." She scrunched her nose, she knew how old Snow was when Leopold died and she remembered asking Mary earlier.
"Well then yes…I was twenty when the late ruler died and I was wed to him for nearly four years before his….untimely death." The woman's voice seethed the last part as her eyes had hardened in a matter of seconds.
"Well whether it be a true loss or not, you're doing well for yourself now and the Kingdom, though having a hard time with Snow White ; is doing quite well otherwise. " Emma assured, slightly trying to boost the woman's mood before she noticed her own fists clench at the thought of her grandfather with such a young woman.

"The woman…that you spoke of." Regina started after a moment and caused Emma to scoot closer, their knees barely brushing against each other's and neither seemed to mind. "She's quite lucky…I'm sure that boy feels it too. I was never able to have kids, when I was seventeen, near eighteen I took a potion that would make me barren….I didn't know at the time but I was four months with child and I-" Regina's eyes watered before she looked down at her lap. Emma so desperately wanted to reach out, she had no idea that that had happened and wanted to console the woman.
"I couldn't forgive myself….I would never want a child with that man but, one that I could have all to myself…that would never see the bad in me but see the good, one that would love me unconditionally…I mean that's all I wanted and I knew that if my mother had been in that picture it would have ended up being like me." Regina swallowed before standing up promptly. "I need to go, I've spent too much time here." Her voice quickly recovered from vulnerability to regality and it almost caused the blonde to get whiplash from the quick change.
"Go ahead and read on, I look forward to your writings." Regina showed a slight smile before she walked towards the open door as two guards escorted their queen further into the castle.

"I'll help you…" Emma whispered to herself before looking back to her book.

AN: Song that Emma sang was Colbie Caillat-When Darkness comes. Thank you to those of you who continue to read on :) I'm sorry the story appears slightly slow moving, I'm just trying to convey some pivotal emotions that are needed for later chapters as well as a growing bond between both SwanQueen and DragonQueen. By the way I was thinking of writing some either Dragonqueen smut in the next chapter or a dream swanqueen smut. Let me know what you think ^^ Otherwise no go :P haha, anyway thank you again and I hope you enjoyed! -R.M