Regina was quick to scold Emma with an 'I told you so' plastered clearly on her face when the results of her preliminary examination came back normal. It was relief more than anything that she was trying to disguise however, as medical tests hadn't been on her mind when she had taken the place of the original Regina. What would have happened to her if there was some sign that something was…off? Of course, now that a medical professional had been thoroughly fooled, it seemed rather ridiculous that she had been any sort of nervous. She was identical to Regina, after all, merely a bit wiser in her decision making.

"Do you feel up to doing some research now?" Emma questioned Regina's health still, despite what the doctor had said. While in her face she was Regina, there was still that certain something that felt not quite right, unsettled worry keeping Emma from truly believing that anything was okay. A part of the woman believed that perhaps she was acting strange because she was overstressed due to their still missing son, and that part spoke the loudest as she drove the two of them to the vault at Regina's assertion that she was absolutely fine, thank you very much.

Down in the vault, Regina's eyes slipped frequently up from the books she was pretending to read to watch Emma, the Savior seemed to feel the eyes every time. Regina could see the tensing of the muscles of Emma's arms, the blonde had taken off the hideous leather that barred the glorious bundles of muscle from view. "You're the one staring this time", Emma attempted to tease, her voice coming out more strained than she would have liked. Regina was confused, the expression on her face saying as much with the barest tilt of her head and a lifted brow. "This time?" she questioned. Immediate alarm bells sounded in Emma's mind; if Regina was forgetting things that happened so recently, something was definitely wrong. Rather than pursue and alert the woman to her intense scrutiny however, Emma shook her head and waved a hand as she made to continue reading. "Nothing."

The false Regina watched the blonde still, though with a bit more discretion this time. What had just happened? It didn't feel good.

A loud shriek issued from the prisoner, bouncing off of the stone walls and returning swiftly to the ears of the two lone figures. "There isn't much of a difference in pain tolerance between the two of you.." Not-Emma noted thoughtfully, eyes fixed on the bleeding woman on the opposite side of the bars. Nearly an hour Regina had taken the magical lashing with no more than a grunt, but the last strike of the invisible whip had broken skin, hitting far harder than the comparatively playful beating that preceded it. The chains that stretched up from the ground gripped hard at Regina's wrists, forcing her into a kneeling position just beyond the bars separating her from the sadistic blonde.

"You're psychotic." Regina muttered, throwing the best glare she could muster from under sweat soaked hair. Not-Emma gave a 'tsk' and held up a finger. "No, no, no", she corrected, "I'm a scientist." Regina forced a laugh. "Well now I know you're not any sort of double of Miss Swan. She's certainly not the most scientific in her methods." Not-Emma scoffed as she knelt to Regina's eye level, tracing a finger over the red marks littering her bared back with a finger and prompting determined silence from the prisoner. "Well, that's where you're wrong. Science was our favorite subject in school. The only thing that held us back was not being too great at the math part." Shrugging, Not-Emma ran her finger over the lash mark that had split her skin, this time receiving the satisfaction of hearing a pained hiss from the bound royal. The blood that gathered on her finger, she sucked from the digit with a deep sigh before Regina's astonished eyes. Not-Emma grinned, licking the remainder of the red stain from her teeth. "You wouldn't believe the kind of kinks that growing up in a foster home can cause one to develop."

Giving a sudden and hard tug at her chains, Regina shouted, "You're not Emma!" The violent outburst startled the blonde imposter for a short second before pulling a laugh from her and a shake of her head as she straightened up. "No…" she responded slowly, "not yet."

Emma's head popped up from the book she was flipping through, attention turning to Regina. "Did you say something?" Regina merely mumbled a negative answer without looking up. Staring at the woman for a short minute, Emma's eyes then dropped to her ridiculously large book again. "I could have sworn I just heard you say my name." This made the false Regina pay notice, glancing up and mentally cursing Emma's double for not keeping the proper Regina silent. Didn't she know that the bond was only going to grow stronger until the Becoming? The carelessness irked her.

"I'm sure it was nothing, dear. Just a trick of the silence." Regina's smile felt forced, and Emma wasn't fooled by the feigned casual tone. She wanted to ask the woman directly what was happening, but at this point she was even sure that Regina realized something was wrong. Emma's thoughts turned back to Belle and the suspicions that had been planted in her mind. Possession? How would she even fight something like that? "Are you alright, Emma?" Regina's voice caught Emma's ear as she very nearly purred her name. It wasn't enough for Emma to call her out on it, but it was enough to notice, and that freaked the blonde out more than anything else had.

"Are you sure everything is okay?" Emma was asking before she could really think about it, cursing at herself mentally as Regina's face twisted in calculated confusion. Emma's fingertips tingled, and she couldn't ignore it. There was a lie here.

"Of course, Emma. I'm perfectly fine. Even the doctor said so." Regina answered firmly, continuing on when the Savior appeared unconvinced, "I'm just worried about Henry. Who knows where he is?" The distraction that the imposter Regina hoped the boy would serve didn't seem to work this time, as Emma approached, standing from her book and coming closer.

"You're lying", Emma stated, not even asking for affirmation of what she knew to be true. Brows drawing together as she drew near to the brunette, Emma took a good look at her increasingly worried expression, no matter that she was doing her best to conceal it. "There's something not right, and I've decided that it can't wait until later. Henry needs his mother back, right now." Regina stepped back as Emma stepped forward, keeping the distance between them at something like ten inches.

"Miss Swan-", the false Regina tried, but her voice broke. What was it affecting her? She was much harder, much stronger than this, but Emma's simple approach was throwing her, and the physical proximity was something that her body wanted, despite the reason. Her entire being had become accustomed to getting what it wanted, when it wanted, and this was only made worse by the consistent physical needs that were satisfied by the other Emma. The habit of self-indulgence was working against Regina at this precise moment, leaving her body giving its best effort at surrender as it might in the presence of her Emma. "Damn.." Panic clutched the false Regina's breast and in less time than a heartbeat, she disappeared.

Emma's hands grabbed at empty air as she became aware in a split second what Regina was attempting to do. Summoning her own magic deep within in an adrenalin fueled breath, Emma thought only of Regina and pulled herself through time and space to find her, having no idea where she would end up.

The shuffle of fabric and the smell of magic flooded the chamber and Regina could hear a low curse from Not-Emma and then a hushed conversation. An argument. It could only be her own double, so she taunted the two from her kneeling position, never one to truly be beaten down. "Already failed at your pathetic attempts at seduction? I'm not surprised. No one but me could really pull off this face. Or these curves. You-" A cry was forced from the royal as another hard lash came down on her back, followed by a shout to be silent. Fuming in her cell, held down to the ground by magical chains, stripped of her clothing so as to make the beating more of a humiliation, Regina was still not defeated. How many times had she been beaten figuratively and literally at the hands of her own mother? And she had survived that. How many times had a strike made its way to her even with her magical barriers and fighting prowess? And that too she had survived. Not so very long ago, she had taken more electricity into her body than most people could tolerate while keeping their mind intact, and even that had not broken her.

No, this would not be her end, not in any way.

"You may break my body, but you will not break my soul!" Regina declared as loudly as she was able. Her face was quite suddenly jerked to the side by a firm grip, forcing her face to face with herself. The Regina double chuckled and hissed, "What soul?"

Emma's body lingered somewhere, not quite solid, giving her a vague sensation of seasickness, or something of the like. She couldn't pinpoint any landmarks, nor could she really see, and the idea slowly came to her that maybe she had messed up. Maybe she really shouldn't have tried to transport herself at this point, at her skill level, without even a true destination in mind. But then it seemed that sensation began to return. Darkness, cold. Wherever she was coming back into being, it was thoroughly inhospitable, and her sole thought was to find Regina.

With a jolt, Emma was once again herself, surrounded by tall stone walls that stretched further up than she could see. There might have been a ceiling, but the wall sconces didn't provide nearly enough light to reach that far up. At her back was a wall, and at either side, but in front of her a hall went on until it hit a wall, hallways going off into either direction before similarly hitting turns, walls and dead ends. The familiarity of the situation struck her. She was in a maze, just like those she would spend hours trying to complete as a child living in a foster home with no television.

A tugging in her gut that felt like instinct pulled her one way, and a vague whiff of a familiar smell summoned her as well. Regina was here. She had to be. Emma pumped her legs as she took turns swiftly, moving on what she really hoped was instinct and not blind guessing. Regina was here, and she was going to find her.

Regina was quiet, listening intently to the conversation happening not two feet from her in whispers. While she couldn't make out any solid sentences, the royal would have bet her life that she heard the word 'Emma', and it didn't seem to be referring to the blonde already in the room. Her heart picked up a beat, had Emma discovered there was a problem? Was she coming now? Hope mingled with the ache brought on by the cruel reminder of her double, and the likely fact that Regina had given up her soul long ago. The woman hardened herself to the words, and to the memory, determined not to break. If Emma really was coming, she wanted to be sure that there was something left for the blonde to save.