A/N: Hey everyone, sorry for another wait, I've been working a lot and doing weird shifts all over the place so motivation and inspiration has been hard to find. I hope you like the new update. Thanks to those who commented on the last chapter. Reviews really do help me with the story so please do leave your comments. Happy OUAT day! xx

"Are you kidding me?! Are you fucking kidding me?" Emma was currently yelling at a group of nuns. "A protection spell?! There's how many of you guys?! Just break it! How hard can it be to combine your powers? Someone needs your help, isn't that what fairies are supposed to do?! Help people?!"

"Well yes but–"

"THEN WHY AREN'T YOU HELPING HER?!"

"Emma they're doing their best." Snow's calming voice said. "Remember, they didn't have to make this potion for us. It's not their fault if someone has put up a protection spell to prevent us from tracking Regina."

"What if they made it wrong?" Emma responded before turning on the fairies again. "Can you make it again? Make a stronger one."

"That was the most powerful locator potion we are able to make Sheriff. I'm sorry." A young woman with red hair said.

"Maybe you missed an ingredient! Make it again!" Emma fumed as the handful of nuns standing in front of her practically cowered under her rage.

Emma was breathing heavily as her heart beat fast in her chest. Everyone was quiet for a few moments and it gave her time to look at each of the fairies' faces. When she saw the guilt in a few their expressions and saw that one or two of them were about to cry, she knew she had to ease up on them a little. She gave a tired, frustrated sigh before forcing herself to calm down.

"I'm sorry... I'm just tired, and worried." She said a little more gently. "Can you please try again? There's a life on the line here, please don't ignore that, no matter whose it is."

"We've done everything we can." One of them said apologetically.

"No you have not! You guys are supposed to have all this wonderful power that's meant to bring happy endings and save lives and stuff. The minute you save Regina is the minute you've done everything you can. Until that happens your job is far from done!"

"Emma they've given up enough of their time for us, they need to find out what happened to Mother Superior." Mary Margaret said, touching Emma's shoulder gently.

Emma felt the anger building up inside of her again at the mention of that woman. "They've had days to look for her. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe perhaps your queen bee has it in for Regina? I'm sorry to have to be the one to say it, but I think Mother Superior might actually be involved in this. Maybe the reason you all can't find her is because she doesn't want to be found."

"That's impossible, Blue would never hurt anyone." One of the fairies said.

"And we can't just stop searching for her based on an assumption." The redheaded fairy added. "She may need our help."

"Mother Superior straight up refused to heal Regina when she asked for help." Emma countered. "Explain to me how that is being a purveyor of good?"

"When was this?" The fairy asked, taken aback by the news.

"The day after the curse broke. She told Regina that she believed the reason why Regina was dying was because she deserved it. She didn't care that Regina was trying to change, she didn't care that Regina was in pain; she didn't care that she was scared, when Regina asked for her help Blue basically just laughed in her face."

The fairies looked at each other, hoping someone would contradict what Emma said.

"That doesn't sound like Blue." One of them said.

"The queen could have been lying about that, I wouldn't put it past her." Another said. "She was probably too proud to even ask Blue for help."

"She wasn't lying to me." Emma gritted her teeth. "I practically had to force that information out of her."

Emma glanced around at all of their apologetic, and now slightly rattled expressions. "Please," she said in an almost hopeless voice. "There must be something else you can do."

"The most we can do right now is give you some more potion. You could try it on something else of Her Majesty's, maybe something that means more to her than this." One of the fairies said, gesturing to what Emma was holding. "It usually works on anything that belonged to the person, but maybe if you have something with more sentiment, the spell will be strong enough to break through whatever barrier has been put up around Her Majesty."

Emma's shoulders practically sagged as she clutched the long cashmere cardigan to her chest. She looked to her mother for answers.

"It's worth it to at least try Emma." Mary Margaret reasoned.

"Fine..." Emma said.

The fairy gave another small, sympathetic nod before handing the blonde a small vial. "Good luck." She said sincerely.

Emma, Mary Margaret and Ruby had gone back to the house to look for something else to use for the spell, and Henry had suggested they use a ring. Mary Margaret had mentioned that one of them should wear the ring, and it would glow brighter the closer they got to Regina, but Emma thought it might be easier to decipher the direction they should go in if they were following behind the piece of jewellery instead. Currently the gold band was floating through the air in front of them, and attached to it was a long ribbon they had fastened to it so they would be able to see it better as it led them through town.

Emma's eyes remained focused on the ring, she barely took any notice of what the other two women were saying as they walked beside her.

"We need something that really means a lot to Regina." Emma had said about fifteen minutes earlier back at the house. "We need it to be something special to her, the fairies said if we have something strong enough it might be able to lead us to her even with the protection charm still around her."

Henry frowned as he thought. "What about her ring?"

"That green one she always used to wear?"

"No it's gold I'm pretty sure... and it's not really a ring."

"What do you mean?"

"It came from a horse saddle or something. When my mom was younger she was in love with this stable boy..."

"Daniel," Mary Margaret said softly.

"Yeah. And he gave her this ring as a promise to marry her."

Emma felt a pang in her heart. She knew what had happened after that. "And Regina still has it?"

"Yeah... somewhere. It's probably in her jewellery chest."

...

Emma gave a heavy sigh as they continued to walk. It had taken about ten minutes to find the ring but it had indeed been inside the large chest. She wondered if Regina was still heartbroken over the loss of Daniel, and she wondered if Regina was still in love with him. The brunette hardly mentioned him, but that didn't mean she didn't still think about him.

"What were you dreaming about earlier?" Mary Margaret's soft voice interrupted Emma's thoughts as they walked.

"What?" Emma asked, distracted.

"You were having a nightmare when I woke you up this morning. You were calling for Regina."

"Oh..."

"It seemed to really upset you," Mary Margaret said gently. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Emma had almost forgotten about that dream. She gripped the sweater she was carrying a little tighter as she thought back to it. She didn't know why she hadn't left the cardigan at the house when they'd gone back to retrieve the ring, but now that she had it she found it to be slightly comforting. She clutched the sweater close to her as portions of the dream came flooding back.

...

Emma was running. She didn't know how long it had been, and she didn't know how far she had gone.

All she could see were the hundreds of steps leading upwards, and all she could hear was the heart that was beating thunderously inside her as she continued to climb.

"Emma!"

The blonde glanced behind her, and her stomach dropped as she realized the brunette was falling seriously behind. Going against the millions of survival instincts that were coursing through her, she stopped and backtracked until the other woman was able to catch up to her.

When they finally reached each other Regina threw herself into Emma's arms, clinging to her desperately as she glanced fearfully down the endless flights of stairs below them.

"Emma," Regina whispered as she hid her face in the blonde's jacket.

"Regina I know you're tired but we don't have time to stop. You have to try to keep up okay? They're not far behind." Emma was holding Regina in a protective and comforting embrace as she too glanced down the dark stairwell that went on for what seemed like an eternity.

They were closing in on them; they being the mysterious people who had being chasing the two women through the sealed building ever since Emma had found and freed Regina. There seemed to be no way out, the only way to avoid attack had been to keep going up.

"Come on," Emma said, pulling away from Regina and taking her hand to urge her to keep running. Emma knew Regina was pushing herself past her limits, but they had no choice. Emma felt horrible for making the other woman do this but the brunette didn't complain as she clung to Emma's hand.

They turned another corner and finally Emma set her eyes on an exit just up the next set of steps.

"Look! We're almost there Regina."

Regina didn't respond, but Emma knew she was still there because she could still feel a hand clasped tightly in her own.

When Emma finally reached the door she glanced back again to make sure Regina was still with her, and then she pushed the door open and they both escaped onto the windy rooftop of the skyscraper.

Emma had expected to find daylight and safety, instead she found the darkness of a lightless city in the middle of the night, and virtually no safe way back down to civilization. The building's flat edges were made entirely of reflective glass windows that went straight down to the ground on all sides. There was no fire escape, no way to get to the next building, nothing.

Emma didn't let go of Regina's hand as they both glanced around, at a loss for what to do, their hair was whipping around them from the force of the howling winds.

"Emma they're coming," Regina's voice caught in her throat as she glanced towards the door they had just left from. "What are we going to do? We're trapped up here."

"It's okay Regina..." Emma said, pulling the brunette closer to her. "We'll figure this out, there has to be a way."

Emma moved back to the doorway to see if there was something she could do to lock it from the outside, but as she neared the building's entrance she sensed that something was wrong. She didn't know how, but she got the feeling something was about to happen to Regina. She turned around, laid eyes on the brunette, and started to run back to her just as she heard the thundering sound of a gunshot reverberate through the surrounding, dark buildings.

"Regina watch out!" Emma pushed her out of the way, but lost her footing as she did.

"EMMA!" Regina screamed, horrified as she saw the blonde falling towards the edge.

Regina lunged forwards to reach her hand out for Emma's just as the blonde went over the side. Regina was crying out from the pain of the action when their hands clasped tightly. The brunette landed on her stomach just at the edge of the building, and was pulled forward by the force of Emma falling, however she managed to grab hold of a ridge to prevent herself from going over too.

"Regina what are you doing?!" Emma shouted in panic as she reached her free arm up to try to grab the ledge so she could take the weight off of Regina.

"Emma..." Regina gasped. It was clear that it was taking all of her energy to both keep herself on the ledge, and to keep her hold on Emma.

"Regina you're not strong enough to hold us both!" Emma responded fearfully, but she clutched desperately to the brunette's hand all the same.

"Emma if I let go you'll die." Regina said in a strained voice as she blinked back tears.

"And we'll both die if you don't!"

Regina closed her eyes tightly, wincing from the pain. When she opened them again she was looking down into Emma's terrified eyes. Emma had just saved her life twice, and now it was her turn to save Emma's. There was no way she would ever be able to force herself to open her grasp. She would die before she would let Emma fall from this building. Her lips pressed together as she tried her hardest to lift the blonde.

She tried and she tried, but it was no use.

"Emma I can't pull you up," Regina's voice quivered from a mixture of fear and anguish. Her body was shaking from the exertion and there were tears dangerously close to falling from her eyes.

"I know..." Emma whispered, never tearing her gaze away from Regina. She could see how badly the brunette was struggling, and she knew Regina wasn't going to be able to hold them both for much longer.

"Regina you have to let go," Emma gasped through her tears.

"No!" Regina's eyes widened.

"You have to, if you don't you'll only be pulled over with me."

"Emma I am not letting you die this way. I can't let you die this way," Regina's voice broke as a tear escaped her lashes.

"Think of Henry! He'll lose us both if you don't let go. Please don't do that to him! Please Regina, you don't have to die with me, I don't want you to."

Regina felt Emma's grasp loosening and that only made her grip Emma's hand tighter. "Please don't let go Emma." She practically whispered.

Emma risked a peek below her and instantly regretted it. A jolt of panic ran through her at the sight of the drop, and her fear caused her to grasp Regina's hand again. She knew once she completely let go that would be it, she would never see Regina again, she would never see anyone she loved again. She wished she could just stay in this moment, clinging to Regina for the rest of eternity, but she knew she couldn't do that. The longer she stayed with Regina, the greater the risk of the brunette dying along with her. She hadn't risked everything just now only to have them both lose their lives. Only one of them would be able to make it out of here alive, and Emma knew that wasn't going to be herself.

Emma was trying to force herself to be brave enough to let go when Regina gasped in fear and looked back at something that had gotten her attention behind her.

"What is it?!"

"Emma they're here." Regina's voice broke. "Emma please, please don't leave me. I can't go back there, I can't."

"Regina..."

"Please Emma, help me."

Emma couldn't take seeing the pain in Regina's eyes. She had to get to her, but she knew that right now Regina wasn't strong enough to pull her up.

"I can't do this without you Emma."

"Okay... okay I can do this." Emma told herself.

She desperately reached up for the building's edge again, while clinging tightly to Regina's grasp. She would ultimately have to let go of Regina's hand to use both of her own to pull herself up over the ledge, but she just couldn't get a good enough grip.

"Emma," Regina whimpered, shaking from the exertion of trying to keep both herself and Emma up as the blonde struggled to pull herself back onto the roof.

"Just hold on Regina," Emma begged. "I'm coming."

She could feel her fingers slipping from Regina's. The brunette seemed to have noticed it too because she briefly let go of the building to try to reach her other arm down for Emma, but when that resulted in her nearly going over the edge, she gave a frightened scream as she clung desperately to the side of the building again.

"REGINA! Don't let go of the building!"

"I'm sorry Emma," she whispered.

Emma had slipped so far now that their palms were barely even touching any more. Regina was now the only one able to keep the two of them connected, and Emma was sure Regina was going to break her fingers with how tightly she was crushing them.

Emma felt herself slip a little more, and she had to admit, she was terrified. She looked back up into Regina's eyes, and the emotions she saw in them once again gave her the kick she needed. She felt a surge of adrenaline, and she put all of her energy into swinging her arm back up. She grabbed a hold of Regina's arm, causing the brunette to gasp in pained fear as she felt gravity pulling on her even more strongly from the added weight.

Regina closed her eyes, not bothering to fight the tears as Emma grabbed at her, trying to pull herself up. Emma's arm was securely around Regina's back now, she was so close, and yet the angle was too awkward to be able to easily pull herself back up without risking pushing Regina over the edge. She needed to get her other arm around Regina too so the brunette would be able to use both of her arms to pull them back up, but Emma was terrified that her grip on Regina wouldn't be secure enough to hold herself up once Regina opened her grasp.

"Come on Emma," Regina whispered.

Emma's hand slipped from around Regina's torso, and once again she nearly fell, she tried her hardest to reach for Regina but it was getting more and more difficult with each passing second.

"Regina!" She cried desperately.

"Regina!"

...

That was all Emma could recall from the nightmare. She supposed she must have fallen in the end but she couldn't remember. The dream most likely had been interrupted by Mary Margaret at that point. As Emma walked, she glanced quickly at the other two who were still expecting her to reply.

"I don't remember what my dream was." Emma responded.

She was still holding onto Regina's sweater, and she folded her arms around it as she continued to walk, not caring if the others believed her or not.

She blinked back a few tears, hoping the others wouldn't see them.

"I'm so sorry," Ruby said as she and Mary Margaret shared a look. "It's my fault Whale was able to get back to Regina this morning."

"Don't say that," Mary Margaret replied softly. "He tricked you."

"He must have seen me outside the hospital." Ruby said, reaching to feel the bump on the back of her head. "I should have been able to hear him coming."

Emma wasn't listening, she remained silent as she continued to stare miserably at the ring that was floating in front of her. She hadn't even known of its existence until today. She knew about Daniel of course and she knew how much he had meant to Regina, but Regina had never mentioned the ring. Emma didn't know how strong this ring's power was but she hoped it was enough to complete the spell.

As they continued to walk, every once in a while a whiff of Regina's perfume would reach Emma's nose and her heart would beat a little faster at the scent, it was as if her subconscious believed it meant Regina was near. In reality however, Emma knew the scent was merely coming from the cardigan she was carrying. She held onto the sweater a little more tightly as her eyes fixated on the floating ribbon in front of her. She hoped this locator potion was more successful than the last one.

Across Town

Regina remained huddled on the floor. The effects of the needle she had been given had mostly worn off by now, but she was still curled in on herself, trying to protect herself from further abuse. Unfortunately Whale always seemed to find the perfect spot to hit her. Her sides were aching, and so were her arms and legs. He kept telling her to stand up, and at first she had refused, but eventually she had made an attempt in the small hopes that it would stop the pain. However once she had begun to try he had only hit her until she was down again.

From where she currently lay she was thinking again, thinking about something she had overhead when she had briefly regained consciousness overnight.

"Emma... Where is she?" She asked in a small voice.

"Speak up." Whale snapped.

"What happened to Emma? Is she okay?"

"Emma?" Whale's eyes narrowed quizzically.

"I know you did something to her." Regina said in a tired, steady voice. "Is she okay?"

Whale and Sidney shared a look. "I haven't done anything to the Sheriff." Whale stated cooly, subconsciously touching a darkening bruise on the side of his face.

Regina picked herself up a little so she could look up at him more easily. "I know you injected her with something. What have you done with her?"

Whale folded his arms, there was a smug expression on his face. "You still haven't done what I've asked Regina. You know I won't tell you anything until you obey."

"I'm not doing a damn thing until I know Emma is alright."

"Oh you're not are you?" Whale asked as he stood over her.

He put a hand into his pocket and she could see the edge of another needle poking out of his coat.

She tried to pull herself away, her muscles were screaming in protest as she weakly forced herself across the floor but it didn't stop her. Unfortunately it didn't take long before she was dragged back to him by her ankle. Regina whimpered involuntarily as she felt the concrete floor scraping her skin through her clothing.

"There's nowhere to go Your Majesty, so I suggest you start listening for once."

Regina didn't move for a few moments. She was on her stomach, she was breathing heavily, and she had resolved to resting the side of her face against the cold surface beneath her. The pain levels had increased tremendously since her arrival here, and she didn't know how she could be so exhausted and yet still be awake. She knew the needles had something to do with it but it felt impossible.

She could hear the doctor kneeling on the ground beside her but she didn't move. Everything hurt, but she knew if she tried to get away it would only hurt more. She might have tried if she didn't already know that it was useless.

A tear ran down her cheek as she felt a hand on her shoulder. His touch was gentle, but the action felt more derogatory than comforting.

"Shhh," Whale soothed mockingly. "I know it's painful."

Regina closed her eyes tightly, allowing a few more tears to spill as the doctor ran a hand through her hair.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt for much longer." Whale said, continuing to brush his fingers through her hair.

He withdrew his hand and Regina could sense him standing up again. Immediately she braced herself for the pain she knew was about to return. She waited, but nothing came.

It wasn't until Whale could see her visibly starting to relax again that he delivered another heavy blow to her side.

There was a satisfactory glint in his eye when he heard her frightened scream of pain. He knew she had been trying to suppress her cries, which is why he had begun to try surprising her. It was almost like a game to him, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Whale watched her without sympathy as she curled up on the floor in pain. There had been a brief time where she had tried fighting back, Whale even had what would become a nasty bruise on his neck from when she had aimed a furious kick at his head and missed. But in the end she had given up quite quickly, most likely after coming to the conclusion that all she was doing was wasting what valuable remaining energy she had left.

"You may think that I should take pity on you because of your poor health, but I think deep down you know that you deserve this. After the amount of pain you've inflicted on the countless innocent victims of our land, a lifetime of torture wouldn't be enough to absolve you of your crimes."

"They weren't innocent Whale, not all of them." Regina responded in a raw, quiet voice as she lifted herself off the ground using the palms of her hands. She slowly brought herself into a sitting position, expecting to be kicked down to the ground again. When no assault came, she tossed her hair back to get it out of her face before continuing."But I think you know that don't you?" She asked with a bitter smile as her eyes flicked up to meet his.

Whale gave a low, dark laugh at that, but ignored her question as he went on, pacing the room as he did. "Your illness is part of your punishment Regina, and this, here and now, is the rest of it. But there is still a chance to make up for your bad deeds dear. You can make the suffering stop now before I really make you pay."

Regina's head raised slightly at that.

"Because Your Majesty I've barely even started with what I have planned for you. You think this is bad? Well trust me I have much more in store for you if you don't cooperate."

As Whale slowly walked back towards her, Regina looked around for Sidney, wondering why the other man had been so quiet. She found him lurking near the wall somewhat behind her, his shoulders were hunched a little and he had his arms folded in front of him, when their eyes met he quickly cleared his throat and looked away, before shuffling his feet and meeting Whale's stare.

Sidney was even more timid than usual it seemed, however Regina wasn't sure if it was because of Whale, or if he was worrying about what she herself might be thinking of him, or if his reaction was something to do with shameful feelings over what he was allowing to happen to her... or something else.

"Don't look to him for help Regina, Sidney's not at your beck and call anymore." Whale's voice said.

Regina turned her head back towards Whale but jumped, gasping softly as she realized the doctor was now crouched in front of her again.

Whale dropped his voice to a whisper. "He's not going to save you."

"What do you want from me Whale?" Regina asked in a tired, almost disinterested voice. "How will I be able to make the suffering stop?" She said, quoting his words.

Whale took a deep breath before standing up again. "This world, the one you created with your curse, none of us belong here. I want you to take me back to my land."

"What on Earth gave you the idea that I would be able to do something like that?"

"You transported us all to another realm once. Do it again. Magic is back now is it not? I don't care if you leave everyone else here, just send me back to my land. By now I'm sure you know what will happen to you if you don't."

Regina practically rolled her eyes. "That's what this is?!" She scoffed. "Well it looks like you're out of luck. Magic may have come to Storybrooke, but my magic wasn't returned to me. Sorry," Regina said with a tiny shrug and an unapologetic smirk.

"Storybrooke is full of magic now, and the power you have is one of the strongest I've seen. Everyone else's magic has been returned to them, that means yours must have too." Whale countered strongly.

"If it had, do you think I would just be letting you do this to me?! Do you think I would have just sat there and watched as my only son lay dying in my arms?" Regina's voice unwittingly caught in her throat. "Don't you think I would have tried to save him?"

"He was healed wasn't he."

"That was Blue's magic, not mine."

"Hm," Whale gave a small laugh. "That doesn't prove anything, all it proves is that you didn't want anyone to witness you using it."

"What would I gain from hiding it?" Regina asked in incredulity. "I would have healed myself by now if I could! I would have been able to protect my family last night! And you for one, would already be burnt to a crisp for what you've done to me."

Whale didn't respond, he just held her gaze, a daring look in his eyes.

"Even if I had my magic I wouldn't be able to send you home Whale." Regina continued a little more slowly. "Why do you think I needed Gold's curse in the first place? Crossing realms is nearly impossible."

Suddenly Whale grabbed Regina by her hair, causing her to cry out in pain as she was pulled roughly to her feet. She raised her hands to his in an attempt to pull herself free but his grasp was too strong.

"Well you'd better figure it out then," Whale said gruffly into her ear. "Because if you don't I'm going to make sure the rest of your days are a living hell."

Regina gave a dark laugh, before closing her eyes tightly from the pain. "I can't send you anywhere if I'm dead now can I?" She whispered with a wicked smile, despite the tears shining in her eyes. "Keep torturing me and you can be certain you'll never make it home. You might want to rethink your plan a little."

"Oh no," Whale laughed. "You are not the one who gets to call the shots here. I know you're hiding your magic and I also know why. But you can only hold back for so long Regina, I know you are going to slip up eventually, and when you do I have just the thing for you."

"What is it?" Regina's voice wavered. He was going to try to beat the magic out of her, to force her to use it as proof she still had it.

She didn't understand why he didn't believe her, surely he couldn't actually think that she would let herself be treated so cruelly just to hide her magic. She didn't have anything to gain from hiding it, it didn't make sense. Maybe he really did believe her and was just toying with her. Or maybe there was more to it.

"Oh come on, that would spoil the surprise." Whale said.

He threw her from him at that, consequentially pulling strands of her hair out as he did. She screamed in agony as she landed hard on the ground, but she forced herself to ignore the newly added throbbing all over her body as she turned over to face him. Whale had taken the needle out and was coming for her again. She quickly looked to Sidney, but found that he was moving forward to. The next thing she knew Sidney had grabbed a hold of her again, holding her still so Whale could admit the next injection.

"Please don't," Regina whispered without thinking as she struggled against Sidney. She still remembered how the last injection had felt, and it was one of the worst experiences she'd had in her life.

Sidney only held her more tightly against him, and her eyes widened in frightened surprise when she felt him nuzzling her hair from behind. She didn't know if it was supposed to be comforting, or if he knew she couldn't do anything to stop him, but the action had awoken a newfound fear in the pit of her stomach. Sidney wasn't going to help her.

How had this happened? She was supposed to be in Boston by now, safe with Henry and Emma, now she was probably never going to see them again, and all that would be left of her shortened life was this fresh torture.

xXxXxXxXxXx

A/N: Thank you for reading, please review! Take care xx