Authors Note:

Hi, another update... A lot has happened since my last update. I feel like whenever I get back into writing something happens. Anyways, I would like to say thank you to everyone who has review, favourited, and followed my story. Also, thank you to those who left me private messages, I am sorry I was unable to respond to them personally.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter.


Regina's POV

The image in front of me will forever be engraved into my mind. There was so much blood… I am no stranger to blood; I have drawn blood from many under my reign as the Evil Queen, but this, this was too much even for me. No one would be able to survive this much blood loss, no one human at least. All I wanted to do was turn away from the site to erase the image from my mind, but I couldn't do that. I won't allow myself to do that, Emma needs me.

She was lain on the floor, her movements were erratic, clearly trying to fight off her abuser. The way her body jerked looked unnatural. The hospital like gown she wore was painted red with her blood. The few spots of white let me know the colour the gown should have been. There was blood covering her legs and arms. Her golden blonde hair stained red. It was if someone splashed, no, drenched her in her own blood.

I slowly rise to my knees, cautiously walking towards her. Scared that if I move to quickly she will fade away and disappear. I slowly crouch down beside her, not wanting to scare her or cause further harm to her already battered body. Now kneeling beside her I was able to see the wounds that had been inflicted on her body. Every jerk and twist she made cause her wounds to open further, causing her to lose more blood. The site causing me to involuntarily gag. It looked as if someone was trying to rip her open. There were deep cuts down her arms and legs, bones protruding out of her body, and a deep wound on her stomach that allowed me to see the inside of her body. She doesn't even look human; she barely looks recognisable. The bones that were protruding out of her body did not look human.

Who would do this? Why would they do this?!

"Emma" I call out to her again through my tears, but it's was like she couldn't hear me. As if I wasn't here.

"I'll be good! I promise I'll be good. I won't hurt anyone, I promise! Please stop!"

I let out a gasp at her words. Nothing good has ever come after those words.

I take a deep breath, forcing down the traumatic memories that come with those three words. Now is not the time to go into that dark place, Emma needs me and now is not the time to be thinking of Mother and her methods of discipline.

I bring my hands to my face to try control my tears and my erratic breathing.

I call out to her again, louder this time hoping to get a response. When I didn't receive one, I slowly reached my hand out to try and get her attention. As much as I don't want to inflict more harm she's not responding to my voice, I need to try something else. I can't just sit back and watch as she causes further injuries to herself. Every jerk and swing she makes with her body only worsens her injuries.

Before I could touch her, she immediately jerks back. Suddenly aware of my presence. I immediately pull my hand back due to her reaction. She tries to move away from me, clearly using whatever adrenaline her body has left to crawl away. The scene looking like that out of a sick twisted horror movie. I could see her muscle contract as they worked to attempt to help her get away. However, she was only able to crawl a few inches before she collapsed on to her back out of exhaustion.

I quickly close the distance between us, hovering above her. Cautiously lifting my hand, I gently run my fingers along her face. My fingers quickly being coated in her blood. There was so much blood. It was hard to tell if the blood on my hands came from a head injury or if it was from somewhere else.

"Emma. It's me, Regina. God, who did this to you?"

I could see that she was trying to say something, but no words left her mouth.

"I'm so sorry Emma"

"N-Not. Real"

I just about manage to make out those two words.

"Emma, I'm right here"

I use my magic to try and heal her, but it was so hard to do. It was as if something was stopping me from doing so. Something magic related. Not only that, it felt like she was here, but wasn't.

Where the hell are we? Where is this place? What the fuck happened?

I push through the barrier trying to heal her as much as I could. Something that would have not been easy to do even without this magical block. Her wounds are too great. She shouldn't even be alive. The average person wouldn't be alive. How do you heal someone who should be dead by laws and physics?

I heal her until I physically could not heal her anymore, until I was exhausted and close to passing out. Her wounds were partially closed, and I had managed to stop some of her bleeding. Her body should be able to heal the rest now.

"W-Why?" I hear her whisper out, her voice sounding hoarse.

"Emma, what happened?"

"Just kill me"

"Emma, it's Regina. I'm not going to hurt you. I would never hurt you"

I ignore how untrue that is. I've already hurt her in many ways. She wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for me.

"You're not real!"

"I'm here I promise you"

Without thinking, I lean towards her again, my need to touch her clearly clouding my judgement.

She quickly reaches out one hand wrapping it around my throat, her hold tight enough to partially restrict my airflow. The only thing stopping her from truly inflicting harm was the fact that I was unable to fully heal her body.

"You're. Not. Real!"

"Emma please" I manage to get out, and my words only seem to anger her further as she tries to tighten her hold but fails.

"Emma, I'm sorry. I should have never left you"

I feel myself begin to get lightheaded due to my reduced oxygen intake. The heart palpitations also did not help the situation.

"You're not here! Just go away and leave me alone!" She repeats continuously.

"I'm here Emma, I'm here- "

"You won't trick me this time. Every time you say you're real you leave me! You always leave me! You're not real. I'm imagining you here. You're a coping mechanism. I wish you would just leave me alone! You make it worse! You give me false hope!"

"Em-ma"

"Please! Just leave me alone" She says defeated releasing her hold on my neck.

I slump forward trying to take in as much air as possible.

In all the time I have known Emma Swan I have never seen her this scared, this defeated. It took everything within me not to shut down, to not close my eyes and pretend this was not happening. To go back to a world where it was just us, no Robin, or crazy half-sisters. Just me, Henry, and Emma doing some ridiculous activity.

I don't know how to fix this; I don't even know what happened to her. I don't know who did this, or why. All I know is that someone or something has her, there is no way these wounds are self-inflicted. I don't know how to bring her back from this; the fight that was once in her. How does someone come back from such torture? But I will try. I owe Emma that much. No matter what, I will fight with everything I have to help her overcome this. And whoever done this will pray for death, will cry out to whatever deity that is out there to save themselves from me.

Taking another deep breath, I wipe my tears trying to calm myself down, leaving blood streaks behind. It was only until I felt the warm liquid on my face did I realise her blood was on my hands. That her blood had not only soaked through her clothes but were now covering my own. I furiously wipe my hands against my slacks to remove her blood. As if doing so would erase the image and the feeling of her blood on my body.

"You said I've come here before?"

I ask her hoping she will respond this time. Trying to do anything to ignore the blood that pooled around both of us. Praying this question will get her to let me in.

I can't have her blood on me. I just can't.

Using the last bit of strength that I had left, which wasn't much, I close my eyes and focus on removing the blood that stained both of our clothes. Removing any trace of blood from both our bodies. I open my eyes completely breathless, as if I had just run a marathon I wasn't prepared for.

"Emma. Please, I need you to believe me. I don't know where we are, but trust that I am here with you right now"

"You always manage to persuade me, but I won't let you do it this time"

"Doesn't this feel different? Doesn't this time feel different from the others?"

She doesn't respond, which lets me know that I am right. This time has been different from the other times her mind has subconsciously used me as a coping mechanism.

God, I don't know what that will do to her mentally. Knowing that she called out to me and I couldn't save her. That even now that I'm actually here, I don't know how to save her. I don't even know where she is!

"I used our blood bond to find you Emma, I don't know where we are; If we're in a different reality or realm. I don't know if time stops here or if we're in a different astral plane. However, what I do know is we are both here together. You're safe here Emma. No one can hurt you here. I'm right here with you"

"If you've found me why haven't you saved me yet? Why should I believe you when you're going to just leave like all the other times?"

"I don't want to leave you. I don't know how long we can be here for, but I will find you Emma. I swear on my life I will find you"

She let out a sound of disbelief.

"I need you to help me Emma, we need to use this time to strategise. Do you know who has you? Where you are?"

"No" She hisses out.

"But you know this, you know I don't know who has me or where I am. So why ask?!"

"Emma-"

"You think I haven't tried to get a name! A location! I can't even think straight!"

"OK. OK, I'm sorry" I try to calm her down.

"I just don't want to feel pain anymore… I don't need to be fixed. I don't want to be studied Regina"

Listening to her words carefully, I try to dissect them. I know there is a meaning behind them. I know she is telling me something important, something significant to help me find her. I just need to figure out what she means.

"I haven't hurt anyone. I don't want to go through stage three Gina. You said I'm not an abomination. I don't want to feel pain, I just want to stay here with you, where there's no pain"

She looks directly at me, reaching out to me for the second time, however this time her touch was gentle.

"I want to be with you again"

She runs her hand down the side of my face and I bring her bruised hand to my lips and place a soft kiss.

"We will be together again"

"Maybe they managed to kill me. Maybe that's why I don't feel pain anymore, why I'm able to feel you this time. It's like you're here but not. I don't understand. Something feels wrong. Maybe I'm in hell, maybe their right and I'm an abomination. It would explain why you feel here but so far away"

"You're not dead Emma, and you're definitely not in Hell. Hell is not made for people like you, and if you were, I would still come and get you"

"Maybe your right, my Gina wouldn't be in Hell. She's a Hero now, the best"

"Only you would consider the Evil Queen a hero" I let out a sad laugh as new fresh tears begin to run down my face, not that they ever stopped.

I Just need to keep her talking.

"Are you an angel?"

Once again, I let out a sad laugh.

"Definitely not. You're not dead Emma, I would know"

She looks around the dark room if it could even be called that; the only light surrounding us. However, the light was dim, just bright enough to allow us to see each other.

"I don't want to be in the dark anymore Gina, they leave me in the dark, I can't see anything. I'm scared"

As soon as the words leave her mouth the darkness begins to slowly fade. The dark room slowly changing into a greenfield with a clear blue sky, the bright sun now warming us both, as the smell of fresh cut grass and flowers surrounded us. With a large willow tree behind us, the leaves providing a curtain like shield, with a lake in the distance.

It was beautiful. The change felt so surreal, to know that we went from being in darkness to this. I found myself wishing we could stay here together, just the two of us forever. A selfish thought I quickly supressed. I don't know how this was possible, how she managed to change everything, but I won't question it.

"You said the people who have you want to fix you?" I ask trying to focus her on giving me as much information as possible.

These words, they sound so familiar.

"I don't need to be fixed!"

"I know Emma. I just need-"

"I'm not an abomination!"

And Just like that, those four words she repeated, it was like a light switch went off in my brain as I processed her words. Those four words.

"Of course you're not Emma. You could never be. You're the most amazing creature I have ever seen" I repeat the words I've once said to her, to erase the seeds they tried to plant in her head.

"I don't want to talk about them Gina"

She slowly tried to sit up and rather than push her back down to keep her lain on her back, I help her sit up.

I don't want her to feel trapped or suffocated with me. I've healed most of her injuries, her sitting against the tree should not cause further harm to her battered body. And as I hoped, the injuries I was unable to heal have slowly started to heal themselves.

Once she was seated against the tree, she looked directly at me, and the look she gave me left me breathless. She looked at me with so much love and trust, as if I were her world, like I could do no wrong.

"Can you sit in my lap? I want to hold you. If you're real… If you're actually here, I want to hold you. To be honest, I don't care if this is real or not. I just want to hold you; I want to forget. I just want to stay here, just me and you"

"I don't want to hurt you"

"You won't"

There is the selfish part of me that also wants to hold her, to have her in my arms. I know I will find her, but I don't know how long it will take. I don't know then next time I will have the privilege to do so. But the more rational part of me doesn't want to cause her more pain, I don't know what state her body is in, I could only heal so much.

The look on her face when she saw my reluctance to do as she asks was enough for me to ignore what my mind was telling me to do. Which was to refuse her for her own physical safety, to continue to get answers so I could find her. But to be honest, I think I have a good idea of who has Emma. There're only a few people who know what Emma is, and only one person is set on fixing her. One person who will go as far as to take the saviour against her will for the 'greater good'. And when I find her, she will beg for death. She will feel every ounce of pain that she inflicted on Emma and more. She will feel the pain of every person who has been unfortunate to fall within her grasp. She will regret the day she even thought of this plan, will wish she never left that wizards hat. And when she has felt all of that, I will kill her, bring her back to life and repeat the process over and over again. The same way she has done to so many others.

Trying to settle my thoughts I gently straddle her, so that both my knees were bent at the sides of her thighs. She brings her hands to my waist and gently pulls me down so that there was no space between our bodies.

"You feel so real"

Her hands slowly run up and down my body.

"Can I kiss you?"

Not responding I slowly bring my hands to the side of her face. I caress her face and I push the few strands of blonde hair that was in her face behind her ear. Trying to ingrain the beautiful image of her face in hopes that it will erase the image I saw a few moments ago. The image of her blonde hair highlighted red, the abrasions on her face, the way her skin appeared to be dried out, dehydrated.

"Can I kiss you?" She asks me again bringing me out of my trace like hold.

"Yes. Yes, you can kiss me"

I slowly close the distance between us with every word I say, and as soon as our lips touched it felt like everything was right in the world. It was as if everything stopped, it was so easy to forget the outside world existed. That anything beyond the two of us and this world we've created existed. Every kiss I share with her further proves how wrong Tinkerbell was about Robin. How this beautiful woman right in front of me is my soulmate.

It was only until our lips parted from each other that the reality of the situation dawned on both of us. That wherever we are, this place, this beautiful place that we created using our unbreakable bond would not last forever.

"I love you Regina"

She said with such emotion that I had to fight back the tears that wanted to escape my eyes. Nevertheless, tears escaped my sore eyes completely ignoring my fight. Tears she quickly wiped away.

I don't want to cry anymore, but the way she said it sounds so final. Like it would be the last time she would say those words to me.

"I love you so much. I just wish we could be together"

She pressed her forehead against my own, wrapping her arms around my waist pulling me closer to her. We were so close that I could feel the small puffs of air from every breath she took against my face and vice versa.

"I love you Emma. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone in my life"

"God, I have waited so long to hear you say that. It sounds so good to hear you say that"

She lets out a small joyful laugh as tears begin to run down her face. The beautiful sound of her laughter causes me to smile despite the circumstance.

"We can be together. We will be together"

"But you have Robin, he's your soulmate. You don't have to tell me this because you think this is what I want to hear. As much as I have waited to hear you say those words, I don't want you to say them out of pity"

"I'm not"

"I just wish our last real conversation didn't end in a fight. I should have just accepted that Robin's your soulmate. Why would someone like you choose me. Maybe I wouldn't be in this position if I just accepted that fact"

"No Emma, I don't want Robin. I want you; I choose you. I love you"

I kiss her again, pouring all my love into that one kiss. Using that kiss to express what I couldn't say.

I don't know when I will be able to tell her these words, and I won't let her go another second thinking I don't love her. That her feelings are one sided. Yes, I would have liked to have told her under different circumstances, but I don't have that luxury. To be honest, it's my fault. This is all my fault.

"I'm sorry" I whisper against her neck.

I lift my head up so once again we were looking directly at each other, directly into each other's soul.

"I'm so sorry. I was a coward; I chose Robin knowing I didn't love him. I listened to Tinkerbelle, someone who could barely do a simple location spell, and I let her decide. No… No more blaming other people. I chose to listen to someone who wasn't qualified to give me magical advice, and I let her use a spell to find my soul mate. Someone who had their own agenda other than to help me find my happy ending. I did that, no one else, me.

I'm sorry I took Robin back after everything that happened between me and him, after everything that happened between me and you. If I could change things I would. I would choose you. It's always been you. You make me feel safe and loved in a way no one else ever has, and for the first time I'm not just concerned about my own happiness, about how someone else can make me happy. I want to make you feel how you make me feel every day; loved, protected, cherished, and I am sorry I have not done those things, but I will Emma. I swear to you, I will make you feel all those things. I will earn you; I promise. I just need you to fight for me"

"I don't know if I can Regina. I can't go back there; I just want it all to end" She cries out.

"I will find you Emma. Just give me sometime"

I could hear the panic in my voice, it was as if she had already decided that this would be the last time she would see me again.

"I'm going to ask them to end it" She whisper out.

"Don't you dare Emma! You will fight for me! Henry! You will fight for me and Henry!"

I know it's selfish to use Henry, but at this point I don't give a damn. I will say and do anything to make sure Emma Swan comes back to me. If that makes me selfish then so be it.

"I'm sorry. Just tell Henry I love him, my parents to, and when my brother grows up; tell him his sister loved him so much"

"Emma please stop"

I bring my hands to her mouth to stop the words coming out, as if doing so would change her mind. Would make her words less real. She takes my hands in her own, bringing my hands to her chest, placing them above her heart.

"Promise me you will tell them"

"No, I won't"

"Regina-"

"I won't! I just... I just need a location Emma; I think I know who has you. Just please fight for me, I will find you. I Just need a bit of time"

"We don't have time Regina. I'm sorry"

As soon as those words left her mouth I break out in harsh tears, my body shaking like a leaf in her arms.

"Regina-"

Her words were cut off by the gasp of pain that left her mouth, the sound immediately causes me to snap my head up in attention.

"Emma?! What's wrong?!"

Her back arched in an unnatural way from the tree she was rested against.

"Regina" She screamed my name in agony, the piercing sound sending chills down my spine.

"What's happening?! What's wrong Emma! Tell me!"

Dark clouds covered the once bright blue clear sky, as harsh winds picked up causing the branches and leaves of the tree to whip around us violently. Something felt wrong, even without the obvious signs. It was as if the sanctuary we created was being falsefully torn apart, as if it were breaking down into oblivion.

"It hurts!"

I look around franticly to see if I could identify what was causing this pain. To see if someone had managed to enter this place we created to cause her harm without me knowing. Ready to fight off any enemy with my life to release Emma from this pain.

The unmistakeable sound of bones breaking and the feeling of her nails digging into my thighs brought my attention back to her. Her screams sounded like the first time she transitioned but worse. This sounded so much worse.

I try to use my magic to help reduce the pain, but there wasn't even a spark of magic. I could feel that there were so many injuries, so many injuries happening at once, as if I had never healed her in the first place.

"Make it stop! Regina help me!"

I watch has the white gown slowly began to turn red. I watched helpless as my magic failed to heal the newly opened wounds. I have never felt so betrayed by my own magic.

I could feel myself being forcefully pulled away. Even though I was still directly in front of Emma she felt so far away. I couldn't feel her anymore, even with her directly under me. The feelings of her nails digging into my thighs slowly begin to fade. Our blood bond slowly beginning to feel like it once did, non-existent. This feeling let me know our time together was indeed running out.

"I will find you Emma! I won't stop until I find you! I will kill whoever is doing this!"

I shout over her screams that begin to sound distant.

"Don't leave me!"

"I love you, fight for me Emma!"

The sound of her screaming my name was the last thing I heard before everything went silent.


Authors Note:

Thank you for reading. Please leave a review, it lets me know people are still interested in this story.

I hope to update soon, hopefully before or by the end of this month. If I am unable to do so, just know I will eventually upload lol.

If I don't upload before then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year :D.