Regina kept her face passive as Gold approached. He was trying to intimidate her and there was no way in hell she was going to be intimidated.

"I was quicker than I'd expected to be, but I hope that the time you had alone was still adequate to change your mind?" Gold asked, smirking at her, daring her to refuse.

"No amount of time will turn me into the willing servant of a cowardly imp." Regina spat at him.

Gold's face cracked at the word cowardly, just as Regina had expected. What she didn't expect was for him to charge at her and strike her across the face with his fist. She tasted blood when she next peered up at him, her jaw throbbing. His eyes were flashing dangerously, but Regina's smile was back almost immediately.

"Is that all you've got?"

Gold clicked his fingers and Regina felt herself dragged to her feet by the handcuffs as they were magically pulled towards the ceiling until her toes left the ground, leaving her dangling painfully by her wrists. She grunted, but sealed her lips shut to keep from crying out, unwilling to give him any satisfaction.

"You know as well as I do, that that was not all that I've got." Gold clicked his fingers once more and Regina gasped as she felt her body begin to constrict, as though a python were tightening its body around her chest. All at once it became difficult to breathe and the pressure on her ribs increased until she was sure they would break.

Unable to speak, she fought to keep her glare on her face, but her lip was beginning to tremble as unwanted memories came flooding back.

"Feel familiar?" Gold chuckled, "I know constriction was one of Cora's favourite punishments." Regina tried to speak but managed nothing but grunts, unable even to breathe out.

Gold clicked his fingers once more, releasing some of the pressure on her chest, "Tell me, when did you grow to care for the saviour?"

"The only person I care about is me." Regina said.

"Really? Well I struggle to see how defying me is in your best interests right now?"

"I care about the person I used to be, the person I was before you destroyed me. That girl is who I am, I will not be the monster that you made me anymore." She said, only realising her motives as she spoke them. Gold wasn't wrong, she did care about Emma, she'd grown to care for her during everything they'd been through together, it was only natural. But with or without Emma, her decision to defy Gold would have been the same.

"I merely guided you. You did the rest yourself."

"You manipulated my entire life." Regina was seething again, a lot of resentment for Gold had been bubbling inside of her for a long time.

Gold chuckled, amused at her anger, before raising a hand once again and magically tightening Regina's throat.

She started to cough straight away, gasping for breath. Beneath her own desperate sounds she heard movement behind her. Emma.

"No!" She spluttered out, loudly as she could.

Gold smirked, believing she was talking to him. "Had enough?" He flicked his wrist and the suffocating sensation left her.

"What would Neal think of you, now?" She asked, trying to figure out her next move. It seemed appealing to what was left of his good side might be her only option.

"Neal is gone." Gold muttered, darkly. "And so is my only motivation to suppress the darkness. Surely, you remember that feeling well?"

Regina grimaced, "I remember the feeling and I regret that I let it consume me. Just as you will when fate screws you over yet again. Haven't you figured it out yet, Gold? There are powers higher than all of us, conspiring against evil. Villains never win. We've both seen that time and time again."

Gold waved at her and she gasped as her body was flung into the wall behind her, the chains on her wrists dragging her higher still.

"Until my story is over, there's no telling who has won. I promise you, I will get what I want. I'll do it because I'm not willing to let anything or anyone stand in my way." He twisted his hand, spinning Regina around so that she was facing the wall. "Including you."

Regina heard a whooshing sound and repressed the urge to gulp when she realised what Gold had produced in his hand. The whip came down hard on her back and she couldn't help but let out a groan before biting her lip. Again he hit her.

"How many will it take, huh?" Gold asked as he brought it down with more force.

When Regina had shouted "No!", Emma had known that she was speaking to her, not Gold, and had stilled herself behind the corner. She'd been ready to burst out into the open and take on Gold but Regina clearly thought there was another way out of this so she decided to trust in her for a moment, give her a chance to escape Gold alone. But when Gold brought out a whip and brought it down hard on Regina's back, tearing her blouse and creating deep red lashes, Emma knew she couldn't stand by any longer.

She took a moment to focus herself, knowing she needed her magic now more than ever. She would only have a small amount of time to get Regina out of here, the element of surprise being her only advantage. Taking a deep breath, she clearly pictured in her mind what she needed to do.

She counted to three and then sprung from the corner, hands raised emitting white magic which hit Gold hard and sent him tumbling backwards onto the ground. In the second it took him to figure out what had happened, Emma frantically reached for Regina, placed her hands on her shoulders and whisked the two of them out of the vault.