This story has been quick to write so far, it's actually surprising. Just want to put a warning out there that this chapter has a little bit of torture in it, so it might be kind of upsetting.
Thanks for the reviews! Keep it up, they help motivate me. :)
"We must be here," Snow said, suddenly sitting up.
"How do you know?" Emma asked, watching her in confusion.
"Because we've stopped moving."
Emma had been so buried in thought that she hadn't noticed that they'd indeed stopped moving. She braced herself against the wall as she stood, then reached a hand to Snow to pull her to her feet as well.
"Finally," Emma sighed, "we can do something. I hate being trapped."
Snow gave her daughter's shoulder a pat as she walked past, then followed her out of the small cabin and up onto the deck. They watched as Hook worked to secure the ship before they left it for land.
Regina and David made their way over from their different sections of the ship, and David looked at Emma. "Feeling better?"
Emma raised her eyebrows. "Do I feel better?"
Snow quickly stepped into David's side, resting a hand on his chest. "I think what he means to say, is that he's been concerned, and he's glad that we're finally here so that we can start looking for Henry. Right, David?" She looked up into his eyes.
He smiled and nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry it came out the way it did; I guess I'm just upset about Henry."
Regina caught the odd look that Snow and Emma shared when David wasn't looking, and narrowed her eyes.
Before anyone else had a chance to say anything, Gold appeared from below and moved toward them, his cane hitting the deck with a dull thump every time he took a step. "I see we've arrived."
Hook finished just as Gold spoke and joined them. "How very astute of you, crocodile."
Gold sneered at him and opened his mouth to retort but Emma stepped between them. "Stop! We don't have time for this!" She gestured to the land nearby. "Henry's out there somewhere waiting for us to find him, and that will never happen if we don't stop this petty bickering. We're here for Henry – that's it. So," she turned to Gold. "You seem to know something about the person who wants Henry. What do you think we should do?"
Gold looked around at everyone. "We need to make our way up there," he said, gesturing to a small mountain range. The way the trees and cliff faces came together, it resembled an eerie face. "Dead Man's Ridge. It's where the Shadow resides, and he's the one looking for Henry."
"I don't remember a Dead Man's Ridge in Peter Pan," Emma said, looking apprehensively at the mountain.
"Well, not everything is like it is in the stories, Dearie," he told her. "I thought you'd know that by now. And unlike the clever little names they come up with in your world, Dead Man's Ridge is named for what it truly is. Very few people come back once they go up – unless they work for Peter Pan, that is. We should stick together – these lands are a dangerous place and it would be better to face anything we might come across as a group."
"I disagree," Regina said. "For all we know, they haven't had a chance to take Henry there yet and he's still somewhere in the forest. If we split into two groups, we can cover more ground more quickly. Our first priority is finding Henry."
Only Snow caught the quick look that passed between her and David.
"Alright," Emma said. "I'm gonna have to go with Regina on this one. We need to find Henry before they get him to the Shadow, if it's at all possible. I'll go with Regina and Hook – since you know this place so well," she told the pirate captain. "And you guys can go with Gold," she said to her parents. "Because it seems like he might know his way around."
"Emma," Snow said quietly. She glanced between David and Regina, wondering if this wasn't exactly what Regina had wanted when she suggested they split up. But there was nothing she could say now under the scrutiny of the woman herself. "Let's get a move on," she said, changing directions.
It only took a few minutes for them to row to land and once they were out of the small raft, Snow stopped Emma from running full-steam-ahead into the forest. "We should have a plan to meet up," Snow told her. "Tonight, when it starts to grow dark. I really think it's a bad idea for us to stay split up when the sun goes down."
"Agreed," Emma nodded. "I just hope it doesn't take that long to find Henry."
"So do I," Snow said softly. "So how about you guys take the left, and we'll take right, and we meet in the middle tonight?"
"How will we find each other?" Emma asked.
"Easy," Snow smiled. "Just tell the birds, and they'll find me."
Emma shook her head. "Yeah, that's still weird. Okay…I guess we're ready, then." She motioned for Hook to lead the way.
When most of the group was ahead, Snow fell into step beside Emma. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"I don't know," Emma told her honestly. "But at least this way, we're keeping them apart. That's best, isn't it?"
Snow shrugged, watching her husband. "I just don't understand what's going on with him. You didn't see that look between them earlier, Emma. It's like they're in on some big secret together."
"Well, we'll just have to keep our eye on them."
Snow nodded and squeezed Emma's arm. "Let's go find Henry."
"Thank you, Sean. You may leave us now."
Regina struggled against her new restraints; she was now strapped to a chair in a mostly empty room. The guard, Sean, nodded and she watched as he left the room before turning her attention back to the short man.
"Thank you for joining me, Regina." He smiled sickeningly.
"I didn't have a choice," she said coldly, maintaining her calm.
"I don't think we've been properly introduced," he said, ignoring her comment. "I'm Dr. Valery." As he spoke, he walked to a table nearby, picking up a few items that she couldn't see from her angle.
"Isn't that a woman's name?" Regina sneered. She was terrified, and the best way she knew to deal with her fear was to channel it into rage, as she'd always done. Never mind that it usually got her into a fair amount of trouble.
Rather than growing angry as she'd hoped, he smiled, but didn't look away from what he was doing. "You know, that's definitely not the first time I've heard that. I was teased often because of my height, my name…but there's something wonderful about having the other kids make fun of you when you're growing up; you become stronger because of it. I had to overcome the bullying and show everyone that I was so much more than just a name. And I did." He turned and Regina swallowed heavily when she caught a glimpse of what he was holding; a small, handheld taser. But she knew now that size made very little difference. Any kind of electrical current could cause immeasurable pain. Her eyes widened, and Valery didn't miss the reaction.
"I see you know what this is." He patted the device against his hand. "I'm glad. It's going to make this so much easier."
"I'm not going to tell you anything," she said viciously.
He shook his head in amusement. "Oh, my dear Regina, you don't understand. I don't want you to tell me anything yet. That's not why I brought you here today."
Regina looked thoroughly confused. "It isn't?"
"No, no. You only just arrived. There's no reason to be in so much of a rush. I think it would be nice to have a little time to get to know one another first, don't you?"
"I'd rather you just kill me." She didn't mean the words, of course, but she couldn't help herself. Appearing weak was the last thing she'd ever let happen, especially in front of this horrible man. They'd only been here for a day, and she could already tell that he was the one they were going to have to watch out for. He was far more dangerous than any of the others they'd met. He had a malicious air about him and, even more chilling, he took pleasure in causing them pain.
There were a lot of things that people of the Enchanted Forest could say about the Evil Queen, but of all the rumors, there was one that had never been true; Regina took no delight in doing the terrible things that she did. For her, it was all about the control. Fear kept them in line, and when they were afraid of her, she didn't have to worry about them turning against her.
This man was different. The pain is what he lived for, she could tell. She'd dealt with people like him before in her days as queen, and even then she hadn't enjoyed it. Now she was at the mercy of this man and she hated it. Which was why, right now, Regina wondered what this man could possibly want. If he hadn't brought her here to glean information about Storybrooke, why was he holding tools that could be used for torture? He seemed cruel, but even he wouldn't be so cruel as to torture her without reason.
Would he?
"You know, peoples' capacity for sympathy can really be quite astounding," Dr. Valery said, walking around her slowly. "Even between people with a great dislike for one another."
Regina scoffed at him. "Don't try to tell me you feel any kind of sympathy. You're the one who brought me here."
Ignoring her, he continued, "Relationships and trust can be built on shared experiences of pain or suffering. A good many friendships have started that way."
"I hope you're not thinking that we will have any sort of friendship, because I can assure you it will never happen." Regina subtly pulled against her restraints, but it was no use; she was stuck here for the duration of this man's sick games, whatever it was he had in mind.
"It's quite interesting, actually. I've had the opportunity to see it in action on more than one occasion. The different types of people it has managed to bring together – it's fascinating. Some of them never would have associated otherwise, so you could say the work I do helps bring people together." He stopped walking and looked at her, smiling again. "Though it never ends well, so I suppose that takes all the goodness out of it." He moved so that he was standing directly in front of her. "No, I have no delusions about our relationship, I can promise you that. I have no desire to have any kind of dealings with my subjects other than professional, as you'll soon come to see. Shall we begin, then?" he asked sweetly.
She narrowed her eyes at him.
"I'll take your silence as a yes."
Without any further warning, he jabbed the taser into her side and pulled the trigger.
Unlike before with Greg, Regina immediately reacted to the pain. Crying out, she jerked away from the source as much as the restraints would allow, which wasn't much.
Valery laughed. "Yes, I thought you might react this way. You know the pain of electricity after your…" he leaned in to whisper in her ear, "recent experiences."
Hatred bubbled inside her as she shrunk in fear when he waved the taser in front of her face. After everything that had happened recently with Greg, she didn't think she could take anymore, and as much as she wanted to hide her fear from this man, she couldn't find the strength under these circumstances.
Even her thoughts of hatred disappeared at the next jolt of electricity was delivered to her other side. It seemed worse this time, and Regina found herself slipping back into the memories of being trapped back in Storybrooke; strapped down to the table and electrocuted right up to the point of death.
Valery straightened and set the taser back on the table, watching as Regina squirmed and cried even after there was no more pain. "You see, I know a thing or two about one's mental state after an experience such as yours. You just have to know which buttons to push and the post-traumatic stress does the rest." He moved to a panel on the wall and keyed in a code. An instant later, Sean reappeared, holding the handcuffs.
"You won't need those," Valery told him. "I doubt she even knows where she is at this point."
And he was right; Regina was a confused, crying mess. The only indication she gave that she was aware of anything at all was jumping at Sean's touch when he moved to release her from the restraints and pull her to her feet. She didn't even look at him before she was back to curling in on herself, whimpering and mumbling unintelligibly as he pulled her from the room.
It had taken Greg hours to break Regina Mills.
Valery had done it in less than ten minutes.