AN: There were many different answers given for the quiz question last chapter. A few of you did get it right! A few of you entertained me to no end. The answer is because Justin Timberlake voices Artie. And that dude can dance like nobody's business, and because I love him—not so much his music as his acting ability, but I still love him. Hard. He is one of the few men I would go straight for. That's besides the point.

Hope you all enjoy!

Emma watched Dunstan throughout lunch. She saw his worried face and knit her brows.

"You alright?" She asked after finishing her meal.

He stood, waiting for her and excused them both from the table. They went into the hall and he paced before he turned back to the blonde, "I don't know any of the forbidden dances."

Emma's face was filled with surprise, "What? Really? How?" She tried not to laugh at how utterly terrified the prince was.

He gave her a look as if she were stupid, "They're forbidden."

"And you never snuck away from your castle to have fun and let loose?" She covered her mouth in swift realization, "Oh my gods… You do everything you're supposed to do, don't you?"

"Yes!"

Emma bit her lip, "How about this… I will go ask the Queen if—"

"No!"

"No?"

"You will not ask the queen to change the competition for me."

"I was thinking more ask her to make sure you get a certain dance? If we could be assigned them now so we can really 'wow' her…"

"No." The prince shook his head, resolute.

Emma looked off to the side a moment, trying to figure this out. "How the hell are you going to make it through this round?"

"Teach me."

"Teach you?" The princess gave him an incredulous look. "Teach you all five dances in the next like… half hour?"

"I'm a fast learner." He nodded.

"Oh jeez… I don't know how to teach." She looked around, "I need some reinforcements… Hold on." She walked back into the ballroom for a minute and back out with Artie.

"You need to learn how to dance?" He asked with a grin, ready to help.

Just after they were able to get started, Chip walked out obviously in search of the three of them, "What's this? A secret meeting?"

Emma was playing the girl in the jive and was rocking back before she let Dunstan turn her, "We're teaching Dunstan how to dance the forbidden dances."

Alexander and Sir Patrick walked out, chummy as they would allow themselves to be, "You don't know the forbidden dances? And people call me a goody two-shoes." Alexander said to the hallway, making them all laugh.

Emma rolled her eyes with her laugh, "You are a goody two-shoes, Alexander." She gave him a pointed look as she rocked side to side slow, then back and forward quickly.

Alexander lifted his hands, "Alright Princess, my apologies. I should know you care about the abilities of another person when you are willingly dancing as the girl you should always be dancing."

"Go suck an egg." Emma said without missing a beat.

"Okay, you got that pretty good. Let's move onto the Lindy Hop." Artie happily interrupted with a clap of his hands. "It's my favorite. No jitterbug is my favorite… no, Lindy. No this is… No—"

"Okay, Lord of the Dance; just teach him any of them besides the Jive." Emma gave the youngest prince a sarcastic, dramatic roll of her eyes as she placed her hands on her hips to catch her breath.

"Lord of the Dance, that's very clever, Love." Arely walked out to see almost all of the other contestants both eliminated and competing, "What is going on out here?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

Regina looked around the room as everyone was finishing up. She was feeling rested enough to dance five more dances to find that the only competitor in the room was the one that was just eliminated. She stood and clapped her hands, clearing the tables for her servants.

"Just where are the competitors?" She asked.

"They've been in the hall a while…" Bae looked up to his adoptive sister and nodded to the door all of them left from.

Regina walked over to the door and touched it, silently turning it invisible.

"You have to grind her! Like this!" Artie took Emma's hand and turned her into him; they showed Dunstan just what Artie meant when he had said, 'the Lambada is literally making love' and 'it's very sensual and intimate'. Coincidentally, they also showed him how to grind on another human being.

Regina took this moment to get over her initial jealousy and to cough alerting her presence.

Emma and Artie stopped mid grind and looked to the queen with wide-eyes. The other princes and knight did their best to hide their amused smiles over the entire situation.

"Hello, contestants." Emma couldn't tell what was going on through Regina's mind after she spoke. That scared her.

"Hello, my Queen." And "Hello, your majesty." Were the collective greetings from the contenders.

"Shall we get started with the competition?" She looked to Artie and Emma then down to their hips that seemed glued together. "Though maybe a separate competition has started out here…" This was when they sprung apart. Regina turned, touching the doors making them visible once more and walked back to the center of the room.

Arely looked to Emma and Artie, "I think she thinks you two've found love."

"I think you need to shut the hell up." Emma glared to the Caspian Prince before following the train of contestants walking back into the ballroom.

Regina inhaled through her nose as the remaining contestants lined up on the five chairs and Arely and Patrick moved to sit in their respective seats.

"This round is going to go a little different. Grace is napping, so I will be choosing the competitor and the dance." She paused a moment, "Prince Dunstan. Jive." She snapped her fingers in a no-nonsense tone, changing them into different clothes. He was put in a tight white shirt and black pants and she put herself in a poodle skirt—one of the many fashionable rages rolling through all the underground clubs in all the lands; they looked good when a girl was spun about and they were affordable—at least that's what the public said.

The dance was fine, but Dunstan didn't flip her or throw any tricks. That was a little lackluster for her, especially after his Paso Doble that mid-morning.

The Queen snapped her fingers again, changing the color of her poodle skirt and changing Artie's clothes to look like one of the workers in the local diners.

"Prince Artie. The Lindy Hop."

"Oh, my favorite." He cringed as he realized his cousins were behind him, "I mean…" He shrugged when he remembered his cousins didn't care about what was forbidden or not, "My favorite." He said again.

Regina smirked as the music started. The dance was filled with everything an ideal Lindy Hop held, plenty of swing outs and a couple of fun lifts for Regina. She almost forgot that Artie was grinding on her girlfriend by the end of the lively dance. Almost.

The brunette moved the competition along swiftly. She snapped her fingers again, and again her poodle skirt once more changed colors. This time, Chip was changed to look like a common greaser. "Prince Chip? The Jitterbug."

Chip looked at the others as he stood up cautiously and moved to the center of the room with Regina. The queen then cued for music and he did his best to improvise and cartoonize their movements. Judging by the queen's smile on her face, he did well.

Regina touched his arm before he started making his way back to the seats, "I told you once, I'll say it again. You being you makes for a good leader. Your thing isn't that your shy… it's that your surprising." She raised and lowered her brows once for emphasis.

He smiled his thanks and walked back to his seat.

Alexander's outfit was the one to change next. He was in a dashing, fitted, pinstriped suit.

"Prince Alexander? The Charleston." Regina's voice filled his ears, causing him (and the other competitors) to look up to see Regina in a flapper dress.

Regina caught Emma's eyes for only a second, but she knew that she had the blonde's attention. She gave herself an inner hi-five and waited for Alexander to walk over so they could begin.

Their dance was lively as any Charleston should be. And they hit all the styles of a Charleston with a partner: facing each other, side-to-side and tandem. Alexander was a lovely dance partner. Regina just wished she could prolong it because the next and last dance was the Lambada with the White Princess.

She never would have let that happen if she hadn't been so jealous seeing the blonde and Artie dancing it together. She took a deep breath and she walked by to find Emma ripping her sash off, waiting for her wardrobe change. She still looked sexy in that suit, but Regina had something a little different in mind. She put Emma in black pants and a button up, tight, short-sleeved shirt. It was so tight that it could not be buttoned. No, instead the ends of the shirt were (and would magically stay) tucked in giving the White Princess the most plunging neckline the lands had ever seen. The blonde's hair was pulled back in a slick ponytail that bared a poof on the top of her head; Regina's on the other hand, was down. Her natural brunette locks hit just passed her shoulders. She wore a two-piece outfit: a bra top attached to a mesh skirt that was mainly there to merely cover her ass with one lucky strip of mesh fabric that connected the two pieces together. She could tell her lover would think the fabric lucky at least.

"Princess Emma?"

"Huh?" Emma grunted, causing the gay men and straight women in the room to laugh and all of the straight men and lesbian women to agree with her thought process.

"The Lambada." She said huskily.

At least Emma could have sworn that's how the Shadow Queen said it. Huskily.

By the end of the dance, most all of the royals were fanning themselves and many of the straight men, if not all except for the White King, were crossing their legs.

Charming and Snow sat there in awe. They'd never seen their daughter dance with heart before; the quickstep was enough, but watching her dance with the passion she had danced was magnetic. Neither said a thing as their daughter almost forgot to let go of the Queen's hand. And neither said a thing as she took the woman's hand again 'forgetting' to kiss it. They also didn't say a thing as they watched Regina watch their daughter walk back to the row.

"Gentlemen, and Gentlewoman." Regina quipped with a merry smile as she spoke solely to the contestants and not the other royals, "Dance is one of my favorite things. I'm so happy that all of you have been taught well… even though this round was a cheat seeing as they are the forbidden dances. I was expecting to have to eliminate someone for not flocking away from their castles to become immersed in the common world as many of us love to do in secret." She folded her fingers and let her tethered hands fall to her waist, "Apparently all of us love to do it in secret." She smirked. "But one of you did not outshine my expectations…" Everyone seemed to collectively hold their breath, "And now that I replay my words that was an unfortunate pun. Prince Dunstan, I'm sorry."

Dunstan stood and walked over to the queen, kissing her hand, "I was the one you would have eliminated anyways." He said seriously, "I didn't know any of these dances before lunch."

Regina's brows rose, "Well, my, my. You are a fast learner, aren't you?"

Dunstan smiled his princely smile before turning to his grandparents, "I'm sorry." He said regrettably.

Tristan and Yvaine both shook their heads, "For being good? For not learning the forbidden dances?" Yvaine asked and shook her head, "Nonsense, Dunstan."

"As you all know, you are more than welcome to stay." Regina interrupted.

"Of course we're staying. It's much too interesting now!" Tristan didn't fear showing his excitement over matters and this was no different.

Regina smiled at the trio before turning to the rest of the room. "We're done for the day. Feel free to roam about the castle grounds or the park, really anywhere. We shall reconvene in the morning."

"What is the challenge or the challenges?" Chip asked as he stood from his seat.

Regina smiled an almost wicked smile, "What is a Battle Royale without a battle."

The four remaining contestants looked at each other before Alexander spoke up, "Why do I get a bad feeling about this?"

"Because a battle could be anything…" Chip said.

"It could be everything." Artie added.

"It could be death." Emma's tone was dead serious. She looked to the others when no one responded and found three pairs of eyes on her, "What? It could. I'm sure she'd bring us back to life… She's a witch…" Emma shrugged.

"You think she'll let you use your powers?" Alexander asked.

Emma shook her head, "It's not fair."

"Because your powers can just outmatch any of us?" Artie asked like she was talking crazy.

Emma nodded as she took off her armband, before looking at him seriously, "Wanna find out?"

"No, I'm okay." Artie's voice cracked as he watched her tuck her armband into her pocket.

Emma smirked, "Good." She stretched and sighed dramatically, "I'm going to take a nap. You guys want to go exploring later?"

"Yes, after dinner?" Chip asked.

The rest agreed and Emma was poofing out of the room, still in her Lambada outfit.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Regina was quick to follow the blonde, and poofed out of the room as well. Emma was not in her assigned room, which meant she was in Regina's. She smirked, and kept that smirk on her face as she found the blonde resting on her bed. "Hello, my love." The brunette smirked as she crawled on top of the bed then on top of her. She laid down on top of the blonde with a grin and kissed her hard, "You taste different." She licked her lips in askance as she pulled back. Before she could ask why her lover tasted different, there was a loud thud against her closet door.

"What was that?" Regina turned and started getting off the bed. Emma grabbed her and pulled her back in by the neck, kissing her again. Before Regina could get too involved another thud, this time louder with a grunt was heard. "Darling, how did you not hear that?" Regina got up, this time not letting Emma pull her back down.

She walked over to the closet door. She had her hand on it hesitating and unsure before ultimately deciding that she needed to know what was on the other side of the door, good or bad. She opened it to find…

Emma bound and gagged spilling onto the floor.

"Emma?" She looked down then looked to the bed to find a wicked grin on her lover's face. But those eyes were already starting to fade to their rightful owner's, "Maleficent." She growled as she glared to the woman and fell to her knees, untying her real lover.

"Darling if that's the way you get greeted by the Shadow Queen all the time, I can see why you think you're missing out on nothing." Maleficent said as she let her face form back. She decided to keep the copy of Emma's clothes on though, "And if this is how you girls dress for each other…" the frizzy, blonde-haired woman stood and looked at herself in the mirror as she trailed off.

After finishing Emma's wrists, Regina took the gag from Emma's mouth and looked at her, "Why didn't you fight back?"

"I tried, but she magicked my sash on before she did anything else." Emma huffed before ripping the sash off her arm, magicking her feet free and looking at Maleficent like she was a matador that didn't stand a chance against her own inner bull.

As soon as Emma got close, Maleficent flicked her wrist, shielding herself, "Honestly, dear, you need to put her on a leash." She said to Regina, "In fact…" With another flick of her wrist, Emma was turned into a Rottweiler and was put on a leash that was held by Regina.

Emma looked up to Regina down to her paws, then back to Maleficent. She began growling and barking.

"Hm." Regina said, "It seems you might have created yourself a larger enemy than just the princess would have been." She let go of the leash and watched as Emma tried to pounce on Maleficent.

The blonde witch poofed out of dodge and Emma ended up jumping into Regina's bathroom. Then, with a twist of fingers, the dog was locked inside.

"What do you want?!" Regina asked exasperated as she tried to unlock the door and open it magically only to find Maleficent's own magic hold still on the lock. Emma was scratching and growling at the door from inside, literally trying to dig herself out.

"A lot of things." Maleficent looked at the ceiling with a dreamy look in her eye, "I want servants that aren't half pig and are fully desirable. I want to be able to leave my mountain whenever I damn well please and not whenever I am told. I want my love, the same as you."

Regina shook her head, "I can't get you any of those things. You know I can't."

"You can get me off the mountain."

"You're not on the mountain." Regina tried.

"You know just as well as I do that I am. I want to really leave. Really travel. Really feel." The blonde looked at her, "Get me off the mountain and I will tell you everything I know, not just what I was sent here to tell you."

The witches stared at each other a long while, Maleficent giving her multiple chances to say yes, but getting nothing.

And finally when Regina did speak, "Let Emma out of the bathroom." were her only words.

"Very well." Maleficent unlocked the door, but did not open it.

Regina shook her head and began making her way to the bathroom door.

"She sent me here."

Maleficent's words made Regina stop in her tracks. She turned slowly, "What does she want?"

"She just wanted to tell you the usual: You're not running the kingdom like the Queen she raised you to be, but like the pathetic excuse for a King your father was; You shouldn't be uniting kingdoms to become larger lands, you should be taking them over; you're much too fair with your commoners and you tax much too little; your clothes are as horrendous as ever, 'You really mustn't stick with only black;' you're parading around giving damns where damns shouldn't be given…" She trailed off and looked at the Shadow Queen then to the door, "And she knows you're in love. And… as we all know, Regina: Love is Weakness." The hard, almost sad look in Maleficent's eyes gave Regina pause.

Emma barked loudly, begging to be let out of the bathroom. Regina turned, opened the door and turned back to see that Maleficent was gone. Emma barreled her way into the room and sniffed around before walking back over to Regina. Regina stared off into space and slid down the doorway.

Emma barked, but it didn't affect the brunette. She tried again to no avail. Finally she sniffed her face before licking it. This made the Queen put her hand up and pet her head before pulling the dog between her legs and hugging her. Emma licked under Regina's chin, hoping the woman would put together that she was still a dog. Finally Regina shook from her stupor and tapped Emma's wet nose, magicking her back to her human form.

She was still wearing the leash and quickly tugged it off before looking back to the woman that was holding her protectively.

"Who's 'she'?" Emma asked, not being able to stay quiet anymore.

"My mother."

AN: Thoughts and feels? Read and Review!