Surprise! Two chapters in one day! Although don't get your hopes up too high - I don't exactly deliver on the spoiler at the end of the last installment. My excuse is below...

Hook watched Emma bitterly through the bars of his cell where she lay curled up on the harsh, stone floor, shivering painfully as she dozed with her fever. In the dank, underground prison, he could not tell how many days had passed, but the guards had been back at least half a dozen times to transport Emma up to King George for him to extract more blood and continue to try and entice her to use her magic herself. Each time, she came back more and more drained, her skin paler and paler, either an old wound reopened and spilling blood or a new one marking her skin. The last two times, she had been completely unconscious upon her return.

But her weakened state when they brought her back was nothing compared to watching her writhe in palpable pain whenever King George used her magic above. She never knew when the sensation would hit, and for how long it would last. Sometimes it would wake her from her stupor suddenly with a jolt, lasting no more than a few moments but leaving a noticed mark on her well-being from which she never fully recovered. Sometimes, it would start slow and subtle, so that she thought maybe she could hide it from her inmate beside her, but more often than not it grew to a pain sharper and more unbearable than before, lasting longer and drawing shuddering whimpers from her as she tried to force herself to breathe through it. Trying to put on a brave face for Hook became a pipe dream.

He often tried to talk her through these episodes, hoping his voice could serve as a palliative for her to focus on and forget the pain. If she was close enough when the sensation hit, he would grab her hand and clutch it tightly in support, the grasp remaining long after the twitching had subsided. Sometimes, however, she was too far away, and slowly she had lost the strength even to move closer from wherever the guards had thrown her at the end of her last visit upstairs.

He hadn't slept in what felt like since he'd gotten here. Sometimes Emma was out of her cell long enough for him to doze off, but he was wrenched into their painful reality when she came back and could not gleam any semblance of rest with her shivering and sputtering beside him, in such clear pain as she slid in and out of her injured stupor, a feverish malady having been brought on by the infections from her unclean wounds.

In her absences, which had grown longer and longer in duration, he had scoured the cell for any semblance of an opportunity for escape. The bars, door and lock were unyielding, and the sentinels who brought their food equally immoveable. After a few attempts, he had stopped trying to wring any kind of help or kindness from them. Lack of sunlight and proper nourishment were taking their toll on him as well, and he felt his own energy draining, his will along with it. But her tortured form withering away next to him tickled his anxiety every waking hour, until the hopelessness of the situation threatened to consume him.

He heard the door wrench open down the aisle. He looked up as light cracked its way into the dungeon. He stood as he heard footsteps coming towards them. At least two pairs, maybe three. He looked down at Emma, who had shown no sign that she had heard the entrance, utterly concerned. They had only just brought her back a little while ago, completely unconscious and ghostly white. Hook had prodded her back to consciousness only to face her brutal fever and injuries as short, wheezing breaths rocked her skeletal form. If they carried on like this, she wasn't going to make it.

"You're going to kill her," he accused viciously, squinting at the silhouettes of those who entered as the light shined behind them, unable to make out their identities. Emma lay motionless on the ground of her cell, but Hook stepped towards the bars of his. He feared if they took her again in this state, she would not survive enough to come back to her cell. He feared if they took her now, he would not see her again.

There was no response, but as he watched the three figures approaching, he realized one of them looked very different. The form swaggered with an eerily familiar gate. As she advanced still closer he began to make out her features.

"Regina," Hook growled. While when they had last parted, he would not have considered her his biggest enemy or threat, after having spent the last days watching Emma deteriorate in a cell beside him, his anger for her rivaled that he held for the Imp.

Regina smiled slyly back at him. Emma stirred at the name, coughing as she attempted to sit up.

"Regina," she croaked, her hoarse voice surprised as she struggled to stand, bring up first one knee, the grasping the bars of her cell to pull herself upright. "Henry? Is he ok? Is he safe?"

"That's none of your concern," Regina purred maliciously.

"Why are you here?" Hook asked brusquely. He could sense that, whatever the reason, it wasn't good.

"I'm here for you, Hook," Regina said simply. "George and I have struck another little deal." She looked back to the two guards that had accompanied her. "Take him."

"What do you want with him?" Emma demanded, a coarse fear in her voice. Hook looked at her as the two guards came forward, opening the door to his cell.

"Again, that's none of your concern, Ms. Swan," she repeated as the guards grabbed Hook roughly and pinned him against the harsh rock wall at the back of his cell. He winced, the stones grazing his face, as they bound his hands behind his back. He looked at Emma, who had come up to their wall of shared bars, the effort of the movement itself causing her knees to buckle.

"Emma," he grunted. He wasn't quite sure why. Her eyes found his for a brief moment before the soldiers handling him wheeled him around again and forced him to his knees. Once he was secure, Regina stepped into the cell herself, towering over him.

"I am truly sorry to break up this little… whatever it is you two have going here," she said, her grin widening, casting an askance at Emma before returning her focus to the pirate.

"If you leave her here, she will die," Hook panted, looking up into her face hoping to see some kind of sympathy there. But there was nothing but hard malevolence.

"That's not really my problem, is it?" she asked, eyes cold as stone. She stood aside and nodded towards her guards, who forcefully shuffled Hook from his cell, dragging him down the hallway as he struggled feebly.

"Emma!" he called back after him, not even ashamed to seem weak or vulnerable.

"Don't hurt him," Emma croaked, voice raspy as her head spun dangerously. She sat back on her heels, mustering all her energy to not topple over.

"You can't just leave her here to die!" Hook was shouting, his voice waning as they dragged him from the room. A smile curled on her face as Emma looked up into her dark, unforgiving eyes.

"Of course I can," she whispered, words meant only for the woman in front of her. Emma didn't even have the energy to hate her as she finally succumbed to her feverish state and fell against the stone wall of her cell, Regina turning on her heel before her eyes and vanishing from sight.

Ok, sorry, NEXT chapter will have rescue plan stuff in it. This was supposed to be the first part of that chapter, but it ended up being longer than I expected, so when I finished it, I figured I'd just throw it up here before I move on. It has a decent cliff-hangery ending, so it works just fine.

There will be some Charming family feels in the next chapter, or mostly Snow's (and a bit of Charming and Neal's) reaction as she watches her daughter struggle through Regina's enchanted mirror. Also, an interesting conversation between her and Regina that I didn't expect to write, but it just came out of me and I liked it, so there. Stay tuned!