A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, favs, and follows! I'm so thankful for your support. I really am.
WARNING: more dark themes, a little bit of rape and mentions of rape.
Emma kicked at Ursula as she struggled to breathe under the witch's tight grip. She thrashed around a few times, but it only made Ursula coil her fingers even harder around her throat. She growled and yanked at Ursula's slimy hand in an attempt to get the Sea Witch to let go. All efforts were fruitless.
Ursula looked from Emma to Regina.
Regina weakly wriggled beneath her magical bonds in the chair. When Ursula's eyes met hers, she narrowed her gaze.
"You know who I am. You know what I could do to you," Regina threatened in a low tone.
"Oh, my dear, you could never defeat me. You're nothing without your magic," Ursula teased in a sickly sweet voice. "And right now I assume you're fairly powerless."
Emma kicked again and her foot connected with Ursula's stomach, just beneath her heavy breasts.
Ursula's attention turned from Regina back to Emma. A fire burned in her eyes, much like one Emma had seen in Regina's eyes on occasion.
"Easy now, girl. It's only going to make things worse for you."
With a flick her wrist, Emma's arms and legs stretched out on the table. In one fluid movement, her wrists and ankles were bound to the table.
Ursula released her hold on Emma's throat and took a step back.
Emma gasped to take in as much air as she could then coughed when it became too much for her lungs.
"I should just kill you where you stand," Ursula snarled as she approached Regina.
Ursula reached out and ran a hand down one of the former Queen's cheeks. She lightly scraped a single long fingernail down Regina's cheek to her jawline. She left a red mark, but didn't draw blood.
Regina turned her head to move away from the touch.
Ursula allowed it before she slowly brought her hand back down to her side. She gave a low chuckle as she intensely stared at the brunette.
"I see you've clothed her. Have you healed her too?"
Regina didn't respond. She matched Ursula's gaze and refused to blink as they glared at each other. She wouldn't lose the staring contest they had easily fallen into.
Ursula backed away from Regina and redirected her attention at Emma again.
"Come now. Let's see what the Evil Queen has done to help you."
Ursula lifted herself onto the table and slithered over Emma's shins. She stopped at Emma's knees and straddled the blonde.
Emma scrunched up her face in disgust and pulled at the magical bonds around her wrists.
"Get off me," Emma barked.
Ursula shook her head and darkly laughed as she leaned in and grabbed the hem of Emma's green shirt.
"I'll do no such thing," Ursula replied before she pushed up Emma's shirt.
Emma squirmed in an attempt to throw Ursula off balance and free herself from the Sea Witch.
Regina leaned back against the chair when Ursula focused on Emma, though she also trained her eyes on the blonde. She watched as Ursula pushed Emma's shirt – the shirt she'd conjured for the blonde – up to her shoulders.
Emma growled and rolled back and forth on the table in another attempt to free herself. Yet another fruitless effort.
Ursula laughed again.
"You are one twisted bitch," Emma angrily said through gritted teeth as she continued to struggle.
"Why thank you, dear. I try," Ursula quipped.
Regina pushed against her magical restraints. She scrunched up her face in obvious pain as the restraints seared her in punishment for her resistance. Skillfully self-trained, she made no sound.
Ursula hooked a single finger into the front of Emma's bra between the cups. With a firm, quick yank, Ursula ripped the bra from the blonde.
Regina stopped fighting the restraints and relaxed her expression when Ursula removed the younger woman's bra. She didn't stare at Emma's bare breasts, but she did observe the half-naked blonde. It wasn't with lust filled eyes, though Emma did have plenty to be proud of, but with a bit of concern.
Ursula gazed upon Emma's pale flesh. She mischievously grinned with a certain cruelty in her dark eyes.
"Such a beautiful specimen you are," Ursula complimented with a purr.
Her eyes looked to Emma's right breast and frowned.
"Though I preferred you marked," Ursula added before she surged forward and bit Emma's previously abused nipple.
Emma tensed and yelled out in agony. She squeezed her eyes shut and fought against burning bonds at her wrists and ankles. She turned her head to the side, her face contorted to display her displeasure, and opened her eyes. The second they popped open, she felt a shock at her nipple and jerked a little at the strange sensation.
Ursula hurriedly pulled away from Emma and glared at Regina, seething.
"You shocked me!"
Emma stared at Regina as Ursula slid off her and slithered over to the brunette. She looked disbelievingly at the former Queen upon hearing Ursula's claim about the cause for the shock she too had felt.
Regina kept her eyes zeroed in on Ursula. She appeared defiant, ever the confident Queen, though she'd lost that title decades ago.
"What a fool," Ursula growled before she aggressively slapped Regina across the face.
Regina made the softest of sounds close to that of a grunt when Ursula's hand connected with her cheek, but nothing more. She took the hit almost obediently as her head was forced to one side. She barely gave herself a moment to collect herself – though to Emma she already seemed collected – before she turned to look at Ursula again. She grinned and chuckled under her breath.
"You dare laugh? In your position," Ursula asked, somewhat offended if her tone was anything to go by.
"You think I'm so powerless. So weak," Regina slowly said. "Yet you've heard of my mother, have you not?"
Emma furrowed her brow as she watched the exchange between Sea Queen and Evil Queen.
"I have," Ursula cautiously replied.
"Then you should know my mother didn't tolerate insolence nor weakness. Despite your beliefs, my mother taught me well."
"I'm not sure she feels the same," Ursula said before she flicked her wrist and wrapped more magical restraints around Regina.
The bonds secured Regina's shoulders, chest, and waist to the chair. They tightly held her there and squeezed tighter at Ursula's silent command.
Emma watched the restraints attempt to squeeze the life out of Regina. She took the opportunity to fight her own restraints while Ursula's attention was elsewhere.
Regina felt the restraints crush her lungs, but she refused to let it show how much it hurt. She'd felt the same type of pressure several times before at Cora's hand. She usually submitted to her mother, but she wouldn't submit to Ursula.
"I can tell because you and I share the same weakness," Ursula said. "Although, the object of my weakness is long since gone."
Ursula conjured a whip and eased up only slightly on Regina's restraints. She turned back to Emma and tsked the blonde when she saw the human struggle against her bonds.
Emma stilled her movements and acknowledged Ursula.
Regina kept her mask of indifference in place, but her eyes wandered to Emma.
"You're even feistier than Ariel. My dear, sweet, naïve, Ariel. I wouldn't have hurt her as much if she'd only loved me back," Ursula admitted.
Ursula raised the whip and brought it down with brute force.
Blood flowed freely from the long lash that extended from the valley between Emma's breasts to her hip.
Emma hissed in pain as she arched her back high off the table.
Regina remained stoic.
Ursula devilishly grinned and licked her lips, her focus still solely on Emma.
"It could be deeper. If it were, there would be much more of your sweet blood. I've never tasted anything as divine."
Ursula didn't get on the table that time as she leaned over Emma's body and effortlessly dug a single long fingernail into the lash on Emma's skin.
Emma groaned as she resisted the urge to scream while Ursula ran her fingernail down the length of the lash mark.
When Ursula reached the end of the cut, she slipped a second fingernail inside it. She ran both nails up the length of the wound and further tore it open.
The most inhuman and guttural screech ripped itself from Emma's vocal chords.
Regina lost control of her mask and cringed.
Suddenly, a burst of white light surged from Emma's chest and threw Ursula back several feet like she'd done to Cora at Lake Nostos.
Emma's magical outburst gave her a few moments of reprieve. She sniffled and relaxed her body as blood continued to trickle over her pale skin. A few tears rolled down her face as she turned to Regina and opened her eyes. She stared straight into brown eyes through her watery green orbs.
Regina looked as stunned as Emma had when she'd blasted Cora the first time.
Emma lashed a lopsided, tired smile at Regina just as Ursula righted herself and slithered back toward the table.
"It appears you have quite the power yourself," Ursula bitterly said as she approached. "Someone needs to learn their place."
Ursula waved an arm and made Emma's bonds disappear with a spark. In an instant, Ursula flipped Emma onto her stomach and had her restrained against the table once more.
Emma grunted when her open wound pressed into the wooden table. When her face connected with the table's surface, she immediately fought the magical bonds.
Ursula wickedly chuckled and slithered toward Regina.
"In fact," Ursula continued. "Both of you need to know your place."
Ursula made Regina's restraints disappear and magically forced the woman onto her feet. She grabbed Regina's shirt front and pulled her over to the table. She threw Regina against the edge of the wood and pressed the brunette's hips into it. She made new restraints around Regina's wrists and bound her to the table, her hands at Emma's side.
Ursula jabbed the backs of Regina's knees with a hard swipe of one of her tentacles. She forced the former Queen onto her knees and bound her ankles to the wet ground.
"Every time she fights me," Ursula started. "You will be whipped."
Regina's eyes found Emma's and the two of them stared in silence for a moment. She knew Emma would fight. The resilient woman had been fighting her since the day Emma came to Storybrooke.
Regina clenched her fists as Ursula moved to one end of the table.
Ursula twirled a pointed finger and made Emma's jeans disappear. She lifted herself onto the table again and grinned at Regina.
Emma's eyes bulged and panic set in. She squirmed and thrashed around as she tugged at her restraints.
"Get the hell away from me, you hag," Emma loudly spat.
With a snap of Ursula's fingers, a long gash appeared across Regina's back as if by an invisible whip.
Regina tensed and looked from Ursula to Emma. She noticed Emma's frantic movements as the blonde's breathing became shallow and labored.
The whip mark had sliced through Regina's shirt and easily drew blood. As Regina looked at Emma fight, even as Ursula had yet to do anything to her, she knew it wouldn't be her last lash received.
Ursula slithered between Emma's spread legs and leaned forward. She clawed at Emma's exposed ass as she slid a tentacle toward the young woman's sex.
Emma bucked her hips to shift her body away from the Sea Witch. She growled and squeezed her eyes shut.
Ursula snapped her fingers.
Regina felt more skin on her back split open. Warm liquid spilled from the new lash mark. She clenched her jaw and held a heated gaze, though she stared at nothing in particular. She was concentrated and stuck inside the confines of her own mind.
"Get off me," Emma yelled.
Emma jerked away from Ursula and pulled at her restraints with even more conviction.
Another lash on Regina's back.
Regina went deeper into her own mind.
Emma gritted her teeth and thought of a flickering flame.
The tip of Ursula's tentacle teasingly flicked up and down Emma's folds.
Emma squeezed her eyes shut and imagined the flame turn into a raging fire. She thrashed around from side to side and lurched forward.
Two more lashes on Regina's back. The brunette's shirt had been ripped to shreds where the invisible whip had struck her.
Purple swirled in her eyes and she finally tuned her head to look at one of the them. Regina locked her gaze on Emma.
"No," Emma screamed as she clenched her fists.
A lash appeared on Regina's forearm.
Regina hissed.
Emma focused on the crackling of the fire in her mind.
"You foolish girl," Ursula sneered at Regina as she provided the brunette with another painful lash mark on her back. "You should learn to better control those around you."
Emma felt Ursula push the tip of her tentacle inside her and her eyes popped open. She saw the fire clearly and before she could yell any more protests, the fire burned away her and Regina's restraints.
Ursula forced herself further into Emma and purred.
Emma screamed and pushed herself up onto all fours before she tried to flip onto her back.
Just as Emma started to turn onto her side, she felt Ursula's tentacle lazily retreat. She continued to turn around and when she faced Ursula, she immediately understood why the Sea Witch had removed her tentacle.
Regina yanked Ursula's heat out of her chest and held the glowing red and black – though more black than red – organ in her fist. She closed her fist around the heart and caused Ursula to clutch her chest.
Emma watched with wide eyes as Regina squeezed the heart in her fist.
"I'm not weak," Regina snarled. "I'm the Evil Queen."
Regina crushed Ursula's heart. As the dust seeped from her closed fist, Ursula fell limp into a puddle on the floor. Regina slowly opened her fist and the rest of the dust rained down into the puddle alongside Ursula.
"Regina," Emma softly breathed out.
Regina turned to Emma and the purple glow flickered in her eyes until it finally faded. She blinked and heavily exhaled.
Emma gulped when Regina's brown eyes looked her over. She self-consciously brought her knees to her chest and placed her feet in front of her uncovered sex. She wrapped her arms around her ankles and never once took her eyes off Regina.
Regina wobbled where she stood.
"Regina?"
Emma replaced her sudden need for modesty with concern as she watched Regina sway toward her.
Regina shot a hand out and tried to brace herself on the table.
Emma unwrapped herself from her protective hold and slid to the edge of the table. Her legs dangled over the side just as Regina reached out for the table.
Regina collapsed, but Emma quickly caught her.
Emma placed a hand under Regina's arm and slid completely off the table. She turned Regina around as she came to stand behind the other woman and used both arms to keep Regina on her feet.
Regina sank into Emma's embrace as her back pressed against Emma's front.
Both women hissed as their open wounds brushed against each other.
Regina's eyes slipped closed and her knees buckled beneath her.
Emma took all of Regina's dead weight on herself as they fell to the ground together. She wrapped her arms around Regina's chest and held the brunette between her legs, the back of Regina's head on her shoulder.
"Regina?"
No response.
Emma shifted their position to look at Regina. She felt the other woman's chest rise and fall, but her eyes were closed.
"Regina, what do I do?"
Again, no response.
"Come on," Emma pleaded. "I can't find the ship by myself and I suck at magic."
Emma brushed hair out of Regina's face and rested her chin on top of the other woman's head.
"Of course you pick now to pass out," Emma dryly said. "...Time to wake up, Regina."
She jostled Regina in her arms, but the brunette didn't stir.
"Seriously?"
Emma sighed.
"Please don't leave me to my thoughts," she quietly said. "Just get me out of here. Please, Regina."
As Emma ran her hand through Regina's hair again, she didn't notice the purple smoke that started to engulf them until they were completely surrounded by it.
"Where's all the rum," Jack asked Hook.
"Gone," Hook replied as he stood behind the wheel, Jack at his side.
Jack glared at Hook as he eyed the man up and down.
"Gone? Why is the rum gone?"
"I haven't used this ship much in quite some time. I had whiskey," Hook said as he shot Rumple a dirty look from across the ship, though Rumple didn't see it. "But it too is gone I'm afraid."
Rumple stood by the globe with Snow and Charming, the latter two in worried parent mode for the last several hours. He gripped his cane out of frustration as he heard Snow hyperventilate and breakdown.
"David, it's almost sundown," Snow shrieked. "What if she's dead? What if Regina killed her? What if she really was working with Ursula and the only reason she went after Emma was to double team her?"
"Snow, you've been playing the what if game for the last few hours," Charming tiredly replied. "Regina promised if Ursula became a problem that no harm would come to Emma."
"You should listen to your husband," Rumple spoke up through gritted teeth.
Both Snow and Charming shared a confused look as they furrowed their brows and turned to Rumple.
"What do you know," Snow asked, her confusion replaced with suspicion.
Rumple only stared at her. If he was going to reply, he never got the chance.
A cloud of purple smoke appeared across deck and caught the imp's attention.
Snow and Charming simultaneously turned and followed Rumple's line of sight to see the purple smoke.
Snow dropped her jaw and instinctively took Charming's hand. Charming squeezed it as he watched the smoke clear with hope-filled eyes.
Emma blinked, completely shocked and in a daze, as she looked around the Jolly Roger with Regina in her arms.
"Emma!"
Snow and Charming rushed over to their daughter as Emma held Regina close.
With Regina in front of her, they didn't know the full extent of Emma's dress until they got close enough to see bare legs and shoulders.
Charming stopped in front of Emma and an unconscious Regina and took in his daughter's appearance.
Emma stared up at him in embarrassment.
"Oh," Snow said in realization when she saw Emma's lack of clothes from the blonde's side.
Emma gulped as her cheeks reddened and heated under her parents' gaze and looked from her father to her mother.
Charming shrugged out of his coat and held it out to Emma as he averted his eyes.
"Thanks," Emma said as she reached up and took the coat.
Snow shed her own coat as well and held it up to shield Emma from sight. She looked around the ship and noticed everyone's eyes – two pirates' and a slimy older man's – on Emma. She kept her daughter cloaked until Emma rose to her feet.
When Emma stood up, she brought Regina with her. She grunted as she struggled to hold the brunette upright.
"What happened," Charming asked as Snow put her coat back on. "Where's Ursula?"
"Dead," Emma answered.
"Why are you naked," Charming asked as he accusingly looked over Regina.
Emma didn't reply.
In the time Emma kept quiet, Charming wrenched Regina away from Emma.
"She let this happen," Charming growled. "She was supposed to protect you!"
"Dad!"
"David!"
Charming threw an arm around Regina's waist and quickly felt something warm and sticky.
Snow stared with a horrified expression at the sight of Regina's blood covered back.
Charming frowned as he pulled his arm back and saw red stain his skin.
"She did protect me," Emma said. "Ursula's dead because of her. Though she had enough selfish reasons to kill the hag, she still did it and that's all that matters to me. If she hadn't-"
Emma stopped herself before she carefully thought over her next words.
"Ursula could've done some serious damage if she hadn't," Emma finished as she looked between Snow and Charming.
"She...she brought you back to us," Snow said as a tear rolled down her cheek and hugged Emma.
Charming looked from Emma to his wife and sighed when Snow locked eyes with him.
Snow looked at him with soft yet warning eyes.
Instantly, Charming knew what he had to do.
"You must be tired," he started. "You've been gone for almost an entire day and I'm sure dealing with Ursula wasn't easy."
"You have no idea," Emma answered without thinking.
Snow let go of Emma while Charming continued.
"Why don't I take you and Regina back to your room and you can get some rest," Charming suggested.
"Actually, I could use a drink."
"Oh, then I've got just the thing for you, love," Jack said with a smile as he walked toward Emma.
Emma looked him over and groaned.
"You've got to be kidding me. Jack Sparrow is real too? He's not even a fairy tale character."
"Captain Jack Sparrow," Jack pointedly corrected. "Listen, why don't I fetch us some rum from me ship and you can have that drink. Savvy?"
Emma closed her eyes and sighed.
"Why not. Dad, can you take Regina back to the room?"
"Sure, but Emma?"
Charming leaned in so only his daughter could hear.
"What about your clothes?"
"I don't have anything else to wear. I'll just have to wait for Regina to wake up and conjure me new ones."
"Or," Rumple interrupted as he stepped forward and waved a hand. Red smoke swirled around Emma.
Underneath Charming's coat, Emma stood in a white turtleneck and dark skinny jeans.
Emma looked down and inspected her new outfit, though it wasn't really new since she'd worn it before back home in Storybrooke.
"What about-" Snow started only to be cut off.
"Payment? This favor's free of charge," Rumple said.
"Thank you," Charming said.
"Right. Well," Emma started. "I'm gonna go have a drink with Captain Jack Sparrow."
Jack had kindly given Hook a few barrels of rum from his ship after Emma skillfully persuaded him. She'd shared a few mugs with the apparently-not-so-fictional pirate before she left Sparrow's ship and climbed back onto the Jolly Roger, but not before she'd asked for an easily accessible supply of rum.
Jack had seen a fierceness in the blonde that he admired. It was one he recognized in the at first overly feminine turned wily Elizabeth Swan. He'd grinned at Emma when she'd asked to take some rum aboard the Jolly Roger and had some of his men carry over four barrels of it.
"What's your name anyhow," Jack had asked her as she rejoined the passengers on Hook's smaller ship.
"Emma. Emma Swan."
"Swan," he repeated with intrigue.
"Yeah," Emma casually replied. "Weird name, right?"
"Actually, no. I knew a woman once."
"Oh, right. Elizabeth. If your real, I guess that means she is too."
"Aye."
"Good thing you gave me that rum. Looks like I'm gonna need it."
Two hours later, Emma sat in the narrow hall of the barracks with yet another tin cup of rum. She gulped down a mouthful of liquid and let it burn down her throat and into her chest.
"What do we have here," Hook asked as he slowly approached the sitting blonde.
Emma held her knees to her chest with a loosely draped arm over her ankles. She rested her cup on top of one of her knees as she kept her fingers wrapped around the drink.
"How many have you had, Swan," Hook persisted with a curious tilt of his head.
He stopped in front of her and kept a few feet between them.
"Doesn't matter. Enough to numb myself," Emma tiredly answered with her back against the wall outside her and Regina's room.
"What happened down there? With Ursula?"
He sounded genuinely concerned.
"...Nothing."
Emma tipped back the cup and chugged two shots worth of rum. She winced at the taste and grunted in response to the aftertaste.
"Mind if I join you?"
Hook pointed to the floor beside Emma, but didn't move otherwise.
"Go ahead."
Hook moved forward and sat down next to her. Just as he leaned back against the wall, Emma silently offered him her drink.
"Thanks," Hook said as he accepted the proffered rum. "So what happened with Sparrow? You two have that drink?"
Hook took an indulgent sip then handed the drink back to Emma.
"We had three," Emma replied as she took the cup.
Emma threw back the rum and chugged the remainder of it before she set the cup aside.
"He's just like the movie version of Jack. He's very...smooth," Emma slurred.
Hook raised an eyebrow.
"You two didn't...you know."
Emma furrowed her brow and stared at him in deep concentration as she tried to understand Hook. When realization dawned on her, she talked over him as the words "you know" fell from his lips.
"No," Emma quickly answered. "No. Of course not. I wouldn't even kiss him let alone..."
Emma trailed off as the image of her and Jack being intimate made her shiver with repulsion.
"Just...no," Emma finished with a shake of her head. "I mean, he's kind of attractive, but it's like...being around him is surreal. He looks so much like Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and that's just confusing and unbelievable and...surreal!"
Hook seemed to hang off every slurred word.
"Anyway, I should get some sleep."
Emma awkwardly tried to stand and clumsily managed to get to her feet. She stopped herself from stumbling when she placed a hand on the door frame of her room.
Hook stood with her and held out his hand in case she fell over. But she never did.
"Careful, love," Hook said as Emma held herself upright and stood outside the door for another moment.
He walked around to look her in the eyes when he noticed her flushed cheeks and stained shirt. His eyes wandered down from her chest to her hip and saw a streak of red that soaked through her white shirt.
"Are you alright," Hook asked with a bit of panic and worry.
Emma looked down at her shirt and giggled.
"Yeah. Regina passed out from magical exhaustion or whatever so I have to wait until she wakes up before she can fix it," Emma drunkenly answered.
"I don't think you're alright. You should really have that looked at."
Emma dismissively waved a hand at him.
"I'll be fine. A little blood loss never hurt anyone."
"I'm fairly certain it's killed people," Hook argued.
"Don't worry about it," Emma said as she swayed into the room in her inebriated state. "Besides, none of us on this ship are qualified doctors anyway."
Before Hook could say anything else, Emma shut the door on his face. She stumbled toward the bunk beds and ran a hand through her hair. She stopped in front of the beds and looked down at Regina. She blew out a sigh and dropped down to her knees at the other woman's bedside.
Regina laid on her stomach, still unconscious. The whip marks on her back were still present and appeared even more gruesome in the candlelight that filled most of the small room. With each breath she took, her ripped shirt briefly parted open a little further to reveal more of the cruel lashes.
Though the rum clouded her mind a bit, she looked over their position and realized the similarities. She shot onto her feet and shuffled back a few steps. She disregarded the pain she felt as she moved and crawled into her bunk. She laid on her back and sniffled as she choked on soft sobs.
Regina woke up to the sound of crying. She could tell the person responsible for all the noises made tried to be quiet, but Regina was in pain and in close proximity to that person. No matter how much they suppressed their hiccuped breathing, occasional whimpers, and thick sobs, Regina wouldn't be sleeping until the throbbing tension in her back considerably lessened.
Emma whimpered as she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed the drenched material of her shirt against the deep and lengthy cut that ran down her front. She rolled onto her side to cry into the pillow when she barely opened her eyes enough to see an equally pained woman stand before her. She opened her eyes completely and took in the sight of Regina. As she stared into brown eyes, she started to calm down.
"Are you okay," Regina softly asked.
"Yeah," Emma said before she sniffled.
She pushed off the bed to prop herself up on an elbow and cringed. She didn't stop her movements, however, and even pushed further to sit up. Her entire front stung, but she achieved her goal and sat with her legs draped over the side of the bed.
"What about you," Emma asked as she ignored her own struggle.
"I need you to heal me," Regina plainly said. "And from the looks of it, you still need healing yourself."
Regina reached out and clutched the hem of Emma's shirt with one fist.
"Don't," Emma resisted before Regina could lift her shirt.
Emma covered Regina's hand with one of her own and detached it from her shirt.
Emma gulped and saw sympathy – maybe even empathy – in Regina's eyes. Quickly, she averted her eyes and released Regina's hand.
"I'm sorry," Regina honestly apologized. "I just need to see the wound. I can't heal you if I don't know the extent of the damage."
Emma stared at Regina for a long moment before she sighed and grabbed the bottom of her own shirt with both hands. She peeled it off and set it down in a clump beside her on the bed.
Regina's eyes scanned over the bloody streak. She looked sad and even a little guilty as her eyes looked over the wound before they met Emma's in an intense gaze.
"Are you sure you can use your magic," Emma asked when the silence between them spoke all too loudly for her liking.
"I'm about to find out."
Regina stepped closer and carefully raised a hand as if to touch Emma's gash. Her hand hovered over the wound and she tried to keep calm as she reached inside herself for her magic. She went from looking at the whip mark to looking straight into green eyes, though her magic had yet to cooperate.
"You can't do it, can you," Emma stated more than asked.
"I..." Regina apologetically stared at Emma as she started, but trailed off just before she felt a warmth between her outstretched hand and Emma's torso.
Both Regina and Emma looked down to see a purple glow form between them.
"Whoa," Emma breathed out. "Okay, maybe I'll get hurt more often."
Regina furrowed her brow.
"Why would you do that, dear?"
"Your magic feels so...good," Emma said without thinking. "It's better than sex!"
Regina's jaw dropped a little when she heard Emma's words. Her magic surged outward and pulsed into Emma.
Emma gave a soft moan and leaned forward. She reached out and placed a hand on Regina's shoulder to steady herself.
Regina gasped at the effect of her magic, but the gasp quickly turned into baited breath when Emma's hand on her shoulder produced a warm and energetic feeling. Regina recognized it to be only one thing: magic.
Emma lifted her head to look at Regina. Their eyes locked for a moment before her glowing hand brought her attention to Regina's shoulder.
Regina followed Emma's gaze and saw the golden glow that came from the blonde's touch. She felt her skin start to repair, every lash on her back sealing just as Emma's lash did thanks to her own magic.
"You're doing it," Regina said with awe and disbelief.
Regina looked from her shoulder to Emma.
When Emma felt Regina's eyes on her, she turned her head and met the brunette's gaze. She panted as she locked eyes with Regina. She didn't know what was happening or what she was feeling, but there was something there. There was a spark beneath the surface.
"I didn't even tell you how," Regina added, completely dumbfounded but amazed.
"I just...I felt your magic and then I- I just did it," Emma replied.
Regina didn't know what to say, but she did want to say something. But she also didn't get the chance.
Purple and gold faded as both their wounds completely healed, including the whip mark on Regina's forearm.
Both women felt the loss of magic course through them, both their own magic as well as the other's. They each heavily exhaled and slumped forward, toward each other.
Emma's forehead came to rest on the top of Regina's head while Regina's forehead pressed lightly against the bridge of Emma's nose.
"What was that," Emma slowly and breathlessly asked.
"I don't know," Regina admitted just as breathlessly.
As if just then realizing their current position, Regina pulled away from Emma as fast as though she'd been burned.
Emma gripped the edge of the bed harder to keep herself from falling off of it. She'd leaned onto Regina and used the other woman to stabilize her after their magic use, but when Regina pulled away, it off-set her balance.
"Thank you...for healing me," Regina said as she refused to look Emma in the eyes. "You should get some rest."
Regina turned to leave, but Emma stopped her.
"I can't sleep," Emma quietly confessed. "I-"
Regina slowly turned around.
"I'm not okay," Emma said in an even quieter tone.
Regina stepped closer to Emma again, back to her previous position in front of her. She didn't reach out for her, though part of her seemed to want to.
"Is there a way you can get her off me," Emma asked, as small as a child in that moment.
Regina shook her head.
"I can still feel her. And those slimy tentacles."
Emma scrunched up her face in disgust and shuddered.
"I'm sorry. There really isn't anything I can do. If there was a way, I would've done it myself years ago in the Enchanted Forest."
Emma looked sadly up at Regina. Tears started to well up in her eyes.
"I never let anything like that happen to me while I was in the system," Emma admitted. "There were plenty of times people tried to, but I fought back. I've never felt so violated."
Regina looked down at the floor.
"Yes, I know exactly how that feels," Regina softly said.
"And on top of that, you saw everything," Emma continued. "I've never cared about modesty, but...it seems so dirty, so wrong, to have been in that position. I mean, to have someone watch."
"If it makes you feel better, which I'm sure it won't, I didn't see much," Regina said.
Emma looked up at Regina, but her gaze wasn't returned.
"And for the record, it is worse," Regina continued. "To have an audience. They'll watch someone take what they can from you, what everyone believes to be the thing they deserve from you. They'll watch that person assert their power and even though they're just guards, people that don't really matter, it still makes you feel twice as filthy. And that, that you can't wash off no matter how often or how hard you scrub at your skin."
Regina slowly lifted her gaze and locked eyes with Emma.
"The guards watched you," Emma asked, a little horrified. "When?"
"Just on our wedding night. Someone had to be there to ensure the union was consummated so two of them stood by the door to do just that," Regina said before she shook her head. "But why am I telling you this?"
Regina tried to leave again, but Emma slid off the top bunk and grabbed her by the elbow. She carefully, though not too slowly, turned Regina to face her.
"You saved me," Emma said after a moment.
"I saved myself," Regina corrected.
Emma shook her head.
"You could have told me not to fight her. You could have told me to just accept what was happening so she didn't attack you. But you just looked at me. You looked at me like you would be the one to just accept it all."
"Because I knew you'd fight, especially if I told you not to. Since when do you ever listen to me."
"You brought me back to the ship. You transported us."
Regina furrowed her brow.
"I did no such thing."
"Yes, you did. I begged you to get us out of there and then purple smoke swirled around us. Next thing I know, I'm holding you on the deck of the ship."
"Miss Swan, the last thing I remember before waking up in this very room was crushing Ursula's heart with my bare hand. I can assure you however we got back to the ship, it wasn't my doing."
"Then how...?"
Realization dawned on Regina before Emma could piece it together.
"That was all you," Regina said before a proud smile stretched across her face.
"I transported us? But when you told me to do that after you broke us out of the dungeon, I couldn't do it."
"You, unfortunately,must have been thinking too much instead of feeling," Regina explained before something Emma said finally sunk in."You were holding me?"
"Oh...uh...yeah. Well, you kind of collapsed in Ursula's palace. I caught you before you could hit the ground and I just kind of..."
Emma shrugged as she trailed off. She didn't finish her sentence that time. She just let it hang in the thickened air between them.
"There's a spell," Regina broke through the awkward silence. "I can help you fall asleep."
"No."
"No?"
"Save your magic," Emma elaborated on her refusal. "You've drained yourself twice already. Henry's gonna need you at full strength if we're going to face Peter Pan. And presumably the Lost Boys."
"You should really sleep, dear. Henry will need you at full strength as well."
"I know. I'll figure it out."
"If you say so," Regina started. "May I have my arm back?"
"That depends."
Regina arched an eyebrow.
"Are you gonna help me?"
"I just offered to-"
"Not with magic."
"How else can I help you," Regina asked with genuine bewilderment.
"Um...well, I can't...when this stuff happens and I can't sleep, I usually go out to a bar, get drunk, and take some random guy back to my apartment for a good roll in the sheets."
"Are you asking me to have sex with you," Regina asked as she took a step back.
Emma still didn't let go of Regina's arm so she took a step forward with Regina before she quickly answered.
"No," Emma practically yelled.
Regina looked a little offended and Emma lowered her tone before she continued.
"No, I just don't want to be alone."
"So...you're asking me to stay with you?"
"Will you?"
Regina shifted in place. She gulped and took a step toward Emma.
"Okay. But only because I don't want our son to die because you're delirious from lack of sleep."
Emma smiled and started to back up toward the bunk beds.
"Thank you."
Emma let go of Regina's arm before she turned to see she'd made it to the bed. She bent over and slid into the bottom bunk.
"And just what do you think you're doing," Regina asked with a raised brow.
"Getting into bed."
"My bed."
Emma grinned.
"Afraid I'll bite, Your Majesty," Emma teased.
Regina rolled her eyes and leaned in to join Emma.
"Any funny business, Miss Swan, and I'll leave," Regina said as she slipped in next to Emma.
"I think I can keep my hands to myself," Emma said. "Just don't use any of your magic on me."
"Can I at least conjure you a new shirt," Regina said as she looked over Emma's topless state.
Emma looked down at herself.
"Oh," she laughed before she looked up at Regina. "Yeah, I'm okay with that."
Regina waved a hand and dressed Emma in one of her typical white tank tops while she also conjured herself a black V-neck.
"Thanks again," Emma said after she'd taken in their new appearances.
"...You're welcome."
Emma squirmed around for a few seconds before she made herself comfortable with her back against the wall and faced Regina.
Regina laid with her back to the room and faced Emma. She didn't have to move much to make herself comfortable, but there was a small amount of wriggling on her part. She stared at Emma while the blonde remained wide awake.
"You'll never get any rest if you don't close your eyes," Regina said.
"We're gonna have to figure out what to do with Henry when we find him," Emma voiced her thoughts. "Who he stays with."
"One thing at a time. Let's worry about finding him. We've got the trip back to Storybrooke to come up with an arrangement."
"And crushing Ursula's heart. Did you...enjoy that?"
"Shh," Regina lifted a hand to brush blonde hair out of her face. "Sleep."
As Regina's hand caressed the younger woman's cheek, a faint purple glow came from her hand.
Emma's eyes fluttered closed as the blonde contentedly hummed.
Regina slowly pulled back her hand when she thought Emma was asleep.
"No," Regina quietly answered.
After a few moments of watching Emma sleep, she placed a hand over the blonde's heart and closed her eyes. She felt it beat beneath her hand before she heard it in her ears. She tried to slow and control her own breathing so her heart could beat at the same rhythm as Emma's. She only achieved success when sleep claimed her as well.
A/N: Okay, so I wanted to update 2 chapters this weekend because I'm trying to get us to the Peter Pan/Lost Boys before season 3 starts, but I just couldn't get the chapters done fast enough. Sorry. But the good news is the next chapter of this should be done somewhat soon. I've got at least 4 pages done so far.
Anyway, leave a review and let me know what you think!