There she was again.

Pacing.

She really needed to find another way to let out her frustrations.

Ruby paced back and forth in front of Reginas hospital bed, she had been doing that ever since her mate and Emma had informed her of their suspicions on Reginas accident.

She had felt herself get angrier and angrier the more she heard, the more the possibility of someone trying to hurt Regina became more possible. Ruby had already been beside herself with Reginas accident when she thought it was only just an accident, but now with the possibility that someone was out there trying to hurt her mate on purpose she felt like she was going to melt right through the floor. Even if it was only a slight possibility, it was still too much for Ruby to be comfortable with. No one hurt her mate, she wouldn't even allow anyone to even THINK about hurting her mate if she had her way. So of course she was going to help in any way she could, if someone had caused the accident then she was going to hunt them down like the ferocious predator she was.

Regina kept glancing back and forth between her true love and Ruby. Emma was standing next to her bed like a statue, arms crossed tightly across her chest and a permanent frown on her face that hadn't left since the conversation started. Ruby was pacing in front of her bed, arms also crossed and a frown also taking up residence on her face. The wolf girl looked like she could transform at any second, Regina would have been worried she'd do so if she didn't trust Ruby to control herself. Henry had gone to get something to snack on, he already knew what the conversation was going to be about.

" So", Ruby started, after a couple seconds of silence had gone by, she didn't stop her pacing. " Are you sure about this?, if you are then this just got a whole lot more serious", she said. She trusted Reginas judgement, and Emma never jumped to conclusions without at least having something to back it up.

Emma gave a terse nod, " As much as I hate to admit it, cars just don't flip around like that for no reason. Especially when Regina takes driving as seriously as she takes her mayor duties", said Emma.

Regina pursed her lips slightly, then she spoke. " Also, we can't forget that not everyone in Storybrook has forgiven me for my past actions. Most people still regard me with reluctant acceptance, and that's on good days", she said, Ruby and Emma both looked at her. " As it stands, plenty of people in this town have reason to attempt at my life. Most aren't brave enough to do it because of my magic, or because now I'm technically part of the Charming family who they see as their royal family. But, that doesn't mean there aren't a few brave enough souls that would love to take revenge on the evil queen", she finished. Even though she's come to accept responsibility for her actions in the past, and she's trying really hard to make up for them she still hated being reminded of it. Ever since discovering the light magic she still surprisingly possessed, she felt so ashamed in herself for succumbing to darkness for so many years. Even though Rumple played a major part in her downward spiral into the abyss, she still couldn't deny the part she also played. Before she could fully surrender herself to the shame she felt for her past, she felt two soft but strong hands grasp each of her own, that indescribable feeling of completeness filling her heart.

Looking up she first met Emmas soft green eyes, then looking to the left she met Rubys intense blue eyes. They were both holding onto her hands, staring intensely at her.

Emma spoke up, " Your not that person anymore babe, and your trying really hard to make up for it and doing a wonderful job. The past doesn't make us who we are, our actions in the now is what shapes our present ", she stated strongly. She reached out with one of her hands and laid it gently against Reginas cheek, stroking the soft skin softly.

Ruby wanted so bad to do the same, to lean down and kiss the pain she saw in Reginas eyes away. But she had to remember herself, god this sucked. But she settled herself with holding onto her mates hand, trying to give her as much comfort as she could. " Emma's right, the fact that you're trying to be a good person and making up for the mistakes you've made puts you above most people i know. Also, no one has any right to take a life just based on revenge", she said, she unconsciously started stroking Reginas soft hand.

Regina took all the comfort they gave her, she knew it would take more then that to ever completely cleanse all the pain away. But she felt like this was a good start, Emma and Ruby together. " Thank you", she whispered.

Ruby gave her hand a small squeeze, her warmth radiating into Regina. Emma leaned down and gave her a small peck on the forehead. She really could get used to this, with the two woman in front of her.

Ruby then gave out a small cough, breaking the small bubble they all seemed to be in. She couldn't forget the matter at hand, they had to figure out who was out for Regina. " Who do you think might be after you?", she asked. She made herself comfortable on the edge of the bed, her hand still intertwined with her mates. Emma also mimicked her.

Regina thought long and hard, unfortunately the list wasn't a short one. She could think of hundreds of names, many of them had reasons to want her gone. But she could at least recognize the top ones, " Well, as you know we have plenty of people to choose from. There's Rumple, my mother, Hook and Robin Hood and his merry men, i could go on", she stated. Her head starting to hurt just thinking about it.

Emma nodded her head, biting her lower lip in contemplation. " This is going to be harder then i thought", she stated, a little frustration in her voice.

Ruby gave a tired sigh, she figured this was how it was gonna go. Even if she hated thinking about it, Regina did have a very large group of people who would love to take a permanent swing at her life. The thought making Ruby feel a growl forming in her chest, she couldn't let that happen. " Thinking about names isn't going to do us any good, not unless we have actual tangible proof against them. I think i should go back to the ditch where Reginas car is and smell around, maybe i could pick something up", she proposed. Her wolf senses would definitely be able to catch anything suspicious that might of happened, and if not then that at least would put them all at ease that it was only an unfortunate accident and nothing else.

Emma nodded her head in agreement, Ruby had the best senses in Storybrook, second only to Granny. If anyone was going to catch anything, it would be her. " That's a great idea Ruby, and I'll come along with you", she declared.

Ruby shook her head at that, not that she didn't want Emmas help but she didn't want Regina to be left unprotected. " I think it would be better if you stayed with Regina, if someone is after her then we never know when they'll try again", she said strongly.

Emma thought about it for a second, she didn't want Ruby to go alone. If someone is trying to harm Regina, who's a powerful sorcerer, then what would they try to do to Ruby when they see her snooping around?. But she also didn't want to leave her true love, " That makes sense, but you have to be careful Ruby. I really hope we're freaking out over nothing here, but just in case call me when you finish up", she said, making sure there was no room for argument in her voice.

Regina hadn't taken her eyes off Ruby ever since she suggested her plan, she didn't want Ruby out of her sight for a second. She had a feeling that something suspicious was going on, and she couldn't help but be worried. But judging by the determined look in the wolfs eyes she knew nothing she said would change her mind, the girl was stubborn that way. " I'll only agree to your plan if you promise to call Emma as soon as you get there and when you leave, we can never be too careful even if it turns out to be nothing", she said authoritatively, she wasn't taking any chances with Ruby.

Ruby looked back at Regina as soon as she heard her voice, she saw the seriousness in her eyes and it caused her heart to speed up. She swallowed quickly and nodded her head slowly, Regina could literally make her do anything by just asking her. " I promise I will, and I'll be careful", she said.

Regina gave her a small smile, satisfied with her answer.

Before anything else could be said the door opened and in came Henry, followed by one of the nurses that had treated her, a pretty blonde with her hair tied up in a bun and a kind smile.

The nurse walked up to them and smiled at them, " Hello, I just wanted to come and inform you that everything is all set for you to be discharged madam mayor.", she said, writing some instructions down on a piece of paper before handing it over to Emma. " These are some medications she'll have to take in the next week or two to help with her head, because of her concussion she'll be prone to some headaches here and there but they'll vanish as your head heals", she instructed. " Also, try not to put too much pressure on that foot. Ice it tree times a day to help with the swelling and just move it occasionally from side to side so your joints don't lock up, a wheelchair is just outside to help get you to your car", she said.

Regina nodded, she didn't want to get into a wheelchair but she had a feeling every person in the room would fight her on it.

Ruby got up off the bed and went outside along with Henry to retrieve the wheelchair and to also give Regina some privacy to change out of her hospital gown, she stamped down the feeling of jealousy at the thought that other people were seeing her mate half naked. She still hadn't forgotten that she had to go see Belle to ask her for help on researching how to break the mating, as soon as this whole thing with Reginas accident was dealt with she would make that her top priority.

A couple minutes later Emma called them in, Ruby pushed the chair in and settled it next to Reginas hospital bed. The mayor was dressed in the clothes she was brought in, the same clothes she had been in this morning.

Emma helped her settle down on the wheelchair while Henry held onto it, Ruby stood by the door arms crossed. The nurse came back in, two bottles of pills in her hand. " Here you go ma'am, take two of each everyday for two weeks. Come back if any complications arise", she said with a kind smile. Regina smiled back and nodded her head in thanks.

Then the nurse turned around to leave and accidentally bumped into Ruby, her clipboard slipped out of her hand. Before it could hit the ground Ruby snatched it out of the air and grabbed onto the blondes hand to steady her, the girl almost falling over. Ruby looked down at the shorter girl with an apologetic look on her face while handing her back the clipboard, " I'm sorry, are you okay?", she asked the girl.

The nurse girl blushed, and Ruby felt herself smile at the cute sight. " Y- Yes, I'm okay. I should be the one apologizing since I didn't see you behind me", she said shyly.

Ruby gave a short laugh and a wave of her hand, " No harm done", she said back.

The girl gave her a big smile back, she hugged her clipboard to her chest. " Cool", she said. Then after a seconds contemplation she gave Ruby a wink, her shy attitude gone. " By the way, you have really beautiful eyes", she stated. Then before Ruby could say anything, the girl walked past her and out the room.

Ruby felt herself blush a little. She had not expected that.

She looked back and saw that Emma was fiddling with her phone, presumably texting. Henry was snacking away on some Doritos, but they weren't the ones she was worried about.

Regina was staring her down, a hard look in her eyes. Ruby felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, a lump forming in her throat. Regina looked like she wanted to skin her alive, she hadn't seen that look on the mayors face in a long time. If Ruby didn't know any better she would say that Regina looked…. Jealous. But no that couldn't be?, could it?. Her grandmother's words flashed in her mind, it was possible that Regina was also feeling the effects of the mating. But boy did that look she was getting scare Ruby, she had a feeling she just got in the doghouse. But she hadn't done anything!.

Before she could open her mouth Regina spoke up, her voice icy cold. " Shouldn't you be on your way?", she asked.

Regina didn't mean to sound harsh, but she couldn't control herself. Seeing that nurse flirt with Ruby filled her with jealousy and annoyance, and Ruby not stopping her advances made it even worse. Ruby wasn't supposed to be flirting with anyone, or be flirted by anyone. Regina knew it was an irrational way of thinking, but when it came to Ruby that's just the way she saw it. She couldn't help but see the girl as hers, and seeing another woman flirting with her was unacceptable in her book.

Ruby gulped loudly, before she could answer back Emma got off her phone and grabbed on to Reginas wheelchair to start pushing it. " You ready to go babe?", she asked. She had been so distracted on her phone that she hadn't picked up the energy shift in the room. She did notice Regina looked more annoyed then a few minutes ago, but she guessed that was because of being in a wheelchair.

Without removing her eyes off Ruby, Regina answered Emma. " Yes please", she said simply. The glare directed at the wolf girl wasn't letting up.

Ruby didn't even know what to do, she felt like apologizing but she didn't know for what. All she knew was that Regina was upset with her and she wanted to fix it, the thought of her mate angry at her breaking her slowly. She had to try and fix this, " Regina", she started to say but was cut off by her mate.

" I'm exhausted, can we go home my love?", she asked Emma, completely ignoring Ruby. The wolf girl felt a stab to the heart. Yup, she was definitely in the dog house.

Emma nodded her head, " Yep, let's get out of here. You coming along Rubes?", she asked her best friend.

Ruby wanted too, she wanted to be by Reginas side in case anything else happened. She knew Emma would do anything to keep her true love safe, but that didn't stop her from worrying. But Regina didn't seem to want her around, based on the fact she didn't even look her way once. She would have to swallow it down and leave, she could go check out the accident site like she said she would.

She shook her head at Emma, giving her a forced smile. " No, I think I'll go take a look around where Reginas car is. Try and find something", she stated.

Emma nodded, " Remember to call me, and thanks again for what you did today", she said giving Ruby a big smile.

Ruby smiled back, less forced this time at her best friend. With a quick hug to Henry, she looked back at Regina one last time. This time their eyes met, Regina looked more worried then angry now. Her mate spoke, " Thank you Ruby, and please be careful ", she said. Even if she was still mad at Ruby she couldn't let the girl go like that, she still cared.

Ruby stared at her unblinkingly for a second, then she gave a smile and a nod. Before she could change her mind, she used her speed to disappear in the blink of an eye. A gust of wind following her exit out the door and the hospital all together.

Regina, Emma and Henry looked in amazement at the empty spot where Ruby used to be.

Henry spoke, " That's so cool", he said in childish wonder. Regina couldn't help the butterflies in her stomach, Ruby was indeed something else.

" Lets get out of here", Emma declared. She started pushing Regina out the room, Henry following behind.

Ruby slowed her run as she neared Reginas car, it was still in the ditch where it had landed. She stood at the top, her eyes roaming around seeing if she could visually catch something. As far as her eyes could see it looked like a regular accident, nothing out of the ordinary stood out. She decided to go down and use her nose, if there was something off she would be able to pick it up.

She made her way down there in a single jump, landing next to the car just as she did when she had saved Regina. That's when it hit her, she was surprised she hadn't noticed it sooner.

A smell.

It was disgusting, she almost threw up.

She couldn't even fully describe what it smelt like, it was like a mix of rotten flesh and death.

Dark magic.

Ruby has been able to differentiate different types of magic based on smell alone, light magic smelt like what the sun would probably smell like, hot with a hint of sunflower. Reginas magic smelled like apples, Emmas smelled like coconut. Really sinister dark magic smelled like death itself, and this was it.

She noticed the smell was all over the car and the surrounding area, then when she looked down at the grass her eyesight picked up a weird black substance. She wrinkled her nose, it looked gross. She pulled out a napkin from her back pocket and wiped some of the black off, she folded the napkin and pocketed it once again. Regina would be able to take a look at it, maybe figure out what it is.

Her hearing picked up something. She turned around quickly, eyes looking around in alertness. Her senses were screaming at her that something was off, that she wasn't alone.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, she was hit hard across her back. The force so strong that it sent her flying deep into the woods and through a couple of trees, if she hadn't been a werewolf she surely would have died. She landed hard on the ground, the wind knocked out of her. Taking quick breaths she quickly got up to her feet, eyes blazing amber as she gazed upon what attacked her.

It looked to resemble a shadow. The closest thing she could think of that would resemble this thing would be a dementor from the Harry Potter movies. It was tall and lanky, floating a couple feet off the ground. Completely covered in a black hood, it also had no legs or feet, just black smoky substance. It had no face , just a mouth with razor sharp teeth. It's long arms were bony and unnatural, instead of hands it had long extended claws.

Ruby had never seen anything like it, it was a truly horrifying sight. Either way, it smelt just like what she smelt around Reginas car. Which meant this was the cause of her mates accident, which in turn meant that it was her enemy.

Rubys teeth extended and sharpened in her mouth, her hands grew into sharp claws. She was only half way transformed, she had a feeling that if she fully transformed she wouldn't be able to take it on. This is what she called her Base 1 transformation, where she grew certain parts of the wolf on her human body. Base 2 was her fully transformed wolf self.

The thing charged at her again with amazing speed, she almost missed it as she quickly dodged to the right, barely avoiding its swing at her. As she landed she quickly turned back around and jumped kicked it, her foot connected with it's face. It went flying back and into a tree, causing the whole thing to topple over completely. Unfortunately it seemed her attack didn't do anything, because it was coming back at her in no time. This time she wasn't fast enough as its claws stabbed her in the shoulder, coming out the other side, a blinding pain exploding as blood gushed out of the wound. But even then she held in her scream, she pulled back with her mouth wide open as she lunched forward and sunk her razor sharp teeth into its arm. Black blood gushing out onto her face as she bit down harder, then she raised both her arms and grabbed onto it's face, squeezing as hard as she could with her claws.

The thing didn't even seemed affected by her attacks, it just kept pushing it's clawed fingers into her shoulder. She let out a scream then, not being able to ignore the pain anymore. Then just as quickly she grabbed the back of it's hooded head and brought it down with all her strength, she raised her knee and slammed it's face into it, hearing a small crack she thought she had it. But then the thing ripped it's claws out of her shoulder which caused another spray of blood to fly, and another blinding pain to shoot up her shoulder. She gave another scream as she pulled one of her arms back to clutch at her bleeding shoulder, then the thing took advantage of her distraction to slice her across her right cheek. Then it sliced her again across her stomach, ripping open her t-shirt in the process. She pushed herself away from it and landed hard on her back, grunting and still clutching her shoulder.

The thing didn't even give her a chance, it grabbed her foot and raised her off the ground upside down. Then it swung her like a baseball bat against the nearest tree, causing the tree to fall over from the impact. Then it did it again to another tree, and another, and another. By the forth tree Ruby had lost consciousness, the thing noticed and dropped her on the ground in a bleeding wounded heap.

Just as it was about to finish her off, a low whistle was heard in the distance. The thing looked towards it and after a second flew off, leaving Ruby there on the forest floor.

" EMMA!", yelled Regina desperately. She was limping as fast as she could down the stairs. They had gotten home about half an hour ago, as soon as they had stepped into the house she declared that she needed a bath. Emma had helped her into the shower before heading downstairs to figure out dinner.

Regina had been relaxing in the tub when anxiety started gripping her. She felt extremely worried for some reason. Then all of a sudden her heart gave a painful thud in her chest, something was wrong. She had pulled herself out of the tub and limped to get dressed, as she had been pulling on some comfy clothes she was suddenly hit with a feeling of pain and dread. It almost caused her to scream, the suddenness of it and the intensity catching her off guard.

Then a pair of blue eyes flashed in her mind, that's when she realized it.

Ruby.

Something was happening to Ruby.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind she had limped as fast as she could down the hall and stairs, her worry for the wolf increasing the longer it took for her to reach Emma. She was sure something was wrong with Ruby, and judging by the intensity of what she was feeling it was something very bad. She needed to get to her no matter the cost, Ruby needed her.

"EMMA", she yelled again as she reached the bottom step, she couldn't care less about her foot at the moment.

Emma came rushing into the room, her green eyes wide in alertness as she ran up to Regina and wrapped her arms around her to steady her, she looked into Reginas eyes and saw the worry and panic in them. Which caused her to worry and panic. " Regina, what's going on?!", she quickly asked.

Regina looked at her wildly, " Have you heard from Ruby!?", she asked. Her voice was borderline hysterical, but she couldn't care less.

Emmas brow furrowed, now that she thinks about it her best friend hadn't called. She had texted Emma that she had gotten to the site, but that was over half an hour ago. She answered back, her voice a little shaky. " No, I haven't", she said, worry filling her at the look of pure panic she saw in Regina at her words.

" We need to get to her, NOW!", said Regina. She herself couldn't transport far at the moment, but if her and Emma combined their magic they should be able to.

Emma didn't even think twice, she trusted Regina. She nodded her head quickly and grasped both of Reginas hands, their magic combining and surrounding them until they vanished. They both thought about Ruby, and their magic took them.

When they reappeared, they were in the middle of the woods.

Regina quickly looked around, trying to find Ruby. " Ruby!?", she yelled. There was no answer, just as she was about to yell again she felt Emmas hand on her forearm urging her to turn around. When she looked over at her Regina saw Emmas face had gone paler then she's ever seen her, following her true loves line of sight she quickly saw why.

Trees around them were completely destroyed, fallen over on the ground. But that's not what they were looking at, blood covered the floor, black and red blood. There in the middle of the forest floor was Ruby, covered in blood and bruises and not moving.

She was not moving.

Regina felt tears spring out of her eyes.

"RUBY!", she yelled.