A/N: Hello! This is my first shot at SwanQueen, which is vastly overdue as one of my OTPs, and will hopefully do these wonderful ladies justice! This will be a multi-chapter fic, and I already have a number of future chapters written and a definite direction in which I hope to take it. It is AU, as unfortunately SwanQueen isn't canon, but I've tried to stay true to the characters. It is set back when Regina was the young queen, before she killed Leopold and while she was having magic lessons from Rumpelstiltskin. It shall go off at a tangent and create an entirely new story. There was no feasible way of making Emma's parents Snow and Charming, as both would still be children, so I apologise for that.

Please review; constructive criticism or praise is always appreciated and will keep me motivated to update regularly.

Chapter 1:

That was it. The final straw. She was not going to take any more of it.

She didn't think about what she was doing or where she was going, just that she had to escape. Even as the land opened up, warping from the oppressive stonewalls of the palace to the expansive fields that splayed across the kingdom, she didn't slow. In hindsight, she should have taken a horse, or at least some fundamental belongings, but she was muddled and angry and could focus on nothing more than the uneven ground beneath her as she streamed away from her luxurious prison.

Tears of fury stung soft cheeks and were brushed away irritably as she hiked her skirt up higher to avoid the vegetation grabbing onto it. The woods loomed in front of her, dense trees slightly threatening, yet they welcomed her as she approached, running until her lungs burned and her muscles ached. She suspected she would have been able to run a lot more successfully had her mother not deemed it unladylike from a young age. There was something wonderfully liberating about the wind teasing her hair loose of regal restraints.

Her footfalls fell on softer terrain as hard turf turned to a carpet of leaves. The sky became quickly obscured by the canopy of thick branches overhead but she didn't slow. She ran, agility of youth on her side as she ducked under tree limbs and hopped over rocks. She ran until her legs screamed and her eyes ran and her corset dug in and her lungs heaved in each breath. She ran until she couldn't run any further, any faster, any longer.

Doubling over, she dragged in deep breaths, rubbing the raw skin under the whalebone of her corset. Her hair fell loose over her shoulders in ebony tangles and tear-stained cheeks were red with the cold. As she slumped onto a boulder, she let herself cry. Sobs of self-pity ripped through her, hysterical in the strange environment. She was lost, distraught, totally unprepared and, despite her status, completely vulnerable. She had no plan, no supplies, no idea where she was or what she intended to do, she was just relieved to be free of that place and that man and that insufferable brat. She was finished with that life, she didn't know what else she could have, but she would do anything at that point to never go back. She sobbed into dainty, unmarred hands, trying to stifle the sound on realizing she would be drawing unwanted attention to herself in this worryingly silent forest.

Trembling in the chilly air, she wrapped her arms round her slender frame, gasping as she tried to calm her juddering heart. Weakness. She could hear the icy voice hissing in her ear. She was done with him as well, although that would be the hardest thing to avoid. She felt his grip on her even now. She doubted she would ever be rid of him; that's not how he functioned.

Wiping red eyes dry, she took a deep breath in to calm herself and looked around. She was deep in the forest, far from any path she'd ever travelled along. There was hardly any noise, just the rustle of leaves overhead. She felt alone, but wasn't comforted by the solitude as she had expected to be. As the adrenaline wore off and her energy slipped away, she had to fight back more tears at the hopelessness of her situation.

She had just snapped, the pressure had worn her down until she couldn't cope any more. She had put up with her husband for seven years now, obediently sitting at his side and lying in his bed day in day out, enduring that vile daughter of his as she grew into a young woman, detesting her more and more each day, abhorring every second her heart beat inside her snow-white chest. She had made public appearances, fulfilled her duties, been primped and pinched from every angle to make sure she was perfect in every way, pushed down the darkness, stifled the evil, and it had taken its toll. She had started contacting him out of sheer desperation and she felt it had been, as everything else she'd ever done, a grave mistake. She could not deny the unadulterated bliss of feeling pure power sizzling through her, venting her pent up rage on whatever unfortunate animal happened to be passing. As each lesson passed, she grew stronger. She was far off the heights he wanted her to achieve, but she could cause a sizeable amount of damage when provoked. He said she had always had it in her, she had feared admitting it to anyone that perhaps he was right.

And now look where she was. She had fled from the palace without a passing thought to what her next move should be, she had just known she'd had to get out, and the only way she could escape was to run away when their backs were turned. She was defenseless and clueless in the Enchanted Forest, a sitting duck, and even if she wasn't attacked by anything, she had no possessions, no money, no food, not even a change of clothes and the ornate gown she wore was now slightly torn and stained around the hem, and hardly practical for gallivanting round in the woods. She cursed her random surge of emotions and complete lack of forethought. What was she going to do now?

She stood up and brushed off her crimson skirt. She briefly turned back the way she came, before deciding that starving or being mauled to death in the Enchanted Forest was still preferable to another second back there in that beautiful prison. Perhaps her tragic death would finally convey the message to her mother that the only way she could ever be happy with this situation was if she were dead. Not that Cora would care, she'd probably resurrect her just to punish her for demolishing her tie to royalty.

No, the only way was forward, away from the last five years of wasted youth, away from oppression and everyone's attempts at harnessing her strength to use as their own. Onward was her only option. She sighed heavily, hopefully she'd just wander until she collapsed from exhaustion, or until she reached a path she recognized and could escape this kingdom for good. She never wanted to set foot in it again if she managed to leave.

So she pushed her hair irritably over her shoulders as continued picking her way through the undergrowth. Every step she took further away from the palace lifted her burden a fraction.

Hours of forcing her way through the forest ensued. Not used to such rigorous exercise after allowing her passion for equestrianism to die due to the pain the stables brought her even now, she tired quickly, but continued on, never one to give up. The woods were cold, her bare arms raised with gooseflesh as the velvet of her gown snagged once more on a thistle patch. It was getting dark, and she was violently hungry, being accustomed to three large meals a day. She realised that she would have to stop soon before she collapsed through exhaustion but the idea was unappealing and the growing darkness foreboding, so she pressed on.

As her legs gave out and refused to carry her any further, she leant against the trunk of a tree to catch her breath. She was shivering with the cold, still as lost as before, and though her trepidation grew, as determined as she always had been. It was cold, dark, foreign and threatening, and yet she still felt miraculously free, the one light in the blanketing blackness.

She tugged in vain at the bodice of her dress, attempting to loosen it and lessen her discomfort, but she could not lace and unlace it on her own, especially not in the dark without a mirror. She had abandoned most of her jewellery, save for a diamond bracelet her father had bought her when she was fifteen and the ring Daniel had given to her on a thin chain round her neck. Typical, she thought, the only hope she had of acquiring help would be to sell what is valuable, and she had brought along nothing but the two possessions she was most emotionally attached to.

As expected, the solitude couldn't last forever, and she was caught by surprise as three horses, without any prior warning, carrying two passengers each burst into the clearing at a gallop. She jolted upright and made the split second decision to hide rather than run which ultimately proved to be the wrong choice, as she was bereft of suitable hiding places. Besides, they had already seen her and as she made to duck behind a tree, one of the people astride a horse swung down and loped towards her.

"Not so fast, sweetheart." He said. He had a surprisingly slick voice, oily and untrustworthy. She froze where she stood.

Never one to be seen as a coward, even when she was clearly at a disadvantage, she turned around to face him. His companions were vaulting off their horses and regrouping behind the one that had addressed her. Five men and a woman; earth-worn and dirty-looking, she felt six pairs of eyes raking over her, but kept her head held high, observing them as though they were mice on the ground below her.

"What is someone like you doin' in our neck o' the woods, eh?" He said with a smirk.

She remained silent, assessing what the best means of escape would be. The saddlebags of the horses were full, something gold glistened within. She suspected a gang of forest thieves, not an uncommon occurrence, but one she had sincerely hoped to avoid.

"I asked you a question." Hissed the man at the front; fair complexion, lanky and tall, and with very few teeth. She said nothing.

"Oh, not speakin'? Got somethin' to hide?" Interjected one of the others, gruff-voiced and frankly massive, he lumbered up to join his friend at the front of the group. He had no hair and, by the looks of it, only seven fingers.

As they converged only a few paces in front of her, she realised that this situation could get nasty very quickly, so would comply.

"No. I have nothing to hide. I was walking and then got lost, that is all."

"Ooh, we've got a posh 'un here!" Cackled the woman from the back, bedraggled and slightly stooped, but not particularly old.

"Yeah, look at her dress, some pretty fine material, I'll wager." Added a small man from the back.

"Fancy getup for an evening stroll, my dear." Said the man who'd addressed her first. "You sure you're tellin' the truth?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Well I'm afraid we can't 'ave you wandering around our hideout." He said, a smirk crawling across his face. Her stomach turned, a movement in the trees at the edge of the clearing momentarily caught her eye. The huge man noticed.

"Ay! What you lookin' at? 'Ave you got some little friends out here too?"

"Well we certainly can't 'ave that. It's gotta stay a secret, see."

She wondered if perhaps she could throw them off the trail, so said nothing, knowing they'd take her silence as an affirmative.

"You do! She does! You four, check the area!" The huge man said and the three other men and one woman scampered off to check the surrounding forest.

She stood there, afraid to move and afraid to speak and afraid to show that she was afraid.

"Come out into the clearing. Don't be shy, we ain't gonna hurt ya." Said the lanky one. None of the three people there were fooled by his lie.

She obeyed, mustering as much dignity as she could. She'd rather move herself than have them force her.

The first man circled her slowly, taking in expensive ripped fabric and long, dark, tousled hair.

"Pretty little thing, ain't ya? I ain't seen something so lovely in a long time..." She clenched her jaw. She would normally retaliate for such insolence, but she felt physical exhaustion weighing her down and she stood no chance against the huge man facing her, grinning sickeningly at his friend's comment.

"Bet the dress is worth a fortune…" She forced herself to remain stock-still and suppress the shiver that threatened to rip through her.

Just as it looked like he would follow this statement up with an action, the four others re-entered the clearing. She still didn't move.

"Nothin'" came the result. Great, her opportunity had passed. Well, it had been worth a try.

"So you're alone, are you, sweetheart?" She wished they would stop smirking.

She tensed completely as the small man and bedraggled woman began to inspect her, lifting locks of her hair between gnarled, dirty fingers and running light touches over expensive fabric. The group surrounded her, moving closer and closer. Her heart started pounding, throat closing up as she began to panic. She'd heard that forest dwellers had no morals, but she'd never stopped to think about what she could have been walking straight into. Their proximity made her tremble slightly, eyes darting around, searching wildly for an escape still without saying anything. The brute grabbed her chin and forced her head up to look at him while his lanky friend lifted her arm to inspect the glittering bracelet adorning it. She felt tears behind her eyes, but stubbornly fighting them back, swallowing heavily with fear.

"That's beautiful." He said. "Lovely little trinket. Might 'ave to take that off ya, sweetheart." He made to pull it off her wrist. She snapped out of sheer panic.

"No!" She wrenched her arm away from his grip, anger and surprise flashed across his twisted face. "Please, leave me be. I'll go, I won't come back, just please don't touch me again!" She half begged, half growled.

She heard uneasy shifting around her. The woods were sickeningly silent, the darkness almost entirely cloaking. She wished she had never left. She could be warm and safe, despite the unhappiness she would undoubtedly feel.

The ringleader, as he'd revealed himself to be, wore a frighteningly malicious grin.

"Not playin' nice, are we then?" The others shuffled in anticipation, eyes fixed on the quietly trembling girl who was likely only in her mid-twenties. He grabbed her arm in a bruisingly brutal grip, all but ripped the bracelet off her wrist and raised his other hand, his violent intention startlingly clear.

Then a lot happened in a tiny space of time.

She was no stranger to physical abuse. From a fairly young age her mother had often resorted to beatings to get her to cooperate. She, of course, would never bruise or scar, god forbid her daughter's perfect skin should be soiled, but soon she'd learnt to anticipate what was coming. Delicate-looking as she was, she was certainly not weak, and would not stand still while a bunch of common thieves stripped her of everything she had. She was mentally and physically exhausted, but it seemed she had no other option than what she had tried to avoid doing.

The second his hand came down towards her, she only had a moment to notice something flash out of the corner of her eye from the same spot across the clearing before she allowed the previously restrained rage in her veins to boil and bubble over. She forced it out of her mind, focused on the threatening circle around her and the nauseating wave of anger-fuelled magic swept across the clearing in a haze of green smoke. The six people surrounding her all toppled like felled conifers and remained stiff and unmoving, littering the forest floor around her.

Then the dizziness came, her head swimming as exertion took over and drained her of all energy instantly. She swayed on the spot, focusing on attempting to reach the diamond bracelet still within the ringleader's rigid grasp, but ultimately never made it to reaching down and retrieving it.

She fell like the rest of them, eyes blurring, head pounding. She only just had time to process a figure sliding down from out of a tree across the clearing and approaching stealthily before her body gave up and succumbed to blackness.