Broken Hearts Bleed Together

Regina awoke groggily, her ribs aching as she moved to sit up. Her mother's tortures from the day before could still be felt and sleeping on cold, hard rock hadn't helped. She leaned her sore body against the dungeon wall, the pain too overwhelming for her to move too far.

The dungeon was dark, as always and Regina couldn't be sure what time of day it was; at least, not until Hook... Killian, came down with her daily meal. She knew he had said Cora hadn't manipulated him into this but she knew her mother and she knew there was something else going on that Killian hadn't learnt about yet.

Still stuck down in a dungeon wasn't going to help her figure out what her mothers plan was. If Captain Killian Jones was to be believed, and she wasn't entirely sure she trusted him, than he'd be helping her out of here soon. Of course she wasn't about to put all her trust and faith in the notorious pirate but there was something about Killian Jones she was drawn to.

She was focusing on her breathing, trying to inhale as much as she could with probably fractured ribs. Her breathing exercises were interrupted however when she heard the tell-tale footfalls of someone descending the stone steps. Regina's gaze flickered to the heavy wooden door but only for a moment before she turned her attention straight ahead, trying to keep her expression blank.

Moments later and the door to her prison was pushed open. Her head and eyes didn't move an inch but she could tell from her peripheral vision that whoever it was that had just entered her dungeon wasn't her mother or Killian. She tensed, immediately sensing the danger she was in from the large, oafish stranger.

Regina turned to look at him properly; trying to decipher his identity but even without the shadows covering his face she didn't recognise him. The man was tall and solid, his frame wide as he stomped towards her. Regina tried to stand, not liking the idea of being prone to the floor for this stranger. Her ribs however protested the movement and had her collapsing quickly back to the floor.

"Who are you?" the former Evil Queen snarled, her fake confidence masking her inner terror.

"I'm Gibbs," the oaf replies in a deep, scratching voice. He says nothing else but the glint in his eyes is enough for Regina to know he's trouble.

"You come near me," Regina growls as she tries to focus her magic, "and I'll have your heart!"

The man simply laughs as if in on a joke Regina knows nothing about. It's disconcerting for Regina to hear the hollowness of the noise, knowing that whatever was about to happen wouldn't be funny in the least. She tried to sit up as straight as possible as he approached her but the pain in her ribs had her cringing as she breathed.

"Lady Cora already told me you were weak, that your magic wasn't working. You won't be able to kill me," he taunts, his voice deep with dark intent.

Regina stares up at him, eyes wide as she realises she has no real defence against anything he could do to her. Her hands tremble as the man squats down in front of her, a hand coming up to touch her face. Regina jerks away from the hand, not wanting to be touched by the man but the oaf takes no notice of her movement and slides his hand down to rest against her neck. Her instinctual reaction is to slap the hand away but Gibbs is quick to move his hand harder against her neck this time.

"You can't fight me off witch, so now I'm going to have a little fun," he growls as he leers down at her.

Hook held the bowl of stew, with bread on top in his hand as he carefully made his way down the steps leading to Regina's prison. He was just on the last step, only a little ways away from the dank dungeon, when he heard a scream echo through the underground hallway. He stopped suddenly, knowing it had to be Regina for there were no other prisoners but he'd just seen Cora and unless she'd teleported herself into Regina's dungeon, something wasn't right.

The pirate dropped the bowl he was carrying and ran forward, pushing the door to her dungeon open with a bang. His blood boils at the sight that greets him, anger bubbling in his stomach waiting to be released. Regina is pinned to the floor, hands restrained above her head as a man, one of his crew he realises, paws at her clothes and body. Hook doesn't give his sailor time to react before his sword is against the man's throat, threatening him and stilling his roving hands.

"GIBBS!" he bellows angrily, "What in the hells do you think you are doing?"

"Captain!" Gibbs shouts stunned, turning only slightly to look at Hook.

"I said, what do you think you are doing?" Hook growls, his voice deadly.

"La-Lady Cora captain…she said I could…she told me," the man stutters, obviously flustered by the situation he'd found himself in.

"I don't care what Lady Cora told you! I am your Captain; you take orders from me only. Now get up and get out of here before I cut both your hands off ya arms," the pirate captain threatened, eyes dark with anger as he watched his sailor stumble off the former Evil Queen and race as fast as he could out of the dungeon.

As soon as the bumbling sailor was out the door Hook turned around to Regina, kneeling quickly by her side as she moaned in pain. He took hold of her hands, trying as gently as he could to help her sit up but the pain in her ribs was making it difficult.

"Are you okay? Where does it hurt love?" he asked as he leant her against the wall, kneeling in front of her to check for any injuries.

"My…ribs and…I hit my…ah…head pretty hard…too," she gasped in pain.

"I can't do much about ya ribs or ya head, I'm sorry," Hook murmured regretfully, "But I have a plan, we'll get outta here real soon. I just need to distract Cora long enough to get ya and escape."

"Why…are you…helping me?" Regina wheezed, closing her eyes to stop the world from spinning.

"Because, we're one in the same Regina. That pain and that darkness, it's in both of us and I think that connects us somehow. I don't know how to explain it love but, I don't want anything to happen to ya," Hook told her quietly, not used to sharing his feelings like this with anyone before.

"I feel it too," Regina whispers as tears escape down her pale cheeks.

Hook stares at her for a moment before gently wiping the stray tears away with his thumb, caressing her face gently. They are caught in a moment, Hook's hand cupping her face gently and a wistful smile adorning Regina's features. It is this vision that Cora bursts in on, equal amounts of shock, curiosity and disdain marring her cruel features.

"Well look at that, what do we have here?" she croons coldly, an evil smirk twisting her lips.

Hook jumps back in surprise at the sound of her voice and Regina's eyes snap open, staring wide at the figure of her mother in the doorway. Both their heartbeats race, wondering just what was to happen now. They'd been caught, not exactly doing anything wrong but Cora was smart enough to read between the lines and just by their reactions she would know something was going on. It was uncertain now, what would happen but both Hook and Regina knew, they'd have to fight to make it out alive.

AN: So, I meant to update this on Sunday but then a storm happened and we had a black out. Monday and Tuesday I was working all day and this morning has been my first bit of free time. Some stuff happens in this chapter that is a little less than savoury so sorry if it caught you off guard. It was all implied and if you didn't catch it than that's okay.

Also, Cora made her first appearance which I hadn't planned, it totally just happened. Next chapter will be interesting, I'm not completely sure which voices to write or if I should just write all three. Might get confusing but I guess we'll see.

Oh! I just remembered, I feel like I should tell you that, I have only seen up to episode 5 ('The Doctor') of the new season. So, any characterisation, especially of Hook, that is off please forgive me. I've not seen a whole lot of his character yet and I also have no idea what Cora's actual plans are, so this will definitely been canon divergent.

Anyway, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed! Please review. :) LT