Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time, Storybrooke and all the characters belong to ABC and the creators. No copyright infringement intended.

Prologue

As soon as Emma touched Regina's upper arm, she felt it; the tingling sensation in her hands filling every inch of her and moving in slow currents, she felt the energy floating from the other woman's body straight to her own. Regina quickly turned her head up looking into Emma's startled green eyes. Their gaze locked together for just a moment. Regina had most definitely felt it too. Emma gasped and pulled her hand away, wanting nothing but to break the contact between them, she stood up abruptly, moving away from the brunette as the hat started spinning. Suddenly, a dark purple smoke filled the place and what looked like a portal opened up in front of them. There was not enough time to think about what had just happened as Emma looked up to find the Wraith atop of them.

"Regina!" Emma screamed, and acting out of instinct, pushed the older woman off the creature's sight and felt an instantaneous rush of relief when she saw the Wraith being sucked into the portal. But in what seemed like a split of a second, something wrapped around her ankle and she was pulled into the purple vortex, disappearing almost immediately.

James screamed out for his daughter as Regina tried to move herself away from the opened void. At the same time, Snow ran fast to jump into the portal after her long lost child but stumbled into a walking Regina, pushing the older woman inside the hollow near them. Everything else happened too fast: Snow White and Prince Charming tried effortlessly to get into the portal to follow the women, but they simply jumped on top of the hat and fell to the ground with a heavy thump.

The portal was already closed.

Chapter one: The Forest

The wind was icy cold and noisy against the trees, but apart from that, there was silence. Emma opened her eyes slowly, she had no idea where she was, and all she could tell was that she was lying down. It was pitch black all around and the blonde had to blink a few times to adjust her eyes to the lack of light surrounding her. She placed a hand on top of her head; it was hurting, she had probably bumped against something before falling to wherever she was.

"Outch…" she whimpered, looking back at her hand, it was dirty with a mix of blood and mud. Emma sat up slowly, glancing around; all she could see ahead of her was darkness and large trees. She was in the middle of a forest.

As soon as she tried to get up, Emma noticed how much her body was hurting, and it took her a few moments before she could stand up completely. The woman took a deep breath, closing her eyes briefly, trying to concentrate on what had happened to her and where she was. It wasn't the forest in Storybrooke, of that she was sure, but where it was, she had no idea.

Emma wrapped her arms around her body, in hope that would warm her up a little. She glanced around one more time, wondering why she couldn't hear anything apart from the wind and the sound of her own breathing.

All of a sudden she heard a movement behind her, which caused her to look over her shoulder, eyes narrowing so that she could take a glimpse of what it was. Someone else was there. Emma cautiously moved a step closer into the blackness and instantly recognized who it was. Regina Mills – and a tree on top of her.

Emma rushed to the other woman's direction. A fallen tree was on top of the other woman's legs, Emma bent down trying to lift it, but it was too heavy, even for Emma. Regina growled loudly, as soon the tree moved a little.

"Be careful!" the injured woman yelled sharply, being brought back to conscience. By the crack on her voice, Emma could tell she was surely in pain.

The blonde tried once again without success, there was another high-toned scream from the former mayor though.

"Dear lord, Sheriff! Could you be less attentive?" she grunted aggressive, glaring at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry if by trying to help you keep your damn legs I'm hurting you, Your Majesty." Emma snorted mockingly, glancing around to see if there was something there to help her get the woman from under the tree.

Emma walked around Regina, placing her arms under hers, "I should just leave you here." She hissed under her breath, and pulled the brunette, yanking her from under the tree a little more fiercely than she expected, the rough movement caused Regina to scream even louder. As soon as the woman was free from the tree, Emma stepped away, Regina landing back on the ground. The sheriff waited for the yelling to begin.

"Are you completely insane, Miss Swan?!" Regina scream at the top of her lungs, trying to sit up, her whole body was shaking, "Do you really think that was the best way do to it?" Her eyes were darker than the night, Emma noticed, as they looked at each other. "You could as well have cut off my legs! That would've been less hurtful!" the woman completed trying to suppress her pain and regain control.

And she was right. Emma folded her arms tight around her torso, "I'm sorry." It was almost a whisper, "But there was no other way. The tree was too heavy, I could only move inches by myself. And it would've been even worse if I kept on trying to lift it by myself. The only way to get you out of it was pulling you out."

Regina closed her eyes, letting out a long heavy sigh. "Ok, fine." She stated, "Help me to get up now, will you?" Her tone was so demanding that Emma felt an urge to just walk away.

And as the younger woman did not move or say a word, Regina rolled her eyes "Please." The word was said under an annoyed glare.

Emma still didn't move. If it wasn't for Henry, she would certainly leave the woman right there, especially after everything she learned the woman had done, but she had made a promise. And even though Regina had tried to kill her only hours ago, she would keep the promise and the woman safe.

"For Henry." The blonde stated, staring at her blankly, before leaning down to help her stand. She placed the brunette's arm around her neck and helped her steady herself.

Regina grunted, lifting her right foot from the ground, "I can't –"Her voice cracked as she held Emma's shoulders a little stronger than the other woman anticipated, letting her weight drop onto her, "It hurts." It was all she said, avoiding eye contact when Emma turned to look at her face. They didn't say anything else, but Emma held her closer so that they didn't lose balance.

They walked in silence for a while; guided by the moonlight that now appeared behind the tall trees. It was getting colder; they could feel the wind blowing against their faces and it was getting very difficult to keep walking.

Emma decided to stop, glancing around, she had no idea where they were heading to. Her grip on the brunette tightened, "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"I know exactly where we are." Regina replied bleakly.

"Care to fill me in?" Emma rolled her eyes when realized the woman was not to say another word.

Regina turned her head and looked straight into Emma's eyes, brown dark eyes staring longingly at her. Emma felt a shiver running up her spine; no good could ever come from the way the older woman was looking at her. "Where are we, Regina?" she repeated, her voice strong, not breaking eye contact.

"Welcome to fairy tale land, dear." She waved her free hand to a path ahead of them.

They advanced into the forest in frozen silence for what felt like hours. Emma couldn't quite describe what she was felling; it was hard to rationalize everything. It seemed as though she was stuck in one of those dreams where you fight really hard to wake up but you just can't. She chuckled and shook her head in disbelief, everything was beyond ridiculous. The whole idea of fairy tales being real was bizarre and completely laughable. And yet, there she was, helping an Evil Queen in the middle of an enchanted forest.

Regina was finding very difficult to walk, her injured foot was hurting really bad, and every step she took required an enormous amount of self-control to keep her from screaming out loud. The pain was so strong that she was convinced it would've been better if Emma had left her under that damn tree. And it didn't help that the woman holding her kept chuckling all the way.

"Will you just stop?" Regina asked annoyed, "All this giggling is rather disturbing, not to mention inappropriate, Miss Swan.", her long fingers pressing hard against the younger woman's shoulder.

"Are you kidding me? I've been carrying you all this time and instead of a 'thank you for being so kind to me even though I don't deserve any kind of compassion' you are seriously going to complain?" Emma deliberately let go of the brunette causing her to lose balance with the sudden lack of support. "How's your foot?" Emma asked folding her arms on her chest, a smug grin on her lips.

Regina stumbled, wincing and whimpering loudly as soon as her foot touched the ground, her hands searching for support at the nearest tree. Emma frowned, "You are not lying, are you?" her voice was a mix of surprise and worry. She rushed to help the woman again, feeling the guilt growing inside her as she stared at brown teary eyes. Now that was something she never thought she would see. Regina Mills was about to cry.

"Ok, just s-sit –" Emma stammered, holding the woman by the arms, "Sit down." She completed helping her to find a comfortable position.

Regina didn't argue nor flinch when Emma touched her, which made her stomach lurch; if the woman wasn't even going to pretend she was still in control, then the situation was even worse than the sheriff had imagined. Emma instinctively pressed a hand against her forehead, and sighed heavily, "I will just take a look and see how bad this is, ok?" Carefully, the blonde removed Regina's shoe and what she saw was not what she expected. Regina's foot was swollen and turning blue from the bruises; it was somehow deformed, twisted to one side. Slowly, she lifted the woman's pants and notice even more bruises on her lower calf. Emma remembered the tree on top of her legs and how heavy it felt when she tried to pull it away, how could she not think of the damage it had caused to Regina's body?

"Oh my God, Regina!" the shock in her voice made the other woman's eyes open wide, "This looks awful! It is not just a sprained ankle!" Emma stared up at her, "I think you broke your foot."

"This is ridiculous, I did not break my foot!" she tried to move but the pain was too strong now, "It's just a bad injury, that's all." Regina's eyes travelled down her legs, so she could take a look at it, "I surely did sprain it badly as we can see."

Emma flickered one of Regina's toes causing the woman to yell, "Yeah, not broken at all." she mused, removing the other woman's shoe.

"What do you think you're doing?" she snapped, eyes flashing darkly, "That other foot is fine!" Regina's voice irritated.

"I need to check your circulation –" Emma wrinkled her nose, trying to find a way to vocalize what she was seeing, "– see if the temperature and color are normal apart from all these blue-ish purple bruises…" she completed in an awkward tone throwing the shoe away, she breathed in relief as soon as she saw that her other leg appeared to be fine, just a little swollen, probably from the shock with the tree. "Then we have to immobilize it. I can make a splint with a stick or a log or something."

"Yes and then what?" Regina asked sarcastically, lifting an eyebrow.

Emma looked at her puzzled, "I have no idea. Usually that is when the ambulance comes."

"I don't think they will find the way, dear." The reply was nonchalant.

"Apparently you have a better idea." Emma stood up, hands placed on her hips, "We really need to get you some help. This will get worse for sure, we can't just do nothing –" she glanced at Regina's, the moonlight illuminating her face.

"I do have a better idea indeed." Regina replied without hesitation, she paused before continuing, "Magic." the word floated from her lips followed by a mischievous grin.

Emma realized that she hadn't even considered magic, she was still getting accustomed to the idea that magical realms, princesses and princes existed in the first place, and the thought of healing someone by using some kind of super power was beyond believable. Even now, after everything she had been through, the thought alone was insane. And if she was honest to herself, she would never get used to it. Sure, she was thinking about fairy tales and dark curses during their walk – or since she woke up in an enchanted forest – but never imagined she would have to deal with it all again so soon. Suddenly, she stared at her hands, remembering the sensation on her fingertips seconds before the portal opened up, mentally pushing away the warmth she still could feel on her fingers.

Regina couldn't help notice that small gesture; she inhaled deeply, focusing on the other woman's hands. Since the moment Emma pulled her from under that fallen tree she'd tried, without raising suspicion, getting her magic to work, but she was whether too weak or without any magic left.

"Why haven't you tried it yet?" Emma knew the answer as soon as the words were out of her mouth; she closed her hands into fists next to her body, afraid that maybe something magical would happen if she kept them at sight. "You can't do it, can you?" It sounded more like a statement rather than a question.

Regina's eyes locked on the blonde's green gaze, the moonlight shining even brighter in the sky. "You can help me." Her voice was somewhat seductive, hoarse and appealing.

Emma chuckled; she couldn't believe her ears, "No way! Look where magic got us into!" She waved her hand in front of her pointing to the forest.

"To be fair, dear, the only reason why I'm stuck here with you –", the last word said in disdain, "Is because your sweet mother pushed me into that portal. So don't blame it on the magic."

Emma flinched, the word mother always had had that effect on her, but now it felt even more uncomfortable. She braced herself, trying to get it together, "What do you mean, she pushed you?" she tilted her head to one side, then decided to change the subject. She was not ready to talk about Mary Margareth – Snow White, she mentally corrected herself before continuing - "The only reason we are both here is because you –", her tone mocked Regina's "– decided to curse a whole bunch of people for you own gain and pleasure. So if there's someone to blame here, it's you and your magic."

"Oh and you know so much about me now, don't you, Miss Swan?" Regina let out a mirthless laugh.

"I know enough not to became your magic buddy for the night." Emma turned her back to her and walked away.

"Where do you think you're going?" the brunette called after her, her voice sounding less confident than she intended.

"Too look for a log or something." She yelled back, not turning to the woman, "I need it for your foot."

TBC