This is my first attempt to write something scary, so let's see how it turns out! (Don't expect I'll be the next Stephen King, though!) It will contain violence and references/flashbacks to troubled past on future chapters. I'll tag them as the story progresses.

The story will beta-ed by the amazing cyr1988.

Let me know what you guys think!

Darkness.

It was the first thing that came into her mind when Regina regained consciousness. She knew her eyes were open, but the darkness surrounding her didn't go away. Wherever she was, she was being held in a dark room.

Slowly, Regina sat up from the floor and tried to get familiar with her environment, which was nearly impossible when you couldn't rely on your sight. She tried using her other senses, feel the world around you, just like Rumplestilskin had taught her when she was her apprentice.

She sniffed, and a sterile scent filled her lungs. It was as if the room had been filled with bleach fumes. And it burned her from inside out.

Then, there was an unfamiliar, cold feeling that surrounded her. It was not the usual wintry atmosphere they had in Maine, it was more like a feeling of emptiness, hopelessness, and lack of safety.

She struggled to remember how she had ended up in this situation, but nothing would come to mind. Regina couldn't even remember the last time she had been with Henry. Had it been for his birthday or was it Christmas? Did they even celebrate Christmas or was it Hanukkah?

Absently, Regina ran her fingers through her hair, she winced when she realized that the region above her ear was sticky. With very little pleasure in carrying out her action, she bought her fingers to her mouth and tasted the sticky substance. The taste of iron was unavoidable. It was blood.

Magic. That was the only possibility she could think of. She tried to create a fireball, but nothing happened when she extended her palm. It didn't matter how hard she concentrated to summon her powers, magic wouldn't happen. Regina lowered her gaze in an attempt to look at her hands, but it was completely pitch-black. The only way she knew her hands were still attached to her body was because she could feel them every time she clenched them.

It was at that precise moment, while she was pretending to be staring at her hands that a realization hit her hard- she was alone and was without her powers. Her trachea started constricting and Regina reminded herself to breath in and out slowly. She needed to keep her emotions in check, nothing good would come if she'd let fear overcome her meticulous mind. Even if she

didn't have magic, she had gone through many panic attacks to know that anxiety would only make everything worse.

A thud followed by a short-lasting moan caught Regina's attention and her head snapped to the direction of the sound. It was the first indication she was not alone in this dark room. The other person, whoever it was, sounded like he/she was in pain.

"Who's there?" Regina said in a tone that did not show her fears, "Show your self," she commanded.

But no one did as the Queen said.

"Who is there?" she repeated, louder this time.

"Let's play a game, your Majesty," a mocking tone stated, not replying to the question Regina had asked for the second time.

"What sort of game?"

"That is for me to know, and for you to find out," the eeriness on the voice made the hair on Regina's nape stand on end.

Before Regina could ask more questions, someone turned a switch on and light appeared from everywhere, impairing Regina's sight for a while. The former Evil Queen had to blink couple of times before her eyes got used to the bright, white light that had replaced the equally blinding darkness.

The first thing she did was to check her body. Ten fingers, ten toes. Her clothes gave her a clue to the last thing she had done- she was at a town hall meeting. But, she couldn't remember when it had taken place, that didn't tell her how much time has gone by since she had been held captive. A wave of relief washed her over when she realized that other than the blood from her head, there were no signs of damage.

Secondly, she checked the room, which was no ordinary chamber. It was a glass cell. All four walls, the roof, and the floor were made of transparent glass and it made Regina feel naked. She realized, however, that the glass was made to look in, and not out, because the outside view was completely dark, except for occasional red dots blinking on the distance.

Lastly, her eyes stopped at an indiscernible lump lying on the floor - the only thing that was in the glass cell with her. She crawled closer to other living being who shared the unique quarters with her and bile rose in her throat as

she noticed that the lump had a blonde mane.

"Emma!" she yelled and stood up to run towards the other woman.

Regina let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when she realized that Emma was alive. She was breathing. Her knees gave up on her, either from exhaustion or relief, and Regina's body dropped next to Emma's.

Emma seemed fine, not taking into consideration that she was unconscious, of course. But at least there were no signs of blood or other signs of physical trauma.

"Emma," Regina repeated in a whisper and gently shook the blonde "Wake up," she pleaded, even if she wanted it to sound like an order.

"Gina...?" came out as the blonde's weak response, and slowly Emma opened her eyes. It took less time for Emma to recover from whatever trauma had knocked her out, "Where the fuck are we?" she asked after she sat up with Regina's help. "Besides the obvious answer, I mean. I can see we are locked in a glass cell"

"I don't know," the brunette answered and watched as Emma rubbed her head. The Sheriff seemed very calm about the situation "When I woke up, everything was pitch-black. Then, I heard something being dropped, which I assume it was you," Regina rushed into telling everything that had happened to the sheriff, "And then, some creepy voice said that we were going to play a game and the lights were turned on," she summarized the information she looked and hoped that Emma couldn't hear her anxiety.

But the blonde knew her too well. "We'll figure a way to get out of this place, Regina," Emma said, taking Regina's hand, "I promise."

Truth was, Emma was terrified as well, but she was doing a better job on hiding her emotions. Only one of them got to panic, and apparently, that was Regina.

Regina just nodded.

"Did you try magic?"

"It doesn't work," Regina replied, "I can't even feel it inside of me, it's as if this... cell... or whatever this place is, blocks it,"

Emma looked down at her hands, "I was wondering what was missing," she stated with a frown. She had never realized how much she had grown used to her magic.

Trying to busy her thoughts with other worrying matters, Emma looked around, "I don't see a way to get out."

"That's probably a good thing."

"What do you mean?" Emma raised her head to see Regina. The darker woman looked pale.

"Because if we can't get out, they can't come in," Regina replied pointing out of their glass cage.

And that's when Emma saw them. The demons that tortured her at night. And judging by Regina's expressions, she could see her demons, too.

This was going to be interesting.