The Wrong Side of Never

Chapter 1

There was no relief from the nightmare. It was constant. Looping. Seemingly without end.

It always begins in the same way, she is drowning. Drowning in a sea of inky darkness – unable to move - bound tightly in a blanket of searing agony. Dark energy clawing at her. Snuffing out her life-force. It is accompanied solely by an eerie ticking sound, echoing around her ominously.

Each tick, she knows, brings her closer to the end.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The unmistakable grip of her demise - drawing ever closer. Until, for a millisecond, the darkness retreats, deflected by a tangible surge of warm light, it soothes the pain, before evaporating as quickly as it had appeared.

Then the darkness returns once more, swallowing her into its murky depths.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

There it was again – the tick, tick, tick or was it a click? Yes, maybe a click.

Click. Click. Click.

She followed the sound, dragging herself slowly from the fog of unconsciousness. It was difficult to focus. The sound fading in and out, somewhat muffled by the roar of her pulse in her ears, and other undiscernible tones. She pulled her drowsy brain hard, refusing to fall back into the nightmare.

Eventually she woke sluggishly to the disorienting sound of various monitors beeping out a respectful cadence above her head – and the steady click, click, clicking. Her eyes refused to open, her heavy eyelids fluttering briefly before remaining clamped. Attempts to engage her other senses also failed, everything it seemed was dampened by this perpetual sound.

Click.

Click.

Click.

What was that infernal clicking noise? and where in the world was she? And more importantly – seriously – what the hell was that damn clicking?

A undeniable wave of pure exhaustion tugged at her, pulling her back into the fog of unconsciousness.

She succumbed to it.

The next time she awoke, she was slightly more aware. Her murky brain had begun to receive signals from the rest of her body. In particular, her pain synapses. Everything hurt. Everything. Hazily she started to piece together the reason for this - she'd been hit by a train! A Zelena shaped train.

She remembered that they had been fighting – a showdown on the street in front of the whole town. She had been thrown through the air, smashing into the clock tower. It wasn't quite enough to kill her but Zelena had been on her before she could recover or make any attempt at healing herself, and then…what happened after…how could she have survived that…she most certainly shouldn't be alive…it was impossible…and yet…

oh..

Realisation dawned on her.

She swallowed hard – at least she tried to – and then she was choking, choking on something lodged in her throat - a clicking something - she realised. Dark eyes flickered open in panic and she raised an urgent hand to tug at the device, causing her to gag even harder.

Her attempt was weak but she persisted, pained tears slipping from her eyes.

A soft hand closed over hers, halting her desperate effort. A warm soothing voice demanded that she keep still – a nurse would be in to attend her. Regina Mills did not take orders from anyone, especially people who she couldn't even turn to catch a glimpse of, but her strength was dwindling and the stranger's oddly comforting tone had managed to allay some of her fear, so she complied. Closing her eyes in concentration, she forced herself to remain still.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Seemingly satisfied that their request had been observed, the person removed the hand covering hers and moved to leave the room. Over the thumping of her heartbeat and the constant clicking and beeping of machines, she could make out muffled voices echoing in the hall outside. She listened, trying to place that one familiar voice, but her memory was refusing to co-operate.

'Believe me it's not her that you need to be afraid of, it's me if you don't get in there and do whatever it is you're supposed to be doing now that she is awake!' a low growl punctuated the statement.

Two sets of hurried footsteps entered the room, pumps squeaking on the linoleum, followed by a third set moving in a more casual stride.

A hesitant voice spoke above her to the right.

"Ms Mills, I'm nurse Hanna…you're in the hospital…we…we had to put a tube down your throat to help you breathe - now that you're awake…I'm going to remove it…to make you more comfortable… okay?"

The brunette nodded weakly.

No sooner than the contraption had been removed, did she force the singularly most important question from her aching throat. It tensed around a single word - a hoarse panicked whisper:

"Emma?"

It had escaped the notice of the nurse and her colleague, who were now busying themselves straightening up the bed and checking the monitors of their newly awake patient.

A pair of keen ears picked up the question.

The soothing voice to her left returned.

"Emma is fine Regina, try not to worry. You need to take it easy, you've been in a coma for two months."

"What?!" she croaked. "But…" her voice trailed off before she could voice her question and she felt herself slipping under again. She tried to fight it but the pull was different this time, almost like…

Something shifted to her left, followed by a low growl.

In a whiff of sweet feminine perfume, a warm body leaned over her and she felt, rather than saw, her advocate grasp one of the nurses by the neck.

"What the hell was in that needle?" said her guard dog.

Guard dog.

The wolf.

That was who the familiar presence was, Miss Lucas, but why would she be protecting her?

"It was just a sedative…it said on the chart that…that…when the patient woke up, we were to administer the sedative and contact the Mayor," came the laboured reply.

The Mayor? But I'm the Mayor, why would they need to…oh…

"If she doesn't wake up, I'm coming for you, do you understand? I know your scent and there is nowhere that you can hide!" Ruby growled menacingly.

The words joined the echo of confusion in Regina's mind as she dipped back into unconsciousness.

To be continued...

A/N: This was hanging about on my laptop...I thought I should post it before I do my system clean up that might result in loss of all my unbacked up works...I live life dangerously like that. If you're interested in this piece, let me know and I'll dig out the rest of it.