Trgger warning - suggested rape, violence

This just popped into my head after listening to Stop Crying Your Heart Out - Oasis.

Not sure whether to just leave this as a one-shot or continue on, that's up to you guys to decide, let me know what you think :)

Hold up, hold on

Don't be scared

You'll never change what's been and gone

May your smile, shine on

Don't be scared

Your destiny may keep you warm

Cause all of the stars are fading away

Just try not to worry

You'll see them someday

Take what you need and be on your way

And stop crying your heart out

She ghosted a hand over the bruise that was beginning to darken her cheekbone, mascara trailed down her face like fading black rivers as her deep red lips remained smudged across her face. Red rimmed eyes flickered across the once perfectly put together features of the formerly strong reflection she once found upon sitting at her vanity table. Dark locks were sticky and matted with dirt and her own blood, the pounding in her head suggested her need to visit the hospital yet she could not bring herself to rise from the safety of her moonlit room, no one knew she was there; no one would bother looking for her anyway. Pale skin was almost translucent in the night darkened room, the tear in her blouse made way for jagged red marks, scratches that led from underneath the jaw right the way down to her navel, they were bleeding slightly but not enough to drip away. How would she face anyone now? How could she allow her son to see her in such a way? Would he even care or would he see it as justice for the evil she had once committed? The answer was something she hoped she would never learn.

As her leg shifted slightly she felt the rip in her stocking grow larger, the skin it circled was raw and bleeding. Bile rose in her throat as she looked at the state of her clothes, her skirt was torn up to the very last thread at her hip where she was sure she would find finger sized bruises upon inspection. One heel lay broken on the floor somewhere on the lower level of the house as the other still remained on the foot that rested on the floor at an awkward angle. She could feel the searing pain burning throughout her aching joints; he would be marked and bruised also. If the residual skin beneath her once long nails was anything to go by she had got him good...but not as he had her. It was getting to a point now where she wasn't able to identify if some of the blood on her body was her own or whether it was his also. She could vaguely remember a popping sound as her fist connected with his nose yet it didn't bring her any satisfaction nor did it give him any reason to stop the attack.

Tears still fell from her eyes, she couldn't bring herself to stop them, why should she? No one was here, she needn't put on a show of strength, he knew of her past and what he had done to her. It was much worse than just a simple attack, it was a reawakening of her darkest memories, and the nightmares that once haunted her now lay on the surface once more.

"It is character building dear, take the rage you feel and use it."

She scowled as her mother's voice filled her head; she had made her voice hoarse on numerous occasions in her desperate pleas for help from the one person who should protect her from such horrors. She had lost faith in her father years before, no matter how much he claimed to love her he never seemed to take a stand for his little girl. He would merely lock himself away in his study at night pressing cushions to his ears so as not to hear the full extent of Regina's screams as her body was whipped and marked by her mother's dark magic. No one had ever stood up for her so why would that change now? She would merely have to spend a few days locked away in order to heal some and then would she track down her old tutor in order to have him remove the leather band that still remained around her wrist, she hadn't known what it was at first but when she was unable to summon a fireball to stop his advances she could hazard a guess. He had planned it…for how long? Why now when everything had calmed for everyone? It hadn't been long since she had returned from Neverland with her son; the town had been too caught up in celebrations of safety to address any old grievances. Especially him, she hadn't seen the man since he had helped her in acquiring the apple for the Saviour's curse.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure Jefferson?" she drawled taking in the familiar gleam of insanity bouncing around his wide eyes. The basket hung loosely from her arm as she picked the last apple from her tree to place inside. It had been a trying day, Henry had given her a flying visit in order to update her on the progress of his school work and keep her off his back for another few days before Emma would force him to visit once again. It had seemed that nothing she could do would ever change his opinion now and if she were honest she wasn't sure she had the strength to try anymore.

His eyes lingered on the ground in front of her feet as he became lost within his own madness, hearing a huff of impatience however was enough to bring him back to the situation at hand. "I was merely hoping to become reacquainted my dear Queen," she looked at him with confusion, this man hated her so there was no way he was here merely for the company, he seemed to catch onto her train of thought also. "you know, I've always admired the connection we share."

She watched as a confident hand dipped into the basket and pulled one of her honeycrisp apples to parted lips, he watched in eager anticipation for her reaction when she caught up to the conversation, trademark scowl in place she practically spat her response at him. "We have nothing in common Hatter; let that be known right now!"

"Oh, but I think we do…you see," she took a step back to match the one he took towards her yet he was still quicker in placing a hand within her dark locks and pulling her almost flush against him, her only salvation was the basket she still clung to. "Both of us yearn for the love of our children yet will never receive it and both for only one reason…" his hot breath against her neck caused her to squirm uncomfortably, he had always had this effect on her yet she had never been as frightened as she was now. He was dangerous, he had kidnapped Mary Margaret and held the Saviour hostage not so long ago in a fit of madness and now that the curse was broken but he still did not have his daughter back, well he had fallen over the edge into the abyss.

"And what is that?" she was glad her voice remained steady even when her heart was beating a mile a minute, his breath was laced with some form of alcohol yet she couldn't identify it, it was definitely familiar to her and caused the contents of her stomach to roll violently as she felt cracked lips scratching against her neck before trailing up towards her ear.

"You"

Regina could practically hear the scene playing before her as she sat in her empty home, the sound of her heels pounding against wooden flooring rebounding from the open space, her whimpers dancing on the cold air within the mansion. She didn't scream, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction and it was pointless anyway, no one would come even if they did hear.

She was sure she would have to replace the living room carpet; he had thrown her through the glass coffee table at the first chance he got. Regina could remember the feeling of blood trickling from the back of her head being soaked into the cream surface beneath her. The stairs would reveal a trail of blood from her knees as she had managed to use what was left of her upper body strength to pull her broken body up to her bedroom. She couldn't yet bring herself to look at the damage though, she wasn't ready to see the extent of what he had done to her…sure she had been through it but right now her head was a blur, her eyes flickered dizzyingly from one side to another as she tried to focus, she was still bleeding, she knew that but there was nothing she could do. Phoning an ambulance was futile, there was no way Whale or any other doctor would treat her and she had no friends to speak of, this was it…maybe she was going to die here, broken and alone…

"Just like you wanted Mother…" she spoke aloud to her reflection before darkness took hold of her.

"Kid come on, you're gonna be late!" Emma shouted up the stairs to her son's room, he was an absolute monster to get out of bed in the mornings. Sure, she hated pulling herself out of her beds warm embrace, especially on cold days such as today but school's school.

She waited until she heard the tell-tale grumble from above and the sharp bang on the ground to indicate that he had finally rolled himself out and onto the floor. Emma had warned that the bruises on his knees were going to become permanent if he didn't stop and just get up like a normal person but all she ever received was a shrug in response.

The toast popped from the toaster invitingly before she heard her mother enter the room looking every inch the princess turned teacher that she was…Snow had been adamant that she remain within the school as she had helped these children grow academically for the last 29 years…yeah, Emma still had trouble getting her head around the fact that all of Henry's classmates should in fact be older than her.

"Good morning sweetheart," while it was true that Emma had longed for the day she would have a mother and father, it was still hard to adjust to the change in her relationship with the woman she had come to know as her best friend and roommate, the woman she had shared every secret and, embarrassingly, sexual fantasy about a certain resident of the town with…she was never going to live any of that down. "Are you working today?"

"Yeah," she grumbled whilst wiping crumbs from the kitchen counter and onto the floor much to Snow's dismay, "would you be able to bring Henry home with you after school? I've got tons of paperwork and I don't really feel up to a confrontation with Regina about work that literally does not need to be done."

She smiled knowingly at her daughter before nodding that she would bring her grandson home with her.

After waving her son and mother off to school she jumped into her bug and made the short journey over to the Sheriff's station, David…her father…well, whatever, was perched on the edge of her desk looking slightly sheepish. 9am and already she could tell this was going to be a long day. "What's up?" Emma asked, truly unsure if she actually wanted the answer.

"Well, uhm…we've had a couple calls about an incident last night…well, it's not really an incident just a few concerns-"

"What is it Dad?" she cut off his ramblings and ignored the flush of pride at hearing his title before he composed himself once more ready to take on the brunt of Emma's rant.

"We received some calls late last night and early this morning that Jefferson had been seen out and about…" she looked at him only with confusion, why should she care if the alleged Mad Hatter was pottering around Storybrooke once more. At her expression he continued, "he was at Regina's for quite some time and apparently when he left he looked slightly different…"

"How do you mean different?" had she disfigured him with magic or something? She hated when people weren't direct, it was just time wasting.

He looked down at his hands not sure if he should disclose the information but the irritation in his daughter's eyes spurred him on, "there was blood…"

"Oh for fuck's sake, his or hers?" a feeling of foreboding settled within her stomach yet she wasn't sure why…something was wrong.

"We're not sure but…there's been no movements in or around Regina's house since yesterday afternoon, no one's seen her leave or enter so we can't even be sure if she's there…" she could see straight through his attempts at stopping whatever plan had already begun formulating in her mind. As she grabbed her jacket with trembling hands she shot a barbed comment over her shoulder towards her father.

"Next time you hear something like this, do me a favour and let me know as soon as you do! For all we know my son's mother could be lying dead in a puddle of her own blood right now just because you can't let go of something that happened nearly 30 fucking years ago now!"

She truly was enraged but she was terrified, what if something had happened? What would she tell Henry? She wasn't sure she would be able to face telling him that his mother and the woman she lo-

"Woah, what the fuck?!"

Her hand stopped on the key to the ignition, the woman that she what? Loathed? Liked? No, she knew what she wanted to say but couldn't allow those thoughts right now; she needed to get over there.

She had almost convinced herself that they had just had some kind of disagreement and Regina had socked Jefferson one until she pulled up outside the mayoral mansion. Something was definitely wrong, she could feel it.

The slamming of her car door resounded through the deserted street as the cold air hit her face, she couldn't take her eyes off the place, something was different but she didn't know what. It was unsettling and she wasn't sure if she actually wanted to see what lay within.

As she travelled down the path she could tell the front door was open, the black line that showed the space between the door and doorway was thicker than it should be, the area within was black even though it was daylight.

Emma noticed the on-going trembling of her hand as she slowly moved into the foyer, the air was thick and almost damp with emotion as she moved towards the kitchen area half expecting Regina to turn from a mug of freshly made coffee and scream at her for trespassing.

"Regina?" she called into the clearly empty room, her heart thudded in her chest as she crossed to the woman's study, there lay her laptop and a few discarded files with notes scrawled all over the pages in her elegant script but the woman was nowhere to be found. The last room on this level was the living area and for some reason Emma felt as though she shouldn't go in there…she soon found why.

Her heart all but stopped at the sight that greeted her, the normally pristine couch was in disarray with its cushions strewn across it as if Henry had literally been here two seconds ago and jumped all over the furniture. The coffee table was completely shattered in the middle of the room and as the blonde moved closer she had to hold in a gasp as she found crimson blood to be lacing the ends of some of the shards. Moving back into the hall she almost tripped on a discarded heel that she hadn't noticed earlier, beside if however was a dark trail.

Bile rose in her throat as she followed it to the stairs where the colour was able to be identified on the light carpeting, it was blood.

"Regina?" her voice shook as she slowly climbed up towards the second floor of the house, there was no doubting what had happened now…Regina had been attacked but the question was…was she still alive?

The door to her room was slightly ajar yet the room within was dark, coming closer Emma found there to be a bloodied handprint halfway up the wooden door…she had crawled her way up here.

"Oh god, Regina…" she couldn't help the tears that had already begun to fall in her desperation to find the woman and find her alive.

Pushing the door open she found the bed to be unmade, untouched – that was not a good sign. The bloody trail continued until her eyes fell onto the crumpled form near the vanity table.

"Regina!" her legs moved of their own accord as she fell to her knees at the woman's side, a choked sob escaped her lips as she felt the brunette's ice cold skin. Her fingers found their way to a pulse point and found no signs of a heartbeat. "NO!"

It was a guttural cry that was sure to have rebounded through every street in Storybrooke yet she thought of no one else, she thought of nothing but the limp body cradled in her arms that she had waited too late to touch, to hold, to allow herself to feel for.

"I'm sorry," she was rocking now with Regina's lifeless body in her arms as she began to succumb to her desperation, "I should have told you, I should have told you!" she repeated the mantra until her voice became hoarse, until the only thing she could whisper were the three words that should have left her lips a long time ago.

"I love you…"

Her lips came to rest on the full, cold ones of Regina as her tears fell onto the pale, cold skin cradled in her hands. In her despair the blonde couldn't identify the warmth beneath her to be that of Regina's, she couldn't feel the flexing of fingers that rested against her thigh but she could hear and the gasp of air that resounded through the room was possibly one of the most beautiful sounds she had ever and would ever come to hear.

Pulling back she found deep brown eyes to be gazing up at her in complete fear but yet something else lay within them…something Emma could not bring herself to recognize but didn't care when she heard the whispered sentence uttered up at her from the woman she had thought was gone from her life forever.

"You…you love me?"