I don't own these characters. ABC/Disney owns them.

A/N: Hi, folks, I'm back! There are several warnings that go with this story. Starting with:

1. This story is unbeta'ed.

2. It also takes place at the start of the second season, the episode Broken, but kind of ignores everything after the curse is broken and Regina is taken to jail. So, some of the characters might seem OOC because they're definitely not the same characters that just ended season 3.

3: This will also eventually be SwanQueen and if you have a problem with that, you really shouldn't read this. I think that covers it.

Now, onto the story!

Under Her Skin

1: Death before dishonor

Regina paced the cell, feeling like the trapped animal she was certain that she looked like. She was currently locked away in the Storybrooke jail, which smelled of stall donuts and burnt coffee. The scent of smoke wafted in from the window, just barely overpowering the Sheriff's station's usually stench.

Regina knew that just outside the walls the denizens of Storybrooke were crowing for her head, carrying torches no doubt as they recalled how justice was carried out in their former land. Angry shouting carried over, mashed together, and became a jumbled roar. Growling, she thought about how she could crush them with one simple sweep of her hand… if only her magic would work properly. They would rue day they tried to harm her as soon as she figured out how to do magic in this damned place.

"Aren't these wonderful accommodations?" Mister Gold… or rather Rumplestiltskin if that glint in his eye meant anything commented as he appeared out of nowhere in a puff of smoke. Even though the Curse was broken, he still looked like his Storybrooke counterpart, but with his memories fully restored and an apparent working knowledge of magic here, there was that impish madness from the old world that clung to him like a feeding parasite.

"You'd know all about great prison cells, wouldn't you?" she countered with a sneer. She had to consciously control her breathing because she knew that the imp was there for no good, especially if he had control of his magic. She was a sitting duck.

"You know just as much as I do about these things, your Majesty," he commented and then gave her his best shark grin.

She had seen what happened to those on the receiving end of that expression. Hell, she had been on the business end of more times than most. Her heart rate accelerated and she imagined this was her end. Rumplestiltskin was going to slay her in this filthy jail with an army of peasants outside. The gods only knew what they would do with her body. I pray Henry doesn't see. But, she would not put it passed the people to display her fallen corpse without any regard for her son, not that he seemed to be want to claim her anymore. He had his curse-breaking, Savior biological mother now.

"Oh, thinking about what I'm going to do to you or what the screaming masses will do to you?" he inquired. A terrifyingly twinkle shined in his abysmal eyes.

"You and they are of no importance. I fear nothing," she stated, holding her chin high and waving it all off with one hand. She stared him down. He had not and would not break her.

He gave her that damned ridiculous laugh, but it was darker than usual. Her blood turned to curds as he moved closer. She could see in his movements that this was her end. Well, she would not go gentle into that good night.

"Oh, we both know that's not true. You fear me. I can smell it on you, your Majesty. You're wise to fear me, your Majesty, after what you did," he growled. The sound rattled her bones, but she kept her brave front. At least she would meet her end as regal as she had lived. Her mother would be proud.

"After what I did? And what did I do to the great and powerful Dark One?" she dared to taunt him with a smirk. Somehow, she knew he found Belle. She was not sure how, but he must have her and this was what the little visit was all about.

He stepped closer and held her gaze, cane tapping ominously on the cold concrete. The sound rippled through her, but she made sure to keep looking at him. He smiled and chuckled a little more.

He tapped his cane once before leaning on it. "You know, you always thought you were smarter than you actually are. That's part of your problem."

"Only part?" She batted her eyes at him. She was certain that it would have had more affect if only she had her Queen makeup. Even then, she doubted she could out-crazy him, but at least she had a chance back when she was the Evil Queen. Mayor Mills would probably crumple into dust against him within seconds.

His eyes danced and he leaned forward for a moment. "Oh, there are more, like the fact that you have loved ones now, your Majesty. A huge part of your problem is this foolish emotion that you keep giving into. After all, love is weakness," he stated with a knowing grin.

She felt like she had been shot in the stomach when he said those words. Part of her had always rejected her mother's philosophy, but she had tried to live by that. From what she could tell, her mother was correct. After all, it was love that allowed her to use Sydney more than once. It had also given her an ace against this damned imp. Of course, it was that ace that was about to get her splattered all over her jail all by said imp.

"Is it now? Isn't it why you're here?" she inquired with a smirk.

He glared and she saw a flash in his dark eyes. "There you go again, trying to be smarter than you truly are."

"Rumple…" she began, but had no idea what to say after that. It was not like she would plead for her life.

"There's nothing to say, Regina. You locked Belle away!" he roared, pointing a bony finger at her. Once upon a time, that finger would have had a claw, but it was just as threatening and dangerous.

"My mentor would've been proud of me," she pointed out with a smirk. Love was weakness, but maybe it was weakness that no one could avoid… save her mother, anyway. But, that was neither here nor there considering she was about to go to the same place she sent her mother so many years ago.

"Keep smiling, Regina. Keep smiling."

Taking a subtle breath, Regina fortified herself. "I think I will, Rumple. Now, what do you want?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "To watch you suffer, like how Belle suffered."

"And how are you going to do that, imp?" she demanded with a forceful growl. Mentally, she patted herself on the back for seeming so normal.

Reaching into his pocket, he produced a small vial of clear liquid. It could have easily been water, but the glint in his cold eyes spoke of something much more sinister. Well, unless he planned to throw it in her face, she did not understand what he thought he was going to do with it.

"I think you might need more acid than that," Regina remarked. What he was holding was about the size of a tube of lipstick.

He chuckled darkly. "Oh, this isn't acid, dearie. This is infinitely worse and you're going to drink it."

She scoffed. "And why would I do that?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

He leaned forward again. "I already told you – love is weakness. It's your greatest weakness. After all, we wouldn't even be here were it not for your first love and then were it not for your dear father's humble sacrifice."

"Don't you dare mention my father!" she snarled, wanting to reach out and snatch him through the bars. "You're not fit to kiss his boots!" How dare this bastard bring up her father, especially when her victory had just crashed around her. Her father seemed to have died for nothing now. She had taken the life of the one person who loved her and gotten nothing for her trouble, except transport to a world without magic and a son who now hated her.

In true Rumplestiltskin fashion, he giggled maniacally and held up one hand. "So noble the daughter to defend the murdered father. If only you had done that when it mattered, dearie. Your dear daddy might still be alive. But, you get a do over. You can save a different Henry today."

"You stay the hell away from my son!" she screamed, charging the bars to tear him out of his formerly scaly green skin. He was just out of her reach.

He merely laughed again, much darker and deeper than before. This was not the mad imp that she was accustomed to dealing with. This was a cold, calculating psychopath before her. He had her just because he could get to Henry. Taking a breath, she regained her composure and took one step back.

"So, I drink this and you leave Henry alone?" she proposed.

"That is the deal I am willing to make. You drink this and I will never touch young Henry." He held the vial right in front of her face.

"You will never intentionally directly or indirectly harm him," she amended. She had dealt with Gold for too long to know that if worded a certain way, the damned imp would find a loophole when it suited him.

His face tensed and a tick shot through his jaw, as if he intended to frown. He controlled himself, so he obviously wanted her to take the vial more than anything. Despite her death staring her in the face, she knew that she had the upper hand.

"You will never intentionally directly or in directly harm Henry, you will help him without any strings attached should he come to you, and you will see that that all of my worldly goods are inherited by him in the event of my demise," she bargained. She hoped that Henry never had to go to him, but she was not sure if she would ever get the chance to warn her son to never deal with Rumplestiltskin if it could be avoided.

For a moment, his lips pulled back and he bared his teeth in a tight sneer, but then it was gone with a dramatic wave of his hand. "Very well, dearie. I hold no grudges against the young Henry. He wasn't the foolish one that kept Belle prisoner."

She managed to shrug. "It worked for a while," she said coolly.

"And now its leading to leading to your death," he commented. "Drink." He handed her the vial.

Studying the liquid, she had a good feeling what it was. The look in his eyes gave her an even better feeling as to what it was. Opening the small container, she downed the liquid in one gulp. He began giggling immediately and she started to cough. Covering her mouth from the polite ladylike behavior ingrained in her mind like so much brainwashing, blood gushed out through her fingers and he laughed more.

"It'll be a pleasure to watch you waste away for a month, dying in pure agony," he declared.

Somehow, she managed to keep her head held high and her eyes sharp, even though it felt like a million needles were shredding her insides. Blood oozed out of her nose, dripping over her fingers and cascaded to the floor. As the drops hit the floor, they sounded like thunder to her, as did the sound of her own heart. Still, she maintained her dignity. Giving into his murderous satisfaction was not part of the deal, after all.

"Don't pretend to be so haughty, Regina. We both know that within the week, you won't even be able to hold your chin that high. You won't be able to walk. Every single piece of you will feel like the very definition of Hell on Earth. You'll die alone, hated, and in a pile of your own vomit without any elegance at all," he giggled.

Those words hurt almost as much as the pain tearing at her organs. Gritting her teeth, she tried to push down the intense torture ripping at her, both physically and emotionally. She was going to die alone. Her son hated her and he had been her last chance at someone truly loving her. She would die alone. This was actually more frightening than the illness that she how knew she would die from.

"Enjoy the wasting disease, Regina. You deserve it," he proclaimed.

"I'll see you in Hell, Rumple," she declared, as proudly as one could with a mouthful of thick blood.

"Not for many, many years, your Majesty. Enjoy your fate-worse-than-death," he laughed once more and then vanished into thin air.

Regina growled and then screamed in frustration, blood pouring from her mouth and staining her teeth. She wished that there was something for her to throw. She would not have had time to do that, though. The world became fuzzy, her vision narrowed, and then everything went black.

-8-8-8-8-

"Hey, Regina, I got some food for you," Emma called, holding up a bag from Granny's, as she entered the Sheriff's station. Things were oddly, almost eerily quiet beyond the fading din of the unruly mob outside.

Emma waited for the mayor to say something biting, but that never came. Weird. She gasped when she saw why she was being spared Regina's usual vitriol.

"Regina!" Emma rushed the cell, where Regina was unconscious on the floor.

When she got to the bars, Emma noticed blood covering Regina's pale face. For a moment, all thought fell from her head and she actually grabbed the bars, as if she planned to pull them down. After giving one yank and getting nowhere, she recalled that she was the sheriff and had the damned keys. It took her too many seconds to find the correct key and open the door. She kneeled by Regina's prone form, her nerves jumping as she tried to figure out what to do. Okay, before I do anything, I need to figure out what happened, so just look at her. Upon closer inspection, Regina's head seemed to be in a pool of blood.

"Shit. What the fuck happened? Did someone get in?" Emma wondered aloud in a panic. It looked like someone might have hit Regina in the head with something. She did not want to move or touch Regina, knowing that she could do more harm than good. "Shit, what to do? What to do?"

Dial 911, her mind offered. Really, brain? That's the best you can do? The fuck will I do after that? Answer the call myself and ask me what the hell to do? Despite those thoughts, she got on her phone and called for the paramedics. She could only hope that they were not members of the mob. With the call out of the way, green eyes went back to the fallen mayor.

"What the fuck?" Emma muttered, running her hand through her curly blonde locks and rubbed the top of her head.

She rushed off to check all of the doors and windows to see how the hell someone managed to get in and harm Regina. She did not find anything open and could not figure out how someone got in. That thought flew from her mind when she heard someone pounding on the door.

The paramedics had arrived, two women who looked a little younger than Emma. One was a brunette with her hair done in a tight bun and the other was a redhead. Emma let them in and pointed them in the direction of the cell. They did not even ask any questions, just went for Regina. Emma wondered if they were right in the head since they were helping the woman that cursed them or if they took their jobs that seriously.

"We need to get her to the hospital immediately," the brunette paramedic declared.

"Uh… I don't think Whale is going to help her," Emma pointed out.

"He's not the only doctor in town," the other paramedic scoffed as they carefully got the mayor on a gurney. "Clear a path!"

Emma ran off to do what she was ordered while wondering who the hell the other doctor in town was. It made sense that there was more than one, but Whale always seemed to be in the center of things at the hospital. Emma shook that away and moved with the paramedics. Thankfully, they had pulled the ambulance up to the front door. Emma was able to keep the mob at bay for the few seconds the pair needed to load Regina into the back. They sped off like a bat out of Hell.

Pulling up to the hospital emergency room, Regina was rushed inside. A lot of people moved out of the way, but a few lingered. An elegant, graceful woman with graying black hair seemed to glide through the crowd like a sharpened razor. The white lab coat proclaimed her a doctor, but the hard, frozen stare of her eyes declared her a villain in the old world.

"The Queen?" the doctor muttered, surprised, but doing her best to be stoic.

"She's burning up! There's a small gash at the back of her head," the redhead paramedic reported.

"Stand back," the doctor commanded.

Emma remained close, eyes locked on the doctor to make sure there was no funny business. While Regina was not her favorite person on Earth, she did not think that anyone had the right to just kill her and there were a lot of people in town that wanted to do just that. The doctor seemed competent and serious about her work. Regina groaned and her eyes flittered open.

"Your Majesty, be still. You've suffered some head trauma," the doctor cautioned her. Of course, Regina being Regina merely pushed the doctor's hand away.

Regina blinked, probably trying to get the world to come back into focus. "Doctor Augustine?" her voice was groggy and rough.

"Well, I think I shall go by Doctor Tremaine if you don't mind. Now, your Majesty, you need to stay still. You may have a concussion."

A dark laugh clawed its way out of Regina's throat. "A concussion is the least of my worries, dear. Perhaps you might supply me with some painkillers and then prepare yourself for the New World Order. Our happy endings have expired."

The doctor scowled; the expression was so much more severe than anything Emma had witnessed from Regina. "They shall have my ending when they pry it from my cold, dead hands and I am certain I am not the other only. What is going on?"

Regina shook her head. "The Dark Curse has been broken and now I must bear my own."

Emma frowned now. Regina sounded resigned about something beyond a bump on the head. She remembered the blood covering Regina's mouth and wondered if the mayor knew something about that.

"Regina, what the hell is going on?" Emma demanded, moving to the forefront to be seen.

Regina took a deep breath before turning her attention to the Sheriff. Clearly, she was trying to harden her gaze, but it was not working. Instead, she appeared to be in pain. A grimace tugging at her lip and tensing her face, which made her eye twitch slightly.

"Sheriff Swan, what are you doing here?" Regina managed to sound commanding.

"What am I doing here? I was the lucky one to find you lying face up in a pool of blood! What the hell happened? Did someone break in or something? I locked everything! Hell, I barricaded some places and those tables weren't easy to move!" Emma was so goddamn sure that she made the place safe only to be proven wrong.

"Calm down, Sheriff. Your so-called protection didn't take into account that magic has come to Storybrooke. So, you may be on your way, Sheriff," Regina dismissed her with a flick of her wrist.

Emma scoffed. "You're not getting rid of me that easily." After all, she was the one that went to Regina's aid when the angry mob was on her front lawn. She was the one that put Regina in jail for her own safety. "What the hell is going on?"

"I'm assuming this is something magic related. So, are painkillers all I can do?" Doctor Tremaine inquired, interrupting Emma, as if what she asked was not even important.

"It's either that or I'll be passing out once more," Regina replied, eyes losing focus briefly.

"Passing out? Is that what happened? You passed out?" Emma pressed the smaller woman.

"Painkillers, doctor," Regina ordered. She was obviously purposely ignoring Emma.

Doctor Tremaine craned an eyebrow, perhaps disliking being ordered around, even if the Queen did it. She wrote a prescription while Regina got up from the bed with all the grace one would expect a Queen to have and wobbled out of the emergency room with all the balance one would expect of a concussed person. Emma ended up taking the prescription paper and then chasing after Regina, who apparently forgot about the angry mob complete with torches and pitchforks being out for her head.

Emma caught up with Regina, leaning against a lamppost. She was also throwing up. Emma stood back and considered her options. When the thought of holding Regina's hair floated through her mind, she figured the best option was actually "run like Hell in the opposite direction and never look back. Hell, you might even find your mind if you did that." Unfortunately, Regina looked like she really needed help, even if she was too proud to ask for it.

"I better get into Heaven after this," Emma muttered as she approached Regina like a wounded animal. Of course, she was much more likely to be mauled and eaten by Regina. "Need a hand?" she offered in a quiet tone, not wanting to spook the ill woman.

"No," Regina groaned and then winced. Openly. She looked somewhat green under the streetlight.

"Maybe we should go back to the hospital. Doctor Tremaine seemed cool," Emma pointed out, jabbing her thumb back in the direction of the hospital.

Hissing, Regina took a deep breath. When she exhaled, it showed in the cold night air. "Doctor Tremaine can't help me. This isn't medical."

"Uh… looks pretty medical from here."

"It's not," Regina growled, agony contorting her face.

"Maybe we should go get those painkillers. You look like you really need them."

Regina did not argue, which only attested to the amount of pain she had to be in. Regina pushed off of the lamppost and nearly fell over. Emma went to her side and kept her on her feet. Regina did not even push away.

"Let's go get those painkillers," Emma said, wishing that she brought her car instead of riding in the ambulance.

Regina nodded. They walked slowly in silence with Emma doing most of the work. She was glad that most of the town seemed to be inside or probably still making their way to the hospital, chasing Regina's ambulance. By the time, they got to the pharmacy, Regina was sweating despite the fact that it was cold and she was not wearing a coat. Blood flowed also from her nose like a facet.

"Shit, Regina, what the fuck is going on?" Emma demanded.

"Sheriff Swan," Regina said through gritted teeth. "I'm going to…" She did not finish, losing consciousness once more. Emma suspected that was what she was trying to warn her about.

Emma tapped into a strength that she was unaware she had and picked Regina up into her arms. It was hard to believe that she had been slamming this woman around a hospital supply closet not too long ago. She felt light, lighter than anyone so larger than life, so imposing should be. They were close to the mansion, so she dragged Regina home. She could only hope that no one thought to look for Regina in such an obvious place.

Emma ran to the pharmacy and found out it was surprisingly still open, even though it was past ten. It was also run by one of the seven dwarves, which meant her mother Snow White was probably going to find out that she was in there filling a prescription for painkillers. Her mother was Snow White. I might pass out next, but I better get these painkillers to Regina before she hurts anymore.

So, she trotted back to Regina's house and found the mayor sitting up in on the sofa, staring at the wall. Emma was almost scared to enter, finding Regina in the dark. Regina was dabbing her nose with a napkin.

"Bleeding again?" Emma asked the obvious. What the hell is going on? Why is she so sick? She wasn't this sick when I helped her before. Why the hell do I keep helping her anyway? I'm not usually this decent, am I?

Regina was silent for what seemed like an eternity, as if she knew Emma was driving herself crazy with her thoughts. "I suppose I'll have to get used to it for the time I have left."

A blonde eyebrow arched. "The time you have left?"

Regina sighed. "Miss Swan, I suppose you would be the best person to share this with since you'll more than likely be in charge of Henry when I'm gone and your mother has managed to change the rules and such."

"When you're gone? Regina, I'm not going to let that mob kill you," Emma declared.

"I'm not talking about the mob, Sheriff. I'm talking about this." She held up the tissue, showing her blood. "I'm going to be dead by the end of the month, if not sooner." The month only had a week and a few days left in it. "There's no way out of it or around it. I'll be dead. You have to take care of Henry."

Emma opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Regina was dying? Dying right in front of her? What could she say to that?

"Here's your meds," Emma said. God, Swan, you are an idiot!

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: Emma tries to get help for Regina. Help Regina does not want.