Title: Atonement
Chapter One: Shock to the System
Author: snarkysweetness
Story Rating: R
Chapter Rating: PG-13
Characters: Emma Swan, Henry Mills, Snow White, Prince 'Charming' James, Geppetto, Rumpelstiltskin, Archie Hopper/Jiminy Cricket, Ruby Lucas/Red Riding Hood, Granny, Leroy/Grumpy, Nova, Belle, Dr. Whale, August W. Booth/Pinocchio, Regina Mills/The Evil Queen, Baelfire, & a Surprise Guest; Emma/August, Snow/Charming, Belle/Rumpelstiltskin, Geppetto/Blue Fairy, Leroy/Nova (Grumpy/Nova), & Ruby/Archie (Red/Jiminy).
This Chapter: Emma, Henry, Snow, James; Emma/August & Snow/James.
Summary: The battle between good and evil rages on while Emma tries to move on from losing the love of her life. Just when she thinks she might make it through it all, Rumpelstiltskin decides to call in that favor Emma owes him.
This Chapter: Emma breaks down.
Warnings: Angst city; major character death. There's also a lot of language.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Notes: Swan Booth fandom, I apologize for the amount of angst, please don't hate me. Trust me, the original ending for this thing was way more heartbreaking, so however much you think you hate me, it could be worse. This thing was originally a one-shot but then it got really long, so I broke it up into chapters. Enjoy!

Emma stares down at the stick in her hand feels sick. Not the same kind of sick she's been feeling since breaking the curse, either. She feels like a boulder is pressing into her chest, cutting off her air supply while someone stabs her in the stomach, twisting the knife as she coughs up blood. The kind of gut wrenching sickness that a person feels when they're about to die.

She lets out a loud sob, not even realizing that she's crying. One moment she's standing at the sink and the next she's curled up on the floor, sobbing, unable to breathe.

"Emma? Emma! James! I can't get her to stop!"

Her mother's holding her, rocking her back and forth, reminding her to breathe.

"I can-I can't!"

"Shh, you can."

"Mom?"

Emma looks up at Henry and suddenly breathing isn't so difficult anymore.

"James, get him out here."

Snow gives him a 'don't fuck with me' look and James listens, carting Harry off in his arms, against his will.

"Mom!"

"She's going to be fine, Henry, just give her a minute."

Snow forces Emma to look at her. "Emma, keep breathing."

Emma does as she's told, the sobs getting smaller, but the tears keep coming. She can't stop them, they're infectious, and one tear caused fifteen more to come.

"I'm-August, I need August."

And then she's sobbing again, against Snow's chest, while Snow rubs her back soothingly.

"I know, baby, I know. I'm sorry."

This has been happening for weeks. The tiniest thing would trigger it. A motorcycle. A typewriter. The other day it had been a piece of cake because it had crossed her mind that August would have enjoyed it. Emma Swan had been through Hell and back in her life and survived it without shedding a single tear, but losing the love of her life on top of everything else that was going on was too much for her to bear. It was too much for any one person, really.

Emma was trying, hard, to not let Henry see her breakdowns, but her mother and father were used to them. Snow was the only one who could get her to calm down.

"I need to see him," Emma manages to sob out, pulling away from her mother.

"Emma, it's not-honey, you're never going to be able to move on if you spend all of your time crying over a dead man's grave," Snow tells her, taking her face in her hands.

The speech usually worked. She'd spent every day for a week by August's side when she wasn't desperately trying to get Rumpelstiltskin, The Blue Fairy, anyone to find some kind of magic to bring him back. She'd tried kissing him, repeatedly, cursing at him, crying, every bit of magic they knew how to yield, but nothing had brought him back. After three weeks of this, Geppetto had begged her to let him put his son to rest.

Seeing the look in his eyes had made Emma's decision for her.

So they'd buried him in a tomb, in a glass coffin, so Emma and his father could still visit him when the pain of missing him took over.

She'd broken the curse eight weeks ago and while she'd managed to not find herself at his side every day, because they had Regina to deal with, magic running loose and destroying things, and trying to find their way to their world, she couldn't focus on those things, not right now.

Right now, the speech wasn't going to work.

Not today.

"That dead man," Emma closes her eyes for a moment and then exhales, "that dead man is the father of your grandchild." Emma unclenches her fist to show her mother the positive pregnancy test. She looks into her eyes, calming down, because it occurs to her that Henry isn't the only one she needs to be strong for anymore.

"That is why you need to take me to see him right now, because I need to see him. I need to…I don't know, tell him? I know it won't bring him back, I know he's dead and that's why magic and True Love's kiss and nothing else has worked, but I still need to see him."

"Emma…"

"Please, mom. Please."

It's the first time Emma's called her 'mom' and they both know she's only doing it to manipulate her into agreeing, but it doesn't stop Snow from kissing Emma's forehead and doing just that.