You Saved Me,
Written by WickedSong.
Disclaimer/Note : I have been having major Gremma feels this weekend and I think Saturday was the point I realised that I couldn't let them go, like ever, when I saw that letter from the FB OUAT game (if you want to know what I'm talking about I can PM a link) So I wrote something here, just to get some of my feelings out. I do not own OUAT and I make no money from this but I hope that you like it.
She's in the woods and she's running, running, running as fast as she can. She doesn't know where she's going but she knows that when she gets there it will all make perfect sense. It's a recurring dream for Emma; something that she can't quite shake, becoming stronger and stronger since she arrived in Storybrooke. Now with the curse newly broken, it becomes too vivid and intense and like she's looking for something or someone's looking for her; calling for her, beckoning her to keep running. So she does.
She finally comes across a clearing in the woods and looks around. And there he stands, just looking at her. Words catch in her throat. She keeps reminding herself this is a dream, a figment of her imagination, not real. But it feels real, so so real, and for that moment she wishes it was. A world where he was still standing, a world where they got more time, a world where she wouldn't have to suppress every emotion regarding him because if that dam burst she isn't sure how she could deal with it again.
For a moment all they do is look at each other, before his face breaks into a tentative smile. She doesn't know what to do next. Walk towards him? Will he walk towards her? Why is he suddenly in her dreams, has he been the force calling her all this time? Her mind is reeling as he takes a step forward. He looks to her, as if asking for permission in coming any nearer and she nods.
He has this effect on her, turning her into a lovestruck teenager, something she never was. She hadn't really loved anybody, never let anybody in until him. She took his death as a sign that falling in love was a waste of time, and could only lead to that heartbreak if she ever let it happen again.
"W…Why are you here?" she asks.
He smiles again. "You did it. The curse is broken." He looks so proud of her. "You've saved them all."
That's her new title to the residents of Storybrooke; the Saviour. She understands why they are so grateful but the attention is something she never wanted. She's still in shock anyway, shock that Henry and August were in fact right, shock that this world did exist, of curses and magic, shock that she finally found the parents she believed had abandoned her twenty-eight long years ago, and that they did it for her, so that she could be this Saviour.
"I couldn't save you," she tells him, and she tries to keep her voice even, but it's all rushing back to her, memories she had stowed away expertly. Kissing him, 'I remember', that moment before that almost-kiss where she almost saw the joys of falling in love all too fast, and then he's falling and she's trying to save him but she can't rouse him awake from the icy hands of death which have taken him.
She closes her eyes, momentarily forgetting this is a dream. No one can see her tears here, except the man who prompted them, through no fault of his own.
"You did." She opens her eyes and looks at him in disbelief.
"But you're de-"
He shakes his head and takes her hand. She lets him, letting herself recall more and more of their time together - however short it was. "Even for a moment I knew what it was to feel everything. I was numb before, Emma, a puppet to Regina. And you changed that." His voice is cracking, a single tear in his eye, as he places their joined hands over his heart. "You gave me my heart back. You saved me without even realising it. Thank you."
She feels like this moment is way too familiar. And everything in her is telling her off, she built those walls quickly again once he had died, and no one had really been able to tear them back down as he had been able to. They're slowly moving towards one another, her mind is warning her to not give into these feelings she'd long buried but her heart, her heart wants this, has wanted this since the moment that kiss was stolen from them.
It's no more than a peck on her lips, she sees his smile one more time, again he's proud, looking at her like he never wanted this moment to end, almost like he loved her and then the woods fade and she's lying in bed, her eyes wide open, thinking of Graham, something she hadn't done in the longest time. Something she had refused to do since he had died in her arms. She climbs out of the bed, dresses and then walks into the kitchen to find Mary Margaret - no, wait, Snow White - and David - Prince Charming, she scolds herself, having coffee by the counter. Emma almost thinks this couldn't get more awkward.
They turn to her and smile but there's a line that either party can't quite cross just yet. She knows that they love her, from her experience with Henry she knows that they did what was best for her, but she still can't see herself ever being able to call them 'mom' or 'dad'. So much has changed.
Dav-Charming clears his throat and holds out an envelope for her.
"What's this?" she questions, grateful that there's a chance to not talk about the more pressing issues, even if for a minute. She takes it from him. Her name is scrawled across it, in…
She looks up open-mouthed, shocked. "We were surveying the office, seeing the damage we had to repair. This must have been put away somewhere by The Huntsman-I mean, Graham." Emma looks at this man who is her father as he corrects his error.
"Come on, Charming," Snow says, and she takes her husband's hand, "we said we'd gather the war council early this morning." Obviously there's an ulterior motive here and Emma can still see Mary Margaret Blanchard and her subtle ways of making her deal with her feelings.
"I'll catch up," Emma tells them. "Five minutes in the town hall?"
Charming gives a tentative nod and he and Snow leave.
She sits on the couch with the envelope, a letter to her from Graham? She takes a deep breath, steels herself against any tears and opens it.
"My dear Emma…"
She reads it, once, twice and she's still managing to keep the tears at bay during her third time. This time she reads every word, out loud, just to imagine him, a pen in hand, thinking of something to say to her.
As she finishes, 'but if it is, it is my greatest wish that we be together,' she vows that she will make Regina pay, for not just everything she did to everyone in town, not just for what she did to her parents, not just for Henry, but also for Graham; the man who deserved his happy ending more than anyone.
She remembers his earlier words however. And the fact that he thanked her for saving him is enough to instill hope in her heart, which was jaded and cynical but trying now, and a slight smile on her face.
She reads the letter once more and allows herself a moment of weakness. A few tears are shed, and then she puts it away in a safe place so that whenever she needs some sort of beacon of light she has him.
So I hope you enjoyed and please leave your thoughts in a review. They would be very much appreciated. If you liked this I have three other oneshots about these guys so check them out as well if you're intrigued? :)
WickedSong x