A/N: I do not own OUAT or any of it's characters. I've never done anything like this before so please be kind in your reviews!

TRIGGER WARNING: This applies to the whole story but at the beginning of each chapter I'll let you know what specifically is triggering in that chapter. For instance this chapter has a heavy trigger warning for Self harm and parental abuse.

All mistakes are mine and I deeply apologize. Enjoy!

It was a week and a half till move in day when she heard the ping of an incoming email. It was from her college.

Ms. Swan,

We have noticed you failed to choose an elective when registering for classes. Please select an elective from the following courses listed:

Yoga, Freshman PE, World Religion, Art History, Sign Language or our newest elective Mythology 101: The Study of Mythical Creatures.

Thank you,

The staff at Oregon State University.

Sighing Emma began to click through the courses listed reading each description. None of them seemed interesting at all which is why she had failed to choose one in the first place. However, there was one that caught her eye. Mythology 101. She never believed in that sort of stuff but maybe learning about it would be more interesting than studying a piece of art or hearing everyone argue why their religion is the best. After short consideration she added the class to her course list and went ahead and ordered the book.

Emma got up from her desk and went to lay on her bed side ways allowing her head to hang off the edge. She had a huge picture window looking out into the forest that was her backyard. Her foster father insisted on living on the outskirts of town. Not wanting to have a lot of uppity neighbors. Emma rolled her eyes at that when he told her and the thought still caused her to roll her eyes. Staring out the window admiring the way the trees looked against the sky upside down (from the way she was laying) a soft buzzing coming from her nightstand ruined her admiring. Sitting up to see who it was her stomach dropped a little when she saw the name on the screen. It was a text from Neal. They had been dating for two years but recently she had sort of been avoiding him. She picked it up and swiped right on the screen to see what he had wanted.

Hey, I miss you. Haven't seen much of you lately. You're leaving next week and I really want to see you. Lets go have lunch. I'm on my way to get you now.

Guilt pooled in Emma's stomach reading the text. He loved her so much and she wasn't sure she felt the same way. Letting out a deep sigh she walked over to her closet to find something to wear. Grabbing one of her long sleeve high school club tee's off a hanger and pulling out a pair of running shorts from her dresser she threw her hair up in a bun and went downstairs to wait for Neal.

He was there within 5 minutes. Emma walked out to his red pick-up truck that she had to hoist herself into because of how high up it was. He leaned over to kiss her but she turned her head so the kiss landed on her cheek. The ride into town was a bit awkward and silent for the most part. Aside from the radio playing softly. They went to their favorite pizza shop in downtown Redding. Emma went and found them a table while Neal went up to the counter to order their food. There was a table over near a window so Emma went and picked that one. She found herself staring out the window again watching the people walk by. As she sat there waiting for Neal her mind began to drift. Thinking back on the last few years. Her high school days. Redding has been Emma's favorite "home." Emma was given up at birth and spent her life in the foster system. About 3 years ago she was sent here to California from Boston to live with James, her foster father. He was nice enough in the beginning, however, Emma was just a publicity stunt. A way to make his image look better. Though he fed her and clothed her and was sending her to school so she couldn't complain too much. She had been in worse homes. When she started school she instantly became friends with a ver talkative brunette, Ruby, who then later introduced her to Neal. The three clicked really well and became the best of friends. Her, Neal and Ruby used to come to the pizza shop all the time. She smiled slightly at the memories they all had here. Soon that was all going to be changing. Emma had been accepted into Oregon State University which was her first choice. She always loved the pictures she had seen of Oregon and decided that that was where she wanted to go to school. Neal was staying in state and going to UCLA and Ruby was taking a semester off to figure some stuff out with her life. At first making the choice to go out of state was really hard. She was going to be leaving her boyfriend and best friend to go to school over 300 miles away. However, recently, she was almost excited to get away. Her feelings towards Neal had changed ever since the first time they had sex two and a half months ago. She had been excited to share something like that with someone she thought she loved so much. She loved Neal but didn't feel like they had a complete connection. She thought this would make their love and connection complete. That it would bring them together the way other couples were. However, when it finally happened it caused just the opposite feeling. She felt further away from him. It wasn't like she was expecting. She hated it and realized maybe they didn't have a romantic connection at all. Which left her feeling so confused. Suddenly everything she thought she knew about her future slowly started shifting.

Emma was pulled out of her thoughts when she felt a hand rest on her own. It was Neal. He smiled but his smile was sad. They sat there in silence for a moment before he opened his mouth in attempt to speak. He did this several times before words actually came out. "A-are you sure you really want to go to OSU?" Emma sighed annoyed, pulling her hand away and straightening her back. They had had this fight several times over the summer. Always resulting in Neal storming off pissed off at her for standing her ground. "Neal." Emma stated firmly. "We have been over this time and time again. I'm not staying here. I need to get away. So, yes. I am sure. OSU has been my dream for years. It was my number one choice and I got it so that is where I will be going." Emma was typically a very quiet timid girl but she was sick of having this fight. She had gotten louder and louder to the point where she was almost yelling by the time she finished what she had to say. As Neal just sat there blinking surprised by the unusual outburst Emma stood up and began to walk away. Neal calling after her as she kept walking. She needed to get away. Clear her head. Sort things out.

As Emma walked down the sidewalk she remembered that Neal had driven her here. Ruby's house wasn't very far from here. Only a few blocks. But she wasn't home. Once a month her family goes up to her grandmothers in Ashland for some sort of Wiccan moon ritual or something like that. Frustrated and needing somewhere to go she headed in the direction of her best friends house anyway. The old tree house they played in when they were kids still stood strong in the backyard. She decided that would have to do.

The walk to Ruby's wasn't very far. Within 10 minutes she was there. Ruby's house was at the end of a cul-de-sac with nothing but trees behind it. Emma walked the outside of the fence searching for the loose board she and Ruby had used plenty of times. Staring up at the old tree house it still looked the same. Just a little smaller now that she was bigger. She climbed up the ladder and hoisted herself through the floor door. Standing and taking in her surroundings she smiled slightly realizing how not much had changed. Ruby's little brother Toby had been the one to come up here now but everything still looked the same aside from some books about his latest obsession with werewolves. Laughing slightly at the thought of such a creature Emma made her way to the middle of the small room and just collapsed letting out a small scream of anger and frustration at her situation. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she pulled out her phone. Neal had texted her and called her 4 times now and left a voicemail every time. As Emma read the text and listened to the voicemails she could feel guilt pooling in her stomach. At the end of every text and voicemail he told her how he loved her. She couldn't believe she actually raised her voice with him. It was her dream to go to OSU and she just wanted him to understand she didn't want to change her mind. She hadn't meant to speak out so much though. Feeling her phone go off again she squeezed her eyes shut tight preparing to read another message from Neal. When she opened her eyes however, she was met with a different name on her phone screen. It was a text from her foster father. "Get home. Now." The guilt quickly faded as it was replaced by something far worse. Fear and panic. Scrambling for the hole in the floor that would lead Emma back to the ground she started running her mind over what probably happened. Neal must have gone to her house looking for her. He must have told her father what happened at the pizza shop. He was going to be so angry with her. He may not have had Emma her whole life but in the last 3 years he did have her he definitely raised her better and she should know better than to raise her voice especially in public. Her father loved Neal and wanted him to marry Emma. He was half expecting a proposal at their high school graduation. Emma was pretty sure it wasn't Neal he loved so much as Neals family's money. As Emma made her way out of Ruby's back yard and back towards the town she took off in a light jog not wanting to keep her father waiting any longer.

When she got to her front door she paused for a moment. Unsure that she actually wanted to go in. She didn't know what to expect. Taking a shaky breath she opened the door and called out "James..? James, I'm home.." When she got no reply she continued further into the house looking for him. She found him in the kitchen he had a stern look on his face as he stood over the island his hands gripping the sides firmly staring down at the glass in front of him. He had been drinking. Again. And by the smell of it had been drinking quite a lot.

"Emma" he began to speak.

She just stood there waiting.

"I thought I raised you better than this. You know better than to speak out like that." His voice was the eerie calm it always was when he was about to go off.

"Neal may not be the brightest boy but he's the only way you'll make anything of yourself. Without him you won't be anything. You should be honored that he's taken an interest in you and you'd be smart to apologize to him."

"But James.." Emma began but was cut off.

"You need him. He's the only one who's going to love someone like you." He spat out with slight venom in his voice.

"No one else is going to love a useless idiotic girl such as yourself."

Tears started streaming down Emmas face. The next thing she knew her knees hit the floor and there was a stinging in her cheek.

"Stop crying!" Her foster father yelled as the back of his hand collided with Emmas face. He grabbed her by the back of her shirt and shoved her towards the door. "Go to your room. I don't want to see you. Neal will be here in the morning for you to apologize." Emma scrambled to her feet and ran up the stairs closing her door to her room behind her. Leaning her back against the door she slid down to the floor where she began to sob. Emma could hardly breathe she was crying so hard. Everything her foster father had said running over in her head. She crawled across the floor to her nightstand pulling open the top drawer and moving a few things to reveal her small purple box. Pulling open the lid she got out the blade that lay inside. She stared at the object in her hand for a moment before pulling up her sleeve. Taking in a shaky breath she pressed the cool metal to her arm. Once for not being a better daughter, twice for everything her foster father said about her, three times because she knew it was all true. Dropping the blade she let her head fall back against her bed and just sat there taking it all in. After the euphoric feeling of the release passed Emma made her way to the bottom drawer of her desk pulling out her first aid kit and tending to her fresh wounds. Once they were all bandaged up she got ready for bed knowing she would have a long difficult morning ahead of her.

There's chapter one! It's not terribly long but yeah. Next chapter Regina will be introduced into things.