Title: Emma Meets Sabrina
Summary: What if (young) Emma were adopted by the Spellmans? Once Upon A Time/Sabrina The Teenage Witch Crossover. One-Shot.
Disclaimer: ABC owns both, I don't, no money for this either way, don't sue.
Plot: After meeting Lily for the first time, Emma winds up in (Sabrina's Hometown), MA and goes to High School with Sabrina, after she catches Sabrina in the 'act', she confronts the Spellmans in their home and discovers that they aren't the only ones with magic. She's adopted by Hilda and Zelda shortly thereafter.
Story:
Another town, another school, another dreadful 'first day'. Emma Swan felt like screaming, or at least hitting something. She settled for slamming her new locker door a bit more forceful than strictly necessary. Observing the other students passing by in the hallway for a moment, she saw another blond girl her age get hit by a football that the jocks were tossing around.
'At least I'm not the only miserable one,' she mused, though the thought actually made her feel worse rather than better.
She idly followed along behind the other girl and quickly came to the conclusion that it was also her 'first day', although technically it was the Tuesday and the second day of the school term, it was easy to recognize 'new students' to those that had been classmates since kindergarten. Too caught up in her own misery and regret, she didn't pay that much attention to whatever else was going on with everybody else. She just kept her head down, did her classwork, and focused on making it through the day. Although that pop quiz in English was a real killer. Normally English was one of her better classes, after PE that is.
Then, at lunch time, the girl that was just as, if not more miserable than she was, got into a fight with the 'queen' of the school, Libby, and then after pointing her finger at said queen, turned said teen queen into a pineapple. Yeah, that's right. Turned her into a pineapple! Just by pointing at her! And that didn't even mention the wind and flashing lights and earth-shaking that was going on at the same time!
It wasn't Harry Potter with his wand, not to mention human-transfigurations were supposed to be really high level magic, but Emma was pretty damn sure what she'd seen was magic. Rest of the school was talking about her being some kind of freak or something, especially after Libby showed back up shouting that very accusation, but Emma was confident the other girl was a witch. Which was so cool!
Unfortunately, just because the world suddenly had proof of the supernatural, didn't stop it from moving on with itself, as she had to report back to the Home and do her homework and stuff. Then she went to bed, eager and intent on getting to know the new witch, or whatever she was. She just hoped that she was nice and fun like Glinda and not evil like Voldemort. Although she briefly wondered what she'd do if the only witch she knew was more like Hermione!
Waking up, Emma was repeatedly struck by a near overwhelming sensation of deja vu, as she went through her day just like any other, and seemingly so did everyone else, right down to having the same conversations! Then she got to school and immediately sought out the witch. Rather than approach her immediately and try and confront her or anything, Emma stood in the background and silently observed the blond witch her age, trying to figure her out. Which is when she got her final proof, as when the girl was about to be hit by the football, this time she turned and caught it. In class, she answered all the teacher's questions and impressed everybody, rather than be ridiculed and be labeled stupid. When lunchtime rolled around, Libby didn't openly confront Sabrina, and Sabrina didn't turn her into a pineapple, but rather everything was rather ordinary, save for an outburst or two. No magic. Although she had her suspicions when Libby 'somehow' threw her own drink in her face.
For a little while, Emma was halfway to convincing herself that the whole thing had been a dream or something. Then saw the black cat just outside the school, and when he caught her staring at him, she would swear before a judge and everyone else that she heard him say, in English, perfectly understandable, "What are you looking at?"
Emma followed Sabrina Spellman back to her house, but she refrained from knocking on the door. No, that waited until the weekend when she didn't have a curfew or homework due that would take her most of the night to complete. Unfortunately, the repeat-First-Day-of-School was only the first incident that Emma noted around Sabrina Spellman, it was by far not the last.
After a full month of random, easily-explainable, but extremely odd incidents, Emma had finally had enough and decided to confront the witch. Walking up to the Spellmans front door, she rung the doorbell and knocked on the door when nobody answered within ten seconds. She was about to ring and knock again when the door was answered by a pretty older blond woman, by all appearances in her late thirties at the most.
"Hello," she greeted in a pleasant, if somewhat controlled tone of voice. "May I help you? Are you looking for Sabrina, by any chance?"
'By any chance are you a witch too?' Emma was barely able to refrain herself from asking. As it was, she merely nodded her head rather than risk speaking.
"Wonderful!" the woman enthusiastically allowed her entrance. "It's so nice to meet Sabrina's friends. Please, come in."
"Uh, thanks," Emma shrugged uncomfortably as she passed the threshold of the old manor home. "Ow!" she cried, having been shocked the moment she was fully through the door. "Damn static electricity," she said to the woman's concerned look.
"Yes, static, of course," she said a bit warily. "Please, wait right here while I get Sabrina."
"Uh, alright," the blond shrugged. It was a pretty nice foyer anyway.
There was a brief commotion coming from down the hallway to where she suspected the kitchen was. Moments later, Sabrina came sprinting out from the living room to the right, skidding to a stop right in front of her visitor. Smiling brightly, a little too brightly for Emma's tastes, the teenage witch said, "Hi! Hey! Great to see you, unfortunately now really isn't a good time, I'll see you in school, OK? Bye!"
"You're a witch," Emma said before she could either lose her nerve or be pushed out the door.
"Uh… what? No!" Sabrina was shocked and then tried to quickly bluff her way out of this unforeseen situation.
"You've used magic," Emma stated. "I've seen it. And then there was that first day of school, that we both lived through twice, by the way. Thanks for that, I flunked the pop quiz the first time through. But turning Libby into a pineapple in the middle of the cafeteria is really noticeable, despite nobody but me noticing at the time. Then there was the whole 'cannot tell a lie' drama that seemed to center around your Home Ec class. And then today, when Mr. Pool was tossing out gold nuggets? Or at least he was until the end of class. I saw you point at him right before his… little meltdown. You're a witch."
"Uhh…" Sabrina was at a complete loss, and therefore resorted to her default in situations involving 'magic'; go to her Aunts. "Wait right here. Aunt Hilda! Aunt Zelda!"
"Zelda?" Emma mouthed as the other blond turned and ran back to the kitchen… through the living room. Suddenly the orphan was curious as to what exactly they were hiding in there.
Curiosity driving her forward, she made to follow Sabrina's path back toward what could be safely assumed to be the kitchen area. Right before she opened the swing-door, she heard some… very odd sounds, which could best be described as 'scrambling rustling' that ceased the moment she pushed against the door and started to open it. Inside the kitchen, she saw two older blond women, either one could've been in her early-mid thirties, who Emma assumed were Sabrina's aunts. Sabrina herself was standing in front of the refrigerator, leaning heavily against the door, and if the blond orphan didn't know any better, was trying to hold it shut from something pressing it open on the inside. There was also a black cat, which she was pretty sure was the same black cat she'd heard speaking english outside the school that one time.
"Uh, hey!" Sabrina said way-too-enthusiastically. Girl couldn't tell a lie or cover something up to save her life, Emma was convinced. "You! Look, sorry it is taking me so long but I was just… getting my afternoon snack! Yeah! Hey, would you like anything? It will just take me a few…" there was a sudden knock from the inside of the fridge and the blond witch reinforced her struggles to hold whatever was in there back, "...hours to get it ready. If you don't mind waiting in the…"
"So are you all witches, or just Sabrina?" Emma interrupted the piss-poor lie. "And I'm pretty sure the cat is like your familiar or something else, because I distinctly heard him speak, in perfectly understandable english while he was waiting for you outside the school last week. Tell me I'm wrong, I dare you."
"What makes you think we're witches?" the slightly-younger-looking aunt asked. From her tone and posture Emma quickly deduced that she was the 'fun' one, while the one that had answered the door before and let her in was the 'strict' one. "We could be aliens."
"I can tell when people are lying," Emma told them, hands on her hips. "And Sabrina's a pretty sucky liar as it is." The fridge 'knocked' again, nearly knocking the aforementioned teenaged witch to the floor, but she recovered in time.
"So, is there like some kinda monster or troll or something in there, or is it just your 'afternoon snack' trying to get away?" she asked.
"Uh… neither?" Sabrina desperately replied.
"Listen, young lady," the 'strict' aunt said trying to sound compassionate, "I think you're confused. We are not…" She stopped speaking when Emma looked her in the eye with an expectant smirk on her face. "... Any different than you are," she changed what she was going to say, but still telling the truth as far as Emma could discern.
"Then why don't you let out whatever is in your fridge, trying to get out?" she suggested. "Look, I'm not out to bust you, or tell the cops or the government or the press about you. I just… I've wanted to believe that stuff like magic could exist for so long, to have powers like… Harry Potter, to be like him…" she trailed off, looking down at her Good Will donation bin shoes.
The three witches exchanged an indecipherable look between the three of them (and maybe the cat was included in that as well, Emma couldn't tell). Finally, the 'strict' aunt said, "I think we need to sit down and have a conversation here."
"Uh, Aunt Hilda, Aunt Zelda?!" Sabrina said, suddenly panicked as the fridge door gave another jolt.
Exchanging another look, just between the two of them, the aunts both pointed their fingers at the fridge and after a couple of streams of golden sparks flying through the air and around the appliance, the fridge was wrapped up in heavy iron chains that kept the door more secure than Sabrina's tiny frame could.
Emma's eye went wide and her jaw dropped to the floor (metaphorically speaking). She'd known what she'd seen Sabrina do and figured out the rest, but that was nothing compared to so casual a use of true magic!
"I knew it!" she exclaimed once she'd gotten over her brief shock, grinning brightly.
"Uh, guys?!" Sabrina shouted. "What happened to all the rules about hiding magic from mortals and all that? Huh?!"
"That only applies to mortals," Zelda replied. "Beings without magic of their own." All three witches then looked at Emma expectantly, though Sabrina with a bit more surprise.
"Wait, what?" Emma startled.
"The only ones that could recognize Sabrina as a witch are those that have magic of their own," Zelda went on to explain. "There was also the matter of the 'static electricity' when you entered our home. That wasn't electricity, it was magic."
"There is also the being able to tell when people are lying thing," Hilda added. "It's a really annoying power, but it does come in handy sometimes."
"Are… are you saying that… that I'm a witch, too?" Emma asked, stunned.
"Maybe," Hilda said.
"You definitely have magic," Zelda quickly added. "But if you were a witch like Sabrina, then your family should be the ones telling you about all of this, on your sixteenth birthday. That is usually when a witch's magic awakens."
"I… I'm an orphan," Emma confessed, feeling ashamed even as the words left her mouth. "And… well, I'm only 15, have been for about a week and a half now."
At that news, the two older witches shared a collective gulp and worried glance between the two of them. They also seemed to come to a rather abrupt and confirming decision regarding their next actions.
"Well, given the special circumstances surrounding this situation, I think it's safe to say that we need to take this to the Witches Council," Zelda announced.
"Yes, and good luck with that," Hilda remarked. "I'll be in Bermuda with Salem."
"Not so fast," the older sister stopped her younger sibling. "Consequences of revealing a witch's heritage to her before her powers fully awaken aside, there is still the fact that this young woman discovered Sabrina's secret and does indeed have magic of her own. Besides, the punishment isn't that bad."
"Not that bad?" Hilda said disbelieving. "You really think that one hundred years of hard labor 'isn't that bad'?"
"It's one hundred days of community service," Zelda quickly corrected.
"In the Underworld," Hilda reminded her.
"On the cool side," she pointed out.
"Doing anything from shoveling dog poop, to organizing the unending queue of bureaucracy they've got going on down there!" she countered, putting her foot down.
"It's just because… immature witches have trouble keeping secrets, or understanding the consequences of magic being used in public," Zelda tried to explain for the girls. "Also, the rules only apply to those living in the mortal world. And Emma has already proven that she understands the consequences and the need for discretion."
"Hey!" Sabrina interrupted. Once assured of everyone's attention, she reminded them, "How about we just go see Drell and the Witches Council and get this whole mess sorted out, OK? OK!"
"Fine," Hilda grumbled, actually leading the way up the stairs. "But for the record, when we're in the Underworld shoveling that dog's mountains of feces, remember that we could've been in Bermuda on the run!"
"Either way, you'd be sweating bullets, Hilda," Zelda teased her sister.
Once upstairs, they turned a corner and lined up in front of, by all appearances, was the linen closet. Keeping silent, and observing everything going on around her, Emma kept her peace and anxiously awaited the appearance and use of more magic. She didn't have long to wait as they stepped into the closet and kept walking. The moment the door was closed behind them, there was a blinding flash of light and the sound of thunder, immediately preceded by the sensation of falling and moving-without actually moving, as she kept walking right behind Sabrina. Moments later, they all stumbled out into what appeared to be a courtroom that just so happened to be at the top of a really tall mountain, or was literally in the sky as clouds floated by and there was the distinct sensation that cannot be mistaken for anything other than high altitude.
Safe to say they were now in another Realm.
At the center of everything was a conference table slash court-room style judge panel, each place occupied by really old, powerful-looking people, every one of which Emma was convinced was a Witch. Capital W intended. At the center of the 'council table' was a younger man with long curly dark brown hair and thick-rimmed glasses, and an undeniable presence. His whole face lit up at the sight of the collection of blonds, or rather at one in particular.
"Hilda!" he exclaimed.
"Drell," she replied with much less enthusiasm.
"So," the man said as though all pleasantries had been dispensed with after just those two words, "What mess have the Spellmans gotten into after, what? Wow! Only thirty minutes since I last had to deal with you. I sincerely hope that it is not a continuation of the TERRIBLE consequences of messing with mortal lives."
They all winced and were rubbing their ears, even those on the Witches Council, after the echoing and thundering boom from that one word.
"Note to self," Drell said as an aside to the rest of the council, "Have them dial back the imposing volume on that word, just a smidge."
"So!" the head of the Witches Council continued as though that little aside hadn't happened at all. "Mess! Spellmans! Spill!"
"We found an unknown magical," Zelda answered immediately.
That, unexpectedly, brought the Witches Council to full attention and all levity and casualness was dropped at once.
"Or rather," she continued as though she hadn't noticed the sudden change in atmosphere (which she absolutely had), "she found Sabrina. Apparently they go to school together, and she has noticed the magic occurrences over the past few weeks. In particular… when time was reversed by one day."
"This magical… was aware of the magic used?" a lesser member of the council asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
"She lived through the whole day again, the same as Sabrina and the rest of us did," Zelda answered respectfully.
Emma suddenly found herself the center of attention amidst a whole council of beings that, if they so wished, could literally do anything they wanted to her, from wiping her out of existence, to transforming her into any number of objects or creatures, or even turning her into their Queen, although she really doubted that last one was gonna happen. And despite being quite confident in herself, she still jumped when Drell shouted at her.
"You!" he bellowed. "Step forward and explain!"
Nervous, she glanced back at the family of witches she had just met. Sabrina gave her a thumbs-up, as did Hilda, while Zelda merely gave her an encouraging nod. Hopeful and silently praying that she wasn't about to be turned into some horrid animal for the rest of time, Emma stepped forward.
"Uh, what," her voice cracked a bit and she tried again. "What would you like to know?"
"Name!" Drell demanded.
"Emma Swan," she answered immediately.
"Are you a witch?"
"Not that I am aware of, but I'm an orphan so I wouldn't know, would I?"
"OK, that actually takes care of the rest of our questions," Drell said in a more conversational tone as he pointed at a piece of parchment that filled in with information by magic. "Only thing to take care of now is your registration and setting up your education for obtaining your Witches License."
"Wait, we have to get licenses to be witches?!" Sabrina suddenly exclaimed. Emma could tell that the teenage witch really couldn't read a situation where it was better to stay quiet than to speak up.
"Uh, yes, but you don't actually get it until you're 18," Zelda hastily explained to her niece. "It is why you're given at least two consequence-free years to get used to your powers, to train and learn and prepare for your earning your Witch's Licence."
"And of course, newly discovered witches are given the same opportunity," Hilda quickly added her two cents for Emma's sake.
"Of course, first, before all that, we have to determine exactly what kind of witch you are," Drell said rather ominously. "Which means tests! Begin the Tests!"
A herald, hidden off to the side of the council table, held up a trumpet and blasted out a very loud three-note call, before shouting out, "BEGIN THE TESTS!"
Somewhere off in the distance, another voice shouted just as loud, "BEGIN THE TESTS!" and then even further away yet another, "Begin the Tests!" It repeated about half a dozen times in total, or so, before the 'elevator' behind the Spellmans, and Emma, 'dinged' with that now-familiar flash of thunder and lightning. Out stepped a witch around Hilda and Zelda's apparent age, though dressed up like a cross between a strict-librarian and an angry-school-nurse, who quickly took a look at all those present, zeroed in on Emma, and took her by the wrist.
"Right this way," she said, even as she began dragging the unresisting blond along.
"Uh… tests?" Emma finally managed to squeak out.
A small eternity later, or at least that is how it felt to Emma, it was determined that while she was indeed a magic-using-human-magical-creature, and by some definitions a witch, she was not the *same* kind of witch that the Spellmans were. Of course, this being the Witches Council, the ruling government of a race spanning multiple planets, realities and for a length of time that modern humans have yet to invent a proper expression for, they still managed to identify the specific type of 'witch' that she was, and slam her with an unnameable amount of seemingly random and bizarre rules governing her use of Magic. Governments, after all, love their bureaucracy.
Long and short of it, despite her being an orphan, she was apparently born in 'another realm', one that the Council had dubbed "Fairy Tale Realm #2011-28S9U10N Variation: TGIF" and was further explained that meant she came from a realm where various fairy tales, such as Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, and the Little Mermaid were all real. They also did a magical DNA test and determined that she was the daughter of that world's version of Snow White and her Prince Charming.
When asked about traveling to that realm to visit her parents (and ultimately ask them why they gave her up), she was bureaucratically informed that she must first obtain her Witches Licence, and make a further application for Realm Travel, as well as any and all other extra-magical abilities that may require 'more' than what her abilities alone could provide for. Of which realm travel was sadly not one. When dumbed down for her, by Hilda and Zelda, it was like having a regular Driving Licence, and then needing to get a whole new Driving Licence for a big rig 18-wheeler truck, or other large vehicle.
Given what it could mean for her and the chance at finding her real family, Emma had no trouble at all with however much work it would take to make that happen.
Unfortunately, training and practicing for one's Witches Licence does not preclude one from attending high school, especially if one is a minor living in the Mortal Realm.
Fortunately, after a simple question ("How can I practice magic if I live in a Home with a bunch of mortals and other mortal orphans?"), the Council did what it does and basically made the Spellmans her foster family for the next few years, until she turned 18. After which, she would have her Witches Licence and could, quite literally, do whatever she wanted to do.
The next few years promised to be… interesting, for Emma Swan, if nothing else.
END?
(Challenge: Continue the story if you dare! Just drop links, and make it so that when she does turn 18, while not the same as canon, Emma *still* meets Neal and is somehow forced to give Henry up for adoption.)