It wasn't even Halloween dammit. The Fairies said that's what they had to be ready for, yet here she was running from a very real demon who didn't seem to care that she was the Savior or the product of true love or any of the other things she'd had droned at her the last few years. Behind her there was a roar that vibrated the ground beneath her feet. She ran harder, trying to hold the bag still that was slapping at her hip.
Blue had wanted her to come out here. She'd insisted that the Savior needed to go to the well, say an incantation and pour in a potion to stop an invasion of demons they had prophesied. Emma was pretty sure now that was bullshit. Regina had warned her not to do this, but she'd been caught up by her parents unwavering trust in the fairies that she had no choice. She'd said the incantation correctly, Regina had made sure she knew every syllable when she knew she couldn't convince her to stay. But in true Storybrooke fashion things had gone to hell.
The ground shook harder and Emma tumbled, the contents of her bag scattering in the leaves and branches on the forest floor. Disembodied laughter floated through the woods. Around her a wall of thick black began to build, blocking her escape. A round container rolled to a stop beside her. It was ridiculous that she'd even brought it with her, but again, Regina had been there with advice as she shoved it into her hands
"You've got to be kidding me?"
"Don't laugh Ms. Swan. It can be great protection, and if you insist on going alone, then this goes too."
"I'm not the one who insisted, you know I don't want to go alone. Something just does't seem right about this."
Regina glanced back over her shoulder at the group waiting just across the room. "No, it doesn't seem right. Just take it. I'm giving you two hours to do this before I call, and if you don't answer I'm coming out there."
The woman was livid that the fairies had determined Emma must be the one to go alone. Now she looked at the blue container and snapped it up as the cloud began to coalesce.
Flipping open the spout, the Savior poured a haphazard ring of salt around her. The half shaped cloud, demon, whatever charged with a roar, coming up short when it tried to cross the line. A loud frustrated screech blasted her ears, and she covered them wincing. The half formed figure backed off and Emma dropped her hands, staring in shock, "Son of bitch."
It turned back to her coming closer. "Savior." The word was hissed and it echoed through the trees.
Emma didn't answer. A partial face formed and sneered. "Do you think this will stop me for long?"
The cloud drifted around the circle searching for a gap, studying her. "This is who was sent to summon me?"
"I was sent to stop you." Emma knew she shouldn't engage but couldn't help it.
It's laughter was loud and harsh. "Then you failed, and you are doomed."
Her jaw clenched but she didn't dare speak or move. She hadn't failed. She'd done everything she'd been instructed to do. Her tongue hadn't tripped over the strange words she needed to say, the potion had been added at the precise moment. Yet here she was trapped in a circle of salt. The cloud solidified a bit in front of her and the face was back.
"And why would someone as powerless as you try to stop me?"
"What I want to know is why you're here?" Emma knew she should shut her mouth, but she was safe for now.
"You summoned me." The demon pressed close against the barrier, slinking backward when it found no passage.
"I didn't."
"You certainly did not stop me."
No she hadn't, and she was confused as to why. "You are their Savior? How pathetic. Even with power, you are nothing."
Emma's hands twitched. The cloud swirled around her barrier, making her dizzy, and she shifted her eyes to the ground. "I'm more than nothing."
"So you believe." The cloud pressed again and she could feel the salt barrier strain but hold. "I know you, I know what you are. Abandoned and alone, trying to be something you cannot be."
"You know nothing about me." Laughter echoed around her again.
"I know everything. The moment you released me, I knew all. You are mine."
"I didn't release you!"
"I am free. That is all that matters." The half formed figure dissolved, faded around the salt ring, then seemed to come together again. "I can feel the souls here, the life. I will have them."
"You won't touch one soul here."
"Oh I will Savior. I will take everything, and everyone you love. It's mine now that I've been welcomed here."
"You're not welcome here." The black form backed away, then seemed to study her again.
"You're full of fear. Full of hate. Self loathing. You have no power, you are weak. A Savior who can't save herself, or those she claims to love."
Emma closed her fists tightly, feeling her fingernails dig into her palms. "You can't fight me on your own. You can barely use the simplest forms of magic. The salt may protect you for now, but the longer I'm free the stronger I become."
It seemed to be true. In the time she'd been standing in her protective little circle, the cloud was becoming more solid, seeming to take form for longer periods. Moving slowly she felt in her pockets for her phone, heart sinking when she came up empty. She had to find another way then.
She couldn't call for help, and she couldn't run. Fighting was an option, but she wasn't exactly confident in her own magical prowess at the moment. It was her last resort and Emma was pretty sure she hadn't reached that point yet. Watching the demon move around the clearing, she tried to remember everything Regina had told her about demons.
"There's no checklist on this Emma. One demon isn't the same as every other one. They have different strengths and weakness."
"So it really is like Buffy?" Emma was confused and tired, and she didn't want to be sitting here getting a crash course in all things supernatural. She'd spent two hours chasing Pongo down by the docks and she could smell the cannery on her jacket.
Regina sighed, covering her eyes for a moment. "Fine yes Ms. Swan, just like Buffy if that is what would get you to pay attention."
"Wait, you watched Buffy?" Emma knew it was the exact wrong thing to say when the woman threw up her hands and stomped out of the room toward her study.
She scrambled after her, finding her pouring a glass of cider in the corner. "Sorry. I'm just not understanding any of this."
Regina looked like she was about to make a comeback that would most certainly sting, and would leave them not in any mood to work together, before she took a deep breath. She glared at Emma for a moment before making her way to a loveseat, almost slamming her glass onto the table in front of her.
Liquid sloshed out landing on the polished wood, and the older woman made no move to clean up the mess. Clasping her hands in front of her and lowering her head to stare between her feet, she took several more deep breaths. Emma crept further into the room, stopping at the end of the long coffee table.
Finally Regina raised her head to look at her again. Her eyes still held anger, but there was also worry, and something else the Savior couldn't quite define. She motioned to the chair across from her and Emma sat. "There are only a few things that seem to be universal. If you summon one, you have some control over it. If you can hold it until the sun rises then you could be able to defeat it. They will all test you. Get to the very core of every fear you've ever had and try to exploit it. It truly depends on it's strength. This isn't something to go into lightly, and I'm trying to make you see that."
"I know. I'm sorry. I just don't understand why the fairies are so suddenly sure that our doom is just days away."
Regina was shaking her head. "That swarm of mosquitos have no clue what they're doing half the time. But if we ignore it, then we could be in some trouble."
Emma nodded, not liking their chances if anything like what the fairies we predicting made it's way into Storybrooke. "Ok, then start again. No more playing around. Though seriously, did you watch Buffy?"
The woman let out a small choked laugh, then looked at her again. The anger was gone, but the worry, and that undefined look remained. "Go home Emma, we'll work on it again tomorrow."
Emma looked about to protest and she held up a hand. "We're both tired, and you smell like you've been laying in rotted fish."
She had the grace to blush, before trying to get another whiff of her jacket. It was there but it wasn't that bad. Finally she nodded backing toward the door. "I'll call you in the morning. David's taking over at the station."
"Very well."
Laughter went through the clearing again, and her eyes came up to see a more solid figure on the other side of the barrier. "Alone, alone, alone. Poor little swan. You've been abandoned here to me. A sacrifice to protect themselves."
Emma clenched her teeth, keeping in the pained moan the words brought. It wasn't true, they hadn't sacrificed her, not this time. The demon grew more bold at her reaction pressing it's not quite there face against the barrier. "A means to an end."
She growled, and stepped forward watching the face begin to grin. Stopping short she looked down at the salt barrier. The toe of her boot was just at the line and she scooted back. "Nice try."
"You have no one to come to your aid Savior, or they would have been here by now."
"Who says I need someone to come to help me? Maybe I'm just waiting for you to slip up?" She could hear Regina's voice in her head calling her an idiot.
The face had become more disinct, white teeth rimmed with black shone at her through the malicious smile. "We shall see."
Just feet away her phone began to ring, rattling in the leaves it was hiding under, and she did groan a bit now. It was Regina, she could tell by the ringtone, and the demon swirled away from the barrier surrounding itself around the device. The thing's delighted laughter boomed across the clearing as it made it's way back to the Savior. "You have a companion then? Someone who's taken in the abandoned swan? Delightful."
Companion? Emma wasn't sure what Regina was. The mother to her son, her friend, her family, her undefined. But she didn't answer, she'd already been damn idiot enough, and this demon knew far too much about her already when she wasn't spouting out answers.
The demon's form swirled around the barrier pressing in, testing it's strength. She felt the pressure there, and her own magic responded, bleeding energy into the salt at her feet. The demon reacted, pulling back. "She will be mine. I will crush her."
Fear flooded her stomach. Keeping her face blank she watched as the cloud formed again, lurching toward her. Her phone rang again, and it wasn't Regina this time. It was her...Hook? He was easier to define. He was there, he was simple, and he wanted her. It should be enough, and yet she really didn't want him to be the one charging in, thinking he was her hero. She'd been her own hero for long enough, she didn't need another one. And he wasn't Regina, whatever she and her son's other mother were too each other, Hook didn't compare. Dammit why was she thinking about all this now!
"So many conflicts Savior. So many decisions. Maybe you're not so alone after all. It doesn't change the fact they betrayed you to me."
"I wasn't betrayed!" Taking deep breaths she glared at the now almost solid form in front of her.
"Then you meant to call for me."
"No." She had no idea what went wrong with the spell, but it wasn't something she actively did.
"It does not matter. Soon this place will be mine, and you will come to serve me." It pressed against the barrier again, and she felt her magic kick in, pushing back.
"I don't serve anyone, or anything."
"You can't keep me here Savior. You are stuck in your little circle and I am free to roam."
The demon gave her its half formed smile and retreated from her safe haven, making its way to the edge of the clearing. Emma panicked, knowing that if it left now the others would have no way of knowing it was free until it was too late. "You will stay here! I command it!"
It's movement stopped, and slowly it turned around. "You dare try to control me?"
"If you say I summoned you, then yes." Emma you are an idiot. "You aren't going anywhere."
It was laughing again, and she was getting tired of hearing it. "Are you actually trying to save this place? You are a prisoner here like everyone else, I could set you free."
Tempting, but Emma didn't feel like a prisoner. Was it frustrating that it took feats of magic just to cross the town line? Yes, but her family was here, and she would protect it and them with everything she had. "There's nothing you can offer me that would make me let you loose in this town."
"I'm sure that's not true Savior. I can offer many things."
It was back at the barrier pressing it's face against the invisible wall. The voice had turned lilting, seductive. "Love, desire, riches beyond your means. I can ensure your family never leaves you. Your son will always be loyal to you. That the one you desire is yours."
A shiver went down Emma's spine, "The people in this town would fall at your feet. You would rule all. You would want for nothing."
The barrier's power started to fade, and the demon pressed closer. "All you need to do is ask Savior, and all these things are yours."
She shuddered again at the thought. Stability, love, loyalty, everything she wanted as a child offered up to her in exchange for a few words. And none of it would be real. She couldn't look at them and know that they felt that way only because of some spell. She couldn't look at the one she desired, Regina, and know that it wasn't real. In her chest a pressure built that she always associated with the magic she couldn't quite control. "No!"
There was a bright flash from the ring of salt at her feet and the demon was thrown back. It's body losing it's solidity and spreading out. A roar she felt in her bones filled the clearing as the cloud swirled. "They will all die, and you will watch! They will suffer for this Savior, and they will know it's because of you!"
The demon swirled toward her, surrounding the thin line she'd drawn, pressing in. "They will curse your name with their dying breath."
Emma's magic pressed back, holding it off, almost successfully forcing it away. She knew she could defeat this demon here and now, and the magic responded reaching out with tendrils of gold holding it in place. A howl of frustration and fear reached her ears. "You will leave. Go back to where ever it is you came from and never come here again."
It fought back, trying to break her hold but she wasn't letting go. "I command you to leave this world."
The demon roared, but Emma could feel it fading, becoming weaker. Her magic fought to make it small, make it powerless, to make it gone, and her magic was winning.
With her concentration solely on her enemy she barely registered the movement of black leather that came running through the trees, sword drawn. "Emma!"
Hook was headed straight for her, and behind him she could see others making their way into the clearing. "Hook no!"
Regina's voice was unmistakeable, and also too late. The pirate swung at the demon, his blade slicing at nothing, and his foot slid through the salt at her feet. The magic faltered, and Emma felt a surge of dark power that blew her and Hook from their feet. She landed hard on her back, and heard triumphant laughter. The black cloud reformed, and she scrambled to her feet trying to recall the magic that wasn't there.
She could hear the others yelling, trying to get into position to fight, but all she saw was the demon as it bore down. Dark claws, and gleaming teeth came for her and she held her hands up, begging the magic to come forward.
It was too fast. What felt like claws sank into Emma's shoulders and those gleaming teeth were headed straight for her throat when a blast of energy hit them both. The demon was ripped from her, and she collapsed to the ground again, looking up to see Regina now standing between her and a furious demon.
The magic flowed red from her hands, pulsing with power. Emma tried to get to her feet, to do something to help the other woman, but she had no energy left. Over Regina's shoulder she could see the sun rising, making its way between the trees. The demon put up one last fight as the sun's ray's hit, and then it just diminished.
The witch stood there for a moment, hands still raised but everything remained quiet. Emma blinked when she turned toward her. "Emma?"
Black crept into the Savior's vision and she didn't see or hear anything else.