The ground was shaking. It woke her from a deep sleep and made her eyes feel like they were glued shut, but she hardly noticed over the sound of her blood racing through her veins and the cool floor beneath her cheek. She was lying on the ground. No, not just a ground. Tile! Granny's? As she pushed herself up she saw the familiar tile of Granny's diner and the booths built into the wall and the tables that were all scattered across the room and she felt…oh!

She felt! Everything! Her back hurt. Every time she breathed she felt the muscles rebel against the motion. Her arms, every small twinge of motion made pain spike through them. Her chest, her stomach, even her legs! She felt as though she'd been hit by a train!

A thousand questions filled her head all at once. Where? Why? What? But "how" was probably the loudest. And for good reason.

Three seconds ago she had been walking into King Arthur's Castle! It had been bright and sunny! She'd just had a conversation with Robin! She felt fine! How on earth had she gotten back here feeling every muscle on her body scream and…in the middle of the night?!

Noise made her look around.

It wasn't just her. Everyone was here with her, grumbling and moaning on the ground as they awoke just as she had! It was as if they'd all just gone to sleep like that! And…something was pressing against her belly.

Her bell jar! It was lying by her side fogged but whole looking. Nothing was cracked or broken. What about the rose? It had been so delicate a few seconds ago, petals had already begun to fall! Nothing had happened to it had it?!

To her surprise, she didn't even have to say the words, to ask to see the rose, and the glass melted away to reveal-

She had no words. The rose wasn't just missing a few petals; it looked nearly dead!

Her eyes filled with tears as she looked around. She remembered a few petals falling off before they got to the castle but this?! She remembered talking to Robin and saving a favor for him, asking Regina to let her return to Storybrooke when only a few petals were missing. What had happened in the last few hours? How had Rumple gotten so bad so quickly?! And how was it possible she'd let it get this bad and not demanded she return to Storybrooke?!

She sat up and the door to Granny's opened to reveal…Walter? Sneezy, maybe. Her first instinct was to question what they were doing in Camelot, but then she looked at what was behind them…street lights. The lights of Storybrooke!

Main street!

That was what they'd felt?! They'd come home?! She felt like her head was spinning.

"What are you guy's doing here?" Sneezy asked as everyone slowly got to their feet. Her body cried out in rebellion at her every flinch, but she managed not to cry or utter so much as a groan. What were they doing here? That was an excellent question!

"What happened?" Mary Margaret asked as she stood up. She and David had already looked over little Neal and now appeared nearly as confused as she was. They all did. So it wasn't just her then! Encouraging, but not enough to make her happy.

"We're back," David breathed at her side looking at the diner as though he'd never seen it before.

"Bloody hell," Killian added in disbelief.

"This doesn't make any sense…we were just walking into Camelot," Regina pointed out glancing skeptically around the diner as though it was a trick of some kind. If it was, the level of detail was stunning!

"What are we wearing?" Leroy questioned across the room looking at his clothes. What were they wearing? What was she wearing?! She looked down at herself to find that she was in a long green dress that certainly hadn't been what she'd gone into the castle wearing! But she wasn't the only one. They were all in odd-looking clothes, even for the Enchanted Forest! Though not necessarily for Camelot if what she'd seen of the people at the castle was true. Was it?

"Sneezy what happened, how long were we gone?" Leroy asked.

"Six weeks," he answered.

Six weeks! Six weeks?! They'd been gone for six weeks! She assumed they'd be missing a few hours but…six weeks?! She glanced down at her foggy bell jar. No wonder it was this bad. Why hadn't she been home a month ago? She honestly didn't know.

Six weeks...she didn't know anything.

"What?!" Regina whispered in shock.

"Our memories…they're gone," David said stating the obvious.

"Again," Mary Margaret whispered sadly next to him.

Obviously, their memories were gone, obviously from their clothing and her rose time had gone on! And they couldn't remember any of it! Again!

"You all really need to start keeping diaries for when this stuff happens because it is entirely too often!" the voice of Neal whispered in her head. It was meant to be funny, but it wasn't. It couldn't be at a time like this. If anything it was shocking. Neal had been quiet for so long! Now he was there again?!

"Where's Emma?" Killian whispered behind her. She looked around the room, took stalk of everyone, counting people to make sure they'd all come back. Yes, she could even still see Roland's sleeping form behind the counter! Everyone they'd left with was here. But the person they'd gone to get was mysteriously absent. What had happened in six weeks? What happened while they were in Camelot? Was Emma-

"Relax," she spun around at the vaguely familiar breathy voice behind her. "I'm right here."

Oh, she could have cried at the terrible sight that met her eyes. She had no words for it or any of this.

Emma…she was there, paler than she recalled, tinier in a way but somehow also looming larger than she'd ever known her to be. That could be the black clothes she was wearing head to toe, and the way her normally cascading and free hair was suddenly bound together at the back of her head looking more white than blonde. But perhaps the most striking thing was her eyes. The last time she'd seen Emma was just a few hours ago-weeks ago? It had been outside of Granny's when she'd returned. She'd been dressed in gray, her face had been taunt with stress and confusion, but her eyes had been clear. They'd been full of fear, but they were clear. Now they resembled steel. Cold, colorless…unfeeling. She shivered when her eyes roamed over the group and finally over her.

"Mom?" Henry questioned somewhere behind her. "What happened to you?"

Her instinct was the reach out and silence him, to stand between Henry and this…version of Emma she didn't know or trust. But her feet stayed planted right where she was. She'd never felt so frozen with fear in all her life and she'd married a Dark One!

"Isn't it obvious?" Emma questioned before taking slow and deliberate steps into the diner. She even moved differently. And her voice, her tone…she'd never heard her sound so precise and terrifying all at once. "You went to Camelot to get the Darkness out of me," she explained stepping up to her mother. She watched as Emma's hand glided with an unnatural grace through the air and finally touched Mary Margaret's cheek. The woman jumped, but she held her ground as she looked at her daughter.

"Then you failed," Emma hissed in her face.

Sneezy sneezed, and everyone jumped at his poor timing. Everyone but Emma, who simply looked over at the dwarf. He didn't look back. He wiped his nose on his sleeve then cast his eyes to the ground avoiding her gaze like a child playing peek-a-boo, like if he couldn't see her, then maybe she wouldn't see him. But it didn't work. Emma saw him. Clearly. And she didn't look happy.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" Emma demanded of the dwarf, looking him over like he was a mouse she was ready to devour. Sneezy looked up and met her gaze, and she knew right away it was the wrong thing to do. Emma moved. She walked over to the dwarf without hesitation. Sneezy's nose began to twitch even through his wide, scared eyes but the moment he opened his mouth and sneezed he was silenced.

Emma threw her hand up, and the dwarf turned to stone before her eyes. Stone! And Emma was responsible!

"There's no Savior in this town anymore," Emma stated as she looked over her work. Was it…was that admiration on her face? She wished more than anything it was guilt or sadness. That would mean there was still a chance they could help her! They couldn't do anything if she was like this.

She blanched at the sight of it, the cruelness of it. But no one said anything. The room was eerily quiet with the exception of the weather outside. Lightening flashed and thunder rolled ominously. She never really liked storms, but this one felt unnatural and electric in an odd way and she knew, without a doubt, that storm was not a product of the atmosphere. It was Emma.

Finally, someone moved. Regina. She stepped forward and stood between her and Emma. "Emma stop, that's enough," she said, but her tone was far more begging and pleading than correcting and chastising as she'd so often heard her be toward her. The Evil Queen was scared. That didn't bode well for the rest of them.

"Or what?" Emma questioned looking her over.

"Or I'll do exactly what you asked me to," Regina threatened. She reached for something at her side only…there was nothing by her side. There was just a slim, form-fitting red dress! What was she reaching for? What was she trying to get? Was it in the jacket she'd been wearing a moment ago-six weeks ago?! Where were their clothes, why was she sore, what was happening?

"Looking for this?" Emma questioned. It appeared out of thin air, the dagger she was all too familiar with was suddenly held before Regina's face. The name that was inscribed upon it was "Emma Swan". She hadn't seen it since they'd left the diner before setting out to find Emma. The name on the dagger had seemed odd then, and now it downright terrified her. Maybe because now Emma lived up to the inscription.

"Nobody's gonna touch this dagger but me," Emma clarified before moving around Regina and placing herself between Regina and Killian. "And now…for what you all did to me…you're about to be punished."

Punished? For what they'd done? She didn't even know what they'd done? What had Henry and Roland or even little Neal done to deserve all this? What had she done? Were they even who she was talking to? So far nearly every comment had been directed to Regina or her parents. Emma had barely laid eyes on her or Robin or even Killian for that matter! The last thing she remembered about Camelot was wanting to leave and get back to Rumple! Was that her crime? Had she not cared enough while she was there and cared for Rumple too much? What happened in Camelot?!

"Emma," Killian breathed, forcing Emma to turn and look at him. She hoped for a moment. If anyone would be able to get through to her, it should be Killian. She prayed he'd ask the right question, say the right thing!

"Why are you doing this?" was what came out of his mouth and she, just like the rest of the room held her breath as they watched the exchange, hoping and fearing exactly what she'd say.

She took her time, watched Killian for what felt like minutes though she was sure it had only been a few seconds. Emma would tell them what was going on. Emma would ask them to help; she'd never put anyone in danger, guilty or innocent.

But looking at Emma as she'd appeared when she first walked into the room…this clearly wasn't the Emma she knew. Was there enough of her left, somewhere perhaps, just enough that she would spare them and tell them the truth?

"Because…I am the Dark One," she finally declared without emotion.

Only seconds later she disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, a trick she'd seen Rumple do before but never Emma. Those who were left behind were helpless to do anything but stare at each other. There was so much to be said, so many questions to be asked, so many words that they needed. But the most important thing screamed so loudly at all of them in Emma's absence no one wanted to be heard over it.

They didn't know what happened over the last six weeks while they'd been in Camelot but they all knew one thing.

They'd gone to get the Darkness out of Emma before it was too late.

They'd failed.

And now it was too late.


Hi! For those of you that are just checking out this fiction, welcome! For those of you who are a fan of the Moments Series, welcome back! I hope you'll enjoy this fiction. It's the 11th in the Moments Series, a series that is an attempt at an accurate portrayal of Belle's perspective during the Once Upon a Time series. This fiction features everything that happened in Storybrooke from the moment that everyone returned from Camelot in "The Dark Swan" up to the moment that Belle returned to Rumple in "Swan Song".

If you enjoy this fiction, please review! I always enjoy those wonderful gems waiting for me in my inbox, and I love writing back to thank you personally for reading! It helps me know that I'm doing a decent job! Peace and Happy Reading!