Author's note: I haven't written anything in a very long time, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes and the fact that it's a bit, rough shall we say? So consider yourselves warned:) Also I don't own the characters of OUAT, blah blah blah, please don't sue me.

P.S: This is basically my AU version of the last episode where Archie is very dead and the town is very angry about it and wow, Cora really knows how to screw over her own daughter. Starts all angsty, but this will be more humor then anything else eventually in later chapters, because I'm incapable of keeping things serious.

Clarity

Chapter 1: A New Understanding

Their near fatal mistake in the beginning is their blind belief that Regina is their greatest threat. Bitter, broken and lost Regina who lays eyes on her mother and shivers like a wet dog in fear.

Emma can practically taste that fear the way she could when she was ten and staying with a family that had a little boy, sweet Paul with his big brown eyes and red hair, when he spilled juice all over the family's new couch. Paul's father, a big man with big hands and no heart to talk of, had picked the boy up by the scruff of his neck and flung him carelessly into a wall. It was a soundless affair, Paul hardly daring to breathe in case it set his father off again, so Emma remembers the overbearing smell of fear induced sweat on his skin and the coppery tang of blood from his head stinging her nostrils rather than shouting and whimpering.

Now almost nineteen years later that same combination hits her, bloodfeardesperation, makes her swallow heavily, makes her step falter. She'd spotted Regina near the town hall moments before, had walked with conviction towards her to demand an answer, to demand a reason for doing to Archie what she did, for why she could let Henry down like that. Then all the colour had drained from Regina's face and when Emma looked to her left, she had spotted Cora in all her wicked glory.

"Regina?"

It's too late though, too late to stop dwarves and wolves and once noblemen as they rush past her and circle Regina, prey finally caught and cornered. Archie's heartless body the only proof they had needed that Regina was unchanged, that this fairytale would only ever have the one villain. Emma knew better though, knew it the second Regina turned brown eyes upon her and the desperate fear in them pushed heavily against her chest.

When Regina simply mouths Henry's name, Emma recognizes the silent plea. The boy is in danger now and Emma must protect him, because Regina can't, or won't be able to.

Not with Cora here.

Because for all of Emma's disbelief of Henry's book of fairytales, she had still read some of the stories. Read of the stable boy who's heart had been crushed because Regina had loved him, because her mother wanted to teach her that love would only ever be a weakness for her. So Henry would be hurt, because despite a whole world proving her mother right time and time again, Regina had never really learnt her lesson.

Regina's heart would always be her downfall, because the darkest magic and the strongest hate could simply not extinguish it's magnitude for love.

So Emma stands there and blinks hard, tries not to cry as she thinks of those dogs bred for fights, thinks of pitbulls with missing ears and scarred faces. Thinks of how when they're rescued they snap and growl at the hands that reach for them, because before that moment no human hand had reached out to them for any other reason then to inflict pain. It breaks her heart then, because sometimes with enough time and love and care, those dogs turn out to be the best pets once they trust you enough to love you back.

Right this minute in Storybrook though, people are demanding the dog be put down.

"Step the hell away from her, or I swear to God I'll pepper spray the whole lot of you!"

She would too, because while she knows and cares for a lot of the people before her individually, as a group seeking bloody revenge she will quite willingly inflict some pain upon them.

"Shove it, Sheriff! Archie's dead because of your bleeding heart approach to the Evil Queen here, so now we do it our way!"

Leroy's way involves shoving a baseball bat into the small of Regina's back and forcing her face first onto the ground, all the while completely ignoring the other obviously Evil Queen standing mere feet away enjoying the show.

"Leroy, yank that angry stick out of your ass for five seconds and listen to me! Regina isn't exactly the problem right now!"

She shoulders through the small mob, ignoring Dr Whale's protests and Ruby's angry eyes, taking Leroy by the shoulder and yanking him off Regina.

"Are you blind?! The Queen of Hearts, her freaking heart stealing mother, is standing 30 feet away from us and you think Regina was the only one capable of doing that to Archie?"

Leroy blinks slowly, takes a breath and tries to take a look in the direction Emma is pointing, but he's the only one that seems to hear her as the mob around her just seems to get louder. There's also suddenly a lot more people around, Snow and James among them, Hook and quite a few obvious goons that Emma doesn't know trailing behind an advancing Cora.

It's Snow that seems to understand the urgency as she fights her way towards the middle, words flung hastily at Emma.

"Emma! She followed us, I don't know how, but she found a way through!"

It's stating the obvious, honestly she has eyes, but Emma has no time to say as much, because at that moment Hook draws his sword and his goons have muskets raised as they stand in a half moon behind the mob. Chaos erupts when the first shot rings out and Emma knows that there will be casualties, knows it because she can hear the bodies drop.

It's instinct that carries her through those first moments. Snow and James are somewhere to her right, bow and sword at the ready as they press onwards to where Cora stands, while the rest of the residents of Storybrook scatter in panic. Emma doesn't take time to think it through, she simply drags Regina to her feet and heads for the nearest building.

They would have made it too in all the confusion if it weren't for Cora. One moment Emma has a hand wrapped firmly around Regina's upper arm, the next she's the one eating dirt face first. It sounds like heaven decided to split open above her, thunder cracking and wind suddenly howling fiercely as she pushes herself up.

"Oh darling daughter, did you really think I wouldn't come and pay you a visit when I heard of this last little failure of yours?"

When Emma turns it's to the sight of Regina suspended in mid air before Cora, her friends and family scattered around fighting for their lives with differing degrees of success and Gold standing in the distance. Gold, who had manipulated every person in this town, who had planned and plotted for years to what end Emma could only guess, the only person she could think of that might actually know how to put an end to it all.

So with renewed strength she ignores every instinct that tells her to run in the opposite direction of Gold and towards her parents and Regina, and heads directly towards him. When she stops in front of Gold, no, Rumpelstiltskin, and he smiles his little smile, Emma knows she's either done exactly the right thing or just signed all their death certificates.

"Emma, dear, looks like you're having quite the party."

Curbing the urge to shove his walking stick right up his ass, she gives him a rather brilliant smile.

"Seems like it, yeah, and I was actually wondering if you'd like to join us. Maybe do a party trick or two?"

He chuckles lightly, tosses his walking stick from left hand to right and straightens his tie.

"Well, I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but I've been known to put on a good show when the occasion calls for it. If the price is right, you understand?"

For a moment Emma feels doubt, remembers that even Regina is weary of this man before her and that her own mother and father had imprisoned him once upon a time in Fairytale land. Yet as she looks behind her, she knows she doesn't have much choice, not when Regina doesn't have enough of her own magic back to defend herself against Cora, much less keep Henry save.

It's that thought, of Henry and his safety and how she knows Regina expects her to make sure nothing happens to him that makes the decision for her.

"Then name your price, Gold, but make sure I enjoy the show or I'll find everything in this world or any other that you love and I'll destroy it with my bare hands. Deal?"

He gives her a look, the one he's always given her, that says he knows things she can't possibly even begin to imagine and merely smiles again.

"Well, Miss Swan, seeing as I couldn't possibly refuse such a charming proposal, I think it's time we saw to your guests. We can discuss the matter of my payment later, as for now...I believe the term is the show must go on, correct?"

With that he starts to casually stroll towards what is quickly becoming a battlefield and Emma is forced to simply follow along.

./././././././././

So yeah, a very rough setup so far, I know, but hopefully once I get back into the swing of this whole writing thing, I'll flesh it out some more and have an actual story setup:) So, you know, drop a line if you think it's worth it to continue.