10:07 P.M.

October 27, 2014

The Mayor's Mansion

Emma Swan stood up, tears clouding her vision. Her heart was already threatening to explode from her chest from the sheer shock and she felt lightheaded, ready to collapse and just give up, to die, to leave all the pain behind.

"Oh, God!"

It hit her painfully and she wanted to cower and hug herself and curl up into a tight ball and sob, but she couldn't. She was the one in charge, everyone was looking to her right now, and she needed to be strong to reassure everyone. There was a stunned silence filling the room and Emma bitterly wanted to talk to everyone, to scream at them, to tell them that this was all their fault and that she was going to make them pay, each and every one of them.

The moment of complete suspension broke and in a moment, David was there, wrapping his arms around her. Emma wanted to relax and sob into his chest, but she had a lot to face. She couldn't afford to break and shut down. This was what the killer wanted anyway. Emma closed her eyes and took a deep breath, blinking to temporarily clear her eyes. With a momentary strength and power, she pulled herself together. Concealing was one of her strengths, after all.

"Time of death is a little before 10:08 P.M. It's murder."

At that, there was a shift among the crowd. Despite being close to breaking into a million pieces, Emma observed them silently and with a stony face. People murmured uneasily and some whispered to each other. None were too loud, but Emma caught wind of the whispers anyway.

It doesn't look like murder.

I think it wasn't…

What the hell? It's obviously not murder.

That bitch deserved what she got anyway.

It's sad, of course, but not surprising.

I think it was suicide.

The whispers were infuriating. No one- not a single one of them- had a right to talk like that. None of them had known her, or even bothered to try to understand her, like Emma had. They were glad that she was dead. In fact, they were probably going to celebrate. It made Emma so sick, so absolutely disgusted with the cruel inhabitants of Storybrooke, that she wasn't even sure how to reply for a moment. But her anger returned, and with it, a newfound clarity which lead the rest of her words.

"It was murder. You can all whisper otherwise, but it was murder and I will get to the bottom of this and prove it. How dare you all speak as if you'd known her, as if you'd even bothered to try?"

Her vision was blurring dangerously again and she felt several more tears slide down her cheeks. She couldn't bring herself to wipe them because she was afraid that she'd accidentally look down and get a glance of the horrifying figure at her feet. Once again, the hammering in her chest was blatantly obvious and Emma took a deep breath, trying to steady herself.

"Emma."

David's words were gentle and he was looking cautiously at her. Emma looked at him through her tear-filled eyes, wondering just what he was going to say. It was in his best interest to just leave her alone, because Emma really didn't want to snap at him, but she was on the verge of just breaking down completely.

"I know this is a lot, but look at the facts. She was upset and it's clearly suicide-"

"Shut up! Shut. Up! No, it wasn't! She couldn't kill herself, she'd never kill herself and just leave me, so just shut up and don't talk about things that you don't know. I'll get down to the bottom of this and-"

Her breath caught and the words stopped in her throat. She didn't mean to yell. She didn't want to. David wasn't supposed to be to the receiving end of her anger. No one in particular was, except for the one who was responsible. Emma looked down once again at the body of her love, the one she'd grown so close to in the time that they'd had. Her beautiful love who'd been taken from her by someone.

Oh, no, the fight hadn't left Emma. She was exhausted and broken, yes, but not done. And she wouldn't be until she'd found the killer and had him absolutely broken too. Wildly, Emma looked into the crowd of people into the room, her face darkening.

"No one will rest until I find out who did this. And I'm telling you, I will know. And when I do, I'll kill you myself. You're going to pay."

The people were clearly not used to this Sheriff Swan. Emma bitterly held back a sob, wiping a tear away. She carefully knelt, and pulling on some gloves that David handed her, touched the face of her love.

It was cold.

She'd been dead for a little while.

"I want a full autopsy. Time of death is definitely before 10:08 P.M. Probably before 10. Regina Mills is officially declared dead."

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