They knew him. Her parents knew the Author. Why didn't they tell her to begin with? It might have made things a little easier. They might have been able to free him earlier, but they chose to keep it a secret. Emma had been around many people who kept secrets in their life. Heck, she had been one of them, but this was too much. She had known, had a feeling, that her parents were hiding something from her. Even Hook was, but at least he had the decency to tell her the truth! That was what her hurt the most. They just kept on lying and hiding the truth from her.
"Emma?"
She turned to see her parents staring at her. She had seen those faces before, after she broke the curse. They wanted her to accept them, to agree with them without question because they were her parents. Not this time. This time she wanted to know everything. She needed to know.
"What?" Perhaps it was a little harsh but she didn't care.
"Please, let us explain." her mother pleaded.
Emma stared at them for a few seconds before replying, "You already have."
She walked away, not letting her parents or Killian to follow her. She needed to be alone to think about everything she had just learned that day.
"Emma, there's something we need to tell you."
Snow and David decided that it was time to tell her the truth. They knew that if Killian could feel safe about telling Emma of his mistakes in the past, they could too. They were her parents. She couldn't trust them if they couldn't trust her. After all, she had come such a long way.
"What is it?"
David sighed, "We haven't really been...completely honest with you."
Emma felt dread. She had the worry that her parents were hiding something from her, but she pushed it aside. Now here they were telling her that exactly what she had been feeling for the last few days were correct.
"What?"
Both of her parents seemed nervous but Snow seemed more so.
"There is something we need to tell you. Something we should have already done...but we were nervous. Nervous about how you would react."
"But we know that if Killain can tell you the truth about his mistakes without being afraid, so should we. We're your parents. You should be able to trust us."
Emma glanced at Hook. She was more than thankful that we was there because suddenly she felt like she was going to faint. They made their way to the table and sat down. Her parents in front of her and Hook.
She was nervous to ask, "What's going on?"
"There was a reason we kept a close eye on Cruella and Ursula. We were afraid they would tell you what happened before you were born." Snow started fidgeting with her hands. She had to do this, no matter how scared she got or how angry Emma got.
"What do you mean?"
"We did something." David jumped in, "We hurt Maleficent."
This shocked both Emma and Hook. How could her parents possibly hurt a powerful sorceress that could also turn into a dragon?
"It's because of us...she lost her child."
Snow's words echoed but they barely reached Emma's ears because they suddenly felt like they were stuffed with cotton.
"What?" she managed to whisper.
"Emma, please," David interjected, "let us tell you everything first."
"And then you will see that we did what we had to."
Emma and Hook watched her parents with intensity and held breaths. Emma suddenly knew that whatever it was they wanted to tell her, she wasn't going to like it one bit.
"Cruella, Ursula, and Maleficent told us about Regina's curse. They told us where we could go to learn how to stop it. It was called the Tree of Wisdom."
"An obvious name, don't you think mate?"
David ignored the pirate. "They told us that it could answer one question."
"But it could only be used by two people who only held pure intentions."
"You always have pure intentions," Emma was always told that by Henry and his book, but the way this conversation was starting to go, she began to doubt that little thought. "what could you have done to Maleficents's child that was so bad?"
The two sighed. The memory was still painful but grew more alive and raw in the past few days.
"Emma, please know that we were only afraid. We never meant-"
"What did you do?" she hadn't meant to practically yell, but she had seen people beat around the bush and there was never a good end to it.
"When we tried to tell the Tree our question, it blew us back. It was then Maleficent said that the reason it rejected us was because one of us had the potential for great darkness."
"You sure that was right?" Killian interrupted, "You two are the most goody people I have ever known. In fact, I don't think either of you have a bad bone in you."
"Killian," Emma muttered. She needed to hear her parents and her pirate interrupting wasn't helping.
"Maleficent realised I was pregnant. She said you had the great potential for darkness. We were scared *for* you. Not of you."
Emma stared at them and they could see her eyes getting darker. "What. Did. You. Do?"
A pause was met before they continued.
"We tracked down a unicorn-"
"A unicorn?" Killian interrupted again, but was ignored.
"They have the power to allow you to see a glimpse into the future."
They both grew a little silent and Emma could see a pained expression on her mother's face. Her father just seemed more nervous.
"What did you see?"
"We-"
"It doesn't matter." Snow interrupted. "What matters is that we wanted to help you, Emma. We didn't want you to become like Maleficent. Or Cruella or Ursula."
Snow's quick interjecting told Emma that she was clearly hiding something else, but she was dealing with their first secret to even be able to handle the next thing. If this one was horrible, she didn't want to deal with the other right now.
"That day we meet a peddler. The Author." David stated. "He told us of a powerful sorceress who took up residence in the west. Where we were headed to get home."
Maleficent." Emma answered the obvious.
"Right. He told us that she changed into a dragon and laid an egg." David continued to stop Killian from interrupting again by the look of confusion on his face. "The peddler told us to head east, into the Infinite Forest. But if we stayed on the path, it would lead us to a cottage with a kind old man that would help us get back home."
"We told him of our troubles and he offered to help. He had magic."
"Who was he?"
"Honestly, we never found out."
"He told us there was a way to...prevent you from becoming evil." Snow started to fidget again. This was where everything was decided. If Emma truly would hate them for what they did.
"He said there was a way to...extract the darkness from you. And put it some place else. A vessel of sorts, and send that vessel...away."
She could barely hear. Her breath was growing heavy and she couldn't feel Killian's hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles. She had a sinking feeling she knew where this was going. She didn't want to hear it, but she had to.
"Did you..." she whispered quietly.
Snow didn't think they should go into details, so she sent ahead and finished the story. The quicker they got it done, the better. Right?
"We took Maleficent's egg and used it as the vessel for your darkness."
Whatever food Emma had in her was ready to come up, but it never did. And she suddenly felt empty. She couldn't speak. She couldn't even look at them, so she stared at the table.
"The man took your darkness and placed it in Maleficent's child. He opened a portal to send it away. He said it was to a place where it couldn't hurt anyone in our world. It wasn't until the shell broke open and...we saw it was a child. A human."
That only made it worse. Because they were so deep in them believing they were heroes that they thought an offspring of a person who could turn into a dragon was automatically a monster. They didn't care. They never thought otherwise.
"We were going to give her back before he sent the child away, Emma." Snow said, thinking it would help make it easier. To tell her that they weren't going to keep the child forever, only make it darker before giving it back to its mother. Which also meant that they thought it would already be evil because it was Maleficent's child. How could they think that when they were told that their own child, the offspring of heroes, could become a great villain?
They made her a hero. They made sure that she turned out good. Why? Because they didn't have faith in her to become good? That they took away her own choice of becoming who she wanted to be? They made sure she became a hero because they were simply afraid. Every parent is. She never raised Henry, but even she knew that great parents had faith in their children no matter what, before they were even born. And they none in her. They also had no faith that a newborn baby could become whatever he or she wanted to be despite its heritage.
Was this what heroes did? Because she hated every bit of it. And for the first time ever, she was ashamed of being the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming.
"Emma?" Snow looked at her.
Hook tried to take her hand but Emma pulled it away. Her head was spinning and not even he could help her. Her parents, the people who were suppose to be the greatest heroes of this town, who were suppose to be nothing but good...had no faith in their child and cared nothing for another.
"I..I need to be alone right now." she got up to leave.
Snow followed her to the door, trying to stop her. "Emma, please. We were afraid for you. We did what we had to do."
Emma stared at her. Those words burned because she knew it was so easy for them to say that. For them to accept it as long as it helped them and their child.
"Emma, please, I'm your mother."
She paused. She knew her next words would hurt...a lot, but she didn't care. Not anymore. She hated being their daughter right now. "I don't care."
Emma made her way back out into town, hoping she might catch a glimpse of the Author. She hated this. She hated every bit of it. They were suppose to be heroes, but she should have know otherwise. When they were trying to stop Zelena, she learned why Cora hated Snow and her mother. Her grandmother told Cora's secret, just like Snow did to Regina, and it ruined both of their lives. Now she could understand why. Her parents only cared about themselves. All they did was proclaim that they were good but they didn't care about another person's child. Only because that person was a villain. To them, the baby was automatically evil. It was wrong. She could see now that they only cared for themselves and as long as it helped them be 'better', it didn't matter what evil they did. They were Heroes, and nothing could change that.
Alright, I wrote 98% of this on a tiny little tablet so I give myself major props for it turning out over all great in the grammar and spelling department. Also, I did it! I wrote a story that had nothing to do with Rumbelle and focused on the people I hate the most, but still managed to show how I hate them. :) More props there.
My computer is recently out of remission (or in, I can't tell the difference sometimes). It is not working so I am taking it to staples to get fixed (basically a complete fix and reinstallation of Windows for 130 because it was the only option left) and it will be gone for 3-5 business days. So I am expecting to have it back next week. But since I realized I can type fine on the tablet (though this was the longest two hours of writing I ever had for something that didn't do with school), I will continue to write and update my stories.
Thank you.