Warning: Super big trigger warning due to sensitive content.
AN: I made some amendments to Chapter 3, apologies to those I have upset before.
Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN OUAT!
Chapter 1
"The most painful thing in the world is watching somebody you love, love someone else."
Regina couldn't stand to be in the diner any longer while Robin got reacquainted with his long lost wife. Her heart was being put through the shredder again. It was all Emma's fault! She ruined her chance to love again, and everyone knew it. She walked down the road, knowing exactly what to do.
The forest was wet and lonely tonight. The moon was waning, preparing its full abandonment from the human eye. She moved swiftly through the terrain with no difficulties. Every time she shut her eyes, she flickered between her teenage self and her evil queen self. The past had reared its head mercilessly and had already swallowed her whole. She was merely digesting now. There was no use in sticking around.
Young Prince Neal was asleep. Mary Margaret and David had to leave so he could sleep in his crib for the night. Emma was nursing a mug of hot chocolate and avoiding Hook's attempts to feel up her top with distaste. Despite their earlier make-out session, nothing had changed and she needed to continue turning him down. She felt nothing for him.
"Where'd Mom go?" Henry asked after awhile, oblivious to Hook's advances on his mother.
"She left," Emma sighed. "I'm sorry, kiddo. I messed things up." Henry frowned. He could hardly believe Emma totally screwed up Regina and Robin's relationship. Yet as he glanced over at the strange woman with her husband and child, he sensed that fixing things wouldn't be so easy.
"Maybe it's not so bad," Henry said uncertainly. He opened his book and flipped through it. Emma shook her head and walked out of the diner. She had to apologize to Regina, whether she was listened to or not.
"Hey, you need to leave Emma alone," Ruby said to Hook.
"Or what, you'll eat me?"
"The full moon isn't here, but I can still-"
"Ruby, don't!" Granny snapped. Ruby fell silent and let Hook go after Emma again. She had a bad feeling about this. Her stomach twisted as she remembered his leering gaze on Emma.
She sensed footsteps behind her. Regina turned to see Emma approaching her on the bridge. Her eyes immediately burned with hatred and hurt as she stepped away from the railing. What had she been doing standing so close to the edge?
"You!" she spat out. The fireball was all set to be thrown right at her. She could kill Snow at last and get her revenge like she'd wanted for years. She kept seeing that little girl in front of her, the one who had told her most precious secret to…her mother, of all people. "Get away, I mean it!" A blast of fiery magic knocked her opponent back several feet out of effort of avoiding the flames, but still the woman continued to approach her.
"I'm sorry," Emma said. "I had no idea who she was."
"You're always sorry, Snow," Regina growled. She plunged her hand into Emma's chest. She tried to yank out Emma's heart, but got thrown to the ground by the woman's magic.
"Your mother tried the same thing and also failed. My magic is stronger than yours." Regina stared up at her, at a total loss. She was heartbroken and needed an outlet.
"What are you going to do…kill me?" she sneered. Emma frowned at this and helped her up. The dark haired woman used that opportunity to hold the blonde over the troll bridge with magic. Emma gasped in shock, kicking her legs and trying to free herself. "Now you die, Snow White…" She released her.
"No!" Henry cried out as he watched his birth mother plummet to the ground. He had somehow gotten over there during all the commotion. He fell to his knees crying. Regina felt satisfied. She finally got her happy ending.
"Emma!" Hook yelled desperately as he ran for the bridge. "Use your magic! I believe in you!" She was already rising up from the brink of death on some rocks and tumbleweeds. He stared, impressed, as she gently landed on the bridge with hardly a scratch on her. Regina stared in shock, not fully registering what had just happened.
"How did you-but I just-"
"Sorry, Regina, looks like I learned a few of your tricks," Emma said calmly. She approached her with no sign of fear. "Whatever happened to making your own destiny? Are you really going to tie yourself to this one man all over a tattoo?"
"I love him!" Regina shrieked in anguish. "Why is that not enough for anyone, for me to just be happy?"
"I don't think you can be happy with a man who is already married."
"She was supposed to be dead! He was a widower and now suddenly, he's not, and it's your fault!" She was tempted to fling her off the bridge, but barely managed to resist. The look of horror and worry in Henry's eyes was too much for either mother to bear.
"This isn't over," Regina murmured to Emma as she took Henry with her, leaving Emma alone with Hook on the bridge.
"You're still running," Hook reminded her as she backed up against the railing. "I thought you were going to stay in Storybrooke."
"Not with you, or for you," she replied firmly, though her voice wavered as he closed the distance between them. "Get away from me!" She shoved him right before he leaned in and kissed her. She struggled against him. The smell of rum clogged her windpipe and made her want to gag. It took everything she had to not respond to him in any way. His hand slid up her top and his hook dug into her back. She couldn't breathe or think past maintaining control.
"I…said…get…away!" she said breathlessly, throwing him off of her with all the magic she could gather. She ran off, hoping that the diner was still safe.
The diner was closed. Everyone had left, most likely cozying up at home without a care in the world. Emma headed straight home without looking back. She had to hide somewhere that Hook wouldn't think to check. He was too persistent and she didn't feel safe out here in the open. She used her key to get in and found Mary Margaret in the kitchen making dinner for David. The baby was fast asleep in his crib. She locked the door and sighed in relief, but still didn't let her guard down. She would be wrong not to at a time like this.
"What's wrong, Emma?" David asked as he wrapped an arm around his wife.
"Hook kissed me," Emma said breathlessly.
"You don't seem happy about that," Mary Margaret spoke up. "What happened?"
"You saw the way he kept trying to take off my clothes in the diner; you know what he wants from me!"
"I didn't see him doing anything," David said in confusion. "Maybe you were just overreacting. Look, you should just be happy someone loves you. I know you loved Neal, but he's gone now. It's time to take this opportunity to move on and let someone else into your life."
"Are you kidding me right now!? This has nothing to do with mourning Neal, which by the way, it was real rude of you to bring him up like that, like you'd think I'd be okay with it!" The room felt like it was heating up. Emma's magic was going haywire.
"Hey relax, it's okay Emma. You need to sit down before you set one of our good chairs on fire." Emma fell onto the couch and sighed. Her parents thought she was overreacting because a smelly pirate who wouldn't take no for an answer assaulted her not more than ten minutes ago. The whole thing was ridiculous, and she regretted bringing it up in the first place. She ran a hand through her tangled hair and headed to the bathroom for a quick shower. She had to get the sensation of pirate off her body. That cold hook made her shudder with disgust and apprehension. She hoped he learned to stay away now.
"Is she okay?" Mary Margaret asked softly after she was gone.
"She'll be fine," David assured her. "She just needs some sleep and everything will be fine in the morning."
"She looked real freaked out. David, I don't think we should have written off her feelings like that so quickly."
"So what if she got kissed? What's there to complain about?"
"She didn't want it, David, that's the problem. I don't know about you, but it looks like Hook assaulted Emma. We should talk to him." David gave her a look.
"Whoa, now you're blaming him for this?" he asked incredulously. "What's gotten into you? This isn't his fault. We all know Emma has a hard time trusting people. She needs a little time, and I'm sure Hook can give her that." Mary Margaret shook her head, knowing that anything she said wouldn't make a difference. Maybe he had a point. Hook wouldn't do anything to hurt Emma anyways. Everyone knew that.
Hot water slowly pulled through the knots from dancing at that ball and running around the Enchanted Forest for days. Emma sighed painfully, wishing she had someone who loved her. She was personally jealous of Rumplestiltskin and Belle. They had been through hell and back, and they got married. Deep down, she wanted that happy ending too. It wasn't meant to be with Captain Hook.
"The only one who saves me is me."
She had meant what she said at that moment.
"You traded your ship for me?"
That was a moment of stupidity and weakness, and she couldn't believe that in the end, she was just like every other girl she swore to not turn into.
Regina paced in her bedroom as she thought of the moment she had thrown Emma off the bridge. Not long ago, she had fallen off an entirely different bridge and she had felt…something, but she had brushed it off as mere concern. That pull had happened again tonight. She didn't want to feel it. She loved Robin; he was the one for her. Tinkerbell said pixie dust didn't lie.
Emma could have died…
It would have been my fault.
"She ruined my life," she stated fiercely. "I'll get you, Snow White!"
"I didn't want you to lose your mom like I lost mine."
That innocent little girl peeked out at her from decades of pain and mourning. Her younger self stood there wishing she could wring the girl's neck right then and there.
"I'll destroy your happiness, if it is the last thing I do."
Her heart twisted in betrayal and confusion as she remembered Emma's horror stricken face yet again. She recalled a flash of silver. What had Captain Hook been doing there? That made no sense. She shut her eyes and thought harder. His eyes had been following Emma's form in a way that didn't feel right by all accounts. It could have been just a onetime thing. She brushed it off and focused on getting revenge.
"Mom, why are you so mad at Emma? Didn't you only just meet that guy?" Regina barely heard her son as she gazed into her mirror, making an apple appear in her hand. She would put Emma to sleep. That would do the trick. Nobody had the power to save the savior.
"Mom, what are you doing with that apple?" Henry asked.
"Nothing," Regina said softly. "It's past your bedtime, Henry."
"Is that apple poisoned?"
"Of course not, Henry, don't be ridiculous."
"Then eat it," he said. Regina rolled her eyes and took a large bite of the apple. Everything went dark.
After scrubbing her skin raw, she finally felt free of Hook. Emma was toweling off her hair when there was a rapid knock at the door. She sighed, hoping to God it wasn't him after all this effort she went through to clean herself of him.
"Can you get the door, Dad?" Emma yelled as she reached for one of her tops. If it really was Hook, she didn't want him seeing her, especially like this. Her cheeks flushed in shame as she remembered how she had to resist, not just physically, but emotionally too. The door opened as she yanked on some clothes rather carelessly. She didn't bother brushing out her hair or even drying herself. She was that desperate to make herself unappealing to Hook.
"Whoa slow down Henry, who got poisoned?" David asked. Emma paused in the bathroom doorway as she tried to eavesdrop.
"…in a sleeping curse!" Henry was saying as Emma finally came into the living room. "I already tried to get Robin to wake her up and nothing happened." David sighed.
"Okay, there's got to be another way."
"There is no other way," Emma said softly. "True love's kiss is the only way we can wake her up."
"But if Robin isn't her true love, then…" Henry trailed off. "Then we're stuck."
"Maybe not, kid. Did you try waking her?"
"Yeah, Emma, but she's still sleeping." Emma sighed.
"Let's go see her. There's probably a spell book lying around with instructions."
You ruin lives. You're so evil. This is your fault. Nobody would miss you. There is nobody to wake you up. You'll just sleep forever. This fate is better for everyone. You deserve this. Just sleep, dream and re-dream all your life's regrets. Even Daniel wouldn't take you back at this point. You've gone past the point of redemption.
You're so evil. This is your fault. Nobody would miss you.
Nobody can wake you up.
"There's got to be something!" Henry cried out as Emma frantically searched the bookshelves. They had already gone through most of the vault last night, but found nothing.
"Relax, go get some sleep. I'll see if Rumplestiltskin knows anything." Henry went to the couch and promptly fell asleep. He had been stressing out all night, and he was too young to be doing that. Finally, Emma sat by Regina on the floor and just held her hand.
"What am I going to do if I can't get you to wake up? Henry doesn't want things to end like this. He knows there's a way. All your spell books say the same thing, though. The easiest way to break this curse is a true love's kiss. If Robin isn't your true love, then who is? We all know Daniel is gone. Haven't you two moved on, during the brief time you saw him again?" She sighed softly, starting to get real tired.
"Regina…" The woman didn't even stir. Emma knelt down and kissed her on the forehead. A wave of energy pulsed outward. Her eyes flew open.
"Emma," Regina whispered in shock. "How can you…how could you…how-?"
"I-I'm sorry!" Emma stuttered. She scrambled to her feet and ran out of the house.
