Storybrooke was eerily quiet that night, not that it was ever really loud. Even it's town-wide events were unusually tame.
Probably a side effect of the curse, Emma mused to herself, half-jokingly, half-seriously. Even though the curse was supposedly broken, at times she wondered how much of it had permanently seeped itself into the town's inhabitants, changing them forever. At times she wondered how much learning about it had changed her.
Emma was always practical. She viewed life as black and white, truth and lies. But now that fiction had blurred with reality, her entire world view had shifted to god knows what. Nothing was simple anymore now that magic was in the equation, and questions that she wasn't sure anyone could answer swam within her head, flooding it. These questions were what lead Emma to the well on December 21st, 2012. On this night, Emma found herself worrying about the end of the world.
She hadn't set out to visit the well, she had just started walking. Mary Mar- Snow, as Emma kept having to remind herself, had insisted that Emma stay in her apartment with her, even though Charming had taken to sleeping over. Emma snuck out a few hours after the 21st struck to think without the ever-present silhouette of her young parents. It was lightly drizzling, but it didn't bother her. She had always enjoyed the smell of rain because it helped her clear her head. This time, however, the fresh air only went so far, and her intended short walk carried her to the place through which she returned home. Standing over the source of all things magical in this town, Emma tried to separate fact from fiction.
If Henry was right about this town, who's to say they aren't right about the end of the world?Emma thought to herself as she let fear envelop her. She had been picturing the end over and over in her head since she had returned. Would it be an asteroid? A huge sun flare? A tidal wave? All of them at once? Despite all of the creative and sufficient ways to die she envisioned, one took precedence in her mind. Her mind conjured an image similar to the day magic returned. A wave of purple smoke rushing toward the town. Except, instead of returning magic, It suffocated them.
Everyone tried to assure her that it was just another y2k. Even Gold deemed it impossible, but he had no clue how magic worked in that world, and Emma saw the uncertainty in his eyes. Part of her knew it was ridiculous, but all the other part wanted to do was take Henry into a hole and never come out. She was tempted to get him now, but she didn't want to intervene on his bonding time with Regina, now that he finally trusted her again, and she didn't want to worry him. Even if the world was going to end, there was nothing she could do about it. There was the biggest sting of all for Emma. She was supposed to be this big savior, but if the world was going to end, there wasn't a single thing she could do about it. Still, she found herself standing at the foot of the well, ready to combat anything that came through.