It seemed to take years.
It probably took no more than five minutes, but for her it really did feel like months of Snow's sobbing, years of Charming's silent but potent blame, decades of Robin's incessant, consoling platitudes.
Centuries of listening to Hook rave at her, at the sky, at the dagger he now held, half-mad screaming about how the darkness never should have touched Emma, that it should have taken her instead.
It took ages, but finally, her facade of calm cracks and she flicks a hand to the side, not bothering to apologize when Snow screamed and Hook cried out as he was tossed to the side to hit the ground, oblivious to the world.
She doesn't even feel Robin's hand attempting to grab her arm as she stalks forward to the fallen pirate, crouching only to snatch the stylized dagger from his lax grip and continuing on her way.
She turns away from the hysterical mother and distraught father of a woman she hated once upon a time, from the unconscious boyfriend the girl was always so set on saving every damn time, doesn't spare a glance for her own lover as she begins to walk, slowly but determinedly, away from this dark street, the scene of so many similar disasters from years past.
She doesn't know where she's going now, but it doesn't much matter; anywhere is better than here. Anywhere is better than the place the great Savior Emma Swan sacrificed her life, love, happiness and freedom for her, the fucking Evil Queen of everyone's favorite fairytale.
The old thoughts of self-hate and frustration swirl, but her mind doesn't seem willing to work for her; it's a haze, fog settling over everything aside from a few wisps of dark and the phantom flashes of golden hair whipping in the wind.
"You've worked too hard to have your happiness destroyed!" she'd said.
"What about yours?!" she'd wanted to scream back, but by then it had been too late, darkness eating into the other woman's body like acid.
She stumbles blindly through the streets, unable to see past the black edges around her vision, grip tightening around the only thing she has left now – a dagger she had once coveted, a blade she now despises – and cursing Gold within her head; she could run him through with this now, without fear of retaliation on the Dark One's part, but such a victory rings hollow now.
She just keeps going. She has to, because if she stops now all she'll be able to do is scream.
'Why?'
The question whisks by in her thoughts, crawling into the vulnerable, freshly scarred cracks in her heart, ripping open the painful wounds she'd thought healed with Robin's abrupt return.
'You idiot! Why would you-?!'
"I promised you once I'd help you find your happy ending."
"My happy ending isn't a man!" she snaps, a bit startled to realize the words are spoken aloud, but she didn't mean them any less than when she'd said them back in the Enchanted Forest; her happy ending wasn't a man. Robin was… she loved him, but riding off into the sunset with him wasn't realistic. It never had been. She knew that.
How could she expect to find a happy ending with him when Emma had so carelessly thrown hers away to save her?
A pulse of grief, familiar like an old friend, squeezed into her chest, and she had to stop- had to breathe-
Why couldn't she breathe-
'It's not like it's very surprising; Swan always did have a hero complex.'
But that didn't make it better.
Her legs crumpled beneath her, and she was left kneeling on wet stone, and wasn't this just perfect; her feet had decided to drag her back to her house, her safe haven, the only place aside from her vault where she could safely lock herself away in her despair, but instead of taking her inside, it left her out here, where the words "You're Henry's birth mother?" had been uttered, where everything started going to hell and rebuilding itself into something of a good story of heroes and villains working together to reach a happy ending that had been denied them all for so long-
This was where the story's Savior met the Evil Queen, confronted her, fought her, defied her, and ultimately decided to trust her.
This was where her happy ending began, against all odds, and now all she wants to do is scream and set something on fire or maybe lie down here and cry (or die; she isn't picky right now) but she doesn't because cool steel is resting in her palm, maed perfectly to fit like a hand would be.
The name Emma Swan glinted up at her in the moonlight, and the freezing sorrow digging into her heart is swept aside by the budding heat of determination-
She'd sent an entire kingdom of people into a curse because of anger. She'd saved this town, multiple times, because of her love for Henry. She'd overcome the evil urges within her soul and found something close to happiness because Emma Swan didn't give up on her.
Henry had to know about what happened by now, he always had a sense for these sorts of disasters. He'd want to find his mother.
She couldn't fall apart now, not when there was work to do.
Not while her family needed her.
A/N:… how is it? This is my first Swan Queen drabble, I accept any and all criticism. Also, I wrote most of this at one in the morning, so it might need a bit of tweaking… is it okay? Do you think I got characterization right? I know I might've made Hook a bit OOC with the anger, but I dare you to watch your one true love get enveloped by evil and not freak out!... I await your opinions.
~Persephone