"Do you Killian Jones take this woman to be your wife?" Archie asked looking towards the pirate who had the biggest grin on his face. "I do" he said instantly, not wanting to wait another minute to be married to this woman. He had to admit, she was absolutely beautiful, more then ever. Her dress, picked out by her and Snow complimented her figure quite nicely, though not exactly Emma's style he loved it anyways.
"And do you, Emma Swan, take this man to be your husband?" All eyes turned to the blonde bride.
"I..." her voice faltered. "I can't believe you're all so stupid!" She yelled, ripping her hands apart from Killian's. "Swan, what's going on?" He asked quiet shocked at her outburst.
"Swan. That's the problem! You haven't been with Emma Swan these past few years, and you never even realized!" Her voice didn't sound like herself now, it was colder, darker. She ripped the white lace from her hair which fell to her shoulders.
"You're not my mom" Henry said.
"That obvious?" She smirked "This entire time, you've thought that the Black Fairy has been the villain. Or Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde! Or even the Snow Queen! When really it's been me the entire time!" She put her hands up and fire shot out into the crowd. People screamed and tried to run, but the doors were locked. "Who are you?" Regina asked immediately, she knew that whoever this person was, she was right, it wasn't Emma.
"That's not important now. What important is how none of you had the faintest idea of what was going on. I almost had to marry this one handed disappointed" she pointed to Hook who still stood in the same place, not moving.
"The faintest idea of what?" Regina asked, stepping forward.
"Of how much 'Emma' had changed! What happened to the blue jeans and tank tops? The curls and makeup? The red leather jacket? The spunk Emma had to her? Didn't any of you idiots notice how she was fading away to a shadow of a person when she started dating...him?" The fake Emma pointed once more to Killian.
"When Emma went to the Enchanted Forest and met this pirate, she HATED him. Of course she did. Why did Emma Swan need a man? She was strong, courageous and brave, and none of you noticed how that all went away?" She knew she had hit a soft spot, because everyone now did begin to see the difference.
"When?" Killian asked. "When did you become her?"
"Two, three years ago, maybe a bit more. Emma never came back to Storybrooke after falling threw that portal back in time. Well she did, before... Well that's a story for another time. I didn't fully take her place until maybe two years ago once she became so...annoying. She started breaking out of the spell that I put on her as her magic got stronger. And that's when I knew she had to go".
"Where is she?" Snow asked loudly, tears streamed down how red streaks.
"I had to keep her close, didn't I? To borrow her memories, her look. She's still alive if that's what you're asking, but probably not for long" The fake Emma began walking around now, as if she was bored. She stopped in front of Henry.
"You knew about Emma, with those powers of yours" she said and everyone, including Henry looked surprised. "Emma wins the final battle" she stated. Henry's eyes grew wide.
"I tried to write it in my notebook. It wouldn't work" he muttered.
"Because she isn't going to fight any battle, she'll be dead before then".
"So why now? You've kept this up for years and now, you just let it all out?" Regina asked.
"Well first off I was never going to marry this one anyways. But also, it's now that the Final Battle draws near and everyone better be ready, for what's coming" then she burst into flame and disappeared.
"Maleficent?!" Regina exclaimed
The cell was dark and cold but Emma had gotten used to it over time. It was the fact that she hadn't been able to change her clothes for the past two years that bothered her. Her white tank had lost its color months ago and it was tattered in some places, her jeans were covered in dust and were two big on her now, after all the weight she had lost down here. Her boots she had removed a few days after being kidnapped and sat in the corner with layer of dust from not being touched. Her red leather jacket was fine, it was the only bright thing down here. Everything else was just black and gray, with exception of her used to be blue jeans.
She had tried escaping by picking the locks multiple times but this cage was locked by magic, which she did not have at the moment as both her wrists wore black leather cuffs that blocked hers from working. But as long as she listened she never got hurt, at least not physically. Mal liked to tease her, a lot. She would come telling stories of what new villain her family had taken down today or what drama was going on in Storybrooke. But she wouldn't come everyday. Sometimes Emma would go days without food or water before she would show up again, giving her an 8 ounce water bottle and maybe a sandwich if she felt nice. She never felt nice, that was the problem.
Emma sat with her back against bars of her cage reading one of the only three books that Mal had given her, it was just a stupid Harry Potter book but Emma had now read so many times that she had memorized the whole thing out of boredom. Her stomach growled and she checked her watch with the cracked glass face. 1 days and 6 hours since she'd last eaten. Not the worst that she'd been through. So she kept reading, but the hunger pains were too much. Suddenly she heard footsteps, Emma wanted to yell, ask if it was the witch, but she wasn't allowed. One of the more torturous parts of her kidnapping was that her cage was in the dwarf tunnels made invisible with magic. The spell blocked off most sound but she bet that if she yelled loud enough maybe someone would hear her but Mal said if she tried then she'd be killed.
"I hope you're hungry" said a voice. It was her voice, Emma's. She knew where Mal had been, she'd been bragging about it for weeks, about her wedding to Hook, which Emma couldn't believe.
Then she saw herself, appearing with a blast of fire inside her cage,with a fabulous wedding dress holding a brown paper bag. Emma reached out desperately for the bag, her stomach aching for food, but Mal laughed and bent down to Emma.
"Your family knows" she whispered in her ear.
"Knows what?" Emma asked, her voice rough from the lack of use.
"About you..." She said. Immediately Emma felt something drop in her stomach.
"You're lying" Emma replied her eyes filling with tears before she could stop it.
"I revealed myself, I think Regina may know who I am but the rest are clueless".
"You're letting me out?" Emma asked hopefully.
"Are you joking?" Mal asked and then slapped Emma across the face sending her to the floor.
"So why reveal yourself?" Emma muttered.
"It was getting boring being you. Plus I only did that to get info on all of them and to keep you out of the way. I got all I need to know. I don't need you anymore, goodbye Emma" Mal got up and dusted her wedding dress off while picked up the brown bag that she'd brought for Emma and throwing it to her. Then she walked straight through the metal bars as if they weren't even there.
"No please! Let me out, you don't need me anymore!" Emma cried.
"I need to make sure that you don't win the final battle, and for that to happen you need to die" Mal replied and then she was gone. Emma slowly picked up the brown bag and reached slowly inside it, picking up only a small red apple.