.
(you must stop the darkness)
.
She howled as she fought against the chains.
They broke open old scars and made her bleed anew. People appeared, shimmering and see through. Regina waved at her with a sick glee while Neal turned his back on her all over again. They made her hurt and sob, choking on smoke. Hook appeared the most, always just out of reach. Emma begged for him to say something, her eyes burning with tears.
He never did though, always quiet and always drifting from her.
The storm was part of her, she realized on some level. The more she fought against her own trap the more thunder rolled and the sea churned. Before her was a large window, view broken by bars. Emma could see the town, could see Killian's ship docked at the shore.
She could see her entire family safe before her.
The relief that the image brought crippled the hatred growing within. No matter how much Henry's angry words burned her, no matter how many times she saw her family toss her into a wardrobe-she always remembered how to love.
(even when foster fathers pulled at her clothes and foster mothers whipped her back raw.)