Darkness Rising
It was still perpetually dark outside, which is why Henry was confused when he woke up. He sat up in bed and looked around until his eyes landed on the digital clock next to his bed, "One in the morning?" He asked himself out loud while rubbing his eyes. Why was he up at one in the morning? Then that was when he heard it…whimpering from the bed immediately next to his, Emma's bed.
Henry shook his head trying to get the cobwebs out. He had thought that her nightmares would stop once they had gotten back home. They had managed to rescue Neal and had gotten safely back to Storybrooke without any major issues…and by major he meant that there was no secret attacks, just the only downfall was that Emma was now suffering nightmares from her attack with the shadow creatures no matter how hard she attempted to blow them off as nothing.
He threw the covers off his legs, climbed out of his bed, and slowly approached hers. From what he could see in the darkness, she was lying on her back, her eyes closed and brow furrowed. Her short, rapid breaths as she turned her head and squirmed under the covers told him she was indeed having another nightmare.
Her whimpering grew louder, causing Henry to wince and listen for any movement downstairs signifying that his grandparents heard her. Hearing nothing he sank down on the edge of the bed, "Shh," he whispered to her in an effort to calm her down. "It's okay. I am here."
His soothing whispers didn't quiet her and in fact they only got louder and she started to grumble, "No please," she started to plea, "not them…Please. NO!" She yelled now.
His heart stopped and now he started to hear movement and footsteps coming up the stairs, "Mom! Wake up!" He yelled now trying to wake her, "Emma! Wake up!" But it was not working and Emma was starting to cry and thrash around in the bed.
The door opened and Henry turned to see Snow and David entering the room, "What is going on?!" Snow asked taking in the scene of her grandson trying to wake the thrashing and crying blonde up.
"Mom started having a nightmare and now I can't wake her up at all!" Henry said as Snow and David moved to their daughter's side.
David looked at his daughter's distorted face and cringed at the sight. It was a painful reminder of what Snow and Henry's faces was like in the red room. Him and Snow tried to shake the woman as hard as they could, "Emma wake up!"
Emma continued to thrash around on her back, with her hands covering her ears like a child who didn't want to listen to what someone said, while her legs kicked the mattress, "Stop! Please! It was not my fault!" She tried to plead, begging to be understood, "I didn't mean too! Please…believe me!" She yelled. Snow and David froze immediately as her screams turned into sobs and now she curled herself into a ball, "I didn't mean too…don't…don't send me away…I don't want to go back…"
Snow looks at David briefly and then she hears another sob and turns to see her grandson in the doorway looking distraught and helpless. In the past, he used to be able to calm his mother down, she knows; however tonight is utterly different…tonight is the worst Snow has ever heard. She gives David a look and motions him to go to Henry; he looks at her then back at his daughter. He is definitely torn, however when he looks at Henry he relents and goes over to his grandson as Snow turns back to her daughter as she lets out another plead, "Please…Mommy," Snow winces, "Daddy," David winces, "don't go…Henry…don't take him…" Henry winces against David's hold. He wonders what kind of dream she is having…then he vaguely recalls the night on the ship…the night when Peter Pan showed her worst fears…one was when David and Snow had taken him away from Emma.
Snow swallows hard and sits down by Emma's bed and said softly, "Shush, Emma." Snow's hand stroked Emma's cheek as she continues nice and soft, "Its' okay, its' not real. Come back Emma, come back to me…to us," She gently crooned into her ear, her hand still stroking her cheek. Emma's cries continued although they were not as loud or desperate.
"I will protect you…I will not let you down again," Emma cried now, "I promise…please, help me… I won't let you die…" Henry's eyes were wide as he now looked at his grandfather, whose grip tightened on his shoulder. Dying? What? He wondered.
David and Snow shared a heartbreaking look. They never wanted Emma to have this burden and now knowing that the wardrobe could have taken two made their hearts twist painfully. Snow shook her head and tried to block out Emma's renewed crying and tried to focus on waking Emma up, "I'm fine, Emma. So is David and Henry. Everyone's okay. We are home," Snow's gentle voice reasoned as Emma started to calm down some, "Please wake up. Come back to me Emma." She pleaded again, "Come on, Emma. Wake up. Wake up for me, sweetie."
"I won't let you hurt them," Emma said now her voice threatening and her body started glowing.
"Mom?" Henry called out as he now tried to wiggle out of David's hold.
"Snow?" David called trying to hold onto Henry.
Snow was momentarily frozen by what was happening, but quickly regaining herself she then tried to tap Emma's cheek, "Emma, come on sweetie."
"Mom-Dad-Henry! NO!" Emma called out as she tried to move away from Snow.
"Wake up Emma!" Snow was in Emma's face as she delivered the final hard slap to Emma's face.
Then without warning Emma sat up quickly, causing Snow to move out of the way a little before Emma knocked her head into hers. David and Henry gasped as Emma's eyes roamed the room until they landed on Snow's face. With a small cry of relief, she flung himself at her, her arms wrapping around her stomach as she pressed her face into her chest and gathered in sharp, breathless gasps. Snow wrapped her arm around her shoulder and cradled his head, running her hand through her long hair. Snow wondered briefly if this is how it would have been if Emma had nightmares when she was little.
"Shhhh, it's okay. It's okay." Snow whispered to her as she placed a kiss on her head.
Emma's silent cries filled the room as David and Henry looked at one another and moved closer to mother and daughter. David sat on the edge of the bed and wraps his arms around Snow and Emma and then Henry joins in as he tries to get a bit closer to his mother.
After a few moments Emma calms down and they release the group hug. There is a moment of silence as Emma tries to collect herself as what had just occurred comes crashing down on her…she just had a nightmare…the most brutal one yet. She swallows a large lump in her throat as she recalled every sound, every smell; pretty much every blessed detail under the sun. Just thinking about it brought a sick feeling to the pit of her stomach, "Mom?" She hears her son's voice come, "Are you ok?"
Emma shakes her head and pulls him in and breathes in his scent. He is alive…he is here…he is safe, "I almost lost you again kid…"
Ever since her ordeal with Pan and the shadows, she has tried to be more open with her feelings in regards to her family. As much as she wishes, she cannot turn back the hands of time…just like she had told Neal…she really did love him once upon a time…and it is clear that she still does…however they were both honest and said that they grew up and moved on…
"I am still here," Henry stated softly as his mother hugged him harder, "I am not going anywhere."
Emma chuckled softly, "You better not kid."
Snow and David smiled a bit at the exchanged, "Well I think a cup of hot coco is in order." Snow suggested looking at the time on the clock as it changed to one-thirty.
"I agree," David said getting up and then helped Snow up, "nothing is healthier than a chocolate sugar based drink this early in the morning."
Emma looked at the clock as she pulled away from her son and immediately felt guilty, "Uhm…yea sorry-"
"Nope," Snow stated firmly, "you do not get to apologize for this."
Emma rubbed the back of her head as Henry started to help her up, "Yea, after all you helped us with our nightmares."
Emma sighed as she got up, the kid was right. She recalls the nights she had helped the three of them with their nightmares about the red room when she and Snow first returned home from the Enchanted Forest. Now those were the nights of hell; "Alight," Emma relented, "I will not apologize."
"Good." David said throwing an arm around his daughter who did not flinch away from the contact.
Once they were downstairs, Snow had put the water on as David, Emma, and Henry sat around the table, "So do you want to talk about it?" Henry asked after a few moments of silence.
"Henry," Snow chided not wanting to push Emma.
"No its ok…I was actually waiting for one of you to ask," Emma answered while playing with the swan necklace that Neal had given back to her when they first arrived home.
In truth, she really had been waiting to be asked about what her nightmare was, and even though when they were on the Roger she denied all claims to having nightmares, somehow they always had gotten her to talk about them. Emma took in a deep breath through her mouth and said, "It started the same way like it has been. We are in the Enchanted Forest, playing outside the castle. It was a bright sunny day and we are laughing and playing and then the sky turns dark…almost like-" Emma released a shiver and shook her head. Snow, David and Henry did not need the reference, for they knew all too well what that reference would have been.
Emma swallowed the lump that formed in her throat and continued the explanation, "After that you guys are then ripped away from me as he starts talking…mocking me again in that snake like form." Henry sees a spark in his mother's eyes as she talks about Pan in that demon cobra form, "We start fighting. Like really fighting: magic, sword fighting, the whole nine yards…it is when I am about to finish him off that he reveals that unless I submit that you all die."
Snow and David watch as Emma rubbed her eyes. They could see the raw emotion coming out, but neither of them makes a move to comfort her. They learned that it was best to hold out until Emma was done explaining, and then offer her the support that she needed. Henry watched as his mother tried to regain control. He wanted to offer something, anything to help, but he didn't know how; so he waited patiently as she continued, "He starts to torture you and then I start to plead with him…beg him not to harm you guys. Then he laughs and the dream changes. I am in-I do not know what-almost like a partial Twilight Zone setting: two different worlds at the same time. However each setting is the same: dark, desolate, degraded…almost like the Black Plague in England hit."
Snow watches as Emma's eyes become unfocused and notices how she is no longer looking at them, but through them. It is as if her mind is no longer in the present, but back in the dream, "The smell is horrendous, the color of the waters is red, fires set around, and the sky is black with smoke. But that is not what was scary…it was the people," Emma said as her body started shaking.
"What is wrong with them?" Henry whispers not sure if he wants the answer or not.
Emma shivers once more and the tone of her voice monotonous, "They are yelling at me. Telling me that what had taken place was my fault; that I failed to protect them. They are chasing after me, demanding my head. Then I am in a trial area and you guys are passing judgment," Emma looks away from them, almost afraid that she will see the dead, cold, accusatory look in her family's depths, "I try to plead with you, begging you to help me, I try and promise you that I will not let you die. But before you could speak, Pan comes back and he has you all hostage again and I demand that he release you, but he just laughs and laughs and says I deserve this torment and he-"
"It's ok Emma," Snow finally states gently as she reaches over the table to grab her daughter's hands which is tightening around the mug of her hot chocolate, when Emma flinches at the contact Snow's heart sinks a bit as she continues, "we are here and that is all that matters. Pan is gone, you sealed him away remember?"
Emma continues to avoid their looks. She knows that while that is true, she wonders how much longer that fact will remain, "Emma, please look at us," she hears her father begging her.
She takes another deep breath and looks at them cautiously, "You know that we love you right?" David asks while also grasping her hands.
Emma nods, not trusting herself to speak. Henry notices how Emma is trying to close herself off and also places a hand on top of his grandparents' and hopes that this will help his mother realize that everything was ok, "You are not alone in this mom," he says gently, "we are here for you no matter what."
Emma once again swallowed hard and took her hands out of her families grip and whipped her eyes. Then her gaze went to the clock on the microwave and she started to get up, "I am going to catch a few more hours of sleep," she said and she retreated back to the room.
Henry, Snow, and David exchanged confused glances, "Did I push too hard?" Henry asked a bit worried.
Snow placed a hand on his shoulder as they heard the bedroom door closed, "No Henry, this is new territory for all of us."
"Yea, Emma knows how we feel. Besides I think we all could use a bit more sleep." David said as he got up and collected the empty mugs.
Henry sighed and also got up from the table, "I hope your right. See you in a bit." And he too made his way to the bedroom.
Snow and David sighed as they heard the door open and then close. Looking at each other they turned the kitchen light off and made their way back to bed without another word.
Emma in the meantime laid in bed fully dressed. Being in the system and out on her own, she learned how to quickly yet quietly prepare for an escape in less than five minutes. When she heard Henry coming up the stairs she jumped into bed and faced away from the door laying as still as possible.
She must fooled Henry into thinking she was asleep, because she heard him make his way to the bed on the floor. Once she heard Henry settle himself back into his comfortable position, she waited until she heard his breath steady out. She then got up and went to his side and placed a kiss on his forehead, "I will protect you. I promise." Then she made her way out of the room.
Once she was down stairs, she listened quietly by her parent's room. Hearing nothing she looked in and saw her father's arm draped around her mother and listening closely she heard their slow and steady breaths. Not risking the chance of getting caught she did not enter, but stayed by the curtain and said quietly, "I will protect you just like you protected me." She vowed, "I will not let you down."
She then quietly and stealthy kept around the small apartment and gathered her keys and phone, then she made her way out the door and into the early morning just as the sun began to rise in the east.
