Hey lovely's! I'm sorry for the wait, i ended up having a lot of stuff to do. I'm going to branch this story- so it one is dealing with episodes with the ice queen (but wtf is with the recent events right!)
Anyway this chapter is dedicated to Chlollie, who requested an update for his/her birthday. Sorry it's late darling, but this chapter is all for you. Hope your birthday was amazing!
The sun sparkled high in the sky as Ingrid took Emma's hand and moved them to the edge of town in an instant. Ingrid glanced at Emma, and returned her gaze forward, keeping her face neutral.
"Remember, Gold can't touch you near me, and you don't have to deal with any of them if you don't want. I can just freeze anyone who gets in our way." Emma nodded and swallowed. Ingrid set a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay," she said sweetly, "We'll grab your things and then we can go. I'll make hot chocolate when we get back, I have so much to tell you." Ingrid smiled at Emma, who touched her hand briefly on her shoulder and smiled back.
"Just don't do anything to Henry." Ingrid nodded and they strode into town. The further they walked the more people who turned to stare. Grumpy saw them coming from down the street, and turned running up the street. More people backed away, into shops, down alleys, and any direction away from them. Emma swallowed thickly. They must have never trusted her.
"Ignore it. They are scared fools, you are far above them." Emma nodded stiffly. They turned up the next road which lead to Emma's apartment. Emma clenched her jaw as she saw the line up. Her mother and father, Ragina, Gold, and Hook. It was the same squad she was usually on, the group of people who gathered to get rid of trouble. She kept walking as did Ingrid until they stopped a small distance from them. Emma was glaring daggers at a small pothole just between Ragina and her mother.
"Stop this now." Ragina. Of course she would be the one to speak. Emma looked her dead in the eye, and raised an eyebrow. Ingrid spoke in her lack of reaction.
"We are just passing through, no need to be hostile." Gold scoffed and stepped forward.
"Come off it dear, we are all here to stop you, and help you." He added the last part looking at Emma. The street light lit suddenly and exploded in a single instant.
"Do I need your help?" She asked sarcastically.
"Yes," Snow said stepping forward, "Emma this isn't you." Emma laughed, one hard and utterly cold noise before looking set her mother.
"How would you know, it's not like you were there. "
"Emma." This time her father spoke, and her head jerked to him.
"What, going to reprimand me? Send me to my room? Act like that with your new family." The words came out sharp and angry, and without her consent. She realized her breathing was out of pattern. She didn't usually get this worked up about anything. She shook her head a little, closing her eyes, and putting her hands flat out pointed at the ground, retaining whatever balance she might have.
She felt sick, dizzy, and hot. Much too hot. She could faintly hear distant voices speaking and calling for her. An icy hand rested on her shoulder and cooled her off. She looked up again to see Gold, Ragina, and Hook closer than they had been, but separated by a new pile of snow. It wasn't much, it looked more like a warning than an attack. She inhaled in a short gasping way before straightening from her half bent position. She saw her father, a step in front of her mother. Acting as a shield.
"I need my things." Her voice was blank. The nausea was returning.
"Go, I'll keep them from causing trouble." Ingrid smiled at her and Emma nodded, turning into her apartment, and jogging up the stairs. The room swam around her, and she tipped forward, grabbing a table for support. She grabbed a bag and started shoving things in it. Pants joined socks and shirts and other underthings. A stick of deodorant, a tooth brush and her bathroom things hit the top. She zipped it quickly. She saw a piece of paper. Henry's homework. She stood staring at it as voices carried up to her window. 'She's sick. She needs help.' 'What have you done to her?'
She was scribbling on the paper and the door was shut before she even knew what she wrote. She had already forgotten it by the time she hit the stairs and by the time she got outside she had forgotten she was carrying a bag. She stumbled out and tripped forward into Ingrid's arms.
"We're leaving." Ingrid's voice was cold.
"Mom!" Henry ran into the street, Bell jogging to keep up.
"Henry no!" Bell yelled after him, Ragina tried to grab him yelling the same. Hook ran forward blocking Henry, but knocking himself into Emma she exploded again. The street shook as Hook was sent flying into the air. Emma watched him fall, and breathed a sigh of relief as Gold slowed down his fall and David blocked a harsher fall. He was knocked out but not bleeding, Henry was in Ragina's arms, un hurt. Emma tipped forward, curling on her side, letting the pile of snow surround her, and she pressed her face into it. There was yelling, she heard Ingrid's voice, and Gold's snide comments, but they all sounded like a garbled mess. And it was all gone.
A hand on her shoulder made her wake. Ingrid smiled at her, and rubbed her back a little. Emma sat up slowly and looked around, they had returned to their ice den. Ingrid held out a mug of hot chocolate, which she gladly accepted. She sipped and smiled back.
"Thought you might like that, it should help you not feel so sick. Emma laughed.
"We made a mess in the street." She giggled into her mug as she drank another gulp. Ingrid laughed as well.
"Well maybe you'll get the respect you deserve instead of impatient expectance." Emma laughed with her.
"The cocoa tasted good, and her head felt clearer than usual. She felt so light, she wasn't worried about a thing, but as Ingrid stood to go grab her something she felt a nagging suspicion like she was forgetting something important. She looked around again, and Ingrid came back. She shook it off, Ingrid was the important thing.
XXXXX
Back in town Ragina, David, Mary Margret, Gold, and Bella sat drinking in Granny's. Hook didn't look or speak to anyone. A bruise running down the side of his chin, to his neck before disappearing into the collar of his shirt glistened a deep purple.
"That was the biggest waste of time ever." Ragina said angrily as Robin stepped into the dinner. He nodded before making a beeline to Ragina and kissing her forehead.
"No luck then?" He asked, and Gold scoffed.
"What gave it away dearie. The lack of Ms. Swan, or the pertinent gloom of the room." He smiled and gestured to all their averted gazes. Bell smacked his hand lightly, looking at her shoes. Gold looked back, and then down at his own, realizing he had insulted her as well.
"I'm really sorry Ragina," Bell started, "Henry ran so fast, and I-" Ragina silenced her with a glance.
"Great. Fantastic. Awesome." David said in a hard voice standing and frustratedly running his hands though his hair. "Ragina's pissy, Mary Margret is blaming herself, Hook won't speak," He said looking at each of them in turn before spinning around, "Gold's his usually charming self, all shockers their," he said sarcastically, "And we know nothing." He fell into his seat again. Silence fell with him, until Hook rolled his head slowly to look at him.
"Thanks for the summary, mate. We couldn't have figured that out without you, got anymore information you'd like to share." When no answer came he rolled his head back to the side, grabbing his flask from his pocket.
"I wouldn't say we have no information." Henry walked into the room, and went to Ragina. "It was in my room in Emma's place. I was looking for clues." They looked at the paper.
In Emma's hand writing, slightly erratically she had written across the page.
Henry.
Henry?
Henry.
Y
Hello? It sounds familiar. Henry. Do I know you?
Henry, I'm forgetting. Henry, go get help. Hook. Mom, can you hear me? Someone help I'm forgetti-
Henry
Henr
No more was written. Silence fell over the group as Ragina wrapped her arms around Henry, tears silently falling down his cheeks. Hook turned away, limping out the door and Gold and Bell soon departed after him, leaving the rest to drink more in silence.