Prompt: Emma contacts the spirits of previous saviors.
Emma regretted moving out of her family's loft. Sometimes, when she would go over to her parent's for Sunday breakfast and be accosted by the smell of her father's pancake recipe wafting off the stove, she'd miss living in the loft, even if it had meant cramped spaces, a shower schedule and even sharing a bedroom with her quickly-becoming-a-teenager son. It was intimate and intimacy, especially the platonic, familial, 'Brady Bunch' kind, wasn't something Emma had experienced enough of before coming to Storybrooke.
Right now wasn't one of those times. Not when she was putting the last of the blood red candles in a perfect circle and flipping through an ancient spell book with pages that felt less like paper and more like animal hide (at least she hopped it was animal).
As much as her parents tried to be encouraging, she knew they were never exactly happy about her practicing magic. They couldn't help but stare at her wide eyed, with a mixture of wonder, pride and just the smallest twinge of fear in their gaze, whenever she did it. Like she was some side show freak at a circus. On one hand she understood, magic was freaky and it often came with this weird cult vibe that made it hard to look away, but still, the whole thing was awkward enough for Emma without any outside force making it worse. And anyway, she didn't have to worry about staining her mom's Anthropologie rug, if she did this whole thing outside.
"Okay, got the candles, got the big scary book," Emma whispered to herself as she read over the ingredient list again. "Now I just need the ugh…goat's blood."
Emma grimaced and held the goblet of goat's blood far from her body. She wasn't a stranger to seeing blood, but it was so much easier to deal with when it was coming from some guy who deserved to be bleeding rather than served like wine in a fancy cup.
As soon as the blood hit the ground, the earth began to shake. Emma reached her hands out to steady herself, blindly grasping for the branches of a nearby tree. She caught it and once she was sure she was not about to fall, she was able to pull her head up from the ground and look upon the scene she had caused.
Standing, or more like floating, in the center of her backyard, right where she had just poured the blood of a butchered animal, were two women and man. All three of them were wearing clothes from the Enchanted Forest.
And all of them were young. Very young.
"Um are you.. were you.. saviors?" Emma asked, not moving from her position by the tree.
The eldest of the group, a woman Emma's generously guessed to be around her age, smiled and nodded.
"Yes, and I can sense you are too. How blessed we all are to have such a grand purpose in life." She said, extending her arms out to Emma as if to hug her. Emma tightened her death grip on the tree, worrying that the woman was about to lung at her and drag her down to hell, fulfilling her destiny to die, right this second.
"Yeah, it's great. I'm a part of the superhero 27 Club." Emma muttered to herself, before turning to the three saviors in her garden. "Can I ask how you..you know?" She rolled her eyes to the back of her head for a dead affect.
The boy, boastful and proud, raised his chin before beginning to talk.
"I died slaying a terrifying spirit dragon who was threatening my land –"
"And I sacrificed my life to an ancient water goddess so that we would not be ravaged by floods" Said the younger girl, interrupting the boy. She looked to be about 14. Not much older than Henry. Emma's stomach seized up at the thought.
"We all have resplendent deaths, and lives, but you my child, have the greatest of all. You can defeat the Bringer of the Darkness once and for all. You can save the realms. You can finally bring back the happy endings."
"And all it will cost me is my life. Great. Look, is there another way? Can I defeat this 'Bringer of Darkness' without having to die?"
The oldest spectra, smiled sweetly at Emma but it was a look devoid of joy or even sympathy. It was hard and cold and reminded Emma of the matron's at the group homes she had passed through as a child. It was a look full of scorn, weighing up your worth, and judging whether you were even worthy of an answer.
"You will fight, Emma. And you will die. Consider it an honor that your death will not happen in the shrouds of obscurity like those of everyone you know. We saviors truly are the blessed." She said, in a voice barley above a whisper.
Emma stood there, fighting off the temptation to fight the lady but, just like before, the ground began to shake and grumble and this time Emma did not reach for the tree. She let gravity take her to the grass like a rag doll and stayed sitting on the ground where she had fell until night descended and a warm hand perched itself on her shoulder. For a moment, Emma imagined it was death or the hooded figure, same same, and wondered if the future had fallen on her faster then she had imagined.
"Emma, sweetie, what are you doing here on the ground?" A voice, kinder than any other called out. It was Mary Margaret. Mom. Emma had forgotten she was coming over.
"Just thinking about life. How great these last few years have been."
Snow straightened her skirt and took a seat next to Emma on the cool ground.
"They've been amazing. And we only have more to come."
A silence fell between the pair, as Emma imagined all of the things she was going to miss out on. She was never going to see Henry learn to drive or graduate or even come home drunk. She wouldn't see Neal's first steps, or know if Granny ever got around to changing the specials. Things that had seemed infinite just hours before now seemed very limited. How many more Sunday breakfasts at the loft did she have left? How many more days at the station? Or ride arounds with her father?
Snow reached her arm around Emma and lent her head on her daughter's shoulder. Drawing Emma out of her thoughts, the blonde turned to her mother. Her eyes were like pools of water but, by what Snow concluded must be sheer force of will, her cheeks were dry.
"Mom," Emma began, her voice strained. "I know it's selfish but..I..I don't want to die."
Thanks for the prompts, guys.
