If they had not known to be afraid, then they would have never guessed that the woman sitting across from them was the Dark One. Looking at their daughter, they couldn't see the marked changes that had transformed Emma from Savior to Imp. All that they saw was blonde hair, green eyes, fair skin, and lithe frame. There was no smoking gun or neon light that indicated that their Emma, was anything else but their Emma. Whether that spoke to how well or how little they knew their daughter was a question probably best left unasked.

They sat in Regina's living room—just the three of them. Regina had left them alone after having insisted that they approach Emma without rose colored glasses or filtered expectations. Snow and Charming had to see Emma, and they had to agree that it was best Emma reintegrate back into the goings on of the town. They couldn't keep a lie afloat when Emma hid out in the mayor's house while the mayor carried on like nothing had ever happened.

Practicality, at some point, had to trump their trepidation. It wasn't practical to keep Emma secluded when the promise of some miracle cure or spell would likely take months if not years to find. Emma was still the sheriff—that wasn't a title easily handed over to the next best candidate especially since savior and sheriff were near synonyms in Storybrooke.

To her credit, Emma had managed to do quite a lot during her short term as sheriff and to ask everyone to suddenly believe that Regina's transformation had required Emma's full attention was a bit ludicrous. In order to keep Emma safe, they had to let Emma take over the same exact life she had sacrificed when she took on the darkness.

But first, Snow and Charming wanted to be convinced that Emma could do it. They had to believe that Emma could still do good and be good even with the darkness swimming around within her. Regina had already cast her vote—Emma was good enough. She could claim nothing more than that even if Snow and Charming demanded assurances.

"I feel like you're staring at me waiting for me to do some kind of trick," Emma eventually said as the silence between her and her parents grew beyond her tolerance.

"Sorry," Snow immediately apologized. "It's just…you look the same."

Emma reached up and padded her forehead. "Oh? Did the horns go away?"

"Emma," Charming chastised. "Give us some credit. This isn't easy."

"Yeah, well think about how I feel?" Emma pointed at her chest and stood so that she could pace. "None of this is easy, you know."

"No," Snow agreed. "It's not. But, Emma, please understand that we all have a very convoluted history with the Dark One. It's hard to know what to expect."

"Well," Emma drew out the word, "maybe you should just expect me to still be Emma. Maybe you should expect me to handle it."

"This isn't something that's just handled," Charming pointed out, trying to infuse as much empathy in his words as he could. "It takes a lot of effort and time."

"Look at Regina," Snow added. "It took her years to get where she is now."

Emma stopped pacing and met Snow's eyes. "Don't," she warned. "Regina has nothing to do with this."

"Of course she does," Charming disagreed. "She has the dagger."

The fact that Regina was storing the dagger directly within her, wasn't a widely known fact. Regina hadn't felt the need to share the information and Emma knew not to reveal secrets too soon. The revelation would have brought too much into question. Charming and Snow would have doubted Regina as they were doubting Emma, and the illusion of control would have been compromised. They would have felt the need to do something instead of willing to follow, and neither Regina nor Emma wanted Snow and Charming to lead the way.

"And," Snow softly added, "Regina is the reason you did this."

"No," Emma shook her head. "I did this because I'm the damn hero." Her eyes cut into Snow's still form. "And heroes don't stand by and do nothing as someone's soul is being sucked into darkness."

Emma's words were an accusation, and they were taken as such. Snow and Charming both looked away, each unwilling to admit that they had not considered saving Regina. The idea had not been part of their psyche, because their family was safe and that's all that truly mattered.

"Yeah," Emma scoffed as her parents' silence became their confessions. "That's what I thought."

Left without a defense, Snow shifted and desperately tried to bring their conversation back on track. "We still need to be careful. We need to know that you're in control."

"I have my moments," Emma knew that as soon as the words had escaped her that the Dark One was ready to start playing with the prey in its den.

"Well," Charming took the bait, "In these moments do you feel like harming anyone?"

Emma moved through the room and retook her seat. "Regina controls that," she admitted. "It's the only thing she's ordered me not to do."

"But would you?" Snow asked. "Hurt someone if Regina hadn't told you not to?"

"No more than I did before." Emma leaned back and reveled in the attention. "I've never been a pacifist."

"That's true," Charming agreed. "But you always had a reason. You never acted out just because you could."

"Really?" Emma scoffed. "You don't remember all the missteps we took with Regina when Cora came to town?"

"But we still had reason," Snow defended. "We didn't do anything just to be mean."

"We jumped onto a bandwagon," Emma clarified, "that had more to with prejudice than reason."

"We've moved past that," Charming pointed out. "And so has Regina."

"She has, but that was more through force than through will," Emma continued to push. "We had her son, we took her job, and we even let her blindly risk her life after she was tortured nearly to death."

"What's your point?" Charming asked, losing his patience.

"I don't think," Emma continued on, completely ignoring Charming's interruption, "we are heroes. We are not good or noble. We just call it that so that we feel better about surviving at the expense of others."

"Regina warned us that you would make an appearance," Snow cut into Emma's musings, her words a suggestion that she had an inkling of understanding about the Dark One. "She said that sometimes you just couldn't help yourself."

"Oh really?" Emma raised her brow. "Well, she would. I don't know why, but she protects you, Snow, even though you've never earned her loyalty."

"And you think that you have?" Snow questioned. "You made her the Evil Queen."

"I gave her what she needed to survive." Emma's emotions started to burn hot against the surface of her skin. "I made her strong. It is that withering coward that pushed too far and became too eager to reclaim a son that would never love him." Memories started to burst against the edges of Emma's mind. They muddled the timeline of her own memories and implanted themselves as her reality.

"You care for her?" Snow whispered, astonished by the realization.

"She is mine," Emma replied as way of answer. "My chosen."

"And Rumple?" Charming wondered.

Emma turned to him. "A stepping stone."

"And Emma," Snow's voice cracked. "What will you do with her?"

"It's not in charge of me," Emma declared, breaking back into the forefront. She was becoming more attuned to her dark compatriot and how to ease it back when it became too angry. And, it was angry—terribly angry at Snow and Charming and anyone else who had sullied Regina's potential.

Without regard to what struggle Emma might still be fighting through, Snow ran up to her daughter and threw her arms around Emma's rigid body. "Thank goodness, Emma," she cried with relief. "I knew it couldn't break you."

The hug was uncomfortably restrictive, but Emma didn't pull out of it. She was afraid of what a sudden movement from her might entail now that she shared her body with the Dark One. "I haven't won yet," she felt the need to point out.

Snow pulled away, but didn't drop her arms away from Emma. "But you haven't lost either."

Things weren't so black and white—they never had been. At least they never had been for her. "Does that mean I can go back to work?" Emma asked in lieu of trying to give Snow an impromptu lesson on all the shades outside of the primary colors.

"It means that we're going to help you get through this," Charming cut in. "We are going to get you back to your old self…and we're going to do it the right way—like you requested."

Emma could hardly remember the last words she called out to her parents as she was taken away by the darkness. She supposed that it was only natural that some weight be put behind her last request, but she felt less connected to the words than she had before. She had no desperate interest to be pushed back into the box she had be in before she had been transformed. That life…that Emma had less of an appeal.

"All I want right now is to get back what pieces of my life that I can." Emma's words weren't a complete lie. If anything, they were mostly truth. She was looking to slip back into some form of normalcy that was denied to her. She wanted to have her freedom.

"And we'll help you get there," Snow promised. "Whatever it takes."

"No need to be extreme," Emma tried to joke. "I think just trying to live my life again will be enough."

"We can do that," Charming agreed. "And we'd also like you to come home with us."

Emma stepped away from Snow, suddenly afraid of being bullied into a corner which she wouldn't be able to remove herself from. "No," she replied.

"You can't stay with Regina forever, Emma," her father tried to reason. "She's got her life to get back to, too."

Emma could feel the darkness rising as her father's words challenged her desires. "No," she repeated as magic flared to her fingertips, and anger swelled into her heart.

Charming tried to offer another objection, but was cutoff as Regina appeared in the room. Her arms hung stiffly at her sides, eyes roaming the room trying to identify the reason Emma's anger had called her back.

"What are you doing here?" Snow dumbly asked. "Is something wrong with Henry?"

Regina ignored Snow and instead walked up to Emma as soon as she realized that there was no immediate physical threat in the room. "You have to calm down," Regina spoke solely to Emma. "My heart feels like it's about to beat its way outside of my chest."

"They don't think I see their plans," Emma tried to explain. "They think I am naïve."

The sharp edges of the dagger flared against Regina's skin; she ignored it. "What plans?"

Emma's eyes trekked down to Regina's forearm. The markings of the Dark One's dagger were well hidden under Regina's sleeve. "I go with them and they take the dagger from you." Her eyes slid back to her father's. "They think they are incorruptible."

Regina turned to Snow. "Is that your plan?"

"Regina," Snow tried to explain, but was unable to finish since her husband boldly stepped forward ready to take charge of the situation and make demands though he was in no position to understand all that was going on around him.

"Robin told us that he can see the darkness is growing inside of you." Charming looked only to Regina as he spoke. "If the Dark One can corrupt you then you shouldn't have the dagger, and Emma should be with us."

"Robin," Emma scoffed, "is the King of Fools."

Regina's eyes cut to Emma. "He isn't wrong," she confessed. "I have taken on the Darkness."

"But only so that I don't destroy the world," Emma flippantly added. "You'd think such a fine and noble man wouldn't have left that point out."

"What do you mean?" Snow asked, sure that she was no longer talking to her daughter alone. She could see that the Dark One had risen again, more strongly than it had before.

"What do you mean?" Emma mocked. "You are as pathetically useless as you've always been, Snow White. If you hadn't been capable of producing such a powerful heir than I would have never bothered with you." The statement was made as if it was a widely known fact that being left untouched by the Dark One was the greatest offense that could be put upon a person.

"Hey," Charming stepped forward. "Back off."

"Oh, of course." Emma raised her hands and took a step away from her parents. "I shall tremble in fear of the hero who has let his daughter face the consequences of his poorly made decisions."

"That is enough," Regina spoke up. "Your verbal assault won't help matters."

"You'd think they'd get it by now," Emma sounded as if she were on the brink of being helplessly defeated by her parents' ignorance. She wanted them to understand without having to explain all the details of her life. She wanted her parents, for once, to understand her.

Regina reached out and grabbed onto Emma's hand. She could feel Emma fighting to push back to the forefront so that she was in control. Emma closed her eyes as she felt Regina's hand slip into hers. She forced calm inside of herself so that she no longer stood on the edges of forcing a physical confrontation.

"She holds part of the Darkness," Emma finally explained as soon as she felt able to.

"And if I don't hold it," Regina continued, "Emma would be forced to contain it all."

"She doesn't just control the dagger." Emma focused on her and Regina's joined hands. "She is bound to it—bound to us."

Snow staggered away from the two women standing across from her. She no longer needed to ask what it was Regina had done. She had heard stories—mostly rumors about spells that existed that could bind one person to another. It was old magic, with roots long since forgotten. "The dagger," Snow whispered. "You bound it to yourself."

Regina looked to Emma and with a slight nod, Emma unclasped their hands and then unbuttoned Regina's sleeve. She pushed it up to display the marks of the dagger that were etched onto Regina's forearm. "We couldn't have known what the Dark One could have done with Emma's power," Regina explained. "This was the only way to ensure that both Emma and everyone else was safe."

"Is that the dagger?" Charming asked. "What have you done? What does that mean?"

"It's old magic," Snow answered her husband, though her answer offered no real explanation. In all honesty, she had no clue what any of it really meant. She just knew of the stories about the Old Magic and the Joined beings that were more like gods than humans. "The ritual isn't complete, though, is it?" She asked Regina. "Emma hasn't taken on your totem."

Regina's eyes flashed with anger. "You still don't know when to keep secrets do you?"

"What is she talking about?" Emma asked before Snow had a chance to defend herself. "There's another part of the ritual?"

"No," Regina immediately lied. "Snow doesn't understand the old magic. She's likely confused."

"And neither does the Dark One, apparently," Emma commented, as she pulled at the memories she knew weren't hers. She was still learning how to decipher the difference between the bits of information that the Darkness offered her and the pieces it held only for itself.

"It wouldn't," Regina scoffed. "Old magic is too raw in form to be manipulated. It's not worth messing with."

"I don't understand any of this," Charming admitted. "Were Robin's fears founded?" He bluntly asked. "Do we need to worry about you…" he pointed helplessly at the dagger residing within Regina's arm, "absorbing that damned thing?"

"The fears are founded," Regina answered easily. "But this is our life, for now. Until we can figure out a way to work this out without Emma becoming an uncontained nuclear disaster, it is best I hold the dagger and that Emma stay with me."

Charming looked at the women standing across from him. Emma's hand hadn't strayed far from Regina's arm. They stood together likely not noticing how close they were. He didn't like seeing them that way. He wanted to rip them apart and drag Emma away with him. He wanted to try and protect his daughter from the dark matrimony that had been forced onto her by the choice she had made when she saved Regina from becoming the new Dark One. He wanted to be Emma's hero…too late he wanted to do the right thing.

"And what are we supposed to do?" Charming wondered. "Wait until the darkness absorbs you both?"

"That won't happen," Regina assured.

"That doesn't seem like something you can promise," Emma replied as the consequences of Regina's actions were once again beginning to expand around them. She was beginning to grow accustomed to the idea that she could feel Regina's presence inside of her, but she was uncertain what she should be feeling when it came to knowing the magic Regina had used to contain the Darkness was somehow incomplete.

"We've got our plan," Regina reasoned. "We keep the life that we've built here, and we figure out how to remove the Dark One before anyone dies."

"Is that all?" Emma sarcastically questioned.

"That's all for now," Regina's words were a warning that there would be no further discussion on the matter while Emma's parents watched. "So then we are in agreement?" she continued without segue. "Emma returns to being Sheriff with Charming's oversight and we continue to research a safe method in which to remove the Dark One."

"If it gets me out of this house more," Emma commented, "then we're agreed."

"And what precautions do we take for you?" Snow asked Regina, unwilling to further sacrifice their Dark Queen. Emma hadn't been wrong when she had accused Snow of being a selfish hero—and that was something Snow wanted to change. Emma had challenged her and Charming to be better—to do better.

"There's only really one precaution you can take," Regina easily announced. "If the darkness becomes too much, you'll have to kill me so that Emma is released from the binding."

"Okay," Snow spoke before Charming could voice his protest. "But it won't come to that. We'll find a way to save you both."

Regina wanted to believe Snow's promise, but she knew better. If a choice had to be made, she knew that Charming and Snow would choose Emma, and that was why she couldn't complete the ritual. She wanted Emma to live, and if what little she knew about the old magic was true, then if Emma held her totem then not even death would release her.

"Well," Emma drew out the word, "as long as that's settled. When do I get my gun back?"

Regina rolled her eyes. "You literally have unlimited power and you still want a gun?"

"It completes the image," Emma forced herself to keep a straight face.

"Then by all means," Regina pushed away from Emma. "Give the Dark One a gun."

"No gun?" Emma questioned.

"No gun," Snow and Charming answered.

Emma smiled her thanks at her parents for going along with her forced levity. She didn't want Regina to drown in worry. She wanted to lift the burden from Regina and she wanted to start sharing in it. And, she wanted to learn about the old magic because she wanted to complete the ritual. If Regina had chosen not to complete it then the decision was likely made for some stupid selfless reason. And now, was certainly not the time for selflessness—not when Emma was more demon than hero and Regina was her Chosen.

A/N: Thank you for reading and for the feedback. It is much appreciated.