She was back in the nursery.

Swallowing tight, Emma looked around again. She was alone this time, so she could focus on the room itself. A purple and white blanket lay draped over the crib, and her eyes widened as she realized what it was.

Her blanket.

The baby blanket she'd been found in after she'd been born.

But... how was it here?

Slowly, as if the place was rigged to a bomb, Emma made her way to the crib, lifting the soft blanket into her hands. If this place was representing something, she wanted to know what, and why her blanket was here.

Suddenly, she felt a jerking reaction, and she found herself in another room, the vision slightly fuzzy as an ebony-haired woman lay on a bed, screaming in agony as she gave birth.

The blanket that was clutched in her hand lay at the end of the bed, awaiting the baby that would soon make her debut.

Emma watched as it was cleaned, and the parents – the father being the same man from the other night – held her close.

"Get the baby to the wardrobe…" the woman murmured.

"Snow, are you insane?"

Snow.

She could hear the sobs of the woman – her mother? – as she was suddenly moved elsewhere. Emma watched, horrified as she, following the man as he fought his way through a group of guards dressed in black, with gaudy feathered helmets on their heads. Emma gasped in terror as a sword tore across the man's shoulder, just barely missing the baby in his arms, blissfully unaware of what was going on.

The baby – her – was placed in the wardrobe, the man kissing her forehead before the door closed, a flash of light the only indication something had happened.

As the man fell unconscious (he must have been okay though, right? Because she'd seen a grown-up version of herself dancing with him just a week ago), one of the guards opened the door…

And the baby was gone.

Emma stumbled back, dropping the blanket as the room went back to normal. She stood in the nursery, shaking.

What the hell was that?

"We failed you," a voice said from behind her.

Emma froze. It was the woman from the vision – Snow White.

The woman that appeared to be her… her mother.

"We should have been able to go together, as a family, and yet you were on your own."

Family…

Slowly, Emma turned around, looking at the woman, before shaking her head. "You didn't fail me. I don't know what's going on… who you are or what this is… but I watched you give birth to… to me, I guess – and I saw the love in your eyes, and the pain in them when you gave me up. It's the love any good parent has for their child… so… i-if you are my mother… you didn't fail me. Even if we… we weren't together."

Her eyes went wide. "You don't know who I am, and yet you believe I didn't fail you? Why?"

It seemed like he knew that most of the time, she would believe that her parents gave up on her and abandoned her like a piece of trash but there was something about this man that she couldn't understand. Maybe it was her inner child, locked away for so many years, finally having a chance to see what it would be like to be a princess. Maybe it was because she nearly gave up her own child, so she could see the mindset of parents that gave up theirs.

Or maybe it was because there was something else going on.

"I don't know," she admitted. "But there's… there's something about you that's familiar…"

She eyed the woman's stomach, a slight baby bump clear through the dress.

The woman smiled a little, and Emma couldn't help but feel warmed by it. "Familiar? Really? I'm so glad to hear that Emma…"

"Wait, you know my name? So did… the man…"

"Man?"

Emma nodded. "Yeah… I-I didn't catch his name but he was a prince… dancing with like this… princess version of me. But I'm no princess."

"Your father. And don't say that."

"So he… he is my father?" Her heart pounded in her chest at that news, ignoring the woman's other words for the moment. "And that makes you my… my mother? B-but how?"

"It's a long story… but just know, Emma, that we love you both so very, very much…"

"You don't know me," she said, trying to be defiant. She wanted to believe that this was impossible, that her subconscious had made this version of Snow White after too many times of watching the real thing and nitpicking nearly everything about the character.

The only problem was, there was something too real about this Snow White.

"I do know you. And I know Henry. He had a nightmare a week ago. I had to help him calm down," Snow White replied.

Emma frowned. "What?"

She hadn't heard anything about that.

"Ask him about it… but for now I'm afraid we must part again Emma," Snow White said, smiling, though Emma could tell she was only trying to stay strong – there was a hidden pain in her eyes.

"I don't want to leave you…" she whispered.

"Emma you must believe that we will see each other again. That we will all be a family again. Promise me…"

A sob escaped her. "I-I'll try… I-I promise you…"

It was the least she could do. After so many years of being bitter and angry at the world, to see something like that, even if this was just a dream, it was a damn good lesson to make a change, to believe that anything was possible.

And it was with reluctance that Emma woke up.