A/N: Just a quick note, there's been a time jump that will be more evident in the next chapter. This chapter has been something I planned from the moment I decided this was going to a multi-chapter fic, so I hope you guys like where I'm taking this! Once again, thank you so much to those of you who have reviewed (I never expected such positive responses) and those who have favorited/followed!:)

I do not own Once Upon a Time or its characters!


In the alternate timeline that the author Isaac Heller had written, Emma Swan lived trapped in a tower for years after she called herself "the savior" and was dubbed a threat by Queen Snow White. Even though the memories of the years Emma had spent in her tower were false, she could still clearly remember each day from the first when she thrown in the highest tower without a second glance all the while screaming at her mother to remember her. The moment she was chained to the floors, she pulled on the chains at her wrists until her hands were bleeding. Her many failed attempts at escape which only made her relief greater when she finally escaped with Henry and Hook. Each excruciating year that went by where her only human contact was when Lily would open the door once a day to give her stale bread and water.

Emma remembered how at first she screamed in the hopes that someone would hear her and come to her aide but eventually she just screamed knowing no one who heard her would care.

Those were her false memories of days that had felt like years trapped and alone.

Now those memories resurfaced as she banged her hands on the crystal walls of her new prison. She shouted until her throat was raw. She tried throwing all the magic she could muster and still nothing would break her free.

When she had exhausted herself trying to escape Emma would stare at her own reflection in the crystal walls. She had yet to figure out why she was here, why the magic had taken her here. She expected her reflection to look different each time she gazed at herself.

Would her outward appearance reflect the darkness she had taken up?

Emma didn't feel like the Dark One. She still felt like herself, she felt like she was in control of her magic and her mind. From her experiences with Gold, she was conscious that she had no desire to rule the world or to amass power.

Emma just wanted to be free and to be with her family again.

So after she rested she would start over trying to get out using whatever force she had or she would call out to the voice she had heard before or to anyone who could potentially hear her.

After a while, Emma didn't know how long she had been there, was it hours? Days? Weeks? For all Emma knew it was years passing by again in solitude.

At first the thought of the people she loved, Henry, her parents, and Kilian kept her from going mad.

They were searching for her. They would break her out her. They loved her. They promised they would find her. She repeated these things over and over again keep her from going insane.

Henry would come up with some ridiculous operation codename like 'swan' or 'falcon' or 'phoenix' or well, Henry was better at coming up with names. He wouldn't stop until he found her either. Henry was driven like that.

Her parents, they were always torn apart just when they found each other. But that was the family motto, they always found each other. Her parents had faced so many curses and they still found a way to be happy. She could just picture her mother hugging her when they were reunited, she doubted they'd leave her alone for days.

Then there was Killian. He had fought to be with her and she had pushed him away for so long. Emma wondered if they ever figured a way out of this, if she ever got out of this cave, if things would finally settle down so they could be happy.

She tried to imagine the future she could have once this was all over, a little house by the sea, not too far from her parents and her brother but a place all her own. She could picture living there with Killian and Henry would have his own room for the days he didn't want to sleep at Regina's. They could be happy.

But then, Emma would wake up from her dreaming and see the reflective crystal walls and her dreams seemed to grow silly and impossible.

Will they ever be able to find me?

Where are they?

Are they even looking?

Her faith in her family wavered as time went on. When she had been locked in her tower, she had hoped and believed that Henry would find her, knowing the rest of her family had been cursed. Even after years, she never doubted Henry. There might have been a time when she worried for his safety or wondered how he would get to her, but a part of her always believed he would find her and they would make everything alright. She never doubted that the heroes would eventually save the day.

Now she thought she might.

Henry had saved the whole of Storybrooke. He was the new author and she was so proud of him, but surely, that title came with new responsibilities? He would want to spend more time with the Apprentice who could teach him about his new skills. He would want to explore, find new stories, and leave her behind. He would be too busy to help her now.

But Henry's your son, she had to remind herself, he'd make time for you.

Unless he was with his other mom. The one who raised him. Regina.

Regina never wanted to share Henry with Emma. She had even tried to kill her, multiple times. All Emma had ever done was try to be her friend and Regina had insisted they never would be. In fact, Emma's disappearance left Regina with everything she ever wanted, her son to herself and a new life with her true love. Why should Regina even tell Henry that Emma had been cursed?

For all Henry knew, Emma had just abandoned him, like you abandoned him when he was born.

Just like her parents had abandoned her when she was born.

Her parents, the supposed heroes.

How many times had they failed her from the day she was born?

Emma had thought she could forgive them, thought she had forgiven them, but did she really? Should she? What had they done to earn her forgiveness except lie to her again and again? They said they loved her but then they replaced her. They claimed to believe in her but they doubted so much that she would be good, they feared her so much, that they had to use magic to fix her.

They promised to save her and they failed. They weren't here. They were never coming.

They would lie to Henry like they lied to her, so they could try to find her on their own but they wouldn't.

Nobody would.

Not even the man she thought she loved. How many times had he told her he was a survivor and how many times had he almost died since knowing her? Killian was better off without her, he was safer without her, and he probably knew it if he had such good survival instincts. For all the times he had shown her he cared about her, called her "love", he never actually said it. He never told her he loved her.

He said I was his happy ending.

But he also told her that villains don't get happy endings. Which meant what? That he couldn't be with her? That in the end he didn't actually think they were meant to be together. That maybe he always knew just as she did that he would leave her.

It had taken her so long to tell Killian how she felt about him but she should've known. He's left you to rot.

Neal had left her to rot in a prison cell and now wasn't Killian doing the same thing?

A one handed pirate with a drinking problem—and she was naive enough to think she loved him and that he would find her.

Emma began to think of her dreams as far off fantasies. They were foolish thoughts that might have once comforted her but now only reminded her of the son who wasn't really hers, her parents who only ever had to find her because they kept leaving her, and the man she would never have.

She had screamed and cried and thrown herself at the wall enough times to bruise, she had scratched the crystal until her fingers bled, and she had exhausted herself throwing every magic Regina had taught her at it.

There was no relief.

Emma wasn't even sure there was an escape to her prison.

The voice that had called to her before had since not made a second appearance, part of her wondered if she had imagined it the first time.

Emma covered her face with her hands, rubbing her fingers on her temples.

She needed to focus.

She should never have let her guard down.

She should never have thought she could have a family for a happy ending.

The only person she could rely on was herself.

Emma took a deep breath and pulled her focus. She wished she had never gone to Storybrooke in the first place.

No, that was a lie. She loved Henry, he was her son, but she wished she didn't have to share him with Regina. She had saved Regina when she stuck the dagger in the darkness and was swallowed up. It was Regina's fault she was here. It was even Regina's fault for casting the first curse causing her to be sent through the wardrobe, causing her to live as an orphan.

It was her parents who had sent her away. Her parents decided that they would rather live without her cursed in Storybrooke, where she would at least have had a chance at family.

It was Killian who would realize she was broken and leave her just like everyone else.

It was all too much for her.

Forget them. Forget them all. All any of them did was disappoint her and keep her from her happiness. Wasn't she happy in New York when it was just her and Henry? Until Killian came knocking on the door because her parents needed saving. Again.

She was the savior but she never asked to be. She didn't want to be.

So don't be.

Why should she save anyone?

All she had ever wanted to do was take Henry away and be safe. But the town kept needing saving and they kept coming to her. These people kept ruining her life and then asking for help.

No more.

Emma was once again painfully aware of the power running through her veins. It seemed like the very air around her was electrified with it.

She knew she had the power to escape at her fingertips.

Emma closed her eyes and took another deep breath. Then, stretching out her arms she let go.

Emma gave in to the power running through her and felt it rush out of her fingertips like waves of electricity. It jolted through her and she let out a cry, releasing all her frustration in one sound. When she opened her eyes, the walls were gone. She was standing in a normal cave, with pieces of shattered crystal piled along the walls.

A woman was standing before her; she watched Emma with curious eyes before stating, "Good. I was wondering how long I'd be waiting for you."