AN: Okay, this took longer than I thought, really sorry. I've finished uni so I've had more time but we got a new puppy (Willow, a german shorthair pointer) that needs constant watching and I can't bring my PC downstairs and I hate typing on my phone.
I also had to make an important choice about the next part of this story involving the missing year and where to put Adam. One leaves him, most likely, in a cell for a long period but getting closer to Regina. The other gets him closer to Emma and Henry and completely fucks him up mentally when the second curse gets broken. I think I'm gonna go with the latter but it'd be cool to hear peoples' opinions. (Although, spoiler I guess, something will happen with Regina anyway but keep in mind this isn't a romance this is about fucked up Adam and his fucked up family.)
And I think I'm gonna skip Neverland, really can't be bothered with or think of anything to involve Adam in there unless they trust him which won't happen until later.
Just under a week went by of him being bored out of his mind. He learnt that there was nothing useful in the desk draws. The books were relatively interesting but did little to quell the boredom, as he didn't understand most of what was happening in half of them since they were set in this world.
A world he had barely spent a week roaming.
Snow visited every day. Charming came the first two times, though it just seemed as though he was checking his wife was safe. After that, he came every over but only says 20 or 30 minutes when Snows there for hours. She must have begged him. He doesn't want to see his son like that. He's given up. He sees the anger in Adam's eyes, which is a stark contrast to the pain that Snow sees.
Adam had played nice the first week, holding his anger at bay, pretending to listen when Snow talked. But he couldn't and by the second week, he ignored or shouted at the petite woman who started visiting every other day and for less and less time.
Emma won't visit. She can't. She was having a hard enough time taking in the fact she had a brother, now he's… he's something she can't deal with at the moment. Mary Margaret asks her to join the visits, begs her to just listen to him even though he'd barely talked after the first time. She doesn't understand how hard it is for the blonde to trust people. And she was starting to form something with this man who was… is her brother. She was wary but she couldn't find a lie. She had seen the memory of him breaking apart in the castle interior and the only thoughts she had for him were of understanding, not 'he hates them' or 'he would kill them if he had a chance'. The truth. The 'them' being her parents. Their parents. She just can't.
But Henry can apparently.
And judging by the uniform and the backpack the kid hadn't made it school.
When the knock came at the door Adam instinctively moves his wrists closer together. He had learnt that when he was alone in his cell the chain connecting the metal cuffs would vanish. He'd also learnt that there's a set length for the chain, the first time anyone had come back into the room after him being alone he'd been laying on the bed, one hand behind his head and the other resting on his stomach, and before he could do anything the nurse was walking in and he'd almost gotten a black eye from his own hand.
"Your mothers are going to kill you if they find out you've come here. And then me."
"I won't tell it you don't."
"Deal," Adam nods as he sits up. "You know I'm in here because of you, right?"
"You're in here because you want to hurt our family."
"No, I'm having annoying 'chats' with Snow because I want to kill our family. I'm locked up because they think I will hurt you. Regina thinks I will hurt you."
"What?" he asks incredulously, his true age shining through in his whiny voice. "No, she's evil, why would she be helping the heroes?"
"Gods, you're annoying. There is no black and white when it comes to people. No good and evil. 'Good' people can do bad things." He looks at Henry and smiles. "I bet they haven't told you about Cora."
"Mu- Regina's mum?"
"You don't know much about her do you? What happened to her?"
"Emma says she bad and that she died."
"The story's not mine to tell but you need to ask your mum about what she grew up with." He pulls the left sleeve of his shirt up revealing a couple of scars. "Not all of these are battle scars."
"Is that why you're evil?"
He sighs ignoring the need explain the grey areas again. "It's probably a factor," he says, tracing the most prominent scar on his wrist, a brand of his mother and father's crest Cora had given him to remember his place.
He releases a sigh before looking up into the boys eyes. "Snow killed her, Henry."
"What?"
"She cursed Cora's heart giving her life to Rumple. One 'evil' life to another. Does that sound like a hero to you?"
"You're lying."
And the boy ran out crying. Huh, Adam thinks to himself with a smile, I can ruin their lives even from in here.
It doesn't take them long to show up. Emma, Regina, and David march in furious, Snow quiet and withdrawn.
"What did you do?" Emma almost shouts leaning into his space where he sits at the desk.
"I have done many things, you need to be specific."
"What did you say to Henry?"
"The truth," Adam states simply, gaze flicking to Snow's before turning back to the book he was reading.
Emma knocks the book out of his hands, grabs his collar, and pulls his chair away while pushing him up against the closest wall. She's had enough of him. She had tried to be his sister and he'd lied. She'd tried to ignore him and he hurts her son.
"If you ever go anywhere near him again-"
"Emma!" Snow finally speaks up but is ignored.
"He came here," he points out as if he Emma's hand wasn't unintentionally, or maybe intentionally, being pushed up against his airway with the other gripping his shirt. "And it's not like I hurt him."
A flash of anger passes through Emma's eyes. She pulls back her fist about to punch him when a thought occurs to her. The angle of her arm changes and she unclenches her hand before driving it into his chest. Everyone's eyes in the room go wide in surprise at what Emma is doing, either her magic capability or ethical choice. Emma is stuck somewhere between the two.
Her eyes move up to meet Adam's his surprise vanishes and is replaced with his infuriating smirk with only a hint of pain floating somewhere behind it's mask.
"Do it," he breathes out through gritted teeth.
Neither knew what they were doing anymore. All of Adam's plans have failed; he can't find a way out of his cell and one more heart to whatever he has with his mother will kill him. Something needs to change. And Emma…Emma has her hand wrapped around her brother's heart. She isn't even sure how it happened. She just wants to be able to stop him hurting people. I can control him with his heart, she thinks.
One sharp tug and her hand is outside of his chest. She doesn't look down. Can't look down. But she can feel it pulsing lightly against her palm and the fingers wrapped a little too tightly around it. She hears gasps around her and an 'oh Adam' which surprisingly comes from Regina.
And she finally looks down.
Almost splitting the blackened heart in two is a crack where pure white light is shining.
"What?" she asks, turning to Regina, the one in the room most likely to have an answer.
"Interesting-" Adam starts.
"Shut up," Emma cuts him off, raising his heart giving him a command.
"My heart does not work like that," he smirk slipping slightly.
Emma turns back to Regina.
"What-"
"It's a broken heart, Swan," she sighs, moving closer. She's only seen a drawing of one in a book before. The description doesn't do it justice, well look wise it does but the magic emanating from break is almost uncomfortably painful. Just being in the same room is bothering her she couldn't imagine owning it.
"What like," Emma looks back down at it, anger leaving her being replaced by confusion, "Like 'he broke my heart' broken?"
"No," Regina resists the urge to fire ball her, "Like 'everything I've ever loved has been ripped away from me' broken."
"What does it mean for him?" Snow asks. Adam rolls his eyes at their incapacity to just ask him. He is standing in the same room albeit pushed up against one of its walls with Emma still gripping his shirt.
"It," Regina pauses to think about how to explain it. "It's similar to not having your heart in your chest. You can't feel love but unlike having your heart removed, you can't simply put it back in and feel it again. Your heart is where your pure emotions come from; love, true happiness… hope. They're all gone."