This was requested by a guest almost exactly a year ago (in fact a year tomorrow), I'm so so sorry I haven't written this sooner, I offically suck.
Also this one shot gets me to hit the 50k mark, which I would never have believed would happen. And I know I certainly wouldn't have written this much without the support of everyone who reads it, especially the supportive comments, so thank you very much. Prompt:
Emma felt herself fall through the portal, her eyes were shut tight because of the pure light emitted by it, as he hands clutched Henry's storybook to her chest she couldn't help but think of her family and the stories her parents had told her. She landed on the ground with a thump, she hit her head as she did so. She heard two people conversing as she slipped out of consciousness.
"…the girl, my son is going to marry."
Emma felt someone shake her shoulder. "Five more minutes." She mumbled, thinking it was one of her parent, she rolled over and came to the realisation that she was not in her warm, comfortable bed, and the person shaking her was not her mother or father, or even Henry. She shot up.
"It's okay dear," an elderly woman soothed, "I think you hit your head, you should take it slowly. Come with me into the cabin, my son mentioned that there might be danger."
Emma stood up slowly, she was slightly suspicious of who this woman was, but could tell she wasn't lying about the danger by simply looking at her face.
"Where abouts am – Look out!" Emma cried suddenly, seeing a man with a bow and arrow shoot an arrow towards the woman before falling down himself. Emma quickly pushed the woman to the ground, a second later she sucked in breath through her clenched teeth, and she felt pain cascade from her shoulder to the rest of her body, her legs went weak and she fell to the ground.
"Son!"
"Mother!" She frowned as she heard a familiar panicked voice coming closer to her.
"She was hit protecting me, David she needs help, she's only young."
"We'll get her help mother." Charming crouched down and lifted Emma so she was leaning against him in his arms. "Hi," he said softly to Emma, although he didn't know who this girl was he felt the need to take care of her. "Thank you for saving my mother. We're going to save you, everything's going to be okay, I promise."
"Mother?" Emma asked weakly.
"Yeah, you saved my mother, my names David. What's your name?" he asked kindly, as if talking to a child. His heart was pounding with the urgency and need to save this girl, some feeling that wasn't just because she saved his mother, but some deeper feeling he couldn't identify or explain.
"I'm not a child." Emma complained stubbornly, but in her mind she was trying to figure out a plan, if back to the future had taught her anything, it was that she couldn't stay where she was, yet she was too weak to move. "I'm the same age as you. Or there abouts."
Charming laughed as though he couldn't quite believe her, her strange clothes made her look young, or perhaps it was the need to heal her. "Snow!" he called, as he saw her and a man approach.
Emma's eyes drifted shut, comforted in the fact that her mother and father were both there with her, even if they didn't know who she was.
"You're going to be a wonderful mother."
By the time Emma next opened her eyes she was in a cart resting on a bed of hay, covered in blankets.
"Oh good you're awake." Snow breathed out, as she continued to wipe Emma's head with a cloth, she too had felt drawn to this strange girl, she only had to share a look with her fiancé to know they both needed to save this girl.
"Mom." Emma almost whined, her shoulder in a lot of pain.
"I'm sure you'll see your mother soon." Snow replied not unkindly.
Tears prickled in Emma's eyes, as she saw her mother look through her, looking at her but not knowing who she was. Emma had wished a few times since being back in Storybrooke that she could have just plain old Mary Margret back, her life was a lot simpler then, when her mother didn't know who she was. It was only when faced with the reality that she realised how much it hurt, there was an ache in her chest that had nothing to do with the arrow, and ache she had never felt before. Heart ache of the strongest kind, the ache for home: The ache for her family.
"I know it hurts," Snow responded sympathetically, mistaking the tears in Emma's eyes for pain from her shoulder. "It's poisoned, but we're going to save you, there's a lake called Lake Nostos, it'll be able to help you."
Emma felt adrenaline build up within her, she could barely feel the pain in her shoulder, she knew which time period she was in, she knew no matter what happened, she was dead.
"No, no, no. Please don't take me there. Leave me behind, you need the water." She tried to move but felt the person who she assumed was Ruth push her down gently.
"It's okay dear, there's plenty of water." She said maternally, a confused look crossed her face. "Do I know you?"
"You never met me." Emma responded sadly. "Wait. Where's that book I had?" She tried to sit up again, this time to be gently pushed back by Snow, who gave her a warning look she knew only too well.
"Here you go, but you have to stay still." Snow said as she passed her a book back from her satchel. Charming back over from scouting ahead with Lancelot, who was subtly pulled away with Ruth.
Charming shot a curious look over to their retreating backs, before turning back to his fiancé. "The path looks to be clear, is she okay?"
"She's awake." Snow nodded her head to the cart behind her, where Emma was half lying down, flicking through the pages of a book.
"Hey," he smiled at her as they went over to her. "You passed out before you could tell us your name."
Emma bit her lip, she knew that there was only one way she could convince them of who she was, so that she could convince her mother to drink the sip of water. This way would assure her birth, and both Neal and Henry's births, but she'd have to sacrifice her own life. It was the only choice she had. "Before I tell you my name," She began weakly, "I need to tell you something you might not believe. But I really need you to believe me, please." She pleaded.
Both Snow and Charming nodded their heads concern at how emotional this girl was becoming.
"I'm from the future, I got sent from another dimension, or realm. I live there with my parents and son, and a new baby brother. But my parents are from this one, from your time. They were kinda sucked up in a curse and sent to the other world, they and their friends."
"Wait, then if you have your family in this other place, why would you leave them?" Although this girl seemed to be telling the truth, he couldn't understand why she'd leave her family.
"I didn't mean to." She replied guiltily. "My dad told me not to get too close to the portal… I didn't listen to him."
"We'll help you get back to your family." Snow smiled, even the world family had her feeling nervous. What if the lake didn't work?
"You can't. And I can't drink the water either. This book shows your future. The lake's dried up, there is only one sip left. My mother has to drink it so that I'll ever be born."
"She might have already had it, and we'll find another one for you, we're not going to let you die." Snow replied stubbornly, she shared a look with Charming, confirming they both believed her.
"She hasn't. You haven't got there yet." Emma looked down.
"Me?"
"You were cursed by King George. It shows it in my book." She opened it to the page where Ruth was still getting hit by the arrow. "Ruth would have tricked you into drinking the water that you had found for her. Then on the day of my birth, a curse happens, and I get sent away and I have to grow up without you both. But I took the arrow instead. You have to drink the water, not me. Please, otherwise everything will be messed up."
Charming stared between the two women with his mouth slightly agape, he couldn't quite believe the story, but that didn't stop him subconsciously drawing comparisons between the two.
"I think the poison must be affecting you." Snow said gently. "I'm sorry, but I'm not your mother."
Fresh tears brewed in Emma's eyes. "You are. Please believe me. You hum when you're cooking at home and you always make too much, you hate it when I put myself in danger but then go and do it yourself, and you're the happiest morning person I know. Regina hates you here because you told her mom, Cora, about her true love, Daniel. And when you have a daughter you're going to call her Emma, and you'll get a mobile with glass unicorns on it for her, but she won't ever get to use it." Emma listed off desperately, when Snow gasped and put her hand to her mouth, Emma stopped and turned her head to her confused looking dad. "You always know what to say to me to convince me of things, if I ever wake up at night or can't sleep and I go downstairs you always check on me and make hot chocolate. You go by the name James in the Enchanted forest because you're pretending to be your twin brother who died. And you told me that it took you forever to get used to being treated like a royal so you always manage to get me out of royal crap." Emma could feel the poison weakening her as she fought to stay awake. "And you'd both do anything for me, and you always have, you've always given me my best chance. But I've always thrown it back in your faces because I was scared that you'd leave me or let me down. So I try to push you away or run away from you." Tears started to fall from her face, and her voice broke with emotion. "And I won't get to see the real you again. I'm so sorry mom and dad." She felt two familiar people hold her in their arms, as she once again slipped out of consciousness.
"Emma, wake up." A voice called. Her mom's voice.
The warm sun brought a smile to her face before she even opened her eyes, she was no longer cold, her shoulder was still slightly sore but was no longer in excruciating pain. Her heart no longer felt like it wanted to explode. 'Wait,' she thought 'that's not right, I shouldn't still be here.' She sat up quick as a shot, opening her eyes as she did so. She found herself leaning against a mound of grass nestled in between her parents. Around her were the lush green woods, in front of her, was a vast dark blue lake.
"You need to take it careful kiddo." Came her father's worried tone, the same one that he always used for her. "You've only just healed, it took you a while to drink the water. Do you listen to us where you're from?"
"Not really... you never stop trying to get me to though. Wait, I don't… I don't get it that lake's not meant to be here…"
"That's true love dearie." The high pitched giggling voice made Emma jump slightly.
"Dark one." Growled Charming, his hand held tightly onto his sword.
"Oh do calm down, Charming." Mocked Rumpelstiltskin. "Magic grows from true love, this lake is magic, magic feeds on true love so the lake fed on yours, it's all very simple."
"Then how come it didn't fill up before I was here?" Frowned Emma.
"There was already the true love your parents share for each other, and the love between the wannabe prince here and his mother. Your grandmother would have sacrificed herself for your mother and fathers happiness. But that wasn't enough love."
"Then I don't get it." Emma huffed.
Rumpelstiltskin rolled his eyes, "I wasn't finished. You being here, making your parents believe who you are caused true love, you also have the love of your grandmother." He nodded to the elderly woman who had moved from being off to the side, to being close to the trio. "And you have the love of whatever it is you're wanting to get back through. The people you won't get back to without my help."
"You don't help unless there's something you can gain from it." Glared Snow, as she subconsciously tried to shield Emma from the Dark One.
"What do you have to gain from this?" Spoke Ruth, moving even closer to her family.
"Your newly found granddaughter has changed things, who knows how that can mess up any of my plans. Which is why I'm willing to help. I will give blondie over there a wand, as I assume being the product of true love she possesses magic. The wand will open the portal back up, she will go back through it, she can even take you if she wishes. This charming couple, the disgraced knight, and I will take a memory potion each to forget all about this adventure, we will simply remember events how they were meant to happen. And because I'm feeling extra nice, I've even made it so they'll remember this when you and your granddaughter make it back through the portal." He threw a wand to Emma as he spoke.
Charming, Snow, and Ruth glanced at each other, eventually they all nodded the gold skinned 'man'.
"Wait." Emma bit her lip and looked at her parents guiltily. "I lost my magic."
"No one loses magic, dearie." An evil glint appeared in Rumpelstiltskin's eyes, suddenly Charming was floating in the air, his hands clutched at his throat, as he struggled to breathe.
"No!" Roared Emma, she could hear her own anger in her ears and she automatically grabbed hold of the object which lay in her lap.
Charming suddenly fell into a heap on the ground, and Rumpelstiltskin giggled at the glowing wand in Emma's hand.
Charming hugged his mother, as Snow gently hugged Emma, then both Charming and Ruth walked over to Emma and Snow. Charming took hold of Snow's hand.
"We love you both, and we'll see you in…" Charming said, his voice saturated with love.
"Thirty years… give or take." Shrugged Emma.
"Thirty years." Snow breathed out in a forlorn tone.
"Don't worry, you won't even notice it passing. In fact, dad literally sleeps through most of it." Emma smiled.
Charming and Snow chuckled softly, their eyes filled with pride and loss.
In that second, Emma realised they, the prince and princess version who were trying to take back a kingdom, the version who gave birth to her, were the same people they were in Storybrooke: Her dad who worked at the station with her, her mom who was maternal before she realised who Emma was, the two who could make Emma laugh, and make her feel guilty by fixing her their paternal glares, within the space of ten minutes. Emma held tightly onto her new-found grandmother's hand, who squeezed back lovingly, then waved the wand focusing on her love for her family, and the want to be back with them.
"There's no place like home, I guess."
"I've tried all the places she normally goes, I can't find her anywhere."
"I've tried calling her, she isn't picking up still, are you sure you checked everywhere?"
"Yes, even the places she doesn't think we know about."
Even before she landed back in Storybrooke she could hear the concern in her parent's voices. She groaned as she, and Ruth, landed in a heap next to the corner of Granny's Snow and Charming had secluded their worrying to.
"Emma!" Exclaimed Charming, he helped her up and pulled her into a tight hug. He pulled away from Emma sooner than she would have wanted, but still kept her close his hands on her arms. "What happened?" his eyes scanned her for any signs of injury.
"Emma, we were really worried about you, did you just come through a portal?" Snow gently hugged her, being careful of the baby in her arms.
"I, erm, kinda didn't listen to you… I went near Zeleana's portal, I kinda got sucked in…"
"Emma." Charming sighed. "You really do have to listen to us kiddo, trust me, especially when I tell you to stay away from something dangerous."
"I know. I'm sorry."
"David." Ruth stood up from the floor, her eyes filled with wonder at the strange world she had ended up in, and at her son.
"Mother?" David questioned in shock.
Suddenly Granny's was filled with a purple smoke, which disappeared as quickly as it appeared. The party goers looked around confused, not feeling any different, all eyes focused on the royal family. The prince and princess's eyes were filled with tears.
"Mother." Charming smiled, he pulled her into a quick hug, his heart wrestled with the fake memory of her death, and his true memory of his daughter saving her.
"Emma, never worry us like that again." Charming commanded, as he and Snow pulled her into a protective hug.
"Are you okay sweetheart?" Snow asked, remembering the vision on Charming cradling her dying body as they attempted to get her to drink the water, Emma remaining stubborn to the last.
"I'm fine." Emma promised. "I'm home."
"Do you mean that you're not leaving?" Snow asked, barely daring to believe what her ears were telling her.
"No. I'm not going anywhere." Emma said, as she was finally released from the hug.
"We're staying in Storybrooke?" Henry asked happily as he bounded over to his family.
"Yeah kid." She said as she pulled him into a side hug. "This is we belong. This is where our family is." She released him, and stared teary eyed at her parents. "Mom. Dad." She said turning her head to each of them in turn. "I missed you." The family hugged once again, a hug that lasted so long, that anyone in the diner who had been watching them, eventually lost interest.
"Well kiddo, I guess you should be properly introduced. Emma, this is your grandmother Ruth. Mother, this is my daughter Emma. And you met Snow briefly, this is our son whose name we're here to announce, and my grandson, Henry."
"Emma, this is who you get your middle name from." Snow said softly, seeing Emma grow shy at the attention and at the pride in her father's voice.
"Wait I have a middle name?" Emma asked seriously, causing all her family to laugh.
"So, do I get to know what happened?" Henry grinned.
"We may as well sit down kid, it's a long story."
Emma smiled as her dad chose to sit next to her, she listened to her parents filled her in on the parts of her adventure she had been unconscious for. Her eyes kept fluttering shut, before her dad turned to her and promised they'd go home soon so she could rest, but requested that she stay awake a few more minutes so that she could hear her baby brother's name.