"So, Emma," Gwen began. "It's been forever since we've seen you, how have you been?"
"I've been fi-" she was cut off.
"She finally has a girlfriend!" Mary Margaret piped in excitedly.
"Little Emma has a girlfriend already?" Lance asked, smiling at her.
"I'm not little anymore, thank you very much. And yeah, we've been dating for around two months now,"
"We've known you since before you were an actual child, you'll always be little Emma to us," Gwen told her.
She rolled her eyes playfully, thinking of the times she knew them while she was still human. In fact, they were there the night Emma was adopted by the Nolan's.
~1904~
"Emma!" Her mother called. "Emma, where are you?!"
The 10 year old sprinted down the steps and ran into her mother's arms. As another thunderclap shook the ground, tears came out of her eyes. She whipped the hair out of her face, then hugged her again.
"Mama?" She asked. "When will the thunder stop?"
"I don't know, sweetie." She replied. "Let's just go to bed and the storm will be over when we wake up."
"Can I sleep with you tonight?"
"You may,"
Hand-in-hand, the two of them walked to the older blonde's room. From there, she pulled the sheets back on her bed for her daughter to crawl in.
As the two laid on the bed together, Emma snuggled up close to her mother. The sounds of the thunder will still loud outside, but she tried to shut the noise out.
Within a few minutes, she was asleep.
However, her sleep only lasted an hour before something else woke both of them up. The house was struck, but not by lightning. No, it sounded more like a break-in.
"Emma, get in the hall closet," she ordered, wanting to hide her daughter.
"Mama, no! What about you?" She asked, looking at her wide eyed.
She had heard of a few break-ins in the area lately. She hadn't told Emma about this, but she was hoping the culprit wouldn't choose their house. The worst part, was that most of the victims ended up dead, and the police still hadn't caught whoever was doing this.
Trying to stay calm, she wrapped her arms around her daughter. She knelt down to her level and then looked her in the eyes.
"Don't worry about me. There are bad people in this house, and the closet is only big enough for one of us. You get in there and promise me you won't come out. I need you to promise me right now, Emma."
"I promise, Mama."
Her mother practically shoved her out of the room so she could dash to the only hiding spot in the house in time.
She started crying again, but she did her best to quiet her sniffles. If there really were bad people in her house, she would need to be quiet.
The closet was cramped and uncomfortable, but Emma knew better than to move around. But that didn't stop her from listening when she heard voices.
"Ingrid Swan," said an unknown voice.
She was in the middle of trying to send out a telegraph to call for help, but there wouldn't be enough time to finish it, let alone send it. So she decided to bluff,
"Thief," she said in a disgusted voice. "You might as well leave now, I've already informed people to contact the authorities,"
He laughed,
"Even what you're saying is true, they wouldn't be able to get here before I'm done with you. Now I've been doing a lot of research around here lately, and I'm really looking forward to this, Ingrid..."
Emma heard her mother let out a scream of terror so loud, it took all of her willpower not to run out and help her. So she remained in the closet, hugging her knees.
As another tear fell down her face, she heard a few new voices approaching.
"James," said a man's deep voice. "My brother will pay for this! He can't keep going on like this!"
"David, we will go in together. Girls, you search the perimeter and make sure that help is on the way in case the venom hasn't infected the victim yet," said another man.
As Ingrid screamed again, Emma let out a gasp as more tears spilled down her face. She instantly regretted making any noise as she heard two new voices,
"Gwen... there's someone else here," said a woman's voice.
"Are you sure you aren't just mistaking the smell spilled blood for someone else's blood?" Asked another woman.
"No, I'm sure. I listened close, and I heard a cry. I think it's a child!"
Emma's eyes widened as she hugged her knees even tighter. She couldn't prevent the tears from falling, but she bit her tongue to prevent herself from making any noise.
Soon enough, the closet door opened. Emma refused to look up, and kept her head between her knees. She closed her eyes tight, then bit her tongue even harder.
"Hi, sweetie," said a soft voice. "We're not here to hurt you, we only want to help."
Emma's tear-filled eyes opened as she barely moved her head up to look. Two women stood before her; one had straight long brown hair and hazel eyes. The other had curly black hair with green eyes.
She looked at them, but they didn't say anything. The one with black hair leaned close to her,
"There's some bad things happening right now, we need to get you to safety."
She reached her arm out to pull Emma up. As the 10 year-old's eyes darted between them, she heard a loud bang from her mother's room.
"Mama!" She called. She let go of this woman's hand before making a dash to Ingrid's room. She opened the door and saw something she never expected to see.
There were three men fighting. It was two against one. There were two who looked identical to each other, and one of them was fighting alongside the other man.
Emma's eyes instantly found her mother on the floor. She had two holes in her neck where blood was pooling out onto the floor below.
"Mama!" She called again, about to run to her.
She hadn't even noticed that the two women were behind her, holding her arms behind her back. She tried to reach out and run to her mother, but they were holding her so tightly.
"Well then," said one of the identical men, looking right at Emma. "Ingrid was just a snack, but her daughter will make it a meal,"
David's eyes darted between his brother and this little girl. He had tried for the past century to get his brother to stop being a killer, but he hadn't been successful. When they fought each other, he made sure not to kill him.
But as he looked at the fear in this girl's eyes, he knew that this couldn't keep going on. As soon as James lunged for Emma, David lunged for James.
His brother's hand almost reached the young girl's throat when David slammed into him. Once they were both on the floor, he used all of his strength to snap his neck.
Breathing heavily, he kept his hands on his brother. He knew that he wasn't really dead unless they got magic. Their species was immortal on its own, but things changed when witches and warlocks got involved. Luckily for them, the other man in the room knew one who would help them.
From their shock at the whole thing, the two women let go of Emma. She jumped right over the body in front of her and ran to her mother.
"Mama?" She asked, looking her in the eyes.
She held her head in her arms and searched her face for any signs of life, but there were none.
"Mama!" She cried, feeling the tears again.
She stayed sitting there, holding Ingrid's body while hot wet tears came out. She felt the presence of the four people behind her, but she didn't want to look at them. She wanted her Mama.
"Sweetie?" The woman with black her knelt down to her level again. "Sweetie, we need to go,"
"I want my Mama," Emma said, refusing to look away from Ingrid's body.
"I'm so sorry," she said as she wrapped her arms around her. "Your mother is gone now,"
Emma let out a sob as she stared into the lifeless eyes.
The man who saved her life knelt down next to her too,
"What's your name?" He asked.
"Emma," she said at barely a whisper.
"Emma, do you have a dad?"
She shook her head no. Ingrid had always told her that he died when she was a baby.
"Do you have grandparents?" He asked.
Once again, she shook her head no. Her mother was all she had, and now she was gone.
David exchanged a glance with his wife that said more words than anything could.
"Emma," the woman said as she placed her arm on her shoulder. "I think you need to come with us."
"I don't want to leave my Mama,"
"I know, sweetie. But we have to go now. Lance and Gwen will talk to the police, and they'll handle this. But for now, it's best for you to come with us," she told her.
Emma let out another sob, but finally made eye contact with her. She leaped into her arms and sobbed into her chest. As she continued crying, she felt her feet lifted off the ground as she was picked up. As she wiped the tears out of her eyes, she watched her surroundings change as she was carried out of the room.
She had started to carry her downstairs before Emma let out another cry.
"Wait!"
She squirmed around in request to be put down. She then ran to her own bedroom and looked underneath her bed.
There, she had kept a stuffed animal of a swan that her mother had gotten her on her 10th birthday. She clutched it in her arms before returning to the two strangers.
"Who are you?" She asked them before she allowed herself to be picked up again.
"I'm Mary Margaret, and this is David," she said.
Emma nodded while she tried so hard not to think of her dead mother.
Instead of picking her up again, Mary Margaret offered her hand instead. So Emma held onto the swan with one hand, and took her hand in the other.
As the three of them walked out of the house, David led them to the car.
Mary Margaret sat in the back seat with Emma, and wrapped her arm around her. She wanted to do whatever she could to make this young girl feel comfortable.
From that point on, the three of them were family.
As Emma felt herself embraced by her parents and her parents' friends, she couldn't help but crack a smile.
"Speaking of said girlfriend, her birthday is tomorrow, so I'm going to go call her,"
She waved a quick goodbye to everyone, then bounded off somewhere private. She pressed the My Queen contact, then heard the familiar ringing.
Feeling her grin turn into a bigger smile, she felt happiness grow inside her. In just a few short seconds, she would hear the voice of her girlfriend.