Chapter 64
Emma pushed her chair back. "This is so unfair!"
The plates and silverware on the table jumped, making a loud clanging noise as she stood abruptly. "You're asking me to choose? Permanently?! You've got to be kidding!"
"We know it's not an easy choice…"
Emma laughed sarcastically. She knew she was being all kinds of rude, but honestly couldn't give a flying crap. "Ya think? I mean on one hand, I stay here, carry on as though nothing changed, except wait, that means that I'll never see you two again. OR, I move back to the Enchanted Forest of all places, which I'm still not entirely convinced exists, and then I never see Mom again."
"And after everything, you're just willing to let me choose? Knowing that depending on who I go with, I'll never see the other again? You're seriously not going to fight over me or something?"
"We want you to be happy," Mary Margaret said simply. "You're our daughter. We would love nothing more than if you went with David and me, to try and make up for all that lost time that we should've had together. But that would also mean not seeing Regina again, and we don't want to force you into anything."
"And as I've told Mary Margaret and David before," Regina spoke up. "You're their daughter as much as you're mine, and I don't want to stand in the way of whatever you decide. I know a part of you has always wondered about your birth parents, and now that you've reunited, it's only fair if you have the chance to decide for yourself what you want."
"By forcing me to make this shitty decision? Wouldn't it be easier if we all stay in the same place? Why do you want to go back so badly, anyway? Was your whole speech about embracing your past selves and your Storybrooke personas and rebuilding our community here and blah blah blah all bullshit, then? I thought you said you wanted to get to know me and all that. And yet you're just going to pick up and leave?"
"The Enchanted Forest is our home." David responded. "It's where we, at least Mary Margaret and I, belong. We would've been happy to stay in Storybrooke, but now that we have that chance, we owe it to ourselves to go back and try to regain everything we'd lost. We have a chance for a fresh start."
But what about me? Emma wanted to scream. Yet again, she couldn't help but flash back to time after time when her younger self had been carelessly dropped back at various group homes after foster families realized they didn't want to shoulder the burden of caring for a child.
She then turned to Regina. "So then why are you so hell bent on staying here?"
Regina's face was thoughtful as she slowly considered her words. "Because I've been happier here in Storybrooke than I ever was back in the Enchanted Forest. You know I didn't have the best childhood."
Emma nodded as she remembered the handful of stories her mother had told her even before she'd learned about the curse. She'd long had a mental image of Cora the cold, distant, manipulative, authoritative figure who pretty much cared far more about appearances than her own family. At the time, she hadn't known Regina had been referring to the cruel Queen of Hearts she'd later read about in her storybook, but it had all clicked eventually.
"And then I was forced into an arranged marriage after losing Daniel," Regina continued. "You know it all. Any chance of happiness was taken away." She cast a quick look to Mary Margaret, who was looking down at the table, fiddling with a placement. "But that's neither here nor there. The point is, Emma, the Enchanted Forest is full of nothing but bad memories. I don't want to go back, and I don't plan to."
"But if I decide to leave…"
"I won't stop you," Regina promised. "You're my daughter, and I love you, but they're your family too and you have every right to choose."
"Okay, but that can't be it." Emma argued. "I get it, I really do. You all have your reasons, and I guess I respect that. But how could you ask me to choose?"
Twelve years ago, all little Emma, back then Emma Swan instead of Emma Mills, had watched countless times from her lumpy bed in various group homes as the other kids had been chosen and left with their newfound families, all the while wishing she could've been one of them. Before Storybrooke, before Regina, she'd always wondered what had been so wrong with her that her very own parents hadn't wanted her.
Even after Regina adopted her, for years she'd still continued to wonder, to hate her birth parents with so much intensity she was almost afraid of her own potential for darkness as she'd stewed over the fact that they'd so carelessly left her newborn self to die in the middle of the forest.
And now ironically, because the truth had been blown wide open, she had two sets of parents that she was now being forced to choose between. Permanently.
Emma made her way down Main Street, breathing in cold lungfuls of the crisp night air as her mind continuously cycled between her options, neither of which seemed particularly appealing.
She knew she wanted to go home, for one, back to Regina's. Mary Margaret and David's apartment was cozy and homey, but it wasn't hers. She was just a guest, no matter how much they insisted otherwise. She wanted to go back to her regular life with her mother, to leaving her clean laundry everywhere each week until Regina begrudgingly folded it for her, to splitting fries at Granny's, to rolling their eyes together during cheesy rom-coms, to gossiping about Storybrooke's residents.
She wanted to graduate high school with her friends and perhaps travel for a year before going to college in Boston. Her and Regina had briefly discussed her post-high school plans, and she could feel, she could taste them so vividly. She didn't want to give them up, not now.
She even wanted to get to know Robin and Roland a bit more. Regina's kind of relationship had cooled slightly after the curse had broken, but she'd seen the way Robin and her mother had looked at each other, and knew it was only a matter of time before they were back together.
(She would never admit it, but she also wanted to go out on a date with Killian someday. Maybe.)
She wanted to be normal.
She wanted to stay in Storybrooke.
But there was a whole other side of her that also wanted to leave with Mary Margaret and David. She still barely knew them, and after wondering about them for so long, how could she just close a door on a part of herself she'd always wanted to learn more about? Didn't she owe it to herself to give them a chance?
She'd started to love the idea of finally having a history, roots, something larger than herself. She had grandparents she wanted to hear stories about. She wanted to hear all of their old family legends and roll her eyes at the lame stories, and learn all about where she'd come from.
The idea of living in a land without indoor plumbing did not appeal to her. But maybe she'd always been destined to go back to the Enchanted Forest. Maybe upon returning, she'd feel an instant connection. Hell, maybe she was secretly a sword fighting prodigy or something, one time dragon slayer and all.
She wanted to learn about what her birth parents were like when they'd been her age. Did she prefer sneakers over heels because she was more like Mary Margaret, or rather, the adventurous Snow White her birth mother had been in her youth? Did she snore like David? Was she opinionated like both her parents? Who did she look more like?
Would she always be left wondering if she didn't leave with them?
Emma sighed and leaned against the wall under the old clock tower. This was her home, without a doubt. The mere thought of never seeing Storybrooke again nearly broke her in half. But at the same time, the thought of turning her back on where she came from also tugged at her heart.
Who would she be if she stayed with Regina?
And who would she be if she didn't?
Regina had always loved being mayor, and it had nothing to do with being the power-hungry Evil Queen everyone saw her as.
Although she'd technically elected herself back when she'd cast the curse, she'd thought she made a pretty damn good mayor. True, things didn't really change all that much in Storybrooke, but that hadn't meant things didn't need to be done. Policies had been enacted, budgets had to be dealt with, and conflicts had inevitably arisen. As mayor, she'd helped build playgrounds, increase job prospects, improve housing conditions, and even create a community garden. She'd finally had a chance to do good, to help everyone around her, and it was all she'd ever wanted.
Maybe she would've actually made a pretty good queen had it not been for the whole Snow White fiasco, but she figured she'd never know.
When the curse had broken, her tenure as mayor had pretty much ended for obvious reasons. David and Mary Margaret had stepped in as their de facto leaders, and she'd distinctly felt the loss of her previous position.
Regina even missed addressing the community at town meetings, even though meetings typically led to arguing over policies and budgets and agendas. She stood off to the side now, hidden behind a curtain, as Mary Margaret and David spoke to the crowd, and wished it could've been her up there.
"Next up, we have something important to discuss with everyone," said David from the podium. "Before we go into more detail, we wanted to bring someone who can speak more about it."
Great, here was her cue. Regina hadn't exactly wanted to speak at the town meeting, not when she was likely to be met with pitchforks, although she could certainly hold her own against them. For 17 years, as their mayor she'd been met with respect and deference, if maybe the slightest bit of fear, and as such she had grown unaccustomed to experiencing again the open hatred everyone had for the Evil Queen.
But the two idiots had insisted she take credit, seeing as she'd put in the bulk of the work. And if she really thought about it, pushing herself back into the spotlight would hopefully go a long way to show everyone how much effort she'd put in to no longer be the Evil Queen. So Regina squared her shoulders, straightened her blazer, and walked out to the podium she'd grown so familiar with.
Instantly, the room filled with hissing, booing, and frantic whispers as her heels clicked against the stage. A few families even got up and left the room, and she could see the people in the first few rows scoot their seats backwards, away from the stage.
"The Evil Queen!"
"Run!"
"What is she doing here?"
"What does she want? Here to curse us again?"
"You have no power anymore!"
"Quiet!" David commanded. "We've invited Regina here to speak, so please show her some respect."
The room started to begrudgingly quiet down, although she could still see everyone's wary expressions and clenched fists.
Regina caught Archie's gaze from the middle of the room, and unlike everyone who sat around him, he smiled encouragingly at her. And by her side, Mary Margaret nodded in support.
You're doing this for Emma, Regina reminded herself. She took a deep breath.
"Hello." At least her voice sounded the way it always did, clear and authoritative. She had always been good at speeches. "It's…good to…thank you for being here tonight. I'll keep this brief."
"First, I wanted to take the time to apologize for everything I've done to all of you. It was unfair of me to use you all as pawns and to…terrorize and make all of your lives miserable," Regina said, reciting the words from from her prepared and thoroughly rehearsed speech. The words left a bitter taste in her mouth, but she supposed that was how she knew she was doing the right thing.
"You did not deserve that, and I should not have cast the curse and separated you all from your families and homes for my own agenda," she continued. "I regret everything I've done as the Evil Queen, and I'm sincerely sorry. Although you may not believe me, I have not been the Evil Queen for a long time now, not here in Storybrooke, and I no longer want to be. I simply wish to move forward with my life, and I know you do as well."
Her words seemed to resonate a bit as she saw the ugly hatred on their faces melting the slightest bit.
"I've loved living here in Storybrooke," Regina admitted. "Being your mayor, living a different life here…it's all changed me for the better. And I'm willing to bet some of you love Storybrooke as well, despite everything that's happened. But I also know that a lot of you miss your lives back in the Enchanted Forest, lives that I took away."
"I know this will not in any way make up for the pain I've caused. I took your futures away, and I will never not be sorry for that. But to show you how sorry I am, I'd like to try and give you back what was, what is rightfully yours. I've been working alongside Mary Margaret, David, and the fairies on a way back to the Enchanted Forest, and we've succeeded."
Chaos. Absolute chaos rained down as the town absorbed her words.
"It's a trap!"
"Go back?"
"Is there even anything left?"
"She's trying to kill us!"
David held up his hand for silence. "It's true, and it's not a trap. Mary Margaret and I trust Regina."
Regina nodded at the two idiots, grateful (although she'd never admit it), for their show of support. "We've been working on growing magic beans for the past several months that will create portals back to where we came from. You may not believe me, and I don't blame you. But you can take their word, or the words of the fairies."
"As we said before," Mary Margaret spoke up. "Every choice is open to you. Including where you'd like to live now. Come back with David and me, and we'll rebuild our lives and our kingdom together. We'll pick up on where we'd left off. Or stay here in Storybrooke, the town we've called home for the last 17 years."
"The only thing is, though," David cautioned. "We only have enough beans for a one way trip, so you'll have a choice to make."
"No matter what your happy ending is, no matter what it looks like," Regina said. "The decision is up to you, as it always should've been."
"I'll be the first to admit that Regina made some…regrettable decisions." Mary Margaret continued. "But we also recognize that she cared for and loves Emma as her own, and that she's truly trying to make amends. It's time to put the past behind us."
Hands in the audience were raised as clearly many citizens had questions, and Regina, Mary Margaret, and David each took turns answering as best they could.
"When do we have to decide by?" Someone asked. Mary Margaret confirmed the beans would be viable for another two weeks.
"How will Storybrooke survive if half of us decide to leave?"
"What happened to our homes back in the Enchanted Forest?"
"Is there anyone left there?"
"Is it even safe to return?"
And then someone asked the million dollar question, the one that Regina herself had been mulling over ever since she'd first decided to find a way back to the Enchanted Forest.
"Is Emma leaving as well?"
Mary Margaret and David seemed at a loss for words, and looked to Regina, who suddenly found herself speechless as well.
"I'm…not sure," she said finally. "As with all of you, the choice is up to her. I love her more than anyone, and she's given my life more meaning than I ever thought possible. I will never hesitate to give my life for her. It will break my heart if she decides to leave, but I promised her I wouldn't stand in her way if that's what she wants. I was never given the choice, any choice, to decide my own fate by my mother, and I'll never do that to Emma."
"Emma is my daughter, but if she doesn't see me as her mother anymore, if she would rather leave with Mary Margaret and David, I'll accept it."
Author's note: Let me know what you think! More to come on what Emma's final decision will be.