Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters or any material that can be recognised as part of ABCs Once Upon a Time series
Summary; Emma has always felt unexplainably empty, she's always felt uneasy around her parents once she discovered them and she's always been drawn to Regina.
Through lies and deceit come clarity and truth in the most unexpected of places. Maybe the truth behind her parents lies just might bring about the peace and belonging Emma has always desperately sought in a world that has been undeniably cruel to her. Maybe good and evil aren't so black and white and maybe just maybe it is time for Emma Swan and those she loves to take back all that was stolen from them and live their own happy ever after. SwanQueen endgame. Mama Maleficent.
Chapter 1 – Frustration
The street was deserted, the pavements seemed black with rain in the pale moonlight as Emma walked quickly down Main Street towards the docs. A gentle breeze ruffled her long blonde locks as she strode and she tried desperately to hold back the tears that threatened to fall down her flushed cheeks. Though she wasn't particularly sad which made the tears even worse in her eyes. She was just highly frustrated and feeling a tad rejected.
Her mother and Father, goodness that was a strange thought, were hiding something from her. She wasn't sure what but they were. Her little secret power had pinged near enough every time they opened their mouths to speak in the past week, alerting her to the lies they were sprouting from their lips. She wondered silently how her life got so bloody complicated.
Little more than four years ago she was Emma Swan, Bail bondsman, ex prisoner, orphan. Now she was Emma Swan - The Saviour, Princess of the white kingdom, daughter to snow White and Prince charming, mother to Henry, sheriff of small town Storybrooke and big sister to Prince Neal. She had only just begun to trust her parents after finding out they had sent her as a new-born through a bloody wardrobe with a puppet turned boy from a magic land (the enchanted forest) in order to ensure she would grow up and come save them from a curse cast by the evil queen who turned out to be her kids adoptive mother, the mayor of the town and eventually her best friend. Her parents actions had always kind of infuriated her. She thought their actions were a little selfish.
Had they not sent her through the wardrobe she wouldn't have grown up in and out of foster homes, facing rejection after rejection from potential parents. She wouldn't have been naïve enough to fall for a con man who then set her up for robbery, she wouldn't have spent a year in prison or given birth to her unexpected son in said prison and been given no choice but to give him up because she couldn't take care of him. That day will forever remain the most painful moment of her life. Watching her baby boy disappear through the hospital doors destroyed Emma in a way no amount of abuse, neglect or rejection from Foster parents ever could. She felt a part of herself rip from her. It had made the void inside her, the feeling that there was something missing grow much larger and more palpable and it was a feeling she still lived with to this day.
Even with Henry back in her life, even now she had settled in this little town as their sheriff. Even now she had her parents back and had a best friend. She could not help but feel like there was a whole part of her missing. Had done all her life. It had haunted her for as long as she could remember, always tormenting her. It had settled slightly only twice in her life when she met two separate unforgettable people, though the feeling renewed with vigour when she inevitably lost them like she had everyone in her life.
Now as she sat on the cold wooden bench facing the water she couldn't help the sobs that burst forth. Was it so much to ask that her parents showed her the same trust and respect that she was expected to show them as their child?
Why wouldn't they tell her about the reasons Maleficent was so intent on harming them? What had they done? What were they hiding? Because she knew they were hiding something. They wouldn't have felt the need to lie to her if they weren't. It unsettled her. It reminded her of the unease she always felt around Snow and Charming. An unease she had tried desperately not to acknowledge ever since she had learned the truth about who she was. She had caught odd looks occasionally pass between her parents. Unsettling smirks is how she would best describe it, paired with this feeling. This unexplainable feeling that everything wasn't as it seemed to be.
She was so confused and frustrated. It was exhausting and quite frankly she was so tired of it all. So tired of the lies and secrets. The unease and suspicion. It was all accumulating in a mass swirl of emotion that sat uncomfortably in her stomach. It felt far too warm and she gasped involuntarily when her left wrist suddenly began to burn intensely before it disappeared again. She pulled the sleeve of her signature red leather jacket back from the offending wrist and stared in wide eyed disbelief at what she was seeing. There in place of where her black smudge of a birthmark had previously sat was a small tattoo depiction of the sun, no sign of the previous mark.
" Ugh" she shouted into the night air as she felt her frustration increase. What was happening now? She already had so much to deal with, what could possibly be the reason for a tattoo appearing on her wrist? Was it some kind of spell? Curse?
She sighed tiredly, her shoulders shaking with the force of her tears as the additional questions brought a fresh wave of them spilling down her face. She honestly did not know how to process everything right now. She needed to walk, to get away for a little bit. Poofing herself to the forest at the edge of town she began to walk as quickly as she could, intent on escaping her turmoil for a little bit. Sure it was fast approaching midnight but she really had no choice right now. She couldn't stand the thought of going back to her parents loft and pretending to play happy families with them right now and the only other person in town she would feel comfortable with right now was probably fast asleep in her home with Henry sleeping also. She couldn't turn up to wake her friend up and risk Henry seeing his mother in such a state. He didn't deserve to worry over her. She would have to wait till tomorrow before she could talk to Regina about her concerns and with that thought she picked up her pace, tuning the world out, becoming oblivious to her surroundings.
Maybe if she had paid just the slightest bit of attention she would have noticed the hidden figure that followed her, their blue/green eyes watching intently, curiously as the blonde saviour walked on. Following at a safe distance as not to be seen yet, the owner of those blue/green eyes faced her own confusion as she tried desperately to figure out just how in the world this had happened and how she could break the truth to the visibly upset blonde in front. After all it wasn't every day one learns they are a dragon.