Chapter 21: Head Sea

Artz spent the majority of her time with four people; Regina, Gold, Graham, and that blonde lady that owned the ice cream shop...Ingrid, yeah that was her name. That's it. She had no other contact with others with the exception of Emma. Even Henry refused to get anywhere near her...and coming from the kid that believed a story so much that he tracked down his birth mother to break a curse...that was saying a lot.

Regina treated Artz with such disdain like she was nothing more than a street urchin begging for scraps...and she lived with the damn woman! Emma didn't understand why Regina would allow Artz to live with her when clearly she wanted to be rid of her...dont say that to the Evil Queen though.

Before the Curse was broken, Mayor Mills practically crucified Dr. Hopper when he suggested that Artz move out...that it was in her son's best interests to remove the boy away from her influence. Never before had the blonde savior ever seen the mayor so angry. The amount of ice and venom in her voice and tone even had Emma on the defensive.

Mayor Mills was just so confusing. Her reactions swung wildly into two different directions. Regina hated the red head, despised her, and treated her like she was scum...hell lower than scum. Then when even the smallest thing dared to take the ginger away, Regina became hell itself to protect the red head and destroy whatever was trying to take her away...Doctor Hopper for example and he wasnt the last.

When Henry heard what Dr. Hopper had said...he asked why. Why would Artz need to leave? Regina had flat out stated that there wasnt a reason and left it at that, but Emma had decided to broach the subject with her son. Hearing Dr. Hopper's reasons for removing Artz from the mayor's home...he was in tears. He didn't want her to go and when she asked why he always ran away from the red head all the time...his answer made her cry.

He ran away so that he couldn't hurt her. That he had seen the ginger go to bed and cry herself to sleep again and again because everyone either ignored her or treated her like she was a disgusting, hideous creature. The truth was that her son loved the crimson haired woman very much and he wanted to be with her, but every time he tried, something inside him always seemed to flip over.

Henry tried to explain that he was having mixed feelings but that one set felt fake while the other felt real. That this was the reason why the ginger was treated so horribly by everyone, that they were experiencing the opposite of their true feelings. She hadnt believed him at the time but whatever happened yesterday afternoon had definitely swung her opinion.

She could feel that there was two sets of feelings inside herself. She hated Artz, she didn't trust her, was infuriated by her presence, and that she wanted the red head to simply disappear. Emma knew now that these feelings...such horrible emotions… they weren't real. They felt shallow and that they lacked any kind of substance. How had she not realized that sooner? It was clear as day now.

The second set of feelings which were making themselves more and more pronounced...they felt real, genuine, and true. Emma adored Artz; her quick wit and silver tongue, her sass and sarcasm, her kindness and her willingness to always listen. She genuinely cared for the ginger and loved being around her, that she was grateful to have someone like Artz in her life.

The blonde haired savior could feel the guilt and remorse growing inside of her. The way she had treated Artz was deplorable, almost inhumane...just shy of torture in her book. She had verbally berated the ginger so many times and every time...she watched her heart die a little more each day.

How...how could she have done all this? This wasnt even remotely like her true self. She never would have reacted so harshly. Yeah, she would want answers but after spending time with the redhead, she would have trusted the woman to tell her what she needed to know when she needed to know it, but instead...the opposite occurred, just like her son had told her back in Storybrooke.

She was always blaming her for when something bad happened because the red head always seemed to know what was going on before anybody else did. That was irritating, she would admit that, but in reality...she was just trying to help. This fact became apparent after the Curse was broken...and the Crimson haired woman had revealed that Graham was supposed to die, his heart being crushed by Regina after he had dumped her at the diner.

Artz had managed to find the Huntsman's heart and kept it safe until she could return it to him without the mayor getting in the way. Emma had actually tracked down Graham and asked if what Artz said was true and the look on his face said it all. Artz Lanaria, the woman that everyone despised, had saved the former sheriff's life.

Searching for answers within her memories, more questions arise along with a terrible guilt that made her want to cry. Why was it this way? What caused the Savior and so many others to express that which was opposite in their hearts?