After defeating Hades in "Last Rites", before going to Robin's funeral.

"Give me back the rum." - 4x21

Emma stepped inside her house, closing the door slowly behind her. She felt empty and numb, all the fight-energy gone from her body. She leaned her back against the door and looked around the room, which looked as empty as her heart. This house, hardly even lived in, was now a stark reminder of the future that she no longer had.

Emma sighed shakily and walked straight into the bathroom to turn on the shower. She stripped her dirty clothes and stepped under the stream of water. Her body shook uncontrollably from exhaustion, and she let the pressure from the hot shower stabilize her. Flashes of everything that had happened over the past week flooded her mind.

All we can do in times like these, is try to live in the here and now.

The words came back to her effortlessly, and she instinctively gripped the pendant hanging on the chain that she still had not allowed herself to take off.

"Here and now," she whispered to herself. She looked down at where her hand clung to the ring against her heart, and she suddenly realized that any remaining hope she'd had of being able to save him was gone. For the first time, she realized that this time, she really was going to have to let him go.

The tears appeared before she even noticed that she was crying. They blurred her vision and mixed with the warm water running down her face. The pain in her heart returned suddenly, stabbing her sharply inside her chest. Emma closed her eyes, focusing on the water hitting her back and the steam filling the room. She stayed like that until her eyes had dried and the tips of her fingers had turned wrinkled from the shower.

When her legs began to ache from standing, she turned off the water and dried herself off with a towel. She left the bathroom to put on a clean pair of clothes. The all-black attire could not have been more fitting. Even the Darkness of the Dark One didn't feel as dark as Emma felt right now.

Emma wandered into the kitchen, scrounging the cabinets for a much-needed drink. Her eyes landed on the rum flask sitting on the coffee table in the other room, and she snatched it up on instinct.

She instantly froze, staring at the silver flask in her hand. Suddenly, all she could see was his hand, with the three rings, handing her this bottle of rum, and before she knew it she was shaking again, tears falling freely down her cheeks. There were no words to express how much she wanted him back in that moment, and her desperate need to hold him. Everything, everything, that had happened between them had happened over this flask of rum, for not once did he ever go anywhere without it.

"Emma?"

Her dad's voice came from behind her, though she hadn't heard him come in. She tried to breathe, but was unable to respond or move just yet.

"What are you doing in here by yourself?" David asked softly.

Emma hastily wiped her eyes and turned around, putting the flask back down on the table. "I — I wanted to go h-home for a while, but I just, um... "

David quickly registered her words and the flask she'd been holding, and before she could say anything more he pulled her into a tight hug.

Emma clung to her father, letting herself cry openly. She realized how incredibly grateful she was to have him there, to have her whole family there, and to know that she was loved. Despite her pain, it brought her comfort that she didn't have to grieve alone.

After a while, her dad pulled away from the hug and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "We're all going to head over to the cemetery soon," he said, "for Robin."

Emma nodded, letting out a sigh. She couldn't stop the feelings of guilt that set in over that. "Okay," she agreed.

"The ceremony isn't for a little while yet," he continued, his eyes flickering to the flask on the table. "If you want to go early, you could... talk to him... for a bit. It might help get some of what you're feeling off your chest."

Emma breathed in shakily, and looked back down at the rum flask. She did want to talk to him, more than anything. She wanted to tell him what happened... make sure he was okay. In that moment, there was nothing in the entire world she wouldn't give to share one more drink with him.

Emma nodded again. "Yeah," her voice cracked. "That's a good idea."

She took another deep breath and used both hands to wipe her eyes. Grabbing the rum flask, Emma threw on her black coat and headed out the door.

The frikin' rum flask on the grave, though, right? Possibly the biggest stab to the heart throughout the whole show.

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