A/N: Hello again! Here's chapter 2. I hope it all makes sense and that you guys enjoy it! LET'S GO!
Emma's POV
It was dark. It was silent. That was all she was. Right? Was there ever anything else besides this oppressive blackness? She thought maybe at one time it was different, but now this was all she could remember. So she just stayed there, floated in the nothingness that had become her world. It was kinda nice, not having to care about anything, not having the blinding light of reality burn her. The darkness whispered into her soul, pushing and pulling at her like ocean waves, making her forget about the good things in her life; making her forget about everything really. It scratched away at the things that made her, her. It was a pain disguised as pleasure.
She spent a while there, but in a moment of clarity she remembered who she was, where she was supposed to be, and the people she loved. The darkness surrounding her began to become solid, she became solid. It took a little bit to get used to a body once again. Once she did, Emma began to wander around in the blackness, pushing her way through it's water-like quality.
After pushing through a particularly thick section of darkness — it was like moving through jello — Emma found herself standing on the same street where she had taken on the darkness. It seemed off though. Snow and David were standing directly in front of her; Robin was gone; and Hook, Henry, and Regina were standing behind her, practically touching Emma's back. The atmosphere also seemed much darker, making it hard to see more than 10 ft away.
Stepping out of the circle to look at her family, who's closeness was unnerving her, Emma gave a tentative, "Guys?" Her voice was scratchy and quiet, but still audible. Snow tilted her head, face open with relief, and brought a hand up to Emma's face, "You're awake. We were so worried, Emma!" David reached out and grabbed Emma's hand.
Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Emma turned around and caught the happy expressions on Henry, Regina, and Killian's faces; but none of them were touching her. The unnerved feeling Emma had quickly dissipated though, so Emma turned her thoughts to more important matters, "What… what happened?"
Regina gave her a concerned look, "Don't you remember? You saved us!" Henry nodded and moved forward to hug Emma, "Yeah Ma! You were so awesome! Absorbing the darkness to save us, that was some next-level hero stuff!"
Emma put a hand on Henry's head and looked at Regina. 'She thinks I did it for everyone's sake… not just her's.' The thought made a pang of sadness go through her heart. She put it aside quickly though, 'now is not the time for a pity party Emma', and asked, "How long was I gone?"
They all looked at her like she had just said something weird. "Emma, you've been here the whole time. You never went anywhere," David said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Emma shook her head at this, "No, I… I went somewhere. It was dark, and —" Emma decided she didn't want to talk about the specifics, "I think the curse was trying to take over me." After a pause she added softly, "I was there for a while, I think."
Killian shook his head, "No, Swan. The darkness went into you, and you collapsed, only to wake up a minute later." Confused, Emma looked down at Henry, who was still holding onto her tightly. 'I was standing up when I came back here though,' She thought.
Before she could question them further though, a loud scream rang out from behind her. Whipping around, Emma saw large flames rising from the town center. "What the he—'' Emma began, but was interrupted by a sudden change in scenery as she was now standing in front of the burning clock tower. Dozens of screams rang out from inside, all calling for help. Completely disoriented, Emma was easily pulled by Snow and David toward the burning building, "You have to save them, Emma!" They both said. Before they got too close though another, more familiar, scream came from Henry.
Emma yanked her arms away from David and Snow, and turned around to see Henry being dragged off by a shadow towards another burning building. Regina nor Hook were to be seen.
"Henry!" Emma called out, and started towards him. Two sets of hands grabbed her and pulled her back, "No, Emma! You have to save them! If you don't do it now, they'll all die!" Snow cried into her ear.
"I can save both! Let. Me. Go!" Emma retaliated, struggling in their grip. Henry was almost in the burning building now.
"Are you really going to let your son die? To save a bunch of strangers?" A soft, feminine voice whispered in her ear tantalizingly. Emma growled and struggled harder, "No, I can save both! Let me go!"
"Then do it. Use your power to show them. Let them know you are not limited by their puny strength." The voice sounded comforting, encouraging even, and without thinking Emma followed it's advice.
A blast of dark energy came from her, knocking Snow and David away easily. Quickly, Emma rushed towards Henry, who was now inside the burning building. Raising a hand, Emma obliterated the shadow that had taken him with another burst of power. Barley a second passed before Henry was in her arms again, holding onto her tightly. After getting out of reach of the fire, both collapsed to the ground, and Emma began rocking him. "You're okay, you're okay. Everything's going to be fine, you're going to be fine Henry," She whispered reasuredly to him. He just hugged her tighter.
It was another moment before Emma remembered the still burning library/clock tower. "Stay here, and don't move Henry," she told him as she stood up and made her way toward the building.
Raising her hand, Emma used her magic to extinguish the flames. People began flooding out, unharmed. Letting out a breath, Emma turned back to Henry, except she didn't see him where she left him. Circling around, Emma noticed there was now no one around her. "Henry! Where are you, Henry! Regina!" Emma began to call as she jogged forward.
"That was quite the show." The same voice that had whispered to her earlier sounded out to her left. Emma turned toward it, and saw a woman leaning against a nearby building. She had dark black hair that came to the middle of her back, her clothes were a mix of leather and wool and a cotton under shirt. Her face had a smile that spoke nothing of kindness or goodness.
"Who're you? Where is everyone?" Emma kept a dozen or so feet between them. The aura around the woman screamed danger. The woman chuckled and pointed at herself in mock confusion, "Who, me?" Emma nodded with a slight glower. The woman stood up from the wall and took a step closer, "I am called Nadie. You don't know me, but I know quite a bit about you."
"Yeah? Why's that?" Emma held the other woman' gaze, even as nervous energy welled up inside.
Nadie shrugged, "Well, you are the one who messed up my plan, with your incessant need to save everyone, albeit it was only temporarily." Emma only frowned upon hearing the words. Sighing, Nadie elaborated, "You know, the whole 'seeking out the person with the most potential for evil' thing?"
At this Emma growled, "You're the darkness?"
Nadie shook her head, "It's really a bit more complicated than that, I'm the reason the Dark Ones exist, but your explanation will suffice." Emma growled and launched herself at Nadie, "You're the reason I was stuck in that damn void!"
She quickly evaded all of Emma's attacks, practically dancing around them. "Well, yes. You could say that." She quipped.
"How… How could you! It was — It was…" Emma struggled to finish her thought, it was hard to put into words how much of a violation she felt, how close she came to giving in.
"What? A beautiful vacation from the stress of life?" She mocked Emma, "That wasn't really what I was going for, you know. My goal isn't to help you relax." Nadie doged another of Emma's punches, and then proceeded to kick out her legs from underneath her. Emma fell to the ground with a grunt and when she tried to get back up, Nadie placed her foot on Emma's back and pushed her back down.
"I've never worked with anyone quite as 'pure' as you. I needed to do something to bring out your inner darkness. I can't use you if you don't give in to it. Turns out it only comes out, and stays out, when someone you love is in danger."
Emma growled as she struggled, "I will never give into the darkness."
Nadie sighed and ground her heel in harder, "Of course you will, you've already done so a bit, we just need you to do so a little bit more."
The shadows along the street moved toward the two women and coalesced under Emma.They began to rise up from the ground and cover her. Nadie removed her foot and took a few steps back, watching as Emma struggled to free herself from the shadow's grip. The shadows moved Emma into a kneeling position then stopped, holding her tight.
"Let me go! Now!" Emma barked at Nadie. The woman just shook her head, "You can get out of there if you want, you just need to use the power at your disposal. And none of that light magic stuff. It's not going to help you."
Nadie waved her hand and Emma's family appeared, all bound and gagged. Emma struggled even harder, "Let them go!" She yelled savagely.
As Nadie came to a stop behind Emma's family, a whip appeared in her hand. "Emma, you can stop this. All you need to do is use your anger." Without another word, Nadie brought the whip down on Snow's back. She cried out in pain and whimpered. Quickly, Nadie kept bringing down the whip hard, not pausing even for a second. Soon, Snow's back was just a bloodied mess, and the woman could barely take a shallow breath.
Emma struggled, and though she felt anger rising up, she also felt a need to protect rise up in her even more. Grasping that feeling, Emma pushed against the shadows holding her. It burned against her skin, but the more she used her light magic, the grip the shadows held on her lessened. With a blast of light the shadows fell away, and Nadie was pushed back.
Emma lunged forward and started untying Regina, "Help the others." Once she finished with Regina, Emma faced Nadie, "My love is so much more powerful than anger. When will any of you damn villains learn?"
Nadie just scoffed and stood up shakily, "Okay, looks like the direct method might not work. Let's try some other situations, maybe those'll work." Then she snapped her fingers.
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As Emma came back to consciousness from the never-ending nightmare she had been cast into, Emma found she just wanted to sleep, if only for a few minutes. To just get away and forget what happened, what she did. That seemed so much better than dealing with Nadie right now.
Nadie was standing over Emma, who was laying on the ground face-down. Tilting her head, she nudged Emma with her foot. "I didn't break the mighty Saviour, did I?" She teased. Emma groaned and pushed herself onto her elbows, "Shut up, you didn't break anything."
Nadie chuckled and crouched down, "I think I did. That last simulation definitely pushed you in the right direction."
Emma growled and sat up more, "The hell it did! I saved Regina and Henry! That's a good thing."
"Perhaps, but we both know you tapped into darkness to do that. You have so much anger underneath all that love that I'm surprised you didn't use it several simulations ago." Nadie stood back up and walked in a circle around Emma.
With some effort Emma managed to stand up and clench her fists, "I'm not going to let you win."
Nadie waved her hand indifferently, "It doesn't matter. You've let me in enough that you won't have a choice soon."
Growling, Emma lunged toward Nadie, dark and light magic mixing as she threw it at her. It slammed into Nadie and caused her to fly into the nearest wall. She chuckled and taunted Emma, "Is that all you got? So weak."
Emma screamed and punched Nadie in the face, causing a trickle of blood to fall from smirking lips. "Shut. UP!" Emma just kept going, throwing more punches.
"You made me watch so many people die!" This time she kneed Nadie in the stomach, "You tried to make me kill people, hurt people, choose between family members, what the fuck!"
Nadie's face was becoming a bloodied mess, and Emma's anger just kept growing. She started to feel powerful, not helpless like before. It was intoxicating.
"That's it Emma, use that beautiful anger of yours." Nadie grinned savagely. Emma let out another strangled scream and threw the woman in front of her to the ground and kicked her one last time before backing off. Emma collapsed to the ground and tried to suck in calming breaths. Nadie started laughing heartily from her spot.
"Looks like I did break the Saviour!" She practically cackled as she climbed to her feet. Emma just cried silently, trying to process the pain and anger overflowing her heart. Nadie stalked over to her and knelt over her, grabbing Emma's hair and forcing her to look up, "Now, let's go out and show the world the new Dark One."
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She was finally comfortable. It was warm, a soft fabric surrounded her, and for just a moment she felt peaceful. A soft rustling came from her right, then a quiet sniffling. Emma waited a few more moments, taking in the peaceful silence, before she opened her eyes. She was met with a very modern and clean room. It was one of Regina's spare bedrooms, and she was laying in it. That thought made her smile a bit, 'Regina cares about me,' Emma acknowledged. Then she remembered everything that happened and her smile fell, leaving behind an empty pit in her chest. With a start Emma sat up and looked around.
"Emma!" A feminine voice called to her right. Emma opted to ignore it for a second and looked out the window. It was nearly dusk, so time has passed since she protected Regina, but how much? Emma couldn't really tell. Had time passed the same here as it did wherever Nadie had taken her? Or was it a bit different?
Hands grabbed at her shoulders and pulled her into a hug, and it took almost everything Emma had in her not to punch the lady. "Oh my god! I was so worried! You were just laying there and wouldn't wake up, and god—" Snow babbled on, tears falling from her face onto Emma's shoulder. She squeezed tighter, and Emma wasn't quite sure how to react.
"Awww how touching! It makes me want to throw up!" Her voice sounded from the doorway. Emma's head shot up and a growl broke free from her throat.
"Emma?" Snow pulled back and examined Emma, "Honey, are you okay? I mean, I know you're probably not, but will you tell me how you are right now?" Snow stroked Emma's hair gently, hoping to comfort her. Emma just continued glaring at Nadie, and moved to put herself in front of Snow. Snow scrambled to keep her balanced and watched as Emma acted strangely, "Emma, what's wrong? What… what are you doing?"
Nadie chuckled at Emma's actions, then walked into the room, running her hand along the grey-toned wall, "Don't worry Emma, I'm not here; physically at least. None of your little friends can even see me."
With a twitch of anger, Emma looked back at Snow, who's confusion was evident on her face. She showed no indication of having seen or heard Nadie. Taking a shaky breath Emma just leaned into Snow's shoulder, blocking out the sight of the darkness' manifestation.
Snow, for her part, stayed silent and started stroking Emma's hair once again. Emma grabbed at her shirt and pulled Snow closer, hoping this wasn't just another of Nadie's simulations.
A few minutes later, Snow pulled back slightly, "Emma, honey, how about I call David and Regina — they can come here with Henry. Everyone's been so worried about you." Emma thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded. Snow smiled softly and reached for her phone in her back pocket.
After all the calls were made, Snow helped Emma get comfortable in the bed once more and just sat there holding her. Emma did her best to ignore Nadie, but the she- devils presence ate at her sanity, especially when she kept making quips about everything that made Emma's anger rise.
David came in first, having been just downstairs. He sat on the chair next to the bed and grabbed Emma's hand. She started to shake slightly, pain welling up in her heart. It was only a minute later when Henry came bursting into the room, practically tackling Emma. "Ma! You're back!" He cried into her shoulder, and Emma was helpless to resist. She hugged him back as tightly as possible, but looked out the window when tears threatened to fall. She had to be strong, plus she wouldn't be able to stay still if Nadie teased her about it.
Then she felt one more presence hovering at the edge of the room. Someone she cared about as much as Henry:
Regina.