She doesn't remember
A guest asked for a oneshot of Emma not recognising Henry straight away when he rescues her from the tower.
I couldn't believe the sight of her. Her hair was wild, she was lying on the cold stone floor, having clearly given up hope. She looked at me, both confused and frightened. I couldn't stand seeing her like this. My mom shouldn't be frightened of anybody, and especially not me."
"Hi." I said awkwardly. She continued staring at me. "My name is Henry." I told her. Still she didn't speak. Like my other mom, she couldn't remember me. I decided to take a different approach this time and not tell her yet that she was my mom. "You can't remember me, but we know each other. That's why I'm here to rescue you…"
"No!" She suddenly called out. She scrambled to her feet and stumbled backwards. I could see that she was chained down. "No, this is one of her tricks. She's messing with my head again. No, just go back to where you came from. You can tell the Evil Queen I fell for it. Just please, don't do this to me." She pleaded. What had been done to her in this land. I held my hands up defensively.
"I'm not here for the Evil Queen, Emma. Use your super power. See if I'm lying." Mom looked at me curiously.
"How do you know about that?" She ordered. "Not even she knows about that." I smiled at her.
"Because like I said Emma. We know each other. You just can't remember yet. I'm here to rescue you, and then we'll work on you remembering." Just then, both of us heard someone come thundering up the stairs. Mom recoiled, frightened it was one of the black knights. "It's ok." I told her, seeing it was Killian. "He's a friend. He's going to help us."
"He doesn't look like he can help himself let alone me." Emma mumbled, seeing how terrified this scrawny he looked.
"I promise you, he'll help us." I assured her. Then I slowly reached into my pocket and pulled out the keys to unlock Emma. "What do you say? Can you trust us?" Emma looked between us. A young boy and a scrawny man. I could see why she didn't seem too eager. She sighed.
"Well it's not like I'm getting any better offers." She mumbled. Killian and I smiled. I moved forward and started to free her. "Besides, you must have done something right to get past…" Suddenly, mom's eyes widened in horror. She had obviously just remembered something important. I looked up, hopeful it was her real self. She looked back down at me.
"We need to hurry." She told me urgently. "I'm guessing you knocked the guard out?" Killian nodded. "She won't be out for long, and she's no ordinary black knight, she's way worse. That's why she's here. We need to be quick. Come on!" She told me. I got mom out of cuffs as quickly as I could before she bolted out the door and started flying down the stairs. Killian and I were hot on her heels. She was obviously scared about that guard, and something told me we should be too.
