A/N: Hey guys massive cheers for all the faves and follows. I'm having a lot of fun writing Emma's interactions with herself so I know not much has happened in terms of plot or explanations but I hope you all keep reading nonetheless. Power to the people! More frivolity to come…
PS. Disclaimer: I own nothing from Once, I make no moneys from this...more's the pity.
CHAPTER 2:
There was no air.
Somehow it had all been siphoned out of the room.
She couldn't take it in.
The folds in her brain felt as if they were frozen in place, incapable of absorbing information of any kind… although whether it was from exhaustion or shock at the words that had just come from that weird alternate version of her own mouth she wasn't sure.
Didn't particularly care either.
Because Emma was freaking out.
Oh she was still and calm on the outside, as self-possessed as ever but underneath her blood was feverish with questions and anxieties and singing screams at what her double could possibly have meant with that statement; dropped so easily from her own tongue.
Jesus.
Her breathing was too fast.
And she couldn't get enough air into her lungs to fill them.
Oh God.
It was a familiar sensation and some part of her underneath the rising alarm knew she had to calm down before a full on panic attack kick-started; knew the signs well enough by now for her to grasp for the one thing in this whole freak show that she could just about handle.
One question at a time.
Emma held the gun steady as she tried to calm the pumping in her chest, trying desperately not to picture the gush of blood headlong through arteries like water slides. She was Emma Swan goddamnit.
Unflappable. Unbreakable.
…Even though she felt about as close to breaking as she had when Henry had turned up at her door; blindsided and sucker-punched with guilt that had no time for introductions.
Yeah, it was a very similar sensation come to think of it.
"So you're…" she managed to draw out. "You're…"
"…You. It'd seem so."
She frowned drawing breath through her nose instead, muscles in her wrists held taut.
"So… let's suppose I don't shoot you where you stand … and I believe such an unbelievable thing is possible …" She stopped to siphon another long breath, "…which doesn't mean that I do... You're me… but from where? And when?"
Green eyes narrowed again as her brain finally began to wake a little behind them, flexing a millimetre and causing tiny starbursts to flare for a second in the lamplight.
Ignoring the voice laughing at her for sitting here listening to anything the other woman had to say, basically undermining every instinct she'd developed over…well, an entire lifetime she trusted her breathing to carry on and stared at the other Emma, at her body face on without distraction. Scanning the other woman's face intently, devouring every line that was visible in the low light she let her pupils slip down the woman's neck where a small gold chain hung listlessly, then moved onto the muscular arms she'd put so much work into herself and half-hidden legs wrapped in dark blue denim. It was all so similar. The way she held her head, the tilt of it and the slight curve upwards in the thin stroke of eyeliner. The same quirk of a wrist rushing to get out the door in the morning.
How could that be the same when it was a complete accident?
It filled her with such a strange other-worldly sensation to be inspecting her mirror image that every few seconds she had to remind herself not to force her eyes away from the visitor in her bedroom as she took in every inch of skin. Every pore. Every detail
"Can I help you?" her counterpart asked sardonically.
She looked up then, chest rising and falling.
"You don't seem any older than I am. Show me your elbow…"
The other Emma huffed in response muttering something under her breath about a girl's rights to privacy then pulled her cardigan up to reveal a whitish line crisscrossing the bone.
"And your ankle."
There was the scuff of fabric before she was able to seek out that familiar lump underneath the skin, the prominent vein close to the surface from a biking accident that'd ended her dreams of a sports career.
They were slender dreams to begin with but still.
Dreams.
"You don't seem to have any scars I don't recognise… so you're not from the future." She said simply.
"Is this the part where you organise a strip search to make sure I don't have an almanac stashed somewhere?"
"Is this the part where you get over yourself?!" Emma grumbled as she got to her knees on the bed and crawled a few inches closer to her doppelganger though not close enough to risk touching her. "I'm doing my best not to lose it here okay. Give me a freaking minute to get my head together… jeez I don't remember being so cocky."
Her double offered up a curved smile.
"I don't remember being so mistrustful…Oh wait no I'm thinking of... anyone else. Ever."
"Hilarious."
The blonde Sheriff finally rocked back on her heels on top of the duvet, letting the gun drop an inch or so and stared openly at her guest with slowing breaths as she tried her absolute best to keep all the words caught at the back of her throat from spilling out of her mouth.
Whys and where's and who's galore.
A few WTF's thrown in too.
At least she had some experience with that kind of mindfuck living in Regina's little fiefdom all those months.
Her chest guttered at the thought of the Mayor though, just for a brief second before she flicked her attention back to the intruder.
"Where are you from?"
The other version of her bit her lip in response, the air of arrogance almost slipping away.
"Would you believe me if I said I don't know?"
Emma considered it as her blood began to simmer down. Her spider sense told her that the other woman was being truthful but she'd never tried to use her power on herself so she couldn't be sure if it was still working or if she'd stumbled across its Achilles heel. Either way, she wasn't any better off than she had been before she'd asked. In fact, she could already feel a tension headache coming on from the entire experience, a growing storm sitting on top of her right eye.
All she'd wanted was some goddamn sleep.
And Regina's forgiveness. Don't forget that.
"Sorry."
The admission from a few metres away caught her by surprise and Emma massaged her neck as she locked gazes with her twin.
"I guess it's ok. You should be as used to not knowing what's going on by now as I am."
"Actually I meant about waking you." Alternate Emma winced. "I know what I'm like if I don't catch a full cycle, if I'd thought I'd have waited till tomorrow."
"So you know who you are even though you don't know where you're from? That's kinda weird isn't it."
"Yeah that's the weird part about all this."
Emma grunted as the conversation backslid again. "I'm just trying to establish a chain of events, ok? It's late and I'm basically talking to myself right now so could you cut me some slack?"
She watched in surprise as a faint pink tint suddenly flashed across her impostor's cheeks.
Huh.
She wasn't aware that she blushed so easily. That was kind of embarrassing.
"Sorry about that too I guess. Carry on."
Replica hands motioned for her to continue and Emma had to look away from the oddest fear that she might grab them.
"Ok. So what do you remember about your life?" asked the blonde feeling a smidgen guilty about snapping a moment ago.
Green eyes became wide pools. "Everything. Growing up... All the foster homes. Seven minutes in heaven with Joey Ramirez behind the outhouse. Lino Farber and his amazing technicolour condom shack. Neil. The Bug. A lot of bad burritos... one that put me in Boston General for two days."
"Yeah that was a bastard." Murmured Emma almost forgetting herself. "Gastroenter-fuckness."
"Stomach-flu-shittery."
"Hey you didn't get up that first night in the ER and..."
"Not make it to the patient's bathroom in time? I did. And thanks for that blast from the past…I kind of told everyone in the trolley bay I changed into some brown leggings I had with me."
"Oh yeah! Ewwww..." Emma stuck her tongue out as she remembered that night in graphic detail and the walk home once she'd been discharged. "We're kinda gross huh?"
"I think we might be," replied her double flashing a grin. "Gross but resourceful."
Emma's own smile faded however as her mind clicked back to the present. "What was the last thing you remember, before being here?"
Her counterpart screwed up her nose as she thought back. "I...I don't know."
"Were you in Storybrooke?"
"I...Yeah I was. That's how I knew to come here to find you."
"So you were looking for me?"
The new Sheriff pursed her lips briefly. "I came to...help you get back on track. ...I think."
Emma couldn't help indulging in an eye-roll. "Last time I checked tracks only went one way. And I'm not a derailed train carriage."
"Oh so your life's a Disney dream right now is it?! Everyone bursting into song and making daisy chains?"
"I'm doing all right."
The retort came out more defensively than she meant but somehow just in that moment she wasn't able to hold back the overwhelming tiredness and irritation she'd managed to tamp down so far and her counterpart's smug face wasn't helping any.
Hands curling into fists she brought the gun back up with purpose and slid backwards a foot; posture hardening.
The thing was it didn't seem to faze her double any. She simply shrugged as if to say she wouldn't be sitting there in that room if everything was A OK. Truth be told it was irritating and not a little bit superior.
More Regina-esque than Emma would have liked.
"So you went through everything? With the curse and Pan, with Zelena and...all of it?"
Throwing her arms out was the best Emma did her best to describe the entire fairytale nightmare she'd been living through over the past few years, hoping her mirror image at least understood the scope of what she meant.
"Yeah. Hell of a ride this place isn't it?"
Apparently she did get it.
The idea was nowhere near as comforting to Emma as it should have been.
"Right, which means you're not Future Me. And you're definitely not Past Me, that's for damn sure. Otherwise there'd be a whole lot of broken glass under the window and a bunch of fenceable items missing."
"You're kind of harsh on Past You."
Azure eyes flashed as the acid slid up again.
"And you're kind of mouthy for a clone. Past Me got us nothing but a one way ticket to the slammer and a rap sheet with too misdemeanours to get a real job. Ever. She's not exactly a role model, you should know that. Or did that fall out of your brain along with everything else."
"She got you Henry."
The Sheriff froze at the casual mention of her son's name. "Don't talk about him."
"Why, he's as much a part of your life as all the other things I've brought up."
She could actually hear her own teeth grinding inside her head.
"More actually. Much more than any of those. And can you not say 'brought up' in the same sentence as him..." Emma's chest began to tighten again. "I can't... he isn't..." She sucked in a breath trying to regain some sense of control. "..some things stay off the table for now. Ok?"
Emma mark II held her hands up in surrender although it was clear from her expression that she was simply filing away the discussion for later rather than giving up on it entirely. Whatever got them through the night though, thought Emma flexing her jaw.
One thing at a time.
"All right, take a minute."
She shut her eyes for a moment and focused on her breathing. Long, slow strokes where the oxygen slid along her throat and nose tickling it slightly. Her pulse felt like a surging bullet making its way up her rigid body from her left calf to the right side of her neck but it seemed to be consistent at least.
A small victory. But one she'd take.
"Hey I don't suppose you have any booze do you, I'm gasping?"
Snapping an eye open she glared unashamedly at the complete lack of etiquette currently being displayed by her other half. Same half.
Whatever.
Yin and Yin.
Damn, she thought. This was going to be a long night.
TBC…
