Emma had rejoined the group, but she walked sulkily behind. It was hard enough not trusting herself, but add an untrusting family to the mix and the situation suddenly became a million times more awful.
The sun was starting to dip behind the clouds. Swirls of orange, red, pink, and blue crossed the sky and broke up the extreme greenness of the forest. David glanced at the sky. "Maybe we should set up camp for the night."
Everyone nodded their consent, except for Emma. "No," she spoke up. "I want to get this over with as quickly as possible."
David stepped forward "I understand that, Em. But we're useless if we're walking exhaustedly out into the dark. We don't even know what could be out there."
Emma looked at the ground. "I can protect us."
"Sure you can. But we don't want you using your magic."
Mary Margaret nodded. "We don't want you to take it too far over the edge. Someone could get hurt."
Did her mother really not trust her at all?
Emma toed the ground, kicking at loose patches of dirt. "Fine," she muttered. "Set up camp."
The others began to collect fallen pieces of wood, and David worked to assemble them into living-worthy shelters. It looked like he was trying to build a house out of cards; every time he got a few sticks to stand on their own, they collapsed, and he had to start over.
Regina stood in front of a separate pile of sticks, trying to light a fire with her magic. She succeeded in lighting a small flame in the wood.
Henry came up behind her. "That's the best you can do?" he asked her.
"The sticks are damp!" Regina protested.
"Mom," Henry said slowly. "You can light your hands on fire. Surely you can just poof us up some shelter, too?"
"Right. I knew that." Regina placed one hand on her hip and flicked the other at David's fallen pile of sticks. A bright red tent appeared.
Henry rolled his eyes. "You couldn't have poofed us up a mansion?"
"I'm magical, not a miracle worker." Regina moved her hands in a wide circle, gesturing at the borders of their campsite. "Besides, this is only a twenty-foot clearing."
"Thanks," David said at the tent, silently admitting to himself that he was never going to be able to construct a sturdy shelter. Even as a shepherd his house had already been built for him. David had fought the most fearful of beasts, had killed the most fearful of beasts, but God forbid he should be able to weave a few sticks together into a simple shape decent enough to cover his head.
The sky suddenly darkened. Everyone in the group looked to the heavens and noticed that several navy colored clouds were blocking out the remaining light of the day. The sky was now a deep purple and threatening rain. Thunder rumbled off in the distance like the deep, throaty growl of a wild cat.
Mary Margaret dropped the pile of sticks she had been collecting and turned to Emma. "Really, Emma?" she said. "Rain? We're setting up shelter! So we can help you!"
Emma exploded. "I'm not doing it on purpose!" she yelled back. "You can't just assume that because I'm the Dark One now my only goal is to make your lives worse! David knows that! Henry knows that! Regina knows that! Why can't you just accept that just because I'm different, doesn't mean I'm worse!"
Emma was fuming by now. The clouds opened up, and rain poured down on them in buckets, soaking them even through the dense, protective covering of the treetops.
Before she could say anything in response, David took Mary Margaret by the shoulder and steered her into the tent.
Regina waved her hand, and two other tents appeared. Her and Henry disappeared into one.
Lily walked over and gently nudged Emma's shoulder. "Hey. Your mom loves you, you know. That's why this is hard for her. She hates seeing you lost like this." Emma didn't say anything in response, so Lily sighed. "Come on. Let's try and get some rest for tomorrow." She led Emma into the remaining tent and forced her to lay down on the ground.
Emma stayed awake all night, the rain battering the flimsy tent. Lily snored beside her, so Emma threw up a sound barrier around herself to block the noise. She was so distracted by thoughts of her mother that she didn't even notice that she hadn't seen Hook since earlier that afternoon, that he had disappeared from the group.
When morning came and the group rose, Emma's rain was still coming down. She couldn't get over the fact that her own mother couldn't trust her; she was tempted by her anger to do something horribly awful and be the person her mother thought she was. It was counterproductive, she knew. But doing something truly, horrendously destructive would feel wonderful.
Emma stood up from the hard floor of the tent and walked out into the open. Everyone, including Lily, was waiting for her and being soaked by her storm. They were all shivering, but they all looked completely willing to continue on their journey with her.
Emma relaxed slightly at this realization, and the rain let up a little bit.
Her father grabbed her hand, and Emma noticed for the first time that it no longer hurt for people to touch her. She didn't know whether this was because she trusted herself more, or because she had just stopped caring. She had no idea where she was with the whole Dark One thing.
David didn't let go of her hand as they restarted their walk to Merlin. She could tell it wasn't that he thought she was childish and incapable of being trusted, he just wanted to be with her.
Regina used her magic to poof up apples for the group as they travelled down the path, which Snow politely declined. Everyone else ate theirs hungrily; they knew they were going to need their energy for the walk ahead of them that day.
"Doing okay?" Lily whispered to Emma in the back of the group.
"Just peachy," Emma responded in a whisper. "Things couldn't possibly be better."
Lily ignored the bite in Emma's words. "Look, we'll be there by tonight. You just have to hold yourself together until then."
It was sweet, Lily thinking Emma was still together.
Emma's rain finally stopped around noon, and the crew took a short break for lunch. Emma was okay with this. She had forgotten last night that people needed sleep.
Mary Margaret managed to catch a few rabbits. It took her over an hour to do so, and she came back drenched in sweat, smiling with the catches dangling in her hands. It was weird for everyone seeing Snow White get so excited over death, but they gratefully cooked the rabbits over the fire and ate them anyway.
Henry spoke up midway through his meal, his mouth full of mwat. His words came out distorted, but everyone could understand what he was saying: "We're so close."
There was a murmur of encouragement that passed through the group at this. Everyone was feeling the excitement of helping Emma be free of the Darkness. Except for Emma.
Finally, Merlin's castle was reached and exhausted smiles were exchanged. Emma now stood in the front of the group, staring at the massive structure in front of her. She turned around to face her loyal following.
"Should I knock?"
Lily shrugged. "Never been to a castle before. I wouldn't know." She glanced at the Charmings for help.
David raised his hands in a don't-ask-me motion. "I've never arrived at someone else's castle like this before."
"We could blast the door down," Regina suggested.
Mary Margaret shook her head. "I don't know about that, Regina."
Regina raised an eyebrow at Snow. "What, you have a better idea? Please feel free to demonstrate."
"No, but I do know blowing his door down won't put us on good terms with Merlin."
"Well, then how do you propose we enter?"
"Guys, stop it," Henry interjected. Both of them immediately shut up.
Emma looked from person to person, an overwhelmed look on her face. "Okay, I guess I'll just knock then…"
She slowly turned back around and raised her hand to the door. Before her fist could contact the wood, though, the enormous doors swung open, welcoming them into the large hallway.
As they stepped in, Regina said, "Does anyone else feel like this might be just a little bit too easy?"