Hi guys, sorry it took me so long. Graduating and work is taking a toll on me so to say ;) But I know, that's not really a reasonable excuse... I hope I can make it up to you with the following chapter. I'm saying beforehand, it get's a bit dark... So be warned ;)
I owe a major thanks to Rolltidegoironmen, because YES, I have a beta reader! And she's the best! I'm so excited about this!
Okay, let's go!
DISCLAIMER: I don't anything, just this profile ;)
24 hours pass without any significant change in Snow's health condition. The doctors still keep her in an artificial coma to make sure that she gets strong enough. The operation certainly took a toll on her.
Although Charming knows that it is all for the best and that the doctors do everything to help his wife, he can't get used to seeing her like that; connected to all those tubes and wires and her skin almost transparent and ghostlike.
Today is the day that Emma finally is allowed to go check on her mother. Dr. Whale kept her bedbound , and sedated with painkillers, but he promised that that was only temporary.
''Are you ready?'' asks her father. He got a wheelchair from the nurses and drove it into Emma's room.
''I am, but dad, I'm not getting into that wheelchair. I can walk myself.'' She uses her arms to push herself up from the bed, and her father hands her a pair of slippers. As soon as she has put them on, she swings her legs over the edge of the bed and tries to stand up. But as soon as her feet touch the ground, she starts to feel dizzy.
Her observant father is at her bedside within a second and holds her up straight. ''Wheelchair?'' he grins.
''Wheelchair…'' she answers grudgingly.
Gently, Charming helps his daughter into the means of transport and she settles down with a sigh.
Wearing her comfortable sports trousers, grey sweater, and her favorite slippers, Emma lets herself be led to her mother's hospital room.
Although Henry had pleaded that it was much better for them all to let him stay in the hospital, the blonde had insisted that he had to go back to school. So he went, but there was some protest prior to it. Emma smiles at the memory of that. She loves that kid to death.
When they enter Snow's hospital room, the first things they both hear are all the bleeps and other sounds coming from the monitors and other machines that observe the brunette closely.
Charming glances at his daughter reaction when he has parked the wheelchair next to Snow's bed. He sees the remaining color in Emma's face draining away in seconds.
Her eyes are glued to her mother and disbelief is expressed on the outside. Her hand slowly moves towards her mother's arm, and she touches it gently. Her throat is dry and she can't manage to say anything.
Her father places a comforting hand on her shoulder as he stands behind her.
Suddenly, Snow's eyes start to flicker a bit and her body starts to tremble uncontrollably.
Emma flinches. ''What's happening?!'' she cries out. She's overcome by fear, certainly when the monitors in the room alarmingly ring. ''Dad what's going on?!'' she cries again, looking around her, like there is anything there that can make her mother stop doing this.
At that moment, Dr. Whale and two nurses step in the room, hurried to undertake action.
Charming clasps the handles of the wheelchair and takes his daughter a few meters back, leaving enough space for the doctor and the nurses to do their job. ''What's going on Whale? You told me she would be fine!'' He exclaims.
''She's having some kind of seizure, but I've no idea where it's coming from,'' is the doctor's reply. With might and main they try to make it stop, using all kinds of different medication and different tests to discover what caused this.
Snow's body doesn't stop shaking.
''Do something!'' yells Emma, although she knows deep down inside that they're doing everything in their power to help her mother. It feels just like when they were in the woods and Emma wasn't able to do anything to help Snow. That powerless feeling is killing her again.
When Snow opens her eyes and looks around, it is dark. Pitch black. There's no way she can see anything. She feels an immense pain in her stomach. She crawls over the ground, careful not to hit anything, but observant enough to try to explore the room she is in. After a few steps she feels that she has reached one end of the room, as her fingers slide over a wall. Turning the other way, she can only make it two steps before she reaches the other end. She establishes that the room she is in, is quite small, merely a few square meters. ''Hello?'' she calls out.
''Mary Margaret?'' she hears, and her heart skips a beat. ''Emma?!'' she cries in disbelief.
''Mary Margaret, where are you?''
''I'm here. Emma it's all dark here, I can't see a thing! Where are you?''
Suddenly, the room is bathed in light.
Snow gets up, now fully able to see, and looks around. ''Emma? Where are you?'' she repeats.
''I'm here!''
''I can't see you! Emma I can't see you!'' A wave of panic runs through the brunette's body as she's desperately trying to look for an exit. But she only can see four walls. No doors, no windows. No way to escape. Then, she smells smoke. ''Emma, do you smell that too? I smell smoke!''
The smoke is now entering the room through invisible cracks in the floor.
'''There are flames, everywhere!'' Snow hears her daughter calling. ''Mom, help me! Mom!'' Her daughter is in danger, she needs help! ''Emma, stay calm, I'm going to get you out of there!'' She needs to get to her daughter. With all the power within her, she tries to break the floor underneath her. But since she has nothing, no solid object or anything to help her with that, it's not working.
''Mom!'' cries Emma again. A horrifying scream follows, making the hair on Snow's arm stand on end.
''Emma? Emma, please answer me!'' The desperate tone of voice is heartbreaking. Her daughter is down there all by herself, in life-threatening danger and there is nothing she is able to do about it. ''Emma, please!'' But the sound of licking flames underneath her feet is the only sound she hears. ''No, no, no! Emma!'' She drops on her knees and hits with her fists on the floor, which is extremely hot. But she doesn't care. She doesn't feel any heat. Only pain. A suffocating pain that is indescribable to any person. Tears are running over her face and she feels like she's dying herself.
''Well, well, well, who do we have here? A mourning mother?''
Snow forces herself to look up to the person that was speaking to her. ''Regina, how did you get here?''
''Through that door, how else?'' she states the obvious while pointing at the door behind her.
''That door wasn't there before,'' stumbles Snow.
''Yes it was there before. As a matter of fact, it has always been there.''
''You're lying. It wasn't there. You probably just created it.''
''I didn't do so, and I can show you.'' The smirk on Regina's face is vengeful and mean. With a gesture with her hands, she conjures a mirror on the wall in front of them. The images on it are unmistakable footage from what happened earlier in the room the two women are in. ''And now, you watch!'' demands Regina. With another gesture with her hands she forces Snow's head to snap up, eyes focused on the images that play in front of them.
Snow sees herself searching for a way out, exactly like she had done before. The only difference is that she clearly sees the door in the mirror. The same door Regina just came through. ''This is not real…'' she sobs.
''Yes it is, and you had a way out. A way to go to your daughter. But you didn't. You just left her there to die, Snow White,'' Regina replies viciously. ''Let's take a look at the other room. The room below us, shall we?'' With a short wave of her hand, the Evil Queen conjures another image on the mirror.
Snow watches her daughter walking around in an empty room, very similar to the one she and Regina are standing in right now. She hears Emma calling out for her. She can't look at it anymore and closes her teary eyes.
''I don't think so,'' hisses Regina. Her magic forces Snow to open her eyes and look up to the mirror. ''You caused Daniel's death. Your daughter killed my mother. In front of me. It is time that you pay for what you did. I want you to go through the same. To see one of your loved ones die before your very eyes.''
''Oh no, please no!'' begs Snow. With all her might she tries to close her eyes again, shutting herself off from everything, but the magic is too strong. She hears her daughter calling out for her again in the looking glass, before enormous flames emerge, licking through every inch of the room. The brunette sees her daughter being cornered, the flames closing in on her. The expression on Emma's face is that of agony. Snow throws up her hands, touching the mirror. Touching the image of her daughter. ''Emma, no…'' she sobs. Shivers start to well up from inside her as she observes the flames being only inches away from her daughter. She hears Emma calling out for her one last time, before the blonde casts the bloodcurdling scream that she's heard before. There is no way for her daughter to escape, and to see her dying like that is just too much. The flames start to consume the blonde. A gurgling sound escapes Snow's mouth as she drops to the ground, and starts shaking in an unstoppable pace. She loses consciousness shortly after that.
Regina has her eyes fixated on the mirror on the wall. She is standing in the memorial area of the mausoleum, next to her mother's coffin and memorial stone. After she came back here with the lifeless body of her mother, she made sure to give her mother the service she deserves. She allowed herself to mourn for a couple of hours, but she knew that her mother would not have wanted her to act weak. She would've wanted her to stand strong, because that is what she was taught. To never show your uncertainties and fears, even in the most wretched circumstances. To take action instead of letting it slow you down.
So that is what she will do. Regina will take revenge on Snow and that horrible daughter, Emma. Everything was taken from her, by them. They both need to pay for what they've done to her. For what they've taken from her.
In the short time that she was together with her mother in Storybrooke, she had learnt a lot. Things that, how ironically, be useful in this situation. Using the enchanted mirror in the mausoleum, she is able to look into everyone's life. But she's not interested in just everyone's life. She is only interested in that of the Charmings.
When she comes to realize that the doctors are keeping Snow in a coma, her plan is made easily. And the first step is to enter in Snow's subconscious. Another thing she has learned from her dear mother. She will enter in Snow's subconscious and manipulate her thoughts, using the mirror. Although the things she makes Snow see are fake, the girl will think that it is all very real and her reactions to that are therefore also very real. Regina wants to make use of that and hurt Snow where it hurts the most: by using loved ones against her.
Regina smiles darkly when she watches Snow falling to the ground after having seen her daughter dying in front of her eyes. She uses the mirror in the mausoleum to direct the whole event and it all works according to plan. ''Thank you mommy,'' she says when placing a hand on her mother's memorial stone next to her. ''And I'm not done with them yet, I promise. They will pay for what they've done.''
''Do something!'' repeats Emma hysterically. She firmly squeezes her father's hand, while they both passively have to watch how Dr. Whale is trying to get the situation under control.
Snow is still shaking uncontrollable. The nurses try to hold her still, moving too much can cause her internal bleeding to start again.
''This really looks like,'' he says to the nurses who nod in agrement. ''But how can that be?''
''A what?!'' asks Charming, clearly confused.
''PNES, psychogenic non-epileptic seizure. It's like a panic attack, but resulting in a seizure,'' the doctor explains. ''She doesn't have an epileptic history, and the tests confirm that it's not that. So it must be PNES.'' He turns his attention back to the nurses. ''Start her on Zoloft. I want to see if that helps.''
The nurses nod and do what they're asked.
In only a matter of seconds, the seizure stops, and Snow lies still again, just as before.
''I'm afraid your wife and mother suffered from a panic attack,'' concludes Whale.
''But how? She is in a coma for Christ's sake,'' asks Emma, clearly relieved that the situation is back 'under control,' but still completely jumbled over what just had happened.
''I truly have no idea,'' answers Whale in all honesty.
So the story is taking a darker turn... Do you like it, or do you think that it's a bit too much? Please let me know in a review. Thank you so much! :)
And it's almost OnceSunday, yayy! Finally! (Sorry, just needed to let this out. The hiatus is just too frustrating ;) )