"Emma?" Granny Lucas took her glasses off, cleaned them, and put them back on. "You do realize its 6:15 in the morning, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know what time it is," the sheriff grumbled as she strolled over to the café's bar to sit down. "Coffee please."
"Okay," the older woman replied in a careful tone as she poured a cup and set it down. "Did something happen this morning? Not that I don't like seeing your bright, shining face around here, but this is early for you. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen you up this early."
"I honestly can't remember the last time I saw the sunrise because I woke up early enough to see," Emma replied before taking a long draw from her mug of coffee.
Granny waited, cleaning as she did so. The café wasn't yet bright with morning light, and the only people in the place were the two of them. Though the establishment technically opened at 6 AM each day, the Lucas family normally didn't see a single customer until at least 6:45. Most of the time, it was 7. The young woman drank half the cup before she finally started speaking again.
"If I ask you something about my family's history, could I trust you to keep it confidential?" Emma's voice held a quiet intensity that made the other woman feel uncomfortable.
Looking down her nose to see Emma through her glasses, she answered, "Well, I suppose it depends on what it is you're asking me. If I think you're about to do something that's going to get you in trouble, I don't make any promises about keeping anything a secret."
"Fair enough, I guess." The blonde motioned to ask for more coffee and waited to speak again until after she'd taken a drink from the new pour. "I guess I'll just have to chance it." She sighed. "I want to ask you about something that happened when everyone was still in the Enchanted Forest." She looked up to make eye contact. "It's about my parents, specifically."
"What about them?" The question was stilted.
"When the war between the Evil Queen and Prince Charming and Snow White broke out, I assume you were on the counsel that my parents consulted when they were trying to figure out the best way to defeat Regina, right?" Emma rolled her eyes and winced. It was one of the more bizarre sentences she'd ever muttered.
"Of course I was. So were Jiminy, Geppetto, the Blue Fairy, the man you know as Leroy, and few others as needed. Why?" The older woman narrowed her eyes. "What, exactly, do you want to know?"
"How many people did you send off to die in order to take Regina down?" The question was asked in a soft tone, but Emma's eyes held a torrent of emotions.
Granny's mouth pulled down into a deep frown as her eyes looked away and into the past. "Hundreds, maybe thousands. It's hard to know exact numbers. It was a difficult war, and many good people lost their lives at the hands of the Evil Queen's army."
"Why?" Emma sipped at her coffee. "Why did you go to war? Why did you decide you were out of options?"
"Because there comes a time when the only thing left is to fight." Granny Lucas looked down at the young woman with a mix of irritation and impatience. "You weren't there, and it would be hard for you to understand because you don't know…"
"Then tell me." The blonde sat up a bit straighter. "I want to know, and I'd like to learn from someone who isn't related to me. I'm not saying I don't trust what my parents have to say, but I'd like to know the story from a different side than theirs."
The older woman narrowed her eyes. "Why?"
"It's time I learned the whole story, and the only way to do that is to hear everyone's side. I'm tired of being told that I don't understand because I don't know. This world is my reality now, and it's time that I learned about it." The sheriff finished off her coffee. "I want to know how many people went off to die in a war because," she closed her mouth, and her jaw tensed for a split second. "I want to understand when it's justified for people who are considered on the side of good to decide to kill in the name of justice. I want to understand what's going on here."
"What's got you thinking about this? That's all in the past now." Granny tossed her towel under the bar. "Why are you asking these types of questions? You know your parents wouldn't send people to die unless it was absolutely necessary, and it was necessary in order to take down Regina. You don't understand the destruction she caused. She should have been executed for her crimes."
"But she wasn't," Emma quipped in an almost sarcastic voice. "Why?"
"Because Snow White demanded we didn't. The Prince called for Regina's execution. On the day it was to happen, the Evil Queen was put in front of the archers. Her last words were along the lines of 'I wish I'd managed to kill Snow White and make all of your lives more miserable', and then the call was made to fire. But Snow White called a stop to it just before the arrows pierced Regina's chest. The Blue Fairy stopped the arrows in midair just inches from their target." Granny shook her head. "Shame if you ask me. Perfectly good waste of a chance."
Emma ignored the comment. "Okay, but why did Snow spare the Evil Queen?"
Granny shook her head. "She didn't want to be like Regina. What are you trying to figure out here?"
"Evil kills for the sake of evil, and good kills for the sake of stopping evil, but how come," the sheriff pushed her empty mug away from her, "no one ever points out that killing, regardless of the reason behind it, or sending people into a situation where you know they're going to die, is an evil act in and of itself? Why doesn't anyone ever say that the act itself of killing is wrong?"
"Someone did." Granny looked up as the door rattled to welcome Leroy and his gang in for their morning breakfast.
Emma glanced backwards and made a face at the intruders. "Who?"
"Your mother when she spared Regina's life. Now I think you need to go talk to her if you want to know anything else. The diner's about to get busy."
The young woman watched as Granny stepped over to start taking orders. It was a normal scene a person could see at any diner at this time of day across any point in the country. The only problem was how abnormal it was. Emma mused to herself that nowhere in any world could anyone find Granny from The Little Red Ridinghood serving breakfast to the 7 dwarves that used to help out Snow White. She rolled her eyes. Snow White, she thought to herself with a bit of disdain, who was her mother and not half as innocent as Disney wanted people to believe.
With a heavy sigh, she slid from the stool and tossed a few dollars on the counter to pay for her coffee. She didn't bother to wave goodbye as she walked out. Her mind was too preoccupied with her next move.
