Everything in my life has been really crazy for the last several months, so I haven't been able to write much. It's not any less crazy now, but given how frustrating everything has been and that I kind of hate the way the current season is going, I'm going to use this story as an outlet for my frustration. Who knows? It worked pretty well last summer. I've had this story mapped from start to finish for about a year now, I just have to write it!

As for some of your questions:

Q: "Is Blue good or bad?"
A: I don't know that I would say Blue is either. She's kind of twisted, but it originated in a good place. The same goes for the Sorcerer.

Q: "So this isn't a swanqueen story. You should probably state that in your summary so people don't get the wrong idea, like I did."
A: Are you sure?

Trigger warning: there is some mention of child neglect and possible abuse.

I do not own Once Upon A Time or any of its characters.

Chapter 6

Emma awoke from another dream about Henry and Regina. It was as though, recently, all of her pleasant dreams were narrated by Regina. If Emma hadn't been so relieve by the dreams, as they were the only restful nights she ever had since becoming the Dark One, she might have stopped to wonder why it was Regina's voice that played in the background of all of her good dreams. She smiled as she looked up at the ceiling, remembering how she'd dreamed about Henry living in New York with Hook, Robin, Roland, and Regina. She even dreamed about her old apartment and going to the places in central park that were her and Henry's favourite picnic spots. Even if it was only in her dreams, seeing her son's face felt as though it drove some of the darkness away. She smiled to herself as she tried to remember the details of her dream.

"You look rather chipper today," Merlin said as he approached Emma's cell. "Not sure why you would be, though. It seems like there isn't much for you to smile about." He shook his head, shrugging his shoulders and raising his eyebrows in a condescending manner.

"I dreamed about them again." Emma turned her head to see Merlin's response; he was clearly not pleased. She had dreamed about her family every night for the last week and the dreams were becoming more vivid. "They're going to find me. They will always find me." She grinned as she watched the scowl deepen on the Sorcerer's face.

Merlin glared down at Emma. She was taunting him, knowing that these comments would anger him. It was working, too. He needed to do something to wipe that smile off of her face. "Are you sure they'll find you? Why would they even bother looking?"

"They did so much to protect my heart from turning dark, and they wouldn't just give up now. Giving up is not really what my parents do." She kept smiling to herself, ignoring his attempts at dampening her spirits. "They love me and they're my family. They won't abandon me here."

"Yes, because family certainly hasn't abandoned you before," he said sarcastically. Now he had her; he'd snuff out whatever new hope she had today. "Let's see, you're parents abandoned you in that magic-less world—what was it? Three times?"

"That's not fair. They did what they had to for me to have my best chance." She paused, trying to remember the different times her parents had been forced to leave her. "And they only left me twice."

"Ah, but Snow and David aren't your only parents, though. Are they?" He sneered, watching the realization settle into Emma's mind as her smile began to fade. "They loved you so much, but you managed to spoil that, didn't you? Your mother saw what a little monster you were, so she and your father threw you away. What makes you think your newest family won't do the same once they see the monster you are now?" The seed of doubt about her family's love had been planted. Now he could watch it grow like a weed, choking out the hope that was preventing the darkness from consuming Emma's heart.

• • •

Many years earlier…

The Swans were thrilled at being able to adopt baby Emma. The day they brought her home, Donovan and Nora looked into her tiny face and could have sworn that they never had and never would ever see anything quite as sweet and beautiful as their new little girl. They never wanted to let her go. Emma, from that day forward, would always be there little girl.

For two years, Emma continued to be their one and only little girl. They were such a happy family. Every Sunday, they would go to the little park down the street to feed ducks and push Emma on the swings. Nora loved how Emma would flap her tiny hands around as soon as she was buckled into the baby swing. She also loved how Emma would try to quack and peep at the ducks, as though the toddler thought she was speaking their language. Donovan used to take videos and pictures of Nora and Emma as they played; the refrigerator and his desk at work were littered with images of his wife and daughter. The pictures of their smiles could lift his spirits even on his darkest days. The Swans certainly weren't wealthy in terms of income, but that didn't matter much to them compared to the wealth of happiness they shared with each other.

After seeing how much joy Emma had brought to their life, Nora and Donovan were convinced that expanding their family could only make that happiness grow. They believed that having another child would be best for Emma, as well. The other families in the area where they lived were mostly older couples with children who were either teenagers or adults, so there were very few chances for Emma to play with other children. Having another child would finally give Emma someone else to play with and love. They knew, after seeing how sweet and kind Emma was, that she would make an exceptional sibling.

The couple told Emma that she was going to have a sister after Nora was just past three months pregnant. She wasn't showing, so the concept was initially hard for Emma to grasp. Although Emma was too small to remember her time in foster care, she'd heard people mention that she'd been "given" or "chosen" by her parents, so she had assumed that babies came from somewhere else and were brought to their parents later. The two-and-a-half-year-old tried to verbalized her confusion toward the end of Nora's pregnancy, but was reassured that, even though she had come to their family in a different way, her parents would always love her just as much as her sibling.

On the day Emma's sister was born, Donovan brought her into the hospital room where Nora was holding her newborn sibling. Emma looked at the tiny infant's face and leaned in to give her a soft kiss on the forehead. "I Emma. I your big sister," she whispered to the slumbering newborn. "I love you."

Nora started to tear up as she listened to Emma talk to her new sister. "What should we call her, Emma? Daddy said you had a good name picked out."

"Anna," Emma said with a big smile. "Then all the girl names end the same," the toddler stated as she nodded her head.

"I think that's a great name. Anna, this is your sister, Emma," Nora said softly.

The moment Emma met Anna was one of the last quiet moments the family had for several months. Nora and Donovan were both exhausted, and Emma was growing upset at the lack of attention she was getting from her parents. Lucky for the young parents, Emma was incredibly patient and calm for her age. Their oldest daughter was content to play quietly in the backyard for most of the day while her mother attended to her sister. Emma would stay in the backyard all afternoon, content knowing that her father would return after a few hours to scoop her up and read to her before making dinner. Even if her mother and father spent much of their time taking care of Anna, Emma still felt secure that her parents loved her.

Anna, unlike Emma, was not a calm baby. For the first six months of her life, she screamed through almost the entirety of her waking hours. Nora and Donovan felt like they were at their wits' end; it was as though any other stressors might break the weak grasp they had on their sanity. The exhaustion and stress they felt due to their youngest daughter eventually led them to forget about Emma's third birthday. If Nora's parents hadn't come to the house that day, the couple might have forgotten to celebrate it entirely.

"You can't do this to Emma," Nora's mother scolded her after Emma and Anna were both asleep. "Babies are a lot of work, and it's understandable that Emma would get less attention now, but you can't ignore her like you do. I raised you better than this."

"You don't understand how it is with Anna!" Nora knew her mother was right, that Emma had gotten almost no attention since the birth of her sister, but Anna's constant screaming made it almost impossible for Nora to spend much time with Emma. To make matters worse, it was obvious that Emma was growing somewhat depressed from the isolation. There were no more park visits on the weekends because the couple felt they couldn't bring Anna in public. There were no more swing rides or feeding ducks. There was only Emma, alone, playing in the backyard. "I'll try harder," Nora assured her mother, choking back her guilty tears.

Before leaving, Nora's mother crept into Emma's room and crawled into bed with her. "Hey they, little darling," she whispered as she poked the end of Emma's nose. The little girl's eyes opened slowly, gradually focusing on her grandmother's face making her grin. "Did you have a nice birthday?"

"Yes, Gramma," Emma said as she snuggled closer.

"Well, I have one last little gift for you. It's a little something that you can keep with you as a reminder of just how much your granny loves you," the older woman said as she pulled a little box out of her pocket. "I got you this necklace so that you can always have a little bit of my love with you. This way, whenever you feel lonely, you can hold tight to this, and it'll be like I'm right there with you." She opened the box to reveal a small silver ring embedded with tiny clear stones, hanging from a silver chain.

"Wow! Gramma it's so pretty!" Emma reached up to touch the silver necklace.

"I'm glad you like it, little one." Emma's grandmother leaned over and kissed her on the top of the head. "I love you so much, Emma. You're my precious little girl."

"Forever and always?" Emma grinned sweetly with a touch of sadness. That was how her grandmother always said goodbye, so she knew the sentiment meant that the visit had come to an end.

"Forever and always."

Two months later, Nora's parents died in a car accident. Emma didn't grasp the purpose of the ceremony in the cemetery. She had no idea what the small ceramic vases were for, nor why they were being buried. It was strange to her, though, that all of Nora's family had gathered except for her grandparents. Although she didn't yet understand the concept of death, she did feel the absence of her grandmother's presence. She clutched the little silver ring hanging from her neck, reminding herself of how much her grandmother loved her.

The loss was hard on Nora. It was stress she couldn't handle on top of her difficulties with Anna. She started snapping more at both Emma and Anna during the day, and then at Donovan when he returned from work. Because of Nora's new short temper, Donovan would make excuses to stay later at the office, sometimes not returning until well after it was dark outside. A few times, Nora forgot to bring Emma inside and the little girl waited in the backyard for her father to return, alone in the dark. One such night, Donovan pulled into the driveway and, upon seeing his headlights fall on his eldest daughter asleep in front of the garage, finally lost his temper.

He scooped the little girl into his arms, giving her a soft kiss on her temple. "Wakey, wakey, sleepy head," he whispered as he tickled her lightly.

"Daddy!" Emma threw her arms around her father's neck. "I missed you, Daddy!"

"I missed you, too, little one. I need to talk to your mommy for a minute, so can you go play in your room for a little while?"

"Yes, Daddy." Emma started to run to her room after her father put her down, but her mother blocked her way as she rounded the corner.

"Emma, you're filthy!" Nora snapped as she looked at the dirt on Emma's clothes, hands, and face. "Go into the bathroom and get ready to take a bath. Now."

"Yes, Mommy," Emma said nervously before tiptoeing around her mother and walking quietly to the bathroom.

"What is wrong with you, Nora?! She was asleep in the driveway!" Donovan couldn't take anymore of her behaviour. "Are you even trying anymore? I get that it's been hard for you, harder than the rest of us since your mother died, but you cannot do this to Emma!"

"I'm trying, Don," Nora sobbed, covering her face with her hands. She slid her back down against the kitchen wall, putting her elbows on her knees and cradling her head in her hands. "I'm trying, but it's too much. It's like every time Emma comes into the room it makes Anna scream even louder! If Anna's asleep, she wakes up whenever Emma talks! And then the other day, Emma asked to hold Anna and she dropped her." Nora cried into her hands. "I know it sounds crazy, Don, but it's like Emma is making everything worse and I just can't handle it anymore."

"That's not fair," Donovan told her, putting his arm over her shoulder as he slid down next to her. "This is hard, but we'll get through this."

The couple sat in silence for quite a while before the calm was broken by Emma's terrified screams coming from the bathroom. They ran into the room to find Anna submerged in the tub, the last of the baby's air escaping her mouth via tiny bubbles. Donovan grabbed Anna from the tub as Nora pulled Emma out of the bathroom by the arm.

She slammed Emma against the wall in the hallway. "What did you do?! What did you do to our daughter?!" she screamed at the three-year-old.

"I w-was t-trying to h-help," the child said between gasping sobs. "I t-took my own b-bath and was g-gonna give Anna one, t-too. I j-just w-wanted to h-help!" Emma sobbed hard, looking down at the floor. Her mother was furious, and Emma was too scared to look up at her.

"You almost killed our daughter, do you get that?!" Nora was beyond angry and no longer thinking rationally. Perhaps, if she had gotten just a little more sleep or if she and Donovan hadn't just been fighting, she would have thought a bit more about what she was saying to Emma, but in that moment she was too far-gone to realize the damage she was doing.

"Mommy, I—."

"No! You don't get to call me that. You are not my daughter, you envious little monster! That child in there, the one you almost drowned is my daughter!" Nora was gripping Emma's arms hard, making the little girl squeal and try to struggle out of her grip.

"Nora!" Donovan yelled from the bathroom.

Nora sighed, releasing Emma's arms. The little girl ran to her room and hid beneath her bed. "I can't do this anymore," Nora told Donovan. "I can't even look at her." She took a deep breath, calming down upon seeing that Anna was fine. Nora took her infant daughter from her husband. "I just can't, Don."

The social worker came that weekend to bring Emma to a foster home. Emma watched her home and her family disappear out the car window as the social worker pulled away from the house. She cried herself to sleep in the backseat clutching the silver ring on her necklace, not understanding why it was happening, but finally being able to fully grasp the concept of loss.

• • •

Present day…

Emma writhed on the floor of the cell. Her hope was slipping away. They weren't going to come; she was going to be abandoned like before. Something in her refused to believe that, though. Some voice in the back of her mind, the one that chased away her nightmares and brought her dreams of Henry, reminded her to hold on. She focused on the sound of it, screaming as she curled into a ball, trying to will away the painful memory of her adoptive family. Just a little longer, she told herself. They'll come. They have to come. They wouldn't leave me.

Wouldn't they, though? Why would they come for you? The shrill, foreign voice of the darkness invaded her mind again, snuffing out the sound of all her hopeful thoughts and leaving her feeling empty. She pulled her knees into her chest and ducked her head. She was so tired, so tired of hallucinating and having nightmares. She just wanted it to end.

• • •

Regina lay curled up on the mattress, not wanting to open her eyes. Using magic in the parking garage had used more energy than she'd thought. She'd collapsed as soon as she and Robin had gotten to the apartment. It had been two days since the incident, and she had spent that time struggling with a fever, nausea, and exhaustion. Luckily, that meant she hadn't had to struggle with being around Henry while he had no memory of her.

"I'm sorry, Emma," she whispered, clutching the dagger. "It's going to be a little longer before I can find you, but I won't give up. I promise." She swallowed back another wave of nausea, not wanting to have to move her achy body from the bed in order to go vomit. "Just hold on, Emma. Please, hold on." Perhaps she was imagining it, but Regina could have sworn that she felt Emma starting to slip away.

• • •

Blue stood in front of the remains of the mansion. It was gone. Regina was gone. The books were gone. The Apprentice was dead. In some ways, this was a good situation. With the Apprentice gone, he could no longer share her secrets with anyone else. Additionally, with Regina out of Storybrooke and no one willing to trust her, she would also be unable to share any of the information that the Apprentice had told her. Blue wasn't happy that the books were missing, but so long as Regina was unable to show them to anyone, Blue was safe. Unfortunately, what the Apprentice had said continued to echo in Blue's mind, preventing her from truly feeling relieved by her current situation. He'd told her another sorcerer was coming. She knew that it was impossible; she and the Sorcerer had made sure of that. For some reason, though, she couldn't fully convince herself that the Apprentice had been lying.

"So, this is how you let them treat my things?" The voice startled Blue. It had been so many years since she'd heard that voice.

"Does it really matter? I'm not even sure why it was here at all." She was tired from all of the excitement since her run-in with the Apprentice, and this encounter was the last thing she wanted or was able to handle. "It's nice to see you again, Merlin," she said, her face forming into a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Why are you here?"

"The new Dark One is having some trouble." Merlin picked up a piece of the rubble and studied it, frowning at the charred remnant of whatever had been destroyed by the fire. "She's fighting the darkness. She won't let it bond with her. I could wait her out, as the darkness will eventually win, or I could use the dagger to expedite the process." He tossed what looked like the remains of a book back onto the pile of ash. "So, where is the dagger?"

"They gave it to Regina." Blue braced herself for his reaction, more out of annoyance than fear. Despite all his power, the Sorcerer still behaved like an unruly child much of the time.

"Well," he began acidly, "I suppose this is what happens when I leave a fairy in charge of maintaining order. I suppose you never really were capable of doing anything on your own, without my instruction." He stood close to Blue, grasping her chin and pulling her face so that she was looking directly into his eyes. "Was it really so hard to keep everyone hating Regina? I made sure it was an easy task before she fled the Enchanted Forest with that silly curse. Her heart was severely darkened, making it nearly impossible for her to be anything but destructive. I even made sure everyone hated her before you came to this land, so no one should have been willing to lead her away from her dark path. They called her 'The Evil Queen,' for goodness sake! So tell me, Reul Ghorm, how exactly did Regina become a wielder of light magic?"

"There was nothing I could do." She pushed his hand away. "Perhaps it could have been avoided if you'd done a better job choosing your authors."

He scowled at her insinuation. "Where is she now?"

"Gone. She either left or she was killed in one of the fires set by the townspeople."

"So she's in a world without magic? Good. Then she can't use the dagger to influence Emma." His voice started to lose some of is tenseness.

"She shouldn't be able to use the dagger across realms, anyway." She rolled her eyes. Especially Merlin, the one who created the Dark One, should know that.

"Most people can't," he said, his comment heavy with implication. Back in the Enchanted Forest, decades before Regina was born, Rumple had gone to Blue and Merlin. He had meant to tease them after he acquired his ability to see the future, telling them about events that they couldn't avoid, despite all their efforts to do just that. Emma and Regina, he had told them, were 'fixed points.' In every version of the future that he saw they existed, connected to one another by forces stronger than time and fate. Initially, the Sorcerer and Blue had brushed off the Dark One's taunts. After all, why should it have mattered to them? In his frustration at not upsetting them with the news, the Dark One accidentally let slip more than he intended. Certainly there were ways to weaken or change Emma and Regina's bond, but nothing, short of killing one of them, could break it. Together, they would bring about the downfall of the Sorcerer.

• • •

Robin peeked into the bedroom where he and Regina had been sleeping. It had been several days since they had arrived, and Regina had finally started to regain some of the colour in her face. Whatever had allowed her to conjure a fireball in New York City had taken its toll on her. She shouldn't have been able to use magic outside of Storybrooke, and Robin guessed that this illness was the price of her doing so. He cross the room and sat next to her on the bed, pressing the back of his hand to her forehead. The contact made Regina stir and she cracked her eyes open to look at him. "Your fever is down, milady."

"Mmm," she hummed, looking up at him with unfocused eyes. She tried to push herself into a sitting position, but the room began to spin as she lifted her head off the pillow.

"It's alright, my dear. Rest." Robin stroked the side of Regina's head as fell back into the pillow. "You're looking better today, but it seems you've not fully recovered." He listened for her to protest, but, when she didn't, he continued, "Roland is growing restless, so he, Henry, Killian, and I are going to take a trip to the park while you rest. I've left you some food on the night stand and there is a bucket next to the bed in case you feel nauseous." He rubbed her back, not sure that he should be leaving her alone. "Your phone is charged and right here on the nightstand. We're only down the street, not five minutes away, so I can be back right away if you need anything."

She didn't open her eyes when she responded, afraid that the room might spin again. "I can't wait to hear about it when you get back."

"Are you sure you'll be okay by yourself?" Robin felt her forehead again.

"Mmhmm." She opened her eyes to look at him and smiled, trying to convince him that she was fine.

"Alright. We'll be back shortly." He kissed her forehead before getting up and leaving the room, closing the bedroom door behind him.

Regina listened for the front door of the apartment to close before retching violently into the bucket next to her bed. After she finished vomiting, the room stopped spinning and she felt decently lucid for the first time since she'd arrived at the apartment. She pushed herself up and into a sitting position, leaning her back against the headboard. After a few minutes, once she was sure that her nausea had subsided, she turned her attention to the food Robin had left her. It had been days since she'd been able to keep food down, and her empty stomach growled angrily at her. She gulped down the plain broth that had been left for her, still hungry after she finished it. When the nausea didn't return, Regina decided that she would try to eat something solid. She pushed herself off of the bed and walked shakily toward the door. The air felt cold on her bare arms and legs; she'd almost overheated during the worst stages of her fever, so Robin had stripped off all but her tank top and underwear to try to help cool her down. She pulled on a pair of Robin's sweat pants and a sweater, not feeling up to dressing in her own form fitting attire. She wrapped the sweater around her and crossed her arms, trying to keep herself warm. Before leaving the room, Regina turned back and grabbed the dagger from the bed—despite Robin's pleading, she had refused to let go of it as she slept through her fever. She tucked the dagger into the waistband of her pants and walked back to the bedroom door.

The curtains had been kept closed in the guest room, so Regina hadn't seen sunlight in days. When she opened the door and walked into the main area of the apartment, the morning light nearly blinded her. She leaned against the wall, using it to support her weight as she walked to the kitchen. Someone had left a box of cereal sitting on the counter, as well as a stack of unused bowls. Regina sank into one of the bar stools and poured herself a bowl of cereal. She groaned with pleasure as she chewed; finally having solid food felt unexpectedly satisfying. After she finished eating, she rested her forehead on her arm, giving herself a moment to digest. Regina could feel some of her energy coming back. She was so relieved at finally feeling okay that Regina didn't notice the gold sparks that were occasionally shooting out from her fingertips.

After a minute or so, Regina walked to the sink. The dry cereal had made her aware of just how dehydrated she was. She drank handfuls of water directly from the faucet, not bothering to find a glass. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief after she'd had enough water to feel sufficiently hydrated. As she reopened her eyes, she felt a new wave of nausea begin to wash over her. She squeezed her eyes shut and took several deep breaths, willing her stomach to settle itself. Once she was confident that she wasn't going to vomit again, Regina opened her eyes. Perhaps walking had been too much for her. She felt exhausted again and wanted so badly to just be back in her bed.

Suddenly, a cloud of gold smoke engulfed her. As she disappeared the cloud ignited, creating an explosion that transformed the kitchen into a crater in the side of the apartment building. Down the street, the sound of the explosion caught Robin's attention and he turned to see smoke rising from a hole where he knew the apartment was located. He took off running toward the explosion.

• • •

Somewhere in rural Kansas, a loud buzzing erupted from an alarm connected to a laptop. A woman in her late forties with long dark hair ran into the office and turned off the alarm. She clicked on the alert that had appeared on the screen and watched a breaking news story about a bombing in New York City. The bombing wasn't what interested the woman. It was the gold plume of smoke accompanying the flames that set off the alarms. Somehow, someone in New York had used magic.

"Well, well, well," she grinned to herself. "It appears I'm going to make another trip." She stood up from her computer and walked to a bookcase on the other side of the room. Leaning into the left side of it with her shoulder, she pushed the bookcase over several feet to reveal a large metal door with a keypad. She punched in the code and opened the door. The lights flickered on inside the closet-sized room. The shelves that lined the walls were piled high with enchanted object: a crystal ball, potions of different colours, books with ornate covers and written in unknown languages, and so on. The woman placed her feet in the corners of one of the middle shelves and pushed herself up near the ceiling. She used one arm to hold onto the top shelf, while she used the other to dislodge one of the ceiling tiles. From the space in the ceiling, she pulled a pair of silver shoes. She then filled a bag with a variety of other objects from the shelves, before slipping on the shoes. After closing the door to the room and putting the bookcase back in place, she walked out of the house.

In the backyard, the woman had created a large, circular slab of concrete that almost looked like a patio, save for the black scorch marks that covered its surface. Magic, particularly strong magic, had unexpected consequences in this world. The first time she'd used the silver shoes to transport herself home, the cloud of silver smoke had incinerated her family's barn. She walked into the center of the cement circle and grinned, clicking the heels of the shoes together and disappearing in a combination of silver and fire.

• • •

Isaac sat in his cell in the basement of the hospital, listening for the promise of more rioting. He had so hoped that someone would think to check the basement asylum in their search for Regina; perhaps it would have given him the opportunity to escape. Now that Regina was gone, it was only a matter of time before the Sorcerer arrived to intervene. Isaac did not want to be in town when Merlin came looking for him.

Cracking and the whine of something about to break shot through the cell just before the glitter of the broken protection spell erupted in the doorway. Isaac pressed his back to the wall, preparing himself for his death by the Sorcerer's hand. He squeezed his eyes closed, bracing himself, as the door swung open. "What are you doing, Isaac? We don't have time for this."

The familiar voice took him by surprise. "Dorothy?" He ran to her, overjoyed that she was not one of the many people who he thought might come to kill him.

"Looks like a new Sorcerer is coming," Dorothy grinned as she pulled a crystal ball from her pocket. She held it up for Isaac to see. The image playing inside the ball was of Regina, crouching in a corner on the roof of a building. "We need to find her before she hurts herself or someone else." She grabbed Isaac's arm and clicked her heels together, making them disappear in a cloud of silver.

• • •

Since her arrival in Storybrooke, Lily had felt her control over her thoughts and emotions start to slip away. Even the most minor frustration threatened to overwhelm her with rage and cause her to transform into a dragon, and ordeal that always seemed to end in the total destruction of whatever was around her. Maleficent had thought that she could teach Lily to control the magic, opting to take her daughter into the woods far away from the townspeople. After a few months, though, it was becoming clear that something was preventing Lily form gain control over her magical abilities. Following one such ordeal, Lily landed in the center of a clearing, transforming back into a human and collapsing onto the ground. She slept peacefully in the grass having finally worn herself out. She was so exhausted that she didn't even hear Merlin walk over to her.

Merlin carried his Sorcerer's hat in his hand, having retrieved it from the now abandoned pawnshop immediately after his arrival in Storybrooke. He knelt down next to the sleeping woman. Using his free hand, Merlin gently brushed the stray locks of hair away from her face. "My sweet girl," he whispered with a small smile. "Your misery was my fault, not yours. Isaac's conflict was with me, not you." He ran his knuckles lightly over her cheek. She was more beautiful that he imagined. "I'm going to set this right, though." He moved his free hand over Lily's heart, pulling Emma's excess darkness from her heart and siphoning it into the hat. When he was finished, the hat returned into the gold trinket. He stroked the top of Lily's hair, smiling down at his still sleeping daughter. "You'll be fine now, my darling." He backed away from her, disappearing into a cloud of gold smoke.