Chapter Fifteen: Red Handed

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Emma woke up screaming.

"What! Emma? Emma!" Killian yelled as he ran into her bedroom. "I thought someone was bloody murdering you!"

Emma turned the lamp on. "No, I'm fine. Just a nightmare."

"That didn't sound like just a nightmare to me."

"I'm fine!" Emma glared at him. She relented. "Fine. We were in Storybrooke. Only it wasn't Storybrooke. There was dead bodies everywhere, and no matter how hard I tried to hide from the bodies, I always ended up by a dead Regina, David, Henry, Snow, etc. Never you. But at the end, just before I woke up I knew why everyone was dead. It was my fault. I couldn't let go of you and because of that, everyone died."

Killian was rather speechless. "It's not your fault, Swan. It's mine. For being so dashingly handsome, of course."

Emma laughed. "That must be it."

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Swan. Everyone is alive right now."

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At Granny's Diner, Ruby was flirting with August, who was sitting at one of the tables.

"You can't be serious. A whole year without a roof over your head?"

August shrugged. "Well, you get used to it. Plus, I had the motorcycle. So, if I didn't like a place after a while…"

"You'd leave?" Emma asked from the next table over. She shrugged. "What? I couldn't help overhearing you two." She sipped her coffee.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Sure, sheriff."

August nodded to Emma. "Correct."

"Ruby?" Granny called.

"You should go," August told Ruby. "Besides, Emma and I need to have a little chat."

Ruby sauntered off to see Granny.

"I want you to start working Saturday nights."

Ruby gapped at Granny. "Come on – we have an agreement about Saturday night."

Granny shook her head. "I want to start training you to do the books and the reorders. Business is booming lately, and, with more money, comes more paperwork."

"Yeah. None of that sounds good."

Granny sighed. "It's got to be done. Ruby, you're a grown woman. You can't keep acting like some kid."

Ruby clenched her fists. "You just want me to act like you until I turn into you. Well, I am not a fossil yet, Granny. I should be out there having adventures!"

"Well, as long as you work here, you are going to listen to me," Granny said firmly.

"Well then I quit!" Ruby cried as she stormed out of the diner.

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"What do you need to talk to me about?" Emma demanded.

August shrugged. "How close are you to figuring it out?"

"Figuring what out?" Emma asked. "Why the whole time travel thing?"

August pause. "Exactly."

Emma frowned at him. "I can't exactly remember much more than getting on that boat to save Hook. Reincarnation?"

August sighed. "When you figure it out, come find me." Then he walked away.

"August!" Emma yelled. "August!"

"Hey, what happened?" Snow asked concerned.

Emma huffed. "August is so confusing."

"So. Any news on Kathryn?"

"Nothing new," Emma complained. "I've checked with Boston again and again. She's not there, Mary Margaret."

"We have no idea what happened to her," Snow stated bluntly. "Last time, Regina paid Gold to make her disappear. Now, Gold's more or less on our side."

They come across Ruby, who was waiting at the bus stop, and Dr. Whale, who was talking to her.

"Sorry. No, don't need a ride," Ruby said earnestly.

"He bothering you?" Emma called.

Dr. Whale turned. "I should go." He ran off to the hospital.

Ruby shook her head ruefully. "The day I can't handle a lech is the day I leave town. Which this is, I guess."

Emma snorted. "Yeah, well, buses out of town don't really happen. If you need a place to figure things out, you could always come home with me. It just me, Killian, and Henry. We have room for one more."

Ruby smiled. "Thanks, Emma."

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At the station, Emma was sitting at her desk. Henry was firing off ideas of where Kathryn could be. Ruby threw her own in occasionally.

"Maybe she found a way to leave?" Henry suggested. "You can if you plan to come back soon."

Ruby shook her head. "Nah. She might be wandering the woods with a concussion."

The phone rang.

"Oh, hey, Ruby, do you mind answering?" Emma asked distractedly.

Ruby nodded. "No problem." She picked up the phone. "Sheriff's station. How can I help you? Mmhmm. I'll get her to return. Thank you, too." After setting the phone down, Ruby looked at Henry. "You've left some things in Mrs. Loyla's garden. Namely Pongo's...um...waste."

Henry laughed. "I'd forgotten!"

Ruby rolled her eyes as she answered the next call. "Sheriff's station. Hey, Miss Ginger. Uh, no, that's not a prowler. That's Archie's dog – Pongo. Throw him a vanilla wafer. He'll quiet down. Did you still want to talk to Emma? Great. Glad I could help."

"That was good," Emma told her. "I actually have some money in the budget if you want to help out around here."

Ruby smiled. "Yes! Thank you! Yes. Um, I could answer phones and help out. Um, is there anything else that you need done? Organize files, cleaning up? Please – I want to be useful."

Emma thought for a moment. "I'm swamped with the Kathryn Nolan thing. I think if you want to help me sort through all these files and get them put away that might take my mind off things. Henry, could you ask Killian to get some lunch up here?"

"Um, grilled cheese right?" Henry asked as he typed the message into Emma's phone. "Ruby?"

"Grilled cheese is fine too."

Henry nodded. "And two chocolate chip cookies, an apple pie, and a hot dog for me. I'm going to go wait out front for him. He wanted me to teach him how to use an X-Box."

Ruby giggled. "He'll need a special remote for that."

Henry grinned. "At least I'll win every time!" Then he bounce out the door.

"So I want to talk with you," Emma said softly. "Look, this job. Law enforcement, detective, whatever. I don't think you really understand it. A good day means I might have ruined someone's life. I just wanted to tell you."

Ruby froze. "Ruining someone's life?"

Emma nodded. "I'm sorry, Ruby."

Ruby stood abruptly. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I have to go. I'll grab my food when I pass him." She dashed out the door.

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Ruby entered the diner. Granny was at the counter.

"I want to come back."

Granny looked up started. "Why? You were pretty mad."

"Mmhmm, yeah. Here's the thing – um… You were talking about having me do all this stuff, and I…wasn't sure. I-I said that, you wanted me to turn into you, but… What I meant was, I don't know how to be you. You're a tough act to follow. And then you wanted me to take on all this extra responsibility, and I… Guess I just got scared." Ruby shrugged sheepishly.

"Look – just so you know, I wanted you to do the books and everything, so you could take over when I retire. Own the whole place."

"Own it?" Ruby gasped.

Granny smiled. "Sure. I mean, who else would I give it to but someone who loves me back?"

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"August said to find him when I've figured out why we time traveled," Emma explained the the time traveling group. "But I don't know how to do that since none of us remember anything past boarding that boat."

"Or dying," Killian added dryly.

Emma bit her lip. "Or that, yes. Anyway, the storybook hasn't really been consistent with the updates. No pressure to Henry or anything, but we need these updates."

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Emma swung her sword at the hooded figure. The figure countered with expert ease.

Snow, Charming, Hook, and Henry ran towards her as if in slow motion. They stopped a few feet away and watched in horror.

"I see you met my pet, Emma."

Emma whirled around. She was no longer fighting the figure. She was in a forest facing a girl. "Who are you? How do you know my name?" Emma demanded.

The girl stared sorrowfully at her. "I know many things... like why you're here."

Before she could question this, she replied, "The visions. Why the hell are they in my head?" What visions? Emma wondered to herself. The ones about the underworld?

"Because these visions, Emma, they tell a story," the girl told her. "The story of your future."

Emma gasped. "You say I'm seeing the future, but it feels like a memory. How do you know any of this?"

"I was once called an Oracle," the girl said softly. "You'd be wise to trust me. What you saw was a tiny piece of future time."

Emma scoffed. "Yeah... tiny. I need to see more."

The girl shook her head. "Knowing the future is a heavy burden. The future's always in motion, always changing, but also inevitable."

Emma huffed. "The visions are coming whether I want them to or not. Let's get this done."

The girl bowed her head. "Look," she whispered.

Emma stared into the girl's staff.

Emma was back in the fight. She sparred with the hooded figure until she was knocked down. She quickly got back up and continued fighting as her family ran over. After a few more swings, the figure knocked the sword from her hands.

"I'm not gonna let you hurt them," Emma said to the figure. She raised a hand to do magic, but found herself unable to. Her hand was shaking. The figure stabbed Emma through the stomach. Emma gasped and bent over.

Then she was back in the forest.

"What you saw was a small piece of the end of your story, Savior," the girl said mournfully.

Emma shook her head fiercely. "There has to be another way."

"You can change the path to the destination, but the destination is the same. On the day you saw, in the battle you saw... you will die."

Emma woke with a start. She stared at her hands, scared at finding them shaking like in the dream.

"Mom?"

Emma jumped. "Henry?" She asked relieved. "What are you doing up? It's..." She glanced at the clock.

"Eight fifteen in the morning," Henry finished. He glanced at the empty spot on the bed. "Hook went to the station with grandpa. Told me to tell you to rest. We tried to wake you up. You were having a nightmare or something."

"Or something," Emma murmured.

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"I'm going to die," Emma said furiously as she congregated with the others in Regina's house.

"Don't worry, love," Killian said, "your father and I can handle the Kathryn thing if you want."

Emma slammed her hands onto the table. "Not figuratively. Literally! I saw it in my nightmare last night. It was strange. I was fighting this hooded figure. Snow, David, Killian, and Henry ran up to stand across the street from me. I stared fighting again, but my sword was knocked away. I tried to use magic, but my hand started shaking and nothing happened. Then the figure just stabbed me right through my stomach. The oracle girl said it was a small piece of the end of my story."

Regina nodded slowly. "Interesting. And I wasn't there? Or Belle and Gold?"

Emma shook her head. "No. At first I thought maybe you were the one under the cloak, but now... I think it was Gold. Or something. The whole glove reminded me of his Dark One Neverland outfit."

Gold rolled his eyes. "And why would I kill you, Miss Swan?"

"A hooded figure?" David asked curiously. "Maybe it was like that root Zelena gave me to get a symbol of my courage. I had to face my fear and move on with my life."

Emma shook her head. "No, I think it's more than that. The shaking at the very least I think is a sort of PTSD. Post traumatic stress disorder? I've been through enough for that to have happened."

"You might be onto something," Snow said thoughtfully.

"I can try to find a book on something like this," Belle offered. "That's probably all I should be doing right now anyway."

Snow smiled. "Worried about the baby? It'll be fine. I mean, I was doing plenty during our time in the Enchanted Forest against Zelena when I was pregnant with Neal."

"I need to find August," Emma said distractedly. "He told me to find him when I know. Now I know."

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A/N: So anti-climatic. Yes, now Emma has been introduced to the beginnings of season six.

Okay, so just a warning:

1) Whatever gender baby Rumbelle is revealed to be is not necessarily what it will be in my story, nor might it even be the same baby

2) As far as season six goes, it's practically non-existent besides the hand shaking and Savior dies thing (at this point anyway, we'll see as time goes on)

3) The Butterfly Effect is at work here (butterfly effect is basically a small thing such as a butterfly in Japan flapping its wings can have an effect on say the weather in the US.) meaning that future knowledge can at some point be rendered useless

4) Consistency Constraints (basically the timeline forces one to confirm the events of the past, there is no way to stop the natural flow of time) occur because some things are simple meant to happen such as Ruby skipping out on Granny

5) I have a timeline all planned out for kids. Well, names at least

And that's it. For now. So let me see, next chapter.

Chapter Sixteen: Heart of Darkness; Emma talks with August, Henry talks with August, baby Rumbelle ultrasound pics, and important questions.