Wow ok so I guess this is going to be popular I hope. The reviews/favs/follows I had gotten throughout yesterday and today were amazing. Thank you guys so much! So here comes chapter two!

Real or Not Real?

Emma had awoken on the couch in the back of Gold's shop, chained to the armrest. Sitting up she looked around the room as she heard voices coming from the front of the shop. Closing her eyes she saw faceless people and immediately snapped her eyes open just as two people entered the room, "Emma?"

Emma looked to the speaker and saw it was Archie and next to him was Belle, "Hey." She greeted as she cleared her throat, "What happened?"

She watched as they exchanged a look before looking back towards her, "We brought you back here because you need help…remember?" Belle explained as she pulled up a chair for her and Archie. It was agreed that since it looked like Emma had shown no hostility towards Belle when they were standing in the middle of the street before, that it was safer to have her in the room with Archie.

"I remember…" Emma stated, "I had explained that I can't remember what is real…"

"Well your family came and got me so I can help you figure that out." Archie said gently trying to keep the woman calm.

Emma looked at him and asked, "Family?"

"Snow and David; your parents, and Henry; your son. Even Regina is worried about you." Archie said as he took note of Emma's hazel eyes getting darker and darker at the mention of each name, "They said you tried to kill Killian."

Emma was silent as she tugged on the cuffs that held her to the couch, "Those people are not my family. Those people are demons…" Emma stated furiously, giving up on trying to get free, "Are they out there?" She asked eventually after a passing thought.

"Yes." Belle said that right now lying to Emma was not a good idea.

"Listen you have to get away from them. They tried to kill me. They killed everyone I ever cared about." Emma warned quickly and quietly, "That one I tried to kill wasn't Killian. Killian is dead as are my real family."

"No Emma no. That is not true. They are your family and Killian is alive. He is at his ship." Archie said quickly, "How about we do this…" he stated before Emma could counter anything, "you tell us what you think is real, and we will tell you whether it is right or wrong with an explanation." Seeing Emma's uncertainty he said, "It'll be like a game."

"Seriously? You want to play a game when there murders in the next room?" Emma asked incredulously.

"We will work this out. I promise. Just give it a try…" Archie said.

"And how do I know you are not lying to me if I ask whether or not something is true?" Emma interrogated back, "How do I know you are not really working for them? Just to gain my trust and stab me in the back?"

Belle and Archie exchanged looks once more, "Because you are our friend Emma. We would never lie to you." Belle said sternly as she locked eyes with the blonde, "We are on your side."

Emma looked away not seeing a lie, but now the issue was where to begin. As if sensing her hesitation, Archie suggested, "Tell me what is happening."

"My brain is seeing some memories as shiny…" Emma stated as she kept her gaze away from Archie and Belle, however her voice cold and distant. It was like she was her darker persona once more as she continued, "I am seeing my family and Killian…even Regina and they are tormenting me and torturing me as they morphed into demon like creatures. They keep saying that my family and Killian are dead…and they abandoned me…" Emma shook herself as she heard disembodied voices in her head and then small flashes of faceless people, taking on the form of the very people she was describing, came to her.

Archie nodded as he made notes and Belle went further into the back. Coming back moment later, she handed Emma a glass of water, "Here."

Emma nodded and took a sip as Archie said, "Tell me about the other memories."

"Sketchy at best. It is like watching a really bad quality of film noir." Seeing the confused looks, Emma sighed, "Really got to bring some culture to this godforsaken town."

Ignoring the sarcastic comment, Archie wrote down what she said and sighed, "They told me that Rumple asked you to say what you knew for certain what was real. Can you tell me what you said?"

"My name is Emma Swan. I am an orphan because I was abandoned on the side of a highway. I grew up in the foster system, and later became a bail-bonds person." Emma repeated back to her emotionless voice as her eyes once again glazed over.

Archie analyzed her for a moment before making a note. He then put his pen and notebook aside and looked at her, "Ok so let us try this. You are certain that is real…yes?"

"Absolutely. I have known that to be true ever since I could remember." Emma stated with conviction returning to her voice.

Archie sat in thought as he watched her closely for a few minutes. This situation was worse than he had originally been told, "I do not want you to overload yourself with information as to what is real or not…" Archie paused not too sure how he should continue his sentence.

"But I thought we were going to play this game." Emma said confused when he did not continue his thought, "I thought that is why you said we were here…"

"We are…well you are, but too much information could be more detrimental and counterproductive; so why don't we start with small steps?" He suggested after a few minutes and seeing her contemplate this, she eventually nodded, "Ok right now…is there anything about either myself or Belle you are confused on?"

He had purposefully started with himself and Belle due to the hostility that was described to him before he began his session with Emma. Belle had been chosen to come with him as for backup, because who knew what would have happened in Emma's emotional state if Snow, David, Henry, or Regina had come in with him. He and Belle exchanged a look with each other as Emma frowned and took to finding the floor interesting. He saw her muttering to herself and he listens as he catches a few words, "Yes…no…real…I am…" Closing her eyes she shakes her head and says as she looks intently at him, "Your fairytale name is Jiminy Cricket. You were turned into a grasshopper because it was your wish to be one. You were in charge of watching over Geppetto." She watches his face closely and seeing his face expressionless, she continues, "When the Evil Queen's curse struck you became Dr. Archie Hooper. You were Henry's therapist due to his obsession with the curse. We first met because I was concerned about his obsession and you gave me his file, but later got me arrested because you claimed I stole it." His face was still expression, but if she looked closely she could see guilt in his eyes, "Real or not real?"

Archie looked into her challenging eyes as if daring him to lie to her. Sighing deeply he said, "Real. The reason why you were arrested was Regina forced me to set you up. I had not yet had any memories of my previous life and she pretty much threatened me, to which I was still deeply ashamed."

Emma nodded and accepted his answer. She thought for a moment, and looked at Belle, "You were forced to live with Gold because he promised to protection from the Ogres. You two eventually fell in love and despite your love to Gold, he would not let go of his power. Real or not real?"

Belle looked at Emma and sighed, "Real. He had a hard time of letting the darkness go, because of the power it had. It wasn't until the apprentice forced the power to leave did he start to wise up."

Emma nodded and looked back at the ground. They were telling the truth, "Ok…" Her tone was again emotionless and her expression was vacant.

Archie and Belle looked at each other wondering what that ok meant. They tried to look at her eyes, but they were void of any type of expression in their hazel depths. Taking a few more minutes, they were about to ask if everything was ok when Emma spoke again, "May I talk to Hen-I mean the boy?"

Archie almost cocked his head to the side in confusion. How could Emma disassociate herself from her own son? The boy was everything to her, it was her thoughts of him that prevented her from going full dark. Considering her request, he nods, knowing that perhaps Henry could bring her out of this, "Uhm…sure. Hold on," Archie said as he got up, "I'll see if he is up to it." Looking towards Belle he nodded and she followed him out of the room.

Once they were in front of the shop, they were immediately bombarded with questions. Archie held up a hand and they snapped their mouths closed, "She wants to talk to Henry."

Henry stepped forward, but Regina and surprisingly Snow placed hands on his shoulders and held him back, "NO!" Regina and Snow said. Regina looked at Snow in surprise (as did everyone else). Keeping her eyes on Snow she started to explain, "She nearly killed him and us. There is no way that I am allowing Henry in there."

"I agree with Regina." Snow said as they looked to her now, "Emma, would never forgive herself if she hurts him. I mean look what happened with Killian. Didn't you see what she looked like when she snapped out of whatever episode she was having?"

Henry sighed and asked, "What does she want to talk to me about?"

Archie looked to Belle and explained, "What Emma is experiencing is actually what Mr. Gold already explained. Except it is worse than you all thought." He saw they were waiting for a more in depth explanation, he sighed again, "It would seem, and since I never experienced a case like this mind you, not even in the false memories that were given to me," looked stole a look at Regina as he said this and then back to the group, "it would seem that the darkness took certain memories and brought them to the front of Emma's mind. Particularly in this case memories that are associated with all of you being her loved ones and friends." He motioned to the group in front of him, "So what it did, again this is speculation, it played those memories under a stimulus. I am not sure how the Dark One's power affects the psyche or what kind of stimulus is used." He looked at Gold as he said this.

Gold sighed as everyone looked at him wanting more information, "It depends on the person as to what the power can feed off of. For me personally it was power. I was a coward and wanted enough power to save my son. I also feared that power and figured I could save my son and make sure that power was never abused." He looked down in shame and Belle gently comforted him.

"It's ok, you are not that man anymore." Belle said easily, "You are a better man now."

"It uses your insecurities and warps your perception on everyone and everything." Gold trailed off not hearing or recognizing Belle, it was like he was trapped in his own memories, "It picks at you and your mind until eventually you give into it and there is nothing left of the person who you used to be."

Everyone was silent pondering this until David spoke up, "But what about Emma?"

"If I had to guess, the Dark Ones used words and images associated with the desired memories and once she remembered the events that is when they started warping them beyond recognition. My guess is that the memories were altered by the hallucination effects and Emma started to associate those memories with fear and pain." Archie stated sadly as he watched his two friends share a devastated look.

"But my mom is strong. She knows what is false…" Henry said in denial, "She was taken by surprise. I know I should have approached her more cautiously." The adults looked at him with sad eyes. He then looked away, and shook Regina and Snow's hands off of him, "How could she not realize what the darkness did?" Henry was now slightly frightened as the events came back to him and Archie's words re-played in his head…Emma wanted to talk to him…so did he really want to talk to her?

Archie looked at the boy. The same boy that he had the pleasure of watching grow up into this brave young man, "It is due to the disorienting effects help to camouflage the falsity of the memories. Afterwards, the brain stores the memory in the new form, along with the negative associations with those memories." He then looked at everyone else in the room and then got back into his professional mode, "I know I have some moral obligation to keep my patient's confidentially, but I am also obligated to give up that confidentially if I deem my patient to be a danger to him or herself." Swallowing a lump he looked at his friends and then with Regina and then Gold, before resting on Henry, "Emma described to me that her brain is seeing some memories as shiny. The shiny memories consist of seeing you all," he motions to David, Snow, Henry, and Regina, "Killian tormenting her and torturing her. However she also said that you all shift into demon like creatures, saying that you all are dead…and abandoned her…"

"But we did not abandon her." Regina was the first to speak after getting over the shock, "If anything she abandoned us! We were with her through everything in Camelot, and she is the one who pushed us away!"

Everyone looked at the former Evil Queen in surprise. Even Henry was surprised to see the genuine hurt in his adoptive mother's eyes and voice. He knew that Emma and Regina had begun to develop a friendship, after all he noticed how 'Ms. Swan' turned into 'Emma' at some point, "I understand that, and believe me in my professional opinion we should all talk about this at some point, but if I am correct in my assumptions and with the information that Rumplestiltskin just gave us, then this trauma that happened with Emma happened over months perhaps a year."

"A year?! She was the Dark One for like a little over two months!" Snow exclaimed. David came to her side immediately and placed a calming hand on her shoulder.

"Well a lot of factors add up to it. I mean the initial shock when she took on the mantel of the Dark One, and her time in the Underworld-"

"Which was for all of a half hour or so!" Snow cut in again. David tried to calm her so she turned on him, "Do not try and calm me down right now!"

"Look there are time differences between the realms. What is a half hour to us, could be a year or more in another." Belle said breaking the tense silence that descended in the room, "It would make sense given Emma's…violent tendencies towards all of you."

Archie nodded seeing everyone looking back at him, "Yes that is what I am saying. These things take time and to the extent of the damage that was done…major time was required."

"So what is going to happen now?" Henry asked silently, "How can we help?"

"Well I suggested a little game," everyone began to open their mouths to retort and violently question, when Archie held up his hands, "whoa ok hold on and let me explain. I call it 'Real or not real'. Instead of trying to overload her with memories, let her start describing a scenario, and when she says real or not real, you tell her if it is or is not followed by an explanation. That should hopefully allow her brain to accept those memories and slowly…excuse the term…delete the false ones."

Everyone looked at each other and slowly nodded in acceptance, "So we let her start the conversation and then guide her to the right memory?" David asked slowly and Archie nodded, "And is she thinks we are lying?"

"She might be suspicious at first and it may take a while, but she is still our Emma…she still has her…what did she call it? Superpower." Seeing this was not helping to making anyone feel better, he sighed, "Look think of this as the old Emma, when had she really ever jumped the gun unless she thought someone was lying to her?"

No response was given and Regina shook her head and crossed her arms, "Ok fine. We will try it your way." However she narrowed her eyes and said, "But I still refuse to allow Henry to go in and talk to Emma by himself."

"In regards to that, with all due respect, it does not matter what you want. It is what Emma wants and right now, she wants to talk to Henry. She is chained to the couch with magic blocking cuffs." Archie argued loudly seeing that David, Snow, and Regina were going to violently object, "She is calm right now, and believe me it really isn't us," he motions to himself and Belle, "that she deep down really wants to talk to."

Henry looks around the room at his mother's face, and then at his grandparents, even towards his grandfather and Belle. Each wore different looks of pain, and reluctance, "Henry…" He looks to Archie now, "I would never have you do something that you do not want to do…but I think that it would help your mother."

His mother…the Savior, the power of True Love, the symbol of hope, and for a brief period of being the Dark One. However she was also the sheriff, a human being that had been brutally tortured, and his mother. Swallowing he nodded, "Ok. I'll talk to her."

Archie nodded and before him and Henry could move, Regina grabbed his arm making Henry look right at her, "We will stay outside the door, and if we should hear anything threatening we will pull you out."

"What would you consider threatening?" Archie inquired.

"If she sneezes wrong." Regina stated, "And if he should get hurt, I will make my past look like complete child's play compared what I will do to you…and once Emma is better, you will feel her wrath as well. Do I make myself clear insect?" Archie went pale and his mouth went dry as he nodded and led Henry away.

The group followed and stood outside as Henry walked into the room. He saw Emma talking to someone on the chairs that had been previously been occupied by Archie and Belle. As he approached her, he could hear better at what she was saying, "My name is Emma Swan. I am an orphan because I was abandoned on the side of a highway. I grew up in the foster system, and later became a bail-bonds person."

"Mom?" Emma snapped her head up to look at Henry. He noticed how dark and almost cloudy her eyes were and even took notice how pale she looked. He held back a flinch as she yanked on the cuffs that were chained to the couch. She yanked on them for a few more seconds before sighing and giving up. Shaking her head and reopening her eyes, he said softly, "Hey."

Emma remained silent and said, "Hey."

There was silence as Henry hesitantly took a chair right across from her. Her penetrating untrusting gaze never leaving him. It was unnerving to him as he watched her…the eyes that no longer held any love for him and that one simple word 'Hey', the way she said it was almost like she was the Dark Swan again, "Archie said you wanted to talk to me." He says tentatively.

Emma said nothing to him as she watched him. It was almost like she did not even hear him. After a few moments he shifted in his seat with nerves. Even when he was going to meet her for the first time in Boston, he was never this nervous, "Well talk yes." He jumped when she finally spoke and he looked at her, "Although look at you." He looks at himself and wonders what is wrong, "Not very big, nor are you particular handsome looking." Her words hurt and before he could speak, she continues, "How the hell could you possibly be my son?"

Henry nearly stood up to shake her and demand why she was saying this, but knew that any sudden move would be threatening, "Well, you've looked better." He retorted forcing to keep his temper in check and reminded himself that this was not his mother right now.

Emma laughed, but it wasn't like her normal laughter and he looked at her confused, "Wow you are also not known for you personality I imagine huh?"

"You know I think I am going to go now." Henry said as he got up and made his way towards the door, trying to not allow her comments bother him.

"Wait. I remember Boston." Henry stops short as he reached for the knob on the door. It was their very first connection.

"I came to get you to bring you to Storybrooke." He says slowly as he turns to look at her.

There is not a trace of hostility in her eyes or in her voice, but her voice reminded him of how Regina used to talk to him when he started to talk to her about the curse being real, "To break some curse."

"It was the Dark Curse the Evil Queen cast to bring the fairytale characters to the Land without Magic to destroy their happy endings." Henry elaborated as he slowly went back over to her.

Emma nodded slowly, taking in his words, "It was my birthday. I just got home from capturing a bail jumper." Looking back at him she said, "You brought up so many painful memories for me."

"I didn't know at the time." Henry said, "You were not very forthcoming about my father. You lied and told me he was dead."

Emma snorted and dished the same attitude he had just given her. Tit for tat as it were, "Might as well have been. He was dead to me." He knew that Emma was mad at Neal, but to put it so bluntly hurt, especially since he knew that they had reconciled after being told what happened when he had gotten his memories back.

"You loved him." Henry said softly reigning his temper back in. Everything Emma was saying was hurting him. It was dismissive and unemotional, at least when she was the Dark One she still had some traces of her old self.

Emma scoffed, "Love is weakness. That traitor did not deserve any love I had for him." Before Henry could respond, Emma continued talking, "Just like I do not understand how I could love you. Clearly you are not my son."

This was the final straw, Henry turned and threw the door open causing the people that were listening to the conversation to nearly fall over in shock, "She is not my mother." Henry said and before anyone could stop him, he ran out of the shop trying to fight back the tears that were forming in his eyes.