Real or Not Real?
Emma watched as Grumpy laughed at the memory he was telling her. In fact she did not think she would enjoy the dwarf's company since he was so close to the demons that were trying to hurt her and had harmed her family, but she was beginning to see that he was not too bad, "So yea, that was my life in the Enchanted Forest. When Snow and David took back the kingdom," he remembered not to use the 'p' word around Emma especially after seeing her reaction to it a few times, "we started to stay in the castle."
Emma nodded and they sat in silence for a brief moment as she reflected on the information she learned from him. He had told her everything that had happened, how there was once actually eight dwarves, and how they had saved Snow White and helped take back the kingdom…but there was still something he was avoiding. The aftermath of the curse. Of course she did not ask him directly about what was real or not in this land, but then again he had been so raptured about the tales from his homeland, she found herself becoming interested too.
Grumpy was surprised at how well he had told Emma the stories from the Forest. Of course given that he could have pointed her to the book, he figured it would have been better if he had just told her straight up, and with that surprisingly he found that the wounds of his past were not all that deep and raw anymore and it was easier to talk to her than he thought it would be. In fact his brothers had returned periodically to relieve him from his shift of watching Emma and he had declined every single one of them, "So what happened next?"
"Next?" Grumpy asked crossing his arms and situating his position on the chair.
"Yea, you all took back the kingdom and everything. Which was pretty cool, much better than Disney obviously, but what came next? Like what happened with the curse?" Emma inquired situating herself better as well to almost match his posture.
Grumpy sighed, now wishing he had taken that break when Dopey had come in a half hour ago. It was already morning and getting close to breakfast time, Snow had texted him that they would be in to see Emma after they had breakfast, "I think you know that sister…" He said knowing that after listening and watching her that her mind wasn't as screwed up as they made it sound. Of course he can tell there is some rage directed at certain parties, but to him she is the same rational Emma she was before the Dark One curse took her.
Emma was watching him now, wondering briefly why he would not tell her this. As she was thinking about the reasons as to why he did not want to talk about this, a small throb of pain came to her as memories started to present themselves to her. The pain in her head suddenly became overwhelming as she leans forward to bury her head in her hands. She is vaguely aware of Grumpy calling her name in concern, but the memories are too powerful and painful to ignore as she sees quick flashes in her mind's eye: a kid in an apartment, a woman giving her a drink, a wolf in the middle of the road, and two voices talking (one of them she realizes is Grumpy), and then finally settling on a face of a man with brown hair and blue eyes looking at her kindly with a beard and accent, "Regina's drinks are a little stronger than we thought."
"Graham," Emma whispers out eventually as she comes out of her visions.
"What?" Grumpy asks shocked. No one had spoken that name in a long time of the former sheriff of Storybrooke, Maine. Besides that, he was surprised how quick the atmosphere in the room changed since their relaxed talk ended.
Emma glares at him this time she stands, and goes over to the bars, hands gripping the iron so tight her knuckles turn white, "Your cursed name is Leroy. You were considered the town drunk. We technically had our first encounter when I was locked up for a supposed DUI." She was fuming now, and she could not really explain why…just that an uncontrollable rage came over her as she recalled Graham in her memories…and the woman who served her a drink on her first night in the town, Regina.
Grumpy nodded as she paused, "Real." While she did not ask if that memory was true, it was implied.
"Graham was the former sheriff, he died. The autopsy said heart-attack. Real or not real?" Emma asked violently as she glared at the dwarf.
Grumpy swallowed a lump in his throat. The air was suddenly full of static and thick as he looked at the Savior. He then looked at the cuffs and unnoticed by Emma, the black color of them were starting to turn red…now he is not an expert on magic, but if he was told Emma should not have access to her powers while wearing the cuffs…how is she having access to magic? Seeing that Emma was waiting for an answer, he said, "Real, but…we kind of know better." He did not imply anything, but this was all it took for Emma to lose it, at which point he realized this was the wrong thing to say to her.
"Regina killed him. She crushed his heart. Real or not real?"
Grumpy did not want to answer. He knew that after everything Regina had done in the past couple of months, she deserved to be protected. Not thrown under the bus, which he had unintentionally did; trying to deflect and backtrack a bit to save the woman in question, he quickly responded, "It was ruled a heart-"
"Real or not real?!" Emma yelled. Just then there was a brilliant flash of magic that Grumpy had to shield his eyes. When he opened them he saw that the cuffs burned off, and the cell bars gone, leaving Emma standing glaring menacing at him in a black leather jacket, with jeans and a pair of black heeled boots, "She killed Graham like she killed Henry! Real or not real?!"
There was still a strong static of magic surrounding her, but slowly coming out of his shock at what happened, he was driven into another sense of shock as to what she just said, "Wait what?" Grumpy asked, "Regina did not kill Henry! She would never hurt that boy!"
When she had started to remember Graham, another memory had come to her and that was of Henry's death. He is dead, Emma thought as images raced past her mind, they are both dead…she took them from me…she killed him; the whispers in her mind continued as they commented on the images of their bodies; Graham's in her arms and Henry's on a hospital bed, "You lied dwarf, but it is a good thing that you are not my target." She growled out and before he could do anything, she disappeared in a flash of light and purple smoke.
Grumpy was still sitting in shock, and a few minutes later, he heard the sound of the door opening, "Hey we are back with-" Sneezy started to say as the scene they walked in on came to view, "Whoa what the heck happened?"
"Yea were is Emma?" Doc asked confused and concerned as he took in Grumpy's shock and frightened appearance.
Happy stepped forward, "Maybe she went for a walk…"
"Unless you call disappearing in a cloud of smoke and light a 'walk'," Yes Grumpy used the air quotes as he tried to regain composure, making a move to stand and allowing the events to catch up to him, "then yes she did."
"Well it is a lovely day for one." Bashful added shyly as he took a step back from his brother, not wishing to tempt him further.
"Or take a nap." Suggested Sleepy, as he yawned and stretched, totally missing the sarcasm.
Dopey put the coffees on the desk and made a hand motion to the cell and then to the door as his motions became more quick and urgent, "Yes I know she escaped." Grumpy growled at him, "I was there. Now we have to find the others and let them know we lost their daughter/mad savior."
"You mean you lost their daughter/mad savior." Doc pointed out, "We tried to give you a break."
"Whatever! It does not matter. I think Emma is going to kill Regina. We have to find them." Grumpy said as he began to run out of the station with the others following him.
"They are at the diner eating breakfast." Sneezy muffled out against his sleeve as he sneezed into it.
Before anyone else can comment, there was yelling and people running out of the diner. They paused watching, "So do we go in?" Bashful asked again.
"Yea I have to explain Emma's latest freak-out." So much for the halfway stable mind.
"What the bloody hell is happening?" Their heads turned to see Killian, Robin, Archie, Gold, and Belle running over to them. It was Killian that had spoken as they stopped in front of the dwarves and watched as more people came flooding out of the diner.
Grumpy sighed and started to explain, each person wearing faces of distraught, "So that is that. She thinks that Henry is dead and Regina killed Graham."
"Not saying anything, but Regina was never formally-" Archie started to say in her defense.
"Oh come off it Hopper, we know she-" Grumpy started to argue back.
"Now is not the time," Robin said intervening, "We should probably go in there and do something."
Killian looked towards the diner seeing that all seemed quiet now, "Well looks like everything calmed down." In truth he was afraid, afraid to go inside to see the destruction or anguish in his love's eyes. Also too, if she was this enraged at Regina and compared to how she looked at him yesterday night.
"Could be the calm before the storm." Archie said, "And Henry did die to her, when he was placed under the sleeping curse. So she could be in a memory, but I would have to see to be sure."
Everyone looked to Gold, who was in a lost train of thought, "What do you think?" Belle asked him softly.
"I cannot say for sure, the Dark One's curse affects people differently. I am learning this as we go along I am afraid." He responded slowly as he looked at everyone.
Just then there was another swarm of people that were running out of the diner. Exchanging one last look, they ran towards the enterance.
-Before Emma's grand entrance in the diner-
After dropping the baby and Roland off with the fairies, Henry and Regina had also run into Snow and David who were dropping Neal off as well. So the four of them had walked to Granny's and taken their usual booth in the back. Keeping the conversations low key when a server came over to take their order, they were just waiting on Archie, Robin, Killian, Belle, and Gold to join them, "So once everyone else gets here, what are we going to discuss?" Henry asked once she left to go place their order, relieved to be a part of this mission instead of forcing to watch on the sidelines, just to join in later.
"Probably plan on how to best approach Emma, so that she doesn't feel like we are cornering her again." David answered slowly. He would rather not have Henry join them after seeing what happened last night, but he did know that Henry would just join in later or somehow be forced to get involved.
Snow nodded in approval, her thoughts along the same lines as Charming's; besides Emma is his mother, so he has every right to help, "Take things slow and hope that after having the night to cool off, she is in a better mind frame." She added to David's answer.
Regina still was not feeling all that optimistic. In fact she felt a weight in the pit of her stomach that had not been there since coming home from the hell that was Camelot. Once again she found herself being placed in the position of the Savior, however there seemed to be a lot more riding on this considering that Emma was no longer 'acting', "We also need a more affirmative…" Regina paused as the three of them looked at her now, searching for the word that would describe the problem at hand without labeling Emma in any sort of way. Thinking of none, she settled with, "diagnosis from Archie, so we have to hope that he managed to get his thoughts in line so we can hopefully see an end-game to this once and for all."
"But we know the end-game." Henry said as he pulled his book from his backpack, "It is stated here." He had flipped through the pages and pointed to the passage that he had showed her last night.
Snow and David looked at each other and then back at the book, "What is this?" Snow asked as she pulled the book towards them to get a better angle.
Henry started to explain what he was thinking after his small confrontation with Emma the night before, "So when I started to flip through the book I found that." He finished.
"And you did not write this?" David asked slowly as he re-read the passage explaining what had happened to Emma during her 'brief' stint in the Underworld.
"No, I said I destroyed the pen. Hence why I couldn't re-write what happened to Mom before." Henry explained taking the book back from them and placing in his backpack once more.
"So I guess that is something else we have to talk to Gold about." Snow suggested looking at her step-mother's troubled expression.
Regina thought about this before saying, "In all honesty I would rather not work with him anymore than we have to. Just because I want to see if he is actually different," she said before anyone could argue with her. Then looking at Snow and David she made a point of finishing with, "You know how he can be when he wants to be."
Snow and David conceded to her reasoning, "The fairies?" David suggested, "Think they have an idea?"
"Who knows, but let's focus on your daughter for now." Looking at her watch she sighed, "Where are they?" She asked as the server came with their drinks and food.
Just as she was about to pull her phone out to call Robin, the door was slammed open and, "Regina!" Heads spun at the furious voice, and everyone was in shock as they caught sight of their Savior standing in the doorway looking murderously at the Mayor.
"Mom!" Henry exclaimed as he made a move to get out of the booth. His mind was spinning with possibilities as to what had driven Emma to this rage, and not seeing the cuffs on her wrists he wondered how she had gotten out.
"No," Regina said stopping him, "Stay here. Do not do anything. Either of you." She added looking at Snow and David as well as Henry, "I will handle this." It was obvious that somehow something triggered Emma's mental madness, but what she did not understand was how did Emma break the cuffs?
Getting up she walks over to Emma slowly and trying to act as unthreatening as possible, leaving a foot of space between them, "Emma, is everything ok?" Regina asked slowly, surprising everyone in the diner with how soft and gentle her voice was.
Emma looks at her and other flashes along with the whispers come to her. After a few moments she says, "You are the Evil Queen. You cursed everyone in the Enchanted Forest to this damned realm. You destroyed multiple lives, making life here a living hell; including mine. Real or not real?"
Regina swallowed a bit and quickly scanned the room. It was clear that while the people in the diner were well aware of Emma being the Dark One along with Killian and that the darkness was destroyed, it was still a new fact that Emma was suffering the after affects and that it was not clear as to what the problem was. She sent, what she hoped to be, a reassuring look that she had this under control and to not panic. Locking eyes with Emma she said, "Real. It was the time of the first curse, and I was very angry and-"
Emma cut her off, not caring for that detail or excuses. In her mind only two things mattered, "You killed Graham. Real or not real?" That was the first.
Regina's eyes widened. His name had not been mentioned by Emma in a real long while. She then turned to Henry, Snow, and David sitting at the table, their eyes also wide. Looking back at Emma, and having everyone watching the confrontation she sighed and said, "Real, but Emma please let me-"
"No!" Emma yelled as she took a step forward and Regina took a step back, "I knew it! You killed him! He did absolutely nothing aside from coming to me because he was absolutely miserable!"
Regina was shocked at this and somehow an event that she had not thought about for a long time entered her mind as Emma continued, "Like did you ever once stop to think that maybe the problem wasn't with me, but with you?"
"Excuse me?" Regina asked as she felt something run down her spine. Those words echoed in her head with familiarity as she watched Emma's eyes starting to glaze over to a much darker shade of hazel. Then she knew why, those words were said at her father's mausoleum. The final night she saw Graham alive.
"You heard me," Emma nearly snarled out, "Henry came and found me. Graham kissed me. Both were miserable. Maybe, Madam Mayor, you should have taken a good hard look in the mirror and ask yourself why that was. Why was everyone running away from you?" She spat out, then suddenly she closed her eyes and quickly turned away and began to hold her head in pain.
Regina was standing in shock as the words crashed down on her, and a moment later she starts watching Emma as she is muttering to herself. People are starting to leave and run out the door, as if sensing an eruption about to occur, but Regina does not care one bit as she catches the few words that Emma is speaking: Gave it to me, stop thinking, and finally she hears her call Henry's name. Seeing that more people are starting to leave and turning to see pained expressions on Snow, David, and Henry's face, Regina turns back to Emma and finally speaks, "Emma what are you seeing?" Regina asks slowly.
Emma shook her head as more voices and images are coming to her. Finally the pain stops and she says, "You…you did this." Turning back around she says again, voice low and predatory like, "You did this."
Suddenly before anyone could react, Emma grabs Regina and throws her against a wall, "MOM!" Henry exclaims as he tries to move to get to them, but Snow and David hold him back, as Regina struggles to defend herself.
It was at this point most of the people are running out of the diner, and Archie, Belle, Gold, Killian and Robin with the rest of the dwarves enter just as the fight is ending with Emma pinning Regina to the wall, "Regina!" Robin exclaims just as Killian yells, "Emma!"
Both men try and go over to the women when Snow says, "No!" They spin and look at each other and Henry stops struggling to look at his grandmother in confusion just as they are, "Regina said to not interfere."
"Not interfere?! Look at them!" Robin exclaims as he points.
"Listen to her." Regina says as she struggles against Emma's grip as it just dawns on her as to what is happening, "I think her mind is making her relive a memory, just let us recreate it. It might snap her out of it." Looking at Robin she pleads with him to trust her and he nods as he allows himself to be pulled aside.
"A memory?" Killian whispers as he too is pulled to the side. He is looking at Archie now, "You mentioned that before."
"I did," he says as he looks at Snow, David and Henry, "Grumpy mentioned what could have triggered this."
They looked at Grumpy and he gave them the quick rundown version as they turned back to each other, "So that would explain it." Snow said looking painfully at her daughter.
"But what memory is she-" David starts to ask as Emma starts talking.
"You did this!" Emma yelled again as she puts more pressure on Regina's throat.
"Did what?" Regina choked out trying to figure out which memory this was. After all she did a lot of things and she was seriously hoping that this particular fight was not what she thought it was…after all there was only two times her and Emma actually physically fought without magic involved. The first was in the cemetery, and the other was-
"Henry is sick because of you!" Ok so it was, Regina thought as Emma shouted at her, "That apple turnover you gave me? He ate it!"
Henry's heart ached at how desperate Emma was sounding. He wanted to yell at her that he was fine, but he knew that would only make things worse than what they already were. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to see that it was Killian. Looking back over he saw a pained expression come over his other mother's face and seeing that she locked eyes with him, he knew she was going to say something that would definitely hurt him and it was a plea to forgive her. He sighed and mentally prepared himself for what was about to be said, he gave a small nod.
Regina hated what she was about to do however as she saw Henry nod, at least she knew that she was forgiven. So steeling herself and allowing the memory of that day to come to her, she started to play her part, "What?" She asked devastated at first, then angrily she glared at Emma and yelled, "It was meant for you!"
David and Killian both growled and Snow held a hand to her mouth to silence her gasp. Robin was just standing there, hating how he could plainly see that Regina was hurting having to relive this memory. She had told him how the curse had broken in this realm the first time and what had transpired when he had inquired how things were before. He knew that she was ashamed now for all that had happened, but even he could see that this event was still painful to her.
Belle was upset at the situation and Gold was doing his best to offer comfort and wishing there was some way he could make this all go away. Archie, while he was taking notes as to what was occurring, was also devastated at having to hear two mothers of one significant brave and special child (now a young man) so pained and one actually thinking was gone, "It's true, isn't it?" Emma gasped fully trapped in the memory.
"What are you talking about?" Regina asked back knowing what was happening, after all this was the day everything changed.
Emma glared through with messing around with the woman, "It's true, isn't it? All of it."
Regina sighed, "Yes." The pain in her voice was real, nearly everything in this particular case was true…and she hated every minute of it as the darkness made Emma relive one of the worse moments of their lives.
Emma had let Regina go and was pacing the diner. Some of the people that had stayed were watching intently, hoping to learn what was going on, "I was leaving town." Emma eventually said, oblivious to everyone with the exception of Regina, "Why couldn't you just leave things alone?" She asked desperately.
David's heart ached, there were a lot of things Emma left out when she and he had actually talked about this day. Of course he knew that she had told Snow everything eventually, but then again to her at one point he was just the man that screwed her best friend over. She only had given him the cliff notes version along with the fight with the dragon. He saw Snow shaking slightly and found her hand. Giving it a squeeze, he tried to comfort her, but knowing that it was impossible at the moment, especially when he needed some as well.
Snow remembered chewing Emma out when she had found out about her idea and near success of kidnapping Henry. However this was nothing than hearing two people that she cared for talking as if their son was already dead. Snow, with her eyes still glued on the scene, found Henry and she pulled him close. He allowed her to hold him and he swallowed as he watched his mother's talk as if he was dead…well in a cursed sleep, "Because as long as you're alive, Henry will never be mine!" Regina yelled out forcibly. It really pained her to say this, after all she had come to accept the fact that Henry was never fully her's a long time ago.
Emma glared at her harshly, "He'll never be anyone's unless you fix this. You wake him up!"
"I can't!" Regina yelled out trying to sound convincing.
"Don't you have magic?"
Regina sighed and threw her arms in the air in disbelief, trying to make this as convincing as possible, "That was the last of it." Then to add the final touch to the argument, "It was supposed to put you to sleep!"
Killian was watching with interest as Regina and Emma went back and forth. He could not believe what was happening. It was bad enough of hearing voices, but now having memories hijacked and twisted so that you believe your loved ones are your enemies? Robin had explained to him what was happening before they had come to Granny's. The plan was to sit and talk about how to best handle the situation. Once they were done, they were supposed to go and see Emma at the station. Of course when they had run into the dwarves talking in the street on high alert, they knew that something was wrong. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Regina say, "We need help. There's one other person in this town who knows about this… Knows about magic."
"Mr. Gold." Emma said in realization.
Everyone looked towards the man in question, he tried not making eye contact with them as he looked at the scene, "Actually, he goes by Rumpelstiltskin."
"Rumpelstiltskin." Emma repeated, at this she closed her eyes as another round of pain shout through her head and she backed away from Regina, "Make it stop." She growled out.
"Emma talk to me." Regina stated knowing that the memory was over. It was as if the former Dark One's name was a trigger.
"We saved him. Real or not real?" Emma snarled out against the pain, but still had deep rooted anger towards the woman.
"Half real. You actually saved Henry." Regina stated quickly, "Gold tricked us. He-"
"Told us to go to the library. I fought a dragon. He tied you up and took an egg from me?" Emma questioned.
Everyone glared at the man in question, "Oh come on. That was a while ago." He said in defense.
"Was that the same-?" Belle started to ask. Gold held up a finger and pointed to Regina.
"That egg had a potion. He brought magic to this town." Regina explained, "He used it first to summon-"
"A wraith. He had it attack you after we locked you up for your safety." Emma responded with her eyes still closed and she shook her head. The voices were becoming slightly faint, although there were still flashes of memory coming to her.
"Yes, the town turned into a lynch mob and was calling for my head." Regina stated.
The few brave souls that stayed in the diner had the decency to look somewhat ashamed for their past actions. There was silence as Emma saw more memories, some were shiny and others were black and white, however for now the black and white ones were becoming more prominent, which caused her to ask as she opened her eyes, "We are friends. Real or not real?"
The group let out a breath that they did not know they were holding, "Real. Personally I like to think we are best friends. We developed a bond in Neverland and events afterward-"
"I trusted you…I do trust you. Real or not real?" Emma asked again cutting Regina off.
Regina did not know how to respond, so she looks at the group. Each person nods in response, so she says, "Real. You trusted me with the dagger in Camelot."
"Camelot…" Emma repeated slowly as her eyes again glazed over once more, seeing a memory that no one else could see until she started speaking again, causing shivers to go down the peoples' spines as they recalled her tone being that of a Dark One, "No. The fight to control my darkness has just begun. It's too much power. Someone needs to watch me." Her voice is almost hypnotic in nature and as she takes a step closer to Regina, Emma holds her hand out. A puff of black smoke appears in her hand that materializes into a dagger.
Regina is numb as Emma offers the dagger to her, "Are you serious?" These words have so much weight aside from unknowingly recreating the memory that is plaguing Emma's mind. As is everyone else in the room who is watching dumbfounded.
"I saved you. Now save me. And if you can't save me, do what no one else will willingly do." This time Emma's voice becomes urgent and desperate, making Regina question if this is still part of the episode or if Emma is back to being conscious of her actions and surroundings, "You're the only one who will get past their feelings and do what is necessary... Destroy me." She watches as dark hazel eyes turn to normal and before anyone could say anything, Emma vanishes in a cloud of smoke.
The weight of the dagger is still in her hand as the group comes closer to her. The side with the name is facing downwards, and she has a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, "Ok what the bloody hell is that?" Killian asks first.
"It's a dagger." Robin states slowly as he looks at it too.
"I can very well see that, what I mean is-?"
"Is it the dagger?" David asks as everyone looks at Gold in question.
Regina's grip tightens around the hilt as he looks at it, "Flip it over." He says making no move to grab it or take it. Regina does so and everyone feels sick. There on the metal in black writing is the name: Emma Swan, "It is real I am afraid." Gold says gravely after a few moments, "I would know that damned thing anywhere."
"As would I." Killian stated once he got a better look as well as he now struggled to sit in a chair agreeing with his former adversary's assessment.
"Then what the hell happened to Excalibur?" Snow asked her face pale, now fully remembering if they had taken it with them, before dragging Emma off to Gold's shop.
"And how is my Mom a Dark One again?" Henry asked. They all shared a look as Regina held the dagger once more in her hand.