When a nightmare becomes reality
Snowing4ever asked for a oneshot of the aftermath of Snow's nightmare from 4x14. I've adapted your request slightly, hope you don't mind!
Snow's eyes flew open, her heart felt like it had fallen into her stomach. Maleficent had been holding her baby, a subtle threat on his life. She had threatened her whole family because of what she'd done. Snow knew it was just a dream but she still had to check that her family was safe. Charming was sleeping peacefully beside her. She got out of bed and peered over Neal's cot to see him dreaming contently. She walked out of the room and could see Henry's shadow as he snoozed on the couch. He was too old to share a bed with Emma when he stayed here now and insisted she took the bed as he still fit the couch better. Snow smiled at her chivalrous little grandson. Well, not so little anymore. Snow was back at ease as she headed up the stairs to check the final member of her family- Emma.
But as she entered her room Snow's heart plunged back into the depths of her stomach. Maleficent stood over Emma's sleeping form.
"What are you-" Snow saw that Emma was still sleeping. She knew that if Emma didn't wake up she could sort this out without frightening her. "What are you doing here?" Snow said, lowering her tone. Maleficent gave her a wicked smile.
"Enjoy my little nightmare, did you Snow White? Don't worry, Emma is a heavy sleeper. You don't need to lower your tone. You would know that if you'd ever been up here to check on her at night."
"Have you been up here before?" Snow asked her. Maleficent just gave a knowing smile. "Have you been up here before?" Snow repeated, snarling. Maleficent still didn't answer her. Snow wasn't having this, she moved to grab Maleficent and force her away from Emma but suddenly something snaked round her waist pinning her arms to her side, rendering her immobile.
"Temper temper, Snow White." Snow looked to her side and saw that it was Ursula who had trapped her. No matter how much Snow struggled against her tentacles they didn't give. Ursula chuckled darkly. "Oh I have missed these. Makes life so much easier."
"You want to talk to me? Fine. You even want to do it in here, fine. Just let me sit next to Emma. Let me hold her hand." Snow knew that if she could have contact with Emma there wasn't a force on this Earth that could make the witches let her go.
"Oh I don't think so darling." Snow turned her head to her other side to see that Cruella was standing on the other of the room. "You see, there are three emotions that are more powerful than the rest: love, hate and fear. While we have you standing there we have all three."
"Aren't you worried this will backfire on you? That I'll overpower you and kill you right here? Because trust me if I get loose from these tentacles I will kill all three of you for threatening my daughter." Snow warned them. None of the witches showed even a hint of fear.
"Even if you did break free, which you won't, it would take me a split second to kill Emma and you wouldn't want to risk that, would you?" Snow stayed silent, just staring at Maleficent with pure fury. "I didn't think so." Maleficent smiled down at Emma. "So vulnerable when we sleep, aren't we? No matter what age we are. Anyone could just come along and slit our throats."
"Maleficent your problem is with me, not my daughter. Leave her out of this and take your vengeance out on me." Snow begged her. She could see Emma lying there, she just looked so small. Snow just wanted to throw herself between Emma and Maleficent and keep her safe.
"But your daughter and I have history too, don't we? She tried to kill me, made a pretty good of it too. Surely it would only be justice if she died?"
"No!" Snow begged. "No, leave her alone. Everything that's happened between you and Emma is down to me. Take it out on me." Snow begged her. Just then, the floorboards outside creaked.
"Snow is everything-" Charming saw the situation in the bedroom. He saw Maleficent hovering over Emma's bed, Cruella standing menacingly in the corner and Ursula standing in the other corner with a tentacle trapping his wife. "Oh Hell no." Charming moved to strangle Maleficent with his bare hands, but Maleficent caught and trapped him too. He struggled like Snow had, but saw it was useless.
"Careful now, Prince Charming. We wouldn't want to wake precious Emma up now would we?" Maleficent said deviously.
"Maleficent this has nothing to do with Emma. She's innocent in all of this. Leave her out of it."
"My, my, we do care about her don't we."
"Of course we care." Charming snapped. "She's our daughter. Let's just get to the bottom of this so you can leave her be. What do you all want?"
"What if we said we wanted your boy? Would you give him to us in exchange for Emma?"
"Maleficent you aren't leaving here with either of our children or our grandson so cut the crap and tell us what you really want." Snow warned her.
"Oh Snow, but I really do want Emma. I just thought you should know exactly what we're going to do to her. Don't worry, we're not going to kill her. We need her alive. Emma is going to be the one to give us our happy endings. To do that, well, we're going to have to turn her heart as black as coal. " Maleficent said far too happily. "She's going to hate you both. She's going to be like us. A villain."
"You leave her heart alone. Leave every inch of her alone." Snow growled. Emma was a hero. A hero with a pure heart and she would not allow these villains to taint that."
"You're not really going to have a choice, sweet things." Cruella droned. Maleficent leaned down and planted her lips gently against Emma's forehead. Snow felt the same icy feeling she'd had in her dream when Maleficent was holding Neal.
"Don't touch her." Snow said quickly. Both her and Charming were now struggling against their tentacle bindings. They saw how Emma's face scrunched up in discomfort at the contact and she moved her head away.
"You're upsetting her, leave her alone." Charming warned.
"I'm not upsetting her at all. I'm just giving her a glimpse at her potential. The seed has been planted. You will pay for what you did to us, so called heroes. With a cloud of purple smoke, all three witches were gone. Snow and Charming bolted forward to Emma's bedside. Snow cupped her cheek, stroking her thump down it as Charming ran his fingers through her hair until her features smoothed out. They didn't want her having nightmares at all let alone nightmares about hating them and becoming a villain. They wouldn't let their past affect her.