The new Emma
Jade Star asked for a oneshot of *season 5 spoilers!* Snow giving Dark One Emma her baby blanket in the diner, imploring her to remember her old self. Emma looks disgusted, but Snow can tell that flickers of Emma's old self are still in there.
When I saw her come in, I didn't want to believe what I knew was going through everyone else's minds. I didn't want to believe that Emma had given into the darkness. She was still my daughter, my Emma. She was still good. She walked towards me and I could see her hand extending towards my face. It's basic maternal instinct, to lean in towards your child's touch. I leant forward as I saw Emma's fingers come close to my cheek. I didn't see the malice in her face that everyone else saw. I just saw my daughter reaching for me. Then her fingers made contact with my skin, and I couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath. Her fingers…they were like ice. That's when at least a part of me knew…she had given in. Apparently we had failed her during those six missing weeks. How? What had we done that was so terrible? Charming and I would have done everything in our power to help Emma. Of that I was sure.
If I hadn't known then, it was confirmed when she turned Sneezy to stone. I'm sure Regina could reverse the process, but that wasn't the point. She was using her powers for evil. She wanted to punish us for something we had no memory of. An event we currently had no chance to make amends for. I could see only one small slither of hope to get Emma back.
"Emma stop!" I yelled desperately. Emma froze and turned to look at me, no emotion what so ever in her eyes. Now I understood how she felt when she hugged me during her time travel trip. I quickly handed Neal to Charming and ran to where I knew her baby blanket was from the journey to find her. I had made sure to keep it safe, knowing how important it was not just to Emma, but to Charming and me. I walked over to Emma, ignoring the part of my brain that wanted me to be cautious. She was my daughter, she would not hurt me. I held the blanket out to her. "This isn't you." I told her. "This isn't the Emma we all know and love. Emma, don't let the darkness win. I don't remember what happened in Camelot but we can fix it together. Please, come back to us…" I held the blanket right out to her, but she took a step back, staring at it in disgust. But as I looked into her eyes, I could see just a tiny flicker of her old self. Just a small spark of hope amongst the swirling hatred. I knew then that we could not give up on her, that we had to keep trying. That we would succeed. We would bring back my daughter.