Emma had always been good at packing her suitcase. Mostly involuntarily, she had never stayed in one place for long, which is why she had now packed everything important into her travel bag, which she loaded into her Beetle in no time at all. She didn't know where she was going. All she knew was that she couldn't stay in a completely deserted town while her family was who knows where and she could go into labor at any moment.
She had imagined it would be so nice: a steady partner, a cozy house in a small town, peace, quiet and a child together that she would watch grow up. And now everything was just as uncertain as it had been with her first pregnancy, only this time at least she wasn't in prison. She laughed ironically and wondered when she would be arrested to top it all off.
As she slammed the trunk shut, her cell phone rang, which she awkwardly fished out of her jacket pocket. Just as her fingers had completely removed it from the lining, she heard Hook's voice behind her, addressing her.
"Swan!"
In that moment of shock, she dropped her cell phone, which immediately fell silent after hitting the pavement.
Emma turned around, only to find no one behind her, just as it had been the whole time. She awkwardly picked up her cell phone, which had a large crack in the display and could no longer be switched on. "Great." Her cell phone was broken and she heard voices. The only thing missing now was the arrest.
"Swan!" she heard again, this time a little louder and more impatient.
Emma blinked and walked slowly in the direction of the sound. "Killian?!" she called back, feeling silly, but who was supposed to hear her?
"Emma, in the shed!"
With all the crazy things she'd experienced over the last few years, she shouldn't think anything was strange, but here she was, following her husband's disembodied voice as he ordered her into the shed.
xxx
It was cold in the small garden shed; the few rays of sunshine during the day had not been able to heat it up and Emma shivered not only because of the cold but also because of the eerie situation.
"Swan!" it sounded again and Emma turned her head towards the shelves on the wall.
The voice came from one of the dusty boxes and as curious as she was, the whole thing frightened her. The town was deserted and it could be a curse, that much she had learned by now. Then the voice could also be dark magic designed to lure her into a trap.
"Killian," she called out again without moving and listened intently.
"Emma, dear! I almost don't understand you. There's a silver crystal in one of the boxes, speak into it!" said the clearly relieved voice that belonged to Hook.
Emma took a deep breath and slowly opened the lid of the box. She cleared away all sorts of mementos, from a broken button to a glass bottle covered in algae on the inside, before finally finding a glowing crystal and carefully clasping it in her fist.
"Killian?" Hesitantly, she spoke to the glistening sparkle, just waiting for a portal to transport her to another world. Or worse.
"Love, you heard us."
"Us?" Emma asked.
"Henry is with me. And everyone else. Listen, there was a curse and it's been broken, so everyone from the fairy world has been brought back to the Enchanted Forest."
Confused by Hook's quick explanation, Emma shook her head. "I'm from the fairy world too," she pointed out. "I'm in Storybrooke."
"We don't quite understand that part yet. And there's another problem. Regina's not with us, and Henry says she was hurt before he broke the curse. He thinks she might have... died and that's why she didn't make it back," he said slowly and carefully.
Emma had to digest these words first and placed her free hand on her belly.
"Love? How are you and our girl?" Hook's soft voice asked as if he had been watching her.
"Great, we're fine. Just... What am I supposed to do now?"
"Try to find Regina. I'm sure she knows a spell and if she doesn't, or if you can't find her, or she... Take the crystal with you, it needs to be recharged first, but then we'll figure out another plan, alright?"
Emma nodded and brushed her hair back from her forehead. "Sure, yeah."
Hook was giving her all the information he had, including where everyone had been when the curse was broken. "Swan? I love you. Take care of you," he finally asked her gently.
"I love you, too. Say hi to Henry for me, I don't want him to worry."
Had Emma pushed her call away? The dial tone had just sounded and now the constant buzzing on the line told her that no one would answer her call. The second attempt was exactly the same. With a furrowed brow, Regina put the phone aside again and rested her head in her hands. They had parted on good terms and there was no reason for Emma not to speak to her. Sure, she hadn't contacted her in all that time, but that had been partly due to the curse they had all been unwittingly trapped in again. At least in part, but Emma had no way of knowing that.
Resigned, Regina leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. Her last hope of help was gone and there was nothing she could do but hope for a miracle.
"What did you mean by 'recharge'?" Henry wanted to know after Hook and he had gone over the conversation with Emma again.
"Well, a magic item like that doesn't work all the time. Your speaking devices also need to be constantly recharged."
Even if that was an argument, Henry still couldn't imagine how to recharge a magic crystal. "And how do we do that? Hardly with a charging cable and a socket," he replied, looking at Hook with anticipation.
"Of course not. We have to let the light of the full moon charge it."
"But it's not a full moon at all."
Hook looked at him and nodded with curled lips. "That's the downside to the whole thing."
"Why didn't you let me talk to Mom if you knew it was the last chance?" Henry said, scowling at him now.
"Because I don't want to scare Emma any more. She's pregnant with your sister, completely alone, and she's supposed to go in search of Regina and heaven only knows what awaits her."
His last harsh words made Henry fall silent and look into the forest. He was right in what he said, but it hurt. As much as he cared about Emma, his other mom might not be alive and that thought was worse than anything. "I wish I'd never broken the curse," he said quietly.
"A foolish thought, if what you've told us is to be believed. We'd all be dead or damned by now."
Henry just nodded and walked back the way they had come. "We should be on our way if we want to get to the castle before nightfall."
Emma stared at the crystal in her hand for a while, which no longer glowed silver, and then turned her head back to the shed door, which let in the warm rays of the now slowly setting sun. She had at least gotten a few answers to her many questions, but she didn't like most of them at all. Her fears had come true and once again she was completely alone and on her own, as she had been for most of her life.
The only ray of hope was the chance to find Regina. After all, she was good at tracking people down and had made a living at it before her time in Storybrooke. This wouldn't have been possible if she wasn't good at her job. However, she feared that in this case it would prove to be much more difficult than usual. Killian had given her detailed descriptions of where everyone had been during the curse, but it was doubtful that anything had changed, now that it had been broken. Besides, she wasn't sure if she could ask anyone and if they could remember all the time that had passed. It was possible that not even Regina was able to remember.
Lost in thought, Emma shivered again and was reminded that she was still standing motionless in the garden shed. Slowly, she put the box back in its place, but tucked the crystal safely into the inside pocket of her jacket so as not to lose it and miss any attempt by Killian or Henry to contact her.
Henry. She hoped he and his family were all right. Killian wouldn't lie to her about that, would he? She quickly shook her head and went back into the house, knowing that her thoughts wouldn't necessarily be any clearer if she was also worrying about whether her husband was lying to her or not.
Now that she knew roughly where her journey would take her and what to expect, Emma grabbed a few more things, stuffed them into an extra rucksack and then loaded it into the car next to her travel bag.
As she was about to close the trunk lid, she paused in her movement and remembered the phone call she had received shortly before. If her family was in Storybrooke, none of them could have called her. Outside of Storybrooke, no one knew her number after she'd changed it following some questionable calls from former clients. Her heart skipped a beat as she put one and one together and came to the conclusion that there was only one person left who could have tried to contact her. Regina had to be alive.