Chapter 50
Wow! Chapter 50! I can't believe it! This story would be nothing without all of you! Your reviews really help keep me going! I appreciate you all so much! Thanks for all of your support! I hope you like this chapter! Enjoy :)
Hanna had to practically sprint after Emma once she made it outside and finally spotted her. She was moving pretty fast. Hanna was just glad Emma didn't poof herself somewhere, then she'd probably never be able to find her. Hanna followed Emma all the way to the docks and sat down beside her on the bench. Hanna didn't even know what to say. She was still trying to come to terms with what her parents had done. She was still having a hard time believing it all.
"I thought you said they would never lie to us," Hanna said as a few tears fell from her eyes.
"Yeah, well I guess they did," Emma said. There were tears in her eyes too that threatened to spill out at any moment.
The sister's sat in silence for a few minutes and Hanna thought back to what their parents said about the vision they saw. "Emma, what if I'm the evil one? The evil one in the vision?" she asked.
Emma sighed. "Han, we don't even know how the vision works. It could have been either one of us. Or neither of us, since apparently all the evil was transferred into Maleficent's baby," Emma said with a roll of her eyes.
"But I do kind of get into a lot of trouble."
"Not nearly as much as I did at your age, maybe I'm the bad one," Emma said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"No, you're the savior," Hanna said as she shook her head. "You'll never be evil."
Emma just shook her head. She wasn't so sure considering the way she felt right now.
"I was hoping my suspicions about them lying was all in my head…that I was wrong."
"I was the one who was wrong," Emma said as she turned to look at her sister. "When I told you not to see the worst in people. I was wrong. You always have to be on your guard because people will always let you down."
"But Emma they're still our parents. Maybe it was just a mistake…"
"No. They lied. I trusted them. We trusted them, and they lied to us. I wanted to believe in them…" Emma said as she tried to keep her stupid tears from falling.
"Emma, I know they lied, but maybe we can still believe in them we can…"
"Hanna just stop," Emma said as she quickly stood up and turned away from her sister. She wiped away a few of the tears that had fallen down her cheeks. Her sister couldn't understand. She hadn't been let down as much as Emma has in her life. She couldn't deal with all of this anymore. She turned back to Hanna. "I just…I can't talk about this right now."
"Emma, don't shut me out. We can get through this together," Hanna said as she stood up beside her and looked into her eyes.
Emma gave her sister a small smile. "Han, I just need some time, okay? We will talk, I promise. Just…"
"Emma no. Don't so this," Hanna pleaded. She knew this is what Emma did…pushed people away. Hanna wouldn't let her do that this time.
"Hanna, I just need to be alone for a little while. I need to think all of this through!"
"You don't need to be alone though."
"Hanna please," Emma begged. "Just go home."
"I'm not going anywhere," Hanna told her firmly.
"Fine," Her sister was so stubborn, and if Hanna wouldn't go home on her own, then Emma would just have to make her. She knew Hanna needed someone to talk to. She really did, but Emma couldn't do this right now. She just needed a little time to herself. She would talk to Hanna more later just like she said she would.
Hanna could see the look in her sister's eyes. She knew what she was going to do. "Emma don't even…" Hanna started to say, but she saw her sister wave her hand right before she felt herself being transported away from there. "…think about it." Hanna finished just as she found herself back at the loft.
"Hanna, what…how did you get back here? Did you…" David was just about to ask if Hanna had used her magic to poof herself back here.
"Emma did it. I wasn't using my magic," Hanna said with a roll of her eyes. She turned to walk up the stairs to her room. She was not in the mood to talk with them right now.
"Hanna, please wait. Let us explain," Snow said as she followed Hanna to the stairs.
Hanna was halfway up the stairs and turned around to face her mother. "You wouldn't give me a chance to explain myself last night, so why should I give you a chance to explain about all of this?" Hanna then went the rest of the way up the stairs and into her bedroom without even waiting for a response.
After a few minutes, Hanna heard knocking on her door. She just sighed. She should have known they weren't going to let what she just said go. They were going to want to talk about that…and probably about everything else too. Part of her didn't want to even listen to what they had to say, but the other part wanted to hear their explanation, maybe to help her understand why they did what they did. Part of Hanna wanted so desperately to forgive her parents and just put all of this behind them. They were still her mom and dad. She loved them so much and didn't want to think badly of them.
Hanna didn't answer, but Snow and David went into her room anyways.
"I didn't say you could come in," Hanna mumbled as they walked towards her.
"Hanna, we need to talk. May I sit down?" Snow asked.
"I guess so," Hanna said as she scooted over, giving her mom some room.
"Want to tell us what you meant down there, kiddo?" David asked as he sat down on the other side of her.
"Just forget about it," Hanna said as she shook her head.
"No, Hanna. Is this about when I took your phone last night?" Snow asked her.
"Yeah," Hanna said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Why don't you tell me what really happened then?"
Hanna just sighed and pulled her knees to her chest. She didn't see the point.
"Please?" Snow asked with a small smile.
"Fine…Henry had my phone. He turned a song on and didn't realize the volume was up so loud. He threw the phone to me so I could turn the music down before waking anyone. He didn't throw it far enough though, and it fell on the floor. That's when Neal started crying. I was on the floor trying to turn it off when you came into the room."
"Oh," Snow said after listening to Hanna's explanation. That definitely wasn't what she thought happened. Her heart sunk. She should have listened to Hanna last night.
"Yeah, so that's what really happened," Hanna said.
"Hanna, I am so sorry. I was just so," Snow was about to make an excuse about being stressed out, but stopped herself. There was no excuse. She was completely in the wrong. "I should have given you a chance to explain yourself. I'm truly sorry."
Hanna just shrugged her shoulders. "It's fine."
"No, it's not fine," Snow said as she shook her head. "I hope you'll forgive me?"
"Yeah, I'm not even mad about that anymore anyways," Hanna told her, which was true.
"We know you're still mad about the other thing though," David said.
"Yeah I am," Hanna said.
"Hanna, you understand that we didn't know, right? We had no idea there was an actual baby inside that egg or that the baby was going to get sent away," David said.
"I do understand that. I just don't get why you felt like you had to do it in the first place or why you've been lying about it."
"We couldn't take the chance of our child becoming a villain," Snow told her.
"But you don't even know if that really would have happened! You should of had faith that we would have grown up good…faith in yourselves that you would raise us that way."
"But Hanna. You didn't see it. The vision…" Snow had a hard time reimagining what she saw when she touched that unicorn's horn.
Hanna just now realized that her mom would know exactly which of them she saw in her version of what the unicorn showed them. "What did you see in the vision exactly?"
"I told you," Snow said with a shrug of her shoulders. "My child ripped my heart out and crushed it."
Hanna could tell her mom was dancing around her question. She knew what Hanna was trying to ask. "Mom," Hanna said with a sigh. "Was it me or Emma. I know you know."
"Hanna, that doesn't matter," David said.
"No, Dad. It does. Mom, just tell me," Hanna pleaded.
Snow shook her head. "Your dad's right. We…we took the evil out. We did what we did so we could protect…" Snow let her head drop into her hands.
"Mom, just stop it. Tell me. Please," Hanna said as tears started to fall down her cheeks. "I have to know if it was me. You could have taken all of the evil out of Emma, and the one in the vision was me. You didn't even know you had two babies…what if…"
"It was Emma," Snow said as she pulled her hands away and finally told Hanna the truth. The child in her vision had blonde hair, so it had to of been Emma.
"What?" Hanna asked in disbelief.
"The girl in my vision was Emma. That doesn't mean anything though. Your father and I didn't do what we did for nothing," Snow said as she shook her head. "Neither one of you are evil or ever will be. The vision doesn't matter anymore."
"You're…you're right it doesn't," Hanna said as she shook her head. It doesn't matter because Emma is the savior. She couldn't be evil, she never would be. The vision about her becoming evil wouldn't come true, and Hanna was grateful for that.
"Hanna, we realize what we did was wrong," David told her.
"If we could take it back we would," Snow added.
Hanna just nodded her head. She knew they meant what they said. What they did was awful, but at the time they didn't think they had another choice. Hanna was still upset with them though. "But you lied to us. Ever since Cruella and Ursula came to town, you've been lying."
"We know," Snow said with a sigh.
"We just thought we could handle all of this so you and Emma would never have to know," David said.
"But we trusted you. We trusted that you would never lie to us, then you did and…"
"We're sorry, Hanna. We made a mistake," Snow said.
"We just didn't know how to tell you. We were ashamed of what we did," David added.
"I understand…I just…it might just take some time for me to trust you again," Hanna told them. She wanted more than anything to completely trust them again and pretend like none of this ever happened, but she couldn't. A part of her would always be wondering if they were lying to her about something, at least for awhile.
"That's okay, Hanna. We'll earn your trust back," David told her.
"No matter how long it takes," Snow said with a smile.
Hanna just nodded her head. "Can I be alone for awhile now?"
"Sure princess," David said as he gave her a kiss on the top of her head, before standing to leave.
Hanna looked up at her mom when she felt her hold on to her hands.
"We love you Hanna, so much. Don't ever forget that, okay?" Snow said as she looked deep into her daughter's eyes.
Hanna just nodded her head and watched her parents leave her room.
Awhile later, Hanna heard the front door open. She rushed out of her room and down the stairs, hoping her sister had finally come home. Hanna closed her eyes and sighed with relief when she saw Emma closing the door behind her.
"Emma, you're back! I was afraid you…"
"We let the author out of the book," Emma said interrupting her sister. "I went to check on August and we released him from the page."
"The author?" Snow asked as she came rushing into the room.
David was right behind her. "Where is he?"
"Gone," Emma said as she walked towards the stairs, not bothering to even look at her parents.
"Emma, wait," Snow called after her.
Emma took a deep breath and turned back around. "He just ran away, and I couldn't find him," Emma told her, hoping that would be enough detail and her mother would just leave her alone.
"Emma, I'm sorry you lost him, but we're glad you're back. We…"
"I'm not staying. Just getting a few things I need," Emma said as she went up the stairs and into her room, not giving either of her parents the chance to say anything else.
Hanna sighed as she watched her sister go up the stairs. Clearly that time she needed to herself hadn't lightened her mood at all. She was still very angry. Emma was back downstairs within two minutes. She had a bag slung over her shoulder and made straight for the door.
"Emma, please. Let's just talk about this," Snow pleaded as she stepped in front of the door.
"No," Emma told her firmly.
"Emma, what we did…it was one incident from our past," David said, his eyes begging her to try and understand.
"Don't downplay it," Emma practically shouted.
"Well, we've changed," Snow said. We've tried to become the parents you deserve."
Emma closed her eyes in frustration. "I am only the savior because you altered the state of my being at the expense of someone else's soul!"
"You're right. What we did, it was wrong. But we…we didn't fully understand what we were doing. We acted out of fear. We're human," David told her.
"Yeah, well right now I don't care. None of that matters now. We have to find that author before Gold does," Emma said.
"At least, let us help you," Snow said as she went to put on her coat, not taking no for an answer.
"Fine," Emma said with a sigh. "But you two look by yourselves. Killian's helping me. We'll cover more ground searching separately."
"Alright," David told her. They would do to what she said, at least she agreed to let them help.
"Emma, wait," Hanna said as she ran up to her sister, who was just about to walk out the door.
Emma sighed and turned to look at her little sister. "Han, I have to go do this, okay?" Emma told her. The look in Hanna's eyes made her feel guilty. Emma knelt down and took ahold of her sister's shoulders. "We'll talk about all of this tomorrow, okay?"
"You promise?"
"I do," Emma said with a smile as she pulled her sister in for a hug.
Hanna wrapped her arms around Emma. "Just be careful."
"I always am," Emma said with a wink as she stood to leave. She looked up and saw that her parents were ready to go. Emma just turned and left without saying anything to them.
Snow sighed. She was so caught up with wanting to make amends with Emma, that she forgot that someone needed to stay here with Neal. She felt bad asking Hanna to watch him again. "Why don't you go ahead. I'll stay here," Snow told David as she started to take off her coat.
"Mom, wait," Hanna said. She could tell how much her mom wanted to go help. "I don't mind watching Neal. You can go with Dad."
"Hanna are you sure?" Snow asked. "I know I've we've been asking you to watch him a lot lately and…"
"Yeah it's fine, don't make such a big deal about it," Hanna said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Just go."
"Thanks, kiddo," David told her.
Hanna just nodded her head and watched her parents leave. She didn't mind doing this favor for them despite the fact that she was still upset with them. Hanna hoped this may help Emma be a little less mad at them too, plus she loved spending one on one time with Neal.
"Any luck?" Hanna asked once her parents came through the door a few hours later.
David shook his head. "We had him at one point, but he got away again."
Hanna noticed her parents exchange glances. "What is it?" She knew there was more to the story.
"We knew him," Snow told her.
"Wait, you know the author?" Hanna asked.
"We met him a long time ago before you and Emma were born. He um…" Snow wasn't sure how to explain just how they knew him.
"He manipulated us," David continued. "It's because of him we were put on the path to causing Maleficent to lose her child." David and Snow continued to explain the interaction they had with the author back in the Enchanted Forest.
They had run into him after seeing the vision from the unicorn. His wagon was stuck, and David helped him push it back onto the road. He told them about how Maleficent turned herself into a dragon and laid an egg. He warned them not to continue down the path they were on, for Maleficent had scorched the land surrounding her nest, claiming the area as her own. He sent them into the Infinite Forest, assuring they wouldn't get lost as long as they stuck to the path until they reached a cottage. The cottage was home to a kind old man, who would help them get where they need to be. Little did they know, that man in the cottage would be the one to tell them about how to get the evil out of their child and enact the curse that sent Maleficent's child away.
"So, if it weren't for that author…" Hanna said trying to wrap her head around everything. "Then you never would have done what you did?"
"No, perhaps not," Snow said.
Hanna thought about this some more. If the author hadn't purposely sent them on them on that path, then her parents might never have done what they did to Maleficent's child. Sure, they were still to blame. The author didn't force them to do what they did, but he did have a hand in it. He manipulated the situation to play out the way he wanted it to. If it weren't for him, Hanna and Emma wouldn't have a reason to be so mad at their parents right now.
"Where's Emma?" Hanna asked, nervous to hear what the answer was going to be.
"She's uh…staying at Granny's for tonight," David told her.
"Oh…" Hanna said as she looked down. She expected as much.
"She just needs time," Snow said as she gently lifted Hanna's chin.
Hanna quickly pulled away from her mother's grasp. "I know. I figured she wouldn't be staying here anyways."
Snow put a smile on trying to hide how hurt she was right now. Having her daughters be so upset with her was really hard. "Was Neal okay for you?" She spotted her little man sleeping in his bassinet when she came home.
"Yeah, he just ate right before you came home. He fell asleep as soon as he finished his bottle. He'll probably be out all night."
"Thank you again for watching him," Snow told her.
"Yup. I'm going to go to bed now."
"Goodnight princess," David said as he stepped forward to give her a hug.
Hanna quickly stepped back. She wanted nothing more than to have her dad wrap his strong arms around her…she wanted to forgive them, but she just couldn't right now. "Night," Hanna said before running up the stairs and into her room.
David's heart sunk as he watched his little girl run up the stairs. He didn't know how much longer he could stand his daughters being so mad at him.
"They'll come around, David," Snow said as she wrapped her arms around her husband.
David nodded his head and gave his wife a kiss. He knew she was right. His little girls would forgive them eventually. He just hoped it would be soon.
