WHO: Henry Mills and Emma Swan WHEN: today, right before the curse breaks WHERE: around town and then the hospital WHAT: True love’s kiss prevails WARNINGS: nah
It had been a busy weekend for Henry. He’d spent Saturday with Regina. Knowing that his other mother wasn’t back in Mount Weather had made him want to spend as much time as possible with her. Even if she probably wasn’t actually his Regina. He missed her, he’d miss her every day she wasn’t in his life, and he allowed himself to be a little selfish and delay breaking the magic that was keeping everyone in Storybrooke.
Once Sunday hit though he pushed back any emotions he had for the people they would all be leaving behind — from his mom to Moxie to all of the other kids who didn’t have counterparts in the ‘real world’. He had to focus on what he needed to get done and headed off to Gold’s place, stashing a few of the magical objects in the bag he’d brought with him.
Maybe they would all disappear but maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe they could be helpful later on and he knew he’d regret leaving them behind if he could take them with him. Henry had already put the book about the Podkru in the bag, along with a photograph of him and Regina that he really hoped wouldn’t disappear when everything was back to ‘normal’.
Getting to the room where Emma lay in her coma was a lot easier than he had thought it would be. People didn’t seem to care too much that he was there, or maybe they were still afraid because of who his mom was or the rumors going around that he was ‘driving people crazy with his talks’ were keeping them at bay.
She looked so small on the bed and he couldn’t help but wonder if this was what he had looked like when she’d saved him a few years ago. Henry set the bag down against the bed as he moved to stand beside Emma. “Hi, mom,” he started before gently picking up her hand. It was too cold for his liking. “I’m sorry it took me so long to figure out what was going on. But I remember. I remember everything.”
Henry let out a breath before leaning down toward her. “I really hope this works,” he murmured before pressing a kiss to her forehead. If it didn’t they were seriously all screwed.
Sleeping curses were awful things. Aurora, her mother, even her father had all been under one and told her the nightmares they'd have from for years to come. Flames engulfing everything, not hearing a single word from another human being, that feeling like the floor might fall out from under you if you leaned too hard another way.
Emma being Emma, she had tried to find a way to get out. She knew there were other rooms with other puzzles, and maybe there was a way to break out of this. (That was the curse of a Sleeping Curse though, even when you passed one test, you had another and another. An endless cycle of them until you were awakened in the real world.) She just wanted to wake up. Henry must be frightened to death.
Then it was like life was breathed back into her suddenly, and after maze after maze of traps, Emma Swan woke up with a startled gasp. There was light from outside the window and she recognized where she was. She was in Storybrooke. She'd know this hospital anywhere. Some of the nurses stared at her as if they were just seeing her for the first time. (In a way, they were.)
Then she saw Henry's face and reached over to hug him as hard as she could. "You saved me. Henry, my hero, you saved me."
He hugged her just as tightly, breathing her in for the first time in ages. She was real and awake and going to be in so much trouble. Accidentally cursing a whole group of people from Mount Weather was probably not going to be swept so easily aside as some of the other magical blunders had been. Especially with all the weird twists on everyone’s lives that Henry had witnessed. But for a moment he didn’t want to think about any of that as he clung to Emma, relieved to have her awake and knowing who he was.
“I was just paying you back for saving me that one time,” Henry told her as he pulled back slightly. He wasn’t quite sure how to explain where they were or what all had happened. Would she remember having done something? “So, this isn’t actually Storybrooke.” Even if the hospital looked exactly like the one back home. “Because the Mary Margaret that’s here still thinks she’s Mary Margaret and not actually Snow White or you know, your mom and my grandma. I think it’s more like a memory made into reality or something like that.”
He shrugged his shoulders, not quite sure that explanation made much sense. “I think you might have made it?” Dark Ones could do that, right?
It took only the briefest of moments before Emma realized what had happened. She remembered Gold — the Dark One in her head — warning her that going back to Storybrooke would have a price she'd have to pay. It was a big spell that may not even work because of the barriers between the worlds here. The Dark One in her head was tricky though, liked to leave out pertinent bits of information. Like the fact that if Rumpelstiltskin could get to a Land With No Magic to get to Baelfire, wouldn't he have done it? Yeah, well, they never thought there was a way to go back in time either, did they, and Zelena proved that wrong.
"No…" Emma's eyes widened as she looked around. She'd create the whole town and a bunch of constructs for it? "I did this? I created this?" It was an exact replica, down to the nurses she remembered being in the wing when she'd kissed Henry goodbye and undid the original curse. "How did I create a whole town? That's not what my spell was supposed to do?"
As if realizing what this meant, she reached down to lift the sleeve of the robe she had on. No weird glittering skin. There was none of it. In the reflection from the window, she could see her normal hair. Or normal as it could be after spending — "How long? How long has this been going on?"
“I don’t know exactly because the memories are weird. I don’t think its actually been fourteen years here doing this.” But it had to have been happening for a little while. Maybe for weeks, maybe months? He wasn’t entirely sure. “Moira--er, Cosima? I think her name is Cosima got me the book. It’s like the one I have about everyone back home, but with everyone who’s here. Like Captain America and lots of others. I read that and remembered things and knew what was happening wasn’t right.”
It had taken him a little while to wrap his head around it all and figure out precisely what to do. “You kind of brought in some of the other people from Mount Weather too. And their lives went really screwy. They’re like married and have kids…” He frowned at that reminder, knowing some of his friends would probably cease to exist now. “They’re not going to be happy with you.”
"I have to fix this. I have to send everyone back." If it was possible, Emma went paler than she ever had. She'd torn other people away from Mount Weather with that spell. She felt like she might get sick all over the hospital floor. That's when she realized there was no gleeful cackling or whispering in her ears that this was going to be fun, because this? A witch hunt would definitely test the limits of a Dark One. "Henry.... I'm not — I think he's gone. I think the Dark One magic — it's gone."
But having been a Dark One, she could still sense the dagger. It just wasn't here. It was far away.
“Really?” That was a good thing, wasn’t it? Henry knew that being the Dark One had been messing with his mother. It’d helped bring about this curse they had just dealt with. But would she have enough power now to get them all back home? He knew she was pretty powerful on her own, but the addition of the Dark One’s powers had definitely been a power boost. “Like its just gone? You don’t think its gone into someone else, do you?” Because that would suck.
“But okay, we’ll get everyone home and then...I dunno. We should probably just focus on that part first.” Taking on everything else would be overwhelming.
"If Gold was here, I'd say he definitely took it, but if he's a weird version like mom, then — no, he probably still took it." Paying him a visit might be top of their list. Just to make sure. Even a faded version of Gold could be a problem. Unless… she could still control them. Honestly, Emma didn't even want to try magic at the moment. The only thing she wanted to do was get people back, and then … well, whatever punishment they saw fit, she wasn't going to contest it.
"Let's get out of the hospital, try to find Gold and make sure I didn't make another Dark One." Even if that sounded oddly familiar. Henry hadn't mentioned Hook, so she was too afraid to ask. "Then we'll get everyone back to Mount Weather."
Henry nodded. Fingers crossed Mr. Gold hadn’t gotten any kind of power because that would definitely suck for everyone involved. “We’ll figure it all out.” And deal with the consequences as they came. Hopefully people wouldn’t be too angry. Or...at least maybe be really forgiving?