When Your Walls Come Crashing Down

Chapter 5 - Whoosh

A/N: Hey my lovelies! I hope you are all doing well! Anyway, I tried to make this chapter a bit longer due to my lack of recent activity. Also, we're finally starting to get into the action now. Yay! As always (and by always I mean most times... okay not really but still,) I do not own OUAT or any of these lovely characters, though I wish I did. Hope you enjoy!

====================================

It was a few days before Emma recovered enough to be able to get back on her feet and exert herself once more. Killian made sure he oversaw her recovery, and when Neal tried to step in one day, he drew his sword. She had to talk him out of running him through before he did something he would seriously regret at a later date. She also begged him not to speak of the incident to her parents, who were most definitely concerned for their only daughter.

After that, at Mary Margaret's request, they still stayed at camp for four more days. This morning, in fact, they had "taken down" what little belongings they had strewn across the ground. Now, they were approximately twenty miles from their rest spot, walking in the direction of the lost boys' camp, at least according to the map Pan gave them.

Neal strutted his way up to Emma, confidently taking the place beside her, and grabbed her hand, clenching it too hard for her to let go.

"Hey, Ems. How are you doing?" he asked, rubbing his thumb gently across the healing gash on her forehead, the one that appeared there when she fell after what he did to her.

She struggled to yank her hand out of his, but to no avail. Instead, she responded tensely, "Fine."

"What's wrong?" Neal questioned, his eyebrows furrowing.

The audacity, Emma thought to herself, for him to ask her that. NO, I'm NOT okay! she wanted to scream. She can't trust anymore, can't think about love anymore, can't truly live anymore, thanks to him. When she sees him now, her hands shake, her eyes blow wide, her heart slams in her chest, and she wants to scream. He makes her want to scream and cry and pull her hair out until her voice goes hoarse and her hair has disappeared and she's run out of tears in her body.

Suddenly, before she can answer, a cool metal hook wraps around their conjoined hands, pulling them apart, before finding its place in front of Neal's face.

"Leave the lady alone, mate," he bit out venomously, spitting the words at Neal's back.

"Enough! Both of you!" Emma expressed, and they both turned to look at her. "You," she points at Neal, "are nothing but a bad memory to me. Leave me alone!"

"Swan, are you-"

"Hook, I don't need you to fight my battles for me. I'm more than capable of taking care of myself. You're not my boyfriend. I don't need protecting, especially from you."

Emma can see the moment the words hit him the hardest, blue eyes deepening in hurt, body slumping in defeat.

Her parents are staring at the three of them, wonder and confusion mingling in their gazes.

Embarrassed at her outburst, Emma tucks her head down. Then, before anyone can say anything, she takes one look off and darts off into the trees, silent tears rolling down her face.

It isn't until Emma is sure they can't hear her that she throws herself at the ground, gut wrenching sobs ripping through her body. She screams and cries and hits the ground with her fists, acting not unlike a toddler throwing a tantrum, but she doesn't care.

Eventually, she starts to choke on her sobs, and starts to try to calm down so she doesn't hyperventilate, but that just makes her cry harder.

It's thirty minutes until Emma stops crying, hours later before she picks herself up from off the ground, instead curling into a ball and gently rocking back and forth.

It's peaceful, Emma notes. Just her and her emotions. Woman and Lost Girl together as one, no one to tell her who she is or how she should act. Only the silence, the numbness, the pain for company.

Out of nowhere, a whoosh passes by Emma, and a second one follows close behind. With the second one comes a sharp stab of pain to her left side of her neck. She has just enough time to reach up and pull the dart out of her neck before her stomach lurches and her surroundings begin to spin. It starts to fade in and out of focus, and Emma slams her palms over her eyes to keep the world from spinning, but it's no luck, and she goes down on the ground.

====================================

A/N: And that's the end of the chapter! As you can see, there is a lot more that is about to happen to poor Emma. Now, I have a question for all of you: do you want to see some future chapters with the rest of our group regularly, or only when necessary? I know sometimes POV switches can get annoying, so I really do appreciate your feedback. Speaking of which, thank you so much for all your kind reviews! I really do appreciate them. Also, for notifications on when I update, don't forget to follow this story, and/or you can follow me on Instagram: @swan_and_guyliner. I post daily and add updates every time I upload a chapter. Take care, beautiful people! Love you all!