Under the Town

Chapter 1: Mother

*NOTE* All characters do not belong to me, but to the creators, writers etc. of Once Upon A Time!

Emma steps into the raft first. She doesn't say a word as David follows behind, turning around to help Snow. One by one they all join each other in the boat, as fear creeps up on all of them.

Except for Emma.

Emma's ears are still ringing from her lover's death, which makes it hard to hear when Mary Margaret reassures her.

"We will find him," she says, barely above a whisper as she tries to sound confident for her daughter

Emma doesn't respond as the boat slowly turns around, heading back in the direction it came from. Her vision gets blurry from the water filling her eyes, but she only lets a single tear fall. She grasps on to the ring on the chain around her neck, as if holding it gave her more strength. The boat was now covered in fog, as was their surroundings. The familiar faces around them had soon vanished. The fog was gone as fast as it came. Regina held on to Henry as did Mary Margaret and David before the boat came to a steady halt. Emma climbed out and took in her surroundings as everyone left the raft. Before Emma could walk on, Rumplestiltskin walks ahead, pointing forward.

"If you'll follow me this way," he starts to say before being cut off.

"We're not following you anywhere," Emma sternly interjected. She begins to take her place again to the front before she feels a hand tug on her arm. 

"Emma, maybe we should listen to him. He's been here before, he knows where to go," Mary Margaret pipes up

"You trust him?" Emma chokes out, whispering now. At this Mary Margaret gives Emma an apologetic look, relaxing her grip on Emma's arm. Emma opens her mouth to say something but is quickly shut down.

"We need to find Hook, he's our best chance," David pleads. Emma's eyes slowly drift to meet her dad's. She looks at him with fragile eyes for a moment and squeezes her eyes shut. She ignores the quiet pounding in her head and faces Mr. Gold.

"Lead the way, Dark One," Emma grunts, putting emphasis on the last two words to slip out of her mouth. 

They walk together for what seems like hours before Rumplestiltskin comes to a stop. In shock, Emma continues walking further on as she takes in the sight.

"It's... Storybrooke," Regina says in a matter-of-fact tone. 

"How is this possible?" Robin questions

"Did you know about this?" Emma accuses as she turns her attention to Gold.

"Even if he did, he would have no idea how to explain it to you," a woman says behind Emma. Emma quickly turns to face the woman, and finds herself glaring at her friend's dead mother. Emma readies her hands as they slowly form a white light from her palms.

"Mother?" Regina croaks., taking a step forward. "You're here?"

"Hello Regina. Why are you in my town?" Cora asks in a tone that seems to be polite but has a bitter sound to it.

Regina takes another few steps forward, until she is next to Emma. She looks at her mother, amused. "Your town?" 

"Yes. I am the mayor here. I do believe that the residents here appear next to their grave stone, but since you came from the raft, I'm assuming all of you are not planning on staying," 

Emma was just letting her hands down when she processed what Cora had said. "What can you tell us about the grave stones? Where can we find them?" She interrogates, letting her arms rise to Cora and gain more power.

Cora gave Emma a smirk before looking back at Regina. "Let me explain everything to you all. You'll need to know the ropes here before you can venture off on your own."

David walks up to Regina. "Can we really trust her?" He asks

Regina replies without taking her eyes off her mother. "Yes," she declares.

Cora smiles at her daughter's response.

"Follow me then," she says before turning around and walking away.

Emma slowly places her hands back by her sides, letting her magic stay contained. David looks at her to make sure she agrees. Regina follows Cora, with Emma right behind.