A Smaller Savior

10 - Broken

David and Mary Margaret raced back to the hospital. They were silent as they went still practically strangers to each other. They were both lost in their thoughts. This had to work. They didn't have any other options.

They ran to Emma's room just in time to hear the alarm blare on the machine next to the bed. Doctors rushed around their frozen forms. There was too much movement until there was none. The doctor called it leaving the room head hanging down. Mary Margaret and David stood in the doorway in shock. No. They were too late.

They approached the bed. Emma was pale but she looked so peaceful. David thought she looked like she was sleeping if it wasn't for the stillness of her chest. He stroke one hand through her hair.

"I'm so sorry, Emma," he said glancing up at Mary Margaret who was staring at Emma hard.

"No, there still might be a chance," she said making her way to the other side of the bed. She glanced up at David and then back to Emma. "I refuse to accept this."

Mary Margaret leaned down towards Emma. David, realizing what she was doing followed her lead. Together they pressed their lips to Emma's forehead. They both closed their eyes praying that this would work. They couldn't lose her.

"Come back to us," Mary Margaret whispered as she pulled away. Before she could even stand all the way back up, a surge of something blasted through the room and everything fell away to black.

________________

Emma cracked her eyes open and this time she was even more confused than the last time. She was laying on the ground but where she didn't know. Trees towered over her as she sat up. She glanced around but all she saw was forest. Where was she? Was she still in the in-between? She didn't think so. This felt real, all too real.

She stood up brushing the dirt off her jeans wincing as her injuries made themselves apparent again. Definitely not still in the in-between, she had felt completely fine there. Taking a deep breath, she hobbled forward. The forest had to end somewhere and then she could find her way back to town.

She felt like she walked for hours before she saw a wooden cabin of some sort. She quickly made her way over to it feeling exhausted. Knocking on the door she waited with bated breath. Thankfully she heard footsteps and then the knob was turning.

A familiar brunette stood on the other side. She glanced down at Emma with wide eyes.

"Ruby?" Emma asked. The girl looked very different. She was wearing a long dress and a red hooded cloak of some sort. She looked like-. Emma froze at the thought. She looked like Red. "Red?" she asked hopeful but she didn't want to be called crazy again. Rub-Red nodded immediately.

"The curse is broken," she stated glanced around the cabin in wonder just as Granny came up behind her. "We're back home."

"Why haven't you changed back?" Granny asked Emma suspiciously. Emma looked down at her clothes. They were normal for the world they left but not so much here. Emma shrugged.

"I'm just Emma," she stated. "Where are Mary Margaret and David?" If the curse was broken, did that mean they would remember her? How is the curse broken? She hadn't done anything remarkable to her knowledge unless almost dying from a poisoned apple did something. Granny and Red just stared at her for a moment.

"What do you want with Snow and David?" Red asked now sounding suspicious as well.

"They-They're, well, they're my parents apparently," Emma said feeling nervous. Red's eyes widen in shock before she smiled widely at Emma pulling her into a hug so suddenly that Emma gasped.