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Emma’s heart was shattered. She had lost too much.
“Ma!” Henry cried as he broke the surface of the ocean. Emma ran halfway into the water to hug him. “I’m sorry, ma. I’m so sorry.” He kept repeating it over and over and Emma hugged him tighter. “It’s not your fault, Henry. It’s…” Henry stiffened, he lifted his head from her shoulder only a bit. “No, it is. Ursula tricked me. I just wanted you guys to stop using magic!” The blood in Emma’s veins turned to ice. They had lost their magic that morning, no one knew how. “What do you mean, Henry?” She pushed him off of her to look into his face. “Mom promised to stop using magic, and she broke her promise. And you started using it. I was scared that you’d get addicted and it would make you evil, so I used the shells Ursula gave me to take your magic. You were supposed to win the right way, and then you’d see you didn’t need magic.”
It felt like Emma’s heart stopped. Her tears dried up, and she stepped away from Henry. He tried to follow, but she backed up all the way onto the beach. How could things have gone this badly? She was tempted to remove her own heart like Regina had done. Had it not been for her unborn daughter waiting in the castle, she might have; she would have thrown it in the ocean, too.
“Henry. Hook died. He died, because your mom didn’t have magic to stop the shadow from taking him. And your mom…Jesus. Regina is on the magical equivalent of life support, a human incubator, so the baby can be strong enough to survive by herself, because I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t get to her quick enough, and I couldn’t fill her with magic because I didn’t have any!” Regina had been very clear with her last breath that they had to do whatever it took to save their daughter.
“I was trying to help!”
“Help? Henry, you went behind our backs after we explained that it would be okay. You were selfish and you wanted to have it your way, so you made the decision not to trust us, and people died!” She was fast on the way to a panic attack. “I’m…I…I can’t.” She had to leave before she said something that could have stayed.
“Emma! I’m…” Henry called after her and she spun back around before he could finish. “No! I know you’re sorry, Henry, you’re always sorry, but sorry isn’t going to fix this. You know, maybe it’s a good thing that you have to stay with Ariel for a while.” Henry looked taken aback, his eyes red from crying. “You don’t mean that.” He screamed at her, and she took a steadying breath. “I love you, but I don’t have the capacity to deal with you right now. Goodbye Henry.” Her tears returned. “What about mom?” He tried, “after the baby is born, what then?” Emma closed her eyes, whispering into the breeze as she turned back to the castle, “Then, I’ll have another funeral to plan.”