This fic begins at the start of Season 2. Emma has just brpken the curse, and all people in Storybrooke have remembered their fairy tale pasts.

"Now, now I find my daughter." The words were said with feeling. The curse had been broken, so it seemed that was the only logical step for Snow.

"So it's true?" My words were clipped. For a moment, one long, fearful moment, I could see it in my mother's eyes that she was afraid I would reject her. But the way she looked at me, the way she cupped my face, I couldn't. I was too in shock.

"You found us." She said tearfully as she and my father, Prince Charming, held me close.

"Grandpa?" Henry asked from next to me, making this entire situation even more complicated.

"I suppose so kid." Charming hugged my son, completing this whole strange family reunion. And amidst all of this strange confusion, this post spell world, I could only think one thought: The woman I love is an evil queen. And I knew what that meant. Danger was coming. And I had to get to her.

I ran down the street, following the train of people forming a mob in front of Regina's house. I slammed into the back of it, shoving people aside. "Let her go! Let her go! LET HER GO!"

"Why should I listen to you?" Whale asked, angrily.

"Because I'm still the sheriff."

"And because she saved us. She saved all of us." David, Charming, my dad, broke in, separating Whale from where he had pinned Regina to the wall. And on her face she was wearing that stern façade, that mask that almost none can penetrate. But I recognized what it was: fear. She was afraid we would let the crowd kill her. But I could do no such thing. The crowd allowed us, under the persuasion of my parents, to lock in a cell in the sheriff's station. I wondered if they'd have allowed the same courtesy to her if they'd known how I felt about her, but I couldn't ask them.

I grabbed Regina gruffly by the arm, pulling her down the street. My parents followed behind me, but not as closely as they could have. "What will become of me?" Regina asked me fearfully. Something seemed weird. She was at once the woman I knew, and yet, at the same time, different. "I was not made for this world, and I will not be contained within it."

"You'll be contained wherever I leave you. And after I find Gold, I'll make all of this right."

"You foolish woman." She practically spat at me. "You won't make anything right. The world which all of these people," She grinded out the word people like it made her sick, "come from no longer exists."

"We'll see." I dragged her into the station and locked her behind bars. "You'll stay here." I growled. "That's what will become of you." She stood in the center of the cell, glaring at me. I glared back at her, hoping for maybe a moment that maybe she would let me see a glimpse of the real her for just a moment.

"Well you best be off. If you intend to let me rot I suggest you allow me to do it alone." She swept back her jacket and blouse, as regally as a queen would throw back the length of her cloak. I was taken aback by her beauty, and not for the first time.

"Emma." Mary Margaret drew my attention to her and my father. "We must go find Mr. Gold. He will know what happened here. What that purple smoke was. Let's go."

I spared one last look for The Evil Queen before turning and following my parents from the station. Only Gold could explain to us what was happening to hear. And through finding Gold I could figure out how to return everyone to their lives. Stupid curses. Stupid magic.

In Gold's shop we found something disturbing. A calm Mr. Gold. "Do not worry yourselves. I've done us all a favor."

"What do you mean?" David asked earnestly.

"I have sent something after Regina that not even she could defeat in this world. Soon all of our problems will be solved."

"What is it?" Snow demanded. Outside the sky turned dark, wind blew, and thunder rolled.

"That," Mr. Gold said, "Is my gift to you. That is gonna take care of Regina." The earth shook around us again, and a howling outside began.

"We have to go." I shouted. No one moved at first. "NOW!" Running down those streets may have been the most terrifying moment of my life. There aren't many words you can use to express the fear you feel when someone you care about is about to die. You can describe the way your body feels, but not the way you feel. My palms were lick with sweat. My heart beat in double time. My legs carried me through the town faster than I've moved in years. My breath came in short gasps, pulling in just enough oxygen to keep my muscles fueled, and not much more. But the thoughts. Those were the killers. We're too late. We'll get there and she'll be dead, victim of some horrible creature. Caught by the mob. Pulled from her cell by way of a skeleton key. Dead. Irreparably damaged.

Those were the thoughts that fueled my body, propelling me ahead of my parents to the station. When I got to the door I had to fumble with the keys, giving them the time they needed to catch up. I ripped the door open, and David pushed me back, charging in ahead of me. Mary Margaret did the same, holding me back for just a second. They were trying to protect me, and I found that extremely frustrating. I ran down the hall behind them, and what I saw left me frozen in my tracks.

Regina was still in her cell, but there was a bright light coming from her. From within her. He stood, frozen, as a black shape floated in front of her, seeming to suck the life from her very body. And I was frozen in place. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. I couldn't do anything differently. "HEY!" David shouted, throwing a chair threw the figure. It stopped it's assault on Regina, and turned on David, throwing a desk in his direction. He narrowly avoided it.

"Over here!" Mary Margaret screamed from the other direction, turning an improvised flame thrower onto the creature. It made an awful noise and flew out the window, leaving a deafening silence and broken glass in its place. The moment of silence was broken by a ragged, desperate breath from Regina, who was now on the floor of her cell. I tore my gave away from the window and ran to her, helping her off the ground.

"What the hell was that thing?" I asked, sounding calmer than I felt.

"A wraith." Her voice was rough and ragged, as if she'd been coughing for days, or recovering from tonsillitis. "A soul-sucker." She looked up at me with desperation in her eyes.

"Did I-" Mary Margaret began, but Regina finished her question.

"Kill it? No. Just made it angry. It'll be back. It doesn't stop until it devours it's prey. Me." She held up her hand, showing a distinct mark on her palm. I didn't understand exactly what was happening, but the fear in her eyes was enough for me to understand it was serious. Serious enough for me to try and avoid looking at her chest. More than once anyways.

"So how do we kill it?" I asked, preparing myself for a battle.

She leaned harder against the cell door, wrapping her hand around one of the bars, supporting herself. "There's no way. You can't kill something that's already dead."

"Then we have a problem." I stated, matter-of-factly.

"No. We don't." David spoke up, making me hate him more than I had in all the years I'd wondered who my parents were. "Regina does."

"What?" She asked in disbelief.

"David?" Mary Margaret questioned as well.

"We can't let her die."

"Why not?" My father asked like a fool. "Then the thing goes away. Then we're safe."

"Quite the example you're setting for your daughter there." Regina's ego reared it's head.

"No. You don't get to judge us." He pointed an accusatory finger at Regina, and I stared down at it, wanting to slap his hand away from her.

"Let me ask you something. Where do you think that thing came from?" She paused for effect. "Gold."

I said the first thing I could think of. "I made a promise to Henry." T was true, but it wasn't the main reason for what I was going to say next. "She's not dying." There was a moment of silence, and I could sense the emotions around the room. David's anger. Regina's surprise. And there was something entirely different from Mary Margaret: pride.

"If it can't be killed, what do you suggest?" Mary Margaret asked, directing the question at Regina.

"Send it somewhere it can't hurt anyone." She replied, looking at us with an air of knowledge, demonstrating to us that she already had an idea. I looked away from her, concern written on my face and worry in my heart. It was time to figure out how to save my Queen. And already that was how I thought of her. Not as the Evil Queen, but simply as my Queen.

Obviously this was just the setup to the story. This follows the first episode of season 2 almost exactly, but I wanted to trace over it through Emma's mind, as I see it. Hopefully you'll stick around for the next part of the story. Thanks!