Dark Hearts | Once Upon A Time

LXiV. A Sense of Dread

Storybrooke. Present-day.

EMMA WASN'T ANSWERING her phone when she tried to get ahold of the Saviour. If Emma was planning on running away then she wouldn't answer her phone, she had done it before the night that she nearly tore Henry away from his loved ones in order to start a new life with her son but something was off, Erica could feel it in her gut, like a kind of dread that just sat there like a sinking stone. 

She was drowning, drowning in her thoughts about everything that has happened in the last few hours, days, and even weeks. So much has happened since she came back from New York with Emma, that she hadn't really had a minute to process what had changed, who she had lost and what she was feeling about it

Yes, she had her therapy sessions with Archie but she often had to force herself to go to them and they were mainly talking about her darkness and how that affected her relationships, maybe she should take Jaclyn with her on her next session, maybe it would make her feel calmer 

Maybe Archie could treat Jaclyn as well 

So many maybe's

"Hey, Captain!" Elizabeth greeted, a soft smile on her face as she walked over to the other blonde and sat beside her, on an empty barrel, Erica twisted so that she was looking onto the main deck and sank down to the deck, knees curled into her chest as she smiled back at Elizabeth, the nickname sending a wave of emotions through her 

"Aunt Erica!" Henry Turner exclaims as he ran toward her, as fast as his little legs could carry him before he skids to a halt in front of Erica and falls into her lap causing Erica to laugh as she picks him up and sets him upright onto the deck of the ship and he pouts 

"What's wrong Aunt Rick?"

"I've just had a fight with my sister and I've not heard from her in a few hours and I fear that she's going to do something stupid"

"Like Aunt Jack sometimes"

"Yeah but I know if Jack and I fight, I know she will always come back to me given time but with Emma, I don't know...I mean we both said some pretty hurtful things to each other Hen" 

"I know but it'll always work out just wait and see"

Erica gave him a tight smile "I want to kid, oh I really want to"

"It will believe it will," Henry told her sternly, climbing back into her lap and putting his head on her chest. Erica held him close to her chest and smiled, oh to have the innocence of a six-year-old who has seen too much and yet not enough 

But it wasn't that simple became Emma her own twin who had known Erica her entire life and had basically called her a monster and it didn't sit right with Erica. It forged a hurricane in her chest and she couldn't breathe but she pushed it aside 

"I hope you're right, kid"

"I know I'll be right, Aunt Erica"

Erica smiled gently as she caressed Henry's hair and then looked over at Elizabeth, they both talk to each other for a while.  Elizabeth gives her harsh but needed advice about her sister, advice that you could only get if you had lived hundreds of years and had experience that Erica could only imagine 

Henry soon got bored and decided he would go find his father for a sparring lesson which Elizabeth readily agreed to, happy that both her boys were getting on so well (Another thing that Elizabeth had confided in Erica about)

Annamaria came over to them next, raising an eyebrow at them but not saying a word as she sat down next to Erica, her back against the rail as she looks out to the main deck with a scowl on her face before offering a bottle of rum, both Elizabeth and Erica shook their heads when offered "You know you've been right stressed since coming 'ere when are we going to get the real Erica back?"