The food felt like it stuck to her ribs on the way down, and not in an comforting, warming, filling sort of way so much as the possible risk that it might keep her lungs from functioning. She's not even entirely sold on there being any actual meat in there, but then, maybe that was safer. The tension and distraction in Emma might have been the worst part, had her forcing down her own food like it might actually help somehow.
When they make it to the barn, it feels safer. It's cold as Hell outside, but she burns warmer than most people, and she's already checking out the hay before tipping her head up to the loft. Cleaner, she thinks, and less easy for someone to try and sneak up on them, if they pull the ladder up with them, so she's clambering up and starting to arrange the hay when Emma talks. Even her first words have her looking up sharply, just trying to grasp what the repercussions of that might be, but--
But all that gets forgotten.
"The darkness-- but he's the Dark One." Maybe that's stupid. Maybe that's obvious, but this is all new to her, and Ruby looks at Emma with quiet bewilderment as she tries to unravel the thread of this conversation and the reasoning. Gold was the Dark One, and the dagger was important, essential, and if Emma bound it back...
Ruby frowns, perplexed and concerned. "You protected Storybrooke. That's what you do."
That's not all though, is it? Because if it was, Emma wouldn't have her eyes shut and she wouldn't look like that. I tethered it back to the dagger, she said, and it's like Red can feel the blood draining out of her face as she drops the hay and moves closer to Emma. Her hand reaches out, slow, before her fingers lightly brush Emma's wrist. "Hey." So quiet and soft, before her fingers wrap around Emma's wrist.
Emma saved the town and them and each of them individually, over and over. Red's not even really sure that she's understanding this properly, but there's a feeling of dread in her gut that won't shift, and the way Emma's looking feels too familiar, too much like a reflection of how she used to see herself. "Hey. You're the Saviour, remember? And you'll always be Emma."
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When they make it to the barn, it feels safer. It's cold as Hell outside, but she burns warmer than most people, and she's already checking out the hay before tipping her head up to the loft. Cleaner, she thinks, and less easy for someone to try and sneak up on them, if they pull the ladder up with them, so she's clambering up and starting to arrange the hay when Emma talks. Even her first words have her looking up sharply, just trying to grasp what the repercussions of that might be, but--
But all that gets forgotten.
"The darkness-- but he's the Dark One." Maybe that's stupid. Maybe that's obvious, but this is all new to her, and Ruby looks at Emma with quiet bewilderment as she tries to unravel the thread of this conversation and the reasoning. Gold was the Dark One, and the dagger was important, essential, and if Emma bound it back...
Ruby frowns, perplexed and concerned. "You protected Storybrooke. That's what you do."
That's not all though, is it? Because if it was, Emma wouldn't have her eyes shut and she wouldn't look like that. I tethered it back to the dagger, she said, and it's like Red can feel the blood draining out of her face as she drops the hay and moves closer to Emma. Her hand reaches out, slow, before her fingers lightly brush Emma's wrist. "Hey." So quiet and soft, before her fingers wrap around Emma's wrist.
Emma saved the town and them and each of them individually, over and over. Red's not even really sure that she's understanding this properly, but there's a feeling of dread in her gut that won't shift, and the way Emma's looking feels too familiar, too much like a reflection of how she used to see herself. "Hey. You're the Saviour, remember? And you'll always be Emma."