undaunted mettle

Emma has come to be thankful for Regina’s abuse of herself and her family because she feels like she would not have been complete without said abuse.

Regina robbing Emma and her parents of agency is now justified because if it had not happened Emma would have never learned to exercise said agency. And the version of her that was NOT affected by the misery inflicted by Regina would have “sucked” because she would not have known what to do with the free will and healthy&positive childhood and youth she would have had.

Emma does not know her own mind, her own heart and her own personality - said personality has been entirely shaped and defined by Regina, Regina’s choices and the latter’s abuse. Emma does not get to have choices because she would not have been able to figure out what to do with them. She needed her life decided for HER because it is the ONLY way she would not have grown up to be a pitiful incompetent damsel.

Emma the self reliant, courageous, self asserted woman, a “tough lass” Killian has elaborately called her because of her personal, independently mastered qualities, Emma who “can do it” if she stops pretending to be someone she isn’t, Emma who is “too strong” to let the Evil Queen destroy her efforts is someone who, because of Regina’s abuse, has come to credit Regina for her own individuality.

Because Emma no longer believes she has built herself and her own character. Emma now believes her character was forcibly built by Regina whilst she had no say and no agency on the matter.

“It has to be her choice” - that’s no longer the notion the writers celebrate.

“The pain is what makes me - me” - THIS is the notion the narrative celebrates and it’s the notion Regina’s relationship with Emma represents.

It is no longer about “punching back and proving them wrong”, it is not about Emma being a strong, resilient woman in SPITE of the pain she went through because of Regina.

Per the current narrative Emma is a product of Regina’s abuse and she is the way she is BECAUSE of said abuse. This is the message and the conclusion the show draws. This is what SEASONS of Emma’s story have been about (or, more accurately, what her story has been reduced to).

Instead what we got was worse. Emma was not EMMA - and she thanked Regina for cursing her.

This episode was the worst kind of character assassination. Not just for Emma, but also for her parents. Are we to believe that the two heroes that defeated the evil queen wouldn’t have raised their daughter to be STRONG like they were? Heroic like they were? Why was Henry, who had also led the sheltered royal life, brave yet Emma was weak? Is nothing of her Emma’s personality a product of her heritage or her own personhood? Everything she is, all her strength, comes from pain? Really? Because I thought it came from LOVE. Her love for others and the True Love of her parents that created her.

This episode made no sense for the show and no sense for Emma’s character. And once again we had to watch Emma show gratitude to Regina for abusing her.

There’s whispers of spreading darkness, 28 years of quiet breaking - and she finds herself sharing an alley with him. The story may have started long ago, but it’s ready for a new beginning. Whether they are is yet to be written.

notes: this is the second and final part to that enchanted forest/captain duckling/canon divergence au. i may write something else in this verse, maybe, someday. i really want to thank @blondecrowns for doing the lord’s work and holding my hand through this, and also to all of you who sent kind words about the first part. i may not have responded personally, but i did read each & every word, multiple times.

modern au | rated t 

It’s Saturday night in Storybrooke and that means one thing. Racing at The Pit, Ruby in her tiny red shorts in the passenger seat, dirt flying and tires spinning. Time was, years ago, they didn’t allow girls to race the old dirt track. Even now, there’s probably a bunch of folks who’d rather not see her behind the wheel. But she’s Emma Swan, reigning queen four years running, and nobody’s gonna take her down tonight.