However, in that That scenario Emma would never have been in our world, or have met Neal. Are you saying you picture Snow raising baby Emma In the EF, while at the same time Emma is raising Henry in our world? I need a deeper imagination. You come up with some crazy theories that I just can’t picture, but many of them play out just as you describe.
Good point. The problem is that if Emma grew up in the EF and Neal had eventually come back and been raised by Rumple, or even if he stayed in NL, then we’ve got no Henry. I’m a pretty firm believer that you cannot have Henry without both his parents…*sigh*
We’ve thrown out so many theories at this point I can’t even keep them all straight.
I have a lot of favorite ideas but there is always something that seems to contradict them. I think, right now, I’m leaning toward NYC being an AU of Emma’s “dream world” in which she never gave up Henry but images from what her life is supposed to be (ie: the first 3 seasons) keep popping up. So she meets Hook in the street; maybe she goes to a pawn shop and Gold is there. Facets of who Emma was supposed to be have always followed her: she got a tattoo of her Father’s family crest without knowing what she was doing, for example.
As for the EF, I think that might also be an AU but of everyone else.