Synopsis: Emma finds herself trapped in The Upside Down. Takes place in Neverland, sometime during Season 3A. Loosely based off Netflix's new series, Stranger Things. Captain Swan.
Disclaimer: All characters are properly owned by ABC and Once Upon a Time and Netflix
A/N: Mostly because I just binged watched Netflix's Stranger Things in two days and immediately became obsessed with it. Don't worry. There's no spoilers in this. But seriously, go watch it right now! It's great. This will probably only be a one-shot, maybe two. We shall see where this takes me. For now, I'll keep it as a one-shot.
Stranger Things
Emma!
Hook was soaked to the thigh with muck and slush, although it must not have bothered Emma in the slightest. But Hook was far past the point of thinking logically and he trudged on, ignoring the fact that he couldn't feel his legs anymore. Emma had gone this way for a reason; Henry, no doubt, though he wasn't as easily convinced that a child would have possibly made it through this mess.
A branch snapped across his face and opened a cut over his eye. Seven hells. He was actually going to kill her. He had explicitly told them to stick together. It had happened so quickly and he couldn't seem to remember how everything had gone from perfectly fine to utter chaos in a matter of minutes. He remembered looking for Regina, whom Tink decided to take captive. Then suddenly he was chasing after her, caring very little about the others he had left behind. But he couldn't think about that. Not now, not when her life depended on it.
Emma! he called again.
The wind howled. The sky grew darker, blacker. The rain began to fall in heavy and unending clumps. He could barely see two feet in front of him. With each passing moment, his panic only seemed to manifest. It was no coincidence, that fear and love went hand in hand. If you didn't have anything to lose, you had nothing to fear. But love was like that. It swept you off your feet. Like a tidal wave, it would pull you down. It would drown you.
"Emma!" He called, much more urgent.
Then he heard it.
Her scream pierced his heart. Wounded his soul.
"Emma!" He screamed again.
"Hook!"
He froze, desperately trying to ping-point the direction it had come from. But it didn't just come from one direction. Her voice echoed all around him, consumed him. It was almost as if she was standing right their next to him. Like a ghost, he couldn't see her, but he knew she was there. Emma screamed his name again and he blindingly chose to venture to the right, hoping that this was the right direction.
Then BAM-!
Hook was on his back in instant and for a moment, all he could see were stars. Bloody hell. He'd been so preoccupied with finding Emma that he managed to collide right into David. He pushed David off him, scrambling back to his feet. When he caught David's eyes, he wasn't surprise to find that they reflected back the same fear he felt in his heart.
"Emma!" Snow called out for her daughter. Then more panicked she turned to her husband. "Oh my god. David. I can't lose her again. I can't."
"We will find her, Snow. We will always find her."
He felt it before he saw it. Something called to him, whispered to his soul and he knew. As Snow and David called for their daughter, Hook drifted to the tiny opening at the base of the tree. He crouched down next to the small hollow—a gate if you will—that was covered in a spider-web like material. A fear he hadn't felt in a long time, one he hoped to never experience again, settled deep within him.
xXxXxXxXx
She had heard Henry. She had heard him. Emma squeezed her eyes shut, willing the feeling of hopelessness to fade away. She was not crazy. She was not insane. She had heard him. She had heard her son call her name, yet as she ran through this—this nightmare, she knew that she had made a terrible mistake. If she truly would have stopped to think, she would have come to realize that Henry would have been smart enough to not crawl through the dark hole at the base of the tree. But she hadn't thought, she dove head first into that hollow without even giving it a second thought
She didn't know what brought on more fear, the fact that she knew she wasn't quite in Neverland anymore or the fact that she couldn't find a way out. So she ran blindly into the night. Trees rushed by her, whispering in the wind. They were dark and bare, a much darker version of Neverland in itself. A Neverland built on ice and snow. Barely any light filtered down through the trees. And it was cold. So breathtakingly cold. She wrapped her arms around her bare arms, doing her best to warm herself. When she screamed for her parents, for Hook, her voice echoed back at her.
Emma!
Emma whirled around. Hook! She called out for him and he answered back, only he seemed to come from all around her. He sounded so close, yet no matter which direction she ran, she couldn't find him. His voice gradually drifted away, forgotten in the night. She swallowed the lump in her throat.
She couldn't find him.
Panic threatened to overwhelm her sanity. If she could just keep on breathing, everything would turn out alright. The darkness threatened to swallow her whole, but she could fight it. If she just kept fighting, she would find a way out. Emma wrapped around a corner and skidded to a halt.
Her stomach lurched.
She was not insane. She was not crazy. It was irrational, she knew. Ghosts, spirits, phantoms, or whatever the hell you wanted to call them simply did not exist. She believed in the facts, yet this monster standing before her now seemed as real as anything else in this world. Even after everything that had happened in the past two years, she had a hard time believing that she was not living out some nightmare.
And perhaps this was a nightmare. Perhaps she would wake up and all of this would be dream.
The monster was unlike anything she had seen before. It was something that only formed in the darkest of nightmares. Like something out of a Steven Spielberg movie or Alien, the monster was large and tall. It stood like a man but had no face. Its claws were long and sharp, blood dripped from its talons and onto the forest floor—a sharp contrast against the snow. It was hunched over its prey—a deer—and she let out a sigh of relief.
Not Henry.
Henry was safe.
Emma backed away slowly from it, hoping not to startle it. She was so close, so close, when a branch snapped under her weight and the monster turned.
xXxXxXxXx
The Vale of Shadows—or The Upside-Down as Tink called it—was a dimension that was a dark reflection or echo of the world around us. It was like every realm, in this case Neverland, only darker, emptier, colder. It was where nightmares lived, turning reality upside-down by loss and fear. It was how Hook felt when he lost Milah. It was how Snow and David felt when they lost their baby girl. It was how Emma and Regina felt when they lost Henry. It was a world of monsters, pure terror that could swallow you completely if you let it.
He'd come across it once long ago, at the hollow of a tree, which was how it appeared to him now. It glowed red and angry, then slowly turning to black before repeating that pattern once more. It echoed to the beat of his heart, drawing out his deepest fears.
Snow and her Prince were bickering around him, hovering annoyingly close to him as they talked through a plan. But with The Upside Down, there was only one thing you could do. Run. He didn't have time to explain the horrors of the world and the monsters that lived in it. He didn't have time to explain that Emma was running out of time, that every moment they spent arguing was another moment Emma would lose herself to that nightmarish world. So he ignored Snows cries and wrapped the rope around his torso.
"She can't be in there…" Snow denied the exact moment Emma called for them again.
Her cries echoed through the tree's hollow and clutched at his heart. She sounded further away. There wasn't enough time. He knew his actions were scaring them but he didn't care. There wasn't enough time. He gave the rope a sharp tug, satisfied that he had tied it into a secure knot.
"Why would she have gone in there?" Snow's voice came again, practically near tears.
"It tricks you," was all Hook said.
David was already down on his knees, attempting to push through the web of debris and muck. Hook pulled him back up. "No."
"She's my daughter," David snapped, voice laced with emotion.
"Exactly, mate. I've been trapped in there before. I can find her." He didn't wait for David to challenge him. He simply shoved the other end of the rope into David's arms. "If something happens, I'll cut the rope. Whatever you do, do not come looking for us. Aye?"
"But Hook—Hook!"
Hook dove head first into the dark abbess and David's screams died out behind him. The hollow hugged him close and he struggled to cut through the spider-like material with his hook. In what he could only describe as goo, dripped onto his shoulder. The stench of it almost made him vomit but he trudged on. And on. For her. Because the thought of losing her again pressed at him so hard that he feared he would suffocate. He needed to find her. He needed to find her so he could breathe again. Because she was his oxygen and he couldn't let her die in there alone.
Finally. Finally. He reached the other side but relief did not come. It was like stepping into Neverland all over again, only darker. Colder. Hook's breath caught in his chest. The air, drained of hope and happiness, hung heavy around him.
He whirled around, desperately searching for her, and yet, he only saw emptiness.
"Emma!" he shouted. His voice echoed out around him, until dying away completely.
It was dreadfully quiet.
It felt as if the whole world was covered in snow—a sharp contrast to where he had left Snow and David. He jogged ahead, praying that she hadn't gone too far and that he wouldn't have to cut the rope. Emma! He couldn't lose her. Not again. Emma, he screamed. They would be lost without her. He would be lost without her.
The rope tightened around his waist, and it tugged him sharply back.
Out of rope.
Hating himself, he hesitated. He would go to the end of the world for her, yes, and still he hesitated. He had not forgotten the last time he had been trapped in this…this nightmare, and when he closed his eyes he could still remember the horrors, the panic that had consumed his soul. The memories of this place had left a deep and everlasting scar on his heart. He had stumbled into it, thinking—no, knowing—he had heard Milah's voice. It was irrational he knew, but he had heard her say his name, clear as day. Despite the fact that he knew Milah was very well dead, he had followed the voice through the hollow anyway because he had hope.
Fuck hope.
He cut the rope.
He had vowed to never return to this hell and yet there he was, looking for Emma because he was convinced now that he needed her. He hadn't fully understood before, just how much his existence depended on hers. He couldn't leave her here.
"Emma!" he called, a little more desperate. "Where are you!? Damnit! Emma!."
Hook raced ahead, making a mental note of where he had cut the rope. He wrapped around a corner and froze. The monster was exactly as he remembered it, something that only lived in the worst nightmares imaginable. Thank the Gods, for it was too busy sniffing something out to notice him.
That was when he saw her.
She was hardly recognizable, hiding behind a tree, just out of sight from the monster. She was crouched down, eyes snapped shut. Hook swallowed the lump in his throat. His mind was already processing, desperately searching for a way to get her out. He picked up a rock and launched it as far as he could in the opposite direction. The monster perked up and took the bait without question. It raced off into the darkness and Hook shot for her.
It would be back.
"Emma!" He practically cried, relief filling him like a balloon.
Emma hardly even acknowledged him. She was violently shaking and he cursed that stupid top she was wearing. She was pale and soaked, her lips had gone purple, and she looked small, so utterly small. But he was afraid to touch her out of fear that he'd frighten her and draw the monster back to them. He knelt down next to her.
"Emma," he whispered urgently.
Emma's eyes snapped wide open, but registered nothing at all. As Hook witnessed this reaction from her, or lack of one, it served to bring a sharp, twisting pain to his heart. The monster called out from somewhere in the distance—much too close for his liking. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to her feet. She seemed to snap out of whatever spell she was under and he saw a flicker of recognition flash across her face.
"Hook?" she whispered, her voice laced with confusion, fear and something that sounded a lot like relief.
Never had he expected to see such all-consuming fear in her eyes. He had seen her face things that would have scared off most. He had seen her face on Cora, giants, and hell, even pirates. She had feared then too because she was human, but this was different. This was something else entirely. At least then she had hope, now all he saw was hopelessness. Her fear only seemed to manifest with each passing minute.
"Emma, we have to go," he pleaded. The monster would come back for them. He was sure of it and if they didn't leave now, he wasn't confident that they would be able to find their way back. He wondered how long it would take the Prince to realize that he had cut the rope. He wondered how long it would take for David to come in after them.
Emma's eyes, welled with tears, drifted off behind him. "But Henry…"
"Isn't here, Emma."
He pulled her away from the safety of the tree and back in the direction he had come. Emma took a step away from him, the shock evident more than ever. He knew all too well...this horror that she had fallen victim too. If she didn't come soon, he would carry her over his shoulder if he must.
"Emma he's not here."
"He…I heard him. I heard him."
"Emma! Henry isn't here," he shouted so loud, the trees shook around them.
The monster roared out in the distance and that was enough. Her survival instincts kicked into over-drive. She grabbed his hand and then they were off.
xXxXxXxXx
"Nonononononono." David cursed under his breath as he tugged on the rope.
"Oh my god, David," Snow cried. "He cut the rope! He cut the rope. He said if he cut the rope..."
"I know. I know." David tore off his jacket, throwing it to the ground somewhere behind him. "I'm going in after them."
"I can't lose you too."
David shook his head. "We can't lose her again. Not again."
And he couldn't. He couldn't lose her again. He loved his daughter with every ounce of his being. He couldn't let her die. But he had seen the urgency in the pirate's actions, he had seen the all-consuming fear that laid behind them. Wherever this "hollow" took him, he knew it was something much more sinister than he ever could have imagined. Still, he couldn't let her die. He had to try. He had to try, even if it meant not coming back, even if it meant losing himself to the darkness.
David crouched down on the ground. The gust of air that blew out of the hole sent shivers up his spine. Just as he took a deep breath, a hand—no hook—shot out from the spider-web material. David fell backwards, startled by the sudden encounter.
"Hook!" Snow shouted, registering what had just happened much more quickly than he had.
Then they were both up and tugging on Hook's arm, pulling him from the web that kept him at bay. Hook emerged first and then a tangled mess of blond hair. He choked on a sob, his heart soared with relief. Hook had Emma tight in his grasp and she clung back. The hollow released them without warning, sending them all to the ground. David fell on his back, his wife beside him.
Emma was alright. She was covered in muck and goo, crying and shaking, but otherwise unharmed.
She was alive.
Hook held his daughter close under the beams of silver moonlight and Emma clung to him as if her life depended on it. Her breathing came in sharp, short gasps as she struggled to regain control of her breathing. As it turned out, hell was coming in during the second act. It was coming in after the damage had already been done. It was the feeling of hopelessness, knowing there was nothing you could do to stop a loved one's pain.
"Shhh. You're okay. I've got you. I've got you," Hook whispered. Even Hook's voice was shaking, something David never would have expected to hear from the pirate in his lifetime.
Hook sat up, pulling Emma into his lap. "I've got you," Hook echoed the words David so desperately wanted to tell her himself. "I've got you. I've got you." Hook continued now in almost a robotic tone and David wondered who the pirate was trying to convince: Emma or himself.
Snow shot him a glance—a look that no doubt mirrored his own thoughts. In that moment, they both knew. Snow reached for his hand. David pushed away the nagging feeling in the back of his head, knowing that much more dangers laid ahead of them. Instead, he dared to let himself believe that everything was going to be okay.