Part 2 time! You can thank Addicted1 for this unexpected addition, and for a few more in the works!
While We Were Sleeping Part 2: Echo Caves
It had only been a few days, but what little progress they'd made had all gone to hell. Neal had been kidnapped by Pan, Gold had gone off on a solo quest – something about shadows and a past with Pan – and Tink's faith in their ability to leave the island was wavering. She'd gone back to her treehouse, unwilling to help until they had a more solid plan for escaping.
Their group had been diminished, tensions were high, and now Pan was dangling Neal in front of them in what was surely some sort of trap. Still – they'd found him.
"Neal!"
The group stopped not too deep inside the cave, nothing but empty air between them and Pan's prisoner.
"How do we get across?" Emma asked desperately, looking between Regina and her parents.
"Maybe a rope?" Snow started. "Or…Regina, can you use your magic?"
Regina sighed, but flexed her fingers, calling a spell to mind.
"Stop!" Hook came sliding to a halt on the rocks behind them, a stricken expression on his face. "Bloody hell! Do you people ever listen?! I told you Neverland is not a place to go wandering in, or you'll land yourself in nasty places!"
"It's only a cave," Emma reasoned. "And we found Neal while you were busy flirting up the fairy."
"We need her help to get off the island. And this is no ordinary cave, love. You really think Pan would make it that easy?"
"So there's a cliff," Emma said, gesturing to the edge. "We'll figure out a way to get over there."
"With the Queen's magic?" Hook scoffed. "Only if you want to end up under a pile of rocks at the bottom. There's only one way to safely cross that crevasse. This here is Echo Cave."
Everyone looked at him without recognition, and Emma sighed. "Stop being so dramatic and just tell us how to get across!"
"We have to share our secrets," Hook explained. "Our darkest secret, to be exact. Any other attempts to cross will be met with an unpleasant end."
"Care to share how you know this?" Regina asked.
"I've lost many a man to these caves. Pirates aren't known for their honesty, and few have taken the warnings of the Echo Caves to heart. I could have warned you before you stepped foot inside – saved some of you the trouble, myself included – but alas, your impatience and stubbornness has forced our hand. We have no choice now. We either all share our secrets or none of us leaves here alive."
"Great," Emma huffed. "This sounds like just what I needed today."
Regina had begun pacing, only half-listening when the pirate volunteered to share his secret first and proceeded to admit his true feelings for Emma – as if they hadn't been blatantly obvious during the entire mission. She even suffered through Snow prattling on about wanting another child and a second chance. Sometime toward the end of it, however, she felt the knot of tension build to the point she couldn't take it anymore, and she stormed off toward the mouth of the cave. The walls of the cavern began to rattle, and a few small rocks were knocked loose, but she was sure she could make it to the entrance before there was actually a cave-in.
"Regina!" Emma yelled, but the arm that reached out to block her path belonged to David, who was suddenly right next to her.
"We can't," he said quietly. "If any of us tries to leave, we all die – you heard Hook. Are you really willing to risk leaving Henry alone on this island?"
She sighed. "Fine." Turning back, she strode to the midst of the others and declared, "Then I'm getting this the hell over with. And if any of you breathe so much as a word of this after, I'll make you wish you'd never been born." She took a deep breath, hating that she was about to reveal something so personal, something which would make her appear vulnerable – even worse, something that would put her on the same level as Snow White. "I didn't just cast the curse to take away other people's happy endings – I did it to give myself a fresh start. I wanted people to see me as something other than the Evil Queen, and I wanted the chance to love again. To be loved." She fell silent, the others watching her intently, but nothing happened. The bridge that had begun to form remained the same, and Regina held in her frustrated growl. "And the other night with David was the closest I've come to feeling that. It's exactly what I've been looking for. Now more than ever, I just want someone who will hold me, make me feel safe, not fear me, and I'm afraid I'll never feel that again."
The cave rumbled once more as the bridge grew, so close to Neal; not quite, but almost. Just one more admission and it would be there.
Everyone still stood in shock, watching Regina who looked at nothing but the floor, her glare somehow not burning a hole through it.
Then David cleared his throat. "My turn, I guess." He shifted on his feet for a moment, looking up at the roof of the cave before dropping his gaze to Snow. "I can't leave the island," he said flatly. "That arrow from the first night…"
"You were hit with it?!" Snow cried. "The dreamshade infected you?"
David nodded sadly. "Hook knew of a sort of antidote. It's where we went the other night – not to look for the sextant. I'll live, but only if I remain on the island. The water's curative powers are only temporary and the only source of it is here. I'm sorry, Snow," he told her when he saw her face twist in anger and sadness. "I'm so sorry."
Snow shook her head. "How could you lie to me about that? You were dying. I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you for not telling me. What if you'd died instead of finding even the temporary cure?"
"I wanted the focus to stay on Henry," David told her. "He's what matters most."
"I hate to interrupt, mate," Hook interjected, "but I fear you've left out something rather important."
"What?" David snapped, turning to face the pirate.
"I dunno, but you may have noticed your secret hasn't had much of an effect. On the bridge, at least. Are you sure that was your darkest?"
Snow and David looked over to see that, indeed, nothing had changed.
"David?" Snow asked carefully, an edge of anger still present in her voice.
"I don't understand," he said. "How can almost dying not be my darkest secret?" He looked up just to see the tail end of a cringe on Regina's face. Was she upset by that fact? Did it mean she cared? His heart fluttered traitorously at the idea and he closed his eyes in realization. He'd thought for sure the dreamshade would be his darkest secret, but his true secret had just been too new to realize. He hadn't even begun to process it yet and he pinched his eyes closed even tighter and let out a heavy breath at the realization that now he had to tell everyone. Even worse, he had to tell her.
"David?" Snow asked again, this time with more concern than anger.
"Any time today," Hook told him. "I'd not planned on dying when I woke up, and I rather intend on keeping it that way."
"I…" he started, eyes still closed. He inhaled deeply, not able to believe it was all about to come crashing down; the life he'd built with Snow, their marriage, his daughter's respect for him – if she'd had any to begin with – and what little trust he'd earned from her in his time since being David Nolan. Finally, he opened his eyes, focusing on Snow. It was her he'd hurt the most with his words, and she deserved to be looked in the eye when he told her. Thinking about the kindest way to do it – was there a kind way, he wondered – he started with, "I want to want all of the same things as you, to make you happy, but I don't, and I can't." She blinked at him and he continued before he lost his nerve. "The truth is, the curse changed things between us. Surely you've felt it?" he begged, but she didn't respond, only stared. "My feelings have changed. During the curse," he swallowed a lump forming in his throat, eyes still locked painfully on Snow's. "I…I developed feelings for Regina, feelings I fought even then." He heard the sharp inhale on his right, recognized that it was Regina, but he couldn't look at her, not while he was destroying Snow. "After the curse broke, I allowed my feelings as Prince David to cover them up, ignored them, and for a while, I thought I'd succeeded. But then you and Emma were sucked into that stupid hat and you were gone, and Regina was helping. The way she was while you were gone, I just…those feelings resurfaced, and I hated myself for it. I covered them up, I tried to keep ignoring them, tried to hate her instead, but…Oh, god, Snow, I'm so sorry." He saw the tears that finally started, blurring the fury he saw mixed in with the devastation in her eyes. "My darkest secret is that when I woke up holding Regina, instead of having those feelings satisfied so I could move on and forget about them like I wanted, they've become stronger than ever. I loved it. I don't want to hurt you," he cried, tears spilling down his own cheeks, "but I have no choice now. I wish this had never happened. I never would have told you this way." One last deep breath. "I want to feel that way again. I want to explore these feelings I have for Regina – to act on them. I want," he shook his head, the feelings warring violently inside him – the hatred of hurting Snow, but knowing he had to be so brutally honest if they were going to live. It was the cruelest trick of all and he hated Pan, hated himself as he watched the woman he'd once loved more than anything crumple before him. He still loved her, but it wasn't the same, and… "I want the chance to see if Regina and I could ever work."
The bridge grew the last few yards with a loud cracking, but he barely heard it over the roaring inside his own head.
Time warped horribly as Emma eventually moved from her shocked state to free Neal with a secret of her own. He had no idea how long it was before they'd filed past where he was standing stock still, eyes still with Snow who was looking at him with hatred now.
"Don't follow me," she spat his direction before whirling around and disappearing from the cave, leaving only him and…
"Why would you do that?"
He finally looked at her, as he'd wanted to do before, but couldn't. She faced him; anger, disbelief, and something childlike and scared mixing on her features. "I needed to tell the truth," he said quietly, feeling lost. The image of Snow's face as she left still floated in front of him and he thought it might be burned into his memory until death.
"Snow and Emma," Regina started. "You—"
"I didn't have much choice, did I?" David snapped. He raised a hand to his head, rubbing over his eyes as he attempted to gather himself. "I'm sorry," he said finally.
She watched him, confusion settling in. "I just don't understand. How could that be your secret? How could you ever want me? Especially more than Snow?"
David wandered over to lean against a wall of the cave. "I can't tell you that. I don't know how I feel right now. Up until five minutes ago, I hadn't even admitted it to myself. I haven't had a chance to think about any of it." He sighed and shook his head. "I really hate this place."
Regina nodded, a wry chuckle escaping. "Just like our world – a terrible place turned into a fairytale for children."
He frowned at her bleak view of the Enchanted Forest, but she had been the one to curse them all away from it. And he had too many other things to worry about at the moment. "What…with what you said – your secret, I—"
"Don't," she growled.
"But—"
"No. I said we weren't mentioning it. Today is all wrong!" she cried in frustration, looking up at the cave ceiling. "None of this was supposed to happen."
He nodded, though she couldn't see.
"We should get going," she said suddenly. "Henry's still out there."
He watched as everything extra dropped away from her expression, leaving only determination behind, and she moved quickly toward the entrance.
"Are you coming or not?" she tossed over her shoulder.
Without answering, he followed her out, admiring her determination, confidence, and her ability to shut out the rest of the world when it got in her way. He couldn't help but think to himself that if he had to be in this situation, at least it was with her.
