Shh
A/N: I apologise for anything that might be incorrect in the area of Granny's BB because I don't remember whether you have to go through Granny's diner to get there or go around. Again, apologies.
Also, this is a long chapter to make up for the fact that I haven't updated in a while.
Chapter Four:
When they were done with Gold, the Charming's, and Emma and Henry rushed out of the store and piled into Emma's tiny Bug (much to her dismay). She drove away from the antiques store, heading for Granny's.
Once there, Emma wasted no time in climbing out of her car. She embraced the freedom after being trapped in her car with her overbearing parents and sighed. She waited for the other three to leave the car, too, before leading the way to into the diner.
The group hastily walked through the busy diner, straight through the back and found a staircase leading to the bed and breakfast.
The four made their way up the stairs and through an old fashioned decorated hallway until they got to one of the end doors. Number nine was engraved onto a golden platter and stuck on the door.
Emma shared a look with the others before gathering the courage to knock on the door. She was unsure of the reaction she would get when the door was opened, being with Snow and Charming, and all, but it had to be done she decided.
No longer than a minute later, the door was opened and in the doorway stood Maleficent herself. Her golden hair was neatly set on her shoulders and she has a grey hat on top. She wore grey business trousers and a white blouse tucked into it.
The dragon eyed Emma, Snow, and Charming with disdain, but her look softened when she reached Henry.
Maleficent faced Emma, "how can i help you, Sheriff?" She asked.
"It's Regina. She's in trouble. There's some kind of monster preying on her and not even Gold knows what it is. He said you might, though," Emma briefly explained.
Something almost familiar flashed in the dragon's eyes and she nodded mutely, stepping aside to let them in.
oOoOoOo
Nearly an hour later, the Charmings, Emma, Henry, and Maleficent left the latter's room at Granny's.
Maleficent held some kind of rolled up piece up paper in her left hand and a vial in her right. She led the way out of Granny's.
When they left the BB, Maleficent walked over to her car and ordered the others to get in as it was much bigger than Emma's bug.
Once they were all piled in, Maleficent decided to go over the plan once again.
"Okay, so when Regina goes to bed, Henry will let us into the mansion. We'll then wait until we hear anything that might suggest this creature has come back. I know how to get rid of this thing, so you leave that to me, Saviour," Maleficent pointedly looked at Emma then, referring to her heroics.
"Alright, alright," Emma muttered, causing Henry to snicker next to her.
"Okay, let's go save the Queen," Maleficent said and started driving.
The dragon dropped Henry off at the mansion seeing as school was finished and he was supposed to be home now. The others were taken to Snow and Charming's apartment to further discuss what they would do when they got to the mansion.
oOoOoOo
At nine pm, Snow, Charming, Emma, and Maleficent got a mass text message from Henry saying that Regina had gone to bed now.
They all simultaneously agreed they'd take Maleficent's car again for the drive to the mansion.
The four piled into the dragon's car and headed straight for Regina's. It wasn't a long ride, but it was tense. Neither of them knew what to expect. Not even Emma, who'd seen the monster before.
Eventually, they all arrived at the mansion and Emma texted Henry to tell him they were outside so they wouldn't have to knock the door and risk waking Regina.
From outside, they could hear the soft pattering of Henry coming down the stairs. He unlocked the door carefully and swung the door open to let them in.
They all entered the house and took off their shoes so they would be quiet on the wooden floor.
Henry then led them upstairs to his room to be closer and hear anything from Regina's room.
Maleficent took a seat on the chair Henry had by his computer whilst the others sat on Henry's bed.
The dragon put her elbows on Henry's desk and then her head in her hands, deep in thought.
It was true that she'd encountered this monster before. It was with an old friend of hers, but unfortunately, she found out too late and even with her exensive research, she lost her friend to it.
The creature doesn't just prey on your dreams and give you nightmares, it drains your life energy and replaces all good feelings with negative ones such as anger, paranoia, sadness, etc.
"Are you alright, Maleficent?" Henry asked when he saw she was deep in concentration.
She looked over in his direction briefly and nodded with a small smile. Truthfully, she was trying to find a way to save Regina without losing her. She didn't want a repeat of what had happened with her other friend. She couldn't lose Regina.
As Maleficent's mind was taking a dangerous path, thinking of all the things she'd do to the monster when she caught it, a low, gutteral growl and smashing sound had her standing up and facing the direction of the Queen's bedroom which was across the hall from Henry's.
All five of them got up and exited Henry's room and walked to Regina's bedroom door.
Maleficent tried to open it but found it locked. It was strange because Regina didn't usually lock her bedroom door just in case.
The dragon waved a hand and the door was suddenly unlocked. Henry shot Emma a look with a smile, causing his mother to roll her eyes.
With a deep breath, Maleficent entered the room only to almost get hit in the face with a flying book. She dodged out of the way in time and looked behind her when it was obvious someone else had been hit by it. Charming had been hit by the book when she'd dodged and was now nursing his nose.
Not bothering to apologise or see if he was okay, she turned back to the scene before her.
Objects from around Regina's room were flying around, hence the book, there was a thin black smoke on the floor and Maleficent avoided stepping into the room for that reason.
Regina was thankfully still in her room in bed, but Maleficent was shocked and scared to see there was one large creature and three other smaller versions of it crouched around the bed, hovering over the Queen.
One of the smaller, pitch black creatures spotted the five of them hovering in the doorway and hissed at them before disappearing in a black smoke.
The two other smaller ones disappeared two when it saw them, but the larger one stayed. It turned to them slowly and crawled off the bed, making its way over to them.
It stopped in front of Maleficent and drew itself up to its full height which was only a head taller than Maleficent herself.
It leaned down to the dragon and seemed to be studying her. Maleficent stayed stock still, afraid that if she did anything, even breathe, it would attack.
Finally, the thing seemed to have had enough of her and it hissed loudly before going back over to a still sleeping Regina. At least, Maleficent hoped she was sleeping.
Gathering courage, Maleficent turned to Snow and called her over quietly. The princess obeyed and stepped up to the doorway with Maleficent.
As Maleficent was about to speak to Snow, the monster hissed again and Regina sat up in the bed with eyes wide and cloudy.
Looking down at the black smoke on the ground and back up at the creature circling her Queen, Maleficent made the decision to just enter the room and do what she can
With a deep breath, Maleficent stormed into the room, ignoring the deep feeling of sadness that now overwhelmed her for some reason.
The monster turned its featureless face towards her and slowly backed away with each step Maleficent took towards it and Regina.
By now the sadness was something she couldn't ignore. It was slowly growing in her chest, and tears welled up in her eyes. Still, she continued her way to Regina.
Finally, she was next to Regina's bed, facing the creature that was on the other side of it. Slowly, she layed a hand on Regina's shoulder, causing the thing to growl lowly at her.
She merely stared back at the thing, not making a move to back away. The monster put a long hand on the bed as if it was going to climb back on, but it removed it almost as soon as it had put it there.
All Maleficent did was blink and when she opened her eyes, the creature was gone and everything that had been floating in the air had fallen to the ground. The smoke had thankfully been lifted and the feeling of sadneas that had been growing had now dulled.
Maleficent looked to Regina and took her hand off her shoulder, the Queen hadn't moved a muscle from her upright position. She still stared ahead with unblinking, cloudy eyes.
Maleficent walked around the bed and took a seat next to her Queen, replacing her hand on her shoulder.
They stayed that way for only a few minutes before Regina blinked and turned to look at Maleficent. She stared at the dragon silently, until she spoke in a whisper, "please," she begged, "stop."
With that, she closed her eyes and fell back onto her bed, rejoining the land of slumber.
Getting up off the bed, Maleficent looked to the side to compose herself for a moment before walking over the others.
"We should stay here tonight to make sure that thing doesn't come back," she said, crossing her arms in front of her.
"I agree, we need to make sure she stays safe," Emma nodded.
"Exactly. I'll stay in here," Maleficent informed and closed the door without hearing another word from the others.
She could tell the were still stood outside the door with confusion but she didn't care.
She walked back over to the bed and slowly sat on it. She moved a few hairs out of the Queen's face and then ultimately lay down next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist in a sign of comfort.
