Protecting Her Heart
Chapter Four
After he finished admitting his dark confessions, Hook finally changed the subject as he asked about August's own wellbeing, mostly in attempt to draw Emma's attention away from him. He even pretended to act jealous of her relationship with the other man. Or maybe it wasn't as much pretend as he would like to think, as a part of him feared that this man might be something more to the woman he loved than she knew herself. However, she reassured him that August was nothing more to her than a good friend and Killian believed her.
Unfortunately, their morning was interrupted when a wave of magic burst toward them from outside of town, knocking them both unconscious, as well as everyone else within town except for those who had already been put under the sleeping curse, which included, Snow White, Charming, and Henry.
While under Maleficent's spell, she and the other villains, Gold and Cruella, as well as Regina who was still working undercover with them, broke into the Charmings' loft in search for the book's page that they too had figured out contained the Author, and found both Emma and Hook asleep on the couch within each other's arms. It didn't take long for them to discover that the page wasn't there, nor was the key that could release the Author from the page, but Gold quickly realized where it could be, or more importantly, who it could be with.
After explaining this to the others in the room with him, Gold turned to Regina as he finally said coldly, "Except those who have been under a sleeping curse and are immune. I may know a resourceful young man who's wide awake. One who's very protective of the storybook and all its contents... one who's gonna test his mother's commitment, towards helping me."
The former Evil Queen didn't say anything as she began to follow after Cruella and Maleficent out the door until she stopped upon seeing Gold walk over to stand in front of Emma and Hook and she quickly asked, "What are you doing? I thought we were going to go try to find my son? You agreed with me yourself, harming the Savior would be ill advised."
"Yes indeed, but I didn't say anything about continuing to harm her boyfriend," the Dark One responded as he knelt down before the unconscious man and used his power to once again pull back his jacket, shirt, and the bandages the pirate captain had used to bind the wounds Gold had forced upon him. "I was interrupted before."
"What the hell is that?" Regina asked again worryingly upon seeing the cruel letters carved into the skin of his chest. "Villain? You did this to him?"
Mr. Gold grinned as he pulled a small vile out from his coat pocket and replied, "Just last night. He deserves to be punished for hindering our plans. I've seen how his past torments him and at the cabin, he admitted to Emma just how much so. The word I carved into his chest is meant to remind him of his torment."
The Queen swiftly walked forward to stand over the beast inside the man she was pretending to work for and upon seeing the liquid in his hand she quickly answered, "Whatever it is you're about to do, you can't do it. Emma and her family will come after you and believe me, you don't want that, especially when we're so close to finding the Author and getting our happy endings. Do you think that hurting your enemy right now is wise?"
"Are you asking this because you really want us to succeed in our plans, or are you asking me not to harm him because you've come to care for him, as you have come to care for Miss. Swan and her family?" he inquired smugly as he turned his head to look up at the woman standing over him.
"The pirate?" she stated, pretending to be surprised by his candor, even though she did care about her friends, including Hook, more than she cared to admit. "Please, I couldn't care less what happens to Captain Guyliner, or the rest of these heroes. I only care about Henry. It's just as I said, they will come after us even harder if you do this. Think about what they've already accomplished. They got that sea witch to leave Storybrooke."
Gold stood as he slowly poured the liquid over the wounds as he responded, "Ursula didn't just leave Storybrooke. The Captain somehow found a way to reward her with her happy ending, without the Author and she betrayed us by telling him of our plans, of which I am certain he has told the Savior and her parents of by now as well. But it's no matter. They will be far too distracted helping him to stop us now."
Regina worryingly replied, "If Hook can give a villain back her happy ending, then that means the Author isn't the only one who can give us ours. It means that the rules of the book aren't iron clad after all."
"Are you really willing to risk your own on something this pirate did?" Rumpelstiltskin asked harshly and then suddenly heard David call out his daughter's name from down the hallway. "Because I'm not. Now, I suggest we leave before they find us here and before the other witches find your boy without us and hurt him."
"Emma!" Mary Margaret called out again as soon as she pushed open their door and ran inside their apartment after they had finished watching both Cruella and Maleficent leave in Cruella's car, Mr. Gold and their friend having vanished just before they entered. "Oh my God, David quick! We need to get Hook help. Emma!"
She and David ran over to them, then David worked to check over their wounded friend while Mary Margaret checked on their daughter to make sure that she was actually alright upon seeing the condition Hook was in. Charming looked at his wife for confirmation as she nodded to indicate that Emma was fine, just sleeping still under Maleficent's spell.
Charming struggled with Hook as he laid him down on their bed where August had been laid the night before, then he spoke up saying, "I'd call Mother Superior, but she's still busy with August. I guess I'll call Whale to have him come… Dang it, we can't call anyone because they're all still under this spell and who knows how long it'll last. It's up to us. What on earth did Gold do to him?"
"I don't know, but we don't have time to find out," Snow answered worryingly. "Henry is at the mansion waiting for us, and the villains are on their way. David, we need to find him, before they can. We're all he has right now."
"No, he has Regina too," he said in frustration. "She won't let anything happen to him, but we still need to get there. We're going to have to trust Hook will be alright, until we can get back to him and Emma too. Come on, we need to hurry."
At the lakeside mansion…
David and Mary Margret ran inside and toward the library where they hoped they'd find their grandson as she called out, "Henry? Henry!"
David shouted himself as they entered the large room, "Henry!"
"Oh! Come on," she stated nervously to the young man as he walked out from within the shelves. "The villains have to be on their way."
"Already been here," Henry responded quickly.
David looked at him as he asked curtly, "What? Did they take the page?"
Emma's son smirked and shrugged his shoulders as he replied, "They think they did, except my mom, of course. She just gave me a look, and I knew exactly what she meant."
"You gave them the forged page Emma made," Charming spoke again as he smiled, as did Snow.
"Smart kid," Mary Margaret said smugly, then became serious again, getting back to the business at hand. "Where's the real one?"
When Henry pulled the real storybook out from among all of the blank books where he had hidden it from the villains, as well as the real page, David reached out and took it from him as he stated, "Oh, great job. Mary Margaret and I are gonna take this and keep it safe."
Henry became excited as he added, "There's something else. I've found the key. We can free The Author."
"Henry, hold on," his grandfather immediately answered as he stopped the boy from using the key to unlock the magic containing the Author inside by slamming the book closed and pulling it away from him.
"W… what are you doing?" the fifteen year old asked in confusion.
The Prince responded nervously, "Uh, we don't know what's gonna happen. Just let us handle things."
Henry didn't understand as he continued to object, "But I found the key."
David shouted at him saying, "Henry, it's too dangerous! Go! I'm sorry, Henry, it's just that the villains looked for the page at the loft first before they came here. Your mother's fine, but Hook… They did something to him. He's hurt. Head back there now. We'll be right behind you."
"So, now we're lying to Henry," Mary Margaret replied in frustration and then sighed after Henry finally left. "If we keep this up, we're no different than Gold."
"I know what you mean, but we don't have a choice," her husband answered sadly. "At least for now we don't. Come on, we need to get back. Everything will be fine, I promise."
