"Chess? Are you okay?" Emma asked her as she rested a hand on her shoulder. Chess's eyelids fluttered and she nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little scared, ya know?"
"Yeah, I know the feeling. How much do you remember?"
"Not a lot. It's all kinda fuzzy." Chess told Emma and the blonde nodded.
"It's gonna take some time. But don't worry, it'll all be fine."
"Yeah, I know," she looked at Regina. "Henry's a really nice guy. I hope he becomes as successful as you are one day." She smiled at the mayor.
"Thank you. Speaking of Henry, Emma, you have a half an hour with him. Take him out for ice cream or something. I need to talk to Chess." Regina said, taking a step toward the bed.
Emma stepped in front of her. "I'm not so sure that's the best idea."
Chess frowned. "Emma, it'll be okay, I promise." She reassured Emma and Emma turned her head.
"Are you sure?"
"More than sure. Don't worry about me. I'm a lot tougher than they give me credit for." Emma looked unsure but Chess nodded and with hesitation, Emma left.
"Regina, please sit. We have a lot to talk about." Chess said as soon as Emma was out of ear shot.
"You're right. We most certainly do."
"Chesh? CHESH?" The hatter ran around the basement searching for the girl.
He ran around frantically, searching for the girl who kept him close to sane. He heard a wind a few rows of hats over and ran in that direction.
There was something wrong, he could tell. Parts of her body were evaporating and others were just floating in mid air.
"Chesh!" he yelled and she fell. He caught her just before she hit the ground and he held onto her until she opened her eyes. She started coughing and cursing the stupid caterpillar for mixing his magic with hers'.
"Goddamn Epsilon. He," cough, "knows not to mix his," couch, "fucking," cough, "magic with mine! He's so," cough, "fucking stupid!" she raged and the hatter just held her closer. He was still afraid that he was going to lose her.
She saw the look of worry in his eyes and sat up. "Don't worry about me. The stupid caterpillar's going to have to do more than that to knock me down."
"That's good to know. Now come on, I think they dropped off dinner."
"I have a question for you." Regina told the very annoyed teen. Chess was cold, she was tired and most of all, she was hungry. The hospital had very crappy food and all she wanted was a cup cocoa.
"Ask away. I want to get out of here."
"What is your name?" Regina asked with the voice. The voice that told Chess that she knew everything.
"Now why on earth would I tell you that your majesty?"
"Because you have no choice." Regina stated simply and Chess rolled her eyes.
"Do you mind if I get dressed first? I'd rather not be talking to anyone while I'm practically naked."
"Sure, go right ahead." Regina told her. Chess grabbed her clothes and bolted toward the bathroom. She stripped her hospital gown and threw on her clothes as quickly as possible. Then she looked for a way out. She was about to give up when she spotted an air duct. Now, since it was May, it wasn't on.
Chess pulled the door off of the duct and crawled in. She put the door on the duct and muttered something in Latin before raising her hand. A pulsing orb of bright blue magic engulfed her hand and she willed for the magic to make the enterance smaller. It shrank and she crawled as quickly as she could while still being silent. Soon enough, she came to a two way split. There was a path going down like a slide and another one that didn't look too promising.
She took the path on the right and went down the slide. She somehow made it down silently and she thanked Epsilon that she had gloves on. She landed up in a mental ward that was the basement of the hospital. Chess new about the regular mental ward on the second floor, so this confused her. She looked out the heating duct door she was closest by and had to stifle a gasp.
Sitting there was Belle. Not some earth version of Belle that Regina had twisted and altered, no this was the actually Enchanted Forest Belle that Cheshire knew and loved. Chess projected a thought out to Henry.
Henry, get Mr. Gold to the hospital. There's something you need to see. And get Emma down here too! Her mind screamed at his and she got his okay back. Chess raised her hand again and twisted the magic so that the secretary set the towels on fire and then ran out of the basement. Chess kicked the duct door out, climbed out of it and ran over to her friend. Belle was completely immobile. She wrapped her arm around Belle and pulled her up.
Where are you? There's a fire! Herny's voice screamed in her mind.
No shit Sherlock! I'm rescuing an old friend. You ever heard of Belle? Yeah, her. She yelled back at him and cursed under hear breath. At that moment, she messed up her footing and stepped on belle's bare foot. To Chess's surprise, Belle let out a loud scream. It drew out and echoed off the walls. Smoke started choking Chess and the younger girl couldn't stand straight. She didn't have enough power to summon up magic to save her and Belle.
Henry, I'm so sorry. Get Emma to believe. I' gonna die down here. I know it. Just get Emma to believe for me. Okay? Her mental voice was weak and it took all the energy she had left to project that out to Henry.
That was when Chess realized that she was allergic to smoke. It made sense too. Regina made it so she couldn't have the biggest reminder of home. The clever bitch scored a point. Score: Regina 1 Chess 0. That would have to change if she made it out alive.
A sketch of Henry's voice could be heard but she didn't have enough power to get the full message. Chess rested Belle against the nearest bed and collapsed on the ground in a coughing fit. The last thing she saw was a couple of outlines running toward her before she closed her eyes. It felt like she was falling down… down… down…..
