Chapter 7

"What was that about?" Emma asks after Gideon leaves. I turn around to look at her. She must be so confused right now, but I don't really want to talk about it. So I don't.

"We had an argument," I reply, summing up the encounter.

"Something tells me that it was more than an argument," she says and crosses her arms over her chest, "What was this test thing?"

I take a deep breath, "It was to prove his loyalty. He failed… And we both got punished."

Emma doesn't seemed satisfied with this answer.

"Come on, there's more to the story than that," she pesters.

"Nope, that's it. Now are you done asking questions? I've got stuff to do," I tell her. I hope that she asks no more questions because I so don't want to talk about it. Just the thought of it makes me nervous.

"No, sorry. You can't leave this house."

"Really! Come on! Why?!" I complain. Seriously, I'm done with this shit. Why can't anyone leave me alone!? Maybe I should of stayed. Actually if it weren't for Gideon, I wouldn't be here right now. He better watch his back because I'm coming.

"Because you won't answer my questions. Be thankful I'm not putting you in jail right now."

"That's how you treat new people here? When they don't answer a question the way you want, you put them in jail? Wow, I'm starting to wish that I've never come here. Good luck not dying."

"Wait, do you know something?" Emma asks with a confused look on her face.

"Yes, but I'm not telling you."

"You know I could arrest you right now."

"And I'll just escape."

Emma sighs.

"Name your price," she asks, finally catching on.

"Let me be," I tell her just like I told Henry.

Emma thinks about this for a bit. I really don't know what her answer is going to be. She seems conflicted about what to do.

"Fine," she agrees and for a second I got worried that she wouldn't take the deal. We shake hands.

"The Final Battle and the Savior was all that She talked about. She hated the Blue Fairy because she knew her darkest secret. Something like that anyways. But it was rumored that She wasn't always Dark. Or that she was even a fairy. If you look hard enough, I'm sure that you'll find out the truth. That's what heroes do, don't they?" I tell Emma. That's actually not all of the information that I know. I know that She has Gideon's heart. But no one else needs to know that because I'm going to fix it. Then he'll be sorry.

"Thanks," Emma says with a relieved look on her face, "Do you know of anything that might have information on her?"

"Normally that would come with another price, but it still counts as information," I explain, "You might want to try the other fairies. Or the mines."

"The mines?" Emma asks, but I don't answer.

"I'm getting tired," I lie, "Can I go to bed now?"

"Sorry, that's not going to work on me. I have a superpower; I can tell when someones lying."

"Of course you can," I mutter.

"Come on, let's have dinner," Emma says, changing the subject.

Later that night:

I toss and turn in bed, trying to fall asleep, but just can't. I sigh and get up. I look outside of the window. Storybrooke is so beautiful at night. I lean my head against the cool glass of the window. Slowly I start to drift of to sleep.

Dream:

As the guards escort me to Her room, I start to worry more and more. What is She going to have me do this time?

"I'm glad that you could make it," She says once we've gotten through the doors to her chamber. She waves her hand and the guards leave us. I get scared. I'm on my own now.

"What would you like me to do this time…..Mother?" I ask, gritting my teeth when I say Mother. She's not my mother.

"I need you to act for me. Can you do that?" She tells me. As usual I don't question her and just nod my head.

"Of course, Mother."

"Good. You'll know what to do when it's time. And I don't need to remind you to keep quiet?"

"Of course Mother."

"Now, off you go," She says, waving her hand for me to go back to hell.

I bow and practically run away. What does she want me to act out? Will I have to pretend to die again? That one was scary!

When I get back to the mines, it's not long until Gideon comes in. We all stare for a bit, but then resume work. Everyone is afraid of Gideon, although I know that my friend is still in there.

"Attention," Gideon shouts, "Gather round."

We slowly stop what we're doing and get into formation.

"Now!" he yells and we jump into position, our heads bowed.

Gideon stares at us, with our grimy cloths and dirt on our faces. Compared to us, Gideon is royalty.

"My mother's been quite generous to you," he says, "And now one of you has betrayed her, and stolen something. A key. Return it now, and you'll face only my wrath and not her's."

He looks at us for a bit. None of us move; none of us answer. This is what She must have meant. This is when I'm supposed to act.

I open my mouth to say that it was me but Gideon interrupts me.

"No one?" he asks and takes off a leather cord with a flask filled with Black Fairy Dust. He holds it up for all of us to see, "Then I have no choice. With just a bit of magic, I can turn you vermin into— well— vermin."

Gideon quickly grabs Fredrick by the collar of his shirt.

"I didn't take it! It wasn't me. Please!" Fredrick shouts and I try to speak to save him, but Gideon interrupts again. I hope that Gideon doesn't use the dust because we all know what will happen and some of the younger children don't need to see it.

"Yes, of course, but you're about to be something far more important. An example," Gideon tells him. He uncorks the flask and is about to pour some into his hand but I cut in.

"Wait wait wait!" I exclaim, "It was me. It was me."

Gideon looks pleased with himself and pushes Fredrick away. I walk through the crowd to Gideon who faces me.

"Well then, little bug. It's time you learn your lesson then."

I realize that Gideon doesn't remember me.

"You don't remember me, do you?" I ask him. He looks confused.

"And the hero, Gideon, fought valiantly until he slayed the great spider from the echoless forest," I recite. Gideon looks at me, finally realizing who I am.

"Cobra?" he whispers. I don't respond, "I thought you were dead."

"Turns out I'm not. This must ease some of that guilt for you. Learning I didn't die by the Black Fairy's hands all those years ago."

By now, I'm not acting, but telling the truth. Gideon looks upset with himself, but then seems to pull it together.

"You— you know I had no choice."

"It sounds like you've been telling yourself that for some time. But you do have a choice now."

"My mother won't be happy if I let the culprit go free."

"No, no, I know my old friend is still in there! Deep down inside and I know he wants to make it up to me."

We stare at each other for a while until Gideon breaks the silence.

"And how could I possibly do that?"

"You can be the hero you were meant to be. Help me defeat the Black Fairy."

Gideon doesn't answer and binds my arms with chains. He pulls me with him. I know that we're going to Her room, but he thinks that I'm clueless. I believe that She actually wants me to bring Gideon here, so this works out anyways. I start acting again.

"Where are you taking me?" I ask.

"You know how dangerous it is to even think about what you want to do to Mother?" Gideon replies. I decide on telling the truth now.

"If this protects the ones I care about, then it's all worth it!" I exclaim and Gideon stops.

"Protect them from what?"

"Haven't you ever wondered why the Black Fairy is collecting all this dust?"

Gideon thinks about this for a bit, but doesn't answer.

"Years ago, the Black Fairy used her dust to create a most terrible spell. It was called the Dark Curse."

"The Dark Curse?"

"She was obsessed with perfecting it and never stopped collecting the dust. And now….. I have to wonder what else she's capable of."

Gideon looks at me with sad eyes.

"What happened?" he asks, "after….."

I tense up at this question. Why should he care what happened to me?

"It's better left than said," I admit. It's quiet in the mines for a bit.

"I'm sorry. I regret it everyday. I was weak. I could barley survive the mines. And what you endured….it would of….I'm sorry I was weak." A tear has rolled down Gideon's check. My eyes are watering too. But… do I want to forgive him? Can I forgive him? I want my friend back, but what if he leaves me again? I couldn't handle that.

"We were children," I decide on saying, "But now, we must stop her before it's too late."

"What do you suggest we do?"

I smile. Gideon actually wants to help. I'm still telling the truth.

"There's someone in another realm. A brave hero called the Savior. We just need to reach her, Hero."

"How?"

"I've heard rumors of a crystal ball, a uh, magical orb, that will allow us to communicate across the realms. If you help me, we could save everyone."

Gideon nods his head yes. We continue the path to Her room.

"This is where she keeps all of her most powerful possessions," Gideon informs me once we reach our destination, "If the orb exists, it'll be in here."

He leads me to a glass tank that looks empty, but it really is a storage unit for powerful objects. Of course, once again, Gideon thinks that I'm clueless. He reaches his hand inside and it seems to disappear, but I know where it has gone. Gideon soon pulls out a black orb and I immediately know that that's it. He smiles at me.

"Thank you Hero," I tell him, "I knew you'd come through for us."

"Now, lets see if we can reach this Savior." he replies and waves his hand over the orb. It glows red for a bit, but then explodes. She's here.

"Such powerful toys are not left for such disobedient boys," a cold voice says. The Black Fairy.

"Mother?" Gideon asks, confused, "How did you know we were here?"

"I lead you here," She admits, "just as I lead your friend to my keys."

I look at Gideon and he finally realizes what's going on.

"This whole thing… It was a test, wasn't it?" he asks.

"From the moment you arrived, you were supposed to be different, Gideon," She says, advancing towards Gideon, "You were a gift. My loyal son."

"Gift? You stole me from my parents."

"They abandoned you! I'm the one who took you in, gave you a home, taught you, fed you, shared with you everything that I had! And this is how you repay me? I am so disappointed in you, Gideon."

"No," Gideon says and surprises me, "You can't intimidate me anymore. I should of stepped up to you years ago."

She smiles and laughs a bit, "Gideon, how many times do I have to tell you? You are not a hero."

"Yes I am. And I know you've been hoarding the Black Fairy Dust. And I know that you're planning to do something terrible with it. But I'm not going to let you. These people have suffered long enough!"

"Have they?"

The guards rush towards me.

"No no no, stop!" I cry and they grab my arms, "No, don't!"

"As far as I can see, this one has just begun to suffer," She says.

"NO!" Gideon shouts and thrusts the Black Fairy Dust at Her. She looks startled and dodges.

"How dare you use that on me!" She yells and grabs it out of his hands, "I gave you this magic!"

She holds the bottle at Gideon's throat like a knife.

"You wouldn't use that on me."

"Oh Gideon, haven't you learned? There are so many ways to hurt a person."

Then She throws the dust to her left. I don't have anywhere to go, thanks to the guards, and the dust hits me square in the chest. In a cloud of black smoke, I'm on the floor. I realize that I'm a butterfly.

Gideon face shows a ton of different emotions, but mainly fear.

"Or a bug," She says and walks over to me. She's going to squash me! She's going to squash me! I'm going to die!

"No, no! Please, please don't!" Gideon cries.

I realize that I have wings and that I could fly away. I try and try, but my wings feel like cement.

The last thing I see is the look of pain on Gideon's face before everything goes black.

The last thing I remember is that Gideon didn't even try to stop her from stepping on me.

He betrayed me. Again.

Real World:

"Wake up, wake up," a voice calls. I wake with a jolt. I take a deep breath. I'm not dead, I'm not with Her, I'm in the Savior's house. I'm safe. I look at who the voice belongs to. It was Henry.

"Are you ok?" he asks, concern in his eyes. I brush a stand of hair out of my face.

"Yeah…..Yeah I'm ok," I pant, "What happened?"

"I heard you crying and mumbling, 'No, no, please don't hurt me!' so I thought that you were having a nightmare and that I should wake you up."

"Thanks, but you were a bit too late," I tell him. Then I realize that I probably should not have told him that because now he's going to ask me what my dream was about. Henry squeezes my hand.

"You were dreaming about what happened to you, weren't you?" he asks. I'm surprised that he figured it out.

I take a deep breath. I don't want to tell him. I don't want to tell him the memory. It wasn't even accurate. That's not what happened. I was able to escape. But that's how the nightmare always goes. I always die. And Gideon…well…..I don't know what becomes of him. I hope that he becomes the hero he was meant to be though. In the dream at least.

"It's ok, you don't have to tell me," Henry says.

"No matter how many time I have that dream, it always ends the same," I tell him, "I always die."

"But you're here now, so that's all that matters."

"I guess."

There's silence for a bit.

"Thanks Henry, again," I say, breaking the silence.

"Of course. Do you want me to stay with you in case you need someone?" he asks. Truthfully, I would love it if Henry stayed with me, but it brings up too many painful memories. And I'm not a little kid anymore.

"No thanks," I answer. Henry looks into my eyes, searching for something. He's probably wondering if I'm lying, which I kind of am.

"Ok. You know where to find me if you need me," he says and leaves my room.

I try to fall back asleep, but I just can't. And I'm a little scared. I don't want to have another nightmare. So I decide to stay up for the rest of the night.

A/N

Hi, 1FunkyMonkey here,

Sorry that it's been a while since the last chapter. I've sort had writers block. I know what I want for the end of this story, but I'm not quite sure how to get there. I have some ideas though.

For the next week, I'm going to be away from home and I'm not bringing my laptop with me so all of my updates are going to be from my iPad, which I find harder to update on. I just want to give you guys a heads up that the format for the next chapter or two might be a bit weird.

Thanks for reading and have a fantastic day!