Chapter 8: The Return of Magic
Mickey and Regina were running. They were being chased by twenty five deadly Weevils down the secret Torchwood hallways. Mickey didn't know where they were going. They just keep running down corridor after corridor trying to find a safe place.
"Mickey."
Mickey and Regina heard the voice calling Mickey's name, but there was no one there. The only ones around besides them were the Weevils, who are incapable of speech. So, they ignored the voice and kept moving.
"Mickey. Regina. You need to listen to me."
They heard the voice again.
"Where's that voice coming from?" Regina asked as they kept running through and endless series of hallways and corridors.
"How should I know?" Mickey asked.
"You're Torchwood." Regina replied.
"Barely. I've only been here four days." Mickey replied.
"Mickey and Regina. It's Gwen. I'm using the intercom system in Jack's office. I'm with Eric."
Mickey and Regina now knew who the voice belonged to.
"I've released alien killers into the hub to kill the Weevils." Gwen said to them. "They're invisible. The point is you have to stay out of the dark. Don't go in a dark room. Don't step in any shadows. If you do, you'll die."
"So where do we go?" Regina yelled out to Gwen.
"Find an open room with plenty of light. Then, lock the door. You won't get killed if you're inside of a locked room." Gwen replied.
"What's in the dark. What do we need to be afraid of?" Mickey asked Gwen while still running through this maze of hallways.
"Vashta Nerada." Gwen replied.
Neither Mickey nor the Evil Queen knew what that was, but they weren't going to question it. They simply keep running from the Weevils behind them. Mickey looked back. The Weevils were still a good distance away, but he knew that this would soon change. Regina and Mickey were starting to get very tired and the Weevils seemed like they could go on running forever, showing no signs of slowing down.
Soon, Mickey and Regina came to a long hallway with one door at the very end. Mickey remembered this door. Behind it was the room where Torchwood housed the secret submarine. They would be safe behind there.
The Evil Queen and Mickey bolted for the door. They stopped once they reached it. The door was locked. They needed to type in the correct code to get inside. Mickey did not know the code. He wanted to ask Gwen, but the Weevils were approaching too fast. It was over. Regina and Mickey were going to become food.
In the face of this impending death, Regina reverted to her natural instincts. She was going to attempt to use magic. In the back of her mind she knew that this was a land without magic, but her instincts took over. She stepped forward and stared at the charging Weevils. She extended her hand forward and concentrated. Then, a large wall of fire appeared between Regina and the Weevils. The Weevils stopped charging, afraid of being burned by the fire.
"How did you do that?" Mickey asked sounding very afraid now.
"Magic." She replied with a victorious tone.
Regina's magic was back. She was genuinely happy.
"I thought your magic didn't work here." Mickey remarked.
"So did I. Something must have happened. What was that earthquake thing all about?" Regina asked Mickey.
"It was the rift opening." He replied.
"Well I don't know what this rift thing is, but once it opened I got my magic back." Regina said.
Regina raise her hands up to about her shoulders. Then, fire magically appeared on her palms. She watched as Mickey's happy expression turned into one of fear. Regina had her magic back. Regina held the power.
"I could do anything I want to you." Regina remarked.
Mickey did not say anything. He stared at Regina and her hands of fire. He was frozen with fear. Then, the fire that burned on Regina's hands disappeared and she lowered her hands. Although, the wall of fire still burned behind her and the hungry Weevils were still afraid to cross it.
"I'm going home." Regina said.
"What?" Mickey said surprised.
"This was a colossal waste of time. I thought you could help me get my revenge. I thought Torchwood could help give me my happy ending, but I guess I was wrong. I'll just have to think of some other way to take away their happiness." Regina said.
"Who's happiness?" Mickey asked.
"None of your business." Regina fired back. "I think I'll be coming back to this land rather soon. This land without magic."
She stared at Mickey who was panicking by the door.
"And I'd like some insurance." Regina said.
"What insurance?" Mickey asked.
"I want something from you." Regina said.
"What do you need from me?" Mickey asked.
"I want knowledge that when I do come back to this land, Torchwood will not get in my way. I've seen the power you've got here and I don't want it to intervene." Regina said.
Mickey didn't respond. Regina could see the fear in his eyes. She was pleased.
"Hold still." Regina instructed him.
Gwen and Eric watched all of this from the computer screen in Jack's office. There was a camera on the ceiling of the hall where Mickey and Regina were standing. They heard what Regina said and tried to figure out what she meant by "insurance".
Then, Gwen and Eric watched in horror as Regina reached her hand inside Mickey's chest and ripped his heart out of his body. Gwen screamed. Eric tried to hug her and calm her down, but it had no effect. Regina was holding Mickey's beating heart in her hand. Regina turned around to look directly at the ceiling camera. With Mickey's heart in her hand, she put fear into Gwen and Eric's minds.
Gwen and Eric looked over at Mickey through the screen. They were shocked to find that he was still alive. More than that he was breathing heavily. It wasn't medically possible. Yet there he was, standing behind a triumphant Regina.
"Heed my warning Torchwood." Regina said to the camera directly addressing Gwen and Eric. "I'm coming back to this land and when I do, you're not going to interfere. If you do, I will crush Mickey's heart and he will die."
Regina then disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.
"Where'd she go?" Gwen yelled.
"Back to the Enchanted Forest." Eric replied.
"The what?" Gwen with great curiosity in her voice.
"My land. Regina magically transported herself back there and she took Mickey's heart with her." Eric replied.
"But how can she do that? You can't just rip out a person's heart." Gwen stated.
"Regina can." Eric said.
"Why?" Gwen asked.
"Because she's the Evil Queen." Eric replied.
Mickey stood there in the hallway by himself. Well almost by himself. The Weevils were still there. There were trapped behind a burning wall of fire. He had no time to gather his thoughts before he looked down the hallway and saw that the lights were going out. The darkness was approaching. The Vashta Nerada were coming.
"Gwen!" Mickey yelled to Gwen. "I need the code to open this door now!"
"Right!" Gwen said and then began searching Jack's computer for the correct code to the door.
Mickey watched helplessly as the lights went out one by one. The darkness was coming. It made no difference if Regina disappeared with his heart. He was going to be killed by the Vashta Nerada.
Suddenly, the light that illuminated the Weevils went out. They were consumed by the darkness. Mickey no longer heard their roars of hunger. There were no more sounds. There were only thud noises for a brief moment. Mickey knew what these thud noises were even though he could not see. They were the sounds of dead Weevils hitting the floor. Mickey had never been so scared in his life and he'd been in some scary situations. He was strapped to a dissection table on a spaceship in the fifty-first century with killer robots. He'd fought deadly Cybermen for years on a parallel world. He fought in the Battle of Canary Wharf. Yet this moment was the only one in which Mickey could feel death inching its way closer to him. The only lights remaining in the hallway were the wall of fire and the light above him, which started to flicker.
"Gwen! Hurry up!" Mickey shouted.
Gwen was too late she couldn't find the code in time. The light had turned off. Mickey closed his eyes. He was still so scared. Then it dawned on him that he was still alive. How was this possible? When Mickey opened his eyes, he saw that he was still standing in the light from Regina's burning wall of fire. However, the fire was started to settle down.
"Mickey!" Gwen shouted in the intercom. "I've got the code."
"Well hurry up and tell me. This fire isn't going to last much longer." Mickey replied.
"100451213003" Gwen said rapidly.
Mickey rapidly typed in the numbers on the key pad and the door opened. He then ran inside and the door slammed shut behind him and automatically locked. He was safe. Although he didn't have much room to stand since the room was almost entirely filled with water.
Back in Jack's office, Gwen and Eric were rejoicing. They'd saved themselves and Mickey. Although Regina had taken Mickey's heart, that was going to have to be an issue for another time. The rift was still open. More evil would certainly come through into Cardiff if they didn't shut it soon. Fortunately, Gwen knew the correct code for the rift manipulator to close the rift.
"Gwen." Eric said to her.
"Ya Eric." Gwen said smiling.
"Regina's gone. How will I get back to my land?" He asked her desperately.
"I don't know. We'll figure it out later. We've got to close the rift now." Gwen replied.
"But how? The Vashta Nerada are all over the hub!" Eric pointed out.
All he and Gwen could see was darkness outside the glass windows of Jack's office. Gwen quickly grabbed the golden whistle from Jack's desk and blew it. Once again, she and Eric heard nothing while the Vashta Nerada heard the silent signal and retreated to their hiding place in the underground shadows. Slowly, all the light returned to the hub. The Vashta Nerada were gone, and the hub was once again safe. Well it was relatively safe. The rift was still open and until it was closed, the entire planet was at risk.
Gwen and Eric soon rushed out of Jack's office. However they didn't get far before they were stopped by a large pile of bones on the floor outside the door to Jack's office. The Vashta Nerada didn't just kill the Weevils. They ate every scrap of meat they could find. Gwen and Eric were careful to maneuver around the pile of Weevils skeletons and then rushed down the steps to the rift manipulator. Then, Gwen swiftly typed in the code required to close the rift. However, there was another earthquake. Gwen and Eric were tossed around the hub violently. Soon enough, the shaking stopped and the rift was closed.
Mickey soon arrived. Without wasting a minute, Gwen ran over and hugged him tightly.
"Oh Mickey." Gwen said.
That's all she could say. She had no idea what to say to someone who had their heart stolen by the Evil Queen.
"It's ok." Mickey said. "I'm fine."
He wasn't. He had no idea what to think or what to do. Regina stole Mickey's heart and took away to another planet.
"Anyway," Mickey began trying to change the subject. "we saved the world!"
"Not quite." Gwen commented.
"But you closed the rift." Mickey said.
"Ya so now no more evil get released into the city, but have you forgotten about the monsters that are already here?" Gwen asked him.
"Ya I guess I did with all the Weevils, and the Vashta Nerada, and the Evil Queen." Mickey replied.
"Sorry." Gwen said.
"It's alright." Mickey said.
"What monsters?" Eric asked. He was lying on the ground unconscious when these monsters were released.
"There's a Dalek, a Weeping Angel, and a Minotaur out there in the city." Gwen stated. "If Jack, Martha, and Ianto don't stop them, it could mean the end of the world."
