Chapter 9: The Second Catch

Emma:

She looked around the hallway as they continued forward.

"Who are all of these people?" she asked, examining each portrait.

"These were the past rulers of Wonderland, before Lila came and took over," Jefferson explained. "These were the honest rulers, before Wonderland went all…bad."

"How long has Lila been queen here?" Henry asked.

"Time's been frozen here, ever since she became queen," Jefferson told him. "No one knows why, either."

"So," Emma said, seeing their exit, "it's almost like Neverland here."

"I guess you could say that. I only assume that the queen placed the spell because she wanted to be the ruler here forever, but I could be wrong."

Emma nodded and continued to follow behind Jefferson and Henry. They walked on for another minute or so before halting in front of the door.

"I don't know if there are still people in the room," Jefferson turned around and looked at Emma and Henry, "but when we get into the room, the entrance to the chambers will be to the right side. If there are people, just…try not go get caught."

"Alright," Emma nodded.

Jefferson opened the door to find the room empty. Emma smiled as she placed a hand on Henry's shoulder. Emma watched as Jefferson turned and put a finger to his lips, signaling absolute silenced. Emma and Henry nodded and followed closely behind him. She looked around in wonder as she found herself in a massive entrance and throne room. It wasn't as grand as her parents' throne room, but the sight made quite a statement. Everything was black, white, or blood red; she felt small in the room, as if she weren't worthy enough to even be in it. There was a regal presence that filled the air.

"Is it always this intimidating in this room?" Henry whispered, thinking the same way as Emma.

"Trust me," Jefferson smiled, "it's a lot worse when the queen is actually here."

They reached a space behind the thrones. There was a black rug that was placed below their feet.

"Where's the entrance?" Emma asked, louder than she intended.

"Right here," Jefferson said, focused on the black rug. He bent over and called Emma and Henry over. He instructed them to grab a hold of the rug and pull it. Slowly, but surely, a trap door was revealed.

"There's no other entrance?" Emma asked.

"There is," Jefferson began to unlock the trapdoor, "but that one's a lot more complicated to get through because the only person allowed to use the other one is the queen."

The trapdoor opened all the way and revealed a solid gold staircase that descended into a dimly lit room. Jefferson began the descent, followed by Henry, and Emma bringing up the rear. She turned around and gingerly pulled the door closed over her, in fear that someone had heard them.

They reached the bottom; Emma found herself looking at a chamber, bigger than the throne room. The outside walls of the chamber were filled with chambers; there were endless rows full of shelves. Not a single empty space was seen on these shelves.

"What the hell," Emma said under her breath, but Jefferson heard.

"Welcome to Lila's Atrium," Jefferson said coolly, "otherwise known as her chamber of hearts."

"How many are there," Emma felt Henry edge closer to her.

"There's so many that Lila lost count. Her collection, though, makes her mother's and Regina's collections look pathetic, like shit."

"You got that right," Emma scoffed. "How are we going to find Alice's heart within all of this?"

"I honestly have no idea," Jefferson admitted. "Do you guys want to split up?"

"No way," Henry said. "I'm not getting lost in this thing."

"Alright then," Jefferson nodded. "Let's get started then."

They started on the furthest left wall and began their search.

Henry:

The difference between Lila's vault and Regina's is that Lila took the time to label each heart. Henry was too short to see what Emma and Jefferson were reading, so he kept to the lower parts of the shelf. Alice's name hadn't popped up anywhere. The group had almost given hope after going through about a dozen shelves, front and back.

"There's no use," Henry said. "There's too many hearts in here."

"No," Jefferson said. "I haven't come this far for nothing."

They reach the center of the Atrium and found themselves standing in front of a mini vault with no windows.

"What the fuck is that?" Emma asked.

"There's probably more hearts in there," Jefferson observed.

"I bet you guys ten dollars that Alice's heart is in there," Henry said as he walked forward to try the latch. "It's locked."

Emma walked and tried the latch by using magic; to her surprise, it worked. Jefferson followed the two of them into the room. It was just like the vault on the outside, except this vault had only five hearts, each one placed in a glass container. Henry eagerly walked forward and looked for the one that had Alice's name.

"Here's her heart!" Henry exclaimed, standing in front of the container on the far left. Jefferson came and looked.

"Hey, Emma," Jefferson called, seeing that Emma was reading the names, "come look at this."

"Just a sec," Emma said.

"I can't believe we actually found it," Henry looked up, smiling.

"Yeah, I can't believe it either," Jefferson laughed.

Emma came over and saw. She tried lifting the glass, but nothing worked. She used her magic once more, and to her surprise, again, the glass lifted and Jefferson took the heart, hiding it in his coat pocket.

They closed the vault door behind them when the alarms sounded.

"Oh shit," Emma said, looking around to see if any of the guards had come.

"Run," Jefferson prompted.

Emma ran in the lead, with Henry following, and Jefferson in the back, towards the direction they came from. They wound their way through the shelves until they came back to the grand stair case.

"I'll go first, just to make sure everything's safe," Emma turned and told them as they climbed the stairs.

Henry watched as Emma slowly opened the trapdoor and checked. She bent back down and gave a thumbs up, but before they could do anything, Henry watched as a gloved hand was placed over Emma's mouth. He tried to run forward, but Jefferson held him back.

"No, Henry," Jefferson held him back. "We need to find the other exit."

Jefferson:

They just took Emma, Jefferson panicked. She's going to die because of me.

"Where are they taking her?" Henry asked, with a pleading look in his eyes.

"I don't know, but once we get out of here, we'll find her right away," Jefferson told him. "The faster we find the exit, the faster we'll find Emma."

They past the mini vault again and patiently made their way to what seemed like the back of the atrium. Jefferson tried to use process of elimination. The two entrances can't be right next to each other, so the queen had to put them as far away as possible from each other.

There were no signs of a passage or some type of door anywhere. Henry seemed just as determined as Jefferson.

"Jefferson, why don't we try using your hat," Henry suggested.

"I thought I told you my hat doesn't work here."

"When was the last time you came here?"

"Well…good point."

Jefferson placed his hat down on the floor space in front of them and spun it. Nothing happened after thirty seconds, so he bent down to pick it up, but Henry stopped him.

"Let me try," Henry looked at him.

"You don't even know how to use it," Jefferson said.

"It doesn't hurt to try," Henry said evenly.

Henry walked forward and did the exact same thing Jefferson did; he spun the hat. Nothing happened after fifteen seconds.

"It's no use," Jefferson sighed.

"Wait!" Henry grabbed his arm and pointed. Clouds of red began to appear from the hat. Slowly, a faint portal began to emerge from the hat. Jefferson imagined his room and kept his focus on that. He quickly grabbed Henry's hand and pulled him into the portal.

Jefferson felt a weird sensation going through his body as they moved through the portal. It began as something strange, but quickly turned into a burning fire. It felt like someone was ripping a dagger through his gut, he was running out of breath. He opened his eyes to figure out what was going on, but they were still surrounded by swirls of red.

He felt something –someone –tugging at his arm, but no one was there. Finally, he landed with Henry in the middle of his room. He closed his eyes and winced as the pain throbbed in his gut. Henry stood and saw the blood seeping through Jefferson's shirt.

"What happened?" Henry exclaimed. Jefferson felt Henry ripped the item from his gut and cried out in pain.

"Wait," Henry began as he examined the dagger, "what's this doing here? This is Grace's dagger."

"What?" Jefferson struggled as his vision was getting hazy. He sat down on the floor, but looked up at Henry. "What are you talking about?"

"Dad?" Jefferson and Henry whipped their heads and saw Grace. "What happened?"

"Did you guys try making a portal at the same time?" Henry asked.

"Mom told me to make a portal that led here, so that's exactly what I did," Grace looked over at Killian and Alice, who were getting up.

Jefferson slowly raised his head and saw Alice. His vision was fading and his hearing was leaving him.

"Jefferson!" Alice cried. The last thing Jefferson felt was the feeling of his wife's arms wrapped around him, he barely felt her tears fall onto his face.

Alice:

"What happened?" Alice struggled through her tears.

"I made a portal like you told me to," Grace walked over and innocently told her mother.

"I know, but how did your dagger end up on your father?"

"It must've fallen out of the sheath while we were going through the portal," Killian suggested.

"Is he still alive?" Henry asked.

"Barely," Killian checked his pulse. "Emma, do you think you could –where's Emma?"

"She's been captured," Henry said. "I don't know where they took her."

"How'd she get captured?" Killian said, suddenly furious.

"We were in the queen's atrium, getting Alice's heart. Then on our way back, she went first to make sure it was safe to go, but she got captured in the process."

"You -," Alice stammered. "You have my heart?"

Henry nodded. "It's inside of one of Jefferson's coat pockets."

Alice gingerly reached and felt inside of the pockets until she found her heart. "Killian," she looked up and smiled, "they found my heart."

"Quick, let me see it," Killian reached and Alice gave him the heart. He finished the process and placed the heart back within his sister.

"Now that that's done," Killian said, "how are we going to get Jefferson to wake up again?"

"I don't know," Alice wiped away her tears. "He's losing too much blood."

"Where are we going now?" Grace asked.

"Take us to the entrance of the castle," Alice instructed to her daughter.

Grace quickly made the portal with her hat. Alice, with Killian's help, took Jefferson and jumped first, followed by Grace and Henry.