It's a Tale of Woe and Revenge
Chapter Nine
When the Evil Queen arrived back within the safety of the cloak surrounding each of the camps belonging to the new arrivals from the new land of untold stories, she stormed inside Gold's cabin where she found Hyde sitting down in a chair by his workstation having a conversation with a man leaning against a wall in the far corner of the room; none other than Brennan Jones, now inside Captain Hook's body just as Henry had said he was. Both men stopped talking when she entered as Hyde stood, while Brennan remained right where he was and kept his eyes trained on the villains before him.
Hyde spoke first as he looked at the woman in charge as he said, "Your Majesty, you're back sooner than expected. I take it things didn't go as well as you hoped."
She glared at the villain and answered, "If things had, I would still be out there among them right now, wouldn't I? I've underestimated Snow White time and time again. I don't why I keep thinking I can put anything past her, although how she knew I wasn't miss goody two shoes so soon is beyond me."
"Miss. Swan's instincts come from her mother," Brennan replied quietly. "Emma's are stronger as she's the Savior, but her mother's have always been strong. I can still feel my son inside of his body, tearing at me to get out. It's a strange sensation."
"I can imagine," the Queen responded as she turned to the man she could only see as the pirate she's hated since he first betrayed her when he chose to work for Cora all those years ago before he and her mother ever came to Storybrooke. "You must have all of his thoughts and memories. You know, everything that he knows?"
Brennan nodded as the woman walked closer to stand before him, then answered, "It appears so. I'll help you to defeat his loved ones, so long as you continue to help me get back to my son and make this transformation permanent."
She smiled smugly and replied, "That all depends on you, but I can give you something that will help. I take it that you had no trouble then?"
"This Snow White you speak of, the Savior's mother… She isn't the only one of these heroes whose instincts are strong," Brennan responded as he walked over to have a seat in the chair beside the other man, who was sitting down again, as was the Queen at this point. "Every one of them knew that I was lying the moment I revealed myself to them, including my son. You warned me of the Savior's gift, so I was careful with what I said, but she was protective of Killian and it wasn't long before she brought me before her family and friends to be interrogated about my intentions. I had to act fast, but the incantation you gave me to enter my son's body worked just as you said it would."
"After he fled from our enemies, he met up with me at the rendezvous spot per your orders," Hyde added. "I must say, it's unnerving to see one of your associates staring back at us through the eyes of an enemy I nearly strangled to death when we first met. As I look at him, I want to finish killing him like I began to do then."
Brennan appeared to think for a moment and then answered, "He has that effect on people. Now, what about that help you promised me?"
The woman stood as Brennan followed suit, then moved directly in front of the man in Hook's body, pressed her hand firmly against his chest just over his heart, and replied coolly, "I warn you, this will hurt. But at least it will hurt your son even worse."
Without another word or hesitation, the Evil Queen smiled as she began to burn a mark into Killian's skin beneath the palm of her hand, causing the man to scream like he had done before in the diner only in much more agony, and collapsed to his knees while she continued on for almost a minute, until she finally released him, then Brennan fell all the way back against the floor, panting as he struggled to catch his breath again. From across the room, Hyde watched in fascination while he remained silent.
"What have you done to me?" Brennan asked weakly as he slowly raised himself up and then stood again before the woman. "I've never felt anything like that before and I was tortured by fire, a lash, as well as anything else you can imagine while down in the Underworld.
"You thought that was bad, I can promise that the pain for Hook was much worse," she responded. "You wanted to make sure that your son wouldn't be able to push you out, or that the woman who loves him and the rest of the heroes can't pull you out, so I've burned a binding link into his skin and locked you inside."
Mr. Hyde looked at the woman as he spoke up saying, "I've studied all magic, both dark and light. I've never once heard of this, binding link to lock souls inside another body."
She looked over at the scientist as she answered, "That's because this kind of power is a very rare form of dark magic and is something that's not very common for magical beings to perform. Because as you would think, it's extremely dangerous and because there's never a soul available to do it with. I've only even heard of it being done by one other person and that was the Dark One before Rumpelstiltskin. Rumpelstiltskin taught me a lot, including magic that there was never any use for."
"So what's next?" Brennan asked sternly. "When can I leave this place and go find my son?"
"First of all, you still need to find a way to steal the Apprentice's wand away from my sister," the Queen replied as she walked outside and slowly began to walk along the camps, tents, and other shelters throughout the woods, while Brennan and Hyde followed close behind. "If you want to do that, we're going to need help and not just from the Dragon, who should be around here somewhere."
The scientist corrected her as he responded, "Actually, I have the wand. Jekyll volunteered to fix it for them, then I stole it from him."
When they came upon a small clearing past the last set up camp where they could talk without interference from anyone else from Hyde's world and walked forward, five other strangers, as well as the Dragon, stepped inside the opening, then cautiously made their way toward the woman they knew to be the Evil Queen and Hyde, whom they didn't trust.
Hyde introduced them as he proclaimed, "While you were gone, Your Majesty, I gathered together our best allies. Meet some friends of mine, some of whom you might have heard of; the Sorcerer Jafar, Dorian Gray, Milady de Winter, Professor James Moriarty, and Lady Macbeth."
