A/N: Funny, so far absolutely none of these have gone quite in the direction I originally wanted. I pretty much collect phrases that I use as a prompt (and the chapter title) for myself, and base it off that. I was watching 7:15 A.M. when I came up with this one. It was going to be something in Mary Margaret's point of view. Instead, I made this:
[= ]
The cabin has seen many things.
It has watched birds hatch, and squirrels bicker, and rain fall upon the lake and flood it. While that's all fine with the cabin, it prefers watching human endeavours.
It has seen the man —the man who owns it: the one they call Mr. Gold, although he seems to have another name— bury a shiny little knife. The cabin doesn't know what the knife is for. But the cabin likes to watch. The bearded man came soon after, and saw Mr. Gold. The bearded man was looking for a wolf. Cabin has never seen a wolf, they don't belong here.
Mr. Gold comes by the cabin a lot. There was that other time, when he showed a stubbly man the pretty little knife. There were hugs and then fighting and threats, and it was all very confusing for the cabin. The cabin didn't like to have to figure out human intentions. It just liked to watch.
People have entered the cabin before. Not many. They all run rampant with emotions it knows the names for, but has never felt. Regret and longing and hatred and rage roll across the cabin's floor. First were the two, in the middle of a storm. Cabin has seen many a storm but none quite like this one.
The two slide into the cabin, sopping wet, the rain from them soaking its floors just as well as their regret. Cabin wants to recoil from it, to only watch: to not have emotions poking at its observance.
The man kindles a fire, the woman shivers, and the bird sits quietly.
"Okay. Let's get you dry."
"Whose cabin is this?" The girl ponders. Even her voice shudders. The cabin knows who owns it. The cabin has seen many things. "Are you sure it's okay for us to be in here?" The girl jerks her head in the man's direction. It probably isn't. Mr. Gold didn't say they could come in.
"Well, you're roommates with the Sheriff, so I doubt she'll arrest us for breaking and entering." The man grins. Is he invincible? The cabin wonders. He walks as if he thinks so. "Here." The man wraps a thick blanket around the woman's shoulders, which she shrugs off without giving him a single glance. "Hey, I'm just trying to help."
She nods. Her gaze never touches him. The cabin wants to cringe away from their too high emotions, from the walls they shove against each other.
"What's going on with you today?" The man's eyes never leave her, whereas her's never go to him.
"What's going on? What's going on is I still have feelings for you."
"What?"
"Why do you think I go to Granny's every morning at seven fifteen?" Her face finally turns to him. "It's to see you." The girl's voice is thick with emotion. Her eyes are watery. "I don't know why, because it just makes me miserable. Because every time I see you it just reminds me that you chose Kathryn instead of me." Her gaze now leaves him. Her voice is so thick and layered with all those disgruntling emotions that cabin could sit upon it.
"And that's why I didn't want you to come to the woods with me," She continues. "Because being around you is too," She's shaking her head. It's been shaking for a while now. "It's too painful."
The man makes a noise the cabin can't define: half sigh-half chuckle.
"You think this is funny?"
"No, it's just...the reason I go to Granny's every morning at seven fifteen..." She keeps shaking her head. The cabin doesn't know why. She won't look at the man again, even though he's looking at her. "It's to see you." Her head snaps in his direction. He chuckles again and they stare at each other, emotions painted in their faces so vividly it makes the cabin dizzy.
And then they lean into each other, and they almost kiss, when the woman jerks away.
"How can you do this?" She mutters. Will her tone ever thin?
"What are you talking about?"
"David, I know." She stares at him, angry.
"You know what?"
"About Kathryn."
"What about Kathryn?" He is so confused. Anyone could see it.
"That she thinks she's pregnant." The woman confesses, the words spilling out in a rush. The cabin is enjoying its observation, if only they could dial down their emotions.
"What?" He is shocked. He's been smacked off a rooftop in surprise. There is a moment of silence.
"You didn't know..."
"No." The man sputters.
"And you two aren't trying..."
"Not as far as I know." The air is so solid between then that the cabin almost wants to leave. To stop watching. "Mary Margaret you have to believe me, I—"
"Shh." The rain has stopped. They should have noticed. "The rain's stopped. I need to get her out!" The girl runs for the bird.
"Mary Margaret..." The man turns to watch her. Then the two dart outside and the cabin's watching time is over.
[ #]
"Walk."
The cabin perks up. Mr. Gold doesn't come by often. And there's a man with him. And Mr. Gold has a gun.
The cabin is listening very intently now.
Strange man is ushered inside, bound up. He is sat in a chair and Mr. Gold towers over him, obvious rage twisting at his features. Of all the emotions, the cabin finds rage the most interesting. It is a little strange to see on Mr. Gold, who usually so...placid. But the cabin can always feel all the emotions, and there is a lot of anger and darkness inside Mr. Gold. And something else is buried there too. Something that the cabin thinks is love.
"I can explain." The man says, bearing his tied hands before him like he's begging for forgiveness. Or shielding himself from a death blow of hatred.
"Well that is...fascinating," Mr. Gold says with his usual charm, only now it seems even colder. He places the gun on the table and pulls up a chair, which he sits on backwards. The cabin is quite entertained now. "Truly...fascinating." Mr. Gold presses the end of his cane to the man's neck. The man makes a faint, chocking gurgle.
"You can breathe in a second. And you're going to give me two sentences. The first, will tell me where it is. The second is gonna tell me who told you to take it. Do you understand the rules?" Mr. Gold's words are like rocks pounding soft flesh. The cabin is glad it's made of wood.
The man makes a strange sound in response.
"Yes?" Mr. Gold growls. The man makes another noise of assent. "Good." Mr. Gold removes his cane. "Let's begin." He waits as the man breathes.
"I needed that van."
"A-ca-tak-tak-ta!" Mr. Gold hisses. It's an inhuman response, and it makes the cabin think that there's something not quite human living inside Mr. Gold's body. "Now you see, that was not a very good first sentence!" Mr. Gold's cane comes up, rage fuelling the blow that smacks the man so hard his ribs might bruise and crack.
"Gold!" The man wails. "Listen..." He starts, in his mumbly, soft voice.
"Tell me where it is!" Mr. Gold hits him with the cane again.
"Stop!" The man cowers in his seat.
"Tell me where it is!" Mr. Gold's cane cracks the man again.
"No, stop!" Mr. Gold's cane wavers, but his face is still twisted with fury and hate. The man is practically sobbing. "It wasn't my fault."
"My fault? What are you talking about 'my fault'?" Mr. Gold sounds like he's not quite right in the head. His eyes are a little distant, as if he's sharing his body with someone else. Someone that reminds the cabin of a past life that was part Mr. Gold and part something else. "You shut her out. You had her love and you shut her out!" On the past word, the cane meets flesh with a sickening smack. The cabin has always liked the word sickening.
"She's gone." Mr. Gold continues, voice still hard and eyes slightly delusional. "She's gone forever. She's not coming back." There's a dangerous hiss to his voice, like fire and water fizzling together. "You are her father!" Mr. Gold keeps hitting, hitting, hitting the man with enough force to make the cabin's wooden walls cringe.
"It's your fault!" Smack. "It's your fault!" This time, as the cane came down, it was caught by a blonde woman's agile hands. Sheriff Swan.
"Stop it."
Mr. Gold was tugged outside and eventually handcuffed. The man was put in an ambulance. The cabin was very disappointed that it hadn't heard a word they'd said. It could never hear very well when they were that far.
Like the next time Mr. Gold came. A strange stubbly man joined him. They embraced and Mr. Gold looked as if he were about to cry. But then he took his knife back and aimed it at his companion's throat.
Maybe he wasn't a lost loved one after all.
[ /]
Something was changing. The cabin could tell. Something deep and ancient and powerful was creeping into this world and it didn't belong.
But then Mr. Gold was coming towards him with a girl. He'd never brought a girl before. So the cabin sat back and waited, wondering if she'd be killed, beaten, or kissed.
Watching was the only way to know what fate would befall her.