In case y'all didn't notice, I added a bit to the last chapter!
"This will do," Mulan calls out, Aveena allowing herself to fall to her knees and then forward the second the words left the warrior's mouth. She lets out a pitiful noise, unused to so much walking even when she lived on Neverland where she was forced to do almost everything by hand. "Are you okay?" She lets out another long groan, her cheek pressed against the dead grass. "We'll camp here tonight, but we need to find some water and collect firewood."
"If we're hiding from Ogres, shouldn't we maybe, I don't know, not start a fire," Emma suggests.
"Ogres are blind," Snow informs her daughter," they only hunt by sound." Aveena raises her head just enough to look up at the three women, nodding when Emma looks her way for further confirmation.
"Right, because that's something everyone knows about Ogres."
"It is," Aveena states, rolling onto her back and looking up at the clear sky. Her father was going to strangle Cora if she died on this little adventure. "I'm going to gather some fresh water, so we don't have to worry about it tomorrow morning." In truth, she just didn't want to be around Snow White and her daughter longer than she had to; they were quickly starting to irritate her by being themselves. No one was as kind hearted as Snow White is pretending to be, they'd explode from all the negativity they kept buried. Aveena shakes her head, stopping and closing her eyes as she focuses on the feel of everything around her. Being used to the magic in this land, she was quickly able to find the nearest stream and transport herself there in a puff of magic. "Upon one summer's morning I carefully did stray down by the walls of wapping," she sings softly as she uses her magic to purify the water before moving it to the canteens," where I met a sailor gay. Conversing with a young lass who seemed to be in pain..."
"Saying William when you go, I fear you'll ne'er return again," Pan picks up seconds after the magic had shifted and allowed him to appear a few feet behind Aveena. "A lovely song if you don't mind the fact that she leaves behind a good life to be with a lowly sailor." Aveena straightens up, tying the canteens to her belt before facing Peter Pan.
"Careful, Pan, my father's a sailor."
"Yes and the only good thing he's done thus far is bringing you to me." Pan smirks, resting his hands on her hips and bending down to place a surprisingly gentle kiss on her lips. "It's been far too long since our last meeting."
"Mm, get your hands off me before I run you through." Her hand was resting on Excalibur's hilt and the expression on her face told Pan not to test her. She was obviously in a bad mood and she still needed to get him back for temporarily killing her. Pan raises his hands in a don't shoot me gesture, backing up a few paces with one of his brows raised in question. "Cora sent me on an adventure with the warrior woman, a sickeningly sweet princess, and a blonde that trusts me as far as she can throw me."
"I see," he mumbles, leaning back against a tree as he continues to stare at her even as she glances away. "Shall I walk you back to the others, darling?" Aveena shakes her head, finally beginning to relax as the familiar magic in the land wraps around her and comforts her. She couldn't relax when the magic was low, there wasn't enough for her to absorb and push back out, so it made her body tense and her anger spike. She could put the Evil Queen to shame before the Curse was lifted. "Come here." Scowling, Aveena walks over to him and allows him to rest his hands on her shoulders.
"Where's your worst half?"
"On Neverland, he doesn't know I'm gone yet." Aveena relaxes further, resting her head against Pan's chest as his arms go around her. She had missed this during the Curse, being able to touch another person that wasn't somehow related to her. There weren't many people her age on the island—none that looked her age, anyway—so she was basically all on her own in that department. Then again, if her father knew Aveena was even trying to hop into a man's bed, he would slap Aveena silly and kill the man. The only reason Pan's still alive is because Killian still thinks Aveena hates him. "How do you feel about me, Aveena?"
"I don't know."
"Neither do I. Does that make us weird?"
"You're an almost immortal teenage that occasionally gets possessed by an Alp and I'm an almost immortal teenager that absorbs magic. Have we ever been normal?" They share a laugh at that, Pan lowering them both to the ground and holding Aveena closer to him.
"Maybe once, when we were babies." Aveena snorts and shakes her head in amusement before pressing her lips against Pan's. His were soft against hers and he tasted like the sweet chocolate one of the Lost Boys had brought to Neverland, she was almost reluctant to pull back, but she had to leave soon or risk Mulan finding them. Pan follows her as she moves and she presses a chaste kiss against his lips before using her magic to transport her back to the edge of the stream. "That's not fair."
"Pirates aren't fair, sweetheart." With a wink, she reappears in the clearing, her breathing still a little ragged and her hair mussed from when Pan had ran his fingers through it. "Where's everyone gone?" It was just Emma and Aveena left, and the surroundings were growing dark and cold. The blonde gives a feeble shrug as she continued to pace.
"They went after food and firewood," she grumbled," I was told to guard the camp."
"With what? You have no weapon." She pulls out a small, black device out of her pocket for Aveena to see, but Aveena couldn't fathom how something so small would have any effect on an Ogre. "That's rather small, isn't it?"
"Yeah, well, it has a powerful punch." Aveena just shrugs, looking unconvinced that so small a weapon could do damage to anything larger than a rabbit. "I'm gonna go look for Mary-Margaret, do you wanna come?"
"Who's Mary-Margaret?"
"Oh, it was Snow's name during the Curse." Aveena makes a small noise of understanding as she follows Emma out of the clearing and along a freshly-made trail, Emma following the footprints in the grass and Aveena praying they don't get lost and eaten. It was completely dark by the time they found Snow White, but she wasn't alone, she was being shoved to the side by Mulan after climbing off the scrawny woman from earlier. Aveena wasn't worried, the woman Mulan took a knife from posed no real threat; unfortunately, Emma didn't see it that way. Before Aveena could tell her not to overreact, Emma had her weapon pulled out and squeezed part of it to issue a loud bang while pointing it up at the tree line. Vee flinches away from the sudden noise, looking around in wide-eyed fear as she waited for another, louder noise to follow that signaled an approaching Ogre.
"Emma," Snow asks with the same fear," what are you doing?" Emma was now pointing her weapon at Mulan, who still clutched the other woman's knife.
"Protecting you. Drop the weapon!" Mulan stows the knife in her belt for later use as Aveena pulls out Excalibur and looks around them for any sign.
"Do you have any idea what you've just done?" And then it happened, the snapping of trees and limbs, and a low growling that Aveena had been waiting for. "Run!" Aveena doesn't bother with running, trying to use her magic to transport her far away from the mess only to have it unresponsive due to her stress levels. Emma grabs her wrist and yanks her along with the group further into the woods with the Ogre following behind. "Split up!" The new woman and Mulan branch away and run off to the right while the rest continued to run straight.
Aveena was struggling to keep up, her legs not nearly as long as Emma's, but she was forced into a roll when the blonde lost her footing and fell face first to the ground. She had barely regained her footing when the Ogre burst out of the trees, crouching over Emma and letting out a loud roar. To help or to run, that's the eternal question. Letting out a frustrated groan, Aveena cups her hands around her mouth and does something incredibly stupid to help Emma live an extra few seconds.
"Hey, ugly," she shouted at the Ogre, the beast's head snapping up as its milky white eyes landed on her. "I should've just run away when I had the chance. Yeah, over here, you idiot!" She jumps a little and waves her arms above her head as the beast roars again, the force of its breath knocking her backwards. The Ogre was straightening up to come after her when Snow let out a high whistle from behind.
"Back away from my daughter," she screams as it turns to face her. Aveena watches in awe as the other woman fired an arrow that found its mark in the Ogre's eye, the creature letting out a pained shriek before collapsing and going quiet.
"You just killed an Ogre with a bow and arrow…. How does that even work?" Aveena joins them by the carcass as Snow yanks the arrow out, Vee's nose crinkled in disgust when the pungent smell of Ogre reaches her. "When was the last time you shot an arrow?"
"Twenty-eight years ago," Snow answers with a shrug. "I guess it's like riding a bike."
"What the hell's a bike?"
"Nothing you need to worry about here." Snow gives her a kind smile, patting her shoulder. "Think you can get the Ogre gunk off my arrow?" It was Aveena's turn to shrug this time, sheathing her sword before using her now cooperating magic to clear away all the nastiness off the arrow. "Whose sword is that?"
"No one's, really, it just showed up in my room one day." She pats the hilt affectionately with a smile," Come on, someone needs to tell Mulan that she can stop running for a while."
"We're getting close," Snow announces. Mulan was leading the way with Snow behind her to help out with directions, then Emma, Aveena, and the extra woman—Aurora—bringing up the rear where she would be safest. She was clumsy and about as smart as a rock, so it's a good thing she had good looks.
"Aurora," Mulan scolds," you've got to keep up." Aurora yanked the tattered skirt of her dress free from brambles before catching back up with the group, pouting when she stares down at the torn fabric.
"Sorry, but I'm not exactly dressed for the woods," she complains," it's cold out here." 'I'm a princess', 'don't walk so fast'. If she doesn't shut up soon I might snap and 'accidentally' turn her into a frog!
"Then why did you bother coming at all," Aveena asks, the bite of her words making the princess' pout deepen. She just wanted to get back to the camp, but that might never happen if people kept messing everything up. She followed Snow and Mulan up an incline while Aurora and Emma hung back for a moment, nearly falling when some of the soft earth slipped away under her feet. "Thanks."
"I thought thieves had to be light on their feet," Mulan comments when she helps Aveena the rest of the way up.
"Yeah, well, I'm not usually so tired when I steal things." Aveena looks out across the wide lake at the ramshackle castle that rested on a small island; the only way to reach it was by the narrow strip of land that connected the island to the forest. It reminded Aveena of the safe place she's lived on since the Curse hit, just a little less destitute.
"Up here!" The blonde and Aurora join the others, Emma looking at the castle with widened eyes as though it's the first time she's seen one.
"Is that it," she asks, not tearing her eyes away from the sight.
"Yeah," Snows answers with a smile," that's our home." Even so broken, the castle was a cheerier sight than Mozenrath's citadel ever was. Then again, it's hard for a place to look happy when its surroundings are dreary and reanimated dead people are guarding the boarders. Still, at least Aveena was comfortable around the citadel, while this place was foreign to her. "Think you can poof us to the entrance to save us some energy, Aveena?"
"I could probably move the whole damn castle if we had the time, but a few people should be easy," Aveena smiles, squaring her shoulders and focusing on wrapping her group up in the faint purple haze of her magic. Just a second later, all of them were standing in the entranceway of the castle, Aveena having to lean on Mulan as more of her strength leaves her.
"Are you okay?"
"Never better, just really tired right now." She slumps down against the wall, her legs stretched out in front of her as she took a break. "You guys go on ahead; I'll make sure no creepy crawlies find their way inside." Shooting her a concerned look, Snow leads the others further inside the castle, Snow's voice echoing back to Aveena whenever she makes a small comment on how things had been different twenty-eight years ago.
Aveena looks out the doors at the woods, fighting off sleep as she waited on something to happen. She could sense the magic bubbling, similar to the way it did when Pan showed up, so she knew she wouldn't be alone for long. True enough, Cora appeared a few moments later, staring around her to get a feel of the place. "I trust everyone's still in one piece," she inquires when her dark eyes land on Aveena.
"Only barely, we had a run in with an Ogre last night." Cora's lips purse at that, moving over to Aveena and holding out a hand to help the teen up. Aveena slaps it away and stands on her own, her energy was still mostly gone, but she was too prideful to accept the old witch's help. "What do you want to do?"
"The wardrobe that carried Emma away from here will allow us the same passage. We need to get it back to your father, so I can be reunited with my daughter."
"If I recall, your daughter sent you through a mirror into Wonderland and then sent my father to crush your heart." At Cora's dirty look, Aveena continues a little smugly. "If that doesn't tell you that she wants nothing to do with you, then I don't know what will."
"Come on, you brat." Using her magic, Cora morphs into her Lancelot form before transporting us to the doorway of Emma's old nursery in time to hear Emma ask how they were going to carry the wardrobe. "With the help of an old friend." Aveena wasn't paying much attention to Snow and Emma, she was looking for Mulan and the bothersome princess that tagged along with her.
"Lancelot," Snow asks in surprise," what are you doing here?"
"Aveena managed to send me a message about the Ogre attack, and I had to make sure all of you were alright." Cora walks a bit further into the room while Aveena moves over to the window that overlooks the lake. It would be a beautiful view on lazy summer afternoons, just sitting down and watching the sunset as it sets the lake on fire with pinks and oranges. It was tough to ignore the ever-present tug of magic as she watches the moon's reflection waver with the wind. Its light shines down brightly, sucking out the vibrant colors and turning everything a cool shade of blue. Aveena would have killed for a view like this when she was younger for the simple reason of having something beautiful to look at when she was sad or lonely.
"Where are Mulan and Aurora?"
"I sent them to find food, thought we could camp out here tonight, and in the morning we'll head back. So, this is it, the portal you were after." Aveena moves away from the window and walks over to the wardrobe, resting her hand against the enchanted wood. It was strangely warm and felt like it was pulsing beneath her hand.
"They wouldn't be staring at it with hope if it wasn't," Aveena remarks, her mumbled words making Emma and Snow frown at her, the pair not yet realizing that this Lancelot isn't actually the fabled knight.
"It was carved from an enchanted tree, but there's no magic left," Snow explains, glancing between Cora and Aveena.
"No, there's still magic, but it hasn't been used in so long that it's fallen dormant. Maybe with a little help…" she trails off, her brow furrowed when the magic in the wood refused to twine with her own magic. That's never happened before; she's never been rejected when she tried to absorb magic in the past.
"Why are you so interested in the wardrobe, Lancelot?" It was an innocent question, but Aveena could see that Snow was growing suspicious.
"I just want to get you guys back to your families," Cora shrugs," I'm sure Emma's son Henry must be missing her." Vee can see something change in Snow's face as she turns to give her daughter and Vee a smile. She knows. In an instant, Snow had her sword drawn and Emma pushed behind her, the point of her weapon aimed at Cora's throat. Aveena had Excalibur unsheathed as well, the blade comforting in her hand.
"What the hell," Emma gasps, looking at all of them like they've lost their minds.
"There's only one person you told Henry's name," Snow hints.
"Stop with the theatrics, Cora," Aveena sighs, walking to stand beside Lancelot with her sword pointed at Snow. "You're not the actress you think you are." Dark blue smoke hides Cora for a moment, but when it's cleared away, her Lancelot guise is gone.
"Clever girl," she compliments with her hands on her hips.
"Where's Lancelot," Snow demands.
"He's dead. I killed him a long time ago."
"And you've been posing as him ever since."
"When a wolf wants a sheep for dinner it takes on its disguise," Aveena says softly, remembering the words Rumpelstiltskin told her when she was younger. "All the sheep flock to it while it plots what sides it should have to go with the meat."
"You never told me you met Rumple."
"I don't like you, remember?" Snow lunged forward, but Cora was quicker and she used her magic to pin Snow against the wall on the left, then threw Emma to the side.
"I have to thank you, Snow. I've been looking for a way over for so long, but I never thought the person to help me find it would be you." While Cora's back was turned, Emma tried to get up and attack her, but Aveena kicked her back down, keeping one foot on the blonde's chest with her sword pointed at her throat.
"Just don't, Blondie." Aveena lets out a noise of surprise when a strange white magic throws her across the room. Her body is slammed against the hard stone wall, the air forced out of her lungs and leaving her gasping on the floor, clutching her midsection. She coughs, sucking desperately for any air that she can get until she's breathing normally again—lightheaded, but no worse for wear.
"No!" Cora's snarl made Aveena glance up, spotting the fire that was turning the wardrobe into ash at a fast pace. Cora uses her magic to pull a ball of fire out of the wardrobe and tries to throw it at Emma, but Mulan blocked it with her sword just in time, seeming to appear out of nowhere. "We're not done." Cora's magic wraps around Aveena and yanks her out of the room, the pair reappearing in the woods not far from the castle. "How could you let her destroy the wardrobe?!"
"Someone's magic threw me across the room!"
"It wasn't mine!"
"Why didn't you just transport us and the wardrobe back to the island instead of gloating?!" Cora's mouth snaps shut and she begins to pace with her hand clinched into fists. "Where's my damn sword?"
"Why does it matter?"
"It matters because-." She cuts herself off, not wanting Cora to know who that sword had belonged to at one point. "My father gave it to me," she lied, sitting down in exhaustion. "Wake me up when you have a real plan." She was sound asleep in seconds, her arms serving as her pillow. It felt good to rest and she could already feel her energy beginning to rebuild. What seemed like minutes after she closed her eyes, she woke from a sharp kick to her ribs. She glared up at Cora as she slowly got back to her feet.
"We have our portal." She holds up a small glass bottle with a cork to keep the pink sparkly stuff inside from floating out. Aveena takes it from the other woman to examine it closer; watching to the pink stuff floated around and clinked against the glass as it tried to get to her.
"Wardrobe ashes."
The song Vee sings is 'My Jolly Sailor Bold' and it originated in the 1980's or so and I didn't just get it off PotC: On Stranger Tides, though, it is super catchy and that's where I first heard it. Do any of you guys watch Fear the Walking Dead or TWD? Just curious since they're pretty good shows and they're tiding me over until OUaT comes back on.