Chapter 11
A/N: Sorry for the wait guys, I cannot believe how busy I've been, plus this was a surprisingly tough chapter to write… :/
As always thank you to bloodymary2, letgolaughing, t3ars0fglass, onlywithlove, freedomqueen, Grace de Gold and my two guest reviewers for reviewing! Your comments always brighten my day!
There were some things that even being an immortal could not fix. Like the pain that shot through his broken foot with every step he took, the infernal heat of the jungle, the annoying gnat that had been hovering around his neck for the past hour and the raven haired young woman beside him who simply refused to shut up.
Snow White, it seemed, did not do well travelling in silence.
Gold growled softly, pushing a fern out of the way as he stepped carefully over a protruding root, knowing all too well how painful falling over such a thing could be. He had done so no less than three times today, to his eternal shame.
"How far is it?" Snow asked, sighing through her words. He both understood and shared her frustration. Hot days of monotonous walking through a humid jungle and shivering nights spent listening to the Screamers patrolling the sky had left both of them in dour spirits. Still, Rumple refused to use his magic to aid their journey, still convinced that whatever those creatures were that haunted the night, they were attracted to magic.
"We should be there before sunset," he replied, futilely trying to swat the bug away from his neck. He ran a hand behind his damp hair, grimacing at the small, itchy bites that he could feel dotting his skin.
Snow was watching him, those green eyes filled with a certain light of curiosity and boredom that he had come to associate with endless, probing questions. Sure enough, a moment later she had opened her mouth.
"What's it like to see the future?"
Gold heaved a sigh, giving her a look that clearly conveyed his disdain for the conversation. Snow stared back at him, expectant.
At least this was an easier conversation than her previous choices, the Dark One reasoned. After giving up on preaching to him about the values of morals and goodness – as subtly as she knew how – Snow had opted to bug him about his love life with Belle. His gifts of soothsaying seemed an infinitely better option than the former two conversations had been.
"It isn't as simple as it sounds," he shrugged, giving in and answering. She'd only keep pestering him if he held his tongue after all. "It's like…" he trailed off thoughtfully, his brow furrowing as he attempted to come up with a genuine answer. "It's like looking at threads," he said finally.
"Threads?" Snow echoed doubtfully.
"And each thread is a choice," Gold elaborated. "You see, there is more than one possible future at any single moment, depending on the choices we make. Seeing the future is like seeing all of those choices and their outcomes, all at once."
He'd simplified it down a tad, but he supposed that was the gist of it. Snow lapsed into a brief, contemplative silence and Gold allowed himself a slow exhale of relief, hoping that she would be satisfied for a time. His hopes were dashed as she uttered her next question.
"What kinds of choices? Choosing between peanut butter or chocolate spread on my toast doesn't seem likely to change much in my future."
"Significant choices, obviously," Gold replied through gritted teeth, wondering how that wasn't obvious. Sometimes he was almost certain she asked such foolish questions simply to keep him talking. "There were many choices that had to be done right in order for the events that led to the curse to take place for instance," he said, regretting the words even as he said them. He could practically see the sparkle of interest in Snow's eyes at the mention of the curse.
"How long had you been planning the curse?" Snow asked curiously.
Gold snorted. "Long before any of you were born." His eyes closed briefly, memories of the blind seer rising to mind. She had been his first glimpse of hope after losing Bae, his first clue as to how to get his son back. His eyes snapped open again and he shook his head slightly. He didn't want to think about this. He didn't want to think about Baelfire… He couldn't…
It was time to change the direction of this conversation, the imp decided.
"Many choices had to be made," he said, keeping his tone casual. "Which twin to pick, for instance, to give away to the childless king as a son? Had I picked David instead of his brother James, he would have ended up falling in love with the wrong girl, and everything would have been ruined."
Predictably, Snow's expression melted into disbelief and outrage at his statement. Gold hid a smirk as he stared back at her.
"What?" he asked innocently. "Oh don't worry dearie, you would have found another true love."
"David and I are each other's only true loves!" Snow said vehemently, her face twisted with fury. "Our love is why you needed us!" she spat.
"What makes you think I needed you?" Rumplestiltskin laughed, amused by the arrogance of the statement. "I needed a couple with true love – of which there are many within our land. That it happened to be you and David is of no consequence really. I could have used Cinderella and her prince just as easily."
Snow fell silent at his words, a frown playing at her features. He found himself suddenly enjoying this conversation – the girl was far too puffed up with her own self importance… he relished taking her down a notch.
"No, you couldn't have," she said after a minute. "You may not have needed me, or David, or even Emma – the saviour only had to be the child of true love – whose child it was didn't matter… But you didn't just choose us out of coincidence. There's a reason it had to be us."
"There was a single piece on the chessboard that could not be swapped," Gold said indifferently, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "She influenced who many of my choices had to be."
"Regina," Snow said slowly. "Why her? Why was she important?"
"Why does it matter?" Rumple snapped back, annoyed once more. This conversation had turned into a mine-field. Already he was letting slip information that Snow had no right to. It was this heat, he decided in frustration. He wasn't paying enough attention to what he was saying.
Snow fell silent again, but he could practically hear the gears turning inside her head as she thought it through.
"Just how powerful is she?" she asked softly. Rumplestiltskin stopped in his tracks, turning to face the dark haired young woman, his expression a warning. She continued speaking regardless. "It's the reason it had to be her, isn't it? Swap any of the rest of us for another, and it wouldn't change how anything worked out. So the only reason you can't swap Regina just as easily is because she can't be replaced. Which means she was the only one capable of casting the curse…"
"Powerful magicians are hard to find," Gold said coolly, turning around and walking away once more. There was a rustle of leaves as Snow hurried to fall into step beside him again.
More than hard, Gold found himself silently amending. He had waited years for Regina to be born, and years more for her to grow up, knowing that there wouldn't be another sorcerer born in the next thousand years with even half the magic she possessed. She was a prodigy, the only one capable of ripping up an entire world and placing it within another, not that she knew it. He had been exceedingly careful not to allow her any insight into the true nature of the abilities she possessed. She knew only as much as he had taught her – nothing more.
He heard Snow's soft inhale as she prepared to speak again, and momentarily toyed with the idea of using just a little bit of magic to force her into silence. Surely if he was quick about it, the Screamers would not notice?
"When you said that if David had been the prince, he would have fallen in love with the wrong girl," she began, and Rumple relaxed, relieved that she had fallen back to this train of thought. "You said it would ruin everything. What did you mean by that? If any couple with true love would have sufficed, why did it matter who he fell in love with? You said I would find another true love. I would have married him, and our child would have been the saviour. It wouldn't have changed a thing…" she trailed off suddenly, her green eyes going wide as she no doubt struck upon the truth.
Rumplestiltskin grinned widely. "Again, dearie, it had nothing to do with you or him. It was the girl he would have fallen in love with that I was concerned about."
"No…" Snow breathed, shaking her head quickly. "No, that's not possible."
"Why are you so upset?" he waved his hand idly, unable to fully hide his pleasure at her obvious horror. "It's a future that never came to pass, because of the choice I made. You should be thanking me, dearie."
"You're lying," she accused.
"Believe what you will," he shrugged, his voice jaded.
"He could never have loved her," Snow whispered, more to herself than anyone else. "She couldn't be his true love. It isn't possible."
"She isn't his true love. You are, remember? You're worrying about a future that doesn't exist," Rumple pointed out. "James became the prince instead and David married you, and Regina cast the curse as she was supposed to. Everything worked out quite well, really."
Snow shook her head and turned away from him, looking sickened. Silence stretched between them, and Rumple allowed himself to relax, satisfied that the girl was now too caught up in her own inner musings to bother him any more. Everything had worked out as it was supposed to, he decided suddenly. He may have lost Bae, but he had a second chance in the form of his grandson. He could give to Henry what he had never been able to give to Baelfire. He would try harder, he would be better. He would sacrifice whatever was needed to keep the boy safe.
Sacrifice, the word echoed inside his head, a whispered warning. And even in the heat of the midday jungle, Rumplestiltskin suddenly felt goose bumps crawl down his skin. His heart thudded in his chest, his eyes widening slightly in realisation. How hadn't he seen this before? Another choice lay before him, one which would significantly alter the course of the future, no matter what he decided.
And he already knew what he had to do. He had no choice really.
Now walking a pace ahead of him, Snow pushed aside several vines of hanging creeper, and suddenly, there it was – a weathered grey fortress overtaken by moss and creeper, more a part of the jungle than a building really. Parts of it had crumbled, large stones peeking out from the long green grass that surrounded the fort, remnants of what once might have been a manicured garden.
"Peter Pan's fortress," Snow announced, her voice still strained and angry. "Finally."
Rumplestiltskin stared at it, his features carefully emotionless. There was no choice, not this time. He knew what had to be done. And he knew with utter certainty that he would not be leaving that fortress alive.
…
"You know," Henry said conversationally, staring up at the rocky ceiling over his head. "I never thought fairies lived in caves. I always imagined them in mushrooms or something. The big red ones with the white spots," he added, nodding his head.
"Less talking more fairy dust collecting," Emma told him, gesturing to the coloured specks floating around the cave. "You said you could do it," she added, a note of accusation in her voice. Neither her nor Killian had intended for Henry to join Emma down in the lower section of the cave, but upon seeing her Henry had jumped through the hole before anyone could stop him. He had hurt his knee in the fall, and scraped the skin off his palms, but he didn't care about the injuries. He had only cared about getting to Emma. After the blonde had cried and hugged him and yelled at him all at once, she had finally calmed down long enough for Killian to suggest that Henry might be able to find a way to get them both out of the cave they were trapped inside. Fairies only gave their dust to children after all, a category in which Henry qualified.
"I'm working on it," Henry said defensively, his hazel eyes narrowing as a red fairy whizzed past his head. He glanced up at the hole in the ceiling above them. "Do you think Hook has found anyone yet?" he asked, his thoughts flickering to Regina. His longing to see her hadn't abated, even with Emma around.
Emma snorted. "At this moment I'd rather he found something better than bananas to eat," she complained.
Having devoured his share of the yellow fruit practically starving, Henry had decided that no better food existed. Except his mother's cooking. Nothing surpassed that. He pushed himself to his feet, wincing as his grazed hands pressed against the rough rock beneath him. Favouring his injured leg, he began to walk slowly around the cave, his head tilted up towards the ceiling. Several of the stalactites above his head were glowing with different colours, signalling the fairies that were inside of them. It was beautiful and magical, an upside down city in the depths of a dark cave, the kind of thing that Henry had only ever read about, but never gotten to see. Now that Emma was with him, his fear of the world around him had abated enough to allow his curiosity and sense of wonder to surface. This was a world out of a story book, not the world he wanted to explore, but close. He clambered up another rock, tilting his head slightly as he examined the fairies fluttering above him.
"Having any luck?" a familiar voice called, and he turned to see Killian poking his head through the hole up above him.
"Please tell me you have more food," Emma asked, to which the pirate shook his head.
"Doing the best that I can love," he said, as she grumbled in frustration. "How are you coming along with the fairies?" he asked, turning his attention to Henry.
"They're ignoring me," he said, shrugging helplessly. "I don't know maybe they know I'm not a Lost Boy – maybe they just don't like me or something."
"Nonsense," Killian shook his head. "You've just got to attract their attention. Make some noise, get their interest. Fairies are fickle things; you've got to reel them in somehow."
"Okay," Henry nodded, shrugging one shoulder as he tried to come up with a way to attract the attention of the fluttering creatures over his head. "Hey fairies!" he called out, his brow furrowing in annoyance as they continued to ignore him. He found himself thinking of his mother, of the way she could effortlessly command anyone's attention just by her presence alone. Straightening his back, Henry morphed his voice into a stronger, forceful tone. "Fairies!" he said, his voice echoing sternly back at him against the stone walls. The strange, high pitched sounds of fairy chatter died down, and suddenly a bright blue one was floating towards him, coming to rest in the air just above his head. "I need some of your dust," he said commandingly, holding out one hand.
"Now who does he remind me of…?" Killian snickered. "The queen would be proud lad," he added, as the fairy floated further down, coming to rest on Henry's palm. He froze, ignoring the pirate behind him and Emma's snort of annoyance, focusing only on keeping perfectly still lest the slightest of movements cause the fairy in his hand to take flight again. The creature shook itself, sparkling dust falling in a fine shower around it, much like a dog shaking off water. Henry sucked in a breath as the dust sank into his skin, leaving glowing pinpricks of blue light before fading away to nothing. The fairy tittered something unintelligible before taking flight once more, joining its brethren amidst the stalactites overhead. Henry turned back towards Emma, who was watching him with wide eyes.
"Well?" she prompted him, making an up and down motion with her hand.
He shrugged. "I don't feel any different."
"Think happy thoughts," Emma said, nodding eagerly.
"Happy thoughts…" Henry nibbled at his bottom lip thoughtfully. "Erm…" Puppies, he thought. Puppies made him happy. He gave an experimental hop, feeling utterly foolish when gravity tugged him straight back down again.
"Come on lad, how hard can it be?" Killian pushed.
"Think about the last time we were at Granny's," Emma suggested. "We had milkshakes and burgers… that was fun, right?"
"Yea," he nodded his head, closing his eyes. Burgers at Granny's was a happy thought. But as he tried to picture it, another memory rose to his mind, pushing the other one out of the way. He was in his kitchen at home, seated on the kitchen counter stirring the chocolate batter for his birthday cake. Regina was standing beside him, leaning her elbows on the countertop as she watched him with soft, dark eyes. Silently he offered her the spoon, and she playfully lifted her finger and swiped a dollop off the edge, smudging it on his nose. He had giggled and wriggled backwards as she swooped in, kissing it off again, her fingers tickling his sides as she did, until he was breathless with laughter. Henry opened his eyes, swallowing hard as emotion thickened his throat. That had been his eighth birthday, before he had been given the book, before his relationship with his mom had spiralled downwards. The memory was bittersweet, but it carried enough happiness within it to do the trick. He held that moment within him as he attempted a jump, his heart catching as this time, the air around him seemed weightless, and he hovered just above the rock beneath him.
Emma gasped, leaping to her feet. "Kid you did it!"
"Would you look at that," Killian added, sounding impressed.
"I'm flying," Henry gasped, floating higher into the air as he laughed excitedly. He reached the roof of the cave, his eyes widening as finally got to view the fairy city from close. Each hanging stone was a marvel, intricately carved, with dozens of windows just large enough for the fairy folk to fly in and out of.
"Alright, come on down here," Emma said impatiently, waving her hand. Henry turned towards her, floating slowly downwards again until he landed at her feet. He grinned up at her happily, and she returned it briefly before glancing up at Hook. "Are you sure he's going to be able to lift me?"
"With fairy dust, yes," the pirate nodded. "The dust will lift whatever he is holding onto. Give it a try," he suggested. Shrugging, Emma held out her hands. Henry promptly filled them with his smaller ones.
"You ready?" he asked, as Emma's grip tightened on him. She gave him a doubt filled look.
"You really think this will work?"
Only one way to find out, Henry thought, focusing on the happy memory he had first used to fly. Again there was the sensation of the world becoming weightless, like the gravity no longer existed. He found himself floating upwards, only this time, Emma came with him.
"Wow," she breathed, green eyes wide. She gave a shaky laugh. "Wow."
They floated upwards steadily, Henry's eyes focused on the hole above their heads, Emma's eyes flickering endlessly around the world around her, filled with disbelief. Hook reached out as they floated through the opening in the rocky ceiling, wrapping his arms around Emma and pulling her backwards until her feet rested on solid ground once more. Henry floated a moment longer, before gently alighting on the ground beside her.
"I did it!" he said excitedly. He jumped up and down, the motion exaggerated by the way he floated momentarily before falling to the ground again. "I can fly!"
"Just wait till the others find out," Emma said. "I'm sure Regina will love this," she added dryly.
"We can go find them now!" Henry said, excitement filling him. Soon, they would all be together again, sailing away on Hook's ship.
"No sense in wasting any more daylight," Hook said, nodding. "Come on," he motioned with his hook, and Henry and Emma fell into step beside him as he led the way out of the cave.
"So how long will this last?" Henry asked, bouncing into the air and feeling somewhat similar to an astronaut in space.
"Three days, give or take," the pirate shrugged, a grin pulling at his lips as his blue eyes flickered over him.
"So it's not permanent?" Emma sighed with visible relief.
"Awh," Henry whined, dropping back to the ground with a thud. "Maybe I can catch another fairy…" he mused aloud.
"Lets first concentrate on finding the others, huh?" Emma asked, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close.
After the darkness of the cave, the daylight outside seemed blindingly bright. Henry blinked, feeling the humidity of the jungle settle over him like a heavy blanket.
"I forgot how hot it is here," he muttered, raking his hand backwards through his hair. He tilted his head up at Emma. "So…where's the ship?"
He watched her eyes flicker to Hook, watched the way her face blanched and a look of panic passed across her features. He turned to Killian in confusion as the pirate abruptly burst out laughing. A moment later, Emma followed suit.
"W-what's the matter?" he asked, his gaze flickering between the two hysterically laughing adults.
"Henry…" Emma began, "we don't even know where the ship is. We're completely lost, kiddo."
"You lost the ship? How do you lose a ship?"
"Well, we know where it is…" Hook said. "We just don't know where we are."
"But the point is we're all together," Emma said cheerfully. "And come on! How hard can it be to find the sea, right?"
"There's actually a river back that way," Hook said, pointing. "I found it earlier."
"You see?" Emma smiled happily as they fell into step with the pirate, following him through the tangled overgrowth of jungle. "Everything's going to be fine."
Henry smiled, relaxing slightly. She was right. They were together now, and soon they would find his mom and his grandparents and Gold. They would find the ship and sail home and this nightmare would be over.
"It's actually pretty close," Hook said, holding back the branches of a prickly cycad for them as they walked through. He gestured with his hook and through the cracks in the foliage ahead Henry could see a tell-tale sparkle of sunlight hitting running water. He broke free of Emma's hold, walking forwards eagerly. The trees parted ahead of them, and as one the three of them all stopped dead, staring frozen at the seven Lost Boy's who were standing on the other side of the river, dipping their hands in for a drink. For a moment, the two groups simply stared at each other, and then the boys suddenly snapped into action, lifting their weapons threateningly.
"Nobody move!" a brown haired boy yelled, waving his crossbow warningly. "You're coming with us."
A/N: So I rewrote the first part of this a few times, and still was not satisfied, and eventually had to simply give up and post because I didn't want to keep you guys waiting. Hope you enjoy. Next chapter is all EvilCharming.