Chapter Twelve
"How are we going to get in there?" Snow asked, as the castle came into view.
"I was thinking about just knocking on the door." Emma said, "They are going to know we're coming anyway, so it's not like we have the element of surprise."
"She has a point." Charming said.
"Sure way to get ourselves killed though," Snow said, "there has to be some other way to get in."
"Magic maybe?" Charming asked, looking at Emma.
"I'll see what I can do," Emma said, "can't make any promises that you won't end up as millions of little pieces floating around though…"
"We trust you Emma." Snow said.
"Glad someone does." Emma replied.
Emma laughed to herself.
"What's so funny?" Snow asked.
"I can smell wet wolf…" Emma said.
"Red?" Snow asked.
"I don't know…" Emma replied, "Guess we'll soon find out, hold on."
Snow took one of Emma's hands, Charming took the other. Emma transported them into the castle. Landing them in a dark room when the scent of wolf was coming from. After her eyes adjusted to the darkness Emma could see two forms, one in each corner.
"Well you took your bloody time." A voice said.
"Hook?" Emma asked.
"In the flesh," he said, "aren't you
a sight for sore eyes."
"Is that Red?" Emma asked, motioning to the other form.
"They are using magic to keep her in wolf form," he said, "I can't get through to her. Every time I try and talk to her, she growls and tries to jump at me."
"Need to get some light in here." Charming said.
Emma used magic to light one of the torches on the wall.
"You're getting good at that." Hook said.
Emma smiled at him. She heard a low growl coming from the wolf in the corner.
"Easy there puppy…" Emma said.
Red jumped at her, Emma had never been more thankful for an animal being chained up in her life. Emma stepped back as her heart felt like it was going to leap out of her chest.
"What have they done to her?" Snow asked.
Emma crouched down in front of Red, making eye contact with the wolf.
"Emma…" Snow said.
"I made the mistake of not trusting her when she was in wolf form before," Emma said, not breaking eye contact, "I'm not making that mistake again…"
Everyone in the room was nervous and on edge, as minutes past with no movement from either Emma or Red.
"Are you wearing leather trousers under that coat?" Hook asked.
"Really not the time to be discussing fashion Hook…" Emma said.
Red growled again.
"Come on Red," Emma said, "work with me here…"
Red inched forwards towards Emma, Snow realised the length of chain was longer than the distance between Emma and Red.
"Emma…" Snow said.
"What?" Emma asked.
"There's more chain than distance." Snow said.
Charming pulled his sword out of the sheath.
"No." Emma said, "put that away."
"And if this doesn't work?" Charming asked.
"It will…" Emma said, "trust me."
He put his sword away and watched as Red, again, moved closer to Emma, who didn't even twitch.
The wolf continued to growl as it stood less than 30 centimetres from Emma.
Emma didn't even blink as she felt the wolfs hot breath on her face.
"I can't watch this…" Snow said.
The wolf got closer and closer to Emma, who was struggling to keep her heart rate under control. She had read somewhere once that if a dog sensed fear it was more likely to attack, she figured the same was true with wolves. As their noses nearly touched the wolf stopped. Emma looked into the yellow eyes in front of her.
"Please Red…" she said, quietly.
Suddenly the wolf lunged forwards. Emma flinched, expecting to feel a lot of pain. What she felt instead was a wet sensation on the side of her face. She laughed a little as she felt the wolfs head on her shoulder. She let out a sigh of relief.
"Had me scared for a moment there puppy…" She said, as Red again licked her face, "You do need a breath mint though."
Emma stood up.
"Can you change her back?" Hook asked.
"No," Emma said, "Regina could…"
"Where is the Evil Bitch?" Hook asked.
"Here," Emma said, "somewhere… she traded herself for Henry…"
"She really has changed…" he said.
"Are you up for helping us?" Emma said.
"Just point the way." He said with a smile.
Emma used magic to get the chains off both Hook and Red, the latter then moved and sat at Emma's feet.
"Let's get out of here." Emma said, opening the door using magic.
x-x-x-x
"She's here…" Tamara said.
"Did we ever expect any less?" Greg asked.
"We nearly had her anyway," Tamara said, "she would have come here in exchange for the kid."
"Well now we'll have both of them," Greg replied, "and no one can stop the Dark Master."
"Are you sure she's still alive?" Tamara asked, looking over at an unconscious Regina.
"Yes," he said, "not that it'll matter for much longer."
x-x-x-x
"Wait…" Emma whispered to the others, just as they were about to round another corner.
She could hear voices.
"They have her in the room at the top of the tower." One voice said.
"What better place to execute a former Queen." The other said.
"Do you really think she was a Queen?" one said, "we've never heard of the land she's supposedly from."
"I think she must be," the other replied, "that guy who was here said she was, and he said she is the only one powerful enough to stop the Dark One."
"And we didn't even need him to lead us to her," the other said, "she came on her own."
"That asshole…" Emma muttered under her breath, beside her Red growled.
"What was that?" One of the boys said.
"I didn't hear anything." The other replied.
"I was sure I heard a growl." The first said.
"You're hearing things," the other said, "there's no way that wolf could have gotten out of there, she'd stop to eat the pirate first."
"Good point." The other replied with a laugh.
Red looked up at Emma and Emma nodded. Red rounded the corner and the next thing Emma heard were screams.
"Sorry boys," Emma said, as she walked around the corner, "you have something that belongs to me."
"Was that really necessary?" Snow asked, walking behind Emma.
"It was necessary." Hook replied.
"Which way is the tower?" Emma asked.
"You should have asked those boys that," Snow said, "before you had your new pet wolf rip their throats out."
"That way." Hook said, pointing to a door at the end of the hall.
"Am I the only one who sees what you just did as being wrong?" Snow asked.
"I might not know how to change Red back," Emma said, "but I do know a thing or two about making you be quiet."
"Sorry…" Snow said.
Emma opened the door; it led out into a great hall.
"Oh brilliant," she said, closing the door again, she looked at Hook, "and how do you propose we get across there without drawing a hell of a lot of attention to ourselves?"
"You only asked where the tower was," Hook said, "you never said anything about getting there."
"Invisibility spell?" Snow asked.
"What do you think this is?" Emma asked, "Harry Potter?"
"Regina can do it." Hook said.
"Well Regina isn't here…" Emma replied.
"We're going to have to take our chances…" Charming said.
"It looks pretty empty," Emma said, "if we're quiet…"
"Just because it looks empty, doesn't mean it is…" Hook said.
They heard shouting coming from the direction they had come from.
"Guess we're out of options…" Emma said.
She opened the door, Red went first.
x-x-x-x
"You two…" Regina said, opening her eyes and looking at Greg and Tamara.
"Who else," Greg said, "your Majesty."
Regina tried to get up.
"That's not going to work." Tamara said.
"What are you going to do with me?" Regina asked.
"It's not you we want." Greg said.
"Emma…" Regina said.
"Bingo," Tamara replied, "she is more powerful than you could ever dream of being; she just doesn't know it yet."
x-x-x-x
Emma picked up a piece of cloth that was on the floor, it was probably from one of the hooded cloaks the Lost Ones insisted on wearing. She wiped the blood off her sword and looked around the room. She counted 10 dead, some by sword, some by hook, and some by arrow but most by wolf. Emma clicked her neck.
"Looks like someone is getting used to this killing thing…" Hook said.
"I actually feel sick to my stomach," Emma said, "but it was either kill or be killed…"
"Best way to look at it," Charming said, "now let's get out of here before more turn up."
They headed through the door, Emma stopped.
"What is it?" Snow asked.
"I don't know…" Emma said, trying to move forward again, and failing. No one else seemed to be having any trouble.
"Magic?" Snow asked.
"I don't know." Emma replied, "It's like something is stopping me…"
"Something or someone?" Charming asked, "what does it feel like?"
"Warm…" Emma said, "Home…"
"Regina…" Hook said, "She must be up there."
"Why would she be stopping Emma?" Snow asked.
"To save her." Charming replied, "what if they weren't after Regina, what if it was Emma they wanted all along?"
"No, Tamara basically said he wouldn't want me because I couldn't control my magic…" Emma said.
"Just because you can't control it," Hook said, "doesn't mean he won't want it."
"You guys go and get Regina," Emma said, "Something tells me that you won't have any trouble…"
"Emma…" Snow said.
"Go," Emma said, "trust me…"
As the others headed up the stairs, Emma turned and walked back into the main hall.
"Guess it's just you and me then…" she said, as a shadow formed in front of her.
x-x-x-x
"We shouldn't have left her down there." Snow said, as they followed the staircase to the top.
"She'll be fine," Charming said, "she knows what she's doing."
"Do you want to try and sound a little more convincing when you say that?" Hook said.
"She'll be fine." Charming said.
"Better." Hook replied.
They reached the top of the stairs. Charming opened the door. Everyone was surprised to find the room empty, apart from Regina strapped down to a bed.
"Where's Emma?" Regina asked.
"It's nice to see you too." Hook said, going over to her and undoing the straps.
"Where is she?" Regina asked.
"Downstairs," Snow said, "she couldn't get past your spell."
"You left her downstairs alone?" Regina asked, "Are you crazy?"
"I wish, just once, you'd listen to me." Snow said to Charming.
x-x-x-x
"You really shouldn't have come here Emma…" Tamara said.
"You took something of mine," Emma replied, "I came to get it back."
"And now you'll never leave." Greg said.
"Maybe," Emma said, "but most people who tell me what I can and can't do usually realise they're wrong…"
"Gutsy to the end." Tamara said.
"What can I say," Emma said, "I'm stubborn."
"I'm failing to understand why you'd come here for her," Greg said, "if I remember rightly in Storybrooke you really didn't care that much for her."
"Things change." Emma replied.
"Oh haven't you heard," Tamara said, "they're in love now."
"Can we just get this over with," Emma said, "so I can kill you, and go home."
"If you insist." Greg said.
They each grabbed hold of one of Emma's arms, as the shadow got closer.
Emma lifted her left elbow, catching Greg square under the chin; she had to flinch at the sound of his head hitting solid stone. She managed to get away from Tamara and got two hands on her sword. She pointed it in Tamara's direction.
"You haven't got it in you to kill me Emma." Tamara said, "You're not an evil person."
"Try me," Emma said, "maybe killing you will stick this time."
Tamara started to walk backwards, heading towards the shadow. Emma lifted her hands and the sword above her head.
"I would say it's been nice knowing you," Emma said, "but my parents tell me it's bad to lie."
Emma brought her hands down, throwing the sword in Tamara's direction.
She was thrown backwards across the room, just missing the wall behind her. She dragged herself up wincing in pain.
"I was hoping you were going to fight back…" Emma said to the shadow.
She lifted her hands and the castle shook as magic flew from her hands into the shadow. After a few moments Emma felt the magic start to drain from her, she needed to focus. She closed her eyes.
x-x-x-x
Regina put her hand against the wall to stop herself falling as the castle started to shake.
"What's going on?" Hook asked.
"This whole place is going to come down." Regina said, "She's giving him what he wants."
"And what's that?" Snow asked.
"Magic." Regina replied, lifting her dress and heading down the stairs.
x-x-x-x
By the time Emma realised what was going on it was too late.
"You want my magic…?" She said to the shadow, "How's this for a kick…"
Something inside her snapped the magic flowing from her hands turned to fire. The explosion that followed sent Emma flying backwards and hitting the wall.
x-x-x-x
The explosion made everyone fall over. Snow looked at Regina. They both stood up and ran towards the great hall.
x-x-x-x
Red was the first through the door, she headed straight over to Emma. Nudging her head with her nose. Regina sat on the floor at Emma's side. Hook went to see if there were any survivors.
"She's one hell of a shot with this thing…" Hook said, pulling Emma's sword out of Tamara's lifeless body.
He walked over to Greg.
"Remind me never to piss your daughter off." He said to Charming, as he pushed Greg's head with his foot.
"Is she…" Snow asked Regina.
Regina shook her head.
"No," Regina said, "but she might be if we don't get her back to the Enchanted Forest…"
"What are we going to do with this?" Hook asked, picking the Dark Ones blade off the floor.
"What does it say on it?" Charming asked.
"Nothing," Hook replied, "nothing at all…"
"She did it…" Regina said, looking down at Emma.