Henry:
He stared up at the twisting wooden frame of the ceiling as he had been doing for the last few hours, listening with all of his concentration.
Bump, bump. One, his own.
Bump, bump. Two, strong and resilient.
Bump – bump. Three, a little slower, obviously strained.
Bump, bump. Four, the tiny flutter of the newest one.
He hadn't realized he was feeling the heartbeats continuously, the feeling so second nature to him, until the night before when one of the heartbeats had slowed and nearly stopped. He had screamed for his grandfather that something was wrong only to be met with the desperate instruction to stay inside while David pelted toward the vault.
Henry jumped up, pacing like mad. Where was everyone? Why had they left him here without any way of getting news of their plan?
"Ugh!" he yelled, exasperation filling him as he kicked the side of the couch. He couldn't just sit here. That was not what heroes did!
Resigning himself to the fact that this was going to get him into trouble he opened the door and slipped down the hall.
He didn't need to be told where his mothers were he could still feel a thread seemed to be stretching from him to them as their heartbeats called to him.
He frowned, his head was beginning to hurt from the concentration it took to hold on to the heart beats but no, he wasn't going to give up. He ran toward the graveyard, toward his mothers but skidded to a stop alarmed as she passed Gold's Pawn Shop. Suddenly the pull had split into two different directions, one leading him toward the graveyard but he other leading off – he looked toward the night darkened woods and shuddered at their creeping ominous beckon.
He shook his head, no way.
Taking off running again he flew through the doors of the vault and barreled toward the voices of his mothers talking worriedly, immediately comforted by the sound.
"Henry!"
He screamed in frustration as Snow caught him around the middle.
His mothers were there at the door of the vault in second, hands held up in warning, "Henry, henry you can't come in here."
"What are you talking about?" he struggled against his young grandmother grip, finally righting himself.
"Henry," Emma said weakly, her voice so strained and tired that it caught his attention completely.
"Mom? What's wrong?"
"I'm okay kid but listen, you can't come in here. There's a barrier." She touched midair and winced as the lightning licked her skin as proof. Regina rolled her eyes and pulled her back a foot, into her protective arms. "If you come in then you can't leave again."
He was confused, "So? I'd be with you guys."
Regina shook her head, "Tt's not safe Henry. Look, at your feet." He did and noticed a thick white line of chalk a foot from where he stood, "Please don't pass that."
He felt a ripple of rebellion for a moment but decided against it, sitting next to Snow and demanding the full story.
His concentration thickened as each detail was perhaps slightly unwillingly given to him. So his mothers didn't have Sarah and David was out searching for Cora. He thought of all the places he knew of in the city where someone could hide. "Did you look in the mines?"
Snow sighed heavily, "I sent Leroy and the others down there earlier. It's a long shot though, there is a lot of space to cover."
He nodded; concentrating again when a bright light filled his mind. "Wait! I think I have an idea! I'll be right back." He jumped to his feet, elated and charged off back the direction he had come.
He rounded the corner by Gold's shop and stopped just outside the entrance to the forest.
Closing his eyes he tried with all of his might to pull the heartbeats back to him. It was late and he was tired. "Come on." He whispered, concentrating. "Come on!"
He felt a faint flutter but it died away as quickly as he had felt it.
Come on! I can do this. I believe I can do this! I can -
Bump, bump
Bump, bump
Bump, bump
Bump, bump
"Yes!" He whooped and hollered for a moment, jumping up and down and reveling in the feeling of the connection before focusing again, getting down to business.
Four beats, his own, two pulling from a direction behind him but yes, there was definitely one pulling him this way.
"Sarah!" he whispered and burst into action again, running full speed back to the mansion on Mifflin.
He knew what he had to do.
He slammed back through the door of his house and without hesitation ran up to his room. He threw his backpack onto the bed and gathered all he needed. His deep blue pea coat and favorite red and grey scarf. The headlamp that Leroy had given him on his last birthday. All the flashlights and batteries he could find. A notebook and pencil. Then he ran downstairs and threw in bottles of water and food. He had no way of knowing how far he would need to go. He tossed the backpack on and he was ready.
Oh wait, if Ruby and David had taught him anything at all on their tracking excursions then he knew – he ran back upstairs and grabbed his compass before slamming back out of the front door and back toward the pull he clung to desperately.
He only stopped when he was a breath away from the woods entrance, his heart failing him. The branches swirled and twisted together ominously, the dark spaces between their trunks whispering malcontent. His mind couldn't help but to conjure dark images of chalk white hands reaching, unspoken, behind him, trying to wrap around his throat or the bright red glowing eyes of an unknown something placed too high from the ground to be comfortable.
Squaring his shoulders he plopped his bag down and pulled the headlamp on, the white glow in front of him promising safety. There was no time to be scared when his sister was waiting for him.
He pulled the backpack over his shoulders and took a confident step into the blackness of the forest.
Emma:
She still hurt everywhere but slowly with Regina's help she was gaining the ability to stand on her own two feet again. If she could have, she would share in Regina's pacing, feeling like a caged animal.
She sat on the table, eyes following Regina as she mumbled and blew by.
"Hey." She caught the woman and pulled her to her, "We'll get out of here soon."
Regina smiled halfheartedly.
"Regina."
She frowned and pulled her against her. Regina sighed and let her head rest on her shoulder, "I'm just so mad at myself. I never should have sent you in here. You almost died, Emma. I could feel your heartbeat slowing."
"But I'm okay now. And I'm sure Sarah is okay, Henry is okay and we will find her before that changes."
She stroked the hair and did her best to soothe her, knowing full well that she didn't feel any more confident than Regina did.
"Do you think we'll know?"
"Know what?"
Regina leaned back, giving the blonde the full blast of her deeply turmoiled eyes; "If Cora does it before we get there."
They both just shared the look, unwilling or unable to answer.
Henry:
As the night became morning Henry felt the tension between his eyes cool and the tiny hairs on the back of his neck lay down, calmed by the sunlight.
He wasn't sure how long it had been since he had run from the vault, he just knew that his legs were beginning to feel sore and his stomach was beginning to ache. He took a small break, resting against a huge tree and munching on his pack of food before resolutely continuing, marking his location on the little map he was drawing for himself.
As afternoon grew into evening and evening into night again he began to wish he had left a note. He was sure by now that the Charming's would be scouring the city trying to find him and his mothers were probably in a state of panic. Still it never occurred to him to turn back, not when he hadn't completed his hero's journey.
Finally, his feet aching, his hands bruised and bleeding from all of the times he tripped, he could spot a glow of yellow in the distance. Energized by the sight he crept low to the ground but quickly, his heart pounding in his chest. He felt like G.I. Joe or Lancelot as he ducked under the window ledge listening painfully to the sound of a baby crying.
Carefully he pulled himself up to the window and peeked over, ducking again immediately at the sight of his grandmother; his heart suddenly crashing in his throat. He looked up again and saw this time that while Cora was indeed there but she sat at a little table a beautiful glowing ball in front of her. The look on her face was vicious, ripping with anger and violence.
"When? When can it be done?" she yelled, slamming her hands down on the table making Sarah start and cry even louder.
Cora groaned and snapped her fingers irritably. While Henry could still see the red face baby wailing away no sound came from the little box where she lay.
"Leave." Henry whispered. "Come on leave!" He was sure that if Cora just took a walk or went outside for any extended amount of time he could sneak in and take his sister.
But no, the thought occurred to him, if he took Sarah now without a way to stop Cora there was no way he would make it back to the town. She would catch him and she would eat him for breakfast.
His eyes roved over the cabin in desperation, there must be something he could do. There must be -
His eyed widened as he looked to the shelf behind the woman. There glowing faintly purple was a vial. The purple substance seemed to boil like liquid and smoke like steam all at once as it churned around its confines. He had seen something like it before.
The memory of the purple cloud washing over him sent chills down his spine and though he wasn't sure exactly what the stuff was, he knew this was the thing he needed to grab once inside.
With that he sat heavily, leaving against the walls and waiting for the woman to exit the cabin.