Chapter 25
"Please don't do this. Let them go. They are innocent. Please. Just kill me. Not them. Kill me. Me." The desperate sound came from a pleading woman crawling on the ground in the dark room, the dark dirty room. Her clothes are pretty much a bra and ripped dirty jeans (and not in a fashion way). The blonde is cover in blood (both fresh and old) and dirt. In the room there were more than two dead bodies and possible to more to come, and another two living ones. The living ones where the ones that scare her the most, the ones she was pleading for their life.
Helena woke up with a fast breath trying to sit as she looked around but everyone appears to be asleep. She noticed by the stars in the sky that she didn't slept that long: maybe two-three hours. She noticed how her body was leaning on Hook's so she kept a little distance, bring her knees to her chest she used them to support her elbows as her face felt in her arms. She counted, in hopes of calming down. After a couple of minutes she got up and distanced herself for the group… Tai Chi seemed like a good idea.
Hook was awake: someone needed to be. So when he left her move (or better shake) on her sleep he knew it wouldn't take long for her to wake up. He knew nightmares when he saw it. When Helena got up he fought the urge to console and he let her decide what to do. He listened to her move very quietly and since she wasn't sleeping anymore he allowed himself to do it.
OUAT
"You need a hand, luv?"
"It that a joke?" Helena asked him as she looked around for something to help them.
"Hmm. No. I'm being quite serious." He told her as they took the blanket away and she noticed the draws it reveled. Drawn she was very familiar with. She hears Emma saw 'wow' behind her but she just stared at them.
What is it?"
"It appears Neal marked his days trapped on this island." Hook told them as she jump on the rock and touched the marks finding the spot with a somehow softness that wasn't associated with her, her eyes were far away from now but then she stopped only to hear Emma's voice behind her asking, almost so far away for her years, even if her twin was right behind her.
"What's wrong?"
"Look here. Neal stopped counting."
"'Cause he got off the island." Mary Margaret said with her typical optimism as Helena just gave them a stern look but chose not to respond and turn back to the wall.
"He was here longer." She didn't needed Emma to tell her that… but her family appears to need it.
"Then why would he…"
"Because he lost hope." The shorter blonde said without facing any of them. They needed a reality check and while these draws were somehow personal to her, it would help them understand.
"You got that from scribbles?"
"I got that because it's what I did when I was in Iraq." Everyone saw the wave of understanding and shock on Emma's eyes and when Helena turned they saw the torment on hers, it made the charming couple take a step back. Emma however was shocked that her sister was talking about the worst moments of her life that didn't even react to her conflict on her sea green eyes. "When you get capture you always hope and wait for extraction, you wait that they will bring you back… for a while at least- so you count the days trying not do go insane and have some knowledge of that is happening on the outside world, even if it is only your imagination running wild. This was Neal's way of doing the same, but when you stop believing and you finally expect that- well counting the days is useless."
"I did that too every time I went to a new foster home." Emma says in hopes to break the silence that was left after her twin sister words. "I counted days until counting seemed pointless."
"You think the same thing is happening to Henry." David tells Emma but with his eyes still on Helena's who was now with her emotionless face back on… how did she managed to do it?
"Pan said that it would."
"Hey. We're gonna rescue him."
"Yeah, I know that and you know that, but Henry doesn't know that. Pan wants him to lose faith."
"So what, you want to send him a message? Because I haven't seen a Neverland post office. What are you suggesting?"`
We take a page from Pan and we start being clever. We need to send a simple sign, a sign that we're coming." Helena tells them leaning against the rock wall.
"Yeah, with lost boys running around, trying to kill us all?"
"Yeah, maybe it's time we used that to our advantage."
"How?
"Follow me. I'll show you." Mary Margaret says as they all leave, expect Helena and Hook.
"Helena."
"What? We're wasting time." She says noticing how close they are, almost touching their bodies. She doesn't have the time for this, Henry needs to be saved.
"I, uh... I just wanted to let you know that I do know what it feels like, to lose hope."
"I know what this is. This... you... you know, trying to... bond with me. So save your breath. I'm not in the mood." She says leaving the pirate with her father.
"Let me give you a bit of advice, Hook. She's never gonna like you."
"Is that so?" The pirate says with arrogance but in reality hiding the fear that David may be correct.
"Well, how could she?"
"You're nothing but a pirate"
OUAT
"A trap? That's your plan?" Regina says scoffing at Mary Margaret's plan. But if she was being honest it wasn't that much of a bad plan.
"The lost boys wanna come after us, we need to go after them."
"You really think a lost boy is gonna betray Pan?"
"Thanks for the advice." The princess says as Helena who is next to Hook just rolls her eyes because she was sure that without a little… pressure, the boys wouldn't in fact betrayed their leader.
"David? Yeah? We need more vines."
"On it. You're coming with me, pirate." She heard the man says almost hating the world pirate… or probably the pirate himself.
"Why is that?"
"Because we need more rope." She tells the man next to her not really in the mod for these childish actions from them anymore. They needed action in the planning and in defeating the Pan not this. They aren't focusing in the main problem. You never let emotions get into your mission.
"If the lady insists..." he says bowing to the woman as she just ignore him as he leaves.
OUAT
"What are you doing?! Are you trying to start a war with Pan?"
"Pan started the war when he kidnapped my son." Emma says to the lost boy we just capture as I look at him. He was probably about 14 to 16 but had the darkness in his eyes. No he was no innocent child.
"But that doesn't make you our enemy." Regina says as I try not to grin when she makes appear chocolate on her hand. Yes she was seeing where Regina was going with this, but it wasn't going to work.
"What's that?"
"Chocolate. I thought you might like the taste of something sweet."
"We don't wanna hurt you. We just need you to deliver a message to Henry. Why should I help you? Because you had a home and a family once and you stopped believing you could get back to them. Now we're here. We can help... not just Henry, all of you. We can get you home." During the entire speech Emma gave the boy, Regina and I locked eyes having our own internal conversation. We both knew how far we would go if he had too. And we needed too.
"Don't you get it?" the boy tells us after sending the chocolate to the woods. "I'm here because I don't want to go home. None of us do."
"Pan's a monster. Look what he did to you."
"Oh, Pan didn't do that. Henry did." That made Regina and I lock eyes. Pan was winning the battle. We needed to act fast.
"We need to do it." I told Regina as I turn to Emma. "We need him on our side." Emma didn't seemed to understand the threatening tone in my voice.
"Move aside." Regina tells them as Mary Margaret brought an angry Emma next to us. Great, angry Emma was pragmatic she would allow this.
"Why?" Mary Margaret says and I bit Regina when I speak.
"So she can rip his heart out." I tell them with an irate tone in my voice. I was done playing nice.
"Then he'll do exactly what we want."
"This is not how we do things." Mary Margaret tells us as I roll my eyes.
"Right now Pan is winning and this is the best option of getting some points on our side. I don't care how you do things, your way in not working so we need to find a new way."
"Helena, we can find another way to get to Henry." I could see she was shocked of how I was talking to her, my tone of voice was as darker and taunting as Regina's right now and even the Queen was surprise of how I was speaking to the faired woman.
"Really? And what do you think, Emma? We do this the good guys' way or Regina's" I ask my sister as I could see she would side with us. "We can always do it my way." I say the last part with a raised eyebrow as I see Emma gulp.
"I think we need to talk to our son." Emma says turning to Regina who turns her expression to a slight smirk.
"We can't do this. That is brutal." She doesn't know brutal.
"Emma, take Mary Margaret away." I tell her stopping myself to add 'before I do it' but Emma got that from my eyes as she took the woman.
"I know, but she can. They can."
"Emma! Helena you can't let this happen!"
"Do it, Regina." I tell as I approach the boy with Regina.
"Helena!" I could hear Mary Margaret's voice as I nod to Regina seeing the boy trying to escape I pushed him more into the tree by his neck as I saw Regina take his hear out with her hand.
OUAT
I finally get the boy out of the tree as I walk closely to Emma and Mary Margaret catching their conversation about right and wrong.
"When we finally get to him, I just wanna make sure the line is still there."
"What line?" I asked her not believing she was still going with this conversation. Gosh this woman was starting to get into my nerves as much as my lack of sleep and Hook's bonding with me.
"Between what Regina is willing to do and what we are."
"I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get him home." I tell her showing her some darkness on my voice to see if she finally understands what I meant with it.
"But the cost can't be this family."
"It won't be." Emma says as I scoff making they both turn to me.
"Helena!"
"Get the message to Henry."I tell them walking away from them not even allowing the conversation to continue.
OUAT
"Mary Margaret is worry about you." Regina says walking into here Helena was as she saw the woman using a branch of a tree to do pull ups. She could see the defined muscles on the woman's arm as she worked her anger out but once she spoke she jump into the ground since she branch is much higher than her.
"Well she shouldn't."
"It's in her nature or something." Regina says sitting next to her. "They will get around." Regina says making a bottle of water appear and offering it to her.
"I doubt that." she says and then drinks a large portion of the water. "I hate this. Waiting for something to happen. I miss the time where it was just get into the place: shot and punch my way into it. No stupid magic poison or evil kids."
"Or goody good parents."
"They want to save Henry drawing a line. Like that would work."
"The hero's talk." Regina says as Helena scoff but doesn't elaborate. They stay in a confortable silence. After some time the dark hair woman leaves her and them a bit after Helena follows her seeing Hook and David arrive.
"Uh, where's the sextant?" Helena asks trying to ignore the couple kissing behind her.
"I'm afraid Pan got to it first." You could see everyone sighing deeply at another lost battle.
"Mmm. I'm not complaining, but what was that..."
"Okay, I'm complaining."
"What I wouldn't give for another sleeping curse." Helena just let out a chuckle at their reactions.
"Hook... he saved my life." David comes appearing next to them again as Helena blinks trying to process the information.
"You sure you wanna tell them that, mate?"
"On our trek, we were ambushed by lost boys. Pinned down, outnumbered. But Hook, he risked his life to stop me from getting hit by a poisoned arrow. But if it wasn't for Hook, I wouldn't be alive. Your flask, please." Helena watches the looks between the two and she feels like she is missing something perhaps a conversation they had'. "I thought he deserved a little credit."
"Thank you." Everyone drinks to Hook except Regina who apparently doesn't do rum. Helena gladly accept the flask drinking more than anyone else as she walked into the opposite side of everyone else knowing Hook would follow her.
"You really save his life?" She asks not being able to see the difference: she was willing to kill a boy today unlike Hook who risked his life.
"That surprise you?"
"Well, you and David aren't exactly... How do you say it? Mates." She says trying to imitate his accent but falling. She was pretty aware she was flirting with him but after the day she had, she really didn't care. And sex always allows her to forget things for some minutes.
"Doesn't mean I'd leave your father to perish on this island."
"Thank you. Um..."
"Well, perhaps gratitude is in order now." He says now closely to her as he touched his lips with a grin and she can help but reattribute.
"Yeah. That's what the "thank you" was for." She says teasing him but with her eyes fixed on his lips. His lips were begging for her to just push her to hers, and she would, god damn it, she needs it but the flirting was somehow nice too. She enjoyed it because he was up to her when it came to it.
"Mm. That all your father's life is worth to you?"
"Please. You couldn't handle it." She says as he takes that as a challenge and comes into her personal space. Little did he know that was exactly her plan.
"Perhaps you're the one who couldn't handle it." He says whispering and his tone does something to Helena because before she realizes her actions she had pulled the pirate into a kiss.
The kiss was different from the others they shares, it wasn't 100% lust there was more: passion and fire and for a moment she noticed he wasn't kissing her as vigorous as she was. His hand has in her back, touching it softly as she still had her hand on her hair and the other on her jacket. He was being tender. Her heat speeded at this and her breathing became hard… something it was funny since they weren't kissing for that long. This wasn't about sex or desire… it was passing and- he stopped the kiss pulling away and making her (gladly) break her thoughts. She shake her head and pulled him to another kiss, this one more brushing as she pushed them against the tree, her body between it and him. She let her hand get under his jacket and she could feel the toned chest over the skirt he was wearing. He pushed her even more now as his hand found her tight and as a warning she pulled it around his waist without any problem as they bodies were now completely touching. Once again he tried to call it down as his hook softly pushed her chin up and he started to kiss her neck. The tenderness on his kisses made her freeze again and she let her leg fall and pulled him apart a few inches.
"That was, um..."
"A onetime thing." She says still with her breathing and heart beating accelerated. They were emotions. "Don't follow me. Wait five minutes. Go get some firewood or something." She says turning around knowing she couldn't deal with Emma's questions if she saw them coming together. But when he spoke again she froze in her face as a lips turned into a smile before she even realize it as the same time he spoke.
"As you wish."