The sky is darkening, people! You all know what that means!
But first, out on the sea we go...
Chris looked up at the dark sky above their heads. He did not care if he got cold or if he had sand in his hair; he just wanted to keep laying on this beach and forget everything that had happened back in town, along with the strange pain and connection he felt to Neal.
Of course the fact that the notorious Captain Hook stood close by did nothing to help him forget the truth.
At the moment the pirate had his back towards the rest of them, gazing up at the rising moon. Wolfgang was sitting with Henry by the fire and the younger boy was busy learning how to tie knots from a book they had found onboard the boat. Really, that was all they had done since they got here and Chris was not exactly interested. He had tried to participate at first but then he just could not do it.
"I think I've tied every knot in here", Henry suddenly said, putting down the rope and the book before looking up at the pirate, whom he did not know was a pirate. Hook did not answer; he just kept looking up into the sky.
"When do we get to the part about my dad?" Henry continued after a pause.
"Just a few moments longer", Hook said, before suddenly pointing at something in the sky. "There."
Chris sat up, trying to see what it was Hook had spotted. Wolfgang looked equally confused. Hook turned towards them and waved at Henry in particular, although his gaze also wandered over the two other boys.
"Come here."
Henry quickly got up from the log he had been sitting on and walked over to the leather-clad man. Hook then handed him a metallic object.
"What's this?" Henry asked with a slight frown.
"That, my boy, is a sextant", Hook responded. "It's a tool used by sailors to navigate."
"Like a GPS?" the young boy asked. Wolfgang snorted by the fire, which he quickly covered up by coughing. Chris felt the corners of his own lips turn up as he realized Hook had no idea what a GPS was and why Henry was comparing the sextant to one.
"Aye", he still answered, once Wolfgang had stopped coughing. "It measures our position using the stars."
He waved with his hand up at the sky and Chris squinted his eyes. If he looked hard then yes; he could see a few stars peeking out of the darkness. Obviously that was what Hook had been waiting for and the pirate was now grinning at them. This was his element.
"Not sure that's what a GPS does", Henry said, "but what does it have to do with my dad?"
"Well, I taught him to navigate with one, just like I'm going to teach you", Hook responded with another smile. Henry just looked more confused at the thought.
"Were you both in the navy or something?"
Hook's smile faltered and he glanced down at the sextant.
"No, Bae... Neal was just a boy when I taught him."
Chris frowned. This sounded familiar to him. Why did it sound familiar? Henry also frowned, but probably not for the same reason.
"Wait", he said, "aren't you the same age?"
Hook leaned back somewhat, realizing his mistake. He had just made Neal's story even more confusing to the boy in front of him.
"It seems like the more you guys tell me about my dad, less things make sense", Henry pointed out. "I don't want to learn how to navigate; I just want to hear something about him that... that doesn't make him sound like he's made up so I'll like the guy."
Hook sighed.
"Your mother isn't keeping things from you because she doesn't want you to know the truth..."
"I know", Henry interrupted, "she's doing it to protect me, but... how am I supposed to feel anything about him being gone if... I don't know what he was like when he was here?"
Hook stood silent for a while before a sad smiled crept up on his lips.
"Fair enough, mate", he said. Chris rose and walked closer, sitting down next to Wolfgang by the fire.
"What I haven't told you is why I taught your father to sail", Hook continued. "Because he'd just lost his father."
Henry's eyes widened somewhat.
"I thought the sea might help ease his sorrow", Hook sighed.
"Wait", Henry said, his tone now different than before, "he... lost his dad too?"
"Aye", Hook responded, "to something dark and evil, when he wasn't much older than you."
In the corner of his eye Chris saw that Wolfgang was glancing at him, probably wondering if the story struck a chord in him as well. Truth be told, it did; he knew this story, he had heard it before, somewhere.
"Really?" Henry now asked.
"Indeed", the pirate responded. "You see, you might not think you know much about your father... but you have more in common with him than you realize."
He gave the boy another sad smile, one that Henry after a while managed to return. The boy then looked up at the sky and raised the sextant, allowing the pirate to teach him how to use it.
"You're alright, mate?" Wolfgang asked. Chris nodded.
"Yeah. Do you think the others are?"
He glanced back over the water to the lights representing Storybrooke. The sun was down; the fight between Zelena and Regina would take place any moment now, or perhaps it had already happened. Question was if the Wicked Witch would notice that the two of them were missing from the crew.
At the crossroads beneath the Clock Tower everyone who had been at Granny's had gathered, just as Zelena had ordered, except for one crucial member of the party.
"Have you seen Regina?" Emma asked when finding Mary Margaret among the gathered. The pregnant woman shook her head.
"Not since the vault", she responded.
"If she doesn't get here soon that Witch could take it out on all of us", Tinker Bell remarked.
"Then let's get everyone out of here before that happens", David said and stepped forward, entering the centre of the circle formed by the gathered townsfolk. "Alright, listen up! We need you to get back to your..."
"No one's going anywhere."
Everyone turned around. Zelena was standing in the corner diagonally across from the Clock Tower, dressed in a long, black dress, a black cape with a fur neckline, her usual emerald necklace, green gloves, and on top of that (literally) a black, pointy hat. Clarissa would have laughed if it was not for the fact that she was very much afraid that if she did, it would be the last thing she ever did.
"This show needs an audience", Zelena now continued, walking forward into the crowd, which willingly parted in front of her. Gold trailed behind, unable to do anything else. He looked at Belle as he passed her, seemed to want to say something but his words got stuck in his throat and he averted his gaze. A short man in a hat was too terrified to move out of the Witch's way and she looked at him with disgust.
"Out of my way, munchkin."
"I'm a... dwarf", he managed to say as he hurriedly stepped aside. Zelena rolled her eyes.
"That's even worse", she muttered. Her sea-green eyes then scanned the gathered crowd.
"Where is she?" she asked, waving the jagged dagger in front of her to show her invincibility. "Don't tell me; she's a coward. Well, this isn't good for any of you. If my sister is not here in five minutes, I'm going to let the Dark One of his leash."
Gold closed his eyes and worried whispers started to be heard through the crowd. Clarissa glanced at her friends, all of them now armed, but not with the weapons they had picked up at the shop. Those lay hidden back at Granny's. Instead, when Clarissa reached into the pocket of her jacket, she found her fingers closing around a familiar wooden object.
Zelena would get her fight, though maybe not with the one she had expected. However, if she tried to do anything to anyone else in this town, the twelve friends (Wolfgang and Chris were still missing) knew exactly what to do; distract and disarm.
The minutes ticked by and the Clock Tower struck half past seven. One minute later Zelena's patience ran out.
"Time's up", she said, smiling at Gold. "Who do you want to kill first, Rumple?"
"He's not killing anyone", Indira said, stepping forward. Zelena looked slightly amused and the mocking smile on her face crept even higher when the eleven others joined in as well, standing like a wall between her and the rest of the townsfolk.
"If you want to fight someone, Zelena, fight us", Maryse said.
"Sorry, dear", the Witch said. "I don't dance with amateurs."
"Oh, we're no amateurs", Jade said and pulled out her wand. The others followed and suddenly there were twelve wands of various lengths, shapes and sizes pointed at the Wicked Witch.
"So you think I'm afraid of you because you suddenly possess your wands again?" Zelena asked, smiling. "Why do you think I left them in the woods in the first place, so easy for you to find?"
She walked along the line, stopping in front of Toby. With her heels on the two were almost equal in height.
"Are you going to strike against me, Toby?" she asked, pouting at him. "No, of course not; you haven't got it in you, have you, dear?"
"Stupefy!"
A ray of red light soared out of the wand in the young man's hand, only to be caught by Zelena. She laughed and vanquished the spell in her hand.
"Really, dear?" she asked. "I know every spell those wands are capable of using. You and your friends are nothing but a distraction."
She flicked the knife forward and Gold's arm rose automatically, sending out a gust of magic that knocked Toby and five others off their feet, sending them into the crowd behind them. Clarissa stared at them before her gaze shifted forward towards Zelena again. The wand in her hand was trembling by now; maybe the advantage they thought they had did not exist.
"Anybody else want to give it a go?" Zelena asked, marching over towards her half of the group.
"I do."
Gasps were heard throughout the group as everyone turned around, facing Regina. She had a smirk on her face and walked forward with as much confidence as ever, her head held high. She wore a long, black jacket, a patterned scarf around her necks, and just like Zelena she had gloves on her hands, but Regina's were blood red.
"Didn't anyone tell you black is my colour?" she asked as she marched up towards the Wicked Witch. Zelena giggled.
"But it looks so much better on me", she said as Regina stopped in front of her. "I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up."
"I couldn't let my sister off that easily", Regina remarked. Zelena's smile widened.
"So you finally accepted me into the family?" she asked, taking a step forward. She was taller than Regina and her hat made her look even more so, but for some reason Clarissa thought Regina looked like the most intimidating of the two.
"I've accepted that we shared a mother, yes", Regina now responded, "but I still have one question..."
She leaned forward, narrowing her eyes at the Wicked Witch.
"What the hell did I ever do to you?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Zelena answered, her voice low and threatening. "You were born."
She spit out the last word, her face close to Regina's which allowed the red-gloved former Evil Queen to raise her hand and give Zelena a hard slap, which echoed through the empty street. When Zelena's head whipped around to face her once again there was blood trailing from a wound on her lip. Clarissa stared open-mouthed at the sight.
"I've been waiting to do that all day", Regina remarked. Zelena huffed and regained her smile.
"Rumplestiltskin can't save you now", she said, stepping closer once again.
This was it, Clarissa realized. This was when the real Witch Fight would begin.
