2143 Words this Chapter. I decided to go ahead and post this chapter too. We're almost done, maybe four chapters after this one? Thanks for reading!
Chapter Thirty-Four, Alive
"Stop the attacks."
"Of course, Henry," Dag said grandly. He waved his hand and the objects all around Storybrooke stopped hurling, flying, hitting, swirling, and punching. They did not drop back into lifelessness though.
Ruby was held still by a line of knives.
Marco and the others were pinned in by stacks of books all around them.
Archie could breathe but if he moved too much, he tangled inside the hanger's chain.
"Come closer, Henry," requested Dag. He gave an oily smile. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you."
"You'll just drain my life force to keep Text alive."
"I am sorry, but I need him," said Dag. "I also need my first lieutenant here," he said, looking at Steel. "So I will need both your grandfathers as well."
"They'll stop you."
He laughed. "It would be stupid of them to try. This way, everyone else gets to live."
"With you in control," said Henry. "I've seen enough of Text's paintings to know what you want to do to us."
Dag shrugged. "Someone must rule, someone must be...oppressed." He smiled evilly.
Steel however, continued to look around. "I do not like this, Dag. It is too easy."
Dag laughed. "Relax. I'm more than a match for any of those...humans," he said with contempt.
Steel shook her head. "You are not using your intellect," she said. She looked at the boy. "If your mothers are so concerned for your safety, why have they not enacted the spell to send Text back to his book form?"
Henry stared at her.
"For that matter, why not enact the spell against us?" she asked. "Dag, you said you sensed that Regina took hair from both of us, yet you did not sense the spell in use. Why not?"
Dag rolled his eyes. "I'm beginning to prefer my inanimate army, Steel. They are silent."
She shook her head. "You are so confident in your own abilities that you are being complacent and foolish. Think, Dag."
He grimaced at her. She continued though, "As powerful as the Evil Queen is and as formidable an adversary as is Emma Swan," she said, "why were they not able to keep the boy under guard?"
Henry began to get even more nervous.
"I tell you, this feels like a trap," Steel said. "At the least, we should not let our guard down," said Steel.
Dag sneered. "What can this boy do to us? Really, Steel, you may doubt your abilities, but why doubt mine?"
"Because you are consumed with your own brilliance."
He laughed loudly. "I am! I admit it!" He then made clicking sounds with his tongue and teeth. "Tsk, tsk. As you just stated, I am brilliant. We are fine, Steel. There is little they can do against someone like me."
"Actually..." said Henry.
A blast of white magic came from beside the pawn shop, hitting Steel and shoving her back.
Another blast, this of purple smoke came from behind Henry. It blasted into the diner, hitting all the objects there, draining the power out of them.
Ruby giggled as all of the plates, cups, and most importantly for her, the knives, all fell harmlessly to the floor.
A third blast of magic, this one red, hit Dag, knocking him down.
Then Emma, Regina, and Gold all appeared from their various points of attacks.
"It is a trap," said Henry with a smile. Robin, David and Killian quickly appeared behind him, all brandishing weapons.
Coming around the pawn shop were Emma, Beau and the Arrows. Regina walked to take her place beside Henry, joined by several Merry Men.
"It is time for you to go back to your mindless, powerless states," said Gold, walking in front of Dag, from the third direction. Beside him was Belle.
"Don't worry, we haven't forgotten the spell," said Regina. "We decided not to enact it just yet. We can't have you pouring the potion out." She chuckled. "We don't want to repeat your mistakes, do we?" She smiled smugly.
Dag glared at her.
"Since you want us so badly," said Gold. "We figured we would meet you, head on."
David nodded. "And we brought friends."
"We like to do things together," said Mary-Margaret, pointing her armed bow toward Dag as she walked across the street. Granny peeked through the broken diner window, holding firmly to Neal.
Leroy moaned from within the skeleton's grasp.
"Oh, sorry," said Emma. She raised her hand and freed him. The skeleton fell lifelessly beside him.
"Thanks, Sister," said Leroy.
Emma nodded.
Dag smiled, looking around them. "Impressive, this show of force. However," he said, his eyes menacing. "I do not yield."
Gold slowly smiled. "Good."
In unison, Gold and Dag raised their hands and their magic clashed. Regina stepped in front of Henry, protecting him from any bounce-off magic. Dag was a match for Gold it seemed, plus he kept animating objects to dive, slash, or hit Gold.
"I say we join the fight," said Emma.
Regina nodded, and moved toward Dag.
Emma looked at Killian.
"I shall stay with him as if he were mine," said Killian, grabbing Henry.
Emma smiled. "Stay safe, both of you."
"You too, Mom, both Moms."
Regina smiled and shot a glance at Robin, who nodded. Then both the men who loved Henry's mothers took him into the pawn shop. Carefully Mary-Margaret, Belle, Beau and the Arrows followed.
"No one gets Henry," commanded Mary-Margaret.
"Indeed not, my lady," said Robin.
They all watched from the windows, Killian at Henry's side.
David walked toward Steel. She raised her sword to meet him.
"It doesn't have to go like this," said the prince. "Stand down."
"You no longer command me."
"No, it's your choice. If you insist on fighting though, I will fight back."
She smiled. "Good," she said, her eyes flashing. She made the first strike but David easily met her blade.
Regina and Emma walked toward Dag, taking down animated objects attacking Gold. Soon it was just Dag he was fighting. As they neared, the two ladies positioned themselves at a distance, so with Gold, they surrounded Dag on three sides like a triangle.
"This is hardly fair," sneered Dag.
"You came after our son," said Emma. "Fair is out the window."
Regina smiled and nodded, hitting Dag with a fire ball.
Dag stumbled. He righted himself, then shrugged off his smoldering coat. "I borrowed it from your collection," he told Gold, laughing.
"Then I would have burned it anyway," said Gold.
Dag chuckled, his eyes on the wizard. He then, without looking, threw a blast at Emma.
She wasn't fooled though and easily dodged it. She then hit him with several bursts of white lightning. Gold added to her onslaught with several electrical shocks. Regina kept up the heat, throwing several fire balls at him.
Dag wasn't overwhelmed however. He laughed derisively. "It takes three of you to match me!" he screamed. "It does not matter, I will fight you all and win!"
He hurled his own blast of lightning at Emma, a blast of energy at Gold and a larger fire ball at Regina, all in quick succession. "I will beat you with your own weapons!"
The people all around the edges of the battle cringed and gasped, hoping nothing flew out and hit them on accident.
"Be careful, Swan" whispered Killian.
"She'll be alright," said Henry. The pirate looked at him and nodded with a grin.
Mary-Margaret watched the interaction between her grandson and the pirate and smiled. She needed to hold onto that kind of love and encouragement because she herself was terrified. Her eyes went from her daughter to her husband.
Steel was quick and fast. Her blows were strong and furious. David had more control though. He blocked her blows, dodged her sneak attacks and launched several assaults that hit. Steel grimaced.
"Finding out that maybe your 'lord' wasn't useless?" he asked.
She shook her head. "You may have wielded me with skill," she said, through pants, "but it was I who delivered the blows!" She ended the sentence with a furious attack, propelled by a wave of anger.
Dave was put on the defensive as Steel launched into a blurred, frenzied attack.
Meanwhile Regina, Gold, and Emma kept trading shots against Dag. The former dagger didn't lose his composure, taking the hits that went through and avoiding many others.
Emma began to tire.
Dag noticed and hit her with a freeze spell that glued her to the spot. He smiled.
"Emma!" screamed Mary-Margaret as Dag went in for the kill, hurling a spell at her.
Regina reacted, blasting a wave of magic that hit the spell and bounced it away from Emma. It ricocheted however and blast through the diner. Fortunately it hit a table and not a patron, because when the spell struck, it turned the table to stone.
Ruby screamed, she was just behind the booth with the now stone table. She looked outside, locking eyes with Emma.
Emma was trying not to freak out. That blast was meant for her. She remembered the painting of the eerie stone statue and hoped she had just ended a possible future.
Dag looked at the savior and grinned. "Oh, well, I missed. I shall just have to try again."
Emma looked back at him with wild eyes and urgently tried to move her feet.
"Sorry, Savior. You're staying put," he said as he readied another spell. He blasted it toward her, but Gold intercepted it. This time several of Granny's flowers turned to stone.
Emma tried frantically to get out.
"Not like that, Emma," Regina warned. "Use your magic to melt the spell."
Emma looked over at the former evil queen. "Magic. Right," she said.
Dag prepared another blast but Gold interrupted him, keeping him occupied with icy rain. Dag melted several blasts with waves of heat. Then he surged back at Gold conjuring shining, deadly shards of glass, throwing them at the wizard like large blades.
"Rumple!" Belle screamed from the shop.
Gold managed to elude all of them, until Dag stacked more like a deadly, razor sharp house of cards, towering precariously over the wizard.
Belle gasped.
"He'll be alright, Lass," said Killian, his eyes wide.
She nodded.
Gold had no choice but to slowly, painstakingly remove the shards one at a time. One wrong move and the whole mess would come down, impaling him.
"That should keep him busy for a while," Dag said happily. "So, back to getting rid of the stuck Savior then," he sneered.
"Not just yet!" cried Regina, hitting him first.
"Again with the fire balls?" he asked, laughing. "Use some variety, highness." Dag then smiled and hurled small balls of flaming rock at her.
"Similar to your fire balls," said Dag, firing many her way, "but with a little bit of...crunch!" He laughed as she broke them into dust. "Now I'll follow the little meteorites with...a flow of lava!" He struck the ground, creating a thin but molten stream that rushed at Regina.
It ran furiously fast, making Regina dive out of the way. She wasn't out of the clear though, as Dag sent a swarm of meteorite rocks her way. She was deluged.
Dag howled with glee. "While they're busy," he said. "Let's deal with the sitting duck, er, swan," he said with a creepy smile. "It's time to make three opponents two."
Emma shook her head as Dag aimed again.
"I suggest you do something Miss Swan!" yelled Rumple, still removing glass shards.
"Emma, melt the spell!" cried Regina, hurriedly smacking rocks into dust and evading a lava flow.
"I'm...trying!" Emma cried, her attention torn between her feet and Dag.
He smiled, bent his knees and mimicking a baseball pitcher, he pulled his arm back then hurled a deadly curse at her.
"Emma!"
"Mom!"
"Swan!"
It was the last scream that was the loudest. As she saw the magic millimeters from her face, she heard Killian's scream as if it was right beside her ear.
She saw a flash of black, a glitter of gold, and felt a breeze.
That's when she realized why his scream was so loud. As the magic hit, it missed Emma, but found its new mark. Killian was hit in the chest, below the shining necklaces she had just seen as he jumped in front her.
"No!" she screamed.
She heard several shouts of "Hook" and saw the slow pass of magic over his body as the identity of the curse was made clear.
Dag laughed cruelly as the pirate was turned to stone.
End of Chapter Thirty-Four