Chapter 35: What is Still Unwritten
"Do you have your pen?" Crystal asks as she grabs an equally thick book from Henry's bookshelf and casts a glamour spell on it to make it appear like the Once Upon a Time book. The daughter of the Dark One lays the disguised book down on the ruptured platform. She then uses her magic to repair the glass case that had cracked open like an egg due to her light magic overpowering the dark. She cannot help but feel some relief that she didn't have to use dark magic to open it considering she'd already done enough damage today because of her inner demons and darkness.
Henry removes the author's pen from his backpack, his heart pounding in pure happiness that he finally had his book back in his arms and he's able to hopefully stop this craziness that the Black Fairy has unleashed upon all of them.
He opens the book to the last page that had been written. The page had writing about Rumpelstiltskin confronting his mother and claiming victory over the embodiment of all evil. Of course, the book then states that this was all a lie, but their family didn't know this. Henry then begins writing to fill in the blanks, which pleases Crystal immensely, thus allowing her to fully understand what had happened just before the wedding. She reads over his shoulder as he writes about the group seeing the Black Fairy's curse in the clock tower, Emma willing to sacrifice herself in order to save her loved ones who were frozen and under the insidious woman's control. However, the song in Emma's heart protects it from being crushed and the wedding occurs without incident. An image of Emma and Killian kissing as they seal their vow of love magically appears on the adjacent page in ink. Crystal can't help but tear up at the image of her family is so happy. A slight pang of sadness hits her heart because she wasn't there to share in the joyous moment.
Henry continues writing with the pen glowing ever so slightly.
Their eyes looked lovingly into one another's faces as the wise cricket confirmed that they were now husband and wife. He writes. When their lips touched to seal their vow of true love, everything in all the realms stopped moving for a moment before jumping for joy as a lifelong dream of happiness was about to begin.
"She looks beautiful," Crystal says, feeling some envy over Emma's beautiful gown. She recognizes the dress' design from a pop culture book that she'd read back in New York. "Very Grace Kelly."
Henry smiles and nods in agreement. "She looked so beautiful. I heard Grandpa say that she looked like the true princess that she was always meant to be."
"They look so happy," she whispers. The sadness has increased to the point that tears are welling in her eyes, but they were very different from the ones she's shed from earlier. They are not tears of regret, shame, and anger, but tears of happiness, mixed with sadness. She wishes beyond all measure that she was there to share in the joy and even sing-along with everyone. She wanted to be with her true family and be part of the celebration. Sometimes she wished that she didn't have to keep moving back and forth from New York to Storybrooke and could just live in the town already. However, at the same time, if she had been at the wedding, she would likely become some drunken gambling addict or a streetwalker or even in yet another street gang with no idea of who she truly was. She would also be alone in the world again, consumed by guilt and hatred. While their current situation was not ideal, at least she had Henry with her and they could lean on one another for comfort and support.
"It was a magical moment," Henry nods as he continues to write.
Then at the stroke of six, the town's timepiece burst open with thick black clouds as the Black Fairy's curse was cast. It spread very quickly and while the Saviour declared victory over the woman's evil, no further words were spoken as everything was consumed in ultimate darkness.
He turns to the new page and resumes his writing. He goes on to describe the wasteland of Stygian and his encounters with people he loved and how the Saviour had lost all her hope and most of her belief.
Crystal then describes to him what she had done to help Phillip and Aurora become reunited, sharing True Love's kiss, which she thought was important to mention. While it was not powerful enough to break the full curse, it brought back some desperately needed hope to the characters. Henry writes a brief paragraph about it creating a ripple in the protective field of evil surrounding them. Then comes the most recent part:
The brave author seemed to be at his wit's end when the joyous reunion of the daughter of Rumpelstiltskin and himself occurred in the heart of the ruined Storybrooke. The two felt great joy and hope of being together, able to work with one another to save their family.
"Finally, I'm in the book," she jokes. However, this was, in fact, true to an extent considering her mother's origin story was never mentioned in any of the stories and most of her life was in The Land Without Magic and was not written about. Her reunion and amends with her father were mentioned, but like many other of the vast array characters in such an intricate and complicated world, she faded from the pages… that is until now.
"You deserve a book of your own," Henry says.
While her humour often fell flat to brighten the mood…
Both of them chuckle at the joke.
…the two brave warriors did their best to battle the evil that lurked behind every corner. In a moment of desperation, the young Crystal created an eruption of conflicting energy. The shockwave she had made, created a great stir within the tiny town, showing that magic indeed existed and would be powerful enough to wage war against the Black Fairy.
"We should be so lucky," the daughter of the Dark One mutters to herself.
"What did I tell you before?" the author says. "You're strong enough to do this. No matter what happens, we do it together."
"You're right, I'm sorry," she sighs. "I'm just having a hard time having faith right now."
"I know… but you have to."
"Can you write that the darkness will not control me and I will be able to help?" she questions.
"I wish I could give you that reassurance …" he says. "But I can't do that. As the author, I can only record what has already happened, I cannot write about future events. See, watch…"
He attempts to write that the curse was broken, but before the ink was even dry, the words vanished, consumed back into the book. It reminds Crystal of a scene from a Harry Potter movie where something very similar happened. If the book starts writing back to them and calling itself Tom Riddle, she will personally ignite the volume herself.
"And even if I could, the pen would see me be just like Isaac, manipulating things for my own gain, and it could choose another person."
"Which could lead to the Black Fairy getting her hands on it," Crystal finishes.
"Right and if she had this power, there's not a chance in hell we could stop her," he agrees.
"You've been to Hell, is it nice?"
"No better than this hole."
The two laugh quietly to themselves, trying to lighten the mood as much as possible. Once he's finished, the pen stops glowing and Henry shuts the book.
"Now what?" he asks.
"We should go see Emma soon," Crystal decides. "See how bad she needs our help."
"But we'll have to do it once school lets out. No doubt the hospital would likely tell the mayor about our visit and if the school tells her my clone was there… Operation Evil Twin will go up in smoke."
"Right, and then I'll show you the place I found where we can hide out. Because no offence, I'd rather do our curse-breaking plans out of earshot of our enemy."
"This place is much bigger than you actually think it is. She couldn't hear us unless her ear was pressed against the door. Also, you found a base?"
"Yeah, it's on the edge of the city, in the Storybrooke area. I'm not sure if it was Jefferson's old mansion or even the Apprentice's, but I found Phillip under the sleeping curse in there and it was protected by dark magic, meaning Grandma didn't want us to find it. I figure she won't need it now and I can protect it with our own magic."
"Sweet."
The two spend most of the afternoon hiding out in Henry's room, eating snacks, and biding their time and waiting for the opportunity to escape and go see the Saviour. Crystal reads about what she had missed in the past month including the visits from Regina's separated alter-ego and people from The Land of Untold Stories appearing, led by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Eventually, Henry's fancy clock radio tells that school will be letting out soon. The two gather everything they will need, including extra food and water, a backpack to carry their supplies, and Crystal even shrinks Henry's prop sword down to fit in the bag as well in case they needed it. They leave the room as pristine as possible, and then Rumpel's daughter teleports them down into a back alley as they head towards the Saviour's current prison.
A/N: Here's another chapter. Please follow and review.