A/N: "Heroes" is of course by David Bowie.
Expectations: Heroes
College is much harder than Faith ever expected it to be.
Her classes aren't the issue: she's never had any trouble with her grades, and given that she's pre-med that's a bonus right now. Unlike a lot of her classmates, she's able to stay awake in class because she chooses not to stay out late partying the night before, and because she actually gives a damn.
That is not to say she lacks a social life: she doesn't mind spending Friday night with her friends at various campus and off-campus parties, although she's teased often for refusing to drink. She just smiles and shrugs. It's not that she has anything against drinking, but it all comes down to the one major difference between herself and her classmates, and the reason that she cannot ever afford to have her judgment impaired and possibly lose control.
The magic.
Everyone in Storybrooke knew of her abilities and took them from granted, and she realizes she took them for granted as well. If she happened to be walking by a trash-can upended by the wind, she could casually and quickly put it back in place and any spilled trash back inside, all without dirtying her hands. She had healed minor injuries, fixed dented fenders, and repaired broken objects all without giving it much thought. It was as natural to her as drawing breath into her lungs.
It is so ingrained that she has to constantly be aware here of where she is and what she's doing. If she drops a pen, she has to remember to bend down to retrieve it instead of summoning it back into her hand. She forgot that once, raising her head to look into the startled eyes of a young woman in her Economics class. Faith had given the girl a big smile and mouthed "I'm the devil" before going back to her notes. She doesn't think the girl has ever told anyone, but that particular classmate makes it a point after that to sit as far away from Faith as possible.
There is only one person here who knows Faith's secret, one person who she would not have to hide her gift around, but ironically it's the one person here that she wants to be around the least.
Neal "Get a CLUE already" Nolan.
She has rebuffed the guy her entire life, and he still hasn't gotten the message. He still approaches her to say hello, to ask how her classes are going, how her family is, if she likes the food in the cafeteria, what she thinks of certain professors, and just about anything else that he thinks might get her to speak to him.
She's tried to be understanding, because she figures he has to be homesick as well, and he has a few secrets of his own to keep here. After all, she could back up her claim of being Rumple's daughter by demonstrating her magical prowess. It would be amusing as hell watching Neal trying to convince people that he's the son of Snow White, was once abducted by the Wicked Witch of the West, and is the brother-in-law of Captain Hook. Being understanding has limits, however. There are a lot of gorgeous guys on campus and she does not want to scare them away by having them wrongly assume she and Neal have something going on.
So when Neal knocks on her apartment door one Saturday afternoon in November, she swallows a groan. She's wearing her favorite grubby T-shirt and her torn jeans, and her hair is a mess, and since when does she care about looking good for Neal Nolan?
"What Neal?" She snaps. "This better be good."
There is a strange look on Neal's face: excited and almost…afraid? "I've screwed up, Faith. I mean, majorly screwed up. Big, big, big time. You have to help me fix this! You're the only one who can!" He wipes his hands on the side of his jeans.
Faith rolls her eyes. "Did you forget to study for an exam or something? I can't give you a brain, Nolan."
"Faith, this is serious! People could get hurt. They could die!" The fact that he's truly afraid now cuts through her scorn and she steps back to let him inside and shuts the door. "Okay, Neal. What did you do?"
"In Biology there are all these examples of seeds and plant life, right? And they have this chart of seeds, and one of them has a question mark under it. I asked the prof about it and he said he found it himself years ago, but he's never been able to identify it. Faith, it was a magic bean!"
"You've never seen a magic bean! Neither have I."
"But we know people who have, and we know what they look like. Anyway, I realized what it might be and I just kept thinking about it, and I decided to find out. I stole the bean off the chart. I took a bunch of other seeds so the prof would think it was a just a prank and I…umm…taped jelly beans to the chart instead to cover my tracks. You know, to look more prank-like."
Faith groans. "Lovely. What did you do with the bean?"
"I went out into the woods and I threw it to the ground, and Faith, it worked! It opened up this big swirling mass of something or other. I was thinking of my Mom's stories about the Enchanted Forest at the time so that's probably where it leads, but if someone comes by and falls in they could end up there by mistake or somewhere else even if that's not where it goes. You have to help me close it, Faith!"
"I don't know how to close a magical portal!" Faith snaps, fighting down her own panic. "It's not like Papa ever could conjure them up for me to practice on. I'll have to get him. I'll go to Storybrooke and get him and bring him here. He'll know what to do."
"No! He'll tell my parents, Faith." Neal is actually whining now. "My Mom and Dad will kill me for messing around with magic. At least try to close it, Faith. If you can't then I'll let you get your Dad. But maybe you can just make it…go away."
"I should just make you deal with this on your own, you know. Now I know how Papa felt with everyone always running to him to fix what someone else broke. Let me get my coat, and I am so not doing this for you. I'm doing it so that no one falls into it, and so no one tries to figure out where the heck the magic came from. We're supposed to be keeping it secret, if you recall."
"You sounded just like Mr. Gold there." Neal feels that he must point out. "And I'm not the one who sent Audra Throckmorton running to the campus chaplain, crying that the devil was in her Economics class!"
"She did? That's awesome!" Faith snickers. "I wonder what she'd do if I made her books chant in Latin and levitate sometime."
"Now you sound like Vivienne."
"Get out of my apartment right now! Close your own damn portal." She grabs his arm and starts dragging him toward the door.
"Ouch! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it was a joke…"
The hard part wasn't going to be figure out how to close the portal, she realizes. She already knows that she's going to fail at that. The hard part is going to be restraining herself from pushing Neal Nolan in.
/
Faith, of course, has never seen a magical portal any more than she's ever seen a magic bean. She knows about both: if not for those beans, Baelfire would have never gone through the portal and there never would have been a curse. She and Neal most likely would not be alive without them. Bae's bean had set everything in motion. As she stands there staring into the swirling black and green mists, she is overcome by a strange feeling that Neal's bean is going to change things drastically as well.
She focuses her magic on closing the portal, and the portal easily fights back against her.
This is ridiculous. Not even Papa and Regina completely understand these things!
"Do you hear that?" Neal asks.
"Hear what? I'm trying to concentrate here!" Faith snaps.
"Just listen!"
"….elp….someone…anyone…help me…"
"Someone's in trouble over there!" Neal points frantically at the portal.
A muffled scream emits from the portal, and Neal's face fluxes between terror and resolve.
"Neal, what are you…"
"My father's son." There are tears forming in his eyes. "That's what I am. Tell my parents I love them, Faith. And…tell yourself that as well. I've always loved you. Goodbye." Before she can stop him, Neal jumps into the vortex and vanishes. And before she realizes what she's doing, Faith jumps in after him.
/
She hits the ground with a hard thud, hurting her tailbone, but there isn't time to think upon that.
A young blonde woman, a peasant by her dress, is struggling against a huge, bearded man as he attempts to wrestle her to the ground. Next to him, a man alike enough to be his twin is laughing and takes his shirt off.
"YOU LEAVE HER ALONE!" Neal shouts, and runs at the man holding the woman. The man roars in laughter and his fist connects to Neal's face, sending the young man sprawling into the dirt. "Looks like we got dessert here too after the main feast." He calls out to his brother.
"I believe my friend asked you to let that woman go." Faith walks forward from the shadows of the trees that were concealing her.
She expects them to burst out laughing, threaten her, or ignore her completely. The bare-chested twin does start to laugh, but then gasps and jumps back. The other twin's eyes grow large and his grip on the crying woman immediately loosens.
"The Dark One." The bare-chested one whispers.
Well, that was odd. She does favor her father, but no one here knows what he looks like as a human and it's strange that this unwashed lout would immediately make the connection, but she brushes that aside quickly. There is a humming in her blood, a singing, louder than anything she's ever heart. It's the magic, she realizes. It was transplanted to her world, but here it thrives in its natural environment , and the feeling is glorious. The power is so strong it's nearly intoxicating.
"I'm his daughter." Faith growls, her voice low and as menacing as she can make it. "My Papa has taught me all kinds of interesting games to play with people like you. Would you like to play one now? I can think of several you might enjoy." She steps closer to the twins, and is relieved to see Neal stirring on the ground.
"We're letting her go." The first twin steps quickly away from the woman, who is sobbing and holding the torn front of her dress together with one hand. "See? We're leaving. Come on, Kaster."
"Oh, I don't think you are." Faith smiles at them both. "See, if I let you go, you'll behave, for a while. And then you'll forget all about me, and go after some other poor traveler. I can't let that happen. I'm sure you view this as hunting, don't you? Let's see how you like being the hunted. These are nice trees: there are probably a lot of owls around here, do you think? She waves her hand, and where the men were standing are two tiny grey mice, who scatter immediately at her approach.
Faith kneels down next to the peasant woman, who is still crying but looking up at her with both fear and awe. Faith flicks her hand and the torn gown is repaired.
"What's your name?" She asks the woman softly.
"Lottie, Milady. Twas on my way to see me sister and her new babe, when…" She lowers her voice. "Are you really…his daughter?"
"Yes. I'm called Faith."
"Is he back?" The woman looks as if Rumple is going to pop up behind Faith any moment.
"He no longer lives in this realm, but even if he did, you'd have nothing to fear from him." Faith assures her. "My father regrets his past actions, and he tries now to live as a good man."
"I can vouch for this." Neal has crawled over to them. His voice is distorted by a broken and bloody nose. "I've known him my whole life." He glances over at Faith, and his eyes grow wide in shock, his mouth open.
What's his problem?
The blonde woman struggles to her feet, and allows Faith to help her. "Well, the fact that his daughter came to the rescue of a stranger is proof enough for me. And you are, Milord?"
"This is Prince Neal. Son of Snow White and Prince David." She wonders if she should have said "Prince James" since that was the first name he used here, but she assumes that when they were back here for that year they probably told everyone his real name.
"The Prince?" Lottie gasps, and then makes a low curtsy. "Your Highness…"
"Please. That's not necessary. My name is Neal. I'm delighted to make your aquaintence."
Lottie blushes. "I…I should really get to me sister's. She'll be worried about me. She'll never believe who came to my aid: I shall never forget it. Milady Faith. My prince." She curtsies again and hurries on down the dirt path that winds between the tall, ancient trees.
Neal is still sneaking strange looks at Faith, and she's finally had enough.
"What?"
Neal swallows hard. "I should probably show you something." He pulls out his phone, aims it at Faith, and snaps a picture. He hands the phone over to Faith, who glances down at the screen and chokes.
The face peering back at her is at once hers and not hers. Her skin has become a dark, rich honey color, and her eyes (although still brown) are faceted like those of a lizard. Her hair, which has like Vivienne's has never been able to hold any kind of curl or style for long, is curled now near her face.
"Son of a…" She whispers.
"More like 'Daughter of a…' Neal offers. "If it's worth anything, you look amazing like this, Faith."
"It must be coded into his cells now, like the magic, able to be passed along. I wonder how my siblings would look here…" She's musing out loud at this point. "Mum would have kittens…"
Neal is still staring at her, his face still a bloody mess, and she feels something in her heart soften. That has to hurt like mad, and he jumped in to save Lottie without giving any thought to his own safety, thinking he might never see his loved ones again. That at least deserves some kind of reward.
She walks over to him and puts her hand on his face, and he goes dead still. All she can hear is his labored breathing. She lets the magic flow into him, and the broken and torn flesh mends almost instantly. His face is still smeared with blood, but there is no longer pain in his eyes.
"There. All better." She lets him go and turns away, feeling embarrassed for some reason.
"Faith? How do we get back home?" Neal asks softly. "You shouldn't have come with me. Now you're stuck here too."
"We're not stuck." Faith promises him. "Didn't you ever listen to Emma when she talked about coming here with Killian?" He still looks confused and she sighs. "My Papa's vault. That's where Emma opened up the portal to get them back to Storybrooke. The wand is still there, and if I can get to the Dark Castle I know I can get into the vault. Papa told me how. He said I'd probably never come here, but if something happened and I did, he wanted me to be able to get back home again. He told me that portals cause a weak area and that since the wand had opened up one already it kind of…I don't know…knows how to open it again from the same place."
"Well, that was definitely thoughtful of him." Neal nods in appreciation. "Can you just teleport us to the Dark Castle?"
"I can get us near it, but in it? Not that way. It's warded. But I should be able to get in through the front door." She glances around, and then grins at Neal, making his heart almost stop. "We can leave and go back home any time we want to, Neal. But we're here. We're actually here, where they all came from. You were conceived here, but you've never seen either. Don't want to, I don't know, explore it a little bit? Once we go home, who knows if we'll ever have another chance. You could see your parents' castle. You know you want to…" Her voice teases at him. "You could be a real prince for a little while."
He looks torn. "I don't care much about being a prince but…I kind of would like to see the castle. You're right: it's not like we'll probably ever have another chance. You're sure you can get us home?"
"Positive. My father's instructions were very clear. He just didn't think I'd ever need them. He's always been so worried that he's going to lose us…" She shakes herself. "Gods above, I look bizarre. At least I don't have scales like he says he used to."
Neal looks as if he wants to argue with her, but instead just gives her a goofy grin. "We saved that woman, Faith. You know what this means? We're heroes!"
It's warmer here than it is back home, and she's on an adventure, even if it is with Neal Nolan, and Faith feels more powerful and more alive than she's felt in ages. There's no need to hide her magic here: this entire land oozes it. She feels cosseted, welcomed.
"Do we even know which way Mom and Dad's castle is?" Neal looks around.
"Nope. Guess we'll have to find someone to ask…Your Highness." She jumps around him and heads down the path, and cannot help herself. Like Rumple, she freely admits she isn't exactly the best singer that ever lived, but sometimes, you just have to sing anyway.
"I…I wish I could swim. Like dolphins. Like dolphins can swim…" her voice rings out through the trees.
"Though nothing…nothing can keep us together." Neal joins in, and his voice is deep, his control of the melody far better than her own.
"We can beat them, forever and ever." Faith returns.
"And we can be heroes!" Their voices join together, wrapping around each other, Faith's weaker notes propped up by Neal's stronger ones. "Just for today. We can be us, just for one day.
"What do ya say?"