He's not sure he'll ever be able to look at Ruby the same way again when they return to the future. The woman he'd really thought nothing of other than a friendly, helpful lady who happened to be a family friend of Snow and David now stalked the bowels of the castle, vigilant and snarling more and more at what he assumed to be the scents of guards wafting around in the air.
"Is Snow already inside?" he asks.
"I have no idea," David answers. Like him, he keeps one eye on the wolf leading them through the cold tunnels. "We'll find Princess Leia, come out the way we came, and head back into the woods before anyone knows we're here."
"Sound idea, mate." Although Snow's presence must be taken into consideration, he thinks with a tilt of his head. He reminds himself she wouldn't pass up the opportunity to sneak up on Regina.
Ruby pauses, her front right paw crooked and frozen in mid-step. Ears perked up, the fur on her back begins to stand on end.
"Here. Take the cloak," David says, stretching out his arm with the red cloak draped over it. Hanging back, Killian watches him zigzag a few steps ahead until he squeezes into a small crevice of rock. Best follow suit, he tells himself, backing into one of the more jagged parts of the wall. A guard patrols this portion of the dungeons. He pauses, probably listening for the sounds of breathing. Ruby snarls at him and then at his sword. So preoccupied with the four-legged walking bringer of death in front of him, he doesn't hear David rush up behind him and send him to the ground with his own sword.
"I'm glad the wolf's on our side," he says as he emerges, readying the cloak. Even now with the enemy dispatched, she prowls the guard, growling and ready to pounce at the slightest flinch.
"She's a fearsome one," David agrees. All right, mate. One, two, three—the wolf doesn't struggle one single time once he throws the cloak over her. Just the slightest hint of movement here and there and then it's a woman standing up with a calm look over her face...and a little hint of annoyance in his direction that she didn't get a meal out of it. He returns it with a smile, but doesn't know if he should find it impressive or disturbing.
"Better hurry. When he wakes, they'll be onto us," David warns, leading the procession. It can't be that much farther to the cells.
"Wait." Ruby pulls down her hood and adjusts the cloak so she can whip it off at a moment's notice. "Someone's coming."
It's a narrower part of the labyrinth, so there won't be any hiding this time around. They draw their swords, hoping this reverse ambush can work. A flash of white, two, flicker at his left and somehow materialize into Swan herself and some companion.
"Swan?"
"Hook!" she pants, displaying some admiration...probably meant to distract him from yet another addition to their little crew.
It works.
"What the hell are you doing? You're depriving me of a dashing rescue!"
"Sorry. The only one who saves me is me." Well, either way. "Speaking of which, I'm not going to be around much longer unless we find who this belongs to." She twists the ring off her finger and holds it up, one eye on her father. Well done breaking out, love. Saves us some time at the very least.
"That belongs to me," David says with just the same mellow deliberateness any father might display upon seeing his daughter with one of his possessions. She hands it over without argument, looking quite satisfied it's at least one step closer to being back where it belongs.
"You guys have a way out of here?" she asks.
"Follow me. Snow told me where to meet her," Ruby says, turning and leading them back out the way they came. It gives him enough time to take in this new woman in the same prison garb they gave Swan. She's the woman who screamed for help at the village when they'd first arrived, the one Regina had taken away with promises to kill. She hangs back for a split second before following the others.
"Thank you, Leia," she murmurs to her, sincere and more than grateful. As if he couldn't see what had been done, Swan hangs her head and averts his eyes. With a tentative step, she tries to follow.
"Swan, you didn't." Now, now there's no telling what will happen. He has no idea who this woman is any more than she does.
"She was supposed to be executed in the morning. I couldn't just leave her there to die."
"Actually, if she's to die, she pretty much has to," he whispers back. He'll do it. He can't be angry...well, he can be, but he knows he wouldn't want to bring himself to kill her had he been the one to spend all day with someone else just waiting for the executioner. He'll do it and she won't let him, no matter how quickly he promises he can do it, no matter how little pain he swears she'll suffer, she won't let him kill her. But the future? The future they know?
"I hate to break up a reunion, but we have to keep moving. We have to find Snow White," David says, coming back to them. Clamping his mouth shut, Killian brings up the rear. He has to stop the ridiculously numerous scenarios running through his mind that this woman could be the catalyst of—all of them disastrous. One step at a time, he reminds himself, pausing as all the others do when Ruby waits for them to climb up a spiral staircase rather than remain in the tunnels.
"What are we doing? The way we came, there's only one guard to contend with," he hisses at her.
"Snow said to meet her this way. She had to do something before we all left for the forest," Ruby explains. Everyone looks to one another before making the climb.
"Don't have an extra sword on you, do you?" Swan whispers to him. He shakes his head.
"What's wrong?"
"Bandit or not, I don't think Snow can stand a chance against dark magic, do you?" It confirms his guesses...now his fears...in regards to Snow. The weapon she had said she brought with her...it's too easy. Wherever Snow has gone, Regina in form that can be "easily squashed" will not be the outcome.
"Hurry. We have to catch her before she tries anything rash," he warns, trying not to step on her heels as they move into an open, but strangely empty hallway.
"Hang on. This way!" he hisses over at the rest of the group. "That's the way to the Queen's chambers. This shouldn't be unguarded like this." It can only mean they've caught her, or at least know Snow is in the castle somewhere. They're out searching for her or escorting Regina to a safer location, not that the Evil Queen needs it. He doesn't begin to construct a worst-case scenario in his mind, something about Regina content with ordering Snow to be taken to the dungeons sounding too out-of-character.
"We can't just leave her stranded in here somewhere!" Ruby starts to argue. They cross into another empty corridor where a massive window with arched and curved panes shows every glint of movement outside. There's a procession outside, rows of guards marching toward a...a pyre. Craning his head as far as it will go, he squints in hopes of finding anyone but Snow in their clutches, his breath already hitching. Two of the guards part after they make their way up to the pyre, binding none other than Snow to it.
"What is it? Did you find Snow?" Swan catches up to him first.
"I'm afraid so."
"We have to get down there before it's too late!" she gasps.
"I don't think we can," David breathes, his eyes not leaving the pyre. None of them have any magic. Even if Ruby were to throw off her cloak and leap out the window, she'd be nothing more than a pile of broken bones and glass waiting for them to strike a killing blow. Snow's face is unreadable before they place a sack over her head, Regina's stance one of triumph. The surreal nature of it is the only thing that keeps nausea from taking over, the Snow he knows happy and released from the hospital with her new little babe in her arms is how it should be.
"No." Emma's quivering, swaying. There's not even time to do anything other than take hold of her, Regina conjuring a fireball in her hand and launching it right into the pyre.
He hopes for some magic, some giant's hand reaching down and scooping her up, Rumpelstiltskin freezing time, some dwarf cavalry rushing in at the very last second...all that's real is Emma bringing her hand up to her mouth and starting to sob. She falls into him, her entire body shaking as the rest of them stand there in horror. Not even Ruby's anguished howl can drown out the crying, trembling woman in his arms, once again having to lose someone.
He wishes he'd gotten to know her, know her beyond that of just someone who survives the same ordeals he does. David's built a fire for them in silence, his own eyes dazed and seemingly lost. The other woman's gone off with Ruby somewhere to stand watch, faint howls still breaking through the treeline.
Emma just sits there, not really gazing into the flames. They illuminate her tear-stained face well enough to show him how something in her has died. He doesn't know what and it's neither the time nor the place to try to read her right now, but she's working out some conclusion back there, behind her walls. The problem, however, and he knows this all too well, is that those conclusions are blurred with the grief. They mean nothing. None of it means anything until the body and the mind realize they can freely process grief for just a little while. Then the thinking becomes clearer.
He doesn't even know enough about Snow personally to offer any solace, no story of her pulling him aside to praise Emma or comment on how much she loved her. His Swan may not feel like listening to any of that right now anyway. It's never easy to talk about it.
"When my brother passed, all I could do was relieve that final, terrible moment. Don't do that to yourself, love." Glancing up, he exhales that she's looked up at him, listening. A bit of acknowledgment breaks through the mournful expression on her face. He wishes, and he nearly scoffs at himself for desiring to change the past even for a moment, so she had been there when Liam died, that he'd known her and, after that terrible day, she could have been there. He could have made it through.
"All we can do in times like these is try to live in the here and now," he says.
"The here and now," she breathes, the thoughts in her head beginning to channel themselves into something. Her eyebrows narrow, and it feels like everything is taking twice as long as it should when she opens her mouth. "I'm still here. How is that possible? We watched her die." No. No, he won't let her disappear. He won't let this time traveling spell erase the Savior. "...which means I'd never be born."
"You should have faded from existence." He needs to form a reasonable explanation, but all he can do is watch her, make sure she just suddenly won't be gone, his memories of her gone with them because she'll have never been. No hand wrapped in cloths, no fingers running along his broken ribs, no sunrise, no Henry.
"Exactly."
"Well, then, perhaps..." He snaps himself out of the reverie. Emma cannot exist without Snow, which has to mean Snow...
"...she's still alive!" Her eyes as wide as saucers, she leaps up and starts circling around the fire. "If Snow is out there we need to find her!"
Swatting at a bug, he tries to think of how to search the castle grounds without alerting any guards to their presence. Ruby may have to come in handy again for that, David up for a rescue mission. No doubt there. The buzzing of the insect trips up his thoughts, though. Smacking at it again, he remembers that Regina did see Emma and her...new companion...but wouldn't know the rest of them...
"Cursed vermin," he mumbles. "We should return to the Queen's castle, take a look around. Perhaps it's a trick by Regina." That's what witches and the like do, isn't it, turn people into little creatures just for fun before they step on them or worse? Bloody flying creature won't leave him alone!
"No. Whatever happened, Regina thinks Snow is dead," she argues, which, yes, that is the more likely scenario and blast this stupid thing for not letting him think! At last it leaves him alone and nestles comfortably onto Emma's cloak. He picks up a stick.
"Hold still, love."
"Wait! Don't harm that thing!" David rushes toward them with his arms out. He slows as he reaches Swan, not out of recognition, but with his eyes keeping sharp watch over the little insect, a ladybug now that it's holding still. "When we were coming to rescue you, Snow told me what the dust would do to the Queen. She said it would turn her into a form that could easily be squashed. A bug." He focuses all his attention on catching the bug while at the same time brushing it away from her cloak.
"You think Snow turned herself into that?" Swan asks him, peering over to see...her mother, from the sounds of it, between her father's hands.
"Well, if she timed it right, she could have escaped that fireball, faked her death, flown away." It seems to have taken a liking to David at any rate, scuttling along his finger, a great deal more composed than earlier. It even buzzes at him. "Yeah, that's her." Killian shakes his head, not sure whether to be grateful or bemused that True Love apparently transcends species. "We just need to find a way to bring her back."
He's this close to suggesting they kiss. Ruby and the woman have since gathered around, but neither of them offer up any ideas. Snow, for her part, doesn't seem to be taking being a ladybug in stride, however, the buzzing and chirping beginning to sound almost intelligible.
"She's...saying something." Swan looks up at him, but insect communication is not one of his specialties.
"Wonderful," he mutters. "Anyone fluent in bug?"
"She's calling for me," they all hear at the same time, so he knows it isn't his imagination. A bolt of blue shimmers through the sky. A fairy in her natural state. Her wings buzz so rapidly it reminds him of a hummingbird. It's the woman the Shadow had attacked, but beyond that he
"Blue!" Swan cries out.
"That's right. And you are?" He glances over at her, her tears stopped in mid-stream, hope and a kind of confidence all over her face as she remembers to introduce herself as Leia.
"No, that's not it," this Blue laughs. "But your secrets can be yours. I sense it's better that way."
A sensible fairy, he'll give her that.
"Can you bring Snow back?" Ruby asks, perhaps too afraid to speak up before.
"Dark magic did this to her. Light magic can undo it," she says, nodding. He barely has time to see her lift her arm before a blinding bluish light pierces through the darkness. He turns away, but even as he snaps his eyes shut and blocks out the light, he knows it's working. The silhouette of a hooded figure appears when he squints, at last culminating into Snow, overtaken by Swan so quickly she doesn't even have time to take a breath.
"You're alive!" she cries, nearly sobs, and throws her arms around her, clinging to her like she'll burst into flames all over again. Finally fate's let her catch a break, a reprieve from losing people.
"It would appear so," Snow says. She backs away, her coldness a mystery to both Swan and him until he remembers that she has no idea who this woman is. "Thank you." Ruby is the only recipient of her affections, the two friends embracing and laughing at what appears to be another tale of one of them cheating death. David and the woman follow them, but Swan stays planted where she is, a million thoughts again circling around in her head, more pleasant ones this time, he hopes. He can't begin to imagine seeing a loved one die right in front of you and then it's all erased, nothing more than a bad dream, and no one deserves that more than her. Taking a small step, he waits for a cue to keep his distance, inhaling when he doesn't find one.
"Looks like we're back on track, love," he sighs, brushing away the tears stained on her cheeks. It's an arresting smile, so genuine. Her little nod and mouthed "yeah" compel him to mirror it.
"Hey, uh, according to Snow and Red, we're pretty safe out here for the night." David returns to them, his shoulders shifting from side to side. "For the night, it's a pretty sure bet the Queen will still be under the assumption's Snow is dead and I don't think she's going to celebrate by checking on her dungeon cells." He nods over at Swan. "We'll turn in, get an early start to get back on track."
Fun choice of words, he thinks, nodding over at him as he begins to take off his coat. He spreads it over the ground a few feet away from the campfire. Wiping her eyes, Swan unties her cloak and sits down, wrapping it around herself.
"Oh, usually two on the bottom is worth one on the top," he says, motioning at her cloak. She blinks once down at her knees before she removes the cloak altogether and places it down on top of his coat. They sit on the two layers for a few moments. It's not his old leather coat, but it will do for the night, not that he has much choice in the matter. He lays down and curves his arm so his head rests underneath it. It's not how he would have initially imagined sleeping under the stars with Emma Swan right next to him, but he'll take it, yawning and watching her from the corner of his eye.
"Does this beat the actual Princess Leia's adventures?" he asks. She lays on her side facing him, her face tightening a little at the question.
"Uh, well, I'm going to have to call it a draw at this point."
"And Marty McFly?"
It prompts a laugh, one that might have been louder than usual given exhaustion and, well, time-traveling.
"Remind me to introduce you to a few more movies when we get back," she says, not at all realizing that implies they'll be spending some time together when they get back, and he won't point it out. If she stays, this can happen, he remembers.
"So are you going to tell me one of these stories you read as a kid about going to all these places?" She nods up at the sky, the stars.
A series of them run through his head, but none of the details feel that vivid right now. She smirks at throwing him off-guard. Just for that, he begins one, just the first one that stopped spinning around in his mind, some tale of warriors who venture from world to world keeping the peace only to rebel against an oppressive empire. She watches him before taking his good arm and pulling it over herself, his hand between her cheek and her shoulder.
First light arrives finding him more refreshed than he'd expected to be, Snow the only one in sight, foraging along a shrub for berries. Strands of blonde hair cushion his nose and the corners of his mouth, a deep sigh an intoxicating sound. If she wasn't sleeping on his hand, he'd dare to run his fingers through her hair the way she has with his to wake him up, to bring him back to life. The oddities and horrors of yesterday don't show up on her face, Emma wearing a rare expression of comfort. He could nudge her hair back and kiss his way down her neck, down her shoulder blades, down her spine...
"Swan."
"No." It's an overly puerile groan, matching the way she scrunches up her face at being woken up.
"I think your parents are bonding," he sings, seeing David run up to Snow and begin foraging with her. That brings the princess back to reality, he thinks with a smile as she sits up and shakes out her hair. She watches them for a brief moment, eyelashes fluttering at the sun.
"That's good. Right? They've at least got each other on their minds."
Before he can answer, Ruby sets her basket down in front of them and unwraps wedges of cheese and hard-boiled eggs.
"Thought we might need something besides wild berries," she says with a shrug. "Snow! Snow, I've got to get going. I'll meet you..." She glances at them and then over at David before she clamps her mouth shut.
"Of course. Thanks so much, Red. As always." The two ladies hug, Killian feeling he should be doing anything other than just sitting there watching them as he eats.
"Where's your friend?" he asks Swan. She scans the woods and gestures at the woman returning from a cluster of trees, more comfortable with the forest than he had assumed she'd be.
"Look, I know you're mad about me taking her along..."
"I'm not mad."
"You said," she blurts out, pausing. "You said not to change anything..."
"I did, but I also wasn't the one in the cell next to her all day getting to know her and then having to abandon her." But, and he shakes his head at this, understanding an action doesn't mean it's instantly the best action.
"I suppose I should thank you," they hear Snow from over where she and David have been. Swan shoots him a hopeful, giggly little look. Indeed. It looks like they are back on track. There's not even a need to go over there and initiate anything, not that he would know what. "You saved me."
"It seemed like the honorable thing to do," David remarks, blushing a little. The steely, courageous prince taken aback by a little bit of gratitude. They smile at each other, the reason why unmistakable. It's the kind of silence one can only break in one of two ways—a kiss or spouting off some awkward thought.
"I'm going to the stream to get some water. I can fill your canteen if you like," Snow blurts out after a shy smile.
"Thanks." He even watches her go. Well, that element may be straightened out, but that woman over there, unsure of what to do with herself, is another matter.
"They're warming up to each other," Swan notes. "This is good. This will work."
"That may be, Swan, but we have another problem," he says, reminding her of her charge. They'll have to kill her. It's the only way to ensure the future will stay the future...and yet the longer they keep from doing it, the longer it will be the same problem—he'll get to know her, like her, or at least pity her, and won't be able to murder her just like that, not after she's placed so much trust in Emma.
"I had to save her," she says, and he won't argue it, the morality of that choice irrelevant.
"I'm sure you did the noble thing, but she's supposed to be dead. Her presence in the Enchanted Forest could have unforeseen consequences."
"She's just a sweet, innocent woman," she argues, not looking at him. That's beside the point. He's sure Regina had been sweet and innocent at some point. Bloody hell, everyone had been sweet and innocent at one time or another, as had Rumpelstiltskin, as had Zelena.
"What if she had a child who grows to be a mass murderer, or she gets tipsy some night and rides a horse into one of the dwarves and now there's only six of them?" Oh, stop looking at me like I haven't had enough sleep, he thinks, tempering his admittedly far-fetched arguments with a more reasonable "Who knows? Best not finding out. She doesn't belong here."
"I know exactly what we can do!" she murmurs with an air of mischief in her voice. "Take her with us!"
"You say it like it's the simplest thing in the world, Swan."
"Isn't it? She doesn't belong here anymore, point taken. But that doesn't mean she can't come back to a future that's already secured! Her family's probably in Storybrooke anyway! She can cross over to a world that has everything she needs...and has everyone she needs," she says rather quickly. "What do you think?"
It feels too easy. His first impulse is to shut it down and suggest a few quick, sudden ways to kill a person, but he doesn't want to do it, not if this could work, and it could. If they take her, her family here would never see her again. They would eventually hear about her capture and imprisonment, her scheduled execution, and he didn't fancy Regina to be the type to send families the remains of her prisoners anyway. They would mourn and try to move on in their lives as they had before and, and in Storybrooke, be reunited with her, after all this time. He'd give anything, he thinks, if he'd lost Emma that way. The fact she's someone's, a wife, a daughter, a mother, a sister...it leads to him standing up and suggesting they go propose this idea to her.
