AN: Hey all! Hope you're excited for the new chapter cause I know I am! This one might be a little bit confusing with the back and forth, but hopefully it makes enough sense, I just felt that all those line breaks would've been way too jarring for the scene :P
REVIEWERS!:
Acecove: Rapunzel is growing and learning, but yeah, sometimes that hurts. As far as shadow-Hiccup goes, as Rapunzel said, that was just the shadows playing tricks. No need for too much concern in that particular area. Poor everyone, indeed. Just wait. Anyways! Yes! It seems the mini-series is the fan favorite idea, so I'll likely be doing that one. It'll be fun, though I can't promise regular updates on it as the main story will take priority. I'll make the official announcement with next weeks chapter :)
Adaminaart: I'm glad you liked it! The end of this book is near, so things are going to be happening a mile a minute! And Thank YOU! So many people have been getting so into my stories lately, it's very encouraging and gives me fuel for writing! Mutual Inspiration! Trust me, lots to come very soon! :)
Noxi26: You need to know that your drawing of Hiccup, Emma, and Jim was so spot on for what is happening right now that I literally just stared at it whenever I started getting writer's block during this chapter, so Thank You a Million! As for last chapter, fear is probably the smartest feeling to have right now considering all the things I've done to these characters so far... Anyways, Yep! Everyone's in trouble and Pitch made his Act of War! Dun, Dun, DUUUUN! And, yeah, Jack probably shouldn't have left Emma, but also it makes it easier for her to go running off into trouble so win some, lose some I guess. I have watched Wizards twice now, and I'm currently trying to see if there's a way to incorporate it, if not any of the story, then the characters themselves will at least make cameos. I love Douxie and Archie! :)
Music: "Castle" by Halsey
NOTES!: "Clever as the Devil, and Twice as Pretty."
Chapter 30: Castle
She was falling. Down, down, down the garbage chute. A broken doll with no further purpose...
Emma's eyes opened to reveal a high, high ceiling. A hospital of some kind by the smell of antiseptic and wilted flowers. She could hear distant and muffled screams and roars, the smell of smoke and blood slipped through the windows.
She slowly sat up in the bed, the thin covers crumbling down at her waist. The room was dark, all of the lights and candles were doused, and the curtains were drawn on all of the windows. One window near by, though, the curtains had fallen slightly open, revealing the dark orange glow and embers floating through the smoke-covered sky.
"We must get all of the patients out quickly!" Emma's head turned toward the door slowly, her mind feeling numb and blank. She could make out the shadows of a small group of women. Nurses.
"We must do this quietly! We can't alert them that we're here." Grandma Frost reminded them firmly.
"Yes, Mistress." The younger nurse bowed her head, the other one following suit, and the head nurse directed them to the door.
"Hurry, now! Wake the children and get them out first. I'll start waking the adult wing! Mrs. Frost will you help them?" The elder nurse asked.
"Of course. I'll do all I can," Grandma Frost said as calmly as possibly, hoping to ease the fear of the young nurses who had never seen battle. The head nurse nodded to her gratefully before hurrying off.
Grandma Frost turned to enter the child's wing, but was met at the door by one of the younger nurses, flushed and fearful.
"Mrs. Frost! You must come quickly!" She whispered breathlessly. "Miss Frost, your granddaughter, she's -she's gone!"
Grandma Frost felt her heart skip a beat, and then she pushed passed the nurse as she rushed into the hall. All she found was an empty bed, the covers pushed back in a crumpled mess. Emma was nowhere to be seen.
The gasp escaped her before she could stop it, and Grandma Frost looked all around for her missing granddaughter, but the girl was nowhere to be found...
Emma walked along the cobblestone streets of the city. Fires blazed all around her, making the air thick with smoke. Nightmares and Trolls and other followers of Pitch like the Monkey King were attacking the city and surrounding areas, no doubt trying to press in wards towards the Seasonal Temples and the Heart of the Moor; The Temple of Light.
The hospital was located near a quiet residential area where there wasn't much fighting at all, so Emma walked the streets feeling nothing. She saw splotches of sticky oil and charred mushrooms and the ghosts of demented children...
Something on the tip of her nose broke through her state of suspension. She looked up and held out her hand. Snow? No... Ash.
She let her hand drop back to her side and, after a moment, she started walking again. She wasn't positive, but her gut told her she wasn't wrong about this one, so she kept following the path she was on. Ghost children wandering, lost, all around her.
When her feet finally stopped, she stood outside the train station. She looked up at the sign over the stairway-entrance to the underground train, and then looked at the stairs. There was a wall of ember-filled smoke on the stairs, preventing her from seeing the other side. She walked right into it, without a second thought, and in the next instant she was falling again...
Wind whipped passed her as she tumbled head over heels through the air, her vision slightly obscured by the doll head that the Toy Maker had placed over her head. She managed to right herself in the air, and a surge of energy exploded out around her, shattering the porcelain constraints as she slowed to a gentle float just before her feet touched the solid ground of the Infernal Train.
She straightened herself and took in her new surroundings. She wore a black and off-white, striped long-sleeved shirt and a simple brown skirt that had likely been given to her by her Grandmother while she was out of sorts in the hospital. She stood on a deck of sorts outside of the Train's cars, surrounded by looming, cathedral-like towers and fences. A red glow emanated from the windows and the very front of the Train where a giant, noxious black cloud billowed from. The Train was speeding along through Wonderland skies, destroying everything in it's wake. The rushing winds blew through Emma's hair, made hot by the Infernal Train, and on it Emma could hear the screams and battle cries of her friends; Hatter, the March Hare, Door Mouse, Mock Turtle, and Caterpillar. Even the Red Queen shrieked in resistance. In the sky, Emma could spot the birds and Caterpillar, in his new form, fighting against Ruins. She ducked her head as Gryphon flew passed over head, locked in battle with two flying Ruins as he roared in fury.
Emma looked back up in anguish, trying to spot her old friend through the smoke, but he was nowhere to be found. Squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head, Emma refocused and hurried towards the door that would lead her into the first car. She went inside and found plush seats and extravagant curtains draped over every window. On the right, she found two pieces of herself; one dressed in a brown dress with leather and metal bits and a long braid tied down her back, the other barefoot with a green-blue dress with coral and fish-bones and loose, bright red hair that flowed down to her waist.
"Curio! Spirit! We must stop this Infernal Train and the evil force that drives it." Emma stopped next to their seats and the two looked at each other before turning back to Emma.
"Everything's a nail, is it Miss Hammerhead? First it was your search for the Corruption, now it's the Train! Never time for tea. I suppose that's my fault, though." Curio said, slouched over and doubtful-looking. "While your brain's on holiday, we're all ruined! And that's a good excuse for everything going to hell in a teapot." She grumbled.
"We're all mad here, Curio, but that's no excuse for forgetting what your senses saw." Spirit put in with her softer voice, tilting her head at Emma. "Forgetting is just forgetting, except when it's not. Then it's called something else. I'd like to forget what we did, but I can't."
"I know I've made a lot of mistakes, and I didn't see what was happening right in front of me, but we still have a chance to fix this! Please! If you join with me, I can save Wonderland and maybe the Real World, too!" Emma pleaded with them, holding her hands out to them. They both looked at her and then nodded.
Their forms slowly melted into two balls of light, Curio into green and Spirit into blue. The lights swirled around each other as they shot towards Emma, hitting her right in the chest. She felt a surge of power flood through her as the lights merged into her and with the bright flash, the Train disappeared...
Emma found herself walking forward through the train station again, having passed through the smoke. She moved through another set of stairs to where the platform was, and before she even exited the entryway, she spotted him.
Claude Frollo stood on the platform alone, seemingly awaiting the train. His back was to her, but rage was boiling up in Emma's chest as she stood a few feet away from the man, her hands balled into tight fists that shook at her sides.
"You oozing sore of depravity!" She spat, taking satisfaction as the man started and snapped around to look at her. "Countless people missing and forgotten. Children wearing their names around their necks, as if they're breeding livestock!"
"A declaration of their pedigree, whether as warriors on the battlefield or Ladies of society. You could use one! The new generation is proud to display their provenance!" Frollo sniffed indifferently.
"You brute! You manipulate them into becoming sacrifices and prostitutes! When they won't be manipulated, you try to destroy them! How many minds have you twisted into forgetfulness?" Emma demanded.
"Not enough. Yours would have been a triumph. Still, you're an insane wreck. My work is done." Frollo smiled and it made her skin crawl as her stomach rolled. The fury inside of her grew hotter and hotter until her vision flashed with a bright white light...
She was back on the Train again. In a new car. This time she spotted another piece of herself on the left. One adorned in a blue and pink Kimono style dress and a high bun neatly placed on the top of her head.
"Come to receive your punishment, then?" Wisdom inquired.
"I know I'm guilty of something, but punishment never suits the victims of the crime." Emma bargained, hoping to find grace.
"Abuse is a crime the strong hold over the weak. And you're right. Abusers are insufficiently punished for the damage they do," Wisdom nodded, but then turned to her with hardened eyes. "Those who witness abuse without seeking retribution for the harmed pay a penalty. Your own pain mitigates your failure to act earlier, but you may not yet have paid enough for witnessing the pain of others."
"I understand. I know that my inaction makes me just a guilty, but I am acting now. We must do all we can to make up for lost time. Won't you help me?" Emma extended her hand to Wisdom, who's expression softened with a small smile.
"I am but a part of you. It would be in our best interests to be united." Wisdom's voice faded as she changed into a ball of purple light. It shot forward, circled around her head, and then faded into Emma's chest with another flash of light...
"You've used me, and abused me. But you will Not destroy me!" Emma said, opening her eyes to find the Prime Minister standing in front of her again. Energy was burning under her skin.
"No? The damage is done. The old Emma Frost and her Wonderland retreat are demolished. You can't even recognize what's happened. And you're powerless to change it or move against me." Frollo taunted her, folding his arms neatly over his chest. "I've made certain of that."...
Another flash of light blinded her and brought her back to the Train. Another car, and turning back to the right side, Emma found a piece of her heart. Dress in crimson with black and white and gold, long gloves and black hair that hung in a very short bob at her chin.
"Hearts, what is this Train's destination?" Emma asked, meeting the regal girl's eyes.
"Madness and Destruction. You really shouldn't ask questions you know the answers to, it's not polite." Hearts told her. "Father is gone now, and Jack's been blinded. Make your survival mean something, or we're all doomed!"
"But what can I do? If Dad failed... And Jack is too distracted to notice the lies... They're both so much stronger and smarter, what difference could I make?" Emma wondered.
"You must find your own strength. He chose you, after all, so you must have something." Hearts said, turning into a ball of bright red light. It went straight to Emma's heart as she remembered the Night Fury pendant that hung around her neck...
"You corrupted my memories, but you failed to make me forget!" Emma told him, blinking away the last of the red light to find her worlds colliding; Mushrooms and corruption, flowers with blade-like thorns and bubbling oil.
"You could have had a very simple and comfortable life, Miss Frost. I've heard of quite a few young gentlemen who would have loved to be considered a suitor to the raving delusional beauty. But you wouldn't forget. You wouldn't let it be. You insisted on holding on to your fantasies. You're Mad. Like your father." Frollo said, and angry shot through her.
"Don't you speak of him!" Emma shouted. "You didn't know him..."
"I knew him better than you, girl. He refused to let it be, also. Even the Guardians thought he was beyond his own mind." Frollo chuckled, showing more interest in his pocket watch than in their conversation. "He got what was coming to him, in the end..."
...The flash of rage that brought her back to the next Train car was so overwhelming it hurt. She had to take a few breaths to steady herself, forcing her eyes to stop swelling. When she finally opened her eyes, her last missing piece was sitting on the left side of the car, swinging her legs gently. She was dress in a patch-work dress of yellow and green and red and pink. She had matching golden ponytails on either side of her head and hummed quietly to herself.
"Faith," Emma murmured, stepping up beside the girl's seat. The brightly-colored girl looked up with a bright smile, but her eyes were red and her cheeks were stained by tear-tracks.
"Quite the mess, isn't it?" Faith asked, her smile wobbling slightly as she spoke.
"Yes, it is," Emma admitted. "But I'm not ready to give up yet." She held out her hand to the other girl, who looked at for just a moment before meeting Emma's eyes and nodding with determination.
"Neither am I." She grabbed Emma's hand and turned into a ball of yellow light, twirling around itself twice before merging into Emma as all the others before did.
A wave of energy and power washed over Emma, greater than all the ones before. Suddenly all of the lights reappeared together, swirling around her and filling her with power as they all combined. Emma's feet lifted off the ground as she floated, slowly turning with the fast moving lights all around her.
Suddenly it all came rushing back into her and she dropped to her knee on the floor of the Train car. Standing up straight, Emma relished the feeling of her old powers now back in her command; the Warrior who slayed the Jabberwocky. Her dress was a rich blue with a white apron draped over top with sturdy boots on her feet and a big white bow on her lower back. Her hair was black and fell down to her back, loose and free.
The Vorpal Blade flew out from it's place tucked within her skirts and presented itself before her, singing softly with a familiar and exhilarating ringing sound. As she reached up and took the blade, she remembered the words Cat spoke to her when she first accepted the Vorpal Blade;
"You're a Diamond, Dear. They can't break you."
Emma grinned, swiping her blade down to her side and heading straight towards the door. She shoved it open and found herself outside on another deck. Across the courtyard was a large set of ornate double doors that led into the engine room.
She walked up to the massive doors and threw her arms to the side, throwing open the doors with her mind, and they slammed against the walls on either side of the entrance, but Emma paid them little mind. She marched straight into the engine room, her fingertips itching and power simmering just underneath her skin. She stood in the center of the room and waited, sensing out the core of corruption that she knew was here.
A malicious cackle broke through the constant buzz of the roaring engine and battle cries outside. The ground began to shake and the entire back wall of the engine room was suddenly ripped away, revealing the Dollmaker's giant form.
His sleeves were gone, revealing that he had no arms and the only things keeping his hands attached to his torso were giant metal cords like puppeteer strings. Two smaller, arms stuck out of his hunched shoulder blades, and his eyes and mouth were nothing but blade pools of oozing oil. His scarred and bloodied hands flew over Emma's head threateningly as he grinned down out her.
"Hide in your shell!" He bellowed in a distorted and grating voice.
Emma gripped her Vorpal Blade tighter and braced herself as his hands started flying towards her. She lunged to the side as one slapped flat on the floor in an attempt to crush her, and the other hands was open and waiting for her, but Emma apparated through it with wind and fluttering wings. On the other side she whipped around and slashed the back of the left hand, smirking when the Dollmaker yanked it back in pain.
Angered, the Dollmaker swung his right hand sideways at her, trying to grab her, but Emma slid under his hand, throwing her head back to avoid colliding with it. The instant it passed her, she planted her feet again and lunged at the cords connecting the hand to the Dollmaker's torso. The Vorpal Blade struck, but it slide off with a loud clang and sparks flying. Emma landed hard on her feet and rolled, her head snapping up to glare at the magic-laced, metal-like cords. Her blade had no affect on them.
"Pathetic strikes like that won't have any affect on me." The Dollmaker cackled, both of his hands flying together to try and cage her into the middle, but Emma threw herself forward into another roll. His hands clapped together, creating a wave of sound and air that threw Emma off balance as she fell and rolled across the floor a few times.
She pushed herself back up to him reaching for her again. She jumped up and then used a burst of wind to give her another boost over the approaching hand. She landed in a crouch and then ran for the other end of the engine room, towards the Dollmaker's head and torso. He laughed and leaned back, pulling his hands up to hover above their battlefield again.
Emma slide to a stop with her back pressed against what was left of the wall directly below the Dollmaker, out of his sight. He didn't seem to concerned about this though and dropped his hands again. They landed on their fingertips and started crawling towards her from either side like giant spiders. Emma gritted her teeth as she tried to spot some kind of weakness on the limbs, but she couldn't see anything that she could use to her advantage.
The left hand raised up, making a blind grab in her direction, so Emma moved towards and jumped up on top of the index finger and then shoved off of it to back flip over the right hand behind her. The hands collided awkwardly, the right getting slightly tangled in the cords of the left, meanwhile Emma landed gracefully in a crouch with one leg extended for balance.
She looked at the hands as the Dollmaker struggled to right them, bringing them back into his view. She also looked up at the Dollmaker himself. His whole body was some deranged patchwork of crude stitches and different parts jammed together, she really didn't think he could even qualify as human anymore.
She wondered if the seams were his weakness and if she should focus her attacks on pulling him apart piece by piece, but her theory grew less and less likely as she compared the cords used for the stitching to the cords connecting his arms to his torso. She didn't think her blade would have much affect on the cord-stitches and she'd tire herself out long before she even got passed those troublesome hands if she tried to rip them apart
Looking up at his head again, Emma spotted something interesting; the Dollmaker's neck was mostly smooth and unblemished. Perhaps even this monstrosity had a vulnerability at it's throat. No way to cut it open with killing himself. Emma grinned to herself, fixing her eyes on that spot.
She ran forward, out of her hiding place, and the Dollmaker's eyes immediately turned on her. He threw his hands at her, one over the other, over the other, and over the other, but Emma continued to duck, weave, and jump through his attacks, apparating out of the way whenever he came too close for comfort and leaving nothing but a burst of wind in her wake.
When she could, Emma sliced at the seams littered across his hands, trying to cut through the thick cords that bound his appendages together. The Dollmaker winced or one of his hands would flinch away if she snagged a cord just right, but other than that he laughed at her efforts, mocking her.
"What useless antics. What do you hope to achieve?" He said, the use of his voice causing even more oil to poor from his mouth.
After rolling underneath his hand, Emma rolled to her feet and forced herself to stop moving for a full second. That was all it took for the Dollmaker to take the bait and grab her as she leaped into the air, her arms extended upward to avoid being caught as well.
The Dollmaker's hand closed around her, pinning her left arm to her side, but she'd managed to keep her right arm with her blade out of the way. He squeezed her whole body in his giant hand and brought her up to his face so they could look each other in the eyes.
"You should keep that pretty mouth of yours shut." The Dollmaker told her, his other hand hovering as if just waiting for the right moment to rip her head off her shoulders.
"You're probably right." Emma grunted, her ribs pressing into her lungs from the pressure as she grinned up at the Dollmaker. "But where's the fun in that?"
She raised her right arm and stabbed her blade deep into the flesh of his thumb. The Dollmaker gave a roar of pain, and Emma held on for dear life as his hand instinctively flicked itself down to try and shake off the pest that was biting him. When his hand raised back up again, Emma yanked her blade free and jumped towards his left hand that was heading straight to clasp over his other. She used the left hand as her final stepping stone as she leaped into the air, raising her relic blade high as she flew straight at the Dollmaker. He reared back, shocked by her attack, but that only opened him up further.
Emma's knife met flesh as she landed roughly on his collar bone, the Vorpal Blade digging into his neck. Bracing her hands, she ran across his collar bone, dragging the knife across his throat. The Dollmaker screamed and blackness oozed out of his sliced throat mixed with dark, dark red.
Emma ripped her blade free and then let herself fall backwards through the air as the Dollmaker's thrashed about, his screams becoming gurgling noises as he slowly collapsed on himself.
Emma kept falling through the air in slow motion as everything rushed around her, and she breathed, letting the blinding white light consume her...
Emma's eyes snapped open and she scowled at the Prime Minister. "I'll see you charged. In prison, some half-wit bruiser will make you his sweetheart, and then you'll hang!"
"Indeed? A hysterical woman with questionable mental health roaring outrageous accusations against a respectable leader of modern society. And who would believe you, Miss Frost? I scarcely believe it myself." He smiled, looking smug and amused by the situation, but Emma was fueled by the pounding adrenaline of battle.
"You monstrous creature! Such evil will be punished!" Emma said.
"By whom? By what? Psychotic, silly bitch. Your madness will be punished. Now leave! I've already taken everything I need from you." The Prime Minister smirked as he held up a vial full of blood.
Her blood.
Her fists clenched at her sides again as she realized he must have taken it while she was unconscious in the hospital. And now he stood there gloating, holding it out to inspect it as if wondering what made it so special. Emma couldn't say she knew herself, but seeing him with it pissed her off.
Emma moved to draw her wand, but the Prime Minister raised his, stopping her.
"Don't do anything stupid, girl." He said, his smirk widening as he continued. "Do the smart thing and walk away, unlike your father."
Emma clenched her teeth until her jaw ached. She turned away from the Prime Minister, squeezing her eyes shut as she heard him sniff and lower his arm. Her skin burned with rage and power rushed through her veins. She opened her eyes and turned back to the Prime Minister, brown turning into blue as her skirt flared out.
Frollo's eyes went wide and he took a step back as he stared at her, staggered by the sudden change.
Emma slipped her hand into her pocket where her wand was, pulling out the Vorpal Blade. She rushed at the Prime Minister with a shout, and he tried to raise his wand to attack her, but she ducked under it and shoved his arm upwards, causing the spell to explode part of the ceiling. The train shot passed in that moment, the whistle echoing and bouncing off the stone walls as Frollo fell to the ground of the platform, a thousands of tiny wings darting away from him on a breath of wind.
He looked at his hands, but the vial was missing. He searched the ground and then stood up and looked around himself, but he couldn't find the precious blood sample anywhere. His eyes looked up, the train cars still rushing passed, and in between them he could see a girl standing on the other side of the tracks. When the train passed completely, he saw it was Emma standing there; her blade gripped in her right hand by her side, and her left arm raised over head with the vial of blood in her grasp.
She met the Prime Minister's eyes, locking their gazes, and then she threw the vial onto the ground. The glass shattered and her blood splattered across the ground and onto her white apron, staining it with crimson splotches.
Claude Frollo scowled at her with such hatred she could practically feel it, and she smiled at him.
Falling back towards her heels, Emma let herself burst into a million butterflies and a rush of wind, apparating out of the train station and away from the Prime Minister. Outside, she took a breath and looked out towards the Seasonal Temples in the distance, the whole Moor burning all around them.
Frollo was right. She couldn't do much to prove the things he'd done, especially with her questionable background as of late, but she had at least managed to stop him from whatever he was currently planning with her blood. She'd have to bide her time and take him down later when she had the means to do so. For now she would focus on helping where she could, and the immediate threat was Pitch's attack on the Moor.
She started running, intent on getting to where the fighting was.
She'd been so wrong about everything. But now she was going to make it right, no matter what!