A/N I'm Ba-ack! Hello everyone, once again, I don't own Once Upon A Time, ABC does. Also, I'm watching Once for the first time, and I only have two episodes left in the series. :(
Over the course of the next week, time flew by in a blur. Hope spent 95% of her time at the hospital with Elizabeth, and the other 5% of her time avoiding Lacey like the plague.
On the day that Storybrooke was to be wiped off the map, Hope was with Elizabeth, holding her hand and promising to do her best to protect her. Rumple was with Belle, whom he had woken up because he was suffering from the loss of his son. Belle was waking up to realize that when her family had needed her most, she had failed to wake up and see it, and she was racked with guilt.
Emma and Regina saved the town that day, but Henry was kidnapped. Rumple left to help find him, and Belle was left behind with the instructions to protect the town and stay with Hope. So, when Rumple left, she used the potion, and went to see Elizabeth and Hope in the hospital.
Belle approached Elizabeth's hospital room, but stopped when she heard Hope singing. She peered in the door, and found Hope singing Chord Overstreet's Hold On to her comatose sister. Her beautiful voice hit each note perfectly, and the lyrics almost had Belle in tears.
"I don't wanna let go. I know I'm not that stro-ong. I just wanna hear you. Sayin baby let's go home. Let's go ho-ome. Yeah, I just wanna take you h-o-o-ome. Hold on I still want you. Come back, I still need you."
When she finished the song, Belle just stood in stunned silence for a moment, waiting to hear if she'd sing anything else.
Eventually, Belle knocked on the door gently and called, "Hope?"
"Go away, Lacey!" Hope yelled back.
Instead, Belle opened the door and walked in.
"How did you even know where to find me?" Hope asked angrily.
"Rumple woke me up today," Belle explained. "Hope, it's me, Belle. Your mother."
"Mama?" Hope asked, her eyes filling with tears. "I missed you!"
She limped over to Belle and through her arms around her, holding on to her like a lifeline. The two embraced for a full five minutes before Hope finally pulled away.
"Where's Papa?" she asked. "I didn't think he'd leave you alone after what happened."
"Well, I didn't want to have to tell you this," Belle began. "But Henry's been kidnapped. Greg and Tamara took him through a portal, and Snow, David, his mothers, and Rumple went after him."
"Do you know where they took him? And what about Bae? Why didn't he go with them?" Hope rattled off questions, concerned for her best friend and father, and confused as to why Bae, who was becoming something of a big brother to her, wouldn't go to find his son.
"Bae. . ." Belle trailed off, unsure of how to break the news to her daughter. "He was shot, Hope. He fell through a portal. He's gone."
Belle saw the heartbreak in Hope's face, and she wrapped her in her arms once more.
"Are you alright?" Belle asked gently, although she already knew what Hope was going to say.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Hope lied. "I just. . . need to be alone for a bit."
Belle nodded. "Alright. I'll go get us some lunch. Is there anything in particular that you want?"
Hope shook her head, and Belle squeezed her shoulder gently before leaving the room.
Hope sat lightly on the edge of Elizabeth's bed, and took her hand.
"Elizabeth?" she said. "Look, I don't know if you can hear me, but please. Don't go. Please. You're my sister, and I love you more than anything. Please don't leave me."
Elizabeth didn't stir, so Hope began to sing to her. This time, she selected What About Us by P!nk. Her rich voice slid over each note in the first verse easily. By the time she got to the chorus, she had lost herself to the song, using it as a way to beg Elizabeth to come back to her.
"What about us? What about all the times you said you had the answers? What about us? What about all the broken happy ever afters? Oh! What about us? What about all the plans that ended in disaster? What about love? What about trust? What about us?"
Hope lost herself in the song, pouring all of her emotions into it, belting out the notes and begging her sister to stay with her. When she finished the song, she had tears running down her face, which she quickly wiped away.
Everything that happened next seemed to be in slow motion. Elizabeth's eyes fluttered open, and she smiled at Hope. For a single moment, Hope dared to believe that her sister was going to be alright. In that moment, Hope was filled with joy at the prospect that her sister was going to stay with her.
Then, the room was filled with the blood- chilling sound of a flatlining heart monitor. Doctors poured into the room, and someone told her to get out. Hope, however, was unable to move, and she was bodily forced to leave. She watched through the window as the doctors tried to get Elizabeth's heart to respond.
After what felt like an eternity, Dr. Whale shook his head, and one of the nurses pulled a sheet over Elizabeth's face. Hope sank to her knees, her head hitting the window. Silent tears poured out of her eyes, and every moment she and Elizabeth had ever spent together flooded her mind.
Belle was at the library when she got the call. She and Ruby had gone over there to find something for Hope to read, though it scarcely mattered now. She sat down on the ground and sobbed, thinking about the young girl who should have her whole life ahead of her.
As soon as Belle began to cry, Ruby knew what had happened. She sat down and wrapped her arms around Belle, crying into her friend's shoulder. She cried for the girl she had visited with Hope so many times while Belle was absent. She cried for the life Elizabeth should have had, and the time she wished she's gotten to spend with her. But most of all, Ruby cried for Hope, and for the pain that her young friend was probably going through at this very moment.
After a while, Belle's tears dried up, and she stood up.
"Ruby!" she exclaimed. "God, we've got to go get Hope!"
The two women rushed to the hospital, their running mascara forgotten. Upon arriving at the hospital, they were told that Hope was still upstairs, which worried them both.
When they got up to the third floor, they saw something that broke both their hearts. Hope was lying on her side on the floor, her wings wrapped around her body. They sat down next to her, and Belle pulled her head into her lap, gently carding her curly hair.
Hope was only vaguely aware of Ruby and Belle's presence. Her insides felt so numb, she wondered if her heart was even beating. Her sister was gone, her best friend had been kidnapped, and the closest thing she had to a brother had been shot. Hope knew she should have felt hurt, or angry, or even betrayed, but instead, all she felt was cold. It was the kind of mind numbing cold that people could die from if they were out in it too long, although Hope didn't think that would happen. After all, she wasn't out in the cold. The cold was inside her. She wondered vaguely if Belle could feel it.
"It's going to be okay," Belle whispered, kissing her head gently.
Somehow, Hope doubted that was true. She doubted that anything would ever be okay again.
A/N- So, while this story does stop being sad after a while, it gets worse before it gets better. So, you have been warned. Anyways, I know this was sad, but I'm hoping to make up for it with plenty of fluff later on. You should totally check out the songs, because they're both amazing. Also, I would love to write a MadArcher fic, so if you have any prompts, please let me know in a review. Bye dearies, and have a blessed day.