Chapter 12
The Strength Of A True Hero
After arriving in the Underworld Neal had first been tortured then found himself in a strange place. If it was supposed to be a prison cell it wasn't a good one without bars, or anything preventing an escape. He was about to go towards the exit when the girl in the room with him warned him not to. "Stop, he wants you to think you can escape, but you can't, no one can. Hades made sure by leaving a beast to guard the exit. I came realise after a time there's no way out, that's why I stopped trying".
Neal replied "Hades wants you to lose hope, so don't. I heard the voice of my wife, my true love telling me she's come to save me, and I want to find her to minimise her time in the Underworld".
The girl shook her head "it's probably one of Hades tricks".
"It was Emma, I know it"
"How"?
"Because I can feel it in my heart, when it's true love you have a sixth sense about these things". He stumbled forward and said "I don't care what vicious, frightening creature is guarding us. The only real thing keeping you in here in you".
He held out his hand and girl stared at it for a moment "you're crazy if you think you can escape".
"I have something worth escaping for, so you can either stay here or risk being caught for a chance to be free".
She took his hand hesitantly and led her out. Once they were in the hallway they heard a growling noise. The girl said "I told you, we'll never get away.
Neal replied "then go, find Emma, a fiery blonde woman, I'll stay here and lead the creature away. Whatever it is can't be any worse then what I've faced before.
Mary-Margaret and David were in the graveyard and as they were leaving Mary-Margaret saw a name she knew on a headstone. "I know him".
David read "Hercules".
"We knew each other as kids, we were friends".
"Define friends"?
Mary-Margaret chuckled and replied "don't worry, it was nothing like that. He helped me out and taught me archery, but we only knew each other a day or two then he moved on to complete his trials".
"Can you blame me, it's not every day your wife tells you she met a god".
"A demi-god" Mary-Margaret corrected. "Who apparently is dead, if he's here that means he had unfinished business. We should help him finish it".
"As opposed to looking for Neal"?
"No, think about it, if we help him he can help us. Think how much easier this will be with a demi-god on our side".
Emma and the kids were re-checking the south of the woods and Regina and Robin checked the north of the woods. They met somewhere in the middle and Emma insisted the keep checking cold trails until they found one that was hot. Suddenly Regina suggested "there may be a way to make our search go quicker. In my office I kept maps of the town".
Emma asked "so you think there might be some in the underground version of your office".
Regina said "it would make sense, then we could search grid by grid".
Robin replied "I'll go get them, you keep searching".
"Wait take Henry, he's been to my office enough times to know it inside and out".
"It could be dangerous".
"Without my mother it should be perfectly fine. Beside's you'll be there with him, I trust you to keep him safe".
As soon as they left Tally said "mom" and came running up to her.
She showed Emma her hand and she saw it had blood all over it. "Did you cut your hand".
Tally shook her head "no, but there's a lot of blood over there, I slipped in it. And wasn't Dad bleeding when we saw him"?
Emma and Regina followed Tally to where she said the blood was and they followed a trail to a girl. They heard growling and she begs them to hide her.
Emma teleported them to the Undergrounds version of Mary-Margaret and David's apartment. There were sheets over everything like it was waiting for new occupants. "Your parents apartment" Regina asked.
"It was the first place I thought of" Emma replied and suggested the girl they found sit down.
Tally added "it's the longest home we've had, so it's a safe place".
As Emma removes one of the sheets Regina mentions "but what if whoever or whatever lives her comes back"?
Emma replies "I don't think we need to worry about that". She shows Regina a photo she'd uncovered of her parents.
"So this place is just waiting for your parents to die so they can move in"?
"As creepy as that sounds that appears to be the case". She sits down next to the girl they'd found "Are you okay"?
"I think so" she replied. "You're blonde".
Emma confused how this was important said "yes, does that mean something"?
The girl asked "are you Emma"?
Emma asked "how do you know my name"?
The girl replied "there was a man, he convinced me to try and escape. He told me his wife was coming, he'd heard her voice telling him she was here to save him. When he realised only one of us could get out he told me to find a fiery blonde called Emma".
Tally said "dad, he got the message".
Regina added "and unfortunately is trapped".
Emma asked the girl "where is he"?
"In an underground prison, through a series of tunnels, eventually leading out of a cave, next thing I knew you found me".
"Where is the cave? Do you think you could find it again"?
"Yes, but I can't go back down there, the prison is being guarded by something"?
"What is guarding it"?
"It has three heads, it's teeth can crush your bones with a single bite, it eyes can burn through your soul as it finishes you off".
Tally asked "you mean Cerberus"?
The girl asked "you know of it"?
Tally answered "Henry was reading a book on Greek mythology and there was a hell hound called Cerberus with three heads. Kind of like Fluffy from Harry Potter".
Regina asked "and did the book say anything about how to defeat the hell hound"?
Tally shook her head "that doesn't matter because I know someone who might"? They turned around and saw Mary-Margaret and David in the doorway.
They went to the blind witch's diner to see if she knew Hercules. Back in Storybrooke everyone had been to Granny's at least once. If things were the same here the Blind Witch and Hercules paths had passed at least once. Regina said "hey child-muncher, we're looking for someone".
At the word child-muncher Tally had gone behind Emma
"Regina" the blind with replied "why should I help you? You burned me alive".
"That was Hansel and Gretel".
"At your behest, and with your fireball".
"But you stole my apple, what do you think happens when you steal from a witch, witch".
"Fair enough. Speaking of child munching I smell chocolate, cinnamon and I'd say six, maybe seven years old. Behind someone smelling like cinnamon and grilled cheese".
Emma snapped "she's not on the menu and focus"?
"So who are you looking for"?
Mary-Margaret said "Hercules, he's a demi-..."
"I know who Hercules is, he comes in every day on his lunch break and no matter how much I try to fatten him up his muscles are always bulging".
Mary-Margaret asked "lunch break from where".
"The docks".
Knowing Hook was searching places close to the water Emma called him to explain things and see if he was close to the docks and if he was to find Hercules and bring him to the them. He was and was able to convince Hercules to come with him after mentioning they had a common friend Snow White. Mary-Margaret decided to go meet Hook and Hercules by herself and when she got there Hook ran off. When Hercules was hesitant to fight Cerberus she just told him what he had told her so long ago. "You can't let the fear of failure stop you from trying". Meanwhile the girl showed Emma and Regina where the cave she came out of was. Later while David took Tally to the park Hercules went into the cave in an attempt to save Neal. He'd left Mary-Margaret, Regina and Emma at the first turning. Suddenly they heard growling, metal hitting ground and then they saw Hercules running back, but the growling was stopped by a whistle. While they were wondering what happened a man appeared saying he called him off. Emma asked "who are you"?
Hercules answered "my uncle".
Regina said "Hades".
Hades asked "who did you think was in charge of this place, your mommy"?
Regina asked "well, if you're in charge of this place maybe you can answer a few questions like why this hell hole looks like Storybrooke".
He answered "my reasons are my own, and I don't have to share them with you".
Hercules stepped forward "leave them alone Uncle".
"There's that famous Hercules courage, did you really think you could face Cerberus again".
Mary-Margaret repeated "again". It didn't take her long to realize "Cerberus killed you".
Hercules replied "Snow, I didn't want you to think any less of me".
Hades said "it's nothing to be ashamed of. After all losing your life to my pet is what finally brought us together as a family".
Mary-Margaret firmly stated "we are not afraid of you".
"Oh Snow White, my nephew said you were quite the spitfire but I assure you, you should be afraid of me, very afraid".
Emma said "I'm not going to rest until I find Neal".
"Emma" he said. "Did Baelfire really look that well you'd want to see him again. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me". And then he disappeared.
Without a way to get past Cerberus they couldn't rescue Neal. While Emma was trying to figure out a way to tell Tally and Henry their father couldn't be saved Mary-Margaret was upstairs sulking. Regina went up to talk to her only to find she was thinking of giving up. Since being here Mary-Margaret kept thinking about all her failures but Regina reminded her when Snow White got pushed down she got back up which is what she needed to do now. It didn't take Mary-Margret long to realize she wasn't the only who needed to try again, so she went to talk Hercules into giving it another go. Everybody else waited in the apartment but before Mary-Margaret and Hercules got back Cerberus attacked the apartment. Tally tripped so Emma had to pick her up as they ran out. They met up with Mary-Margaret and Hercules on the street but by then they'd lost the girl. They split up to find her before Cerberus did. Mary-Margaret and Hercules did but they were straight away found by Cerberus. They ran into the library and Mary-Margaret told them the only way they were going to defeat Cerberus was to attack all three heads at once. So the three of them each attacked a head, the fight was short but they prevailed.
After the fight they went to the blind witches diner, it turned out the girls name was Meg. They had met before when Hercules tried to kill Cerberus the first time and he got her right after it got him. She didn't blame him, he tried to save him and had now defeat Cerberus freeing her from it forever. Mary-Margaret said "maybe defeating Cerberus wasn't Hercules only piece of unfinished business, maybe he needed to save her too."
Emma asked "are you okay"?
"Yeah, you didn't know me in the Enchanted Forest Emma but I was someone who took risks. I was someone who fought even when she was afraid. I inspired people". She looked at Regina an added "an old enemy reminded me of that today".
David asked "what are you saying Mary-Margaret"?
"I'm saying I don't want to be Mary-Margaret anymore, I want to be Snow White again".
Regina stated "well, it's about time".
Hercules and Meg went onto the afterlife and afterwards they met up with Robin and Henry.
Robin said "the office was locked up but Henry got in"
Henry said "but I couldn't find anything".
Regina sighed "well I guess it doesn't matter, we know where he is".
Emma said "we just need to find a way to get to him".
As everyone started walking away Tally grabbed Henry's wrist and whispered "I know you're hiding something, I demand to know what"?
Henry said "the office wasn't empty, Cruella was there".
Tally stared at him finally asked "what did she want"?
Henry explained "to live. The author's quill, the one I broke, turns out it was a living entity, when I broke it, it just came here, it's purpose unfulfilled. She wants me to find it, and use it to bring her back to life".
"And of course you said no"
"At first but she explained if she comes back to life moms heart would be pure again, like it was before she killed Cruella".
"Mom's heart is pure enough, and if we're going to bring anyone back to life they should be a good person, like dad".