Chapter 61
Hi everyone! Just a reminder that I do have a one-shot series based off of this story. I haven't had very many requests lately. If you have any ideas, send them my way! :)
Now, let's dive into some more Dark Swan and Hanna! Enjoy :)
"Ugh I don't have time for this," Hanna slammed her spoon onto the table.
"Hanna, that's enough." Snow told her firmly. Hanna had been complaining about this all morning. "You are going to school."
"But…"
David put his hand up to stop her. "Finish your cereal. Your mom and I are dropping you off on the way to take Neal to daycare, and we need to leave soon."
"Fine," Hanna picked up her spoon and took another bite. Then she looked up at her mom. "Why aren't you going to school?"
"I need to help figure things out with your sister," Snow told her. The substitute that took over while they were in Camelot was continuing her position until Snow was able to come back.
"That's what I should be doing too," Hanna stood from the table and took her bowl to the sink. "I don't need to be sitting in school all day. It's a waste of time."
"Get your book bag and let's go," Snow said, ignoring her daughter's complaining. She picked up Neal's diaper bag and headed for the door.
"Mom…" Hanna whined.
"I'll be in the car, Hanna."
David picked up Neal in his carseat and stood by the door. "You heard your mother, let's go."
"But Dad…"
David shook his head. "Car. Now."
"Ugh…you guys never listen to me!" Hanna grabbed her book bag and stomped out the door.
Hanna gave her baby brother a kiss goodbye, but said nothing to her parents as she got out of the car. She watched the car pull away and waited in front of the school for a few minutes before she left. She was not staying here. She was going to Emma's. She walked down the sidewalk in the opposite direction of where her mom and dad would be going. They told her to get off of the bus at the station after school, so she knew that's probably where they would be most of the day. Hanna would be staying far away from there until it was time for her to come back from school. Hanna decided to steer clear of Granny's today too. There were too many people there that would see her and tell her parents. Hanna could walk from here to Emma's without going by any of those places and was pretty sure she had all of her bases covered. That is until she looked up and ran right into Regina.
Hanna stumbled backwards. "Oh…sorry, Regina."
"It's alright," Regina bent down to pick up the books Hanna made her drop. "Just watch where you're going next time."
"Okay, I will…bye!" Hanna gave her a smile and hurried past her, hoping Regina wouldn't think anything about the fact that she wasn't in school right now.
"Wait a minute."
Hanna sighed, thinking she had gotten away with it. She composed herself and turned back around. "Yeah?"
"Why aren't you at school?" Regina knew there was school today. She just dropped Henry off a little while ago.
"My parents let me take a few days off because of everything with Emma," Hanna told her.
Regina eyed the girl up and down. She didn't think that sounded like a very good reason to miss school, but she didn't seem to be lying. "Okay, so where are you going now?"
"Just taking a walk," Hanna shrugged. "Hey, do you think maybe we could start magic lessons again?" Hanna asked, trying to change the subject. "I could really use it to help Emma, and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be willing to help me with them right now."
Regina nodded. "I can find some time to help you. We definitely don't want the Dark One giving you lessons."
"Great! Thank you!"
"You know I'm not sure you'll need lessons that much longer though," Regina told her.
Hanna nodded her head. "Yes I will. I can barely do anything."
"No, that's not true. Remember all the things you could do in Isaac's realm?"
"Well yeah, but I could only do that because he wrote me that way."
Regina raised her eyebrows at her. "Hanna, why do you think he put that cuff on you?"
Hanna thought about it for a second, then shrugged.
Regina sighed. "Because you're powerful." Regina put her hands on Hanna's shoulders and looked into her eyes. "You are more in-tune with your magic than you think. You just have to believe in yourself."
Hanna smiled as she thought back to everything she could do in that other realm. If Regina was right, then Hanna could do all kinds of magic. Magic that could help her sister. "You really think so?"
"I know it," Regina told her.
Hanna wrapped her arms around her. "Thanks Regina."
"You're welcome," Regina said as she returned her hug.
Hanna said her goodbyes and walked a farther down the street, before deciding to just poof herself to Emma's. She dodged a bullet with Regina, but she didn't want to accidentally run into someone else. She wasn't going to take anymore chances.
Hanna grinned when she opened her eyes and found herself right inside Emma's house. Regina was right, she was pretty good at this. Just as Hanna was about to call out for her sister, Emma came through the basement door.
Emma's face fell when she saw Hanna standing there. "Damn it, Hanna! What the hell are you doing here?"
Hanna looked past her sister and towards the basement door. "What are you doing down there?"
"Nothing," Emma said as she slammed the door shut behind her. "What are you doing back here? I told you last night…"
"I know what you said last night," Hanna glared at Emma. "You didn't mean any of it though. I know you didn't." The frustrated look on Emma's face told Hanna that she was right.
Emma took a deep breath. "Shouldn't you be at school?"
Hanna shrugged. "I ditched."
"I'm sure mom and dad would love to know that," Emma said with a grin as she reached for her phone.
Hanna saw Emma about to press the button to call their dad. "Emma don't!" Hanna reached out her hand, causing Emma's phone to go flying across the room and smash into the wall. She hadn't meant to do that. Hanna waved her hand again and held Emma's phone her hand. Hanna looked down and saw the screen was broken into hundreds of little pieces. Hanna looked up at Emma in a panic. "I can fix it!"
Emma walked closer to Hanna. She took the phone and threw it down. "I don't care about the stupid phone, Hanna!" Emma shouted as she shook Hanna by the shoulders. "I told you not to come here! Why can't you just listen to me for once?"
"Emma, I…I just want to help you."
Emma sighed and let go of her sister. "I just don't have time for this."
"Time for what, Emma? Just tell me," Hanna begged.
"No," Emma said firmly as she turned to walk away.
Hanna grabbed ahold of Emma's arm. "Please stop pushing me away."
"Hanna, I just can't! Just go to school, okay."
"No," Hanna shook her head. "I want to be here with you."
"You know I could just waved my hand and send you back to school myself."
"And I can just bring myself right back here," Hanna raised her eyebrows at Emma.
Emma looked down at her little sister, knowing it wasn't worth the fight and she had important things to do today. "Fine. You can stay here until school is out, but then you have to leave."
"Okay," Hanna said with a smile and walked towards the living room. "You know you should really get a tv and some movies. Oh maybe a few gaming systems and…"
Emma waved her hand, making everything Hanna was thinking appear. There were three different gaming systems, every game you could think of, more movies than Hanna could count, and the biggest tv Hanna had ever seen.
"There are snacks in the cupboard too," Emma told her. "Do you think that'll keep you occupied enough?"
Hanna nodded her head. "Oh yeah. This will be fun we can…"
"Good. Now, leave me alone," Emma interrupted right before she poofed away.
"Hey! I thought you were going to hang out with me!" Hanna shouted into the air, knowing her sister could hear her, but she didn't get an answer.
Hanna decided to just hang out here by herself. It's not like she had any other choice. She couldn't just freely wander around town, and she needed to stay here just in case Emma decided to come back. Hanna rummaged through the cupboards and found some snacks. Then she picked out a few good movies and made herself comfortable on the couch.
Emma didn't show up again for the rest of the day and when 3:00 drew near, Hanna knew she had to make her way back to the station where her parents would be waiting. She had to time it just right so that she would arrive when the bus would have dropped her off.
Hanna checked the clock as she walked into the station and saw that she was right on time. Her mom and dad weren't going to suspect a thing and Hanna was feeling pretty good until she walked up to the door of the Sheriff's office to find her dad kicking a chair across the room.
"David!" Snow said in frustration.
"I just wish she'd talk to us."
"I know, me too."
Hanna could tell they were definitely not in a good mood right now, and she slowly backed away from the door. "Crap." Hanna got this nervous feeling all of a sudden. They didn't know that she had skipped school today, did they? No. There's no way. Maybe Regina told them? No, Hanna was pretty sure Regina bought her story this morning. Hanna didn't think the school even knew she was suppose to be coming back today, but maybe they did know. Henry was at school today, so her teachers might have assumed she should have been there too. The school probably called her parents to see why she wasn't there. Hanna slapped her hand to her head. Why didn't she think of that? She should have covered her bases with Henry. Maybe they were just upset because of Emma though and this had nothing to do with her. Well, that's what Hanna was going to hope because she didn't have a choice now. She had to go in there. Hanna just took a deep breath and walked back to the office door.
"Hey. In any world, you are my hero. Remember?" Snow told David.
Hanna relaxed a little bit. It seemed that her parents had calmed down. "Mine too, Dad!" Hanna walked in and gave him a smile. That smile quickly faded when her mom and dad looked over at her though. They totally knew.
"And just where have you been all day?" Snow asked her with a raise of her eyebrows.
"School." Hanna shrugged.
"Hanna don't lie to us." David told her.
Hanna slumped her shoulders. "Did the school call you and tell you I wasn't there?"
"No, your teachers thought you were out for the day recovering from your trip to Camelot," Snow told her. "Why do you think they thought that?"
"I don't know." Hanna figured Henry was probably the one who told the teachers that little lie. She would have to remember to thank him for that later. "How do you know I wasn't there then?"
"Emma told us. She said you were at her house all day," David said.
Hanna's mouth fell open. She couldn't believe Emma did that. "She squealed on me? That little…"
"Hanna…" Snow warned.
Hanna threw her hands up in the air. " Mom, I couldn't just sit at school all day while Emma…"
"Hanna that is enough!" David shouted.
Hanna jumped back at the sound of her dad's voice. He was mad.
"We do not need this from you right now! Your sister is the Dark One, she's stealing dwarf axes, and we are not any closer to helping her!" David continued.
"Dad, I…I'm sorry." Hanna looked up at him, tears filling her eyes. She didn't like it when he yelled at her.
David sighed, knowing he needed to calm down. He shouldn't be taking his frustrations out on Hanna. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. Come here." David pulled Hanna into his arms. "I already have to worry about Emma, I just don't want to have to worry about you too."
Hanna nodded her head and looked up at him. "I just want to help."
"We know you do kiddo," David told her as he kissed the top of her head. "How about we make a deal. You have to go to school and finish your homework, but once you've done that you can help us with Emma."
Hanna thought about it for a second. She really didn't like that she was going to have to waste most of her day at school. What if she missed something while she was there? "Fine, but if something big happens you and mom and have to come get me out of school, okay?"
"Okay, that's fair," David told her with a smile.
"We expect you to hold up your end of the deal," Snow said to Hanna. "No more skipping school."
"I'll stay at school, Mom. I promise," Hanna assured her.
"Good. Now, why don't you come with me. I have a few errands to run before we pick Neal up from daycare," Snow said.
"What about you?" Hanna looked up at her dad.
"I still have some work to do here. I'll be home later," David told her.
Hanna gave her dad a hug before leaving the station with her mom.
"Mom, did Dad say Emma took a dwarf ax?" Hanna asked as they walked out to the car.
Snow nodded. "She took it from Happy while the dwarves were working in the mines this morning."
"Why do you think Emma needs an ax?"
"I have no idea," Snow sighed. She didn't know what was going on in Emma's head and the fact that she won't tell them anything wasn't helping things either. "Are you sure she didn't say something when you saw her today?"
"No, she left right after I got there and never came back." Hanna let her head drop and kicked a rock that was lying on the sidewalk. She stopped and looked up at her mom. "She barely says anything to me anymore unless she's yelling at me to go away."
Snow wrapped her arms around Hanna and held her close. She knew how upsetting this was for her. "We are going to fix this, sweetie. I'm not sure how yet, but I promise we will. We will do everything we can. We will never give up on her."
Hanna just nodded her head and was comforted by her mom's embrace and encouraging words. She knew her mom was right. They were going to save Emma. They were going to get that darkness out of her sister.
As they drove away from the station, Hanna couldn't help but wonder what Emma could possibly be doing with an ax. What could an ax do that her powers couldn't? Hanna wasn't sure what Emma was up to, but she was almost certain that whatever Emma was hiding was behind that basement door. Emma seemed to be extra annoyed to see Hanna when she came through the door. She was caught off guard. Emma didn't want to be seen coming up from the basement. Hanna had to go back. She had to know what Emma was hiding. Maybe she could convince her mom and dad to let her go back there tonight. Hanna looked up when she felt the car stop and noticed that they had just pulled up to the school.
"What are we doing here?"
"Your teachers left the work you missed today in the office."
"Mom, seriously?" Hanna yelled as she threw her head back against her seat in frustration.
"Hanna…" Snow raised her eyebrows at her daughter.
"Sorry," Hanna held her hands up. She didn't mean to react that way, but she knew there was no way her mom and dad would let her go anywhere tonight if she had that pile of homework to do. "I didn't mean it. It's just…" Hanna sighed. "Homework is the last thing I want to do right now."
"I know it is, but right now we all have jobs we need to do and one of yours is school, okay?" Snow told her.
"Okay," Hanna agreed. She sat back and watched as her mom went into the school. She really did not think she could focus on homework for even one second, but she also knew if she did what her mom and dad asked, then tomorrow they would let her do what she wanted. Hanna decided that she would play by their rules, then pay her sister another visit tomorrow afternoon.
Hanna became frustrated more than once as she made her way through the mountain of school work her teachers left her. She was pretty sure her mom called and told them to give her extra just to teach her a lesson. Hanna stayed calm though and did her work quietly. She didn't want to do anything to ruin her chances of going to see Emma tomorrow. Just as Hanna finished the last of the work, her dad came through the door. He was excited about something.
"I found it Snow. The Crimson Crown, I found it!"
Hanna put down her pencil and went over to her mom and dad. "What's that?"
They explained to Hanna that Regina found a piece of paper with a question mark drawn on it in a book. Regina recognized her handwriting and assumed she must have marked this page in Camelot. These books came from there, so they must have been looking in them for answers. The question mark was left on a page with a picture of toadstool called the Crimson Crown, which can be used to communicate through magical barriers. They can use it to communicate with Merlin, and hopefully he would know a way to free Emma from the darkness. Regina said the spell was very intricate and may take a few days to prepare. Hanna wasn't too thrilled to hear that the spell would take awhile to work, but she was thankful for this small bit of good news.
The next day Hanna did what she was told. She went to school without a fuss and finished her homework. Once she was done with that, she decided to go back to Emma's. Hanna poofed herself directly into Emma's house just like she had done yesterday. She walked over to the basement door and just stared at it. She was sure Emma would have put a protection spell on this door if she was hiding something down there. Hanna had been shocked by too many doorknobs to know that reaching out for that handle was probably not the smartest choice. She stepped back and decided that she was going to poof herself downstairs instead. Hanna closed her eyes tightly and pictured herself standing in Emma's basement.
"We'll call it my secret weapon." Hanna heard Emma say as she opened her eyes. It worked. She made it down here easier than she thought. Hanna wondered who else was down here with Emma. She got closer and saw just who her sister was talking to.
"Mr. Gold, Emma? Seriously?" Hanna said as she stood beside her sister.
Emma turned and was shocked to see Hanna standing next to her. "That's not possible. How the hell did you get down here?"
"You first," Hanna nodded towards Emma's prisoner. "Why do you have him tied up?"
"Tell me how you got through the door, now!" Emma said, ignoring Hanna's question.
Hanna shrugged. "I just poofed myself down here."
Emma looked down and began talking to herself. "How is that possible? I put a protection spell on that door, one that can't be undone by blood magic. She shouldn't have been able to…"
"Em, are you okay?" Hanna reached a hand out to her.
Emma quickly pushed Hanna's hand away and turned to Gold. "How was she able to get down here? Tell me!"
"Because you're twins," Gold quickly told her. Hanna could hear the quiver in his voice. He was scared of this new Dark One. "Even spells that can't be undone by blood magic won't work. The spell may work on a regular sibling, but twins are much more complicated."
Hanna grinned. "I guess there's no more keeping me out of things. You're stuck with…"
"Ugh, Hanna!" Emma put her head in her hands. "You can not be here!" Emma looked up at her sister.
"Why Emma? What are you hiding?"
"For the last time, I'm not hiding anything," Emma insisted.
"You're lying," Hanna told her. "I know it."
"Hanna go home. Please!" Emma would have sent Hanna away herself, but she knew she would just come right back and apparently no magic can keep her away.
"I'm not going anywhere. Tell me what you're doing with him, why you stole a dwarf ax yesterday, and what you're doing with that sword." Hanna pointed to the giant boulder that had a sword sticking out of it. She walked closer to get a better look at it. "Is that the actual sword in the stone? Like from King Arthur? You know he's in town, right? I'm sure he'd love to know it was here."
"Hanna just stop," Emma begged.
Hanna inspected the sword a little more. "This looks a lot like the dagger." Hanna looked back to her sister. "Emma, what's going on?"
"Hanna I need you to just trust me," Emma told her. "I have a reason for all of this, but I can't tell you."
"Emma, come on. Just tell me what you're doing down here. It's obviously something big. I can help. We can…"
Emma could tell Hanna wasn't going to let it go. "I'll let you help me."
Hanna's mouth fell open. "Seriously?" Hanna wasn't sure if she believed her. It felt like Emma gave in too easily.
"Yes, but I'm not telling you anything." Emma walked closer to her sister. "You have to do everything I say, you can't ask questions, and you can't tell anyone anything that you do or see."
"Okay," Hanna said, agreeing to Emma's terms.
"I don't have anything for you to do tonight, so just go home and I'll reach out to you tomorrow."
Hanna nodded towards Gold. "You're not going to hurt him?"
"No," Emma assured her. "But remember, don't tell anyone you saw him."
Hanna looked over to Gold. His eyes were pleading with her to save him, but Hanna couldn't. Emma promised she wouldn't hurt him and Hanna was sure Emma had a good reason for doing what she was doing. She was going to do what Emma asked. "I won't tell anyone."
"Good. Now, go," Emma told her.
Hanna sighed. "Alright. I'll go, but if I don't hear from you tomorrow…"
"Hanna…"
"Okay, okay…" Hanna could tell Emma was growing impatient and she didn't want to push her anymore than she already had. She quickly waved her hands and sent herself home.
