"Let me tell you a story about a boy and a girl. It's a -"
Before she could even process what was happening around her, someone reached over and grabbed her by the shoulders. The teenager turned around, letting out a sudden scream. Her entire body shaking and stiffening, she struggled to yank her arm away. She stumbled back, slipping on a puddle, and falling harshly on her braced leg. She let out another scream, and started to writhe on the ground. Things were dizzing around her, and her eyes began to flutter open and shut. Pain was wrangling up and down her body, and she found herself struggling to get to her feet. Everything around her was growing louder, and more painful. Footsteps drew nearer, and she started trying to crawl back, still struggling to her feet. Something of a haze felt to be overtaking her, and she shook badly. Tears began to prick against the edges of her eyes, and, for a few seconds, darkness overtook her for a moment. When it lifted, her vision was still blurry, and, almost shocking herself, managed to get off the ground. She was still disoriented, however, and the sounds of someone running through a forest began to overtake her. But where was…no, this was pavement. Her vision was blurry again, and she started stumbling towards the nearby streetlight. It was the edge of twilight, everything…
"Has he ever hurt you?"
"I'm sorry Lynn, I'm sorry he scares you. Really, I'm so sorry you're scared of him. I'm not, don't be scared of me, you don't need to be scared of…"
"Is he the only one you're scared of? Hey, you don't have tell, I just want to make sure it's okay."
"I know you want your mother, I'm sorry. I hope I can try to give you that comfort."
"Red! Where's -"
"She's in here, I'm telling you, Snow, she's just tired. Lynn has to sleep in here tonight, she's going to get lost if she has a nightmare or if she leaves her room."
"Lynn! What is wrong with - what are you doing?"
"Snow, she really should stay with you. She's your sister."
"Just let Lynn stay with me, she's clearly scared to -"
"What happened, Snow, what, why are you -"
"Lynn hates me. I can't even know why…Red is so good with her. Why does she hate me? She always gives Red everything a good child, a happy child would. She just loses it when she sees me, screams, kicks, cries, and I just don't know why ."
"Exhaustion. Though she always acts up. It's terrible. She's clearly not the most stable child. Not even in the slightest."
"I just don't know…what did Regina do to her?"
"Regina is a terrible person, definitely not a good mother. Lynn's going to be okay, she's got us, we love her, we take care of her."
"I know but I can't even begin to imagine what Regina has done to her. What does Regina do to that child? How bad was her abuse of Lynn?"
"Probably very -"
Two hands grabbed her shoulders again, this time dragging her away from the streetlight. Another hand, from seemingly nowhere, wrapped around her throat. Yet another hand wrapped around her mouth. Faces were starting to come into focus around her. She tried to scream again, but was too muffled for any sound to truly escape. An unfamiliar face came into focus on the side of her vision, a woman with red hair, almost familiar, almost as if she were a sister to the teenager's mother. Their hands tightened around her shoulders, and her fingernails began to dig into them. The hand from the other person tightened around her mouth, and she stared to struggle again. She almost broke away, but was quickly pulled back. The last face she had wanted to see, but one she had expected, fully came into focus, almost as if she were the older version of the woman whose hands would not release from around her shoulders. The woman smiled at her, but her gaze fell on the teenager's braced leg. It was almost twisted back, barely held properly in place. Almost absentmindedly, the woman kicked it, causing the teenager to scream, though only a squeak escaped through the hand held painfully over her mouth.
"Don't shout like that, it's unbecoming," The woman coldly spoke. "I was merely trying to push your leg back into place."
"Let's not waste time," The younger woman with red hair shifted to look at the teenager with a faint smile. "I'm afraid we haven't met, yet, but I'm your aunt Zelena. We're going to keep you safe from Regina. Lily, mother, and I will make sure that you won't ever have to worry again."
"Sure," The voice of the woman whose hand tightened harder around the teenager's mouth. "Cora, where's the car? We can't take her back to the mansion without -"
She screeched when, after several minutes of struggling, the teenager bit down hard on her hand.
"Lynn Mary Anne, you will stop this right now," Cora imperiously snapped. "You -"
Her hands shaking, she almost felt completely taken aback to the life before. Not even having a chance to realise what was happening, Lynn wrenched out of the grasp of the two women trying to restrain her. Barely aware of it herself, her hands grew warm despite the increasingly piercing wind, and, her vision finally falling back into its normal focus, a scream escaped her. Albeit shaking badly, her arms swung out, and, all around her, things went up in darkness. A miasma fell over them, dissipating almost as quickly as it came. The three women that had been around her just about disappeared. After everything fell silent again on the street, Lynn tripped back again. She fell onto her uninjured side, letting out another, short, pained cry. When everything stopped hurting, or, at least, became more dulled, she looked up, and saw the darkening sky had seemingly gone veiled. It was then she saw that nearby street light had entirely gone out, and was shattered. Glass was broken into bits around her. Shaking badly again, Lynn curled fully onto her uninjured side, too startled, too pained, and too scared to move.
You won't have to worry ever again.
They had lunged onto her quicker than she ever could have anticipated.
Stabs.
Once, twice, thrice, and -
"Lynnetta?" A voice shouted, footsteps growing closer, though more than those of one person. "Lynnetta!"
"Netta!"
Barely aware of it, voices screaming at her again in her mind, Lynn wasn't sure she could feel anything. It was only a short few seconds later that two faces she recognised came into focus. Suddenly, Henry wrapped his arms tightly around his sister, almost as if he were afraid of what would happen if he let her go. When he did let go, it was only because Emma gently pried his hands off his sister. She then brushed the back of her hand over the teenager's forehead, before quickly beginning to look over her. Lynn started to cry when she realised what Emma was doing. She thinks I'm stabbed again, that they're back, that - Lynn stared to writhe again, feeling almost completely detached from her body. The world started spinning again, and she closed her eyes, all but begging for it to stop. Emma started swearing, and words barely made sense to the teenager. Henry. Car. She's. Seizure. I. Maybe. She's. When the world grew less dizzying, Lynn opened her eyes again, only to let out a short scream when the sound of a car screeching to a stall nearby rang out. Then, there was the sound of a door swinging open, and heels frantically clicked against the pavement.
"What the hell are you doing to -"
"I'm not sure what's happening to her! Regina, she just -"
Even blurry, the one face that always comforted her came into focus, and, weakly, Lynn tried to jump up from off the ground to grab onto her mother. Still badly shaking, Lynn started to cry, clutching onto her. Emma started speaking quickly, and then Henry. Two voices. They were almost impossible to understand. Voices. They were close, but, somehow, reassuring. Lynn's hands were shaking badly when she eventually curled into her mother, and she was barely aware when her hands started to warm again, almost painfully so. It wasn't until faint, purple, miasmic orbs started to float up towards the sky that Lynn felt dizzy again. Emma and Henry both started to chatter in both disbelief, slight horror, and concern. Suddenly, before either her mother or Lynn herself could object, Emma reached over, pulled her hands open, and let out what could only be described as a short, shocked scream when the miasmas did not disappear immediately. The bounty hunter let go of her hands, and, even though her vision was fading in and out, Lynn saw the look of disbelief and horror that Emma stared at Regina with. Regina only held tighter onto her daughter, as if she were a baby again, seemingly just as scared as Emma and Henry were.
"Mom," Henry spoke nervously. "What's happening?"
"Yeah, I'm wondering about that myself," Emma's voice shook despite her best efforts to sound demanding. "What is wrong with this town?"
"It's magic," Henry said numbly. "Netta has magic, doesn't she?"
"She's here," Lynn whimpered. "And someone called Lily and someone called Zelena."
Emma took in a sharp breath. "Did you just say Lily? And…Zara?"
"Zelena," Lynn weakly corrected. "And Lily."
"Are those the people you knew?" Regina eyed Emma suspiciously. "What on earth would they have to do with my mother?"
"I don't know," Emma said, shivering just a little. "Did she do this to her?"
"I -" Regina said, her voice wavering.
"That's why Netta's magic is back!" Henry squeaked. "She had to protect herself!"
Emma and Regina turned to each other, sudden understanding falling between them.
"You need to tell me everything," Emma said, reaching over and gently wrapping her hand over Regina's wrist. "Please," She said, her voice unusually soft. "Regina, what the hell is going on here?"
Regina bit her lip. "I'll tell you later. She needs medical attention. Now."
Emma nodded, and, then, her face came into focus in Lynn's increasingly weak vision.
"You're going to be okay," She said, swallowing hard. Her voice then fell quiet. "Princess."
Replies To Reviews:
jasouatfan: things are only getting worse in Storybrooke
barrattajennifer: Cora is absolutely horrible, and has no right to compare herself to Regina, especially as a mother
julz: thank you so much! it's definitely a complicated story to figure out
Sammii16: Cora is a bitch, no doubt about it