Hey, guys! Sorry for the late upload. I got supper busy and forgot.
Helena groaned as she headed up the stairs of the Dark Castle. In hindsight running in wolf form for three days straight was not the best plan, but she had wanted to get here as fast as possible. But now Helena's feet hurt. Shut it, getting here was more important. But now Helena is tired. Stop whining. Helena pushed open the huge foyer doors with another groan because why did the door have to be so freaking heavy? Helena had enhanced strength for crying out loud. It's just because Helena is tired. Yeah yeah…
Amy was not in the dining hall so Helena headed further into the castle walking passed Dylan and the two kids coating him in icing. He was currently howling at Zach for not helping him as the children now attempted to pin him down and rub the icing into his hair. Helena dumly chuckled as she walked passed still looking for Amy. Maybe she is in the library? Helena doesn't know. 'Ask Dylan'. Yeah that wor-... Wait… Dylan?! Helena spun around to look again at the man being attacked by two children she did not know. What on earth? It looked like Dylan, except he seemed a little older, but it did not smell like him. In fact, Helena could not smell any of the four people in the room. Or hear their heart beats. Something she had gotten very used to in the last few months.
Helena approached slowly. "Um, Dylan?"
"Help! Why did you do this to me?!" Dylan asked with a look of utter betrayal.
"Why did I..? What? What did I do?" Helena was very confused. How could she have done any of this to him?
"What do you mean 'what did you do?' You know exactly what you did!" Dylan glared at her as he tried to pull one child off his leg while the other was clinging around his shoulders and neck trying to get the icing on his cheek.
Helena looked to Zach for help, but he was just laughing. Frustrated Helena turned back to Dylan. "Where is Amy?" She demanded, knowing at this point Amy was the only one who could explain what she was seeing.
The little girl looked up from Dylan's leg, "Mommy's in the library with Auntie Elizabeth. Oh and it's my birthday! Are you done with the cake, Aunt Helena?"
Helena blinked precisely three times before any of that information computed. WHAT?!
"And when you see her can you tell her to come save me from her children, because her husband is NO HELP!" Dylan glared at Zach, who at this point was dying from laughter.
Helena blinked a few more times. She felt like Emma trying to prove she was innocent just by blinking. Definitely the most times Helena had ever seen anyone blink. This just keeps getting worse. At least they're not Helena's. 'Thank you for that unhelpful comment.'
Helena could not think of any other way to react then to just walk away. So she went looking for the library.
Unfortunately, her hunt for the library did not save her from the strangeness going on in this castle. Helena walked past who she thought was Lumiere and Cogsworth having a fight about dusters and Pan sitting in a window seat with a book all before she remembered she could follow Amy's scent to find her. Strangely Amy's scent was the only one in the castle. None of the other people Helena saw had scents. Or sounds. Helena could hear them talk, but she could not hear them breathe or hear their heartbeats.
By the time Helena made it to the library, she was very done with being confused. Amy had a lot of explaining to do.
Helena was pretty sure she was seeing things. Maybe she had fallen asleep on her way to Amy and was now having the world's strangest dream. That would, honestly, make more sense than what she was seeing right now. Not only was she seeing people that should not be there, but she was also seeing people that did not even exist. Loki, or some version of him, stood before her arguing with Helena's hubby, Elizabeth. Helena's attention was drawn to them first because they were making the most noise. Beyond the point of reacting and Helena could manage was an eyebrow she raised. Her gaze moved next to the large griffin in the room. She watched it for a moment trying to assess its threat level, but all the beast did was raise its head to look at her before going back to sleep. The hushed voice of Amy drew her attention next. Oh yeah, Helena is asleep. No way is Helena actually seeing this. Amy was laying on the couch clearly very pregnant.
WHAT?! What is Helena even looking at? 'A pregnant Amy' Yes, thank you. That's not helpful. How did this happen? 'Well you know-' Nope! Shut up, brain. Just no.
Helena could not stand still any longer so she moved over to where Amy was on the couch quietly talking to some older man. He looked enough like the rest of his family that Helena was pretty sure it was Hugo.
Amy was propped up on several pillows, she had a book in her hand, but she was not reading it. Instead listening to Hugo talk about places to take the children. Amy interjected something about Evelynn not liking bugs. Helena was not paying enough attention to their discussion to understand why that information was relevant. But as soon as she noticed Helena she turned away from Hugo, lifted her eyebrows, and said, "Helena, explain to Hugo why taking my five-year-old daughter on a hiking trip is a bad idea." She glared back at Hugo for emphasis of her displeasure at the idea.
"What?" Helena asked, "Nevermind. Amy, what is going on here?"
Amy looked at her confused clearly not understanding why Helena was confused, but answered anyway, "Hugo and I are discussing taking Evelynn and James out to do something fun for Evelynn's birthday and Hugo's brilliant idea is to take them hiking. Do you need more explanation?"
Helena blinked a few times. Something was very wrong. Nothing felt right. She took a moment to focus on her other senses and found the same thing she had before. No heartbeats, no breathing. Except for Amy and the griffin in the corner. They were the only ones with heartbeats. Helena knelt down in front of her friend, reaching out to touch Amy's shoulder.
"Helena, are you okay?" Amy asked, concerned.
"Amy, something isn't right here." Helena moved her arm to indicate all the people around them. "What are all these people doing here?"
"What do you mean? They've been here for years. Where have you been?" Amy questioned her, giving her an odd look as if all of this was perfectly normal.
Years? "Amy," Helena said quietly, "How long have you been here?"
"Um… well… James is seven… Zach and I got married a year before we had him. So…" She took a second to gather the time of events, "I'd say nine years. Why?"
Helena felt a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach. Married to Zach. Kids. So many people that were not even there. Helena's mind tried desperately to connect all the dots. What was going on here?
The griffin perked its head up from his spot in the corner, cocking his head, he rose and approached Helena, "Amy, what is your griffin doing?"
"I don't know, he normally stays away from you. Ask Zach." She laid her head back down. He bounded towards Hugo, not losing speed, to get to Helena.
Helena frowned, "Well, Zach's griffin is about to kill your brother…" Helena's eyes widened when she realized the griffin might actually trample Hugo as it charged her. She stood up ready to try and push Hugo out of the way, but she was too late. The griffin collided with Hugo's back and…passed right through him coming to a complete stop right in front of Helena.
"Uhhh…" Was all she could manage as the beast turned its head to nuzzle her hand. She shifted so she could look around the griffin at Hugo, who was completely fine.
Just passed right through him. Like a ghost or an…ILLUSION! Helena looked around the room again. No heartbeats. No breathing. No signs of life. They were all illusions. It made perfect sense. Amy could not be left alone or she went crazy. Helena had known that about her within two months of knowing her. And in this world she had magic. Making illusions of people she missed and convincing herself they were real was not that much of a stretch.
Helena turned back to look at Amy. Taking her in more this time, she looked exhausted. Her face was flushed and her hair was a mess. Her eyes mildly glazed over. Helena knelt beside the couch again, ignoring the griffin pushing its head against her shoulder. Instead of reaching Amy's shoulder Helena gently brushed her hand over her forehead. She had a fever. Helena did not know how using magic affected the body if used too much but it was not a far-fetched guess to assume Amy had made herself sick by creating and sustaining these illusions.
The only question left was 'How was Helena going to handle this?'
"Helena…" Amy moaned out of nowhere, snuggling into her stack of pillows, "I want to go to sleep. Why can't I?"
Helena pulled her hand away from Amy's face. "When was the last time you tried?" she asked in a gentle voice.
"I don't know." She began to cry from exhaustion and frustration.
"Hey, it's okay. How about everyone leaves?" Helena said, unsure whether she should be asking the illusions or Amy.
Amy nodded, but seemed uncertain, "I guess so, but… how?" Amy put her thinking face on.
"Well, Maybe we can go to your room?" Helena supplied.
"Yes. Let's do that." Amy agreed. A puff of smoke encircled them and Helena felt like she was falling for a moment before her body hit the mattress of a large bed. Amy placed herself under the covers, her pregnant belly disappeared entirely. She looked patiently at Helena to do something while she snuggled further into the blankets, like a child waiting on their mother for a bedtime story.
Helena hesitated. She had never been around Amy while she was sick. Would she be like Agnes? Or more like Helena herself? Helena decided just to follow her instincts. They were usually pretty accurate in these situations. So, Helena moved, slowly so as not to startle the other girl, under the covers and pulled Amy into her side the way Agnes liked to lay. With Amy's head resting against Helena's abdomen and Helena still mostly sitting up. She moved to rub her hand up and down Amy's back and quietly started to sing.
"Hush now, my baby, be still, love, don't cry. Sleep as you're rocked by the stream. Sleep and remember my last lullaby. So I'll be with you when you dream. River, oh river, flow gently for me. Such precious cargo you bear. Do you know somewhere he can live free? River, deliver him there." She tapered off into simply humming when she noticed Amy had fallen asleep.
Helena continued to hum the rest of the song, her hand never stopping the gentle rubbing motion on Amy's back and shoulder.
Helena waited several minutes, six to be exact, before trying to extract herself from Amy's hold. She had done it a hundred times with babies and toddlers, Amy should not be much different.
"I've missed you. Love you, Helena. G'night" Amy mumbled before rolling over, clutching a pillow, and falling into a deeper sleep than Helena could ever imagine. Helena could almost see a single tear trickle down her friend's face.
Helena held back her smile as she left the room. She wandered the halls of the Dark One's castle looking for any of Amy's illusions, but as she had expected, they were all gone. Which meant if Amy was not conscious she could not keep the illusions going. That would work for now. Helena would find a better solution soon, but with Amy running a fever it would be easy to keep her in her bedroom and sleeping.
Speaking of sleep. Helena turned around and headed back to the sleeping chambers. She needed to sleep too. Helena picked the one right next to Amy so that if Amy woke up Helena would be sure to hear her. Once she got inside the room though, Helena realized she had left her backpack somewhere. Where did Helena take it off? Helena had to retrace her steps for a while before she found it outside the library door her sword leaning against the wall beside it. She must have set them down subconsciously before walking in. Whatever. Helena yawned and headed back to her room. Thankfully, she got to sleep quickly.
Here we have Helena and Amy finally getting to meet up, but not without it's own craziness. let me know if something is too confusing. Hope you enjoyed!