There was no arguing with David. A man with that kind of faith, that kind of belief, there was no use in bothering to try and talk him out of it. So long as the man was willing to risk everything, so long as Cora was still on the way, he couldn't see the logic in trying to argue with him. In fact, the sensible thing to do in this situation was help him. He wanted to be under a Curse so bad, then so be it.
From his home, he summoned a spellbook, a very particular one with a very special spell in it. He opened it to the right page and then handed it to Regina.
"I believe you're familiar?"
Regina took the book, looked over the page, and sighed. "Sleeping Curse…you do it," she snarled, trying to hand the book back to him.
He didn't even open his hand for it. "Let me rephrase. Time is of the essence, and I believe you are more familiar with this than I am…for once. You should be the one to make it."
Regina glanced at Henry, who looked between her and the book in her hands. Then she glanced back to him and David. He knew better than to say anything more. The silence was peer pressure enough for Regina, and eventually, she sighed.
"I guess I'll get started."
He nodded happily and waved his hand over the table. Everything he'd been working on all these nights to get through the town line border became visible. It should have been everything she'd need. And while she worked…
"You and I should have a little chat…" he muttered to David. "These things don't take nearly as long as you think they do. You'll need to be prepared."
He moved through the shop with David on his heels. He planned to prepare him for the task ahead without scaring him, but unfortunately, Henry followed them through into the front room. It was fine. A Sleeping Curse was not a difficult or time-consuming thing to put together, but it did take some time. And for the moment, David was probably the closest thing that Henry had to a parent. That soft part of his heart pulled out some silver and began to polish to give the pair some more time together, some memories for Henry…just in case things went wrong.
They could go wrong, very wrong. He could tell by how David had insisted he be the one to do this that he thought this would be an easy task. But the Sleeping Curse wasn't called a "curse" for lack of a better term. What he was suggesting, having Snow White kiss him while he was in that Red Room, was an untested theory on breaking the curse, and they were up against Cora. He was willing to let him go through with it because the ends justified the means, but this was by no means going to be a walk in the park. It was a perilous endeavor indeed.
Which was exactly what he told him when Henry finally announced he was going to go back and check on Regina's progress.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that if they're not already, you need to get your affairs in order."
"There's no need. Mary Margaret will-"
"Do it anyway," he growled without listening to one more second of his "True Love will save the day" optimism. True Love most certainly could save the day, but first, Good had to have a win, and that was going to be more difficult than he thought.
As the sun went down, David pulled out his phone and made a call. He considered calling Belle himself, asking her how lunch went and if she had liked the burgers, but in the end, he decided against it. He didn't want to panic her, and besides, the phone that he'd planned on giving her was still in his damn pocket! He really needed to remember to give it to her the next time he saw her after all this was over.
"Alright…Ruby knows what's going on. She's not pleased, but my affairs are about as 'in order' as they need to be."
Ruby…with Henry in the back, he held in the swear word he wanted to say. The last thing he needs is for Ruby to tell Belle. She'd be over here in a-
"So…what's it like?" David asked, glancing back at the curtain as if to be sure Henry wasn't nearby before he turned back to him. "Being under the Sleeping Curse…what's it like."
"You never asked your wife?" he inquired sarcastically, though if he was honest, he appreciated the question. That at least showed that he wasn't going into it with dewy-eyed optimism.
"Oh, I did. She told me…but what's it really like?"
He smirked. Wasn't it David who had said they shared "honesty of the heart"? Yet he doubted his wife? Thought that she'd sugar-coated it or kept the truth from him? That was probably for the best. If he knew the truth, he doubted he'd be half as willing to go through with this.
"Physically, your body will be in a state of suspended animation. You won't appear to breathe. Your heart won't appear to beat to all who see you. You will appear to be dead. The only physical sign, of course, that you are not would take place over years as you don't decompose."
"Let's assume I'm not asleep for that long. This room Henry goes to…what do I need to know about it?"
How cute that he thought that was where he'd be delivered to first and foremost. He wanted to comment on that, he wanted to warn him, but he also needed to keep him focused and unswerving. If he scared him too much, to the point he no longer wanted to do this, then that benefited no one.
"It's your typical nightmare. No windows, no doors, bright lights, flash of fire, a general feeling of helplessness."
"Sounds delightful."
"It's not called a 'curse' for nothing, dearie."
"Hey…mom says we're ready," Henry called, poking his head out from behind the curtain. David didn't hesitate; he strode right into the back room, shoulders squared, head held high…completely ready to face his fate. He hoped he was as prepared as he thought he was.
In the back, David clapped his hands and rubbed them together energetically. "All right! I skipped lunch today…bring on the apple!"
He and Henry look at each other. The boy didn't know magic, but if he'd seen what his mother was doing, then he at least knew one thing.
"I'm afraid, Prince Charming, you're going to have to do this the old-fashioned way…" he muttered before waving his hand in front of him so that one of his spinning wheels appeared in the center of the room, close to the cot for his own convenience. David inspected it, looking it over as if he suspected the answer to the question he knew had to be running wildly through his mind. He crossed his arms and stared at the Great Wheel as he went digging for the needle. He hadn't kept on it in years. All his wheels were altered somehow, whether for making gold as the Dark One or just for ease of sitting down instead of standing at them as himself. He hadn't used a needle, like the one he pulled from the drawer now, since before his ankle injury.
"What do you mean, the old-fashioned way?" David finally questioned suspiciously, with a lot more calm than he expected him to have.
"You're about to join a quite distinguished club, Mr. Nolan," he answered, moving back to the wheel and checking to make sure it was still compatible with the needle. It was. "Before such innovations as the apple, back when the sleeping curse first came to be, a more direct method was required…through blood. By pricking one's finger on the needle of a spinning wheel, one falls under the spell. Your Majesty..." he remarked, turning to Regina. "You did his wife. I'm sure you'd like the honors."
Regina glanced at Henry but stepped forward, took the needle from him, and dipped it into the liquid at the bottom of the small glass vial she carried. He watched as the magic recognized it, filled the needle, causing it to glow a sickly yellow, and then vanished. Regina turned to the wheel and stuck it crudely into its place before turning back to David.
"It's all yours."
David came closer to the wheel. He rubbed his hands together as his heart raced, and he turned pale prematurely.
"Good luck," Henry suddenly stated, coming closer to David and wrapping his arms around him in an embrace.
David smiled, pulled him closer as he glanced up at Regina, of all people. "It's going to be all right," David assured him, voice still confident even as his own heart sped out of control. That was fine. It only meant the poison would spread faster.
"How do you know?" his grandson asked.
"Well…" David sighed, dislodging himself from Henry's grasp and sitting down on the cot. "How did you know Emma would save you after you ate the turnover?"
"I… I believed in her," Henry answered as he tried to bite back a smirk. Clearly, no one had talked to August then, and the fact that he'd arranged that was still a secret that was safe with him.
"The way Snow and I believed she'd come back to break the curse. That's the kind of faith that runs in our family," David smiled at Henry.
With that, Henry removed the pendant he'd been wearing around his neck from the moment he came into the store and placed it around David's neck. "This helps control the flames in the room. It'll keep you safe."
He smiled at Henry's act, perhaps the only one in the room that realized the significance of it. The relinquishing of that precious object, an act of bravery…Henry wouldn't need it again from this day forward. He'd be fine on his own. But David…
He smiled at his grandson. "I will guard it with my life," he promised. Then he took a breath. Henry backed away, returning to Regina's grasp. Sensing his resolve, he waved his hand over the wheel, threading it properly, and then set it in motion so that the needle spun properly, ensuring the curse would enter the bloodstream as it was meant to. Wheel in motion, David stared at the needle, then reached out his hand…and pulled it back.
He stopped the wheel at his hesitation.
"When I awake, I'll be in that fiery room?"
Fuck. Exactly the conversation he'd been trying to avoid for fear he'd lose hope.
"Not exactly," he admitted. "That room is where those who've already awoken from the curse return. You, however, are being put under for the first time."
"Then how will I know where to go? How the hell am I supposed to find a room with no door?"
He had no answer because the truth was that there were very few references to what awaited those who were placed under the Sleeping Curse. As far as he could tell, it varied for each individual person. He assumed that there was a way to that room. The soul traveled back to the Netherworld after waking because it was familiar. It could only be familiar if the soul had been there to begin with. How to get specifically to that Red Room, without knowing what hell awaited David Nolan on the other side of his Curse…
"And that, dearie, is the conundrum we're all depending on you solving. Now, I say this with the utmost sincerity…Good luck."
Before David could question it further, he set the wheel to spinning again, letting the noise of the creaks and groans fill the room. David huffed at his insistence but didn't question it. Instead, he sat forward, reached out for the needle, and pressed his finger into it until a single drop of blood beaded to the surface. He had just enough time to turn his hand and examine it, before he saw his eyes close, the man slumped forward lifelessly and was gone.
This chapter, these scenes, were really difficult to write, but I really like how they came out at the end of the day. It wasn't easy because there is very little point of reference for the first half of it. This little bit here is really Henry focused; Henry talks to David, Henry goes to see Regina, Henry encourages David. It was fun for me to get to see what happens when Henry leaves the room, to imagine what David and Rumple might talk about in his absence. Honestly, with him, I went right to the lawyer part of his brain in having him say, "Hey, get your affairs in order". And of course, I loved making the family references in there too. If he only knew...
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Spunkymouse, for your comments on the previous chapter. I hope you'll like this one for what it is and find it interesting. One of my favorite parts of this chapter is the call back to Rumple's expertise of all things spinning wheels. He's waxing poetic about curses and spells, and all the while, his mind is like, "this wheel is altered, I never use a needle", "is this needle compatible", "Regina just shoved it in there with little grace, now didn't she...amateur." I hope you like some of these subtleties. Peace and Happy Reading!