Darkness is a Funny Thing… It Creeps Up in You

Chapter Nineteen

Upon being awakened the moment the Dark One's magic transformed him from being the seven year old boy he had been a moment earlier, back into the thirty-five year old he had been when he had first arrived in Storybrooke to help Emma believe in the truth, August opened his eyes and stared up at Mr. Gold with surprise. Although he felt afraid upon seeing he was surrounded by villains, as well as weak from the change, he didn't let his fear show. Showing no emotion was something he had long ago become surprisingly good at keeping hidden from anyone he came into contact with. A skill he'd long since learned in his many years living out within the real and dark world full of temptations he was never very good at abstaining from.

Once Gold spoke to him as he welcomed him back, August warily sat up more straight within the chair, which is when he saw that his father had also been abducted with him, and in immediately becoming more worried for his father, he turned back to the Dark One as he grumbled angrily, "Whatever you want from me, you didn't have to involve my father too. Just let him go. Why did you take us? And why turn me back into my older self?"

Mr. Gold smiled down at him cruelly as he replied, "Because Mr. Booth… I need some answers only you as August can provide. That is… we need answers. And knowing that you wouldn't give them so willingly, I needed to bring along a reason for you to talk. Hence, the reason for your father being here too."

"What could you possibly want that calls for the torture of an old man?" the young man coldly asked the villain still standing over him. "That is why Papa's here, right? So you can torture him in order to make me tell you whatever it is you want to know? I know you're a heartless bastard, but that's cruel. Even for the likes of you. What do you want?"

"We need you to tell us all you know about the Author," the Dark One snidely responded to him, as he suddenly used his magic to transform the cushioned chair into a chair made of wood just like the one his father was bound to, then quickly magicked bindings around the man's wrists and legs as well. "And don't play dumb. I mean the Author of the storybook that you stole from Henry for a time so that you could add back in your own story by way of trying to help Miss Swan."

August glared up at him again and answered stubbornly, "I don't know anything about this Author."

Without any hesitation, Cruella swiftly walked over to August with a knife in her hand and then forced it against his throat, as Ursula spoke out darkly saying, "Well, perhaps you could use a little incentive."

"Oh… that knife is not gonna make me remember something that I don't know," he smugly retorted, unafraid of the villainess' threat because he knew they wouldn't do anything to hurt him just yet.

"We may not be willing to hurt you at the moment, but like Rumplestiltskin said… your father is here so we can torture him instead in order to convince you to tell us what we want to know," Maleficent calmly replied, as she placed her hand down gently on Cruella's shoulder to pull her back. "Do you really want us to show you we mean business?"

Cruella scoffed and muttered under her breath, "Why bother threatening the old man? I say we just go ahead and do it, then let this boy decide how long he wants to watch his father suffer."

When the woman with black and white hair started to approach his father with the knife she had threatened him with moments ago, August fretfully responded out of fear, "Okay. All right. You know something? I actually, uh… do remember something about the Author. Um…"

"Don't hold out on us," the Sea Witch curtly demanded once she grabbed him by the hair on the back of his head and gruffly yanked it back.

"W… when I was in Hong Kong, uh… before the curse broke, I met a mystic," the man once a boy made of wood reluctantly continued. "His name was the Dragon. I don't know how he knew about the book, but he had been looking for the Author for years."

August then turned back to Gold when the villain questioned him again asking, "And what did this 'dragon' learn?"

The thirty-five year old answered, "He died before I could ask."

"Oh, well… that's something you two are about to have in common," the Dark One more coldly replied again when he took a few more steps towards August and loomed over him.

"And after he died… I took his research," August immediately added when he recognized the threat Gold was implying. "And I brought it with me to Storybrooke."

Maleficent turned her head to look over at Rumple as well, as she asked, "Do you really think this man child is telling us the truth?"

Gold continued to glare down at the man bound before him as he responded, "Well, it wouldn't be the first time he's lied to my face."

"It appears I'm gonna have to collect his so called research," he said again after taking a moment to think, then questioned their captive again, "Where is it? In that trailer of yours still out in the middle of these woods? Or back with your bike now parked in your father's garage?"

"It's all with my bike," August lied. "You'll find everything you're looking for. Now let me and my father go."

The Dark One chortled cruelly and then answered, "No… no. Not just yet. You see… I know better than to believe a word you say."

Cruella looked over at Gold as she asked, "You're saying he's lying?"

"The man's a born liar," he haughtily replied to her. "He never would have cracked so easily."

"Whatever it is they want from you, do not give it to them," Marco at last said once he finally came to and adjusted to his surroundings, seeing the danger he and his once again full grown son were in.

August turned his head to look over at his father upon hearing his voice and seeing he had awakened, then whispered to him worryingly, "Papa. Are you all right?"

His father nodded and then responded assuredly, "I'm fine. Are you all right?"

"I've felt better," the younger man softly answered him. "I can't give them the information they want to know, Papa. I can't let them get their hands on the Author. It would be bad for everyone here."

"At least everyone they see as a threat to them," August continued again when he raised his head to glare between the four villains still surrounding them, until he turned back to face his father again. "But I can't let them hurt you either."

Cruella then forced her knife to Geppetto's throat this time as she spoke to him more angrily saying, "Which I will do if you don't talk right now. So talk!"

Reluctantly, August replied once more, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Maleficent held out her staff and emitted her magic that suddenly began to tighten the ropes keeping August's father bound, causing him to let out a weak cry, while August immediately began to struggle against his own ropes. Cruella stood tall again, then backed away in order to give her ally free rein to torture their captives. After a few seconds, she magically loosened his bindings again to give August another chance to talk.

"The next lie is gonna hurt," Gold cruelly stated again to the young man bound before him. "What do you know about the Author?"

"I already told you everything," August angrily responded like he had before, in spite of fearing for his father.

When Maleficent tightened the ropes again around Marco, Gold sneered down at the man's son as he demanded, "Try again, dearie. Where is he?"

Even though the witch with horns continued to torture his father, August stayed strong as he retorted again, "I don't know."

"Do not fool yourself," the Dark One maliciously snarled at the man child, as he leaned down so that he and August were then eye level. "I will get my answer."

"Okay!" August at last shouted angrily, after a much louder and more painful cry escaped his father's lips, forcing him to give in to stop the villainess from hurting him further.

Once Maleficent stopped and loosened the ropes around Geppetto once more, the worst of the villains among them questioned August, "Where is he?"

The younger of their captives looked up at Rumplestiltskin as he finally answered him reluctantly, "All right. I'm gonna tell you what you want to know. The Sorcerer, uh… trapped the Author behind a door."

"The Sorcerer?" Cruella de Vil uttered with confusion as she looked over at Mr. Gold. "A door? He's speaking in riddles."

"No… listen to me, Gold," August quickly continued to explain. "You know about the Sorcerer. You know I'm telling the truth. There was a page that I took out of the book. Had an illustration of the door on it."

Rumple looked at him as he asked again, "Do you remember what the door looks like?"

The prisoner stuttered, "Uh… Made of wood. Hand carved frame. Gilt in gold."

"Where is the door?" the villain added.

"All I know… Is… it's somewhere in Storybrooke," August grumbled.

The Dark One finally chuckled and patted August's back, then he replied smugly, "There we are now. That wasn't so hard now, was it? Since the Sorcerer was the one who did the trapping, we will start our search for the door at his mansion."

He started to pull on his jacket as he turned to one of his allies and said, "Maleficent. You and I have some searching to do. Ursula and Cruella… stay here with our captives. Make sure they don't escape in case this puppet has continued to lie."

"If we want any chance of finding this door, then we ought to do something to give us an advantage over the heroes," Maleficent responded as she smiled coolly. "A sleeping spell. It will put everyone throughout Storybrooke asleep, leaving no one to try to stop us."

"Except for those who have been under a sleeping curse," Gold crossly answered her. "In this case… that would mean Snow White, her Prince Charming, and my grandson, Henry. But with the Savior out for the count, I'd say one of your sleeping spells is not such a bad idea. Let's go. I know the perfect area where you can cast it from."