Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and any unrecognizable characters and dialogue.
This chapter was almost 13000 words... enjoy it
Chapter playlist: 'The shape of things to come' from the 'Tudors OST: season 2'
Enchanted Forest
Walking between Aurora and Mary Margaret, rubbing at her temples, Lillian cursed inwardly. They'd rested briefly at the castle, taking turns to watch for Cora. She, however, hadn't managed to even slip into a doze, as visions of dark forms and glowing yellow eyes had bombarded her whenever she began to drift off. She refused to hold onto the hope that it meant Peter was coming for her; she knew, deep down, that her heart wouldn't be able to cope with another letdown at this point. I also can barely cope with out illustrious 'Saviour'.
Likewise, given the dark smudges beneath their eyes, both Emma and Mary Margaret had slept little. Despite the understanding they'd seemed to have reached the night before, in the shadows of that ruined nursery, something inside the blonde still shied away from her mother and the love that almost poured off her. Unaware that Lillian could feel every emotion, no matter how she tried to hide it, Emma walked slowly, mind racing.
Mary Margaret, however, was more focused on Cora. She'd only known the older woman for a short time, a few weeks at most before Regina's marriage to her father. And in that short time, the older woman had doted on her, showering her with praise and gifts that nearly rivaled King Leopold's adoration for his only child. However, as a child, she'd sensed something about the older woman that had always unsettled her, though she'd masked it well enough behind cheery smiles and innocence. Then, when she'd disappeared several days before the wedding, Snow White had slowly learned through rumours and hearsay what kind of person her step-grandmother had been.
"I don't know if I can do this." Aurora said suddenly, breaking the silence that had reigned over the last few hours, as they came in sight of the Haven's gates. "I'm not a very good liar."
"Oh, it's not really a lie, Aurora." Mary Margaret soothed as the younger woman continued to fret. "Lancelot did die an honourable death, and Cora did escape. All true."
Emma nodded along. "Just leave the particulars to us." She glanced at Mulan, who was barely paying attention to the conversation. "There's no reason to cause unnecessary panic amongst your people."
"I'm not so sure it's unnecessary- "
"Wait." Mulan's voice snapped through the air like a whip, and alarm raced down her spine at the sight of the empty tower. "The tower – we always have sentries guarding the entrance." She said by way of explanation when the others threw her curious looks. "Stay close."
Eyes narrowed, Lillian joined the warrior at the front of the group. Even before they'd cleared the gates, the sorceress sensed the dark magic clinging to the air, and a horrified expression crossed her face.
"Oh my God…." Emma breathed behind her as all five of them ran their gazes over the field of corpses before them.
Once more, Mulan broke the silence, voice cracking in pained disbelief. "This can't be… our land… we were protected here – hidden." Horror filled her. "How did the ogres find us?"
"Ogres didn't do this." Lillian breathed, kneeling beside a body and running her fingers over the bloodied hole in the nearest body's chest. "Cora did."
"What?"
Lillian's head whipped around, eyes red with rage, to snarl at the warrior. "Did I stutter?" She demanded. "Do you see the gaping wounds in their chests? She ripped their hearts out, with her dark magic." Turning back to the man, she stared at his terrified, gaping expression with hard eyes. "This is what she's capable of, and why we need to stop her."
"Too late." Mulan shot back, bristling herself. "She killed them. She killed them all."
When Lillian stood, suddenly looking every inch the Dark Lilith, Mary Margaret jumped in between her and Mulan. "Well, we have to stop her before she hurts anyone else!"
Looking over the amount of bodies with despair, Emma felt her heart nearly jump out of her chest when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye."Hey!" She started forward, picking up pace when the movement continued. "Hey!" Running now, she headed toward the waving hand, the others following her after a moment of stunned silence. "Look!"
Sprinting toward the mess of bodies and debris, Emma, knelt to peer underneath. The hand appeared again, along with a feeble cry for help.
"There's some under there!" Aurora jumped from her perch to kneel beside Emma, the both of them pushing both bodies and wood away as they tried to get to the man trapped beneath. Behind them, Mulan, Mary Margaret and Lillian were approaching. As they pulled the ragged, shaken man out, the princess breathed a sigh of relief. "He's alive."
"Please." The man whimpered as all but Lillian, who had gone completely still, the blood draining from her face, surrounded him.
"It's okay."
"Please, help me." He continued to plead, suddenly aware of the fierce, disbelieving stare that was burning into the side of his face. Twisting his head around to meet the furious, red eyes fixed on him, faint stirrings of dread filled his stomach for the first time since Cora had explained her plan to him.
"It's okay," the dark-haired woman with the short hair was telling him as he was helped to his feet. "You're safe now. We won't hurt you."
Hook tore his eyes away from Lily, who was staring at him. Her mouth was open ever so slightly, eyes overly bright, and he swallowed when he saw the sudden glimmer of tears in them. "Thank you." He addressed the woman who was still attempting to sooth him, keeping a wary eye on the sorceress, pushing down the guilt her reaction brought him. "Thank you…."
After all, he knew better than to think that Tiger Lily had actually missed him.
Seated on the cliff, legs hanging off the ledge, Lilith closed her eyes and raised them toward the moon. Baelfire was wandering around the jungle just behind her, too wary of falling from the cliff face to come any closer. As if I'd let him. But, she kept those thoughts to herself, all too aware of his distrust of magic. Even though he'd warmed to her rather quickly, and she him, he still flinched whenever her eyes turned red or she formed fire in her hands.
Eyes still tightly shut, she allowed the sounds of the forest, of the waves crashing on the cliff base, to sooth her. She'd been there for over a month already, and was no closer to finding a way home than she'd been the moment she'd arrived on the cursed isle. Shifting as the sudden breeze carried the sharp tang of the sea, tossing loose strands of her braided hair, her ears caught the faint sounds of singing.
Frowning, her eyes opened and she turned to scan the jungle behind her. She found Bae easily; he stuck close to the edge, never disappearing from her sight, trusting her to watch over and take care of him, despite the fact that there was barely two years difference between their ages. He'd arrived on Neverland shy of his fifteenth birthday, she just months after her sixteenth.
Finding no lost boys in the vicinity, not that they were much for singing anyway, she turned her attention back to the sea beneath her, red eyes widening. A ship slowly cruised through the waters, staying clear of the rocks that lined the cliff. Voices, so faint she couldn't make out what they were singing, rose up from the water. Entranced by the sight of the ship - and other people, by extension - she didn't notice when the body settled next to her own until the hairs on the back of her neck began to prickle with awareness.
Turning sharply, she inwardly stiffened when they met Peter's several inches from her own. He watched her, silent, with a crooked quirk to his pale lips. She allowed no outward reaction, though he caught the flare of heat in her eyes before they became carefully masked. He had long become used, if not amused, to her attempt to hide her responses to his presence.
Anger won out, more than not. He'd also seen annoyance, frustration, mixed in with the pain that shone clear in her eyes. The pain had been there ever since he'd returned her memories. More like tried, he admitted silently. He'd only briefly dabbled with the magic of the rock trolls from the land of Arendelle, and could admit that it wasn't his strong suit. However, the necklaces that they both wore around their necks connected them, and had been used as a conduit to return her memories.
He supposed he could thank Katerina for the fact that Lily had kept the silver acorn necklace all these years. If anything, the fact that her mother was the one to 'gift' it to her played in my favour, Beauregard would have destroyed it years ago. With the time drawing closer for her arrival on Neverland, he'd wisely stepped back, forced to watch as first her father died, and then her practical enslavement, caused at the hands of her own brother. He'd nearly crowed with delight when he'd seen the fratricide Lily had committed just a few years past.
Now, however, the prophecy had run its course, and she was here. Home.
She was staring at him, aqua irises unreadable. He merely arched a brow in response. She rolled her eyes heavenward - she did it quite a lot - and made to rise. The drunken singing of the pirates rose once more, distant and more an echo than anything, and her eyes were drawn back toward the slow moving ship.
"That's the Jolly Roger," his tone was low, conspiratorial, and she bristled at the unspoken insinuation.
They were not friends. If she had her way, they'd have never even seen one another after that meeting in the forest. A shiver shook her spine at the reminder of that night; the firelight casting shadows across pale, angled features, softening and hiding his features, but for the sharp, green eyes that had followed her every movement.
"I don't recall asking." He actually smiled at the bite in her words. Inwardly fuming now, she pulled her legs from the edge of the cliff and she had risen into a crouch before his long, slender fingers gently gripped her wrist.
The feel of skin on skin made her own prickle in a manner that wasn't wholly unpleasant. Frozen, she stared down at the eyes staring up at her, his face wiped clear of any kind of smirk for once. He looked pensive, staring up at her, shrouded in shadow and moonlight, as if he couldn't quite puzzle her out. Lips parted, in surprise or lack of words, she couldn't say.
However, a noise left her throat when he light tugged her closer, almost sending her tumbling onto his lap. Knees digging into the stone and dirt beneath, she found herself a hairsbreadth away from his face, while his eyes seared into her own. Breath suddenly coming in short pants, she was too shocked to move when he pressed closer, crowding in. So close, she could see the flecks of tawny amber hidden within the depths of his eyes, feel the soft exhale of his breath on her suddenly tingling skin.
He moved closer, lips almost brushing hers, achingly soft and tender, and her eyes fluttered shut even as she was screaming inside her head -
"Lilith!"
She sprang away from him as if doused in cold water, common sense returning with a vengeance. Bae, previously absent, had reappeared near the copse of trees, looking around, and when his eyes passed over her, fury welled within her. She grabbed hold of it, brushing away the traitorous voice in her mind that whispered how much she'd liked Pan being so close.
"Lower the spell," she hissed instead, quashing the feelings threatening to rise up. Humanity, she was finding, was as tedious as ever. "Now."
With a lazy flick of his wrist, the slight shimmer she detected from the corners of her eyes dissipated, and Bae's attention was automatically drawn to her.
"Lilith!" He called, pausing mid-step, eyes fixed beyond her shoulders.
She turned to see Pan standing there now, a sort of malice hidden within the casual smirk he wore. Without a thought, she stepped, blocking Bae from the immortal's line of sight. Sighing deeply, and with a shake of his head, Pan took several steps backward till his boots touched the edges of the crumbling cliff. A roguish smirk crawled up the corner of his thin lips, and he pressed the tips of his slender fingers to them before turning them in her directions.
"Until later, love." He craned his head to meet Baelfire's bemused gaze, the dawning horror in them making his smirk grow. "Baelfire."
Both Lilith and Bae jerked forward, the latter crying out in shock, when Pan fell backwards over the cliff. Too stunned to move, Lilith watched as Bae breezed past her to the cliff edge in time for Pan to shoot upwards, the surprise knocking the younger boy onto his backside. Torn from her earlier shock, Lilith rushed to Bae's side, hands on his shoulders, as they both watched Pan soaring across the light of the moon and across the horizon.
And below, the drunken singing of the pirates drifted up once more.
Storybrooke
Catching sight of the other man, Whale picked up his pace, striding up to meet David before he could enter Granny's.
"You – we need to talk." Was all he could get out before David cocked his fist back and threw it. Pain exploded along his cheek and jawbone, head snapping to the side, and after taking several heartbeats to move his jaw around to make sure nothing was broken, he spun back around to glare at the blond man. "What the hell was that for?!"
Furious blue eyes seared into his own. "Sleeping with my wife."
"Kathryn?"
"Snow."
Whale winced from the wrathful expression that filled the other man's features. Holding his hands up, he attempted to placate the irate man. "Look, I didn't know, alright? I was cursed."
"Yeah, I got it." David flexed his hand, knuckles throbbing from the poorly prepared punch. "What do you want?"
"So… is it true?" Whale asked, hoping that he would be able to get a straight answer from the man and not another punch. "People are saying that you're trying to find a way to build a portal back to your land, because that's where you think Emma, Lillian and Mary Margaret are – that they're alive."
David held back a sigh. "Well, the whispers can stop." While it wasn't a surprise that everyone was talking about it, but not to him, it still bothered him.
"I have no secrets from this town. That's exactly what I'm doing."
Taken aback, as everyone had heard the story that Regina's Curse had destroyed the land when it threw them all here, Whale continued to press his luck. "But the land, it's… it's gone. Destroyed by the curse."
David merely shrugged listlessly in response. "Apparently not."
"Well, you having any luck?"
"Not yet." The acting Sheriff admitted regretfully. "We're working on it."
"Does that mean that all the lands still exist?"
"Possibly."
Scowling darkly, the doctor hissed, moreso to himself, "So, the Queen lied to us. Again." His head snapped back up to meet David's gaze. "Are you sure?"
Blue eyes merely stared back in cynical amusement. "Remember who we're talking about."
Across the street, there was a knock on the door of Archie office. Frowning, the red-headed shrink, stood from his desk and crossed the room. Regina stood on the other side, pale and miserable, and a tad too jumpy for his liking. However, his instinctive need to help people won out, and he gently addressed the antsy woman.
"Regina, are you here to see me?"
"I've been trying to keep my promise to Henry, but it's been difficult…." She began, stopping and biting her lip
"To not use magic." He finished softly for her, and she nodded.
"It's been two days."
Archie merely smiled at her encouragingly. "That's an excellent start." He took a step back, opening the door further, in invitation. "Come on in."
Inhaling deeply, she crossed the threshold of the office and seated herself on the couch as Archie gently closed the door behind her. Hands clasped together so tightly her knuckles were beginning to turn white, she waited for the shrink to seat himself on the opposite couch before she began to speak once more.
"It's just that, magic is the way I've always gotten everything." Her words were hesitant, and Archie didn't begrudge her if it took some time for her to open up. She'd spent most of her life surrounded by lies and murder and secrets, and he just wanted to help.
"It sounds like it's also the way you've lost everything." She flinched despite how gently he delivered the words, though she remained seated and meet his eyes helplessly. "Regina, this is your chance to start over – to earn Henry."
Before she could reply, before he could continue to help her, the door of the office was thrown open, and Dr. Whale stalked in.
"Dr. Whale," Archie rose to his feet, indignant at the intrusion. "This is highly inappropriate." He blustered, though the clearly incensed doctor paid his chiding no mind.
"Send me back," he directed at Regina instead.
She eyed him with poorly hidden scorn. "Excuse me?" She demanded, voice deceptively soft compared to the offended expression she wore.
"To my land." Whale snapped, resentment and bitterness rising inside him like a tidal wave. "Send me back to my brother."
She merely raised a brow coolly. "Why don't you check the 'missing' board like everyone else?"
"Your curse only brought the living."
"Well then, I'm sorry for your loss." She sniffed, not sounding sorry in the slightest. "But I'm afraid I can't send anyone anywhere."
He took a threatening step closer, making Regina bristle in response. "Can't or won't?"
Recovering from his brief period of shock, Archie quickly moved between the two, eyes blazing beneath his glasses. "Dr. Whale, I have to insist, please." He moved forward, as if to threaten to throw the other man out. "Go!"
Throwing Regina one last look that burned with so much hatred that even she was taken aback, Whale obediently left the room. Archie followed him, gently shutting the door behind, cutting off the thundering sound of the other man's footsteps.
"Sorry." The psychiatrist muttered, face turned toward the door. "What you said isn't entirely true, is it?" He turned, eyes narrowed beneath his spectacles.
Regina startled. "I'm sorry?"
He frowned at her attempt to play dumb. "About the curse only taking the living." A red eyebrow rose. "The grave of your father's here, right?"
"I don't care about Whale or his brother." She retorted flatly, painted lips set in a scowl. "I brought who I wanted."
"Anyone else?" Not truly expecting an answer, he continued, "If you want help, you have to try and trust me." He reminded her, softening his voice. He wanted to help her, not offend her enough that she never returned. She stared back, looking so lost and confused. "Stopping magic is a lot harder than starting."
Unicorns were tricky things, as most who practiced magic quickly learned. Regina, of course, had learned quite quickly when her new teacher brought one for their most recent lesson. She'd seen illustrations of unicorns, in both her mother's texts and storybooks; glossy, white coats, manes that shone like a silvery waterfall, and a lethal horn that shimmered and sparkled.
The unicorn before her was the complete opposite.
While its goat was undeniably glossy, the color was of the deepest of blacks, with the mane and horn the same shade. He'd briefly explained that white unicorns held one of the purest types of magic within it - and were therefore exceedingly dangerous to those that utilized dark magic. She'd turned green and her stomach threatened to heave when he'd trilled about his first experience with a light unicorn and where its horn had ended up.
This unicorn, however, had been corrupted by dark magic and was safe to be around. Standing before it, she made herself calm, as it eyed her with its large, dark eyes. She'd grown up around horses, had dealt with the most stubborn of stallions. I can do this.
"Now, show me what you've learned." He stood several feet away, hands clasped patiently behind his back. Golden eyes glinted in the shafts of sunlight that crept their way through the layer the treetops made. "Immobilize it."
She nodded, gathering the newly found magic within her. With a wave of her hand, a shimmering overtook the creature, and her eyes widened in delight when the spell stuck. "There." Giddiness filled her words. "I did it.:
Rumpelstiltskin was smiling now, his own eyes mirroring her delight. "Excellent work, my apprentice." A glint that she did not like entered those golden orbs.
"Now there's just one last tiny, tiny, teeny little detail." He informed her, tone lowering ever so slightly. "Take its heart."
Her stomach dropped and she nearly flinched back. "Like what my mother did to- "
His smile became feral, the glint in his eye almost mad. "Oh, your true love." He cooed with sympathy. "Indeed. Then, you already know how it's done." Throwing his unsure stares, the young queen raised a hand and began to inch closer to the unicorn's still chest. "Gentle," he cautioned, though she was moving so slowly that he doubted it would make a difference. "If you do it right, no harm will befall it." His lips quirked, the beginnings of a smirk flicking across his features. When she blinked, they were smooth once more. "Unless of course, you will it."
Even before she spoke, before she made to withdraw her hand, he knew she couldn't do it. The woman before him suddenly looked as young as she truly was, barely on the cups of womanhood. However, that made little difference to him. Lilith had been happily, or as close as she could get without her humanity, ripping hearts out at the tender age of eight.
"I can't," the girl queen whispered, breaking him from his thoughts. "It's innocent."
Rumpelstiltskin held back the uncouth urge to roll his eyes at her words. "Nothing is innocent." His strides were purposeful, his movements quick and precise, and he soon held the creatures beating heart in his scaled hand. The two spells countered one another, freeing the unicorn from the spell his apprentice had cast.
"Now, it belongs to me." He explained to his silent student. Her face had gone white; clearly, the loss of her once fiance clearly haunted her. "You see, when you take a heart, it becomes enchanted." He twisted his hand, this way and that, showing her the facets of the beating heart. "Stronger than a normal heart. You're not hurting the beast – you're controlling it." Once more, his tone lowered with a seriousness he seldom revealed. "Now, show me you know what to do with that power." A flick of his wrist and the heart was soaring across the distance, prompting Regina to shakily catch it. "Kill it."
"What?" She demanded, horror discoloring her words.
Rumpelstiltskin ignored it. "You've seen it done, now do it yourself." He breezily told her, looking as if they were discussing the weather. "Show me, you can take the next step in your training." Her mouth was open, eyes wide with the echoes of past anguish, and he mercilessly pushed. "Crush it."
With a quaver in her exhale, the queen began to do as bade. However, when her grip had just begun to tighten on the organ, and the unicorn began to crumple to its knees, still not releasing a sound, her grip slackened.
Heaving a blustery sigh and shaking his head, "dearie, dearie, dearie." He muttered. "And I had such high hopes."
Her previously meek voice gained back some of her previous steel. "And I didn't sign up to kill unicorns."
"Magic is power." He reminded, looking at her as if she were daft. "Until you can take power, you're not learning anything. Do you want me to teach you or not?"
There was a mutinous light in her eyes that amused him. "Yes."
"Then there's one simple question for you to ponder."
"I'll tell you anything.
Rumpelstiltskin smiled, brittle and cold. "I don't need the answer – you do." Her frown was back, more bemused than angry. "What's holding you back?"
It had been decades, and yet the memories were still as clear and painful as they had been the day she'd done it. Choosing to enchant Daniel's body, to exhume his heartless corpse and put a stasis spell on it, hadn't been the most thought out plan, she hated to admit. The physical ache, the hole his murder had left in her chest, only exacerbated by the farce of a marriage she shared with Leopold, had been too much to bear.
"His name was Daniel." The words hurt, the always present ache throbbing within her chest. Archie was watching, eyes alight with sympathy behind his glasses. "I preserved his body with an enchantment spell - he's dead, but frozen," she explained, eyes on her hands, examining the color of her nails. "And I've kept him in my family mausoleum."
"Because you couldn't let go of him." She didn't respond, though they both knew she didn't need to. "If you can't let go of the past, Regina, it's doomed to haunt you."
Suddenly, her demeanor changed. Gone was the small, almost frightened figure, and her eyes were carefully blank when she raised them. "You know what? I think this has been quite enough." Gracefully, she stood and strode to the door, Archie trailing behind.
"Regina, wait. I… I can help you."
Regina eyed him doubtfully, but he took the lack of derision as a hopeful sign. However, she merely shook her head, muttering, "I doubt it," before she slipped out the door.
Hours later, after the brewing storm had begun to dump buckets upon buckets of water onto the deserted, darkened streets of Storybrooke, Regina was driving through the thick of it. As the sped past the diner and toward the intersection, the blare of a horn and screech of tires was all the warning she had before another car cut her off violently. Skidding to a stop, heart all but lodged in her throat, Regina stared at her whitened knuckles, startled.
Raising her head to glare at the offending car, her eyes were instead drawn to movement when an arc of lightning flashed, illuminating the area. Heart beating to loudly and violently that she was sure it would burst from her chest, a whisper fell from her suddenly numb lips.
"Daniel?"
Certain she was seeing a mirage - a vision brought on by the stress of her magic withdrawal, of earning back Henry's trust, of trying not to kill everyone that annoyed her - she jerked her head away. Inhaling deeply to calming herself, she turned her head back to look out, pulse stuttering when her eyes landed on an empty sidewalk.
He hadn't woken up so early on a Saturday since before the Curse had broken. Before Lillian was taken from me. The loss of his 'sister's' presence was like an always present ache within his chest, the loss of his mother and newfound grandmother worsening it. His grandpa's presence, however, was like a balm. And the only reason he'd allowed the man to drag him out of bed after a sleepless night of tossing and turning.
As they tramped from David's truck toward the stables, David glanced at his grandson, frowning slightly when the dark-haired boy yawned. "Come on," he reached to tousle the boy's hair playfully, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "What's with the yawn? This isn't school: it should be fun."
"I couldn't sleep."
"Hey," when Henry looked up, David's frown had softened into something warm and fond, loving. "I know. I miss 'em, too." A brightness entered his tone, and there was almsot a skip to his step as they headed toward the back of the stables, passing stall by stall of horses. "Now, just think how happy Emma and Snow will be when they come home to find that you've become a proper knight. Say hello to your steed."
He gestured grandly toward a stall, with a horse that was just the right size for a boy of Henry's age to ride. Eyes widening with a growing delight, he took a hesitant step forward.
He turned to David, all but shaking with excitement. "Is he mine?"
David returned the beaming expression. "This one's yours." He informed his grandson.
"Really?" By now, David had opened the stall, allowing Henry to enter the stall cautiously. The horse blinked up at him with large, liquid like eyes before it resumed munching on the hay. "So… how do I get on him?"
David's smile, if possible, grew. "Oh, you're not riding today."
"I'm not?"
"No. There's much to learn before you hop in the saddle."
Henry's head tilted slightly. "Like what?" He wasn't sure he liked the smile that his grandpa was wearing.
"Well, every morning, you'll have to muck out his stall." David began, cheerily listing off a how-to for horse care. "Then, you'll brush him and feed him. After school, you'll do it again." The excitement was beginning to fade from Henry's demeanor, though Every day, twice a day.
Henry all but pouted now. "That's not riding, that's babysitting." He protested.
David raised a finger. "Ah. Horsesitting." He absently stroked the back of the horse. "It builds an essential bond. The trust between knight and steed."
"Okay." Henry agreed, then cut to the heart of the matter once more. "But, when will I ride him?"
His smile softened, fondness exuding from it. "When the horse tells you." He informed his bewildered grandson brightly. "I'm going to go check in on the dwarves – see how the mining's coming." He left the stall, smiling over his shoulder. "I'll pick you up later."
Henry waved in goodbye before turning back to the horse. "So… " he began, raising a hand to gently touch the horse's back. "Anything you wanna tell me?"
Heart beating a violent cadence against her rib cage, Regina resolutely strode through the cemetery to her family mausoleum. The sight of the stone structure, of the family crest, quelled the panicked thoughts swirling somewhat. The inside was unchanged when she entered, moving the empty stone sarcophagus that dominated the space with a flick of the wrist.
Taking the stairs so quickly she almost lost her balance, she slipped into one of the sprawling rooms that made up the undercroft, only to stop dead. A glass coffin, with ornate and delicate filigree decorating the sides, sat in the middle of the room.
An empty glass coffin.
They'd been running for hours. Her heart beat so loudly, blood pounding in her ears, that she absently wondered if their pursuers could hear it. However, those thoughts were summarily pushed out of her mind and she picked up her pace. Baelfire was at her side, barely able to keep up with the furious pace she had set. However, her magic was able to allow him to keep up, though she made sure to use as little as possible.
Despite his quick acceptance of her, and she'd caught affection glimmering in the depths of his eyes on occasion, he refused to be around her if she used any magic. Hopefully the threat of capture will silence any protests. Skidding to a halt, she threw out her arm to stop Bae from careening over the edge of the small cliff. Without a thought, the calls of the lost boys were growing closer, she spun, arm outstretched, and caught Bae in the wake of her spell.
The silvered, purple smoke enveloped them, casting them far away from the drop off. Bae, disoriented from the magic, fell to the ground when they spell dropped them off somewhere on the other side of the island. Lilith immediately went to help him, only for him to slap her hands away. His eyes were both angry and saddened at the same time, and she bristled at the pity that ebbed off him.
He gazed up at the sorceress, staring at him with those oddly colored eyes, the red slowly leeching away to reveal the natural, pale hue of her eyes. The red frightened him the same way the golden, cat-like eyes his father earned along with the mantle of the Dark One. No being who practiced light magic would go through physical change, that much he knew. Like his father and, he supposed, surrogate sister, even Pan's eyes sometimes flared a burnished tawny when he cast certain spells.
"Baelfire -"
"I told you not to use magic around me." He interrupted, anger overriding the sorrow that welled within him whenever he saw what his father had done to yet another innocent. "Whatever my father's magic as twisted you into, I want no part of it -"
"'Twisted me into'?" She parroted, looking so offended that it took him aback. "I chose to become like this. I had to." There was a flash, so fleeting he might have imagined it, of anguish in the depths of her eyes before a coldness, an iciness, entered them. "I don't expect, or need, you to understand. But I made your father a promise - one I intend to keep."
Throat dry, Bae merely stared up at her as she offered him her hand once more. This close, he could see the scratches that lined her face, a product from their frantic flight into the trees. It had been a spur of the moment decision, only done once they had been sure that Pan had indeed left the island. The moment Felix had inadvertently confirmed that the leader of the lost boys had vacated the island, Lilith had grabbed him and fled. Despite knowing that there was no true way to be free of the island - unless Hook allowed them passage on his ship once he took another trip to gather goods for Pan - Baelfire had kept silent and ran, even as he felt her magic gently bolstering him.
"Why?" He demanded, so suddenly and so fiercely, that she cocked her head curiously. "Why would you willingly help my father? Don't you know what he is?"
Her expression turned sad, sorrow etched deeply in the contours of her slightly rounded, pretty face. Her continued refusal to eat was beginning to show after several weeks, and there was a tortured gauntness to her features, turning them delicate and almost elfin.
"There is evil in this world, Baelfire." She whispered instead, haunted by the memories of her past. "And when confronted with it, your father was the lesser of them all."
"I do doubt that, luv."
Enchanted Forest
Lillian watched him, heart beating an uneven staccato against her rib cage. Mary Margaret and Aurora were near his seat, the former shifting through rubble to build a fire, while the latter paced aimlessly. The dark-haired survivor was rocking himself, seemingly in shock. While she sensed apprehension within him, the source was not because of his apparent 'survival' despite Cora's brutal attack.
Her eyes stung when he raised listless, shifting eyes in her direction before they flicked away just as quickly. Despite the plain, threadbare clothes, and the dirt and soot smeared across his tan features, there was no denying it.
Killian Jones was alive.
And he looks no older than the last day I saw him. By the time she'd arrived on Neverland, Peter had had the pirate captain and his crew the ability to sail from the island, provided they returned each and every time. She hadn't know what hold Peter had over the captain, especially since she'd known how deeply his hatred ran for her mentor, but she'd always watched the Jolly Roger reappear on the horizon without fail mere days after it had left.
Until one day it hadn't.
Peter hadn't been unduly trouble by the disappearance of the pirates. It had been as if he'd expected it. Planned it, more likely. Despite the devotion he showed her, Peter had revealed little to her about the inner workings of his mind during their time together. She'd never, and still didn't, really cared. However, what did bother her was the fact that the man seated mere feet away had left, seemingly with Peter's knowledge, and hadn't said a word.
It hurt more than she cared to admit, even to herself. Despite his demeanor, though his roguish charm amused her more than annoyed, she'd grown fairly close the swashbuckler as the years passed. Bypassing Rufio's death, of course. Ruminating over her thoughts, which had taken a dark, unwelcome turn, a hand softly landed on her shoulder.
Mulan, her dark eyes at once wary and concerned, flitted from her to the 'blacksmith'.
"Have you seen him before?" Emma asked, carrying a cup in both hands, in a low tone to the warrior, who held a water skin, freshly filled from the thankfully intact well.
"Yes, I've seen him around." Mulan looked away from Lilith, who looked so shattered and angry that it made her skin prickle. "He's a blacksmith. Came to our camp a couple months ago." She replied in an equally low tone, watching the man fidget and shift like one would expect from a person who went through such a trauma. "Said he lost his hand in an ogre attack." Emma's expression was filled with wry doubt. "Why would Cora leave a survivor?"
"It's messy." The blonde hissed back, doubt darkening her tone. "Doesn't make sense."
"You think he's lying?"
They were approaching him now, and his eyes passed over them before he continued to look around jerkily. "I think Cora's tricked us before, I don't want that to happen again." Pitching her voice higher, she spoke to their jumpy survivor now. "Here you go." She set a cup before him as he jerked in his seat, handing the second to Aurora once Mulan had filled it.
"I can't thank you enough for your kindness," he muttered faintly, smiling weakly up at them as Mulan used the waterskin to fill the cup. "Fortune, it seems, has seen fit to show me favour." Raising the cup to his lips, he drank deeply, as the five women watched.
Emma smiled, a biting expression, and pressed both hands on the table to lean toward him. "An island full of corpses, you're the only one to escape. How exactly did that happen?"
Voice still shaky, he set the cup down with trembling fingers. "She attacked at night – slaughtered everyone in one fell swoop." He weaved the story, not maintaining eye contact with any of the women to keep the ruse up. "When she started ripping out people's hearts, I hid under the bodies of those who had already been killed. Pretended to be dead myself." He was careful to show no pride or scorn. "Mercifully, the ruse worked."
Emma held back a snort. "So much for fortune favouring the brave."
He meekly ducked his head. "It was all I could do to survive."
"I'm going to let you in on a little secret," he disliked the smile on the lovely blonde's mouth as she leaned even closer, voice lowering. "I'm pretty good at knowing when someone is lying to me."
"I'm telling you the truth."
Mulan interrupted them, looking around with wary, strained eyes. "We should leave here in case Cora decides to come back."
Mary Margaret nodded in agreement. "We should start searching for a new portal back to Storybrooke." She broke in, looking rather put out.
I only got about five minutes with my husband, not to mention my grandson."
Hook stared at her in baffled amusement. "You have a grandson?"
"Long story." She replied tartly, not wanting to share their insane family tree with some random stranger.
"Well, I know this land well." He began to offer as planned. "I can guide you -"
The words died in his throat, eyes widening when, seemingly out of nowhere, Lillian appeared and wrenched his head back, slim dagger pressed to his throat. The eyes he stared up into were red, and he shivered at the sight, careful not to move his throat too much, mindful of the cold kiss of steel. The other women all stared, startled, but none more so than Emma. The dagger she herself had been planning to hold up to his throat, to threaten him with, was currently in Lillian's grasp as the brunette threatened the man in low, harsh tones.
"You won't be guiding us anywhere, until you tell them who you really are."
Storybrooke
After receiving directions from the wary nurse, who clearly was torn between letting Regina walk free as she always had, or calling the bumbling prince who was their acting Sheriff, she strode down the hallways of the underground psych ward. The dim light flickered, adding an unneeded eeriness to the hallways, only serving to unnerve her further. The irony was not lost on her.
After several minutes of encountering no one, she cautiously called out, "Dr. Whale? Where are you?"
With the memories of her first meeting with Jefferson, after she'd met him while trying to explain to her teacher that she wanted power to bring back Daniel, and her subsequent meeting with the doctor she now searched for, Regina's step was slow and wary. She'd yet to see another soul, which in and of itself was odd.
"Dr. Whale?" She called again, rounding yet another corner. Eyes drawn to a half-open door, she carefully peeked into the room, eyes widening at the chaos within. Trays, and the medical supplies and tools that were once on them, had been tipped over, contents scattered. The lights were flickering on and off, and her eyes were drawn to a blood sheet that rested on a trolley that had seemingly escaped the devastation.
Only to recoil in shock when the bloody, severed arm was revealed. Stomach threatening to heave, she pressed a hand to her mouth, eyes closed as she forced herself to calm down. She'd seen, and done, far worse than what was on that trolley. A faint moan caught her attention, and she approached the trolley oncem ore, carefully pushing it aside, eyes widening once more.
Whale lay there, sprawled on the ground, with a small pool of blood congealing underneath the stump where one of his arms once was. His eyes fluttered weakly when she knelt beside him. "Whale?" She reached out to shake him for good measure, halting when his eyes flickered open, dazedly attempting to focus on her. "Whale? I know that you took Daniel's body, and you took one of my hearts. Why?" His glazed over eyes were unfocused, and she raised her voice when they began to flutter shut. "Why?! Did you bring him back?"
Hysteria had begun to creep into her words, and she wasn't sure if the hope that weakly fluttered within her was worse than the ever-present ache at her true love's loss.
"I did it."
The mutter was so weak, so faint, but it felt like a slap to the face. "He's alive?" She breathed out, tears already stinging at her eyes, threatening to scour her face.
He nodded, or tried to, the movement little more than a twitch of his head. "Yes. I brought him back but… he's not Daniel."
"What?"
"He's… he's a monster."
The grand fireplace before them made her stomach turn, though that was more due to nerves than anything. In the weeks leading up to her marriage to Leopold, with her mother confident and assured at her own place in the royal family, and that of her daughter's, had secretly moved many of her magical artifacts into the castle.
"This… was my mother's." She explained quietly to the two men, one looking unimpressed, the other mildly intrigued.
The… doctor, that Jefferson had brought back continued to look rather let down. "How sweet," lips pursed, he continued. "But, I'm not interested in heirlooms."
She was too nervous, too fretful and hopeful, to take him to task. "Oh, I believe you will be." She replied instead. "Listen."
"To a fireplace?"
"Just listen."
With all three scarcely daring to breathe, the two men listened intently, Victor moreso than Jefferson. Softly, so much so that he had to strain to hear it, a rhythmic sound could be heard from the fireplace, almost akin to the beating of the heart. Silence reigned, as both men attempted to rationalize what it was they were hearing.
Then: "Where is that coming from?"
Regina looked at Jefferson, whose eyes had filled with realization. "Her vault." She said simply before raising her hands. The magic responded instantly, transforming the hearth before them into an entrance.
Taking the lead, the young queen led them into the vault, taking them further until they came to a room lined with boxes. The beating had become louder, and once he'd entered, she gestured with one hand.
"Take your pick."
Victor stared in, not horror or disgust as she feared, but growing interest, passion for his work shining through. "These are all hearts?"
She smiled faintly, a wry quirk to her lips. "My mother was a collector."
"Whose hearts are these?" Jefferson was looking at the boxes with a sort of guarded curiosity. It was obvious that, despite his line of work, magical artifacts truly meant little to him. Other than his hat, of course.
"I have no idea," she admitted dismissively. "She took so many, caused so much pain, it was impossible to keep track." Her eyes ran over the countless boxes filled with the hearts of innocent people, revulsion plain in her voice. "She was a monster."
Unmoved by her words or tone, Victor reached forward, picking at random. Pulling the box from the wall, his eyes grew wide with excitement when the beating, glowing heart was revealed to him.
"Finally, after all this time," he breathed, with Regina watching him closely. He raised his head and nodded to her, clutching the heart tightly. "It's perfect."
Storybrooke
The other doctors and nurses had been horrified by the state she'd found Whale in. And, while it had been obvious they'd suspected her at first, all knew that ripping off body parts was not her style. That, and several of his fellow doctors had agreed that the man had been acting odd the past few days. Staring into the hospital room, she barely registered when David arrived at her side, eyes locked onto the armless man in the glass-walled room.
"What's going on?" He panted out, having all but run to the hospital once he'd gotten the call. "I just got a call that Dr. Whale was attacked."
"You'll have to ask his doctors."
"No, I am asking you."
Regina, arms crossed tightly, sent him a glare over her shoulder. "I came here to speak with him and discovered he was hurt." At his disbelieving expression, she bristled defensively. "It's the truth!"
David raised an eyebrow at her insistence. "What else? What did you come here to speak with him about?"
She was silent for so long that he feared she'd refuse to answer. However, after he saw her shoulders begin to tremble, and she took several fortifying breaths, she began to speak.
"Someone from my past. I believe he's come back." She turned to face him, eyes faraway. "Daniel – his name is Daniel." She finished and watched the recognition flash across his features.
"The man you were supposed to marry." He stated, having heard the story before. "Snow told me what happened and…," he paused when she threw him a searching glace. "…how it was her fault that he died."
Regina wisely chose not to reopen that particular can of worms. "Yes, he did." She replied instead.
"Well, then how could he be back?"
"Whale." She answered simply, elaborating when the puzzled creased of his brow deepened. "He believed he could bring him back from the grave and… I don't know how… but he has."
David couldn't stop the doubt from leaking into his words. "You don't know how? Guess."
"He practices something more powerful than magic. Or, so I was told," the sting that his previous failure had yet to lessen, and bitterness coated her words. "All he needed was a heart, and he took one of mine."
It took a great effort for David to keep himself from recoiling in disgust. "You have hearts here?" He demanded incredulously, and Regina nodded jerkily.
"In my vault. From our land."
"Whose heart did he take?"
She shrugged. "I have no idea." Which earned her the fiercest glare in recent months from the once prince. "I took so many, it was impossible to keep track." She made to turn, to leave the hospital behind. "I need to go, I have to help him."
David jumped in front of her. "No," shaking his head, he raised his hands to block any further movement when it looked like she'd try to push past him. "Where is he?" A nod in the direction of the room behind them had Regina turning, a shiver running down her spine. Whale still lay motionless, doped up on God knew what, pale and all but dead to the world. "Look what he did – he's dangerous."
"Not to me." She muttered, and he frowned, not sure if she was trying to convince him, or herself. "He won't hurt anyone else, David, I promise."
Fierce blue eyes stared into her own. "You know I can't take that chance," he retorted sharply. "You have two choices Regina – tell me where he is, or jail."
Regina glared back, though was smart enough to admit that she was fighting a losing battle. Sighing deeply, "I think it's like when you awoke from your coma." She began, frowning now. "He's following his final thoughts to where he last met me – the stables."
He could feel the blood drain from his face at her words. Stomach plummeting, he forced his suddenly numb lips to move. "No… Henry." At her bemused expression, he elaborated, and watched as her own face went white as a sheet. "Henry's at the stables."
While he'd initially protested his new duty of 'horsesitting', Henry found a kind of comfort in the rhythmic strokes as he ran a brush along the horse's flank. Lilian had spoken briefly of horse-riding, both before and after she'd regained her memories, and he'd sensed that while she enjoyed it, it was bittersweet.
"Gramps says that you'll tell me when I'm ready to ride you." He spoke in a soft, soothing tone, unwilling to spook the animal. "So… anytime," he said casually, locking eyes with the animal. "Like, soon?"
He never got his answer as, suddenly, the horses in the stable began to panic; kicking and banging against the wooden walls of the stalls, making noises he'd never heard before. Then, his horse took off, knocking him hard enough that he fell to the ground, and sprinted out of the stall. Dazed, Henry lay there, his eyes widening slightly when a man, looking lost and confused, stumbled into the stall.
Enchanted Forest
She'd tied him to the nearest tree with a mere flick of her fingers, eyes still red, and lips turned up into a snarl that made even Mulan want to recoil. However, the warrior had merely watched, hand on the hilt of her sword, as the sorceress did her work. The man stared at the young woman, looking half bewildered, half saddened, but it was the almost fond glint in his eyes that threw Mulan off. Lillian, however, ignored the fondness that came off of Hook, and even tightened the knots when he had the gall to wink at her.
"Now," the brunette snapped, her previous anguished and relief at seeing him alive a thing of the past, coming to stand before the pirate. "Tell them who you are!"
Trying to play dumb, he looked to the other women in panic. "I already told you," he breathed back. "I'm just a blacksmith."
Emma looked at Lillian, who looked moments away from murdering this man in the slowest way possible, and snorted. "Sure you are." She ignored the shiver of fear that wracked down her spine at the look Lillian was throwing the man.
Without a word, Lillian whistled sharply, the sound echoing around the area. The small clearing, a decent distance away from Haven, was open, with little trees. And the perfect place for an ogre to feed. Hook's eyes had begun to widen in horror, and, abandoning all pretenses, he looked desperately at Lillian.
"Lass… please -" He jerked against his bonds, staring into Tiger Lily's emotionless expression.
"You don't want to talk to us?" Emma interupted the staring contest once it became obvious that Lilian wasn't going to be saying a word. "Maybe, you'll talk to the ogres while they rip you limb from limb."
Within moments, the ground beneath their feet began to shake with every step of the approaching ogres, their roars echoing much louder than Lillian's whistle had.
Eying Hook flatly, Lillian turned, following the plan to a 'T'. "Come on," she muttered, and the four others fell into step with her, though Aurora hung back.
"You… you can't just leave me here like this!" Hook called out desperately, eyes focusing on Lily again. "Lass!"
Aurora looked back at him, indecision on her face, and turned to look at Lilith. "Are you sure he's lying?"
"Positive."
"Alright, lass! You've bested me, yet again." They all turned to see him now smirking, the expression belying the panic clear in his eyes. "I can count the amount of people who've done that on one hand, Princess."
Emma raised a brow while Lillian glowered. "That supposed to be funny?" She demanded. "Who are you?"
"Killian Jones," he announced, kohl-rimmed eyes fixed on Lillian once more. "But most people have taken to call me by my more colourful moniker – Hook." The words were exasperated, tinged with a hint of amusement.
Mary Margaret's eyes were slowly widening, and she chanced a look at the young sorceress. "Hook…."
He nodded at the meager amount of possessions they'd taken from him. "Check my satchel."
Emma: As in, Captain Hook?" Emma demanded as Mary Margaret rifled through the indicated satchel, eyes widening when her fingers closed on the smooth, cool metal of a hook, withdrawing it from the depths. "As in, Peter Pan, and the Lost Boys and… " her eyes were drawn to Lillian, who was staring at Hook mutinously. "Tiger Lily…."
Hook either ignored or didn't hear her last whisper, as he perked up and smiled. "Ah, so you've heard of me."
"You better hurry up," Emma said instead, forcing her shocked tongue to make words and tearing her eyes away from Lillian. "They're getting closer. So, unless you want to be dinner, you better start talking."
He glanced in the direction the roars came from, frantically turning back to the women, speaking quickly. "Cora wanted me to gain your trust, so I could learn everything there is to know about your Storybrooke." He explained as expression set in various degrees of panic settled on the faces of three of the five women. "She didn't want any surprises when she finally got over there."
"She can't get there," Emma retorted coolly. "We destroyed the wardrobe."
"Ah, but the enchantment remains, as dear Lily would know." His nod to Lillian made her snarl in response. "Cora gathered the ashes, just like your own sorceress. She's going to use them to open up a portal." The stomping became louder, the ogres closer, and he felt the beginning's of terror start to sink its hooks in. "Now, if you'll kindly cut me loose…."
Mulan was already shaking her head before the words had even finished leaving his mouth. "No. We should leave him here to die." She announced, looking positively outraged by the very suggestion that they let him live. "To pay for all the lives that he took."
Hook's eyes flared with indignation. "That was Cora, not me."
"Let's go."
This time, Emma led the small group, with Lillian hanging in the back.
"Wait. Wait!" They all paused as the note of desperation in his yells. "You need me alive."
Emma's brow rose dangerously into her hairline. "Why?"
"Because we both want the same thing – to get back to your land."
Emma took a few cautious steps forward. "You would say anything to save yourself," she noted absently, carelessly. "Why are we supposed to believe you now?" Her eyes slid to Lillian, whose eyes had finally turned back to their natural hue. "And how do you know Lillian?"
"I arranged for transport with Cora. But, seeing how resourceful you are, I'll offer you the same deal." He carefully dodged the last question she'd posed, mindful of the expression on Lily's face. While she no longer looked moments away from murdering him, he'd know her long enough to not assume he was free and clear from her wrath. "I'll help you, if you promise to take me along."
"How are you going to help us get home?"
"The ashes will open a portal, but, to find your land, she needs more." He didn't notice Lillian's intent gaze, too focused on saving his own skin. "There's an enchanted compass - Cora seeks it. I'll help you obtain it before she does."
"So, Cora won't make it to Storybrooke, and we'll be one step closer to getting home."
Mary Margaret shared a look with her daughter, a frown marring her pale features. "Sounds too good to be true."
"There's only one way to find out." The words hung in the air, an unspoken challenge that had Emma's eyes narrowing.
However, before she could open her mouth, Lillian was speaking, staring right into Hook's eyes.
"Tell me one thing, Cap'n?" The words tasted bitter when they fell from her lips, and a look, one full of years of meaning and understanding, passed between the two before the young woman continued, "what business does a codfish have in Storybrooke?"
The insult, one coined by some of the younger lost boys so many years ago, made Hook flinch. The reaction was not lost on either Emma nor Mary Margaret, and the blonde woman felt a cold realization overtake her as she stared at the sorceress.
Eyes searing into her own, Lillian swallowed past the lump in her throat, Hook's hateful words hammering into her ears.
"You know exactly why, lass." Sorrowful aqua, so deep and familiar that it almost hurt to look at her, stood out starkly from the sudden paleness of her features. "To exact revenge on the man who took my hand… Rumpelstiltskin."
Storybrooke
"You… you got to stop." Henry stuttered, alarmed by the look in the strangely dressed man's eyes. "You're… you're scaring the horses." His wide eyes were drawn to the speckled blood that ran down the side of the man's face, speckling his white shirt with dark drops. "A-Are… are you hurt? Can I help you?" The man's wild eyes were drawn to the boy's extended hand, and a searing pain invaded his already spinning head.
All he knew was searing pain when the woman - Regina's mother - pulled back from their embrace, only to plunge her hand into his chest, ripping out his still beating heart while Regina's scream echoed in his ears.
"Let me help you," Henry tried, unaware of the turbulence going on in the stranger's head.
However, nothing could have prepared him for when the man moved. Feverishly warm hands suddenly had hold of his throat, lifting him off his feet. Grasping at the tightening hands, Henry's vision began to blur, a desperate whisper falling from his lips.
"Mom…."
"Daniel!" Regina all but screamed at the sight of her old fiancee strangling her son. "Let him go!"
At the sound of her voice, his grip on the boy's throat loosened enough that Henry's renewed struggles allowed him to slip free from the man's grasp. Falling into a crumpled heap on the straw-lined floor, Henry was barely able to react before David reached in and yanked his grandson out of the stall.
"Are you okay?" The blond demanded fiercely, eyes filled with alarm, as he looked his grandson over.
Henry was nodding rapidly, and David's eyes were drawn to the red marks that wrapped around the boy's pale neck. "Yeah," vision no longer spinning, Henry managed to bring his grandpa into focus before the man began to lightly prod him to run.
"Go. Go!" At the repeat of his command, Henry turned and sprinted toward the entrance of the stable. Exhaling in relief, David stared long enough to make sure that Henry was a safe distance away before he turned back to the scene before him.
Regina was staring at the man - Daniel, he supposed - an expression of awed agony on her features. "It's true," she whispered faintly, looking like she was moments away from passing out. "You're really here."
Despite having been in a coma for the last twenty-eight years, David found that his reflexes were still as they'd been back home. Even before Daniel had fully begun to lunge for her, the acting sheriff had his arm wrapped around Regina's bicep and was yanking her out of the way. Spinning back around, the blond man slammed the stall door shut, locking it for good measure, moments before Daniel began to furiously beat on the wooden barrier.
"It won't hold for long," he panted, anxious eyes landing on Regina, who was pale and frightened looking. "Can you cast a spell to subdue him?"
Snapping out of her daze, she turned to star at him, horrified by the suggestion. "No, I won't use magic on him." Her horror only increased when David drew his gun. "What do you think you're doing?!" She demanded, voice shrill enough that the pitch made him wince.
"He's a monster, Regina!" He snapped in response, fingers already moving to cock the weapon. "If you won't put him down, I will!"
Despair welled within her at the sound and it echoed loudly in her suddenly ringing ears. The emotion, eclipsed only by the pain she'd felt when she'd had to watch her mother kill the love of her life, overwhelmed her. "David, please! Just let me talk to him."
When she moved to restrain him, he began to jerk from her hold. However, she wasn't willing to budge, and continued to hold on with a strength he would never have expected from her. "It's too big of a risk," he returned her fierce glare. "There's no telling what he'll do."
"You have to at least give me a chance!"
"Out of the way, Regina! Now!" Attempting to be as gentle as possible, he managed to push her off him long enough to start for the door.
Regina, however, was relentless in her desire to stop the past from repeating itself. Latching once more onto David, she refused to let go even as he refused to budge on his decision.
"No! I won't let you hurt him!" She ignored the incredulous expression he wore, well aware that her son more than likely bore marks courtesy of the man she was trying to protect. "He'll listen to me! Please!" Her last cry, sharp with grief, made the blue-eyed man finally pause, and she didn't stop the pleading not from entering her words. "Let me talk to my fiance."
David stared at her, eyes roaming over the tautness of her features, the desperation that lined almost every inch, of the tears that sparkled in her eyes, and found himself nodding with a muted curse.
"One chance," he muttered, backing down.
Overcome, she did little more than no her thanks before she took a tremulous step toward the stall. The rough attacks against the door had calmed, and her step was hopeful when she unlocked the door and stepped inside. He stared at her and when he began to slowly approach her, she forced herself to stand still, to not rush headlong into his arms. Heart soaring when his fingers cradled her cheek, her joy was unceremoniously ripped from her when the hand touching her face fell to lock around her neck.
"Daniel… stop!" She forced out, head spinning, after he'd slammed her back into the door. "It's me. I love you…." Her whisper lingered in the air, and she watched as something in his pained, wild eyes shifted.
The fingers curled around her neck loosened, falling slack, before his mouth opened with a quivering breath. "Regina…."
Gasping, new tears springing to her eyes, she felt her lips begin to tremble. "Daniel…." Without another word, she drew her arms around him, sighing happily when he followed suit, and she pressed her face into his chest. "I can't believe it's really you."
No sooner had the words left her lips, than had the grimace of pain formed on Daniel's.
"Daniel?" Her hands began to glow, healing magic surging forth, but he shook his head.
"Stop," he panted out, almost doubled-over. "Just stop the pain."
"How?"
"Let me go."
She felt her world skid to a stop. Shaking her head as despair began to settle within her chest, she tried to block his words out. "No. No, I won't lose you again." Pain softened her words, the emotion dripping from them. "Without you, I'm lost."
Her hand raised to cup his face, and he leaned into the gesture before another spasm of pain overtook him.
"Daniel… Daniel, come back to me," she begged, almost hysterically, as tears began to sting the back of her eyes.
"Can't…." He panted past the pain, unable to do anything to sooth her despite how much he wanted.
"But I love you."
"Then love again," he managed before the moment of sanity began to slip from his shaky grasp.
Regina watched, paralyzed, as the wild look entered his eyes once more, his stance becoming more feral and dangerous. As he made to lunge at her, she raised a hand, freezing him in place. Tears now spilling unchecked down her cheeks, she drank him in, memorizing every feature, before flicking her hand once, reducing him to dust.
"Goodbye, Daniel."
Enchanted Forest
"You're Tiger Lily…." Emma breathed, taking a step back when Lillian's fierce gaze flashed in her direction.
"I don't use that name much anymore." The brunette answered instead before she took a step forward, producing a dagger from her belt.
Hook, still tied to the tree, had been eying them in panic until Lillian approached him. He stared at her as she silently, viciously, began to hack at his bindings. He wisely chose not to comment that she was perfectly capable of using magic, which was a much safer option in his opinion. As she sliced through the last of the knots wrapped around the stump of his left hand, she waited till he had rubbed feeling into it before reacting.
Gripping the collar of his ragged tunic in her fist, she yanked his face toward her. Eyes widening in shock, he stared, lips parted, as her suddenly red eyes searched his own. While he knew she was a highly skilled empath, he also knew that she was a poor student at the art of mind reading, having never quite picked up that ability. However, he felt something nudging at his mind.
"Answer one question, Killian." She breathed, close enough that he could feel the rush of air on his dirt-streaked skin. "Why did he let you go?"
Emma watched, looking mildly disturbed, as Lillian raised a glowing hand after her lips started moving. Making to go and stop whatever it was the brunette was about to do, a hand gripping her arm tightly halted her. Turning to see her mother, eyes fixed on Lillian as well, Emma tried to pull free.
"What? She's gonna -"
"Yes. And let her do it." Mary Margaret turned her solemn eyes to her daughter. "This isn't Lillian we're dealing with," frowning now, she glanced back at the young woman. "It's not even the Dark Lilith…."
They both turned their attention back to the tree at the sound of footsteps, eyes widening when they saw both Lillian and Hook walking their way. The brunette's features were stark white, and she looked on the verge of passing out. However, she brushed off Mary Margaret's worried hands when she walked past her, stalking toward Mulan and Aurora instead.
Turning back to Hook, who was following Lillian with an expression so full of sorrow that it took them both aback. Shaking her head, Emma watched as his features became carefully blank, hiding all emotion behind a cocky smirk that he directed at her.
Scowling, Emma gestured sharply.
"Walk."
He led them through the forest at a fast pace, clearly eager to leave the ogres they'd attracted behind, even after Lillian produced some kind of magical shield from her fingertips. Emma eyed her warily, as the younger woman had done little more than glare at her ever since the fiasco with the wardrobe. The new revelation that the brunette might be more than a student of Rumpelstiltskin was a bit much to take in - especially since her new identity may or may not have been that of an Indian princess on Neverland.
Mary Margaret, however, was staring at her old friend with new eyes. When she said that the boy she'd lvoed was named Peter… I never thought it would be that Peter.
"Up ahead!" Hook's voice drew both women from their thoughts, and all eyes followed to where Hook pointed. "We'll find the compass just over the ridge."
Drawing her daughter aside, the short-haired woman lowly uttered, "Do you get the feeling he's leading us exactly where Cora wants us? That this whole thing's a trap?"
Emma's lips quirked wryly, though there was nothing amused about the expression. "Oh, it's definitely a trap. As long as we know they're trying to play us, we can- "
Mary Margaret was now faintly smiling" - stay one step ahead of them."
"Exactly."
All talk faded into silence as they crested the ridge, finally leaving the forest. In the distance, a beanstalk awaited them, growing so high that the cloud obscured most of it.
"Let me guess – the compass is up there?" Emma snarked once she'd reclaimed her ability to speak.
Hook looked uncharacteristically somber. "Oh, yeah."
"So, how do we get to it?"
"It's not the climb you need to worry about -" Hook began, mouth snapping shut when Lillian interrupted.
"It's the giant at the top."
Storybrooke
Parked outside of the Archie's office, Regina gripped the steering wheel tightly, shoulders intermittently wracked with the force of the sobs she desperately held back. Closing her eyes tightly, she bit her tongue to keep from crying out when all she saw was Daniel's pleading expression.
While he'd know that the ruse had worked, it still made him giddy enough to dance when Regina waltzed into the lesson he had with his 'new' student. Decked out in heavy velvets and leathers, the young woman looked every inch the Evil Queen he knew she'd become.
"Who's this?" She demanded, coming to a stop before him and the other woman.
Rumpelstiltskin eyed her dismissively, smiling inwardly when he saw the anger in her eyes. "Ah, your replacement, of course." He trilled, as if the answer was obvious. "I needed someone more dedicated."
A smiled appeared on her red painted lips. "Dedicated?" She repeated before turning to the other woman. Without another word, Regina buried her hand within the woman's chest and plucked out her heart, crushing it to dust without batting an eye.
Rumpelstiltskin eyes twinkled with malice as Regina stepped over the corpse.
"Now… where were we?"
"You're back." Archie's eyes were wide behind his glasses, mouth half-open in shock, and despite herself, Regina couldn't even come up with a retort.
"I used magic," was all that she could force out, eyes still stinging with the tears that had scoured down her face.
The red-haired man stepped back, gesturing for her to enter the office. "Why don't you come in and tell me what happened?"
Looking up from the book before him, Gold's brow rose in faint amusement as Whale stormed into the shop, arm missing and a cooler used for story body parts in hand.
"When they say I charge an arm and a leg, that's meant as a figure of speech."
Whale wisely chose to ignore the sarcasm. "Put it back."
"You want me to reattach your arm?"
"Can you do it?"
The pawnbroker looked mildly offended. "Of course. But first, tell me why."
Whale looked at him like he was daft. "Because I want to use it again."
"Obviously," an eye roll accompanied the words. "I meant, why bring that stable boy back from the dead? Why now?"
"I thought… I thought that if I helped her, she would return me to my world." Whale replied, expression briefly crumbling in pain. "I want to see my brother – to try to bring him back again."
"Again?"
"The first time ended badly. I need to return and try it once more."
While he sensed that there was more to the story there, Gold wisely chose to keep his mouth shut. After all, he had read Frankenstein. "Well, it seems that's rather beyond her abilities. And mine as well," he added when Whale made to speak. "Or Lillian would have already been returned. In any case, my condolences."
Whale nodded impatiently. "Now, my arm." His eyes flashed to the cooler he'd rested on the counter. "You said you can do it."
"Oh, yes," Gold agreed easily, eyebrow raised. "But there's a difference between can, and will."
"Name your price."
"Say it."
The doctor blinked, taken aback. "Say what?"
"You know what." Gold retorted, relishing the moment. "You came here, not the hospital." He leaned closer, lowering his voice. "So say it."
Whale eyed him darkly for several heartbeats, clearly in disbelief, before muttering, "I need magic."
"That's all I needed to hear." Was all Gold said in response before he reattached the other man's arm with a nimble wave of his hand. As the doctor ran fingers over his limb, likely checking that everything was in order, Gold smiled, the expression both pleased and malicious. "Always a pleasure doing business with you, uh, Victor."
Thought? Comments? Questions?