Once Upon a Midnight: Audrina

Chapter 08: Scars

-The path leading ahead was covered by shadow, a result of the towering trees and the sun sinking behind the mountain. It was eerily quiet along the path, considering the creatures he was pursuing, enough that he wondered if he was going the right way. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he quickened his pace.

"Careful." His brother-in-law cautioned, his voice kept slightly below a whisper. He ignored the older man, and shrugged off the arms trying to hold him back. "Hey."

"I don't need your help, okay." He growled, not bothering to regulate the volume of his voice. Though it wasn't a shout, it wasn't a whisper either, and the older man tensed. In the distance a roar echoed angrily in response.

"Shit...run! Neal!" His brother-in-law shouted, understanding from that distant roar and the stampeding steps slamming towards them, that the time for stealth was gone. "Run and hide!"

"But, Bae…."

"Run!" Baelfire shouted just as the first ogre could be seen rushing towards them. It roared, swinging a heavy club and upending the trees in its way with ease. Prince Neal froze, his heart beating so fast he thought his ribcage would crack. The ogre bellowed, heading straight for them.

It wasn't until he felt the sharp cut of rock that he was aware of falling. And it took him a few seconds more, after reaching the bottom of the narrow cavern, to realize what had happened. Baelfire had pushed him out of the way.

'No….' Prince Neal blanched, as the ogre roared and stomped above and his brother-in-law cried out in pain. Fear and disbelief choked away his voice as he listened to the sound of bones being crushed. 'Baelfire….'

"Shit." Prince Neal squeezed his eyes shut and massaged his temple, trying to chase away the memory after it'd sprung to the forefront of his thoughts. "You'd think after 11 years this shit wouldn't be so…." He sighed heavily and let out a few more swears, his reluctant eyes drawn to the portrait hung across from him. A portrait he hadn't expected to see here, in the castle of the Dark One. "...Baelfire."

He mumbled the name of his brother-in-law and stared at the portrait, the day the older man died flashing back to the forefront of his thoughts. Covering his face with his hands, Prince Neal shook his head and groaned trying to chase the memory away yet again. It didn't matter, years and years had passed since that day. Years! Yet seeing that portrait only brought the memory back stronger, opening wounds that he'd thought healed.

Prince Neal cursed while turning away from the painting, angry at his brain's refusal to let the memory go, but surprised at how tame his anger was. He did feel an urge to find his nephew and go on a major tirade on how Baelfire's portrait was in the Dark One's abode and why, but it wasn't as strong an urge as he expected.

'Is me not wanting to strangle Henry for trading the portrait mean I've moved on?' Prince Neal took a few steps away from the portrait, and scanned the room quietly. It was heavily cloaked by shadow, the only light source being a few candles flickering on a candelabrum. The yellow flames flickered and spread their light onto his face, illuminating an old scar that cut across his left eye. It was faint, having faded from its bright pink into a less noticeable peach over the past decade, unlike the scar he hid beneath his shirt. That scar was a vicious remnant of that day, eleven years ago. The day his brother-in-law died.

"I really need a drink." Prince Neal mumbled, and continued his sweep of the room, in search of something alcoholic. Wine, ale, mead, rum - hell, it didn't matter what, as long as it could make him forget both the past and the present. Both sucked enough.

"Now, why isn't that surprising." A voice suddenly drawled, its haughty tone permeating through his ears: familiar and daunting. It made his skin crawl. He tensed as he heard the woman approach.

"What are you doing here?"

"Is that how you talk to the one who helped you escape Neverland?" The woman chided, the heavy shadows of the room obscuring her wings and black apparel. She smirked, her eyes roaming over the room and all its abandoned artifacts.

"Yeah, I escaped one hellhole and found myself in another." Prince Neal retorted, glowering at the attractive but unpleasant woman. "Not really what I wanted."

"Come now, it's not that bad. Your annoying nephew is out of the way, so is anyone who would oppose you declaring yourself king. And you didn't even have to get your hands dirty." The Black Fairy answered coyly, her gaze following Prince Neal as he shook his head and turned away. The candlelight flickered, cast from a lone candelabrum placed between them. "The kingdom's yours, take it."

Prince Neal scoffed. "Kingdom? What...in case you haven't noticed, it's fucking cursed! And owned by the sorceress who cast the karma spell..curse, or whatever." He massaged his forehead, wondering why he bothered returning to the Enchanted Forest.

"Both are easily remedied. Just get this sorceress to attack you with intent to kill, and it'll rebound on her. Or if she doesn't, it doesn't matter. Since the karma spell hasn't affected you already, it won't ever do so. And its caster can't attack you without negating the whole spell, so she can't stop you taking ownership of the Enchanted Forest."

"..." Prince Neal closed his eyes, his jaw clenched while he listened to the Black Fairy. "Why are you helping me? Why not just take the realm from Audrina yourself?" He asked, his back still turned towards the Black Fairy who chuckled.

"I have my reasons." She replied cryptically, her bemused expression switching to surprise and then haughty amusement within a handful of seconds. "...how long are you going to stand back there and continue to spy on me?" She glanced behind her, her smile twitching when she saw Rumple scowling at her, and Audrina standing beside him. "...you must be the son of that other realm's version of me."

"You're not surprised." Rumple pointed at the Black Fairy, his stomach knotted from a slew of mixed emotions. Standing just feet from him, looking identical to her main-realm counterpart, was Fiona, the Black Fairy. His mother, or rather his doppelganger's mother.

"Sounds like you are though." Fiona taunted, whatever threads of maternal love she may have felt for her son not at all extending to this Rumple.

"Wait...what?" Audrina glanced from Rumple to Fiona, the latter's words sinking in slowly. "Son? But….that would make her…."

"Your grandmother? Yes. But trust me, she's not the family sort." Rumple answered Audrina before Fiona could, the latter scowling at him but with the hint of a sneer on her face.

"That's not true." Fiona objected after a moment.

"Really?" Rumple scoffed and gestured towards prince Neal. "You were just encouraging the prince there to attack your granddaughter, so that she'll trigger a rebound of the karma curse onto herself." He scowled. "That's not what someone who cares about family does."

The Black Fairy simply shook her head, quiet anger written in her eyes and in the mirthless laugh she gave. She glanced at Audrina, and her lips stretched into a sly smile. "...you have no idea what I'd do for family." She gave another cold laugh before teleporting away, her words echoing through the dark corridor.

"We'll see." Rumple scoffed, before focusing on prince Neal who was staring at him with a mix of confusion and alarm. The prince tensed when Rumple stepped closer, his eyes widening when the the latter magicked a crystallized heart into his palm. "I'm just here to give this back to you."

"...you took my heart?"

"Actually, I did." Audrina stepped forward, her fingers subconsciously fidgeting and rubbing her palm. Almost like it itched. "While you slept. I - I was curious why you didn't succumb to the karma spell. So….I took your heart to see if that was it."

Prince Neal stared at Audrina askance and with a scowl. "...why didn't you just ask?" He muttered, keeping still long enough for Rumple to push his heart back into his chest. His eyes narrowed when Audrina froze before slowly shaking her head, her own brow furrowed and her shadowed eyes like stone. "...what?"

"...people lie." She muttered, shifting her gaze away in quiet contemplation, her subconscious fidgeting with her hands worsening. Her scowl darkened from the thoughts she refused to acknowledge, thoughts she couldn't afford to acknowledge. Everybody lies. Everybody.

"What the hell reason is that to take my damn heart?!" Growled Prince Neal, his mild agitation increasing nth-fold after the return of his heart. Combined with the frustration he felt on finding Baelfire's portrait and the indignation from discovering he'd been hoodwinked by The Black Fairy, Prince Neal's anger at Audrina's weak reply to his question exploded. He stormed forward, his eyes livid. "You conniving cunt…."

"Now, stop." Rumple blocked the prince's path, surprised by the impulsive anger and language. Considering that this younger man was the son of the Charmings, he'd thought the prince would be calmer or at least more polite. Then again Prince Neal had brought Dreamshade with him to the Enchanted Forest and obviously meant to use it for a nefarious plot, judging from his and the Black Fairy's conversation. "You have your heart back, all right? I could just take it and crush it, it's not like you'd be any use to me getting back to my realm."

"Why're you protecting her? This isn't even your realm! What d'you want to shag her or som…." Prince Neal's tirade was cut off by Rumple magically taking his tongue.

"No. Hell no." Rumple grimaced at the prince's rage-fueled, and very uninformed, insinuation. The idea itself cringe-worthy - Audrina wasn't his daughter but she was his alternate self's daughter, making the idea equally abominable.

Behind him Audrina stood silent, her cold gaze studying Rumple. Though her first thought at prince Neal's snarky comment had been disgust, it was weakened from the karma curse's dampening effect on her emotions. Her second thought, upon seeing the visceral reaction of Rumple's, was dark. She thought about the dagger and whether it would be more satisfying to kill the Dark One or make him do something he'd regret.

Sensing Audrina's stare, Rumple turned around and tensed upon seeing the analytical gleam in the young woman's eyes. His eyes widened and his stomach cringed when Audrina's gaze shifted to his doppelganger's Dark One dagger; not a word escaped Audrina's lips, but he knew her thoughts.

"No. Just...no." Rumple shook his head, suddenly rethinking the deal he made with Audrina. He had agreed to give the dagger back once his doppelganger was back in this realm, and he had almost no qualms about Audrina using it to control or kill his doppelganger. But if she was planning to do what he now suspected, he wondered if he should take advantage of a loophole to avoid Audrina getting the dagger.

Eyeing Rumple quietly while mulling over her new plan for revenge, Audrina's thoughts drifted to her hand that she clenched and unclenched. Though not as painful as when she channeled celestial magic to cast her Karma Spell, the scar that it had left on her palm throbbed. 'Is this because of the Black Fairy or from me wanting revenge? Or is it because neither of these two here have succumbed to the curse?'

Audrina glanced at Rumple and Neal, trying to use her thoughts to drown out the itchy burning of her palm's scar. It was then that a portal ripped open a few feet down the corridor from them and two people stumbled through.

"That son of a bitch. When I get back to Storybrooke, he's done. I'm going to take that dagger and…." The first of the two arrivals, her rich ebony hair mussed from her fall, seethed. Her threat faltered when she noticed she and Emma weren't alone.

"I'm telling you Regina, there's something off about Gold, it's like he's not Gold but an impostor."

"You're correct about that, dearie." Rumple interrupted, bemused by the impromptu arrival of the two women. His lips twitched. "I take it, my doppelganger saw you two as a threat as well."

"...Gold?"

A/N: I just realized that I posted this chapter to tumblr a week ago but didn't update it here.

Also, please also read Once Upon a Midnight: The Star-Crossed, as that fic deals with the happenings in Storybrooke while the events in this fic are taking place in the wish-realm.