|PRESENT DAY, END|
Time.
She tried not to think about the possibility of losing track of it. Despite there being no clock in sight, the thought of time echoed in her like each tick of a second as she realised how much she'd lost track of it. How long would it have been up in Hyperion Heights? How much time would it take for Lucy and her to get out? Would they even be able to get out?
But then again, Robin was used to not finding the value of time. Time was the thing that always stole things from her, despite trying hardest to keep those things for herself. Even her father, the man who she'd just ran away from after realising who he really was, hadn't spent a single second with her until she made it to this place. And she couldn't help but think of how long it would be before she had to tell him who she really was.
However, there wasn't any point in waiting.
She found herself running back inside from the chilled wind of the outdoors, back to find Lucy. She couldn't waste that time any longer, not if it meant that Lucy was constantly upset about it. She had to find a way.
"What is it?", Lucy said after she slammed the door behind her.
"We're going to the chief. Tonight.", she stated firmly whilst picking up her jacket. "Get up."
"Why? What exactly happened earlier?", she said in a once again concerned voice. It was easy to tell that Robin had been pretty worked up in the past day.
Robin sighed, knowing that she may as well explain the truth now rather than keeping it to herself until the very last minute. "You know how we got to ask six questions?"
"Yes..", Lucy listened intently.
"Well, one of my questions was asking whether or not it was possible to do what I did when we came here. To open those portals."
"And?"
"He said it wasn't possible. Which means either he doesn't know that I was able to do it or he's lying and frankly, considering the fact that the people here put all of their trust in this guy I think he would know whether or not someone can use magic to get here."
Lucy was surprised. She never expected that the person who all of the adults and citizens around this place would trust, was just the person who they shouldn't. But she believed her.
"Okay, so what are we going to do once we get there?"
Robin turned the door handle and looked at the girl behind her. "Well, if he's so obsessed with the idea of people asking questions, we may as well get some proper answers."
|PRESENT DAY, HYPERION HEIGHTS|
It had been well over a week since Lucy had gone missing, and ever since then the world around Henry seemed to be imploding on itself. Jacinda was constantly busy and panicking whilst looking for her daughter and now Roni was in some sort of unexplainable coma in the local hospital. Everything just seemed unnatural, almost just like magic.
He chose to visit the hospital on that day, there wasn't much else to do during all of this panic anyway. As he signed in as a visitor and walked down the wings he soon found his way to Roni's assigned room, which Jacinda had kindly paid for, and when he entered he noticed a doctor writing some notes.
"Oh, hello there. You must be a visitor.", the man said under his breath. It was at that point where Henry recognised his voice, and realised he must've been the same doctor who he'd spoken to before when she'd been shot. When he turned his head towards him and gave a look showing that he'd recognised him, it only became more clear.
"Ah. I'm not surprised.", the doctor responded.
"Hi, I was wondering if you'd had any updates on how she was doing?", Henry questioned whilst looking over at his motionless mother at the back of the room.
"Well, to be honest we're not so sure.", he said back in a quiet voice. It was easy to tell that this wasn't the first time that he'd spoken to people in this way when updating them on patients, but Henry just hoped that he wouldn't have to become more serious.
"To be frank, it's quite odd. All of her organs seem to be running completely normally according to our monitors, but it's obvious that isn't the case..", he looked in her direction before looking back at Henry again.
"Really, it's almost like magic.", he said in a slightly harsh tone.
Without noticing the irony in his sentence, Henry was immediately reminded of their previous conversation.
"You don't think.. that this could have anything to do with her getting shot, or that stuff on the arrow do you?"
The doctor looked towards the window as if avoiding eye contact. "Well, I wouldn't be surprised considering the peculiarity of it. Frankly, nothing in Hyperion Heights seems to be in order at the moment."
He glanced back at Henry. "Either way, I hope everything will finally go back to normal."
|PRESENT DAY, END|
Both of them had managed to make their way out of the castle, supposedly without being spotted. As they walked along the deserted path that they'd recognised from earlier that day, the air around them only seemed to get colder and colder. Each step made their fingers more and more numb, as if it was a consequence of making their way out that night. But, after all, it was just a bit of cold.
Lucy looked downwards to her feet, forcing herself to walk. She had to tell Robin what she knew, and what she heard.
"Robin?", she asked
"Yes?"
"I.. may or may not have listened to your conversation earlier..". Both of them found themselves halting automatically. "I'm sorry.."
Robin wasn't really sure how to feel, but she didn't have the time to think about it. So she smiled it off.
"That's fine, you'd probably find out eventually either way. You were right you know, he is the person who you thought he was."
Robin continued to walk but Lucy stayed standing in her position, unsatisfied. "But is that really okay with you?"
Robin turned around, trying her best to avoid the conversation. "Of course it is. Come on, let's go". She paced herself whilst walking up the dreary, neverending path and Lucy shortly followed.
They arrived at the building about 20 minutes later, as their frustration only made them walk faster.
Robin swung the heavy door in front of her open, allowing Lucy to follow before taking strides down to where she found herself a few hours ago. It took the two of them a while before noticing that everything was dark, and there was not even a single lit candle in sight. Assuming that he was asleep, they began to speak in quiet whispers.
"Robin, how are we supposed to get answers if he's not awake?", Lucy said.
"I'm not so sure but I can imagine we'd have to do the logical thing. Wake him up", Robin responded.
"That won't be necessary."
The two of them turned towards the step that was beside them and looked up to the chair that was already infamous in Robin's mind. Once they did so, the wooden torches on the walls around them lit up in flames simultaneously as if an invisible wave of fire had hit them. The man, or the 'chief', was then revealed to be sat on the seat in front of them.
"I knew you'd come back. I just knew." , he said in a darkened tone.
Lucy shook in fear. It wasn't every day that she found herself in these situations.
"I guess there's no point in questioning it anymore…", Robin stated, "you're Hades, aren't you?"
"Yes, correct.", he said. This time he didn't seem to be hesitating to tell the truth. "And frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if you were the person I thought you could've been either.."
It was at that moment where he stood up and looked towards them, finally revealing his face to the two of them. It wasn't obvious who he was, and Lucy couldn't exactly recognise him from Henry's book, but you could tell that it wouldn't be surprising if this man was behind everything they knew he was. His expression was what gave his identity away.
"No wonder. You have your mother's eyes."
"Shut up you arsehole.", Robin quickly responded. "Getting on to the point, I have some questions and you need to give me some answers, seeing as that's what you seem to love doing here anyway."
"Okay then,", Hades walked down the step to face them. "What's your first question?"
"Well it was going to be something else, but honestly I just have to ask.. if you can use magic which can unsurprisingly get you out of here, then why stay?"
Hades paused. It wasn't the easiest question to answer, and he sighed in annoyance. "You see, as much as I despise to say it out loud, you mother made it very darn well clear that I had no future in ruling Storybrooke or anywhere else that she'd known of, so what would be the point in trying anyway? Especially when I already have my group of followers down here. Don't you think it's logical?"
"Actually, I just think it's hilarious that you admitted to being an absolute power freak, it's not exactly logical."
Lucy continued to watch the two of them, hoping that it wouldn't end badly. The fire from the torches seemed to almost be roaring and the flames were getting larger with each sentence.
"Next question – why is my father practically serving you despite knowing what you did was wrong? I mean you basically killed him.", Robin scoffed.
"I don't know. Ask him", Hades said simply. The two girls just looked blankly in confusion.
"How is that an answer?", Robin said afterward.
"It's an answer because I don't know. I'm being serious here.", Hades stated.
Robin was concerned. If he was telling the truth, and if there was no notable reason for her father to help him, then why was he helping Hades anyway? Wouldn't that just make the situation for everybody worse?
"Okay.. well, how do we get out of here?", Robin said.
Suddenly, the door slammed open and the three of them looked towards the door. In front of them, they saw no one else but Robin Hood.
Shit. This is only going to get worse and worse..
"What the hell is going on here?"
Hades smiled as if he was secretly having the time of his life. "Well, would you look at that? It seems the family reunion has gotten to you."
"What are you talking about?", Robin Hood responded. Robin continued to become more and more distressed knowing that she'd soon have to tell him the truth, despite not knowing why it made her distressed.
"Wait, you don't know? This is just getting better and better.", Hades laughed.
"Be quiet!", Lucy got the courage to say, "This isn't something for you to laugh about!"
"What isn't?", Robin Hood continued to ask questions.
This was when Robin realised it was time to tell him the truth. The hellish backdrop around them grew more and more unsettling and despite it being freezing cold outside, the temperature of the house felt as if it was burning her skin. Taking a deep breath, she spoke.
"There is a reason why I ran off after our conversation earlier.", she looked downwards. Robin Hood continued the wonder what she was about to say, whilst Robin didn't take long to think of how she was going to tell him it.
"I know you had children.", she shouted out quickly.
He stood confused. "Wait, you knew Roland?"
She shook her head. "No, no it's not that..".
Robin Hood suddenly panicked, almost as if he could tell what she was about to say from the upset expression she gave.
"I know you did, because one of them was me."
[a/n: Well, shoot… this chapter was kind of difficult to write and I hope it wasn't written to messily. Anyway, I'm going to try and update this more now that school is over and I have nothing better to do with my life .-. bye]