HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN! So I decided to do something special for you since this is technically your first birthday that I've been friends with you so, with a lot of help from some friends, we wrote you a bunch of mini fics to one shots to ficlets on a whole range of your favorite Once characters. Have an absolutely fantastic, amazing, awesome, hilarious magical birthday you lovely lady. You absolutely deserve it you Emma Swan you ;) Hope you like them!
21. Snow somehow has to save her entire family from the clutches of the organisation that wants to destroy magic. The only problem is somehow all the magic in the town is gone so only all the ordinary characters can help her.
Written by: Lisa
Snow was hiding. She evened her breathing as the men searched her apartment, upturning her valued belongings and combing messily through the place in search of her.
She tightened the grip on the gun in her hand, finger already lightly squeezing the trigger.
The men came toward the closet. She heard three footfalls.
Simple enough.
The doors were torn open, and she screamed as she fired bullets blindly in the dark, the night sky blinding her vision.
She heard panicked, non-descript shouts and cries of pain.
She didn't stop until the sounds weren't advancing on her anymore.
Three man lay in heaps on the floor, two breathing harshly and trying not to show pain, the third lying very still.
She grabbed the nearest flashlight with shaky hands and flicked it on. She went over to one of the men, and had to hide her wince as she pressed the heel of her boot onto his open bullet wound. He let out a chocked moan. Snow pointed the gun at his head. He stared back with a look of total hatred.
"Where. Is. My. Family."
When Red came to, she was instantly aware of three things.
One: she wasn't at home. The scent of the building she was inside was totally unfamiliar.
Two: she wasn't wearing her cloak.
Three: she hadn't turned into a bloodthirsty wolf yet.
Something was very, very wrong.
"Granny?" she called, her voice rough and cracked, "Granny-" she doubled over into a coughing heap on the straw-covered concrete ground.
Then she heard it, in the far corner of her cell: breathing.
Three distinct breathing patterns, the smell of three hearts pumping three supplies of blood at break-neck speed. Adrenaline was coming off the bodies in waves.
"Red!" Charming called out, relief and triumph clear in his tone of voice, "Red, thank God! Are you okay?"
"I... think so," she replied, looking over to see Charming, Emma and Henry shackled to the wall of their prison. Henry was slightly dozing, but there were clear signs that he had been crying viciously. Emma looked exhausted, but there was renewed hope in her eyes as Red turned to face them.
"Do you remember what happened?" Charming asked gently, tentatively.
In a flash, Red remembered: the tanks, the bullets, the screaming. The pulse of pure black encompassing the town, draining her of her energy and life-force and identity: draining her of her magic. Goons man-handling her into a truck and driving her away, not knowing if her Granny was alive or-
"Yeah," she replied, "I remember."
"Can you tell where we are?" Emma asked, mindful to keep her voice down so as to not wake Henry.
"No idea," Red replied, "This building's got nothing I can trace. If we could get outside, then maybe I could find our way back."
"So, escape first, get back to Storybrooke, and then get some answers," Emma replied, looking over to her father for confirmation. Charming nodded.
"Now we just need a plan for getting out of here…"
They were all silent for a long time.
The sheer numbers of volunteers had astonished Snow a little.
After all this time, her friends and subjects were loyal to her and her family, to the bitter end.
She secretly worried that, this time, she'd be leading them all to their graves.
"They have guns, highly-trained forces, stealth technology, and who knows what else. What do we have? Certainly not magic," Grumpy told the large group of very lost and frightened creatures stripped of their magic. They were like fish out of water, and they didn't quite know how to cope.
"Now, come on," Jiminy said, "We've got to do this! Besides, our magic isn't our only form of attack. We have other means of getting Snow's family back. We have archers, hunters. There are those of us who are brilliant, or strong, or resourceful, and if we combine those forces into an effective plan, then we can't fail!"
That got a few cheers from the crowd. Jiminy always had such a way with words, Snow mused.
"it's going to be dangerous," she announced, "I won't lie to you. I'm not counting on getting out with my life, so if you want to stay, I won't think anything of it, truly."
"My Red's locked up too," Granny said, stepping forward, "And dear, if you think we're going to quit on you know when things get tough, you've got another thing coming."
Snow smiled at her and faced the crowd.
"Let's begin planning," she said, "I want to strike before dawn breaks."
The interrogations were brutal.
Charming didn't mind, though: anything to keep their filthy hands off his daughter and grandson.
He felt his ribs bruise as he got kicked expertly in the chest for the fifth time.
"Where is the source of your magic?" The man in the suit asked. Charming caught his breath and eyes the man furiously.
"I don't know," he answered truthfully, "I don't know where it came from."
The snapping of fingers and another punch to the temple momentarily stunned Charming.
"We cast a neutralization spell on your quaint little town, but we have access to much more sinister magic if need be," the man drawled.
Charming just spat in his face.
The infiltration was a stunning success.
That's how Snow knew it was a trap right away.
And sure enough, they came at her and her little band of volunteers, guns blazing.
She loosed three arrows in rapid succession, taking down three men in the process. Granny acted as sniper, taking up the rear and shooting any stragglers. The arrows made satisfyingly wet smacks as they found their targets.
She hurried along, her mind buzzing with half-thoughts and surging with blood.
Grumpy kept lookout, his pickaxe in hand.
Rumplestiltskin slithered down the halls after them to find and destroy the beacon of power for the spell that drained them of their magic.
Snow's mind was stuck on an endless loop of they're dead, they're dead, they-
"Careful there, Your Majesty," Rumplestiltskin crooned, "You're going to break your now in half with that grip."
"I'd sooner snap your neck," she hissed in reply, high-strung and scared. He just shrugged and followed behind.
"This way," Grumpy said, pointing, "This looks promising…"
Snow picked the lock, and the four of them burst into the room, weapons at the ready.
There wasn't a guard to be seen.
Red, Henry, Emma and Charming all looked up in surprise, then joy.
"Snow," Charming got out, his face battered and bloody, but his voice elated and joyful.
"Mom," Emma chocked out at the same time, her eyes wide and afraid. Henry was curled up against Emma's chest, shuddering, but he managed a big, tearful grin when he saw her.
"Granny!" Red cried out, moving as close to the bars as the chains would allow, relief at seeing her grandmother alive causing her to collapse.
Snow's fingers had gone shaky, and it took her three tries to get the door open. She ran right for Charming and wrapped her arms around him, reaching up to kiss him long and hard. She had been so afraid that she'd b=never hold him ever again.
She pulled back and smiled at him, reaching up to brush a hand over the black eye forming. He winced, but grinned.
She turned to Emma and Henry and drew them both into a big hug, burying her face into Emma's shoulder and rubbing Henry's back. Grumpy used his pickaxe to break apart the chains as the family hugged, cried and trembled together.
"Well done, well done," Rumplestiltskin said, almost conversationally, "Now, if you'd be so kind as to put this touching reunion on pause… there are guards headed this way-"
He didn't finish. There were shouts, screams, bullets.
Snow was hit hard on the back of the head and collapsed into a heap, Emma screaming for her to stay awake.
She couldn't.
When Snow woke up, she was in Storybrooke's hospital.
"Hey," Emma said softly, putting an arm on her shoulder, "Hey, it's okay, it's all right. You're safe now, we're home again. Just relax."
"Wh-what-" Snow choked out. Emma helped her sit up and held a glass of water to Snow's lips. She drank greedily.
"We won," Emma replied, looking and sounding absolutely drained, "Whoever they were, they wanted to find and destroy the magic in the town, but they failed. They're gone now, you don't have to worry. Everybody's safe, too. A bit beat up, but we're all in one piece."
Snow sank back down onto the covers, relief making her tired all over again. Everything hurt.
The door opened, and two familiar faces swam before her vision as she reopened her eyes.
"Hi grandma," Henry replied, back to his old cheerful self, one cheek covered in a big bandage, "We beat the bad guys! It was awesome, it was just like in the movies!"
"Is that right?" Snow said, chuckling weakly and took Charming's hand.
They listened to Henry recount the tale – with plenty of embellishment – until Snow fell asleep again.
Safe.