A BAT IN STORYBROOKE:
Chapter 24
"Hurry!"
Marion, Emma, David, and Belle ran towards the location of the JOLLY ROGER. The hounds were ahead of them, desperate to rescue the god who fathered him.
"How come the god of funerals can't swim?" Emma asked.
"Do I ask you why you slept with the Dark One's late son?" Marion snapped. "We don't have time for chitchat! My husband's on the verge of dying!"
"Over there!" Belle pointed.
The group stopped at the catwalk that led to the JOLLY ROGER. At least what was left of it. The ship looked like it had been sliced in half and was too close to sinking. The hounds were whimpering in fear as they patrolled by the edges of the catwalk. Marion rubbed the head of one hound, which looked at her with whimpering, puppy eyes.
"Anubis is in the water!" Marion gasped. "We have to fish him out!"
"I'm on it!" David jumped in the dull-colored waters of the Storybrooke Harbor. The women and the hounds watched anxiously for five minutes until David's head popped out of the water. He swam back to the catwalk, lifting an unconscious Anubis in one arm. The well-named Prince Charming laid down the god on the dry platform as soon as Belle and Emma managed to pull them up. Marion rushed to her husband, using the safety tactic of pumping the lungs by pressing her hands up-and-down on his chest.
"Anubis! Please, wake up!" Marion begged. "Please, don't leave me! Don't leave me!" She kept pressing on his chest. Anubis still didn't budge.
The red-haired woman cried when she stopped pressing. Her crying went to uncontrollable sobbing and she hugged her beloved god's unconscious body. The others watched in sadness as she gently pressed her face on the one of Anubis.
"Please don't leave me…" she choked. Several tears fell from her eyes and landed on Anubis' cheeks…
…And Anubis suddenly jerked up, coughing water out of his mouth.
"BAH!" He scratched his neck as he coughed. "What in Sorbek did the inhabitants of Storybrooke put in the harbor?!"
Marion's state of sadness changed to happiness once she saw that her husband was alive. She hugged him tightly.
"I thought I'd never see you again!" she cried. Anubis looked like he was in pain from Marion's gesture, but he returned her gesture.
"After I gave up everything, including half of my immortality, just to be with you?" Anubis chuckled. "Never." He pulled his wife into a kiss, which she returned gladly. Emma and Belle tried to look away in embarrassment.
"I really don't want to break your reunion," David said, "but we have to help the others hunt down a Batrishan. For all we know, he's still holding your daughter captive."
This got Anubis and Marion's attention. An angered look filled both of their faces.
"Indeed," Anubis said. He and Marion stood up and prepared their weapons: Marion held her crossbow in a position that made her weapon align with her right arm. Anubis magically summoned a staff with an ankh at the end. The weapon emitted a golden glow in his hands. "We must find that Batrishan."
"Where was he going the last time we saw him?" Marion asked.
"Fidget seemed to be flying towards the forest when he left the docks," Belle said. "Do you think he hid her there?"
"Most likely," David said.
"Then we'd better go instantly." Anubis snapped his fingers and his hounds gathered, lined up in a military-styled way. "Hadah jo Batrishan! Find the Batrishan!" His hounds howled in acknowledgement and instantly ran towards the town, howling as they did so.
"One thing I don't understand," Marion suddenly said, catching the attention of the others. "If Fidget was aiming at Killian specifically for revenge, and he held Henry and Rosetta in his clutches, then why did he choose to dispose of Henry, who's the closest to the pirate, instead of Rosetta?"