So sorry about not updating! School started again and real life smacked me in the face. Then, I kept having troubles uploading this to FanFiciton. This is currently my eighth try. I'll try to do better in the future, but I can't make any promises. Thank you so much to everyone that followed and favorited!
ArdeaSpark: Thanks for your amazing review! Yes, Baelfire's personality is different from the show, it's supposed to be. I believe that how you interact with people is in a big way due to your experiences, and we have seen nothing of Young Bae after Hook's ship. This is placed after that, so he's going to act differently.
Cammy: Thanks for reviewing! I'll try to get the updates out quicker in the future, sorry for the wait!
steelneena: I probably should have put this in the background information, but I'm ashamed to say I forgot. In regards to Henry's father, I'm actually still figuring that out. There are a few characters I'm interested in seeing if I could make work, but at the moment I'm not sure. At this point, I don't trust my writing abilities enough to make him an OC. I may just use Emma's story of a fireman in the end, but I'm still debating. That won't be addressed until much farther down the road, though.
Catspook: At the moment we have seen no Rumple other than references to him, and there's a reason for that. I want to give Bae a solid foundation in this town before his father finds him, so they won't interact until a few chapters down the road. In order to accomplish this I'll have him be referred to as his curse name, Bailey, in front of Mr. Gold. Also, seeing as Baelfire was supposed to be in the Land Without Magic, Gold won't suspect the blatantly magical kid to be his long lost son. I will tell you, however, that he does find Bae before the Charmings get back from their mandatory family vacation, aka when they all got chucked into a hat and landed in another realm.
Okay, I'll shut up now. Enjoy!
Of Broken Families and Shattered Souls
Chapter Four: In Which The Town Hall Meeting Quite Literally Goes Up In Flames, And Baelfire Learns The Dangers Of Not Attending The Entire Meeting
"Come on!" Hector urged his siblings, laughing as he ran.
Cassandra watched as her brothers moved ahead of her. They hadn't acquiesced to her pleas to stop, to come back, to please for once in their lives would they just listen to her. Nobody ever listened to her (why listen to her, she's cRaZY), and they always payed the price (and falling sword and blood and didn't you know all magic comes with a price) for it. Just as her brothers would now (the line had not been drawn yet, but it had already been crossed).
Cassandra (Cassandra again, not the fake not real Alexandra) hummed as she twirled the purple stone in her hands. She had long ago made it into a necklace with a bit of chord so that it would always be near. Perhaps she was just imagining it (fake, unclear, not real, like everything, or was it nothing?), but things had always seemed clearer when it was on hand. She watched her bare feet (no shoes, they trap, confine, cages) as she walked along the road, her dress swishing around her knees. Something would happen soon (the die has been cast, too late to be called back). There would be a loss, or a discovery, she wasn't sure which. For all she knew, it could be both.
"Hurry up, crazy!" her brother Paris shouted at her. "I told you we should have left her at home."
"If we had, she would have woken Mom and Dad with all the racket she was making," her other brother Hector shot back. "I've heard injured cats make less of a fuss."
The curse (set into motion with a wish and a bean and the deal is struck) had only broken a few hours ago (always meant to be broken, never going to stay, Fate wouldn't let it), and her brothers had already taken advantage of the chaos to sneak out. Their parents had gone to sleep not too long ago, claiming to need their rest to deal with the aftermath tomorrow. Paris and Hector (started Paris and Hector, Julius and Lukas had moved in with the smoke, taken over, pushed out with the light, now Paris and Hector once more) had decided to use this as an opportunity to run around the town unsupervised.
Cassandra looked up the the sky, stumbling over her own feet. The stars were out (same in every realm, captured in a coconut, or was that the darkness?), and Cassandra made a habit of looking at them whenever she could. She wasn't sure why yet. Maybe it was important. Maybe it wasn't (puzzle always changes, shifts, slips through the fingers like sand or was it water?). They would reach their destination soon, despite Cassandra's every attempt to stop them (let the strange short man pay the price, not Paris). She wasn't sure if the price could be reversed. (Can the boy with haunted eyes and a shattered soul reverse the price with a wave of his scarred hands, or will it already be too late?)
"What'd you up to now, crazy?" Paris asked her. Cassandra couldn't fault him for calling her that, not really (but maybe she should, she wasn't sure). She certainly looked the part. Her long brown hair was tangled and her dark blue (good color, calms, focuses) dress had been scrawled over with Sharpie (draw the future, try and set it in stone, no, wrong, it's etched in sand and changes with the wind). Cassandra fixed her unsettling green eyes on her brother and pierced (daggers and darkness and you can die) him with a gaze.
"Don't cross the line blown in red," she begged. "Julius will crawl back inside, push down Paris, make it so he can't get out. Lost Boys and fairies and spinners may not be able to find him again."
"You've lost it," he sneered back at her. "Look, we're here."
With an unearthly scream, Cassandra threw herself at his legs. "No! The light only just drove away Julius! Don't let the smoke back in!" she screamed, desperately pulling back on his legs. It was of no use. Her brother shook her off and walked towards Hector.
"You ready for this?" he laughed.
"Still time to chicken out," Hector teased back.
Cassandra sat on the ground Indian style and gathered stray pebbles from the ground (change his Fate, recast the die). She shook his hand and tossed the rocks on the ground (three pairs of twos must cast again). It was that stupid bet's fault. Hector had dared Paris to be the first one to step foot outside of this town in thirty years (didn't they know the Queen and the savior's son had crossed long before the line had been needed?).
"Ready?" asked Hector.
"One," counted Paris. (Recast the die, change his fate)
"Two," laughed Hector. (Too late now, the hand has been dealt.)
"Three," Paris finished as he stepped over a line that didn't exist yet.
Cassandra screamed.
Baelfire had barely made it through the second story when the screams interrupted him.
"Henry!" Bae drew his sword and threw open the curtains. Henry was sitting up in the bed, panting as he looked around wildly. Baelfire searched for the threat before he realized the reason behind Henry's turmoil. Bae sheathed his sword. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked awkwardly.
"I had a nightmare," Henry shakily said.
Bae shifted on his feet. If there was one thing he understood, it was nightmares. After all, he had been having nightmares since his father had let him go. However, he had no idea how to go about comforting someone after one. The last person to comfort him after a nightmare had been Hook. One night, he had walked in on a terrified Bae and immediately realized what had happened. Instead of mocking him, as Bae had expected (Bae hadn't been on the Jolly Roger for very long at this point, and still hadn't been convinced that pirates were good), Hook had sat with him and told him stories of his travels until Baelfire calmed down. Eventually, Baelfire told him that he had dreamt of his father abandoning him. Hook had gone into a righteous anger when he heard this, and promised Bae that the crew would never abandon him. He hadn't had another nightmare the entire time he was on board. Stop. Don't think about that. Focus on Henry.
Baelfire walked over to the bed and sat down. "Yeah… Nightmares— Nightmares are terrible," he said, then winced. He was in way over his head. "When I was younger and had a nightmare, my father—he was a spinner— used to always tell me to watch his wheel as it spun. Something about it turning would always calm me down. When I fell asleep, I wouldn't have any nightmares."
"Used to?" Henry asked curiously.
"Uh, yeah," Bae gave him a small, humorless smile. "He left me."
"I'm sorry," Henry said softly.
"Don't worry about it. It was a long time ago," Bae tensely answered. "Your nightmare. You can talk to me about it if you want. I mean, you don't have to," he hastily added. "Just if talking would make you feel better—"
"It's fine. I— I was in a room," Henry took a deep breath. "It was burning, with me in it." He looked up at Bae. "I couldn't breath."
"That sounds horrible," Baelfire quietly responded.
"It was just a dream," Henry said, looking down.
"Henry, I—" Bae started, then stopped. "I don't think it was."
"What?" he asked, looking up again.
Baelfire picked up Henry's arm. There was a long burn on his skin. "I think it was real."
"So did you steal Mary Poppins' bag or something?" Henry asked.
"Should I pretend I know what that means?" After seeing the wound, Baelfire had led Henry over to the table and pulled out his rucksack. Inside, he had a burn salve to help the boy's arm. He quickly applied it and wrapped it with gauze (supplied by Henry, apparently it was better than the strips of cloth Bae would have otherwise used).
"I mean, you have everything in there: medicines, knives, bandages, rocks that hide you from monsters."
Baelfire shot Henry a small smile. "I promise I don't have everything in here. Just the things helpful to survival." He turned over Henry's hand only to freeze. "The wraith's mark, it's gone."
"What?" Henry jerked his hand back and gazed at it. "Where did it go? I thought that you couldn't get rid of it."
"I can't. The only way that a wraith mark disappears is when someone else has been marked."
Henry looked horrified. "My family…"
"Are going to be fine," Baelfire finished firmly. "Even if the wraith did get them, there are ways to get them back. They're going to be okay," he said with finality. He went to tuck the burn salve back in his bag, only to knock it over. A compass, several stones (all with various magical properties) and a necklace scattered across the table.
"What's this do? Henry asked, picking up the necklace.
Baelfire's breath caught in his throat. Henry was holding a small vial hung from braided string. However, it wasn't the necklace itself that caused this reaction, but what it contained. The pixie dust, Pan's pixie dust, was kept in that vial. Peter Pan, with all the power of Neverland behind him, had been able to use it to cross realms. Baelfire, less powerful than the boy-king (though still quite formidable in his own right), had needed a pilfered shadow to take him to the Enchanted Forest. "It's nothing," Bae said, taking the vial from Henry. Yeah, sure, nothing. As if pixie dust could ever be described as nothing. Pixie dust found in the Enchanted Forest was about one hundred times more powerful than regular fairy dust. Pixie dust that had been formed in Neverland, a place that could only be described as a bastion of magic, was one of the most powerful substances in all the realms. "It's just something I found a long time ago." Stole. Something Bae had stolen a long time ago. Baelfire took the necklace and slipped it around his neck. It would be safer there.
Henry didn't look like he bought it. The boy gazed at Bae intently. "You don't trust very easily, do you?"
The former Lost Boy swallowed hard. Dear gods, this kid was smart. He had only known Baelfire for a few hours and was already figuring him out. "I used to," Bae answered honestly.
Henry simply nodded. "So, how can my dream be real?"
"I think you traveled to a Netherworld in your sleep," Baelfire responded, grateful for the change of subject. "What I can't figure out is why. Has anything unusual happened to you recently? Other than the wraith, that is." Bae had already ruled the wraith out as the catalyst for Henry's sojourn into this other realm. The Soul-Sucker would have had to succeed in capturing Henry's soul to get him there, and even if he had, a burning room was the last place you'd find a wraith. This wasn't the Netherworld that held the undead, Baelfire was sure of it.
"I was under my mom's Sleeping Curse. Would that do it?"
"Sleeping curse?" Baelfire asked curiously. Yes, he had finally gotten some answers from the dwarves (they were a surprisingly gossipy group) but that didn't mean he knew everything that had happened while he was in the asylum. "What did it do? Besides make you sleep, that is."
"Here," Henry said uncomfortably. "It's in the book." He quickly walked over to where Baelfire had left the book and picked it up. Flipping the pages as he went, he walked back and placed it in front of the wizard, who began to read. Baelfire eyebrows shot up. No wonder Henry hadn't wanted to discuss it. Your own body as a tomb? Trapped in a world made of your own regrets? It sounded horrible, and exactly like a Netherworld.
"This sounds like it. Is this the first time you've gone there?"
"Yeah. So what is a Netherworld?
"It's a realm, only the lines between it and other realms are blurred. This allows souls to travel there when they sleep, if they meet a prerequisite." Baelfire knew quite a bit about Netherworlds. After all, he had lived in one for hundreds of years. Neverland was technically classified as a Netherworld. Apparently, before the time of Pan, Neverland was a realm made for the sole purpose of providing the lost and unloved children of all the realms a sanctuary for their dreams. After Pan, however, children stopped coming. What Neverland had become could never be described as a sanctuary. "If we can find the prerequisite for this one, we can stop the dreams. Do you have any idea what keeps sending you back there?"
"No," Henry responded miserably.
Baelfire bit his lip as he thought. "Well, I can't just keep sending you back there. It's too dangerous." Henry still needed sleep though. "I think I can set up something that can protect you from the flames while you're there. Maybe once it stops affecting you the dreams will stop too. I don't have the supplies here though. I'll find them today and set it up for tonight."
Henry looked stricken at the thought. " I can't go back to sleep! I won't go back into that room!"
"And I won't make you," Bae reassured. He had had too many night terrors himself to force another to go back to sleep. "Here," he said, walking to the center of the room, where there was a wide open space. "Let me show you what I used to do when I had nightmares." This probably wasn't the most responsible thing to do when you're in charge of an impressionable kid, but Baelfire didn't care. This had been the only thing that had kept him sane (or well, mostly sane) for all those years of restless sleep, and it was the only thing he could think of to help Henry.
"What are we going to do?" Henry asked, joining him.
"I am going to teach you how to fight."
Henry shot him a probing look. "You used to do this to help nightmares?"
"Still do. Well, not exactly this. Whenever I had nightmares I would practice my fighting technique. It gave me something else to focus on so I would forget about my dreams." What Baelfire didn't mention was that he originally started this as a desperate bid to survive Pan's "games," not as a coping mechanism. It had, however, helped him forget every time he had a night terrors. Eventually, it got to the point where he spent most nights practicing. This had the unanticipated but welcomed side effect of making him one of the best — if not the best — fighters in Neverland. "Here, stand with your feet apart, knees bent." Henry followed his instructions with a doubt filled look on his face. "No, like this," Bae corrected, kicking Henry's feet into the correct position.
"Okay, now what?" Henry asked.
"Now," Baelfire declared, "we're going to start with dodging."
Henry was quickly starting to hate the sound of his mother's phone.
Whenever he had heard it in the past, he had loved it, because it meant that his birth mom was there, with him. Now, however, all it brought was bad news and the reminder that Emma was gon— missing. His mother was missing, not gone. Gone meant she wasn't coming back. Missing only meant that she was lost. And lost meant that they would find her again.
Bae walked over and fumbled with the phone. He managed to pick it up right before it went to voicemail. "Sheriff's phone," he gasped. "Ruby? What's happened?" A pause, then a sigh. "Okay. Henry and I will be right there." The mysterious boy/geriatric-in-disguise (centuries?) glanced at Henry. "I'm afraid we have to get going to Granny's. Apparently there was a disturbance and they want to consult my "magical expertise." Bae made a face at this term, and Henry laughed as he stood up.
Bae swung his pack over his shoulder and they started out the door. "Not fond of being thought of as Storybrooke's resident magic expert?"
"I just realized that now they're probably going to call me when it comes to magical problems," he said with a look of dread on his face. He flashed Henry a grave look. "Henry, if you ever develop magic tell no one. Just keep it to yourself, and you'll be so much happier. Once people find out about it, they tend to break into your house and steal your stuff. When you catch them, they act all self-righteous and demand you give them what they want, usually at sword point. Then, they blame you for the price of magic and swear vengeance. Believe me, it's a headache you don't want."
Henry laughed again, and Baelfire refused to admit how happy the sound made him.
He hadn't made anyone laugh since Wendy.
Ruby would need at least six cups of coffee to get through today.
Every ten seconds, a new disaster would strike. The town would would have blackouts, the hospital would be vastly understaffed, and people would suddenly realize that they had been trying to kill someone else in the old realm, and decide to revive their efforts. Honestly, Ruby was this close to giving up and letting the town rip itself to shreds.
But she couldn't do that. Snow cared about these people, and Ruby needed to keep them all safe until she got back. Red knew she owed a lot to Snow White. After all, she had been the only one willing to look past the beast.
Red would never forget the night she had to flee from her village. She had been terrified, and guilty, and so confused about what was happening. She was the one that had been terrorizing everybody. She was the monster, not Peter. Peter, who she loved. Peter, who she ate. Red had wanted to scream and cry and rage when she had realized just what exactly she had done, but she couldn't stop. If she stopped running, the villagers would get her— the villagers she had grown up with (Thompkins the Baker who had always been willing to take credit when they couldn't afford bread and Jackson who had a crush on her when they were teenagers and always blushed when she looked at him and Andrew the Huntsman who had taught her how to fight and and and)— would kill her, without remorse, for what she was.
A part of Red thought she deserved it.
And throughout it all Snow had been by her side. After they had run until they couldn't anymore, Red had been too afraid to look at her companion. She was so scared that she would see the same disgust in Snow's eyes that she had seen in everyone else's, the same disgust that Red felt towards herself. She had already lost everything else, she couldn't lose Snow too.
Red wouldn't have been able to live with herself if that happened.
But then, Snow caught her eye and Red saw no disgust. Instead, she had seen concern. Concern for a werewolf. She had very, very quietly asked Red if she was alright, and had watched as she slowly shook her no.
Then, Snow had held her as she cried.
After that, they had been inseparable. Red protected Snow against anything that threatened her best (only) friend, and Snow had done the same. And the pale girl had never, not once, looked at Red in disgust, not even when she was wiping the remains of one of the King's soldiers off her lips. Not only that, her friend had enticed others to risk coming near a werewolf, and through that Red had found lasting friends in David and the Dwarves. Even when Snow had reclaimed the throne she hadn't abandoned Red. No matter how many people insulted the Queen for having a werewolf, of all the horrific creatures out there, on her council, the regent stood firm. Red had a place in court, and Snow put an end to the dissenters' insults towards her friend.
Not that it stopped them from talking about her behind her back, however. The glances, the pauses when she entered a room, and the whispers had never stopped. She was still nothing but a dangerous freak to them, they just couldn't say it to her face without risking the Queen's wrath. Red had always hated that part the most. No matter what she did to prove herself, they would only ever see a beast. If it wasn't for Snow, they would be more than content to kill her and be done with it.
Red was sure this was why the curse had made her Ruby.
The Village Werewolf. The Town Slut. Both very different titles, but with the same end result. More hushed conversations and judgemental stares and people who didn't give a damn about what happened to her. Of course, it was for this reason they would never let her run this town. Their Enchanted Forest side argued she was a werewolf, and therefore not to be trusted. People back there tended to raise their children on stories about evil werewolves who would steal them in the night and eat them for supper if they didn't behave. Their Storybrooke side argued she was nothing but a common whore, and was much too flighty to ever be in charge of decision making. Either way, the citizens had already decided that she was not a good thing for this town, despite the fact that she was keeping her head while they tore each other to bits.
That didn't mean she wasn't going to try and figure this out, however. Snow would be counting on her to rise above everyone else's expectations, and Red hated to let her down. She knew that if this town had just one person that they trusted to protect them, then they'd all calm down. The problem with that plan, however, was that the most likely candidates had dropped through a hole to another realm.
Just one crisis at a time, Ruby.
And boy, did she have a crisis on her hands now.
A boy had run in, dragging his brother behind him. Trailing behind both of them had been a pretty if disheveled young girl who was muttering to herself while rolling a purple stone in her hand.
The boy had been hysterical, shouting about town lines and curses. His brother had just been confused, asking what had made his brother so upset and why they were suddenly calling him Paris. The girl had just plopped herself on the floor, still fingering her necklace with one hand and tracing the swirling lines of Sharpie marks with the other.
It was around that time she called Bae. Red wasn't stupid, and neither was Ruby (contrary to popular belief). She knew that she was way out of her depth when it came to magic, so she had called someone who may know why crossing the town line had reset the curse.
Bae and Henry trailed inside fifteen minutes later, apparently having decided to walk instead of poof into existence on top of her granny's counter top. Ruby wasn't sure if she should feel grateful for this or not.
"What happened?" the wizard asked.
"Some kids ran in about a half hour ago. Apparently one of them crossed the town line and now all he remembers is his cursed life," she replied. Ruby really hoped that the boy would be able to figure out what happened, or better yet, reverse it.
Bae nodded and walked over to the two boys. It wasn't very hard to figure out who they were seeing as the kids were the only other people in the diner. While the inn was open, Granny and Ruby decided to keep the restaurant closed until they could figure out exactly what to do.
Ruby looked to Henry while Bae spoke to the two boys. "How was your night?" She was slightly afraid of the answer. She still wasn't sure if she had made the right decision in sending Henry off with Bae, but she hadn't known what else to do. They hadn't had anywhere else to put the boy.
Henry just shrugged at her, making Ruby even more nervous. "What happened?" she questioned, alarmed at the sight of his bandaged arm.
"My mom sent me to a Netherworld full of fire. But don't worry, Bae says he can set something up to keep me safe from it tonight."
"Wha—" Ruby started, only to pause when Bae walked over. "So, do you know what caused this?"
"I think we just discovered the price of Storybrooke's magic," he replied with a grim look. "Magic protects itself, and in this case, it's protecting the knowledge of its existence. Since it's limited to the city limits, it's limited everything about it to the city limits. That includes knowledge of Our Land."
"Can you reverse it?" the werewolf turned waitress asked.
"Maybe," he responded uncertainly. "I might be able to figure out a cure, but it would take time. I've never seen anything like this before."
Red sighed. It would have been too easy if Bailey had been able to fix it. "So what's this about a Netherworld?"
"Side effect of the Sleeping Curse apparently," Henry jumped in. "When I sleep it sends me to a—"
"Burning room?" Red asked.
"Yeah," Bae responded, staring at the girl intently. "How'd you know?"
"Because the same thing used to happen to Snow. We all thought it was just a dream." Red remembered the horrible screams that Snow would make after one of those nightmares. It would take David hours to convince her she was okay. Then, he would light a candle and wait with her until she fell asleep. "Henry says you can keep him safe from it."
"It think I can make something that will work. I just have to get ahold of some of the ingredients."
"Well, can you do that now? There's a town hall meeting at 1:00 and I need to find you guys a place to stay after that." Ruby wasn't looking forward to that. None of the guests had shown any indication of leaving the inn, Archie had no where to put them, and all the dwarves drank and swore profusely (Emma would kill her if she left Henry with a dwarf, if Regina didn't get to it first). She wasn't even going to pretend to consider Regina after she gaslighted the poor kid.
"No! Can't I stay with Bae?" Henry protested.
Ruby raised her eyebrows at his fervor. They had only known each other for a night, how could Henry already be so attached? "You need to stay with an adult, and so does Bae."
"I'm sorry, what?" Bae cut in. "That's not happening."
Henry jumped in before Ruby could say anything. "Bae is an adult! He's hundreds of years old! He's probably the oldest person in this town! You can't get more adult than that!"
"I think we should listen to Henry," Bae said. "Mainly because there is literally nothing in this or any realm that can make me play happy family with someone I don't know. Besides, I've taken care of myself for centuries, it's way too late to try and put an adult in charge of me."
Red sighed again and pinched the bridge of her nose. The diner phone was ringing again, which meant that there was a new crisis to deal with. "Look, we'll discuss this after the town hall meeting. You both are coming, right?"
"'Course," Henry chirped before Bailey could say anything.
"Then go work on your Netherworld thing, and we'll talk later."
The boys dutifully filed out the door, and Red made her way to the ringing phone. Today was just going to go downhill from here, she knew it.
"Seriously, what's the point of all this stuff?" Henry asked for the tenth time. When Bae had said they were going out to get ingredients for his magic, Henry had expected something mystic and cool.
Instead, they had gotten dirt.
Well, it wasn't just dirt. They had also gotten seaweed, driftwood, dandelions, grass, and other completely non-magicystuff. Frankly, it was disappointing. Magic was real, he was living with a real-life sorcerer (Henry didn't care what Ruby thought. He was going to stay with Bae, he was sure of it) while they got his family back from another realm, and all the magical items he had seen were rocks and dirt. Well, and that strange glittery dust Bae was keeping in a necklace, but that didn't count. The boy obviously didn't trust Henry enough to even say what it was, but that was okay. Henry would prove that he could trust him, and then Bae would tell him. Whatever that stuff was, it obviously was important, or else Bae wouldn't be wearing it. It made sense that the boy had to be careful about who he trusted with it.
"You'll see," Bae promised with a laugh as he swung open the door to the town town hall was completely packed with concerned citizens. Granny had apparently decided to keep the peace again, because she was walking around with her crossbow. Huh. She was actually surprisingly good at ending any chaos that may be happening. Maybe they should make Granny the sheriff until his mom got back.
Ruby was trying to calm down the townspeople, with little success. Her attempts would have been effective if it wasn't for everyone's reactions to her. Whenever she tried to speak to someone they snapped at her and jerked away. Henry wondered why. She had always been one of the nicest people in Storybrooke.
The Dwarves waved him and Bae over. Apparently after last night, Bae was officially a part of their pack or something. Either way, there was a good chance he was getting a pickaxe.
A loud crash drew everyone's attention, and the entire town immediately became tense. This place was like a powder keg about to blow. Surprisingly enough, the source of the outburst was Mother Superior, who was currently looking at Henry like he was the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Bae shifted uncomfortably next to Henry. Maybe Mother Superior wasn't actually looking at Henry. He glanced up at Bae just in time to see the boy give a stiff nod to the nun. "Hello again, Reul Ghorm."
It was somewhat impressive that Bailey was capable of stunning a centuries old being. "How are you not dead?" she asked in shock.
Bae stared at her. "Should I be?" he deadpanned.
"I'm sorry, how do you two know each other?" Leroy looked like he was trying to figure some kind of new and unusual puzzle that didn't have all its pieces. While drunk.
"Reul Ghorm has had many petitioners over the years," Bae tersely replied. "It is not so unusual that I was one." His tone implied that the conversation was over. Unfortunately, he was speaking with a dwarf, and dwarves generally didn't care about the possible dangers associated with pushing someone. (Henry was fairly sure the term "poking the bear" originated when a dwarf actually tried it.)
"It's unusual that she greets you with surprise at the fact you're still breathing. Explain."
The Blue Fairy finally seemed to realize that she had caused a scene in front of the entire town. "I apologize," she said stiffly. "I'm just surprised to see you in Storybrooke. You haven't aged a day." That last bit was in a slightly accusatory tone, and Henry wondered what exactly their history was.
"I could say the same thing about you," the boy replied.
"I'm a fairy," came the flat response. "We don't age."
"You two can discuss how difficult you both find aging to be later," Ruby cut in. "Now, we need to start the meeting."
"Alright, everyone," hollered Leroy, "nothing to here! Just a fairy and a senior citizen stuck in a teenager's body having a chat!"
"Thanks," Bae drily said. Henry winced. Storybrooke was a bustling cistern of gossipers. The entire town would hear of this incident by dinner.
"Anytime," replied the smug dwarf with a pat to the wizard's back.
"Okay, everyone, can I get your attention please? Everyone, please!" Ruby called from the front of the room. Henry felt sorry for her. Most of the room ignored her, and the few that paid attention shot her dirty looks.
"Everybody shut up!" Leroy shouted. The room fell silent. "Thank you." He nodded to Ruby. "All yours sister."
"I officially call this town hall meeting to ord—" she began. Unfortunately, she never got to finish. Because before she could, the doors slammed open with a loud crack. Henry's heart sank, and he edged closer to Bae.
His mother was standing between the double doors, her lips twisted into a smug smile.
Baelfire did not have high hopes for this meeting.
The town was an absolute mess. The closest thing to a lawman was the terrifying (not that he'd ever admit it) old woman with the crossbow, or the Dwarves, and despite their contributions the night before, he had learnt their expertise was more in war-winning than peacekeeping. That girl from the diner, Ruby, was making a valid effort, but for some reason the entire town distrusted her. Frankly, all Bae expected was watching a few hours of mindless bickering before sneaking his charge out the back.
Instead, Henry's mother decided to crash the meeting.
The doors were thrown open with magic, seemingly for the sole purpose of dramatic effect. "My, what a nice turn out," she began as she strutted forward. "No need for a fuss. It's just little old me." Apparently she felt the need to show off her newly reclaimed magical abilities. She sent a ball of flames roaring through the room, causing the citizens to jump out of the way with a scream. The flame crashed into the town crest, setting it alight.
Bae glanced down at Henry, then froze. Henry had edged closer to Bae, but that wasn't what startled him. It was the look on the boy's face.
Because dear gods he knew that look.
(No, papa no. Please papa, don't. Papa! Papa!)
He had worn the same look every single time his father hurt someone. Every time he failed to stop his father from hurting someone. It was knowing something terrible was going to happen to someone else because of you. It was knowing that no matter how desperately you tried, you would never ever be able to save them.
Because the person you were trying to stop didn't care enough to listen.
That part was always the worst. Knowing that while they may care about you enough to never physically hurt you, it didn't stop them from using you as an excuse to hurt other people. Growing up, the guilt of what his father had done ate him alive from the inside out. He should have been able to stop him.
The sound of Dr. Hopper's voice broke Bae from the memories of a dirt road and a ball and a donkey and dark smoke and death. The Dark One's son snapped up his gaze to look at the Evil Queen. "Regina, think about what you're doing!" Hopper said, starting forward. Bae winced, judging by the look on her face, she didn't like that.
Unfortunately, Baelfire was once again proven right. "Bug," the witch snarled, thrusting out her hand with a wave of magic. Baelfire could sense the darkness churning through the air, calling for pain and harm and payment.
It would never reach the brave soul that decided to defy the Evil Queen.
Because the moment before it slammed into him, Baelfire cleanly stepped in front of the man and threw up a glowing shield. While he hadn't been able to stop his father, he could stop Regina. He couldn't let Henry feel the same guilt he had. He wouldn't.
Bae heard the Blue Fairy gasp at this blatant display of magic, and he internally winced. Right, when he had last seen her he was attempting to travel to a realm with no magic. She had probably found out he had succeeded, which made it seem impossible that he had ever had the opportunity to actually learn magic. He would probably have to sit down with her and answer some questions, before she blurted out his heritage in front of the entire town. In the meantime, he just wished she would stop the the obvious displays of shock. Honestly, the majority of the population was here, and she was making a scene.
"Calm down, Regina. There's no need for dramatics."
The entire bloody town gaped at him. Honestly, had no magic user even tried to stand up to Regina? Why on earth was he so surprising?
"You," she snarled, stalking forward. "You think some tricks with arrows and flames gives you the power to stand against me? Let me show you what power really looks like." In her hand she conjured yet another ball of fire, this one much larger than the last.
"Mom, no!" Henry screamed. Out of the corner of Bae's eye, he could see the boy try to run in front of him, only to be grabbed by a dwarf. The witch ignored him, and sent the flames rushing towards the wizard. Baelfire raised his hand and the flames extinguished. Honestly, she had made a good try of it, but Baelfire had been practicing magic before her great grandparents had even existed. She didn't stand a chance. Bae pushed his hand towards Regina. She flew backwards and slammed into the partition Bae had set alight the night before. Before she could move, vines shot out to pin her arms in place. Regina looked up at him in absolute shock.
"Get your ego in check, Your Majesty. Just because you never fought anyone powerful enough to beat you in the Enchanted Forest, doesn't mean they didn't exist."
Regina desperately shoved her magic against the bonds, but to no avail. The vines would glow as a show of her efforts, but no more. She couldn't break the bonds.
"She — she can't get out," one of the townsfolk nervously laughed. "He beat her."
Apparently the town took this as a cue to celebrate. They broke out in cheers, much to Bae's dismay.
Honestly, when he had broken out from the asylum he had wanted to keep a low profile.
Bae was pretty sure becoming a small town hero was a sign he had pathetically failed.
Baelfire risked a glance at Henry, and his heart sank at what he saw. The boy was nervously glancing between Bae and his mother and the town. No matter what he had said the night before, Henry still cared about his mother. He didn't want to see her hurt. Baelfire sighed. This kid already had him wrapped around his little finger.
The boy snapped his fingers and the doors reopened. "Everyone out! The meeting has been postponed. Come back in a couple hours."
It seemed the town wasn't keen on angering the only magic user powerful enough to stop Regina. The majority of them filed out of the room, leaving Dr. Hopper, Ruby and her grandmother, the Dwarves, Reul Ghorm, and Henry as the holdouts.
Baelfire glared at them.
"Not gonna happen, brother," Leroy stated. "You're a dwarf now, we don't leave a man behind." The others seemed to be in agreement. Not a single one of them was budging. Bae's gaze frustratedly ran across the group, until it landed on Henry.
"I'm not leaving either," Henry said, daring him to argue. "She's my mom, I should be here."
Baelfire nodded. He knew a lost cause when he saw one. Short of magically poofing them away, which he doubted they would appreciate, none of them were leaving.
Bae turned back around and stared at the Evil Queen. She was stubbornly meeting his gaze. She knew she had been beaten but refused to show any sign of weakness.
Bae sighed and flicked his wrist. The vines retracted. The boy was well aware that the entire room was staring at him; he wasn't going to focus on that. Baelfire knew he could subdue her again if need be, and she'd be more willing to answer questions if she wasn't chained to a wall. "You're letting me go," she said in disbelief . "Just like that."
"No," the boy responded in a flat tone. "We're asking you some questions. If I leave you tied to the gate while we do that you'll just glare at us like a stubborn child. This way we have a chance of getting answers."
"Can we start with how she got her magic back?" Chimed in Granny. "Personally, I'd be interested in finding that out."
"How do you think?" Regina answered. "I made a deal."
Baelfire stiffened at the reference to his father. He knew had had still been dealing in the Enchanted Forest, but this was the first result of one of them he had seen firsthand.
And that result had been a town hall attacked, citizens terrorized, and the Evil Queen becoming just as dangerous as she had been before the curse.
Bae refused to let himself be disappointed. He had seen his father kill mercilessly and laugh afterwards. This was minor in comparison, and Baelfire had been well aware that Rumpelstiltskin would have only gotten worse over the years.
It still hurt though. Didn't his father ever think about how his actions affected everybody else? No, all he ever cared about was himself and his damn deals.
And Bae. Once upon a time he had cared about Bae.
"If the curse is broken, why didn't we go back?" Grumpy asked, unknowingly breaking Baelfire from his riviere.
Regina glanced at Baelfire. Apparently realizing that feeding them the whole "that land is gone" spiel wouldn't work, she replied truthfully. "I don't know."
"Yeah, right," Leroy sneered back. "I don't buy that for a second. You cast this curse, you would know what would happen when it broke."
"I don't care if you don't believe it, dwarf, it's true! I only focused on enacting it; I never bothered with what would happen if it was broken! I was never planning on it being broken at all!"
"She's telling the truth," Bae said. He believed her. There were some magic users that never cared about the finer details of spells, and he had a feeling she was one of them. But now he had his own questions he wanted answered. "Why did you come here today?" It wasn't a question, not really. Bae knew exactly why she was here; he just wanted to see if she would admit it. The Queen remained silent. She was unwilling to succumb to this line of questioning, but at this point she was wary of him. She wasn't about to shoot off her mouth.
Bae glanced over her face. She wouldn't say anything. "Shall I tell you then?" He didn't wait for her to answer. "You came for Henry."
"He's my son! You can't keep him from me!"
Baelfire tried to rein in his temper before he said something he would regret. "You may have adopted him but you're not acting like his mother! Mothers actually give a damn about their children!" Not that he would know much on that regard. His mother abandoned him for a man she had known for less than twenty-four hours. "He told you to stop! Why the hell would you hurt him by not listening?!"
"You know nothing of my son!"
"I know better than you; I've been him!" Baelfire could hear the entire room go silent behind him. He wanted to smack himself. Blurting out something like this in a fit of anger was exactly what he wanted to avoid. Bae could practically feel Reul Ghorm staring at him. Well, it was too late to turn back now. "I've been him," he repeated. "I've been that kid that begs his parent to stop. I been the kid that tried so desperately to stop their parents from hurting someone, only to fail every bloody time. Do you honestly think it doesn't hurt him?" He didn't wait for a response. "It does. More than you will ever understand. If this keeps going on it will destroy Henry. And I can't let that happen. I won't let that happen"
"Henry…" Regina trailed off looking towards the boy in question. "You don't think really think I'd ever hurt you, do you?"
Henry look at Regina with a sad determination. "You already have. You — you hurt me when you got rid of my family. You hurt me when you tried to hurt everyone else. I — I think you should go."
"Henry," she whispered, taking a few steps towards them. Baelfire moved in front of Henry and met Regina's gaze with a challenge. Don't come and closer, or there will be consequences. She stopped. "Henry, I love you. Never forget that." She raised her hands and disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.
"Should we go after her?" whispered Sleepy, breaking the silence.
"Where would we even put her?" asked Ruby. She glanced at Baelfire. "Would you be able to get her to stay in a cell?"
Bae frowned. "Probably, but it'd take more time and effort than it's worth. Trying to trap a magic user is about as easy as hugging a rabid wolf. And about as safe. If we tried she'd end up enraged against the town, especially if we succeed. Besides, even then the likelihood of escape is high." He should know. He's escaped enough cages in his life. "If there's a problem I'll deal with it and we'll revisit the idea. For now, it'd be safer for everyone just to leave her as she is."
This conversation had become too much for Henry. He bolted out the double doors.
"Henry," Baelfire called after him. The boy didn't stop. Cursing himself, Bae took off after him. He shouldn't have dumped so much on the kid at once. Soon, he was out the doors and following Henry out into the street.
He probably should have put out the fire before he left, though.
Bae trailed behind Henry in the streets. He could easily outpace the boy, but he let him run ahead. Henry would need this to burn off enough steam to talk. That is, if he even wanted to talk.
Henry darted into a play castle structure, and Bae paused before clambering in after him. He found the boy sitting in a large plastic tube, gasping for air. "Hey Henry. You okay?" Stupid question. Stupid Bae. No answer. "Did you run because of what I said?" Slowly, Henry shook his head, and Bae refrained from heaving a sigh of relief. "You willing to talk to me?" Henry scooted over to make enough room in the tube for Bae. Baelfire's heart shot into his throat, but he went in anyways.
Really, he shouldn't be so scared of small spaces. He had faced worse before, and it wasn't like a plastic tube in a playground was going to hurt him. That didn't stop his pulse from racing though. He just couldn't shake the illusion that he wasn't in a park, he wasn't in a play castle.
Instead he was in a jungle, trapped in a small wicker cage swinging from the trees.
Bae dug his fingernails into the palm of his hands. Focus. He could do this.
"I'm sorry," whispered Henry.
Baelfire's gaze snapped to the boy. His eyebrows furrowed. "For what?"
"I shouldn't have ran. I just couldn't take it anymore."
Bae shifted in the (toosmalltoosmalltoosmall) space. He was bad with people. Basic manners? Yes, he could be polite when he wanted to be. Manipulation? Unfortunately, yes, he had learned to manipulate people on Neverland. He can do it well, but he only uses that particular skill in dire situations. But actually talking to people? Trying to comfort and relate to them for an entire conversation? That ship had sailed, been set on fire, crashed on the rocks of Neverland, and sunken beneath the waves. Living on an island with little to no positive interaction had killed Bae's social skills. He had no idea what to do in this particular situation. "Everyone runs sometime. You shouldn't have had to deal with so much at once."
"Why did she do it? I told her to leave me alone!" Henry sounded angry, and so frustrated.
Bae took a deep breath. "Sometimes — sometimes when people love someone they're selfish about it. They're scared of losing their love, and end up taking drastic measures to keep it. And when that happens, well, people get hurt. And they don't care about them, just the person they love." Bae stared at the neon orange wall of the stupid plastic play tube. Kiss my boot. He remembered the scared soldiers, the blood, and his father's terrible, terrible smile. He remembered how frightened he was, how frightened the rest of the village was. Everybody's watching from behind their curtains today, boy. Something horrifying had taken over the gentle spinner. Something dark. "They'll destroy anything in their path if it means they get what they want." Regina had wanted Henry. Rumplestiltskin had wanted Baelfire.
And everyone had ended up alone.
"What did you mean back there? About having been me." Baelfire could feel Henry staring at him. He didn't look away from the wall.
"I shouldn't have said that. Forget it happened."
Henry shot him a look that said that wouldn't cut it.
Baelfire grimaced. "Alright, fine," he yielded. Yep, definitely wrapped around this kid's finger. "My family, well they weren't the best people in the realm. Or any realm. You know what, if they are morally ambiguous, then I'm probably related to them. My dad and grandfather were the worst though. My grandfather and I never got along. Spent most of our time fighting." That is, if actively trying to kill one another can merely be referred to as "fighting." Of course, Baelfire had always tried not to think about Pan as his grandfather. It has always seemed too weird. "My dad, though, he cared about me. A lot. Or at least I thought he did. Then," he took a deep breath before he continued, "he started using dark magic; he changed. He hurt people all the time, no matter how much I begged him to stop. Worse, he would kill people because of me. It would destroy me every time someone got hurt because of me, and when I saw your face today, well it reminded me of that. And I didn't want what that to ever happen to you, so guess I lost my temper."
"Is that why you stayed last night? Because I reminded you of you?" Henry had an unrecognizable emotion in his voice, and it worried Bae.
"No. I didn't see the similarities until the town hall incident. Honestly, I don't know why I stayed. I just didn't want to leave." Baelfire wished he knew why he was still sticking around. Caring about people was dangerous, for them and for himself.
Henry sucked in a large breath. "Okay. What now? Do we go back to the town hall?" he said with reluctance.
Bae snorted. Frankly, the feelings about that meeting were mutual. "Based on what I've seen about this town, I figure we can watch adults act like squabbling toddlers anytime. How do you feel about heading back to the apartment and finding out how grass and dirt can be magical instead?"
Henry smiled.
Henry was surprised to find he was actually really good at making dreamcatchers.
Bae had taught him, along with explaining how exactly it was going to protect him from the burning room. "Dreamcatchers capture things," he had said, "and that's what we're going to do. We're going to capture the flames so they can't hurt you." He had gone on the explain how exactly it worked. Apparently most of the time dreamcatchers main function was for the capturing and viewing of memories, but that's not all it does. The function of the dreamcatcher was determined by the materials they used. "This Netherworld is made of fire," Bae had explained. "We're going to use the three other elements to balance it." Which is why they had spent the day digging up completely disappointing non-magicky items instead of finding something more glittery and cliche. Henry was still kind of disappointed about that, though.
"What are you doing?" Henry asked.
Bailey glanced up from the plants he was grinding together. "I'm returning something I borrowed earlier." He added the plants to a mixture that briefly glowed at the addition. Then, he poured the entire solution into a small wooden bottle that he had pulled from his bag. Then, he pulled off his leather jacket and shook it. It morphed into a bigger, ratty jacket that reeked of mothballs. The magic user wrote a small note on slip of paper and attached it to the bottle. He slipped the potion into the pocket and waved his hand over it. The jacket disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Why—" There was a knock at the door, cutting off the rest of Henry's question. He watched as Bailey swiftly rised and walked to the door. He briefly touched the sword at his side before opening it.
"Hello Ruby."
Ruby nervously clutched the bag at her side. She really, really wanted to be anywhere but here.
To put it simply, the town meeting was a fiasco. After Henry and Bailey ran off, they had had to track down someone to put out the town crest seeing as Regina had ignited it. Once the townspeople returned, they had been quite dismayed to find that the only magic user to successfully stop the Evil Queen was not actually there. It had taken half an hour to actually get the citizens to actually focus enough to start the meeting.
Then, they had started to get scared. They were trapped in a town with no sheriff, no mayor, and no Charmings. Worse, they were trapped in the town with the Evil Queen, who had managed to get her magic back. They had made it clear: they wanted protection
or they would leave, town line be damned.
Only their solution was madness. Anyone who had kept their wits about them had been able to see that. Unfortunately, that did not include the vast majority of the town. And worse, Ruby had to make it work. She had to keep this town together, for Snow.
The door jerked open, and Ruby forced herself not to jump. "Hello Ruby," said Bailey.
She forced a smile. "I brought you and Henry dinner," she said, raising her bag.
Bae raised any eyebrow and trailed his eyes over her worried face, tense posture and fake smile. He had already figured out something was up. He opened the door further. "Come on in."
Ruby tensely entered the apartment and placed the food on the counter top.
"Hey Ruby," Henry happily chirped.
"Hello Henry," she responded, then glanced about him. He was surrounded by wood shavings, twine, grass, dirt, and other items that had no business in an apartment. "What's all this?"
"It's how we're gonna stop the burning room. Don't worry, we'll clean up." Snow's grandson got up and walked over to the bag. He began to pull out the to-go boxes, and glanced through them, surprised. "Wow. Burgers and fries and onion rings? Plus chocolate cake and ice cream? Are the Dwarves coming over too?" Ruby winced. She knew she had gone overboard on the food, but it had given her something else to focus on other than how exactly she was going to pull this off. "No, it's just been a long day. I figured you'd both be hungry. You can save the leftovers for tomorrow." Bailey was staring at her as if she had just told him the sky was purple.
"What's the bribes for?"
"Bribes?" she parroted, hoping her voice was even. Take on an armed division of George's soldiers? Sure. Face down a court of people that could barely stand her? Piece of cake. Walk up to her best friend's grandson and his newly-acquired magical best friend and convince them to go along with a decision she herself thought was stupidity at its finest? Nope. Find someone else, because she can't do it. Yet here she was, trying to convince them through the fail safe of junk food.
The wizard rolled his eyes. "You showed up here more nervous than you were at the town hall meeting, armed to the gills with burgers and cake. You're trying to get us to agree to something that you think we'll hate. What is it?"
Ruby swallowed. "Bailey…" She stopped. This was moronic! It was a terrible decision, she should be trying to talk the townspeople out of it, not Bae into it!
The boy's eyes narrowed. "Is this about you wanting to put Henry elsewhere? Are you so nervous because you think I'll hate who you've found?" His face hardened. "Or worse, you haven't found anyone so you're trying to put him back with Regina. I don't care if I'm not technically an adult and she's the only one in town, there's no way I'm making him go back with her—"
"What? No! It's not about that!" She quickly cut in.
"Then what is it about?" His tone brokered frustration, and she knew no further hesitation would be tolerated.
Ruby sighed and tugged a small item out of her coat and placed it on the counter. When she had pocketed it it had felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. "Here." The sheriff's badge sparkled innocently up from the table.
Bailey looked at it. "Okay, I don't get it. Has it been horribly cursed or something and you need me to fix it?"
"No," she paused. "After you left the town voted you sheriff in absentia."
Bae snorted. "Yeah, right. What's really going on?" He paused and looked at her face. "You're not joking," he said, his tone laced with disbelief. "You're insane!"
"Let me explain," Ruby hurried to say. "Everyone who wasn't panicking thought it was crazy, but that was only a small part of the town. The rest are scared. Really, really scared. They want someone to protect them or else they are all leaving."
"Then find someone else to protect them!"
"There is no one else!"
Bae snorted. "Don't give me that. What about the Dwarves?"
"They're already doing triple duty with their regular jobs and restarting the mines and trying to fix the damage from the wraith. Besides they'd never be able to handle a fight with Regina!"
"Your Granny? She already seems to like patrolling the town with her crossbow, now she could do it as sheriff."
"She's over seventy years old and she has a heart problem! We can't make her sheriff!"
"What about you?"
Ruby paused. The sad thing is, she probably could have been sheriff. She even had experience. "I can't." She paused. Bailey didn't know about her condition, not yet. That made him one of the few people in Storybrooke. "I'm a werewolf. The people would never allow it."
He didn't look afraid. He didn't look disgusted. He did look dismayed, but that was probably due to his dwindling supply of possible sheriffs. "What about anyone but me?"
"This isn't exactly the most popular position at the moment. The only person that volunteered was the former Sheriff of Nottingham, and he's pretty much synonymous with abuse of power." Bae paused again, looking conflicted. Ruby decided to press her advantage. "When the people came back into the town hall meeting today, they had just found out that Regina had her magic again and the town line reset the curse. They're frightened. There's no sheriff, no mayor, nothing. They're stuck in a town where the only functioning magic users are the Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin. And you. You're powerful enough to stop Regina. You're old enough to turn the Blue Fairy's head. The people saw you running around with the Dwarves last night, helping ease the chaos. It's enough to make them ignore your physical age."
"And if I just say no?" he dared her.
"Then they're leaving. All of them. They're going to cross the town line, forget who they are, if you don't say yes. They don't want to be cursed again, but they're more afraid of Regina than losing their memories."
"I'm not sure if me being sheriff is a much better alternative!" Ruby moved to interrupt, but Bae stopped her. "No, it's true! I've lived a really, really long time Ruby. And in that time I've been a thief, and an orphan, and a dissenter, and a thousand other things and none of them are conducive to something like this! I'm good at standing up to bullies, not being a law enforcement officer!"
"It's basically the same thing!" Bailey glared at her. "Look, it's not for long. It's only until Emma gets back, shorter if the townspeople come to their senses before then. Will you at least think about it?" Please help me keep this town from falling apart.
"I'll think about it. I'm not saying that I'll do it just yet."
"Thank you," she sighed in relief.
"So. Sheriff." Henry had kept silent throughout the entire argument, but now that Ruby had left, he was eager to talk to Bae.
"Ugh," Bae agreed, leaning against the door. He hadn't moved from his position since Ruby had left ten minutes ago.
"If it makes you feel any better, I think you'd be a great sheriff. And that's not just because you saved my soul." Henry was telling the truth. Bae would be a good sheriff. He wasn't the type to be easily intimidated, like Emma. And, from the short time they had known each other, Henry could already tell Bae hated injustice.
Bailey gave him a dry look. "I wish I shared your confidence."
There was a knock on the door. Again. Bae groaned. Again. The sorcerer spun around and yanked the door open.
"I want to see my son!"
Henry froze at the voice. His mom was here. She was here, at Emma's apartment.
"I don't think that's your decision," Bae coolly replied. Henry couldn't see his mother's expression from where he was standing, but he could already imagine the displeased look on her face. She wouldn't have liked that. "Put it away, Regina. Your magic isn't going to help you." Yep, he was right. Henry felt disappointed at his mother. She was still trying to hurt people to get what she wants.
"I want to talk to Henry! Please, just let me see my son."
Bae said nothing. Then he glanced over at Henry. "If you don't want to talk to her, say the word. I'll have her halfway across town in a second."
"No, it's okay." Henry was slightly surprised at how steady his voice was. "I'll talk to her." He did want to see his mother. Despite everything, he missed her. And he wasn't just ready to give up on her. She could change, he knew it.
Bae nodded and opened the door. Regina walked in and zeroed in on Henry. "Don't try anything Regina. You won't get far."
Regina glared at Bailey. Henry glanced at Bae, then subtly jerked his head to the side. He got the message. He sent back an are you sure look. Henry nodded. "I'll just go put up these dreamcatchers. Henry, shout if you need me." By the look the wizard was sending Regina, he meant 'if Regina tries anything, call me and I'll shoot her.' He quickly gathered up the products of their labor and walked out of the room. Henry was alone with his mom. They looked at one another for a long time before his mother spoke.
"Why do you need dreamcatchers?" she asked weakly.
Henry blinked. "Oh, uh, the Sleeping Curse sent me to a Netherworld that's on fire. We made the dreamcatchers to stop the flames."
"What?" came the shocked reply.
"You didn't know?" His mom had cast the curse, shouldn't she know about this? But she had said she hadn't cared what happened after the Dark Curse broke, maybe it was the same with this curse. "After the Sleeping Curse breaks, it sends you to a burning room every time you sleep. The same thing happened to grandma."
"I—I didn't know," his mom stuttered. Henry raised an eyebrow. His mom never stuttered.
"Why are you here?" Henry didn't want to tiptoe around this. He wanted to know what exactly his mom was doing.
"Henry, I want you to come home. It's not safe here."
"I'm safer here with Bae than with you! What you did today proves that!"
"Henry, I came to rescue you today because I love you," she tried to sooth, walking forward. She placed her hands on Henry's shoulders, but Henry shook her off.
"So you're terrorizing the town because you love me. That's not okay! And it's not love!" Henry's blood burned. If she really loved him, she wouldn't keep doing this! "You've ruined lives. You sent away my grandparents and Emma! You made it so that everyone thought I was crazy! You— you made me feel crazy," Henry finished softly. And that, really, was what hurt the most. No matter how angry and disappointed it made him, he understood why she stranded his family. She hated Emma, and she hated David and Mary Margaret even more. His mom saw a chance to get rid of them and took it.
But she didn't hate him.
She said she loved him. But that didn't stop her from hurting him at every turn. She made him sound insane, even though she knew he was right. She used him in her war with Emma before the curse broke. And now she was using him as an excuse to hurt people.
And that's not what people who love you do.
"But that's all going to change now," his mom tried to reassure him. "Henry, you can know all the secrets. You can live in a house with magic."
"I can do that here," Henry shot back. "And Bae doesn't hurt people with his magic."
"Henry, you can't live with Bailey. He's a child, he can't take care of you. But you can have him over anytime you want. You can show him everything in your book. You can do that with all your friends."
"I don't have any friends besides Bae, don't you remember? Nobody wanted to be friends with crazy Henry Mills! And even if I had friends, they wouldn't want to come over. They're scared of you."
"You can make them not be scared," Regina said, her voice suddenly hard. Then, she caught herself. "You can make them love you."
"I don't want that," Henry said back, frustrated. She wasn't even realizing the problem, she was just trying to slap a magical band aid on it and pretend everything was okay. "I don't want to be you."
"Henry…" his mother began. Henry didn't give her the chance to finish.
"I came to the Sheriff's Office yesterday to tell you I love you. I came to tell you that despite everything that had happened, I wouldn't give up on you." Regina stopped and stared at him with something akin to hope. "But then everything else happened and I realized something." Henry took in a shaky breathe. This was harder to say than he thought it would be (not that he thought it would have been easy). "I can't live like this," he said as he shook his head, fighting back tears. This was his mom. "I can't live torn between you and the rest of my family. I can't always be scared that you'll hurt someone because of me. I can't."
"What if I changed?" Regina desperately asked, seemingly not thinking before responding. "What if I was better, stopped hurting people?"
"Would you?" Henry shot back. "Would you actually try, or are you just saying that?"
"Yes, I would! I want to be better Henry, for you."
"If you're serious about changing," Henry sucked in a breath, "then I'm willing to try. But only if you actually make an attempt."
"I will," she smiled, and for a second Henry was reminded of when he was younger and had brought his mother a drawing of their family. It was just a scratchy crayon etching, but she had smiled at him like he was the best artist on the face of the planet. Then, Regina's face fell again. "You're not going to come with me tonight, are you?"
Henry shook his head. "I'm going to stay here with Bae. I'm happy here."
His mother nodded then hugged him. Then, she walked out the door without saying anything.
Henry sighed. Maybe, just maybe, she would try.
Baelfire checked the dreamcatchers for the tenth time that night. If his calculations were correct, then this should stop the flames from reaching Henry. Dreamcatchers operated on a higher, mental level. They would travel to the Netherworld with Henry when his soul left his body. Then, thanks to the materials they used (driftwood, seaweed and seashells for water, soil and grass for earth, dandelions, and feathers for air) the enchanted objects would be able to capture the flames, preventing them from reaching Henry. It would work.
Then why was he so nervous?
"It'll be fine, Bae." Baelfire glanced down to look at Henry. He was already in bed, and was putting on a look of false bravado for Bae's benefit.
He of course saw right through it, but Bae appreciated the effort.
Bae was worried about Henry. After his mother left, he had seemed thoughtful, but there was something else. He had hope now. Apparently he was going to give his mother another chance.
Baelfire only hoped that it wouldn't blow up in Henry's face like it had in his.
Henry would never find out that Baelfire had raised wards to ensure Regina couldn't kidnap Henry the moment she had entered the room. Probably.
"So, are you going to take the sheriff job?"
And there was another point of conflict for Bae. He thought they were absolutely crazy for offering him the position, but what about the consequences if he refused? They would all leave. The town would be crippled.
Bae wanted to groan. He hated it when people tried to back him into a corner. It never ended well for any of them.
"I'm not sure. I'm still thinking about it. I'm worried that they'll keep threatening to leave every time they need help."
"What if you changed things?" Henry asked. "I mean, they want you to be sheriff because you can protect the town with your magic. But all magic comes with a price, right? You can accept on conditions that you decide. They'll have to say yes. It's a win-win."
"Maybe," Bae chewed his lip. "It's a pretty smart plan."
"Well that makes sense, I'm pretty smart," Henry joked. "Bae… If you do take the job, will you make sure the rest of the town doesn't harass my mom? She's trying to change."
Bae raised an eyebrow. "If I accept the job, I'll protect your mom just like I'll protect the rest of the town. If any law-breaking happens, I'll take care of it, I promise. Now, the dreamcatchers should work, and you need sleep."
"Thanks, Bae… If I have nightmares again, can we practice fighting some more? I liked that."
"Of course. Now, go to sleep."
"Goodnight, Bae."
Baelfire smiled. "Goodnight, Henry." He walked out and flicked the light switch off. Henry had offered the other bed to Bae, claiming his family wouldn't mind, but he would stick to the couch. After sleeping on hard cave floors for centuries, he never really got used to beds again.
Baelfire flopped down on the couch with a sigh. He wouldn't be going to bed, not tonight. He wasn't quite ready to face his own nightmares, and he still needed to finish Henry's storybook. With all the chaos, he hadn't had time to work on getting the Charmings back.
He opened the book. Tomorrow, he would have to deal with Ruby and the town and this sheriff problem. But for now, he would only deal with the problem before him.
And once again, Baelfire began to read. Once upon a time there was a…
Bromden was mopping. He was always mopping. After all, they all thought he was too stupid to do anything else. He winced as his pain shot through his nose again.
Scratch that, they also thought he could have stopped the boy from escaping after the curse broke. Only, both he and Ratched had been knocked out by the escapee not long into the fight.
Contrary to popular belief Bromden was not stupid. He could speak, he simply chose not to. Why would he need to speak, when he was so much better at Watching? When you were a Watcher instead of a Speaker, then you tended to blend into the background, no matter how big you may be. When you Watch, that's when you truly See.
Bromden had Seen much throughout the years at the asylum. He had Seen Nurse Ratched violate medical protocol countless times. He had Seen the mayor hide her indiscretions behind the metal doors of the cells. And he had Seen the dark haired, dark eyed boy as he truly was.
There had been moments, during the curse, that he would be so much more lucid. His eyes would be filled with a keen intelligence rather that panic-filled madness. They would also be filled with an intense pain, as if he had been to hell and back and had lost something terribly important on the journey.
And then the curse would return the insanity with greater force, and the intelligence and pain would sink beneath the depths once more, waiting to resurface.
When the boy had been escaping, Bromden had seen that same intelligence and pain glistening in his eyes once more. They were well hidden, but not enough to stop a Watcher from Noticing. And this time there was no curse to push them back.
Perhaps one day Bromden would tell someone all he had Seen, but that seemed unlikely to him. To do that was to become a Speaker, and once that happened you could never return to being a Watcher.
Bromden had been a Speaker once. He wouldn't go back, not yet, not after what had made him decide to become a Watcher. All that he had Seen would remain in the shadows.
He put away his mop and glanced at the front desk. Ratched wasn't there. She hadn't been all day, citing personal reasons. But that wasn't what had caught his attention.
When you were a Watcher, you tended to Notice things. You Noticed that one of the old, ragged coats had disappeared from the coat rack the same day that the strange boy with the burning intellect had disappeared. And you Noticed when it returned, innocently resting on the same peg it had been pilfered from. Bromden silently walked over to the coat. He Noticed the small lump in the pocket.
He reached inside the jacket, careful not to disturb it. It wouldn't do for a Watcher to cause anything to be Noticed. In his hand there was a small wooden vial, with a note attached. He opened the folded paper much more gently than one would expect from someone his size.
Dear guy I elbowed in the face,
I'm sorry for elbowing you in the face. And ramming my head into your nose. And kneeing you in the gut. And slamming your head onto my knee. So, basically I'm sorry I beat you up. I know you were just trying to do your job when you were trying to stop me from escaping. For future reference, any attempt to try and prevent my escape from anywhere will have the exact same result. For your own sake, please don't try again. Please drink the potion in this bottle. I promise it's not poison. It will heal any lingering aftereffects of our fight.
Thanks for the coat,
The Former Resident of Cell 7C
A ghost of a smile almost touch the corners of Bromden's lips. He had Noticed that boy was different. He was glad to see he had been right. He drank the potion, and felt the pain in his nose melt away.
Perhaps one day he would tell someone all he had Seen. Perhaps he would once again become a Speaker. But for now, he was content to Watch.
Finally done! Once again, I'm so sorry this took so long! I kinda got sucker punched by the real world. Now, notes and explanations for this chapter:
Cassandra and her brothers are in fact based on the Cassandra and co. from Greek Mythology. (See: Trojan War) No, they're not actually royalty in my story, nor am I going to have a Trojan War. Cassandra is a Seer, and instead of having hands in inconvenient places the price for her "gift" is to be driven so crazy by it that no one ever believes her prophecies. This can only be overcome by actually figuring out she's a Seer. I thought she'd be an interesting character to add into the mix, so expect wild times ahead. If you want to imagine how she acts, think River Tam from Firefly (the TV series, not the movie. She's more sane in the movie).
Yep, Bae figured out Pan is his grandfather. That will be explained later.
When I was trying to figure out who I could make sheriff since David was AWOL in Fairytale Land, I realized that there wasn't really anyone that fit the bill. Then I realized a few more things:
There's no way in heck Bae would sit by and do nothing when Regina rampaged through the town hall meeting. Not after what his Papa used to do.
The townspeople would have latched on to whoever could stop Regina, even if he was physically a teenager. His little run-in with Blue showed he was actually a lot older, which let them feel better about shoving the job on him.
No one would actually want the Sheriff's job. At this point, the town's going down in flames. Nobody wants to clean up this mess.
So, somehow, Baelfire became Sheriff. And then, as I have come to expect from this story, it morphed into something so much more than what it was when I started. Suddenly, it had turned into something that led to so much character development and introspection that I couldn't scrap it. I promise it's not some kind of 'let's toss the underage kid into an important position 'cuz YOLO' thing, it's more of a 'this is kind of a risky and unrealistic idea, but it's so integral to the story I suddenly have to make it realistic' thing. Bae's not going to be given free reign over the town, I promise. There will be checks and balances and training and more. Don't give up on me just yet! At least this way, we actually see some of the democratic process instead of David basically declaring himself Sheriff. Also, yes, Bae's more powerful than Regina. He's spent hundreds of years fighting Pan on his own turf. Logically, Regina never stood a chance. Also, you guys should rewatch the scene where Regina nabbed Henry from the meeting again and compare it to the scene where Rumple kills that dude when Bae fell and skinned his knee. Baelfire and Henry look so alike when they're walking away with their parents it's insane.
For those of you who don't remember Bromden, he was the guy Bae beat up in Chapter One while escaping. We also see him in the show pretty much surgically attached to that mop of his. Yep, Bae returned the coat with an apology, like he planned in Chapter One. He still has his morals, so he's not gonna keep the stolen jacket. Fun factoid: the writers of Once actually based Bromden and Nurse Ratched off of characters from the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. That book is actually placed in an asylum. I tried to make him deeper than that weird silent hulk of a dude standing in the corner. Frankly, I like to look into characters behaviors and try to see what makes them tick, whether it's someone who has literally never talked in the course of the show or something like what we saw from Ruby earlier in this chapter. So expect a lot of it.
Okay, it's one in the morning and I have school tomorrow. I'll stop talking now and post this later. Thanks for reading!