A/N: more quotes here. Went with my favorite suggestion, and I hope everyone likes it because I wouldn't have thought of it myself. Usual disclaimer applies.
Swerving in and out of traffic, I am at the sight in less than five minutes. There is large crowd in front of the town office. Police are everywhere trying to keep the crowds back. Graham is moving behind the lines, face pinched in worry as he walks back and forth on his phone. Angrily, he snaps it shut.
"Graham, what's going on?" I am instantly at his side.
"Oh Jenna thank goodness" he grabs my shoulders, "Do you know someone by the name of Mathew Bartholomew?"
"Who?"
"He and several others were found in the mines the other day and they were escorted off property He began talking about stories and he made threats towards Regina. He was secured a spot in the McLean Hospital in Massachusetts. He was suppose to be transported their but earlier today, he broke loose from his holding cell"
I vaguely remembering filling out the paperwork for the man. If I remembered correctly, he was in training to be a guidance counselor at one of the local high schools.
"In any sense" Graham is speaking so fast it is hard to keep up with him, "He has five others with him. Regina and four others are being held hostage"
"Who else is in there?"
"Sydney Glass from the Daily Mirror and some of his staff"
"What does the guy want?"
"He won't tell me" Graham is now running his hands through his hair in exasperation, "He says I'm too tainted by Regina to listen to him. He wants to talk to you. Inside. Alone"
"Uh, any particular reason why me?"
"He said that because you're a stranger, you haven't been under her influence long enough"
'I get to talk to an insane guy. Just peachy' I thought to myself.
"You don't have to do this" Graham tries to reassure me, "I have a team scouting the property looking for entrances"
I slap him on the arm. "Eh, I'm not afraid"
"Jenna, the man is crazy and he is threatening to harm the people inside. His men have guns and they have been placed at different windows. There's four in the room and two others throughout the building. One of the police have been shot already. I don't want you hurt"
"Yeah, but this is necessary" I say with another shrug.
He says nothing but looks at me for a moment. With a shrug, I slip past him. Several of the onlookers are staring at me. I stare at the entrance to the building and I feel myself shiver.
'Don't worry, little dearie' I hear a familiar giggle in my ear, 'You're not alone'
I stop and swiftly turn, heart in my throat, expecting to see Rumpelstilskin. But the person who is closest to me turns out to be none other than Mr. Gold, who has joined the onlookers. With his black business suit and red tie, he is easy to pick out from the rest of the crowd. Heart racing, he and I lock eyes for a moment.
"Deputy, I must speak with you later" he says as he turns to go. "Oh, and good luck" With a slight wave, he limps off.
Swallowing, I turn away and jog up the remaining steps. I have never been in the Mayor's office and it is a lot larger than I had expected. Everywhere, there are large plastered pictures of apples. There's a creek behind me. Slowly, I turn around to find a man with a large pipe in his mouth staring at me. There is a gun in his hand. With his free hand, he removes the pipe and blows a smoke ring in my face. Gun still pointing at me, he points to the door at the end of the hallway. I give him a strange look, but a crash from down the hallway, prompts me to keep moving. I make a note to come back to this guy later.
Prying the doors open, I see a man at the end of the room dressed in a bright blue sparkling jacket. There's a strangled cry and I see he has Regina's neck in his hand.
"Do you get off from watching people suffer?" he snarls at, shaking her while he's doing this. There is one other man in the room. Graham said there were more, so they must be watching from hidden areas. I have to keep my cool about this.
The man in the blue jack then raises a knife to Regina's face. Her eyes remain plastered open and she somehow manages to glare at her attacker.
"Stop!" I shout at the man.
The knife drops, and so does Regina. With a loud oomph!, she is on the floor. Blue sparkled leather jacket twinkling, he turns, his black heeled shoes making a slight tap. He is almost too pretty. His hair is brown, but his bangs are dyed purple and sweep over the side of his face in an artful way. His eyes are highlighted by charcoal eye liner. His lips are also outlined, but the color goes up the sides of his face, giving him the look of a perpetual grin. Eyes fallen to his side, I take in a deep breath when I see what looks like to be a glove of claws on his left hand, reminding me of Freddy Krueger.
"Ooohhhh!" he turns away from the fallen mayor and advances towards me, his free hand sweeping everywhere. Somehow, his grin manages to grow even wider. "I was hoping you'd show up. Let's have a look at you"
He gets closer, and I notice that one eye is amber and the other is green. I don't move as he gets right in my face. Eyes twinkling, he raises his clawed hand to my face, the barbed end lightly running against my face as he circles around me. I don't move, and he lets out a high pitched cackle as he twirls in a circle.
"Very pretty, very pretty" he approves, "You're one of those beauties you have to take one or two looks at. The first look never does you justice"
"Who are you? What is it you wanted" I demand.
"Oh!" his arms pinch together and his mouth drops in an O. "How could you not know what I want. I was just about to do what I wanted till you came in hear with your 'stop'!" he mimics my stomp in here and I feel myself flush. "I needed to get some records from our sssweeettt mayor. One would think I was doing something wrong. Ha ha!"
"Rumpelstilskin?" I whisper.
He grins at me, but it's a different grin. His voice drops another octave and his face is so close to mine. "Do I look like your pet imp?"
I am speechless for a second. Could it be possible that he knew about that? There no logic behind it. "Where you one of the people from the mines?"
"The mines! Oh dear child" he raises his hands and cups my face in his hands, barbed wired nails dangerously close to my eye. I freeze as he presses his forehead next to mine. "The stories are true"
I take a sharp breath. That's exactly what Belle had said! He pulls away, still cupping my cheeks.
"You look just like your mother" he whispers. Then his nose crinkles and he lifts up my dark locks. "Except for the hair. Your hair should be your father's coloring"
"Your insane" I whisper. This is some sort of sick game, "Your just some sick dog"
He frowns. "Most unpleasant metaphor. Please avoid it in the future" He makes a face at me and taps one barbed nail against my lip. "Now now, you came to me hoping to bargain for these people"
"What do you want?" I ask him again.
He flashes another wide, toothy grin at me. "My my, your more ignorant than I had thought you'd be. If ignorance is bliss, than you must be ecstatic"
Something clicks in my head. "The Cheshire Cat? You think you're the Cheshire Cat, don't you?"
"Oh, I don't think, I know" he giggles as his shoulders hunch up to the sides of his face, "My, you were taught well" He sweeps a formal bow, "Call me Chess, little lady"
"Do something!" Regina's normally calm voice is cracking. Looking around me, several more men have arrived in the room, all with knives. The man in front of me turns away from me. I look around, weighing my options. It would be four against me.
"Ooohhh, shush your majesty" Chess has now pulled out another knife from one of his many pockets, "No wait, your not the true Queen are you?"
Yanking Regina up by her hair, she lets out a yip, and once again the knife is in her face. Her hands fly to the back of her head. I only have a few minutes to react. Sidney Glass moves, and the other two men put knives in his face. The three other people in the room are still huddled in the corner, too afraid too move even though only one man is guarding them.
"Don't do it!" I yell at him.
In a flash, he whirls around to face me, Regina still in hand, her face twisting in pain. "You're here to save us. How did you end up on the wrong side?"
One of his men points a hand gun at me, which seems to irritate him.
"Nuh, uh, no!" he says, gloved hand going in the air, "No shooting her. Beat her, tie her up, whip her, but no killing her" He presses his face against Regina's neck and lets out a low laugh, "Now this one on the other hand-"
"Deputy, you need to do something!" Regina screams at me.
"Let her go!" I have to reach this man before this turns deadly. "You need to stop and let her go"
He rolls his eyes toward the ceiling with a large huff. "Gents; please give this girl a spanking"
One of the men comes at me. He is a tall, skinny man and as I predicted, his first move is to try and slap me. Wrong move.
Ducking underneath his arm, I twist around and pin it with my arm against my body, one knee coming up to strike him in the stomach. He lurches forward at the contact. My free hand makes contact with the back of his head and he is on the ground within minutes.
"Look out!" a woman shrieks.
A smaller, much rounder man with impossibly white hair is now on me. Yanking me by my hair, I am soon on the ground under him. He slaps me and for a moment I see stars. Lifting my leg, I place my knee between me and his chest and begin to pry him off me. The grip on my hair is almost painful and for a moment, my world begins to fade. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I manage to get one foot in his face and I send him sailing across the room. He smashes into a vase. He blinks at me before toppling over.
The room is now flying around me, Sydney, finally finding his manhood, has the other man in a head lock. The other three hostages are on the two fallen men who were trying to get up. Looking up, Chess gives a smirk as he throws Regina across the room and makes a dash for the exit. His men have been subdued and Sydney is standing guard over Regina as he wipes the blood she got from her fall. There is a shot outside.
"Jenna!" Graham shouts from outside. Racing towards the window, I see he has another man on the ground. It must've been one of the other men who shot the officer. The police have begun wildly waving the crowd away.
Nodding, I turn around and make a dash after Chess. He isn't far ahead of me. The man with the pipe is right behind him and they run out a back door. I am right behind them.
"Jenna wait!" Graham is now running after us.
People in the streets part, giving room for the men to run. Women scream and clutch walls, but no one stops to think to help. Chess and his man continue running down to an empty part of the town away from the crowds. Graham and I refuse to quit, both of us running. Suddenly, they split. Before, Graham can say anything, I swerve off after Chess.
"No! Jenna! Stay toge-! Argg!" I can hear Graham give a frustrated grunt as he turns and heads after the other man.
Chess is now right in front of me and I silently will my arms to pump faster. We are now running in an apartment area I am unfamiliar with. There no people and there is trash everywhere. Chess turns a corner, and am almost on top of him-
-but then he's gone. Hands on my knees, I struggle to catch my breath, trying to figure out how the hell do you lose a man dressed in bight blue glittered jacket. I turn, but it's as if he's disappeared. There is crackle behind me and I know I am dead wrong.
"Don't turn around" I hear Chess chuckle lightly, still panting from lack of breath. I hear the click of a gun. "So much like your father. Your mother's looks, but your father's reaction to jump into something without thinking out the consequences. Mad as the both of them. But then again, almost everyone here's mad anyways. Now, I need you to answer just one question. Answer correctly, and I'll let you go"
"What?"
"Can you stand on your head?" I hear him giggle. I don't say anything. "Too bad"
I brace myself as I hear the gun click again, silently praying for Graham to come. There is a loud whack behind me and a shot fires.
"Oh!" I fall, startled as the bullet made contact with the trash can next to me.
I stay against the cold ground for a moment, not daring to breathe. Flipping to my side, I let out a startled gasp to see Chess on the ground, purple bangs falling across his eyes. Eyes roaming upward, I see the man who has knocked over Chess.
"Well done, Deputy" it is Mr. Gold and I feel my heart begin to race. He is smirking at me again, and is still so calm, cane placed in front of him, "And it now appears you owe me another favor"
Crawling over to Chess, I check to make sure he's still alive. He's only knocked unconscious. I take away his gun before glaring up at Mr. Gold.
"Oh no" I say loudly, "That one was all you"
"No, 'thank you', I see" he says with a slight ruffle of his shoulder and looks away from me. "That's fine. Couldn't have him killing off someone who owed me a debt. I'd never see my money again if that happened and that would be most unfortunate"
"You threatened me" I growled at him, feeling ridiculous on all fours.
"Its business dear, like I've told you" he gives me another half smile, "Don't think our deal has been forgotten in light of this interesting distraction"
"What are you doing out here anyways?"
"Collecting debts" he says this piously.
I roll my eyes. Still on the ground, I run my hands through the fallen man's jacket to remove any other hidden weapons. I am a sweaty mess, my hair frizzy and all over my face. There is a blur of movement and Mr. Gold is suddenly on the ground across from me. I freeze. Both of us are now huddled over Chess's body.
"What do you want from me?" my voice is coming out in nothing more but a squeak.
"I don't know just yet" his voice is very low and I have to strain to hear him, "Sometimes I think you are so close to failing"
"Failing what?"
With a slight shake of his head, he almost gives a real smile. For some reason, my mind drifts off to my latest 'dream', and I can feel myself flushing red. Taking this as permission, he extends one gloved hand to my face and wipes the hair out of my eyes again like he did that time in his shop. Only this time, he cups the back of my hand and pulls me closer so that I am leaning right over Chess's body. I feel myself begin to shake. I can't remember when was the last time I was this close to another real person.
"You're call" he is now looking at with such an intensity that I can't move or speak.
There is a loud crunching sound followed by sirens. Snapping out of my trance, I jump wildly to my feet, heart pounding in my throat.
"Jenna" Graham comes from a corner, "Don't do that again! Next time, we stay together!"
"Right" I say, holding my arms close to my body, "Well, I wasn't-" I trail off as I look behind me. There is no one but Chess.
"You did it!" Graham smiles at me as Chess begins to groan from the ground, "Jenna, you caught him"
I smile a thin smile as several other people arrives. He wraps an arm around my shoulder and leads me to an awaiting car.
Probably going on a brief hiatus. Want to catch up with some of my other stories before i continue with this one.