Kidnapping

Bae made his way back to Jefferson's mansion, his mind on the promise of a decent sleep, when he heard the distinct thwap of a bow string. He stopped and turned toward the sound, relaxing only when he realized that Jesse and Belle were practicing archery on the sidewalk, aiming at a crate with a carved target on it.

"Jefferson suggested a slight change of pace," Belle said, barely looking at him.

"And nothing says 'change of pace' like shooting a fruit crate in full view of the neighbors," Jesse added with a smirk, twirling a knife through her fingers.

"Except maybe stabbing said fruit crate," Bae replied, smiling.

"So, where did you go? You're supposed to be sleeping."

"I was stirred from sleep and had to see something. Now I'm going back to bed."

"Good."

"Don't let us keep you," Belle said, readying another shot. Bae walked toward the mansion and heard the arrow hit the crate before closing the front door behind him. He padded up the stairwell and to the bedroom he occupied, and he was asleep almost before he sank onto the bed.

OUAT

The phone rang, and Henry snapped his head up from Once Upon a Time, almost carelessly tossed it aside, and yelled, "I'll get it," as he dashed down the stairs and slid through the doorway into the kitchen. He snatched the phone from it's cradle and said, "Hello?"

"Henry?"

"August! I-"

"Shh. She'll hear you. I'll explain everything when we meet at the lumber yard. Remember where that is?"

"Yeah."

"Meet me there in fifteen minutes."

"Okay." The line went dead, and Henry replaced the phone in its cradle and moved toward the door.

OUAT

August leaned against a stack of logs, watching as Henry ran up to him. "You're early," he said.

"She's in jail," Henry replied. "You don't need to-you're all wood, and you're alive."

"She did it, she broke the curse."

"She made everyone remember, but somebody else brought magic back."

"Then I missed a lot."

Henry looked over both shoulders and whispered, "It was Rumpelstiltskin. He brought the magic back, and now we can use it again. All of us."

"That means Regina." A dark look passed over the boy, and August read it cover to cover at once. "She could break out at any time, but why isn't she?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe waiting for just the right moment?"

"Or trying to throw together a desperate plan." August looked at Henry, trying his best to portray confusion and hoping Henry could read the face of a puppet. Henry stood next to him and looked out over the yard, watching the workers. "She shot a kid a while ago, in the shoulder."

"Black hair, brown eyes, about sixteen, kinda baby-faced?"

"Yeah."

"She's screwed."

"Why?"

"That's Rumpelstiltskin's son." Henry shot him a confused look. "I met him today, and I pretended to be him once. Once upon a time." August smirked and looked over the yard. "I saw how much Rumpelstiltskin loves his son. Regina made herself a dangerous enemy."

Henry bit his lip. "The curse requires the heart of the thing the caster loves most. Maybe she's trying to save it somehow by trying to involve Rumpelstlitskin's son and maybe Belle, too."

"That's a pretty desperate move. Must mean we're almost home."

"Yep, and that means bye-bye to Regina's happy ending."

"And hello to ours."

Henry nodded in agreement. "But she could still break out. We've gotta be real final about it, you know?"

August nodded. "Yeah." Even he knew about the white elephant in the room, in spite of the coma he'd been in for the past month, if he had to guestimate how long he was out. He didn't relish the idea, but he knew that certain things had to be done, and there would be a time, place, and person for them.

"You okay?" Henry asked.

"Huh? Yeah. Fine. Just thinkin'."

"About...it?"

"Yeah."

The kid nodded in understanding, and August allowed the subject to drop. "So," Henry finally began. "How do we tell Emma?"

August turned his head toward him. "Tell her what?"

"That you're a human-sized wooden puppet that walks and talks as if by magic. I mean, I know she believes, but I think she's a little overwhelmed."

"I can see that. In a world like this, where nobody thinks that stuff exists and where, for a long time, I was tempted to believe it, it's gotta be hard to get used to."

"But at least she believes and Regina's in custody."

August nodded in agreement.

OUAT

Images again flashed before Bae's eyelids, and they were familiar ones, but instead of Regina holding the knife, it was an ice woman, her face dead as a corpse, her eyes frozen over.

Bae jolted into alertness to find a dim room and an equally hazy recollection of why it was so. Until he remembered that he'd been roused from sleep by his power as a sensitive and the fact that magic had been used purposefully and willfully, and for something so powerful, pricy, and serious as bringing someone-a wooden puppet, no less-back to life. He remembered holding a conversation with the puppet, who called himself August and who knew a good deal of his story, told to him by Morraine.

He felt no anger toward her, though he thought he should. She probably needed to tell him stories in order to keep him with them, successfully break him out of that terrible city, destroying his hallucination and getting him to safety. It didn't strike him as odd that she would pick one she was intimately familiar with so as to be as detailed as possible. And it didn't matter, anyway. What's done is done.

He pushed himself into a sitting position and looked around the room. Then he looked at himself, at his long-sleeved shirt, tee shirt, and trousers. The most normal outfit he could find, he mused, not for the first time. He smirked when he realized that he still smelled faintly of wraith, but his smirk faded when he thought back to why he was awake in the first place. The woman holding the knife was no longer Regina, and he was certain it was a sign of some form.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and slipped outside the room, until three sets of hands shoved him back inside. "What is it?" he asked.

"Shh," Morraine whispered urgently, shooting a look at the door. Jesse and Tuck flanked it, the former with a knife in one hand and an arrow in the other, and the latter with an arrow all but drawn and ready to loose.

"What is it?" Bae asked again, in a lower voice.

"Something's happened downstairs. We've been instructed to stay here."

"What's going on? Has something happened to Jefferson and Belle?" A cloud passed over Morraine's eyes. "Oh, no."

"That we remain here was his last instruction before..."

"Where are the others?"

"In another room."

"Did you see who..."

"Thugs dressed in black. If I had to guess, Regina hired them."

"From captivity?"

"You'd be surprised what some captives are able to do."

Footsteps approached the door, and Morraine tensed and pressed Bae close to her. Bae could've sworn his heart stopped for a moment or two, though he couldn't be sure if the exact cause was fear or excitement. Jesse tightened her grip on her weapons, and Tuck pulled back into a draw.

The footsteps stopped, and now Bae was certain his heart was beating erratically out of fear. Morraine tightened her grip on him, but he didn't seem to notice. The entire room was still and heavy. No one dared to breathe but in the most silent way possible. Bae wondered if he'd closed the window behind him when he slipped out that morning, but he dared not look over his shoulder to check.

Morraine shot a look to Jesse, who nodded to Tuck, slipped the arrow back into her quiver, and reached for the door knob. Jesse's knife arm tensed and coiled as she slowly pulled back the door. Tuck turned his arrow toward the crack and loosed it. Jesse lunged for the door, wrenched it open enough to drive her knife toward the assailant, and had the door slammed down on the wrist.

She cried out. "Window, now!" Bae shouted. Tuck bolted, but it took Bae a little doing to get Morraine to leave him. He moved toward Jesse and pulled her free and toward the escape route. The door was torn open, almost off its hinges, as a black-clad beast of a man with a bloody arrow in his hand and a stain on the shoulder of his jacket burst his way into the room.

Morraine pulled Bae behind her and through the window, jumping off the sill with him in tow. As soon as they landed, Bae looked up at the window, where the man was just becoming visible. "We have to get to the others," Bae whispered.

"Too late, buddy boy," a Merry Man said. Bae faced the speaker, a scrawny kid two years younger than him with his arms folded across his chest to make him look tougher than he actually was. Behind him, four other kids stood at various distances from each other and the mansion.

"Well, Robin Hood," a girl said, taking a step forward. "Where to next?"

"The forest," Bae replied. "It's the only safe place for us." The window overhead shattered.

The kids launched themselves over the fence and radiated out from there. Bae moved to follow them, but Morraine stopped him and pulled him around to the front gate. "Where're we going?" he asked.

"Trust me," she replied. "There's only one safe place for the two of us."

"Yes, the forest."

"No, Bae. You're safest with your father."

"But you're not."

"I'm not going anywhere without you. Not now."

Bae fell silent and followed her down several streets and around a few corners, and then he recognized the path to his father's pawn shop. Despite himself, he breathed a sigh of relief. Morraine slowed, and Bae slid to a stop in front of the shop. She nodded to him, and they slipped inside.

The space behind the counter was empty, but the sounds of a brush moving across paper drifted through the bead curtain leading to the office. They padded through the shop to the back office, and Bae pushed some of the curtain aside to allow them entry. Rumpelstiltskin lay the brush aside and stood, looking at them calmly, almost without expression. "Bae, Morraine, a pleasure to see you again," he said. "What brings you here? You look like you've both seen monsters."

"Something terrible has happened," Bae whispered.