Ogre

Rumpelstiltskin, Bae, Morraine, and August filed into the hospital through the back entrance and made their way to the "emergency exit" and down the secret flight of stairs to the mental ward in the hospital's secret basement. August coughed and held his arm to his mouth. "What is that smell?" he asked.

"That, my friend, is wraith stench," Bae replied without looking back. "Just as sickening as ever."

"It's a miracle you didn't pass out."

"I almost did, but I did throw up."

"I would, too, if there was anything in my stomach. If I had a stomach."

"We can discuss the merits of human anatomy later," Morraine snapped. Despite himself, Bae blushed and felt the need to clear his throat.

"I'm sure my son would love to hear your opinion on the subject, Morraine," Rumpelstiltskin said.

Bae's blush deepened. "Papa! You're embarrassing me!"

August and Morraine started to chuckle, and Rumpelstiltskin said, "That's my job, Bae." The two burst into outright laughter, and Bae bowed his head to hide his shame.

"Let's just keep going," Bae muttered to the hard cold floor. Rumpelstiltskin wrapped an arm around his boy's shoulders, and Bae looked from the floor down the length of the corridor. "Alright, Papa. Where're we going?"

"We're going to check every room in this labyrinth," Rumpelstiltskin replied. "Labels lie just as well as anything, or anyone, else."

Rumpelstiltskin lowered his arm, and Bae turned toward Morraine and August. "Do we split up to cover more ground, or do we keep together in case of attack?" he asked.

"This is a tricky question," Morraine said. "I can see the tactical advantages of both options, but we're involved in a hostage situation. Every moment counts. I suggest we break off into pairs."

"Who goes with who, then?" August asked, his hands in his pockets.

"I'll stay with Papa," Bae said. "I don't want to find later that one of you has died."

He paused, glancing at Morraine, and she said, "Bae, I'll be fine. I stand more of a chance than puppet-boy against ogre guards, anyway." She gestured to August with her thumb and smirked.

He smiled in response. "Let's go," he said. August and Morraine nodded, and he turned back to his father. They walked down the corridor, and footsteps behind him told Bae that August and Morraine had retraced their steps and then taken another turn.

OUAT

Rumpelstiltskin stopped in front of a door, and Bae tried to feel something but found nothing there. "Be careful," he said to his father. "I can't tell anything." Rumpelstiltskin nodded and reached for the handle. The lock clicked on contact, and he pushed it open easily. Bae glanced at the wall beside the door frame. The label was blank.

Then the footsteps came. Bae turned toward the corridor, lit by tubes of light, but not very well. "Bae, Rumpelstiltskin," Morraine yelled as she appeared at the end of the corridor.

"M, what happened?" Bae asked. She slid to a stop and almost ran into him as he held out his hands to catch her. "What happened?"

"It's huge," she said through heavy breathing. "It's absolutely gigantic."

"What is?"

"Bae..." She pointed the way she had come. A second set of footsteps could be heard, and in the dim light, Bae could see August almost slam into the wall. "I know what I said about ogre guards," she said, "but this is twice the size of anything I'd ever seen."

"Is it an ogre?"

"I-" August took off in their direction, followed quickly by thuds that shook the entire structure. Bae guided Morraine to the open door, grabbed August, and shoved him through less ceremoniously before slamming the door shut behind him. Now he faced the shocked and confused face of his father as well as the fearful faces of Morraine and August. "I don't know what that thing is and I have no desire to find out. Except possibly at a very, very safe distance."

Rumpelstiltskin's eyebrows drew even closer together, but as the thuds continued and increased in volume along with Bae's heart, he found himself at a loss for words.

The thuds stopped much too close for comfort, and Bae's ears rang from the silence. His heart hammered in his chest, but it was nowhere near as loud as the giant's now-absent footsteps. Morraine stared over his shoulder at the door, and Rumpelstiltskin's eyes were fixed on his son. August had taken a couple steps back.

If Bae listened patiently, he could've sworn he heard lumbered breathing on the other side of the door. A moment more of silence, and the great beast shifted its weight, shaking the subterranean structure along with it. Bae met Rumpelstiltskin's gaze; Rumpelstiltskin held up a hand and tried to soothe his son without words. The beast groaned, and Bae's heart skipped a beat. Rumpelstiltskin moved to him and grasped his shoulders. Bae let his father pull him close, and he tried to relax, but with a giant lumbering beast not three feet from him, it was extremely difficult. Rumpelstiltskin lay a hand on the door, and Bae sensed the faint aura of magic.

It seemed the beast sensed it, too, because the door shook with a blow that was more felt throughout the room than heard. Rumpelstiltskin and Bae, by consequence, stumbled back. Rumpelstiltskin tightened his hold on the boy. August and Morraine shuffled to the back wall. It seemed the beast tapped on the door, because it fell away from the hinges and clattered on the floor. Rumpelstiltskin released his son and stepped between him and the fifteen-foot-tall ogre standing beyond the doorway. "Oh, gods," Bae muttered. "That thing is huge."

"But it's still an ogre," Morraine whispered, drawing Bae close to her.

"Are you armed?"

Morraine reached behind her and slipped a small knife from her belt. "Jesse slipped it to me back at Jefferson's. You know how she is about Black Forest creatures."

"Or any creatures, for that matter."

"In any event, based on the village stories, this thing definitely looks Black Forest."

"But it's still an ogre. I'll get you as close to its throat as I can. August, Papa, we have a plan, but we need you two to distract it."

"What?" August snapped.

"August, please. We know how to kill it. You have to trust us."

"You can get rid of it? Well, fantastic."

"Are you going to help or not? We only have until that thing figures out how to squeeze into this room before we're all dead."

"Are you going to distract it with me or not?" Rumpelstiltskin asked.

"Fine," August said, and he followed the Dark One into the hall.

But then something strange happened. The giant ogre turned toward Rumpelstiltskin and maneuvered itself down to one knee before him. The knife fell from Morraine's hand, and both hers and Bae's jaws hung slack. August seemed as perfectly immobile as a puppet should be.

Rumpelstiltskin smirked, and then he looked at the three, still in the room. "Change of plan," he said. Then he looked back at the ogre and said, "Take us to the hostages." The ogre lowered his head and then straightened and turned to lead Rumpelstiltskin through the corridors.

Bae and Morraine exchanged looks, Morraine stooped to grab the knife, and they moved toward the door as one. August continued to stare blankly, and the kids had to grab his arms and pull him behind them to get him to follow. "Papa," Bae whispered, "what did you do?"

Rumpelstiltskin shrugged. "He bowed to me on impulse. I took the opportunity to help us with our little mission. If he knows anything, he'll show me."

"M," Bae said, turning to her, "did the village stories say anything about this sort of response?"

"I've heard rumors that nothing in the Black Forest or from it would dare touch the Dark One, but obey him?" Morraine asked.

"I know. It's strange, but again," Bae shrugged, "whatever's most useful in a hostage situation."

"What are we talking about again?" August asked almost monotonously.

"No," she whispered.

"What?" Bae asked.

"He's getting lost."

"Do we smack him?" Morraine nodded, and they turned toward the wall and drove August's head into it. August blinked and stumbled back.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You were losing yourself. Black Forest creatures can do that," Morraine said. "C'mon, let's keep going." The three continued down the hall after Rumpelstiltskin and the giant ogre.

"I need to get this straight. That thing actually listens to Rumpelstiltskin?"

"Yes," Bae replied. "If it leads us to the hostages, all the better. For us and them."

"Heh."

OUAT

By August's estimate, it had been an hour since Rumpelstiltskin had commanded the ogre to lead them to the hostages, and at about that time, the ogre reached the end of a corridor, turned to face them, and shrugged his shoulders. "You mean they're not here?" Rumpelstiltskin asked. The ogre nodded. "Where are they?" The ogre shrugged again. "Well, then. Go back to your post." August, Morraine, and Bae pressed themselves against the wall while the ogre lumbered past them and down the corridor.

"For a moment, I thought you were going to turn him to dust or something," Bae said.

"I can't have Regina getting suspicious just yet. It does help to have her determined enough to make a mistake."

"Well, what do we do next?" August asked.

"We need to keep thinking like Regina. If she wouldn't keep hostages here, where would she keep them?"

"Does Regina have a dungeon?" Bae asked.

"After a fashion."

"Then I have an idea, but we need to split up again."

"Alright," August said. "Let's hear it."