Ch. 3
Space and the universe to be more precise is big. Beyond big. Huge.
"I am pleased to inform you that we have reached normality!" The overly cheery computer chirped throughout the ship. Arthur stared down at the complex lights and buttons before returning his gaze to the large display before him. Stars, planets, and the universe laid bare before him.
One moment they had been heading towards a small restaurant on the other side of the universe to celebrate his re-election and maybe find Merlin, and the next thing he knew they were in a completely new sector, Alpha D, plural 7G—where was that even? They had been following a lead and had been so close! Allegedly, by multiple accounts, Merlin was there.
However, right as they had pulled in, ready to disembark, their ship had pulled away and engaged the Hyperspace drive, causing them to shoot across the universe. Now Arthur had absolutely no idea where they were.
"Ford, we have a problem."
Arthur's best friend, and hero if he was honest, turned from the bar he was sitting at. He had been enthralled in a game of Bejeweled. Ford couldn't get over all the neat games earthlings had created to squander their time.
"Pardon?" Taran asked, joining the conversation.
"A problem," Arthur repeated. "Did either of you push the hyperspace drive button?"
"You know I don't fool around with those pesky buttons." Ford fixed Arthur with a lopsided grin. "Wait, I thought we were getting rocky moon rings?" At Arthur's displeased stare, Ford quickly refocused. "And finding Merlin, of course."
"We were. Only something caused us to…" Arthur stopped midsentence as he stared at the computer.
Hitchhikers.
"Did you pick up hitchhikers?" Arthur asked his two shipmates.
Ford looked on in confusion, answering his friend's question. Taran joined Arthur at the deck of the ship, staring at the computer.
"No, but it looks like we did."
"Time is an illusion. The universe you knew, doubly so."
Killian chuckled. Full on giggled, if he was being truthful. He didn't know what else to do. He and Russell were in the middle of a bright, white room. It was warm but sterile. There were no windows or doors. In fact, Killian wasn't even sure how they had even arrived.
One moment they had been running from Chris, ready to jump off a bridge.
No, they had jumped off a bridge. That much Killian was sure of.
And now they were somewhere else.
Maybe they had died, and this was death. Not heaven, nor hell. Just a sterile nothingness.
Killian guessed that was what he deserved.
Russell didn't seem quite as perturbed. He was smiling and checking out some little metal rectangle in his hand that seemed to light up when the top popped open. It whirled and beeped and buzzed for a moment before quieting down and sliding shut. This only served to make Russell smile a little wider.
"Don't look so worried, we are exactly where we should be." Russell clapped Killian on the back and then started moving about the room. He tapped on one wall and then another. "We just need to figure a way out."
His smile faltered for a mere moment.
But it was replaced a moment later as Russell fished something from his pockets.
"Don't panic. Just read this. It will explain everything." Russell handed Killian a small, metal book. It beeped and lit up when his hands came in contact with it. On the front, in large print, was exactly that which Russell had just told him. Don't Panic. When he opened it, a screen lit up, and text moved across it.
"Now, a way out…"
As if hearing their request, a wall suddenly slid open. A moment later and two men walked through. Killian immediately jumped into position, ready to defend himself and his new travel mate. Russell, at first acted in the same manner, but quickly dropped his defensive stance upon seeing who his alleged foe was.
"Russell?"
"King Arthur!"
The jail cell was cold. She complained all the time, but no one ever listened. No visitors. No daylight. No exercise except for the ropes she hung from the top of the enclosed cell. She had created the ropes from the skin she had ripped from the guard that stupidly thought she was nothing but a helpless little girl.
Helpless.
This made her giggle.
She was still human, after all. A living, breathing creature. Her heartbeat- she could hear it now, like thunder in her ears. Her hearing was amazingly sensitive, as was her sight. She could hear a leaf breaking off a branch from miles away, and she could see the craters of the seven moons without the aid of binoculars or telescope. As she had aged, her senses had only grown stronger.
Even better was her immune system. She could be stabbed with a knife and heal within minutes.
Her strength was unmeasurable. Her reflexes better than a cat. There was not a system of physical attack or defense that she could not master in mere moments. The last time they tested her she had destroyed the 88 soldiers they had sent at her in minutes. They had begged her to stop, in return, she told them to beg better.
She still remembered with startling clarity when the guard had stupidly entered her cell, teasing her and saying he could touch her any way he wanted. That she was his prisoner.
A moment later and suddenly he knew why his superiors had told him never to enter alone. Suddenly he knew all the horror stories he had been told as a boy were completely true. He remembered that the real monsters were those who looked so small and cute. It was always the small and meek one should worry about the most—a lion might roar, but it was the mosquito that was the most dangerous.
He had reached for his gun, but he was too slow. Much too slow when it came to her.
She had shoved herself out from her corner in the cell with such force that she was momentarily airborne. Not that the guard saw anything but a blur flying toward him. Her foot lashed out and her heel caught him in the center of his sternum. She heard the bones cracking as he fell in a heap to the ground, his weapon laying just as lifelessly beside him. He gasped for breath as blood curdled from his mouth, which only made her smile wider.
She had crushed his chest wall, the intercostal muscles, and thoracic cage separating, causing his respiratory system to stop working properly. He was having a hard time breathing as he was drowning in his own blood. Watching the blood gurgling from his mouth, she was tempted to sate her thirst and drink from his lips. But she stopped herself and left him alone.
As he had laid there dying, she had knelt beside him, her hand on his head as she whispered words of love. Love often flowed through her when she killed.
Before they took him from her, she stripped him of his skin, letting it serve as a reminder of who was really in charge. Who the real prisoner was.
After that incident, they upped her security. An additional cell wrapped around her current cell. Electric bars. Barbed wire. No clothes except for a simple tank top and some underwear. Guards posted at each corner of the room, twenty-four hours seven days a week. Cameras and audio. Three control rooms. They only ever let her out to torture her and test her.
Now when they visited her they made her stand in the center of the cell. Loud sirens would ring out informing her of their impending arrival. A group of twenty or more soldiers would enter together, surrounding her from every angle.
She always tried to entice them. She knew the male guards liked looking at her body. Who wouldn't enjoy looking; she was a nubile teen with a body of a goddess. Her hair was brown and soft as silk. Her large, wide brown eyes appeared as innocent as she looked. Her stature was slight by Earth standards, but her arms and legs were muscled.
She just wanted to play.
Why wouldn't anyone let her play?
They called her the princess of the dead. A queen most likely, if only she could get out.
They had stolen her away when she was but a child, merely three or four years old. She couldn't remember just how old she was anymore. She aged so differently from everyone else. A hundred years meant nothing to her. But she did remember that she had always dreamed of the human world. She longed for the blue skies, soft breeze, and sunshine. Everything that would never be hers. And they had used that against her.
Tempting her away from her keepers, she found freedom in the human world. The sunlight blinded her, erasing her memory and confusing her. That's when they struck. Stealing her away from everything she ever knew, and taking everything she ever wanted.
At first, she hadn't remembered. But years in a lonely cell and electroshock therapy helped her.
Not that she told them.
Now she belonged to them. At least that's what they believed.
It was only a matter of time before she would strike.
The list of rules grew longer every day.
Rule One: never go near a stream deeper than three feet.
Emma grit her teeth and remembered: the flash of red hair, the whirlpool death-roll, and the sight of Aurora disappearing under carmine bubbles. She and Sally had tried to save her. They had tried to save a lot of people, but some people didn't seem as open to the idea of working together. Of defeating the true enemy.
Emma shuddered.
Rule Two: Hear songs and echoes, run.
I'm wishing—I'm wishing—for the ones I hate
to find me—to find me—tonight…
I'm hoping—I'm hoping—
And I'm dreaming of
The cruel ways,
in which they…
will die.
The stampeding horde of wild beasts left only blood and pounded mud where there once was Simba. In the end, he closed his eyes and lifted his head like a king, the lion's pride as strong as his father's.
Rule Three: see a tree clawed by bears, leave that forest and never return.
Sally had told her how Winnie had won the last games, how the creators now loved adding bears. Cute, cuddly, deathly gruesome bears with button eyes and a pension for honey-flavored blood.
This world was so much worse than any curse Regina, Rumple, or Pan could ever create.
Pocahontas was found with three arrows through the heart and two through the eyes, with evidence of a mauling by what looked to be three bear cubs. Stepping under the shadow of a tree with that archer on watch meant instant death and a grave in the guts of her beasts.
Rules upon rules upon rules. Unnaturally cold? Run. Heavy footfalls of a Greek god? Run. The blood-curdling war cry of the cowboy that controlled dinosaurs? RUN!
Thankfully, if there was one thing Emma and Sally could do well, it was running.
"What do you mean they got away?" Jareth bellowed at his subordinates.
Emma, Eli, Chris and Natasha stared straight ahead, unmoving as their superior threw yet another temper tantrum.
A crystal ball whizzed toward them, ready to shatter against the wall, but Emma stopped it with her powers, causing it to freeze in front of them before dropping to the ground with a soft thud.
Sometimes she liked to remind Jareth of how much power she held over him.
"Cute." Jareth fixed her with a withering glare. "Maybe if you hadn't been spreading your legs like a common whore, those two would still be here instead of god knows where!"
Emma shrank back. She didn't know how he knew where she had been. Maybe he was checking up on her as much as he checked up on everyone else.
"Find them and bring them back here." Jareth paused for a moment. Thinking. Contemplating. "Make sure Russell is alive. I don't care what happens to that bothersome Jones' brother."
At that, a smile broke across Emma's face. She would be all too happy to finally repay Killian Jones. Now she could hurt him as much as he had hurt her.
"I sense her. She's somewhere close."
Sally's eyes flashed open and Emma nearly fell free from her tree-top hammock. There was a shuffling of people far below.
"Are you sure it isn't some echo? How can you trust what your senses are telling you… in a place as confusing as this?"
"I can feel her power, like a blade cutting through the fog."
They were looking for them.
Emma's heart clacked up to her throat and she swallowed it down, slowly creeping from her hammock.
"Did you hear that?"
The two held perfectly still. The sweat beaded on Emma's face. Sally never perspired. Emma assumed it was due to her patchwork body.
"There's so much life here. I cannot tell the life apart from life. She could be hiding anywhere…"
Life from life. Emma and Sally could hide in the trees, among the animals. They just needed to be quiet, and maybe they could…
There was a tap on Sally's shoulder.
"Hey there."
"Ah!" Sally screamed, causing Emma to jump as well, and they went tumbling out of the branches. Sally grabbed hold of a twig, breaking it in her fake hands, and then hurtling towards the ground faster than Genie could snap a wish come true.
This was it. They'd had enough close calls in the past to know when it was time to pack it in, and in that crystal moment from branch to the ground Emma sent out her undying love for Henry, Killian and her family, and accepted that her soul would leave her, as her body smashed into the ground.
She opened her eyes when it didn't come. Instead, she and Sally were floating.
Emma had seen many strange things on this battlefield, but this was by far the strangest. Two women in pale tunics, with palms up and eyes caught in serene meditation.
"Don't be afraid of us."
And in that moment, she wasn't. Sally held a different opinion. Her arm came free, a machine gun materializing in its place. Ready and waiting, as she always was. From above, a figure leaped the ten stories to the ground as if it were a hop over a pond, landing without a sound.
One of the women stepped closer. "Can you feel it…?"
Invisible tendrils pulled at Emma and Sally's bodies, and they grew from their hearts to theirs in brilliant blooming branches that bound them all together.
"I can feel something," Sally said. Amazement blossomed from her face as the small group strengthened with each other's energies.
"You're special, like us." The girl from the tree was speaking now. "You can feel the Force."