Chapter Eight: Painful Reunion

Jack woke up with a loud gasp, fighting to get air back into his lungs. His awakening gasp was greeted by the collective gasps of several people surrounding him, each one with looks of amazement upon their faces. Harkness could not remember what happened before he apparently "died" for the billionth time, but he had a good idea of how it happened when his chest momentarily felt like it was on fire. He was reminded of his current whereabouts when he looked around to see that he was still in the camp that he and River stormed into, rescuing Emma and Snow from their captors. From the way Jack had to be revived through his immortality, he figured that the mission didn't go exactly as planned.

Standing over him in shock were Emma, Snow, River, and the residents of the camp, including the female Chinese warrior he had seen much earlier, who stood with a bloodied sword in hand. The sword clued Jack in on what happened – as he and River made an attempt in getting Emma and Snow out, the Chinese warrior attacked him from behind by stabbing her sword through his torso, believing it to have killed him. How sorely wrong she turned out to be!

"Um…Jack?" A stunned Emma managed to say. "A-Are you…alright?"

He grinned over her surprise. "Told ya, didn't I?"

"What manner of man are you, stranger?" asked the Chinese warrior.

"He's an immortal." A voice spoke out of Jack's view; he sat up and turned slightly to see a literal black knight in shiny armor approach, looking directly at him. "I've seen your kind many times before."

Jack chuckled as he got back on his feet again. "My kind, eh? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were prejudiced, Mister…?"

"Lancelot. And I'm not prejudiced. Just fascinated."

Jack nodded while smiling over the familiarity in the knight's legendary name. "Well, Lancelot, now that you know you and your people can't kill me, all of you should also know that we will be leaving with our friends."

"Is your friend immortal herself?"

As he heard this question being asked, Jack knew exactly who the person was talking about. He turned to see the princess that he had seen with the Chinese warrior earlier grab River from behind and hold a dagger to her throat. This action was met with disapproval from the Chinese warrior as she instructed the princess, "Aurora, let her go!"

"They plan to escape with our prisoners!" Aurora exclaimed.

"No, we are not escaping." Snow assured.

Her declaration confused Harkness. "What?"

"Jack, Lancelot is an old friend of mine." Snow informed. "We can trust him."

"Like we could trust Mulan over here after she tried to kill me?" Jack gestured to the Chinese warrior as he made his point.

"How do you know of my name, stranger?"

Harkness derisively replied: "Call it a wild guess. And it's Captain Harkness, not 'stranger.'"

"Mulan was merely protecting us." Lancelot told Jack. "You and your friend did storm our encampment unannounced."

"True. But you took our friends prisoner when they did nothing wrong." Jack retorted.

"A mistake that I willingly admit to. I have even agreed to let Snow and Emma leave the camp for a daring mission. So can we call a truce?"

Lancelot stuck his hand out to Jack, who was hesitant in shaking it at first but brought himself to do it for Snow, Emma, and especially River, who was still being held at knifepoint by Aurora until Lancelot gave the order for her release. Although Aurora was forced to oblige to the command, she still remained suspicious of not just River and Jack but Emma and Snow as well. The princess left the group in a huff.

Once the atmosphere returned to a calm state, Jack asked Snow, "So what 'daring' mission are you two going on?"

Snow had a hopeful smile as she explained: "There may be one portal we can take back to Storybrooke."

"Where is it?" River inquired.

"She's not willing to say because of Cora." Emma said.

"Cora?" Jack questioned.

"This woman we met inside the camp's prison who turns out to be Regina's mother." Emma revealed.

Harkness raised curious eyebrows. "Regina's mother? Not sure if I'm ready for that yet."

It was then that Snow, realizing that she and Emma were now reunited with Jack and River, attempted to convince Lancelot of a change in their plan. "You suggested for us to bring someone to defend us. Jack can."

Lancelot looked long and hard at Harkness. "No offense to the immortal—"

"Captain Harkness." Jack snidely corrected.

"No offense to Captain Harkness, but I'm doubtful of his knowledge of this world as much as your daughter's."

"Well, that depends," said Emma, who turned to Jack and asked, "Have you ever faced an ogre before?"

Jack briefly pondered on the question and answered, "No, but I've faced enough Weevils to be prepared for any vicious creatures this place can throw at me."

Before Emma could ask him what a "Weevil" was, River reminded everyone of her presence as she added to Jack's claim, "I've faced ogres here once before – the Doctor and I defeated five of them. They never saw what hit them."

"Then you two must've faced a different kind of ogre, because most ogres are blind." Snow informed. "They hunt by sound alone."

This fact surprised River, who looked back on the battle she and the Doctor involved themselves in much differently now.

"Let's arm ourselves." Mulan suggested. "If we are going through the ogre-infested forest, then we will surely need weapons." She looked to Jack and added, "You, on the other hand, might not need much protection. Your immortality itself is a weapon."

"That's a matter of perspective." Jack cynically remarked while Emma looked to him curiously, realizing that all of the stories he told about being immortal had just as much truth in them as the place she was presently trapped in.