A/N: Here is your first uber long chapter! But here's the thing. I didn't quite reach the review quota I was hoping for…so here's the deal. If you all manage to come up with twenty-five comments for this chapter, I'll make another uber long one, but if not, you'll get the normal 1,000 words next chapter. Sounds fair enough, yes? Go tell your friends! Add this to your community! Whatever you think will get it more reviews!
Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed so far! You're comments make me smile! :)
"What is it?" I ask, subconsciously reaching for his forearm, "What did he tell you?" I knew his fury had to do with what Mr. Gold had told him. If this was going to go the way that Henry's book had said it would, then Mr. Gold would be just about ready to cash in.
"He said that if I wanted to free myself from the curse fully, and from my obligation to him, I am going to have to kill Regina and- " he cut himself off then, nothing but a choking sound making its way from his throat. He obviously had more to say. Graham had a tear in his eye as he recollected on the account.
"What is it, Graham?" I asked, acutely aware that whatever he was going to say next I wasn't going to like.
"He said I have to kill Henry." Three breaths hitched, and I suddenly remembered in the peripheral of my mind that Mary Margaret was still in the room with us.
"There's no way. There has to be something else." Mary Margaret gasped, throwing her hands into the air, "We can get him out of town, can't we? We can put him in hiding. Emma, you have an apartment out of town! We can hide him there."
"No, he gave me explicit directions. I have to get my freedom back." Graham said, running his hands furiously over his exhausted features.
My eyes grew wide, as I pulled my hand away from him, "You're not honestly considering this." I was pleading. I knew I didn't have any control under Graham, and I knew I wasn't supposed to care about Henry, but I did.
"No, of course not." He answered, and I breathed a sigh of relief, "But Regina…"
"Graham, just think this over for a minute," Mary Margaret interjected, "No matter what Mr. that fairy tale or your memories or Mr. Gold told you, you are a human being, and if you kill Regina, no matter how terrible she's been to you, you're going to regret it. It's just human nature."
His eyes suddenly turned dark, "She killed me, Mary Margaret. I don't give a damn if the woman lives another day."
"You'll be leaving Henry without a mother." She continued. That stung. I knew she didn't mean what she had said, but that didn't mean it didn't sting a bit.
"Regina is not Henry's mother." He said darkly.
Why did that make me so happy? All he was doing was trying to serve his case, but still, I had to feel like he was inadvertently defending me. I hadn't had somebody actually stand up for me in years. It was a foreign feeling, but a pleasant one, "I think we need to see Henry."
The short walk down the town square lead directly to the Mayor's mansion. I managed to locate the window which I had crawled through earlier that night and out of nowhere, I suddenly realized that the sun was beginning to rise. This would be nearly 48 hours that we would all be going without sleep and it was clearly taking its toll on all of us, "Stay here." I commanded of both Graham and Mary Margaret. I carefully grabbed a hold of one of the slightly bulging bricks, and began to climb as if it were a rock wall, all the way up to Henry's third story bedroom.
I was rocking along pretty well, until I got about 2/3 of the way up, then one stupidly misplaced step caused me to begin to slip down the side of the house, destroying the palms of my hands and my elbows and in the process. I braced myself for the harsh landing, but never felt my body actually connect with the ground. Instead, I was rather shocked to find myself, after coming out of my minor daze, I found that I was being…held. It wasn't exactly strange though. Graham let out a chuckle as he set me on the ground and allowed me to steady myself.
"That was fun." I heard him say. Somewhere within the mix up, I had managed to make eye contact with Mary Margaret, who had a very clearly been concealing the glint in her eye through our little exchange. Again, more concerned with the whole, 'Let's get Graham and Emma together' thing than the task at hand, "Now if you're done playing Spiderman," Graham continued, a cocky smile crossing his face, "I think I'll use the front door."
That was something I hadn't realized before. Regina's car wasn't in the drive. Of course she wasn't home. She was probably out trying to plot some other ways to ruin my life. Mary Margaret and I followed after him, scaling the stairs silently, until we reached Henry's door, "Would you care to do the honors?" Graham motioned for me to knock, and I did so, not giving it a second thought.
Within seconds of my first knock, the door flew open and Henry stood in the doorway, book in hand. I instantly felt pity for the child. there were rings under his eyes to rival those of Saturn, and he was standing stiff, as if trying to keep himself from falling over. He had been waiting for us, "Henry, are you ready for the first official Operation Cobra meeting?" he didn't say a word. He just cleared out of the doorway, allowing the three of us to pass and enter his small room.
"So, what's new?" Henry asked conversationally, after we had all found a seat somewhere; Graham at the writing desk, Mary Margaret on the windowsill, and I next to Henry on his bed, skimming through the book for the umpteenth time.
Graham looked over to me, as if for confirmation that he was allowed to start talking and I simply gave him a nod, "I think I know who Rumpelstiltskin is, Henry."
Henry perked up at the sound of this. He didn't seem dead to the world anymore. You could tell he didn't want to miss a word out of Graham's mouth, "Who?" he asked excitedly. His eyes were as huge as orbs, which would've been comical if we had been meeting under different circumstances.
Graham drew in a breath, before looking down at his feet as if they were the most fascinating thing in the world, and continuing, "I think Mr. Gold is Rumpelstilskin. He came to me today after….what happened…" good edit for the sake of the kid, "He's ready to cash in."
"And since you're the Huntsman," Henry began. He knew where this was leading. He was smart with context clues, "Who does he want you to kill?" his tone fell. It wasn't dead anymore, but now it was full of worry. Henry shot me a worried glance. Oh god, he thought Graham was told to kill me? I couldn't help but think, if that was his biggest concern in life; the livelihood of a person who had been a stranger a month ago, he had it pretty good here.
"He wants me to kill your…Madame Mayor." Graham realized the terms 'mom' and 'mother' were becoming a bit much, for which I was thankful. If I had to hear that woman get credit for everything the Henry was again, both he and Regina were going to be cruising for a back hand.
Not a single emotion crossed Henry's face, "You know why?" he asked of Graham, who simply shook his head, confusion crossing his features, "He wants you to kill her so that she won't be able to control the story anymore. If you kill her, Sheriff, this book," he held up the tattered fairy tale book, "Everything in this book is going to be completely destroyed. People in Storybrooke won't have a future. This reality we're living in now, is surrounded by the curse that she put on Storybrooke, and if somebody breaks that curse, this book isn't going to hold any weight anymore. After she is dead, it's basically a crapshoot as to what will happen next."
"What are you saying?" Mary Margaret asked, alert crossing her face.
"I'm saying that Mr. Gold hoodwinked you! If you do it, the curse will be broken, then Storybrooke will cease to exist."
A/N: And cue the dramatic music! Lol…okay, so the new chapter will be up tomorrow. This one took a little while longer, because it's a good 800 words longer than my average chapter. Anyway, twenty reviews, and there will be an uber chapter up tomorrow! Love y'all! xMags
