Killian's Inferno

Chapter Seven

Meanwhile…

One of the dwarfs was walking alone from town toward Regina's vault so that he could relieve the others standing guard. However, before he could arrive, the little man was suddenly attacked from behind and swiftly rendered him unconscious by shoving a cloth drenched in chloroform over his nose and mouth. As soon as the dwarf fell to the ground, his attacker pulled a small vile from inside his coat pocket, held it up to his mouth, and then drank the green liquid inside as it transformed him into the man at his feet.

The imposter cautiously made his way to the Queen's vault where he ran into both Dopey and Leroy as he glared at who he believed was Sleepy and asked angrily, "And where have you been? You were supposed to relieve us an hour ago. You didn't fall asleep again, did you?"

Sleepy answered nervously, "I'm sorry, but I'm here now. You're free to take off."

"Dopey's right," the grumpy dwarf stated in confusion before they left their friend alone, when the one who couldn't speak suddenly grabbed Leroy's arm and waved his arms wildly to try to say something that only a few of the dwarfs could really understand. "Wasn't Sneezy supposed to be here with you, Sleepy? Where is he?"

"He uh… he had to go deliver a package to Belle," the imposter replied, even more nervously than before. "Something for Gold I think. Don't worry, he'll be here soon. Go on back. I'll be fine here alone for a few minutes."

Grumpy growled, "Fine, but whatever you do, don't fall asleep again or we won't trust you with anything for awhile."

Sleepy nodded as he responded, "You can count on me."

Once they had disappeared from sight, the man in disguise walked over to stand directly in front of the vault's entrance, then worryingly pulled out another small vile and drank the liquid inside of it as well. When he didn't feel any different, the imposter took a few steps back, afraid to risk doing what he had been instructed to do, until he remembered what was at stake if he refused, so he mustered up as much courage as he could and rushed forward, easily being able to pass through the magical barrier that the Evil Queen had put up before she and the others had departed for the Underworld.

As soon as he realized he was actually inside, the man looked around him in surprise, then quickly checked himself to make sure he was really okay, which was when he discovered that he no longer appeared as the dwarf, but as himself again; William Smee. He let out a small chuckle in relief and then walked deeper into the vault to finally get what he come to do over with as soon as he could.

At the edge of town…

Grumpy and Dopey were almost at the docks down by the harbor when they ran into Sneezy who was on his way to the vault. Before either of the dwarfs could say anything, Sneezy fell into a sneezing fit, while Leroy waited impatiently for it to end so that he could scold his friend for being late.

"Are you finished then?" he asked in frustration as Sneezy just looked at them sheepishly. "Good, now why are you so late? You were supposed to meet us at the vault fifteen minutes ago. Sleepy's already there. He said that you had to go deliver some kind of package for Belle?"

"I didn't tell him that?" their friend answered quizzically. "I told him I would meet him there because I had to finish helping Granny clean the dishes at the diner."

Leroy looked between his friends, sensing that something was wrong, then replied, "I don't get it. Why would Sleepy get something like that mixed up unless…?"

Dopey frantically wiggled his fingers and hands around again as Sneezy interpreted for him as he responded, "Unless it wasn't really Sleepy you were talking to and whoever it was, was up to no good?"

"Which means… We need to get back to the vault again right now!" Grumpy shouted as he immediately took off while calling back to Dopey, telling him to go into town to get help.

As the two dwarfs were running back toward the vault again, Tinker Bell was flying above the woods nearby, keeping her eyes down below while trying to enjoy the peace and quiet until she saw them in a panic and immediately knew that her peace and quiet had just ended. She quickly flew down to find out what was wrong.

"Are you two alright?" she asked worryingly as she flew down beside them. "What happened?"

Grumpy answered quickly, "We think something's up with Sleepy and we just left him outside of the vault. It could be one of Rumpelstiltskin's tricks to get us to leave Hook's body unguarded."

Tink looked confused as she replied, "But even if you're right, Sleepy or whoever is really there won't be able to get inside, not unless Gold gave him something to help him to get in. I'll meet you there. Hurry!"

Inside the vault…

"I'm sorry that it had to come to this, Captain," Smee said nervously as he looked down upon his old friend's body inside the stone crypt before him while he pulled out a magical lighter Gold had given him and then clicked it in order to ignite the flame. "But he really left me no choice."

"No!" Tinker Bell cried out fearfully as she suddenly appeared in the entryway and swiftly fired a gust of wind to put out the flame and knock the lighter across the room the moment the fat man in the red knit cap tried to drop it to burn Hook's body. "What do you think you are doing? He was your Captain, and your friend!"

Smee looked around for another way out to run, but found that the only exit was being blocked by the Green Fairy, as well as two dwarfs who by now had arrived to join her, then he looked between them and stuttered, "I… I didn't… I didn't have a choice, not really. Before he left town, he came to me with a proposition. I couldn't refuse him."

Grumpy glared at the pirate angrily as he asked, "Who did, you mean Gold? That snake is a villain through and through and he's always had it out for Hook. Exactly what did he threaten you with that would make you agree to destroy your friend's only chance to live again? Was it money?"

"No of course not, it's just… He threatened to turn me back into a rat so he could stomp on me if I didn't do this," the first mate finally admitted in response. "The man's the Dark One again. We all know what he's capable of. I didn't want to die. Besides, Hook betrayed me and the rest of our crew. He lied to us, claiming that he had no memory of what happened to us or our ship during the year that we all lost our memories after being transported back home to the Enchanted Forest. But it turns out, the Captain really just ditched us all in some cursed country so he could sail alone in order to outrun the second curse that came afterward. And all for some woman claiming to be a Savior. He fell under whatever wretched spell she put him under and never tried to fight against it. Hook was my friend, but not anymore."

"Whatever it is you might feel toward him doesn't justify murder, or whatever this is," Tinker Bell answered coldly as Leroy and Sneezy stepped forward to take him into custody, just as Granny and the rest of the dwarfs, including the real Sleepy, arrived. "If Emma and David were here, they would place you under arrest and so that is exactly what we're going to do, Mr. Smee."

Something donned on him then as Grumpy looked at the prisoner again in confusion as he asked, "How is it that you were able to break in here, anyway? The Queen's containment spell is gone."

The pirate glared at the smaller man and replied, "Gold gave me a potion, two potions actually. The first one was to allow me to transform into anyone I needed to be in order to close enough to the vault without rousing suspicion, and the second one was to help me get through the barrier. He said something about it containing Regina's blood, combined with powerful magic strong enough to do so."

"Well, it worked all right," Granny stated coldly. "We're gonna need you fairies to create some more magic to put up another protection spell on this place. Tink, do you have any ideas?"

"I think me and Blue can think of something," the Green Fairy responded. "We'll get to work right away."

Just as everyone was about to leave the room, the fairy sensed a power arise as she looked around, then stopped her eyes on Hook's right arm as she discovered a strange glow coming from beneath the cloth of his jacket and gently lifted the sleeve and called out to the others saying, "Wait! Something's happening."

Grumpy stared at the glow as he asked, "What on earth is that?"

"It's a burn," Granny answered with surprise while they all stared as the burn formed and became frighteningly darker. "Something is being branded into his skin in order to destroy his tattoo, but how?"

"Someone very powerful must be doing this and somehow the magic is being transferred to Hook's body," Tinker Bell replied as the glow finally died down and they could finally see the pattern that appeared. "Although, I don't know how."

Leroy saw that it was a single word or a name as he read it out loud, "Hades? What or who is that?"

It was then that Mother Superior walked into the vault's room and came over to the pirate's crypt to observe the wound herself as she responded fearfully, "Hades, the ruthless God of the Underworld."