"Have a seat," the doctor invited, gesturing to a couple of cushy chairs as he closed the door behind them. As Emma and Killian complied he pulled out a pad of paper and a pen, sat in a chair across from them, and asked "so, what's the trouble?"
"Well, Dr. Mattison-"
"Please call me Kyle," the doctor interrupted Killian.
"Well, Kyle, I've been having terrible headaches. The doctors I've seen can't find anything wrong."
"I see… And how long have these been going on?"
"Five or six months," Killian replied.
Kyle looked from one to the other and then spoke to Emma. "You'll need to remove any metal that you're wearing. Any jewelry, clothing with metal buttons or zippers, underwire; there's a robe behind that screen you can change into."
Emma and Killian shared a confused look. "Why? We're not here for me."
The doctor turned in his chair to toss the notepad and pen onto his desk. "Actually, you're not here for either of you, but you're the one who has a problem I might be able to fix."
"I don't-"
"If he's suffering from migraines then I'm a platypus. And since I can't regrow a hand, there's absolutely nothing I can help him with." He kicked his feet up onto the small table between them and leaned back in his chair, the very picture of nonchalance.
"Just what is it you think you can help Emma with?" Killian was shifting somewhat uncomfortably in his chair. Emma could see that his 'he seems familiar' expression hadn't disappeared even a little; if anything, it had increased.
Dr. Kyle addressed Emma. "Something's blocking off a part of you."
"I don't catch your drift."
"Do you feel like a part of you is missing, that you can't access it? Maybe an emotion or something you used to be good at but can't quite do anymore?" Emma shared another looked with Killian. Yes, but unfortunately, due to that very problem, I have no idea if you're being honest about anything at all.
"And if there was?"
"Then I might be able to help you get it back." The doctor seemed satisfied. Smug, almost. Not that he was right, because he was very sure of himself (just short of arrogant, really), but that she was willing to admit it. That wasn't an admission. That was a non-answer designed to encourage you to reveal useful information.
"Might?" Killian was interested, despite his unease. Emma was stuck mostly at apprehensive. Not only had this Kyle guy seen right through their story (which no one else had done), he'd pinpointed an actual problem. One that most people probably would scoff at. Because "my superpower is on the fritz" inspires looks full of "you're crazy."
"There's only so much that someone like me can do. Like I said, something is blocking it off. Something negative accumulated without having the opportunity to dissipate before even more was piled on. Self-doubt or despair, perhaps? Or maybe just old-fashioned anger or grief? I haven't seen anything like it, actually. It's almost like it built up when time stood still." Maybe Killian was right about Neverland throwing me off.
"How could you tell something like that? Wait, let me guess; you can see it in my aura?" Uncomfortable with the turn in conversation (no matter that it signaled that the doctor might not be a complete fraud), Emma turned to her old friend, snark.
Doctor Kyle let out an undignified snort. "If you want to call it that, sure." Emma saw a flash of recognition cross Killian's face before he smoothed his expression into skeptical interest. Emma was comforted by the way that his body let go of some of the tension it had been holding. If Killian managed to place the doctor, it wasn't as a threat.
"And how are you going to fix it? Cleanse her aura, realign her chakra, or just have her bathe in water filled with malodorous herbs?" He might not see the doctor as a threat, but he certainly didn't seem convinced that Kyle could actually do something to help Emma see through lies again.
"More like run drain cleaner through her 'aura'." I don't like the sound of that.
"That sounds unpleasant." Apparently Killian was on the same page as she was.
"It could be." Kyle displayed a complete lack of concern for the unpleasantness.
"You said there's only so much someone like you can do. What did you mean by that?" As much as Emma wanted to be back to normal (as if knowing when people lie again would make my life normal), she decided to focus on the issue that had brought them here: finding someone with real magic.
"Well, everyone has their limits."
"No, what did you mean by 'someone like you'." Hey, just because I give non-answers doesn't mean I'll accept the same from you, buddy.
"I'd have thought you would've figured that out by now." And the smug was back.
"You have magic," Killian stated. Not a question, or an uncertainty, a statement. You go from skeptical to certain because of a drain cleaner metaphor? Really?
The doctor hemmed in acknowledgement before giving a miniscule nod. "Mine is mostly sight-based."
"What's a seer doing practicing alternative medicine?" More importantly, how can a seer help us save Storybrooke and squash Pan like the cockroach that he is?
"I said sight-based, not predictive." Kyle said this as if the distinction between 'possessor of sight-based magic' and 'seer' should have been perfectly obvious.
"What's the difference?" Apparently Killian didn't see the distinction any better than Emma did.
"I can tell a great deal about someone just by looking. For instance, if someone is physically ill I can see where that illness originated and how bad it is. Which is both handy for a doctor and how I know that your 'friend' here doesn't have migraines. If someone is psychologically or… spiritually ill, I can tell that too. By looking at the 'aura,' as you put it." Doctor Kyle was up now and walking around the room gathering objects into a small pile on the table.
"What else?" Emma was wading cautiously into the 'curious' pool.
"The foundation of a person, their base personality. The connections between people. Sometimes I can see motivations. A few other things." He reached behind the screen and tossed a robe Emma's way.
"Such as?" Like Emma, Killian preferred to have all possible information. Much more difficult to be blindsided that way.
"You have been alive far longer than should be possible. That boy out there has a higher capacity for faith than any priest I've ever met. And your two lives are far more interconnected than I think even you realize." Kyle looked at Emma and gestured pointedly to the screen. She steadfastly ignored him in favor of starting a silent conversation with Killian.
How could he know that you should be long dead?
Perhaps we have stumbled on to the one person in this city who isn't a charlatan.
What, just because he knows something that no one could possibly deduce from casual observation?
Killian raised an eyebrow at her and nodded at the changing screen. She sighed, snatched the robe from the floor (where she had let it fall when it was thrown her way), and went behind the screen to change. At least the robe is comfy.
"So, why are you searching for someone with magic?" Kyle asked Killian once she was hidden.
"What makes you thing we're searching for someone with magic? Perhaps we're just curious how you live up to your claims."
"Div slipped me a note. You weren't very subtle with your questions." Emma emerged in the robe and had another silent exchange with Killian, this time about the doctor's trustworthiness.
Killian ended that one with a look that very clearly said 'do we have a choice?' She sighed again. What the hell, might as well just put it all out there. "We need magic to create potions to save a town full of people from another land. And to make sure that a psychopathic teenager doesn't get his own little corner of the world to rule over."
To Emma's surprise, Kyle didn't express any shock or even skepticism. "Why don't you just do it yourself?"
"Like I said, we need magic."
"Which you have. You're full of it…" He looked between Emma and Killian, taking in their expressions (which were along the lines of 'would we be here if it was that easy?'). "But you're not trained, are you?"
"I raised a protective barrier once, but that shattered pretty quickly. I've lit a couple of fires." I also sent a magical shockwave at a bitch who was trying to rip out my heart, but that wasn't intentional so it doesn't count.
"Don't forget about destroying that failsafe, love," Killian pitched in.
"That was Regina, I just helped." So it also doesn't count.
The doctor was contemplative. At least he's not telling us to get lost. "That's unfortunate. What are the potions for?"
"Uh… one to be able to move around under a shield where time is frozen. One to return memories taken by a curse. We're not sure which one we'll need, so we have to make both. Will you help?"
"No." Emma wasn't appreciating the definitiveness.
"Why not?! You have the magic; don't you care about how many people might get hurt?"
"Of course I do. But even if potions were my thing, which they're really not, I don't have the juice for something like that."
"You're saying that you're just not powerful enough?" Killian asked with a raised brow.
"Not at the moment. My… 'magic reserves', as one might call them, are depleted right now. It'd take months for me to build up enough to pull something like that off. You, however, have plenty." The level of calm that Kyle maintained was borderline infuriating for Emma.
"Like you said before: I don't have the training," she reminded him through gritted teeth.
"What if I give it to you?"
"What?"
"Well, I can't give you the magic you need, but I might be able to help you learn how to access yours." Kyle reclaimed his chair and looked at her seriously.
"How long would that take? Because we don't have much time left." As much as I need to learn how to use my magic, I'd rather figure that out after saving the damn town.
"What do you need it to do?"
"Just… infuse the potions with magic, I guess." Emma shared another look with Killian. The directions that Regina and Gold had given them weren't very clear on that point. Presumably because someone with magic would already know what to do with it. "The ingredients all seem to be things we can find here, except for one that we haven't been able to identify. We just need magic to make it something other than a nasty tea."
"To get you to access your magic and push it into something else… A month, maybe, if we really go at it." She was starting to dislike the doctor's 'contemplative look'.
Killian grabbed ahold of Emma's hand to still it. She hadn't even noticed that she was drumming her fingers (somewhat violently) on the table. "And if you prove to be an inadequate teacher? Then we've wasted a month that could have been spent finding someone useful."
"Hey, it's up to you. I told you what I can do to help. If you'd rather run around the world looking for someone else with magic, you go right ahead."
"Do you know of someone else who could help?" Why didn't we ask that sooner? Like, as soon as he said he couldn't do it?
"The woman who trained me, but it's beyond unlikely that she'll do anything unless you've exhausted all other options. And I really don't like bothering her unless it's absolutely necessary." The doctor began mixing what Emma assumed were ingredients (that looks like pond scum… and that one looks like the kind of sludge by the sewer that you avoid at all costs…) in a container on the table. Really? Tupperware? Right, not important.
"So, if we do this- if you train me- and I can't do it in time, she would help?"
"If lives are on the line? Almost certainly." Emma and Killian shared expressions of it's probably our best option with each other before they nodded at Kyle. He nodded back to acknowledge their agreement. Then he dumped a packet of sugar in the Tupperware bowl, secured the lid, and shook it fiercely. "Now, about that drain cleaner…"
A/N: I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Along with the usual holiday family madness, I've actually had to work when on-shift (new bosses are such hard-asses) rather than using that time to write/edit/think about stuff. I'm still not wholly satisfied with this chapter (another reason it took so long), but I've decided to just post it and try to make up for it next chapter rather than scratch it completely and start over (which would probably take at least another week).
Reviews are apples, and constructive criticism is a Honeycrisp with chunky peanut butter!