Double Trouble 68
A/N: Sorry for the long wait, lovely patient readers. My gf was here from the UK for three months so I took a break from, well, everything else lol. Thanks to everyone who's left reviews and sent me messages on tumblr. I've been psyching myself up to post this for ages. Enjoy :)
Recap: After finding out the truth about her past - of Cora and Rumpelstiltzskin's involvement in the murder of her patron fairy which led to her family's disgrace - Ri wishes to go home and remember none of it. Astrid finds her at the stables and is forced to grant her wish, but is later berated by The Blue Fairy for only sending one of the teenagers back to the past. The future of Storybrooke and existence of the Saviour depends on Em's returning to the past as well.
Mary Margaret and David discover an unconscious Em in her bed, apparently having taken sleeping tablets. Fearing the Blue Fairy's accusations about the teen's involvement in the attack on bigoted school principal Mrs Gander who has since died, the Charmings decide that David should hide Em at the Sheriff's Station until they can get her side of events.
After helping his schoolfriend reunite her cousin with her girlfriend at the hospital where Mrs Gander died, Henry is warned by a strange patient that his mothers are in danger. He rushes home to warn them and there encounters Mr Gold who steals the True Love Potion that his mothers need to use to save Storybrooke from losing its magic and memories.
Despite multiple attempts, Emma and Regina are frustrated they've been unable to perform True Love's Kiss which is necessary to activate the potion. Emma theorises that it's not working because their teenage memories of meeting for the first time are missing and they must try to get this information from Em and Ri. They hear a sonic boom which Regina says is due to someone magically leaving Storybrooke and somehow she knows for certain that it was Ri who's now gone, leaving them with only one chance to ask Em before she disappears too.
(There's a recap at the start of C65 if you need to go further back.)
Chapter 68 'Locked in'
Sheriff's Station
David pulled up a chair at his desk and decided that he might as well get some paperwork done to pass the time while he watched over his sleeping daughter, Em.
It was a toss-up as to who hated paperwork more - he or Emma. The thought made him smile; in fact, any similarity or trait that his daughter seemed to have inherited from him filled him with pride. Sometimes David thought he couldn't be prouder of the person she was already, but then she'd say or do something in defense of what was fair and good and it'd make him fit to burst.
At first, Em's extra-long sleep had brought back uncomfortable memories of the sleeping curse that had almost caused her mother to sleep for all eternity. But the doctor said his teenage daughter was going to be ok and it was an enormous relief. Any number of irritating interactions with Whale was worth that knowledge.
The Deputy Sheriff was reminded of the first day he'd met his daughter as a teenager, when he'd caught Em shoplifting and brought her here to the Station. He could still recall the sight of her - skinny and defiant - slouching across from him in an interrogation room declaring that she hated the parents who'd abandoned her at birth.
David's one constant regret about his daughter was that he hadn't been there for her when she was growing up. He couldn't let go of the guilty feeling that he'd let her down, that he'd failed her in his duty as a father. Maybe things would've turned out differently for her. He loved her for who she was and that included the resulting scars of the pain she'd gone through but he couldn't help wishing she'd had the happy and safe childhood she'd deserved.
Stirring noises came from the cell where Em was sleeping. When the teenager sat up with a yawn a huge smile stretched across David's face. His little sleeping beauty was awake.
"What time is it?" said Em, blinking sleepily. She swept her long blonde locks out of her face, discovered her glasses in her pocket, and put them on. She looked around and recognised her surroundings. "Wait a sec. Why am I here?"
"I was afraid you'd ask that," sighed David. "One day I was minding my own business in the Enchanted Forest and I met this beautiful woman who hit me in the face with a rock, and now here you are."
"Daaaaaad," Em groaned. "That's not what I meant."
Her dismay at his terrible joke had been the intended effect. Em got up and came out of the cell to sit herself on the corner of his desk. He teased her with a "good afternoon", asked how she was feeling ("fine"), and whether she wanted anything to eat ("ew no"). Em watched him fill in some forms before asking again.
"How come we're at your work?" said Em.
David turned serious when he had to explain why he'd brought her to the Sheriff Station. He asked her about the sleeping tablets and then without nagging too much he passed on Dr Whale's warnings about taking other people's medicines. He then told her that Mrs Gander had been taken to hospital after her house was broken into and that the Blue Fairy wanted to question her about it.
Em listened to it all and even though David knew he had to tell her these things he could see in her face that she was becoming wary and withdrawing from him.
Her first question was, "Am I in trouble?"
"Not necessarily," said David. "I only want to know your side of the story. What happened last night? Were you at Mrs Gander's house at any time?"
Em looked away for a minute to think. "Where's Ri? What'd she tell you?"
"I want to hear it from you."
"Why does everyone think it was me? No matter what I do I'm always under suspicion. I guess I'm going to be a bad kid forever. Is that what you think of me?"
"I-"
"I didn't break into her house ok! The old biddy is lying. I didn't even touch her. She's the one who's batshit crazy. Maybe she attacked me. Did you consider that?"
"This is serious, Em." David said in a disapproving tone. "I'm not saying this as your father, it's also my job as Sheriff's Deputy. An old lady was seriously injured. I need to know the truth about what happened so that I can protect you in case the law gets involved. Mrs Gander wasn't the only one saying you assaulted her."
Em scoffed. "That's impossible. There was only me and Ri there."
David didn't answer. It was an old interrogation technique of letting her come to the conclusion herself and seeing what she'd say. It was only circumstantial evidence anyway ("the Blue Fairy said that Ri had said…") that Em did anything wrong so it wouldn't be enough proof officially. Playing one of the girls off against the other was a dangerous game though, and when Em realised the implications of his questions she became angry at him real quick.
"There's no way!" Em's mouth gaped in horror. "You're saying Ri told you it was me? I don't believe you! You're lying. She'd never let me go to jail for something I didn't do."
Whether it was because she wanted to be dramatic or she had nowhere else to go, Em got up and stomped over to the cell she'd woken up in. The teenager grabbed the steel door and slammed it shut behind her with a clang.
Granny's diner
"Hey, I'm paying," said Emma, when the two women got up from their booth to leave. She leaned in towards Regina's face seriously. "If the world ends today I want to be able to say I paid for lunch."
"You certainly will pay for it," muttered Regina.
The Mayor didn't really care about who did or did not pay in this instance. But she did roll her eyes when Emma shooed her to go on ahead while she "paid". Regina knew full well that the Sheriff had forgotten her wallet and was having to resort to convincing Granny to add the bill to her running tab. More like overflowing tab.
The bell rang as Regina closed the diner's door behind her. At least if she waited out the front she could posture and look as impatiently pissed off as much as she liked without offending any voters or attracting stares. As Queen or Mayor she cut an intimidating figure (even when that wasn't her intention).
Despite the earlier car accident there seemed to be a lot of through traffic in Storybrooke's Main street now. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry, even the pedestrians.
One man walked by her on the sidewalk, turned to glare at her, and then spat on the ground as he passed.
Such displays weren't unknown to Regina of course. She'd certainly never been a 'queen of hearts' in the other land. But here… well, she'd hoped that time and sense might have helped some of the populace to see that she governed a safe and prosperous Storybrooke for them. Was this why she'd been stressing and losing sleep for days? To save a town full of people who hated her on sight?
No, she reminded herself quickly. Don't think about the ungrateful morons. This is for Henry and Emma. I'm doing this for my family, for myself, and because it's the right thing to do. I created this town with the Dark Curse in the first place, it's my mess and now it's coming back to bite me.
First, I have to see Em. I need to find out if she-
"Hey there, sister," a gruff voice greeted her. It was the school janitor and former dwarf, Leroy. "We've got a problem."
"I'll add it to the list," Regina said shortly.
"You'd better put it at the top then."
Leroy was carrying a large sheet of paper folded up like a roadmap. He unfolded it and shoved it under her face.
Regina recognised it as a map of Storybrooke, the very one that she'd taken from the Sheriff's Station some time ago. She'd enchanted it at the meeting of Snow White's War Council to show the status and location of the magical border that protected the town and maintained the memories of its residents. Previously it had shown a bright yellow border that'd been creeping closer until recently it reached a distance that was only a few miles out of town.
The map was blank now.
"There's nothing here," said Regina.
"Right." Leroy nodded. "It was glowing last night. Today when I went out to check the border's position for the Sheriff I noticed your magic map wasn't doing it's thing anymore."
"But you still remember your fairytale identity?"
"Sure I do. I'm Grumpy, the dwarf formerly known as Dreamy. So yeah, wherever it is, the border's not completely dead yet. Who knows what's happening."
"It's learned to deceive" said Regina in wonder, talking to herself. "The town line was created by the Dark Curse, it's my magic. Now it's hiding from me?"
"You know what they're saying around town, don't you?" said Leroy. He turned over his shoulder and jabbed his thumb at the traffic in the street. "People are leaving. Word's gotten round about them losing their memories. They think you're bringing the Curse back and they don't want to be here when that happens. Guess they don't want to go back to the Middle Ages and no Netflix."
Regina lost her patience. "Idiots! They're afraid of losing their memories so they're leaving town? Once they do that I can never bring their fairytale identifies back. There is no way!"
Leroy shrugged. "So what do we do?"
"I don't know," she sighed.
"I'd like to know what's going to happen because..." Leroy fidgeted with his beanie, pulling it off to scratch his scalp before putting it back on his balding head. "Astrid wants to start a family soon. I told her we had to wait because I was risking my Grumpy memories by going near the border every day. I don't want to forget her. I said we could have a kid later if I'm still around. When this is over."
Of course, Regina realised with a heavy heart. It wasn't just her and Emma's lives that had been on hold while this strangeness had been going on. Leroy and Astrid wanted to have a child; young Jess Meadows wanted to go off to college; Kathryn Nolan had been engaged to the man she'd finally found after all this time. There were so many happy endings depending on her.
Regina cleared her throat. "Well, you'll certainly be grumpy after being up all night with an infant."
"Look who's talking," Leroy retorted. "You were one grouchy lady when you first got that kid of yours."
"I loved every second of it." Regina shot back. She grinned evilly. "As will you."
"Good. Then it's settled. You're babysitting my brat on date night. See ya later, sister."
The dwarf left and Regina had to ask herself Did that just happen? The townspeople were abandoning Storybrooke like rats aboard the proverbial sinking ship, but somehow the former Evil Queen had a few remaining supporters who still had faith in her.
Ugh, now she'd have to make an effort to avoid their being disappointed in her at all costs. How horrid it was to be thought of as a hero and for people to have lofty expectations of you. The pressure would be crushing if she wasn't used to people expecting the worst of her. No wonder Emma hated it. The Saviour was on an even higher pedestal, she was responsible for everything that went right or wrong in this town and she actually did have the power to change things.
Apparently it takes the Saviour of Realms a glacial age to pay for two coffees and biscotti though, thought Regina.
"For heaven's sake, Emma," Regina muttered to herself and looked around. "What is taking you so long!"
Her irritation quelled in an instant when the diner's door bell rang and the subject of her thoughts came out, staring at her phone in dismay.
Emma looked up and blinked like she was going to cry. It was unusual to see her so visibly distressed that it immediately signalled that something had gone very wrong. Regina went to her, intending to wrap her arms around her but the other woman refused eye contact shrugged out of it. It must've been one of those times where she wasn't in the mood for physical comfort from anyone. Sometimes it was just too much for her.
Regina placed a gentle hand on her arm to get her attention. "Emma? What is it, dear."
"It's my mo-" Emma cleared her throat and started again. "Um, Mary Margaret just called me. She noticed that my things were gone from the apartment and wanted to know when 'her roommate' had moved out and why I hadn't even told her I was leaving."
"Roommate?" echoed Regina, confused. "But you haven't lived there for months."
The both of them had just been there at Mary Margaret's apartment at lunchtime. The schoolteacher had seemed completely normal at the time. She certainly hadn't acted as though she'd forgotten that Emma had moved to 108 Mifflin Street some time ago. Not to mention that since the curse 'broke' she almost always referred to Emma as 'her daughter' not her roommate, even though Emma hardly ever called her 'Mom' to her face.
Oh god, it's because she's forgotten.
"Your mother's lost her memories?" said Regina, confirming what Emma had already realised.
"Yeah."
"What about David? Does he remember?"
Emma shrugged despondently. "I asked but she said he wasn't there and neither was Em. Mary Margaret was confused about why I thought David would be there in the first place. She definitely doesn't remember being married to him. When I mentioned Snow White and Prince Charming she told me I'd been reading too many fairytales with Henry."
"But we talked to them earlier at the apartment and they were fine."
"It must've only just happened. Mary Margaret lives in the middle of town. If the border's reached here then I guess everyone's lost their memories now. There's no point anymore. I let everyone down."
"No," Regina said firmly. "It's not over yet..." She went on to explain what Leroy had told her and the fact that the dwarf still had his memories. For now.
They had to get back on track with the original plan that Gold had given them: create their own True Love potion and activate it with True Love's Kiss. It was the only thing they had to go on. Emma had been the one confident in their ability to get it to work this morning but she was clearly losing hope fast. If her parents had been there no doubt they would counsel her that a hero needed to persevere until the very end, even when all seemed lost.
Regina couldn't deal with her acting like this but neither could she give a Charmings-style speech about hope and how Good would always win. Waiting for something to happen wasn't Emma's style either. She needed to snap out of it. She needed action. For that she needed to be angry.
"You're the Saviour," said Regina in a hard voice, at which Emma's eyes immediately snapped up in recognition. "You need to figure this out. Saving the day is your thing. In case you haven't noticed this could be the last day of my existence."
Emma glared. "What d'you want me to do, Regina? I don't know how to fight this! There's no bad guy, no villain, nothing I can kill. There's just us and problems I don't know how to fix."
"You need to contact Neal. He's your True Love."
"What?!" said Emma, not even trying to keep the anger out of her tone. "You've got to be kidding me! Why are you saying that now. We've spent days making our potion based on the assumption that you're my True Love - whatever the hell that even means - and now you're saying you think it's not you?"
"Do you have a better idea for why it's not working?"
"No, but-" Emma shook her head, unable to fathom this sudden turn.
If her plan had been to piss Emma off royally it had worked. But before Regina could reap the reward of rousing her newly motivated Saviour into action, a dusty red pickup truck swung over to the kerb with a screech of its tyres. There were suitcases and a few dining chairs roped down on the tray back which threatened to come loose at any moment.
A large tall man in dirty denim overalls with a patch reading 'BOB' stitched into his pocket got out of the driver's seat and approached them. She recognised him as one of the concerned citizens who had attended protests outside Town Hall in the past. Emma referred to him as 'Bob the Bean Farmer' and often threatened to arrest him for stupidity. The first thing he did before going off on his rant was shove a meaty finger in Regina's face.
"Howdy Sheriff," said Angry Bob. "Got a problem to discuss with you, Mayor."
"Join the queue," barked Regina. "I'm busy."
"My wife over there," said Bob, pointing at the passenger seat of his truck. "Cain't remember who she is. Says she's not married to me no more."
Regina gritted her teeth and attempted to be diplomatic. "The Sheriff and I are aware that people are reporting problems with fairytale memories. We are working together on a solution-"
"Solution?" spat the farmer. "You caused this! Cuz yer still an Evil witch. I hear the Curse is comin' back for yer. Ask me yer gonna get exactly what yer deserve."
"Hey!" Emma shoved the man's denim-clad barrel chest with her palm. "Watch your mouth, asshole."
Bob's entire face was seething red. "That's it. I'm outta here. No more beans for Storybrooke!"
With that the large angry idiot jumped back in his truck and squealed away. Emma and Regina just looked at each other in disbelief that this was their life now. Maybe it would be better to let the Curse rebound and let Storybrooke go back to the way it was, instead of this insane mish-mash of modern technology and medieval politics.
Emma let her arms flap at her sides. "Now what."
"We were talking about your father." Remembering what she'd intended to do before the blustering farmer showed up, retrieved her small round makeup mirror from her pocket and opened it up. They knew that Emma's mother had forgotten everything but not whether her father had. "Show me David Nolan."
When the image of the Deputy Sheriff appeared in the glass Emma leaned in to see. David was sitting at a desk and he appeared to be talking to someone. Apparently the Magic Mirror wasn't wired for sound so they couldn't be sure who it was or what they were saying to each other.
"He's at the Station," said Regina.
Emma nodded. "He must have left home after having lunch with Mary Margaret, which is when we last saw them, and then he must've gone back to work. What does that mean?"
"It means he still has his Charming memories. For now. Otherwise he would've gone to the Storybrooke Pet Shelter because that's where David Nolan's cursed identity worked."
"Of course! Maybe he knows where Em is."
"Call him," Regina urged, but it was unnecessary. Emma already had her phone out again and was tapping into her list of family contacts on the screen. The phone rang several times but there was no answer.
Emma cursed. "Damnit. He's not answering."
A second later they were surprised to hear another ringtone but it turned out to be from Regina's phone. There was a fleeting hope that it would be David calling them back but it wasn't him. The Mayor frowned, puzzled by name of the caller on screen before she answered. "Hello Astrid?"
"Regina! I need to talk to you-" Astrid sounded out of breath as if she was running.
"What is it?" said Regina. "What's wrong?"
"Everything! You're out of time."
A torrent jumbled out of the former nun without Regina being able to get a word in of her own. Astrid mentioned wishes and fairies and the teenagers and the end to Storybrooke as they knew it but not in any kind of order that made sense.
"I'm at the stables and the Blue Fairy was here-" Astrid rushed on. "She's going to fix my mistakes but I don't even know what I did wrong or what she's going to do. It's about you and Emma and Henry and the girls-"
"Astrid, calm down," ordered Regina. "Tell me what happened. Slowly."
"I sent Ri back to the past. Em is going to disappear next, if she hasn't already. The girls had a fight but neither of them will remember anything when they go back. You're going to feel attracted but also hate each other when you meet again one day without knowing why-"
"Yes," sighed Regina, allowing herself a quick glance at Emma. "That is what it felt like."
"I'm so sorry!" wailed Astrid. "I was supposed to be your Fairy Godmother. I tried to fulfill the Swan-Mills Family wishes as best I could but something went wrong. I think the Blue Fairy knew about it all along somehow. She knew I'd fail."
"What do you mean?"
"She warned me not to tell you what happened but I had to. You two deserve to know the truth. It was granting your wish that made this happen, Regina. Ri desperately wanted to go home and forget all of the bad things she learned here. It's why you thought your requests were being ignored, because you couldn't remember having already used your wish here in the future. The Blue Fairy let you think you had been abandoned by us. But she was the one who assigned me to you in the first place. I had no choice but to fulfill the wish once it was approved. She knew how powerful it was going to be. Why did she let me cast it myself when I'm still so inexperienced?"
Regina's snarky mental reply came unbidden. Because she's a treacherous bitch with her own agenda, that's why!
Astrid kept on apologising. "Once again I am so sorry. If there's anything I can do to help - anything other than fairy magic that is - please don't hesitate to ask. I will also be removing myself from my position as Patron of your family."
"No. Don't."
The fairy gasped in surprise. "Wh-what?"
Regina pressed her lips into a smile. "You have been a fine patron and loyal friend to our family, Astrid. I appreciate the help you gave us when Em and I were in the car accident. You comforted me and you did not have to do that. Because of you I no longer think badly of all your kind. At the moment we need all of the allies we have."
Even over the phone the young novice's relief was palpable. "Really?"
"Yes. Now if I'm to protect you I need to know what Blue threatened you with. You said she warned you not to tell me about the wish?"
The phone went quiet for half a minute while Astrid must have been considering how to answer the question. When she did it was in a small voice. "She said she would de-wing me if I told you."
Goddamn her! Regina thought angrily. How dare she threaten one of mine with the worst fate imaginable for fairykind. There had already been one patron fairy die because of the Mills family. There would not be another. Especially not one who granted important wishes such as those that had led to Henry's existence.
"I will see to your safety," Regina promised Astrid. "When I next encounter your leader I will make certain she is aware that you are under my protection."
Sheriff's Station
If Em's plan was to make her father feel guilty for his apparent betrayal it was working.
David tried to concentrate on some computer work for a while to give her some space but he could feel her contempt the whole time glaring daggers at him silently from behind the bars of the cell where she'd locked herself in. There was no explanation he could give and it was unlikely that anything would satisfy her anyway - she'd accept nothing except Ri's telling her to her face that she'd turned evidence against her girlfriend.
Em sat cross-legged on the scratchy blanket on top of the cot and she stared down at something in her hands for a long time.
It was all too easy to picture Emma's past - pregnant, alone, and impossibly young - sitting the same way in an Arizona jail doing time for an offense she hadn't been wholly responsible for. If that hadn't been painful enough, the knowledge that Neal had let it happen and would never come forward to confess his part in the crime was a cruel twist of the knife.
David took a break to go to the bathroom and when he got back Em had moved. She was standing at the bars trying to pick the lock of the cell door with a bent pin. Apparently she wasn't having much luck with it.
David smiled gently. "Having trouble? I thought you were like Houdini."
Em huffed. "Not anymore."
"I'll get the keys," said David. He scattered some papers on his desk and opened the drawers one by one searching for the station's key ring to no avail. They weren't there. "That's weird. I thought we kept them here."
"I want to get out now," called Em. "I don't want to be locked up anymore."
"Gimme a second." David jogged over to the Sheriff's desk in her office (which was in an even worse state of disarray than his). He checked the drawers and cabinets but to no avail. He could've sworn that either he or Emma had stored the keys somewhere safe after the last time they'd been used.
"Excuse me, hello?" A voice called from the hall. It wasn't often that anyone came to the Station to report a crime - because there was almost no crime in Storybrooke - unless someone came to talk to the Sheriff in confidence about whatever mischief Mr Gold had been up to lately.
David was surprised to see his ex-'wife' Kathryn standing there. She looked well but perhaps a little nervous. She was clutching at the leather strap of her handbag slung over her shoulder and looking around at the office as though she'd never been inside before.
"Kathryn, is everything ok?" The Deputy went to her and offered her a seat at which she smiled gratefully and sat.
"I didn't know you were working here now," Kathryn admitted with a touch of shyness. "It's good to see you, David. How have you been?"
David hesitated, unsure of what to say. He could hardly say "I'm great, now that I'm living with the woman you think I was cheating on you with". The last time he'd seen her she'd turned up at Mary Margaret's apartment accusing them of having an affair. As they'd discovered, she was one of the first people in Storybrooke to lose her memories. Kathryn had been very angry that day but it was a while ago now. Had she come to accept the breakup of their marriage even though she couldn't remember why it happened?
Kathryn interpreted his silence as awkwardness and changed the subject to why she was here. "I came to ask the Sheriff for help. That Tommy guy is still following me around. He keeps trying to talk to me and he thinks I'm someone called Abigail. It's weird and it's making me feel very uncomfortable. I think he could be a stalker. He hasn't done anything yet - but I know he works at the school so I thought it best to report it. Just in case."
David nodded. "Don't worry. It's not his fault, it's -... nevermind. I'll speak to him."
"Thanks." Kathryn smiled. "I can always count on you. Even now."
As he stared at his wife David gradually realised he couldn't remember why he'd ever left her. Whatever problems they'd been having seemed inconsequential now. Kathryn was a beautiful and kind woman. She didn't deserve to be treated badly. They'd been through a lot together since his disappearance and coma.
It descended upon him like a fog. Slowly and then completely at once. Part of his identity evaporated into nothing.
David winced suddenly and closed his eyes. Please, please, he thought. Don't let this be something to do with the amnesia. The last thing I want to do is end up back in the woods or worse - the hospital. I feel so out of it.
When he opened his eyes again he saw Kathryn watching him with concern. "What's wrong, David? Is it another memory coming back to you?"
"No," he murmured. "It feels like… I don't remember. Why are we here?"
"Hey, guys?" Em whined from where she was hanging at the cell door. "Can you let me out now."
Kathryn's eyes went wide when she realised they were being watched. "Oh goodness, who is that in the cell. How could you leave her locked up, David! She's just a child."
"I - I don't remember doing it." David admitted. The young blonde girl looked very familiar but he couldn't place her in his memory. Had he seen her before? "Wait a minute-"
"She looks like a younger version of Miss Blanchard's roommate, the Sheriff's Deputy. Don't you think?"
"That's exactly who I am!" said Em, rolling her eyes at their apparent stupidity. "Don't you remember me, David? I'm your daughter. Yours and Mary Margaret's."
Kathryn gasped and looked at him with a question in her eyes. As much as David tried he couldn't seem to think properly, it was like a blur in his mind obscuring something important. The teenager was in the cell for a reason. It was the oddest feeling of deja vu, as though he'd lived this moment before and everything was familiar about it yet he couldn't remember it at all. Who was this girl?
The blonde teenager tried again. "Dad!"
"I'm sorry, but I don't know you," said David, frowning in concentration. "You can't be my daughter. My wife, Kathryn, and I have no children. We've been married as long as I can remember."
Em grabbed the bars and yanked on them. "Stop it! Let me out. I need to get out," she cried, starting to panic at being locked up while the keys were nowhere to be found.
"Stay calm, honey," said Kathryn gently. "We'll help you. We're going to sort this out."
But it was too late, and technically it was over before it even happened.
The portal opened up in the cell, a swirling black hole of nothingness around which even the light was sucked towards. There was no sound because it was quieter than silence. It seemed to happen in slow motion but in reality it appeared and then disappeared in an instant taking its prey with it.
"Dad, help me!" the girl who claimed to be his daughter cried out for her father pleading with him to save her. An instant later she was gone.
David looked on helplessly as as she was pulled back to wherever she'd come from. He no longer remembered that he'd watched her be ripped away from him once before, 28 years ago, when this strange series of events first began.