Shorter chapter today but the plot is starting to thicken... Oh I so just want to punch Devin in the mouth!
As always please review.
Enjoy
:)
Killian found himself enjoying the rest of the afternoon out on the patio and while he was still very tired he felt relaxed and calm now that he no longer held the fear of facing Devin. He had done it and had come out victorious...well, of sorts!
After a quick change David and Emma helped him into the hot tub and he gave an audible moan of pleasure as he settled in the hot water.
"Are you sure this thing does not have magical properties?" he asked with a sigh as he lent back into the bubbling heat
"It's got about as much magic as I do" David chuckled back as he sat himself down on the bench opposite and Emma settled next to Killian.
"May I come in too?" Junior asked standing at the top of the steps by himself.
"Of course Son" Killian said beckoning him in "Where is your Brother?"
Junior shrugged "I do not know, he said that he would be back in a minute and that when he returned we could swim."
True to his word Henry returned a few minutes later but he wasn't alone, he came back with Mary-Margaret in tow and both were carrying drinks on trays.
"We made ice cream soda" Henry beamed placing his tray down on the table and taking up two glasses of the foamy liquid and bringing them over "Don't worry Old Man you got iced tea instead"
Killian gave a silent sigh of relief, he would have drank whatever he had been giving but ice tea seemed a much better idea to him.
"What does it taste like?" Junior asked sitting up a bit to see better
"You'll like it, trust me" Henry replied handing the glass to Emma who handed it to the boy in turn.
Junior looked into the glass in wonder and Killian couldn't help smiling at his happy face "Try it then lad"
Junior gave a tentative sip and Killian laughed when the boy's eyebrows shot up and he declared "It is wonderful Papa... there are bubbles in here too but not like the other soda I had, these ones are cold and delicious"
"Well you better drink it all up then otherwise I have a feeling that it will end up in the water Clumsy Junior" Killian chuckled back.
They relaxed in the hot tub for about half an hour and were just getting out when Regina came up the stone steps smiling widely when she saw them. She held a little basket in her hands and Swan smiled up at her as she approached the loungers where Killian was settling down.
"You did it?" Swan asked the former Queen.
"I did" Regina beamed back "I'm just heading off into town now"
David suddenly stood up from his chair "Not without back up you're not, give me a minute and I'll get changed"
"What is happening Love?" Killian asked looking to Emma for answers.
"Regina just made up a batch of the same protection potion that she used on this place. Devin... and Gold now I think about it, are going to find it hard to go anywhere in town for a while" she laughed
"I don't follow Love" he said with a frown
Regina stepped forward and tipped the basket to show many many bottles of potion and shrugged "Well I figured that if we made it impossible for Devin to go anywhere, that he would eventually get desperate and show himself. Hook, you have no idea how keen everyone in town is to catch that boy so if he has nowhere to hide we have more chance of that happening."
"Good idea" Killian replied with a nod then turned to Emma "That demon has had the run of our town for far too long, you should go help too Swan."
She seemed unsure as she looked between Killian and Junior "I don't know, we don't have the quartz anymore"
"Aye but Devin is no longer invisible Love. He cannot get into the house and from here there is no direction from which he can come without us seeing him. We will be fine Swan, this is important, you should go. Just make sure to give the Jolly a good dousing, I do not want that boy anywhere near her ever again."
"You're right" she said standing up "I guess the more of us doing it the quicker we can be done. We still have that dinner to make"
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Devin stood in the back alley leaning against the wall while looking out onto Main Street. He glanced up at the fire escape before taking off across the ground and practically flying up the metal staircase. This wasn't ideal but he NEEDED his things... he just hoped that they were still there after that witch had spent so long inside, God only knows what she had been up to!
He reached the top of the stairs to find that the window was now secured shut. He growled in frustration but was not about to be stopped so he pulled his leg back and gave the glass a sharp kick jumping back quickly so that he didn't get cut from the falling shards. It didn't make too much noise as the glass fell inwards to land on the loft floor but he knew that someone might still have heard so he didn't hang about. Devin knocked to loose bits of glass away and climbed inside running across the floor and down the stairs into the main living area. He sighed in relief when he saw his things still lying on the couch and rushed forward grabbing his bag and peering inside. Someone had looked through it he could tell and it made his blood boil at the very thought but he didn't have time to waste so he just threw the bag onto his back before falling to his knees to retrieve the crossbow and pickaxe from beneath the couch.
He was back out on the fire escape in less than five minutes running down into the alley where he hid behind the bins to compose himself. He lent back against the wall in a crouch and tried to think what he was going to do. When he had escaped the library he had thought that all his prayers had been answered but like everything else in his life, that had not worked out how he thought it would have. He lent slightly forward and reached around to his back pulling the dagger from the waistband of his pants before sighing and just staring at the ornate metal.
"Why won't you work?" he asked turning it around in his hands to run his fingers over the scrolling letters "You are supposed to work. What's the point in me getting this damn thing if I cannot control the Dark One. Maybe I'm missing something"
He thought back to what had played out in the library and suddenly a thought struck him. He had only managed to get the dagger because the Dark One had been hit by some squid ink and was frozen to the spot... maybe he was still frozen and that's why the dagger was not working? Perhaps it was the squid ink!
With renewed hope Devin stuck the dagger into his backpack and slung it over his shoulder knowing that for the moment he would have to find somewhere safe to hide but later if he was right things in this town were going to be different. He would get his revenge then he was going home... but he wasn't going alone. He no longer wanted Hook's "Son" to go with him to Neverland, he had realized that the boy was just as much a pain in the rear as his older self was.
Devin had spent the last two mornings talking to the boy through the image of his own dead Brother thanks to the sand dollar that the Dark One had given him. Thankfully Devin had kept it in his pocket so the Evil Queen had not seen it when she had looked through his things and although he had still not managed to get the boy to hand over the gem... he was so close. He knew that it was going to work, it was a good plan but the boy just like Hook was being stubborn. Devin had told him that if he could get both halves of the gem he knew of a way to make himself real again. This "Junior" believed that the ghostly figure of his Brother would be returning to him as a real life flesh and blood person. Devin almost felt sorry for boy but at the end of the day he was just a means to and end so he couldn't get distracted... Killian Jones Junior was the key to this whole plan.
Devin grinned to himself as he started off down the alley towards the trees at the rear of Main Street. He thought of his Lost Ones and how they would all soon be back where they longed to be just as soon as he had had his fun.
"We are going to have fun boys when I get you all free again. And if everything goes to plan we will double in number before the week is out... "
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"How much longer is this going to take?" Belle asked as she huffed out a sigh and sat heavily on the chair that she had brought over so that she could keep him company.
"I do not know" Rumple grit out through his frozen teeth "I have no idea how much ink they had in that vile"
"Is there nothing we can do to hurry it up?" she suddenly asked standing up again and pacing back and forth in front to of him
"No" he sighed back "Only time can free me."
Silence fell as Belle sat back down again and pursed her lips in thought. Rumple hoped that the silence would remain, he was tired of talking. It had been nearly four hours since he had been frozen and he was not finding this amusing at all but he supposed he should be glad that no one was out to get him anymore because right now he was literally an easy target just stuck here but just as that thought struck him his arm suddenly dropped to his side and he sagged in relief.
"Oh Thank Goodness" Belle cried jumping up and rushing up to his side "I was scared we were going to be stuck here all day"
"I am fine Belle" he soothed pulling her into his arms but inside he was furious, the Charmings had his gem and he had been unable to do anything to stop them walking straight out the door with it and the worst of it was that he wasn't entirely convinced that they hadn't used the ink against him on purpose.
"Let's go home then" Belle replied but he could see that she still wore a slight frown of concern on her face. She really did care for him so he gave a sigh knowing that he wouldn't be able to do anything about the gems until he figured out a way to break through that damned protection spell that Regina had used on the pool house.
"I have a better idea" he suddenly said pushing her back to look her in the eyes "Why don't we go out to dinner instead, I know that it is a bit early but I seem to have been frozen through lunch, I could definitely eat and you must be hungry too."
She gave a little giggle and grinned "I like the sound of that. Maybe now that this whole thing is over with we can get back to concentrating on a bit of us time"
He smirked and pulled her into a kiss "Sounds perfect. I love you so much Belle and it never fails to amaze me that you love me too"
"Well I do" she said pulling herself from his arms and heading over to the table to pick up her purse "So let's go eat THEN we can head home and I can show just how much!"
She raised an eyebrow at him and he gave a little laugh "Now I, like the sound of that!"
Belle locked up the library and they headed across to Granny's arm in arm but as they got closer he could see the sheriffs and Regina talking with Granny who turned towards him just as they were about to walk up to the entrance.
"Sorry Gold, it looks like the diner is out of bounds to you for a while although you could still eat out here if you wanted to" she pointed to the small metal table and chairs off to her left.
"What? Why?" Belle asked looking really confused
Regina tipped her basket to show the contents "Sorry, we're protecting all the places that Devin is likely to show up to try and get food from in the hope that we can flush him out into the open"
"So, what? I am not going to be able to go to any of these places either" Rumple bit back
"I suppose it's the price you have to pay for using Dark Magic" the shepherd said stepping forward and grinning "Isn't that what you always say? All magic comes with a price!"
Rumple had literally just opened his mouth to answer when he felt the familiar tug. He snapped his mouth shut bringing his hand up to his side feeling through his jacket. How had he not noticed that it was gone?
"Rumple?" Belle said looking at him with concern
"Someone..." he started trying to warn her but he never got a chance to finish before he was being summoned to a different place. His head swirled and as his cloud cleared he knew who it was going to be standing in front of him before he even saw him but it didn't sting any less as the Lost One smirked in Rumple's face.
"Looks like I am the one in charge now Dark One." he sneered stepping forward and running the edge of the dagger along Rumple's jaw line "And the first thing I want from you is a nice secure place to stay where no one will find me"
Rumple could feel his magic working against his will and he grit his teeth "You will regret this boy... mark my words, you will pay"
"Perhaps but for now I'll take the risk" Devin chuckled twirling the dagger in his hands "Now do as I asked"
They both appeared in Rumple's cabin a second later and Rumple watched as Devin appraised it.
"Cozy" he said nodding his head in approval "Nothing too fancy to attract attention, I like it. Now I am starved, make me some food... something with fries"
Devin threw himself down into one of the chairs and gave a heavy sigh "This is going to be so much fun now that I am calling the shots... you know for the Dark One you don't have nearly enough vision, you could rule this place yet you play at being a shop keeper, your Father would be so disappointed in you!"
Rumple raised his hands, he wanted nothing more than to choke the life out of the Lost One but his magic worked against him again and all he could do was conjure the meal that had been requested.
"Do you really think that the heroes will let you run around town controlling the me?" Rumple grit out through his teeth as he handed over the food.
"Well now see, that's the clever part" Devin replied popping a French fry into his mouth "They will never know. You are forbidden from telling them or giving them ANY clues to what I have done or will do are we clear? You will just carry on as normal, like this never happened."
This boy really had thought of everything and in the next instant Rumple found himself reappearing in the exact spot that he had disappeared from less than five minutes earlier but the boy's voice still rang out in his head.
"Remember Dark One... not a word"
"RUMPLE!" Belle cried out rushing forward "What happened?"
"Yeah Gold, what the hell was that all about?" Miss Swan asked eyeing him suspiciously
Rumple pulled in a breath and found his mouth answering without his brain really engaging "Well if this old, flea bitten wolf will not allow us to dine in her establishment I had to come up with an alternative plan. Come on Belle I will not stay somewhere that I am not welcome"
With that he stepped forward and took hold of Belle's arm and they both disappeared into his cloud of red smoke leaving four very bemuse people behind.