Beane Odette - Reawakened - A Once Upon A Time Tale

August was in his bed. And now she could see it: He was turning into wood. His arms were both already a deep, grainy brown, and the wood, like a disease, was creeping up his neck. He looked terrified; all he could do was shift his eyes.

— No, — Emma said, going to him. — No no no no no.

— What’s happening to you? — she asked sadly, stroking his hair.

— You can see it now, — August said. — You believe.

Emma nodded.

— Yes, — she said. — I do. But how… how can I stop this?

He spoke slowly, deliberately, staring into her eyes:

— Break. The. Curse.

— I’ll try, — Emma said. — I promise. But first, I have to save Henry. And I need your help.

— No, you don’t, — August said. — You don’t need my help. You don’t need magic. You don’t need anyone’s help.

— I do, — she said. — This is all too much. I–I just talked to the Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin about going on a quest for magic. I have this gold sword; I’m supposed to — to — I don’t know. Who the hell knows? I can’t do this, August. No normal person can.

— You’re not normal, — he said, smiling. — You’re special. All you have to do is believe.

— But I told you already, I do believe, — Emma said.

— Not in the curse, — he said. — In yourself, Emma.

She stared at him. The wood had made it up to his lips now, and she held his head, hoping that it didn’t hurt. He said it one more time:

— Believe in yourself. That’s real magic.

And he was still.

Sword in hand, Emma walked to the clock tower. Regina was waiting for her at the door, which was padlocked. Without a word, Emma strode up to the lock, struck it with the hilt of the sword, and the thing clanked to the ground, broken.

Emma gestured.

— Lead the way.

They entered a small library with stone walls. Emma’s eyes were drawn to one object in particular: an enormous mirror. Regina went directly to it and touched the glass, and when she did, the mirror jerked sideways, revealing a passageway.

More movement then. Underground machines hummed to life. A frame rose up from below, settling into the open space. Emma realized that it wasn’t a passageway at all. It was an elevator shaft.

— Okay, — Regina said. — Get in.

— After you, — Emma said.

— It’s a two-man job, — Regina said, shaking her head. — I have to run the elevator from up here. I lower you down. And besides, — she added, — you’re the one with the sword.

— I’m supposed to trust that you’re not lowering me down into the pit of doom, then? — Emma said.

— I don’t think you have a lot of choice, Ms. Swan.

Emma thought of Henry, lying in his hospital bed. Regina was right.

— What is down there, Regina?

— An old enemy, — Regina said. — Her punishment was unique. She’s been down there for twenty-eight years, trapped in another form. She doesn’t want to hear from me.

Emma took this in, not believing that she’d heard the whole truth.

— Okay, — she said finally. — I’m going down there, but let’s be clear about something, «Your Majesty». I know who you are now. What you’ve done. Whom you’ve hurt. Whom you’ve killed. And there’s one thing you need to know before we go any further. — She gave Regina a long, cold stare. — The only reason you’re not dead is because I need your help to save Henry. And if he dies? So do you.

Regina nodded brusquely.

— Let’s get on with it.

Emma stepped into the elevator then, and Regina slowly lowered her down.

It took two minutes, and the lower she went, the darker things got. When the elevator finally settled onto the ground, Emma could hardly see anything. Looking up, she saw just a faint square of light where she’d begun. She was deep underground.

She stepped off the elevator into a smoky cavern. It was hot, too — not at all what she’d expected. Her light caught something, causing a glimmer, and she stepped out across the rocky floor. She knelt in front of something — something big. Something glass. It took her a moment to figure it out. It was a coffin. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she thought that it matched up with the Snow White story. What was it? Hadn’t Snow White been in a glass coffin?

Emma stood and took a breath. She looked around.

And then she saw it.

At first, she thought it was another light, someone else shining a flashlight at her. But it wasn’t.

It was an eye.

A yellow eye.

All was still, though, and Emma took a tentative step forward and reached out toward the blackness beside the eye. Her hand touched something that wasn’t stone.

What in the hell is this? she thought.

It was scaly, warm She rubbed her hand along it.

And then the walls began to move. She heard a grunt, and then a roar. She stumbled backward, eyes wide, realizing what this was: a dragon.

It came to life with a screech and a ball of flame.

Mary Margaret found the book in Henry’s hospital room, but there was no sign of Emma. Whatever was wrong, she was out there, somewhere, taking care of it. This was why Mary Margaret loved her friend so much; Emma knew how to fight back. That had been missing, in Mary Margaret’s own life, for a long time. She admired it.

Dr. Whale had explained the situation, and now Mary Margaret decided that the least she could do was stay with Henry, to be with him through this. She could read him a story.

And she did. She told him the story of how Snow White had sacrificed herself to end the conflict with the Queen, and how she’d fallen into a magical slumber because of the apple. Charming, meanwhile, had escaped from the Queen’s dungeons, and with the help of Rumplestiltskin, he was able to finally locate his true love once again. She was not well when he found her. Not at all.

— When Prince Charming saw his beloved Snow White, — she read, — there in her glass coffin, he knew all that was left was to say good-bye. He had to give her one last kiss. But when their lips met, true love’s kiss proved more powerful than any curse. A pulse of pure love shuddered out and engulfed the land. As her eyes opened, it was clear, no matter what, that they would live happily…

Mary Margaret paused, took a breath. She was crying. It had just… happened.

She went on:

— …happily… ever after.

She closed the book, then closed her eyes. It was all such a fantasy. It didn’t work like that, did it?

— I’m sorry, Henry, — she said, taking his hand. — I gave this book to you because I knew… I knew life doesn’t always have a happy ending. But I thought… I thought that that was just not fair.

She squeezed his hand, remembering how David — John Doe then — had woken up after hearing a story about love. And for a second, she believed it was happening again — she heard a beep from one of the machines and looked back at Henry hopefully. However, the beeps then became urgent, and sounded more like warnings. Nurses began to rush into the room.

— What’s happening? — she said.

Dr. Whale burst in.

— He’s crashing, — he said. — You have to leave.

Mary Margaret found herself in the hall, her hand over her mouth, her heart pounding. Nurses and doctors huddled around Henry; she couldn’t see anything. But she could see the concern in the eyes of the doctors and hear it in the sounds of their voices.

Henry was dying.

The dragon burst up into the air and showed Emma its full, terrifying form. Wings spread, it shrieked down at her. It was almost too big, and too frightening, and too shocking for her brain to even admit that it was real. Which didn’t much matter, at least for the first pass: Her body took care of the self-preservation. She ran, changed direction, and dove as the dragon swooped down over her, raining fire down at her heels. This bitch is pissed, Emma thought, getting to her feet.