#v:cursed again

[wolf--and--arrow]

@lightxswan

He looked up when the station door opened and Emma walked in. It would be far too complicated to explain to Henry why his mother was working as Sheriff but she did stop in every day so they could share information about what was going on. Things had been awkward between them, she wasn’t going to stay in town once this was over, and he couldn't leave, so they were at something of a stalemate, not wanting to talk about what had happened between them, but unable to forget it either.

But awkward was not the word to describe today. David had come by to clear things up over Henry’s impromptu driving lesson and had mentioned what Emma had been doing. So he was in no mood to deal with her now. He turned back to the filing he had been doing, trying to get things in order, the only indication of his mood being the force with which he was closing the drawers.

[wolf--and--arrow]

The stars were pretty.

He was not exactly sure how he had come to be laid on his back staring up at the sky. He had been at the Rabbit Hole, and then he had been walking home. He had tripped, he thought? He remembered thinking how comfortable it was lying down here, and how tired he was.

Now the moon was dancing in and out from behind the clouds. There was a scent in the air, and something in his head was telling him that it was important, but he could not seem to pin down the thought.

Suddenly there was an almighty crack of thunder that might have made him flinch at another time. Instead he continued to stare rather bemusedly up at the sky as the rain started to fall on him. It quickly soaked through his clothes, the chill quickly seeping down to his bones. He let out a bitter laugh, it seemed fitting that his body felt as cold as he did inside. Maybe if he could just get cold enough it would numb the pain.

The other good thing about the rain? It disguised the tears.

[wolf--and--arrow]

Brother vs Lover

Graham tried to focus on the ever increasing pile of paperwork, but the events of the last couple of days made it all but impossible. He had been particularly grateful to get out of the house that evening to the relative peace of the station where he could try to think through everything objectively.

Killian was still rejoicing the return of his brother, and he did not have the heart to share his suspicions. It seemed entirely too convenient for the man you had died 300 years prior to suddenly return. What were the odds that all three Jones men had found themselves with unnaturally long life spans only to cross paths again so closely?

He appreciated seeing Killian so happy, but he could not help but think there was more to this than there appeared to be. And if it did turn out to be a trick, he swore that whoever was behind it would regret it.

The sound of someone entering the station was a relief, hopefully it would be something to distract him from his current dilemma.

@captainofthejewel

[wolf--and--arrow]

A Kiss Like Poison

Continued from here.

@imnotacharacter

He said she was, but she didn’t feel better than Regina.  She’d done exactly what he said she had.  Turned a blind eye to the victims instead of standing up for them.  No, she wouldn’t take a heart, she wouldn’t kill, but Mary Margaret had cast the curse the second time.  If that proved anything, it was that situations called for sacrifices that you never expected.

“I’m sorry.  Okay?  I don’t know what you want to hear.  I didn’t kill her, I can’t take anyone back to the forest, and I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to be doing like ninety percent of the time.  The worst I can do to people is put them in a cell and that doesn’t work on her or Gold anymore.  You think I failed.  I get it.”  The beratement left her bitter, but she wasn’t sure what good it would do.  She couldn’t just go kill Henry’s mom.

She sucked in a gasp when he moved closer, not expecting that.  “Of course I remember, we were right – right there.”  She shook her head, licking her lips.  She’d kissed him.  He’d said he remembered and thanked her.  He’d woken up, just in time to die.  “I thought it was something I’d done for so long.  And when I believed, when I realized that she had…that it wasn’t a heart attack.  Of course I wanted to –”  She sighed.  “I had to save Henry, I had to wake him up.  I couldn’t do anything about you, I had to save him.”

She looked up at him, determined not to back down, or away, again.  Gods, he was gorgeous.  And his curls, she’d forgotten how much she loved those curls.  The picture just didn’t do him justice.  “I can’t look at you because I have had this dream too many times to count.  You, alive, granted you were never pissed off at me, but it’s still too close.  And you’re right.  I’m not looking at you because you’re right and because if I do and this is a dream, that’s another time I was this close and you vanished.”

“So your only option was to give her everything she wanted? All rally round to make sure her precious feelings aren’t hurt? Make sure that the people she terrorised do not inconvenience her?” Maybe he could understand why they could not, or would not, execute her, but how could they treat her like a friend, how could they defend her? “What I want to hear is you tell me why? Tell me how you can stand next to her after all she has done. How you can stomach her presence.”

“I watched you side with her over the woman she would have killed.” He had recognised the woman, even if he had never known her name, he remembered her quiet dignity in the face of her fate. How she had remained unbroken, willing to die to protect Snow White. Only to have that sacrifice thrown back in her face. “But then why would you care about one of the many who were willing to lay down their lives for your family?”

“This is no dream. You will not escape that easy.” But he could not help feel pleased that she had dreamed of him, pleased that his memory had haunted her, that she had not forgotten. But then maybe it would have hurt less if she had forgotten him, at least then it would not be such a betrayal.

“What happened here was the least of it.” He laughed bitterly. Death was a mercy he had wished for often, one that was always denied to him. And his death was still preferable to what she might have done, might have made him do. “Or did you convince yourself that I sharted her bed by choice?”