terribly sorry, officer (baelfiery) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-08-22 22:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, emma swan, neal cassidy (baelfire) |
Who: Neal, Emma, and Rumplegina (the Dark One, thanks)
What: A showdown
When: Saturday night
Where: Regina's crypt
Rating/Warnings: Mediumish for an epic fight, a crumbling building, and feels
Status: Complete
It had taken some pretty impressive detective work to even suss out what the fuck actually happened, but when he poked around Regina’s crypt and discovered the magic mirror which had very clearly been shattered - glass pieces taken to use for nefarious purpose - he’d put things together pretty quickly. The strange behavior of many of the residents of Orange County could only be attributed to the one and only Rumpelstiltskin - and while Neal knew the different types of magic, he knew how dark magic was an addictive power that made you reliant and dependent on its uses, it seeped into your veins and became puppet strings for your whole being, he wasn’t familiar with exact spells. It didn’t matter anyway. They took out Rumple, they stopped the chaos he so thrived on as the Dark One. And that curse would dissipate into the air, it wouldn’t continue to taint anything - if only they had done this the first time but then again, that would have likely killed Neal indefinitely. Considering that Rumple had been sharing a mind and body with him. Emma was here now, as they descended down to where it all started - Regina’s crypt. As for Henry, he was with Nina, one of Neal’s friends who also happened to be a nurse and wasn’t affected by whatever voodoo his father had cast, so he felt safe about that. Neal would have left him with Garrus but his best friend also wasn’t faring so well. It was dark in here. Dank. Depressing. Thump, thump, thump, the telltale hearts echoed in his ears, the steady thrumming in the vault, and it smelled like iron bars, stale blood, and the very last itty bitty drop of good intentions in the Devil's cedar chest, but that was pretty standard for an evil lair. Neal was going first - when Rumple took over Regina’s crypt he locked her out with blood magic, but that was obviously nothing the spawn of the Dark One couldn’t fix. “You good? Stay close,” he cautioned, reaching behind to grasp Emma’s hand. It seemed like there wasn’t really time to actually settle at all, not in the OC, and while Emma was starting to get used to the dreams of magic and mayhem and all that came along with being entangled with Evil Queen’s and Dark One’s, she wasn’t entirely sure about the waking world of it all. The intensity of some people was just… shocking. But with Henry safe, and Regina nowhere near Emma, she was starting to feel like maybe there was a handle on things. Hopefully something they could utterly end now. “Yeah, close, yeah,” realistically, she didn’t think she was the best person to do this. Although she’d been told numerous times she had it, the whole ‘magic is an instinct’ thing Regina tried to teach her, and the pep talks she’d had. And there wasn’t actually anyone she’d rather be doing it with. Even if it was heading into the bowels of an evil, magical lair that smelled like death and decay. That was date material, right? “I won’t go as far as good, but I’m here.” And not panicking, as her hand grasped around Neal’s, squeezing for more than just knowing where the hell they were going, “Is it… Is it near? Will we know?” Presumably, they’d feel the magic or whatever? Right? “You’re here, I’m here, not going anywhere,” Neal assured her, returning the hand squeeze. He had a flashlight on his keychain, rummaging for it to help illuminate their way a little better. Not the first time he’d been in Regina’s crypt, but he didn’t exactly have the layout memorized. “Follow me, I think it’s...” The beam of light flickered to and fro, and it bounced on the wall ahead of them - boxes, compartments holding those beating hearts. It seemed to get louder and louder the closer they got, a steady and calming thrum, thump-thump, thump-thump, beckoning them nearer. Neal wasn’t actually sure if his father was here but he’d taken over the crypt likely out of some act of revenge against Regina. Of course he’d be around and if not, he could be summoned. “Papa?” he called tentatively, and...well, he wasn’t expecting what he saw next. It was Regina, her form, her body, her face that appeared in front of them. However, as much as it looked like her, it simply wasn’t. Didn’t mean Neal was free from feeling creeped out as he observed his father in a form that meant he was essentially him in Evil Queen drag. Torches lit. Candles illuminated the space, providing light to see by. “Bae,” ‘Regina’ greeted them, a madwoman's murmur over warm whiskey, that husky voice. “...Ms. Swan. I’ve always liked you.” Seeing Regina, but knowing it wasn’t Regina, it was weird enough. It probably didn’t help that Gold had always been a little weird to Emma, even before the curse was broken, she was largely put off by him in general. “This isn’t remotely weird.” Weirder than people turning against each other and getting mega psycho? Possibly not, but still super weird. The dank was bad enough, but the eerie candle glow and the whole ‘Rumple in Regina’ thing was just another level of creep that Emma didn’t know existed. It didn’t help that Regina’s voice could do that low dip thing that sent shivers down a spine. Already trying to concentrate on magic and willing herself to actually be able to do this, Emma took a step closer to Neal, for comfort and protection (more his than hers, she thought) managing to stare at Regina’s form. “What the hell are you doing?” Neal’s instinct was always to protect Emma, even if she didn’t really require it - or more like they took care of each other, protected each other; it was why his arm went out, across her, shielding her from stepping forward. As if that would stop his crazy father, but it hopefully sent a message that to get to her, Rumple would have to go through him first. And the Dark One noticed, too. Eerie eyes, a whole menagerie of colors the way Regina’s tended to be in the light - red, lioness gold, brown - flickered with interest. But Neal knew which version of Rumple they were dealing with here - this was ‘locked in Zelena’s cage, forced to be a slave’ Rumple who was completely off his rocker. And the fact that he’d just spent however many months also trapped in a replica of the Philosopher's Stone, sealed away? Yeah, not good. “Leave her alone.” He hoped he sounded intimidating enough. “Leave her alone and cut this shit out. I don’t know what you did, but it has to stop.” “Oh, but I can’t.” ‘Regina’ smiled, a predatory flash of teeth. “Not until they all destroy each other first. Bae, stop being ornery, get out of my way - “ “No - “ A puff of smoke later, and Neal was back on a very familiar surface. The table he’d been chained to when Rumple’s liquid darkness form was first purged from him. Shackles back on, and the chains rattled as he struggled to get free. “Really? You’re just as bad as your own father - “ That was a jab that sunk in deep, and those strange golden eyes narrowed. But he turned toward Emma, expectant. “Well, dearie? Let’s see if you’re as powerful as I remember.” And that’s when the earthquake happened - potions and brews rattling on shelves, sliding forward, crashing, everything rumbling, ground splitting open. What it revealed was nothing short of the abyss, a rabbit hole that led to an eternity trapped beneath Regina’s crypt to rot in the cold, dank earth. Emma’s first want was to go towards Neal, where Rumple had sent him with the smoke (she needed to learn that) but the next second she was halted with the shifting of the ground under her, Emma shuffling backwards to avoid the crumpling ground as everything just fell into the chasm. There was a fizzing up of anxiousness, Emma’s adrenaline spiking and her mind starting to fire into overdrive -she was pretty sure freaking out and panicking wasn’t going to help, she had to stamp it down and focus. She tried to remember what Regina was teaching her, about magic being intent, about it just being an extension of what she wanted. She had to focus on keeping calm and in control, it was the only way to beat Rumple and make sure she and Neal got out of here. Back to Henry. Fists clenched, Emma focused on needing something steady, a place to stand where she wouldn’t wobble and risk falling in, she had to focus on the Dark One, not making sure she didn’t fall into the abyss. At her urging, a portion of the ground shifted out from the side, creating a platform for Emma, allowing her to stop retreating. She could do this. “You know you’re not going to win.” Regina’s face or not, Emma couldn’t let him win. “Now let Neal go.” “It’s nothing personal, you understand,” spoke ‘Regina,’ and well, it was somewhat true - at least, nothing personal against the dear Swan; but Rumple had more than a few bones to pick with the Evil Queen herself, and her minions who had sealed him away. One was already dead (how convenient!) but he wasn’t about to let the Storybrooke Savior poke her nose into his enjoyment and obtainment of what he had earned. Rightfully so. “I don’t want to hurt you, dearie, but you’re just in the way. I promise it won’t unpleasant. You’ll just be recycled again - kind of like now, hmm? Into another life, another world? Maybe this one will be really good. Much better than what you’ve got now.” He wasn’t as much of a fan of fireballs as Regina, but he had taught her after all and there was nothing wrong with going back to the basics. Finely-crafted ones, pelted at Emma to attempt to knock her off the platform, as the shaking intensified - shockwaves rocked the space of the crypt, large cracks appearing in the ceiling and spider-walking down the walls. The table Neal was chained to cracked too, but he was still attached to hunks of concrete. He just slid forward and dangled, the bolts on the bottom shaking too, coming undone. Great. Okay, they hadn’t covered fireballs, Regina hadn’t said anything about how to deflect fireballs, and Emma didn’t want to flinch, but it was hard not to at least shift a little. The amazing thing was that a flailing arm and the need to just protect herself sent two balls skirting off in the other direction into a wall while she moved out of the way of some others and straight up stopped another one. So, she could do this, okay. “Nothing personal.” This was Henry’s grandfather, Neal’s last living parent, but he was batshit and Emma couldn’t let that around her kid, or her kid’s dad. Screw that. “But I kinda want to hurt you.” With a push of her magic, Emma shoved the fireball back towards Rumple-wearing-Regina, working on the anger and the instinct. Regina said that anger was her trigger. She could work with that. She focused on the shaking first, forcing that to stop and her platform to reinforce, glaring at Rumple-Gina. Fireballs weren’t Emma’s thing, but she could probably work with the damage that had been done already, trying to will the walls to crumble around the place, enough to distract Rumplestiltskin and let her gather up some power. Magic blast, they’d go for some good old fashioned blasting. Oh, here we go! The graceful Swan was fighting back? Yes, delightful. RumpleGina liked this quite a bit, it was beneficial, it was darkness - and he could sense it in her, just as much as he could the light. Her saccharine parents may have wanted a baby comprised of nothing but sugar plums and pure-hearted love, but no one was completely good, were they? Not even Snow White. Not even Prince Charming. He’d focus on all those delightful tidbits bubbling in black tar - angry, desperation, fear. His favorites. And she/he laughed, a husky sound, but it grew more and more mad, steadier in its guffaws. HeeeehehehehHehhhHeeeeee! Such fun! Until the walls began to fall off in hunks of plaster and concrete and debris around him - that, combined with the fireballs volleyed back, caught him off guard. “Got teeth, do you, dearie?” Neal knew what his father was doing. He could read the old man like a book - darkness wouldn’t take him out, anger wouldn’t. Only light magic would, the opposite of all that poison he’d tainted himself with and destroyed everything for. “Emma!” he called to her, as the crypt continued to literally implode. “I - “ He managed to scoot away from the gaping chasm, but another crack, and shelves fell - luckily, he also managed to twist to the side and cover his head, still yanking on the chains, but all the commotion drowned out his words for the moment. Emma’s concentration and power flickered a little, her attention drawn towards Neal as the chaos around them came dangerously close to smacking right into him. And it wasn’t like he could get away, thanks to his creepy father chaining him to a damn table -which, just why? “Neal!” The anger dissipated a little, because as pissed off at RumpleGina as Emma might be, she’d take a second to step back to protect Neal without a thought really. It was the whole point of this, protecting her friends, protecting her family, from this lunatic and his revenge schemes. “Neal, hang on.” But while she and Rumple could probably withstand the debris falling around them, could avoid the carnage that was splitting through the ground right now. But Neal was in harms way and trapped because RumpleGina got a little weird with the chains. Shielding herself from some crumbling rock, Emma tried to work out just how to either get to Neal or get Neal away from the weird broken sacrifice looking stone. The ground was cracking beneath Neal; he felt like he was on thin ice, but he heard Emma over the sounds of the structure caving in - after all this, Regina was going to kill them for messing up her crypt, but it wasn't like any of them asked for the Dark One to get off on all the mayhem and chaos he was causing. And those hearts. So many of them, louder now, free from the confines of the walls - they weren't just beating, muffled sounds, they seemed to be pounding all in his ears and matching the own frantic wardrum pace of his pulse. "Emma! It's okay, I'm okay - " Bang, crash, and if he moved even the slightest bit more, the ground would likely literally fall out from under him. And that was one fall, into endless black, that he probably would not come back from. Oh, sure, maybe Rumple was right - he'd get recycled, maybe would return, stuffed into another universe, in another life. But for all its pain, and heartache, this was the one he wanted to see play out. "I love you," he told her, as the insane wizard let loose a blast of pure black lightning, straight from his hands, aimed at the Savior. It echoed really loudly in her ears, despite the fact that everything around them was so loud and noisy, it was just so resounding within her that she couldn’t actually hear anything else except that. I love you. When was the last time someone had actually said that to her? When was the last time someone had meant it? It’d been long enough that Emma felt this strange pang at the thought of it. And it was so sudden, so out of th-- No, no it wasn’t out of the blue, was it. It wasn’t this new thing that just happened, it was steady and building and something she thought was probably always there, right under the surface, while they got to know each other (again). It was what he said about home, and missing it. Because this place wasn’t her home. He was. It was him that she missed, those weeks to months to years, it was that loss that made her strengthen those walls, because she lost a home she didn’t know she had and she couldn’t get it back again. But that wasn’t here and it wasn’t now and… And that was what she needed, wasn’t it? To be the opposite of the Dark One, to be more powerful because she wasn’t the same, to combat him with something he’d never understand. She focused on Henry and Neal, on Mary Margaret, on the home she found and the one she wasn’t letting go of so easily. Of Neal helping her get into the swing of things here, her job working alongside him, the long trips in the bug, the longer nights in the bug, Henry. Always coming back to Neal and Henry and just what they meant to her. Rumplestiltskin’s black came towards her and Emma almost instantly hit out with an answering whiteness, almost encompassing her whole form in a blinding white and gust of air with a resounding ‘oh hell no’ just rumbling out of Emma. Light and dark met in the middle, blasts of both that were blinding - but they couldn’t mix, and one was more powerful than the other. The inky black wouldn’t endure, it began to crumple too as the shock-white penetrated the space around them, climbed over the Dark One’s skin like vines - it seeped in and infiltrated, starting at the pores and down to the dregs of the form he had borrowed, a form that was actually hollowed out and a shell for protection. And yet nothing could protect him from what happened next. He glowed from the inside out, what felt and looked like pure energy emitting from his eyes, now pupiless, and radiating from his being. There was a snarl, a growl, and even maybe a mad laugh as the realization struck - but after that there was nothing, just particles scattered and a shattered presence. Poof. A shockwave; it started in their space in the crypt and rippled outward, edges extending to cover the entirety of the county. Spell broken. Then the dust would settle. “Em?!” Neal looked up from where he was, as the last rock of debris fell and split when it hit the ground. “...are you okay?” She felt drained and electrified all at the same time, like running on fumes but having miles left to go. She could feel every nerve in her body just tingling at her. Holy crap. She didn’t really doubt it when Regina had told her she was powerful, but that much? Pulling herself together, Emma clambered over all the rocks and fallen articles of Regina’s crypt, her only concern now was reaching Neal. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” jittery and full of nerves, but mostly fine. She was still reeling from the fact that she’d just used magic to defeat the Dark One in Regina’s underground heart-dungeon of a crypt. “Are you? Did anything hit you? Are you okay?” Everything came out at break-neck speed while Emma shuffled over to reach Neal, hands catching his shoulders to make sure he was still solid and there. “I’m here, I’m good, mostly fine,” Neal let out a shaky laugh, sitting up - he felt bruised, deep ones, down to his bones, but he was still alive and overall he just was drained too. His brain must have also been slowing down because of all the stress, because he went to hug Emma and discovered he was still chained. They lent him a certain amount of movement due to not being tethered to the (now broken) table, but they were still wrapped around his wrists. They also needed to get out of here sooner rather than later, so he tried to move, to drag himself along - but it was like trying to haul dead weight behind him; he needed to break free of the chains, so to speak. “Can you, um...I mean, maybe someone else can if you’re about to understandably pass out, but...I just...” He grinned sheepishly. “Help?” “God, yes of course, um…” She could do that, she could break some silly chains that-- she’d just kicked butt, chains should be easy, but her brain took a little longer to remember just how that part of this worked -oh right, magic with intent, will of the motion, okay so just unchaining Neal. Easy peasy. It took a moment or two, probably because she was so wiped out, before she managed to get the metal around his wrists to just open and fall to the ground with a surprisingly loud clattering. It was so shockingly quiet in the crypt, save for the steady pounding of hearts -and Emma was so ignoring that in favour of listening to her own heart beat away in her chest where it was meant to be. “Can you stand? We should leave right? Before Regina makes us clean up?” Oh shit, Regina -Evil Queen no more Regina- “Yeah, we should leave.” Not least because this was creepy, but Emma really didn’t want to have that whole reciprocating of current emotions in Regina’s creepy heart cave either. “I can manage. We should definitely leave.” Chains now off, Neal was up a moment later, hands reaching for Emma’s and helping her to her feet as well. Then he was of a single, narrow-minded focus to just get the hell out of there - he had to hope that they weren’t barricaded in, thanks to all the debris, but he led them to the staircase and worked at pushing aside hunk of plaster and debris, fallen beams, to get them to where they could actually step up. “Careful,” he warned, and one false move, it felt like the whole dilapidated structure would just deflate even more like a bad souffle. He took her hand, stepping first, giving her something solid to hold onto as they ascended and then emerged into the yard where it was nighttime and the stars glittered in a black velvety sky-blanket above them. “Henry’s good for tonight, he’s safe, I just...” Finally, he hugged Emma, a sound of relief escaping him. Her hand clenched tightly in his hold as they ascended, Emma careful enough of her footing but definitely in a rush to get the hell out of there. They might not want to get stuck but she was definitely all for seeing the outside of this hell. Getting onto the lawn was the best thing in what felt like hours. Henry was fine, with Nina, safe from everything and okay for the night, Emma just wrapped her own arms around Neal, gripping tightly and breathing in finally, now that they were actually in the open air, away from the dankness in the crypt. “We’re okay, we’re good,” they made it through, and maybe they’d finally gotten rid of Rumplestiltskin from Neal’s life too. Practically burying her face in Neal’s shoulder, Emma just clung on for dear life, letting the adrenaline wind down without wiping what was left of her energy out completely, “Hey,” lifting her head, Emma put a little space between them to make sure Neal was listening, smiling just softly despite the sheer terror of what might’ve happened tonight, “I love you too, you know.” In Regina’s yard was not where Neal expected this conversation to take place, but stranger things had happened. Considering where they lived, if you were going to hack it you just kind of had to get used to rolling with the punches - and even though it felt like they had been to Hell and back this last week, when Emma said those words to him, everything just made sense. He couldn’t keep the grin from reaching his eyes, tired and smudged with dirt as he was, and his thumbs stroked her cheeks as he cupped her face in his hands. “Always,” he said, and that’s how long he would love her for too. No matter what happened, what life threw at them, and what they would face - it was a truth that would remain constant. Then he kissed her, Emma, his Emma, not simply just the Savior or born from True Love. “Come on,” forehead to forehead for a second, soaking in the moment, “Let’s go home.” |