The Orphans

Forces at Play

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She cried out in pain as the whip once more struck her back. She could still feel the pain from the other marks the whip had previous left on her. Unsure how much more she could take, she feigned passing out, letting her head fall limp and closing her eyes, her body dangling from the chains that held her up. She hoped the person would stop beating her. And they did. Emma heard the person snort in disappointment.

"I expected better," she heard a gruff voice speak. What confused her was that she didn't recognize the man's voice. And so far everyone that had attacked her, she knew them. Rumplestiltskin, Peter Pan, Cruella, even Cora.

They walked out of the room, but Emma couldn't risk lifting her head to see who it was. When their dispersing steps finally disappeared, she raised her head, wincing at the pain in her neck.

-

Killian raced away as soon as he saw the man leave the chamber. They hadn't seen what he'd done to Emma, as they had to eat, even in the Underworld, but they'd seen him walk away.

"Killian! Slow down," Regina called out, knowing where he was headed. "You can't go in there with a head of steam." He whirled around.

"I'm not. But if anyone tries to stop me, I will fight back," he warned, his blue eyes gleaming menacingly.

"I'm not going to try to stop you. I'm saying you can't go in there alone. Let me come with you." Killian stared at the others as they nodded their heads in agreement as Regina's words. He sighed and grudgingly agreed to let them come.

It took them a few minutes, but they finally reached the library once again. He faced the Charmings and Henry.

"You stay behind," he insister. Snow opened her mouth to protest but her cut her off. "With all due respect, you'll just get in the way. Regina, Robin, and I will be enough to get her. You can guard the doors. Don't let anyone come in here." They slowly nodded, seeing the sense behind his words, and he treked inside.

Two days had passed since he'd last stepped foot inside of the building. It took them two days to figure out a plan on how to get Emma to the lake, where she needed to be in order for Regina to split his heart. No one had looked in the mirror in that time span, terrified of the sight that they'd see Emma in.

"We're going to get you out of here, Emma," Regina whispered to herself.

-

Emma was gasping in pain when the metal holding her up disappeared. They vanquished one every two hours for five minutes. She hadn't dared trying to escape during that time, so she'd stare at the wall.

So when her body crumpled to the ground, she flipped herself over so she landed on her left side rather than her right. It caused her less pain, for some reason. She didn't even bother trying to heal her wounds. She'd tried that the first day. Not only had they reappeared moments later, but they hurt much worse than it had before.

With nothing to do, Emma looked down at the once white tank top she'd been forced into and the baggy shorts. Despite all the pain she was in, she couldn't help but chuckle. You'd think Hades would be more creative with ways to torture Emma. Not just beatings and hallucinations.

She didn't even flinch when she heard the sound of three sets of footsteps growing louder by the second.

-

They once more rounded the corner and froze in horror when they saw her. Her back was facing them as she was laying on the ground. The tank top she was wearing was torn all over her back and dozens of dried blood stains indicated where a whip had met its victim.