The Art of Darkness

Chapter Seven

Chapter 7

"What are we doing?" Henry looked around at all of the ships. This reminded him of Killian. He searched around to see if he could see him, but he wasn't anywhere in sight.

"We need passage to the island your mother is held on." Henry nodded understanding. He could hardly believe that the Queen had been able to hold his mother for so long, seeing how determined she had always been.

"Is there a Captain Jones here? He would be the best person to call." Regina gave him a strange look. He could tell that there wasn't a captain Jones that she had heard of.

"The best pirate captain there is is Black Beard. He would be the best person to call."

"Isn't he dangerous. Especially to me: Im just a kid."

"If you pay him for passage he is no more dangerous than the rest." Henry nodded. He had never heard Killian talk about a Black Beard. He thought he had heard the name but he couldn't remember where.

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"I want them dead or alive, Charming. Do whatever it takes." The queen frowned with a deadly glare in her eyes.

"I will do anything for you, my Queen." The Queen nodded angrily in response. As Charming walked out of the throne room to start his quest the Queen sat down on her throne.

"Your mother is refusing food and drink again, your majesty." Snow turned to the messenger who had forgotten to knock.

"Do you just barge into any room!?" She retorted angrily. "You are dismissed from this job! But before you go; where shall I go to see my mother." The messenger was shocked into silence by her hard expression and sheer screaming. "Answer me!" She hissed when the messenger was too frightened to speak,

"Um, uh!" Squeaked the young messenger in fear. "... Cell 753, your Majesty." The Queen laughed a diabolical laugh as the messenger tripped on his way out and fell flat on his face.

On her way out of the room, the Queen stepped right over the messenger who was struggling to get up in his heavy dark night armor. She briskly ran down the steps towards the dungeon. The air became cooler and the stairwell darker. When she arrived at the bottom she relished in the fact that she had trapped people down here. How broken their souls must become! She practically danced down the hallway until she heard the chatter of someone shivering, their death brushing against each other.

"Mom!" Snow smiled excitedly. She sat down outside the bars, smiling in at her mother. Her mother didn't respond. Snow looked down sadly but hid it well.

"I know you don't like being here but you need to eat." No response. Snow could tell the look on her mothers face. She could see her bones getting older and fragile, could tell her mother was going up hope.

"Why?" Her mother croaked. Snow hadn't expected her mother to talk so it surprised her much.

"Why what?"

"Why lock me in here?" Snow understood her mothers question but was nervous to answer. She eventually decided just to go ahead and answer her.

"You wanted me to be a good person. You wanted me to be a kind and fair queen. When I saved Regina off that horse I slowly started to become a bad person. Love is weakness. I couldn't have you up there trying to run the government against me or convince me not to do bad things. I couldn't kill you either. So i hid you here where I only have to think of you when I want to. I hid you so I could still become the person I wanted to be."

"The person you are now?" Snow nodded.

"I am more powerful than I dreamed of becoming. I am a Queen who does what I want. No parliament to hold me back. Im free! Aren't you happy for me?" There was no answer from Ava. Snow brushed off her dress as she stood up. Halfway up the step she stopped and turned down a hall. Entering what appeared to be a small magic room (her vault) she opened a curtain to reveal a circular mirror.

"Sydney, we have work to do."

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"No one steps on this deck without me telling them they can lass." Black Beard stood menacingly glaring down at Regina an Henry. They suddenly seemed a lo smaller.

"Black Beard, we need a passage out of here."

"Its captain to you!"

"Can you give us what we request?"

"Transport out of a kingdom will cost you a lot." Regina shook her head annoyed.

"We aren't going out of the kingdom. We need to go to the eastern islands. The tower." Black Beard stroke his beard deciding what to do.

"I promised the Queen that if I came upon you two with bounties above your head that I would murder them and bring them to her. Then again, it seems like you are on a suicide mission to try to free the dark one anyway." Regina shuffled in her spot. Obviously, she did not want the Captain to tell Snow.

"Well, lass, should I tell the Queen where to find you?"

"No!" Henry shriveled down just a second after he said it.

"What?" Like a vulture, Black Beard suddenly grew a few feet and stood over Henry.

"If I am right, the Queen will soon develop an evil curse that will take away all of our happy endings. You will be stuck forever in time doing the same thing day after day, serving as her slave."

"I sense you are telling the truth. Very well. If you are taking a suicide mission that I might as well allow you to go on and take it. I will give you a free passage. Obey the rules of the ship and I will take you to the tower without any problems.