Welcome to a Nightmare

Chapter 34: No One Else Like You

A/N: Back to the present moment

Henry opens a mini-fridge that stands in the corner next to some of his game systems. He hadn't seen it or realized that it was there considering he'd spent so little time in this place before fleeing from the Black Fairy. However, now that this fancy room has become a place of refuge for recovery for both of them, he's allowed to explore it a bit more.

Despite most of this technically not being real, he is impressed that the curse had given him all the things his teenage mind could have imagined; giant tv, comfy couches, bean bags chairs, an infinite number of game consoles, all the comic books and video games he could dream of, movie collectables, and a fridge filled with snacks and drinks so he didn't have to go to the kitchen to get something to eat. All these things would make any teenager happy, but he knew that he could not be tempted by the extravagant gifts and what he truly needed to be happy was his family. While this sounded completely cliché, it was the truth, both needed their loved ones back. Living in a dirty city, surrounded by excessive and expensive things, completely alone, is the saddest and emptiest existence either of them can imagine.

The teenage author spies his favourite soda in the small fridge but decides to just stick with water, considering the morning that both of them have had.

Crystal stands at the glass case holding Henry's Once Upon a Time book is encased behind. She stares at it with great intensity and is tracing the edges of it with her fingers. While it looks as though she's in a trance, but in reality, she's examining what it is made of before trying to break it. It feels like the standard plexiglass; used in museums and many jewelry stores to display the items, the kind that can withstand various forms of impact to reduce the risk of theft. However, after Henry had described how he'd smashed a heavy movie prop against it and even swung a sword against the glass and there wasn't even a scratch on it, she suspected there was likely magic involved. This makes her groan internally knowing that if it is protected like everything else in this town, she's going to have to connect with her inner demons as if she hasn't had enough problems with them already today. Within 24 hours, she's nearly broken a man's arm, drunk strong alcohol to nullify the feelings, opened a secret room before snapping at Henry in anger, let off a seismic explosion, and almost killed some random guy while hurting her "brother" in the process. These actions would be something only her father or grandfather would be proud of, but not her. She feels such deep regret for most of these things, while she never should have tried to rip out the man's heart in the alleyway, he was trying to assault her, so some form of justice was warranted.

She can feel the black leather cuffs in her jean jacket pocket. At any moment, she can ask Henry to put them on, stopping this magical nightmare, and saving everyone a lot of pain and trouble. There just seemed to be too much risk with her powers. However, if she does this, then she probably won't be able to free the Once Upon a Time book, which they will definitely need if they're going to end this curse, and Henry can do very little to defend them against the wicked Black Fairy's attacks. It seems like magic is an unwinnable battle, it came with a huge price like her father always said, a price that others were paying because of the darkness in her veins.

She waves her hand over the case, attempting to teleport the book without actually having to break the glass, however, something stops her from doing this, causing her hand to burn. The sensation was all too familiar considering she's already been repelled by this type of dark magic before, at the mansion where she found Phillip and in the mines. It's her grandmother's and Crystal is hating that she must go back into her inner darkness to counteract the wicked enchantments that protected the book.

She sighs heavily, her hand shaking slightly. While it had been a few hours, it only feels like a few minutes ago that she'd nearly gone full Queen of Hearts and ripped out the most vital organ in a human's body. She just doesn't want to go through all that again, especially putting Henry's life at risk.