Welcome to a Nightmare

Chapter 40: Trust Us

The new group of three appeared in the living room before both Crystal and Henry laid the unconscious Belle onto the couch. Crystal had gone to get some supplies, while the author stayed by his step-grandmother's side, holding her hand, trying to give her comfort as she lay unconscious on the couch. He can't help but feel some relief that they have rescued someone they love from being tortured forever, but at the same time, he feels anger that his great-grandmother was doing this to Belle. He could not believe that his grandfather Rumpelstiltskin actually believed that his mother would allow him to live out that happily ever after she promised. The Black Fairy was sadistic and took away one of the few things that the Dark One truly cared about, likely to make him suffer and torture the victim at the same time... the bookworm didn't even know her own name, it's how evil this fairy truly was. She didn't care about her son Rumpelstiltskin at all; she just wanted to be as cold-blooded as she could, tormenting every soul that once resided in Storybrooke, making their eternal existence a living hell.

He looks at the sunken, pale, and exhausted face of Belle. She's dressed in a dirty hospital robe, her hair in limp and wild tangles and her entire body bruised and bone-thin...Clearly, the former beauty had been at the receiving end of some of the fairy's worst cruelty; imprisoned just like his birth mother, being beaten down and battered to the point when they are unrecognizable and don't really seem to have an identity anymore. She was even being tormented by a demonic being from the Dark Realm, taking pleasure in making her scream. All these thoughts cause Henry's stomach to twist very tightly and try to hide the tears of anger and anguish in his eyes.

When the daughter of Rumpelstiltskin returns, she had a blanket, a pillow, a glass of water, a bowl of warm water, a few cloths, a hairbrush, a change of fresh clothes, a first aid kit, and a few pills of aspirin because no doubt Belle was going to have a headache once she awakens. She hands a few objects of the supplies to her surrogate brother and lays the rest on the shiny hardwood floors.

"So, how do you think we should introduce ourselves?" Henry asks, placing the pillow behind Belle's head and wrapping the blanket around her deathly thin and scared body.

"Not entirely sure," Crystal answers as she begins soaking the cloths in the warm water. She then slowly begins wiping away the splatters of black blood and layers of grime from her step-mother's face. Belle reacts a bit from the warm water by turning away, but Crystal continues cleaning up their "patient". She knows she can't do anything about the blood on her clothes until she wakes up, but the poor woman needed to be cared for in some way. The only part of her face that was relatively clean was beneath her eyes, which of course is where the beauty had been crying. "It's clear that the curse took her memories so the idea that I am her step-daughter and you're her grandson would be hard to swallow and understand. I think we should hold off on the family thing for just a little while until she trusts us."

"I wish there was a way that we could get her to remember," Henry says.

"I know," she nods understandingly.

"I just want our family back. It's getting pretty annoying having to introduce ourselves to people we've known either our entire lives or for a long time."

"At least we found each other," Crystal says, deciding to try and be optimistic for a little while. "Otherwise all this would be ten times worse."

"Yeah, sometimes it feels like we're fighting the Final Battle," Henry says.

"Well it would make sense, at this point, we're in much better shape to do so compared to your mother."

"Or Belle," Henry nods.

"I can't believe Fiona would be this ruthless... then again, it shouldn't surprise us..."

"She is the source of all darkness."