Welcome to a Nightmare

Chapter 44: Road Block

Immediately, both Henry and Crystal's hearts stop mid-beat. At that exact moment, all their plans for working under the radar and avoiding the Black Fairy blows up in front of them. The image of a frightened Belle with wide blue eyes and a haunted and ghastly expression is projected almost everywhere and within a few moments, it feels as though the entire city has eyes on them.

Belle herself is left staring up at her picture, absolutely horrified, and unable to comprehend what's happening. The book in her hands falls to the ground, as more people begin to surround them. However, no one attempts to grab them, perhaps frightened that the supposed murderer will attack if approached. The trio huddled closer together.

It takes a few minutes for either of them to react. People are whipping out their phones to film or take pictures of them and this indicates to Crystal that the use of magic is extremely risky. They need some sort of cover in order to make an escape.

Just then, a motorcycle beside the group revs to life, spewing gray smoke from its silver exhaust. Henry is the closest to the machine and comes up with an idea. He grabs Crystal's shirt, so she'll meet his gaze and motions towards the bike. It takes her a moment to gather her bearings, but then she nods. She takes a step back behind Henry in order to obscure people's view of her and puts her hand behind her back. She flicks her wrist and immediately the motorcycle's exhaust backfires several times, creating sounds like gunshots. This disruption frightens many people who begin to scream and duck or dive out of the way. The smoke from the tailpipe then becomes thicker and darker until it completely engulfs the three of them. Crystal grabs a hold of Henry's arm and Belle's shoulder and then uses her magic to teleport them away.

When the smoke clears, the whole street erupts into panic as the murderer and her accomplices have escaped into literal thin air. The only thing that remains is the book the woman was holding, which had now become evidence. Police sirens wail in the distance as they approach to investigate the mysterious happenings.

...

The group of three reappear back in front of the mansion, which is fortunately still hidden by Crystal's protection spells. Both she and Henry let out collective sighs of relief, but Belle is a different story entirely.

Belle is gasping to the point where it sounds like she's drowning and finally collapses into hysterics. Tears pour from her eyes and her entire body begins to shake erratically. Her eyes look completely haunted and it is likely that her mind is on the verge of shutting down completely.

"What... what..." is all she can say over and over. It reminds both of her companions of Crystal's similar breakdown in the penthouse; where she's barely able to breathe and all she can do is repeat a single word over and over.

"Belle..." Crystal says, immediately leaning down to help her stepmother. "Belle, it's okay."

"No...no... no..." she sputters, shaking her head and letting the tears stain the pavement of the driveway. She tries to squirm away from her so-called "friends." None of this makes any sense to her... what is happening? She's never done anything to hurt anyone... how has this become her life? She should go back to the cell where it was safe and life wasn't so confusing.

The daughter of Rumpelstiltskin looks at Henry, wondering what she should do.

He gets down and tries to help calm her too.

"Belle just talk to us! Tell us what happened."

"NO!" she screams, lashing out, swinging her arm at them, hitting both of them. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

Crystal and Henry are extremely worried and frightened. Their beloved Belle is in such hysterics that she's now physically assaulted them. She attempts to scramble up and leave into the forest or anywhere else that wasn't here.

"BELLE STOP!" Henry screeches. He tries to grab her jacket, but she viciously lashes out, pulling her sleeve violently from her grandson's grasp.

Both know that if Belle goes off on her own, there is no doubt that she won't survive very long, especially in her current, cursed state. She'll either get lost in the wilderness, be spotted, and arrested for murder, or the Black Fairy will get her and do something awful to her. The two begin to panic, trying to prevent any of those possibilities from happening.

Faced with dwindling choices and growing fear, Crystal reaches her hand out to use her magic and Belle collapses onto the ground unconscious.

At first, Henry wants to scream out at the daughter of the Dark One for doing something like this by force, but then he knew that it was their last resort, the only thing they could do. Their situation had become dire and ten times more complicated now that it seemed that the Black Fairy had made a move, attempting to prevent her son and Belle from ever meeting again.

They race over and check to make sure she hasn't been hurt any other way, knowing how unpredictable Crystal's magic was now.

When they see that she's okay, the person with magic poofs them inside.

...

"I really don't know what to do now," Crystal sighs, as Belle lays unconscious in her own bed. She's waved her hands over the beauty's body to heal any injuries, but there aren't any. At least, none that were not psychological. "It's clear Fiona knows that something's up and she's doing everything she can to stop us."

"She's trying to stop Grandpa from seeing her again and keeping her hold on the curse," Henry nods, sitting in a chair next to the bed, holding his grandmother's hand.

"I should have listened to you about using my magic in front of her," she sighs heavily. "I guess seeing that was her breaking point."

"It's not your fault, I asked you to get us out of there. If you didn't, we would be behind bars by now for something we didn't do. It was an emergency and we really didn't have a choice."

"I'm almost tempted to put her under a sleeping curse, just until we can get a little more of a handle on the situation."

"Please don't," Henry remarks sternly. He shudders at the memory of what happened to him under the sleeping curse and the nightmares in the flame room after it had been broken. "The aftereffects are much more traumatic than the curse itself. And Grandpa would never forgive you for that."

"I know, but I think it's best if we just keep her asleep for the time being. It's less stressful for her, considering she believes she's been locked in a cement block for the past fourteen years."

"Do you think you can freeze her in the moment?" the author asks. "Just so we don't have to worry about her waking up unexpectedly and running away again?"

Crystal swallows a lump in her throat. She feels awful about having to do this to someone she loves, but for now, it was only to protect her. Of course, this is how the Darkness explains the things it does, by creating reasons and logic to justify the results, even if it was for Belle's own good.

"Maybe not right now. I think I remember a spell Zelena taught me, it puts someone in a deep sleep that lasts 8-hours. I've used it before when I've had trouble sleeping and it's completely safe. I'll let her body recover from the stress and then I'll think I'll freeze her in the moment. I just want to do something first."

She conjures up a dreamcatcher and then removes the past hour or so from her stepmother's memory. She then puts the glowing object into the drawer of the nightstand.

"I want her to sleep peacefully," she explains.

Henry nods and then hold's Crystal's hand as she mutters the spell and puts Belle into a proper sleep.

Once the beauty lets out a sigh of relief and seems to almost smile, the two turn to each other.

"What do we do next?" Henry asks.

A/N: Hey guys, sorry it's been so long since I've last updated this story, but I've had a bit of writer's block. I would love some input from people about Crystal and Henry should do next? Who should they reach out to or rescue? Should they go back to help Emma or continue pursuing Rumple's aid? Please let me know any ideas you might have.