You & me... Neverland (SWANQUEEN)

Chapter 7

Emma assesses her chances. If they run towards Henry they will be condemning themselves to a dead-end with almost no space to fight. Their only chance is to stay in the open space of the hall and protect Henry among them three.

Owen, Tamara and the unknown man run downstairs and Emma and the others run out of time.

"Henry, run!" Emma cries. Regina and Rumpelstiltskin wait for the trio at the foot of the stairs and take an attacking position with their hands full of magic.

Henry turns his head and stares at them: "I ... I know you, right?"

Regina's heart skips a beat and Emma's breathing freezes and gets agonizingly trapped inside her chest. Their son doesn't show any intention to move and Owen's laughter resonates through the room.

"Henry?" Emma half whines, but the kid doesn't seem to recognise his own name.

"Don't exert yourself, Savior." Owen comes to a halt a step away from the floor. They are all standing, measuring each other, waiting for the first movement of the adversary. The calm before the storm.

"What have you done to him?" Regina's tone is vibrant and neutral, so imperturbable and dangerous as the Evil Queen's herself. The very same Queen who's taking control of Regina to make her the most terrifying version of this woman.

"Simply, he hasn't miss you that much... and no longer remembers you."

"You're dead." It's a sentence. At all costs. It's the sentence issued by Regina and she will make sure it's executed.

It's she who breaks the aberrant stillness. A huge fireball crosses the room and illuminates the room with a red light. But it doesn't hit its target. Owen stops it as if blowing out a candle with a kind of stun gun that dissolves it in midair. This only seems to piss off the brunette even more. The following spheres leave her hands without truce and Rumpelstiltskin joins her with a deranged scream. Since that time there are three pistols cancelling their shells and the exchange becomes a crazy mess. Henry is out of the danger zone, but hides himself under his own arms.

"Enough of this bullshit!" The order comes from Emma, who points her gun at them. Silence falls and they can hear the sound of the safety being unlocked.

Owen and Tamara back a few steps, more unconsciously than seeking security. But the stranger doesn't recoil, he just smiles.

"Do you think some lame bullets are rival for us?" They hear his voice for the first time, sharp and mocking, and notice his features. Emma's entrails writhe with actual hatred towards this man and she distinguishes in his features a cruelty that overflows his eyes. He's tall, brown, dull, but this inhumanity grants him something supernatural. "For the Shadow?" He questions, full of arrogance.

"I wouldn't mind to check."

"Go ahead, then!" He yells, delighted, and his histrionics are accompanied by an appearance over the head of them all. Through the ceiling, as if it were open, the shape of a being hovers. Vaporous and showing a deceiving, translucent appearance. Through the gloom of its body nothing but darkness can be seen. Before Emma can study the Shadow more in detail, the being swoops from above. Rumpelstiltskin covers his arms with fire up to his elbows. Regina emulates his strategy. She makes her hands burn and, simultaneously, positions herself in front of Emma.

But the rapid descent of the shadow has an announced destination. Owen and Tamara are cast aside and the being gets into the stranger, who laughs with pain when he feels it inside. He takes air with delight and opens his eyes, darkened and with pronounced grey circles. "You are not rival for us, nobody is."