27 - SLEEPLESS IN STORYBROOKE
Envy consumed the heart of Teresa Holmes. Everyone was being reunited with the people that they loved, completing their happy ending, and then there was her: an orphan girl living in the home of someone who wasn't even her family, though may as well be for all they've done for her. She had Snow, David, little Neal, Henry, and everyone else in Storybrooke that cared about her, but it just wasn't the same. Teresa missed her actual family. She missed waking up to have her little brother Roland beg her to teach him how to shoot an arrow and play with him, and the Merry Men, who had all become her adoptive uncles overtime. She missed Marian and Robin, who had welcomed her into their home and into their hearts without hesitation and raised her to be the person she was today. Teresa missed her cousins, Elsa and Anna, and even Kristoff and Sven too. The girl even missed her mother, Ingrid, despite having brief memory of the platinum-haired woman that had abandoned her twice in her entire life. All she wanted was to have her family back in her life, and Teresa knew she could only get what she wanted one way. It might be stupid and dangerous, and she might not even get any answers, but she needed to at least try.
The girl peeked down over her mattress to ensure that Henry ─ who had fallen asleep on her bedroom floor; the boy refusing to leave her side ever since she returned from the Underworld with Alice ─ was still asleep before she lifted the comforter and slipped out of her bed. Teresa was careful not to wake him up as she tip-toed out of her bedroom and made her way downstairs. She cringed when one step creaked under her weight, and glanced over her shoulder to make sure that she didn't wake anyone up, before making her way into the kitchen. Teresa grabbed a lunch bag from beneath the sink and filled it with what she was looking, before approaching the doormat and pulling on her boots. Then she lifted her hand and teleported out of the house in a cloud of white flurries.
Her boots landed on the floor of Hyde's cell. The man stirred awake, having felt the cool chill of her arrival. He glanced toward her, a grin spreading on his face as he sat up on his bunk. "So it's true. Miss Teresa Holmes is back from the dead. I must admit that I am impressed. How was a girl with no knowledge of how to use her powers able to escape an eternity in the Underworld? Tell me, how did you do it?"
Teresa smirked, "Sorry, it's a secret."
Hyde grinned at her response. "Fair enough." He slid off the bunk and stretched out his limbs, the chains on his wrists rattling at the movement. "I must confess that I wasn't expecting to see you again. Perhaps you aren't the coward that I took you for. Not like your father, anyway."
Teresa threw the bag into his arms. "You owe me some answers."
Hyde opened up the bag and peered down inside, smirking at the contents. Carrots and wine. "You have wit, I admire that." He set the bag aside. "Still, I wonder why you've come back. Why chase a man that wanted nothing to do with you?"
She set her jaw. "I have my reasons."
Hyde continued to stare at her, trying to figure it out for himself, but Teresa Holmes was like staring at a brick wall. The man couldn't tell what she was thinking or feeling. She could hide her emotions well. But, perhaps, too well that it was far too easy. Hyde smirked and took a step toward her. "You love a man that you have never known. Curious."
"I don't have to explain myself to you," Teresa said through gritted teeth. She tried to keep her anger and agitation under the surface so that Hyde couldn't use anything against her, but as her fists clenched at her sides and her knuckles turned white, snowflakes danced around the cell and he grinned, amused. Her sharp cerulean eyes stabbed into his skin like icicles, but he wasn't frightened of her. "He's my father. I have a right to know about him."
There was a long pause before Hyde turned away, sitting down on his bunk and pulling out a carrot from the bag. He took a bite before speaking, "I first met Sherlock Holmes when he came to my land and sought a potion."
"What kind of potion?"
"A potion that could lead him to the thing that he wanted most. We struck a deal, to which I then sent your father on his way with the potion that he desired. I never saw him again."
Teresa narrowed her eyes at the vagueness of his words. The story he told was intriguing, for why would her father need a potion to find the thing that he desired most, but she wasn't buying it. Hyde gave her the answers she wanted seemed too easy. She would not fall into a trap of his. "You're lying," she stated with narrowed eyes, causing Hyde's smirk to spread into a wide grin. "Why did my father come to you?"
"I told you─"
She raised a hand and a thick sheen of ice slithered up his legs, making its way toward his torso. It kept him trapped, unable to move, as though she paralyzed him. The man shivered from the unbearable cold, his skin turning pale. His breath wafted from his pale blue lips in clouds. But she didn't let up. Teresa kept the spell active and gave a silent order for the ice to slither up his torso toward his neck. "Tell me the truth," she demanded, before then releasing her spell on him. The man shivered violently and laughed.
"I was not lying when I said that he sought a potion that would lead him to what he desired most," Hyde said, his shivers ceasing. But the man could still feel the cold. "What he desired most in the world was to find you, Teresa. Sherlock discovered what your mother had done to you, how she abandoned you, and he was furious with her. So, he spent years trying to find you. And when he stumbled upon my realm, he overheard of my gift with potions, so we struck a deal. If he dealt with one of my residents for me, I would in turn brew him a potion capable of finding his dearest daughter. And indeed, he found you."
Teresa shook her head, lips parting in shock. "No, you're lying. I've never met him."
"Perhaps not," Hyde said, "but he has laid eyes upon you, Miss Holmes. Fear not, you will meet him one day. Perhaps, even, quite soon."
Teresa's heart felt lighter at his words. Was it true? Did her father make the trip aboard the dirigible, or was this another one of Hyde's devious tricks to give her false hope?
Hyde seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. "It's no trick, I can assure you. I will tell you where your father is, but it comes with a price."
"I'm not breaking you out of here," she deadpanned.
"Who said I wanted to leave? No, I quite like these bars," Hyde replied, running his fingers along the bars on his high window. "I want something else. And if you want to meet your father, you will get me what I want."
Teresa hesitated. "What is it that you want?"
"Go to the woods northeast of the crash. Some hundred meters from there, you will find a cavern."
"What's in this cave?" Teresa asked.
"You'll know it when you see it," Hyde replied.
She sighed. "How do I know that I can trust you?"
"You can't," Hyde stated, "but are you willing to take the risk of never meeting your father?" Teresa gritted her teeth, and his face broke out into a grin. He knew that she wouldn't be able to resist the temptation.
"Fine," Teresa conceded. The girl stepped forward and shook his outstretched hand to seal the deal. Frost flower from the girl's palm and covered his hand. The man grunted at the pain that shot up his arm. "We have a deal. But if this turns out to be another one of your games, these chains, this cell, Regina's wrath, they'll be the least of your worries."
Hyde grinned at her threat. "Good luck with you quest, Miss Holmes."
Teresa threw him a sharp glare before teleporting from the cell in a cloud of white flurries. Her boots landed in the dirt in the middle of the woods. She glanced behind her at the dirigible crash site, before then looking up at the moon. Turning, she began heading northeast through the dark woods. She could hear all sorts of wildlife as her boots crunched against the branches beneath her feet. Darkness was all around her and it made it hard for her to see, but she wasn't scared. The woods had always been her home.
It didn't take her long to stumble upon the cavern that Hyde was speaking of. Stopping just beyond the threshold, she peered inside with squinted cerulean eyes, but all she saw was darkness. Pitch black. An empty abyss. She gritted her teeth and sighed. "You've come this far, Teresa, there's no turning back now," the girl muttered encouragingly to herself, before lifting her hand and using magic to light her way.
There a smell inside in the cavern, like someone was burning wood on a fire, but she didn't see any flame. With the dim light illuminating from the ball of magic in her palm, all she saw were rocks, rocks, and more rocks. There was nothing here. And just as she thought that Hyde had sent her on some wild goose chase, Teresa girl felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Her muscles tensed and her magic went out, forcing her to concentrate on bringing the light back. Her gut was telling her to leave this place, that it wasn't safe, but she ignored it and kept going. She already died once without getting to know her father, and she didn't plan on doing that again until she found him.
But then she heard something, and Teresa regretted not turning back around when she had the chance.
Her entire body froze and her breathing quickened as fear spread through her body. Swallowing, the girl turned around. Her cerulean eyes widened and a gasp burst from her mouth as a hand shot out from the darkness and wrapped itself around her neck, lifting the teenager off the ground. Pain spread throughout her body. It felt as though her life was being drained from her body. A haunting pair of golden eyes gazed into her own, and slowly, the cavern grew dark as Teresa's magic went out.
。。。
When Henry Mills woke up, he had expected to find his girlfriend sound asleep in her bed, but when he sat up and peered over the mattress, the boy found her bed empty. So, he checked downstairs, where his grandparents were cooking breakfast, but she wasn't there either. The three of them tore the entire house apart, but could not find Teresa Holmes. David suggested maybe Teresa went on a morning hunt and just forgot her phone, for they had tried multiple time to call her, but when Henry showed them that her bow and arrows were still sitting on her dresser, they knew that wasn't where she had gone.
After making multiple phone calls, the three of them learned that nobody had seen or heard from Teresa since yesterday. Nobody knew where the archer had gone, and that scared Henry Mills. He had just gotten her back and now she was gone again. The boy tried to use his connection to pinpoint her location, but Henry could not feel her through their soulmate bond. He wasn't sure if she was dead or alive, for he could not sense the presence of her soul anymore. It was like she had fallen off the face of the earth and vanished.
"Don't worry, Henry, we'll find her," Violet assured the boy as they walked through town together in search of their missing friend. They had split off together while Emma worked with Snow, David and Regina to organize a proper search party, which Henry hadn't been able to stand to be at any longer, for the more he sat there and listened to their plan, the more time was wasted when they could be out looking for Teresa. He wanted to leave, so Violet had joined him that way he wouldn't be alone. "She's got to be here somewhere."
"But she isn't!" Henry shouted, startling Violet as they both came to a stop on the sidewalk. "I tried to reach out to her, but I couldn't feel anything. She's just... gone."
"Henry..."
"It's like she's just vanished, and it's all my fault."
Violet shook her head. She reached out and grabbed his arms, ducking her head to catch his eye. "Henry, you can't think like that. This isn't your fault. Nobody could have known what would happen."
"I should have been able to sense her fear," Henry frowned, "but I didn't. I wasn't there to help her when she needed me because I was asleep."
The girl frowned. "We were all asleep, Henry."
"But I should have felt something!" he exclaimed, stepping back and turning away from her. Henry gritted his teeth and threw his clenched hand into a street sign, grunting at the pain that shot through his hand.
Violet gasped and reached out to grab his injured hand, "Henry!"
"I'm fine!" Henry snapped, moving away from her. The boy shook out his injured hand with a grimace, before turning to face his friend as he rubbed at his red knuckles. Noticing the hurt expression on her face and the concern glistening in her brown eyes, the boy sighed and said in a much softer voice than before, "I'm fine, Violet."
"You are not fine, Henry," Violet stated. With gentle fingers, she reached and took his hand. Henry grimaced as she ran her fingers over the irritated skin that was bound to bruise. "Hopefully it's just a sprain, though we should pay a visit to Doctor Whale just to be safe."
Henry pulled his hand away. "I'm not worried about my hand, I'm worried about Teresa."
An irritated expression twisted Violet's features as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You know, you and Teresa really are made for each other. You're both far too stubborn for your good." Henry looked away, a sad look in his eyes. She sighed. "I'm worried about her too, Henry, but you can't very well help Teresa with an injured hand. Now come along," she said, taking his arm and leading her in the director of her house. "If you won't allow me to take you to see Doctor Whale, at least let me wrap your hand for you. My father keeps a first aid kit in our kitchen in case of emergency."
Henry went to argue, but she quieted him with a stern look. "Fine," he conceded.
When they made it to Violet's house, Lady greeted them. She wagged her tail and cried at the sight of her owner. The girl bent down to greet her pup, before guiding Henry into the kitchen. She sat him down at the table and approached the cabinet. Rising on her tippy toes, she extended her arm above her head and grabbed the first aid kit. Closing the cabinet, she returned to Henry's side and sat down at the table, popping open the lid and searching for what she needed. The girl began by cleaning his knuckles with alcohol wipes, which caused Henry to hiss in pain.
"Sorry," she apologized. "I know it hurts, but try to sit still. I'll be able to move much faster if you don't move." Henry nodded and gritted his teeth as she worked on his hand, dabbing at the irritated skin with alcohol wipes and proceeding to wrap it with some gauze.
"How did you learn to do this?" Henry asked.
"I taught myself," Violet replied, dabbing the wipe against his knuckles. "Believe it or not, I wasn't always the spectacular horseback rider that I am today. When I began learning, I would often fall off. Sometimes, my father wasn't there to help patch me up, so I had to learn how to do these things all on my own. My father said that I'm like my mother in that way. I guess she was healer before I was born."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to─"
Violet offered him a reassuring smile. "It's okay, Henry. I don't mind speaking about my mother." Henry nodded and watched as his friend set the alcohol wipes aside to wrap his injured hand.
Silence enveloped the room as Violet worked on wrapping his injured hand, which allowed for Henry's thoughts to wander. His brown eyes burned with unshed tears as he remembered the time that he had patched up Teresa's hand for her because she had also refused to let Doctor Whale look at her. He could hear her voice in his head as she called him Doctor Mills and it made him frown. His thoughts came spewing out before he could even stop them.
"I can't lose her again, Violet," Henry whispered. Her movements ceased as she looked up at him. "Nobody understands what it felt like for me when she died. This bond that we have made it feel like I died with her. And maybe a part of me did." He looked up at her and Violet's heart broke as she saw the pain on his face and the tears in his eyes. "I─I can't feel that way again, Violet. I can't."
Violet felt tears sting her eyes as she looked at the broken boy sitting across from her. She scooted her chair closer and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around her friend. Henry sunk into her arms as a sob fell from his mouth, and the girl just held him, giving her friend the comfort that she knew he needed right now. Tears of her own fell down Violet's cheeks as she rubbed her hand and down his back while murmuring words of comfort. "We'll find her, Henry," she promised. "I know we will. Teresa is the strongest person who I know. I know she will pull through and find her way back home. She always does."
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a/n: I feel so bad that I keep doing this to these poor babies. Teresa and Henry don't deserve all this pain, but thankfully they won't be in pain for too long. At least in this book. Things will never be easy for them, if I'm being honest. But's that happens when you're part of a prophecy and possess magic like no other. They're going to find themselves facing danger pretty much their entire lives.
To clear up any confusion: yes, Hyde did trick Teresa. He lied to a teenage girl that literally just came back to life and has a lot on her plate right now. Teresa is in a fragile place, her emotions all over, and he took advantage of that by making her go to a cave in the middle of the while knowing who was there and waiting for her. But it's all part of his and the Evil Queen's little plan. They're removing all the pieces from the board, one move at a time. And now Teresa has been removed. But who is next, I wonder? Hmm...
And yes, I did just introduce that new villain I've been talking so much about in this chapter. I'm very excited because I've always wanted to see this villain in the show. Now, so far you guys know that the villain has a thing for the colour gold and is capable of making you feel like your life is being drained. Care to take a guess at who this mystery villain is?
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