《Artemis || OUAT》40. Bleeding Through

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Astrid was immediately engulfed in a tight fatherly hug by Robin as she hugged him back. She smiled and stepped back to stand beside Peter, saying, "Where's Roland?"

"Gathering some sticks," Robin replied.

Astrid nodded but frowned when a bad feeling washed over her. "I'll be right back." She jogged further into the woods and looked for her little brother.

Peter shared a look with Robin and sort of shrugged. They then noticed someone as Robin instantly grabbed his crossbow and raised it at the person, Peter saying, "That's far enough right there."

Gold turned around to face them and the Merry Men as Robin added, "You know this arrow never misses its mark."

Gold replied, "If I could stand down, I would. Heed me. Give me the heart."

"No," Robin said as Gold sighed just as Astrid stepped into the clearing with Roland in her arms while he carried the sticks in his little arms.

Astrid slightly widened her eyes and placed Roland back on the ground, gently pushing him behind her protectively; Gold looked over at the two and asked about the kid, "Astrid. And who is this?"

"Roland, Astrid, go back!" Robin exclaimed in worry. Gold smirked and replied, "Come here, you two."

Roland held onto Astrid's legs tighter as Astrid glared at Gold and remarked, "We're fine right here, thanks."

"And I don't want to do this, either," Robin stated with a glare towards the Dark One, shooting the crossbow in his hands.

The arrow soared to Gold but stopped in midair by Gold's magic as Gold commented, "It never misses its target... And I've just change the target." The arrow turned towards Astrid and Roland. "If I drop my finger..."

"Brother, don't do this-" Peter began as Astrid sank down in the dirt beneath her magically by Gold. She kept a protective arm around Roland, though.

Gold stopped the Merry Men and Peter from running towards Roland and Astrid with Robin yelling, "No!"

"I don't want to, but I will," Gold simply replied.

Astrid noticed Robin lower his crossbow as he let out, "Wait." Astrid slightly widened her eyes when he stepped over to a tree and pulled out a small pouch.

"Robin, don't-" Astrid started, struggling to move from the magical hold on her.

The archer showed the heart to Gold who nodded and took the bag from him, saying, "Thank you. And I am sorry. Truly."

Suddenly, Gold let the arrow slip and head straight towards Astrid who squeezed her eyes shut for a second.

By her magic instinctively, the arrow stopped centimeters from her and Roland. She opened her eyes and let out a relieved sigh, pulling her legs free from the now non-magical dirt and caught the arrow before it hit the ground.

Astrid scooped Roland back up in her arms tightly, one hand on the back of his head, as he had his arms around her neck and halfway sobbed.

Robin ran over to the two and immediately pulled them into a relieved hug, murmuring, "You two alright?"

"Yeah," Astrid nodded and handed his son to Robin and then moved over to Peter who also hugged her tightly.

"Oh, I thought I was going to lose you again, love," Peter sighed, hugging her in a tighter embrace.

"I'm not going anywhere," Astrid let out softly as the two kissed then.

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Suddenly, the young couple heard Robin tell Regina regrettably, "I must apologize. You trusted me, and I let you down..."

"No, you didn't," Regina simply said, "Nothing is worth the loss of family. But now, we have a problem. I'm alive."

"I don't follow," Robin said in confusion.

Regina sighed somewhat, saying, "She has my heart. Gold has taken it for her. And since she hasn't crushed it yet and didn't kill me, that means she needs it for something far worse."

"Worse than murder?" Robin inquired.

Peter spoke up lightly, "There are far worse things than murder. Believe me."

Astrid laid a hand on his chest and could feel his heartbeat as Regina added, "Pan's right... But whatever she's planning, it doesn't matter." Peter wrapped an arm around the small of Astrid's back and pulled her closer. "Because I'm going to stop her."

***

Emma walked into the room and noticed Hook who looked at a green apple in his hand in dismay, her speaking up, "I'd watch out for the apples in this house."

"Aye," Hook nodded.

"It was a joke. Where's you sense of humor?" Emma inquired while sliding her coat off.

Hook sighed and stood up while answering, "It left when the Witch arrived."

"Well, we're gonna take care of that," Emma replied, "Regina said she has a plan."

"I'm sure she does," Hook let out, sitting on one side of Astrid as Emma sat on her other side.

Emma looked over at her sister curiously to see her head down on the table. "What's wrong with you?"

"Wait for it," Astrid blandly sighed and looked up and over at their parents.

"Emma, will you please tell your mother that we're not gonna name your brother 'Leopold'," David started.

"Uh, why not? It was my father's name-" Snow also started.

"People will make fun of him," David replied.

"My father was a king," Snow pointed out.

"Which is why nobody made fun of him," David also pointed out.

"Okay, what about 'Eva' after my mother?" Snow asked while Astrid sat back and quietly groaned and leaned her head against Hook's arm.

Hook glanced down at the girl in slight amusement but was also a bit annoyed at them deciding on names.

"I don't know how well that'll work with a boy," David replied as Snow remarked, "It might not be a boy."

Regina entered inside of the room and spoke up, "Sorry to keep you waiting. I was making this special tea."

"Oh, thank Thor, you're here. Now, they can cease with the baby talk." Astrid complained, not bothering to lift her head up from his arm.

Emma stifled her laugh as did Hook while David and Snow looked at their teenager with furrowed eyebrows.

"I can feel you two staring at me, even with my eyes shut," Astrid commented, her eyes still closed, "You know it's true. It's annoying."

Regina continued to pour the special tea in the small cups as David began to drink it but she stopped him quickly, "No! Don't... drink it. It's a deadly poison for summoning the Dark Vortex."

"I prefer Earl Grey," David replied and set his cup down.

Astrid sat up in her chair while Emma asked, "The dark what?"

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"Zelena came by this morning while the Dark One was stealing my heart," Regina commented, sitting down in her chair between David and Emma, "She was here gloating. She said that my weakness was that I don't know enough about her past, so I've decided to summon someone who does. We have to talk to my mother."

Astrid shared a look with Hook as Regina began to set up the candle and then she explained, "It's a fairly simple ritual but not often performed."

"If it's easy to talk to the dead, why not do it more?" Emma inquired.

"Well, because to do it, you need the murder weapon and... the murderer," Regina answered as everyone's eyes diverted over to Snow. David let out a small sigh as Regina lit a match and lit both ends of the candle.

"What do we need to do?" Emma asked.

"Focus on Cora," Regina simply answered.

"Welcoming thoughts?" Hook spoke up, everyone taking each other's hands now.

"Whatever you got," Regina answered. Emma looked over at her sister and back at Regina and began to ask, "Is it-?" Regina shushed her as everyone closed their eyes and was silent now.

The wind began to blow the flames on the candle as the fire in the fireplace went out, a crashing sounded with a blue portal shot open above them then.

"We did it," Snow murmured.

"Cora?" Regina began, "Mother, can you hear us? Cora, give us a sign. Do not ignore me now, Mother. Astrid, say something. You was important to her also."

Astrid continued to watch the blue portal above them and spoke up, "Cora? It's Astrid. Talk to us. Please."

"You owe us this-" Regina added.

The table shook then, making Snow scream a little, and then the portal closed and the lights went back on. "Sorry, love, that was me. I crossed my legs and bumped the table."

Astrid snorted some and looked over at the pirate in slight amusement while Regina sighed and blew out the candle.

"Do we try it again?" Snow inquired.

"No," Regina replied, "There's no point. It worked. The portal opened, but... nothing came from it. She doesn't want to talk to me, and even Astrid-" She sighed and added, "Guess whatever secrets lie in her past, she wants to keep buried there."

Astrid shuddered somewhat and felt something inside of her. Images of Cora's past that led up to Zelena overwhelmed her mind.

"Astrid?" The five adults began, "What is it?"

The girl opened her eyes barely and began to collapse but was caught by Hook. "C-Cora..."

"What about Cora?" Regina and Snow simultaneously asked.

Astrid groaned somewhat and blinked a few times, now shivering, as she let out, "Leopold and- and Eva..."

"She's not making sense," Emma said in concern, "We need to get her to a doctor."

Hook picked the teenager up into his arms as her head laid on his chest. Regina started, "If she knows something that could help us-"

"Regina, it's gonna have to wait-" David started while moving over to the pirate and lightly pressed two fingers to his teenage daughter's neck to check her pulse.

"It can't wait!" Regina cut him off, "If we want to stop Zelena, we have to know what the hell she's doing and why!"

"We can help with half of that," Belle spoke up as she and Peter entered into the room.

"What?" Regina began.

Peter moved over to his semi conscious girlfriend and answered, "She's planning on going back in time."

"Are you certain?" Regina questioned while Peter checked his love's pulse also, "No one's ever been able to cast a spell to go back in time."

"It- It happ- happened to me be-before..." Astrid spoke up, sort of out of it.

"That's right. Astrid was sent to the time when James was still around," David added in agreement.

"Astrid, who sent you back in time?" Regina cautiously questioned.

"Um..." Astrid slowly answered and dozed off somewhat.

"Astrid? Hey." Regina impatiently sighed.

"Well, clearly, she thinks she can succeed," Belle remarked, "I mean, brains, courage, a- a resilient heart- those ingredients are in every time travel spell Peter and I've found."

"But why go back in time?" David asked, "I mean, we have no idea what she's trying to accomplish."

"I do," Astrid spoke up again after Hook set her down in a chair but still held her shoulder in his hand.

"Don't push yourself, love," Peter murmured to her, taking her hand in his.

"She didn't want to give up Zelena. She was forced to by Princess Eva, my grandmother, I guess..." Astrid began to explain, "She told a secret-- Ironically, like how Mom did."

"Wait. I thought our family was the good guys," Emma spoke up as Snow sighed.

"Life is too messy for it to ever be that simple," Regina replied.

"You're saying if it wasn't for Snow's mother, Cora would have kept Zelena," David realized.

"She would have been tutored by Rumplestiltskin," Belle also realized.

"And all if it weren't for this Princess Eva?" Hook added.

"So that means..." Emma began as Snow finished, "Zelena's going back to kill my mother."

Regina gasped some, "You'll have never been born."

"I'm guessing this is where your help ends." Emma remarked.

"Now think it through, Miss Swan. That means you and Astrid will have never been born." Regina replied, "And neither will Henry."

"And on this different path, Regina, you may not be, either," Snow added.

"It's a good thing no one has ever succeeded with this time travel nonsense-" Hook started.

"But they bloody have. Zelena has," Astrid cut him off, earning looks from the group, "You asked. Well, Zelena found me years ago and sent me through that bloody portal. That's how I know her. I had forgot her name but that was definitely her."

"But we still have time to defeat her. She needs this baby, so that buys us time." Astrid added while standing up but stumbling a little as Peter steadied her, "We will defeat her. Together. That's the only way we can do this."

Snow and David smiled a little as everyone else nodded, a little bit more confident in stopping the Wicked Witch's plans.

Emma smiled at her twin, saying, "Glad to have your confidence back, A."

"I never lost it, Em," Astrid shrugged as her sister tilted her head slightly and furrowed her eyebrows a bit. "Shut up." She punched Emma on her arm as Emma held her arm in her hand, wincing, and laughed some.

"So, what do we do now?" Peter spoke up, one eyebrow lifted more than the other.

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