andres ♔ sometimes we don't learn from our mistakes

[behindcloseddoors]

♬ the end where i begin - the script

WHO || Emma, ??. [closed]
WHAT || Emma tracks down the mysterious figure causing trouble on Andres Isle
WHERE || Andres
WHEN || After this
HOW || Actionspam

[Emma runs off after the figure, who she can catch a few glimpses of as she moves through the trees - enough to see that they are, in fact, wearing a hood.  And that they disappear into a ramshackle, seriously questionable looking shack up ahead. ]

Comments

[fuckingneal]

I know you're part of something bigger here, Em. I've seen you guys. And you know how to get what you need without letting people know too much.

[He helped teach her some of that.]

Just a couple of days. Give me a couple of days to see if this wears off. Please.

[Diplomacy 37]

[uncurse]

[ In a couple days, more people could die. Not if she separates him from the dagger, maybe, but it still creates the possibility. Morality, reason, and bitterness all wage a war inside of her for the few moments before she answers. ]

You've got two. And if anyone else gets hurt in that time? A dagger's gonna be the least of your problems.

[ She relents, not because she sees reason in his argument, but because if he's right, it means she won't have to be around him. It'll get her away from all the conflict and pain and, for the time being at least, she can lead herself to believe that it'll give her the chance to put him out of her mind. As if she'd ever escaped the ten years of hurt. As if it won't take ten more to put herself back together. ]

Especially since I'll be holding onto it. [ Which brings us to her next point: And you're gonna tell me everything you know about what's making it do this.

[fuckingneal]

Two days. [Look at him not arguing! This is progress, right?]

I'll be here. [He gestures to the shack.] I'll tell you everything I know. Just... don't tell them you found me. They'll come and I won't be able to stop it. You can't tell anyone I'm out here Emma.

[uncurse]

[ Hesitation pervades her expression, causing her to tense, clenching her jaw. After a moment of wrestling with her distrust, she gives him a nod. Relenting. She hates that she's giving him an inch, but it means getting some distance to get her head on straight. ]

All right, so seven months before the magic started. When was that? How long ago?

[ Yeah, she meant she wants exposition right now, Neal. Not in two days. She doesn't trust him to be here in two days. ]

[fuckingneal]

I woke up here about a year ago. The dagger was in my hands within the month.

[Dark Family magnet tbh.]

[uncurse]

So that's … What? Five months? [ She clenches and relaxes her fist, trying to think through it before shaking her head, hapless. ] I don't get it. If you weren't lashing out with the magic before, why now? What changed since Andres fell?

[fuckingneal]

I don't know. Maybe it--

[He stops, thinking about how the fire that burned down his place...someone had said something about how they had seen it before.]

He was here, wasn't he? On the island. Maybe it made everything speed up?

[Its all just guesswork. He doesn't know anything for sure.]

[uncurse]

Still is, as far as I know.

Is that gonna keep happening? He's near the dagger, so it reacts? [ Well shit. ] Any other unfortunate properties I should know about if I'm gonna be holding onto this thing?

[fuckingneal]

If anyone can resist that kind of dark magic, it's you.

[Product of true love okay.]

But no- that's all I know about it.

[uncurse]

Don't.

[ A narrow, snapping discouragement. Given their history, it's hard to read such a soft statement of support as anything but two-faced dickery. For Emma, at least, with as damaged as she's become over the past thirteen years. ]

It didn't do any of this in … [ Okay, pause for her to process this. He's from the same world as she is. Neither of them are from the real world. Jesus. ] In the Enchanted Forest? What's gonna happen if Gold gets his hands on it?

[fuckingneal]

I don't know. Maybe something like this? I doubt it. He already has the magic. [Neal just shakes his head. He's basically just as blind as she is and he hates that he doesn't have the answers she needs.]

But what I do know? If he gets his hands on that, no one can stop him. And once he knows that? We're all in trouble.

[uncurse]

I hate to break it to you, but judging by what he did when we stormed this place, I don't think anyone can stop him without some useless dagger.

[ Seriously how do you even stab anything with this. ]

All the magic this thing gave you, he's already been using.

[fuckingneal]

So maybe we use it. Whoever controls the dagger, controls the Dark One. If you've got it, it's a back up plan, for when he goes too far.

[Not if. When. He's still on shaky ground with how much control his father has over the darkness that lives in him.]

[uncurse]

Controls?

[ ~News to Emma.~ Bear with her, ok. She paid attention to like 5% of Henry's stories, and most of those went out with the Henry-shaped gap in her memory. Suddenly, the dagger feels heavy inside her jacket. Her throat goes dry. ]

All right. I'll see what I can find out about it. Back here in two days. And Neal? [ She turns back towards him right as she's getting ready to walk away. There's a solemn, determined edge to her expression as she warns, ] If I see you before that, it's not ending with a talk.

[fuckingneal]

[He just nods, knowing that saying more could push them towards some sort of fight. It kills him to see how they're back to square one- or worse. All he keeps seeing is her panicked expression as she desperately tries to keep him from falling through the portal.

The person him front of him now is more likely to push him over the edge.]

Two days. I'll be here.

[And with a last, lingering look and a poor attempt at a smile, he turns to head back for the shack.]