ALWAYS ⇢ HENRY MILLS [1]

three

We landed on dirt. I shot back up on my feet and helped Henry up.
"Woah" he said.
We looked around to find ourselves in a small village. We walked over to a table and Henry gently brushed his fingers along some cloth on a well made wooden table.
"Where the hell are we?"
Henry's eyes locked with mine. "We're in Isaac's book."

"Seems like you both make quite the cute couple, excellent heroes too. Well, that's not gonna last for long" Isaac grinned, causing Henry and I spin around in unison.
Before either of us could reply, Isaac hit Henry right in the face with his book and he fell to the floor, clearly now knocked out.
"Henry!" I shouted at him. Then I turned to Isaac. "What the hell did you do?" I knelt down and stared at the blood now running from his nose.
"Hey, beautiful" I turned to head towards the author.
"Don't you dare. Call me. Beaut-"
And then I found his book in contact with my face. And I blacked out.

***

I felt someone kicking my leg. "Brooke!"
I then immediately woke up, realising I was no longer in Storybrooke.
I looked to my left to see Henry with his hands tied above his head. I then looked up to see I was in the exact same position.
"What the-?"
"Isaac! He's tied us up!"
"Yeah, no shit!" I almost yelled at him in panic.
"Well, well, well. You two look so much better like this" Isaac smiled at us, emerging from behind Henry.
"Untie us, now!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Henry. It's just about to get exciting."
"What do you mean?"

A deafening roar was heard just as Isaac was about to reply. I watched his expression turn into another evil grin that made me want to kill him even more than I did already.
"Ah! The Ogre! Right on time!"
Henry and I exchanged a panicked look. Henry then shook his head. "No. No. Brooke we're not going to die like this"
"Oh but I'm afraid you will" Isaac chirped.
"Will you shut up?" I scowled at him.

Isaac then ran off and Henry and I both our direction to see The Ogre glaring at us like we were about to be his lunch - which we probably were.
I felt tears welling up but wouldn't let them fall. Not in front of Henry - not in front of The Ogre.

I watched Henry try to push himself closer against the wood as The Ogre made his way towards him. He squeezed his eyes shut.
"No!" I called out.
The Ogre's attention was immediately turned to me. "I swear to God if you touch him!"
"Brooke, no!"
"Henry shut up!" I shouted, immediately feeling guilty. "He's all I have, okay? Both my parents are dead thanks to this fucked up fairytale business; Peter Pan was meant to be good! What the hell happened there? I have no one. No one apart from him. If you're gonna kill anyone, kill me! He has so much to live for, people to live for. So please. Kill me"
The Ogre looked honoured. He stomped towards me and lifted his fist.

I knew what was coming. I leaned back and closed my eyes, waiting for him to kill me.
I could hear chains rattling and Henry yelling, his voice occasionally breaking as he was probably starting to cry.

He'll thank me one day.