The Magic Within ↠ Once Upon A Time

[Chapter 82] The Last Her Heart Beats

What do you get when you mix a procrastinator and a writer together? You get a girl who never keeps to a schedule!!! Seriously though, sorry for the delay, but when you read this chapter, you might start to think that I was trying to hold it off on purpose....

Anyways, hope you enjoy...

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If I thought that I would be used to seeing the Forbidden Jungle and Storybrooke in one place, I'm wrong. Everything looks like a puzzle I've solved before, but it's put on reverse. To top it off, I don't even know where I'm supposed to go. For all I know, Sabor gave me the warning but she has my entire family trapped in some dark cave. She probably enjoys seeing me running—looking around like a lost kid in the market—while she's killing off my family one member at a time.

No. I can't think this. This wouldn't be possible... I hope.

As much as I don't want to think of the worst, it's the first thing that comes to mind. I could lose Henry, and I just saw him over an hour ago. He was so caring even when he realizes the real me. He still wanted to do everything to make sure that I would be okay, to make everything right. Yet, I just let him go off in the forest/jungle even when it wasn't safe. Now I might lose him. Sabor will kill him.

And Papa... We aren't on good terms. That's my fault. But, after everything I've done, the least I want to do is keep him safe from Sabor. I dragged him into this mess. Papa wouldn't be here because of me. Now Sabor wants to kill him to spite me. Clayton wants to kill him to get revenge on me. I don't want to lose Papa.

I've already lost Mama. I can't lose them too.

They can't die. But this is all my fault.

Everything is my fault. Every mistake I've made. Everything I've tried to fix. It's all coming back to bite me in the ass.

Now my family is going to take the fall for it.

Just like Mama.

I'm killing them all.

At such a dark thought, my body feels like it's closing in on itself. All these dark ideas circle around me like a carousel that I start to get dizzy. I want to throw up, but I want to start crying again at the same time. A whine is tipping out of my throat. Then I get breathless. As my head spins, I feel like passing out. My vision spins and spots, but I force myself up.

I can't stop. I won't stop, not at a time like this.

Even when my body—my mind—is telling me that I'm about to break, I remind myself that now isn't the time to let a panic attack consume me whole. My life isn't the one in peril even if anxiety is telling me otherwise.

But thinking about every possibility of anyone's death or the reminder of Mama's, I lose sight of the real world around me. Everything turns dark, and though just a second, it's enough for me to lose my balance. I nearly faint. Somehow, I manage to tilt my body enough to hit a tree on my journey. This is the only second I spare myself to get my bearings.

My mind still circles, but at least I can pant air into my lungs for a moment.

But that second was only for a second, even when it feels like an entire hour has passed.

Once the shapes and lights and colors start registering again, I pick up the pace. As I run, I remind myself of my mission. I remember Sabor's threat as if she told me right this second. I remember how she said she'd return every favor I've done to her, every wrong I've committed to her. She's a monster with an unquenching bloodlust for revenge. She and Clayton are the same. They're ruthless. They only care about themselves. At most, they care enough about each other to work together, but that doesn't beautify their dark hearts. They're monsters after all, and they'll kill everything that stands in their way. They snuff every light that shines in this world.