"Hello?!"
Hearing the yelling from the storage unit in one of the rooms in the lower deck she was currently searching, Buffy grins before making her way toward the unit. Bending down the blonde grabs onto the wood and rips it from the floor revealing the storage unit underneath.
Yet, that wasn't all she found, sure enough, Buffy's eyes landed on the man who had been calling out for help, a man with his hands bound by rope.
"Hey." She waves awkwardly as she pulls him out of the storage unit before helping him over to a seat.
Ripping the binds from his arms without much effort Buffy smiles kindly over at the ginger man in front of her "I'm Buffy, I'll be your rescuer today."
"Archie." The therapist breaths as he stares at the young blonde in shock as she rips the binds from him easily "You...you're..."
"Archie..." Buffy breaths purposely ignoring the knowing look forming on his face, clearly, everyone in this town had known about her.
She really had been the last person to find out.
"Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
"I suppose that is what the town believes." He breaths before allowing the blonde to help him up to his feet. Throwing his arm over her shoulder Buffy takes most of his weight as she brings him back up to the top deck before gesturing to the exit "Go, now."
"Wait..." He exclaims in confusion as he spots her already moving back towards the lower deck "You're not coming with me?"
Quickly shaking her head Buffy sighs as she glances around the Jolly Roger, which to be honest, just made her dream the other night make a hell of a lot more sense. The fact that Hook and his ship were here meant that he had to have come through a portal.
Which meant...she had hope of getting home.
"Can't. I have a pirate to interrogate, just go. I'll be good. Well, not good, but good in the sense that he's tied up, so he's probably not gonna be good if he doesn't talk." She babbles in her signature Buffy babble before practically shoving Archie off the ship waving her fingers slightly "Bye!"
**
THE DEMONIC WORLD: SAN FRANSISCO
TWO YEARS AGO
With her hands bound behind her back and a new bruise blossoming on her forehead, Buffy sighs in annoyance as she sits on the uncomfortable chair she is strapped to. Merely being forced to listen to the blue-skinned demon bragging on the phone to his boss.
"Told you I would get her and you called me an idiot, but this idiot caught the Slayer, not the Korg brothers or Wolfram and Harts's other little dummies. So suck it! And pay up."
At the demon's words, Buffy groans in annoyance.
She should have guessed Wolfram & Hart were involved in this. She had killed Angel, interrupting their big plans of evil running the world, plus she had released a ton of Slayers into the world.
AKA...just getting in the way of their plans for world domination even further.
It made sense that they were probably funding all of Ward's missions, though it just meant her life just got a lot more complicated.
"So, Ward's working in cahoots with Wolfram & Hart huh?" She pipes up drawing the demon's attention and making his eyes widen in panic, as he realizes that he had been basically been feeding her information while he had been on the phone bragging.
"I take it they're still pissed about the Angel thing huh? That explains a lot actually. How Ward has got so many connections in the demon world. Let me guess he made a deal with Lawyers comma evil for cash and probably influence in the Government. The question is who went to who first? I mean was Ward always a woman-hating jerk and Evil incorporated just gave him purpose or did he go to them after he already set his crazy eyes on me? Hmm..."
As she mumbles out her newfound knowledge to herself, trying to figure out what was most likely, the blonde let out a sudden sharp hiss as the demon backhands her across the face.
As her face swings to the side, Buffy winces slightly at the new searing pain in her jaw before turning her gaze back to the demon and smirking up at him playfully.
"Oh, I'm sorry, was I not supposed to know that?"
**
OUR WORLD: STORYBROOKE, MAINE
PRESENT-DAY
Jumping up to sit on the edge of the ship, Buffy grins as she leans forward, resting her chin playfully on the palm of her hand. Smirking over at the still-tied-up pirate currently sitting opposite her on the floor.
As he struggles against the binds she had wrapped around him, Buffy giggles softly before bringing the bottle of rum she had stolen out of his office to her lips "Oh, I'm sorry, did I foil your evil plan?" She taunts as she quirks her eyebrows at him playfully.
Rolling his eyes, Hook sighs deeply as he pulls against the ropes, yet again he finds himself unable to break free of his binds "Well you're certainly not helping Luv."
"Not the helping kind." Buffy snarks before jumping down from her seat and moving to sit down in front of him, crossing her legs as she does "So...Hook, how you been? What have you been up to? Bit of shopping? Any vacations? Oh, I know, how was your trip to Storybrooke? Tell me all about, specifically...how in the hell you got here?!"
Hook couldn't help but snort in amusement at her obvious desire to escape Storybrooke "I take it your agreement with the heroes did not turn out as desired."
"Wow, you can state the obvious. Very impressive." Buffy snarks before moving to untie his hand shocking him slightly.
Ignoring his shocked gaze Buffy merely hands him the bottle of rum allowing him to take a drink before he hands the bottle back to her.
Taking one more gulp which given she had been mixing her spirits all day was probably not the best idea, Buffy sighs softly before allowing her eyes to meet the pirate's piercing blue eyes.
A rare vulnerability filled her green orbs "I need to know...how did you get here?"
Hook paused every so slightly as he watched the blonde curiously, the last time he had seen this much emotion in her eyes, it was right before Cora had buried her alive.
From what he had noticed, Buffy was normally better at hiding behind an emotionless façade.
"The bean the giant had." He reveals as he takes the bottle of rum back from her, pausing ever so slightly as his hand brushes with hers, finding himself unable to pull away for a split second as electricity went through him. Just touching her sent strange unfamiliar senses through his body.
"The lake restored its power."
Inhaling tightly, Buffy brings her knees to her chest, thinking back to the dead powerless bean that had once rested around Anton's neck.
She should have taken that, but she hadn't had the heart to do it.
It was Anton's reminder of what he had lost. She could understand the need to hold onto it.
"Long shot in the dark..." She whispers softly just as Hook holds out the bottle back towards her, the two falling into an easy exchange system when it came to booze "Do you have another?"
"Why?"
Buffy couldn't help but snort at his question "They lied to me. There is nothing here that can get me home. So before I start heading to every corner of this earth I thought I would give it a shot."
"Sorry to say Luv, there was only one bean."
"Yeah...I figured." Buffy whispers as she brings the bottle to her lips, downing a large gulp of the harsh liquid before glaring up at the sky.
As Buffy stares up into the sky silent, the pirate silently examines her, something had obviously changed since he had last seen her. While Cora had filled him on her true parentage during their trip to Storybrooke it was obvious now that Buffy herself finally knew the truth.
And clearly, it wasn't happy news for her.
Spotting her abruptly stand from her place, the pirate sighs deeply unsure of why he was about to do what he was planning...but he couldn't stop himself.
"Slayer..." He breaths drawing her attention "I don't say this often...but I am sorry."
Frowning in confusion, Buffy places the bottle of rum down before turning to the pirate who was slowly pulling himself to his feet.
"Huh?"
At her confused statement, Hook moves to stand in front of her and exhales uncomfortably as he attempts to force himself to speak, for some reason when he was around her he felt like a nervous schoolboy again.
"I shouldn't have left you buried in the earth like that."
Clenching her jaw at the mere mention of what had happened Buffy takes a threatening step toward the pirate "Don't" She hisses getting into his face, more than willing to knock out his teeth.
Chuckling softly the pirate quickly raises his hand and hook in surrender before she started breaking pieces of him like he could see she wanted to "You and I are a lot alike Luv...fueled by vengeance."
"You don't know anything about me." Buffy snaps before shoving him away from her, he was getting too close to her for her liking.
As he stumbles a few steps back, Buffy scoffs before moving to grab her things off the floor. Yet despite her obvious desire to no longer continue their conversation Hook was now more determined than ever.
He had hit a nerve within her, that was obvious.
"See I think I do..." He argues only to have Buffy spin back around to face him with a strong glare on her face automatically causing him to shut up.
"You touch the girl again and I will rip out your intestines and wear them as a scarf." She hisses before grabbing the half-full bottle of rum back off the floor as she begins making her way to the exit of the ship. Intent on getting the hell away from the pirate as soon as possible "Thanks for the rum "
"Luv you could always stay..."
At the obvious sexual innuendo, Buffy couldn't help but groan in disgust as she throws her bag over her shoulder "Ewww...never gonna happen. But given I did tie you up on a beanstalk I'll give you some friendly advice...you should leave. Before the Lizard wizard comes for you for taking his girl"
"You can't stop me from getting vengeance."
Sighing softly, Buffy merely smiles weakly "I won't." She admits shocking him slightly.
He had expected her to go full hero on him, yammering on about good and evil yet she was doing the exact opposite.
"Get your vengeance I don't care... just don't hurt anyone innocent in the process. You do that, and that hand won't be the only missing appendage on your body."
**
With Pongo resting at his feet, Henry continues to draw in his notebook, outlining his plans for a bigger house for the whole family.
"Plotting your escape from Shawshank, kid?" Emma teases as she leans over his shoulder taking a peek at his drawing.
"No, they're blueprints." Henry explains as he tilts the book allowing her to get a closer look "I had some ideas about what to do if Mary Margaret and David move out. Look."
Taking the blueprints from his hands Emma couldn't help but smile softly as she spots the complete redesign of Mary Margaret's room, which was now labeled Aunt Buffy's room and training room.
"You want to build Buffy a training room?"
Quickly nodding his head, Henry grins up at his mother "Yeah, she's a superhero. She needs a headquarters. So, we might also need to convince the people downstairs to move out. Buffy will need an armory. The book said she Slayers use a lot of weapons and need a good training space...and they have big appetites, we will need a bigger fridge for when she moves in."
Emma's eyes widen at Henry's words, he really was so hopeful and innocent.
He seemed to think that Buffy would come around and they would all live happily after ever together under one roof.
Crouching down beside her son, Emma sighs deeply.
The situation with Buffy was extremely complicated and to be honest, it would likely not be changing anytime soon.
"Henry...I know you're excited about the idea of Aunt Buffy moving in here...but I don't think that's going to be an option. She is not happy with me, David, and Mary Margaret right now."
Henry frowns in confusion, as he glances up at his mother, his young innocent brain not being able to comprehend just how serious the situation in their family was right now. However, before he could question anything a frantic knock at the front door draws Emma's attention.
At the knock, Pongo whimpers from Henry's feet.
Frowning, Emma ruffles the dog's ears softly before standing and heading over to the door.
Yanking open the door, Emma's entire body froze as there standing in her doorway was a man who was supposed to be very dead "Archie."
"Hi." Archie breaths as he waves awkwardly at the blonde who was still staring at him in complete shock.
"What happened?"
"It was Cora. She kidnapped me..." He explains before smiling at her softly "Your sister found me. She saved me..."
**
THE DEMONIC WORLD: SAN FRANSISCO
TWO YEARS AGO
"Ow!"
Quickly pulling the disinfectant away from Buffy's shoulder Chris winces slightly "I'm sorry, but it's either I clean it or you lose your arm."
"It's not that bad."
"You have a hole in your shoulder." He argues poking the open wound slightly from where she had been stabbed, the hole was big enough for him to fit at least two of his fingers through.
Spotting the serious are you kidding me look on his face, Buffy groans in annoyance before reluctantly waving for him to continue cleaning the wound before he stitched it together.
Smirking in success the human finishes cleaning the wound before grabbing the needle and thread from the table.
Leaning down he places a soft kiss on her neck causing her to let out a small blissful moan, now completely distracted from the needle being threaded through her skin.
Grinning against her neck, he finishes stitching up the wound before placing the bandage over the new stitches.
With her injuries taken care of, Chris turns his full attention back to the Slayer's neck causing Buffy to sigh in pleasure.
"We are supposed to go through what I found..." Buffy whispers breathlessly as she leans in to him, struggling to focus on what she was supposed to be doing due to the sensations running through her body "Business first..."
"How about pleasure first..." He teases as he places a finger on her chin turning her face towards him so he could place a passionate kiss on her lips, leaving her completely breathless.
Struggling to pull away from him, Buffy places her hands on Chris's broad shoulders forcing his very addictive kisses away from her, it was like he had made it his mission to keep her distracted from her wor,k and what sucked...it was working, he was just so tempting.
Stopping the look of hunger in his eyes Buffy couldn't help but snort in amusement "Oh my God..." She breaths in realization "Me killing demons is a turn-on for you."
"Maybe a little." He admits before shocking Buffy by standing and hauling her off the couch, throwing her body over his shoulder as he begins leading her to the bedroom.
Giggling loudly, Buffy moves to argue only to pause as she spots the view of Chris's very nice butt "Can't complain about the view."
**
OUR WORLD: STORYBROOKE, MAINE
PRESENT-DAY
Carrying newly cut firewood up to the cabin she had found completely deserted in the middle of the woods, near the edge of town which she had claimed as her own. Buffy makes her way up the steps of the small one-story cabin, using her hip to nudge open the door.
Walking into the small studio-size cabin, with a rusty old bed in the corner and a moldy couch in the center of the room, Buffy heads straight over to the fireplace.
Throwing a few logs inside causing a small spark to form, heat finally begins to fill the cold cabin.
As she pushes around the burning logs with the fire poker, Buffy moves to grab her Chinese food, using her chopsticks to shovel noodles into her mouth as she soaks in the heat.
Hearing a small knock at the door, Buffy's eyes widen in panic and she instantly rolls across the floor moving over to the scythe, kicking it up into her hands.
"It's me."
Groaning at the sound of Emma's voice piping through the door, Buffy reluctantly drops the scythe before heading over to the front door. Yanking open the door, Buffy doesn't even spare Emma a glance as she heads straight back into the cabin, moving into the run-down kitchen and grabbing one of the bottles of rum she had stolen from Hook's ship.
As Buffy moves to sit back down on the floor by the fireplace, Emma allows her eyes to scan over the cabin that Buffy had claimed as her own. The place was a mess, while yes, the place was run down with no electricity but that wasn't what had drawn Emma's attention.
It was the maps and spellbooks spread out all over the floor as well as multiple empty bottles of liquor.
Instantly dread filled the elder sister as she stared at the maps, Buffy had circled several cities across the globe, and given she could spot the train schedule resting on the coffee table and the newly printed fake birth certificate, it wasn't hard to figure out what Buffy was planning.
This was a very obvious, getting ready to go on a run to-do list.
"Are you still planning on leaving?"
Shrugging as she opens up a mandarin dictionary she had found in the library earlier during her steal-athon, Buffy merely brings the bottle of rum to her lips "Once I know where I'm going, probably yeah..." She mumbles without care as she flips through the pages of her dictionary "Rumour has it, there is a Shaman in Hong Kong, real deal?...No idea but worth a shot."
Feeling Emma's eyes still glued to her Buffy groans loudly before placing the book down on the floor and finally turning to look at her elder sister with an unamused glare on her face. Clearly, her conversation with David had not had the desired effect given this family still wouldn't leave her alone.
"Why are you here Emma?"
Moving to sit down on the couch opposite the blonde who was wearing what Emma could only assume was a stolen poncho, the elder blonde rubs her hands together nervously "Archie, he said you saved him." She breaths before gulping nervously under her sister's gaze.
In her entire life she never would have imagined her baby sister being so terrifying especially when she was so little "Buffy, look I know you want space, but um...I just wanted to say thank you, for helping him."
"All in a day's work." Buffy mutters carelessly as she grabs her food and chopsticks, beginning to dig back into her meal, which given she had originally planned on having to kill her dinner, stolen Chinese food was so much better.
As Buffy promptly goes back to ignoring her, Emma sighs before reaching into her pocket pulling out the charm bracelet, and tossing it over to Buffy who quickly catches the object flying at her.
Eyeing the charm bracelet carefully Buffy quirks a curious brow in Emma's direction "Not that I don't love free jewelry but huh?"
Chuckling weakly Emma quickly nods as Buffy offers her the bottle of rum, taking the bottle the elder blonde brings it to her lips, suddenly feeling the need for some liquid courage.
"That was always supposed to be yours." Emma breaths as she watches Buffy play with the bracelet skeptically "I made it for you when I was two. I gave it to you the day you were born and when I lost you, it was all I have left to remember you. So no matter what you decide, I want you to have it."
While giving her the bracelet was sweat, in theory, Buffy couldn't help but be a little stand-offish. To be honest, it felt like a guilt trip, like Emma was trying to force a conversation between them to try and keep her from leaving.
Especially given that all day she had spent her time being followed by everyone in town, all of them feeding back information to the Charming family.
This whole bracelet thing given the current situation felt more like an ulterior motive than anything else "What do you want for me, Emma?"
"What I want...is to get to know my sister before she takes off again!"
Buffy couldn't help but scoff, she knew it.
This bracelet wasn't just a simple thing, it was Emma and that family trying to force her to open up them. She hadn't even had a full day to think, and this family wouldn't give her any damn space.
It was suffocating.
Jumping up to her feet Buffy turns on Emma glaring down at her supposed sister "You are not my sister!" She exclaims "Don't you get that?! You lied to my face repeatedly, held key information about my life from me, and now what? You want to pretend that didn't happen? If you actually wanted to be a sister to me, you would think about what I want. How I'm feeling about all this? I even told your dad I wanted space yet here you are! Suffocating me!"
"Buffy..." Emma tries as she stands from her seat only to have Buffy hold up her hand silencing the elder blonde.
"I had a sister." Buffy hisses, her nails digging into the palms of her hands as she glares furiously at Emma, this family had just kept pushing even after she had repeatedly said and shown she needed space from them.
"I loved her and she died. And just because I find out that she wasn't my sister by blood, that doesn't change anything for me! She was my sister, my mom was my mom. My family..."
"I'm not trying to replace Dawn." Emma argues realizing that maybe coming here had been a mistake. She hadn't meant for this to turn into an argument but this was the first time the two of them had been together since the news came out, and realizing that Buffy still wanted to leave...she hadn't been able to stop herself.
"I just...I lose you once Buffy." She breaths, water filling her eyes as she looks down at her baby sister "I spent my entire life looking for you and I want a chance to try. I am your big sister, it was my job to protect you and I didn't do that. I want to do it know...just, let me try..."
Taking in a shaky breath, Buffy runs shaky hands through her hair, she hated this. While she understood Emma's reasoning given she herself had been a big sister this wasn't the way to do things. If anything, there was even more space between them than there had been before.
"I thought you of all people would get it." Buffy whispers softly causing Emma to freeze in realization. She had been so obsessed with the idea of not losing Buffy that she had completely forgotten how she herself struggled with the reveal of their parentage.
Just like Buffy, Mary Margaret and David had kept pushing even when she asked them not to.
Buffy had needed her big sister to protect her and Emma hadn't even realized.
With Emma now shocked to silence, Buffy shakes her head in disbelief "I needed time and space..." She breathes, her voice cracking softly as she speaks "But you keep pushing and pushing. It's not even been 24 hours and I've been approached by you and David."
"Okay..." Emma breathes out in a panic as she throws her sister a desperate glance "You want space fine, take as long as you need. I'll keep Mary Margaret and David at bay but just...please don't go, don't leave."
"You can't ask me to do that. This isn't just about me, it never was. It's about those girls that I protect. They come first...before anything."
With that, the two sisters stand in silence, awkward tension filling the air between them before suddenly, a shiver ran up Buffy's spine.
In the distance, she could hear the echo of a gunshot making her tense up.
"Buffy, what is it?"
Closing her eyes, Buffy inhales tightly trying to focus on nothing else but the sounds surrounding the area, shutting her mind off to everything else right now.
"Yelling..." She whispers at Emma before her eyes slam open and she quickly on instinct rushes to grab the scythe "There was a gunshot. Someone's been shot."
As Buffy begins rushing towards the front door, Emma quickly grabs her gun rushing after her sister "Where?!" She asks as she and Buffy instantly move to her newly repaired yellow bug causing Buffy's eyes to widen at the sight of the car she had previously stolen and trashed.
"Sorry I crashed your car."
"Yeah, you drive like a spaz." Emma tells her as the two climb into the car taking off in the direction of the gunshot.
**
Speeding down the road leading to the town line, Buffy and Emma leap out of the yellow bug as they pull to a stop.
Standing by the edge of the town, was Hook with a gun in his hand aimed directly at Belle and Rumpelstiltskin, having just shot the brunette woman causing her to fall into the Dark One's arms.
"Okay, you're losing a leg now!" Buffy exclaims as she makes her way over to Hook and slams her foot into his back causing him to howl in pain just as Emma rushes over with her gun raised and handcuffs ready.
"Is she okay?!" Buffy asks as she steps towards where Gold was healing the woman he loved who had fallen over the town line when she had been shot.
"In the literal sense." Gold hisses as he stands pulling away from the now panicking Belle whose memories had been wiped the second she had fallen over the town line.
Groaning Buffy moves to stand beside Emma who was handcuffing Hook's wrists behind his back, however, as she moves over, Buffy froze as she felt her spidey sense going crazy.
Spinning around Buffy's eyes widen as she spots an out-of-control speeding car heading right in their direction. Without hesitation, Buffy shoves Emma out of the way to safety before the car could hit her.
However, both Buffy and Hook were not as lucky.
First, the car slammed into Buffy causing the blonde to roll over the hood of the car going flying through the air, landing just outside of the town line, before it slammed into Hook sending him crashing into a ditch.
"Buffy!" Emma screams as she pulls herself back to her feet just as the car crashes into a tree, not that Emma noticed. Her eyes were glued to Buffy who was laid on her side just outside of Storybrooke, groaning in pain. Wincing slightly as she clutches her very dislocated arm to her chest, Buffy struggles to her feet before turning to face the very worried Emma "I'm okay..." She starts only for a sudden wave of agony to run through her body causing a loud scream to erupt from her body.
It felt like every bone in her body was on fire, being electrocuted on repeat. Shaking violently Buffy lets out another scream as her lungs begin to fill with blood causing heavy amounts of crimson liquid to begin spilling from her lips.
"Emma?" Buffy gasps coughing up more blood as she collapses to her knees her eyes widening in horror as she looks down at her hand.
It was like the skin on her hands was starting to melt away, leaving nothing more than bone.
Her hand looked like a rotting corpse's limb.
"What the..." She mumbles weakly before collapsing completely to the concrete, it was like all the energy was leaving her body. If anything, she felt like she was dead like she was nothing more than a rotting-away corpse.
Emma's eyes widen in utter horror as she stares at the skin seemingly pealing away from Buffy's face. Running over the elder blonde crouches down in front of her weakening sister who was fading quickly.
"Buffy?!"
"Get her back over the line." Gold pipes up suddenly causing Emma to swing her head around staring at the Dark One in shock who merely sighed in annoyance, they didn't have time to argue "She will die you if you don't!"
Without hesitation, Emma grits her teeth and begins to drag Buffy's now unconscious form back towards the Storybrooke line. She couldn't help but let out a harsh sob as she looks down at her sister, she almost looked like a rotting corpse right now. Half of the skin on her face had peeled away making her look like a damn zombie.
With one final yank, Emma collapses back as she yanks Buffy over the town line back into Storybrooke.
Groaning as she hits the concrete, Emma ignores the pain erupting from her arm and quickly crawls over to her half-dead sister.
Pulling Buffy's head into her lap, Emma couldn't help but sigh in relief as she spots Buffy's face slowly returning to normal, Buffy finally looked like herself again and less like a rotting dead body.
"What the hell just happened!"