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INDIANA JONES
lxxi. WAKE UP
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PRESENT
UNDERWORLD
SOME PEOPLE MAINTAIN AN addiction toward drugs, smoking, or alcohol. Others are obsessed with cleaning or the mere idea of constantly being or doing everything perfect. The dictionary definition of "addiction" was a noun, its meaning being the fact or condition of being dependent on a particular substance, thing, or activity. But what did it mean to be addicted to something? What did it mean to be infatuated with love and adoration for doing or maintaining something? Indiana Jones didn't know the answer to that until now.
It's a bit like being a millennial in the modern age, living his or her life without worrying about curses or evil fairytale characters. Every teenager in this day and age who didn't come straight out of a storybook shares the common factor of loving to binge. If you weren't one of those people, changes were that you knew someone who was. To binge, specifically--in this case--to binge-watch was a common trait that most people of this era share.
Indiana never understood people that were like that, people who purposely chose to lock themselves up all day long to finish watching a show about people and things that weren't really... real, things that were mere fiction. Indiana never understood people, such as Snow White, who used to watch Animal Planet all day everyday throughout the first curse that tackled Storybrooke, Maine. Sure, it was a real channel that showed real things in the real world, but wouldn't it make sense to actually go out and see these things for yourself?
It wasn't until the God of the Underworld gave Indiana a newfound spark of happiness when she finally understood "those kinds of people." For days at a time--no, weeks at a time, Indiana Jones locked herself up in her home and simply watched the lives of her friends. Some called it stalking, but she preferred to call it the fairytale version of Netflix or Hulu.
Despite the fact that Indiana's heart had stopped beating roughly 2-3 years ago, she felt as though she had never left, thanks to this nifty creation. Sometimes she would leave to go grocery shopping, but otherwise, she was holed up in that hidden room, staring into the cauldron for hours at a time. When there wasn't some curse going on, things were a bit boring, but that didn't stop Indiana. She didn't know it at the time, but she was going to lose her mind if she kept going like this.
A knock on the door brought Indiana out of her little faze for the first time in days. She laid there, debating on whether or not she wanted to get up and say hello to the world. She liked her little sanctuary. Things were peaceful. Indiana didn't have to worry about drinking the wrong kind of water or being ditched by her best friend to get laid. Things were the way Indiana liked it for once. Therefore, she left whoever it was waiting at the front door. At the time, she wasn't even watching anything. She was just... laying there. Indiana Jones didn't even know what she was becoming, which was a couch potato.
"Indie...? You home?" a voice called out. James. Indiana knew that voice anywhere, most likely because he never shut his mouth most of the time. Listening to his footsteps in her home, she didn't even bother to wonder how he got inside. Knowing James, he either had a key made or busted the door down. A couple of minutes passed before James stepped into the supposedly hidden room within Indiana's house. "Oh, Indiana, what the hell?"
"Go away," groaned the brunette.
"Is this where you've been all this time? People were beginning to think you lost your soul to the river!" James continued. "Though I'm beginning to think this is far worse... What the hell have you done to yourself?"
The girl rolled her eyes. "I could ask you that, Mister I-Have-More-STDs-Than-I-Have-Fingers," Indiana declared as she sat up from where she was laying. "How are you and Cruella De Vomit?"
"Seriously?" he questioned, placing his hands on his hips. "How old are you?"
"Older than you," Indiana fired back, "and your mommy-kink. By the way, how long has that been a thing? You could've told me, you know."
"I do not have a mommy-kink!" James exclaimed. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Cruella and Hades told me about this whole "watching the living" thing you've got going on here. I didn't think she was serious. I didn't think you would actually be into this! When was the last time you showered?"
"When was the last time you weren't annoying?" Indiana mumbled while sitting up on the floor, her legs crossing over one another as she looked up at the man.
James paused, thinking to himself. What was he going to do with this... this child? He was the damned Sheriff of the Underworld, not a babysitter! James didn't have to deal with this, so why was he so keen on making sure that Indiana was alive and well? He wasn't sure. Instead, he released another sigh and offered a hand.
"Come on," he ordered gently. Indiana made a face, reluctantly taking his hand and slowly standing up. "Let's go."
"Where are we going?" wondered the childish girl whilst stretching her limbs and moving ahead of James toward the exit of the not-so-hidden room.
"To cut your hair."
Indiana stopped in her tracks. "I beg your pardon?" she demanded, turning to face the man. "You mean to tell me that you broke into my house, criticized how I spend my time, and forced me to get up--"
"To be fair, you were laying on the ground," he mentioned.
"Just so that you could take me to get my hair cut?" Indiana continued. "If I wanted a new look, I'd go myself. I'm not a baby, James."
"Yeah, I find that hard to believe," he muttered before raising his voice at a normal level. "Look, Indie, I'd be an idiot if I didn't notice how much you cling onto your old life."
"You're an idiot either way," she fired back while folding her arms over her chest. "Just what are you trying to imply?"
James was quiet for a few seconds. There was no getting out of this one without a good smack to the face. "It's some kind of coping mechanism of yours... to cling onto your old life for security," James continued. Indiana remained silent, allowing him to continue to speak. "You've been down here for almost 3 years! If you're not going to move on, at least try to accept your current fate!"
James thought he was getting good at reading Indiana Jones, but when she stared at him with a blank expression, he realized something. Indiana was an incredibly difficult riddle that only one person could solve—and that person was well and alive in the land of the living.
"Okay," was all Indiana said.
"Hey, don't argue with me! You know very well that—wait..." James trailed off. "Did you say... okay...?"
"Mhm," Indiana hummed. "Okay."
"Oh," James said. He scratched the back of his head, thinking. "I... didn't think I'd get this far. To be honest, I came up with that entire idea just a few seconds ago." Indiana just rolled her eyes as James quickly regained his composure. "Now, as I was saying, the first step to moving on and accepting your new fate is by getting a new look, which means you're getting a haircut."
Indiana stuck out her lower lip. "But I like my hair," she argued weakly as he turned her around to walk out of the room entirely.
"Hey, as a wise man once said, aka me," James began. "Just because you're dead doesn't mean you have to have dead ends."
➖➖➖
After an hour of dark, brown hair falling onto the hardwood floor and the sound of scissors slicing the air was heard, Indiana Jones' hair had been cut. It felt as though a whole chunk of weight had been taken away from her head, considering her hair had gone from being at the end of her spine to her shoulders. Though she couldn't actually see it yet, she already knew she liked it a lot. Part of her couldn't believe that she actually allowed James to cut her hair rather than an actual professional. Indiana hardly trusted him with darts, never mind scissors next to her face.
Throughout the entire experience, Indiana had merely been sitting there, blabbering to James about random things going on in not her life, but in the mysterious land of Storybrooke. She talked about Henry's little crush and how she hadn't seen Ruby around lately. Though he found it a bit stalkerish, James allowed her to ramble. It was strangely comforting.
"I miss them all so much," Indiana breathlessly declared. "I really hope what Hades said to me turns out to be true." James furrowed his eyebrows together, puzzled. He didn't recall Hades dropping by the Jones household recently. "I don't think I ever told you about that. When I first showed up here, he made a bet with me. He had this weird thought that if my friends somehow come down here, he'd bring my soul back to life. I didn't believe him at first, but I've been feeling hopeful. I mean, I haven't really been paying attention to what's been happening lately. Last I remembered was that Emma was the Dark One or something. Still, maybe there's a way that—"
"I'm sorry, but you don't actually believe him, do you?" James interrupted. When Indiana was silent, he laughed in a bittersweet manner. "Oh, Indie, Indie, Indie. That ass, Hades says the same thing to everyone around here."
Indiana slowly turned to face him. "So what he said to me..." she trailed off.
"Hades says to everyone else! He said it to me! He said it to all of us down here!" James exclaimed. "I can't believe you of all people actually fell for it!"
The girl shook her head. "No... you're lying," she denied. "Why would he say it if he didn't mean it? He said I was his favorite... character!"
"That's his game, Indiana!" James continued to shout loudly. "He builds up your hopes and dreams just to shatter them!"
Indiana just kept shaking her head. "No, no, stop! You're lying!" Indiana argued.
He sighed, running a hand through his incredibly short hair. "I don't know what the Underworld has done to you, but you need to wake up," James snapped. "This is your reality now. Get over it. Wake up, Indiana Jones, wake up."
"I'm the same person I was before I ended up here," Indiana declared. "I may be a little beaten down, but I've always been that way. I'm just as good as I was before." She let out an angry exhale. "You know what? Just get out." James made a surprised facial expression. "I'm serious! Get out and don't show your face around me ever again."
He scoffed. "Or what?" he challenged.
Glaring at him, all Indiana said before he left was, "Or I'll be your worst nightmare."
➖➖➖
Indiana couldn't believe how stupid she'd been. She knew Hades would mess with her head, yet she still fell for his games. How was it that Indiana could see through Peter Pan's games, but not the Devil's? Surely, they were practically the same kind of demon. Why had one of them gotten to her and not the other?
Had she really changed since she got to the Underworld? She preferred to think that she was the same as before. Sure, she had been broken apart by this hellish realm, but hadn't everyone around these parts? Perhaps Indiana was exploring parts of her that she didn't know existed.
A knocking sound was unexpectedly heard at her front door. It was loud and clear, most likely because Indiana was lounging around in the living area for the first time in a while. A forced sigh was heard from her as she began to get up, her whip attached to her hip already.
"How many times do I have to threaten you before you realize—?" Indiana started, swinging open the door and seeing who was on the other side. "Oh... my God..."
Indiana had been left speechless, for standing on the other side of that door was a very alive person from Storybrooke she certainly was not expecting.