⚠️TRIGGER WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS THEMES OF BLOOD AND DESCRIPTIONS OF DEATH!⚠️
"So, I got a message from your dad today...turns out he's going to be out longer than expected this time around," Michelle informed her children as they finally, according to Frankie, sat down for dinner.
Dani immediately tensed up at her words as Frankie pouted.
"He texted you that?"
"Aww, really? Why?"
The siblings then narrowed their eyes at each other as they had both asked their questions at the same time.
Michelle sent her daughter a confused look before she decided to answer her son first.
"I'm afraid so, bubs. His boss extended his assignment for a few days longer. He'll be back soon though, don't worry...and he even said he has a surprise for us!!" she informed the boy with a smile.
Frankie's features lit up with excitement. "Really?! A surprise?!"
Dani's blood ran cold as she thought back to the other night.
I caught that weak fool of a man you call father as soon as he left town, Henry's voice echoed in her head before she gasped in shock at the feeling of a hand over hers, and looked up to meet the worried stare of her mother.
"Dani sweetheart, are you alright?" Michelle asked, and Frankie nodded.
"Yeah, sissy! You look like you saw a ghost!" he exclaimed.
Michelle gave the boy a look that caused him to shrug and say, "She did, Momma! And you told me I'm not apposed to lie!"
Michelle then sighed and shook her head as she looked back at her daughter. "Dani?"
"I uh...yeah...I'm okay," Dani stammered while nodding slowly.
Michelle raised an eyebrow.
"Really, Mom, I'm okay. I'm just thinking about what the surprise could be," Dani reassured her mother with a soft smile.
Frankie perked back up at his sister's statement as he said, "I think it's a doggy!! Do you think it's a doggy, Ellie?!"
Finding his excitement to be sweet, Dani smiled and said, "I hope so, bud...I really do."
✧
A knock on her bedroom door caused a wave of hope to swim in Dani's veins before it was replaced with disappointment as she turned to see her mother walk through the door.
"Well, don't get too excited, Dani baby! It's only me," Michelle said with a sarcastic smile as she walked in, and tears immediately formed in Dani's eyes as her mother's words reminded her heavily of her stepfather.
Michelle's playful mood was quickly replaced by concern as she sat down beside her daughter on the bed and asked, "Dani, what's wrong, sweetheart? Talk to me."
The tears seemed to fall as Dani realized that she couldn't tell her mother exactly what was wrong, which caused Michelle to frown even more as she pulled the girl into her arms.
"Oh, sweetheart, please talk to me. Talk to Momma," she murmured while rubbing her daughter's back.
"I just...I just miss David...that's all," Dani told her mother with a sniff.
Michelle pulled away to give her daughter a soft smile and said, "Oh honey, it's okay. This is his first time away in years and with everything that's been going on... It's understandable that you'd miss him. You don't have to hide that from anyone."
Dani looked away as the guilt from lying to her mother had settled over her.
Of course, she had missed David...but she was also scared by what Henry had told her.
What if he hadn't been lying?
What if he had taken David?!
"You know...when he first moved into the picture, you weren't too happy about it...and now look at you. You're missing him!!" Michelle exclaimed with a smile as she rubbed Dani's arm. "I'm so happy you're starting to warm up to him, sweetheart."
Dani gave the woman a sad smile as she said, "Me too, Mom...He's a really good man."
Michelle's smile brightened at her daughter's words as she pulled her into another hug.
"I just want him back home," Dani mumbled quietly into her mother's shoulder as more tears formed in her eyes.
She just wanted him back home.
After helping her daughter feel better, Michelle had decided that she and her children would all watch a movie together to distract them from missing David, and it ended up being just what Dani had needed...for a little while. Once they got to the middle of the movie, her mind had gone straight back to her stepfather, and she couldn't concentrate anymore.
Whether or not Henry actually told her the truth, it was obvious that he had something against David, which only further motivated Dani to get to him as soon as she possibly could. The longer she waited around, the more danger she put not only David in, but her mother and brother as well, and Dani just couldn't let that happen.
She had to stop Henry once and for all.
And she had to do it alone.
After hearing the sound of her parents' door being closed as her mother finally went to sleep, Dani lied in her bed for a few minutes before she slowly got up while trying to make as little noise as she possibly could.
Walking over to her closet, Dani changed out of her pajamas into an all-black ensemble so that it'd be harder for her to be seen. Before she could fully close the door, something in the corner caught her eye, which made her smirk as she realized what it was and grabbed it. After making sure her bed appeared as if someone was actually in it, Dani closed the door to her room and turned around to walk down the stairs.
The small voice of her little brother calling out from behind her caused Dani's body to tense up as she stopped in her tracks.
"Ellie?" Frankie questioned in a tired tone. "Is that you?"
Dani sighed softly before turning around to see her brother standing in the hallway as he rubbed his eyes. After walking over to him, she knelt to his level so that they were facing each other.
"Yeah, it's me, bud...Why are you up? Did you have a nightmare?" she questioned in concern, making sure her voice stayed quiet so that their mother didn't wake up.
Frankie shook his head. "No, I just had to go potty," he said before frowning as he looked the girl over. "Why aren't you in your pajamas, Ellie? Are you leaving?"
Seeing that she wasn't going to get very far with a certain someone awake, Dani sighed again as she picked up her brother, who instantly wrapped his arms around her neck and she walked them back to his bedroom.
"Sissy's going to take a quick little walk, okay? I'll be back before you know it," she reassured him while placing him back in his bed.
Frankie looked up at his sister with eyes full of worry as she settled him in, and he asked, "Are you sure?"
Dani nodded with a small smile. "Yeah. I'll be back in a little bit," she told him.
And her heart swelled as Frankie held out his pinky.
"Promise?"
"Promise," she answered as she hooked her bigger pinky with his smaller one and bent down closer to kiss him on the head. "I love you, monkey."
"I love you too, Ellie...Forever," Frankie said as his eyes began to close.
Dani's smile widened at his words. "And always," she finished and watched as he fell back asleep.
As soon as she was sure he was asleep for good, Dani slowly rose back up to her feet and quietly exited her brother's room, and let out a breath after she'd closed the door.
After making her way downstairs, Dani quickly walked over to the hallway closet and opened the door to reach up and grab the black box on the top shelf. Her heart rate quickened as she opened the box to reveal a handgun and carefully picked it up to place it in the holster on her belt before she put the empty box back in its rightful spot and closed the closet door.
"Well, Dani," she mumbled to herself as she successfully opened the front door without making any noise and stepped outside.
"There's no turning back now," she then said as she tied the red hood in place around her neck and walked over to her car.
Time to kill this bastard once and for all...
✧
So that no one would figure out just exactly where she had gone, Dani parked her car in the parking lot at the back of the Villa, where the delivery entrance to the Bakery resided. Thanks to the internet, she had found Henry's old address and could only guess that was where he currently resided. Luckily, it wasn't that far from the Villa, so all Dani had to do was park her car and walk.
Since "Find my iPhone" existed, she had no other choice but to print out a map to the address and leave her phone in the car. With a sigh, Dani shut the door and headed off in the right direction.
"What the hell?" she asked in confusion as she looked up at the house she'd walked up to.
"Of course, the psycho lives smack dab in the middle of nowhere," she then mumbled to herself as she carefully walked up to the two-story, darkly painted house.
While it was no surprise that Henry's house was painted a dark red color, it was a surprise that he lived in a house so nicely built. Dani shrugged once she thought about it, StoryBrooke was well known for its very nice estates. No thanks to the family of a certain boyfriend of hers.
"Get your head in the game, Dani," the girl muttered as she shook the unnecessary thoughts away and walked around the house to look for a way to get in.
"Bingo," she then said with a smirk after spotting an open window.
It wasn't too far open, but Dani was sure she could squeeze herself through, so after looking around to make sure that she wasn't about to get arrested, the girl took a deep breath and carefully climbed up against the house to crawl through the window.
"You really should've skipped that second slice of pie, Dani," she whispered to herself as she managed to get her upper body into the room.
Placing both hands against each side of the wall, Dani sucked in a breath and slowly pushed herself in...which caused her to land on the floor with a thud.
"Ah hell!" she groaned out as she looked up to see that her hood had been caught on a nail.
Dani let out a small grunt as she yanked it out and winced when her elbow hit the wall. A few seconds passed before she breathed out in relief once she noticed that she hadn't woken the sleeping wolf up. As she slowly got up from the ground, Dani looked around the room to see that she was in his study.
"Hm...well...what do you know? The bastard has good interior designing skills," she muttered while slowly walking around the room.
The sudden sound of wood creaking from upstairs caused Dani's breathing to hitch and her body to tense as she moved her gaze up to the ceiling. Another breath of relief left her mouth as no other sound came before she continued to the door.
"This is probably just an old house, Dani...your house creaks unnecessarily all the time," she mumbled in reassurance as her hand wrapped around the doorknob.
As soon as she opened the door, Dani had to resist the urge to gag as she was immediately hit with a strong metallic smell. Her eyes widened in horror as she quickly realized what the smell was.
Blood.
There was blood somewhere in the house and lots of it.
One person came to mind as she tried to figure out what could've happened, which made her squeeze her eyes shut and silently pray that what she assumed was wrong. Following her nose, Dani slowly opened her eyes and took careful steps towards where the smell came from.
"Please don't be him...Please don't be him," she whispered as she got closer to the source.
Reaching the door where the scent was the strongest, Dani held her breath with her heart pounding furiously against her chest as she slowly opened it.
Tears immediately formed in her eyes as her features fell in horror at what lay in front of her.
"Mr.B! Mr.B!!" a five-year-old Dani exclaimed in excitement with a wide smile that showed off her two missing front teeth as she approached the doorstep with her mother following in step behind her.
The door opened to reveal the smiling pig in question as he looked down at his goddaughter, who looked up at him with wide, happy eyes.
"Well, Hello there, Dani! What a surprise it is to see you here!" Mr.B playfully greeted her, which caused the girl to giggle.
"Mr.B! My mommy says you're babysitting me today!!" she said before leaping into the man's arms once he'd opened them.
"Indeed I am Miss lady!" Mr.B confirmed with a laugh.
Dani grinned widely as she gave him a hug that he more than happily returned.
***
Dani covered her mouth and let out a heartbroken sob as she stared at the closet while sliding down the wall. There, her godfather lied with claw marks all over his body as his eyes stared off without any traces of life in them.
***
"And that right there? That there's the Big Dipper," Mr.B explained as he and a seven-year-old Dani lay on a blanket in his backyard.
Dani looked up to where the pig had pointed to with a confused stricken face.
"I don't see no big spoon," she said with a shake of her head.
Mr.B chuckled from beside her. "It's a Big Dipper, Dani dear...and you just have to use your imagination to find it," he said after he'd calmed himself down.
Dani looked away from the sky to the adult pig beside her.
"I do?" she asked with a frown.
"Mhmm," Mr.B said with a nod. "Go on...I know that big brain of yours is full of imagination."
Dani looked back up at the sky with squinted eyes before her features lit up with an excited smile as she pointed her little finger up to the stars.
"I see it! I see the Big Dipper, Mr.B!!" she exclaimed as she looked at her godfather, who smiled at her.
"I knew you could do it kiddo!!" he proudly stated, which made her giggle as she looked back up to the sky.
Dani held her chest with one hand as she sobbed quietly into the other.
He was gone.
The one father figure she had before David was gone, and it was her fault. Dani let out another sob and buried her head in her hands.
"No," she whispered and shook her head.
He's the one who acted on it. Not you. Not me. Not anyone else but him and at the end of the day? He's the one who's going to reap what he sowed, her mother's voice filled her mind.
"It's his fault," Dani said as sudden darkness took over her.
Ignoring the heartache that pounded in her chest, Dani raised her head to her deceased Godfather. Slowly, she crawled over to his body with tears running down her cheeks and leaned down to place a soft kiss on his head as she closed his eyes.
"I'm so sorry...I'm so so sorry," she whispered to him, though she knew he could no longer hear her.
"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch," she deadpanned as she stood back up and shut the door to the closet before taking off into a deeper part of the house.
✧
Dani's search for Henry came to a final stop as she stepped in front of the last door of the house. She had gone through absolutely every room of the entire house with no Henry insight, and she was beginning to grow sick of it. She just wanted to end him once and for all. He was a monster, and it had been time to do the world a damn favor and get rid of the trash that was Henry Wolff.
A huff of breath left Dani's mouth before she opened the door and entered the room.
This was it.
This was his bedroom.
Dani looked around and froze as she spotted a king-sized bed against the wall, and the anger immediately returned to her body at the sight of it. There Henry lied soundlessly asleep, and she had to resist the urge to just run over and attack him.
That would be stupid.
Placing her hand on the holster that was still hidden by her cape, Dani slowly made her way towards him, and a frown etched across her features as she quickly took notice of something strange.
He wasn't moving.
Of course, the girl knew that he was sleeping, but she also knew that there should have still been some kind of movement. After all, the bastard still had a few moments left to breathe.
Dani's frown only deepened in even more confusion as she made it right at the edge where his pillow was, only for his body to remain still. Ripping the covers off of his body, Dani's features fell in shock as she was met with a line of pillows that covered the bed.
"What the hell?!" she exclaimed before everything around her suddenly turned dark as she was forcefully hit on the back of the head.
"Sleep tight, my Little Red..."