《Artemis || OUAT》12. In The Name Of The Brother
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"Astrid! Hey, wake up!" Snow started as she entered her daughter's bedroom to find an empty bed. She looked around and noticed the teenager sleeping on the floor near the window.
Snow sighed some and moved over to her, kneeling next to her as she laid a hand on Astrid's shoulder lightly; Astrid immediately sat up, two daggers in her hands as she held an aggravated yet sleepy glare on her face, her blonde hair a mess.
Snow laid her hands over her daughter's while taking the daggers out of her hands. "We need to go to the hospital. Hook hurt Belle as his revenge towards Gold. Then Hook was hit by a car-- and now we have an injured outsider in the hospital."
Astrid furrowed her eyebrows while moving her fingers through her hair and then slid her black converse sneakers over her socks on her feet; She didn't bother changing out of her black Adidas leggings and crimson red long sleeve shirt that had the number '78' on the front.
Snow continued to brush down her daughter's bangs as Astrid lightly smacked her hands away. "It's okay, my hair's okay, Mom." Astrid groaned as both of them stood up off of the floor.
Snow smiled at her and nodded, already heading to the door. "You're right, let's go."
"Wait." Astrid commented before strapping her twin swords to her sides and also had her thirteen daggers hidden everywhere on her. She looked up to see her mother giving her a confused look. "What? I never go anywhere without my swords. It's two of my most treasured items."
Along with her necklace and ring that she also always wears and her battle axe.
"Okay." Snow nodded as both of them then headed down the hall and the stairs, soon leaving out of the loft.
Snow entered the driver's side of her station wagon while Astrid entered the front passenger side, the two of them now riding to the hospital quickly.
"These things are so confining. And slow. I don't like it." Astrid pouted slightly, folding her arms across her chest.
"Astrid, you just have to keep an open mind about these cars. I mean, I know it's different than riding a horse, but still." Snow commented in amusement.
"No, it's not just these vehicles. It's... my bed." Astrid argued.
"Your bed? What's wrong with it?" Snow asked, "Why were you sleeping on the floor in your room, by the way?"
"Because it reminds me back in our world. It was rare that I slept on an actual bed; Most nights, I slept on the ground." Astrid answered, "I travelled a lot, so I didn't really have a place of my own for a while..."
"Astrid... do you miss the Enchanted Forest or whatever realm you were raised in?" Snow reluctantly asked, slightly fearing of what her answer may be, "Do you regret coming here with us?"
Astrid quickly looked at her mother and glanced back at the road in front of them, admitting, "I don't regret coming here with you and Emma... I am a bit homesick, though."
"We're your home, though-" Snow tried to convince her daughter that she belonged with them.
"Over there was my home too... And I just feel a little torn." Astrid pointed out somewhat sadly as she let out a small sigh.
"Astrid-" Snow started just as they then pulled up to the hospital and exited the vehicle.
"It's fine." Astrid cut her off and lightly yawned some and then entered inside of the building with her mother and finding their friends and family.
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Astrid woke up and quickly moved her hand to her sides to find that her swords was still there. She was surprised that Pan hadn't took her swords, but in all honesty, she was more relieved.
"Ah, so dear Charming has awoken now." Peter spoke up as he stood up from the log beside where Astrid was currently sitting on the ground. He stood over her and offered his hand towards her; Astrid looked at his outstretched hand and stood up on her own.
"You're not getting it, apparently." Peter began with a small smirk, "I don't like it when there are things going on on my island where I know nothing about. And you are the definition of that, so just who are you exactly, love?"
"Oh, that's right. I didn't tell you my name, so that must mean it's none of your bloody business, 'love'." Astrid remarked sarcastically.
He began to circle around her and then stopped beside her very closely, starting, "That pirate, apparently, didn't understand your... uniqueness. I admit, you are completely a mystery to me, one that I intend to solve."
"Good luck. You will fail." Astrid smirked and began to walk away as Peter appeared in front of her, a smirk on his face as well.
Peter commented, "Haven't you heard, Charming? Peter Pan never fails."
"There's a first time for everything, Pan." Astrid replied, her hands on the hilts of her swords at her sides. Peter chuckled a little sarcastically but kept his smirk on his face.
Astrid moved over to the waiting room as her father wrapped an arm around her and then moved over to his wife who was only a step away. "So, why the bloodyhell did Mom wake me up and drag me to the hospital?" She asked David.
"There's an outsider who... got caught in the crossfire between Gold and Hook. He drove into town and hit Hook and wrecked." David explained briefly, "And also, Belle was shot over the town line, losing her memory."
"Yeah, that's what Mom said... but why am I here?" Astrid questioned grumpily.
Just as her parents were about to answer, Emma walked over to them with a slightly confused look on her face. "Well, Hook is awake, but he won't talk to us and will only talk to his daughter... Question, who is his daughter?" Emma started, her hands over her hips.
Everyone glanced over at the teenager who was currently flipping a dagger over and over idly; Astrid looked up blankly and asked, "What? Why is everyone staring at me?"
Snow moved to stand beside her side and moved a hand over her arm lightly. "You knew Hook the longest. Has he ever mentioned a daughter to you? And, if so, has he ever told you her name?"
Astrid sighed after tucking her dagger away, saying, "Yeah, he's not talking about anyone else. He's just talking about me..."
David moved on the teenager's other side and inquired, his hands on his hips now, "You were sort of raised by him?"
"Not exactly, I mean, I don't bloody know. It's sort of complicated. Leave it alone." Astrid murmured, folding her arms across her chest.
"Well, he'll only talk to you." Emma spoke back up, "But you don't have to go and speak to him if you don't want to."
"Like hell she is." David objected, showing his protective father side, "I don't really want you to talk to that pirate, Emma, but you're the sheriff, and Astrid's just a teenager still, so..."
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Astrid spoke up again, assuring, "I'll do it. I'll go talk to Hook."
"Astrid-" Snow, Emma, and David began to object.
"You already woke me up, unfortunately... might as well do something that helps you guys." Astrid remarked, cutting them off, "Relax. Hook won't hurt me. I'm safe."
"I will go get the answers some way, but giving Hook what he wants is not happening. He's not in any position to ask for anything." Emma said towards her sister.
Astrid sat down in one of the waiting room chairs and moved her legs up, now sitting Indian-style in the chair. "I give you two minutes with him before you come back out and tell us he won't talk. Just let me go in and get the answers you need."
"It's okay, Astro. That will be our last measure at talking to him." Emma replied before walking down the hall and back into Captain Hook's hospital room to get answers.
Astrid hated having that nickname her twin sister gave her; Emma calls her that because she still believes Astrid is so stellar and just absolutely perfect.
But, in reality, Astrid just strives to be a perfectionist at everything, so that she can earn the approval and love her family gives her.
She doesn't ever want to feel like a failure or a disappointment to her family-- again.
"So... you're like a daughter to Hook. Well, I suppose it's better than you two having been a couple in the past." David spoke up as he sat in the chair on the right side of Astrid.
"Ew, like we'd ever be a couple." Astrid groaned while laying her head on her father's shoulder, fixing to fall asleep.
"Why do you think I'm 'AJ' to Hook?" Astrid began, glancing down at the initials engraved on the bottom of the hilts of her swords, "It's my name and his family name, to officiate me being part of his family."
"But-" Snow started.
"I don't want to talk about this anymore. Please." Astrid yawned before falling asleep, her head still on her father's shoulder.
"Hey, guys, Pan's back!" One of the younger Lost Boys exclaimed as he pointed at the leader of their camp who chuckled and waved at the little one.
A few of the boys nodded and continued with what they were previously doing, some were sharpening spears, practicing archery, or just playing some sort of game.
But a Lost Boy with dirty blonde hair and a scar above his face moved over to Peter as he noticed the girl who followed beside him. "So, you finally caught the girl?"
"I told you. Peter Pan never fails, Felix." Peter smirked and then nodded at Astrid and pointed out, "This one is quite a troublemaker."
"Yup, still here, unfortunately." Astrid muttered with a roll of her eyes and a slight wave in gesture toward herself.
"Want us to throw her in the cages?" Felix asked as he and Peter glanced over at the girl.
"No, not quite yet. She needs to learn who is in charge on this island and accept it." Peter answered.
"I'm not afraid of you, Pan... I'm not afraid of anything." Astrid remarked, folding her arms across her chest.
"Sure, you're not." Peter smirked sarcastically, grabbing her lower left arm and dragged her towards the campsite even more. "Put her in the Pit... for one whole week."
Felix and another boy grabbed her arms and dragged the girl past the cages and down a hill, tossing her into a cylinder-shaped hole that was fifteen feet in height below the ground.
Peter closed the wooden door over the hole and locked it, covering it with leaves , and then walked away with Felix.
Inside of the hole, it was pitch black and slightly tight.
Astrid sat down and closed her eyes, her knees to her chest as she wrapped her arms around them with a single tear sliding down her cheek. "I'm not afraid." She whispered.
Astrid was woke up again just as she had fell back asleep; David had moved her head off of his shoulder, trying not to wake her up but failed. "Why?" She groaned out in emphasis, sleep evident in her tone.
"Hook still won't answer me. He will only talk to Astrid." Emma told their parents, her arms folded across her chest.
"Bloody hell... Fine." Astrid spoke up while also standing up from the uncomfortable waiting room chair she had previously been sitting in. "Jerks waking me up... Oh, but you're needed." She muttered under her breath grumpily as Astrid marched down the hallway towards the pirate's room.
David, Snow, and Emma exchanged a look before quickly catching up to her and stopped her. "You don't have to do this, Kid." David assured.
"It's okay... And it's just going to be me going in there." Astrid replied, "Hook won't talk to me if any one of you are in the room with us."
"Absolutely not-" The three of them started as Astrid stopped their protests and commented, "I can protect myself." The teenager quickly withdrew a hidden knife from her belt and twirled it around impressively and then hid it again as she added, "Trust me."
"It's not that we don't trust you, Astrid; It's Hook we don't trust." David commented.
"I'll be okay. Hook won't hurt me. I'll be in and out." Astrid assured and then entered the hospital room and closed the door behind her.
"You should've seen the crocodile's look on his face when he lost his love, AJ." Hook began as the teenager leaned against the wall with her arms folded across her chest. "He was completely devastated, like his own heart was ripped out of him and crushed into dust."
"Are you satisfied with your revenge?" Astrid spoke up towards him, "Because you seem quite happy, especially for a guy who failed to kill his crocodile- and then get hit by a car."
Hook sighed and grunted some as he moved a little to look at the teenager better, letting out, "My ribs may be broken, but everything else is still intact. Which is more than can be said for other bad days I've had... Plus, I did some quality damage to my foe."
Astrid straightened off of the wall and stepped over to him, her eyes slightly narrowed, beginning, "You hurt Belle."
"Like I just said, I hurt his heart. Belle's just where he keeps it." Hook replied simply, "He killed my love, I know the feeling, and you know that feeling also."
Astrid sighed and inquired, "Where's Cora?"
Hook grunted a little as he moved some again. "I have no idea where Cora is. My guess is with her daughter while Regina feels completely... alone and betrayed right now."
Astrid furrowed her eyebrows curiously and asked, "Who betrayed her?"
"Not you, if that's what you mean, lass. But your family, the whole town, everyone really." Hook answered, "You know, when everyone blamed her for the 'murder' of that cricket."
"Sounds like Cora behind all of that when it's said aloud." Astrid muttered as Hook nodded and agreed, "Aye."
"Why'd you only want to talk to me?" Astrid lightly wondered aloud, folding her arms across her chest again.
"Because you're... I know you better than your sister and everyone else..." Hook simply said and shrugged lightly. "Have you forgiven me yet, AJ, or do I still need to wait a few more years?"
Astrid smirked before she turned and headed towards the door but stopped abruptly and replied, "I'm trying." She then murmured under her breath but still clear enough where he could hear her, "I'm sorry, I've got to go-"
Hook stopped her by cutting her off with a small grunt, "AJ, I just-- I wanted you to know-" The blonde haird girl moved back over to stand beside his bed as he noticed the hurt creep into her blue eyes before she concealed it in a convincing 'I'm fine' façade. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Astrid nodded slowly at the hurt pirate laying in the hospital bed beside her as she gave a somewhat sad smile. She then swiftly hugged him, surprising the man who hugged her back.
She then softly laughed before punching him in the chest as Hook groaned but smiled a little bit at her, watching the teenager then quickly exit out of the bedroom who made her way back to the waiting room where the others was waiting at.
Astrid noticed Snow, David, Leroy, and Ruby crowded around Emma who held the outsider's phone as she searched through it for any clue of who the stranger is.
"-A bunch of pictures of him alone at an eastern seaboard tourist locations. A LinkedIn account... and he tweets pictures of his food." Emma commented, "I'll keep looking, but I think what we have here is a well-documented real life ordinary Joe-- or Greg."
"So, whatever's kept random people from stumbling into Storybrooke for the last twenty-eight years-" Ruby began.
Ruby was cut off by Snow who finished, "-is gone."
"Anyone could drive in. Why are my instincts telling me that's a bad thing?" David replied.
Everyone looked over at the teenager who had spoke up once she finally made it over to them, "Because people fear the unknown, the impossible. Any thing magical, it would be tested and prodded at like a bloody experiment."
Leroy immediately added in agreement with Astrid, "Yeah, have you seen ET or Splash or any other movie where they find something magical and study it to death? Think of what they'd do to a werewolf!"
Ruby slightly glared at the dwarf as Snow spoke up after giving her teenager a concerned look, "Oh, and his friends and family? They're going to come looking for him soon."
"Let's try not to overreact-" Emma started who was then cut off by David who replied, "Astrid and Leroy's right."
"We don't need outsiders here." Snow agreed.
Emma paused for a second before looking over at her twin sister and asking her, "Did Hook tell you anything about Cora's location?"
Astrid rubbed her face twice before glancing at Emma and answering her, "Hook says he doesn't know where Cora is..."
"God knows what she's going to do. And with other people coming here, that's not going to be good for anyone." Emma remarked.
"Find Regina-- We can tell her she's been framed-" Snow started.
"I sort of already told her that." Astrid cut her mother off, laying her hands against the handles of her swords at her sides.
"I've been tracking her with no luck. She's gone underground." Ruby said and then looked over at the teenager beside her and inquired to her, "When did you contact her?"
"I- didn't know Regina was hiding. I just found her and told her the news." Astrid admitted and then looked at her sister and parents and added, "We're still friends because I was the only one who believed her when no one else did."
"Anyways... What if Cora finds her first? I don't want to think about the damage those two could do together." Snow said, "This could not have come at a worse time!"
Astrid suggested, "Well, while you guys wait for news on this guy... How about I go find Regina and stall her from making any decisions with Cora until you can make another plan that's better than this one?"
David shook his head at his daughter's plan and objected, "Absolutely not. She's the Evil Queen, Astrid, one of the most powerful villains. And you want to go in and stall her alone?"
Astrid lifted an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side in amusement and remarked, "You do know that I was raised as a Viking warrior and also known as Artemis and can handle myself perfectly in a bloody fight, right?"
"This girl intimidates me some." Leroy remarked as Astrid smirked towards him.
Emma immediately started, "Whoa-- the guy's being patched up right now. He'll probably be on his way home by morning."
"Not quite." They all heard and turned to see Dr. Whale who had just walked into the room. "He's bleeding into his chest cavity. It's not a full flood, but pretty soon, he'll be drowning in his own blood."
"So make it stop! Aren't you a doctor?" Emma replied at him.
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