《Artemis || OUAT》67. The Price

Advertisement

✖️✖️✖️✖️

Astrid shared a look with her husband as they followed behind their family inside of the large palace at Camelot.

"Wow," Zephyr spoke up in awe, his small hand tightening in his mother's hand.

"Wow is right, Kid," David nodded in agreement with the said five year old after glancing behind him and over at his youngest grandson.

"I am so not dressed for this," Snow remarked which made Astrid softly laugh and also remarked about herself, her husband, and son, "At least we have on Enchanted Forest attire."

Snow grinned at her and looked ahead of them to see and hear a guy announce, "His royal highness, King Arthur."

Arthur smiled and spoke up, "And now allow me to introduce the loveliest creature in all of Camelot-- my Queen, Guinevere."

A beautiful woman in a pretty royal-like gown stepped down the stairs and moved over to Arthur while everyone bowed to the couple. Snow started, "Your majesty."

"The pleasure is ours. We have been awaiting your arrival from the moment we heard Merlin's prophecy." Guinevere replied politely.

Peter spoke up in amusement, "We hope you haven't been waiting too long." David nodded in slight agreement, too.

Arthur chuckled and also remarked, "Only a decade or so."

"Ah, sorry," Peter also chuckled, wrapping his arm around the small of his wife's back as she smiled up at him.

"I'll wager it's been worth the wait, and as a bonus, it's given us more than enough time to prepare a ball in your honor tonight."

Leroy grinned at Snow and spoke up, "Oh, see, told you we should come. Look what we've been missing out on." Snow smiled a little at him yet rolled her eyes.

Granny also pointed out, "I like any party I don't have to cater."

"So do we," Leroy nodded.

Zelena then spoke up towards Regina by her side, clearly peeved off about the magical bracelet around her wrist, "Is this really necessary?"

"You're lucky your not locked in Granny's freezer." Regina answered the redhead in somewhat amusement.

Zelena remarked, "Take it off or I tell Arthur he just welcomed the Dark One into his-"

Astrid balled her hand into a fist, making Zelena stop talking magically, as she cut her off, "Threaten my sister again, and I will tear your tongue out. All it takes is one word, Zelena."

Regina smiled at Astrid and remarked, "I have missed you, Astrid, even if it's only been a day in our time." She then added to Zelena, "No one here knows who we are, and it's gonna stay that way. So you can either behave and pretend to be my mute handmaiden or go back to Granny's where you can rely on Doc for prenatal care."

Hook then spoke up, pulling them to the side a little, "We don't have time to waste on a bloody dance."

"I'm not going to go dark in one night." Emma remarked in somewhat assurance.

"I'm not willing to take that chance." Hook replied and then turned to Arthur, "Your majesty, when are we gonna start our quest to find Merlin?"

"Wh-- Find him? We don't need to find him," Arthur admitted, adding, "We know exactly where he is."

They led the Storybrooke gang inside of the inner yard and then over to a rather large tree as the King then told them of the tale that got Merlin stuck in a tree.

After he finished telling them what happened, Astrid spoke up in somewhat confusion, "So the most powerful sorcerer in all the realms is stuck inside a bloody tree?"

Advertisement

"I said the exact same thing the first time I stood there," Arthur nodded to the question.

"And you think we can get him out?" Emma spoke up also in confusion.

"Oh, we don't think- we know. Merlin's prophecies are never wrong." Arthur commented.

"Why are you so eager to free him?" Percival spoke up from where he stood behind his king.

Emma looked over at David who gave her a quick nod before telling Arthur, "Our home is being threatened by... It's called the Dark One."

"The Dark One. Yes, we're well aware of that demon. That is bad. Well, I pray Merlin can help." Arthur replied with a nod of understanding, "But, first, we must free him from his prison. It is said one of you is either the Savior or the Creator. Which one of you are one of them?"

Astrid looked over at Emma who was held back by Regina holding the dagger discreetly in her coat pocket; Astrid then stepped forward, saying, "I am the Creator. The Savior wasn't able to make it, sadly."

Arthur nodded as Astrid kept a small glance on her sister, herself adding, "I'm the one who's going to free Merlin from that tree, and then we can take of the Dark One, and all go home."

The girl looked over at the large tree behind the group, hoping and praying that she really could free Merlin for her sister's sake.

Astrid woke up to her son running into the room, yelling, "Wake up! It's time to wake up!" She squinted her eyes at the sunlight entering the room through the window and glanced at the boy. "Mommy, Papa!"

Peter peeked his eyes open a little and smirked, saying, "Your turn to get up with him first, love."

"I believe it's yours, actually, Huckleberry," Astrid also smirked back at her husband, moving to look at him while placing a hand over his chest to feel his heart beating.

Peter kept his smirk and kissed her before pulling back, saying, "We should probably both get up and see what the plan is with your sister and all."

Astrid groaned in slight amusement, letting out while burying her face on his chest, "When did life get complicated with dealing with the Dark One again?"

"When we found your family back in Camelot," Peter remarked also in amusement.

Astrid laughed just as the two of them felt Zephyr jump on the bed and land on top of them, now sitting on the couple. "Get up!"

"Okay, Zep, you win, we're up," Peter laughed as he and his wife both wrapped their arms around the laughing five year old and held him in between them.

Astrid stood out of bed and ran a hand through her wavy blonde hair and then waved a hand, making her magically changed into an outfit for the day, which was black high-waist skinny jeans, a hoodie crop top, and black high top converse sneakers.

Peter had magically changed into a pair of jeans, a green button-up shirt left unbuttoned over a green striped tee shirt, and black converse sneakers.

Zephyr was already dressed in dark red jeans, a light blue shirt buttoned underneath a dark blue sweater, and a plaid vest, with black converse sneakers, too; His curly brown hair somewhat messy as per usual.

Astrid smiled at the two while buckling her belt that holds her two silver twin swords before she slid her quiver of arrows around her back and held her bow in her hands; She glanced down at the intricate letters that spelled out 'Artemis' on the wooden bow and smiled fondly before moving the bow also around her shoulders.

Advertisement

"We should go catch up with Robin today... It's been a long time since I got to hang out with him." Astrid pointed out, adding in somewhat amusement, "I miss my other dad in my life."

Peter chuckled and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her in for a kiss and murmured, "I know, love. Let's go see what the infamous outlaw is doing today..."

She noticed a smirk cross her husband's face and before he could say what he was thinking, Astrid stopped him by covering his mouth with her hand and laughed, "Not in front of the kid."

Peter laughed, "Sorry, love."

The three of them then headed down the stairs with Zephyr racing in front of them.

***

After catching up with Robin and the Merry Men, they had also discovered that King Arthur and the others weren't the only ones to have came to Storybrooke when they were took from Camelot.

Astrid entered the Mayor's office with her husband and Robin in tow, Astrid speaking up to the Arthur first, "I'm afraid you and your knights aren't the only ones that Emma dragged here from Camelot."

"Little John said he ran into some of tour subjects in the forest," Robin added in agreement with the girl.

"Are they all right?" Arthur began.

"They're a little shaken up, but there may still be some of them out there," Peter spoke up.

"I'm gonna round up the Merry Men and search the East woods." Robin replied.

David grabbed his jacket and spoke up, "I'll take the dwarfs. We'll start in the west. Peter, Arthur, you're with me."

Peter kissed his wife on her forehead and then followed after David, Leroy, and Arthur out the door while Astrid stepped over to Regina and Snow, noticing Regina's puzzled look, and asked, "What is it?"

"These toy soldiers. I could kill them all with a wave of my hand." Regina pointed out.

"Regina!" Snow scolded.

"Well, I don't mean I will." Regina replied, "My point is, this can't be what Emma warned me about."

"She obviously brought them here for a reason." Astrid started, moving her hands over the hilts of her sword strapped on her hips.

"She said we were going to face a problem only a Savior can handle." Regina commented, "Something else is coming our way."

"Yeah, but she also said that the town doesn't need the Creator anymore and that my time was almost up." Astrid pointed out, adding in a little bit amusement yet mostly confusion, "Any concern there, ladies?"

"Trust me, I've been thinking of what she could've possibly meant..." Snow began, glancing over at her daughter, "Do you feel fine? Do you feel like you're dying?"

Astrid shrugged, admitting, "I feel fine. I don't feel like I'm dying like the other three or so times, so there's that. Oh, well, maybe it's just a threat. She wouldn't want to kill her sister. She hasn't went that dark... right?"

Astrid began to search through the dusty room as Regina remarked, "Merlin's tower... there must be something in here to help get him out of the tree."

"Never do that to me again," Emma spoke up towards the raven haired woman who simply remarked, "Oh, now you're talking to me."

"I don't know-- Am I allowed to?" Emma also remarked.

Astrid rolled her eyes and spoke up in Regina's defense, "You gave her that dagger to protect you, which she did. You were about to tell them that you were the Savior and the Dark One... Then you would have to help free Merlin. You would have to use magic-"

"Dark magic. Do you remember what happened the last time you dabbled in that?" Regina cut her off.

"I lost control." Emma nodded.

"And you gave Regina this dagger so that wouldn't happen again, but I wasn't lying." Astrid pointed out, "I'm gonna bloody figure out how I can get that wizard out so you won't have to use dark magic again."

"So, really, Swan, you should be thanking your sister and myself." Regina remarked, still holding the dagger.

Emma quickly said, "Thank you."

Regina pocketed the dagger in her blazer jacket and sighed, "Whatever."

Emma stopped the two of them and let out meaningfully, "Astrid, Regina... I mean it. Thank you."

The two of them smiled at the blonde woman before they started looking around the room once more.

Astrid was helping unload food and water for the people of Camelot, alongside David, Peter, and Robin who spoke up towards Regina as she made her way over to them, "We covered the forest. I think we found everyone who came over, Regina. Regina?"

Robin followed after the woman he loves, the two now talking between one another, while Astrid and Peter shared a look between one another and glanced over at where Roland and Zephyr was in front of the table, the two getting along pretty well.

Zephyr carried a small package of food over to some Merry Men as did Roland as the two kids then moved over to the table and began to hand out bottles of water to some of the people.

Astrid wrapped her arms around her husband, moving a hand over his chest, and remarked lightly, "Aw, look at my little helpers."

Peter kissed his wife on the side of her head before the two also went back to working; The two boys laughed innocently and then raced into the woods part where Robin was and both began to help pick up some sticks for firewood.

After awhile, Astrid heard Roland fearfully let out, "Daddy!"

Zephyr dropped his sticks and moved in front of his uncle protectively, also scared himself, but rushed over to where Robin was now being attacked by a flying, black, ghoulish witch with red eyes as the archer let out, "Regina! Help!"

Zephyr did what his parents does and stepped up to be a hero, picking up a rock and throwing it at the monster as it screeched at the boy.

The ghoul then knocked down the said five year old until Robin stepped in its way and was then carried away in the air.

Astrid, Peter, Snow, and Regina quickly ran over there as Regina held Roland in her arms while watching that monster take away her love.

Peter and Astrid ran over to their own son as Astrid immediately picked up her son and helped him to his feet, both starting in concern, "You okay, Zep?"

Zephyr smiled, extending his arms out, saying, "I'm okay! I'm alive!" He glanced down at his wrist some and saw that it was now cut and bleeding slightly from his fall as he then nervously laughed and collapsed in his mother's arms.

Astrid waved her now glowing hand across her son's hurt wrist and healed it before moving a comforting hand on the back of his head. "You're okay, you're okay."

Peter knelt beside his wife and kid and also moved a concerned hand on the boy's back, speaking up, "Zep, what were you thinking?"

"Being like you and Mommy," Zephyr admitted, "A hero."

Astrid sadly smiled a bit before assuring the five year old, "There's plenty of time to be a hero, Zep, but be a kid for right now. Okay?"

Zephyr nodded and wrapped his small arms around her neck and hugged her while Astrid looked at her husband with a nod, adding, "Go with them. I'll stay with Zephyr and Roland."

Peter nodded and kissed both of their heads and ran through the woods with David, Leroy, and Arthur, Regina, and Snow.

Peter pointed in a direction at the beast, saying, "There it is!" The ghoul monster flew away as they noticed both Regina and Peter vanish in clouds of purple smoke and green smoke.

The two then reappeared in front of the ghoul, which startled the creature and made it drop Robin, as Regina now held a ball of fire in her hand and stated, "You're not taking him anywhere."

She threw the fireball but missed as the creature screeched and dodged it and then hit her, which caused the woman to hit her head against a tree hard.

Peter glanced over at the former Evil Queen on the ground and back at the creature, speaking up, "So, you want to do this the hard way? Then let's play."

The ghoul launched towards the green eyed nineteen year old who blasted it back with his magic and then quickly rushed over to an unconscious Robin Hood, now standing in front of him protectively.

The creature screeched and then grabbed a hold of Peter and took off with him and away from the group.

The group rushed over to Regina as Snow knelt in front of her, starting, "Regina! You okay? Where's Peter?"

"I'm alive, if that's what you mean," Regina sighed, adding, "And he-"

Astrid appeared next to them in a cloud of white smoke, carrying two kids on both of her hips. "That thing bloody took my husband. I felt it."

Astrid placed both boys down and stepped over to Regina first and healed her and then moved over to Robin and healed him before adding, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a freaky bitch to kill."

"We'll find him, A. Let us help you." Snow started, moving a hand over her daughter's arm.

"Thank you." Astrid replied with a nod.

Robin stirred some and woke back up and then stood up, rushing over to Regina, as the two hugged; He then ran over to his son and hugged him and his adopted grandson in relief.

Zephyr then quickly moved over to his mother and wrapped his small arms around her waist, letting out, "Where's Daddy?"

Astrid knelt in front of her son and assured with a small sad smile, "Don't worry, baby, I'm gonna get him back. He'll be okay. Your daddy's a survivor."

Zephyr nodded with a grin, adding, "Yeah, he's strong. He can handle anything thrown at him-- just like you, Mommy. Too, you two always find each other."

Astrid kissed his forehead and hugged the boy, moving a hand over the back of his head. "That's right, Zep."

Astrid stood beside Peter in front of the large tree that Merlin was prisoned inside of. "My lady." Percival spoke up behind them as the couple faced him and watch him kneel with a box in hand.

"For me?" Astrid began in surprise.

"You are the Creator, after all," Percival spoke up while lifting the lid to reveal a purple gem necklace inside, "His Majesty would be honored if you would wear this to the Ball tonight."

Astrid handed it over to Peter who stepped behind her as she moved her hair to the side, letting him put the necklace on for her.

Peter then moved back on her side as she moved a hand on the gem while smiling some at her husband.

"I look forward to a dance this evening," Percival commented and then walked away, leaving the couple alone.

"He's not the only one looking forward to a dance with the Creator," Peter smirked, pulling his wife in his arms by grabbing her waist gently as the two kissed deeply before going back to staring up at the large tree.

***

Astrid stepped into the room where her parents was as they laid down Neal while Snow told Doc, "If he gets fussy, he probably just needs to be changed."

"Are you sure you don't want us to get Granny?" David asked the dwarf.

"If I go to the ball, I'll just get stuck being Grumpy's wingman." Doc answered.

"So, what do you think, Mom, Dad?" Astrid spoke up as she showed her parents the white gown she was currently wearing; It was spaghetti strapped and had streaks of silver running down the entire dress, and it stopped on the floor.

    people are reading<Artemis || OUAT>
      Close message
      Advertisement
      You may like
      You can access <East Tale> through any of the following apps you have installed
      5800Coins for Signup,580 Coins daily.
      Update the hottest novels in time! Subscribe to push to read! Accurate recommendation from massive library!
      2 Then Click【Add To Home Screen】
      1Click