ext_2251 ([identity profile] astrogirl2.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] fan_flashworks2013-02-19 10:23 pm

Once Upon A Time: Fanfic: And Come Out On The Other Side

Title: And Come Out on the Other Side
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Rating: G
Length: ~560 words
Content notes: No content warnings apply. Well, maybe for parental abandonment? Also contains major spoilers through S1's "The Return" and possible vague spoilery stuff through S2's "Manhattan."
Author notes: It's been far too long since I posted something here! I figured it was time to come back and indulge my latest fannish obsession. Of course, for all I know, this'll be totally jossed in a couple of weeks, but what the heck.
Summary: Baelfire falls, and comes out on the other side.

And Come Out on the Other Side

Baelfire is falling.

For a moment he can still see his father's face looking down on him, can see the familiar look of desperate fear on features otherwise made nearly unrecognizable by dark magic. And then it's gone, and he all he can see is swirling darkness and his own outstretched fingers reaching for a hand that isn't there.

He lands suddenly, and hard. Breath rushes out of him with the impact, and for a moment all he can do is lie there with his eyes closed, waiting for the churning, dizzying sickness in his stomach to pass.

When he can, he sits up slowly and realizes that he's landed on a road. At least, he thinks it’s a road. Around him, all is quiet. Stunningly quiet after the rushing confusion of the portal. All he can hear are a few birds and the rustling sound of wind through the roadside trees. The light is dim, the washed-out, watery gray of pre-dawn.

Bae looks up, half expecting to see the vortex still swirling above him, but there's nothing there. Just gray clouds in a gray sky. He stares at it for a long, long time as the light gets slowly brighter, waiting for... he's not sure what. But whatever it is, it doesn't happen.

Shakily, he rises to his feet, and forces himself to look around. The trees, at least, look familiar enough, but the road is another matter entirely. It's not made of dirt, or cobblestone, or brick, but of some hard, dark, ugly substance he's never seen before. It's lined, for some reason, with tall, straight poles, strung with lines of... rope? Something like rope? He stares at them, hoping, somehow, that if he looks long enough, it'll all suddenly make sense, but it never does, and he feels that sick, swirling lurch in his stomach again.

This is it. This is where he wanted to be. The land without magic.

He looks back and forth along the road, thinking, I can't stay here, can I? He has to move, has to go... somewhere. Neither direction looks any more promising than the other, so he chooses one at random. East, towards the sun.

He walks slowly. The road feels strange and hard beneath his feet, and he can't help stopping every few paces to look back over his shoulder. But no new portal opens, and his father, with or without magic, never appears.

It comes to him, abruptly, exactly how empty-handed he is. He has no money, no weapons, almost no supplies. Foolishly, he'd been counting on his father to look after him.

Bae swallows, hard, and blinks away the tears that are beginning to sting at his eyes. He has to be brave now, doesn't he? Has to be a man now, just as if he had been sent to the war. Can't be a coward, not like his... not like the man who left him here.

It will be all right, he tells himself. He can make his way. He knows how to spin, how to weave; at least Rumplestiltskin left him that much. Surely in any world, that will be a useful trade. He will not have to starve, not have to steal. He will not be alone forever. Surely.

He raises his chin and returns his gaze to the road. It stretches out before him, silent and empty and long.

Post a comment in response:

This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting