tanderbolt

All in a Day's Work: A Superhero RP

Charlotte's words explained why the men were stalking a little girl down an alley, but he still had no idea why the men had been knocked out so mysteriously. He had a hard time believing she was lying, so he assumed it must have been something that she didn't understand. The marks on them clearly showed that someone had used force against them, but a normal person couldn't do this without being seen. Aaron knew that there had been a lot of strange happenings in town recently, and he didn't want to investigate too much further. Getting involved in that stuff would only add to his worries.

He said "If that's what they said, then I'm not gonna bother talking to them. If they ever wake up, I'll let my shield do the talking. Crazy weird shi-stuff has been going on lately, stuff no one can explain, and now I'm seeing it with my own two eyes. I'm gonna poke around a bit to see if your blonde friend ran off somewhere, I can walk you to a safer part of town after that. If you've got a phone on you, now would be a good time to call the police and tell them what happened." It was hard projecting a good image, especially around children. All he cared about was that the girl was safe, someone else could waste time finding out what took out the thugs.

All in a Day's Work: A Superhero RP

I've got an idea for a comically bad heroic team based on american football, if you're interested.

All in a Day's Work: A Superhero RP

He didn't trust her entirely, but he still had a hard time believing someone her apparent age could be up to anything seriously bad. He continued looking at the bodies and said "Listen, I know I saw a blond girl with you I haven't gotten hig-I mean saw it with my eyes." He was slipping up a bit, and tried to focus on presenting a good public image. "Sounds like something mysterious is afoot, maybe magic, maybe aliens. Do you remember what it was that they wanted?" He walked around, looking at the others bodies, and noticing some minor burns one of them. "If you don't remember anything, I could try waking one of them up and asking. This could be very serious, I want to see if they can help. Don't worry, I won't let them hurt you."

All in a Day's Work: A Superhero RP

Aaron was still trying to process what he had just seen when the blood stained girl vanished in a cloud of smoke, ruining any chance of figuring out what exactly happened with her and that one thug. He flinched a bit when he saw it, but then straightened his posture in his best impression of a much more heroic man. He deepened his and answered the remaining girl. "My line of work is a dangerous one, and it is a good idea for a man like me to keep his identity secret. I'm still getting established, so I don't have fancy things like "gadgets" or a "costume". I was waiting to rendezvous with a comrade, but he was delayed, so I went on a strategic patrol of the surrounding area." He tried to use as many big words as possible, hoping to sound intelligent and hide his utter confusion.

He examined the bodies of a few of the thugs, noticing heavy bruises on some of them, while others were seemingly untouched. Aaron wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but even he could tell that there was something off about the scene. He even recognized one as a someone from his block, the guy had a pretty bad drinking problem but was decent enough when sober. Discovering bite marks on the man's neck and a gun by his side alarmed him. He asked the girl another question "Miss, there is definitely something strange going on, especially now that your friend has disappeared. It would be very helpful if you could give me some more details of how exactly these men 'fell down' "

All in a Day's Work: A Superhero RP

Aaron was annoyed that Burnout hadn't showed up by now, so he decided to drive by the bank on his motorcycle. As soon as he saw that Burnout was up against three different heroes, he immediately made his way back to the alley he had been waiting in. Burnout had asked Aaron to make a distraction to cover for his escape, but that looked increasingly unlikely. Even if Burnout did make off with the money, there was no way Aaron would want to fight off the police and several heroes. He walked a bit further down the back alleys, trying to think of something else. Maybe I can show up late and help stop the robbery. I'd get a good public image, but if I did that the flaming turd would get word out to ever corner of the underworld. I guess I'll just wait, it's not like he's got a way to call me for backup.

When he turned around one corner, he saw two young girls standing over the unconscious bodies of several men. Looking closer, he saw blood on the neck of one of men, and bloodstains on the mouth of the blond haired girl. He recoiled a bit, wondering what he had just stumbled upon. He said "The hell? Shouldn't you guys be school and not doing... whatever it is you are doing right now?" He also looked a bit odd, a man in wearing a motorcycle helmet and some poorly fitting protective gear holding a knight's shield, but at least he wouldn't attract truancy officers.

Once Upon a Time...

Collaboration between YoshiSkittlez and Tanderbolt

David watched with confusion as he pushed through the hospital hallway as each and every single nurse and doctor seemed to be running around like a flock of lost sheep. There was so much commotion it was impossible to stop one of the nurses to ask what was going on, or even try to listen in on one conversation so see what had the hospital all up in chaos. His heart immediately got a sinking feeling that something might have happened to Mary Margaret, and so without further hesitation he began to run, pushing through the crowd of people and not stopping until he reached her room. He was able to breathe when he saw that she was sitting up in bed looking as content as ever and not surrounded by frantic doctors. He smiled warmly, completely forgetting about the seeming emergency the hospital had gone under.

David wrapped his knuckles on door jam, alerting Mary Margaret to his presence and cleared his throat, still wearing his smile as he ventured further into her hospital room and set down the small vase of assorted wild flowers he had picked up from Game of Thorns on his way to the hospital.

"Hey."

Mary was happy to have a visitor, the hours passed very slowly when she was alone in the hospital. She saw it was David, she had become quite fond of him since waking up. She smiled and said "Hello David, what brings you here today?"
David took his usual spot and took a seat at the foot of her bed, turning his torso to look at her better. He removed his paper-boy cap now that he was inside, the tips of his ears slightly red giving way to the fact that it was starting to get rather chilly outside.

"Well, I might have overheard a couple doctors talking about your potential release today." David started, not realizing that his hands were wringing his poor hat in his slight nervousness. Still, it was better than wiping his sweaty palms on the thigh of his blue jeans. "I uh, wanted to be here...to uh, well, congratulate you and..." His beady eyes looked around the room quickly, noting that the security guard was no where to be seen. "...maybe, walk you home?"

"That's great news. I'd love some help finding my way home, I doubt I'd be able to get to it without some guidance. I want to know more about Storybrooke, I can't wait to get out and experience it on my own." said Mary. She noticed David's nervousness, and tried adopt a calming tone of voice.

David's smile faultered a bit at the mention of home. That's right, he would be walking her to Knox's place on the edge of town. He wouldn't admit it, not openly anyway, but that rather irked him in a way he couldn't explain. He wanted to voice his opinion that if Knox were a good husband, he would be taking Mary Margaret home, but he kept his mouth clamped shut.

"Great! I'll see if I can't wrangle down a nurse and see about getting those papers signed." He said getting up from the bed and put his wrinkled hat back on before heading back out into the hallway.

David returned a short time later with an exasperated looking nurse who practically jammed the clipboard into Mary Margaret's hands, anxiously asking her to sign the release papers so she could attend to an emergency. David's brows furrowed, wanting to say something about the nurse's abrasive behavior but again, said nothing and waited his turn to sign the papers.

Mary borrowed a pen and signed, hoping that her attempt at a signature looked like the ones from before the accident. She said "I hope Knox is home, otherwise we won't be able get in to the house. I guess if that happens you can just show me around the rest of the town."

"The job I offered you down at the pet shelter still stands." David said unable to keep his teeth from clamping down a bit harshly at the mention of Knox's name. He took the clipboard from Mary Margaret once she was done and signed his own name where her husbands name should have been.

The nurse snatched the clipboard away and hurried back out into the hall, leaving David with a rather scornful look on his face as he followed her out with his eyes.
"Must be quite the emergency..." He said a bit bitterly before returning his gaze back to Mary Margaret and then clapped his hands together, rubbing them a bit. "Right, let's get you out of here then, I'm sure your anxious to see something different than white walls." He halfly joked.

"I'll see who's hiring, but I'm pretty sure I'll end up working there anyway. My resume isn't exactly up to par, I love animals, and I think it would be great to have a co-worker like you." She got out of bed, giving her legs some exercise. She had walked around a little bit since waking up, but not enough to fully shake off the feeling that so much bedrest had given her. "I hope it's not a long walk, I'm not sure I'd be up to that."

"Well then I'd just have to carry you." David said with a light wink and held out his arm for Mary Margaret to take, allowing her all the time she needed to get stable on her legs.
Mary grabbed his arm tenderly, and steadied herself "I think I can make it a short distance. Come on, let's go"

"As you wish m'lady." He said with a slight glimmer in his smile and led Mary Margaret out of the hospital, hopefully the last time she would ever have to set foot in that place.
While they were walking, Mary said "Do you ever get the feeling that something about this whole situation seems strange, like it's a dream you're about to wake up from? I talk with Knox about our past it and it all just seems so weird, I don't act anything like the way he remembers."

"All the time." David admitted with a laugh as he continued walking at Mary Margaret's slower pace. "But if I admitted that to anyone else I might find myself sitting with Dr. Hopper on a Saturday night." He chuckled before turning more serious. "Why, are you still not remembering anything?"

"I can remember what kind of person I am, the way I behave and think, but I can't recall any of my past. What I do know doesn't always mesh with what others have said, I don't connect with Knox the way his memories say that I should. My heart is moving me away from him, and bringing me closer to other people... including you."
David knew he should have felt bad for the security guard, but he didn't. Instead, a light smile played across his lips but he kept from looking at Mary Margaret and kept his eyes ahead of him.

"Have you tried, I dunno, kissing him?" He asked with a casual shrug, quelling the tinge of jealousy he felt rising in his chest.
She chuckled a little at David's bluntness. "No, I haven't, it just never feels right to me. Knox has wanted to a couple times, but I stop him. I feel bad for him, but I always trust my own judgment over anyone else's."

"Good." David said quickly, and then immediatly began to stammer after realizing his potential mistake. "I mean, good that you can trust your own judgment...a lot of people have a hard time doing that..." He covered, and kicked a stray pebble that suddenly annoyed him as they continued walking down the sidewalk.
"It's the only way to tell what is right and wrong. People will try to fool you, tell you that it's ok to compromise, tell you can't be sure about a course of action. Good people start to turn bad as soon as they let someone else convince them that there's a place between good and evil."
David nodded indefinitely, agreeing with each and every word Mary Margaret uttered.

"Yeah, I mean, maybe you're doing something wrong, but if it's whats meant to be - if it's whats right - does that really make you a bad person?"
"What's right is what's meant to be, and if you will never be a bad person for doing the right thing. Right now, I feel like we are meant to be here together." Mary said with a happy tone in her voice as she looked at David's eyes. David stopped walking, realizing quickly that she had a few paces ago and turned around to walk back to her, albiet slowly. His ears were getting red again, but it wasn't from the cold, not this time.

"If people are meant to be together, they find a way." He muttered softly, unsure what they were even talking about anymore, unsure if he was still playing the role of Knox's supportive friend, or the role that could quite potentially get him into a lot of trouble.
Mary said "That is very true." and reached out to tenderly hold David's hand.

David looked down between them at their linked hands, a very small amount of panic going through him and making his chest rise and fall a bit more rapidly than normal. His eyes looked back up to the soft features of Mary Margaret, seeming lost in her own eyes for a brief moment before he could find his words.

"Mary Margaret-"

She reached out a finger towards his lips, shushing him. She said "No matter what Knox or anyone else says, I know this is right." She moved her hand away and leaned in, ready for a kiss. Auto-pilot kicked in and David met her lips halfway in a hasty eagerness. He kept hold of her hand and pressed it between the two of them over their hearts while his other hand held the small of her back into him. The moment he felt her kissing him back, David released his lips from Mary Margaret's immediately as he felt something similar to a bull taking his gut head-on. He staggered backwards a few feet, holding his head as a slew of memories quickly entered his mind. He hadn't even time to exhale before it was all over, and panting as if he had just ran a mile, he looked back to Mary Margaret...Snow White...his wife.

"Snow!"

Mary felt a rush of energy the moment their lips touched. It was powerful, like nothing she could remember before. As soon as contact ceased, she remembered the feeling. All of her memories returned to her, clearing her mind like a lantern on a foggy night. She was caught up in a wave of emotions, but for now one triumphed over the rest.

"You found me"

David grinned broadly and approached Snow White as he had before, though took the initiative to wrap his arms around his loving wife and hold her to him, looking down at her with a glint of adoration in his eye.

"Did you ever doubt I would?" He asked but didn't give her time to answer before pulling her into another kiss; everything else could wait just a little bit longer...

Once Upon a Time...

Collaboration between YoshiSkittlez and Tanderbolt

Robert had a feeling that rescuing Belle would lead to many more difficulties in the future, but he knew it was the right thing to do. In a way, he wanted to thank Regina for the curse, because it had erased his own bargain with Rumpelstiltskin. The past five years had been wasted, but now he could live as his own man, and feel emotions that had been kept from him for so long. Being sheriff was pretty nice too, especially bcause it gave him power that he could put to good use. Robert was driving back to sheriffs office while these thoughts raced through his head, knowing that soon enough he'd have to work on the paperwork involved in bringing down Regina.

When he slowed down to pull into the parking lot, he caught a glimpse of the mayor out of the corner of his eye. She was bruised and bloody, and Robert had no idea why. He quickly parked his car and got out before approaching her slowly.

Regina had thought she had done a pretty good job taking an obscure route back home that wouldn't put her in the line of sight of anyone she didn't want to have see her like this, however hearing the car door slam not too far from her she looked up weakly to see Robert crossing the street towards her. She wanted to smile, though was unable to from the fatigue that washed over her and also some sort of back-burner thought that her lip would split open again if she tried. She hadn't a clue how she had made it this far from Gold's shop without passing out, let alone how she was going to get home, so she was pleased to see that out of anyone in Storybrooke to see her in her condition, it was him.

"Robert." She greeted tiredly, and although she didn't smile, her voice clearly stated that she was glad to see him.

This was going to be hard from him, but he believed everyone deserved fair treatment under the law, even Regina. He looked at her and said "What happened? Are you hurt badly, do you need me to get you to the hospital?"

"No, no I'm fine." Regina assured him. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to the already pissed off beast, she didn't doubt that if his little pet wasn't there to tug on his leash there wouldn't be anything of her left. "Just a small mixup. I wouldn't turn down an offer for a ride home though." She took a moment to raise her hand (minding which arm she raised since she didn't want to alarm Robert to her sleeve that was soaked in her own blood) and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, completely unaware that the bruises had begun to really show their brilliant color. There was one bruise in particular that stuck out (as Regina was fully unaware), a single bruise that covered her cheek that was the perfect shape matching the head of Mr. Gold's cane.

Robert recognized the shape of Regina's bruise, and his normally stoic expression turned to a horrified one. Regina had been in the absolute least convenient place on earth possible this morning, and his ideal plan was now ruined. "Alright, I can help you over there. You sure you don't want to talk about your "mixup"? This definately looks like someone assaulted you."

"Oh no." Regina waved him off with a pathetic amount of effort from her hand before her legs started to shake and gave out on her, forcing her to stumble into Robert with a hiss of pain from her rib that she was sure was either badly bruised or possibly even broken.

He drove home with her, not saying much. Without her cooperation, it would be unlikely that he could convict anyone for assault. He tried to make a little bit of small talk to pass the time "So, I get that you don't want to talk about what happened. How're things going around town, have you talked to Gold lately?"

Regina's dark eyebrows knitted in confusion at the mention of Gold, wincing slightly as even that subtle facial gesture hurt like no other. As she pulled down the visor of his cruiser to open up the mirror to check the damage done, she spoke.

"Gold? No, that imp has other ants to step on today." She said with a bored tone, finally getting the mirror down. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. She doubted that all the makeup in the world could cover up her injuries, and she was just looking at what he had done to her face. That was when the bruise on her cheek became more apparant as she was trying to decide the best way to cover it up, and noticed the shape. She sighed dejectedly and snapped the mirror back closed and lifted the visor back up, slumping down in the passenger seat of the police car.

"Don't go after him Robert, not today." She said to him, knowing exactly where his previous question had now come from. "He'll get what's coming to him, that I promise."

Robert took that as a confirmation of his fears, but he still wasn't sure what he would do next. By now they had arrived at Regina's house, and he stopped the car. He didn't answer what Regina said, and tried to change the focus away from Gold. "Whatever happens, stay safe and don't neglect those wounds. A lot of wierd stuff has been happening lately, I wouldn't be surprised if we had another new person running around town."

Regina was about to exit the vehicle when his very last words caught her attention. She stopped abruptly and turned her head over to look at him, trying to raise an eyebrow but stopped when she felt the scab over her split brow threatening to tear open again.

"Right..." She said, drawing the word out longer than she probably needed to. She popped open the door to the car and with a great amount of effort and hisses of pain, she got out of the cruiser and shut the door. Realizing the window was rolled down, she bent over slightly to look into the vehicle and at Robert at the wheel.

"Robert, how long have we known one another?"

Withouth thinking, Robert said "Let's see, five years here and you came to Leopold's like ten-." He stopped himself immediately, and continued on in a much more serious tone of voice "Brain must not be working right this morning, got you confused with someone else. Anyway, I hope you're ok, I'll always remember what you've done for me." He began to pull away, slightly disoriented by his new memories clashing with his old ones.

Regina couldn't help but to let her jaw drop at the mention of Leopold. No one here was named Leopold, no one. She could only watch in horror as the police cruiser rolled off, the pieces suddenly clicking together in her mind. Robert was the only other one in Storybrooke that even had a hint of an idea about the Asylum down in the basement of the hospital...and he-

Regina wasn't sure whether she wanted to scream or cry. Her entire world...everything she had worked for was crumbling apart in front of her. She could trust no one, she truly had no one anymore, and her reign of Mayor was coming to an abrupt halt, Gold would definitely see to that. There was a flickering thought of Mason, but in her mindset right now it would only be a matter of time when he betrayed her too. She wouldn't tend to her wounds like Robert had suggested, she instead retreated into her home numbly, shut and locked the door, let her back rest against it and slid down until she was sitting on the floor. Her shredded fingers went into her dark mass of hair and pulled, letting the tears finally flow in what would start the beginning of a very hard cry.

All in a Day's Work: A Superhero RP

If you want a historical figure that was claimed to be a vampire, there's always Elizabeth Bathory.

All in a Day's Work: A Superhero RP interest check and signups

Here's a character, he's kind of a low-level, easily beaten villain who gets redeemed. I banged this out pretty quickly, let me know if there's anything I need to change.

Name: Aaron McPherson / Knight Errant

Age: 25

Gender: Male

Appearance: He is a tall and skinny young man with curly hair. His face is odd and not particularly attractive, and has a few cut marks from street fights. When out adventuring, he wears an armored vest and a set of motorcycle gear, and keeps the visor on his helmet closed to conceal his identity. His casual clothes usually consist blue jeans and jacket, both of which are often stained or torn.

Personality: Aaron is laid-back, he doesn't care much for rules or formalities. He has a good sense of humor, and loves to make small talk with just about anyone. He is usually friendly towards strangers, but is quick to anger and prone to rash actions. He tries to do the right thing, but rarely thinks about the consequences of his actions, and is prone to compromising his morals for pragmatic reasons. He has a long history of being on the wrong side of the law, something that troubles him when he stops and thinks about it. Aaron never did well in school, and is ignorant about many basic facts, though he has been known to display flashes of cunning at times.

Skills: Life on the streets has given him some practical experience in hand to hand combat. He is nowhere near expert level, and his brawling style has many flaws, but it is nonetheless effective.

Abilities: Aaron possesses an enchanted shield, a relic that has been passed down through his family for generations. The shield is able to generate forcefields, whose power and versatility is proportional to the moral character of the wielder. Aaron isn't the most upstanding guy, so for now it's limited to stopping conventional weapons and increasing the impact of blows from his shield. In the hands of a righteous person, it would also be capable of projecting the shield far enough to protect others or push objects a few dozen feet away. A person completely lacking in character would find the shield singularly useless.

Equipment: Aaron has his shield. It has a way of magically returning to him if separated, though this takes several hours and could be prevented with other magic. He also has a motorcycle for transportation, and a revolver for self defense.

Brief Backstory: Many generations ago, Aaron's ancestors were entrusted with a blessed shield. They were to be it's guardians, passing it down to the eldest male child and using for heroic purposes. This worked well enough for a few centuries, until Aaron's grandfather was killed in World War 2 before he had the chance to tell his son about the family secret. Aaron's father grew up in one of the poorest parts of Greenfield and without a positive male role-model, eventually becoming involved in organized crime. He was not a good parent to Aaron, who struggled in school and also ran into trouble with the law. Unlike his father, Aaron was troubled by his criminal record, but couldn't see any other way to survive. He dropped out of school and subsisted on a combination of minimum wage jobs, welfare, and petty crimes for several years. He stayed away from his father, ignoring him to avoid getting deeply involved with criminal elements.

One day, his mother contacted him, telling him that his father had mysteriously disappeared, and asking for his help finding him. Aaron searched his father's belongings and found the shield. He learned about its powers when it saved him from getting shot by a mysterious assailant who was waiting for him on his way out of the house. After a few more tests, Aaron became convinced of it's wondrous abilities. He adopted a vigilante persona to aid him in his investigation, and robbed a major drug dealer to get the cash to support himself for a while. The increase in superhuman activity has lead to many opportunities for a man with skills like his and a willingness to break the law, and Aaron will find it tempting to resist all of them, especially if they can help his investigation. As good as this could be for his bank account, Aaron worries about the citizens of the city, and hopes to shield at least some of them from the ensuing chaos.

Once Upon a Time...

Collaboration between Huntress, Yoshiskittlez, and Tanderbolt

A few hours earlier...

Robert had trouble falling asleep the previous night, his mind was still racing with questions. There was the usual concerns about crime and the incident in the mine, but one particular issue stood out. There was certain room underneath the hospital, one that he did not know why it was there or what was inside. The floorplans didn't list it, and the security room had no camera watching it. As far as he knew, only he and Regina knew of its existence, and Regina alone knew what it held.
Eventually, he calmed down and drifted off. While he was asleep, a strange and vivid dream came to him. Robert could even feel the little details, like the weight of his clothing and the cool temperature of the room he was in. He looked around, noticing stone walls and iron bars everywhere. He stared at his hands and found that he was wearing iron gauntlets, complementing the black armor on the rest of his body. It was hard to process all of the unfamiliar sensations, but from what he could tell he was in a medieval time period.

Robert looked around the room enough to get a general impression of the area. It appeared to be some sort of dungeon, fortunately he was standing outside of the bars. A few of the cells were occupied, watched over by guards wearing black armor. He stopped looking around when he heard a loud clattering sound coming from the hallway outside the room.

Through the shadows given off from the torches on the wall, he saw the silhouettes of two armored men carrying a seemingly limp woman into the room. They were still talking when they walked through the door, completely ignoring the woman who they carried.

"She's crazy tough, I'm telling you. I've seen Regina crush a person til they burst with the magic she hit this girl with, can't believe she survived." The second guard said.
"Magic's fancy, but there's something special about doing things the old fashioned way. Remember all the fun we had with the arms we hacked off of that peasent? You can't get that satisfaction from a spell." Strangely, Robert didn't seem to question why these unpleasent people were mentioning Regina.

They stopped talking when they saw him, looking a little startled. The two guards immediately straightened their posture and hardened their faces, trying to appear more disciplined. After a brief but awkward period of silence, one of them spoke to him,

"Roland, sir, everything went according to plan. Regina wants you to bring the second prisoner to other room immediately, Rumpelstiltskin could show up at any time."

While he spoke, one of the guards who had been in the room opened a cell and grabbed an unconscious woman dressed in rags, heaving her over his shoulder. Robert found himself nodding involuntarily, his muscles seemed to work without his will.

Feeling as though he was on autopilot, Robert walked into the hallway with the other guard. As he was leaving, he heard one of the men call out "I know you're tough, but Rumpelstiltskin's on a whole other level. Stay safe, Roland, you've been a great captain to us all." He didn't bother saying anything back, puzzled by how he got into to this whole situation.

At the end of the hallway, he came to another room of the dungeon. It looked similar, but there were a few important differences. One of the cells had bars made from wood instead of iron, and there was a mirror positioned in the middle an empty cell. This room had more guards than the last, and they were clustered around one woman who stood in the center of the room, Regina. Her face was unmistakable, though she dressed differently than the mayor he knew, appropriate for this time period. Somehow, it didn't strike him as out of the ordinary, and he even smiled a little when he saw her.

Regina was lost in her own thoughts though, painted nails drumming against the stone wall in anticipation with an almost worried look on her face. However when he had arrived in the room with the female prisoner, the anxiety washed away and Regina hastily gestured towards the empty cell with the mirror inside of it.
"There. And quickly!" She snapped.

Robert felt himself move over to the cell and open the door while the other guard carelessly dropped the woman on the hard stone floor. He shut the door and locked it with a key hey did not know he had, but this fact did not disturb him. Afterwards, he backed away from the cell and turned to face Regina again. Regina hurried over to the cell and smiled down at the unconscious girl. She waved her hand fluidly, a stream of light purple smoke encircling the girl and when it had vanished, the woman was no longer herself, but an exact replica of the first female prisoner Robert had seen just a few moments ago.

The plan was simple; make Rumpelstiltskin believe she was the real woman...the real Belle, from what he had heard Regina refer to her as a few times. All Robert had to do now was to sit back and watch as a very sick looking Mr. Gold and Regina played a game of cat and mouse until finally, Regina had ripped out her heart and crushed it in front of the imprisoned man.

While he stood by and watched, Robert felt something strange happen. With every passing moment, he gained more understanding of the situation. Memories flowed back to him, giving him knowledge of a past that he had never known before. He knew why people called him Roland, he knew why Regina was doing this, and he knew why he had gone along with it all. It felt more real than than his waking life, more vivid than anything he had remembered before. Suddenly everything made sense and meshed together, free from the fog that clouded his previous memories. While he was still lost in thought, the dream slowly faded out.

Robert woke up, and saw the rays of dawn streaming through his window. He sat up in bed, still processing his dream. This one didn't fade from his memory like a normal dream, it stayed clear in his mind even when tried to focus on other things. He found that the memories from the dream were with him too, still keeping the same fidelity. They eclipsed the memories he previously knew, making them look like pale imitations.

Robert could only conclude that the dream had really happened in the past, and that his newfound memories were real. It was hard to accept that he wasn't going crazy, but he remained steadfast. They explained so many things, Regina's behavior, the mystery of Jane Doe, and even provided a hint as to what the room beneath the hosital might hold. He skipped his normal morning routine to save time, and drove to the hospital immediately. When he got there, he ran down the stairs to the secret room, unlocked the door, and opened it forcefully.

This place was odd to her, still a prison no doubt but not something she had been used to. The walls were stone but so clean cut and stacked high up; large rectangular shapes. There were no torches or lanterns just some sort of fixture that hummed and buzzed, a bright white light emanating from it whenever the evil queen entered the room, which wasn’t often. There were no bars just a large, thick metal door, the smallest slit in it…Wait…that’s a lie…there were bars. There was a small window in the dark, dry room. It had bars on it and it let in a small amount of light. The room was eerily quiet.
After being locked up for so long Belle had begun speaking to herself. Just mutterings and random words, memories. She’d tell herself stories and try to remember facts from the books she had read. On rare occasions she could hear movement and noises past the heavy door. That’s what she had thought this time but instead the door creaked as it swung open in anger, the sound was almost deafening as Belle covered her ears and moved away, forcing herself into the corner as she watched a man walk in. Nothing familiar about him, she had never seen him before.

His stature was intimidating as she tried to move as far away from him as possible. Fingers tightly gripping the red cloak but making sure not to rip it or damage it in any way.
He knew he wasn't crazy as soon as he saw her face. Robert had definately seen this girl before, and she wasn't anyone who he could recall living in Storybrooke. He didn't know much about her, but the information he had would certainly help. She clearly looked dishevelled and out of sorts, but she was not visibly injured. He did his best to appear friendly, which didn't come naturally to him. He said,

"Are you Belle? I've come to get you out of here, away from Regina. I know someone who you will be safe with, and I think he'd be very happy to see you." It was awkward, but that was the best greeting he could come up with.

She nodded in response to his question, her eyes eventually meeting his. “R—Regina?” Belle asked as she tried to calm herself down. “Where am I? What is this place?” If she could finally get answers she would damn well take advantage of it. She hadn’t seen the outside world for who knows how long, although she was excited to get out and leave she was also terrified, this place was safe, almost….home even.

"You're in a room underneath the hospital, one that has been kept hidden from the staff and the public for several years. Storybrooke is a small, isolated town in Maine, Regina's the mayor, and I'm the sherriff. I have reason to suspect that she has been violating the law by holding you here, which is why I am here to release you. If there's anything else I can help with, please let me know." She didn't seem dangerous, but Robert still wasn't sure that his plan would go smoothly.

Her eyes darted across his face as he spoke, words she didn’t recognize. Names that literally meant nothing to her. She just watched him and slowly stood up. She just want to go home, away from all the chaos and commotion, somewhere that she didn’t have to worry, somewhere where she could occasionally smell the pink roses if she wanted to. “I just want to go home…” She muttered and glanced at him.

Robert tried to smile, which was something he didn't do very often. "I'll work on get you home as soon as I can, but unless you happen to live in Storybrooke, I need to find a place for you while I sort things out. There's a man named Mr. Gold who can keep you safe, and I think he knows you." He stepped back from the doorway and motioned with his hands for her to walk outside, ready to lead her to his car and away from the hospital.