A sigh escaped Henry's lips. "Look," he said, gripping onto her hands even harder, looking at her like he actually needed her, "I get that it's hard for you to believe in a happy ending right now, so I'm not gonna ask you to, but... can you believe...
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chapter 10. beating hearts
warnings: none.
♥
AS soon as they heard Regina leave her former office, Max and Henry snuck in.
"Isn't this a little mean?" asked Max, as she followed Henry. His plan to get his mom out of the office had involved inviting her to lunch. Regina was now headed to Granny's, thinking that Henry would be there waiting for her, and Max didn't feel good about it.
"We need to get into that vault," said Henry, opening one of the many drawers and pulling out a bundle of keys. "It's the only way to save mom and Mary Margret."
"Okay, but... couldn't we just have talked to her?"
Henry shook his head. "She wouldn't have listened."
♥
THE vault was, like any other, located in the cemetery. Henry had kept his book open for reference, and it didn't take them long to locate it.
Together, they stepped in. After closing the door, Max turned back to find Henry staring at something ahead of him. There was a stone coffin in the room, and there was an engraving on the platform on which it stood. The engraving — what Henry was staring at — read Henry Mills, Beloved Father.
She watched his face, trying to decipher what he was feeling, but Henry's face was unreadable.
"Look," he said suddenly.
Max followed where he was pointing. There were scrapes all over the floor next to the right side of the coffin. Immediately getting on his page, she rushed with him to the left and started pushing. The coffin budged, revealing an opening to a staircase underneath.
They walked down the staircase together. When they got to the bottom, they were confronted with a wall of small golden drawers. Henry walked ahead, while Max stayed glued to the bottom of the stairs. Her entire body turned cold, yet beads of sweat were forming on her forehead. The powerful magic of the drawers' containment radiated throughout the room, sizzling her skin, their pounding so powerful it might as well have been Max's own head that was throbbing.
Henry looked back at her, and Max gulped.
"Are those...?"
Henry nodded. "Hearts."
"You know," Max said quickly, "it would probably be smart if I went out and kept watch, right? Yeah, I'm gonna do that." And she rushed back up the stairs.
Super short chapter, I know! But it's important to the story and I couldn't combine it with the next because that one is very tightly thematically consistent and I don't wanna ruin that. I wasn't lying when I said season 2 would be better it just needs to pick up first I promise.
gif above belongs to @i-was-always-the-queen on tumblr
