Beast Unleashed

The Bridge

A larger group of people, mainly adults, joined you as Cleo led everyone through the station looking building and towards the desks on the other side of the room. She stopped and turned to talk to everyone, you had to strain your ears to hear her as you had been dawdling at the back walking slowly to look at every detail of the building. One thing that stood out to you, apart from the windows was the fact that the building didn't have a roof, the ceiling just seemed to go on forever and ever the white abyss never stopping.

"If everyone would like to line up at one of the desks you will get a record of yourself and then you will meet me over by those doors." Cleo pointed to a set of large, open double doors that people were walking through, you noticed that everyone was walking through them away from you no one was coming back the other way.

You joined the nearest queue and tapped your foot against the floor feeling bored and impatient, who knows what Peter and the others were doing. They saw you die and would probably all be grieving, you didn't want to know the type of chaos Peter would cause if you didn't get back to him soon.

"Next," a man sat at the desk called. You felt a nudge on your back and you snapped your head up seeing you were next to go. You hadn't realised how fast the queue had been moving, people didn't know who they were so their records were small.

You stepped forward towards the grey-haired man who was waiting for you with an uninterested expression on his face. You wondered how long he had been doing this, he must get through loads of dead people a day.

"Name? If you can remember it," he asked looking down at a sheet of paper in front of him.

"Y/N Valenti," you replied calmly. He gave a small look of surprise when you gave a name, you guessed most people who came to him were completely clueless.

"Age?"

That was a more complicated one, you and Peter had been immortal so you must have been over 60. But instead, you replied, "18." He glanced up at you briefly his eyebrows furrowed like he was thinking hard.

Then, after a small pause, he said in a low voice, "You remember everything about yourself don't you?" You nodded looking him in his blue eyes.

"Don't tell anyone!" He warned, "Only those who possess strong power can remember everything about themselves. Keep it a secret." You nodded feeling extremely curious as to what he meant.

You watched him scribble something on your paper then hand it to you smiling widely, "Welcome to the Underworld Miss Valenti." You nodded to him walking away to find Cleo by the big double doors waiting for the rest of the group.

You made sure no one was watching and you glanced down at what your paper said and it read, No memories present. Your name and age were above it in neat, loopy handwriting.

What did the guy mean when he said 'Only those who possess strong power remember themselves'?

Did that have something to do with your magic?

But your magic was gone, the potion you had wasn't permanent?

At least that's what Rumple and Regina thought so what could he possibly mean?

"Would everyone follow me and I will take you to the Underworld," Cleo cheered with a sweet smile on her face.

The group followed her through the large doors and through a large, wide corridor. You dawdled at the back again looking at all the people, there must have been over 300 people walking through this corridor all at the same time mostly old but some younger people, people from all different cultures and backgrounds.

You wondered how many people here were from magical kingdoms like you and how many were normal people who lived an average life, with an average job, in an average house.

"This way is the entrance to the Underworld. Once you get down there, there is no way of returning, just like there is no way of returning to the world of the living," Cleo was explaining to the group as you started going down an enormous staircase. Part of you wondered how many people had tripped down these stairs but no one put a foot wrong. Maybe they were magic or something to stop people falling.

When you reached the bottom of the staircase you began walking across a long bridge. It was wide enough to take all the people walking on it and plenty more.

You wandered over to one of the carved stone bars that was on one side of the bridge, you looked over the side and saw two creepy things.

The first one was that nothing was supporting the bridge under your feet no stone pillars keeping up. It was just creepily floating.

The second was the darkness went on forever under the bridge. You weren't sure but you swore you could hear screams coming from whatever was at the bottom of the infinite blackness.

You noticed everyone around you had change colour slightly, their skin was going slightly yellow as if someone had stained them with a used teabag. You looked down at your hands and saw they were the same exact colour they had been when you arrived, clean and unmarked but now they were glowing with a pale glow, the opposite of the dull yellow of everyone else. People were giving you strange looks so you focused ahead.

The city was getting bigger and bigger the closer you got, it was an impressive sight against the red. You spotted smaller houses and buildings amongst the big buildings and people were watching the new arrivals through the windows of their houses with curious expressions.

When the bridge finally came to an end you saw people on the other side waving and getting the attention of people. You saw a man run past you towards a young woman who had her arms out and a smile on her face, she must be a family member who died first.

Did the dead people already know the death dates of their alive family members?

Cleo stopped the group and turned to face them, "This is where I leave you. I won't see any of you again so I wish you a happy time here in the Underworld. Your families will be waiting around here for you and they will explain how the Underworld works. Good luck and goodbye."

She walked away without another word, her blonde hair bouncing behind her. You watched her go to another woman, who had clearly just walked another group of people here, and they walked down some steps and onto another bridge that was underneath the one you came on. You made a mental note that there was a way back to the station building with a guard next to the entrance.

"Y/N? Y/N!" you heard someone calling your name and you turned to see two people you were sure if you wanted to punch or hug. Your parents. They looked very different from what you could remember by it was unmistakably them.

"Mum, who is that?" a girl older than you asked from behind your parents.

Oh no, this was about to get interesting.

Heya guys, it's been a while since I updated. I hope everyone is alright, and enjoying the summer holiday if you have one. I go back to college on the 6th, pretty excited tbh.

Lotta love
AFG