Enchanted

Chapter Twenty-five
Forest of Lost souls
~Peter~

We made port in a village to gather supplies before setting out for the forest of lost souls. I needed to assemble a team to go with me into the forest. I knew Emma and Killian wouldn’t take no for an answer, neither would Regina or Rumple. They loved Krissi like she was their own. And they were her guardians as told to us by Isis. Robin would be good to have along but I wanted Felix to come with me. I knew I could trust him more than anyone else. There was one other person I wanted to come with me, someone that I knew no one else would expect.
“We need to decide whose going in with you”.

Emma said as she sat across from me at the table in the kitchen. I looked at her resisting my normal snarky sarcastic remarks. I knew Emma was just worried I would let her come along.
“Relax, you and Killian are of course coming, Krissi’s your daughter. Regina and Rumple are also going to come. I’m bringing Felix and Jack”.
I said, Emma’s mouth dropped open.
“Jack Sparrow? The man my husband can’t stand?”
I smirked at her.
“Not a big shock there, most Pirates can’t stand other Pirates”.
I stood, Emma followed me.
“Are you sure you can trust him?”

I paused thinking about my answer for a moment remembering what Krissi said. I looked back at Emma.
“Your daughter thought so”.
Emma crossed her arms giving a heavy sigh.
“She saw something in him, that’s why you’re bringing Sparrow”.
I nodded.
“I trust her judgment. She’s smarter then she gets credit for, maybe she has a super power like her mom”.

Emma smiled to herself at the thought of her daughter being like her.
“She can see people for who they really are, just like you can tell if someone is lying to you”.
Emma looked at me.
“It scared the hell out of me”.
She said suddenly. Emma frowned at me sitting down again.
“When you said you loved her at the town meeting, and I knew you were telling the truth”.

She looked down.
“Scared the hell out of me. She’s my baby, I guess I’m not ready to let her go, let her be in love and have adventures I thought if I let her be with you, you would take her from me”.
Emma looked at me.
“Finding true love at sixteen is almost impossible. But she has and I need to accept that she’s smart enough to know when she’s found the one she’s meant for”.
Emma stood.

“I guess I have to trust you and know that you’ll always do the right thing when it comes to her”.
I nodded to her keeping my arms crossed.
“Thanks, but I didn’t exactly make it easy on you to trust me”.
I sighed rubbing the back of my neck.
“I’m just as much to blame for everyone’s reaction as they are. I’ve done awful things to people and I need to accept that it will take time for people to trust me”.

“We’re getting closer to the forest!”
Henry announced as he came into the kitchen. I turned towards him giving a nod as I moved past him. He grabbed my arm, I looked at him and Henry sighed.
“Um, sorry about punching you.”
I smirked at him.
“I ripped out your heart and switched bodies with you. At the very least you should have punched me”.

Henry let me go and nodded, obviously things would be awkward between Henry and I since I did technically kill him. I made my way above to see the forest getting closer in the distance. Felix stood at my side.
“Having fun with your girlfriend?”
Felix narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Girlfriend?”
I smirked to myself crossing my arms as Amanda came over to us.

“Felix can we talk?”
He looked at her then to me as I snickered, he shot me a glare as Amanda led him aside. I watched them from the corner of my eye as Amanda stood across from him.
“I just wanted to say, be careful and good luck”.
She leaned up on her toes kissing his cheek. I snickered knowing he was blushing now.
“Thanks”.
Felix said lightly. Amanda smiled at him as she backed up moving towards Henry and the others. Felix came back towards me, I did my best to repress my laughter.
“Shut it”.
Felix muttered, his cheeks flushed pink as he tried to act cool. I snickered shaking my head.
“Looks like you’ll be cutting your hair”.

Felix narrowed his eyes at me, I smiled at him.
“You’re the one who said if you ever fall in love you’d cut your hair, I’m just repeating what you said”.
Felix rolled his eyes not responding because he knew I had him.
“Alright, so who’s going in with you?”
Killian asked once we made it to the docks. I turned to the group.
“Emma, Killian, Regina, Rumple, Felix and Jack”.
“Jack?”
Everyone repeated.
“Jack?”
Jack himself said as he sat up looking drunk as usual.

I looked at him.
“Yes, Jack. Krissi believes in him and so do I”.
Jack staggered forwards trying to look sober and failing miserably at it.
“As honored as I am, how do you know I won’t take the blood and drink it myself?”
Jack grinned at me, I narrowed my eyes at him moving in on him.
“Because that would mean I couldn’t be the one to save Krissi, which would mean you’d have the power to save her, meaning I’d have to kill you and take the power for myself”.
Jack’s grin never left his lips.
“And what makes you think I want to go with you at all?”

I sighed crossing my arms.
“Because you saved my life, and we both know you didn’t do that for me. You did it for Krissi because some part of you cares about her”.
Jack narrowed his eyes at me.
“I told you, I wanted to be the first Pirate to lock swords with a god”.
I rolled my eyes.
“You already locked swords with him in the cavern”.
“No I didn’t”
Jack said quickly. Rumple narrowed his eyes at Jack.
“Yes you did!”
Jack sputtered searching for an excuse that he couldn’t find.
“Come with us or don’t, I’m trusting Krissi’s hunch that there is good in you Sparrow. Whether or not you come with us really doesn’t matter to me. But it would matter to her”.

Jack sighed looking at me.
“What’s in it for me?”
I shook my head.
“Not a thing”.
Jack thought for a moment as the others looked on exasperated with him by this point. Jack tapped his chin as he paced.
“Alright we’re going do what you want Sparrow”.
I turned heading towards the boat with the others.
“Alright, you’ve twisted my arm”.
Jack said approaching us.
“I’ll come along on your little expiation”.

I made my way onto the boat with Jack following behind me. We headed towards the forest, I knew I was about to face a lot of evil forces to get what I needed to save Krissi but she was worth it. We reached the forest and Felix tied off the boat so it would be waiting when we got back. Regina narrowed her eyes at the dead trees before us.
“This place is cursed, it’s like a living nightmare”.
I drew my sword Excalibur and clutched it tightly in my hand. Living nightmare or not I was going in. The others followed after me as I made my way through the trees. Shadows swirled and rippled around us as we walked, Emma providing light by conjuring up a torch.

“We’re surrounded”.
Rumple hissed as he looked towards the shadows. I could feel it too, something was waiting in the shadows watching us. Felix remained at my side with his sword drawn.
“This is the creepiest place I have ever been”.
Emma muttered as the stench of death reached us. Suddenly a mass of shadows manifested in front of us taking the form of a man. I took a step back looking at the man as he grinned at us.

“Well, well. What do we have here? Some souls to devour?”
I narrowed my eyes at the man.
“Out of the way”.
I hissed moving forwards, the man laughed at me crossing his arms.
“Oh, you’re after Merlin’s gift, well I can promise you, you won’t be getting there alive.”
Jack looked around as more shadows took the form of people.
“Why was it you wanted me here again?”
Jack said as he scanned our surroundings.

“We will devour your souls”.
The man smirked as he approached us, it seemed like this was one of the challenges we’d have to face if we wanted to get to Merlin’s blood. As the lost souls lunged for us the battle was on. Regina, Rumple and Emma using magic to fight them off. Killian, Felix, Jack and I used our swords. My eyes narrowed at the lost soul that continued to fight with me. I thrusted my sword through his body and a blinding white light emitted from my sword destroying the lost soul, the light spared as the sword seemed to sing with a loud ringing. The other lost souls began to shatter like the one I had been fighting had.

“Seems like that sword is more powerful than I thought”.
Killian said looking at me. Jack leaned over getting a look at my sword, I knew he would be wanting it for himself. I turned away from them starting down the path.
“We need to keep moving, I need to get to the vial before someone else does.”
As we continued through the forest of lost souls the shadows around us began to twist and swirl. I ignored them remaining focused on the task at hand. Finding the blood of Merlin so I could save Krissi.

As we fought our way through the forest. Lost soul after lost soul attacking us and trying to take our souls. I knew we would never get anywhere unless I used Excalibur to eliminate all the lost souls. I held the sword up high and drove it into the ground, a sonic boom of light energy rippled through the forest taking all the lost souls into a blinding light. The ground began to change becoming lush green grass and the trees became beautiful and full of life again.
I pulled Excalibur from the ground looking around at what the swords light had done. The trees parted and the vial of Merlin’s blood hovered in a shimmering light just above a rock it had been resting on.

“That’s it. The vial”.
Killian said as he noticed it, I moved forwards as Felix grabbed Jack keeping him back. We couldn’t trust him completely, I took the vial in my hands looking down at it. All the power I needed to save Krissi was inside. I removed the top and without hesitation I drank the blood of Merlin accepting the power and responsibilities. I felt the pulse within me, it rippled through the air nearly taking the others off their feet. I opened my eyes realizing I was floating a few feet off the ground.

“You’ve got what you need to save her, we shouldn’t waste any time getting to her”.
Emma said looking worried, I eased myself to the ground turning towards her.
“Thanatos will be expecting us. He will have an army of the dead waiting, all of you are responsible for dealing with them. Thanatos is mine, do what you have to in order to keep the army busy, I have to be the one to sever his soul”.

Emma nodded.
“We’ll be ready, no matter what. Let’s go”.
We made our way back towards the boat that was waiting for us. I was moment’s way from having Krissi back now, but I knew this was only the beginning of our story. Something much worse was waiting for us back in Storybrook.