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Post by Sally Fitch/Clever Else on Feb 26, 2013 8:22:40 GMT -5
Else had the mini "captain's wheel" in her hands, staring out at the endless waves before her. It felt so good to have her life back in her own hands... free to do what she wished. A flash of guilt struck the back of her mind... carrying a child that was also Hans'...leaving him divorce papers on Valentine's Day...
The once Queen squared her shoulders. She couldn't do it anymore. Pretending that it was okay for him to monitor her every move, after a 28 years of verbal abuse... and then... the betrayal before that. She cut the engine to the small vessel and made her way out onto the deck. There was a small table and plastic chairs arranged around it. She claimed one and sat down, closing her eyes as the wind and mist had its way with her hair ash brown. The gentle up and down motion of the boat against the waves lulled her into a calm.
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Post by Simple Hans/Fletcher Fitch on Feb 26, 2013 8:27:24 GMT -5
"Can you get us any closer?" Hans asked impatiently.
The white haired captain frowned. "I dare not..." He retorted, puffing on his pipe. "I told her, I says, 'don't go out too far away from the bay, lass', we don't know how far we can venture out without forgetting..."
Hans stood up, waving, shaking the whole tiny speed boat they were in. The tall man cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted. "Else... ELSE..."
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Post by Sally Fitch/Clever Else on Feb 26, 2013 8:36:37 GMT -5
Else opened her eyes. She sat up... she was a little farther away from the bay then she realized; the strong waves must have taken her out. She remembered the captain's warning...
She quickly went back to the small control center inside and tried starting up the vessel. The engine bellow seemed to putter, click, and then shut off. The Captain had ALSO said that the engine might be finicky. She swore under her breath and opened the floor panel to get to the engine. With an instruction manual in hand, she did her best to start it up...
...Could she hear her name being called in the distance? Else went outside, glancing around. Nothing but gray waters. Then she looked towards the mainland... There was a speed boat floating a good distance away. Even from this range it was IMPOSSIBLE not to know that the man waving her down was her husband.
"Hans..." She said under her breath. Was it relief that she was feeling?
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Post by Simple Hans/Fletcher Fitch on Feb 26, 2013 9:05:29 GMT -5
"ELSE!" Hans shouted. Her vessel was dead in the water, being carried out farther to sea. Hans swore and ripped off his coat, before plunging into the freezing water. "ARE YOU DAFT, LAD? " The captain swore. "Well, tah HELL with this..." He had his hand on the wheel, ready to pull out, but he wanted to make sure that the imbecile at least made it to the other vessel. Hans had always been an excellent swimmer. Puss the Cat had even taken advantage of that fact when tricking the nearby Duke and his Daughter into taking him in, claiming that her master's fine clothes and carriage had been stolen when he had stopped for a swim in a moment of sporadic whimsy. The Duke had blushed at Hans' massive... nakedness... though the Duke's daughter didn't seem too put off by it... the nakedness. Though that had been a hot summers day and Hans' hadn't a stitch on... not the cold February afternoon that this moment was, his clothes and shoes weighing his massive frame down as he struggled to reach her. God, please let her remember who she is... Hans pleaded in his mind. He couldn't bear the thought of losing his Else. Not again.
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Post by Sally Fitch/Clever Else on Feb 26, 2013 9:18:38 GMT -5
"Hans!" She screamed, as she saw him slip into the freezing water. What was that idiot THINKING? More then anything she wished she could get the houseboat running, to meet him half way, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get it revved up. Her husband's blonde head disappeared a few times below the waves. Her heart would stop... but then he would re-emerge, slightly closer to her every time.. He finally reached the houseboat and climbed up the ladder on the side, Else rushed over to assist him. "ARE YOU CRAZY???" She shouted. "You'll catch your DEATH-"
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Post by Simple Hans/Fletcher Fitch on Feb 26, 2013 9:20:44 GMT -5
"What's your name..." He panted. When she blinked at him, he seized her shoulders. "WHAT IS YOUR NAME??"
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Post by Sally Fitch/Clever Else on Feb 26, 2013 9:22:31 GMT -5
She blinked at his urgency. "Else." She answered, and then her eyes softened. "You thought..."
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Post by Simple Hans/Fletcher Fitch on Feb 26, 2013 9:23:54 GMT -5
"I don't know WHAT I thought..." He breathed. He then made his way inside, examining the removed panel. "How do we turn this thing around?"
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Post by Sally Fitch/Clever Else on Feb 26, 2013 9:46:40 GMT -5
"The motor...it's not responding, I've tried everything." She retrieved the instruction manual. "It says here to-"
Hans proceeded to kick the darn engine.
"Oh don't do that, Hans!" She cringed. If he broke it, then they truly were in trouble. But he managed to grab the chain that Else had tried earlier and gave it a few good pulls until the motor was buzzing to life again. Apparently it took muscle.
Else took the wheel and steered them back towards the edge of the bay; a forested area. She pulled in close and went outside to secure the boat's line around a tree, but Hans took the rope from her. Wordlessly he jumped out into the shallows, tredged up the rocky shore, and secured the line to a solid tree, knotting it repeatedly.
Else watched her husband, hugging herself. He usually had a good deal to say, as Fletcher, so his silence was a little unnerving. She went inside to retrieve some towels for him. When she turned to go outside again, he was already waiting by the entrance. She bit her lower lips. "I found these for you."
He reached behind himself and retrieved the folded up papers that he had jammed into the back of his jeans. The divorce papers flopped to the ground in a wet, sloppy mess.
Else let a breath out that she had been holding. "Ah..."
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Post by Simple Hans/Fletcher Fitch on Feb 26, 2013 9:55:04 GMT -5
"'Ah'?" Hans repeated, huffing. "That's all? Else... considering the day that I've had, and the fact that we BOTH could have lost our memories just a few moments ago... I think I deserve a little more then 'ah'."
His jaw tightened. He pointed down at the papery mess. "I'm not signing... not until I get an explanation."
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Post by Sally Fitch/Clever Else on Feb 26, 2013 10:01:18 GMT -5
Else grimaced at the mess on the carpeted floor. "I don't think either one of us can sign it now..." He wasn't amused. Did he have the RIGHT to be angry for what he did to her?
"You KNOW why..." Else turned away from him.
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Post by Simple Hans/Fletcher Fitch on Feb 26, 2013 10:06:39 GMT -5
Hans looked away. His eyes stung as he got the courage to look back at her. It tortured him... the way Fletcher had treated her, for 28 years. He was the sort of man that Hans would have had no qualms in breaking. "We were cursed... Else... PLEASE, don't... you know I would never hurt-"
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Post by Sally Fitch/Clever Else on Feb 26, 2013 10:29:32 GMT -5
"HURT ME?" Else laughed bitterly. "But you DID Hans. You violated a sacred trust, between man and wife, and you had my body cursed... and at such a...DEVASTATING price." Hans was almost in tears, he moved towards her to hold her, but she moved away from him. As if his touch was toxic. "But I know... I KNOW, Hans, that you, the simple-minded fool, didn't know any better. You thought you were doing us a favor. And that is the real FRUSTRATING part... I can't be angry with you. How could you know the price? Gods, I can't even be angry at REGINA because even SHE is a pawn in all of this... The ONLY one I can show malice towards is Rumpelstiltskin... yet even he would say that I could have left the kingdom at any point... So I guess it is all MY fault, Hans... MY problem, MY curse, MY FAULT." She sat down forcefully on the edge of the bed, decorated in all it's valentine's glory. Her hands were knotted in her hair. Digging all this up from the place in her heart where she had buried it... it was painful... so painful...
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Post by Simple Hans/Fletcher Fitch on Feb 26, 2013 10:59:53 GMT -5
A silence passed between them for few endless moments, when Hans finally spoke up... voice barely audible. "It wasn't just YOUR curse..."
Else looked up at him, eyes reddening with grief. He moved towards her, slowly descending to his knees and clasping her shapely hands in his large ones. "I cursed us both... we are married. An offense was done to your body, and so it was done to mine as well... it... infuriates me... that you bore the brunt of the tragedy that was my doing... and though I won't even pretend to know what that could possibly feel like... please remember that I lost a son too. As well as a wife, that same day... and I have been trying to get her back ever since." His voice was soft, but breaking. The tenderness of Hans the simpleton, but the eloquence of Fletcher the author.
He laid his head down in her lap as he used to do. It took a moment, but Else's shaking hand started to comb through his cold wet hair.
He let out a shaky breath. "If you want to leave... then I won't stop you. I would rather you be happy, alone, then together with me, miserable." He said, looking up at her. "But I love you, Else,... still as much as the day I first saw you. And I ask... that if there are any remnants of love that you might have felt for me...please...PLEASE give me a second chance."
"Please... forgive me..."
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Post by Sally Fitch/Clever Else on Feb 26, 2013 11:09:51 GMT -5
Else put a warm hand to the side of his cold face. She touched her forehead to his. It was HIS curse too... and while Else had gone off alone to remedy it in Neverland, she had thrust that loneliness and abandonment upon her husband during his grief as well. And yet here he was, on his knees, lovingly taking the blame for even HER actions.
He deserved better. He had the RIGHT to a second chance...and she felt no qualms about giving it. DESIRED it, even, with all her heart.
She brought her lips to his, for a tender kiss. "Only if you can forgive me, Husband." She murmured against him.
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