Work Text:
Prince Charming sighed, “I did not wake up today and think—”
“Dinosaur!” Emma shouted.
“What an astute observation, Miss Swan,” Rumplestiltskin grumbled.
Hook sneered, “You fit right in, Crocodile.”
Belle looked like she wanted to hit the pirate. “That isn’t helping.”
Snow, ever the peacemaker—she tried—spoke up. “Let’s all remain calm, and I’m sure together we can figure this out—”
Regina scoffed, “Not likely.”
“Guys!” Emma shouted over the arguing group, pointing at the dense trees surrounding them. “Shut up! I think I saw a dinosaur.”
All conversations stopped as they looked around them. Nothing rustled in the bushes.
Hook shook his head.“Think you’re seeing things, Princess.”
Emma swirled on him, furious, “I did not—”
A piercing roar above their heads cut off her tirade. Collectively, they all looked up to see a giant head of a Tyrannosaurus rex looming over them.
Gamers never looked up.
“Shit—” Hook cursed.
“Run!” Emma shouted.
They ran and ran, lapping around the island several times. The giant dinosaur was always right on their heels, yet it never caught them, even though it was much faster than the humans and the magicless mages.
The T. rex snapped its jaws at them, and Hook jumped through its maw, escaping its clamping teeth by a hair.
They jumped over a canyon, only for Hook to slam into the cliff face and slide down the mountain, perfectly alive yet stunned, with birds swirling around his head like a demented halo.
When they came across a lake, they jumped in, swimming across when a Baryonyx reared out of the water.
“Oh, come on—” The water dinosaur’s jaws clamped around Killian’s head and snapped his head clean off.
“Killian!” Emma screamed, but kept swimming.
Rumple smiled. “Killed by a very old crocodile. Now that’s poetic.”
Belle slapped him upside the head. “Not helping.”
Rumple shrugged. “What. Not like the damn pirate didn’t have it coming. Besides, he’ll respawn just like before.”
Sure enough, once they arrived on the shore of the lake, an irate pirate stood there.
“Why in the bloody fuck is all the bad shit happening to me!”
Regina rolled her eyes. “I don’t know if you noticed, but it’s not rainbows and kittens for us either.”
“No one else has died!” Killian screeched.
“Not true—” Snow started, but stopped at the pleading look from her husband.
Belle, watching the T. rex, interrupts the debate. “We have a few minutes until it catches up.”
“How do we stop that thing?” David asked.
“We’re not meant to.”
Everyone turned to look at Rumple, who glared at them all. “Did none of you pay attention?”
All besides Belle looked away, ashamed.
“Things have been busy,” Snow argued.
“I haven’t had the time.” Charming sighed.
“I—I should have.” Regina closed her eyes as if it pained her to admit.
“He told me about it, but I admit I wasn’t really listening.” Emma kicks a pebble into the water.
Hook threw his hands in the air. “The kid hates me!”
Rumple smiled and muttered under his breath, so only Belle, by his side, could hear, “And you wonder why you keep dying.” Maybe it was a coincidence, but if his grandson was deliberately making this game harder for Killian and if a small part of that was retribution for him, he would forever be in Henry’s debt. The idea alone warmed his heart with pride and love.
He and Belle seemed to be the only ones who had been paying attention to the boy lately.
“Belle and I watched all the Jurassic Park movies with him. He created a new binder weeks ago. He asked me whether Jumanji was real and whether the concept could be reversed. We’d been discussing the magical theory behind such a spell. I made sure he didn’t keep this secret, and he assured me he told all of you. None. Of. You. Listened.”
The multitude of roars coming from their side drew them from their shame as a herd of velociraptors the size of a turkey burst out from the bushes.
Hook paled. “And, now we’re all bloody well paying for that mistake.”
Back at Granny’s Diner, Henry laughed as he commanded the raptors to attack.
“Charge!” Red fist pumped the air.
Achie frowned at the laptop, “I still say this is too dangerous.”
Henry waved him off. “It’s fine! I went over everything with Grandpa, well, in theory. I never told him what I was going to do, but Granpa’s smart. I think he knew.”
Archie sighed but conceded the point, scratching behind Pongo’s ears.
Granny snapped a towel. “The boy’s right. A lot of them were becoming insufferable. I was afraid they’d destroy my diner.”
Henry nodded as he moved the T. rex to start chasing them again. “They need to set aside their differences and work together. What better way to do that than in a video game?”
“My guy.” August slapped his hand on the kid’s shoulder, “You trapped them in a world where they can’t actually die. I’d bet $50 Rumplestiltskin kills Killian in the next ten minutes.”
Ruby slapped down a fifty-dollar bill. “You’re on wood-boy. I say the pirate gets sick of dying all the time and runs Gold through.” The two shake on the bet.
Henry frowns at the screen. “That wasn’t the point.” He may have been tunneling Hook too much, but he didn’t like him! He said rude things about everyone in town and refused to forgive Grandpa, even though he saw how hard the Dark One was trying.
He wanted them all to learn to get along. That was the point!
But maybe resolving their problems through life-or-death battles was a bit of a family tradition. In the end, he was sure they’d come back closer than before.
And well, if his Grandpa could get a teeny-tiny bit of revenge?
Who was Henry to stop him?