*~*~*Collaboration between YoshiSkittlez and GuardianAngelHaruki*~*~*

What seemed like a few minutes later, Faye arrived back at her home and locked her door. She forlornly stared at the walkman for a good moment or two, and she couldn't help but think of him as she mumbled his name quietly, "Henry...Please be alright..."

"[i]Oh don't worry, Jekyll. Survival is kind of his thing. Well...if he dies, you can count on me to kill the ones responsible...[/i]"

Faye growled "Shut up, Hyde!" as she marched right to the basement and closed the door behind her. She looked in the mirror to see Hyde staring back at her. 

"[i]Awww! Don't be like that![/i]" Hyde moped mockingly. She then laughed and sneered "[i]Especially considering we're talking about my true love here,[/i]"

Faye scoffed and answered angrily, "Excuse me! YOUR true love?! Last I checked, he kissed me," 

Hyde laughed "[i]And last I checked, he was much more...[u]intimate[/u] with me![/i]" Faye was silenced as the memories of that heated and passionate night with Henry came flooding to the forefront of her mind. Hyde laughed even more, as though she could see Faye's face blanching, and her chest and shoulders rise with every heavy labored breath she took. 

"[i]He looked riiiight at me. He didn't see you...He only saw me,[/i]"

"Stop it...!"

"[i]You know what that means right?[/i]"

"No...! I said stop it!"

"[i]It means that he doesn't love you Jekyll. He only. Loves. [u]ME[/u].[/i]"

"Shut up!!!"

"[i]Oh don't worry, Jekyll. Complete control of this mind and body will belong to me....very soon. It will be as though you never existed to begin with![/i]"

"I! SAID! SHUT! UUUUUP!!!!"

Faye screamed as she slammed her fist into the mirror's surface, aiming for Hyde's laughing face. The mirror's surface shattered into pieces as Hyde's laugh echoed in Faye's ears. Faye winced as the shards of mirror cut her skin and caused her hand to bleed. As she kneeled down and held her hand, Hyde's laugh seemed to fade away. Faye used a nearby first aid kit to bandage her hand.

After moments of silence, Faye sighed and shook her head at her own reflection in a shard of glass. Just seeing her reflection in a broken shard, made her realize how broken her mind is. It was just as broken as that mirror...and it was broken by her own hands.

She knew what she had to do now.

She fished her cell phone out of her purse and after taking in a few deep breaths and regaining her composure, she speed dialed Dr. Hopper. She waited for him to answer as the dial tone rang in her ear.

The phone rang five times before Archie answered, more than likely just finishing up an appointment with a client as his mind seemed a bit scattered as he answered.

"Uh, y-yes h-hello?"

Faye answered, her voice was serious and seemed to hold a heavy weight of its own, "Hello, Dr. Hopper. I want to cancel all future appointments..."

"Doctor!" Archie said upon recognition from her voice, then processed the words Faye had spoken to him. "I- I don't think I understand. Has, uh, has something happened?"

"No. Not yet anyways," 

Faye closed her eyes and she said to him, "The meetings weren't working...we both know that. And now with my memories back," She chuckled bitterly and with a tone that showed despair, "Well...[i]now[/i] I know how hopeless my case [i]truly[/i] is," 

"Dr. Stevenson..." Archie tried after a long pause. "Perhaps then, what you need isn't a psychologist, but a friend. Why don't you come stop by tomorrow? It will be all off the record; no notes, no new treatments, just an ear to listen. Whatever it is... whatever [i]this[/i] is... I've been seeing you long enough to know that you can't do it alone."

Faye was silent out of surprise from Archie's answer. She certainly hadn't been expecting that kind of response. She soon let out a series of sounds. Whether they were chuckles or sobs, it was hard to tell if Faye was laughing or crying. 

Faye covered her mouth as tears fell down her face. She said to him, "Thank you, Dr. Hopper. You are very kind...But I'm afraid I can't," She shook her head and she said to him, trying to stop herself from crying as she spoke, but failing, "I'm afraid...that if I let you in on...'too much information', then she will come after you, and I don't want anyone to lose their lives because of me," 

"She?" Archie responded, and then made a noise of understanding just as soon as the word left his mouth. "Oh, you mean your other persona." He clarified before continuing on, his voice keeping calm and pausing from time to time, allowing Faye to get in her sobs over the phone. "Doctor Ste- Faye... I can understand your fear of the unknown, and I admire that you wish to keep me, and everyone else in Storybrooke safe by not pursuing anything but have you stopped to think that you might be hurting yourself more by keeping it to yourself?" He paused, letting that sink in for a moment. "She may come after me, she may not, but if she does I will gladly stand my ground on the principle that I did nothing more than try to help a friend in need, and if that makes me a target, then so be it."

"[i]My! My! We got a brave one! That makes a hunt so much more interesting![/i]"

Faye ignored Hyde's predatory sneer in her head. She had considered that what she had been doing has been hurting herself, but it was either have her be hurt, or kill people. She widened her eyes at his statement, and she could feel her heart ache. She warned him, "My persona isn't just some sadistic psychopath...She's dangerous. You're saying that you are perfectly ok with being a target to an animalistically minded predator! She's a monster,"

"Well that is one opinion." Archie stated optimistically. "My own personal opinion, however, remains unmoved since I have not yet met this other side of you, nor am I pushing to. Simply, I am offering you an ear and perhaps a shoulder if you should so need it." He paused, then continued. "Just think about it Faye."

Faye warned him, "Trust me...you do [i]not[/i] want to meet her," She then said to him "Thank you Dr. Hopper. I will think about it," 
She then said "My name before the curse...was Dr. Heather Jekyll," After giving him her pre-curse name, she hung up on Dr. Hopper, before he could react. She then rubbed her face, and calmed herself down. 

She then stood up and headed for the bathroom. She knew that she needed to make sure that she didn't look weak in front of the one person who was evenly matched against Hyde. After she had prepared herself, she grabbed the glowing green phaseolus vulgaris extract in the test tube, corked it, and hid it in her coat, sure that the concoction won't spill. She left the house three hours later, when night had fallen over Storybrooke.

*~*~*

Faye walked to Mr. Gold's house, looking carefully to see if anyone was following her, and she was looking to see if any of the lights in the house were lit. The entire victorian home was lit from the second story down, leaving only the balcony and attic on the third story completely dark. It was a strange sight, as usually only one or two lights would remain on at a time.

Mr. Gold had taken a quick break from poking fun at Belle's culinary skills in the 'new world' and stepped outside on the porch, pulling a cigerette from his inside suit jacket pocket and held it gingerly between his lips while he fished out a lighter from his pants pocket. He'd have to be extra cautious with leaving these lying around with Belle sharing his space now. With practiced precision, he had the end lit and had taken in a few drags before spotting Heather headed towards his home.

Faye saw him smoking from a cigarette, and she shook her head at him, before he caught sight of her. She thought to herself with sarcasm, "[i]Way to take a doctor's diagnosis seriously,[/i]" When she was close enough, she stopped and greeted Gold with a stoic, cold, and calm "Good evening, Mr. Gold,"

Mr. Gold promptly raised an eyebrow at her, but gave nothing more of a greeting before nudging his head in the direction of the stone pathway that would take them around the house. Without even so much as waiting to see if she followed, Mr. Gold limped down the stairs and onto the path that would take him straight to the basement entrance.

Faye followed Mr. Gold to the basement, not saying a word as she walked down the stairs and into the basement. He allowed her to go first, finishing his cigerette and stomping it out with his shoe before following after her a few moments later. Faye turned on the lightbulb above them so they could see what they were doing. She carefully looked at the chemicals that were on the table and she looked to Mr. Gold.

"Remind me why I'm doing this again, I'm rather busy with another project." He said after a long, uncomfortable silence, his eyes glancing over to the alchemy table where he had started his work that morning. 

After the failed attempt earlier that afternoon, he got in a quick nap to keep Belle from fussing over him but twenty minutes and a cup of tea later he was back at work, starting from scratch. The only other break he had taken that day was when Belle had come down to ask what she should prepare for dinner. After a quick argument in the house over the subject matter of Belle no longer being his caretaker, and she of course being stubborn in turn ignored his protests and began to cook dinner anyway. It was then that he had a strong urge to smoke, and quietly slipped outside after kissing Belle tenderly on her forehead as her hands were wrist deep in ground beef.

Faye crossed her arms and she answered his request with a raised eyebrow, "Because you promised to help me in return for helping Belle get acquainted with Storybrooke and helping her get new clothes,"

Mr. Gold snorted, heading over to his alchemy table and muttering something about 'your kind to do it out of being [i]nice[/i]' as he ran his hands over two different vials of liquid before plucking one from its stand and using an eye dropper to add two drops of the black liquid to the larger, slowly boiling beaker over the bunsen burner.

She then asked "What other project are you working on?"

After he had applied the drops, he placed the smaller test tube back on its holder before looking up at Heather.

"What is it you need my help in magic for?" He asked, ignoring her question alltogether. "After your other self broke our last deal for this favor, and with how quiet Storybrooke has been lately, I'm not too eager to bring your Henry back."

"Because, one: you promised with the new deal you made with [i]me[/i], which I've kept my end. Two: I'm a scientist, and the only magic I know is what you've taught me before the curse, and they don't include portals. Lastly..." She smiled cleverly at him and she asked "Who's to say what I have, wouldn't be of any help to your...other project?"

"Ah, so it's a portal you want is it? Well I'm sorry to tell you dearie, I spent a dozen lifetimes trying to create one. It can't be done."

"It's not a portal I want. I told you, I want to bring Henry, Mary Margaret, and Knox back if they're alive," Heather corrected him. 

"Which would require a portal." Mr. Gold replied acidly.

She then pulled out the test tube and she asked "Did your previous attempts at creating portals include using this?" She showed him the shining green concoction and she explained, "This compound is Phaseolus Vulgaris extract. Bean extract. And I don't think I need to tell you what's causing it to glow, I think you can already tell," 

At the mention of the bean extract, the pawnbroker's attention was piqued slightly. Stepping aside from his alchemy table, he snatched the vial away from her and held the tube up to the light, examining the contents.

"Now where would they have gotten a magic bean?" He asked more out loud to himself than to Heather. He lowered the test tube back down and waved his hand over the top, watching the neon green fade into something more tolerable to look at before holding it back up to the light once more, watching the small, darker specs of matter floating around within the green liquid.

"I'm afraid I've only the one answer for you dearie." He said handing the tube back to her. "As you're not from this world, or mine, I'll indulge you in a little lesson. Magic beans, grown by the giants of The Enchanted Forest... it was rumored that there were none left in my land. Many, many years ago, far before my existance and when the giants were all too common, the humans had learnt about the beans and were quick to turn to greed and wage war, for what could stop a man who could travel to any land he wished so long as he only thought about it? This war... it went on for centuries, but the humans emerged victorious and brought home the beans for themselves. Portal jumping became quite the leisurely activity for the common people, and the existance of the twelve realms came to be but as the multitude of The Enchanted Forest had been spread all across time and space, not one of them realized that once the beans were gone, they were gone for good... they could not come back.

"With the giants now all but gone, and without a single stock growing, the beans have become quite the rarity. It is curious as to how your Henry came by one, it's even more curious that he had decided to use it now and leave you behind." Mr. Gold paused, gauging Heather's reaction before adding in the poison to his comment. "You might want to stop and reconsider your... relationship-"

"You watch what you're saying!" Heather couldn't help but hiss out quietly. She knew what he was insinuating, and she glared at him, while her jaw clenched. Her lips were open in a slight snarl, almost allowing Gold to see her teeth...sharpen? She may have felt sadness and despair when Hyde told her this...but when Gold said it, it seemed to bring out an anger that Heather had attempted to bury for so long.

"Whatever land he has thought of, whatever land he has travelled to... he won't be coming back, not without another bean, and let me tell you dearie, in my many centuries of portal searching, I have only come by two in my lifetime." He quickly gestured towards the vial, unperturbed by Heather's anger towards him. "Well, two and a half."

She snarled lightly, "Well, if that counts as half, I can get more. I certainly know how to get more of that extract, and where if [i]that[/i] is the problem," The hand that wasn't holding the vial full of extract, clenched itself into a tight self as an attempt to keep herself from lashing out at Gold.

A smile curled over his lips, finding something in Faye's words amusing.

"That's not how it works dearie. Once a bean has been activated, it can not be reused, no matter how much magic or science you put into it. There isn't enough power in the world to resurrect what you have managed to collect in a bottle. Snow White, is gone. Knox. Is gone. [i]Henry[/i]. Is. Gone!" He was snarling now, having lost his patience somewhere along the way while he was speaking through tightly clenched teeth, a glint in his eye alluding that there was more to his words than what he was just saying to the good doctor. "He [i]left[/i] you Heather, he [i]abandoned[/i] you. And he's [i]not[/i] coming back."

Heather was visibly shaking as her anger seemed to grow, and she spoke as he snarled his poisonous words "ShutupshutupshutupshutupSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP[b]SHUUUUUUTUUUUUUP[/b]!!!"
She then raised her hand to slap him hard across the face, but with the reflexes that were entirely inhuman his hand closed down hard on her wrist, keeping her hand there a few inches from his face.

"Careful... who you upset... dearie. You're not the only one... with an inner demon here..." Mr. Gold whispered out harshly, a menacing warning.

Heather winced at the painful grip Gold had on her wrist, coupled with the stings on the strange burns that appeared on her arm and wrist. However, she kept her glare, and she hissed "You should heed that warning as well, Gold," She then move to tug her wrist out of his grip, before he completely cut off circulation and made her hand numb.

Puzzled, Mr. Gold's expression faded from raging to confused as she winced. He wasn't applying near enough pressure to illicit such a reaction, it was then that he quickly realized that there was more going on here than he knew. Ignoring her warning without regard, he held fast to her wrist when she tried to wrench away and then used his opposite hand (dropping his cane without concern in the process) and pushed up the sleeve of her long-sleeved shirt and doctor's coat, finding her wrist covered in blisters and burns.

Eyes piercing on her marred flesh, his dark brown eyes eased up onto her own brown eyes. Brown... five years he had known Heather and her cursed counterpart Faye, he was sure that her eyes were blue. Names and faces were his trade, so the slight alteration caught him off guard. He released his grip on Faye immediately, staggering backwards forgetting that he had dropped his cane and no longer had the support he had grown accustomed to.

"What aren't you telling me?" He asked quietly, glancing back down at her wrist to ensure she knew what he was talking about as he bought himself time to think. Hyde had brown eyes, of that he was sure since he had conversed with the woman enough to know. It could be that Mr. Gold had just caught Heather on the verge of a change, he had never seen the change take place before, he was sure no one other than herself had ever witnessed it, and the pressing thoughts on his wheeling mind were immediately discarded.

Faye looked at him, calming down somewhat, when his face seemed to lose the rage and have it replaced by confusion. She looked at him in the eyes, and when he staggered back she had her arm fall back to her side. She raised an eyebrow at his quiet question and after he nodded back to her arm, she answered "The burns? They appeared after I had a nightmare. Why [i]are[/i] you interested in these burns?"

It didn't make sense to her. Mr. Gold certainly wasn't a man who cared about others' well beings like she did. And she certainly didn't see a connection between her burns and her problem as of now.

"Because they're permeating with dark magic." Mr. Gold replied simply, keeping his voice even and calm despite the roaring turmoil taking place in his chest.

Faye blinked at his answer, and she knew that if someone tried to use dark magic on her, Hyde would've taken over and it would've prevented her from getting hurt...she then recalled that she had been placed under a sleeping curse before she remembered who she was.

She asked Gold with great suspicion in her voice, "Is the nightmare that gave me these burns some kind of after-effect of the sleeping curse?"

A muscle in Mr. Gold's eyebrow twitched before he moved himself past Heather to collect his cane and made his way slowly back over to the alchemy table he had been working on earlier.

"What did you see? In this nightmare?" He asked.

Faye looked at him somewhat like he had just grown a third head, and she answered him, "Some kind of room lit in flames. There were...dark figures, people, beyond the walls of fire,"

A sharp exhale came through his nose, as if he were expecting another answer and disappointed with the one she had given him. He said nothing for a few moments, only letting his hands tinker around the various glass vials on the table in front of him before finally breaking the silence.

"You were put under a sleeping curse, a curse only breakable by true love's kiss. It's uncommon, though not unheard of, for the victim to travel back to the fade where their spirit had gone while under the curse, since they aren't supposed to be able to return." He explained. "It seems, you're suffering quite the side effects... better prescribe yourself something there doctor." Though there was humor in his words, it lacked severely in his tone.

She listened to his explanation, and she rolled her eyes at the humorless joke. After he made the joke, she commented "Right...How long does this 'side effect' last?" She had noticed that he was expecting a different answer and was disappointed with the one she got, but she didn't ask about it...at least not yet.

"I'm afraid I don't have that answer." Mr. Gold replied, sounding rather upset at his lack of knowledge on the subject. "And unfortunately for you, the only other person who might have your answer is with Henry."

Faye sighed and commented "Mary Margaret..." in understanding. She then said "Well, I don't see any more reason to stay. I bid you adieu, Gold," She then started walking up the stairs, and she soon saw Belle there. From Belle's look, Faye could tell that Belle heard and saw a large part of the meeting that took place. 

She sighed out loud "Belle...you really got to stop eavesdropping. It's gonna get you into a lot of trouble someday," 
Belle answered "Well, I honestly came to let Rumpel know that dinner's ready..."
Faye answered "Ah...Well, I'll leave you two be," 
Belle started to offer, "But...wouldn't you like to-"
"No! No thank you, Belle. Thank you for the offer though. I'll see you later," Faye rejected quickly, before she walked away and headed home.

Belle looked to Rumpel and said "Rumpel...Dinner's ready,"

Belle's call to him seemed to be far away, only a light buzzing in his ear as he watched Heather leave his basement, a sinking feeling pitting in his stomach.

"I'm not hungry." Mr. Gold replied long enough for Belle to be sure he hadn't heard her. Tearing his eyes from the door, he turned his back to Belle and hunched over the worktable, keeping his eyes on his work and pushing everything and everyone else out.