A Curse Upon Thee 9

The forests of Maine were a beautiful place to be.

Clean air that smelled like a fall breeze, damp earth, and all sorts of natural scents that you only noticed when you were away from the rest of the world. It didn’t stop there, either; nature had a way of pulling you in and making you appreciate it the longer you looked. From the animals, to the different kinds of trees, and even the flowers, there was almost no limit to the amount of time you could just stop and take it all in.

Almost.

Finn was finding the effective limit was closer to three days.

Three days.

Since the station, since Graham dropped to the ground; that weird black Curse crushing his heart to nothing. Since those Blackwood dickheads tried to grab him up and deliver him to the Wicked Bitch of the East. Three days of his whole world shrinking down to this ten-by-ten patch of woods and the shitty wooden box he'd found.

What is this thing, anyway? Blue eyes scanned the half-rotted space he was camping out in, the structure propped up on stilts that creaked every time his leg twitched. Roof leaking in three (or four) places and letting in that persistent Maine drizzle, the only good part of it was that it hid him behind some overgrown ferns and branches and gave him somewhere to put his head down for a bit.

Really, three days wasn’t really the limit. 

That was just how long it took for him to start getting hungry enough that he went from annoyed to pissed. Finn wasn’t gonna lie and say he was all that patient — maybe a little more than most people, but only because he liked to listen — but waking up for a full two days of that thick wet cold forest stink was enough for him to start chewing on bark like a crazy person. Doesn’t help that the smell just sinks in. 

Yeah, right into his clothes and just staying there like it owned the place. His jeans were muddy, his windbreaker was dirty and his black t-shirt looked more brown than anything else at this point. 

Great camouflage, terrible for comfort.

And on top of that, apart from the basic forest sounds, you just had the frickin’ quiet pressing in from every direction, it was almost too much for him to handle. Already been dealing with not having a phone.

And he was being both patient and brave about that the last two months. 

Unfortunately, nobody knew his struggles.

Grgrgrgrlllll.

Speaking of struggles…

A hand went to his gut immediately, Finn biting back a groan. Why did I eat that gas station jerky so quickly? Could have made it last another day. Something he never thought he’d say, but also something he meant from the bottom of his empty stomach. 

Finding it yesterday morning had been a gift and never had back pocket jerky ever tasted so good. So good, in fact, that before he knew it, it was gone in four bites; his thumb almost going with it too.

With the jerky gone, that was his last bit of safety net, even if it was an unexpected one. After that, it was no food, no phone, no nothing; just him and his thoughts. Not much up there. He rolled his eyes, nearly groaning at his own joke about the memories he didn’t have. We get enough of that from Ruby and Gold, man. Don’t torture yourself too.

To make it worse, the joke wasn’t even fully accurate. All the time he’d spent in the words with nothing to do had apparently woken something up in his empty frickin’ skull, half-formed flashes banging his eyes without warning every time he fell asleep the last couple days.

The feel of a bokken in his hand, the weight of a wooden training sword familiar enough that his fingers twitched just thinking about it. A young man, too big and too damn muscular to be called a teenager, face scarred on one side as he smiled at him. A smile too wide, too eager, too hungry as he raised up one fist and nothing else. Who the fuck are you?

Finn’s fist smacked out and hit damp wood, the impact dull as the whole box shook all around him in protest. Shut up. He was already in a mood and having to deal with pieces of a puzzle with no box, no picture and half the goddamn pieces scattered somewhere between here and a life he didn’t remember living wasn’t making it any easier.

…fuck me, man. He wasn’t sure if it was anger that was the hot knot deep in his gut, or just hunger making itself heard even louder than the usual hollow feeling. Does it m-

Finn went still, breath shallowing to nothing as his lungs froze in place. A twig had snapped below, the step too loud and heavy for a regular deer. 

Clumsy enough that it could only be a person.

Blue eyes found a gap in the rotten planks, Finn McHale not wasting a moment as he peered down through the crack.

Those same eyes went wide as they spotted a flash of long blond hair. Oh.

“Finn!”

Emma Swan had a real familiar voice, especially with that little Boston accent she tried to hide half the time. He wasn’t sure why he found it so familiar, but it probably was part of the reason why he trusted the woman who hit him with her car so quickly anyhow.

As familiar as he was with her voice, she clearly lacked that same sort of familiarity with the woods. Considering she was stomping through the underbrush like she was actively trying to pick a fight with every low-hanging branch in her path, she’d probably never really spent much time outside a city before. “Finn!” 

Loud as she was screaming out his name, her steps were at least half the noise she was making. Finn bit back a snort, watching those boots sucking at the mud with every step, and that (pretty nice) red leather jacket catching on brambles she didn't bother to avoid. 

Never leave the city, Em. He didn’t even like the woods but… this is kinda sad. 

His eyes followed the path she took, the ridge she had just stumbled over and the trail of broken ferns and disturbed leaves she'd left like a goddamn invitation. It didn’t take him longer than a few heartbeats to realize something. Alone.

Emma had come alone, no Regina the Middle-Aged Bitch or her rent-a-cops behind her. The breath in his chest went free in a sigh without him meaning to, nerves taking a half-step down from red alert.

Still, though, only a half-step.

It wasn’t like he forgot what Emma’s whole deal was, considering it was one of the few things he knew about her for sure. She was pretty much kinda a cop, where it counted at least. He wasn’t sure what a bail bondsman was exactly, but considering it was enough to get her a job as a deputy, he didn’t like it. Now, why’s she looking for me?

"Alright, Finn, I know you're out here somewhere." Her voice came out loud and wrong in the quiet woods, absorbed instantly by the damp trees pressing in around her. "How about some burgers as a peace offering? Granny had them made fresh."

His stomach clenched as she held up the bag.

"And if you let 'em get cold, I swear to God I'll eat them myself and make you watch."

And then he smelled it.

Over the pine and the wet dirt, over three days of cold and damp, the undeniable scent of real food, greasy and hot, drifted right up through the trees like a goddamn lifeline.

Mine.

Finn let himself drop from the box, almost nine feet up to the ground as he landed on the balls of his feet in a crouch right behind her. Not silent, but timed well enough that Emma’s own voice and boots did the job of covering his noise for him.

“How’d you get my order?” His voice came out low and rough, sounding exactly like you’d expect after it went as unused as his teeth went unbrushed the last few days.

Emma jumped, spinning around with her whole body tense. “Jesus!”

Finn raised an eyebrow her way, almost able to see her heart thumping in her chest as she glared daggers his way. “Don’t do that.”

“Don’t come looking for me, we’ll call it even.” He scratched the back of his head, long red hair in thick knots from days of roughing it. “Now, I’m guessing those are for me?”

Eye still twitching, Emma held up the grease-stained paper bag from Granny’s. “Truce. For now.”

She tossed the bag his way and he snatched it out of the air, hands already tearing it open before it was probably safe to. Safe or not, Finn couldn’t care, all thought going out of his head the second the warmth hit his cold hands. It took him all of a second to unwrap the first burger, inhaling the thing almost as fast as he opened it. 

Three bites, barely, and the whole thing was gone; but the taste of it — hot beef, melted cheese, onions — was so good it almost made him dizzy. “Mmmffff… Ohhhhh… gooo~oood.”

“...are you?”

“I’m fine.”

Emma nodded, eyes still on him as he started on his second. “If you say so.”

His bites were loud, his manners nowhere to be found, but as Emma wasn’t complaining, he wasn’t planning on being nice about it. However, while she didn’t seem to be complaining, that didn’t mean she wasn’t talking.

“You know, staying out here forever is probably not in the cards for you.” The blonde folded her arms as she looked his way. “Word on the street i-”

“What street?” Finn almost snorted as he came up for air. “Storybrooke has like one.”

Emma Swan just rolled her eyes. “Word on the street is, Regina’s already consulting… on appointing a new sheriff. Someone to ‘speed up the search for the fugitive who assaulted two security officers.’ It’s looking like the woods won’t cut it, kid.”

“Better than a cell,” he swallowed another mouthful of the second burger, barely holding back a shudder with the words. God. It was so good. “Maleficunt seems like the type to lose the key.”

Emma’s eyes went wide, mouthing the word ‘Maleficunt’ for a few seconds before she shook her head and leaned against a tree. “She is, probably. I’m not gonna lie.” She sighed as Finn finished up the second burger. “But I already went through Graham’s files. Coroner’s report is all neat and tidy. Says what I expected it to say;massive, sudden cardiac arrest. Whale signed off on it too.”

Finn raised an eyebrow, third burger unopened in his hand. “...and?”

“That night…” She swallowed a mouthful of nothing, breath leaving her nostrils. “You said… you said you felt something.”

The redhead wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, food sitting heavy and warm in his stomach enough to bring him back to life. 

And with life came a new sort of frustration.

“Yeah, I did, and,” he licked his lips, the taste of cheese and grease still on them, “Being honest, it’s not… it’s not gonna make any sense.”

“Try me,” Emma threw hier hands up. “I just saw a kid I hit with a car two-hand two cheeseburgers in ten seconds after living off the land like George of the Jungle. My bar for 'sense' is pretty low right now.”

Finn almost laughed with her, but the joke went nowhere and the sound faded away too quickly as he kept his blue eyes on her greens. “Being real, it was like… a hand, yeah?” He frowned for a second, unsure if that was the best way to even describe it. “A hand inside G-Man’s chest, just made of pure… pure fuck, I don't know… made of resentment.”

“Resentment?” Emma blinked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Finn nodded back, more sure than anything else now that he found a word for exactly what he had been feeling. All Cursed Energy had an inciting emotion and Regina’s was as obvious as anything else. “Pure, cold, concentrated resentment. And it was just… squeezing.”

He looked down at his own fist, clenched so tight his knuckles went white. “No sparkles, no ‘bippity-boppity-boo.’ It was a technique, simple and clean. The exact kinda thing a Curse User would do to someone.”

“A… a jew-sushi?.

Finn looked up, confused as Emma stared at him exactly the same way, her head tilted to the side. “Huh?” 

“What do you mean, huh?” The look on her face went even more confused, almost incredulous as her hands went to her waist. “You’re the one who said something about jew-sushi. Maybe in Boston, but I’m pretty sure you can’t find that in Storybrooke.”

“Oh! Jusoshi, a Curse User, my bad,” He shook his head again, blinking as he tried to explain this in a way that made sense to a muggle. “It’s kinda like a magic user who knows how to use their… their Jujutsu shit… but for the wrong reasons. For evil reasons. A witch, basically.”

“...jujustsu shit.” Emma’s voice couldn’t be any flatter if she tried. “Like… the martial art?”

Finn’s sigh was loud enough to shake some leaves free from the tree above his head. “No, jujutsu, not jujitsu.”

Emma just stared.

“Look, I know, okay?” He whirled on her, glaring back at the unbelieving woman. “I know how it sounds, Emma, but you gotta understand the world is not just science and shit. Like, there’s this stuff called Cursed Energy. It comes from negative emotions. Fear, anger, hate… all the crap that makes people suck. And for some fuckin’ reason, this whole town is drowning in it, like we’re all on the biggest Indian burial ground or something.”

“...okay, say I believe you,” Emma Swan nodded slowly. “Let’s say that. Where do you come in with all this?”

Finn nodded back. “Negative Energy usually just leaks out, and it forms Curses. Invisible monsters. Real, actual invisible monsters, made out of bad emotions. Sorcerers… Jujutsu Sorcerers, it’s kinda our job to protect people from that.”

“And Curse Users?”

“They use that same energy for evil witchy shit. For this.” He jabbed a finger in the direction of the town. “For crushing a guy’s heart from a couple miles away for whatever reason”

“…and you’re a ‘good sorcerer.’” 

He let out a bark of laughter, the sound harsher than he meant it to sound “I’m a Grade Three. I wouldn’t call myself good. I’m like… average, at best.”

“…uh-huh.” Emma pursed her lips, a hum leaving her as she nodded again. “Kid… do you need to see Dr. Hopper? The shrink? Because you sou-”

“Look, I don’t expect you to get it!” His voice cracked, all the frustration in him coming out in one sentence, frustration that was so much deeper than just this conversation. It was the whole last three days, the holes in his head, of the buff psycho and the goddamn wooden sword. “I don’t get it either! I wake up with a hole in my head where my life should be, but I know how to disarm two cops like it’s breathing, and I know the smell of a Curse, and I know…” 

He looked at her, almost pleading for her to believe him. “Emma, I know what I felt. And I know your goddamn mayor murdered him. She murdered him.”

“...she's not my mayor.”

Finn just sighed. 

“Whatever.” His leg snapped out at a rotten log, the thing going airborne and mulch flying high with it. They stood there, the both of them in silence; nothing but the drip-drip-drip of rainwater sldiing off leaves and hitting the forest floor to break the quiet.

“Okay.”

After what felt like five minutes of silence, the single word felt like a starting point. It was no “I believe you” but it definitely wasn’t “You’re batshit” either. “Okay.” She parroted herself with a sigh. “Look, we can’t clear you. Not yet, at least. The Apple Bitch runs the cops, she runs the hospital. Hell, I don’t know what she doesn’t run.”

Emma pulled a face for a second, before shaking her head again. “But, that doesn’t matter. We can’t let her win, either.”

She dug back into her pocket, pulling out a small, cheap-as-hell burner phone and a single, old, rusty key. “There’s an old cannery on the other side of town, by the water. From what I know, it hasn’t been used in years. It’s… dry, at least. And the roof should be in good condition, so no getting rained on.

He caught the toss one-handed, the other still occupied with burger #3.

“The phone has one number in it. Mine. Call me if you run out of burgers, or… if you’re dying, I guess.” Emma snorted at her own bad joke. “Just don’t go into town. Don’t talk to Ruby. Don’t talk to anyone. Lie low and let me figure out the next move.”

Finn stared at the key in his palm, next to the cheap plastic phone, as the usual smart-ass reply, the sarcastic “what, no room service?” died in his throat.

“Yeah. Okay,” was all he managed to say.

“And Finn?” She was already turning, walking away before she looked back over her shoulder; a ghost of a smile clear on her face.

“Try not to punch any more deputies.”

Finn smirked back. “No promises.”

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

On the Lam – 100 NP

Become a wanted criminal

Fighter (Free) [Generic Dungeon Crawler] {Benevolence}:

"You deftly wield one category of melee weapons, such as swords, axes, flails, or polearms. You are also more healthy, with greater strength and endurance."

Lonely Man Dinner - 100 NP

Go three days without a proper meal.

FAIL: I Am Here…. Now (600 CP) [Jujutsu Kaisen] {Benevolence}

Nexus Points: 400