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INDIANA JONES
lxxvi. DISTANCE

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PRESENT
UNDERWORLD

FOR THE NEXT COUPLE of days that followed, Indiana Jones found that distance was her best and worst accomplice. Things between her and Peter had become awkward faster than Indiana died... Too soon?

With a tight grip, Indiana carefully held the handle of her mug as she took a long sip of her warm beverage. She squeezed her eyes shut as Peter's words echoed in the back of her mind. After Liam had peacefully crossed over to the other side and the gang went back to attempting to discover Hades' weaknesses, Indiana and Peter had a talk.

"What do you mean you don't wish to be brought back to life, Indie?" Peter had said, his voice rising so quickly that it nearly scared Indiana.

Indiana snorted. "You're acting like you didn't know this! Did you even hear the words 'I'd like to be brought back' come out of my mouth?"

"We went out of our way to come down here—"

"To save my idiot of a brother!"

"How in the realms was I supposed to know you were down here? You! You're the last person I would have thought to have unfinished business!"

That was enough to have made Indiana burst out with laughter. "Do you know who the hell you're talking to, Peter? I'm Indiana fucking Jones! My whole life is composed of unfinished business! It took me almost 200 years just to find out I even had another brother!"

"Indie—"

"Peter, I don't want to hear it. I've been down here for 3 years. You've been coping, and eventually, you'll forget all about me. You all will," Indiana had interrupted for a second time. She scoffed. "You should know better than to try and bring me back."

"You're the one telling us all to have hope, Indie! Maybe if you just listened to me, we could bring you back, and—"

"And what, Peter? It's been years. If you brought me back, I would be nothing but a half-decomposed body. Is that really what you want to spend your Happily Ever After with?"

With the shake of her head, Indiana pulled herself away from her cloud of thoughts. Ever since their little debacle, Indiana had chosen to stay away from Peter, from the entire gang as a matter of fact. James was right after all this time. Indiana needed to move on, and she wouldn't be able to do this if she kept clinging to her past. Now, Indiana realized this.

At this point, Indiana wasn't even sure if they were still in the Underworld. Days had passed and not a single soul had bothered contacting her. Perhaps Peter had informed them about their oh-so pleasant conversation.

Come to think of it, Indiana wasn't sure as to why she had really blown up on Peter in the first place. Could it have been the fact that she wanted to stay dead, or maybe it was the familiar concept of being disappointed once again? After all, how were they planning on bringing her back to life anyway?

It was a stupid plan, and Indiana was stupid to think it could even possibly work.

If anything, now Indiana was positive that her old friends had left the Underworld; for, even Hades hadn't bothered her in awhile.

And then, Indiana 3 knocks on her door.

Swinging the front door of her Underworld apartment open, Indiana narrowed her eyes at the sight of her boyfriend standing before her. "We really need to stop meeting like this, love," Peter admitted slyly.

Narrowing her eyes, Indiana dryly responded, "Fine! Meeting adjourned." She went to close the door; however, the much stronger boy pushed the door back and welcomed himself in.

"Very funny, darling," Peter sarcastically told her. Then, his voice softened. "Now, can we talk?"

"We're talking right now," Indiana replied. When Peter gave her a look, she sighed. "Look, I don't want to have this talk. There's no way to bring me back, Pete. I'm sorry I can't do anything about it."

Pursing his lips, he said, "I know. I'm sorry."

"No, Peter, I don't want to keep arguing--" Indiana paused. "Wait... you're sorry?"

He nodded. "Yes. I guess I'm just still not ready to say goodbye," Peter admitted quietly.

Indiana pulled her lips into a sympathetic smile. "Me neither," she quietly said. Then, she cleared her throat. "So, um, did you want to come in... or something?"

Peter shook his head, breaking out of his depressive state. "No, actually," he denied. "I came here because uh... something's happened... with um... a werewolf."

Eyes widening instantaneously, Indiana demanded, "What the hell happened? Is it Red? Where is she?"

Peter, then, took the time to explain the situation as he guided her to where the infamous werewolf was located with a few of their Storybrooke friends.

Red was sent to the Underworld--very alive--in search of a woman who put her friend under a Sleeping Curse. Turns out, it was Zelena who did this to Red's friend, Dorothy of Oz. Zelena wanted Dorothy's slippers, but she couldn't get them without casting the curse on Dorothy. Now, the gang was out to help Red figure out how to wake up Dorothy.

After a quick, bittersweet reunion between werewolf and former convict, the gang immediately got back to work to help Red. "How did you get Zelena to hand the slippers over to you?" Snow White questioned Regina, who had spoken with her wicked half-sister.

Regina sighed almost in amusement, declaring, "You're not going to believe me, but all I did was ask."

Still, Red was distressed. She knew that the magic slippers that could transport anyone to any realm with just 3 clicks of the heel were worthless. After all, Dorothy didn't have any family or loved ones that could wake her up from the Sleeping Curse. "What good are slippers if there is no one back in Oz that can give Dorothy true love's kiss?" Red demanded.

"Are you sure there isn't anyone?" Snow asked.

Indiana hummed, a thought coming to mind. "Maybe not anyone that's still alive," Indiana spoke out. "I have ties with the Blind Witch. She tells me all about these spells about sending things to the land of the living." Indiana turned to Red. "Does Dorothy have any family that could be down here?"

Red paused, searching and scanning her brain for anything. "Her family was awful to her," Red began. "The only person that she has ever loved was her deceased Aunt Em."

"There's a chance she's still down here, then," Peter said. Emma nodded, adding, "All we have to do is find her."

It didn't take them long to locate Auntie Em's gravestone, which didn't seem to be cracked, nor was it tipped. This meant that the woman was still in the Underworld. With the help of Indiana's great memory, it seemed that the gang would be able to use one of the Blind Witch's spells to bottle up one of Auntie Em's kisses. Then, Red would go back to Oz and deliver it to her.

All they had to do was find Auntie Em.

However, before they could set out to find her, David's voice was heard from the East. "Snow!" he shouted out. Turning to face the sound of the noise, Henry, David, and Killian went sprinting in their direction. "We've been looking everywhere for you!"

"What is it?" Snow immediately queried. "Did you talk to Neal?"

"Is everything okay? You look like you just saw a ghost," Indiana commented before pausing and chuckling to herself, remembering where they all were. "Never mind."

"Hades ripped out the phone," Killian said, thinking of the phone that allowed the people of the Underworld to do basic hauntings and have a one-sided conversation with those on the land of the living. "He's cut us off from Storybrooke."

"What? Why?" Snow gasped. Panic rushed through every vein in her body almost instantaneously - maybe even faster than that.

"Snow, Neal's fine," David assured her.

Snow shook her head, her grip on her umbrella tightening. "Wait, no, we don't know that," Snow argued. Everyone exchanged unreadable glances. "I mean, maybe Hades did this for a reason. Maybe he's gonna make a move on Storybrooke now that we're trapped down here."

"Over my dead body," she protectively declared. Then, she paused, thinking about her choice of words. A snort escaped Regina out of pure amusement as the brunette sighed. "Look, Snow, this is exactly what Hades wants. He wants all of you to lose hope. He got to me, but there's no way I'm letting that happen to either of you."

"Indie's right, Snow," David agreed. "This is what Hades wants. We can't give that to him."

"Well, it's hard not to lose hope when our child's life might be in danger!" Snow continued to exclaim.

Almost nervously, Emma's voice spoke out, "Mom, I think it's time." Snow's head snapped toward her daughter. "For you to go home--both of you."

Flustered, Snow said, "We haven't completed our mission. We haven't defeated Hades. Emma, I meant what I said -- we came because we wanted to."

"Because I needed you," Emma corrected. "Now, your other kid needs you more. And Storybrooke might, too."

David shook his head. "What about Hades?" he queried. "We don't even know how to begin to fight him yet."

"Well, we'll just have to find a way to wage our war without the Charmings," Killian decided, forcing a smile.

"Wait," Indiana started, "this is the Underworld..."

"Meaning they can't just walk out," Peter finished for his girlfriend. "Unless..." His gaze shifted to Red. The sight was too familiar to Indiana. She knew the look Peter got when he had an idea or a thought. "The slippers."

Emma nodded. "Exactly. Go to Oz with Ruby," Emma told her parents. "Once you help Dorothy, you can click your way back to Storybrooke." David and Snow went to argue some more, but the Savior stopped them. "Mom, Dad, you've done enough." She took their hands. "Go take care of the rest of our family. I'm gonna be okay."

"You all are forgetting something," Regina began. "Hades carved Snow's name on a tombstone. Emma, you couldn't take it off. Even with the slippers, she can't leave."

Snow paused, looking down at the ground. "I can't..." She looked to David. "But you can."

And in that moment, Indiana suddenly knew how satisfied she would feel knowing that David would be wearing Ruby Red Heels in the near future.

➖➖➖

It didn't take the Storybrooke crew to locate the infamously famous Auntie Em after pestering the Blind Witch. If anything, Indiana was a bit bothered that she didn't realize that there was more than one diner in Underbrooke. Indiana already preferred Auntie Em's Diner over the Blind Witch's, but that didn't mean she was going to stop going there. Hey, no one could whip up better pancakes than the Blind Witch.

"Welcome to Auntie Em's!" a happy, old woman greeted Indiana, Regina, Red, Snow, Emma, and Peter. "The potpies are my own family recipe, but we do a good roasted chicken, too. Rotisserie, too! But the soup, well, the soup is to die for... Unless you're already dead. Then it's, uh--well, you know what I mean."

Indiana had never seen an elderly woman as spry as Auntie Em. She bounced on and off the walls, practically.

"We're trying to help Dorothy," Emma suddenly interrupted Auntie Em, who was taking a sip of the soup she had poured into a mug.

The woman's eyes widened. "You know my Dorothy?" Auntie Em queried. After a quick confirmation, the woman continued to question them. "She's not down here, is she?"

"No, she's alive," Indiana answered.

"She needs your help," Peter added. It seemed that the group of Storybrooke citizens was anxious to get the show on the road. They were speaking so fast that Indiana could hardly process the situation on its own. "She needs true love's kiss."

Emma pulled out a small bottle. "All you need to do is blow a kiss into the bottle," she informed.

"Maybe helping Dorothy is your unfinished business," Snow theorized. "Maybe that's why you're down here."

Gently smiling at them, the grandmother began to twist open the bottle. However, something strange happened. Auntie Em began to shake, her body becoming a strange, goopy material.

The bottle shattered onto the ground as it fell. Indiana's eyes widened. "What the hell?" Regina mumbled. They each looked around at each other, wild looks on their faces.

"Emma, what did you do?" Snow's voice came as Emma called for someone to help.

"Emma...?" Indiana trailed off, taking a step back directly into Peter's chest. Confusion and fear struck the teen.

Then, there was silence.

Auntie Em had become a strange puddle of unknown material.

"What the hell just happened?" Regina's voice came.

Indiana had never seen anything like this before in her life or her afterlife. Or perhaps she had, but it scared her so badly that she forced herself to think of it as a nightmare she had one night. However, everything seemed to make sense as soon as someone in particular spoke out.

"I don't think the soup agreed with her."

Indiana immediately clenched her jaw, her eyes following the source of the voice to locate Hades sitting in a booth. "You did this," Emma whispered.

"Mm... Guilty," Hades cockily confirmed. His silverware clattered onto his plate while he stood up. "A little water from the River of Souls gives the soup a little something... special."

"Why would you hurt her? She was just a sweet, old lady," Snow scolded in disgust.

"Hm... Isn't is obvious?" Hades wondered. "Because you're trying to help her."

"And Dorothy," Peter added, putting the pieces together, "I've seen the movies. Dorothy just so happens to be Greenie's sworn enemy. Did she put you up to this?"

"Trust me," Hades started, "she has no idea I'm here. This is about so much more than just Zelena. Let's call it a teachable moment."

"You wouldn't be here unless you were scared we might actually win this fight," Emma hissed.

Hades let out a devilish chuckle, almost mocking the Savior and her team. "Yes," he laughed. "Is that so, Savior?" He took a clean napkin from one of the waiters. "Because I don't think Dorothy's dear, old Auntie Em would agree with you."

While wiping up the remains of the woman with the rag, he picked up a mason jar and began to wring it out.

"Citizens of the Underworld," Hades started to announce to the people inside the Diner, "from now on, this is what happens to anyone who deals with these so-called heroes." He held up the container of Auntie Em's remains. "So who's next in line for their help?" He mockingly looked around in search of a volunteer. "Hm? No? Mm... It's hard to be a savior when no one wants you to save them."

Hades began to walk out the door, then paused and turned to face them again. He waved the jar of Auntie Em in his hand as he spoke.

"Oh, and let this serve as a warning, little Miss Indiana Jones," Hades said. "I like you, dear. I do. But don't think this isn't in your near future if you continue to help your little friends..."

With that, Hades waltzed out and Indiana felt her stomach drop. Once again, Indiana felt fear rise up within her.

Soon enough, Snow White and Red were sent off to Oz (after it being revealed that David scratched off Snow's name and replaced it with his own). However, Indiana was the one person who didn't get to send off her closest friends from the Enchanted Forest.

No... instead, she locked herself away.

Indiana was back to square one.

Would distance make her heart grow fonder of her friends like before, or would it be the one thing keeping her alive in this horrible land?