Summary: When Belle boarded the Jolly Roger Archie was in no condition to alert her to his presence, thus leaving him at the mercy of Hook for several more days before finally being rescued. Now Archie must adjust to a world in darkness, and Ruby does her best to help him. (Canon divergence from 2x11 - The Outsider and outwards.)

Characters: Archie Hopper and Ruby Lucas, with mentions and appearances of several other characters as the story progresses.

Pairing: Red Cricket (surprise!) and eventually a few of my favourite broships (surprise for real?)

Author's note: Heads up, guys, aftermath of torture! Heavy angst in this first chapter, but there will be fluff and more angst further down the line.

. o O o .

Ruby had spent hours pacing, waiting for news, but found that when the moment she had waited for finally came her feet refused to carry her over the threshold of Archie's room, leaving her instead hovering by the door, heart aching at the sight before her.

Lying there on the hospital bed he somehow looked even worse than he had when they found him tied up in the hold of the Jolly Roger, days after they had – or so they thought – laid him to rest in Storybrooke's small cemetery. Ruby's breath caught in her throat at the thought of that cold, drab day when they had lowered the coffin into the ground; the simple and straightforward tombstone fitting yet so very, very wrong… The whole situation had felt wrong on a fundamental level, and only now it was clear just how wrong it had been.

And to think that they might never have realised just how wrong it was! Archie might have died for real on that damn boat had it not been for the fact that Hook - woozy and high on pain meds after his run-in with the stranger's car - had gotten talkative. And cocky. Or rather, cockier.

He had started bragging about his revenge on the Dark One, and his partnership with Cora, and had with no little amount of malicious enjoyment told them of how Cora had disguised herself as Regina and "paid the cricket a visit", and how they all had been fooled into driving the real Regina away and back to her mother's side. He had gigglingly called Cora 'mother of the year' and had pouted when no one laughed along with him. When asked about how he and Cora got to Storybrooke he had declared that they would never find the Jolly Roger! It was hidden from sight! And they would never find it! Emma had just rolled her eyes and pointed out that it shouldn't be hard to narrow down the possible locations of a sailing ship; the docks perhaps? Hook had looked at her with a comically stunned expression as if both deeply impressed and shocked that she had figured it out.

So a little party consisting of Ruby, Grumpy and Charming had gone to the docks to investigate, and knowing more or less where to look it had not taken them long before they found and boarded the invisible pirate ship. They had had no delusions of finding Cora but had decided that they should at least check the ship - if for no other reason than knowing that they had.

They had been so sure they would not find anything of importance.

But the moment Ruby had set foot on the ship she had realised that the magical barrier had not only shielded the ship from prying eyes... Hardly daring to believe her sharp nose she had rushed below deck, following a familiar scent she had thought she'd never smell again, ignoring the surprised cries of protest from Grumpy and Charming behind her.

Archie had been slumped against the wall, coarse rope around his wrists the only thing holding him in a more or less upright position. He had been clad in the same clothes he had been wearing on Snow and Emma's welcome home party - the clothes he had been wearing when Ruby and Emma had found him dead on the floor of his office - but they were badly torn and crusted with dirt, sweat and blood. Ugly bruising and cuts had marred every visible patch of skin and his wrists had borne the signs of being bound tightly for a long time; looking raw, painful and obviously infected. His hair and face had been coated with blood, both eyes black and swelled shut. He had looked almost unrecognisable.

There had been so much blood, the smell of it turning her stomach, and he had been sostill… With her heart thundering in her ears she had been unable to make out the sound of his laboured breathing and the faint thrum of his heartbeat, and for a terrible few seconds she had been sure that he was dead.

Again.

For real.

Ruby could not recall clearly what happened after that, it was all a blur in her mind - how they had gotten him out of the damn binds and moved from the ship to the hospital, how the medical staff had rushed him away leaving her to pace as she desperately awaited news while the others dealt with the Stranger, Belle, Regina, Hook and Cora… And now, here he was, finally out of surgery and Ruby couldn't get her feet to cooperate, couldn't cross the gap separating them. The few meters from the door to the bed might as well have been miles.

She rationally knew that Archie was better now; even though the lack of dirt only seemed to enhance the deathly pallor of the skin not darkened by the bruising, he was now clean, warm, comfortable and safe. The medical team had stopped the internal bleeding, and relocated his shoulder, and taped the broken fingers, and cleaned and stitched the many deep and shallow cuts, cleaned and bandaged his wrists, and… and Ruby had been unable to focus on the frighteningly long list as Dr. Whale had rattled off the injuries the psychiatrist had suffered during his stay onboard the Jolly Roger.

Though Dr. Whale had assured her that Archie was stable and on the mend he certainly did not look it at the moment; hooked up to all sort of machines, with a well-stocked IV stand by his bed. Turning her eyes from the many tubes and wires Ruby felt her blood boil at the sight of the bruising on his throat and neck, the outline of fingers clearly visible to her keen eyes even from this distance, but her anger deflated completely as she forced her gaze higher and she took in the bandages completely covering his eyes.

Her legs finally broke free of their paralysis and with a strangled sound she rushed to her friend's bedside, gently but desperately touching his chest and face to reassure herself she was not dreaming, and though he didn't stir, still deeply unconscious after surgery, she felt a steady pulse under her shaking hands. He was alive! He really was alive! The fear she had felt since she first saw him in the cargo hold finally let her go and she collapsed into the uncomfortable chair by his bed trying to breathe through her tears. He was alive. He had gone a week without enough food and water, but he had survived; he had been tortured and beaten to within an inch of his life, but he had survived; he had been blinded, but…

The thought sparked a flash of fury that almost scared her in its intensity. Thanks to her heightened wolf senses she was acutely aware of the fresh blood sluggishly seeping through the many bandages and the slight rasp audible with his every weak inhale, and in that moment she could have killed Hook with her bare hands. The bastard was right there in the hospital, just a few stories up and a few doors down… It would be very easy indeed to pay him a visit. He was even handcuffed to the bed. Easy pickings if there ever were some…

The only thing stopping her from acting on her murderous rage was the knowledge that Archie would not want her to turn cold-blooded killer for his sake. So Ruby forced herself to breathe deeply, to concentrate on the steady rise and fall of his chest and the feel of his pulse as she carefully held his hand, mindful of the IV and the buddy taped fingers.

And he calmed her, like he always did and always had, just by being there.

He was alive, and for now that would have to be enough.

She reached out and gently stroked his cheek and couldn't help letting out a teary chuckle as stubble scratched under her fingers; a week or so without shaving had left him looking decidedly scruffy but calling it a beard would be pushing it. It was strange - but not in a bad way, she reflected - to see him anything less than clean-shaven.

Somewhere behind her Dr. Whale cleared his throat. Ruby turned with a pleading look but the doctor just shook his head with a stern frown. She had promised him that she would go home and rest as soon as she had seen for herself that Archie was fine - it was probably the only reason she had been allowed in to see him at all and not been told to come back in the morning - and she could tell Dr. Whale would hold her to her promise. With a sigh she reluctantly rose, but turning back to the bed she leaned down and placed a tender kiss to her sleeping friend's forehead.

"You just rest now, Archie," she whispered, too tired and emotionally drained to make her request any louder. "Rest and get better. I'll be back in the morning. I'll let Marco know that you're… that you're back."

She, Grumpy and Charming had briefly discussed whether or not to tell Marco about finding Archie but had decided it would be better if they waited until they were sure he would pull through, and looking back on her own agonised waiting Ruby felt they had been right to spare Marco the hours of desperate worry waiting for news - the poor man had been through enough the last week. At least now Ruby could give him goodnews! The thought made her feel lighter, hopeful, and she leaned in even closer and whispered in Archie's ear: "We lost you once, don't you dare leave again."

Of course he didn't answer, but Ruby told herself he didn't have to – all he had to do was obey.

. o O o .

To be continued…

. o O o .

Additional author's note: I must shamefully admit that this chapter has been ready for close to half a year… :S I intended to wait until I was done with the whole thing before posting, but I've hit a dry spell writing-wise so I scrapped that plan. Figured that posting the first chapter might be the incentive I needed to finish the darn thing in a timely manner! It's worth a shot, anyways. :P Feedback, as usual, would be lovely!