A wicked duo
Once Upon A Time
Peter Pan / Zelena
Peter Pan and Zelena decide to join and fight on the same side.
WARNING: Villains win, good guys lose.
This is something new to me, I usually have the villain lose and the heroes win. I'm trying something different and if you don't like it and want the good guys to win, just say it and I will try to write an alternate ending.
Zelena had one goal for sure: go back in time to get the life Regina had had and that should have been hers. It was a simple plan with a complicated spell to put it in action but everything changed when, while is Storybrook and about to execute her plan, she overheard two people talking about Neverland and Peter Pan being the Dark One's father.
It didn't take her long to hear the entire story and find out that Peter Pan had been killed by his son right before he killed Neal and Belle to hurt Rumple.
Changing plan at the last minute, Zelena knew what she wanted to do now: she wanted to go back in time, to a year ago, in Neverland. She was going to team up with Peter Pan, let them all watch as Pan killed Henry and only then would she try to get the life she had been denied. That would no only get her what she wanted but also get her the revenge she wanted on Rumple for denying her the place she should have had in his life and in his heart.
Of course, going back in time after doing that would erase what she had done, but she would have the private satisfaction of knowing she had been able to do it and that would be enough for her.
Once she had Snow's son in her arms, Zelena knew that she needed a distraction so she ordered the Dark One to go and prevent the others form reaching the barn while she did her spell. She placed the baby where it needed to be placed, where Innocence belonged in her spell and finally cast it with a wide smirk on her face.
Soon the portal opened, a beautiful ray full of colors and hope for her future, which would be saved through the past.
"Stop! Don't go!" The savior's voice yelled from where she stood, standing between her father and her pirate.
Zelena turned her head and saw Emma, her father, Hook, Robin Hood and Regina fighting Gold, trying to get to her. She laughed, dropped the dagger on the ground and jumped through the portal without any second thoughts.
As she fell, she focused on Neverland and Pan having Henry kidnapped. If she was right, she'd arrived right in time to see the boy land with his kidnappers.
.
Zelena fell in what looked like a camp in the woods and for a second, she feared that she had made a mistake and arrived in the Merry Men's camp in the Enchanted Forest but it only lasted shortly because soon, she was surrounded by harmed teenage boys.
"No need to threaten me, I have magic and could stop you before you even touched me. I'm here to speak with Peter Pan. I come from the future and have a deal to offer him. One he'll want to take." Zelena said while she stood up and pushed nonchalantly one of the arrows away with the tip of her fingers.
"Traveling through time can't be done." One of the hooded boys declared.
"I've figured it out." She smiled with pride.
"She speaks the truth. I can feel it. I am Peter Pan and these are my Lost Boys. Welcome in Neverland." a teenage boy dressed in green told her with a smile on his face and his arms open in a welcoming gesture.
"Thank you. My name is Zelena. Love the color." she replied, pointing to his clothes.
"Ah Yes, Zelena... The Wicked witch from Oz, right?" he asked and she nodded.
"Now, what deal could you possibly have for me? My guess is that you didn't travel through time just to speak with me about fashion." Pan asked her.
"True. You see, my initial plan was to go to the past and kill Princess Eva, Snow White's mother, before she could stop my mother Cora from marrying Prince Leopold. Cora would have kept me and I would have had the life Regina so foolishly hated. I even offered Rumple, your son, to join me so he could save his son, who will die in about a year to bring his father back to life. Anyway, Rumpelstiltskin refused my offer very rudely and I heard about you... You see, you're about to get the boy you want, and your son is on his way, with others, to save him. They'll not only manage to do it but Rumple will even give his life to kill you in a big heroic gesture that will move everyone. I'm here to get my revenge before I execute my plan. I want to make sure you get what you want. I want to watch Rumple as you kill his grandson, in front of all of their eyes. I need you to spare Charming and Snow's life however. I need them to have a child so I can enact my curse once more and do what I initially planned. I'll also need to take my dear sister's heart away so she, too, needs to survive." Zelena explained, walking around the camp as she did, taking her new surroundings in.
"That's quite a story you're telling... very interesting... But if you go back in time, prevent Snow from being born and take Regina's place, Henry won't be born and I won't have what I want." Peter shook his head.
"I thought about that. Once you take Henry's heart away from him, you don't use it and give it to me. You can even place it in a box that only you can open. Once I go back in the past and do what I plan to do, I'll call for your shadow and give it to you." Zelena offered.
"What would stop you from betraying our agreement and to take the Truest Believer's powers for yourself?" Pan asked him.
"I have no use for the heart of the Truest believer. We can make a pact if you want, a magical one. You know that it will work as long as we are alive. You'll already be alive and Peter Pan at the time I want to go back to." Zelena argued.
"Very well, we'll make a magical pact, with blood and then... Well, then we'll both have time to play with our families." Pan smirked.
"We trust her then?" The Lost boy who had first talked to her asked Peter.
"Yes Felix, I believe Zelena is a new friend. We'll have lots of fun together." Peter laughed.
"But she's a girl!" One of the other boy complained, making Zelena laugh.
"Not a girl dear, a woman. But I don't cook or cuddle so don't even think about making me some sort of mother of substitution. I don't do that sort of things." Zelena smirked.
"It seems you arrived just in time for the fun to begin Zelena. Greg and Tamara just arrived with the boy. Get him, bring him back here unharmed and kill them." Peter ordered Felix who nodded and ran off with a few of the other boys he commanded.
"Until we can move on, why don't we make that pact we spoke about?" Pan suggested.
"Of course. Where should we do this?" She asked looking around and not feeling like making such an important pact in the middle of the wood.
"Skull Rock, come." he said, offering her his arm and taking her there quicker with magic.
.
Zelena enjoyed Skull Rock, its power, everything about it really.
"So, how are you going to do it this time?" Pan asked her later, once he magical pact between them was done.
She had taken the time to tell him how she had done things in the past and everything she had heard about how Pan had lost the last time.
"Well, we'll make sure they don't know about me being here. Once your son, the only one who can identify me, is dead, I'll appear, playing the role of the big sister willing to do anything for her little sister Regina, whom she recently heard existed. I'll pretend I went to great length to come here on time and that I'm so sorry to see that I've come too late to save her adoptive son. Being this close to her, I'll be able to get her heart while she's asleep and stay close to everyone until Snow pops her next baby out." Zelena explained to her new partner.
"They might even name you godmother." Pan chuckled.
"It would be such an honor too!" She mocked.
"What about the savior? She has great powers... Even I am no match to her if she was to put her mind to it." Pan reminded her.
"She could be powerful, that's true but she has no idea of the extend of her powers yet. She's afraid of them and is no threat to any of us. Last time, I used Captain Hook's feeling for her to force her powers away. Cursed his lips and when he resisted the urge to kiss her, I drowned him so she had no choice but to save him."
"Cursing his lips to take away her powers could only work if he truly loved her or if they were soul mates..." Pan commented, slightly impressed.
"Well, I don't know which one it is, but it worked." She smirked.
"What about that... The pirate is in love and finally forgot about Milah... Maybe we should see if he really loves Swan..." Peter suggested, a playful smile on his childish face.
"What do you have in mind?" Zelena asked him, loving the boy's playful side.
"My shadow can take the form and appearance of anybody... I was going to use it to play with Rumple's feelings, resolve and sanity but maybe I'll use it on Hook before that." Peter explained.
"Make it appear as Milah? Try to get him to hurt Emma?" Zelena asked.
"Yes... Maybe do it in front of my son, see how much hold she still has on the two of them. It should be a very entertaining sight, or at the very least instructive." The boy chuckled.
"I do like how you think... Once I'm queen of the Enchanted Forest and you have what you need to live forever, I think I'll visit you, stay in touch... I'm sure we'll be able to make many more deals together." Zelena commented.
"Looking forward to it. Now, let's see where my Truest believer is. Everything will be much more fun if he actually gives me his heart willingly in front of his loved ones."
"It'll be easy. The kid wants to be a hero, to save people... All you'll have to do is convince him that you're the good guy, trying to save magic and that his family is being manipulated by someone evil." Zelena told him as they made their way back to camp.
"And if he asks me about Greg and Tamara, I'll simply tell him that I told them this because it was easier to get people to hate something rather than believe in it. That telling them they were destroying magic was the easiest way to get them to save it." Pan smirked.
"Exactly." She smirked.
.
While Peter Pan was busy trying to win over Henry, Zelena spied on Rumpelstiltskin, who had separated from the others minutes after they arrived. She enjoyed his pain when Felix left him, leaving only a little doll behind him, taunting him, reminding him of the time his father had left him behind on this very Island. She hadn't known it would hurt him so much, that he'd be so broken about it and the sight of him like this rejoiced her.
She kept on watching him after that. Watched as he used his dagger to separate his shadow from his body and she knew right then what he was planning. She'd have to be quick about it if she wanted to win so she made her broom appear, created heavy clouds to hide her and waited in the air for the shadow to pass. As soon as it came by her, she attacked it with fire, strong enough to weaken it and make it loose its hold on the dagger but weak enough to leave it alive and prevent the Dark One from feeling anything. She quickly did a bit more magic to give the shadow a fake dagger and made it think that it had won before watching it fly away.
Once that was done, she went back down and watched as the shadow made the powerful wizard think that it was Belle.
"Love really makes people stupid and blind." Zelena muttered, shaking her head in disgust before she went back to Pan's camp, hiding herself so Henry wouldn't see her.
"Entertained enough already?" Pan asked her when he saw her approach.
Felix was by his side and Zelena knew that she could trust him as well.
"Not really but I managed to get my hand on something very useful..." She smirked, showing him the dagger.
"Is that..." Felix asked, impressed.
"Yes dear, it is. Rumpelstiltskin used it to cut his shadow away from his body and sent it away with his dagger... Now the shadow is hiding a fake dagger while I hold the real one..." She explained.
"Well, someone is in for a surprise." Felix laughed.
"Indeed. I'm impressed Zelena, you're really resourceful..." Peter said, not hiding his emotions.
"What can I say, I love a job well done." She smirked.
"Peter, Henry's rescue party just made camp for the night." One of the boys she had seen run off with Felix earlier said.
"Perfect. I think it's time for me to introduce myself to the savior and play a bit with her. I think I'll send the shadow as Milah tomorrow." Pan smiled.
"Have fun." Zelena told him with a smile.
"Shall we pretend you arrived to help your sister and that I caught you and made you prisoner to see their reactions?" Pan asked the Wicked witch.
"Regina has no idea I exist... She'll need proof that we're from the same family... Proofs that I don't have with me. Maybe if you hand her a couple of my hair, she'll be able to do a spell and verify our link but it'll be easier for her to let me in if she only learns about me after Henry's dead. She'll be broken and need love so much she'll welcome me with open arms without questions." Zelena nodded.
"You really are a wicked one Zelena. I love it. If only you were younger, we'd have tones of fun." Peter told her with a flirtatious smile.
"If only you were older." She chuckled before he left to execute their plan.
.
Zelena had been in Neverland for 3 days now and everything went perfectly according to her plans. It was even better because Neal, Rumple's son, had arrived with the shadow, ready to rescue his son and was now their prisoner.
"And to think that Rumple did everything for him... I don't see it." Zelena commented as she frowned upon Neal's unconscious body.
"Now, now, there's no need to be jealous of him Zelena. Especially for what Pan has planned for him." Felix told her while Pan was busy winning over Henry.
"What is he going to do?" She asked him.
"Well, he was going to lock him in a cage in the Echo caves and let Emma and the others find him but he changed his mind... Well, about only one detail really." He stopped talking here, letting the suspense grow.
"What is it?" She asked him, curious.
"He'll be in that cage, but he'll be without his heart. His heart will be with Peter and just when Neal and the savior are comfortable and when she's starting to feel like it's okay to believe he's really here, he'll crush the heart and kill him." Felix explained to her.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you two." She smiled.
"We'll have to make sure Rumpel is with them when it happens though. We don't want him to miss this show." Peter added as he joined them.
"I can't wait!" She smiled widely.
"You won't have to. Felix, take him away." Peter ordered and Felix nodded, motioned for a few boys to come with him and they carried the cage into the woods.
"I noticed that you have another guest. Anyone important?" Zelena asked him curiously.
"Wendy Darling. I keep her alive here so her brothers do what I want them to do in their world. They're pretty useful pawns." Peter replied.
"What about the girl, can't you use her for anything?" She asked him.
"I do sometimes, when I need something from her, but it's rare. She's mostly in her cage, waiting to be of use. I suppose I'm going to have to let her go once I can live forever..." he shrugged his shoulders.
"I had a few flying monkeys doing my biding back in Oz. They were very useful." She commented.
"On another word, Henry trusts me now and as soon as we're done playing with them, meaning as soon as they're all together and Bealfire is dead, we'll be able to move ahead with the plan and kill the boy. I have the box ready, with a letter inside to explain to my past self that you can be trusted." Pan told her and she nodded, happy and satisfied to see her patience rewarded in such a sweet way.
.
Of course, their plan being so well thought out, it worked. The savior saved Neal, started feeling like maybe they had hope in the future while Hook looked defeated, the Dark One had joined them when Pan crushed the poor man's heart, killing him in front of his confused loved ones who didn't understand what had happened.
"It has to be Pan! He took his heart and crushed it..." Regina guessed.
"Can't you do anything?" Emma asked Rumpelstiltskin and Regina.
"There's nothing to be done in such a case..." The Dark One shook his head, crying on his son's body.
"I'm going to kill that little demon, I swear I will." Emma said angrily while her parents tried to comfort her.
"Oh, she really should learn not to make promises she won't be able to keep." Zelena chuckled.
"We'll just have to teach her a lesson. Come on, I'll take Henry to Skull Rock, you can hide there and right after I leave with Henry's heart, you can make your appearance and play your nice big sister dying to have a family part." Peter told her and Zelena nodded.
"How will you give me the heart back though?" She asked him.
"I'll use magic to put it in the box. You'll just have to have it on you, in your bag. Don't worry, they won't see anything, especially since Rumple will be dead already." Peter smirked.
"Killing your son really doesn't faze you?" She asked him, surprised not to see even an hint of sadness on his face.
"Over the years I've spent here alone, I've come to realize that Rumple was never more than a parasite to me. He sucked away my time, my money, my fun... I never loved him. I'm better off without him." Peter shook his head and Zelena accepted it.
Zelena went to Skull Rock with her broom, Felix behind her, making them invisible so nobody would be able to see them. Felix had one important task: use the dagger to kill Rumpelstiltskin. Peter could do it but he didn't want to become the next Dark One.
Soon, Peter arrived with a trusting Henry. She didn't have to wait long. Pan froze Henry right before Rumpelstiltskin arrived. It didn't take long for the devil boy to immobilize his son while Felix killed him. This way, Peter didn't become cursed and didn't become the Dark One. Since he was now the Dark One, Felix had more powers and used them to leave Skull Rock before anyone could see him.
Hearing the others arrive in the staircase, Peter placed a temporary cloaking spell on Rumpel's body and unfroze Henry. Just as the boy plunged his hand in his chest and took his heart out, his two mothers, grandparents and Hook arrived. Zelena smirked when the boy didn't listen to his rescue mission and gave his heart to Pan who pretended he placed it in his chest while he actually sent it to Zelena. Then Henry fell on the ground, dead.
Indeed, since the heart was in a magically protect box, it lost its connection to its owner, which killed him just like it would have if Pan had placed it in his chest. With a smirk, Peter revealed Rumpelstiltskin's dead body and flew away, laughing, before they could try to do anything against him.
Everyone was devastated. Emma and Regina were on their keens, crying over Henry's dead body, Snow was in her husband's arms and Hook didn't know if he should try to comfort Emma or not.
Knowing that now was the perfect time to put on her show, Zelena recreated the noise that a portal made, as well as its appearance and made herself visible through it. She had done such a good job that to everyone, it looked like she just arrived through it.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Emma asked her immediately, putting a sword to her throat.
"Please... I... My name is Zelena, I'm Cora's first born daughter. She abandoned me when I was a baby because I couldn't get her what she wanted, to be a royal. I landed in Oz... I have magic and when I realized that I still had a sister, I did everything I could to cross worlds, to join her. I got a bean and managed to have it take me to wherever my sister was. Her name is Regina, if I arrived here, she has to be around. Please, help me find her." Zelena pleaded, doing her best to look innocent and honest, knowing that she was easily able to make the savior believe that she was saying the truth with her magic.
"I am Regina. Cora never said that she had had another child... I always thought that I was an only child..." Regina replied as she stood up and went to stand in front of her sister, drying her tears.
"And I always thought that I was alone, that I didn't have any family... But you're crying... What's wrong?" Zelena asked her with the best fake concern she could put on her face.
"Peter Pan just killed my... Our son." Regina replied, pointing to Emma and herself.
"Oh, are you a couple? It's okay, I don't judge..." Zelena asked.
"No, it's... Complicated." Emma shook her head, going back to her son.
"I'm so sorry Regina... And here I was hoping that finding you would be my happy ending... It's obviously not yours..." Zelena shook her head, trying to win her sister over.
"It's not your fault." Regina replied, not knowing that it was, indeed, her fault.
"What if we take the heart back from Pan? Couldn't it save Henry?" Hook asked and everyone turned to look at Regina, waiting for the answer.
"It could, but we don't have much time and I don't know where to look for Pan... And Look how Rumpelstiltskin's dead... It's obviously with his dagger... If Pan isn't the new Dark One, one of his Lost boys is. We'll fail if we try..." Regina shook her head.
It looked like she and Emma had lost all hope and Zelena used this to prove that her sister could trust her. It was, after all, part of her plan. She had to be able to go back with them and have their complete trust.
"You can't give up hope Regina. Look at me, I thought that I was alone, destined to be without a family and unhappy. Now I found you, my little sister. We're together because I didn't give up hope. Let me help you try to get your son back." She told her sweetly.
"She's right, we have to at least try. We already know were the camp is. We'll go back there and interrogate all the Lost Boys if we have to." Emma assured them, standing up while David carried Henry's body.
"Maybe Tinkerbell will help us again, Swan, we should ask her." Hook suggested, willing to face anything for Emma.
With an inner smirk, Zelena decided to play with that couple a bit, trying to make them uncomfortable or to try whatever bond they had already.
"Your boyfriend is right, having more allies is always a good idea." Zelena said.
"He's not... We're not... We're not a couple." Emma shook her head.
"Oh, I'm sorry, with the way you looked at each other, I thought he was your son's father." Zelena apologized.
"He's not." Emma replied.
"Henry's father died earlier today, killed by Pan too." Regina shook her head.
"Yeah, Pan really hated this family... First Gold, then Neal and Henry... We have to stop him..." David shook his head while they all made their way out of Skull Rock.
When they arrived in the Lost Boy's camp, there was nobody in sight. Tinkerbell, who was supposed to wait for them with Wendy and the Lost Boys was gone, no tracks to follow, nothing to follow them with.
"How is that even possible? There has to be something we can do, we can't just let Henry be dead!" Emma yelled.
"Maybe she thought that we failed and went back to her tree house. We should check there." Hook suggested, already ready to go.
"Even if we did, the time that it would take us to get there... It would be too late for Henry." Regina shook her head.
"Pan probably came here first, or whoever the new Dark One is did... It's too late..." Snow shook her head sadly.
"No! There has to be something we can do..." Emma cried, letting Hook take her in his arms.
"I'm really sorry for your losses..." Zelena said, placing an arm around her little sister's shoulder to comfort her.
"Pan will come back soon to finish the job, we need to go now." David reminded them and since both Emma and Regina were in no condition to make decisions or argue them, they all went back to the Jolly Roger.
Thankfully, Neal had told Hook how he was planning on using the shadow to go back to Storybrook and which way to take so the pirate would be able to lead them.
.
Arriving in Storybrook had been hard for everyone, especially since they had 3 dead bodies with them and the fact that they had failed. Zelena was quickly introduced but made sure to stick by her little sister, to make her think that she wasn't alone and that she was here for her, that her only goal was for them to be a family.
When they buried Henry, Neal and Gold, the entire town had shown up and it looked like everyone was grieving. The wave of sadness stayed over the town for a long time, several weeks and once everyone started living normally again, only Emma and Regina were still truly grieving. Everyone else was trying to move on.
Zelena watched as Snow and David tried to have another baby and as Emma and her pirate got closer together. She enjoyed seeing her sister so broken and relying on her for everything. Getting her heart hadn't been very difficult and with the state Regina was in, neither she nor anyone else in town realized that she didn't have her heart anymore.
Once Snow got pregnant, Zelena started to work on the 2 other missing ingredient for her spell to work. She needed wisdom and courage.
Calling her trusty flying Monkey to meet her, Zelena quickly turned him back into a man so he'd be able to do everything she asked him to and start carving the symbol she'd need on the ground of an isolated and deserted farm house, the same one she had done it from the last time.
To get courage, Zelena decided to use the same tactic as the last time and it worked just as well as it did before. She now had the broken sword of the courageous prince and it would be perfect.
Of course, she needed to find something else for the wisdom. In the past she had used a representation of Rumpel's brain but this time, she had to think about something else, she couldn't use Rumpel anymore because he was dead.
Smiling, Zelena watched Belle, dressed totally in black, making her way into the Pawnbroker's shop for the afternoon. She'd be perfect. She was smart, educated and using her would be another delightful revenge for her to get against the Dark One. He could have chosen her but instead he fell in love with Belle. Now she would be used in the spell.
Zelena knew that she could have simply taken Belle's actual brain but she was all for symbols and she got her best idea when she saw Belle writing a diary with all of her thoughts to help her deal with the loss of her love. This would do perfectly. By the time the baby will be born, the diary will be much fuller and Zelena will have everything she needs, again.
Knowing that she would be able to defeat a second time the heroes who had bested her little sister, whom had gotten everything Zelena ever wanted, brought a special kind of joy and satisfaction to the wicked witch. It only proved once more that she was better than everyone else and that she deserved so much more than what she had gotten.
"Zelena... I just wanted you to know that despite everything that's happened since you found me... I'm happy you did. I don't know what I would have done without you." Regina told Zelena that night as they ate dinner.
"Of course Regina, it's what family is for." Zelena replied softly, internally smirking at the fact that without her, Henry and Neal would still be alive and everyone would be much happier.
"Cora was an idiot for giving you up. You're great. I would have loved to grow up with you as my big sister." Regina told her sister softly before going back in the kitchen to do the dishes.
Zelena was feeling pretty satisfied at the moment. Her plans were going perfectly as she had planned it and soon, she'd have Snow's baby to use in her spell. She'd be able to go back in time, kill Princess Eva, become Prince Leopold's daughter and the heir of his kingdom. Snow White and Regina would never be born and she'd be able to have Rumpelstiltskin all to herself.
At some point Zelena started to think and wondered what would happen when Leopold and Cora had their own child. Would it be a mixture of Snow and Regina? Would it be a child entirely different? Maybe she'd even have a brother... It didn't matter though, she'd be the first born and she'd be able to get everything she wanted.
She didn't know what would happen to her once she did what she meant to do. Would she be stuck in the past, condemned to watch her younger self get everything or would she be able to go back to the future she had created? She tried not to think too hard about that. She'd figure it out when the time came. Just to be safe, she had stolen a special wand from the Pawnbroker's shop, a wand that would allow her to recreate her portal and to use it to go back in the future if she decided to do so.
.
The months separating them from the birth of Snow's baby flew by and soon, Zelena found herself at the hospital with Regina, waiting by Emma and Hook's side for news of the birth.
"Are you excited about having a baby brother Emma?" Zelena asked her nicely, rejoicing in the fact that she wouldn't have to play along much longer.
"Of course... I think a bit of good news if just what we need right now." Emma nodded as she held on tighter to Killian's hand.
Over the year that had passed since Henry's death, Emma and Killian had slowly formed a couple and it was obvious that without him, the savior would have given up a long time ago. Her new pirate love and her parents were the only thing allowing her to go on with her life, she was still missing Henry terribly, just like Regina.
"It's a boy, like predicted. He's perfect and so is his mother. Everything went fine." David said as he finally came out of the hospital room and introduced them to his son.
"He's beautiful." Emma said.
"Congratulations." Zelena and Regina told David before they went to congratulate the mother.
Zelena didn't act now, it would be too obvious. She needed to wait until night, when everyone was gone, to act and take the baby.
And so she did.
In the middle of the night, Zelena waited for Regina to fall asleep before she went to steal Belle's diary and then appeared in Snow's hospital room in a cloud of green smoke. David was asleep in a chair by Snow's bed and Zelena quickly made sure they'd stay asleep until morning before she grabbed the baby boy and immediately left.
When she arrived at the farm house, Zelena had her monkey gather all the other ingredients and put them in place before she cast the curse.
Once more, she watched in awe the beautiful ray of colorful magic that made her portal. Blue, red, Yellow, white... It was beautiful and the feeling of satisfaction in her was immense.
Making sure one last time that she had everything she'd need, Zelena jumped through the portal, concentrating on arriving in the Enchanted Forest, a few minutes before Princess Eva overheard her mother and the gardener, her biological father. She concentrated on the place she needed to arrive in and just like the previous time, she arrived exactly where she needed to.
.
Zelena looked around her and saw that she was behind some bushes. She quickly got up and saw from afar her mother, Cora, in a beautiful dress, speaking to a gardener who looked threatening. Behind a tin wall, she could see Eva and her maid.
With a smirk and the knowledge that she was powerful enough to do anything she wanted to save her future, Zelena made her way to the scene and, before she reached it, sent a first fireball on Eva, and a second one on the maid.
Of course such things made noise and brought the attention of Cora and her companion.
"What... Who are you?" Cora asked, obviously afraid.
"My name is Zelena, I come from the future. Princess Eva here was going to tell Leopold about your present condition, I made sure she wouldn't." Zelena explained.
"I... Why? Why do this for me? What do you want?" Cora asked but Zelena didn't answer her immediately.
"So you're Jonathan? I wish I could say it's nice to see you but it would be a lie. But still, you're my father and I won't kill you... No, I'll simply... Change your form." Zelena smirked before she changed her biological father into a frog who hurried and jumped away.
"Your father? I'm not sure I understand..." Cora replied, her hands laid protectively over her baby bump.
"Let's sit back, we don't want you to get too tired now, do we? I'll explain everything to you." Zelena told her mother and once they were both sitting down, she told her her own version of the events she wanted to prevent.
She told Cora that she was the baby she was presently expecting and that Eva was about to set a series of events that would lead to Zelena being abandoned to be found by a cruel father, which was partly a lie, and that would force Cora to stay in her father's mill for the rest of her life for every time she'd try to rise, Eva would be there to stop her.
"You saved me then... And you're so powerful... I'm so proud of you... My daughter..." Cora smiled softly, melting Zelena's heart with that simple act she had been waiting for so long.
"Now you'll be queen, and one day, so will I. We'll both have everything we want." Zelena assured her mother.
"What are you going to do now?" Cora asked Zelena.
"I can't stay here, I'm afraid it'd be too hard for me so I guess I'll go back to the future, take the place that should be mine." Zelena shrugged.
"I'll await your return then... When you come back, find me and I'll tell you what you've missed." Cora promised her daughter who nodded and hugged her before she stood up and left.
Next, Zelena found an isolated spot in the woods and called for Pan's shadow. Once it came, she did what she had promised she'd do with the magical pact and gave the box with the Truest believer's heart to him, along with the letter Pan had written to himself.
Before she left though, Zelena wanted to make sure everything would go as planned and so she watched her mother's wedding to Prince Leopold and stayed a few more weeks, until the news of Princess Cora being pregnant with the realm's heir got out. Once that was done, Zelena used her stolen wand to go back to the future she had fought for and created.
She had caused a lot of death, completely destroyed families but she had done it to save her own family and to get the life she truly believed that she deserved. It had all been worth it.
.
Zelena arrived in the middle of a bedroom that she found beautiful. Instinctively she knew that it was hers.
"I knew that today was the day you'd come back when I noticed you didn't come for our daily walk in the garden. We have lots of catching up to do Zelena." Cora told her from the back of the room with a gentle and loving smile on her face.
"It worked then? You're Queen? We have everything?" Zelena asked her mother.
"We do. Leopold, your father, loves you and our people adore you. You're being courted by every eligible man in the kingdom and every king wants his son to marry you. You have 2 younger sisters and a little brother who love you and would do anything for you, just like you'd do anything for them. We're a happy family that sticks together." Cora resumed as she went to hug her daughter.
Then Cora helped her daughter change her clothes and told her everything she'd need to do, explaining Zelena's eventual confusion by saying she got into an accident earlier in the day and hurt her head.
"You've been keeping a diary since you learned how to write. I encouraged it so it would make everything easier for your return... All you have to do is read them, catch up on your life and the things ever I don't know." Cora told her eldest daughter.
"I keep secrets from you?" Zelena asked her.
"Well, I'm your mother Dearie, so I'm just guessing that I don't know everything about your life, your feelings and your thoughts... Everyone has secrets, especially children for their parents. No matter how close they are. Now go on and read your diaries to catch up. I'll tell everyone that you need to rest. But don't be surprised if your siblings sneak in to check on you, they've been known to do that in the past." Cora told her daughter softly before she kissed her forehead and left the room.
Zelena settled in her armchair and grabbed the first of the diaries and started to read it, learning how her life had gone. She learned how happy she was growing up, how much she had loved her baby sisters. The first to be born after Zelena had been named Lea, after her father Leopold and the second one had been named Diana, a name Zelena had chosen on her own apparently. Her little brother, who was only 7 years old now, was named Daniel, a name Leopold, Zelena and her sisters had chosen together.
Zelena couldn't keep the smile off her face as she read her diaries, learning more about the great life she had gotten.
"Zelena? Are you okay?" A girl who looked to be about 17 asked her as she entered the room, followed by another girl and a boy.
Her siblings.
"I'm fine, don't worry." She smiled.
"I'm Lea. Mom told the three of us the truth, that you have problems remembering everything because you risked your life to save our family, that you're a hero but it has to stay a secret." The eldest said.
"Don't worry, my memories are coming back." Zelena smiled as her siblings came closer and hugged her.
Being loved like this was new to her but she loved the feeling.
"Is that why you're reading your diaries?" Daniel asked her.
"Yes."
"Maybe it would help you remember better if we told you about some of our adventures?" Diana suggested.
"I've read about the time the three of us girls got lost in the tunnels underneath the castle when we were younger, back before Daniel was born." Zelena smiled.
"I remember, we had taken a bird in and were healing its wings but when he got better, he flew out of the room. We were trying to follow it and that's how we ended up in the tunnels." Lea chuckled.
"How did we get out of them? I didn't write anything about that in my journal." Zelena asked her sisters.
"You don't remember? You got us out of it. You used magic, enchanted one of your bows and it lead us out. After that mom and dad got you a tutor, to teach you how to use your magic." Lea explained.
"You even enchanted all of our necklaces so we could always find each other." Diana added.
"Not me though, you gave me an enchanted watch because necklaces are for girls and I'm not a girl!" Daniel shook his head.
Zelena and her siblings talked for a few more hours before they decided to leave her alone so she could rest. Zelena was glad to realize that she was finally happy and that getting everything she ever wanted truly made her happy. No Regina and no Snow White. Just her, her sisters and her brother.
It made her chuckle when she read in her diary that Prince James, King Georges's son, was courting her. Even if he was only the twin of Prince Charming, who might never become Prince Charming now, Zelena knew she would enjoy winning him over as well.
She vaguely wondered if Rumpelstiltskin would still find someone to cast his curse, if she'd end up stuck in Storybrook once more but just in case he did it, she started to work on protections to put around her kingdom. Her family and their people would stay here and be safe. She wouldn't let the family she had worked so hard to find get cursed and taken away from her.
.
"Thank you for the heart." Peter Pan said from her window that night.
"You're welcome." She smiled.
"Looks like you succeeded and everything went according to your plans." He told her.
"It did. It's good to win." She replied with a wide smile.
"Well, I've read the letter and according to it, you're to be trusted and a good ally so I came to give you this mirror. This way you don't have to call for the shadow every time you want to talk to me. I'm sure we'll be able to make more deals in the future." Peter told her before he flew away in a happy chuckle.
"The future is mine. I have everything I ever wanted." Zelena whispered to herself with satisfaction as she looked at her reflection in the mirror of her bedroom.
She had been labelled a villain for so long and had been told so many times that villains didn't win and didn't get happy endings... Now she held the proof that they had all been wrong. She was a villain, she couldn't deny it after everything she had done and all the death she had caused but she still had gotten her happy ending. It wasn't a matter of being good or bad, it was a matter of who had the most power and who was willing to fight the hardest to get what they wanted.
Because of her power she had gone from being a villain to being a princess, a hero even, to her family.
She was no longer the Wicked Witch of the West of Oz, she was Zelena, royal princess in the Enchanted Forest, heir to the crown.
She had won.
So, I know this is unusual for me... I usually let the good guys win and if there is a happy ending in here, it's definitely not for the good guys...
What did you think of it? Do you want an alternate ending where Zelena fails and the good guys win?
Tell me everything in a review!
Happy Holidays!
Lorelei Candice Black