Finding Who You Are: Part 4
By Arianwen P.F. Everett
"No, I refuse! The thing never did anything to me," Danielle stated, digging her heels in.
"Dearie… Ms. Mills, if you don't pluck the newts' eyes out, you can't use them for the spell. It's a part of the price of the magic," Rumplestiltskin explained for the third time. The girl had taken amazingly well to most of his training this past week, but now that they were on the darker side of things, he was meeting resistance. Today that resistance had turned to complete defiance.
"Firstly, this creature gets nothing out of the magic, so it shouldn't have to pay the price, and secondly, you can go to hell, cause I'm not blinding it!" Danielle reiterated before moving to the lake's edge and placing the small animal on a rock. As the creature began scurrying away, Danielle's smile turned to an enraged scowl as a knife shot out, chopping the little amphibian in two, killing it instantly.
"Now it's dead, so pick up the head and remove its eyes before they loose their freshness!" Rumplestiltskin ordered in a clipped tone that meant business.
"You killed it. You mutilate the corpse if you're that much of a psychopath! I didn't come to Storybrooke to dismember animals!" Danielle shot back, stomping towards the camp, leaving the ancient imp fuming.
"Do you think your grandmother cares why you're here? To her, you're a threat and she will gladly bring about as much death as is necessary to eliminate that threat. Your only hope for survival, this town's only hope for survival, is for you to fully embrace your magic and make no mistake, Dearie, your magic is dark," Rumplestiltskin hissed menacingly, causing Danielle to freeze with fright. Danielle shrieked as he grabbed her shoulders painfully. Before he could say another word, a blue-gloved fist connect with his nose.
"Get your hands off of her!" Nova spat out as Rumplestiltskin climbed to his feet and Danielle moved to stand beside her.
"That was wrong of me. I shouldn't have done that, but you screamed and I saw him grab you, and…" Nova stammered as way of apology to both her charge and Rumplestiltskin.
"It's alright, Nova. He brought it on himself. God, I can't believe I let my guard down around him! I thought if he could love his son so much that he would pay the price he paid to save him, he couldn't be as evil as Mother and Henry and the rest made him out to be. I guess I've learned my lesson. Schools out," Danielle said, clipping her last sentence to let the lame creature know she was done taking magic lessons from him.
Putting a grateful arm around her Fairy Godmother, the two turned and strode back towards camp, leaving the fuming imp in the dirt. Unfortunately, the stand off they walked straight into was unimaginably worse.
"Ah, there she is, my beautiful granddaughter!" Cora cooed, holding her boney arms out for a hug, as if the fact that the head of her personal guard had Snow White in a headlock with his gun pressed against her temple wasn't happening a mere three feet away.
"You lost the right to call me that when you ripped my defenseless father's heart out. Now tell your goon to drop Snow and get your ancient carcass out of my realm!" Danielle responded coldly as she gently pushed Nova away from her and an energy ball formed in the palm of her hand.
"You've been practicing your magic! You've barely been here a week and you're already practicing. You have no idea how proud of you I am right now!" Cora beamed, completely unperturbed by Danielle's threat. Despite Emma Swan's warning, Cora had forgotten ten times the magic her granddaughter could have possibly picked up in such a brief span of time. The girl was angry, but posed no real danger.
"And you have no idea how little I give a damn. Listen, I don't actually care what happens to Snow. Do whatever you like with her; just leave Storybrooke once you're finished. I'm pretty sure somebody will clean up the mess," Danielle quipped, watching Cora's eyes for any response.
Having attended an elite boarding school, albeit as a day student, Danielle had learned the art of negotiation amongst the sons and daughters of the rich and powerful. The first step when dealing with a hostile or overly confident adversary was to make a bold, but inoffensive, opening statement, and then slowly begin to mirror your opponent's movements, vocal characteristics, and temperament until they relaxed enough to view you as a person worthy of their time. Only then could you bring your issues to the table without immediate rebuff or posturing. Her grandmother would have heard diplomatic phrasing as groveling, so Danielle had opened with insults and rejection. Now she was mirroring Cora's callous disregard for life while carefully proposing her grandmother's abandonment of this realm. She didn't expect the evil witch to concede right away, but if Danielle was lucky, the old woman would divulge more information about why she'd left Wonderland and what she wanted with Storybrooke.
"Dani, what are you doing?!" Henry gasped in horror, only to suddenly find himself unable to speak. Panicked, he looked back and forth between Cora and Danielle not knowing which woman had stolen his voice.
"A good start, my dear. That family always did talk too much. But taking his ability to argue, doesn't stop him from moving against you," Cora instructed while sending a rock at her granddaughter's head.
The sudden pain and loss of balance left Danielle in the dirt. When she tried to stand, her head spun, leaving her barely able to push away the grass that tried to invade her mouth and nostrils. Suddenly a hand grabbed her by the jaw and wrenched her splitting head upwards. "Do you take me for a fool, girl?! You reek of innocence and weakness! My traitorous daughter obviously taught you nothing of value; probably permitted you to run wild like my worthless husband did her! Ah well, at least you tried to deceive me. I guess that's a start. However, you're no where near the point where you'd cheerfully sacrifice another's life for your own gain. But fear not; with my help, you'll get there."
Signaling to one of her guards, Cora watched as the man lifted her half conscious grandchild into his arms, only to be vomited upon. She'd have to inspect the bump when they returned to the mansion Regina had once occupied while still mayor of this village; a brain damaged heir was worthless to Cora. However, that examination would have to wait. For now she had what she came for and used her magic to fling Snow White straight into her mute grandson, before disappearing with her men in a cloud of black smoke.
Once the danger had passed, Snow and Charming embraced before helping Henry to his feet. He tried to talk, only to find he still couldn't.
"Oh, Henry," Snow sighed, stroking the young man's arm in sympathy.
"Don't worry. We'll get your voice back," Charming promised, joining his wife at their grandson's side.
"I hate to break it to you, Dearies, but only young Ms. Mills can return Henry's voice, as she's the one who took it," Rumplestiltskin informed, looking over the family he had watched develop for decades.
"The imp's right. We have to get Danielle back!" Granny joined in, worried about the young woman she'd delivered and whom she'd grown fond of these past few days.
"Emma, Red, and the Blue Fairy are more important. We can't split our focus," Snow abruptly insisted, days of constant worry for her daughter and anger at Danielle's attack on Henry fueling her lack of concern.
Suddenly Snow felt a hand roughly grasp her forearm and she looked down into the eyes of a stern Granny. "You know I adore Emma, but that woman has a mouth on her, one she passed onto her boy. Now I don't blame you. She obviously got it out in this world, but whatever the reason, Henry has it and he was seconds away from getting himself killed with it. If Danielle hadn't silenced him and drew that witch's attention away from the two of you, we'd all be digging your graves by now."
"Danielle sacrificed herself to keep Henry safe. She doesn't deserve your derision," Nova added, needing to defend her charge.
"Look, I hear what you're both saying, but I haven't a clue as to how we go about saving her! We can't even enter the town for God's sake!" Snow shouted, madness threatening her frayed nerves.
"Outside of myself, there's only one person who's ever taken on Cora with any real success. As much as I hate the idea of her returning, you have to admit, her girl's abduction, not to mention Henry's current condition, would certainly motivate her," Rumplestiltskin theorized, knowing just how hard this idea would be for Snow White to process at the moment, but having no other choice. The child knew about his son. She had said as much earlier. He had to get her back and interrogate her.
"No. No way! She's been banished! She's staying banished!" Snow fought, holding onto her last shred of self control and command. Until Cora's take over, she'd been happy. For eighteen years, she and Charming had had the life they'd always dreamed of. She didn't want to risk Regina ruining her happy ending once again.
Charming shut his eyes as he fought the conflicting emotions inside himself. His wife was at the end of her rope, but his daughter was still a prisoner and he had no idea how long the Queen of Hearts would see fit to keep her alive. He had to make Snow see reason, the way he'd forced her to hold onto hope when they'd first learned of the dark curse and what it would do to their family. "Snow, she may be Emma's only hope."
"Even if I wanted to bring her back, the Blue Fairy cast a spell to prevent her from returning, and considering she's powerless and locked up in Cora's dungeon, how are we even supposed to get Regina here?" Snow questioned, not wanting to admit that her daughter's fate might rest in her evil stepmother's hands.
A tap on her arm directed Snow's attention towards Henry, who was holding out Danielle's cell phone and a piece of paper where he'd scrawled 'Ask Mom'. Sighing, Snow looked into her husband's eyes once more for strength and took the phone.
