Chapter 4

Several days earlier, Ruby ran as a wolf. Having regained who she was and regained her connection to her wolf, she could now. Her friends were safe, and if she caught one of those accursed flying monkeys, that would be the end of one of the town's pests. Wolves do not play with their prey. They kill them.

Then, she spotted a simple hare, out and about. Her wolf side hungered, and well, it wasn't like she minded letting the wolf out to hunt. So she ran into the woods after it. The hare hopped away deeper into the woods. It was great sport.

Until she leapt onto ground that wasn't and fell through, knocking her head against the rocks in the bottom.

Sooty gray smoke flowed up from the little white hare and formed into the stunningly beautiful form of Jadis. With a wave of her hand, the spot where Ruby had fallen into became a pit in the earth.

Seeing Ruby's unconscious wolf form at the bottom, Jadis commented to herself, "Well that saves me the hassle."

Jumping in, Jadis cut a lock of Ruby's fur and tucked it next to a mockingbird's feather, and then simply threw the wolf over her shoulder and climbed out. She walked a ways along the path they had both previously come, and gently laid the wolf down against a rock. With a simple gesture she vanished into a sooty gray cloud.

Even shops like Mr. Gold's require organization from time to time, or at least that's what Belle told herself. However, as she was doing inventory, she noticed something most definitely new in the back of a the shop. It was large, box shaped, and covered in a heavy, protective cloth. Attached to the side was a packing slip. Belle's curiosity got the better of her. She looked it over, but found it somewhat illegible. So she put it aside, and then grasped and pulled the protective cloth off. As it slid aside, it revealed a wardrobe.

It was a beautiful apple wood wardrobe. Unlike most examples, it had a single, full sized door in the middle with the rest of the box made to look as pillars to either side to hold hinges and hasp. It was hand-built and carved. Marco, who was also known as Gepetto, would have been proud of the hand carved apple tree that made up the top half of the door and the intricate scrollwork on the posts. She went to check the packing slip again when she heard a crash and the distinctive sounds of Regina's anger coming from the main room. With a sigh of frustration, and putting it aside, Belle went to go see what was going on.

Meanwhile, Jadis had come to Storybrooke's graveyard She had her own agendas to pursue. With her usual resourcefulness, she had acquired the materials for the promised items. Much to her annoyance, she had been forced to make a quick raid of Regina's crypt vaults for a couple of the ingredients.

She walked among the snow covered tombstones, and sat before the first. With quick, well practiced motions, she laid out the body of a dead gray feathered mocking bird, her raven feather, and several red crystals. She then laid out a simple leather belt, the tufts of fur taken from Ruby, which she surrounded with small mirrors. The final was a single apple, made of gold, acquired in secret from Mr. Gold's pawn shop, surrounded by green crystals and Iron Pyrite.

She chanted, low and practiced. The knowledgeable would have shuddered at what she was doing. The wise might have sought to stop it. But they were not there so no one did. So she chanted and around each item dark smoke formed. Her chant cadence changed, between badgering, cajoling and threatening. The smoke whirled and swirled. The mockingbird's feathers turned black, and it sat up and squawked as a raven. A second wave of blackness descended into the belt, and the belt buckle changed to that of a wolf's head. The final swirled around the first piece of fruit Midas ever touched, swirling in and absorbed, tarnishing the gold to near black.

The final item was a small vial. It remained empty, but glinted a bit in the winter's light. She contemplated and slightly regretted that she did not have a worthy opponent. Perhaps if that Dark One was still around, she could play games with him.

Then she arose and vanished into a sooty cloud of smoke to meet the children. After all, good pawns were hard to come by.

Storybrooke neared war. Zelena was putting her final plan into action, with the Dark One as her puppet to allow her plan to come to pass. And Jadis waited patiently for the children to arrive. In the chaos of that day, it is forgivable that three children were able to slip away.

Jadis remained confident, for the spell would fail, she was sure of it. Soon, she'd have her generals, and she would prepare her armies, and Storybrooke would be hers, and then this world. After all, it was she was owed.

As they arrived, she had a little feast laid out for them. With her most gracious smile, she greeted them, "Nick, Adolf, and Simone, how nice to see you again. Oh I have missed your company. Do tell me what has been going on since we last saw each other?"

They spoke of how Regina and Zelena, a new witch, was apparently her sister and they'd had a rather large fight.

"Ah, sibling rivalry, I know it well," Jadis said in distant memory, not letting on that she was already aware of Zelena's and Regina's troubled relationship.

The children looked curious, but she waved them to continue as they ate with gusto. Apparently, the whole town had been returned to this world as a gambit to stop her more powerful dark magic. Jadis was amused at the awe in their voices. Well, she was about to impress them in a way that Zelena would never think of doing. Of course, Jadis also made sure she'd mostly benefit from the gifts she would be giving. The other piece of big news was the return of 'the Dark One', Mr. Gold, under Zelena's control. Well that was a problem with a couple of solutions. The easiest being to simply enact the Deplorable Word, and make sure to acquire the dagger. The rest of the conversation was all personal things. To her it was drivel that she did not care about.

Jadis smiled to the children and said, "Well, I did promise gifts upon your return."

"For you, dear Simone, first a truth, all magic is a long and arduous task. For that, you will need a familiar to advise you and help you practice, as did your Regina, " Jadis ended with a lie. She could have taken the time to teach Simone herself, but she did not wish to, besides the girl had no worthwhile talent. She'd make a fine device wizard though.

"Now, please give me your hand to bond yourself to your new familiar," Jadis said. She slid the black raven feather into Simone's hand.

With a wave of her hand, greyish black smoke swirled to reveal a black raven. She said, "I give to you Haveronger, your familiar, or Daemon in more proper terminology. As with all such spirits, he will stay with you constantly, and is bound to and ultimately an expression of your soul in physical form, so do your best not to break him."

It is amazing how many lies can be put into one sentence. But, the subject flitted over and landed next to Simone and squawked, "Greetings great witch, Simone, we have so much to do! "

Simone and Haveronger promptly fell to whispering and discussing things. Jadis chose to ignore this, for evil witches often had the tendency to ignore things that did not directly impact them or provide some advantage.

"Moving on... Adolf, for you I have this fine belt, enchanted so when you lock the hasp and focus on being the wolf, you will transform into a wolf. To release it back to mortal form, just imagine yourself unclasping it."

Adolf grasped the belt with excitement and was quick to slide it around his waist. As he was about to lock the hasp behind the wolf's head, Jadis said, "Now becoming a wolf can be a bit painful, but I am sure you are strong enough, and of course, the wolf will often influence the changed, but you'll just have to resist the darker urges."

Adolf was half listening as he locked on the belt and changed. It was not the quick change Red had. No, it was slower, and it felt as if his heart had stopped, every muscle in his body torn asunder, and every bone broken as black smoke formed around him. But in the end, he looked very much like a wolf. His wolf was a human sized, hulking, black furred and had reddish eyes. His tongue lolled out with the pure joy of it, and then he turned and leapt to pursue an animal he smelled among the trees.

Jadis ignored the wolf for now, turning at last to young Nick. She said, "So, young Nick, now we have to give you your gift."

She proffered the enchanted apple, saying, "With this apple, as long as you hold it close, it will draw wealth to you. Gold and riches will find it's way to you, or you can use it to search out things you desire."

Nick grabbed it up and looked very excited.

"Thank you," He said. Then he looked quizzical and said, "I never did see Billy, do you know what happened to him?"

"Oh, I fear Zelena must have gotten him, I am sad to say. Not to worry, I will put it to rights, " Jadis lied effortlessly.

Nick believed her and turned his attention to the apple.

"So how does this work, exactly?"

"Often the largest challenge in life is finding what you're looking for. Close your eyes, envision the item you want. Then hold the apple, and it'll draw you to it," Jadis explained.

Nick did, and visualized. After a moment, he walked a few feet, and stopped. He brushed away some leaves, and while it was rusted and old, it was still a sword. He picked it up with a happy smile.

"Children, " Jadis said raising her voice, "Come to me for a moment. I wish to share with you my vision of what is to come."

Reluctantly, Simone stopped her conversation with Haveronger, Nick stopped waving the rusted and pitted sword around in fine Flynning fashion, and Adolf loped back in from the woods and sat down. After a moment, he even reverted back to human form.

Jadis arose with grace and spoke to them, "It is your time. We will remake this town together. And we will make it fair. You will be my princes and princess. And I have such plans. No more neglect, no more being forgotten."

The children leaned forward in excitement. Being told one is special in a world determined to prove the opposite can have that effect, especially in a town with real queens and princesses.

"To that end, " Jadis continued, confident that she had them, "We shall need an army. Fortunately, Regina, in her arrogance brought me one. Nick, your special gifts will be key to what's ahead. I know you can do this. in fact, it'll be easy."

Jadis continued, and explained, in broad terms what she needed them to fetch, before sending them on their way.

In the end, Jadis was right, and then ultimately wrong about Zelena's time travel spell.

Victory came to Storybrooke. Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West was defeated. At a high cost, in many ways. Little John almost lost his head over the incident, but then he had been a Flying Monkey. Emma was without her magic, or perhaps she'd just lost her confidence in it.

It had been said that only powerful light magic could defeat the Wicked Witch. The Light magic had come from the most unexpected of sources. Regina Mills, the famed Evil Queen, had found in her love of her adopted son Henry the ability to harness and use Light Magic. But as Eustace Clarence Scrubb could attest, making a turn away from selfishness, conceit, and haughtiness is possible. Staying turned away from it is often an even greater challenge. Even if one has all the right reasons to make the change.

As Zelena had stolen her child moments after birth, Dr. Hopper and Dr. Whale both agreed that Mary Margaret needed some enforced bed rest for a few days for her own good. Which probably makes the first time Jiminy Cricket and Dr. Frankenstein agreed on anything. Enforced bed rest, in this case, required one of the seven dwarves to stand guard so she wouldn't get the urge to go running off on an adventure. David was with her, being helpful. Well, more or less.

In Mr. Gold's shop, Belle and Rumpelstiltskin reunited. It was a tender moment, and the Dark One's dagger appeared to have been entrusted to Belle as a symbol of love. Some people are better with symbols than they are with truth.

He then suggested an evening out, and Belle happily agreed, but of course, she wanted to grab her shawl as it was a bit cold out. So while she went into the back room to grab it, Rumpelstiltskin turned and took in his domain. it was then he noticed the chess set, with the three pieces set aside.

"How odd, I do not recall leaving it that way, " he said.

"Oh well, an invitation is an invitation, perhaps. Besides, that is a rather severe handicap," he said, advancing the red pawn in front of the king two squares in a classic opening move towards White's side, which was short it's queen, bishop, and a knight.

Moments later Belle appeared, ready to go but looking slightly pensive.

"What is it, my dear?" Rumple inquired gently.

"Oh, it can keep, my dear Rumple, let's have a nice night."

And so they did.

But in another part of Storybrooke, things were not so joyous. Zelena found herself locked in a cell without her magic, and Jadis had been outside of the barn, watching the showdown, disguised as a large rock. She might also have turned a few of the flying monkeys to stone to help turn things in the heroes' favor, but that would be interfering, which she promised not to do. Of course, beings like Jadis think nothing of lying to others.

Now, she stood in the darkness in the barn, inspecting the ritual. The cornerstones had been taken, but yes it would work upon Zelena's impending accident. Jadis had learned enough of the Dark One to have a fairly good idea on what he'd do next and was smart enough to imagine that Zelena was counting on it, clearly ignorant of the problem of time travel spells. So, with a touch of patience, she dug up a small silver scale in the center of the ritual ring, and put it in that glinting vial. She quietly spoke a few ancient words of Charn power, and it glowed green for a moment.

As she headed out, Haveronger landed nearby, and did the bird equivalent of a deep bow.

"So?" Jadis said with a touch of annoyance.

"She has moved the piece as instructed," the raven like bird replied.

"Good, and her 'training'?"

"Oh, she's a fine device wizard, she's got a gift for wands, really. With a bit more refined training she could be something."

"Well that's something useful. Did you see anything else of use?"

"Oh yes, quite a bit. Ruby is unaware of what you've done, and this town's so called "Savior" Emma, is the natural mother of the child Henry, who is the adopted son of Regina Mills. He is also the grandson of the Dark One. Might be useful as a bargaining chip. I swear, it's like all the people of power in this town are related."

"It's common for royalty to keep family relations close. Now, I have another task for you, " Jadis continued, explaining Simone's next mission.

As Haveronger flew off, Jadis smiled, sat back, and waited, watching the vial with patient interest.

Later that night, after Belle had retired, Rumpelstiltskin returned to the shop for a moment. Briefly he toyed with putting aside his revenge. There he surveyed the chess set, and noticed that one of the pawns had been moved on White's side.

"Oh very well, Dearie, you'll find I'm better than that, " he said advancing one of his knights. Then he disappeared into a cloud of black smoke.

While it is another story, it does bear in on this one. Rumpelstiltskin stabbed Zelena with the real Dagger of the Dark One in revenge for the death of his beloved son, Balefire, or Neal as he was known in our world. In many respects, she died, turning first to porcelain, then to dust, which vanished.

In Regina's vault, the drawer containing the Wicked Witch's Emerald necklace released green smoke which flew towards the barn and the remnants of her time travel spell.

But they didn't make it there just yet. Instead, the cloud turned, pulled unavoidably into the small vial Jadis held. Once it was all in she calmly capped it, shook the vial with the smoke trapped within.

"Not just yet, my dear. The stopper only comes out when I die," Jadis said bemusedly. Has it not been mentioned that witches like Jadis lie?

When Rumpelstiltskin returned to his shop and home, he found another chess piece had been moved.

For Emma Swan, adapting to the nature of Storybrooke was often a challenge. Some days, it seemed that the city just liked to throw her a story based curve ball, just to mess with her.

Today was one of those days.

Emma went into the sheriff's office, like she did most mornings when things were quiet. The desk stood as it always did, opposite the two cells, one of which the Wicked Witch had recently vacated, rather terminally. It is probably a testament to how much she had been through that the massive Lion sitting patiently in front of her desk didn't inspire fear, confusion, or even much surprise. In fact, her first question was how an animal the size of an elephant had gotten into her office.

The Lion was massive, bigger than any lion she'd ever seen. His head nearly brushed the ceiling, his mane golden and beautiful. And he did not have the look of an animal that had ever seen captivity, rather he looked wild, free, and dangerous. Only the eyes gave her a moment of pause. They had depths of great sadness and joy within them, as if they had seen great triumphs and tragedy. He was, in a word, beautiful.

Emma reached for her trademark sarcasm and said, "Great, so what, now the Cowardly Lion comes for a visit?"

The Lion laughed. It was a cascade of deep and powerful joy. There was no malice or meanness about it, simply mirth.

"I do believe, Emma Swan, daughter of Snow White and Prince David, that is the first time someone has called me cowardly," the Lion said.

Hadn't this town thrown her enough curveballs? From learning that her mother and father were 'that' Snow White and Prince Charming, her child having been adopted by 'that' Evil Queen, dating 'that' Captain Hook, and having had to fight everything from Malicefant, to Peter Pan, to most recently, the Wicked Witch of the West. And now, the town seemed to have gifted her with a ridiculously knowledgeable lion. Finally, with only just a touch of her sarcastic nature she said, "So what can the Storybrooke police department do for you today?"

The Lion replied, "I am here to report a theft."

Emma frowned and gave a deep sigh, "Okay then... What got stolen?"

"Mr. Gold's pawn shop has lost two small items. A golden magical device, and a book of spells. From the Convent of Fairies, two wands, and finally, I believe Granny is missing a cauldron," the Lion spoke calmly.

She dug into her desk, finding a pad of blank police reports, just like would be in any small town police officers' desk. She looked up and said, "What name shall I file it under?"

She said it to an empty office, for the Lion had vanished. Emma tried to be surprised, she really did, but it all fit.

"Seriously?! Okay, I guess I file that under Anonymous."

But a lead was a lead, and Mr. Gold probably wouldn't lie about it. Well okay, maybe, possibly? She picked up and holstered her gun, and headed out to pay Mr. Gold a visit.

In the mines under Storybrooke, the dwarves often toiled, looking for the diamonds to make fairy dust. It kept coming up as a useful item to have, so they would dig for it. The dwarves of the Enchanted Forest would whistle while they worked, moving endless stone for what they needed.

And while they were quite good at finding it, they weren't always good at watching the products of their labors. For example, if an invisible pair of hands were to switch one bag for another that simply looked like it held what it should, but in fact held a bit of gravel found by the side of the road, they likely wouldn't notice for quite some time.

And of course, the sounds of pickaxes against rock, and shovels throwing unused rock into bins would cover the sounds of even the clumsiest of invisible thieves.

Meanwhile, in Mr. Gold's shop, Rumpelstiltskin was unhappy with the progress of the mysterious chess game, having lost two pawns and finding himself staring down the barrel of particularly nasty knight fork when Emma entered.

He looked up and greeted Emma with a mischievous slight smile, "Ms. Swan, is there something I can do for you today?"

"There's been a report of a theft from your shop by a lion," Emma said with a little bit of familiar annoyance, and perhaps taking a bit of her annoyance at Storybrooke in general out on him.

"A Lion? Not the Cowardly Lion, surely?"

Emma Swan vibrated with the frustration, "I have been assured that he's anything but... And why do I feel like I should be putting 'He' in all capitals?"

"I haven't the foggiest Miss Swan. So what did this lion say was stolen?"

"He described it as a golden device of some sort, and book of spells."

Walking towards one of the shelves, Rumplestiltskin looked about, saying, "It has been a while since I have done inventory, but I recognize the device description. Did he happen to mention who the thief was?"

"He disappeared before he said."

Squatting down he looked over, and found the little hollow where the golden looking device had sat, now very empty. He then looked over amongst the books with an increasing sense of worry, and like all masters of chess, he considered the consequences of what he did next. He could call the lion a liar and claim nothing was missing, and take the chance that Emma's Super Power would detect the lie, which would spin off one set of actions and possibilities, or he might tell the truth, and have her wonder if he was lying, which opened a whole set of possibilities. Worse yet, if the lion was not the Cowardly One from Oz, then there were only a few talking lions known throughout the realms. And it would be a very bad idea to call one of them a liar.

So, he opted for some of the truth. "Yes, indeed. It appears I have had the items in question stolen. Ms. Swan, I must warn you, when you find the culprits do not use the golden device."

"Why is that, " Emma asked curious. A candid Rumplestiltskin was rare, so it probably meant he was hiding something else.

"You see, Ms. Swan. It shows you the truth. If you ever see a tale about it, it will always appear in the most self aggrandizing way, possibly in the title. But yes, it tells you the truth. Just long enough for you to trust it for guidance. Then it lies to you in a way guaranteed to lead you to heartache, loss, and destruction. It's creators were quite fond of that element. I suggest you find the thief quickly, and before I do," he ended with more than a bit of malice.

"Let me do my job, Mr. Gold, and we'll get your things back."

"Of course, Ms. Swan, " He said with the sincerity of Iron Pyrite in the hands of a gold collector. Emma left entirely unsatisfied with his promise, but determined to find the thieves first.

Once she was gone, Rumplestiltskin moved his queen out of harms way. It would cost him his bishop, but it was worth it. Then, sure that everyone else was away, he drew the Dagger of the Dark One, and worked a fairly elementary spell. The former homes of the golden device, and the book glowed briefly, but so did something near his hidden, blood locked safe. Leaving aside the shelves for the moment, he knelt and realized it was a lock of hair.

"My, someone wants to give me a little invitation. Okay Dearie, let's see who you are. But first..."

Rumplestiltskin made a few preparations. Then, with a puff of black smoke, he vanished from the shop.