Hi another chapter, this one follows up from the last one and the next chapter will be the end of the first Season. The Second Season has more chapters and therefore more detail.
Disclaimer-Nothing is mine but Scarlett/Giselle.
Please Read and Review.
Paradise Lost
Chapter 7-The Little Things
Scarlett in Storybrooke deals with the impending and then ending trial of Mary Margaret Blanchard as Regina makes veiled threats dropping a hint that might have devastating consequences, meanwhile in the Enchanted Forest Giselle travels to the port to see if she can find and (gain the nerve) kill her biological father, while the barman finds Giselle is not the only guest that turns up looking tired and sad.
If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins. (Benjamin Franklin)
Storybrooke (Morning)
There were several things that Scarlett didn't like when it came to living in a small town. The number one thing was the fact that gossip seemed to dominate Storybrooke and it got even worse by the fact that in the coming weeks Emma Swan had to arrest her own roommate for the murder of her lover's wife.
How her Dad who had to Scarlett's knowledge no legal qualifications was on board to represent her. How Scarlett didn't know either but she knew better than to ask questions when her Dad got that strange look on his face again. She caught him looking at her sometimes with that look on his face before his expression changed. As if he was viewing her as a threat and he wasn't sure how he could control her.
Some days were normal. Scarlett kept her head down and pretended that she didn't see Henry's heartbroken and confused face and the way Emma Swan seemed to go about ready for a fight. Some days were normal. Like the day two weeks after the arrest when Scarlett and her Dad were sat at the kitchen counter eating omelettes and drinking tea on a Sunday morning.
The phone rang disrupting the two of them and their tenuous relationship and Scarlett knew that whatever fragile peace there was in this town would be ruined by whoever it was that was calling.
"Gold" he said chewing on the mouthful of egg. Scarlett paused taking a mouthful of tea. She looked up to see a faint look of triumph on her father's face.
"Of course Miss Swan I would be happy to meet you down at the station to discuss these events"
He hung up turning to Scarlett who was watching him carefully.
"Katheryn Nolan has been found alive"
Scarlett choked on a mouthful of egg. "What" she half demanded. Her Dad nodded. "Ironic really isn't it"
Scarlett didn't think it was ironic at all and she wasn't sure if the words that she was thinking of right now would have been extremely rude well...rude.
"I suppose she has an explanation for what she's put this town through" Scarlett muttered bitterly. She had a reason to be bitter. She wasn't someone who gossiped all day and she kept getting headaches that were made only worse whenever the topic of conversation turned to the trial that was now apparently over.
Her Dad snorted. "Well" he said finally standing up and reaching for his cane. "I guess we'll find out"
They left the house together, her Dad walking with his cane and he held out his arm to Scarlett who smiled and took it. They hadn't done this in years, linked arms as they walked into the main area of the town.
"I'll see you tonight Sweetheart" her Dad said pressing a kiss in her hair. Scarlett resisted the urge to burrow her head into his chest and stay there forever like she had done when she was little. Instead she smiled and took off down the street.
Regina Mills was already waiting for her.
"Hello" she said her tone crisp and cool, she slung her arm around Scarlett's shoulders as if this was something she did every day. Scarlett followed her eyes with a growing sense of incredulity. "Emma Swan" Regina said slowly her tone becoming more and more dangerous with each passing word. "Wants to take my son away from me, I think once this disturbing business with Miss Blanchard is over she's going to retain the services of your father"
She turned sharply pivoting Scarlett with her. Her leather clad hand came out to play gently with one end of Scarlett's hair that had come loose from the messy knot that was tied on top of her head and brushed it out the way. The whole thing would have seemed almost motherly if it hadn't been so unnerving.
"Just remind your father if you would dear that he's not the only one who can play dirty. I am quite capable of putting on a fight and for Henry it will be the fight of his life" she sighed in fake sincerity. "I would hate for me and Gold to share the same fate of losing our boys"
And with that she smiled brightly, turned on her heal and walked away leaving Scarlett both confused and for some unknown reason fighting the urge to cry. She stared for a second clutching the strap of her bag before deciding for once in her life to fuck it. At least for today. She wasn't in the mood for school.
And with that she ducked her head down and disappeared down an alley hoping against hope that nobody had seen her with Regina and would report back to her father.
Her mind however was swirling. Since when did her father have another child?
And why didn't she know about it?
And where was he now?
And perhaps the most important question of all, was he related by blood? Could he too share the same genes she did? Or was she really the last decent member of her family left alive as she had always feared?
Scarlett ducked down to the docks her hands still crumpled into fists. She found her usual hiding spot in the Boat Shed and leaned her head back against the wood feeling utterly exhausted and drained. She didn't know what was happening in this town anymore but she knew that something was horribly wrong.
The Enchanted Forest. The Sea Port. The Sea Port Inn
It had taken Giselle two days to get to the port. Two days of hard and fast riding through forest and most of the time without stopping. Even through nights with a war waging bitterly on both sides Giselle had rode Max through it all until finally she had crossed the space of nearly the entire kingdoms and reached her destination.
She slid from Max and took him to the stables paying the stable hand who eyed her up until she showed him the knife that she was holding at her side. She slipped in through the door her hood held over her head and made her way to the bar silently. Thankfully the tavern was almost empty. A couple of loud people were over in the corner but they had their faces hid so Giselle slid into the corner bar seat, pulled down her hood and rested her head on her folded arms.
The barman grunted making Giselle look up. She was tired, hungry and dirty and she wasn't in the mood. That dark, empty feeling that had she had carried around with her for a long time was increasing with every second that she was looking for the monster that was her birth father.
"Ale?" he said casually and Giselle nodded dropping a coin into his grubby palm.
"Running from something?" he said shrewdly. Giselle started but the barman laughed. "Don't worry little lovely, I don't tell"
"You serve pirates in here" Giselle said quietly and the barman nodded. "Aye, but don't go getting any ideas, the Working Girls I don't mind so much, anything your age and I throw the old men out"
Giselle let herself smile for a second before nodding. "I was looking for a man with a hook, I think he could help me with something" under the bar her hand tightened on her knife a little and she felt the cool steel pressing into her leg.
"Hook?" the barman said laughing. "Ah he's not too bad I suppose, brutal and ruthless but he accepts it, pays the bills on time as well" he eyed Giselle suspiciously. "If you're looking for a way to escape he won't take you little lovely. He hasn't had a woman in years not since the one he was hanging around was murdered...or so I was told" he caught Giselle's eye and shrugged. "Different Port, different time"
"Do they ever have children?" Giselle asked before she could stop herself. She took a gulp of ale as the barman snorted. "Some do" he nodded. "Blackbeard must have about twenty that I know about gods knows more. I don't remember anyone else though, Silver might have a couple but he's long gone and dead and most of the time they either pretend that they don't exist or they get rid of them"
He caught Giselle's shocked expression and laughed harshly. "Don't look so shocked little love, it happens. There's no justice down this end of the world, there's no Dark One, there's no Evil Queen or Snow White. Say what you want about the first two. They damn well kept their kingdoms under control"
Giselle swallowed again. Everything she had ever heard about her father was coming true right in front of her eyes. She wanted to scream but she wasn't sure if she would be able to stop. Instead she took another gulp of ale and clenched her other hand into a fist her knuckles turning white.
The barman put down the glass and gave Giselle a long look.
"I don't know what you're looking for lovely but you won't find it in this town. I know you're not from here so let me give you some advice. Get the hell out while you still can. Hook, Blackbeard...whoever then hell you're looking for or running for, run some other place. This place will corrupt you if you stay here too long. These men will either kill you or corrupt you and I've seen too many young girls get their lives destroyed because of fanciful dreams. If you're running, find another place to run to, a place that's better than this"
Giselle stared at him for a long second before she dumped another coin in his hand. "I'll take a room for the night" she said quietly. He gave another grunt pulling the ledger in front of him. "Giselle" Giselle said quietly. "No last name" she said, the barman didn't look as if he was surprised.
That morning Giselle sat and watched the sunlight glitter on the sea for a while before she stood up smoothing down her dress to go and find Max ready to ride him back to Snow White's kingdom. She knew nobody would be looking for her there. She was just one more face in the crowd.
And if she was wiping tears of her face as she did so then...that was her business nobody else's.
The Enchanted Forest. The Sea Port. The Sea Port Inn (After)
Erik had been working at the tavern now for a long time. Finally he had gotten the last of the crew that came with the Jolly Roger out (sans the Captain) and he looked around grumbling. Gods did these people ever clean after themselves?
Captain Hook was still sat at the bar and his expression that had changed from arrogant humour when he was with his crew had slid back into melancholy.
"Leaving again the morning Captain?" Erik asked despite himself. The Captain forced his eyes up away from his glass and gave Erik a smile that looked rather forced and didn't meet his eyes.
"Aye. Don't want to be on land when this bloody wedding thing happens"
"I hear the Dark One's been captured" Erik said wiping down the bar.
"Aye, but not killed. They won't kill him" Hook replied looking rather board again.
Erik deliberated telling him about the girl. The one that had been in here looking for him.
"There was a girl here looking for you" he said finally. If she was in trouble it wouldn't hurt for him to make sure someone was looking out for her.
The Captain snorted into his rum. "Not like that" Erik elaborated. "Young thing, couldn't have been older than fifteen, well...i'm not entirely sure if she was looking for you, asking all sorts of strange questions about pirates and if they had children and the like...sweet little thing too...running like hell from something though"
"This girl have a name?" Hook asked and Erik paused. His tone had took on something dark and he was looking at Erik with those eyes that were filled with some sort of horrific mixture of hope and agony. For a split second Erik wanted to ask him if the rumours were true...about him murdering that woman on his ship all those years ago...but then he thought of that girl again of what she was running from and how she tired she had looked, so old before her time.
"No" he said finally.
The Captain turned his whole body sagging back to his rum and Erik left the room waking up the night boy to make sure that the Captain got home to his ship and that the doors were locked.
Next Chapter-In Storybrooke Scarlett is desperate to figure out what Regina's cryptic clue meant while Henry takes desperate steps to break the curse and the resounding consequences change Scarlett's life forever. Meanwhile in the Enchanted Forest, Giselle attempts to regain some normality by returning home to her cottage and trying to build a life but talk of a curse and a vision from her father might change all that. End of Season 1.
And let me know what you think.
