Lost Girl, Lost Boy

Chapter Seven

Belle walked out from the backroom of Gold's shop where she spent most of her nights now, especially after Rumple had died, into its main room and unlocked the door to let Mary Margaret and David inside, then quickly locked the door after closing it behind them. It was obvious that the young woman was afraid and hasn't been getting much sleep since learning from Emma that the man she loved was alive again and trapped within the hands of a new enemy.

Mary Margaret saw how exhausted Belle looked and placed her hand down over one of her arms as she spoke up saying, "Thank you so much for opening up for us. How are you holding up?"

Belle smiled sadly as she answered, "I've been better. But I'm fine, really. I'm worried about Rumple is all."

"Don't worry, we'll find a way to save him from the Wicked Witch, but first we have a problem that's a bit more urgent right now," David responded worryingly. "Hook was hurt pretty badly earlier tonight. This witch and Gold… She forced Gold to help her do something to him, but we don't know what. We were hoping that there might be something here that could help us help Hook."

"Feel free to look around all you like," Rumple's girlfriend replied sincerely. "I'll help you in any way I can, of course. Do you have any idea what you might be looking for?"

Snow looked at David, then turned back to Belle as she answered, "Emma told us that this witch disguised herself to look like her, which is how she managed to get the drop on Hook, and said that she had crushed some kind of flower into a powder over his heart after she ripped it out of his chest, then pushed it back into him. We saw him inside Regina's office just before we came here. He's in bad shape and whatever that powder is, it's spreading through his body. He's going to continue to get worse."

David noticed a look of cynicism on her face and immediately realized why as he placed a hand on her shoulder, then said, "Look, I get that you have no reason to want to help Hook, after all that he did to you and to Gold, but he isn't that man anymore. He's changed since we all went to Neverland. I may not fully trust him, but he is trying to be a better man."

"You're right," Belle responded. "Of course you're right. What else does Emma know about this flower?"

"Only that it was blue," Mary Margaret replied again. "She couldn't even tell what kind of flower it was, or what it looked like. But seeing as it was blue and that it can be crushed into dust, I'm going to say it's probably pretty rare and fatal if we can't find a way to save him."

The young woman nodded and then answered, "Well then, we should probably get started. I've read a lot of Rumple's books and I've never noticed anything about a flower like that, but he's also got plenty of books I haven't even begun to skim through. This shop is larger than it looks, believe me. We should enlist help. Perhaps Mother Superior and the other fairies could help."

Charming quickly pulled his phone from his pocket as he responded, "I'm on it. Wait, I keep forgetting the fairies don't carry cell phones. It looks like I'm going to have to go wake them in person."

His wife kissed him before he left, then stated nervously, "Be careful."

"Don't worry, I'll be alright," he replied and kissed her once more before he walked to the door to leave. "The witch has already made her attack on me. I doubt she'll try again so soon."

"I really hope he's right," Mary Margaret said fearfully, knowing that the Wicked Witch and Rumpelstiltskin weren't the only ones out there trying to hurt them, as there were flying monkeys to contend with as well.