Queen of Hearts
Lyssa bit her lip as she followed Cora and Hook down to the prisons near Snow White's old castle, where the Dark One had been held prisoner so many years ago. It wasn't that she was biting her lip to keep from speaking, from voicing how wrong it was to use a person's heart like she was observing Cora doing to Aurora right at that very moment as they walked, but…it was just what she did. She had no problem staying silent around Cora, the woman's reputation alone was enough to frighten anyone to silence, and she had enough personal interaction with Cora to be that much more terrified of her than just from stories. Keeping silent and holding her tongue weren't the issues.
It was the discomfort of the entire situation. Seeing Cora, the Queen of Hearts, holding a heart, knowing she could easily crush it when SHE had promised Mulan that they would get Cora to free Aurora, it bothered her. Had she known that Hook had taken Aurora's heart to give to Cora, she wouldn't have ever offered the woman the compass. But she hadn't known, and Cora now had the box in her possession. Aurora was still at Cora's mercy and she felt awful about it. Because Aurora HAD been nice to her, hadn't wanted her to be taken prisoner, and she hated to see people controlled the way Cora was controlling the princess. It wasn't right to have that much power and control over someone else.
She was disappointed Killian had done that, had given the heart to Cora, not very surprised, but still fairly disappointed.
"…was ink in the cell…" she looked up, hearing Mulan speaking as they reached the bottom of the stairs, knowing that the four women were searching Rumpelstiltskin's cell for squid ink that was said to be able to trap someone with magic, even nullify their powers for a short while. Cora had been listening in on the heroes' conversation through Aurora's heart and knew all about their plans.
"Son of a bitch!" Emma cursed.
Lyssa looked over as she heard Cora murmuring to the heart in her hand, not whispering to it words for Aurora to speak, but gripping it firmly with commands for the princess to follow.
Just as they stepped around the corner, they could see Aurora turn and grab a rock, throwing it at a lever outside the cell and causing the door to fall shut before them, trapping them within.
"Aurora, what are you doing?!" Emma demanded, rounding on the princess who looked completely startled and confused as to what she was actually doing.
"Helping me," Cora called as they walked up, coming to a stop before the cell, Cora in the middle of her and Killian.
Emma glared at them both, seeing the ashes in Hook's hold, the compass in Lyssa's, knowing that her enemies now had everything they needed to get to Storybrooke where her son was, and lunging at them, trying desperately to reach out of the bars and grab them. Only Lyssa reacted to the action, jumping back with a gasp.
Cora seemed unimpressed, rolling her eyes at the blonde's efforts, "Don't waste your energy, dear. Rumpelstiltskin himself couldn't escape from this cell. Thank you, Aurora," Cora smirked at her, "We couldn't have done it without you."
"Why would you do this?" Emma shot a glare at the princess.
Even Snow White seemed to think the worst, "How could you?"
"Oh, don't blame her," Cora mock-sighed, "She was only doing what she was told," she held up her hand, revealing Aurora's heart to them.
Emma looked green at the sight of it, "You took her heart?"
"Actually, I did," Hook stepped up, his jaw tense as he refused to look at Lyssa for his words, "It was a gift."
He needed Lyssa to understand that.
When she found out that he'd been the one to take the princess's heart and deliver it to Cora, she hadn't been happy. She hadn't expressly said it, hadn't complained to him or chastised him for it. But he could tell in her look and her stance, she wasn't pleased with what he'd done.
She never spoke up against it, for the most part, in all the time he'd known her. She let him be himself and kept her comments about his actions to herself.
He had honestly been shocked the first time he had done something nefarious, as a pirate was wont to do, and she hadn't ranted or raved or railed against him for it. She was a hero, through and through, or so he had thought when she first joined his crew. He had thought she would be angry with him, against it, and very vocal about how it was wrong and evil and dark and villainous and all the other often used words that heroes came up with to describe villains and their deeds…but she'd just get this funny look to her, like she was just sad that he had made that choice.
But it was HIS choice to make.
She had said that when he'd asked her once, why she never spoke up when she disagreed with his methods.
It was his ship, his crew, his life, his quest, his reasonings for his actions. She may not like it, she may be very angry or upset about it, but it was HIS choice in the end. She wasn't the captain, she wasn't the crew, not entirely, she wasn't his keeper either. She wasn't going to berate him for what he chose to do, she wasn't going to threaten him or give ultimatums, she wasn't going to change him. She had fallen in love with the man he was, all of him, the light and dark parts, and while she wasn't happy with some of the things his darkness made him do, she wasn't going to force a different choice on him.
She would hope, she'd said, that one day he would make a different one, that one day he would be at a better place in his life where he wouldn't feel the need to resort to darkness to see his desire through.
He had regretted asking her that question ever since that day, because every decision he made, he always ended up second guessing himself. He always ended up wondering if it was the right choice, if there was another option, probably a harder option to see through but…a better one.
He didn't know how she'd done it with just that remark, but she'd made him start to wonder what he would have said or done, back before Milah, before his brother, before he'd become a pirate, what would Killian Jones have decided to do instead of Captain Hook.
And she was so bloody manipulative! Even when she wasn't being so, even when she didn't have a manipulative bone in her body, even when she wasn't trying to do it, she still made him question things and…change. Change exactly as she had hoped and wanted and he knew, he KNEW she hadn't said a single thing to him for that reason either. She made him..WANT to change, in small ways, but he saw the changes more and more each day. It was all her fault.
It was his fault too.
If he hadn't gone and fallen in love with her, he would have been just fine in his villainous, pirate ways.
But having known her, having her around, he found himself almost wanting to go back to being the man he used to be. Not fully, not entirely, but just…small things really. She had such a pure heart, and he had such a blackened one that, sometimes, he felt like he didn't deserve her in his life. And that led to him wondering how long she would remain in it, how long before he did something too evil for her to want to stay, how long before his luck ran out and his fate to always be the villain drove away this new chance at a happy ending? Villains didn't seem to ever have a happy ending, and even though he didn't know if Lyssa was his...she still represented a possibility to him, she made him...happy, and that was one half of the equation wasn't it? So maybe, if he was better, a little less villain and a tad more hero, he might be able to keep her in it, see what came of it.
She was such a good person, and just in BEING one, she made him want to be one too. She never asked him to change, she never tried to force him to or threaten him to or even challenge him to. She just…was. She was herself and it made him want to deserve her. He wanted to be a man that deserved her, and only a good man would. He didn't try to do 'good' things because he wanted to impress her or change her opinion on him, he didn't do them because he thought that was what she wanted him to do. She didn't have a bad opinion of him, he didn't need to change her mind about him, she loved him. She actually loved him, all of him. She wouldn't ever accept any of his better actions if he'd done them for the reason of thinking he needed to do it to please her or stay on her good side. She hated when people were manipulated into doing things just because it seemed like what others wanted them to do, and if he had done anything good because he thought she'd want him to instead of because he genuinely felt the desire to do it, she wouldn't have liked it. He didn't do things because he thought she wanted him to, he did them because the sort of man that would do good things was the sort of man that would deserve her, and he wanted that to be him. And if that had to do with the greedy pirate in him not wanting to give her up, well, that made sense to him too.
He had a long, LONG road to go in that quest, but he was sure, more and more each day, that Lyssa was worth it.
So he needed her to understand he hadn't taken Aurora's heart to be malicious or to put a death sentence over her head, but because they were dealing with the Queen of Hearts. What other gift would you give the woman if you were trying to get back on her good side BUT a heart? It was all he could think of, all he had access to, to earn Cora's trust back and earn the two of them passage to Storybrooke with her. He had done it for her, in his own way, it was his way of showing care, he wanted her to be able to get back to her mother just as much as he wanted to seek his revenge against the Dark One. And if that was what it took, he would do it all over again, they were too close to their goal to consider morality now.
He hadn't…liked taking the girl's heart, at the very least, he didn't like the idea of Cora possessing that level of control over someone. Imagining if she'd had Lyssa's heart the same way? He'd be furious, he'd likely try to attack Cora as well. But this wasn't Lyssa, this was Aurora, and he still didn't feel entirely comfortable or happy with what he'd done. Even if there was a small niggling regret in him about it, that seemed to mean something to Lyssa, her expression had grown softer when he admitted that, he hadn't planned on it or thought to do it, but it had turned out well. It was a gift to Cora, yes, but it was a gift to Lyssa as well, safe passage to Storybrooke for the two of them.
Lyssa's head snapped over as she heard Aurora let out a pained gasp, seeing that Cora was squeezing her heart, causing her immense pain, and frowned at the woman, "Stop it," she said, before she even realized she had spoken. Her eyes widened in fear as Cora turned to her, an eyebrow raised though her grip on the heart had lightened, releasing Aurora, "I…" she swallowed hard, "We're wasting time?"
That was the best thing she could come up with for getting the woman to stop that sounded reasonable and not like she was ordering the woman around out of sympathy for Aurora. It WAS true, standing there and toying with the heroes would only make them angrier and more determined to escape. The longer they were there, the less time they were spending getting to Storybrooke.
Even still, she found herself praying that Cora wouldn't be angry with her for speaking out.
It seemed to do the trick though for Cora gave a minute nod, seeming to realize that point as well, "As much fun as this has been," the woman turned back to the heroes, Lyssa breathing out a deep sigh of relief at her outspoken words being overlooked, "Storybrooke awaits."
Lyssa stepped aside, giving Cora a wide berth as the woman turned to leave, Hook catching her eye as they moved to follow, a slight nod telling her that she had been right to stop Cora and that her excuse was a good one.
They had taken only two steps when Emma called out, "Hook. Wait," Lyssa paused as did Hook and Cora, all of them turning to face the heroes once more, Emma at the edge of the prison door, gripping the bars as she spoke through it, "Please don't do this. My son is in Storybrooke. He needs me."
"Perhaps you should've considered that before you abandoned me on that beanstalk," Hook frowned at her, stepping closer to the bars to glare at her.
Lyssa winced at that, "I DID warn you," she muttered, Mulan sending her a look for it, though she could see in the woman's expression that she had actually listened to her words and realized the same.
"You would've done the same," Emma defended.
"No," Lyssa spoke this time, "He wouldn't have, actually," she stepped up, beside Hook to face Emma, "Whatever you may think of pirates, you don't KNOW them. You know stories about them but…"
"You know stories about me," Snow White spoke, almost sounding to Lyssa as though she were trying to make it about her for a moment, "About Cora. But you sided with her anyway."
"I don't JUST know stories about you," Lyssa replied, "I KNOW you. And Cora, she IS the lesser of two evils. Killian thought the reverse, he was wrong. If you had bothered to get to know Killian," she returned her focus to Emma, ignoring Snow's shocked expression, "You would know he has his own code, he wouldn't have left you there. He would have had to climb down that beanstalk without you and fend off three other women, wouldn't he?"
Emma opened her mouth to argue that, but seemed to realize just then that…Lyssa was right. She had been so focused in thinking that Killian was going to steal the compass first and leave her up on the beanstalk, to betray her, that she acted first. If he had even tried it, he would have had to climb right down into the middle of her mother and Mulan and even Aurora. It wouldn't have been smart to do, and…he wouldn't have done it.
But she had.
"Do you know what this is, Emma?" Hook spoke, pulling something from his pocket and holding it up for her to see what appeared to be a dried up bean on a bit of metal, a necklace of sorts.
"The bean that the giant kept," Emma frowned at it, recognizing it from up the beanstalk.
"Yes, indeed. A pirate always keeps a souvenir of his conquest, but this? Well, this is much more than a mere trinket. This is a symbol. Something that was once magical, full of hope, possibility…now look at it," he made it sway a little, "Dried up, dead, useless. Much like you," he glared at her.
"Killian," Lyssa murmured, reaching out to rest a gentle hand on his arm.
He looked over at her, seeing her giving him a look that told him she understood exactly what he was feeling…and she was hurting for him.
He had put some level of trust in Emma when they went up the beanstalk, and she'd betrayed him. He had put some level of trust in the women below to guard Lyssa while he was away, and THEY betrayed him as well. He was bitter and angry both at himself for not seeing it coming, and at them for turning on him in the first place. He was angry and bitter at himself and them for the harm that came to HER from his actions as well. He was angry, he was hurt, and he wanted to hurt the one he felt was responsible, Emma.
And he could see it in just Lyssa's eyes, that she was hurting because he was in pain. He hadn't understood how that was possible, for someone to feel sad or hurt just because someone else was hurting or sad. He hadn't even felt that way with Milah. Oh she had been miserable with her husband, and he still hadn't felt her pain, that hadn't been why he'd taken her with him. What else was a pirate to do but steal another man's wife and have adventures? It wasn't because he felt for her, it wasn't because he wanted to save her from that fate. It had been more selfish at first, the thrill and pride that came with taking from another.
Over the centuries he hadn't understood how one person could feel for another's pain, and then Lyssa came around, and she was always so upset FOR him instead of by him, for the pains of his past, for the injuries he sustained defending her, for the sorrow he felt from his losses. Even now, just the fact that he was angry and upset was causing her to feel pain for him.
And that was always the last thing he wanted to do, cause her any semblance of pain.
"The time for making deals is done," Hook turned back to Emma, his jaw set, "Just as I'm done with you."
He turned, sliding his arm down Lyssa's touch, till he could take her hand in his own. He pressed a kiss to the back of it, turning her to lead her on ahead of him after Cora, who merely turned to lead the way.
~8~
"Where are we going?" Hook called as he and Lyssa walked behind Cora through a field in the middle of the woods not far from the castle.
"Lake Nostos," Cora replied, "The legend says its waters hold the power to restore what was once lost. It'll return magic to what remains of this wardrobe. And then, we'll be able to cross worlds. And here we are," she grinned as they arrived at the edge of the lake…which didn't look very much like a lake at all but a dried up basin in the ground.
"This is the lake?" Lyssa frowned, eyeing it, she had been there once before, and this...this did not look a thing like the lake she knew.
"I may be a simple pirate," Hook's tone seemed to mirror her expression, "But…I know one thing, lakes have water."
Cora rolled her eyes at them and waved her hand at the ground, using her magic to create a small geyser to gush up from the middle of the lake, refilling it with the water it had lost. She turned to look over her shoulder at them, smirking, "After everything we've been through, why do you still doubt me?"
The trio stood in silence for a long while, observing the waters rising higher and higher, till the lake was full once again, the geyser slowly trickling off.
Cora grinned widely at the sight of Lake Nostos restored to its former glory, "And now the ashes," she turned to Hook, "Would you care to do the honors?"
Hook nodded, reaching out to tip the bag containing them over, allowing the dust to drift in a swirl to the lake, watching them float and collect in the middle, the waters spinning faster and faster as the dust gathered…till a brilliant light shot out of it, a vortex opening.
"Here we go," Cora sighed, "We'll be in Storybrooke soon enough. I really look forward to seeing my daughter," she glanced over at Lyssa, the girl eyeing the vortex with a bit of trepidation, "The compass?"
Lyssa nodded, swallowing hard and holding it up before the woman, who grabbed onto a part of it, Hook leaning over to do the same.
"I told you I'd deliver you to Rumpelstiltskin," Cora glanced at him, and then to Lyssa, "And you to your dear mother," she smiled, "Now don't let go. Unless, you want to end up someplace that isn't Storybrooke."
Just as they were about to jump into the vortex, an arrow went flying by them, striking the compass right in the middle of their joined hands, causing them to drop it from the force of the hit.
They spun around to see Snow White rushing towards them, her bow drawn, another arrow notched, with Emma and Mulan joining her, swords drawn, "You're not going anywhere. This portal's taking us home. The compass," she called to her daughter, "Get it!"
Cora glared at her, speaking to Hook and Lyssa though, "Find it first. I'll take care of them."
Hook and Lyssa looked at each other as Cora shot a fireball at the trio rushing her, Mulan deflecting it with her sword.
"Go," Hook turned Lyssa to the edge of the water, "I'll guard you."
Lyssa nodded and frantically headed for the edge of the water, searching for the compass that had fallen somewhere nearby, she was sure of it.
She didn't even look up as the sound of the fight went on around her, she trusted Hook to do as he said and guard her back while she searched. Cora would be more than capable of handling Snow and Mulan herself, and if Emma tried to attack her…she knew Hook would never allow that. He had gotten worse injuries stopping men twice as large and many times more deadly and skilled with swords than Emma was…and she had betrayed him too, he would not go easy on her for it.
She glanced over only when she caught something out of the corner of her eye, the bag that contained Aurora's heart falling towards the vortex. She was about to call out, try to reach for it, rush to it, do something to save it so it wouldn't be lost…when Hook leaned over and caught it by his hook. She let out a relieved breath and returned to her search, vaguely keeping her ears open for Hook if he needed help…
"You want this heart?" Hook called to the women, Mulan and Emma now both facing him down while Cora focused on Snow White, "You can have it."
"What?" Mulan shook her head, not sure what he was getting at.
"One condition," Hook glared at both women, "You swear, on your son's life," he looked at Emma and said the words that made Lyssa freeze, her heart stopping in her chest, because he would only make the woman swear on the one thing most important in her life if it was something he NEEDED her to actually see through and keep her word about this time, "You take Lyssa with you to Storybrooke."
She spun around, her eyes wide in shock at what he'd just said.
Because he'd said HER, not himself too.
"No matter who wins this day, she gets to her mother," Hook was staring down Emma, half dangling the heart over the waters in threat, "Swear it and the heart is yours."
Emma glanced at Mulan, the woman looking stunned for all of a moment before turning a hard look to Emma, an expectant look. Emma sighed, knowing what it meant, she had made the mistake once before of turning her back on Hook and he had taken Aurora's heart as a result. Now…now she had a chance to right that wrong, in some small way.
"Deal."
"No!" Lyssa cried out even as Hook tossed the bag to Mulan, the warrior taking off to return it to Aurora, tossing Snow White her sword for more protection as she passed, "Killian!"
"Find the compass!" he nearly snapped at her, lunging at Emma, signaling that even though they had made the deal, it was for Lyssa and Lyssa alone, and he was still going to fight to ensure HE would make it to Storybrooke as well, "Lyssa, FIND it!"
Lyssa nearly jumped at the bark in his voice, but turned to try and find it. If she could just locate it before the others…then SHE would have it and SHE could decide who went with her to Storybrooke, and it would be Killian, it WOULD be!
She nearly fell onto her knees, ready to dig in the sand for the blasted compass, when she spotted it lying just behind a small brush of weeds and grabbed it.
"Ooh!" she cheered, "Ooh, I found it!" she spun around, a wide smile on her face at having gotten the compass first…only to see Emma, who Hook had managed to flip onto her back, reach her sword that fell only inches away and use the hilt of it to punch Hook in the face, knocking him to the side, knocking him out completely, "Killian!"
She ran to Hook's prone form, ignoring Emma as she ran to assist her mother facing down Cora, "Killian," she tried to shake him, "Killian, wake up! Wake up! Come on, Killian, please…please you can't do this to me, you can't stay here…"
And she knew he'd be condemned to remaining there if he didn't wake up. The fight going on behind her, it would either be Cora to come out victorious or the heroes, and either way…she needed him to be awake. Cora wouldn't bother with him if he was too much to move with them, she'd as good as leave him there, one less problem she'd have to deal with in Storybrooke, but the same was true for the heroes too. Emma had only sworn to take HER with them and not Hook and she needed him to be awake, if he was, then they were a little more even, two on two if the heroes managed to defeat Cora.
"Please, Killian, please wake up!" she almost made to slap him, having seen him do that to his own men to rouse them, but she couldn't bring herself to do it and tried to tap him on the cheeks instead, shaking him harder, "Killian! You need to wake up! You need to go to Storybrooke. For your revenge, remember? The Dark One is there. And for me, please, you need to wake up and…"
"NO!"
She looked up, hearing Emma cry out, her breath leaving her as she saw Cora with her hand in Emma's chest, trying to pull her heart out…but…it seemed like she was struggling to do it.
Only a moment later, Lyssa gasped as a white wave of energy shot out from Emma, pushing Cora back, causing her to disappear as though she'd been banished.
"No," Lyssa breathed, shaking her head, and looking at Killian, still unconscious, Emma's blow having hit him harder than any of them realized, feeling tears filling her eyes as her fate seemed clearer and clearer with each passing second he remained unresponsive, "Killian…" her voice started to shake, seeing Snow checking on her daughter only a moment before grabbing her arm, the two women looking over at her, "Killian, wake up!"
She managed one more shake before she felt herself being hauled to her feet, trapped between Emma and Snow White's hold as they dragged her, literally kicking and screaming, towards the vortex.
The last thing she saw before she was falling backwards into it as the two heroes leapt forward, was Killian just starting to stir awake…
~8~
Lyssa struggled to pull herself up and over the edge of what appeared to be a well located in the middle of a forest, half toppling over the edge of it, panting and sniffling, trying to keep her tears at being separated from her love from falling. She was going to be surrounded by heroes now, she could hear more than just Emma and Snow White (or was she this Mary Margaret person she'd heard Emma call her once or twice in this realm?) before her, and she refused to show them weakness or that she was upset. She cried easily, many things upset her and no matter how hard she tried, tears always seemed to come, but she had gotten better at not letting them fall. And right now she couldn't risk that.
She took a moment to gather herself, making an oath to herself that she would find a way to open a portal back to the Enchanted Forest, she would find a way to get Killian back if it was the last thing she did. And as her resolve hardened, she glanced up to get an idea of what she would be facing in her quest to help her pirate reach Storybrooke from this side. There was a small group of people before her, they were…oddly dressed, in clothing that looked more like Emma and Mary Margaret's style than anything of the forest, and given that Emma was now currently hugging a small boy tightly, Mary Margaret rushing to join in, she could assume that was her son, Henry.
She stood, brushing the dirt and leaves off the skirt of her dress, her hands in fists as she took deep breaths, needing to seem stronger than she felt, especially when she spotted the Dark One, looking more human than ever, standing at the edge of the gathering with a girl she vaguely recognized (something about a wolf or a red cloak or something) beside him.
"I missed you!" Emma was shouting to the boy.
"I missed you, too," the boy nearly cried.
"I missed you so much…"
Mary Margaret pulled away first, looking around, hesitating at the sight of the Dark One, who appeared to be frowning at Lyssa as the girl stood awkwardly to the side, as though recognizing her but trying to place from where, and over to Ruby, the girl smiling widely at her and stepping up to hug her tightly.
And that was when she saw it, Regina sitting against the other side of the well, out of breath, a small scratch on the side of her forehead from where she'd fallen, "What's going on? What happened?"
"She saved you!" Henry beamed at Regina, though he didn't seem to notice her injury from his angle, "She saved both of you. Um, all of you?" he glanced at Lyssa, shooting his blonde mother a questioning look at who this new person was that they'd brought back with them.
"Thank you," Emma turned to the woman, ignoring Henry's question for a moment, not really knowing how to bring up Lyssa, or speak to the woman. She had NOT been happy when they had grabbed her and pulled her away from Hook, she wasn't sure how to approach this now.
Lyssa started to move forward to see who they were talking to, only to freeze when she heard the voice that responded, "You're welcome."
She let out a breath at that, quickly rushing around the side of the well to see the woman kneeling beside it, her eyes widening, "Regina?"
Silence fell as the small band of heroes (and the Dark One) looked over at her, but she paid them no mind, her attention focused solely on the Queen panting and shaking on the ground.
"My Lady!" she gasped, rushing forward, falling to her knees before Regina, "You're injured!" she reached out a hand to Regina's forehead, waving it past the small cut to heal it.
The others watched, Emma and Mary Margaret more startled to learn that she had had magic that entire time yet never displayed it or used it to escape, the others curious as to how she knew Regina, why she would HEAL the woman at all...Regina, however, her eyes were wide with another shock that was all too clear to the others.
She knew this girl.
Regina gaped at her openly, her expression clear as day, looking as though she were seeing a ghost, as though she didn't think the girl before her could possibly exist and be standing there right at that moment, "Lyssa…" she breathed, reaching out to touch the girl's face, almost cradling it in her hands as she pushed herself to her knees, "You're…"
"I'm here," Lyssa nodded, giving her a watery grin, "It...it took some doing..." she sniffled, thinking about Killian.
"What?" Emma shook her head at that completely flabbergasted at the reaction to the Evil Queen and the Queen's to Lyssa.
"You're alive," Regina just shook her head, before pulling the girl into a tight hug, completely stunning the rest of them into silence. She pulled away a moment later, getting up and helping Lyssa up at the same time, "I can't believe you're here, when the curse struck and you weren't…"
"We got held up," Lyssa gave her an apologetic look, "It was but a moment for me, though I know it was many years for you. I'm sorry."
"I doubt it was your fault, dear," Regina actually smiled at her, "But it seems we have a lot to catch up on now."
"Of course!" Lyssa nodded frantically, needing this, needing to talk to someone that knew her, because her heart felt like it was breaking in her chest, she felt so conflicted, so happy to see the woman before her alive but so saddened to be there when Killian wasn't.
"Hold on," Emma cut in, a frown on her face, "I thought you said you wanted to find your mother."
Lyssa blinked at that, glancing from Regina and back to Emma, "I did say that...yes..." she spoke slowly, seeming almost hesitant, "I should, um, do that then. Find my mother first and..."
Regina reached out and put a hand on Lyssa's arm to stop her, the touch seeming far more gentle than anyone expected, startling them, "It's alright," she told the girl, her attention on Lyssa for the moment, the girl seeming almost overwhelmed by just those two words.
Lyssa's head snapped to look at Regina, her eyes wide, disbelieving. It made Emma and Mary Margaret wary, why was the girl reacting that way to Regina's blessing just to go find her mother? Had she known the Queen? Was she thinking it was some sort of royal permission or pardon? Had she NOT been a prisoner of the Evil Queen then for helping Snow White?
But Lyssa knew, it wasn't that, not at all, it was so much more than that, "Are you sure?" she nearly whispered, the hopeful note in her voice seeming to break Regina's heart at the same time as the woman gave her a nod.
Regina glanced over at Gold, of all people, "Things are different in this world," she added, her gaze drifting to Mary Margaret, "You're safer here," and back to Lyssa, the hold on the girl's arm turning to a single affectionate stroke, "It's alright."
Lyssa let out a shuddering breath at that, at the permission she had been given, her eyes filling with tears for a different reason now as she started to smile, turning to grin at Emma, "I did say I wanted to find my mother, Emma. And now...now I have."
Emma's mouth dropped open in shock at that, looking between Lyssa and Regina in complete confusion, seeing absolutely NOTHING even remotely similar between them, which left her feeling entirely startled by the revelation and admission that Lyssa...
That Regina...
Regina was Lyssa's mother!?
Even Gold looked completely thrown by that information and it was not often the Dark One was genuinely surprised.
"What?" was the cracked question given by Henry that echoed in all their minds. The boy looking between them, his gaze fixating more on his mother, seeming almost betrayed that he didn't know that.
"Yes," Regina gave her son a warning look to mind his tone, to stop with his growing glare, "I adopted her in the Enchanted Forest."
"When did this happen?" Mary Margaret shook her head, it was...it was impossible! She would have KNOWN if Regina had adopted a daughter! She would KNOW if she had a step-sister! There was NO way it was while her father was alive, and she knew, if it happened after that, she would have heard about it. The people would not have been silent about that fact that the Evil Queen had an heir.
"When I was three years old," Lyssa straightened, completely throwing Mary Margaret with that information, because the girl before her couldn't be younger than 20, which meant...it HAD happened while the King had been alive, "Just after Cora killed Danny."
The tone in her voice when she said Daniel's affectionated name was clear to them that the girl had truly been very, very young when she'd been 'adopted' by Regina, she had to have been if she even KNEW Daniel. Children did that, called older people by shorter names than was proper. It was clearly a habit that she had never grown out of.
"She killed my mother, to get to Gina."
Regina straightened at the reminder as well, at hearing the affectionated version of her own name, something Lyssa only did when she was talking about Daniel or thinking of him, she called her Regina or 'My Lady' when others were around, but versions of mother when it was just them. All it served to do was remind her of that entire disaster, "She wanted Lyssa to stay silent about Daniel."
"She knew what Cora did?" Mary Margaret breathed.
"I SAW it," Lyssa defended, anger in her voice, "I heard you tell Cora about Danny, even after she asked you not to, even after you SWORE to keep the secret. I tried to get my mother to help, but she refused, so I went to warn Gina myself...I was too late."
She could still remember that horrible time, she still had the nightmares about it.
Explaining to Killian why she was screaming out 'Danny!' in her sleep loud enough to wake the entire crew of the ship one night had not been pleasant, not to explain or defend or have to reassure them that no, someone named Daniel hadn't hurt her in the past and they did not need to hunt him down.
She could remember everything as though it happened yesterday, despite it being nearly two decades ago, despite her having been so young when it happened. It had been so horrible an event that it just never left her, she remembered every detail of it with crystal clarity it haunted her so much since that day.
She had gotten to the stables just in time to see Cora rip his heart out and crush it, to see him crumple to the ground with Regina sobbing over him, desperately trying to bring him back with true love's kiss before Cora merely stormed out of the building. She had been devastated, had run to Regina's side, crying and trying to shake Daniel awake because he COULDN'T leave Regina, he couldn't! He was the hero, the knight that rescued the princess from her wicked mother, he wasn't supposed to die! She could remember Regina pulling her into her arms to hug her, rocking her back and forth, realizing she had witnessed the murder as well and that it was likely traumatizing an event to such a young girl. She could remember begging her Gina to forgive her, that she'd tried to get help, tried to warn her, she really had, but just hadn't been fast enough.
After that night, they were all each other had, they were the only ones left that could carry on Daniel's memory.
She had loved Regina and Daniel as parents, despite still having her mother. It was one of those childish games, where a child found an older child and would play house, so to speak. She was too young to be useful to the other servants that worked in Cora's manor and so her mother often had her out in the stables so as not to get in the way. She had met Daniel there, he had been one of the few that didn't treat her like she was invisible or a nuisance, he taught her about horses, let her feed them and brush the ponies and even help him with polishing little trinkets around. She was his proud assistant and the youngest one in the manor too! She had been the one that had introduced Regina to Daniel, the woman had seen her sitting in the barn polishing one of the horseshoes and inquired about why she was there. She had cheered that she was helping Danny, and introduced herself, calling Regina 'Gina' as only a child could. And when Daniel had returned with a bag of apples for the horses, she had been all too excited to introduce him to her new friend and tell him that Gina loved horses too.
The three of them were often together, whenever Regina and Daniel could sneak away for time together she was sometimes included, when her mother wasn't in need of her or she wasn't expected to stay indoors for some reason or another. They both seemed to love her as much as she did them, and when they would manage a tiny, quick picnic, it was almost like they were a family, Regina as the mother, Daniel as the father, and her as the baby.
After he had been murdered, Cora had found out she'd told her mother and gone after her, ripped out her heart and crushed it as she was her usual means of dealing with those that hindered her. Cora had nearly killed HER too, but Regina had begged her not to, to spare the girl, she had promised to do whatever her mother wanted if she would just 'Leave Lyssa alone!' Her mother had seemed far too pleased with that and let her be. She understood why Regina had done it, she loved her, though it had guilted her for years after, she had blamed herself for the hell Regina went through as queen. She had convinced herself, despite knowing what Cora was like and how manipulative she was, that it wouldn't have happened if Regina hadn't promised her mother she'd go through with it for her sake. But Regina loved her, she saw so much of Daniel in her even though they shared no blood, knew that there was only one other person out there that still loved Daniel besides herself, and it was Lyssa.
They were each other's last connection to the stable boy.
When they arrived at Leopold's castle, Regina had hidden her away among the servants, made sure that she was taken care of during the day when she couldn't be there. She always found time though, whenever the king was away with Snow, which was surprisingly often, to spend time with her, to teach her, ensure she was educated and cared for and healthy. The other servants kept quiet about her special affection for the orphaned ginger girl, she was one of the few things, likely the ONLY thing that made their new, young Queen happy so they said nothing to the King or his daughter about it, not even after the 'Evil Queen' had been born had those servants breathed a word of her existence and connection to the Queen either, likely that they still saw her as the innocent little girl that they all took part in caring for and didn't want her caught in the crossfire of Snow White's war with the Queen, whatever reason it was, she was grateful for their silence. From that point on, Regina had become her mother in every sense of the word, Regina had taken to calling her her daughter as well, the only daughter she wanted...a dig at Snow White, but understandable.
She was also the only one besides Regina that hated Snow White too.
She hated Leopold as well, more than anyone else, probably even more than Regina did.
As she grew older, the moment she was old enough, Regina had named her her Principle Lady-in-Waiting, for her own protection. She knew that better than anyone just how much she was protected in holding that title. Snow White would die of shock if she knew the reason behind that particular appointment.
In public, around anyone else but the two of them, she put on the role of servant, of Lady-in-Waiting, loyal to the Queen. That was how everyone else saw her if they happened to notice her, which was not often, not many people noticed the servants, especially not Snow White. The young girl hadn't noticed anyone past her 'nurse' Johanna, and she was so often away with her father that she doubted the girl had even known they lived in the same castle, something proven just days ago. Still, the 'servant' role she put on was important, and had been done for just that reason, invisibility. That was how everyone else, especially Rumpelstiltskin needed to see her, just a simple servant. They could NOT know how important she actually was to the Queen, it was too risky, it put Regina in too much danger as well to show her any affection in public. But when others were away, when it was just them and a handful of her most trusted Black Knights, like the Huntsman, she was her mother again. She was the woman that brushed her hair at night, who ate breakfast with her, who cared for her when she was ill.
Regina was her mother, even if she hadn't given birth to her, she had been her mother since she was three years old.
It wasn't even odd, when one thought about just how young women were often married to older kings. Sometimes girls, as young as 12, were married off and expected to grow with-child. For an 18 year old woman to have a 3 year old 'daughter' was not odd at all, and it was far more natural than an 18 year old having a 10 year old daughter, Regina and Snow would have been better off as sisters than mother and daughter.
"I was too late to stop it," Lyssa swallowed hard, reaching out to take her mother's hand, needing comfort from the memories, especially now, because as she thought of how her mother had been separated from the man she loved, she too was thinking of the man she herself loved and how they were now parted, "We both lost Danny that night, but we still had each other."
"Hold on," Emma shook her head, holding up a hand, "You were adopted by the Evil Queen," she looked at Lyssa, completely disregarding the very traumatic moment that Lyssa had been speaking about to fixate on the 'adoption' detail, "And you see no problem with that?"
"Wasn't your SON adopted by the Evil Queen?" Lyssa argued.
"Yeah, and I have a MAJOR problem with it."
"Then I pity you and how close-minded you are," Lyssa told her, "Mother is..." she smiled at Regina, squeezing her hand, "The best mother in the world."
"You've got to be kidding me," Ruby scoffed.
Lyssa just shot her a glare, taking a step as though to continue her defense, furious that the heroes seemed to be judging her mother over her ability to be a good one with even more proof of it standing between Emma and Mary Margaret, when Regina's hold on her hand tightened in a gentle squeeze, "It's not worth it, dear," she told her, "WE know the truth," she tugged Lyssa back, waiting till the girl looked at her, "As always."
"As only," Lyssa nodded, sounding as though she were reciting something age-old between them. Her expression grew soft, "I missed you mama," she murmured, too overwhelmed to care about which title she called the woman by in the presence of others.
Regina just pulled her into a hug again, not caring either, holding her tight, the manner and stance of the hug nearly making the others look away at just how clear it was that the two had been separated for far too long and genuinely missed each other deeply, that there was enormous care between them. Mary Margaret did have to look away, that sort of hug, that reunion...that was all she had ever hoped for when she found Emma again, and it was being felt by her arch enemy.
When Regina pulled away a long while later, she quickly brushed away a fallen tear from Lyssa's cheek, "Let's go," she retook the girl's hand, "We have a lot to talk about," she paused, "And it's not like I'm going to be invited to family dinner any time soon," she added, one last dig at the Charmings behind her as she turned to walk away with Lyssa.
Did it pain her deeply that she had to walk away from her son, leave him with her enemies, and know that he WANTED it that way?
Yes, very much.
But that was just it, Henry had made it very clear he wanted nothing to do with her. He had chosen the heroes. The child she had raised for the last decade didn't want her, he wanted the woman that gave him up. He had no right to feel wounded or hurt if she left with Lyssa this one time, this was what he wanted, her to leave and be out of his life, the villain to be defeated and humiliated.
And she had been telling the truth, she really did doubt the heroes would have considered asking her along with them when they left.
No, one child she had raised didn't want anything to do with her, so why not spend time with the child that DID.
~8~
Captain Hook smirked darkly as he stood at the helm of his ship, Cora beside him as the Jolly Roger said towards the dock of a small, odd town he could see clearly through the telescope he held in his hand.
"There it is," he muttered, feeling anticipation rise in him.
It had been easy to trick the heroes into thinking they had won. Well, easy in the sense that he honestly hadn't thought his plan would work.
The moment he realized that the heroes had escaped, and knowing the old adage that heroes always seemed to win, that good had an infuriating habit of triumphing over evil, he had known he needed to make a plan B and make it quickly.
He knew that Plan A would work, Cora wouldn't have gone through all the trouble of getting the ashes and compass if she didn't think that it would be successful. And, as he wasn't sure if his own plan would work, he needed to know that Lyssa had at least made it through safely.
While his revenge was still important to him, that it was likely one of the two most important things in his life at the moment, he knew that Lyssa finding her mother was equally as important to her. He had waited 300 years to skin the Crocodile, he could wait a little longer, Lyssa didn't deserve to be separated from her mother as she had, it had been HIS fault they hadn't made it through the Dark Curse, it had been his fault that Lyssa had been parted from the woman so long, and he would see her reunited before taking his own revenge.
He had needed to ensure she would go through with the heroes, in case his own plan didn't work, though with Cora and her magic around, he had a better chance that it would. He knew the heroes wouldn't take HIM with them, but Lyssa…she at least stood a chance. They saw her as innocent, too nice, too much a hero even if she had villain sympathies.
They thought her to be nothing of a threat.
He doubted, if they knew who her mother was, they'd feel the same.
Still, he had been pleased his plan had worked. All it took was the dried up magic bean he'd stolen from the giant. Seeing Cora revitalize the lake, knowing that the lake had its own magical properties, regenerative properties, the bean would be restored as well. One simple toss into the waters and they had their own vortex connected to the last one back to Storybrooke.
And there they were, sailing right towards it. Right towards his revenge on the Dark One. Right towards his lady love.
Cora's smirk mirrored his own, "Storybrooke."
And they had no idea what was coming.
A/N: So a few things about this chapter :)
There will be much, MUCH more about Lyssa and her backstory with Regina to come. There were SO MANY flashbacks I wanted to put in before this moment but they all contained too many allusions to her mother and to Lyssa's magic that it would have completely given away who her 'mother' was. There will be more explanation about Lyssa's magic and WHY she didn't use it around the others, I can say it was not just to keep an advantage to herself ;)
I wanted to touch on how Regina was her mother but also, in a very small way, wasn't her mother. Yes, Lyssa was born to another woman, no one we would really know from the show, a random servant in Cora's house really, but Regina raised her for almost 20 years, she adopted her as much as she could by the laws of the Enchanted Forest and without the king or Rumpelstiltskin or her mother finding out. There will be quite a few chapters detailing how Regina protected Lyssa from the three of them and her other enemies to come }:)
I can confirm that Lyssa's biological mother IS deceased, it is not Maleficent or Zelena in disguise nor is it a trick where she'll turn up later alive to try and reclaim her daughter from her adoption either. Cora really did rip the woman's heart out in front of Lyssa and Regina and crushed it, and we'll find out more on Lyssa's father soon ;)
Just to clear up a little bit of the timeline for this story, Lyssa was just about 3 years old when Snow (age 10) ratted out Regina (age 18) to Cora and Cora killed Daniel. I am taking the line in the show where (I think) Snow commented it was weird to have parents 'your age' as meaning that Snow was maybe late-28ish when the curse was cast, so just about 18 years went by between Daniel dying and the Dark Curse. That means Lyssa, by the time the curse was cast, was 21ish (Snow was 28ish, Regina was 36ish). I also take the curse breaking in the Enchanted Forest to be exactly when Emma decided to stay in Storybrooke, because that refugee camp was clearly around for a while before Emma and Snow got there hours after the curse on Storybrooke was broken. I feel like it took (as a headcanon of mine) just about a year for Emma to actually break the curse entirely (because Henry just gets too old too quickly for the first season to not have been almost a year). Which means, when this story actually starts and in the main-story chapters, Lyssa is about 22ish. We'll see though, that a lot of events happened in Lyssa's life that have caused her to mature faster than many others and that she's seen more in her life that makes her feel older and closer/more understanding of Hook than others.
My main issue with Belle and Gold was that Belle was young, like Lyssa, but she hadn't lived through as many hardships and seen as many horrors as Lyssa will have. Belle couldn't remember her mother dying, Lyssa saw it as a child, Belle lived and grew up as a princess in a castle, Lyssa was the hidden 'daughter' of a queen, Belle was a servant for a short while of the Dark One and witness to some of his dark magic here and there, Lyssa saw the aftermath of him teaching Regina dark magic as well as more 'evil' deeds going on in front of her than Belle ever would. She had a short time with Rumpelstiltskin in his castle, but even that wasn't so terrible that she could understand the true Darkness in him, Lyssa has been exposed to dark magic nearly all her life :( Lyssa's life will parallel Hook's in a subtle way and she'll grow from knowing and being with him, being raised by Regina, in a way I felt like Belle didn't grow.
I hope you liked that little twist to Regina being her mother, but her adoptive mother ;) I really tried not to flat out say yes or no about Regina being her mother because, on one hand she IS the mother in every sense of the world but on the other hand she isn't in the strictest sense of not being the birth-giver (though I personally count adoptive mothers as being legitimately and 100 percent the real mother). It will cause some rather large confrontations with Snow, with Henry, and with Emma, in various ways. Snow that Regina has a daughter she actually loved instead of the step-daughter she despised, Henry that his mother isn't just HIS mother anymore (even though he's been the one pushing her away), and Emma because Lyssa clearly loves the Evil Queen and if she was a legitimately good mother to Lyssa DURING her Evil Queen days then she probably was to Henry too as just the Mayor and all the things Emma's built up in her mind about her son's life with the Evil Queen are probably VERY wrong. We may even see a little of David having an issue with this whole Lyssa and Regina mother-daughter situation too }:)
Their little phrase of being the ones to know the truth, 'as always, as only,' will come into play again and will be very significant in how Lyssa views Regina and her choices in the Forest. And I can say the Regina we see in being a mother to Henry, will be a very big detail in how she was a mother in the Enchanted Forest, a lot of what people think they knew about her will be entirely wrong }:)
I feel like I need to warn this now, before the story gets going, that this story will also take a 'darker' look at what medieval marriages were like, the expectations on the wives, and what that would mean for Regina as queen. While it is fairytale characters, the original collections in the Brothers Grimm were, well, grim, and not like Disney would make out. This is going to look at that quality of them in some contexts along with exploring realistic expectations of kings and kingdoms. This will not be a story that paints Leopold in a good light, but we don't see or know enough about him to know who he really was, so it will paint him in a realistic light for what we saw in the show along with what kings were expected and had done in the past. We saw hints of a more sinister nature to him in the show, and it will be explored here :( It will be part of what affects Lyssa's thoughts on Snow White, that the girl is the reason Regina was condemned to the life she had, but there is a lot of deep and emotional and psychological reasons for why Lyssa views Snow as she does, as being worse than Cora, which we'll see as the story goes on :'(
Some notes on reviews...
I've been going through my PMs in reverse order, the oldest ones first to try and not have them unanswered longer. But I'll be sure to find your PM and message you back today :) It might take a few hours though, I tend to post new chapters right before I head to work and so it might take about 8 hours to get back to you, but I will ;)
I agree, we definitely need a ship name :) I can say I have a specific chapter where I plan to put up requests for pairing name suggestions so we can have a poll on them, we just have to get to it first ;) It's the chapter where we see how Hook and Lyssa officially start and KNOW that it's really love instead of thinking it is ;) I'm glad you've enjoyed the story so far :) I think once Emma and Lyssa find a common ground they could be friends too, I think Emma needs someone optimistic, but in a more realistic way than Snow's blind faith that things will work out. I think Lyssa likes to hope for the best, but she also prepares for the worst which is something Emma could appreciate. That was something I explored a lot in my Piper story, the villain point of view and how they interpret what the heroes do, here we'll see more of a villain's point of view but in the sense that the heroes don't really know or understand everything that's happening, they assume far too much and they are not always right. In what ways, we'll have to wait to find out ;) Mulan probably won't have a bigger role than in the show though, sorry! :( But I can say I do plan to continue into season 5. I plan to keep this story and my Piper/Gold story going as long as the show airs. Though, to be honest, I've found myself really hoping that Season 5 will be the last season :/ I just feel like I shouldn't need to force myself to watch a show just because I'm writing an OC series based on it instead of genuinely wanting to see what happens, and that's sort of where OUAT has gotten for me recently :( I can say Emma and Hook may surprise you at certain points in the story, but I won't say how }:) I don't have any other Hook/OCs or Gold/OCs to recommend though, sorry! I actually don't read fanfictions in the same fandom I am or plan to write in, to keep myself from being influenced by other works and protect the integrity and originality of my stories. Which means I've read 0 fanfictions in OUAT and probably won't be able to read any till my Piper AU or Graham/OC stories are finished, whichever one comes last :(
I can say there's a reason Smee is with the ship and not taken by the curse in this story ;) But we'll have to wait a few chapters till we get to when the curse struck to find out why :) I think there are plenty of people in Storybrooke that Moe French could have gone to to do the exact same thing Smee had, the Dark One had enough enemies after all that would be willing to help 'save' Belle from him ;) We'll see more about that though and who it was that was there when Smee wasn't :) So, while I know, in the show, Smee was in Storybrooke, in the story, he didn't get taken by the Curse ;)
I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far :) I actually specify in the first chapter, at the start of the story, the formatting for the chapters is one chapter of the episode, followed by a flashback chapter :) Once the story gets going, it forms that pattern, alternating every other chapter as a flashback instead of trying to follow the show and flashback within the chapter to make it less confusing ;)
