Once Upon a Storybrooke Christmas Carol
Chapter Eleven
Meanwhile…
When the Wicked Witch reappeared within the root cellar outside of the farmhouse she had made a home for herself in since arriving in Storybrooke, the Dark One was there within his cage like she had ordered of him and as she arrived, upon seeing the scowl on his face while he glared up at her, she laughed, then spoke up saying, "Don't worry, Rumple. I left your love alone, just like I told you I would. You're lucky it's Christmas. I should very much like to see what it's really all about, but seeing as I'm wicked and not among friends and family… other than my sister of course, clearly I'm not welcome among tonight's festivities. Besides, it's a holiday of love and joy and those two qualities aren't exactly in my possession. Oh well, it'll all most likely be very boring anyways. Let me have the book. It is the right one, isn't it?"
Gold summoned the old book he had gotten from his shop into his hand and then handed it up to her as he answered, "It's the very same. Was there a particular spell you were looking for, dearie? Or simply all of them just because I showed them to your sister so long ago?"
"Oh, there is one in particular," Zelena responded as she flipped through the book's pages, then stopped upon coming to the right spell. "However, I won't be needing this one for some time. First I need to succeed with my plans here in Storybrooke. Then… I can use this spell on my sister to destroy her once and for all, before she ever becomes the Evil Queen."
"And how are you going to do that?" he asked when he raised his head to give her his full attention. "Through this big, impossible plan you've cooked up for yourself? You may have finally gained all the ingredients you need for this time travelling spell, but you've yet to rid the Savior of her powers and so long as she has them, you won't even get it started. Emma Swan will stop you."
The witch smiled and then replied, "That's right…I haven't let you in on my plan to do just that. You ought to like this. I'm using your oldest enemy against her because I've seen how the pirate and the Savior look at one another. And while she denies she has feelings for him, it won't be long now before Hook has no choice but to do as he must do to protect everyone else."
The Dark One's interest was definitely peaked as he stated again, "Go on. I'd like to hear the rest of this story. Does what you've done have something to do with what you were doing earlier this morning on the beach?"
"I noticed the sand on your shoes earlier when you first returned," he quickly added when he saw her looking at him with confusion as to how he might have known she had come from the beach. "That… and I could smell the sea on your clothes when you brought me breakfast here in my cage after you returned."
"How very observant of you," she answered snidely, then continued on with her explanation. "I had my spies keep their eyes on all of this town's heroes during the year you were dead and the one they can't remember. As you already know. Well, one of them happened to catch a particularly dark moment between the pirate captain and a certain mermaid that I could tell made him feel incredibly guilty over, one which I knew I could use to my advantage when trying to rid Emma of her power. I cursed Hook's lips when I got him to invoke his love for the Savior by making him feel that guilt even deeper than before. I've seen how he yearns to kiss her, to be with her. And then I threatened her family to force him to do it. However, he's fighting it. But he won't be able to for much longer. At the beach I attacked Emma after she and Hook had gotten into a fight, which caused her to strike her head against a rock. I'd hoped he would have taken advantage of her loss of consciousness to kiss her because his worry for her might have overpowered his senses. But he didn't. He resisted once again. You and I are going to have to be more creative I think. Surely you would be happy to help me destroy them both, wouldn't you?"
Gold looked down at his hands in front of him while he responded, "How about we begin with reminding Hook of what will happen if he continues to refuse to comply. Don't worry, I can use excessive force on him if you wish for violence to be involved. And if that still doesn't force him into submission, then I say we change our tactics a little and try threatening his life instead to force Miss. Swan into kissing Hook for us. Take away the pirate's freewill so to speak."
Zelena studied his eyes for any signs of deceit, only to find cruel pleasure behind them with the thought of tormenting his oldest enemy and the woman he couldn't care less about, even if she had once loved his son. If the truth was told, he would admit he had come to despise Emma even more for loving the very man who was his enemy after she loved Neal, the same man who had taken his wife from him so long ago.
She finally smiled again and then replied, "I really do love how you think. It's a real shame I have to keep you as my prisoner to get what I want from you. You and I could be the perfect allies against those heroes if you would just stop denying that I'm the more powerful sister and forgive my part in your son's death. But… c'est la vie. I have a gift for you, Rumple."
"I want nothing from you," he retorted curtly, then turned his back to her as he returned to the spinning wheel she had put in his cage to help occupy his mind when he had been struggling with Neal trapped inside of him.
"Oh, you'll like this one," she said with sincerity, much to his surprise. "I promise. Your loving beauty will be joining us for dinner tomorrow night. Don't worry, I promise to be on my best behavior."