The Towns of The Remembered:
Chapter 11: She Did What?
Still Sunday, about noon
When David came back to the sheriff's station with food-to-go from Granny's, he was surprised to find Emma scavenging through the Storybrooke Books of Records dating from the two curses.
"Hey, Emma," he greeted, causing the savior to turn her head towards him, making her blond locks flow in the process.
"Hey, Dad," she greeted.
"What are you looking for?" He put down the food-to-go bags on the desk and began pulling out the food. As he set the desk so that they could eat properly, Emma told him what happened last night during her date with Killian last night at La Salsa De La Muerte Y La Luchadora.
"And I've been looking up in the Books of Records to see anything related to Manolo Sanchez or Xibalba, but I've been looking through them for two hours without any results!" She gripped at her cup of coffee as she began losing hope.
David pondered as he finished eating his grilled cheese sandwich. "You know, if you need to talk to someone about Manolo, you should talk to your mother," he said to Emma.
The blonde woman frowned. "Mary Margaret? Wait, does she know anything about them?"
"Better. She knew them. Back in the Enchanted Forest, while we were betrothed and fighting Regina, she told me how she went to a town unlike any other called San Angel in the middle of a desert and encountered a bullfighter named Manolo Sanchez who was trying to woo the woman he loved…Maria Posada. And after they dealt with a few bandits who were causing trouble to the town, your mother attended Maria and Manolo's wedding and left afterwards."
"So she probably knows what happened to Manolo and Xibalba!" Emma said hopefully as she got up. "Let's go ask her!"
"Uh, actually Emma, it might not be as easy as you think it is," David said hesitantly.
"Why not?"
"Well, first off, Snow said that she left hours after the wedding and that was the last time she ever saw them. You said that La Muerte and Maria told you that they went missing while fighting Regina's soldiers. So I'm afraid that Mary Margaret might not know much of what happened."
"I see your point."
"Finally, Snow didn't like talking about the gods, especially Xibalba. I think she still has a grudge on him ever since they had an 'argument' together…"
Emma glanced at her father in confused shock.
"Wait! She did what with Xibalba?"
Meanwhile, back in the Storybrooke Forest
"That's her. That's my mother."
Rosetta and Fidget were in Fidget's came, having some tea as they looked through the Book of Life. Fidget instantly asked Rosetta to stop at a specific page that made him shed tears. It did surprise Rosetta at first to see the all-tough and powerful Fitzgerald Denada, best known as Fidget the Batrishan Prince of Darkness, was crying at the sight of a certain picture. It wasn't until she saw its content that she understood why it was important to the peg-legged villain.
The picture showed the inside of a chapel, where a group of noblemen and noblewomen were all gathered around a friar, who was holding a golden casket in his arms, and a blonde noblewoman, who could have been around the age of Rosetta's mother, who was pulling out a small baby from the casket and looking at it with eyes full of instant adoration. When she saw that it was a baby Batrishan with a dark color tone and a hidden golden medallion that looked very familiar, Rosetta was hit by realization.
"That was back in St Alejandro's Chapel, in Aldorada, on the Day of St Fitzgerald," Rosetta said, looking at Fidget. "The chapel's friar found you in a casket that was left in front of the holy place while the aristocrats were celebrating the holiday dedicated to your namesake. That woman was Geneva Denada Cortés, your adoptive mother. Right when she saw you, she loved you immediately and wanted to adopt you. Even without asking, her husband Hernan agreed with her and they decided to baptize and adopt you on that day."
Fidget looked at the young demigoddess. With all the tears that were flooding out of his eyes despite his efforts to hold them back, the Batrishan looked like a baby bat that was kicked pretty badly.
"Way to sum it up," Fidget muttered through each tear. He slammed his head on his makeshift table, which broke into pieces along with the teacups, kettle, and plates full of teacakes. Rosetta had to snatch the Book Of Life away from the breaking mess. Hanging on to the sacred book, she looked at the Batrishan, who was crying uncontrollably. Feeling bad for that villain who once held her captive and tasted her blood, she pulled a tissue from her backpack and handed it to him.
"Tissue?" she asked. Fidget glared at her, visually asking her after all that I did to you, why are you being nice to me? Nevertheless, he didn't refuse her offer.
"Sure, why not?" The Batrishan gently took the tissue from Rosetta and wiped the tears away from his face until he was sure they were completely dry. He and Rosetta said nothing for the next twenty minutes. Which was fine, since none of them spoke a lot unless necessary.
"I think I should go," Rosetta said. "You look like you need some time alone…" She began getting up until he Batrishan held her back.
"Actually… I think I could use for a break from centuries of loneliness," Fidget said quietly, giving her a pleading look. Wow, he really has a soft side despite his years of evil monstrosity, Rosetta thought. Still, she didn't like seeing people sad, so she gladly accepted keeping that dark Batrishan psychopath a bit of company.
"Sure, but not too long," she said as she sat down on the ground. "I lied to my mother of going to the library to finish my book report since I lost my book. And I can't forget Ared."
Fidget the Bat chuckled. "Drugging your half-brother and now lying to your mother? Well, aren't you the naughty girl?"
Rosetta gave him a skeptical look. "I stopped believing in Santa Claus ever since I was five. You can blame my visions for it."
"I can see the picture: five-year-old Rosetta decorating a Christmas tree with her mommy and when the latter asks her what she wants from Santa, Rosetta says: 'Mommy, you and Daddy lied. Santa doesn't exist.'"
Rosetta widened her eyes. "How did you know that?" This caused the Batrishan to laugh out loud. Soon, it seemed like he didn't even cry about the memory of his adoptive mother at all today.
"Glad you're happy, but I seriously need to do my book report…"
This got the Batrishan's attention, who stopped laughing. "Don't tell me that you are actually planning on using an artifact as important as the Book Of Life for a dumb book report," he said in disbelief.
"For once, somebody agrees with me that Mrs. Roberts's homework assignments are a piece of shit," Rosetta said.
Fidget looked at her as if he misheard her. "Excuse me?"
"What? You've never heard a demigod cuss before?"
"More like I've never heard an eight-year-old kid cuss like that…"
"In three different languages, to boot it all."
"Ok, you know what? I don't want to know. What's your book report on then?"
Rosetta made a grumpy face. "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang," she grumbled.
Fidget snapped his fingers and a copy of the book appeared in his clawed hands. He gave a small look of disgust at it as he offered it to Rosetta. "This is what they make you read at school these days?" he asked the demigoddess.
"No," Rosetta said glumly as she gladly took the book from the Batrishan's hands. "This what my teacher is making me read because she doesn't like me and still thinks I'm crazy. Frankly, it's an insult. Even my mom lets me read books meant for older readers. Heck, I read all the Harry Potter books before I even knew from A to Z all my ancient mythology knowledge when I was six!"
Fidget made a small impressed face that clearly said I couldn't believe she did that. After someone deep thinking, he snapped his fingers again. After a smoke of purple shade disappeared, a small, yet thick book appeared in his hand. "Maybe you'll prefer this over that dumb car book," he said.
Rosetta's eyes beamed when she saw that it was a copy of Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice, a classic that she always wanted to read and yet most teachers at school were against because, despite Rosetta's obvious difference from her normal peers, she was still too young to read such books.
She wanted to take the book but held herself back. "What's your catch, though? Aside from not telling anyone that I saw you?" Rosetta asked the Batrishan. "You want me to keep my mouth shut about the Medal of Everlasting Life?"
Fidget looked like he was being choked. His free hand hid inside one of his pockets. "You had a vision about it, didn't you?" he asked quietly.
"I'm the daughter of Anubis, and as an underworld child, I can smell death products. Xibalba made that medal out of the tar that leaks in the Land of the Forgotten, and that's not a foreign smell to me. And like I said, I know my ancient mythology from A to Z."
"You're not going to stop me from using it?" Fidget asked quietly.
"Nope." Rosetta shrugged as if she didn't care. "Personally, I don't care anymore of you and your stubbornness scheming for revenge and all. Last time I tried reasoning with you, you threw one of my friends down a ravine. So yeah, I'm not planning on telling anyone anything."
"And you will make sure that the Book Of Life stays in your safe hands," Fidget added as he handed the Jane Austen book to the demigoddess, who accepted it this time.
"Why do you care about the Book Of Life being safe with me?" Rosetta asked.
"Because if the Book gets destroyed, so are the stories in it. Especially those that have been forgotten by others. If even one person forgets a story or deceased person, then they disappear to ashes forever. Mark my words, it would be a fate worse than death itself."
Rosetta gasped in horror: "It would cause chaos."
Fidget nodded. "And with Amanda's wicked spirits' thirst of chaos, who knows what could happen? After all, she was the one who froze Belle when I came to the ex-Dark One's shop in order to get the medal. And for some reason, she said I was the one who gave Rumplestiltskin the medal…along with some deal concerning Pandora's Box."
"WAIT! SHE DID WHAT?"
