Happy Friday readers! Enchanted Forest/Avonlea
Here is part one of the "Skin Deep"
I really enjoyed writing this episode. Also in part two the culprit who killed Elizabeth's parents will be revealed!
Zila stood beside her sister Belle, waiting for news about the current battle in the Ogre Wars that were threatening to destroy their kingdom. While Belle wore a beautiful golden gown that stopped at the top parts of her arms, Zila wore the same dress only it was a dark blue. Around the she-wolves neck was a sword pendant that had been given to her by Maurice for a birthday present. Zila's enormous sword sat in its scabbard which was strapped to her back, a silver bow and arrows lay next to her in case she had to use them. Gabriel, Belle's new husband refused to leave his mate's side.
"A message has come" Zila told one of the guards, nodding at a nearby window. The guard nearest Maurice headed over to the window, opened it taking the message quickly off of the dove's foot before setting it loose and closing the window. The room was dead silent as the note from the battlefield was being read.
"Lady Zila, Sir there's news from the battlefield Avolnea has fallen"
"Son of a bitch!" Zila said angrily, she was one of the many lead generals in this war and the news of her men dying in the battlefield upset her greatly.
"Oh my gods" was all Maurice could say.
"If only he had come" Gaston one of Zila's soldiers said.
"Well he didn't did he?" Maurice snapped at him. The leader of Avolea walked past both of his daughters to take sit down at his chair. "Ogre's are not men"
"We have to do something, we have to stop them" Gabriel added as Belle headed over to her stressed out father.
"They are unstoppable" Maurice replied to Gabriel. Belle bent down and said to hopefully reassure him.
"He could be on his way right now Papa"
"It's too late my girl, it's just too late" Maurice said looking to his youngest daughter finally accepting defeat. Zila suddenly unsheathed her sword when the doors were being banged on. She held the blade out ready to attack, if she needed to.
"It's him, it's got to be him" Belle said as she headed towards the doors holding onto her father.
"How could he get past the walls open them!" Maurice ordered the guards who obeyed. Gaston was also about to draw his sword as the doors were opened, no one stood in the now ruined and deserted hallway. Everybody was silent until a voice said.
"Well that was a bit of a letdown" at once Zila immediately turned around still holding onto her sword as did everyone else to see the Dark One sitting casually in Maurice's chair. Zila had heard many tales of this feared man and this was the first time she had seen him. His skin was a pretty shade of gold and green, while his hair was short and curly a mixture of brown fading into grey. He obviously was wearing travel attire.
"You sent me a message something about help, help; help we're dying can you save us?" Rumplestiltskin said. Gaston slowly headed toward the Dark One, while Zila remained near her sister.
"Now the answer is yes I can" Rumplestiltskin said while he stood up he swatted Gaston's sword away, and he threw a model of the castle to a nearby guard. "Yes, I can protect your little town for a price"
Maurice then left Belle to walk to the Dark One.
"We sent you a promise of gold"
"Ah, you see I make gold, no you see what I want is something a bit more special, my price is her" Rumplestiltskin said pointing to Belle. Gabriel immediately snarled and put his wife behind him.
"My wife is not going anywhere" the beta werewolf hissed at the Dark One.
"I wasn't referring to the young lady in gold, I meant her" the Dark One said pointing to Zila. Zila slowly put down her sword.
"No" Maurice simply said.
"The lady Zila is needed here she is one of our lead generals and most skilled fighter" Gaston added.
"Well the more reason for me to have her, you see I need a caretaker for my rather large estate, and if she's a warrior, she could also help me with my enemies, it's her or no deal" Rumplestiltskin said.
"Get out! Leave!" Maurice hissed before pointing to the exit behind him.
"As you wish" the Dark One said complying with Maurice's command.
"No wait!" Zila suddenly called out the Dark One. She put her sword back into its scabbard on her back, she gave Gaston a look, her soldier bowed his head as he moved aside. The female general came up to the Dark One.
"I'll go with you"
"ZILA!" came the protests of Maurice, Belle, and Gabriel. Zila turned to her family and said.
"This is my decision and my decision alone, I will go" Zila told her loved ones not looking behind her.
"It's forever dearie" Rumplestiltskin said to she-wolf.
"If that's your price then so be it, only as long as my family, my friends, the people of this kingdom, and my men will all live"
"You have my word that they will" Rumplestiltskin replied briefly bowing his head to her.
"Then you have mine, I will go with you forever however my sword and bow and arrows must come with me, if I am to take down any enemies of yours"
"Deal!" the Dark One said laughing with glee.
"Zila" Maurice began. Gaston went to retrieve the bow and arrows, while Zila turned to her father.
"Zila please you can't go with this beast" Maurice begged, at the word beast the Dark One made a fake gasp and placed a hand onto his heart as though pretend to be insulted. Zila placed a hand onto her father's sleeve.
"I must do this if I don't innocent's will die, Gabriel take care of Belle, I love you Belle" Belle was starting to cry as her sister bid her farewell.
"You know she's right" Zila froze as felt the Dark One come behind her. "The deal is struck"
The Dark One took the bow and arrows from Gaston and handed them over to the she-wolf.
"Oh congratulations on your little war" the Dark One said before giggling again. Zila didn't say anything as she felt her master slip a possessive arm around her waist, the two of them turned around to take their leave.
Storybrooke
Mr. Gold's POV
"Well this is just perfect" I greeted Moe French as he was unloading flowers from his van, the florist grabbed something from his pocket which was an envelope.
"It's all there" he said to me with bit of fear in his voice.
"Why thank you, though I'm not here for reimbursement on the loan, I'm here for another purpose"
Immediately Moe relaxed and smiled at me.
"What can I do for you Mr. Gold?"
"Let's just say it's for a special person" I replied walking up to him to place my order.
Elizabeth's POV
"Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!" I really hated Valentine's Day it seemed to be an unlucky day for me each year, already I had woken up later than I had too, and I had to let Jared know I would be late for work, my boss told me it was fine and said he would see me when I got in. After dressing into my work scrubs, I hurried over to grab some food from Granny's.
"Ruby the usual make it quick!" I shouted to the waitress, who nodded and went to start on my food.
"Hey Emma, Mary" I greeted the pair of roommates as I took a seat next to Emma.
"You look stressed" Emma pointed out the obvious. I gave her a roll of my eyes; I noticed David was chuckling behind his book. I shot him the bird in a playful manner, just as Ashley a new mother came into the diner with her daughter Alexandria.
"Hey girl" I greeted the new mother as she handed Alex over to Granny.
"Hi Elizabeth I'm sorry about your parents I would have come to the funeral but I had other things to take care of" she apologized.
"Don't worry about your condolences are enough"
"Here you are Liz" Ruby said bringing me a to go box with my breakfast in it and a cup of coffee.
"So how are things with you and Sean?" I inquired at Ashley.
"It's okay, but Sean has been putting a lot of hours at work plush I barely have time for myself because of the baby" Ashley replied.
"How about we have a girls night, you, me, Mary Margaret, Elizabeth and Emma you can come too, just don't come with the badge" Ruby said.
"I'm in, a good excuse to get a little buzzed" I joked which got the others to laugh. I then stood up I really needed to go to work, Ruby said she would send me a text where to meet the others.
Enchanted Forest/Dark Castle
The Dark One's estate turned out to be a castle, Zila admired its beauty as she followed her master through a dining area.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked Rumplestiltskin.
"Let's call it your room" the Dark One replied to her giving her a brief look behind him. Rumplestiltskin used his magic to open a door, and Zila had a WTF look on her face when she realized her room was a prison cell.
"My room?" she scoffed looking at her master in disbelief.
"Well it sounds a lot nicer than dungeon" Rumplestiltskin said, before Zila could argue she was pushed into the cell along with her weapons by her master. The Dark One giggled like he always did as he closed the door behind the fuming she-wolf, he then laughed once he finished locking the door. As he walked away the Dark One found the generals profanity use amusing.
"You can't just leave me in here damn it Hello, Hello!" Zila shouted while punching the door hard, after a few more strings of unlady like words, the she-wolf gave up and went to calm down until she was summoned which turned out to be a few minutes later. Rumplestiltskin said she didn't need her weapons, and she obeyed. After fixing some tea for him, Zila carried the tray into the dining room. The room was pretty itself a spinning wheel sat in one corner, amongst other things of display.
"You will serve me my meals and clean the Dark Castle" Rumplestiltskin began as Zila sat the tray down.
"Got it" Zila answered him.
"You will dust my collection and launder my clothing" the Dark One continued.
"Nothing I can't handle" Zila replied once more focusing on her work.
"Oh you will also skin the children I hunt for their pelts" that comment got Zila to drop the teacup she had in her hands; it landed on the floor with a clank.
"Son of a bitch" the she-wolf growled.
"That was quip dearie, not serious" Rumple reassured Zila.
"I had a feeling that was a joke, damn it to hell" Zila cursed again as she bent down and grabbed the tea cup she had dropped, it was chipped.
"You have quite a mouth on you dearie, I find it amusing" Rumple teased his maid, which got Zila to blush.
"This cup got chipped when I dropped it, I mean you can barely see the chipped part" Zila explained while standing back up holding the teacup in her hands.
"It's just a cup dearie don't worry about it" Rumplestiltskin told the she-wolf.
Storybrooke
The shelter was busy today; Opal had to come out of her cage for her vaccinations. The Snowy Owl didn't put up a fight as her shots were given to her; afterwards I socialized the bird of prey with waiting clients in the wait area. Once the lobby was empty, I began to scratch the feathers behind Opal's head that had to be itchy; Opal closed her amber eyes as I did this. David suddenly came from behind the desk to open the door for Moe; he had a medium sized vase full of red roses.
"Hey Pops" I greeted him.
"Hey sweetheart, I see you're socializing Opal again" the florist said nodding at the bird of prey on my right gloved hand.
"So who's the lucky lady to receive these? Jared's wife?" I asked Maurice, my joke got both David and Jared to laugh.
"Actually there for you Elizabeth here" Moe handed me a note.
From a secret admirer
I didn't recognize the writing which puzzled me, who would send me these?
Enchanted Forest
Two months passed since Zila came to serve the Dark One. The she-wolf proved to be a valuable employee. Rumple could always depend on his new maid to do anything she was asked to do, without argument. One day as he was spinning at his wheel, Zila was on top of a ladder trying to open the curtains. She wore an aqua-green dress with black sleeves, along with black lining on the top edge of the dress, her hair was in a braid, she still wore her sword pendant around her neck, on her feet she wore black boots. Zila suddenly gave an irritated growl which got Rumplestiltskin to look at the she-wolf; he couldn't help the smile coming to his lips at his maid's stubbornness. As he returned to his spinning Zila asked him.
"Why do you spin so much?" that got the Dark One to stop suddenly.
"Sorry you don't have to answer if you don't want to" Zila replied.
"I like to watch the wheel it helps me forget" the Dark One said to Zila's surprise.
"Forget what?" Zila asked once more. Rumple stopped spinning for a second before he said.
"I guess it worked" he then giggled, Zila learned to like that sound from him; she smirked before returning to the curtains.
"GOD DAMN THESE BLOODY CURTAINS!" Zila suddenly said which got Rumplestiltskin to snort in amusement before standing up.
"What are you doing dearie?" he asked as he walked over to the hot headed woman.
"I'm trying to get these blasted curtains open spring is coming and light should be let in, what the hell do you do nail of them down?" Zila replied looking to her master.
"Yes" Rumple replied. Zila shook her head, and went back trying to free the curtain she was failing to open; the next thing happened surprised both of them. The curtain finally became free just as Zila lost her footing, luckily Rumple caught her. Zila felt the heat go to her face as the Dark One held her.
"Thank you" the female general said before Rumple set her down.
"Thanks for catching me or else I would have been another mess on your flooring" Rumple snorted in amusement once more before he said.
"No matter"
"Do you want these back up?" Zila inquired nodding towards the curtain that fell.
"There's no need I'll get used to it" the Dark One replied to her.
Storybrooke
Work passed quite quickly today; when I got home I placed the vase of roses on the island in my kitchen. I took a quick shower before I got ready for the girls night out. A half hour later I was out the door dressed in a strapless black dress that went down past my thighs, I wore my wolf pendant around my neck, along with a pair of black boots, and my leather jacket. It wasn't that cold tonight which was a surprise. I drove my car and parked it underneath a street lamp, near "The Hunting Grounds". I met up with Mary, Ashley, and Ruby at the table they got.
"Looking sexy Lizzy" Ruby said before she whistled. I couldn't help the blush that came to my face as she said this. Ruby had on a red dress which looked beautiful on her with her black hair and highlights, Ashley had a strapped grayish dress on, while Mary had on spaghetti strapped blue-green dress. Ruby suddenly grabbed my hand and took me to the Karaoke bar, and I ended up singing "Call Me When You're Sober" by Evanescence, this earned me a lot of wolf whistles from several men.
Enchanted Forest
Rumplestiltskin had just finished fixing his tea, when he noticed Zila was looking a little tired, at the moment she was hard at work dusting off the chairs around the table. Zila looked up to notice her master was looking at her; she blushed before she went back to work. When Zila finished dusting off the last chair, she noticed her master had walked up to her.
"Is there anything you need?" she inquired.
"Why don't you take a rest dearie, I don't want you to over-exhaust yourself" Rumple replied. Zila nodded and put the rag she was using down on the table behind her, before she leaned against the table herself. Both were quiet for a second before Zila looked to the Dark One and asked.
"Why did you want me here?"
"The place was getting filthy" Rumple said while sipping his tea.
"I think you were lonely, I mean any man would be" Zila added.
"Well I'm not a man" Rumple said as he too leaned against the table.
"I can see why your father was so hesitant to not let you come here, I've seen you practice with your sword" Zila blushed at that comment.
"Maurice isn't my biological father, my parents died when I was twelve years old, he and his wife adopted me"
The two were quiet again, Zila then broke the silence by inquiring.
"So I've been here a couple of months, and I had a chance to look around, in one of the towers upstairs there was clothing small most likely belonging to a child, do they belong to you or did they belong to a son or daughter?" Rumplestiltskin looked at her, before he answered.
"A son, I had a son and I lost him just like I did his mother"
"I'm sorry to hear that" Zila said with sincerity.
"If I'm never going to know another person in my whole life can't at least I get to know you?" Zila questioned.
"Perhaps, perhaps you just want to learn the monster's weaknesses, neh, neh, neh, neh, neh" the Dark One replied to the she-wolf making her chuckle at his answer.
"You're not a monster, you think you're ugly then you are which is why you have the mirrors covered up" Zila responded while flashing a smirk of her own. There was a loud knocking coming from the front doors, which caused Rumple to leave Zila briefly in the dining room. When Rumple returned, Zila looked at him.
"Who was that?"
"Just an old woman selling flowers" the Dark One then held out a single red rose and offered it to her.
"Here if you'll have it" Zila blushed once more before she took the flower from him.
"Thank you" she made a curtsy as Rumple bowed to her.
"You had a life Zila, before this, friends, family, what made you choose to come here with me?" Rumple called out to Zila as she was fishing around for a vase for her rose.
"Sacrifice, if I didn't come here more innocent people would have died, and I don't regret it" was all Zila said as she finished pouring water into the vase she found, she placed the vase with the rose onto the table.
"And you had no one else, no one who loved you?" the Dark One asked once more as he sat down.
"I did have a relationship but it wasn't going anywhere, love isn't something to fool around with, love is layered and a mystery waiting to be uncovered"
Rumplestiltskin couldn't help but admire her words, this woman was different from the ones he had known well, she not only was funny, but she had a selfless heart.
"Enough about me, tell me more about your son"
"I'll tell you what, I'll make you deal head into town and fetch me some straw, when you return I'll share my tale" Rumple said to her.
Zila looked dumbfounded; he was offering her to leave?
"Town?" Rumple nodded.
"You trust me to come back?"
"Oh no, I expect I'll never see you again" the Dark One replied back and she could hear a bit of sadness in his voice.
Later
Zila however had no intention of leaving her master, she just couldn't do it. With her sword strapped to her back underneath her black traveling cloak, the she-wolf walked towards the town to get the straw her master needed. Zila suddenly heard horses, and she turned around. Her blue eyes narrowed when she noticed the horses and the carriage coming, they belonged to the Evil Queen. Zila stepped out of the carriages way, and pulled her hood over her head, hoping the carriage would pass, only it didn't. The carriage stopped right next to the female general, and the door opened to reveal the Queen herself.
"Did my carriage splash you?" she asked.
"No your majesty it didn't" Zila replied back politely, but before she started to walk again, the Queen said to her.
"You know I'm tired of riding, let me stretch my legs and walk with you for a spell" a few seconds later the Queen with an umbrella now walked alongside Zila.
"You carry very little"
"I'm not one to be slowed down" was all Zila could say, she didn't trust this woman.
"You're running from someone" the Queen chuckled darkly before she continued. "The question is Master or Lover?"
"Master" was all Zila could reply. The she-wolf turned to the Queen determined to get rid of her.
"Why don't you go on ahead, I don't want to waste your time" The Queen only wrapped he cloak around Zila.
"So if I'm right you, you love your employer but you're leaving him" Zila felt her irritation start to rise.
"Him love me? That would be impossible he doesn't know what act I did many years ago that could cause him to fear me yet alone love me" came the she-wolf's reply.
"Sounds like you have a curse to me, and all curses can be broken" Zila turned to the Queen.
"And what cure would break this curse I have?"
"A kiss born of true love would do it"
"Your majesty I appreciate your advice but I doubt even the curse I have could set me free its grasp" and with that Zila left the Queen behind.
Storybrooke
After my so called performance, several guys wanted to buy me drinks, I accepted one or two but no more since I didn't want to get a DUI. However I was still enjoying myself, Ashley seemed to be having a good time along with Mary Margaret and Ruby. It was past nine, when Ashley finally was ready to go home, Sean then surprised her by coming inside the restaurant. He then got down one knee and proposed to Ashley. The young mother was speechless.
"Say yes you goof!" I called to the blonde, Ashley then nodded yes to Sean and he happily put the ring onto her left hand, the two then shared a kiss which got the whole restaurant to cheer.
"I'm headed out" I told Mary and Ruby, they both nodded as I grabbed my purse and made my way out to my car. As I approached the jeep, I suddenly felt someone wrap an arm around my waist, and I felt a gun pressed against my head.
"Be quiet or else you're dead" a male voice said before he punched me hard in the stomach causing me to black out.