AN: I'm soooo sorry for my absence. And I know that my excuses are of no interest to any of you. So I'm just going to go ahead and thank for still being here with me on this journey.

Love you all XD


Dr Facilier couldn't believe his eyes. He had finally gotten hold of the infamous Darius Chase, and it was all a piece of cake. When he first heard of his mission, he had been worried; it had been a long time since he'd practiced the fine art of voodoo or mind imprisoning and surely attacking the mayor's right hand and counselor couldn't be easy, in fact, it should be a really dangerous thing to do. But in the end, Darius Chase turned out to be just another dummy, so easy to bewitch and manipulate.

It was too easy, but the witch doctor wouldn't be the one to complain, according to him, he'd had enough hardships for a lifetime or two and if things decided to get easy for him, then it was all for the better. New Orleans was tough and after he'd ran across the country in an attempt to get away from his "friends" he'd finally stumbled into this hidden country in the middle of Maine. The scenery was beautiful, the money was good and no one seemed to know him so he decided to settle. But habits had tough skin and refused to die and before he knew it, he was accumulating a new pack of "friends". They were nice, way nicer than the first ones and at first it was only for little pranks or just enough to pay the rent. But then some people noticed him and asked him, very nicely mind you, to join their cause.

Apparently they weren't too happy with the fact that the Evil Queen was their leader and some other things and they desperately wanted to change that. Personally, the witch doctor couldn't see why since all of them were well off citizens with too much money or power. And from what he'd seen so far, nobody in Storybrooke had any reasons to be discontent. But they proposed a fair part of the outcome so he accepted. If they didn't want the Evil Queen then he didn't want her either, as long as they paid him well. So he'd waited, and waited, and waited and then finally, the great Darius Chase had waddled his way into the clutches of the wrong person.

Now it seemed like he had been overly prepared. Seriously, Darius was desperate, and desperate people made really easy victims. All he had to do was hook him with his name and some powder, and soon the man was following him around like a lost puppy. Getting him to agree with some terms as a bonus would be really easy. After all, no one said he couldn't benefit a little bit more from the situation.

The truth was that couldn't care less about his employers and to be honest, he didn't like them at all. They were so prim and proper and entitled that they made him nauseous. And being an instated villain, he felt like he should lend a hand to all other villains, reformed or not, especially if they were powerful. So naturally, he was on the Evil Queen's side. But apart from his very weak sense of solidarity, Dr. Facilier was also self-serving; the most attractive things were those that benefitted him one way or the other.

His plan was simple, very simple. He was going to do as his employers said, but with a little twist in the plan. They'd instructed him to find Darius after the assassination of Sydney Glass and the annual ball and kill him. Dr. Facilier thought it was a waste of potential, when Darius Chase had so much to give to the community. So Dr. Facilier came up with his own plan. He was going to kill the counselor, but not before putting his proximity with the Mayor to use. All he had to do was make sure that Darius put in a good word about him to the Mayor and then he would also incidentally happen to be at the Storybrooke annual ball, ready to be of service. Then he would kill Darius, make a deal with the distraught Mayor that grantees him immunity when the culprits are caught and then pine the murder on his employers. They were already guilty of Sydney Glass' murder, making them pay for that of Darius, knowing that that was exactly what they wanted wasn't too dishonest. Plotting against the Evil Queen wasn't a very intelligent thing to do and he was going to show them. He would be hailed as a hero, all completion would have been blown away, as Darius and Sydney would be dead and he would be on the winners' side for once without leaving the dark side. It was the best plan he could think of and he planned to stick to it.

But for that, Darius had to be ready to obey his every command. And what better way to make sure there were no mistakes than to invade his mind and soul. All it would take would be for him to agree, to shake the hand. He would be enticed with beautiful words and colorful pictures and then he would die.

But Darius had luck on his side, and just as he was about to give in. Just as he was going to sign his own death warrant, his phone began to ring loudly, effectively jerking him out of his stupor. He looked around, confused and curious and then dashed out of the room, his cellphone against his ear. Whoever was on the other side must've been very loud because he never heard Facilier's incantations, compelling him to come back and finish what he'd started.


Sydney Glass was in great pain and even that was an understatement. Like a knife in soft butter, the pain slashed easily through the white fog into which he'd been forced, no doubt to keep him away from the same pain that was tormenting him. He felt like he had been set on fire, and cut into a thousand pieces, and each piece of him soaked in acid. And above all, he felt like his head was going to explode.

In fact, he was pretty sure that it was impossible to withhold so much pain. He felt like screaming, and trashing around, but somehow, his body was no longer there. Not that he couldn't feel it; it had simply vanished, as inexistent as if it had never existed in the first place. Which lead him to asking himself if he was still alive. He felt as if it was the first time in a long time he had even tried to think, and he had to ask himself the same thing many times before finally grasping the meaning of his own question.

And before he could even think of thinking of it, a new wave of pain washed over him, forcing him back into oblivion.


All his life, Darius had trained himself to be the best, and not to boast or anything, but he had turned out to be pretty good at what he did. But right now, he doubted everything he had ever done. Bested by a witch doctor, trapped by an amateur, saved by a phone call, it wasn't like him at all. Not to mention that Regina still didn't know of how bad he'd screwed up.

As soon as he had reemerged and seen Doctor Facilier for whom he really was, he had run and hadn't looked back until he was sure he wouldn't be caught, too afraid to get caught up in whatever spell he had been under. Whatever Regina had told him on the phone, he had only heard half of it, even though the anger and disappointment in her tone couldn't be missed. It was like getting a shower of ice cold water; it brought him down to earth and kept him rooted. He could finally think.

Firstly, the tightness of the very frightening circle of conspiracy was finally dawning up on him; He realized with wariness that he had greatly underestimated the threat, and had in extension put the life of others as well as his; there were indeed great chances that Facilier hadn't lured him in for tea and biscuits, in great danger. Someone wanted him dead, and since that same person had succeeded in getting Sydney, the next logical thing to do would be to attack Regina and then take over the government. Darius' guts told him it wasn't Facilier, as such a smart person wouldn't go to such lengths to bring down a mere subordinate. If the brain behind all this was ever to show up, it would be when he or she would be sure of taking over.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he began to look for ways to counter the eventuality. For the moment, the enemy had the other hand and was basically winning; they were in desperate times, but it didn't necessarily mean it was time for desperate measures. It was rather wiser to come out clean. Indeed, if he was going to beat his adversaries at their own game, he was going to need all the help he could get and that meant a lot of Regina's.

With a wary sigh, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Regina's number. It was almost painful for him to press the dial button, but he did it anyway, not because he was sure to be forgiven, but because he knew that stalling would only make things a lot worse than they already were.

The mayor answered at the first ring, and through the device, one could literately feel the worry, anger and trepidation in her voice. It was as if, somehow, she knew exactly what was going on, and was determined to not go down without a fight. Not to mention that her words transpired the fact that she was awaiting bad news:

"Tell me" she ordered, with a hard and determined voice.

At first, Darius was tempted to tell a lie, and give up empty updates, but something in her voice made it hard for him to think, and he blurted out the truth. As he spoke, the silence on the other end of the phone became more and more deafening, and worry viciously twisted up his insides for Regina's wrath was not to be taken lightly. Her methods could sometimes seem harsh, but they had the advantage of being efficient. But that didn't at all mean that Darius wanted to be on the receiving on of her glare.

After agonizing moments of silence, Regina finally spoke up:

"You did well," she said. Her voice was still hard, but if her words were anything to go by, Darius wasn't going to be thrown in a dungeon to rot till he died, which was already a good thing.

"You're not mad at me?" Darius asked, incredulously.

On the other end of the phone, Regina chuckled:

"Of course I'm mad at you, and extremely disappointed by your incompetence. Nevertheless, you did the right thing by telling me the truth. Come by my office, we need to discuss our new course of action."

Darius sighed with relief and rapidly made his way to the Mayor's office without even looking back, unaware of the pair of purple eyes that watched him walk away.


When he arrived at the mayor's office, she was silently seated behind her desk but was facing away from the door. Instead, she seemed to be taking in the beautiful panorama that stretched out behind her window. It seemed odd; for her to do something so relaxed and carefree at a time like this. But everything explained itself when she spoke

"You have been followed" she stated. "I have sent some men to retrieve your purple shadow. But first, let's see just how bad things have gotten. Tell me everything you know about him"

Darius was befuddled, as soon as he heard the word purple, he knew Regina was talking about Facilier. He couldn't decide what was the most surprising; that he had been obvious of the fact that he was being followed or the fact that Regina had caught up on such a detail. She wasn't usually keen on those kinds of things, it was more the job of her guards, but apparently, she had a few tricks up her sleeve too.

"His name is Facilier, and he seems to be a witch doctor, a voodoo practitioner. He obviously has an agenda and probably has something to do with this whole coup. That's all I've been able to gather for now"

Regina chuckled darkly and Darius could immediately tell that she was only a few deep breaths from strangling him with her bare hands. He himself was conscious of the fact that all the things he said were completely useless, obvious or incomplete.

"His name is indeed Facilier and he arrived in Storybrooke five years ago. He is from New Orleans where he indeed was a witch doctor, but a mediocre one at the very best. He is evidently part of the coup, but only as a sort of henchman, a means to an end if you prefer. He doesn't know much about the intentions of the real plotters but he knows what some of them look like and for now, that should be more than enough for us."

Darius gaped at her. How could she know all of this? She wasn't even supposed to know Facilier existed. He had been counting on giving up a name and some other information to make up for his recent fiasco. But apparently, Regina was faster, smarter and had better informants.

"I intend to have him interrogated, every bit of information will be squeezed out of him" That gave a bit of hope to Darius, at least, she still trusted him enough to give him an important mission.

"I'm on it. You can trust that I'll squeeze everything out him. Trust me"

"Not you Darius, you are going to Storybrooke's prison and retrieve Prince Charming, Snow White, Emma Swan and Henry Swan. Make sure you get them here in one piece. You are dismissed"

And just like that, he had been dismissed. It was a quite brutal way to be treated; she hadn't even turned around, not even once. He had tried the block the feeling of hurt, but some of it seeped through anyway and stung him a lot harder that he could have expected. He used to be a favorite, the one she called on for the most important and delicate situations but now he's supposed to retrieve anonyms from prison. He turned around slowly, hoping for something else. An explanation, something that would make him feel better about his mission. But nothing came, just silence, and a cold turned back.


Regina sighed. She hated to treat Darius like that: he had always been loyal and efficient. And she would normally be the first to advocate on behalf of those who make one mistake. But including him at times like these would be reckless and dangerous for all of them. Especially him. The truth is that the plotters had existed ever since de creation of Neo-Storybrooke, even before and they knew just how important Darius was to her and to her cause. They were the ones who thought she wasn't fit to be their leader even less deserved it. But by some miracle, the voices of those in support of her being Mayor were loud enough to and she was elected. And ever since her election, she had endeavored to prove all those against her wrong. And to a certain extent she had succeeded, until they had slowly faded into the shadows. But apparently, they were still very much present and they had an agenda.

They used to be called the Enchanted because they had somehow become obsessed with the idea of going back to the enchanted forest and taking back what was "rightfully theirs", even though they had money, a stable social status and safety.

If it was up to her, Regina would have loved to let them go, but there was absolutely no way for them to go back; at the time, they didn't know how to make fairy dust, if any of it ever remained in the mines. And by the time other inter-realm means of transportation were discovered, all communication and connection with the Enchanted Forest had been banned by the council.

The Enchanted became violent, breaking public property and setting houses on fire. They even enacted a bloody civil war. Many of them were caught and thrown into prison for their crimes and the others (those who had the means to) fled or went into hiding.

Those who weren't convicted of any crimes mixed up with the population and tried to perpetrate their ideas, but in general, people steered clear of them or even denounced their presence. Nobody wished to be part of anything they cooked up. Nobody wanted to go back to the Enchanted Forest, to the people who'd left them behind. Even those who'd had the choice still felt a little bit of resentment.

It was one of the reasons why they chose Regina as their new leader. It was a sort of vendetta against those who'd abandoned them to start something new with the one they hated the most and who hated them just as much.

True to their collective feelings at the time, Regina's first action was to create a schism between Storybrooke and The Enchanted Forest while opening up her brand new town to the rest of the world. And for a long time it remained that way: Storybrooke grew and prospered, reaching out to the outside world and gaining even more riches but kept far away from the Enchanted Forest. Until now: Prince Charming and His princesses had come back and had brought back some serious trouble with them, as always.

It was hard to believe that their arrival in Storybrooke had nothing to do with the attack on Sydney. It had to be connected somehow. It was very doubtful that they were personally responsible for the attack but it must have something to do with them.

Without even thinking, Regina's hand went to her phone, ready to call either Sydney or Darius. She was deciding with one she was going to call when she realized that she could call neither. One was in a hospital bed, with a bullet hole in the head while the other one had just been dismissed rather brutally, not to mention unconsciously fighting for his life as well.

And for a little while, Regina felt, once again, the extent of her loneliness; surrounded by foes, all allies pushed out of the enemy's path, alone in the face of danger.


Facilier shifted again, trying to get comfortable on the hard bench of his cell room. Things were falling into place, but too quickly. He was expecting a little while to pass before Darius came back to his senses and sought him out. But instead, he hadn't had the time to spy him for an hour before some policemen had swept in and whisked him into prison.

And since then, he'd been waiting for the next action: probably some scary looking inspector is going to come up to interrogate him. Then the real fun would finally begin. Of course, he was going to demand to see the mayor and not say anything else. They were going to deny his request and that's when the fun part kicks in. A little dozen of shadows and spirits, ready to have some serious fun would sweep in and toy with their minds until they gave in and he was finally going to achieve his goal: put the mayor in his pocket.

However, nothing was happening: no inspector, no questions, and no interrogating, just this eerie silence, almost as if nobody was in the prison at all.

And just as he was about to come to the conclusion no one was actually in the prison, the ground began to shake rather violently. However, as soon as it started, it ended, and the eerie silence returned. But something had changed in the meantime, as if the center of gravity had somehow shifted and he was suddenly lighter or not grounded at all.

Panic seized him and he gasped violently as he realized what it was. They were gone! Every single one of them was gone. The spirits, the souls, and the ghosts, his friends: they had left him alone to face his ordeal. How could they do such a thing to him? And just as he was about to win! They abandoned him.

Blinded by hurt and rage, he let out a guttural cry that echoed throughout the prison, awakening the other inmates, causing them to add their indignant cries to his, soon causing a cacophony of insults and curses and threats.

A deep voice, probably a guard, rose, demanding for silence. In obedience, all of the inmates stopped shouting and threating, all except for Facilier who had started to cry.

His sobs bounced on each wall of his cell, before escaping through the bars into the whole prison where they collided with other echoes, those of someone's steps. That person was walking purposefully towards his cell, and was most certainly wearing the pointiest pair of stilettos to ever exist.


AN: I know you think I don't deserve them, but maybe this time the reviews will make me write faster. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the ride. Se you all soon XD