Alright, this chapter shall hold the answer to where Caroline decides to run off to. I also threw in more background on Zelena's character and some cute bonding scenes between her and Caroline. Happy Reading!
In the reflection of her mirror, Zelena smiled at her work. She absolutely loved the fashion market of that world was something she quickly fell in love with- being beautiful was effortless.
Her hair was done in an array of tight curls that fell past her shoulders, a look quite different from her days in the Enchanted Forest. She remembered very clearly how much her father had disdained her red hair, hair that always ended up in a tangled, frizzy mess.
"You do look beautiful, my queen." Walsh said from behind, causing her smile broaden. She knew there was a reason she brought him with her to Storybrooke.
"Thank you," she replied dryly, putting on the blue earrings Elsa had given her.
After looking through endless magazines, Zelena concluded that the popular fashion wear in the realm she was in was something as simple as blue jeans. Sure she was skeptical at first, but they did look nice- they were comfortable, and she liked the way she looked in them.
"I could get used to living in a realm like this," she remarked, straightening her blouse and giving herself another look in the mirror. This time, however, Zelena noticed something odd- in the top corner, she saw ice forming. In just a few seconds, her vanity mirror was covered in a thin layer of frost. Then, her reflection changed, transforming into a woman with a blonde braid tossed over her shoulder.
"What are you doing here?" Zelena asked, standing up and giving her a surprised look.
"What is taking you so bloody long?" Elsa replied, "it doesn't take seven days to take a child. We have a deal!"
Zelena rolled her eyes. "I'm working on it, alright? You said I could have revenge on my sister, too, don't forget that."
Elsa glared towards her. "Not if it takes you this long! Every day I spend rotting in this prison is a day of pure hell. If you want that time travel device, you better bring me that girl. Understand?"
Zelena didn't even get a chance to reply before the mirror burst into a million pieces. When the Wicked Witch dared to open her eyes, she saw nothing but a blank wall. After examining the shards scattering the floor, Zelena smirked.
"I didn't realize she was such an impatient little bitch when I made that deal with her."
Walsh gave her a look. "Shouldn't you heed to her words? She is the one person that can give you what you want."
"Do you... Actually think she's more powerful than me?" Zelena questioned, raising an eyebrow towards him. "I am the most powerful queen in all the realms! Screw Regina, screw that damned ice queen! They will fear my power!"
She was shouting then, wanting nothing more than to scream those words at the top of her lungs. In the midst of all her gathered anger, there was was a sudden awkward silence that occurred when the sound of the doorbell pierced through the house.
"Now who the hell is that?" She demanded, glaring as she started for the door. With a quick flick of her hand, Walsh transformed back into a black terrier. Zelena then opened the door, revealing none other than Caroline Hood, her eyes puffy from crying.
"What's wrong?" She asked, her sore expression softening.
Instead of responding, Caroline simply stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the woman's waist, hugging her as tightly as she could and burying her face in her blouse.
Zelena's eyes widened as she glanced down at the girl, not knowing how to respond to such an intrusion of personal space. She was squeezing her so tightly, she could barely breathe. A few more extremely awkward seconds ticked by, the sound of her crying filling the empty space. Zelena had to fight against her wits as to not wrenching her off her body and shoving her back out of the door. But if she wanted her plan to work, she knew she had to keep the act going.
"What happened?" She asked, "and why are you here so late? It isn't safe for you to be out here in the woods with the sun going down."
After a few failed attempts to get rid of her tears and her sniffles, Caroline loosened her grip on Zelena and wiped her eyes.
"I'm- I'm sorry, I just didn't know where to go..." She told her, "my family is falling apart. My brothers hate each other, and I guess now my parents hate each other too. I guess that means they all hate me too.."
Zelena gave the girl a long, sympathetic look before answering. There was something familiar laced in her sorrowful brown eyes.
"How can anyone possibly hate you?" She asked, taking her hand and inviting her into the house. "Nobody can hate you. You're the sweetest girl I know."
Well, the only girl she knew.
"I just hate fighting," Caroline sighed, "I- I saw Henry beating up Roland yesterday. He hurt him... I didn't think my big brother could hurt anyone."
Zelena then offered her a seat on her couch, sitting down next to her while trying to come up with some false hope to give to the child. She knew that was what she needed- a little bit of false hope, to make her believe yet again that the world was a happy, welcoming place.
The witch had wished someone could have been there to give her some when she needed it.
"Everyone gets angry, dear," she said in a sigh, "but that doesn't change the fact that they all love you. I think you should tell your parents how you feel- that ought to change a few things."
Caroline once again wiped her eyes. "I- I don't know, I've just never seen my brother do anything like that before. I don't even know what Roland said! Nobody ever tells me anything. And I tried to be happy because it's Valentine's Day and you're supposed to be, but it's way too hard! The whole Roland and Henry thing made my parents yell to each other, on the day you're supposed to tell each other that you love them. I just got scared, and sad... And I knew if I went to Emma's or Charming's or Ruby's houses they would tell my mom. You're the only person she doesn't know."
That was ironic, to say the least.
She broke down into another wave of tears and sniffles after that; all Zelena could do was awkwardly place her hand between her shoulders to console her. Something had to be done.
"Name one thing that'll make you feel better," she told her, "and that's what we'll do. Anything at all."
The sudden question stumped the nine year old for a few seconds.
"Um... Hot chocolate, maybe." Caroline said softly, "that always makes me feel better."
Zelena had no idea what hot chocolate was. "I don't think I have that here. I have tea, do you like tea?"
The girl simply shook her head. Her mother drank it on occasion, but she never did.
"I can make coffee," Zelena said, in a last attempt, "but I don't think girls your age drink that stuff."
"We could go out and buy some at the store," Caroline suggested, "then you can try it yourself. It's really good with cinnamon in it."
As she thought about the proposition for a moment, Zelena's eyes drifted down towards the eyes of the black terrier; even though Walsh was a dog, she seemed to know exactly what he was thinking.
"Alright then, I suppose we could go."
The excitement of the trip almost made Caroline forget her sadness. Zelena led her to the vehicle parked in her driveway, a rusted old two door civic. It had come with the house, probably belonging to the previous owners.
"Do you, uh, know how to drive a car?"
Before she could answer, she used magic to shut the front door so the terrier wouldn't follow them outside.
"Not really," Zelena admitted, "but who needs magic to drive a car when you have magic?"
Caroline didn't know about how safe she felt due to that statement, but she went ahead and got into the car anyways. After getting in herself, Zelena used the first spell she could think of to enchant the car. It started with a soft hum just seconds later. She wasn't subtle about her successful smile as the car began down the long and windy pathway that lead out of the woods. Once they entered their first real road, Caroline started to give her directions, which seemed slightly funny to her- nobody ever needed directions in Storybrooke.
"It's about three more minutes of driving after you turn left up here- and slow down too, you're not supposed to go that fast."
The speedometer was pushing forty five. Zelena simply waved her hand again to slow it down.
"My Mom has magic, but she doesn't use it to drive her car," Caroline noted.
Inside, Zelena laughed. She was such an amateur when it came to magic.
"Well this way, we can get there faster and easier," she explained, in a rather effortless tone.
It would have been easy for the nine year old to say otherwise, but she didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble. So they continued towards the grocery store in silence, the old, battered car making its way into the parking lot within the next minute.
"Just park between the lines," the girl explained, "and stop when you get close to the parking block."
She sounded just like her mother- Robin still forgot from time to time.
"Stop stop!" She shouted, right before the front wheels hit the cement block. Zelena took the enchantment off the car, causing all motion to stop. There was a bit of terror in her eyes due to the urgency of Caroline's voice.
The whole situation was a tad annoying to her- all she had to do was slam on the brakes.
"That's the parking block," she said, getting out and showing her, "you're not supposed to hit it."
Zelena had to fight herself from rolling her eyes. Who needed cars and parking blocks when she had a broomstick?
"I'll keep that in mind next time," she replied dryly, just as Caroline took her hand and pulled her into the store with her.
"I'll show you where the hot cocoa packets are- there's all different kinds, but my favorite one has a picture of a mountain on the front."
There were so many bloody things in that store. Everything anybody might need- clothes, house decorations, candles, thank you cards, games, books, pregnancy tests... Everything. Zelena couldn't stop herself from looking around in wonder as the girl tugged her clear across the store towards the food section.
"Here they are!" Caroline announced, standing before a whole two shelves stocked full of hot chocolate. She picked out a box of her favorite kind and handed them to Zelena
"Now all we have to do is pay for it- you have money, right? Because I don't."
The woman unzipped her purse and pulled out about three hundred dollar bills.
"Yes, I have money. I'm assuming this would cover it."
Caroline's eyes widened. "Yeah... That definitely will."
They made their way back to the front of the store, where Tom Clark was the cashier. Zelena handed him the money and took the box before he could put it into a bag, immediately starting off towards the doors.
"Uh, ma'm, your change?"
Zelena turned around and gave him a confused look. "I don't want it."
Before he could pocket the money, Caroline swiped the money off the table and smiled. "I guess I'll take it then."
The car ride home wasn't nearly as painful as the ride there. Zelena had the nine year old safely back to her house, where Walsh was waiting at the front door to say hello.
Caroline dug around the kitchen for two glass mugs; when she found some, she used the instructions on the back of the box to complete the task, telling Zelena as she did each step.
"Then you pour in the powder, stir it a little, and add in the cinnamon."
She reached inside the cabinet above her on the tips of her toes, grabbing the cinnamon and giving each mug a few douses.
"And that's it! There's a lot of extra packets in here that you can save for later."
Zelena noticed how her mood had remarkably changed from the past hour.
"Great! Now Walsh and I can have some whenever we want."
Caroline giggled as she handed the woman her mug. "Dogs don't drink cocoa."
They sat down on the couch again, mugs between their palms as they waited for it to cool.
"It's really hot, so be careful when you take a sip."
Gazing down at the swirling brown and white mixture, Zelena wondered why in the world anyone would want to consume such a piping hot drink. After all, there was the possibility of burning oneself.
But she watched in slight surprise as Caroline gently took a sip out of her mug- there was no evident pain in her expression, just a small smile as she swallowed.
"It's really good- try some!"
She obeyed, taking the smallest sip she possibly could, waiting for some sort of pain to arise. It came as a shock to her that absolutely mine came- and it did taste good.
The warmth seemed to travel right into her core, making the outside chill dissipate almost instantly.
"It is good," Zelena agreed, realizing that she didn't have to force a smile for that statement.
The girl smiled back. She wished things could stay that happy forever. But it couldn't- her family was still fighting and she was still scared. No amount of cocoa with cinnamon could change that.
"I know a boy, in sixth grade, that has to live with only one of his parents. Emma had to do a case about it a couple months ago." Caroline began, her voice sounding slightly shy.
"His parents hated each other so much, they didn't want to be married with each other anymore. So now, he has to live with them both separately. Do... Do you think that's what my parents will do, get a divorce?"
The question hung unanswered in the air. Zelena couldn't get over how ridiculous the question sounded- Robin and Regina, getting a divorce. She had only been in the town for a few weeks, yet she saw firsthand how nauseatingly in love the two of them were. She wasn't stupid- she knew the truth about the pixie dust, and the fact that they were soulmates. Her magic mirror had shown her the entire scene, and how foolish Regina was for running away.
"No, absolutely not," Zelena told her, her stomach clenching tightly as she spoke such evil words. "Your parents love each other, that's why they had you, isn't it?"
All Caroline could do was shrug. "I guess so. I just wish they didn't have to fight. They never fight."
That comment made Zelena feel like throwing her glass at her already broken mirror. How dare she say such a thing- the naïve girl had no idea what she was talking about. Zelena had to endure years upon years of listening to her parents scream at each other into the late hours of the night. Her father would always storm out of the house and return hours later in a drunken stupor, almost always still raging mad. He had been such a violent drunk. Zelena remembered quite clearly what it was like to hide underneath her blankets and listen to them shout at one another; sometimes her father would strike her mother, and her cries would replace her shouts. Then he would always break things- find whatever he could get his hands on and smash it to bits, almost always storming into her bedroom afterwards and demanding she clean it up. Zelena never knew why her mother continued to stay with such an awful man, even until her death. Years later she realized why; it had been for her. Adults were stupid- they had children with horrible men, and were forced into raising a child they probably didn't even want. They never learned.
"You should be grateful to have the family you have," Zelena began, her thoughts angrily repeating themselves into her head, uncontrollably, "you have a mother, a father, and two brothers; you have an uncle, you have Emma and her pirate boyfriend, you have the Charmings, and you basically have everyone else in this bloody town! They all love you! Why can't you see that?"
She realized that she was talking louder than she had intended herself to, for Caroline had a bewildered look on her face as she stared back at her. Her now abandoned cocoa was cooling rapidly in between her hands.
"I... I guess I didn't realize..."
Zelena had no intentions of saying anything more. She knew she could never understand the hardships she went through- she was a princess after all, a rightful eir to whatever Regina had in store for her.
"My father told me one thing that always stayed with me," she finished, "he said 'whatever you may feel inside, always remember to put on a good face'. Everything will work itself out just like it should, just remember that you come from a royal family, and you have an image to uphold. Can you do that?"
Caroline thought for a moment. She wasn't that great at concealing her feelings.
"I can try," she admitted, finishing off the rest of her cocoa and setting her mug down. Looking outside, she saw it was almost dark- she wondered if anyone was out looking for her.
"But I really should get going. Thanks for making me feel better," Caroline said, giving Walsh one last pet down before getting up and putting on her coat.
"Are you sure you can make it there alright?"
She sounded as if Caroline didn't know those woods like the back of her hand. Light or dark, rain or shine, there was simply no place like home.
So, was I right about the cute bonding scenes? I tried to make it as adorable as possible- well, as adorable as a psychotic wicked witch can be with a product of true love... ;)
There will be more in store for the rest of the Hood family next chapter!