Zelena thought she was crazy too. She could see it in her eyes the moment that she told her the plan. But the difference between Zelena and David and Killian was that Zelena was crazy herself. Maybe that was all she needed to really make her crazy plan into a reality.
"And tell me," Zelena questioned, picking Robin up out of her bassinet. They planned to leave her at Granny's until this was over. "Where is my darling sister now? Not roaming the streets of Storybrooke, I hope. Her bite was nasty before, now I imagine it's just downright poisonous."
"She's with David and Snow, in their apartment, in a birdcage they keep covered for her own protection. David is guarding her."
"Well then with any luck she won't be there for long. Can't imagine Prince Charming feeling comfortable with leaving a vicious snake in the apartment his precious wife is slumbering without any defenses."
She didn't have an answer to that, though she supposed it was true. She couldn't see David leaving the Evil Queen alone in the apartment with Snow's sleeping form. Stranger things than the Evil Queen escaping had been known to happen around Storybrooke.
They left Robin with Granny and Rapunzel, who was diligently sitting on a bar stool with water and a cell phone by her arm, waiting for news that Emma had returned. She thanked her before hurrying Zelena back into the car and over the police station where the men had agreed to meet her should she been successful or not in convincing Zelena to help them. Obviously, she had, and the minute she stepped back into the station with Zelena the look on their faces was one of surprise.
"She's agreed to help!" David stated, looking up from the place that Killian and David were hunched over the desk.
"You know me! I love to play hero!" the witch announced before heading straight for the covered cage she'd seen in the apartment. Clearly, she'd been right that it wouldn't be left at the apartment, and knowing what was inside of it, she whipped the covering off without hesitation and made a noise of false surprise. "Hello, Sis!" she taunted rounding on the snake inside. "Oh, your skin has never looked better!"
She ignored the smiling witch and looked over at the men instead. "Zelena has as much to lose as we do and now that we've got her help we can bring down the protection spell on the cabin, find those shears, they can cut my son from his destiny, prevent him from ever becoming the Savior and from hurting anyone."
The men looked at her skeptically. "I hope so love," Killian finally admitted, but there was no note of optimism in his voice. He didn't trust that this would work. Honestly, she had negative feelings about all this as well, but she wasn't sure if those feelings came from a doubt that this plan would succeed or just the awfulness that she felt at having to use the shears on her own son to save him from what she'd turned him into. She wished that Aladdin had never brought them here. Life would have been so much simpler. But it was what it was. This was for the greater good and she would just have to live with the guilt.
"So…we all ready then?" she questioned looking everyone over. Standing here trying to justify her actions was only making her heart hurt. It was time to go. The men still looked uncertain and uneasy about this entire thing, but who didn't? David finally glanced at Hook and then back at her with a false smile like he'd been using on her since she first went to them for help.
"Yeah, we're ready." David looked Zelena over uneasily and then took off down the hall. "Hook rides with me."
"I'll go with the bookworm, I'm sure we'll have loads to talk about, motherhood and all that."
"We'll ride together!" David muttered glaring at the witch. "There's less noise with only one car!"
"Well in that case I think I'll…meet you there!"
With a giggle and puff of smoke Zelena disappeared. She looked at the men. "What was that about?" she questioned feeling like she'd just missed something important. Killian only issued another glare at David. It was a look entirely different from the knowing looks they'd been giving each other all day. What was going on?
"Nothing," David finally answered picking up his keys. "We'd better get going."
And so they did. She squeezed herself into David's truck, sitting between the two men. There was silence on the drive up, but she didn't take notice of it. She was too confused to feel anything beyond what was flashing through her mind at the moment. Her nerves were electric, carrying her from one emotion to the next. She felt as though she was excited, but she knew enough to know that wasn't the right word for what was coursing through her at the moment. Anticipation could be just as awful a feeling as it could a wonderful feeling. Everything inside of her, her gut, her stomach, her very sense of being told her that getting those scissors was just as much if not more a bad thing than it was a good thing, but her head told her otherwise. Her head told her there was no other choice, not if she wanted to save her son, not if she wanted Emma safe! This wasn't what she wanted, but it was the only thing she could think of.
Zelena was standing in the foliage on the road when they finally arrived. "About time," she muttered when they finally got out of the car. "Did you all have a lovely drive up?" she asked almost pleasantly, as if there was some joke she wasn't understanding.
"Let's just do this," Killian snarled, with a temper she wasn't quite sure was appropriate for all of this.
And David's glare at Zelena, not Killian…her stomach was in knots already but she could have sworn that it was suddenly in one more.
"What's going on?" she questioned.
"Nothing," David answered quickly.
"Let's just get the damn scissors and get out," Killian growled.
Together they walked to the front of the cabin. It looked just as abandoned as it always did. That was encouraging. Breaking the protection spell to search for the scissors…this was the first step. This was a good thing. Wasn't it.
At the step just before the door Zelena put her hand to property and a thin wall of purple appeared before her. Protection spell. "Dark One Magic," Zelena muttered.
"Can you break through?" David asked.
"Please…" Zelena answered sarcastically before waving her hand and-
She hadn't expected that!
The protection spell broke, the door opened, and there before her was not an empty, abandoned cabin, but Rumpelstiltskin and their son.
Gideon already had the shears in his hand!
Obviously, this wasn't going to be as simple as she'd assumed it would be.
Zelena made the first move up the stairs and into the cabin and she followed, her mouth hanging open, hardly able to take her eyes off Gideon and those shears he held.
"I knew you'd try something like this," Rumpelstiltskin spat at her as she came into the cabin. She wanted to scream that he hadn't left her with much choice! He was as guilty as she was, leaving on his own to find Gideon, telling her it was for the best then hiding Gideon away with the scissors! He knew her just as well as she knew him and if he'd known this would happen he shouldn't have left her behind! He knew what she'd tried to do and he was trying to stop her from keeping their son the way he was! She didn't want him to be what the Black Fairy wanted!
But she knew that none of this would have mattered. Nothing that she could say to him now would make any difference. It wasn't Rumple she had to worry about. It was her son. The look he was giving her as he clutched those scissors…once again she was clearly faced with fixing a problem that her husband had created.
"They're here because I asked them to come here. To help me stop our son from making a terrible mistake!" she explained finally turning to her boy. He had to understand that he couldn't do this.
"By cutting him from his fate?" Rumple questioned. "The very thing you gave him away to stop me from doing. That's hypocritical of you, Belle!"
His words would have cut like a knife but she was already cut. She knew what she was doing, she didn't like what she was doing but once again the choice had been removed from her hands! Why did he always have to make everything a fight?!
"Oh no, I'm not the hypocrite here," she shot back, staring him down. "You say that all you want is our son to love you, what you really want is him to be like you."
Rumple looked away from her with that guilty look in his eyes that she recognized whenever she caught him in a truth he didn't want to admit. Loving and being similar were not the same. Maybe he thought that because Bae had opposed his magic and hated him then if Gideon fought with his magic he'd love him but she knew better. He couldn't want this for their son! He couldn't!
"And Rumple, if he does this," she stressed coming closer to him but aware that everyone could still hear every word. "He will be!"
"No I won't," Gideon fought back. "What I'm doing is to bring our family together, the way it was always meant to be."
Rumple's words hadn't hurt her but Gideon's did because all at once she realized how close he already was to his father. How many times had she heard words like that from his father's mouth?
"That is exactly what…he always said," she explained glaring at her husband, hoping he'd see just how much more damage he'd already done. "It doesn't matter why you're doing it," she explained turning back to Gideon. "Killing a good person just to get what you want is never the answer!" She waited, her breath held in her lungs as she waited for her son to say something to give her more to go on so that they could figure this out together, the way a family really did instead of making decisions privately that affected one another.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, dearie." Rumple's voice was a harsh angry whisper and at first she was sure he was talking to her but when she turned she realized he was addressing someone behind her.
Zelena.
There was a squeak as she opened a small green bottle of some kind that she hadn't noticed until now. What was that?
"I wondered why you were here," Rumple commented. "Payback time, is it?"
"Perhaps…and some fun…" Zelena smiled as she let a fine black dust fall from the bottle into her hand. She wasn't entirely sure what it was but she knew that it couldn't be good. And David and Killian…they didn't look in the least bit shocked! They weren't moving to stop her or question Zelena at all!
"What's…what's going on?" she questioned looking at them. No one answered her. No one moved. Everyone just stared at each other waiting and unsure what to do. Even Gideon.
"It seems like your trust in the pirate finally failed you," Rumple answered through gritted teeth. She didn't respond only moved around to look once more at David and Hook.
"Did you know about this?" she hissed, hoping it wasn't true. Finally their looks of guilt and hesitation, all the snarling and glaring at one another seemed to make sense. There had been something going on after all she just hadn't known about it. But they did. They knew about this. She didn't know when but somehow…they'd planned this with Zelena.
"You said this was just a back-up!" Killian spat.
"Zelena don't!" David urged too half-heartedly for her taste. "You promised!"
Oh she felt like all the blood in her body had drained. There wasn't a person in this room, not a single one that she could trust and suddenly she felt like she was trapped in a den of lions with her baby. She'd brought them here! He needed to run!
"Be careful who you partner with dears!" Zelena answered.
"No!" she shrieked, but Zelena had already thrown the dust in the air. She moved to stand in front of her son but before she could there was a sharp harsh sound next to her and as she looked she saw a cone or a funnel suspended in front of Gideon. It had sucked all of whatever dust that was into it. It was protecting Gideon. She even caught a glimpse of Rumple looking shocked before Gideon lowered his hand and whatever had been in that funnel fell to the ground and disappeared before it touched anything.
"These are your good people?" Gideon questioned glancing at her out of the corner of his eye before he looked at David and Killian. "Willing to cut us down to get what they want?"
There was silence. No one answered or did anything. Not even her. She was too shocked at it all. These were her good people. Up until now.
Finally, out of the corner of her eye she saw Zelena move and knew what she was going to do before she even did it. She disappeared in a smog of green. She was a run away again. "Come on son, let's go," Rumple urged beside her.
"No," Gideon answered. "I don't need your help. I don't need anyone's help," he stated turning to her. She opened her mouth but no words came out. She didn't know what to say. "I'm going to do what I came here to do, to kill the Savior!" he hissed at Hook and David. "And I'm coming for the rest of you."
Then Gideon was gone too. In a cloud of red smoke, he vanished from the cabin.
I broke my own rule on this one. That is, the rule I have not to double up on interactions in one chapter but with this one I truly felt I had to. Those few beginning paragraphs at the police station, those were originally their own chapter but it would have been a chapter of about five hundred words and five hundred words does not a chapter make in this fiction. It was either I tacted it onto Zelena's chapter, or this chapter, and given the content of this chapter I felt it fit better to just put it here.
Thank you Grace5231973, Paintbrush123, and Fox24 for your reviews, comments, and questions. Ready for some good news? We made it! We made it out of the mire of 6x11 and we're on to newer and brighter things...well, sort of. We made it out of the last of the chapters where Belle and Rumple consider themselves enemies on two separate teams. From here on out they are working together. And yes, it's going to be muddy and complicated at times, but I really think you are going to enjoy the development coming your way! At least I hope you do! Peace and Happy Reading!