"She was a fairy. And so she still is, dark or not. Therefore, her wand should be able to locate Black Fairy Dust." From the depths of her long blue cloak, Blue pulled a long thin wand that was familiar to her, but not in a good way.
"The Black Fairy's wand," she breathed looking it over. She'd only seen that wand once before...it wasn't something often used for good. "But…we're looking for Gideon, not the Black Fairy or her dust."
"But if Gideon grew up with her, it's likely that her magic is what he knows. He'll probably have brought some of it with him," Rumple explained stepping around her so he could snatch his mother's wand away from the Blue Fairy. He was her son, and the Dark One, she didn't know if the Blue Fairy could work the wand properly but she knew Rumple could. She'd seen him do it, after all. But her question was whether or not the Blue Fairy knew everything that she did. She didn't seem surprised that he'd reached out and taken the wand nor did she argue, but she did seem put off by the aggressive nature of his motion. But when Rumple moved out of the room with the wand she didn't particularly care what the Blue Fairy knew or didn't know, nor did she care if she'd planned for Rumple to take the wand. She wasn't about to let him out of her sight as long as he had that map and was going to look for their son. She gave the Blue Fairy a final glance before turning, grabbing a coat from the hallway and standing out on the front porch with him. Behind her, Blue followed.
Outside Rumple stood and placed the wand on his upturned palm. He moved it this way and that for a moment, as if he was trying to balance it perfectly. Then suddenly, it seemed to snap to life. Almost the way a compass finds North she watched as the wand began to spin. Around and around, as if it was attached to his palm. Then it slowed. Turn by turn the motions became a bit more erratic, turning one way then another way. It was detecting something. And she had a feeling she knew what that was.
"So…there's fairy dust…that way?" she supposed when it seemed to at least be settling on a direction that pointed back toward town. That was disappointing. They'd already searched the town, and Rumple said that none of the places Gideon had marked had been revisited. Though she supposed he didn't have to go back to those places, he could just keep making new ones, just keep giving her the run around until she collapsed from exhaustion…again!
"No," Rumple muttered. "There is Fairy dust that way but…the pull is weak. Too weak, it's not worth following."
"But if it's Gideon?"
"It could be, but it also couldn't be," the Blue Fairy chimed in behind her. "There are remnants of that dust in many different places. For all we know, the dust he's found could very well be at Gold's shop."
She glanced up at Rumpelstiltskin. He didn't deny that he had any Black Fairy dust at his shop. She fought the urge to fight with him and instead focused on the task at hand. It was all about finding the pull that was the strongest. Remnants meant that some people had a bit of the fairy's dust stored here or there, but they were assuming that if Gideon had just come from her realm, then he would have the most substantial bit of it. That was the line they needed to find.
She and the Blue Fairy stood on the front porch, silently watching, for what felt like an hour that thing spin on his hand. It found three or four more small batches, or remnants, of the Black Fairy dust before Rumple let out a small noise. The Blue Fairy ignored the sound and just continued to wait, but she knew him well enough to know that noise was not nothing.
"What is it? What have you found?" she questioned looking over the wand. It was the direction of the woods.
"This one is strong," he answered. "It's the strongest it's found so far."
"Follow it?" she asked.
He nodded. Together the new group of three walked down the steps of the house and moved left, heading in the direction of the woods. It was the North woods. What were the chances that he was hiding in the very spot they intended to search last?
They didn't run, though she wanted to desperately. Instead, they walked through the streets of Storybrooke, through backyards, swing sets, and driveways for an hour before they finally got into the woods. Once inside the woods they made their way deeper into the forest, where the foliage was so thick she nearly wished she had a flashlight. The only time they talked was when she asked if he could feel if they were closer or not. He only shook his head.
"It doesn't work that way, Belle."
So this magic wasn't like the bear. The signal didn't feel stronger the closer they got or the weaker the farther they got. At this rate, they could keep walking for hours or find Gideon in the next five minutes. For all they knew, he was walking somewhere and they weren't getting closer at all.
"Belle look!" the Blue Fairy hissed, suddenly reaching out to grab her arm. She pointed to a spot deeper into the woods but saw what she was pointing at immediately. There, between the branches, in a tree up ahead, was something black.
"Gideon," she breathed. It was long and it was black and she couldn't think of anyone else who would be out in the forest like this except her son. "Gideon!" she called, squeezing Rumple's shoulder so he'd see it too before she began to run up the hill. "Gideon! Wait! Gideon! Gid-"
She stopped in her tracks just as she reached out to grab the fabric. It was fluttering in the breeze, but not because Gideon wore it as a long cloak. He wasn't wearing it at all. Suspended from a tree branch, there were only clothes. Black ones. Including the cloak that she knew was her son's. She pulled the blanket-like covering free and held it in her hands.
"I don't understand…"
Rumple and the Blue Fairy had finally caught up with her. The Fairy beside her grabbed at the fabric and let out a sigh of what seemed to be disappointment.
"She made him the garments," she explained. "They're saturated with her fairy dust."
Rumple let out a growl. He waved his hand and all at once the cloak in her hand, as well as the clothes hanging on the tree branch, disintegrated into black and sparkly fairy dust.
"She made his clothes; he knew we'd be looking for the dust."
"He probably made new ones with his own magic."
"So, can't we find him by locating any of the dust he brought with him?" she questioned, quickly translating their comments.
Rumple shook his head. "None of the other signals were as strong as this. None stood out," he growled staring not at her but the Blue Fairy. He was angry. Dangerously so.
"We could still search for the smaller vials," Blue corrected.
"If he had any small vials on him he's separated and hidden them. It would only be another needle in a haystack, no different than the plan that we had! He's one step ahead of us again."
"That's no reason to give up."
"No, but it's just like a fairy to promise what they can't deliver!" he yelled before stomping off it the other direction.
"You're the last one to-"
"Blue! Blue!" she cried reaching out to hold her friend back from going after him. He was angry, she knew he was, but she was certain no good would come out of the two of them screaming at one another. Besides, she had the unnerving feeling that the anger he felt had very little to do with the wand or Blue or even the dust. And if that was true, he was angry at the wrong person.
"Let me," she muttered. Then with a smile that assured her she'd come back to get her when he was calmed down, she walked off down the hill after her husband.
I know this chapter ends sort of on a cliffhanger, but ya'll, these next dozen or so chapters...you're going to love them! As many have already guessed the second theme that we have to cover between 6x11 to 6x13 is trust. Because we went from 6x11 where they very clearly had no trust for one another to 6x13's "you can trust me, Belle" without any indication as to why she would suddenly believe that. Over these next chapters, we are going to see their trust for one another return, not entirely, but it's going to be heaps better than it is now! And the journey, the steps they are going to take to get back there is going to have them working together, listening to one another, and finally beginning to balance one another out once again.
Thank you, Grace5231973 and Fox24, for your reviews on the last chapter. I'm so excited for these next chapters and I hope that you are too! Up next the conclusion of this chapter and the first major step! And as always, Peace and Happy Reading!