Chapter Twenty-Five: New Findings on Things Long Forgotten
In StoryBrooke
Mary Margaret, Belle, David and Captain Hook took David's truck to get to Zelena's farmhouse on the edge of town, in order to see what Emma was up to.
Parking away from the house, David and Captain Hook hopped out of the vehicle, telling Mary Margaret and Belle that they should stay behind.
"We don't want you to get hurt." David explained to his wife, who merely rolled her eyes.
"We've seen Emma's magic as the Dark One. Who knows what she has planned."
"Which is why it would be better if we all went in." Belle state flatly, closing the truck door behind her.
Knowing that there would be no way in stopping the women from coming, Captain Hook armed Belle with an extra sword he had on him, while Mary Margaret loaded her bow with an arrow.
Together, the four adults walked up to the back of the house, no wanting Emma to see them through the front window.
They reached the back door of the house, and squatted close to the ground. David pulled out his sword, preferring to have an old fashioned weapon compared to his gun. Besides, he felt that he would be less threatening with an iron sword.
"So David, what's the plan?" Captain Hook asked. Mary Margaret and Belle looked at David expectantly.
David chuckled slightly, and looked at the ground.
"I, uh, don't have one."
Captain Hook merely rolled his eyes. "Figures. Never leave a Sheriff in charge of a pirate's job."
"And explain to us how this is a job for a pirate?" Mary Margaret questioned.
"Look, Emma obviously isn't here for a visit." Captain Hook stated rhetorically.
"Obviously she is after something, and are pirates the best at?"
"Not bathing?" Belle ventured. Captain Hook gave her a dark look.
"We are the best at looting. Plundering. Stealing from others. Leave this to me."
Captain Hook stood up, and not bothering to knock, entered the farm house through the back door.
Knowing that Killian would do something stupid and get himself killed, David followed the pirate inside, telling the women to wait a few minutes before coming in themselves.
Once inside the house, David followed Captain Hook through the living room and entered the kitchen. A few glasses with remnants of milk sat on the counter, while flies buzzed over a plate of moldy cheese and crackers that were left on the wooden kitchen table.
Upon first inspection, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until David noticed something lying on the ground underneath the kitchen table. Stooping to the ground, David picked up a yellow piece of paper.
"What'd you find?" Captain Hook questioned, gazing intently at the bottles of wine and whisky being held in a cabinet beside the kitchen table.
"It looks like a…marriage certificate." David answered. And sure enough, the yellowed paper stated the names of two people that he knew had been previously married. Michael and Zelena.
Captain Hook came up behind David and looked over his shoulder.
"Why would the Wicked Witch keep the marriage certificate of a marriage that she walked out of?" He questioned.
David shrugged, not really knowing why Zelena would keep something that would be seen as worthless to her. Unless…
"Maybe Zelena didn't want to walk out on Michael." David said aloud. Captain Hook turned to him, surprised.
The two men stood in silence for a moment, before they heard footsteps on the creaking floor boards upstairs. Drawing their swords from their sheaths, the two men walked over to the staircase.
David shoved the piece of paper into his pocket and climbed onto the first step.
He put his finger to his lip, indicating for the Captain to stay quiet. Both remained silent and listened at the bottom of the stairs, hoping to hear Emma.
For a few minutes, all the two men could hear was Emma rummaging around one of the bedrooms upstairs, tossing books and other small objects onto the bed or floor. They could hear her open up closet doors and dresser drawers, searching for something.
After a few minutes, the two men were tempted to go upstairs and confront the Dark One, until Emma finally found what she had been looking for.
"So, this is what Rumpelstiltskin has been following."
Not knowing what Emma was referring to, David and Captain Hook risked going up a few more steps to get a look at what Emma was talking about.
Standing on the tips of their toes, David and Captain Hook peeked over the ledge of the second floor that jutted out, just tall enough to see what was going on.
A large trunk that Zelena must have brought over from Oz was wide open, with different trinkets and valuables that the men couldn't recognize. Emma, however, was focusing on a large mirror that hung on the wall over the trunk.
The mirror was large and black, and rather than seeing a reflection of herself, all Emma saw was a grey void. Mist swirled in the portal's glass, and Emma pressed her hand against the cold surface.
"An enchanted mirror." Emma said aloud, unknowingly explaining the object to David and Captain Hook.
David turned to the Captain.
"Has Mr. Gold been talking to someone through the mirror, like Regina did with Sidney?" He asked. Captain Hook shrugged.
"Don't know, mate. But it would make sense. Didn't Zelena say something about Gold betraying her? Perhaps he did the same thing to Emma."
Nodding, David turned back to Emma, who was now rummaging through the large trunk.
"So, any idea on how we can arrest Emma without getting ourselves killed?" David asked Captain Hook.
Captain Hook rolled his eyes.
"You're the Sheriff, aren't you? I know about being a thief, not capturing one."
David sighed and watched Emma look through the trunk. What did she want?
After a few moments of searching, Emma smiled. She turned her back to David and Captain Hook, lifting the object out of the trunk. She held it up and examined it. Turning around, David was about to make out what she was holding…
The door creaked open on the main level, grabbing Emma's attention. Shoving the object into her pocket, she disappeared in a cloud of magic, leaving the two men wondering what she had taken.
In the Land of Oz
The group of warriors crowded into the small cabin, but it was obvious from the get-go that not everyone was going to be able to fit inside.
"Alright, we take shifts." Kyler announced to his warriors.
"We rotate every two hours. Those maniacs might come back for more while we sleep."
With the threat of an attack lingering in the air, the group found it much harder to get to sleep.
Zelena didn't even bother trying, as she looked around the small cabin. Every surface she could see was covered in a fine layer of dust, with nooks and crannies filled with spider webs.
Alongside the small sitting room where everyone was currently situated, there were two other rooms in the small cabin, as well as a tiny washroom where a rusted bathtub stood.
Glinda and Mother Superior were granted the larger of the two rooms, while Regina and Henry were given the other one.
Regina, however, shook her head, refusing the offer.
"Zelena should have the bedroom." Regina stated, catching her older sister off guard. Regina quickly tried to cover up any suspicions Zelena might have had towards Regina's intentions.
"For the baby."
Nodding, Zelena mumbled her thanks, and walked into the smaller room, with Robin, Regina and Henry tagging along out of curiosity.
However, standing outside the small room, Zelena lingered in the hallway, unable to open the door.
"This was Gerda's room." Zelena said, answering Regina's unspoken question.
"She was six years old when she last occupied it."
Regina felt guilt tug at her throat. She had been so occupied in getting everyone safely inside the small cabin, especially her son and Mallory, that she hadn't even bothered to wonder how Zelena would handle having everyone in her abandoned home.
Seeing that Zelena just wouldn't open the door, Regina stepped forward and turned the knob, using the little strength she had left in her tired body to push against the old wood door.
After a moment, the door finally relented, allowing the four of them to enter the small room.
Regina looked around, and ignoring the constant company of cobwebs and the layer of dust everywhere she looked, Regina couldn't help but smile. She imagined a young Gerda walking in and out of this room, playing with her toys on the floor, sleeping on the small bed that rested at the edge of the room.
Running her finger across the smooth surface of a tiny wooden dresser, Regina looked at Robin.
"I can just imagine her being here." She admitted, smiling.
Robin returned the gesture, and curiously walked into the room. He laid down his bow and arrows, and walked over to the bed. A small wooden shelf was elevated on the wall beside the bed, where an assortment of books with yellowed pages sat, their covers pressed tightly together by the pressure of time.
Robin picked out one of the books, a small blue one, and wiped away the dust.
"Oh, that was Gerda's favorite." Zelena stated, coming forward. Robin handed her the book, which Zelena held tightly in her hands.
"When she was really small, only a few months old, I would read this to her while she fell asleep." Zelena explained, smiling at the memory.
"I would cradle her in my lap while she dozed off to the stories of woodland animals on spectacular adventures." For a moment, Zelena merely kept her eyes on the book, reliving that precious memory.
However, the presence took hold of her, and the smile faded from her lips.
"But that was a long time ago." Zelena dropped the book onto the bed. Regina felt a longing to comfort her sister, but she didn't know how she could.
While the three adults huddled by the bed, Henry occupied himself by looking in a wooden chest that sat near the door.
Opening the creaking chest top, he looked inside.
"Wow." Henry stated, surprised at what he saw. Rather than seeing toys and games, as he would have expected, a mix of odd trinkets and vials sat in the chest. The only thing that Henry could find that would belong in a toy chest was an old teddy bear.
He lifted it out of the box, and examined it.
"Was this Gerda's too?" He asked. Zelena nodded, reaching for the toy.
"This was her favorite teddy." Zelena said. But before Zelena could go on, Robin came forward, and took the bear.
"This is mine." He said, examining the toy. Zelena was more than annoyed that Robin had taken the bear from her, and was about to whine like a little child would when he explained why.
"I had this when I was a boy." Robin admitted, looking at the Witch apologetically.
"It must have come over in the tornado."
"Tornado?" Henry asked. Robin nodded.
"That's what brought Michael and our parents here. For years I assumed they had died, but Michael apparently didn't. And he took this teddy bear with him." Robin grew quiet.
"And gave it to his daughter, the only family member he had left." Regina said, putting her hand on Robin's shoulder.
The room was silent for a few moments, Robin clutching the teddy bear in his hands. Still curious about the chest, Henry tapped Zelena on the shoulder.
"Zelena, why does Gerda have all those emeralds and other weird stuff in her toy box?" He asked.
Zelena walked over to the chest and looked inside.
"Oh. Those were mine and Michael's things." Zelena admitted, rifling through everything in the chest.
"Michael's mother was a healer, and used different herbs in the Enchanted Forest. The rest belongs to me." But as Zelena rifled through some more, she came across a familiar object. An object she swore she had left in StoryBrooke.
"What is this doing in here?" She wondered, lifting up an old mirror.
"I could have sworn this was in my house in StoryBrooke." And Zelena would be right to be mistaken, for the mirror in Gerda's old toy box was the exact same as the one in StoryBrooke.
"What is it Zelena?" Regina asked.
"It's an enchanted mirror, and people can look through it…." Zelena gasped, almost dropping the mirror.
She turned to Regina, a look of horror on her face.
"What if that Witch had been spying on Gerda?"