A/N: Thank you, syed, for your review - your question will be addressed in this chapter. And thank you to everyone who has followed and favorited.
Complications
Chapter 25: Hand of Fate
~Catspook
"You're certain you don't want to move it back a couple of days?" Rumple asked about the library's grand opening.
"Of course not!" Belle said. "We announced this date weeks ago."
"But with all that's happened…"
"I will not let Cora and Regina take this away from me, Rumple. I will not!"
He smiled softly and the lines of concern around his eyes relaxed. "Of course, Sweetheart. Do you need any help?"
"That would be wonderful, thank you. But do try not to scare Ariel too much." Ariel had arrived yesterday afternoon with the squid ink. She'd been mortified that she'd been unable to arrive before Cora had made her move, and Rumple had not been terribly patient with her, but she'd been steady enough to offer to help make up the work on the library that had been missed yesterday. Between her help and Rumple's, Belle was certain that they would make their deadline.
"I will try, dear. You can expect me after I speak to Emma about Henry's effect on my wards; that is a question that should be answered sooner rather than later."
"Yes, of course. August and Marco are putting the final touches on the Children's Room this morning, and then it's just little things."
"Very good, I shouldn't be long." They kissed and he headed towards the Sherriff's Station while Belle and Bae continued on to the library.
Marco and August were waiting there with wall sculpture they had carved for the Children's Room. It was breathtaking.
"Oh, Marco, it's beautiful!" The sculpture was of a forest filled with animals, some readily apparent and others cleverly hidden; the more you looked at it, the more you saw. It was partially painted, but the colors were muted, and Belle knew it would lend the room a calm, cozy feel.
Marco blushed and mumbled his thanks while August grinned. "You want it centered on the back wall, right?"
"Yes, exactly. Will you need help hanging it?"
"Ah, if Bae could lend a hand, um…" He waggled the fingers on his left hand. It was out of the sling now, but she knew that he couldn't put a lot of weight on in.
"No problem," Bae said.
"Call if you need me," she said, and she dove right into shelving the new books, making a mental list in her head of all the things that needed to be done by tomorrow. She was decidedly not thinking about the events of yesterday or her time in the hospital.
But she did hope that Rumple would be back soon.
"Yeah, August told me about that," Emma said, "Sorry, Gold. Henry got a hell of a lecture last night from me and Mary Margaret about that little stunt."
Rumplestiltskin smiled and shook his head. "It's not the fact that he entered my shop that concerns me, it's the fact that he was able to."
"What do you mean?"
"I have blood wards on my shop. They are still intact, and they kept Mr. Booth out exactly as I would expect. What I need to know is how Henry was able to cross them. I think this may have to do with his status as the Truest Believer, but I need to investigate further."
That got her attention. She stared at him, her eyes wide. "You think Henry might have magic? Like me?"
"Even you can't cross my wards, Miss Swan, just as I cannot cross yours or Regina's. This is a very unusual power; I suggest we do everything we can to understand the extent of it."
Emma nodded, "Yeah. Yeah, OK."
Henry was apparently being grounded by having to spend the day with his grandmother at the Town Hall. He was excited when they arrived; Rumplestiltskin was sure that investigating his possible magic powers was more interesting to an eleven-year-old boy than local governance.
"This is a not a reprieve from your grounding, kid," Emma said, "We're figuring this out, and then it's right back to Town Hall with you."
"Aw…"
Rumplestiltskin chuckled. "Now, which door did you use?" he asked as the approached the shop.
"The front door. It wasn't locked!" Rumplestiltskin nodded.
"You leave your door unlocked?" Emma asked, incredulously.
"It's warded with magic; far more effective than a lock. At least, it should be. Henry, I'd like you to replicate exactly what you did. I can observe the wards as you try to breach them."
"Sure. I knocked, and said 'Mr. Gold, are you here?'" Henry looked at him and laughed shyly.
Rumplestiltskin gave him a little wave. "I'm here. And then what?"
"I just went in." And, as described, the boy just turned the knob and walked in, the bell jingling merrily.
Rumplestiltskin froze. "What, Gold? What is it?" Emma asked.
"He didn't bypass the wards."
"What? What do you mean?"
Henry was looking at him from the other side of the door, and Rumplestiltskin stumbled in after him, plucking some hair from his head. "Ow!"
"Gold! What the hell!"
Rumplestiltskin ignored them, summoning a potion from the back. He dropped the hairs in, and the gas inside turned green. No, no, it's impossible. "Gold, what are you doing? Did you put a spell on Henry?"
"No," he said, stunned.
"Then, what? What is it?" But then the puppet said…
"I require a word with Reul Ghorm."
"What? Gold-"
He transported, landing just outside the convent, and sent a blast of dark magic into the barrier she had erected to keep him and the other 'undesirables' out. "Open up, dearie! You have some explaining to do!" It took a good five minutes of blasting before Reul Ghorm deigned to show her face, and he knew Emma would arrive any moment. "Care to explain this!" he demanded, waving the vial.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, Dark One."
"Oh, I'm sure you don't! That would be why you told the puppet that Henry's father was Baelfire! Where did you get that information, Reul Ghorm?!"
"I don't have to tell you that," she said primly. Kill her. Destroy her.
"Would you rather explain it to the Savior? She'll be here any minute, dearie."
"I will explain to Princess Emma everything that she needs to know."
He snarled. "Tell me where you got your information or I am repossessing this convent and razing it to the ground!"
"You can't do that."
"I damn well can! Read the agreement; you've erected a barrier that denies me entry to my own property without permission! You're welcome to appeal to the Sherriff if you like, but I gather she'll be none too pleased with you when hears what you've done!"
Reul Ghorm's lips twisted in a most unpleasant fashion. "And you think such a threat will intimidate me? We will shelter with the people if we must-"
"Not in any of my buildings you won't!"
"-until the magic beans are ready. We will be returning to our home soon enough."
"How strange, when you put so much effort into getting us all here. Tell me, what were you hoping to accomplish, Reul Ghorm?" He stalked as close to the barrier as he was able. "Are you working with Pan? Are you?!"
"Of course not," she said haughtily. She lies. She must die.
"Well, someone used my son to create your precious Truest Believer, and you are going to tell what you know!"
"I am going to tell you nothing, Dark One."
She turned away, preparing to walk back inside, out of his reach. He blasted the barrier again. He'd take it apart dust grain by dust grain if he had to; she was going to explain what she knew if he had to burn that convent down around her ears.
"Gold!" Emma shouted, scrambling out of her Bug. "What the hell is going on?!"
"Reul Ghorm knows something; she is going to tell me."
"Something about Henry?"
"Yes!" he barked, send one final blast into the barrier, then turning to look at her. "Do you remember the tale puppet told us about Henry's father?"
"Of course; I got sent to jail at the end of that one, remember?"
"You remember who Reul Ghorm told him your paramour was?"
"She told him Nate was Balefire… but that's impossible. Bae was here, and I may have been seventeen, Gold, but Nate was in his twenties."
"What did he look like?"
"Nate?" She was baffled now, and Rumplestiltskin saw Henry watching them from the Bug. She'd obviously ordered him to stay put, likely with dire threats of accompanying Mary Margaret to the Town Hall until he was thirty, but the lad had been canny enough to roll the window down. He could obviously hear them.
Panting, Rumplestiltskin lowered his voice and walked closer to Emma. "Yes. What did he look like? Dark hair? Dark eyes? A bit taller than me?"
Emma was looking at him in confused suspicion. In retrospect, this little tantrum had lacked his usual degree of forethought. "Yes… but that could describe thousands of guys - tens of thousands."
"I don't know how, Miss Swan," he said lowly, "But somehow, by blood, Bae is Henry's father."
She stared. "That's impossible."
"One would think, but somehow, it came to pass. And Reul Ghorm knew."
Emma shook her head. "Gold, this is insane."
"Did you not say the same thing to Henry and Mr. Booth not five months ago? I assure you, Miss Swan, it is true. And I will discover how it happened."
"Does it even matter? Nate is long gone; whoever he was, he's not in the picture."
"Of course it matters!" Rumplestiltskin hissed. "Do you not realize? Someone engineered Henry's birth the way I engineered yours, and we don't know why! Does this not concern you, Miss Swan? Pan wants his heart; what if he's not the only one?"
She tossed up her hands, "How do I know you're even telling the truth? This could all be some plot of yours."
"Towards what end? What use have I for immortality? I have it already! Perform a blood test if that is what will convince you, but this must be dealt with!"
Emma stared at him. "What are you going to tell Bae?"
"I… don't know."
"Don't tell him," she said quickly.
He gaped. "What?" The thought had certainly occurred to him, but he never would have expected the Savior of all people to suggest it.
"Look, Gold, it's confusing enough for Henry to have two moms, especially when one is Regina. I'm not bringing his dad into this. And Bae's fifteen; you really think he can cope with this? You and me, we can try to figure this out, but Bae and Henry don't need to know."
He didn't disagree. But he also knew that if the truth came out, Bae (and Belle) would be very angry with him for hiding it. But then, it was Emma's idea… "You will assist me in this matter?"
"Assist how?"
"You had the most contact with this Nate; I will need to see your memories."
She frowned, and shifted her stance. "You really think this could be a threat to Henry?"
"I do."
"All right. But just you and me; no one else needs to know."
Rumplestiltskin shook his head. "We at least need to speak to Mr. Booth. I need to see his memories as well, and he may know more than he's already told us. Reul Ghorm's attempt to turn him into a child suggests to me that he does."
"Wait, August wouldn't hold back like that, not after he's already come clean about everything else."
Rumplestiltskin cocked a skeptical eyebrow, but said, "He may not even be aware of what he knows, or its significance. He may even be in danger without knowing it, if that is the case."
Emma nodded. "OK, August, but no one else. I'm not dragging Henry into this crap any more than I have to."
"Reul Ghorm may interfere; she knows that we know now."
"Do you think she is behind this?"
"She's at the top of my short list. We never did discern her endgame, but as she has informed me just now that her intent is to return to the Enchanted Forest as soon as the beans are ready, I believe that we may be confronted with it soon."
Emma rubbed her forehead. "We'll deal with that if it happens. But between us, it's you, me, August, and no one else, all right?"
He hesitated, but only a moment. "Agreed."
"So… what do we tell Henry?"
"Rumple!" Bae looked up as Belle greeted his father. "Come look at the sculpture that Marco and August carved; it's perfect!"
Marco blushed and muttered something as he packed up the industrial vacuum cleaner (he called it a shopvac) that they'd been using to clean up the last of the construction dust. August smiled indulgently as he put together the easels that would be used for Nova's welcome display.
"Wait," Bae said, as Papa moved towards the stacks on Belle's arm, "Did you figure out the thing with Henry?"
Papa smiled. "I'll have to investigate a bit more, but I am certain now that it has to do with his status as Truest Believer. It's unique to Henry, so I've no concern about the wards."
"I don't think that any of the books we found in the library say anything about the Truest Believer," Belle said, "But I haven't had time to go through them all page by page; they might be worth a look."
"They might. Thank you, Sweetheart. Now show me this sculpture."
Bae went back to setting up the public computers. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something didn't feel quite right.
August rapped his knuckles on the wall before entering the main room of the Sherriff's station. Emma looked up. "Hey, Emma, you needed to talk to me?"
"Yeah. Gold had some questions about Nate; he'll be here in a minute."
August frowned. "Nate?" He certainly hadn't been expecting that.
"Yeah. Um, Gold can explain it when he gets here."
"OK…" Emma was stressed out. Which August really couldn't blame her for, but he was concerned. "Regina giving you any trouble?" he asked.
"She wants Cora put in her mausoleum next to her dad."
"Is that a problem?"
"I guess not; if we put her in the general cemetery, people might just be tempted to deface the grave. And Regina is paying for it. But she wants to visit; that's the problem."
"Well, there are those manacles… but I'm getting the impression that's not what this is about." He was good at reading people, after all, and by now he had more experience reading Emma than most.
She put a hand to her forehead. "It's just… where does it end? When does this shit stop, August? If it's not the curse, it's Pan, if it's not Pan, it's Cora, if it's not Cora, it's the Blue Fairy… how am I supposed to take care of Henry when we can't get two straight weeks of normalcy? And now David and Mary Margaret are talking about going back the Enchanted Forest! The Enchanted Forest! With ogres, and chimeras, and even more magic crap than we've got here!" She collapsed into the desk chair behind her, sending it rolling back a foot or so. She let her hands dangle over the armrests as she looked at him.
"I… I don't know," he said. It wasn't fair. She'd done her part - far more admirably than he had done his - and she deserved a break. Hell, she deserved to be able to just walk away if that was what she wanted. But he didn't think that it was.
She just sighed. "That was a rhetorical question," she said dryly, rolling the chair forwards and back like a child. "I'm just so sick of this shit, August."
"Of course," he agreed. His aching arm said he was sick of it too, and he wasn't the goddamn Savior. "You want to get a drink with me this weekend? Or five?" He'd offer to take her tonight, but the library opening was tomorrow, and he didn't want to face Belle's wrath if he showed up hung over.
She shook her head. "What about Henry?"
"David or Mary Margaret could watch him. Or Ruby, if she's free."
"Let me think about it."
"Sure." They looked around awkwardly for a few moments before the familiar tapping of Gold's cane on the tile indicated that he'd arrived.
"Hi," August said, "Emma said you had some questions for me about Nate?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Did she tell you what they were concerning?"
"No," Emma said, "I thought you might want to field that one, since you're the one pushing this."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "I told you that you were welcome to perform a blood test if you have doubts," he said. "But in the meantime, we must act."
"On what?" August said. "Has Nate shown up again or something?"
"Or something," Emma said darkly.
"What?" Whatever it was, it had both Emma and the Dark One on edge. This isn't good.
"Well? Tell him, Gold," Emma said, still lounging in the desk chair.
Gold turned to August. He tried not to fidget. "Do you recall when you told us that Reul Ghorm had informed you that Henry's father was Baelfire?"
"Yes," he said carefully.
"Yesterday I discovered something rather alarming," Gold said. "I do not know how, but somehow, by blood, Henry is Bae's son."
Woah… "Is that how he was able to get through the wards on your shop?" August asked. That's it, Booth, ask the relevant questions. Dumbass.
Gold laughed humorlessly. "That was actually how we discovered it," he said. "Had Henry not snuck into my shop, we might never have learned the truth."
"Wow. So what do you need me for? I'm sorry, I don't have Nate's contact information or anything."
"I need your memories. Yours and Miss Swan's. This man must have left some clues to his true identity."
"So, like, that dream catcher thing you did with Pongo?"
Gold nodded. "Precisely."
"Of course. What have you told Bae and Henry?"
"Nothing," Emma said, "And you're not telling them anything either. Henry doesn't need to know."
August gaped. "What? Emma…"
She pointed an accusing finger at him. "No. Henry does not find out about this. He's been through too damn much already. Gold is figuring this out, but Henry does not get involved."
"Henry's already involved!"
"August! You saw what happened with Regina! Henry charges in; that's what he does. If someone other than Pan is after his heart, the first thing he'll do is try to confront them!"
August narrowed his eyes. "That's not what this is about."
"Of course it is!"
"No, it isn't. You just don't want to explain to Henry who Nate was to you."
"Of course I don't! It was bad enough when he was just a thief that left me high and dry, now he's some kind of magical plant, or clone, or… something!"
"So, you're going to lie to him? And you want me to as well? Emma, you know what happens to me when I lie!"
"You don't have to lie," Gold said. "Just don't contradict Miss Swan's version of events. Evade. You're good at that."
That's hilarious coming from you. But August wasn't quite suicidal enough to say something like that to the Dark One's face. "Henry deserves to know the truth," he said instead.
"No, he goddamn doesn't!" Emma shouted, getting to her feet. "No one deserves to know that they only exist because some asshole needed something from them, least of all my kid! August, you know what it's like!"
August gave her a disbelieving look. "What Blue did doesn't change that my father wanted me, Emma, and it doesn't change that your parents wanted you too."
"But I didn't want him!"
They shared a tense silence before August said quietly, "But you want him now. He knows that, Emma. He didn't when he went looking for you, but he did it anyway."
"Because Regina was a bitch. If she'd stayed a good mom, he wouldn't have wanted to know me."
"Bullshit."
"August-"
"Emma, listen!"
"No," she said forcefully, "You listen. You don't know what it's like to have a kid. Sometimes you have to say 'no' if it's bad enough or dangerous enough. After everything he's been through, I'm not adding this!"
August sighed in frustration. There's that stubbornness. But ultimately, it wasn't his call. "Fine. I won't tell him. But I won't lie either. If he asks, I'm sending him your way." And if Henry doesn't figure out from that that something is up, I'm Galahad the Pure.
"Fine," Emma huffed. August sighed. You know things are fucked up when I'm the voice of reason.
"All right," August said to Gold, sitting on the edge of the desk. "Do your thing. You did say that this doesn't hurt, right?"
He smiled mockingly. "Well, it doesn't have to…" Emma rolled her eyes.
"Stop trolling and get on with it," she said. "We've all got places to be."
"Very well." Two dream catchers appeared in his hand. He put one down on the desk and dangled the other over August's head. Instinctively, August tried to look up, but Gold scolded him.
"Do keep still, please."
"Why? Does it blur the image if I move too much?" August asked dryly.
Gold snorted. "No. It's simply distracting." August sighed but kept still. Gold set the dream catcher down. "Your turn now, Miss Swan."
"I'm not sure about this," she said.
"Mr. Booth wasn't bothered," Gold wheedled.
"'Mr. Booth' didn't have sex with him... Did you? Please tell me you didn't."
"No! God, Emma."
"Believe me, Miss Swan, I'm not doing this for my own amusement; we must understand who Nate is and who sent him. Recall that if it was Reul Ghorm, she is walking around freely in full possession of her powers. The Sorcerer and his Apprentice may also come and go at will. If Henry's heart is the prize, we must understand who is seeking it."
"Fine, fine, all right? Do it. Pick apart my life more than you already have. At least this time you asked first."
Gold said nothing, but picked up the second dream catcher. He offered no apologies, and August could at least appreciate that he didn't lie to them. They all knew he'd do it again in a heartbeat to get his son back, and Belle too. Emma had even told August a few weeks ago that she sometimes wished that her parents had been a little more selfish, like Gold (or Papa). He'd told her that between Blue and Rumplestiltskin, he didn't think that David or Mary Margaret could have changed the outcome; he couldn't offer her more than that.
"Thank you," Gold said, banishing the dream catchers… somewhere. "I will let you know what I am able to discern."
"That's it? You don't want to ask us about him or anything?" August asked.
"I should review the memories first. They're inherently biased, but my viewing of them could be even more tainted if I view them expecting to see certain things."
"Oh. That makes sense. So… done?" August wanted out of there. He didn't handle conflict well, and Emma was still pissed. He tried to tell himself that it wasn't running away, but he knew it was bullshit. He tapped the toe of his left foot against the floor.
"For now; I'll likely have questions later."
"Sure. Whatever." But he couldn't leave without asking, "Emma?"
She waved him away. "Go home, August."
He took two steps before stopping to look back at her. "That offer for this weekend is still on the table, if you want it."
She looked at him. Damn, she just looks so… tired. "You know what? Yeah. Yeah, I think I do. I'll call you Saturday."
"OK, Emma."
Rumplestiltskin told Bae and Belle that he was doing some research for Emma (perfectly true), and retreated to his laboratory. He stared chronologically, observing Emma stealing a car (that same yellow Bug she now drove), her waking up the man sleeping in the back, and their deception of the police officer.
He really does look like Bae.
This Nate avoided speaking about his past, but the few things he mentioned ("My mom left when I was really little… My dad got into drugs and it was all downhill from there.") were not untrue for Baelfire, if his history were dressed up to match the particulars of this world. He didn't draw, but seemed fond of photographs. And he seemed sincere enough in his intentions that Rumplestiltskin could see how even the jaded Emma had come to believe and trust in him.
Who was he? What was he?
After several hours of getting nowhere with Emma's memories, he tried the puppet's. They held even more clues, as the puppet - as he had informed Rumplestiltskin months ago - had confronted this Nate with his supposed identity. And, as the puppet had said, he behaved as if he actually believed that he was Baelfire.
And not only in that he accepted the name as his and alluded to things that few people beyond Rumplestiltskin, Reul Ghorm, and Bae himself knew, but he showed that same fear and anger that Rumplestiltskin had seen so often in his boy since finding him again. The way he held himself. The way he pushed his hand through his hair when the puppet mentioned just who had engineered the curse.
Whoever had sent this Nate knew Baelfire. His history, his mannerisms.
His essence.
It was the darkest of magics. The foil to the light magic that had created the puppet. And to have been so real as to have conceived a child, it would have to have been the most complex one ever created.
Is it even possible?
Emma had speculated that Nate could have been a clone, but that was a concept of this world, not a world of magic. There were, however, magical alternatives. Using magic, it was possible to gather the essence of a person and combine it with soil or clay to create a sort of life, one that resembled the person whose essence had been stolen. The resulting being, if the spell were complex enough, would be indistinguishable from an actual human but lacked a soul and could be commanded by its creator to perform any task.
A golem.
But who could possibly have sent it?
Reul Ghorm, for all her hypocrisy, was bound by the rules of light magic; she could not do this. But she may very well know who did. She hadn't cast the curse, after all, but had done a great deal to ensure that Regina did. But why? What is her endgame? She couldn't use Henry's heart herself, for the same reason she could not have created the golem. How would it benefit her for someone else to use it?
He needed answers, but Reul Ghorm was one of the few beings that could match him; he'd never been able to force her hand. And he couldn't even approach her as long as she stayed in her convent. He could evict her, and approach her then, but that would likely achieve nothing but spur a magical battle between the two of them. Which would be satisfying, but not informative. He needed to try something else, something more subtle.
He laughed to himself when he realized that left him with only one alternative. It's not often that the Emma Swan is the more subtle option.
"Prin- Sherriff, how may I help you?"
Emma's arms were crossed aggressively and August shifted nervously beside her. He'd been surprised that he'd been judged 'good' enough to make it through the barrier the Blue Fairy had put around the convent, and Emma had had the uncharitable thought that he'd been counting on that to get out of this. But it didn't really matter; he'd followed her in, just as he'd promised.
She'd told him that she wanted another set of eyes and ears on the Blue Fairy, but mostly she wanted someone to pull her back if she went for the nun's throat. Even Regina had not enraged her this much; she, at least, had never tried to hurt Henry on purpose. Or sent a clay zombie to impregnate Emma.
"You can answer some questions," Emma said. Not that you ever do that.
The nun frowned. "About what?"
"About Nate."
"What about him?"
"Did you send him? What was he?"
"I did not. And I do not know."
Damn it.
As with Regina after Archie's apparent murder, Emma's superpower was telling her something she had trouble believing: the Blue Fairy was telling the truth. "Did you know he wasn't human?"
"No. As I told Pinocchio-"
"August."
"August," she corrected, her mouth pinching in frustration, "I believed that he was Baelfire. I did not learn that it was not so until Baelfire was found in Storybrooke."
Also truth. Goddammit!
"Why did you think Nate was Baelfire? Where did you get that information?"
"Rumplestiltskin is not the only being capable of prophecy. There are Seers - his gift was stolen from one, in fact - and others of power that surpass even the Dark One."
"Like who?"
"The Sorcerer, for one. Gods. The Fates."
"Wait… gods? Actual gods?" She exchanged a look with August, who looked equally alarmed.
"Yes."
"Which gods?"
"There are many. Zeus and his line. Odin and his."
"What? Why has no one mentioned this before?"
"Because they are not of this world, nor are they of ours. They do, however, on occasion, meddle in the affairs of mortals."
Emma snorted and pinched her nose. "Now, who does that sound like? OK, so gods - which god gave you this prophesy? It wasn't Loki, was it?"
"No. It was made by a fairy whose special gift was to hear directly from the Fates."
"And where is she?"
"Dead. Rumplestiltskin murdered her for her wand, as he did to so many of our kind."
More truth. DAMN IT, GOLD!
"So what was your plan, then? Why did you want the curse to happen?"
"I did not want the curse to happen. It was fated to happen."
"Oh, Bull. Shit. You don't get to say that when you could have stopped it and didn't - that's on you."
"I cannot defy the Fates."
"Can't or won't?"
"I must not."
Emma snarled. "So that's a 'won't'. Who are they? Why do they get to call the shots?"
Mother Superior blinked. "They are the Fates," she repeated, as if that answered everything.
"So, what? So, they're powerful? That doesn't mean they have the right to fuck with people!"
The nun looked at Emma like she was a raving lunatic. "They are the Fates; that is their role."
"Why?" Emma asked.
"Why?" Mother Superior repeated, as if she simply could not comprehend that anyone could question the crap she was spouting.
"Why is that their role? Who gave them that authority?"
"It is simply the way of things, child," and that damn condescension was back.
"I am not your child. And is this what you're telling me: everything you did you did without knowing why, other than the Fates wanted it to happen?"
She shook her head. "It is not a matter of want. The Fates do not want, as fairies may not want. They simply dictate what must happen, for the greater good."
Emma stared at her. "And how do you know it's for the greater good?" Emma demanded.
"I simply do." And damn it if the fairy didn't truly believe that every word she was saying was true. After all this, she's just another religious zealot? DAMMIT! Emma was breathing hard and her fingers itched to do something really stupid, but August touched her gently on the arm.
"I don't think we're going to get any more answers here," he said quietly.
Emma glared, but he was right. "Fine. Oh, and by the way," Emma said to the nun, "Your landlord had informed me that the barrier you've put up is in violation of your lease. You've got three days from when he informed you of that to take it down, or he's beginning eviction procedures. And don't expect the Sheriff's department to cut you any slack."
The nun huffed and Emma walked away, August scrambling to keep up. They were well off convent property when he asked, "So, how much of that was the truth?"
"As she understands it? All of it. DAMMIT!"
"Well, we did learn something; Gold didn't mention the Fates."
"Yeah," she huffed. "But damn it, August, gods? Actual gods? We just got rid of Cora, we can't keep the Blue Fairy under control, and God knows we'd be fucked if Gold decided to go evil again, and now we have to deal with gods? Real gods?!"
August backed up have a step and spread his hands in a placating gesture. "Gold hasn't gone evil again, and as long as Bae and Belle are both around, I don't think he will. And if we're talking Greek or Norse pantheons here, whichever god decided that they wanted Henry's heart, there's probably half a dozen who don't want them to have it. Those guys aren't actually known for reaching consensus, you know."
"So, basically, if it's Loki we call Thor?"
He gestured helplessly. "It's the only idea I've got. But that is usually how the stories go. And at least we know Blue's allegiance now."
She sighed. "This is just… insane. Totally insane."
He laughed humorlessly. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."
She sighed again. "I'll tell Gold what we found out. You get back to the library; if we're facing the gods' wrath here, we don't need Belle's as well. Grand Opening's a six, right?"
He smiled and touched her arm. "Right. See you and Henry there?"
She tried to smile. "We wouldn't miss it."
"The Fates?" Rumplestiltskin asked.
"Yeah."
"Damn."
"That's what I said. So, what do we do, Gold?"
"Nothing," he said quietly.
Emma gaped. "You must be joking."
"I most certainly am not. The Fates cannot be challenged. They cannot be persuaded. One can only hope that they do not take an interest."
"Well, I think they've already damn well got an interest!"
"And yet their prediction was wrong. Or misinterpreted. You are certain that Reul Ghorm was telling the truth?"
"What she believed to be the truth, anyway. She really believes this stuff; whatever the Fates say, she does, no questions asked."
"And yet she could not have created the golem."
"So who did, do you think? Which of the… gods does things like that?"
"Any of them. Gods are not bound by the rules of light and dark magic as Reul Ghorm is. Any of them could have done it." He recalled his most recent encounter with a blessed object (the pendant from Dionysus that Gaston wore) but did not mention it to her. Aside from the fact it could be completely unrelated (Dionysus was a patron of homosexuality, among other things), that pantheon was trouble. Hades was bad enough, but Zeus had far too many things in common with Reul Ghorm for Rumplestiltskin's taste.
"Then which one would want Henry's heart?"
"Again, any of them. Even if for no other reason than they discovered that a rival coveted it."
Emma sighed. "That's what August said. He said our best shot was to find the gods who want to stop whichever one cooked this up."
"He is quite correct. I am powerful, Miss Swan, but I am not a god."
"Then what do we do? How do we get in contact with them?"
"We don't. It is exceptionally unwise to attract a god's attention. For all we know, the original plot was already discovered and thwarted. Or the next step of this plan takes place hundreds of years from now." He hoped.
"And if it doesn't?" she demanded.
"Then we will surely be made aware of it when it happens."
"You know, you never struck me as the fatalistic type, Gold. You set a castle on fire and walked through it with a bum leg to steal a magical dagger to save your kid; don't tell me to do anything less."
He looked away. "Do as you will, Miss Swan, but remember how that story ended."
"I don't know how it ends; it's not over yet."
The bell above the door rang loudly as she yanked it open then slammed it behind her. Rumplestiltskin looked at his reflection in the glass. "No," he said to himself, "I don't suppose it is."