Wonderstruck
Chapter 34
Author's Notes: So this one almost got away from me...again...I wasn't too happy with this chapter last week so I held it back in the hopes of re-working it and here's the results. I hope you enjoy and I'll try to get the next chapter up quick. Please let me know what you think and as always I hope you enjoy! - Scarlette
Regina stood up as the jade wood doors of their borrowed chambers opened; her smile was radiant as she observed her red-cheeked obviously exhausted wife slump into the room.
"What happened? I thought you were coming to take a nap?"
"Plans were derailed by the torture master himself." She groaned, waving a limp arm. "I can't feel my arms anymore."
"Don't be so dramatic, I'm sure it's not that bad."
"Says you. If you ask my body it'll tell you a completely different story." She flopped down on the slate gray overstuffed chaise lounge with a loud groan, arms falling limply to the sandstone floor. "First Melody and now him. What did I do to deserve such tortures?"
"You're over-exaggerating."
"I'm doing no such thing my love."
Emma flinched as soon as the words were out of her mouth but as her thin pink lips parted to speak an apology, Regina lifted a hand and rested it on her lips.
"Don't apologize, there's something I want to speak with you about."
"Have I done something wrong?" The Winter Princess asked, pushing herself up on her sore arms with a groan and a wince.
"No, never." Regina assured her moving to settle close to her head. She urged her wife to lie back, resting her head against her slender silk covered thighs. She slowly began to run her fingers through the thick blonde curls that were slightly matted with sweat.
"I'm sorry I'm gross right now."
"Don't apologize for something you can't help."
"Well I could if I could get up the urge to get in the bath."
"You're perfect."
"I thought that was you." They shared a sweet smile and Regina leaned forward carefully pressing her lips to Emma's forehead.
"Kisses from the wife, I must've done good."
"You always do." She promised.
The blonde grinned happily and closed her eyes as her wife went back to her tender petting.
"What was it you wanted to speak with me about?"
Regina shook her head fondly; "I think there's a lot we need to say to one another or rather me to you."
"That sounds serious." Thin pink lips tilted up slightly though her beautiful eyes stayed closed.
"It's not; it's a good thing not a bad. Don't tense up like that you'll only hurt yourself as sore as you are."
"Don't remind me." The Winter Princess groaned. She accepted another tender kiss from her wife before forcing herself into a sitting position despite her body's burning protests of the movements.
"Now that I'm slightly awake what is it?"
Regina smiled sliding her small hand up to cup a pale cheek. "There's a lot but perhaps we can start with the basics."
"Regina," They twisted startled at the low voice in the otherwise silent chambers they'd been occupying.
"Maleficent? What are you doing here?" She asked, rising to her feet as Emma tensed beside her and obviously began to search her person for some type of weapon.
"Yes, what are you doing here witch?" She asked.
"Emma," Regina admonished, cutting her eyes at her wife who at least had the good sense to look slightly ashamed of her words.
"And what would a simple hume child like you care?" Maleficent asked, hackles notably raised as she seemed to grow taller in the face of adversity. Power crackled around her frame as her thick pink lips tilted up in a snarl.
"Maleficent please that's enough. Both of you." She lifted both hands, trying to placate them. "I won't have the two people I love most in this world trying to harm each other. You'll only hurt me in the end and I doubt either of you wants that."
"Love?" They both echoed each other as they turned to look at the tiny brunette. She merely arched a brow and they both look chastised before Emma spoke up.
"Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?" She asked timidly.
Regina merely nodded before turning back to the tall purple draped sorceress. "I don't think you'd be here if not for an emergency so what has happened?"
There was obvious discomfort from the sorceress. "Mal?" She asked softly, prompting her friend to sigh and move forward.
"Your Mother has given the map you need to Rumplestilskin. I was going to try and replicate it but I'm unsure of how to proceed with the dark one skulking around."
"Why would he have any interest in…Regina?" Emma's eyes slid to the tense little frame of her wife.
"I believe he intends to make this difficult for you." The sorceress offered and Regina dipped her head.
"You think he wants my wife to suffer?"
"He has to have a reason for asking for the map from Cora. It's useless without the compass and he's not known to do anything without a reason. If your Captain has the compass, it's a safe bet that Rumplestilskin has it in his mind to make this more difficult on him."
"Should we warn Hook?" Emma asked, concerned.
"No," Regina shook her head. "I don't believe the Dark One is intending to harm the Captain. Right now he knows we need him and if Maleficent is right, he's after something else by getting this map from my Mother."
"What are you thinking he's after?" Emma asked softly.
"Me." Regina looked up at both blondes.
"Ah, I thought we agreed for you to bring me the map?" Venar asked noting the Dark One sitting on the simple cot in his small room.
"If I retrieved it we did but who's to say I was able to convince Cora to hand it over?" Rumplestilskin tapped a gold finger against his chin. "Let's say hypothetically that I was…unable to procure this item for you. Then what?"
"Then I would say your feelings are once again clouding your judgment. The way they did long ago."
"Now dearie that's just not fair. Low, low blow that was."
"You've taken plenty of arrows in your time Rumplestilskin. Why should this be any different?" Venar narrowed his eyes, knowing he'd won this round if only until the corrupted being's ever shifting moods shifted his focus.
He tsked, shaking his finger at the other person in the room before a grin broke out over his face. It was really a simple matter of waiting.
"You want her in Eamira, the Grimoires are calling to you like a siren to a sailor. Why?"
"Why should I answer that?"
"You intend to do it again don't you?"
"I'm afraid I don't understand your question."
"That's it isn't it?" Rumplestilskin grinned bouncing to his feet from his previous sitting position. "You intend to challenge the Valaar again."
"I never said I intended to challenge anyone. I merely said our savior requires our help. It is you that is making the leap towards something that happened long before you were even thought of."
"Nonsense, I was around for that." He waved a hand, tilting his head far to the right.
"Were you?"
Rumplestilskin cocked his head to the left with a snap and a grin, "I remember Vayne well. I also remember the degree of fondness you bore for him."
"And what would you know Dark One? You who has never truly loved anyone or anything?"
"We could continue to trade blows, which I admit I freely relish in them, or you can answer my very simple question for this." A puff of blue smoke and the folded parchment of the map sat in his hands.
"So tit for tat? That's your game now?"
"I don't do anything without it benefitting me. Surely you know that by now."
"I know that better than anyone I do believe. So what is it you wish to know?"
"When Raithewell drove the sword into Vayne's throat did he scream?" Rumplestilskin grinned viciously.
"That's your question. Did he scream when he died?"
"No," He shook his head, "The old child's rhyme left something out didn't it?"
"Yes, it did. It isn't the Gigas that guards the doors of the holy land. That was his intended job but he was so hideous they refused him. He rebelled and he was cast out…another was put in the place he was supposed to occupy."
"And what was it?"
"Lamia."
"We need to talk." A cloaked figure dropped itself into the creaking seat across from Hook's beaten table in the back of the Iron Harpoon Tavern. He took a swig of port from the heavy iron mug and eyed the small figure for a moment before the figure pushed the hood from its head. Blonde curls spilled out, pretty pixie features revealed fully.
"So the rumors were true you found your way back…Tinkerbelle."
The small woman narrowed her bright eyes. "I don't see how that's any concern of yours." She didn't belong here and it showed clear as day.
"I needed your help and you refused me. So I left you and yet here you now sit."
"Whole and ready to fight." Tinkerbelle narrowed her eyes at the smirking captain; "you're about to be hired to go to a place no one should tread least of all the people hiring you."
Hook tilted his head, "What they choose to do when I get them there and back is their business, I couldn't care less where they may or may not be."
"Why are you in such a hurry to get back to Neverland?"
"I left something there. Something I value and I want it back."
"Whatever it is, it's surely not worth it."
"Whoever it is Tinkerbelle and yes to me they are worth it."
Tinkerbelle frowned, leaning forward, "I'm being forbidden from doing my duty to my patron family."
"And this effects me how?" He asked, waving his cup around before taking another swig. The port trailed down his chin and he wiped it away with his hand as soon as he set the cup down. He'd made the mistake once when very intoxicated of swiping his hook across his chin. He still had a thin scar to prove it too. Good thing it made him look more roguish and threatening. It could've been a lot worse.
"I lost my wings because of a stupid mistake, I want them back and I want to be able to help Re…my patron."
"You're kidding me, Cora's daughter is your patron." The Pirate laughed and took a long gulp, nearly draining the cup. "I'll drink to that and perhaps you should too. That girl is nothing but trouble; you'd do best to stay away from her if you value your wings that much. You'll never get them back that way."
"I was disgraced because I couldn't do my duty to her and I won't let it happen again. I will protect her no matter what or who stands in my way."
Hook shook his head, "I'd say you're too little too late. She's a spitfire though; I'll give you that. Cora burns bright in that girl."
"She's nothing like her Mother."
"Really now, do you honestly believe that?" He leered at her and she glared back neither willing to back down.
"She couldn't inspire the love of the people the way she has and will if she was anything like her."
Hook twisted the mug in his hands, eyeing the tiny fairy. "What is you want truthfully Tinkerbelle? I can't imagine you coming to me unless there was something you had to have."
"I want my wings back." She repeated.
"And how do you plan on achieving that?"
"You're going to take me with you when you take Regina and her wife to Eamira."
"Really? And what's it in for me?"
"Pixie dust. I have a tiny bit left…enough to help you on your journey to Neverland. I'll give it to you as payment."
Hook smirked, "Now that's a mighty fine form of payment. Almost beats the map."
"Will you do it or not Hook?"
"To Eamira and your journey to get your wings back." He replied with a roguish smirk as he lifted the glass to his lips.
"Princess?"
"Venar, what are you doing out here this late?" She asked, wiping her damp cheeks with her small hands. She didn't want him to see her in such a state though truthfully it wasn't just him. It was anyone. Cora's lessons about propriety still rang strong within her; beaten in as they had been. The gardens were all but abandoned this late but it was a mild night as was usual in Sunfaire and the full moon offered more than enough light for her to feel completely at ease in the parts furthest from the palace.
"I wanted to come and give you this but I was unsure if you would be in your rooms or not. When I knocked and your wife said you were out here, I thought perhaps it prudent I come to you here."
"Emma didn't want to let me out here this late but I needed time to think." She smiled sadly at the old servant. "I'm sorry you had to walk so far."
"It isn't a problem my Princess." He assured her. "I have something for you, something I hope will help."
"What is it?" She asked softly, not rising from the jade wood bench. She knew her wife was likely lurking close by but she couldn't find it in herself to be upset by the knowledge that Emma cared enough about her to want to know she was safe.
The older girl had rallied about letting her so far away from her when Rumplestilskin was lurking around each dark corner, her wife's words not hers, but eventually she'd calmed enough to see reason and allow Regina the privacy she sought.
"I made a copy of the map from my memory. I'm unsure how accurate or inaccurate it may be but I believe it will be enough to fool your Captain into taking us to the Abyss."
He held out the folded, weathered piece of parchment. The map was too valuable to hand over to Hook no matter what Rumplestilskin wanted. A copy would suffice, one with a few little changes here and there. It wouldn't matter if the Captain got lost; he was insignificant. What mattered was getting Regina where she was needed to complete the task at hand.
"Thank you Venar." She smiled softly at the older man. "I will tell Emma and we will go to the Captain immediately."
"I would be honored to accompany you my Princess."
"I wouldn't go anywhere without you and my wife." She promised.
"Captain," Hook looked up smirking a bit drunkenly.
"Ah the Winter Jewel herself and you brought your wife?" He furrowed his brow. "I thought it was too late for diamonds to be out of the palace." He mused, then shook his head and took another long gulp of his port.
"We're guests not prisoners." Emma snipped, feeling agitated at the way the man's eyes continued to trace up and down her body.
"We've obtained the payment you requested and we would like to set sail as soon as possible."
"May I see this payment?"
"After you get us to Eamira and back safely." Regina murmured.
"So I'm just supposed to take it on blind faith that you have this? I wouldn't be much of a pirate if that were the case love."
"I never thought you would be. I will show you the map so you may authenticate it but it stays with my wife and I until we are safely back in Sunfaire." Emma offered, noting the drunken Pirate's movements.
"Well, let's see it."
"Do you wish to sober up before you see it to ensure it's the right one?" The Winter Princess arched a brow.
He smirked, "I highly doubt that would make any difference. I could spot a fake an ocean away."
"I'm sure." She said flatly, before reaching into her pocket and drawing out the parchment. "Here as requested. Your payment."
"Open it up and let me see it."
"Here?"
"No one knows what it is." He tilted his head, "Unless you'd rather I take you somewhere private which I'm not opposed to at all."
"I'm sure you aren't Captain." Regina muttered stepping forward. "You will stop ogling my wife if we enter this arrangement."
"Well when payment is rendered…"
"You won't get payment until we are safely back here in Sunfaire." Emma interrupted. "Take it or leave it Hook."
"Unfurl the map and I'll decide." He smirked at her and took another long gulp before she rolled her eyes and did as he requested.
"Do we have a deal or not?"
He eyed the map with a critical eye before grinning, "We have a deal."