Sympathy for the De Vil
Emma stood before her parents in their apartment, August and Henry visiting Gepetto, or that was their excuse. Really Emma knew August could tell an argument was coming between her and her parents, and so he'd offered to get Henry out of hearing range…and, well, they did have some things to explain to the man about how his son was grown again. She had asked August, quietly, to visit Piper on the way back, check in and see if they had the Author. They had searched the woods all night and not seen a trace of the Author and none of her calls to Piper or Gold were being answered, she was getting worried that Maleficent or Cruella had taken him instead or done something to Gold and Piper after they found him. Neither Piper nor Gold were at their best strength at the moment, if Cruella or Maleficent sensed that...she didn't even want to think about it.
"You have to remember something else about the Author," Emma looked at her parents for help, if the Author had escaped them and the others, then he HAD to be somewhere, "Some way to find him. Now think."
"We told you everything we know," David sighed, turning to face his daughter.
"Are we sure about that?" her look turned more incredulous, more challenging, "Because secrets just keep coming out."
"Ok, you're clearly still upset…" Mary Margaret tried to soothe.
"Yes, I am still upset!" she half-snapped, getting more irate at how Mary Margaret had the audacity to act like her anger was starting to sound tired than justified, "You were the ones who taught me there is always a right way, a heroic way, and what you did to Maleficent's child?" she shook her head, disgusted.
"It was our only option to make sure you grew up good!" David defended.
"It was the easiest way out, no, it was a villain's option," Emma glared, she hated using that term now, hero or villain, she now knew some heroes that were not all heroic, and villains that were not quite villainous, but it seemed to be the only thing getting through to her parents at the moment, calling them as good as villains.
And really? Using 'it was our ONLY option' as an excuse? What about raising her right? What about trusting themselves? What about NOT believing a villain or a trippy vision? What about actually RAISING her to be good? Hadn't all this happened before they knew the Dark Curse would mean they'd be separated from her and unable to raise her, were they just forgetting that? And she understood that they were human, had made mistakes, but a true hero would own up to it, not try to hide it or pass it off or constantly defend themselves.
What was worse, a person who did terrible things and understood what it was, or a person that had convinced themselves and really believed that doing something terrible was the right thing to do?
"That's not fair, Emma," Mary Margaret frowned at her daughter's words, her voice coming out soft and wounded.
"I'm sorry, but if it were me, no matter what, I would NOT harm a defenseless person!"
"And that right there," Mary Margaret pointed at her almost accusingly, as though her point had been proven, "That goodness is exactly why we did what we did. It was worth it."
"Not to me," Emma told them flat out, "Because I'm not whole now," she reminded them, "I'm missing half of myself, and my magic?" she shook her head, "It's not properly oriented apparently, it won't ever reach its full potential because of what you did!"
Mary Margaret looked over as the sound of a door opening reached them and Regina quickly strode in. She jumped on the chance to change the topic with a careful, "Regina...you alright?" at the sight of her serious and truly worried expression.
Regina sighed, "No. I'm in the middle of a very bad day. I'll tell you the whole story later, after I rescue Robin Hood."
"Robin Hood?" Emma shook her head, confused but sending a look to Mary Margaret that this conversation was NOT over, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I called that number you gave me, but Marian answered the phone, and I discovered…she's not really Marian at all."
"So who is she?" David frowned.
"Zelena."
"The wicked witch?!" his eyes widened.
"I don't know how it's possible, but my sister has been masquerading as her this entire time. And she's in league with Gold and his little crew," she glared at nothing in particular at the thought, "Robin's in danger, so I'm going to New York to find him and stop her."
Emma rubbed her head at that, she hadn't quite known THAT part of Gold and Piper's plans, and she was sure she should be fuming at Piper for not telling her when she'd asked about New York...but Piper HAD told her quite a lot the night before, more than her parents had apparently told her in all the time they'd known her. And the woman had been upset, very upset and worked up and scared, with so much going on with herself and Gold's heart, she didn't blame the woman for something like that slipping her thoughts.
And, when she thought about it, DID Piper even know? Well, she doubted Gold would lie to her about knowing Zelena was alive, but did PIPER have a team with Zelena? She couldn't see it happening given that Zelena had nearly killed Piper's baby nephew. She doubted Piper would willingly agree to work with Zelena. Which meant that Gold had to be the one that had made the agreement…but Piper would never let him do it, nor would Gold ever willingly work with the woman that caused for his son to die and enslaved him either.
She let out a breath as a theory came to her. Piper had said she'd suffered two heart attacks, that the last one had nearly been fatal. If she had been out of it, weak and vulnerable enough to be on death's door, and Zelena was in New York at the time…she had to have some sort of magic available to her. How else would Walsh have been able to become a flying monkey in a land with no magic? So if Zelena had some sort of magic that would help Piper…that was the only instance she could see where Gold would agree to work for Zelena, if she had something that would save Piper and their child's life. And Gold never broke his deals either. She doubted Zelena would have just given them whatever helped Piper too if she didn't have some way to reverse her help. For all she knew, whatever Zelena did was contingent on Gold's continued help, for all she knew Zelena might be able to cause the heart she'd saved to give out with a snap of her fingers. Of course Gold would keep quiet and as an ally to Zelena if she held leverage over his heart or something like that.
Regardless of why, Gold was trapped in a partnership with Zelena, but that would also mean that, if Gold knew who Zelena was, that she wasn't Marian, if they were working together he would have a way to contact her and be obligated to do so.
This seemed to be something Hook had realized as well for he remarked, "And what about Gold? If they're working together, he's not just gonna let you waltz off and spoil their plans."
"That…I don't know," Regina sighed, frowning at that. It wasn't like she would be able to get near Piper. Normally she'd just rip out the girl's heart and use that as leverage over Gold to keep quiet. But she wouldn't be able to do that with the girl being part-siren, not only would her heart have been protected from just such an event, but she doubted she'd be able to get close enough to the woman to do it either, not now that they knew which side she was really on. There was no one else that Gold valued to keep him silent except his grandson and she would never harm Henry, no matter what.
"Leave that to me," Emma said after a moment.
~8~
The Author frowned as he looked around at the small cabin in the woods he'd been shoved into by Gold, "Well, this is certainly homey. Antlers are a nice touch," he nodded to the wall with the ornament on it, "Makes me feel like Hemingway. Or maybe Thoreau. Name's Isaac, by the way."
"Do you always talk this much?" Gold glared.
"Only when I'm nervous," he took a deep breath, "And you still have my quill."
"I believe it is Rummy's quill at the moment," Piper smirked.
"You know, it's worthless without its ink," Isaac warned.
"Oh, we're aware, and we plan to obtain some very soon," Gold agreed, nonchalant.
"Yeah," Isaac scoffed, "And just how are you gonna do that?"
"That is for us to know and you to find out," Piper moved to sit down on a small armchair, putting her feet up on a table before her. Gold smiled and moved to sit on the arm of the chair, his gaze drifting to her stomach, her bump just a little more noticeable from that angle and closeness and with him knowing where to look.
"You want me to write happy endings," Isaac said slowly, "For the villains, I assume?"
"However did you guess that," Gold remarked sarcastically.
"But the quill, the ink, it's oriented towards the heroes having happy endings," Isaac frowned in thought, trying to work out how their plan involved him, "If you want the villains to come out on top, you need…like anti-ink," he shook his head, that was a stupid word but it DID spark an epiphany in his mind, "You need ink from someone that brings happy endings to the villains, but that doesn't exist. There's just the savior and she's a hero so the light gets the happy endings and…" his eyes widened, "You want to turn the Savior dark!"
Piper nearly smirked at that, it seemed it wasn't just villains that assumed things. That Author, he was rather dim if he thought that was the only plan or even believed it was the actual plan. He truly didn't know the characters at play very well if he thought that she would be willing to do that to Emma. August had told her, warned her really, of exactly why the Author was in the book, he'd started to interfere and manipulate the stories instead of write them down from observation.
It seemed rather like the Sorcerer was using excuses, she thought. It was too Deus Ex Machina for her, putting in some sort of twist to explain how some event had happened that was completely out of character for someone. Even now, it seemed like the Heroes were looking for an excuse to their behavior, something they never allowed the Villains to do. She highly doubted the Author being involved would mean anything. After all, if a villain claimed that their actions and dark deeds were manipulated by the Author and not themselves choosing to do it...the heroes would laugh at that and continue to think them evil no matter what. Why should a hero be allowed to use the Author as an excuse when no one else would?
Really, she doubted that the man was able to write them doing all these different manipulations. He didn't have a grasp of her at all if he thought she'd harm Emma that way, if he didn't understand his characters, he would never be able to write them effectively or believably. No, it made more sense that he had given them different options than would be presented and let them pick new choices. It would have been very clear if characters that had always operated one way suddenly changed, but that hadn't happened. To her dying breath, she could guess, Snow White would deny what she did was wrong and fight that it was good and just. No, the Author didn't MAKE her do what she did, he just offered her the choice and Snow took it.
"I suppose you'll find out if you're right soon enough," Gold mused, "When our associates return."
"Your associates seem to have a taste for fur," Isaac looked around, seeing a few fur coats scattered about, "And perfume," he wrinkled his nose at the subtle smell that was still there, "Can't wait to meet them."
"Surely you must know them from your stories," Gold glanced over.
"Know of them, sure, but an author rarely gets…"
"Oh do shut up," Piper muttered, pulling her phone out as it began to ring, she quickly accessed it to see a text message from Emma. She held it up to Gold to see the girl's request to meet by the wishing well.
"Hmm," Gold murmured, nodding his answer to Piper and helping her up, "Something's just come up," he glanced at Isaac, waving his hand at the door to the cabin to seal it magically, preventing him from escaping, "You stay here till we return."
"Until you return?" Isaac frowned, "But who's gonna…" that was all they heard as they disappeared in a swirl of red, the two of them reappearing before the well where Emma was standing.
"Emma?" Piper called, stepping over to her niece, "What is the matter?"
"The Author," Emma turned to them, "Please tell me he's with you."
"Yes," Gold nodded, "He is in our possession."
"Good," Emma let out a breath, almost smirking when she saw Gold raise an eyebrow at that, seemingly surprised that she was happy about the man being in the possession of villains, "Aunt P told me about your heart, you're…you're dying, you need him to help you."
Gold sighed, "If only it were just that, Ms. Swan," Emma frowned at that, "My heart is weakening, yes," he explained, "But when it fails entirely, I will lose any ability to love," he looked at Piper for that, "And whatever goodness exists in me that keeps me protecting those I love, that will be gone forever. All that will be left is the Darkness, all that will exits of me is a shell that it will operate through."
"Oh my god," Emma breathed out, looking at Piper to see her looking intently at Gold instead. She could understand why Piper hadn't said that, that was some heavy magic there. No one would want to think of that worse-case scenario happening, that Gold and everything that made him him, that kept him somewhat human, would be lost and all that would be left is the actual darkness that made the Dark One. It was, essentially, as Piper had said though, Gold, all that he was, would die if they didn't fix his heart in time, "But the Author can stop it?"
"He can reverse the process, yes," Gold agreed, looking away from Piper and to Emma.
"But that is not why you called us here, is it?" Piper asked her.
Emma sighed, "No," she nodded, "Regina is heading to New York to rescue Robin Hood from Zelena," she eyed them carefully to see how they would react, but they both appeared unsurprised, whether by Regina's decision or Zelena's existence or both she wasn't sure, but it did tell her that they knew Zelena was alive, there would be more time later to find out why they hadn't said, she needed to make sure of something NOW first, "I need you to not tell her that Regina's coming."
"Done."
Emma blinked at how quickly Gold had agreed to that, "What, seriously?"
"Yes."
"Just like that?"
"Yes."
"No deals?"
"Not this time, Ms. Swan."
"Huh," Emma let out a small breath at that.
Piper smiled, "We would rather see her dead as well Emma," she reminded the girl, "Rummy would not have agreed to keep her secret till now had she not given a potion that allowed us enough time to return to Storybrooke for the Author."
"I thought it might have been something like that," Emma murmured, but eyed Gold, "But you're really not going to tell her?"
Gold rolled his eyes, "Would it make you feel better if we made a deal?"
"Actually, yeah," Emma nodded, she knew he'd never go back on that at least, "It would."
"Alright," Gold considered it, till Piper gave him a small nudge in the ribs, "I shall agree not to breathe a word of Regina's quest to Zelena, if you ensure that her miserable existence ends."
That was one reason he had kept silent about Zelena as well. She was less powerful in the Land Without Magic, not fully powerless, but not as much a threat in the magicless New York than in magical Storybrooke. There was much more danger that they hoped she would fall into during her stay there, human means to an end, a car accident, a mugging gone wrong, a disease. If Zelena wasn't in Storybrooke, she wasn't a threat, and, to be frank, truce with Regina or not, they didn't particularly care if she fooled Robin Hood. She wouldn't dare harm Roland and reveal her farce to the man, and if he ever grew suspicious, the first thing he would do is get Roland to safety.
Emma almost laughed at that, "Yeah, I think Regina will have that part covered."
She knew Regina had given Zelena a second chance, with the express warning that if she failed to use it, she would have no qualms with killing the woman herself. And if this is what Zelena chose to do with her second chance, destroy Robin's memory of his wife, traumatize his son, and separate soul mates, well…she didn't doubt Regina would go through with her threat, sister or no sister.
"Then we have a deal," Gold nodded.
~8~
Isaac nearly jumped out of his skin when the door to the cabin slammed open a short while later and Piper stalked through, heading right for him, her pipe in her hand, a murderous look in her eyes, making his own widen as he stumbled back, hitting the wall and lifting his hands to his ears in an attempt to ward off her attack, but he was too slow.
"What did you do to Cruella?" she demanded, lowering her pipe from her lips after he'd seized on the ground for a good half a minute.
"W…what?" he whimpered.
"Tell me!" Piper demanded, leaning down to curl her hand into the cloth of his shirt.
Gold just looked on, rather amused, standing calmly in the doorway to watch the show.
"I…I don't…"
"You did something to Cruella in the past," Piper shook him, keeping his gaze on her, "She wants revenge on you…"
"I…we…she…I don't…"
"Lie to me," Piper warned, pressing the end of her pipe to just under his jaw as though it were a knife or sword tip, "And I will have you bleeding out your ears till you are deaf," her voice took on such a low and dark quality that Gold was quite sure, if Isaac hadn't been wearing dark trousers, the evidence of how frightened the man was would be very visible.
"Please don't hurt me," he begged, "I didn't think it was relevant to say…"
"Relevant?" Piper hissed, "She has taken MY nephew as leverage," she informed him, thinking of a video message she had received, forwarded from Emma in the middle of them searching through the Sorcerer's mansion one last time for anything that might help them. The message had had her nearly snarling and running out the door before Gold had caught her and magiced them to the cabin. The video, it revealed Henry had been captured by Cruella, that the woman was not going to release him, alive, until the author had been killed instead. And she was NOT about to see that happen to the boy, "She wants YOU dead, and unless you would like to meet that end you will tell me exactly WHY she wants your life so badly."
"I would tell her," Gold spoke for the first time since they arrived, he really did love to see Piper in her most protective, siren-like element, it made something coil in his stomach to think of just how far she would go for those she loved. Oh heroes always went on about doing anything for love, but they hardly ever actually went through to the very end, villains though would do anything, no matter how dark, and it was thrilling to see it play out.
"Are…are you planning to let her kill me?" Isaac looked between them, "Turn the savior dark by making her kill me?!"
"Your life is meaningless to me," Piper reminded him, "You die, your power passes to the next Author, an Author we do not know who they are as of yet. I would rather deal with the Author in our possession than search the world for the next one."
"Your life is only valuable as the Author," Gold said simply, "You wish to stay alive, you need to remain the Author."
"But…Henry…" Isaac seemed almost startled as he looked at Piper, was the woman actually willing to let the boy die so HE could live? That didn't sound like her.
"Oh Cruella will meet her end for this," Piper smirked darkly, making Isaac shiver in fear even though the threat wasn't directed at him, "She serves no use to us any longer. But you," her gaze locked on his, "There is nothing that says the Author must have all his limbs, merely that he lives, so…" she tilted her head in a dangerous manner, using the pipe to turn his face up more, "You tell us what you did to Cruella that has her using my family as leverage, or I shall begin removing extremities," her eyes traveled to his hands, "You only need two fingers to hold a pen, after all."
Isaac swallowed hard, "I…I changed her story," he admitted, "When I found out what she was really like, I wrote that…that…"
"Wrote WHAT?" Piper's grip on his shirt tightened.
"I wrote that Cruella De Vil can no longer take away the life of another!"
Piper blinked at that, holding her grip on him for one more moment before shoving him away from her and standing slowly, her pipe slipping into her boot as she looked down at him.
"So you see?" Isaac panted, his hands still half-raised above his face, "Henry's safe. Cruella can't kill anyone. She's defenseless!"
"Which is something Emma doesn't know," Gold mused, looking at Piper as she turned on her heel to face him, "Her son is in danger, Emma won't stop till he's safe."
Piper nodded, walking out of the cabin silently, pausing when Gold reached out to gently grab her arm, "Pip…" he gave her a meaningful look.
Piper smiled softly at it, reaching out to touch his cheek, "I know," she reassured him.
With all the talk of how they were 'plotting' for Emma to go dark, she could see it in his eyes, he was worried that she might believe he'd planned this in bringing Cruella along, that somehow he had planned for her to get Henry in an effort to drive Emma to do a dark act and trigger her descent to darkness.
But she knew he had nothing to do with this. It wasn't his fault, the moment that she had gotten the message, he had taken her back to the cabin to confront Isaac. He was letting her go, even now, to try and get to Emma first to stop her. He didn't want this to happen to Emma any more than she did.
From the beginning the plan had never been to harm Emma or turn her dark. They had planned to get a bit of her blood and see if they could infuse it with dark magic to make the ink for the Author. They had back up upon back up for what they could do before they would ever have to consider pushing Emma towards darkness, it was something they both wished to avoid and refused to do no matter what. Finding out about Maleficent's child had been the perfect change to the plan. Emma's darkness as a savior was in someone else, if they found her, her blood would be infused with the dark-savior magic as a result.
Piper glanced back over her shoulder at Isaac, still curled on the floor, "Watch him," she gave a small command to Gold, who nodded. With Cruella about to meet a painful end, and without knowing if Maleficent blamed the Author for what happened to her daughter, whom they had found out just recently was still alive and survived the trip to this world, and with the heroes likely roaming the woods in search of Emma, it would not do for the man to be found unprotected.
"Be safe," he murmured to her, squeezing her hand as he slid his hand down her arm to her hand a moment. He shouldn't let her go, he felt like most men in his position wouldn't. To have someone he loved, pregnant with his child, go off to face a deranged villain while he essentially babysat a grown man? But Cruella couldn't hurt her at all, he knew that now. She was safe from the woman's cruelty. And if Emma was there, if Henry was there (which he was as prisoner), Piper would be safe if other heroes appeared too. She was in no danger, and of the two of them she was the one better able to move quickly through the woods.
Piper nodded, stepping outside the cabin and shutting the door behind her, closing her eyes and listening for the familiar song of her nephew in the woods. Her eyes opened as she looked to the side, faintly hearing it in the distance, along with the melody of Cruella de Vil.
~8~
Piper ran as fast and safely as she could through the woods, trying not to overdo it, her hand resting on her stomach as she went for more support. It was an unconscious habit she had seemed to have picked up since finding out she was pregnant. She kept wanting to touch and rest her hand on her stomach, as though trying to reassure herself that the baby was still there. She would be lying if she said she hadn't woken up from nightmares that the baby had been lost, that she stood in the burning room unable to get to the cries of her baby who was invisible to her through the flames. For now it was still there and she was determined to see it born.
She sped up more when she was able to hear another voice ahead of her shouting, "Henry!"
"Emma," Piper gasped, jumping over a small log more agilely than she thought she ought to be able and hurrying down a small incline to where she could hear a little waterfall. There was a ledge of rocks at the edge of the forest just above the river that ran through the majority of the woods.
She could see it now, Cruella, Henry, and Emma were just before her. Cruella had Henry pulled against her front, a pistol pressed against Henry's temple, standing just at the edge of it all while Emma stood before them, her hands up, glaring at Cruella.
"Mom!" Henry cried, grunting as he tried to escape Cruella's hold.
"Let him go!" Emma demanded.
Piper slowed, seeing that Cruella was too distracted by Emma, too focused on the savior, to notice her approaching from the side, she needed to be quiet, she needed to keep that advantage, get as close as she could and find some way to help. It was taking everything inside of her not to rush the woman as her instincts were demanding her to do, to lunge at her and rip her throat out for daring even touch Henry. But this was too important, her nephew was in a tight grip, one wrong move and Henry would be hurt due to her actions. She never wanted to repeat what happened with Baelfire ever again, so she had to fight, she had to fight the Siren in her just a little longer...
"I'm afraid not," Cruella mock-cooed, "Come any closer, and he dies. One, small, dead Author. That's all I asked. Simple revenge, and you failed utterly."
"Put the gun down, Cruella!"
Piper let out a gentle whistle, quiet, on a breeze, but with a faint hint of Henry's song in it, pulling his attention and his alone to her.
"Mom…" Henry began, seeming about to warn Emma that she was there, that help had arrived, till she held up a finger to her lips and crept closer still
Henry gave a brief nod, focusing on his mother before him, but Piper could see his gaze on her in the corner of his eye, could tell he wasn't quite as tense now that it was outnumbered 2 to 1 and not in favor of Cruella.
"It's gonna be ok, Henry," Emma tried to soothe, not seeming to have noticed how Henry's attention had shifted, neither had Cruella, both women were intently focused on each other.
"I'll do it, Savior," Cruella stepped back more towards the ledge, shifting her arm up higher, gripping Henry tighter, "Believe me, I will!"
"Cruella…" Emma lifted her hands more.
"Put your hands down, savior," Cruella rolled her eyes, "We both know you're bluffing."
And with her next words, Piper knew Emma was most certainly not, "That's my son."
Piper quickly pulled her pipe out of her boot, bringing it to her lips and starting to build the energy into a song, playing quickly to build it faster, thankful for the waterfall beside her masking the noise of her pipe to the trio before her. She could see a faint shimmering on Emma's hands, the girl preparing to use her own magic against Cruella…and that was not something she was going to let happen. She had told Emma, sworn to her, that she would protect the girl from darkening her heart.
It would be one thing if Emma had had her natural darkness inside her, she would let Emma do anything she wanted so long as she was conscious of what she was doing, had thought long and hard about it and the consequences of it, and saw it through to the end. She highly, highly doubted Emma would ever see a dark deed through to the end though, and so she would step in and finish it. But this wasn't the same thing, the Emma before her had no darkness in her and any introduction to darkness, it would affect her ten times worse than it should, she was sure. The Emma before her also wasn't thinking clearly either. She was hurt by what her parents had done, she had the notions in her mind that being dark wouldn't be that bad given that half her family was dark, she had her son and her motherly instincts to contend with, possibly a little bit of Siren-instinct too.
This was not an Emma thinking of the consequences, this was not an Emma in control of her magic either, this was an emotional and irrational Emma and that made the act she was about to do something she knew Emma would regret later.
"And you're a hero," Cruella just continued to bait though, "And heroes don't kill."
"No, but I do!" Piper shouted, using the momentary shock and distraction of both Emma and Cruella looking over in her direction to fling out her pipe, glowing with energy, at Cruella, shouting 'Duck!' to Henry as she did it, the boy dropping to the ground as the blast hit Cruella, sending her flying off the ledge and down towards the rocky water below.
Emma seemed to stare at Piper a moment longer, before her gaze flickered to her hands as the shimmering started to fade, and then to Henry, still on the ground, "Henry!" she hurried to her son's side, helping him to his knees, hugging him tightly as Piper came over, peering over the cliff at Cruella's broken body lying on the rocks below.
"Mom," Henry panted, tightly clutching her.
"You're ok," Emma breathed, swaying side to side a bit as she reassured herself that Henry was alright. Her gaze flickered up to Piper, "Thank you," she whispered to the woman.
"I have told you before Emma," Piper reminded her, "I shall allow no darkness to poison my family if I can help it."
"I would have killed her," she murmured, "I would have done it. She had Henry…"
"And a mother's instinct is to protect her child, a siren's to protect her family," Piper reassured her, it was different when it came to Mary Margaret and her actions lately. It went beyond a mother's instinct, it wasn't instant nor a reaction, it was something growing every day, something she didn't really take back, something that she kept repeating and reinforcing with each encounter. It was too patient and calculated and long coming to be instinct. Even in the Enchanted Forest, with what she did to Emma, she had time enough to think about what she was doing, to plan and go through with it, she also had someone else there to stop her and talk sense into her but refused to listen, "I would have been truly disappointed if your first reaction upon seeing someone hold a gun to your son was not to try and end them."
"You should have let me."
"No," Piper shook her head, knowing it was just the anxiety of the situation making Emma say that, "Cruella," she sighed, "The Author had written that she could never take the life of another. Despite her claims she would harm Henry, she would not have been able to do it. She was truly defenseless, if you had done this," she gestured at the cliff, "And then found the truth, you would be devastated, Emma, I know that much."
Emma closed her eyes tightly, swallowing hard at the information she'd been given and nodded slightly, knowing it was the truth. If she had killed Cruella and then found out that the woman couldn't hurt a fly, she would have been not just devastated, but disgusted with herself for letting herself react the way she had. She could understand more what Piper must have felt with Neal and Gold and that whole situation. She let her emotions get the best of her and someone innocent, well as innocent as Cruella could be, had nearly been killed at her hands. She saw what that had done to Piper, when she remembered the Missing Year, she never wanted to reach that point where she easily took a life just because she was angry. But even now she couldn't help but wonder if that was the real her that felt that way, or the her her parents had made her into.
"Thank you," Emma murmured, looking at Piper again, "But how did you know she…"
"Isaac," Piper shrugged, stepping away from the ledge, "The Author. When I received your text, I confronted him as to why Cruella wished him dead so badly. He confessed to what he had written…after some persuasion."
"Persuasion?" Emma cracked a small smile at that, just imagining what that could entail.
"Let us just say…" Piper smirked, "He was quite lucky to be wearing brown pants."
Emma had just started to laugh at that, feeling Henry chuckle against her as well, when they heard David's voice shout in the distance.
"No!"
They looked over to see David, Mary Margaret, Hook, and Regina rushing for them, Piper stiffening at the sight of the Charmings. David ran to the edge of the ledge, looking over as Piper had done and closing his eyes in shock and horror.
"Emma?" Mary Margaret breathed, gasping as she saw what laid below and turning to her daughter with wide, tearing eyes.
Piper opened her mouth to inform them that it had NOT been Emma that had done such a deed, when Emma stood with Henry, "She was going to kill my son," Emma defended.
Piper looked over at Emma sharply for that, a small frown of confusion on her face. But Emma's expression, the look in her eyes, told Piper all she needed to know about the reason for Emma's statement.
She wanted to see what her parents would do, what they'd say, about this, about thinking SHE had done this to Cruella.
Emma hadn't even expressly said that she'd done it, hadn't confirmed or denied the accusation in her mother's words, merely said that Cruella was going to kill Henry. It was by no means a confession, but to those that already thought someone was guilty, it was as good as.
"Oh Emma," Mary Margaret shook her head in shock.
"She threatened my son," Emma nearly glared, "You would think you heroes would be happy that a villain was dead and that the town was safe again."
"Not like this Emma," Mary Margaret frowned, "Not when someone, even if they were a villain, was killed," she hadn't even been able to kill Regina in her Evil Queen days, killing…was not the answer.
"Then explain to me again why you sent Gold over the line?" Emma crossed her arms, not entirely thinking about how Mary Margaret didn't really know just how close Piper, or the baby, or even Gold now, had come to death. Mary Margaret didn't even HAVE to know about what would happen to his heart, her intention to get Gold and Gold alone out of the town was enough, because Gold, with nothing but the clothes on his back, had been condemned to trying to start a new life with literally NOTHING, no way to pay for food or shelter or anything, "An innocent-villain was as good as left for dead, sending Gold, powerless, into the magicless world? And what would that have done to Piper?" Emma jerked an arm at the silent woman, "She could die if Gold does. Or do you not consider Piper to be deserving of protection anymore?"
Mary Margaret looked over at Piper at that, the siren's expression so blank and cold as she looked back that Mary Margaret couldn't help but flinch at the sight. She looked back at the ledge where Cruella had obviously fallen, and to Piper. The girl had always claimed she would protect the family, despite what she felt for Mary Margaret herself, that she would keep Emma and Henry and the family safe.
But she hadn't, had she?
She had been right there, but she hadn't done a thing to ensure that Emma not hurt Cruella. She hadn't done as she'd promised and taken the dark deed for herself but let Emma do it. She really WAS trying to turn Emma dark, wasn't she?
Mary Margaret closed her eyes and said the words that broke her heart, "No, she isn't."
Piper's jaw clenched at that. It was one thing for Mary Margaret to indirectly hurt her in sending Gold over the line, it was one thing for her to imply a distrust in Gold and therefore in her own judgement too, and it was one thing to shout hate while under the Shattered Sight Curse, but it was quite another to, of her own freewill, say that right to her face. Because it was more than just saying that Mary Margaret wouldn't protect her from others, as though she ever really had in the first place. It was something far more painful to hear said.
It was at that moment that Piper knew, without a doubt, that whatever familial ties she had once had with Snow White were completely severed.
This was Snow White's agreement that she didn't consider Piper her cousin, consider her family, any longer.
And it was in that moment that she realized, she was NOT going to go along with Gold's plan, the plan he had tried to help her devise, to use psychology to get revenge on Snow White, to help heal the rift between them so she might one day forgive her cousin her harms. What Gold had in mind...it was not big enough, not painful enough. It wasn't enough to ruin her reputation, to mock her hypocrisy, to reveal her own villainous nature to the town.
No.
She was going to find some other form of revenge, something that would break Snow White more than anything else.
And this time, it was not going to be to heal their broken relationship, for what point was there to heal it when BOTH sides had broken the ties to it.
This time…this time it was going to be for genuine revenge.
"Well then," Piper cleared her throat, "May the games begin."
A/N: Oh Snow, you just keep digging your self down deeper don't you? :( I hope it made sense, how Snow is reacting. To her, at this point, with what she THINKS she just witnessed and what she thinks her cousin just allowed Emma to do, she's now convinced Piper really IS trying to turn Emma dark, that that's her revenge against her. At this point, Snow is choosing her daughter over her cousin, in her mind. To her, Piper has fully turned against them all and, in her mind, MUST be manipulating Henry and Emma into believing her intentions aren't to hurt the two of them.
She completely wrong, but based on what she knows or thinks she knows, she's seeing Piper as the enemy here :(
I also feel like, some part of Piper, deep down, did want to mend her relationship with Snow, because she knows Snow feels horrible deep down and regrets what she did, or will feel that way with enough time. But here she is being confronted with Snow giving up on her too. To Piper, it's one thing for her to cut ties with Snow over Snow's real and actual betrayal that she witnessed and lived through and knows it happened as a fact, it's another thing for Snow to cut ties to Piper based on what she thinks happened and having NOT been there to witness and live through and know what really went down. To Piper it's saying that Snow finally and fully believes her capable of hurting her family and not believing in her, so why should she take revenge to eventually mend their relationship when Snow, the eternal optimist and hero and forgiver, has cut the ties to said relationship. This is Snow effectively saying there is nothing broken to mend any more, there is nothing there any more. So, for a Siren to have nothing to fix with revenge, and seeing how easily Snow is giving up and based on assumptions instead of fact, she feels free to actually express her hurt by revenge just for revenge's sake :(
Also, small note. I've opened an Etsy for the candle business I mentioned in the last chapter. I've posted some pictures of it on my tumblr and I'm adding the link to my profile. But if anyone is interested, my Etsy shop is called 'AnitaCandle' (because I Need a Candle lol), and I'm currently selling OUAT inspired votives for pairings of Captain Swan, Swan Queen, Outlaw Queen, Snowing, and Rumbelle, or my interpretations of them in candle form, black cube candles inspired by Doctor Who's Power of Three episode, some 6" TARDIS candles, small Death Star candles, misc. tarts like a goody bag of random/mystery scents, coffee themed candles of coffee scent set in coffee mugs, and 12oz jars of soy candles in various scents and colors ;)
There is also an updated schedule for the 2016 stories on my tumblr too ;)
Some notes on reviews...
Just to respond to a few reviews in one go, I'm really glad to be back too! I really am so sorry to have worried you all though :( I'm really happy that you're all excited for the stories to pick up again, I know I am :)
It makes sense to me. I felt like in the Operation Mongoose, it was a let down because instead of giving us a unique and original take on Snow White being a villain...they just swapped her with Regina, and we already saw that story play out :( Equally, the heroes rarely ever face the consequences of their actions, and when they do, they just deny deny deny, like Snow and Charming are doing now. They're being faced with what they did to Maleficent, but STILL claiming it was the right thing to do, which means all the other heroes would agree with them and so they never actually face repercussions of what they do, unlike the Villains who just get the short end of the stick all the time :(
Aww thank you! :) I'm glad you're enjoying the story even though you don't watch the show much :') That's awesome your friend works at a BN too, so far I'm really happy. My coworkers are really nice and helpful since I'm still pretty new, and no matter what day it is (slow or busy) it's all really a good change for me. I think what really started to get to me in my other jobs was the routine of it all, even if I'm making the same drink 4 times in a row, it's for a different person and it's always changing, I'm able to engage more and be active more which is what I think I needed after being pretty static in taking care of my dad :) Life is definitely crazy and tough, writing is definitely a way I relax and cheer up after long or bad days too :) Lol, I've got a few candles up on my Etsy, I might add more as the year goes :) And thank you! :)
I sort of feel like, with Season 5, this is the writers last attempt at really keeping the show another season. Like, how do you top the Underworld? That location alone would pull a lot of people in, but depending how they play it it might just end up being an enormous let down. They built up the Dark Swan thing so much and then Emma wasn't all that dark and way too much was lost or convoluted for the season :( But thank you! I'll definitely check it out :)
I hope your presentation went well! :)
Oh the twist with Gold will very much fit in this story, I think that was the one thing I was happy with in Season 5. I was a little disappointed with Merlin too, almost in the opposite though. I felt like they built him up to be this really important thing and really central to the plot...and he barely did anything, in my opinion, and then was just killed off so simply :/ I was a little let down about Hook being the Dark One too, like after spending 300 years chasing one and learning about him, should we really believe Hook had NO idea he'd become one? That he didn't see the signs? I agree, he was fun for a little, but then that went poof also. And now it seems like we're going to have the exception to the 'the dead CANNOT come back to life' rule, just because it's Hook and just because it's the Savior :( I have a few little twists for why Emma will go to the Underworld though, no worries there ;)
I'm glad you like Piper :) I like to think of her as a person that just does what she has to to keep people she cares about safe, whether it's good or evil, and just doesn't care whether people understand her or her reasons or not, she'll do what she wants and take the consequences. I think that's also something she's dealing with here, the consequences. Like if Snow had made it clear all along that she didn't agree with what Piper was or how she turned out, that she really DID have an issue with her darkness, Piper would see it as a consequence of being what she is and acting how she did that made her cousin feel that way. For her, it's feeling like it's coming out of nowhere and feels more like a betrayal on Snow's part than something SHE did herself that led to it :(
Sorry I worried you! My dad's doing better, back at work now and he seems really happy to have something to do again and be healthy enough to do it :) Everything is alright yup ;) I have a bit of a cold, but nothing terrible or that's getting in the way so far, but beyond that everything's is going well :)
Thank you! I'm glad to be back :) I'm looking forward to Season 5 too :) I think I always thought Gold would get his powers back, even from the moment he sort of lost them. To me, I doubted they'd keep Emma dark, not with Snow and Charming trying to get her back, so the darkness would have to go somewhere and Gold would probably be the only one that would want it back. I took his 300 years of being magic and having not wanted to ever be a coward again as saying he would do whatever it took to get the magic back even if it meant being the Dark One again.
I felt like a lot of flashbacks in Season 5 weren't needed too, we could have had much more character development without the unnecessary flashbacks :/ I didn't understand the end of the Season either, like Belle wanted to be separated, she left, and out of nowhere she comes back and sleeps with him? It was odd and made Belle seem too back and forth about what she wants. I think the magic for Gold isn't an addiction but just who he is, it's infused into him when he became the Dark One. With Regina though, I think for her it's more an addiction, the darker impulses, it's what she sort of grew into and began to choose to do instead of something that bound to her body and soul like with Gold. For Gold, I agree, it's something he wanted and never really wanted to give up, because it gave him strength and power and courage. For this site, when it comes to leaving urls, I think it ends up putting spaces between the . or writing it it shows up, maybe? I'm still trying to work out how to get the urls to work on my profile page too lol. But thanks, I'll check it out! :)
Lol, Robin probably won't be killed by the Fury just yet, I'm still holding out hope that we'll learn more about his past that was, apparently, so dark that he could forgive the Evil Queen 'killing' his wife (though I don't think she actually was the one that killed Marian in any timeline) :)
I think Piper would have an actual heart attack if it was twins, she's worried and freaked out over just one baby being a target of her enemies, two might kill her lol :)
My dad's doing well, recovered from his pneumonia safely and is back at work. He's finished with his chemo though, according to the doctors, he might still have another month or two where he feels the effect of it from time to time but he's doing better :) I'm so sorry for your loss :'( If you ever need anything, I'm here to talk or listen or anything. My brother is, supposedly, meeting up with an ex-girlfriend of his (his only serious girlfriend besides his current possibly-still-fiance) today for his birthday and we're all actually crossing our fingers that, even if he doesn't get back together with her, he at least realizes or remembers how happy he was with her and sees how miserable he is now, but we'll see. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter :) I think, for Snowing, they really don't want to think about how close they came to possibly killing Emma in the womb, to them, the Sorcerer is good/a hero and his Apprentice has to be and 'heroes don't kill' or whatever they think, they probably just want to think that it's Emma's emotions running high and not that they could have actually put her in that much danger :( We'll definitely see a conversation/confrontation about Piper's child when/if Snowing find out she's pregnant though }:) I have many, many twists for Season 5 planned, I needed it to keep my sanity watching the season and try to find some way to enjoy it. I hope they see Neal there, in a nicer part of the Underworld, and if they do you can bet Piper will have something to say about how they're rescuing Hook so he can live so why not other people that died? Or are they forgetting the laws of Magic? I do have a tentative twist in mind for the Underworld, but it'll depend on if they succeed in getting Hook back or not first. I'm still holding out hope that Zelena did something and stole Robin and Regina's baby from Regina's womb with magic and that the baby really IS Regina and Robin's and Zelena just manipulated/altered his memories of his time in NY to make him think he slept with Zelena. I did watch Tut, yup :) Looking at it from a purely entertainment POV, it was good. Not quite as accurate as it could have been, but decent and entertaining :)
I might make some candles based on the OCs :) In my search for scents, I actually found one called 'Golden Rose' and was like...Rose and Gold? :) But we'll have to see :) And thank you! I'm glad to back :)