Thirty-Five

As they file back into the courtroom, Charming mutters to Rumple, "I didn't get to cross-examine the last witness."

Rumple chortles. "You want me to call him back?"

"I'll pass. Not sure we can believe anything he says, anyway."

Emma and Belle have been sent to the hospital for closer examination. Whale suspects Belle's pinkie finger is broken and Emma may have sprained an ankle. He also has ordered a MRI for Rumple, to check for concussion, but that will wait; Rumple is determined that the jury will hear his final witness on the heels of the previous one. His head throbs, but worse for him is the absence of his silent supporter. He hadn't realized before just how often during each court session he looked over at that now-empty chair. But he's not alone; the seven who stood up for him an hour ago have demonstrated that.

"Well!" Mother Superior remarks after Leroy, replacing Emma as bailiff, calls the court to order. "That display earlier was. . . quite something, Mr. Gold. I hope you have a less dramatic presentation in store for us this afternoon."

Rumple bows slightly. "Less dramatic, yes, though somewhat problematic."

She settles into her chair and invites the spectators and jury to be seated. "Proceed, then."

He gives Mother Superior a sympathetic look before declaring, "The defense calls its final witness: the Reul Ghorm."

Charming leaps to his feet, shouting, "Objection!" though he isn't sure exactly how to label the nature of his objection. He needn't search for a term, however, for the judge is lodging her own protest. "Mr. Gold! This is highly irregular."

"And unprecedented, I'll grant you that, Your Honor. It's just my bad luck that the witness I need to question happens to have another role in this trial as well. But considering that the verdict will be made by the jury and not Your Honor, I think a conflict of interest can be avoided."

"Mr. Gold, are you absolutely certain you must talk to me and only me?" She spreads her hands flat on her desk, as though seeking stability from it.

"I am certain, Your Honor. Only the Blue Fairy has the information I need for the jury to hear."

"Once again, I object, Your Honor," Charming interrupts. "This is a trick of some kind."

"If you're concerned for my safety, King James, thank you but that's unnecessary. If you're concerned that I will be unable to remain impartial after testifying—"

"You are my last witness, Your Honor," Rumple reminds her. "I intend to wrap up my presentation in less than fifteen minutes."

"You're quite certain?"

"Only the Blue Fairy can answer these questions knowledgeably."

Charming groans as Mother Superior rises. "Very well, Mr. Gold, but if this turns out to be a stunt of some kind, I'm calling a mistrial." She steps down from the bench and crosses in front of him. For such a powerful and ancient being, she is tiny, barely five feet tall, yet Rumple thinks he'd rather wrestle an ogre than to spar with her. Leroy swears her in and she seats herself, smoothing out her skirt.

For a moment Rumple and Mother Superior/Blue Fairy simply stare at each other. In her eyes he sees what he's always seen: cold-blooded judgment, disgust, pity. It's the pity that boils his blood, for she's seen his suffering all these years and she's known the cause, but she's offered neither aid nor comfort. She's just sat there on high judging him and ignoring the pain she's caused Bae.

Her coldness makes the seeming warmth of her counterpart all the more appealing. The Deceiver doesn't sit on high; he's down in the dirt with humanity; when they cry, he cries, or so he leads them to believe. He sees them as individuals, not as a herd being pushed through for branding before it's driven off to the slaughterhouse. He cares about them, one by one, so he tells them—up until they've handed their souls over to him.

But with three centuries of deal-making behind him, Rumple understands the Reul Ghorm a little better now. He realizes now it's by her role, not by her choice, that she sets herself apart. She was created for the big picture; she serves the Source, and it's His plans that she must carry out. Rumple knows now what it must be for her to look back upon her long career: thousands of people pleading, wheedling, demanding she use her magic to fix their problems, and yet they're never happy with the fix, and worse, they never learn. Decade after decade, only the faces change: the problems and people's responses to them remain the same. Whether viewed collectively or individually, humanity makes no progress; it just continues to wallow in its own greed, fear, jealousy and abuse. For an immortal bound from birth to oversee mankind, it must be an awfully frustrating existence.

Regina promises to be no different than the multitude. But Rumplestiltskin is locked in, so he will fight her battle to the last. He has no doubt that during this trial, the Blue Fairy has set aside her ill feelings against him, not for Regina's sake—because the Reul Ghorm bears no affection for any one person—but for duty's sake; and Rumplestiltskin has set aside his grudge against the fairies, not for Regina's sake but, as always, for his own.

He brings his attention back to the trial.

"Thank you," Rumple says. "For the record: in the old world, you were known as the Reul Ghorm, the Blue Star, were you not?"

"Yes."

"How long did you serve in this capacity?"

"I was the longest serving Reul Ghorm in history, nearly four hundred years."

"How did you become the Ruel Ghorm?"

"I was created by the Source of All Magic specifically for that purpose."

"And as the Reul Ghorm, you knew more than anyone else in Fairytale Land about magic in all its forms and uses, did you not?"

"That's correct. I studied for one hundred years before I was assigned to the position, and over the course of four hundred years of service I learned a great deal more, through practice, study and observation."

"Besides magic, the Reul Ghorm must know a great deal about people: their needs, their behaviors, their beliefs, their values. Over the centuries, you must have come to know a great many beings, good, evil and in between."

"Yes."

"In your experience, is evil an inherent quality or a learned behavior, as Dr. Hopper might say? Is one be born evil?"

"No. All sentient beings are born innocent. Evil is made, not born."

"I ask you in your capacity as a spiritual leader in both the old and the new worlds: Are all humans born with souls?"

"All sentient beings are. It's a gift from our creator, just like the body and the mind, and just as vital to our existence."

"What is the purpose of the soul? What does it do?"

"It connects us with God—or as we called Him in the old world, the Source. It enables us to hear Him and be heard by Him. Through it, He guides us, comforts us and reminds us of His love."

"Would you say the soul is how we know right from wrong?"

"Yes. Memory is how we know what the rules are, but the conscience is how we know what's good and what's evil, and the conscience resides in the soul."

"The Black Star testified that the soul and the conscience are linked: without a soul, an individual has no conscience. In your experience, is this statement accurate?"

"It is."

"The Black Star also testified that he's taken Regina's soul. Do you believe this to be possible?"

"Yes. I've seen it before, many times, in the old world." Her expression saddens and she looks at Rumple meaningfully. "I see it now, when I look at you."

"Do your powers permit you to detect the presence a soul?"

"Yes, and its state of health."

"Ruel Ghorm, did the Deceiver lie to us? Does Regina Mills possess a soul?"

Mother Superior closes her eyes briefly as though the truth causes her grief. "She does not."

"Can a soul be restored to its rightful owner?"

"It can, if it has not been too damaged. I have seen it happen, but fewer times than I have seen a star fall from the sky "

"And if the soul is restored, will the individual's conscience be restored as well?"

"Yes."

"Do you think Regina could be restored?"

Charming stands. "Objection. Calls for speculation."

"By an expert on the subject," Rumple points out.

"I will answer the question," Mother Superior decides. "Before restoration can occur, one of two things must happen: either the Black Star must release the soul willingly or the Source must send his messengers to reclaim it. In five hundred years, I have yet to hear of a case in which the Black Star surrendered a soul willingly."

"Under what conditions might the Source's messengers go to battle for a soul?"

Her eyes shine with tears. "Any time the original owner asks."

This answer catches Rumple off-guard. "That's all? Just. . . ask?"

"Just ask, and all the armies of heaven will be marshaled. Just as you, James, have fought wolves with just your staff and a rock to protect a lamb, and you, Rumplestiltskin, have moved heaven and earth to reclaim your son."

He turns away, his head, no longer throbbing, lowered in thought. "All that, for one soul," he murmurs, rubbing his mouth. Then a chair scrapes and he remembers why he's here; he swings back to the witness. "But to my question, Reul Ghorm: can Regina's soul be restored?"

The judge studies the defendant a long time before answering. "If her heart is restored first. Without her heart, she can feel no love, and it's in love that we reach out to other people; it's in love that we seek God. If Regina can love again, I have no doubt she will seek redemption, and when that day comes, all the messengers here and in heaven will rejoice."

"As will all of Storybrooke," Rumple concludes. "Thank you, Reul Ghorm. The defense rests." He moves slowly, still lost in thought, as he returns to his table. He doesn't see the eye-daggers Charming and Whale are shooting at him, for he's made a cross-examination practically impossible: who can question the veracity of a nun? But he does see that Belle has returned, her fingers buddy-splinted, and sits faithfully in her usual seat.

Charming gives it the old college try. At least, the Reul Ghorm has known him long enough not to take personal offense to his questioning. "Good afternoon, Blue. Thank you for your stirring testimony. It does us all good to be reminded of the bigger picture. But, ah, I need to ask a few questions about your testimony." He checks his legal pad. "You said that you've seen very few times that a soul has been reclaimed from the Deceiver, fewer times than you've seen 'stars fall from the sky.' How many cases do you know of in which the Deceiver has taken a soul?"

"Over five hundred years, that many again."

"Five hundred. And of those, in how many were the souls restored?"

She looks at her hands. "Fewer than five."

Charming figures it in his head. "One percent, then. In fewer than one percent of the cases did the rightful owner get his soul back from the Deceiver. So, realistically, the odds are almost nil that Regina will ever be any different from the evil thing she is now."

The Ruel Ghorm digs her fingernails into the wooden arms of the witness chair. "You didn't stop to calculate the odds before you fought off those wolves, did you, James?"

"How far gone is she, Blue? Realistically, is there anything left in Regina to save?"

She closes her eyes and breathes in deeply, and they know she's reading Regina. When she opens her eyes again, she admits, "There is little to hope for—but there is reason to hope. Regina wants to love Henry; for him, she wants to do what's right. That may be enough." Her gaze passes from Regina onto Rumple and lingers there. "Never underestimate a parent acting for their child." And then she looks at Charming. "I recall a father fighting to his last breath to protect his newborn daughter. That's what love can do. I have no doubt that if Regina can love, she can change."

Beside Rumple, Regina stirs; under the table he slips her his handkerchief and when no one's looking she dabs her eyes.

Behind Rumple, Belle stirs. The imp glances back at her, permitting her to see the moisture in his eyes, so that she will know what he's thinking: I love. I can change. And he realizes there have been two trials going on here: Regina's and his own.