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To make waiting a bit shorter, I decided to upload this chapter in two parts. I hope you enjoy it.
TempeGeller.
Chapter 36: A magical team of the past
Enchanted Forest
In town, she was simply known as red riding hood because she always wore a red hood. Everyone called her Red. In the small town, every day seemed like the same. She would wake up early, travel around the town delivering food to anyone. She knew everyone and everyone knew her. There was not a single person in the town that didn't like her. Yet the person she liked most was Peter, the son of the blacksmith. They had fallen in love only during the summer. Yet it had changed her life. She had grown more disobedient to what her grandmother wanted off her. That morning she woke up, everything started like always. She delivered food, in the evening she went to the tavern like always. By the bar was a girl in a blue dress and a green cloak. She didn't seem to belong in her town. Her hair was reddish. Red stepped towards her.
"I haven't seen you here before." Red smiled.
"I kind of have been a kept woman." Belle looked to Red.
"How so?" Red asked.
"I believed I loved someone. Truly heart over heels in love." Belle explained. "Yet he had something bad in him. Something that cursed him. I tried to love him, but he wouldn't take it. He didn't think he could be loved. He forced me out of his house, out of his heart. So I have been looking for anything. I can't go home. I always wanted adventures, maybe this is my chance. I should just see there is no such thing as true love."
Red stared at her, this girl had lost every belief in true love. Yet she hadn't. She had seen it, she felt it. When she looked at the girl, was there anything she could do. She didn't know this girl good enough to give her a speech. She didn't know the situation. She knew nothing except what the girl had told her.
"Well, why don't I buy you a drink?" Ruby held up her finger to the bartender.
"I'm Belle by the way."
"Red."
Emma didn't want to arrest Mary Margaret. She knew the woman she had been living with had not killed Amy. Mary Margaret was not the type of woman to kill someone. Especially as kind as Amy. Was she wrong about Mary Margaret? She had known her roommate as kind, a great teacher. There was not one reason why Mary Margaret would kill Amy. She wanted to yell that there was no motive. Yet she knew what was expected of her. So when she stepped into the apartment, she saw how Mary Margaret was actually happy to see Emma. She had made a cake. She started to talk about everything that happened at school.
"You're under arrest," Emma said. Mary Margaret looked at her. There was a confusion in Mary Margaret's eyes. A confusion of someone who didn't know what had happened. "For the murder of Amelia Mills."
"Amy?" Mary Margaret sank to her knees. "You found her? Did you find her dead? This can't be true, she's my friend. I would never dare to hurt her. I love Amy, she's like a sister to me. You know I didn't do this, Emma. I would…"
"There's evidence that points to you," Emma replied. "In fact, every piece of evidence points towards you. I have to do this, my hands are tied."
"I know…" Mary Margaret levitated her hands for handcuffs.
"That won't be necessary," Emma replied. "I believe you, something doesn't add up. Someone is trying to frame you, yet I'm not allowed to investigate."
"Then how will you be able to prove I'm innocent…"
"Something feels fishy about this." Belle looked at Ruby. Belle had not left Ruby for a second. After the traumatic event, Ruby needed every help Belle could give. She had stayed with Ruby and did everything to take care of her friend. In the few days, Ruby had gotten over the shock. She tried to push the memory from her mind. Belle tried to talk to Ruby about what had happened, she wanted to help Ruby move on from the traumatic situation.
"What do you mean?" Ruby stared at Belle. "We found her heart, everything is over. She's dead. We'll have to move on."
"Don't you think it's a bit too convenient," Belle replied. "This is like the pied piper of Hamelin. Almost like we were directly led to the evidence. Like it's planned. Someone wanted to us to find that heart because whoever is responsible wants Amy all for himself."
"Belle, why…" Ruby paused. "What do you want to do?"
Belle gave a soft smile as she took a sip of her ice tea. Ruby knew what that smile meant. Bella had a plan that could be seen as wrong. Part of Ruby felt scared since she knew she would be involved in this plan. The worst part was that she would do anything if she could save Amy.
"They keep files on anything in the hospital," Belle explained. "There are classified files on Amy, that reveal something almost no one knows. I bet that whoever planted that heart doesn't know about. If I'm right about this…"
"Belle…"
Enchanted Forest
"Thank you so much for letting me stay with you," Belle replied. "I need a place to stay, to put things together. Why do you help me?"
"I will always help someone in need." She smiled. "Besides, us girls need to stick together. I mean we all have bad break-ups. I can assume you don't have a friend…"
"I do…" Belle smiled. "I just don't know where she is."
"You seem far more complicated than I thought at first." Red smiled. "How can you not know where your friend is? Has she also left you?"
"Things are far more complicated than that…"
Belle walked a bit faster. How did she have to explain her friendship with Daniella? She met Dani when she worked in the library. They had grown pretty close and then one day she was simply gone. Dani was the first person Belle wanted to talk to about Rumpelstiltskin, yet that couldn't happen. So now she talked to someone who could not understand her. She didn't know how to explain the relationship. She had true love's kiss with Rumpelstiltskin. Yet he didn't want to give up his magic for her. So she was sure that true love could never be enough. So she felt that true love itself meant nothing.
"So can you tell me something about yourself?" Red asked. "Besides losing the love of your life…"
"I love to read." Belle smiled. "It's the one thing that has gotten me through everything. I know about 15 languages. Maybe more. My mother thought it was important that I was educated. She…"
"Was?"
"She died…" Belle stared at her feet. "Ogre wars."
"Sorry." Red put an arm around her shoulders. "My mother died when I was young. I don't even remember her. I don't know what happened to my dad."
stared at the screen. What did she need to do? Did she need to make Mary Margaret confess? What was her job in the matter? She looked at the letters, there was little they knew about how Amy died. They were looking for a body that could prove more. Emma wanted to find the body, she wanted to prove that Mary Margaret had nothing to do with it. Yet she couldn't.
"She didn't do it." Henry entered the office. "She did not kill Amy. I don't know who did, but she did not kill my sister. You have to believe it, she's being framed. By Regina…"
"Why would Regina frame Mary Margaret for the murder of her own adoptive daughter?"
"Because she's the evil Queen," Henry replied. "She's working with whoever kidnapped and murdered Amy. Now she wants to frame, Snow White."
"Okay…" Emma looked at Henry. "I'm going with you on this. Why would the evil Queen kill her biological daughter? The one she loves more than anything and blames the murder on her sister?"
"Who knows? The evil Queen killed her father…" Henry replied. "Who knows what she would do?"
Enchanted Forest
Belle woke up to the sound of panic. When she looked out the window, she heard people scream about the attack of a wolf. Slowly she got up from the bed, she walked from the small room to find Red. She found Red by the window kissing a town's boy. A smile appeared on Belle's face. She loved to see love, even if she could not have it. She leaned against the door frame. When Red turned around, she gave Red a playful smile.
"So who's he?"
"He's Peter." Red smiled.
"You seem in love." Belle replied, "Enjoy it."
"Red!" A voice came from inside. "Why are you not wearing your hood?"
Red's grandmother walked from the living room towards Red. She put the hood around Red's shoulders. Red never understood why she always needed to wear the hood. She always assumed it was something her mother had left her. Somehow her grandmother wanted to see her wear it. Yet Red remembered nothing from her mother. So the hood meant nothing to her.
"What's going on?"
"A wolf attacked," Granny replied.
A smile appeared on Red's face. She turned to Belle for just a second. Belle didn't know what Ruby meant with the smile. She just knew that a wolf had attacked something or someone in the town. That was all she knew. When Granny left, Red ran outside.
"What do you say if we make that dream of adventures come true?" Red smiled at her. "What do you say we catch a wolf and become the heroes of the town?"
Archie hadn't eaten in days, he only lay in his bed. He had canceled all his appointments and bathed in pain. All he could think about was Amy's dead body. He thought about how they buried her somewhere without her heart. He thought about the person that hurt her. There was a sorrow that came in his body when he thought about how they killed her. Did she feel fear before she died? Did she think of him? If only he could have saved her like he saved her in the pond. If only he hadn't let her go. If only he had fought for her. Maybe she would still be alive.
The phone had ringed, he didn't know who had called to him. He wanted to talk to no one. Yes, he wanted to talk to Amy. That was the only person he wanted to talk to. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to love her. He wanted her close to him. Yet she was gone.
He reached to the bedside table and took the bottle of rum. He drank it straight from the bottle. He believed it was already the second bottle on three days time. He didn't care, he hoped it would kill him. If it did, he could be with her once again. As he put the bottle down, he felt how passed out.
When he opened his eyes, he was in a dark room. All of the sudden, light was brought to it. In front of him was Amy, wearing a simple long white dress.
"Get up!" She screamed. "Get up! Is that what you do when I.."
"Die…" He looked at her. "Yes, I do bath in sorrow when you die. What are you doing here? Torturing me? Amy…."
"Don't call me that Jiminy." She looked at him angrily. "It's about time you snap out of it."
"What…"
"Okay, Henry's right about everything." She replied. "But that's beside the point. I need you. You're the only one that I've been able to contact. I need you to find me. I'm trapped somewhere, I don't know where. Everything is cloudy. I need your help, I'm alive. Come save me!"
Archie woke up, his head hurt like hell. Why did he have dreams that tortured him? Why did he want to lie to himself? Why did Amy tell him that she was alive when she was really dead? Was Amy not aware of her dead? And was it her spirit that needed to find peace. He didn't know. He just knew that he needed another drink. It was not his job. He had lost her, that was all he knew.
Enchanted Forest
"Red, we can't simply go hunt a wolf," Belle replied. "For starters, we don't know where to start. I mean how do you find a misunderstood creature?"
"Really?" Red stared at Belle.
"Believe me, I have my fair experience with beasts," Belle replied. "I mean…"
"What about we join the hunting party?"
Belle and Red walked to the town square, that was where the men would meet. Belle never understood why men always thought they were better hunters. Belle had read a lot of books about female hunters that were ten times better than their male counterparts. Yet no one ever talked about a female fighting. She needed to stay at home, do crafts. She was not supposed to be a hero. So now she would decide to be one.
"We're joining," Belle said.
"But you're women?" The men laughed. "What makes you say you can catch this creature?"
"She has her fair experience with beasts…" Red replied.
"I'm sure you do, little lady." He walked closer. "But you're not cut out for this. Don't take it personally, but you're just not man enough."
"Belle, we simply can't go steal a file from a doctor's office. " Ruby stared at her as they walked in the hospital. Belle knew where they kept all the files. She knew where they kept every single file. It was where they would find the file they needed. The report on the heart that was found. Belle hoped it would prove that it wasn't Amy. It needed to prove that. Belle didn't know what would happen if it proved the opposite, yet she didn't want to think about it. She pushed Ruby behind her, as they started to head for the office. When they arrived, Belle turned around.
"You're the look out," Belle replied. "Simply say, Jane Austen, when someone comes."
"Why Jane Austen?"
"Because Amy loves Jane Austen."
Belle stepped inside the office. Her heart was beating faster than it should, yet she needed to do this. She needed to know if that heart truly belonged to Amy. If it did, she needed to find the body. Yet she firmly believed it was not Amy's heart. She didn't know why she simply just knew. When she entered the office, she noticed all the files. Where did she need to start looking? She went to the M cabinet, she moved through them. She looked at the files, there was one for Regina Mills, yet she couldn't get interested in it. It was not the one she needed. When she went further, she found Amy's file. She opened it, to find the report of the heart. She read the words.
'A young female heart, age 21. No visible damage. After DNA tests the heart belongs to Amy Mills.
Belle smiled to herself. She was, in fact, right. She put the file back and returned outside. There she was greeted by Ruby. They walked outside right away.
"So?"
"It's not hers," Belle replied. "I'm sure it's not hers."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Rumple got me a file on Amy's past," Belle explained. "When Amy was very young, she had surgery on her heart. There was a small hole between the two sides of her heart."
"I don't understand," Ruby asked. "What does this have to do with anything?"
"The heart that was found didn't have any signs of repair. It didn't show any visible damage. A small repair leaves its traces, the doctor would have mentioned it in his file." Belle said. "Whoever planned the heart, did not know about this. They planted a healthy heart, while Amy had scar tissue from an operation. Whoever is trying to frame Mary Margaret oversaw one big detail."
"What now?"
"We're going to find the kidnapper," Belle replied. "And I'm going to make him pay."
Enchanted Forest
Belle did everything she knew. She read everything about wolfs that she could. She read the magical sources and the ones that were about regular wolves.
"Apparently there's something like werewolves," Belle replied. "They're humans, but during wolf time they become wolves. Apparently, it's something that runs through the female family line."
"Belle, why are you reading about this?" Red smiled. "We're talking about a simple wild wolf…"
"Wolves are pack animals," Belle replied. "If a pack of wolves attacked the sheep, not one would be left alive. Wolves aren't picky. There's only one paw print, which suggests the animal travels by itself. Real wolves couldn't be caught by itself. If they did, they wouldn't attack sheep. Not in a town, a lone wolf stays away from cities. So that implies that we're dealing with a werewolf. One that knows the area."
"Are you saying someone in town is…"
Belle looked at Red. Belle had never thought about what it meant, it was a small town. One of the females had to be a werewolf. For her, it as not bad, in fact, she knew no one in this small town. Yet she remembered the town where she was from. If anyone had been a wolf in her town, she would have found the person. After that she would have helped them. That was how she was like, she always helped people.
"What do we do?" Red stared at her. "I mean do we kill…"
"Are you crazy?" Belle replied. "In the books, it explains that when someone transforms for the first time, they have no power. There is a way that whoever is the wolf can get control over what she is. I think we owe her help. After all, I don't think whoever did this, is aware of it. I mean I don't believe whoever did this, is a monster."
"What do you know about monsters?"
"Believe me." She looked to her feet. "I love one."
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