Chapter 13:

Flashback:

"Storybrooke…finally," Uma said under her breath as a series of docks and ships came into view. Gold and turquoise light swirled around her, transforming her into her human form and transporting her onto the dock. Looking around, she shook her head as she gained her bearings. "Who names a town Storybrooke?" She asked herself, raising an eyebrow and shaking her head again. Her eyes danced around, checking out the parts of town she could see from the harbor. "Whatever." A moment later, she turned onto the main road and headed towards the town.

"Aye Miss, you lost?"

Uma looked over and saw a fisherman approaching. "Great," She mumbled under her breath.

The fisherman stopped a few steps from her. "Can I help you?"

Uma shook her head again as she charged past him, nudging his shoulder along the way.

Uma thought she heard him say something else, but she ignored him. She continued to make her way into town until she came across a pawn shop. Looking through the blinds in the window, Uma saw a variety of trinkets and antiques. For the new few seconds she peered through the window before looking up at the sign that hung over the shop's entrance. "Mr. Gold's Pawn Shop," Uma read. "Guess this is the place," she finished with a sigh. She took out her necklace, holding the golden seashell at the end of it up with her right hand. She ran her left hand over the seashell twice before tucking the necklace back in under her shirt. She then opened the door and went inside.

For the next few moments, Uma looked around, taking in the sight of all the items around her. Under her shirt, the golden seashell glowed softly. There's a lot of strong magic here, Uma thought as she put her hand over the seashell. She browsed up and down the aisles. When she walked past an item that held some kind of magical property, the necklace would begin to glow. The more power the item possessed, the stronger the glow. From time to time, Uma's necklace would start to glow near an ordinary item or where there was nothing on the shelf. In those cases, Uma figured whatever magical item she was passing was hidden behind a fake wall panel or floor board. As she neared a floor board towards the back of the shop, her necklace began glowing very brightly. "That must be it," Uma muttered under her breath. She leaned down out of curiosity.

"Can I help you?" A voice asked.

Uma looked up to see a young woman with brown eyes and reddish brown hair. The woman walked out from behind a counter with a glass front that was filled with various items located near the back side of the shop. Once she was clear of the counter, the woman approached Uma.

"I'm looking for something," Uma replied with a tone in her voice.

The woman made a face, surprised by Uma's tone. "Well, I'd say you've come to the right place," she answered with a similar sarcastic voice. "Anything in particular?"

"I need to talk to whoever takes care of this shop."

"That would be me."

Uma smiled. "I guess you must be the one I'm supposed to talk to."

"Excuse me?"

"Is your name Belle?"

The woman's face twisted as her eyes widened in surprise. "Yes it is. Why?"

"Uma," Uma said.

"Nice…to meet you," Belle said slow voice, still unsure of what was going on or what Uma wanted.

"I'm from a land called Auradon," Uma continued. "Rumplestiltskin said he could help us. We're in trouble and he's going help."

"You know Rumple?" Belle asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes."

"And you're in trouble….and…Rumple…said he's going to help?"

"He sent me here," Uma explained. "He said that when I got here I was to go to this pawn shop and find a woman named Belle. She would know exactly what to do. I mean, how else would I have known your name?"

Still suspicious, Belle raised an eyebrow again.

"He said if you had any doubts to give you this," Uma said as reached into her pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper. She held it up for a second before giving it to Belle.

Belle cautiously looked at Uma before taking the paper and opening it. Uma watched as Belle's eyes moved back and forth across the paper. It seemed as if Belle was in a trance as she read. Finally Belle looked at Uma again. "Wait here," she said in a hollow voice, as she rolled the paper back up. She then turned and disappeared into the back room.

Uma took a few steps in the direction of the room Belle went into. She stopped short of the counter, examining its contents. As she passed the middle, her necklace began glowing very brightly. As the glow intensified, she put her hand over the seashell again, trying to ensure no one would see it. She looked around, trying to figure out what magical item was she was near and how it could possibly be setting her necklace off like that. She went around the side of the counter, peering behind it as well as into the room Belle was in. Although neither offered her the answer she was looking for, she did come across several small containers on a concealed lower shelf. One of them was labeled "Dream Shade."

"This is what you need," Belle said, walking towards the doorway. Uma quickly collected herself and walked over to meet Belle at the room's entrance. She was holding a small pot. It was red with small gold flecks all over it. A piece of paper was taped to the inside. She put the paper Uma had given her inside the pot also and handed the pot to Uma.

"Guess it is," Uma answered as she took the pot from Belle. She turned and walked out the door.

As Uma walked through the threshold and outside, Belle shivered, her face making a startled look. She looked around completely unaware of what was going on or what had just happened. By the time she came to her senses, Uma was gone.

Uma tucked the pot into her jacket and walked at a quick pace back towards the harbor. As she approached the docks, she noticed the same fisherman she had ran into early.

"Found what you needed Miss?"

Uma glared at him. "Didn't I tell you before to stay out of my way?"

The fisherman just smiled. "The pot please," he said, his hand outstretched.

Present time:

Audrey's face formed a small smile as the smoke cleared. Where Lily had been was now a solid stone statue. "How fitting for you," Audrey gloated. "You, your mother, and Mal are as stone cold as they come, how ironic haha." She laughed again as she pushed Uma away.

"You turned her to stone," Uma muttered looking from Audrey to Lily and back. "Wow…"

Audrey smiled again. "That's nothing, just rock bottom of that scepter's power." She laughed. "See what I did there?"

Uma rolled her eyes. "Yea, and that's the last bad pun I can stomach."

"Don't tell me you have 'rock gut,'" Audrey sneered, reveling in the jokes she made at Lily's expense. "Ok I'm done now." She wiped her hand against her forehead, and looked at the blood she wiped off. Her face quickly darkened. "Be warned Mal, you and everyone you love are next! Then Storybrooke is ours! So, Uma, what exactly are your friends retrieving for us?" She finished looking at Uma.

Uma smiled. "You'll see."

Audrey then walked over to Lily. She patted the statue of her enemy on its back. "That's for my mother. From mine to yours, compliments of the daughter of Aurora. You, Daughter of the 'Mistress of All Evil,' you should consider yourself lucky. You won't have to watch me wipe out your little family!" Audrey's eyes burned with pure hatred. For the next few seconds, she looked at Lily's motionless face. "Now you wait here while we give your sister and your mother what's coming to them!"

"Ok, can we go now?" Uma asked. "I'd rather no one see us here."

"Fine," Audrey answered. "Let's go."

"Good," Uma replied. "Harry and Gil will meet us at the docks when they're done picking up a few supplies from Mr. Gold."

"And just how do you expect them to do that?" Audrey asked, stopping. "Last time I checked, they don't have magic…and you're going to send them on a mission to steal from the Dark One?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say they're completely powerless, nor would I say they are stealing from the Dark One." Uma said, as a grin formed across her face. "Harry has my seashell with him. So I'm watching him and Gil…guiding them. Let's just say the next time we see Mal will be the last time."

Audrey opened her mouth to reply but stopped when she read the look in Uma's eyes. There was something Uma wasn't telling her and clearly wasn't going to for now. The thought irritated Audrey but she had other things to concentrate on. Also she wasn't going to let Uma ruin the moment she was enjoying. "You just better hope this works," Audrey replied, her eyes narrowing. She motioned her hand, and her and Uma disappeared.

Snow looked between Regina and Evie, "Well, with a family reunion like this, there's only one thing to do-"

"Celebrate at Granny's!" David finished, walking up to Snow.

"You know me so well."

Regina, Henry, and Evie all rolled their eyes. When Regina saw this, she smiled. "You are my daughter!"

"Granny's again?" Carlos asked.

"What do you expect?" Emma asked, walking over. "It's the only place to eat in this town."

"Well that's not true," Snow said. "There's…well yea…I guess it is the only good place to eat around here, unless you want ice cream."

"Yea I'm good on the frozen stuff," Emma answered, thoughts of the Snow Queen still fresh in her mind. "Besides this is Evie and Regina's moment. Evie, Regina, Granny's?"

Evie nodded. "Sure."

"Regina?"

Regina thought for a moment. "Yes, that sounds good. Can I have a few minutes with my daughter and Henry first? We'll meet you all there."

Emma put her hand on Regina's shoulder. "Take all the time you need."

Mal hugged Evie. "Congratulations, I'll see you soon E." Jay and Carlos followed suit before saying good bye. With that, everyone filed out of the apartment. They watched as Snow and David picked up Neal and locked the door. With another wave, Mal, Jay and Carlos joined Emma, David and Snow. Finally, Regina, Henry and Evie were alone.

Regina looked between Evie and Henry, not sure where to begin. Henry quickly picked up on this, "So Evie you're from some place called Auradon?"

Regina looked at him. "Henry, how did-"

"They're in the book," Henry answered. "The pages with them appeared the day the curse brought them here. Have you heard of Auradon, Mom?"

Regina shook her head. "I just know it's in the same realm as the Enchanted Forest. It's a far, distant land though."

Henry grew more excited. "So you're from there too!" He said to Evie.

Evie nodded. "Yes, Mal, Carlos, Jay, and I live in Auradon," she answered. "We all grew up together on an Island called the Isle of the Lost. I was raised by…I guess a fake you? Mal was raised by an imitation of Maleficent Rumplestiltskin created, so I guess my 'mom' was an imitation of you that he created too? When we were sixteen, Prince Ben-" her voice broke. Her voice stumbled over the next few syllables incoherently.

"Evie?" Regina said. "Evie what's wrong."

Evie took a deep breath, collecting herself. "Killian mentioned there's a chance that Ben, he-he was the price of the curse that brought us here. He said to keep it quiet until we know for sure, but I have to tell Mal, I-I-I just don't know how. She's been through so much the last couple days and we don't even know for certain if he was."

"Henry?"

Henry shook his head. "The book didn't say," he said with a sigh.

"For once the One-Handed Wonder was right about something," Regina said looking from Henry to Evie. "The curse that brought you here is called the Dark Curse. The price of this curse is…the caster has to give up the thing they love most. But, we're not going to worry about that right now. We'll get to the bottom of all of this, and give this Audrey what she deserves. In the meanwhile though, it's time to welcome Evie to the family."

Henry nodded. "Mom's right, we'll get it all sorted out. It's what we do. We'll call it, Operation…Operation…Crocodile."

Regina chuckled. "Operation Crocodile?"

Evie looked back and forth. "How about Operation Dragon?"

Henry smiled. "I like it."

"Me too," Regina agreed. "Operation Dragon it is."

Flashback:

"Excuse me?" Uma asked as a dark tone filled her voice.

The fisherman's smile grew. "The pot please," he repeated.

"I don't know who you are or what you're talking about fish breath, but get out of my way."

"This," the fisherman answered. A second later the pot appeared in his hands. As soon as it did, the man's appearance changed. He had light brown shoulder length hair with some gray in it, and wore a black suit with a purple, velvet tie. The smile remained on his face. "Welcome to Storybrooke, Uma."

"That's my name," Uma answered. "Wait, how do you know my name?"

"Oh the same way you know mine," Mr. Gold answered. "Or at least one of my names."

"And what name would that be?"

"Come now deary," Mr. Gold continued. "You're smarter than that."

"Deary…" Uma repeated softly. "Wait, you? You're Rumplestiltskin?"

"Very good."

"But how, I thought you were in Auradon?"

"I was," Mr. Gold said in a lazy tone. "But I wanted to see how well your friend Audrey and yourself would follow my instructions. So I returned here when you did. Suffice it to say, I was not disappointed."

"Wait what?"

"With the help of…a certain little silver…bean, I came here when you did. By the way, very interesting power that necklace of yours has; the ability to detect magical objects…fascinating to say the least."

Uma's mouth dropped.

Mr. Gold chuckled again, "Anyway…the curse." He moved his hand in a circle over the pot. The pot glowed, emitting a golden yellow light for a few seconds. Shortly afterward the pot changed into a small scroll cover, the papers within it winding together inside the cover. The gold flecks moved to both ends, forming gold caps on each side of the scroll. A moment later, the process was complete and the dormant Dark Curse sat in Mr. Gold's hand. He took a few steps forward and placed it in Uma's hand.

Uma was completely stunned. "You are the Dark One…" She looked at the curse in her hand. "The Dark Curse," she said, an evil smiling spreading across her face.

Hey everyone, sorry for taking so long to update, hope it was worth the wait! The inspiration for this power of Uma's necklace came from D3, can you guess which scene? I don't own OUAT or Descendants. Please read and review.