Chapter 52: Fiona Knows
"Boss," the voice says. "I just dropped off two kids at this old mansion on the edge of the city. A boy and a girl. The boy is your son."
Fiona nearly crushes her phone when she heard those words. One of her many Dark Realm minions who is disguised as a taxi driver had revealed the location of Henry and this new mystery person. She was thankful that when she'd cast the curse that she'd brought over some servants who could be her eyes and ears around the city. Gideon was not enough and he wasn't technically loyal to her by choice, so mindless drones were a good back up. She now knew that this unknown ally was a girl and could have been the source of magic she'd sensed before considering the teenaged author had none.
"Where did you drop them off?" she asks.
"A mansion outside of old Storybrooke," the driver answers.
"I'll be right there."
She knew what he was talking about; after Phillip had been found, she'd dug into the city's records, which was really just a cover to know the locations of all her curse victims. When he "allegedly" washed ashore in a boat, she checked the records after and she knew that this was a lie after checking. She knew the address of the mansion and knew that not only was the prince under a sleeping curse there, but the mansion was protected by dark magic. The fairy had a strong hunch that this "other person" had somehow been able to bypass everything and reunite the prince with his true love. Now with the driver telling her where Henry and this person were, it went from a hunch to a certainty.
She needed to extinguish the threat as soon as possible as they'd already done enough damage with the sleeping beauty and handsome reunion and the disappearance of Belle. Rendering them powerless was step one, now step two is to confront them.
In a poof of thick black smoke, Fiona appears in front of the mansion, her lackey standing by his still-running vehicle.
"You're sure it was him?" she interrogates.
"Without a doubt in my mind."
"And the girl? What did she look like?"
"A teenager, older than him. Brunette with blue eyes and a jean jacket."
"Anything else?"
"I think I saw a gold locket as well."
Locket… Fiona's mind ponders this detail, very specific. Could it be…? She was skeptical and she had to be sure.
She walks up the stone steps and goes for the door. There are no longer any enchantments on it, dark or otherwise, whatever had been protecting this place was not there. She fiddles with the doorknob, finding it locked or jammed. Peering down at the knob, she realizes that someone has stuck a bobby pin in to pick the lock. She shakes it a few more times before using her magic to unlock the door.
Stepping inside, she is slightly taken aback. For a place that was supposed to be abandoned and undisturbed when her curse was cast, it was clean, spotless. and definitely looked "lived-in." Even the elegant crystal chandelier had not a speck of dust or cobwebs hanging from it.
The dark entity curses herself for not checking the place after Phillip was found. The brats had been using it as a hideout… the perfect spot to remain hidden and carry out their plans against her while keeping her son's wife safe.
Snarling under her breath, she begins using her magic to fling open all the doors, searching for them. The loud bangs echo through the house, but as she goes from room to room, no one is there. When she checks the library, the stack of books on the floor is a dead giveaway that the little bookworm had been staying here and made herself right at home. While unsure what the beauty remembered about her real life, Fiona would not let her find Rumple because it risked her son turning against her.
It wasn't until she walked out of the kitchen and into the dining room that she sees the splattered yogurt cup and the back door open. The fairy grinds her teeth realizing that they'd escaped again! DAMN THEM! DAMN THEM ALL!… Damn her! SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SMARTER THAN THIS! In control and making everyone else bend to her will!
She uses her magic to send the antique-looking dining room table flying across the room and shatter the back wall. She lets out an inhuman sounding roar of anger as the once bright house was now filled with dark energy that stained the walls, made the furniture crumble and the floors rot. It crawls through like a million spiders, destroying everything in its path and removing any elegance or happiness from the atmosphere. The fairy is angry and it is fortunate that she was alone or anyone in her way would have certainly been killed.
As the mansion begins to literally fall apart around her, her darkness spreading like cancer, she notices something glowing upstairs. Another source of magic that was desperately fighting against her own to remain alive.
Compelled and intrigued, she ascends that decaying staircase to the second floor and enters the room. The glowing was coming from the bedside drawer. Flinging it open with her magic, Fiona sees a dreamcatcher inside, glowing with gold and yellow light meaning that there was a memory trapped inside.
How much does this menace know? She ponders, scooping up the enchanted thing.
She waves her hand to activate it, ignoring the slight burn of light magic.
She watches from the point of view of a person whom she figures out very quickly is Belle. The eyes downcast into a book for an extended period of time was a dead giveaway. It wasn't until the little wretch bumps into someone on the street that it gets interesting. The other woman screams out that she recognizes her as the murderer and begins to scream that she's found her. It's then that Fiona realizes that this memory is recent… very recent, within the last 24 hours at least.
The memory then glances at the other two and Fiona pauses it.
She recognizes Henry instantly but the girl was someone… someone she could not place. She looked as her minion had described her, with brown hair in a ponytail, jean jacket and locket.
There was familiarity but the fairy is 100% sure… resemblance to someone she knew or had seen before.
The memory resumes and the loud sound of an engine revving up and suddenly a thick heavy smoke surrounds them.
When it clears, they're back in front of the mansion.
It is then that the image in the dreamcatcher begins to shake erratically, so much so that it's hard to make out what is happening. Obviously, Belle is panicking, proof that she was still under the curse and is slowly lowering herself to the ground in fear.
"What... what..." is all that is said.
"Belle..." the girl says in a sickly calming voice. She leans down to help. "Belle, it's okay."
"No...no... no..." the bookworm sputters out. A real wreck of a person and she's clearly having a breakdown.
Henry leans down to join his ally. "Belle just talk to us! Tell us what happened."
"NO!" she screams, lashing out, swinging her arms at them, hitting both of them. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!"
Henry and the girl disappear from the vision as she turns to flee.
"BELLE STOP!" Henry's voice calls out.
A quick flash of the boy grabbing her sleeve happens before she yanks it away and continues to run.
All of a sudden, everything goes black.
Fiona waves her hand to rewind the memory, pausing on the girl. She squints in at the locket; an unusual detail mentioned by her own ally. Plenty of people wore jewelry, but this one was different. Using her magic further, she manages to read the name…
Lillian
Fiona gasps and drops the object. The pieces were falling into place. The locket, the magic, the resemblance…
How was it possible? Had she returned from New York and escaped the clutches of the curse? Was she the one who had found Phillip? Had she caused that wave of power?
It didn't seem possible. She never imagined that she would be so close to others. From what she'd seen, the relationship between father and daughter was rocky at best. Yet, she was here and helping Henry… and they'd managed to escape again.
The fairy should have ensured that no one from their world could gain access to her little slice of hell.
Her granddaughter was here and she must be stopped.
A/N: We now get things from Fiona's point of view and she finally finds out who is working with Henry. It's clear she knows that she has a granddaughter, but is unsure of what the girl is capable of. Please follow and review.
