Blue Memories

It was a nice day out, all things considered, there were looming storm clouds in the sky and a distant sound of thunder, yet Piper still made the trek from the Dark Castle to the nearby village for more straw for Rumpelstiltskin. He had remarked that she ought take a covering with her, to keep herself dry, a cloak or anything at all, but she had brushed it aside with a small smile for his concern. It was a warm summer day, to have a cloak on would make the walk unbearably uncomfortable, and if it were to rain, what was the harm? It wasn't like she would melt. And water dried.

She may not enjoy the sea as much as her ancestors, it being a death trap for her now for any Siren in the area would kill her on sight. But she did enjoy rain and water. And with the heat, the rain would be a welcome relief if it were to occur on her walk.

He had looked at her when she said that with this odd expression she was growing used to, a mix of fondness and wonder, like she had said something he hadn't expected. Ever since she had told him her true name, how she was the princess Rose Red, he seemed to view her somewhat differently. She was the Piper to him, which was what she wanted, Rose Red was dead as far as she was concerned, she would rather be seen as the Pied Piper than the princess. But there were times, few though they were, where he would seem to think she ought do something or want something because she had been a princess and used to it, and was often surprised when she did not.

To walk in the rain, to become soaked, to have the edge of her clothing grow damp with dirt and mud and streaked with grass and other things. He would have thought her less likely to be alright with dirtying her clothes. But she had lived for years in the woods, basically in rags, with a cloak that didn't clasp right and made do. Dirt and grim did not bother her.

And, perhaps, she smirked to think, Rumpelstiltskin's reaction to her arrival, wet, her clothing clinging to her, dirty and in need of removal, would tempt him to be the one to remove them. He did make for a very thorough lover. She chuckled at the thought, there was always that brief moment when he first put eyes on her when she did something devious like this, or when he would conjure a gown for her to wear for certain deals and trips, where he would just stare at her, like he was tempted to say to hell with the deal as he had come about a treasure far more worth his time and attention.

She did so love to tempt him.

She may also know that he was anticipating an arrival some time today, a person he was quite sure was going to either make a deal or request his help with something. He hadn't cared if she was there when this person arrived or missed them entirely, it was her choice when to come and go from the castle. And she hadn't cared enough who it was, for if he had no need of her magic to assist with it, then it wasn't as interesting a deal to her. She liked the challenge, when he thought her assistance would help him seal a deal. They were always the ones that no one in their right mind would have agreed to until she drove them out of their right mind. It was far more fun.

IF this person was still there when she arrived, well, if the deal wasn't worthwhile enough for her help then perhaps it may not be worth the Dark One's attention and she could tempt him away from it with her current state. He would never be so easily distracted if the deal was something he wanted, he would smirk at her, a promise in his eyes that he would deal with her as soon as he was finished. But if even HE wasn't invested in the deal then he would be looking for a way out, a reason to cast the person from his home.

There were some who were so desperate for a deal, and yet also so righteous in their beliefs, that they felt the Dark One ought to help simply because it was 'right' that he help. Clearly they missed the title of 'DARK One' in their beliefs. She had begun to think, in the course of her own dealings, that nothing was ever done for free or out of the goodness of one's heart, even heroes did things for their benefit. Perhaps a hero might go to war to stop a threat, but they did it not because it was 'the right thing to do' but because they would be seen as a hero upon their return. Or maybe a hero might join a village to defend it from the Evil Queen, but it would only earn them adulation and loyalty from the town. Even when a hero was being selfless, they still reaped some sort of reward for their actions, why should villains be labeled as villains when they merely made the reward clearer to all and chose which reward they wanted?

Piper shook her head from her thoughts as she approached the gates of the Dark Castle, sighing as she made it to the doors. She paused and looked up at the grey skies, frowning and narrowing her eyes at them as though blaming them for the ruination of her plans. She had hoped it would begin to rain along her way back, only for it to thunder but the skies to not break open. And now her plans to tempt the Dark One had to be cast away.

She let out a light huff, shaking her head, and reached out to open the door, entering the main hall.

She had only taken two steps when she froze.

It wasn't the voices she could hear from the main room where Rumpelstiltskin usually conducted his business, but the songs she could hear. The other person, the one he had been expecting to arrive for a deal or his magic, was still there…

And she knew who it was.

Before she even realized she was doing it, she'd begun to walk towards the archway into the room, her heart pounding a rapid tattoo in her chest, her breathing shallow and quick, and she could feel a chill settling in her bones the nearer she came. She didn't want to, she didn't want to look in, she didn't want to see it, but a part of her kept moving, as though hoping it was just a terrible dream and not real.

She paused just before the archway, swallowing hard, trembling, hesitating for this could be her last chance to just get as far away from the song as she could.

She took a breath and stepped past the edge of the archway, but went no further, just enough to peer into the room…

And there, hovering in the air before a very annoyed looking Dark One…was the Blue Fairy.

Piper let out a shuddering breath, her eyes trained on the woman's back for the fairy hadn't noticed her presence yet. A movement from Rumpelstiltskin drew her eye to him, he had seen her, he was about to speak to her, and she found herself shaking her head and backing away, stumbling enough where she dropped the basket of straw as she fled for the stairs, needing to get away, needing to get far, far away from that fairy.

She truly wasn't sure what happened after that, for she was halfway up the stairs when she felt someone grab her wrist to turn her. She could see Rumpelstiltskin there, his face scrunched with confusion and concern, and she could hear that his song was the only one in the castle, the Blue Fairy was gone, but there was too much panic rising in her, too much shock, for her to process that. She merely yanked her arm out of his hold again and moved to continue, but he tried to catch her again.

"Pip…" he called, grabbing for her hand.

She spun around, "Stop!" she told him, her voice taking on an odd inflection he'd never heard before. It sounded, somewhat, like when she would sing and use that medium to focus her magic instead of her pipe, but she wasn't singing now, she was speaking.

And he found he couldn't move, for that brief moment, he just…stopped.

Which gave her enough time to turn and rush up the stairs, away from him.

~8~

It would be quite a few hours before Rumpelstiltskin would push the door open to the music room he had created just for Piper, to see her all the way in the back, sitting in the corner, her legs curled up to her chest, her arms wrapped loosely around them, her head resting back into the crack of the wall and just staring across the room. She appeared calmer, from what he could tell as he slowly approached her.

It hadn't been her magic that kept him finding her or going after her, but the fact she had used it against him. Oh there had been a time or two he'd been caught by her magic, but not like that. She hadn't wanted him to go after her, she had wanted to be alone, he could see it now, she had just needed time to…sort herself. He waited as long as he could which, to be frank, he was disappointed in himself for.

It had been nearly 300 years since he had lost his son, since he had seen in a vision that he would one day be reunited with him, if he was patient and planned it out. He had waited 300 years to get to this point to find his son…and yet he couldn't bring himself to go more than 3 hours without finding Piper and resolving whatever this was that had happened earlier. He should have more patience, he was immortal, he had nothing but time, but knowing something had frightened her, within his own home, and he didn't know what it was…it bothered him.

They may have had a deal that he would protect her from the Evil Queen, but it had morphed over the years to something so much more important to him, a promise to himself to protect her from anything that would harm her.

He paused as he reached her, taking in the steady breaths, the way her skin wasn't as pale as it had been, the steadiness of her hands as they clasped around her legs, and how she didn't flinch when he came near. He took that to be a sign and moved to sit beside her, though he was facing her, his legs crossed, sitting more near her legs than the wall.

"If I had known you did not care for fairies," he began, "I would have met Blue elsewhere."

"This is your home," Piper remarked.

"OUR home," he reached out and took one of her hands from where they were clasped, holding it, "It is as much your home as mine. You are mistress of this castle, Pip. I will never allow any to enter that you do not wish."

Piper looked over at him, rolling her head slightly, a small smile on her face, "It is not that I do not care for fairies," she began, "I do not care for them, but I do not mind them, most times."

"Just Blue," he realized.

She looked down at her hand in his, "I had not been expecting her to be here. Had I known, I am sure I would have handled it better."

"It…was quite a reaction," he left it open, hoping she would elaborate, explain more, but not pressuring her to. She had not pressured him about his son or his past, even when she came across many odd things she would likely want to know the story behind. He would not pressure her about this.

"I feel safe here," Piper sighed, "I…feel as though there is no danger that could touch me within the confines of our home."

"There isn't," he promised, shifting so he was facing her legs more, his head turned to her, "You know I would never allow anything to harm you, Pip."

"I do," she smiled when he pressed a kiss to her hand and lowered it to hold in both of his, "Seeing the Blue Fairy…being confronted with HER in a place I felt safe…"

It had been different, when she was younger, and the Blue Fairy might be near, she would expect it, prepare for it, keep close to the people who would protect her. IF she was around the fairy at all. It was clear that Cora had been impersonating the Blue Fairy when Eva died, a glamor of sorts. She knew the Blue Fairy's song, she knew Cora's song.

But when she and Snow had met 'Blue' to try and save her aunt, she had convinced herself she was misremembering the fairy's song. That she was just too frightened to think back on what the fairy had done to her, that she never wanted to remember any part of it even if it was burned into her mind. She had thought, had tried to think, that the reason the song was different that second time, was because her mind had just warped it in her head, too traumatized over what happened. And she had never wanted Snow to know that someone who was such a good friend of her mother's had done something so awful and terrifying to her. She'd had to be brave then, she'd had to pretend like she hadn't ever seen the fairy before nor had such an encounter.

And then she met Cora and she knew the woman had pretended to be the fairy, but she hadn't known why and she couldn't just say it. No one but Snow and Johanna knew they'd gone to Blue for help, and Johanna was usually so wary of her anyway that the woman would never believe her. Snow, while she might have, would have come up with a reason why she was mistaken or confronted Cora and…the woman didn't have a heart. She literally did not have her heart in her chest and a person like that could do anything to anyone and she couldn't risk Snow saying the wrong thing, especially after she let slip about Regina's stable boy.

So she kept it to herself. And she'd taught herself to expect Blue could turn up at any moment, given how close she was to Snow's family, she'd always been prepared to have to face the woman. But she'd done her best to keep herself away from fairies, for a very long time even, not wanting anything to do with them due to Blue.

To be confronted with Blue's song, after so long, after so many nightmares where that tune played over and over, and in a place she'd felt safe and felt like no danger could reach her…to have Blue right there…

She reacted poorly to the shock of it.

"Especially given your own distaste for her," Piper continued, "I was not expecting to be confronted with her again."

Rumpelstiltskin tilted his head, catching that, his brow furrowing in confusion, "Again?"

"Hmm?" Piper looked at him.

"You said you weren't expecting to see her again," he repeated, "When did you see her the first time?"

Piper fell quiet, shifting somewhat, pulling her legs closer, seeming almost like she wanted to pull her hand away from his but he held tight, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles to reassure her he was there. She looked at him a moment longer, her eyes searching his for something.

She knew his grievances with the Blue Fairy, the role the woman played in the loss of his son, he had trusted her with that painful moment of his past. It was only fair, she thought, that he know the truth of her own past with the woman. She wouldn't even be able to give a half-truth if she wanted to, tell him about how she'd 'encountered' Blue with Snow when Eva died for it would not be anything that would garner a reaction like that, he would see through it anyway. And she felt no desire to hide this from her beyond her own reluctance to recall that night.

"I was but a few years old," Piper spoke, having to clear her throat when it began to tremble, but it didn't help, and he shifted closer, seeing this was a truly terrifying subject for her, one that had stuck with her for many, many years, "I…was frightened, of myself. Of my power, my magic. And…I asked my parents to remove it."

Rumpelstiltskin stiffened beside her, "You didn't…" he breathed, his eyes wide and horrified.

He knew the spell, there were only a few in existence meant to pull the magic out of a living being. Most were meant to help those who had been cursed with a magic not naturally theirs, like his own, not that he would ever want it removed. It was rarely, if ever, used on a person born with such magic.

IF, in the few times it might be used, if it was ever used it was best to be done when the person in question was young, very, very young. Sometimes before birth, to ensure nothing harmed the child. Possibly for a few months after birth, but any time beyond that, if it was a natural born magic, it could be excruciating to remove. The longer it existed in a person, the stronger it grew as they grew, the harder it was to remove. By a year old, the chances of a child surviving the removal of such magic were slim and death was almost always inevitable.

That anyone would dare try it on Piper, whose magic was not merely a gift of true love but of her basic biology, being half-Siren, especially when she was already years old at the time…

"My hand," Piper murmured and he quickly eased his grip on her hand for he was certain it was too tight now, having gripped her hard in his mounting anger at what she was revealing.

"You were a child," he murmured, looking at her, fury simmering in his eyes, "They should have known better!"

He did not fault her her fear. Most magic was neutral while a child grew, for children had the potential for either light or dark magic, they were not adults, set in their way, they could go to either side of the spectrum. Most of the time. For a Siren, a dark creature? Piper's magic would have been dark before she was even born, it was just the basics of it. There was no way she would be able to use her magic as light magic or turn it light, it was against her nature and her biology, her instinct. She could use her dark magic for light purposes, like entertaining children or easing pain, but it would never be light, not by the traditional definition of it.

For a child to be labeled dark before they could even talk or walk, before they were even given a chance? Any child would reach a point of wanting the dark gone, of being 'normal,' especially when said child wasn't just dark but half-inhuman. They would never see Piper as a human being, always half-creature, half-Siren. It would be hard for anyone to endure and, of course, the child she'd been, with a cousin as pure and good and beloved as Snow White, would want to be like her too.

It was the parents, they should have known better than to ever attempt…

"My parents did not want me to," Piper assured him, as though sensing he was talking about them and not the fairies when he said 'they' just before, "But I was adamant, and frightened of what I would become. Aunt Eva had a…friend…she said could help if it was what I truly wished."

Rumpelstiltskin nodded, all too aware of the friendship between the late Queen Eva and the fairies, "Blue," he realized.

She nodded, taking a breath, "She tried the ritual. It did not end well."

"No, I don't imagine it would," his voice was firm, just on the edge of rage, for Blue would have known that, she would have known that the ritual would either fail or kill that little girl…and she did it anyway.

"I was screaming, it hurt," her voice cracked on the last word, and she had to look away, blinking from the tears that gathered just at the memory of the agony she'd felt, "My mother stopped it," she continued, "And Blue left."

There was something in the last three words that gave him pause, "She did not return to attempt it a second time…"

He was already imaging the various ways he could kill a fairy when Piper responded, "No," she told him, Blue had not come back to try to rip it out of her again, "She had another reason for returning."

"What was it?" he asked when she lapsed into silence once more.

She looked at him, "I think it was you."

He blinked, "Me?" he shook his head, "I didn't meet you till well after Eva died."

"She knew the ritual would kill me if it was completed. She returned when it failed to tell me that, as half-human, I needed to focus on that half of me and not allow my Siren half to take over. That if I ever used my magic for what it was, to harm or hurt, I would be counted among the villains and would be defeated...by my own cousin if necessary. She said I'd be hated, feared, alone, without Snow standing beside me."

"What's that got to do with me?"

"Some fairies can see the future," she reminded him, "And none of them are as powerful or old as the Blue Fairy. She said I was in no danger from her 'for now.' But said 'sometimes, to prevent a great evil occurring, sacrifices must be made,'" she looked at him closely, "I think she knew," she lifted the hand he was holding, "This was in my future."

It took her a very long time to think about. She never wanted to remember that time of her life, she would have blocked it out if she could. She had never made the connection before, not until she had seen the Blue Fairy and Rumpelstiltskin in the same room and had time to process the shock of it.

But she knew, she believed it to be true, could feel it in her bones, that her suspicion for WHY Blue had done what she had was exactly THIS, this bond that they had created, the partnership they formed, the love that had bloomed between them.

"I have done nothing so evil as Regina," she reasoned, "What other 'great evil' could there be, than if I were to join with the Dark One?"

Rumpelstiltskin fell quiet at that, thinking on it, thinking about the potion he'd brewed, their true love…and he knew it as well, just as surely as she did. It would be just like the Blue Fairy to cover her true intentions with lies and half-truths about helping in some other manner.

She wanted him separated from his boy, and so she tempted Bae, knowing he couldn't follow his son.

She would refuse to aid Regina in escaping the darkness of her life, out of spite and hatred of Cora.

She would look at a little girl and not see a child but a half-Siren, a dark creature, an abomination to be removed from the world, baiting them with promises to free her from her magic and make her good and pure.

Piper was his true love, and love made everyone stronger, even the dark. Blue had to have known that they would meet, that they would love, and love truly. Blue had known that Piper was his true love and had done all she could to prevent the girl from ever reaching him. For if she never accepted her Siren-half, if she kept on with Snow White, she'd be a hero and against him.

All of this, to keep them apart, to keep him from growing stronger, from being happy, a punishment for the greatest villain.

Blue had taken the first person he had ever truly loved, his son, from him, to weaken him. And now she had tried to take his truest love from him before she had ever been.

"I think you're right, Pip," he murmured, "I think she knew what you would become to me," he looked at her, reaching out his other hand to touch her cheek, "I think she knew what we would have and wanted to stop it. To cripple me…"

He shook his head, trying to banish the image of what would have happened if Piper had never embraced her Siren side. If she had been a hero, and stood against him, if he had never protected her from Regina and she had no magic to do so…Regina would kill her to get to Snow White. And he could see it, he could see Blue or Regina manipulating it so that HE delivered Rose Red to Regina or, worse, killed her himself. And Blue, taunting him, about how he had lost his soulmate…

He inhaled sharply when Piper lifted her other hand to touch the one pressed to her cheek, allowing her to lean into his touch more, her eyes locked on him, "I was too young to fight back then," she remarked, "I am not that girl any longer."

He began to grin darkly, "What do you have in mind, Pip?"

She started to smirk in reply, "Do you know, to get to me, my mother ripped a fairy's wings off?"

Rumpelstiltskin merely giggled.

~8~

"Have you reconsidered my offer?" the Blue Fairy asked as she drifted into the main chamber of the Dark Castle, doing her best not to shiver from the absolutely disgusting feeling of the dark radiating off of everything.

The Dark One was sitting on a chair, his feet up on the table, a smirk on his face, his fingers steepled together and resting under his chin as he observed her, "I'm afraid I'll have to decline," he said, "This offer and any other offer you may have. And, for that matter, any offer or request or begging for aid that you or any other fairy bring to me will be rejected. I will never aid the likes of you, ever."

Blue's lips pursed, "I don't think you understand the severity of…"

"No!" he snapped, moving so fast that his fist pounding onto the table as he sat up startled her into jerking back, "YOU are the one that does not understand what's happening here."

Blue huffed, "I understand perfectly…"

"That you tried to kill my soulmate while she was just a child?" he cut in.

The way Blue's eyes widened, how quickly her face paled, the way her mouth fell open, it told him all he needed to know about his and Piper's suspicions for why the fairy had done what she had.

"I…I did no such thing," Blue tried to lie, tried to jut her chin into the air, tried to sound offended, but her voice shook too much, her words too weak.

"Rose Red," Rumpelstiltskin spoke, "The dark creature she was, who would grow to be my true love, to enable me to do things no other Dark One could dream to do…I can see your appeal in destroying her before she could enhance my magic."

"She had dark magic and wanted it gone," Blue defended, "I was merely assisting the request."

He snorted, getting up, waving his hand and forcing her out of her fairy state and into her human form before him, wanting to look her in the eye, "You knew that ritual would kill her and you went through with it. How dark for a good fairy."

"The job of a Light Fairy is to guard the world against the Dark," Blue glared at him, "I was doing my job."

"And so am I," he cut in, leaning in to look into her beady eyes, "You went after my soulmate. You hurt her, you tried to keep us apart. As her mate, any attack against her is one against ME," he leaned in more so their noses were nearly touching, doing nothing to keep the absolute fury and threat from his voice, "You lay a single finger on her again, you try any of your magic tricks on her…and your miserable existence will be at an end."

"Don't threaten me, Dark One," she lifted her chin.

"Oh, I'm not," he smirked at her, pulling away to look down at her, "I never said I would be the one to end you."

"Snow White would never harm me," Blue defended, smirking in return, confident, "I can explain what I did to her cousin and she would end up agreeing with me."

His smirk grew darker, "I never said it would be Snow White either."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Her mother ripped the wings off one of your fairies," he said, and he could see the exact moment the genuine fear entered her eye.

It was not just from his threat, but from the fact that he KNEW about that incident, when only 3 others, besides herself and her 2 fairies, did...and she knew, she had to know, only one of them lived. He didn't doubt the Pied Piper's reputation had made it even to the fairies, they wouldn't care, she was just another villain, and they would never reveal her true identity to Snow White for the chaos that would cause, the distraction to find her cousin and 'save' her. But now she knew that HE had met her, that he had learned the truth from her, that they were together and would stay together, and that they would both get their revenge if she stepped out of line once more.

"I will take great pleasure in holding you down..." his gaze drifted to something over her shoulder, causing Blue to turn and see Piper standing in the archway, smirking at her, "While my true love rips yours off.," he finished in her ear, giggling when he saw her starting to tremble as Piper had in true fear. He glanced at Piper as she wiggled her fingers in a wave at the fairy, "Now, get out of my home!" he ordered and flicked his hand, banishing her through one of the windows, waving a hand to fix the fallen glass, before he turned back to the archway, to Piper.

She had wanted to be the one to make the threat, but given that Blue's entire purpose for trying to end her was to keep HIM from knowing the truth…the threat would be more alarming from him than her even if the actual deed would be her doing.

"Pip," he held out a hand to her to take as she entered.

She eyed him curiously a moment, "You called me your soulmate."

He blinked, honestly not realizing he'd done that till now, "I did."

"Hmm," she hummed.

"Why?" he asked, "Would you prefer a different name?"

She nodded, "I would."

"Which one?"

"Mine."

He grinned at that, "Always," he told her, before leaning in to kiss her.

He found himself truly hoping the Blue Fairy might be stupid enough to actually try one of her tricks...he hadn't been lying, he was looking forward to the day he could hold the woman down while Piper ripped her wings off.

He already had a few thoughts for where he could mount them in the Castle.

A/N: Blue is SO lucky to be alive after that revelation and what she accidently let slip about WHY she went through with the ritual on Piper O.O

It took Piper a while to actually work it out, but being a kid and having someone knowingly try to kill you and say it's to prevent something happening, and talking about not being a villain...she thought it was just a warning to 'not be bad' and to 'be good.' Growing up, and reaching this point in her life where she knows the things she's done compared to Regina and how it's not AS bad as her...the only other 'dark' and 'villainous' thing she's done is team up with the Dark One and fall in love with him. I think it's this point, where she sees how far both of them are for each other that she knows she's sort of made him stronger, less likely to hold back, darker, and he's enabled her too.

She has her suspicions about why Blue did it NOW...and Blue ended up confirming it to the Dark One himself...she really is VERY lucky to be alive after he found out she nearly killed his soulmate before she could even really start :(

I think, after this point, Blue is very careful about the warning to not lay a finger ON Piper...but that doesn't stop her finding other ways to try and weaken her and hurt her, like with August :(

But now we have someone who knows for a fact what Blue did, and Gold will take no small amount of pleasure in one day broadcasting it to all Blue's allies...he's just waiting for the opportune moment }:) I think what happened with Emma as the Dark One sort of had to happen first, to plant that seed and lesson in the heroes about their own dark deeds. If he'd said anything before that moment about this, there would be the typical 'well she's a villain, Blue was protecting us!' (ignoring that Piper was an innocent and scared child), whereas after the Dark Swan it might have a few people pausing and going 'she was just a KID Blue, WTH!' ;)

Some notes on reviews...

I think it would be an awesome and very powerful redemption moment for Hook if he asked Zeus to bring Bae back instead of himself, this story-Hook is still a bit more like show-Hook though, he's a bit villain but doesn't want to admit it, so he's a little more selfish than that. He'd take Emma coming for him more as her wanting a future with him because she loves him that much instead of how it sort of actually is for Emma (in the story) where she just wants that opportunity to find out if she has a future with Hook and is sick of people being taken from her :( I feel like Zeus would probably pull a fast one and be like 'for such an unselfish request, I'll send you BOTH back' and Emma would be that much more torn :( I could see the Hook in this story make that request if he thought he would also get sent back, but being a bit too selfish to risk it :/ I do think, in a general context, that would have very much shown that he did change for the better and was a true hero, putting others first and putting Bae first too. In this story, he's just a tad too selfish to go that direction ;)

August would so be high-fiving Emma and then wiping away an imaginary tear like 'our little girl's all grown up and lying to gods' lol :) Definitely a burn to Snow, because in a very sad way...had Snow found out the Pied Piper (or even Rose Red) had been responsible for the Frontlands WHILE in the Forest...she probably would have had to declare her a villain and put her on the enemy list and, as a hero, try to stop such a threat to her people...and then find out (or know) it was her cousin and have to take that stand instead of realizing WHY it happened :( Henry's definitely looking at it more at the WHY Piper does things instead of just the things she does :( It's such a big point to make for him, because the WHY really is important. Without context or explanation, what Snow and Charming did to Maleficent and her egg was like the epitome of evil, stealing a baby, cursing it, banishing it, separating it from its mother...but add in their defense and other heroes would say it was justified :( Seeing what Piper did without context is a horrible massacre, but add in the context and she had no control over herself and it just happened. That she feels no guilt about it is a different story lol. I can say Gold and Piper have a plan for the inhabitants of the Underworld, especially Cruella and the Blind Witch, but we'll have to wait and see what it is ;) Exactly how I feel about the choreographed dances, if I know the steps, and everyone's doing the same ones, then there's less chance someone will be specifically looking at me :) My mom always brings up how I used to do my HS talent show with a choreographed Irish dance or my HS plays because 'how come you can get up on stage in front of everyone and do that but you can't xyz?' And I'm like 'because the dances are choreographed so it's not MY moves, and the acting is scripted so it's not ME saying those lines or acting that way it's the character' :/ Lucky! I burn so easy even with sunblock and I'm uber paranoid about skin cancer so I'm basically like a vampire during the summer, sticking to the shadows and night time lol :) ...which is probably why I burn so easy since I rarely go out in the sun if I can help it lol :)