AUTHOR'S NOTE/DISCLAIMER
Belongs to ABC Studios and whoever owns the show. I only own the plot.
"We gotta warn the town," Leroy said softly and as one, the dwarves backed away from the house and went back the way they came. They needed to let everyone know that they had identified the witch. But they also had to be discreet. The last thing they needed was the witch finding out that they had discovered who she was. No, they'd have to play things safe. Once they were several miles away from the house, Doc pulled his phone out and quickly wrote a text, sending it to as many people as he could as his brothers did the same. This is not good, he thought to herself. How could they have all been fooled so badly, even though there had obviously been another curse? Well, no matter. They would just have to deal with her just like they had dealt with the formerly Evil Queen. However, he had a feeling that would be easier said than done. He looked at his brother dwarves and saw the same unease on their faces, telling him that they had all come to the same conclusion. This isn't good, he thought to himself. Around Storybrooke, various people's phones went off and they checked their messages, some widening their eyes when they read the text they received. Zelena. The witch was Zelena. At the name, Regina frowned. That name. It was niggling at her. But why? She had never heard it before, and yet…it seemed familiar. Somehow I know it's important, she thought to herself. But why? She had never met a woman named Zelena, she was sure of it. And yet… This doesn't make sense. Why does that name seem so familiar? she wondered. Oh well. She could figure it out later. Snow stared at the message on her phone, eyes narrowed in anger. Zelena? Grumpy was claiming that the witch was Zelena? What nerve. Stupid dwarf, she fumed. Of course Zelena wasn't the Wicked Witch! The woman had been nothing but helpful since she had arrived in Storybrooke. Leroy was really stretching it with this one. I really need to find smarter allies, she thought to herself. Just why had she relied on the dwarves and that stupid wolf girl so much? That didn't make any sense. Well, at least she was rectifying that now by turning to Zelena. Beside her, Charming scowled. What were those stupid dwarves getting at? Zelena, the Wicked Witch? How stupid could they actually be?
"Can you believe him?" Snow fumed. "Accusing pure Zelena like that?" she continued. Guess it's a good thing I've been distancing myself from them, she mused. She had never realized just how narrow-minded and stupid they were. Well, it wasn't like they had to remain friends. No, this just proved that she and Charming would have to cut them out of their lives just like they had done to the stupid wolf girl.
"I know. It's stupid," he agreed. So glad we stopped hanging around them, he thought to himself. They had never really liked him anyways, thinking they were better when they weren't. Okay, so he was a shepherd. He was still better than them all. And this just proved it. He would never go around making senseless accusations against a woman who had done nothing but help them throughout the entire pregnancy. Emma, Hook, and Tinkerbell looked at their phones.
"Zelena?" they chorused.
"The midwife?" the pirate added.
"Well, it would make sense. As a midwife she has twenty-four hour access to Snow. We just need to figure out why she wants that access," the fairy pointed out.
"Right," the other two agreed. Henry looked at the phone. Zelena? Who's that? he wondered. He had never heard of her. Could she be from some other storybook? In the library, Belle looked at the name on her phone, biting her lip. Zelena, Zelena. That sounds familiar, she mused. Hadn't Rumple mentioned that name once? Or had it been in one of his books? Frowning in concentration, she went to Rumplestiltskin's books and pulled one off of the shelf and began flipping through it. When she didn't find what she was looking for, she put it back and picked up another book. Back at the diner, Robin looked at Regina.
"Darling, are you all right?" he queried.
"That name-it sounds so familiar, but I can't figure out why," she responded. "I'm sorry, guys. I'm going to have to cut this short. Something tells me things are about to get very tricky around here," she continued.
"Of course. Go," Robin encouraged. As the mayor of this town, it's her job to take care of any threats and we finally have a name, he thought to himself. They just had to figure out what the witch had done to them and why. What was she after? While this was going on, Tom was walking around town, glancing at various people as they reacted to something on their phone. Something's going on, he realized. But what? Well, only one way to find out. With that, he walked up to a girl.
"Hey, uh, Ruby, right?" he asked.
"Yup," she confirmed.
"What's going on? Everyone looks completely gob-smacked," he stated.
"The dwarves found out the identity of the witch," she answered.
"Really? Who is it?" he asked. I should've stuck around long enough to find that out, he berated himself. But if he had, he probably would've ended up captured and he wouldn't have been of any use to Neal or his father. But still…he should've tried to figure it out.
"Snow and Charming's midwife, Zelena," Ruby responded, the name ending in a snarl. Should've known that she was a witch! she fumed. Not only had their attitudes started once she was in their employment, but she had smelled off. Why hadn't she trusted her instincts?
"Zelena?" Tom gaped. The Wicked Witch of the West? Oh this is not good, he thought to himself. And yes, he had heard of her. But what could she be up to? No matter, he had to gather the townspeople and come up with a battle plan. But first, he had to find Emma. With that, he headed out in search of her, Ruby and the dwarves at his heels, finding her in the town square.
"Emma!" he called. Hearing the voice, Emma stopped. It…can't be, she thought to herself. She hadn't seen him in years, but she'd recognize the voice anywhere. She, Hook and Tinkerbell turned as the man approached them.
"Who are you, mate? And how do you know Emma?" Hook queried.
"Tom?" Emma gasped. It can't be. He looks…younger…than when I last saw him, she thought. How would that even be possible? He had been older than her. Significantly older. And now he had aged down? That didn't make sense. What? How does she know this man? Hook wondered. As far as he knew, the Savior had never seen the man before and yet she was acting as if they had met at some point.
"This isn't possible. You're not him. You must be his son or-" she began to say.
"One and done," he interrupted. At this, she froze again. One and done? she thought. Tom had taught her that. It was his way of telling her that he'd never hurt her and would protect her. It was theirs. Hers and his. But then again, if he had had a son, he'd most likely teach him the same thing. "One and done, Emma," he repeated, stepping closer. How can I convince her that it's me? he wondered. When he had met her, she had been overly suspicious of everyone and everything, and from her reaction, that hadn't changed since the last time they had seen each other.
"Your magic is strange," Tinkerbell stated.
"The man has magic?" Hook queried.
"You can feel magic?" Emma asked at the same time.
"It's a fairy thing," Tinkerbell responded.
"What do you mean it feels strange, Love?" Hook wondered.
"It's not fairy magic or like Regina or Rumplestiltskin's magic," Tinkerbell replied.
"That's because they're sorcerers, I'm a wizard," Tom told them.
"Ahh," Hook and Tinkerbell chorused.
"There's a difference?" Emma queried.
"Yes," they all stated.
"Sorcerer magic can be used for light or dark purposes and other than some boundary rules, such as not being able to time travel, raise someone from the dead, or make someone fall in love with you, there aren't really a lot of rules. Wizards on the other hand….well..it's more strict. You have to pick a specialty, for lack of a better term. Of course, there are some that don't really adhere to that and are looked upon as rogues," Tom explained.
"And what's your specialty?" Killian wondered.
"I'm a rogue," Tom replied.
"Why am I not surprised?" Emma queried, rolling her eyes. Even though he had been an adult when she had met him, Tom had always had a mischievous streak. For an answer, Tom just smirked.
"How can I be sure you're really who you claim to be?" Emma demanded. Okay, that's a fair question, Tom thought to himself. She and Neal were different people and she'd require more proof than Neal had.
"Because you know me," the man replied. "Because I know that when it storms you probably still sleep with the light on because you want to make sure no one can sneak up on you from the shadows," he continued. At this, Emma froze. No one else knows that. Not even Neal, she thought. Oh he knew that she slept with the light on during storms and that she sometimes had nightmares but she hadn't ever told him why-that a foster dad had used the darkness from a storm to sneak into her bed and do things to her. No, she had only admitted that to one man. The man in front of her.
"Tom," she said. Wow. I can't believe it, she thought to herself. How was it possible? It didn't make sense. And she didn't like it when things didn't make sense.
"Hey, Em," he greeted.
"So….how….?" she wondered.
"Wizard," he replied and then gave her the same explanation he had given the others. Wizards…sure…why not? she thought to herself. There were witches, kings, queens, dwarves. Why not wizards? Honestly, she wasn't even sure why she was surprised at this. But she was…at least a little.
"So what is it that you want?"
"To save Neal and his father."
"You know who the witch is?"
"Zelena. She's also holding Neal and his father hostage."
"The midwife?"
"Yes." At this, Emma nodded, her eyes darkening. Her mother and father were in danger and she wasn't going to stand for it. No, she'd get that woman away from them.
"So what do we need to do?" the Savior questioned. Hang on Neal. We're coming, she thought to herself. She couldn't let anything happen to him. Well, anything more. Because she had no doubt that Zelena had been hurting him. And she wasn't about to let her get away with it. Tom glanced at Emma, his eyes clouding in concern. She's worried and pissed, never a good combination, he thought to himself. She was unpredictable at the best of times, but with something like this….yeah…powder keg. But then again, he supposed that he couldn't really blame her. Neal was missing and someone was hurting him.
"We need to have someone distract Zelena long enough so that we can get Neal and his father out of there," Tom replied. "And we're going to need all the help we can get," he added and Emma nodded.
"I can do it. I mean, if she's like the other villains we've faced, she'll probably want a shot at the Savior," she responded as she texted the others to tell them what the plan was. Immediately, everyone headed out. Can't wait for the spell Snow and Charming are under to wear off. Going to need something more drastic, Regina thought to herself as she headed for Gold's shop. Belle would be there and the bookworm was quite knowledgeable about what Rumplestiltskin had in his shop. And we've at least been civil to each other, she thought to herself. But had she even apologized to the librarian or made amends? She couldn't remember. They had been so busy taking care of Pan and fighting the witch-whom she now knew was someone named Zelena-that there hadn't been time before and now…she just didn't know. Hesitantly, Regina walked into the shop.
"Regina. Can I help you with something?" Belle queried.
"Rumple has been known to carry antidotes for potions and spells and I was hoping-" Regina started to say.
"What type of spell?" Belle interrupted.
"A loyalty spell. They tend to wear off after forty-eight hours but I don't think we can afford to wait that long," Regina replied.
"Ah yes. Of course," Belle responded and then opened a drawer. "Right before we went to Neverland, he asked me to organize the potions and he said to put all the antidotes in one drawer," she continued. Not sure why he was suddenly worried about that. Not like any of us would do anything on purpose. Then again, with Emma getting used to her magic…she thought to herself.
"And he picked the top drawer?" the former Evil Queen queried. Convenient, she thought to herself. Had her old mentor been up to something?
"That was me, actually. I figured with Emma getting used to her magic, and it being unpredictable-" Belle responded.
"That it'd be wise to have the solutions to any unforeseen problems right at hand. Good thinking," Regina interrupted.
"Thank you," Belle said. As soon as she found the item she was looking for, she handed it to Regina.
"Why's it in a flask?"
"Probably so no would be the wiser if the antidote was needed." At this, Regina nodded. That was a good point. But seriously…a flask? Thought Rumple had more class than that, she thought to herself. She wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Or in this case…a gift potion. The ex-Evil Queen opened it to see the potion which to her looked like a murkier version of grape juice.
"So how does this work? Get two of em? Charming drinks half and then Snow drinks the other half?"
"I'm not sure, but most likely. Honestly, I would just pretend to do a toast."
"Snow's pregnant. This won't hurt the child, will it?"
"No, hurting children was never Rumple's thing."
"Of course." Well, except when he was training me to cast the Curse, the older woman thought to herself. But that had been a long time ago, and they were different people now. That it would matter while her former teacher was stuck with a psychotic witch. "How much do I owe you?"
"Forget about that. Just get Snow and Charming back to normal." With that, Regina nodded and headed out, going to her stepdaughter's house and knocking on the door. Moments later, the door opened to reveal David.
"Are you drunk?"
"Excuse me?" Why would think…? it hit her. She still had the flask. "Oh, no. It's grape juice. This was-an idea that didn't pan out. I thought I could draw the witch out by pretending to get drunk." At this, David nodded. Doesn't really sound like her, but I suppose she felt desperate, he mused.
"Well, come on in," he invited and she followed him inside the home, going to the living room.
"Regina, hey," Snow greeted, starting to stand up.
"No, no, no, no. Don't get up," her stepmother told her. "You need to rest."
"I've been resting."
"Well, rest some more." At this, the younger woman threw her stepmother a dirty look. Hate that everyone's treating me like I'm made of glass, she thought to herself. She wasn't. She was perfectly capable of being a good hostess. Back at Rumplestiltskin's shop, Bell was cleaning. Hearing something knocking in one of the drawers, she frowned. What on Earth? she thought to herself. Yes, some of the things in the shop were enchanted and alive, but they didn't usually actively try to get her attention. Something was going on here. But what? The knocking came again and she went over to the drawer and frowned as something thumped against it. What in the world? she wondered. The thumping came again.
"All right. Hold on," Belle stated and she went to open it. Then, she stared at the item. A bell? she wondered. It didn't make sense. And yet…something was niggling at her. It's important. This bell is important…why? she wondered. It didn't make sense. The bell knocked itself against the drawer and she picked it up. "And what could you possibly want?" she wondered and then she resisted the urge to smack her forehead on something. She was talking to an object. Granted, it was enchanted…but still. For an answer, the bell shifted around so that Belle could see the lettering.
"Ring me," she read out loud. What on Earth? she wondered again. It sounded like something you would find in Wonderland. Back at David and Snow's place, the three had sat down and were drinking from special glasses.
"This is nice. You know?" Snow commented. After everything that's happened, we haven't had time to just relax, she thought to herself.
"Yeah, we should do it more often," Regina agreed, a smile. Can't believe I have all of this, she thought to herself. After Daniel, she had been convinced that she'd never be happy again. And yet she was now married. And Snow was pregnant. Okay, she had to figure out how to get the potion into their drinks.
"Well, I think we need more chips," David announced and got up to do so. "Snow, you want anything?" The woman shook her head. "Oooh! Do we have any more of the mint ice cream?" she queried to face her husband. Seeing her chance, Regina quickly poured the potion into their glasses stirring them and watching in satisfaction as the drinks shone for a moment before returning to their normal color. I hope this works, she thought to herself as he sat back down.
"Everything okay?" David checked.
"It's fine. I think I better slow down though," she responded.
"Lightweight," he teased and she laughed.
"Not usually," she admitted. "But maybe that was because of the Curse," she continued and they nodded. Back at their place of captivity, Neal glanced at his father.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "I know she tends to do a number on you."
"And she on you," the older man responded. "Bae…what is one and done?" he queried.
"It's a promise of loyalty. He's saying he'll protect me. It's…what got me through a bad time in my life."
"And when you say it to him?"
"I'm telling him I'm loyal."
"Bae…" Loyal? This man has Baelfire's loyalty? he wondered. Something flared up inside him and recognizing it as jealousy, he pushed it down. This wasn't the time, and besides, they could use all the help they could get. After all, it wasn't like they had any room to stand on. While this was going on, Emma walked around town, looking for any sign that Zelena was around. Where is she? Could I have been wrong? she wondered.
"Savior," a clipped voice intoned and the woman turned, her magic at the ready. The redheaded woman laughed derisively. "Do you really think you can fight me?" she mocked. At Rumplestitlskin's shop, Belle frowned in confusion as the bell thumped again. Why should I ring it? she wondered. Well, other than the fact that it was being completely insistent. Well then, fine. She grabbed the bell. Regina watched as David and Snow brought their drinks to their lips. As the librarian rang the bell, a loud gong resounded. After finishing their drinks, Snow and David groaned as they felt something coursing through them. And seen by some, but unknown to others, a silver beam enveloped Storybrooke, causing a tremor to go through its residents.