Donna and Stephen; he'd gone through a lot of trouble to learn those names. He'd spent many nights spying on Jiminy Cricket and his new friend Geppetto, only to find that for once in their miserable lives Myrna and Martin had been telling the truth about the names of the "new puppets for the show." Fate worked in mysterious ways. At first, he'd lamented the loss of Martin and Myrna under his thumb, they weren't much, but at least he'd know what he was getting with the pair of them. Donna and Stephen were an unknown factor. The first time he'd made them human to assess their worth, he'd realized he was in luck. They were a young couple, so young their faces born little trace of stress or deceit. They were clean, baby-faced, and that made them easier to trust than Myrna and Martin. Though they had been good at playing the role of invalid and elderly, Donna and Stephen were welcoming, warm, and kind. They had faces that made it easy for others to have sympathy for, and trust with just a glance. And they were perfect for the job he had in mind.
In the two months since Granny's rejection, he'd learned that she was not the only werewolf in town, just the only one who didn't know or accept who she was. The Lucas Clan was a family of ten children, all of them wolves. He'd learned that every month at the full moon they left their home to go on a "hunting trip", which really meant they abandoned their home to go romp about the woods together. Happy as their little family trips seemed for them, it served a purpose for him, the small barn on their property was left unattended.
The potion that had turned Donna and Stephen into his puppets had ensured that none of their personality remained. And once he had their hearts in his hand and whispered instructions to them before placing them back in their chests, they were helpless but to do exactly as he told them to do. Stephen had one job in this, Donna had another.
Granny, he'd learned, made a living for her mother by selling pies that she made, breads as well. Every morning she took them into town hot and fresh in her little basket and stayed until they were all sold. She had a very unique strategy at the end of the day to be sure they all sold. She peddled food outside other places of business and only swore to leave when the pies were gone. The longer it took, the more of a nuisance she became. Eventually, the store owners bought her out just to make sure she'd leave.
On the final night of the full moon, he'd sent Donna into town with a horse, shapeshifted from a mouse he'd found in his castle, a cart, and a thick, heavy chain in the back. She left the cart in the square, and when Granny began to show, she pulled the chain out, only to struggle to push it back in again. He watched from the trees, underneath a heavy cloak that blocked his scent and hid most of his face. He blended in. Donna did not.
"Oh! Oh, please! Help me! Could you please help me?! Help!" Predictably, Granny, who was on her last pie of the day and just so happened to be standing outside the same store, put down her basket and came to her aid. The blessing of werewolves was that they retained certain abilities even in their human form, and he watched as Granny hefted the chain with ease. "Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!" Donna choked out as she put her hand to her chest and tried to catch her breath. "Boy…you're strong!"
"What's the chain for?" Granny questioned, ignoring her praise and looking it over in the back. He'd chosen that chain for that very reason. If she was serious about chaining herself up, he was about to find out.
"Oh, you know…this and that," Donna answered. My husband and I just moved here and we're still getting the house done."
"Why isn't he helping you?"
"Oh, he's off at work like everyone else. Men! It seems to be all the men in this town do: work!"
"Well, tonight is the night of the full moon so, actually, later, all the men will be-"
"Hunting!" Donna provided quickly. "Oh, we know, someone already told us! Can you believe it?!" Donna shook her head and put her hand on her hip. "That poor creature. I just…I feel so bad for that poor wolf. They've labeled it a beast but it just doesn't seem fair. I think half the reason it gets so riled up during the full moon is because everyone goes after it with torches and pitchforks. I mean, if you were just minding your own business and someone started chasing you, wouldn't you get a little miffed?"
"Right…" Granny muttered. Her eyes had gone dark, blurred, sort of. She appeared distant as Donna spoke, and it was exactly what he wanted. That was exactly what he'd prepared Donna for after her sympathies were made known.
"You know…I know I don't know you very well, we've…we've only just met, but you look like you could use someone to talk to?" she offered with the friendly, innocent smile he was positive Myrna could never have pulled off.
Granny's eyes focused once more, first on the chain in the back and then on the woman before her. "Oh, no, that's just…that's just how I look," she dismissed.
"Are you sure?" Donna pressed in a warm tone. "I'm a really good listener, and you did help me with this chain. We could go back to my place!" she suggested with excitement. "Maybe you could teach me how to make one of those pies, and we'll tell each other all our secrets!"
Granny gave a small snort but didn't share the same look of enthusiasm Donna did. He was worried, this had to work, it was the last night of the full moon, they couldn't keep coming up with ideas. He summoned his magic and found the magical connection that pulsed from him to Donna.
"Press harder!" he snarled under his breath.
"Oh, please!" she begged immediately. "You're the first friendly face I've met since coming here, and I haven't really had anyone to talk to myself. My husband and I live so far from town."
"Yeah, well, everyone lives far from town out here."
"Yes, I've noticed," she muttered with a wilt in her voice. "Please, I'd be glad for the company. And you know, you've sold all but one pie. We could split it! Come with me?"
Granny cast a predictable look at the mid-afternoon sky, and a few minutes later, she nodded.
That was part of the plan, but Donna's job wasn't done yet. He followed them home, but this time he stayed high up in the firm branches of the trees where he could watch their progress, and his scent would be truly distant from Granny. It was going to be a long day; he knew that much. To the average person, it might appear that he'd accomplished his goal simply by getting Granny to go with Donna, but he wasn't a simple person. He was the Dark One, and he'd already judged that Granny wasn't the type to disclose her secret to a stranger on their first meeting, no matter how sympathetic or friendly she was. No, Donna's job of kindness was only half the job, the other half was endurance. For from now until the sunset, Donna was not to leave Granny's side, no matter if she begged, yelled, screamed, hit, or ran. Ultimately it wasn't out of trust that Granny would tell her the secret; it would be out of fear.
Once they arrived at the empty Lucus house and went inside, he lounged amidst the branches and attuned his other senses to what was happening inside that house. He watched as Donna carefully shut the curtains to the outside world one by one so that she couldn't see out and as smoke began to rise from the chimney. He heard a basic conversation about how long they'd lived there, lies about how Donna and Stephen had bought the house, what they were doing to decorate it. He heard descriptions of the townspeople, stories about Granny's mother and grandmother, he even had Donna question her about the scars on her arm. Granny answered with a sad version of the story she'd told him about her brothers and father, and then…it began.
Suddenly he heard Granny's heart begin to race. She realized how late it was; she'd lost track of time, she had to go!
"No, wait…I'll take you back on the cart. Surely you can't walk home in the dark. There are wolves out!" Donna stressed as Granny stormed out of the home.
"No!" she argued sharply, "I've lived here my whole life. I'll be fine, you needn't worry."
"Your word doesn't prevent it! And…I can't. I can't let you walk back by yourself. I'll walk with you."
"No! No, you can't!" Granny insisted, finally turning around to face her. If not for his perfect eyesight, it would have been difficult to see them in the dying light, the woman must have known that.
"Why can't I?"
"You just, you can't!" he watched as Granny began to jog away. But Donna, helpless against his wishes, jogged along beside her.
"What I can't do is let you go out there by yourself! Not this late, not with wolves and a hunting party out there!"
"Stop! You don't understand; you can't be around me right now, it's dangerous!"
"Dangerous? I've just spent the afternoon with you, what's dangerous?"
The woman was on edge, very aware of the path the moon was taking, and with his magic he created a howl that rose up in some distant place in the forest that made the young women stop in their tracks. She looked around with wide, terrified eyes. It was too late. And now her eyes fell on the cart by the door still weighed down by the heavy chain that Granny had helped lift. It was a perfect temptation. Just as he'd planned.
"Donna…I need your help!" she exclaimed suddenly, reaching out to take her hands.
"Yes, of course, anything, you need only ask."
"I need you to do something for me that's going to sound crazy, no questions asked."
Donna swallowed as if nervous, but the flicker of kindness never went out in her eyes. She was, in many ways, the perfect puppet. "Ask," she urged.
"I need you to take that chain you got at the market and chain me up inside your barn, make sure all the animals are out and don't come back until morning. No questions asked, can you do it?"
"Are…are you sure?"
"Yes! Can you do it?"
Of course, she could. It was the plan all along. If Granny found anything suspicious about the easy agreement, then she didn't mention it as the women hulled the chain into the barn together. A few minutes later only Donna emerged holding the key she'd used to lock her away. She closed the door behind her and locked it. Task complete, her shoulders instantly straightened, the kindness in her eyes evaporated into blankness, and the personality he'd given her faded. She walked with unnatural precision back to the house to await her next orders. Her job was done, and marvelously so, but he he'd worry about turning her back into a doll later because Stephen's job was only just beginning.
He'd sent him to work in the fields that day, to chop wood as Alexandra's husband would and then instructed him to join the hunt for the wolf for a very specific purpose.
"Hey, did you hear that?" he questioned, pulling Jethero to the side of the group. When he found the group, there were perhaps twenty of them, and they were going in the wrong direction. But he wasn't worried Stephen had his orders.
"Hear what?" Jethero asked, looking annoyed.
"That howl…hey, listen…I hear they are offering twelve shillings to anyone who can kill this wolf!"
That caught his attention. "Twelve shillings…I've never heard that before…who are you? I've never seen you before."
"I'm new here, just got into town today actually. But I've been hunting since I was six so when I heard about the search party, I knew I had to leave my wife at home and help. It's my duty, you know." In the treetops above, Rumpelstiltskin let out a small snort. Stephen did play his role well, though he had to admit that the bow and arrow he'd given him to hold certainly helped him look the part, especially next to the others who held only heavy branches for bludgeoning and pitchforks. Jethero seemed impressed. "So, when was the last time anyone killed one of these things?"
Jerthero shrugged. "Never, it's eluded us for years."
Stephen let out a sigh and shook his head. "They're going the wrong direction…"
"Okay…well then let's tell them and-"
"No!" he hissed before pulling Jethero to the side, away from the rest of the group blindly trampling through the forest. "We tell the group, and we have to split those shillings with everyone, we'll be lucky to keep two pence for ourselves, but…if we go together…" Stephen breathed before looking him over first with skepticism, then with judgment. The look he gave afterward suggested that Jethero was lacking but would do for the task at hand, and by the look on his face, it seemed like Jethero read that look as easily as if he'd said it. "Listen, I'm new here, I don't know this forest, but I bet you do. Help me capture this creature and make sure I don't get lost along the way, and we'll split the reward money, fifty-fifty."
Stephen straightened the quiver of arrows on his back before offering his hand to Jethero. There was a pause that he hadn't counted on, he figured a lowlife like Jethero would be pleased to take up such a deal without a second thought, but he did think about it for a few moments before he finally put his hand in Stephen's they shook with a nod.
"Fifty-fifty…" he agreed. Some people would do anything for money.
He followed them as they went in the opposite direction of the group, who didn't even seem to notice they were gone, only instead of hiding in the trees, he walked a fair distance behind them, darting behind trees whenever he got a moment. Unlike the women who were chatty, the men were quieter but strategic. As they wandered, Jethero provided the little bit of intel he could about where they were, who the property belonged to, what they were hearing, and Stephen provided an appropriate amount of bull shit regarding what he really didn't know about hunting a werewolf. All he did know was that they were nearing the property they were supposed to be at, and he knew it without Jethero having to say "we're right at the edge of the Lucas property, poor goat farmers, I think they sell milk and make cheese at the market, but I haven't seen them the last few days, and they never go on this hunt with us. They're reclusive and sort of-"
"Shh!" Stephen finally hissed as they made their way to the edge of the treeline so that the barn and house were both in sight. He was thankful that Granny was silent inside that barn, it hadn't dawned on him until this moment he should have put a silencing charm over it.
"What?"
"Hush!" Stephen insisted. "Stop moving!" With perfect fluidity, he reached over his shoulder, drew out an arrow, and notched it as Jethero stopped and watched him with scared eyes. Stephen remained vigilant, looking about, or at least appearing to look about and listen to everything. "I think…maybe…it's behind us…" he finally whispered.
"What?!"
"Shh!"
Rumpelstiltskin smirked as he stepped forward onto a branch he saw lying on the ground and deliberately let it snap. Jethero jumped. He looked over his shoulder and began to whimper when his pathetic human eyes turned up only darkness.
"When I give the word, run as fast as you can to the nearest shelter, don't look back, don't do anything until I come for you, am I clear?"
Jethero nodded quickly, his entire body trembling. Miserable, adulterating cur.
"On the count of three. One…two…three…go! Run!" Stephen cried as the pair of them took off in the direction of the Lucas barn. Stephen ran with him for a bit, until Jethero broke through the treeline. "That barn! There! Go!" he had Stephen shout, then, just because he could Rumple waved his arm and Stephen dropped to the ground with his quiver and bow, only now, Stephen was only a puppet of wood again. It was an easy disappearing act, but simple enough that when Jethero got to the door and looked back for Stephen, he was terrified to see him gone. He made a small noise of fear as he lifted the lock, opened the barn door, and quickly closed it behind him. Only then did Rumpelstiltskin emerge from the shadows and cast a new spell over the entrance to ensure that it was well and truly locked.
He smiled as a feeling of satisfaction passed over him. One monster had taken refuge from another in a barn without knowing the real terror was inside. It was a plan well executed.
He'd barely had time to smile with pride before the screaming began.
There is still one last chapter in this "episode that never was", but this is not the last appearance of the dolls! They are going to be with us and useful for another month or two, but they have run their coarse in this section for now. I hope you like how I used them and can see how they might be useful in other chapters. My only regret with them here would be that if I was writing the series, I would have had his "episode" come before Jiminy's so that Rumple using dolls would have come as a surprise twist and it could have been their backstory as well. But there's nothing that can be done about that, I worked with what I had!
Thank you, Enomisje, Jennifer Baratta, and Grace5231973, for your reviews on the last chapter! I'm so glad that I caught some of you by surprise! How does this chapter do for surprises? Did you think the dolls might be used in this way? Did you like it? How do you feel about this little twist in Granny's tale? Let me know, and I'll see you in the next chapter when we find out how Granny feels about it! Spoiler alert...she's not happy. Peace and Happy Reading!
