Aldara came back into the small front room carrying to hot cups of coffee. She placed the cup in front of Regina who thanked her with a small smile. Aldara placed hers on the coaster on the table before sitting back down. She took a deep breath. She didn't know where to begin to tell Regina about her life. Sometimes is all bundled up in her head and she couldn't remember details that at the time would have been or at least seemed important but she decided she wanted her mother to know how she became the person she did.
Regina was watching her with curious eyes. Aldara took a deep breath. Some parts of this story were directly focused on getting revenge on her mother and she was worried it would change their progress.
" The woman who took me in was known in the area for 'fixing' problems of the towns people that would come to visit her on a daily business. Wanting a way out of the issues that usually were their own fault. A bad deal with the dark one was a recurrence. She would tell them she knew exactly what they needed and that she could help them… If they paid her well enough. This would mean sending me out to do her dirty deeds for her but the rest of my time was spent locked up in a small room which contained a small rough blanked and a ratty old pillow for my bed and a broken oil lamp that leaked a little just enough for it to keep me awake with worry that it would set my bedroom on fire and kill me before I even realised I was burning." Aldara said thinking back to the daily nightmare she would have because or it.
" At the age of ten I snuck out and went into the nearby village. It wasn't the most picturesque place, half of the buildings were falling apart and homeless people had set up camp in a few different places. I walked through the streets in hopes I would find somewhere I could hide away. I can across an elderly man and his dog. At this point I had become quite the little thief but I only stole food for myself and I happened to have a few scraps on me. The dog must have been starving because it slowly walked over to me leaving the side of the elderly man who watched it with sad, lonely eyes. As it approached me I panicked a little but slowly realised that it meant no harm to me. I bent down slowly and stroked its tattered fur. It sniffed me and my bag of goods. I couldn't see this poor thing suffer anymore it was starved and looked like it hadn't seen a good meal in a long time. I fished into my bag and pulled out a little chicken I had managed to grab of a woman selling in the small village. I held my hand out with the food on it for the dog. It sniffed it cautiously but deciding that it was safe, it neatly took the food of me. Its tail started to wag a little and it had looked up at me with eyes full of hope. I looked at the old man who also looked starved. I pulled a little more meat out but also pulled out some bread and made my way over to him. I held it out to him nervously. He smiled kindly at me and took it gratefully. He thanked me and took a large bite out of it. I was just about to walk away when he stopped me. " Aldara said remembering his lonely eyes filled with gratitude.
" He quickly looked through a tatty looking bag next to him and pulled out a small book. He handed it to me with a small smile. The book was called 'magic for those who know not of its power'. I looked up with sad eyes to the kind old man and shook my head and told him I didn't know how to read. He had patted the space next to him. With confused and cautious movements I took a seat next to him. He opened the book and began reading to me. I was so engrossed in his words that neither of us moved for at least five hours. It wasn't until my eyes could no longer stay open that he stopped. He had told me to go back home and come back the next morning with more food for his dog and he would teach me more. I loved the idea so obviously I said goodbye to him and his lovely dog who had had its head rested on my legs all afternoon. I walked back home that night with a smile on my face. It was the first time I could remember feeling hope. So from the on, unless the old witch didn't require my assistance I would head into town scavenge as much food as I could and find the old man and his dog." Aldara said smiling at the memory of the first kindness she had seen in the world. Regina had no idea which village she talked about and knew nothing of the Oldman and his dog.
She was glad to know someone had been looking after her daughter though and wished she knew how to say thank you.
"Soon enough I was reading to him instead and he lent me a few books. Every single one of them was about magic. So I became curious and started to experiment with what I had read. I slowly learnt how to heal wounds and make elixirs that could cure small ills. I continued to give the man food and no one ever caught me stealing because it was only ever small amounts here and there. Sometimes I would take things from home to give him and his dog too. Soon enough the three of us had become very close. This old man and his dog were my best friend. " Aldara took in a deep breath before she continued knowing the next bit was difficult to talk about.
" I was twelve when it happened. I was on my way over to the old man when I heard this booming, intimidating voice. I had spotted a few queerly dressed men on horseback. Each armed, each one looking more vicious than the last. I had hidden somewhere so I could watch what was happening. The entire village was grouped up the old man and his dog included. I could see a large dark carriage. This woman who was wearing fine dark robes and looked utterly terrifying stepped out of it and made her way over to the village people. I knew straight away that this was our Queen, the woman everyone I had crossed seemed to be terrified of. I stayed way back not wanting to be see or caught by her. She began to ask if anyone had seen Snow white around the village. To the best of my knowledge the young woman had never stepped a foot into the village, perhaps I was wrong because I didn't hang around the village much but no one else seemed to think she'd been there either. Sadly the old man I had been learning with was the only person to confront the Queen. He told her that no one had seen the girl but if they had they still wouldn't have told her anything. Obviously the Queen didn't like this answer and some of the villagers were not happy with it either. The Queen made her knights pull the man out of the group and made him kneel in front of her. His poor, loyal dog followed his owner wanting to protect him. The dog grew unsettled and started acting viciously towards her knowing his owner felt threatened. The Queen with no remorse told her knights to shut the dog up… So they did permanently. The old man's face went through many emotions; sadness, hatred, regret and anger at the Queen. He looked up at her, his eyes flaming with hatred and called her a heartless bitch who would never know a love as pure as the one he had felt for his companion and best friend. The Queen had chucked at him in a soft but menacing tone. And said 'thank god for that'. I was sitting in the bushes feeling so angry that suddenly my hands started to tingle, scared of what might happen I quickly bolted away unable to face what happened next. But I heard the snap of his neck as I ran back home. That was the night I killed the old witch." Aldara finished her story for the time being not wanting to continue because her eyes had began to sting. She wasn't ready to let Regina see her with her defences down just yet.
Regina looked unsettled at the sad expression that sat on her daughters face. She could now recall the village and the old man. At the time she had thought nothing of it, her darkened heart unable to express remorse but now it felt like someone had taken her heart out and given it a tight squeeze. She felt tears ready to fall but was determined not to let them. She let the guilt swim through her body but knew that crying about it was the wrong thing to do at this moment. She was the murder here, no one should pity her and her actions.
"I'm sorry Aldara, it's all my fault. I took away your friends and I will never be able to fix that but I want you to know how sorry I really am. The woman I once was all though she is still fighting to get out, will never get control of me again. That is a promise." Regina said as she lent forward and gently place a hand on her daughter's knee. Aldara looked up to her with dark eyes.
" I don't want an apology mother, I just want you to know that you hurt me in more ways than one. It's taking a lot of my self control to forgive you. It's going to take some time before I can fully trust you." Aldara told her honestly not wanting her to think everything was forgiven. It was hard for her to accept the person her mother once was. It was a daily battle with herself to let Regina into her life.
" I have a lot of stuff going on today, so I'm going to leave you to calm down. But I truly am sorry Aldara. If there's anything, anything at all I can do for you please don't resist the urge to ask me. I'm here for you now." Regina said needing to leave before she could no longer control her sadness toward the hurt that was apparent on her daughters face." I never want to hurt you again"
Regina got up and went to the door. She took a step out into the cool morning air and dragged in a deep breath. She magicked her way to the library. She needed to find a way for her daughter to reunite with her family.
Regina decided she would take refuge in her lare. She still felt rough from the night before. She wasn't one to drink much so her head had been in agony all day and her stomach felt rather unsettled. She was still dressed in her clothes from the night before. She was in too much pain to be bothered by her messy hair and crumpled clothing. She was surprised Emma hadn't made a remark about it the night before. At least she could remember that the princess had proposed to her. That definitely something she always wanted to remember.
She had invited them to drink in her pit the night before so the floor was littered with bottles. She began to clean up the mess begrudgingly. The pounding in her head wasn't softening she wondered in Aldara was feeling bad as her but she knew that the younger girl probably hadn't actually drunk. She vaguely remembered her refusing her glass of wine and then drowning in herself…
It probably hadn't been her smartest move. Sure they had, had a lot of fun but Regina knew that it wasn't enough for her to turn to the dark side. She wanted Emma to be proud of her, but she wasn't sure that the blond would have felt pride last night if she had seen how drunk she had managed to get. Luckily by the time they had gotten back to Aldaras she had sobered up quite a bit. She smiled to herself, remembering how perfect the night had ended. She couldn't stop thinking about how beautiful Emma had looked in the moonlight.
She was interrupted from her daydream when Maleficent decided to interrupt them rudely.
"Sorry we couldn't stay to clean" She said as she walked towards Regina who breathed out heavily. Regina placed the bottles she had just taken off the floor and placed them back on herself.
"Oh, that's okay" She said before turning to face the dragon lady. " You need the beauty sleep more than I do" Regina sneered knowing that was what maleficent would expect from her and she loved the excuse to let her bitchy side flow a little. Maleficent glared at her softly. She hung her gray coat over her arm and stepped closer to Regina who was taking a seat on the bench beside her.
"It's good to see you again, Regina" Maleficent said to her, looking the brunette up and down " Hope you had fun last night" Her voice taking on a slightly menacing tone.
"Last night yes, this morning?.. No" Regina said shaking her head. She definitely wasn't lying to her old friend. Not that she entirely meant the drinking session with her old buddies but sure she had to admit it was rather fun at the time.
"Mmm, maybe I can help" Maleficent said reaching into her coat pocket. " With this world's version of magic." She handed Regina a couple of aspirins. Regina was reluctant to take them knowing her old friend. "Don't worry. They're not poison. There aspirin. They help with the pain."
" I know what they are. It's just you're not usually nice." Regina said holding out her hand to take them. Maleficent walked in front of Regina.
"Nice has nothing to do with it" The blonde said walking towards Regina's mirror. " I need you sharp tonight."
"For what?" Regina asked taken by surprise at the woman's words. Maleficent was fixing her hair in the mirror. "More games?"
" No, no more games" Maleficent said turning from the mirror to face her. She walked away from it. " You want to know why we're in this town?" She said walking back to the arch way and leaned against it facing Regina who turned away to hide her face. " The fact is, we are after the same thing as you… The Author." She told Regina, whos eyes widened in surprise at her words. Perhaps they could be useful after all but there was something that worried her.
" How do you know about the Author?" Regina asked her turning around to face the woman behind her. Them knowing about it would only mean trouble.
"Rumplestiltskin. He spilled the whole story to Cruella in New York." Maleficent told her glad to know she had caught the Queens attention.
"Well, good luck finding him. I've been looking for months." Regina told her knowing that finding the Author seemed to be impossible. She wanted more than anything to find out why she had decided to get rid of her memories of her daughter and yet there was nothing. She knew he had to be somewhere but finding him revealed itself to be a very difficult task.
"But you've been going about it all wrong. What you need are some new allies. With new leads on this Author." Maleficent said taking a step closer to Regina. Regina intrigued by the woman's suggestion began stepping closer herself.
"And these new leads, do they have anything to do with this powerful magic you're hiding?" Regina asked wanting answers to her question. She knew if Maleficent wanted she could ruin her town. She needed to find out what they were hiding from her.
"Before I let you in on that secret, I've got a little job for you and don't forget to bring along that daughter of yours, she had quite the spark." Maleficent told her. Regina knew nothing good could come of this but she also knew she had no choice if she wanted to find out what they were up too.
Later that night, Regina took a trip to the library hoping to do some more research on getting them to the Enchanted Forest to find Aldara's family. She knew how to get there but she was struggling to see how they would find them. She wanted to get to the mas fast as she could she hated to know how much her daughter was hurting without them. For years she had wanted to see them again and Regina knew if she looked hard enough she would find the answer to the heard the library door open and waited for Emma to find her in.
"Hey, were here" She heard David say, rolling her eyes she walked out from behind the shelf she had been looking through.
"I said we needed to meet covertly. Now I see you brought the entire charming softball team and their pirate mascot?" Regina said annoyed that they hadn't gotten her message. The last thing she wanted was for Maleficent to find out she was batting for the heroes now.
" We were worried about you." Snow said to her in a tone that suggested she didn't quite trust that Regina was on their side still.
"Well, then worry quickly. I can't be seen with all of you." Regina told them hoping that this wouldn't blow her cover. Emma was looking at her worriedly. Regina knew the blond was missing her because she was missing her too but as for the rest of them…
" Regina, listen to me. This is a bad idea. This woman, this dragon, she's dangerous. And you don't know the first thing about going undercover." Emma said to her, Regina was hurt by her words but didn't show her that instead she got a little defencive.
" I'm a quick study, and Maleficent already told me why they're here. Apparently, they're after the Author too. I simply want to find out what happened with Aldara and me." Regina told them hoping that the news would cool them down a little but also knew that the next thing she had to say would probably not help that.
"What do they want?" Emma asked knowing the answer she was going to get wasn't going to be good. She knew the score by now.
" They want to shift the entire balance. So that Villains win and Heroes lose. They feel the only way to get their happy ending, is to destroy yours." Regina told them in a tense tone. She could see the faces of the charmings fall in disbelief. Regina knew if they managed to get to the author it would mean everything they had all built would be ruined.
"Do you think they can find the Author?" Emma asked hoping the answer was no but knowing that it probably wasn't that easy. It never was.
"They have a lead, we don't. And tonight, they want Aldara and me to help them steal it." Regina told them, their faces all looked troubled. This could mean that the bad guys could actually win and this time that meant their entire life stories would change completely. "Whatever it is."
"I'm telling you, these things never end well." Emma said still concerned about regina and her safety. She knew if they found out what she was doing they wouldn't even pause before ripping out the love of her life's heart. Emma could also see that Regina was scared too by what she had ahead of her but she also knew that she wouldn't let that stop her from doing what she needed to do.
"I understand your concern, but I'm in."Regina told her wanting Emma to understand she wasn't giving up this opportunity to take those three down. She more than anyone didn't want them to mess around with the book. Sure she had a really bad start and it took her a long time to become the person she was today but she didn't want to lose Emma, Henry or Aldara because the Sea bitch, puppy killer and Maleficent had decided they wanted a win.
"Okay, well, then I'm in too." Emma told Regina knowing the brunette wouldn't like that but Emma wasn't going to let Regina be in danger by herself. If needs be, she wanted to be there if Regina needed her to be.
"What?" Regina said surprised at Emma but knowing she shouldn't have been. She didn't want Emma getting hurt and her being around them would most likely not end well for either of them. She knew her girlfriend just wanted to protect her but she also knew Emma being spotted would make matters a whole lot worse for all of them.
"I'm gonna stick by you. I'm gonna get your back while you do this." Emma said. She wasn't going to give in. There was no way that she would let Regina walk head first into the flames and not be there for her. She had promised her she would be there for her.
"No, it's too dangerous." Regina told her, she knew Emma was stubborn and chances are she wasn't going to back down. But having her there scared Regina she didn't want Emma getting hurt, she was smart enough and strong enough to do this. Emma knew this too but she wasn't taking any chances.
"I said I was a part of operation mongoose. I'm a part of it. I am also very much in love with you and if anything happened to either you or Aldara, I wouldn't be able to look Henry in the eye and tell him I could have helped you but I didn't. You wanted my help, now you're gonna get it. No matter what it means for both of us. Also I'm your partner and as your partner is my job to keep you safe. So whatever she has planned tonight. I'll be there." Emma told her, nothing Regina was going to say would change her mind and the brunette knew that.
That night Regina and Aldara stood outside the Library waiting for Maleficent to meet her. It was a windy night so they had wrapped up warm. Emma waited in Davids truck which she had borrowed know that they would spot her Taxi yellow beetle a mile off. Regina looked over to her. Her expression half angry, half petrified of what would happen if they were found out. Aldara was stood there shuffling her feet trying to keep warm and also nervous about what Maleficent had planned for them. She wasn't like them, sure she liked being a little mischievous now and again but when did it cross the line over to blatant evil. She was sure whatever they had planned for them tonight would be crossing that line.
In the distance they heard a car engine, they could see Cruella's car driving towards them down the street. Emma must have spotted it too because her head had whipped around to look at it also. The car pulled up in front of them and the doors flicked open…
There was no one in the car. The fluffy red seats where empty. Aldara and Regina looked at each other confused.
"Ready to take a drive" Maleficent's voice came from behind them making Aldara jump a little but she tried her best to hide it. Regina looked at Aldara then at Maleficent.
"You want us to get in that?" Regina asked her not really wanting to be anywhere near the car that had no driver at the wheel and yet still managed to drive to them.
"Cruella enchanted it to drive itself, or you could take the wheel if you prefer." Maleficent told her with a smirk. Regina smiled at this.
"Yes, I'd very much prefer." Regina said not admitting it but she didn't trust Cruella's magic at all. The woman wasn't the most gifted witch. Also and she had always been curious to see what it was like to drive.
"Where are the other two?" Aldara asked Maleficent curious as to why it was only the dragon there.
"Don't worry about them. It's just you, your mother and me, perhaps it will feel like the old times" Maleficent said it a menacing smirk on her face. Aldara didn't really know what she meant by this but didn't have a chance to ask before Regina walked towards the car and got in. Maleficent followed and Aldara cautiously and anxiously did the same.
Emma followed Cruella's car through Storybrooke, using Regina's phone's GPS signal to make sure she was going the right way.
Regina pulled car up to where Maleficent told her to stop.
"We're here"Maleficent told her as the car came to a halt. Regina looked at where they were knowing straight away where they were. She knew the town like the back of her hand.
"This can't be right. This is Marco's house, the town handyman. The only magical object you'll find here is duct tape." Regina said thoroughly confused by their destination.
"I assure you, there's something far more valuable. Actually, someone…" Maleficent said turning to face Regina who was starting to realise what her old friend meant. "That naughty little piece of pine he calls a son."
"The magical object you're after is Pinocchio?" Regina said knowing why Maleficent would want him but also not wanting to steal a young boy away from his father into the hands of these criminals.
"He has information about the author, and we intend to make him tell us." Maleficent said to her in a dark voice. Regina knew this was going to go badly. She looked at Aldara who looked shocked at Maleficent's words. Where they really going to kidnap a child just so these bitches could twist information out of him. She knew they were evil but this was getting barbaric.
"Which would be a good plan if i hadn't tried already." Regina told them knowing that the young boy remembered nothing and also that his father wasn't happy with her attempt. She had been horrid to the young boy being so desperate to find the author. " He doesn't remember anything"
"Maybe the trouble was you not asking your questions more forcefully." Maleficent said matter of factly like they were talking about a young child. Regina and Aldara had to hide the anger at this woman's words.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Regina asked her hating the fact that they had discovered this at all. The last thing she wanted was to harm the kid but she knew if Cruella was involved that would be what happened.
"I'm beginning to worry Cruella and Ursula were right. You've spent so much time around heroes, you've forgotten who you really are." Maleficent told Regina who was angered by her words. Regina couldn't help but take offence to her words.
"I'd be careful questioning my commitment." Regina said, she saw Aldara flinch behind her. She hadn't seen this side of Regina since she had come to Storybrooke it scared her a little because she could see the Evil Queen behind her mother's eyes. She wanted to be able to separate that image from Regina. If she stood any chance at forgiving her she needed to know that woman was gone.
"You want to prove to me you're the Evil Queen I remember, go inside there now and steal that little boy." The dragon demanded. Aldara looked at her mother's face but instead of the refusal she wanted to see she saw determination. She knew this night was only going to end one way. With her and Regina braking in to Marco's house and kidnapping Pinocchio.
