Chapter 7: A Belle by any other name would act as treacherous

Spite feeds hatred to make an unhealthy concoction under the guise of justice

It would be another hour after they finally managed to get the dragon knocked out.

Mostly due to Regina.

Her disguise had been a moot point, and Snow was now staring at her nemesis for the past couple of years with a barely disguised fear.

Then again, she had saved their hides by whipping up a spell to get the dragon to fall asleep. The hard part had been trying to aim it at the volatile dragon's nostrils.

"So this is the Regina you were searching for?" Snow finally asked.

Emma nodded, pulling Regina closer to her. Regina let herself burrow deeper into Emma's arms.

They were currently sitting around the fire along with Red. It was late, Henry was asleep, and most of the guards had left to get their wounded some medical attention back in Snow's kingdom.

A handful were left to guard the campsite. Allowing Snow to focus on digesting this new information.

Or trying to.

"And you are the same Regina who barged into my castle those years ago?" Snow turned to Regina.

Regina nodded. "Though I beg to differ on the barging. I respectfully asked for a meeting which you granted."

Snow scoffed. "You burned my curtains and cursed my husband!"

"I was somewhat overwhelmed!" Regina hissed, sitting up and clenching her teeth.

"You could've apologized!" Snow retorted.

"I tried! But you wouldn't listen, and instead branded me the name of Evil Queen. Certainly a move worthy of the paragon of peace in this land." Regina sneered and leant back once again, crossing her arms.

Red cleared her throat. "I may not know much, but it does seem like she is trying to make amends, Snow. And she is Emma's long-lost wife."

Snow whipped around to face her friend as if she had grown another head. "You really have become tame all those years in this other land."

"Probably," Red shrugged.

"Okay, we can figure that out later. Now we have to find Lacey. What exactly happened?" Emma interjected.

Snow sighed. "It seems that Lacey wasn't as benevolent as we believed. She is angry and has a grudge to work out."

When they had finally reached their camp, they all went to sit by the fire pit. Although it was still daylight, the wood stumps around provided ample relief.

"So Belle- Lacey," Snow quickly corrected at the glare from the other woman, "I'm still confused by what happened."

Lacey tilted her head. "What do you mean? Time passes differently in that world, and I was separated from Emma for a long time. What else is there to get?"

Snow nodded. "Right, but you clearly did find her, you managed to get the book to her. So why didn't you get her back?"

Shifting around her stump, Lacey said, "I told you. The system is complicated, and Emma was already weary. She wouldn't have trusted me."

Red piped up. "Still doesn't explain why it seems you didn't even try."

Lacey looked completely miffed. "Do you really not trust me?"

"Well you did keep my daughter in a strange land for over three decades!" Snow exclaimed.

"And I repeat that it wasn't my fault!" Lacey was quick to defend herself.

"Okay, say for a second all of that is true," Red said, bringing her hands up. "Why transfer your powers to Emma. How do you benefit from it?"

Lacey let out a humourless laugh. "Great, now I am the enemy. Just as I figured. All any of you ever cared about were my powers. Rumple was right."

"Rump- what does the imp have to do with any of this?" Red asked.

Shooting up from her seat, Lacey began pacing. "Many years ago, I met him. He showed me the truth. And I took it all into my hands."

Snow was getting worried. "Belle, what did you do?"

"My name is Lacey, you puffed up dandelion!" Bringing her her forefinger and thumb in a circle to her mouth, she blew a whistle.

At first nothing happened.

And then a huge roar reverberated all around the campsite.

"And you know the rest." Snow looked away and sighed.

Emma was finding it hard to swallow. "So Lacey...purposefully did this? She's working for him?"

Red nodded. "It appears so."

"It all makes sense," Snow muttered. "She came to us one night, claimed she had reliable information that the imp was trying to use Emma for something. We believed her...she was a Silvertongue. Why would she lie to us, knowing the kind of things the imp had done to her kind? She had told us she had escaped from his clutches by teaming up with the other captured Silvertongues and reading her freedom."

"Please, you have to believe me," the woman in front of them looked like she had been through hell, and both Snow and Charming had taken pity on her.

"Let's eat, then you can tell us everything," Charming said, holding his arm out to help their guest walk. "What's your name?"

"Belle, your Majesty," the woman said, taking the proffered arm and limping alongside the strong monarch, while Snow put a comforting arm around Belle's other shoulder.

Once she had consumed sufficient food for a small army, she got to explaining. "I was part of a group of Silvertongues captured by the imp. My friends and I concocted a plan. We would etch out words to escape. Our elders volunteered to stay behind, knowing they'd just slow us down."

"And where are the others?" Charming asked, looking around as if he just wasn't seeing them.

Belle shook her head. "The imp caught on to our plans. He burst in just as I was speaking. I waited for a few days, but no one came. But I knew I had to see your Majesties."

Snow looked alarmed. "Why? You said you had pertinent information?"

"Yes. Your child."

Instinctively, Snow put her hand to her chest and Charming put his hand on his sword.

Continuing, Belle explained, "The imp believes that your child, conceived out of the truest love, could be useful for him. He plans to use her for something. You have to protect her. He would be unstoppable, and that would be a nightmare for all of us."

Both monarchs agreed. "But what can we do? Do you have any idea what he could want with her?"

Here Belle looked lost. "I have no idea. We just overheard bits and pieces from his attempts to interrogate us."

Snow looked solemnly at her husband. "We have to get her out of here."

Charming nodded. "We could take her to my mother's-"

"No!" Belle interrupted. When her hosts looked at her puzzled, she added, "You don't understand. His reach is beyond anything you can imagine. We need to take her where he can't follow."

"Where?" Snow was desperate for an answer.

Belle looked timid as she suggested, "We have heard of a land unlike anything else. It is a land where magic doesn't exist. She could be taken there."

"And uproot our entire lives?" Snow's voice betrayed how torn she felt.

"No, you two would have to part ways with her," Belle said.

"Out of the question!" Charming thundered.

"Please listen to me!" Belle pleaded. "You know that that monster would do anything to get what he wants. So we remove the thing he wants the most, your child. And then in a couple of years, we can return, safe from harm, and hopefully to a land where the imp has been defeated. And you can continue with your child, not a fear in the world."

It did sound tempting. But, "How long would we be talking about?"

Belle shrugged. "Perhaps a decade to be on the safe side."

"Once again, not a chance," Charming countered.

"Then eight years. If you don't wait long enough, he will bide his time. You must act now. This is for the good of your child."

Both of the monarchs knew that. "But it's our child, and sending her away by herself for so many years to a land we have no idea of…"

"She wouldn't be alone. I'd go with her," Belle added. "I'd protect her. I'd make sure to teach her about you, keep the memory of you alive, so that when we return when the time is right, she will reintegrate without a problem. It'll be like a really long vacation for her."

"We stupidly believed her, and you had immediately taken to her, so we figured we had put you in good hands. If we had known…" Snow broke down crying.

Emma excused herself to Regina and went to hug her mother in a fairly emotional moment. Knowing what had truly happened really put some perspective on her bitterness for being left alone for her childhood.

"I am so sorry Emma, I hope you'll be able to forgive us," Snow tearfully said.

Not trusting her voice, Emma just nodded.

Feeling somewhat out of place, Regina turned to Red. "Emma mentioned you and Lacey had been captured by the imp? Was Lacey faking it?"

Red hummed. "If I had to guess, I'd say she was working by herself. Maybe the imp had shown her the truth and she had actually escaped under the guise of a partnership, but really she had her own motives."

"Like making me the last Silvertongue," Emma muttered.

Regina nodded solemnly. "And with Lacey our sole ticket out of here…"

Snow frowned. "Hang on, couldn't we just create another author? We can just have Emma read another author into existence."

Red shook her head. "I'm fairly certain that Lacey has created some meta rules with that book of hers. She wrote it with a special quill."

"And where is that quill?" Regina asked.

"Probably in our world," Emma said. "So I guess that settles it. We have to find Lacey and convince her that whatever she's about to do is a fool's errand."

"Well, we know what she is about to do," Red said. "She's going to kill the imp."