He had been waiting for this day for over a year now. He'd been watching his cauldron and casting his spell for unpaid debts over and over again in anticipation of this precise moment. The moment Cora stood before an entire court of royals, held her baby up to them, and they bowed. It had been a couple of months since she'd had the child, he knew that. Of course, it would have been a sweet moment to arrive the very day she'd given birth to the girl and kill Cora then, but he'd decided this would be sweeter.
Let her see. Let her see exactly what she had traded him for, let her have exactly what she'd wanted and feel nothing for the heart that beat in her chest was no longer present! And then let her feel him crack those bones in her neck so that he might look into her eyes as it all faded away. That was what he'd wanted. Truly and more than anything else on this planet. He wanted to make her feel all the pain that she'd caused him, all the humiliation, all the foolishness. He wanted her to die knowing that he had won, that he had her child in his grasp, and she had nothing.
He waited, of course, until she and Prince Henry had returned to their own estate after the presentation. He hadn't had much choice. He'd set foot in Xavier's castle only once since Cora had dismissed him, and it was to check to see if that globe he'd seen in the library was still present. Not only had he learned it was gone, but he'd also learned that after the wedding, Cora had insisted upon further guards. The castle was crawling with them and as wonderful as it would be to kill her before them, it wouldn't have been smart. He needed access to her child, and if he did something so blatant, they would hide the girl away and protect her from him. He simply couldn't have that. So he let them think they were safe, he stayed far away until they returned to their private estate. Cora thought she was clever, placing the same spell on the Estate that he himself had placed over the King's Castle to ensure no one could hear their conversations. But even she could keep every mirror and reflective surface in the castle covered to shut him out completely. He might not have been able to hear because of her spell, but he'd watched as she'd grown pregnant and given birth. After the girl had been born, he'd watched as they traveled back to the King's castle for her Coronation Ceremony, the moment she was introduced, by name, to the Kingdom.
Regina. Her name was Regina, just as his foresight had told him. True, no sound came from the cauldron because of his spell, but he'd been able to recognize the name on Cora's lips the moment she held her up to greet the people. And so, the first born of Princess Cora was living, now it was his job to ensure that she studied and stay on the path that might lead her to magic. It was also his job to ensure that her mother never had any more children beyond her for no other purpose than the fact that he wanted her to suffer as he had.
On the night that they returned to their estate, he snuck inside. The property was quiet. He'd chosen this night in anticipation that the household, Cora included, might be tired from their travel. Obviously, he'd done a fair job of reassuring them that he no longer cared for Cora; otherwise, there would have been guards everywhere. As it was, when he entered the baby's nursery that night, he found only one maid sitting with the slumbering child as she read a book. A wave of his hand froze her before she could look up at him, and then he felt, tasted really, that familiar swell of Cora's magic. It came from a crystal he saw now, sitting at the other end of the room that glowed red for a brief moment before it died. Cora had given him up it seemed, but it also appeared she'd stayed actively engaged in her magical education. The crystal was a simple spell meant to sense Dark Magic like his own and alert the holder of a smaller piece crystal to its presence. Perhaps he hadn't done as well a job of chasing them off his scent as he thought he had. It appeared Cora, at least, knew he'd come. The Miller's Daughter was nothing if not clever. Always.
Sure enough, a few seconds after he stepped into the room and took the baby in his arms, the small flare of magic he felt was nothing compared to the wave that signified Cora's arrival. Not by a door or even a window, but by magic.
"You knew I'd come," he muttered, his back to her as he stared into the face of the sleeping babe. The Seer had nothing to say about it at the moment, but then at the moment, Regina was also entirely unremarkable. She was an ordinary babe as Baelfire had once been, turning her head into his chest as she slept on, seeking out any warmth the world had to offer. As a child, she could do nothing; it was as an adult that she would do everything.
"Somehow I knew you'd come lurking when she was born…though I did think it would be sooner than this," Cora stated behind him.
The room was dark other than the fire that highlighted small tufts of Regina's hair that he knew would fall out and someday become black as her mother's. She had that delicate look about her that all babies had, the small hands the rounded mouth the tiny toes and chubby arms that made them look like they were far more breakable than he'd learned they were when Baelfire was first born. But she didn't have the feel of being delicate. She had the feel of her mother. There was magic in this child, handed down from mother to daughter just as Cora's had been. It was a shame Cora had denied him. It would have been fun to see what kind of power Regina would be capable of if she had just a bit of his Darkness.
"Regina…I've been dying to know how you chose that name for her ever since I first saw it I my mind."
In his periphery vision, something finally moved, and he saw Cora, dressed in a fine gown circle around him and, after taking a look at the frozen maid, step up to the crib opposite him. Ever so calmly, Cora reached out and smoothed some of the blankets back off her daughter's face, ensuring she was still sleeping, he assumed. He let her, even moved forward a bit so that she could see it. It wasn't Regina who was in danger here; it was Cora. The witch had to know that.
"It means 'queen,'" she explained calmly. "I'm more determined now than I ever was that one day she will be Queen. She'll accomplish what I cannot."
"Queen?!" he joked. "You once said yourself that wouldn't happen without a lot of bloodshed."
"Not for me. I've accepted that. But for her…there is always more than one path to a final destination, Rumpelstiltskin…you taught me that."
"Yes, was that before or after you tore out your own heart to ensure your plans came true?" he inquired, finally looking up at her.
"Before," she stated plainly as if they'd just discussed how she took her tea and not the awfulness that occurred before she was wed. If not for the desire he had to reach out and rip her throat from her neck, he would have taken great joy in observing this moment for future reference. She'd torn her heart out, and if the look he was giving her now was any indication, she'd never put it back. There was nothing in her gaze. No hope, no longing, no fear, no inkling of the person she'd been before. That could sometimes happen with long-term heart removal, especially when practiced on oneself. If there was no one to tell the victim how to act, there was no veiling the symptoms. "What have you done to my daughter's maid?"
"Never you worry…she'll be fine once I wave my hand again. Though it is shocking that you show more panic for her than you do for your own flesh and blood. Perhaps I was lucky not to father a child with you if that is how you see your progeny."
"I'm not worried because I know you'd never hurt her," Cora sighed as if she was bored. "You need her too much."
Yes…that much was certain. Though he did feel a pain stab through his chest at the proclamation. He'd told her far too much in their time together.
"What are you doing here, Rumpelstiltskin?"
He sneered as he placed Regina back in the crib, she slept on, none the wiser that she'd ever been moved. "I've come to make good on my promise!"
Cora shook her head at him. "That deal is invalid," she argued. "She's not your child, Rumple, she belongs to Henry and to me! I was very careful to make sure of that!"
"This promise isn't the deal to which I'm referring, Dearie!" he muttered, stepping away from the bassinet. After all, he couldn't risk hurting the future queen now, could he? "It's a promise I made to myself that after the babe was born, you would feel my wrath for what you did in every bone of your body!"
He struck!
As he'd been talking he'd been gathering up magic and focusing it into his palm, now he let it grow into a ball of fire and tossed it quickly at Cora.
He had hoped to catch her by surprise, but before it could touch her heart and weaken her, she threw her own hand up, and he watched as the fire became water that sloshed down onto the rug.
But she didn't stop there! Before he could be disappointed, she threw a spell at him that had him flying back across the room. He hit hard on the wall and fell several feet with a great thud. A human would have needed time to recover, he didn't.
He waved his hand and covered Regina in a protective bubble, then cast a spell at the long mirror just behind Cora and watched as it cracked and splintered. Then one by one, he let the glass shards fly at her, aiming for soft spots, her eyes, her throat, her stomach, even her chest.
But her magic flared again, and the shards stopped only inches before her as though they were suddenly swimming in molasses. She held on tight, she struggled, her arms were up, her fingers spread as she cast her spells, her body was shaking from the energy as he continued to push those shards through her spells until-
Suddenly she gave up. She tucked and rolled and cried out as the tiny daggers whizzed passed her and imbedded themselves within the opposite wall. When she stood back up, she was bleeding. Her arm had taken several cuts and there was one on her cheek just under her eye. It was satisfying to see her bleed but not as satisfying as death!
She narrowed her gaze at him as the blood dripped from her arm.
"You said you loved me," she spat out.
"Love dies!" he shouted loud enough to wake the baby. Regina cried.
He braced himself for another spell and was preparing magic to counter act whatever she laid out for him. What he wasn't prepared for was her to run, to scream out and charge at him like a wild animal. Before he had time to act her body slammed into his own and pushed him. They fell, back through the balcony window, then with such force that they tripped and toppled over the balcony. The cuts he sustained on the back of his head were of little consequence as wind from the free fall whipped past him. He hadn't meant to save her, but she was still clinging to him and as they fell disappearing and reappearing at the edge of the property, away from any guards that might come to her aid had been instinctual. He tossed her away with force and quickly hardened the grass around them so that it created small piercing blades that he knew wouldn't kill but satisfied him when she screamed at the thousands of little punctures that now appeared on her body when she landed. She was a bloody mess as she stood up to face him. It wasn't as good as breaking every bone, but it came close.
"You foul brutish bastard!" she cried, before a ball of white and blue something flew at him. He moved around it easily. She was weakening. She may have been talented with her magic but she was still enough of a beginner that she couldn't beat him. He stepped up to grab her around the throat, but she slapped him. She slapped him so hard across the face his it made his ears ring and he bit his tongue so that he tasted blood.
Still, all he could do was laugh. A magical fight turned physical. That was all she had? That was all this mighty sorceress, this mistress of magic had up her sleeve to resort to? No more than a womanish slap? It was pathetic. And it gave him the perfect excuse to reach forward and wrap his hand tight around her neck. She shrieked before he squeezed and went rigid quickly, her back straight as he forced her to look him in the eye on tip-toe. Yes! This was the sweet justice he'd craved ever since that night so long ago!
"Is that how it's to be?" she asked in a small whispered voice. "You'll look into my eyes and kill me all the while seeing that soldier who made you kiss his boots in front of your son?"
Anger ran through his veins, and he fought to take deep breaths of cool air. He didn't want to think of their time together, of what they had discovered or what they had done or shared, but it was difficult when she reminded him of just how much of himself he'd bore to her. Never again. From this moment forth, there was only one person that mattered, and that was his son!
He jerked his elbow, bringing her forward so that they were nose to nose. "This time," he growled, "I'll see only you!"
But just as he finished his remark, he was shocked to find that she moved. Not backward, but forward. She slammed her mouth onto his, kissing him with a fierceness that she'd never had when she still possessed her heart. She wrapped her arms tight around his shoulders, she forced his mouth open, she sucked so hard he felt as though his tongue was going to be ripped from his mouth. Her last ditch effort? He supposed. It had worked only in that it surprised him enough to let go of her throat, but everything that kiss wasn't reminded him why he couldn't let it distract him, and he pulled away from her with such a ferocity that their lips smacked.
"That won't work on me, dearie," he smiled through gritted teeth. "Your talents are naught without your heart behind them. I've won!" This time, when he took her neck in his hand, he made sure to step away and do it magically so she wouldn't get the chance to distract him once more. Only…
As she stood there, her back straight from being caught up in his magic a distance away, she suddenly smiled. Then she moved her head and spat something on the ground.
"You haven't," she smiled again. Her teeth were stained with red. Blood, he realized. But he hadn't…
"No!" he cried releasing her from her hold as a white sheet suddenly rose up into the air between the pair of them. To the left and to the right as far as the eye could see, it encircled the entire estate revealing the property line, and he realized only too late what she'd done. It wasn't her that had been bleeding. And she hadn't kissed him as a distraction she'd done it to get at the blood in his mouth. Now she wiped her mouth on her arm as she stared safely at him. He reached out to touch the white barrier, but transparent as it was he felt like he was pressing against hard stone. He threw a spell of fire at it, but the wall held. He tried to use his magic to strangle Cora once more! But it was useless. She'd cast a protection spell. A very specific, very powerful spell.
"A Blood Sealing!" he realized as the white faded to an invisible shield that remained.
"Made stronger by the banishment of your name…your true name…"
He watched helplessly from the other side as she pulled free a piece of paper from her bodice. It was dark, but his eyes could just make out her neat scrawl upon it spelling out his true written name… "L" before "e". After showing it to him, she breathed upon it until fire sparked and began to consume it, turning the parchment into nothing but black. She let it go and he watched as it drifted from her hand toward the barrier. When it touched that even the blackened bit burned until it was nothing.
It was done.
"The only way you'll ever get back in here is with a summons, and I'll be sure that never happens, even if it means I have to carve out the tongue and take the heart of every servant in this place," she snarled.
"You evil little witch!"
"Having magic doesn't make you evil, you told me that," she retorted with such calm that it was eerie. "I'm simply protecting what's mine. Regina is my daughter. Any magic she learns will be taught by me, not you. And one day…one day she will be Queen in this world. You taught me too well, darling. I've bested you. I've won."
"The battle, not the war!" he snarled stepped as close to the barrier as he could. He was inches from her. Only inches! He could smell her fucking perfume and see every freckle on her face, but he knew that if he reached out to try and kill her again, he'd come up empty-handed! It wasn't even worth the energy to try!
But what she didn't know was that after all this time, he had complete confidence in the vision he'd received. They'd tried to change fate once before, and they'd failed. He had no reason to think this would be any different!
"You forget that I have time and foresight on my side! You can't see what I can! I will have that child! I will have her to do my bidding. I will win! And I'll be sure she knocks you aside, never to see it, when I do! It'll make you wish you had never altered that agreement!"
Cora stared him down, unflinching, hiding safely behind her shield. Then she nodded.
"I wish you luck in that endeavor, my dear, but I have more important things to do than trouble myself with the ramblings of a monster who can't move on. I have a daughter to see to."
He didn't scream when she disappeared. He didn't rant or rave or make a scene. He knew any reaction he had would be useless out in the middle of nowhere with no one to hear.
Trust, he reminded himself instead. He had to have trust in the vision he'd seen, in the prophecy he'd heard. Blood Seals and Name Banishings could be broken by one simple thing. A summoning. She couldn't eliminate his name forever. He was too powerful. Someday, one word was all it would take; his name said three times, and the spell would break. And when it did he would be here again for the child, ready, prepared. He would do what he had to do to find Baelfire. He would win.
This ends the Cora section. It is my hope that this chapter answers a lot of questions for us not only from the series but also in some other canon pieces like "Regina Rising". This battle, in my opinion, allows us to understand Regina and Rumple arguing over who won their battle. When we look at this through Cora's eyes it's easy to say how she could say "I won the battle with Rumple", and it's easy to see how Rumple would probably agree with that statement but then confidently be able to say "Yes, but I won the war, so I won in the end." This chapter and the protection spell, in my opinion, also explains why Rumple would say "I held you as baby" but then he completely disappears from Regina's life. It explains why, in Regina Rising, Cora is constantly babysitting Regina, never wanting her to leave the property alone because then Rumple could potentially have access to her. In some ways, it also explains how Henry kinda sort knows about Rumple and why Cora got a thing for tearing out the hearts of her servants. They fucking crash through windows and mirrors in Regina's room and then leave. That noise is bound to wake someone and summon Henry and she'd going to have to explain at least a little bit what happened. She doesn't have to be detailed, but she'd have to at least explain that it was Rumple and she banished him. And Henry is smart enough that I think he'd be able to see through some of her lies and excuses eventually. And as for the servant's hearts, she was trying to make sure no one ever spoke Rumple's name and broke the spell. And of course, as wrap up, we learn that the globe is missing (we know Cora has it), and we also learn that Cora used the knowledge of his true name against him, further scarring him.
Thank you MissAmande, Grace5231973, and Jennifer Baratta for your reviews on the last chapter. I really hope you like this chapter because I really enjoyed writing it and wrapping everything up for the Cora section nicely! A new section begins next with a chapter that just might be the most important chapter of this entire fiction. Why? Let's find out. Peace and Happy Reading!