My father always used to tell me no matter what I felt inside, I had to put on a good face," Zelena had told him during their lesson today. If that was true, it was ironic to him that that line, in particular, was her philosophy, especially when she was so terrible at it.
Zelena's personality was…unstable, to say the least. It was concerning. Far more than he'd ever anticipated. There was a craziness to her that made him uncomfortable, and that was saying something for the Dark One. She'd admitted to him today that she'd killed a woman with an excited laugh. She'd been almost giddy when they met. And she'd confessed to him that where she was working in the village, there had been a shop-girl who the manager always favored. Then she'd giggled as she'd told him that she was excited because as of today that girl wasn't likely to ever return to her work or her home.
"Isn't it a tragedy?" she'd smiled wickedly, her hands fidgeting in a way that clearly showed she'd been responsible for the girl's disappearance.
"Tragedy, indeed. One would think you'd be a little less…happy about it."
"Oh, well, my father always used to tell me no matter what I felt inside, I had to put on a good face!" she'd explained in a chipper voice. "So, Teacher, what will we be studying today?"
Zelena was a terrible representative of such great advice. He, on the other hand, would have loved to receive such words from his own father, or even her father, as a way of explaining why he was so good at it!
Part of being the Dark One was putting on a show, acting the part that the individual watching wanted portrayed. He always wanted to be exactly what they thought he was; mysterious, savior, monster, friend, tradesman…it felt a bit like wearing masks he never took off. In fact, sometimes when he looked in the mirror and saw the scales on his face, he forgot entirely that the creature staring back had him had once had smooth skin and white teeth. He played the part so well it was easy to forget there was a time he'd hadn't been this! He played his role well. It suited him. But every now and again part of his old self bled through. Nimue told him that he was patient. But he felt certain that there was a time he hadn't been. Tonight, in particular, was one of those nights.
"The firstborn daughter of Princess Cora would be the one to cast the curse."
Princess Cora.
Perhaps he'd missed something in that hint.
Zelena was talented, there was no doubt about that, nor was there any doubt in his mind that she would continue to be talented. But the feeling that something was wrong with her never eased or settled, and it certainly never went away. In fact, over the last few weeks, that feeling had only gotten worse, growing with every additional minute they spent together. Though Zelena was able to master everything that he taught her, usually in a matter of hours, if not minutes, a disturbing new trend had emerged.
"Can Regina do that?"
"How long did it take my sister to master that?"
"Have you taught this to Regina?"
The questions about her sister seemed never to end, and he was beginning to feel like he'd probably analyzed Regina far more in the past few weeks with her sister than he had during the eighteen years he'd watched her from a distance. And he wasn't pleased now as to how that analysis had come about.
Once, just to test her, he'd commented that he first time he'd seen Regina do great magic, he'd been so impressed it left him completely and utterly breathless. He watched carefully for her reaction, just to see what she would do with such information. It hadn't been pretty.
Her face had fallen immediately as she assumed that look of an upset toddler who had their toy taken away. Her brows had furrowed together as though she'd been about to cry, despite the step he'd taken very purposefully away from her, she'd taken two steps closer, and a sudden wild eagerness appeared in her eyes.
"What did she do?" she demanded. "Tell me, and I'll do it! I'll show you that I can be just as good as she can! I can be better!"
Against his better judgment, he kept a stoic face and took another step away from her again. She'd reached out to touch him, but he wasn't about to let her. He wanted to see what happened when she had nothing to cling to.
"It's not likely," he commented matter-of-factly. It was the truth. Unless Zelena was hiding long lost love away somewhere he wasn't aware of and had a mother that was likely to rip his heart out, then it wasn't something she could recreate. It was the truth, but he would admit that he'd stated it mysteriously and cold hearted on purpose.
"Why not?! I can do it!" she insisted. "I promise, just tell me! Tell me what it was! Tell me!"
And then the oddest thing happened. A small patch of green began to bloom. A reaction like that to emotion was rare. So rare that he'd only ever read about but never seen, none of the Dark Ones ever had. Magical Theory stated that each emotion had its own color, and if it overwhelmed the wrong magical being, it could change the color of the skin. Red for anger, Blue for sadness, green with envy. He wasn't sure just how much jealousy an individual had to have in order to turn themselves green unintentionally, but if the look on Zelena's face and the volume of her shrieks meant anything, it was a lot. And yet it hadn't taken hardly anything to move Zelena into that "a lot". It wasn't the positive sign he'd been hoping for, but it was a sign that told him all he needed to know. She could be dangerous.
"It was a unique situation," he finally admitted to her. "The details of that situation cannot be replicated. Shall we work on spells of transformation? I have a feeling that you'll do exceedingly well with that."
Instantly, as if her corset had been loosed and air let into her lungs, a small, shy smile crossed her face.
"Have you worked on that with Regina?" she asked in a small voice.
"No, I don't think she's got the ability to work that kind of magic." At least not yet, but seeing as he was trying to calm her, he wasn't about to admit that.
Her smile grew and some of the green began to shrink and disappear. "Okay. Let's try it!"
The firstborn of Princess Cora…he wished that small spark of jealousy was all that he saw within her, the only problem that she had, but the truth was that her habit of stepping closer when he stepped away was even more suspect in his mind. At first, he'd moved away from her subconsciously, feeling overly crowded by her when she was too close. That was a natural thing he did, moving away from people. He even did it with Jefferson. But eventually, he'd noticed that moving away from Zelena never seemed to end! He took one step back, and she took two forward. One step away, two closer. One step farther, two more to close the distance. They ended up starting the lesson in one clearing, and by the time they were finished they'd moved so much they were in another!
And then there were the things that she said when he met her for lessons, whether it was in his castle or the woods or the village.
"Oh, good! I was beginning to worry!"
"I thought you'd forgotten me!"
"It seems like it's been forever since I last saw you!"
"I missed you."
He had a fear, a truly great one, as he began to weigh the pros and cons of which sister he needed to cast the curse. It was born of something that he saw in her eyes every time they were around one another, and it had him wondering…the firstborn of Princess Cora would cast the curse. Other than her power, there was little else about her that seemed to fit the prophecy. And even worse, if what he thought was happening truly was then she could never take him to the other realm as Regina could. But he had to know for sure. He had a long life ahead of him; he wasn't about to spend it wondering…
He'd been planning something, a trap or a trick, whichever it turned out to be to understand her better and potentially confirm his suspicions. He was hopeful he'd deploy it in the next week but now, standing in his Great Room and seeing the feast that she'd laid out when she wasn't asked nor welcome when they weren't training…it sent a chill down his spine. Perhaps sooner was better than later.
"I don't remember giving permission for guests," he commented as he walked in. White tablecloth, a meal with all the accouterments, even dessert. And to top it all off he was genuinely surprised to see her so some how she'd found her way passed his defensive spells. He would have to make those better.
"That's for you," she stated proudly. "Meat pie. Just like the spinsters used to make when you were a boy."
And it looked wonderful, but…suddenly he found himself nervous. He had the feeling that this nearly confirmed his suspicions without his test. He knew that tone she was using, he recognized the desperation of it combined with her actions. He hadn't expected to have second thoughts about all of this, but now he did. What had he invited into his life? What did Zelena love above all else? Regina was still out on business with the King. It would be easy to find out if he was right.
"Can't stay. Have a lesson to teach," he replied with shortness on purpose, walking right past her without giving her any kind of gratification, compliment, or reassurance to hold onto. He wanted to see what she'd do. She didn't know it, but he was teaching the lesson now.
"But-but we just finished a lesson!" she whined, her footsteps echoing after his own. All bad signs. If this was part of the test so far she was floundering.
"Not with you, dearie," he corrected, turning around just so he could see her face when he said the next bit. "With Regina." Instantly her gaze turned to fire. Her smile disappeared with it. There was red on her cheeks as though she might burst into tears, it was as if he'd just told her she couldn't play with her favorite toy anymore and quietly, slowly he began to build magic up in his body, just in case he needed some defensive spells.
"You're still training her?" she sneered.
"Did you think I was going to stop?" he presumed before taking a risk and turning his back on her. He'd bared taken a single step before he heard her footsteps, and she appeared before him.
"Wait!" she cried, grabbing his arms. "You don't need Regina. I'm going to cast your curse!" she declared as she let him go. Then the smell of magic, hers, penetrated the air. "She's not nearly as powerful as me! She doesn't deserve to have you teaching her!"
"Careful, Zelena!" he roared in a tone he hadn't used since Bae was a little boy. It was appropriate. She was nearly in tears, rambling on as if she were a two-year-old having a tantrum. She was behaving like a child. "What was it your father used to always tell you?" he questioned, trying to remind her about how to control herself. If she wasn't careful, she'd bring down the ceiling with all that power.
She took a couple of breaths as her eyes roamed over the room as if searching for the right words, and it was then that he spotted it again. A small green patch just below her jaw. At first it started as no more than a dot, no bigger than the nail on his thumb, but as Zelena struggled, he watched as it grew.
"No matter what you feel on the inside, you always have to put on a good face."
"You might wanna take his advice," he urged. "Your inside is starting to show." As if she could feel it, she immediately put her hand to that place, and he wondered for the first time if she could feel it or if she'd done this before as a girl. Her first instinct was to run right to the mirror in the room and remove it's covering. She examined the spot on her neck with panic. "You're turning green, dearie. Envy will do this to you," he explained. "And don't wait up. This could take a while."
He chose to vanish then instead of calm her as he always had. The truth was if he was right, he had the feeling this was going to be a very short lesson indeed.
And so we are at the eve of Zelena's downfall. I'm so sorry if you were looking for more with Zelena, in a perfect world I would have been able to expand exponentially of Rumple's time during this fiction. But as this fiction continued to grow to unbelievable proportions it was clear that I had to stick to the script. I had to keep to scenes that I knew were important and not waste time with "filler chapters" if I could help it. This scene was nice though because it was so tiny it did allow me to attach some of the background to it. With that background we can begin to see Zelena unraveling.
Thank you MissAmande, Jennifer Baratta, and Alarda for your reviews on the last chapter. Thank you for choosing to spend part of your time reading with me! Zelena's big test is coming up next, after that we get pretty great Jefferson chapters. So if Zelena isn't your cup of tea, never fear, Jefferson is on the way! Peace and Happy Reading!