Damned and Divine
Storybrooke Library
Storybrooke Two
Two days prior to Christmas Eve
Traffic on Main Street was brought to a screeching halt when a portal opened up in the middle of the street and five Belles emerged, Belle and Belle Strogoff leading the charge. The women marched down the street toward the library. Once they were inside Belle Strogoff waved her hand and froze everyone inside except for her counterpart behind the desk.
"It's time we had a little chat," she announced.
"I…I'm a little busy right now…"
"Not too busy for us," Belle said, snapping her fingers and pointing to the breakroom. "You…us…in there. NOW."
"Don't make me teleport you," warned Belle Strogoff.
"And if you're thinking of calling for Regina or anyone else, forget it. Mrs. Strogoff has this place warded," Belle Weaver informed her.
"I would go if I were you," spoke up Storybrooke Four's Belle, her famous broom ready to be summoned should she need it. Storybrooke Six's Belle also carried Mister Common Sense though she hadn't used him since her last Nevenger adventure. Seeing she had no choice, Belle Gold walked into the breakroom and closed the door once her counterparts were inside.
"Why are you here?"
"Because we need to talk to you about your husband," Belle informed her.
"That's our business."
"Not anymore," countered Belle Strogoff. "Our husbands have 'adopted him' so to speak and your business is now our business and there seems to be a serious problem here that we intend to fix."
"There is no problem."
"Really?" The Once Upon a Time book appeared on the table. Belle opened it to the chapter on the reunion after the curse. "You were locked away for twenty-eight years and immediately began making demands on the man you love. Not want justice for you being locked away? Do you think I made such a demand? NO!"
"That day Rumple and I began our quest to break his curse….TOGETHER!" said Belle Strogoff.
"We've ALL worked with our husbands, not against him. We accepted him for who he was, not who we wanted him to be," added Storybrooke Four's Belle.
"When you stand before your gods and your friends and family to love each other for better or worse, you mean it," said Storybrooke Six's Belle. "What the HELL kind of wedding vows were you speaking? They sounded more like insults to me!"
"You don't know anything!" Belle yelled.
"Oh, but we do," Belle Strogoff said, pressing her hand over Belle Gold's heart. "The heart reveals truths that the mind conceals and distorts." The couple's wedding day appeared on the television screen.
"Rumplestiltskin, this thing we have, it's never been easy. I've lost you so many times. I've lost you to darkness, to weakness, and finally, to death. But now I realize, I realize that I have not spent my life losing you. I've spent my life finding you."
"You called him weak…on your damn wedding day!" Belle raged.
"You were so busy concentrating on his darkness that you didn't see the darkness in yourself," added Belle Strogoff. "Now you will." She reached into the other woman's chest and removed her heart. Belle Gold's eyes bulged in horror to see as much darkness on her own heart as she'd seen in her husband's and Regina's.
"This is a trick!"
"I'm afraid it's not," Belle said sadly.
"You took an emotionally damaged man and added more damage." Belle Weaver began to pace the floor as she spoke. "Every time you called him weak, every time you called him a beast…every time you made a demand on him. He was reaching out and you were pushing him away because you wanted him to be the man in your books. That's fiction. It's time to get your head out of the books and back into reality."
"You don't know what he did to me!"
"We do. We've read, and we've viewed so don't think you can pull the wool over our eyes." Storybrooke Six's Belle glared at her.
Belle Four's hands itched to be holding her broom.
"Our husbands were all cursed like yours," Belle refuted softly. "But we all understood that the curse was where the problem lay, not in the man himself. That man was born with magic, like an artist is gifted with the ability to paint and create. And we could no more ask him to give that up than you could ask a fish to stop swimming. You crippled him!"
"He was always making bad choices...like when he made Emma the Dark One...tried to kill Hook, switched daggers on me...sold our son to Hades!"
"Whoa, wait a damn minute...EMMA made HERSELF the Dark One!" Belle Strogoff snapped. "And ummm...how many times did that pirate try to kill you? oh...FOUR!"
"He never sold your son to Hades-he made a deal with that rotten sneak when he was married to Milah, who did not want anymore children, to save the only child he had!" Belle snapped, "He never thought he would remarry or have another child . . . plus the one who made the deal died so the contract was null and void! Only Hades lied and said it wasn't. Rumple would never risk his own child if he had a choice! And what about YOU? You allowed that bitch Fiona to get a hold of him!"
"Not to mention was careless as hell with the dagger when you DID have it," Storybrooke Four's Belle pointed out. "In your purse? Really? Why not put up a damned neon sign!"
Belle Six smacked Mister Common Sense against her palm. "Why even take it in the first place?" she asked. "I would never have even agreed to hold it for a small amount of time."
"It was the only way I could stop him from hurting everyone!"
"Most of them DESERVED it," yelled Belle Strogoff. "Were it me they would be sleeping with the fishes!"
"Who did he hurt? Zelena, the ho who raped him and murdered his son?" Belle demanded. "Regina-who lied to him for 28 years about you and then tried to kill everyone repeatedly when she didn't get her way? Hook-who deserved to be hung up on a yardarm? THOSE people? Ha! I walloped Regina's ass for her after she poisoned my daughter and grandson! Before she was deaged!"
"And I whupped Regina's ass myself with magic MY husband taught me because I ASKED him to never knowing I was already born with it." Belle Strogoff slammed Belle Gold's heart back into her chest.
"Regina wasn't as much of an enemy in our realms as Hook was," Belle Weaver said indicating herself and Six and Four's Belles.
"But I'm raising him as my grandson this time because he actually took responsibility for what he did," Belle Six pointed out.
"Ours was hacked to pieces with Nick Chopper's enchanted axe. He's lucky we weren't the ones holding it." Belle Strogoff's eyes narrowed to silts.
"They're heroes now..."
"That's it...I"m booking her!" snarled Belle Six.
The Bordreaux Broom appeared in Belle Four's hands.
Belle raised her hand. "Not just yet. Let's examine the motives of these so-called heroes, shall we? Starting with Hook. His only motivation was getting into Emma's panties. We all know that worked out well. Regina I will give her credit for trying but there are times she switches sides when it suits her. Zelena gets no credit whatsoever. She enjoys being wicked."
"So does Rumple enjoy being the Dark One. Every chance he had to break his curse, he took the power back."
"Look what happened when those powers fell into the hands of Emma and Hook. Hook wanted to drag everyone down to hell with him and Emma created the mess by making him a second Dark One. And because they dragged everyone down to Hell Robin's soul was taken so Pretty Boy could escape," Belle Strogoff wanted to scream.
"Hook should have stayed dead and Bae should have been returned to life," Belle stated. "Zelena should have never been allowed to come back and then harm Robin. That was a travesty. So was the fact that you rejected Gold again at the well after he had his curse removed. Why did you do that? He was pure then-like the so-called hero in your book! He had Excalibur and the one thing he had left to do was beat the pirate who had broken his pride so long ago. Now tell me why wasn't that good enough?"
"And had Archie not summoned Ozmalita, the keeper of souls, we never would've known Bae and Robin were still alive and trapped in Ephesis. He brought Bae back, he broke Rumple's curse because he was the only one who cared enough to help him!" Belle Strogoff said.
"He broke my heart so many times. I was protecting myself..."
"By leading him on!" Belle Four's patience was at its limits.
"Oh, cry me a river!" Belle Six snapped. "What did YOU do to him? Throwing him out of town with nothing but a thin Armani suit and no cane, over that bastard you call a "good man"-the one who would have cheerfully ripped your heart out twice. You don't think that broke his heart? Then you added insult to injury by having an affair with a married man who could barely write his name! What would you call that? That's the pot calling the kettle black!"
"I call it adultery," threw in Belle Four.
"STOP! Stop. I don't want to hear anymore!" Belle Gold covered her ears.
"GROW UP!" Belle Strogoff yelled back. "You are damned lucky I don't go Vito Corleone on your ass and slap you so hard your teeth rattle!"
"People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," Belle returned. "You're not perfect-so stop believing your husband has to be also. And for God's sake take off the blinders where Hook, Zelena, and Regina are concerned. Two of them play you for fools over and over and one plays you whenever she needs something! They aren't your friends! They never were."
"Come down off your pedestal," Belle Four commanded. "Or spare your husband a lifetime of misery with you and go to Hook or whoever else fits your book idea of a hero."
"And believe me we know quite a few women who would be happy to take your place."
Belle Weaver smiled, thinking of some of her unmarried friends from the Wish Realm.
Belle Six thought of Melanie, her realm's unmarried Maleficent. Matching her with a good man was a plan of hers for years.
"I am going to ask you one more question. Just one. And don't think you can lie because I will know. I've seen the truths in your heart. Do you love him?"
"I'm trying to," she said after a long silence. "But there have just been too many broken promises..."
"All right ladies. You heard her. Now we do this OUR way." Belle Strogoff glanced over at Belle Six. "Make the call."
Belle Six took her phone out of her purse, excused herself and walked out into the lobby. "Hello, Melanie? It's Belle. There's something I want to talk to you about..."
"You're making a mistake," Belle Four said. "You accuse Rumple of making bad choices, but this is the worst one you could've made. And now you'll pay the price. Good luck...dearie!" she added as parting shot and left the room.
"If you cannot make him happy, or yourself, then best you step aside for someone who can," Belle told her counterpart. "For nothing good came come of settling for only half of a man. If you will not fix what was broken, then we shall. Before it's too late."
"I watched my husband die too and I was willing to do anything to bring him back, even surrender a part of my life force." Belle Strogoff held out a long lock of grey hair on her head. "I keep this to remind me that my sacrifice was worth it."
"But we are not going to sit back and watch you drive yours back into his grave with your incessant diva demands." Belle Weaver poked Belle Gold in the chest. "Go home little girl. Come back when you're woman enough to handle marriage and what comes with it."
Suddenly there was a green flash and the God of Mischief appeared in the breakroom. "Hello, ladies. Thought I would pop in and see how things were going before I went and taught an arrogant fairy the meaning of guardianship."
Belle Strogoff put on her sunglasses. "We're done. Come on ladies. We have other calls to make. She's all yours and good luck. We have our own solution to this mess."
She waved her hand and unfroze the patrons in the library as she was walking out.
Belle Gold stared at the god in black and green and her mouth fell open. "Who-who are YOU?"
"Loki of Asgard. Perhaps you've heard of me?" he said softly.
"Surely you're not the REAL Loki? The Norse God of Mischief?" Belle Gold sputtered.
"Surely I am, darling," Loki smirked and sat on the table. "Why so shocked? You met Hades, one of my god cousins. Or should I say one of his aspects. But that's neither here nor there. I came here to talk some sense into you, you stubborn little fool. Because your sisters there seem to have failed. But only if you're willing to listen. Are you?"
"Do I have a choice?" Belle Gold demanded.
"Oh, there's ALWAYS a choice, little bookworm. You made a choice to go with Rumplestiltskin forever, do you remember?"
"I'm tired of everyone making him out to be the victim when I WAS the victim here. He is abusive, a liar, a manipulator and you're all insane to think otherwise."
Loki scowled. "Now don't get on your high horse with ME. I am far from insane. So, you believe you were the victim? You were-of your own arrogance, my dear. You think Rumple lied and manipulated you? Who saved you when Jefferson released you from the basement where you were kept enslaved and tortured for twenty-eight years? Rumplestiltskin. Who saved you when your father promised your hand in marriage to that arrogant prick Gaston? Rumplestiltskin. When you lost your memory and knew nothing and no one, who came to visit you every day and tried to help you? Rumplestiltskin. When Regina cursed you into Lacey and you went around town drunk and cozying up to that rapist Nottingham, who tried once before to have you, who saved you? Rumplestiltskin. And where was the thanks for all of that? Tell me, darling, did you ever once say thank you?" His green eyes burned with eldritch fire and the temperature in the room plummeted.
"Who tried to prevent our son from fulling his destiny? Rumple. Who consistently broke his promise to get rid of his magic. He did. Who brought the Queens of Darkness here? He did. Who stole the magic from Storybrooke to try to force me awaken when I didn't want him? He did."
"And what was your son's destiny? You have no idea because destiny is a pretty word a Seer uses to convince someone they know the future, when all they know are possibilities. Norns, child, don't lecture ME about destiny!" The god snorted. "As for getting rid of his magic-by the Nine, woman, a mage's magic IS his life. Remove it and you have a shell! Like you do now! It is like removing the eyes and hands of an artist and then telling him to be happy he still lives! As for the Queens of Darkness, they would have come regardless because Maleficent's daughter Lily was here and they all wanted revenge upon other people in this town. Rumple returned for YOU and for no other reason. And if you did not want him anymore, why did you keep going back to him, darling? You had choices too-and you chose to keep the man dangling when you should have made a clean break after he emerged from his coma. No one forced you to do those things." He crossed his arms over his chest. "If you were always afraid of magic, why marry a magician? You knew what you were getting long ago."
"Because I thought he would change. For our son! We nearly lost Gideon to darkness because of him!"
Loki shook his head. "No. You nearly lost him because of a stupid choice YOU made to trust an untrustworthy fae! Who then lost your son to one of her own dark people!" He snapped his fingers and a seeing globe appeared. "Look! See the truth you refuse to acknowledge!" He showed her how Blue lost Gideon to the Black Fairy-his evil grandmother. "Now, if all you want to do is cast blame, then you may as well cast it upon yourself too! For if you had allowed your husband to be there at the birth of his child, then the Black Fairy would not have been able to take him. But you didn't and so you bear the responsibility for your son's turning dark. But he is not dark now. And that is due to one person. Must I say his name again?" Loki scolded, sounding like a teacher with a backwards student. "As for changing, why would you expect him to change when you were not willing to also? Can you answer me that?"
"I did. I tried to accept the man behind the best but every time the beast came through, a man who craves power like an addict. He's a coward without his magic to hide behind!" She glared at him. "And I know he's trying to find a way to become the Dark One again. When he's not given magic, he takes it."
"I can see you only hear the sound of your own voice. That man was never a coward. That was something he thought he was, and it was fostered by bitches like his first wife, his apprentice, and you. Why should he live without the Gift he was born with? Is that fair? No. Nor is it fair you keep him bound to you like a puppet, only doling out scraps of affection when he behaves as you wish him to. That is no kind of life! And you call HIM dark?"
He glared at her and she shrank from him. "You are poison, my lady. The slow kind that withers one from within by inches. And so, I shall ask you this-if given the choice to remain married to Rumplestiltskin or to live a different life-what would you choose?"
"I would stay married to him if he wasn't so weak! I want to take my son and raise him to be the hero he can be...without magic."
She was tired of keeping up the facade that she was happy when she lived in fear all the time that he would find some way to bring magic back into their lives or some other villain would come out of the woodwork for him to make an alliance with.
She just wanted a life of peace among her friends and to see the world as she'd always dreamed of doing.
"Your son is a mage too-and to deny him his magic is just as cruel. You do not make a hero either. That is not something you choose for someone. From your answer I would say you wish a different life. Then I shall give you what you want. Do you accept my offer?"
"Yes."
He held up a finger. "Know this. You chose freely, without coercion. Thus, the consequences of this choice are your alone." He concentrated. "This is the life you chose."
His magic altered her memories and reality. She remembered nothing of Rumple Gold after emerging from the asylum. She returned to her father and lived as she chose, free of magic and free to travel the world. Yet there would always be an odd unnamed longing in her heart for something undefinable, something precious that she recalled having once and then lost. But the feeling always went away, and she did not think upon it too much.
His spell also altered the memories of everyone in Storybrooke Two, so they accepted only the reality Belle had chosen. She had never married Gold. Her child believed his mother dead long ago, and Rumple himself believed he was Milah's son along with Bae. Rumple only recalled that after restoring the magic to Storybrooke and breaking the curse, Belle and he parted ways. His magic was returned to him, uncursed.
"That needed to be done a long time ago," he heard Archie Two say when he walked into the lunchroom with his wife Tracey at his side.
"I wasn't able to until she agreed." Loki replied. "But now it is done. They are both free. That is why I always tell my apprentices to never marry a non-mage unless you know they will accept you for what you are."
"I was told you were in town, so we wanted to stop and say hello...and to remind you I'm not the Blue you're looking for," Tracey said.
"Oh, I know that, darling!" Loki grinned, and took her hand, bowing and kissed it lightly. "A pleasure to meet you, Tracey Hopper."
"Careful! My cricket might get jealous."
Loki laughed. "No need. I am happily married. Shall we eat lunch? I feel like Chinese." He gestured and an entire buffet of Chinese food appeared on the table. "Help yourselves."
"We just got back from our honeymoon and are famished," Archie chuckled.
"I can understand that," the god winked. "Arguing with idiots always makes me hungry." He filled a plate with fried rice, an egg roll, shrimp with broccoli, and moo goo gai pan.
He also took a glass of Coke.
"This reminds of our last dinner together before I lost my powers," Tracey said to Loki. "I was telling you how one of my fellow fae was contemplating marriage to a mortal and how resistant I was until you told me that maybe I envied her because I wanted a love of my own."
"And I was right, wasn't I?" Loki asked, sitting down with his food.
"I just had to cross realms to find him. The Jiminy from my realm and I were friends, nothing more. But then the Home Office invaded our realm and some of my sisters lost their lives...and I lost my magic trying to save as many as I could."
"But you gained your heart's desire," Loki began. "A good sacrifice."
Just then the door opened and small boy in ragged clothes stood there, drooling over the food. "Chinese food! Mr. Hopper, may I have some?"
Loki looked up. "Of course, lad. Come and get a plate. What's your name?"
"Oliver, sir." The boy hurried into the room and grabbed a plate.
"He's one of the Lost Boys," Archie explained. "Oliver, this is Loki."
"Pleased to meetcha," Oliver said, holding out a hand for Loki to shake.
Loki took it and as he did so, the boy's clothing was transformed into jeans and a green and red sweater with sheepskin lined boots and a green hat. "Likewise, Oliver."
Oliver gaped at him. "Thank you, sir! You can do magic!" He examined the clothes in astonishment.
"Yes, I can," Loki chuckled.
"Mr. Hopper used to do magic too. He made it rain when he cried and sunny and hot when he was happy. They said he had Mr. Gold's curse and took it to set Mr. Gold free."
Loki allowed everyone to keep that memory in honor of the noble sacrifice Archie made.
"Oliver, why don't you go pick out a few books and bring them to Mrs. Hopper and me when you're done," Archie said to the little boy.
"Okay, Mr. Hopper."
"I haven't told him yet, but Tracey and I are trying to adopt him," Archie informed Loki once the boy left the room. "We decided not to tell him until everything went through." He frowned. "I've been making regular food and clothing donations to the orphanage so he shouldn't be wearing those ragged clothes. Blue is the administrator, but a woman named Mrs. Burnett is supposed to be caring for them. I'll be having a talk with her."
"Archie and are going to try to have a child of our own but we wanted to adopt as well," Tracey added.
Loki smiled. "Oh, I think you'll have a houseful of children eventually. Your counterparts seem to...well except for the Man In Black. You won't mind if I make a small donation to this orphanage too?" Loki asked. "I usually do when I'm down here."
"Please do! I want all those boys to find homes or at least live in comfort."
Loki pulled out his checkbook and wrote a check. "How's that?" The check was for a million dollars.
Archie fainted.
"Cricket!" Tracey exclaimed.
"By the Nine!" Loki sighed. He waved a hand and Archie woke up. "Take it easy. I hope you didn't hit your head."
"No, just...astounded that's all."
"I have more money than God, literally," Loki chuckled. "So I use some of it to help children. Usually with anonymous donations here and there."
"And maybe you can talk Blue into cleaning the place up."
"Oh, I will, believe me." Loki said softly. "That blue mosquito is going to wish her father never knocked up her mother."
Oliver returned with a stack of books. Archie looked at the titles, smiling in approval. "Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia. I may have to ask my portal jumping friends if they can take us to Narnia one of these days."
"That would be cool!" Oliver's eyes lit up.
"Well, we'd better get going. Tracey and I have a Star Wars themed wedding to get to and I am officiating as The Emperor. Soon I will have two new apprentices to teach the ways of the Dark Side of the Force," Archie said in the Emperor's voice.
"He is so hot when he does that," Tracey giggled.
"Do you think Belle will try to come back?"
"No. The spell I've done will put any thoughts of that out of her mind. Rumple's been through enough with her. Time she moved on. The other Belles are making a match for him with a reformed Maleficent. I think it will be a good match."
"Bye Mister Loki!"
"Goodbye Oliver. Happy reading. Archie, Tracey, I'll see you at the wedding."
And now it was time for him to have a not so friendly chat with certain sanctimonious fairies.
He sent the rest of the Chinese food with a note to the orphanage.
Then he teleported to the convent, where the so-called Mother Superior Blue was. He rolled his eyes. The Catholic church would have something to say about a fae posing as one of their nuns. Especially THIS one.
At the convent, Blue could barely concentrate on the class she was teaching for she sensed a presence in the town that she'd been trying to avoid for centuries. She'd made many enemies among the mages of the realms but had also made the mistake of crossing paths with the gods of both the Greek and Norse pantheons.
And there was no god she feared more than Loki of Asgard.
"Girls, continue your lessons," she ordered and walked down the hall to her office.
Loki morphed his clothing into a black Armani suit with a green and white scarf bearing his serpent symbols. He carried a black cane with a green jewel on the end of it, which was actually his mage staff.
Blue gulped, her hand trembling as she turned the knob and opened the door.
Loki sat in her chair with his spit shined Gucci loafers on her desk, his serpents from the bracers he wore under his suit coiled on top of it, one was devouring a mouse whole, the other was crunching a blue skink.
"M...My lord..." she gasped. "What...why have you come?"
Were it anyone other than her most feared rival she would have used her wand to blast them into oblivion along with the slimy creatures he brought with them, but she had no doubt Loki would take great pleasure in blasting her there.
"Hello, darling," Loki drawled, baring his teeth in a smile that froze the blood in her veins. "Long time no see." He twitched his fingers. "I see you've moved up in the world," he sneered.
"Well ahhh...this is my cursed profession and I enjoy it...but..."
His eyes narrowed. "But . . . you'd rather be off saving the realms from evil, right? Except when the evil is disguised as something pure. How magnanimous! I've come to ask you a few questions, Rhuel Gorm. And you better answer them promptly. My patience is wearing thin." He hissed at the serpents, who came and coiled in the middle of the desk.
"No! Keep them away!" she cried.
She tried to teleport out.
Dammit, she thought.
"Ah ah," Loki waved a finger at her. "You wouldn't try and leave before we've had our little conversation, would you? So rude!" He tisked at her. "And you know how I detest bad manners." He placed a shield over the office that prevented anyone from teleporting in or out-except himself.
"What do you want to know?"
"A few things. Starting with this-you knew Fiona's baby was destined to be a savior, why did you not watch over him like you were supposed to as a fae guardian? Your writ says all children are to be protected, yet you failed to do so with Rumple. You left him at the mercy of his wicked con artist father-to be abused and neglected! Why?" Loki's voice was a soft hiss, his eyes hard as jade.
"It was the path his mother chose for him when she severed him from his true destiny, not I."
"Wrong answer! He was a child, one who should have been protected. Instead you left him vulnerable and allowed him to be hurt, setting him up to become that desperate soul that Zoso took advantage of later on. When Bae was going to be dragged off to be sacrificed to the duke's war machine, where were YOU to stop it? Where were you and yours to protect all of the children you took an oath to guard? You were strangely unable to hear their cries for help. Why?"
"Because the Dark One cloaked them from us!" she cried.
"But not Rumple. Why did you not help him before he became the Dark One? Or did you wish for him to fall? As revenge upon your old friend Fiona, who dared to love a mortal?"
"He didn't summon me. "
It was a flimsy excuse but the only defense she convinced herself she had."And why does he concern you?" The Book of the Ancients appeared on the desk. "He is not of your line."
"So, someone needs to be related to me in order for me to be concerned?" the god snorted. "You forget about Oz and Nonestica, my darling. In any case how or why I choose to involve myself is my own affair.
As for not being summoned, you interfere readily enough when it suits you. Called or not. It is the way of the fae to meddle as I know VERY well!"
"I've never meddled in Asgardian affairs!" she protested.
Nor would she dare.
"You might not have, but you've crossed ME, and that is never a smart thing to do." He growled.
"HOW?" she cried. "This realm has nothing to do with you," she went on.
"You failed to protect the children under your care!" he snapped. "You forced me to get involved-and my intervention came too late to save most of them! Their souls cried out to me for justice. And justice they shall have!"
"What…what are you going to do to me...?"
"What you deserve." He gestured and pulled her magic from her. "For your irresponsibility and negligence, I take your magic from you and give it to one more worthy-Tracey Hopper." He sent the magic into Tracey with a telepathic message. "My compliments, darling! Use them wisely."
"Nooo..." Blue screamed.
Dressed in a Princess Leia gown, Tracey swayed on her feet and pressed her hand to her chest.
"Tracey? Honey? What's the matter?" Archie asked as he was changing into his Emperor costume.
"My...my magic! It's back!" she cried, a wand appearing in her hand and she felt her wings fluttering on her back once again.
"How?"
She smiled. "An old friend. Thank you, Loki. And now my cricket..." She waved her wand over him. "You can take your cricket form again any time you want to...as long as I get to fly with you!"
"You're always gonna fly with me," he murmured and kissed her.
"Now let's finish dressing before we have an angry bride and groom hunting us down!"
Back at the convent:
"Oh and one more thing . . . I donated a substantial amount of money to the orphanage and it had better be used for the boys. Am I clear?"
"Yes...anything you want!" Blue sobbed.
"Good. My business here is done."
She crumpled to the floor weeping pitifully.
Loki tossed her a handkerchief. Then he teleported over to Storybrooke Five.
Storybrooke Five
The Convent
Rhuel Gorm had heard rumors that Asgard's God of Mischief was causing havoc throughout the realms again, but she ignored them. She considered Loki, like her people's Puck, an annoyance, and wished that Odin had seen fit to kill the wretched gnat the way Titania should have Puck long ago. Blue had no sense of humor and no tolerance for those who did.
She'd also sensed the presence of the descendants of the Greek gods Hades and Persephone, the cursed descendants. She hoped that Demeter's curse on their unholy offspring was still active and that they would fulfill Demeter's desire and kill each other until the line died out.
But now she'd been told Loki was coming to see her.
Loki appeared in the convent in his classic black suit and green and white scarf, his walking stick tapping out a little crescendo. The other nuns gasped and curtsied to him, and he smiled. "Hello, ladies. Can you direct me to your Mother Superior?"
Nova smiled. "I'll be happy to," she said. "Right this way."
It had been years, but she'd recognized the Norse god immediately and hoped God would forgive her for hoping his visit to Blue was not a social call. She knew of the hostility between the two and in a small way it would be her own revenge against her mentor for forbidding Grumpy's courtship of her.
Loki paused before they entered the office and whispered, "A bit of advice, my lady. Do what you want and follow your heart. Don't worry about what SHE tells you. There's nothing in the fae codes that forbid falling in love. I was there when they were first written."
"Then why did she lie to us?"
"Because she's a bitter jealous bitch," Loki hissed. "Long ago the one she thought she loved spurned her-my son's friend Puck. And ever since she swore that love was worthless and the fae under her jurisdiction should live life without it. And so, she rewrote the rules."
Nova frowned. "Then maybe a new Queen of the Fae must be appointed."
For that was the title Blue had given herself whether it was deserved or not.
"I would say so," Loki scowled. "She has given herself many titles and names over the centuries, but her posturing shall not prevent me from exacting justice for a wrong done to my family long ago." His emerald eyes glinted wrathfully.
"Tell me later," she said softly and rapped on Blue's office door.
"Yes?"
"Mother, you have a visitor."
"I am not seeing anyone today."
Loki pushed the door open. "What a shame, because I'm not waiting around here in this stone tomb to be summoned like a lackey, Rheul Gorm!" Loki growled. "Is that what you're going by these days, Titania?"
"It serves its purpose. Why are you here? What do you want?"
"I want to discuss something that was stolen from me long ago," Loki began, false pleasantry in his voice. He shut the door with his foot. "I believe you know what I'm talking about?"
His eyes glinted crimson and frost formed upon the windowpanes and the floor.
"Your decency?" she inquired smartly.
"Shall I refresh your memory, Your Majesty?" Loki sneered. "Centuries ago, my son Narvi and his wife visited a family friend in the Enchanted Forest. You know him as Puck. While they were there, they put their three-month-old baby down for a nap in a cradle made from oak and when they returned they found her sickly and dying. Only it wasn't her-it was a changeling. Because my granddaughter Daria had been stolen away-by YOU!"
"That was Puck's child!" she protested.
"Don't lie to me!" Loki snarled. "You knew exactly whose child it was! The magic in her veins was that of MY bloodline-Jotun and Aesir! A fact any mage would know upon examining her aura. But you wanted her for your own-because she possessed one of the strongest Gifts and your people were slowly losing their magic due to non-belief. So, you played the oldest trick in your arsenal-you stole Daria and put a changeling in her place. And then you raised her as your own-the Gold Fairy!
While my family mourned the loss of a child and was torn apart!" he raged.
She'd been hungry for revenge against the man that had spurned her and the friend she was convinced had been responsible for Puck's rejection of her. She knew of the close friendship between Narvi and Puck and of Loki's animosity toward her that his son had inherited. She could not move against Loki personally, but she had been able to strike back through those he loved. She would take his grandchild and steal the powers she had to strengthen her own.
But Daria had inherited the weakness of many fae of her generation, wanting to love mortals and bear children. It had been a minor setback for Titania but also provided an opportunity for her to continue her campaign of vengeance against Narvi and by extension his father by gladly taking the powers Daria had eagerly surrendered to live with that worthless despot Malcolm.
Fortune had smiled upon her yet again when the coward amassed a fortune in debts that he could not afford to pay and wanted to sell of one of his twin sons as payment. She'd sensed the strong null magical field in the child she now knew as Robert and the powers of the firstborn, Rumplestiltskin, destined to stand at the West Gate as one of the Guardians of the Balance.
It was her intention that the elder child be taken but Malcolm in his drunken foolishness had given away the wrong child.
Still her revenge was incomplete. She'd intended for ALL of Narvi's children to be ripped from their mother's arms and raised in separate realms. She was given one last chance when Malcolm had decided the next child to be given away was the daughter, a child born with the gift of Sight.
The Seer would have undone all her schemes had she not acted to prevent it, and given an old enemy of hers a tip-Baba Yaga, the Old Witch of the North, to find coward Malcolm and make a deal with him for his youngest child who bore a powerful Seer's Gift-and might one day See the truth of what had been done to her family.
She'd instructed Baba Yaga to cast a binding spell on the girl's sight, but it had proven a difficult task as Rhea's powers began to surpass those of her abductor. Baba Yaga had her own plans for the young sorceress to corrupt her and her magic to do her bidding.
But they had reckoned without the indomitable will that all Loki's descendants had seemed to inherit from their godly ancestor. Loki's willfulness was second to none and all of his children and grandchildren did what they wished-unless someone bound their will for a time.
Titania had hopes that it would be this lost child that would destroy the Laufeyson bloodline.
But Rhea had proven extremely difficult to corrupt, She possessed a strong spirit and the ability to distinguish truth from lies and the legendary compassion of her mother Daria. She bent, but she never broke.
Then she had hoped that Rhea would die from exhaustion and spell shock, that her brother would prove too callus to save her, but again she had been wrong. Rumple still had some vestiges of kindness despite the Dark One curse, and he could not leave a child to die.
All of these thoughts flashed in Blue's head as Loki confronted her, and for the first time in centuries the manipulative queen knew fear. It skittered down her backbone and chilled her to the marrow.
She'd been given one final chance at revenge by having a small bit of fairy dust find its way into Snow's hands during their New York vacation, in case of emergency knowing full well that if it were used around an expectant mother, the children within her would inherit fae magic. She couldn't believe her luck when she'd gotten the call asking how to use it.
Knowing Rumple's attitude toward the fae she was looking forward to seeing him abandon the children, children she would raise to complete her revenge.
But Rumple had not done as expected, and now he had children who were fae blooded demigods. Worse. they would grow up knowing of their Asgardian family and once again provide a link to the Summer Court with Asgard-a link she had wanted destroyed.
"That...son of yours destroyed my life," she hissed. "So yes...YES I took your granddaughter but now ONCE AGAIN, the Summer Court will be linked with your miserable line despite my efforts."
"MY son destroyed you? How so, Titania?" demanded Loki.
"HE was the one who turned Puck against ME," she screamed.
Loki shook his head. "You are delusional. Puck decided to break it off with you himself. Because you wished him to be something he could not be-your consort that obeyed your every whim. And you blamed Narvi? You selfish arrogant bitch! Ask Puck! He will tell you himself."
"I don't want to see him. He's dead to me."
"I'm sure he doesn't wish to see you either, but I need him to prove a point." Loki waved a hand and summoned the Fae Trickster who had been his son's best friend and Loki's student in pranks long ago.
Blue's hands clenched into fists at the sight of the man she'd once loved.
"What the bloody blazes?!" Puck sputtered upon seeing Loki. "Egads, give a fellow some warning next time, Loki! I could have been in the bath or with a lass!"
"Whoreson!" Blue spat.
Puck spun on her, his green eyes flashing. "Well, if it isn't Milady Queen of Sanctimonious Meddlers! What's she doing here, Loki? She renege on a deal?"
"She stole my granddaughter. And she claims she did so because Narvi convinced you to refuse her hand. So i summoned you here to ask you if that were true-or if there were some other reason. Forgive me for doing so on such short notice."
"He'll lie. He always does," Blue huffed.
Puck laughed. "That's the pot calling the kettle black, dearie! For we all know ho you bend the truth ere it suits you, Titania!" He scowled at his former lover. "How by the Great Oak did I ever have such a viper in my bed I know not! But to answer your question, my old mentor, Narvi told me to follow where my heart led . . . and upon pondering the matter closely I found that my heart will always be wild, and I can be bound to no lady forever, nor do I do well being forced to obey rules I find ridiculous-such as no congress with mortals or Asgardians. THAT is why I reject your suit, Titania and Narvi had nothing to do with it."
"You did have me in your bed," Blue sneered and then smirked. "And I bore you a child. A child you NEVER saw."
Oh, the centuries she'd waited to see the look on his face when she delivered the blow.
Puck paled. "WHAT? What do you mean? Is this another of your tricks?"
"Of course not. All you'd need to do is see her and know the truth. I'm shocked you didn't see the resemblance Loki. She was right under your nose."
Only her daughter turned out to be as weak as the man who sired her, wanting to surrender her heritage for the love of a dwarf. A dwarf!
"Nova!" Loki exclaimed. "I thought she looked familiar but . . . "
"I told her she was a foundling I took in. I had such high hopes for her but NO...she's as weak as you are!" she snarled at Puck.
"You bitch! Where is she? What the bloody hell have you done to my daughter, you manipulative spider?" the auburn-haired fae growled.
"As if you care," Blue retorted. "You made her, but you never stopped to think the nights in my bed would bear fruit did you?"
"You told me you had taken raspberry leaf tea!" Puck objected.
"This one has more webs than a black widow," Loki drawled. "But eventually all secrets come to light."
She glared at them defiantly. "Do to me what you will. But I will always have the satisfaction of knowing I've bested you for centuries."
"You took MY child and Narvi's!" Puck yelled. "You harmed everyone with your machinations and for what? Some twisted notion of revenge? Well, I hope you choke upon it! I may not be Oberon's equal, but I can call down the Justice of the Courts upon thee, Titania Sapphira Silverthorn!"
Loki had nearly forgotten that Puck, while a Trickster, was actually not allied with either the Summer or Winter Court but an Arbitor of both.
And the courts would show her no mercy.
Puck looked at Loki. "I swear, Prince of Asgard, that she acted alone in this and the Courts would never have sanctioned what she did to you and yours. We wish no trouble with Asgard." His eyes glinted silver. "As is custom among the fae, I Robin Goodfellow, also known as Puck, Arbiter of the Seelie and UnSeelie, do cast a Spell of Judgement upon thee, Titania Sapphira Silverthorn, Queen of Summer!"
His hands opened, and a glowing purple flower emerged and its tendrils wrapped about Blue.
"If she be guilty of the crimes we charged her with, the flower shall suck her life force from her. If not, it will release her." Puck declared coldly.
"It will also reveal the true extent of her machinations."
Wrinkles began to form on her face and limbs, her hair turning white as snow, falling to the floor in large clumps. She opened her mouth to scream but all that came out was a few gurgling sounds.
Images appeared on the petals, images of centuries of lies and manipulations, the many wrongs she'd done to countless families across the realms.
Loki was stunned at one of the final images; a meeting between her and the Ozian Hell goddess Alemedia in the goddess' palace of Shadowlands.
"So Persephone survived the wraith," Blue was saying.
Alemedia grinned. "Survived yes but with no memory of her past. She is now the Wicked Witch of the West in another version of Oz. She will restore my father's magic, he'll try to walk the mortal realm and then she will put him right back where he belongs in her new persona."
"I must congratulate you Alemedia."
"And yourself. Masterful work with the Norse. I for one cannot wait to see Loki weep when he learns the fate of his descendants."
"You fancied him a bit, didn't you?"
"What woman didn't? Ah I could've made him my consort but alas I had to content myself with my sister's leavings."
The petals closed around Blue as the flesh was burned from her bones.
And in death there was life for at that moment there was a flash of golden light and a dazed and confused Daria stood in the center of the room.
"Grandfather...what...what happened?" She held out her arms and touched one with her opposite hand, feeling flesh instead of air.
"The Balance has been restored," he whispered. "She took your magic and your immortality, but now that Titania is gone, you have been restored, darling! Death may claim us, but never hold us forever." He reached out and hugged her. "Welcome home Daria Laufeyson!"
"Oh now I want to hug my children!" she cried happily.
"I will take you to them soon enough," Loki promised, wiping his eyes with one of his green handkerchiefs. "Puck, why don't we call Nova in here and you can get acquainted. Since she is the daughter of the former queen, I believe that entitles her to be the new one."
Puck nodded. "According to our laws, yes." He looked nervous. "Do you want to ask Nova to come in here?"
Loki opened the door to find the young fae waiting on the other side, her eyes filled with tears. She hadn't meant to listen in on what was being said but something compelled her to. It was difficult to mourn the loss of the woman she now knew was her mother after hearing her admit all the wrongs she'd done.
The God of Mischief smiled brightly at her. "It's a bit of a shock, isn't it? To find out that what you thought was true was a lie? I know, been there and done that. But you have a father in there who really wants to meet you, and if you give him a chance, he will do more than that. Puck's a good man."
Nova stared up at him. "I . . .I never thought about who my father was because I always assumed he was dead or didn't want me. But now . . ."
"Come inside. And you'll see why the one who bore you hid the truth." Loki beckoned. "Like my family, yours was torn apart too by her web deceit. But now that's finished, and you can mend what was broken."
Nova followed him inside hesitantly.
He was not expecting their bond to develop in an hour or even a day, there were too many centuries of wounds to be healed first. He would leave them to it.
"Come Daria. Your children are waiting," Loki said to his granddaughter.
Back at Avonlea Regina and Meredith were having a wonderful time doing another round of rehearsals as flower girls. Regina enjoyed teaching her friend some of the lessons she learned in her own experience as one at Archie and Lilly's first wedding.
"One thing you gotta 'member is don't throw too many petals at one time or you're gonna run out 'fore the ceremony's over.
"You gonna ask Robin to dance again? He really likes you," Meredith asked her.
"Umm yeah...we 'changed rings kinda like a promise so he can't be with nobody but me. How 'bout you?"
"Maybe I'll find someone to dance with at the reception. Daddy was teaching me how to dance."
"Girls, time for your dress fittings," Snow called out. "Flora, Fauna and Merriweather are making them."
The girls laughed. "They can't sew or cook!" Regina giggled. "Sleepin Beauty hadta do all that."
Beth Molk laughed from her place on the sofa. "Everything you saw in that movie was true in my grandmother's case. Grandma Briar Rose did have to do most of the housework when she was old enough to learn because the fairies did try but were terrible at it."
"They did learn honey," her mother pointed out.
Regina and Meredith went upstairs to the sewing room where the former fairies waited.
"Now you two, stand on those while we get some measurements," Flora instructed.
"Just don't poke me with any needles or my daddy's gonna sue," Meredith threatened.
"Yeah an Unca Rumple can sue ya til you got nothin but your underwear," Regina added.
Flora waved her wand and bolts of material floated out of the closet along with needles and thread. Regina clapped her hands, enjoying seeing one of her favorite scenes from Sleeping Beauty come to life.
"Make a cake, make a cake!" Meredith urged Fauna.
"Have the mop and broom the room, please!" Regina pleaded to Merriweather.
"Eggs, flower, milk..." Fauna sang and waved her wand. The items appeared on her table from the kitchen and she began to make the girls the three-tiered cake they requested. Once Regina was finished with her fitting she danced around the room with Merriweather while she controlled the mop and broom. Meredith sat on a stool and watched while Flora made their dresses.
"Oh, not pink!" Merriweather groaned. "Blue!" She pointed her wand and the fabric being sewn onto Regina's dress turned blue and changed the rest of it pink.
"Pink!" Flora grumbled.
"Blue!" cried Beth Molk when she entered the room, eager to see her fairy godmothers at work.
The dresses were changed back to pink only for a second or two before Merriweather changed them back.
"Gina duck! Wand wars!" Meredith giggled.
The fae started turning their wands on each other, changing each other's dresses to the colors they wanted while sparkles emitted from the space between the door and the floor.
"Miss Beth, they got your hair!" Regina giggled and pointed at Mrs Molk's now blue hair.
"Oh, now look what you've done!" Flora complained.
The room was a mess with spots of pink and blue all over the walls, rugs and drapes. Flora changed Beth's hair back and was trying to clean up the room when Lilly walked in.
"What on earth happened in here!?"
"Fairy fight," giggle Regina.
Lilly tapped her foot. "Ladies you both lose. The dresses will be green."
"Well 'least the cake didn't get messed up!" Meredith laughed.
"Now you clean up this mess before my son comes up here and whacks your backsides with his cousin's paddle," Lilly threatened the fairies.
Loki reappeared with Daria in the living room of Avonlea.
"Where are we?" Daria asked.
"This is Avonlea, the Strogoff's home," Loki explained. "We were invited here after saving the realms from the witch better known as Cora."
Daria sat on the sofa, wondering where her children were. Loki summoned a cup of Darjeeling with honey and some milk and handed it to her. "It has some honey and milk in it, if you don't like it that way, tell me."
"It's fine, Grandfather," his granddaughter assured him. "That's how I like it."
Loki sent a telepathic message to the twins and Rhea to meet him in Avonlea's living room, that he had a surprise for them.
The Rumples were gathered in Strogoff's study, except for Gold who was stunned to discover that Storybrooke Six's version of Maleficent had come to invite him to dinner at the Olive Garden in nearby Vero Beach.
His son was also in for a shock when he'd been invited to have dinner at The Thirsty Turtle by Nonestica's Tinkerbell but he didn't dare refuse since he rarely got to see their own Tink. She'd returned to Neverland to care for the Lost Boys that stayed behind.
Bobby was having drinks with Isaac Wallace and his wife when he received Loki's summons.
"You buy next time," Isaac informed him and he hurried out of the bar before Loki's spell teleported him out.
Rhea and Jack were enjoying some much-needed time alone aboard the Black Pearl when she felt the summons.
"You just wait right here," she said to Jack while she was dressing. He lounged in the bed holding a bottle of rum in his hand.
"Don't take too long love or I'll pass out," he joked.
"Watch Netflix," she teased.
She was teleported out before she finished dressing. Jack threw back his head and started laughing.
"Very funny old dragon!" Rhea snapped at Rumple as she stood in the living room in a chemise and drawers.
Bobby was laughing behind his hand.
Rumple threw up his hands. "I didn't do it!"
"Oh for the love of frost!" Loki sighed. He gestured and she was wearing her normal mage outfit.
"And I'm not even gonna ask what you were doing," Bobby said with a smirk.
Loki cleared his throat. "All right, here's my surprise." He removes the illusion on Daria and she is revealed to them.
"Mama?" Rumple whispered.
Rhea stared at her mother. "You're alive!" she gasped.
"How?" Bobby asked.
"The one you knew as the Blue Fairy, was in fact Queen Titania of the Summer Court. She not only kidnapped me as a baby, but she stole a great deal of my magic for her own use. When Loki confronted her with her misdeeds, she revealed that and much more. I will tell you the rest, but first know that when the Arbitor of the Fae Courts judged her, she was found guilty of heinous crimes and a life price was exacted. Upon her death, my power was restored to me as well as my immortal life, and the Balance is now restored."
She stood and hugged all of her children, grinning with tears of joy in her eyes.
It was a fitting punishment for a woman who had ruined so many lives.
"Regina is right. This is going to be the best Christmas," Rumple murmured into her hair.
"...Rumple it looks like we're going to need more room," Belle Strogoff remarked to her husband.
He gestured and another story was added onto the mansion.
Rumple raised his head and gazed into his mother's eyes. "And Mama, like my Nonestican counterpart, I am going to make sure that your heart finds a home. Papa didn't deserve you but there is a man out there who does."
He knew Belle would start matchmaking once she discovered her mother-in-law was alive and well, but he was determined to beat her to it for a change.
"Once your grandmother learns you're alive I'm sure she will want you to meet a few acquaintances," Loki chuckled.
"I'd like to spend time with my children first," she said softly.
"Of course, darling. I will tell Sig and Mother to hold off with the welcoming ball for now," Loki said.
Rhea sent a telepathic message to her husband that their alone time would have to be postponed for now.
Modi and Jimmy entered, followed by Miri, arguing about who really won a spar. "It was three touches, and I got you on the arm that last round," Jimmy argued.
"It slid off my blade first," Modi countered.
"It still counts," Miri answered.
"Figures you'd take HIS side!"
Rumple cleared his throat.
The three teenagers looked at him.
"Daria's back," Jimmy observed.
Miri's mouth dropped open. "By the Nine! You were dead!"
"My powers and immortality were stolen from me by Titania, whom you all knew as the Blue Fairy. She was judged and executed for her crimes against our family and with her death, I was brought back to life."
"By you, Uncle Loki?" Modi asked.
"No. By her own Arbitor, Puck," Loki replied. "According to our laws she would have been guilty as well, but her own people judged and condemned her."
"And that will keep the Balance?"
"Yes, nephew. She not only harmed us, but her own daughter and the Olympians also. She was the hidden dagger for the Dark."
Rumple's jaw dropped. "Blue had a daughter?"
"Nova is her daughter," said Rhea, her sight having given her that knowledge.
"Whom she treated horribly," Rumple muttered. "Not that I'm surprised. Blue doesn't...didn't have an ounce of compassion in her and her hatred of our family knew no limits."
"True. She tried to play the wronged one and claimed that Narvi was the cause of her ill-fated relationship with Puck. Which was a lie, and I summoned Puck to refute it and that's when everything went to Hel-for her that is." Loki snorted. "Daria, this is Miri, my daughter, and Modi, Thor's son."
"I've very pleased to meet you," she said and hugged the teenagers.
Modi smiled. "My parents will be pleased too," he hoped they would be too distracted by Daria to recall they owed him a punishment.
"Nice try Thorsson," Loki tisked. "You're not getting out of any punishments."
"Aww, Uncle Loki!"
"My children never got out of their punishments," Daria said.
"I never got outta mine," Jimmy mumbled. "Still don't."
"Nobody ever does with Papa," Miri said. "And Modi knows it. Uncle Thor and Balder I can talk my way outta things. Sometimes."
They heard a knock on the door and Lilly poked her head in. "My son wants to know...oh my goodness...Daria!"
"Hello, Lilly! I'm back!" Daria went to hug her. She had met Lilly in the afterlife and had many pleasant conversations.
"Oh and you've been reunited with your children as I've been reunited with mine but like me, we must find you someone better than Malcolm to restore that missing piece in your heart. I would suggest an Archie but...they all seem to be taken now!"
The elder demigoddess smiled. "Daria, will you serve as my matron of honor?"
"I would be honored!" She replied. "But . . . I don't have a dress . . ."
Lilly waved her hand and a gown floated over to where Daria stood.
"You do now."
"Thank you, Lilly. This is gorgeous!" Daria examined the gown with a practiced eye.
"My son inherited my ancestor Aramon's weaving skill," Lilly said. "Loki, my son would like to know if you want the kids to do some chores here." She giggled. "Oh and beware of a petite elderly lady who answers to the name Fiona."
"They are at your disposal." Loki grinned.
"All right you heard the lad...get your arses out here! There's cleaning to do!"
Modi and Miri looked at each other. "Who was that?"
The door opened, and an elderly lady walked in, a paddle in her hands. She handed it to Lilly and approached Loki with a lascivious smile on her lips. "Well now this is a fine-looking lad." She walked behind him and delivered a hard slap to his leather clad backside. "Ohh now THAT is the finest backside I've slapped in years!"
Loki laughed. "You'd better believe it, darling. My wife would agree a hundred percent." He took her hand and kissed it. "Loki of Asgard, my lady."
"Fiona MacTavish McDermott. Oh, a Norse god eh? You'll be owing me a dance at the wedding later."
"Otherwise known as the Backside Bandit, at least that's what my son calls her and her daughter Cattie."
"Rumple is my ancestor," Fiona explained. "His da Malcolm was from a long line of Scots Irish warlocks. Most of em were burned at the stake for consorting with the devil but there are a few of us who are good witches and warlocks."
"Ah but there's a bit of the caileach in ye, dearie," Loki said in perfect Gaelic. "My magic tells me so."
"Aye but I'm getting too auld to use my magic, but my Cattie and her Channon aren't." She made a face. "My grandson Jamie is in Hell...he was a dark mage like Malcolm...tried to kill his wife...and controlled her."
"That's horrible!" Miri exclaimed. "The poor woman."
Loki grimaced. "I hate compulsive magic. I've outlawed it in Asgard. Because once I was a victim of it."
"Aye. But Beth is happy now...raising six children, one of them a Baby Cookie Monster or so I'm told."
"Beth Molk? David's Beth?" Loki clarified.
"Aye. She was married to my grandson first and he used magic to keep us from knowing what he was doing to the poor lass. And...trying to make a name for himself in Hollywood but he only wanted to be in movies if he could keep his knickers and everything else off."
"I know that sort. Sex magic warlock?" Loki snorted. "I'm glad she is free of that relationship."
"That's what Rumple called him yes...but he wasn't the one who killed him. A police officer had to because he was going to kill David and Beth."
She turned to Modi and Miri. "Now then...you two...I think I'll be having you clean the third floor. No skipping corners, no hiding things under rugs. I know all the tricks."
She took the paddle back from Lilly and showed it to them. "This is called The Bruiser. I dinna use it except when I have to wallop idiots."
Nor did she use it on children, even her own. Adults, however, were another story.
Modi stared. "That looks as bad as the one Tyr uses on his kids. I'll behave."
"Come along then," Fiona urged.
They followed meekly at her heels.
Rumple rubbed his hands together. "Lilly if your son doesn't mind, I'd like to cook tonight."
"I'm shocked you kept my brother out of the kitchen this long," Rhea laughed.
"He gets that from me," Loki grinned. "I love Sigyn but don't let her near a stove. Something will catch on fire."
"I can butter toast," Bobby joked. "The Corps fed me most of my life."
"I may join you, Rumple. I have a salmon dish I've been dying to try," Loki said.
"I'll go tell my son dinner is served."
"Well Mama that leaves us girls," Rhea laughed. "What do we do?"
Daria shrugged. "Watch?"
Rumple would try his hand at making one of his favorite meals as a child but no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't get it to taste as good as Daria's and they would be eating dinner together as a family for the first time in centuries. It was one of the best Christmas gifts he could have ever received. He thought his family had been returned to him when Rhea and Bobby found their way home but it hadn't been the same without Daria but now, at last, their mother had come home to them.