Cora's Scrapbook, Chapter Ten: Transformation Spells and Night Visitors
Regina goes undercover with the Queens of Darkness, leaving the matter of her confrontation with Marco unresolved with Cora. Snow and Charming seek help. Henry
Author's Note: This chapter takes place during the events of "Enter the Dragon." I know it has been a long wait, and I thank you for your patience. Thank you for reading, and please enjoy!
Characters:
Cora Mills
Regina Mills
Mary Margaret Blanchard
David Nolan
Ursula
Maleficent
Cruella de Vil
Henry Mills
Mother Superior
Marco
Cora sat in the living room of the mayoral manse on Mifflin Street reading a copy of The Help. When she returned from her unexpected meeting with Gold, she had intended to have it out with Regina only to find her daughter not at home. She was taking the opportunity to clear her brain after the shocking revelations about Gold's return and Zelena still being alive (not to mention the all-too-fresh wounds inflicted by Marco's outburst).
Frantic pounding on the front door disrupted her tranquility, and she rose with a frown to see who it was. Cora opened the door to reveal a disturbed looking Mary Margaret and David.
"Thank heavens, Cora!" Mary Margaret exclaimed pushing past her into the entranceway.
"By all means, come in," Cora said sarcastically.
"We need your help," David said. "Maleficent is back. Regina is going to infiltrate their group."
Cora pursed her lips. "This is the first I am hearing of this, but Regina can handle herself. She is more powerful than any of the three of them. And trust me; Ursula won't let her come to any harm. Not any serious harm, anyway."
"You know Ursula?" Mary Margaret asked.
For the next few minutes, Cora explained her past friendship with the Sea Witch. "So you see," she concluded, "Ursula is not truly a villain. She just doesn't have great taste in friends, myself being one of them. Maleficent, on the other hand, is more complicated. I have only ever encountered her once, when I took her spell book from her many years ago. I know that she has something of a friendship with Regina. Other than that, I have no idea what she could possibly want."
The Charmings exchanged a dark look. "I think we may know," David said.
Cora sat down in a nearby armchair. "Well, now you have to tell me."
"First," Mary Margaret began, "You have to promise not to tell Emma."
"Done."
"We caused Maleficent to lose her child," David said.
Cora's jaw dropped. "You did what?"
Mary Margaret was careful in her response. Cora had done many terrible (probably worse) things in the past, but she and David needed Cora on their side, and annoying her was not a desirable course of action. "It was a mistake. We moved Emma's potential for darkness into Maleficent's egg and sent it through a portal to this world. That's how Ursula and Cruella got stuck here."
"I know what it is to do horrible things to ensure a good future for one's child," Cora said. "It doesn't make it right, but I do understand. However, I don't think you are here for my understanding. So what help do you need from me?"
Mary Margaret and David exchanged a look.
"Emma knows that there is something we are not telling her," David said. "Mary Margaret and I are not her favorite people in the world right now. Is there any way that you can talk to her? Bring her around a bit?"
Cora narrowed her eyes. "So you want me to give a classic, 'You have no idea how lucky you are that your parents are Snow White and Prince Charming' speech? What makes you think that Emma will listen to me?"
"You work together," Mary Margaret said.
"You've wrestled with the darkness and won," David added.
"I also don't give speeches about hope," Cora put in.
"This is true," Mary Margaret said, choosing to ignore the snipe.
"If my daughter is busy pretending to be a Queen of Darkness, it will be a great distraction," Cora reasoned.
"Thank you, Cora," David said, awkwardly patting her shoulder before walking towards the door.
"You're the best!" Mary Margaret gave her a thumbs up before following her husband from the living room and from the house.
The police car blazed in the park. Maleficent, in dragon form, made low swooping dives to continually torch the overturned vehicle. Cruella sat on a nearby picnic table and applauded the scene drunkenly.
"Wonderful, darling!"
Regina, giving her best Evil Queen grimace, stood about thirty feet away.
"You know you don't have to do this right?" came a voice from over her shoulder.
Regina turned to see Ursula standing behind her. "This feels good. This is who I really am."
Ursula smirked. "No, it's not. It's who your mother is. When she was a young woman, Cora would have loved to let loose like this. You can't hide your conscience from me. I know you're undercover, and it's fine."
Regina looked from side to side, speaking quietly. "Do they know?"
"Cruella? If she does, she doesn't care. Besides, I don't think she's in a philosophical mood. I don't know if anyone ever really knows with Maleficent. I gather you two were old friends."
"Like you and mother?"
Ursula smiled grimly. "Cora and I have our differences, but I like to think that she would still try to violently kill me if I let anything happen to you."
"You'd be surprised at how much she has changed," Regina said quickly. "She told me about what happened between you after she killed Daniel. We didn't know each other then, but I'm glad that you tried to tell her it was a mistake. She never listened to my father, and I think you were the closest thing that she ever had to a good influence before she got her heart back."
Ursula laughed. "Calling me a good influence is overstating it. I'm glad that Cora has her heart again. And it seems like the two of you have improved your relationship. However, I think it is a mistake for you to be here with us."
Regina leaned in conspiratorially. "What is their plan?"
"To win back all of our happy endings."
"No offense, but none of you have the power for something like that. What is your secret?"
Ursula looked gravely into her eyes. "I really can't tell you that. And we can't have a conversation like this again. I won't blow your cover. I will do the best that I can to keep you safe, but know that you might not like what you find if you continue down this path."
Regina fixed Ursula with a determined look. "Well, now I have to keep going."
"Ursula, darling!" Cruella called. "I'm feeling a tad peckish! Fetch some fish out of the lake so we can roast it on this glorious fire!"
Ursula and Regina exchanged a slightly sarcastic look.
"I didn't hear you say please!" Ursula snarked, stepping towards the lake.
"Ms. Blanchard?" Henry asked. He always addressed her as a teacher while in school.
"Yes, Henry?" Mary Margaret answered. She had chosen to wear a black pantsuit with a red shirt for school today, and she was erasing the blackboard in her classroom before leaving.
"I have a few questions about your lesson today."
Mary Margaret inclined her head to look at Henry. "Such as?"
"How do to inner workings of a flour mill have to do with To Kill a Mockingbird?"
"They don't," Mary Margaret smiled simply. "But that was our lesson for today. I gave you all a break from reading."
Henry narrowed his eyes. "I thought that Atticus was finally going to teach Jem and Scout how to kill mockingbirds. When does that happen?"
"In a few chapters," Mary Margaret said. "You'll see."
Henry laughed. "The next time that you're planning on impersonating Mary Margaret, you should make sure that you read the book that you are supposed to be teaching. Atticus would never tell his kids to kill a mockingbird."
Mary Margaret was engulfed in a cloud of purple smoke. When it cleared, Cora was standing there in the same outfit. "Was I really that obvious?"
"You weren't that obvious, Grandma. You introduced yourself as Mrs. Charming at the beginning of class, you asked us to take out our abacuses during math, and you talked about flour mills for forty minutes during English. You did better than a lot of other substitute teachers."
"Okay, so my Mary Margaret needs a bit of work," Cora said.
"Where is she?" Henry asked.
"She needed a day off. As you know, Maleficent has returned to life, no thanks to Ursula and Cruella, and she and your grandfather are troubled. I offered to take her place for the day."
"Can you just tell me what's going on?" Henry asked. "My moms are too busy, and whenever I ask David and Mary Margaret, they give non-answers and scuttle off to a corner to mutter to each other."
"I can give you some information," Cora said, sitting behind Mary Margaret's desk. "Regina is going undercover with Maleficent, Ursula, and Cruella. Mary Margaret and David are concerned because they have bad blood with all three of them, so they are concerned about what they might do to the family."
Henry shook his head. "No. There's more to this. Whenever they fought someone before, whether it was Regina, Pan, Zelena, you (no offense), they didn't mutter in a corner together. There is something that they are not telling me."
Cora sighed. "You're right. But it isn't my place to have that conversation with you. Mary Margaret and David need to deal with this in their own time."
"Why can't this family be normal?" Henry sulked.
"Even if we weren't who we were, no family is normal, Henry. The irony is that the family not being normal is the only thing normal about families. Let's go home. We'll order a pizza."
Henry was not content to be bought off with pizza, but he followed Cora out of the classroom anyway.
The pizza had been delicious, and Cora and Henry were in front of the television in the living room watching Jeopardy. Henry was starting to feel drowsy when there was a knock on the front door.
"Twice in twenty-four hours," Cora muttered to herself as she walked towards the door, expecting Mary Margaret and David yet again. She was surprised to see Mother Superior… with Marco.
"Cora, where is Regina?" Mother Superior asked quickly.
"She hasn't been home this evening," Cora replied.
"She took my boy," Marco said quietly, not meeting Cora's eye.
Cora's heart sank. "When?" she asked.
"Less than an hour ago," Mother Superior replied. "We need to find them. We know she's with the Queens of Darkness."
"You two watch Henry," Cora said, reaching into her pocket and withdrawing an old sand dollar. "I'll find them." She vanished in a cloud of purple smoke.
"And when she returns with your son," Mother Superior rounded on Marco, "You will take back your harsh words from the convent the other day."
She ushered him into the living room with Henry.
"Hey, Blue," Henry said from the couch. "Sorry you have to babysit me. As if I need it."
Marco chuckled at this show of teenage attitude. "They grow up so fast," he remarked to Mother Superior.
"You have no idea," Mother Superior chuckled.
Cora stood on the Storybrooke dock and tapped the sand dollar three times.
Nothing happened.
She tapped it again, and there was still no sign of Ursula.
"I suppose the enchantment has worn off," she muttered to herself. She turned to leave, resolving herself to use a locator spell to find Ursula.
"You rang?" came a voice from behind her.
"I did," Cora replied without turning around.
"Well?" Ursula asked. "Is this you coming here to reconcile with me?"
"I know that you and the others are conspiring with Rumplestiltskin," Cora said flatly. "I know that my daughter is with you, and I know that you all had her kidnap Pinocchio."
"So you came to fight." Ursula sat down on a nearby bench with her arms crossed.
"Not necessarily," Cora stood across from her. "First, I came to ascertain why you of all people have taken up with the Dark One. Second, I want you to turn over Regina and Pinocchio to me."
"Regina knows that we are working for Rumple as of a few minutes ago," Ursula said. "Which is going to make her leaving difficult. He has some kind of leverage over her, though I don't think she knows it yet."
"Rumple has leverage over me too," Cora said. "Zelena, my other daughter, is alive, and if I betray him, he's going to force her, Regina and me to kill each other if I hinder him."
"Which is why I really didn't think we would have to resort to this."
Cora rolled her eyes. "You really think I would be able to recognize a transformation spell."
"From a lesser practitioner," Mr. Gold said, sitting where Ursula had been a second ago.
Cora sighed in resignation and sat next to her former teacher. "So what happens now?"
"Call me a sentimental old fool, but I really don't want to hurt you yet," Gold said. "Have you told anyone else?"
"No."
"Good," he said. "Then you technically haven't hindered me, and I don't have to follow through on my earlier threat."
"But you're not going to let me walk away?"
Gold smiled, but his eyes almost looked sad. "I need to make sure that you stay out of my way until my plans are complete." He withdrew an apple from his coat pocket.
Cora's eyes dimmed as she understood. "A sleeping curse?"
"Regina will wake you when it's time. You'll be safely asleep in your bed."
"You're not going to hurt Regina? Or Zelena?"
"Not if I can avoid it," the Dark One said. "Not unless they try to get in my way."
"And there's no way I can make you change your mind?" Cora asked.
"Not this time. I am truly sorry, Cora."
Cora took the apple from Gold. "My daughters are resourceful. They will do fine without my help. I'm more concerned about Belle."
"Belle?" Gold raised his eyebrows.
"I just don't see how your relationship recovers from all of this deception and subterfuge. And where will she be then? People know you love her, Rumple. People will use her as a weapon against you."
Gold's tone became quiet and menacing. "If you are threatening Belle-"
"I would never hurt Belle," Cora said. "Belle is my friend. She has nothing to fear from me. However, not everyone is as principled as I am."
Gold relaxed. "If only they were."
"Tell my daughter I tried to help her." Cora raised the apple to her mouth.
"Goodbye for now, Cora," Gold said.
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If so, please follow, favorite, and review!