7:15 AM AU - Things go a bit differently in the cabin during 7:15 AM. With memories returned, how will this change things?
Face Claim for Narcissa: Eileen Davidson
Face Claims for the three good fairies:
Flora: Maggie Smith
Fauna: Linsey Godfrey
Merryweather: Jackee Harry
New Face Claims:
Lucian Blackwater: Graham Greene
Malachi Wolfe: Scott Adkins
Will Rainwater/Billy Truheart: Lou Diamond Phillips
Monica Rainwater: TBD
Sam Rainwater/Mathias Firebird: Zahn McClarnon
Tigerlily: Sara Tomko(same as the show)
Thanks for the amazing response to this story. It's a lot of fun. I'm glad everyone is enjoying the twists and turns. Season 1 can be very fun to play with. Enjoy this latest and keep reviewing! Here are individual responses to reviews:
Ghostwriter: Yep, I think it's Snowing's true love that makes her immune. It's very powerful magic. Glad you're enjoying!
Jennifer Baratta: Thanks, glad you're enjoying it!
Sexystarwarslover: Yep, it is on for sure. Yeah, Malachi is lucky he's still breathing. Yeah, I feel a little bad for Malachi too since he was cursed with this. I'm glad Merryweather and her sisters banished him too though. Yep, Lucian purchased the rez, which is not good. Yes, Emma is seeing her mother in a different light, little by little. Glad you're enjoying!
Grace5231973: Yep, he better not or he won't have to worry about his curse anymore, because he'll be dead. I hope they can get Lucian off the rez too and the curse breaks soon too. Glad you're enjoying it!
AnonSnowing: Yeah, it was probably before Narcissa's time, but Narcissa is cold blooded enough to be a reptile. Yep, Snow and Emma are immune, thankfully. Belle is very brave. I know, I love little Monica and her interaction with Snow. Yes, they will win together. Glad you're enjoying!
Clarity
Chapter 50: Triggered, Pt 1
Regina waited in the library for her contact and looked around, hoping she wouldn't be seen. She had gotten word that Gold wasted no time in gifting the library to Belle so she had to be quick. She saw Kathryn approaching and smiled.
"Thanks for coming," she said. Kathryn crossed her arms over her chest.
"If you want to talk about me and David, then I'm out of here. You need to accept that he's moved on, because I have and I'm moving on too," she said.
"I have…he and Mary Margaret can have each other for all I care. I just need a small favor," Regina replied.
"What is it?" Kathryn asked.
"I need something from the basement of the library and that requires someone operating the hand crank on the elevator for me," Regina replied.
"That's it?" Kathryn asked suspiciously.
"Of course…I know I acted rashly, but I was hoping we could still be friends," Regina replied. Kathryn sighed.
"Of course…but what do you need in the basement of a dusty old library?" she asked.
"It's complicated, but now that I'm not Mayor anymore, let's just say it's my insurance policy," she replied vaguely. Kathryn followed her inside and looked around. Regina opened the hand operated elevator and took a deep breath, before stepping into it.
"Okay…I'll call you when I need you to bring me back up," Regina said, as she was slowly lowered into the cavern. What she made sound like a basement to Kathryn was anything but. It was a cavern beneath the town and she knew Maleficent slumbered somewhere in the cavern. She turned on the flashlight she had brought and cautiously shined the light around until she found the dusty glass coffin in the distance. Slowly, she approached and looked down at it, almost gleefully remembering Snow beneath it. For almost an entire day, she had been dealt with, doomed not death, but an eternal sleep and existence entirely in limbo. It had been satisfying, in the moment. She likely would have become bored with it, if she was being honest, but she didn't have time to discover that, for mere hours after she bit into the apple, Prince Charming was awakening her from that slumber with true love's kiss, breaking the curse and ruining her revenge yet again.
She had ultimately gotten her revenge again with the Dark Curse, but all of it had slowly unraveled with Emma's arrival in Storybrooke. Snow had her family back, her son was mad at her, and she had lost complete control to an interloper, who had stolen her seat as Mayor. A complete reset was the only way she saw fixing all of this. It was drastic and Henry would hate her for a while. But she knew that she could build them a new life somewhere. This world was vast and they could soon be just two faces in a crowd somewhere. The anonymity was very appealing. No one to know about her past transgressions, complete with a clean slate, somewhere far from here.
"This is the only way, Henry…I just hope you'll forgive me someday," she muttered, as she thrust her hand through the weak and dusty glass, before pulling out an object from it. A black diamond…the trigger and her key to a reset. The only uncertainty was there was no magic and thus she didn't know what kind of ramifications would occur if she activated the trigger. It could work normally, destroying every bit of Storybrooke. It could fail completely, leaving her with nothing. Or it could partially work, which would risk the survival of her enemies. Still…she had to consider it. Narcissa ruled her town now and that meant nothing good for her and she didn't like the idea of working with her other enemies for a victory that was not guaranteed. She clutched the diamond and put it in her coat pocket.
"Sorry Storybrooke…it's the end of an era and I need a new beginning," she said, as she found her way back to the elevator shaft and called up to Kathryn to bring her up. Somewhere deeper in the cavern though, Maleficent sensed the disruption, thanks to the weakening of the curse and thanks to the intrusion, her eyes opened…
"Oh my God…you weren't kidding about the smell," Emma ranted, as they walked back toward Main Street.
"I know…I just wish he smelled like that to all women and not just us," Snow said, as David held her hand.
"It was so weird…I've never felt like that before. It was like I was in a trance," Belle said with concern.
"How likely is it that you can create some kind of antidote?" David asked, directing his question at Gold.
"The ingredients wouldn't be the problem, but without magic to activate certain ones, it wouldn't be an effective counter," he responded.
"So he could theoretically go around town ruining relationships and get away with it," Snow said sourly, as she shuddered. She was immune, but so many other women wouldn't be and it wasn't real consent and reminded her in a way of her night with Whale. Had she known or had her memories, she would have never consented and it made her angry that she had been violated that way by the curse. Essentially, this would be along the same lines for any women that may fall victim to his pheromones. David, as always, seemed to sense her uneasiness and frustration and he put his arm around her. She hugged his arm and leaned against him, as they strolled back toward the diner. That was, until they felt a tremor beneath their feet.
"What was that?" Snow asked, as it happened again and it was stronger this time.
"Earthquake in Maine?" Emma asked skeptically.
"I don't think so…" Merryweather said wearily, as it happened again and this time it almost threw them all to the ground. Neal helped steady his father, while Emma and Belle kept each other from falling, and David held Snow close, catching her as she stumbled.
"Not to quote Star Wars…but I have a bad feeling about this," Neal said, as this time, none of them were able to stay on their feet, as the concrete in the middle of Main Street exploded and debris flew everywhere.
"What the hell was that!?" Emma cried, as she looked around and then saw everyone else's eyes fixated on the sky.
"Is that…" David started to say. Gold nodded, as Neal helped him up.
"Oh stars..." Merryweather uttered.
"Maleficent…" he said.
"The curse brought Maleficent with us?" Snow asked.
"Regina decided to bring her and left her in her Dragon form as her punishment. She's been beneath the library all this time…but I have no idea how she is awake. That shouldn't have happened until the curse was broken," Gold replied.
"No one has their memories…they're going to freak out," David said.
"I'm freaking out…" Emma said, as she drew her gun.
"No!" he protested.
"What? I have to try to take her down," Emma said.
"Not with that…it won't work on her," David replied, as he looked at Gold.
"Do you have it?" he asked. He nodded.
"In my shop," he said, as they hurried toward it since they were close.
"Have what?" Emma called.
"My sword," David answered, as they went inside. Screams ensued, as people saw the Dragon in the sky and it made no sense to them without their memories.
"This is so bad…" Snow said. There was no way to explain this or get the people to understand something like this.
Gold opened a case and David extracted his sword and scabbard from it, looking at it a bit wistfully.
"Any chance you have a bow and quiver around here?" Snow asked.
"In the back and there are a couple spare swords as well," Gold replied, as Neal followed her back there.
"Bae…" he called.
"Sorry Papa…but I need to help defend the town, especially since no one is going to understand this," he said, as he grabbed a couple swords and handed one to Emma.
"I don't know how to use this," she protested.
"It's in your blood…let's go," he said, as Snow hurried after them with a bow and quiver.
"Mary Margaret…you can't go out there too!" she protested. Snow turned to her.
"Mary Margaret couldn't have, but Snow White…I'm pretty good with a bow," she said, as she hurried after her husband. Reluctantly, Emma followed the three of them back into the street and they saw the dragon circling in the sky above.
"Do you think we can get through to her?" Snow asked.
"I don't know…we have no idea how much presence of mind or awareness she has right now," David replied.
"You act like you know her," Emma said.
"We do," Snow replied.
"You know Maleficent? That's not in the book," Emma said.
"Not everything is in the book. The first time I encountered her it was to do what Rumpelstiltskin asked of me in order to find your mother. It was running circles in the infinite forest and he offered a way to guide me if I hid his golden egg…inside Maleficent," David replied.
"That part I remember…the potion you made is in that egg, right?" Neal asked. Gold nodded curtly. Emma's eyes widened.
"True love in a bottle, made from your parents' hairs, Miss Swan," he replied.
"That I remember from the book…but what about the other time?" Emma asked.
"That time…she asked for our help. We all wanted to stop Regina's curse," Snow replied.
"She wanted to stop it? Why?" Emma asked, as they kept their eyes on the dragon in the sky. For the moment, she seemed to be exploring her surroundings.
"Because like me, she was pregnant, only she had an egg," Snow replied.
"She convinced us to help her, though we were reluctant. Mostly because of the company she kept," David said.
"Which was?" Neal asked.
"Ursula the sea witch and Cruella De Vil," Snow replied.
"Yeah…it's the last one mostly that we objected to, believe me," David said.
"They're real too?" Emma asked and Neal glanced at her, which made her roll her eyes.
"Yeah yeah…everything is real," she admonished herself.
"Anyway, they needed us, because we were heroes, to find a unicorn to get the knowledge we needed," David said and she raised an eyebrow. He sighed and waved his hand.
"Another long story, but that's when we found out we were having you. The instructions are clear that only two can access what was needed and we found out that we had become three," David said, glancing fondly at his wife.
"That didn't stop Maleficent from messing with my head though," Snow replied.
"What do you mean?" Emma asked.
"She suggested that our baby might not grow up to be a hero; that you had a dark future ahead," David replied.
"Sounds like a crappy thing to say to a soon to be mother…" Emma said. She remembered hearing that a lot in prison. The baby was a burden. She wasn't fit to be a mother. The baby would further ruin her life. All lies and all crap. She looked at Mary Margaret and realized they had more in common than she originally thought.
"I was so worried about the curse that I suddenly realized I might be willing to do some very dark things to ensure your future…" Snow admitted.
"But thankfully, your father saw it differently and got through to me. He made me realize that you would be a blessing and even if we couldn't stop the curse, you were a blessing and a symbol of our love. You could never be anything but good," she added, as they shared a smile.
"He was right," she added.
"What happened to her after that?" Emma asked.
"We don't know…we distanced ourselves from them. We weren't willing to commit some atrocity, even if it meant stopping the curse and Cruella still gives me the creeps," he mentioned, visibly shuddering. Snow smirked.
"We don't know what happened after that. I don't even know if Maleficent had her baby…but obviously Regina wasn't kind to her," she added, as they felt another shudder beneath their feet.
"What was that? Another dragon?" Neal asked, looking at his father.
"No…only one dragon came with us. That…was something else," Gold replied, as the shaking became violent and the pavement began to crack beneath their feet.
"What's happening?" Snow asked, as she held onto her husband and her daughter. Vines and tree branches started emerging from the cracks and wrapping around buildings.
"It's like the forest is swallowing the town!" Neal cried and Gold's eyes widened, as he held onto Belle tightly.
"She wouldn't…" he growled.
"Oh honey...she would," Merryweather said.
"Who wouldn't?" Emma asked.
"Regina…she's done the unspeakable…" he realized, as the others waited for an explanation, but the chaos sent them fleeing into the woods to escape the devastation…