Author's Notes: I do not own Once Upon A Time which is a show on ABC where they made a joke about something in this chapter and then never did it. Why not? Anyway, thank you for the reads and reviews. As usual, I need you to get back to you reviewers, so sorry, but I appreciate your reviews and reads and follows so much. Also, hi, lurkers! Anyway, please let me know what you think and happy reading!
Belle rushed into the shop, dragging Beatrice every step of the way.
"Mom, I-"
"Rumple!"
Gold was out of the back in no time. "What is it?"
"Mother Superior has done something," said Belle. "I don't know what."
Gold turned to Beatrice with concern. "What is it, sweetheart?"
"I don't know..."
"You don't know?"
"I'm not sure?"
"What do you mean you're not sure?," asked Gold.
"That. Whatever that is," said Belle. "She's been doing that."
Beatrice frowned in concern. "Doing what?"
Gold put his hands on either side of her face and his expression dropped. "Beatrice, what did she say?"
Merlin entered. "I came as soon as I could put that bloody Goldie Loxley in a state of suspended animation before she unshelved every book in the library trying to find one that was just bloody right. What's happened?"
"You did what?," asked Belle.
"She'll be fine," said Merlin. "Well, assuming she didn't have dinner plans. Now, what's happened?"
He walked over to Beatrice. It didn't take him any effort to decide something had happened.
"What's the winged tart done now?," he asked.
"I..."
"She's changed something within you. Something in your essence."
Beatrice shook her head. "She just said she never gave me my gift."
"What gift?," asked Gold.
Merlin grimaced. "Don't you know your fairy rules, Rumplestiltskin? The gift that she ought to have gotten when she was born. You know, from her fairy godmother? But you know, that fairy met with a sudden end..."
"The Gold Fairy? What happened to her?," asked Belle.
"On to Beatrice," said Gold. "What gift did she give you, Beatrice?"
"It was the blessing of humility, I think..." Beatrice managed.
"Oh, I'm going to give her back wings just to pluck them from her..." muttered Merlin.
"What does that mean?," asked Belle. "Humility? Is that bad?"
"Humility is not a bad blessing in and of itself," said Merlin. "The trouble comes in choosing the appropriate blessing for the princess. For instance, giving you the gift of beauty would have been overly redundant so the Gold Fairy chose to give you the gift of love in your heart. Now, for Beatrice, someone who is plagued with self-doubt and low self-esteem it's a blessing that's designed to break her spirit."
Aghast, Belle pulled Beatrice closer to her.
Gold had a different reaction.
"I'm killing her."
"Rumple!," said Belle.
"I said I wouldn't, but that was before this. She's dead."
"And how are you proposing to kill her, sunshine?," asked Merlin.
"I'm going to find the last of my squid ink and stab her in the throat."
Merlin nodded. "That's actually not a bad plan."
"Rumple, that won't help..." said Belle.
"She's right. The curse only becomes stronger with her well-earned death."
"She will stop at nothing, Belle," said Gold. "Don't you understand that? She tried to kill her in your womb!"
"Yes, I remember, I was there!," Belle snapped back.
"She what?," asked Beatrice.
Merlin shot the couple a look and they suddenly remembered that when the Curse had first broken, they had agreed Beatrice did not need to know that Mother Superior had tried to murder her.
"I mean, she must have had a reason..." said Beatrice.
Merlin turned to her. "The reason is she is a vicious, jealous and vain trollop."
"Is that why she called me a monster?," asked Beatrice.
"Beatrice!," Belle exclaimed. "Not another thought like that!"
"Your mother's right," said Merlin. "Not another thought like that. In fact, don't think."
"Don't think?," asked Beatrice.
"Yes, I realize it's going to be difficult for you," said Merlin. "Take her home, do not let her think, every negative thought will make the Blue Fairy's magic that much more difficult to undo."
Belle looked from Beatrice back to Merlin. "Everything she does is thinking. Everything she's ever done is thinking."
"I don't know. Isn't there a Kardashians marathon on somewhere?"
"What happened to your frog, sister?"
Catherine tried to hide the twinge of regret she felt. Well, it was more than a twinge. Every day since she had sent Alec home she had thought of him, torturing herself by imagining a life she could never have.
Because her life was here.
In the ice.
"Don't call me 'sister', Ailie," Catherine warned. "We haven't been anything near that in a very long time."
"Why do you insist upon being so uncivilized?," asked Ailie.
"Because you insist upon being a brat who's more interested in a tiara than the blood of her people. Now, what do you want?"
"Why? Do you have a new book to read?"
"Books make better companions than my present company," said Catherine. "Now, state your business."
Ailie approached. "I have an agreement to put to you," she said, taking a parchment from beneath her heavy cape. "It regards my new partnership with Prince Xavier."
"Prince Xavier?," Catherine asked. "What could he possibly want with you?"
Catherine took the parchment and then something went very wrong.
She was frozen. She tried to use magic to free herself but it was as if she had been cut off from magic, suffocating without it.
Ailee smiled.
"What have you done?," Catherine demanded.
"I consulted with the Blue Fairy. Oh, I know she's not our fairy godmother, but she was surprisingly receptive to my request for aid. She said we couldn't let you continue or one day this whole realm would be ruled by a Dark Princess."
"What are you talking about?"
"Didn't Merlin tell you? You and the frog were meant to have a daughter, then she would have a daughter and then she would have a daughter, the Dark Princess." Ailiee seemed to take pleasure in taunting her with the future that was impossible.
"And why would the Blue Fairy help you?"
"Because my first sad, sad duty as the sole ruler of our land will be to see to your execution."
"Ailee, without my magic the ice will melt and the ogres will come. If I die with no one to take my power, there will be no stopping them."
"We will fight them."
"Do you know how many will die? Don't you remember the Ogres War of the Frontlands? It was only the power of the Dark One that could stop it."
Ailee's soldiers joined them.
"Take her away and lock her in the dungeon," said Ailee.
The nuns were awoken with a start as the door to the convent house blew down.
Merlin strode in as the frantic women gathered in the hall.
"Viviane!," called Merlin.
Mother Superior entered, cutting a path through her subordinate fairies.
"Go back to your rooms," she instructed.
"Oh, no, no, I think we ought to have everyone stay," said Merlin. "I'm certain everyone would love to hear you defend yourself after your latest act of cruelty."
"I gave a blessing."
"You gave the wrong blessing to the wrong bloody girl."
"I'm surprised at you, Merlin. I thought you would want your monster to have an air of humility about her."
Merlin shook his head with gritted teeth. "That girl has been struggling with who she is since she was born and that's your fault."
"My fault? I never created the Dark Curse."
Merlin looked at the fairies. "I will have you know that this blue tart right here, she created a ruse to draw Belle home to where she believed her father was dying. Once there, she informed Sir Maurice- the fat-headed bigoted oaf that he is- that his daughter was pregnant with the child of the Dark One and advised him to take action, then watched as Belle was tied down and poison poured down her throat and clerics tried to cleanse her."
The nuns had a mix of reactions, but the main one was horror.
"To stop a monster."
"Pray tell what prophecy says that she is a monster." Merlin motioned at the other fairies. "I believe we're all waiting."
"The Book of the Dark Princess," Mother Superior said smugly.
"Nice try, but you've never read it."
"She's the daughter of the Dark One. Isn't that enough for you?"
"What do we know of children born of True Love?," Merlin asked turning to the nuns.
Mother Superior rolled her eyes. "This grows tiresome, Merlin."
"We know that they always have magic and we know that they can never be monsters, so please tell me how the product of fourteen generations of True Love can be a monster."
"The Dark One corrupts everything, even your line of True Love."
"Oh, is that why you tried to stop that line before the Dark One was in it? As when you sided with Ailie the Summer Princess? When you tried to imprison Amelia the Weather Witch? Or when you gave a young boy called Baelfire a magical bean to take his father to a Land Without Magic?"
"Leave."
"What's the difference? Rumplestiltskin ought to have this place burned down by dawn. I believe he's planning on using your femurs for kindling."
Mother Superior stepped up to him. "I have won. Game. Set. Match."
"All you have done is bully a teenage girl," said Merlin. "Do you remember what it was like to be that young? When the world was new and frightening and you had no idea what to do or where you belonged? Remember?"
She gave away nothing.
Merlin leaned in and whispered, "Remember, I am the only one who knows who you really are and I will ruin you and take great pleasure in it. I will rip your wings off and give them to Rumplestiltskin as a Christmas present."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Oh, don't test me, he is very difficult to shop for."
Merlin walked out, leaving Mother Superior to face the nuns.
It had been months since he had heard her scream.
It had been his fault. On Beatrice's first night at home, he had stopped by the guest room just to look at her. She had been conked out in an antique bed that had never had a guest before and had fallen asleep with an ancient television he didn't remember having on.
So he had turned it off.
Maybe twenty minutes later, he and Belle had been talking when her scream broke through their reunion.
The room was different now. The TV was a large flat screen he had bought her first to try to make up for turning the other one off. The walls were covered in posters for British television shows, the bed was still an antique but now it was covered with a teal ruffled bedspread and pillows, the shelves had her trinkets and school things. The room was hers now.
It was the screams that didn't belong.
He hadn't slept so he beat Belle to the room and to Beatrice's side.
"Beatrice?," he said getting in the bed beside her. "Come on, Beatrice, waken up, sweetheart."
He took her into his arms, just as she stirred.
"There we are, sweetheart," he cooed like he had when he'd rocked an infant Bae to sleep. "There we are."
Enough time had passed for Belle to join them sitting on the bed. "Beatrice, what was it?," she asked.
"Was it the Netherworld?," Gold asked.
"No," she said. "Just bad."
Gold held her tighter against his chest. "What bad?"
"I couldn't save anyone."
Belle took Beatrice's hands in hers. "It was just a dream, right?"
"No, it was all Hunger Games, everyone was there and then Sherlock fell and the Doctor got shot..."
Gold looked at Belle. "Why do you let her watch these things?"
"As opposed to what? My normal life?," she muttered weakly.
Belle ignored Gold and touched Beatrice's cheek. "It was just a bad dream."
"Except for Sherlock..."
"We've been over this, he's not really dead," said Belle. "You said yourself that writer just likes to make people suffer."
Gold kissed the top of Beatrice's head. "I'm going to get you a snack."
"Don't bother," she muttered.
Belle followed Gold back down to the kitchen.
"What does it mean?," she asked as he began getting together cookies and milk.
"It means that the Blue Fairy's curse has begun to eat at her soul. As Merlin said, it's designed to break the spirit." He finished pouring the milk. "It also means I have a fairy to kill."
"Rumple, that won't solve anything," Belle pleaded.
"No, see you're wrong actually. It will mean that she can no longer hurt Beatrice. What she did to you will be avenged and I will feel better. All in all, I would say her death will solve a great many things."
"Is that what you want your children to see?," asked Belle.
"I wasn't planning on doing it in front of them."
"If you care about your daughter, you won't make things worse for her," said Belle.
"I won't let this stand, Belle. This is too far."
It was two weeks of hard riding from Padua to the Far North Kingdom. Alec made the journey alone, stopping only to rest his horse, his thoughts consumed every step of the way with Catherine. Lovely Catherine.
He was here now and the land seemed warmer than he had remembered it. He made his way to the village just a stone's throw away from Catherine's Ice Palace and found a gathering in the square.
He tied up his horse and walked over.
The village crier was speaking. "It is announced that the wicked Ice Princess Catherine has been captured and her magic made impotent so that summer may once again come to these lands!"
The people cheered.
Alec looked at them in dismay.
"Princess Ailie shall now rule this kingdom, today and forever! Three cheers for Princess Ailie!"
The villagers cheered. Before the crier could speak again, Alec spoke up.
"Sorry, don't you know about the Ogres?"
All eyes turned to him.
"What Ogres do you speak of?," asked the Crier.
"The ones just over the glaciers. They come over when they melt in the summer. They'll slaughter you all," said Alec.
"Nonsense!," said the Crier. He returned to his announcement. "Princess Ailie announces feast days-"
"It's not nonsense," said Alec. "I've seen them myself. You can just look over with a telescope."
Some of the villagers seemed worried by this.
"And who are you, sir?," asked the Crier.
"I'm Alec, the Duke of Padua."
"You're a long way from your kingdom."
Alec turned around to see Prince Xavier. "You are as well, Your Highness."
"You should leave, Your Grace."
"I have business here. And what is your business here?"
"I'm getting married."
"Is that so? Who's the woman of dubious luck?"
"Princess Ailie."
Alec let that hang.
"Well, isn't that a coincidence?"
Xaxier raised his hand. "Guards! Take him to the dungeon!"
Guards came out of the crowd and grabbed Alec.
"What do you say now, Your Grace?," asked Xavier as the guards dragged Alec away.
Alec thought on it.
"I never liked you!," Alec shouted back. "And you're a cheat at billiards!"
After a sleepless night, Gold worked in the kitchen at the Thanksgiving meal. He stopped when he heard the doorbell ring, expecting to find Bae and Tamara. Instead, he found the Charmings complete with Emma and Henry, all holding covered dishes.
"Did you evict the nuns?," asked David.
Mary Margaret shot him a look.
"As ever, your tact is impeccable," said Gold.
For reasons Gold didn't understand, Mary Margaret appeared to be allowing herself in as she balanced a casserole dish.
"Mother Superior came to us this morning and said Dove had already been by to serve notice," said Mary Margaret. "That wasn't in our arrangement."
"Are you trying to lecture me on a contract, dearie?," asked Gold.
"I've never known you to go back on one."
"I said they could remain so long as they did not bother me or my family," said Gold.
"Did they do something?," asked Emma.
"Can I put this down?," Henry asked holding up a pie dish.
"What is it?," asked Gold.
"Pumpkin pie."
"Why is it here?"
"Belle!," called Mary Margaret.
"Go put it in the kitchen, kid," said Emma. She looked back at Gold as Henry hurried off. "What was it, Gold?"
"Mother Superior has bestowed Beatrice with the blessing of humility," Gold said, his voice dripping with contempt as Belle arrived.
"Yeah, I'm missing something," said Emma.
"As you often do."
"Rumple," Belle warned as she arrived.
"But Beatrice is so unsure of herself as it is," said Mary Margaret.
"Thank you for joining me at my point, your highness," said Gold.
"Beatrice? Unsure?," asked Emma. "She was pretty decisive when she torched my car."
"She's scared, Emma," said Mary Margaret. She looked at Belle. "Is it bad?"
"It's terrible," said Belle. "She can't put a thought together without second guessing it."
"Can't you undo it?," asked Emma.
"Fairy magic doesn't mix well with mine," said Gold.
"Gold, if you're planning something-" said David.
"If I'm planning something, what?"
"No matter what she's done, you can't go killing her," said David.
"If I was planning on killing her, how would you stop me?"
It was at that moment Neal and Tamara arrived.
"Yeah, I can see Thanksgiving's going well already..." said Neal. "They haven't even taken their coats off and you're threatening people."
"Mother Superior's done something to Beatrice," said Emma.
"What's wrong with her?," asked Neal.
"She's cursed her," said Belle.
"Cursed her?," asked Tamara, sounding skeptical.
"Hey, Dad!," said Henry, running over for a hug.
"Hey," said Neal, returning the gesture.
"Fairies curse people?," asked Tamara.
"Who cursed who?," asked Henry.
"Hey, kid, put this up," said Emma passing him her dish.
"What's going on?," asked Henry.
"Hey, do what your mom says," said Neal.
Henry grumbled silently and went to the kitchen.
"What kind of curse?," asked Neal.
"Crippling self doubt," said Gold.
"I'll go check on her," said Neal.
"Emma, go with him," said Mary Margaret.
"What? Why do I have to go with him?"
"You're her friend." Mary Margaret looked at David. "Come on. Let's go help in the kitchen."
They left and Tamara went with them. Gold turned to Belle.
"Why are all these people in my house?"
"Surprise?"
"Belle..." he grumbled.
"It was the only way to keep Henry from being shuttled around all day and for you to have Thanksgiving with Neal. Not to mention it would have been awkward for Tamara to have dinner at Mary Margaret and David's-"
"What do I care if it's awkward for Tamara?"
Belle narrowed the distance between them. "You need to start making her feel more welcome. She's going to marry your son," said Belle quietly. "What about when they have kids? Don't you want to be included in your grandchildren's lives?"
"It's never going to work," said Gold.
"Just try," said Belle.
Emma followed Neal into Beatrice's room. She had never been all the way in before and looked around at the collection of stuff.
"Hey, Bea," said Neal.
Emma looked to the bed. Beatrice was curled up in the fetal position hugging a pillow. Neal sat next to her.
"What's wrong?," he asked.
"The Blue Fairy tried to kill me..."
"What? Just now?," asked Emma.
"No. Before I was born."
"What?," asked Neal.
"Yeah, I'm evil or something."
"Oh, come on!," said Emma. "You are not evil. You're a bad driver and an arsonist, but come on."
"You just organized a food drive. What evil person does that?," asked Neal.
"Me, I guess."
"Come on, get up. Everyone's downstairs," said Neal.
"No, thank you," said Beatrice, turning away.
"I'm going to go talk to my dad," said Neal, getting up.
Emma nodded and sat down next to Beatrice. That's when she spotted the ever-present police box tucked under a night table.
"Do you have a fridge?," Emma asked, opening the door to find assorted sodas and candy.
"Yeah."
She looked over to the shelf. "Is that a Keurig?"
"Yeah..."
"This room is cool," said Emma, taking a soda. "I would have loved a room like this, but seriously, I would have loved a room."
"Might as well take it. You're the special one."
"Hey," said Emma. "Whatever Mother Superior said to you, it's crap. You decide who you are."
The guards threw Alec in a cell and locked him away.
"Is this meant to be a rescue?"
Alec smiled. He would have recognized that judgmental tone anywhere and looked up to see Catherine's lovely glare in the next cell.
"Because it's rubbish."
"Your Highness."
She scoffed. "Not much longer. Can't wear a crown when your head is chopped off."
"Oh," said Alec, nodding. "I don't suppose you've given any thought to reconsidering my proposal then?"
She glared at him.
"I admit being Duchess of Padua is a step down from being the Ice Princess, but it's certainly a step up from being executed."
"It depends on who the Duke of Padua is, I suppose and whether he is also sitting in a cell."
"They'll have to let me out."
"Is that so?"
"Yes! I'm the Duke of Padua!"
Catherine paused in consideration. "So, you've brought an army then?"
"Not exactly..."
"A regiment?"
"Well..."
"Some children with rocks?"
"I may not have thought out my entire strategy," Alec admitted.
"You don't say."
Alec stood. "I didn't think. I just rode."
"You just rode?," she asked with contempt. "It's two weeks journey from Padua. You didn't think?"
"My thoughts were only of you."
"I told you..."
Alec shook his head. "I care not. We will find a way to stop the Ogres, rid this kingdom of your sister and save your people. Then we shall marry and begin our life together." He quickly added. "If that's alright with you, Your Highness."
"Well, that is quite a plan," said Catherine. "I only have one question about it."
"Only one? That is an improvement."
Catherine nodded. "How do you propose we get out of these cells?"
"Yes," said Alec, looking back at the iron bars, "that is a worry."
Gold opened the door to find Regina.
He was really hating opening the door.
"What are you doing here?"
"Henry invited me. Belle said it was fine."
"Belle!," said Gold.
Belle entered and spotted Regina, immediately realizing what the problem was. Gold bored holes into her.
"Regina," said Belle. "Welcome."
"Thank you," said Regina, stepping inside. She cast a look at Gold. "It's nice to see someone in this family has some manners."
"Henry is out back, playing football," said Belle.
Regina left.
"Why did you invite her?," asked Gold.
"Because I didn't like how upset your grandson was at the prospect of his adoptive mother spending Thanksgiving alone."
"Need I remind you that Her Majesty locked you in her dungeon, then an asylum and sent you away with the intention that you would be killed."
"No, you don't, but I have no interest in holding a grudge against Regina," said Belle. "Neither should you."
Emma came downstairs. "Is that Regina's car?"
"Yes," said Belle, stalking back into the kitchen.
"Uh, okay," said Emma, sensing any argument would be futile.
"Can I interest you in a drink, Sheriff?," asked Gold.
"Yeah," said Emma, following him to an antique drinks cart. "Great way to kick off a family Thanksgiving."
Gold chuckled. "I believe it may be the only way."
The time for dinner finally rolled around and Beatrice dragged herself down. The huge mahogany table that usually only had one occupied end was full tonight. Beatrice ended up taking a seat between Regina and Merlin, opposite the Charmings. Her parents were together at one end. Tamara, Neal and Aurora filled the other.
"I hear the Blue Fairy cursed you," said Regina.
"No more cursed than I already was," Beatrice muttered.
"Which will all be rectified in good time," said Merlin.
"Before we get started, I thought we could all say what we're thankful for," said Mary Margaret.
Regina rolled her eyes.
"Oh, God, she's one of those," muttered Beatrice.
"She's the poster child for one of those," Regina quietly agreed.
"I'll start," said Mary Margaret.
"Of course you will," muttered Regina.
"I am thankful to be back with my family," Mary Margaret said, smiling at David and Emma.
"Because we wouldn't have guessed that," said Beatrice.
"Beatrice," Belle implored quietly.
"Beatrice, I know you're upset right now-" said Mary Margaret.
Beatrice laughed. "Upset? Upset doesn't begin to describe it. Let's look at my life. I was a social pariah until I got the brilliant idea to go to Maine where oh my God I am an even bigger social pariah, only now I have fairies taking my teeth and cursing me and people throwing me into hats-"
"What is she talking about?," Tamara asked Neal quietly.
"Would you try to keep up?! We're all getting sick of explaining things to you!," Beatrice snapped at her. "And this is all because apparently they think I'm all four horsemen of the apocalypse or something. I brought it all on myself! Which must make me the biggest moron to ever walk the Earth! So, yeah, let's all be thankful."
"Okay," said Emma, hoping to bail Beatrice out of this. "Merlin, could you pass me the corn?"
"Oh, forget this," said Beatrice, getting up and walking out.
"Beatrice!," Belle called, chasing after her.
It seemed that hours had passed in the dungeon. Finally, Ailie arrived.
"Well, is this your frog?," asked Ailie. She looked Alec up and down. "What a fine specimen."
"Eyes on your own man," said Catherine.
Ailie grimaced. "You never did like sharing, did you?"
"Why don't you go back to your betrothed?," asked Catherine. "Or have you tired of the scent of pomade and cologne?"
"It is rather harsh, isn't it?," asked Alec.
"You can smell it from two kingdoms over," said Catherine. "Mind you, not that you smell all that much better with two weeks of horseback on you."
"I was trying to get to you."
"Well, could you have gotten to me with a bath?"
"I didn't want to stop."
"Yes, because it's a good thing you were on time to be locked up in a dungeon."
"Are you two quite finished?," asked Ailie.
"No," said Catherine.
"Your execution has been scheduled," said Ailie. "But there's something I want first."
"I'm not giving you grandmother's necklace."
"Not that," said Ailie. "Though I do want that."
"There is a lot of history I'm not getting here," said Alec.
"Indeed," said Ailie. "I want your magic, sister."
"And I want a never-ending chocolate river, but it's not happening," said Catherine.
"Things are different now. You finally have something to lose," said Ailie.
They both turned their eyes to Alec.
He looked behind him, saw nothing and back at the sisters.
"Oh, blast..." he muttered.
Ailie opened the cell door and reached inside Alec's chest to take his heart. Catherine gasped. As she did, Ailie was knocked back by a wave of magic.
Alec stared at her on the ground.
"What was that?," he asked Catherine.
"True Love," said Catherine. "Now open the cell unless you had other plans."
Dinner disbanded. Merlin disappeared. Neal, Tamara, David and Henry went back to the backyard to play football. The women gathered in the living room. Regina walked up to Gold at the drinks cart.
"So, that was less spectacular than I had hoped, Gold," said Regina.
"Sorry to disappoint you, dearie," said Gold, pouring another drink.
"I'm being serious. Besides being with my son, the only thing I was looking forward to about this dinner was Beatrice's sniping, though even depressed she managed to get a few good ones in."
"You can imagine I have bigger concerns."
"Yes, I can. What are you planning?"
"Why would you be interested?"
"I'm not exactly friends with the fairies."
"Really, dearie? I hadn't noticed."
Regina spoke in a low voice, glancing at the other women. "Killing her won't help. It will only make her curse stronger."
"Oh, I know the rules better than you, dearie."
"So you have to undo her curse and then I assume you'll want her dead."
"Is life without magic getting so boring that you have to live vicariously through me?," asked Gold.
Regina shot him a dirty look as Merlin entered.
"Is this the Plotting Society?," asked Merlin, siding up to them. "Why didn't anyone invite me?"
"Unless you have a solution to offer-" Gold began.
"Calm down, sunshine," said Merlin, holding up a book with gilded pages. "I have solved everything."
"The fairy rule book?," snorted Regina.
"You have?," Belle asked, her attention suddenly piqued.
"Have you?," Gold asked with contempt.
"I have," said Merlin. "It's all in the book. See, the Blue Fairy loves rules. She's got this egomaniacal need to control absolutely bloody everything."
"What's the solution?," asked Belle, trying to hurry him along.
"See, you can't fight fairy magic with dark magic. They don't mix. You can only fight fairy magic with fairy magic."
"Do you need fairy dust?," asked Mary Margaret.
"No, we need fairies," said Merlin.
"I'll go get some," said Gold.
"What do you mean?," asked Belle.
"See, the Blue Fairy gave Beatrice the so-called blessing she ought to have gotten when she was born."
"What?," asked Emma.
Mary Margaret turned to Emma. "In the Enchanted Forest, all children got a blessing from a fairy when they were born."
"Then there's the princesses," said Merlin.
"What? Like Sleeping Beauty?," asked Emma.
"Precisely, only this book gives different rules for princesses and ordinary children," said Merlin. "Princesses are entitled to blessings from all the fairies."
"How does that help us?," asked Belle.
Merlin turned to Belle. "The title of the Ice Princess passes mother to daughter. Catherine to Reinette to you to Beatrice."
"But my grandmother wasn't Ice Princess for years before my mother was born."
"She had to surrender her powers, she never gave up her title entirely. You have always technically been the Ice Princess. According to this, you should have had a Blessing Ceremony for Beatrice when she was born and invited all the fairies."
Regina scoffed. "Yes, Rumple, you should have invited all the fairies to the Dark Castle. That would have gone over well."
"But we were cursed..." said Belle.
"Yes, this book has an exception. If the Blessing Ceremony cannot be conducted because of a curse or imprisonment in a tower..."
"This book is awfully technical," said Emma.
"A conclave of five princesses can approve a delayed ceremony."
"Five princesses," said Mary Margaret, eagerly latching on the plan. "That's me, Belle, Aurora, oh, and Emma..."
Emma frowned. "I'm not a-"
She looked up as everyone in the room stared at her as if she was stupid.
"Oh. Right," said Emma. "Yeah, count me in I guess."
"We still need a fifth," said Aurora. "Does anyone know someone?"
"Oh, I can think of someone," said Merlin. He looked back at Regina.
"You're not serious," said Regina.
"As I recall, you were born Princess Regina."
"I never had a Fairy Blessing Ceremony," said Regina.
"Your mother ripped hearts out for fun," said Merlin. "It put people off."
"Regina, please," said Belle.
"I have better things to do than be part of some idiotic princess ceremony," said Regina.
Gold scoffed. "Do you now?"
"Yeah, I don't see you doing a lot of mayor-ing lately," said Merlin.
"Fine, I'll help," said Regina. "I don't know what good it will do. You'll still have to find a fairy to show up and not curse her more."
"Trust me. They're not going to curse her more with a known fairy killer in the room," said Merlin, casting a glance at Gold.
"Fairy killer?," asked Aurora.
