Author's Notes: I do not own Once Upon A Time which is a show on ABC that recently jossed me with that Frozen thing which I also do not own. Thanks for the reads and reviews. I think I've gotten back to almost all of you. I really appreciate it. Please let me know what you think and happy reading!
Gold awoke next to Belle. She was contentedly asleep.
He heard crying.
As he stepped out of the master bedroom in the pink house, he found himself in the hallway of the Dark Castle. Following the sound he walked into a nursery.
Baby Beatrice sat in the middle of an elaborate crib and wailed.
He smiled. "Shh, Beatrice, it's alright. Papa's here."
Suddenly, the infant was covered in darkness before he could walk over. When he got to the crib, he found himself joined by the Dark One, scales and all.
"What did you do?," Gold demanded.
"Oh, I'm not the problem, dearie. I'm the solution. That is, if you ever want to see your Dark Princess again."
He tried to reach for the baby, but the shadow over her somehow grew denser and Beatrice's cries grew louder.
"Please. Do something."
Gold looked to his left and saw himself. The spinner, holding his walking stick with his mangled leg.
"He can't help you, dearie," said the Dark One. "He's all requests and begging, isn't he? He can make her pancakes, but he can't protect her any more than he could Bae."
"She needs me," the spinner insisted.
"You can't offer her anything, dearie," said the Dark One. He looked to Gold. "You know who can save her."
"Rumple," Belle said gently.
He snapped awake, remembering that he had sat down just after they arrived in Neverland.
He had fallen asleep on the deck of the Jolly Roger. The pirate was staring at him.
"I'm sorry," he said.
Belle shook her head. "You've barely slept lately. It's alright. Do you want to go below deck?"
"No," he said.
"Granny sent along food," said Belle. "Do you want some while it's still decent?"
"No, I'll be fine." He got up. "Excuse me."
The Beatrice French Guide to Getting Kidnapped.
The Beatrice Gold Guide to Getting Kidnapped.
The Beatrice Gold Guide to Getting Kidnapped By Your Grandfather.
The Beatrice Gold Guide to Getting Kidnapped By Your Grandfather Who Also Happens to Be Peter Pan.
The Beatrice Gold Guide to Getting Kidnapped By Your Grandfather Who Also Happens to Be Peter Pan and Your Father Happens to Be Rumplestiltskin and Your Mom Happens to Be Belle From Beauty and the Beast.
Rumplestiltskin Is Also The Beast. Also, Maurice from Beauty and the Beast? Jerk.
It's A Trap: The Truth Disney Doesn't Want You to Know About Neverland
Beatrice frowned at the River Song journal. She had never bothered to write anything in it except a Think Geek confirmation code once since Emma gave it to her for her birthday, but she was in Neverland with not a lot to do and she didn't want to burn through her iPhone battery all at once.
She had decided titles were hard.
Congratulations. You have been taken to Neverland by the autonomous shadow of your estranged grandfather, Peter Pan, who as it turns out is a crappy father.
She decided to concentrate on what she had done right so far. Her mother was an optimist, perhaps it was time to draw on some of that Disney Princess sparkly, musical optimism. She had saved Henry. She had evaded Pan for time being. Her only survival skills came from The Hunger Games, though she supposed she could adapt that fireball thing. So, she had found a tree.
Then she had to figure out how to climb a tree. How did cats do it?
So, she went and sat in the tree and started writing in her journal and tried not to think about how there was absolutely no sign of the sun coming up so the whole time she was here it might be... dark.
The Dark Princess' Guide to Neverland
The Gold Guide to Neverland. That even sounded like a real travel guide.
What else had she done right?
Well, she wasn't the pregnant girl on Lost. That was a plus when getting trapped on an island, right?
Beatrice thought maybe she should try writing some Doctor Who fanfiction instead. She had always thought Eleven and Martha would have gotten along well. He was kooky, she was sensible.
It could work.
"You're wearing that," said Belle.
Gold turned. Belle had joined him below deck. "You couldn't expect me to traipse through the jungle in my suit, could you?"
"I don't think that's why you changed, though."
"Indeed not." He motioned at the leather and dragon hide he had conjured. "I thought you were fond of this look."
"I was fond of anything on the man I love," said Belle. She shook her head. "You don't need to do this."
"I do. You need the Dark One."
"I need Beatrice's father."
"Who is the Dark One, in case you've forgotten."
Belle shook her head. "You're her father no matter what you call yourself."
The ship rocked.
"What was that?," asked Belle.
They made their way back above deck. The ship rocked side to side as the passengers held on to the ropes.
"Mermaids," said Neal.
"Good thing you had time to change your clothes," said Hook.
Belle stumbled as Gold grabbed her. He hurried over and launched a fireball from his hand at the mermaids.
"Trying to do something here!," Venus snapped, holding on to the side of the ship. "Ursula! Ursula, I demand your presence!"
"Ursula is a myth-" Mary Margaret protested.
"Shut up if you want her to help," said Venus. "Ursula!"
A golden creature with a form that was half-octopus, half-woman emerged from the sea.
"What?!," she snapped, sounding annoyed.
"What?!," said Venus. "Take a look around!"
"What are you doing in these waters?"
"I am here for my great-granddaughter," said Venus. "These people are under my protection so kindly call off the killer mermaids!"
"A Daughter of Venus?," Ursula sneered.
"From the book," added Merlin.
This seemed to have an immediate effect on Ursula. "The girl from the book?"
"Yes and I know you would hate to make such an enemy," said Venus.
The sea goddess disappeared along with the hostile mermaids.
"Was that it?," asked Emma.
"Thank you would suffice," said Venus.
Belle approached. "That sea goddess... She just backed off because you said it was about Beatrice?"
"And you're welcome," said Venus.
"Even gods have to be careful, darling," said Merlin.
"What now?," asked David.
"Now we use our time wisely," said Merlin. He waved his hand over the deck, a table materialized and on top of it was a map of Neverland.
"Where did you get that?," asked Gold.
"Belle brought it," said Merlin.
"It was with the mess that was in the library when I first looked inside. I had thought about having it framed for the children's room..."
"Which would actually be pretty creepy," said Emma.
"This is actually pretty accurate," said Neal.
"How long since you left?," asked Merlin.
"Maybe twenty years..." he shrugged. "You think Pan will have changed things?"
"Oh, but he's a boy and boys never change," said Merlin. "Twenty years in a land where time has stopped? I'd say we're in good shape."
"Except that we are dealing with Pan," Hook added from behind the wheel of the ship.
"Always nice to have contributions from the peanut gallery..." said Merlin.
Belle turned. "You've fought him," she said. "What would you do?"
Hook looked stunned. "You're asking me?"
"Yes, you're asking him?," Gold added.
"I'll listen to what anyone has to say if it will get my daughter back," said Belle. She motioned at the table and the map.
Hook approached. "Take the Jolly Roger up the river and attack Pan's camp from there."
"Assuming that's where he's keeping her," said David.
"That's not bad, pirate," said Merlin. He looked up at Hook. "Though, you do know, if you are trying to trick us, you will die."
Hook shrugged. "I would be disappointed with anything less."
Gold led Belle from the entrance to the inn around to the diner.
Was she real? Truly, he wanted to reach out and touch her the moment he saw her at the inn, but was grateful for whatever self-control kept him from grabbing her.
Scent. He couldn't be imagining that. Roses?
She looked back at him strangely.
He had been sniffing. Instead of being the man who grabbed the woman he just met, he was the one who sniffed her like a bloodhound.
"My apologies," he said. "I think I recognized your perfume from someone I used to know."
Belle smiled sweetly. "No perfume. Just soap. Well, rose scented."
"Ah, yes." He glanced at her hands. No wedding band, no rings of any kind. Was there a husband? Was there a father to go with this mysterious daughter? Someone from this land? Gods only knew what memories Regina had given her, at least she didn't have some horrifying personality to go with them.
Belle looked through the window of the diner.
"Here we are," said Gold, opening the door.
"And there she is," said Belle.
Gold looked to where Belle had motioned. Mr. Booth was sitting with Henry and a girl turned around to look at him as everyone else in the diner turned away as usual. Strange that she had immediately gravitated towards those two. She turned back as he and Belle made their way over.
"Beatrice..." said Belle. "August, what are you doing here?"
"I write here."
He looked nervous. As well he should have. "You know Mr. Booth?," Gold asked politely.
He was going to turn him back to wood.
"Oh, yes, we're old friends," said Belle.
"How nice," Gold remarked. Yes, definitely a return to puppet form was definitely in the immediate future. He decided to turn to the girl. "And this must be your girl."
"Yeah, here she is. The elusive Beatrice," Belle said.
He noticed the girl's eyes were on him as his were on her. She was fortunate to take after her mother. Dark brown hair, glasses...
The eyes behind the glasses were brown.
Unless he was very much mistaken, they were his.
His.
How could that be? He hadn't seen her since she left for Maurice's. Some curse? Some spell? How was he going to keep from beating that oaf half to death again?
Her wrists were covered in bandages. Beatrice tugged the sleeves down at his first glance.
"Well, Miss French, now that you're reunited with your daughter, I suppose I should be leaving you," he said. Not that he wanted to, but he was fairly certain that even a cursed Belle would question why a strange old man was so curious about her and her daughter.
"Thank you for your help," said Belle.
"Not at all. If you need anything while you're here, you can find me at my shop." He turned to August now, making the look in his eyes only for him. "Mr. Booth knows where it is. I believe I'll be seeing him there later."
"Right," said August, seeming to dread the prospect as much as Gold wanted him to.
He nodded and gave the girl one last look. She was still eyeing him.
He left Granny's.
Gods, she had to be his. He didn't think he could bear it if she wasn't.
The Martha Jones Eleventh Doctor fanfiction suffered some setbacks.
Like was she supposed to just hang around with River there? She had already listened about Rose for a season, that didn't seem fair. Then of course where was Mickey? How had those two even gotten married?
So, she had decided to go another route. There was a girl in a town in Maine which just happened to be full of fairy tale characters, most of whom despised her so when the TARDIS landed in her backyard she ran away with the Doctor.
Tenth Doctor.
No Eleven.
Ten.
Yeah, Tenth. It's right after The Runaway Bride. So, they go off and...
And then the girl's father casts a curse that threatens to destroy the entire universe in order to find her.
This so wasn't working.
Beatrice heard Lost Boys in the distance. She put her things back in her messenger bag just in case she had to move.
Then she screeched as she noticed her creepy grandfather hovering in front of her.
"Nobody likes a spoil sport, Beatrice."
"Nobody likes a flying creep."
"If you won't play, how can we ever get to know each other?"
"I don't want to get to know you. What do you even want with me?"
"Neverland is dying, Beatrice."
"Dying?"
"This island. Can't you feel it?"
Beatrice looked around. "No."
"It needs new magic. Your magic."
"Sorry, no."
"No?" Pan seemed surprised.
"This place sucks. I say let it burn."
"You can have anything you want here. No grown-ups, no rules, no one telling you what to do."
"I happen to like my parents and a lot better than you."
Pan scoffed. He landed on a branch on the opposite tree. "Your father?"
"Guy who's going to mop the floor with you?"
"How can you have such faith in a man who abandoned both his children?"
"He never abandoned me. He didn't know."
"He didn't care. Don't you understand? Baelfire is his real child. The one he loves. You're just the bastard conceived while he rutted around with the maid."
Beatrice paused. "You need something from me."
"I just said that."
"Not just that, you need me to do it because if you didn't, you would have done it already. That's why you're trying this whole your parents don't love you routine and maybe that works on the rest of these people, but I'm not stupid."
Pan scowled. "It's time to play."
"Not playing."
The branch broke from under Beatrice. Other branches broke her fall and she grabbed onto one, but soon she was hanging just above the Lost Boys and kicked one in the face as he tried to grab her.
"See, Beatrice, I make the game rules in Neverland," said Pan.
"Yeah, I get it. You're Seneca Crane. Go eat some nightberries."
"What?," asked Pan.
"I am so sick of no one getting my references..." said Beatrice, kicking another Lost Boy.
"Pan gets what he wants," said one of the taller boys, with a dirty face and dark blond hair. He yanked Beatrice down and to the ground.
"Very good, Felix," said Pan.
Beatrice elbowed him as he fought her.
"No point in fighting us, girl," he said in a monotone voice.
Beatrice turned and raised a free hand, launching Felix backwards into a tree trunk. The other boys headed towards her and she launched enough fireballs to clear some room while she ran.
At which time, she found herself on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean.
"Awesome..." she muttered.
Then she heard the rattle and whooping of the Lost Boys in the jungle. She glanced behind her to see their torches were definitely coming towards her. This left Beatrice with two not great options.
So she jumped.
If she lived, her mother was going to kill her for this.
It was really hard to swim after jumping off a cliff. Beatrice hit the water hard and all at once it threatened to consume her.
Beatrice looked up as she appeared to be saved by a mermaid.
Coughing as she came ashore, the mermaid sided up to her, all smiles.
"Thank you," said Beatrice.
The mermaid just nodded.
"No, really, thank you."
She grinned sheepishly.
"Oh, God," said Beatrice. She took off her messenger bag and spread out the contents to dry them on the sand. The mermaid handled some of the objects curiously.
"My iPhone, not my iPhone!" She held up the object to the befuddled mermaid. "Seriously, how many of these am I going to lose to magic? My whole plan was to lock myself in a cave or treehouse and watch Doctor Who until my parents come!"
The mermaid continued to look confused. Beatrice buried the iPhone in the sand.
"I know it looks weird and I think you're supposed to use rice and I'll probably get sand in the dock connector, but what have I got to lose at this point?"
Beatrice realized the mermaid had said absolutely nothing to her.
And that her hair was red.
"This might seem weird, but is your name Ariel?"
The mermaid's jaw dropped and she looked at Beatrice in a state of wonderment.
"I had a feeling," said Beatrice. "Did you happen to give your voice to a sea witch?"
Ariel did some hand gestures that indicated it was more complicated than that.
"Okay, so, I don't have a specific spell for this, but I am pretty magical and I have seen your movie about a hundred times so..." Beatrice closed her eyes and tried to imagine putting Ariel's voice back which was hopefully a thing. She fell back to the film for magic words, settling on movie Ariel's solo as she gave her voice to Ursula.
"Thank you, thank you," a bright bubbly voice stopped her. "I don't know what to say."
"Well, you saved my life, so..."
"What's your name?"
"Beatrice."
"Beatrice." She smiled. "Sorry to point this out, but you don't see a lot of girls in Neverland. Well, ones with legs."
"I'm trying not to stay."
"How did you get here?"
"I was trying to be the hero." She looked at Ariel. "What about you? How did you get here?"
Ariel shrugged. "The mermaids in the Enchanted Forest out-swam the Curse and came here."
"Really? Nowhere else you could go?"
"It didn't used to be so bad."
"Yeah, this constant nighttime thing sucks. What is that about?"
"Well, there are rumors that Pan's power isn't what it once was and he's dying. Were you playing with the Lost Boys?"
Beatrice snorted. "More like they are trying to capture me for reasons I have yet to figure out."
"Oh. Well, what are you going to do?"
"Well, I could always go live under the sea since everything's better down where it's wetter."
Ariel wrinkled her nose at Beatrice. "What?"
"Do you know a hot crustacean band?"
Beatrice shook her head. "Never mind. Who took your voice?"
"The Evil Queen."
Beatrice nodded. "Yeah, that figures."
"You know her?"
"She's my half-brother's son's adopted mother. Also, my dad used to date her mom. Obviously, we're very close."
"Oh," said Ariel.
"That was a joke."
Gold had passed almost the whole evening with Belle on the porch of the inn. Save for one interruption by Granny reminding Gold that she had just paid the rent, it had been the nicest evening that he had ever spent in Storybrooke. Sitting next to Belle, listening to her accent. She could have told him any tripe in that voice of hers and he would have begged for more, that she was intelligent had always been a bonus and to hear about Beatrice was perfection. Belle spoke proudly of all her accomplishments, then drifted back into melancholy when she lamented the girl's state.
As he got in his pajamas back at his great, empty, pink house he wondered how he could tell Belle the truth when she thought it was all some great delusion. To confirm such a thing would probably send her screaming back to New York and he couldn't have that. Beatrice knew the truth. He supposed August had given her the broad strokes, but that powder and that trick with her grandmother's pendant indicated she knew she had some sort of magic. Being cut off from the Dark One's powers, Gold couldn't sense it on his own, but the evidence was there.
True Love, carried over from their old land.
As he finally got in his bed, the phone rang. That alarmed him. People were afraid to call him in the day, no one dared to call him at this hour, almost midnight? He picked up the phone off the bedside table.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Gold?"
"Be- Miss French."
"I am so sorry to disturb you, I hope you weren't sleeping."
"No, no," said Gold. "Not at all."
"I just, uh, sort of need a lawyer."
"Has Mayor Mills done something?" She was quickly moving back up to the top of his list of people to kill. The rankings kept changing between her, Moe French and August. Mother Superior was on it as a maybe since he didn't know the specifics yet, but if he found her in a dark alley before he knew for certain he was willing to take the chance.
"No, it's Beatrice. She, uh, burned the sheriff's car."
Well.
That was unexpected.
"Just give me a few minutes to dress, Miss French," said Gold. "I will meet you outside the sheriff's station."
"Really?"
"I'll be right there."
He met Belle outside, then went in. Sheriff Swan had been quick to back down so he left with Belle and Beatrice, offering to walk them back to the inn.
"What were you thinking?!," said Belle.
"She was leaving town!," said Beatrice.
"How does that justify burning her car? It's not any of your business!"
"Yes, it is, because if she leaves town, we're all screwed. Everyone, but especially me not that anyone gives a-" Beatrice glanced up at Gold. "Forget I-"
"Your mother filled me in," said Gold.
"Great," muttered Beatrice. "She is being a crappy savior right now, somebody had to do something and we just established that I am expendable."
"You're not expendable," Gold said before he thought.
She was looking at him again.
"How much trouble is she in?," asked Belle.
"I'll talk to the District Attorney first thing," said Gold.
"Will the Mayor know?" Belle sounded anxious.
"Oh, she'll know," said Gold. "Not that there's a great deal she can do. There are limits to even her power. I can exert my influence. I'll come find you after I've spoken to the D.A."
They had arrived at the inn.
Belle sighed in exasperation and put on another one of her smiles. "Thank you again, Mr. Gold. I don't know what I would have done without your help."
"You are welcome any time," said Gold. He looked back at Beatrice who stood with her arms crossed. "What made you set the fire?"
"I just said-"
"That was your motive, but you could have done anything. What made you set the fire in particular?"
"It's hard to leave town without a car, I don't know anything about cars so... arson was the answer."
They said good night. Gold began back to his car.
Arson was the answer.
Gods, he had that coming.
Beatrice awoke. Ariel sprang from the water as the sound of a conch shell filled the air.
"What's that?," asked Beatrice.
"A ship," said Ariel. "A ship just appeared in Neverland. That was Pan's lookout."
"A ship?," asked Beatrice. "Is that normal?"
"No ships have come to Neverland for a very long time."
Beatrice stood on the shore, trying to get a better vantage point. All she could see was a speck on the ocean.
"I think I might know who that is..." said Beatrice.
Ariel looked back. "Do you think it's your family?"
"Who else would it be? I mean, Captain Hook, but I know that guy and he's not coming..."
From nearby, Beatrice heard the unmistakable sound of Lost Boys.
"That's not good..." said Ariel.
"No, I think they figured out the beach," said Beatrice, collecting her things. "I'm going to have to move."
"What about your family?"
"Well, I can't swim to them."
"But how will they know where to find you?"
Beatrice looked to the ship as she put her messenger bag over her shoulder.
"You go."
"What?"
"You go tell them I'm here and I'm going to hide myself away and wait for them. Belle and Rumplestiltskin."
"Rumplestiltskin?," Ariel asked in alarm.
"God, you live underwater and you've heard of him?"
"Beatrice, you seem nice, but the last time I met with a dark magician, it didn't go well."
"Do you want legs? Do you want to find Eric?"
"More than anything."
"I'm about ninety percent sure he can do that."
"Ninety?!"
"Look, just go or don't. I don't have time to make you do anything. If you do go, Doctor Donna TARDIS."
"What?," Ariel asked as Beatrice ran away.
"Hey," said Mary Margaret.
"Hey," Belle replied.
Mary Margaret sat down next to her. "How are you doing?"
"Awful."
Mary Margaret smiled bravely. "We'll find her."
Belle looked across at Gold. "There's something Rumple's not telling me."
"Maybe he just wants to protect you."
"That's what I'm afraid of." She looked back at her phone.
"Why do you keep doing that?," asked Mary Margaret.
Belle handed it to her.
"I love you, Mommy," Mary Margaret read.
"Henry said she texted something before she went with the Shadow. That was it," said Belle. "She was afraid to come here, afraid of what Pan might do and that was the last thing she wrote me."
"It won't be the last thing," Mary Margaret promised as she hugged her friend.
"What's that?," asked Emma.
They turned. Belle ran to the side of the ship seeing a redhead bob up in the distance and coming closer.
"It's another one," Hook sneered.
Gold and Merlin both raised their hands. David manned the cannon.
"Could we just stop it with the fireballs for a minute?," asked Venus.
"She's calling someone," said David.
Ariel finally made her way up to the side of the ship. "Belle and Rumplestiltskin?"
"Yes?," asked Belle.
Ariel smiled. "You're Beatrice's mom."
Gold approached. "Where is she?"
"And you're Rumplestiltskin..." Ariel said nervously. "You're more... handsome than they said."
Gold rolled his eyes as Emma coughed. Mary Margaret made her way over.
"Ariel?"
"Snow White!," Ariel exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"
"I'm sorry, I can't do this," said Merlin.
He waved his hand and Ariel appeared on the deck.
"Sorry, darling," said Merlin. "I get seasick."
"You get seasick?." asked Hook.
"I hate that rat bastard Pan..." muttered Merlin.
"There are a lot of you..." said Ariel.
"Right," said Mary Margaret. "This is my husband, David and our daughter, Emma..." Ariel smiled politely as the introductions continued. "This is Rumplestiltskin's son, Neal who is also our grandson's father and Belle's father, Merlin and her grandmother, Venus and Hook who is..."
"A cowardly pirate," said Gold.
Emma shook her head at Ariel. "Yeah, don't bother trying to follow it. My kid made a chart but he keeps having to redo it because he keeps running out of room on the paper."
"Ariel," said Belle, "do you know where Beatrice is?"
"Not exactly. She was on the beach, but the Lost Boys found her and she had to make a run for it."
"Beatrice alone against an army of Lost Boys?," asked David. "I don't like those odds."
"As always your contributions are invaluable..." said Merlin.
"So you know nothing," said Gold. "More than that, how do I even know you've actually seen Beatrice?"
"Ariel wouldn't lie," said Mary Margaret.
"Because no one's ever deceived you, dearie..."
Ariel struggled. "Doctor... She said something about a doctor?"
Belle looked at Gold plaintively.
"Yeah, that sounds like Bea," said Neal.
"Did she say what her plan is?," asked Belle.
"Just that she was going to hide."
"This changes nothing," said Hook.
"The whole plan is based on her being held by Pan," said Mary Margaret. "She's not with Pan. If we can just find her, we can leave."
"Do you think Pan will make it that simple?," asked Hook.
"He's going to have to," said Merlin.
"Where's that map?," asked Belle.
Neal got it from the table and brought it to Belle who held it in front of Ariel.
"We were there at Mermaid Cove," said Ariel.
Mary Margaret and David stared at the map now.
"She would go through there," said Mary Margaret.
David looked at Neal. "Is there anything around there that might interest her?"
"What? Like a Starbucks?," asked Emma.
"It's jungle," said Neal.
"We are wasting time," said Gold.
"Watch it, sunshine," cautioned Merlin.
"She is alone. She has absolutely no survival skills-"
"Well, neither did I when I started," said Mary Margaret.
"I am sure you all have good intentions-"
"Dark One," said Merlin.
Gold looked over to see Merlin holding something inside his jacket. No one else could see.
He was using it.
"You will not do anything stupid like running off on your own," Merlin said casually, then let go of the dagger.
"Merlin's right," said Belle, coming to squeeze his hand. "We're going to find her together."
Beatrice's trek back into the jungle didn't last too long. All too soon she was surrounded by Lost Boys and Pan's insufferable smirk.
"There's no running, Beatrice," said Pan. "Nowhere to hide. Nowhere to go. Time to come and play."
"I'm not playing," she said.
"Going to toss down another of daddy's potions?"
"No."
She broke free of Felix's grasp and ran. Once she had enough distance, she stopped and stamped her foot covering the jungle floor in a sheet of ice. The Lost Boys slipped and fell, groaning.
"Is that what you want to play?," asked Pan. "Ice skating?"
"I'm not playing," Beatrice growled. She rolled her hands, conjuring a snowball, tossing it in the air. The Lost Boys watched as snow blanketed the jungle. Felix launched back towards her and a wall of jagged icicles stopped him.
Beatrice looked at Pan. He didn't seem to be enjoying this so she decided to go for broke. An icy pedestal rose beneath her and soon came to form the center of an ice palace.
"And thank you, Great Grandma for your very helpful journal."
"It's not enough, Beatrice!," Pan taunted from outside.
"Great Grandma wasn't done yet," Beatrice huffed. She walked on the balcony. Pan was smirking and hovering.
Beatrice waved her hand. Pan's smirk finally disappeared as an ice monster emerged from the frozen ground. The Lost Boys went screaming. Pan stared as icy spikes grew from the creature.
"His name is Marshmallow," said Beatrice. "He wants to play."
"Go away," roared the monster as he swatted Pan onto the ground.
Beatrice shut the ice doors and walked back inside. She took out her journal.
Travel Tip: Bring your own ice monster.
The purple smoke cleared. Gold felt the magic in the air as if it were fizzing after all this time without it.
"Okay, where did the freaky smoke go?"
He looked down to Beatrice. She was keeping her distance from him, still holding on to the edge of the well.
"Magic."
"Yeah, but where did it go? It's not like just going to float down the eastern seaboard, is it?"
"It's magic."
She threw her hands up. "That is not an answer!"
He held his hand out.
"What is that?," she asked.
"I'm holding my hand out."
"Okay..."
"So I can walk you back down to the car and we can go to your mother.'
Beatrice grimaced and took his hand. He began leading her carefully back down the path they had come up.
"Okay, so that dropping the potion-"
"True Love."
She paused. "What?"
"The potion was True Love. I bottled it using hair from Snow White and Prince Charming."
"So that's a thing..." Beatrice remarked. "Yeah, but what did you need the magic smoke cloud for?"
"This is a Land Without Magic. I just brought it."
"Um, if there was no magic here, what have I been doing? Also, Maleficent?"
"It's magic."
"Yes, but you just said there was no magic up until like five minutes ago! Your explanation seems to be there isn't magic except when there is which sucks as an explanation!"
Gold sighed and helped her back in the Cadillac. He came around and got in the driver's seat.
"You don't believe I'm your father, do you?," asked Gold.
"Is that a thing in the Enchanted Forest? Somebody says something, someone immediately believes it?"
"That was a recurring theme."
"Well, I'm not from the Enchanted Forest."
"Then how did you use magic?"
He glanced over. Despite being unable to see him, she was scowling at him.
"Really? That's how you want to do this? Fine. I'm giving you one in two odds."
"One in two? Really?" That didn't seem so bad.
"I mean, either you are or you aren't, so one in two."
It wasn't so great either. He turned his attention back to the road.
"What did you mean 'This must be how Luke Skywalker felt?,'" he asked.
"Sorry, but Beatrice seemed to think you could help me."
Gold turned to the mermaid. She flipped her fin as she sat on her perch on a crate. "And why would she say that?"
"She said if I brought you the message, you could help me get legs and find my prince."
"In case you can't tell, I'm in the middle of something, dearie."
"I saved her life."
"Aren't you the Queen's little project?"
"I guess-"
"How is it you have a voice?"
"Beatrice restored it."
"Then I'd say she paid for her life."
"I brought her message."
"Which was worthless."
Emma walked over and pulled on her leather jacket. "Did anyone notice it got really cold around here?"
"I'm afraid we have bit of a problem coming ashore," said Hook.
The ship lurched suddenly. It had stopped short of the shore, running into a blanket of ice.
Belle came up from below deck. "What's going on?"
"Beatrice has done something. The question is why," said Gold.
Belle looked out to the expanse of ice.
"She can do all this?"
"She's talented," Gold said in what he thought was the biggest understatement he had ever made about Beatrice.
"Wait," said Emma, "Beatrice has magical ice powers now?"
"Yes," said Merlin.
"She's right, you guys lay too much on her," said Emma.
"She ought to be easier to follow," said Venus.
"Yeah, we'll just follow the huge trail of ice," said Mary Margaret, eyes still in astonishment.
David and Neal dropped a ladder and experimentally poked the ice.
"Rumplestiltskin," said Ariel.
Gold sighed. He waved his hand, giving her legs.
"Thank-"
"Don't thank me yet," said Gold. "These are on a condition. You get to watch the pirate. That's my price."
"And Eric?"
"You get your prince when I get my princess," said Gold. "Otherwise, it's back to the sea for you, dearie."
"Rumple," said Belle.
"I'm not doing anyone any favors until Beatrice is safely in your arms," said Gold.
He walked away.
"It's alright," Ariel said cheerfully. "I'll find Eric. All I have to do is guard a dangerous pirate and help rescue your daughter from an evil somewhat omnipotent manchild."
"Did you want clothes?," asked Belle.
"Oh," said Ariel. "Is that why I'm cold?"
