I'm am so very sorry for the long wait. I was traveling with my family and I had no time to write, but I'm back now so the updates will go back to being more frequent. I hope you guy haven't given up on this story yet, I can't even begin to tell you how happy and surprised I am that this story has reached almost 50 follows already! This chapter is a little longer than my usual chapters are, I hope it makes up for the wait. Here's chapter 8!

The New Dark One - Chapter 8

Tinkerbell rushed back home as fast as she could. When she got there, Lara was lying on the couch with both hands covering her face. She looked helpless.

"Oh, sweetheart! What happened?" the fairy sat next to the girl and ran her fingers through her dark locks.

"My magic. It's gone. All of it" she sat down.

"What do you mean gone?"

"Look" Lara flicked her hand as if to create a fire ball, but nothing happened. "Do you think someone took it?" Tinkerbell was starting to feel restless.

"I don't know. I mean, nobody knows I'm here. Nobody even knows I exist except you" something didn't add up "For someone to steal my magic they would have to know I have it the first place. This just doesn't make sense".

"Have you used your magic since you got here?"

Lara appeared to think for a while, then answered: "Actually, I don't remember using it since I went through the portal" her demeanor suddenly changed to that of hope, as if someone had just pointed out something that had been right in front of her the whole time "Do you think I lost my magic when I travelled to the past?" She said, in a mix of excitement and apprehension.

"I wouldn't know. I think it's a possibility. There are only few people who have travelled in time before, so there isn't much knowledge about the subject. We don't know what the rules are".

"Wait, but how come Elsa got to keep her powers? She travelled in time using a portal the same way I did".

"We have to think about what are the differences between the two situations" said Tinkerbell

Lara was very agitated now. She had stood up and was walking around the room murmuring incomprehensible words to herself. She stopped suddenly and almost screamed when realization hit her:

"Maybe it has to do with the fact that I went back and she went forward!"

That got Tinkerbell thinking.

"I have an idea!" The fairy disappeared into one of the other rooms. Lara quickly followed her. She found Tinkerbell pulling books from the shelfs frenetically. The volumes were soon starting to pile up on the floor.

"What are you looking for? Can I help you?"

"I don't think you can help me, sweetheart. I know I've read something somewhere, but I can't remember neither the name of the book or what it was about.."

She continued drifting through the pages. The teenager just sat on the floor and watched. There was nothing she could do to help and this did seem like their best shot at the moment, but the young brunette couldn't help but feeling useless.

Luck was on their side, it seemed though, for not soon after the Tinkerbell exclaimed: "Found it!"

"What is it? Does it say why I have no magic in this time? Or does it say how to get it back? Does.."

"Just a second, I'm reading it!" Tinkerbell interrupted. Lara was just as impatient as her mother. I was not one of the best traits she had inherited from her.

The book was about magical clones and how one could duplicate themselves for a while so they could do more than one thing at once.

"I may have found something. It's only a theory, it could be wrong, but it makes sense" her voice softer this time.

"Oh, please, just tell me already!" Lara almost begged.

"A while ago I became interested in the art of creating duplicates. The only problem with this spell is that, while it can duplicate someone's physical form, it cannot do the same with their magic".

"I don't understad"

"Only one person gets access to the magic, or it could be split between the two, but neither would be as strong as the original individual was. Assuming that time travel works the same way, it would explain why the Ice Queen has her powers and you don't. When Elsa came to the future, she didn't bring her powers with her, she only took over her future self's powers. Does that make sense?"

"A little, I see where you are going"

"Since there was no future version of her, she got her full powers. The magic still existed even though she didn't in this time because once magic is created it cannot be destroyed, only changed. In you case, there was no one you could borrow magic from, because you don't yet exist in this time".

"So, if your theory is true, I have to wait until my parents get together and conceive me so I can borrow my baby self's powers? That's crazy, even for me. And I'm the daughter of Robin Hood and the Evil Queen" she looked confused.

"It might be crazy, but that's the best theory we've got so far. We just have to wait a few days and see if you get your powers back. In the meantime, you can keep trying to get access to you magic through other means" the fairy just got more convinced that she was right as the time passed.

"Fine, we have nothing to lose anyway" agreed Lara, though reluctantly.

Next chapter will probably be my take on Robin and Regina's talk in the vault from episode 8. What I have planned is slightly different from cannon... You'll see. Hahaha XOXO