Falling Ill
Alright i was gonna wait a few more dates to update this chapter...but i had a great day so imma do it now lol
The queen couldn't help but brag her victory as her and Anya climbed into their carriage, examining the bracelet with an eager eye. The princess taking her seat across from her.
"Did you see her face when you used that air spell?" Regina laughed, holding up the bracelet triumphantly. "And when I turned on her, HA! That old sushi should have known better."
"Ug..." Anya made a sound, barely recognizable as a groan of agreement.
"Anya?" the queen asked, glancing up to see the child collapse onto her seat with a groan, consciousness fading. "Anya! Guards! Guards!" she cried out, banging on the walls of her carriage, calling out to the driver. "Take me to Rumpelstiltskin's palace! Quickly!"
When Anya awoke she found herself staring up at her mother and a strange reptile of a man...ah yes, Rumpelstiltskin. She'd met him a few times before when he would do business with her mother at the castle, but that work was always somewhat secretive for some reason, demanding privacy from the child.
"Uh?" she groaned, attempting to sit up, a sharp pain racing through her body and she fell back to the pillows beneath her with a cry.
"Hehe." the man giggled, his smile growing. "Not a good idea dearie. That curse won't be so easily removed." glancing up at him in confusion, her groggy gaze turning slowly to her queen, who seemed to understand what Anya wanted to ask.
"He calls everybody dearie." she said quickly, as if to tell her that it wasn't an insult the way Ursula had called her pet.
"What happened?" She finally asked, closing her eyes to help minimize her throbbing headache. The queen seemed to stiffen, her lips pressing into an angry scowl.
"That potion, that Ursula threw at you was a curse...I'm afraid you're going to be sick for a few days...its powerful stuff. But you'll be alright." The queen comforted.
"Maybe."
"What do you mean maybe?" The queen snapped, turning instantly on Rumple. "She's going to be just fine."
"Spell's like this don't go away quickly dearie." Rumple laughed, as if explaining himself to a moron. "She has to be healed."
"Then heal her."
"I can't, not without the special ingredients, which you will need to acquire for me. He replied, poking Regina as if singling her out.
"Nonsense, there isn't an ingredient you don't have."
"Dragon's fire." He cut in with one of the most difficult things to get. "And the vine of a plant, primitive, to Neverland." Regina couldn't help but scowl, crossing her arms over her chest. How the hell was she supposed to get those! "Perhaps you could pay your dear friend a visit and acquire those for Me." he mocked, waving her away with a swift motion of his hands. Grumbling, Regina turned to leave, pausing only to say goodbye to Anya.
"I'll be back soon." she promised, casting one last glare at Rumple before turning on her heel and leaving, slamming the doors with a resounding thump.
"Who was that Rumple?" A new voice sounded, Anya turning her head just enough to see a beautiful woman with chestnut hair and a simple blue and white dress emerge from a hallway.
"Belle, what lovely timing. Take care of this one for me, she's got a bad cold."
"Oh my." The woman mentioned, coming closer, her chocolate eyes examining the red head. "I'll be right back with a rag and some water to soothe her fever."
"Yes you do that." Rumple said, waving off her words, he wasn't really interested in Anya's health at the moment. That was a matter all too easily fixed for another time. Belle disappeared and reappeared a moment later, carrying water and rags, placing the damp cloth carefully on the teenagers head.
"Thank you." Anya grumbled, barely audible, as she drifted into sleep.
Anya's days passed drifting in and out of sleep, and on the third day she found herself well enough to walk. Accompanied by Belle, who had been serving as her nurse over the past few days to make sure that should she pass out or find herself suddenly weak, she would not be alone. Wandering the castle she couldn't help but inspect the many magical items the imp possessed. Her curiosity earning her interesting looks from Rumple every so often. Almost as if questioning whether she would be a good pupil or how well the queen had trained the child, among with other questions the child would not understand...not without her memories which still evaded her.
"Where does he get all of this stuff?" Anya asked Belle in amazement as she examined magic gauntlets, music boxes and even a magic fairy wand. "This is incredible."
"I'd rather not say." Belle confessed, knowing that the answers were usually dark, power built on blood and murder...and she wasn't quite sure if this child was prepared for that type of exposure yet.
The doors to the castle flung open, Regina entering with two glass containers in hand. One with a swirling orange flame and one with a constantly shifting vine.
"Rumpelstiltskin!" she demanded, her face lighting up with joy as Anya appeared, her posture upright, and noble, a gentle smile playing at her lips. "Anya." the queen smiled, embracing her apprentice, looking up at Rumpelstiltskin entered the room.
"Did you get what I asked for?" he asked
"What do you think these are? Take out?" the queen snapped, handing the containers over to the dark one.
"Yes, yes very good." he answered giddily, storing the cases carefully into a cabinet.
"Wait...I thought you were going to use those to heal Anya." Regina questioned, glancing uneasily between him and her ill daughter.
"Why of course not." The imp laughed, "I need those for a later date."
"Then why the hell did you send me to get them?"
"All magic comes with a price!" he laughed. "It appears your dearest little dearie had a mere stomach flu from the indirect curse and can be healed with no more than basic magic."
"You bastard." She said flatly, biting her lip at his insolence, as he snapped his fingers, engulfing Anya in a swift purple cloud of smoke, the final few symptoms of her illness vanishing momentarily. "Then what was with the ingredients!"
"Payment." he shrugged. "For allowing her to stay here AND for renting out my maid to help her AND for just being a general nuisance to me...but I'll let that one go, call it a favor." he teased. "Now get out of my castle." with that the Imp turned on his heel, making his way back into the depths of his palace leaving the three girls standing dumbfounded.
"I am so sorry." Belle was the first to speak. "I had no idea he was-"
"You should be." Regina snapped, turning on the kind girl. "Wench get out of my sight before I turn you into a toad." she received a short glare from Belle before she followed Rumple from view, almost as if taking back her apology. The sight almost saddening to see Belle who had been so kind to her, back down from the queen...but Anya said nothing on the subject. At the end of the day she was the apprentice and she would do as her queen demanded of her.
"Come along now." The queen ordered, making her way from the palace. "I'll tell the guards to bring the carriage around. Anya sighed, what was supposed to be one final glance at the manor sparked a curiosity. A somewhat familiar golden glimmer catching her eye. Glancing around she hurried to the glass case, sliding the door open carefully to find an old golden amulet, staring at it in confusion.
"'Together in Paris...'" she read, her eyes widening in absolute shock. This was her necklace.
"Find something you like dearie?" Rumple asked, having appeared silently behind her, arms crossed, a delightful grin on his lips.
"This...this is my necklace...my queen said that it was destroyed in an experiment." She stuttered her confusion, glancing quickly between Rumple and the amulet.
"Your queen says a lot of things." he agreed, reaching out and taking the necklace from its throne gingerly, looking it over before reaching it out to her. "You may have it." he announced. "If it reminds you of one you used to have who am I to deny you the memory?" he asked, chuckling at his own jokes.
"No you see it was really mine and-"
"Don't argue." he threatened, holding out the necklace. "Take it and go." Hesitating only a moment Regina's voice cut through the air and her thoughts.
"Anya! Hurry up!" The redhead snatched up the amulet and raced towards the door.
"Coming!" she called, slipping the jewelry into her pocket and climbing up into the carriage with her queen. Both glancing back to see Rumple smiling wickedly, waving his farewell before vanishing back into the castle.