Hi guys, Author here. I just wanted to quickly write and thank you all for the reviews, favourite and follows, it truly makes me so happy so thank you guys! Also, to update, I'm trying to align my story with the events of what actually happen in OUAT but seeing as characters are in different places and such, its very difficult so sorry if there are any mistakes. Hook will be returning, fo'sure, and I am thinking of including some more OCs. Also, Regina has deliberately not been in town, I haven't forgotten about her don't worry!
More reviews = many more chapters.
Peace and Love,
M
~ Flashback to when Aurelia was working for Rumplestiltskin ~
Aurelia was in the kitchens, scrubbing the cold black stone floor with an old mop when he called her.
"Yes, sir?" She asked, rubbing a hand on her forehead.
"What do you think of magic, Aurelia?" Rumpel asked, sitting in hic chair, spinning.
"I'm not too sure on it. I don't know much about magic, but nothing particularly good or bad has happened to me because of it" she shrugged.
"Hm. Well, I guess. You don't know what you're missing" he shrugged. As she started to walk back out, he called her back.
"Would you like to learn?"
"Learn?" she asked, looking at him. He was wearing a queer smile, like an unusual idea had popped into his head.
"Yes. I can teach you, how to use magic, if you want. It's not easy, but it'll be fun for me, to watch you struggle" he said "How can you refuse?"
"Fair enough " Aurelia sighed "Lets start"
Over the course of a couple of month, Aurelia had mastered a few spells. Often they went wrong, or simple didn't work, but she could on occasion provide a spell for Immobilization, or barriers. She could sometimes shield Rumplestiltskin, and often she had tried to peek in a silver book he was reading, but he didn't want to teach her too much in case she used it against him.
After they had learnt the summoning spell, they sat, on the floor.
"Are there any 'good' spells?" Aurelia asked.
"What on earth do you mean?" Rumpel said, looking slightly shocked.
"Well, all of these spells are slightly negative. What about a spell that would be helpful? Like a happiness one, or a healing spell?"
"I don't particularly dwell on the happy spells, dearie. Healing can be easy or difficult, depending on the wound" he shrugged.
"You never know, I may have to heal you one day" She said seriously.
"I doubt if I can't heal myself, you can" he laughed. "But I'll tell you anyway. Now, with surface wounds, its easy to create a poultice, with simple herbs and ingredients. But when something's rooted inside, rotting away like disease, it takes powerful magic. You take something personal of the injured, and to cast the healing spell on it, so the good energy channels through to the person. There are other ways, but I can't be bothered to give you every little details. But you say 'Resanesco' and burn the personal item. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't"
"Oh, I see" Aurelia said. "That seems relatively easy"
"Depends on how good you are at magic" he said, blandly. "Now get back to work"
Aurelia sighed.
In the hospital, Mary Margaret, Emma, David and Aurelia gathered at Ruby's bed.
"okay, so what item did you get?" Emma asked.
"Her lipstick. Hopefully she wont miss it, but it's the first thing I thought to grab" Aurelia said.
"Right, try the spell" Emma said, closing the hospital door.
Aurelia said the words, trying to concentrate but feeling stupid. She took a lighter, but the lipstick wouldn't light. "Resanesco" she said, again and again.
It failed.
"Well, at least you tried" David said "It was probably Rumplestiltskin wasting our time"
"I think it was him. That sent the chocolates. He meant for Ruby to get them. He knows I remember the spell. He knew we would come to him. This was his plan. Was it to make me feel responsible for Ruby not getting better?"Aurelia said
"Oh, hun, it's not your fault" Mary said "It just him. You've had your issues, and now he's taking it out on other people. He's not a good person, Aurelia, you know that out of all of us"
"I know… I just thought she'd be okay" Aurelia said, taking Ruby's hand.
"We'll leave you for a minute alone" Emma said. Once outside, she said to her parents "I'm going to talk to Gold" and strode off.
Inside, the monitor beat steadily.
"I'm really sorry, Ruby. I didn't mean to screw things up for you. I'm really trying" she said.
She sat there, and realised how she knew from the beginning. She didn't trust magic. Maybe if she had more belief then it would work.
She tried it once more. As she held the lipstick her hands were shaking, she said the magic word confidently, her eyes closed, trying to feel the magic, and the power flowing through her. She imagined Ruby laughing, fully healed, dancing, talking, walking, full of life.
The lipstick started to glow, and burn, in violet and purple flames. A glow seemed to cover Ruby, and she instantly looked better, her skin was a normal colour, her breathing was normal, her face more relaxed. She opened her eyes.
"Oh thank God" Aurelia broke down next to the girl.
"Aurelia? What happened?"
After several cups of tea, an explanation and clear test results, Ruby and Aurelia sat at home discussing the previous events. After Emma, Mary Margaret and David had joined them, they went through possible scenarios.
"I don't understand. I know it's Gold behind this, I just don't see why he'd set this all up only to help us?" Aurelia sighed, exasperated.
"I think we'll just have to leave it at that. If another incident like this happens, then WW3 breaks out" Emma said "But for now, lets just be rational"
"yeah, it's good to look on the bright side" Mary Margaret added.
"You owe me a new lipstick" Ruby winked at Aurelia.
Later on, Aurelia sat in her bedroom. She was cocooned in blankets and duvets with pizza and chocolate, watching sad and romantic love films.
Suddenly, after watching a couple kiss as the screen faded to black, she pushed the plate away angrily. She never got her happy ending. What was the point in love films if they didn't last in real life. The struggles that Snow and Charming had to go through, Red killing her boyfriend. Even this whole 'Lacey' situation was breaking Rumplestiltskin's heart.
She thought of her love. Hook. She'd tried pushing him to the back of her mind and tried to start a new life, but she couldn't live without him. She'd never find anyone she loved as much as him, he was her soul mate. She felt incomplete, missing.
Finally, she managed to let in the emotion she'd been holding back for so long. She sobbed and sobbed, her body wracking with emotion, her pillow soaked with tears, her face completely red and puffy until she couldn't anymore. Ruby run her a nice hot bubble bath, and as she slid into bed, tired and depressed, she made a promise that she would find him. She couldn't give up.
No, she wouldn't.
Over the next couple of weeks, many residents of Storybrooke noticed Aurelia seemed… distracted. She couldn't hold a conversation longer than five minutes, she was always rushing home whenever she was free, making notes in a pad and staring into space.
Finally, when she was coming home from work, a free cherry slice in hand, she noticed Emma sitting down at her kitchen table.
"So… This was supposed to be an intervention" Emma said
"Really?" Aurelia said "Not a very good turn out, I'm afraid. Is it too late for me to be saved?"
"Nah, everyone's just busy- Mary Margaret had to take Henry to the dentist, David had to fix a light or something like that, Ruby's working, Grannies working, etc" Emma shrugged as Aurelia sat opposite, grabbing two forks for the women to share the pie.
"So what's this intervention for, hmm?" Aurelia asked.
"You've been acting strange lately. Preoccupied, always rushing about, something's clearly on your mind. If its this whole Ruby-Chocolates-poison thing I can look into it if you'd like-" Emma offered, but Aurelia cut her off.
"It's not. Look, I might as well say it straight. I'm looking for Hook. Or rather, a way to find him. Over the past few weeks, I've been researching portals and magic and spells and so on to try and see if I can find a way to reunite with him" she said.
"You realise how difficult that's going to be" Emma said.
"I know. But isn't it worth it? I mean, it's love. And I'm lucky enough to have found it, and I'm not going to let anything take it away again. I'm going to try and be-friend Gold to see if he can help me- that alone is going to take years after the amount of issue we have" she rolled her eyes, taking another bite of the delicious pie.
"I can try and help" Emma said "I'll ask around about other worlds and transportation. You might want to ask mother superior about the magic stuff before Gold though"
"Thanks Emma. It means a lot, it really does. And I promise I won't be distracted anymore. I'll be normal again" she laughed.
Emma grabbed her bag "Sure. I'd love to stay but I've got a ton of things to do… If you're sure you're okay?"
Aurelia nodded and Emma let herself out. Aurelia walked to her bedroom.
Okay, it was becoming a little bit obsessive. The walls were covered with paper diagrams and links and key words and people. She'd written out all possible ways of trying to find him or bring him to her. Trouble is, he thinks she's dead.
Aurelia sighed, and made a cup of coffee. It was going to be a long night.
The next day, at work, Aurelia almost snoozed off.
"I was thinking red, but that's like, my main colour. I might try some variation though, as it's a special occasion. What do you think?" Ruby asked Aurelia.
"I'm sorry, I didn't listen to a word of that, completely zoned out. Repeat please?" Aurelia groaned.
"The Summer solstice ball? Next Saturday?"
"Oh, right, yeah" Aurelia said, zoning out again.
Mary and David had started to plan a massive ball for the summer, so everyone can have a good time. They were holding it in a nearby hall, and it was a masquerade ball. Naturally, everyone was excited, but Aurelia was too focused on her 'Trying to find true love mission' that she wasn't interested.
"I think I will go with red" Ruby said, leaning on the counter.
"Don't even get me started on costumes" Aurelia muttered, passing out coffee "I'm never good with that stuff"
"I'll help!" Ruby said enthusiastically.
Aurelia smiled, but gave a inward sigh. Two more days till the ball. Oh dear.
The shrill ringtone woke her up. Aurelia's hand grabbed at the little metal thing, wanting to throw it. She pressed 'Answer' and put it to her ear.
"Aurelia, I positively need you! It's an emergency!" Mary Margaret said, her voice desperate. Aurelia shot out of bed, looking at her alarm. 6:02 am.
"Oh my God, what's wrong?" she asked, pulling clothes on and grabbing all essential items to shove in her bag.
"David and I were checking things out in the hall, but he went to put some lights up and slipped and I'm driving him to the hospital now but we need to set everything up, and you're the only person I trust to do it well enough!" the woman said.
Aurelia almost growled at her phone.
"Who started setting up at five in the morning?!" she said "Fine, fine, I'm on my way now. Don't panic. I'll call at 7 to let you know how everything's going. Give David my love and hope he's okay"
"You're a life saver Aurelia!"
"I know!" Aurelia said "Bye" and hung up.
Ten minutes later, she almost cried. The hall was an absolute state.
She started off by mopping the floors and cleaning the windows. After her years of service with Rumpel and the queen, she knew how to do it quickly and efficiently. She then set up the massive tables, and the fairy lights around the ceiling of the massive room. She hung little crystal decorations and glass stars so that the room look magical and sophisticated.
She had to borrow David's truck to pick up the flowers and food, and then spent about 2 hours organising and making everything look perfect. She'd always had a slight OCD case but she wanted this to be perfect for Mary Margaret. She even went round with a febreeze spray so everything smelled delightful. She rolled the red carpet down for the guests, swept the driveway of leaves and set up the sound system to play classical music, as Mary Margaret wanted it to be very old fashioned, something out of 'Pride and Prejudice' or one of the films.
She checked up with Mary Margaret and then sat on the floor. She was dirty, sweaty, her hair was a sweat, she hadn't got a costume in time. She needed a fairy godmother, and not the mother superior kind.
She called Mary Margaret, pleased to find out that David was okay.
Locking up, she drove home, and Ruby basically dragged her inside. Ruby looked stunning, wearing a bright vibrant blood red slinky gown with a slit up one thigh, and the back was made of black lace. Her eye makeup- smokey eyes- was fantastic.
"Right, we have about 45 minutes to make you beautiful, so shut up and do everything I tell you" she said.
Aurelia stared at her in alarm.
"um- one thing- I don't have a dress" she said, biting her lip. "I've been busy"
"Its a good thing I have excellent fashion taste and was prepared enough to buy you one" Ruby said. Aurelia gasped.
"no, you can't do that! At least let me pay you" Aurelia said, but Ruby shook her head.
"Come on, you've just done the whole hall by yourself, not to mention you saved my life- both literally and all the times when I've been late for work" Ruby said. "now, quickly, get into the bath"
Aurelia had a bath, washed her hair, shaved, painted her nails and put a face mask on while Ruby curled her hair. After the face mask was washed off and her face was smooth, they carefully applied makeup.
"Right, close your eyes and step into the dress" Ruby instructed, and Aurelia followed obediently.
The dress was heavy, and the material felt lovely. Ruby put on Aurelia's high heels and walked her, blind, to the mirror.
"okay, look!"
The only way Aurelia could describe it was something out of a fairytale.
Her hair was it's usual vibrant auburn, curled, with a small diamond tiara. Her makeup was pretty and elegant, simple. The dress was a beautiful white, cream and ivory gown, with blue and green layers of chiffron, so that if she turned slightly it looked like the sea. It also had an embroidered bodice of sapphires and emeralds. It was a stunning dress.
"My God" Aurelia whispered "It's perfect"
"I know!" Ruby squealed.
"You are seriously, the best friend ever!" Aurelia said, turning to squeeze the girl tight.
"C'mon, after saving my life? And I know how hard you worked all day to get the hall perfect. It was nothing!" Ruby said. Both girls couldn't stop grinning, and Ruby grabbed a polaroid camera.
"Another present" she said.
"Oh, no, I couldn't" Aurelia said, holding the beautiful camera.
"You're part of Storybrooke now. Take pictures of your friends and family, it'll make you happy" Ruby said.
Aurelia took a picture of her and Ruby in their costumes in the mirror.
"Oh, before we go, here's your mask"
Ruby's mask was sharp pointy red spikes, very fitting and appropriate.
Aurelia's was a teal smooth mask with different shades of turquoise and sea coloured feathers along the rim, with a line of diamonds to make it stand out.
She could've cried, she was so happy.
They entered the ball, and everything was perfect. The members of Storybrooke were laughing, dancing, having fun. Everyone's costumes was brilliant.
Snow and Charming were both in a dazzling, brilliant white, of course, and both enthusiastically thanked her.
"It' better than I could've imagined" Mary Margaret said with tears in her eyes "We are so grateful"
"It's nothing for a friend" Aurelia said "I just hope your leg gets better" she said, nodding at David wobbling about on his crutches.
Emma and Henry came in. Emma was wearing a stunning black dress and black mask, and her hair looked beautiful up.
"Wow, Henry, you look so handsome! I think I'm going to have to dance with you!" Aurelia said, grabbing the boys hand and twirling him about.
It was a perfect night. Aurelia made good friends, and spent the night dancing and chatting and having fun.
"May I have a dance?" a voice asked from behind Aurelia as she sipped at a cocktail. She spun round, facing Mr Gold.
"Oh.. um. Sure" she said.
He took her hand and waist, and they started to glide round. He was wearing a fairly standard black tuxedo with gold lining, and a gold mask.
"You do know it was me that sent the poisoned chocolates to Red, correct?" he said calmly.
"Yes. Why? What could you possibly gain from that?" she said, glaring at him through her mask.
"I have decided- ahem- to be a better person. I love Bel-Lacey, and, well, she's not too keen at the moment. Maybe If I'm a nice person my Belle will come back. And I had hoped that if I helped you with a magic breakthrough, then maybe we could start to mend our bridges" he said
Aurelia considered this. "And poisoning my best friend is going to make me forgive you?" she said.
"Yes, I realised that maybe it wasn't the best plan" he said "But, it was an effort"
"For now, I can agree to be civil. I'm obviously going to be in Storybrooke for quite some time, and I'd like the be friends with everyone I can" Aurelia said.
"I'm glad" Gold said. The song ended, he kissed her hand, and said "It was a pleasure", then curtly walked off.
Aurelia drank another cocktail. And another. And another. In fact, she'd had quite a lot of alcohol. There were steps leading to a balcony in the air, and she stumbled up them, wanting to be alone. She stood, looking out at the view of Storybrooke, and sighed.
The cool air felt nice on her back, and suddenly, she felt extremely dizzy. She grabbed on the wall, leaning forward slightly, breathing in and out. Just as she passed out, somebody grabbed her.
It was a man, and his arms were strong and safe and warm, and in her hazed state she looked. The last thing she noticed before she passed out was Killian's face smiling down at her.
"Sleep now, my love. I will see you soon" he said softly in her ear.
When she woke up, she was in a sitting position on the balcony, by herself. She stood up, a headache forming.
"Killian?" She called out. She saw him. It was definitely him.
She ran downstairs.
"Ah, here she is!" A big voice boomed out "Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the woman who if we were not lucky to have her, tonight would not have been possible. The newest member of our little community, please give a big thank you to Aurelia!" Mary Margaret was saying into a microphone, and everyone cheered.
David handed her some flowers, and she gave a dazed smile.
The rest of the night was a blur. Aurelia couldn't find Ruby, David, Emma or Mary Margaret after that and she needed to talk to someone desperately.
She walked outside, looking around. No one to be seen.
She couldn't wait to find them, so took off her shoes and started to walk home barefoot.
She was going crazy. That was the only explanation. She was so desperate to see Killian she had actually imagined him up. Or maybe Gold had poisoned her and it was just a side effect.
She didn't know. But she was cold, tired and confused and wanted to go to bed.
When she got in, she carefully hung the dress back up, placed the shoes underneath and got into her pyjamas, falling straight into sleep.