Chapter Four
Emma wakes up in a dark, dank place, lying on a stone floor. Head pounding and very disoriented, she looks around with one eye cracked open, holding her head.
"What the…"
She sees iron bars and closes her eyes in irritation.
"Why does this keep happening to me?!" she mutters to herself before running to the locked bars and yelling.
"HEY!"
A figure moves in the shadows and Emma speaks to them.
"What the hell is going on here? What do you want with me?"
Th shadowy figure pauses and then quietly says,
"Une moment, si voux plais." Before they disappear down the dark corridor.
"Wait! What?..."
Emma calls after them, but they are gone. She sinks to the floor in resignation.
"Well, I think that's the first time I've been imprisoned by someone who doesn't speak English." She muses to herself.
A few minutes later Emma hears frantic footsteps coming towards her and she stands up cautiously.
A slightly scrawny teenage boy comes to a stop at the door of her cell, out of breath. He looks like he's a couple years older than Henry and is dressed in rags from the middle ages.
"Mademoiselle, pardonne-moi…"
Emma stares at him blankly.
"What?! I don't speak… that!" she says, gesturing in his direction.
The boy shakes his head and replies in broken English.
"I am sorry. I was to be with you when you are awake."
Confusion replacing cautiousness, Emma approaches the cell door.
"Okayy… so I get the feeling you don't want me dead. So, what exactly am I doing here? [Emma looks around] and where is here?"
The boy puts his hands up in 'wait' motion.
"You first must know that no harm is intended for you here, from us. We have brought you to Paris to ask you to help us."
More puzzled than ever, Emma holds her questions with an effort, until he finishes.
He sighs.
"My name is Quasimodo. [Emma's eyes snap to his face] Yes, good. So you know something of my story."
At her nod, he goes on, his expression turning sheepish.
"I am afraid that I have made a mess of things here in Paris and this is why we need you."
Emma shakes her head and studies his face for a moment as she paces in her cell.
"None of this makes any sense, kid."
Quasimodo falls to his knees in front of Emma's cell with his head in his hands.
"Je connais."
Emma stops her pacing and sits on the floor opposite him.
"Okay. Why don't you start at the beginning and explain your 'mess' to me." She watches him nod into his hands and then look up at her in despair.
"It is all my fault."
He sighs and gathers his thoughts for a moment.
"I was born with monstrous deformities and was abandoned to die as an infant. Master Frolo found me and took me to the church to be raised. He even named me."
Quasimodo says, ending with a sad smile.
Emma reaches through the bars to bump his shoulder and give Quasimodo an encouraging smirk.
"You look okay to me, kid."
He returns her smirk for a moment and then continues with his story.
"I grew up in the belfry of Notre Dame, hidden away and destined to watch everyone else lead their free lives from afar."
"…with the singing gargoyles…" Emma mumbles.
"What?" Quasimodo asks with a bewildered expression.
"Nevermind. So what changed?" she asks.
Quasimodo's face falls and he drops his head again.
"I made a deal."
Emma closes her eyes and softly bumps her forehead against the bars upon hearing that familiar phrase, but she doesn't interrupt.
"Every night since I can remember, I have begged the universe to give me a free life: to cure me of my horrific appearance. That night, the universe sent a man to me who could do what I so wished. I thought it a dream at first; when the man came to me."
Quasimodo says wistfully before looking Emma dead in the eye and saying,
"I have doomed an entire people to persecution and death in exchange for appeasing my own vanity."
He began sobbing into his hands and Emma awkwardly petted his shoulder through the bars of her cell.
"I get wanting to be a normal kid: lead a normal life. Really. I do."
She blows out a huge breath.
"The man. The one who came to make your deal; do you remember his name or what he looked like?"
Emma asks, afraid that she already knows the answer.
Quasimodo looks up at her through his tears and trying to control his emotions, replies,
"He did not look like an ordinary man. He… sparkled and spoke in riddles."
Emma tamps down on the rage building in her chest and quietly curses.
"Rumpelstiltskin."
Quasimodo looks at her in confusion.
"Qua?"
Emma stands up and resumes her pacing.
"I know the man who made you that deal. He has made a lot of deals with a lot of people I know."
Quasimodo jumps to his feet and clutches the bars between them, with a look of desperation.
"You know of him?! Can you get him to reverse what he has done?"
Emma shakes her head.
"Not likely. I've never known Gold to break a deal unless there's something in it for him."
"Gold?" Quasimodo inquires.
"Just one of his names." Emma dismisses before turning pensive and glancing at Quasimodo.
"I've also never known him to come away from a deal without gaining more than what he traded for it… What did you give him in return, kid?"
Quasimodo shakes his head and raises his hands in bafflement.
"All he wanted from me was a drop of my blood. [he shrugs] That's all."
Emma thinks on that information for a minute.
"Well, it would have been something he needed for his own ends. Not knowing what his end game is this time, let's focus on the most pressing problem."
At Quasimodo's questioning look, Emma nods to the bars of her cell.
"Which is me, not being very much help to you from the inside of this cell."
He gives her another sheepish look and fumbles in his pockets. Finding the key to the door, he apologizes and unlocks it.
"We had to know that you would help us."
Emma walks through the door saying,
"Fair enough but we really need to get this little venture happening before my family starts magicking their way across realms to find me."
Quasimodo starts walking quickly down the corridor with Emma beside him.
"How do you know that they will look for you?" he asks.
With a determined chuckle, she answers.
"Trust me, kid. They're coming."
"EMMA?!" Killian shouts as he bursts through the door of the Sheriff's office.
David meets him at the door, equally as panicked.
"She's not here. I've called Snow and Regina, but she's not with them either. They're both on their way here now."
Killian tosses the paper bag of food on a desk and turns back towards the doors.
"Fine. I'm going out to retrace her walk to work. You wait for the cavalry, mate." He says as he throws the doors open once more and storms out before David can argue.
Killian is walking fast and looking around frantically as he makes his way down the sidewalk.
Regina appears beside him in a 'poof' of purple smoke but Killian barely acknowledges her.
"So it's true. We've regained a pirate and lost a saviour."
She remarks in her usual dry tone.
Killian stops walking and glares at her, ready to pick a fight but Regina holds up her hands in mock surrender.
"Sorry. I am a little… touchy, these days." She says, looking down uncomfortably.
Killian takes a deep breath and runs his hand over his face before responding.
"It's fine. Robin was a good man and I considered him a great friend. I'm sorry he was taken from you, Regina."
She gives a slight nod in Killian's direction and then starts walking in the direction he was heading when she arrived.
"To be honest, it's nice to have a distraction. Not just from the grief but from my new sister-turned-roommate, as well."
Killian glances at her in surprise.
"The witch is staying with you?"
Regina sighs.
"Yes. [she forces a smile] So, a little search party for a wayward friend is just what I need right now."
Killian looks dubious but allows her to change the subject.
"As you wish. Well, Emma left the house at about 8:30 this morning and she had a coffee in her hand so she wouldn't have to stop at the diner on the way to the station."
Regina raises an eyebrow, gives Killian a sideways glance and a knowing smirk.
"You were at her place when she left this morning? Finally caught a break, huh?"
Killian flashes his dimples for a moment and answers.
"Aye. A long overdue break."
Regina gives a small chuckle before stopping and stepping off the sidewalk to retrieve something in a flower bed.
"Would this be her coffee cup?"
She holds up a novelty travel mug with a cartoon cobra on it. Killian slowly takes it from Regina and nods sadly.
"Henry gave it to her on her birthday last year." He says, cradling the cup in his hand.
Killian looks up at Regina with a pleading look she has never seen on him before.
Regina straightens herself up and holds out her hand for the cup again.
"Enough of this. Give me that."
Killian gives her the cup and Regina concentrates on it for a moment before waving her hand over it. The air around them starts to shimmer with all sorts of bright colours.
Killian raises his eyes to Regina in question.
"What's that doing?"
Regina furrows her brow at the swirling colours.
"It was supposed to tell us who's magic, if any, was used to take Emma."
Killian looks at her hopefully.
"AND?!"
Regina looks irritated and gives Killian the cup back before planting her hands on her hips and replying.
"And magic was definitely used but I don't recognize it."
At Killian's frustrated grunt, she looks him in the eye and clarifies.
"I've never seen magic like this like this before. [her eyes drift across the street to Gold's shop and she smiles] But I think I know who to ask." She finishes and begins walking towards the shop with Killian in her wake.
"The Crocodile? He won't exactly fall all over himself to help the likes of me, now will he?"
Regina ignores him and pushes the shop door open; the bell over the door ringing her arrival.
"Gold!" she shouts into the empty store front as Killian hangs back to try to diminish his presence.
Mr. Gold walks through the curtain from the back room.
"I am not accustomed to being shouted at in my own shop, your highness." He says with more than a hint of warning.
Regina just smiles sweetly at him and speaks.
"Sorry if I hurt your feelings, but it's an emergency."
Gold smiles at her coldly, glancing at Killian, letting him know that he is being watched.
"When is it not?"
Regina ignores the question and continues.
"We need to identify a magic signature. It's one that I've never seen before."
Appearing slightly intrigued, Gold leans closer to her and says matter-of-factly,
"And why would I help you?"
Killian, who had been absently perusing the shop counters, throws up a hand in an I-told-you-so fashion. Regina, however, smiles wider at Gold, prepared for his reluctance.
"You will help us, Dark One, because the friend of your very angry wife is missing and helping us find Emma will go a long way in getting you back into Belle's good graces." She finishes with a satisfied grin.
Gold studies Regina for a moment before asking with a sneer.
"What is it that you want from me, specifically?"
Killian, impressed with Regina's successful manipulation of Gold, walks in closer to hear the conversation.
Regina gets down to business.
"What kind of magic smells old but looks like swirling rainbows?"
A fleeting look of recognition crosses Gold's face before he tamps it down. Killian points his hook at Gold in accusation.
"He knows! I saw that, mate." He says, spitting out the last word as a curse. Regina just waits expectantly, watching Gold.
Gold sighs in resignation.
"Fine. It's not like it matters to me anymore. Nor will it help you very much, I'd wager. The magic you saw is Gypsy."
Gold grins evilly at both of them.
"I think I know exactly where Ms. Swan is and who took her but I'm afraid that information will cost you a lot more than vague promises concerning my wife."
Killian nearly launches himself over the counter at Gold but is held back by Regina.
"Tell me where Emma is, you bloody swine!"
With a hand holding Killian at bay, Regina glares over at Gold.
"What do you want, Gold?"
He places both hands on top of his cane and gives them a satisfied smile.