A/N: Keep in mind for this chapter that Cora has a different backstory in this 'verse than she does in canon, most of which was already shown back in chapter six.

Fifty-Eight Years Ago, The Enchanted Forest

It was late at night when a young miller's daughter decided it was safe to move around the almost-empty stone house she had been effectively enslaved in for her entire life. The uncle who had proclaimed her his property when she was two years old had been upstairs for a while now. He was probably in his room passed out in a puddle of liquor or some even more reprehensible substance. As long as he remained up there where he couldn't hear Cora sneaking out the back door, she didn't care.

Stumbling over roots and the long skirt of her own nightgown, Cora struggled to move through the woods. The light of the full moon provided just enough of a glow for her to make out a relatively clear spot where she could do what she had come out here to do. She wrapped her shawl more snugly around her shoulders. And then she spoke.

"Rumpelstiltskin, I summon thee."

A few seconds passed. Cora sighed and kicked a nearby root. The worker who had quietly come to her with promises of a great and powerful wizard who could give her a future worth fighting for had lied. Of course. She had hoped for something better and been disappointed. What else was new?

"So perfect," crooned a voice behind her. "Everything I hoped you would be."

Cora barely flinched, but a smile played at the corners of her lips as she turned around.

"Hello, Rumpelstiltskin? My name's…"

"Cora," he interrupted her. "I know who you are. I've been expecting you."

Cora wasn't sure why he had been expecting her, but she didn't bother questioning it.

"I was told you have magic."

Rumpelstiltskin's devilish grin widened ever so slightly. "You were told right!"

Cora awkwardly bowed down to the Dark Lord with all of the grace of the unsocialized peasant girl she was.

"I want a new life," she said with glassy, soulless eyes. "I don't want anyone to own me anymore. I want to control my own destiny."

"It sounds like what you really want," Rumpelstilltskin inched closer to her, "is power."

Cora's smile returned for a moment. "Yes, that's exactly what I want."

Rumpeltiltskin took one of the young girl's hands in hers. "Tell you what. I could make you my student. You could come home with me, tonight, and I could teach you my ways."

"Yes!" said Cora. "Yes, I will go with you!"

With a wave of his hand, Rumpelstiltskin leapt back. "Uh-uh-uh! All magic…comes with a price!" Cora's face fell. "Don't fret, dearie. I know you don't have anything for me now. But someday you will!"

In a flash of violet smoke, he unfurled a scroll that he hadn't been holding a few seconds prior. Cora eyed it with suspicion.

"It's all in the fine print," said Rumpelstiltskin.

"I don't read," Cora replied coolly.

"Right. Here's what's going to happen: I am going to teach you magic now, and on your firstborn child's wedding day, I am going to come find you and collect a favor from you. It's as simple as that!"

Cora's smile returned. "We have a deal!"

After all, how could she resist taking advantage of this poor foolish imp who thought that motherhood was in her future?

Rumpelstiltskin produced a quill, which Cora used to sign on the dotted line with an X. He cheerfully rolled up the scroll and sent it away.

"Alright, dearie. Let's go home."

Ruby marched across the sheriff station in her chunky boots and extracted her beeping walkie talkie from her desk drawer.

"I'm here, Graham."

"I need you to call an ambulance," said Graham. "An injured man has been found in the alley behind the sheriff station. He's malnourished, pale, and seems to have suffered a concussion."

"Roger that." Ruby glanced over at the small crowd that had gathered around her, waiting for permission to go ahead with the pre-trial interview.

"And one other thing."

"Yes, Graham?"

"Helena is to be released immediately. The interview won't be necessary."

"What do you mean the interview won't be necessary?" asked Ruby. Before Graham could answer her, the mayor marched up behind her and snatched the walkie-talkie from her hand.

"I know you didn't just say what I think you just said, sheriff," snapped Mayor Mills. "Because I can't imagine how you would justify delaying the imprisonment of a homicidal menace."

"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, Madam Mayor," said Graham. "But don't homicide cases typically involve a death?"

The mayor's heart stopped (or at least it would have if she had one).

"Dr. Hopper has just been found alive."

Ruby gasped. She ran over to where Helena was standing and gave her a hug. "He's alive! You're free to go!"

The mayor slammed the walkie-talkie down on Ruby's desk as hard as she could, but no one bothered to look up or acknowledge her except for Spencer, who just shrugged and smiled. Ruby began pulling release forms from filing cabinets and shoving them at Helena, who was on the verge of crying with relief.

One person who had been there just a few minutes ago was nowhere to be seen.

"Gold!"

Cora's calloused hands gently placed a porcelain angel figurine on a wooden shelf. She folded her nightgown and two of her aprons and placed them on the shelf as well. That was the sum total of her personal possessions until Rumpelstiltskin came in and greeted her for the day with a housewarming gift.

"A book?"

"Don't worry, dearie. You won't need to read the words just yet, although I do plan on giving you reading lessons in both English and Elfish before your time here is up."

"Well, thank you then."

"Come on," said Rumpelstiltskin. "Let's get to work."

Cora took the wizard's hand and allowed him to lead her to a grand hall filled mostly with everyday objects. Under her new master's instructions, Cora used the book of spells to set the table for breakfast, pour two cups of tea, and conjure two plates of pancakes, all without touching the objects.

"See?" Rumpelstilskin pulled out Cora's chair for her and gestured for her to sit down. "I told you I was giving you power. You'll never have to do manual labor again."

Cora clasped her hands together with delight, sat down, and began eating. Rumpelstiltskin followed suit. Halfway through the meal, Cora caught him staring at her, paused, and smiled.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about giving you some advanced training after we eat." Cora raised her thin eyebrows. "How do you feel about ripping hearts out?"

To Rumpelstiltskin's delight, Cora didn't even drop her fork.

"You can do that?"

"Yes. There is a way to extract a beating heart from the chest of a live man or creature without killing them."

Cora took a bite of her pancake. "Then what's the point?"

"Power, of course! Once you are in possession of someone's heart, you control them. They're not fully themselves. But what's there belongs to you!"

"Not fully themselves? Whatever do you mean by that?"

"Well, you see, without a heart, it becomes very difficult for one to feel anything. They are all but numb to all non-physical forms of pain and pleasure. Emotions are present, but faint."

As Cora took a sip of her tea, she closed her eyes and imagined herself with an army of heartless, soulless minions. Whole human lives bound by her command. She opened her eyes when Rumpelstiltskin brought a hand to her cheek and cupped her chin in his.

"What do you want to do to them?"

Cora opened her eyes.

"Make them kneel." The dark one gestured for her to continue. "I want them to bend down so far that when they finally dare to look up, their faces are smothered with dirt. I want their backs to break from bending."

Rumpelstiltskin nodded approvingly. "That, dearie, is how magic is made."

Cora's smile returned. "Bloodlust."

Rumpelstiltskin's eyes sparked.

"I like that phrase."

As soon as the ambulance had taken off through Storybrooke occupied by Astrid, Dr. Hopper, and Ruby-followed by Graham and Helena in Graham's car-the windows had begun to open and the stores had begun to empty. Once Leroy blurted out to a handful of patrons at Granny's that Dr. Hopper had been found, quite alive and definitely in possession of his own heart, the word had spread like wildfire. By nine in the morning, a sea of human bodies occupied the streets in front of the hospital.

"Excuse me!" snapped the mayor as she shoved one of Mr. Zimmer's twins out of the way. She pushed her way through the crowd of her former loyal subjects, now indifferent to her presence. When Mayor Mills reached the front door to the hospital, the security guard dared open his mouth to tell her that no one was to enter right now.

"You're fired," she snapped, passing him and entering the building.

It wasn't difficult for the mayor to find the hospital room, because all of the nurses and volunteers who weren't busy were huddled near the door, and Graham's voice could be heard along with a mix of others. When Nurse Nolan emerged from the room, clipboard in hand, Mayor Mills grabbed the door before it could swing shut. Graham, who was positioned at Dr. Hopper's bedside with a notepad, barely glanced up when the mayor entered the room. Marco was sitting on the other side of Dr. Hopper, and Ruby and Helena stood at the foot of the bed. Upon noticing that the mayor had arrived, both of the younger women pointedly looked away from her and inched closer to one another.

"I'll be back to visit you tomorrow," said Graham. "In the meantime, see if you can recall any details. Even something as simple as the sound of the person's voice or the smell of the room could help us find the person who did this to you."

Dr. Hopper groaned. "It was pitch black. I was tied to a pole. They slipped a tray of food and water under the door three times a day. I never heard their voice or saw their face. All I know is that this morning when I woke up, the rope was gone, and the door was open."

Ruby tried to pay attention to the doctor's best attempt at a statement, but an irritating clinking noise distracted her. Her newly intensified senses of hearing and smell were part of what made her a good deputy. But they were also unpleasant.

"Can you describe to me how you arrived at the location where Leroy and Astrid found you?" asked Graham.

"Can't," wheezed Dr. Hopper. "All a blur…just ran…" He closed his eyes and groaned again.

"Please just let him rest," Marco begged, placing a comforting hand on his best friend's shoulder. "There's plenty of time for this later."

"I agree," said Graham. He quickly scribbled the phone numbers for the sheriff station and his own home down on a corner of the notepad, ripped it off, and handed it to Marco. He instructed Dr. Hopper to contact him immediately if he had anything to add to his statement. When the mayor inched forward, the clinking noise Ruby heard persisted and then suddenly stopped when she set her purse down on the foot of the bed.

"Be sure to call me with any developments as well," said the mayor. She reached in and ripped off a corner of the notebook page Graham was writing on, scribbled the phone number for town hall down on it, and shoved it at Marco.

Mayor Mills looked down at Dr. Hopper, who had fallen asleep. "When the good doctor comes to, be sure to let him know how delighted I am that he's safe."

"Will do, Mayor Mills," said Marco, the level of sincerity in his tone matching hers.

The mayor turned to Graham. "You'll keep me informed also, sheriff?"

Graham gulped. "Yes, Mayor Mills."

When the mayor turned to shake the sheriff's hand, Ruby leaned over the edge of the bed and glanced at the inside of the purse.

The mayor was carrying around a massive key ring. And all of the keys were copper with heart-shaped heads with a hole in the middle for the ring to go through. Just like the key found in the orchard near where Helena was when Dr. Hopper was attacked.

"Looking for something, Ruby?" asked the mayor coolly.

Ruby jumped back. "N…no. Not at all."

The mayor huffed as she snatched up her purse. The clinking started again.

"Rein in your deputy, sheriff," the mayor said on the way out the door. Graham shot Ruby a sideways glance but didn't say anything.

"We should get going," said Ruby. "Right now."

Six weeks later, Cora remained under Rumpelstiltskin's tutelage and living in his home. Her magical skills had increased exponentially, along with the number of her personal possessions. Chests full of gorgeous gowns filled the room topped by overflowing jewelry boxes and pieces of crystal and marble. Most of the items Cora had conjured herself using magic. A little of it she had bought with some gold Rumpelstiltskin had taught her to spin out of straw. Additional items had been piled on her bed, partly because she was running out of space and partly because Cora was spending very little time in her own bed of late.

After Cora had practiced on a few unicorns-and then on a few peasants-Rumpelstiltskin had deemed her sufficiently practiced in the art of heart-ripping. She had then proceeded to rip out her own heart and put it in a box. When Rumpelstiltskin had asked her why she had done it, she had explained that a wise man had once told her that love was weakness, that the world would be better off without it. She wasn't sure if Rumpelstiltskin had agreed with her statement, but he had told her that being heartless not only made her the perfect student, but the perfect lover.

"Why?" Cora had asked. "Do you not have your heart, either?"

Rumpelstiltskin had shrugged and patted his bare shimmering chest.

"I do have what's left of it." Then he had added, "But don't worry. Many years ago, I vowed that I would never love again."

"Again?"

Cora had never gotten the end of that story. Nor did she particularly care to. It wasn't as if she would ever love him herself. Especially without her heart.

It did occur to her, on more than one occasion, that perhaps the Dark Lord's sole purpose in his association with her was to get her pregnant so that she would have to hold up her end of their original deal. But she was one step ahead of him. Once she had picked up enough elfish to get through pages of the book unassisted, she had read ahead until she found a spell for a permanent infertility curse. Then she had cast it on herself. She was never going to have a baby. There was never going to be a wedding day. She would never have to return the Dark One's favor.

"Oh, Cora," Rumpelstiltskin called sweetly. He found his young student in the parlor admiring a large silver sculpture. "I have a surprise for you." Cora turned and faced him with interest. "As you know, your training is almost complete. We're almost finished with the book. You will soon have all the magical power you need." Cora beamed. "However, there is still political power to be considered."

"What?"

Rumpelstiltskin leaned in close to Cora. "How would you like to become the duchess of the Glistening Kingdom?"

Cora's mouth slowly fell open.

"What? How would I…"

"I've taken the liberty of arranging a marriage for you, to the youngest son of King Xavier and Queen Helena. The duke's name is Henry. He's about your age. Not terribly bad looking. Kind. Gentle. Should be easy enough to monopolize."

"Hmmm." Cora folded her arms. "Exactly how many older brothers does he have?"

Rumpelstiltskin let out a laugh. "I wouldn't go there, dearie. Four older brothers. Two already married with children, the third with a wife who's about to become pregnant with twins. You'd face an awful lot of opposition after that much bloodshed." Cora's shoulders sagged with disappointment. "But you'll still be a duchess," the man pointed out. "You'll be nobility. Isn't that more than you've ever dared to dream of?"

"It is." Cora leaned in to give her master a kiss to thank him, but he pulled back.

"Uh-uh-uh! You're a betrothed woman now, Cora." Rumpelstiltskin flicked his fingers, and a wine glass appeared in each hand. "How about we drink to your future happiness?"

Cora smiled, raised her glass, and clinked it against his. Then she downed the beverage before going upstairs to the empty attic to continue practicing her magic.

Rumpelstiltskin giggled before making the glasses disappear again. By the time she discovered that he had just given her the antidote to her own curse, it would be too late.

"No one breaks a deal with me, dearie."

"You broke our deal."

Undeterred by the mayor's presence in the pawn shop, Mr. Gold shook his head and bent down to retrieve something from behind the counter.

"I broke one deal in my life, dearie. And it certainly wasn't this one."

"The terms were quite clear, Rumpelstiltskin," said the mayor, spitting his true name out of her mouth like sour milk. "Dr. Hopper was supposed to die."

Mr. Gold shrugged innocently. "I never said I would kill him. We merely agreed that something tragic would happen to him. Assault and abduction are tragic."

The mayor shook her head. "You knew exactly what I wanted. The intent was understood."

"Let's not talk about intent. Intent is meaningless."

"Intent is everything! You know what you did. And you know very well that you now owe it to me to do something about the questions that this is going to raise."

Mr. Gold smirked. "I owe you nothing of the sort."

She lowered her voice. "Ruby found the heart key I dropped by the orchard. She saw my keychain. She knows it's mine. This is all going to lead to me."

Mr. Gold remained silent and began shuffling some paper around on his desk. The mayor marched up and slapped an open palm on the surface.

"Speak to me, dammit! You are the one who created this curse for me to cast after Regina married Daniel and shattered my dreams. None of this would be happening to me if it wasn't for you."

The pawnbroker's face lit up with an amused smile.

"What are you smiling about?"

"The fact that after all these years, you're still choosing to believe that I decided to create a curse that would destroy The Enchanted Forest, transport all of us to a land without magic, strip the woman I love of her true memories of our life together, and stop time…just for you." Her jaw set. "Really, Madam Mayor. How is it that you've held onto that grand delusion for so long?"

"The truth is…" the mayor paused until the pawnbroker looked up at her and stopped moving his hands. "I thought that perhaps, after all these years, there was a chance you might have still cared for me. Just a little."

"What?"

"As we both know, when we were together, I didn't have my heart. But you did."

Mr. Gold chuckled. "Not for you, dearie. Not for you." He grabbed a stack of papers, shoved them into a satchel, and then locked the door leading to the room at the back of the pawn shop.

"Then why did you create it?" Mr. Gold walked to the front door and flipped the sign from Open to Closed. "If not for me, then for what? Or for whom?" Mr. Gold opened the front door. "You told me once that you vowed you would never love again. And yet here you are, about to go home to a wife who didn't consent to marrying you and a daughter you went to great lengths to procure. What made you decide to break your vow for them? And more importantly…why did you make such a vow in the first place?"

Mr. Gold stood next to the door of the pawn shop until the mayor finally exited. He locked the door, then paused next to her on the steps. "You're a smart woman, dearie. Figure it out." And he left.

After visiting Dr. Hopper in the hospital, Helena had gone straight to Virginia's apartment and taken a nap in a real bed for what felt like the first time in a month.

Over the course of the day, the friends she'd made in Storybrooke had tried to stop by. Virginia had guarded the door and politely told all of them that Helena was tired and wasn't accepting visitors at the moment. The only person that had been allowed inside for a few minutes was Kayla, who brought a handmade card inscribed We're So Glad You Finally Get to Move Back In With Your Mom and signed by the entire Gold family. David and Mary Margret sent flowers. Come dinnertime, Granny sent an entire apple pie, which Helena and Virginia managed to each eat two slices of even though they both agreed that the apple pie Virginia made was better.

"What's with the card from Kayla?" asked Virginia when she saw it laying open on the table. "Does she think you're leaving to go stay with your parents or something?"

"Well, actually..." Helena took a sip of her coffee and set the mug down. "She thinks you're my mom."

Virginia nearly choked on her bite of apple pie. "What?"

"Well, you know, the daughter of the evil witch whose children escaped from her curse in a magical wardrobe."

Virginia nodded. "Of course." After a moment, she said, "Well, you do kind of have my eyes."

Helena looked worried for a few seconds, then chuckled when she realized her friend was only joking.

"Any word from the sheriff?" asked Virginia.

"He called a couple of hours ago to ask how I was feeling," said Helena. "Apparently he and Ruby have been down at the forensics lab and the hospital all day grilling people about the fake fingerprints and test results. He says that there's no record of anyone having called Boston to ask for my fingerprints, which means that the results were definitely tampered with somehow."

"What about the heart they found?"

"They re-ran the DNA test and couldn't find any matches. I guess whoever it belonged to has never been to Storybrooke."

"But they are certain that it was a human heart, right? If that's the case, then Dr. Hopper being alive and you being innocent doesn't change the fact that this is a murder investigation."

"Right," said Helena. "Whoever was twisted enough to cut out someone's heart and bury it in the woods will go to prison. Probably for life."

Neither of the women said much of anything after that, both having the same suspect in mind and being equally loathe to say it out loud.

It was dark by the time Mayor Mills finally came up with a plan. She began by going up to the office where Sidney Trapp was still at his desk typing up the revised version of the town charter.

"What can I do for you, Mayor Mills?"

The mayor slammed the office door shut and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.

"Dr. Hopper is alive."

The genie-turned-secretary's face lit up. "That's wonderful news!" The mayor remained stone-faced in the chair across from him. The clock on the wall emitted a few ticks. "You seem awfully...disappointed."

The mayor exhaled and folded her hands on the table.

Thus far, Sidney had been nothing but grateful towards the woman who removed him from his lonely trailer in the woods and gave him a job and a place to live. Sure, she had asked him to do some questionable things for her. But she had always made sure that he didn't end up any worse for it. And she seemed to hate almost everyone in Storybrooke. But for all he knew, she had her reasons for it.

"Someone had promised me that they would kill him and frame Helena Stable for murder," the mayor finally said. "But that someone betrayed me." Sidney's eyes widened. "You would never betray me like that after all I've done for you. Would you, Sidney?"

"Of...of course not, Mayor Mills."

The woman smiled. "Good. Then you'll have no problem going down to the sheriff station and confessing to the assault and kidnapping of Dr. Archie Hopper."

"I...I beg your pardon, Mayor Mills?"

"You heard me, Sidney. It's time to take one for the team." He gulped. "It's all right. Don't be afraid. Your sentence won't even be that long. After all, you only did it because you were lonely and needed professional help yourself."

"But I would never-" Sidney stopped when the mayor put her finger to her lips.

"Grab your coat. You're going now."

"But...but there was a human heart found in a box! I'll go to jail for murder!"

"No, you won't. Just tell them that you had nothing to do with the heart and have no idea how it got there."

Sidney nodded. "Yes, Mayor Mills." He stood up, grabbed his coat, and went to the door. He paused in the doorway. "Mayor Mills?"

"Yes?"

"Where did that heart come from, anyway?"

"That doesn't concern you."

"I understand, Mayor Mills."

Sidney quietly exited Town Hall as quickly as possible, vowing never to return as long as that woman remained in office, no doubt in his mind that her wish was one he would not be granting.