Chapter 5

When they entered the living room, Danni could see Quinn stoking the fire. It was warm enough out that they didn't need it, but she appreciated the ambiance that it gave. She watched as Brittney and Santana sat on the couch. Rachel was in one of the leather chairs near the fire. Quinn stood beside Rachel, unsure of where to go, but also unwilling to sit. Belle walked in and took the other chair. Danni cleared off the coffee table between them.

"I know that everyone has decided to go with me. It doesn't matter what I say or do, you've already decided. I know that it out of friendship and I appreciate that. But, as Belle has tried to tell you and I have. Things are not the same in the Enchanted Forest. Magic is very real."

"But, there are unicorns, right?" Brittney asked.

"Yes. Brittney, there are unicorns and I might be able to take you to them."

The blond squealed in delight. Santana rubbed her leg and Brittney realized that wasn't what they were going to talk about. She smiled at Danni and shrugged her apology. Danni just smiled back.

She walked over to the fireplace. She placed the box the mantle. The faint thump, thump of her heart could be heard just barely above their breathing. She turned around and faced them.

"I don't know where to start, but I have to tell you as much as I can so you won't be completely surprised once you're there. You will already be out of your element, even more so than now. Things aren't very gray there. Everything is black or white for the most part, especially in the way that people think. And for people of this realm, that can be a very bitter pill to swallow. I am not trying to frighten you, but you should be scared," Danni told them as she took a step towards the coffee table.

She sat down on it so she faced Rachel. She looked into the little diva's eyes and could tell that she was uneasy about this entire deal. She also knew that Rachel felt like she owed Danni and that she would do anything that she could in order to repay that debt.

"Rachel..."

"Yes," she replied.

Danni watched as Quinn closed the distance between them. She knew that she was hovering protectively around Rachel and Danni couldn't blame her. She didn't know how they were going to react to what she was about to do, but she had to make them understand.

"You asked me how I ended up in that alley and I never completely told you the truth."

"I know."

"But, you don't know why and that is important."

Danni sighed. She reached out her hand, palm up, open and empty. She mumbled some words and a dagger appeared in her hand. They all gasped but Belle. Quinn immediately moved around the chair, but a look from Danni and Rachel's hand stopped her from putting herself between them completely.

"This dagger caused a lot of grief for my family over the years. It used to belong to a man that was almost my Grandfather. He used it for evil deeds and to gain power, but the flaw in the design was that whoever possessed the dagger could control him and his magic. He sought for way to break free from that tenant. He found it and fortunately never got to enjoy it."

"Why not?" Santana asked from behind her.

"Because he died."

"Is he the man you killed?" Quinn asked.

"I was responsible for his death, but I am not the one that killed him."

Belle shifted uncomfortably behind her and Danni felt it. Her heart broke for her aunt, but she couldn't stop. They needed to know as much as they could. Her eyes didn't leave Rachel's. She knew that Brittney wanted to go. Santana and Quinn were loyal to a fault and they would follow her regardless, listening to her instruction because they knew that she knew what she was doing. Rachel was the wild card. The little diva could be unpredictable sometimes.

"What does that have to do with the dagger?"

"This was the dagger that should have transported the power to new Dark One, but it didn't. It fell powerless. There is no magic in it anymore. It cannot control me."

"Control you?" Rachel questioned, leaning forward, trying to understand what Danni was telling her.

"I am the new Dark One to my people."

She paused hoping that her words would sink in and they would realize that she wasn't as good as they believed her to be. She was the Dark One. She had no tether. She had no qualms about killing someone. She had no restrictions. She was the most dangerous Dark One ever.

"And, what does that have to do with me?" Rachel inquired.

"How about I try it this way? Snow White is my Grandmother. Prince Charming is my Grandfather. Their daughter Emma is one of my mothers. The Evil Queen, Regina is my other mother. Needless to say that my family tree is a little fucked up, but that is another history lesson. Moving forward…Rumpelstiltskin was the original Dark One to my family. He'd lived many years before his influence caused the great curse and his eventual downfall."

"What happened?"

"He decided to fight against the powers of True Love and lost. It wasn't until I sacrificed my soul for the sake of my family and to change my fate as a child that I realized that I couldn't hate my parents for dying to protect me. It took a long time for me to come to grips with that and mostly my own sacrifice to see what they had really done for me."

"Which was?" Rachel inquired.

"I became the Dark One. I gave up my mortality in order to house the greatest Dark Magic within my body. The night I came back to this realm, in that alley in New York. I was fleeing my family. Which is ironic because I had only just returned to them," Danni explained. "It was the night that Coraline died. I could no longer bare a name that conjured feelings of love and belonging, and also so much pain. It was the night that I began to draft the persona of Danielle 'Danni' Gallia from the Upstate. "

"Why?"

"I didn't trust myself to be with you that long. I was lucky to have lasted as long as I did. Rachel, you never saw what I did to that man…you never need to either, but it still haunts me the carnage that I inflicted upon him. It was complete overkill and I knew it, but I didn't care. I was afraid of what I had become, but I knew that you weren't going to let me go without a fight. I left knowing that I could come back if I needed to. But I needed time to myself to deal with the ramifications of what I had done to myself…my family and others around me. I needed to find a calm. I knew that you wouldn't fully understand that and you would try to help. You couldn't help me. My heart was slowly dying, figuratively and I needed to do something drastic in order to protect not only myself but others. It wasn't ideal and it was very painful for me."

"What did you do?"

"I took out my broken heart, and put it in a place of safe keeping. I knew that my emotions would suffer, but I'm made from love. It would help me overcome some of it. I wasn't an ideal situation, but the pain…the emotional stress of what I was going through was too much to bear. I couldn't tell you what happened or what I had been through. You would have thought me crazy. I did what I had to do in order to survive, because I am the Survivor," Danni stated.

Santana met Quinn's gaze. They weren't sure what Danni meant by the statement, but they were willing to wait for her to explain. They knew that there had to be a reasonable explanation even if it didn't sound like to them. Brittney cocked her head and gave them all a strange grin. Her eyes immediately went to the box on the mantle. Quinn and Belle both follow the gaze.

"Can I hold it?" Brittney asked.

"If you would like," Danni replied standing.

She took two steps towards the fire place. She picked up the ornate wooden box and turned around. She stepped around the coffee table and sat down facing Santana and Brittney. Her dark brown eyes never left the childlike fancy of Brittney's bright blue eyes. The wonder that shown there and the understanding were a paradox that could only be Brittney. Her empathy for others was on another plane all together. She saw things that others didn't and it made her special.

Slowly, Danni opened the box. She reached inside and pulled out the heart. The beating could then be heard around the room. The strong thump, thump was almost deafening.

Quinn gasped when she saw the half bright red and half darkened heart. She watched as Danni caressed the organ as if it was the most precious thing she ever held. Slowly she reached across the expanse and handed the heart to Brittney. Brittney for her part took the heart with both hands and held it close to her body, almost as if she was afraid to drop it.

"It's warm," she stated breaking the silence.

They were all astonished by the split in the heart. Quinn gave Belle a knowing glance. Belle just nodded and they all just stared.

Brittney shifted on the couch and squeezed the heart. Danni leaned forward, crying out in pain and anguish. The veins in her neck popping as her face turned red. She tried to speak but couldn't as her body contorted and writhed in pain. She almost fell off the table.

"Don't squeeze it, Brittney!" Belle shouted.

She immediately uncurled her hands and Danni took a deep breath. It was the first time that they had ever seen Danni really show any feelings towards pain. She smiled up at Brittney, who immediately handed the heart back over to her. Danni took the heart, but reached over to pat Brittney on the knee.

"It's okay, Britt-Britt. You didn't know. I...it won't kill me. It just hurts like Hell," Danni told her.

"I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I know. I am fine. See. I'm not in any pain."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, Britt-Britt."

It seemed to be enough to calm the blond dancer. Santana looked at her uneasily. She heard the small growl growing in Santana's throat. She knew that Santana was very protective of Brittney and that Brittney hated to hurt anything. There was a fiery warning in the Latina's eyes and Danni heeded it.

"I'm fine. And, the reason, I will always be fine is because of the power of the Dark One. I can't die. It is just one of the perks of having the darkest power known in our realm inside my body," Danni told them.

"What do you mean you can't die?" Quinn asked meeting her gaze again.

"Haven't you noticed that I am not aging?" Danni questioned in response.

"It's not like I stare at you that hard," Santana stated.

Danni laughed. She hadn't been with them long enough for them to understand what she meant. She really wasn't aging. She didn't get sick. She had only gotten hurt when she hit that man in the alley. She didn't know why it was just then, but even she tested her theories about it after she'd returned to Storybrooke after leaving Rachel in New York. What was it about Storybrooke and her that changed all the rules about magic? Was there something that she picked up? Was it the dagger? Was it the fact that she'd removed her heart?

She thought about that for a moment. She should have died as soon as she crossed the town line all those years ago. Maybe it was her duality. Maybe it was because was literally magic. She didn't know. She didn't have the answers and she doubted that Belle did, either. It was a conundrum and one that she would pose to her mother, Regina once they were back in the Enchanted Forest. It didn't really matter now. The only thing that mattered was that they were somewhat educated about what they might face.

"When was the last time you saw me hurt?" Danni asked them.

They looked between each other. Brittney shrugged. Santana looked deep in thought and then met her eyes. The questions were dancing in her eyes, but she didn't answer because she didn't have one. Quinn and Rachel just stared at her. Their eyes were boring holes into side.

"The night the attack…" Rachel said quietly.

"When you came to me after you left New York…" Quinn added, finally betraying the fact that Danni had come to her after Rachel's attack.

As soon as the words left Quinn's mouth, everyone turned to stare at Quinn. Santana and Rachel had an unspoken rule that they didn't talk about it. Months of therapy and many nights crying in Quinn's arms after the "miraculously" appeared in New York had helped Rachel through the ordeal. Santana was glaring at her best friend since they were in kindergarten. How could she have not told any of them about it? Brittney just gave them all a knowing smile.

"Don't be mad with her, Rach. Danni didn't know she was coming back. She was trying to make sure that you were okay. She gave you something that you needed…that you wanted," Brittney told them as she reached out for Rachel's hand.

Rachel took the dancer's hand and then looked into Quinn's hazel eyes. She noted the rich green flakes in the honeyed brown. She was always mesmerized by the gold bits that floated around in them. She felt a soothing calm flowing from Brittney while she was still trying to read the emotions that were swirling in Quinn's expressive eyes.

"You knew?" she asked Quinn quietly.

Quinn never broke her gaze as she stepped around the chair and knelt before her. She took Rachel's other hand and she could the soothing aura that Brittney was given off, flowing through Rachel. She looked at the dancer quickly who smiled, but didn't let go of Rachel's hand, before turning back to Rachel.

"I asked her not to tell you," Danni explained. "It wasn't her story to tell. I gave her enough information for her to go to New York early. She'd already paved a way to you without you knowing. The attack just moved up her plans."

"You were coming anyway?" Rachel asked her surprised.

"I told you before that I was going to school there. I applied to NYU and Columbia for my Master's. I got into Columbia. As soon as Danni came to me, I called Santana to let her know that I was coming sooner than I thought. She didn't tell me everything over the phone, but she told me enough and almost the same as what Danni told me. I was on the next train."

"But…"

"I'd already called Puckerman. He was on his way to see Beth and Shelby in New York. I needed to get my things here. He took care of it for me. I don't know how and I didn't ask. Two days later he handed me keys to a storage shed and my new apartment. Shelby seemed surprised at my quick move, but she never questioned it once she saw me with you. She actually just gave me her blessing, telling me that we had both been through enough and now was our time to be together," Quinn stated.

"But, you were at Yale…"

"I wanted to be with you. Yale is a good school, so is Columbia. I could have both. You and school. I was tired of hiding, Rachel. I wanted to be with you," Quinn explained.

Rachel was out of the chair and in her arms. There were some sobs and sniffles, but they all knew that it wasn't anything that they couldn't get through together. They had all stopped hiding that year. They let their emotions flow. They fought. They made up. But, together, all four of them spent the summer cementing their friendship and making a nonverbal pact to be there for each other no matter what life threw at them. They would always have each other.

"But, when you came back, you never said…"

"I didn't have to, Rachel. I was different then. You could see it. Quinn could see it. Santana could see it. Brittney could feel it. I wasn't Coraline who just appeared in the alley and helped you. I wasn't some random hero. I was a person that was hurting and fighting her own demons. You all recognized it. You pulled me into your group and didn't let go, even though and when you should have. You've made me part of your little family and I have been eternally grateful for that. You don't know how much that meant to me…what you've helped me through, but this is different. This time, it will be me protecting you," Danni stated.

"What against?" Santana asked.

"Everything that you could think of."

"Okay…we'll come back to that, what about the not dying thing? What about that? Why would you say that? I get that you have magic and all that shit. We've seen it, but nothing is immortal, Danni. What shit did you put in your coffee this morning?" Santana barked out.

"There was nothing in my coffee but soy milk and sugar."

Santana gave her a look. Brittney finally let go of Rachel's hand as Danni stood up and went back to the hearth. She reached into the fire and pulled out a small branch that was alit. She held it up in front of her face. They all the saw the haunted mesmerizing stare that she was giving the branch.

"Care for a demonstration?" she asked them.

Without warning, she turned the branch on herself. She burned her arm from her elbow to her hand. She didn't scream out but the putrid smell of burnt flesh filled the room. She knew that this was over the top, but it was nothing compared to what she did to her mothers when she plunged the dagger into her chest. No, this was just theatrical and something that they could understand as they saw it. It was visceral and in their face.

"Stop!" Rachel cried out, almost in completed shock, as she reached out for Danni and the burning piece of wood.

Santana watched on in awe as she rocked a crying Brittney at the scene. Quinn had grabbed Rachel around the waist to keep her from the burning branch. She knew somewhere deep inside her that this was the only way that Danni could convince them of what was to come. She needed to be outlandish and over the top. She needed them to question everything they thought they knew and she needed them to make a choice…one that would affect them all.

Danni pulled the burning branch away from her skin. Rachel looked at the burnt flesh in horror as the charred and blistered skin began to fade from black to pink. Her eyes about bugged out of her head as they watched Danni's skin heal itself and return to its natural color. She held her arm out for Rachel and Brittney to see that there was no damage. Brittney stopped crying and reached out to touch her.

"Go ahead, Britt-Britt. You won't hurt me. I am fine," Danni told her.

Santana let the dancer go and she grabbed Danni's arm. She carefully inspected it to make sure that there wasn't a single hair singed, a blister that needed to be cared for, or a mark left from the demonstration. When she was satisfied that Danni was okay, she pulled her into a fierce hug.

"You don't have to go that far to prove yourself to us," Brittney scolded her.

"At least she didn't kill herself in front of you," Belle stated.

They all turned to the auburn-haired older woman. Her blue eyes were fiercely meeting each of theirs. She wasn't going to back down. She loved Danni and would protect her, even if it was from herself. They all realized how deeply having Danni back in her life was affecting her.

"Belle…"

"There is no time for that, Danni. We need to figure out how we are going to get back. We don't have a lot of time. Ruby is hurting and we haven't figure out how to stop it. Or, have you forgotten why I came back for you?"

"What about Mom and Ma?" Danni asked, not caring that the others were still there.

"We'll deal with that later."

"Are they still scared of me?" Danni questioned quietly, almost defeated.

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter," Danni replied.

"Would you forsake your family because of one mistake?" Belle asked her.

"No."

"Then it doesn't matter."

Danni sighed. Belle was right. She needed to go home and save Ruby, because possibly she was the only one that could. If she managed to heal things with the rest of her family, then so be it.

"I have a way."

"You do?"

"Yes, it's beside the well. I've hidden them and started a small grove just near the line through the forest. It is so far from town that no one would know that it was there if they weren't deliberately looking for it. I wasn't going to leave completely without an escape plan. You taught me that much. Why do you think that I trusted you with information that I didn't give anyone else? Why do you think I gave you that gift, as small as it might have been?"

"That gift? It wasn't small. It was life altering."

"I could take it back if you wish…"

"Then I would have forgotten you," Belle reminded her.

They shared a look knowing that no one else in the room knew their complete history. Danni was sorry that Belle still continued to know who she was even after her "death." She hadn't meant for the magic to link them in such a way, but Danni learned from that. She never gave anyone else a piece of her magic again.

"Anyway…" Danni started, shaking her head before she continued, "I have a small crop of beans that I have been cultivating. There should be plenty for us to use. And, by plenty, I mean a handful. I know that we will only need one, but taking extra is never a bad thing."

"And, you did promise to take them to Oz," Belle reminded her.

"I don't think that Zelena would be happy to see me. But, a promise is a promise. They are going to be sorely disappointed, though," Danni said walking out of the room with Belle on her heels effectually ending her demonstration.

Santana waited until she was out of the room to ask, "Did she just honestly burn herself for us?"

"She did," Quinn replied.

"Did she say something about taking us to Oz?" Santana questioned.

"Yes, because Brittney and I want to go," Rachel added.

"And, no one sees a problem with this?" Santana quipped.

"Oh, I see plenty wrong with it. But, this is Danni we're talking about. She would do anything for us and we really going to let a few fairy tales keep us from helping her. I mean, I know that she is trying to warn us about the dangers of the Enchanted Forest, but how bad could it really be? We've all survived a lot. I am going," Quinn stated.

"I am in, too," Rachel added.

"I want to see the unicorns, San," Brittney told her with a pout.

"I know, honey, but this isn't going to be some picnic. You all understand that right? We may have to fight something or we might get hurt. Besides we are going to meet her family. I mean, we are going to meet freaking Snow White," Santana said.

"I know isn't it going to be great?" Brittney inquired with her childlike abandon as the rest of them just smiled, knowing exactly what Santana meant.