Chapter 12

Santana woke up to screaming. She couldn't make out the voices or the words that were being said, but it was enough to rouse her out of the bed at some ungodly hour. She mumbled under breath in Spanish cursing the individual or individuals that woke her as she remembered that: a) she wasn't in New York in her own bed, b) that she wasn't in Storybrooke in Danni s Moms' house, and c) that she was in a castle in the Fairy Tale World. The last thought made her stop at the door before she rushed out of it yelling Spanish profanities.

She looked back over at the slumbering Brittney. She didn't want to wake her but she knew that if she didn't that Brittney would be angry with her. Brittney liked to know what was going on with all of them. She didn't like it when they kept things from her, and San hated not telling her things right away.

She woke the sleeping blonde. She kissed her nose. Brittney slowly woke up and smiled at the Latina.

"What's going on?" she asked as soon as she heard the noise outside their bedroom.

"I'm not sure, B. I woke up to it. I didn't want to leave you in here wondering what was going on. I thought that we would go out there together," Santana told her.

"Alright, Sanny. Let's get dressed. I think I hear Quinn yelling at someone in French. And, that was Danni, but I'm not sure what she said," Brittney stated.

Santana just looked at her bright blue-eyed girlfriend. She didn't question her. She knew that Brittney could read people quickly. She knew that if Brittney was worried that something major was going down in the next room. They got dressed quickly and opened the door.

Santana was surprised that she didn't see anyone in the living room area of Danni's suite. She could still hear yelling as she and Brittney made their way towards Danni's bedroom. She was surprised however to see Rachel come running out, looking frazzled as she hurried to the bedroom that she and Quinn were using. Seconds later, she came back with Quinn's guitar. Santana just shook her head, not wanting to ask how it made it through the portal intact and where they'd packed it.

They followed Rachel into the bedroom, but they stopped just inside the door way. Santana looked around the room. It was just as ornate as theirs was, but it was a little more understated like Danni was.

A/N: Song is "Once" by Caleb Kane. Go check it out. It is perfect for this situation and hauntingly beautiful.

She took in the people in the room. She saw Quinn and Rachel. Beside them stood a tall blonde woman in jeans and a blouse. She assumed that this was Emma, one of Danni's mom's, by the way she held herself and from what she could remember of her from seeing her in the mirror. Next to her was a tall, dark haired woman dressed in leather pants and a loose black linen shirt with some fancy embroidery on it. She seemed to be trying to talk to Danni and a young girl, who looked a lot like Danni. On the other side of the room was Belle and another brunette that Santana assumed was Regina, Danni's other mother. She didn't really have time to take in all of their clothing.

By the time that she took in the room and everyone in it, Danni started convulsing. No one moved. It was like they were all stuck. She looked at Will as she kept beating the air with her hands.

"She's erected some sort of force field," Brittney told her. "She won't let anyone near her. They are scared, San. I don't know if they are frightened for Danni or of her. You have to help Quinn, though."

"Help her do what?" San asked as she looked at the scene before her and hoping that it didn't turn into something from Poltergeist or the Exorcist.

"Help Quinn calm her down."

"How?" San asked her.

"Sing," Brittney answered like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Quinn woke up when she felt Rachel get up. She knew that it had to be early. Rachel couldn't sleep past six, no matter what day it is. She rolled over and smiled at her lover. Rachel was over in the corner working out. Quinn sat up and watched her.

Rachel looked up from her exercises and smiled back at Quinn. Quinn was just surprised to see the elliptical machine in the corner of the room. She knew that she shouldn't be because Danni had given them a few amenities that they were used to from the other realm to help them deal there. Quinn laughed to herself. She should have known that Rachel would have asked for some exercise equipment. The woman couldn't function properly until she had her morning workout.

Quinn's thoughts were disturbed by yelling. She looked over at Rachel and saw the same look in her eyes that she felt. Something was wrong and it was Danni. They both scrambled out of the bedroom and into the large living room. The yelling didn't stop.

Quinn and Rachel rushed into Danni's bedroom. In the room, they saw Belle and four other women. She didn't who the other women were at the moment she didn't care. There was a fire in Danni's eyes. She was angry, angrier than Quinn had ever seen her and she looked frightened. Just behind Danni, she could see a young girl who looked remarkably just like Danni and was possibly a younger sister.

"Coraline, please just talk to us," the shorter, but more regal, brunette stated.

"Pourquoi es-tu ici?" Danni called back.

"What is she saying, Belle?" the brunette asked.

"She's speaking French," Belle replied and then noticed that Quinn and Rachel were in the room.

"Allez-vous en!" Danni screamed at them.

Quinn's head whipped around to face her friend. She saw the blonde and the brunette that had been talking take slow steps forward towards her. She shook her head at Belle. Danni was standing on her bed, backing up like a wounded animal into a corner. Belle caught Quinn's stare and she reached out for the brunette.

"Regina, stop. Look at her. She's scared."

Regina stopped moving and looked at her daughter. Quinn then realized who the blonde was. She had to be Emma. Glancing around the room, the could only guess at the names of the other two brunettes. She figured that the taller one was the infamous Will just by how she carried herself. She wasn't sure about the smaller brunette, but due to her resemblance to Emma, she could be Snow.

Rachel took her hand and held it. Quinn could tell that she was frightened by the scene before her. To be honest, Quinn wasn't sure that she was all happy about it, but she wasn't that scared. The time that she'd spent alone with Danni in Storybrooke and after reading some of the books that they had collected, Quinn started understanding a little more what was going on around her in Fairy Tale Land.

"Coraline, calmer, s'il vous plait," Belle tried.

"Eloigne-toi de moi," Danni yelled back in response.

Quinn took another step forward and let go of Rachel's hand. She raised her hand out to the side to tell Rachel to stay put. Rachel didn't move. As she made her way closer to Danni, she saw the looks that Regina and Belle were giving her. She ignored them. She just continued forward, step by step, never taking her eyes off of Danni.

Her hair looked wild and unkempt, like she'd been woken from a deep sleep. Her eyes were burning with flecks of green that Quinn had never seen before. She realized that this sight put all of the rest of them on edge, but she was strangely calm about it. She could feel Belle watching, so she turned to face her. Their eyes met, piercing blue questioning her calm hazel.

She raised her hand up trying to get Danni to focus on her. She was trying to get her attention like she would with Santana when she lost her cool and went all "Lima Heights Adjacent" on someone. Danni turned her gaze to Quinn and Quinn smiled hoping to disarm her. It didn't work completely, but Danni did seem to calm down a little. She was still on edge, that much was obvious.

"Qu'est-ce que tu fais?" she asked Quinn as she took another step forward.

Regina and Emma looked at the younger blonde and wondered why Danni was letting her so close. They knew that she was a friend from New York, but they'd never seen them interact. It was disheartening to see that Danni was lowering her guard for her.

"Danni..." Quinn stated when she saw her move her gaze away from her.

Danni turned back and focused on her. Quinn didn't break her gaze. She knew that if she did, she would lose Danni before she could help her. She needed to make sure that everyone else stayed back and kept their cool until she could figure out how to break Danni down and back to them.

"Rachel?" Quinn stated taking another step forward.

"Yeah?"

"Go get my guitar," Quinn lightly commanded.

"What?"

"Just go get my guitar."

"We're going to sing to her?" Rachel questioned.

"It might calm her down. It's worked before. And, I have the perfect song choice. Just please go get my guitar out of the other room and hurry back," Quinn told her.

"I love you," Rachel told her.

"I love you, too, Rachel."

Rachel left the room without much fanfare. Quinn could feel the room getting smaller around them. She wasn't sure if it was magic or just because it was a tense situation. Frankly, she didn't care. She kept her focus on Danni, who was now pacing on the bed.

"Belle?" Quinn asked as she took another step forward.

"Yes, Quinn?"

"Do me a favor."

"What?" Belle inquired.

"Look, I know that this is going to be hard, but I need you to keep them all back. I get that they are family and they want to be with her right now, but they can't. I don't know what set her off, but I can't get her to calm down. I know that this might not make sense to anyone, but please you have to let me try. If this doesn't work, then by all means, you can do what you think is best."

"She is my daughter!" Regina yelled at her.

"Regina?"

"Yes?"

"I understand that she is your daughter, your Majesty, but right now, she is frightened. I am not saying that it is because of you, but she is. She is acting like a cornered animal and she is going to strike out at anything that upsets her, including you," Quinn told her.

"But, she is letting you get her," Regina countered.

"Because even in this state, she knows me and she knows that I am not going to hurt her. Just please stay back long enough for me to get her to calm down. I understand that you all want to talk to her and I am sure that she wants to talk to you, but bombarding her first thing in the morning after she just came back isn't the way to do it. She needs time...to process...to re-acclimate to this world. She has been living without magic for so long, that this is hard for her. Can you see that?"

She felt Regina deflate behind her. She didn't like being the one who understood the insanity in Danni's head. She'd felt the same way after she'd moved back in with her mother. She was scared that every little thing that she did might get her kicked out again. It took time, months, and a lot of emotional stress and bonding to get them back to a good place. Quinn didn't think that Danni and her family would have to do that because they never stopped loving each other. Things just got really difficult.

"Please just help her," a new voice stated.

"I will. Just please everyone stay back. If she turns on me, do what you have to do. Wilhelmina?"

"Yes," Will answered.

"When Rachel gets back, please keep her back. No matter what happens, do not let her come near me. If Danni attacks, hold her back, please," Quinn stated.

"I will do my best, young one," Will replied.

"Thank you."

Danni cocked her head, watching Quinn's every move. She allowed her to come closer and closer, but she watched her with an intensity that Quinn had never seen before. She held both of her hands up in front of her in a defensive measure. Danni nodded. It was slight, but it was enough for Quinn to see it.

"Danni?" she tried again.

"Oui?"

"Puis-je venir a vous?" Quinn asked, digging deep into her memory from her French classes.

"Oui," Danni answered.

"Okay," Quinn stated and took another step forward.

Her hands felt some sort of resistance as she got closer to the bed. She couldn't see anything that was holding her back, so she just assumed that it was magic. She pushed forward some more and felt her hands go through the resistance. She couldn't explain it fully, but it was like pushing through a thick curtain of water with a slight electric charge.

She heard someone come back into the room. She assumed that it was Rachel with her guitar. When she heard Brittney's quiet voice, she knew that Santana was in the room as well. She couldn't make out what Brittney was saying to Santana, but she knew that they were discussing what they saw before them. However through it all she caught the "Dios Mio," that Santana let out...every one of them, but she knew why she could hear Santana over everything else in the room. They were co-captains. They trained together. They knew each other. They could read each other and they had each other's back.

"Sing," she heard Brittney tell Santana as she felt them moving behind her in the room, waiting and watching to see what Quinn needed them to do.

Quinn made it through the force field of magic and was stepping closer to Danni. She continued to keep her eyes on Danni as she ran through every piece of information that she had gained from the books she'd been reading. She had no idea what she was getting into and she knew that she should be afraid of the immense power that Danni had, but she wasn't. She didn't care. She cared for her friend.

"Santana?"

"Si," she replied.

"Canta Conmigo," Quinn told her.

"What are we singing?" Santana asked.

"Recuerdas est cancion 'Una Vez'?"

"Si," Santana replied.

"Se puede jugar?"

"Si, en la guitarra," Santana answered.

"Rach, can you give Santana my guitar?"

"Yeah," Rachel replied and Santana took the guitar.

She still didn't turn around as she heard Santana begin to strum the guitar. She knew that Brittney and Rachel would sing back up once they realize what song she was singing. She was actually counting on it. She kept her eyes on Danni and the little girl that was no peeking out from behind Danni as she hummed the song.

"Danni, est-ce que c'est ta soeur?" Quinn asked her.

"Non...elle est moi," Danni replied.

"Belle, care to explain that one?" Quinn called out.

"She is Remy."

"She is Remy?" Quinn questioned.

"For this world and this timeline, yes, she is Remy."

Quinn just nodded. She knew what that meant. The little girl didn't know or understand what she was or who Danni really was. She would have to tread carefully as to not alarm either of them.

"Danni?"

"Oui, Quinn?"

"Peut-on laisser Remy aller a Rachel?"

"Oui, oui," Danni replied before kneeling down in front of the girl.

Quinn couldn't make out what they were saying and it didn't matter as long as the girl agreed to leave the immediate area. The girl looked over at Quinn. She gave her the softest smile that she could, one that she kept reserved for Beth. She knew that Rachel could see it, because she knew that Rachel was moving to keep her eyes on Quinn. When the girl started around Danni, Quinn finally broke her gaze and turned it to Remy instead. She reached out for her, and took her hand when she was close enough.

Quinn slowly stepped backward with Remy. She never turned from facing Danni though. She felt Rachel near her more than she knew exactly where she was. She felt the force field and reached out through it until she felt Rachel's hand in her own.

"Remy, sweetheart, I want you to go to Rachel, okay?"

"But, what about my sister, Coraline?" the little girl asked.

"I am going to take care of her, okay? But, right now, I need you to go to Rachel. She is going to make sure that you are okay and take you to your mothers, alright?"

"Do I have to leave?" she asked Quinn.

Quinn knelt down in front of her. It was the second time that broke her gaze with Danni, but she knew that Danni wasn't going to move. She met the same dark eyes in Remy as she'd seen in Danni. She sighed as she did her best motherly compassion for the girl.

"That is up to your mothers, sweetie. I can't tell you what they want you to do. But, I can tell that you care for your sister a lot and she does for you. I am sure that she wouldn't want you to see what she is about to go through. She is sick and in a lot of pain. I am going to help her, but it might not be something that you want to see. Understand?" Quinn asked the girl.

"I do."

"Okay, so I want you to go to Rachel, right there, okay? I promise that I'll take care of your sister. Do you believe me?" Quinn inquired even though she could hear some mumbling from the other parties in the room as she helped Remy through the field and into Rachel's hands.

"I do believe you," Remy told her.

Quinn took a second to look up at Rachel. She could see the questions and the fear in her eyes as she took Remy's other hand. Quinn gave her a smile and hoped that it would be enough to tide her over until they were done. She watched as Rachel pulled Remy into her.

"Snow, will you take her to get some breakfast?" she heard Regina ask.

The brunette that she believed was Snow crossed the room and gathered Remy in her arms. She walked her over to Regina and Emma, allowing them each to kiss her before they left. Once they were gone, Quinn stood up, still facing Rachel.

"You should go too," she told her.

"I am not leaving you. Don't ask me to leave. Don't do that to me, Quinn," Rachel demanded.

"Rachel..."

"No, I love you, damn it. I am not leaving you. Do you understand that?" Rachel asked her.

"I do," Quinn said as she bowed her head for a second. "I love you, too, Rachel. I'm sorry if this hurts you to watch. Just remember that I am doing this for Danni and that I love you so much."

Rachel gave her a quizzical look, but Quinn knew that she couldn't focus on it. She needed to turn her attention back to Danni. She started over to the bed. She climbed up on the end of it and stood there. She heard Santana's strumming get louder, knowing that she was ready to sing.

"Now, we do this," Santana stated.

Quinn started out softly as Santana softly strummed the rhythm of the song out. When a few notes had played, Quinn lifted her chin almost in defiance at Danni. It was a dare and anyone that knew Quinn knew she was pushing Danni. She was daring her to say something about the song choice. She was giving her time to protest. When she didn't, Quinn began to sing out.

"You change in front of me
Your eyes get darker every day
It happens quietly
Your focus slowly burns away

And if you let me hear
The things you seem to wanna say
Though I am late, I will wait to go
Until I know you're somewhere safe

And even if you chose
To lock yourself away
If I listen close
I can almost hear you say

Once I was real
Once I was somebody's child
Once I could feel
Some feeling once in a while

Once I was here
Once I was somebody's friend
Once I appear
I will be real once again

You're falling into it
An inescapable release
Or something intimate
Between the you that no one sees

Is there a way inside?
You only hide from enemies
'Cause I'll wait
I'm afraid you won't get rid of me so easily

And even if you chose
To lock the world away
If I listen close
I can almost hear you say

Once I was real
Once I had something to lose
Once I could peal
Once I was harder to bruise

Once I was here
Once I was willing to bend
Once I appear
I will be real once again

You're falling farther than
I've ever seen you fall before
For me to wonder when
I'll recognize you anymore

To see no light inside your eyes at all
To bang my head against the wall
And force myself to watch you pull away

And even if you chose
To lock the world away
If I listen close
I can almost hear you say

Once I was real
Once I was somebody's child
Once I could feel
Some feeling once in a while

Once I was here
Once I was somebody's friend
Once I appear
I will be real once again

Once I was real
Once I was somebody's child
Once I could feel
Some feeling once in a while

Once I was here
Once I was somebody's friend
Once I appear
I will be real once again…"

As the song ended, Quinn could see the tears forming in Danni's eyes. She was standing next to her now on the bed, and almost had her in her arms. She had been moving towards her slowly with each stanza until she was now there. She raised her arms and Danni fell into them, allowing her to hold her and embrace her. She could feel the force field shrinking around them, but she knew that there was more that needed to be done.

"Danni?"

"Oui?"

"Vous avez besoin de votre coeur," Quinn told her.

"Oui."

"Voulez-vous le remettre?"

"Oui," Danni replied as they both fell to their knees on the bed.

"Ou est votre coeur, maintenant?"

"Tante Belle l'a," Danni stated as she started to cry on Quinn's shoulder.

"Belle?" Quinn called out.

"Yes?" Belle answered, knowing what Quinn was about to ask her.

"Do you-?"

"Yes, I have it," Belle replied.

"Donner le coeur a Rachel, si'l vous plait," Quinn instructed.

"Oui," Belle told her.

She heard some rustling behind her and then a zipper. There were collective gasps. It was in that moment that Quinn knew that Belle had removed Danni's heart from wherever it had been hiding and it was out in the open. She heard some small footsteps.

"Rachel?"

"I've got her heart, Quinn."

"Can you bring it to me?"

Rachel didn't answer. She just slowly walked towards Quinn. She kept her eyes on the pair before her and pushed her doubt and fear aside as she neared them, but then the force field stopped her.

"I can't get through to you," Rachel told her.

Quinn kissed Danni's cheek and whispered into her ear. Rachel could barely make out what she was saying, but it sounded something like "it'll be okay." She saw Danni give Quinn a slight nod while her head was still buried in her shoulder.

"Try again," Quinn said and Rachel did.

"I'm through," she told them as Quinn reached out for the heart.

Rachel gave it to her. Quinn pushed Danni back just enough to have room to get to her chest. She brought the heart up and slammed it back into Danni's chest while saying, "I'm sorry," the entire time. She kept kissing her cheek and holding her. She felt Danni hold on to her tighter.

"I am not going to let you go," Quinn told her. "We are going to help you fight, Danni. Now, you need to believe in us like we believe in you. Okay?"

A/N: The song used is "Once" by Caleb Kane. If you've never heard it, go take a listen at YouTube. There is a SwanQueen Edition of it as well.

POLL: When I use a non-English language, do you want me to give you the translations in footnotes or no? Let me know and I'll go back and add them or start adding them as I write more. Thanks for the input. ~JET