"Why does your mother call you Bluebell?" Gold asked as they drove away from the hospital and headed straight to The Game of Thorns Flower Shop. The topic of names and flowers was still lingering in his mind.
"It was what my mother use to call me when I was a little girl, after her favorite flower. Why do you ask?" asked Belle curiously, the question seemed to come from out of nowhere.
"It's nothing. Just curious."
Belle eyed him suspiciously from the passenger seat, but when the comment didn't amount to anything she forgot about the question entirely and continued staring out the window. It wasn't but a fifteen minute drive from the hospital to her father's shop when she realized the subtle butterflies that were beginning to stir in the pit of her stomach. Although her nervousness was nowhere near the level of anxiety she had experienced during her visit to the hospital, she still felt uneasy.
They pulled up to her father's shop and parked on the opposite side of the street. She opened her side door and exhaled deeply before stepping out. After facing her fear of hospitals, she knew that facing her father and listening to her mother's story wasn't going to be nearly as bad. She pulled herself out of the car and was greeted by her husband who reached for her hand. Seeing the worry on her face he patted her hand and nodded, "You can do this."
She nodded at his encouraging words and they both walked to the shop together. Gold followed after Belle who entered her father's shop first and called out, "Papa?"
"Belle? Belle is that…" he called out to his daughter. He walked out to the front of his shop to greet her, but before he could finish his question he noticed her husband standing next to her and finished the question with less enthusiasm, "…you?"
"Hello Maurice," greeted Gold.
"Gold," addressed Maurice, trying to be as amicable as possible for Belle's sake. Before any friction could occur, Belle spoke to eliminate the awkwardness, "We… uh, just came from an appointment at the hospital. We came to show you some of the baby's uh… sonograms."
Belle dove into her purse and pulled out the pictures and showed them to her father. At Maurice's delight he held the pictures in his hand and marveled over each photo, smiling as he studied the foreign images. Gold cleared his throat to grab Belle's attention. She turned and saw him gesture for her to move on to the point of their visit.
"Papa… I am so sorry about how I left your shop the other day. It was incredibly unfair to you and I was… well I was upset and… I wasn't exactly in the most receptive mood so I never got to hear you finish your explanation about what happened to mother. Why did she leave us?"
… …
…The Enchanted Forest…Seven years after the birth of Belle…
When Belle was born, Mary's power returned and with it the Wind's call for Mary to move on. However, Mary had fallen in love with her own daughter and became determined to never leave. At first, the winds were mere gusts and Mary had hoped to simply ignore it, but then her ignorance turned into years. As each year passed an enchanted tornado would spring up to wreak havoc on the land, the next one much stronger and more frequent than the previous one. On the seventh year, a tornado blew through King Francis's kingdom, destroying all the small villages that fell vulnerable to the storm's unpredictable path. All the citizens and villagers were welcomed, seeking refuge inside the kingdom's protective walls, except Mary Poppins.
"Please sir, have mercy! I must see my daughter! I must know that she is safe!" pleaded Mary to the soldier as she tried to gain passage into the kingdom. Residual gusts of wind swirled between Mary and the guard who stood between her and the kingdom's gates. The guard extended his arm, denying her entrance.
"You are banished from this kingdom by order of King Francis! Extinguish the winds, and the king may look kindly on your favor and grant you re-entry. Otherwise, take your witchcraft elsewhere and be gone with you!"
"Please!" begged Mary with tears in her eyes, but the guard closed the gate in front of her.
… …
"I hereby decree that all personnel in my kingdom be forbidden to speak about Mary Poppins."
"Father, where is your empathy? How can you be so cruel to separate a mother from her child?! Please see reason and grant your granddaughter's mother amnesty."
"Everyone out! I need to speak with my son privately," commanded the king to his council in the war room. Everyone in the room left, leaving the Prince and his father alone to themselves. "Son, I have empathy. I have empathy for my kingdom. Don't you understand? I feel and care for the well-being of my people and that woman whom you have bedded with is what brought those damned tornadoes. Her and her magic… and to think that you both tried to hide that from me while she was staying here at our castle… You know I would have found out eventually. My staff and counsel are loyal to me. They are my eyes and ears. Everyone knows that magic is forbidden," King Francis sighed as he leaned over a map of their kingdom at the center table shaking his head.
"It's only forbidden because you forbade it!"
Under mumbled breath the king said, "I should have made an example and banished you too along with your bastard daughter."
"And why didn't you?!" exclaimed Maurice defensively, feeling incredibly insulted at his father's remark.
"You know very well that wherever this Poppins woman goes the storms will follow. That is why I had her banished to begin with. I need you here protecting this kingdom! I need you to protect your position and become the king I raised you to be."
"I don't want it anymore. I renounce my crown. I never asked for this."
"It is your birthright. You cannot renounce it because it is not a choice, it is your obligation. There's no amount of magic in the world that can take that away from you."
"There's nothing wrong with magic, father. Magic is what brought life back into this kingdom," said Prince Maurice trying to reason with his father.
"Magic and sorcery has its price, son! It has done nothing but bring death, destruction and misfortune to our kingdom and your blithe ignorance has cost us just that."
"And your prejudice has blinded you of the beauty and gifts it had bestowed upon us."
"Whatever gifts she bestowed upon us have expired long ago and now our kingdom is paying restitution for it. You need to convince her to leave this place before any more damage occurs."
"Is there no way you can pardon her?!"
"I will pardon that woman, but she must first rid our kingdom of these horrendous storms and then, when she's done with that, relinquish her power. But until then, I will continue to standby my decision. I must do what is right by my people. When I am dead, you can do whatever you like with the kingdom, but whilst I'm still alive magic will be forbidden. Do you understand me?!" commanded the king, raising his voice at his son with authority. Prince Maurice squared his jaw, gritting his teeth in defiance as he silently stared angrily at his father. "You will do as I command. Now go and tell the soldiers to reinforce the south-side wall. It took significant damage last night from a tree and it needs immediate repairing."
With his jaw still clenched Prince Maurice backed away from the war room, leaving his father with the impression of obedience. But unbeknownst to King Francis, Prince Maurice had alternative plans for the weakened wall…
… …
The wind picked up even more so since her first attempt of the day to enter the kingdom. Unsure what to do and at her wits end Mary paced around the perimeter of the kingdom's walls. Mary was beside herself in worry and misery, heartbroken over the disconnect she had with her family. She drew her shawl tightly around her body and cried; allowing multiple tears to fall and land wherever.
As she walked she thought about her options. She knew that her presence was bringing about the storm's turbulence. She knew, just as much as Prince Maurice's royal officials knew, that the reason the enchanted tornadoes were plaguing this kingdom was because of her reluctance and unwillingness to move on from this realm; deliberately going against the very nature of who she is. She couldn't bear to leave her Prince and only daughter, but if she didn't leave the tornadoes would surely destroy the kingdom and then where would they be? She could not allow that to happen.
She kept walking around the kingdom's perimeter until she happened upon a fallen tree towards the back of the castle. When she approached the fallen tree she noticed a break in the kingdom's wall and through the exposure Prince Maurice. Mary felt a renewed spirit at the sight of her lover. She leaned her body up against the wall to stay hidden from the soldiers who swarmed the area and moved stealthily closer to where the fallen tree penetrated the kingdom's barrier. She wanted to get closer to the prince, hoping to be within earshot of him. Looking up and around her area she noticed a tree unaffected by the wind and ran toward it. Without being seen, Mary took cover behind the tree and whispered loudly to her prince, "Maurice!"
Prince Maurice looked up at the sound and saw Mary peek her head out from around the tree. At the sight of Mary, the prince instructed the guards away from the area and quickly walked toward her. He climbed over the wall's rubble and rounded the tree. Upon seeing each other after weeks of separation, they fell immediately into a loving embrace. "I'm so sorry my love," apologized Maurice.
"It's not your fault. You're doing the best you can."
"It's still not enough," he said pulling away from Mary to look into her eyes.
"How is our Bluebell? No one will tell me!"
"Belle is fine. She loves you and misses you dearly."
"I am tortured. I can't even see my own daughter. What else am I to do, Maurice?"
"I was just about to come find you and tell you my plan. I've been talking to some people… people who I know are loyal to me, along with some outside affiliates. I've been thinking of uniting with some of our old enemies to start a war with my father and usurp his throne."
"No! Do NOT start a war over me. I cannot bear the weight of any more human death on my conscience. No… I've decided… I will leave this realm… for good."
"Don't leave me, Mary! I can't do this without you."
"Yes you can. I have no doubt about that. I must go. It's the only way the storms will go away. You know those tornadoes are here for me… to take me away to another realm. This is what happens if I don't do what I was meant to do. I've waited too long to leave and because of my stagnation, I've allowed my powers to build and fester into something wicked. Just… I only ask, nay, wish for one favor before I leave."
"Anything, my love. Name it."
"I wish to see our daughter and say goodbye."
… …
Through the broken wall of the tampered perimeter, Prince Maurice snuck Mary into the Kingdom. Under hidden cloaks, the couple took shortcuts to the palace and snuck through the castle's hidden passageways to reach the nursery of their daughter. Seeing that the coast was clear, Mary slowly opened the door to their daughter's room. Mary sighed with relief at the sight of her daughter sitting cross-legged and happy by her bookshelf reading a book.
A young Belle looked up from the book she was reading and grinned excitedly at the sight of her mother. "Mummy! You're here!"
The little seven year old girl with beautiful wavy-brown locks jumped up in place and ran toward her mother, dropping the book that was in her hands to the ground. Mary fell to her knees and received her daughter's tight hug. "My Bluebell," wept Mary, crying into her daughter's shoulder.
"Mother, why are you crying?"
"Oh… these tears," remarked Mary nonchalantly, leaning back from her daughter's embrace to wipe the tears away from her face, "these are happy tears; every one of them is for you because I am so very, very happy to see you."
"I'm happy to see you too. What adventure shall we be having today? Oh, I do hope we go to the woods again. That was quite lovely last time. Maybe I can take my book and you could read it to me-"
"My beautiful Belle," her mother said, cutting her off, "I wanted to see you again before I left."
"Are you going somewhere? Where are you going? Can I come with you?"
"No, my Bluebell, you must stay with your father. I'm afraid you cannot come with me."
"Well, will you be coming back? Will I be seeing you again?"
Mary stared into her daughter's big hopeful blue eyes and with confidence said, "I promise I will see you again."
"How long will you stay there?" asked Belle curiously.
Mary cupped her daughter's face with her hands and sighed as she said, "I shall stay until the wind changes."
"Ok," Belle said disappointedly.
"One more kiss and squeeze for my travels?" Mary requested, to which Belle nodded and complied enthusiastically. Belle pecked her mother's face and hugged her mother. During the embrace, Mary said, "I will miss you, my darling. I will never stop thinking of you. Continue reading for mummy. Never stop reading. Love and learn. Love to learn and learn to love. Never judge a book by its cover because sometimes the best book has the dustiest jacket."
"I will Mum."
"I love you Belle."
"I love you Mum."
And with one final kiss goodbye, Mary reluctantly let go of Belle. Belle ran back over to her bookshelf and sat down as she did before, picking up the book she had dropped before and continued reading where she left off. Mary got up from where she knelt and backed out of the room slowly, staring at Belle as if burning the last image of her daughter into her memory.
Prince Maurice escorted Mary back out of the castle and back the way they came. Tears swelled in the Prince's eyes as they held each other. "Please stay with me," requested the Prince one last time.
"You know I can't. I must go. Please don't make this any harder than it has to be," Mary said sniffling into Prince Maurice's chest. The Wind grew even stronger as Mary held on tighter to her prince. "I love you," said Mary as the gust of wind blew away her tear.
"I love you too. I will always love you," the Prince called out to her, shouting over the wind as they leaned into each other for one last kiss. They prolonged their departure, savoring the feel of each other's hands and then letting go at the last possible second. Their eyes never broke contact with one another as they stepped further and further away from each other. A small tornado was quickly approaching Mary. The Prince quickly searched for something to anchor him to the ground against the rampant winds and he wrapped his arms around the closest tree he could find. The winds whipped his face, making it difficult for him to see Mary as she continued to distance herself from him. In one quick swoop the small tornado engulfed Mary and in a flash she was gone.
The storms immediately disappeared, the winds stopped and the dark clouds dispersed. After a year of overcast, the night sky finally revealed itself. The world seemed deafeningly silent. After a few minutes of eerie silence, the air was filled with the sound of rejoicing crickets chirping, giving the kingdom the long over-due peace it so desperately deserved.
So, I left it open to the possibility that Mary was probably the one who brought about the enchanted tornadoes. Like the one that brought the Wizard, Zelena or Dorothy to Oz, hence the "wicked" nod. I hope this chapter clears up some of the questions I read from earlier reviews as to why Mary left Belle and Moe. It certainly was a sad departure. At least it was sad and traumatizing enough for Maurice to never want to talk about it and why Belle never knew or was never told.
Anyways, thank you to Imusicluver23, ShelbyG, Montreat11, Grace5231973, ladybugsmomma and BreathingintheSun for your flattering reviews! I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter and the story so far. It has certainly been a wild trip. See you next chapter!