Hello, everyone! I'm soo sorry for the ridiculously long update. Over a month. I'm bad, I know. But I had zero inspiration for it for quite some time and it was though chapter to pull together. So yeah... Thanks to your-arms-around-me and Satan's baby for the help!
I hope you enjoy it.
To say Reina is pissed is understatement. Oh, how she wants her magic right now. She could have showed to the whole world that she really is The Evil Queen in flesh and blood and not the pathetic image Disney has created for her. Damn this fairy that refuses to tell her what is really going on.
The thing Reina hates the most is knowing that someone else has the upper hand. That someone else knows what will happen. That she is being kept in the dark. That is not acceptable.
Breaking the curse right away is the only way for her to get her magic back, to open a portal to their land and go to the Seer's village. But before leaving this world, she has to make sure that no harm will come to Regina. And Emma. She has to break the curse. So she has to be protected too.
And then there are these feelings Regina has for the blonde. Reina saw it. Last night when she walked on both of them pressed against the wall. The looks on their faces. The softness of their features. And most of all she sensed the air full energy radiating from the two of them. It was so powerful that she could almost see it. That is the other reason that the brunette wants to break the curse as soon as possible. She wants to sense this energy when she has her magic. Then she can know what kind of energy that is because it is anything but regular.
Parking her Volvo in front of the pawnshop, Reina takes a deep breath. Time to see the devil. She exits the car and then closed the door. Her eyes scan the front door before her legs carry her to it.
Reina opens the door with a swoop causing the bell to chime. She closes the door and turns the sign. 'Closed' for the people outside. She doesn't need interruptions.
"Well, isn't that the one that got away?" Gold waits for her patiently to come closer to him.
He is standing behind the counter leaning with hands on the wooden frames. His smile is crocked in a smug way.
"I prefer the Evil Queen," she lifts her chin higher and raises her eyebrows. Reina stops just before the counter and stares at his eyes, challenging him.
"You are not the Evil Queen, dearie," he teases her.
"I'm not the Evil Queen you created."
"Yet you are in the shadows of your own sister. Isn't that the opposite of what you wanted?" Gold knows very well what motivates Reina, what pushes her buttons. And he tries to use that knowledge in any encounter he has with her. This young witch reminds him of Cora far too much for his liking.
"I'm not here for that." Reina ends this topic. As much as she likes the bickering with this imp, she has no time for games. She traces the wooden frame of the glass counter with her right index finger and asks casually and slowly, "Do you recall that...a couple of hundred years ago you...left your son to be sucked out of your life?"
Silence fills the shop. The man looks at the woman before him. Her eyes are locked on his and a sharp pain runs through his heart and he swears it whispers 'Cora' to him. Like Cora is right here in front of him, telling him once again that she chooses power over him. The pain he feels now is similar. Because the tone Reina uses suggest that she knows something and she is going to use that against him.
"I'll take your silence as a 'yes'. So let me tell you that Bae doesn't talk about you at all," the woman says proud that once again she has the upper hand. That once again she is one step ahead of the Dark One.
"H-how..." Gold holds his hand close to where his heart is.
The pain won't disappear but at least he has hope left.
"I know where he is."
The words that echo in the shop sound like gold. After all this was his goal all along. It feels like his Holy Grail is just a step away from him.
Reina watches closely his reaction. His face tells her all she wants to know.
"I want a deal with you," she has no more time for him to wrap his mind around the new information and old regrets.
"What is it?" his voice cold and distant with just a hint of care.
"Um...after the curse is broken you will do no harm to Regina or Emma. You will not attack them in any way."
"And what will you give me?" Gold asks with eagerness. Which is out of character for him, yes, but the mention of his long lost son did the trick.
Reina opens her mouth to speak but closes it in an instant. She could say the she can give him the location of Bae. She could write it down and leave him to deal with it. But letting Rumplestiltskin out of Storybrooke and into the world is not a good thing. He is unpredictable as he is now. She can't risk setting him to free roam in the world.
"I'll convince Bae to come to Storybrooke to talk to you."
To say that Gold is surprised by the kindness of her end of the bargain is understatement. He is shocked. He narrows his eyebrows trying to catch the lie on her face. Nothing but sincerity greets him. That's a first.
"Why do you need Regina and Emma under protection from me?" He amuses. Maybe there is something more. At least he hopes.
"I just need them," she states, but he catches a glimpse of something. So he decides to play a little game with her. To see if she can give something away.
"Oh, do I sense the infamous twin sister guilt, dearie?" He tilts his head waiting for positive.
Flashback In The Enchanted Forest
She was running. Reina was running through the forest. Once she was out of the Mills' household she never once looked back. Not even to see if she was being chased by someone. Which she wasn't. It was late in the night and no one saw her escaping.
The night air was cold and gave her robe-clad form chills. She didn't take the weather into consideration. But when you run away from your home the night you turn sixteen you never think of this, do you?
So there she was running towards...anywhere but her house. Anywhere but that awful place that was suffocating her. Away from her abusive mother for whom the higher step of the ladder was the only option. Away from her father who never once defended her. But also away from her twin sister Regina, a lamb among wolves.
Reina wasn't dumb or blind to see how pure-hearted her sister was. Because those witches who can see the future at five are the ones with the greatest powers of all. Because only witches whose hearts weren't blackened could see the future.
But Regina couldn't disobey to her mother. The word 'No' was not in her vocabulary. She did what Cora wanted without hesitation.
That was not the case with Reina though. She was headstrong and cold-blooded from the start. She was determined and never waited for the others. She was always the first. The brunette was always thinking three steps ahead of others. Life was a big game of chess for her and she had to be the winner. Just like Cora.
And Cora really did have problems with her daughter. They butted heads more than she liked. She didn't want that. She wanted a daughter that she could use for climbing the social ladder.
Reina's thoughts were cut off when her body bumped into someone else's.
"Hello, child," a sweet voice came from the woman dressed in blue with very inappropriate cleavage. "I think you need help."
"No." Reina's response was harsh, but she never liked to be considered needy.
"I think you are lost and you need me to point you into the right direction." The calmness in the older woman's voice was sickening.
"No, I..."
"Where do you live, child?" The Blue Fairy asked impatiently.
"Um..." Reina wasn't sure she could trust this woman, so she decided not to for now. "In the nearby village."
"Oh, is that so?" The woman knew who she was very well. It was already said in the Light Seer's prophecy.
"The witch that shall rip her own heart out of her chest will curse her offspring. Darkness will be born out of their hearts and only light can help bring them back" were the Light Seer's words. "Her descendants shall harbor great power, using it for evil until Light comes to rescue them from the Dark."
"Well-" Blue stopped her train of thoughts. "If that is the case, child, I live nearby too. Come with me and in the morning you will return to your home. It is too late for a young woman like yourself to wander around these woods."
Something inside the brunette told her to trust this woman. She looked sincere and calm. Her smile and her eyes were welcoming and warm. Something that Reina has never seen in Cora.
So the young woman put her faith in older one and went with her.
But she neither left the next morning, nor the morning after that. Reina stayed with the Blue Fairy who helped her master the power within. The head fairy had to make sure that the girl wouldn't just wander alone in any world with that magic in her.
Two years have passed and Reina's real self, the Evil Queen, has bloomed. She has grown powerful enough to perform any spell. She has grown ruthless enough to do everything it takes for her to win without a blink of an eye. Killing has become game for her and ripping out hearts her preferred method. She has grown wise enough to create the Dark Curse.
"The Heartless witch shall have two children—identical on the outside but very different within. The firstborn shall be her copy whereas the second shall come out shy and with light in her soul. The audacity of the Heartless witch's act shall put a curse on her children's hearts. The Dark will turn the Light into Dark protégé. The darkness in them shall be strong enough to create a new world. A chance shall be given to them. A chance for a second take on their lives."
Rumple knows that this will hit a nerve.
And it does. Reina is so angry at his straightforwardness that she could almost feel her magic boiling inside of her. Almost. Her eyes narrow, she clenches her fists but stops herself from connecting them with the man's jaw. Now is not the time. After the curse she will finish him.
"No," she responds after some time. "It is not about that. It's about something more, Rumple. But all shall be revealed in time."
Reina says enough to spark his interest.
"When it's not for you, Reina. You crave power. You crave all in this world and you don't settle for anything less."
True. His words were all true.
"So?" The young woman challenges him to go on with whatever he has in mind. Seeing he doesn't continue she says, "Come on, Dad, you are better than this."
"You believe Cora?" He sounds genuinely surprised that she trusts Cora about this. "When she is the one that is truly responsible for all of this..." The man manages to stop himself before unraveling the truth.
Reina sees the look on Rumple's face that means he knows more than he says. He always does and the brunette always manages to catch him and almost everyone. The only people she has trouble reading are the Light Seer, Blue and Emma Swan. Which is very alarming for the woman.
"Oh, you know something, don't you?"
Reina stares right into the man's eyes. She narrows her eyes as if to cut him. She watches until his eyes give her the truth. Without her magic it takes her longer to distinguish the lie from the truth.
"I didn't say that." The man turns to his back room, cueing the witch to leave.
She chuckles at his poor attempt to finish the conversation. They are so not finished. She follows him and waits for him to start talking.
"Come on, Dad. We are family, right? Sick and twisted, but family nonetheless." Reina is determined to get everything out. She uses the family card knowing very well that everything Rumple does is for his son.
"We are not family," the man spins on his heels with anger flashing through his face.
"She was pregnant when she ripped her heart. She thought that the love for her unborn could substitute the love she had for you. But she didn't know that without heart she couldn't feel anything for anyone." Reina explains with sadness in her voice.
"She lied to you and everyone else for that matter. Lying is second nature." The brunette finishes with a wave of her hand. In another time that would bring magic to life, but not now.
"No," his stubbornness takes control. "You were born a month earlier. You are Henry's daughters."
"No. They never slept together until we were born. He considered it a sin."
"I am telling you, you are not mine." His anger grows and soon he will break.
"Why should I trust you of all people?" Reina gets angry at him. She gradually raises her voice until she is screaming out of her lungs. "Blue, Cora herself, and the ten midwiferies that delivered us tell a different story. Why should I trust you and not them? Oh, wait. Because that would mean that you have used your own daughters, manipulated them, only to find your long-lost precious son who doesn't want anything to do with you."
Silence blankets the shop as the two people stare at each other through watered eyes.
Rumple had always suspected that Cora was pregnant when they met in the forest around Henry's castle. She told him she ripped her own heart because it was stopping her from bringing the world to their knees. But this...Could it be true? That he punished his daughters for his son? But he didn't know. If he knew...Rumple sighed at his realization. No, he would have done the same thing over and over again. No matter the consequences. He would do it again because letting go of Bae was the biggest mistake in his life. Even bigger than falling in love with Cora.
"You broke Regina so badly that she would become desperate to start over. You made a deal with Blue about the curse, but you never told me that Regina would enact it."
Flashback In The Enchanted Forest
The young girl was startled. A man who looked like a walking crocodile with golden skin appeared before her in her own bedroom.
"Get out," she yelled but the man only gasped.
"Oh, my, my. So rude." He even placed a palm over his heart, pretending to be shocked and hurt. "So young and so..." He sighed as his eyes scanned the girl's body from head to toe and back sensing the magic underneath. "So passionate. I like that."
"Who are you and what do you what?" Reina was disgusted by the way this man or creature was looking at her. She had heard about him, but she had never seen him. So she wanted to be sure.
"Impatient are we? Here I thought my reputation precedes me. I'm severely mistaken. I am Rumplestiltskin."
The man took a step back and bow with reverence.
"I want you," he pointed at the eighteen year old girl with his golden finger, "to make me" he brought the finger to his chest "a curse."
It was that simple. For him anyway. The girl's eyes widened in shock at the request.
"Oh..." She tilted her head trying to figure it out why.
"Only women can create curses because only they can create life." Blue's first lesson about making a curse reached the young woman's mind.
"Exactly," the weird man nodded. "You'll make me a curse and I'll spare your life. How does that sound to you?" Rumple said the terms of the deal with his usual pride and satisfaction.
"No," Reina replied simply. She shook her head and continued, "You can't kill me. I'm faster and stronger. Not to mention more powerful."
The man laughed at her cockiness. It was brave and at the same time very foolish of her to stand before the Dark One and challenge him.
"I am. Ask Blue. She taught me."
A confidence was radiating from her that made the man even more intrigued by her.
"Oh, did she?" He asked.
Rumple tried his best to get Reina to accept his deal. But she refused every time. She refused over and over again until the man was so furious that he threatened her life.
"You don't want me as your enemy" were his last words to the woman who didn't even flinch. She just smirked at him. One of those I-win-you-suck smirks. That was it for Rumple. He left the room feeling more humiliated even from when he was kneeled before the King's men all these years ago.
"Blue didn't tell me that you created it. I understood that when Regina was about to enact it."
Reina isn't sure whether Rumple sounds like he is apologizing or it's just her wild imagination.
"Whatever. Do we have a deal?" The woman asks, annoyed. She wants to go out and leave Rumple behind because this conversation touches too many sensitive topics. It wasn't supposed to be like that, but it happened.
"Yes," the man answers with a nod far too quickly, which raises Reina's suspicions.
Maybe he has some backup plan or he knows something that she doesn't. And that is not good.
"Good." The woman spins on her heels and storms out of the shop.
Just before she closes the door completely she hears "I'm sorry" from the man she left behind.
Sorry for what? That he used her and Regina for his own selfish reasons? For the fact that he continues to deny that he is their father? Or for the fact that he tricked both of his daughters for his son?
Reina gets in her car and drives off to the mansion. On her way there, her thoughts are racing in her mind not letting her concentrate on the driving.
Why did Rumple agree so quickly to a deal that he didn't make? Was it father's guilt? No, it can't be that, the young woman thinks. He probably agreed because he won't make his end of the bargain. He will break his own deal.
He will try and harm Regina or Emma, and that cannot happen. Reina will make sure it doesn't. She has to pull his teeth out. But the lack of magic in Storybrooke...Wait?
The woman slams the breaks of her car. There is magic in the mausoleum. Things that she and Regina brought from the Enchanted Forest. There has to be something that could help her. She remembers that they got only small object to remind them of home. Nothing big and important...except Jefferson's hat and her own. She could try and make one of them work. If she manages to go back to the Enchanted Forest she has to take something that could prevent Rumple from hurting anyone after the curse is broken. His dagger is somewhere with him so that option is out and it's the only way the Dark One could be killed. If Reina could kill him she could...
The brunette turns off the ignition and starts laughing.
"The Sleeping curse. I will put him under it and considering Cora is not here, True Love kiss won't work. He will stay like that forever," the woman says to herself and beams at her own plan.
So she steers the car towards the outskirts of Storybrooke where the Mad Hatter lives.
About the chapter... Zero Swan Queen? I know and I wanted to put some but they will be in the next one for sure. I just wanted to clarify what's with the 'real Evil Queen' and the 'fake one'. I wanted to tell you something about the curse too but the way it was made and all the conditions in it will be explained later on. I plan to break the curse in the next chapter. Any guesses how it would be done? Thoughts about the few twists here?