Chapter 18

Cora the Ghoul

Regina had everyone to come round, Zelena had the dark one steal her heart that morning from Robin Hood. Regina had made sure to protect her heart from being controlled but they were all curious as to what Zelena wanted it for. Zelena had visited Regina that morning to gloat as Gold stole her heart, during her visit Zelena had told her there was more to her abandonment than they thought. Zelena would never tell them so they needed to ask the only other person they knew, knew.

As they waited to start the séance David and Mary-Margaret discussed baby names. David said "Emma, will you please tell your mother we are not naming your little brother Leopold"?

Mary-Margaret said "Leopold was my father's name".

"People would make fun of him".

"My father was a king".

"Which is why no one made him of him"?

Emma asked "well how did you decide my name".

David replied "I didn't, your mother chose it before I had a say".

Mary-Margaret said "healer of the universe, and you had a middle name too, Ruth after your fathers mother".

Neal said "we chose Tally's name after the place we'd hoped would be our home when we decided to settle down, Tallahassee".

David said "well we aren't calling him Enchanted Forest, or Misthaven".

Mary-Margaret suggested "what about Eva after my mother"?

David said "I don't know how that would work with a boy".

Mary-Margaret "it might not be a boy".

David said "it will be, I'm sure it's going to be a boy".

Mary-Margaret asked "the same way you were sure Emma was going to be a boy".

"What makes you think I thought Emma would be a boy"?

"We went to Rumplstilskin and he prophesized our unborn child would save us. As we left he demanded her name as payment. And I clearly remember you saying it's going to be a boy".

At that moment Regina came in with a tray "sorry to keep you waiting, I was making this special tea". She got the teapot and started pouring the tea into cups. David was about to drink it when Regina stopped him "don't drink it, it's an deadly poison for summoning the dark vortex"

David put it down and said "I prefer Earl Grey".

Emma asked "the dark what"...

Regina explained "Zelena came over this morning while the Dark One was stealing my heart, she was here gloating. She said that my weakness is that I don't know enough about our past, so I've decided to summon someone who does, we need to talk to my mother".

Everything was set Regina put the two sided candle used to kill her mother and said "it's a fairly simple ritual, but not often performed".

Emma asked "if it's easy to talk to the dead why not do it more"?

Regina replied "well to do it you need the murder weapon and" with a slight glance at Mary-Margaret "the murderer".

Neal said "so it's limited only to murdered victims, and need to know who and how they were killed".

Regina lit the candle and Emma asked "what do you need us to do"?

Regina held out her hands and said "focus on Cora".

Hook mentioned sarcastically "comforting thoughts"

They all held hands and a great wind gathered blowing the fire in the fireplace but leaving the candle lit. Suddenly a dark vortex appeared above them.

Regina called out "Cora, mother, can we hear us, send us a sign, do not ignore me now mother. You owe me this".

The table jolted slightly startling enough to break the summoning Hook said "sorry, that was me, I crossed my legs and knocked the table".

Regina looked up and saw the vortex was gone, feeling defeated she blew out the candle.

Mary-Margaret asked "do we try again"?

Regina said "there's no point, it worked the portal opened but nothing came from it, she doesn't want to talk to me, similar to when she was alive. It seems whatever dark secrets she has in her past she wants to keep buried there".

As they were about to leave David said "maybe Belle will have more luck, there has to be something that can help us".

Emma said "my magic is getting more and more powerful everyday, by the time this all goes down I'll be ready".

"Make sure you are" Regina said.

Neal commented "none of us are going to give up until we find a way to defeat her".

Regina replied "I'd feel better if I knew what she's up to".

Mary-Margaret could see the distress in Regina's face so as everyone else left she said "go on, I going to stay and talk to Regina, I'll help clean up".

After they were gone Regina said "I'm not in the mood for heart to hearts".

Mary-Margaret replied "I don't think that's physically possible right now".

Regina said "you can help with the cups". Despite how bad either one of them felt they were about to feel worse.

Granny had taken the kids out so Emma decided to practise teleporting objects. She teleported a teacup from the counter to the booth Neal and Hook were sitting at. "BOOM, Granny's-to-go, I should open a franchise".

Neal clapped his hands and Hook commented "it's impressive".

Emma sat down next to Neal at the booth with them and said "do you want to see something really impressive" With a wave of her hand Hook's hook suddenly appears on the coat stand at the back of room.

"Bad form" Hook said getting up to get it, "Tampering with a man's hook".

Emma asked "seriously, what is with you lately"?

Neal said "choosing the hook was probably too personal

Hook sat back down "no, forgive me for my rudeness, it's a long story, too long for now".

Belle ran in and said she found out what Zelena was up to and needed to speak with them, David, Mary-Margaret and most of all Regina.

They rushed into Regina's house seeing Mary-Margaret in a chair and Regina pushing something in a vortex.

Emma asked "what was that"?

"Cora" replied Regina.

Neal said "I thought we failed in contacting her".

Regina replied "we all thought so, but evidently not. She came through but had something else than chit-chat in mind".

David had gone straight to his wife "what did she do".

Mary-Margaret was in a bit of a daze but tried to explain as best she could. "Cora,...trying to communicate".

Regina asked "she was, what was she saying"?

Mary-Margaret said "Leopold,...my,...and my mother".

Neal asked "what does Zelena have to do with them"?

Emma commented "she's not making any sense, we need to call a doctor".

Regina said "no, she knows something that can help us".

David said "Regina, it's going to have to wait".

Regina said frantically "it can't wait, if we're going to stop Zelena we need to know what she's planning and why"?

Neal said "Belle thinks she does"?

Belle said "well half, she's planning on going back, back in time".

Regina said "are you certain? Nobody's ever been able to cast a spell to go back in time".

"Well clearly she thinks she can succeed, brains, courage, a resilient heart, those ingredients are in every time travel spell I found".

David asked "why go back in time, we have no idea what she's planning to accomplish".

Mary-Margaret said "I do, she didn't want to give up Zelena, she was forced to by my mother Princess Eva, she told a secret, just like I did".

Emma said "I thought our family were the good guys".

David said "so if not for Snow's mother Cora would have kept Zelena".

Belle added "she would have been trained by Rumplestilskin".

Hook said "if not for this Princess Eva".

David said "meaning..."

Mary-Margaret concluded "Zelena's going back in time to kill my mother".

Regina replied "you'll have never been born".

Emma said "I guess this is where your help ends".

Neal said "not if she's thinking of the ripple effect".

Regina nodded "if Snow was never born, you'll have never been born, and ... neither will Henry".

Mary-Margaret added "and on this different path you may not be either".

Hook said "good thing no one's ever been able to cast a spell to go back in time".

Neal asked "are there any other ingredients"?

Belle answered "pure innocence".

Neal said "probably why she turned you into a dove, they're a symbol children, aciacia..."

David asked "children"?

"Yeah" Neal replied "innocence in its basic form means a lack of experience, for example if a child does something wrong they may not know they've done anything wrong because they don't know any better so..." His eyes trailed over to Mary-Margaret's abdomen "oh".

David said "Zelena went to a lot of trouble to get close to our unborn baby. That's why none has succeeded, somehow our baby is the key".

Mary-Margaret asked "what is she going to do it"?

David said "I don't know, but since our not born yet we have what we need time".

Mary-Margaret asked "just not very much of it".