And begins season 2.
In Storybrooke, as the purple smoke is still swirling around the town it slowly dissipates where Mary Margaret and David Nolan, or Snow White and Prince Charming, are standing.
"What's happening?"
"Let's find out."
As the smoke finally dissipates completely, Granny and Red, or was it Granny and Ruby, ran towards the two.
"Oh!" Granny said stopping just short of giving them a hug.
"Snow?" Ruby however didn't and enveloped her old friend in a hug.
And while they were hugging, the seven dwarves managed to find them. "Your Highness."
And then Mary Margaret was enveloped in a giant group hug.
"The curse… It's broken?" Grumpy asked.
"Well, it appears so."
"So, what do we do now?"
"Now? Now I find my daughter."
And then suddenly, a few feet away from the group, a giant silver cloud appeared. When it finally dissipated, there stood Emma, Henry, and Merlin. "Ahhh." Merlin said with a sigh. "28 years of having virtually no access to magic, and a whole year of having to use it in secret. You have no idea how good that felt."
"Is today a day for releasing pent-up tension for you?" Emma asked.
"Probably, so is punching the bug which was something I've been waiting to do for almost 300 years. So some things are higher on the list than others."
"Emma?"
And then Emma turned around and saw a group of people standing behind them, most notably, the two people who were supposed to be her parents. She turned to look at Merlin with a glare. "Well they wanted you here and it was either in the middle of the street with lots of witnesses so they can't be too mushy gushy, or in the privacy of your home, scarring three little ones for life."
Emma turned and looked at her too, parents, and that was really weird to say. "So, it's true."
Mary Margaret just cups Emma's face before hugging her, a gesture that Emma does not return. "You found us." And then David joined in on the hug.
"Grandpa?" Henry said looking up at his grandfather.
And David just had to laugh at the situation. "Yeah, kid. I suppose so."
"She did it. She saved you."
"She saved all of us."
"I… Well…"
"Uh, then why are we still here?"
"That, my friend, is an excellent question."
"Well, what was that smoke?"
"Who did this? What was that smoke?"
"A-And why?"
"And what was that smoke?"
"Ehm." Merlin grunted drawing their attention. "Perhaps instead of bombarding the poor Savior with a question she can't possibly answer. Why not offer the alternative of asking the all-powerful wizard with glowing staff." He said smiling while causing his staff to glow. But then the smile faltered when he looked up to the side and saw the blue fairy coming. "Or you can always ask the blue bug." He said tipping his staff and firing a blast of light at the fairy, causing her to drop to the ground from the pain. "Oh. Did that feel good!" He said literally vibrating with the pleasurable feeling he was getting.
But then he opened his eyes and saw the unamused look on Emma's face. "But considering how it is your Savior and her son managed to get here, try using the intelligence you were gifted with at birth."
When no one answered, Henry did. "Magic."
"Well at least we know who's smartest among..." Merlin suddenly stopped and frowned and then suddenly yelled. "Don't You…" But that was as far as he got before suddenly being tackled by.
A giant.
Cat?
Nope. As Emma did a double take, the image didn't go away. It was most definitely a giant purple and black cat. "Get off of me you confounded feline." Merlin yelled.
And the cat obliged. There was a popping noise and suddenly the cat was on top of the car parked nearby, licking itself. "Would you get down off of there." He said sternly, the cat's only reply though was to stop licking and look at him. "Now don't give me that… You are almost 250 years old, act your age… No, you cannot have a saucer full of milk for dinner... or sardines."
Then once again the cat made a popping noise, no one could find it when they looked around again.
That is until a giant violet purple cloud fell right on top of them, or to be more accurate right next to Henry. What came up out of that cloud was Madelyn, dressed in a fuzzy purple shirt and black leather pants, with bright blue gloves. "Hey kid." She said smiling. And then sticking out her hand she made a glass of hot chocolate with whipped cream and cinnamon appear. "A reward, to the bravest little 10-year-old to ever take on sleeping curse." And they both clinked glasses in a cheer.
"Cheshire." The blue fairy said sternly. "Would you for once in your life act your age."
Merlin looked very upset. "Chess don't make me agree with the blue bug, please."
"But I am acting my age." She said smiling. "The age that I look like. I look like I am 24 years old, and in cat years that's about two years old." She said smiling. "This gives me full license to go and say. No, no, no no no, no, no, no no no." She said smiling; only this time her lips somehow managed to go up and literally touch her ears and with that she popped away again.
"Well, now that that's done. I say we go and pay visits to the person responsible for bringing magic back in and for starting this whole darned mess – the Queen.
Emma thought about following but then considered something. "No, wait. It wasn't Regina." She said, gaining the rest of the group's attention. "Merlin, can you teleport us to my house?"
"When you say all of us, dwarves, bugs, elderly, and wolves included?"
"Hey." Granny said angrily. "You're one to talk. Aren't you hundreds of years old?"
"Yes. But I was talking about Charming here." Merlin said smiling. "He might not look it but this guy is pushing 60."
Henry had to resist the urge to laugh a little bit, which drew Merlin's attention back over to him. "Oh, and by some odd irony I forget." He then took out a wood disk and pointed it at Henry. "Remember thus, but speak no more." And a bright light shined from the disk over Henry's face.
This caused David to become defensive. "What was that?"
"Well no one was willing to believe him when he said there was a curse, so I used to this to make it so that he would have somebody he could talk to about his curse theories, confirm or deny them. The best part being once he left the room he couldn't remember anything that we had talked about until he re-entered the room. I just made it so he could remember, but he still can't talk about it, at least not all of it as some of it was a little private between me and him." Merlin said smiling. And before anyone else could protest what he was doing, the gem in his staff glowed again. "Next stop Gold residence. Please keep your hands arms and feet inside the cloud at all times."
Gold's House.
A moment later they were all standing in the main area where Gold's front door was. Everyone was rather uncomfortable considering that up until a few minutes ago they were all certain Mr. Gold was the devil incarnate. That and no one had ever been inside of his home before.
But after the initial shock of being inside of the home and having gotten there by magic wore off, an entirely new one made itself known.
In one room over Mr. Gold was talking with someone, and he was having a hearty laugh.
What shocked everyone even more, including Emma, was that a very petite laughter followed afterwards.
When they entered the room they saw Gold sitting down with a tray eating little cakes sitting on the table and drinking tea and a brunette sitting in one of the chairs opposite of him. "I swear I'm not making it up. This Great Dane, the world's largest dog ever, is looking down at Jet." He said pointing towards the black lab puppy. "And Jet is trying to be all sorts of intimidating, growling, snarling, and nipping. And this dog is not having any of it; it looks like he is just some small little bug flying around its head. Barely even taking the energy to look left or right as Jet is hopping back and forth trying to intimidate the big fella. And while I am walking this tiny little puppy, some eight-year-old girl is busy walking this Great Dane. And suddenly for no reason the Great Dane lets out a bark that scares Jet so much that he just runs in the opposite direction behind me almost knocking me over. And he's just zipping away because he is terrified, and I'm trying to hold him back. I looked behind me and the Great Dane is…" And Gold started laughing hysterically again. "The dog is in a tree. This little girl dangling from the leash not entirely sure if she should let go or not. And then I look over in the grass and I see a little garden snake slithering away. And right at that moment I'm not sure if I should be laughing or crying or what in this situation."
The brunette starts laughing again at the story. She then pets Jet behind the ear. "You're just a troublesome little trouble maker aren't you. You remind me of me whenever I encountered a ladder." She said smiling.
"I suppose he does have your clumsiness, you should see him running down the hallway a few months ago when we first got him. He would just be running so fast and suddenly fall over himself and end up in the most hilarious positions with his head on bottom and his bum on top and just looking like he had absolutely no idea how he got there. And then 10 seconds later he'd be in a different corner of the room in a completely different position." It was then that Gold noticed all the spectators. "Emma. What took you so long to get here, the tea was going to get cold." He said smiling getting up to give his wife a cup.
"Hello dear." She said smiling and then giving him a kiss on the cheek. "And who is this nice young lady." She said with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh." He said snickering slightly. "This is Belle."
The smile on Emma's face instantly dropped. Her mouth was hanging open and her eyes were open wide. After a few moments she looked over at the other young woman in a completely new light, blinking to try and see if this was some sort of hallucination or if her hearing was suddenly not working. "Belle? Belle as in a woman you love. Belle, as in the woman who was murdered by her father. Belle as in the one that threw herself out of a window and Regina told..." The moment Emma said Regina's name it was like having a revelation. "Regina lied to you about her didn't she?"
"It would appear so."
This was the point where Belle decided to pipe in. "Emma. You're his wife. No, he described you as goddess like in looks and Saint like with patience."
"Really?" Emma said looking at her husband. "And what part did he get wrong?"
"Well you're certainly far prettier than any goddess I ever met. Of course I've only ever met Ursula. As for patience you haven't killed me or hit me yet even though I'm assuming you know who I am."
"And just who are you?" Mary Margret asked.
Before anyone could answer, Leroy did. "You're his true love." This made the entire room look at him in shock. "When I fell in love with Nova, I mean Astrid, I mean. Wow that's really is difficult isn't it." Everyone responded by nodding. "Anyway, when I fell in love with her Belle gave me advice on what to do. She seemed very sad and told me later that she had lost her true love. She lost him because he didn't love her back." The dwarf said glaring at Rumpelstiltskin.
"In my defense I thought she was sent to be a spy for Regina. After I realized my mistake I been told she had died quite tragically after being tortured by clergy. They cleansed her darkened soul with scourges and flames. And then there was a small detail of her throwing herself off of her father's tower." He said solemnly.
Everyone took moments to absorb the story before Emma turned back to look at Belle. "You're not here to try and steal him are you? Because I'm afraid that will end my Saint like patience."
"I'm actually here to be a maid. It appears your old one quit moments after we arrived."
"I'm sorry but that won't work." David said. "Even if I for some small moment of pure insanity was going to allow my daughter to be married to The Dark One, there is no way I would let her be in the same house with his true love. What's to stop some horrid affair from taking place?"
Gold couldn't hold it back, he just had to laugh. "Oh charming. Let's say for a moment, just for the sake of being hypothetical, that Emma cared about or needed one bit about your approval, which she doesn't." Gold then flicked his wrist and two clear glass vials appeared. He then yanked one hair from his wife's head, and another from Belle's. Then placing each one in its own jar he took two of his own hairs to place in them in as well.
They then both began to glow. "A little known fact about true love, you don't have only one. True love and a soul mate are often mixed up. A soul mate is the one person your soul is destined for, and your soul is unchanging, this person might not be born the same time as you, they might die just as you're being born, you might never meet, or you might be 13 and the other 83. Your true love is a lot like a matching game, and your true love is capable of changing over time. It is possible after a particularly traumatic event that changes one of the people in the relationship for you to no longer be true loves. It is also possible that while you might have been this person's true love when you were seven, you are no longer when they are 17, or 27. It all depends on when it is you match up." He said intertwining his fingers.
"And just because your true love dies doesn't mean you can't find another one. After someone's true love dies normally three things happen. The first being that you die shortly afterwards of a broken heart, you obviously are not going to find another true love if that happens. The second being you resign yourself to never love again and end up never remarrying, finding love and purpose in your family. Or if your true love is taken prematurely, the third thing that normally happens is you become cold and heartless, and if you're powerful you become like Regina." He said going to sit down with another piece of cake. "But there is a fourth thing that might happen. If your true love dies and you managed to get over it is possible that you will find another broken heart. I thought Belle was dead, my heart broke and for 30 years I mourned her. Henry's father broke Emma's heart, and for 10 years she mourned him. We met and managed to mend one another's hearts." He said sitting back smiling. "So you see my dear Prince, Emma and Belle are both my true loves. I am choosing to stay with Emma because I love her and we had a family together, but just like I'm sure none of you would turn away someone you once cared for in your past no matter how long ago it was, someone who was in need, I'm sure you won't begrudge me wanting to help my other true love after she had been tortured because she loved me." He then took a big bite of cake.
The entire group just stood there silently for a moment. "It's a wonderful tale Rumpelstiltskin, but it's a foolish lie nonetheless." Gold's features instantly changed from happy eating his cake, to stern and uninviting. "No Dark One is capable of falling in love; they are too selfish and evil for such a thing." Blue said. "What have you really done to these poor children, to make them think you love them?"
Gold just glared at her. But instead of answering, just finished his cake, licked his fingers, and then opened his mouth to speak. "Merlin." And then he nodded.
A moment later another flash of energy was fired and hit the Blue Fairy again. "Why did you bring her along anyway?" Gold asked.
"I didn't want to. Emma said bring everyone along, including the blue bug." Merlin said shrugging his shoulders.
"Well at least she's here for the big reveal." Gold said walking out of the room. A minute later he returned with Morraine in his arms and a wand. He gave Morraine to Belle so she could hold her. "What do you think of my youngest daughter Blue? She gets her first name, Morraine, from one of the young girls I saved from the front lines in the ogre wars almost 300 years ago. I thought it rather fitting that because Morraine was so important to me and I saved her from the ogre wars, her middle name is Bella, named after Belle who I also saved from an ogre's war."
"She is an unnatural daemonic hell spawn that should be killed, or the very least removed from your care to be carefully watched to see if she can possibly be saved from turning out to be just like you." The Blue Fairy said without a hint of humor or remorse.
"Blue!" Mary said in absolute shock. Because to be entirely honest she was having a hard time not running over and trying to snuggle that young child and make all sorts of baby noise at it. Killing her was absolutely unthinkable.
"It is the simple truth Snow White; The Dark One should never have children, not only would they be powerful and unpredictable, but they would no doubt be corrupted by his evil."
"Well if you believe that." Gold said sticking the wand out towards her. "Then go ahead. You said you needed a wand to work your magic; here is a wand for which you can do that. I won't even interfere, so come on, your most powerful spell."
Everyone in the room was far too shocked to even speak, because if they were there would no doubt be a large number of very loud protests using very adult words.
Blue knew in the back of her head it was no doubt some form of trick, but the opportunity was there and so she took it. Pointing the wand she conjured an extremely powerful spell that could have leveled an entire block.
But nothing happened.
She could feel the magic around her, she could feel it in the wand, and she could feel it inside of her. But she couldn't make it do anything. "You see Blue; months ago Merlin gave you a center piece for your garden, a wooden black bear. It was one of my best works, carving that bear. It was made out of wood from the Black Forest. The very same forest that houses the place where the first Dark One was born, and every night that bear would animate itself and collect a small amount of blood from some of the nuns. It took less than a month to go through the entire covenant, and the moment magic returned with the broken curse the spell inside of that wood carving activated, binding your magic and life force." When Gold got to the last part he smiled wickedly, a smile that only grew when the fairy turned to nun gasped in horror. "So you see, you are completely powerless and the only reason why I won't kill you is because I enjoyed the idea of you feeling as if there is a sword of Damocles hanging over you, never knowing when it will strike."
Blue stood, stunned and not sure at all what to do. After a moment or two of waiting Gold must gotten bored, because he waved his hand and the wand appeared in it. "Run along now little fairy, before I get mean."
And the Blue Fairy did just that.
And a moment later Jefferson came into the room. "I hope I'm not disturbing anything, the door was open."
"Nothing of importance at the moment." Merlin said.
Gold walked behind his chair and pulled out a hat box. "Payment for services rendered, have a wonderful time." Gold said smiling.
"What services?" Emma asked.
"Helping us defeat Regina, pretending to help Regina, and not procuring the apple, spying on the occasional person. The basic but useful jobs one always needs done when breaking an all-powerful evil curse." Merlin said smiling.
"Wait, backup to the part about not procuring the apple." Mary said.
"Did you honestly think I was going to approve a plan to let Emma be put under a real sleeping curse?" Gold said smiling, and then he pulled an apple out of his coat with a single bite taken out of it. "This is the apple Regina thought she was going to give to Emma, the one with the sleeping curse in it. What she really gave Emma was a simple potion designed to make someone look like they had died, but unlike the sleeping curse, what we made was safe to use here."
Emma became very angry when she heard that. "You let me think Henry had died, when he wasn't in any danger."
"For the record, it was Merlin's plan; he simply filled me in on the details as needed, which in this case was a moment before each new part happened. And I thought you were going to be the one that ate the turnover, and after Henry did, I wasn't going to let a perfectly good plan go to waste."
"What plan?" Mary asked.
"Breaking the curse. You were going to eat the apple, and then Henry, either through realizing you were cursed or just wanting to kiss his mom, would break the spell on you, and your involvement in it breaking the spell over you would break the curse. And when Henry was the one affected, I let it proceed with a few alterations, namely you doing the waking and dragon slaying."
"But why go through the whole dragon killing thing, why not just have me wake Henry?"
"You didn't believe enough in magic to break the curse, and you didn't love Henry enough."
Emma went wide eyed, and so did everyone else. "What did you say?"
"You kissed him before didn't you?" Gold said as if that explained everything. "A kiss of true love must be all consuming, it must be do or die no second chances. When you thought he was alive, that there was still a chance for the doctors to save him, it didn't work. You needed a slap in the face, fighting a dragon did that perfectly. And then when Henry died, it forced you to pour your very soul into the kiss, it was, as far as you knew the last kiss you would ever give him, so you gave him every bit of love you had, holding nothing back." Gold said, and then he noticed a small amount of water in her eye. "I am sorry for the pain it caused you, but the plan was in motion and it would have caused more harm long term to stop it." He said sincerely.
Emma seemed satisfied with this answer, but before they could continue with some of the thousand questions she had, not to mention the billion she had for when they were alone, there was a loud knock at the door. Archie was on the other side. "There you are. Come with me. I need your help. Dr. Whale's whipped everyone into a frenzy. They're going to Regina's house. They're going to kill her!"
"Great, let's watch." Leroy said.
"No. No, we cannot stoop to her level. No matter whom she is or what she's done, killing her is wrong."
"He's right. Please. She's still my mom."
Emma sighed. "We have to stop them then." But she sounded like she really didn't want to.
"No, we really have to, for their sake. Magic is here, Regina could have her powers back. They'll be marching into a slaughter."
Gold sighed. "Merlin, as much as it pains me to do this, would you give them an entrance please?"
"Sure." And with a wave of his staff, everyone but Belle, Henry, and Gold had disappeared.
Regina's Home.
The angry mob have reached Regina's house rather quickly. Dr. Whale banged on the door.
"Open up! Open up, or we're coming in!"
But Regina just casually answers the door, as if it was the mail man and not a mob.
"Can I help you?" She said smiling, talking in a sweet voice.
"That smirk isn't going to last forever, Regina. You took everything from us, and now…"
"What? Now you're going to kill me?"
"Eventually, but first, you need to suffer."
"Listening to you has been enough suffering for all of us." She said pushing the doc down a step. "That's right. You wanted to see your Queen? Well, my dears. Here… She… Is."
Regina extends her arms in an attempt to do magic, but nothing happens. The crowd flinches, but quickly notices the lack of destruction.
"She's powerless!" The crowd yelled.
"What?"
"Get her!"
Dr. Whale grabbed Regina and slammed her against the doorway pillar. "Now… Where were we?
It was at that moment that the ground began to shake, cars alarms going off as they floated up in the air, and a great big silver cloud descended from a good thirty feet up in the air. When the cloud hit the ground it quickly dissipated, revealing Merlin and his group of heroes. Merlin, with his eyes glowing white, slowly lowered his hands, his staff also glowing so bright that everyone was shielding their eyes. As his hands went down so did the cars, and after they were back on the ground the shaking stopped, a moment later he returned to normal.
Emma instantly sprang into action. "Let her go. Let her go! Let her go!" She had to push Dr. Whale away from Regina, more because he couldn't move from shock than anything else.
"Why should I listen to you?" Someone yelled.
"Because I am still Sheriff." Emma yelled back.
"And because she saved you. All of you!" Mary put in.
"How about because the guy that made the earthquake is listening to her." Leroy pointed out.
"And because no matter what Regina did, it does not justify this." David said.
"We are not murderers here." Emma said.
"Well, we're not from this world." Whale said.
"Yeah, well, you're in it now."
David pushes Dr. Whale away. "Okay, Whale. We're done."
Dr. Whale pushes back. "Back off. You're not my prince."
"Who are you, Whale?"
"That's my business."
"Victor." A loud booming voice yells. The whole crowd turns to see the once kind and grandfatherly Michal walk toward the little group. "Do not think I don't know who you are or what you have done." He then turned and pointed at the crowd. "What all of you have done. This is a new world yes, with its wonders and beauties, but don't assume just because you lived in a different one you are blameless here, or that because this world had no magic, that it is not present in this place. What do you think would have happened, if while rushing here, a mob, without pitchforks or torches, if Regina had had magic? You would all be dead, body parts from here to the other side of the street." He said sternly.
"Now if you want to have mob rule, then strong guy on top, right?" He then flashed his staff again. "Right, then I want half of all you have, and all women of 12 years or more in town must come to the Dark One's house and then to mine, to be judged as mistresses, concubines, and slave labor. And all men must work form 5 A.M. to 9 P.M. in the mines, six days a week."
When no one talked he continued. "Or we can have order, which starts by letting these who know what they are doing do what they must to keep the peace, like the prince and princess over here."
"And what we must do is make sure this town doesn't go to hell. So, whether or not I'm your prince, isn't the issue. We have a lot to figure out, and as you can see, being a mob isn't the way to do it."
"And Regina's death won't provide any answers. She needs to be locked up. For her safety and, more importantly, for ours."
The Station.
Emma, David, Mary Margaret, Regina, Merlin, and Henry, having been sent over by Gold when the all clear was given, are now at the station. They lock Regina in one of the cells. "So, I'm a prisoner now."
"The curse is broken. Why didn't we go back?"
"Because there's nothing to go back to anymore. That land is gone."
"Well we both know that isn't true." Merlin said. He then turned to the others. "The land is there, it's just damaged, like some kid swiped their arm across the table to pick up their toys. Some were left there, only the ogres and other beasts really. Some things, the occasional earring or broach was sent somewhere else, but nothing important, the curse was too careful for that. But the rest was brought here. So it's basically a barren waste land, nothing will grow there for years, and ogres will have destroyed anything that was left standing."
"How is that you know so much about the curse?" David asked.
"Because I was the one that helped Gold turn a theory into a reality."
"What?" Mary said. Of all the answers I don't think anyone was expecting that one.
"The curse was one of the great theories of the dark one. Something they had always dreamed about creating but never thought possible. Rumple and I created it mostly for the fun of seeing whether or not it could be created, and after doing so it was impossible to unmake. So one or two minor adjustments and he kept it for a rainy day." He said. "But unfortunately it was completely underutilized by Regina. I say this of course from a purely academic point of view."
"How was it underutilized?" Henry asked.
"The curse was designed to take an entire population and put it somewhere else. Make a few minor tweaks and you could have removed the part about moving to a different world and kept some of the other effects, or vice versa. Basically it allowed you to completely rewrite a civilization and world to however you wanted it. Regina could've turned the entire enchanted forest into one shining utopia, with technology from a science-fiction book. She could've made this place 100 times better, or 1000 times worse. Because you were only focused on making poor Mary Margaret miserable, she missed out on a chance to do anything really extraordinary." He said. "Now let's let her rot for a little while." And they all left with David wanting to know just how Regina got the curse in the first place.
"All that was in a way your fault. Maleficent was guarding the curse and Regina managed to beat her in a fight. And because Rumpelstiltskin wasn't around to stop the curse from being cast, well, she didn't have any obstacles in the way."
The group finally went their separate ways, promising to meet up at Granny's later. And Emma walked with Merlin back towards Gold's house. "So what was the real reason you wanted the curse cast?" Emma asked.
"I do not know what you are talking about." Merlin said.
"Oh don't play coy. You and I both know Gold could've seen Regina wanting to cast the curse a mile away and have stopped it if he wanted to, so why did he really want the curse cast?"
"He needed to get here. We both did."
"Why?"
"That's for him to tell you if he wishes. As for me, I lost something here, the Blue Fairy playing some small part in my loss. We agreed to work together to get here, and after a small amount time of working together we became very dear friends." Merlin said stopping and forcing Emma to face him. "I hope you remember that promise you made me, in exchange for my putting a spell on you so the pregnancy would be easier." He said smiling, and Emma gasped at realization of why it was so easy having triplets. "He'll need reassurance that you're not going to leave him, either because of Belle's sudden reappearance, or your sudden learning that he was not exactly who he told you he was. I want you to know that everything he told you was the truth; he just twisted it around a little bit so it would make sense for this world. And you've always known him for him, you've never actually met the cursed Mr. Gold, and so I don't want you to think that just because the curse broke that he isn't the man you fell in love with, because he most certainly is." Merlin said smiling.
"As long as he doesn't do anything too crazy, I think I'll be fine with the whole loving him and understanding him thing." Emma said.
"If him acting crazy is you're only problem, you'll be divorcing him soon. You have no idea just how crazy he can be." Merlin said smiling. "But don't worry, I managed to become completely used to his insanity in only 30 years, so it won't take you too long, maybe only five or 10 years." And with that the man left.
The Station.
"Magic is different here, dearie." Gold said coming out from behind a wall.
"I noticed. I assume this is all your doing."
"Most things are."
"Get to it, Rumple. What do you want? You're here to finish the job?"
"No, no, no. You're safe from me."
"I feel so relieved."
"I made a promise to someone that I won't kill you."
"Who could elicit that from you?" Regina asked, quite shocked anyone would be able to stop Rumpelstiltskin from killing.
"Belle." The moment he said the name she was very afraid.
And so she tried to lie, finding the feeling of shock rather easy to express a moment. "She's alive?"
"You are a dreadful liar."
"I could've killed her, but I didn't." Regina said as a weak defense.
"Yeah, you did much worse than that. You kept her alive, so you could kill her when it suited you. A fate worse than death, which, incidentally, is exactly what I've got in store for you."
Gold then grabs Regina's arm and pulls it through the bars. He takes a medallion and pushes it into the palm of her hand.
"Is that…"
"Yes, dearie. The one thing no one can escape – fate. I promise that yours is particularly unpleasant." He then removes the medallion. Regina inspects her hand, but it appears to be unmarked. "But don't think I'm going to be using this myself, oh no. I don't think Henry or Belle would like it very much if I unleashed this particular beast myself. What I'm going to do is very simple, I'm going to put this somewhere, you won't know where, with a nice little potion that also needs to sprinkle over the medallion to activate. And then I'm going to let fate take its course, should someone find it and read the little note saying this medallion contains a beast that will kill Regina and this is the way you activate it, and then they decide to enact revenge against you, well, no skin off my nose."
Giving her one last look before he left, Gold really enjoyed the look of utter defeat on her face.
But unknown to either one of them, someone had seen that little interaction and decided to take revenge.
Gold's Home.
When Emma got home she was welcomed by the most heavenly smell imaginable. Almost like a cartoon character floating along with their nose sniffing out the colored anthropomorphic steam, she found herself in the kitchen, and Belle was cooking.
The funniest part about this whole scene was the fact that Belle was currently dancing around to, something probably by Beethoven or Mozart, playing on the stereo in the kitchen. "Having fun with modern conveniences are we?"
"Oh!" Belle said suddenly realizing she had an audience. "Well Rumple informed me how each thing worked and then told me where to find ingredients. And after living on nothing but hospital food for the last 28 years, I suddenly found myself craving, anything else." She said laughing, and with how nice and genuine the last sounded, it wasn't hard for Emma to understand how Gold managed to fall in love with this girl.
"Well if you don't mind, I think I'll help you eat whatever it is you are craving."
"Not at all." They then both heard the door open and close. "Well, sounds like someone's come back finally."
And a moment later Gold came around the corner into the kitchen. "I haven't smelled anything this heavenly in almost 28 years, what is it?"
"Honey pineapple ham." Belle said smiling.
"Well it does feel like Christmas right now." He then swooped them both up into a hug. "A beautiful blonde on one arm, and a beautiful brunette in the other, fills a man with a certain amount of pride and sense of well-being." He then gave Belle a kiss on the fore head followed quickly by giving Emma a kiss on the lips.
But the kiss he gave Emma certainly did not end quickly. "Your kid's crying for you."
Gold suddenly opened his eyes and backed away from Emma; both of them looking around to see who it is could've possibly said that. "Belle, did you suddenly developed a deep masculine voice when I wasn't listening?" Gold asked.
"I'm pretty certain I haven't." Belle said in a most definite feminine voice.
Three of them continued to look around for the source, which is until Napoleon jumped up on the table. "Well hello there, and who are you?" Belle asked to the adorable gray cat.
"The names Napoleon, doll, and I need to talk with the big man over there." The cat said stunning everyone. "Your kid wants you blondie, hungry little guy." Napoleon then jumped down to the floor. "You might want the whole family here for this, anyone who is involved in your children's well-being."
And that was how for the second time today Gold's home was invaded. Ruby, Granny, the seven dwarves, Mary Margaret, David, Henry, Belle, Archie, Merlin, Madelyn, Emma, and Gold were all downstairs. Jonathan, Mary, and Moraine were currently sitting in highchairs, all of them having been fed while Gold was busy gathering the masses. "So the cat can, talk too?" David asked. Looking down at the cat as it licked itself.
"No, one of the giggling newborn's over there is a ventriloquist." He said jumping up on top of Jonathan's highchair's desk eating place. "And I'm not just a cat, I'm a familiar, this little guy's familiar to be exact." He then looked over at the door way as Jet the black lab and Jordan the brown and white Basset hound meandered into the room. "Jet over there is Moraine's familiar, and I take it you all have enough intelligence to figure out who Jordan is in charge of."
Jordan than wandered up to all the people and looked around. "OoOoO. So many hands." He said looking back and forth. "Pet me, pet me, pet me." He said running towards the center of the group and then flopping down on his side. "Rub my cute little belly and scratch behind my big floppy ears." He sounded a lot like the abominable snowman named Hugo on Bugs Bunny.
"Jordan, you're talking instead of thinking again." Jet said walking up to sit underneath Morraine's highchair. "And might I suggest for future reference giving these children bacon so they can throw it off the side of their chair, and teach them good habits when they're young and all that."
"Pet me, pet me." Jordan said realizing he was no longer the center of attention and finally Belle relented and started scratching his tummy. "AAHHhhh, yes, that's it, a little to the left." After a moment Belle finished and Jordan stood back up on his feet. "You are my new favorite friend for now and ever." The dog said before licking Belle's hands.
"You better watch those before you pull dinner out of the oven." Gold said. "So what was so important that you had me call everyone here Napoleon?"
"Two words big man. Gray mage."
Nobody really knew what the cat was saying, but they figured it was something pretty bad when the great Rumpelstiltskin and Merlin were looking at one another as if they had just found out hell had frozen over. "Blue must never know." Was the first words out of Merlin's mouth!"
"Agreed." Gold said.
"Okay, what's the problem?" Emma asked.
"Pretty simple, you had way too much fun in bed." Napoleon said with absolutely no shame. "Children of mages naturally have a larger magical talent than normal people's children. Normally you are who your parents are which influences what kind of magic you have. There are the five main types, the two most common being a white mage and a black mage. A white mage uses good magic, which comes from good emotions. A black mage uses the dark emotions, ones that come from hatred and a will to do harm. Then there is the lesser common light and dark mages. A life mage draws their power from the source of life itself; a dark mage draws their power from the source of death."
"But a grey mage is a blending of two powers on the opposite sides of the spectrum." Merlin said.
"Correct. A dark mage can use white magic, just like a light mage can use black magic. It is just less common and more difficult, ergo the fact that light magic and white magic are usually closely associated, same thing with black magic and dark. Emma has magic more in tune with the brighter side of the spectrum, the dark one obviously the other.
Now, while in the womb Mary and Moraine were connected, obviously because their identical." Napoleon said. And he was right, while it was pretty hard to actually tell who the boy was and who the two girls were at such a young age. If you looked closely enough you could tell that Mary and Moraine did look extremely similar. "While in the womb Moraine must've pushed out the white part of her magic, and it went to the nearest source, Mary. And while Mary was being flooded with white magic, the dark magic inside of her was pushed out. And that power in turn went to Moraine. But while this was going on around him, Jonathan's magical core must have fused together; the human body doesn't like to give up its magic. Now for most mages being a grey mage is almost impossible. You have to keep a complete balance between both sides of the spectrum with your very soul. Basically every time you kiss your sister you got to, you have to slap her, or every time you save a life kill one of equal value. But because of the fusing taking place, it would take something truly traumatic to be able to shift his core one way or the other."
"So why shouldn't Blue know about this?" Granny asked.
"Near the beginning of time there was an extremely powerful sorcerer, he created several extremely powerful artifacts, and one of them had the power to take away someone's magic permanently. He was a grey mage, and had the power to cast the darkest of curses along with the most benevolent of spells as easily as you are able to blink. Now while most of his life he did in fact keep to himself, this sorcerer was powerful enough that after only one actual public appearance he left an extraordinary impression upon the entire magical world. So much so that it was agreed between the Dark One of that time and the Blue Fairy that any gray mages should be destroyed, lest someone as powerful with slightly less benevolent ideals comes to power. This was the only time, you must remember, that the Blue Fairy and the Dark One ever actually agreed on something unanimously." Jett said.
"So the moment she finds out he's a grey mage?" Mary Margret asked.
"She'll rally together everyone and anyone who will listen and try and kill him."
"She wouldn't kill a baby, she's better than that." David said.
"The Blue Fairy is not necessarily a good person; her magic is light magic, not white. She will do whatever she feels is necessary to preserve the common good. That's why light magic and white magic are so closely associated; she wants you to believe she will always do the good thing, when in reality she will always do the right thing. And just like the four types of magic, right and wrong is not necessarily the same as good versus evil." Napoleon said.
"But still, children, I'm not convinced Blue would ever actually murder a child in cold blood."
"I think what you're missing here David, is as far as she's concerned, Jonathan is an abomination, not a baby." Merlin said.
"And while it might have been an accident, she never showed remorse for the death of Bella's children." Gold said absentmindedly.
"Who's Bella?" Ruby asked.
"The first and only female Dark One. During her very short time as a Dark One she had a husband and gave birth to several children. All of them grey mages. Blue poisoned the well near their home in attempt to keep the Dark One away from the village, not realizing that Bella, the one who had saved the village by passing a test given to her by the Dark One, where she accidentally took on his power, was the new Dark One, several of those children were newborns."
"And so if I were you, I'd keep my eyes open, and the Blue Fairy on a very short leash."
"Can you help protect them?" Emma asked.
"I'm a magical talking cat, sent by powerful magical forces to guard over your children, of course I can protect them, and we all can."
Napoleon then closed his eyes, when they opened they were a light green, and glowing.
A moment later a blast of energy fired from his eyes, going straight for Merlin. It didn't take a genius to know that it would be powerful enough to kill anyone who it hit.
But Merlin must have been ready as his staff was already in front of him when it hit a blue shield in front of him.
"Well, I'd say you're hired." Gold said.
"As if it's your choice." Napoleon said smirking, which was impressive for a cat.
"Just don't blow up the nursery with the green blast thing, and you get to help Belle change the dippers."
Belle sat up at that. "WHAT?"
"Well what did you think I was hiring you for, Emma and I get the kids when they are rested and smelling nice, and you and the familiars get them when we aren't here or when they are grumpy and/or smelly."
"How is that fair?"
"You get a roof over your head and pay for 18 years for only having to really do 4 years of hard labor." Gold said smirking.
Belle just crossed her arms and grumbled, trying to sound mad, but she was never very good at that.
Of course any grumbling stopped the moment the ground shook. "Funny, I could have sworn I paid the extra five dollars for the anti-earthquake insurance." Gold said.
"Anti-earthquake insurance?" Emma asked.
"After the sink hole, figured it was worth the investment."
Following the path of destruction left by, whatever it was that did this, Emma noticed Mary Margret and David were lagging behind.
"Snow, you can't push her."
"I'm not."
Emma told Gold and Merlin to go ahead, the dwarfs and everyone else had already left to make sure nowhere else was damaged. Gold was reluctant to leave Emma alone out in the open. "I just, I think we need a moment."
Eventually they left. "You guys alright?"
"We need to talk.
"I… Well, I just… I don't want to talk right now, in the middle of a monster hunt."
"Well, I do, okay. Monsters can wait. I can't. I mean, you're my daughter, and… I want to talk to you. I know that we have talked. But, we didn't know that we were talking. And we talked about things we probably shouldn't even have talked about – one night stands and you sex life and the like.
"One night stands?" David said in astonishment. "Her sex life!?"
"Whale."
"Whale?!" He posed for a moment. "Wait, with you or her."
"Me." David's mouth was at this point hanging open. "We were cursed. That is neither here, nor there. The point is, we did not know that we were mother and daughter and, now, we do. And, so… Please, let's talk."
"Okay. What do you want to talk about?"
"We're together – finally. And I can't help but think you're not happy about it."
"Oh, I am. But, see… Here's the thing – no matter what the circumstances, for twenty-eight years I only knew one thing, that my parents sent me away. And the only people I ever trusted during those years either betrayed me, or were apparently under a curse, or my husband that I know at least one of you has a problem with." She said glaring at David.
"In my defense, I've know the man for a long time, our only personal conversation about him was about his dead true love, after a sword fight."
"That you lost." Mary said snickering.
"Snow." David said crossly.
"You see, that's my problem. You aren't Snow White and Prince Charming. Your Mary Margret and David Nolan, my best friend who I stayed with for a month and a little bit and her spineless crush who cheated on his wife with her and broke her heart, repeatedly. So I'm sorry but I can't just wake up like you and run into your arms saying Mommy and Daddy, you're here, because you let me go."
"We did that to give you your best chance." Mary said.
"You did it for everyone, because that's who you are. Leaders, heroes, princes, and princesses, and that's great a-and amazing, and wonderful. But it doesn't change the fact that, for my entire life, I've been alone."
"But, if we hadn't sent you away, you would've been cursed, too."
"But we would've been together. Which curse is worse?"
They continued walking, only then realizing they were only a small distance from Gold and Merlin. "If it's any consolation, it would have been a lot worse had you not been sent away."
"What do you mean?" David asked.
"Just that I would have been married to Mary Margret, but I managed to stop the curse doing that. And had Emma stayed, she would have been Emma Mills." Gold said trying not to chuckle at the horrified looks he was getting. "Just suck on that one for a moment."
They did, and they didn't like the taste, but a moment later it was forgotten when they saw the doors to the jail, lying in the street... "Uh oh." David said before all but Gold and Merlin ran into the jail.
The Sheriff Station.
"What the hell was that thing?" Emma said recovering from attacking the wraith. Mary had managed to make a flamethrower and got it to leave.
"A wraith. A soul sucker."
"Did I…"
"Kill it? No, it's regenerating. It'll be back. It doesn't stop until it devours its prey – me."
"So, how do we kill it?"
"There's no way. You can't kill something that's already dead."
"Then, we have a problem."
"No, we don't. Regina does."
"What?"
"David?"
"You want to let her die?" Emma said shocked, wasn't he a good guy?
"Why not? Then it goes away and then, we're safe."
"That's quite the example you're setting for your daughter, there."
"No, you don't get to judge us."
"Let me ask you something. Where do you think that thing came from?" Just as she said this Gold and Merlin came into the room. "Gold. You said you wouldn't be the one to summon the wraith."
This drew everyone's attention. "I didn't. I left the medallion in the forest, buried, so I don't know how it was summoned."
"Did you make sure no one was watching you?"
"No one could have known you were marked, no one can see in this place other than…" Gold let out a breath of realization. "Jefferson, he would know what it was and have been able to watch me."
"I'm sorry, you did what?" Emma asked.
"A little bit of leverage, a threat of an unstoppable beast going after Regina should she try anything, and the knowledge that if fate wanted to, any one in town could find the medallion used to summon the wraith and go after her." He then looked at his former student. "I just expected it to take fate longer to bite you in the butt, maybe 30 years."
"Oh shut up, you lock up one girl and suddenly you want to kill me."
"You also tortured her, so yes I want to kill you."
"But I made a promise to Henry. She's not dying. And you won't kill her or let her die either because you love Henry to much to do that to him."
"If it can't be killed, what do you suggest?"
"Send it somewhere it can't hurt anyone."
Town hall.
"Did Henry really ask you to protect me?"
"Yes."
"Took some convincing, but I got it." Gold said coming into the room holding up the hatbox.
"How did you get that in the first place?"
"Chess owes me, a lot. She got if from you and from Jeff with no trouble at all, and she still owes me." Gold said smirking.
Mary Margaret and David enter with brooms. "Torches – for when it comes back. I know it's old fashioned, but so am I."
"So. How does it work?"
They bring the hat and torches to another room, this one much wider and with a small wood gate, perfect for defending. "It will open a portal to our land. All we have to do is send the wraith in there."
"Oh, yeah. Just that."
"I don't understand. I thought our land was mostly gone, what if it goes after the people that might still be there, and they already have enough ogre problems!"
"It is. But, sending it to a place that the curse came from will mean the portal will have to fight through a bark barrier between the worlds, it's what made it so the curse would come here, by blocking off access to other worlds. So even if a portal opens, it might not make it all the way through, and that… Well, that's banishing it to oblivion."
The lights begin to flicker as they hear the wraith approaching. They light their torches. Mary, Gold, and David standing in between the doors and the gate, with Emma and Regina behind the gate.
"Regina."
Regina attempts to open a portal with the hat, but it only slightly spins. "I'm trying."
The doors to the room burst open. And the wraith enters.
"Regina!"
"I know."
David uses his broom torch to keep the wraith at bay. Mary Margaret grabs a bottle of alcohol off of a nearby table and pours it along the railing in front of them. Gold is busy trying to keep it back with magic, but Mary could see he was not at full strength.
"David! Gold!"
They get behind the barrier and light the railing on fire.
"Hurry!"
"It's not working!" Regina yells.
"Gold, can you help?"
Gold turns to look at her. "I can fight or I can open the portal, not both."
"Then open it." Emma says.
"Now would be the time!" David says.
Gold turns and flicks his wrist, causing the hat to start swirling.
"It's coming!" David says just as the wraith shoves him and Gold to opposite sides of the room and charges towards Regina and the hat.
"Regina!" Emma pushes Regina out of the way, causing the wraith to fall through the portal.
But, on the way down, it grabs Emma's ankle and drags her through the portal as well.
"No!" David yells.
"No!" Merry yells.
"Emma!" Gold yells.
"I'm not losing her again." Mary Margaret jumps into the portal to follow Emma.
"Neither am I!" David jumps towards the portal, but the portal closes before he can get through it. He ends up landing on the floor, crushing the hat as Regina and Gold look on.
David just lies there for a moment, not moving. Gold was almost worried that his father-in-law might have died from a combination of shock and stupidity, coupled with complications from the fall. And he is not used to thinking of Prince charming as his father-in-law. But eventually David managed to stand up, looking down at the very flashy hat. "Where are they?!"
"I have no idea." Regina replied.
Gold wasn't really of paying attention to either of them at the moment; he was just slowly crawling towards where the hat lay. "Emma." He said in a weak voice.
But of course neither of the two bickering children noticed him. "Are they dead?" David asked.
"The curse – it blocked off all the lands."
"Are they dead?!"
"Emma." Gold said again, this time seeming a little more aware of himself.
"I don't know."
"I should've killed you myself."
"Well, then. What's stopping you?"
David decided that moment to lunge at Regina and begin choking her. Gold looked over at them, and then over at the door that he heard open. Henry, Ruby, Merlin, Michelle, and Jefferson walked into the room.
Henry was too stunned to yell for them to stop. So Gold simply stood up, walked over to where they were and pulled David off of Regina. He then slaps David, then turning around and slaps Regina. "Act your age." He said with complete control over his emotions, acting as if nothing of any consequence just happened.
"My daughter! My wife! Your wife! They just fell through a portal to who knows where. How on earth are you so calm?" David asked accusingly.
"I just took 10 seconds to be completely emotional; once I get Emma back I shall devote an entire day or two to having a nervous breakdown because of her loss, and then a week or so to celebrate her return. Until that time, unless you think attempting to choke Regina to death while being emotional will solve anything, please tell me now. Otherwise I have work to do, and not a lot of time to do it."
Gold then looked over at Henry. "Henry. Your mother and grandmother fell through a portal to the enchanted forest. You will be staying at my house for the foreseeable future." He then looked over at Merlin. "I'm going to need your help generating a large amount of magic. See you at the gnome pasture tomorrow at 10." And then he turned to Michelle. "You will be there as well. Take this and see if you can find out if they really did make it to the enchanted forest or they ended up somewhere else. You have until exactly 8:15 PM tomorrow to figure where they were they went." And finally he turned to David and Regina. "Go home, get your rest. I've the feeling tomorrow that the entire town is going to be needing the Sheriff's help, and then till Emma returns that is Dove's job. It will also need a recognized leader, and I'm afraid David, that you are the only worthy candidate at the moment. And Regina, try anything extremely foolish, and well, I might decide to let out some of my more negative emotions on your hide."
The Enchanted Forest.
Mulan and Aurora have placed Phillips body on the same place where Aurora had slept only a day ago. "This palace was to be our home. You have to spend eternity here." The young Princess said.
"How did you end up here in your cursed state?" Mulan asked.
"You're not the only one who knows about sacrifice."
Mulan smiled in understanding, and took out the race medallion. "You should have it."
"Thank you." Aurora said giving Philip one last hug.
"We should leave this place. It's not safe here."
"But the wraith is gone."
"There's more. You need to know everything. Much has changed in our land since you've been asleep."
"It was less than a year."
"In a manner of speaking, you see, as you slept, and Phillip and I searched for you, something worse happened."
"What?"
"Are you familiar with Regina, the Queen?"
"Yes."
"She cast a curse on this land, a terrible, terrible curse that ripped everyone away to another world."
"But, we're still here."
"This corner of the land was untouched. No one knows why, but something saved us, and, for twenty-eight years, we were frozen. Then… time started again. The terrible curse's power was weakened. Phillip and I were able to resume our search. We found you, but the land is ravished with dangers more fearsome than you can imagine. For those of us who remain, we found a safe haven. We must go there now." Aurora nodded and began to turn and leave, but then they heard something moving in the wreckage. "Something's in there."
"Stay back." Mulan said drawing her sword.
"What did it bring?" Aurora asks as Mulan peers into whole inside the rubble. "What is it? What do you see?"
Mulan quickly pulled back some of the rubble. "Mulan what is that?"
"That… That is what brought the wraith here. That's what killed our prince."
"Then what, what should we do with them?" Aurora asked.
"Bring the horses and tie them to the saddles. We can bring them back to the camp as prisoners." Mulan said going down to pick up Mary Margaret.
But as Mulan pulled her up, Mary Margaret began to wake up. "Wha… What's going on?"
"Silence." Mulan said sternly. She then not very gently dropped Mary Margaret on the ground. Well, she didn't really drop her; she let Mary's feet touch the floor a second before letting go of the rest of her body.
But then when Mulan turned around to grab Emma, Emma's eyes opened and then she disappeared in a puff of white smoke.
Mulan instantly drew her sword and turned around, seeing Emma standing over Phillips body. "Emma?" Mary asked. But as she looked at her daughter she could see her eyes were slightly glowing, along with the diamond in her ring.
"Mulan I have the... What is she doing!?" Aurora yelled seeing Emma standing over her beloved.
This grabbed Emma's attention as she looked up at the young Princess. And seeing the medallion still in Aurora's hand, put her left hand out in front of her, palm facing up, and the medallion appeared in Emma's hand. "Give that back!" Aurora yelled. But she was too frightened to actually approach Emma.
Mulan on the other hand, her sword drawn, was more than happy to charge towards Emma. But when a white being started going from the medallion down into Phillip, she stopped out of shock. "Stop that! What are you doing to him?" Mulan said once again charging forward.
But by the time Mulan got within about five feet of Emma, the white light stopped and Phillip gasped. "Philip?" Mulan said in shock.
"Philip!" Aurora said happily.
The young prince must've thought now was a very good time to roll off of his, altar, bed, whatever it was.
Mulan dropped her sword and ran over to help him get his bearings. And all four of the group looked over at Emma.
Who at this moment thought it was a good idea to collapse, her eyes no longer glowing or her ring.
"EMMA!" Mary said running over to help her daughter. Having no idea what just happened.
Thank you to all of my fabulous reviewers. To PumpkinKitten, your maturity is astounding my dear. Guest, why on earth would I skip season two, I said I would skip a season or two, but season two actually happens to have some good moments in it. Power214063, in case you didn't notice, I'm having Jefferson fall in love with a certain portal making feline, did no one pay attention to that lovely little filler chapter I did, with all the useful back story.
To my other Guest, you liked Blue getting punched in the face did you, how much did you enjoy this chapter? After hearing about what happened on the premier, because I couldn't bear to watch it worrying that it might break my little heart, and finding out that the fairies are not actually dead, I felt as if I must appropriately and maturely let out some of my negative emotions had been slowly building over the last couple of episodes.
Thank you as always lozzy035.
And JamieOUAT, all I can say is, why do you think I have no intention of skipping season two. That is one of the moments I live for as a GoldenSwan writer, excuse me a certain sense of undiluted glee. I was actually one of the people begging Ravenclaw992 to make it so that there would be a family connection when she did her GoldenSwan story. And like her, I do not intend to disappoint at such a wonderful moment.
And thank you of course to SkyewardMusicLover.
As for Twyla Mercedes about the whole Jefferson thing, see previous answer.
*Checks back to previous chapter.*Didn't I already tell all you people that I already had plans for Belle that were 99% set in stone. *Checks again.* Yep I did.
Be it now proclaimed throughout all the lands, I do in fact have a plan for Belle, let there be no more talk about MadBeauty, or ScarletBeauty, and don't even think about trying to suggest a RedBeauty.
And thank you of course to my wonderful beta Grace5231973, and please everyone give her a round of applause for actually proofing this 10,000, almost 11,000 words if you don't count the author note, monstrosity.
Really I have no idea where this came from, I was gonna cut off by about 6000 words and posted on Sunday in honor of the new episode, but I just wanted to finish the whole episode so badly. And I thought where I decided to end it was pretty darn genius.
And last but not least, I noticed nobody mentioned the rather obvious quotes from one of my absolute favorite shows in the last chapter. Anybody want to the wild guess to what it was. (No, it was not a Once upon a Time quote, that would be kind of redundant.)
*Notices tomatoes being passed out in the audience.*
Wait, wait! Once upon a Time is one of my favorite shows; this is a show on NBC that is a favorite. And if that wasn't a big clue I do not know what is.
And speaking of ABC/Disney shows, did anybody notice the Easter egg from a very old yet beloved Toon Disney/ Jetix show. I'll give you a clue for this one too, it had all female leads, and was a cartoon.