Chapter 60

Coraline stood in front of a portrait in the hallway just outside the throne room. She wanted to smile at it, but she found that she couldn't. At least, not fully. She wasn't in it. Remy was in her place and the youngster's dark hair and green eyes shone brightly through the art work. She could admire the artist's work, but she still felt hollow inside.

"It's a beautiful portrait, don't you think?" Will asked her as she neared Coraline.

"It is," she said, clipped.

"Do I know you?" Will asked her.

"No, I've been away for a long time. I've never met you. I would have remembered," Coraline told her with a cocking of her eyebrow, before she continued. "I've been in other realms for the most part. I ran away young and learned to survive on my own."

"Oh, and you've just come back here?"

"Yes, I tired of the last realm I was in. There was too much…pain and suffering. I decided to come home to see what I could do, but alas, I didn't judge the passage of time correctly it seems," Coraline explained to her.

Will cocked her head and watched her. She knew that there was something about her that Will couldn't place, but she was drawn to her. She turned back to the portrait and then back at Coraline. She could see some resemblance but a lot of the people in the Enchanted Forest were related. Hell, she was related to Red. They were cousins. Maybe, Coraline was related somehow, too. She'd ask Belle to look into it later. She knew that Belle would be able to find out who Coraline really was, being that she was the realms historian and genealogist.

"How old is this portrait? Can I ask that? I don't want to upset anyone by asking too many questions. Is that okay?" Coraline asked breaking the silence between.

"It's fine. I believe that they had it painted not long after Remy was born. Emma was a little upset that Snow and Charming didn't make the first sitting, but the all managed to sit with the Court Artist per Regina's request. This is only portrait that Regina ever had commissioned."

"Ever?"

"Yes, she something about needing to remember the good times and those they loved."

"I see she added her father," Coraline stated.

"You've met Prince Henry?"

"Once upon a time…"

Emma and Charming were in one room together. He watched as his daughter paced. He couldn't tell if was because she was nervous about marrying Regina or if she was worried about Coraline. He figured that it was a mixture of both. He gave her a grin and let her continue to pace. He didn't see the need to stop her. She needed to burn off this nervous energy before they had the hand fasting ceremony.

"How can you be some calm right now?" Emma asked him.

"Because I am not the one getting married," Charming replied.

Emma stopped pacing and looked at her father. She had to grin at what he was saying. He was right. He didn't need to be nervous. He wasn't the one getting married. She was.

"Thank you for standing with me," Emma told him.

"It is my honor, Emma. You are my daughter and since Henry is giving you both away, it is the least that I can do. Are you really that nervous?"

"About marrying her?"

"Yeah," he stated.

"No, I am not. I am not nervous about marrying her. I am nervous about everything going smoothly. I don't want to mess this up. I want this to be perfect for her. I want it to be memorable enough that Coraline won't ever wonder how much we love her or each other."

"I am sure that everything will be fine, Emma. She loves you. Coraline loves you. You are just cementing your love in the most magical way possible. Everything will be fine. I am sure that Coraline will love it," Charming told her.

"But, will it be enough?"

"Enough for what?" Charming questioned.

His blue eyes now looked worried. Why was she wondering if her hand fasting to Regina would be enough? What was Emma actually planning by doing this?

"Is there something that you aren't telling me?"

"No, I just want this to be everything that Regina wants."

"Doesn't she want that for you?"

"She does, but still…"

"Emma…"

"What?"

"What are you planning?" Charming asked her.

"I am not planning anything, Dad. This is just going to be our hand fasting. It will bond us magically through our True Love. I am not planning anything."

"Then what are you hoping for?"

"What do you mean?" Emma inquired, wondering why he was pushing so hard about it.

"I know that look. Your mother has the same look. What is it about the hand fasting that you aren't telling anyone? What do you hope to accomplish by doing it in Coraline's room besides being magically connected to Regina? Hmm?" Charming probed.

"I am hoping that the linking of our magic and the True Love bond that it makes will create some sort of positive energy in which we can direct to Coraline."

"You're hoping to destroy the Darkness with an act of Love?"

"Yes…" Emma barely whispered loud enough for him to hear.

His eyes went wide. He knew that she loved Regina, but he also knew that she had the stubbornness of her mother. He merely shook his head. The marriage wasn't going to be a farce, but she was doing it for the wrong reasons. He wondered if Regina knew about this.

"Does Regina know?"

"Know what?" Emma asked him.

She pulled her head up and stared into his questioning eyes. She wasn't sure what he wanted to hear, but she wasn't sure that he wanted know the truth to that question either. She sighed. She didn't even tell Blue what she thought about the act of hand fasting doing for Coraline. It was a long shot, but one that she was willing to take. She wanted to marry Regina and really that was all that mattered. She would be extra happy if in marrying Regina it somehow helped Coraline.

"The real reason behind this hand fasting?" Charming probed.

"That I love her? Yes, she knows that. We've proven that to each other time and time again."

"No, the fact that you are hoping that this will somehow magically help Coraline."

"It is a theory, Dad and not something that I expect to happen. It is a long shot. I am not sure that anything will happen except us becoming magically linked and connected on a more basic level. If by some miracle something happens during our hand fasting, then so be it. Is that what you want me to say?" Emma asked him.

"No, but I guess that is the only answer that you are going to give me, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to check on your mother and Regina," he told her as he walked to the door.

"Dad," Emma stated stopping him in the doorway.

"Yes?

"I do love her."

"Oh, Emma, of that, I have no doubt."

She just shook her head at him. She knew that he wouldn't betray her trust to Regina. He might to Snow, but she doubted it at this point. He was just worried that she was doing this for the wrong reasons and she could understand his concern. She was his baby girl and she was getting married. He wanted to make sure that she was doing this because she wanted to and because she loved Regina. She knew that he was worried about Coraline, too. She just hoped that he understood that she wasn't doing the hand fasting for the sole purpose of helping Coraline.

She stood up and walked over the door. She closed it and then sat back down in the hand-carved wooden chair that she had been sitting in earlier. She bent over until her elbows were on her knees, her hands around her face and then she silently prayed.

Internally she was laughing at herself. She had never been one for higher powers due to the hardships that she had faced as a child. How could she? God had never given her parents. All He had seemingly done for her was take things away. She mused that if she was a God fearing woman that he was only giving her what she could handle and it made her stronger, but she wasn't a God fearing woman. She was a realist...that just happened to believe in magic.

She had to laugh at herself about that, too. She knew that magic didn't exist outside of Storybrooke and other magical realms, but she had it and she could use it. She had proof. It didn't matter that if she and Regina ever set foot outside the town limits that she wouldn't be "whole" anymore. She was a magical being, the product of True Love, the Saviour, mother to the Truest Believer, and mother to the newest Dark One.

She sighed. Life had never been easy and now it seemed that her pain was being transferred to her daughter. Coraline was taking the brunt of unhappiness that should have been dealt to her family in equal measure and running with it. Coraline owned it and she didn't apologize for it. She was definitely Emma's daughter. She smirked and sighed. Her love for Regina wasn't enough to save their daughter in the future. Regina's love for her wasn't either. She wondered if it would be enough now, while it was still in its infancy and while it's most potent.

She didn't have the answers. She was still in the infant stages of her magic. Hell, her own daughter knew more about magic than she did and she knew that she had no one to blame for that but herself. She would work on that. She would restart lessons with Regina. It wasn't going to be a want anymore. It was a necessity. She needed to be able to defend her family. She needed to fully embrace a magical life as well as royal warrior too.

"If there is anyone out there listening, please help us. I can't do this alone. There is no way that I can. I need help. I know that I have the support of my family and my children. I have the love of my life and soon she will be my wife, but I wonder if that is enough. Am I enough for them? I am supposed to be the great and wonderful Saviour and I can't even save my own daughter from the Curse of Dark One.

"Magic is supposed to help, but it is the reason that we are in this mess. Magic corrupted a man and made him do things that I would never dream of doing. In doing that, he cursed my family on more than one occasion. How am I supposed to fight that? How am I supposed to counteract that? How am I supposed to know what to do? I haven't been trained in the full ways of magic.

"I need some help, but I don't know where to go. I don't know who to ask. I can't do this on my own. I can't. I just can't…." Emma said aloud and fell off the chair.

Snow stood in the door way in awe. She'd never seen Emma so struck or so…she didn't even have the words for it. She knew that Regina completed her daughter in the same way that she knew that Charming completed her. This wasn't something that Snow could fix on her own and she knew that she couldn't try. She would give Emma what she needed and how she needed it. She'd figured out that the reason that Emma wanted the hand fasting in front of Coraline before they removed her heart to save Neal was in order for some of their magic to bleed over into Coraline. She of course didn't tell Regina this, but she figured that Regina understood the sentiment and the reasoning.

She couldn't blame Emma. She would have done anything that she could to protect her family. She had in the past. She pulled all the darkness that could have darkened Emma's soul out of her and put it in Maleficent's egg, into Lily. She was a mother. She would do anything for her young, including leaving or killing. Emma wouldn't kill...not unless she deemed them an immediate threat to her family, like with Cruella. Emma always sought the high road, the lighted way, and she hoped for the greater good in the outcome. She didn't walk a path of darkness. She embodied the light and used her power of love to make things happen.

But, even Love needs help sometimes. Snow's heart was breaking for her family. In what was supposed to be joyous time had become one the darkest that her family would fight and she was powerless to do anything. She felt as helpless as her daughter. But, she figured that they could find a way. They weren't quitters. They never had been. And, Snow wasn't going to let the quit on Coraline now. If Emma needed help, then damn it, she was going to find it for her.

"Then ask…" Snow told her, still in the door watching her grieving daughter.

Green eyes swept across the room in a fiery motion before landing on her mother. Emma broke. She couldn't hold it in anymore. She broke further.

Snow moved across the floor and grabbed her daughter. They held on to each other. Emma finally just cried on her mother's shoulder. It wasn't healing and mending. It was pure expulsion. It was something they both needed.

"I don't know how."

"Just ask," Snow stated again.

Emma leaned back and met her mother's hazel eyes. Snow just gave her a watery smile. She reached out a hand towards Emma and Emma took it.

"Can we do this?"

"We can do anything that we put our mind to, Emma. You should know that. We don't give up in this family no matter what. And, yes, even your father and I have done some questionable things in order to protect this family. Any true parent has. You aren't any different."

"What if it doesn't work?" Emma asked her.

"Then we keep trying and we never give up. We will find a way. We'll save Coraline even if it takes us years. We will find a way," Snow told her.

Emma smiled. There was a hope that only her mother could give her. And, Emma knew that she could cling to it and hold on to it. It gave her enough hope that she wasn't going to lose her daughter. She would find a way to get her back and keep her this time. She didn't care what age she was or what she had been through. Coraline was her daughter and she was her mother. It was the only thing that mattered. She would do anything for her.

"I'm getting married," Emma said, trying to dampen one emotion to feel another.

"I know."

"I'm marrying Regina."

"I know, darling."

"We're going to do the blood rite with it," Emma told her.

"I figured as much."

"You're familiar with it?" Emma questioned.

"It wasn't done often, but I have seen it. I was mostly done with the forest dwelling folk more than royalty. It was for more of a love matches than for royalty."

"Then, you don't object?"

"No, Emma, I don't. If you and Regina love each other, who am I to stand between you? Emma, you love her and she loves you. There is nothing else that matters. Doing the blood rite with the hand fasting will have a more contractual effect. You will both be binding yourself to each other. Now, let's go get you married and see if that act of True Love will help your daughter fight the darkness building inside her, shall we?" Snow told her.

Coraline stood in front of the portrait again. Belle and Blue were behind her, just watching. They weren't sure if they should disturb her or not. Belle had noted that Coraline had taken to wearing only blue, black and red while she was in the castle. She'd only seen her in something more subdued when they went on a hunt earlier in the week. Blue knew the reasoning behind the colors, but she still hadn't told anyone who Coraline was really. They were still under the assumption that she was a lost Vulcannonian like Will.

"Should I tell her that I know?" Belle aske Blue.

"That you know what?" Blue inquired back.

"That I know who she is really," Belle replied.

Blue looked at her. She couldn't see any deception in Belle's sapphire eyes. She was shocked, but then knowing Coraline, she shouldn't be. She should have known that Coraline had someone else to fall back on if she couldn't find Blue.

"Do I want to know how?"

Belle just smiled at her. She didn't offer an answer right away. She turned to study the portrait with Coraline. Blue just watched her as she pondered what Belle meant with her statement.

Belle had seemed different to Blue. She had become more assertive and more involved, but she just figured that it had to do with Belle and Red being together and all the time that she had been spending with Regina since before Remy's birth. But, she wondered if that was even true. Belle and Regina had become best friends. They understood each other on a level that no one else could. It almost rivaled the friendship between Snow and Regina.

"Can I ask you a question?" Belle posed lo Coraline.

Coraline turned and faced her. They locked eyes and smiled. Coraline could see it in her face. Belle remembered. She knew the truth. The magic that Coraline had performed just before she lost her heart had worked. She couldn't help the smirk that formed on her mouth.

"Sure," Coraline answered.

"Why do you stand here and stare at them all day?"

"I don't know."

Belle leaned into her, close enough to whisper. Coraline didn't know what to do with the closeness. She started to lean away when Belle started to actually speak in a hushed whisper barely loud enough for her to hear.

"You may have forgotten what you did back in that room at the cloisters with the Sisters of Storybrooke, but I didn't. I've been waiting for you. I never forgot. I didn't drink the potion."

Coraline turned and looked at Belle. The shock was evident on her face. Belle just smiled at her and nodded when she saw the question in Coraline's eyes.

"Did you forget what you told me?"

"No…never," Coraline replied.

"I haven't forgotten. I've been wondering if I would see you again. You haven't aged, but then again that doesn't surprise me too much having been married to the Dark One."

"Does anyone else know?"

"No. I haven't told them. I wouldn't betray your confidence like that. However Ruby smells that something is up, but she hasn't questioned it yet. She figures that as long as I am on your side, which I am, she should be too. Will is another story. She's been researching the histories of Vulcannon, at least what I have. She trying to catch you in the lie."

"She'll succeed."

"I doubt that. You are an obscure legend to the people of the Enchanted Forest. Even if she does find proof that you are Vulcannonian, she won't have anything to take to Regina but the stories that I have written about you," Belle told her.

"Stories…legend? What are you talking about? What did you write?"

Belle looked at Blue, surprised. She figured that the fairy queen would have given Coraline copies of the books to read so she would know. She gave her a perplexed look, but shook it off and turned back to Coraline, letting a smile cross her face.

"After your entombment, I locked myself away until it was time to give the potion to the masses. I wrote and wrote and wrote. Ruby didn't know what to do with me. Regina told her that it was my way of dealing with your loss, but they honestly had no idea. I took your journals and used make to read them. I had to borrow a little help from Henry, Emma and Regina to do it, but I did it," Belle stated.

"How? Why? What do they say?"

"I wrote about you. I embellished just an enough, but I used the story in order to make their false memories seem real. It is basically the story of a Vulcannonian sorceress, you, that came to Storybrooke to destroy the Darkness and the Dark One. But, the mission wasn't a complete success. In destroying the Darkness, she took on the pains of the Dark One and instructed herself to be entombed in the Magic Well. There the magic would help her and when she was needed again, she would come back to us. Until such a day, the well would be hidden."

"And, they bought that?"

"I hid the well with the magic you gave me. Only you would be able to break that spell. Which you did, by the way, during Wolf's Time…Ruby brought Regina to it immediately. I knew that you would be coming back. I told Ruby that I needed to see Regina and now we are here."

"She doesn't know?"

"No. But, Regina is wondering why I named our daughter bears the same name as you. She forgot the tales. To tell you the truth, everyone has. It didn't really seem to affect them that much so there wasn't the need to remember," Belle explained.

"You named your daughter after me?" Coraline asked.

"Her name is Danielle Coraline Lucas. I named her after a hero and family friend. No one else remembers what you did for us all. I've read all of your histories. They are tragic. I wish that I could have done more for you," Belle replied.

"You've done enough for me. I am sure that you read about my upbringing. I owe you so much for that. I was a brat, but you still loved me. You still took care of me. You punished me when I needed it, but you also rewarded me as well. You were a steady and constant presence in my life. Don't get me wrong, Ruby was wonderful but she was volatile. You weren't. That is why you both work well together."

"We do."

"Can I meet her?"

"Meet who, dear?"

"Danielle," Coraline stated.

"Of course, I'll send word to Ruby to bring tonight for the feast."

"Feast?"

"Yes, Regina has agreed to take you on as a knight of the realm. She'll knight you and then we'll feast. It's nothing really," Belle told her shrugging it off.

"If you say so…"

"I do have a few questions for you, though, if I may?"

"Sure."

"How old are you now?"

"Now? Wow, I don't know. By the year, I'm three and half, I believe. In actually time being alive, I am three hundred and fifty or somewhere around that," Coraline answered.

"Three hundred and fifty…we'll talk about your travels later. I have so much more I want to ask you. But, most important things first," Belle started.

"Like what?"

"Are you going to tell Regina and Emma the truth?"

"I don't know."

"You want to though, right?"

"Of course, I do. They are my mothers. But, I don't want to upset them either. I have done so much, gone through so much, and fought so hard to become what I am now. The Darkness doesn't rule me. Emma was right. Their hand fasting saved me. It just took time and me learning to love myself again for it to fully take root. Time…I had plenty of it."

"Do you want me to be with you when you tell them?"

"I don't know."

"Just let me know then. I am and will always be here for you, Coraline. All you have to do is ask," Belle told her.

"I know, Aunt Belle," Coraline told her with a big smile and the softest look on her face.

Blue watched the interaction between them. She still couldn't believe that Belle knew. She hadn't forgotten who Coraline was and she'd written Coraline's history for them all to read. Belle was truly a remarkable woman and most of the kingdoms would never know her greatness or her empathy.

"But, the potion?" Blue asked her joining their conversation.

"Thanks to the power...the magic that Coraline gave me, it wouldn't affect mc. I knew the moment that everyone forgot that I would be alone in my memories. It didn't bother me. I was okay with it because of all the time that I'd spent as a prisoner of Rumple's. I only had my memories to keep me company then as well. I knew that no one would understand. I couldn't tell anyone. They wouldn't have believed me anyway. I knew that the magic and memories were a gift from my ward, my little sister, my niece, or my daughter, whatever she might actually be to me. I was happy to have them." Belle explained.

"Why?" Blue questioned.

"Because they gave me hope that Coraline would come home one day. I held onto that and I was right. It took her five years, but she is home," Belle told her.

"What are we going to tell Regina?"

"For now, nothing. I'm still trying to feel them out. I don't want to put any added pressure on them," Coraline told them both.

"Added pressure? They are your mothers, Coraline. They deserve to know," Belle told her,

"I know that they do, Belle. Trust me, I do. But, they won't understand. Remy has taken my place, but she isn't me. We aren't the same. Something happened that day at the hand fasting. I was blasted with more than just my mothers' love. I don't know how else to explain it, but that must have had something to do with it. I just need to prove myself to her. Then she won't be able to refuse the truth later."

"I still think that you should just tell them. Do it alone. Ask for a private audience, and make sure that Will isn't there. She'll just cause doubt and worry. Seek them out alone. It is the best option." Belle said, touching Coraline on the arm and looking her in the eye.

Coraline knew from the look that Belle wasn't going to let the topic drop completely. She'd let it go for now, but she would be on Coraline to tell them the truth. She would eventually have to break down and tell them everything. She just hoped that Regina and Emma understood why.

"I'll think about that. Until then, we need just act normally. We can't let them know who I am. It might upset things and that is not what I want. I just want my family to be happy and healthy."

"They are," Belle told her.

"Then, I am happy."

"Will you tell us more about that day?" Belle asked her giving her an out in the discussion.

"About the hand fasting?" Coraline asked.

"Yes, please," Belle stated.

"If you wish, yes. I will. But, I think that this would be a discussion better had in closed quarters. Not that I believe either of you would betray me. It is just that castle walls tend to have ears in most of the common places. Shall we go to my room or yours, Belle?" she asked.

"That sounds like a plan. We still have to get you ready for the knighting. I am sure that Regina will be sending a page to find you and present you the invitation. You'll need to look your best. I know that you could do magic in the Court Hall, but I would refrain against it."

"Mom might take it the wrong way," Coraline stated more than asked.

"True. I am sure that we can come up with something for you, though. What all do you have in your little bag anyway? I've seen you pull out various things in the short time that you've been here. Don't look at me like that. Most of the things you've pulled out of that bag are too big to be in there. So, what else do you have in there?" Belle asked as they started walking through the castle and back to Coraline's guest quarters.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Coraline quipped as they walked.

Blue followed them. She hadn't left Coraline's side since they had arrived at the castle. She knew that it gave Regina and Emma the credence that they wanted in order to believe their story. She didn't want to lie to them any more than Coraline did, but she knew that Regina wouldn't have believed her if she had just come in to Court telling her that Coraline was her daughter. Regina would have laughed her out of the kingdom and called for Nova to take over the order. No, they would have to play it safe. She'd sent word yesterday after she'd talked with Will about Coraline to Tink to come as soon as she could. Now they just had to wait it out and see what would happen once they told them truth.

They entered the room and quickly shut the heavy oak door. Coraline invited Belle to join them at the small table that their quarters afforded them. Regina had given them nice guest quarters in the Winter Palace, and they weren't far from the rest of the family, but they had insisted that they share the quarters as they were both not used to so much room. Blue allowed Coraline the bed, even though she didn't use it most nights, as she slept in her fairy form in the sitting area of the rooms. No one questioned the arrangement. Besides it wasn't often that Blue decided to pay them a visit. Emma wasn't going to allow Regina to spoil it with nonsense. It also helped that Blue and Regina had come to an arrangement before the hand fasting and it was an arrangement that neither of them forgot even after the potion that Belle had given them all.

"Can I ask you a question about the potion, Belle?" Coraline asked her as she poured them some ale from the bottle that was on the table.

Belle took her glass willingly. Blue just smiled and stared at it. She held the chalice knowing that she couldn't imbibe the alcohol. Coraline and Belle might not know that, but she knew that Regina did. She knew that Coraline and Belle didn't know that, but Blue knew how to play along with the "Blue Bloods" now that she stayed large more often.

"Blue?" Belle asked.

"I'm sorry?"

"I asked if you thought we should come up with a plan in order to tell Regina and Emma the truth about Coraline or if we should worry about the magic that Coraline gave me."

"Belle…" Coraline started.

"Why would there be a problem with the magic that Coraline gave you?" Blue asked.

"There wasn't, but you just seemed to fade out for a minute. Are you alright? Is something wrong?" Belle asked her.

"No, nothing is wrong that I can tell. I sent word for Tink to come but I haven't received a jingle from Nova back yet. It isn't like them to miss a missive that I've sent. I am sure it is nothing. If I don't hear back from them by morning, I'll go get her myself," Blue told them.

"Sounds good, but are you sure that you should leave?"

"What harm would come of it? You are going to be knighted later. Regina would stand behind you no matter what after that. Plus, she has come to respect my wisdom in certain matters. She hasn't openly questioned your loyalty to her or the kingdoms. Snow and Charming are here. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't lay some sort of accolade on you as well."

"I could as well," Belle interjected.

"But, why would you do that? I have no official titles here. I am no one to them. Being knighted will be enough for me. It is bad enough that they think that am Vulcannonian when I am not. How will I explain that one away? I don't have a cloak," Coraline stated.

"Yes, you do," Belle told her.

"No, I don't."

"The resurrection cloak that you carry was Will's cloak once upon a time…"

Will stood outside the Court Hall chambers staring at the portrait tapestry that had taken over Coraline's attention the past few days. She studied it…every inch, but she couldn't find anything that would draw a Vulcannonians attention to it the way it did for Coraline. She was also disturbed to hear that Coraline had met Regina's father, the deceased Prince Henry of Rivera. But, there was more to it.

There was just something about Coraline that drew her in. She'd never felt like this before. It troubled her so much that she'd gone to the library that Belle had helped Regina acquire and read up on everything she could find on Vulcannon. She knew that there were other royal house, much less statured royal houses, but Coraline carried herself with an air of high born. She admitted to the all as much, but Wilhelmina was having a hard time placing her into any of the royal families that she knew. She never heard of the House of Gallia, but Belle had records of them dating back to before the Ogre Wars.

It seemed that the Gallia Family was newer royalty and mixed with the royal houses of the realm. She didn't know any of the royal houses of the Enchanted Forest outside of those of Snow, Charming and Regina. Of course, Will knew that Belle was royalty in her own right which is why Regina gave her Rumple's lands and let her form what became known as the Dark Kingdom or the Loupin Woods. She had followed the trails back of Gallia Family to a human named Beau of Gallia. The only problem was that Gallia no longer existed on any map that she could find.

"Gah…..why can't I stop thinking about her?" Will asked herself.

She saw Belle, Blue and Coraline coming to view the portrait just moments before Coraline would be knighted. She moved into the shadows and hid. She knew that it was wrong but she wondered what the three of them were doing together. There was something that they were all hiding. She just didn't understand why.

"Blue, can't you convince her to tell Regina?" Belle asked her.

"If you can't convince her, Belle, what makes you think that I can?"

"You are her Fairy Godmother after all," Belle stated.

"I am one of them. And, trust me when I say that neither, Tink nor I could convince her to tell Regina the truth. She is stubborn just like her mother and she is loyal to a fault as well."

"She is truly her mothers' daughter, then," Belle replied, but Will didn't get the double meaning.

"Would you be quiet…please," Coraline told them.

"What's wrong?" Belle asked her, recognizing the face that she was giving them.

"Riders are coming. Fast. Two mounted knights from the Ulfland outpost. One of them is injured and the other has no…." Coraline told them.

"Has no what?" Blue asked.

"He cut out the poor lad's tongue," Coraline said looking up into their horrified eyes.

"That's two days ride from here. Should I send Ruby to sniff it out? Or, should we wait to hear what they have to say?" Belle asked her.

Now, that struck Will as odd. Why would Belle turn to Coraline for advice on a military action before discussing it with Regina? And, why would she offer up Ruby that quickly without some sort of knowledge as to who this Coraline Gallia was? What weren't they telling everyone?

A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting. My muse decided to take a vacation for the Holidays just like I did. She just up and left, so not much of anything got done. I did however get caught up on my sleep. I am sure that this isn't the chapter that you were looking for, but I promise the Hand Fasting is coming soon and think that when I finally get it written that it where I will leave this tell. I might however be persuaded to continue the tale in a possible sequel that deals with all the background of Coraline's trials becoming the Dark One and into the her "modified" future...I might call it "The Dark One Effect." Just a thought, but let me know what you think. I always love to hear your thoughts, theories and review. Thanks for reading. ~Jet