A/N: Hello and welcome to the first chapter with multiple PoVs! I figure this type of chapter will come at various times within or at the end of an arc to sort of tidy things up. At the end of last chapter I mentioned we would be having more characters than the three below, but Henry's section ended up including material that had originally been divided among four characters. At this point he knows just enough, and doesn't know just enough to make the interactions interesting. At least I hope so. Anyway, onto the show!
(Edited and updated as of 11/4/2014)
A Gambit in Trust
Interlude I
David I
David leaned against his desk, arms crossed, as he watched Blue and two of her fairies work their dust-driven magic. Pure exhaustion hovered at the end of his conscious notice, but it still took nearly all of his willpower to stand around in inactivity as they secured Storybrooke's newest prisoner. The human-sized giant let out a whimpering moan from where he lay on the cell's bed, his injured leg propped up on spare books David had found.
The deputy knew he should feel pity for the man – if nothing else but for whatever trauma Prince James had brought into his life - but at that moment his annoyance at not being by his daughter's side won out.
"He secure?" He asked the fairy nearest him. Nova, he believed her name was, gave him a shy smile, head slightly bowed so she did not quite meet his eyes.
"Just about." There was a chipperness to her that David tried not to let irritate him. Nova had come through in the clutch and saved them all a world of trouble by gathering the fairies and coming up with the anti-magic bubble plan.
She deserved what remained of his patience.
"Once Mother Superior finishes the enchantment, no magic will be able to be used anywhere near the cell."
The woman in question stood a foot from Anton's cell, blue wand carving characters into thin air in a runic language that David did not recognize. If he strained himself, he could hear her speaking her peoples' native tongue beneath her breath.
"How long do you think?" He took his weight off his desk and stretched his stiff joints and aching muscles with several satisfying pops.
"I can't really say. This sort of thing is kind of beyond me right now." She gave him an apologetic smile. "But I think we'll be fine here if you want to get to the hospital…" David sighed. Blue had made the same offer before she'd started the spell.
He repeated his answer despite wanting to sprint over to Storybrooke General. "Someone with a badge has to stick around." With Ruby cataloguing the damage and Emma down for the count, David won the dubious honor of securing the prisoner. He was grateful Emma had taken on Ruby that morning, not wanting to think of how overwhelming the day would have been, otherwise.
"Such a sense of duty, perhaps Albert was wrong about you." At the mention of the fugitive distract attorney's name, David braced himself for a fight while turning around. Two men stood just inside the station proper, one stone-faced and the other with a cocksure grin.
"Mitchell. Adrian." He greeted the two in the clipped tone he developed a liking for when dealing with unreasonable nobles back in the Enchanted Forest. Neither of the men had been on the receiving end before, and missed the unspoken warning.
"Midas, if you please, Sheriff." Adrian returned the greeting with a bemused smile. "Or should I say Deputy? It's difficult to keep track of who's holding onto official positions nowadays."
David ignored the jibe. "What do you need?" The former king hummed, glanced at his companion, and waved the man forward.
Though both middle-aged, the men stood in stark contrast to one another. Midas was of average height, maintained a comfortable portly girth, and wore his hair down to his shoulders to complement a generous beard. And where Midas exuded warmth – false as it may have been – Mitchell Herman was chipped from ice. Curly hair cropped short, clean shaven, and standing of a height with David, the man embodied 'no-nonsense.'
They were as different in Storybrooke as they had been in the Enchanted Forest.
"Ever since the curse was broken, it has become more and more evident to us that things cannot remain as they are." Mitchell placed his palms flat on David's desk and looked him dead in the eye. "This latest event only confirms how woefully ill-prepared this town is to house the peoples of the Enchanted Forest."
David crossed his arms, shifting his tone from irritated prince to annoyed officer. "It's an isolated incident that's already been taken care of." He cocked his head behind him at the imprisoned giant and the fairies working their magic. Nova, who had shrunk closer to Blue since the two men entered, perked up at his words with a soft smile, but said nothing.
"Not before the beast rampaged through town," Midas countered, a frown having replaced his jovial expression. "So much property damage," he said with a slow shake of his head.
"In addition to those injured in the fighting." David's teeth gritted together at Mitchell's words.
"I don't need to be reminded that people got hurt defending this town. My daughter is one of them."
Mitchell matched David's aggression. "And my son was working in the cannery today. Right by the docks." The man did not yell, but his voice came out with the strained heat of repressed anger. The lines in his forehead deepened as he grimaced. "Right by where the giant attacked. One wrong step and the building could have collapsed right on top of him." David felt some anger leaving him as sympathy churned in his gut.
"There is quite a bit of concern among certain factions." Midas picked up in the silence Mitchell's rant left in its wake. "A witch on the loose, a pirate along with her." David schooled his features to hide his surprise. How did they know about Cora and Hook?
"And you have the gods damned Evil Queen running around town like the Sheriff's personal attack dog." Mitchell sneered, standing back up to his full height. David's empathy toward the man evaporated. "And nothing but silence from any official channels."
"People are worried, and the silence from town leadership is not helping things." Midas spoke.
David resisted the urge to lash out at the men. He tried to drum up the dregs of his patience. He took a slow breath, choosing his words with care. "I appreciate your concern, gentlemen." Their jawlines tightened as they recognized the words as a dismissal. "But I think you'd have better luck with your concerns at Town Hall than here." He waved his hand out toward the hallway.
Neither man moved.
"And what would that accomplish?" Mitchell asked, disdain staining his words. "There is nobody in power there."
"The council—"
Midas interrupted, pouncing on the word. "Is five people who've never had to make a decision in twenty-nine years. They were Regina's yes-men, and they've been running in circles ever since she was rightly removed from power."
Mitchell took up the cause. "And every major decision that has impacted the entire town has come down to just your family's choice since then, Deputy. Convenient."
David rubbed his temples. "You're clearly going somewhere with this. Please just say it so we can deal with it."
"We're all stuck in this backwater town with no way to get back to the Enchanted Forest." Mitchell grimaced. "And the status quo cannot remain as it is."
"Change is coming, Prince David," Midas said with a shrug. "Whether you want it to or not. Folks are going to be looking for leadership, and, well, there are many in Storybrooke who were not part of your kingdom."
"And don't want to have any part in your petty wars spilling out into this new land." Mitchell finished while tightening his fingers into white-knuckled fists. David held his tongue. Impatience, annoyance, and a touch of anxiousness all bubbled beneath the surface, and he did not have the convenience of time to process them right then. Mitchell grinned at his silence, cold and sharp.
"Does that worry you, Deputy?"
Midas grasped his compatriot by the shoulder. "This is just us presenting our concerns, David," he said with his false smile. "We'll leave you to your…work." Midas bowed his head a fraction of an inch and turned to take his leave. Mitchell lingered a few moments longer, sizing David up and down, but he too left when David did not flinch under the gaze.
Once they were out of sight, he ran a hand over his face and sighed in weary frustration. He would need to warn Snow. They could come up with a plan to deal with something else piling up on their plate. He reminded himself that as long as he and Snow had each other, they could face down any threat and come out on top.
Especially to protect their family.
An azure light behind him, accompanied by a dull crack-snap, stole his attention. He turned, finding Nova fretting over Blue and her companion who were supporting each other's weight to stay upright. The head fairy swept sweaty hair out of her eyes but wore a light smile.
"It's done." She took one look at his face and her expression fell. "What did I miss?" David sighed. Where to begin?
"Blue?" Nova spoke with a quiver of concern in her tone. David followed the pink fairy's gaze toward their prisoner, where a dull green glow pulsed above his heart.
"That's unusual," Blue said, frowning. "It's only supposed to glow green in the presence of benign magic." To emphasize her point, she stuck her wand through the bars and it was enveloped in the same green light as quick as if she had flipped a switch.
"Did you not search him?" The third fairy David did not know the name of asked with a hint of snide incredulity.
"Of course I did," David said, grabbing the cell's keys and moving between the fairies. "But it's possible something was missed." He pulled open the cell and approached Anton at a hesitant pace. The giant did not stir from his slumber.
Confident the sedatives would continue to hold, David peeled back the fabric of Anton's robe to find the glow emanating from a solid patch of fabric indistinguishable from the rest. Something solid indented the robe as he prodded the spot.
"Whatever it is, it's sewn in directly to the shirt," he reported to the watching trio. With cautious precision, David pulled his pocket knife and slid a small incision along the edge of the glow. He opened it up until he was able to pull a tiny container from within the stuffed cloth.
He held the jar up to eye level and blanched when he recognized the translucent bean held within.
"It's nothing," he said, stuffing the magic bean into his pocket and schooling his features.
"Some personal trinket." His mind whirled at the possibilities and he knew he had to speak with Snow as soon as possible.
Henry I
Henry trailed behind his mother and grandmother, looking between the two with a frown on his face. All of the last half hour after the fairies had captured an actual giant – which was awesome – had been so weird. From waiting for an ambulance to take Emma to the hospital, to riding in silence in the truck they'd borrowed from Leroy, and now trailing behind a sour faced man in scrubs, neither his mom nor his grandmother had said one bad thing to each other.
Henry knew their history well, having read that section of his book the most, and they were not acting like he expected. The few times they did speak, they were almost polite to each other.
It worried Henry almost as much as Emma's being hurt.
The nurse stopped in front of a small room. "Doctor Whale will update you as soon as he can," he said, waving them inside with a grumpy expression. Both his mother and grandmother glared at the man, whose eyes widened and he left, his steps quick.
The waiting room did not have much in it. Stiff looking plastic seats lined the walls, looking as uninviting as chairs could. A dusty, magazine-covered table sat in the middle of the floor, and an old box TV hung on the wall, but the picture showed only snow. Henry sighed, knowing he would have nothing to distract him from his worry.
Both women entered the room before him, heading for seats on opposite walls. Henry furrowed his brows as he looked between the pair of former queens, trying to figure out where he was supposed to sit. His gram smiled at him, patting the seat next to her. He glanced toward his mom, whose lips formed into a tight smile. She gave a small nod, and her eyes drifted first to her rival, then toward the static on the TV.
Henry frowned. His mother held herself the way she always did when she was upset and trying to hide it. Decision made, he walked over and plopped down into the seat next to the woman who had once been known as the Evil Queen.
But not anymore, Henry thought with a smile. He did not know the details of what exactly happened earlier in the day, but he knew his mother had helped his grandparents and Emma and the fairies stop the bad guy.
It meant she was trying, and that was enough.
The surprised smile that lit up the women's features boosted Henry's confidence, and the arm that drifted over his shoulders offered a sense of comfort he had not looked for in almost a year. He snuggled into the embrace, the familiar smell of apples and cinnamon and the warmth her one-armed hug offered eased Henry's worries.
His gram's smile had gone, but she did not look angry. Instead she seemed sad, her eyes glassing over the way Emma's did whenever she was bored. He could not figure out what she was thinking, and the ex-bandit did not speak.
They waited in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts, and then waited some more. Henry grew restless and anxious, but stayed put under his mother's steady grip. When Doctor Whale pushed his way into the room, though, all three of them sprang up in a flash.
Whale seemed exhausted with dark circles under his red-rimmed and bloodshot eyes. He looked to each of them in turn before focusing on his gram and speaking.
"Considering she faced down a giant, I can say that she was extremely lucky." He talked with a tone of aggravation that annoyed Henry. "Several cracked ribs, massive bruising, a severely dislocated shoulder, numerous lacerations, and nearly every muscle in her back and shoulders is strained, torn, or otherwise beaten up." Henry's eyes widened with each additional injury listed, mouth going dry and heart beating faster. It sounded like Emma had gotten really hurt. "All on top of a mild concussion." His mother muttered something under her breath that Henry couldn't quite make out.
"Gods…" His gram said, hand covering her mouth, skin paler than normal.
Whale nodded. "She'll survive." He sighed, shaking his head. "But it'll be awhile before she's healed up enough to survive another bout with idiocy." The doctor did not flinch away from the annoyed glare he received from both women.
"Can we see her?" His gram's voice changed to match her annoyance.
Whale ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. She's awake." He paused for a moment, considering. "And complaining." He shook his head again, eyes focusing. "Only two at a time, though. Policy."
With that, Doctor Whale gave them a halfhearted wave and stalked back out into the hall. An awkward quiet fell on them after he left and none of them moved. The moment passed when his mother rested hands on both of Henry's shoulders.
"Go on," she said, a small smile on her face that didn't quite make it to her eyes. Henry frowned. He recognized it as one of the smiles she used to use when the town was still cursed.
Before he could think on that, his gram reached back for his hand. "Come on, Henry." His mother nodded the tiniest fraction and Henry followed after his grandmother, choosing to not take the woman's hand.
He was almost twelve, after all.
He spared a look back over his shoulder before the room fell out of site. His mother had sat back down, head resting back against the wall with her eyes closed. The guarded expression he was used to was firmly set in place. He frowned, but put it out of his mind as they arrived at the curtained off section of the room that held Emma's bed within.
His other mother lay back on the angled mattress, glaring at the air in front of her. Her left arm rested in a sling, her opposite hand wrapped in enough bandages so she would not be able to make a fist. Compression bandages lined both her legs and arms, covering most of them. What little skin Henry spotted was mottled purple, green, and yellow.
"Emma?" His grandmother's voice was kind and he imagined she would be smiling, but he could not take his eyes off the injured woman in front of him. Something unpleasant twisted in his stomach.
The sheriff flinched, startled, and grimaced in pain, eyes blinking back to focus. She turned her head to face them, eyes landing on Henry, and her entire demeanor changed. A bright smile bloomed on her face and her eyes lit up. Henry found himself returning the gesture, immediately feeling better.
"Hey, Kid." She sat up with a grunt of effort, cradling her slung arm closer to her chest. "Enjoy the show?"
"Yeah!" He said, bouncing on his toes. "I never thought the fairies' magic would look so cool. That was all fairy dust, right?"
Emma nodded. "Yeah. You should have seen Nova's earlier. It did this thing where the dust turned pink, surrounded Hook's pirate ship, and popped like a giant bubble. It was kind of ridiculous." She let out a soft laugh.
"I wonder if it changes for every fairy that uses it." He mused, trying to imagine what each color would look like.
"Dunno, but we could probably get them to put on one hell of a light show if it does." She smiled. "I wonder if any of the nuns can play heavy metal."
Henry laughed at the mental image. "I don't think the Blue Fairy would let them."
Emma sighed and leaned back into her raised mattress. "Probably not." A thought struck Henry.
"How do fairies get their color, anyway?" Emma blinked, considering for a moment before shrugging.
"They're born with it." His gram stepped up to Emma's bed, hands resting on the plastic footrest at the end. "Their magical flowers bloom to bring the fairies to life, and whatever color that flower was, well…" She trailed off, eyes looking at each of Emma's injuries. "How are you feeling, Emma?"
"Like an idiot," she said, waving off her mother's concerns. She blinked, looking like she had just remembered something important. "Where's Regina? Is someone with her?" Emma pulled herself to the edge of the bed, swinging her legs over the side with a grunt and grimace.
His gram's hand shot out and landing firmly against Emma's good shoulder.
"She's just outside. Cora's not going to attack a hospital."
"Maybe not, but we're finding out she pretty much has free reign to go anywhere she wants." She went to stand, but her mother's hand pushed her back into place.
"And we'll work on fixing that, but you're hurt, Emma. You need to rest." The woman pushed Emma gently back until she was resting against pillows again. Emma had closed her eyes, jaw clenched. When her eyes open again, Henry saw more anger there than he had ever seen in the woman's eyes before.
He took a step back without thinking.
She glanced to him, blinked, and it was gone, replaced by a weary smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes.
"Your mom saved my life today, you know."
Henry's eyes widened, startled. "She did?" That was a level beyond just helping the heroes. That was being one.
"Yeah, big magic shield." She held her free arm out wide. "Stopped Anton in his tracks." She glanced down at her arm in the sling and cocked her head in consideration. "Well, mostly."
"Huh." Henry's thoughts jumbled. His mother used magic, breaking her promise, but saving Emma's life made up for that. It was like the well all over again, only he had not had to ask – to beg - this time. The hope he nursed his heart bloomed tenfold. His mother could be redeemed. She didn't have to be the Evil Queen!
"Mary Margaret, I need you to get together with Mother Superior, figure out how to get defenses on most of the public buildings with a lot of traffic. The school, town hall, Granny's, the works."
"Emma—"
"I need a plan of action by morning."
"You need—"
"I need you out there, helping to make this town safe. I can't do that right now, so I'm asking you to." Emma almost rushed the words out.
Henry bobbed his head back and forth, watching the women toss words back and forth like a tennis match. Emma was staring the former queen down, jaw set. His grandmother's expression tensed, then softened when she nodded a few moments later.
"Right, well." The woman shuffled from foot to foot for a moment. "If you need your father or I…" Emma flinched the tiniest bit, eyes drifting down. His gram continued on like she did not to notice. "We're just a phone call away."
The woman patted Emma's leg, gave him a quick hug, and left. Henry studied Emma for a long moment, confused by her reaction. There was always a weird tenseness around the apartment ever since Emma and his grandmother had gotten back from the Enchanted Forest, but Henry had not thought much of it until now.
Did Emma… not like her parents? That did not seem true to Henry, but he could not figure out any other explanation. It especially didn't make sense since her parents were Snow White and Prince Charming. Henry was thrilled to have them as grandparents, but Emma definitely felt differently.
Adults were strange.
"What happened to Snow? Looks like she just..." Henry's mother stepped by the curtain, trailing off as she took in the sight before her. Emma snapped back to attention, eyes focusing on his mom. "And you look just as awful. What happened, Sheriff, too much of your mother's kindness at once?" Her lips twisted to a sneer for half a second and was gone before Henry was sure he had seen it.
"Thank you."
There was a beat of silence. "What?" His mom asked, eyebrows raised in surprise. Emma repeated her thanks.
"You didn't have to. I made a stupid choice and it made you break your promise to Henry, but you saved my life, and I…" Emma looked to struggle with her words for a second before looking the former queen dead in the eye. "Just, thank you."
His mom's mouth opened and closed a few times before she got words out. "You're welcome." She crossed her arms and looked out a nearby window few feet to the left of Emma's bed.
The silence that followed was awkward, and Henry had the impression that the two women just did not know what to do after being nice to each other. He broke the quiet with the first thing that popped into his mind.
"So what makes the fairies' magic different than yours?" His mom looked to him, startled. So did Emma, but once both had their attention on him, Henry did not feel the tension in the air anymore.
"Well," his mom started, head tilted to the side and eyes upward in thought. She shifted into 'teacher' mode, which Henry had not seen since the last time he'd needed help with homework. Years ago. "It comes down to the tools used to create it."
"Fairy dust?" Henry guessed. His mom nodded.
"Right. All magic is energy, so it has to come from somewhere." She relaxed her stance, arms uncrossing. "For the fay, they have their dust and artifacts to help enhance their natural abilities." She paused, a frown tugging on her lips. "For the rest of us—."
"All magic comes with a price." Emma interrupted, her brows furrowed. She was staring at her uninjured hand, opening and closing it to a fist and back again.
"Not quite enough flamboyance for the impersonation, but yes." His mom looked at Emma like she was trying to figure something out. After a moment she shook her head and continued. "It takes a combination of mental and physical energy to cast, and, for the simple spells, that's all the price there is. The more complicated the spell, the… higher the cost."
Her eyes went glassy and Henry found he had accidentally turned the mood from awkward to somber, but he could not stop himself from asking the question he was really curious about.
"Is that why theirs is good and yours is…not?" Henry had been trying to make sense of it all afternoon. In the book, people were afraid of the Dark One and the Evil Queen because of the power they controlled, but they always went to the fairies for help. Plus, if his mother had used the same powers she always had to save Emma's life, he could not figure out how they could be evil.
The quiet that followed his question was deafening. His mom stared at the ground in front of her, lips pursed. Emma was watching his mom as well, curious.
The former queen sighed and shook her head. "Magic makes things easy. Far too easy, and you get lost trying to get anything you could possibly want, as long as you're willing to pay the price."
"Power corrupts." Emma offered the saying with a solemn nod.
"Apt, I suppose. The further you go, the simpler the choice seems to be." His mom sounded sad, and it strained her voice. "It was never the magic that made me the Evil Queen, Henry."
"It was how you used it." His mom shot Emma a sharp look, but the savior didn't flinch. Instead, she continued. "You know better now, though. Which is great, considering you're going to be teaching me."
A heartbeat of silence followed.
"What?" His mom's voice was flat, disbelieving. Emma sat up to get as much height as she could.
"I'm out of my depth here, Regina. If we're going to stand a chance to keep this town safe—" She waved in Henry's direction. "To keep our son safe. I need to know how to use and control my... powers."
It clicked for Henry, then, even as his mother looked completely taken aback by the turn of events. "Spiderman," he said. Both his mothers looked to him, breaking off their newest staring contest. He put on his best 'powerful and wise' voice. "With great power comes great responsibility."
There was another beat of silence, then Emma started to laugh and his mother grinned her genuine smile.
"Didn't know you liked Spiderman," Emma said.
"It was his favorite for years."
The two women shared hesitant smiles, and the atmosphere in the room grew lighter. Talk of magic was put on the backburner, and Henry felt more at peace than he had since before his teacher slash grandmother had given him his book.
Rumplestiltskin I
Rumplestiltskin stood tall, rolling the palm-sized flask between long fingers. The golden potion sloshed with the movement, still a slave to gravity. When the liquid rested against the cork, he flipped it in his hand and held it in a white knuckled grip. Bae's shawl lay on the glass countertop in front of him, its full length covering the display end to end. One pour separated him from escaping this backwater little town.
And then it was only an entire world separating him from his son.
Rumple placed his concoction down with extreme care, suppressing the urge to slam it against the glass. As always, he overcame one obstacle only to find a greater one blocking his path. This particular one loomed tall, its shadow deep.
Even after he had been expecting it.
Without magic, finding Baelfire would be a near impossible task. Rumple stared at the shawl, fingers pitter-pattering on the glass. Getting a person across the town line was a simple task, but forcing magic into a world whose basic physics were so fundamentally opposed to it was task that could be beyond even the powers of the Dark One.
An artifact, though, might survive well enough to be of use.
Before Rumple could explore that line of thought, his phone buzzed within his breast pocket. With a coy smile, he pulled it out to find a message from Belle.
His servant-turned-lover's message left him both relieved and annoyed. She volunteered the remainder of her evening to helping Ruby Lucas catalogue the damage the giant's rampage had caused through town as well as aiding the newly appointed deputy in calming the common masses, who, of course, needed word from an "official" source to feel safe.
Rumple let out a low chuckle. Belle had a good heart and a mind leant toward helping people, perhaps too much so, but it did leave his evening conveniently free. He returned her message with a brief wish of luck in dealing with the rabble and turned off his phone. He locked the shop with a light flick of the wrist, and withdrew a decanter of a bourbon from beneath the register.
There was research to be done.
He went to his back office and began taking books from the shelves in what would have seemed a random order to anyone but himself and Belle. His thoughts turned toward the hope of a magical battery, able to store magical energy and insulate it enough to keep it from dissipating. He frowned, placed his tomes on his desk, and quickly poured and drank a single finger of the amber liquid.
He just did not have enough data to be certain it was possible.
He allowed himself a melancholy moment of longing for his limitless library back in his fortress, but pushed past it, determined to succeed with the resources at his disposal.
Time compressed.
The method was old. Read, reference, re-read, cross-reference. Note, ponder, consider, create, discard, drink, repeat. Rumple called upon the Dark One's power to speed his concentration and comprehension, churning through books and scrolls and texts at inhuman speeds. He let himself feel the comfort of familiar ritual, and did not break his focus until the bell above his shop's door dinged.
Rumple blinked, surprised. His wards had not gone off at all. He reached out with his mental focus, finding they had not been disturbed in the slightest. Frowning, he took several cautious steps toward the sales floor.
Of course, he thought when he caught sight of the intruder standing with a bag at her feet. She had eschewed her adornments from the Enchanted Forest, replacing them with the contemporary. In her crimson blazer, dark pants, and a light blouse with a carefully plunging neckline, the woman would no doubt turn heads.
But even while doing so, she would blend in.
She smiled, the lines around her eyes deepening. "Hello, Dear." Rumple's magic stirred in his center, and he sharpened his will.
"Cora." He stepped around the glass display so that nothing but air separated the two. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"After all this time..." She cast a curious look around his shop. "Still collecting baubles?" She asked, smile never wavering.
"They all have their use," he said lightly, not rising to the halfhearted jibe. "Quite a show this afternoon. Perhaps a bit blunt for my liking, but nonetheless effective." She turned her focus back on him, eyebrows raised.
"I simply gave a man the means to achieve peace." Her head lilted to the side at a slight angle. "Though he proved a remarkable asset, even if he failed his own goals."
"Indeed." A silence fell, the quiet allowing a sense of anticipation to grow between them. Cora seemed content to let it go on, eyes never leaving his, and so Rumple broke it. "And what is it you are after, dearie?" He considered for a moment. "I doubt you truly hold a grudge against your daughter." An amused grin pulled at his lips. "After all, from the day she banished you to Wonderland, she became exactly who you wanted her to be."
The Queen of Hearts laughed. "Quite." She shook her head. "Thirty years being in complete control would make anyone complacent. I needed to see her strength." Her demeanor shifted to annoyance. "But I did not expect Regina to have…" She trailed off as if searching for the right word. "Allies." Rumple hummed agreeably. He kept his face blank and waited, allowing another lull to settle until Cora broke it.
"This Emma Swan." Cora pursed her lips. "She's proving to be problematic."
"She does have a knack for being in precisely the right spot to ruin your day," Rumple said with a wry smile. "She is the Savior." Cora's mouth formed an "o" for a brief moment before she regained her composure.
"A child born of True Love." Cora said in a tone begetting dawning comprehension.
"That she was."
Another lull fell between them as Cora digested the information. Rumple allowed the woman to direct the flow of the conversation, curious. If nothing else, his patience was his greatest strength.
Cora knew it and focused back on the present quickly. "Since I've been in this land, I have not found my daughter outside this woman's company." Something cold and dangerous glinted in Cora's eyes. "I need to get them apart."
Rumple raised an eyebrow. "Afraid to take them on directly?" He knew her answer, but the instantaneous appearance of the woman's anger at his words almost brought one of his old, habitual cackles from his throat.
"I want my daughter," Cora said in a tone so low Rumple felt it rumble through the air.
"Ah." Rumple bowed his head in a shallow nod. It was a motivation as familiar as it was intense. "And the game has changed. She never had anywhere else to seek council and understanding, once upon a time, and now…" Rumple could not help the smirk that slipped onto his expression. Cora's glare turned upon him, an unspoken accusation and challenge, but he just laughed. "I couldn't care less for your family squabbles, dearie. My use for Regina has passed."
"Which is why I come to you. To make a deal."
Rumple's eyebrows flicked up, amused. "Let me guess." He held up both hands, index fingers pointing skyward for a moment before he turned them toward the woman. "You need Regina vulnerable and willing to turn to you – who tormented her childhood and guided her on the path she now desperately seeks to avoid." Cora's jaw tightened, and the raw, static energy of caged anger rolled off the sorceress in waves.
He dropped his hands and shook his head. "It would be a foolish maneuver. Tearing down one of Regina's only pillars of support might just set her over the edge." As an afterthought, he added, "And the Charmings can be annoying pests when they set their minds to a task." He waved his hands as if shooing a fly. "No deal."
Cora smiled, unsettling Rumple. "Oh but you have not even seen what I would offer in return." She bent at the waist to the bag at her feet. With tender care, she withdrew an opaque, white sphere held within a globe-stand wrought in gold and littered with runes.
A spark of recognition fired in the Dark One's vast store of knowledge, and Rumple's gathered magic twisted, ready to strike. It flowed around Cora's own readied energies in whirl of currents unseen by the eye.
The device was a rarity. A type of magic invented by a paranoid sorcerer centuries previous; it would be the very key he needed. One drop of blood, a small bit of focused will, and a practitioner could find anyone who shared their blood in the entire world.
How convenient.
When Cora rose back to her full height, she held one shimmering palm just above the artifact's surface. She wore the taunting smile of one who knew they had the upper hand.
Rumple hated that she did.
"It's difficult to keep children in line, wouldn't you agree?" She held the blank globe out to him, careful to keep her magic-laced hand just above the surface. One wrong twitch of a finger, and Rumple knew she could destroy the object with relative ease. "Help me put my family back together, and this will help you find yours."
He could not pass up the opportunity. "Deal," he said through gritted teeth. Cora's smug grin in answer did not improve his mood. "I will need time."
"Of course," Cora said, the glow in her hand fading to nothing. "I have waited decades. I can endure several days more." She presented the globe to him and he snatched it from her, turning to set it down on the display counter with a disconcerting mix of apprehension and anticipation. For a moment he toyed with the idea of taking Cora down then and there.
But the nearly thirty year gap of knowledge stayed his hand. Though powerful in her own right, Cora's true strength had always come from her merciless cunning. She would have a backup plan, and a contingency for the backup. Too little information to act left him stuck for the moment, not seeing the benefit in taking the risk.
"As much fun as it is to set giants loose on the woefully inept, we will need to play a subtler game." Rumple tapped his fingers against the glass, considering. Belle could not know of this. As much as she hated the Evil Queen, she was fond of the Savior. "You'll know when your moment comes."
He did not turn around, and they did not share goodbyes. The bell above his door sounded once more and Rumple was left alone with his thoughts, plans already forming. How to shatter the burgeoning bond between Swan and the Queen without being caught in the destructive wake that would no doubt follow...
The globe rested in front of him, taunting.
E/N: So there you have it! A quick rundown of the ongoings after our most recent snafu. Tensions are running high and different people/factions are forming among the townsfolk while everyone with Big-Bad-Capability try to pull the strings behind the scenes. In canon, they sort of gloss over the power vacuum once Emma and Snow return from the Enchanted Forest. This combines with my earlier point of the timeline from the start of season 2 to the end of season 3 being ridiculously short. Until Snow is suddenly mayor in Season 4, the power question isn't addressed after the whole Albert Spencer/King George fiasco.
Needless to say, it will play a role as we move forward here.
The Henry scene is probably the favorite one I've written for the fic so far. Trying to write from the perspective of the child is interesting, and I had to constantly edit myself live while writing. What'd you think of it?
And Rumple is an odd one as well. There are so many mannerisms that Robert Carlyle puts into his performance that simply don't translate well to the novel format. Still, capturing his overall feel was one of my major goals here, and I'm not quite sure if it worked out completely. Please let me know your take on...well, my take.
Next time's PoV is still up in the air. I know what's going to happen, I just don't know who I want to show it through as of yet. Probably not Emma, since she had the most recent, but anyone else is pretty much fair game.
Which just made me realize I should probably ask this. Is there any PoV you guys would be interested in seeing in the future? Please let me know!