Chapter Fifty-Six—"With Friends Like These"
Leave it to Maleficent to slip Regina a note and not mention it. She'd been halfway through dinner with Robin, Roland, and Henry (Emma and Baelfire had wandered off somewhere by themselves, and Regina was more than happy to take her son off of their hands) when Roland had discovered the note, reaching into the folds of Regina's dress like only a child could. His quick little fingers plucked the note out before Regina even knew it was there, and although she tried to chide the budding little pickpocket, holding back her smile was hard. Roland really was his father's son, and while the old Regina would have been disgusted by that, now she was amused.
Once she coaxed the note away from Roland—which required a promise for a very good bedtime story—Regina read it quickly, cursing her best friend's confounding ability to be cryptic at the very worst of times.
Meet me where I found my most loyal friend, the note said, mystic and cryptic as ever. Knowing Maleficent, she took pleasure in confusing anyone who might read the note, even if it had been passed directly from her to Regina. But that was Maleficent for you. She played the mysterious sorceress on the mountaintop all too well.
So Regina departed breakfast after watching Henry skip off to spend the day with Aladdin, all grins and barely restrained energy. Henry had made very few friends around his age over the years, and now he seemed to have finally found one in this formerly homeless thief that Maleficent had rescued from the fae. Aladdin seemed like a good kid, schooled in some magic and eager to make friends amongst those who fought the fae. Henry certainly liked him, and although Regina shuddered to think of the trouble those two could get in together, Robin promised to keep an eye on them while she was gone.
"It took you long enough," Maleficent snapped as Regina appeared in the grove where Maleficent had found Diaval so many years ago. The former fairy loved that damn shape-shifting unicorn, she knew, and had once been convinced that finding some such companion would do wonders for Regina, too. But the Evil Queen had not been interested in happiness back then, no matter how many times Maleficent had brought her to this extremely magical grove and tried to tempt her with its wondrous creatures.
"I didn't notice your note right away," she replied defensively, glaring at her best friend.
"I could have warned you about the attack on Henry if you'd been more observant."
"You could have enchanted the enchanted the note to poke me or something, instead just of making it transfer from one dress to the next," Regina retorted with a snort. "It took a four year old to find it."
Maleficent' s eyes gleamed wickedly. "I was trying to make sure you could find it. Seems I did well enough on that front."
"Very funny. What did you want?" Regina asked, rolling her eyes. She didn't think Maleficent would have summoned her here just to talk, but you never knew with Maleficent. She took odd risks sometimes; her fairy-born brain just didn't work like a human's did. Maybe she was just lonely. Being a spy behind enemy lines had to be hard.
"Our Lady"—Maleficent shook her head and grimaced wryly, and then she started again: "Now I'm sounding like a fae. The Black Fairy is planning something…big. I don't know what for certain, but she is gathering objects of power and delving into some of the darkest magics I have ever seen. She could not defeat Rumplestiltskin outright, but she certainly has not given up."
Regina shrugged. "No one thought she had."
And now she's down another powerful fae, she thought with satisfaction, barely managing not to smirk. I took care of that. With Emma's help.
"You don't understand," Maleficent cut into her smugness bluntly. "Danns' a'Bhàis will burn the entire world before she'll go back into exile. If humanity will not bow to her, she will not care who or what she destroys."
Well. That was a rosy thought.
"What do you think she'll do?" Regina asked instead of brushing her friend's concerns aside like she once would have done. After all, winning one battle against one fae did not make a victory in the war, and Regina knew better these days.
"I don't know." Worry creased Maleficent's timeless features. "But I'm sure it will be…dramatic. Warn the others, Regina, and watch yourself. She's noticed you, too, and Danns' a'Bhàis does not forgive someone who killed one of her fae, even if she did not like Jhudora very much."
"I'll remember that," she promised.
Better her than Emma, Regina supposed. Their little savior wouldn't know what to do as the target of an old fashioned blood feud, but Regina understood vengeance all too well. And she'd faced the Black Fairy before, too. She had no desire to do so ever again, but if Regina had to fight her, she'd make sure that Danns' a'Bhàis had to earn her victory. Hell, maybe she'd even finagle Excalibur out of her stepson-in-law and see if she could get a lucky blow in. That would end things quite nicely, unlikely though that outcome was.
But it might be the only thing that could save her friend, Regina realized, noticing the fear hidden behind Maleficent's ancient eyes. On impulse, she reached out to grab Maleficent's hand before the fallen fairy could disappear.
"Take care of yourself, all right?" she said softly.
Maleficent smiled crookedly. "I shall do my best."
They shared one last glance and then Maleficent was gone, leaving Regina to wonder if she would ever see her again.
"Where were you?" Vidia asked as soon as Maleficent stepped into her own rooms. Seeing her lover there made her blink; Maleficent had thought Vidia had been assigned a task that would take her far away for hours yet.
"I went for a walk," she replied with a casual shrug, but a cold feeling was beginning to settle into her stomach.
"No, you didn't. Don't lie to me, Maleficent. I'm trying to help you."
Appearing unconcerned was hard, and she swallowed hard before she could stop herself. "Are you certain you want to do that?"
She had always known that circumstances would someday force Vidia to choose between herself and the fae; Maleficent had just not expected Vidia to do so quickly or without fanfare.
"Don't be a fool. Agor is questioning your loyalty already. He put a tracking spell on you and—"
"And I went to the grove where I left my pet unicorn," Maleficent interjected as causally as she could manage. She shouldn't want to protect Vidia, had told herself not to get attached. But it was too late to undo her own emotional entanglements, and besides, she could not bring herself to be regret a moment of their time together. Still, damn it all, she wanted to keep Vidia as far away from the fallout as possible. "There is no crime in visiting my old companion."
Vidia scowled; Maleficent had not fallen in love with a fool. "I know what you've been doing, Maleficent," she said quietly, looking torn but determined. "And if I do, the others will soon."
"You've been spying on me." Didn't that turn the tables? Maleficent did not enjoy being out-maneuvered.
"I've been trying to save you from yourself," her lover answered sadly. "And now I shall. Run."
"What?"
"Just go. Go before the others find you…and perhaps I will see you when this is all over."
There was no time to spare; Maleficent was not such a fool as to delay. But she kissed Vidia anyway. Neither of them had meant to get attached, but they had, and maybe they could save one another before the end.
Maybe.
"We're never going to get a break, are we?" Emma asked her husband philosophically.
Her husband. What a strange thought that still was. Emma didn't regret marrying Neal, not for a moment—and she certainly didn't regret having done so the way she had! Much though she loved Neal (and could finally admit that to herself), Emma would have gone insane if she'd had to endure some torturously huge wedding like her mother would have planned for them. Doing it quickly had definitely been for the best, and Emma would never forget the delighted look on Henry's face as they finally tied the knot. Some girls dreamed of big weddings, but all Emma had ever cared about was having family to have there, which she'd had. The rest was just icing on the cake, and making her son (and the rest of her family) happy was what mattered most.
"Hey, at least we're not bored, right?" he countered with that same crooked smile that had always made Emma's heart beat a little faster.
"You can say that again," she groaned. She'd helped kill a fae the night before, but that didn't mean this mess was anywhere near taken care of. Frowning, Emma admitted softly: "I'm still worried about Henry."
Having someone to share those worries with was still new, and sometimes a little strange. Back in New York, both in the year that had been real and the memories of a life that hadn't been, it had always just been the two of them. So, being able to lean on a fellow parent—one who wasn't Regina and she didn't fight with all the time—was kind of nice.
"Me, too," Neal replied, reaching out to grab a branch off of a nearby tree and break it in frustration. They'd gone for am morning walk to get away from everyone for a little while, but Emma knew that their escape would be short-lived.
"It's never going to stop, is it?" she sighed, sinking down to sit on a log and glancing at her hands. "Blue might have promised to stop going after Henry's heart, but even I can see the loophole in that. She'll get someone else to do it for her, probably Cyan or some minion of Leah's. And the fae won't quit, either."
"No, they won't." At least Neal never lied to make her feel better. He had been an idiot in a host of other ways, but at least he was an honest idiot. Her honest idiot. He continued firmly: "And we'll keep fighting them."
"There's got to be a better way." Emma's frustration was only building. Damn magic. Damn fairies. Damn this world and all of its weirdness. "Sooner or later, one of us is going to slip up, and Henry's going to pay the price. Fighting isn't enough. How do we stop them?"
"Short of killing them all, I'm not sure how," Neal replied. "And we just saw how well that works sometimes."
"There has to be a way," Emma said stubbornly, racking her brain for options. She was supposed to be the Savior; surely there was something she could come up with! But all she seemed able to manage at the moment was glaring at a nearby tree and saying: "Short of sending him back to New York."
Snow had suggested that earlier that morning, hesitantly and unhappily. A part of Emma had wanted to jump on it, but even as her heart leapt, Emma knew that going back to the Land Without Magic wasn't the answer. Assuming they could find a way to cross between the worlds—something that was apparently even harder now that Regina's reversal of the curse had severed the links between the Enchanted Forest and the land Emma had always thought of as home—there was no way to guarantee Henry's safety there, either. Running away had never fixed any of Emma's problems, no matter how hard she'd tried, and it was time to stop running.
"The fae would only follow us, anyway," Neal pointed out, just like he had earlier. If Emma's nod was a little reluctant, well, she did have fond memories of that world and a certain yellow bug.
"I know," she said. "Besides…I'd miss this place. It's home now."
"Not to mention that Henry would never forgive us."
"I'm damn certain your dad wouldn't, either," Emma pointed out. It was a good thing that they'd never seriously contemplated the idea of going back, because Emma knew that Rumplestiltskin had been willing to rip worlds apart to get back to Neal the last time. He'd undoubtedly be perfectly happy to do the same thing again, and now that he had a lot more power at his disposal, it would undoubtedly be a disaster.
"No, Pop wouldn't take that well at all," her husband agreed. "But…well, he's got to have something up his sleeve. We're not the only ones worrying about Henry, after all. I'll talk to him."
Emma scraped up a wry smile. "I guess I'm not used to having his help without having to ask what it'll cost me."
"You're family now," Neal replied immediately, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close. "Papa takes that seriously."
"I guess this'll just take some getting used to," she said with a smile, kissing her husband back. They had been only married for a little over a week, after all, and it wasn't like they hadn't been busy. The idea of calling Gold family was still odd, and even if Emma had never hesitated to turn to him if she needed help (and felt she could pay the price), knowing that he might not actually rake her over the coals was, well, kind of nifty. If unbelievable.
Still, she leaned into Neal's embrace and let herself treasure the short moment of quiet, the calm between the previous storm and the one Emma was sure was yet to come. This battle was far from over, and their son remained the prize that everyone was fighting for. There had to be some way to keep Henry safe, but for the life of her, Emma couldn't see what it was. But at least she wasn't the only one working on that. Her parents were prepared to do whatever it took to keep Henry safe, and Neal was right. His father was undoubtedly on their side, too, which meant Belle's brilliant brain was at their disposal. And of course Regina was concerned, too; she loved Henry more than life itself, a feeling Emma completely understood. The answer might not be easy to find, but it was out there, and Emma wasn't going to stop fighting until she found it.
Baelfire was always good to his word. After he and Emma headed inside, he went upstairs to the rooms Snow and David had reserved for his father and Belle, wondering if Rumplestiltskin would be awake yet or still sleeping off the magical battle that had happened the day before. When Bae had stuck his head in to check on his parent before breakfast, he and Belle had both still been sleeping (thankfully clothed; Bae had no desire to walk in on them working on a younger sibling for him, thank you very much!). But since he and Emma had finally parted ways around noon, he was willing to bet that his father would be awake. Even when Bae had been a child, Rumplestiltskin had been an early riser, never seeming to sleep much at all. Magic had changed a lot about him, but not that.
Fortunately, Rumplestiltskin was up and dressed when Bae showed up, looking a little pale and rough around the edges, but otherwise far more put together than his father had been the night before. Belle was nowhere in sight, but Rumplestiltskin gestured his son in with a wave of one hand, putting down the book he'd been reading but not getting up.
"Hey, Pop. Got a minute?" he asked, closing the door behind him.
"For you? Always."
The smile that creased his father's face was tired, and probably because of that it vividly reminded Bae of the ones he'd so often received as a child. Back then, before magic, his father had always been tired, always working so very hard to give Bae a better life. He'd missed those years terribly after his father had taken on the curse, hadn't appreciated sharing his father with a demon. Pining for his beloved Papa had turned Bae towards anger and fear; he'd come to hate the Dark One who had consumed his father, and when he'd finally stopped running long enough to actually look at his father, a long time passed before he realized how hard Rumplestiltskin was trying to be at least some of the man he had been before the curse.
Now, after the curse, Bae found his father a sometimes-crooked mixture of the spinner he had been and the sorcerer he became. Rumplestiltskin would be the first to tell him that three hundred years under such a curse had left irrevocable stains on his soul, but there were times when Bae could see the spinner shining through. The unrestrained, unfettered love in his father's smile was a hallmark of the good man he had once been. And so was the fact that Rumplestiltskin was willing to go up against the darkest fairy in all creation to protect his family. Oh, there were some optimistic fools already whispering that Rumplestiltskin had done it for humanity's sake, but Bae knew better. His father had done it to protect those he loved, and even if that didn't make him as much of a hero as say, David, it was more than good enough for Baelfire.
"It's about Henry, actually," he replied, plopping down in the chair next to his father's. Judging from the second book that was on the table, Belle had been there not too long ago. Either that, or his father was emulating his fiancé's habits, and reading two books at once.
The Book of the City of Ladies, the cover read. Okay, maybe it wasn't his Papa's type of book. Or at least he hoped not. Belle, on the other hand, would certainly read what looked like an epic romance.
"Is Henry all right?" Rumplestiltskin asked worriedly. "I didn't know about last night until—"
"He's fine," Bae cut him off, waving a hand to forestall his father before Rumplestiltskin could start to stand. "And Emma and Regina dealt with that fae chick just fine. No, it's not about that."
"Then what is it?"
Taking a deep breath, Bae tried to explain. "Emma and I were talking this morning…and, it's never going to stop, is it? Even Blue does keep her end of your deal and stop going after Henry's heart, that won't stop the Black Fairy. And, um, judging from yesterday…well, she'll be a bit harder to intimidate than Blue, huh?"
"A bit, yes," was the dry response, and Bae thought he saw his father's face twitch slightly.
Bae didn't know much about magical history, but he was pretty damn sure that a battle like the one in which his father had duked it out with the Black Fairy hadn't happened in a thousand plus years, or maybe not ever. He wasn't Regina, and hadn't been able to follow even half of the spells and earthshaking power Rumplestiltskin and the Black Fairy had thrown at one another, but even Bae had been able to see how gigantic the battle had been. He'd felt the magic deep in his bones, had felt the strain on both of them and the way everything had seemed to stop for a few long minutes there in the beginning. That starburst of power had been truly terrifying, and for a few minutes there, Bae had been certain that they would kill one another, and he'd lose his father. Again.
But he hadn't, and now he had to worry about his son. Why was it that they were always rushing from one crisis to the next?
"So, how do we keep Henry safe?" he asked quietly, reaching out for Belle's book, just to have something to fool with. Having his hands full meant they were busy, and maybe that would help Bae worry less.
"I've been…working on something," Rumplestiltskin replied slowly, and his tone told Bae that it was something that most of them weren't going to like. But his father continued before Bae could ask, saying: "A few things, actually. One of them is a bracelet rather like the ring I made for Belle. It will protect Henry, even from the Black Fairy. Do you think he'd be willing to wear it?"
"Of course he would." Or Bae would shake his son until he did, anyway. In some ways, Henry was a typical teen and could get odd about some things, but Bae was pretty sure that Henry understood what was at stake. Yes, he trusted his family to protect him—when he wasn't busy asking various relatives when they'd start teaching him magic so he could protect himself—but Henry knew better than to take any crazy risks. Usually.
"Then I'll fetch it from the Dark Castle," his father said with a wan smile. "Though I may need a day or two to put the finishing touches on it."
"Still pretty tired?"
"I'm fine." Rumplestiltskin looked like he wanted to evade the question, but Bae arched an eyebrow and his father relented. "The human body was not meant to act as a conduit for so much power, so, yes. I am tired."
"I'm glad you're okay, Papa," he said softly, reaching out briefly—putting Belle's book down to do so—to touch his father's shoulder. Their eyes met, and Rumplestiltskin smiled back.
"Me, too, son," he answered, and then Bae could see his formidable mind turning back to the problem at hand. "Now. As for Henry, we can create a spell that will allow him to teleport to safety as well, but I'll need your help for that. And Emma's."
"Because we're his parents?"
"Yes, among other things." Bae shot him a confused look, but his father brushed the unspoken question aside. "Also, if you see Regina, send her my way. If the four of us layer protections on Henry—in addition to the bracelet I have created—it will make it much harder for the fae to harm him."
His father was an expert wordsmith, and Bae had long since learned to pay attention to the words he did not say as much as the ones that he did. And in this case, there was one glaring omission he could not ignore. "But not impossible."
"Nothing is impossible, Bae. Particularly for Danns. She is an original power, and her knowledge of magic is unparalleled. The best we can do is turn her attention away from Henry as much as possible. That will keep him safe."
"How are we supposed to do that?" he asked warily.
Rumplestiltskin's answering smile was crooked. "Let me worry about that."
She was going to die of boredom if the fae didn't hurry up and do the deed.
The small cell was windowless and obnoxiously natural, all woods and smooth edges and maddeningly uniform. There was dried blood on the floor, but Maleficent didn't want to think about where that had come from and refused to ask. She thought she'd been locked in here for the better part of a day or so, though that was only a guess. Telling time in this tiny cube of fae power was impossible. Couldn't they have included a window? Even the lighting never changed; the dull glow lingered no matter how many minute ticked by, and Maleficent was not the sort to amuse herself by counting the seconds. Particularly without magic.
Angrily, she tugged at the bronze band around her right wrist, trying to dig the nails of her left hand under it again. She could slip one underneath the band, barely, but doing so accomplished nothing. All she managed to do was scratch herself. Again. She'd known that these bands existed, but had never imagined how deaf she would feel with them on. Blind. Dumb. Helpless. Bored.
Oh, she had known this was a risk when she'd accepted the mission of infiltrating the fae. Maleficent had even known that she was more likely than not to get caught eventually. After all, the Black Fairy was arrogant, not stupid. Sooner or later, something would shake her out of her complacency and she would turn that intelligence onto those closest to her, thus realizing that Maleficent really wasn't dancing to her tune. Maleficent had just expected a little bit of warning before that day came, more than Vidia telling her to run and even that turning out to be too late. Perhaps she should have left when she sent Aladdin away, but her conversation with Danns after that had convinced her that she was still trusted enough to stay. She should have gone with her first instinct, should have used her student to distract the others while she made her own way out of fae territory…but Maleficent had always been loyal to those she cared about. Besides, it hadn't mattered in the end. When she had tried to run, it had already been too late. Maleficent had been able to feel the terrifying strength of an original power reaching out for her, and she had known she was done for.
The best she could hope for now was that the war might somehow end before she died. Otherwise…well, Maleficent had a feeling that she knew why the Black Fairy hadn't killed her outright. Maleficent already knew far too much about the Vault of the Dark One for her own health, and already had a very strong suspicion about whose life the Black Fairy intended to sacrifice in order to bring her new pet back to life. Pity it'll be Zoso, she thought to herself. He really was one of the most boring Dark Ones, not to mention one of the more vicious. A part of her really was very offended by the fact that her life would fuel Zoso's next one, but Maleficent supposed that there was always a price to be paid.
The Black Fairy had almost killed her once, after all. Perhaps this was just her time.
"So, how're the first ten day as of married life treating you?" David asked Emma with a smile as she lowered her sword.
Her father did the same; they were both panting for air and sweating heavily in the hot afternoon air. Their fencing bout, originally meant to be short and just a bit of relief for the pent up stress that Emma was feeling, had turned into a best of twenty-something match before Emma lost count. David had beaten her more times than he hadn't, but she still felt like she'd done pretty well for herself, particularly since she was sparring with Prince-freaking-Charming. Her own sword skills had been learned rather haphazardly, from fighting dragons and ogres to learning on the fly during this (mostly ended) war, so her father had taken it upon himself to polish Emma's technique when she'd been looking for a way to unwind.
"Pretty good," she admitted, a smile sneaking onto her face. Part of Emma had expected to be miserable—her pessimistic side said that she shouldn't trust this, and that everything had to fall apart before too long—but she wasn't. And it must have shown on her face, because her father grinned.
"Good. Otherwise, I'd have to have some serious words with my son in law," he replied, and he only seemed to be half joking.
"Don't you start picking on Neal," she shot back, even though she was pretty damn sure that her husband could take care of himself. That, and he might actually know her father better than she did, now, given that Neal had spent a year in the Enchanted Forest fighting at David's side while Emma was trapped with no memories in New York.
"C'mon, Emma, it's a father's prerogative to be overprotective," David retorted.
"Not when you're my age!"
"Only physically. Technically, I'm closer to sixty than fifty," he countered with a laugh.
She shot him a look. "I'm not sure that counts."
"I sure feel like it does, these days," her father replied, shrugging as they both handed their practice swords off to a servant. That still took some getting used to, having servants. Emma was used to being self-sufficient, and she'd snapped at more than one well-meaning servant since coming back to her parents' castle. She didn't meant to be short tempered with them, but Emma could take care of herself. Having people try to look after her all day, every day, was just weird.
"Better you than me. I'm tempted to smash the idiots' heads together, or lock them in a room together and tell them that they can't come out until they come to their senses," Emma admitted. "I hate politics."
"You think I don't? This is the stuff your mother's good at."
"You don't seem that bad at it," she replied with a shrug. "Better than me, anyway."
"There's plenty of time left for you to learn," her father reassured her, and Emma was surprised how very much having him say things like this actually helped her. The customs of the Enchanted Forest were still somewhat alien to her, even with Neal there to point out the ridiculous ways in which things were different. Still, she shot her father a half-hearted glare.
"Don't get started on me inheriting again. You know how I feel about that," she told him sternly, and David held his hands up in surrender.
"Easy, there! I'm not going to start that fight with you again. I know how you feel, Emma, and while I happen to think that you're wrong, your mother and I have plenty of years left to us. We'll figure out the future of the kingdom some other time, whether it's you, Henry, or Graham inheriting. Right now, frankly, I'm more worried about this war that never seems to end."
Emma stopped in her tracks, just outside the castle proper and trying not to groan too loudly. "Tell me about it."
"We'll keep him safe," David said softly, placing a hand on her arm and seeming to read her mind. "Henry's important to all of us, and we'll do whatever it takes to keep him safe."
"Neal's talking to Rumplestiltskin about it, too," she admitted, not entirely certain how her father would feel about that one.
"Good. It's nice to have him on our side without strings attached."
Emma snorted out a laugh. "Yeah, that's pretty much what I said."
Wrapping an arm around her, David pulled her back into motion. "Then don't worry so much. Your family's here to help. That's what we do."
A/N: Next up is Chapter Fifty-Seven: "And the Sky Falls", in which the fae try to tip the balance in their favor, Rumplestiltskin and Henry spend some time together, and tragedy strikes. In the meantime, please let me know what you think!