(PopPotter777: There aren't many chapters left in this story, but don't worry, because all of your questions will be answered soon. I have actually been teasing Henry's role in this a few times here and there, just some subtle references, but there is more to come.
Randomfandoms815: thanks a lot! Your kind words really made my day. Glad you're enjoying it!
Fanfics10: Everyone, even the Truest Believer as we have seen in season 7 of the show, sometimes struggles to keep their faith and their belief. For a second there, the same happened to Henry. With everything around him falling to pieces, he just had no idea what to do and that terrified him. He was afraid maybe they wouldn't win after all they had been through. And it was in that moment that the book popped in and did what it does: give hope back. About the other part of the review… let's just say if that is what you are hoping for, you won't come out disappointed. Hopefully.)
As much as he hated it, Adda had spent the last few hours in his house. After the battle, all he wanted to do was to kill them all, and especially that stupid child who stood up to him, but he knew he couldn't just do that. Not yet. But it really wasn't easy to not give in to the anger. Especially with Rumple there smirking at him and reminding him of his failure at every chance he got.
But it al fell down in pieces when Adda stopped feeling Emma and Hook's energy coming into his body, which couldn't mean anything other than the fact the curse had been broken. Adda had no idea how, he had made that curse impossible to break, but he knew that was the only explanation. Why did those insufferable heroes always found a way to be on top? But no matter. He didn't get to where he was then, without making more than one plan. And Emma and Hook were just plan A.
Cruella on the other hand was much more hopeful, even though that isn't really the first adjective which comes to mind when describing her. Adda had told her Emma had awoken, but from what she understood, she was still quite weak. And with the Dark One under her command, she could finally repay Emma's favor, and put an end to the savior. Once and for all.
Killing the savior and finishing off those heroes seemed to be the only thing Adda and Cruella had in common. Adda knew she was a team worker, and a psychopath who hated every single one of them. And that was only why he brought her back. She didn't know what he was really planning, none of them did in fact, and he had to keep it that way. Because he had no idea what would happen to them if he succeeded. But in whatever case, he still needed them to help him. Adda was pretty powerful himself, and Cruella already had her magic supply, which meant he had to find something for his daughter. She had magic, but she wasn't powerful enough to help them take down the heroes. Snow was one thing, but Adda was afraid she wouldn't be so lucky a second time.
And it was to get a powerful weapon for his daughter to use the reason why Cruella and Rumple were alone in the house. Rumple was trying to avoid her, but that wasn't easy, since she could make him do whatever she wanted. But fortunately for him, Cruella didn't have time to do much, before they arrived.
"Cruella!", they heard someone call from the outside. And by the looks of it, it was Adda.
Recognizing the voice, Cruella walked to the front door and opened it, seeing Adda in front of her again. He hadn't left long before, which meant he probably had forgotten something. "Yes?" She said simply, curious to find out what he wanted.
'Adda' smirked at Cruella as soon as she realized what Cruella had done. Biggest mistake of her life: it was just a little, but Cruella was outside the force field of the house. She blasted Cruella to the other side of the street, immediately revealing herself to be Regina. And soon enough, Elsa and Zelena showed up.
Cruella got up quickly and grabbed the dagger tightly in her hand. That was an unexpected twist, but nothing she couldn't handle. Or better, something her new puppet couldn't. "Dark one, I summon thee."
In that moment, Rumple showed up right in front of her. Seeing them right there, Rumple really had no idea why they were there. What for? Were they stupid to choose to go up against him? Whatever it was, he knew he would have no choice but to obey Cruella's orders, and he just hoped he didn't end up killing any of them. "Don't you even dare let them close to me", Cruella finished, and Rumple found himself getting ready to fight. The worst part of it all, was that he actually thought he could take down the three of them.
Of course they would never do anything stupid like that without a plan, and without a purpose. With Emma and Hook back, even though both weak, they all knew the next step was bring back Snow while they still could. For that, they needed two things, and one of them was Rumple. All they needed was to get the dagger.
The three of them quickly stood next to each other and in front of Rumple. Regina and Zelena ignited a fireball, and Elsa lit an ice ball, hitting Rumple with them at the same time. But that didn't seem to do much, other than make him stumble a bit. Zelena and Regina started throwing him a blast of their magic, making Rumple busy enough for Elsa to sneak behind him and towards Cruella.
Rumple knew he couldn't spot all three of them, he didn't know where Elsa was, but he was trying not to look around, because he knew if he saw her, he would have no choice but to stop her. And Regina and Zelena did keep him busy enough. But he was afraid that even if Elsa managed to defeat Cruella, that might still not be enough, because they didn't know what he knew. He wanted to tell it to them, to scream it, but he just couldn't. Cruella had stopped him from saying it.
Cruella kept grabbing the dagger, and was just about to order Rumple to kill whoever that was, she wasn't really sure yet, when Elsa blasted her away, making the dagger fall to the ground. Elsa ran to it before Cruella could get up again, and grabbed it, waving the dagger at Regina and Zelena, making them both stop. But that still didn't put an end to Cruella's smirk.
As she got up Cruella kept looking at Elsa and the dagger on her hand. Adda was right, they were easily fooled. Luckily, she and Adda weren't. With a fast move of her arm, Cruella pulled the real dagger from the inside pocket of her fur coat, smirking at Elsa. "Rumple, be a dear and paralyze them, so they can't make more damage."
Rumple gave a quick and low sigh and waved his hand, before any of the three could really understand what was going on, making all three unable to move, let alone fight back. "Now, kill them!" Cruella turned her head to Regina and looked her in the eyes as she gave that order. She didn't care about Adda's plan anymore. She didn't care if it he already wanted them dead or not. They messed with her, and she wasn't gonna let them get away with it.
...
Even though she was told to stay in the cellar with the others, Belle knew she couldn't let Elsa, Regina and Zelena do that alone. So, she snuck out of the cellar when no one was looking, and drove Rumple's car to Adda's house. She parked near it, and watched the battle as they almost won. She we glad to see Elsa with the dagger, but then something happened, and the 3 of them stopped moving, with Rumple starting to slowly walk to them, and with Cruella probably loving of all that. Belle knew that was her moment, that she had to do something. She couldn't just sit there and watch, not anymore. She got out of her car and ran to them.
Belle wasn't exactly close when Rumple realized she was there. He was definitely the first to stop her, but Cruella saw her right after he did. All three of the paralyzed women were potential threats, but she didn't believe Belle to be one. So she just watched as Belle walked to them and stood between Rumple and the three heroes. "Cruella, stop this. I won't let you control my husband anymore."
Cruella's smirk grew, as she saw Belle attempting to defeat her and her little Dark One puppet. Could she really believe she could do that? But Belle really did make for an even bigger opportunity for her to have fun. "Rumple, instead of starting with the poor excuse of a Queen" Cruella looked slightly at Regina and turned to Belle "why don't you start your murder spree with your wife!"
"No!" Rumple said immediately, unable to even think about it. She couldn't let him do that, it was just too much. He couldn't kill Belle. She was the love of his life. Despite everything he had done, and despite everything they had been through, Belle was and always would be his one true love.
"In case you didn't understand, darling, that wasn't a request. It was an order." Cruella continued to look straight at Rumple, probably enjoying all that a bit too much. She hated every single one of them, and having that power over Rumple was just too much excitement for her to contain.
Belle just stood there, refusing to move and staring at Rumple, who started to walk slowly to her, with a look on his face which represented nothing but pain. Maybe she was going to die in that moment, or soon enough, but Belle knew she had to try something, try to take down Cruella somehow. But she also knew things would get worse if she started running. And that was why, for a few seconds, she didn't even move.
Rumple had no idea what to do. Inside him, he just wanted to turn around and kill Cruella, but his body wouldn't obey. Instead, it started walking to Belle, with Rumple trying to scream inside that prison of his. But all he could manage was to make his legs take smaller steps, delaying the inevitable. "Belle, I'm so sorry!" A tear started falling from Rumple's left eye as he started seeing no other option, no other outcome for that situation. But he really didn't expect Belle to do what she did next.
Hoping she was right about what she was thinking, Belle started walking towards Rumple. She knew had tried that once before and it hadn't worked. But in that moment, she could either do nothing and die, or try something and maybe survive. "Rumple, the dagger... you have to resist it. Please! We all depend on it."
After realizing what she was planning on doing, Rumple tried to take a few steps back and win back that little distance between them. Because that distance, as much as he said he didn't believe in it, meant hope. Hope Belle would survive for another second, and another and another. But instead, his hand ignited a fireball and Rumple started feeling the heat of Belle's demise. "Belle, I... I can't! It's too powerful!"
"Rumple, look at me. Fight it. I know you can. You can do anything you want." Belle took another step to him standing just a few inches from her husband, feeling the heat of the fireball he had readied for her. She put her hand in his hearts and kissed him on the lips. If that was her last moment alive, then she sure as hell wouldn't mind spending it kissing Rumple.
As Rumple fell her warmth fill his whole body and later tasted her lips, he felt the voice in his head getting stronger, that still small voice which was still his instead of the dagger's lure. They were both clearly there, still arguing, but Rumple could feel his voice of reason was getting more powerful. Not knowing how long that would last, Rumple started to slowly turn around, with his hand shaking like a scared little kid.
Cruella was really appreciating that little almost sweet scene, until she realized it was taking Rumple too long to finish it. And she got even more terrified when he started turning to her. She could see he was trying to fight the power of the dagger. She had never heard of anything like that before, a dark one disobeying orders, but she had to put an end to it. She grabbed the dagger in her hand really tightly, feeling her hand starting to sweat around it, and stretched her arm in Rumple's direction. "Rumple, I command you to kill them!"
Rumple closed his eyes, trying to make that other voice in his head shut up. Trying to win over it. And he still was winning. All he needed was to be in control for two more seconds, and then he could relax and rest, because that was really exhausting him, taking his energy away. Before he was able to do anything, he was just able to hear one more thing. At first, he thought it was the voice in his head, but he quickly realized it was actually Belle's. "We need her alive", she said simply. With a quick move of his hand, Rumple blasted Cruella to the wall and watched as she flew and fell to the ground. After that, it was his turn. He kneeled on main street, giving up on that fight. But at least the voice in his head had shut up. Cruella didn't control him anymore.
With Cruella passed out on the ground, Belle ran to her and grabbed the dagger. After it, she looked back, seeing Elsa, Regina and Zelena were able to move already. She rushed back to Rumple, kneeling next to him. "Rumple, are you okay?"
With his hands on his head, trying to relieve it, Rumple barely heard Belle. He was fine, He just needed some time. Not sure if he could even form words, Rumple just nodded.
"How did you do that?" Like everyone else there, expect maybe Belle, Regina had no idea that was even possible, fighting the call of the dagger. But after that, Regina would never ever judge Rumple again. It definitely had to take a lot of strength to do that. And a lot of love too. Turns out, Rumple does love Belle more than his power.
After a few minutes, Rumple had already started to feel better. He got up with Belle helping him, even though he didn't need it, and looked at Cruella's body, still there on the ground. "What do you want with her?" He was actually going to kill her if Belle hadn't told him anything. He had never really liked her, and especially not in the last couple days.
Looking alternately at Rumple and Cruella, Regina smirked. That had been David's idea, but she had to admit it was a damn great one. Two birds, one stone. "To bring Snow back. A life for a life, am I right?"