Chapter Sixty-Four—"Revelations"
Belle landed with a crash, and for a long moment, the world went black. She wasn't sure that she hadn't hit her head on the way down, and panic started to rise when her vision didn't immediately clear, but then searing pain captured her attention and Belle cried out. Everything hurt, and when her eyes finally started working, she was treated to a display of falling dust and wood chips, with a few pieces of plywood crashing down around her to add spice to the display. Luckily, none of them landed on her, and Belle was able to gather herself—with an effort—and try to take an inventory of what hurt the most. Her right ankle was throbbing madly, and the right side of her face felt like a thousand needles were sticking into it. That was where Hook had hit her, Belle remembered vaguely, shaking her head and struggling into a sitting position.
Oh. Breathing was harder than usual. Was that because of all the dust and grime in the air, or had she hurt something vital? Belle couldn't tell, but there was an ominous wheeze coming every time she took a breath. She was so dizzy that it took her a moment to even remember how or why she'd fallen, but when the memory hit her, Belle immediately tried to get up.
Bad idea. She crumbled back to the ground with a gasp, her ankle folding under her and the world around her doing mad cartwheels. Belle barely managed to catch herself with both hands before she collapsed completely, somehow staying in an awkward sitting position while her ribs protested madly. Blinking, she tried to look at her ankle, and finally discovered that half the problem lay in the way the heel had snapped straight off of that shoe. Desperately, she pulled both shoes off and struggled back to her feet. This time, her ankle supported her—barely—but at least she could stand.
A glance upwards told her that Hook was still on the stairs leading down from the clock tower, which meant that the pirate hadn't fallen, too. On one hand, that was a good thing; he'd have a hard time climbing down from up there, and Belle would need the time to get away. On the other hand, however, she half-wished that he'd taken a tumble, too. Belle wasn't sure what Hook had meant to do if he'd managed to grab her, but she was certain that it wasn't good. After all, she'd refused to give him the information he wanted, playing dumb where the dagger was concerned, and that certainly wasn't the kind of thing that would make him happy. Even now, he was looking for a way to climb down, because the stairs were absolutely wrecked and he would either have to jump the huge gap or shimmy down the frame. Every delay worked in her favor, though, because Belle wasn't limping anywhere fast.
"Lacey?" a voice called as she took a cautious step forward, hissing in pain when her ankle protested. "Lacey!"
Oh, right. That was still the name everyone here thought was hers. Belle was still too dizzy for her mind to work properly, and it took her a moment to recognize her own cursed name and turn to face the person calling her. When she did turn, she swayed precariously. Whatever was wrong with her ankle, it really didn't want to work right, and Belle was starting to wonder if she'd manage to hobble anywhere at all.
Thankfully, Emma Swan rushed up, asking: "You okay? What happened?"
"I fell," she replied thickly, grateful when Emma grabbed her left arm to balance her. Her mouth was so dry from the dust in the air, and Belle had to cough before she could add: "H—he was chasing me, and I fell."
She'd almost called Hook by the nickname he'd earned in their world, but Belle managed to catch herself just in time. But she didn't have the energy to point Hook's way, either.
"O'Malley?" the sheriff said in surprise, obviously having noticed the pirate-turned-marina owner, who was still busy trying to find a way down. "Why would he be chasing you?"
"Something—" Belle lost the next words in a coughing fit that wasn't at all feigned, though she honestly had no idea how to explain the ongoing feud between her husband and the pirate.
"Let's get you out of here, okay? The sheriff's station isn't far, and we can get you sitting down and call an ambulance if you need one."
"No ambulance," Belle muttered, really not wanting to have to deal with the hospital after Rumple's experiences there. Whale was a good enough doctor, but she'd made the mistake of asking who had been back in his own world. Belle was a big believer in taking people as she found them, but even she was a bit wary of letting a man who stitched together dead bodies work on her. Particularly since Lacey had read Frankenstein. More than once, too.
"Let's get you to the station first, all right?" Emma clearly decided that pressing now wasn't going to work, but Belle was certainly grateful for her presence. There was no way in the world that Hook would come after here with the sheriff around, was there?
"All right."
Leaning on Emma, Belle hobbled forward and found that her ankle would at least support some of her weight. They made slow progress, barely having crossed the street by the time Hook made it down from the clock tower, but at least the pirate didn't follow them. Or if he did, he didn't do so closely enough that Belle could see him through her dizziness, anyway. That, she decided, was worth something, at least.
Kathryn Cole didn't even know why she was here. She had had a boyfriend, not too long ago, right up until a nasty breakup that had happened for reasons she couldn't remember. Then she'd fooled around with Jefferson for a bit, but the manager of Modern Fashions wasn't nearly as interesting as he seemed to think he was. That, and he was the father of one of the students at her school, which meant Kathryn had to see his daughter from time to time. Despite being a school principal, she'd never been great with kids, which just made that awkward as hell.
Now, however, she was on a date with a married man who was supposedly having an affair with one of her own former employees. Kathryn had immensely disliked taking Mary Margaret Blanchard's leavings when it came to dating Jefferson, so why was she here with the man Mary Margaret was apparently head over heels in love with? They didn't even have much in common, and making small talk was torturous. Under other circumstances, she would have walked out of Dave's Fish and Chips right then and there, but something made her stick around. This had to be the most boring date she'd ever been on, yet here she was, munching on greasy fries and listening to David Nolan blabber on about some cat or another from the animal shelter.
"I don't like cats," she finally said, and he looked at her in surprise.
"I thought you said you wanted to come see the animal shelter?" David asked stupidly
"I…" She had said that, hadn't she? How stupid was Kathryn today? "I'm allergic," she said with a roll of her eyes, but then the next words came out unexpectedly: "But I'd still like to look. Maybe I'll learn to like something new."
What was wrong with her? Kathryn hadn't meant to say that, but when she tried to open her mouth to take it back, the words wouldn't come. Confusion flickered briefly across David's face before he smiled a really odd smile. Maybe he was feeling as weird as she was.
"Great. How about tomorrow, right after school gets out?"
That same forced smile washed over her face, and Kathryn wanted to scream. The next sentence escape all on its own, too. "It's a date."
5 Months Before the Curse
"Snow!" David called, striding into their chambers with a grin on his face. He knew that his wife wouldn't be particularly happy with him dealing with Rumplestiltskin, but he also knew that she'd be delighted to finally get her mother's necklace back. Snow had mentioned the fact that Cora had kept it more than once, and David knew what this necklace meant to her.
"In here!" his love called, and David made his way through the labyrinth of rooms to find Snow in the nursery they'd set up, along with his mother.
Perfect. Snow won't be so angry if Mother is here, the shepherd-turned-prince thought. Of course, neither could officially acknowledge Ruth as David's mother without giving away the entire charade of him being George's son, but George had allowed Ruth to be named as the governess for their unborn child, which gave Ruth plenty of excuses to spend time with the couple now. That was uncommonly kind of George, but the hard-edged king seemed to be softening slightly as Snow's pregnancy progressed safely, and David was glad for that.
"Hey," he said, leaning in to kiss Snow lightly. Then he stepped over to kiss his mother on the cheek, too, smiling at her. "Mother."
No one was listening. He could call her that every now and then, and Ruth's face split into a huge smile every time he did. "Hello, sweetheart," she said, reaching out to squeeze his hand.
"What's making you grin so happily?" Snow asked curiously, studying him.
"I brought you a gift," David replied. "Or rather, I'm returning one to you."
"And here I thought you'd already given me everything a queen or a princess could desire," his wife teased him, her eyes sparkling.
"All but this," he told her, pulling the necklace out from where he'd tucked it away for safekeeping inside his doublet. David held it out to Snow, and watched her mouth drop open.
"Where did you get this?" she whispered in awe.
"Rumplestiltskin." He'd decided to be honest about this, because he knew that Snow wouldn't expect him to go back on a deal once he'd made it. She might not agree with him, but she wouldn't stop him, either.
"Charming, I thought we talked about this. You weren't going to make another deal with him, and—"
"It's all right," David cut her off. "He didn't ask for anything extraordinary. All I have to do is hide a potion away—one that will also help protect us—and then offer protection to someone for him at some unspecified date in the future. In return, he gave back your necklace, and it's enchanted to protect both you and our baby."
"But…but what if whoever he wants us to protect is someone terrible?" Snow asked quietly, obviously wanting to grab the necklace but not allowing herself to.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, what matters is the safety of you and our child," he argued as gently as he could. "I'm sorry I did this without you, but I knew you'd stop me."
"Of course I would have!"
Reaching out, David touched her cheek. "I love you too much to lose you. Both of you. So, please. Let me protect you, just a little?"
"Charming…" Snow trailed off with a sigh, and finally took the necklace. "I can't stop you now that you've made the deal," she continued, moving in to hug him tightly. "Just please be careful, all right?"
"Always. You know I'll always come back to you," he replied, hugging her back. "No matter what."
"I know," she said softly. "And I love you for it."
David had never known what he'd done to deserve this amazing woman in his life, but he knew that there was nothing in the world that could make him let her go. Not curses, not evil queens, and certainly not deals with the Dark One. He would do what he had to in order to keep his family safe, and he would come home to them. Every time.
Lacey seemed a little more focused when they reached the sheriff's station, but Emma still took her straight into the back office. Both ignored Moe French's sudden exclamations as Emma helped Lacey limp in; as far as Emma was concerned, if Lacey didn't want to talk to the two prisoners, she didn't have to. So, she tuned out the men and got Lacey into a chair, wincing sympathetically when Lacey bit back a whimper of pain as Emma eased her down. The former librarian was barefoot save for her stockings, which were torn and ragged by now, and her right ankle did seem very swollen. She was breathing a little unevenly, too, enough that Emma was ready to call an ambulance despite the other woman's wishes. Lacey, however, was already fumbling for her own phone.
"Hey," the brunette said when the other person answered, her voice a little thick but sounding more coherent than it had when Emma had found her amongst dust and rubble. "Can you come to the sheriff's station? I…I fell, and Emma helped me here."
The voice on the other end said something, but all Emma caught was a bit of digitals-sounding static.
"Thanks," Lacey said feelingly, and then hung up a moment later, which gave Emma a chance to speak up.
"I really think we should call the hospital. We can get Whale to come here, if you don't want to go in."
"I'll be okay, really," the very-dusty librarian replied with a strained smile. "Let's see if the swelling goes down at all first, anyway."
Sighing, Emma sat down in the chair across from Lacey and threw a level look her way. "You ready to tell me what happened, then?" she asked. "You said that O'Malley was chasing you."
"He was," she looked away briefly, but Emma didn't think she was lying. Just a little concussed and hurting more than she wanted to let on.
"Do you know why?"
"He wanted something that he thinks Mr. Gold has, and he wanted me to find it for him," Lacey replied, and Emma got the feeling she was choosing her words very carefully. "I said no."
"Wait, he wanted you to steal something for him?" Emma said incredulously. That didn't sound too much like Killian, though she did think that the marina owner could be very focused sometimes. He was definitely a take-what-he-wanted kind of guy, but she couldn't see him being foolish enough to ask Lacey to steal something from Gold. Except for the fact that I don't think most people in this town realize they're married, the sheriff thought. Hell, there's no knowing how long they would have hid that if Cora hadn't tried to have someone steal Lacey's daughter away.
That little incident had made Emma hate Cora more than she thought possible. Anyone who had shown enough courage to keep their child, to work hard to support her as a single mother, and raise a little girl on their own should damn well be allowed to keep said child. Particularly when the allegations in support of taking Renee were so ridiculous! Granted, everyone in town seemed to think that Lacey was Gold's semi-willing whore, but Emma had seen them together often enough to know that wasn't true. Frankly, she still wondered if Gold had been being literal when he'd called Renee 'their' child, because Emma was really starting to think that Gold was the mysterious father no one knew about. That would explain everything, particularly since Graham had told her they'd been together for years. And Henry says they're Beauty and the Beast, too. It fit, particularly with Cora's determination to tear them apart.
"He said that it belonged to him," Lacey shrugged in response to her question. "I think he was lying. But there's bad blood between O'Malley and Gold, and I'm not going to get in the middle of that."
"I didn't know that about them." Then again, I don't know much about Killian, do I? I know he likes ships, likes the sea, and he likes feisty women. Otherwise, he doesn't share too much at all, Emma thought to herself, but alarms were starting to ring in her head. Was Killian O'Malley the type who was willing to go after a woman for the sake of revenge? She didn't want to think so. Still, she needed the facts, so she continued: "You said he was chasing you."
"He hit me," was the blunt response as the other woman gestured at her bruised right cheek. "Pretty hard. So, I tried to get around him and ran for the stairs…and then something went wrong. One of the stairs broke under me, and I fell."
"He didn't push you?" Emma liked Killian well enough, even if she found his constant pursuit of her almost as wearying as August's pestering, but she needed to know.
"I don't think so," Lacey answered. "He tried to grab me before I ran, and he did hit me, but I don't think he pushed me."
"Don't think who pushed you, sweetheart?" a third voice intruded, and Emma twisted to see Gold striding in like an avenging demon. She'd never seen such a dangerous expression on his face, not even when he'd ordered Cora around over the phone. Now he looked ready to kill, or at least until he stopped in front of Lacey and dropped into a crouch. Then his eyes softened remarkably, and he reached out to take her hands gently in his own.
The contrast was spectacular, and the level look Lacey gave him was very sobering.
"Before I answer that, you need to promise me you'll let the sheriff deal with this. Please?" she asked. "I wasn't pushed, and I'll be all right. I fell on my own."
Gold's expression took on a supremely constipated air, as if he was struggling with himself. After a moment of scowling, however, he relented: "I promise that I will not stand in the sheriff's way."
"Or do anything else. Let the law take care of this," Lacey replied right away, and damn that woman was made of steel. Emma couldn't think of anyone else in town who would dare face Gold down like this.
"Sweetheart…" The word came out as a very affectionate growl, and yes, Emma suddenly could see this man as the Beast.
"Please?"
"Fine." Apparently, Gold couldn't resist those blue eyes, either. "If you let me heal you. None of this modern medical nonsense, or you telling me you'll be fine. Deal?"
Lacey smiled. "It's a deal."
"Good," Gold replied, letting go of her hands to turn his attention to her ankle, slowly rolling her knee-high stocking down to look at it. Emma, however, was still stuck on what he'd just said.
"Heal?" she sputtered.
Gold finally quirked a smile, the lines around his eyes crinkling in what she thought was genuine amusement. "Well, Regina tried flashing fireballs at you with little success in the believing department, so I thought I would demonstrate something a bit more complicated."
"Regina…said you have magic," Emma replied as levelly as she could, which wasn't very well.
"Ah, did she, now?" he chuckled. "Well, then, Sheriff, watch and learn something."
Watch she did. Eyes wide, Emma watched Gold's hands glow a very pale blue, hovering less than an inch over his wife's ankle and moving gently through the air without touching her. After a moment, the swelling reduced dramatically, the ankle returning to normal size within a few seconds as cuts closed up and even the dirt and bruises faded away. Gold shifted slightly to do the same for Lacey's other foot, even though that was only bruised and cut a tiny bit, before rising and studying Lacey's midsection.
"You've cracked two ribs, sweetheart," he said quietly, and Lacey looked up at him.
"I was hoping it was only bruises," she admitted sheepishly.
"Where did you fall from?"
Lacey grimaced. "Partway down the clock tower stairs."
"You"—Gold bit the word off with what was obviously an effort, tapping Lacey's left elbow. "Never mind that. Up."
She seemed to understand him even if Emma wasn't sure what Gold meant, lifting her left arm out of the way and wincing in pain while she did so. Had Gold not grasped her hand and done something that obviously quelled the whimper rising on Lacey's lips, Emma would have objected, but Lacey was watching the pawnbroker with an expression of complete trust. Again, his spare hand glowed blue and Emma could see Lacey's breathing ease within seconds. She hadn't, however, expected Lacey to lean in briefly so that her head nestled into Gold's chest, wearing a soft smile. He didn't say anything, or even look surprised, merely shifting enough so that his right hand could reach for Lacey's dark blue and purple cheek. Within moments, that bruise vanished, too, and then Lacey yawned.
"Can't the price be something other than me being so sleepy?" she asked, almost but not quite pouting.
"Aside from me behaving myself, you mean?" Gold quipped, and that made Lacey smile again.
"Point taken," she replied, rolling her eyes slightly.
"Price?" Emma couldn't help asking. If Gold wanted her to see something, he could hardly object to her asking questions, now, could he?
Besides, this was fascinating. Yeah, Regina had shown her a fire ball, and she'd heavily implied that Gold had somehow both healed himself and fiddled with the hospital records to hide the depth of his original injuries. Maybe with people's memories, too. But seeing this, seeing real magic done in front of her face, eliminating injuries Emma had seen for herself…well, it was kind of extraordinary. More than kind of, really. This was real. Magic was 100% real and in this world, and that meant the curse really had to be real, too. She'd been toying with believing until now, the skeptic inside her insisting that there was some other real-world explanation, but this kind of thing didn't happen in the real world. Maybe it was time she told her inner skeptic to take a hike.
"All magic comes with a price," Gold answered smoothly. "Think of it as magic's equivalent of Newton's Third Law. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and all magic comes with a price. It's magic's way of equalizing things."
"What are you, some sort of Ph.D. in magic or something?" she snorted.
Lacey snickered; Gold scowled. Lacey, however, got in first: "If our world had doctorates in magic, he would have had every last one of them," she replied cheerfully.
"Wait a minute. You just said 'our world'," Emma pointed out, staring at the pair as Gold helped Lacey to her feet. "You remember too? How the hell is some super evil curse this inefficient? I thought no one was supposed to remember!"
"The list is getting rather long, isn't it?" Lacey said with another smile, glancing down as she flexed her ankle experimentally. Then she looked up, continuing: "But I do remember. My name is actually Belle, but I'm sure Henry has told you that. He used to tell me before I remembered everything. I think he was trying to make me feel better."
"Henry's like that," she replied automatically. Her head was spinning. So, Lacey—no, Belle—remembered who she was supposed to be, too. That at least explained why she was married to Gold, who obviously knew who he was. "So…Renee is actually your kid. Both of yours."
Both Golds tensed, but Lacey got in first. "Please don't spread that around. Cora…things would go very badly if Cora realized that. She didn't know we were married in the Enchanted Forest, and it would be dangerous if she knew."
"What, she didn't know Beauty and the Beast got together? Anyone who's seen the Disney movie can—"
"We need to be going," Gold interjected, and Lacey threw him a quizzical look. A moment of silent communication passed between the pair, completely unreadable to Emma, and then Lacey nodded. "Thank you for your assistance, Sheriff. I trust you will deal with the situation as required?"
"Yeah, I'll do my job," she found herself replying a bit stiffly. In love with 'Belle' or not—thinking of her that way would take some getting used to—Gold could still be really off-putting. But that wouldn't change anything as far as Emma's job as sheriff was concerned. She already had Lacey's statement. She'd look for witnesses next, and find out what in the world had happened. She'd probably end up arresting O'Malley for assault, too, and wouldn't that be awkward since she'd gone on a date with him? Fortunately, it had only been one. The fact that he was helping them plan a break in to the Basement would be far more awkward, but Emma couldn't overlook this.
"Thank you," Lacey said a good deal more kindly than Gold had spoken, and she took Gold by the hand to lead him out of the office. Emma followed the pair automatically, not expecting any trouble until she heard Moe French shout:
"You get away from my daughter, you monster!"
The florist was at the very front of his cell, clutching desperately at the bars and all but frothing at the mouth. Gold, for his part, had frozen when Moe started shouting, and didn't manage to say anything before Tony Rose growled:
"We'll do far worse to you if you don't leave her alone."
"What kind of idiots are you two, saying that when I'm standing right here?" Emma demanded before Lacey could say anything to either one—and Lacey sure as hell looked ready to bite both of their heads off. "That's not going to help you at your trial, you know."
"Sheriff, you can't let him near Lacey. He'll hurt her, just like we know he already has," Moe pleaded, pausing to shoot another glare at Gold. "He's all but bought her, and lord only knows what he expects her to do—"
"Don't push me, dearie," Gold interjected, his voice quiet and suddenly menacing. He might have frozen a moment earlier, but now his posture was nothing like that of a man facing two larger men who had beat him almost to death. Now he radiated danger, and there was something in the air that sent a shiver down Emma's spine. Gold, however, continued in that same soft voice: "I've stayed away from you both for her sake. Don't make me forget that."
"You see, Sheriff?" Moe tried, but Lacey cut in.
"Shut up, Dad. This my life, and you can stay out of it." Then she turned to Gold. "Let's go home."
Gold glared at the two men for another moment before relenting, and again, Emma was intrigued by how much his expression softened when he looked at Lacey. They left without another word, but Emma didn't forget the way Gold had looked at Moe French and Tony Rose. Not for a moment.
The doorbell rang as Regina was helping Henry with his math homework. Math had always been his worst subject, mostly because he didn't really care to apply himself there, his mother felt. But she still treasured the little moments she got to spend with him, because the one thing Regina hated about the idea of the curse breaking was the thought that she was going to lose bits of Henry along the way. Oh, she already shared him with his grandfather/adopted father, and having Snow step up as his grandmother (odd though it would be, having her sister's grandson call her 'Mom') wouldn't be terribly different. But Emma was becoming more and more involved in Henry's life, and although Regina didn't begrudge her niece the time Emma spent with their shared son, adjusting was still difficult. She had a feeling things would only get more complicated once the curse was broken, too.
"I'll get it!" Henry piped up immediately, bolting for the door before Regina could stop him. David had called earlier, saying something about working late and not waiting dinner on him, which meant they'd been left alone all evening. Regina wasn't expecting anyone, and Emma had long since given up on using the doorbell at all, so she had no idea who might be visiting as she followed in Henry's wake.
"Um…Mom?" Suddenly, there was worry in her son's voice, and Regina rushed to him, only to find her mother and that obnoxious redhead on her doorstep.
"What do you want?" she demanded, remembering how Henry was convinced that Chloe Zephyr was the Wicked Witch of the West.
"Is that any way to greet your mother, darling?" Cora purred, and Regina reached out to pull Henry behind her.
"Go upstairs, Henry."
"That won't be necessary," the redhead smiled, and Regina turned her glare on him.
"You don't get a say on what my child does in my house," she snapped, but suddenly the other woman vanished in a cloud of green smoke and appeared behind Henry, grabbing his shoulder. "Henry!"
She jumped forward, only for a wave of magic to shove her backwards. Regina lashed out on instinct, but her blow barely seemed to faze Cora, who simply stepped through the door as if she were queen in her own domain, closing it gently behind her.
"Let me take her heart, Mother," Zephyr said, eagerness dripping from the sugary sweet tone. "Or better yet, his."
Henry struggled ineffectively against her grip, but Regina was too shocked to use the magic now fizzling uselessly in her hands. She twisted to look at Cora. " 'Mother'?"
"Oh, dear, I've been remiss. Regina, darling, allow me to introduce you to your elder sister, Zelena."
"Hello, sis," Zelena grinned as Regina stared. "It's so lovely to have the cat out of the bag, isn't it?"
"You…you…you can't be my sister," she finally managed to stutter. The Wicked Witch of the West was her sister? There was no way. Her mother would have mentioned it. Wouldn't she have? Confused, Regina twisted to look for answers from a woman she had not willingly turned to since she was a child. "Mother?"
"You are half-sisters, of course," Cora confirmed. "While you were busy defying me with inappropriate stable boys in the Enchanted Forest, Zelena was ruling Oz. You can see why I turned to her when you proved inadequate."
"Do let me take his heart, Mother. Please?" Zelena whined before Regina could manage to swallow her shock.
"Let go of me!" Henry continued to struggle.
"Shut up, brat, or I'll rip your heart out right now," the redhead snarled, and that jerked Regina out of her frozen state.
"Good luck with that," she finally grated out, drawing defensive spells to herself even as she spoke. "I've put protection spells on him to prevent that. I have met my mother before, you know."
Her spells might save Henry, Regina knew—or at least save him from having his heart ripped out—but they wouldn't save her. She could get Henry away, but there was no way she could beat both her mother and her sister. Regina was fairly sure she couldn't beat Cora on her own, since she'd never managed before, and with Zelena there to help, she knew she was well and truly screwed. She could bluff, though, and pray she got enough time to call on Rumplestiltskin. He probably didn't want to have an all-out battle just yet, but Regina knew he was good to his word, and he didn't want her dead, anyway.
"Pity," Zelena huffed, and then looked back at Cora. "Then let me take her heart instead. Please? It would be a fitting punishment for how she betrayed you."
"Not yet," Cora smiled, and the coldness in that expression made Regina shiver. "We will, but first you must wait. We both know the curse won't last much longer, but when Regina's beloved stepsister and her family wake up…well, there will be so much more to lose, won't there, darling?"
Stepping forward, Cora touched Regina's cheek lightly, and Regina didn't dare pull away. There was nothing about this situation that couldn't get worse, and she couldn't risk starting a fight she couldn't win unless she had no other choice. Still, her mother's touch made her skin crawl, made Regina want to yank away and throw every bit of magic she could manage Cora's way. Standing still took all of the self-control she'd ever possessed.
"Mother, please," she finally whispered, taking the only tact she thought might work. "Leave Henry out of this. He's only a boy, and—"
"And the Savior's son, yes," her mother cut her off lightly. "I do often wonder how Rumple pulled that one off, but that's a question for him, not you. Henry, however, is a part of this, my darling girl, whether you want him to be or not. Still, he's safe enough. For now."
She would not beg further. It would do no good, and Zelena wouldn't be giggling like that if Cora hadn't told her that she'd be let loose on Henry at some point. No, Regina wouldn't beg. Instead, she'd find a way to beat them. Both of them, if she had to.
"Won't this be fun, sis?" Zelena piped up, finally stepping away from Henry to get right in Regina's face. "I've been dying to meet you, and now I get everything you discarded. You weren't strong enough to stand on your own like I was, and now I win."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Regina couldn't help asking.
"You're foolish if you don't see it."
"This isn't a contest!"
Zelena laughed, and her giggle was possibly the most grating sound Regina had ever heard. "Of course it is. Shall we go, Mother?"
"Indeed," Cora smiled, patting Regina's shoulder gently. "I'll see you again, Regina. We're not finished."
"I didn't think we were," Regina managed to growl before the pair disappeared, and then she rushed forward to gather her son into her arms. She wasn't going to lose him, not to her power hungry mother and psychopath of a sister. She would fight for him with everything she had.
5 Months Before the Curse
"You really are pitiful, aren't you?" Zelena said, peering through the bars at the figure huddled up in the back. "Really, I can't see what Regina ever saw in you."
Daniel looked up at her, his face streaked by grime. He was thin as a rail and his clothes in tatters, yet the stableboy still met Zelena's eyes levelly. He had courage; she had to give him that. But plenty of men had courage. Some even found it when they had nothing else to recommend them. Die bravely all you want, Zelena thought behind her smile. You're still dead and useless.
"True Love," the stableboy replied hoarsely. "I love her, and she loves me. Somehow, I doubt you'd understand that."
"Of course I understand love!" she snapped, not liking those implications at all. It was probably her green face. People saw that and always assumed the worst. Really, they were at fault. If they couldn't see Zelena for what she was, and love her the way she was supposed to be loved, well, they deserved what they got, didn't they? "I just think she wasted it on you."
Daniel just smiled sadly, but Zelena burned to extinguish the light still in his eyes. That light was for Regina, and she would destroy it. Here and now.
"Besides, she's abandoned you, anyway. She's not coming back," Zelena giggled. "So much for your precious True Love. Regina chose a brat of a princess over you."
"I know," he replied serenely. "I told her to."
Fury whipped out of Zelena before she could even think of stopping it, magic coming to her fingers and slamming Daniel into the wall like a ragdoll. She wanted to kill him, but couldn't; Mother had uses for him. However, that didn't mean she couldn't hurt him, and listening to Daniel scream when the darkness tore into him was music to her ears.
"Regina betrayed our mother! She doesn't deserve love!" she snarled, listening to Daniel scream again as her magic attacked him once more.
"It's not about deserving," Daniel panted. "I love her. I always will."
This time the darkness almost escaped her control, and her magic hit Daniel so hard that he slumped, unconscious. Zelena contemplated waking him to hurt him more, but she decided that he wasn't worth it. Mother was expecting her, anyway, waiting for her true and loyal daughter to stand at her side. They were going to visit a sorcerer who had recently arrived from Agrabah, and Zelena wanted to be at her best for that.
A/N: Sorry about the late update! The Sick got me yesterday, and I was down for the count. In better news, however, the winner of the word count contest has decided to share their chosen spoiler with everyone! I'll be posting the spoiler scene (Gabrielle waking up) on my tumblr today (for those of you who aren't on tumblr, the link is at the top of my profile page).
Next up: Chapter Sixty-Five—"Irons in the Fire," where Emma arrests Hook (and meets his smarmy lawyer), Mary Margret goes to Regina for help concerning David, Blue, Neal runs into problems leaving New York, and Regina confronts Rumplestiltskin about Zelena. Back in the past, Charming tracks down the best thief in the Enchanted Forest.