Chapter Sixty-Seven—"Queen of Hearts"

Regina had Emma meet her and Errol out in Storybrooke park on the first day of March. They sat at a picnic table between rainstorms, which was a wet and miserable location, but at least it was somewhere that would be pretty close to impossible to bug. Emma, however, was damn curious about why Regina had brought her boyfriend along (if that was what he was) for a meeting about how they were going to break into the Basement.

"Errol has a little experience in breaking and entering," Regina explained as soon as they sat down.

"My misspent youth," the man who had rescued Henry replied with a shrug and a smile. "Though being able to pick any lock is pretty damn useful as a firefighter, too."

"Don't you guys usually use axes to break down doors?" Emma couldn't help asking curiously.

"Assuming the door won't win, yeah," Errol said with a grin. "Sometimes picking the lock is faster, and I'm good at getting in and out of places quickly."

"I've done a bit of lock picking myself, but I was never terribly quick at it," she admitted.

"What, you aren't the great criminal mastermind the mayor would have us believe you are?" he laughed, and then winced when Regina elbowed him. "Owh!"

"Crybaby," Regina scolded him fondly, and Errol grinned before looking more seriously at Emma.

"Regina tells me that you're looking to break into this legendary 'Basement' that is underneath Very Merry Escorts," he said. "I took a walk around that neighborhood last night with my son, and it seems doable—there's a back door that probably leads right downwards, at least judging from the plans available in City Records. Getting in should be the easy part."

"You went to City Records?" Emma stared at him, starting to wonder if Regina's boy-toy was going to get them caught before they even started.

Errol shrugged. "We do it all the time, so that we know what places look like in case they light on fire. I had my team pull the whole street."

"Is that normal?"

"Normal enough that no one asks questions," he answered as Regina beamed. "Anyway, the problem isn't getting in, Emma. Or even getting out. We can probably do both easily enough. I've got codes to every security system in town, and I've never met a door I can't open. But even if everything works, where are you going to put the people that are down there? I'm presuming we're not just going in for Ruby."

"No, of course not," Emma answered automatically, and then abruptly realized she had no idea how many people were down there. She knew of Ruby and Vicky Scadlock—who claimed to be named Anastasia—but surely there were others. Killian hadn't said how many, and given that he was a little irked with her for having arrested him, he probably wasn't going to volunteer anything else.

"Damnit," Regina breathed as Emma racked her brain for an idea. "Errol's right. We can't just send them home—Mother would have them rounded up again immediately."

"That's not legal," Emma protested.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Mother's not terribly interested in legal, you know. I'm going to bet that everyone in there has pissed her off in one way or another, so if she can't keep them in one convenient spot, she'll probably just have them killed."

"Surely she doesn't have that much power," Errol objected before Emma could answer, and Regina grimaced.

"Never underestimate the depths of depravity that my mother is willing to dive to," she said. "Until someone stops her, she'll do whatever the hell she wants."

"Then why the hell do we keep electing her?" he asked, looking bewildered.

That's the curse in action, Emma realized, and the thought almost sounded like Henry's voice. He can't remember actually voting, but he's sure he has. "I think we're getting a bit far off topic," she cut in before Regina managed to think of an answer to that. "Where do we put however many people are down there?"

She looked at Regina, hoping for an answer, but the older woman just shrugged. "I can guarantee you that Mother knows everywhere that I can think of."

"Out in the woods?" Errol volunteered, and then grimaced. "No. There's no telling if they have any survival skills, and if they don't have them, March is too cold to leave them out in the woods without help."

"I didn't know you had survival skills," Regina said, looking at him oddly.

Errol seemed confused for a moment, and then shrugged. "I must have gone camping a few times."

Later, when Regina told Emma that Errol Forrester was actually Robin Hood, everything started to make sense. That day, however, all they could do was put their plan on hold until they could find somewhere safe to put an unknown number of people. Killian had hinted at the Basement being a thoroughly nasty place—as had Gold, months ago, now that Emma thought on it—which meant that those people might also not be in prime physical condition. They couldn't afford to screw this up, and although Emma hated the idea of waiting, she knew they had to. For now.

4 Months Before the Curse

"You do realize this is a terrible idea, don't you?" Robin asked as they approached the castle.

"You've only pointed that out about a hundred times," David retorted dryly, though he still smiled.

"Seven. I've been counting," the outlaw countered, grinning back.

"Oh, well, if it's only seven, perhaps I'll listen when you get to one hundred and one."

"Oh, it'll be far too late by then," Robin laughed, leading the way around the overgrown gardens and onto a narrow path that led along the cliff that the Forbidden Fortress was perched upon. "I suppose in the meantime, we'll simply have to rob the Mistress of All Evil."

"Technically, we're not robbing her," the prince pointed out, but Robin only shrugged cheerfully.

David had not expected to like Robin Hood so much when Rumplestiltskin had sent him to team up with the outlaw. But Robin was smart—far smarter than most thieves David had met—and made a good travelling companion. It had taken them almost a week to reach Maleficent's castle, during which time the outlaw had given as good as he'd gotten, and David was already starting to think of Robin as a friend. Robin had also proven damn useful—David had heard rumors of Maleficent hiding out as a dragon in a cave somewhere, but Robin's friends had found out that she was back in her castle, which saved them an awful lot of travelling.

Not like she's going to be happy to see me, the shepherd turned king thought. Not after Snow and I refused to ally with her. But what else were we supposed to do when she burned those guards to death? David and Snow had hoped to visit the Tree of Wisdom with Maleficent, who had told them it contained the secret to defeating the curse she claimed Cora was planning to cast. Yet in the end, they'd not even made it to the tree; Cora's soldiers had caught up with Snow and David, almost as if Maleficent had betrayed them. That accusation had created a giant argument with the Queens of Darkness, and Snow and Charming had decided that they would find another way to beat Cora. However, two months later, David found himself sneaking into Maleficent's castle. As if I need to give her another reason to dislike me!

Yet, Rumplestiltskin had promised protection for David's unborn child, and David would walk through fire if that's what it took. In fact, he might just have to if—

"You all right, there?" Robin's voice broke through his musings as they stopped at the bottom of a short cliff face. They'd have to climb from here, which wasn't David's favorite thing to do, but he'd survive.

"Yeah," he answered slowly. "Just kind of lost in my thoughts."

"Well, it's probably time to focus, given how close we're getting. Breaking into a sorceress' castle isn't exactly safe, you know."

"Hey, you're the one who's done this before."

"And I lived to regret it. She found us out last time," Robin pointed out. "And even if we aren't exactly stealing anything, I—look out!"

Robin's bow came up, and instinct made David duck. He'd moved just in time; there was a twang very close to his ear, and he swore he could feel the rush of air as an arrow flew by so closely that it almost touched him. A second arrow followed, and then there was a loud roar, but by the time David twisted around to look, Robin was already notching his third arrow on his bow. Heart racing, David turned his head to follow along the outlaw's bow sight, only to see a giant black bear dying on the ground not twenty feet away from them, with one arrow buried in its eye and another in its heart.

"What the hell?" he finally managed to say.

"I don't know. It's not like a bear to come so close without a warning," Robin replied, striding over to make sure the beast was dead. "They're territorial, but I've never had one approach so quietly. It was almost like this one was trying to sneak up on us."

"I didn't think Maleficent could control animals," David said, following Robin's train of thought.

"Neither did I, but I wasn't going to take any chances," was the answer, and David nodded fervently.

Why did he have the feeling that this little trip was only going to get more dangerous from here on out?

They met outside Granny's.

"Hey," Mary Margaret said softly, feeling a little out of place and hesitant. She wanted to believe David's apologies, desperately wanted to think that his meeting with Kathryn had been innocent and Francis Scadlock was just being a prat and making things up when he said he'd seen them kiss. It wouldn't be the first time the reporter had created a whole cloth out of lies out of nothing—like when he'd tried to say she was guilty of murdering her father!—but even Mary Margaret knew that most lies had a grain of truth in them. What was the truth behind David's date with Kathryn Cole? She was almost afraid to find out.

Yet his smile was brilliant when he turned to face her. "Hey," David replied, reaching out to take her hand.

Despite her better judgment, Mary Margaret let him. She couldn't help it. She loved him, and if Henry's curse was real, he was supposed to be her husband. This was supposed to be something called True Love, and it was supposed to be amazing. She wanted that so badly, burned to be this Snow White who Henry thought she was. But if she was Snow White and David was her Prince Charming, could things really be this hard? Still, Snow White wouldn't be afraid right now. She would be strong, so Mary Margaret would try to be like that. Squaring her shoulders, she forced herself to speak instead of kissing David senseless.

"You wanted to talk about the future?" she asked, trying to sound calm and not hopeful.

"I did. I…I feel awful, sneaking around on Regina like this," David said slowly, as they fell into step together and started walking up Main Street.

"But she's given us her blessing," Mary Margaret objected, confused. "Why is this coming up now?"

"I guess, well, I guess that my conscience is just harder to quiet than I thought. It just seems wrong."

"Nothing about this is right," she agreed, squeezing his hand. But then David looked away, and some instinct deep within Mary Margaret told her that something was dreadfully wrong. Just in time, she turned her head—

As the mass of another body slammed into her, clawing and snarling and tearing and hurting.

Hearts in hand, tucked up against the front of Atlantic Twine and Net and well out of the way, Cora smiled. Kathryn had no idea what she was doing or why she was so angry at Mary Margaret, of course; Cora had sent her to attack the schoolteacher-turned-waitress, and had also commanded David to watch and do nothing. Her control over both was absolute; she could have commanded them to kill one another and they would have done so. Oh, both would have fought—self-preservation was one of humanity's strongest instincts—but they would have lost. Her magic was nearly at full strength, and her ability to control others was just as good as ever.

"Oh, that must have hurt," she whispered into Kathryn's heart, and listened to the younger woman echo it mockingly. Mary Margaret had been thrown up against a wall, bleeding from a split lip and a broken nose, and was just now trying to come back on balance. But Kathryn didn't let her. Instead, the school principle swung again, and she was far stronger than she looked. Her blow connected as Mary Margaret yelped for David to help her, and Cora absolutely treasured the sight. Snow's precious little True Love was standing by and doing nothing while someone beat her senseless, and there was enough Mary Margaret left to feel helpless and afraid.

"David, help! I—"

David just stared, and Mary Margaret looked more broken by that than by the attack itself. Kathryn hit her again, and finally that galvanized Mary Margaret to fight back. But she was still looking at David, still asking him why he was doing nothing—until suddenly another figure burst into the middle of the fight, shoving the women apart and yanking Kathryn away. For a moment, all Cora could make out was messy hair and a polo shirt, but then the man turned as he struggled to control Kathryn and the mayor caught sight of his face.

Damn. Errol Forrester, whoever the hell he was, had intervened in her plans again. Regina's little lover was busy pulling Kathryn back, and Cora dropped her control of both hearts. Let the fools deal with the fallout. She would exact revenge in other ways.

Besides, David had now cheated on Mary Margaret and stood by while she was beaten senseless. If that didn't tear them apart, Cora didn't know what would.

Not particularly caring about Cora's little games, Rumplestiltskin headed over to the park to pick up Renee. She was on another playdate with Robin Hood's child (an ironic situation if he'd ever heard of one, given how Belle had talked him out of killing the outlaw back when Marian had been pregnant), and Robin—otherwise known as Errol Forrester—was watching the pair in the park. Belle had been supposed to pick their daughter up, but she'd gotten sidetracked by a shipment of books that had shown up for the library. Given that it had been months since the library burned down, the fact that books had shown up now indicated that the curse meant them to be significant, so Belle dove into the boxes while Rumplestiltskin drove over to get Renee.

Besides, leaving the shop on such a pleasant day was rather, well, nice. He wasn't the type to usually appreciate good weather, nor was he really a nature person, but Rumplestiltskin must have been going soft. Perhaps it was fatherhood, or perhaps it was looking—and sometimes even feeling—human again. He'd been battling against the growing darkness in his heart since before he met Belle, but somehow the dual forces of his wife and daughter seemed to slow that rot to a creep. Yes, he was still the Dark One, but there were days he could almost entirely push the curse aside. And today certainly felt like one of those days.

"Papa!" Renee shouted as he climbed out of the car and approached the playground, rushing over to him from the seesaw she had been sharing with Jamie Forrester. That left the miniature outlaw pouting, and Rumplestiltskin smiling so hard that he forgot his cane in the Cadillac.

"Hey, you," he said, picking her up and swinging her around. At first, what his daughter had just called him in public didn't occur to him; he was too taken by her happy smile. But when Errol turned to stare, Rumplestiltskin realized this could get dicey.

Then, of course, his little girl promptly made things much worse by saying: "Magic me a rose, Papa!"

"Mah—you want me to do what?" he stuttered, his attention now fully on the three year old and ignoring the outlaw. "Sweetie, what are you saying?"

He had been so careful not to let Renee see him do magic. Neither he or Belle even discussed it in her presence, or the curse, because their little girl was three. She couldn't understand, and the last thing they needed was her blurting things out around people who were under the curse! Yet here she'd done it anyway, despite his best efforts. And she was glaring at him the way only a child could when they thought their parent was being stupid.

"Want a rose," Gabrielle repeated stubbornly. "Make me one."

"Not here," he replied, very aware of the way Errol was wandering their way.

"Jamie says you can't," she pouted. "Jamie is stupid!"

"Renee! That's not very nice," Rumplestiltskin chided her. "You shouldn't call people stupid, particularly your friends."

"Not Renee," his daughter retorted fiercely. "Gabi."

Oh, dear. Rumplestiltskin was so shocked that he almost dropped her, and he knew his eyes went as wide as doorknobs as he scrambled to keep his grip on his daughter. On one hand, he'd been wondering if Gabrielle was going to break through the very thin walls holding her back. She was a child of True Love, after all, and there was indeed a drop of the True Love that created her on the curse itself. There had always been a possibility that she would wake up, particularly now that there was magic in Storybrooke. Renee had steadily been becoming more and more like Gabrielle, with only the thinnest veneer present to mark her as Renee French. Now, however, that seemed to have vanished.

"She's been saying that all day," Errol Forrester said, approaching and looking at the pair warily. "I tried to tell her that this wasn't the time to play pretend, but she threw a bit of a tantrum. I thought I'd let Lacey deal with it."

Ah, of course. Errol looked so guarded because he hadn't expected the town monster to pick up this recalcitrant child, and now he was worried about how Mr. Gold would react to Renee insisting she be called by another name. Whatever else the outlaw had ever been, he'd always been good with children, and he was the man who had saved this little girl—Rumplestiltskin's daughter—from a fire that Rumplestiltskin could not himself brave. Errol didn't know it, but that bought him an awful lot of leeway where the Dark One was concerned.

"She's at that age," Rumplestiltskin answered mildly. "I imagine that you have experienced much the same yourself."

Errol seemed surprised to find Mr. Gold so tolerant, but after a moment's confusion, he cracked a smile. "Yes, Jamie started insisting his name was Roland the moment she started in on being 'Gabi', so I do understand."

"Children will be children," he managed to say without giving the game away. Names were Rumplestiltskin's trade, after all, and he had always known the name of Robin Hood's son. Could it be that the curse is weakening enough that children, whose minds are always more open than adults', are starting to remember? he wondered, feeling a wild kind of hope surge inside him. Emma Swan was starting to believe—all without him cashing in on that belief she owed him—and things really were starting to change. Now if he could just get Cora to set up a situation where the Savior truly had to fight her, they'd be right at the curse breaking.

Until then, however, he had to deal with Gabrielle, and Errol had to deal with Roland.

"If you don't mind me saying so, I wouldn't have expected you to pick Renee up today," the outlaw turned firefighter said after a moment.

"Gabrielle," the three year old in Rumplestiltskin's arms promptly corrected him, and then glared at Rumplestiltskin. "Still want rose. Please?"

"Maybe later, sweetie," he said, smiling when she pouted. Obviously she remembered enough to remember him doing magic, but hopefully Errol was just writing that off to a three year old's imagination. He turned back to the other man. "We all have our weaknesses, Mr. Forrester," he replied in Gold's best neutral tone. "One of mine happens to be a little urchin who likes to be called Gabrielle."

That made Gabi giggle and Errol smile. Yes, it was indeed a good thing that Belle had stopped him from killing this man, even if the outlaw had been wearing a glamour at the time and thought Rumplestiltskin hadn't seen right through it. It had amused him to play along, particularly since he wanted to make a statement for would-be thieves, anyway, but now he truly was glad Belle had convinced him not to leave little Roland without a father.

"I know the feeling," Errol replied, and for a moment, understanding flashed between the two men.

It wouldn't last, of course. The outlaw was a hero type, for all that he'd fallen in love with Regina and been a thief, and that type never wanted to associate with the Dark One. Not unless they need something, Rumplestiltskin thought cynically. Of course, his own actions generally guaranteed that; he was honest enough to admit that to himself. Yet he knew that Belle dreamed of living a relatively normal life once the curse broke, without being the town pariahs. Rumplestiltskin actually hoped for the same, at least for Belle and Gabi's sakes, but he knew that the town would never treat him with anything better than disgruntled tolerance. If that.

Still, that was a problem for another day. Today, he would take his newly awakened daughter back to the shop and tell her mother than they would have to watch what Gabi said more carefully than ever. And get the damn curse broken. Fast.

Henry was waiting for Emma outside Kathryn Cole's hospital room, with an intent look on his face that made the sheriff sigh. This case was a weird one: on one hand, it was a clear-cut case of assault. On the other, Kathryn claimed not to remember anything about having attacked Mary Margaret. Under other circumstances, Emma would have written that off to trying for the easiest way out of assault charges, but Kathryn seemed to be something of a blank slate. She didn't remember going out with David several days earlier, didn't remember leaving her apartment that morning, and she didn't remember attacking Mary Margaret. The poor woman was beyond confused. By the time Emma had arrived at the scene, Kathryn had even stopped fighting Errol's grip, just standing there and staring blankly. She hadn't come back to herself until a few minutes earlier, over an hour after they got both her and Mary Margaret to the hospital.

Archie was with her, now, but Emma had to figure out what the hell had happened.

"This one's a crazy one, kid," she said as Henry fell into step beside her.

"Not really. The Evil Queen has Kathryn's heart," her boy replied bluntly. "She has to."

Emma stopped cold. "What do you mean, that Cora 'has her heart'?"

"I thought Mom explained this to you," Henry said impatiently, looking up at Emma with a huge ten-year-old sigh. "If you rip someone's heart out with magic, you can control them with it. Grandma does that a lot. That's why she was also known as the Queen of Hearts."

"Regina mentioned it, but…" Emma gulped. "That's sick."

"Well, yeah. Why do you think they call her the Evil Queen? It isn't just because of the curse," he pointed out. "She did plenty of awful things before she even thought about casting a huge curse."

"Right," she replied slowly, thinking about the stories in the book she had re-read not too long ago. Things like tearing someone's heart out without them dying seemed absolutely ludicrous, but then again, so did a lot of the magic Regina had shown her. Or the fact that Gold had healed Belle the way he had. Was believing in the curse so different from believing that Cora could control anyone if she had their heart? "That just sounds so crazy."

"Except you believe it," Henry grinned as they climbed in the bug. "You really do."

"Yeah, well, don't rub it in," Emma grumbled, and they headed towards the sheriff's station together.

4 Months Before the Curse

Cruella swore under her breath, which made Ursula look up from studying her hand of cards. Her lover's face was pinched with annoyance, but not alarm, so she looked back down as she asked: "What now?"

"One of my bears just slipped his leash," Cruella scowled.

"Can they do that?"

"Of course they can, assuming they can get far enough away. My power isn't infallible over distances, darling, and I did enchant this one days ago," was the reply. "I'll just have to find another one."

"Now?" she asked.

"No, of course not. I'm busy bleeding you of every gold piece you own," was the immediate response, and now it was Ursula's turn to grimace. Cruella was winning, and she had a terrible hand. Again.

"Can't Mal just get on with this whole baby business?" she grumbled, leaning back in her chair and slapping her cards down on the table with more force than was probably required. "We've been guarding her for weeks."

"At least we're not at the cave anymore," her companion pointed out, and that made Ursula nod feelingly. Mal had been keeping her egg warm as a dragon, but now that the egg was ready to hatch—which was an exceedingly odd way to birth a human-looking child if you asked Ursula—she was human again and busy cooing over the egg upstairs. Meanwhile, Cruella and Ursula cooled their heels in the great hall of the Forbidden Fortress, standing guard over their friend and making sure no one tried to take advantage of Mal's weakened state.

Or steal the dragon egg she promised us, Ursula thought with satisfaction. When Cruella had complained about standing guard duty again, Maleficent had promised the two of them the eggshell, provided they swore never to try to use it against her. Which of course they wouldn't. Villains they might be, but both Ursula and Cruella understood the meaning of friendship. They would help guard Maleficent and her unborn daughter, become aunts for young Lily as she grew up, and be rewarded with one of the most magical items in existence along with Mal's gratitude and friendship.

"You can say that again," she agreed, tasting the air. Mal hadn't given birth yet, but she had to be close. "If I had to spend one more night in that cave with your useless fire building skills, I was going to—"

"Don't cast too many stones, love," Cruella cut in. "At least I'm being useful here. My animals are prowling around and guarding us while you just sit there."

"Very funny," she grumbled. "As if I didn't put all kinds of interesting creatures in the water around us to keep intruders out."

"Most thieves don't swim," Cruella shot back, and Ursula rolled her eyes.

"Most thieves don't come here," she countered. After all, only one thief had ever managed, and no one expected 'Robin Hood' to be dumb enough to try again. Mal was just being paranoid.

She'd just sent Henry home when Emma ran smack into a woman with black and white hair. Both swearing, they bounced off one another, leaving Emma blinking and staring at the smartly dressed woman. "Who the hell are you, Cruella de Vil?" she asked before she could stop herself.

"Excuse me?" the other snapped, and Emma shook herself.

"Sorry. Bad joke," she said, trying to recover. This curse stuff really is going to my head! Then again, Pongo was in town. Why wouldn't the crazy fur lady be here? Emma was only surprised that she hadn't seen her before. "I, uh, don't think we've met. I'm Emma Swan, the sheriff."

"I know who you are, darling," was the arch response. "Everyone does. I am Ms. Dodie Bankhead. I own the Storybrooke Investment Bank and Bad Dog Financials."

"Oh." Emma actually had opened an account with the Storybrooke Investment Bank; the internet here absolutely sucked, and trying to do her banking online with Bank of America had been such a pain, so she'd swapped to the local option. But she'd never imagined it would be owned by a crazy woman who killed puppies! "It's nice to meet you."

"Too bad I can't say the same," Dodie snapped, just as the cell phone she'd dropped on the ground started to squawk. Quickly, she bent to pick it up. "Yes, yes, darling, I dropped you. What were you saying?"

Well. Wasn't that useless? Without saying another word to her—or even acknowledging Emma's existence, Dodie Bankhead (a ridiculous name if Emma had ever heard one), stalked down the street and away from the sheriff. At least she didn't do anything evil? Emma thought to herself, chuckling. Yeah, she had it bad. Apparently, believing meant being something near crazy, because she kept looking at people like Dodie Bankhead like she expected them to do something horrible.

Emma was still shaking her head when she walked into the Sheriff's Station to find Tony Rose lying on the floor and a cloaked figure busy ripping Moe French's heart out.

A/N: So, who do you think the culprit is? Who might want to rip out Moe and Tony's hearts?

Next up: Chapter Sixty-Eight—"Darkness Rising", where Emma tries to figure out who assaulted her prisoners, Belle deals with the fallout of what's happened to her father, Errol starts asking questions, and Neal calls August at the worst possible moment. Back in the past, Charming and Robin break into Maleficent's castle.