Trigger Warning for rape/torture in the first scene.
Chapter Eighty-Four—"The Best Laid Plans"
"You're going to be good, aren't you?" Cora asked with a smile, leaning over him as Rumplestiltskin stared up at her, trying not to shake. He'd spent the night of the 9th in her bed—not a place he wanted to be—and had gotten very little sleep.
"Define good," he whispered hoarsely, and Cora's eyes gleamed ominously.
"Do I need to get the electric wand?"
"No." Rumplestiltskin hated that the word became a whimper, but he was hurting too badly for defiance. His body was already covered in burns; Cora and Zelena had gleefully discovered that even the highest levels of electricity they tried out wouldn't kill him. He was trembling and couldn't help it, but Rumplestiltskin was still on her bed with his hands bound behind his back and legs pulled far apart. Today was only the fourth day since he'd given Cora the dagger, but it felt like a lifetime had passed, and he was going to pieces.
He had never thought it could be this bad.
"Excellent," Cora purred, her hand coming to rest on the inside of his left thigh as Rumplestiltskin gasped in pain. Her touch was gentle—for now—but he'd been caned and then burned and then caned again. The slightest breath of air on his skin was enough to make him want to cry, but he couldn't pull away. That command still burned in, making his head spin with agony when Rumplestiltskin even thought about trying to escape Cora's touch.
Instead he could only lie there, tense and breathing hard, his eyes watering and just praying she would stop touching him. Four unbroken days of pain and violation left him in a mental tailspin that could not end well, and sometimes only thoughts of vengeance kept him sane at all. She'll break the contract, Rumplestiltskin told himself for the thousandth time. She won't be able to resist, and then I'll be free. I just have to hold on. Even if doing so was getting harder and harder by the second. Then I can kill her, and I'll be safe. He had to believe that, or he would never last.
"I'm inviting my allies to a meeting today," Cora said after a moment, running her hands over his body as he struggled not to whimper. "You're going to behave yourself and not act out in any way, or I will leave you naked and on your knees for the meeting."
"You wouldn't." The protest came out on its own, but Cora's smile was as sweet as it was hungry.
"Don't test me, Rumple," she warned him. "I do so love demonstrating my power over you, and if you won't be a player on my side, you will be nothing more than my slave. Understood?"
Anger warred with terror for a moment, but the thought of having Cora's allies—magic users he knew and who respected him—see him like this was downright paralyzing. Rumplestiltskin had spent three centuries hiding his weaknesses and his fears from the world, playing at being strong and untouchable. The idea that Cora would show off what she had done to him threatened to send him into a blind panic. His vision started going white, and he could feel the world closing in on him, could hear the voices of people from his old town calling him coward, worthless, weak. Then the whispers of his own curse joined in, with: You have never been anything without magic. Now you're just her slave. A vessel for the power, nothing more. Rumplestiltskin was shaking, trapped in his own mind and imagining everything that could go wrong if Cora forced him to—
A thumb pressed hard into the still open wound in his left shoulder, and Rumplestiltskin's world exploded into a cry of pain.
"Do you understand?" Cora repeated, and Rumplestiltskin nodded miserably.
"Yes," he whispered, and hated himself.
Squaring her shoulders, Tamara tucked the cell phone back in her pocket. "Home Office says we're good to go," she told Greg.
"No last minute instructions?" her lover snorted. "That's new."
"Nothing worth mentioning," she agreed. "Just destroy the town and get out as fast as we can. There are other problems to deal with after we're done here, something about some shadow that keeps stealing kids."
She could see Greg tense; anything that separated kids from their families was a sore spot with him, Tamara knew. The man who had been supposed to kill Kurt and Owen Flynn had killed his father and then let him go, but Greg had never been grateful for that little act of so-called mercy. Watching his father die had left scars that would never heal, and gave Tamara still more reasons to want to see magic eradicated from their world. But he had his game face on and was focused, and they climbed back into the car without another word. Still, Greg turned back to her one last time as he put the SUV into drive.
"What happens if you run into your ex-'boyfriend' while we're here?" he asked.
Tamara shrugged as the nose of the SUV crossed the orange line on the road. "We'll improvise, I guess. Neal isn't exactly—"
The screech of a monkey finished her sentence, and suddenly there were two very confused monkeys flapping their wings inside a wildly swerving car.
Baelfire had grown up in the Enchanted Forest and spent far too many years in Neverland to count, but it was still really weird to sit in the living room with Belle from Beauty and the Beast and the Mad-freaking-Hatter. Believing in magic was one thing, but watching fairytales collide like this really did make his head hurt, since apparently the Hatter had actually worked for his father back home, and his dad had somehow been the Beast in addition to being the Dark One (though Disney had, rather wisely in his opinion, not done a fairytale about the latter). Storybrooke really was a kind of insane place, but Bae had learned to roll with the punches during his own wild life, so he was at least able to sit back and follow the conversation.
"The question is where to send her, then," Belle mused, glancing through the book in her lap.
"You really want me to pack the Evil Queen off in my hat against her will?" Jefferson asked skeptically. "She'll fillet me, Belle."
"Not if she's unconscious. Rumple's got all kinds of potions and spells in the shop, you know," Bae's stepmother shot back. "Even if the fairies won't help us, I've got enough to knock an elephant out for weeks."
"I'm not worried about elephants," the portal hopper muttered mutinously, but he didn't argue further, aside from saying: "I'm not doing this alone. No way."
"No one would ask you to," Belle replied quickly, but she didn't speak fast enough to get in before Bae could say:
"I'll go with you." Both Belle and Jefferson turned to stare at him, and he could see Belle gathering arguments, so Bae added: "Papa would kill me if I let you go off with her, and besides, I've traveled between realms before. Besides, you need to stay here and keep Gabi safe. She barely knows me."
Belle glared, but he could see that he had her. Good, because if Emma's even halfway right about how Papa seems to feel about Belle, I can't let her risk herself. Not with what Belle isn't exactly saying Cora's doing to Papa, he thought to himself, meeting Jefferson's eyes as the portal jumper gave him an evaluating look.
"You got some of your father's magic?" Jefferson asked.
"Not a bit of it. But I do know a place where we can dump Cora without it coming back around to bite us in the ass," he answered bluntly.
"I'm not sure such a place exists."
"Oh, it does." Bae grimaced, but forced himself to continue. "Neverland."
"No way," was the immediate response. "I've been there, and I'm not crossing paths with Pan again. He's more insane than Cora is!"
"Yeah, and that's why it's the perfect place to leave her. Look, I know Pan's a psychopath—I spent centuries in his happy little playground—but there's no way in hell he's going to put up with Cora for long, and she'll try everything she knows to get the better of him. But you can't beat Pan by brute force—or by magic, for that matter—which means they'll keep each other busy for a damned long time."
"Sure, but what if Pan drops in right when we're busy dropping her off? There's no wayI'm bringing him back with us," Jefferson protested. "The rules of the hat are simple: the same number that went in has to come out again, which means we have to bring someone back."
Bae hadn't know that—he'd always traveled via shadow or magical bean—but coming up with an answer to that problem is easy. "Almost any of the Lost Boys will jump at the chance."
"Last time I was there, they all seemed pretty keen on doing Pan's bidding."
"That's because they don't have a choice. Unless it's someone like Felix, who worships the air Pan flies through, we'll be fine," he shrugged. Bae could think of a dozen Lost Boys off hand who would jump at the chance to get out of that hellhole.
"Are you sure, Bae?" Belle asked quietly, having already flipped to the Neverland section in her book and reading rapidly.
"Yeah." A cold chill ran down his spine. "Trust me on this one, okay? I was one of them. I know how it is, and I know who to ask."
They had arrived just as planned, some singly and others in groups, but all coming at her call. Watching them walk into her wood paneled reception room made Cora smile; this was power. The foolish heroes in Storybrooke had no idea what true power was, but Cora did. Here she stood with Zelena to her right and Rumplestiltskin to her left, with the Dark One's dagger held firmly in her hands and watching some of the world's most powerful magic users walk in.
Jafar arrived first, always suave and on time. He was not the type to be trifled with, carrying his snake-shaped staff that used to be his former mentor. Jafar was undoubtedly the most powerful of her allies, and he had joined her of his own initiative, for which Cora was always careful to express her appreciation. Like her, Jafar had run afoul of one too many heroes, and while he didn't think that Cora knew about his plan to use the Spell of the Three Genies to break the laws of magic, he would be useful up until he tried to double cross her. For the moment, Jafar had no friends amongst the heroes, and Cora intended to keep it that way. He was intelligent and creative, and she would make sure to reward him.
Bo Peep walked in after him, her beady little eyes greedy and sharp, watching warily as the Jabberwocky wandered in from another room. Jabber, for her part, simply smiled at the former warlord, which made Bo Peep back up a step. Bo Peep really was a sorry piece of work, and barely useful for Cora's purposes, but her actions would distract the heroes, and that was at least a little worthwhile. She and Fagin—who had promptly sidled up to her as soon as he walked into the room—were low-level thugs, people that Cora wasn't proud to call her allies but useful all the same. She had yet to figure out what she would do with Fagin now that he wasn't responsible for keeping an eye on Maleficent's child, but she supposed he was always good for some low-level mischief.
Next came Hook, her ever-useful pirate. He was seeing that fairy, still, of course, which Cora found irritating, but so far Hook had never shown even the slightest inclination to ever truly leave Cora's team, which meant he could be trusted a moderate amount. She would continue to use him to keep an eye on her brigade of heartless minions, because the pirate really was quite good at frightening people when necessary.
The last two to enter were somewhat of a surprise, although a pleasant one.
"Cora, darling, it's so good to see you again," Cruella smiled, walking forward to kiss her cheek as Ursula trailed along, looking far less pleased to be there. Maleficent's two friends were indeed welcome in her alliance—Cora had made that plain to them long ago—and although she had cherished a slight hope or two that Maleficent would join them, she was delighted to see that the utterly amoral Cruella had dragged her lover the Sea Witch along.
"I'm so very glad you could join us," she replied, returning the gesture coolly.
"I'm sure we won't regret it," Cruella said, her eyes twinkling hungrily. "Mal regrets that she can't come, of course, but she's busy playing mother. Sooner or later, she'll come to her senses."
"Do tell her that she's welcome whenever she does," Cora answered, and with that, the pleasantries on that front were over. Cruella and Ursula took places near Jafar, and Cora stepped forward to address the semi-circle of her followers.
They were an interesting group: her unpredictably attention-hungry daughter, the furiously breaking Dark One, a sorcerer who had trapped his own teacher in a staff, a pirate, a woman who could control animals, a sorceress with tentacles, a mythical creature of fear, and two lowlifes who would create as much trouble as Cora let them. But they were exactly what she needed to rule Storybrooke, and Cora already knew exactly what she was going to do.
"Welcome, everyone. I thank you for coming," she began smoothly. "We have much work to do now that the curse is broken, but first, I trust you all were comfortable during the curse?"
Nods came from around the circle, and Cora gave herself a mental nod. She'd been very careful where she placed her potential allies, giving them comfortable lives as people favored by the mayor. Now that paid off; no one in the room (save Rumple) was angry with her, and they were annoyed with the heroes for upsetting the status quo. They'd been rather satisfied with their riches and their status, but Snow White and her little cronies were already trying to take that away. That, of course, was why Cora had waited four days before gathering everyone together. She had wanted to give them time to grow annoyed.
"I am glad to hear that," Cora smiled. "Now before we get down to business, I will offer a demonstration of the many reasons you should continue to be my allies." She did not turn, instead merely bringing the dagger up slightly so that it caught everyone's attention. "Dark One."
Cora could feel his fury and his desire to resist her, but Rumplestiltskin kept his face admirably neutral. Still, his voice was a growl, one that sent shivers running down her spine. "Yes?"
She gestured with the dagger, and now it was an unspoken command that brought Rumplestiltskin out from behind her and forced him to face her. Dark eyes burned into hers, as wary as they were angry but Cora had long since learned how to cow him, and she flicked the dagger, sending Rumplestiltskin to his knees. Hard.
Jafar's eyes widened, and Cruella let out a little giggle of delight that warmed Cora's empty heart. The others simply looked intrigued, but Cora did not make them wait.
"I believe our dear heroes are gathering for a war council," she said mildly. "Go fetch Snow White's nursemaid and bring her here. Without delay."
The magic swept out from the dagger, her willpower reinforcing the command. Cora could feel it wrapping around Rumplestiltskin, could see the power driving her desires into his mind. It really was the most marvelous feeling, the headiest form of power she had ever exercised. Having the most powerful sorcerer any of them had ever met kneeling at her feet was utterly intoxicating, and the fact that others were there to see her commanding the Dark One only made it that much sweeter.
"As you like," Rumplestiltskin ground out, and immediately disappeared in a cloud of dark purple smoke.
Cora smiled and turned to the others. It was time to discuss how to make Storybrooke miserable.
Their talk with Jefferson had been more than useful, and now they had a plan. Belle felt rather satisfied by that, for her skin was crawling with worry and terror on her husband's behalf. She burned to see him, needed to know he was all right, but at least they were doing everything they could to get him back. I should talk to Robin about stealing the dagger, she thought to herself as she spotted the outlaw whose life she had once saved—and who had unknowingly returned the favor when he leapt into a fire to rescue Belle and her daughter. He might be able to help us with that. It was worth a try, anyway. Anything that got Rumplestiltskin away from Cora sooner was better.
"Hey, Belle," Robin greeted her with a smile as they walked into Granny's back room. "How's your daughter?"
"Good," she replied. "I think she misses Jam—oh, I'm sorry! I don't even know your son's actual name." Belle felt herself flush.
"It's Roland, and I think he'd like to see his friend, too," the outlaw replied. "Maybe when things calm down a little—or if we get some breathing room—we might let them get together."
"That would be wonderful," she said feelingly, thinking that a little normalcy would be good for Gabi. "Maybe…maybe when we do that, you can I can talk about your particular skill set?"
"Apparently thieves are in high demand these days," Robin laughed lightly. "But I'd be glad to help with whatever it is."
Belle wasn't going to mention it here; although she was fairly sure everyone in this small-ish war council knew what was going on, she still didn't feel like advertising her husband's weakness like that. Besides, she, Robin, and Baelfire seemed to be some of the last to arrive, and they were out of time to talk.
A quick glance around the room told her that all of the Charmings (save Henry) were there, along with the woman who Belle thought had once been Snow's nanny. Granny and Ruby were already sitting down, although the innkeeper was toying with her crossbow like she expected Cora to walk through the door at any moment. Next to Granny sat Grumpy, who definitely looked the part today, and to his left was the Blue Fairy, who Belle noticed sent Bae a very searching look. Next came Prince Thomas—not exactly a fan of her husband's—and then Archie before she, Baelfire, and Robin rounded out the group. Snow spoke up as soon as the door shut behind Robin.
"Thank you all for coming," the young queen said with a smile. "I know things are very uncertain now—particularly after what happened in town hall—so I wanted to get everyone together and talk about what we should do and where we should go from here."
"Our first order of business," David picked up where his wife left off, "is ensuring the safety and security of everyone inside Storybrooke. None of us know enough about the curse to know why we haven't returned home, so for now it's best that we focus on keeping everyone safe while we're here. That isn't just limited to bringing Cora down, either. We also have to keep fights from breaking out amongst citizens over what's happened in the past, particularly during the curse."
"That's why we believe the best course of action is to start with a general amnesty for everyone," Snow said firmly. "Regardless of what someone might have done under the curse, they were not responsible for their own actions, and they cannot be held accountable for them. Agreed?"
"Excepting Cora, of course," Grumpy muttered, and Granny snorted.
"Damn straight," the old woman agreed, and Belle watched plenty of people nod as her stomach did a little flip.
I suppose this means Papa isn't going to stay in jail, she thought. For the most part, Belle was glad to hear that, because she had no doubt that Cora had stretched the curse to its limits to force Moe French to attack Rumplestiltskin. But at the same time, Belle knew enough about the curse to know that her father had had a choice, which meant that she was still uneasy. She didn't think he'd do it again—or at least hoped he wouldn't—but Belle's anger over that horrendous attack still hadn't faded. They can pardon him all they want, she decided, but I'm not going to brush it under the rug until he shows genuine regret.
"Are there any objections?" Snow asked the room, and no one spoke up. "Good. Next on the agenda—"
Years of exposure to magic meant that Belle felt his presence a split second before the swirl of black smoke invaded the room, which meant she was already looking the right way when he appeared. Right away, she could see that he was hurting, could see the lines in his face and the exhaustion in his eyes. He was tense and miserable, moving like an angry puppet on invisible strings, and striding across the room almost before anyone else registered his presence. But there was something so off in the way he walked that it hurt Belle to see it.
"Rumple," she whispered without meaning to, and that stopped him in his tracks.
Their eyes met, and Belle could feel the whirlpool of pain and loneliness pulling her in, could feel his raw need for her eclipsing her own soul crying out for him. Can I free him? she wondered suddenly. Right now? If I kiss him, can it free him? Rumple had always wanted to keep his power before, but she knew him well enough to know that he burned for his freedom right now. That thought made her feet move, and Belle started forward until Rumplestiltskin shook his head brokenly.
He strode forward again, the delay having taken less than five seconds, and Belle wanted to lunge forward and grab him. But the table was in the way, and even as Emma started to speak up, Rumplestiltskin reached out and grabbed Johanna by the arm.
"Gold, what the hell are you doing?" Emma demanded, her gun already drawn.
"What I have to," Belle's husband replied as Johanna yelped in terror.
"You don't have to do this," Snow objected, stepping forward quickly. "Tell Cora that this fight is between us, and—"
"I'm sorry," Rumplestiltskin cut her off softly, and the second cloud of black smoke swept Johanna away with him.
Cora's plans were pretty solid, Killian had to admit. He hated being the one expendable person in the room, though—allied with a bunch of magic users, who thought the pirate would really be a player? The situation was really starting to look worse and worse from his perspective; Bo Peep and Fagin were too stupid to realize what small fish they were in this very big pond, but Killian Jones was not. He wanted to be on the winning side, yes, but he preferred to be a valued ally instead of a pawn. So far, Cora hadn't treated him like anything other than an associate whose input she respected, but Killian was smart enough to realize that might not last.
After all, now she had Zelena, Jafar, Cruella, and Ursula to back her up (though Killian wouldn't bet on the Sea Witch staying for long). She also had the Jabberwocky, a thoroughly terrifying creature that Killian resolved to steer well clear of . Against that sort of power, what good was he? Perhaps it was time to tack before the wind sent him careening off in a direction he did not want to sail. Until then, however, he would be a good little boy. And he would listen.
"I suggest we take the Hatter," Jafar was saying. "His talents might not be necessary now, but the last thing we want is Jefferson gallivanting off to other realms and trying to get help."
"Ooh, can I deal with him, mother?" Zelena spoke up immediately. "I did so enjoy traveling with him before."
Enjoyed tormenting him, you mean, Killian thought to himself, but he was far more interested in the suddenly pinched expression on Jafar's face. Hm. He wanted that job. I wonder why? However, Cora had noticed the same thing, and spoke up smoothly.
"Why don't you and Jafar work together on that, my dear?" the Evil Queen suggested. "And if Jafar should come up with any useful side trips for you to take once the Hatter is under your control, I certainly trust the two of you to do what you believe is necessary."
Zelena glowed; Jafar looked intrigued. Killian sensed something behind Cora's words, there, and there was that slight glow in her eyes that always came around when she expected something to happen to give her more power. Clearly, this Jafar—who Killian had never met until today (save for his cursed persona)—had something or would do something that Cora wanted, which meant Killian needed to keep an eye on it. And that's more useful information if I can dig it out, he thought. Killian wasn't quite ready to jump ship yet, but he was really starting to want to. He would reevaluate once the first crack in Cora's powerbase evidenced itself, he decided.
"I'd be delighted to work with Zelena," Jafar replied, his dark eyes hiding something all too well. The smile the sorcerer bestowed on Zelena was even perfectly amicable, and perhaps a little sultry. Cora's daughter beamed.
"We'll do whatever you need, Mother," she agreed, batting her eyes at Jafar.
You're welcome to her, Killian thought judiciously. Zelena was far too crazy for him, and besides, there was no way Cora would want her daughter to settle for a mere pirate. By this point, everyone knew what had happened to the unworthy stableboy her other daughter had fallen for, and Killian had no desire to go down that particular road.
"Excellent." Cora smiled. "Before you go, dearest, would you be so kind as to drop in on our former sheriff? He requires a bit of healing now that there is magic, and I have a job for him do to."
"Of course. I—"
A swirl of black smoke interrupted Zelena's answer, and suddenly the Dark One and a terrified older woman stood at the center of the circle. Killian vaguely remembered the woman as Jane Wells, a seamstress or something of the sort. She'd been utterly harmless during the curse, so why would Cora bother sending the crocodile to fetch her? And why would the old woman now turn to Cora with such terrified and knowing eyes?
"Johanna," Cora purred, tapping the dagger lightly against the palm of her left hand. "Welcome to my home."
"I—what—what do you want with me?" Johanna stuttered. She tried to back up a step, but Rumplestiltskin still had a hand on her shoulder, and he stopped her cold.
"Your death," the Evil Queen answered bluntly. "For too long dear Snow has escaped the consequences for her actions. Now I will begin to kill everyone she cares about. Starting with you."
"But I've never done anything to you!"
"Snow loves her old nanny. That's enough for me." Dark eyes burning, Cora turned to the crocodile. "Kill her."
"Kill her yourself," Rumplestiltskin spat, much to Killian's surprise. His old enemy looked furious and miserable, but Cora never gave him a chance to object. She flicked the dagger and the Dark One staggered, his head snapping back violently as he made a breathless sound of pain that should have satisfied Killian. Yet it did not.
He should have delighted in seeing Milah's murderer brought so low, but instead it just made a slightly sick feeling brew in his stomach. Rumplestiltskin looked dizzy and a little broken, but here the monster was, refusing to kill an innocent woman. Or trying to, anyway. However the dagger's control worked, it obviously didn't leave a lot of room for defiance, because after his initial objection, the Dark One moved forward like he was a puppet on strings, his hand reaching out to rip the heart straight out of Johanna's chest despite her protests.
The old woman stared at her beating red heart as Cora smiled, and the Evil Queen never said another word. She just gestured minutely with the dagger, and Rumplestiltskin crushed Johanna's heart even as the old woman's cell phone started ringing.
No, Killian didn't plan on remaining Cora's crony for much longer. Not a chance. Though he did notice the other heart in Rumplestiltskin's hand, and the way the Dark One handed it to Cora without a further word.
Watching fairy tale people use cell phones was going to take some getting used to, but Bae was glad when Snow took his suggestion that she call her old nanny and find out what the Evil Queen wanted. Unfortunately, it was Cora who answered the phone on the third ring.
"Snow, I'm so glad you could call," the psychotic bitch's voice rang out from the speakerphone, and Bae found himself shivering a little bit as he tried hard not to imagine what that woman was doing to his father. He looked worse this time, worse than I think I ever saw him, even as a kid.
"What have you done with Johanna?" Snow White demanded. Her voice was strong but Bae could see the fear in her eyes. Emma and David had both stepped up close to her for support, though Emma looked like she wanted to reach through the phone and throttle Cora here and now.
"Killed her, of course. She can't come to the phone with her heart crushed, so I'm afraid you won't be talking to her ever again."
"She never did anything to you!" Snow protested, looking broken. David put a hand on her shoulder, but the young queen clearly refused to let herself break down. "How could you?"
"Oh, I didn't," Cora's disembodied voice said easily. "Our dear Dark One took care of the trash for me. You can thank him, and meanwhile be grateful that he didn't start with your darling daughter, instead."
Click.
Several moments of stunned silence passed as everyone stared at one another—though Bae didn't miss the number of hostile stares coming Belle's way during that silence, and that made him want to punch someone. Snow leaned on her husband for a moment, silent tears running down her face, before she pulled away, obviously determined to keep fighting. She's a lot like Emma, isn't she? Bae thought to himself, watching the two together as everyone else tried to gather themselves.
"This control thing is obviously a lie. There's no way Gold's not working with Cora willingly—he's been on her side all along!" Granny spat after a few seconds, making Bae's head whip around.
Emma, however, got in first. "What makes you say that?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that they were sleeping together under the curse," Grumpy spoke up, and Bae turned to stare at Belle before he could stop himself.
"Belle?" he whispered as she winced.
"Not his choice," his stepmother replied quietly, looking defeated. "They'll never believe it, but it wasn't ever his choice."
"You're damn right we won't believe that, sister," Grumpy snorted. "I know you think he's not as bad as he is, but maybe this is a blessing in disguise for you. You can finally get away from him, and everyone sees him for the monster he is. Hell, that 'giving up the dagger' thing was probably an act, anyway, because who the hell could ever see him having another kid?"
"That kid would be me," Bae interjected before the dwarf could continue, stepping forward and barely stopping himself from throttling the other man. "And it's not a lie. You want to live in your own stupid little fantasy world, fine. I can't stop you. But why don't you let the rest of us get on with coming up with a real plan?"
"I was there," Emma said, and the fact that she backed him up almost immediately made Bae's heart skip a beat. "I saw him give the dagger up, so we're not gonna have this conversation, okay? Gold's on our side, even if he doesn't have any choice in helping Cora right now. So, instead of casting stones, why don't we worry about how to get that dagger back before she uses him do destroy the whole town?"
Grumpy glared, but David spoke up quietly, one arm still around Snow. "He stole my heart from Cora. Rumplestiltskin wouldn't do that if he didn't want to help."
"He also told me where Regina is," Robin volunteered suddenly, and that made Bae twist to face the outlaw he'd only just met. Snow perked up, too, and he could see hope entering her eyes for the first time since Johanna had disappeared.
"Where is she?" Snow demanded breathlessly.
"Cora's house," the outlaw said, and then smiled. "But I've got a bit of a plan on that front, if you're willing to give me a bit of time to work things out."
Snow nodded decisively. "Start talking."
"Actually, I'd rather wait until I can talk to a few folks," Robin replied thoughtfully. "And, well, for any caper, the less people who know the truth, the better."
"We'll trust you to let us know what we need to," David said after exchanging a glance with Snow, and Bae took that opportunity to look at Belle.
"You want to tell them about your idea?" he asked.
His stepmother nodded. "I do." Her slightly nervous smile made everyone turn to look at Belle, and Emma obviously couldn't stop herself from asking:
"You have a way to get the dagger back?"
"I hope so," Belle answered. "And at the very least, it's a solution of what we can do with Cora. Jefferson and I have been talking…"
"Where did you two come from?" Zelena mused, looking at her two newest monkeys. They'd apparently been involved in a car crash; she used magic to follow their trail back to the town line after the typical compulsion brought them to her. The only question was if they'd been leaving or entering town. The later wouldn't normally have occurred to Zelena, but the SUV and trailer full of very odd equipment was facing the wrong direction for someone who had tried to leave, and wasn't that just interesting?
Both monkeys squawked at her, and Zelena sighed. "Of course you can't answer," she said, rolling her eyes. "So I have to turn one of you back. But which one of my lovelies should I talk to?"
Well, that was easy. One was male and one was female. Given how women were always smarter than men, she chose to turn the female back. Temporarily.
A wave of her hand revealed a slender, dark-skinned woman who was quite pretty in her own way, but the way she was retching and shaking after the transformation utterly ruined her appeal. Zelena gave her a moment to adjust before wrapping magic around her and pulling her off the ground, which made the woman yelp and turn hugely terrified eyes on her.
"What the hell are you doing? And where's Greg?" the woman demanded.
"Oh, he's still a monkey. And he'll stay that way unless you answer my questions," Zelena lied to her. Of course 'Greg' would stay that way, and Zelena would happily turn this woman back. But she had to give her victim hope if she wanted answers.
"I'll answer whatever you want. Just don't do that to me again," the woman said quickly.
"Wonderful!" Zelena declared, and proceeded to quiz Tamara for all she was worth. Very quickly, Zelena had quite a wonderful tale to share with her mother, one of people who wanted to destroy magic and who had come to Storybrooke from the outside world. Even more interestingly, the man had apparently been here before, back when he'd been a child. His father had been killed by Killian "O'Malley", but the boy had been allowed to escape, and mother would definitely be interested in hearing all about that.
Once Tamara had no more to share, Zelena turned her back. She squealed and screeched, but the nice thing about her lovely pets was that they didn't have words to protest.
"Neverland?" Cora said to herself, snorting as she watched the little war council through the heart in her hand. She had dismissed her allies—save for her ever-useful Dark One, who she'd left kneeling at her feet—and now settled in to watch the Charmings' little planning session.
None of the heroes had noticed when Rumplestiltskin had frozen them all in place, stolen a heart, and then proceeded to steal Johanna away. His skills certainly were very useful if Cora carefully controlled him; Rumplestiltskin was prone to defiance, but she would break that out of him eventually. Still, this time he had done exactly as she'd bid, stealing a heart away so that she could eavesdrop when she needed to. She simply hadn't thought that her plan would bear fruit quite so quickly.
Knowing that the heroes wanted to drop her in that dank little dreamworld was certainly useful. Cora didn't know much about Neverland and would have to do a bit of research, along with having Zelena and Jafar take ownership of the Hatter and his hat. Giving the heroes any type of advantage was not in her best interests…particularly when it was Rumple's little wife who had proven brilliant enough to come up with a plan that might actually work. She hadn't thought his former maid would be quite so intelligent, but Cora supposed she should not be surprised. Rumple had a type, after all, and even if he had gone with sickeningly good this time around, he certainly wouldn't marry an idiot.
Or fall in love with one, she thought, surprised at the surge of fury she still felt on that front. He loved that little wench, a girl who had begun as his mere maid. And there had to be more than met the eye on 'Belle', too, otherwise an innocent little girl would never have fallen for the Dark One in exchange. Oh, Cora knew how intoxicating his power was, how marvelous it felt to have Rumplestiltskin look at you like you were the center of his universe. Knowing that the Dark One would destroy worlds for you was a heady feeling, and that slip of a girl had taken it away from her!
Cora had no doubts that Rumple had refused her because of Belle, and that burned. He had come to love someone who was utterly unworthy of him, had had a child with the wench. Knowing that made her wildly envious, even without her heart in her chest, but Cora had a plan. Whatever Rumple felt for this Belle was nothing compared to what he had felt for her; Cora had let him reach his full potential. They had reveled in the darkness together, had completed one another. She had been a fool to leave him for Henry, and Cora could see that now. And if she could admit her mistakes, clearly Rumple could as well. Together, they would be unbeatable, even if he resisted her now. In time, she would break him down until he embraced the darkness once more. Then he would see her for who she was: his perfect match, the one who would stand beside him and bask in the evil they wrought.
Turning towards her Dark One, Cora studied him contemplatively. She knew just what to do next.
A/N: So, Greg and Tamara have been temporarily distracted, the heroes are planning, and Killian wants to betray Cora. What could possibly go wrong?
Stay tuned for Chapter Eighty-Five—"Loopholes and Proposals", in which Neal pops the question, the Jabberwocky makes a deal, two powerful sorceresses pay Graham a visit, and Cora realizes that she's been distracted.