Chapter Ninety-Eight—"Ashes and Alliances"

This wasn't exactly the life her mother had promised. They weren't ruling anything, and Zelena had seen the pirate kissing a damn fairy not an hour earlier, when she'd crept into town to drink in the chaos and terror. In fact, the stupid heroes had all been gathered in the diner, since they'd been walking out in groups when she'd seen them, talking cheerfully and not at all properly frightened.

That was wrong.

Watching them made Zelena's blood boil, and she burned to come out of hiding and put those so-called heroes in their places. But then Regina walked out, laughing with that outlaw, and Mother had said that Regina was not to be harmed. Mother has plans for Regina, Zelena told herself, taking a deep breath in hopes that it might calm her. Still, she hated her sister, hated the idiot who had been given everything and had thrown it all away. Oh, Mother had turned to Zelena eventually, but the fact that Regina had lived the life that should have been hers all along would always rankle. Zelena tried hard not to think of that most of the time. When she stood by her mother's side, powerful and ready to rule this miserable little town, ignoring Regina's past was easy. Now, however, with their mother's power waning, Zelena found herself growing angrier and angrier.

Mother will win. She knew that. Of course she did. Zelena knew how powerful and how clever her mother was, and with Zelena by her side, Cora would not fail. They were unbeatable when they were united, even if her pesky little sister was prancing around with the outlaw who had shot her. Oh, she wanted to kill him so badly…but her mother had forbidden that, too. Cora wanted Robin Hood's heart—but perhaps that could work to Zelena's advantage, too.

Or maybe she could do something else, she realized, watching Regina and Robin split ways. She still had a stock of four leafed clovers from Oz. She could impersonate Regina and steal her precious little outlaw away, ruining this so-called 'True Love' that her sister cherished so much. She could make Robin love her—or, better yet, destroy the pair of them by having his child. Oh, that would be glorious. All she had to do was fetch a pendant and get to work. Or maybe she would just break the outlaw down until he forgot all about Regina. Then she wouldn't even have to bother with a pendant; she could just make Regina's little lover pay. Wouldn't that be sweet?

I can have revenge on her and help Mother, Zelena decided, ignoring how uneasy the thought of Cora's future plans made her. They weren't failing. This was just a temporary setback. Zelena was only starting to think about small measures of revenge as a way to fill the hours until they reclaimed Storybrooke. Then Regina would suffer or join them—as a lesser princess than Zelena, of course—and the other heroes would die. I'll keep him as a pet, she decided, watching the outlaw. He was handsome enough, and her mother would reclaim Rumplestiltskin soon. It was time Zelena took someone of her own.

"So…that bow of yours," Bae said, eyeing the outlaw. "It can hit anything, you say?"

"The arrow always finds its target," Robin confirmed. "I have to be able to see the target, of course—and able to loose an arrow—but the arrow will do the rest. It rather makes being a talented archer kind of pointless, to be honest."

"I'm more interested in the part about how it can track someone who teleports," Bae replied. "Sounds like a good deal since we're heading after Bo Peep."

"She's not very magical, if at all," David put in as the trio climbed into the truck that had run Cora over. They'd met after lunch, as planned; everyone who had a role what Henry had christened Operation Beartrap had set out at the same time, working to capture or stop as many of Cora's allies as possible. Their mission should have been one of the easier ones, but no one wanted to take chances. David continued: "Only her shepherd's crook is. I think."

"Well, let's not take chances, yeah? From what I hear, she's got a few bully boys who like to run around smashing shops when people don't pay her."

"Bullies I can deal with," Robin said with a smile, slinging his bow off his back. Bae took the center seat, between the outlaw and the prince—who had apparently worked together before, judging from their easy rapport.

"Plenty of experience?" he couldn't resist asking.

"Well, I do have to admit that I was more than a little put out to discover Nottingham as part of a town's law enforcement yet again, but I understand Emma's put a stop to that," Robin said with a smile. "Though I honestly won't be surprised to find he's working with Bo Peep, assuming she'd hire a lout like that."

"She would," David said grimly, steering the truck through a right turn. "I've dealt with her before."

That made Robin turn, inadvertently jamming his longbow into Bae's calf. "Sorry. Never carried it inside a car before," the outlaw apologized as Bae hissed, and then said to David: "I didn't think Bo Peep was anywhere near a big enough warlord to threaten royalty."

"She wasn't." David shifted uncomfortably, reminding Bae vividly of Emma when she was trying to find a plausible lie. After a few moments, however, David seemed to opt for the truth. "I, uh, wasn't exactly born a prince. I was adopted."

"Truly?" Robin echoed even as Bae sat back in surprise, his earlier worries about how Emma being a princess complicated their relationship subsiding a little.

"Yeah. I was a shepherd for most of my life, until his father wandered into it and made me a prince. It's a long story."

"Oh, joy," Bae groaned. Maybe he did have to worry. I should have read that entire Book, he realized. I think there are a lot of surprises in there. "That seems to be the theme of a lot of lives in this town."

"I can't really complain," David said with a smile. "I would never have met Snow if I hadn't had to replace my twin brother—who was the original Prince James—and even if it's been crazy, my life's turned out pretty well. And my mother got a lot better life out of it, too, even if I had to pretend she wasn't actually my mother for a lot of years."

"That's…awkward," Robin replied, even as Bae remembered what Hook had told him so many years earlier.

"I didn't kill your mother. We fell in love, and we ran off together. Your father lied to you. He was too much of a coward to tell you the truth. He tore out her heart and crushed it in front of me. And I've spent every moment since then wanting revenge." He'd never asked his father about his mother—too much had happened since he'd reunited with Rumplestiltskin, and part of him really didn't want to know if Hook had been telling the truth. What Bae remembered of Milah wasn't the perfect image of a mother that Hook had tried to convey; she'd never wanted him around, had always been happy to leave him when she'd gone off to gamble or drink. He very much doubted that Milah had ever talked to Hook about going back for him…but he needed to know what had happened. Even if Hook had been telling the truth.

Somehow, he managed to tune out the rest of conversation on the way to Bo Peep's butcher shop, staring into space and wondering how he would react if his father told him that he had killed his mother. He said it took him a long time to come back to himself, Bae thought. But I only spent a few months in London before I wound up in Neverland, which means that if he killed her while I was there, it couldn't have been long after I left. Was that a good thing or a bad one? Bae didn't know, and before he could make up his mind on how he felt, David stopped the truck and they headed in to arrest Bo Peep.

In the end, it was ridiculously easy. All it took was Robin shooting one of her goons—who did turn out to be the former Sheriff of Nottingham—and Bo Peep came along quietly enough. She complained and tried to mock David, of course, but that didn't seem to get her very far. They also demanded her records of the protection money that various shops had paid her, which seemed to put Bo Peep out a lot more than being arrested had, but they managed to finish up before an hour was out.

Regina was not the person who Rumplestiltskin expected to show up at his house. When he heard the doorbell ring, he'd been half expecting her mother, figuring that Cora would be in a rage and ready to try to take back what she thought was hers. Or Zelena, perhaps. Zelena's presence would not have surprised him, given how terribly she wanted to prove to her mother than she was a force to be reckoned with. But, when he stepped away from the spinning wheel that he had brought up to the living room—the better to be able to watch Gabrielle as he worked on his newest idea—he found Regina waiting impatiently on his doorstep.

"We need to talk," his protégé said bluntly.

"Well, then do come in," he replied as coolly as he could, stepping back and allowing Regina inside. Belle had headed out to talk to Jefferson, which left Rumplestiltskin with their daughter, but he hardly minded. And at least Regina had come alone.

Being around people still made him more uneasy than he cared to admit. That morning's meeting had left Rumplestiltskin a burned out ball of tension, and he hated himself for freezing up with that idiotic dwarf grabbed him. It was bad enough that he couldn't stop the reaction, but the entire room had seen it. His weakness had been on full display, everything he'd promised himself he would never be once he had power roaring to the surface. If she even thinks of bringing that up…

"You said you'd get rid of Mother," Regina said without preamble, and at least that was a topic Rumplestiltskin could safely discuss—even if he did have to shove down the dual spikes of terror and rage whenever he thought of Cora.

"I said I'd kill her, yes," he answered, choosing his words to avoid any possible misunderstandings as he stopped in the hallway outside the living room. He could watch Gabi from there well enough. "I do hope you're not experiencing a misplaced bout of familial love and coming to change my mind."

"She killed Daniel. She tried to kill Henry," was the immediate response, hard and angry. "I don't have any problems with you filleting her. I just want to know if you can do it."

"Come again?"

"Don't pull the impenetrable Dark One act with me, Rumple," Regina snapped, sounding exasperated. Then she lowered her voice with a sigh. "I'm not trying to pry, or to poke at…whatever she did to you. I just want to know if you're up to it."

"Is that concern, dearie?" Rumplestiltskin asked before he could stop himself, taken aback by the worry in Regina's eyes. She just wants to make sure she won't have to deal with her mother going after her family again, he thought, not sure if the words were his own feelings or his curse. She doesn't care about you. Why would she?

"Yes, damnit! You're my friend, all right? Why is that so hard for you to understand?"

She just wants to get inside your defenses while you're weak, his curse taunted him, and at least this time Rumplestiltskin recognized his inner imp's voice well enough to shove it aside. Mostly.

"I can handle Cora," he said quietly, ignoring the question he didn't know how to answer.

"I know what my mother is capable of, you know," Regina said quietly. "I know she—"

"Don't."

The cold finality in his voice seemed to give her pause, but after a moment, Regina shrugged. "Just tell me you aren't this much of an ass about it to your wife."

"No." A strained laugh escaped before he could stop it. "No, Belle wouldn't put up with that for long."

"Good." She didn't seem to know what to say after that. Regina looked like she was going to try to offer some kind word or another, however, so Rumplestiltskin got in first.

"And what about your big sister?" he asked, unable to handle the pity he could see shining in Regina's eyes. "Will you deal with her?"

"I don't like the idea of killing my own half-sister, even if she is a crazy bitch," she admitted quietly. "But…she's kind of nuts, isn't she?"

"Yes." And if you don't kill her, I will. "Zelena is also a danger to everyone you care about. She hates you more than you can understand."

"I wish someone would tell her that growing up with Mother was no big prize," Regina grumbled. "Sometimes I wish she'd abandoned me in some basket somewhere."

Now it was his turn to offer her an understanding half smile. "No, you don't."

"Okay, fine. Maybe I don't, but only because then I wouldn't have known Daddy. But that doesn't mean that Zelena isn't utterly nutso for wanting to be Mother's prized daughter."

"You can try to talk her over on to our side if it'll make you feel better," Rumplestiltskin suggested, knowing that it wouldn't work, but that it would be a useful way to distract Zelena while Cora's other allies went down.

"You think she'd do it?"

"No. But I've been wrong before."

Regina snorted. "Are you sure you don't just want me to pick a fight with her? I…I remember what you said last time, about not playing to her strengths. I think I know what to do if it comes to that."

Turning to study his former student, Rumplestiltskin saw a confidence in her eyes that Regina had been missing for far too many years. Yes, this was the woman she'd been meant to be: not some perfect hero, but someone on the right side willing to do whatever it took to protect those she loved. Cora had tried to break that out of her, yet had never succeeded, and a small part of his battered heart felt proud of her. Regina wasn't his daughter, and never would be, but at least he'd managed to do mostly right by her.

"Zelena's pendant is the source of her power," he replied. "She was born magical, but in becoming one of the Four Witches in Oz, her power was channeled into it. If you take the pendant away, she'll be powerless. At least for a while."

He hadn't meant to share that little tidbit; Rumplestiltskin wanted Zelena dead, not locked in jail. But the oddly paternal corner of his heart couldn't let Regina face off with Zelena without telling her that, either. You're growing weak, dearie.

"Thanks."

Regina gave him an odd look, but they parted ways amicably enough after that. After Rumplestiltskin convinced her to hand him a vial of her blood, anyway.

Cora stopped outside the right hand cage, glowing heart in her hand. Ingrid hated looking at her own heart, hated the spots of blackness that corrupted it, but she found her gaze drawn to it regardless. Is this what I am? she wondered, not even looking at the woman who had beaten her so thoroughly. A villain? Or a victim?

Somehow, she had the feeling she was somewhere in between, and that was even more pathetic. I had such grand plans, Ingrid thought sadly. I was going to find my sisters. I was going to re-earn Emma's love, and make up for the mistakes I made in pushing her too far. And now Elsa remains trapped in that urn, and I don't even know if it's here in Storybrooke. How could her plans have gone so far awry? Ingrid hadn't wanted to take part in this vicious war Cora had started. She'd intended to lay low and wait for the heroes and the villains to exhaust one another, keeping an eye on Emma just to make sure she was safe. Instead, she'd been dragged into the middle, forced to do things she found reprehensible.

"I have a task for you, dear," Cora said coldly, and Ingrid reluctantly looked from her own heart to Cora's face.

"Don't say that like I have a choice," she replied, sitting on the floor and not bothering to get up. Her entire body ached, and Cora would force her to do whatever she wanted, anyway.

"Oh, but you do. If you obey me in this, I'll give you your heart back," the Evil Queen replied all too sweetly.

"No you won't."

"Actually, I will. Provided you agree not to work against me. You can then try to win Emma's love, or whatever it was your plan required," Cora shrugged. "Feel free to. Anything that separates Emma from her nauseatingly good mother is something I will welcome."

There's always a catch with her, Ingrid cautioned herself, despite the way her breath caught in her throat. Cora had to be lying. "Are you still going to try to kill Emma?" she demanded.

"Of course."

"Then your answer is no," she snarled, coming to her feet before she could stop herself. Ingrid wished she could will ice to her hands in that moment, burned to freeze Cora solid, but while Cora held her heart, her magic only sputtered and died on her fingertips. "You can make me do your dirty work, but I'm not going to serve you willingly."

"As you wish." Another shrug, and then Ingrid felt the paralyzing effect of heart control starting to sink into her bones. "You're going to freeze someone's heart for me."

Ingrid could only listen in horror.

"Well, this isn't what I expected," Emma sighed, looking at the burnt mess in front of Fagin's Group Home.

"How can we be sure it's him?" Snow asked.

"Well, what's-his-name—Sikes?—did say that he saw his boss get burned to a crisp," she pointed out, shrugging. "Though I suppose we could call Maleficent and ask, assuming you have her number."

That made her mother shudder. "You know…I think I'll just look at the security footage," Snow replied, gesturing at the camera by the front door. "Seems easier."

"And it doesn't involve pissing off a dragon. Good idea."

But how in the world am I going to arrest a fire-breathing dragon? she wondered as they trudged up the steps to demand that Sikes let them look at the footage. Emma was still Sheriff, and as weird as this town was, she had to do something. They'd wanted to arrest Fagin, not scrape him off the front porch. And why in the world would Maleficent want to go after a lowlife who turns kids into thieves?

"I got your message," Jefferson said as he walked into the shop. "What's up?"

Belle had been leafing through a book on summons and blood magic, her mind full of research and ideas, so she hadn't heard the door open. But when she heard her friend's voice, she looked up with a smile.

"You're back! We weren't sure if you were still, uh, in the Hat somewhere," she said to her friend.

"Nah, Jafar got sick of Wonderland eventually," he replied with a shrug, shooting her a grin. "Am I hearing the rumors right? Is he free?"

"Yes," Belle replied, feeling her heart lighten just at the thought. Rumple had a long way to go before he was all right, but the important thing was that he was home, and he was free. Jefferson had an odd relationship with her husband, she knew, part friend and part employee, but seeing his concern for Rumplestiltskin warmed Belle. "Rumple's home."

"Good to hear it, particularly since that trick didn't include a trip to Neverland." The portal jumper shuddered. "Nasty place, that. Makes Wonderland look, well, wonderful."

"I can only imagine." Placing a bookmark in her book, Belle squared her shoulders and got to the point. "I need your help."

"You or we?" he asked immediately, gesturing dramatically. "I hear there was a big heroic confab earlier today."

Belle couldn't help herself; she giggled. Jefferson's sense of humor had been one of the brighter spots of her early days at the Dark Castle, and she'd always had the feeling that he knew more than he let on about her relationship with her 'employer'. Jefferson was a good friend, and she regretted putting him in this position.

"The idea is actually Rumple's," she answered honestly, which at least seemed to reassure Jefferson a little. "You've been working with Jafar a lot lately, haven't you?"

"Playing taxi driver, mostly. Or tour guide."

"I'm not acquainted with Jafar, so would you pass him a message? All we want to know is if he would be willing to meet with me? Or Rumple, if he prefers, though fewer people will probably notice him talking to me," Belle said.

"You want to sway him away from Cora."

"Or towards neutrality, yes." She took a deep breath, and figured she should state the facts bluntly, even if they made her stomach twitch a bit. "Rumplestiltskin is going to kill Cora, Jefferson. Jafar needs to understand that if he stands with her—and particularly if he gets in the way—Rumple isn't going to hesitate. And he's not working alone."

Jefferson laughed. "The heroes' club gave him probationary membership, huh? Oh, I'm going to have to needle him about that one. The Dark One is playing hero!"

"Jefferson."

"What?" he snickered. "It's funny. If I'd have told him this before he met you, he would have turned me into a slug with a very small top hat. Or maybe a ferret. That's what he always threatened, anyway."

"Jefferson." Not laughing was hard. Much like Belle, Jefferson had long since realized that Rumplestiltskin was more bark than bite, or at least when it came to people he liked.

"I'll talk to Jafar," the Hatter relented. "I promise. He's kind of hiding from Cora at the moment, anyway—"

The door to the shop swung open yet again, revealing a pale blonde woman wearing a long white dress.

Cora's wards had been recently revamped. Previously, she'd used an abundance of blood magic—a shortcut both her daughters had a tendency of using—along with a decent amount of power to keep unwanted intruders out. Then, once Regina had escaped her clutches, Cora had used Rumplestiltskin's power to remake the wards on her summer home, furious that Robin Hood had slipped through a crack Rumplestiltskin had left the first time. However, she'd clearly rushed through reworking them a second time the previous night…because the flaws showed.

Slipping into her cellar was all too easy. He had taught Cora most of these spells, and she had clearly not been patient enough to do all of them right. He could recognize Zelena's touch on some of the spells, but even their combined strength was not enough to keep him out. His power was raging, surging, ready for anything—the Dark One had been trapped into subservience for too long and was now eager for an outlet. For once, Rumplestiltskin gave his magic the release it craved, melting the defenses away and teleporting into the cellar in a swirl of red smoke.

He had actually expected to find Ingrid there, but much to his surprise, her cage was empty. In fact, the entire cellar was empty, and when he stretched his senses out in a spell, he realized that the house was as well. Strange, he thought idly, casting another spell with the sweep of his right hand. But not entirely surprising. Cora was probably out trying to regain some power, and she was probably going to use Ingrid to do that. That's a problem for the heroes, he thought to himself. Rumplestiltskin did pity Ingrid a bit—she actually seemed to be trying, belatedly, to follow his advice from long ago—but he couldn't afford to be distracted, now.

He hated this place, but he wasn't here to sightsee or to allow the memories currently bubbling up to overwhelm him. Rumplestiltskin had come to fetch something he knew Cora had buried under the floor—along with something else he hoped was there, too.

Yet forgetting that he had been strapped to that table by the far wall was impossible. Everything hurt, Cora was smiling, and he kept trying to turn his head away from her but she wouldn't let him—No. He would not do this. Not here and not now. Even if Rumplestiltskin knew the blood on the floor just two feet from where he stood was his own, even if he would never forget what had happened in this hellhole. He felt like he could hear his screams echoing off the walls even now—

Magic shot out of his shaking hands, tearing the concrete floor up in a whirlwind of power and rage. Most of the stone crumbled and shattered under the assault, but some came up in chunks that swirled around Rumplestiltskin like a particularly dirty tornado. Forcing himself to focus, he lowered his hands and ignored the way his entire body was trembling. As he did, the tornado drilled into the floor, opening a hole in the basement's foundations. His magic cleared the dirt and grime away quickly, and Rumplestiltskin twitched his fingers to banish the tornado, peering into the hole.

At the bottom lay a short sword with a peculiarly curved blade, which was covered in ancient runes very few could read.

Sighing, Rumplestiltskin summoned the blade to his hand, feeling the odd surge of power run up his arm as he did so. He had hoped that Cora's heart might also be hidden here, but the Vorpal Blade appeared to be the only item Cora had buried, even when he cast a third enchantment to dissipate any glamour or concealment spells. Still, he had what he came for. Rumplestiltskin might have been the Dark One, but he never broke a deal.

"Can I help you?" Belle asked, looking at the newcomer with wide eyes. She looked incredibly tense, though Jefferson wasn't sure why. Wasn't this Sarah Fisher, the owner of Any Given Sundae? She'd always seemed like a harmless enough woman—

"I'm here to deliver a message," was the mechanical response, and Jefferson didn't need to be a sorcerer to recognize what that meant. He'd seen it often enough.

"Belle, someone's got her—"

"Her heart, I know," Belle cut him off as Jefferson turned to move between his friend and the ice cream lady. He wasn't exactly a hero type, but he knew Rumplestiltskin well enough to know that the Dark One would get him out of any amount of trouble if Jefferson defended Belle. Belle, however, simply squared her shoulders and looked at their visitor. "What do you want?"

"She's not the one with the message, dear," a second voice said, and Jefferson and Belle both whirled right. Cora was standing in front of the display case under the guitars, a heart in her hand. Smirking.

Oh, shit.

"Hello, Cora," Belle managed to say the words evenly, and damn, Jefferson admired her strength. "Rumple's not here, but I'm sure he'll be sorry to have missed you."

"Oh, I'm sure he will," the Evil Queen purred. "Particularly once he finds what I've done to you."

"Even if you kill me, it won't make him love you," Belle retorted. "He's better than that."

Cora laughed. "You really are a naive little girl, aren't you?" She shook her head, as if feigning sadness. "Still, he does have a strange little affection for you, so I suppose you'll do."

"You know that if you hurt her, Rumplestiltskin will hunt you till the ends of the earth," Jefferson found his voice to put in, hoping like hell that Cora might see sense. Or that his call would work. Come on, Rumple. Get your formerly scaly behind in here fast!

"Do be quiet, Hatter. I've already blocked you trying to call him," was the immediate response, and Jefferson felt his heart sink. "If you behave yourself, you might even make it out of this alive. After all, someone has to tell Rumple the news."

"And what news exactly is that?" Belle spoke up again, and Jefferson could hear the hint of a quaver in her voice. She was so brave, Belle was, but he could understand why she was afraid. Jefferson was, too. Somehow, he'd backed up so that his back was against the counter, with Belle just a foot or so away to his right, but this wasn't the kind of threat unity would help them face.

Cora simply smiled and turned to the ice cream lady. "Freeze her, Ingrid. And make it slow."

A/N: Next up: Chapter Ninety-Nine—"An Ocean of Darkness", in which Rumplestiltskin keeps his deal with the Jabberwocky, Cora creates a neat little display, Maurice tries to help his daughter, and Rumplestiltskin walks into Cora's trap.