Ch. 13
Nova's POV
I run faster, pumping my arms harder. I don't know what I'm running from but I know that I can't let it get me. A smoky figure appears in front of me and I quickly change course. My lungs are burning and I have multiple cuts on my legs and arms from the thorns. But I keep running.
The woods open up to a large field. A scream erupts from me as I gaze across the blood stained terrain. The whole town of Storybrooke lays dead in front of me. I take a couple steps forward, sobbing as I see Jefferson and Paige clutching each other. I fall to my knees and take Jefferson's hand. Even though I already knew he was dead, I check his pulse. I bring my lips down to his cold hand. "Who could've done this?"
"Did you really have to ask?" I spin around and standing above me is Destiny in a tight black and red dress.
"How could you? They were your friends!"
She grins and starts walking towards me. I stand up and face her as she walks behind me. "The power." She whispers in my ear, making my spine tingle. She walks towards the bodies and throws open her arms. "Isn't it wonderful, Nova? The power, it's simply thrilling..." Her arm twitches and I watch in horror as thick, black veins curl around it and disappears into her dress. She spins towards me and grabs my hands. "You could have it too, Nova! I could teach you and we'll be together forever!" She starts giggling like a school girl.
I yank my hands away from her. "No!" I shake my head and point at our dead friends. "Your 'power' killed our friends. If the only thing it can do is take away the people you love.." I pause and look into her eyes, searching for just a glimpse of recognition. "Then I want no part of it."
Destiny is quiet for a minute, then shrugs. "Oh well! I really didn't want to kill you but it looks like I don't have a choice."
I back away from her, putting my hands up defensively. "No! Destiny, I'm your friend!" As I'm stumbling backwards, I trip over something and land on my back. I look in front of me and the body on the ground is Destiny, dressed in a simple blue dress and riding boots. She looks a couple years younger and I couldn't help but notice the bright red slash on the front of her dress. "Destiny?" I crawl up to her and brush the hair away from her face.
"That Destiny is long gone!" A voice thunders, causing me to scream. Before I could turn around, pain starts to blossom on my back. A hand grabs my hair and yanks my head back. "You picked the wrong side, my dear." The pain intensifies and I fall down on my stomach. My vision blurs and the last thing I see is a pair of black heels walking away.
"NO!" I scream. I jolt up from my bed, gasping for air. I search around frantically before checking myself for any marks or scars. I swallow hard and press my hand to my chest, hoping it would calm my heart down. My eyes feel hot with the dried tears. I resist the urge of replaying the scene in my head.
As I pull myself together, I take a moment to notice the bright sunlight illuminating the tent I'm in. It's morning. Forcing myself out of the bed, I reach for the jug on the table and pour myself some water. Just as I'm about to drink it, I hear an aggravated voice outside. The voice is too familiar not to recognise.
I rush out of the tent to find Regina attacking the tribe people. As they try to tame her, she lashes out at them, throwing them out of her way with a swipe of her hand.
"Who are you people?! Get away from me," Regina yells. I sprint towards her.
"Regina, stop! These people helped us!" Before she could attack another man, I grab hold of her arms and shake her in protest.
Her glazed eyes clear as she recognizes me. "Nova? What happened?"
I look around and make sure everyone is okay before addressing Regina. "We were separated from the group during the storm and we both got knocked out. When I woke up, we were surrounded by these people. They took us to their home and healed us." Something catches my eye and I turn, smiling when I spot Annora approaching. "This is Annora, the leader of the Melakey tribe."
"Come. We need to further discuss the plan." She nods at Regina and walks off to her tent.
Regina opens her mouth but I put my hand up. "Just trust me." Without waiting for Regina, I follow Annora to her tent.
"Have you received any news on where my friends are?" I ask as I sit opposite her, the table creating a distance between us. Placed on top, is a huge map of the woods, covered with crosses in specific places.
"Not at this moment. We have sent some of our people to search around the area where we had found you and Regina. We can only just hope and wait that they receive news." Regina rushes into the tent. I turn to her, my eyebrows raised in caution. Regina looks at me, then at Annora.
"I'm sorry. I had wrongly assumed that you people had abducted us. We've not exactly had the most welcoming time back here," she justifies,standing beside me. Annora nods.
"It is fine. You were right to assume that." She turns her gaze back at me.
"In the case of the ingredients, we have most of them. Except for one which is claimed to be rare."
"Wait a minute. Ingredients? For what?" Regina interrupts.
"Annora believes that there is a way we can break Destiny's curse. She believes that if we create this paste and apply it on a desired weapon, when we stab it into Destiny, it should weaken her powers and break the curse," I update her. Regina takes this in. Annora continues on.
"It is called the violetta flower. It is commonly known for healing infections. We are hoping this will have some effect on Destiny."
"I have heard of it. Rumpelstiltskin had mentioned it before. Though he never mentioned its whereabouts," Regina adds.
Annora pulls out a dagger from her cape and uses it to pinpoint areas she believes has some traces of violetta.
"But what makes you think that we can find these flowers if they are claimed to be rare?" Regina questions. I could sense the skeptical tone in her voice. Does she truly believe that Destiny couldn't be saved?
Annora looks at Regina, as if studying her. "You look very familiar. Who's your mother?"
Regina shakes her head. "That has nothing to do with helping Destiny."
Annora nods slowly and turns around. I hear some commotion before she turns back around, arms full of ingredients. "We need to combine all of these ingredients together and make them into a paste. When we get the flower-"
"You mean 'if'," Regina interrupts.
Annora nods again, "If we get the flower, we turn it into a fine powder and sprinkle it into the paste. It's the last step."
"How long is it going to take you to make the paste?"
She sighs, looking over the scroll. "I'd say a day at the least. This will give you enough time to find the flower."
Regina huffs but before she could say anything, two men burst through the tent. "We have found two women and a man who claim to be friends of our guest."
Annora bows her head, "Thank you Keetus, Martin." She stands up and dusts off her dress. "Lead us to them."
The men bow and turn, leading us to the campfire where several figures are huddled. "Mary Margaret! Emma!" I yell and run ahead of the group. I slam into Mary Margaret who laughs. I feel Emma hug me from behind. "I was so worried about you!"
We let go and I look over at Hook who is staring into the fire silently. "What happened to you guys?"
Emma looks at Mary Margaret. "I don't know. I remember there being a freak storm and we all got separated. I got hit on the head and when I woke up, I saw Mary Margaret lying a couple feet away. Once we were both up for it, we went searching for everyone else. A couple hours later, we found Hook." She jabs her thumb in his direction and continues. "Then these guys found us and brought us here."
"Is Henry and David here?" Mary Margaret asks, worry evident in her eyes.
"No." Annora steps up and takes her hands."But do not fret, we have multiple parties out searching for them both."
Mary Margaret smiles up at Annora. "Thank you. And you are?"
Annora laughs. "My apologies! I'm Annora, the leader of the Melakey tribe."
While Annora is introducing herself, I watch Hook poke away at the fire with a twig. When she names her tribe, his head shoots up. His eyes widened. I watch his mouth as he repeated, "Oh shit. Oh shit."
"...so after everyone is together and all safe, you will go find the flower." I snap away from Hook and look up at Annora who had noticed my gaze. She follows it and her eyes land on Hook who is sweating and not just from the fire. "What is your name?" She takes a couple steps forward, pointing at Hook.
"Captain Hook."
She frowns. "Your real name." She emphasizes.
He visibly swallows. "Killian Jones."
She stands rigidly and glares at Hook. Her hands clench into fists. I glance at Annora and then at Hook.
"Is everything ok?" I ask. Annora's eyes darken at Hook. She turns to me.
"How do you know this man?" She demands, her voice rising slightly in volume. I look towards Hook with a raised eyebrow.
"I know him through Destiny. Apparently, they were close. Until he turned into a ruthless pirate," I add. Hook pulls a 'not so helpful' face at me. Annora walks right up to him.
"You may have grown but I still remember that young, stubborn face of yours. I told you to keep your distance from Destiny. But I believe my words didn't sink in." I stare at them in confusion. Hook stands his ground.
"And I did. But I'm not the bad influence you thought I am. I care about her more than you think," he justifies. But it simply makes Annora let out a mock laugh.
"If you did care about her, you wouldn't have let her secretly meet you in Neverland. You, more than anyone, know what that place holds."
"Wait. Destiny used to meet Hook in Neverland?" I interrupt. Annora nods, her eyes still on Hook.
"And he tried to sneak into our camp to meet her but that idea of his was short lived," she adds. Before I could ask more questions, Emma butts in.
"I'm sorry, I would love to grill him more but we need to find the 're out there somewhere, including Henry and i'm getting really worried." Annora glances towards Emma before returning her gaze at Hook.
"We'll talk about this later. I'd advise you don't get on my bad side." With that said, Annora walks away. "Let's find your friends."
Rumple's POV
I sit back in my chair, registering what I just saw. Looking over my shoulder, I watch Destiny fret over that blasted book she stole from Regina. I look back at the ball. Could I have gone too far over my head? Because of Destiny's actions, there was no sign of Belle. And I can't help but feel worried. I look back at Destiny and she curses, grabbing her hair in frustration. A question comes to mind.
"Destiny?"
"What!" She growls.
"What do you plan to do exactly?" I stand up slowly and walk over to the table cluttered with books and paper. "I just realized I know absolutely nothing."
She laughs and wipes her forehead. "I thought you didn't need to know the plan, Rumple. This plan will work if you trust me."
I nod slowly, my suspicions growing stronger. She is definitely hiding something. "I'm going for a walk."
She squints at me, trying to read me. I almost smile when she steps back with nothing. I walk outside the castle, feeling a calm breeze touch my face. I continue walking until I reach a small pond. I check my surroundings before taking out a small potion from my pocket.
I kneel beside the pond and gently pour a couple of drops of the potion into it. I whisper a chant. An image gradually surfaces on it. I wait anxiously before feeling my heart constrict. In the image, Belle stumbles through an unfamiliar place, her face partly covered with blood and her clothes filthy. I watch as she stops beside a tree, her breathing dangerously sharp.
I shake my hand quickly into the water, making the image disappear. I move away from the pond and sit myself down. What am I doing? Because of me, Belle is hurt. And alone. I feel my heart ache, a pain so strong I can't breathe. I have to find her, I decide. Pulling myself together, I make my way back to the castle.
As I re-enter the room, I notice that Destiny is no where to be seen. Although, the book and papers remain where they are. Curiously, I look at the page left open. My eyes widen. Why is Destiny looking at a spell for wiping away someone's memories?
I grab one of the papers and wave my hand, reappearing in Destiny's room. I stand silently and glare at her as she exits the bathroom.
She jumps slightly when she notices me. "What the hell?"
"I could be asking you the same question!" With that, I throw the paper at her. Using her magic, she grabs it. I could tell that she recognized it but she shrugs.
"It's just a spell I found laying around."
"Do not lie to me!" I thunder.
Destiny laughs. "You think you scare me? You are nothing but a lovesick puppy who doesn't know how to listen to his master!"
"Master?" I ask, challenging her.
"That's right. Did that hurt your feelings?" Destiny taunts. I grit my teeth.
"And also, I was looking at that spell intentionally. You know why? Because I'm planning to wipe everyone's memories away." She stands right in front of me.
"Including Belle," she adds with a smirk. My eyes darken at her.
"Leave. Belle. Out of this." I glare at her. Destiny laughs. I stare at her and I can't help but smirk. This brings her laughter to a halt.
"You know. I thought you'd be worthy of your power. But instead of you controlling it, it's controlling you. This power of yours will be your undoing. And I will be the one to watch as it destroys you," I smile slyly. Destiny's face slightly falters.
"You can leave. I don't need you anymore," she decides, trying to recover her moment of weakness.
I spin on my heel and walk towards the open door. I stop. I look back at her.
"Everything comes with a price. You may have used me, but now you will face my price. Oh and good luck with doing that spell. Without me," I say before disappearing into the air, Destiny's annoyed yell bringing a wide smile to my face.
I appear at the last place I saw Belle in hopes I could find her. After listening for a bit, I conclude that she's moved on. I look around for a clue that could lead me to her. After a bit of searching, I find a man made path and decide to follow it. The path opens up to a field with tents scattered around.
I search around the camp. Suddenly, two men approach me out of nowhere, their weapons raised at me. I'm about to strike them when a familiar voice reaches my ears.
"Rumple..." I turn to my left to find Belle, limping slightly, her hand resting on her stomach. Her eyes fill up with tears. Euphoria fills me at the sight of her. Safe and sound. A woman walks up beside Belle, her eyes on me. She signals the men to lower their weapons. They do as they're told.
With as much energy as she can muster, Belle rushes to me, her hands open in embrace.
"I'm so glad you're ok," I whisper in her ear. She pulls out of the hug and places her hand on my cheek.
"I could say the same to you. When I didn't see you, I was worried." I straighten Belle's hair from the back.
"Well, I'm here now." The woman walks up to us.
"You must be Rumpelstiltskin. I have heard of your supposed reputation," the blonde haired woman says. I turn my gaze to her, unsure whether she is trustworthy or not.
"I'm sure you have. And you must be Annora, leader of the Melakey tribe?"
The woman nods.
"How do you know her?" Belle asks.I simply smile at her.
"I will tell you later. Right now, you need to rest." She raises an eyebrow at me before nodding it off. Gently, I help Belle into one of the tents. As I come out, I see Annora waiting outside.
"We had found your beloved unconscious near our tribe so we attended to her and healed as much of her wounds as we could," Annora explains.
"Thank you. I appreciate what you have done for Belle," I say to Annora. I survey the camp, surprised at the emptiness of it. Although I knew the answer, I still ask.
"Have you found anyone else?"
"Yes. As a matter of fact, we have found many others as I assume you already know." Annora raises her eyebrow at me. I stay silent for a moment, thinking how she would have known. Reading my mind, she replies.
"We don't need to go into what you know and what I know at this moment. I, however, would like some reassurance that you are going to help us."
I nod in agreement, "I will do whatever I can to help you. I'm just glad Belle is safe." I glance back at the tent she rests in before continuing. "You said there were others here? Who?"
Annora starts walking and I know enough to follow her. "The first to arrive were Nova and Regina. Then came Mary Margaret, Emma, and Killian. I have received word that they've just found David and Henry. On my way back to camp, I ran across Belle."
I nod, taking it all in. "Where are they then?"
She looks around, then nods to her tent and we enter. She puts up a sound barrier and pulls out a scroll. "I've discovered a paste that if injected into Destiny's bloodstream, it will damper her powers enough for us to break the curse."
"And they are getting the ingredients, I presume?" I ask, reading them. When I reach the bottom, I laugh, "They're supposed to find the violetta flower?"
She creases her eyebrows in confusion. "Yes. Why does that humor you?"
I shrug, "It's just that there's only one flower said to exist and I just so happen to be the owner."
"What are you employing, Dark One."
"I will go inform the valiant gang of the flower's location. In return, I want you to keep Belle here and make sure she heals."
Annora nods, "Such a small price, for the Dark One."
I glare at her. "I can make it more if it bothers you so."
She raises her hands in protest. "No no. I'm just surprised. You're not what they say you are."
"So we have an accord?" I ask, holding my hand out. She pauses for a second before smiling. "It does seem that way." She shakes my hand firmly.
"Excellent. Now just tell me their location and I'll be off." After giving me their location, I disappear, my final thought being Belle.
Nova's POV:
"Where is this flower?! We've been searching for some time now and I haven't seen anything purple!" Emma moans, her irritation reflecting my own. As Annora had suggested, we had searched the areas where the flower had been claimed to be. Unfortunately, there was no sign of it.
Regina rolls her eyes at Emma.
"Trust you to be crying like an annoying child." Emma shoots a glare at Regina.
"You know. Sometimes I wonder if you can even shut up and forget our differences for a second." Regina dismisses Emma's remark and turns her attention to me.
"As I expected, we haven't found any. And I doubt we will either," she adds coldly. If I had been the same Nova as I was before, I would have absorbed in her words and let it hurt me. But right now, I'm already frustrated. And Regina is the perfect person to release it on.
"Can you for once, stop being so negative! Oh, I'm sorry. You can't, can you? It's not exactly in your genes for you to care about anyone else but yourself!" I yell at her. Regina stares at me, clearly stunned by my outburst. Emma, on the other hand, grins with approval. Sighing, I pinch the bridge of my nose.
"Look. Annora believes we have a chance to find this flower and use it to save Destiny. And I believe her. Would it kill you to try and care about helping Destiny. Your friend?" I stress. Regina's eyes grow dark at the sound of Destiny's name. She trudges towards me.
"My friend? I think you're forgetting that she killed my mother right in front of me. No matter what she's done, Destiny had no right to kill her! And this Annora you seem to like praising after knowing her for a day. Isn't she the one who hurt your 'friend'?"
"She wasn't trying to hurt Destiny. She was protecting her. And from who? Your own mother," I argue, feeling my cheeks heat up. Before Regina could reply, a voice interrupts.
"Looks like I didn't miss much." Following the voice, we all turn to find Rumple, calmly leaning against a tree.
"Rumple? Where have you been?" Regina asks. Though her voice doesn't sound concerned.
"I've come to help." He spreads his arms out and bows mockingly.
"You've come to help US?!" Regina asks, a little hysterical. "You were behind this. How do we know if Destiny didn't send you out to kill us?"
"Because apparently everyone thinks I follow her." He glares at Regina before continuing. "I found out her real plan and decided that there wasn't much for me as I thought."
I step forward cautiously. "What's her plan?"
"She plans on making a spell that can wipe everyone in the Enchanted Forest's memory so she can rule without any problems."
"We can't let her make that spell!" Emma speaks up.
"Of course, but how do we stop her. We don't know where the flower is!" Mary Margaret says, pulling David closer to the circle. Hook follows behind, his face not pleased as he looks at Rumple.
"Now that's where I come in." We all turn back and look at Rumple who is smirking.
"You?" Regina scoffs.
He ignores her and continues. "I happen to know the EXACT location of this flower you're looking for." My eyes light up.
"Really? Where?" I ask. Rumple looks at all of our attentive faces. Pleased that we need his help, he moves through our circle.
"Follow me. It's not far from here," he assures us. Obediently, we follow behind him. We trudge past familiar parts of the forest. Regina huffs behind us. Our surroundings slowly start to change as Rumple takes us deeper into the forest. We move branches away from our faces.
"You better not be messing with us, Crocodile," Hook warns, using his hook to move the branches. Rumple turns back at him, his face amused. Finally, we stop at an empty opening in the forest. There are no flowers in sight.
I raise my eyebrow at Rumple, unsure what he's playing at. Rumple clicks his fingers. And I gasp at the new view.
Beautiful, purple flowers start to blossom, their petals shining with the midday sunlight. From where we're standing, they feel so magical. All my exhaustion and frustration comes out in one sigh. Emma glances towards me, a relieved smile on her face. Carefully, we head towards the flowers.
"How did we not find this?" Emma asks.
"That's because I made sure no one found them. These violetta flowers that you see, are the most powerful plants. When Destiny used to work for me and I knew of her curse, I made sure I kept these in case she ever got out of control," Rumple explains, gesturing towards the flowers.
I look at him in shock, "That's so.."
"Nice?" He looks at me with a raised eyebrow, then sighs, "I had grown quite fond of her over the years." His eyes glaze over, as if reliving a memory before he coughs. "Okay! You only need one for the paste so pick one and let's go."
Destiny's POV
After impatiently waiting for anything to appear on my crystal ball, I start to lose my mind. Feeling my fury burn my insides, I displace it on the things around me. I grab the ball and thrust it at the wall. It falls to the ground, a large crack forming on it. I turn everything upside down until I feel my fire die down. My insides go raw. I throw myself into my armchair beside the bookshelf. The darkness of the room engulfs me.
Everything was going perfectly fine... Until Rumple turned his back on me. I should never have trusted him. I should have known that because of love, he had changed. He's not the Rumpelstiltskin I once knew. I dig my nails into the arms of the chair at the thought of him. I scream in frustration.
Taking several deep breathes, I slowly rise from my chair. I look around the room. With a flick of my finger, everything starts to fix itself. Obliviously, I walk up to the cracked crystal ball and place it onto the table that stands back up. I press my hands against the table and gaze hard at the ball. It stares blankly at me.
Something isn't right. The crystal ball has always shown me whatever the group were up to. And now, I still can't see what is happening. Why? My mind wanders to the Melakey tribe. Could they have something to do with this? But how? For so many years, they couldn't find me. But I know that they are well capable of hiding themselves.
At that exact moment, a distorted image appears on the crystal ball. Shocked, I gaze in deeper, trying to figure out what I'm seeing. Although the image looks fuzzy, I could still make out a forest within it. There are outlines of people but I couldn't hear or see who they are. I step back from the table and start to pace backwards and forwards. Instantly, an idea comes to mind.
I turn back to it and place my right hand on top of it. I close my eyes and breathe out the words of a spell. Before I know it, I open my eyes to find myself inside the image. Cautiously, I hide behind a distorted tree and peer out at the image I had seen. Gradually, I feel the image grow clearer. The faces of the people start to smoothen out, growing more and more familiar.
It is the group. They all huddle around a campfire, their faces coloured by the brightness of the fire. The dark night sky surrounds them.
"Finally, it's made. For a moment, I thought we would never get it done." I recognise Nova's voice. Emma nods in agreement. Rubbing her arms for warmth, Regina stares at Rumple.
"So what's the plan now?" Rumple glances at her.
"Now, we wait until dawn. Then we will get to Destiny and finish what she's started. Having power is one thing but to take advantage of it is not how it works. We'll have to be careful though. Destiny has changed ever since you last saw her. She may no longer see you as a friend." He aims that last statement at Nova. She nods.
Suddenly, everything starts to grow blurry again. Their voices grow muffled before finally disappearing. My surroundings grow painfully bright. I shield my eyes.
I open my eyes carefully. Feeling no light invading them, I open them wider to find myself back in my room. I feel my eyes spark with angry fire. "How dare Rumple betray me!" I yell. I grab the nearest object and throw it. I pause when an idea forms. Those heros can't stand hurting one of their own.
I gasp in realization and disappear. I reappear in the dimly lit dungeon. I grin at the small, weak faces that peer through their cells.
"Hello everyone." I smile enthusiastically at the townspeople. This might just work.
A/N Hope you guys like it! Don't forget to review! Xx