Race Through Time:
Trouble In Storybrooke
The door of Mr. Gold's pawnshop opened and David and Emma stepped in, ignoring the sound of the usual bell. They walked towards the counter, where Mr. Gold and Belle, who was holding her sleeping baby Amanda, were waiting for them.
"You called us?" David asked.
"Yes, but mostly for Emma," Mr. Gold said. He pulled out something from his jacket and placed it on the counter: David and Emma were surprised to see Pandora's Box again after what happened one month with the Aztec gods and the heroes of San Angel. "You remember when we freed Xibalba and Manolo from this little thing?"
"How can't we?" Emma said.
"What exactly are you trying to say about it?" David asked. To answer his question, the ex-Dark One turned the box backwards and revealed a purple light flashing on and off like a bicycle's warning light in the middle of the night.
"We just saw this light today while I was cleaning the shop," Belle explained. "Apparently, it's been flashing for a month, but we haven't noticed it before."
"What does it mean?" Emma asked apprehensively.
"It means that the last time we opened the box, one of its…contained evils took the liberty of illegally escaping," Mr. Gold answered. "The box only grants liberty to its prisoners if someone from the outside world intentionally desired to free them. This was the case for when we freed Henry-in-Pan's-body, Manolo, and Xibalba: we desired to free them. But, we can't free something or someone whom we don't desire to be freed."
"In other words, while we were 'legally' freeing Manolo and Xibalba last month, something or someone took the liberty of illegally escaping," David concluded.
"Exactly," Belle said. "And apparently, unless it's returned to the box before the sun sets in thirty days, whatever escaped will be permanently freed from the box and will never be able to be put back inside ever again."
"So we…" David began saying until the door burst open and Anubis and Marion Romanov, along with two hounds, came in.
"ROSETTA'S MISSING!" they exclaimed in unison.
"Again?" the other four adults exclaimed. The screaming woke up Amanda, who cried in Belle's arms.
"I'd better go back home to take care of Amanda, Rumple," Belle said.
"I agree with you," Rumple kissed his wife. "Be safe and keep an eye on our daughter." The latter nodded and she left through the back, taking their baby with her.
"What do you mean, your daughter's missing?" David asked the newcomers.
"One of my hounds rushed to my shop saying that Rosie disappeared from the mansion after some 'lights' came into the living room. When Marion and I rushed back home, all we saw was the couch full of books, a spilled cup of tea on the floor, and no Rosie," Anubis said.
Emma pondered a bit before an idea hit her and she pulled out her phone and began dialing. "I might have a pretty good idea of who we should suspect first."
Later on, on a cliff that bordered the ocean
The waves were crashing on the rocks at the bottom of the cliff, making rough, thunder like noises. The cool wind blew from the west above the dull green grass where a small, pale stoned cottage was located, with a small road leading to the woods right behind it. And just at the peak of the cliff stood Fidget the Bat, with a telescope in hand, observing the sky.
He didn't like what he was seeing: the moon was very slowly but surely approaching the sun daily, and if Fidget was correct based on the math he learned in astronomy back in the old days, there would be an annular eclipse on the next fourteenth of August, which was his actual birthday. Legends told about an eclipse that came every three hundred years and brought unimaginable darkness with it. And Fidget's 300th birthday was going to be on the same day of the eclipse's arrival.
So much for coincidences, he thought.
He noticed that his wristwatch was indicating four o'clock; Rosetta should be arriving anytime soon for their usual Tea Thursdays. He put away his telescope and began walking back to his cottage, only to see cars pulling at the bottom of the road and walking towards his cottage. He squinted in confusion until he noticed that one of them was none other than the codfish he hated the most.
"Fitzgerald," Killian said quietly as he arrived in front of the cottage's patio with Emma Swan, her father, Rosetta's parents' and a couple of Anubis' hounds, who growled at the Batrishan.
"I didn't recall inviting you over, codfish," Fidget said drily.
"I know, Fitzgerald. But there's been a…few events going on in Storybrooke that seem to put you on the suspect list."
"Always blaming me for your problems."
"Look, we'll just make it clear!" Emma snapped. "Did you kidnap Rosetta again and are you aware that something escaped from Pandora's box?"
The Batrishan's head perked up when he heard the mention of Rosetta. "Rosetta's missing?"
"Don't play another one of your games, Fidget!" David said.
"I'm not!" the Batrishan said defensively. "I swear on the River Styx that I have nothing to do with whatever happened to Rosetta!"
Anubis looked up to the sky to see if anything happened for a few seconds. He looked quite surprised when he said: "The Batrishan is honest. He doesn't know what happened to my daughter."
"Are you sure?" Emma asked skeptically.
"He swore on the River Styx," Marion said. "The punishment for those who lie when they swore to tell the truth on that powerful river is instant electrocution through lightning."
"So you don't know what happened to Rosetta?" Killian asked Fidget.
"I'd be dead by now if I did," the Batrishan frowned. "Looks like this justifies why she isn't here for tea…"
"Why would Rosetta come to your house for tea?" David asked.
"Because we do Tea Thursdays," Fidget replied.
"So that explains why Rosetta comes back home late from school every Thursday even though they have early release," Marion pinched her nose in exasperation. "Remind me to have a discussion with her once we find her."
"And what about Pandora's Box?" Killian said. "Did you release whatever came out of it?"
"The only I've done with Pandora's Box was back in the Enchanted Forest during the days where I imprisoned 100 villains, Xibalba being one of them, as part of a deal with the Dark One," Fidget answered.
"Let's do it another way," Anubis said. "Do you have any involvement with the box currently?"
"In Styx's name, I have nothing to do with it." Some sort of grey light coming from Anubis' tuxedo followed the Batrishan's words. The god pulled out what appeared to be a feather made of gold, only it was flashing with grey. "I didn't know you possessed one of Maat's feathers of truth."
"I hardly use it," the god admitted. "But I brought it with me just in case. It's grey light means that you are half lying and half telling the truth."
"I didn't touch that blasted box while it was in this town!"
"You didn't. That's the part where you didn't lie. However, you were somewhat involved with the thing that escaped from the box. That's the part where you 'lied'." Anubis air-quoted the word 'lie' while realization hit the Batrishan's face.
"One of the villains I locked in the box escaped. And he or she is after me."