Good form - Chapter 03
A/N: Fun fact! Majo entered the Enchanted Forest in 1857 and therefore wouldn't know the word "zombie" as it is used today.
Also, I forgot to mention this earlier, but this fic (and its sequels) are not really gonna interact with the Shadowhunters canon at all. Mainly, I'll just be referencing the Bane Chronicles, aside from maybe one scene in chapter five or something. But even that is more of just a nod towards it.
—
Majo woke up again as a body fell on top of her and she heard the sound of fighting.
Opening their eyes, she pushed the weight off of them with her magic, saw that she was tied up, and looked around.
They were in the forest and around them, Emma and Snow were fighting off villagers. Catching a glimpse of red, she saw Mulan defending the princess in the white cloak.
Looking closer, Majo could see that those were the villagers Cora had killed. They were being attacked by the undead!
Majo started to re-kill the villagers with her magic. The ones that came near her at least.
"The compass!" They heard Emma yell as one of the undead managed to get ahold of the magic compass.
Snow shot the man, making him drop the compass but not killing him.
"Any idea how to kill these things?" the blonde asked her mother.
"No, but it seems like she is doing a pretty good job," Snow said, nodding to Majo and then releasing an arrow into one of the undead.
Emma turned to look at Majo, who was bound to a tree. This did not hinder them, however, from blasting their opponents with white spurts of magic.
As soon as they found an opening, Majo made a hand gesture and a transparent force field put itself around the warlock who then made themselves comfortable in her spot and used her magic to cut loose the ropes.
Majo looked at the remaining two women–Mulan and the other princess had disappeared.
"Emma, we've got to run for it!"
"What about her?"
"She's a warlock, she can protect herself."
And with that, the two lovely ladies were off.
—
"Well isn't that a familiar sight?" Majo heard a voice say.
"Good to know you're okay," Majo huffed as Killian approached her.
They stood up and finished off the rest of the undead. Then, they waved her hands upwards and made the magical shield disappear.
Killian approached his lieutenant and wrapped her in a quick hug.
Majo hugged him back, "How long was I out?"
"Swan trapped me on the beanstalk yesterday."
"Damn it. That's why I always say never trust a blonde."
He looked at them pointedly "You've never said that."
"Well, I have now. Are we continuing the original plan?"
"I think we may actually have to work with Cora now."
—
"Wake up," Killian beckoned the princess.
They were in the prison of the village where Cora had ruled as Lancelot.
"Come on, sweetheart. Wake up. Wake up."
He looked around, as if nervous that Cora would come. "Wake up. On your feet, hurry."
He pulled the woman up.
"No. No. Are you gonna kill me?" she asked, struggling against the pirate's hold.
Majo scoffed, getting her attention. "Hun, if we were here to kill you, you'd already be dead." She waved her hands and freed the princess of her chains.
"So what? Did Cora send you?"
"Cora has no idea we're here."
"I don't- I don't understand."
Killian sighed, "Look, I know you're sleepy but isn't it obvious? We're setting you free."
"What is this, some sort of pirate's ruse?"
"Why does everyone dislike pirates?" Majo groaned.
"Probably because we are known plunderers," their Captain answered. Majo shrugged and Killian looked back at the princess. "Cora's denied us passage to Storybrooke and our vengeance. And now we're gonna deny her her wishes, starting with the compass. In pirate terms, you might say I'm firing a shot across my enemy's bow."
"You'd risk your life to break in here all so you could thwart Cora?"
"We don't like being double-crossed. Now go."
"Thank you."
Killian pulled her back again."You could thank us by doing me one favour."
"What?"
"Give Emma a message. Tell her that the deal still stands. If she provides us passage back to her realm, I swear, we will help her find that dust that opens the portal."
"Do you really want to assist us?"
"It hurts Cora and helps us," Majo smirked. "Of course we do. Now go."
The princess left.
Killian dropped the facade as they looked after her. "Suppose we just have to wait for the witch now."
Majo sighed and leaned against one of the cell walls to wait.
—
"Looking for someone?" Killian asked as Cora stormed into the cell.
"Oh. Oh, don't tell me you were dumb enough to let her go."
"She was never gonna give you what you wanted anyway," Majo shrugged.
"So you freed her. And stuck around for the petty satisfaction of seeing me suffer?"
"Oh, watching you suffer is a tempting motivation, but it wasn't that," Killian told the witch.
"Well, then you must have a death wish."
Cora threw the Captain back against the stone wall and looked slightly surprised as it didn't work with the warlock but quickly covered it up with an emotionless facade.
"Instead of using my Captain as a ragdoll, you should thank us. We brought you a present." She broke the blockades that held Killian to the wall.
Killian threw his satchel to the witch in blue, who caught it. "What is it?"
"Customarily, surprise is part of the fun of gift-giving. Open it."
Cora opened the brown leather bag. "Is that..."
"Indeed it is." The Captain confirmed. "And with it, you'll get everything you want."
—
Cora held the heart up and dictated the princess's words to Emma.
"It was Hook. He and Majo let me go."
"Why?"
"Because of you. He said he wanted to prove to you that you should've trusted him, that if you had trusted him, you could've defeated Cora together. That the two of you could've gotten the remains of the wardrobe. Without them, you'll have to go up against her all by yourself. He only wants to help and Majo would have followed. I...I think he might care for you."
Killian scoffed, "Nice touch, that."
"But you know she won't trust you," the witch said.
"Ah, she doesn't have to. All we need is for her to believe that we were genuine in letting the girl go, which I wager she does now. You're welcome," he nodded mockingly.
"Impressive, " Cora said, not looking impressed at all. Then her gaze flickered to Majo. "You took a heart. "
"Aye, you and you're family are not the only ones able to do that. Though you do seem to have an obsession with it."
Ignoring his lieutenant, Killian answered. "Now you've a princess."
"Indeed I do."
"Now can we get on with the business of going to Storybrooke, together?"
"Why not? I hate to travel alone. All we need is the compass."
Killian nodded. "Which will soon be delivered."
The two pirates turned around and walked out of the cell.
—
The three allies now stood in front of the old cell of the Dark One, also known as the pirate's Crocodile.
"What are you doing?" they could hear Emma yell as the princess threw a rock and activated a mechanism to close the cell.
Cora stood in front of the bars, "Helping me."
She made the compass disappear from the Savior's hand and appear in her own.
"No," Emma rattled at the door. "No!"
"Don't waste your energy, dear. Rumplestiltskin himself couldn't escape from this cell. Thank you, Aurora. We couldn't have done it without you."
Aurora's friends immediately turned on her. "Why did you do this?" "How could you?"
Cora chuckled. "Don't blame her. She was only doing what she was told." She showed them her heart.
"You took her heart?"
"Actually, I did," Majo said. "It was a gift."
Cora squeezed the heart and Aurora groaned in pain. "Forgive us. We'd love to stay, but Storybrooke awaits."
She turned around and left, Majo following her.
Killian stayed behind as the saviour called him back but the two women kept walking.
—
"Where are we going?" Killian asked Cora.
"Lake Nostos. The legend says its water holds the power to restore what was once lost. It'll return magic to what remains of this wardrobe. And then, we'll be able to cross worlds."
The three of them stopped in front of a dried-out lake.
"I may be a simple pirate but I know one thing. Lakes have water," Killian commented.
Cora and Majo gave Killian, who was standing in between them, an incredulous look and Majo rolled her eyes at the man and twirled one of her hands around, making a hole appear in the middle of the lake and water spouting out.
"After all these years, you still doubt my magic?"
—
"And now the ashes," Cora smiled as she handed the glowing pink dirt to Killian. "Would you care to do the honours?"
Killian unceremoniously dumped the stuff into the water and a whirlpool opened.
"Here we go," Cora said. "We'll be in Storybrooke soon enough. I really look forward to seeing my daughter."
The water was whooshing and the wind whistled as Cora held her open hand with the compass towards the pirates. "I told you I'd deliver you to Rumplestiltskin."
The warlock and her Captain slowly laid their hands on the compass.
"Now don't let go. Unless you want to end up someplace that isn't Storybrooke."
Before they could do anything else, an arrow hit the compass from their hands and made it land in the sand.
"You're not going anywhere!" Snow yelled. "This portal is taking us home!" She turned to her daughter, "The compass–get it."
"Find it first, we'll take care of them," Cora told the Captain and motioned for Majo to help her.
Cora started to throw fireballs at Mulan as Emma started battling Killian.
Snow fired an arrow at Majo, who quickly caught it with their magic. "Are you really doing this?" Snow White asked.
"You attacked first!" Majo replied, throwing a blue ball of fire at the ex-princess.
"I just want to get back to my family."
"Maybe I do too."
The women kept up their fight, even as they continued to talk to each other.
"But Hook is a villain."
"If he is one, then so am I."
Snow looked sadly. "I know you aren't. You saved Emma all those years ago before she was even born. You risked your freedom and life to do the right thing."
"Yeah, well maybe it's the right thing to avenge the death of a dear friend."
Snow and Majo abruptly stopped as they heard Killian say: "I may be a Pirate but I bristle at the thought of a woman losing her heart unless it's over me." He had saved Aurors heart from being destroyed.
Snow ran to Mulan and the two of them talked, which ended in Mulan giving Snow her sword and leaving.
As Cora was now fighting Snow and Killian was doing something with Emma, Majo looked in the sand for the compass again. She saw Emma knock out Killian by hitting him over the head with it.
"Now let's go home!" Emma yelled.
Majo abandoned the compass to get to their Captain's side, a glowing hand ensuring he took no damage to the head.
"Emma!" she heard a loud yell and looked around to see Cora's hand in the saviour's chest.
"Oh, you foolish girl. Don't you know? Love is weakness."
As the witch went to pull the heart out, she found herself unable to do so.
"No," the blonde said. "It's strength."
A bright light emitted from her and Cora went flying backwards.
Majo heard the two heroes say something to each other as they linked their hands and jumped through the portal.
—
Cora looked at the lake with her usual emotionless face as Killian sighed.
"We failed," the witch said.
"Really, Cora," Killian sighed. "After all this time, why do you still doubt me?" he held up a dried-up magic bean.
"That bean's petrified. It's useless."
"But these waters have regenerative properties. Perhaps it's time to do some gardening."
—
The wind blew through Majo's hair as they stood on board the Jolly Rodger. They had missed this.
Behind them, Cora stood next to Killian who was holding a binocular against one of his eyes.
As they saw the ports of Storybrooke, a giddy feeling overcame Majo.
"There it is," Hook said.
Cora finished, "Storybrooke."
—
It was dark as Majo had secured the ship and Killian swung himself down from the mainmast. How he could do that with only one hand had always been a mystery to Majo.
As they left the ship, Killian spoke: "Well, my dear Cora, this is where we shall part ways."
—
Many Years Ago
Killian was off to treasure island while Majo was once again roaming the land.
She had been riding a brown steed (that she had stolen) as she was suddenly ambushed by what seemed like royal guards.
She raised her hand but before she could put a spell on either of them, they threw a dark blue liquid at them and they fell off her horse, paralyzed. Squid Ink.
The knights grabbed her arms and dragged them with them. One of them clamped a metal collar around her neck.
Majo began to feel something in her toes again as she was thrown in front of what seemed to be a trone. They looked up and saw a man in expensive clothing sitting on it. His face was full of lines and his head was almost bald.
"To whom do I owe the displeasure of meeting?" Majo asked through gritted teeth.
"Talk to the King with respect," one of the knights demanded roughly.
The King made a placating hand gesture and the knight backed off. "I need your help tracking down someone," the King said.
"In exchange for what?"
"Your freedom."
Majo chucked "You do know who I am right?" they lifted their hand to throw a fireball at the King but the man only chuckled.
"You see, the collar around your neck prevents you from doing anything but tracking the person I need you to find."
The warlock rolled their eyes, "Fine, I'm gonna find your person and you'll let me free and then leave me the hell alone."
The King nodded, "I'll send some of my knights with you."
—
It had taken over a week to find the guy.
Turns out it was the son of the King. Majo was tracking down a Prince.
Unluckily, the King didn't have anything from him so the knights brought them to the place where he was seen last and she used her magic to track him down.
She found him in a tent. Sneaking inside, she grabbed him and dragged him out, towards the knights.
"Why aren't you fighting?" she asked him but that question was soon answered by the sound of a branch breaking. The warlock looked up and saw a black-haired woman running away. A few knights went to follow but Majo yelled, "Wait! We came here for the Prince right?"
They nodded and turned to the Prince again.
"Why are you helping them?" Prince James asked.
Majo rolled her eyes but pulled down the hood of the cloak they were given and showed him the collar. "Freedom."
—
They had made camp for the night and Majo was about to fall asleep but was woken up by the sound of silent footsteps.
The woman was back and freeing the Prince.
Majo stole the knife from a guard that had been knocked out and snuck up on the couple.
"Not another step," she whispered to the woman as they held the knife to her throat.
The Prince's eyes grew wide, "Don't. Please, she is with child."
Majo looked down at the woman and really, her stomach was swollen with an unborn child.
"Ah damn it." She whispered. She took the knife from the woman's throat. "You owe me," she said and threw the knife into the neck of a sleeping knight.
—
Majo had escaped from the knights and made sure the royal couple was able to escape too.
She travelled through the land to find her way back to the Jolly Roger, only stopping for short periods of rest.
On their third day, a chariot stopped next to them. A black chariot.
As the person inside of it stepped out, Majo knew she was in trouble.
"What an honour to meet you, your majesty," she bowed mockingly.
The queen rolled her eyes and flicked her wrist, making everything around Majo turn black.
As she woke up again, she was sitting in a cell.
"Why does that keep happening to me?"