Storybrooke
Present
The group of hero's and villains once again met covertly the next morning at Granny's before the diner opened to discuss their next move after discovering that the Wicked Witch had Rumpelstiltskin in her possession. With the new development Amelia's presence had been noticed more than ever. Her relation to the man was the only connection they had to him, with Neal still missing. But with any information she did have on her Uncle or any working theory's she might have, were all gone missing with the rest of her memories.
Emma was the last to meet them as the owner let her in through the front door to see everyone already there.
"If you want privacy, talk fast" Granny tells her as walked behind the counter with her cook out back "We open in 20, and no one gets between Leroy and his bacon" Granny warned the group walking back into the kitchen.
"Is there any sign of our quarry?" Hook asked the blonde savior starting the discussion.
"I went all over that farmhouse and the land around it... Nothing" Emma answered him.
"Well, now that the sun's up, we should hit every place Gold might go... His house, shop, his cabin" David listed by his wife.
"Cause dead men love vacation homes" Emma commented "Can someone explain to me how this is even possible? We all saw Gold. He..." she trailed off.
"Disappeared into nothingness. I know" Mary Margaret finished for Emma. Remembering how Amelia had 'killed' her Uncle with her Grandfather with one thrust of the Dark One's dagger.
"I might have an inkling" Hook spoke up "When we went back to the Enchanted Forest, Neal was talking about the possibility of getting his father back"
"What? How?" the Prince asked him.
"He didn't know how. He just... He missed his family. And he was desperate to find a way to return to this world. He believed that bringing his father back was the key"
"Well, if that was his plan, then obviously something went wrong, because while Gold might be alive and kicking, Neal is... He's... " Emma couldn't finish the sentence "We don't know what he is. We don't even know if he made it back to Storybrooke. No one's seen him since this new curse"
"He's out there somewhere" David tried to reassure his daughter, but Regina interrupted.
"With all due respect, we have bigger issues right now than who brought Gold back" Regina spoke up "The fact that he was in the Wicked Witch's basement, for one. I want to know what the hell she was cooking up with him"
"Well, the best way to find that out would be to ask Gold, right?" Mary Margaret suggested.
"He could tell us who the witch is... Maybe how to track her down" David added.
Regina stood up from her seat "I'm gonna head back to that farmhouse. It's possible this witch left behind some trace of potion or a special ingredient"
"Have at it. Just be careful" Emma told her.
"Well, she's the one who needs to be careful. She invaded my space. When I return the favor, I'm not pulling any punches" Regina threatened and left the diner.
Monteriggioni
One Year Ago
Neal and Belle found Monteriggioni easily following the map Amelia had sent back to the Palace via Senu, the redheads loyal eagle that sent messages back and forth throughout the Enchanted Forest during her time as the Black Widow. She had found the young chick after she intercepted a smuggler's ring that ran through the Forest that 'specialized' in procuring rare creatures to 'collectors'. The motherless chick took to the redhead that saved her, staying by her side until she grew into the bird she was today.
Once she had settled back into life in Monteriggioni with Tom the redhead sent Senu to the palace to tell her cousin and Belle to meet her in the city before they headed to the Dark One's home to start their search for anything that would bring him back.
The pair walked through the main path up to the villa they made their way through the crowd of people that lived and worked in the city and outside on the farms. Neal led Belle up the staircase that led up to a training ring where they could hear the clang of swords hitting each other and Amelia's voice.
Upon arriving at the top the pair found the assassin leaning on the edge of a wooden ring that encased a small area where a young boy and a bury looking mercenary sparring. She looked comfortable. Relaxed as the pair circled each other with swords in their hands.
"Again" she barked out the order. At the instruction Neal watched as he saw who was in the training ring. Tom the lost boy from Neverland that had followed the redhead here cleanly swung his sword towards the larger mans only to be easily parried away.
Green eye's glanced to her right to see her cousin an Belle had finally arrived from the palace watching the training session in front of them.
"Wait for him to attack you" she instructed the young boy as she stood back up straight "Disarm him if you have to and give yourself some time to gather your thoughts" she tells the teen who listened to the redhead's instructions with a confident nod "Again!" her voice barked out.
Tom expertly tried again as he waited for his 'enemy' to swing first, easily managing to counter the move and disarm the man, sending his sword across the dirt.
"Yes!" the young boy exclaimed as he threw his arms in the air. Tom smiled in triumph and turned to the red head with a wide smile "Did you see that?"
"Good job. But your enemy isn't always going to come for you first. Sometimes you have to make them attack first" Amelia vaulted over the low wall into the ring and came up behind the young man and whispered into his ear as another mercenary took his comrade's place with an over confident smirk on his face.
The boy looked back at her in confusion He nodded and started to circle one another as Amelia stepped away. Tom waited for the mercenary to attack him, but he wouldn't attack him.
"Go on" she prompting Tom to speak up.
"tua madre era un criceto" the teen started off slowly as Neal saw the sentence made the grown man stiffen at the taunt.
"e tuo padre odora di bacche di sambuco" this made the mercenary angry and lunged for Tom swinging his sword down at the boy. the former lost boy held his ground as he used his strength to block the mercenary's sword. The steel bounced back opening up the opportunity for Tom to send his knee hard into his 'enemy's' groin.
The move made Neal audible wince behind her as the mercenary doubled over in pain, allowing Tom to hit the pommel of his sword on the back of his head, knocking him out for the count.
Applause and cheer's rang out around the area as the other's cheered on the teens progress with a mix of raucous laughter at their friends expense as a couple of them dragged the dead wight out of the ring towards the villa for some treatment.
Amelia smiled at the boys progress since he followed her to Monteriggioni. He was a quick learner and stayed focused on his trained rarely showing his frustration when he didn't execute moves correctly. He reminded her of herself at his age.
Ever since they arrived, he was amendment on continuing his training her father had started on Neverland. He was more than happy when the redhead had agreed. She never had the chance of having an apprentice of her own. This would be new for them both.
"Well done" she praised him "Make a circuit around the town before Maria calls for supper" Tom nods and hands his sword to the red head before running to the edge of the training ring vaulting over and jumping onto the nearest building climbing onto its roof and begins his free run of the buildings around the city.
Turning on her heel the sword in her hand was quickly handed off to a nearby mercenary before she addressed the new arrivals "Welcome to Monteriggioni" she greets the pair as she vaults over the wall.
"Isn't he a little young to be trained to kill" Belle asked the red head straight away her eye still following the teen as he easily ran over rooftops until he was out of sight.
"I'm simply picking up from where Romeo left off with him on Neverland" she tells the brunette as she leads them up the staircase up to the villa "I'm training him how to survive, the same way I was since I was five"
"So you're training him to be an assassin?" Neal asked his cousin as they entered the large villa.
"I never had the chance of training an apprentice of my own" the redhead tell them as they were guided into a study were they saw a small model of the city on a table "I made a promise to myself if I did I would never train him or her the same way I was trained. Whatever he does with the skills I teach him is up to him. He has the sight. I can't let the potential go to waste" she argued her case to the pair as the guided them through a small passage to a larger white marble study.
The bookcase that sat at the back of the room caught the bookworms eye as Belle instantly "Are these the book's?" the librarian asks her
"Not quite" Amelia tells her Uncle's true love "The Brotherhood has held secrets on the that hasn't seen the light of day for centuries" she says her eyes glancing towards her cousin "No one outside the Brotherhood has ever seen them. Until now. By letting you two in I'm about to break about three centuries worth of rules that has been passed on from one Assassin to the next" she paused as her cousin and Belle gave each other a nervous look "It's a good thing I never gave a damn about them"
The pair watched as the redhead briskly approached the bookcase, her fingers carefully gliding out the worn spines of the book's that were store there until she came to stop at one of them. Pulling out the trigger with a heavy tug the trio paused as they heard a cogs and wheels turn in the bookcase as the piece of furniture pulled itself across the wall to reveal a secret passageway behind it.
Amelia turned to see the disbelief in Neal and Belle's face at what they had jut witnessed "Are you ready?
With the master assassin leading the way, Neal and Belle walked down the stone staircase that seemed to go on forever turning left and right before an archway opened up into a large circular stone chamber held ten feet large statues around the edge under individual archway's. The statues depicted men and woman in robes similar to the one's Amelia wore, with various weapons and animals depicted around them.
"W-What is this place?" Belle asked from the entrance of the room
"This is the sanctuary" Amelia answered her friend "It was built by the Brotherhood to honor the memory of the Assassin Order and protect its secrets" she tells them as they walked into the center of the stone sanctuary. The assassin paused as her guests walked further on to the edges of the room as they viewed the statues up close.
"Who are these people?" Neal asked his younger cousin
"The first Assassins that created the order around three centuries ago. The one's who 'gaurded the freedom of humanity when it was most threatened" she informed the man as he came closer to the one in the center the one that caught your eye. The man depicted wore much basic version of the classic assassin robe. Her wore no armor on it, no added details or capes. All he wore was a white hooded robe covered his body. Amelia joined her cousin as he seemed entranced in the Brotherhood's founder depiction "That is Altair Ibn-La'Ahad. Stories say he was tasked by Merlin himself to create the Brotherhood to protect those against magic users"
"Merlin?" Neal questioned her in intrigue only to make her roll her eyes at him.
"A bedtime story at best cousin" she brushes his excitement as she walked over to Belle who was looking at a female assassin who had a snake encircling her arms "This is were the Brotherhood has kept all their records about everything there is to know about the Enchanted Forest and other worlds we've ever traveled to. I've already has some thieves bring everything about the Dark One to the study, if there is anything about bringing Rumple back it will be there"
A sad smile grew on her Unlce's true love as she looked at the redhead "Thank you Lia, you don't know how much this means to the both of us"
"Thank me when we get him back" Amelia tells her "in the meantime I'll show you to your rooms for the night, we'll leaving at dawn to get to his castle by nightfall" the pair followed Amelia to the staircase that led them back the villa, but before Neal left he paused and looked back at the room he was leaving, taking in its majesty before climbing the stairs to find the former Assassin and his father's girlfriend.
Her guests had settled in quickly as suppertime was quickly approaching the city, by the time he had been shown up to a well furnished and lavish room that overlooked the city, the vendors that had crowded the main street up to the villa were starting to pack up for the night and enjoy the evening ahead with their families and friends' either in their warn homes or in the local tavern. Neal watched as burly men that looked similar to those who were sparring in the ring with Tom earlier were roaming the street's with women in their strong arms, while others marched the city walls.
He had to admit to himself this would've been a nice place to have lived if Romeo was able to take him off Neverland all those years ago. There was no magic to hurt anyone and the people lived in peace. Maria, an older woman had taken him to his room. She had introduced herself as the city's caretaker like her mother before her when Amelia wasn't around to run the city herself. He wondered how she did it between her work for his father and Regina. It must've been hard to leave this place every time she had been called away on another deal.
A couple of knocks interrupted his thoughts making him whirl around to see the woman herself at the doorway waiting to be invited in "Maria said you wanted to see me?"
"Uh yeah, you can come in" he waved her in.
"Everything okay?" she asked her cousin as she stepped into the room. Nothing looked wrong as her eye's tried to find something.
"Uh yeah, they're great" he stammered his sentence "I uh just wanted to thank you for inviting us here, and helping us to find my father. It means a lot"
A smile grew on the redheads face hearing this from the man "Your welcome cousin"
The term of endearment made Neal chuckle "I don't think I'll ever get used to that. I knew I had an aunt but-"
"Me too" she flashed Neal a quick smile before it became serious again "after I thought Romeo was dead, I thought I was alone. Now I have a little bit of family to fight for. Something I haven't had in a while. I just wish Rumple told me sooner" Neal nodded sadly before the assassin continued "I have to ask. Have you been able to read Romeo's journal at all?"
"I have" he tells her "You were right. If it had been Emma or Henry, I would've done the same" he admits to her.
"I'm sorry" she lets out the breath she had been holding onto creating a tense tension in the room.
"So, you grew up here" Neal stated changing the subject.
"No" She states as she strides over to the windows that overlooked the city. She pointed to a building in the distance to the right of the main gate "You see that building with vines around the exterior of the wall that surrounds the city with the flat roof"
"Yeah"
"I grew up there"
"What is that place?"
"The Brothel" she answered him plainly dropping her arm back to her side.
"You grew up in a Brothel?" he asked her out load "That's messed up" he commentates on the discovery.
"Where else could my father put his secret wife and daughter?" she argued "I have all sorts of stories if you wanna hear them over supper" she offered as she and Neal headed for the door
"I don't think I do"
Keeping to their schedule the trio trekked the snow-covered mountains that surrounded the Dark One's castle of horseback. The Assassin opted to wearing some of her armored robes that held a lot more metal work covering her right shoulder and chest and abdomen weary of what had been left behind in the castle and any more flying monkey's. Leaving her young apprentice at home. Despite the leaps and bounds he had made in the short time they had been in Monteriggioni, he was far off any field work that would out him in direct danger of the Wicked Witch
"Is the hood really necessary?" Neal questioned his younger cousin as they entered the castle heading for his parlor
"As opposed to what, a dress?" she retorted as the three split up throughout the large room looking for anything magical that could take them to a way of getting Rumple back. The Codex that were left in Monteriggioni about the Dark One mentioned a vault a few time's, but they needed to know where it was.
"If there's anyone who can defeat that witch and get you back to your family, it's the Dark One" Belle said out loud to her old friend and her true loves son "The way to resurrect him has to be here"
"You really believe in him, don't you?" Neal question her as Amelia used her sight to search the room. Nothing came out that made her inwardly curse. He must've warded them against her sight in his paranoia.
"I love him... All of him, even... Even the parts that belong to the darkness" Belle replied
"Yeah, it took me a while to see past all that... To the good man trying to get out"
"He did get out" Amelia pointed out referring to his sacrifice in Storybrooke
"Yeah. He did" Neal said "Irony is, now I need the dark part... In order to get to the ones, I care about" he continued taking out a necklace from his pocket
"What is that?" Belle asked Neal
Neal held up the piece of jewelry and let it dangle from his hand showing Belle "A necklace. It was Emma's. It was supposed to represent our life together. I don't know how it survived the trip"
"Because it was born out of true love" the librarian tell him "Now come with me. I think I know where we can find what we need"
Belle took Amelia and Neal up to the library with a lit candle lighting their path in the dark castle
"You think there's magic in here?" Neal asks the yong brunette
"No. Something better than magic..." she told Neal as she lit a cable holder that held three wax candles "Books. Books on history, witchcraft, and hopefully some on the Dark One, too"
"There's probably more here on the Dark One than in Monteriggioni" Amelia pointed out "What little information we had on them took centuries to gather"
Neal nodded "Where do we start?"
"One shelf at a time" Belle told them. Amelia sighed in frustration about to take off her robe to start working when something heavy fell onto the wooden floor mere feet away that made Belle jump. Amelia and Neal tensed going for their weapons as her hidden hidden blades slide out of her gauntlets as Neal drew his sword.
"What was that?" Belle asked
"Shhh" Amelia shhed her turning her vision to see within the dark room "Don't. move" she told them as she looked towards the tall shelves to see a figure climbing smoothly across them. But she saw that the figure was starting to slip.
The master assassin pounced forward just as the figure lost its footing on the edge of one of the shelves and land heavily on the ground disturbing all the dust that had been left untouched for years "
OW!" a voice she recognized groaned out in pain
Taking a fistful of the figure's lapels of his jacket and pushed his back against the shelves her blade inches from its throat, she reached behind its head and pulled back its hood and saw the person responsible for their vigilance.
"H-Hey Amelia" Tom stammered pulling his head back away from her blade
"Tom!" Belle exclaimed. Neal let out a breath of relief as he sheathed his sword in his scabbard.
"I thought I told you to stay put" Amelia seethed through gritted teeth at the young boy, she relaxed her armed forearm and pulled away from him.
"I-I wanted to help. Maria told me where you were going, s-so I followed"
"There was a reason I kept you there if we're attacked by Zelena"
"I can fight Amelia" Tom pleaded with the woman
"I don't care, you shouldn't be here" she argued with her apprentice
Tom's face fell having made Amelia mad at him "I-I'm sorry Amelia. I didn't mean-"
"Hey, it's okay" Neal tried to reassure the boy
Amelia's head snapped to Neal's direction "No it's not, he failed to follow a simple instruction" she let out a breath to calm down and turned back to the young boy "Luckily for you, we're not turning back anytime soon, so you can stay" his face seemed to light up at the prospect of staying with the woman "Get to work" Amelia shoved the boy away from her into the wall as she went to a book shelf to start her search. Belle and Neal did the same before they were interrupted by a foreign voice.
"Hello, there" the voice called out to the humans in the room
Belle looked towards the other's in confusion "Did you, uh... Did you say some.."
"Over here" the voice called out again making everyone look towards a cable stick "Allow me to introduce myself" the flames travel upwards as a face appears in the candle's fire
"What the hell?" Neal mumbled at the oddity
"No need to be frightened. I am but a humble servant of this castle. My name is Lumiere"
"I don't understand. I've dusted every nook and cranny in this place, and how have our paths never crossed?" Belle asked Lumiere
"Ditto on the bookworm" Amelia added folding her arms across her chest, she's been in the castle too many times and never met this Lumiere
"It's a big castle, and I was woefully underutilized" he answered the woman in the room "Sadly, I only awaken when my candles are lit. Those are the rules of my punishment"
"Punishment by who?" Neal challenged the man in the candle
"Whom do you think? Does he even know where he is? Rumplestiltskin, of course" Amelia watched her cousin circle the candle stick and wave his hand through the flame without harming him as Lumiere spoke to the humans "We made a deal long ago, and when I couldn't live up to my end, he made sure I paid the price. He's not here, is he?"
"No, he's... He's dead" Belle tells the candle
"But we're trying to bring him back" Amelia added "You said you spent a lot of time here. Do you know anything that could restore the Dark One?"
"I know a great many things" Lumiere tells the red head
"Please...You got to help us" Neal pleaded to the candle "If you don't, I'll never see my family again"
"Boo-hoo. Why should I help resurrect the man who put me in this wax prison?" Lumiere refused
"The Rumplestiltskin you knew may have seemed cold and hard, but he's changed since then" Belle argued
"Hmm" the candle seemed to be listening to the young woman's pleas as she continued
"If you help us, I know he would restore you to your human form. Please?"
"The bookcase behind you..." he tells them suddenly "Bottom cabinet. You shall know it once you see it. It's a volume befitting the Dark One" Belle went to go to the cabinet in question only to be stopped by Amelia who grabbed the woman's arm
"How do we know it's not a trap?" Amelia asked the candle "You just happen to know such a book exists?"
"I guess you will just have to trust me Assassin" Amelia's grip on Belle forearm tightened at the use of her title "Oh yes I know who you are, your Brotherhood. Like I said, I know a great deal of things" Amelia let go of Belle's arm allowing her to go to the cabinet. Belle easily found the book in question and brought it back to a table near Amelia and Neal.
"What the hell kind of book is that?" Neal asked as the brunette opened the book
"This isn't a book. It's a hiding spot" she opened to a page were the pages had been so that a key could easily be hidden within the pages.
"Clever bastard" Amelia mumbled to herself as Belle took the key out of the pages.
"What is this?" Neal asked the candle stick taking the key from Belle
"It's a key to the vault of the Dark One"
"The vault of the Dark One" Belle stated looking towards Amelia. Her codex pages mentioned a vault, maybe it was the same thing.
"Where the first Dark One was made... Born out of the... Well, darkness. If you wish to bring back Rumplestiltskin to life, it is where you must go"
"Will you guide us on our journey?" Belle asks Lumiere.
"If your promises that the Dark One will return me to my human form are true, then, yes, I will" Neal puts back the key inside the book
"We leave first thing in the morning" he tells the group before he blows out Lumiere's candle's, Belle takes the book and leads Neal down the stairs leaving Amelia to continue to stare out the candle stick with Tom behind her
"New Lesson Tom: Don't trust anything. Especially if it talks" she said to the young boy as she followed Neal and Belle down the stairs.
Once alone one of Lumiere's candle ignited itself and Zelena emerged from behind a bookcase as the rest of Lumiere's candles ignited creating his face once again
"Nicely done" she complimented the candle " I don't think they suspected you for an instant... Which says more about them than it does about you. That Belle isn't as smart as she thinks. And that son of his. Dumber than a box of hair" a scowl emerged on Zelena's face just at the mere thought of the Assassin "His niece, however, is more suspicious that the both of them combined"
"They are merely desperate to bring back their Rumplestiltskin" Lumiere defended the three
"Not only desperate... Blind"
"Release me. I have aided you enough"
"I'd watch your tone, candle. There's more to be done, and you shall do it... Unless you desire being the wax seal on an envelope"
Storybrooke
Present
Nothing.
She must've circled this place at least three times and still not felt one single trace of magic. Oh how she wished Amelia was with her. Her sensitivity to magic was useful at times. But no the former Queen would have to manage with the amnesic assassin for the time being. But if there is one thing she had learnt from the redhead is when somewhere was quiet. Too quiet. And the farmhouse certainly was that.
Sighing in defeat she was about to leave and report her futile trip to the other's when she heard a twig snap behind her in a bush. The former Evil Queen checked her surroundings once again only to see her car, but nothing else that could have made that noise.
"Show yourself, you winged freak!" she called out into the air. Nothing was heard except for the sound of something flying in the air heading towards her head. The former Queen quickly reacted catching the object midair next to her head. she gripped the object tight in her gloved hand as her head caught up to what she was looking at.
A long silver dagger. But it wasn't just any dagger. No. It's distinctive look gave it's owner away as she saw the detail of the metal work. Her heart sped up in her chest at the beak shaped pommel, the wing shaped rein guard. It was really her.
Hearing another twig snap in the bush she looked to her right to see the woman herself stepping out into the open. The first thing she noticed different about Amelia was her hair, it had grown to her shoulders. It seemed darker as well. Then she had noticed where she had been hiding all this time. Hidden in plain sight. The corner of Regina's mouth twitched in a smirk seeing her partners use of old tactics.
"Sorry" was the first thing that came from her mouth upon seeing Regina after all these years. She was there again to see if she could get into the home before she heard something approaching the farmhouse. She held the same poise about herself. She still looked stunning yet elegant carrying herself like a Queen should, only not in a dress and tiara. Even the small scare on the top of her lip still fitted on her face "I thought you were the Wicked Witch" Amelia stated as she eyed the woman in front of her tkaing in every detail of the woman.
"And I thought you were a flying monkey" Regina retorted lowering the dagger from her face.
"So you said" Regina saw Amelia's own mouth quirk in a smirk "I hope my mistake hasn't cost me my head, Your Majesty" Amelia addressed Regina as she approached the former Evil Queen "Your reputation in the Enchanted Forest precedes you. Amelia" Amelia held out her hand like she was meeting a stranger. Regina couldn't keep her eye off the red head's face as she mirrored, her actions.
"The assassin. I remember who you are. You saved me and Snow" Amelia took her hand away from the grasp of the former Evil Queens
"So, you do remember me" Regina saw her lips quirked up for a quick second
"How could I forget the Assassin that killed my would-be murderers" she quipped
"Well, as we're tossing labels around, aren't you more commonly known as the Evil Queen?" Amelia had heard whispers of an Evil Queen when she docked back in the Enchanted Forest when the Godspeed was sunk.
"I prefer 'Regina'" the brunette corrected the red head, holding op the weapon she still held in her hand "You think you can bring down the Wicked Witch with a blade?"
"It's worth a try. I suppose" the redhead tells her ". I wasn't going to wait in the woods while this 'Savior' would find her for me"
"I'm afraid we're too late" Regina told Amelia as she handed the dagger back to the Assassin "She's long gone"
"I can still sense the dark magic around this place" Amelia says taking the dagger back "Maybe she left a trail?"
"I was hoping the same thing"
"Well then, you've got yourself a partner" Amelia told the Evil Queen as she turned to head towards the farmhouse.
"I don't remember asking for one" Regina followed the Assassin to the house
"You didn't" Amelia retorted stopping and turned to face the woman
"Just... Don't get in my way"
"Well that was my job if you remember rightly, Your Majesty" Amelia set to remind the former Queen of the job she was set all those years ago. The reminder made the corner of the Queen's lips quirk upwards.
"So it was" she agreed
"Shall we then?"
"We shall"
Morning came and went as Amelia led Neal, Belle and Tom thought the dense forest that was covered by a fresh layer of snow. Neal carried Lumiere in a satchel around his shoulder as torches lite up their path in front of them
"Are you still mad?" Tom asked his mentor as he trudged through the snow ahead of Neal and Belle
"Yes and No" she told him honestly "but mainly no"
"I just wanted to help" he tells her
"I know" she tells him "I know because it's something I've done before to Romeo"
"Really?" Tom chuckled out with a wide smile
"Yes, but I was a better at hiding" she tells the boy "Once..I snuck onto his brig, The Jackdaw, after I was grounded by my other Master Iago for being sloppy during training. I was so desperate to be with Master Romeo only because he only came into port, twice a month or so coming back from a mission. I was discovered barely a day into the trip by him, but they were too far to circle back and take me back, instead I served my sentence in the hull for most of the journey"
Tom remembered Amelia's father Romeo from Neverland. He meant the world to her even through the vicious fight they had, and when he died, he could see a part of her dying as well "Do you miss him? Romeo?"
"I do, there was nothing I wouldn't have done for him" she said as they came to a snowy clearing as Neal and Belle caught up to them
"Come on. Let's get what we came her for" Neal tells them "Let's get my father"
Once inside the farmhouse Amelia looked through every room twice as she searched high and low for anything that would point her to her memories until she gave up finding the Queen in the kitchen as her searches came to an abrupt end.
"Nothing useful here" the former Evil Queen started shaking a glass jar full of ingredients "Unfortunately" she trailed off in disappointment
"So, none of these contain magical properties?" Amelia asked the dark brunette gesturing to the various glass containers on the shelf behind her as she leaned on a small table. Regina knew Amelia already knew the answer to her question but decided to humor her anyway.
"Well, a good witch covers her tracks, but a better one can uncover them" Regina walked past her shoulder brushing past her arm almost seductively with the Assassin unable to keep her eye's off her. How can this woman have this much pull her still? "We'll find her. Just be patient" the woman continued as she closely searched the shelf Amelia pointed out to her before. Her green eyes drifting down the woman's back and legs, as she searched the shelves lost in a trance.
"You know, I've heard a lot of stories about the great and terrible Evil Queen, but from this angle, the "evil" seems somewhat of an overstatement" Amelia said Regina couldn't help the tug on her lips as the redhead continued to talk about her "Bold and audacious, perhaps, but, um... Not evil"
Regina turned back to the former assassin with a small flick of her hair that went noticed by the red head "The name served me well. Fear is quite an effective tool" Amelia doesn't reply to the brunettes explanation only to slowly approach the woman comes up near Regina. Regina heart pounds as the assassins nose is only a breath away only for it to plummet when the Assassin face moves to the side to grab something from behind the Queen's back.
Amelia hold up a bottle full of amber liquid to the Queen "What about this? Is this magical?" her voice low almost purring at the Queen.
"Not exactly" Regina slowly answers "But it is a liquid that can conjure courage, give strength, or even act as a love potion of sorts" she chuckled. "It's called whiskey, and, no, it's not magical..." she tells the redhead "Especially the next day" she adds
"Ahh" Amelia drawled out taking two glasses from the shelves behind Regina's head "I remember those days very well"
"You want to have a drink? Now?" Regina questions the Assassin's actions. Amelia smiled wildly at the Queen's question as she pulled the sleeve up on her right arm revealing the lion tattoo that rested on her forearm
"Well, in the last few days, we've survived a curse, woken up in an entirely new realm, and forgotten a year of our lives. And from what I've been told by others I've forgotten more than just one. I'd say we've earned it" she tells the brunette turning around with a glass in her right hand handing it out to the Queen "Wouldn't you?" Regina sees the lion tattoo on Amelia's outstretched hand holding the glass of whiskey. Seeing the tattoo brought back
"You need love" Tinkerbelle tells to a younger Regina on the tavern bench
"You're gonna help me find another soul mate?"
"There she is" the fairy pointed through the window of the tavern "The woman with the lion tattoo"
She was taken out of the flashbacks with concerned and confused Amelia stood in front of her "Is something wrong?" Amelia asked before the Queen bolted out of the kitchen with the redhead calling after the woman
Was it something she said?
Snow fell as the four reached the clearing that the possessed candle stick had guided them to. Neal took the magical candle out of bag and lit it revealing Lumiere's face in the flame "You found it. Thank heavens" the candle exasperated in relief
"Now what?" Amelia asked the candle impatiently
"Head to the center of the clearing. Under the ice and snow, you shall find the entryway to the vault" Neal did as the candle said and started to dig into the snow as the others watched on from the edge
"Belle! Lia!" he called out to his father's true love and his cousin. The woman ran forward to see carvings made in stone. Belle knelt in the snow next to Neal as Amelia remained on her feet.
"Yeah, the key must go in the middle"
"You're sure about this?" Neal called back to the living candle
"I spent 200 years in Rumpelstiltskin's library witnessing more dark magic and sorcery than any living creature has ever seen" Amelia saw the brunette pause as Neal continued clear the snow away from the
"I'm... I'm sorry... How long did you say you were there?" Belle questioned the candle
"200 years... At least"
"He's lying" Amelia heard Belle whisper to Neal before standing back up and turn on the living candle "Rumple built that library for me not long before the curse. It's been there barely 30 years"
The Assassin had reached her limit with the wax and turned on candle."Who are you?! Unless you want to spend the rest of eternity under a snowdrift, you better start talking" Amelia warned the candle unsheathing her hidden blades. Tom jumped away from Lumiere at the redhead's actions.
"I am who I appear to be, only it wasn't Rumplestiltskin who turned me into this wretched form. It was the Wicked Witch of the West" Lumiere admitted to the humans
"The Wicked Witch? She told you to lead us here?" Belle asked angrily at the candle
"She wants you to bring back the Dark One so she can control him with his dagger" he tells them
"We need to leave this place" Amelia tells the others turning to leave the clearing
"Amelia wait" Neal stopping his younger cousin "It means we can bring him back. Does it matter who got us here?"
"Rumple didn't sacrifice his life for good so he could return to be a slave to evil" Belle argued with the man
"My father is the king of loopholes. I'm sure he'll figure out a way to deal with her"
"But what if he can't?!" Amelia exclaimed at Neal "Think what she could do if the Dark One was under her control. We'll find another way to bring him back, there's always a loophole, we just have to find it"
"What if there is no other way?" he pleaded to the Assassin
"Then I lose another father!" Amelia blurted out the sentence before she knew what she was saying. Neal was taken aback by the redhead's statement. But in some way, it was true. He was the only father figure she had, she loved him in her own way. And his own way his father did love the redhead almost as a daughter
"I want to bring him back just as much as you want Neal, but we can't do it this way. You don't know what the witch is capable of. I do. Why do you think I left?!" she yelled at them "It was never about Regina or my father...
"Please don't do this" she begged him
Neal shook his head at his cousin "I can't waste any more time. I need to get back. To hell with the cost" he said as he walks back to the center of the clearing with the key in his hand and falls to his knee's.
"That's what your father told himself when he forged the curse that condemned countless people to misery. Don't make the same mistake he made" Belle pleaded with the man, but his mind was made up as he slotted the key into place and pushed it down.
"Neal wait!" his cousins voice couldn't stop him as he unlocked the vault. The three behind them watched as red-hot heat emerged from the vault, melting the snow that covered its opening and Neal hand searing the symbol into his skin.
"Aah!" he exclaimed in pain as he fall back way from the vault entrance and slammed his burnt hand into the cold snow.
They continued to watch the opening of the vault to see black liquid pouring into the hole made by the opened door and forming up into the shape of a man.
Neal continued to scream out in pain as the black goo continued to form into a figure in front of them. Ignoring the black liquid the young brunette went to Neal who was writhing in pain at this point while the assassin kept her eye's on the vault as she took hesitant steps towards it
"Are you okay?" Belle asked her cousin "Neal! Just hold on, okay?" she continued as the liquid finally took form
"Rumple?" hearing this coming from the redhead Belle looked up to see her true love in front of them. Her uncle's eyes went to his son rushing forward to his aid.
"Bae. No. Bae" Rumplestiltskin rushed forward taking his adult son from his true love.
The redhead suddenly stiffened in alarm as she turned awa to see a ploom of green smoke appear only for Tom to feel the spike of magic a second later as their eyes were drawn to the Wicked Witch herself in front of them.
Reaching back she grabbed her apprentice's front to drag him firmly behind her, as both of her hidden blades snapped out of her gauntlets. Her's and Zelena's eye's met for the first time in years as the latter gave the former a wicked smirk, before the green skinned witch turned her attention to the father and son duo.
"Poor Baelfire" she drawled out "Just couldn't learn from his father's mistakes. He wanted so badly to get back to his son. Couldn't see the forest for the trees"
"You did this" the Dark One accused the Wicked Witch with his dagger "You tricked him"
"All I did was pass on some vital information... With the help of a friend. And then your son did the rest" Zelena told her old teacher with a smile as she glanced towards the assassin"He should have really listened to his dear little cousin. She's smarter than she looks"
"You didn't tell him the price" Rumple argued
"Oops! It's a sin of omission, love. Although, I would have thought it was rather obvious... A life for a life"
"It's gonna be all right, son" Rumple tried to comfort his son in his arms
"I do doubt that"
"Go" Rumple told his true love who was still sat next to him
She shook her head at the man as she hesitated to leave him with his dying son "Belle listen to him" Amelia spoke up her eyes not moving from Zelena's. Belle nodded and got onto her knees only for the Assassin to grab her and pull behind her.
"I'm not gonna let him go" Rumple tells Zelena as he uses his powers to encase him and his son in a bubble of magic. But Zelena use hers to take the dagger, they could see he was struggling to hold onto both his son and his dagger.
"Sorry, Rumple. You can't hang on to both of them" The Wicked Witch tells him. Rumplestiltskin lets the dagger go to save his son.
"Wow. I didn't think you had it in you" With tears in her eye's Belle watches over Amelia's shoulder as he absorbed his son into his body "You've got your son, but you've lost yourself"
"Rumple?" Belle whispers in despair seeing the man she loved in pain.
"No. No Rumple. No room. No room. No Rumple!" her uncle rambled incoherently.
"Enough of this. Your madness is your burden, not mine. It's time to go. But before we do, kill them" Zelena orders the Dark One now in possession of the dagger.
"Rumple?" his niece choked out as she felt hot tears run down her face. Suddenly Lumiere blew fire towards the Wicked Witch trapping her in chains of fire.
"Candle!" the witch exclaimed in anger.
"Go! I can't keep her for long! Go! Hurry! Don't make me regret this flash of conscience! Get out of here!" the living candle told the women and teenager
Amelia didn't think twice as she sheathed her hidden blades and grabbed both Tom and Belle by their clothes and push them into running into the forest. She ran after than she had in her whole life. Because she knew she was not the last she would hear from the Wicked Witch, she'll be coming for her soon.
Leaving the farmhouse with more questions than answers, the redhead sat by herself away from the main camp she had made with Robin Hood and his Merry Men watching the sun disappear into the horizon. She had to admit this new world held some beauties to it. It reminded her of the woods that surrounded Monteriggioni when she and Romeo camped outside its walls when training just got too much for her.
But that was then. This is now.
Her thoughts kept straying to the Queen. She still had that elegance about her. But the dark aura that surrounded her was much more powerful now, refined, intimidating. But the hate and anger behind it was missing.
After all these years there was still a pull there. The same pull they had in the upturned carriage. But the fairy's words to her still haunted her thoughts to this day. The thought of her and the Queen being soulmates were so far fetched, but as far as she was concerned her husband had just died. Not fifteen years ago.
Her thoughts were broken as she heard a branch snapping in the distance making her jump to her feet ready to fight whatever was about to attack her but only saw the blonde savior in front of her.
She looked distraught as she simply stared at her as she looked like she was about to break down in tears.
"Emma?" she said to the woman letting her guard down "What's wrong?"
"It's Neal"
AN:
For reference the dagger I described is a miniature version of Altair's sword. Search 'Altair Sword Miniature.
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