Warning: Mention of sexual assault.
Monteriggioni,
Many Years Ago
"This is a disgrace!" a voice Anastasia recognized as Paola's, echoed through the halls of the villa as she walked into the study at the front of the villa to seek out Master Richard about her next archery lesson only to overhear her loud protests coming from Mentor Claudius's study to come down the hallway "You should all be ashamed of yourselves! Bastardi!" she spits the last word out.
"Paola, take care how you speak" she heard Iago warn the madam that housed both her and Amelia in the brothel.
It had only been a few days since her sister and Master Romeo had returned to the city after a lengthy mission, with the slight delay back to the city she hadn't seen her sister since then, she hadn't shown up for training she was always early for and when she went to find her sister in her room only to find it had been locked. Something was wrong, but Paola didn't give anything away as she quickly moved the younger girl away from her sister's door. Next thing she knew was the Madam storming towards the Villa as steam seemed to come from her ears.
"You sit here and talk politics while one your own, a young girl under your care is suffering because of the actions of Prince who through he could take what he wanted" she went on angrily to the Mentor "He must be brought to justice".
"What else must we do Paola?" Mentor Claudius spoke up "We cannot risk an out all war with a powerful Kingdom on the word of one girl-".
"One girl? That one girl is one of you. An assassin of the Brotherhood. She shouldn't need to prove that she had been violated. An attack on her is an attack on the Brotherhood".
"A mere disciple at best Paola" Iago corrected her stating the fifth rank of assassin "Still nowhere near being the Master's we are".
"Rank's do not matter in the manner of the Creed Iago" Claudius quickly rebutted his second "Once she was taken in as an apprentice she became a part of this family until she dies".
"Yes Mentor" Iago gulped in defeat.
"Master Romeo" Angelo addressed her Master trying to take control of the room once again "You were with her when you stayed with King George and his son in his palace, what have you say on this matter?".
"I must admit, on the morning we left she seemed..different".
"Different how?".
"Quieter. Closed off" The Master of ships stated as he ran his finger through his beard "She refused to look me in the eye and seemed in pain when she sat upon her saddle" he clearly remembered "I saw the way Prince took a liking to her when we arrived seeing shelter from the storm. I trusted his father would discourage such a thing seeing how much he knew of us".
"Are you suggesting she was the one to initiate the attack?".
"You cannot be serious!" the woman in the room exclaimed loudly at the men around her.
"She knows better" Romeo quickly defended his apprentice "She know's she cannot make attachments, especially with someone in Prince James's standing's in the world".
"I've seen the bruises myself Claudius" Ophelia's voice filtered through next "She tried to fight him off. He knew she couldn't' kill him, otherwise we could be having a completely different conversation right now".
"Then we will take action" their Mentor finally decided "From this day forth any of our city trading with the Kingdom will be heavily fined. We will no longer make any trade agreements from King George's, while his coffer's go empty he will understand that no one dared harm someone from the Brotherhood peacefully moving through their kingdom.
"And the Prince?" Paola reminded the men around her "He need's to be punished".
"He won't see me coming" Ophelia offered straight away, fully intent on killing the pathetic prince wherever he stood.
"You will do nothing of the sort Ophelia" Claudius quickly tells the female assassin as he felt his stomach sicken at the thought of the boy going unpunished "We do nothing, we cannot risk an all out war with them for the death of a Prince".
"You cannot be serious!" Paola protested the decision loudly to the assassin's in the room only for Claudius's booming voice.
"Paola that is enough!" the man bellowed at the madam "You forget your place here. You are here by invitation as the girls guardian when she inside the four walls of the bordello, you do not have a voice here" he reminds her gaining control of the room once again
"Now we must address the next problem, our Creed dictates that no assassin should bare any children. while this has never been a problem before, with this assault on Amelia, we must make sure no consequence comes in the coming months".
"I've given her the tea the girls have" Paola quickly supplied to the man sat behind the desk "I watched her drink every last drop, no child shall grow in her womb".
"Then we must make sure it won't be a problem in a future" Claudius says out-loud knowing what was needed next. Ophelia had been through it herself, Amelia would be no different "We all knew they day was coming".
"No" the madam shuddered in fear for what the man was going to say next, she was still so young to have something like that to happen to her. The Brotherhood usually waited until their female assassin's they took their vows to have their graduation. She had another two year's until this decision was made for her.
The same decision Ophelia had made when she was eighteen. Be barren for the rest of your life or be killed by the people they saw as family. An easy choice if there ever was one.
"We cannot risk something like this happening again" Claudius carried on "I will inform our doctor to prepare for Amelia's graduation. We will include Anastasia as well. Does everyone agree?".
"Agreed" Iago, Angelo and Ophelia all chimed in at the same time as Romeo seemed to hesitate as he continued to brushed his fingers through beard in deep thought.
"Montague? What say you?" the caretaker asks the man who hadn't answered his Mentor's question.
"I agree" the Captain voiced after a beat "But I will be the one to inform them of the decision. They are my apprentice's "
If he was going to stand by and let his child be butchered, he would be the one to tell her, and now he would have to include a girl he cared as much as he did Amelia.
"Agreed. Their graduation happen this time next week" at that the Captain of the Jackdaw left the study, diving into the hallway only to freeze in his spot when he see's Anastasia stood there. She must've heard what they were talking about. Making himself moving forward he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Come, we'll go and see Amelia, she will need you to be strong for her. I'll explain everything on the way" with a bod the young blonde assassin followed her Master towards the bordello. This was going to be a hard conversation for all of them.
"She's pregnant" the thief tells the woman he loved before she pushed him away to be with his 'wife'.
Looking towards the redheaded assassin he waited for any kind of reaction to come from the woman as the news tried to sink in. But all he got was a blank expression the assassin tried to hear for any clue that the news was some kind of cruel joke, only for the smirk that never wavered on Zelena's face to tell her that what her friend was telling her was the truth.
Silently the assassin calmly pulling at the ties on her brown leather gauntlets that sat on her forearms until they became loose enough for the redhead to pull them off before she did anything stupid at that moment in time. She needed to put as much distance as she could between her and the sharp blade and the woman who had made a very unwelcome re-appearance in her life.
With the gauntlets in her hands the people around her watched as she turned to the former Queen and held them out to her, taking the brunette by surprise.
"Keep those away from me" she tells her partner before the former Queen reluctantly did as she asked and took them out of hands before the woman she loved headed straight for the door without looking back.
Watching the woman leave the apartment, the thief didn't know what to do. For the first time since knowing her, she had never seen her like this.
"Go" he suddenly heard from Regina who had a hard look on her as she clutched Amelia's gauntlets in her hands having never seen her soulmate like this, so..silent. "If you ever cared for her, you'll go after her. You have no idea, what she has had to go through to get here" she tells the thief urging him to run after "Go".
"Right" he murmured to himself at the former Queen's suggestion.
Nodding to himself the thief made himself move towards the front door grabbing his jacket on the way out to go after the woman he had once promised a life, only for a mistake on both their parts to stop any future they had.
Finding her in a bar near the apartment, the redheaded assassin was sat at the bar with a glass of amber liquid sat in front of her on white napkin. Silently taking a seat next to her, he found her absentmindedly brushing the rim on the untouched glass with the tip of her finger, deep in thought as her downcast eye's started at the napkin in front of her.
Ordering his own drink the pair of ex-lovers sat together for the first time in months as they tried to figure out how they went forward, with everything.
As the assassin concentrated on the edge of her glass the thief got a good look at her for the first time since finding him. She looked tired. And not the tired looks she got when she was the Black Widow, this was complete exhaustion finally catching up to her, Zelena's 'good news' was the thing to completely break her. Like she had he whole world weighing on her shoulders and he had just added to it.
"So…" was the only thing Amelia could say to the thief to break the silence that had grown between them.
"Yeah" Robin simply replied.
"So you moved on" she observed out-load, regretting the words as soon as they left her lips.
"That's not fair" he argued "You understood. You agreed".
He was right. She was the one begging him to forget about her and move on with his 'wife', like she had been trying to do with John at the time.
"What did Regina mean?" he suddenly asked her, earning a curious brow from the redhead as she dragged her eyes to look at him "She said that you went through something to get you here. What happened?".
"Just some good old motivation from my long-lost adopted sister with an enchanted dream-catcher, having her tell me that it was Snow that sent Claudius the letter about my father's secrets and that my father's side of the family are descendants to deities that created some the most powerful object in all the realms" she tells the thief "But who's counting?" she adds with a flash of a sarcastic smile, before it dropped back into the forlorn look as she concentrated on her drink once again.
"Anastasia's in Storybrooke?" he asked her surprised to hear that the blonde he had briefly met back home was here.
The assassin looked at the man in disbelief, out of everything she had told him, that was the thing he was focusing on "You've really have been away too long".
"That's hardly the most important point here" Robin reminded the Assassin going back to the subject a hand "My son. Zelena's not gonna keep wearing that glamour, and Roland's not gonna understand where his mother's gone. For him to lose her again...".
"A forgetting potion" Amelia suggested to her friend "Just take him back to before the fake Marian showed up. He'll lose time, but it's better, right?".
"Yes" he agrees with her "Thank you" he tells his friend seeing the glimmer of the friend under the shock and surprise of the last hour or so.
Maybe she needed one at this point. Go back to the bliss of the six weeks alone with Regina, without the knowledge of what her blood could do with something with the Apple of Eden. Back when she didn't know what Snow had done to her when she was a girl. Back when the thing she was worrying about the most was what the Author could do to her and Regina's story.
Only she couldn't, she couldn't start running away from her problems now of all times. Not when her friend needed her the most as it dawned on his what had happen to the real Marian.
"God, poor Marian" Robin went on, just hearing her name made the redhead's heart tug, knowing it could've been John she had killed and taken his place. But she probably knew the assassin would see right through it, see that it wasn't the real John only she knew.
Robin was the easy target in her quest for some sort of payback. And if she was miserable then Regina would be too. She had to give it to Zelena some credit in that.
And the witch was right. It hurt more to lose Robin than it ever was the lose John. That was the thing that made her more angry. She had exposed a nerve the assassin would struggle cover up again.
"And Zelena" he continued making the assassin push her drink away from her as she became tempted to take a deep gulp of the amber colored drink in front of her and keep going until she ran the bartender dry "Just killing her like she meant nothing so she could play out this sad farce with us. I just... I wanna..." he tried to describe but came up short in his frustration and confusion "But I can't. I mean, I-I knew that things didn't feel right, but I just didn't know why".
"I'm sorry" she tells her friend "This was all about me. For her, this was all about... Making sure she hurt me. Getting something I wanted with you once, only to put everything else above it. Taking a happy ending I once wanted".
"If by a happy ending, you mean you and Regina then..." he trailed off.
"I'm not even sure what my happy ending is anymore" she admitted to the man next to her "I don't even think that's even possible anymore. With everything I've learnt in the last few days, it seems like every-time I try and take back control, fate or whatever is out there wants to remind me that it's not my mine to control anymore. It's never been mine to control".
"In between Tom growing up so fast and my head spinning out of control, the only thing that got me through the tough time was making myself think that you were safe and happy, only to find out this whole time that…." she stopped herself as she felt the emotions too overwhelming to even speak about as she shut her mouth up tight to stop the words from continuing to tumble out.
"And us?" he asked her "I know its not what you envisioned when you came all the way here to get Roland and I, but at least, in a way, it's possible again. To be friends again. Look, it's messy, I know, but...between us".
"It's a huge obstacle" she tells him "And it's going to get bigger every day, and not just for nine months either. It's a lifetime she has cooking in there. No matter what happens from now on, there's going to be this child. You're tied together in a way..in a way we'll never be. I'm such an idiot to think that life wouldn't kick me in the teeth again".
"I hear you. Just..".
"Just what?".
"What do we do now?" the thief asks her, looking at her for the answers.
"Come back to Storybrooke" Amelia tells him "Bring Roland and the incubus that's carrying your child and come home. I have missed you so much. I miss my best friend" giving the thief's hand an extra squeeze, emphasizing how much she had truly missed him being in her life.
While Amelia and Robin talked, the remaining women stayed in the apartment with Zelena as they waited for their next move. Regina waited on the lumpy couch holding Amelia's gauntlets on her lap while Zelena pottered in the small kitchenette and Emma went over old trinkets that were left in the apartment. The blonde held the dream catcher that Neal had kept throughout the years.
"Can't believe this survived all that time" Emma mused Lily as she held the dream catcher Neal had kept in her hand.
"This place that belonged to your..." Lily asked trailing off.
"His name was Neal. He was a lot of things to me. Now he's just gone" Emma said glanced back to the Wicked Witch in the small kitchen "Thanks to her" she almost growled.
"Sorry?" Zelena spoke up whirling around with a mug in her hands. Emma closed the distance between her and the Wicked Witch only to stop short when the least favorite red head she knew gasps holding her stomach "I think I just felt it kick. You wouldn't want to rattle an expectant mother now, would you?".
Breaking the rising tension between the women, the door to the apartment opened to reveal both Amelia and Robin in the doorway. A calming breath left the former Queen's lips seeing her partner back to normal, whatever had been discussed between the pair of close friends was enough to bring her Amelia back and not the woman that left the apartment earlier.
"Everyone, pack up" she announced the group "You, too" she added glancing to Zelena "We're going back to Storybrooke. Tonight" she says glancing towards the blonde savior and Lily "I hope you got to know her because you'll be spending the next few hours with her. Welcome to the new normal Mini Mal".
At the news of his mother's return after finding both Robin and Maleficence's daughter, Tom quickly packed all his things that he had taken back to their old apartment after spending the night in his old room. He was more than happy to stay with Mary Margaret and David with Henry but his Mom quickly dismissed the idea after finding out what she had done to Grandpa Romeo, suggesting he should stay with Anastasia instead.
He understood where she was coming from, not trusting the woman she had spent most of her life keeping her away from a vengeful Evil Queen but he didn't understand the blood debt that went with it, and how far she would go for it.
Anastasia told him that she would kill his best friend's grandmother, but Cruella taking them and the trip to New York had seemed to delay it, he had only hoped the longer it took for her to take what she wanted, she would talk herself out of it in the end.
But he had to know more, not just for her sake, to put his own mind at rest as he found her in the kitchen hunched over a cereal bowl, scooping out spoonfuls of her breakfast into her mouth as milk dripped onto the counter, not caring about the mess it would leave behind. For someone who been raised by the assassins like his mother, she was a little sloppy to say the least.
"Hey Aunt Anya" he greets the blonde woman coming out out of his room "What's this blood debt my Mom has with Mary Margaret all about?". Hearing this the woman grew curious a the line of questioning. He knew what it was about, he just couldn't bring himself to ask her the real question in his mind. The one that had been on his mind since her sister had left the savior and her girlfriend.
"What do you really want to ask boy?" she retorts not believing that was what he wanted to know at that moment.
"Do you really think my Mom will kill her?" he gulped taking a seat on a stool opposite her. Straightening her back she forgot about her breakfast to focus on her nephew's question.
"We called it a Were-gild back home" she answered him wiping the milk away from the mouth with the back of her sleeve "When assassins fall out about a matter that has no solution can be made, a were-gild is called between them. With a feather both parties stain it with their blood before it's burnt signifying the end of the argument. But when a were-gild is called because of a loss of a life, that's were things become a little more complicated".
"How?" he questioned her.
"By sending the Queen's letter to our Mentor, not only did she put Romeo in danger, but she also put you and your father in danger. A long time ago the Brotherhood decided that their assassins shouldn't have a family because it be the one thing that would matter more than a mission, makes everything we do for the Brotherhood easier, even killing".
"What is it?" he asked her with furrowed brows.
"You" she simply tells him "Has your mother ever told you that you were something she thought she would never have".
Tom blinked at this, she had said that to him, but he never thought about it since this moment "Yeah, but I thought that was because of the Brotherhood".
"No, it was because of something the Brotherhood does to their assassin's like your mother and I, to make sure we can't bear any children that might stop us from completing a mission".
"You mean..." he figured out quickly himself as he started to tear up at the thought at what they did to his mother and Aunt "T-They would-".
"Yeah" she sighed out "They called it the graduation. Something spooked our Mentor to doing it sooner than they had planned to do it. But you are proof that the procedure isn't all full proof as they thought it was".
"By sending that letter, Snow put a target on her back for the rest of her life, and when you and the Captain came along, you were just the collateral damage to whoever was brave enough to take you away from her. Because that is all you were to them. Collateral damage" she tells her nephew straight.
There were some thing her sister would never be able to teach her son, she knew this. The same with Romeo, he would have to reply on the other Assassin's to teach her the things he couldn't bring himself to teach her as his daughter. Those teachings would often mean the difference between life or death.
This was something he would never hear from his own mother, but he needed to know why what the Princess did must had some consequences, even if was the dream-shade that took their father in the end. He would never have been cursed on Neverland if it hadn't been for the letter that raised suspicions.
"I'm also telling you this because you might be the only one of us to stop her from turning dark again. The Black Widow is not my sister, Amelia Montague is. You will need to remind her of this when the time is right otherwise she will fall into whatever trap the Dark One has laid out for her".
"You really thing I would be able to do that?" he gulped not sure that he would be able to stop the Black Widow if he ever came across her. From the stories he heard from the kids at school, trying to get a rise out of him into a fight, then he had no chance.
"I do" the blonde assassin tells her "Because you are not her" she adds offering him a smile until it fell as her head spun once again from the drink she had the previous night "Speaking of your mother, do you know where she kept the good painkillers, the one's I found are doing nothing for my hangover" she grumbles out as he head continued to thump.
She really shouldn't have dared the Captain into a drinking contest the previous night in Granny's while Henry and Tom hung out at the bar. She won of course but she was paying for the small victory against the pirate.
Chuckling a her words the teen pointed to her bedroom door "Her bathroom cabinet".
Leaving the teen at the breakfast bar she couldn't help but to playfully ruffle his brown locks as she walked past, making him slap her away as his phone rang out.
"Is that the girl?" she teased the boy as she saw the way he quickly retrieved his phone from his pocket "Tell her your favorite Aunt says hello" she chuckled out to her nephew as headed to her bedroom.
Entering the bedroom, the room had been stripped of all evidence of her sister's life here. Not that there was much to begin with, all that remained was the furniture that was still brand new, after Captain Hook had a free for all in the apartment looking for a key to where the Apple was originally hidden. The only thing that remained was the closest the blonde had already filled with a number of weapons she had 'borrowed' from her sister's part of the vault, including the solid gold dagger her sister once had King Midas make for her.
Sauntering into the small bathroom she found the cabinet set above the sink that held the painkiller's she was seeking to help her hide the hangover from her sister. She did not need her babysitting abilities questioned. Opening the mirrored cabinet her eye's found the small bottle of painkiller's her nephew had told her about. Taking it out she accidentally uncovered something she though her sister wouldn't want to be found.
Forgetting the painkiller's for the minute she reached for the long rectangle shaped box in her hands as she read the packaging over again until she tried to understand what it was telling her.
Home Pregnancy Test.
The blonde's brow's furrowed in confusion as she quickly opened the cardboard packet only to find it completely empty not hearing the knocks on her open bedroom door.
"That was Mom" Tom's voice suddenly said from behind her, making her whirl around with the hand hiding the empty box behind her back, as Tom came to the threshold to see the blonde acting strangely "They're..at the town line" he finished off his sentence as he eyed the woman on front of him "Everything okay?".
"Fine" she blurted out to the teen "We'll head out in a minute. Give me a minute to make sure she doesn't' see me too hungover" she tried to brush his concern off, but the teen knew that look on her face. The same one his Mom would have on his face when she was hiding something. But whatever the blonde was hiding would have to wait.
"Sure" he trailed off before hesitantly leaving his aunt to start get his stuff from the other room.
The blonde waited a second or two before she heard him enter his old room before putting the box back where she had found it to snatch the painkillers she definitely needed now "Suka" she hissed to herself as she slammed the cabinet closed.
Driving through main street never felt so good as she cruised behind Emma's yellow bug with her partner in her passenger seat and Robin and Roland securely in the back of her car as she saw the Charming family welcome party already awaiting their arrival in the distance as she drove down main street, while Maleficent waited anxiously on the sidewalk to see her daughter for the first time.
From their car they watched as Emma happily reunited with Henry and Hook after her brush against darkness, witnessing the way the blonde savior recoiled from her mother's attempt for a welcoming hug. The hurt on her face was a bitter pill for the assassin to swallow as she put herself in the former Princesses shoe's with her own son, making her look anywhere at the way Snow looked as David tried to comfort her.
From her seat the former Queen glaces over to her partner, seeing the look conflict in her eye's. She knew taking her partner out of the powder keg her sister her put her in before to defected over to their side. would make her see reason, but she had to go ahead with the debt once it had been called. She just had to hope she would make the right call in the end that would settle the years of pain she has had to endure every since the former Queen wrote the letter.
"Are you still sure you want to go ahead with your debt?".
"We'll figure something out" was all the assassin said to her as they saw Tom and Anastasia rounding the corner "We've got a few things to take care of first" she reminds her partner looking into the yellow bug to see Zelena in the back seat.
"No, I mean it. I've no reason to escape" Zelena tells her sister and her partner as they led her to the psych ward under the hospital.
Ignoring Zelena's words the assassin greeted Nurse Ratchet behind the desk with a smile as the made their way to Wicked Witches new home for the next few months and beyond.
"And with that cuff, you won't have the magic to do it either" Regina replied as they reached the room "Oh, look" she gasped opening the heavy door "Home".
Stepping into padded room the Wicked Witch saw where she would be spending the rest of her pregnancy in. that was only inhabited by a mattress and pillow that made her bed "Mmm" Zelena hummed as she turned to face the couple outside the cell "Dank".
"Isn't it? I'm glad I thought of it" Regina retorted "And right upstairs, our O.B., Dr. Whale, gives the finest care this side of the fictional alps. The perfect temporary home" Regina went to close the door but her half-sister's voice stopped her.
"Yes. This home is temporary. But me being in both your life's is not, because this..." she pauses to touch her pregnant stomach "Means forever" she whispered like it was sort of secret.
"Okay, I'll bite Zelena" Amelia spoke to the Witch for the first time since New York "You wanna start talking truth? Tell me why are you so confident? Tell me, what's gonna make you feel safe at night once that baby's born?" Amelia questioned the Wicked Witch.
"The fact that if you kill me, Robin will always know that you murdered the mother of his child".
The assassin could only smile at the woman's words. She really hadn't been listening to her the last time she was in Storybrooke.
"Zelena don't you see that your greatest weakness is your severely underestimation of us" the assassin pointed out to the woman in the cell "You wouldn't be the first mother of Robin's child that I would've killed, but this time it would be by my own blade" the assassin tells her that made the smirk on her face drop "Enjoy your new home Lena" at that the assassin shut the door on Regina's half-sister locking it behind them.
Opening the viewing shutter on the door the assassins's eyes sought out Zelena's to speak to the witch again "A word of warning, your neighbor across the hall underestimated me as well, but he won't be able to talk. He lost his tongue after he chose your mother over me" she ended the conversation shutting the door "Let the nurse know if you want a magazine or something" she yells through the door before leaving the former Queen to spell the door shut.
Sauntering down to the nurses station the assassin lent of the desk on her elbows flashing a sweet smile to Nurse Ratched. "Make sure you give Puck an extra treat from me, I feel guilty for not visiting. And make sure our newest patient can hear him" she whispered the last sentence the former Queen joined her at the desk.
And evil smirk grew on the nurses face understanding what Amelia meant by a 'treat'.
"Certainly Ma'am" she answered leaving the station to get straight onto her task.
"God's I love her" Amelia noted watching the nurse get to work, before looking to Regina with a knowing smirk "How do you feel about making our happy ending a reality?".
With Zelena safely tucked away in the wards Amelia and Regina took to the streets of Storybrooke making their way to the pawn shop to take the advise her Uncle had given to her in her dullest hour she was taking her happy ending with Regina, the one they deserved.
Letting themselves in the women saw the Author himself standing in the middle of the shop, caught like a deer in headlights as he saw the Evil Queen and her Black Widow stood before him in the flesh.
"Isaac?" Amelia greeted the man in confusion seeing the man that had told her to sneak onto the Godspeed "You're the Author?".
"Amelia" the man greeted her with a smile, like he was old friend "Good to see you again".
"You know him?" Regina asked her partner with a curious brow.
"Oh we've met" Issac supplied for the redhead "I was the one to put her the Godspeed all those years ago".
Throwing her arm out a hidden blade snapped out of her gauntlet as she quickly closed the distance between her and the man that had 'advised' her to go onto the Godspeed, taking a hold of the scarf around his neck, she pushed him up against the glass cabinet with the blade poised again as a sense of deja-vu came over the Author.
"I-I was only doing what Shakespeare was told not to do" he tells the assassin that currently has a blade pressing against his exposed neck.
"Shakespeare?" she questioned him in confusion before her Uncle finally made his appearance, stumbling through the curtains from the back of the shop, clutching onto the walls to keep him on his feet, holding his arm to his chest, over his heart.
"What are you doing here?" the Author asked them but didn't get an answer as Gold staggered out from the back holding the walls holding his left arm to his body.
"What do you want?" Gold asked the pair of women in a strained voice.
"We want the Author..." Regina answered him as the assassin let the man go, her blade slipping back into her gauntlet joining the Queen "Finding him was my idea before you stole it" Gold could only grunt in reply as the assassin stalked around behidn the Queen to stand to her right as she got a good look at her Uncle.
"What's wrong with you? You look terrible" Regina observed as Amelia tilted to the side as she took in her Uncle's appearance.
"Nothing. I'm fine" he insisted.
A dark chuckle escaped Amelia as she figures out what was wrong "Oh Unlce, it's your heart, isn't it?" she asked with fascination lacing her voice "It's finally happening".
This was truly a one in a million moment for any assassin to witness, to see a Dark One so dark that the darkness in it's heart was slowly poisoning them.
"Yeah. It's dying" he confirms "Bad news for all of us" he points out to them.
"You said it would kill your ability to love" she tells the old man "You didn't say that... The Dark One can't die, not like that".
"No, but Rumplestiltskin can" he corrected his niece "friendly warning... You don't wanna face the Dark One when there's no one else at home. So, I suggest you don't antagonize me".
"Oh, but it doesn't really matter" Regina continued for the both of them "By definition, when we get our happy ending, We'll be... Guess what?" she asked the man "Happy. So, I don't really care what you'll be up to".
"You need me Amelia, more that you think" he tells his niece "I'm the only Dark One who truly knows what your capable of, what you will become if the Dark One kill's Rumpelstiltskin. For..it won't hesitate but force the prophesy that has followed you, your whole life".
"I guess it has something to do with being a product of Star-Crossed Lovers?" the pained man didn't say anything as the redhead continued "Stasia gave me a crash course the other night, that's why you needed my blood to control the Apple right? To be able to control whatever it is I'm supposed to become? Because that's all you want right? More power?.
"No, no, no you... You're just being short sighted" he tell her, reaching into his jacket pulling out the authors quill "Look. I have the quill. We can... Work together" he panted out as Regina walked toward the older man while Amelia wrapped her arms around the Author holding on tight "We... We could figure out a way to... To find that ink".
"Yes, you look like you're up for some serious collaboration..." Regina said before snatching the quill out of the man's hand "Thank you. I'll figure out the ink on our own" joining Amelia with the Author in her grips she takes the redhead's free hand into her's.
"No, no, no" Gold weakly protested only to go unheard.
"Good-bye, dearie" the former Evil Queen said waving her hand up encasing the three in purple smoke taking them out of pawn shop, leaving the Dark One to collapse on the floor of the shop.
Relocating the Author to the vault, the former Widow and Evil Queen thought out their next move to get the happy ending they wanted the Author to write for them.
As the former Widow hovered at the threshold of Regina's part of the vault leaning her shoulder against the stone archway as she watched her partner pace tried to figure how they currently stood in their venture of getting what Issac needed to complete his task for the pair of former villains.
"So if I have this straight" Regina started as the redhead listened closely "You thought Emma was going to go dark, and she didn't. So the whole operation's dead?".
"Right" Isaac answered "The energy of her darkest potential has to charge the ink" he informs her.
"And Gold draining three pints of blood out of me was, for what? Fun?" Amelia asked from her place.
"I didn't tell him to do that actually, but I do need your blood, only a little though to power the Apple again" he corrected her understanding.
"Okay, let's think" Regina thought aloud as she started to slowly pace the small space.
"It's a shame" Isaac mused to them "I mean... Writing a happy ending for the Evil Queen and Black Widow. Well, you... you've always been a favorite of mine so has the Widow. Very clear goals plus totally damaged personality with a self-destructive streak? A recipe for compelling. And of all the characters I've written for, you really do get screwed over the most".
"I'm well aware" the Queen glowered at him before he continued.
"And you" he turned the look at the Assassin "You were great, albeit a little annoying if I'm being honest".
"Oh, please do go on how my life annoys you so much Isaac" the redhead drawled out.
"I mean you're always walking that line in between good and evil while you work for the Brotherhood, you toed over to the dark while working for the Queen, yet you helped Snow White behind her back" The Author stopped his ramblings when Amelia silently lifted her arm making her hidden blade jump out of her gauntlet.
"At what point of the conversation do I impale this blade through your neck to get you to shut up" the Author nodded meekly as Amelia let the blade slip back into her gauntlet.
"By the way, I-I was only working with Rumplestiltskin because he was able to protect me" Isaac tells the women "So, you can trust me".
"And you can really do as you say?" Regina asked the Author as the man silently nodded at her question "Take a look at this" she says taking showing him the page that Amelia had found in her coat packet a few month's ago of her and Regina meeting again outside the tavern years before they were reunited again.
"This page... It says our happy ending is possible, doesn't it? I mean, it has to exist for a reason".
"Whoa. I wrote this" Issac tells her glancing towards the assassin "I mean, the story with this drawing in it, from my... Well, a-a little experimental writing I did for another book that I never got the chance to write. Where did you get this?".
"It just turned up one day in my jacket" Amelia supplied to the man from her place.
"I don't know how that happened, but it... Yeah, it suggests that something is looking out for the both of you".
"Something?" the former Queen questioned him "Well, could you be more vague?" .
"You know as well as I, there are forces greater than all of us. But no matter how you got that, gosh, I am a fan. I'd be happy to write whatever you want if... You only had the ink"
"Oh, I already figured that part out. I know exactly where to find it".
Listening to Maleficent's failed attempts to connect with her daughter was painful to say the least as stood listening to Maleficent's failed attempt to sway her daughter from getting her revenge on Mary-Margaret and David for what they did to her from where she stood in hallway at the back of the the diner.
Hearing the bell over the door ring out, the former assassin used the backdoor to follow Lily to the only bus stop in town that sat outside the Dark Star Pharmacy where Regina had joined her to speak to the woman they had picked up on their road trip with Emma.
Joining the younger brunette on the bench the assassin silently sat herself in the free pace next to her right, crossing her jean clad leg over her knee, as she made herself comfortable on the bench.
"Fair warning..." the redhead that had accompanied Emma to find her spoke up. But she wasn't just any redhead, she was Romeo and Juliet's daughter, the one the apprentice had told her about when she was younger. "Bus service in these parts can be spotty. It's going to be a wait" Amelia warned the woman as Regina joined them to her left leaning against the wooden frame of the stop.
"Missed the part where that's your problem" Lily retorted to the pair "Shove off" she tells them making the redhead next to her laugh to herself at the light threat.
"I bet that mouth got you lots of attention back at the group home, but it doesn't work here" Regina warns her as she takes a seat to Lily's left, completely trapping the young brunette between them "Now... Listen up. We've got some talking to do".
"You know about Snow and Charming getting you banished, putting Emma's potential for darkness into you".
"Sent me through the portal in my eggshell, like baby Moses in his basket. And unless you have any ideas about giving them what they deserve..." this made the redhead to her left scoff a laugh, interrupting her.
"Let's not worry about what they deserve right now" the redhead spoke up next to her "Let's work on what we deserve".
"I deserve them dead" Lily almost growls at them. This made the assassin smirk to herself, she didn't need her sixth sense to see how dark she was. She was plenty dark.
"Well... You do have some darkness in you, don't you? Thing is, a lot of that darkness, that actually belongs to Emma. And right now, it's good and riled up. And riled up savior darkness is exactly what I need".
"The only thing you need, lady, is to get out of my way!".
"And here I thought I could have a civil conversation for once..." Amelia breathed out as she stretched her back on the bench behind her "Guess we should just cut to the chase".
Flicking her hand out a hidden blade slid out her gauntlet taking the younger brunette by surprise, making her turn her back on Regina on her left as she Queen took out her out small knife. With the distraction, the Queen stood from the bench to quickly snatch up Lily's hand to slide the edge of of the blade across her palm to draw the blood they needed for the ink making her scream out in pain.
"Hey! Stop! Ah! You're out of your mind!" Lily exclaimed at the pair as the redhead calmly stood from the bench the assassin joined her Queen as the former dipped the bloodied blade into a ink jar.
"Welcome to Storybrooke" Amelia tells the younger woman with a wink before she and Regina disappear in a cloud of purple smoke each leaving the young dragon to lose control of her anger.
Returning to the psych ward the former villains headed straight for Zelena's cell in armed with the Author, his pen and freshly acquired ink, ready to show her that they had the upper hand over the woman who thought she could get in-between them once again.
"Hello, Zelena" Regina greeted her sister as her partner followed her into the cell with Issac in tow.
"Oh, visitors! I'll put the kettle on" the Wicked Witch greets them from her place on the bed.
"We've got The Author and we've got the ink" Regina informs her sister with a smile "I wanted you to witness the moment he writes me my heart's desire. See, this is my town and this is my story. You've just been a supporting player this whole time".
"Yeah, see, I'm not here to support you. I'm here to replace you" she tells her sister glancing over to the redheaded assassin "Out with the old, and in with the new" she almost purrs out, only to earn a scoff and uninterested eye roll from the woman she had once tried to tempt away from her sister.
"Really? We'll see about that"
"Wait" the redheaded witch started to panic as she scrambled from her bed to stand in front of her sister and her ex "What exactly is he going to write?"
"Oh, we've given that a lot of thought. There are so many good options. But I think, after much deliberation, I've come up with the perfect ending for you, sis".
Making themselves comfortable in the cell the Author took a seat on the bed with his pen in his hand and a blank storybook opened up in front of him poised and ready to pen down whatever the Evil Queen and her Black Widow wanted him to write as the pair stood side by side leaning against the padded wall of her cell.
"You're just mad because I have with Robin Hood what you've always wanted with him" Zelena retorted giving the assassin a pointed look "A child".
"No, I already have a child" Amelia tells the Wicked Witch "Two if your being technical. Tom and Henry" she tells the Wicked Witch taking the Queen by surprise next to her as she pushes herself off the wall to step closer to the woman that had become a thorn in her side.
"-No, what I'm mad about is you trying to come between your sister and I. About you trying to hurt me. Now I'm going to see to it that you can never hurt anyone else again" she says glancing towards the man "Our author here is going to write you out of the story... Forever".
"Sorry, dearie. I think you're bluffing" the witched called out the assassin and her sister in front of her "You'd never take away Robin's baby".
"That's not how we look at it" Regina spoke up as she joins her soulmate "You see, as far as everyone will be concerned, including me, it'll be as though you never existed".
"Wait, can he do that? Just change all of your memories?" she nervously asked them glancing towards the Author.
"Absolutely" Issac answered the Wicked Witches question holding up the quill to her "The pen is mightier than the... Well, everything".
"Well... I never knew our mother, but I imagine I'm getting to know her right now" Zelena tells her younger sister.
"Is that so?" the former Evil Queen questioned her.
"She tossed me in a basket, sent me to Oz. She gave up a baby without even blinking an eye. And look at you now. You are exactly like her!".
Enchanted Forest
Many Year's Ago
With her failed attempt to 'help' her daughter find some sort of happiness, Cora set out the real person that was supposed to be her daughter's soulmate. The older sorceress found herself in a seaside town, in a fisher's market more specifically as her eye's scanned for any sign of the person that Tinkerbell's pixie dust had picked out. She knew she was looking for someone with a lion tattoo on their right forearm.
Her eyes first sought out a taller strongly built man with neatly parted blonde hair and a hint of a scruff jawline wearing maroon calf high boot's. But then she noticed the redheaded woman he had a protective arm wrapped around the small of her back as he shook hands with a merchant with a friendly smile. The man's long sleeve had bee rolled up for the elder Mill's woman to see his right forearm. No tattoo.
But then the woman that the man was holding reached out to shake the merchant's hand. She saw the lion tattoo straight away. This was her daughter's soulmate. The woman was Regina's soulmate.
Cora watched closely as she watched the redheaded woman rest her right hand on the showing pregnant bump as the merchant animatedly spoke to the woman about the babe in her womb as she and the man next to her smiled along.
This was perfect. Not only did she find Regina's soulmate but she was already able to give her daughter a child to love as her own. The only thing that stood in their way was the man that had his arm wrapped around her back. Her husband.
"Have you found them yet?" her newest advisor's bored voice interrupted her thoughts. The Queen of Hearts thought it would be a good idea to bring the former assassin into her court after she found herself alone in Wonderland.
After catching the woman killing several of her guards, she couldn't let the opportunity of having an assassin of the Brotherhood of Assassins at her side. She had only known one assassin before in her life, and he certainly lived up to the impression he made when she was younger.
"Her" Cora answered the assassin's question making her look towards the pregnant redheaded woman in the distance that she recognized straight away.
"Amelia" Ophelia breathed out seeing the girl that she once trained stood in the distance.
"You know her?".
"I did. She was an assassin, like her father" she answered her Queen truthfully, there was no use lying to the Queen of Hearts.
"Who was he?".
"Romeo Montague". She hadn't heard the name in years. So this was the daughter he was trying to protect, the sorceress thought to herself as she remember her last encounter with the assassin.
"What do you want to do?" Ophelia asked her Queen disturbing her train of thought to the man that once tried to help her.
One one hand she could take this, Amelia, to her daughter. Prove to her that fate was always working in her favor. She would have someone to love her and a child to go with it. On the other hand, she could prove a point to her daughter, kill the woman here and now, then her daughter would never be happy now that's she's made herself barren.
"Nothing" she tells her assassin "Let fate do what it wants with her. I have a feeling this won't be the last time I will see her" at that the Queen of Heart's turned her back on the her daughter's soulmate as Ophelia remained for a few extra seconds to watch the woman cradling her pregnant bump with her hands as she spoke to a man that must've been her husband by the way he looked at her and she, him.
That eleventh hour bride to the doctor was worth the image in front of her. She just regretted she couldn't help Anastasia in time.
"Well, the ink is drying" Isaac informs the former Queen as he and the Widow waited patiently for her say anything as she stood in a silent stand-off with her sister as she took in Zelena's accusation of being exactly like her mother "So what do you want me to do?".
"Nothing" she instructs him before looking back at her sister "You didn't know our mother, Zelena, but I did. And yet, we both suffered. She hurt you and she hurt me, too. But our own worst enemy isn't her or each other. It's ourselves".
The redhead next to her had no idea where her partner was going with this, they had been so determined to get what they wanted ever since
"Regina" Amelia softly called out to her love in concern seeing how quickly she had changed her mind on how they were going to get their happy ending together "Is everything okay?".
"Everything's fine" she tells her partner reaching up to cup her cheek in her hand "I'm so tired of standing in the way of my own happiness, and I'm not going to do it anymore".
"Aw. Another woman defining her happiness relative to the love of a woman. It's sad, really.
"Oh, don't get it wrong, Greenie. Amelia isn't my happy ending" "My happy ending is finally feeling at home in the world" her younger sister corrects her "Melia just a part of that world" she says lovingly gazing into her soulmate's emerald eyes.
"A world that you're going to be forced to watch from a distance, with the most restrictive visitation rights in history" Regina quickly adds knowing that her partner would be more than willing to be there for the father of her new niece or nephew "See you at the next ultrasound".
"Do you really mean that?" the redhead softly asked the former Queen, not sure what she was hearing from her was right.
After all the weeks of worry and guilt that had rested on her mind since they had started their search for the Author had filled her head had finally seemed to lifted off her shoulders as she grasped her soulmate's hands in hers.
The former Queen should've realized earlier what was going through the assassins mind before it all came to point just before they were discovered by the other villains. She had been scared of losing her. But that ended now.
"I really do" Regina tells her, as a relieved smile grew on the assassin's lips hearing what she hadn't realized she needed to hear from her Queen for the last month.
"So you don't want me writing anything?" the Author asks the pair with a look of annoyance on his face.
Turing her head away from the redhead the Queen looked to the Author on the bed "No. I already have everything I need" she tells the man as she looked back towards her soulmate, slowly closing the distance between her and her soulmate to plant a loving kiss on the assassin lips that was warmly welcomed by the redhead only to pull away from the embrace.
"Well, I don't" the Author tell her as he quickly writes something with his quill, ripping the page out of the blank book as a cloud of purple engulfed him as he vanishes from the cell as the page falls onto the floor.
"What the...No" Regina gasps in surprise as she picks the page off the floor.
"What does it say?" the former assassin asks her as the Queen holds it for both of them to read.
"Vanishing in a cloud of smoke, the Author slips away with the ink to where... Mr. Gold awaits.".
Reappearing in the Pawn Shop, Issac finds the Dark One Rumplstilskin in semi-conscious state sat up against one of the cabinets where the Evil Queen and her Black Widow had left him earlier. As he came to, he was greeted with by the image of the Author sat in front of him with the ink he needed to write the man's happy ending.
"How?" he asked the man in front of him, only to stop his line of questioning "No, no. I don't care how. And I don't wanna waste time".
"That's what I thought. Are you okay here?" Isaac asked him.
"I soon will be" Gold tells him trying to sit himself up more as the Author tried to help him.
"Here".
"Let go of me. Go and write" he orders the man as the man did as he was told.
"Write on what?" he asked rounding the counter with the ink and quill.
With a snap of his fingers a black leather bound book appeared in front of the Author entitled 'Hero's and Villains' with a small vial of blood sat next to it. Isaac's brows furrowed in confusion seeing it as he look at the dying man quizzically seeking for the answer.
"You'll need that vial of blood. Add it to the ink" Gold instructs him "Precursor energy, will be needed to create the new story...and my niece's blood is full of it".
Following the man's request, the Author quickly uncorked the small vial and let the blood drop into the ink, mixing it with the saviors darkness. The Author watched in wonder as the dark ink in the inkwell started to glow a brilliant gold. The same gold that shone through the eye's of people who possessed the sixth sense before it dulled back into its original dark color.
"Genius" Isaac whispered in awe at what he had just witnesses. He'd never had the chance to see what this power did in person "Shakespeare really had no idea what he hiding was he?" he said not being able to hide the grin on his face.
"No. He wasn't" Gold grimaced out knowing this was the only way he could save his niece from the beast that all Dark One's had been willing and waiting to re-emerge from her prison. She wouldn't survive Juno, no-one would. She will rip this world apart piece by piece after she had done the same to everyone that loved her vessel.
"Now then... It's time Villains finally win".
Once Upon A Time...
AN: We made it!
I admit, this chapter/episode kicked my ass, it did when I first started to write the story, it still did, but I think I cracked it.
Onto Operation Mongoose next! Woohoo!
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