He couldn't be sure if Emma's superpower was real or if it could detect the lie amid the truth, but because of the dagger, she had no choice but to accept it. As far as she was concerned, it was either her superpower that was broken or the centuries-old dark magic that she'd had firsthand witness to had held the town captive before her brother was born. Whether she believed it or not didn't matter; she had no choice but to trust it.
"All right," Emma sighed, looking him over. "Mom may be busy with the town meeting but maybe we can pull Dad away, start there. He knew about the shepherd's crook maybe we can start from there, try retracing her steps."
She was calling David and Mary Margaret "Mom" and "Dad" now…adorable.
"Mary Margaret is having a town meeting?" Belle questioned with interest beside him.
"Long story…" Emma excused, shaking her head. "But apparently, Regina has stepped down, and since Mary Margaret cast the last curse, there is a new mayor in town."
"Fantastic. Government officials and law enforcement all residing under one roof," Mr. Gold burst out sarcastically before he could put a damper on it. He was more interested in how Regina felt about an arrangement like that. Especially given the fact that according to the story Emma and Hook told of their time in the past, Robin's former wife Marion was now alive and back in town.
"We're done here, let's go…" Emma muttered, ignoring the comment and turning to lead the others out of his store only-
"One last thing before you go, Ms. Swan!" he called out, giving them pause. "Where did you leave that urn?"
"What?" Emma questioned, looking confused as ever and perhaps a little offended at the question, but he saw no reason to be. It was all just business.
"The urn. You found it in my vault, and now that you've removed it, I'd like it back."
"I destroyed it," Elsa answered with a confidence that she most certainly shouldn't possess, given what she'd just said.
"That's a lie," he announced. "That urn is some of the most dangerous complex magic I've ever come across. There is no other reason it was in the vault. It can't be destroyed by simple magic and certainly shouldn't be toyed with-"
"Well, it's what I did," Elsa insisted easily. Too easily.
He reached his magic out to judge her heartrate…it was steady. She was telling the truth. But…how?
"My magic has always been complex, maybe that's why I was able to."
"Wait…I thought you didn't know about the urn?!" Emma questioned suspiciously. Clearly, she wasn't the listening type.
"Know that someone was in it? No, absolutely not. Know what it does…why else would it be in that vault, Ms. Swan? I wasn't about to let someone stumble upon it and put me inside. And now, for the good of all of us that practice magic, yourself included, I need you to take me to where you say you 'destroyed' the urn. It might not be as gone as you think."
Emma and Elsa exchanged glances, what appeared to be an entire conversation without uttering a single word. What was it the Seer had said in his vision? That Ingrid would be a mother but longed to be a sister? With these two? If that was indeed part of her plan, however odd it seemed, she'd chosen the right two girls, although where she herself would come into the picture, he wasn't sure yet. That was partly why he was so insistent on getting to that urn.
"We'll take you. I'll bring the car around," Emma stated.
"We'll follow and meet you on Main Street," he altered. He'd seen Emma's car; if he could help it, he wasn't about to shove himself and Belle into the backseat of it or share that space with Hook. And he could. Thank the gods for free will.
And so before they'd even gotten settled, he and Belle locked the shop, headed back to the car, and drove to the last place on earth he wanted to go, Zelena's property. He'd been aware, as they drove, that Belle was quiet. Something about Anna had put her off yesterday, and so he assumed that seeing her sister today had the same effect, only he couldn't understand how. Elsa hadn't greeted her, hadn't made any motion, or said a single word to suggest that they knew each other, even if they both had been neighboring royals. Belle had known Anna but not Elsa, perhaps? It seemed far-fetched. Now that he was thinking it through, it didn't make as much sense as he'd assumed yesterday.
After their parents had died, Arendelle was a shuttered country. The royals hosted no balls and went on no royal missions, not while the girls were growing. In fact, Arendelle hadn't really started to thrive until Anna and Elsa came out of hiding, which was around the time that Belle's kingdom had been invaded by ogres, leaving her own Kingdom essentially shuttered.
Yet there she sat, looking absolutely tense and upset as they drove onward after Emma onto Zelena's property. Was that the problem? Was that what was bothering her?
"There's a barn at the back of the property," he whispered, reaching over and grabbing her hand as they passed the house and the cellar. He wasn't sure which of them needed the other's touch more for those few seconds, but focusing on her, keeping her safe and comfortable, certainly provided an excuse for him not to focus on his own fear and discomfort.
"You've nothing to fear; the portals are gone, and Zelena is dead. You saw that for yourself."
Again, he couldn't be sure whose benefit he was saying the words for, but believing it was for her helped.
"It's just…I'm just not feeling very well suddenly. I think it's the bumpy road."
"Close your eyes if it helps," he encouraged as the trees began to clear and the barn came into focus. He'd love to be able to use that advice himself. But the best thing they could do was get this done and over with quickly.
When the car finally rolled to a stop beside Emma's outside the barn, Belle opened her eyes and picked her head up off the seat to look it over.
"You are welcome to stay here if you like?" he offered, part of him hoping she'd refuse. To his mutual pleasure and displeasure, she shook her head and got out of the car. She was on his arm what felt like only a heartbeat later as they followed the others back into the barn he was going to come burn down one night.
"This is where the portal was," Emma announced, pointing out the great compass he'd spent an entire afternoon etching into the ground at Zelena's insistence.
"I remember that part quite well, Ms. Swan. I was the one that put it there if you'll recall."
Magic…this barn was filled with it. His, Zelena's, Regina's, Emma's, Light magic, Dark magic, magic he'd never tasted before—it swirled around him like a ghost, making it hard to find the one piece he was looking for before he could be done here.
"The only thing that concerns me now is what happened after…the location of the urn, if you please?"
"I came out of it right there," Elsa stated, pointing to a place at the side of the circle where he felt…magic…Dark Magic. Familiar.
"Then I just destroyed it."
Impossible.
"Well, we shall see about that…"
It was most certainly the magic of the urn he felt. Only as he got closer to it he realized that the magic was no longer attached to the urn because there was no urn present. There were no shards or big pieces of it to even suggest something had ever been there. Only the magic of the urn was left-attached to the only thing left to cling to.
Magically, he willed a vial from his store into his pocket.
"Belle, may I borrow the dagger, please?"
Without question she took it from her bag and handed it over. Once the non-magical metal was in his hand he pushed his magic into it, a shielding spell, if this could do what he thought it could, he had no interest in touching it.
"Funny thing about magic," he explained aloud as he moved to the place Elsa had pointed to and used his magical senses to sniff out the exact location of the infected earth. "It can never be destroyed completely…it simply lives on in other forms."
Scoop by scoop, he used the blade of the dagger to grasp the magic imbued dirt and pour it into the vial he pulled from his pocket. He noted, interestingly, that any dirt that wasn't part of the magic but came with it as access immediately took on the magic the second it was lifted. Very interesting.
"Magic survives," he muttered to himself in fascination, corking the vial and flipping the dagger back over to safely hand it to Belle. She hadn't hesitated to give it to him, but she hesitated now in taking it back. Oh, he did love her.
"As what? Dirt?" Emma drawled.
"It's much more than dirt, dearie," he commented; then, for effect, he waved his hand over the vial, a simple magic reveal spell that made it sparkle like gold. If that wasn't a sign that it belonged with him, he didn't know what was. "That urn could neutralize any magic placed inside of it, that's why Elsa remained trapped. And even though the urn itself appears destroyed, the dust from it contains the very same power, only a weakened form." But he suspected that with the right spells and a proper application, he could make something of it, especially if it was multiplying.
"Next time you want to destroy something like that, be a bit more careful," he warned, stepping up next to the former Ice Queen. "One sprinkle of this and all your magic would temporarily vanish. Good thing I have it safe and sound. Ready, Belle?" he smiled.
She gave a sigh of relief behind him. "Yes, quite."
Without another word, she wrapped her arm around his, and he escorted his bride back to the car with an unexpected prize in tow.
Short chapter. Between the show and Moments there's really nothing here that we haven't already seen, just some thoughts from Rumple we haven't really heard yet. It was fun writing him trying to tap dance around Emma. I enjoyed it immensely and I hope you will too.
Thank you to Rsbeall12 for your review on the previous chapter. I hope that you enjoy this one and I'll be back tomorrow with another chapter! Peace and Happy Reading!