Chapter 27

Episode - The Queen Is Dead

Storybrooke

Lord Voldemort was walking down the street as he passed by all of the shops here and there. He was about to perform a ceremony that would restore his magic to full strength and more. And ultimately everyone will be killed. He felt no remorse. He felt no sympathy or empathy or compassion. He cared about himself. He wanted what he wanted. He wanted his happy ending. And in order to get it he needed to become all powerful and kill Harry Potter. Only this time he had to be careful. He would make sure that there was nothing that Harry Potter could do to stop him.

It was then that he passed by an ice cream shop by the name 'Any Given Sundae'. It was then that he felt his stomach rumble due to lack of food. He decided that before he destroys the town he might as well indulge himself in a few pleasures of his mortal body.

He entered the shop and there was the ringing of a bell as the door opened. He could feel the cool air of the air conditioned interior also probably added to by the refrigeration units for the food. Immediately he could smell the sweet sugary flavors of chocolate, vanilla, mint, strawberry, lemon, bubble gum, and every other flavor of the frozen dessert that you could think of. Behind the counter of the cash register was a middle-aged blonde woman in casual clothes wearing an apron.

The woman turned to him.

"Good day," she said with a smile. "How can I help you?"

It was then that Voldemort recognized her. He saw her many years ago when he was a 16 year old Tom Riddle. She and her two sisters were trading ribbons with Rumpelstiltskin for blue gloves and an urn to suppress her ice magic.

"Ingrid?" said Voldemort in surprise. "Princess Ingrid of the Kingdom of Arendelle?"

She put on a confused face.

"How did you know that?" she asked in surprise.

Voldemort then waved his wand over his face to transform his disguised face back into his normal face.

"We met, long ago. Though I suppose you didn't know who I was at the time. I walked in on you trading yellow ribbons with Rumpelstiltskin for gloves and an urn."

She then put on an evil smile. She had her hands resting palms down on the counter, and the surface around her hands then began to ice up with thick heavy frost, giving off a crackling sound as the tiny ice crystals formed from the magic that reduced the temperature to Sub-Zero temperatures and condensed the water vapor in the air to solid form on the solid surface. And with a whirl of White smoke her clothing transformed into a white gown and a crystal necklace of a snowflake.

"Call me the Snow Queen." she said with a smile. "And you are Lord Voldemort."

Voldemort started to wonder how she knew who he was, but she quickly went on.

"I was at the wedding."

"Never expected to see you here, and you've barely aged a day." said Voldemort with curiosity.

"I was trapped in the magic urn for 30 years." said Ingrid matter of factly. "And then after I was released I happened to be in the Enchanted Forest when the Evil Queen enacted her Curse."

"Fascinating." said Voldemort.

Voldemort left with his frozen dessert.

Voldemort approached the entrance to the Evil Queen's vault. He needed to obtain his heart that he had left in Cora's possession. He quickly began to reminisce in his head on how he began his journey to deliver his heart to the Queen of Hearts in the first place.

Flashback -

The Enchanted Forest, 28 years earlier, one month before the Dark Curse

Voldemort had just performed his spell to transport himself to the Enchanted Forest temporarily. He had received information about his old acquaintance, Cora, the former apprentice of Rumpelstiltskin. She was now the ruler of Wonderland also known as 'The Queen Of Hearts'.

The thing is, he wasn't entirely sure how to travel to Wonderland. While his current spell can transport him to the Enchanted Forest from his world, he wasn't entirely sure how to get to several other realms.

He was hoping that Maleficent had the answer, and he was on his way to the Forbidden Fortress.

"Rumor has it you shagged Maleficent." said a voice from behind him.

"Who's asking?" Voldemort replied.

When he turned around there was a woman leaning against a tree. She was wearing a black pointy hat, and a long sleeve black dress going all the way to her wrists. Her face was concealed by the rim of her hat because her face was turned down. But she had long fingernails and the skin of her hands was a bright deep green.

"You asked me for help and advice once a long time ago." said the woman. "And I thought I might help you again. Call it a future favor."

"Who are you?" asked Voldemort with curiosity.

"You're looking for a 'queen', Lord Voldemort, when you should be looking for a 'witch'." said the woman. "And while most of the people around here are 'Evil', you require the assistance of someone, 'Wicked'."

She then turned her head up to reveal her face. Her hair was redhead. But her skin was the same color as her hands, bright deep green. The low neckline of her dress showed some cleavage while suspended above was a thin chain necklace holding a large Emerald Jewel.

"We met once before long ago, Tom Riddle. I'm Zelena. But back in Oz, I'm known by my more intimidating and fear inspiring title, 'The Wicked Witch'."

Voldemort smiled with curious interest.

"Zelena? Little Zelena from the hovel by the yellow brick road? Well you certainly have grown. And you look different too."

"As do you." said Zelena as she looked at Voldemort's snake-like appearance.

"An unfortunate side effect of the dark magic that I have dabbled in. And what about you? What's the result of your interesting skin color?"

"Envy." she gave as a simple one-word answer.

"Interesting." said Voldemort. "But perhaps you could tell me how I can get to Wonderland?"

The green skinned Sorceress then held out her hand and with a whirl of Green Smoke appeared a very large hat.

"An enchanted hat that I managed to obtain from the Mad Hatter." said Zelena

"Fascinating." said Voldemort.

"So," says Zelena, "shall we call this a future favor?"

Voldemort thought for a moment. He already owed a debt for future favor to the witchley trio. And now another witch would glean something from him in the future. In the end he decided, hell with it. Just go with it.

"Deal." said Voldemort.

Zelena then placed the Hat on the ground and then spun it like a top. The Hat continued to spin of it's on accord and then it opened a portal.

"The pathway to Wonderland." said Zelena. "And one more thing, dark lord. Always go with my motto. Don't be evil, be wicked. And wicked always wins."

Voldemort jumped through. He then found himself in a room that was filled with doors. Each one seemed to lead to a different land. And then he saw the one that led to Wonderland. He walked through it. And he came out of a Looking Glass that was in the middle of the road.

Storybrooke

Voldemort pointed his wand at the door of the vault and then activated a continuous sustained spell of his own design that was supposed to break protective enchantments. His wand emitted a green light that gradually became brighter while he held out his left hand emitted wandless magic reinforcing the spell from his wand, the protection spell covering the door was illuminated as white and staticky and it roiled with energy.

Voldemort could feel the strain. The protection spell was fighting back, trying to counter his spell. All of his muscles tensed up and he started to feel pain, the protection spell was trying to get him to release his spell, but at the same time he could feel the protection spell weakening. He had anticipated this, he did not expect this to be easy. He didn't stop. He didn't give up. The protection spell fought even harder against him. The protection spell continued to get weaker.

This went on for several more minutes until finally the protection spell went down. With another wave of his wand the door opened.

Once he was inside he saw that it was only a single room with a memorial casket in the middle of the room. The side of the casket read, 'His Royal Highness Prince Henry Mills, Beloved Father'. This was of course not the child Henry Mills who was the son of Emma Swan, no, this must be the Evil Queen's father. This was how she enacted the curse. She loved her father enough that sacrificing his heart would work while simultaneously she was selfish enough that she wanted her vengeance in order to be able to do it.

He examined the outside of the casket around the base at the floor and then determined that it slides sideways. With a wave of his wand the casket moved out of the way to reveal a subterranean staircase. He went down the stairs where he found several hallways branching off. He followed one where he came to her room filled with unusual artifacts from the Enchanted Forest, as well as a variety of rare and valuable potion ingredients.

He went to another room where he could then hear the steady beating of hearts. He saw on the wall where all the hearts were. He waved his wand while concentrating on a carefully modified summoning spell. A single box came out of one of the slots in the wall. He walked over to it and took the Box. He looked at the side and there was the Dark Mark of the Death Eaters. He opened the flip open lid and there inside was his heart. It was nearly completely black with only a small amount of red in it. He smiled maniacally.

He helped himself to several of the rare and valuable potion ingredients and then exited the vault. He made his way back to camp out in the woods. His daughter Delphini Lestrange was playing with some toys on the ground left to fend for herself, but she was safe as the camp was surrounded by some protective spells.

It was then that the two Death Eaters Euphemia Rowle and Nathan McAllister approached while holding the arms of a short person with a bag over their head.

"We have the prisoner, my lord." said Nathan McAllister.

"Excellent." said Lord Voldemort.

"The ceremony to restore your powers, my Lord?" said Nathan McAllister. "When will it begin?"

"Immediately." said Voldemort. "In a matter of hours, not only will my magic be back to full strength but I will be more powerful than ever by many times, I will be truly invincible."

He then turned the two death eaters.

"And what would you two like as a reward?"

"I request no reward, my lord." said Nathan McAllister loyally with the utmost devotion in his voice. "I wish only to continue to serve you."

Voldemort smiled and then chuckled.

"I will get you something nice. And what about you, Euphemia?"

"Unlimited luxuries and Comforts for life." she said selfishly.

Voldemort smiled and nodded loyally.

"I will spoil you rotten." said Voldemort.

"So how will the ceremony to regenerate your magic work exactly, my Lord?" asked Euphemia.

With a wave of Voldemort's wand a shiny polished silver cauldron appeared over the fireplace. He then started to take out a whole bunch of ingredients. He laid them down in front of the cauldron to wait to be properly mixed. He then reached into the folds of his robes and pulled out a small red scroll, he then unrolled the scroll and it was covered in runes.

"A Curse." said Voldemort matter of factly. "A Dark Curse. The Dark Curse."

"The one that created Storybrooke?" asked Nathan McAllister with curiosity.

"Correct McAllister." said Voldemort with a maniacal smile.

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