Ignorance is Bliss | By : Khaleesi-Of-Dragons Category: M through R > Once Upon A Time Views: 2313 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story. Any and all songs used belong to their respective owners. |
I lay back on one of the couches in the inn part of Granny's, the full force of my injuries that couldn't be healed magically making itself known. This is why Whale wanted to keep me, he knew that as soon as I slowed down enough that the aches would kick in and make me wish I lived in a bubble. Pan is out looking around Storybrooke for my dad, but I doubt he'll be able to find him if the pirate doesn't want to be found. All the important people in this town are gathered in the sitting room—Emma, the Charmings, and me—but the meeting wouldn't begin until at least Regina shows up. Speaking of the devil, the brunette woman walks in with an unfamiliar air about her.
"Regina," Snow says with some surprise," If I didn't know any better, I'd say you look smitten." That's what it is, she's probably getting laid. Regina scoffs, moving over to our group dressed in a dark red dress that, while modest enough for a woman in her position, said that she liked to bend rules. At least, that's what she told me when she shoved a pop tart in my hands this morning.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say Haagen-Dazs is smitten with your stomach," she returns, though the bite that was usually present was gone. Can we get started?"
"Waiting on Pan to show up with my dad," I tell her, swinging my legs in the air as they dangle over the arm of the couch, my pop tart already half-eaten.
"I don't have time to wait for the handless wonder." Hmm, weirdly accurate description—maybe that could be his superhero name. "We have to figure out how to destroy my sister."
"For once, I agree with Regina," David nods, his elbows resting on his knees. "Stopping her plan is the priority." Well, my priority is more like finding out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop, but I guess that's irrelevant.
"There's one thing about this plan that doesn't fit—Regina," Emma states, grabbing one of my feet to make me stop swinging them.
"I'm the point of it," Regina says, looking at Emma as though she represents the dumb blonde stereotype. "So she can take my life for herself."
"Yes, but why bring you back to Storybrooke? Why bring any of us?"
"Great booze," I suggest," comfortable clothing, Tom Hiddleston's ass—what does it matter? The point is that she's here and I want to make her know what it feels like to get her ass handed to her. Time travel has never been done, but maybe she needed to get in her element by traveling to a different world, you know? She needed to know how it felt and how it was done so she could tweak it to work with timelines instead."
"The troubling part is that she was able to cast the curse at all," Regina picks up," I mean, to do it you need to give up the heart of the thing you love most and from what I gather, Zelena doesn't love much."
"Zelena's smart," David contributes," strategic. Maybe we discovered something in the missing year to stop her."
"And then the only way to stop us from interfering was to bring us back here and wipe our memories," Snow says, catching onto her husband's train of thought. "So, if we get our memories back, we might already know how to defeat her."
"We just need to break this curse."
"Well thank goodness we have a savior." I look at Emma, finishing the pop tart and wiping the crumbs off my sweater.
"I'd love to, but there's one problem," she admits," last time, all it took was me believing in magic and kissing Henry. Since I've been back, I've done both and nothing."
"You're not the one who needs to believe," I say, sharing a knowing look with Regina," Squirt doesn't remember squat that's happened, and since you've both arrived here, we've been careful to shield him from any magic. He doesn't see the magic, he doesn't believe in the magic, and that's what's keeping our memories blocked. Err, partially blocked in my case."
"So we'll put on a magic show for him?"
"Don't be stupid, we find that book he wagged around with him—the book that made him believe in all of this in the first place. If he doesn't remember, then we're all screwed big time." There's a brief silence that involves everyone in our group looking at me. "So, enough with the moping and the belly rubbing, let's go find the damn book."
Killian Jones
Killian had rather hoped today would go better than the others had, he had a solid plan in mind that he would play scrabble with Vee and maybe try and scare Pan away from her. All of it seemed to be going down the drain quicker than he could say goodbye. He'd barely finished getting dressed and opened the bathroom door when the Dark One knocked him unconscious using magic, and now here he lies—no doubt doomed to die in this strange dark space with an incessant purring noise for company.
He had no clue where he was, just that his hands and feet are bound, and there was a gag in his mouth to keep him from crying out for help. A shame really, not to mention embarrassing, that he would die this way instead with his sword in hand. Suddenly the purring is cut off and there are faint voices not too far away just before the roof above him lifts to reveal the outside world, Rumpelstiltskin, and the woman who his daughter had dubbed as the Wicked Bitch. He honestly doesn't see how his life could be looking up from here, surely the witch is going to kill him and he would never have the chance to punch Pan in the face hard enough to get through to the demon how bad an idea it is to date Aveena.
Goodbye, cruel world, it was nice to be here while it lasted, though I could have done with a little more rum. "It appears you have," Zelena says, bending down to remove the gag.
"We're in Storybrooke," Killian says, licking his lips and working his jaw to get it back to normal. "You've never heard of a telephone?" Zelena laughs at his tone, outstretching her hand to run the petals of the rose in her hand across his lips. Velvety soft and probably poisoned knowing how the villains in this town tended to try and get rid of people that have displeased them.
"Such pretty lips. They're so wasted." He knew that would be why she wanted him brought out here, to the edge of town and far away from any sort of help. "Why haven't you used those luscious lips and kissed Emma?"
"Well, a fella likes to be courted."
"This isn't a joke. I need to have her magic removed. If Snow's baby is born before your kiss, I'm going to have no other option. I'm going to have to start killing people—people that Emma loves, starting with her son. Perhaps I'll kill your daughter, too. It'll teach you a lesson in obedience—do what I ask or she dies." The mention of hurting children has Killian's blood boiling, but the mention of hurting his child has him seeing red. Zelena tosses the rose on him, giving him a long hard stare. "Take away her magic, Captain, or the next rose will be for her little brat's grave."
And then it was dark again, the purring back, but at least Killian had a new plan in mind. A plan to get at least one child to safety even if it couldn't be his own.
Rumpelstiltskin—Enchanted Forest
There's someone new in Rumple's castle, someone whose magical signature he can recognize despite the new soul occupying his body, someone who is not physically in the room. He doesn't look up from his spinning, to do that would cause him to become completely unfocused—he'd be driven mad without the familiar motion to comfort him. So instead of stopping, he extends his magic to find the intruder. All signs point to the basket of gold at his feet, but that shouldn't be possible—unless….
"Papa?" Ah, there was a new voice joining in now, trying to pry his attention from the task at hand. "Papa, can you hear me?" His little bird's voice was fluttering around his head like Hummingbird wings, frantic and worried, but he had to focus his thoughts. He has visitors coming to talk with him. The voice of his daughter is silenced when a group of people walk inside—Rumple recognizing all of them including the thief he had punished for breaking into his home shortly after Belle began working for him.
"Rumpelstiltskin," he hears Snow White say, but still he focuses his attention where it is needed to keep in control. Rumple giggles, continuing his spinning at a fast pace.
"Rumple Bumple isn't here," he replies in a singsong voice," Rumple Bumple….Gone, my dear."
"He really is back from the dead," Regina laughs, the group moving further into the room that had once been Rumple's favorite. Most of his treasures were taken during his time spent in Storybrooke, but a few were still present and gave off delicious magic.
"Dead. Dead." He looks up from his spinning, feeling the madness beginning to take hold again as he points at his old pupil. "So much better dead."
"He's lost his mind," David states with a tinge of disappointment in his voice.
"On the contrary! Now I have two—two minds!" He giggles at his own joke that no one else in the room could understand. "Mining time. Digging deeper in the grime." He begins spinning again, faster than before, and faster and faster.
"What is she doing to him," Belle asks, and Rumple can practically hear the sadness calling out, beckoning for him to do something to make his beauty happy again.
"Nothing that can't be undone," Snow assures her. "Rumpelstiltskin, we need your help. How do we stop Zelena?"
"Round and round, the circle of time, racing towards the finish line." It seemed impossible for him to speak like he used to, in normal sentences that were easy to understand—eloquent even if they were cruel.
"This is pointless," Regina remarks.
"Let me try," Belle suggests. He doesn't notice how close she's come to him until she's pulling his hand away from the wheel and forcing him to pay attention to her with a sharp," Hey! I know you're in there." He stares down at their joined hands in wonder, trying to remember a time when he had been used to another's touch. "I know you can hear me. How do we stop Zelena?"
"Light," he answers in a quiet voice, still holding the love of his life's hand gently.
"What?"
"Light. Magic. The good witch of the South—Glinda." For a moment, he was himself again and he reveled in it, absently remembering that his daughter had tried to reach out before the others barged in.
"Glinda. B-but South of….What, Oz?" His temper flared and he pulls her hand closer to his face.
"No! Banished! Here! The good witch of the South was banished north—north of the Dark Forest." He releases her hand, a delighted grin back on his face as the madness begins pulling at him again.
"How do we find her," Snow asks. When he doesn't answer quickly enough for her liking, Snow's voice rises and grows impatient. "Rumpelstiltskin, in the Dark Forest, how do we find her?!" He wanted to answer, but having two people in his head made everything difficult, so he went back to his spinning.
"Through the door," he sings happily," step inside; if pure of heart, then she won't hide." He giggles again, turning his gaze down to the faint reflection in the golden thread, a picture there of a meadow and two girls fighting viciously against one another. His little bird is a fighter, but her evil side may just be stronger than she realized.
Morgan—Storybrooke
"Gold's was a dead end," David announces, hanging up his cell phone," that was Belle. No book in the shop." I'm lying on the floor now, munching on a fudgesicle, as the others try and come up with a new place the book could be hiding.
"Regina," Snow says, rubbing her belly," you said the last place you saw it was in Henry's room."
"Yes," she confirms," but it's not there. Swept away by the last curse."
"Who found it the first time," I ask, wiping some chocolate off my face with a tissue.
"I did," Snow says," during the first curse it showed up in my closet when I needed it—or more accurately, when Henry needed it. I found it when Henry needed to believe in happy endings, that book was full of them."
"So let's go dig through your closet, I've always wanted to know what teachers hide in their houses. I'd say we could take my car, but I loaned it to Pan to track down my dad." I follow the others outside Granny's, tugging my beanie on my head and rearranging my scarf so I don't feel like I'm being force chocked by Darth Vader. I don't notice Henry following us until he speaks, making me tense and turn to face him slowly. He's grown so much in the last year and it hurts that I wasn't there to see it. I don't wait for the others, walking away quickly so that I'm not tempted to grab Henry and beg him to remember how I was there with him through the tough times in his life.
He can't remember me, so I have to act like I don't know him and it's killing me right now. Regina catches up soon after with the others coming after her, Regina wrapping an arm around my shoulders as we walk to Snow's loft. "I know it's hard," she tells me gently," believe me, I know how hard this is, but we have to keep it together for Henry's sake."
"I know, I just….I miss my nephew."
"You're not pregnant, are you," Regina asks as I begin eating on a bowl of chocolate chips that I found in Snow's fridge. "You've been eating a lot of sweets lately and normally you hate that kind of stuff."
"Yeah, well, if I'm pregnant, then Mother Nature didn't get the memo," I respond, sitting cross-legged on the floor with a pile of shoe boxes to dig through. "Why do you think Pan's been cranky lately?" She winces, shaking her head as I bend over the newest box and lift up a pair of flats. No book, next box. The next box is the same, nothing but old pictures and scrapbook supplies, but no book of fairytales. I shove it towards the 'not it' pile and move on to the next one, the pile slowly dwindling down and the 'not it' pile quickly growing.
"Why do women keep their shoe boxes," David asks, pulling a smaller box out of the larger box it had been resting in.
"Because after true love, there is no more powerful magic than footwear," Snow explains, popping her head out of her closet before disappearing back into it. "It has to be protected." She's not entirely wrong, but I'd rather read a good book and walk around barefoot than the other way around.
"Any sign of the book," Emma asks from her spot in the closet.
"No," David sighs," I don't think it's here."
"You don't know that," Snow calls out, always the optimist in our group.
"Maybe it's in this thing," Emma suggests, lugging a heavy wooden box over to the bed. My text alert goes off, letting me take a short break to find out who wanted to talk. Can't find him. Where are you? I roll my eyes at Pan's text, wondering where a pirate could disappear to in a town like this one.
Snow's loft, you come here and I'll take over looking. I hit send and stuff my phone into my pocket without waiting for a response. "Guys, I'm gonna go look for my dad, Pan's not having any luck and I don't like not knowing where he is when the possibility of turning into a flying monkey is pretty high." The others nod and give me good lucks as I head out, heading in the direction of the docks. Maybe Dad's just hiding out in a boat and that's why Pan missed him. It was as good a place to start as any, I suppose.
It's snowing pretty hard by the time I make it to the docks, the wood slick and hard to navigate when wearing converse. I move through the area, able to spot three figures in the distance, one of them resembling my dad. As I get closer to them, I can make out Dad, Smee, and Henry standing by the boathouse. "Dad," I call out, hands in my pockets to keep them relatively warm. "What's going on?"
"Perfect," he states," you can go with young Henry back to New York, make sure he gets there safely and that Mister Smee doesn't botch the job like he's wont to do." I open my mouth, ready to question Dad's sanity, when Smee pipes up, looking at something over my shoulder. "Mister Smee, we need to get the kids into the boathouse."
"Why," Henry asks," What's going on?" I turn to see what they were staring at, finding a flying monkey making its way towards us. "Killian, what is that?" Old instincts rising to the surface, I grab a handful of my nephew's jacket and pull him after me into the boathouse with the men following behind us, my free hand outstretched until I feel Excalibur's familiar weight.
"What now, Captain," Smee asks, shutting the door to keep the monkey at bay for a moment or two as we come up with a plan.
"Take the children there," Dad says, pointing with his pistol," far exit. Find a new boat, I'll stay here to deal with our winged friends. Henry, Aveena, go with Smee! Don't stop, no matter what you hear." Henry and Smee begin the sprint to the exit, but I stay with my father, not ready to leave him when I'm capable of fighting. "What are you doing? I said go!"
"Hasn't anyone ever told you not to argue with a woman," I ask, stubbornly raising my sword as a swarm of monkeys fly inside through the opened front. The monkeys dived into three groups—some going for me, some going for my dad, and the rest going after my nephew and Smee. I swing my sword in a wide arc, easily slicing through one of the monkeys—the simian turning into ashes at the first contact with Excalibur. One manages to wrap its claws around my wrist, tightening until I'm forced to let Excalibur drop, and then throws me across the room, my back colliding with a boat and my shoulder throbbing when I hit the ground.
"No!" The sound of gun fire make me raise my head, feeling relief when I realize Snow and Company have shown up to save the day and my ass. The monkey that threw me swoops down again, the claws of its back legs digging into my back and raising me again, about to throw me towards the water when David's sword goes through it, forcing the monkey to drop me right before it died. I hit the boat again with a sharp intake of breath, sliding back to the ground with the air knocked out of me. Pan helps me sit up, but doesn't let me stand just yet, raising the back of my sweater to see the damage done by the monkey's claws.
"What were those things," Henry demands to know, standing with his mom while Dad moves closer to me to observe Pan's work as he heals the deep scratches and possibly cracked ribs. Breathing is easier now, giving me some relief from the pain. "Why do those two have swords?"
"It's all gonna make sense in a minute," Emma promises.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm sorry I was keeping things from you. You were right, you deserve to know the truth." She holds the book out for him, and I watch on from my spot on the ground.
"About fairytales? I don't understand."
"Do you trust me?"
"Yes, of course I do."
"Then I need you to believe."
"Believe in what?"
"Believe in magic."
"From a book?" Why is it now, of all times, Henry suddenly feels the need to question stuff? I mean, really, he never thought to question Felix before he gave up his heart, never thought to question why Regina was able to vaporize a monkey with a fire ball, but by God, he suddenly wants to know why his mom wants him to believe in magic and a book.
"It's more than just a book. Do you believe in me?"
"Yes."
"Then take it." I know the moment Henry begins to remember things, his hands barely clasping the book when his eyes go wide and he stares up at something no one else can see. The memories flash through his mind, the emotions sudden and lasting until he's able to recall everything that's ever happened to him.
"Mom?" He stares at Emma for a second, his expression having shift just enough that I know he's back to being the Henry I left last year. "Mom!" Regina rushes forward to hug her son, holding him tightly with tears forming in her eyes. "I remember!" I get up as quickly as I can, limping over and hugging my nephew like I've been wanting to do since he walked back into my life. "Mo-Mo!" I kiss the top of his head, fighting back the tears so that my eye makeup doesn't get messed up.
"Do it, Emma," Regina says, gently prying me off Henry, holding me in a hug as she stares at the other woman. "Break the curse." Emma's lips were just inches away from Henry's forehead when he's briefly outlined in green and disappears.
"So sorry to interrupt," Zelena says from behind us, all of us turning to find her with an arm around Henry's neck. One wrong move on our part and she could easily snap his neck and kill him. "Now, who wants to say goodbye first?"
"Who are you," Henry asks fearfully, pulling at Zelena's arm.
"You can call me Auntie Zelena."
"Enough of this," Regina states, walking forward and raising her hands only to be pushed backwards by Zelena's magic with a enough force that she's either knocked unconscious or dead.
"Get your filthy hands off my nephew," I snarl, feeling my evil side rising to the surface, a voice similar to my own begging me to kill the bitch.
"You wait your turn," Zelena replies," If your father hadn't failed me, you and your nephew could be safe." I look to my father, the guilty expression on his face telling everyone that the witch wasn't lying. "He knew what the price of that failure was—your nephew's life." She has both hands around Henry's throat now, squeezing tightly and making him gasp for air. I take a step forward, but her magic wraps around my throat and begins to tighten. The fact that she's capable of doing this without removing her hands from Henry's throat speaks about how powerful she really is.
I open my mouth, desperately trying to suck in air as my feet kick out and my hands move to the invisible throat constricting my breathing. I can feel the small bones in my neck threatening to give under the pressure, black spots beginning to appear as I grow lightheaded. Just as I thought I was about to die, Zelena shrieks in pain and I drop back to the ground, Pan kneeling beside me and helping to support me as I rub my throat—taking gasping breaths desperately like a man dying of thirst. "Deep breaths," Pan coaches, holding me protectively," you'll hyperventilate if you keep breathing so shallowly."
"Enjoy this moment together, because you don't have many left!" And then she disappeared in a puff of green smoke and my cell phone begins to ring. Dad gives me a weird look when he hears the Harry Potter theme until I manage to dig my phone out and hit answer and then speaker.
"Where the hell are you," Whale demands on the other end of the line," you never showed up for your eight O'clock appointment like you said you would! If I have to hunt you down and drag you back here, I'll do it, don't think I won't!"
"Uh…She'll be there soon," Pan says haltingly," I'll make sure of it."
"I don't want to talk to you, Pan, I want to talk to my patient. It's probably your fault she late anyway!" He hangs up after that, leaving Pan to stare down at my cell indignantly.
"That was a bit uncalled for." I don't bother to respond, knowing Whale would blame Pan if anything at all went wrong—from a bird shitting on his car to a natural disaster wiping out the town. Once that guy hated someone, he hated them for life; he's committed to it. Regina gives a groan as she comes to, slowly standing up with her son's help. As she hugs her son, I lean my head back to rest against Pan's chest. "You know I would never willingly hurt you, right? I mean, not now that I don't have an Alp in my head, of course."
"I know," I nod, taking one of his hands in both of mine, beginning to draw invisible patterns on his palm with one of my fingers. "Don't let Whale get to you, I know you wouldn't hurt me if you had another choice. I look up in time to see Regina's lips touch Henry's forehead, jerking slightly as memories begin to overwhelm me. The depression, the urge to end it all, and the unbearable sorrow of losing Papa hitting me like a ton of bricks—I go rigid in Pan's arms, holding my breath until they passed.
I look up at my boyfriend in shock, the sadness threatening to take over again until I force myself to remember that papa is alive and I'm going to save him. "Mary-Margaret, David," Emma asks breathlessly," did it work? Do you remember the missing year?"
"Yes," Snow answers," everything."
"How did Zelena cast the curse?"
"She didn't, Emma. We did."
"You cursed yourselves?"
"Zelena's weakness is light magic. I mean, it's clear now, more than ever, you are the only one who can defeat her."
"That's why we paid the price of Regina's curse," David adds," to find you." Well, maybe you should have warned the rest of us so we could skip out on it.
"The price of the curse," Emma says, her tone more questioning than anything as she stares at her parents," is the heart of the thing you love most. If one of you cast it….How are you both still here?"
"Help me up," I tell Pan," I have a doctor's appointment to get to." Pan nods, standing before bending and scooping me up in his arms. "What are you playing at? A knight in shining tin foil?"
"You're only making jabs at me because you're going through—"
"La, la, la, la, la—I can't hear you, I will not speak of those things with my own boyfriend just yet. I'm not doing it. Pizza, pizza is a safe topic, let's talk about pizza." He chuckles as we walk towards town, the snow sticking and piling up underfoot.
Rumpelstiltskin—Enchanted Forest
Rumple giggles, breathing in the smells of the ingredients Zelena is stirring together. "Wolf's blood," he recites knowingly," dragon's scale. I've tasted this brew before." Forgetful, forgetful, why would one want to forget or remember. He giggles a little again at his own thoughts, clutching the bars of his cage as he watches the green-skinned woman.
"We're about to take an unplanned trip, my pet," she informs him, holding up two dark vials," the curse is coming." He already knew that, felt the familiar static-y feel of the curse as it comes ever nearer.
"You failed, you failed, you failed, you failed, you failed, you failed, you fail—"
"Don't be so dour. What I need to do can be done from any land." She opens the door to his cage, looking at him with those piercing blue eyes. Had he been in his right mind, they may have intimidated him, but as it is, he has two minds and neither of them are right at the moment. "I will succeed in changing the past. My spell will work."
"But only if you remember it." He leans towards her, the smile on his face not entirely his.
"Which I will….With this…." She holds one of the vials up for him to see. "To keep my valuable recollections safe and sound." She drinks it down, handing Rumple the one with a stoppered top. "Here. Drink it, dump it out, sing it a song. Your brains are still mine. If you want to remember the loss of your son, so be it, but if you'd prefer to stumble about blind and stupid with the rest of them, be my guest." Be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test!
He shakes the lyrics out of his head as Zelena presses the bottle into his hand, kissing his knuckle. He watches as she walks away, eyes trailing after her when she picks his dagger up and leaves him alone in the room. "Memories are pain," he says to no one and everyone. "Pain is strength." He pulls the cork out and stares down at the bottle. "For vengeance." The bottle was almost to his lips when a stabbing pain began in his head, stumbling back against the wall as his son fought for control. Not seconds later, they are two separate beings, Rumple lying in an unconscious heap on the floor and Neal stumbling over to the table to scrawl out a note.
"We don't need to remember," he says in a pained tone," Emma does." He grabs a quill, ripping a piece of his shirt off and writing out the right message on it before going to an opened window, whistling until a bird lands there. He ties the message around the small vial and then around the bird's leg. "Find Killian Jones on the Jolly Roger. Find Captain Hook." He lets it go, watching for a second to make sure it flew away and didn't ty to come back to him. Exhausted, he falls backwards on top of his father, their bodies melding together until Rumple is the one on the outside.
They were one once again and the curse was rumbling towards them.
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