TWICE CURSED
Previously on Twice Cursed: "Emma. What a lovely name," he commented, and Regina knew Rumpelstiltskin was back. Gold had rescued Sean, Ashley, and the babies, so Black no longer had anything to hold over Emma and Killian. Henry started to feel funny as they reached the end of the book. Almost as if he'd heard the whole thing before. Memories came flooding back; she was Zelena, and she was going to defeat Regina and Rumple. "I assume you want out of this dull place," the man said, looking around the insane asylum room. "If you help me defeat Regina, you can get out, and I'll even consider helping you with your goals afterwards." "So, why can't we come in with you?" Regina was starting to wonder if letting Emma and Killian join their little group was worth it. Honestly, couldn't the Savior let her have a meeting with the people she wanted to without trying to butt in? "Because, they are fellow leaders, and you are not," Regina said bluntly. David shifted uncomfortably, wanting to stand up for his daughter but also recognizing they really did need to have a chat with only people who had their true memories present. "Don't worry, we'll fill you in on all the important things," Belle said, obviously on damage control. Emma looked like she wanted to argue, but Killian stepped in. "Make sure that you do, mate." He then steered Emma over to the couch, making David feel even more uncomfortable about the entire situation. He didn't like how his daughter and Killian seemed to have bonded even more during the curse. Once everyone was inside the study, Regina closed the door. "Thanks for finally deciding to join us, Gold," she said. "Sorry I took so long, dearie, but I enjoyed watching you struggle without my help." That was the only thing he could think to say that wouldn't reveal how embarrassed he felt about how he'd acted while under the curse. "Ok," Belle interjected before the argument could escalate any further. "So, we are supposed to come up with a plan, right?" "I need to be filled in," Gold reminded everyone, before they started talking about things he hadn't heard. He tried to ignore the embarrassment for having to ask for information, instead of being the one to provide it. Regina did most of the talking, giving him the unabridged version of what she'd been up to since the curse was cast. "Alright, now that everyone's caught up, what's next?" David asked. "We need to defeat Black. Now that Rumpelstiltskin can help, it shouldn't be a problem," Regina suggested. "No matter how powerful he is, we should be able to take him on together." "Alright, but we still have to break the curse, and discover who the mystery man is." "Oh, and get Robin into the group, and find a place for our new resistance members to stay," David added onto Belle's list. "Alright, let's split the tasks. Gold and I will focus on Black. Charming, you get some of the idiots out there to help you rope Robin into the group, and figure out where everyone will sleep. Belle, you can research the curse and our mysterious helper." Everyone agreed, although David muttered something about Emma not being an idiot. So, they headed back to the rest of their team, to inform them of parts of the plan. … While the self-appointed leaders had talked in the study, the rest of the resistance had a meeting of their own. "Kid, why won't they let us in on their meetings?" Emma asked. "I don't know," Henry admitted. "It doesn't make much sense to me." "Maybe they don't want us to see them arguing," Archie suggested. "As the leaders, they don't want us to lose faith in them over an argument they can resolve." "Well, why are they the leaders? I'm pretty sure Killian and I know more about how to catch a criminal than they do," Emma pointed out. "Why not take advantage of our skills?" "Yeah," Sidney agreed. "I know as much about Black as Gold does, if not more. I should be in there, too." "We should convince them to let everyone be at the meetings." Henry agreed with their goals, but he thought the leadership was fine the way it was. Gold and David together probably knew more about Black than Black himself; since one of them had spent years resisting the tyrant and the other had been forced to work for him. Plus, if his mom thought those should be the leaders, then they should be, no questions asked. "Alright, good idea mates. Now that we have decided on a course of action, let's just relax." Not giving anyone time to argue with him, he gently took Neal from Sean's arms, looking lovingly down at the boy he thought was his son. Everyone decided there was no point in discussing this any further without the leadership present, so they decided to relax. Henry grabbed the storybook from the table, ignoring the adult's idle chatter, and focused on reading. He finally had the chance to satisfy his craving to finish the novel. He didn't even notice when the leaders came out of the study. "Alright, here's the plan. I need some volunteers to go with me and talk to Robin. We need to combine our resistances, and figure out where everyone is going to stay." "First, we need to talk to you," Emma said, standing up. Sidney, Sean, and Killian followed suit. Ashley didn't really care to be involved; she'd much rather take care of Alexandra and Neal than get into a fight, and Archie wasn't really the confrontational type. Henry was still engrossed in his book. "We want to be present during your meetings." "Sorry. Not possible," Regina replied, without a hint of an apology in her voice. "But why? We can contribute just as much as you can!" Sidney exclaimed. "See, for most of our meetings, we'll need the work to continue while we figure out what else needs to be done. If everyone was present, it would just slow everything down. That's why we've decided to fill you in on everything later; not because we think you can't help, but because we realize just how helpful you are." Man, Belle could think quickly, the other three realized. Where they'd been stumped, she'd come up with a perfect excuse in a matter of seconds. The others started to nod in agreement. "It is true that I'm better at spying than plan making," Sidney said proudly, glad his skills were being taken into account. "And we are better at fieldwork than taking down tyrants," Killian pointed out to Emma, who had to agree that he had a point. That was when Charming noticed the pirate was holding his son, and it took every ounce of self-control to say what he'd been planning to instead of rescuing his son from the other man. "If you have any ideas, we still want you to come to us with them. We just know that we can get things done quicker this way," David suggested, and all the tension subsided once everyone realized the leaders still cared about their opinions. "So, who wants to come with me to talk with Robin?" Emma, Killian, Sean, and Sidney all volunteered. It was right then that Henry got to the end of the storybook, reading about Emma being put in the wardrobe. Suddenly, all of his memories came flooding back. The young teen did everything he could to keep from hugging Emma, or demanding to know what exactly was going on from his other mom. That would have to wait until he could get Regina alone. Instead, the young boy volunteered to show them where Robin's camp was, since he was the only one who knew its location besides Archie, whom no one was going to let traverse the forest in his present condition. As soon as David's group left the house, Regina and Gold went into the study to 'research' Black's weaknesses, aka practice magic. Belle grabbed the storybook and plopped onto the couch to do some actual research, while Ashley took care of the babies. Archie attempted to help both Ashley and Belle, but Ashley didn't want him to strain himself and Belle said she worked better alone, so the psychiatrist was left with absolutely nothing to do. All the options he came up with either involved movements that would cause him pain, or were just plain useless to the resistance. He thought about trying to help Regina and Gold, but they had made it crystal clear that they didn't need any assistance before locking themselves in the study. So, the psychiatrist grabbed a pen and paper, and started to write. Someone should keep record on what the resistance was doing and the information they already had, and seeing as he was the only one not doing anything, it might as well be him. … He screamed out in frustration, and Regina was glad she'd thought to make the room soundproof before they started the practice. Apparently, just because Gold had his memories back didn't mean he had his magic back. He did, to some extent, but it was very weak, and he had to fight just to create a normal-sized ball of fire. "Maybe you should try a different approach," Regina suggested. He glared at her. "Don't you tell me how to do magic, dearie! I'm the one who best knows how it works, not you!" First he'd acted like a complete coward, and now he couldn't even cast simple spells. It seemed this curse was determined to make him look weak. "Just giving you your own advice," Regina countered, not bothered in the slightest by his sudden outburst. "I've tried using many different emotions to fuel my magic, but none of them are working well!" he admitted, using a loud volume. "Well, my magic is working fine," Regina gloated, and he tried shooting a fireball at her, only to have her block it. Until that moment, Regina hadn't realized exactly how weak his magic seemed to be. "Calm down, Gold. We'll figure this out." Gold sighed, resisting the urge to smash everything in sight. Regina was right; they'd figure out what was stopping his magic, and the second he regained his power, he was going to release all of his pent up anger on the man who'd caused all this trouble. … Zelena had no idea whom she was fighting, and honestly, she was a bit more concerned about making it out of the battle alive than wondering about her attacker's identity. When Black had said that they were going to take an important piece off the chessboard, the Wicked Witch hadn't realized the piece would be so powerful. She dodged out of the way of a blast of snow, shooting a fireball at the cloaked figure. Since all her opponent seemed to be using was magic related to snow and ice, the witch figured fire would probably be a weakness. She didn't really know that for certain yet, however, because none of the dozens of fireballs she'd thrown had hit her target. Black was having similar luck, better stated as lack of luck. Then, Black grinned wickedly as he had an idea, creating an entire wall of fire and pushing it toward their opponent at the speed of an airplane. The man, or woman, Zelena couldn't be sure, created an ice shield, protecting him from the fire, but destroying the shield in the process. It left him totally unprepared for the blast of fire Zelena had sent directly behind the wall, having done so at Black's silent bidding. He'd been able to communicate what he planned to do without talking. Their adversary grunted, and fell to the ground, clutching his side. Black slowly walked over, to where the injured person was struggling to get back up, and continue the fight. "I. Will. Win," he said, slowly and deliberately enunciating every word, the last three words the cloaked figure would hear. Black raised his hand to smite his foe, knowing the he couldn't escape, with his henchwoman nearby and a cliff leading to the river behind the injured person. He would finally defeat the meddlesome man, and focus completely on destroying the resistance. "No, you won't." Only Black was close enough to here that his victim spoke, but before he could respond by killing him, the idiot rolled of the cliff, into the raging waters below. Black knew that by the time he got down there, his quarry would be long gone. Oh well, no matter. There was no way he would survive the angry river. Black could treat him like he was dead, because he was, and could focus on the resistance. Things were about to start going terribly wrong for Operation Cobra. … Henry had decided within the first five minutes to try to talk with David about the entire situation while they walked, so he'd know more sooner. However, the Prince was too busy staring daggers into Killian's back for holding Emma's hand to notice his grandson's attempts to get his attention. Finally, Henry had to resign himself to the fact that he was going to have to wait to figure out what the adults knew about this new curse. The teen sighed, and kicked a rock down the trail, watching it as it skidded to a stop. At least the inanimate object couldn't avoid interacting with him. He kicked it again, only to prove his thought wrong, because this time the rock skidded off the path into the creek. Henry watched helplessly as it made its escape into the water, only to see someone, floating face up in the water. Without warning, Henry dashed into the cold water, ready to be a hero again and save the limp person. Soon, however, David and Emma overtook him, Killian gently holding the lad back and telling him to 'Let the adults handle it.' They pulled him out of the water, and Charming almost dropped him while Henry let out a gasp of shock. "Come on," Emma said, exasperated at David's lapse of concentration. What she didn't realize was that it was completely warranted; of course the Prince would be distracted once he realized that the person he was carrying looked like the teen who had kidnapped Henry and tried to take his heart. Of course David would have second thoughts about rescuing the former tyrant of Neverland, Peter Pan. … He watched as the evil man poured the bottle into the well, realizing he was too late to stop the curse from taking effect. However, he couldn't have been more wrong. As soon as the mist started to swirl around him, signifying the coming of this curse, he realized it was unlike the one Regina had cast on Storybrooke. While almost the same in purpose, it was different in price, instead of sacrificing the one you love most, you hand some of the control of what happens over to the one who hates you the most. He did his best to keep the town in basically the same way; leaving everyone in their current jobs and such. Of course, there were things he couldn't control, his enemy had been able to make some things go his way. However, he'd overlooked one important detail, and that would be his undoing. It wasn't even that difficult to convince this new curse to let Regina retain her memories as she had before. It was impossible for everyone else, part of the caster's unwavering stipulations being that the memories had to be changed, like the first curse. And, as he had forgotten, Regina had retained her memories in the first curse. Satisfied that he'd tipped enough things against the enemy's favor, he felt the curse turn into reality. At least he'd been able to give Rumpelstiltskin a fighting chance. Author's Note: I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Just FYI, I won't be including anything from season 4 in this fic, but I am excited for the premiere tonight. I can't wait to see what happens on the show, and if anyone wants to talk about it, or has an idea for a story involving season four, feel free to pm me.
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