The Enchanted Forest: Prologue
Day 2 Character Summaries:
It was the sound of two quarreling voices that woke Belle from her deep unconsciousness, and as she awoke slowly, her head remained fuzzy and unclear from the events before that very moment. She looked around the barn in confusion, and voiced to the two arguing where she was. The woman in the red cloak came to her, and Belle noticed her injuries right away, especially the red scar that raked down her face and knew instantly that she had to have been at fault.
As the woman in the red cloak gave Belle the red cloak to cover up with, her suspicions were confirmed as the man clouded with what looked like multiple shadows accused her of harming the woman, stating it was her fault that his friend had been injured. Overcome with guilt, it was hard for Belle to listen to what the other female had to say to the man. They argued for some time until Belle suddenly realized that the man was gone, and the woman was talking to her once again.
She grabbed Belle's attention by briefly stating her own problems as a cursed creature, as a werewolf. Belle listened intently about the struggles Red had to go through when she found out, and couldn't help but to feel a little hope when Red offered to help Belle control the beast that had caused her so much pain. Red agreed to help her, but first wanted to get Belle some clothes, and so she got up and left the barn to go into the village for just that, leaving Belle alone with her thoughts in the barn.
The door soon opened and Night let in a woman who Belle had never seen before, however the woman seemed to know all sorts of things about her; talking about Gaston and then eventually revealed that she was Gaston's Aunt Cora...but Belle hadn't heard of any Aunt Cora. The woman, Cora, kept her mind off of that though as she began to offer her help, already knowing about the strange curse that had been inflicted upon her and offered her a golden rose hair pin. Cora went on to explain that after the wedding, she managed to enchant this so that it would keep Belle from transforming her into the beast, but with the good news Cora also brought the bad.
Cora then explained to Belle that she was no longer safe in her own village. Her own father didn't want her here, didn't want the burden of having a beast for a daughter, and so Cora offered for Belle to come and stay with her in the cottage that Gaston had built for them for after the wedding.
Red came back to the barn with a new dress for Belle, but that's when Cora stood up and changed her appearance, revealing herself to be The Queen. Belle flew backwards, trying to get away from Regina as Red screamed out the warning, but they were too late. Regina used magic and held Belle in place, and no matter how much she tried, she could not break free from the spell.
Red and Regina were then talking, Red accusing Regina for Snow White's murder and then Regina in return reminding Red that she killed her boyfriend when she became the wolf, instantly making Red go quiet. Night tried to impale Regina with his sword, but Regina just laughed and in a puff of purple smoke, made both Red and Night disappear.
Still unable to move, Belle could only listen as Regina spoke about Rumpelstiltskin and wanting to hurt him where he hurt most, by hurting Belle. She was forced to follow Regina out of the barn and to The Queen's carriage where she was stowed away inside of a cage and then taken to The Queen's castle.
Once there, Belle was too deep in thought and confusion to fight off the guards that took her down to the cells in the dungeon, and while in there she had only the red cloak to keep her warm from the damp enclosure. After what seemed like hours, Regina finally joined her down into the dungeon, and, as if she were trying to be nice, used magic to put a thin, white dress on Belle to cover up the nakedness underneath the red cloak.
Regina then dove into why she needed Belle, she wanted to use Belle to get Rumpelstiltskin to come to her castle willingly. She quickly explained the curse that she was to inflict on The Enchanted Forest and how Rumpelstiltskin seemed to be poking his nose into her business, as if trying to stop her. Regina wanted Rumpelstiltskin locked away in one of her cells so she could conjure the curse without any fear, but Belle stubbornly declined helping Regina, confident that Rumpelstiltskin could handle Regina on his own if it came down to it.
Angry, Regina conjured up a magic mirror into the cell Belle was in and in a moment, the mirror changed to show Rumpelstiltskin in the dining room of The Dark Castle, scribbling away on a piece of parchment without his knowledge that they were now watching him. Belle's heart immediately began to ache as she spotted a woman in the dining room with him, cleaning up the table that she used to clean up for him, and then disappeared to the kitchens. Doubt began to cloud her mind, confusing her with her own feelings for her previous master.
Tired of waiting, Regina inflicted a spell onto Belle then, causing Belle to undergo the most terrible pain she had ever experienced, Regina demanded that Belle call out to Rumpelstiltskin for help, but even under the pain, Belle refused.
Instead, the anger that flowed through Belle at that moment seemed to set off a trigger for her transformation, a trigger that the rose hair pin did not conceal and her body began to change but before it had any true physical effects, Regina used her other hand to cast another spell on Belle, keeping her body the way it was and then inflicted more pain onto Belle, causing her to cry out.
This caught Rumpelstiltskin's attention immediately and he ran to the mirror to see the spectacle before him. Still though, Belle refused to comply forcing Regina to speak with Rumpelstiltskin herself. She gave him a warning, that if he didn't show up in ten minutes then she would kill the girl. Regina hadn't even finished speaking before Rumpelstiltskin vanished in a puff of blood red smoke. Regina quickly called for her guards, and then everything went black for Belle.
Having no choice but to sleep in his new prison, Alexandre was haunted by a dream in his sleep, jostling him awake to bring him back to his cold, hard surroundings. He remembered his dream, feeling a pang of guilt wash over him as he thought about his little sister Alice, and thought of a time when things were better; more simple...
He was in Wonderland, living the normal life of a street performer and practicing his act for the day when he was interrupted by Alice. She noticed that her brother had been quiet lately, but he waved it off as nothing, only then to have Alice promise to help him with his act once he returned home for the night.
It was a simple memory, but it brought a small amount of comfort to Alexandre. Any memory of Alice he had when he could recall her smile was a good memory, enough to keep his spirits high despite his rather bleak outlook on becoming The Evil Queen's prisoner.
His attention was quickly given to the sound of someone coming down into the dungeon, and Alexandre couldn't help but to shrink back into the corner of his cell to try to remain hidden, however when he heard Regina's voice talking with someone else, he realized that she hadn't come for him. He couldn't make out what was being said exactly, but he did suddenly hear a cry of pain coming from the prisoner Regina had been talking to, and as much as he hated hearing someone being tortured, he was grateful that it wasn't him.
The torture seemed to last forever, but finally the woman's whimpers of pain stopped. Alexandre then heard a quick, hurried commotion of the prisoner's cell door opening, a few feet shuffles that Alexandre could hear leaving the dungeon altogether, and then the prison door shutting once more. Before he could even think as to what that was all about, there was a tap on his shoulder. Startled initially, Alexandre turned to face Rumpelstiltskin, causing Alexandre to stammer in confusion and surprise.
Rumpelstiltskin charmed Alexandre's lips to keep him from shouting out, and Rumpelstiltskin stated plainly that he had 'accidentally' sent Alexandre to the wrong imprisonment. Rumpelstiltskin pulled out a folded up piece of parchment and put it inside Alexandre's shirt pocket, and then reminded Alexandre that he still owed Rumpelstiltskin a favor. Once reminded, Rumpelstiltskin smiled and told Alexandre that he was cashing in that favor, but before Alexandre even had time to react, Rumpelstiltskin had caused Alexandre to vanish from Regina's dungeon, sending him back to Wonderland where it all began.
Heather got up bright and early to tackle the chores that Rumpelstiltskin had assigned her the night before, unable to shake the memories that had been created from the day before about this magical land, and those she had met. There was an urgent knock at the door, and Heather opened it to find Mushu demanding to see Rumpelstiltskin in an abrupt manner. Heather went to retrieve Rumpelstiltskin from his bed chamber as she had been instructed earlier, but he did not answer the knock at his door, thus leading Heather to look around the castle for him.
Heather eventually found Rumpelstiltskin in the library working on some sort of enchantment at a table. She watched for a few moments, mystified at how close alchemy and chemistry seemed to be, but knowing far too well that they were completely different. She informed Rumpelstiltskin that his visitor had arrived, and walked with Rumpelstiltskin back down the stairs to Mushu.
Mushu greeted Rumpelstiltskin harshly, pointing fingers and claiming that she had been swindled by their deal. Rumpelstiltskin seemed bored of the conversation, however, and walked to the dining room. Figuring that Rumpelstiltskin was hungry, Heather hurried to the kitchen to start bringing out the breakfast she had prepared for him and their guest, however by the time she returned, Mushu was back at Rumpelstiltskin's throat again, pushing him over the limits of his patience and had Mushu flat on the ground with his boot crushing down on her head.
Horrified, Heather pleaded for Rumpelstiltskin to stop; she could not bare witness something so horrible, and had to do something to save this poor girl's life. She watched as her mentor stared at her with a blank expression for a few moments, and then Heather was able to let out a breath of relief when Rumpelstiltskin removed his boot and let her get up, and instead gave Mushu a task for her to complete by giving her the golden rose hair pin she had seen Rumpelstiltskin enchanting earlier in the library.
She watched her mentor stand perfectly still while Mushu escorted herself out of The Dark Castle, and wondered if she should say something to him, but he eventually moved, seemingly lost in thought as he crossed the room to a chipped teacup sitting upon a pedestal. She watched wordlessly as he took the cup and put it into the cupboard in the back where it could be easily forgotten about, and then replaced with an old looking scroll. She could hear him mutter a soft goodbye to a girl named Belle, and had to voice her question, asking Rumpelstiltskin who Belle was.
He didn't give her a straight answer, only letting on that she used to work at the castle for him, and that he had foolishly let his feelings get in the way and got hurt, however before Heather could press more about the subject, he was bringing up their very next magic lesson by making the spell book he had given her the night before appear in his hand and then tossed it behind him.
Heather knew immediately what he wanted her to do; he wanted her to bring the spell book to her hand by using magic the same way he did. And so, Heather thought hard, pulling out the magic from deep inside of her and concentrated hard on her memory until she felt the cool binding of the book in her hand. She was surprised at first, thinking that she had done something to mess up, but after Rumpelstiltskin made no comment and checked the book over, she knew she had done it.
Rumpelstiltskin asked about her memory, and Heather shared her hatred of Dr. Frankenstein with him. A rival she had for as long as she could remember, a man that constantly belittled her and seemed to always have the 'better strategy' when it came to science and winning over those that he needed to get into ties with.
Heather was genuinely surprised when she learned from Rumpelstiltskin that Dr. Frankenstein had sought out help from Rumpelstiltskin, in want of a good, strong heart that could under-go his latest work of bringing back the dead. Quickly realizing that Dr. Frankenstein had cheated, Heather went off in a heated rant, which Rumpelstiltskin eagerly let continue until Heather couldn't hold back anymore and Evelyn Hyde managed to slip through, taking over Heather's body until it was her own.
Rumpelstiltskin didn't hesitate to ask Evelyn why it was that Dr. Jekyll created her, and so Evelyn told him, explaining that she was the result of a failed experiment in a desperate last attempt to finally win over Dr. Frankenstein; that Dr. Jekyll was trying to separate the good and evil about a person until the evil could be completely removed.
At first, Heather didn't think that Rumpelstiltskin as even listening since he was walking about the room, going this way and that and collecting some empty vials from his potions cabinet, however he did eventually return to her, agreed that Evelyn's creation was ironic, and then plucked a hair from her head, immediately putting the hair into on of the empty glass vials. He then told Evelyn that she could change back if she wanted to, but Evelyn was far too curious about what Rumpelstiltskin was up to, and so she stayed.
Evelyn watched as Rumpelstiltskin removed the canvas from the dusty old mirror and tilted her head in curiosity as the mirror, by magic, became more of a looking glass as two people were spotted talking to each other. Before Evelyn could even blink, however, those very two same people were taken from the looking glass, and their true, physical bodies were suddenly in the middle of the dining room between herself and Rumpelstiltskin.
Evelyn immediately saw that the woman was heavily injured, but she was quickly held in a protective embrace by the male that she had arrived with. Heather watched silently as the male and couldn't help but to think that something exciting was about to happen, however Heather entered her mind telling Evelyn not to kill either of them. And then, Evelyn's hopes of something exciting about to happen were immediately crushed when it seemed that Rumpelstiltskin and the male knew one another on somewhat friendly terms.
Evelyn watched the man and Rumpelstiltskin talk, the man seeming confused as to why Rumpelstiltskin was so eager to help him find Snow White, and Rumpelstiltskin only explained that they wanted the same thing. They spent a few moments talking about true love, and Heather's previous suspicion of Rumpelstiltskin loving the woman called Belle were confirmed. There was a quick exchange made of a map and a ring, and then the man, Charming, brought up the condition of his companion, asking for Rumpelstiltskin to heal her.
Growing bored, Evelyn then recessed back and allowed Heather as Rumpelstiltskin asked for the man's cloak in exchange for helping his friend. Confused, the man handed over his cloak, and Rumpelstiltskin waved his hand, and the woman's injuries began to immediately heal. Rumpelstiltskin then had the man disappear, no doubt to help him find his true love, leaving the woman unconscious on the floor, but looking much better than she had before.
Heather took it upon herself to help the woman out of the dining room and into one of the many bedrooms in the castle to let her rest while she healed, and then was immediately called back downstairs to clean up the dining room table. When she returned, Rumpelstiltskin plucked a hair from her head, same as he did with Evelyn, and then went on to ignore her as he added the new hair into the vial he had put Evelyn's into earlier. Heather chose to ignore this strange...behavior, and left the dining room to clean up the kitchen.
Unable to sleep through the night like most everyone else, Night occupied his time until morning by using a knife and carving out a scene onto the barn doors. By the time that Red woke up, the scene on the door told the story of the battle between a wolf, and a monstrous beast. At first Red couldn't say anything, the detail was immaculate, and had to have taken a long time, however the argument between the two came back to her mind, and brought Red out of her appreciative thoughts. Night brushed away the wood shavings and walked to Red, noticing that she was trying to get up and knew that with her injuries, she had to just lay still for a while.
His gentle gesture of advising that Red take it easy only brought back her hot head, and their argument from the night before resumed until suddenly, a third voice piped up revealing that the woman who had been the beast the night before had finally woken up. He stayed silent as his wolf companion went to the beast woman's side and covered her up with her red cloak, and then only listening as Red tried to console the woman. However, he was unable to hold his tongue long, and told the beast girl straight up that it was she who was responsible for Red's injuries.
Red glared at him, and began to argue with him once again but Night was determined to give the beast girl the cold, hard truth, having no regard for her feelings. All he knew was that he was angry about Red's injuries, and couldn't bring himself to understand why Red wanted to help this woman so bad. He voiced his opinion, and his question, bringing Red to tell him that she knew what the woman was going through, and that the situation had to be dealt with delicately. Infuriated, and confused, Night excused himself to go stand outside of the barn door to leave the two women to talk.
It seemed like only ten minutes had passed before the barn doors opened and Red stepped outside and stood facing him. She offered him a quiet 'thank you' for saving her life the night before, and then he watched her walk painfully into the village where he assumed she was headed to find a healer and a change of clothes. He wanted to help her, but going into that village wasn't something he wanted to tackle at the moment, and so he let her go, keeping a careful eye on her until she disappeared over the horizon.
He was soon approached by a common woman carrying a basket of apples on her hip. She claimed that Red told her that she could find Belle here, and wanted to speak with her. Apprehensive at first, Night eventually let Regina through and stood by to listen to what this woman had to say to the cursed beast.
Night noticed that Red came back with new dresses for the both of them, but then everything seemed to crash down right at that moment. The woman who introduced herself as Cora revealed her true self, and Red tried warning himself and the cursed woman that it was The Queen. Having been in the forest for quite some time now, Night didn't know much of Regina, but he felt his protective instincts kick in and moved to protect the two females.
The shadow tendrils of his aura spiked to life but Regina used her magic to keep Belle completely immobilized. Regina then blew a hole in the roof, letting the light of the sun shine down on him, disorienting him for a moment and draining his power a bit. He vaguely heard Red and Regina talking, Red being angry with Regina about killing Snow White and Regina reminding Red that Red had killed her own boyfriend.
Night tried to impale Regina with his sword, but Regina just laughed and in a puff of purple smoke, made both Red and Night disappear.
Red woke in the morning to find Night by the barn door, chipping away at it with a knife. When he noticed that she was awake, he stepped away from the door to reveal his artwork, showing in great detail the fight between herself and the beast from the night before. Speechless at first, Red pulled herself out of her thoughts to speak with the strange man she amply liked to call 'Wraith.' She tried to get up, but the pain shooting through her entire body kept her from doing so, and so she was forced to rest back down.
Night took the opportunity and walked to her, brushing off the wood shavings as he walked and then knelt down by her side. Red did not want his help, nor his advice, and thus continued on the argument that they held the night before, interrupted by the second female in the barn who had finally awoken.
Relief washed over Red as she realized that the female would be okay, and pushed herself by moving her body to get over to the woman and offered her red cloak to her, offering it as a sort of blanket to keep her modesty. Red then spent a few minutes consoling with the girl, telling her that everything was alright and that she need not fear of anything, that Red was there to help her.
After a brief moment of talking, Night interfered and changed the tone completely when he pointed the finger to the woman, accusing her of nearly killing Red, and faulting her for Red's injuries. Red hissed at Night, bidding that he curb his tongue but the damage had already been done, and Night continued to argue with her.
Red and Night continued arguing, about the safety of others and about whether or not to tell the beast woman the whole truth. Red didn't seem to think so, saying that there was a right time and place for that, but Night wasn't budging, not understanding that Red spoke from personal experience.
Angry, Night left the bar, leaving Red and the woman to talk alone. Now that the cat was out of the bag, Red began to tell the woman her own story, of her finding out that she was a werewolf and the hardships that she had undergone ever since then, however she kept out a few personal details, not wanting to think about them herself, but assured Belle that she could help Belle control the beast that was inside of her.
Turning her attention then to more pressing matters, Red offered to go into the village and fetch Belle some clothes, since it wouldn't be safe for Belle to go into the village just yet, not after last night. So Red got up and hobbled out of the barn, only stopping when she reached Night and bid him a quiet 'thank you' for saving her life the night before, and then pressed on to the village.
Red came back to the barn a little while later with some new dresses but when she saw that another woman was in the barn and talking with Belle, she became somewhat suspicious. The woman then used a bit of magic and revealed to be The Queen. Red tried to warn the others, since she was the only one to recognize her face immediately, but Red was too late.
Regina used her magic to hold Belle in place and then blew a hole in the roof, letting the light shine down on both her and Night. Anger was fuming through Red though as she began to scream at Regina, angry with The Queen for the murder of Snow White; her best friend. Regina just laughed and reminded Red painfully of the fact that she had killed her own boyfriend when she had turned into the wolf, a memory that made Red nearly burst out into tears.
Night tried to impale Regina with his sword, but Regina just laughed and in a puff of purple smoke, made both Red and Night disappear.
When Red opened her eyes, she was in a completely new area, and Night was no where to be seen. Realizing then that she was in the village, her keen sense of smell immediately told her that she was by the ocean and then her eyes spotted Prince James, of all people. Throwing caution to the wind about Snow White's death, Red chased after James, finding him in an alleyway talking to himself with a piece of parchment in his hand.
Red made herself known, and the two had just a few moments to catch up before Prince James explained to Red excitedly that Rumpelstiltskin had given him a way to bring Snow back to them. But before Red even had a chance to react to this, once again purple smoke began to form around her, and Prince James too, and they were suddenly teleported to the center of the very man they had been discussing with Rumpelstiltskin sounding so pleased to see them.
Prince James and Rumpelstiltskin immediately delved into a conversation about a previous deal they had made, and an exchange was brought about; the parchment in James' hand (a map) for an enchanted ring that would take Charming to Snow directly. In his curiosity, James asked why Rumpelstiltskin wanted to help him, and it came about that Rumpelstiltskin had once loved someone, but she had slipped away, revealing that The Dark One did indeed have a bit of a soft spot for true love. However, the pain that Red was still going through due to her injuries finally overtook her, and she passed out cold on the floor of Rumpelstiltskin's dining room.
Riding in her carriage on her way to The Dark Castle, Regina came across a small, oriental woman walking away from it. Regina had her carriage stop, and stepped outside to speak with Mushu, wanting every detail she could about what Mushu was doing there in the first place. Acting as an innocent, and even kind woman, Regina managed to get Mushu to tell her about the curse that had been put on Belle, and showed her the enchanted hair pin that would keep her from transforming. Regina, putting this bit of information together with everything else she knew about Belle and Rumpelstiltskin, seized the opportunity by ripping out Mushu's heart with her hand and crushed it into dust.
Now with the enchanted hair pin in her possession, she got back into her carriage and had them turn around to head into the village where Mushu had said that they had been, forming a slew of evil plots in her head.
On the ride tho the village, Regina spoke with her Huntsman, and we learn of a curse that Regina is planning to inflict upon everyone in the Enchanted Forest, a curse that will rip everyone's memories from them and implant new ones; false ones, and bring them to a new land without the use of magic. We also learn that Regina was on her way to The Dark Castle in the first place so she could arrange a deal with Rumpelstiltskin so he would stay out of her casting the curse, but her plans had changed when she learned of Belle's whereabouts, since she knew that Rumpelstiltskin still holds a spot in his heart for the beauty. The Huntsman is not at all pleased with Regina, or her plan, but he continues to serve her and follow her plan, unable to resist aiding his Queen.
Finally at the village, Regina left her carriage, giving her guards and her Huntsman all specific instructions of what to do during her time in the village, and set off, putting a cloaking spell on herself to disguise her face and figure to match that of a common villager with a basket of apples on her hip. This was the way that Regina would gather information; she could have just threatened the people and burned the place down, but the thought of gaining Belle's trust and seeing the look on her face when it was torn away from her just as quickly was too good to pass up.
While looking for Belle, Regina learned of the forest fire from the night before, and the attack of the beast on the village, however Regina was growing more and more impatient since Belle didn't seem to be anywhere. Finally, as Regina reached the outskirts of town, she spotted an injured woman making her way to the village from a barn in the distance, no doubt looking for a healer. It was then that Regina realized that Belle must have been hiding in the barn. She quickly formulated a plan in her head and went to the barn to introduce herself as Gaston's Aunt.
At first mistaking Night to be one of her own guards simply by what he was wearing, Regina soon found this to not be the case and instead learned that he was guarding Belle who must have been inside the barn still. Regina formulated a rather elaborate lie, going with being Gaston's Aunt still, and asked to see Belle. It took a bit of convincing, but Night eventually let Regina in and she hurried over to Belle to get this over and done with.
It took a bit of doing, but Regina had Belle somewhat convinced that she was there to help her, gaining her trust when she offered information about her father and the other village people who were downright terrified of her now, and no longer wanted Belle in the village. Regina then pulled out the golden rose hair pin she had stolen from Mushu and offered it to Belle, explaining that the enchantment on the hair pin would keep Belle from turning into the monster. The news was both happy, and sad, but Regina didn't care. She then went into a lie about offering Belle a place to stay with her in a cottage that Gaston had for them for after the wedding, and Belle, though still tentative, agreed.
It was then that Red came back, and Regina found that her patience had worn off. She took the cloaking spell off of her, revealing her true self and Red recognized her at once. Red tried to warn the others, but Regina was too quick. Using her magic, she held Belle in place, casting a spell on the female so that she could not move no matter how much she tried.
Using her other hand, Regina blew a hole in the roof, letting light filter down on Night to weaken him. Red then began to scream accusations at Regina, being angry with Regina about Snow White's murder. Regina turned the tables and reminded Red that Red killed her own boyfriend when she became a wolf for the first time.
Night tried to impale Regina with his sword, but Regina just laughed and in a puff of purple smoke, made both Red and Night disappear. Regina then made it clear to Belle that it was because of Rumpelstiltskin that she targeted Belle, wanting to hurt his heart most and then had Belle follow Regina to her carriage where Belle was stuffed inside of a cage and taken to Regina's castle.
Arriving at her castle at long last, Regina broke the magic seal keeping Belle in the cage and instructed her men to take her down into the cells while she took care of a few things. Hours later, Regina descended down into the dungeons to find Belle, and noticed that she was still wearing the red cloak with nothing underneath it. In a bullshit attempt to make amends, Regina used her magic to put a dirty white dress on underneath the cloak, covering her nakedness, but Belle didn't buy into the psudo-kindness of The Evil Queen.
Regina then began conversation, asking for Belle's help which the beauty immediately declined to do so. Regina then told Belle that it was Rumpelstiltskin who really needed her help, and threatened to harm him to get a rise out of Belle. Belle wasn't buying into it, however, and remained stubborn in her decision to not give Regina what she wanted.
Trying another angle, Regina briefly filled Belle in on the curse that Regina was going to cast on everyone in The Enchanted Forest, and to prove a solid point, she summoned a mirror into the cell behind Belle and the glass quickly showed what appeared to be a one-way window looking straight into Rumpelstiltskin's dining room with the man himself at the table seeming to be busy scrawling on a piece of parchment.
Again, Belle refused to help, confident in the fact that Rumpelstiltskin could take care of himself. This was drying The Queen's patience, and to prove yet another point, Regina used her magic to slam Belle's head against the stone walls, demanding that she call out to Rumpelstiltskin for help, wanting the Imp here in her castle to ensure that he didn't do anything to ruin the curse she was so close to casting.
Belle again refused, trying to ignore the pain. To the point of not wanting to waste anymore time, Regina cast a spell onto Belle inflicting a dangerous amount of pain on the beauty, causing Belle to at long last scream out in pain, immediately catching the attention of Rumpelstiltskin as he heard the screams coming through his side of the mirror.
The hair pin kept Belle from transforming, but it only worked when it was the roses that triggered the transformation. Anger though, pure anger seemed to be another trigger and Belle slowly began to transform, however only getting as far as glowing eyes, longer fingernails and her joints attempting to build the muscle of the monster. Regina was no fool, and cast another spell onto Belle, keeping the transformation from surfacing fully, now inflicting pain with both a curse, and keeping her body from being able to transform.
Belle kept up her tolerance for pain, and only cried out when she had no other choice, but ignored Regina's demand for her to speak to Rumpelstiltskin directly. So instead, Regina continued to inflict the pain, enjoying the sight and sounds of Rumpelstiltskin on his knees and begging her to not harm Belle anymore.
Regina demanded that he come to her castle so they could talk, and Rumpelstiltskin immediately vanished in a puff of blood red smoke. Immediately, Regina called for her guards, for she had yet another trick up her sleeve for the unsuspecting Imp.
When Rumpelstiltskin finally arrived, she goaded him into one of her 'special' cells, a cell that prevented any and all magic so that he couldn't just disappear or harm Regina in any way so long as he was behind those bars. He entered the cell willingly, only under the terms that Belle would be okay and Regina agreed so long as he did what she said.
Once secured in his cell, Regina demanded to know what the next step was in order to activate the curse. Of course, Rumpelstiltskin asked for a deal. Knowing all about the curse, he asked Regina that in this new life, he wanted comfort, status, and that Regina had to do whatever he said so long as he said 'please.'
Amused, since Regina knew the curse would wipe his memory, Regina agreed and Rumpelstiltskin simply told Regina that all she had to do was to combine the ingredients to activate the curse. As Regina began to leave to do just that, Rumpelstiltskin took one more jab and asked her how it felt to rip the heart out of her father, Henry.
Defensively, Regina answered that she only did it because it was the cost of the curse, only to have Rumpelstiltskin warn Regina that with that empty hole in her heart caused by the death of her father, that Regina would one day come to him to fill it. Regina, angry, called his bluff but Rumpelstiltskin shouted his point across to her.
This flipped a switch in Regina, and she had the guards pull Belle to her feet in front of Rumpelstiltskin's cell. With a cruel statement, Regina plunged her hand into Belle's chest and ripped her heart out, crushing it to dust in front of Rumpelstiltskin, keeping her eyes on her master as Belle's lifeless body crashed to the floor behind her.
She opted to not stick around to hear Rumpelstiltskin's death threats and cries of agony and instead left the dungeons to finally, at long last, inflict the curse she had spent half a quarter of a life-time preparing for.
Rumpelstiltskin awoke startled by a dream he had; but it was more than a dream; it was a memory. Rumpelstiltskin was charged with watching a crate in camp after he had finished training for the Ogre's war, and found a seer inside that shared a bit of the future with him. At first, Rumpelstiltskin wanted nothing to do with this 'dark magic' but when the Seer brought up his wife Milah, he had to listen.
He learned that Milah was pregnant with a girl, but the Seer also told Rumpelstiltskin that his actions on the battlefield the next day would leave the child fatherless, and so, to keep himself from going into battle to die, he brought down a steel maul onto his right shin, snapping the bone and was sent home; forever branded as a coward.
When Rumpelstiltskin finally made it home to be with his wife, Milah had already given birth to their daughter, but Milah was less than pleased of his return. Milah vocalized her opinion that she rather he died in battle than come home as a coward, but Rumpelstiltskin was too overcome by the joy of finally being able to hold Baelfire, his angel of a daughter, in his arms for the first time.
When Rumpelstiltskin awoke from his dream, he found that his right shin was hurting a bit, and reenacted a spell over his leg so that he could walk on it properly once more. Now, early in the morning and alone in his room, he disappeared from his castle as he had things that needed to be done, and people to...visit.
He appeared in front of Prince James, who wasn't in the slightest happy to see him, but Rumpelstiltskin caught Charming's attention by the mention of Snow White. Rumpelstiltskin procured Snow White's wedding ring into his fingers, showing it off to Charming as he explained that he was going to help Charming find her, and bring her out of the sleeping curse. The only catch was that James had to steal a map from one of Charming's ally's, but James was blinded by the possibility of being able to bring Snow back that he agreed to The Dark One's terms. It was agreed that once James had the map, he would call out for Rumpelstiltskin and the exchange would be made. It was then that Rumpelstiltskin disappeared once more and returned to his castle to make preparations.
Now in the library, Rumpelstiltskin got to work procuring a small potion by means of alchemy. He slaved hours over the concoction, giving his whole attention to every little detail to ensure that nothing went wrong. He was nearly finished when his new house maid and apprentice, Dr. Jekyll, came to find him. He was alerted that there was a visitor to see him, and Rumpelstiltskin went with Heather downstairs to greet Mushu.
Mushu, however, was less than pleased and began shouting at the Imp, calling their deal unfair. Rumpelstiltskin made his way into the dining room with Mushu not too far behind him, and Mushu got tired of being ignored and snatched an apple from Rumpelstiltskin's hand that he had been intent on eating. Fed up with the constant screaming and shouting, not to mention the sudden emergence of Mushu's gall, Rumpelstiltskin used magic to toss her aside like a rag doll and had her crash to the floor where he then put his boot on top of her head, threatening to crush her skull underneath him.
Dr. Jekyll, who had been watching their argument, pleaded for Rumpelstiltskin to stop, not being able to bear watching such torture. Rumpelstiltskin looked to Heather, a somewhat confused expression on his face at the sound of her pleading, and remembered a time when he heard a similar plea.
It was a time when Belle was still cleaning his castle, he had just gone to her to yell at her for crying so much when they heard someone breaking in. Rumpelstiltskin rushed upstairs to see a man in a hood trying to steal a wand that Rumpelstiltskin had on display in the dining room. Rumpelstiltskin attempted to warn him about what he was really getting himself into, but the thief was persistent and attempted to shoot an arrow through Rumpelstiltskin by using a magical bow that never missed it's target.
However, this enchantment didn't work on Rumpelstiltskin, as he was able to use his own magic to keep the arrow from doing any real harm, and then threw the thief in the dungeon. He spent hours torturing the man, but eventually came back upstairs to have Belle clean his blood-soaked apron and left the castle for a few hours to deal with some other matters. When Rumpelstiltskin came home, he quickly realized that the thief was gone, and that Belle had set him free.
Furious, Rumpelstiltskin forced Belle to go with him to hunt down the thief in the forest. The pair soon came across the Sheriff of Nottingham, who was able to give them the thief's name; Robin Hood. It wasn't too long after that, that they found Robin Hood, and the wand he had initially tried to steal was clasped tightly in his hand. Rumpelstiltskin raised the enchanted bow to drive an arrow through him, but Belle kept pleading to not kill him.
Rumpelstiltskin watched as Robin Hood used the magic wand to cure a sick woman, who they quickly realized was pregnant. Belle pleaded with him again, to not make a child fatherless. Rumpelstiltskin let the arrow fly, but as chance would have it, the arrow that was fired from an enchanted bow so that the arrow always hit it's target, missed.
Coming out of his thoughts, Rumpelstiltskin let Mushu get back up and gave her a task. He handed her a small, golden rose hair-pin that had been enchanted earlier that morning in the library, and gave Mushu specific instructions to take it to Belle, that when Belle would wear the hair-pin, it would keep her from transforming into a beast. Mushu left, glad to have escaped with her life, and Rumpelstiltskin took a moment to think back on Belle, forgetting that Dr. Jekyll was still in the room with him.
He went to a pedestal that had a chipped teacup on display and softly, and with much regret, hid the teacup away in the cupboard, saying a quiet goodbye to Belle out loud to himself, stirring up the curiosity in Dr. Jekyll. She asked her master who Belle was, and Rumpelstiltskin gave her an answer that was far from straight-forward, though hinted to the fact that he had once been in love.
Not at all wanting to dwell on the subject, however, Rumpelstiltskin summoned the spell book he had given Dr. Jekyll the night before and it was soon clasped in his hand,, and then threw it behind him, turning the somewhat personal story about The Dark One into a magic lesson. Dr. Jekyll caught on quickly and summoned the spell book to her own hand, practically flawlessly. Impressed, Rumpelstiltskin continued to work with Dr. Jekyll on her use of magic.
After a few moments, Rumpelstiltskin was curious enough to ask about the memory that brought Dr. Jekyll to get so angry, and Heather told him of Dr. Frankenstein, a colleague of her's that managed to be one step ahead of her in everything, no matter how hard she tried, and yet it all seemed so easy for him. Rumpelstiltskin recognized the name at once, and informed Heather that Dr. Frankenstein had been to see him here in the Enchanted Forest, asking for his help to find a heart that would help his research along.
Realizing just how it was that Dr. Frankenstein won over the board with his research, Heather quickly became angry and began spewing out her hatred in words about Dr. Frankenstein, calling him out as a cheater and a fraud.
Rumpelstiltskin took the opportunity and used Heather's anger against her, goading her on until Heather Jekyll became Evelyn Hyde. Now speaking to a new 'person,' Rumpelstiltskin asked Evelyn the very simple question of why Dr. Jekyll had created her, and he learned that Evelyn Hyde was a failure of trying to separate the good and evil of a person so that the evils could be removed entirely. As Evelyn explained this, Rumpelstiltskin busied himself at his potion cabinet and began to collect a few things.
Once he returned, and Evelyn had finished speaking, Rumpelstiltskin plucked a single strand of hair from Evelyn and put it into an empty glass bottle, giving Evelyn permission to change back but held little to no interest on how quickly that happened and ignored Evelyn from that point, moving across the room to take off the canvas that had been covering up a glass mirror. He waved his hand over the mirror, and the image began to change until instead of reflecting his own image, two people in a small alleyway talking to one another could be seen; Prince James and Red Riding Hood.
Using magic, Rumpelstiltskin brought both Red and Charming to his castle, having them appear in the middle of the dining room where he could talk to Prince James properly, knowing fully well already that he could use his female companion to his favor, since she was gravely injured.
The exchange of the map and the ring was made, and Charming again asked Rumpelstiltskin why he was helping him, and again Rumpelstiltskin replied by talking about true love and how it must be cherished. Suddenly, Red collapsed onto the floor and Charming made another deal with Rumpelstiltskin so that she could be healed, and all Rumpelstiltskin asked for in return was the cloak he was wearing. Red was healed, and Rumpelstiltskin sent Prince James away in a puff of purple smoke so he could go and find Snow.
Rumpelstiltskin hardly even paid Heather any attention as she went to the unconscious Red and helped her up to take her up into one of the bedrooms to rest, instead he took the cloak to the table and procured a small strand of James' hair and placed in in a bottle that already had another hair inside of it, a completely separate bottle that he had placed the hair he took from Evelyn Hyde. He shook the bottle a few times, and the hairs seemed to connect by magic, thus creating the very potion Rumpelstiltskin had strove for hundreds of years to bottle up; true love.
He returned the glass vials and called Heather back down to clean up the table, and when Heather came back down, Rumpelstiltskin took one of her hairs, adding it this time to the bottle that held Evelyn's stolen hair. Again, the two hairs connected by magic, solidifying into a glittering potion that Rumpelstiltskin placed delicately into his potions cabinet. He then pulled the map from his pocket and went to the table that Heather had just cleaned, and flipped the map over, procuring a quill and ink and started to write on the back of the map while his servant left to clean the kitchen.
After a while, Rumpelstiltskin heard a soft noise, a noise he could have sworn was the very familiar sniffle of his previous house-maid. Not believing it to be possible, and believing that he was just hearing things, he tried to go back to work but he heard it again. A cold chill ran up his spine as he flew out of his chair, already knowing what was happening and walked directly to the magic mirror he had forgotten to cover up. His heart nearly stopped when he saw Belle sprawled out on the floor of a cell in Regina's dungeon, but Belle seemed to be trying to put up some sort of fight, making Rumpelstiltskin realize that Regina had inflicted a curse upon Belle, a curse that could easily destroy the beauty.
With an uncharacteristic plea, Rumpelstiltskin begged Regina to stop, Regina only laughed and informed the Imp that if he didn't come to Regina within the next ten minutes, and if he didn't do whatever else she said, that she would kill Belle. Regina couldn't even finish her sentence, as Rumpelstiltskin had already disappeared in a puff of blood red smoke.
He appeared again in Regina's dungeon, however inside one of the cells that held a prisoner; The Cheshire Cat that had recently become human. Rumpelstiltskin briefly reminded The Cat of the favor that he owed Rumpelstiltskin and tucked the map into Alexandre's shirt pocket before saying that he was cashing in his favor; however before we know what that favor was, Alexandre was gone, sent to Wonderland by Rumpelstiltskin in the blink of an eye. Now with that taken care of, Rumpelstiltskin blew away the cell door and made himself known to Regina.
Though incredibly angry with Regina, he dared not to do anything to her lest something worse happened to Belle, and so Rumpelstiltskin complied in being shut into one of the cells Regina directed him to. Rumpelstiltskin made a brief mention of this cell, so we know that the cell is different than all the others; rendering him completely unable to use magic while inside, thus making The Dark One completely powerless.
Regina let Belle go out of her cell, and the guard brought Belle before Rumpelstiltskin, ensuring that he wasn't able to do anything to Regina while she made some last-minute deals with Rumpelstiltskin. Regina informed Rumpelstiltskin that she had acquired the last ingredient for the curse, the heart of her own father. Rumpelstiltskin was impressed and asked her how it felt ripping the heart out of the thing that she loved most, and Regina avoided the question.
For information on what Regina needed to do next to trigger the curse, Rumpelstiltskin asked Regina that in the new land, he wanted to be rich, powerful, and that Regina was to do whatever he said so long as he said 'please.' Regina just laughed, knowing that the Imp's memories of this deal would be completely wiped once the curse hit, and agreed, and Rumpelstiltskin informed Regina of what to do next.
As Regina began to leave, Rumpelstiltskin made the comment that one day, in this new land, Regina would come to him again to fill an empty hole in her heart. Not taking the bait, Regina instead plunged her hand into Belle's chest and ripped out her heart, catching the Imp completely off guard. Regina crushed Belle's heart into a fine powder, reveling in watching the destroyed face of her previous mentor before she disappeared in black smoke to go and inflict the curse, leaving Rumpelstiltskin to howl and cry out in anguish over his loss in his cell.
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TokyoPewPew,
Lord Wyron