Ch.38: The Miller’s Daughter
It was a beautiful day, as they sailed the Jolly Roger to Storybrooke. Katherine was in the bunker talking to Rumple.
“I’m going to save your life,” she said, after he’d explained to her about his dagger when she’d asked him about it.
“I’m not sure you should,” Rumple replied.
Charming had just spoken to Katherine on the phone and was telling Snow that Katherine informed him that Rumple was quite injured, and it was poison.
While Charming was talking to Snow over the phone, Cora and Regina were listening in with a phone tap.
After Cora explained that he was more injured and that when he died, there’d be no more Dark One to take his place, she got the idea to stab him with the dagger and take his power as her own, but Regina rejected that, not wanting Henry to hate her if anything happened to him.
“The whole point of this was to, wait, what was the whole point of this?” she questioned.
“To protect our family,” Cora stated.
“Or you gaining your power,” Regina replied.
“Whatever power I gain is for us. To protect you. To protect Henry. If we lose this battle, we’ll spend the rest of our short lives on our knees in front of them. And that my love is something that I’ll never do,” she replied, that last part she said, remembering a time when she’d been the Miller’s daughter and had been tripped by Princess Aurora. She’d told the king that she’d tripped her which had caused her to spill the bags of flower, but instead the king had her kneel and apologize to the princess. That day had been an embarrassment and she never wanted to relive a day like that again.
Katherine soon returned to Storybrooke with Neal, Henry, and Rumple.
Charming helped Neal get Rumple in the back of the truck and then Rumple informed them that Cora would want to use his dagger to control him. Then Snow said that they had to kill Cora to protect everyone, but Charming disagreed with her, wanting to find another way to get rid of Cora.
Once they were at the shop, minus Henry whom was being looked after by Ruby, and had gotten him on the bed in the back of his shop, Rumple had her use the invisible chalk to make a line in front of the front door.
Neal watched her making the line and, trying to be a little humorous with her, said, “You missed a spot.”
She stopped and looked at him.
“You’re hilarious.”
She went back to making the line.
“I didn’t know you were magical. I’ve learned you’re ambitious, daring, fearless, and you have a dark past, but I didn’t realize you were magical.”
“Are you being judgy?” she inquired. “I’m sure you’ve got a ton of secrets too, apart from being the son of Rumpelstiltskin.”
Charming entered the front of the shop.
“We’re all clear outside.” When he saw that he had interrupted something, he asked, “Everything okay?”
“We’re fine,” Katherine replied and went back to making the line.
When Rumple told Snow to look in the cabin for a blanket, she saw a candle and took it out.
“Why do you have this?”
“For a rainy day,” he replied.
“You’re not getting any better, are you?” she realized.
“The candle can save me. There’s nothing else.”
“I wouldn’t use this to save my own mother. What makes you think I would use it for you?”
“Because you’re all grown up now. And for once, our interests are aligned,” he replied.
“She dies, instead of you,” Snow realized.
“I know you can do this. I know you wanna do this.”
“There’s no coming back from murder,” Snow replied.
“There’s no coming back from death, either,” Rumple replied. “And that’s what will happen to your loved ones.”
“Even if I were to do this, the candle only works if you whisper the victim’s name over them.”
“Her heart will do,” Rumple said.
“Cora’s heart. It’s not in her body.”
“Use the candle. Curse her heart. And then, here comes the tricky part.”
“That’s not the tricky part?”
“You have to put the heart back inside Cora’s body. She will die and I will live.”
“There’s another way. I get Cora’s heart. I control her, get her to do the right thing, and you will die. Takes care of two evils at once.”
Rumple chuckled. “I was just imagining Henry’s face when he finds out you killed his grandpa.”
Katherine entered the back of the shop.
“I drew the invisible line. I think. What now? You cast a protection spell?”
“No. You’re gonna do it for me. I’m relying on you.”
After some concentration, she succeeded in making a protection spell, but when Regina and Cora arrived, it wasn’t enough and Cora and Regina were able to go inside.
While Katherine, Neal, and Charming faced off with them, Snow left the shop to do as Gold told her. Everyone except for Katherine, had a sword in hand. She knew that swords were useless against witches.
Katherine looked at her.
“Regina, think about what you’re doing.”
“Don’t talk to me,” Regina replied.
Regina brought out a fireball and Charming tried to fight her, but she threw him out of the shop and the door closed.
Cora had the dagger in her hand, as she stood by Regina.
Katherine magically took the dagger from her and then gave it to Neal, and told him, “Get back to Gold. I’ll deal with them.”
Neal did as told and she put up a protection shield for the back of the shop, this time making sure it was stronger. Then she looked at them.
“You don’t know who you’re messing with,” Katherine said.
When Cora was ready to attack, Katherine magically through her against a wall.
Regina looked to where Cora landed and then back at Katherine.
“I may be new at using magic, but I’m a quick learner. I’ve dealt with witches for centuries. I know a lot about magic. I know it’s connected with emotions and I’ve got a lot of them. Now, we can do this all day, or you can back down.”
Regina didn’t back down.
“I don’t want to hurt you. We were becoming quite the friends, but you gotta do what you gotta do to protect those you care about. I think you already know this, but your mother is a bad influence on you.”
She threw Regina whom landed behind one of the glass counters.
Cora got to her feet.
Katherine turned to face Cora.
“What’s it gonna be?”
Cora approached and brought out a fireball.
“I don’t back down from a good fight.”
“Then I’ll have to apologize for the discomfort. I’ve never actually done this, but it’s worth a try. You need to be taught a lesson,” Katherine said, before using magic to boil her blood. She knew it would eventually kill her, since she knew it eventually killed vampires too.
Regina got to her feet and Katherine turned to look at her.
“You don’t want to mess with me. If you leave now, I’ll let both of you live. If not, you live and your mother dies.”
Katherine stopped boiling Cora’s blood, but Cora was resilient and was ready to attack again.
Katherine began to magically choke Regina to get Cora’s attention, though she really didn’t want to harm Regina.
“Which will it be, Cora? You can choose to help your daughter, or you can choose a different path.”
Cora didn’t choose Regina and magically through Regina and Katherine both behind a glass counter.
Suddenly, Cora started to feel strange and knew exactly what was happening. Someone had her heart.
Regina got up and Cora told her to go find her heart, in which Regina did, just as Snow as leaving Regina’s vault with it. After a conversation about whether Cora loved her or anything, Snow gave Cora’s heart to her.
Katherine stood in Cora’s way, but Cora magically poofed her into the woods.
Once Cora was in the back of the shop, she poofed Neal in the woods as well, and was about to kill Rumple, when Regina showed up and put her heart back into her body, only for Cora to die in her arms. It devastated Regina and she looked at Rumple, thinking that he’d cast a spell on Cora to kill her, but he admitted that he didn’t do anything.
Rumple stood up, once he was healed and no longer dying.
Snow rushed into the back of the shop with Charming, her conscious telling her that it was wrong to do what she had done, but Snow realized that she was too late. Cora was already dead.
Regina looked at her.
“You did this.”
Katherine went to the back of the shop and saw the scene. Even though Cora had been a bad person, she was still Regina’s mother. She knew what Regina was going through.
“I think you two should probably get out of here. I’ll see if I can talk to her,” she told Charming and Snow.
Rumple left, too to leave them alone.
Katherine cautiously approached.
“I know Snow White did something that won’t be forgiven any time soon. I know the feeling. A werewolf-vampire hybrid Klaus killed my mother too. It took me being on my deathbed to forgive him. It took 500 years for me to forgive Klaus for what he’d done, but I finally forgave him. I know what it’s like to lose your mother, whether it be at the hands of evil or the hands of someone that’s supposed to be a good person. I can help you if you’ll let me.”
Regina looked at her.
“I don’t need your help.”
Katherine could only watch as she disappeared in a purple cloud of smoke.
ns 15.158.61.5da2
