Ch.67: Smash The Mirror
*Flashback*
A long time in Arendelle, Ingrid buried the hat. Before she buried it, she iced it over and then covered it with rocks in a cave.
Some time later, she went to visit the wizard’s apprentice.
The apprentice was sweeping outside his cottage, when he sensed a presence and then turned around to see her.
“I know who you are,” he informed her. “And I can be of no help to you.”
“No, of course not,” she agreed. “You’re an errand boy long past his prime. I wish to speak to the one you work for.”
“There are many who desire an audience with The Sorcerer. But he speaks only through his Apprentice.”
“Then tell him, Apprentice, I wish to make a deal.”
“The Sorcerer does not make petty deals, especially with those who have succumbed to the darkness, like you.”
“I think, in this case, he might make a small exception. You see, I have his hat.”
“You have no idea the forces you are dealing with.” He set the broom against a post and pointed his sword at her.
“Hmm,” she said.
“Tell me where it is,” he demanded of her.
“Oh, no. Did you think that I was foolish enough to bring it with me? The hat is hidden far away. And unless he gives me what I want, The Sorcerer will never see his hat again.”
She removed the tip of his sword from her neck and he pointed his sword to the ground.
“And what is it that you so desire?” he asked of her.
“Happiness. A kind I haven’t known in a long time. Since I was a little girl, running in a field with my sisters, chasing a kite. Our love made us strong, until it didn’t. My sisters could never accept who I was because they were…ordinary. I want two new sisters born with magic, like me. My niece, Elsa, will be joining me. We need a third magical sister. A perfect match.”
“A match like that will be extremely hard to come by. It could take time.”
“Tell The Sorcerer I am a very patient woman. I am willing to wait as long as it takes to find a perfect sister,” she replied.
*Present*
Katherine was asleep in her car, but woke up when she felt something and her hands were like electricity. She took her jacket off and shook them a little.
“Okay, come on. Calm down,” she said, assuming her magic was tied to her emotions. She then got out and put hands on top of her car and closed her eyes, trying to calm down.
“Katherine?” she heard a familiar voice say, and turned around to see Henry. She hadn’t wanted to be found, because she didn’t want to hurt anyone with her magic, but apparently, she’d been found anyway.
“Henry, what are you doing here?” she asked, though she assumed why he was there. Everyone probably wanted her to come home, thinking they could help her control her magic, but right now, she figured she was better on her own in learning to control it.
“I’ve been out all night looking for you. Everyone has.”
“I told them all to stay away. I can’t control my powers right now. Listen, don’t worry about me, I’m going to find a way to fix this, but until I do, you gotta go.”
“No,” he replied. “You always think that pulling away from people will fix your problems, but it never does. I can help you.” He began to walk towards her.
“Henry, just wait. I…,” she began, trying to warn him to stay back while she tried to control it.
He reached and put a hand on her wrist to try and help, and was thrown backward.
“Henry!” she said. “Henry, are you okay?” she added, when he landed by a log and a plant. She didn’t dare go to him, afraid of hurting him.
“I’m fine,” he assured her. He felt a little bit of the back of his head with a couple of his fingers and there was a bit of blood.
“Is that a cut? Henry, what did I do?” she said, seeing that.
He got up.
“It’s fine. I’m okay.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she replied.
“Katherine…,” he began, as he approached once again.
“Stop! Please, don’t come any closer,” she pleaded with him. “I love you, kid, but you gotta go. Just go!”
Some magic struck from her hands and disappeared just inches from where he stood and he stepped back a little.
She watched, as he ran off.
She looked at her hands, which now seemed to not be glowing anymore. Then she heard a voice behind her. One she didn’t want to hear. Someone she didn’t want to see when she was dealing with this.
“I know exactly how you feel, seeing the fear in his eyes,” the Snow Queen said from behind Katherine.
Katherine froze, as she heard her. Then she turned around to see her and magic shot from her hands and past the Snow Queen.
The Snow Queen watched with a smile and then looked at Katherine.
“You are out of control. But, Katherine, you’re not going to hurt me, nor should you. I’m on your side.”
The Snow Queen began to approach.
Katherine began to walk around and away from her.
“Just leave me the hell alone.”
“You can run, but it won’t help. The only way this ends is you embracing who you are.”
Katherine opened the door to her car and looked at her.
“If it means hurting people I love? No, thanks.”
Katherine got in and drove off, as the Snow Queen watched.
Regina was in her vault, putting her shoes on. She looked at her phone and then set it back down on the step she was sitting on. She then looked up to see Robin walking over to her jeans and a white tank top.
“Good morning,” he greeted.
“Well, look who’s finally woken up,” Regina said, and got to her feet.
“I apologize, but, uh, that was the best sleep I’ve had in a long time.”
She gave a smile at that.
“How would you like to come back to my camp and let me cook you breakfast?” he offered.
“Oh, that sounds lovely, but we both know we can’t do that.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he replied. “Little John is a bit of a gossip.”
They both chuckled at that.
He rested a hand on the side of her face. “There it is. There’s that elusive but satisfying smile I think about every time I close my eyes.”
A moment later, they were kissing, yet again.
They pulled away.
“This makes me wonder why we didn’t do this a few decades ago,” she commented.
“Well, I think you were suffering from a bit of a heartbreak and a touch of self-loathing. And I was just some drunk in a bar with a tattoo.”
He rested a hand on the left side of her face with his right hand.
“Who Tinkerbell said I was destined to be with,” Regina reminded him. “I should’ve listened to that stupid fairy. Things might have turned out differently had I chosen you over…Well, instead of evil.”
“Mmm. You made mistakes and now you’re making up for them,” he assured her.
He was going to kiss her again, but then she said, “Or digging myself in deeper.”
She let go of him and walked over to where she had her mirror on the wall and an assortment of other things.
He walked up to her, as he asked, “Are you really that much of a pessimist?”
“Oh, you would be, too, if you knew everything I did.” She picked up Henry’s book. “Have you seen this before?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“It’s a magical storybook, which we’re all written into.” She opened it to where she had it bookmarked with the book’s string bookmark. “And there’s me walking away from you at the bar.”
“Where did this come from?” he asked, holding it and looking at the page.
“I don’t know. It appeared when Henry needed it most. Full of stories about heroes and villains. Guess which column I’m in.”
He looked at her and closed the book.
“This book is about the past. Like you said, you’re not the Evil Queen anymore.”
He set the book down and she chuckled at that.
He looked at her, as she replied, saying, “Tell that to the author, because he seems to have made it a rule that villains don’t get happy endings. Even if they change, even if they try to be good.”
He stood in front of her.
“Point him to me. I’d be happy to have more than a conversation.”
She scoffed at that.
“I wish it were that simple. But I don’t know where he is, or who he is. Or if it’s a he or a she, or an it. I’ve searched everywhere and I’ve been failing.”
“Regina, let me help,” he offered.
“You can’t,” she replied. “And this cannot happen a second time. You understand.”
“I know, and I agree. But if we don’t leave this room, then I think that this still just counts as the first time, don’t you?”
He put hands on her waist and they walked backwards until she had her back against a wall close by.
She gave a smile at that. Then they began to kiss yet again.
Snow, Charming, Elsa, and Hook returned to the apartment after a long night of searching for Katherine. Charming took his jacket off and set it down.
“You’d think a big yellow driving machine would be easier to find,” Elsa commented.
Snow was silent with a hand to her forehead, as if she was trying to think.
“Perhaps she doesn’t want to be found. Since, you know, that’s what she bloody told us,” Hook reminded them.
“Well, the good news is, thanks to the ice wall, Katherine can’t leave town,” Charming replied.
“But the longer she isolates herself, the worse it’ll get,” Elsa reminded him, sitting at the kitchen counter they usually ate at. “Her magic will just keep spiraling.”
Snow was standing by the window and listening to Elsa. She came over to them and said, “Elsa’s right. This was a bad idea, coming home. We should still be out there searching.”
Elsa turned to look at Snow, as she said that.
Charming was standing by the kitchen cupboards and told her, “This isn’t your fault. It isn’t. We’ll find Katherine, but we’ve been searching all night. Everyone’s exhausted, yourself included, s we refuel, we regroup.” Hook gave him a look at that. “Then we go out and we find her. Okay?”
“Okay,” Snow agreed.
They heard the door and turned to see Henry walk in.
“You don’t have to look anymore.”
Hook, Charming, and Elsa approached.
“Henry,” Charming greeted.
“We thought you were asleep upstairs. We told you to stay here,” Snow said.
His head was hurting again, so he touched his head again where he had earlier.
“I snuck out, okay?” Henry informed them. “I’m sorry, but I found her.”
“How is she?” Snow wanted to know.
“Is she okay? She hurt?” Charming questioned.
“She’s out in the woods. I thought I could help calm her down, but when I showed up, it just made things worse.”
Snow approached him.
“Come with me, I’ll clean you up in the bathroom.”
Henry went to the bathroom with her.
“This is bad news,” Charming stated. “If anyone can calm her down, it’s Henry.”
“When your powers are out of control, everything’s upside down, and you don’t want to be anywhere near the people you care about,” Elsa informed him.
“Wonderful! Well, should we send Sneezy after her then, or Happy?” Hook commented sarcastically. “Which is the dwarf she despises?”
“I was so scared that I would hurt Anna, until I finally realized you can’t run away from the people who love you because in the end, they’re the only ones who can help you,” Elsa continued.
Rumple entered his shop, only to see that a few of his things were either moving on their own or turning on and off on their own, so he assumed who it was.
“If you’re trying to hide from me, Ms. Pierce, you’re doing a poor job.”
“I’m not hiding from you,” she assured him, and came out from the back. “I’m hiding from everyone else.”
“Yeah, so Belle tells me,” he said, once she stood in front of him. “She was watching Neal all night.”
“While everyone else was searching for me, I know. My magic is hurting people, Gold, people I love. I need you to help me control it.”
“What makes you think I’m your best option?”
“Because I hurt Henry.”
“What?” he asked, as he went to stand behind his glass counter.
“He’s okay, but it was just luck. You’re probably the only person who’s safe around me right now. I need you to help before I hurt anybody else.”
“There’s only one way to help with this affliction.”
“Well, just fine. Do it.”
“You haven’t heard what I have to say.”
“I don’t care. Henry is in pain because of me. Just fix it.”
He took a folded piece of paper out of a book, unfolded it, and put it in front of her.
“This…this is an ancient spell. It’s designed to take away light magic from those who choose to part with it. But the effect would be permanent,” he explained to her.
“So I’d lose all my magic? I’d be…”
“Ordinary,” he finished for her. “But your magic would no longer hurt the ones you love, and you would be able to embrace Henry.”
She put a hand on a book and she felt some pain and when she took it away, there was an imprint from her hand.
“Do it,” she demanded.
“Well, unfortunately, Savior magic doesn’t go quietly. Though the spell won’t hurt you, it will destroy almost everything else within a city block. That would make for quite a macabre sight at Granny’s, don’t you think?”
“So, let’s find somewhere else. Out in the woods,” she replied, desperate.
“As you wish. I think I know just the spot.” He took out a map and put it on the counter. “Here.” He circled part of the woods with a pen. “There’s an abandoned manor right here. You meet me here at sundown, and I’ll have everything prepared.”
“Thanks, Gold. Please don’t tell anyone I was here.”
“Don’t worry about me, dearie. It’ll be our little secret.”
After she left the shop, he tossed the paper in the trash can that he’d told her was an ancient spell.
Snow and Charming were sitting at the table, Hook sitting in a corner not far away, when Elsa came down the stairs.
“How is he?” Snow asked her.
“I gave him enough ice for the week. It should help with the swelling.”
“No, how is he?” Snow clarified.
“Upset. I just wanted him to understand. Katherine’s magic is tied to her emotions like mine. The reason she hurt him is because she was trying so hard not to hurt him. It sounds very convoluted when I try to explain it now.”
“No. No,” Snow assured her and stood up. “It makes perfect sense.”
Regina stormed inside, closing the door behind herself.
“Where’s Henry? Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. He’s upstairs,” Charming assured her. “We’ve been trying to call you all night.”
“Well, I’m sorry if I don’t respond to your every summons! Though I did bring that locator potion you wanted.” She set it down on the table. “Maybe next time try leading with, “Thank you”.” She turned around to look at Snow. “Now, may I see my son, please?”
“You might want to finish buttoning your shirt first,” Snow suggested.
Regina didn’t realize she hadn’t finished buttoning it, so she began to finish it, as she said, “Oh. Well, I was in a rush to get here.” Regina then headed up the stairs.
Snow came over to the table and Elsa picked the vial up.
“Locator potion. How does this work exactly?” Elsa wanted to know.
“Oh, we just pour it over anything that belonged to Katherine,” Charming informed her, as he stood up. “Something…something like this.” He went over to the table Hook was sitting at and staring at a map. Charming grabbed a red scarf.
Snow’s cell rang.
“It’s here,” Snow said, and picked up.
“Hey, it’s me. Did Henry come home?” Katherine greeted her.
“Oh, yes, yes. No, he’s fine. Katherine, I am so sorry about what happened yesterday. I don’t want you to ever think that we are afraid of you.”
“Don’t worry. It doesn’t matter,” Katherine replied.
“No, of course it matters.”
“This is all gonna be over soon,” Katherine assured her. “I just needed to tell you that I’m okay. I have a way to fix everything.”
It took Snow a moment to figure out what Katherine meant by that and then she said, “Katherine. No, wait.”
Katherine hung up.
Snow turned around to look at Charming and Elsa whom were both standing by the table.
“What did she say?” Charming asked.
“She said she’s going to get rid of her magic…Forever.”
“How is that even possible?” Elsa asked.
“She said it will all be over soon, and she can’t wait to be home for a cocoa.”
Charming sat down.
“Did she say anything other than that?” Hook asked. “If it was a spell or a magic object of some kind?”
“Who cares how she’s doing it?” Charming replied. “That’s not that matters here.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Hook replied, though he didn’t agree. “I wonder if she tried to call me.” He searched for his phone and pretended he couldn’t find it on him. “Bloody hell. I left my talking phone in the back of your truck.”
“It’s just called a phone,” Charming corrected him.
“What an impractical name. I’ll be back in two shakes.”
Hook left, closing the door behind himself.
Snow and Charming looked at each other.
Outside of the apartment, Hook took his phone out and tried calling Katherine, but got her voicemail.
“Katherine, it’s Killian. Call me right away, or you may never make it home for cocoa, ever.” He ended the call and commented to himself, “Darn it, Pierce. Don’t tell me you trusted the Crocodile.”
Ingrid was looking into her mirror in her ice cave, when Rumple appeared.
“Did you come here for a reason?” she asked. “As I recall, I already told you what you needed to do to free yourself from your dagger. I have nothing more to give you.” She turned around to look at him and approached him. “Unless you simply like watching me.”
“I never do anything without a good reason. And watching your twisted mind at work does not qualify.”
“Twisted? Said the man who betrayed everyone in Storybrooke.”
He walked around her, as he chuckled, saying, “I haven’t betrayed a single person. Not yet, anyway.”
“Did you forget that you gave me those? Did you forget what they can do?” she questioned, looking at the box of ribbons that were on her bed that had a fluffy white blanket on it.
“I don’t forget much, dearie. But if you plan to put that ribbon on Katherine Pierce, you’re about to be disappointed. With her powers out of control, I’ve now found my own use for her.”
“You think you can take her away from me now?” she inquired, and attempted to use magic on him, but was blocked by a magical field. “What did you do?”
“Look down,” he instructed.
She looked down to see a yellow circle all around her.
“Remember the urn your sister placed you in? It had the power to limit your magic.”
“Elsa destroyed that urn,” she said.
“Well, funny thing about magic, it can never be destroyed completely. It simply lives on in other forms. Magic survives. I visited the bar where the urn was destroyed, collected its remnants, grain by grain.” He held up a container scientists usually put liquid experiments in for testing in labs. “Painstaking process. But I must say, the effort paid off.”
He began to walk off.
“When I escape, there will be a terrible price to pay,” she warned him.
“Don’t worry. The dust won’t last long. Just long enough to get what I want. And, you see, I don’t have to betray everyone in Storybrooke. Just you,” he said, when he walked back over to her. “And, I’m afraid, Katherine Pierce.”
He left.
Ingrid looked around, trying to figure out what to do, not wanting him to do anything to Katherine.
Will was at Granny’s at a booth with a cup in front of him. He used his flask to pour his liquor into the cup.
Robin sat in front of him when he was finishing doing that, and slid it towards himself.
“Hands off. That’s me lunch and dinner,” Will said, looking at him.
“Sorry, friend. But I need to pick your brain, and I need you sober as Friar Tuck on a Sunday when I do it.”
“I’m not sure Sundays ever made any difference for that man.”
Will watched Ruby, as she passed by. Then he looked at Robin again.
“What’s happening?”
“Regina needs our help.” He took the book out of the backpack he had and pointed to it. “This book.”
“Funny, you were never much the reading sort, Robin.”
“It’s not mine. I stole it,” he told him.
“Aw. Now, that sounds more like you. So, what’s so important about a book?”
“Whoever wrote this imbued it with magical powers, powers that could change Regina’s future for the better. We need to figure out who did this.”
“Information about the writer of a magical book. I might just have an idea.”
“Excellent,” Robin commented.
“But I’m gonna need me lunch and dinner back.”
Robin pushed it back over to him.
“You see, you ain’t been in this town as long as I have. It wasn’t always magic. But when it came, it started at one place, the clock tower. See, for 28 years, them hands didn’t move. Time stood still. Then one day, tick-tock, it bloody did.”
Will took a sip from the cup.
“I’m afraid you’ve lost me, Will. I understand the significance of the magical clock, but what’s that got to do with this book or its author?”
“Do you know what’s under that magical clock tower?”
“No,” Robin answered.
“A library.”
Will watched Ruby pass by again.
Snow was on her and Charming’s bed, looking at a picture that was framed, which she held in her hand.
Charming walked in and grabbed a chair, setting it in front of her, the back of chair towards her, and he sat down and saw the picture she was looking at.
He chuckled.
“I’ve always liked that picture.”
“Do you remember when you took it?” Snow asked.
“How could I forget? That was the party we had at Granny’s after Katherine helped us go up against…Pan? Or Anton, The Giant?”
“Try Cora,” Snow said.
“Oh.” Looking at the picture closer, he said, “We invited Happy to that?”
“I guess it’s easy to lose track. She has saved Storybrooke a lot.”
Charming chuckled.
“I’m worried about her, too but Katherine is tough,” he said, coming back to the present problem. “She’ll be fine.”
“What if she’s making a mistake? Because of us. Shouldn’t we be out there, trying to convince her not to give up her magic?”
“That’s her choice, not ours,” Charming reminded her. “She knows we support her, no matter what. And if losing her magic is what she wants, well…Maybe it’s not such a bad thing.”
“But it’s part of who she is, the Savior. Isn’t embracing that the right thing?”
“But if the Snow Queen is doing all this because of Katherine’s power, maybe getting rid of it is the heroic thing. Maybe her best chance now is for her to be…Normal.”
Elsa was standing by the stairs, watching, and overheard what Charming said and wasn’t happy about it, so she silently took the scarf and locator potion and left the apartment to go find Katherine.
“I’ve tried this one before,” Will said, standing in front of the library with Robin. “Probably easier when I’m not drunk and getting punched. It’s a pin tumbler with six pins. Not the easiest, but with a bit of luck and the light touch of the old Will Scarlet…”
Robin looked and noticed the hours on the library door and opened the door. He then went to stand in the threshold of the opened library door and pointed at the sign.
“Opening hours ‘til ten.”
“Yeah, very generous,” Will replied.
“Indeed,” Robin agreed.
Will closed the door behind himself.
Regina was upstairs sitting on Henry’s bed next to him.
She put the magazine down.
“I can keep sitting here pretending to read about Wolverine, or you can talk about what happened with Katherine.”
“Nothing to talk about,” he assured her, an ice pack on the back of his head, still looking at a magazine.
“Can I at least look at the wound?” Regina asked. “Not that I don’t trust the ice doctor’s diagnosis.”
“Okay, fine.”
He put the ice pack down.
Regina saw a small scratch.
“Does that hurt?”
“A little,” he said, being tough.
She magically healed it.
“Not anymore,” he then said.
“All better,” Regina said.
He looked at her.
“It must be nice to have magic and be useful.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Regina wanted to know.
“I went out there to help her. But I couldn’t do anything, because I’m just ordinary.”
“Henry,” she said. “We are each given our own gifts. You have the heart of the truest believer. You brought us all together. Never think you’re ordinary just because you don’t have magic. Or claws, or…purple shorts,” she added, looking at the magazine pictures, a hand on his. “Now, don’t worry about Katherine. She’s a hero, and as we both know…”
They both said together, “Heroes always win.”
Hook stormed into Gold’s shop, looking for him.
“Crocodile!” He yelled. “Where are you?” He saw the book that had Katherine’s handprint on it. “Katherine. No. No, no, no.” He took his phone out and called her, leaving another voicemail. “Pierce, it’s Killian again. You have to listen to me. I know that you’ve been to see Gold, I saw what you did. And if he’s promised to get rid of your powers, don’t’ listen to him. He doesn’t wanna help you, he wants to collect your powers in a bloody magic hat, and when he does, you’ll be sucked in, too. I don’t know what he’s planning, but I know that he’s been lying to Belle. The dagger he gave her is a fake. I only know all this because…Because I’m afraid I’ve been lying to you, too. Gold blackmailed me into helping him. He knew…He knew I’d do whatever it takes to be with you, and he used it against me. I just wanted to be a better man for you, Pierce. But I failed. And now because of that, I might lose you. And I’m sorry. But I hope you never forgive me, because that means that you’ll get this in time to save yourself. Goodbye.” He ended the call and only then did he notice the map on the counter. He saw the blue circle and knew exactly where it was and rushed out of the shop to go find her.
Ingrid was still in the circle and was testing it for weakness. She got frustrated, realizing it still hadn’t weakened. She looked at her mirror to see where Katherine was so she could get a message across to her magically.
Katherine was driving in the rainy weather, when the radio started being staticey. She tried to turn to a different station, not looking at the road, but it got worse and the light in her car got all staticey too. She looked at the road again and saw Ingrid, so she put on her breaks and tried to swerve out of the way and she ended up crashing into a tree.
When she woke up, she got out of the car and looked around at the road, looking for Ingrid, remembering that she’d been in the road. When she turned around, she saw half a distance away.
“Stay back.”
“Wherever you’re headed, turn around and go home. You are in great danger.”
“I’m not gonna listen to you about danger. Get out of my way!”
“My sweet girl, I am not the one that you should fear, Rumpelstiltskin is. Whatever he’s promised you, it’s a lie.”
“How do you know he promised me anything?” she questioned.
“So I was right. You mustn’t trust him, Katherine. He doesn’t do anything unless it benefits him. He doesn’t care about you. He would kill you to get what he desires.”
“You know what I think? The fact that you don’t want me to go means something. It means I’m going,” Katherine said stubbornly.
“I won’t let you,” Ingrid’s image said, stepping close to stand in front of her.
“You’re not gonna hurt me, you need me.”
Katherine turned around to see her there, which she realized meant that she couldn’t actually be there. She knew only vampires could do that in an instant. Not witches.
“You’re not here,” Katherine stated.
“If I could be, I would,” Ingrid told her. “I am trying to protect you, and this is the truth.”
“I don’t care what you say. That’s the truth.”
She walked through Ingrid’s image, which disappeared, and she got into her car and began driving again.
Snow was pouring something to drink into a mug, when Regina came down the stairs.
“How’s Henry?” Snow asked.
“Reading comic books, refusing to sleep, so I think okay. Or at least his version of a brave face. Thank you, by the way, for earlier. I mean, he has enough problems without bringing my life into it.”
“You mean Robin Hood?” Snow replied. “Did you guys, uh…,” Snow added with a smile.
Regina scoffed.
“Oh, come on, Regina! You don’t need to be ashamed,” Snow replied, taking that as a yes.
“Well, I know I don’t have to be, but I am.”
Charming came into the kitchen.
“Is everything okay?”
Regina hadn’t known he was in the apartment and said, “What are you doing here? Well, shouldn’t someone be out looking for Katherine?”
“Didn’t Mary Margaret tell you? She called,” Charming informed her. “She figured out a way to get rid of her magic.”
“Get rid of it? And you’re okay with that?”
“We support her,” Charming replied.
“We’re not talking about an old pair of Jimmy Choo’s here. Tell me you’re joking.”
“It may seem drastic, but it’s the only way Katherine can be sure never to hurt anyone again,” Snow reasoned.
“This could be the worst idea you’ve ever had,” Regina replied. “And you hired the Wicked Witch as your nanny.”
“We actually think it would be good for her. We…she could be normal,” Charming told her.
“Let me ask you something,” Regina said. “Do you know what I regret most?”
“The countless innocent lives you destroyed?” Charming guessed.
She silently looked at him and then looked at Snow.
“That I didn’t support Henry when he realized he was special. You, of all people, should remember. ‘Cause you started it all when you gave him that storybook. It opened up a whole world for him. But I was so scared of losing him that I tried convincing him he was crazy. And that being normal would make things better. Thankfully, he had the good sense not to listen to me.”
Snow realized what Regina was getting at and looked at Charming.
“Regina’s right. David, we’ve been rationalizing and you know it. We cannot let her take away what’s special about her.”
Charming sighed.
“I know.”
“Well, then let’s go get her.”
Snow stopped in her tracks on her way to the table, seeing that the potion and scarf weren’t there.
“Regina, you’re locator potion…”
Regina turned around to look at the table.
“It’s gone!”
Charming looked at the table, trying to figure out what had happened to it, and looking around, he didn’t see Elsa.
“Where’s Elsa?”
Elsa was following the flying scarf.
Katherine arrived at the house, and, leaving her phone in the car, went into the house.
“You’re sure these are from her bug?” Henry asked Snow, talking about the skid tracks and footprints on the pavement on the road.
Snow was examining the marks from the tires and footprints and Regina was standing back, Charming next to Henry.
“Oh, yeah,” Snow replied, and got to her feet. “She definitely spun out of here and then she got out of the car and got back in.”
“Anyone else out here?” Charming asked.
“No, it’s just her footprints. Come on. These are so fresh, we can carry on, on foot. She can’t have gone far.”
Snow and Regina carried on together, while Henry and Charming went over to the truck that still was turned on.
“So, before we were interrupted, you were telling me about Robin Hood.”
“Well, there’s not much to tell,” Regina replied. “It’s not gonna work out. It’s the story of my life. Whatever’s working against my happiness is more powerful than I am.”
“Why does it have to work against you?” Snow inquired. “Look and me and David. We have faced impossible odds, numerous times, often because of you. And we’ve always worked out. You know why? Because we have hope.”
“You get a quarter from the Hope Commission every time you say that word, admit it.”
“I’m serious,” Snow told her.
“Well, it’s easy for you to say, you’re a hero. Whenever you need help, it just magically shows up, like Henry’s book.”
“Yeah, I think that when you do good, the universe takes care of you. That’s why it showed up.”
“Well, doesn’t really matter why. Your wishes are rewarded. Mine are crushed.”
“No, I refuse to believe that happiness is impossible for you to achieve. You’ve come too far.”
“If you do good hoping to be redeemed, is it really good?” Regina asked her. “Maybe evil is born, and it’s just who I am.”
“Regina, you saw me grow up. You know how selfish and shallow I could be as a child. You know what I’ve done since. You have literally seen my heart, you know it’s not untouched. You are not all evil, and I am not all good, things are not that simple.”
“Well, whoever’s guiding all this seems to think it is,” Regina replied. “You’re the hero and I’m the villain. Free will be damned. It’s all in the book, and we both know how it plays out.”
“Mmm, maybe. But maybe not. Your stories went poorly because you made bad choices. But now you’re making good ones. It may not happen as quickly as you want, but if you stay the course, your happiness will come.”
“You honestly believe that?”
“It doesn’t matter what I believe. What matters is that you do.”
Snow walked ahead of her and Regina stood there alone, for a moment.
Robin and Will were still at the library that night, looking at the bookshelves.
“She’s really something, all right,” Will commented, talking about Regina. If Evil Queen’s your type, which I get. You’re still together, then?”
“That is not relevant,” Robin commented.
“Hey, no judgments here, mate. I was the one who told you to follow your heart.”
“I just want her to be happy, even if she thinks that’s impossible.”
Robin thought he’d found an identical storybook, but didn’t, so he put it back.
“With all do respect, I’m beginning to think that your magic library theory might be a tad off. Any book we want is hardly gonna be stacked beside The Cat in the Hat. Why would a cat want a hat?” Robin put the book back.
“I’ve seen stranger,” Will informed him.
Robin was about to give up, closing the storybook, when there was a folded piece of paper inside the open bag that the book had come from.
“Hey, this wasn’t here before!”
“What wasn’t here?” Will asked.
“Not sure.”
Robin unfolded the paper and saw what it was.
“Incredible!”
Will looked over at him.
“What is it?”
“I need to reach Regina,” Robin informed him.
Regina’s phone went off, but there wasn’t a name to the number, so when she answered it, she asked, “Hello, who is this?”
“Regina, it’s Robin,” he replied, using Will’s cell phone. “I’ve just found something that you have to see, right now.”
“Right now? I’m sorry, but I’m in the middle…”
Snow put a hand on her shoulder.
“Go. We got this.”
“He found something,” Regina informed her.
“Maybe hope worked,” Snow replied.
“Well, if it did, I owe you a quarter.”
Regina came back onto the phone, as Snow walked away.
“I’ll be right there.”
Gold had just closed the two sliding doors to the big room, which held the magical hat, when Katherine came in calling, “Hello? Gold, you here?”
She looked at her hands, which she saw were sparking with magic again.
“Gold?”
She walked into a big hallway that had a huge chandelier.
“Gold!” She saw light coming from two closed doors. “Gold, you in there?”
After Rumple had set the hat up in the room with the sliding doors, he appeared behind her.
“There’s no need to shout. I’m right here.”
She turned around to look at him, when he spoke.
“You’ll forgive me if I keep my distance. It would appear your powers are growing increasingly out of control.”
“Yeah, it was a rough night,” she replied. “So, what do I need to do?”
“I’ve already cast the spell inside that room. All you have to do is step through the door.”
She looked behind her at the closed doors and then at him again, debating.
“Something wrong?” Rumple asked.
“It’s just, I ran into the Snow Queen.”
“Did you?”
“Well, sort of. It was a projection or a hologram. She said I shouldn’t do this, that you were trying to hurt me.”
“All right, so now we know who doesn’t want you to do this, the villain. Sounds like an argument for it, or maybe that’s just me.”
“That’s what I said.”
“When you still have doubts,” he replied.
“Do you blame me?” she inquired.
“No.”
“Is it safe? Will I be okay?”
“No magic is without risk,” Rumple replied, knowing simply saying that she’d be okay and that it was safe, she’d know that he was lying. “Even magic used to take away magic. Look, this is very much your choice, and, of course, it was also your idea.”
“But it’s gonna stop me from hurting people?”
“That much I can promise, yes.”
“What would you do?” she asked, testing him.
“I wouldn’t go in there for anything.”
“What? Why?”
“Because, Katherine, I’m not like you. I’m a man that makes wrong decisions, selfish decisions.”
“But you spent all that time looking for Neal. You married Belle!”
“And each time I miraculously undid all the good. Neal is still gone, the town is still in danger, and Belle, for better or worse, she knows who I am. And that’s the man who always chooses power.”
“She believes you can change,” she reminded him.
“And I love her for that. But I fear she’s quite likely wrong. But you, Katherine, you don’t need to change, because you do the right thing. Always.”
She turned to the doors and he began to leave.
She turned back around.
“Gold!”
He turned to look at her.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Yeah. Of course,” he replied. “We have no choice.”
He left and she turned back to the closed doors.
“Pierce!” Hook yelled, as he found the house and went past the bar fence.
Rumple was already outside the house and told him, “Watch your step, Captain! The terrain’s a little rough around here.”
“Get out of my way, Crocodile,” Hook demanded. “I’ll die fighting before I let you use that bloody hat on Katherine.”
Rumple magically through him and he landed against the bar fence.
“Death can wait. How about before you depart, I treat you to a front row seat and we can watch her use that hat on herself?”
“No,” Hook said, trying to get free from the bar fence, but he was held there by black veins.
“Oh, and in case you were counting on Katherine getting your message, don’t.”
Rumple brought out Katherine’s phone.
“No,” Hook said.
“I’m not one for loose ends. Don’t worry, you’ll get over her, just like you got over Mila. How many centuries did that take? Oh, it matters not. This might even add a little fuel to your fire. Don’t tell me you haven’t missed the taste of vengeance.”
“Don’t do this!” Hook yelled.
“I wish I didn’t have to. But I need Miss Pierce. Surely you understand that.”
A few minutes later, the scarf led Elsa to the front of the house, which Hook and Rumple weren’t at.
“Katherine!” Elsa said, coming to the house. “Katherine!”
The scarf dropped itself at the door and she picked it up. She then tried opening the door, but it was locked, so she used her magic on it to open the door, which worked.
Katherine began to slowly approach the doors to the closed room, when Elsa found her and told her, “Katherine, stop.”
Katherine turned around to see her.
“Elsa, what the hell are you doing here? You have to leave, now!”
Sparks began to come from the chandelier.
“I’m sorry. I won’t let you do this,” Elsa told her.
“My powers are out of control. There’s no other way. Please, go now!”
“No, you didn’t give up on me, even when you nearly froze to death in that ice cave. So, I’m not giving up on you now. I know how scary it is hurting someone you love, I’ve lived in fear of that my entire life. But giving up on your magic is not the answer. There is another way.”
“Yeah, you told me all about how Anna’s love saved you, and that’s great. But guess what? My version of that with Henry didn’t work. This is all I have left.”
She turned around and was about to open the doors, but she stopped when Elsa spoke again.
“I was wrong,” Elsa said. “It wasn’t just Anna’s love that saved me.”
Katherine turned around to look at her.
“What are you talking about?”
“When I landed in this strange town, I was certain that without Anna, I was doomed. But I got control over my powers again without her.”
“How?”
“I didn’t really know until today, until the same thing happened to you, and then it finally hit me. It’s not only Anna’s love or Henry’s that can save us. They accept us for who we are, and that’s important, but it’s not enough.” Elsa approached her. “It’s on us, too. You have to love yourself, Katherine. The good and the bad. The only way to ever truly be in control over your powers is to embrace them. Because this, this is who you are.” She pointed to everything that was sparking with a smile, when she said that.
Elsa reached a hand out to her.
“What are you doing?” Katherine asked.
“It’s time to stop being afraid.”
“But this could kill you,” Katherine informed her.
“I’ll take that risk if you will,” Elsa replied.
Katherine took her hand and her magic seemed to now be in control, because everything stopped sparking.
Elsa gave a smile at that.
Katherine gave a smile and was relieved.
Rumple realized that something went wrong.
“No!”
Hook chuckled.
“Oh, I’m guessing she didn’t go through with it. So sorry.” Rumple turned around to look at him and Hook added, “Oh, but I do love the look of loss in your face.” Hook then laughed at that.
“I may not have the Savior, pirate. But I assure you, today won’t be a complete loss. I need to fill that hat with power, yes. But that was only part of the equation. Because I need something else, the secret ingredient. One I didn’t know about until as associate clued me in. A heart.”
“Well, if you need my help procuring it, know the only help I give you is your demise.”
“Oh, you’re gonna help me, all right,” Rumple replied.
“Ah,” he said with a smile.
“You see, this spell? It’s gonna finally separate me from the dagger, so it no longer holds power over me. But to cast it, I need the heart of someone special, someone who knew me before the dagger, before I was the Dark One. Unfortunately, everyone who fits that description is already dead. But one still lives.”
Hook tried getting free again, knowing what he meant.
“No! No,” Hook said.
“Yes. As luck would have it, dearie, you’re my oldest friend.”
Rumple plunged his hand into Hook’s chest and ripped out his heart.
“Get on with it then. Just do it,” Hook said through the pain he’d received from his heart being ripped out.
“Now, now. I promised you we’d have some fun first. You’re gonna do everything I say, because you’re my puppet now. You’re gonna find another way to fill that hat with the power it needs. And then…Then I’ll kill you,” Rumple informed him.
“Pierce! Are you all right?” Hook questioned, as he rushed into the room, once he found her and Elsa.
Hook hugged her and she hugged back.
“She didn’t do it, she didn’t take away her magic,” Elsa informed him with a smile.
“Wow. I’ve never seen people so happy about me not doing something.”
“We’ll find another way to defeat the Snow Queen. Together,” Hook told her, pulling away, and then they kissed.
She pulled away.
“Easy, tiger, we’ve got company,” she reminded him. “I didn’t know you were such a fan of my magic.”
“Why would you say that, Pierce?” he questioned with a smile. “I’m a fan of every part of you.”
“Are you all right?” she had to ask him.
“Of course, luv, why?”
“If you look at me any harder, you’re gonna drill a hole in my head.”
“I’m just relieved.” He then said, “You should go outside. I have a feeling there are a lot of worried people who’ll be glad to see you.”
Once Katherine and Elsa had gone, he went into the room and grabbed the hat for the Crocodile.
Regina entered the library and walked towards where Robin sat at a table.
“I got here as fast as I could. What’s so important you couldn’t say over the phone?”
“I’ll show you in a second, but first, you remember this?”
He had the book open to the page that showed her walking away from him.
“Uh, the book you apparently stole from me? Yes, I remember it quite well.”
“You knew I was a thief when you met me,” he commented. Then he added, “All right, so tonight, I came here looking, trying to find a clue towards that author. Towards your happy ending.”
“In the public library?” Regina questioned. “Robin, my happy ending is not a Stephen King book on tape.”
“Hang on. But then the strangest thing happened.” He pulled the paper out of his back pocket. “I found something.”
He handed it to her and she unfolded it.
When she unfolded it, she saw a picture of her and Robin kissing.
“Is this us?” she asked.
“Yes, inside the pub.”
“I don’t understand, this isn’t what happened. Is this from the book? Twenty-three, page twenty-three, is it missing from the book?”
She walked over to stand next to him and showed her the page that had happened.
“No, no, it’s already there, and it’s you leaving me. This goes in the same place. This is the meeting that we never had.”
She looked at both pages where the numbers were and saw that he was right.
“What does it mean?” she asked.
“It means that your fate could have gone many different ways. It means you’re not doomed to suffer. There’s a bright future for you around every turn, even if you miss one.”
“Well, where did you find it? Is there another book? What shelf?” she asked, turning to look at the shelves of books.
“No, it was in my satchel,” Robin informed her.
She turned around to look at him.
“What?”
“Not at first. It wasn’t there when I left, it appeared.”
“Like magic,” Regina stated.
“It’s a sign,” Robin stated. “And you can take it however you want, but to me, it’s showing you possibility, hope. That’s not something that would ever happen to a villain, is it?”
She shook her head no, agreeing with him.
“What is it?” he asked, seeing her face.
“I owe someone a quarter,” she replied.
He was confused at that, so he just gave her a look in silence, and then they kissed.
Once the Snow Queen was free from the circle which had finally disappeared, she sat on her bed and magically made one ribbon appear on herself and the other two disappear.
Once Elsa and Katherine had gone outside, the others found them.
“Katherine!” Snow greeted and hugged her. “Did you do it?”
Katherine hugged back.
“I didn’t. Thanks to Elsa.”
“I’m so, so glad, just please don’t change.”
“I don’t want to,” Katherine said, and they pulled away.
“We love you no matter what,” Charming told her.
“I know.” She saw Henry. “Hey, kid. How are you?”
She and Henry hugged.
“I’m just glad that you’re okay,” Henry replied.
Katherine pulled away.
“So, your magic? Are you in control of it again?” Snow asked.
“Absolutely,” she said with a smile.
She magically made some fireworks happen in the sky and they all watched the fireworks.
“Cool,” Henry commented. Then he looked over and saw ribbon on her wrist. “Katherine, when did you get that?”
Katherine looked down to see the ribbon on her wrist.
“I don’t know.”
Elsa looked down and saw that she had one, too.
“Katherine, what’s happening? It won’t come off,” she said, trying to take it off.
Katherine tried taking hers off, but couldn’t.
“Mine won’t, either,” Katherine informed her. Then her ribbon glowed and Katherine gasped.
“I feel it, too,” Elsa said, noticing. “It’s like it’s funneling all my magic away, like it’s harnessing it somehow.”
“Any idea what this is?” Charming asked.
“No,” Katherine said. “But I have a pretty good idea where it came from.”
The Snow Queen turned around, sensing a presence, and saw Rumple.
“You look disappointed.”
“Miss Pierce did not behave as I had hoped. Did you have a hand in it?”
She chuckled as she said, “Of course not. My hands were trapped here the entire time. Although, as you said, the urn dust didn’t last long, at all.”
“I’d keep my distance, if I were you,” Rumple warned, when she approached him.
“You really don’t understand what’s happening, do you? I wasn’t the one who saved Katherine, Elsa was. They really are quite wonderful together, like sisters.”
“Your strange fixation really holds no interest for me.”
“Oh, but it should, and it will,” she said, chuckling. “You see, these ribbons were of no use to me until this moment. They can bond three magical sisters together, but only if all of us are a perfect match.”
“And what makes for this perfect match?”
“When all three have embraced their powers, which we now have. Thanks to you.” Her ribbon glowed and she looked at it with a smile and chuckled. Then she looked at him again. “Now I wield the magic of my three sisters. Now my mirror is complete, and with this power, I can finally cast a spell over all of Storybrooke. I could probably even defeat you and decorate this place with your bones.” She rested her hand on his chest. “Shall I try?”
“Dearie, I warn you, do not overestimate your power.”
He walked away from her.
“And I warn you, don’t underestimate it!” she yelled at him. She looked at the glowing ribbon again.
She turned to her mirror and pointed her wrist and hand towards it and the glass shattered. Then, when it was fueled enough from the power of the glowing ribbon, it completely shattered and the spell began, magical smoke appearing.
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