Defying Gravity: 8/??
Title: Defying Gravity
Fandom: Once Upon A Time/Once Upon A Time In Wonderland
Characters: Rumplestiltskin, Cora, Jafar and Zelena in this chapter, more to follow but no spoilers here, dearies.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers for all of OUATIW and OUAT up to S4 but goes AU for S5.
Notes: For eternal_moonie - I couldn't have done this one without you. Chapter titles are all Defying Gravity lyrics.
Summary: What happened when Jafar's lamp was brought to Storybrooke in the curse, ended up in Gold's shop and Zelena accidentally let him out? In this chapter, Jafar and Zelena go on the hunt for Cora's heart.
Chapter 1 is here: I'm Through With Playing By The Rules Of Someone Else's Game
Chapter 2 is here: Dreams, The Way We Planned'em, If We Work In Tandem
Chapter 3 is here: I Really Hope You Get It, And You Don't Live To Regret It
Chapter 4 is here: You Can Still Be With The Wizard, What You've Worked And Waited For
Chapter 5 is here: No Wizard That There Is Or Was Is Ever Gonna Bring Me Down
Chapter 6 is here: No One Mourns The Wicked, So We've Got to Bring Her Down
Chapter 7 is here: Too Long I've Been Afraid Of Losing Love I Guess I've Lost
From the look on Zelena’s face when Jafar approached her, it was clear that she had been expecting and hoping for someone else. Rumplestiltskin possibly, although Jafar hoped and thought that she had been looking for Cora.
“Oh, it’s you. Haven’t you done enough for one day?” Zelena snapped.
Jafar forced his features into a smile. “Forgive me. I was only trying to help you.”
“And how do you work that out?” Zelena demanded.
“You would never have been happy if you had married King Leopold as your mother wished,” Jafar tried to explain. “Everyone knows the story of Regina’s marriage to him. Pushed aside at every turn, always coming second best to the brat Snow, never living up to the memory of Queen Eva, that is not a life you want for yourself. You would have been going into it because it was what Regina had had, and because it was what your mother wanted, not what you wanted for yourself. I was trying to allow you to make that choice for yourself.” Did he need to lay it on any thicker, or was Zelena falling for it?
Zelena nodded unwillingly. “True. But then I could always have wished the brat out of existence, just like my beloved sis tried to do with me, and oh, look, where is she now?” A smile began to form on her face.
Jafar realised the conversation wasn’t going the way he hoped. “But would the marriage really have been worth it, for the sake of pleasing your mother? You heard the childhood Robin described to you, and I have no doubt it happened. And you saw your mother’s reaction when you failed to save Snow. It appears to me that Cora is a difficulty in your life.”
“And why is she like this? Because you didn’t fix it for me properly when I made my wish.” Zelena burst out. “I wish...”
Jafar held up his hand to stop her. “Be careful what you wish for, Zelena,” he began. “If you recall, that was exactly why your wish has not gone as you hoped, because you made the wish without taking the time to think about exactly what you wanted. You only have two wishes left; don’t waste a wish on changing something you can change yourself.”
He thought back to the days when he was so determined to get Alice to use up her own three wishes so that Cyrus would be returned to the lamp, and mused on how things had changed since then. If Alice were here now, he wondered, would she now be trying to persuade Zelena to use hers?
“And how do you suggest I do that?” Zelena demanded.
“I understand that Cora removed her heart many years ago,” Jafar began, “when King Xavier had ended her betrothal to Prince Henry. “Now if you were to put her heart back in her body, then things would be different between you. Your mother would love you again, and then you wouldn’t have to use a wish for that, but could use it on something else.”
Zelena nodded. “If only I knew where she would store it.”
“My part of the deal is going to plan,” Rumple said as he let out that giggle that Jafar was coming to loathe. “Cora has succeeded in performing magic again. But she will never be powerful enough to perform the curse, not until she has her heart back in her body. Which is where you come in, dearie. What news have you for me?”
“The good news is, Zelena agreed to put Cora’s heart back in her body,” Jafar began. “The bad news is she has no clue where Cora keeps it. Cora hasn’t got the vault she had before, and since the memories Zelena has are of the timeline where she didn’t grow up with Cora, she doesn’t know where Cora would keep anything. We looked all over the house for it, but couldn’t find it. You still have your memories of both timelines, you know this Cora, you must know where she would keep it!”
“I do believe I know where it might be,” Rumple replied. “She saw the heart as an obstacle to the future she could have had, just as she saw Zelena herself. So I believe she would have left it at the mill, along with the past she wanted to leave behind. She’ll have placed a protective spell on it, dearie, so you won’t be able to take it yourself. You’ll need to take Zelena with you, to be able to recover it. Then you will have done your part.”
“I still don’t understand why you brought me here,” Zelena complained as they arrived at the mill where Cora had grown up. “She hated it here. Why would she leave her heart in a place where she hated?”
“We’ve tried everywhere else at her home, Zelena,” Jafar pointed out. “And it’s not there. So I thought it was worth a try.”
“It had better be,” Zelena hissed. “You know, I could just wish for the bloody thing right now and then we could get out of here.”
Jafar pretended to humour her. “Fine, if you don’t find it here, you can wish for it. But I did warn you not to waste a wish, so think very carefully before you do.”
Zelena stifled a scream as she stormed into what Jafar realised must have been Cora’s old bedroom, opened a chest which had been pushed against a wall, started throwing the contents of it across the room in frustration. “Well, don’t just stand there, help me!” she shouted, kicking in anger at an old crib which Jafar thought must have been hers. As she kicked it, it fell on its side and a secret compartment which Jafar hadn’t noticed burst open.
Zelena’s face lit up. “That’s it!”
Jafar stared at her uncomprehendingly, only seeing an empty compartment himself, but as he watched, Zelena reached inside and lifted something out, an object he immediately knew must be Cora’s heart.
“That was the protective spell, dearie,” Rumple’s voice sounded inside his head. “Zelena was the obstacle, the reason for her removing her heart in the first place. So Cora made it so that Zelena was the only person who could retrieve it. She was just foolish enough to believe that Zelena would never attempt to.”
As Zelena gazed down on her mother’s heart, she imagined the future she and her mother could have once her mother cared for her again.
Jafar imagined how he could soon get rid of Zelena once and for all and how Rumplestiltskin and he could change the laws of magic together.
Cora continued to persevere with her magic, wondering what was the one last step she needed to reach the standard where she would be able to perform Rumplestiltskin’s curse.
And Rumple watched, savouring the moment as he knew that none of them would get what they wanted....
To be continued....
Fandom: Once Upon A Time/Once Upon A Time In Wonderland
Characters: Rumplestiltskin, Cora, Jafar and Zelena in this chapter, more to follow but no spoilers here, dearies.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers for all of OUATIW and OUAT up to S4 but goes AU for S5.
Notes: For eternal_moonie - I couldn't have done this one without you. Chapter titles are all Defying Gravity lyrics.
Summary: What happened when Jafar's lamp was brought to Storybrooke in the curse, ended up in Gold's shop and Zelena accidentally let him out? In this chapter, Jafar and Zelena go on the hunt for Cora's heart.
Chapter 1 is here: I'm Through With Playing By The Rules Of Someone Else's Game
Chapter 2 is here: Dreams, The Way We Planned'em, If We Work In Tandem
Chapter 3 is here: I Really Hope You Get It, And You Don't Live To Regret It
Chapter 4 is here: You Can Still Be With The Wizard, What You've Worked And Waited For
Chapter 5 is here: No Wizard That There Is Or Was Is Ever Gonna Bring Me Down
Chapter 6 is here: No One Mourns The Wicked, So We've Got to Bring Her Down
Chapter 7 is here: Too Long I've Been Afraid Of Losing Love I Guess I've Lost
From the look on Zelena’s face when Jafar approached her, it was clear that she had been expecting and hoping for someone else. Rumplestiltskin possibly, although Jafar hoped and thought that she had been looking for Cora.
“Oh, it’s you. Haven’t you done enough for one day?” Zelena snapped.
Jafar forced his features into a smile. “Forgive me. I was only trying to help you.”
“And how do you work that out?” Zelena demanded.
“You would never have been happy if you had married King Leopold as your mother wished,” Jafar tried to explain. “Everyone knows the story of Regina’s marriage to him. Pushed aside at every turn, always coming second best to the brat Snow, never living up to the memory of Queen Eva, that is not a life you want for yourself. You would have been going into it because it was what Regina had had, and because it was what your mother wanted, not what you wanted for yourself. I was trying to allow you to make that choice for yourself.” Did he need to lay it on any thicker, or was Zelena falling for it?
Zelena nodded unwillingly. “True. But then I could always have wished the brat out of existence, just like my beloved sis tried to do with me, and oh, look, where is she now?” A smile began to form on her face.
Jafar realised the conversation wasn’t going the way he hoped. “But would the marriage really have been worth it, for the sake of pleasing your mother? You heard the childhood Robin described to you, and I have no doubt it happened. And you saw your mother’s reaction when you failed to save Snow. It appears to me that Cora is a difficulty in your life.”
“And why is she like this? Because you didn’t fix it for me properly when I made my wish.” Zelena burst out. “I wish...”
Jafar held up his hand to stop her. “Be careful what you wish for, Zelena,” he began. “If you recall, that was exactly why your wish has not gone as you hoped, because you made the wish without taking the time to think about exactly what you wanted. You only have two wishes left; don’t waste a wish on changing something you can change yourself.”
He thought back to the days when he was so determined to get Alice to use up her own three wishes so that Cyrus would be returned to the lamp, and mused on how things had changed since then. If Alice were here now, he wondered, would she now be trying to persuade Zelena to use hers?
“And how do you suggest I do that?” Zelena demanded.
“I understand that Cora removed her heart many years ago,” Jafar began, “when King Xavier had ended her betrothal to Prince Henry. “Now if you were to put her heart back in her body, then things would be different between you. Your mother would love you again, and then you wouldn’t have to use a wish for that, but could use it on something else.”
Zelena nodded. “If only I knew where she would store it.”
“My part of the deal is going to plan,” Rumple said as he let out that giggle that Jafar was coming to loathe. “Cora has succeeded in performing magic again. But she will never be powerful enough to perform the curse, not until she has her heart back in her body. Which is where you come in, dearie. What news have you for me?”
“The good news is, Zelena agreed to put Cora’s heart back in her body,” Jafar began. “The bad news is she has no clue where Cora keeps it. Cora hasn’t got the vault she had before, and since the memories Zelena has are of the timeline where she didn’t grow up with Cora, she doesn’t know where Cora would keep anything. We looked all over the house for it, but couldn’t find it. You still have your memories of both timelines, you know this Cora, you must know where she would keep it!”
“I do believe I know where it might be,” Rumple replied. “She saw the heart as an obstacle to the future she could have had, just as she saw Zelena herself. So I believe she would have left it at the mill, along with the past she wanted to leave behind. She’ll have placed a protective spell on it, dearie, so you won’t be able to take it yourself. You’ll need to take Zelena with you, to be able to recover it. Then you will have done your part.”
“I still don’t understand why you brought me here,” Zelena complained as they arrived at the mill where Cora had grown up. “She hated it here. Why would she leave her heart in a place where she hated?”
“We’ve tried everywhere else at her home, Zelena,” Jafar pointed out. “And it’s not there. So I thought it was worth a try.”
“It had better be,” Zelena hissed. “You know, I could just wish for the bloody thing right now and then we could get out of here.”
Jafar pretended to humour her. “Fine, if you don’t find it here, you can wish for it. But I did warn you not to waste a wish, so think very carefully before you do.”
Zelena stifled a scream as she stormed into what Jafar realised must have been Cora’s old bedroom, opened a chest which had been pushed against a wall, started throwing the contents of it across the room in frustration. “Well, don’t just stand there, help me!” she shouted, kicking in anger at an old crib which Jafar thought must have been hers. As she kicked it, it fell on its side and a secret compartment which Jafar hadn’t noticed burst open.
Zelena’s face lit up. “That’s it!”
Jafar stared at her uncomprehendingly, only seeing an empty compartment himself, but as he watched, Zelena reached inside and lifted something out, an object he immediately knew must be Cora’s heart.
“That was the protective spell, dearie,” Rumple’s voice sounded inside his head. “Zelena was the obstacle, the reason for her removing her heart in the first place. So Cora made it so that Zelena was the only person who could retrieve it. She was just foolish enough to believe that Zelena would never attempt to.”
As Zelena gazed down on her mother’s heart, she imagined the future she and her mother could have once her mother cared for her again.
Jafar imagined how he could soon get rid of Zelena once and for all and how Rumplestiltskin and he could change the laws of magic together.
Cora continued to persevere with her magic, wondering what was the one last step she needed to reach the standard where she would be able to perform Rumplestiltskin’s curse.
And Rumple watched, savouring the moment as he knew that none of them would get what they wanted....
To be continued....