Hidden Truths

Tracking

Violet-Marie's POV

Oh god, oh god, oh god I'm doomed. I thought. I looked at the slip of fabric in Regina's hand. I had trashed the cloak it had come from, but Regina was still powerful enough to find the owner of the cloak. Sera and Micah kept shooting glances over at me from their place in a corner of the vault. *What did you do?!* Micah asked. *I didn't do anything!* I replied. *I'm just as clueless as you are.* Micah looked suspicious. Sera noticed and nudged Micah, pointing to the cauldron. The cauldron was bubbling and smoking, meaning that the spell was working. I looked around, looking for an escape. *Want to talk outside?*Sera asked. *Sure* I responded. Micah, Sera and I slipped out of the vault into the cool air.

"Micah's right." Sera said to me, leaning against a tree. "You're up to something, what is it?" I stared at Sera. "What are you talking about?" I asked with a laugh. "Me? A villain?" I laughed. Sera and Micah looked at me. "Okay, that was one time!" I said, holding up my hands in surrender. Oh, Dearie! They don't believe you, you know that, right? I sighed. Rumpelstiltskin, get out of my head. Micah looked at me, curiously. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Yeah, I'm fine." I replied, turning away. "I'll see you guys later." 

Why didn't you return me to a physical form, Faith? Rumpelstiltskin asked me. You returned the Captain and the Dark Swan back to their bodies, why not me? I grinned. Two reasons, crocodile. One, I can't, your physical form died. Two, I don't want to. Rumpelstiltskin sighed and vanished. I looked around me and when I saw no one, I ran into the forest. 

Regina's POV

I took a quick step back as the potion began glowing. "Is that a good thing?" Snow asked, pointing to the cauldron. I nodded. "Now we just need to put in that scrap of fabric, and we're good to go." Snow handed me the scrap of black fabric. 

As my hand came into contact with it I stumbled backwards. I found myself on a black sand beach with the waves crashing on the sand. I turned around and saw three figures walking away from me. I ran up to them and tapped one of the girls on her shoulder. My hand passed right through her. "What the heck?!" I asked, startled, looking down at my hand. "You two are amazing, you know that, right?" one of the girls asked. The others smiled at each other. "Sera, we are always here for you." the other girl responded. "Micah?" The boy looked at the two girls. "Of course Vi and I are here for you." he said. I looked at the three figures. Micah, Violet-Marie, and Sera. They looked about twelve years old. I must be in the Forgotten Realms! I realized with a start. I decided to follow the three children, interested about what their lives were like. 

"How's your mother treating you, Vi?" Sera asked. Violet-Marie sighed. "Well, she's being my mother, and she keeps trying to push me over the edge, it also doesn't help that she befriended Yzma and that new king. They keep trying to push me over as well. It's not working though, because I'm here with you." Micah grabbed Violet-Marie's hand. "Like we just told Sera, we're here for you." Violet-Marie smiled. "Thanks guys, you're the best!" I looked around as a heard a grumbling noise. "Do you hear that?" Sera asked, looking around. Violet-Marie let go of Micah's hand. "RUN!!" she yelled. The three of them began running away from where they had been standing. I looked around and then followed them. 

The ground began crumbling and reforming in a new shape. A giant stone hand reached out of a giant pit in the sand. It extended towards Micah and Sera, lifting them up in the air. "MICAH!! SERA!!!!" Violet-Marie yelled. She sent a blast of purple magic towards the hand. "LET THEM GO!" A grumbling voice laughed beneath the surface. "Oh sweet child," it said. "If you want these peasants back, you'll have to come and get them yourself," With that, the hand vanished beneath the surface, pulling Micah and Sera along with it. Violet-Marie sank to her knees, covering her face, crying. "I will get you back, I would go to the end of the world to get you back." she vowed, standing up and disappear in a puff of smoke. 

I jerked to a more upright position as I returned to my vault. "Regina?" Snow asked. "Are you alright?" I looked around, confused. "Yeah, I'm fine, how long was I out?" Snow looked at David, confused. "What do you mean? I handed you the fabric and you closed your eyes for a second, what happened to make you think you blacked out?" I shook my head. "I'll tell you later, but we have more pressing matters at hand." 

I dropped the slip of fabric into the potion, then stepped back, jerking my hand away. The slip of fabric absorbed the potion and levitated, beginning to drift out of the vault. "Let's go!" I cried, chasing the fabric. "We have a Savior and pirate to save!" 

The Dark Swan's POV

"Sorry I'm late." Faith said, bursting into the clearing we were standing in. "What took you so long?" Killian asked. "Oh, Rumpelstiltskin kept distracting me." I smirked. "Is Rumple Bumble jelly?" Faith laughed. "Oh you bet he is. Now, let's go meet my mother, we have a problem."

The three of us transported ourselves to the cavern Yzma and Aimee had found. "Ah! Sister dear!" Aimee said, greeting me with a hug. "You know, I much prefer you this way!" I laughed. "You too, Aimee, you too." Killian went up to Yzma. "I hear that you are the one that returned us to our physical forms?" Yzma nodded. "Indeed." Aimee turned to Faith. "Mother," she greeted. "Former disgrace," Aimee replied. "We have to speed up our plan a bit." Faith said. Aimee looked at her daughter, startled. "Why?" I asked. "My cloak got caught on the doorway of Aunt Emma's house, the heroes found it and took it to the Queen, when I left them, they were using a tracking potion on it." Yzma sighed and put her hands on her head, walking in a circle. "Very well," Aimee said, sighing. "You three should make a public appearance, Faith, you can just be you for this one." Faith grinned. "I'm in, Aunt Emma?" I smiled, looking at Killian. "We're in." 

Sera's POV

I looked up as Regina came running out of the vault, followed by Snow, David, Hope, Zelena, and Gideon. I nodded to Micah. The two of us stepped in front of them. "We have to talk." Regina looked at us, stunned. "What do you mean?! We're loosing our only lead!" I shook my head. "No, you still have Micah and I. We haven't been completely honest with you, and we need to tell you the truth, or you will never get Emma and Killian back." Snow nodded. "Okay then, what do you need to tell us?" 

"So Violet-Marie's real name is Faith, and she's the Dark One." Snow said, putting her head in her hands. All of us had relocated to the throne room of Regina's palace. "Yeah," Micah replied, looking down. "She was doing so well, too." he sighed. "I don't know what happened." "Well, I do." Zelena said. "You just handed the Dark One the only way to control her." I looked at Micah. "Let us talk to her, maybe we can talk some sense into her." I said. Micah nodded. "We were the ones keeping her grounded back in our land." he said. Regina looked at us. "But what if you weren't there at all times?" she asked. "What do you mean?" "Well, when I touched that slip of fabric from Faith's cloak, I was shown a few memories of your life there." Micah gasped. "What memories?" "The memories where you and Sera were kidnapped by a giant stone hand?" Regina replied. 

Micah looked down at his hands. "That was just two days before Faith succumbed completely." he muttered. "We were different people then, it doesn't matter now." I said, nodding to Micah. "So, if we are going to get you two to talk to Faith, er, Violet-Marie, whatever her name is, how are we going to do that?" Snow asked. "I don't know," I replied. "Well, maybe we would have to capture her, or maybe she would come to us freely." Micah shook his head. "No, she would never come freely. She's the Dark One, there is always a price." "But what does she want with my parents?" Hope asked. (older) Henry shook his head. "I don't know." he sighed. "Mom is the Savior, so maybe that has something to do with it, but dad? I don't know." Lucy shook her head. "But why? We were treating her like family, like one of us." I smiled at Lucy. "And we are extremely grateful for that! You really made it seem like home." Micah nodded, smiling as well, then he frowned. "But I don't get why that wasn't enough for Butterfly." 

"BIG NEWS!!!" Grumpy yelled, running into the room. "What is it?" David asked, standing up. "Magic, that's what!" Grumpy said, looking around the room. "And they're demanding to see you guys! They've gathered the whole town!" "Who is it?" Regina asked. "Oh, it's just me!" someone said, coming out of the shadows. "Yzma!" I growled. "Hello, dear child." she responded. "Who's this?" Regina asked. "I'm Yzma," Yzma said, sweeping into a mock bow. "I'm Aimee's advisor." Micah growled. "What do you want?" "I want you to meet us in the center of town, see you there!" with that, Yzma faded into smoke. 

Well, I had hoped for this to be longer, it's a bit of a filler, things will get more interesting next time I promise! I hope you enjoyed!

~Val