The Modern Fairy Tale Town Book 2: The Price of Magic

Chapter 2: Broken

"Who did this?" Roy Avalon asked.

"And what was that smoke?" Scotty Macario added.

"And why?" Nova then wondered.

"And what was that smoke?" Jerry Coleman then asked.

"Magic," Mother Superior reported as she soon joined the group with Jane and Carlos following her. "It's here. I can feel it."

Mary Margaret then suddenly touched the woman's hands.

"I think I can feel it too." Jane spoke up.

"Oh, trust me, my dear. There is a very special reason for that." Mother Superior told the young girl then.

"Magic? In Storybrooke?" Carlos then asked.

"Yes, it would appear so." Nova told the freckled boy.

"But you're The Blue Fairy," Henry soon told Mother Superior. "Do something magical."

"It's not quite that simple, Henry," Mother Superior told the younger boy. "No wand. No fairy dust. Matters are complicated now."

"What do we do now?" Nova soon wondered.

"The only thing we can do," Leroy told her as he held onto Dee Dee's hand. "Let's go to the person responsible for bringing it. The Queen."

The other dwarves then nodded and voiced agreement.

"No. Wait. It wasn't Regina." Emma protested against them.

"Who then?" Mal then asked before looking around. "And where's my mom?"

Emma looked a bit soft and distant, apprehensive about answering that question right away since she knew very well what had happened to Maleficent.

"Where's my mom, Emma?" Mal demanded urgently.

"She... Uh... She..." Emma said softly as she still hesitated. "...I'll tell you later, okay?"

Mal glanced at Emma before she then nodded, trying to stay patient in finding out as she planned that she and her mother would leave Storybrooke together to live together in harmless mother/daughter bonding for the rest of their days.

"Speaking of Mom, I should probably go and see her." Evie suggested.

"Maybe in a little bit." Emma then told Evie.

"Okay, so if Mayor Mills didn't do all of this, then who did?" Dee Dee soon asked.

"I think I have a pretty good idea of who." Mal remarked as she raised an eyebrow then.

Meanwhile, back at the wishing well, Rumple continued to embrace Belle as she reunited with their son as he got to know the mother he never had time to know better.

"My darling Belle. You have to tell us what happened to you." Rumple said to his long-lost love.

"I was abducted." Belle stated, remembering what Jefferson had told her in the hospital when he helped set her free.

"Regina?" Rumple guessed gently.

"She locked me away until her curse," Belle replied as she nodded. "And I've been in the asylum ever since."

"For 28 years. All these years, you've been here. Alive." Rumple softly replied from shock and heartbreak.

"Is that... Is that why you did this?" Belle then asked him. "Why you wanted magic? For revenge?"

"Oh, no," Rumple replied until an idea was hatched from his brain. "...But it might come in handy."

"Dad..." Ben said in a warning tone of voice.