Everything Has Changed

Chapter 5 - Cold Like That

Mr. Gold stood on the sidewalk facing up towards the clock tower. 8:15. It had read 8:15 for as long as they had been here. And yet he remembered. He knew exactly who he was, what had happened and who had done it. Someone was starting to believe, but he looked at the clock again. It hadn't moved, nothing had changed, but they were very close. One more move, he looked down the street to where Regina was seeing her daughter off to school, one more move on the Savior's part and time would start again.

"Very good dearie! Soon you won't need me anymore."

"Oh Master, don't say that! I need you now more than ever!"

"What are you talking about dearie? Your magic is stronger than it has ever been. You are getting better and better with each passing day."

"Don't you see? Can't you tell? That's why I need you! I'm with child again, and ever since I found out my power has been ever increasing!"

"And so it has come to pass..."

"What has come to pass? What are you talking about Rumple?" Cora was desperate for answers. Her powers had increased when she had been carrying Zelena, but nothing compared to this, and certainly not this early on. "Why is this time different?"

"I have seen this. This baby you are to bear, and I must say, I am impressed."

"Impressed? Impressed with what?"

"Why, her of course!"

"Her? Another girl then? Wonderful..." Cora's expression said otherwise. Another daughter was not something she either wanted or needed she needed a son. Henry needed a male heir. She grumbled in frustration. "What makes her so damn impressive?"

"Why, her power of course. I know you can feel it dearie, it is magnifying your own. She is making you stronger. Not only that but I have seen her, I have heard what they will call her." He grinned devilishly at the miller's daughter. "They say she will surpass even you in beauty dearie, for they call her, 'The Fairest Of Them All.'"

"Is that why you are so impressed with her, her beauty? My dear Rumple, I thought you of all people would know that appearances aren't always what they seem?"

"Oh true dearie, but I have also seen her future, and what they say is correct. She will grow in grace and beauty, to be the fairest in the land, for that is what the people expect," he paused, "Of their Queen."

"Their Queen?"

"Oh yes my dear, for one day she will have everything you never could."

Zelena was at a loss. She knew that her mother was looking for the book, the same book that she had told her to not mind in the least. Her mother had lied to her. She had every reason to worry. If she didn't, then Cora wouldn't have gone to see Mr. Gold. She wouldn't have broken into Regina's home yesterday. Oh yes, she knew about that. As much as her mother had Zelena under her thumb, Zelena had those that were willing to work for her as well.

She knew that Cora had run from one end of town to the other, trying to find out what that book contained. The mayor made her way down the street towards her office. She had just seen her sister put Mary Margaret on the bus, and then head off down the street. She had seen Gold watching them a little too closely. He knew something, he knew something important, and she was going to figure out what.

She called out after him, "Mr. Gold!" He turned over his shoulder to look at her, but he kept walking in the direction of his shop. Not one to back down that easily, Zelena followed him. One after the other they entered the dimly lit pawnshop. When he heard the door close behind her Gold turned around.