Dreams of Stars (A Once Upon a Time/Jiminy Cricket fanfic)

Dreams of Stars Part 36

The peaceful days in the workshop with Geppetto, Jiminy Cricket, and little Pinocchio did not last long. David and Snow were king and queen by then. Their kingdom-wide marriage celebration happened near the same time as the marriage of Ella and Prince Thomas. Yet darkness came into those marriages. At Snow White's wedding, the evil queen who had formerly reigned appeared, vowing her revenge. Also, after Ella became pregnant, she feared for her baby. The condition of her going to the ball that night had been to give Rumpelstiltskin her firstborn. With King David's and Queen Snow's help, Ella managed to temporarily paralyze Rumpelstiltskin through a magic pen, and he was locked in the most secure dungeon in the Enchanted Forest. That night, Prince Thomas vanished and was nowhere to be found.

After that, the true fears began. The evil queen had sworn to curse all the Enchanted Forest. In their desperation, David and Snow sought help from Rumpelstiltskin, but he could do nothing against it—and didn't want to anyway. It was shortly after this that the Blue Fairy unexpectedly arrived at Geppetto's workshop, imploring his help. Jiminy and Kaelin took Pinocchio upstairs during their discussion to give them privacy, but afterwards, Geppetto told them everything.

The Blue Fairy had told him that there was a powerful curse coming over the entire kingdom: a curse that would rip away everything they loved. It was too late to stop the curse, but there was a way for it to be broken someday: Snow White was with child, and in her 28th year, that child would be able to break the curse. Yet the child had to be protected from the effects of the curse for this to work.

In the forest, there was an enchanted tree. Geppetto explained that he had used the wood of a tree like it to carve Pinocchio. This came as a surprise to Kaelin. She had thought he had only used the finest wood he had, but in truth, when Sofia was ill, he had gone out looking for ways to save her. Finding an enchanted tree, he had searched desperately for ways it might be able to heal his wife—the leaves perhaps...the bark...none would work. Finally, he had cut it down and brought the block of wood back to his workshop. The idea had occurred to him to give Sofia a magically-animated, toy puppet: a "son" for her last days. But the thought of puppets sickened him so, he couldn't do it. It was only after her death that he finally gained the despairing resolution to carve a little boy out of the enchanted wood, but by then, his wishes for it were different and stronger. Thus Pinocchio was born.

Now there was only one truly enchanted tree left in the Enchanted Forest. The Blue Fairy had told Geppetto that, if he could carve a wardrobe from that tree, the wardrobe could protect the child from the curse. It was their only hope.

~~~

The next day, the Blue Fairy returned to show Geppetto the tree. It was a cold day. Geppetto dressed Pinocchio in a faded red cloak, and they headed out, Kaelin on Geppetto's shoulder and Jiminy fluttering behind Pinocchio. The dry leaves crunched under a thin layer of pure, white snow, but there was also beautiful, green life in the forest.

As they entered the clearing where the enchanted tree was, the Blue Fairy said, "The evil queen will stop at nothing to destroy Snow White's and Prince Charming's happiness. We must stop at nothing to undo her curse." While she spoke, they all stopped, and Jiminy landed gently on Pinocchio's shoulder. Not wanting to intrude in on their conversation, Kaelin climbed down Geppetto's coat and sat on a nearby, rotting stump.

Geppetto gazed up at the tree in wonder. It was gnarly and twisted, ancient-looking, with dark brown wood. The greenness in the leaves was unbelievably intense, and little, yellow lights floated through the foliage. "It's beautiful," he said.