*Storybrooke, Maine*
Emma called David and Mary Margaret, letting them know where Gold hid his daughter. He hit it on the clock of the clock tower. David rushed up the stairs when he opened a glass panel finding the dagger on one of the hands of the clock, while Mary Margaret followed him. "It's here. A clever hiding place for a very clever man." David said as Mary Margaret sighed in relief when David took the dagger out.
"We did it." She sighed when David handed her the dagger.
"The Dark One finally can be controlled," David said when they looked at Rumpelstiltskin's name on the dagger.
"Indeed, he can be."
The two jumped when they looked up to see Regina, Cora, and Dream. "But by whom?" Cora continued when David and Mary Margaret looked shocked. "Cora?" Mary Margaret sighed, before glancing at Dream, who was shockingly matching her mother and grandmother in a black coat, with her hair down. It was as if they were copies of each other. Cora smirked at Mary Margaret, while David sighed, seeing Dream, who showed no emotion as if she was told to show that she was with her mother and grandmother.
"You're too late," David spoke up when he looked away from Dream.
"Actually, it seems that we found you just in time," Cora smirked at the prince, who moved in front of his wife like Regina was doing with Dream. "I told you to pick your side carefully. Good has won, just as it always does." Mary Margaret said to Regina, making Cora chuckle. "I think the day has finally come, my darling Snow, for you to learn a long overdue lesson," Cora said before turning to Dream. "As we practice, my dear." She said when Dream raised her hand, making a woman appear between Regina and Cora. It was Johanna, Mary Margaret's maid, that helped her a lot when her mother died.
"Johanna!" Mary Margaret exclaimed when she saw the woman appear, confused, when David sighed, not believing that Regina would allow her mother to make Dream, who was just an innocent good kid, do their dirty work, teaching her dark magic.
"You see, in the end, it isn't good or evil that wins, but power," Cora said when Regina pushed her hand into Johanna's chest, pulling out her heart. Johanna winced from the pain while David held Mary Margaret back. David noticed that Dream moved to Johanna's side, helping her stand and rubbing her back to comfort her. "Your choice," Regina said, looking at Mary Margaret.
"Do not harm her. She has nothing to do with this." Mary Margaret tried to say to them.
"Of course, she does." Regina scoffed at her.
"Whatever they want, Snow, don't give it to them." Johanna tried to say, not knowing what Cora and Regina really wanted. "Quiet, handmaid," Cora said when Dream motioned for Johanna to be quiet, Dream feared the worse for her.
David pulled out his pistol when Regina scoffed at him, watching him aim at Cora. "Mother, watch out!" Regina warned when Cora used her magic to cause the gun to fly out of his hand. "Leave me, Snow--" Johanna tried to say before wincing in pain as Regina squeezed her glowing heart.
"Enough of this. Surrender the dagger. We all know you will follow your mother's example, no matter the cost. All she ever wanted was for you to be good." Cora smirked, looking at Mary Margaret, who furrowed her brows. "Those words? Where did you hear those words?" She asked Cora, remembering hearing those words from the Blue Fairy as a little girl. "Where do you think?" Cora smirked while the others were confused.
"The Blue Fairy made me swear never to speak of that candle again. Not because it was a secret... but because it wasn't her." Mary Margaret said when Cora lifted her hand up.
"The dagger, dear?" Cora said to Mary Margaret.
"She didn't give me that candle. You did... My mother wasn't sick at all, was she?" Mary Margaret asked, looking between Cora and Regina. "Oh, she was quite sick." Cora chuckled, knowing that she was the one who poisoned Queen Eva. "You did all of this. You killed my mother." Mary Margaret exclaimed, started to tear up when Dream and Regina looked at Cora, confused.
"Actually, the candle would have worked. You could have saved her." Cora smirked, correcting Mary Margaret.
"But you knew I wouldn't. Why? Why did you take her from me?"
"To make my daughter the queen." Cora shrugged as if it was nothing, making Regina look at her mother, shocked, but quickly shook off the questions when she turned back to the Charmings. "Hand over the dagger," Regina demanded.
"No. No. I will not let you win. Not again!" Mary Margaret said to the two of them, sounding hurt and angry, while she fought back tears. "You've already lost your mother. How many connections to her do you have left? Not many, I'd wager." Cora continued, glancing at Johanna.
"If we give up the dagger, we can still win," David said, but Mary Margaret held her hand up, unsure what to do.
"Let me go, Snow! It's all right--" Johanna tried to reassure, but she stopped, wincing in pain as Regina squeezed her heart again. "What would she say if she could see you now? If she wasn't dead?" Cora asked when Dream watched her mother crushing Johanna's heart. "The dagger, dear," Cora said when Dream's eyes teared up.
"Mary Margaret, just give it up." Dream said when she looked at the interaction in horror.
Mary Margaret dropped to her knees when she threw the dagger onto the ground. "Enough!" She cried when Regina saw the horror in Dream's eyes when she stopped squeezing Johanna's heart. Cora lifted up her hand, causing the dagger to fly up into her hand. "Such a good girl," Cora smirked, looking at Snow.
"You have what you came for." Dream said when she looked at her grandmother.
Regina looked at her mother when Cora nodded, indicating to give Johanna her heart back. Mary Margaret got up when Johanna walked over to them. "I'm so sorry." Dream mouthed when she looked at David, who gave a sympathetic look.
"Not quite everything," Cora said, waving her hand up, sending Johanna through the clock, making her crash on the ground. David and Mary Margaret rushed to the window, seeing her body on the ground when Dream started to tear up, while Regina moved to hug her daughter to comfort her. David held Mary Margaret, who started to cry.
"Stop crying," Cora whispered to Dream, making the girl stop crying immediately when she wiped her cheeks.
"Well, there you go. You see where good gets you?" Regina said to them before the three of them vanished in purple smoke, leaving the Charmings.
~season 2, episode 15: "The Queen is Dead"~
~1128 words~