AUTHOR'S NOTE: Gif is of what Sage looked like in the flashback. Chapter not edited.
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CHAPTER SIX; LIKE THE HERB
"I don't know if I can do this. I'm not a very good liar." Aurora claimed as she followed Mulan and the others through the trail. The next morning had approached quickly, leaving Sage fully satisfied with the amount of sleep she got. They were all headed back to the their apparent Safe Haven with Mulan in the lead.
"Oh, it's not really a lie, Aurora." Mary Margaret shrugged as she explained. "Lancelot did die an honorable death, and Cora did escape. All true. Just leave the particulars to us."
"There's no reason to cause unnecessary panic amongst your people." Sage added, getting a tad bit irritated that Aurora wasn't cooperating with them.
"I'm not so sure it's unnecessary-"
"Wait!" Mulan interrupted, holding up a hand to stop the group. Everyone's attention turned to the empty tower a head. "The tower - we always have sentries guarding the entrance." She pulled out her sword, cautiously stepping forward. "Stay close."
Once they arrived at the Haven, it was clear about was happened. Lifeless, dead bodies were piled and scattered across the area. Houses and small buildings were destroyed while smoke faded into the air around them. Everyone was deceased, not one survivor.
"Oh my God." Emma whispered, disgusted by the callous deaths around her.
The five girls walked around the area, trying to find any movement of life. Mulan shook her head in denial. "This can't be... our land... we were protected here - hidden. How did the ogres find us?"
Sage glanced down at some of the bodies that were near her. The only wounds on their body were in their heart area. "Ogres didn't do this. Cora did. Their hearts-" She paused, horrfied at the thought of innocent people suffering at the hands of that wicked witch. "They were ripped out. This is her magic, twisted and evil."
"We have too stop her!"
"Too late." Mulan's throat tightened, sadness washing over her face. "She killed them. She killed them all."
"Well, we have to stop her before she hurts anyone else!" Snow exclaimed, refusing to let more people die. Her compassion was overruling the original quest of going home.
"Hey! Hey! Look!"
Everyone rushed over to Emma who was standing beside a bunch of toppled bodies. Underneath those bodies was a living person who was squirming, trying to get out. The girls tugged him out of the pile. With fear in his eyes, the man looked at the five girls. The man, who had a small bloody wound on his forehead, was extremely attractive in Sage's opinion although she had never seen him before.
"We're not going to hurt you." Sage reassured him, kneeling down to meet his eye level.
The mysterious man examined her, his chest heaving as he breathed heavily. "Thank you...thank you."
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Enchanted Forest ; Before Curse
Rumpelstiltskin aimlessly spun at his wheel while a young Regina stood near a table of potions. She stopped fumbling with the bottles, cupping her hands formally together as she spoke softly. "Are you ready to begin?"
"Oh, I've been ready." He stops moving the wheel. "The question is, are you?"
She nodded. "Yes, I am."
Rumple narrowed his large eyes at the witch. "Tell me why you're really here."
"For power-"
"Stop wasting my time!" He yelled abruptly, making the queen flinch at his tone of voice. "What is it you want? Come on. You've done all your soul searching. Now tell me."
Regina stepped up to him, her eyes wide with hope. "Can you teach me how to use magic to bring back the dead?"
Rumpelstiltskin laughed bitterly at the pathetic girl. "That's what this is about? The stable boy?"
"I want true happiness!"
"Then find it elsewhere, dearie." He declared, not wanting to hear the girl's pleading. He had tried to help Regina with the dark magic lying inside her but she continued to cling onto the past. "Magic can do much, but not that. Dead is dead."
Regina leaned against the table, her face revealing her true nature of dread and grief. "Then I am lost."
"And I've had my time wasted. I'm sorry but, uh, " He placed a hand on top of her's. "Transcending death is beyond even my reach."
"I thought nothing was beyond your reach?" A male voice said behind them. The two turned to see the two other people, Jefferson and Sage. Sage looked different from what she does today. Her brown hair was straight and her outfit was deemed appropriate for the Enchanted Forest. She wore a dark red cutlass blouse and skinny leather pants with knee-high boots. Her eyes seemed a dark shade of brown, reflecting the small bits of darkness swirling around in her beating heart. "Busy! Should we-"
"No, no. Nothing important going on here." Rumple dismissed her, suddenly turning cheering once he saw his two workers. Regina attempted to gain his attention once more until he silenced her again. "Ignore her."
They moved away from Regina to another table. Jefferson pulled out the medium-sized crystal ball from his messenger's bag and held it in front of the Dark One. "We got what you wanted."
Rumpelstiltskin fidgeted his fingers and analyzed the ball. "Where are the slippers?"
"Oh. We couldn't find 'em. Heard talk they've already been moved to another land." Jefferson calmly explained, still holding out the ball in front of him and Sage.
"That's what I needed to get to that other land."
Sage didn't see the big deal out of this. If Rumple wanted the slippers so bad, they could easily get it. "Well, come with us in Jeff's hat. I'm sure we can all work something out."
"No, no." He rejected the idea, making both Sage and Jeff roll their eyes in annoyance. "Your hat only transports between magical realms. I need to get to a land without magic."
Jefferson's face twisted in confusion. "Why would anyone want that?"
"My business."
"You want the ball or not?" He questioned, pursing his lips.
"Mm... Yes. Help yourself to as much gold as you deem appropriate." The Dark One finalized, grabbing the ball. Both thieves nodded their heads once, grinning before walking over the pile of gold while Rumple went over back to Regina. "Oh, and you. You can let yourself out. Our work is done."
Whilst Jeff and Sage were stuffing a majority of the gold into their bags, Sage couldn't help but listen in on Regina and Rumple's conversation. Rumpelstiltskin had planned the entire event out; in order for Regina to fully give into her dark magic, she needed to let go of the past a.k.a Daniel, her dead lover. Jefferson and Sage were just helping him in his plan. "Are you sure this is going to work?" Sage lowly asked to her best friend.
"Don't be so doubtful. We'll persuade her." He winked at Sage, grinning as a mischievous gleam found its way into his eyes. In return, Sage smirked wickedly before zipping up her bag.
Once Rumpelstiltskin stopped their conversation, leaving Regina speechless and disappointed, both Jeff and Sage sneaked up behind her. "Pardon us for eavesdropping!" Jeff announced loudly, causing the young queen to gasp in shock and face the two. "But we were just thinking that you need to look elsewhere for assistance."
"What do you know about it?"
"We hear things." Jefferson answered, making Regina look at the two in disbelief. He introduced himself, popping his collar up. "Jefferson's the name, and this is my lovely partner in crime Sage. We are two people who travel and sees much. And we know the man who can do what you want - bring back the dead. He's, um, you might say, a wizard. We can bring him to you."
Sage kept thinking in her head that Jefferson's innocent act wasn't going to hold up but the queen was so naive and desperate that she looked past Jeff's bad acting facade. The queen, Regina, cautiously tilted her head at them. "At what price?"
"Always a price, indeed-"
Sage cut him off, smiling with fake sweetness. "So here's ours. Like Jeff said, we travel and we've made enemies along the way and we'd like a royal passport so both of us can have free reign to traverse your kingdom."
Regina's lip curled. "How would I do that?"
"Well, you're the queen, right?" Jeff questioned, trying to tempt her. Sage felt the urge to give him a high-five at that one.
Finally, Regina realized the potential in the deal the two were offering her and smiled widely. "That's right, I am. And this wizard... can he really bring someone back from the dead?"
"If he can't do it, no one can."
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The red rag that was held in Sage's hand was drenched into the water inside a wooden bowl. She grabbed both ends of the cloth and twisted it, letting the water drain. Her and the mysterious survivor were seated at a wooden table, sitting on benches. She was facing the male stranger, who was looking distraught while staring at the ground.
She cleared her throat, gaining his attention. Once he looked at her, Sage lifted up the wet rag. "This may hurt a bit."
While Sage dabbed the wound, cleaning the blood around it, the man looked at her with intriguing gazes. "W-What's your name?"
"Sage." She answered, more focused on the small wound then his talking.
"Sage." The man repeated, smiling a tad bit. "Like the healing herb."
The brunette chuckled, finally lowering her eyes to meet his. "Yes, like the herb. No one ever guesses that."
Soon enough, Mulan and Emma returned from the river. They seemed to be in a deep conversation about something until arriving at the table everyone as at. Emma handed the stranger a wooden cup of water. "I can't thank you enough for your kindness. Fortune, it seems, has seen fit to show me favor." The stranger said with gratitude.
"An island full of corpses. You're the only one to escape. How exactly did that happen?" Sage watched as the blonde narrowed her eyes, her voice laced with suspicion. From all the months that Sage and Emma had been friends, she had always trusted Emma's special skill as she calls it, when it came to figuring out if someone was lying or not.
Fear swarmed into the man's eyes as his voice was cracked as he explained what had happened. "She attacked at night - slaughtered everyone in one fell swoop. When she started ripping out people's hearts, I hid under the bodies of those who had already been killed. Pretended to be dead myself. Mercifully, the ruse worked."
"So much for fortune favoring the brave." Sage muttered under her breath.
The man looked back at her. "It was all I could do to survive."
Emma leaned down and rested her arms on the table, speaking in a hush tone. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I'm pretty good at knowing when someone is lying to me."
His eyes widened. "I'm telling you the truth."
After that, Sage followed Emma's lead and stood up. "We should leave here in case Cora decides to come back." Mulan suggested.
"We should start searching for a new portal back to Storybrooke." Snow smiled to herself. "I only got about five minutes with my husband, not to mention my grandson."
The man rose his eyebrows, surprised. "You have a grandson?"
Sage glanced back over to Emma, who nodded at her and mouthed the words "lying". The brunette nodded in response, trusting Emma's instinct. As Sage walked behind the man, he begin to talk. "Well, I know this land well. I can guide you."
As quickly as possible, Sage drew her dagger, that was in her back-pocket, was held it against the man's throat. She roughly grabbed the man's black hair and tugged on it, leaning his hand back. "You're not going to guide us anywhere, until you tell us who you really are." She threatened, not letting nobody get in their way to get back to Storybrooke.
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Hook and Sage met, I repeat they met! There were also flashbacks of Jefferson and Sage and more will come in the next chapter! I am so loving Dark Sage and how she was in the Enchanted Forest, before the curse happened. Y'all will really see the more "villain" side to Sage which I will love. I just started season four and I plan on finishing it before season five starts hopefully. Season Two, I feel like, it going to be a real bitch to write considering Hook is mainly portrayed as the villain and how the episodes are filmed. Like I said before, some episodes will be SKIPPED. By the way, the Gif is Sage before the curse a.k.a as the Hatter.