Synopsis: Alternate Season Six. Storybrooke is visibly under threat once more from Hyde and the Evil Queen. However, not all threats are visible as an old forgotten foe has been manipulating events from behind the scenes. The very nature of darkness is revealed as everyone struggles with the most difficult beast of all – acceptance.
Note: It’s the final chapter!! Well, I say final but … there’s going to be at least five oneshots added to this verse. Plus this verse will be open to prompts, want to see something I didn’t cover – prompt 🙂 I’m going to write three of the planned oneshots this month, and post two of them before the premiere on the 25th. This Friday I’ll be posting Chapter Four of Painting Layers of Love. Enjoy!
On Tumblr: Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine,Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen
When
Rumplestiltskin stepped through the door, he didn’t know where in Storybrooke
it would have spawned. That it was by the well was unsurprising, that was the
source of magic in this town. That there was an audience to his arrival, which
included two versions of Regina,
was a surprise. He absently waved the wand, closing the doorway before placing
the wand back into his jacket pocket.“Well, well Regina, you have been
busy,” Rumplestiltskin smirked. “Jekyll gifted you his serum. That’s … a
mistake. If you thought the dark curse left a hole in your heart, that’s
nothing compared to actually splitting yourself. Why did you do it?”“I wanted a
fresh start,” Regina
told him defensively. She bristled. “I’m surprised you aren’t interested
yourself.”Thank goodness you didn’t let Rumpel accept Belle moving out. They’d never fix things living apart. That’s a bad habit of hers, running off. And thank goodness for the ‘no more heroes, no more villains’, and Rumpel’s realisation that magic isn’t inherently good or bad, it’s just how you use it. So simple, that’s probably why David got it first while Emma and Regina were all frowny trying to understand what he was saying, they’d bought into this convoluted dark/light magic stuff. And yay, you saved Dopey! I’m glad they’ve got Robyn/Ellie back, although what are they going to do with Zelena? Take her back to Oz? I like the idea of recreating Jefferson’s hat, although I thought the rule about same number in as out was a good one, magic should have rules and not be too easy. I’m happy to see Rumpel wanting a relationship with Henry; I hope you show that in one of your planned one-shots.
Heh yeah I’m afraid that’s a bit of a pet theory of mine that I couldn’t resist including. I very much believe that the world isn’t black and white, that nobody is all good or all bad etc. and so I don’t think magic can be carved up that way either. Perhaps it’s because I still tend to view all fantasy from a sci-fi perspective but magic is energy, so how can energy be good or evil? Surely it’s neutral and it’s just shaped by the user.
In my mind, the only reason why there is ‘dark’ or ‘light’ is because of what powers the magic – emotions, and some emotions lend themselves better to certain magic than others. It could also be said that some emotions are more powerful than others in certain people. For instance someone like Cora could do powerful magic with hate, because she could tap into that emotion easily. Her magic would be weaker with say love, because it wasn’t an emotion she was all that familiar with.
Then of course if you are submerging yourself in hate all the time to cast magic – that could twist you evil because stewing in that much negativity, would start to color your view of the world. Hence ‘dark magic’ being ‘evil’.
Erm sorry I think I went on a bit. Yeah I agree magic should have rules and shouldn’t be easy. However, the apprentices wand seems to make portals a doddle and if the hat had rules, nobody would want to use the hat and would be bothering Rumple all the time. I thought Rumple and Belle deserved some time to themselves 🙂
I briefly mentioned in He’s Behind You that Zelena is locked up. Regina goes to visit her because she is family, and Regina hasn’t completely given up hope on Zelena’s redemption one day. Yup there is definitely going to be a oneshot or two dealing with Rumple and Henry bonding and finally talking about Neal.
Thank you so much for all your comments on the chapters, I really appreciate it and I’m glad you enjoyed the fic!