CHAPTER TWO —
( Endless power with our love, we can devour )

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        With her platinum blonde locks cascading down her back and a giant smile gracing the seven-year-old's pale face, young Cordelia ran through the field outside her mother's home. She was filled with glee as she chased a small black bird that easily outran the girl. Cordelia giggled, her tiny legs trying to keep up with the bird. She finally stopped and huffed, panting as she watched the bird fly off through the trees.

"And just like that, you give up?" A voice questioned from behind the girl.

Cordelia's head spun around and she made eye contact with her mother, Maleficent's eyes; grey on blue and her smile immediately dropped. "Birds can fly away, mother, whereas I cannot," the girl simply responded.

Maleficent scoffed and adjusted her dress. "If only I could."

Cordelia tilted her small head, her eyes glistening. "What do you mean?"

Maleficent looked her daughter up and down, a look of distaste on her face as she took in the sight of her daughter. She wanted a fierce and strong child who could rule the Enchanted Forest and would have everyone tremble at the mere mention of her name – not one that was pure, soft, and kind, and loved to play with birds. This was not the child she had hoped for.

"Come here, child," Maleficent commanded. Cordelia slowly walked up to her mother in fear. The woman quickly gripped her child's bicep, making her squirm. "We're going to go speak with a man, Cordelia. One that I've told you about many times before."

"Who's that?"

Maleficent smirked, and her blue eyes showed no signs of love or affection for her child before her. "The Dark One; Rumplestiltskin, I summon thee."

When the name was spoken, a man with scaly skin, amber-coloured eyes, and brown curly hair appeared beside them, giggling immediately. "Now, who calls upon me at this time?" he asked, a wide smile on his face that showed off his yellow teeth. It wasn't a pleasant smile but one that made little Cordelia's eyes widen in horror and fear.

Maleficent straightened herself up, her grip on her daughter's arm not loosening. "My name is Maleficent," the blonde-haired woman spoke in a firm voice. "And I have a deal for you, Rumplestiltskin."

Rumplestiltskin's smile remained unwavering as he pointed a finger toward Cordelia, his gaze fixed on Maleficent. "And who is that with you?"

Maleficent faulted, a frown gracing her features until she remembered who she was speaking to. "This is Cordelia, my...daughter."

Rumplestiltskin finally looked down at the small child, whose eyes lit up as she stared at her mother. Her mother rarely called her daughter or even acknowledged the relationship the two shared. She smiled, and Rumplestiltskin smiled as well. "My, my, have I been waiting for you."

Maleficent was taken aback by his words and frowned. "Pardon?" Rumplestilskin didn't listen to her and instead walked up to Cordelia. He stared down at the child, who turned her gaze upwards and stared at him with her wide, innocent doe eyes. He grinned at her, but Cordelia just frowned at the look he was giving her as if she was someone special and important. "I'm sorry, but I called your name to make a deal with you, not so that you could take an interest in this child."

But Rumplestiltskin waved the woman off. He was more interested in someone else and the person they were destined to become. "I'll give you whatever you want, dearie. Just give me your child."

Cordelia's eyes widened in an instant, panic all over her face. "What?"

"Done," Maleficent responded instantly, and Rumplestiltskin giggled in glee and clapped his hands together. "I want to be powerful. I want to be one of the realm's most powerful people."

"Easy." Rumplestilskin pulled out a relatively long contract and a quill, which Maleficent didn't hesitate to take from his hand.

Mother, you can't do this," Cordelia said, her eyes glistening with tears as Maleficent let go of her arm and began to sign the contract. "Mother, no."

Maleficent gave a dry chuckle as she quickly scribbled her signature on the parchment. "Like this was a hard decision anyway," she said. She pulled away from the contract, and Rumplestiltskin took it back and made it disappear into thin air. Then, he clicked his fingers, and bright green smoke surrounded Maleficent, causing the woman's eyes to briefly turn gold as a wave of power surged through her body. Cordelia watched in horror as her mother took in all of the power Rumplestilskin had given her before the smoke disappeared, and Maleficent was left with a staff in her hand. She turned to face Cordelia, an evil grin on her face. "It's not like I ever loved you in the first place."

Maleficent turned around and began to walk away from Cordelia, whose arm was gripped by the man who had given her mother a great deal of power. "Mommy..." Cordelia said softly, tears slowly falling down her cheeks as she watched Maleficent stalk off into the woods and away from her daughter.

"Don't worry about her, dearie," Rumpelstiltskin said, placing a hand on Cordelia's back. "I may have given her that power, but you are certainly stronger than she'll ever be."

Cordelia didn't believe a word he said as she looked down and closed her eyes. Her platinum blonde locks dropped in front of her face. Then, the Dark One transported them back to his castle, where Cordelia was destined to live for the remainder of her days.

Luna Edwards never mentioned her eerily realistic dream of being Maleficent's daughter to anyone, especially not to her daughter, Daisy, knowing that Daisy would instantly link the dream to Luna's supposed former life. The next day, the clocktower's clock, which had never worked before, suddenly began ticking again right after Luna dropped off Emma at Granny. Emma decided to stick around to ensure Henry was safe, especially under Regina's protection. But this didn't sit well with the Mayor, and now the two mothers of Henry Mills were at odds, each trying to gain the upper hand.

Emma decided to go along with Henry and Daisy's fantasy that all the stories in the book "Once Upon A Time" were real so she could get closer to her son. They started an operation to rid the town of the curse it was under, naming it Operation Cobra. Only the three of them were involved—Luna Edwards and Mary Margaret were the only ones outside of the operation who knew about the group. Luna was Daisy's mother, and Emma stayed in Mary Margaret's flat.

Luna was worried for her daughter. While she always encouraged Daisy to have an active imagination and to believe in fairy tales and stories from the moment she was born, she didn't want her daughter to get into trouble by running around town telling everyone that they were all under a curse and were secretly fairy tale creatures. So, she met Emma and Mary Margaret at the latter's flat to form a plan to get the two children to stop believing in the curse without telling them. The plan was to follow through with Operation Cobra's plan of getting Mary Margaret, who the children thought was Snow White, to read the "Once Upon A Time" book to a male hospital coma patient, who was apparently Prince Charming, to see if he would wake up from his coma and remember Mary Margaret. Then, when the plan failed, the children would stop thinking the town was under a curse and believe that the story was just that: a story.

Daisy and Luna sat in a booth with Emma and Henry the next day, sipping on their drinks while waiting for Mary Margaret to arrive. Emma smiled as she watched Henry and Daisy interact, which Luna instantly noticed.

"I haven't seen that yet," Luna commented lightly after sipping her coffee.

Emma's gaze turned to Luna, and her smile was replaced with a frown. "Seen what?"

"You smile," Luna said with a chuckle, and Emm looked down bashfully. "It's nice."

"Thank you." Luna nodded and smiled at Emma before looking over at their children. "How long have they been friends?"

"Just this year," Luna responded. "When Henry moved into Daisy's class, the two hit it off instantly as friends. It was such a relief and made me happy because Daisy didn't have many friends before Henry, especially ones who shared her bright imagination." Luna noticed Emma's gaze shift towards her son with a slight smile. "He's a good kid. He was brought up well."

"Just not by a nice person as I hoped he'd be."

The bell above Granny's door chimed, catching Luna's attention. She watched as Mary Margaret entered the diner. "She's here," Luna exclaimed.

Emma and Henry turned to look and motioned for the teacher to join them. Luna and Daisy moved over to make room for her to sit beside them. Emma cautioned Henry and Daisy, "Hey, don't get too excited. We're just getting started, okay?"

Mary Margaret sat down beside Luna and gave her a smile, which the brunette returned. Emma gave Mary Margaret a look, as if to tell her to break it down easily to them, but she didn't expect her to say, "He woke up."

Luna frowned instantly. "What?" Emma asked.

Henry grinned at Daisy. "I knew it."

"You were right," she grinned back.

"How is that possible? He's been in a coma for as long as I can remember," Luna said.

"I mean, he didn't 'wake up' wake up, but he grabbed my hand."

"He's remembering," Henry said.

"What did the doctor say?" Emma asked.

"That I imagined it," Mary Margaret said. "But I'm not crazy; I know it happened."

"We have to go back," Daisy quickly said.

"And you have to read to him again," Henry said.

There was a pause before Mary Margaret nodded. "Let's go."

The children left the booth, and Mary Margaret, Emma, and Luna followed in disbelief. "Wait, what?" Emma questioned the woman, grabbing her arm to stop her from running after them. Luna stood beside her with her eyes downcast and her arms crossed over her chest, deep in thought and trying to figure things out. A part of her wants to read the book her daughter and Henry are obsessed with to see what the big deal is about. Another part wants her daughter to let go of the fairy tales she believes are accurate, the idea that everyone in Storybrooke is under a curse. The last part, a deep part within her, is telling her that everything was real--that she was, in fact, the Dragon Queen and was under a curse that made her forget everything from her past life.

Mary Margaret turned around to face the two women. "If I got through to him if we made a connection..."

"You don't believe—"

"That's he's Prince Charming? Of course not," she chuckled. "Somehow, someway, I touched him."

"I gotta get to work," Luna suddenly told them, looking up to catch their gaze. "Look after Daisy for me. And call me and tell me how it goes." Then she walked past them and out the door.

-ˋˏ ༻♥༺ ˎˊ-

Luna decided to skip work that day and instead returned to her apartment to clean and clear her mind from the fanciful idea she had of being a character from a fairy tale. While she washed the previous day's dishes, she hummed along to the soft background music. Soon enough, a knock on the door instantly reminded Luna of the book and fairy tales. Upon opening the door, Luna found Regina, accompanied by Daisy and Henry, on the other side. Luna looked down at the children and then back up at Regina, realising the apparent Evil Queen had caught them.

"Hey, Regina. What's up?" Luna asked with a frown.

Instantly, Regina frowned back. "What's up with you? Why aren't you your usual chirpy self?" Luna opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by Regina. "Never mind. So, guess where our children weren't? The arcade. They were at the hospital with Emma Swan and Mary Margaret, showing an interest in one of its patients. Did you know about this?"

"No," Luna replied slowly and then looked down at Daisy. She let out a long sigh and shook her head. "Thank you, Regina, for bringing her to me."

"No problem," she replied as Daisy walked through the door. "I know it's not your fault anyway." Luna nodded and watched as Daisy walked further into the apartment. "I hope we don't have to meet under these circumstances again, Luna. Have a good afternoon."

Luna turned back to Regina and smiled. "Thank you, and you too." Regina and Henry turned around and walked away and Luna shut the door behind them. "I thought you weren't meant to get caught while doing business for operation cobra?"

"He walked out," Daisy said. Luna turned around with a frown, but it dropped instantly when she noticed the book her daughter was taking out of her bag. "Prince Charming woke up and walked out of the hospital."

Luna pointed at the book. "What's that?"

"It's the book!" the girl grinned and placed it on the kitchen bench. "Henry and I thought you should read it to try and get your memories back. We've both read it several times and are still unclear about who I am in the story. If you read your story, you might remember who you are and who I am!"

Luna pursed her lips as she approached her daughter and the book, then looked down at it. "Perhaps. Maybe. I am usually quite busy, as you know."

"Yeah, I know. That's why Henry said we can have it for as long as you want," Daisy chirped. "Emma has read it, Mary Margaret has read parts of it, and now it's your turn!"

Luna looked down at the book before looking at Daisy, smiling and ruffling her hair. "Thank you, my little flower. Of course, I'll read it."

"Yay!" Daisy hugged her mother, and Luna returned it with a soft smile. "Thank you so much for believing!" Luna gently rubbed her daughter's back, wearing an uneasy smile. She knew she was only leading her daughter on, inevitably breaking her heart.

AUTHORS NOTE
Re-watching the series has reminded me how much Emma and the Charmings annoyed me when it came to taking care of Henry and deciding where he should live. They had no right to take Henry away from Regina and make decisions about his life without even consulting her. It's frustrating to watch them do things like taking him to New York without asking Regina. I just want to smack them all.
Pheebs/-rosepetal