Finding You Always

Bad Connection

Chapter 96: Bad Connection

Cruella huffed and paced around the cabin.

"I can't believe this. Six months in the lap of luxury and here I am back in the damn woods!" she complained. Ursula rolled her eyes.

"So exactly where do you plan to get the magic we need to fill the hat?" the sea witch asked.

"The convent is full of fairies. They'll make an excellent addition to start. But we could really use someone with true love's magic flowing through their veins," Rumple said, as he waved his hand over the looking glass to observe various parts of town.

"Ugh...a convent. How dreadful," Cruella commented.

"So we need the Savior. If she's as powerful as you say, how are we going to get to her? Especially with those two idiots always hovering around," Ursula asked.

"We may not need the Savior...at least not yet. There is a more convenient target available," Gold said, as they spied Leo Nolan alone, driving home in his father's truck.

"Oh...that must be chisel chin junior," Cruella purred.

"Yes...also a product of true love. You want something to do, Cruella? I think this might be perfect for you," he said.

They sat in the living room, as Eva passed out the coffee.

"Thank you dear and may I say, you are as lovely as your Mother," he told her. She nodded and smiled at the elderly man.

"It warms my heart to know, that despite all my failures, that you have regained your happiness, Princess Snow," he said graciously.

"We were lucky. Fate smiled on us and somehow, Charming ended up outside the curse. It allowed Emma to find him when she was still a child," Snow said.

"I can tell you for certain that it was not fate that smiled upon you, but Merlin himself," the Sorcerer revealed. Snow and Charming exchanged a glance.

"Then it was him..." Emma recalled.

"Yes...the man that appeared to you when you just five years old and gave you the book was none other than the greatest Sorcerer ever to live himself," the apprentice regaled.

"I'm not sure I understand. What did we do to gain his favor?" Charming asked. The Apprentice smiled thinly.

"The Goddess Aphrodite chose the pair of you, because you have the most powerful love to exist in over a millennium. Merlin is not often impressed by mortals, but by a pair that creates light magic between them? He found himself quite intrigued, indeed," the apprentice said.

"When you made the heartbreaking choice to give your daughter up to save the Kingdom...Merlin decided to reward you and as a result, he nurtured Emma's belief from a very young age and set her on the path to find you much sooner than the Dark One predicted," he continued.

"His faith in you both and Emma was not misplaced. However, it was quite in me. I am afraid I have failed yet again," he finished regrettably.

"You mean the hat. They have it," Snow said. He nodded.

"Yes, but I am afraid it is much worse than that," he stated.

"Before they used my wand to create a doorway to this world, the three of them traveled to Bald Mountain," the apprentice replied.

"Wait...three of them? We only saw Ursula and Cruella," Charming said.

"Zelena was with them too. They needed her power to operate my wand and open the hat. The other two aren't powerful enough for that," the apprentice revealed.