Once Upon A Time: Goldilocks comes to Storybrooke

Chapter 36 (flashback)

Three weeks had passed since Cruella had found her way to Goldilocks's cottage, and sixteen year old Merida was out in the forest. She had spent the previous morning making her own archery targets and nailing them onto different trees to practice on.

Merida slipped through the forest, shooting arrows, hiding behind trees and dodging low branches.

She didn't come across any animals, or anything dangerous. She came across something a lot worse.

Well, someone.

Merida was almost out of arrows, so she sat down by a huge tree and closed her eyes for a moment, but they snapped open as soon as she heard a cracking noise, like a twig snapping.

Merida stood up and loaded one of her last arrows into her bow.

"Show yourself!" She called in her strong Scottish accent, pointing her arrow in the direction of the sound

"It's only me," Cruella's thin face appeared from behind a tree, and she stooped under a low tree branch to come out of her hiding place, her brown fur getting caught in a branch.

Merida lowered her bow. "Cruella," she said, uninviting. "You startled me."

"Oh, sorry darling," Cruella pulled her coat free and removed a leaf out of the fur. But Cruella didn't sound sorry.

"Yeah, don't call me that," Merida shook her head.

"Oh sorry."

"You need to be more careful in these forests," Merida put the arrow back in the sheaf. "They are dangerous if you don't know your way around."

"Yes. But thankfully I do know my way around," Cruella looked at the trees around them. "Me and Roger used to come here a lot."

"Watch out," Merida pointed at Cruella. "Goldilocks may believe you, and trust you when you told her you were her aunt. But I don't trust you, Cruella. I never have, and never will."

Merida turned back to pick up her bow and sheaf of arrows. Cruella watched her for a few moments before speaking.

"You know, I've been searching for you for a long time, Merida."

"Oh you have, have you?" Merida asked absentmindedly, then she stopped, and turned around to face Cruella once she had fully registered Cruella's statement. "Wait, what?"

"Well, when I heard about the two cousins who bravely fought a bear and saved a whole town, you could just imagine how curious I was. But then I heard that they killed the bear, then I became more interested." Cruella began to circle around Merida. "I'm sure you have heard about my job, using animals skin to make coats. Bears have always been my favourite material. It's what this coat is made of." Cruella motioned to the coat she was wearing.

"So why have you been looking for me?" Merida raised an eyebrow.

"Well darling, I thought that nobody liked to kill bears. I thought they were the most loved creature in the whole of The Enchanted Forest! I figured that if no one else killed them, I should, because it would be unique, and no one would steal my idea!! Alas, you showed me wrong. When you killed that bear it made me realise that other people might catch on, and do the same. You practically ruined my life! So I'm going to ruin yours."

Cruella sharply waved her hand, and before Merida had time to think what was happening she began to grow in size. Her ginger hair was getting shorter, and turning brown, and so was the rest of her body. Horrified, Merida looked at her hands, but they were also growing, and her nails were coming longer, and pointed, and her palms flattening. Merida tried to scream, but all that came out of her mouth was a growl.

Cruella then snapped her fingers, and Merida's transformation had been complete. Cruella had turned Merida into a bear.

"Others will kill bears, one will bound to come for you, and I don't care how long it takes. I'm a very patient woman," Cruella grinned evily, and Merida looked up and growled.

"However," Cruella tilted her head to one side. "I do think you could become quite useful in the near future." Cruella waved her hand once more, and Merida the Bear was covered in a sheet of gold.

She was now a statue.

"Lovely," Cruella smiled, very pleased with herself. "Now to get rid of this ghastly thing." Cruella slipped off her bear fur coat and dropped it on the floor. "Now, how to tell Goldilocks what happened? Should I rush into it? Or should I act upset? Well, that doesn't matter right now. But now that killing bears is happening all over The Enchanted Forest, I need to find a new animal. An animal that no other human would want to kill, then they'd be all mine!" Cruella laughed evily, but stopped when she heard a barking sound.

Cruella turned her head, and spotted a small white dog running through the forest. As far as Cruella knew, no one else killed dogs. No one would copy her idea this time.

"Why hello there," Cruella's eyebrows narrowed as she grinned even more, before following the dog through the forest.