Regina's Rose

Mind Your Business

"Some of us knew him as Archie, others as Jiminy. But we all knew him as a true friend." Snow says as I watch Archie's funeral from a far, not wanting to draw attention to myself. "And though he may now be gone, he will always live on inside of us, reminding us to be our best selves, to do the right thing, to always fight for what we believe in." She says, wiping a stray tear from her face. "So we shouldn't think of today as goodbye. Just as a way of saying, "Archie, we'll be listening."" Snow walks off and goes to cry in Charming's arms.

Geppetto walks up and places Archie's umbrella at the tombstone. He then says some kind words that I can't hear from where I am. I feel a tear run down my cheek then quickly wipe it away and continue to watch the funeral. Emma is standing next to Henry, she looks in my direction and as soon as she realizes it's me, I teleport myself back to my apartment.

I lay out on my couch tossing a ball toward the ceiling with my powers as I think of possible killers. Red's a wolf, she could have killed Archie without knowing.
No, it would have been messy.
Rumple's still a possibility.
But he wouldn't risk losing Belle to frame mother.
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What if Pongo changed how his memory was seen because he secretly hates my mother? THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!
I think and in my anger I throw the ball at the wall with my magic causing it to get embedded in the wall from how hard I threw it.

"Shit" I whisper to myself as I take the ball out the wall and patch it up with my magic. Suddenly I hear a knock on the door which causes me to stop what I'm doing. I inch toward the door and grab a pocket knife with my magic. If this person wants to kill me I don't what to cause a scene with my powers when I hurt them.

The person knocks again while I'm right on the other side of the door. I take a deep breath and swing open the door. My eyes meet a slightly scared Emma and I let out a breath of relief.

"Quartz, what the hell?!" She says as I put the pocket knife down.

"You forget Swan. There are a lot of people who want to kill me in this town because they think I'm evil." I say while slightly out of breath, now realizing how scared I was before.

"Yeah...well I saw you at the funeral and wanted to invite you to the reception."

"How'd you even know I was here.? I've been really quiet." I say trying to get answers.

"You were really quiet. Until about five minutes ago when I heard a loud bang come from next door. Everyone wanted to check it out but I decided it would be best if only I went." She says and I roll my eyes at my own stupidity.

"Sorry about that, I got pissed off so I threw something...with my magic...into a wall." I say slightly embarrassed at my temper tantrum.

"No worries, so do you want to come to the reception? It's just a door away and seeing you would make Henry feel a lot better." She says and I sigh in response.

"I'm sorry but everyone there cares for Archie and was close to him. I'm not gonna show up and put fear in their hearts and get ridiculed by people who think I was in on his murder." I say and Emma backs off in understanding.

"I'll see you around, Dani." Emma says as she heads out of my apartment.

"Emma wait..." I say and she turns around, hope evident on her face. "I'll stop by after to see Henry but right now, everyone deserves to have time to grieve with people they trust. I'm not one of those people." I say and Emma gives me a sad smile.

"Henry will be glad to see you." She says and I smile back.

"I feel the same way." I say, Emma nods and closes the door to my apartment.
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