juliet •peter pan•

EIGHTY-EIGHT

THE ENCHANTED FOREST

In the months that followed the revelation that Juliet was Zelena's child, the young redhead was wary. She knew that nobody blamed her for her mother's actions, but she still felt like she was walking on eggshells around everyone. Like the smallest mistake on her end would result in the entire group thinking she was practically her mother.

The only one who seemed to understand what Juliet was going through was Regina. Sure, Regina might have ignored Juliet for a few hours after the revelation, but then she realized that Juliet had nothing to do with the fact that Zelena wanted to destroy her.

About a month after the incident, Juliet was in Regina's castle with Regina, Mary Margaret, David, and the whole gang.

"You've gathered the entire kingdom for this?" Regina asked. "There's a Wicked Witch out there, just waiting to pounce, and pretending otherwise would be dangerous." Juliet looked at the ground. She knew people were looking at her.

"There's nothing dangerous about rallying our people." David argued. Regina scoffed.

"You're announcing you're pregnant. It's not like you invented the wheel." Juliet chuckled softly. She heard footsteps and turned her head to see a hooded figure walk into the room.

"What's this?" David asked. The figure took off the hood, revealing it to be Belle. Tears filled her eyes and she looked distressed. Juliet folded her arms.

"Belle!" Mary Margaret exclaimed.

"Are you okay? When you and Neal disappeared, we feared the worst." Belle sighed.

"We went off to see if we could revive the Dark One." She looked at Regina.

"What happened?"

"Neal was able to resurrect him." Belle explained. "At the cost of his own life." Juliet's stomach dropped. Neal had been one of her best friends.

"Rumple's alive." Regina muttered.

"Neal's dead?" Mary Margaret asked. Belle nodded.

"I think so." Regina raised an eyebrow.

"To which?"

"Both?" Belle answered. Juliet was confused. "You see, when Rumple saw that Neal was dying, he... absorbed him." She sighed. "And, um... Zelena got ahold of the dagger. Now she controls Rumple." Juliet buried her face in her hands. Of course this had to do with her mother. Beside her, she heard Aurora's voice.

"Maybe now isn't the time to announce the pregnancy." She advised. "Regina is right. It's too dangerous." Mary Margaret shook her head.

"No! If we don't, we give in to fear. But if we do, we give the kingdom what they need. Hope." She looked over at Juliet. "Maybe you could reason with her." Juliet scoffed.

"Yeah, that's not happening. Even if I tried, it wouldn't work. She didn't listen to me before the curse, and she won't listen to me now." David sighed.

"We don't even know what this Wicked Witch wants."

"Actually we do." Aurora responded. All eyes turned to her. "She wants your baby." Mary Margaret's eyes widened.

"She came to us while you were gone." Phillip explained. "Threatened us and our unborn child unless we told her when you arrived in our land."

"She thinks your baby could be important. I'm so sorry. She said she'd hurt us." Aurora apologized. Juliet sighed, shaking her head.

All of a sudden, they heard a sound. The group turned around to see Zelena flying in on a broom. Regina instinctively pushed Juliet behind her.

"And I make good on my promises." She declared. She waved her hand, and the two were engulfed in green smoke, turning them into monkeys. The two monkeys immediately flew away, not wanting to be a part of this. Mary Margaret stepped forward.

"What do you want with our baby?" She asked.

"Calm down, sweetie." Zelena dodged the question. "You don't want to go into early labor." She waved her hand, and Mary Margaret froze. David unsheathed his sword.

"Stay away from my wife." He warned, but Zelena froze him too.

"Ooh! Someone's testy." She taunted, turning her eyes to her two relatives.

"Enough, sis." Regina walked toward Zelena. "This is between you and me." Her plan was foiled by Zelena freezing her as well. Juliet gulped. She jumped in front of Mary Margaret. Zelena seemed surprised by this.

"Juliet, darling, get out of the way. I don't want to hurt you." The girl shook her head. Zelena sighed. "Alright, then." She froze Juliet too, stepping around her to get to Mary Margaret. "Now, let's see if this was all worth it." She brought her hand up to rest on Mary Margaret's baby bump. "Oh, yes. Yes it was. This child shall do quite nicely. So take good care of it for me, don't forget to eat well. I will be back for your happy day. And what's yours will be mine."

With that, she walked away chuckling. As soon as she was gone, everyone unfroze. Juliet immediately ran to the railing, watching her mother fly away.

Eight months later, they all were gathered at the table. Grumpy had just entered the room with news.

"Grumpy, tell me you found something." David pleaded, to which the dwarf shook his head.

"I've been to Blue, Tink, all the fairies. They've been scouring the forest for enchanted items to destroy her, but they got zilch. They say she's just too powerful." David sighed, sitting down.

"It's happening again." Mary Margaret muttered. "I'm about to give birth, and an evil sorceress is threatening the future of my child." Regina sighed.

"To be fair, the first time I was threatening you. Everyone else became collateral damage." Grumpy scoffed.

"Remind me again why we forgave her?" Juliet rolled her eyes.

"Because I'm helping." Regina replied. "Frustrating as it is for me to remember, Snow, you had a head start to defeat me last time. How?"

"We were warned by Rumplestiltskin." Mary Margaret and David answered. Regina shrugged.

"Well, maybe he can warn you again." Juliet leaned back in her chair. Was Regina really proposing they broke into Rumple's castle?

"You wanna sneak into Rumple's castle where he's being held captive by the Wicked Witch?" David nodded. "Name's Grumpy, not stupid."

"You're right." Mary Margaret chimed in. "It is stupid, but for our child."

"We'll do whatever it takes." David finished her thought. Regina sighed.

"Heartwarming. He's trapped in his own castle. Belle, you were prisoner there." Belle nodded.

"Yes, but breaking in? I would have no idea how."

"Luckily I do." Robin Hood spoke up. "I broke in there once before." Regina chuckled in disbelief.

"Why are we even listening to him? He's a thief, which means he's not to be trusted. What are you even still doing here?" Robin sighed.

"What I'm doing here is saving your ass." He responded. "The castle has traps. And deadly ones."

"Not more deadly than my magic." Regina gloated.

"They are if you don't see them coming." Robin argued.

"Well maybe I'm okay with taking my chances." It seemed that everyone else at the table was getting fed up with this, so Mary Margaret spoke up.

"All right, you may be, but we're not. He's coming." She announced. Regina sighed, frowning. Robin looked at her with a smirk.

sorry I took so long in updating this. I had spring break, and then classes starting back up, so I had to get back into the flow of things before writing this chapter. I will try to update regularly from here on, so stay tuned!