Everything Has Changed

Chapter 6 - I Heard Her Cryin'

Zelena had run to her mother. Gold knew who he was. He knew that he was Rumplestiltskin; he knew that they had cursed everyone; he knew how to break it. What was stopping him from running right to Regina? From waking her up and somehow getting her to break the curse? The more Zelena thought about it the more worried she became.

Cora had let her daughter explain what had happened, and she had even gasped at Gold's revelation. This wasn't something they had planned on. Not something that they had ever expected. Having him know was a chink in their armor. They couldn't control the game when one of the players wasn't going to play by the rules.

Cora paced back and forth in her den. There had to be something that she could do, something that would put that little imp back under their control, but what? The pair spent the entirety of the afternoon pouring through Cora's personal library of spell books, but they had come up empty handed again.

Darkness had fallen by the time that Zelena returned to her office that night, her mother in tow. It wasn't until then that she saw that her niece had been missing for the majority of the day. She looked down at her watch, 8:13. Mary Margaret had been gone a little over twelve hours now. She looked over at her mother, and wordlessly the two made their way out of the office and down the street. 8:14, they were going to have to try and help, or else raise more questions. Together they set off down the street, eyes sharp for any sign of her.

8:15. Zelena looked up at the clock tower as they passed by, 8:15, the same as always. She smiled to herself; some things never change, until...8:16. Click. Both women's faces whipped up to stare at the clock. It had moved. They stood there a full minute watching it, making sure it wasn't just some strange accident. 8:17. Click. The minute hand moved again.

Horror washed over Zelena's features as Cora breathed out a soft, "Impossible." Time had stood still for many countless years, never moving forward, no one ever aging, everything perfectly set. Until now. Something, someone, had caused the change.

The trip home was a quiet one. Neither girl spoke as Regina pulled into the driveway and they made their way up to the house. Mary Margaret was too worried about her father's reaction to what she had done, and Regina was still reeling from the pulse of energy that had ignited inside of her when she had touched the forest ranger. She got lost in the memory of his clear blue eyes. It seemed like he could see right through her, and she didn't know if she was frightened or relieved.

She didn't have much time to dwell on the thought though. Leo stormed through the door and headed for their daughter's room. She wasn't about to let him yell at her by himself, she didn't quite trust him not to express himself the way that he did with her. He had never raised a hand towards Mary Margaret, not even in punishment, but still, she wasn't about to risk it. She stood in the doorway of the girl's room and watched as her father lectured her on her actions of the day.

They had spent the majority of the day searching for the girl, and by the time that Leo got done yelling at her Mary Margaret chose to simply go to bed, claiming she wasn't hungry. They chose not to fight her, hoping that come morning she would have seen the error of her ways and that she would accept her punishment easily. Together the couple sat at the kitchen table trying to decide what to do.

"Leo?" He looked up at his wife, seeing for the first time in a long time, by the scared look in her eyes, just how young she really was.

"Yes?"

"What are we going to do?"

He rubbed his hand over his face and he met her eyes, "I don't know...what made her think this was in any way appropriate?"

Regina shrugged her shoulders, "I have no idea. She said something about wanting to read her book, and not having the time to really understand it if she was stuck in a miserable classroom all day."