Chapter Text
Regina Mills
After dropping Polaris back at the house with Henry under the stipulation that Henry would do his homework and Polaris finished his book I teleported to my vault before heading to the library, intending to make both Emma and Polaris Memory potions, but annoyingly enough some of the ingredients were pretty rare in the enchanted forest, but not in Oz so i could only make one potion while Zelena’s old stock had make enough for her and her demented monkeys to come across unscathed. I decided it was more important for Polaris to have the potion though, because Young Hook was definitely missing some memories, and even if it didn’t return his adult memories it would be better than just knowing the past few months of his life.
It was only while I was making the potion that the feeling i had felt in the woods with Robin returned, where the memories of the older Hook and Emma were being pulled from my mind. As soon as the potion was done I went to the library to tell the others what was happening.
As I entered I was glad to see that Charming, Belle, a couple of the fairies and others were already assembled in the room.
“Charming you said you might have something from Emma’s notes about what curse they are under?”
“From Emma’s notes I believe Emma, Killian and Gold are all under the same curse that we were under, Emma seemed to have an innate feeling of trust and love towards Snow and I, and then there was how Polaris acted towards Zelena at first, he had never met her and yet he knew to be wary and distrustful of her.”
“I nodded, thinking about his reaction and it had certainly made sense, although just thinking of Polaris and Hook made an unusual pain form in my abdomen.
“The person who is attacking us... they are stealing our memories of Emma and Hook as they used to be.... Not on my watch” The pain was almost making me fall over, but that wasn’t before I was able to lock all my memories of Emma and the pirate into the necklace I always wore so that the curse wouldn’t be able to take them away. I dimly recognised the hands of Belle and Robin helping me back onto a chair, while the others alternated between fussing over me and debating how to get a hold of maleficent to get the recipe to return Emma and Hook back to their original ages, everyone in the room was still alternating between what to do with Gold.
Speaking of which; I hadn’t seen him since this morning. Charming was supposed to have been finding him a new place to stay that was out of my house, but I realised, even though we were only losing memories of Emma and the pirate, Rumplestiltskin was without his modern memories, or even the fact that he was the current Dark One. If the part of him that was the Dark One was awakened without any kind of control switch to stop him he could do collateral damage to the town, not counting on whoever it was who was currently cursing us.
Very quickly the pain in my abdomen became too much to bear, but feeling the magic that was very clearly doing... something inside of me without my consent I felt like going to the hospital was not going to help me at all, so I asked Charming to take me back to my house as my magic was not answering me when i tried to use it, or more accurately it wasn’t doing what I told it to, for when I had tried to teleport myself before asking Charming’s help I may or may not have accidentally made multiple bookshelves explode all their books all over the floor.
As we pulled up outside my house the pain increased tenfold, and I had to lean upon Charming just to get into the house, and when I saw Henry and Polaris both looking so concerned and scared I hated it. They were both only young, although as soon as Polaris was close enough I pulled the memory potion from my pocket and told him to drink it, and within a few seconds, it was clear he was no longer just Polaris, but back to... whatever the pirate had really been like during his youth.
It seemed it was definitely a good idea giving him the memory potion however; because he immediately could recognise what this curse was, and when he explained it to me, my blood drained.
The very thing I had poisoned myself to not be able to have was nullified by a curse which was the reason everyone was losing their memories regarding the adult Emma and Hook. And even worse was his answer to what would happen if we tried to stop the curse. Although Henry had a brilliant idea on how to cope with the memory curse- simply read one of the authors books which was still being written so we could use that to remember Emma and Hook once this curse was over and... I would be an actual mother, to an actual child of my own flesh and blood.
Feeling more pain in my abdomen I briefly spaced out, not listening to what the boys were saying, and placing a hand over my abdomen, knowing that the pain was there because there was something growing inside of, I was surprised I could already feel a bump beneath my hand, even if it wasn’t particularly evident at that moment.
Feeling something pushing at your insides and watching it make your stomach growing before your eyes was both extremely painful and extremely weird, and by the time (I wasn’t exactly sure how much time had passed, just that it was hurting a lot by that point) David was leaving, I could fell my shirt was more than a little bit tighter, while it wasn’t the tightest shirt in existence, both my stomach and chest had both grown thanks to the magical pregnancy and were gaping in each area.
I dimly thought that I should check around the house for Rumpelstiltskin, but the pain from my stomach was more prevalent and important, so I decided to get this bit done first before sorting out Gold; he could wait till I wasn’t becoming the size of a house.
I was extremely glad for Killian and Henry’s help getting up the stairs, and while I wasn’t surprised (but it wasn’t nice to know I was getting so big so quickly) when I went to change two of the buttons on the blouse actually ended up coming out of their holes, opening around my stomach and breasts, which were making my bra seem extremely small on me when it had been properly fitted (for a normal day that was, one where who weren’t magically made pregnant by an unknown villain who for once was certainly not here on a vendetta with me.
I took off my clothes, finding the largest thing inside my wardrobe, knowing this curse was certainly going to go all the way to giving birth to the child (God, who was even going to be it’s father? I wasn’t even able to have children and yet one had been cursed, and from the way it was done it was impossible to be one of someone else’s child, meaning it was mine and someone else’s. I hoped that it was Robin’s, for then at least the father would be my true love and there wouldn’t be any problems over who looked after the child. I eventually found a large nightgown that I didn’t realise that I owned, and as I turned to the mirror to put it on, I got a glimpse at my stomach, which which still expanding at an extreme rate, but considering that I thought I would never have my own children after sterilising myself to spite my mother for everything that she did to me, I let myself admire the strange situation I was in.
Knowing the boys would be waiting for me though, I finished dressing and went over to the bed, quickly realising that walking was becoming more difficult with the added weight changing my balance and the pain of how fast it was going.
Not long after I was settled Henry called Whale to have him come over with some pain meds and be on stand by for whenever I exploded the child out of me (With how quickly the child was growing inside of me I knew giving birth to it was going to be painful and/ or explosive seeing as Zelena’s labour had been short and powerful just like her pregnancy). I sat talking to the boy pirate whilst we waited for the doctor to finally arrive, and I felt like between the times where the pain wasn’t overwhelming I was learning some interesting things. I was glad that Henry had told me the information of his brothers name however because I knew it would make him more at ease of his current situation, even if it was only temporary.
It was interesting hearing how he knew so much about the curse, and considering how small he was, I could see why the witch was more protective over them, and admired her for being kind to the woman who she was cursing, because it was the husband’s fault she hadn’t made her suffer too much because of him.
Not long after Killian finished his story, Whale finally arrived, and I could both see and feel how large my stomach was getting, occasionally it would have bursts of going faster, and I guessed it was because it was getting more memories to steal. The pain was getting worse, and even though Whale had given me the strongest pain meds he could whilst I was under the pregnancy curse, it was still painful. Henry told me of his day at school. Killian listened in intently, passing glances back to my growing stomach, and Whale kept checking both mine and the baby’s heart rate and breathing from the equipment he had with him, and I was happy when the spell started to slow down, becoming significantly less painful- although that happiness dispersed when Killian explained why.
The range of the curse had run out of people’s memories to steal, and it was designed to steal the memories of Emma and Hook from the entire town, meaning if we didn’t get moving the curse would instead start to kill me instead. I was glad when Whale called the ambulance, because if we were going to the hospital, we would pass through the centre of the town where most people would be, meaning I would grow even faster than I had previously probably and being in a car for that would not be comfortable, or even worse, giving birth on the way there which in a car would be an absolute nightmare.
As I predicted, just after we started moving, the curse started to speed up again, becoming faster and more painful than it already was before. Looking down I could only just see my feet still, the alien looking pregnancy belly still hazing my mind on how all this was happening in the first place. By the time we reached the hospital I was ready to explode, and I’d already started having contractions as we were pulling up.
I had to give the nurses and Doctors credit, they were already ready with a room and all the equipment they could need in whichever way this ended up happening. I wasn’t happy that Henry and Killian were left in the hallway, but at the same time I was glad they didn’t have to see me like this. A few contractions in Robin arrived, and he stayed with me the entire time, and eventually, it was all over.
Polaris
The Garden at the back of the house was Polaris’ favourite place once Henry showed it to him; more greenery than he had ever seen in one place, and so many colours, things Henry called “Flowers”. the other aspect he liked about it was how quiet and serene it was. The “Station” where the Lady Regina had had to leave him earlier was far too noisy for his liking, the loud beeps, or constant humming from their machines driving him crazy and scaring him.
The Lady Regina had left a few hours ago and had not yet returned, leaving Henry to do some work from his education, and I was free to investigate and explore (two new words which have quickly become his favourites) the house some more, as well as sorting all my new belongings that the Lady had kindly bought me. Finally ending up in the garden, he sat on a strange seat, made of the same material the handles on the mining axes were made of, but they had places to rest your arms and lean back against so that you could be comfortable.
Of course that comfort was greatly improved by the fact that all his wounds on his back had been cleaned and healed, both through magic and the other magic of this land which Henry called ‘Modern technology’. Looking again across the garden, Polaris thought about how people had reacted to him throughout the day, some were surprised by him, others called him a name when they thought he couldn’t hear- he had heard the name “Hook” be thrown around a few times, but not without a long hard glare from the Lady, something not too dissimilar to how the master would look at us if someone had done something he hadn’t liked (Like when he had pushed Cygnus out of the way of those falling rocks, the scars on his back were supposed to warn him not to help others- not that it stopped him from doing so.
He remembered the pretty girl with the light hair, the way she stared at him intently when he was doing everything in his power just to shrink away from the situation. he guessed she got that from her father, David, Polaris idly remembered.
This new world was unlike anything the boy could ever have dreamed, and yet here he was, not only here by some miracle of the master changing his mind on a deal, but he was also free of chains, and allowed to live a better life for no other reason than he deserved it. He was about to go and look at the fruit trees (apple trees, he tersely chided himself) when he felt a force coming from the house again, the same feeling he had when the furniture was floating around, threatening to hurt him. henry had explained as magic, and even was managing to explain that he had managed to stop it with his own magic.
As fanciful as the idea was, the thing that had struck him odd about that conversation was the fact that Henry had managed to speak in his language, something that not even his mother seemed to be able to understand, before even hearing Polaris himself speak the language.
As he ran into the house, he saw the Lady Regina, bent doubled, hobbling towards the ‘Living room’ with Henry and David’s help. Something about the magic inside her was familiar to him in a way that he could not explain. Once he got closer to her, he could also see that she was holding a glass bottle filled with a strange liquid; possibly a form of potion from this world, a bottle which was thrusted into his hands as soon as he was close enough, and told to drink it in-between cries of agony.
He let the strange liquid go down his throat, almost burning him slightly, he closed his eyes from the pain, and as he did, he saw all his locked memories again, of his brother, of the ship, of his fathers abandonment and prolonged indentured servitude. Upon opening his eyes, he was no longer Polaris; He was Killian Jones.
Killian Jones
I had to adjust my thoughts to what was happening (which was entirely too much, too much for even Liam to be able to handle. I had just had all my memories of my brother returned to me, I was in an even stranger world than I had realised, and the Lady Regina was cursed. Just what I needed after finding out I was separated from my brother and had no immediate way of getting back to him.
“Who cursed you Regina?” I asked, getting a strange look from David in return.
“This is a curse? do you recognise it from where you are from?” I nodded, recalling a poor girl who was my age who had been cursed with a similar spell, only changing what it had stolen from her and those who were related to her.
“It’s called the augeo curse, it steals something from the cursed and those around her, and forces a pregnancy within her. Whatever is being stolen determines the speed of the pregnancy- with the most common thing to be stolen is memories.”
“So you are saying that my Mom is pregnant, that’s what causing the pain?”
“The pain is coming from the accelerated speed of the pregnancy, but it had to have happened when I wasn’t with Lady Regina, because this magic is too strong for me to miss, the most likely time it could be was when she went to go and see her sister in the hospital, before her baby was born”
“The magic that got Zelena..... Somehow got me too?” Regina cried, and something akin to fear crossed her features.
“I do not think so My lady, for the curse that was placed on you can also affect those who are around you when it was cursed; so whatever happened to your sister was more likely to have been a side affect and a distraction to whatever was really going on” Her eyes flickered between amazement and fear, before landing on a steady determined.
“Is there anyway to stop it from happening, or remove the magic from the pregnancy?”
I remembered back to Rosemary, how her family had attempted to do the same thing for her, to stop it from stealing her youth, but the magic had retaliated badly, and in turn sped up the pregnancy further, and stealing more time from her than if they had just left it alone. Not to mention the fact that it also ended up taking her life from her.
So shaking my head, I recalled for them the story of Rosemary and the dangers that came with these curses. Both Henry and David looked shocked, scared and even a little bit heartbroken when they heard the part of the curse killing my friend, worried what that meant for the Lady Regina.
“You said it was most commonly used for stealing memories, correct?” Henry asked quickly, a realisation of something I did not know passing across his features.
“Yes? Do you think you may have a solution?”
“Maybe, yes. You see Polaris..”
“My real name is Killian Jones. Please call me that instead”
“Okay, Killian, you see we have these enchanted books which can only record the history of what has happened, by the means of the author”
“I am aware of an author, there was supposed to be one who was enchanted to write the history of our King”
“Well we have a couple of different books by authors here in the town, one of them is still being written! We can use that to remind ourselves of whatever memories the magic user is trying to steal from us!”
“Regina had mentioned something in the library; I believe that I know what this villain is stealing from us. They are stealing memories of our friends who aren’t in town at the minute, stopping us from finding them because they have dealt with a similar curse not even a week ago. And when I say a curse it was to do with something else which is going on in town at the moment”
“If it happened just a week ago, why do you not know of how to deal with this curse?”
“Because I was one of the ones who was cursed with it, so was Regina, Henry, and my Wife Mary-Margaret. They were the only ones who knew how to deal with what is happening but they are the ones who are cursed to disappear this time”
I didn’t exactly understand what he could have meant by being cursed to disappear out of a place before; that I had never heard of that happening before, so instead I just nodded to pretend that I understood what was going on. Looking back at Lady Regina, I could see what looked to be a beginning of a baby bump, her shirt was stretched around her abdomen, and considering that she was already that far along in the spell it was stealing everyone’s memories faster than they could have anticipated.
“I’m going to get back to my family now, tell them what is going on, and debrief my daughter on the fact that magic exists because she is more than likely going to see some strange things over the next few days”
Regina just nodded, one hand on her abdomen as she forced herself upright, her pain clear in the way she clamped her eyes shut. David gave Henry and I a hug before leaving, allowing us to help Regina up the stairs to her room so that she could become more comfortable.
I had only seen a normal pregnancy once before, and twice I had seen this curse, but that still didn’t prepare Henry or I from the shock of seeing how much Lady Regina’s stomach had grown in less than fifteen minutes while she had gone to go and change into something larger and more comfortable. Whilst she had only just been showing when she had gone into the other room, there was no denying now that she was with child, but the only thing I could think of was how much pain she must be in at this moment- Rosemary had come onto the ship to find him and cry on his shoulder it was so bad at times, as her body wasn’t given any time to adjust to the child placed inside of it by magic.
Directing her to the bed, I told Henry that we were going to need a physician if the speed of the spell continued, explaining how the further into the cursed pregnancy she got, the more memories it would steal and the faster it would grow. I was afraid that what happened to my friend would happen to her, not only for her kindness towards me, but also because she was the only one who could help me get back to my brother, or even better, bring him here too and out of slavery without consequence.
Henry left the room, saying he would wait outside until the doctor arrived, leaving me alone with the Lady.
“How... how do you know about this curse so well? You said you had seen it once... Seeing it once isn’t enough to learn how a curse works”
“The captains wife was once cursed by it too; he had made us fight a ship carrying a witch aboard it, who had found us slaves and the captains wife below decks, hiding from the fight or locked away. She was angered by the captains rudeness, but even more so at the fact he had 10 of us slaves chained in the hold, where his wife had chosen to hide thinking it was the one safe place on the ship in case they started coming down the lower decks. Witchy didn’t like any slavery, so she set us free, and even told the captains wife exactly what was about to happen, telling us all the details of the curse so we could try and stop the captain from doing something stupid and killing her in the process.”
“What happened to her? The Captains wife?”
“She gave birth to a set of twins, a lad and a lass, and at the next port the Captain bought her a house to live in, saying that it was safer for her to be off the boat now and that he’d return. Not that he ever did mind, just moved on to the next wench who caught his fancy.”
“Did you like her? The captains wife?”
“She was the only one who showed us any kindness, the crew and captain just treated us like dirt”
Regina nodded, both hands on her stomach as he curse started to speed up again.
“Is it bad to say that I am glad that you are here Killian? I know about your brother and that you’d rather be with him” I was about to cut in and ask her how she knew about Liam when she said that she had been looking for him too when she had taken me off of the mater in the mines. Something didn’t settle right about what she was saying; for I felt like she knew who my brother was, but the part about looking for him too felt too close to a lie to be true. I was going to press her more about the subject when Henry came back, dragging a very pale, light haired man behind him.
“Mom, Doctor Whale is here”
“Oh finally, I know you won’t have a way to stop this curse but at least tell me you brought a pain killer”
“Henry told me you were in severe pain from the pregnancy, so I got you the strongest thing I thought would be suitable in your condition.” Dr. Whale handed Regina a strange looking bottle which she drank in one go, and from her face I assumed it didn’t taste very good.
“That should kick in in about 20 minutes, but until then I would remain as still as possible, only getting up if you really need to” The doctor advised, and again Regina simply just nodded along with what he had to say.
We all sat beside The Lady, Henry trying to distract her with tales from his day at ‘School’, While the Doctor kept bringing out strange instruments to check on both Regina and the child inside her. Everything was the same for 25 minutes, but during that time the curse was seemingly slowing down, so I tentatively tried to use my magic to see why, only for all my blood to drain when I realised what was about to happen.
“We need to move” I said, gaining everyone’s attention immediately and before they could question, I explained what I had just seen. “The curse only has a certain range to it, and this curse seems to be trying to get everyone in the town but cannot reach that far, and so it’s slowing down for now. It will soon fight against this and unless we move to another part of the town it will begin to kill the Lady Regina.”
“The hospital is on the other side of the town, do you think that would be a good place to take her to?”
“Yes, even though I know this curse is stealing peoples memories, I would rather that happen then lose one of the few kind people I have ever met”
The Doctor nodded before leaving the room, pulling something out of his pocket which looked similar to something that I had seen Henry and the Lady use at times, speaking into as though there were someone there he was talking to, and he requested something called an ‘ambulance’ before putting it away again. I was nervous for what could happen, but, as if she could could sense my fears and concerns, I felt the Lady’s hand grasp mine, a small smile on her face, which looked notably more tired now than it had earlier.
“I will be fine, Killian. Trust me when I have survived crazier things than a simple pregnancy curse” I didn’t quite believe her, but at the same time I truly hoped she was telling the truth because she was one of the nicest people I could remember, and she had even said that she was going to look for my brother for me! I remembered in the back of my mind that she reminded me a bit of my own mother (Well, the one who raised me at least) and I was more than happy to lean against the support she was offering me.
When the ‘ambulance finally arrived, I saw that it was a larger version of the car which Regina had showed me earlier, when she had taken me to get my own clothes. I climbed into the back with Henry, where the Lady was placed upon a bed, and some more people in a strange green uniform were helping her to get comfortable. I noticed however there was one stranger who was not in the same green uniform- whilst it was still green it was much lighter than the others, and as she was talking to Regina I noticed that she was carrying a wand, and was possibly there to give magical assistance if it was required. I asked who the people in the other green uniforms were to Henry, and he said that they were called ‘paramedics’, and that they were like Doctors, but they took care of immediate injuries and didn’t do as much studying as Doctors did.
While the journey was a quick one, my suspicions about what had been happening with the curse were proven true, for as soon as we started to get a little bit closer to the town, the curse sped up again, and continued to speed up the closer and closer we got to the hospital. We arrived just in time, for not a few minutes after they took the Lady indoors, leaving Henry and I in a corridor, she went into labour, her magic causing some of the lights to flicker around her room.
Not long after the Lady went into labour, the man who she had taken me to meet in the forest arrived, his son, Rowland in tow. Leaving Rowland with Henry and I, he went into the room, considering with a contraction because Regina started screaming in pain, making Henry and itch to be in the room with her, but we could hear the Doctor saying that it wasn’t much longer now, and not long after that the cry of a child rang out.
I wanted to ask Henry who was being taken away by this curse, who “Hook” was and why people had been calling me that or saying that I looked like him, but I quickly remembered that seeing as he wasn’t in the town he must have been one of the two people who were out of town at the minute, meaning that Henry wouldn’t probably remember who he was anymore.
“What are you thinking Killian?” Henry asked in my language, obviously noticing that I was deep in thought, and while my life in forced servitude had taught me not to say what I thinking, or even give the idea that I could think, I was more than happy to answer Henry’s question, considering how many questions he had answered for me in this new world.
“I was wondering about the people who this curse was removing from everyone’s minds. I wondered about the man called ‘Hook’ and why people kept referring to me as him, or saying that I looked like him earlier”
“Hook is a really good guy, I’m kind of glad that these kinds of curses don’t effect me because I don’t think I would ever want to forget him. He was my other Mother’s boyfriend/future husband. He was called that because of the fact he was missing a hand and used a Hook in it’s place”
“He sounds a little bit like a villain. Also how can you possibly have two mothers?”
“He used to be, but now he’s not. And I have two Moms because Regina is my adoptive mother. My real Mother, Emma, had to give me up when I was born to give me my best chance at life, and I found her when I was 10. She broke the curse that brought her family to this world in the first place” A curse? I mused, and realised that it made sense in a way; for how else could they be speaking in Havena?
“Did they come from Mist Haven, your family?”
“Yeah! How did you know of it?”
“I went there during my time on the ship, while Liam and I weren’t allowed to leave the ship, we still got to see a little bit of the land during our masters trades there. I realised that was probably where everyone here came from by the language you are all speaking”
“What’s your brother like? You haven’t talked about him before” Henry said “Before” as though he had met me before I had woken up in this strange realm, and before I could ask him about what he meant by it, a kind looking woman came out and called Henry and I into the room where the Lady was, and I was elated to see that she was still OK, and in her arms was a tiny purple bundle of fabric, a tiny hand poking out of the top of it.
“Henry, Killian, meet your new baby sister, Violet Amelia Mills” I was so startled by the fact that Regina had basically called me family, saying that this new child was my sister when I wasn’t even related to her in the slightest. I snapped myself out of the stupor I had fallen into, imagining Liam telling me to get myself together, going beside Henry to meet the tiny baby which the augeo curse had brought along unexpectedly, and I had to admit she was pretty adorable. Big brown eyes peered out from her coverings, arms flailing towards Henry, who was now directly in front of her.
I had many questions going through my mind from all the little things that Henry had mentioned, about Hook, about subtly saying that he knew me before I arrived, and about how he wasn’t affected by the curse while presumably everyone else in the town should have been.
For now though I decided that it was within my best interest to simply enjoy the moment, for Regina still being fine after having a pregnancy condensed into just a few hours, marvelling at all the technologies that this realm had and the potential of having a new family to love; of course after being re-united with my brother.
I would ask as soon as Regina was out of the hospital.