Once We are Descendants

Chapter 61: De Vil in Disguise

The son of Cruella De Vil hurries back through town, trying to remember exactly where Rumpelstiltskin's weird shop was. For some odd reason, despite how cruelly his real mother treated him, he wants to speak to his own guardian again. One reason could be that he was jealous that all the other kids had met their prospective parents or families, leaving him a little bit left out. At first, she acted the same way his own mother would, but her demeanour changed... almost too quickly. Did she have multiple personalities? Bad mood swings? Was she just playing him? All these questions swirled around in his head as he tried to navigate the strange streets of Storybrooke. A few townspeople, who were not at the park with everyone else eyes, almost suspiciously like he was some punk who is up to no good. This really shouldn't surprise him because, for the longest time, he, Jay, Mal, and Evie really were up to no good all the time, causing trouble for everyone they could on the Isle. However, despite the initial weary glances, most of them don't pay any more attention to him and go about their daily lives. Carlos can't imagine why people would want to live such a boring existence with nothing exciting ever happening; no electronics stores, no arcades, not even a movie theatre. When Regina said that she had cast the curse, he assumes that it sucked out anything fun for people to do, which could quite possibly be the point of the curse.

Finally, he sees the sign overhead again, not knowing that he was one of many people who crossed under the sign reading:

Gold & Family Pawnbrokers & Antiquities

He tries the door, only to discover that it's locked. Frustrated, realizing that two times will not be the charm, he begins thinking of ways to get in. He obviously can't kick the door down without his presence being discovered, and there are no open windows. He knows he's going to have to pick the lock, which will be hard without a thin piece of metal. He begins looking up and down the street, looking for some kind of discarded trash that could be useful. He goes around the corner of the shop and continues looking. Eventually, he comes to a back alleyway between two buildings, which has a few metal garbage cans laying around. Even the garbage cans seemed outdated in this town.

Despite the age of things, Carlos realizes that the handle on the garbage can be perfect. His mind begins to work as he looks at the math and physics of this problem. Once he applied himself in the classes at Auradon, he turned out to be in gifted math and physics student, likely from his technical know-how. He begins to twist and work at the thin piece of metal attached to the can, which did not give off a pleasant smell. He twists it at various angles, seeing how it would come loose with the least amount of resistance. He eventually knocks the can over to let the weight finally having the thin piece of metal come loose. Smiling to himself in victory, he hurries back out of the alley and to the shop. He sharpens one end of the handle to a point on the concrete to help him pick the lock.

While it had been a while since he'd done this, the VK realized that it was almost like riding a bike, remembering to twist in the opposite direction of the door handle. Eventually, the door swings open with an almost ominous creak.

Relieved, the son of Cruella puts his new lockpick in his pocket and then hurries back over to the mirror. He removes the sheet again to be faced with the blurry and foggy glass. Knowing the pain is worth it, he pricks his finger on one of the thorns. Like before the smooth glass of the mirror warps and changes. The thing shakes and the frame becomes an almost golden-copper colour.

The image clears up to see the familiar red colouring that he'd seen before, except he doesn't see his mother. He is not immediately worried; if this Cruella was like the one on the Isle, she wouldn't stay away from her reflection for very long. However, he doesn't know how long he'll have to talk to her before Mr. Gold comes back or that his friends start wondering where he is. Knowing it's risky, he begins calling her name.