AU: What if the Apprentice had managed to contain the Darkness in the Sorcerer's Hat? What if Emma never became the Dark Swan? But, what if, someone wanted to steal the Sorcerer's Hat so they could become the Dark One...?
Prologue
Rose had never trusted that Feinberg boy, and now she knew she was right not to. Crouching lower behind a fallen log, she watched as he drew a shape in the ground. As it became more intricate, Rose realised what he was doing: he was casting a spell. Her first instinct was to run back to the town and get someone, but that would take too much time, and it might be too late by then. She would have to stop Francis Feinberg.
Even as she was planning how she would stop him, the air around her seemed to change. It became thicker, charged; it was magic. Realising that she was almost out of time, Rose leapt from her hiding place, picking up a solid stick before hurrying into the clearing.
"Stop!" she shouted, holding up the stick like a baseball player ready to hit a homerun. "Whatever that is in your hand, put it down."
Francis Feinberg smirked at her. "As you wish..."
When he set it down in the middle of the intricate pattern, Rose knew she had made a mistake. It was the final part of the spell. Suddenly, green light flooded every groove of the pattern on the ground. Francis closed his eyes, opening up his arms, as if he wanted the spell to consume him. Rose tried to back away but the pull of the magic was too strong; it was sucking her in...
...
Chapter One
~x~
"Quiet day, huh?"
Emma looked over at the Sherriff. "Don't tell me you actually want something bad to happen?"
"I didn't say that."
"No, but you were thinking it."
David smiled but kept his focus on the road. "Maybe."
Emma gave a little huff and leaned further back in her seat. "Well, if an evil queen appears and starts ripping hearts out, she's all yours."
Before David could respond to his daughter, a green light flashed in the trees up ahead. He slowed the car down, finally bringing it to a complete stop.
Emma undid her seatbelt as David continued to stare at the tree line. "What are you waiting for? Aren't you the one that wanted something to happen?"
They both got out of the car, and even though David had a gun he opened the back door to get his sword. He strapped it to his side as he and Emma made their way into the woods. Very quickly they heard voices, angry voices. Picking up their pace, Emma and David soon found the source. Just as they came into a clearing, they saw a young man hit a young woman, hard.
"Hey!" Emma shouted, drawing her gun. "Don't move!"
The young man's gaze went from Emma's face to the gun in her hand, but clearly that wasn't enough motivation to make him remain where he was. He ran and David immediately took off after him.
Hurrying to the young woman's side, Emma knelt down beside her. "Are you OK?" she asked.
She gingerly touched her face. "I think so..." Her eyes then seemed to flood with recognition. "Emma?"
Drawing back slightly, Emma asked, "Do I know you?"
"It's me, Rose."
Emma shook her head. "Sorry, kid, I don't know anyone called that."
"What did he do...?" Rose breathed.
"What did who do?"
"Francis – the guy who hit me..."
Just then David reappeared. "He got away," he said, placing his hands on his thighs and leaning forward so he could catch his breath. "It's almost as if he knows this place."
"That's because he does."
David looked at Emma, who shrugged her shoulders. "Why haven't we seen you two around before?"
Rose's face fell again. "You really don't know who I am?"
"No, sorry, we don't," Emma said. She looked over at David with a questioning gaze. He nodded in understanding. "Why don't we take you back into town; we can get an icepack on that bruise."
"OK."
Emma helped her up on to her feet. They walked back to the car in silence but all the while Emma kept thinking that, although she had never seen this girl before in her life, she did seem strangely familiar. When they reached the car Emma opened the back door for her; Rose slid in without a word but Emma could tell that she was frightened. Yet, she couldn't shake the fact that the girl didn't just know her name, but she looked at her like she really knew her.
By the time they reached the station, Emma was convinced that magic was involved somehow. Storybrooke was shielded by a protection spell; no one from the outside world could get in, unless they were invited in. She had already dismissed her being from the Enchanted Forest, or any of the other magical realms; her clothes alone told her that she wasn't a fairytale character.
Emma fetched an icepack from the freezer and gave it to Rose. The swelling her face was pretty bad; whoever this Francis was, he had no qualms about hitting women. And now he was loose in Storybrooke. Perfect.
"What do you know about a green flash?" David asked Rose, drawing Emma from her thoughts.
"Francis cast a spell."
"What spell?"
"I don't know."
"You were with him, weren't you?"
"I was trying to stop him, but it clearly didn't work, and now you don't know who I am."
David glanced at Emma, who nodded. "She's telling the truth."
Sighing, David said, "Maybe we can track down your parents. What's your surname?"
"Gold."
David blinked. "Gold?"
Emma was quicker off the mark with another question. "As in Rumplestiltskin – that Gold?"
Rose's eyes lit up. "You know my papa?"
Emma looked at her, really looked at her. She could see it now: the thick hair piled on her head, like Belle's, only darker; cinnamon eyes like Gold's, only hers were warmer; and her features, they were the perfect blend of her parents. How was this possible? Belle and Gold didn't have any children. Unless...that was it: the green flash they'd seen; it was the same time spell that Zelena had used. Rose wasn't deluded; she was from the future.
"Yes...we know him," Emma said hesitantly.
"Emma," David said, "a word in the office, please."
Once the door was shut behind them, David said in a hushed voice, "How can she be Gold's daughter? Gold doesn't have a daughter."
"He will in the future."
David's mouth dropped. "Are you saying she's from the future?"
"Trust me, David," Emma said, "if you had been pulled through a swirling vortex of time, you'd have no problem believing it."
He scratched the back of his head. "What are we going to do about her? We can't just ring Gold and tell him we have his daughter at the station."
"No, we can't." Emma folded her arms. "But who knows how long it will take us to figure out how to send her back? And we can't just keep her locked up."
"So, what do you suggest?"
"If she's going to interact with anyone while she's here, I think it should be Belle and Gold. They can look after her..."
"While we track down this Francis," David said, finishing off her sentence. "All right, I'll ring Gold and tell him to come to the station; you can talk to Rose."
...
"Hello?"
"Gold, David here; I need you to come down to the station."
"I wasn't aware I had broken the law recently."
"No, it's regarding something else."
Gold checked the time on his watch. "I will be there in ten minutes."
"See you then...Oh, and you might want to bring Belle."
With that David hung up. Gold stared at his phone for a long moment before dialling Belle's number. In the past, he would have demanded answers before blindly agreeing to do anything that Charming, or anyone for that matter, asked him to do. But things had changed, and for the better. He was slowly learning that courage made him more powerful than magic ever could. Fear had always been his master, but its hold on him was weakening. He was no longer the desperate soul who had sought out the Dark One's dagger all those centuries ago.
The phone rang a few times before Belle answered.
"Rumple..."
"Hello Belle," Gold said, "I just had a call from David; he wants us to go down to the station. I said we'd be there in ten minutes."
"What's wrong?" He heard concern in her voice.
"He didn't say. I'll close up the shop and meet you at the library."
After he had locked up his shop, Gold walked towards the library. He thought about what David wanted, and why he had asked for Belle to be there too. Was it the Sorcerer's Hat, had someone found it? He hoped that was not the case. If the Darkness was released, it would seek out a desperate soul, and then a new Dark One would rise.
Gold reached the library just as Belle was locking up.
In the months since the Darkness had been removed from him, Gold had been determined to be the man his wife deserved, the man he should have been right from the beginning. That's not to say it had been easy. Belle had been cautious around him at first; he had had to prove to her that he was not the same man who had manipulated her and broken her heart several times over. Dates at Granny's had been the first step, and Gold had made it a point of answering all of her questions honestly. Slowly, that honesty came to fruition; the first time he knew it had been when Belle brought lunch to his shop. They had eaten it in the back room, simply enjoying each other's company.
"What do you think he wants to see us about?" she asked, dropping the keys into her purse.
"I think I know, but I hope I'm wrong."
"You mean...the Sorcerer's Hat."
Gold's jaw tightened. "I do."
Belle looped her arm in his. "It can't...it won't..."
She couldn't seem to bring herself to say the words, but he knew what she meant. "I'm no longer a desperate soul, Belle."
"No, you're not." She tightened her hold on his arm. "But who would want to find it?"
Gold's expression darkened somewhat. "That's what I would like to know."
When they reached the station David was waiting for them at the door.
"Are you going to tell us what's going on?" Gold asked.
"Emma and I came across something on our patrol today..." David paced for a few steps before continuing, "Perhaps I should just show you."
David led them from the small hallway into the main part of the station. Gold saw Emma sitting beside a young woman, who looked to be no more than sixteen or seventeen, holding an icepack against her left cheek. She seemed strangely familiar to him, even though he had never seen her before in his life.
The conversation she was having with Emma died as she looked up and saw Gold and Belle standing beside David. She didn't move but she continued to stare at them, and Gold was certain he could see something gathering in her eyes: the fear of rejection. Just who was this girl?
David cleared his throat. "This is Rose – she fell through a time portal."
"A time portal?" Belle echoed softly.
"We should not be here," Gold said rather tightly. He might not be the Dark One anymore, but he certainly wasn't a saint. "I thought you, Miss Swan, of all people, would understand the dangers of exposing a time-meddler to more people than necessary."
Emma stood up, placing her hands on her hips. "That's where you're wrong, Gold. Someone else came through the portal with Rose. She had tried to stop him from casting the spell but ended up getting sucked into it too. He's still out there somewhere, and we need to find him; we need to know why he's here."
"In case you haven't noticed, dearie," Gold said, "I'm not the Dark One anymore; I can't just poof him into a cell for you."
"That's not why we need you."
"Why do you need us, then?" Belle asked.
"Because Rose needs somewhere to stay," Emma said.
"And you think we – I'm – your best choice?"
Belle stepped forward at that moment, staring at Rose intently as she did so. "Have we met before?"
Rose removed the icepack from her face, revealing a nasty bruise, but it made her features more visible. "Yes, we have...but in the future."
Belle covered her mouth her hand and Gold knew instantly what his wife was thinking. But when he looked at Rose again, he saw it too. It suddenly made sense why she was so familiar to him: she was his daughter.