The Darkness Saga
Act One: Liquid Darkness
Chapter 1: The Queen of Trash
Author's Note: Please read The Comeback King Saga and then When the Diamond Ring Turns Brass first, as this saga is a sequel to this universe. Those aren't the only stories in my "Henson-verse", but it's important for how the Labyrinth characters got to this point. I own no characters (so far) in this story. The Queen of Trash is from Sesame Workshop's Sesame Street and the residents of Storybrook are from Disney's Once Upon a Time.
Blackness so filled the night sky, one couldn't even see the moon. Emma Swan, the Savior, a woman born of the Enchanted Forest and spirited away to our world, clutched at the dagger as fluid tendrils of darkness swirled around Regina, the former Evil Queen who had wanted Snow White dead. Tears welled up in her eyes. "I love you," she sobbed to her rugged pirate lover, Killian, or Captain Hook, as he was known in sootier circles.
The darkness charged towards her as she tried stabbing the massive cloud of tendrils. Light shone from the dagger and the tendrils wrapped around her body, cloaking her blonde hair, her red jacket, and her black pants.
David and Mary Margaret, or, as they used to be known, Prince Charming and Snow White, gaped in horror as their daughter, the Savior, a person whose light was the result of magically banishing darkness from her heart, was swept up into the sky in a tornado of liquid obscurity, the dagger itself, now etched with Emma's name, clanging unceremoniously to the street below.
The next morning, only the baby's cries could awaken David and Mary Margaret, as their hearts just weren't into being conscious yet. David turned towards the alarm clock: 04:08. He sighed and heard the garbage truck coming down the street. Elbowing his wife, he kissed her and told her to check on Little Neal while he took out the garbage.
"You didn't do that last night?" Mary muttered in her half-awakened state.
"Things happened," he replied quickly, jumping out of bed.
As he dragged the first bag out, he saw the garbage truck pause in front of their apartment building. "Hey, wait up!" he shouted.
A dark-skinned woman hurled a large black plastic garbage bag into the back of the truck and glanced at him. "You shoulda done that last night."
David panted and dropped the bag at her feet. "I got three more. Please wait. My wife and I just lost our daughter and -."
The woman laughed. "Don't worry. I've got time. Let me help you get them." As she helped load the bags, she exhaled. "I'm sorry to hear about the Savior." She backed David over to the sidewalk and snapped her fingers.
The garbage truck disappeared.
She smirked as David stared at the empty spot on the street. "You guys don't have a lot of room for landfills, so I just sorta get rid of it my way," she noted, giggling.
"You're magic?"
She nodded. "I need to talk to you and your wife. We have a problem."
David nodded and stared at the ground. "I know. Emma's lost somewhere as the new Dark One." He grit his teeth. "If I get my hands on Rumple -."
She took his arm gently. "He's not a problem right now. Emma is. Darkness is spreading throughout the realms. She's out there. You have to get her back in Storybrook."
Inside the apartment, Mary Margaret, her pixie black hair scruffed up and her eyes baggy, carried Little Neal in her arms as she fed him. When the door opened, she half-expected Emma to enter. A part of her was disappointed to see that it was her husband.
"Snow," David started (as everyone in Storybrooke tended to alternate randomly between their modern names and their fairy tale personas), "we have to talk." He moved so the garbage woman could enter. "This is Eshe. She said she could help us find Emma."
Mary nearly dropped the baby. She put him in a bassinet and hugged the woman, despite smelling trash seeping through the gray jumpsuit. "How can you help us?" she begged, pulling away and wiping tears from her eyes. "What do we have to do?" She paused. "We'll do anything."
Eshe sighed and pulled out a book from her back pocket.
Heroes and Villains.
David grabbed it from her hands. "Where did you get that book?" he barked. "That book doesn't exist!"
Eshe shrugged, nonplussed from his ranting. "It happened. What happens, happens, okay?"
"That's not true," Mary Margaret retorted in shock. "The sorcerer's apprentice assured us everything the Author did was negated."
Shaking her head, Eshe replied, "In my kingdom, what is thrown away is able to return."
"Your kingdom?"
Nodding, she continued, "I am Eshe, Queen of the Trash Kingdom."
"You've got to be joking," Mary Margaret replied.
"My kingdom is filled with stories, objects, paths … anything you can think of that you can lose, it's usually in my kingdom." She sat down on a barstool near the kitchen. "I've been through a lot of trouble this century, hunting down crowns, kingdoms, lovers …."
"You mean you can find people?" David asked in a calmer and more thoughtful tone.
Eshe nodded. "Even the dead, though it's tricky and usually requires you setting up a loophole previously to dying."
"That's ridiculous."
"Tell me," the Queen of Trash asked David, "how your former Dark One was restored."
"Neal, our daughter's boyfriend," Mary Margaret answered pensively, "sacrificed himself to restore his father, Rumpelstiltskin."
The Queen nodded and shrugged. "If it's ridiculous, it shouldn't have happened. And yet, I hear what's left of him is lying on a pawn store floor, very much alive."
"What does all this have to do with finding Emma?"
"At least she can't leave Storybrooke, David," Mary Margaret told him. "Magic doesn't exist outside of town."
Eshe laughed and nearly fell off the stool. "Whoever told you that?"
David stared at her like she had just grown wings. "Rumple and Regina have both been outside the town borders and couldn't use their magic."
Eshe shrugged. "So, they couldn't use magic." Chuckling, she continued, "It doesn't mean that no one can."
"But the Chernabog couldn't exist outside either …"
Eshe stood and shook her head. "Look, I'm telling you that on this world, everyone is magic. Everything is magic. Most people aren't aware of this and live lives devoid of ever feeling a connection to a more powerful existence. That must be why you've been told there's no such thing as magic … but if there were no magic in this world, your little town couldn't exist here."
Mary Margaret steadied herself on the barstool, her mind reeling. "You're saying Emma could be anywhere?"
Eshe nodded. "Exactly. I have a daughter who freaked out last night and contacted me about coming here to find you two."
David choked down a sob. "So, uh, what do we have to do?"
Eshe pointed towards the door.
