Chapter Three

The Dark One

"All our secrets they are tailored trouble / Draped loose now around your hips" -Taking Back Sunday

The candy cottage was left behind, Gabriel getting out of Dodge as quickly as possible, angelically invisible, a relatively light spring in his step. He had made history. Or mythology. Or whatever it was. Sure, he'd hit a snag along the way, but nothing comes without a catch.

He had walked for maybe five miles, the sun sinking further and further into the dark, when he heard what sounded like a twig snapping. Gabriel turned to face the sound, waiting to see who or what had made the noise. He stood staring for a minute, maybe two.

"Looking for something, dearie?" asked a voice from behind him. Turning, he saw a man in dress similar to his, but made of red and of a much finer material. His hands, which he held out in a flourish, had long, dark nails, much like claws.

Never before had someone been able to sneak behind him, and this was deeply unsettling to the angel. Just from being near him, Gabriel could feel the man's power. He was not sure who this man was, as his arch-angelic powers did not seem to work at full capacity here in this world. "Looking? Nah, just... wandering," he replied, eyeing the newcomer warily.

"Ah, I see," the man replied, his mouth curled upward into a wicked grin. "So you weren't just turning about, trying to see what made the noise, hm?" He put his fingers together, the very picture of a stereotypical Hollywood villain. "Wandering, however, seems to have led you straight to me, dearie." He bowed to Gabriel, almost sarcastically. "Coincidentally, in case you hadn't figured it out, my fine, feathered friend, I am the thing you heard go bump in the night."

A shiver ran down Gabriel's spine, which was impressive, considering his angelic status. His blood ran cold when he realized this scale-skinned stranger had said "feathered." "Excuse me?" He said, squinting at the foreign man in astonishment. "What did you just say?"

An indescribable laugh echoed in the woods, the man in red taking a step as he spoke. "Ah- ya heard me, halo boy," he said with apparent glee. He turned his hand with a flourish, setting a ball of fire ablaze in his palm, before throwing it at the forest floor. A carefully laid firepit was suddenly there, as though it was there in the first place, although it had not been.

Gabriel laughed humorlessly. "Nice parlor trick," he said, crossing his arms and glaring at the powerful, dark person across the flames.

The glow of the fire raging between them cast shadows on the surrounding trees, one form with large, black wings protruding from it, and one without. "Of course I can see your true nature," the strange man bragged, taking slow steps around the fire nearer to Gabriel. The angel did not move. "I am the Dark One! Your heavenly magicks are, well..." He was standing near to Gabriel now, and he grinned his grimy teeth at him. "Useless against me," he gloated, his irritating chuckle tacked onto the end.

Gabriel knew this already. Sure he had the powers of the heavenly host going for him, but this guy, this Dark One, could see through anything. He'd seen through his invisibility obviously enough, so it had become clear that this was no one to mess with. "So, since you obviously stopped me for a a reason, and you seem to be my Kryptonite," Gabriel said, watching the Dark One pace around him like a vulture. "What would you have me do?"

There was that nasty grin of his again. "Oh, dearie, I do think I've got just the job for you."


"He's in good hands," Emma said as she walked into the hospital waiting room, where she saw the newcomer chewing anxiously on the end of a pen, a clipboard in his other hand. "Dr. Whale will fix him up like brand new." Although he might have someone else's body parts, who knows? she thought sarcastically. "So I was hoping we could fill the time with those questions?"

The stranger turned his green eyes onto her, tapping the end of the pen against the board now, rather than having it stuck in his mouth. "I guess so," he shrugged. "But listen, lady, you have questions, we have questions." He cocked his eyebrows at her, feigning complete calm, as though she hadn't just walked in during a nervous habit. "Maybe we could do an info exchange."

This guy was smart, smarter than that pretty face let on. "Depends on the questions, but I'll bite," she said, sitting across the aisle from him and crossing her arms. "How about a name, for starters? I'll even go first; Emma Swan. See, it's easy as pie."

The man snorted, as though pie was funny to him for some reason. "Preston Whitmore," he said, glancing at her before returning to filling out his brother's paperwork on the clipboard.

Emma opened her mouth to ask his brothers name and continue their conversation, when Henry ran in the room and practically threw himself into the chair next to hers. "David says Mary Margaret is still in bed," he said, tossing his backpack into the next seat over. "I was gonna go hang out with Neal some more, but I wanted to meet these guys," he motioned toward "Preston." Emma had the feeling the guy was lying through his teeth about that name.

"Henry-"

"Hi," Henry said, now turned toward the man. He was smiling attractively back at her son, and she could see easily that this guy was completely used to charming most people. Good thing she wasn't most people. "I'm Henry. Don't mind my mom, she can be a bit intimidating when she's in cop mode," Henry joked.

"Eh, I don't mind it so much," Preston said with a kind grin. It was clear that he liked kids, that much was not a lie. He wasn't just putting on a fake smile, his kindness toward Henry was genuine. It warmed her toward him just a little. "Nice to meet you, Henry, I'm Preston Whitmore. You seem like a cool dude, maybe you can show me around town later. You know," he looked up at Emma with a smile, his eyebrows perked. "If she comes with. Don't want her thinking I'm a creep or anything."

Emma bit the inside of her lip to keep from grinning. This guy sure could lay on the charm, alright. "Surely," she said, giving a small nod. "We'll show you around a bit, since you're obviously gonna be here a while. Your brother isn't getting out of this place anytime soon, with those injuries."

"Milo," Preston said. "My brother - Milo Thatch." He was tapping the end of his pen against the board again. "Well, half brother. Obviously. Figured your next question was gonna be about him, right?"

"Maybe," she said, her lips turned up slightly at the corners. "Okay, Preston, what are you guys doing up here anyway? We don't get many tourists."

Preston shifted in his seat, trying to get more comfortable. "We're bloggers, actually. We investigate weird police cold cases and get the scoop about them from the source, then write it all up." He shrugged. "It's a labor of love, really. There ain't much money to be made in it."

All the warning bells were ringing in Emma's head from that line of crap, but she didn't betray it in her expression. She would get down to the truth eventually.

"Speaking of that, though," Preston continued, leaning forward, his elbows perched on his knees. "Our cold case happened to bring us to your quaint little town here."

"Oh really," Emma said, an eyebrow quirked in question. "Maybe I can help out."

"I sure hope so. Wouldn't want this trip to be a waste." He smiled charmingly at her. "So this kid, back in like, '83 or so, says he's camping with his dad up here in Maine. Strange electrical storm goes down, and in the morning, bam! They're smack in the middle of this town. Like someone 'dropped a town on 'em.'" Emma could tell that he was quoting some article or another.

"Sounds like a wild story," Emma said, nodding her head. Henry glanced at her out the corner of his eye.

"But wait, there's more," Preston said, his grin still present. Emma was slightly pleased to see that he was calmed down and distracted from the fact his brother was currently undergoing surgery. "So they meet the mayor, and the kid says she wants to keep him so much that when they go to leave the next day, she has his dad arrested. The kid runs away, gets to the next nearest town, but when he and the police return, there's nothing. No one ever heard of Storybrooke, it ain't on any maps, and the whole town just up and vanished."

Staring in disbelief at him, wondering how so much of that actually got out like that, Emma's head was reeling. She had no idea that something like that had happened. She decided to play the ignorance card. "Really? That's the story?" She laughed, a hollow, false chuckle. "Well, as you can see, the town does actually exist, so-"

"But it's not on any maps."

"Excuse me?"

He stared at her as though he held a winning hand in poker, a smirk on his face. "Storybrooke. It's not on any map, anywhere. Not even Google." He cocked his eyebrows and pursed his lips. "We even asked for directions from the next town over. It's a bit far, but you'd think that someone would have known about Storybrooke and how to get here, right?"

"Unfortunately, I don't know anything about that, since I was a baby then, and I haven't heard about it," Emma said, eyebrows furrowed. She made a mental note to ask Regina about it the next chance she got. "Sorry I can't be more help."

"No worries. I'll just ask around, see what I can dig up."

Standing up, Emma nodded distractedly. She was going to have to do some serious damage control while these brothers were in town. And where was that third guy? "I suggest finding your friend and getting a room at Granny's inn when I come back, okay? Dr. Whale's gonna call me when surgery is done, and then we can give you that tour." She looked at her son. "Right, Henry?"

"Yeah, and we can get some cocoa at the diner," Henry said in a friendly tone. "See you."

"Yeah, see ya then, kid," Preston replied, and then mother and son left the room.

When they were in the elevator, Henry spoke up. "I like him, but those names were fake."

Startled, Emma looked down at him. "What makes you say that? I mean, my 'super power' was going off like crazy, but how did you-"

"The names were easy," Henry said, a proud smile up at his mom. "Milo Thatch and Preston Whitmore are characters from Disney's Atlantis."


"A job," Gabriel repeated, looking incredulously at the Dark One. He was still doing that irritating pace in front of the crackling fire, and there was nothing Gabriel would have liked more than to crack him over the head with a baseball bat.

"One of great importance. You, my angelic amigo, are going to go into another world for me, since I am unable to leave here for lengthy stays," the slimy man said, one of his annoying chuckles at the end. "I am in search of my son, and it seems as though a treasure hunter has fallen right into my lap."

Gabriel squinted his eyes at him. "Excuse me?"

"You know how to fly... Under the radar, I think the term is where you're from. I don't know exactly which world he's currently in, so you're going to stake them out one by one until he's found."

"Sounds thrilling."

"I don't care how you do it, Wingy, but you're going to do it."

"And I have zero choice in the matter."

"Ah- bingo." The Dark One put a fingertip to his nose, then lowered it again.

"And how exactly am I supposed to do this?"

"Well, I noticed you have a thing for candy, dearie. I'm sure tracking down children should be a piece of cake."

A faint inkling of an idea started to form in Gabriel's mind. "Aw, come on, really?"

"Rumplestiltskin does not joke."

"Your penchant for puns would suggest otherwise."

The Dark One smirked grimly at him. "You think you're above me because you're an angel. Well, you aren't the one holding all the cards now, are you?" He steadily grew louder with every word until he was shouting. He quieted down to continue, "If you do not do this, I will tell your holy brethren where you are! I have the feeling that's something you wouldn't want, am I right, dearie?"

This shut Gabriel right up. He was right on the money. And he doubted that this Rumplestiltskin was bluffing. He paused, mulling everything over in his head. After a long, agonizing pause, he finally came to a conclusion.

"Fine."


Authors' note:

Hello again darlings! Another chapter is here! Not as long as the last one, and it certainly took longer, and we apologize for that, but come on, we're busy people! Thank you for being so patient with us!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FOLLOWING AND FAVORITING! EVERY EMAIL NOTIFICATION PUTS BIG GRINS ON OUR FACES!

We're going to be adding a Chapter Song at the end of each new addition from now on (and adding them onto previous chapters, so check those out!) so it will effectively act as the story soundtrack! Huzzah music!

Disclaimer: WE OWNETH NOT THE THINGS.

Chapter Song: Liar (It Takes One To Know One) by Taking Back Sunday