Chapter 7: History Repeats Itself
In which two enemies consult each other
Many hundreds of years later, she had finally been given the chance to redeem herself. The current Dark One had a son; a son who wanted to save his father. She provided the means for the both of them to travel to a land without magic, thereby ridding their world of this evil. But the child had travelled alone and the Dark One remained, doing further harm in his frantic search for his son.
The original Dark One had been killed by one of his closest men, his right hand. A long period of violence and power struggles had begun. At times being or becoming the Dark One was a goal for men and women of all walks of life, at other times the Dark One was feared and respected, seen as a powerful consultant or ally. In the first instance, the identity of the Dark One would change quickly, sometimes overnight, due to violent confrontations, in the second situation, the Dark One would have a peaceful existence and could collect riches and accumulate power and connections. Those periods, though difficult in itself, had always been preferable over the other ones. A stable Dark One, although an oxymoron, was infinitely better.
Emma had just surveyed the damage and decided to hold a stake out tonight. This needed to stop and she would be the one to do it. She considers asking her father along, since she could use some help with this group of teenagers. It would also give them an opportunity to talk about his opinion of Mother Superior. Would his ideas be similar to Mary Margaret's or not?
One of the nuns had come to her with a problem that morning. Several people had approached her about this man that had become violent overnight. A very pleasant, steady, calm man had altered beyond recognition. One of his friends had wondered aloud about an exorcism and the nun had promised them to talk to her Superior. Blue had given the nun several explanations that could account for this sort of behaviour, such as a midlife crisis or severe stress. An exorcism should not be undertaken lightly.
The news startles her far more than she shows outwardly. It sounds exactly like what happened before, all those ages ago. But it couldn't. The dagger was destroyed. By the mysterious power of the lake, by the merge of two evils and their death. The dagger was broken, the names disappeared forever and it had never been found again. Fear catches her by the throat and her body begins to tremble.
Rumplestiltskin remains puzzled over this mysterious man last night. There was something so familiar about his attitude, his presence. For a second, his heart skips a beat, when he allows himself the fantasy that Bae… But he knows that isn't true. He continues mulling things over, when he sees the most unlikely customer in town come into his pawnshop.
"How can I help you, esteemed servant of the community?" he mocks Mother Superior as she stands silently before his counter. "I need your counsel," she answers irritated and fidgeting with her necklace. Coming here wasn't an easy step to take. "I'm sorry, did I hear you correctly? My counsel?" Rumple laughs scorning. "You never needed that, dearie. Doesn't Mother always know best?" Blue doesn't beat around the bush and immediately asks him what she needs to know. "You're sure the dagger was destroyed?" "Yes," he answers immediately. Alas, he thinks to himself, it rests in peace. "I saw it being destroyed myself; it broke in two and then…then…" his voice stops. "You died, and you were revived by your true love," she finishes his sentence. If only I could have had that chance, she thinks bitterly.
"Yes, and Emma revived Regina. Though I'm sure she didn't expect to." "And all of you left, went to the hospital and the dagger…" she wonders. "When I came back it wasn't there," he says before he remembers no-one knows he went looking for it again. Belle definitely shouldn't find out. "Ehm," he clears his throat, "I would appreciate if you didn't mention that to, ehm, to Belle." He hates having to beg her for anything. She, the ultimate cause of the loss of his son.
Mother Superior has bigger concerns than petty spousal (near enough) secrets. "I don't interfere in things like that." "Really, I remember you as quite an interfering piece of…" Rumple is about to start a swearing contest, but she raises her hand to silence him. "We were discussing something important," she continues, "the potential survival of the dagger, that is." "What, it can't be! I would have known; I would have found it!" "Well, I did search for it myself, and found nothing, but who's to say what happened to it. It didn't melt into the ground. It was left in the woods, so maybe…I mean anything it possible. I hope not, but we can't be sure." "Why are you discussing this with me? Why do you even think the dagger is still out there?" His voice cracks: the idea of his beloved source of power in the hands of someone else…
That evening, Emma and David are patrolling Storybrooke. Anything or anyone remotely suspicious gets a thorough look. Emma cautiously broaches the subject. "Did Mary Margaret tell you about this book I've been reading? About the Blue Fairy?" David is silent for a bit. He is considering the best response. "You know, Emma, I don't like to go against her, but sometimes I've wondered about the Blue Fairy. Her powers are so great and she always behaves very mysteriously. That's just a feeling however, I've got no evidence to back it up." "The Original Sin might." "Maybe, but I don't really want to stop trusting our most trusted ally." "I understand, but if she is to be my teacher, shouldn't we at least know the truth?!"
Rumples recounts his discussion with Mother Superior to Belle. She is terribly shocked that the dagger may still exist, that the Dark One may still exist. "I thought it was destroyed at the well," she stammers, "that it had died, just like you two had." "Well, we lived, in the end, didn't we?" "Yes, you did," she responds with gleaming eyes. "You survived, because of me. Because of us." "I'm very fortunate to have you, my love." He leans in to kiss her.
"What should we do now? Do we do anything?" she asks, a few moments later, slightly out of breath. "I think it's best we wait and see. This man could just have a meltdown. There's no real evidence of the dagger being involved." "I can't believe this is happening, after everything we've already been through."
