Darkness Becomes Her

Chapter 7

Realizations

"Belle's not here." The voice was deep and ragged.

Ruby's blood ran cold. Who . . . what . . . was she talking to?

"Am I addressing the Dark One?" she ventured timidly probably the bravest thing she had ever done.

There was a long pause and Ruby closed her eyes. When she dared open them she looked down and around. Yes, her body was still there. She felt her face. Yes, she still had two eyes, a pert nose and full, luscious lips. Well all right then, she thought she was still Ruby.

"You are," finally the answer came.

"Well, Madame . . . Miss . . . Ma'am. . . Dark One," Ruby began. "Is there anything . . . that we can do for you? Get for you? Anything?"

Again the long pause and finally the answer. "Malificent."

"All righty. I'll just go on back down and see what I can do. Thank you." And Ruby scrambled out of the ruins of the clock tower, down the spiral stairs, and through the carcass of the library as fast as she could move. She stopped at the bottom of the building, looking back and shaking her head. She looked over the remnants of the library, how shelves had been knocked over and books tossed all around. Books were now being subjected to the elements.

This struck Ruby hard. Belle would never let anything damage a book; she would fling herself between a book and an on-coming truck. If it had come to this . . . perhaps Belle had already been swallowed up.

She ran back across the street to the diner. As she broke through the door everyone was looking at her.

"Well?"

"What's going on?"

"What does she want?"

A chorus of questions hit her as she took deep breaths and tried to control her breathing.

"She wants Malificent," Ruby finally managed to gasp out.

"Why?" someone asked.

"I didn't ask," she replied shortly. "Why don't you go back up and ask her yourself?" Ruby was still quite frightened and didn't respond well to the witless question.

"How is she?" asked Killian. He and Robin were sitting in the back of the diner along with Henry and Roland. Henry was entertaining Roland back at their table. He had taken one of the paper napkins and was showing Roland how to fold it to make a paper airplane. It wasn't going well. The napkin was not sturdy enough to maintain the plane's shape and would usually just flop.

Ruby shook her head, "Not good. Whatever is sitting on top of that clock tower isn't Belle. It told me that Belle's not there anymore."

"Oh she's still in there," Killian let her know. "Bae told me how his father would go in and out, especially during the early days. Some moments, he'd be the good father, the spinner and the next, he'd be all Dark One. Once she calms down, she'll be mostly Belle again."

"I'll go get Malificent," Robin said. He turned to Killian and Henry. "Will you two watch Roland for me?"

"Of course," they both replied together. Robin gave his son a quick hug and he took off, jumping into his Dodge pickup truck and taking off.

Another Day Far in the Past

"He was successful in pulling the sword from the stone," the woman told him.

The older man nodded.

"Ygraine has publically acknowledged him," she added.

"It goes according to plan," the man said.

"Are you so sure? Are you so sure?"

"No, but it is the best plan I have been able to devise. I think he will be strong enough, pure enough, brave enough. It is my hope that he may be able to control it."

The woman shook her head, "I wonder if you understand humans. I would think that even the strongest, the purest, the bravest would not manage this burden."

"I hope you are wrong, my beloved." The man stood and walked over to the woman who was holding an infant. "How is our daughter?"

"Perfect."

"Have you decided a name?"

"I think so. What do you think of Sithean Buidhe?"

"Yellow Flower. Excellent. What do her sisters think of her?"

"Ruel adores her, as she has all her other little sisters," the woman told him

Camelot in the Present

Emma knew she was going to have an earache from the cold air blowing over her ears. She was clinging to Regina, hanging on for dear life. She'd ridden a dragon before with the intent of killing it but this was a very different experience. It lasted quite a while for one thing. It consisted of an neck-aching climb straight up and then a free-fall dead drop that had left her stomach up in the air. She was holding onto Regina so closely that she felt like one of them should send the other one flowers when the trip was over. She could only imagine what Regina was feeling hanging onto Rumple.

He was the only one who hadn't screamed during the free-fall. From Emma's limited vantage he didn't upset or flustered or scared shitless or anything. As Lily the Dragon leveled off, she began to fly in circles. Gold leaned forward and may have said something to her. She began to fly in one direction and Emma felt her nausea relent a little. She risked a glance at the ground beneath her and realized that was probably a mistake as the nausea immediately reared its head again.

They were flying above a lush forest, green everywhere. She could see what might be roads here and there winding their way through the trees but no houses. Off in the distance she could see the ruins of a large building, perhaps a castle. Near the castle was a broad field and a river flowing through the low lands. Nothing was growing on the field. Odd, it was as if the plant life was avoiding the area. Lily headed for this, treating it as a landing field. She began to circle, taking herself down slowly and made a graceless landing, skidding and throwing her passengers around. She bowed her head and her three passengers slid off.

"That was nicely done, Lilith," Gold told her. There was a shimmery moment and it was now Lily standing in front of them.

"Thanks," she told him. "I thought the landing could have used some work. It was my first time with passengers."

"I had no idea that flying would be so cold," Regina complained. She glanced over at Rumple who was clad in leather. "You might have given us a heads-up old man."

"No time. We had to get out of Storybrooke before Belle found us. She would never have let us go. Come on, let's go."

"Why? Are we in a hurry?" Emma asked.

"Absolutely. Do you think Belle isn't going to figure out another way to get here. She was a smart woman before the Dark One possessed her. She's a smarter woman now."

"Is she coming after you?" Regina asked.

"The Dark One's coming after Merlin." Rumple gave them a grim smile, "I suspect I'll just be an appetizer."

"You wanted her to chase you here!" Emma said, suddenly realizing why Gold had not just sent them on by themselves.

"The longer she's possessed, the greater the hold the Dark One will have over her until it finally consumes her, as it almost consumed me. The entire curse, the dagger, it was all Merlin's plan, his grand idea of trying to control the evil. It didn't quite work as he had planned for it to."

"What the hell was his grand scheme?" Emma asked.

"As I understand it," Rumple had started walking and the three women scrambled to keep up with him. "And understand, my knowledge is from the Dark One's perspective, Merlin wanted to take a great evil that had come into Camelot, pull it together and contain it. He considered different devices but, for reasons I can't fathom, decided on the kris knife. Maybe because it was small, portable, lethal if used as a weapon? Whatever human possessed it would have to struggle to control the Dark One, as these powers came to be known. Merlin actually believed that humans, at least some humans, would be strong enough to control the Dark Powers."

"That's where he screwed up?" Emma asked. "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely sort of thing?"

"Lord Acton," Rumple nodded. "Great men are almost always bad men," he finished the quote. "Merlin really didn't understand what the power would do to a person, any person. He didn't grasp that the Dark One had so many weapons at its disposal."

"Well, what do we do now?" Regina asked.

"We find Merlin," Gold told her.

"Do we know where to look?" Regina followed up.

"Not really. I heard he'd taken to a tower somewhere, likely one of the islands to the east of Camelot, after his wife died and his children left," Gold said looking around to get his bearings.

"Waaait," Emma began. "Merlin had a wife, children?"

"Not the fairy tale you were taught, eh, Miss Swan?" Gold asked her, smirking. "Yes, his wife was killed and his chlldren . . . well, you know them well."

"I do?" Emma was stumped.

"Let's go. If I remember anything, his tower was to the west," Gold continued. He started walking. The three women looked at each other and with sighs, reluctance and resignation started walking behind him.

Emma was looking around as they walked. "This place looks bombed out. Was there some kind of big battle here?"

"A Great Battle," Rumple told her.

"Where are the people?" Regina asked.

"Gone. The only things that live here, besides Merlin, are the dragons."

"Dragons?" Lily spoke up.

"This became their settling place. I have no idea of where they came from originally. For a while they spread out and were found in many realms – any place that had magic. But they were hunted. Often they were seen as a threat, to be sure, they often were a threat. Dragons can be a rather crotchety group. After the Great Battle, this became the place for them to gather."

"There are other dragons?" Lilly asked.

"I would guess. They're a damnably long lived species – unless of course, they're killed."

"Where. . . where are they?" Lily asked.

"Hell if I know," he answered. "I generally find it advisable to avoid dragons whenever possible," he told her.

Lily was obviously disappointed. By now, she had outpaced Emma and Regina, to catch up with Gold and was walking next to him.

"My mother told me that she knew you," she began.

"Yes, your mother was a former apprentice of mine. Excellent student. A lot of talent. The dragon transformation was the most interesting of her abilities by far, I have to say," he said in passing.

"You . . . you taught her how to use her magic?" Lily asked him, unsure of herself.

"I did. She was well on her way to getting some marginal control, although she likely would have disintegrated herself before she had any real success at the rate she was going if she'd continued working by herself."

"She said you could change into a dragon too," Lily said.

"I could," he confirmed.

"Could you teach me?" Lily asked him timidly. "I mean, do I have any . . . other talents?"

He stopped and turned to look at her. He brushed her hair out of her eyes. "Lily, you must know that I've been stripped of my powers. I'm no longer the Dark One and I can't change into a dragon, conjure a fire ball or . . . well, do anything anymore. I can't even tell you whether or not you have any talent."

"But you still know about magic, don't you?"

"I do, but I would think your mother might be a better teacher than I could ever be or . . . Regina," he suggested.

"I want you," she told him. "You taught these other people. You're the best. Everyone says so."

"I was the best. Lily," he met her eyes. "You have another destiny." And he smiled at her and walked away.

"Another destiny?" Lily ran after him. "What does that mean? What do you mean?"

"He won't answer," Emma called out to her friend. "It's part of that mystique he has. As a great sorcerer he doesn't have to give you a straight answer or make sense. He can be as aggravating as he wants to be."

"And he's pretty damn aggravating," Regina confirmed.

At that moment something dropped from the sky onto Gold. He swore colorfully and batted the thing away but it returned, flapping about him. The women had caught up by then and Emma grabbed the thing that was harassing Gold.

"What is it?" Lily asked.

Gold took the item from Emma, held it up to examine it and announced, "It's what's left of a two hundred dollar Ferragamo silk tie." Something had melted the upper third of the tie.

Gold sniffed the tie. "It's got a locator spell on it and. . . " he sniffed it again . . . "interesting. Something else. Belle must not have known which of the three brown potions was the right spell and she tried all three."

"This is something that Belle did – trying to find you, isn't it?" Regina asked.

He stuffed the tie into his shirt (the leather pants lacking pockets). "This could prove useful." He turned to the women and strode on. "Dearies, we're losing daylight," he called back to them.

They walked on after him, up and down the countryside, following a narrow faded path. It was late afternoon when they crested a hill. The three women stopped in amazement. They had come to the place they had glimpsed from the air, the ruins of the castle set on a hill, over-looking a river.

Rumple had walked on down the hill toward the ruins and took a moment before he noticed they weren't following him anymore. He stopped and called back up. "That, ladies, is or was Camelot. Imagine a tall castle made of white stone. It was magnificent in its day."

"Until Mordred led a revolution against his father?" Emma asked.

"Hum . . . well, more or less that's correct. But Mordred's not quite the villain you've been taught he was. And Arthur is not quite the hero," Rumple told them.

"Are we going to get to Merlin before nightfall?" Emma asked.

"No, but we will want to get to the shelter that the old castle can give us. There are some dangerous wild animals in this area that will be a real threat to us at night."

The three women looked at each other and walked on after him. Regina muttered to herself. "He's in some danger from the dangerous wild animals, the shriveled up old magician that he is, but I'm pretty sure two sorceresses and a dragon can handle anything in this neighborhood."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that Regina," he called back to her. "You don't know what's in this neighborhood."

"I guess his hearing still works," Emma said with a smile.

Back in Storybrooke

Robin had returned with Malificent. The older woman had not been too thrilled to have been summoned by the Dark One, but she impressed Robin with her confidence.

"I was expecting this. Rumple had told me this would likely happen," she had told Robin. She alighted his truck, looking out of place in her manicured pantsuit. As they pulled into the diner, Malificent asked, "Where is she?" She stepped out into the parking lot littered with hail pellets.

Robin pointed to the shattered clock tower. Dark clouds scudding across the sky behind the edifice heralded bad weather blowing in and stood as background to the black figure sitting still on the precipice of the tower wall.

Malificent looked up. "Well, the Dark One always had style. I see he hasn't changed. Or should I call the Dark One 'she' now?"

"Ruby had said that Belle was completely submerged. Apparently the Dark One feels betrayed by Mr. Gold."

Malificent had to smile. "No doubt Rumple gave her flowers, chocolates and made promises he didn't intend to keep. And she woke up this morning and found out that he had left her. You'd think, even if Belle was delusional, the Dark One would have known that Rumple can be a duplicitous, deceitful, double-dealing douchbag. Poor girl." She looked around and up at the clock tower. "I'm supposed to go up there?" she asked Robin just to be sure.

"The Dark One asked for you," he told her.

"All right then," and Malificent set off. Robin was privately impressed with the woman's fearlessness. He would be shaking in his boots if he had been called up to see Belle, the Lady Dark One. He watched as the woman made her way, stepping across the rubble in her designer boots, getting across the street and disappearing into the remnants of library.

Malificent wasn't particularly worried. The only Dark One she had ever known was Rumple and he would rant and rave but he was not one to kill women, except as they might get in the way of a wall coming down or an ocean wave sweeping an area. Of course, now that the Dark One was a woman, she might not have those same compunctions. But then Rumple had told her to expect this. He had known that Dark Belle would seek her out.

Belle had continued to sit on the clock tower. She wasn't raining hail or lightning down on the inhabitants any more but understandably, people were leery of her. She hadn't appeared to have moved, the only activity coming from her was her cape blowing in the wind, the wind that she likely had conjured.

She was musing.

How could she ever have trusted Rumple?

Because he said what she wanted to hear. How she was the love of his life, that he would do anything for her, that he loved her.

And she had succumbed to his lovemaking, his kisses, his wonderful, talented fingers.

Fool!

How could she have been fooled by him? As Belle she had danced to his tune for a long time before coming to recognize his true nature. But as the Dark One, knowing him as the Dark One knew him, she should have been able to see through him.

She had to smile. The man was clever, no questioning that.

What did he think she would do when she found that he had left her to go high-tailing it to Camelot? Just sit back and await her fate?

Did he think she wasn't clever enough to find another way into Camelot?

She considered the options. By now she had ruled out Jefferson. He wasn't going to be able to tell her anything more. She realized that now. He'd probably die before he gave her any more useful information.

Jefferson dying. That was an image she could relish. But she didn't have time for such a piddling task.

She had ruled out transforming herself into a dragon. (She knew that this was something the Dark One could do, well, at least Dark One Rumple could do. She just didn't quite know how to do it.) Even if she could, she would have no idea how to make a flight to a different realm.

Pity that. She thought she would make a splendid dragon. Perhaps Malificent could help with that.

Belle had spotted the older sorceress picking her way over to the tower. She knew she was on her way up the stairs.

"Dark One?" she heard Malificent call out to her.

"Yes Mallie," she used the Dark One's name for the sorceress.

"You called for me?"

"I did, darling," Belle said to her. "I understand that dragons can fly to other realms. Is that correct?"

"I just learned about it myself, dear. Emma speculated that you, as Rumple of course, wiped it out of my mind with a memory potion. I have no idea how to go about it, you must believe."

"I must believe?" Belle questioned. Belle looked over at the other woman. Her dark sight confirmed what she suspected – Malificent was without her heart. It had been removed with or without the woman's permission or awareness. Just like Rumple to take such a precaution.

"If I knew how to fly to another realm, I would be using the talent to chase after my daughter. She was talked into taking your Rumple, dear Emma and dearest Regina off to who knows where. I'm stuck here."

Belle regarding the woman. She did seem genuinely peeved. But then this could all be part of one of Rumple's convoluted plans.

"He did give me a message for you," Malificent told her.

Belle looked up. That had caught her attention.

"He said to remind you about the Apprentice and the portals and to let you know that Regina and I gathered up all the markers from his cottage.

Belle sat a moment. There was some sense in this.

That Apprentice fellow had drawn portals. They sometimes went between magical realms, but also sometimes to non-magical realms.

Very promising.

"Where are these markers?" she asked.

"Regina's kitchen, last I heard," Malificent told her. "Are you going after the little shit?" she asked.

Belle turned and smiled. "I am. I don't want to kill him . . . maybe . . . just hurt him a little."

"Be sure to sell tickets. A lot of us would pay to see our Rumple taken down a couple of notches."

Belle leaned toward Malificent, "I'm afraid I'll be dealing with him in private, darling. Thanks for the information."

Belle stood and stretched and then . . . she vanished from the clock tower.

First she tried Regina's. Her wards had been re-set and were much more powerful. They took a little more effort to tear down. Fortunately, Regina had been Rumplestiltskin's student and there were enough of his memories left that allowed Belle to dismantle them in a heartbeat. There was no one home so she wandered without any self-consciousness from one room to another. She found markers but couldn't be sure if they belonged to the Apprentice or to Henry or even to the little cute one. Belle took these along with a bunch of mismatched marking instruments she found in the kitchen.

She took herself out to the cabin. It was set apart from the town and tended to be a quiet place. Rumple had always delighted in its seclusion and would use it from time to time for mischief or for pleasure - taking her there on several occasions. It had a better feel to it for the Dark One than many other places in Storybrooke.

Belle began to test out each and every marker, concentrating, focusing on drawing a portal. After more than an hour with absolutely no success Belle found it difficult to control her temper.

She ended up throwing the markers across the room. She considered blowing up the place but changed her mind. There were some pleasant memories connected to the place.

Maybe she should just sit and rest for a bit.

It had been a trying morning.

She conjured Rumple's whiskey and poured herself several fingers. The Dark One did not become drunk or even buzzed, well, at least not from alcohol. She drank it because she enjoyed the burning sensation as it trailed down her throat.

As she sat quietly recalling everything she could about the Apprentice, things she had known as Belle and things she knew as the Dark One, she suddenly had an idea.

Not just anyone could draw the portal. It had to be the exact right person, someone who had a special gift with pens and markers and such.

Belle took another drink. She smiled. She knew who the exact right person was.

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed the past chapter (as always so appreciated): Erik'sTrueAngel, The Golden Hawk (Chapter 1), orthankg1, Robin4, deweymay, Grace5231973, ladybugsmomma, MyraValhallah and CharlotteAshmore.

NEXT: Gold has interesting heart-to-hearts with each of his three companions and discovers something about himself. Belle continues to pursue her quest to find a way to Camelot.