So I have to admit this was a bit harder to write because I'm essentially writing a history for the show and creating a character I know will be depicted this next season. I have no clue how they plan to write Merlin, but I decided to take my own twist to the character, I feel like there is going to be a lot more to this Sorcerer than we know now.
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Killian clenched his hand into a fist and stared into the eyes of his last hope and could see the old man's disappointment staring back at him. What did he have to feel disappointed about? Wasn't like he had lost the woman that he loved and was destined to be terminally alone. He was the almighty Sorcerer. He had the ability to make anything happen…except for apparently bringing back Emma.
"What do you mean you won't be able to help us?" Henry asks, voicing the question they were all surely thinking. "You're the Sorcerer aren't you?" His voice filled with hope.
"Yes I am." He says again.
"Why can't you help us?" David asks his gaze jumping from Merlin to Killian, worried about how he was handling this latest news.
"Yes why?" Regina asks skeptical of this old man, unimpressed with what she saw. This was the powerful Sorcerer they've heard so much about? Talk about ordinary. "You created the Dark One, surely you can get rid of it."
"Your old Apprentice said you could help us." Henry says insistent now. "Why would he say that if you can't?"
His look of disappointment now morphed into somber. "I didn't say I can't help you." He says with a shake of his head. His head shaking and whatever else he was going to say comes to an abrupt stop when Killian lunges forward and grabs him by the throat.
"Don't you dare toy with us old man." Killian seethes, his grip firm around Merlin's throat. Not enough to hold off oxygen, but enough to be hard to shake loose.
"Killian!" Henry shouts surprised, blocked from stepping forward due to David beating him to it.
"Killian let him go!" David says grabbing his shoulder and trying to shake him.
Shoving David, gently, but with enough force to push him back Killian turns a hard glare to him. "He is lying!" Killian shouts turning back to glare at Merlin. "You said you wouldn't help us, meaning that you can, but you're choosing not to. Why?!" Killian says still shouting, squeezing a bit tighter with the last word.
"You don't know what you're asking." Merlin struggles to say staring into Killian's eyes with no fear or concern.
Mixed between surprise that he hadn't been magically thrown across the room and burning anger Killian releases his grip enough to make it easier for him to talk. "Of course we know what we're asking! We want you to free Emma from that damned dagger and rid the realms of a the Dark One for good."
"If you release me I can explain." Merlin says still calm.
Killian just stares at him for a moment, considering. It was tempting to just squeeze a bit tighter or use his hook in a way that it hadn't in a very long time. See if this magical man really wouldn't do anything to protect himself against Killian's assault. The man showed no fear, not even anger. In fact his gaze could be considered understanding. Which just infuriated and confused Killian even more.
He didn't want this man's understanding he wanted his help!
Looking over at the others Killian sees concern in David's eyes as his friend's gaze keeps drifting to his hand around the Sorcerers throat. Regina stands behind David looking confused and angry. It's Henry's gaze that draws Killian's attention; the young lad looks both afraid and sad. It's the fear that gets Killian to loosen his grip on Merlin's throat, hating that he was the cause of that fear.
"Explain yourself." Killian grounds out, turning his gaze back to Merlin, annoyed that there was no look of relief at being released.
Nodding his head Merlin steps away to begin a small walk around the room, stopping when he comes to the window where he looks outside before he starts talking. "It was a very long time ago that I created that damned dagger as you so aptly have named it." Merlin says looking back at Killian with approval. "And with its creation I sadly was forced to tether an innocent life to it."
"You're saying the dagger came before the Dark One?" Regina said in surprise.
"Yes." Merlin nods somberly. "When the darkness attempted to take over the realms, at first I tried to contain it various ways with little success. It was too powerful and too unpredictable to simply contain or suppress. It needed a living host to divert it."
"You mean to feed it until there is nothing left of your host." Killian spits out, clenching his fist again. "You forget we've witnessed first hand what your solution does."
"Killian please." Regina urges, keeping her frustration out of her voice. "Let him finish."
"No, it's alright." Merlin shakes his head. "Feed is another very apt term. It would appear Mr. Jones you have quite a way with words, but you're mistaken if you think I've forgotten what you've all been through." Sharing a passing look with all of them, his gaze comes back to rest on Killian. "I remember everything."
There is a pause at those words as everyone else remembers too what they've suffered. David is the first to break the silence, trying to get Merlin back to his story. "You said it needed a host?"
"Yes, a host." Merlin says looking at David. "A living host that the darkness can't simply destroy and move on like it was able to. So with the darkness magically linked to the dagger I had to then link the dagger to a person. My first choice was me, of course, unwilling to force such misfortune on someone. But as my Apprentice at the time reminded me, I wasn't sure if my plan would work and if it didn't and I were to perish, who then would be left to save the realms? He liked to be called Wart and he was a very brave man. Instead he sacrificed himself, trusting in me, sadly I didn't deserve it." Walking away from the window now, Merlin paces the library, circling around them as he continues to talk.
"For a time it appeared the plan had worked. The darkness was tied to the dagger and the dagger was tied to Wart. He was able to contain the darkness and he stayed under my watchful eye. It was few years later that the signs of Wart losing to the pressure and my containment became no match for the power. He broke loose and ran off with the dagger. When I found him he was in a nearby village begging for the pain to stop. Before I could intervene an angry drunk, under the assumption Wart was simply mad, listened to him and the dagger had a new host. I tried working with this man, but he wasn't like Wart, he liked the power. And one night he escaped with the dagger and with the power of the darkness avoided my detection."
"Couldn't you have controlled them with the dagger?" Henry asks.
"I hadn't realized at the time that whoever wielded the dagger controlled the host." Merlin stops his pacing to stare at Henry. "And after I found out I wasn't able to ever get my hands on the dagger again, those who had it knew it's power and were careful to conceal it." He then starts pacing again. "I was able to track the darkness and eventually learned that villagers had deemed the host the Dark One. I heard of the exploits and damage that followed in their wake and it filled me with such shame."
"Why didn't you do anything to stop it?" David asks.
"Much like I did when I created the dagger, I didn't know what else to do to contain it. At least with the dagger and the host, the reach of the darkness was limited greatly."
"Sacrifice the one for the many, aye?"
"I know it sounds callous to you, especially considering the circumstances, but it wasn't a decision I made lightly nor ever was comfortable with the fact every few years a new Dark One would rise. It wasn't long that I retired back here and determined that I would not rest until I found a solution for the darkness once and for all."
"And in the mean time you let your creation run amuck, destroying lives in their wake?" Killian asks, not swayed by the emotional tale or the sacrificial ending. "Or prevent them from breaking free from your leash?"
"I think what Killian is trying to say." Regina says glaring at Killian and stepping forward. "What happened with Gol… Rumpelstiltskin? From what I know of the Dark One and from the sounds of your tale, the title passed regularly when the current host grew weak. He never did."
"No your Rumpelstiltskin had quite a lot of fortitude. More than I had ever seen before. But it is because of the fervor that drove him and his ambitions to find his son, he was able to manipulate and, for quite some time, master that darkness. For a while I had high hopes that maybe I would not need a solution after all and that Rumpelstiltskin would finally be able to do what I couldn't. Rein the darkness in."
"You forget the pain he inflicted." Killian seethes.
"I forget nothing!" Merlin raises his voice, still not yelling like Killian, but it's the first sign of outward emotion he has shown.
"No you forget nothing." Killian says not swayed by the outburst. "You just sit back and do nothing while your puppet murders and maims. You do nothing when he then learns he can clips his strings. You're idle as he starts using your own magical hat to start imprisoning your fellow magical beings and then plans to crush my heart as his final act. You may forget nothing, but you also do nothing!"
"There was nothing I could do once Rumpelstiltskin's plan worked and he was out of this realm. In the land without magic I am not the Sorcerer that I am here and from this side I have no affect on what happens in other realms. Which was why when you all returned last year, I knew it would not be long before you found a way back again. I sent my Apprentice and a mansion full of my things with you all to find once you were back on the other side. I was not aware until it was too late what Rumpelstiltskin was doing or how close he was to succeeding. I'm very relieved to find that he didn't succeed in the end."
"So what happened to Gold and why did the Apprentice attempted to remove the darkness in our realm." David says.
"I had not foreseen how far the darkness could overcome someone without them succumbing and finding someone to release them. My Apprentice wasn't prepared either. No other Dark One before Rumpelstiltskin lasted as long or committed some of his worst deeds. What my Apprentice did was what I would have done in the same position, anything else and Rumpelstiltskin could have died and the darkness would have been unstoppable."
Considering everything Killian waits until Merlin's gaze finds his, in his eyes he knows the other man knows what he's going to ask. "You still have yet to explain why you won't help us. You say I won't understand, is it because you aren't the almighty Sorcerer that you claim to be and you still have no solution for this darkness that now has Emma imprisoned."
"I wish I didn't, but alas no, I do know now how to rid the darkness. I can assure you I don't intend to sit idly by anymore." Merlin says, his gaze never wavering from Killian's. Not even when Henry steps forward to speak.
"Then why won't you help us?"
Killian and Merlin don't acknowledge that Henry has spoken, instead staring at each other. Finally Merlin looks down and turns his back, Killian finally understands.
"So that's it then. That's all you can offer us?" Killian asks the anguish in his voice startling the others in the room.
"Yes." Merlin says without turning back to face any of them. "If you would like to leave now I understand. Art will see you back to your realm. But please feel free to visit whenever you would like, with the broom your travel between realms will be much easier now."
"I'm quite sure that won't be necessary." Killian says and turns to the group. "Let's go. We're done here."
"Killian I don't understand." Henry says following behind him. Regina and David both following closely behind sharing similarly confused looks. They didn't understand either. "Why won't he help us?"
"We don't want or need his help." Killian says without turning around. Finally he stops to open the door and turns to face them finally, his gaze finding David first and then Regina. They too soon understand what Merlin hadn't said aloud.
"Henry let's go." Regina urges, pushing him gently through the door.
"No!" Henry shouts in his best Killian impersonation of stubbornness. "I'm not leaving here until I understand why Merlin won't help us and Killian is ok with it."
"He intends to kill the Dark One Henry!" Killian shouts in frustration, looking up to the ceiling and blinking to hold back tears.
"But…but that's my mom!" Henry says with a mixture of shock and fear.
"I know lad." Killian says forcing his gaze back down Henry's the tears still in his eyes. "But I don't intend to let him."
"Well let's get out of here." David says putting an arm around Henry's shoulders and leading them down the hallway to the waiting Art. They had no time to waste now.