If Any Would Avenge
Chapter 36: Interlude
"That isn't your concern, dearie." Gold growled and raised his right hand a bit while holding himself up with his left. Before any of the women could stop him, he made a flourishing motion with his hand and magicked a small gilded chest onto the table. "This is."
"...What is that?" Emma asked, tilting her head as she glanced over the gilded, yet otherwise ordinary seeming jewelry box.
"Fortuné's chest." Gold replied, his words affecting neither Regina nor Emma, though Snow furrowed her brow in familiarity. "It's enchanted...and it'll summon what I...we need." His hands shook and he took a few halting breaths to steady himself, the poison seeping towards his heart making his vision blur. "I...I need you...to use it." He muttered, staring at Emma.
"Use it? An enchanted jewelry box?" Emma blinked, glancing at the chest and then at Gold, wary of both. "The last time you had an enchanted box you trapped Hen…."
"It's not Pandora's box!" The Dark One growled, irritated at the savior and her unnecessary caution. Each second wasted on assuring her was a second closer to the dreamshade reaching his heart. "It's Fortuné's. An entirely different sort of enchanted box."
"All right, jeez." Emma muttered, arms still crossed. Beside her Snow gaped at the chest, her blue eyes shining in amazement. It was evident that Snow had heard of the chest, unlike the other two women.
"Fortuné's chest...this is that chest?" Snow gasped. "Wow...Johanna used to tell stories about it, I…." She trailed off and her eyes widened when Gold groaned in pain, the pawnbroker having started to growl at them to focus. "Gold! I…." Seeing the pawnbroker in pain and weakened by the poison, Snow turned back towards the chest, this time from determination to help rather than intrigue. From Johanna's stories about the chest, she understood the gist about how it worked.
"No. Not you. It has to be Emma." Gold stopped Snow White as she reached for the chest, grabbing hold of her wrist. His grip, though strong, was weaker than Snow expected and much colder in temperature. Her breath caught. "Only she can…." The pawnbroker gasped, the burning tendrils of dreamshade extremely close to his heart. "No...no time to...argue….dearie. You need to...summon the dreamshade cure...using the chest."
"What…? H…." Before Emma could question the Dark One further, he stumbled from the table and collapsed on the pawnshop floor. Regina hurried to Gold's side, her eyes widening at his unconscious state, while Snow grabbed the chest from the table and handed it to Emma. "Mom, what…?"
"Use it. Regardless of what Rumplestiltskin's done or may have done, we can't let him die. Especially not….if Belle's future self is a threat, he may be the only one who can stop her." Snow said, determination filling her eyes.
"Mom…." Emma sighed and chewed her lip. "All right. I'll….How do I use it, anyway?"
Snow chewed on her own lip, trying to remember the story she heard as a child. "When Johanna told the story, she mentioned that using the chest required asking it for whatever item you wanted and then opening it. If it works, you'll have the item you requested."
"All right." Emma sighed and took the chest, closing her eyes as she focused on the vial of dreamshade cure Gold needed. As she held the chest, its gilded wood grew warmer in her hands. Her palms tingled as she muttered the request for the vial under her breath. The next moment the warmth faded and she opened her eyes, her gaze focused on the chest. Biting her lip, she opened it, and her eyes widened on its contents.
As she requested, a vial of a clear liquid - the dreamshade cure Gold needed - was set in the center of the box. That wasn't what surprised her. Rather it was what was beneath the vial that caused her breath to catch and her eyes to dart to Gold lying unconscious on the floor.
The Dark One dagger.
"Did it work?" Regina asked, glancing up at Emma, her eyes narrowing at the dumbfounded expression on the savior's face. "...well?"
"Emma…?" Snow approached her daughter, her blue eyes searching the other's face before glancing down at the chest. Before she could glimpse what was inside it, it was slammed shut by the sheriff.
"Oh. Yeah. Yeah." Emma muttered and handed the vial to Regina, the raven haired mayor quickly took it to Gold's unconscious form. The sheriff took a deep breath, clenching the now shut box, her heart racing. Her gut tightened, and she glanced towards the pawnbroker and then back at the chest. Beside her Snow White watched Emma, concern painted on her face and she reached out to touch her daughter.
"Emma? What…." Snow asked, touching her daughter's arm reassuringly. Her own gaze peeked down at the chest that Emma clutched tightly enough that the savior's knuckles were blanched from the effort.
"I...it's nothing." Emma muttered, picking up the chest and walking out of the room. Her thoughts raged in her head, not at all stopping as she stepped into the front room of the shop. Had Gold known the dagger would be there? Or that her summoning the vial would summon it? He had to have known, right? Then why…? Her gut churned as she paced the front room of the shop, the chest still held tightly in her hands. After a moment she stopped and lifted the lid to the chest again, her gut burning.
The dagger was still there, fit snugly inside the gilded chest.
"Emma, wh…." Snow said as she passed through the curtain separating the back and front rooms; she blinked and halted in her approach when she saw her daughter pull out the dark one dagger from the chest. "Is that...how…?"
Emma didn't reply, but simply turned around to catch her mother's gaze. Holding the dagger in one hand and the chest in the other, she chewed on her lip, still trying to make sense of things. If Gold allowed her to summon the dagger, did that mean that he wanted her to...what? Use it? But….
"Belle's future self has Sadie, right?" Emma mumbled, her gaze shifting back to the dagger. "Then….I can only think of one reason Gold would allow me...anyone to have this. He doesn't think he can bring himself to…." She sucked in a deep breath, and swallowed. "Or worse. That he might help her...do whatever she came here to do"
"Emma…."
The sheriff scowled, her stomach and heart wrenching as she implicitly understood what the future beauty wanted. 'A child for a child.' Gold's words from the night of the crash echoed in her head, and though she never thought their Belle would stoop to such revenge, who knew what her future self was like.
"...we have a problem." Regina stepped into the front room, talking to them before she even was near enough to not be muffled. She froze at the sight greeting her, barely registering it for a moment. "Is that the dagger? How…." Emma simply held up the chest in response, answering the mayor's second question before it was fully asked. "Ok…."
"Regina? What is it? You said there's a problem…."
"Gold. He's not waking up." Regina replied, Snow and Emma growing alarmed by the news. "The antidote worked, all signs of dreamshade poisoning are gone and he seems fine. But he's not waking up."
Emma scowled, and shifted her focus back to the dagger. "If he won't wake, I'll…." The blonde's breath caught as her eyes focused on the name engraved on the dagger.
Still written on its ebony blade was Rumplestiltskin's name but only half, the rest of it was erased. Just like it was years ago when he almost died of the same poison. Only now instead of his name returning in full on the ebony blade, as was the case before, the text simply lingered half written, half erased.
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Staring emotionlessly towards the wall as the magic cloud around her faded and she dropped the donkey skin cloak from her shoulders, Lacey took a moment to reflect. She could still feel the knife handle, the weight of it in her hand from when she stabbed Gold. It was heavier than the newborn she now cradled in her arms, heavier than anything else she'd ever done.
"...Rumple…."
'Having regrets? Hah. Really? It was necessary, you know.' The voice in her head spat, scoffing at the singular tear that fell down Lacey's cheek. 'It's not like he won't find some way to survive. After all, if he does die, the future….well, you wouldn't be standing here as the dark one.'
Lacey clenched her teeth and frowned, trying to chase away the voice. Her head too full and fractured as it was to deal with a spiteful voice insidiously overwhelming hers. Its presence was more nerve wracking than that of her subconscious - the part of her that was still Belle - pleading with her.
'Don't do it.' Her subconscious whispered, as though conjured by mere thought, its accented tone trembling. 'This isn't the way.'
"What should I do, then? Give up and leave him to his fate? You failed! Twice!" Lacey hissed glaring at a space beside her, where her subconscious manifested briefly. The next second it trembled and vanished, retreating away from the dark beauty's words and the truth laced in them.
'That was...a bit harsh.' The voice in her head chided, a smirk audible in its tone. 'I know a fair bit about self loathing, but what is between you two is quite….'
"You shut up too. I'm trying to think." Dark One Lacey lilted, scowling at the voice. In her arms Sadie opened her eyes and stared curiously at the chestnut haired woman. Feeling the baby trying to reach for her, Lacey glared down at the infant, her cerulean eyes narrowed sharply.
"Wahhh!" Sadie started bawling, terrified of the strange woman holding her. Her cries echoed through the room and down the hall, towards a short staircase leading down to stark cement walls. A basement corridor, lit only by flickering electric ceiling lights and leading to a bolted shut door; no signs of anyone there, until the infant's cries passed through the thin door. Within seconds there was a pounding on that door, and angry, terrified shouts.
Lacey merely glanced at it and smirked, the expression making her look more chilling. Magicking herself within a foot or so of the door, Sadie still bawling in her arms, the chestnut haired dark one swooshed the door open with a wave of her free hand, her smirk never wavering.
"...you bitch. Don't you dare…." Killian growled, nearly stumbling forwards when the door flung open. The moment he saw Lacey with her cold smirk he bristled, and then lunged forward when he saw Sadie in the woman's arms. "Give me my daughter!" He growled and attempted to stab his hook into Lacey, but immediately twisted away and stumbled backwards when the chestnut haired woman shifted Sadie so the infant was in direct line of the pirate's attack.
"Careful now, you wouldn't want to be responsible for hurting your precious bundle here." Lacey crooned, rocking Sadie in her arms as the pirate stared horrified at them. The smirk on her face seemed more chilling than before she spoke, her cerulean eyes darkened beneath the sparse lighting. "Not that you'll have a choice…." Lacey held out Sadie so that Killian could grab his daughter, his face brightening in relief once the infant was in his arms. A relief short lived once Lacey summoned a crimson, crystallized object to her hand. Killian's heart. "...so long as I have this."
Killian blanched and held his daughter protectively in his arms, his eyes narrowing. "Crush it, then. I'll never…."
"No need. I just need to speak the order into your heart." Replied Lacey with a cold chuckle, before backing over the threshold and swooshing the door shut. Killian listened to her footsteps leading away, growing more and more fearful each second, Lacey's parting words lingering in his ears.
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The atmosphere at Granny's diner was thick with silence, broken only by Emma's angry fidgeting, repeatedly standing and sitting, not sure what to do and Regina's poised, yet equally as distressed pacing. About 80 minutes or longer had passed since they had stopped Gold dying from dreamshade, though the pawnbroker had yet to awake and was currently being guarded by Maleficent and Lily. None of them had managed to locate Belle yet - neither their Belle nor future Belle. Furthermore, after questioning Regina about Killian's release, Emma realized that her husband had been missing for hours.
Even worse - neither she nor Regina had been able to get in touch with Henry, who should've been back by now from talking with Isaac.
"...call me when you get this." Regina spoke into her cell phone, leaving what felt like the hundredth message on Henry's phone. Stopping her pacing she hung up the phone and swore, worried about her son. Next she glared at Emma, the sheriff's constant standing and sitting notwithstanding, who was nearly paralyzed from worry. The mayor nearly shouted at the savior about finding Henry, but bit it back when she saw the look on Emma's face.
Despair. Conflict. Worry. A myriad of emotions and fear whirled behind the blonde's eyes. Her husband, newborn daughter, and Henry - Emma was dealing with three of her loved one's being missing, and prioritizing which to search for first was….Regina didn't want to think about how paralyzing that would be. Though the mayor knew which one would - should take priority for the savior.
Regina sighed. "Emma," She paused a moment at the sheriff glancing up at her name, midway to standing. "You and your parents should focus on finding Sadie, I'll find Henry."
"Regina, I…." Emma stood up, scowling at the mayor, taking Regina's offer as an attack in her stressed state. As though the two of them were back to competing for who was the better mother for Henry.
"Come on, you know Sadie is and should be the most important priority right now. She isn't even a week old." Regina interrupted, her own maternal instinct shouting silently at her. Her next words were as much for her comfort as for the sheriff's. "Henry….well, it could be his motorcycle broke down outside town and he didn't charge his phone. I'll drive outside town and…."
"...What about Killian?"
Regina simply gave Emma a look. "Really, who do you think the pirate would tell you to focus on in this case?" She waited while Emma nodded and whispered 'Sadie', some of the conflict in the savior's eyes lessened, though the worry was still as strong. "Good, now once your father comes back with something that belongs to Sadie, we can try the locator potion I managed to find in Gold's shop. Then…."
Just then the door to Granny's diner opened loudly and Grumpy stepped through, his face saying 'emergency' before a word passed his lips. That wasn't what alarmed Regina though - it was what the dwarf held in his hand. A pen - the Author pen Henry owned and the 19-year-old's cell phone.