A/N: Sorry for the slow updates, these chapters seem to take me a lot longer than my other stories! But I have quite a while until my next deadline so will try and be more consistent!
Chapter Two: The Dark One
'Emma darling, please' said her mother wearily as she headed towards the council chamber.
'Mother you can't just shut me out, not this time, I deserve to know what's going on' said Emma, hot on her heels.
'Your mother is right Emma, you are too young' said David, striding ahead.
'I'm seventeen dad, in less than a year I will be an adult in my own right. This is my kingdom too' snapped Emma, infuriated.
David had almost reached the ornate double doors, but stopped short turning to face his daughter, 'Emma I promise you, we will tell you everything but first we need to have a meeting to discuss our options'.
'So let me come' said Emma, folding her arms.
'You know you aren't allowed in the council chamber' said David, clearly a little stunned by the question.
'This is my home. I'm not a child anymore and I won't be treated as one. I deserve to know what is going on in my own kingdom, maybe I can help' argued Emma, having come prepared for this battle.
After a long pause, Snow said slowly, 'maybe she's right David'.
'My dear…' David started to protest, but Snow put a calming hand on his arm, 'There is no harm in her sitting in on a meeting, she is nearly eighteen'.
Without a word, David turned, sighed, and opened the doors. Inside was a large round table, which almost filled the entire room and a number of ornate wooden chairs. Emma recognised all the faces sat there. There was Doc and Grumpy, who acted as representatives of the seven dwarfs, who were in charge of the security team at the castle. Granny, the prickly groundskeeper. The Blue Fairy, who handled relations between the crown and the fairies. And Lancelot, who was in charge of training the new soldiers. They all looked a little surprised to see Emma, but she held her head high and walked with confidence. She deserved to be here as much as anyone else. One of the queen's maids quickly pulled up another chair to the table, and placed it next to Snow's seat. Snow and Emma took their seats, and David stood before his throne, ornately carved with gold leaf, his face grave.
'Now, as you know, we have received a visit from the Poison Apple, and it seems he's gotten stronger' said David, his voice commanding.
Emma had always admired this side of her father, the unwaveringly brave leader.
'No one has seen them since last year, and plus, I thought we had the poison apple locked in your dungeons' said Grumpy, sounding exactly as his name would suggest.
'Well apparently we were wrong, or we have an impersonator on our hands' said David grimly, 'Regardless, he was able to walk right into our castle, steal the jewellery right from our persons and then waltz out again. We cannot stand for this'.
'So, what do we do?' asked Doc, wringing his hands nervously.
'Well first, we issue a reward for the capture of this person' said Blue, 'the fairies can spread the world throughout the kingdoms'.
'Isn't that a bit tricky when we have no idea what this person looks like' said Grumpy, cynical but correct.
'It's all we've got right now. This kingdom will not be plagued by this common thief again' said David, turning to Blue he asked, 'his magic is getting stronger, any ideas why?'.
'It's hard to know without actually seeing him in action' said Blue, frowning, 'can you describe to me exactly what happened?'.
Snow took over at this stage, recounting the events that had taken place earlier. As Emma listened, her hand involuntarily rose to her locket. If there was one thing she was absolutely certain of it was that this Poison Apple was the same person who had broken into her room all those years ago. Logic was telling her that couldn't be the case, this thief had used magic, whereas her thief had climbed through the window and taken her things the old fashioned way. But the locket. It had to be the same person. It just had to be.
'From the magic you are describing, you're up against a very powerful adversary' said Blue, her face grave.
'I was so sure' David slammed his fist on the table, and Emma jumped.
Snow put a hand on Emma's arm and her face flushed. She had never seen her dad this angry.
'I was so sure we had him in our cells' said David again, raking a hand through his hair.
'Maybe' said Snow slowly, 'we should go and have a word with our prisoner'.
'You can't be serious' said Grumpy, his eyebrows raised.
'With all due respect your majesty' said Granny, glaring at Grumpy for his rude outburst, 'the dark one cannot be reasoned with. If you go and visit him, he will just try to manipulate you into freeing him. I must advise against it'.
'They're right, Snow. It's far too dangerous' said David, collapsing back into his throne.
Emma's head was spinning. The Dark One? She had never even heard the name before, and now to find out that whoever this person was had been locked in the castle for a year. She had a hundred questions she wanted to ask, but she didn't want to look weak or uninformed in front of her parents council. She decided it was best to wait.
'I think we have to. He's been trapped down there for a year, and all this time he has let us believe that he is the Poison Apple. Now if he's getting out of the cell we need to know about it, and if he isn't then he's the most likely to know who the Poison Apple is and where to find him' reasoned Snow, resulting in a few nods from the table.
'My dear, you can't seriously believe he will tell you anything?' asked David, frowning.
'At the moment, it's our only way' said Snow, setting her jaw.
A silence fell over the council, as the King and Queen gazed at each other. It was a battle of wills all of them had seen before, even Emma.
'All in favour of consulting the Dark One, raise your hand' said Snow, raising her hand into the air.
Slowly, Lancelot, Blue and Doc raised their hands. Emma stuck her hand in the air. David looked at her, seeming a little hurt, and then slowly surveyed the table.
Seeing he was definitively outnumbered, he said, 'okay, then it's decided, we will speak to the Dark One. But for tonight, everyone get some rest, we will reconvene in the morning, where we will go and visit the cells. Together as a group'.
Her mother stood up, and followed David as he headed straight towards the door. Emma leapt to her feet and rushed after them.
'Please Emma, no questions, just for a moment' begged her mother, pre-empting the ambush her daughter was about to unleash.
'Mother please'.
'Emma' Snow snapped, turning to face her daughter, 'I promise, I will tell you everything. But in the morning, I'm exhausted and my head is pounding'.
Emma looked at her mother, and decided to yield, 'okay'.
Emma's eyes were still wide open well into the night. How could she sleep? She had far too much to think about. Even writing it all down in her journal hadn't helped. Suddenly, she was overwhelmingly angry. She was practically an adult, and yet her parents were still shutting her out and keeping her locked away. She was a prisoner in her own home. Well, if they weren't going to help her, she would find out what was going on on her own.
She carefully climbed out of bed, and tiptoed over to the door. Listening carefully, she heard the steady breathing of the guard outside. She turned the key in the lock slowly, and listened again. The same steady breathing. If she was right, this would be a lot easier than she had thought. She turned the handle slowly, and then opened the door. She was right, for some reason, they had left Sleepy on guard duty again. They really should know better. Emma glanced left and right to make sure the coast was clear, and then closed the door carefully behind her, and locked it. And she set off down the corridor.
Emma knew the castle like the back of her hand, all except for one part of it. The dungeons. Ever since she was little it had been drilled into her that she was never to go to the dungeons under any circumstances. They were full of dangerous people, people who wanted to do her harm. And until today, she had never let her curiosity outweigh her fear.
As she rounded a corner, she shrank back against a wall. Unsurprisingly, there were two guards posted outside. Her mind was racing through ideas for getting past them, she was not going to give up now. She turned her head back down the corridor she had come from, looking for a weapon, anything that could help her get past this guard when she heard two almost simultaneous thuds. Turning slowly back around, already prepared with an excuse as to why she was so deep in the castle, so late at night. But to her surprise, the guards were passed out on the floor. Anxiously, she rushed over and placed two fingers against his neck, looking for a pulse. It was there and it was steady. It appeared the men had both fallen inexplicably into a deep and sudden sleep. Then with a soft creak, the door that marked the entrance to the dungeons opened.
Something was wrong, very wrong.
'Emma Swan'.
At first it was just a whisper in the air, she was sure she had imagined it.
'Emma Swan' this time the singsong voice was unmistakable, and followed by an undeniably sinister high pitched giggle.
It was coming from the cells. Emma felt a knot form in her stomach, she felt sick. This had been a horrible mistake. And yet, she couldn't quite bring herself to turn away. She took a shaky step forward and then hesitated again.
'Over here dearie' the voice called again.
Taking a deep breath, she desperately tried to stop her hands from shaking and started forward. As she passed through the iron door to the cells, it suddenly became very very dark. She took one of the lit torches off the wall and waved it in front of her to fend off the shadows that all seemed to look like looming figures. She was faced with a long stone corridor that branched off in two directions at the end. She tried to be quiet as she crept forward, in case there were some remaining guards, but she didn't really believe that there would be. Whoever this was seemed to be pretty thorough.
'Emma Swan' the voice called again, 'down here dearie'.
What follows were peals of laughter; loud, high pitched deeply unnerving giggling that echoed through the corridors. All her instincts were telling her that this was a terrible idea, screaming at her to run. But she couldn't stop herself from carrying on. A few hundred meters down twisting corridors, letting the laughter guide her, she came to a dank cave. Normally, it would have been shut off by two thick iron doors but like all the others hung open. Half of the cave was walled off by thick bars, and she could make out a figure stood in the shadows. Emma hung right back by the doors. The cavern was deadly silent, all echoes of the laughter having died out, and Emma wasn't sure if it was better or worse. She was suddenly feeling very out of her depth.
'I've been waiting for you dearie' the voice said again.
'Are you, the dark one?' asked Emma, cursing herself as her voice cracked in fear.
'That's me. But you can call me Rumplestiltskin'.
And with this declaration, the man stepped right up to the bars of the cage, his face finally coming into the light. Emma couldn't help but recoil at the sight in front of her. It seemed to be completely covered in green shimmering scales, and the hands were exactly the same with long talons instead of fingernails. He looked alarmingly like a crocodile. The eyes burned a bright amber colour, and seemed to be finding this whole situation incredibly amusing. Emma just stood there gaping at him, painfully aware of his upper hand.
'So Emma Swan, it's an honour to meet you again' he said, his eyes studying her.
'Again?' said Emma, her eyes wide.
She was sure she would have remembered a face like his.
'Yes dearie, again' said the Dark One, giggling, 'I've been waiting for you to come down here'.
'How did you know I would come? I didn't even know…'
'I know everything. I know you better than you know yourself. I know that the day before your fourteenth birthday someone broke into your room, but left your locket behind. I know that you feel trapped in your own home. And I know that you came down here to ask me about the poison apple, because you know your parents won't tell you anything'.