A/N: The title for this chapter comes from this Gandalf quote about death: "End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it." Trust me, it's fitting. This chapter is about a whole lot of death.
My eternal thanks to spartanguard for beta reading this and putting up with me as a writer. 3
As always, enjoy, and reviews feed the muse!
Trigger Warnings: Minor character death, descriptions of dead bodies (nothing overtly graphic) and death
Chapter 13: All Turns to Silver Glass
Carnage.
That was the only word Emma could think of to describe what she was currently seeing.
Bodies were strewn all across the street in a scene of absolute slaughter. Some were Maleficent's men—their black, scaled armor instantly recognizable—but there were also ordinary citizens, their fallen bodies marked by the plain clothes they wore. The overwhelming majority of the dead, however, were Arthur's soldiers. The glint of the midday sun off their chainmail armor was a stark contrast to the puddles of dried blood that soaked the ground, and the scent of death had already begun to fill the spring air. It mingled sharply with the unmistakable smell of burning wood and caused all of them to gag as they stood surveying the gruesome remains of Maleficent's attack.
They'd been expecting some level of death and destruction, but nothing like this.
Arthur, who stood next to Emma, shook with barely controlled rage.
"I'm going to gut every one of her minions," he pledged, his tone deathly calm despite the maelstrom of fury swirling within his eyes. "I can't hurt her, but as Ares is my witness, I will decimate her army myself. Excalibur will be drenched in their blood if it's the last thing I do."
Turning away from the body of a woman dressed in normal attire and who could have been no older than twenty, David sighed. "I'm sorry, Arthur."
"You have nothing to apologize for," the King of Camelot instantly replied. "It wasn't you who savagely attacked my kingdom in the dead of night."
David's gaze flickered to Emma, and the same guilt that churned within her stomach was echoed in her father's eyes. No, they hadn't been the ones to attack Arthur's kingdom, but they—or more precisely Emma—were why it had happened. Maleficent wanted revenge against her, and whatever she was looking for to aid her in that quest had been here in Camelot. Without her vendetta, the Dark Fairy wouldn't have had a reason to attack the city, and the lives of Arthur's men and citizens would have been spared.
Their blood was on her hands as much as it was on Maleficent's.
"Shouldn't we check to see if any of them are alive?" Belle asked, the question slightly muffled behind her hand that was attempting to pinch her nose against the horrific smells.
"Sadly, I think we're past that point," Will answered while pulling a white handkerchief from his pocket and handing it to his ex-wife. Belle's smile of thanks was strained as she quickly replaced the hand covering her nose with it.
Killian, who had been kneeling next to the body of an elderly woman, stood and nodded grimly.
"He's right. We should keep moving."
Carefully, so as not to disturb the dead, they continued on. Every street they turned down was the same—filled with bodies and either a still-burning building or one that had been reduced to blackened ashes—and it only became worse the further into the city they went. The heartbreaking sound of someone discovering a loved one echoed around them like a nightmarish symphony, and Emma found her eyes prickling with tears whenever she caught sight of them cradling an unmoving body. But there were glimpses of life and the resilience of Arthur's people amidst the wreckage. Survivors glanced outside their windows to see who was walking the streets and, upon seeing their king, placed their right hand over their hearts in a silent salute. Families were attempting to dig through the rubble of their homes for what remained of their possessions, and people tended to the still-alive but wounded soldiers who had clearly done their best to defend the people of Camelot.
Reaching the center of the city where Arthur's castle stood, they quickly went through the open gates and discovered hundreds of more bodies littering the large courtyard that separated the castle from the city. Emma noted as they made their way up the stone pathway that this area consisted of only Arthur's and Maleficent's men, with no sign of civilians amidst the fallen soldiers and attackers.
Once inside the sprawling, ancestral home of Arthur's family, Regina turned to Will.
"Percival said he was in the throne room when Merlin translocated him, correct?"
At Will's nod, Snow withdrew an arrow from the quiver hanging on her back and notched her bow.
"Can you sense him, Regina?" she asked, her voice no more than a whisper.
While neither Emma or Regina had felt Maleficent's presence or any lingering tendrils of the Dark Fairy's magic in the capital once they'd disembarked from the Jolly Roger, that didn't mean she hadn't left some of her men behind for an attempted ambush. It was unlikely—and a foolish plan if she had, as Killian and David had pointed out—but they weren't going to take any chances.
"No, I can't," the former Evil Queen murmured after a short pause. "Which is unsettling." Looking at Emma, she added, "What about you?"
She tried to search for Merlin's presence, but her magic refused to respond to her silent commands despite her still being able to feel it humming through her veins. It reminded her of when Regina started training her thirty years ago in Storybrooke. Emma knew it was there, could feel it just beneath the surface of her skin, yet infuriatingly she couldn't tap into it.
"No," she said at length, hoping that no one noticed how long it had taken her to respond as she attempted to use her magic.
The last thing she needed to do right now was let on that her magic wasn't cooperating with her.
"That's not good, right?" Elsa asked, her own magic flaring brightly in the palm of her hands.
Regina shook her head. "Normally it would mean the magic user is dead, but we know Merlin is immortal. So it more than likely means he's not in the castle anymore."
"Wonderful," Will muttered. "So now Maleficent has potentially kidnapped a wizard and a fairy."
The severity of that situation was not lost on any of them. Four hours after David had ordered everyone to bed, Tink had translocated onto the Jolly Roger. The fairy had appeared atop Killian's desk amid a cloud of light green smoke, knocking off a number of paper weights and maps that had instantly woken Emma and Killian. The scowl of annoyance on her face at the place she'd landed had been quite comical—translocating onto a moving object was rather difficult—but that had quickly faded to a look of worry. Tink had told them about the encounter with Maleficent and Blue's disappearance before translocating back to Misthaven, adding yet another piece to the puzzle that was the Dark Fairy's plan.
No one—not even Rumple, who had found Tink still knocked out from the sleeping powder when he went to the encampment—knew why Maleficent would kidnap Blue. After all, it wasn't like she could hurt her. Possibly kidnapping Merlin, another immortal, made even less sense and only deepened the mystery behind the Dark Fairy's actions.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves quite yet," Regina said in that authoritative tone she'd been using for as long as Emma could remember. "It could mean that, or he's simply shielding his presence."
Liam's brow furrowed. "Wait, you can do that?"
"It's extremely difficult," Emma replied, "And we can't do it for long periods of time, but yes. It can be done. It takes a lot of concentration, though."
"Well, if anyone could, it's him," David murmured. "And Regina is right. Until we have confirmation, we assume Merlin is still here. Let's head towards the throne room since that was the last place Percival saw him, and everyone be on alert."
Drawing their various weapons, they made their way towards the throne room on silent feet. The bodies of Arthur and Maleficent's men were scattered throughout the castle's corridors, and death—along with the overpowering, metallic scent of blood—hung heavily in the air. A few of Maleficent's henchmen were still clinging to life as they passed them, and no one said a word when Arthur stepped forward to thrust Excalibur into their stomachs.
Upon reaching the throne room without incident, they immediately spotted Merlin. He was lying on the marble floor amidst a heap of bodies and scorched walls, and the front of the wizard's gray robe was drenched in blood. There were two unfamiliar women leaning over his prone body—one with waist-length, blonde hair while the other had shoulder-length, curly hair the same color as wet mud—and next to each woman lay a bloodied dagger.
Without hesitation, every member of their group took off at a dead run to defend the wizard.
As Snow let loose a flurry of arrows, Regina and Elsa launched a blast of their respective magic at the women. Emma's own magic, which responded to her this time without resistance, came a mere heartbeat behind theirs. Before any of the projectiles had reached the two women, however, they both looked up. With a wave of their hands, they sent Snow's arrows—along with Elsa's ice, Regina's fireball, and Emma's sphere of white magic—scattering around the room.
"Get away from him!" Arthur shouted, Excalibur held out in front of him menacingly as he ran. Another volley of attacks by Snow, Regina, Elsa, and Emma were sent and once again harmlessly knocked away by the two women.
Definitely experienced magic users, Emma thought while watching another one of her blasts of magic hit the wall of Arthur's throne room instead of coming close to the women. They also had to be fairly powerful. Not just anyone could deflect three kinds of magic—especially hers and Regina's—at once while also keeping away a barrage of arrows.
"Now is not the time for this!" the blonde woman snapped impatiently before creating a small protection barrier around herself, Merlin, and the other woman. "Do you really think we would have stayed here if we were the ones who harmed him?"
"Perhaps we caught you in the act," David replied as their group came to a stop a few feet away and formed a half circle around the protected trio.
"Merlin is wounded, and there are those," Arthur added, the tip of Excalibur pointing towards the discarded, blood stained daggers.
The brown haired woman shook her head, her curls swaying with the movement. "They aren't ours," she said calmly. "Maleficent's men used them on Merlin."
"Forgive us for not believing the word of strangers in my war-torn city," the King of Camelot bit out harshly. "We aren't taking any chances. For all we know, you're working with Maleficent."
The look the blonde woman shot him at that was down right murderous.
"How dare you even suggest we are in league with that traitor, you insolent—"
"Circe!" the brown haired woman exclaimed in shock.
"What?" the blonde woman—Circe—barked. "That's the most insulting thing another being could say to us, Agamede!"
"He doesn't know that," the brunette—Agamede—replied, gently but sternly. Circe huffed, but before she or Arthur could throw more barbs at one another, Liam was lowering his sword and grabbing the king's arm.
"They're telling the truth."
Killian raised a disbelieving eyebrow at his son. "Lad, we found them hovering over him and with bloody daggers near them. How can you be sure?"
"I—I don't know," Liam murmured, his own eyebrows furrowing. "I can't explain how I know that they are telling the truth, but they are. I'm as sure of it as I am that you and Mom will always come to mine and Erin's rescue."
Glancing over to Merlin and the two women, Emma tilted her head and scrutinized the scene carefully.
Perhaps Liam was right.
Aside from the bloody daggers and how they'd initially found the women, nothing about the scene in front of her screamed ill intent. If anything, it said the opposite. Merlin's head lay in Circe's lap, as if she had placed it there to bring him some level of comfort. It was a nurturing move Emma herself had done countless times when her children were younger and had been scared by something. Agamede, likewise, was tightly clasping his right hand to her chest. It wasn't just how they were situated around the wizard, though. What she could see now that she couldn't when standing at the throne room's entrance was that, while the daggers were bloody, there wasn't a drop of it on either women's hands or clothes. Judging from the amount of blood soaked into Merlin's robe and staining his left hand where it lay on his stomach, there was no way either of them could have attacked him without being covered in it.
Not to mention her superpower hadn't picked up on the faintest hint of untruth in the women's words.
"He's right. I'm not hearing a lie from them. Plus, look at the way they're situated around him. It's… nurturing. Not harmful."
Merlin, whose eyes had been closed up to that point, opened them and smiled weakly. "You're… both right," he whispered. "They—they're friends."
She couldn't put her finger on why, but there was something about the knowing look Merlin gave her son that slightly unnerved her.
"You sure?" Arthur pressed, which earned him a scowl from Circe.
"Like he's going to lie to protect us if we were his enemies. Use your common sense, or has that been bred out of the Pendragon line over the last few hundred years?"
Arthur's eyes flashed dangerously, but before he could throw out a retort Merlin turned his attention to the blonde woman.
"Just because… you're sad d-doesn't… mean you… can start v-verbally assaulting… people," the wizard choked out.
Circe looked down at Merlin, and Emma noted that the woman's anger immediately evaporated as her blue gaze fell on the wizard.
"I'm not sad," she retorted, though the words held no bite to them. If anything, her tone sounded more like that of a petulant child.
"No?" he murmured. "Not… going to miss… this f-face even… a little?"
The blonde smiled softly. "Perhaps a tiny bit, Ancient One."
"We have grown rather fond of it over the last four centuries," Agamede said with a watery chuckle.
Arthur and the rest of their group quietly put away their weapons at the exchange. Even without Merlin's assurance and her own ability to tell when someone was lying, it was clear now that the two women didn't mean him any harm. There was a sense of familiarity and companionship in the way the three of them spoke to one another. It was the kind of bond that couldn't be faked, one born from genuine friendship and mutual respect much like Killian and Will had. There was clearly a deep, emotional history between the trio.
"What happened to him?" David inquired as the protection barrier Circe had erected disappeared.
"Diablo and another one of Maleficent's henchmen stabbed him," Agamede replied. Looking at Emma's father with tears brimming in her green eyes, she added mournfully, "He's dying."
A collective wave of shock washed over them. "Dying?" Snow repeated in confusion at the same time Elsa turned to Liam and asked, "I thought he was immortal?"
"Not...q-quite," Merlin gasped wetly, which caused even more confusion to ripple amongst their group.
When they first met him twenty-six years ago—shortly after Morgana had overtaken Camelot from Arthur and plunged them into the Time War—the wizard had told them he was immortal. Emma could still distinctly remember that conversation and the feeling of dumbfoundedness she'd felt at the revelation.
How could Merlin be immortal and yet not be at the same time?
Before she or anyone else could ask, however, Arthur was taking a step forward. "Well, we can't let him die!" he exclaimed, desperation filling his words at the thought of losing his friend.
"He's right," Will interjected quickly. Despite all the barbs he and the wizard constantly threw at one another, Emma could tell that the prospect of Merlin dying genuinely upset her children's godfather. "Surely there's something we can do. I mean, for the love of Hera, there's at least four of you in this room with the ability to heal."
"Healing him won't keep him from dying," Circe said, her words steeped with sorrow. "They used Wonderland blades on him."
Emma's breath hitched, and she could feel the weight of realization as it settled on the other members of her group. Wonderland blades had been forged and imbued with the raw magic of Wonderland centuries ago for a reason that was lost to the pages of time. Their deadliness came not from the sharp and virtually unbreakable blade, but what it left behind after someone was stabbed or cut with one. The magic that had been crafted into the steel flooded the body, essentially poisoning the person, and no magic in the world—unless it came from Wonderland—could stop it once it had begun.
"We can still save him!" All eyes turned to Will as he spoke to see him frantically searching his pockets. "I've got—bloody hell!—I've got some crushed Wonderland mushrooms somewhere that we can make an antidote out of. I've always carried something of Wonderland with me, but I've been extra vigilant about it ever since Liam was—"
"It won't help," Regina interrupted, though her tone was gentle rather than scolding. "It'll take an hour to create the antidote, and he doesn't have that."
Will scoffed while digging into one of the pockets of his vest. "You don't know that, Regina."
"Unfortunately I do," the former Evil Queen replied. "The strands of poison are almost to his jaw, and Merlin's life force is barely visible. It's why we couldn't sense his presence when we arrived."
Emma's magic, which had only just responded to her without hesitation, now once again fought her as she tried to use it. It took considerable effort—along with a lot of internal frustration and begging—but she finally got it to cooperate with her. When it did, she instantly saw what Regina was talking about. Merlin's life force, which usually registered as a dark blue aura around him when she had need to search for it, was now the palest of blues and rapidly becoming lighter as the light purple color of the poison continued to climb his throat like a spider web.
"Regina's right," she said, sighing sadly. "It's too late."
As Will's hands fell limply to his sides in defeat, a sudden and violent shudder went through Merlin's body. "I-I… feel… c-cold," he wheezed, the effort to do so causing him to wince in pain.
Brushing a hand across his forehead, Circe quietly shushed him. "Stop talking," she whispered gently. "You know it'll make the process go quicker."
Another wince pulled at the wizard's face and was followed by a gurgling cough. Belle's soft gasp at the blood that splattered from his mouth echoed loudly in the otherwise silent throne room, and the poison's purple webbing crept up his face.
"Doesn't… m-make it… any… easier… t-though."
Agamede sniffled, and it was obvious to all of them that it took considerable effort for the brunette to clear her throat before speaking to Circe. "You don't have to stay here for this, sister. I know how this sort of thing upsets you."
"No, I'm staying," Circe said without hesitation. She tenderly wiped at the blood on Merlin's face with the end of one of her sleeves, seemingly uncaring that the red liquid seeped into the ivory material. "It won't be long now."
As a heavy blanket of sadness descended upon the room, Emma felt Killian's left arm wrap around her waist and pull her into his side. Through her own tears she could see how the weight of what was happening settled across his handsome features. Merlin had been a constant part of their lives for twenty-six years. He'd watched their children grow, aided their family in almost every endeavor they were thrust into, and had helped Emma—painstakingly and without complaint—become the magic user that she was. He wasn't just another ally that they turned to in times of hardship. He was a friend, and now they were having to watch him die because of Maleficent's actions.
And it wasn't just them, or Circe and Agamede, who were feeling the weight of the wizard's impending death. Belle had her face buried in Will's shoulder, her own shoulders shaking with sobs as tears filled Will's eyes, and her parents were wrapped in a similar embrace. Both Liam and Henry had an arm around Elsa and Regina's shoulders while Arthur—arguably the closest person in the room to Merlin—knelt at the wizard's feet and bowed his head in the ultimate sign of respect that a king could give to one of his subjects.
In some form or another, whether it was large or small, Merlin had touched a part of all their lives.
"We'll see you on the other side of this," Agamede whispered brokenly, tears slipping down her cheeks as she leaned forward to press a kiss to his forehead just as the poison reached his stark white hairline. For a few more seconds there was no sound in the throne room aside from Merlin's wet, labored breathing and Circe's sniffles.
Then, with a single, shuddering exhale, the ancient wizard took his final breath.
A growl of frustration escaped Blue as she tried—and failed—to slip her hand through the shackles around her wrists.
As much as she hated to admit defeat, it was no use. There wasn't an inch of room in the iron restraints to get her hand out, and she was only bruising the delicate skin of her wrists every time she attempted it. Sighing heavily, the Blue Fairy let her arms fall back to her side and surveyed her surroundings once again.
She'd appeared here after Maleficent translocated her from the encampment, the cloud of inky darkness dissipating to reveal a small, circular room constructed with black stones. It was no wider than twenty feet—its size, shape, and color telling her she was more than likely in a turret within Maleficent's castle—and there were no windows or furniture except an empty, wooden table off to the side. She'd still been frozen when she arrived, and one of Maleficent's minions had quickly divested Blue of her wand and placed her within the shackles before leaving. The cuffs were attached to chains that were bolted to the wall behind her, and they allowed her only about five feet of movement in any direction.
When the squid ink finally wore off an hour or so later, she'd tried to make her escape. She'd quickly discovered, however, that the iron encircling her wrists weren't ordinary restraints. Maleficent had imbued or enchanted them with something and, much like a magic cuff, they prevented her from using her magic. Upon realizing that, Blue had attempted to extricate her wrists from them the old fashioned way without success.
She didn't know where the Dark Fairy was or what she was doing, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good if Maleficent had planned her abduction with hindsight.
"Salvete, Reul Ghorm."
Blue's gaze jerked towards the open doorway that lay directly across from her to see Maleficent waltzing into the room, the end of her staff tapping against the stone floor rhythmically as she walked and with a bemused smile pulling at her red lips. Diablo trailed not far behind his mistress, a triumphant look on his own pale and scarred face. He carried an object wrapped securely in leather and, while she couldn't explain why, the sight of the covered item instantly filled her with dread.
She couldn't let the Dark Fairy see that, though. Maleficent was clearly trying to intimidate her by bringing in a strange and unknown object, and Blue refused to give that to her. Not after she'd already given the other fairy the satisfaction of catching her off guard and outwitting her with squid ink. Blue would be damned if she gave Maleficent anything else, especially a hint of fear.
Besides, there was nothing within that wrapping or anywhere else that could truly harm her.
"Salvete," she responded back in their mother tongue, her tone calm and collected.
"Diablo, be a dear and set that on the table." Coming to a stop a few feet from her, Maleficent waited until her henchman had done as she asked and returned to her side before turning her attention back to Blue. "My apologies for keeping you waiting. Things took… a bit longer than I expected them to while I was out."
"I have all the time in the world," Blue deadpanned, rattling the shackles that held her arms.
Maleficent laughed, and the sound caused Blue's teeth to grate in irritation.
"Perhaps not all the time in the world, Reul Ghorm, but you've got a little left."
Ignoring that impossible implication, she crossed her arms.
"So what did you do this time to try to stop the prophecy, Maleficent? Because whatever it was, it won't work. The prophecy will come to pass, and you'll be nothing more than an annoying memory when it does."
"I wouldn't be so quick to believe that it will be fulfilled," the Dark Fairy replied coolly. Turning her gaze to her staff, she studied the dragon figurine that sat at its apex thoughtfully for a long second before adding, "After all, doesn't the prophecy state that both the Savior and Captain Hook's children will be my undoing?"
Unsure where the other fairy was going with this, she scoffed. "You know it does."
"It's a bit hard for both of them to defeat me when one is missing, isn't it?"
"How did you—" Cutting herself off, Blue's eyes widened against her will as what Maleficent said sunk in. "It was you, wasn't it?" she whispered. "You had something to do with that portal in Camelot."
Turning her attention back to Blue, the Dark Fairy grinned. "Guilty."
"But it was Hades' magic that Merlin felt, not yours."
"Well of course. I may be extremely powerful, but not even I can open a portal to the Underworld. Only Hades or Persephone can do that."
Blue didn't know much about the Underworld—truly nothing more than the average person did—but even that was enough to make her internally shudder in horror at the thought of Princess Erin and Captain D'Harper being sent there.
"Why would you do that?"
"Isn't it obvious? To undermine the prophecy. It can't be fulfilled if the brats aren't hereto do so. Of course, the plan was to have both of them fall into the portal to properly ensure that, but I suspect Hades managed to manipulate the tethering spell somehow to include Captain D'Harper."
Blue frowned. "Why would the God of the Dead betray you if he was helping you?"
"He wasn't exactly a willing participant," Maleficent said mysteriously while holding up her free hand. "Just as you won't be."
Blue gasped as a stinging sensation suddenly erupted from her right bicep and, looking down, she saw the sleeve of her robe torn and bloodied. Quickly placing her left hand over the wound to staunch the blood flow, her eyes jerked back to Maleficent. The retort that was on the tip of her tongue, however, died when she saw what was now in the Dark Fairy's hand.
The Dark One's old dagger.
Cold dread slid down her spine at the realization of what Maleficent had done. She'd cut her, and with the dagger. While the blade hadn't controlled a Dark One since Rumplestiltskin broke the curse fifteen years ago, the original enchantment that Merlin had placed upon it centuries before he'd been forced to tether a single soul to it and the Darkness still remained.
By cutting her with the dagger, Maleficent could now control her.
"No," she whispered, eyes widening in fear as she took a stumbling step backwards.
"Oh yes," Maleficent practically purred, her own eyes glinting sinisterly.
The dagger must have been the object that Diablo had sat on the table when he and Maleficent first came in. But that was impossible. It had been given to Merlin to hide after the incident with the Savior's past self six months ago, and no one—not Regina, Emma, Rumple, or herself—knew where the wizard's personal vault lay.
"You can't have that," Blue said, almost desperately. "Merlin—
"Hid it? Oh, he did. And quite well, I might add." Her eyes followed the dagger's movements as Maleficent admired it almost lovingly, the other fairy's hand turning the black etched weapon ever so slightly to catch the light from the room's torches. "Morgana's journals were very informative once I discovered her hidden entries," the Dark Fairy continued, almost idly. "Including where to find this. Now, dance for me, Reul Ghorm."
Blue's arms immediately came up, as if one was resting on someone's shoulder while the other held their hand, and her feet began to move in the steps of a classical waltz. No matter how hard she tried, her body wouldn't listen to her mental commands to stop. It simply kept moving without her consent as Maleficent and Diablo's laughter filled the room.
"Stop and face me."
Her body instantly ceased its waltz at Maleficent's command and righted itself so she was once again looking at the Dark Fairy head on.
"You see, because of Hades' meddling, I need to ensure that Princess Erin never makes it out of the Underworld," Maleficent said, starting to advance towards Blue. She tried to back away, but a sharp, 'Be still!" from the other fairy immediately halted her movements. Stopping with only a few inches between them, Maleficent brought the curved blade of the dagger up until its point rested beneath Blue's chin. "That's where you come in. You're going to go to the Underworld and keep the brat from returning."
She couldn't move a single inch, but Blue glared at the Dark Fairy with every ounce of defiance she could muster.
"No. I won't do it."
"You don't have a choice," Maleficent said darkly, pushing the dagger into her chin just enough to break the skin. "You're going to give in to the Darkness, and then you'll be completely under my control."
"I'm not a murderer like Ingrid was," Blue spat vehemently. "There's nothing for me to give into."
Maleficent's answering smile was almost feral. "Everyone has Darkness within them in different forms, impurus sangius. Including you."
That was the second time Maleficent had called her that—impure blood—but before she could question her about it, the Dark Fairy was speaking again.
"Besides, thanks to Morgana's journals, I discovered I don't have to know a person's specific act of Darkness for them to give in to it."
Blue's eyes went wide. "What—"
"And, while I'd enjoy nothing more than teasing out your darkest deed and then torturing you with it, I'm on a tight schedule." With her eyes bright and filled with glee, Maleficent leaned even closer and whispered, "Give in to the Darkness that lies within you, Reul Ghorm."
She tried to fight it, she truly did, but there was no stopping the centuries old magic that seemed to set fire to her chest and rush up her throat as it heeded the command of the one who held the dagger. It forced her to remember—to relive—her moment of Darkness in sharp clarity.
"The tree is enchanted. If fashioned into a vessel, it can ward off any curse." Looking towards the word maker, she asked, "Geppetto, can you build such a thing?"
Me and my boy. We can do it," Geppetto said while ruffling Pinocchio's hair.
Nodding, Blue turned back to Snow and Charming. "This will work. We all must have faith." Taking a deep breath, she added, "There is, however, a catch. The enchantment is indeed powerful, but all power has its limits, and this tree can protect only one."
While the selfish act of sending Pinocchio through the wardrobe was Geppetto's Darkness, this was hers. The moment she'd lied to the Charmings. She could have told them about Geppetto's ultimatum and ensured one of them still went with Emma, yet she hadn't. And all because she had secretly fallen in love with Geppetto. She'd lied because she couldn't bear the thought of seeing the man she loved judged for his selfish desires when the Charmings were giving up everything for the greater good, and she wanted to give Geppetto a small amount of comfort when a curse was about to whisk him away to an unknown land.
But do you regret it?
The voice, rough and echoing within her mind, belonged to the piece of Darkness that lay within her, and Maleficent's command demanded that she answer it.
No.
Because she didn't, and she'd do it again a hundred times over even if it still resulted in forcing an innocent child's parents to separate from them. How could she regret something that had, eventually, led to the man she loved being happy?
As she was forced to embrace the Darkness, Blue could feel the goodness within her begin to seep from her body and be replaced by something cold and dark. She could just make the tendrils of white light from her frozen viewpoint as they left her to latch onto the curved blade beneath her jaw, the glinting metal almost greedily absorbing them until nothing remained.
The last thing the Blue Fairy saw before complete darkness overtook her vision was Maleficent's grinning face.
Maleficent laughed triumphantly as she watched Blue's hazel eyes turn black, and she practically purred in satisfaction when the resigned expression that had been on the other fairy's face melted away to an empty one.
Reul Ghorm was nothing more than an empty soul ready to be commanded.
"Now that was thrilling!" she exclaimed, the dagger pulsing with power in almost the same rhythm as her beating heart. She'd finally gotten one over on an impure blood for the first time in nearly 4,000 years, and the taste of victory was sweet.
Moving to stand next to her, Diablo nodded his head in congratulations.
"Magnificent work as always, Mistress."
"Thank you, Diablo. You and your men were magnificent in Camelot as well. All went according to plan with the wizard I presume?"
A sinister smile pulled at her right hand henchman's pale lips. "Exactly as you instructed."
"Excellent. We're right on schedule then."
Her carefully laid plan to stop the prophecy and finally get revenge on the Savior depended upon a lot happening, but nothing more so than Merlin's demise. Without his death, she'd never get access to Avalon, and Morgana's journals had been very specific about what she'd need to complete her ultimate goal. What she needed could only be found on the magical island, and if she didn't get it, then her plan and revenge fell to pieces. Of course, she couldn't step foot on her homeland's soil to retrieve it since she'd been banished, but she'd already worked out that little kink.
A smile tugged at Maleficent's lips as she thought about the beast who had sought refuge in the bowels of her castle years ago and the plans she had for him.
"What's next, Mistress?"
"Now we have fun," she replied, her eyes gently caressing the dagger's blade where Rumplestiltskin's name had once been engraved. "We're going to bring about more Darkness in this world than anyone has ever seen before."
"And the Blue Fairy?"
Maleficent's gaze flickered to the black eyed, expressionless form of Reul Ghorm.
"As I told her, she'll be taking a little trip to the Underworld to ensure Princess Erin doesn't make it out of there."
"But—"
As her henchman cut himself off, she turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "Go on, Diablo. I'm in a rather good mood considering everything went according to plan tonight, so you're not going to be banished from my side for questioning my plans. This time, at least."
He paused for the briefest of seconds, clearly trying to discern if she was telling the truth or not, before tentatively speaking.
"How will she get to the Underworld, Mistress? Hades or Persephone have to open a portal to it, and I—I don't see either one doing that again at your request."
"They wouldn't," she agreed with a nod of her head. "The only reason Hades did it before was because I used the promise he'd given me against him, and the Queen of the Underworld would rather let me lay waste to the entirety of Mankind before she did it. No, my dear Diablo, our little friend here won't be traveling to the realm of the dead through a portal. One must be alive, after all, in order to do that."
Diablo frowned in confusion as the meaning of what she said sunk in. "She'll be going there as... a soul? Like in death?"
"Precisely."
"But she's a fairy." At Maleficent's dark scowl, he quickly added, "A—an impure one, of course, Mistress. I just… I just mean she can't be killed without doing it herself."
"Normally, yes, that would be the only way we fairies—even the impure ones—can die. But there is another, less likely way for it to happen," she replied evasively.
There were many aspects about her plan that she could share with her henchman, or would need to in order to complete them, but this was not one of them. While Diablo was loyal, the secrets she'd learned in Morgana's journal—along with the true reason she'd attacked Camelot—would not be told to him.
She refused to run the risk of someone, particularly the Charmings, finding out about it and somehow derailing her plans once again. Not to mention the fact that she'd be handing over one of only two ways for someone to also kill her.
Diablo was as loyal as they came, yes, but Maleficent had long ago stopped trusting anyone that much.
"Go and celebrate with your men," she said at length, her tone letting him know she wasn't mad. "You've earned it. We'll start the next phase of the plan when the sun rises."
Diablo nodded his head deeply and swiftly left, leaving her alone in the room without ever once glancing backwards. She waited a full five minutes after he had left, however, before breaking the glamour spell she'd placed on the object Diablo had brought in.
One could never be too careful, after all.
With its true form revealed, she turned her attention back to Blue.
"When your soul reaches the Underworld, you will seek out Princess Erin," she began, her voice hard and commanding as she spoke to the other fairy. "You will ensure that Hades has no choice but to send Captain D'Harper back to the Upper World. Do you understand?"
"Yes," the black eyed Blue immediately responded without emotion. "How would you like me to do it?"
Maleficent shrugged. "Push her off a cliff, trick her into eating the realm's food—I'm not particularly picky as to the method you choose, so long as I get the result that I want."
"Of course, Mistress."
"Excellent."
Without another word, and with excitement pooling in her veins, the Dark Fairy stepped forward and sunk the long, curved blade into Blue's stomach.
"What do we do now?"
Elsa's whispered question, the first words that had been spoken amongst them since Merlin died, were almost a shout in the silent throne room.
"Now we go after Maleficent," Arthur said, rising from his kneeling position and squaring his shoulders. He was the perfect picture of a man ready to wage war in revenge of a fallen friend.
"That would be both unnecessary and signing your own death warrant," Circe calmly replied.
She nor Agamede had moved from their positions, and Emma noted with a frown that the sadness that had graced their beautiful faces only seconds before was gone. Now there was only calmness, and what she would have swore was anticipation.
Arthur's head whipped towards the blonde, his hazel eyes flashing dangerously.
"Unnecessary?" he seethed. "She murdered Merlin! You may not feel the need to avenge his death, but I—"
A soft, while light suddenly surrounded the wizard's body and immediately rendered the King of Camelot silent. It pulsated like a beating heart, growing in intensity and brightness until Emma and the others had no choice but to look away. With her face buried in Killian's shoulder, she could feel an unnatural wind begin to stir around them. Gentle at first, it too increased until the ends of Emma's ponytail were whipping harshly against the exposed side of her face. There was a humming noise as well above its howl, and then all of it—the blinding light behind their eyelids, the wind, and the humming noise—disappeared as quickly as they had come. Opening her eyes, Emma had to grasp the lapels of Killian's great coat to keep herself from falling over in shock.
Where Merlin had been only seconds before was now a stranger.
The man currently lying with his head on Circe's lap was young, his face untouched by the ravages of time or the distinct, purple webbing of the poison. His skin was dark, a stark contrast to the white marble floor beneath him, and his dark hair was cut short in a style similar to Will's. Full lips were surrounded by only a hint of facial hair that extended to his jaw, and most disturbingly—his sudden appearance and Merlin's disappearance aside—he still wore the wizard's blood stained robe.
"Who the bloody hell is that?" Killian growled, moving away from Emma to reach for his sword.
Agamede, with the stranger's right hand still clasped in her own, smiled brightly. "It's Merlin."
Emma's eyes widened as Belle made a noise of confusion.
"I'm sorry, come again?" Henry asked in bewilderment.
"It's called regeneration," Circe began. "Eons ago, long before the Darkness was unleashed upon the world, Merlin was mortal. Just as all of you are. He was born, he aged, and he would have died except he fell in love with an immortal woman. In order to not lose him to the finality of death, she allowed him to drink from the source of her magic which granted him eternal life. Because he did not come into existence with immortality, however, her magic couldn't make his body immortal. Instead, it allowed him to regenerate. He can die, as you witnessed yourselves, but when he does he simply changes form."
Silence descended after Circe stopped speaking, with every member of their group staring at her in shock as they tried to process what she'd just told them.
"So, he's… reborn?" Snow asked, her tone going high pitched and unsure on the last word.
Agamede and Circe both nodded.
Will frowned. "And you knew this would happen?"
"Yes," both women answered in unison.
"Then why the bloody hell didn't you say that before!" he exclaimed. "You had us convinced with your tears and sadness that he was dying! Like, permanent death, the kind someone doesn't come back from. We were mourning the insufferable wizard for Hera's sake!"
Circe scowled darkly at the former Knave. "Does not every life deserve to be mourned even if it returns in a different form? We know with every autumn that the leaves upon a tree will fall and new ones will sprout in their place come spring, but we still grieve their loss. Was the last 4,000 years of life Merlin spent in his previous body not worthy of your tears and momentary sorrow?"
"Easy there," Agamede murmured, reaching to place her free hand over the other woman's hand that had fisted and begun to glow yellow. "You'll have to forgive my sister," she added, looking back to their group. "The subject of life is… very personal to her. We didn't take the time to explain it before he regenerated because, as Circe said, every life deserves to be mourned. Yes, Merlin didn't technically die, but he'd earned the right to spend his last few moments in that body being honored. Not exiting this world amidst an explanation and questions."
"I suppose that does make sense," David murmured while regarding the 'new' Merlin with concern. "Why isn't he awake, though?"
"Regenerating expends a lot of energy," Agamede explained. "He's essentially in a restorative sleep but should wake soon."
"Still would have liked some warning on the subject," Will added with a grumble, which earned him another scowl from Circe.
While her children's godfather was hung up on the technicality of timing, there was something else Circe had said that Emma was focused on.
"You said the last 4,000 years of his life, implying he'd been alive for more years than that. Was there… Has this happened before?"
"A few times," Agamede replied. "Each time he regenerates his body begins young, as it is right now. Once it reaches a certain physical age he stops aging and remains in it until that body is mortally wounded. He'd been in his previous incarnation, the one you all knew him as, for 4,000 years."
"How do you know this?" Arthur inquired, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Matter of fact, who are you and how do you even know Merlin?"
Circe, who had managed to gain control of her temper, laughed softly. "Because we knew him before he became immortal. We're fairies, King Arthur."
Well that explained a lot, Emma thought. They'd all seen them use magic to keep their weapons away when they first found them hovering over the old Merlin, and being immortal themselves certainly accounted for how they knew about the over 4,000 year old wizard's ability to regenerate. Not to mention Circe's reaction when Arthur accused her of being in league with Maleficent. Emma had yet to meet a fairy, including Morgana, who liked the Dark Fairy.
Eyes flickering between the two women in contemplation, Regina placed her hands on her hips. "If you're fairies, how come we've never seen either of you before today?"
"Because we've been in hiding."
At Agamede's simple answer, Regina's gaze flickered to Emma, and she nodded at the former Evil Queen. The fairy was telling the truth.
"Hiding from who?"
"Maleficent." Circe's reply was strained, as if she would rather have her tongue ripped out a thousand times over than ever have to speak her fellow fairy's name again. "The Savior isn't the only one she has a vendetta against."
"But you're fairies," Belle interjected. "She can't hurt you physically any more than you can hurt her."
Pain—the deep, soul crushing kind that forever left its mark on a person—flashed across Circe's face, but it was gone in the next heartbeat.
"Not all harm is physical," the blonde fairy whispered.
Before Emma or anyone else could question them further, the man—Merlin—awoke with a startled gasp.
"Gods that was awful," he muttered, brown eyes blinking rapidly. "Remind me to never get poisoned again because it is a painful way to die."
Circe and Agamede both smiled. "Welcome back," the brown-haired fairy greeted warmly.
"It's good to be back." Tilting his head back on Circe's lap, Merlin smirked at the blonde fairy. "I am glad to know, however, that my dying can cause you to be sad."
Huffing, Circe none-to-gently shoved his head off her lap and stood up. "Nice to see that you are still insufferable as ever, Ancient One."
Standing himself with Agamede's help, Merlin chuckled. "I haven't looked in a mirror yet, but if memory serves, you can't call me Ancient One any more, Circe. I don't have wrinkles or gray hair."
"Give it about eighty years and they'll be there," she shot back while straightening her dress.
The wizard's smile was dazzling, and he turned his attention to Will. "You were distraught as well about my passing, White King. I knew you liked me."
"Only because I wasn't given all the pertinent information beforehand," Will muttered darkly. "Like how you weren't actually dying."
"Semantics," Merlin said with a shrug. Glancing down at the blood stained robe he still wore, he added, "Oh, this won't do."
With a wave of his hand, the wizard was momentarily obscured from their view by a cloud of dark blue smoke. When it dissipated, the blood stained robe was replaced with a brown, leather knee-length tunic, pants, and a black cloak covered in a gold pattern that seemed to shimmer beneath the throne room's torchlight. It was a stark change in style for the wizard, giving him an almost royal look compared to the more common and unassuming one his previous form had been fond of.
Upon seeing his choice, Circe rolled her eyes while Agamede beamed in approval.
Arthur, who had remained quiet since questioning the fairies on how they knew the wizard, took a shuddering breath. "It's really you, isn't it, old friend?" he murmured dazedly.
The mirth that had filled Merlin's face while he poked at Circe and Will melted away to seriousness as his gaze landed on the King of Camelot.
"It is," he confirmed gently. "Much to Circe's chagrin, my personality doesn't also change with regeneration."
"Unfortunately," the blonde fairy said beneath her breath, earning her a light smack on the arm from Agamede who had come to stand next to her.
"I am sorry for what you all had to witness," the wizard continued, seemingly unfazed by Circe. Yet another act that spoke of the true bond of their friendship, Emma thought. "I had truly hoped to never put any of you through that."
"We're just glad you're okay," Snow said, earning sounds of agreement from everyone, including a reluctant one from Will. "Do you remember what happened? Or know why she would attack Camelot?"
"And how did she manage to get past your protection barrier over the kingdom?" Regina added.
"Regeneration gives me a new body, but the mind and memories stay the same. Unfortunately, I don't know why she attacked. I was in my study going over some text on the Underworld when I felt the presence of her magic. By the time I reached the throne room, her men were already swarming the castle. I translocated Percival to your castle so he could warn you when she appeared and then called for Agamede and Circe."
"Called?" Emma asked with a frown.
"Telepathy. Circe, Agamede, and I can communicate through our minds," the wizard explained. "As soon as they arrived, Maleficent left on foot, and Agamede and Circe went after her. I stayed here in an effort to help Arthur's men stem the waves of her army. Diablo caught me off guard at some point, and that's when he stabbed me with the Wonderland blade." Turning to the two fairies, he added, "What transpired between you two and Maleficent, anyway? You were gone for awhile, even hours after her men suddenly retreated."
"Her and Circe exchanged a few barbs before she caught us off guard by throwing squid ink at us," Agamede replied.
"Looks like she was prepared for anything," Regina murmured, to which the brunette fairy nodded at before continuing.
"After she froze us, she told us why she was here. Even gloated about it."
Merlin huffed in annoyance. "Well that's not surprising. She never could turn down an opportunity to gloat. So why was she here? Testing out the force of her army?"
Dread tingled down Emma's spine at the look Circe and Agamede shared, and it only grew when the blonde fairy turned her attention back to the wizard and spoke.
"Merlin, she was after Excalibur."
For only the second time in the twenty-six years that she'd known him, Emma saw Merlin emotionally react to something. He'd only been unnerved when he learned she couldn't locate Erin and Eric through any scrying method, but now the wizard looked down right terrified. His face visibly paled at Circe's words, and he took a stumbling step backwards.
"No," he breathed with a shake of his head. "That's impossible. She—she couldn't have known."
"She did," Circe replied grimly. "I don't know how she did, but Maleficent learned about its secret."
Before anyone could ask what secret surrounded Camelot's famed sword, or why she would be after it, Arthur chuckled. "Well, the Dark Fairy needs a better network of intel then, because Excalibur was with me in Misthaven the entire time," he said, patting the large, silver pommel that rested at his left hip.
Merlin's shocked gaze moved first from the fairies to Arthur's sword, and then flickered up to the king's face.
"That isn't Excalibur."
A/N: Yes, I regenerated Merlin. Merlin is a Time Lord (not really, but you get my drift). I've known this would happen for some time—actually from the moment Merlin was first introduced in Days—and the scene where he regenerates was perhaps the first one that came to me when I decided to do this sequel. It is also the most obvious Doctor Who reference I've ever made in this universe, aside from the 'wibbly-wobbly' quote Merlin once made. Hopefully it came out on paper as brilliantly as it played in my head!