A/N: This chapter, y'all, I swear. It was literally named 'the reveal chapter that will never end' in my docs because I, seriously, never thought it would end. A lot is revealed in this 14K monster, so hopefully some questions you've had along the way are answered, while you walk away with a few new ones! Chapter 15 is almost done, so it shouldn't be as long for the next update as well!

Many thanks to spartanguard and ohmightydevviepuu for looking over this and being the voices of reason when I got into my head too much. And the only reason I knew the proper term for those grated bits on the Jolly Roger's deck was because of my expert on pirate ship terminology, distant-rose. I'd be fucking lost without you (still doesn't mean I'm not going to savagely murder you in our next game ;p)

As always, enjoy, and reviews feed the muse!

Chapter 14: Hidden in Plain Sight

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Arthur's confusion was echoed in the faces of everyone else in the throne room. Everyone, of course, except Agamede and Circe. The fairies continued to stand with knowing looks in their eyes as Merlin repeated himself.

"That isn't Excalibur."

"I don't understand," David said with a perplexed frown. "Are you saying Maleficent somehow got through Misthaven's protection barrier and… switched Arthur's sword before attacking Camelot?"

Shaking his head to clear the shock that had been brought on by Circe's revelation, the wizard sighed heavily. "No. What I'm saying is Arthur never carried Excalibur."

Everyone's confusion quickly turned to disbelief at Merlin's words. After all, they'd all heard the tale of Camelot's most fabled sword and its undeniable connection to the Pendragon family countless times before. It was even a story that Killian could remember his mother telling him when he was a child:

Four thousand years ago, the native tribes that called Camelot home had decided to unite beneath one ruler. They chose the son of a former tribal leader and Arthur's ancestor, Uther Pendragon, to be the first king of a united Camelot. Shortly after he was crowned, however, he was overthrown by a rival tribal leader's son, Mordred Fey, and a bloody, tumultuous war had raged in the aftermath of the take over. Merlin had to eventually step in and end the bloodshed by placing Excalibur—a sword he'd forged from the kingdom's very soil and his own magic—into a stone and telling them that whoever could pull it out was Camelot's rightful ruler. Uther the First had done so without trouble, and proceeded to decimate Mordred's army in what would become known as the Battle of Camlann.

Excalibur had been forever linked to the King of Camelot and their right to rule ever since.

Forty centuries later, as Camelot lay protected from Regina's curse due to Merlin's magic, Arthur's father, Uther XVI, had been murdered while touring one of the kingdom's southern cities. With no heir, the throne had fallen to Maximus Fey, a direct descendant of Mordred. Unbeknownst to anyone except Merlin, however, Uther XVI's widow was pregnant at the time of his death. Realizing that the baby would have a target on its back—and more than certain that Maximus had been behind Uther XVI's death—the wizard had advised the former queen to go into hiding where she'd given birth to and raised Arthur.

Merlin, who had been with Arthur's father when he died, managed to spirit away Excalibur before Maximus could get to it and use the sword to strengthen his false claim to Camelot's throne. Knowing that Arthur would one day come to reclaim the kingdom and would need undeniable proof that he was the rightful king, the wizard had once again embedded the famed sword blade down into the same stone Uther the First pulled it from. Sixteen years later—a mere four months before they'd found Emma in Camelot when she'd tried to sacrifice herself to the Darkness—Arthur had done just that, and Excalibur hadn't left his side since that day.

All of which made what Merlin was saying seem absolutely impossible.

"But that doesn't make sense," Belle murmured, voicing everyone's confused thoughts. "The stories—"

"Were lies." Clasping his hands together in front of his robe, Merlin sighed. "When Uther the First was originally made King of Camelot by the elders of the various tribes, the Darkness was just beginning to run rampant amongst the realms. I knew there was no stopping it and that, once enough people had given in to it, the Darkness would manifest physically. The only hope we had in controlling it was to tether it to something."

"Right," Liam said, gesturing impatiently with his hand. "We know this part. You used a dagger that you'd previously enchanted to control whoever was cut by it and reworked the enchantment so it would only control the Dark One."

Merlin winced. "That wasn't entirely the truth."

"Of course it wasn't," Will muttered, not even attempting to hide the exasperation in his voice. "Why am I not surprised?"

Ignoring the White King, Merlin continued.

"You all know the story of how the world was created according to Greek legend. The void of Chaos gave birth to Nyx, the primordial goddess of night, who with the wind created an egg. Upon its cracking, the two shells became Uranus and Gaia—or, as they are more commonly known, the sky and the earth. The Darkness, in its potential form, came into existence when Nyx's egg cracked, making it an ancient entity that is even older than the gods. As such, it could only be tethered to an extremely powerful talisman once in its physical embodiment, and the only one able to possibly trap the Darkness was Excalibur."

Henry made a noise of confusion. "Hang on. The Dark Ones were tethered to a dagger, not a sword."

"They were," Circe said, "But the dagger was once a part of Excalibur. Merlin broke the sword when he tethered the Darkness and a human soul to it."

"But why?"

Merlin's lips thinned into a hard line. "Because when whole, Excalibur can kill any immortal being."

A stunned silence momentarily fell over them at his words, and Regina was the first to break it.

"When you say any immortal—"

"He means any immortal," Circe repeated. "Merlin, us fairies—even the divine wouldn't be safe. If a Dark One had had access to a full Excalibur, the world wouldn't have been any safer than if Merlin had let the Darkness run unchecked."

Killian shuddered at the thought of what Dark One Rumplestiltskin could have done with a weapon of that magnitude.

"How does my sword fit into this?" Arthur gritted out through clenched teeth. His face was a mask of barely controlled anger, and Killian couldn't blame him for feeling that way. The man had spent his entire life believing in something, only to now learn it had all been a lie. He would have been furious as well under those circumstances.

"Excalibur was broken," Merlin began carefully, clearly not indifferent to the King of Camelot's emotional plight. "And the dagger portion was tethered to the first Dark One. But I couldn't risk someone stumbling across the other portion of the sword. Mordred and Uther the First were still battling over Camelot's throne, so I used that conflict to help me hide it. I spread the story about creating a sword from the kingdom's soil and I gave it Excalibur's name. That was the sword Uther the First, and eventually yourself, pulled from the stone at Camlann."

"Why though?" Arthur demanded, his tone dripping with hurt and fury. "If Excalibur couldn't be used to kill an immortal when broken, why hide it? Why throw my ancestor's—as well as my own—claim to the throne into question?"

"No one can question your claim to the throne."

At Arthur's scoff, Merlin closed the distance between them in three long strides and placed his hands on the king's shoulders.

"They can't, Arthur. Do you know why? Because although the sword you carry, the same one Uther the First wielded, isn't Excalibur, it was forged with Pendragon blood."

Arthur's eyebrow furrowed. "W—what? How is that even possible?"

"Blood magic," Merlin replied with a soft smile. "I enchanted your sword so that only a Pendragon could pull it from the stone because it was your family that the tribes chose, not the Fey bloodline. It was why Mordred, and centuries later Maximus, couldn't do it. The Pendragons are, and always have been, the only rightful rulers of Camelot. The proof of that rests on your hip."

Arthur continued to stare at him, and after a long and heavy moment in which Merlin refused to break eye contact, the King of Camelot slowly nodded. Killian could tell Arthur was still trying to come to terms with the revelation, but it seemed that Merlin's assurances had at least begun to settle the dark-haired king's feelings of anger and betrayal.

"I hate to be the one to break up this emotional moment," Henry said, glancing between Merlin and the fairies, "But there's a question none of us have asked. If the existence of the real Excalibur was a secret that only the three of you knew, how did Maleficent find out about it?"

"A valid question, young Author, and one I'm still pondering," Circe muttered, crossing her arms. "As well as why I couldn't sense her presence. We've been hiding no more than twenty miles from here for years, and even at that distance we should have felt her the moment she appeared within Camelot's protection barrier. But I couldn't even sense her when we arrived and she was standing in the same room as us, which should have been impossible."

"Now that you mention it, neither could I," Agamede confirmed with a thoughtful frown. "Yet Merlin was still able to sense her when she arrived."

"We might be able to answer that one, actually."

As Circe and Agamede looked at Regina with furrowed brows, Merlin gave Arthur's shoulders a comforting squeeze before turning his attention to her. Quickly, she relayed what Tink had told them when she appeared on the Jolly Roger about Maleficent hiding her presence from Tink and Blue. Upon hearing that, Agamede gasped while grasping her sister's arm.

"The spell!"

"Of course," Merlin groaned. "Morgana must have recorded the damn thing and Maleficent found it in one of her journals. Your sister just had to write everything down."

"You know she couldn't help it, Ancient One. The act itself was as much a part of her being as what I do. It's a spell," Circe said, addressing their group. "Do you recall that Maleficent also has a vendetta against us? She found where we were hiding centuries ago and laid waste to an entire realm trying to get to us. Afterwards, Morgana and Merlin crafted a spell in order to keep her from finding us again."

Will sighed. "This is going to make it bloody impossible for us to keep track of her now, innit?"

"For any fairy, yes," Agamede conceded. "But Merlin, Regina, the Savior, and any other magic user will still be able to sense her if she's nearby."

Well, that's something, at least, Killian thought as Liam began speaking.

"Do we know for certain that she took Excalibur?"

Agamede nodded. "Circe and I checked once the squid ink ran its course."

"So what does this mean?" David asked. "It's useless while broken, right?"

"Not entirely," Merlin murmured. "While I skirted the truth about the dagger's origins, I wasn't lying about reworking the enchantment on it." Glancing at Arthur, the wizard added, "That was why I had to hide it."

Killian was an intelligent man. He'd been taught by the finest minds while in the Royal Navy, could do advanced mathematics without pen and paper, spoke seven languages, and had amassed literal centuries of street smarts. Yet for the life of him he couldn't understand what Merlin was trying to say. Let alone why Emma suddenly muttered, "Oh my god," at the same moment Regina started using expletives that made even his eyes widen in shock.

"Am I the only one feeling like they're missing something?" Liam asked as he looked between his mother's visibly pale face and Regina's agitated, pacing form.

"The dagger was originally part of the sword," Regina snarled in reply. "The control enchantment was on the sword when it was whole."

The implications of that hit Killian and the rest of the group like a punch to the face. They'd known that the dagger had been enchanted to control whomever it cut prior to becoming the talisman that was bound to the Dark Ones, and they now knew that the dagger had originally been a part of Excalibur. Which meant...

"Bloody hell!"

"Precisely," Circe agreed tensely. "Like the dagger, the larger part of the sword would have retained the original enchantment even after a piece of its blade was broken off."

"So Maleficent can use it instead of the dagger to control people and force them to give in to their Darkness?" Henry asked, incredulous.

Merlin nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. It also means that, when the Darkness manifests physically, she can tether herself and it to the sword portion. While Maleficent becoming a Dark One is no laughing matter and should be taken as a serious threat to all Mankind, the true cause for concern lies in what she'll do with the sword's original enchantment. I altered it to only control the Dark One centuries ago, but as a fairy, she has the power to abolish the enchantment altogether if she ties herself to the sword."

The realization of what Merlin was saying filled Killian with dread. While the dagger had spent most of its time within Rumple's possession when he was a Dark One, there had always been the chance of stopping him if someone could get their hands on it. It wouldn't be like that with Maleficent. If she eliminated the control enchantment once she became a Dark One, there would be nothing anyone—not Regina, Emma, Merlin, or another fairy—could do about it. She'd be an unstoppable force, wreaking havoc and destruction to a degree that Rumple and his predecessors could have only dreamed of.

Feeling a familiar hand sliding into his, Killian turned his head to find Emma staring at him. There was a level of fear in her green eyes that he'd only ever seen a handful of times before, and it was very similar to the emotion currently lodged within the walls of his chest. Maleficent as an uncontrollable Dark One was a threat to every human being, but no one more so than Erin and Liam. For twenty-eight years, the Dark Fairy had tried to get her misguided revenge against Emma for Lily's death by going after their children, and if she accomplished this, he and Emma didn't stand a chance at protecting them from her.

"Sweet Hera," Belle whispered, her eyes wide with horror.

"It's a very dire circumstance," Agamede agreed. "But there are factors working in our favor."

Snow frowned. "Like what?"

"To begin with, we don't have to worry about Maleficent uniting the two pieces of Excalibur and obtaining the ability to kill any immortal. The dagger portion of the sword is in Merlin's personal vault and protected by a box with the oldest cloaking spell in existence. Even Maleficent's magic can't penetrate that. She'll also need key ingredients to safely perform the abolishing spell. Most of them she'll be able to find, but there is one—the most important of them—that she won't have access to. Excalibur was forged with one of three sparks from the original flame. The second was stolen by Prometheus and given to Man, and the third spark disappeared shortly after that. It's been lost for eons now."

Liam made a strangled noise as his gaze swung to Merlin. "You couldn't have led with that instead of making us believe it was unavoidable?"

"Because it still might be unavoidable," Merlin said with a scowl. "As Agamede said, she needs the ingredients to safely perform the spell. Maleficent absolutely has the power to abolish the enchantment with her magic alone."

It was Agamede's turn to make a strangled noise. "You can't be serious! She'd be a fool to try to strip the enchantment by force. With as old as Excalibur is, the very act could kill her."

"Are you saying Maleficent isn't driven enough by revenge on multiple fronts to attempt it?" Merlin asked with a raised eyebrow.

Agamede's face scrunched up in thought for a long moment before she sighed in resignation.

"No, of course she is."

"So not really something that's in our favor," Will deadpanned.

"It still could be," Circe interjected thoughtfully. "Maleficent still needs time for the Darkness to grow and manifest physically. She can't become a Dark One without tethering herself to its physical form. And if she abolishes the enchantment before that happens, she loses her ability to use that piece of Excalibur to manipulate people into giving in to their own darkness. The Darkness needs that in order to grow—otherwise, it simply remains a potential within people."

"And that didn't happen quickly last time, right?" Snow glanced between Merlin and the fairies. "You said before it took a lot of people giving in to their darker side for the Darkness to physically manifest."

Merlin nodded. "A few weeks, yes."

Emma's hand tightened around Killian's. "So let me get this straight. The Dark Fairy has an alternative means to control people and create a new wave of Darkness, thus she's still able to become a Dark One even with the dagger locked away. There's also the possibility she'll abolish the enchantment on the sword which, if she succeeds and it doesn't kill her, means there will be no way to control her once she does become a Dark One. Are you telling me there's nothing we can do to keep any of that from happening? That Maleficent becoming an unstoppable Dark One and being able to murder my children is unavoidable?"

"There is, but we can't discuss it here," Merlin replied. "There's no telling who might be listening, and the last thing I want to do is give the Dark Fairy an advantage of any kind." Looking to Killian, he added, "I presume that you all came aboard the Jolly Roger?"

"Aye. We flew here, and she's currently in the southern harbor."

"Good. Circe will translocate all of you to the ship, and once she does, set a course for Narnia. I'm going to retrieve the dagger along with a few other items and then I'll join you."

Standing on the banks of the Styx, Hades sighed heavily.

It had been five days since the Twice-Blessed Child and her Companion landed in the Underworld. They were doing fairly well—though still making him swear to Gaia at least three times a day with their knack for finding trouble—and were slowly but surely navigating the realm of the dead. By his calculations, if nothing befell them or slowed their progress, they'd complete the first part of The Gauntlet in two days' time and be reunited. Then it would be on to the second phase.

He couldn't focus on that right now, though. He had a summons to finally answer.

With the image of Avalon firmly fixed in his mind, Hades flicked his wrist and dissolved into a gray fog.

The Mother Fairy had called for him for two days after Princess Erin and Captain D'Harper arrived in the Underworld. Her angry summons tickled the back of his mind morning, afternoon, and night, a constant barrage that he ignored, focusing instead on the judging of souls and trying to keep a watchful eye on the princess in case he had to step in. Plus, as he'd told Hermes, the Lord of the Underworld was at no one's beck and call.

And, while both of those things were true, there was yet another reason—the core, true reason—for why he'd put off responding to her summons. He just hadn't been prepared to witness her sorrow.

Oh, there would undoubtedly be fury at first. After all, his naivety in youth had put her prophecy—the very one he, his brothers, and the Cosmos had demanded she write to rectify Maleficent's wrong—into jeopardy. This might have forever altered Captain D'Harper's fate, and that wasn't something the Mother Fairy would take lightly from a professional or personal place. Her fury would subside into hope once he explained himself, but then the sorrow would come. Because he knew what she would ask of him—what she had to ask of him—and despite the whole host of differences they'd had eons before, Hades wouldn't have wished that on anyone.

Including his robe-chasing younger brother.

Arriving on the shores of Avalon, the fog of his form slowly seeped from the white sand until it took on a humanoid shape and, with a crackle of electric blue light, Hades stood fully formed on the magical island. It was just after dawn in this realm, with the sky above the vast and majestic mountains and untouched forests a brilliant watercolor of pinks and purples. Birds chirped amongst the shoreline's trees and butterflies in more colors that he could name fluttered through the air. From the corner of his eye he even spotted a white, fluffy rabbit dart into the underbrush.

He'd barely taken a step forward when a cloud of white smoke appeared a few feet in front of him. It quickly dissipated to reveal the Mother Fairy, her face murderous and hazel eyes sparking with magic.

"N—"

Before he could even say her name—her real one, the one lost to the pages of time—she threw a ball of white light directly at him. Hades redirected it harmlessly to the side with a sharp flick of his wrist.

"Listen—"

Another ball of light came at him, quickly followed by two more, and then the very air around him began to bear down on him as the sand he stood on turned to liquid. A fifth ball of light struck him in the chest before he could turn his attention back to her, and Hades stumbled backwards through the now formless sand at its force. Despite being older, she couldn't actually kill him. Like Hecate, however, she could easily hurt him if she put her mind to it.

And judging by the fury in her eyes, the Mother Fairy was determined to attempt just that.

Sighing heavily, Hades called upon his own magic and, with a snap of his fingers, hardened the sand beneath his feet while encasing himself within a protection barrier.

"Coward!" she shouted, still flinging ball after ball of white light at him. "Are you no better than Zeus by hiding in there?"

His blood instantly boiled at the comparison to his younger brother, but Hades didn't outwardly react to the jab. She had reason—good reason, at that—to be angry with him.

"Nothing to say to that?" she mocked, her chest barely rising and falling despite the sheer power she'd displayed only seconds before.

"I have plenty to say if you'd let me talk."

The Mother Fairy's eyes flashed dangerously, the white color of her magic crackling through them like webs of lightning. "You are in no position to give me sarcasm after what you've done, Hades."

"If I told you things may not be as dire as you believe them to be, will you stop throwing things at me?"

"Not if you're going to lie to me," she sneered. "Remember, I know about the entrance law you placed upon the Underworld."

"There's also plenty you don't know," he remarked calmly, unsurprised when she flung yet another ball of light at him.

"I know enough! I know that you opened a portal to the Underworld and tethered them to it. You put a 4,000 year old prophecy into jeopardy when you were one of the ones who demanded I correct matters. Not to mention the personal pain you've subjected me to by choosing to tether him!"

Hades nodded. "I did all of that, yes, but I had no choice."

The Mother Fairy scoffed. "Since when do you, of all deities, not have a choice?"

"Since I gave my word to Maleficent that I would rectify ending our betrothal."

The ball of light that had started to form in her hand instantly vanished at that, and the Mother Fairy inhaled sharply.

"What?"

"It was a stupid, naive mistake," he said with a shake of his head. "I—I'd obviously hurt her with my decision, and I was trying to do something—anything—to make it better. I'd forgotten it had even happened until she appeared in the Underworld almost two weeks ago."

"In the—" She shook her head in confusion, her long, black hair swaying with the movement. "How did she get there?"

He told her everything about the Dark Fairy's surprise visit. How she'd used the Erinyes to gain entry into the Underworld, her initial proposition, his refusal, her collecting on his promise, and how he'd realized he could circumvent it once she'd left. The anger slowly seeped from the Mother Fairy's eyes to be replaced with understanding as he spoke, and by the time he was finished, even the rage that had contorted her beautiful features had been traded for resigned empathy.

"Hades, I—I'm sorry," she murmured after a few heartbeats of silence had fallen between them. "For this—" she gestured towards the protection barrier, "—as well as even thinking it was your idea."

He could only think of one instance in eons of knowing her when she'd said those words. And he knew that, while it was hard for her to say them, the words were sincere.

Hades shrugged. "You couldn't have known. Events that transpire in the Underworld, like Olympus, are hidden even from the Moirai."

"I still should have seen that this had Maleficent written all over it." Sighing heavily, she waved a hand towards him again and added, "You can come out of there now. It's not like I could have wounded you, anyway."

"I learned long ago not to underestimate an angry, powerful woman," he said with a dry chuckle. Snapping his fingers, the protection barrier vanished. "I truly am sorry for this."

"You did what was best for the entirety of man and immortal kind, Hades. No one can fault you for that. I don't like it, and wished you had given me notice, but I understand the constraints you were working under. I also know you didn't do it lightly, given your relationship with Asteria. The most important thing is that the Twice Blessed Children complete the prophecy, and that couldn't have happened if both of them went to the Underworld. I… I just, for selfish reasons, wished it had been any other Companion." Tears quickly filled her eyes, but she blinked them away as fast as they had appeared. "Sacrifices, however, must be made to ensure the Darkness is forever contained."

"D'Harper may not have to be that sacrifice."

The look the Mother Fairy gave him was filled with the type of sadness that only came when one had extensive knowledge on the finality of a situation.

"You and I both know that's impossible."

"Except it's not." At her furrowed brow, he continued. "There's a test—a series of them, actually—that Persephone and I created eons ago called The Gauntlet. It's a… loophole, if you will, for the entrance law. If they can pass it, the entrance law on the Underworld becomes voided and they both can leave."

Hope filled her eyes and The Mother Fairy brought a shaking hand to cover her heart.

"Truly?"

"Yes, but it's not a guarantee," Hades quickly cautioned. "No one has ever passed it before and, while my wife believes they can, I have to remain pragmatic."

"As you should," she agreed with a nod. "But you know why I have to cling to hope that they will. Th—that Persephone's faith isn't misplaced."

He knew and understood why far better than she realized, which was also why he wasn't surprised by her next question.

"Can you… ensure that they pass the test?"

His gaze not unkind, Hades solemnly shook his head. "Unfortunately, there are rules to The Gauntlet that forbid outside help for the participants. I can intervene if the princess' life is at stake, but it would be a forfeit."

"Which would then leave you with no choice but to abide by the entrance law and send only one of them home."

"Yes. I've managed to bend the rules here and there for them, but as Hecate keeps pointing out to me, I'm walking a very tight rope in that regard. I am doing everything within my power to ensure this ends the way we both want it to."

"I believe you," she murmured, her eyes moving to stare at the waves that lapped at the shore behind him with an unfocused look.

Hades' heart went out to her. A great responsibility had been placed on her shoulders 4,000 years ago because of Maleficent's actions, and the Mother Fairy had done everything to see it through. Including making personal sacrifices that he wasn't even sure he could have done if their positions had been reversed.

Seeing the first tendrils of sunlight breaching the peaks of Avalon's mountains, Hades cleared his throat to bring her gaze back to him.

"I shouldn't be away from the Underworld for too long. Princess Erin and Captain D'Harper are doing fairly well considering the obstacles they've encountered thus far, but I want to keep a vigilant eye on them in case I have to intervene."

"May I ask a question before you leave?" At his gesture for her to continue, she raised an eyebrow. "Why create a loophole? It seems… counterproductive to the law you put into place."

"Because there are things in this world that are more powerful than even a vow on the Styx," he answered honestly and with a heavy dose of hint in his tone.

Understanding instantly flashed across her face, and he didn't miss the way the hand that had been covering her heart moved to grasp the large amber stone hanging around her neck.

"Yes, that would be something you'd have to account for with something as definite as the entrance law." Tightly gripping the amber stone until her knuckles turned white—as if she were drawing strength from the gem-—she added, "The prophecy is set to be fulfilled in less than a month's time. If they haven't completed The Gauntlet by—"

The Mother Fairy cut herself off as her voice began to crack beneath the weight of what she was about to say. Hades waited patiently for her to continue, a silent pillar of compassion and understanding while she took a deep, steadying breath. This was why he'd delayed coming here for the past five days. This moment, where duty to something far beyond the mortal coil demanded her sacrifice one more time.

"If they haven't completed The Gauntlet by the morning before the next New Moon," she began again, tears once more pooling in her hazel eyes, "You need to enact the entrance law and send Princess Erin home."

Despite the fact that she had to say it, he knew it took enormous strength for her to speak those words, and all he could do was nod solemnly.

"I will."

As a single tear cascaded down her alabaster cheek, Hades faded again into a gray fog and began his return to the Underworld.

He prayed to every divine being that had ever walked Gaia that it didn't come to that.

Sending the last of his telepathic commands to the Jolly Roger, Killian released the wheel and made his way down the short set of steps that lead to the ship's main deck.

With the horrific odor of a ravaged Camelot still filling their nostrils, it had been a unanimous decision to stay up top and wait for Merlin's arrival. A cool breeze blew across the ship as it cut through the open water, bringing with it a scent of freshness and salt that blessedly banished the smells of battle until they were nothing more than a distant memory.

It was actually a beautiful day all around. The noon sun sat directly above them, but due to the time of year it simply warmed the skin instead of making one feel like they were standing beneath a blistering fireball. The sky itself was shaded a bright, vivid blue and was clear except for a handful of white clouds floating across its surface. It was perfect sailing weather, and Killian had no doubt that if she were home, Erin would have found any excuse she could to spend this type of day out on the water instead of cooped up in the castle.

Killian's heart tightened sharply at that thought, and he came to an abrupt stop just on the outskirts of where everyone was gathered on deck.

Even amidst the chaos, he hadn't forgotten that his daughter was still missing. Her absence was a gaping hole in his senses, and the constant worry he had for her—and Eric—was permanently lodged at the forefront of his mind. He didn't know what Merlin's plan was to stop Maleficent from creating a new Darkness, but Killian knew whatever it was, he wasn't going to be a part of it. He couldn't. Not with Erin missing.

His number one priority was finding his daughter. After that, he'd worry about Maleficent.

"Killian?"

Killian turned to find Henry standing behind him.

"Hm?"

"You okay?"

"Aye, lad." A furrowed brow told Killian that his oldest son wasn't buying that one bit. "I uh… I was just thinking about how much your sister would have loved this weather."

Understanding instantly flashed in Henry's brown eyes, and the ghost of a smile pulled at his lips as he glanced out at the open ocean surrounding them.

"Yeah, she would. She'd have absolutely blown off any wedding meetings Grandma had planned or kingdom business to spend the day at sea."

There was a sadness to Henry's tone that caused Killian's heart to tighten once more, this time in paternal protectiveness. He'd had to watch helplessly as his sister fell into a portal to an unknown realm, and Killian knew that he felt guilty for not being able to get to her sooner, even though there was no physical way he could have. It wasn't eating him alive or causing him to brood like Liam, but it was most certainly there. It peeked through every now and then, like with the tone of his voice or how, out of all of them, it was Henry who read the most books about the Underworld and Hades over the last week. Killian was absolutely certain Henry was averaging fewer hours of sleep than anyone but Emma.

"I know I don't have to lecture you at length about self-deprecating like I do your brother," he began, "but this still needs to be said. What happened to Erin and Eric isn't your fault."

Looking back to him, Henry's smile turned sad. "It doesn't lessen my guilt by any means, but thank you." There was a pause and then, after swallowing thickly, he added, "Can I admit something to you?"

"Of course, lad."

"I thought about using my powers to get them back."

It took Killian longer than it normally would have to understand what Henry was talking about—a fact he'd blame on lack of sleep—but when it finally sank in, his eyes widened. His powers as the Author. Henry was talking about using his position to literally write Erin and Eric coming back from whatever realm they were stuck in.

"Henry—"

"I didn't do it," he quickly added. "Obviously. I'd be lying, however, if I said the thought hadn't crossed my mind more than once over the last week."

Killian wasn't sure if that eased his sudden spike in worry or made it worse. While Henry was probably the most level-headed person in their family during a crisis, he still had his moments of throwing caution to the wind and reacting with emotions. Particularly when his siblings were involved.

"And you don't have to say it," Henry continued. "I know how badly things could go if I attempted it. We'd get Erin and Eric back, but there would undoubtedly be consequences even I couldn't foresee. Someone could die, or an entire kingdom could vanish in the blink of an eye."

Killian nodded. "Aye. Not to mention what would happen to you."

He didn't have to elaborate. Henry was more than aware of the restrictions placed upon him as the Author, and had seen first hand what happened almost thirty years ago. The Author had one responsibility, to observe and record stories once they'd transpired. The magical quill that chose each Author also gave them the ability to set down stories they hadn't witnessed first hand. Disastrous consequences like the ones Henry described followed when an Author interfered before a story was finished, or attempted to circumvent that power for their own gain. They would also be unceremoniously stripped of the position by whatever unseen, cosmic entity bestowed it in the first place.

Bringing Erin and Eric back with his powers would, essentially, be writing Henry's own happy ending, and it could cost him his role as the Author.

Henry sighed. "That too. And, while I'd be willing to give up being the Author if it meant Erin and Eric were safe, I know neither of them would want me to do it."

"I think I can say with certainty both of them would have your head, yes."

Smiling once again—undoubtedly at the mental image of the verbal lashing his sister would give him—Henry said, "Besides, there's not going to be a need for me to use my powers as the Author in that regard. We're going to find them."

Killian nodded, his worry quickly melting into pride at the conviction in his oldest son's voice and his belief in their family.

"Come on," Henry murmured with a gesture of his hand. "You need to eat too."

A small table had been placed in between the two coamings that lay on the Jolly Roger's main deck, and its surface was filled to the brim with cheeses, dried meat, nuts, grapes, and bread. Someone—more than likely his father-in-law—had brought up a handful of chairs and spaced them out in a rough circle around the area. Snow, Regina, Belle, and Elsa sat in the ones on the right side of the deck with David standing behind Snow's chair, while Circe and Agamede sat in the remaining ones that had been placed on the other side. Henry joined Liam who was sat on the very edge of the grated coaming that lay closest to the fore mast and, leaning against the railing on the left side of the ship, was Will. Emma sat on a crate next to his best-friend, and as Killian came to a stop beside her, he gratefully accepted the plate she'd already made for him.

They'd invited Arthur to come with them, but he'd politely declined. As much as he wanted revenge against Maleficent for what she'd done, he said, large swaths of his capital were in shambles and needed to be repaired. Not to mention the dead needed burial and the survivors to be consoled

"Do the two of you know what Merlin's plan is?" David asked before taking a large bite of cheese, the question and his eyes directed at the two fairies.

Circe shared a knowing glance with Agamede before carefully clearing her throat.

"We do."

"Any chance of sharin' it with us?" Will said around a mouthful of grapes.

"It's probably best to wait for Merlin," Agamede responded hesitantly. "You will undoubtedly have questions about a lot of it, and while we can answer most of them, there are certain things only he can speak to."

It wasn't exactly the response any of them were hoping for, but Killian had to give the fairies credit for not lying to them.

Silence filled the deck as they continued to eat. Killian hadn't even been aware of just how hungry he was until he started eating and, judging by the fact that everyone went back for seconds, he wasn't the only one. It wasn't like they'd had time for anything other than a quick snack between trying to sleep on the Jolly Roger and disembarking upon immediately arriving in Camelot. After everyone was done and Henry had taken the dirty plates to the galley, Will and Killian both broke out their flasks and passed them around. He was a little taken off guard when Elsa of all people took a healthy swig of rum, but he supposed seeing Camelot's carnage and watching a man literally become someone else before your eyes could drive anyone—even the person who rarely drank—to down strong liquor without hesitation.

Ten minutes after they'd finished eating, Merlin appeared amidst a cloud of dark blue smoke. A bundle of rolled parchments was beneath one arm, and he held a box that was no more than a few feet wide and just as tall, the light wood severely weathered from age. Runes—or what Killian thought might be runes—were carved into its side, though the toll of time had worn most of them down.

"Is that what you put the dagger in?" Emma asked, taking another sip from Killian's flask that had made its way back around before passing it to Killian.

Nodding, Merlin carefully sat the ancient-looking box and the handful of rolled parchments atop a crate. "It is. I confirmed that the dagger was still in there before leaving my vault. Oh! Food!" Quickly making his way towards the small table, he added, "Regeneration always leaves me positively famished."

"And we aren't opening it, right?" Liam inquired, craning his neck around his brother to get a look at the box.

"Precisely. So long as we don't open the box until we need it, the cloaking spell will keep Maleficent from finding it."

Pocketing his flask, Killian's brow furrowed. "Why would we need it? Is the dagger part of your plan to stop Maleficent?"

"In a manner of speaking." Merlin settled himself and his full plate onto an empty crate. "It's one of the items we'll need to get into Avalon."

Silence descended with those words. It was thick, an almost tangible entity that settled around their shoulders and filled the space between them with its presence. And then, with the quickness of a spark coming off a struck piece of flint, it vanished, replaced with a wall of sound. Everyone—except Agamede and Circe—began talking at once.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Pardon?"

"Did you say Avalon?"

"What the bloody hell?!"

"Unbelievable—"

"How in Hera's divine grace do you know that?"

"You mean the Avalon?"

Merlin quickly held up a hand to quiet everyone. "Perhaps that wasn't the best way to start this," he muttered around a mouthful of jerky.

Circe snickered. "You think?"

He scowled at the blonde fairy, but before either of them could say anything else, Emma spoke.

"Have you known where Avalon is this entire time?"

"Of course not," Merlin replied, his tone indicating that he was offended she'd even ask.

It was a valid question, Killian thought. They'd spent how many years trying to find the mythical island? Had how many discussions with Merlin over the past six months? He hadn't mentioned this once in all that time, and now he was suddenly brimming with the information?

Forgoing another drink, Regina passed Will's flask to Snow and leaned back in her chair with all the regality of a queen, her legs crossing beneath the red dress that perfectly matched her lips.

"Then how do you suddenly know what we'll need to get into it?" she demanded darkly. "You told us years ago that no one knew where it was, that its location had been lost before you started wielding magic."

Swallowing his food, Merlin said, "Because my curse was broken."

Elsa made a startled noise as Killian's eyebrows shot to his graying hairline.

"Come again?" Will asked, incredulous. "You were cursed? Since when?"

The wizard nodded. "I was cursed 4,000 years ago to forget how to locate Avalon, as well as the fact that I was even under a curse, until I regenerated again. With my previous form's death, it was finally broken."

"Well, we all know how annoying forgetting curses can be," Liam muttered, referencing one Zelena had placed on them three years ago—although that one had been on a much larger scale. Merlin had simply forgotten a piece of information, not his entire life. "Why would someone do that?"

"To ensure I couldn't return to Avalon before the appointed time."

There was a lot to unpack from that simple statement, and true to her brilliant mind, Belle was the first to dissect it.

"Return to Avalon? You… you've been there before?"

"Do you remember us telling you about how he washed ashore on an island while he was mortal?" Belle's dark head nodded numnly at the fairy's question as she took a sip from Will's flask that was now in her possession. "That island was Avalon."

"What's the reason for the appointed time?" David asked, directing his question at Merlin while crossing his arms. He'd discarded the leather doublet he'd worn to Camelot shortly after they were translocated back to the ship, leaving him in the simple white shirt he always wore beneath them.

"I'm unsure as to what the reason is," Merlin answered, popping a grape into his mouth. "Only that it was set as part of the curse and is in twelve days' time. Another thing I didn't remember until I regenerated."

Snow tilted her head in curiosity. "What would have happened if you hadn't regenerated before the appointed time?"

"Some things, Your Majesty, are destined to happen no matter what roads or choices we take. As I'm sure you remember from when you, yourself, time traveled. When the Mother Fairy looked into the future 4,000 years ago, she saw that my 'death' was a fixed point in time. Which is why, I assume, she worked that particular clause into her curse."

Henry's face screwed up in confusion. "The Mother Fairy? Who's that?"

"The first fairy," Agamede replied, a soft, fond smile pulling at her lips. "She came into being at the same moment Nyx's egg cracked. She is an ancient, powerful being, and her charge was to protect the magic she was born from. To do so, she created the seven Sisters of Avalon."

"Her name—the one that was given to her eons before the title of Mother Fairy—is Nimue," Merlin added. "It was she who gave me my immortality. And, you have to understand, she wasn't being malicious when she cursed me. Nimue just couldn't risk me trying to find the island before this point in time. A Dark One would have been able to sense what I was doing and follow me."

Well, Killian thought, that at least confirmed their theory that Avalon had disappeared from the world of Men to keep the Dark Ones from gaining access to its magic.

"Couldn't you have just agreed to not attempt an entry until the appointed time instead of her cursing you?" Regina asked in bewilderment.

"No, because he was in love with her," Emma murmured, causing all of them to flash back to what Circe had told them earlier.

"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."

Merlin smiled, the action tight and laced with a heavy sadness. "Yes. Very much so. She knew that if I retained the knowledge of how to find Avalon, I'd be tempted to visit her, all consequences be damned."

Sensing movement out of the corner of his eye, Killian turned his head to see Emma reaching for his hook where it hung by his side without taking her own eyes off Merlin. Killian's heart went out to the wizard. To know the woman you loved was out there and to be kept away from her was a pain he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy. Being unable to reach Emma while she was under the ice formation created by hers and Ingrid's combined magic had damn near broken him. He couldn't touch her, but he had at least been able to still see her with his own eyes for those few months.

Merlin hadn't seen, heard, or touched the woman he loved in 4,000 years.

"So why will the dagger allow us to finally find the island?" Will asked, pulling Killian from his memories of that dark time.

A quick glance at his best friend told him that Will was purposefully redirecting the conversation for Killian's benefit. Which made sense. Will, perhaps above anyone else, would know exactly where his mind went after Merlin's statement.

Merlin looked at Will as if the White King had just asked him how magic beans operated.

"I thought that would have been obvious."

The look Will gave the wizard in reply was hard and withering. "It's been a long twelve hours, and it isn't like we have slept much over the last six days to begin with. Yer gonna have to spell this one out for us."

"Nimue was the one who created Excalibur," Merlin replied matter-of-factly, as if that was a piece of information they should have already known. "It's an Avalonian artifact."

Killian's jaw dropped, and he didn't have to look at anyone else to know they were just as stunned as he was. They'd been desperately searching for an Avalonian artifact for almost two weeks to gain access to Avalon and find out how the twins were supposed to stop Maleficent, and there had been one right under their noses the entire time?

"Are you serious?" Regina whispered, the harshness of her tone cutting through the fresh air like a blackened arrow. "We've been looking for an artifact from Avalon and you knew where one was?"

Merlin gave her a baffled look. "Why were you looking for one?"

"For this exact purpose!"

"Since when?"

"Since—" Regina cut herself off as realization dawned for her and the rest of the group.

He didn't know about their plan.

Just as Belle had spent the majority of the last six months in Camelot completing research on the prophecy, Merlin had been doing the same but in other realms—such as Oz and Middle Earth—and had only returned when Erin and Eric were pulled into the portal. Their focus at that point had, naturally, been on searching for a way to get to Hades and not on finding an Avalonian artifact, or filling Merlin in with what they'd been doing. He didn't know about their attempts to use magic beans to locate Avalon, or Liam's subsequent suggestion about how to get through the island's barrier.

Merlin raised a questioning eyebrow. "Regina?"

"We realized Avalon was underneath a protection barrier and not just another realm that we could easily access," the former Evil Queen replied. "Liam came up with the idea of using an Avalonian artifact created by a Sister of Avalon to get us through that barrier since their magic would have been a part of the spell."

"How did you know it was under a protection barrier?" Merlin asked in surprise.

Liam huffed. "A lot of trial and error. We used magic beans, but every time we attempted the journey they'd bring us to Camelot—specifically the Great Hall in Arthur's castle, in front of that statue of Uther the First. Rumple made the connection that, wherever Avalon went to protect itself from the Dark Ones, the Sisters of Avalon must have placed a barrier spell on it if the beans couldn't take us there."

"And we discovered the reason the beans kept taking us to Camelot was because Avalon had once resided off its coast," Killian added. "Well, Belle did. She was the one that found the obscure reference in an account of Camelot's history."

His food momentarily forgotten, Merlin leaned back on his crate with an impressed expression on his new face.

"You've clearly been busy in my absence."

"We would have told you all of this when we saw you, but then Eric and Erin disappeared," Snow softly explained. "And trying to find them took precedence over everything else."

"Of course," Merlin said, his dark eyes full of understanding. "For what it's worth, you were right on track. Avalon did reside off Camelot's coast—in the Summer Sea, to be precise—until about 4,000 years ago, and a protection barrier was enacted over the pocket realm when it disappeared. Which, as you've already deduced, is why the magic beans kept bringing you to Camelot instead. The reason you kept appearing in Arthur's Great Hall, particularly in front of the statue of Uther the First, is because that was where I hid Excalibur."

"Bloody hell," Killian murmured at the same time Henry and David let out a quiet, "Ohhhhh."

They'd always wondered why the beans had taken them there, and now it made sense. The magic beans had literally been taking them to the doorstep of where a fragment of Avalon lay, hidden in plain sight by Merlin within a marbled replica of itself.

"Well, that also explains why Maleficent was able to get through the protection barrier you had over Camelot," Regina said with a huff. "She's a fairy, and as such, her magic comes from Avalon. If Excalibur was created with that same magic, then technically a piece of her magic was already within the barrier when you cast the spell."

"Which was a bit of a short sight on your part, Ancient One," Circe commented. Ignoring the scowl Merlin shot at her, she added, "Although, in your defense, you couldn't have anticipated Maleficent somehow discovering that secret."

"Hang on." Henry half turned on the coaming to look at Merlin. "You said that the dagger was one of the items we'd need to enter Avalon. Why do we need other items? Shouldn't the dagger be enough?"

Merlin, who had begun to eat once again, nodded as he chewed.

"Generally, yes. The dagger, as part of an item created by Nimue, would be the only thing we'd need to get through a protection barrier she erected. The one over Avalon, however, includes an intricate foråil."

Will scoffed. "A what now?"

"It's a provision, or requirement, a magic user adds to a spell or curse," Emma answered, using the hand that wasn't still holding Killian's hook to brush at a few strands of hair the sea wind had pulled from her ponytail behind her ear. "Like with the sleeping curse I was under. Medusa's foråil was the very specific criterion of who could wake someone placed under a sleeping curse via that artifact."

"Indeed. On top of cursing me, Nimue also took this step in case someone, particularly a Dark One, were to ever discover the truth behind Excalibur. Without the foråil, they would have been able to get past her protection barrier with even a piece of the sword. With it, they'd need the Nine Items of the Sisters of Avalon, all of which are in various realms and kingdoms."

"Nine?" Frowning, Snow looked to Agamede. "I thought you said the Mother Fairy created seven."

"She did," Merlin said before the brunette fairy could answer. "Nimue, as the first fairy and Lady of All Magic, is considered a Sister of Avalon. She created seven others by combining drops of her blood with the island's magical waters. Morgana and Medusa, as you know, were two of them. Morgana was the Purple Fairy and Champion of Justice. It was her duty to ensure the integrity of law and order remained intact, which is why she was constantly writing things down despite my objections to it. Medusa, as the Red Fairy, was the Defender of Love, while Calypso—the original Blue Fairy—was known as Keeper of the Oceans and maintained a connection with the living entity that is the sea. There were also the Yellow and Green Fairies, whom you've already met."

They were all confused for the briefest of seconds—surely he didn't mean Tink was a Sister of Avalon?—but then Merlin's gaze swung to Agamede and Circe, and like a pendulum on a clock, their confusion swiftly shifted to shock.

Emma's eyebrows rose sharply. "You're Sisters of Avalon?"

Agamede smiled. "Bit of a surprise, I'm sure, but yes. We are. I'm the Green Fairy, the Custodian of Lands, and Circe, as the Yellow Fairy, is the Patroness of Life."

Something Agamede said after they explained Merlin's ability to regenerate tickled the back of Killian's mind.

"You'll have to forgive my sister. The subject of life is… very personal to her."

"Is that why you were so defensive when Will asked why you didn't tell us about Merlin's regeneration before it happened?" he asked.

Circe, clearly taken aback that he'd remember that, nodded. "All forms of life are sacred to me. It's also why watching Merlin's previous body die was… extremely painful. Death upsets me and goes against my very existence, unlike my twin sister who was born to be its companion."

David frowned. "Who is your twin sister?"

"Maleficent."

Another shockwave of surprise rippled across the deck. The very air caught in Killian's lungs as he inhaled sharply, and from the corner of his eye he saw Emma barely grab a hold of Will's arm in time to keep him from falling overboard as he jerked backwards. Elsa, who had been holding Will's flask, dropped it as her eyes widened. The dark amber liquid slowly seeped into the ship's wood, all but forgotten amidst the revelation.

Maleficent was a Sister of Avalon. They'd obviously known she was a fairy—and a fairly powerful one at that—but none of them had ever expected that.

"What?!" Regina shouted in an uncharacteristic loss of composure. "How is that—What do you mean Maleficent is a Sister of Avalon?"

"Did you never question why she—or Morgana, for that matter—were so vastly different from the other fairies you knew?" Circe asked the former Evil Queen, her tone genuine and lacking an ounce of condescension. "Like how she can turn into a dragon, and doesn't carry a wand or need fairy dust to use her magic?"

"Actually… no," Elsa murmured as Regina continued to stare at the blonde fairy in shock. "We just… I don't know." Glancing around the group, she added, "Why didn't we?"

"Because we weren't aware there's apparently a hierarchy to fairies," Will snarked.

"In our defense," Snow began, reaching down to pick up Will's dropped flask and hand it back to Elsa. "We also thought the Sisters of Avalon were either still on the island or had been banished before it disappeared."

Taking the flask from Elsa, Belle took a long pull from it before asking, "So why are there such vast differences between the Sisters of Avalon and, say, Blue or Tink?"

"Because we were born directly from our mother's magic and the waters of Avalon," Agamede replied. "The other fairies were not. Our magic is directly tied to the island, thus it is within us as it is with the Savior, Regina, and Elsa. So we don't require wands or an ignition agent like fairy dust."

"And you turn into animals," Liam added, almost in a daze.

The brunette fairy chuckled. "Yes, Lieutenant, depending on what our powers are."

"Have you known this entire time that Maleficent was a Sister of Avalon?"

David directed his question at Merlin, and Killian watched as the wizard reluctantly nodded.

"I did, yes."

Killian wasn't sure how he felt about that. On the one hand, knowing Maleficent was a Sister of Avalon changed nothing for them. On the other hand, however, it was a fairly important piece of information to have, and Merlin not telling them until now—coupled with him knowing the secret of Excalibur—caused a sense of unease to settle in the depths of Killian's stomach.

What else had the wizard not told them about?

"That's only six, though." Merlin turned and gave Snow a perplexed look. "Six Sisters of Avalon that Nimue created," she explained. "You said there were nine, but you only named four, and then there was Agamede, Circe, and Maleficent. Who are the other two Sisters?"

"Pandora," Merlin replied. "She was the Gray Fairy, Guardian of Secrets, and rounded out the original seven that Nimue created. About twenty-five years before Avalon disappeared from the world of man, the ninth and final Sister, Asteria, came into being. She was the Silver Fairy and Protector of the Stars."

A melody of emotions colored Merlin's tone as he talked about the final Sister of Avalon. It was equal parts wistful and fondness, with a hint of grief mixed in that caused Killian's brows to furrow in curiosity.

"Wait." Regina leaned forward in her chair to pin the two fairies with a suspicious look. "If the two of you are Sisters of Avalon, why haven't you returned to the island before now? You had to craft a spell to hide yourself from Maleficent, but wouldn't it haven't been easier to take the Nine Items and return home to a protection barrier she couldn't breach?"

Circe shook her head. "Our magic wasn't part of the protection barrier, so we are as beholden to its foråil as everyone else."

"Not to mention there are two parts to our mother's foråil," Agamede added. "The second being that only Merlin can cast the spell with the Nine Items to gain entrance to Avalon.

"That makes sense," Belle murmured. "What does all this have to do with stopping Maleficent, though? Merlin, you said you had a plan to do that."

Having finally finished eating, Merlin translocated his empty plate away and wiped his hands on his cloak.

"We need to destroy both pieces of Excalibur to ensure Maleficent doesn't succeed. Without them, she can't bring forth the Darkness and make herself a Dark One. The only person who knows how to do that is Nimue, its creator. Getting into Avalon to talk with her and find out how that's done is my plan."

Killian cleared his throat, bringing all eyes to him. "I realize this is important, but I can't be a part of it." At Merlin's protest, he held up his hand. "I don't care about Maleficent or her plans, however dire they are. My sole focus has to be on finding Erin and Eric and bringing them home safely."

"Going to Avalon would help with that, actually," Circe responded, and Agamede quickly nodded in agreement. "Merlin has kept us abreast of what happened to your daughter and Captain D'Harper, and we know Hades was involved. Our mother may be able to locate them or, at a minimum, summon Hades so you can have an audience with him."

Emma inhaled sharply. "She could do that?"

"How?" Killian challenged. "The divine, as I understand it, don't simply come when summoned."

Circe smirked. "No, Captain, generally they don't. Especially Hades. Our mother, however, is the only non-deity who has the power to summon a god."

"It's certainly the only viable lead we've had in finding a way to contact Hades since they went missing," Regina murmured. "I know it means Erin and Eric will be potentially stuck wherever they are for longer, but the other avenue isn't certain, Killian. You might get lucky and locate one of the entrances to the Underworld, but it will take you longer than twelve days to do, no matter how you tried."

It was a good point. They'd marked hundreds of possible locations on the map back in Misthaven, and even with the ability to translocate from one to the other with a flick of her wrist, Regina had only been able to check less than a quarter of them in nearly a week. She also made a valid argument about that being an uncertain avenue. He might stumble across an entrance on his first try. It might be the 100th one. It would certainly take him longer than twelve days to search 100—or more—locations.

His gaze flickered to the fairies. "You're positive that the Mother Fairy can summon the Lord of the Underworld?"

Agamede nodded. "Hades can attempt toignore her," she admitted, "But our mother can be… very persuasive. Trust me when I say she would not rest until he answered her."

A slight tug on his left arm had Killian turning his head to find Emma looking up at him. She didn't even attempt to hide the movement of her free hand as her fingers flashed through the secret language he'd taught her decades before.

They aren't lying.

He still didn't like the idea of trapezing over multiple realms for magical items while his daughter and Eric were missing, but if the Mother Fairy was a guaranteed lead in being able to contact Hades, he'd be a fool not to take it. Sighing heavily, Killian nodded.

"Alright, I'll stay."

He didn't miss the look of relief that crossed Merlin's features at those three words.

"So what are the other eight items we need?" Liam asked, fighting off a yawn and standing to work out a kinked muscle in his right leg. "And how do we find them?"

Will groaned dramatically. "Please tell me we don't have to do more research."

"No research needs to be done," Merlin assured him. "I knew of their existence and location, as well as that they were important, but because of my curse I wasn't aware of what they were to be used for. Now I do. Nimue chose each item in her foråil to represent a Sister of Avalon, even those who had been banished for their transgressions. We already have one—the dagger, which symbolizes Nimue—and the other eight, as I said, are in various realms: Wonderland, Stormhold, the Isle of Lost Souls, Neverland, Oz, Narnia, Camelot, and Middle Earth. I'll also need to go to Agrabah to retrieve the spell and its ignition agent."

Regina scowled. "If one is in Camelot, why are we sailing away from there?"

"Because that one is going to be… particularly hard to get. They all are, make no mistake, but that one—the Eye of the Sea—is going to require a substantial fight. It should be one of the last ones we go after. I do have each item's information, along with where they are located and a rough sketch of what they look like," he added, laying an almost reverent hand atop the carefully rolled parchments he'd brought with him.

Clapping his hands together, Will pushed off from the ship's railing. "Splendid! Let's get to dividing and—"

"Easy there, White King," Circe interrupted, her tone gentle yet filled with authority. "How many hours of sleep is there amongst the ten of you? Four, maybe five? You need rest before starting this journey."

Will waved away her concern. "We'll be fine. We can rest while traveling if need be."

"Perhaps, but I wasn't joking when I said these items were going to be difficult to retrieve," Merlin said. "A lot of them are well guarded, and each one of you is going to need your strength and mental capacities fully charged in order to do it."

Raising an eyebrow, Circe fixed Will with a hard look and added, "By your own admission, none of you have slept well over the past week. Trust me, it shows more than you realize. Even now Queen Elsa is fighting to keep her eyes open."

Elsa, whose eyes had in fact begun to close, jerked suddenly at the mention of her name and blinked rapidly.

"What's going on?"

Circe gestured towards the Queen of Arendelle. "I rest my case."

"She's right." As Emma and Killian started to protest, Merlin shook his head. "You can't barrel into this half-dead on your feet. Besides, even if we were able to gather the other eight items by tomorrow morning, I still couldn't perform the spell before the morning of the next Full Moon. A solid rest isn't going to change that timetable, and it can only help us in the long run."

Killian hated to admit it, but the wizard was right. Their sleep the night before had been interrupted by Percival's unexpected arrival, and none of them had slept more than a few hours at a time on the journey to Camelot. They all—especially Emma—could do with a rest now that they had a viable lead to contacting Hades.

At Killian's nod of acceptance, Merlin stood. "It's settled then. We'll weigh anchor while we're still within Camelot's friendly waters and everyone—and I mean everyone—will get some much-needed rest before we undertake this journey."

With that final, unarguable command given, they quietly dispersed.

My young love said to me, "My mother won't mind,

and my father won't slight you for your lack of kind.

And she laid her hand on me and this she did say,

"Oh, it will not be long, love, til our wedding-day."

Making her way through yet another forest of blackened trees, Erin's soft, melodic voice cut through the otherwise quiet air as she sang.

It was something she started periodically doing mid-way through her third day after arriving in this realm. Needing to fill the endless void of silence that was the backdrop of her journey—and having no one around to do that with—she'd begun singing to herself. It was either that or talk to herself, and there was only so much of that she could do before feeling like she was going insane. She'd started with tavern ditties—short, simple songs about drinking, women, and war that filled taverns from Misthaven all the way to Agrabah and everywhere in between. When she ran out of those, she'd moved on to sea shanties.

Whenever loneliness or dread creeped in and threatened to suffocate her, however, she sang herself a lullabye, one her father sang her and Liam when they were little and that she, in turn, had sung to Hope. The centuries-old cradle song didn't completely chase away the overwhelming sense of despair that clawed at her, but it did ease the tight grip enough to prevent it from consuming her whole.

"And she went away from me and moved through the fair," Erin sang, skirting a fallen tree. "And fondly I watched her move here and move there. And then she went onward, just one star awake. Like the swan in the evening moves over the—"

Erin cut herself off as a flash of light up ahead caught her attention. With her heart hammering against her chest and adrenaline spiking through her veins, she ducked behind the nearest blackened tree. It was unlikely that the glint had come off someone's weapon or armor considering she had yet to encounter another human, but Erin Jones wasn't one to take chances. After a few minutes, she carefully peeked out from behind the tree.

Whatever it was, it was still there—about a mile away from her, unmoving, and producing a glint as if this realm's nonexistent sun was shining on it.

She could turn in another direction and go around it, but she needed to know what it was. While there was an extremely slim chance it was coming from Eric's sword, she wouldn't rest easily if she didn't rule that possibility out one hundred percent. Taking a deep breath and resting her right hand on the pommel of her own weapon, she carefully left the safety of the tree and started forward.

Twenty minutes later, Erin found her leather boots rooted to the ground as she stared ahead in shock.

The object that was glinting was a tree. It sat at the center of a large clearing, the boundary distinctly marked by a harsh perimeter of blackened trees. The tree was huge—at least sixty feet tall and towering above the other trees around it—and was shaped like a parasol, with wide-spread limbs that hung so low many of them actually grazed the ground. It had silver bark with leaves that were a lustrous, golden color and glittered like coins beneath torchlight. It was a breathtaking sight, yet completely jarring. Not only had she not seen any color other than black or gray since she arrived, this was also the first tree—or any form of foliage—she'd come across that wasn't lifeless.

Shaking herself from her state of shock, Erin glanced upwards. The ever-constant gray sky was beginning to darken, which meant she needed to find a place to rest for the night. She briefly considered carrying on for a few more miles, but the thought of doing more walking after the amount she'd done that day—coupled with not wanting to spend another fitful night trying to sleep in a tree without falling out of it—had her squashing that idea. The tree's low-hanging branches looked like they could screen her from any creatures that might wander close by, and the added layer of security meant she might get some much needed rest.

Her mind made up, Erin crossed the clearing and ducked beneath the gleaming leaves. She could sense the magic thrumming through the tree the second she did. The very air around her was thick with its presence, but it wasn't a malevolent magic. If anything, it was soothing. It quieted the humming of her own magic and filled her with a peace she hadn't felt in almost a week. She could also smell gooseberries and lavender, with a strong undertone of pomegranate. It was an odd mixture, but it wasn't unpleasant.

She knew that whoever had created this tree or imbued it with magic was powerful and old. Even more so than whoever—or whatever—had been in the Broceliande.

Settling at the base of the tree, she pulled some jerky and a cheese wedge from the freshly-filled sack that had been waiting for her the previous morning and began to eat her late dinner.

She'd been in this desolate realm for six whole days now and she still hadn't seen another human. Nor had she found any sign of Eric. The steady heartbeat coming from the enchanted dubloon she carried told her he was still alive, but Erin had no way of knowing if she was getting closer to him or moving further away. All she could do was follow her instincts

It hadn't been an easy journey by any stretch, emotionally or mentally or physically. The landscape was a grueling, physical obstacle in itself. She'd climbed mountains, walked through a swamp whose over powering sulfur smell had caused her to vomit more than once, and stumbled across an entire field that was nothing but razor sharp rocks, leaving her with hundreds of tiny cuts. Then there were the life-or-death battles. She had yet to walk away from one without some form of serious injury—she'd actually dislocated a shoulder in her fight with a hydra the day before—but luckily had been able to heal herself after each one.

The knowledge that Eric was out there, perhaps enduring everything she was but without the benefit of being able to immediately heal his wounds, was a constant weight in her stomach.

She also still had no idea who was following her. During the hydra fight, there was the briefest glimpse of a form in a white shirt and dark pants ducking behind a large boulder. They were long gone by the time she went to investigate, but their presence was constant. She felt them following her wherever she went, always just far enough behind her that she couldn't get a look at them yet never too far away. They only got close when she slept, leaving behind a sack containing fresh food and water. She never saw them but their presence lingered in the air like a puff of smoke did long after a candle had been blown out.

They clearly weren't an enemy. She'd come to that conclusion after her first fight with a chimera. An enemy, by the very definition, was someone who wouldn't help her or would be out to harm her. This person's intent was clearly neither. They left her food, water, and bandages, and otherwise left her alone.

She still couldn't figure out why they'd remain hidden if they were a friend, but it was by far not the strangest oddity she'd faced in this realm.

Erin put the last of the cheese back into the sack and decided to practice translocating Jefferson's token until she was tired. She'd been attempting it with small rocks as she walked, and yesterday managed to translocate an entire one twenty feet away. That was something she'd never been able to do before unless her—or Hope's, or Eric's—life depended on it.

As she reached into her vest, however, one of the tree's golden leaves—unseen by her—detached and fluttered down to rest in her hair. An unexpected wave of exhaustion washed over Erin, like she had just inhaled the dust of a poppy flower. Her token forgotten, she slumped against the tree's trunk and fell asleep.

"You didn't reveal everything to them."

Merlin, who had been in the process of hanging his cloak on a hook, turned as Circe's voice filled his mind. Killian had shown him and the two fairies to a small cabin before retiring to his own only moments before, the multiple bunks and single desk within the room marking it as the sleeping quarters for the officers that had once graced the former naval vessel. Circe was sitting almost demurely on the edge of one of the top bunks with her legs crossed, the sunlight streaming through the coamings bathing her in golden light as she studied him with a sharp eye.

"It wasn't the time or place to do so."

He projected his answer telepathically as Circe had done. This was a conversation they couldn't risk anyone over hearing, including the Jolly Roger itself. Merlin was hyper-aware that the ship was sentient and heard everything that was spoken aloud within the confines of her enchanted wood, and she would—almost assuredly—be duty bound to report anything odd to her captain.

Circe raised a curious eyebrow. "It wasn't the time to tell them the truth about the prophecy that pertains to Princess Erin and Prince Liam?"

He shook his head. "They'd have even more questions. Some I'm not prepared to answer, and others that I can't."

"So you lied to them instead. You and I both know Excalibur can never be destroyed, even by Mother."

"No, it can't. However, I also couldn't reveal the only way to stop Maleficent is to fulfill the prophecy without revealing how I knew that information." Sitting on the edge of his own temporary bed, Merlin sighed heavily. "I don't like lying to them, but they have to trust me—to trust us—for what is to come. Telling them I've known more than I've let on this entire time, as well as the origin of the prophecy, would be counterproductive to that."

"He's right."

Agamede, who had been preparing the bunk beneath Circe's, paused to look between her sister and Merlin.

"Eventually they'll come to understand why Merlin had to be secretive," Agamede continued. "But that's going to take time. Their initial reactions will be anger and resentment, which can quickly lead to mistrust. We can't afford for that to happen before we reach Avalon."

Circe looked down at her sister in confusion. "Since when I am the one championing truth while you argue for secrecy?"

Shrugging, Agamede pulled back the blanket Killian had given her and climbed into her bed. "Younger siblings are sometimes more responsible than their older counterparts."

"Rarely," Circe retorted in that way that only a sibling could. Turning her attention back to Merlin, she cautioned, "It's only going to make the fallout that much worse, you know that, right?"

Merlin nodded while kicking off his boots. "I do, and that is a burden I've prepared myself to carry for the last twenty-six years."

"I'm more concerned with us actually gettinginto Avalon." Agamede turned on her side so she could look at him without having to raise her head from the pillow. "That part of the prophecy clearly states that both Twice Blessed Children will go to Avalon. There's only one of them now with Princess Erin missing."

"We'll still be allowed in."

He didn't miss Circe's frown or the oddly-angled tilt of Agamede's head at the conviction in his voice.

"What makes you so certain?"

Circe's voice was a curious murmur in his mind, as if she were talking more to herself than him, but she'd no sooner projected the words when understanding flashed across her face.

"You've seen it."

He nodded once again. "It came to me as soon as I touched the box I'd hidden the dagger in. Just flashes, as they always are, but there was enough for me to know what I was seeing. Blood on the dagger, the other eight items glowing, and a vortex in the sea."

Agamede's sigh of relief was loud in the otherwise quiet cabin. "Well that's one less thing we have to worry about at least. Have you seen anything about Eric? Or the princess?"

"Unfortunately, no. Either I've not touched the appropriate item connected to them, or wherever they are is shielding them from my Sight."

His ability to see the future was… tenuous, at best. A gift bestowed upon him by the magic of Avalon when he drank from its waters, Merlin could sometimes touch an object and see glimpses of the future. It didn't always work when he wanted it too, of course. He'd tried touching a number of things that belonged to Eric and the princess in the days after their disappearance, and nothing had come to him. Not that seeing anything would have given him an instant answer as to where they were. The meaning behind what he saw wasn't always crystal clear. Sometimes he had to piece together the images to determine what would happen, and because the future was ever changing from the choices people made in the present, theywere never truly concrete.

Even what he'd seen that day of them entering Avalon's protection barrier could shift within the next twelve days, although it was unlikely considering the prophecy was at play.

"It'll happen," Circe encouraged while yawning and moving to lie down. "We just have to find the right object."

Silence fell as each settled in. When they were beneath blankets and all shuffling had ceased, Merlin waved his hand to create a blanket of shadows over the two coamings and the room was instantly plunged into darkness.

As he lay listening to Agamede and Circe's breathing even out into slumber, Merlin let his mind wander. He hadn't been lying to Circe. From the moment the Charmings and Joneses had entered his life, he'd prepared himself for the inevitable hostility his secrets would bring once they were revealed. He also wasn't naive enough to think that those seeds of mistrust hadn't already been planted by the revelation that he'd known Maleficent was a Sister of Avalon this entire time. None of them had said anything, but he'd seen the questions in their eyes as they wondered what else he hadn't told them.

Too much, he thought with a stab of guilt. He hadn't told them the truth behind the prophecy, how the very quest they were about to embark on had been ordained in blood eons ago, or the steps he'd taken to ensure each one of them was born and took the path that would lead them to this moment. It would all come to light eventually, more than likely on the shores of Avalon, and Merlin knew there was a lot he'd have to answer for when the time came.

With the Charmings and Joneses, but most notably Eric.

Merlin took a deep, unsteady breath at the thought of the missing man he'd raised from a young boy. The Charmings weren't the only ones who had spent nearly every waking moment of the past six days trying to find a loved one and a way to get to Hades. He'd barely slept, pouring over every book or scroll he could get his hands on and then some without much luck. Even Circe and Agamede had joined in from their secluded cottage. There would be answers for that in Avalon as well, though he wasn't sure he could be in the Lord of the Underworld's presence when he was summoned without wanting to throttle the deity for what he'd done.

As his mind continued to wander through thousand year old secrets and unchangeable futures, exhaustion began to pull heavily at Merlin's now-young bones until he fell into a restful sleep.

He dreamed—not for the first time since Avalon had disappeared from the world of man—of two women standing on the mystical island's shore. One was timeless and clothed in ivory, her hazel eyes alight with happiness as the amber stone nestled against her chest glittered brightly. The other was young, though time would not stop for her, and her smile was radiant. Her eyes were the most brilliant shade of green he'd ever seen—almost twin flames of peridot in the morning sunlight—and, cradled in her hands, was a white gem that glowed as bright as a star.