A/N: Just wanted to drop a quick note here lol. This chapter, since the episode was so Storybrooke-lite, will probably feel like a bit of filler. But I felt like it was time Emma and Gold had a moment to talk, both being/having been Dark Ones and caring about Piper and so on ;)
~8~
Nimue
Henry gasped as he stepped back from the stone, the sword, Excalibur, held tightly in his hands, "I did it!" he breathed, beaming up at his mother and the others as they smiled at him.
"I knew you could, kid," Emma reached out to run her hand through his hair, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of his head.
Henry moved the sword to examine the broken edge of it, nodding to himself, "I see what you mean about it being broken," he looked over at Piper as she pulled the Dark One's Dagger from her boot and moved over to where he'd set the sword down on top of the stone, placing the Dagger beside its tip, making it clear how the two pieces fit together.
"Many thanks, Henry," Piper murmured as she hugged the boy tight, her heart feeling warm in her chest at the small family she had built and how far they would go to help each other.
Her stomach, however, clenched when she thought back on that. In a way, it was a lie, because she had, once upon a time, imagined this, imagined a tightknit family, who would do absolutely anything for each other. She had pictured her cousin beside her, each of them with a man who loved them, with children who would grow as close as siblings she she felt she and Snow had. She dreamed of having that love and support, their family growing as they ruled their kingdoms. And even after she had lost everything but her cousin, she could still picture it happening, when all was revealed, when they were reunited, she could see them being stronger than ever.
A naïve thought, she realized now, to think a hero like her cousin would hold onto that childhood love and care when one grew into a villain.
But even then, even at her worst, she had never thought...
Never in her wildest dreams had she ever thought Snow White would betray her the way she had. She had been too sure of her cousin's love for her, of the bond they shared, and it had been her greatest weakness, she realized it now. The irony of the Gauntlet Rumpelstiltskin had obtained hitting her just then, she had known the Dagger was his greatest weakness, as he knew Snow White was hers. She had just never entertained the notion that the weakness she had in Snow White would manifest like this. She had thought it Snow being used against her, it never crossed her mind that Snow herself would turn against her. Betrayal never came from enemies, the saying went, and she had been blind. Just because her father had been able to love a full-blooded Siren did not mean others could, or that others could come to love a half-Siren.
Perhaps that had been the crux of it all.
A true parent, she felt, would always love their child no matter what.
But that sentiment did not always occur outside of such bonds. Siblings might loathe each other, cousins hardly care, she had been a fool to ever think that Snow would love her and accept her just because they were cousins and family. Looking at the people before her now…she understood the sentiment of choosing your family.
Emma had not been raised by Snow, she didn't have to see her as an Aunt, but she had grown to. Emma had grown to care for and trust her. August could have left any time he wished, he didn't need to stay with her, or even if he did he didn't need to come to see her as a mother, but he had. Henry just wanted the heroes to win and the curse to break, perhaps he'd seen her as an ally against the Evil Queen at first but he had quickly grown to see her as his aunt too. And Gold, her Rummy, they were partners at first, yet he had seen something in her that drew him in, stirred up a trust, a love.
She had never thought it possible to be loved outside her family, she had never before considered it possible to create a family like that either. At most, when she had been younger, she could hope for a husband who would at least accept her and not try to change her, to not take her crown from her or try to rule her kingdom instead of her. She could hope for a decent individual to just be there and, perhaps, provide her a child, an heir for her kingdom. She had never thought love could come from such a union, not after seeing how her own people barely tolerated her.
Finding love in the Dark One had been unexpected, but welcomed. Finding a child in Pinocchio had been another blessing in disguise. And to see Emma and Henry, her blood-family yet as good as strangers to her, grow to accept her and trust her, care for her and love her, it was more than she had ever dreamed of.
And now they were all together, bound together in this plan to show the Heroes the consequences of their actions, to restore the former Dark One his status, and help her protect her child from the others. Of all the people she had known in her life, Gold was the only one she'd thought willing to go so far for her.
It made her heart pound to see three more people just as willing.
It also broke her heart a little in an echo of pain, the faint recollection that her cherished cousin had not, that Snow had been the cause of all this.
She looked over, turning her attention to August and Henry as they began to examine the sword and Dagger, muttering to each other quietly, both quietly geeking out to be seeing THE Excalibur. She shook her head and moved to join them, to tell them how the next step in the reforging process would go.
Emma stood off to the side, watching as Henry and August both looked at the edge of Excalibur, the broken part that would fit with the Dagger in only a few short moments. Piper was nearby, lightly tracing her finger down the etchings and designs on the sword, ones so familiar to her as they were the same as on the Dagger she carried.
She glanced to the side when Gold moved beside her, "I'm surprised you never did this," she remarked. It had been all the Dark Ones in her head had been pushing for since she accepted the Darkness, she only had to let them think she agreed, that she wanted the light snuffed out, enough for them to whisper to her how to combine the weapons once more.
Gold had had 300 years on her, if she was able to accomplish this in mere weeks...why hadn't he done this in those three centuries?
He chuckled under his breath, "Miss Swan, I've had 300 years to devise a way to obtain Excalibur and reforge it with the Dagger," he spoke, as though reading her mind, "You think I haven't worked out a way?"
She frowned a moment, "Then why didn't you?"
"I had no need to."
"Really?" she nearly scoffed, "Isn't it the greatest plan of the Darkness to strike out the light or whatever?"
"It may be their plan, but it was never my plan," he glanced at her, "It's too new for you now," he added, understanding in his tone she wasn't expecting from him, but...really who else would know what she was going through but him? "But once the Darkness truly merges with you, it becomes more part of you than you of it. Right now it's overwhelming. With focus you can push past what it wants you to do. It just so happens them wanting the sword and Dagger reunited coincides with what you want. The purpose and use for it may be different, but the means are the same."
"So you were tempted to destroy the light, too?"
"At one point," he nodded, "I had more to worry about than the light magic, the Ogre wars were still going and I had to stop them, to protect Bae. When I lost him…" he trailed off and it was clear to Emma that that had been the point he had been tempted.
And now it was her turn to understand him. If she'd ever lost Henry...when she thought Regina had killed him with that Apple Turnover, she had been ready and willing to murder the woman in cold blood. It was only the possibility of saving him that stilled her hand. But she had no doubts she would have done it. And that had been before she'd known about or believed in magic. If she'd had the Dark One's power, with the Darkness whispering in her ear, and lost Henry then? She could imagine herself being sorely tempted to destroy the light magic too, what would be the point of it if it couldn't save her son?
To know that Neal had been lost because the Blue Fairy had given him a magic bean? It would make sense for him to want to destroy the light magic the fairies were based in.
"What stopped you?" she wondered.
"The more I learned about the light..." he considered his words, "I needed to understand it fully to know its weaknesses, how it worked, how to destroy it. Something the heroes constantly fail to do with the Dark."
Emma had to nod at that, it was what Piper had said once, something she herself had thought about, how little the heroes actually understood the dark magic they sought to utilize when the light wasn't enough. They didn't think on the consequences, the price, they didn't pay attention to the parameters or the limits or the warnings. Even the Dark One, they hardly knew anything about the nuances of BEING the Dark One, only the power it held. It was like, so long as it could get them what they wanted in a pinch, they didn't care to know more than that. Heroes could never be seen to be interested in the dark, or others would worry.
It explained why they hadn't believed Piper when she tried to tell them that one side of magic could not be destroyed, either light or dark. They didn't know how the dark worked, and if they didn't know that then they couldn't know how they balanced each other.
"The more I learned how it worked compared to the Dark," Gold continued, "The more I realized it could never be destroyed, nor could the dark," he looked at her more fully, "I am sure Pip has explained balance to you."
"Yeah," she sighed, "My magic was unbalanced by all the light my parents forced on me," she glanced at him, "I was actually hoping becoming the Dark One would help balance it. The strongest light magic merged with the strongest Dark, maybe I'd come out of it normal."
"I couldn't say," he sighed, "This has never happened before."
"Yeah, Aunt P said that too."
"Perhaps it might, because of that," Gold mused, "You said you decided to become the Dark One, while the Darkness was already inside you. That means the decisions you made were all your own, any dark deed that could touch your soul would leave its mark," he nearly snorted, "Though I doubt Pip let it get that close."
Emma smiled softly as she looked at her aunt, muttering to August to be careful as he traced the edge of the blade with his finger, "She looked out for me," she agreed, "Every decision or plan I had, I ran by her first, because no one would know if it was dark or just grey like she would. If she thought it was something she'd do without a second thought, then it was too dark," she rolled her eyes at that, making Gold smile.
"Never underestimate the protectiveness of a Siren," he warned, an age old lesson, "They will do anything necessary to keep those they love safe."
"I know," Emma nodded, "Even if it means keeping us safe from ourselves."
It wasn't just the thought of Snow White just then, how Piper had once said she would take the hard choices for her cousin, do the things she would not, but for herself too. Piper had always been blunt about things she thought or felt, especially when she considered it to be a threat to her family, to her. She had made no secret of how she felt about Hook, but it became even more important of an issue to her in Camelot.
She understood now, all the times Piper had brought up her hesitation with trusting Hook or telling him anything about their plans. Piper would warn that Hook was too close, that he would see either the Dark One in her or her trapped by the Dark One. And she knew it now, how he would go back and forth between those.
At times he treated her like she was infected with something he had to cure NOW or he had to help her ignore or he refused to let her linger on. And while she appreciated his efforts to comfort her when he thought she needed it, it began to feel like he wanted her one way and would not accept her any other way. He wanted her the Savior, and couldn't seem to accept or even try to think on what would happen if she became the Dark One, or even darker than normal.
And when everything changed in Camelot, when things got very bad, it had been Piper at her side, offering her advice and warnings of what might happen, of what it would reveal of Hook and the man he was.
"I'm a little surprised," Emma admitted, "That Aunt P isn't glued to your side now, given everything."
Gold smirked, "You think I need protecting, Miss Swan?"
"Well, you're human now…"
"Human, I may be, mortal yes. But I am by no means defenseless."
"I'm getting that," she nodded, "I half thought you'd wake up and start cowering."
It was meant to be a tease, she intended it to be one, but something in her tone was off, it came out more like she was genuinely surprised he wasn't, that he hadn't reverted back to that cowardly man Hook had told her about.
"I haven't been him in 300 years, Emma," Gold reminded her, "With or without the power of the Dark One, I could never be him again. Too much time, too much," his gaze lingered on Piper, "Has changed for me to ever be him."
Emma nodded, it made sense. Just because he didn't have the Dark One's power or immortality didn't mean he was powerless or on death's door. He knew how to fight, he knew how to use a weapon, he still had the knowledge of everything he'd learned as the Dark One. In that way they weren't separate entities. Yes, every Dark One knew what the one before them had, for the Darkness learned as its host did, but the host itself was the one who learned and acted and lived. Gold didn't just forget everything that happened to him in the last 300 years, everything he himself had chosen to do.
"And it would do you well to remember, even without the power of the Dark One, I am still quite a threat."
Emma had to agree with that as well, thinking back to the Queens of Darkness incident, how Gold had been over the town lines and still able to cause chaos. And before then, before the curse was broken, how he'd had his own ways to manipulate things. He hadn't been the Dark One then, the Dark one couldn't exist in a world without magic, but Gold had. HE had been that man, just because he didn't have the failsafe of the Dark One to protect him didn't make him any less dangerous.
"I'm almost disappointed you became the Dark One," he continued.
Emma shot him a narrow-eyed look, "And why's that?"
"Because any other would not claim me under their protection, the heroes would surely take their chance to strike at me," the smirk that grew on Gold's face, the dark edge to it, even as his gaze remained on Piper, warned her of his coming words, "I was almost looking forward to the chance of others trying to challenge me or threaten her to prove my case," when he finally pulled his eyes away from Piper to turn to Emma, there was an almost eager glint in them, "I learned many exquisite forms of torture that require no magic at all."
"I believe it," she remarked.
He smirked and looked back at Piper, "Anyone who dares harm what I love will pay a high price for it and I will not be charitable."
Emma let out a breath at the promise in his voice, thinking about what he'd done to Moe French when he'd stolen the old playing pipe he'd had, how he'd nearly beaten the man to death for it, and that was just a piece of wood. And then her thoughts drifted to the heroes, to how they viewed the Dark One, how they viewed Rumpelstiltskin. She knew she hadn't been the Dark One long enough to really change, but he had. She couldn't help but think of Belle, the stories she'd heard of how the girl had once tried to break the Dark One's curse with true love's kiss, thinking it was 'free' him and he would be a 'good man' again. It never would have happened, she realized now. Belle, even if she had broken the curse, Rumpelstiltskin had changed over 300 years, the man who lost his son was not the same man who had spent centuries trying to find him again.
He would still be as dark and corrupt and twisted as he'd ever been, still prone to manipulating people and playing on their desperation as anything.
For the first time she truly understood Piper's opinion on the subject, that Belle had loved the idea of 'saving' the Dark One and hadn't actually loved the Dark One himself. Piper accepted all of him as he was.
She swallowed hard, feeling a pang in her heart at the thought of Hook and how he couldn't even begin to TRY to accept her as she was either, and what did that say about his love for her? She shook her head, forcing her thoughts in another direction, to the sword and the Dagger and how it was time for them to be reunited, which was just what the apparition of Rumpelstiltskin was urging her to do as he appeared before her, talking about all the sword could offer her.
"Power," Emma murmured, and Piper looked over to see her glancing to the side, a few feet away from where August was peering at the edge of the sword.
"Rummy?" Piper guessed.
"Hmm?" Gold looked over at her, but quickly realized she hadn't been talking to him.
"Yeah," Emma sighed, rubbing her head, "Sorry. It's…I've been seeing…"
"The image of the former Dark One?" Gold nodded as though it made perfect sense to him, "As did I, when I first became the Dark One. It's harmless."
Emma scoffed, "Try telling him that, especially when Nimue tries to talk through him."
"Yes, she's…" Gold trailed off, his lip curled in distaste, "I've spoken to her a time or two."
Unpleasant times they were. Twice, really, the times that particular apparition had made herself known, as he usually only saw Zozo. It had been because of her that he had even explained to Piper what he saw as the Dark One, the way the knowledge of previous Dark Ones could sometimes manifest.
Nimue appeared once to him at the beginning of his time, just before Baelfire had obtained the bean. She had been whispering in his ear the entire time, how love was a weakness, how his son would lead him to his doom, how he would be stronger without such a tie to this world, how his boy was a danger to his magic and power. For years after he lost Bae, he'd blamed Nimue, that it had to be HER, that SHE must have kept him from following his son, made him back out on the deal they'd made. She had to have controlled him, or perhaps she'd just gotten too into his mind and influenced him.
It took many more years after that to admit it was all his own fault, HE made the choice and the mistake and HE had to make up for it.
The only good thing had been his anger at the woman had been so powerful she never appeared again…until he'd met Piper.
It started with small things, whispers in his ear from no one, a warning sounding in his mind whenever he would gaze at Piper too long, a cold chill down his back when his hand would skim her skin. Until he had gotten annoyed with the distraction and summoned the image of Nimue to the forefront of his mind. He had angrily had it out with the irritatingly calm apparition and in no uncertain terms said that he would be with Piper, he would allow himself to love her, and if Nimue dared harm her he would find Excalibur himself and reunite it just to destroy the Darkness himself.
He must have been serious enough, for Nimue remained in the furthest reaches of his mind, and said not a word about it after.
Piper, though, had come across him in the middle of a heated and angry yelling spree at absolutely no one she could see and had merely asked if he needed her aid to calm down and regain his senses. He may have snapped at her that her magic was the last thing he needed to deal with at that moment, having just had Nimue implying she'd used her magic to ensnare him, which he knew wasn't true. She had merely crossed the room and said that she hadn't been speaking about her magic and kissed him soundly to cut off his next angry retort.
After that very, very nice moment, he had calmed and explained to her what she had walked in on.
He had expected her to…well, looking back on it he wasn't sure what he expected her reaction to be, but inquiring if he could make such an apparition solid so she might 'explain her magic' to such a being, which, given the expression on her face, also meant demonstrating the full range of what she could do, wasn't one of it.
He had, though, been surprised that she hadn't immediately called him mad for arguing with the air. She'd reminded him she could hear the songs of people's souls and no one else she'd ever encountered could do the same, who was she to judge what he saw or heard that she could not? The fact that she hadn't been phased he'd been speaking to other Dark Ones and took it in stride may have made him fall a little more in love with her than he'd already been.
Emma sighed again, pulling him from his thoughts, "He was just saying that the two halves being reunited represents power and history."
"Yes," Gold murmured, "Excalibur's promise was born eons ago."
Emma shot him an unimpressed look that told him that was likely exactly what the other him had said to her as well.
But it was how quickly Emma tensed afterwards that had Piper on the alert and moving over to her side, "What is it?"
Emma swallowed hard, her eyes flickering over the empty spaces in the room like she didn't know where to look, "They're all here," she warned them, "I can seen all of them," her head turned to the side, in one direction, speaking to the apparition there, "You tried to keep me from doing this."
Gold frowned, and moved to Emma's other side, reaching out to take Henry's hand and place it in Emma's, "Focus on this," he told her, "Focus on your son. Find something they can't understand and focus on it, it will help block them out."
When they were all present like Emma implied, it would be harder for thoughts in her mind to remain hidden, there would be too many of them for her to hold back and they might discover their plan too early. Having Henry around, the way Emma reacted when he was near, assured him that discussing the plans was safe, that the other Dark Ones were far back in her mind and unable to break through. All the talk of his experiences as Dark One must have given Emma too much thought on them and allowed them to slip through to the front.
Emma took a breath and closed her eyes, holding Henry's hand tightly in he own, but her son was one step ahead of her, moving to hug her around the middle to help. She smiled as she hugged him. She knew Gold wasn't talking about using light to fight the dark, but using emotion, intention, letting the magic inside her react to what she felt. The more she focused on the other Dark Ones, on Nimue speaking to her, the more they would be there. But if she focused on Henry, on her family, on wanting to keep him safe and protected, wanting to protect her Aunt and even Gold, her magic would react to that and push the other Dark One's out of her mind.
Piper reached out and put a hand on her shoulder in support as well, reminding her she wasn't alone in this as she was sure the girl would have been had she been in Camelot without her there. She could imagine Emma trying to keep everything inside, having no one to talk to without them fearing she was giving into the Darkness or looking at her like they expected her to turn dark at a moment's notice. She could imagine the others and how they would react if Emma told them she saw an apparition of Rumpelstiltskin, or heard him speaking to her.
Emma took a deep breath and opened her eyes, nearly sagging with relief when she saw, "They're gone."
"Not completely gone, dearie," Gold spoke, "They're inside you're mind, your magic just keeps them from getting through for a short while."
"Then we better do this quick," August spoke.
Emma let out a breath, "Yeah, they um…they want me to us Excalibur to cut away the light," she glanced at Gold, "I won't miss having them trying to put that on me."
He chuckled, "I can handle it, Miss Swan," he reassured her, "I've had them in my head for 300 years wanting the same. It won't happen."
He had learned far more about the light and dark magic over his time than the other Dark Ones had. None of them had had what he had with Baelfire, they hadn't had a tether to this world, to the light before. They hadn't needed to understand how light magic worked, all content to just absorb and use their own dark magic. He'd needed to learn, especially when Regina came around, her magic so pure and light he'd needed to know how to convert it to dark magic. With the Blue Fairy, he'd needed to know how her magic, how the bean, had opened a portal he couldn't follow through. He may not be able to use light magic, but he understood how it worked, how the balance of it all worked.
To destroy one was to overbalance the other and it would have just as dire consequences as anything.
Heroes always failed to see that as well, they wanted things good and pure and light, so much so that they failed to understand the darkness in themselves, to justify it away, to hide it under talk of 'the greater good.'
He understood that, though the former Dark Ones likely did not.
"I know," Emma said.
Gold looked at her, almost surprised at the assuredness in her voice. She wasn't being firm in warning that it better not happen, she wasn't huffing something she had heard a thousand times before, she was more stating a fact than anything. And he realized…she really did. She knew, and she believed it, she trusted him. And if not him, she trusted Piper enough to give him all the power of the Dark One back.
He had been aware, at the townline, even more so after Piper joined him and after they returned, how Emma acted, that she had been against Snow White's actions. Even with him free of the Dagger's control, she hadn't thought he would just go on a rampage through the town. It truly wasn't unlike Piper holding his Dagger to begin with, as she never used it and would never use it against him. He had been as free with her holding it as he would have being cleaved, the only difference was that now no one would be able to control him if they happened to get the Dagger. He would have thought the heroes would have been pleased about that part, given he could not be made an enemy of them by another Wicked Witch.
"Thank you, Emma," Piper smiled at her, allowing, in that rare moment among family, to reveal how truly tried and weary she was over it all.
It had been a very trying time. To go from pregnant with her mate dying to her niece infected with her mate's Darkness and trying to keep her on the fine line between hero and villain, to return to a town that still hated her and a cousin who had betrayed her. To waking her mate as a human and trying to find ways to free the sword without causing strife to another member of her family. She was exhausted, she just…she wanted this to be over with. She wanted her niece free, she wanted her mate at his best once more. Oh, she cared little if he was the Dark One or a human, but she knew HE felt most himself as the Dark One after 300 years as that dark entity.
And…it was also to protect Emma.
She couldn't be sure how long she had before her child would enter this world, for Sirens carried their children a different length of time and she couldn't be sure if her half-Siren status would affect the child within her or not. The sooner her mate was himself again, the better and more content she would feel. If the child came before Gold was the Dark One again then she knew Emma would do all she could to protect her from the town finding out about it. It would pit Emma well and truly against her mother, not this plan she was putting on to make the woman learn her lesson. It would truly be Emma picking a side and Snow had already revealed she did not consider the innocence of children when it came to her views of the dark and their potential for it.
Emma would be safer without that expectation to protect her. Gold would, of course, it was his child, and yes, Emma likely would still feel the need to protect her aunt and 'cousin' from the heroes whether she was Savior or Dark One. But it would be easier to get the town hesitating to see their 'Good Savior' Emma defending her and not the Dark One. And she knew that Emma would feel even more pressured to guard her back with Gold down. If he was at his full strength and able to protect her and their child, Emma would breathe easier.
She knew, as well, that Gold would be devastated if he was unable to protect his child. He had failed Baelfire, he believed, he would never allow himself to fail this child too. And if he was put in a position where he couldn't do anything to help, it might kill him.
She had to protect her family.
"Are you ready Emma?" Piper asked her.
Emma nodded, "You all should step back though, just to be safe."
Piper nodded, taking Gold's hand as they backed away a few steps, Henry and August moving along with them so Emma was before them with her back to them.
They watched as Emma positioned the sword and Dagger so she could easily reach them, before she turned to a small box sitting on a pillar off to the side of the room. She picked it up and opened it as she carried it back to the stone. There was a small, smoldering red lump within.
"Prometheus's Spark," Gold breathed, recognizing it.
Piper nodded, squeezing his hand. Emma had told her about her quest to obtain it with Merlin, how she'd had to confront the first Dark One, Merlin's way of trying to warn her about what would happen if she allowed the Darkness to consume her.
Emma took a breath, holding her hand over the open box and plucking out the tiniest morsel of the ember, allowing it to float in the air before her, before she guided it down to a small flat part of the stone. She moved to set the box to the side, opening both hands to ignite the ember into a flame. She lifted it, causing it to float in the air between her two hands before she grit her teeth and pushed the flame into a small compact ball, closing her hands around it and struggling to make the flame burn hotter. When it couldn't be contained any longer she threw her hands out to the side, a swirling ball of power and fire floating before her. She leaned in to grab the sword and Dagger, glancing back over her shoulder at the others before she swallowed hard and focused again, driving the two weapons towards the middle of the magic. She struggled, the heat and the force of it was nearly too much but she held on, until she had to let go of the sword at the bright flash of magic that emanated from it as it was reforged.
And indeed it was, for floating in the air before her was Excalibur, whole once again.
"I can feel them pushing me to take it," Emma breathed, staring at the floating sword as the others stepped closer now that the magic was finished.
"Why don't you?" August nudged her, this was what they had been aiming for.
"Merlin," Emma murmured, "He told me not to do this when I was a girl."
"You are not a girl any longer, Emma," Piper reminded her.
"It's ok, mom," Henry encouraged, "I believe in you."
Emma took a deep breath and reached out, the only one with powerful enough magic that she was sure she could take it in hand without harming someone, and pulled it from the air, looking down at it as it felt like just a sword in her hand. It was warm though, she could sense the magic imbued in it, but she had no overwhelming urge to use it past what it had already been planned for.
"Awesome," Henry moved closer to look at it, squatting down to examine where the Dagger had been broken off of it, before he stood, "What next? How do we get the Darkness out of you and back into Grandpa?"
"That's where things get complicated," Emma sighed, "It's not just me the Darkness latched onto," she turned to them, "There's a second Dark One."
A/N: Things are heating up now, lol :)
I know not much happened in this chapter besides pulling the sword and merging it with the Dagger, I'm pretty sure that's literally all that happened in Storybrooke in the actual episode though too so had to find something to do in the meantime lol :) I felt like this would be a good place for them to just take a breath, really take a moment to realize their plans are working, and to appreciate how everyone worked together to get to this point :) It was bittersweet for Piper, to see this version of her family be there for her and not the one who had been the biggest part of her family, for that person to be her enemy. It was a sort of bonding moment for Emma and Gold, to talk about the Darkness, what it means to be a Dark One, the pressure of those voices in your head, and how the heroes view it. Piper may know a lot about Dark Ones, but GOLD is the only one who has BEEN the Dark One and knows exactly what Emma is going through. I feel like Emma also needed that talk to know she doesn't have to listen to the other Dark Ones in her head, SHE is the host, SHE is in control of her actions, the Darkness may influence, but it can't control (when the host's heart is protected by the Dagger's power), her actions and choices are her own. She needed that moment, too, I think to reaffirm that she was right about Gold and siding against Snow White in his banishment. He's had the Dark Ones, including Nimue, in his head for 300 years trying to get him to destroy the light, and he hasn't. HE has more control over himself than they give him credit for and if he didn't destroy all light magic then he probably wasn't going to rampage through the town.
But uh oh, we're getting to some of the 'alterations' they had to make in their initial plans now ;)
And, to end, I have a question for you all.
So, some backstory: A few months ago a user on wattpad, Ashiraa-, had posted my entire Merlin series, word for word, including the author's notes, on their page, which had gotten thousands of viewings. In a handful of comments in response to reviews they said they weren't the author, but about 95 percent of the people I reached out to had no idea she wasn't the author :/ Her reasoning was 'I like the stories, they aren't on wattpad, so I'll put them on wattpad for you' :/ Even though I HAVE a Wattpad and could have posted my work there at any time if I wanted to...which I clearly did NOT. They admitted they did this without my permission. Eventually they took the stories down about a week after I contacted them to take them down.
My question: to avoid this happening again, should I post my full stories on wattpad and quotev, the two other accounts I have?
Before you answer, there was a reason I didn't post on those sites before and only put up the first chapter of my stories (which I've also fallen behind on). My reasons were 1. I don't go on those sites often, I don't really prefer or like them much, FF is my main site, 2. I'm paranoid about plagiarism and if I post on quotev or wattpad it's easier for people to copy my work and post it as their own, at least FF tries to make it harder to do, 3. I'm concerned if I post the stories now, and someone has already stolen them and posted them on those sites, then they may try to claim I was the one who copied THEM because their story would be up first :/ 4. I can barely keep up between FF, tumblr, and now AO3 so I don't know that I'd be able to respond to things on quotev or wattpad, 5. I just really wanted to keep everything on one site, FF.
I've been reconsidering some of it, because I've tentatively started posting stories on Archive of Our Own, so doesn't that make the 'it's easier to steal my work' thing moot? Because people could just copy from that site. And, clearly if they could post my entire Merlin series then it's still doable to copy from FF anyway. And, if my work is on more sites then maybe more people will see it and maybe they'll be more aware if someone copies me and can let me know. And there are some people who prefer other sites than FF because it's easier for them, so they might be able to enjoy the stories easier there.
I don't know what to do, I've been going back and forth about it for a very long time now since that happened. I first thought 'well if you posted everything there because I didn't, even though I clearly had a reason not to, then why don't I just post it so you can't use that excuse.' But then I calmed down and was like 'but I DO have reasons why I didn't want my work on these sites...' And I'm just flip flopping :/
I feel like there are good reasons to post on more sites, but also reasons to make me not want to. I'm just so super paranoid about plagiarisms after the, what 34 times it's happened? :/ There's the risk that it would be easier for people to steal my work, but the benefit that maybe more people would see it and then recognize it as my work.
So I thought I'd ask you all what you think? Some of you may have only just found my work, so you have one POV and some of you may have been around from the beginning and know all about my struggles with my work appearing on other sites so you have another POV. And some of you may use all 4 sites and have yet another POV. I feel like I'm too stuck to really think about it completely, so I welcome your opinions and thoughts :) Even if it may take me a longer while to really decide what to do, just having the different perspectives to think on would help :)
Some notes on reviews...
I feel like that's part of their double standard, hope and faith are only good for other heroes and to fight against the villains, but heaven forbid they try to have hope or faith in 'the villain' or give them hope :/ I can say that, for all of Piper's efforts to keep her pregnancy secret, it will be discovered eventually, won't say when though };) Snow's reaction...I want to say she'd be happy, that a child is a blessing, and that she'd think about the little girl who once told her she'd want to name her daughter Emma, but I also feel like we've seen her views on darkness, even in the unborn, so...I guess we may just have to hope she's started to work on her own redemption in Piper's eyes by then }:)
I'm glad Piper came across as in character :) That was my thing with why she'd be there, even if it was a 'heroic' endeavor, she wouldn't let Emma go it alone :) And yes! That is how I felt too writing that scene :) I can say that habit of Snow's, calling her Rose, is going to be something meaningful in a future chapter. She sees her as 'her cousin Rose' but that's not who she is anymore, and her holding onto that image and name is not going to do her any favors, especially with Piper. I think, at this point, to Piper, it comes across more as Snow's refusal to accept her as who and what she is now, the Pied Piper, the Half-Siren. It's a reminder to her that, much like Emma feels Hook only wants and accepts her as the Savior, Snow White will only accept and love her as Rose Red, and she just can't be that person anymore :(