When Everything Falls Apart

Before anything happened, as Piper requested, Emma banished Hook's heart, casting it into Granny's Diner, to a location she pictured in her mind, unwilling to risk going back there if the heroes were still within. It wasn't that she didn't trust Piper to hold Hook's heart as she did the Dark One's Dagger…it was just, she knew her aunt. If Hook did even the slightest thing that could cause harm to the family, Piper wouldn't hesitate to crush his heart. Not that it would work, given he was a Dark One now, but the principle still applied. Piper would easily use his heart against him, either cause him pain, or control him, and Emma wanted to believe Hook could beat this darkness.

"How shall we approach this?" Piper asked as they walked across the small meadow that would lead to the Dark One's Vault, Emma having transported them near enough, "I take it you shall not play the 'love will keep him pure' card."

"No," Emma agreed.

She had thought of it a moment, that she could use her love and their relationship to keep Hook on the straight and narrow, but that was quickly cast off. For one, that wasn't the point of her tethering him to Excalibur, it was to see what he would do with the Darkness in him, if he'd revert to his villain self or continue to push forward with his change. She had had her own misgivings about him labeling her his happy ending, putting all that hope on her, once before, she didn't want that to be the only thing keeping him good either. He had to WANT to change for something beyond her, and she refused to let herself be that thing, it had to be in HIM to do it first. And, secondly, there was no way she could keep Hook from going fully dark while also trying give the appearance that SHE had truly gone as dark as the heroes would come to believe. It would either be fully and completely embrace the darkness in both of them or in neither of them, and that wasn't part of her initial plan.

She and Piper and Henry had planned for her alone to be the Dark One, to help keep her in control of the temptations the dark would offer…not Hook too. It would be difficult to make the others think she had turned villain on them without letting Hook do the same, yet she couldn't risk him doing the same too.

"We see what he wants," Emma determined, "We have Excalibur," she reminded her, though she had hidden it with magic, ready to be recalled at a moment's notice, "If he goes too dark, we subdue him and erase his memories."

Piper hummed, thinking on that, "You are giving him freedom to choose," she remarked.

"Yeah," Emma let out a breath, "I'm not going to make the same mistake heroes do, where I give him too many chances or no chance at all. I just want to see what he picks, anger and hatred and revenge and power, or doing good and resisting and seeking to have it removed. If he looks like he wants it out of him, I'll give him that option."

"And if he tries to spin it that you are not accepting him, darkness and all, while expecting him to accept you?"

"I already accepted his darkness," Emma explained, "Accepted him as a villain, and he made it very clear before that he didn't want to be this, unlike me. I chose this, he didn't. If he still wants it out, then he's the man he keeps claiming to be. If he keeps it..."

She didn't need to finish for Piper to understand. If he kept the power and magic, then he was accepting his own darkness and villain status without much fight. Emma was right, she had chosen to become dark, it was a change she wanted, just as Hook had proclaimed to want to change to good. This would test if he meant that, "I suppose we shall find out."

Emma nodded, only to stop short when they came upon the Vault and found no one else there, "Did it not work?" she breathed, her heart clenching painfully in her chest at the thought that she'd failed and Hook had actually died. Tethering him to Excalibur healed his wound, made him invincible, if she had to pull the magic out of him later, the knowledge she'd learned of Excalibur told her that he'd remained healed due to that connection making him like new. She just hoped she'd actually managed to do the tethering properly.

"The vault has been activated," Piper remarked, eyeing it, seeing the tell-tale signs of a recent opening, "But if you were a new Dark One and unsure what was happening…would you wait to find out?"

Emma sighed, nearly sagging at that thought, relieved she hadn't actually killed him, "No," she agreed, "But how do I find him now?"

"Summon him?" Piper offered, "Say his name three times. Or use Excalibur."

"No," Emma shook her head, "No I…I don't think he'd appreciate that right now. He'd see it as me controlling him and I hated it enough when my parents nearly used it on me."

"Perhaps you can sense him then," Piper shrugged, "The way you knew the others were near. Dark calls to dark. I suppose Dark One could call to Dark One as well."

Emma nodded and closed her eyes, reaching out with her magic to try and sense another dark presence similar to what she felt of the Darkness within her. She tensed, "Got it!" she called, grabbing Piper's arm and disappearing in a flash of smoke.

Part of her thought she should leave Piper there, not risk Hook being confronted with her given their animosity. But another part said this would prove if he could resist the Darkness or not. She was sure she could protect Piper if Hook attacked her, but she hoped it wouldn't come to that. And, at the very least, having a member of her family there might be what pushed Hook into calming, because if he harmed them it would hurt her and, hopefully, his love for her would be strong enough to not want that. Like how Gold felt about Piper.

"Killian!" Emma called out, when she opened her eyes to see him a few feet away, in the middle of the forest, his back to her, and rushed for him, Piper following at a more sedate pace, her pipe gripped in her hand in the off chance he attacked, "It worked! You're alive!" she moved like she wanted to hug him, but Hook stepped back and shot her a fierce glare.

"Aye. It did. After spending centuries quelling my bloodlust, you threw me right back into that darkness! Job well done, Emma!"

Piper narrowed her eyes at him for his tone and sharp words directed at someone he rarely used them against. Already she could see the signs of the Darkness in him, the easy anger that could come. This was what she feared, Hook using any excuse to act out his darker impulses and blaming everything else but himself.

"Binding you to Excalibur was the only way to save you," Emma argued. There was more to it than that, but Hook didn't need to know that. Right now all he needed to know about why she'd done what she had was that it was out of love for him. Which it was, it just wasn't ALL of why she'd done it.

"Right," he scoffed, "Right, Excalibur. And where is my shiny new tether?"

"I don't know," Emma sighed, "It disappeared right after you did."

It was technically true, she didn't know exactly how the banishing spell worked, whether the sword had ended up in the vault or in some magical pocket dimension or something, and it DID disappear after he vanished, she had banished it.

"Ah," the apparition of Rumpelstiltskin spoke from where he appeared in between them, "Isn't that convenient?"

Emma glanced over in his direction, tense, "How long has he been with you?" she asked, because Hook had glanced at the apparition when it spoke, and he didn't look startled or murderous at the sight, so he'd already encountered it. And that wasn't a good sign, for while she'd had Piper at her side to keep her grounded, Hook hadn't and who knew what lies and poison the apparition had fed him to fuel his own darkness.

"You can still see him?" Hook frowned.

"Sadly, yes," the apparition answered instead, "I mean, she's still a Dark One. No matter how ineffectual she may be."

Emma shook her head, stepping closer to Hook, she didn't plan to play the 'love will keep him pure' card as Piper called it, she wouldn't use it to sway him one way or the other, but he had used love to help her tone out the apparition and she would not let it sway him or influence him in determining whether he wanted the Darkness out of him, which it seemed like he did given how angry he was to have it, "Don't listen to him," she began, "He's not real. But I am. I'm right here. Look at me. I'm here, Killian. I couldn't let you die because I love you and I want a future with you."

"Aye, love, I do, too," Hook nodded, "More than anything."

Emma smiled when he gave her a kiss and glanced over where the apparition had been, relieved to see her plan to push it out of sight and mind had worked, "Killian...look."

"The demon's gone," Hook realized, and indeed Rumpelstiltskin's likeness had vanished.

"I know you're not happy," Emma continued, drawing his attention back to her, "And if you want, we can find a way to get the Darkness out."

She just barely refrained from saying 'of you' at the end, knowing the open ended assumption he'd make that she meant both of them. A way for him to believe it without her lying to him.

"How?" he asked, but he sounded cautiously hopeful, which Emma took as an affirmation, that he wanted it gone.

"Merlin had a ritual planned, didn't he?" Emma reminded him, starting to smile. He was proving her right, that he had changed. He was justified in being angry at her, that was normal, not a sign of looming darkness, and he wasn't fighting her about removing the Darkness either. It was looking more and more like he had changed and was holding onto it, wanting the Darkness gone so he could be him again, "If Regina can access her light magic, so can I. We'll complete the ritual," she reached out to take his hand, "Come on."

Hook took a few steps, but faltered when he saw Piper standing there, "Fish," he sneered at her.

"Pirate," she shot back, observing as his eyes trailed over her, searching for something, "I do not have Excalibur," she told him, keeping her pipe at the ready, not as keen to trust him as Emma clearly was.

"I'll ask that you not let her touch that blade when we find it," Hook muttered to Emma, "I don't trust her."

Emma could only sigh and nod her head, "Come on," she urged them all on.

~8~

"If you are quite finished," Piper remarked dryly as she had to come to yet another stop ahead of Emma and Hook when she heard them not following through the woods and turned to see they were kissing, yet again. She was quite bothered by it, not because it was her niece and a man she didn't care for. But because there was a danger in this that she doubted Emma fully saw for what it was.

Anger wasn't the only emotion heightened when one gave into their darker impulses, desire was too, passion which often fed anger. The fact that they could barely make it more than 15 feet without Hook trying to get closer to Emma when normally he would be focused on 'getting the wretched thing out of him' was suspicious to her. She knew villains hardly trusted anyone, especially another villain, but a part of her felt he was doing this on purpose as well, to distract Emma, to keep her happy, to make her think him the same dashing pirate she'd fallen in love with.

She wanted to be wrong, so very badly, because if she was right it would only hurt Emma so much more.

"Sorry," Emma blushed slightly as she pulled away, taking a breath and nodding, "Enough distractions," she agreed, turning to Hook, "Aunt P and I will go scout our path."

"I'll go replenish our water supply," Hook offered, turning to go do just that.

Piper waited till Hook was far enough away to be sure he wouldn't hear them before she began to speak to Emma, the two of them wandering ahead somewhat, but not very far, "I take it you believe he wishes to remove the Darkness then?" she murmured.

"You don't?" Emma frowned, knowing she was very new to the 'villain scene' and wondering if Piper had picked up on something she hadn't.

"Is it not funny how he has not mentioned it?" Piper glanced at her, "Nor marched ahead with a single minded focus to free himself? And instead sneaks kisses and distractions? He was more fixated and determined when the Darkness had only just gotten into you than he is now that it has fully infected him. A man who loathes the Dark One and would rather die than be one."

Emma let out a breath, "I was hoping I was just imagining that," she admitted quietly, because she HAD noticed that Hook had been oddly quiet as they walked on, not asking about the ritual or the plan or how long it would take or anything.

"He was not demanding we head right back to the heroes and Merlin for help," Piper nodded grimly, "Merlin would know better than anyone how to 'find' Excalibur, but he seems remarkably unconcerned where the sword is. Not that I am unhappy with that, I would not take this to the heroes either."

"You're worried that the others might try to destroy both Darknesses at the same time," Emma guessed.

"They might," she sighed, "You pulled Merlin's magic from him to bestow upon Hook, he will have no magic to use for whatever ritual he planned. It will fall to Regina as the only other magic user around and she may see it a path to be the hero to destroy it even when it was promised to only be removed. She made no such oath on her magic as Merlin or his apprentice, she would not hold true to her word as the heroes would."

There was a hesitation in Piper's last words, for the heroes had already proven they could and would go back on their words too.

"We may not have to worry about that," Emma reminded her, "There is one other person who could use magic."

"You are not talking about Zelena."

"I am," Emma nodded, "I'm sure we could...convince her."

Piper almost smiled at the smirk on Emma's face for that, "She is still with child," she reminded the girl.

"Then we get her to cast a spell to take us to Storybrooke," Emma shrugged, "Get the Apprentice to do it. Pull it out of Hook and...we find a way for him to put it in Gold or me and then him, if you feel more comfortable," because she didn't know how Gold would react to magic that wasn't HIS being inside him.

"That WOULD alarm the heroes," Piper mused, "To think you twice as powerful, twice as much a threat."

"We'll think of something," Emma assured her, before she stopped short and felt a tug in her heart, her hand coming to her chest, "Hook…" she breathed, before turning to run back the way they'd come, not thinking of magically appearing, both for it was too short a distance to waste the energy and also there was no telling what state Hook would be in and if he might attack something suddenly appearing in front of him.

"…good at doing that all on her own," Emma could hear the apparition of Rumpelstiltskin speaking.

"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?!" Hook demanded, his voice dark and angry.

"You!" Emma shouted, finally reaching them and glaring at the apparition, "Get out of here!"

But the image just smirked, taunting her, "Oh, we were just talking about you. Why don't you ask her yourself?"

She frowned, her gaze flickering to Piper before it landed on Hook, "Ask me what?" but he was silent, eyeing her as though he wasn't sure he could even trust her word, "Hook, what the hell's going on?"

"Emma, do you know where Excalibur is?" Hook asked.

"Killian…Rumple is manipulating you. That's what he does."

"Are you lying to me?!" he snapped at her, "I can hear it calling to the Dagger, Emma!" he pointed at Piper when he said that, whether to indicate he could hear that the Dagger was in her possession or to magically attack her, they couldn't be sure, for she gasped a moment later, her hands coming to her throat as he magically choked her.

"Killian!" Emma snapped, waving her hand to try and blast him back and release her family.

But he waved his hook to deflect it, "Do you have Excalibur?!"

"Yes!" she shouted and Hook released Piper, Emma at her side in a flash, making sure to stand in front of her should Hook try anything again and…for the briefest moment she felt a flash of…something, she couldn't say what but it was like everything inside her wanted to tear the man to shreds for hurting the woman, even more for daring to harm the child she carried. She didn't know if it was a latent 'Siren trait' as Piper sometimes called it, or the Darkness in her thrashing at something threatening the piece in Piper. But it appeared Hook was too angry to realize there WAS a part in her, or he just assumed the odd feeling was from HER standing so close to Piper.

"Did you use it on me?" Hook continued.

"What?" Emma gave him a look, her reaction seeming to be enough to tell him she was being truthful in her outrage, "No, of course not. I was never..."

"Then why not tell me the truth? Are you afraid I was gonna ask you for it?" he eyed her a moment when she tensed and another thought struck him, "You never planned on giving it to me, did you?"

"She does not have her own Dagger," Piper spoke, regaining her breath enough to step beside her, seeing no point to lie about that when he already sensed the Dagger with her, "I hold her Dagger, if she cannot hold hers why should you yours?"

"I did it to protect you," Emma told him, "You told me yourself you were not strong enough to resist the darkness."

She had wanted to see if he would be, strong enough that is. She wasn't stupid enough to trust him without proof and just hand over the sword that could stop him. If he proved it, truly proved it, she might give it to him as another test, what he'd do if he didn't have to worry about being on his best behavior under someone else's control. But that had not happened yet and didn't appear to be about to either.

Hook snorted, "Which is why I begged you not to turn me into the bloody Dark One in the first place! But you went and did it anyway!"

"You were dying!" her voice grew hard, her eyes narrowing at him, "If I had been the one dying would you just LET me or would you have done anything, anything, to save me, even if it meant me becoming the Dark One?"

Hook sighed and looked away, the fight fading from him at her challenge, at the position it would have put him in and the knowledge that yes, he would have done anything to save her. So it wasn't about him having to live as the Dark One now, it was about something else, "You know, Swan, when your own mother wanted to use the Dagger to stop you from crushing Merida's heart, I'm the one that convinced her that you needed to make that decision yourself. There's never been a moment where I didn't believe in you, where I didn't trust you. But you clearly don't believe in me anymore, so how am I supposed to fight this?"

"Perhaps you should not have said you could not fight it in the first place," Piper remarked, her eyes narrow, all too familiar with the manipulations of Dark Ones, she had seen Rummy use it on many a people. More and more sure he had slipped to the Darkness and was just trying to trick Emma, because it sounded more to her like he was trying to guilt her into giving him Excalibur, "You had faith in her for she was never dark, you were. You admitted the temptation was greater for you, why would you expect her to trust you could handle it when you said yourself you could not?"

"Killian…" Emma began.

But Hook shook his head, "Don't," and disappeared in a swirl of black.

~8~

It was only due to Piper's urging that Emma brought them to where she sensed Hook's dark signature as soon as she had. She had wanted to give the man time to gather himself, to cool down, but Piper had pointed out that he was a pirate filled with Dark magic and a weak will and who knew what he would do in his anger with the other Dark Ones whispering in his mind. She hadn't wanted to admit how much of a danger Hook could be, but he had attacked Piper and she couldn't be sure what he might do next.

Of course, as soon as they appeared in the middle of the Middlemist field, his signature vanished, likely sensing her and departing instantly.

"Killian?" she called out, hoping he might hear her the way she heard it when people said her name, "Killian?" but he didn't appear.

"A Dark One can ignore their name said three times," Piper remarked, seeing the hesitation on her face to 'summon' him that way, "They cannot, however, ignore such a summoning when their blade is used."

"I don't want to control him," Emma said.

"Then you will have to find another method of getting him here, all the while wondering what the Darkness is whispering to him," Piper reminded her, "The longer he is away from you the less you will know what he is being told and what he is learning."

And that was dangerous, went unsaid.

Emma sighed and nodded, knowing if Hook was there she'd at least be able to see the apparitions and hear them, which she couldn't do when he was off alone. So she conjured Excalibur to her hand and held it before her, "Dark One, I summon thee," and Hook appeared before her in a swirl of black, glaring at her to the point she quickly lowered the sword, "I'm sorry. I didn't know how else to get you here."

"You could have given me a choice," Hook sneered.

"I believe she did but someone was being a child and ignoring her," Piper remarked dryly.

"We need to talk about this..." Emma tried.

"Do you have any idea how it feels to not be in control of yourself?" Hook cut in, "The last time a Dark One controlled me, I had to watch as Rumpelstiltskin almost crushed my heart!"

"He was never going to crush it," Piper huffed, "We needed the blood not the dust."

"Not helping," Emma muttered to her, before she turned to Hook, "To answer you, yes, I DO know exactly how it feels! Regina had my Dagger at first, Killian," she reminded him, much to Piper's relief that she seemed to see through this manipulation too, the 'woe is me, it's so unfair, how could you' spiel, "She forced me to be silent, she forced me to thank her, and she could have forced me to save Robin Hood even if I didn't want to," she shot him a look, "I didn't hear you telling her to stop."

Hook had to look away at that reminder, that Emma had been the Dark One longer, that Regina had controlled her at points. Granted he hadn't been right beside her during some of those moments...but he had been there when Regina claimed herself the Savior and forced Emma quiet. He'd not said anything then.

"Why do you think I swapped the Daggers and gave the real one to Aunt P?" Emma asked, "I couldn't trust Regina not to keep using it on me for things that didn't matter. THIS, this matters though," she took a breath, "I was about to lose you. When I'm scared, that's when my walls go up. That's when I stop trusting the people around me. You know this."

"It doesn't make it fair, Swan," Hook remarked, about to magic away again.

"Killian, wait!" Emma seemed to lunge for him to try and stop him, wanting him to stop...but he didn't disappear…and she realized it was because she still held the sword in hand and the intent had been there, "Ugh! I didn't mean to do that."

For a brief moment she had to give serious credit to her aunt, for possessing the Dagger but not having any intent behind the commands she sometimes would give to her. She had never made her feel like she had to obey, that had to take a lot of time and skill to master. But, given her music, she probably had a lifetime of experience with using magic in her music, intending it to be in the music, and just playing music without the intent to use the magic with it.

"Aye, but you did...and that's my point!" Hook snapped.

"That's not why I called you here! I called you here because I do believe in you! I do trust you to control your own fate! It's yours if you want it," she held up Excalibur, watching him intently at the test in particular. Whether he'd take it or trust her, whether he'd give into the temptation to have the true power, or resist and let her have a way to stop him. She took a breath and straightened, "We are going to get the Darkness out of you, I promise. I love you."

Hook was quiet as he looked at her, though there was a softness to him in that moment that had her pausing too.

"What?" she asked.

He shook his head, a faint smile on his face, "It's just I'm usually the one that has to say that first."

"Yeah, well..."

Hook reached out to take her hand, the one not holding the sword, "I love you, too."

"The sword…" Emma began, trying not to tense at what his answer might be, if he chose the sword it would not be a good sign.

"Give it to the fish," Hook decided, surprising them both. He sighed and rubbed his head, "She holds your Dagger, she might as well hold my sword. I can trust she won't kill me, not if it would hurt you."

Emma eyed him a moment to see if he was serious, before turning and holding the sword out to Piper to take…though she was sure the smirk on her aunt's face was not comforting to Hook at all. But she couldn't hide her own relief and happiness and pride that he'd chosen this, to give up the sword, it had to be a true sign that he was choosing the light over the dark.

~8~

Piper allowed herself to trail somewhat behind Emma and Hook as they neared Granny's diner, seeing the other heroes and Storybrooke fellows gathered around outside, seeming to be having various hushed discussions. She almost wanted to see their faces when they spotted the three of them approaching, but Emma waved her hand, knocking everyone unconscious the nearer they got. Hook looked largely like himself, so they wouldn't be aware there was a second Dark One unless they were told and she knew Emma wanted to avoid that. It could have been used to inspire more fear in the heroes, that was true. But Hook had proved himself to be unstable as a Dark One, flying back and forth (to Emma) and too suspicious to trust (to Piper) and so they had decided it would be best to get the Darkness out of him first...and transfer it to Emma.

Piper doubted Hook would actually go through with it, sure that all of this was a manipulation on his part. Emma believed he would. If Piper was right, then it would only backfire Hook's manipulation onto himself, to think he could guilt and play Emma only to have her take the magic from him and double her own power, lead him to believe it was SHE who manipulated HIM the entire time. If Emma was right, well...it would have the same benefit of alarming the heroes, but she could also make it seem like the darkness in him just latched back to the original source of it, her.

With the sword and the Dagger still in two pieces, and Emma not sure she would be able to create the flame needed to merge them now that she was Dark, the only other option would be to use Merlin's wand to do so. They came to find the wand, for they doubted the heroes would leave it with Zelena now that she had her magic. Find the wand, then figure out how to get Zelena to pull it from Hook and give it to Emma.

The only qualm was Zelena's pregnancy, if they could find a way to make her not-pregnant, without harming the child, it could work.

As the heroes fell to the ground, Piper could only feel relieved they were taking this shortcut. She knew what would have likely happened if the heroes saw them, the accusations and fingers pointed at her as a 'corrupting influence,' the lack of trust they would show all three of them, the way they'd question everything, the glares and distrust and anger.

Likely even some jealousy from Snow White in how Emma had chosen to take her aunt with her instead of her own mother, but that was neither here nor there.

"That should be everyone," Emma spoke as they reached the fallen individuals, moving over to make sure Henry was alright, he'd gotten caught among them and she didn't think she had enough control to knock out everyone but a single person, she hadn't wanted to risk it, "We just need to check them for the wand. Hopefully it'll be on Regina, it's not like they could just leave things in Camelot."

"Aye," Hook agreed, looking around, "I don't see Merlin, so he must be in there. He would have it."

"You go check," Emma nodded, "Well check Snow White and Regina."

"Aye," he turned to Emma, pressing a kiss to her knuckles before he headed for the diner.

Piper frowned, watching him go as Emma turned to check Regina over for the wand.

"A little help, Aunt P," Emma called, "It's not on Regina. Not that I can see. Maybe Snow White..."

"I think you may be overlooking something, Emma," Piper remarked with a deep frown.

"You think they gave it to Merlin?"

Piper looked over at her, "Why would Merlin have the wand, when he has no magic to use it with?"

And Hook, having Merlin's magic, would know that better than anyone.

Emma's eyes widened, seeing what her aunt meant, and ran for the door of the diner, throwing it open to see Hook standing before a smoking cauldron, Merlin's heart clenched in his hand, the former-sorcerer on the ground, struggling to breathe. She stepped in, Piper close behind her.

"You were playing me the whole time," Emma realized, moving carefully to keep Piper behind her, though she had caught sight of the woman pulling her hood of her shadow cloak up as she ran. She made a subtle motion of her hands, telling the woman not to use the sword yet. Even if Piper was willing to use it, she wanted to do all she could to get through to Hook before that was a last resort.

Hook actually smirked at her, "Once you lied about Excalibur, all bets were off. I knew it was just a matter of time before you tried controlling me. And now...no one will ever control me again," he waved his hand and the sword nearly flew out of Piper's hand and into his own, but Emma had been on edge since she stepped in, anticipating him trying some sort of attack and she'd been ready, calling the sword to her own hand instead and transporting herself in front of Piper to keep Hook from attacking her.

Both of them were startled he'd seen her in the cloak, but Piper supposed she should have realized, of all people to see through the cloak, it would be the Dark One for it was a gift from a Dark One. Damn it! Emma hadn't been paying much attention when they went to confront Arthur and Zelena, and she hadn't fully been the Dark One then.

"Give that to me, Emma," Hook glowered at her, holding out his hand.

"Your greatest weakness?" Emma scoffed, "I don't think so."

"My ONLY weakness," he sneered, before smirking, "You have far more of them than I do," he reminded her, "Shall we test one?"

Emma did the first thing she could think of to ensure he wouldn't, "Go back from whence you came," she ordered the sword, "Back to stone," and caused it to disappear in a swirl of magic.

It may have been a risky thing to do, because only a hero could pull it from the stone it had returned to, and she wasn't a hero...but neither was Hook, which meant he wouldn't be able to get to it either.

Hook let out a roar of anger and thrust his hand forward, sending Emma flying back into the wall, before turning it on Piper, magically choking her once more.

But Emma was back on her feet, sending a magical blast at Hook that had him ducking to the side, Merlin's heart still in his grasp, but distracted enough to release Piper. Her gaze flickered to the apparition of Nimue she could see standing beside Hook, "I don't understand. Why are you helping him get his revenge?" she could see it now in the presence of the apparition, who was making no effort to hide her hand in this, she could hear in her own mind what had been whispered to Hook, the temptation to finally get his revenge against Rumpelstiltskin, the need to cast this curse because it would take him to Storybrooke where the man was helpless and weak and vulnerable.

"Don't be naïve, Emma," Nimue tsked, "Dark Ones never do anything without getting something in return."

"What do you want?"

"It has always been a goal of the Dark Ones to cut down the light," Piper spoke, moving beside her, Rumpelstiltskin had told her as much, of the temptation and struggle the first few weeks and months of his transition, the despair he'd fallen into after Bae was gone, the desire to destroy the light before he pushed it away. Each Dark One felt it, some tried to succeed in it, others ignored it, but it was always there at first. Even though she couldn't see the apparitions, she could guess what it offered, it would give Hook his greatest desire in exchange for his help in doing this.

"You can't," Emma frowned.

Nimue smirked, "Yes, we can. And we will."

"Killian..." Emma turned to him, pleading, "Your revenge is not your happy ending. I am. You told me that," even though she hadn't been comfortable with all of that being put on her, it didn't make it less true that he'd said it and believed it, "If you destroy this heart, you will destroy your happy ending along with it."

Because if he did this...then he had truly not changed.

Hook shook his head, "No, Killian Jones told you that. Your lovesick puppy dog. But that man died the moment you turned him into a Dark One. Ooh," he squeezed his hand tight, crushing Merlin's heart, the ashes falling into the cauldron as the man on the ground breathed his last.

"No!" Emma shouted, but it was too late, Merlin was gone and the Dark Curse was about to be enacted. Because, as a Dark One, the loves of all past Dark Ones were part of you, including Nimue's love for Merlin.

A dark part of Emma could only be relieved he hadn't tried to use Piper, not that he'd be able to get to her heart.

"Oh, don't take it too bad," the apparition of the Darkness mused, "I mean, he died for a good cause."

Emma looked over her shoulder at Piper, giving her a meaningful look, before she took a step forward, as though to go closer to Merlin, only to stop, not getting closer to the two she could see before her. She turned her gaze on Hook even as she waved her hand at Merlin, "I'm sorry," she told the fallen man, "Rest in peace," and used her magic to turn him to ash and scatter it upon a magical wind.

It was showy, it wasn't needed...except to distract Hook and keep him from seeing Piper or noticing the soft melody that had begun to resonate through the room.

"It's over, Emma," Hook state as she faced him.

"I made a promise," Emma told him, sounding like it was a simple thing, "That I would stop you, if you went too far. I was half right."

"You were," Hook grinned, though Emma could see an almost drugged quality to it, like he was delighted and euphoric about it, "Once a curse has been enacted, you can't stop it."

"No," Emma shook her head, "You misunderstood. You've gone too far, but I won't be the one to stop you this time."

"What..." Hook began, only to frown when he took a step forward, stumbling, before he collapsed to the ground, Emma watching him fall.

"Thanks, Aunt P," Emma murmured as Piper came to stand beside her, lowering her pipe, ending the song meant to send someone to sleep. Magically deafening herself for that minute had been risky, but it worked in the end when Hook fell to the magic and she remained standing.

"You are very welcome," Piper answered, "I would have liked to do that with a shovel though..."

Emma wanted to laugh, but there was black smoke already rising from the cauldron, the Dark Curse nearly ready to shoot out of it, "I don't know how to stop that," she admitted, unable to conjure up even a single apparition, not even Rumpelstiltskin's, to ask for help, they'd vanished.

"It cannot be stopped," Piper told her, "But Zelena has proven it can be changed."

"It's going to take everyone to Storybrooke," Emma realized, "It's the perfect opportunity, to make Hook forget why he cast it, that he even cast it, that he was ever the Dark One in the first place," she conjured one of the dreamcatchers to her hand.

"It will buy time," Piper nodded, as Emma knelt down beside Hook, waving the dreamcatcher over his head, pulling every memory he had of Camelot out of his head, "But the others, Emma," Piper reminded her, "It will be suspicious if Hook is the only one who cannot remember Camelot."

Emma nodded, agreeing, it would just make them all the more determined to discover what he knew that she'd deemed too dangerous to remember, they'd assume it was about their plans and they couldn't risk their efforts triggering his memory, "I know," she murmured and snapped her fingers, depositing all those who came from Storybrooke on the ground of the diner, still unconscious, "I need to erase everyone's memories..." Emma began, moving among them slowly, holding the dreamcatcher out to absorb their memories as well.

"It will help with our plans," Piper mused, "They will have no idea what happened, or how you became the Dark One."

"They'll assume the worst," Emma agreed, "Right from the start."

Piper looked at her when Emma finished and turned to her with the dreamcatcher, "Me as well?" she asked, amused, "Mind magic does not work on me."

"No, I know," Emma gave her a small smile, holding out the dreamcatcher for her to take, not to use against her, "I need you by my side, Aunt P. I…I'm going to need help fixing this while trying to convince them I'm really the Dark One, the only Dark One."

Piper gave her a nod, "I have some ideas."

The way Emma nearly sagged with relief told her all she needed to know about how much this had started affecting her, finding out Hook betrayed her. She knew Emma blamed herself for not seeing more of it sooner. She'd been suspicious, but not enough, trusted Hook when he'd been manipulating her and saying what she wanted to hear. And this could have been so much worse if they hadn't gotten into the Diner when they had and stopped him. And now, to have to be double careful not to reveal too much to Hook or the heroes, while trying to make herself out to be the new 'big bad,' it would be a fine line to walk.

Piper reached out to touch her arm, "You can take it back," she offered, "It is not too late. A glamor would be enough to make them think they succeeded in freeing you. We could work on accessing your light magic through the Darkness until we can give it back to Rummy…"

Emma swallowed hard at the out Piper was trying to give her, to say she could just appear as the 'normal Emma' the Savior, to use a glamor to change her appearance back, to give her the chance at having her family back, for Hook to not question anything, for no one to question anything. But that was just it, it wouldn't be her family, she wouldn't have them back if her family wasn't whole again, and it couldn't be while Snow White's betrayal still hung over her aunt.

"No," she shook her head, "I can do this. WE can do this," she took Piper's hand and squeezed it and led them over to the cauldron.

Piper lifted the dreamcatcher and held it above the cauldron, giving Emma one last look, one last chance, but the woman nodded, and so she dropped it in, adding the memory wipe to the curse and triggering its activation

They stepped back as the smoke turned purple and began to waft out of the cauldron, filling the room, before exploding out through the vents and windows, filling the land around it.

The Dark Curse had come again.

A/N: Poor Emma :( I feel like she was really torn in this chapter, wanting to believe Hook changed, seeing little pieces that gave her hope...and it just being that he knows what she wants to hear :( Like letting Piper hold the sword, he knows how much Emma trusts her, and that was his manipulative way to convince her to 'trust him' because he'd never trust Piper with the sword unless he 'meant it' :( I think part of Emma expected it, but a much larger part was just hoping he meant it when he wanted to 'change' for her, she wanted to be right to put her faith in at least one guy and it backfired :(

And Piper, being suspicious, but unable to actually prove it, seeing things in his behavior and tone, but nothing concrete enough to really bring up to Emma. Because she really just dislikes Hook on a good day and wouldn't trust him ever so IS it her normal suspicions and distrust, or something more? :(

I tried to balance this chapter between Emma's hope but testing, Hook's manipulation but also genuine anger, and Piper's knowledge of Dark Ones but also general suspicion of Hook :( I think that Emma and Piper had a reasonably solid plan going into finding Hook and establishing how to handle it if Emma was wrong about him, so it wasn't a major or massive surprise to them when they had to implement their plans.

They just were not expecting him to go straight to crushing hearts for a dark curse within hours of becoming the Dark One :/ I think both Piper and Emma thought he might put up a bit more of a fight than that, Emma because he 'changed' and Piper because he 'loves' Emma :(

I know there was a bit more of a 'confrontation' with the heroes when Emma returns with Hook in the episode, but since she disappeared before Hook collapsed and turned into the Dark One in front of everyone, I couldn't see that part playing out :/ I could also see Emma just not wanting to deal with them lol, so knock 'em all out ;)

Some notes on reviews...

We'll have to wait and see if it might be too late ;) Piper has felt her heart soften, but that doesn't mean it's healed of all the pain Snow inflicted. She's going to have to work hard to regain that level of bond she had with Piper, if she ever manages it }:)

Lol, I can say that Piper and Emma do know Snow was listening and sort of do an internal eyeroll because she's not subtle :) Ignoring her just happened to work out for the both of them, it was another lesson/warning to Snow of what she could lose if she keeps on this path, and also a bit of a zing from Piper of 'your daughter trusts ME more than you' thing }:) I can say we will see someone's parents in the Underworld, but I won't say if it's Piper's or Snow's or Charming's or just Regina's lol ;)

I know! Half the time I'm like...um, where's Neal? You're in a new kingdom, did you just leave him in the 'royal nursery' or something? After what happened with Emma you'd think Snow would have Neal strapped to her back or something, especially in new lands and not Storybrooke :/ I can say Piper will mention something about that at one point ;)

I can say we'll get some info about the paternity test and whether Piper was right or lying to cause chaos among the heroes ;) We'll also be seeing a few thoughts from Snow, David, and Regina as the story goes and they process the fact that they got Emma as the Dark Swan SUPER wrong ;) It won't be a single chapter though, mostly because I feel like they process things in different ways and somethings might connect with one person that takes a different event or phrasing to get through to another person. Like Snow might be the first one to admit and realize things, Regina might begrudgingly get there, David will probably try to argue his way around it but have to concede at some point lol :) We'll get their thoughts in this story and the next one too, Emma's actions will have lingering consequences for the heroes and how they see things ;)