S8, E10: Secrets in the Dark

At the castle...

"So..what did Wilbur say?"

The heroes were sitting down at Regina's chambers, the room where she killed Wish Snow and David (just to name one scenario).

"He said that...well..." Finn gave a glance at Hope, who was practically hugging her legs, her knees drawn to her chest, not looking at anyone. "This will be...awkward...to say in front of..."

"It's alright, mate!" Killian gave a big smile, "You are among friends." He knew precisely what Finnian was talking about, but he needed to see what his daughter would say to Finn's answer.

"Okay.." Finnian looked away from Hope and addressed his crowd, "He said that...I'll never get Hope...and that she will be the Hope to the Darkness.."

"What does 'the Hope to the Darkness' possibly mean...??" David asked, ignoring what Finn said about Hope and her true love.

Hope suddenly looked up, also ignoring what Finn said before her being the Darkness' Hope. "I think I know what it is." She locked eyes with her father, "Dad, when you were the Dark One, you said that the mission you took on, like other Dark Ones, was to snuff out the light, meaning for you to bring back all the Dark Ones and sending all the goodest people to the Underworld, or Hell. I'm sure they never went to Heaven."

Emma's eyes lit up; she gets what Hope is saying, "So, you're saying you wil-might do that?"

Hope nodded, "But how are we going to ensure that I don't? Please don't force me into anything..."

"Hope, but you are also someone that can defeat the Dark One." Regina raised her eyebrows, "How are we going to ensure you stay safe from Will, and defeat him."

"Magic practice?" Snow wondered, looking at Regina, "You did that with Emma."

"I'm sure we can do magic practice with Wish-Rumple too. Wish-Belle can help us with the situation." Hope suggested. This was also to her own advantage; she still had questions for the crazy giggling crocodile.

Surprisingly, all the adults in the room agreed, so they turned in to sleep and then plan for the journey to Rumple's castle in the morning. Somehow Finn was decided to sleep at Hope's room when they could have let him sleep at Henry's room, who always traveled around the Realms with his family to tell and record stories for the people living there. Hope thinks it is her father's doing. Maybe he persuaded Regina and Emma in some way?

...why does Dad want a boy and me in the same bedroom? Hope thought, scared of anything happening that was not friendly.

Hope's room again...

"Why do you want me to sleep on the bed and you to sleep on your window seat?" Finn asked, eyebrows raised. Him sleeping on a female's bed felt very awkward.

Hope shrugged. She was thinking that exact same thing. "I'm being...i don't know. Usually this is what people do when they have friends sleeping over."

Finnian laid down on his back on the bed, looking at the stars. "But we are not friends, are we now?"

"Finn..."

"It's okay." He sighed. "It's fine. I just...I can't pretend."

"I get it." Finn widened his eyes and sat up, turning around to look at the large circular window next to him, where Hope sleep on the window seat. She was looking at the view next to her instead. "When the person you are trying to hide your secrets from finds out...you just can't pretend that they don't know."

"Then...what are you going to do about it?" Hope took her eyes off the window and looked at the expectant man sitting on her bed.

"Nothing, until Will is taken care of." She said, dully. Hope really didn't want to choose now when the person she can choose is the person she is going to "fight".

Finn then went back to his previous position and groaned, "Well then...back to flirting my way to your heart."

Hope rolled her eyes, "But it isn't the key and you know that, my friend who asked the question of what unlocks my heart when we met."

"And somehow I remember that only said what was not the key?"

"Who said I had to say what exactly the key was when you didn't say I couldn't say what wasn't the key?"

"Me, right now."

"That's unfair to your other best friend here." Hope pointed to the window, "who is out there killing off my people village by village. He could have even killed you." Before Finn can say anything or Hope started to get emotional, Hope said, "So, to prevent so and to make my decision quicker, I need to sleep. Need my energy now that you woke me up in the middle of the night. Good night to you, mate."

As soon as she said that, Hope's world slowly faded into black. But not before Finn said,

"Guess the young lass actually cared. Well then, she wouldn't mind if I said good night, my love."

2-3 hours later...

Then was Hope woken up to a piercing scream.

She looked around and saw a horrified, eye-closed Finn screaming the bloody hell out of him. Before anyone in the castle could wake up, she quickly put a hand over his mouth. Hope felt Finn opening his mouth even wider to scream, but then closed his mouth when he somehow knew he was in good hands (joke there?).

He opened his eyes and found Hope's worried, brown ones. "Hope," he whispered. "Sorry for waking you up."

"It's okay. It's fine." Hope relaxed and removed her hand so she can go back to bed until Finn caught her hand with his own.

"Stay here." Hope was about to protest when she realized how scared he looked, like he saw his worst nightmare.

She pulled away from Finn, who was about to yell, when he realized that Hope was get her desk chair to sit next to the bed.

"Good. Good..." Finn said, softly grabbing her hand and drifting to sleep at once. Hope hummed a lullaby Emma used to sing to her when she was little (of cource, Emma has the songs in her heart, it's in Hope too?") and stroked Finn's lushious now-brown hair until Finn felt safe. Until Finnian fell asleep.

Until she, peacefully for the first time since nightmares haunted her everyday, fell asleep, her head resting on the bedframe.


Ahoy, mate! I finally thought of writing a message to you!

Thanks for reading my story. It means a lot to me since my stories aren't exactly told and they are always in my head. Nobody really asks what I think everyday, and this is what I think! Fanfiction.

I'm just wondering if you can- you don't need to- make ship names for any new ship that came in the story? Just don't use Hope's own name in any of her ships. Maybe Grey as a subsitute? Don't ask why (for putting Grey as subsitute. Other relating things for Hope is fine too!) It will mean a lot to me and I can use it in my story!

Thanks for Jennifer Baratta for taking the time to write reviews!

See you in next chapters, mate.

-AConfusedCrab

-A