The first place he had to go when he arrived in Camelot seemed obvious. It was to the one spot he hadn't returned to in over a hundred years. It was a stone boulder that sat in the middle of a forest. He'd been to Camelot on a number of occasions since Nimue had first told him her story and tasked him to find a way into Merlin's lair. Because of her "task", almost every time he'd visited, he'd always been staring up at the Tower, never able to get inside. This place, however, he'd been to one time, the very time that Nimue had explained her origins to him. It looked almost identical now as it had back then. It was still the middle of a forest, the middle of nowhere, there was still a stream nearby, lots of foliage that had grown up over the years, and one boulder sitting inconspicuously in the midst of it all. The only difference between now and then, was that the last time he'd been here, the boulder had a sword driven into it. Now, there was a clean gapping portion where the stone had once slid into its rocky sheath.

"So, Camelot has found her King…" he muttered, looking the stone over.

The idea of Camelot finding it's King was a very interesting conundrum, considering he'd just had a vision of the Queen and the Knight, Lancelot, sitting on the throne, a cord of love binding them together. Now…how was that possible if Arthur was the true King? But, perhaps even more important, if the dagger controlled him, what could the rest of the sword do?

He hadn't planned on making a trip to the stone forge where Excalibur had been made and the Dark One born, but his questions made it a necessity, especially the question about the sword. The rest of the information he was happy to discover on his own time, but he couldn't go into this blind, not considering the history he shared with that sword. He needed help. He needed her help. Again.

Over the years, he prided himself on how little he'd had to call on her or the others for assistance. Going to that forge now, and forcing Nimue's name to appear on the dagger, was not a conversation he was overjoyed to have.

"Excalibur has been pulled from its stone," he informed the woman looking at him with contempt.

"I've seen." Her response was short, and irritated. Once upon a time, he might have cared about that. But now that he held the title of strongest Dark One, he wasn't particularly bothered by it. If she wanted to have a short one-sided conversation, he could do that. He'd been practicing on Belle.

"What was Merlin's prophecy concerning the sword."

"That it could only be pulled from the stone by the one true King of Camelot, a true hero."

"Those were his exact words?"

"No one knows."

"No one or you?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Watch your tone, boy."

"Answer the question, girl," he snapped back. Nimue was a woman who regarded herself with great pride. He expected attitude from her, and he was prepared to give it right back. He was the powerful one, he hadn't gotten here by playing games when the stakes were this high.

"The Apprentice might know," she finally sighed. "But seeing as how you left him alone in the cabin, alive, I might add-"

"And he's it, then?" he interrupted. He wasn't about to let her go off on a tangent concerning the Apprentice or any tasks she perceived as his. "The Apprentice is the only one who would know the prophecy?"

"He would. Merlin saw the future but very rarely explained it or spoke of it to anyone, including me. On the rare occasions he wrote them down, they stayed in the Tower. The only person who would have a copy is the Apprentice, unless of course, you've managed to get into his Tower, but we both know you haven't."

"I've more important things to do with my time."

"Ah yes…finding your son and eying that maid of yours in the cauldron."

He opened his mouth to respond, but caught himself. That was the problem with having a conversation with someone who shared one's mind. She knew exactly the kind of things to get him riled up. But he was the one that could choose not to let her do that. He chose not to comment on her attempt to regain control of the conversation and instead move on and send her back to the depths of his mind as fast as he could.

"I've had a vision of my own," he announced. "If the person who pulls the stone is the one true King of Camelot, then why did I see Arthur pull forth the blade but his wife sitting on the throne in the future?"

Nimue frowned and gave the closest thing to a shrug he'd ever seen her make. "I'd say the only one who can answer that is you…and time, of course, a concept you should be well familiar with by now."

Another snark that he wasn't going to break to. She served him, not the other way around.

"Merlin fashioned the dagger from the broken tip of Excalibur…the sword has no bearing on me?"

"Is that a question or a statement?"

He didn't respond. He didn't need to. He just had to stare her down and think about demanding her to respond. After that, it was only a matter of time until she sighed and though it was harder to see in the dark, he thought she might have rolled her eyes as well.

"I dare say if it did, you would have felt it by now."

Not exactly an answer like he wanted but close enough. In fact, she had spoken exactly what he himself had been thinking concerning that question, but it was nice to have confirmation. The relationship he had with the dagger was a mystical one, it was a connection he felt all the time whether it was safely in his possession or his son's or that wretched princess from Arendelle. If there was some kind of connection to the sword, he should have felt it in some way. And yet so far…nothing. Small favors, he supposed.

"Why did I see a copy of the dagger in your vault?"

"That's not a question I can answer for I wasn't the Dark One who placed it there," she was quick to answer. "Only that Dark One can answer your question, not I."

And since he didn't know the name of "that Dark One" he couldn't summon him here or now. He'd just have to hope that when he reached his final destination, he, or she, was willing to talk and put answers in his head. And as for Nimue…

"Then I've no further use for you," he growled, banishing her from his sight with little more than a thought.

Nimue was of no use to him. She hadn't told him anything that he hadn't already known or assumed himself. But that was the way of the Dark Ones he carried with him in his head. He shouldn't have been surprised. If he wanted answers, he should have gone right to the source. Merlin's Tower was as he'd always known it. Towering above everything in Camelot and heavily guarded with magic he wasn't even going to try and penetrate today. In truth, the only thing really different about the Tower now from the Tower then was the light that in the upstairs window. Someone had gained entrance, but it wasn't him. If he had to guess he'd wager it was the King and Queen. He'd seen them there in his vision, and in another the Queen had admitted she'd taken the Gauntlet from the Tower. He wasn't pleased with that development. Prior to this moment, the Tower had been shut off from the world and its secrets safe. Now that people could come and go, it meant so could the secrets. And while that certainly gave him a loophole to getting into the tower he didn't like that it meant that any of Merlin's things could be removed and scattered to the wind. If he couldn't have access, he would much prefer no one have access, and keep all his things right where he knew they'd be.

But, of course, imagining all that was silly at this point. Excalibur was no longer in the stone, and the Tower had been breached, whether he liked it or not. Now the only thing he could hope to do was gain access to anything that was brought out of the tower. Fortunately, he knew where one of those objects was going to be.

For once, he walked through the streets of Camelot wearing the glamour that Zoso had used when he'd first met him, it was the glamour that allowed him to appear as if he were a normal man. Normally he didn't bother with such things. But this was Camelot, the Dark One was born here and the war between Nimue and Merlin was a well-known tale. Getting spotted here would be more than a little slip-up, and if he wanted to get his hands on that Gauntlet and keep his own dagger safe, then he couldn't risk word getting out to the Queen and her Knight that the Dark One had been spotted roaming the forest. So he shed his scales for the time being, grabbed a stick from the ground, recalled the magic from his ankle and limped about, playing the role of peasant once more. It was frightening how easily his body recalled the actions of it all.

Belle had known of Camelot. Knowing her, she'd probably read about it in a book. Smart as she was, she'd probably reacted the way she had not because she'd been here or seen it for herself but rather because she was familiar with its legends. If she could see it now…

There was nothing wrong with it, not exactly. It was fine. A thriving young Kingdom under new rule. But it was hardly the stuff of legend at the moment. The town that now stood close to the base of Merlin's Tower was quaint. Adorable, even. It was little houses and businesses, shops and taverns, and of course a fine town square. It was late, but people were still out, dancing about, enjoying the last dregs of alcohol, sweeping something off the ground…white roses? No. Middlemist Flowers. Nimue would have known them anywhere. She was the reason they were in Camelot, after all. He walked the streets, keeping his head low, slowing as he found his way around groups of people so he could listen to their conversations. Some things never changed. Royals tried to keep things secret, but that only meant the entire town knew. Sometimes what they knew was truth, sometimes only guesses. He was pleased to hear no one seemed to know the truth of Excalibur, as far as they were concerned the sword was whole and complete. And that meant the dagger was safe. But what they knew also wasn't the full story. He gathered bits and pieces of information, placing them with the images his vision had given him until he had a full picture.

Tonight had been Guinevere's birthday. They'd had a wonderful celebration, the King had delivered her favorite flower, Middlemists, to her in heaping piles, and the pair had danced. But the talk of the town wasn't the King and Queen, but rather Lancelot and Guinevere. He'd been about to see the cord in his vision that bound them together, but it seemed that he wasn't the only one to sense their connection. Some saw the way they looked at each other and had suspicions, others thought it was quite the scandal, and still, others thought it was a very romantic thing indeed, while many felt sorry for the pair.

Still, one conversation proved to be more important than any of the others. A group of three women, discussing the Queen and her relationship with the Knight were arguing over it just as nearly everyone else was doing. The only difference was these women had information he could use.

"It's sad! It's her birthday, and the King showers her with flowers but shows up only for a single dance. I've got it on good authority it was Lancelot that arranged those flowers, just as he was the one to keep her company through tonight. It's the woman's birthday, and the King has retired early, summoning his Knights to leave early tomorrow for another quest! You know that means, he'll not be warming her bed tonight."

"Well, neither will she," one of the women snorted. "I've just come from the well and as I was coming back, don't you know it, I ran into Lancelot and Guinevere myself. They were talking about going out on a quest of their own tonight. You know what that means."

The women burst into laughter and he moved away. No, as a matter of fact, they didn't know what it meant. But he did. Some of what he'd seen in his vision was future and some was past. But at this moment, he knew the future was becoming the present, if not the past. In his vision Arthur had said he was going after the tip of Excalibur, and that was what had prompted Guinevere to steal the Gauntlet and take Lancelot to the place they thought it was…the Dark One Vault. He was falling behind and running out of time.

This chapter was overall a fun writing exercise. It was a really good example of the fact that sometimes a story helps to write itself. When I was writing I hadn't actually meant for this to be a chapter all on its own, but merely for these events to appear as a few paragraphs of intro for the next chapter. But then I started to write it, and his research started to grow, and what was just a few lines of dialogue with Nimue became a full blown conversation and well...here we are.

Many thanks to Grace5231973, Jennifer Baratta, and MissAmande for your reviews on the previous chapter. I hope that you'll also enjoy this nice little unplanned bonus chapter. Unplanned as it was, the icing on the cake was Nimue. I love any chapter that I get to write for Nimue! If I had to name a dynamic that I miss a lot from the first couple of Rumple fictions it would be Rumple and Nimue and how their relationship has changed. This was another time we get to see Rumple in control of her and I was super happy to get to check in with her again even if the conversation was short. Peace and Happy Reading!