Darkness is a Funny Thing… It Creeps Up in You
Chapter Fifteen
Once Gold took on the form of his oldest enemy, he continued making his way down the streets towards his shop while he passed a number of townsfolk, including a few of the dwarfs and even a few of Hook's former crew, none of whom appeared to see him as anyone other than the pirate Captain. Thankfully, no one stopped him to talk with him about anything of which only Hook might know. They all seemed too busy going about their own business, just as Gold himself was as well.
At last, the Dark One entered the pawnshop, where he saw Belle standing behind one of the side counters with his magnifying glass in hand while she was closely studying the magic lamp that once belonged to Sidney Glass before he was freed by Snow White's father, then used its final wish and became the Evil Queen's Magic Mirror long ago. Gold knew that his wife had been busy taking inventory of all the artifacts throughout his shop, so she could do her best to find the people of which each item belonged to and return them.
Upon hearing the bell above the front door jingle, Belle looked up and then smiled when she saw the man she believed was Killian enter the room and warily start towards her, almost as though Gold feared a little that his wife would see right through his disguise. However, she only continued to greet him with the same warm smile she's always had.
The beauty spoke first kindly saying, "Good morning, Killian. You're looking well this morning. Even the color has come back into your cheeks. You appear to have gotten some sleep last night. That's wonderful."
Gold smiled almost coldly at Belle's kindness towards the man he hated above everyone else, then he answered somberly, "Aye. Thank you. Forgive me for coming to you seeking help once again. It's just… I'm worried. With the villainesses coming to town, I fear they might be after the Dark One's dagger. They spoke of having confronted Gold somewhere in New York and leaving him behind there after he spoke to them of our town."
"But… you don't believe they were speaking the truth?" she questioned as though she had already begun to understand his concern. "You're worried they're working together… and that Gold is on his way here to join with them, if he's not here already."
"You've worried about him returning as well," he replied upon seeing her own fear come across her face and into her eyes.
Belle nodded and then she nervously responded, "I am. Do you really think he's here too?"
Gold comfortingly reached out to lay his hand down over hers that now rested on top of the glass counter in front of her, then he answered sternly, "I don't really know. But I fear, it's possible. And if I'm right, then he and the villainesses will come here for the dagger. Either he may come here seeking it for himself, or Ursula and Cruella could come here seeking to use it to control him, just like Zelena did. And I shudder to think of what all they might be able to do with the Dark One as their puppet. We need to hide the dagger somewhere they will never find it. You might have hidden it already, but Gold knows you well. And therefore, he ought to be able to guess where you've hidden it. We can't allow them to use the dagger's power against us. We need to hide it again, and lucky for you… I happen to be a pirate. Who better than to hide something of such great value, than a pirate like me?"
Belle smiled at him again, then she asked worryingly, "Do, uh… Do you know where you're going to hide it?"
"The less you know about it, the better," her husband calmly replied to the beauty. "You won't see me again until it's in a place where no one will ever find it."
"I suppose this is for the best," she responded to the man in disguise before her, then she turned towards a number of books carefully placed within the shelves behind her, studied the titles on their bindings, and pulled one down, before she turned to him again as she held it out for him to take.
"I've drawn a map to the area out on the beach where I've buried the dagger so that I would be able to find it again if I ever needed it again… in case I couldn't remember," she nervously continued, when Gold began to shuffle through the book's pages to find it. "You should be able to read it better than anyone else."
The villain smiled once he found the map and then he answered, "Indeed so. This was very smart of you."
The beauty shrugged, then whispered, "I hope so."
"Thank you, Killian," she then spoke to him again in sincerity. "The idea of Rumple returning after… After everything that happened, I… I don't know what I'd do."
"At least you don't have to worry about that now," Mr. Gold confidently replied to her once more, and yet Belle continued to stare down at the map now in his hand nervously, and he sense she was definitely still feeling uneasy. "What is it, love? Is something wrong?"
She looked up into his eyes and then responded apprehensively, "I'm just worried. Just promise me, that Gold or those witches can't get to the dagger if they are after it."
The Dark One smiled at her as he answered, "I'm afraid I can't do that with one hundred percent certainty. But I can promise you, we are all doing everything we can to prevent these villains from succeeding in whatever their plans here might be. And making sure they can't get their hands on the dagger will help. Thank you, love. Try not to worry."
With that being said, Gold turned away from his wife and walked out of his shop with Belle's map to his dagger in hand without so much as another word, then after making sure he was alone and no one was watching him, he used his dark magic to poof himself out of town and to the beach so he could begin his search for his dagger that had been buried somewhere within the sand.
Meanwhile…
After they finished talking with Regina, who left the diner first to meet up again with her adopted son at her office, David and Mary Margaret left Neal with Abigail and Frederick who walked in a few minutes earlier and joined with their friends so they could look after their baby for them, then they left Granny's so they could go off to find Cruella and Ursula, then follow them around to keep their eyes on them like they planned from the moment the villainesses first entered Storybrooke.
It didn't take the Prince and Princess long to find the Queens of Darkness again, as Cruella was driving through town on their way towards what appeared to be somewhere out in the woods. David and Mary Margaret quickly got into his truck, then cautiously followed behind the roadster, far enough behind them so Cruella and Ursula wouldn't see them.
When they finally caught up to the Panther De Ville again after its driver sped up when it rounded a corner and disappeared from view for a short time, the roadster was parked at the bridge and the villainesses were nowhere to be found. David and Mary Margaret quickly got out of the truck and walked around along the bridge, looking for any signs of the Sea Witch or dog hater. Unfortunately, the Queens of Darkness surprised them, as Ursula suddenly wrapped all eight of her tentacles around the heroes.
"So sorry to surprise you Charmings like this, but… I'm afraid Cruella and I are gonna need your help for what we have planned," she then said smugly, while Mary Margaret and David both struggled against them. "You're going to help us reunite with an old friend."
"She's more like an associate really," Cruella replied when she walked over to stand beside the Sea Witch. "None of us are really friends. And we trust one another about as far as we can throw one another. But we trust each other more than we could ever trust you hero types."
Once Ursula squeezed her tentacles tightly enough around their enemies until they finally lost consciousness, the two villains struggled as they dragged their bodies towards the roadster and to lift them inside. After they finished, they made their way back into town, then with the Charmings in tow, they entered the cave beneath the library again and laid the heroes out on the ground beside Maleficent's ashes.
Nearly an hour later, Rumplestiltskin entered the cave to meet up with his cohorts and when he finally arrived, Cruella called out to him, "It took you long enough. What exactly have you been doing all this time, darling? You haven't been working on a side plan that will ultimately result in you betraying us again, have you?"
The Dark One looked between the villainesses coldly as he pulled his dagger out from his inside coat pocket, then he responded haughtily, "On the contrary, dearie. I've simply been digging for buried treasure. My dagger will allow us to resurrect Maleficent, now that I see you've done your part to bring the last piece of the puzzle. Cut each one of their palms and spill a few drops of their blood into the ashes. The blood of the people who wronged her most. And then… we wait. Soon, our dear Maleficent will be back with us, and we can continue on with the rest of our plan against these heroes. The Author will be ours."
The Queens of Darkness quickly did like Gold told them to do as they swiftly cut David's and Mary Margaret's hands and allowed their blood to drip into the ashes, while the villain who came up with the villains' entire plan swiftly vanished once again in a cloud of black smoke before the Charmings reawaked and discovered he had returned. And in the moment they did, the heroes immediately backed away as fire suddenly erupted before them, and Maleficent in her dragon form was reborn from amidst her ashes. However, upon seeing those responsible for wronging her most lying on the rocky ground before them, as well as Ursula and Cruella, she quickly transformed back into her human form until she was finally standing before them all in her former glory.
"It's good to be back," she exclaimed once she breathed in and out upon feeling her life force strengthen her newly forged body.
"Whatever it is you think we did, you don't know the whole story," Mary Margaret fearfully pleaded with the villainess as she loomed over them.
Maleficent answered darkly out of anger, "I know enough."
Cruella stepped up behind their partner as she replied sternly, "Patience, Mal. We have a plan."
"You wanna hurt someone?" the Princess urgently pleaded again in worry for her husband. "Well, hurt me. Leave David alone."
"Hurt you?" the villainess wearing her black cowl scoffed when she heard what her enemies believed she might do to them. "No. That would be far too easy."
Mary Margaret thought she understood then, and responded, "You're going to tell everyone what we did first."
However, Maleficent scoffed once again, then she answered, "I don't care about your secret. You can keep it as long as you like. I only care about one thing… Your pain, and that it be as long and terrible and unyielding as my own. The pain you caused."
"I forgot how much I missed her," Ursula smugly stated to her other partner also standing with her behind the resurrected villain.
"It's going to be entertaining," Cruella replied to her just as haughtily.
Without looking away from the Charmings, Maleficent continued cruelly, "I'm gonna revel in every torturous moment. And you? You're gonna watch your world crumble. See you soon, dears."
All of a sudden, through Maleficent's dark power, the Queens of Darkness vanished, then Mary Margaret spoke out to David as she responded fearfully, "This is all our fault."