NOTE: I decided to leave Lancelot out (dead) and instead Merlin and Guinevere as TL. Canon divergence because what's the point of fanfic without fixing shit? :P

Dark Swan Rises

After her bittersweet and anticlimatic encounter with Regina, Emma decided to take matters in her own hands. She went alone to Merlin's tree, and released him for his prison, knocking King Arthur's knights out with a flick of her wrist before they could even protest. She then used her savior magic- what remained of it, and tendrils of darkness did come out from her hands, too, but in the end it was still Emma the key to freeing the wizard, along with the fresh tears of a broken heart: her own.

The wizard promptly took her on a journey to retrieve the Flame of Prometheus so they could make Excalibur and the Dagger whole again, before darkness would eat at her and swallow her completely, and to be ready before King Arthur learned the wizard was free. He had the dagger in his custody, so that was their next big challenge. They had to be ready for a fight.

At daytime, the King was bewildered to see knight after knight, scattered all over the holy ground that surround the sacred tree, where now only remained the empty hole in the dirt from where the tree once stood. He raged, growling like the lion in his crest, and slowly his men began waking up.

At least he still had the dagger. He pulled it from out of a satchel he carried with him, even to bed, and commanded the Dark One to appear before him.

"It's time," Emma winced as she felt the call of the dagger, fighting its pull.

"Look inside your heart, Emma. When it's truly ready to be free, the flame will ignite to help you mend what was once broken," Merlin told her.

"I'm done fixing everybody's crap and their fucking stupid happy endings, only to never get mine! All I want is my autonomy back. With this power I can finally claim something as mine," Emma protested.

"It will be your choice then: giving into darkness, this time out of selfishness. It might feel great to wield all that power, but it won't give you real happiness, nor the freedom you seek; it will enslave your soul for eternity. Only True Love can set you really free."

"True Love?" Rumplestiltskin's ghost- the voice -chuckled at that. "That's a commodity only for the…" he gave Emma a sizing look, "not gay? Oops! I mean: weak."

"Don't listen to him, Emma," Merlin looked sympathetically at her.

"I'm not weak! It's not my heart the one that needs freeing."

And in a swirl of black smoke, Emma was gone.

Arthur was no longer alone, Emma's family was with him in the heavily guarded patio. Emma looked around, calculating their escape, and saw Regina clutched to Robin, with Henry and Roland with them protectively— like a perfect little family, and it make her sick beyond words. He was stealing her family from her and she regretted more than anything having saved him against her desire, all because Regina asked her— no: forced her. She should have let him die; drown in his own blood.

Then there was Snow and Charming with their cute little prince in their arms; another picture of the what they never gave her a chance to have: two parents to protect her from harm, shelter her from the cold, soothe her when she was felt blue; make her not feel all alone in the world.

And then there was Killian, who didn't have care in his eyes for her anymore, not after she took in the darkness for Regina. She could read from his expression that he had not forgiven her; that he wasn't going to. He would never spare her for ruining his happy ending. All he wanted, what he loved, was the ideal image of the perfect girl she used to be, all light and purity: The Savior— his greatest conquest. Now she was soiled.

"Dark One, I order you to explain what this means," he pointed at the missing tree. "Only an evil creature like yourself would destroy the greatest wizard to ever live; our only hope to bring peace and balance to these cursed lands."

"I freed Merlin, yes. But he sings a different song than the tale you tell yourself and the realm in your lullaby," Emma responded.

Everyone turned to look at the King, curiously.

"Of course you would try to turn everyone against me, but we know your kind, demon. You're a beast with no conscience," he spat.

"That's enough of that! I will not allow anyone, not even the King of this land, speak that way to my daughter." Snow got enough of it, and attempted to snatch the dagger from his hand, but he reacted by grabbing hold of her and putting the sharp blade to her throat.

Everyone became defensive at that. David's hand went instinctively to the hilt of his sword, but before he could unsheathe it, the royal ward was pointing swords and arrows at him and all their family.

"That's not a very smart move," King Arthur warned them.

"Answer me: Where is Merlin?"

Emma waved her hand and made the wizard appear beside her.

"There you are, my old friend!" Arthur greeted him.

Merlin spared him a disdainful look. He backed Emma's words that Arthur was lying to all of them, that he'd had no intention to release him from his prison because he had the realm under a spell to manipulate them, that the real darkness disrupting peace in their Kingdom was the King himself.

Truth or lie, he was still the King, and he commanded his guards to throw everyone but Zelena into the dungeons to rot. He took the magical cuff off her wrist and placed it on Regina's instead before sending them off.

"I've a feeling I can trust you not to betray me," he said to the wicked witch, knowing exactly who she was and her condition there as prisoner of the rulers of Misthaven.

"I won't disappoint," Zelena answered him, smirking with contempt at the Charmings, and glancing down at Arthur's lips, "My King." She would play her cards wisely.

King Arthur asked Zelena for a demonstration of her loyalty, he held out Excalibur, and also retrieved a potion from a satchel, handing the flask to the witch.

"It's a tethering potion. But as you may have heard—"

"It has to be enacted by a magic-born, I know," Zelena completed for him.

King Arthur grinned.

"So who do you want me to enslave for you, Master?" Zelena sensually asked the King.

"I could make good use of a wizard for my cause."

Zelena pulled out the cork from the bottle and emptied the potion all along the blade of the sword. She used her powerful innate magic and activated the spell, successfully tethering Merlin to it. He would now be no more than the King's pet to play with.

Arthur took Emma and Merlin with him, back to the Castle, and his second order for Zelena was to keep watch with his guards in the dungeon should anyone try something funny, giving her permission to maim or cease them from existence, whatever was her kink that moment. Her reward as a loyal subject would grant her riches and a privileged position in his realm as the King's advisor. He had no magic of his own, but he was well versed in the topic, and no one was as good as the Wicked Witch of the West when it came to sorcery. Only the Dark One, who he also had under his belt now, literally, and whom he'd use as pawn for the dirty work. King Arthur was destined to rule and bring together the biggest Kingdom; he might as well make one out of all there were available to conquer. He now had all the chess pieces to make it possible.

Over the round table, they saw Excalibur, and watched as King Arthur brought out the dagger and tried to merge the two weapons, but nothing happened. He demanded Merlin tell him why it wasn't working and the wizard told him about the Prometheus flame. The King ordered Emma to ignite it, but Emma couldn't. Not when there was nothing out there for her to fight for, to be free for. Only a free heart could start the flame, and Emma had more secrets then the ones she could let come up to the surface or acknowledge this moment.

What was there for her to confess, to come clean with? It wasn't her love for Regina; that was no longer her deepest secret.

In the dungeon, as Zelena walked the hallway, enjoying how the turntables, Roland asked her for water. Certainly she wouldn't deny a child some water, Regina chided, and Zelena rolled her eyes, but looked at Roland and her eyes softened for a brief moment, remembering the time she spent with him as his faux mother. Maybe she had warmed up to the merry munchkin, maybe it was the hormones of her pregnancy, but against her better judgment she did summon a canteen with water for the child, and when she leaned down to give it to him, Henry grabbed at her arm and Roland threw dirt to her eyes to temporarily blind her. Through the bars, Robin took the sorcerer's wand from her before the guards came in to beat him, and handed it over to Henry, who with a flourish of the enchanted twig made all the soldiers freeze on their spot, Zelena included.

"It worked!" Henry was excited he was able to use magic. It was probably since he became the Author that he now could manipulate magical objects. Next, the young man proceeded to unlock the door to escape, then moved to the separate cell where Regina was alone so they wouldn't help her remove her cuff, and freed her, too.

"Let's go save your other mother," she told him proudly. He smiled in return.

Henry, Belle, Granny, Snow, Robin, Roland, and the dwarfs went to where Granny's diner had landed. Hook, David, and Regina went to the castle to save Emma, as it would be too dangerous to bring Henry with them, and his mother asked him to protect the wand, and to use it to get back home if they didn't come back before the sunset or if the King found them first.

They broke into the castle and Hook took Queen Guinevere hostage as leverage. King Arthur would soon be faced with a hard choice. As much as he wanted the ultimate power, it would be nothing if he had no one to share it with, and the only obsession that could compete with his for Excalibur, was the woman whose life now depend on him. Which obsession could be bigger?

"All we want is my daughter," David said to the King. "You can keep Excalibur."

"It's useless without the Dark One's dagger," King Arthur responded through tight teeth. "What makes you think I would hand it over?"

"What about one True Love for another?" Regina said this time.

Emma blinked at that, locking gazes with Regina. Did she really mean it now? Regina's eyes were warm on her, but they looked downcast, and then in direction of the door behind.

Killian emerged behind them, together with Guinevere. He had his hook to the Queen's throat; the tip sharp enough to rip through tender flesh and bleed her out with little to no effort. Arthur had to count his chances. He gripped Excalibur and looked at Merlin, thinking of a command.

"One move and she dies," Hook tightened his grip on the Queen, enough to make her bruise and bleed, for added drama.

King Arthur gritted his teeth. He threw the dagger in the air and commanded Merlin to puff him and Guinevere away while the heroes moved to catch the other weapon.

David caught it in his hand and secured it in his belt. He came to his daughter's side and embraced her, caressing her scalp gently. "We're going home now," her father said lovingly. "Let's go to Granny's."

Emma engulfed them in grey smoke, and when it boiled off into the air, they were at the diner with everyone else, but also with more company.

Zelena was there. She'd recovered and come here, decidedly to stop them. She'd taken the sorcerer's wand from Henry and had them all roped-up in the chairs while they waited for the rest of the heroes.

"Aren't we one big, happy family?" The witch laughed sarcastically.

"Zelena…" Regina almost growled the name.

"Did you really think you could get rid of me so easily, little sister?"

"I sure had to try."

"You don't have to do this," Belle told her. "Just let us go. Start over."

"Start over, where? This is our only chance at a fresh start if you didn't notice!" Zelena's hand went to her stomach.

"It doesn't have to be," Snow spoke to her. "If you help us, we can all go back together… home. We can give you another chance if you do the right thing. You have something—someone worth fighting for now."

Regina rolled her eyes. Typical from Snow White to be giving hope speeches even to the Wicked Witch.

Zelena's eyes pooled with tears. For a moment it looked she was considering it, touched even, but then she burst into laughter. "You're so pathetic!" She snorted.

Angrily, Emma made her move, tried to throw a blast of magic at Zelena, but to everyone's surprise, Robin jumped to protect her—more for his child than for the woman that carried it, and fell unconscious. He had easily untied himself, being the thief he was. Zelena used the opportunity to appear beside Snow, holding the wand to her throat. She menaced them with teleporting Snow White's pretty head back to Storybrooke, sans the extra body weight.

Regina ran to Robin's side, but he wasn't responding. It had been a strong blast of magic, not meant for an ordinary man to take such a blow, and he could die or remain a vegetative body for the rest of his life if they didn't help him in time. Regina still had the cuff and couldn't heal him, Emma felt pleasure in that unfortunate accident, and promptly took the fight outside before Regina could ask her to heal him, transporting herself and Zelena with dark magic.

"Aren't you going to save my dear husband?" Zelena taunted.

Emma gave her a lopsided smile. Evil.

"Oh, I see." Zelena smiled, too. "Not feeling very Saviory these days, are you? Can't say I blame you. He stands in the way of your happy ending, just as I did on my sister's. Such a shame you aren't hers."

In a blink of an eye, Emma had Zelena pressed against the trunk of a pine tree, holding her by the neck, feet barely touching the ground, face close to hers. The wand fell from her grasp and was broken when it hit the ground.

Emma smiled sweetly. "You don't know me," her was voice soft, though chilling.

Zelena could hardly breathe.

Emma moved her left hand to touch at the small bump of the pregnant woman's belly. "How does it feel? Being so close to getting your happiness, only to have it ripped away," the Dark One said, making black tendrils of magic come out from her palm and engulf the stomach that host an innocent child: Zelena's only love.

Zelena's eyes filled with horror for the first time in her life.

"You took Neal; I won't let you take another member of my family. You come at me again, I'll rip out the parasite growing inside you, right before your eyes," Emma said in a slow, menacing voice.

Zelena was shocked, tears burning hot in her eyes as she tried to breathe.

The sound of horses interrupted them. King Arthur was here, with the royal guard, and Merlin, making his way into the diner.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Emma vanished in a puff of black smoke.

Inside, King Arthur was calling for the Dark One as Merlin held Excalibur over Hook's head for execution. Emma balled her hands into fists. She looked at Hook and then at Regina, who was crying, pleading for Merlin's help to save Robin, but the wizard was just as powerless. 'Save him, please,' Emma could read in Regina's eyes when they locked gazes. Again. And knew she would do it, save him once more, if only for Regina not to suffer; even if that kept them from living their true happy ending together.

"I changed my mind: I do want Excalibur and the Dagger to be one again," the King exclaimed.

He signaled Merlin and the wizard swung the sword in the air, but stopped just before decapitating the pirate, when Emma threw the dagger to Arthur's feet and the King signaled him to stop. Hook was alive, but the sword did leave a small cut behind his neck: an injury that would not heal, as they would find out much later.

Arthur leaned down, and picked the dagger from the floor.

"The Prometheus Flame, now, Dark One."

Emma summoned the small box in her hands.

"What are you waiting for? Share your darkest secret," Arthur commanded her.

Emma tried to fight it, but it was taking all her energy. Arthur was impatient. He kicked Hook to the floor, and moved over to Henry for added pressure.

"Enough!" Emma reacted at that. "My darkest secret is: I have not really forgiven you for abandoning me; for forcing me to be the Savior. When I look deep down, all I see is how much I hate you! I always have and I always will." She cried as she looked at her parents.

In that moment, Snow and Charming realized why they couldn't share True Love's Kiss with their daughter to save her from this curse, why they never might.

"Because I know none of you will ever accept this broken version of me—who I truly am, far from the perfect princess you dreamed about, so I'm done! I'm repulsed by the righteousness of you. And I choose darkness because I hate having to play hero for all of you," this time Emma looked at Regina.

The Prometheus Flame began to glow with a weak light.

"It's working. Don't hold back now, Dark One, let them know the truth, what they all deserve from you," Arthur ordered through the dagger, relishing in how he was breaking this family apart without even having to do it himself.

"And there's nothing I regret more than having saved Robin Hood for YOU," Emma spat, "I hate him! I hate him with every fiber of my being because he gets to live the happy ending I never will," Emma broke down, fell to her knees, crying in her hands.

"What are you talking about? I thought I was your happy ending," Hook reproached.

Emma turned to look up to him, eyes reddened by the tears and anger. "You disgust me. Every minute spent with you made nauseous. But I did it because you said I was your happy ending, and being Savior I was, I felt responsible, and betrayed myself and forced something that only broke my spirit. At times I didn't recognize the woman in the mirror: is what you did to me; what I did to myself in the name of True Love— the false promise of it."

The flame glowed with a bright light and King Arthur smiled to himself. He ordered Emma to join the two pieces, and when it was done he held Excalibur in his hands, complete for the second time since it was created. While he was mesmerized by the power and beauty of his mythical weapon, Granny came from behind, and smacked him hard with an iron skillet in the head, causing him to fall, disoriented, losing possession of the sword.

"I was getting too tired of listening to all this bullshit," the old lady told them.

Before his knights could act, Emma threw them against the walls with a gust of magic. She was so angry she had to take it out on somebody, but not anybody, as she couldn't bring herself yet to punish who she really wanted hurting: her family. From all the people in the place, Henry was the only one she didn't condemn; even that small child Ronald, or Roland- whatever the fuck was Robin Hood's son's name, Emma saw him as mommy-bait, and as replacement for her own son for Regina with the outlaw.

She resented everyone, especially King Arthur for making her share her darkest secrets: for breaking her walls against her consent and leaving her exposed, feeling naked and under judgment.

She walked up to where he was trying to focus his vision. His head was still spinning, and all he could feel was how he was being lifted up in the air, to stand on his feet, and when he could see again, face to face with Emma, he saw her wicked smile at him, and then felt as her hand drilled into his chest and ripped out his heart, excruciatingly slowly to inflict the most terrible pain.

"Emma, no!" Her mother cried out, knowing her daughter would be darkening her heart completely.

There would be no coming back: she would become fully a Dark One, but Emma didn't care, and squeezed his heart, rejoicing first in the feeling of the beating in her palm, then how it slowed down the harder she crushed, and when it turned into a cold piece of coal, she was biting her bottom lip, enjoying this feeling of power— Godlike —in her bare hand; how she could decide who lived and who died, just like that. Then it turned to dust,;she stared at her hand stained with the colors of death, the beautiful black from the ash, mixed with crimson of blood, making her palm look like dying embers in the night.

The tendrils of Darkness engulfed her again, and when they were gone, Emma's appearance had changed. White porcelain skin had turned to glittery scales, her hair gone from platinum blonde, to silvery white, and rosy lips now bore a red as deep as the blood dripping from her hand: Arthur's, and her feathered dress now reflect the darkness in her heart; black as dusk.

Zelena had watched the scene from a distance. She stood still by the door to the diner, holding the broken wand in her hand. Emma turned to lock eyes with her, gaze cold and wild, dangerous. The Wicked Witch knew by now better than to tempt her fate with the former Savior.

"I've decided to turn in a new leaf," she announced to her audience.

Regina looked angrily at her. "Have you now."

Robin was still unconscious in her arms, but given how scared they all were at Emma this moment, Regina hesitated to ask her to help him or even to help her remove the cuff from her wrist. Specially not after that confession of loathe for him.

"I've had a change of heart," Zelena was cynical. "Don't look at me like that. To show you I'm changed, I will help you with your thief problem."

Zelena sauntered to where her younger sister lay with the man she'd once victimized, and removed Regina's cuff. "There. That should be enough, or do you want me to heal him?"

"You've done enough." Regina hovered her hand over his head, and slowly he opened his eyes. They smiled sweetly at each other, what made Emma clench her jaw and turn away.

"We'll deal with you when we're back in Storybrooke," Regina said.

Zelena let David place the cuff back on her wrist.

"I'm afraid that's no longer a possibility, not without a magic bean… or a curse," the witch told them, and showed them the broken wand: their passage home.

"That won't be a problem," said Emma.

Everyone turned to look at her with confusion, and watched in fear as she walked up to Regina, who stood before Robin protectively. "Don't worry, I'm not asking you to cast the curse with his heart," the Dark Swan told her, and got much closer. She leaned forward, and for a moment it looked like Emma was going to kiss her, but the kiss never came. Instead, she moved to whisper in her ear. "We both know it wouldn't work, love," she said the word in the same fashion Hook did; a reminder of the night before.

The Dark Swan turned to look at her parents now. "For what you all did to me," she looked at Zelena as well, then back at Regina "you deserve to be punished."

They all gasped, but there was nothing they could do to stop her, as she made them frozen from the waist down. She summoned a cauldron, then the ingredients, which she tossed into the bubbling puddle in perfect order- like she knew the spell by memory, like she'd been born for dark magic rather than saving.

"Only one more ingredient and we can all go back home!" Emma said happily, almost childishly, and gently caressed Regina's cheek with the back of her bloodied hand. "You."

Regina shivered.

"If only you knew how deeply I really love you," Emma said to her. "I guess I have no other choice than to show you: teach you."

Regina opened her mouth to try and reason with her, but Emma pressed her lips against hers, and just as she gave her the kiss of death, Emma ripped out her heart, and put it inside Regina's palm, covering her hand with hers to guide it—force it to crush the darkened heart inside.

"I'm sorry, Henry. You couldn't have had a better mother than Regina."

"Please don't do this to us," Regina cried in pain as her own hand was forced to crush the heart inside its grasp.

But it wasn't Regina's heart: it was Emma's.

"I have hope you'll find a way to break free," Emma said to her, and forced her hand to finish what she started. "If you don't have the courage to write your story, I still have no regrets, because I've always believed in you. I always will."

"Emma!" Her parents screamed, brokenhearted. "If we break the curse, you'll die!"

"I'm already dead," Emma gave them a weak smile.

She squeezed tighter over Regina's hand, until the heart lost its light and withered away, falling as hopeless particles of nothingness.

Regina cried as she watched Emma fall to her knees, weakened after losing her heart, her paralyzing spell breaking with Emma as well. She was immortal by the Dark One curse, but without a heart, there wasn't a way to break the curse and save Emma at the same time. Meanwhile, the new curse was working its way to bring them back to Storybrooke.

Regina only had a couple of minutes before she might lose Emma forever. This arrangement was oh so cruel, but also selfless. A curse was the only way they could go back home: Emma had sacrificed again for her family. Even in her darkest, she just could not intentionally hurt them, not without a higher purpose.

"Regina, I beg you, please save my daughter," Snow cried, holding onto her arm like a desperate child.

"Did you not see? We don't have what you and Charming have: True Love."

"No! I see it. I can see it in you," Snow cried, holding onto her arm desperately. "You just don't want to believe it."

"It's true, Mom. You can save her. I believe in you both." Henry came to their side.

"Take a leap of faith," David said lastly.

Regina took a deep breath, moved by their words. She gathered her courage and ripped her own heart out, split it in two, and pushed one half into Emma's body and the other back into her chest. "I love you, Emma." She held tightly onto Emma's body as the curse washed over them, and hoped for the best.

With King Arthur's death, the spell he had cast on the realm, faded away. His people now had memory of the mad King they'd had to submit to, and the realization of this positive event, however grim his end, also informed them he was most certainly gone for good. Queen Guinevere was free to reign a reign of compassion, and to find love— True Love —again, more so for the first time.

With Merlin, in the future, together as free souls.

Storybrooke

When Emma woke up, moments before the rest of them, she touched her chest. She had lost conscience, but she felt something strange inside her, something unpredicted, something warmer. She tried to rip out her heart but she couldn't. She looked at Regina then.

"You believed."

She kissed Regina's hand, then took all of the memories she didn't want them to have, and hid them in dream catchers. It had to be this way. There were so many hurtful things she didn't want her family remembering, weighing down their spirits. And now more than ever did she must protect Regina's heart, for now they beat as one. If one came to pass, so would her other half, and they couldn't leave Henry all alone in the world. She would have to help Regina break free all over again. She had to play her role.